Six Blocks from my House - grace grits and gardening

Veritas Wine Room (so much more than wine!)

July 18, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Bradley Anderson, Veritas Wine Room, Dallas, Texas

Veritas Wine Room is so much more than wine. It’s a cozy place to hang out “where everyone knows your name”… Owners Bradley and Brooks Anderson, East Dallas boys, are knowledgeable and passionate and can assist with wine selection all night long. It’s what they do. They also know how to host a Sunday night lobster boil on the third Sunday of each month. Next one = this Sunday, July 20th!

TJ’s Fresh Seafood Market + Veritas Wine Room

Once a month, feast on a huge lobster with all the fixins’. That means corn, potatoes, mussels and clams from TJ’s Fresh Seafood Market. Oh my. All for only $35. It’s a deal.

Subscribe to Veritas’ email newsletter to keep up with weekly happenings such as half-price glasses from open to close every Monday, special dinners, wine tastings and wood-fired pizza night (via Il Cane Rosso). Sometimes they have wine and chocolate tastings…

Yes. Veritas is much more than wine.

Wine, wine, everywhere wine.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Under the Sea – The Little Mermaid

How to eat a lobster…

Deep Ellum Bark Park with Art

June 7, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

East Dallas has several dog parks and many outdoor patios that cater to furry friends, but Deep Ellum Bark Park, with a view of downtown, is a unique urban park. Not only is it a great use of space beneath Good Latimer Expressway (between Canton Street and Commerce Street) it’s a dog art gallery. Twenty-five Dallas mural artists provided eleven foot high paintings on each of the TXDOT pillars beneath the freeway. All dog related of course.

The Bark Park is clean, bags are plentiful for poop scooping, and there is wide open space for dogs to romp and run.

The drawbacks: parking is metered (bring change) and there is no separate space for small dogs. Since this park is rarely crowded, neither issue has been a problem for me.

City dogs need space to burn off energy, a place to feel free. Deep Ellum Bark Park provides it, along with a dose of art for the humans.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

I Feel Free, Cream

Spicy Barbecued Cauliflower

June 2, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

(I was provided free barbecue sauce; however opinions are my own. I swear.)

A few years ago, I discovered cauliflower. I mean really discovered it. Oh sure, I always knew about eating it raw with Ranch dressing. Cauliflower was never my favorite of the dip vehicles. Standing at a party veggie tray, I rotated through the choices not wanting to be that person hogging the carrot sticks or cucumber slices.

And steamed cauliflower with a thin cheese sauce? I consider that hospital food.

But the same head of cauliflower tossed with olive oil and sea salt, roasted in a 400 degree oven is a vegetable game changer. Heat brings out the caramelized flavor. The dark (almost burnt) bits taste like onion rings. Try it. You’ll agree.

Now that summer is (almost) here, I’ve been thinking about ways to spice up my regular recipes. This barbecued cauliflower—made with my favorite barbecue sauce, Bentley’s Batch 5—will complement all your summer meals.

Before we get to the recipe, let me tell you a bit about Bentley’s Batch 5. Bentley’s is a stick-to-your-ribs sort of sauce, not one of those namby-pamby thin vinegary concoctions. The flavor is robust as a Texas barbecue sauce should be.

I’m not just saying all this because it’s made by my Munger Place friends Harold and Gale, but this does make it more special. I know the history and all the work that went into it. After years of making his Dad’s family recipe, Harold and Gale perfected it. Now you can purchase Bentley’s at several Texas locations (more retailers added daily).

I love it on grilled shrimp, chicken, pork and all sorts of vegetables, which brings me back to cauliflower.