Dallas Fish Market

Lovely Joan and I went to the pre-opening of a new restaurant in the Kirby Building, Dallas Fish Market. It was partially an art's district event and partially an advertising vehicle for the new venue.

The Kirby was built in the early 1900's and has since been many things, most recently upscale apartments. The ground floor of the building was most recently occupied by Jerobaum, that hideous mistake of a restaurant that I was only too happy to see fail. Even a Chipolte in the space would have been better so I'm glad to see DFM take over.

I love this building because it has great architecture; high ceilings, big dark wood window frames, marble / polished concrete floors and some original door handles / lighting. That architecture is design enough but I have seen other establishments over-decorate this space, effectively ruining the look. But I liked what they did to the inside; clean and crisp looking without becoming minimalist.

The nibbles that circulated during the event were far from what their menu advertised. The few things I tried were good (execept the foie gras in wrapped in green cotton candy, that was gross and didn't really go with the whole seafood theme).

Usually for these events I just go for drinks. I was not disappointed in that area either. They were serving Pear Vodka Martinis. Needless to say I ran right out and got some Pear Vodka (Absolut Pears). Its a great summer drink: Pear Vodka over ice with a splash of soda!


Since DFM is literally next door, I will definitely put forth the effort to walk the block to try it out for dinner after it opens to the public today.



Dallas Fish Market
1501 Main Street
Dallas, Texas 75201

(214) 744-3474

Sofa

Here it is, the new sofa. I realize ivory is not the most pratical color but keep in mind I have no children, pets and I only allow clear liquids in the house :)

Agave Experiment 01

This weekend I reacquainted myself with the kitchen after a noticeable pause. Not that I cooked anything of substance, basically just drinks and a dip, but they were really good!

My standard set of testers are not minding the drive downtown to continue their culinary guinea pig obligations. Thankfully. Thank you my esteemed culinary guinea pigs :)




Mango-Cilantro Margarita against Chase tower


Mango-Cilantro Margarita

• 2 mangoes, peeled and diced
  
• 1/4 C cilantro, chopped
  
• 1 C Blue Agave Silver Tequila (I used 1800)
  
• 6 T lime juice, fresh
  
• 6 T simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water boiled and cooled)
  
• 2 T Patron (Orange liquer)
  
• Ice
  

Put the mango and cilantro in a food processor and pulse a few time to chop finely. Add mango-cilantro mixture to other ingredients and marinate for 30 minutes. Strain over ice-filled glasses. Drink quickly. This will make enough for 2 heavy drinkers, 3 regular or 4 people who sip.

Sacred Pause

The people who remember my old place remember that every available wall was crammed with my mom and grandmother's paintings. Those all transfered nicely to the wall space at new place. But new place has a gallery hallway - 60 ft of horizontal space by 16 ft of vertical space. Thats alot of blank space.

I've been thinking about what to do with the space and decided a collection of photography would be nice. Randomly one night I was in a bar on Cedar Springs. Bored, I started thumbing through the community rag and stumbled across an ad for an exhibit from a local photographer.

The photographer and his partner had just returned back from a two week tour of Israel, the photos were incredible. I'm still working with him to put together the right prints in the right sizes. When I get them all framed and placed I'll post a view.

Sacred Pause is the name of his studio, check 'em out!

My Neighbor, The Kiddie Porn Terrorist

You know, I have the most interesting neighbors here in downtown. Such a colorful lot. Take for example, this guy, who lives in the Mosaic building a block away. Apparently a nice middle eastern man building a weapons cache in his apartment, complete with rocket launcher! Oh, there was also some kiddie porn. Nice.


Article On WFAA

Возвращение

Or you might know it as Vozvrashcheniye.
Or maybe The Return.

Russian films aren't known for their feel-good quality or for being first pick in the disposable entertainment category. However, I'm finding them consistently well-executed, thought-provoking and highly emotional. I'm almost proud to be part Russian :)

The Return is one of my favorite Russian films. The plot is relatively simple: two boys living with their mother in a sleepy coastal village are paid an unexpected visit from their father after a 12-year absense.

At first glance we see the father is trying to make up for lost time by taking the boys on fishing trip. However, the veneer gives way to issues of control and abuse leaving the two boys to face some "adult" situations without preparation. In the end the father has fundamentally good intentions, despite nefarious circumstances. What the two boys learn from their father in his short return is somewhat intense, as is what the brothers learn from each other.

What I liked about this film, despite its austere tone, was the incredible acting job from Konstantin Lavronenko (the father) and the kids playing the two brothers. Each one deserves some sort of award. Although one of the kids died in a boating accident shortly after the film's release, he sure left a mark on the cinematic world with his one and only film.




The Return

9.5/10

The Talented Mr. Mueck

HEU Tara and I had a Fort Worth day. We took in exhibits at both the Kimbell and Modern. It was nice day, complete with $30 lunch at the Modern Cafe, which is exceptional if you are ever at the Modern and become suddenly struck with the urge to lunch.

I have to say my favorite of the day was the exhibit by Ron Mueck. Favorite, but very disturbing, bordering creepy. What Mueck does is resin composite sculpture of humans. The detail is extraordinary; the hair, the eyes, even the splotchy discoloration of skin as it ages. Its the imperfections he has perfected which give his art an unnerving lifelike quality. What makes them borderline creepy is scale. Most of his works are 10 to 100 times larger or smaller than life.



Ron Mueck Sculpture

I saw his eyes move, I swear! :)

Outline

I keep thinking I will have time to write about my weekend. Now its almost the next weekend. I will talk about the creepy exhibit at the Modern, the new restaurant and a really interesting movie. Soon.

TukTukToGo

Stone Street is an alley connecting Main with Elm. It was one of the first retail projects in the new version of downtown. Since opening Stone Street has had a 100% turnover in tennants. This is not entirely bad since the initial set of restaurants were boring. At least the new crop is offering more ethnic variety. One of the new entries, just opening in 2006, is this place which I was happy to discover last weekend.



Tuk Tuk
115 Stone Place
Dallas, TX 75201

If your looking to impress someone, keep moving. The atmosphere at Tuk is casual, as in shorts and flip flops, thought I'd stop by kinda casual. It is presentable and comfortable but that is about all.

There is the same omnipresent vanilla alternative rock playing in the background here, just like every other place in downtown (including where I live). It is not intrusive and conversations don't have to be constructed out of yelling and sign language.

The fare is Asian. Not any particular variety since I noticed Chinese, Thai and Korean but I would say it is slight more Thai than anything. Most of the people behind the scenes are Thai, so I would expect it to be Thai-owned.

What you really want to know is how the food stacks up. Its great. I've tried the Pad Thai, Green Curry and BulGoGi. All just as good as any other place in Dallas and to be honest their Pad Thai appeals to me more than other places since it is less sweet and more savory.

Since this place is just around the corner I wind up calling in takeaway on those late nights as I round the toll plaza from the commute home. They usually see me coming and meet me outside.

Its hard to ride up the elevator with the bag without breaking it open.

Clean Clothes

After 4 weeks, I now have a new washer and dryer. It seems sad that I am so excited about appliances but I am! It took a while to get them only because Home Depot had to re-deliver them 3 times, each time customer service was so unhelpful that I had to call the manufacturer to get anything done. I doubt I will buy anything else from Home Depot.

Anyway here they are.



I spent some time researching these on Consumer Reports and then asked around to people I knew. The LG Tromm always came out on top. I have to say, they are incredible and worth every penny. Its good to have clean clothes again :)