Friday, March 7, 2008
Best Bites: Dining out in DFW March 7
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African restaurant Mo Chops, which just opened last week at the very far eastern edge of Northwest Highway, is named for its owner: Moji Dewunmi Williams. She goes by "Mo."
"My husband decided to give it that name," Williams says. "'Why don't you say Mo Chops?' Chops is what you eat."
She moved here eight years ago from Nigeria, where she had a successful catering business, which she's been in the process of recreating, culminating in this restaurant. Though primarily African, her menu incorporates Caribbean and Indian-curry dishes, too, with goat, oxtail, pepper gizzard, curry chicken, hot wings, jerk chicken, and ogbono, a traditional Nigerian stew with a distinctive peppery, nutmeg-like flavor. A house specialty is Jollof rice, rice that's been mixed with tomato sauce, onion, salt, and chili pepper, and then garnished with peas.
Last but not least, she offers fufu, sometimes spelled foofoo, an African porridge in which a starch or grain is cooked and pounded until it turns sticky and firm. Williams makes hers from pounded yam. Fufu serves basically the same function as mashed potatoes, though it's more versatile than the lowly spud.
A wad of fufu is often served with a sauce for an interactive experience in which the diner breaks off a piece of the fufu, creates an indentation, then cups up some of the sauce and eats it. In some parts of Africa, it's considered tacky to chew the fufu; you're supposed to eat it whole.
Wildflour Texas Cafe
Gayle Wood and Sylvia Workman had a catering company in Richardson for many years when they were approached by the Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago with a proposition: How about opening a restaurant in the newly revitalized II Creeks development on Custer Road near Richardson's Canyon Creek area?
"We had our catering company located in an old Nortel building and our lease was coming up, and we knew it was going to skyrocket," says Wood. "So we had been talking about it -- that we didn’t have a storefront. It was one of those things that worked out great for all parties concerned."
Evoking the city's annual Wildflower Festival, Wildflour Texas Cafe has become a popular lunch-ladies spot with its menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, quiche, and one daily entrée, plus an awesome lineup of house-made cakes.
"My husband calls it 'chick food' but it's more than that," Wood protests. "Today our special was chicken & dumplings."
For now, they're keeping lunch hours only, every weekday, plus breakfast and lunch on Saturdays, but they plan on extending to dinner hours, too.
All hail the Queen
The Cultured Cup in The Plaza at Preston Center in Dallas may specialize in tea, but it's also one of a limited number of places in the U.S. of A. that sells drinking chocolate made by Charbonnel et Walker, one of Britain's oldest chocolate makers and chocolatier to the Queen, don't you know, yesssss, that's right, the Queen.
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Akira Sato Jazz trumpeter Akira Sato, by way of Tokyo, Japan and Vancouver, Canada, is an SMU faculty member and director of The Meadow Jazz Orchestra at SMU. He is also an adjunct faculty member at UNT where he teaches jazz arranging. Sato is also heading into the studio soon with other area musicians and playing at the Scat Jazz Lounge tonight. With all that he's up to, the least you could do is order a Scotch on the rocks and chill to some tunes. (Photo by flickr user arteunporro. More info
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Comments
kirk Anonymous
This week's "Best Bites" is a great example of why TG's news items make up a good percentage of the posts on the Eats blog and Side Dish...sometimes attributed, sometimes not. Thanks for covering interesting stories, Teresa, instead of what Tristan is doing this week or what Mr. Dallas thinks of Bolla bar. You are, by far, the best food writer in DFW.
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Teresa Gubbins Staff
kirk, i don't want to embarrass you, but i've heard rumors that you sometimes chew your fufu. (or do you prefer "foofoo")
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Michael Anderson Verified
MMMmmmm, pepper gizzard!
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
she may be the best food writer, but who's the best looking food writer? hmmmmmmmmmmm????
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Ask my wife, luniz... ;-)
I have it on good account that Kirk prefers froofroo.
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
kirk Anonymous
I much prefer foofoo to fufu; the latter sounds like a copyright infringement on FUBU's brand.
But for the record, let me state that I gum all my food, rather than chewing ... it's part of my new year's resolution to only eat foods that can be pureed in a Cuisinart PrepExpress™ Handheld Food Processor.
Bill: You're half right. It's my undies that I prefer froufrou. And I am a big Imogen Heap fan, so I guess that means I like frou, too.
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Erin Rice Staff
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
kirk Anonymous
Erin, it's very hard to get a bunny into the food processor, as they keep hopping out before you can turn it on. But paté de lapin is delicious, and relatively easy if you can catch them while they are asleep.
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Frogs work better. http://www.joecartoon.com/cartoons/67...
4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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