The owners of Veritas and Restaurant Ava have renamed their planned Bishop Arts restaurant. Boulevardier is the new name for a French/American bistro in the space formerly occupied by Decanter and Cafe Madrid. The owners originally had announced the restaurant would be called Left Bank.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the restaurant, from chef/owners Randall Copeland and Nathan Tate, will open this summer.

The White Rock Marathon might detour through the Oak Cliff area this year. Organizers hope to incorporate the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge into the race course.

The Dallas White Rock Marathon board earlier this week voted unanimously to change the location of the start and finish of the December race from Fair Park to Downtown Dallas, near the new convention center hotel.

WRM spokesman Greg Miller tells us that the move allows for a redesign of the race course that will keep staples including the lake and the arts district, but also include new features such as the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Klyde Warren Park.

“While there’s lots of work to still be done finalizing and certifying new courses, the city of Dallas has been very supportive and is excited to help elevate this race into that top tier of major city marathons.”

The marathon, which originated at White Rock Lake has also been held at Victory Park before moving to Fair Park two years ago.

This could be a step in the right direction when it comes to making White Rock a world-class event with economic impact along the lines of New York City Marathon or the Chicago Marathon.

In addition, last week, the marathon board and director announced a $1 million contribution to the race’s beneficiary, The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

This year’s race will be held December 9.

The Spillers Group, which owns Eno’s and is a partner in Oddfellows, has opened Union Bear, a nanobrewery in Uptown.

She (that’s right, it was a woman) lived on our side of the Trinity.

The mail-processing operation at the Main Post Office on Interstate 30 at Sylvan is moving to Fort Worth, the Dallas Business Journal reports. Our mail, with zip codes starting 752, will be processed in Fort Worth.

But the West Dallas post office will remain open to serve customers.

The U.S. Postal service conducted a study to determine which post offices to close nationwide, in an effort to stop the devastating bleeding from its money-sucking wounds. The postal service lost $3.3 billion in the three months ending in December. That’s $1.1 billion a month.

In a community meeting in December, a local postal service official said the West Dallas processing center was selected for closure because it has more value in the real estate market.

Carlene Saelg and Rita Davis own Pearl Cup.

Pearl Cup, the chic coffee shop with locations on North Henderson and Downtown, is the latest addition to the planned Sylvan | Thirty mixed-use development on the site of the former Alamo Motel on Fort Worth Avenue.

From the media release: “Pearl Cup’s patio will straddle the intersection of Sylvan Avenue and the service road to I-30…”

Say what now? Not sure how a patio straddles an intersection, but we will take the proximity to Pearl lattes, no matter what it straddles.

Owners Carlene Saelg and Rita Davis opened the first Pearl Cup, in East Dallas, in 2008.

Our neighborhood is bursting at the seams with talented do-it-yourselfers, crafters and artists. For evidence, revisit our December 2010 story about handcrafted holiday gifts. Through March 5, artists can apply at handmadebash.com. Say organizers, “We are looking for the best of the best artists from Dallas and the Metroplex and around the country.”

Any handmade artist may apply here. You don’t need to be an Etsy Dallas member. Acceptance notifications will be sent March 13 and the bash takes place May 5 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Palladium South Side events center, 1135 Lamar in Dallas.

From the organizers: “The Etsy Dallas Spring Bash is a chance for shoppers to connect with their inner crafter and browse goods from 60 hand-selected artists and crafters, just in time for graduation, Mother’s Day, and spring weddings. Patrons have the opportunity to meet the artists in person or even create custom orders — most artists offer it, if you ask.”

The event will also feature live entertainment, free admission, full bar and restaurant on site, free collectible bash bags for the first 50 shoppers (warning: some shoppers line up hours early for this thing).

To celebrate Black History Month, Comerica Bank donated an African American Literature collection to the North Oak Cliff  and Polk Wisdom branch libraries.

The collection consists of 900 e-books by or about African Americans, as well as e-readers. Comerica’s donation follows its gift last year of $50,000 for the purchase of financial literacy materials for those libraries.

The e-books will be available for download by any Dallas Public Library patron.  This partnership between business and education should enhance Oak Cliff and allow more of its residents access to adult literature by such prominent authors as Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Serita Ann Jakes (who read an excerpt from her latest novel at the donation event last week) and, my favorites, James Baldwin and Zora Neale Thurston.

Adam Bazaldua announced on the 303 Bar and Grill facebook page that he is no longer chef there. Bazaldua, formerly of Rathburn’s Blue Plate Kitchen, posted this message Sunday morning:

“I would like to start off by saying thanks for all the support you have shown me with the new restaurant. Unfortunately, I am no longer the chef at 303 Bar and Grill, due to a constant concept battle between the owner and myself. I am now no longer affiliated with the food that comes out of its kitchen, other than them using the menu that I designed and created. I will be on to bigger and better things soon, and I hope to have yalls support with my next venture. Thanks! Talk to you all soon!”

For some reason, another post on the 303 facebook page asks fans to add a different page. This is why people hire social media managers.

Last summer, a DART bus crashed through the Salvation Army thrift store on West Jefferson at Polk. WFAA had pictures. Luckily, no one was hurt in that accident, as it happened at about 6 a.m. on a Saturday.

Unfortunately, Salvation Army has decided not to reopen the West Jefferson store; the 10,000-square-foot building is for sale. It is listed, as is, for $550,000. C.J. Dunn Commercial already is is negotiating with a potential buyer, says Patrick Patey, a Salvation Army spokesman for the Dallas area.

Salvation Army decided to make the thrift store on Village Fair its “anchor” in Oak Cliff.

“That was our smallest store,” Patey says. “So it was a good time to go ahead and let the other one be the anchor store in Oak Cliff.”