Is new Dallas restaurant Neighborhood Services a place where food writers go?

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — In his year-end 2008 wrap-up, recently-departed Dallas Morning News restaurant critic Bill Addison described Neighborhood Services, the new restaurant on Lovers Lane from chef Nick Badovinus, as "the type of place where off-duty chefs (and, frankly, food writers) hang out".

Chefs are one thing. They eat at each other's places all the time. The fact that Dean Fearing, Chris Ward, Kent Rathbun, Jim Severson, or Jason Boso might have dropped in (and all have) doesn't seem such a stretch.

Lobster-ricotta fritters at Neighborhood Services

But food writers are a different species. And having myself consumed only one meal there made me wonder: Who are these mysterious food writers, clinking their martini glasses at Neighborhood Services and "noshing" on Badovinus' lobster fritters and pan-roasted mussels?

To wit, a survey:

YES: Nancy Nichols, D Magazine dining editor. If Neighborhood Services were Dallas' version of the Algonquin Round Table, then Nancy would be its Dorothy Parker. Nancy's appreciation for the restaurant is well known, and she's revealed in private conversation that she dines there 14 times a week. If the place is open six nights a week (and it is), that means that she is eating dinner there at least two times per night.

NO: Dave Faries, restaurant critic for the Dallas Observer. Faries used his recent effort to eat there as the basis for a column he wrote about ... well, I'm not even sure what it was about, except that, in the end, he ended up at nearby Fireside Pies instead. Given the white-hot status of Neighborhood Services and the fact that he'll inevitably have to review it, he'll surely go back (and maybe already has). But for now, no.

NO: Amy Culbertson, Food Editor and restaurant critic for Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and mistress of the paper's new cooking school site. "Is it worth the drive? I fear it may just be too hip for me."

YES: Michael Hiller, dining critic for pubs such as Modern Luxury Dallas, has eaten at the restaurant. The plot thickens: He ate there with Texas Monthly Food Editor Pat Sharpe. That's a two-fer. Wouldn't it be great if, whilst dining there, they ran into Nancy N., possibly to share a round of "Cuban paramours" (a Mojito-like cocktail with Flor de Cana rum, mint, key lime, "cane simple" syrup, and cava)?

Grainy interior shot of Neighborhood Services. Could those people be writers?

NO: Tina Danze, food writer and stylist. Tina, a regular Dallas Morning News contributor, eats out often for research. She recently authored a story on pork belly -- one that surely would have accommodated an expense-account mention of Neighborhood Service's pork belly-esque Berkshire bacon. But Danze has yet to eat there.

NO: Shannon Sutlief, restaurants editor for GuideLive.com. "I read somewhere on the web about a three-hour wait one night. No thank you. I'll go later."

YES: Christopher Wynn, F!D Luxe dining editor. Wynn says, "It's definitely a hang for me and someplace I like to visit as a 'civilian' when off-the-clock, even if just for a burger." Bingo!

NO: Kim Harwell, freelance writer for F!D Luxe and critic for Dallas Morning News. You might expect Harwell to be a N.S. regular -- she did, after all, write an actual story about the place for F!D. But: no visit so far.

YES: Sarah Eveans, writer at D is doing a review of Neighborhood Services and so has eaten at the restaurant a number of times. "I had the speck flatbread two nights ago and could eat it every night." Incriminating!

NO: June Naylor, freelance critic for Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "No, but I'd volunteer to eat with you if you were doing a review."

In summary: Out of 11 food writers polled, five have been to N.S., but only three with any regularity: Nichols, Wynn, and Eveans. That's OK, though: It's a golden rule of journalism that "it takes three to make a trend". Addison was correct.