For 28 years, FRANÇOIS CHANDOU and his wife, Anne, have called Kessler Park home. The oenologist, whose family has a 200-year-old vineyard near the French Bordeaux region,  has spent more than 30 years in Dallas making a name for himself in the wine business — first with La Cave Wine … more

It’s not a good time to be a corn-dependent company. In 1986, Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Factory president Ruben Leal could fill up his corn silo for $2,100, “and I thought that was a lot of money,” he says. Now it costs Leal $7,900, and the major reason isn’t inflation … more

Missing the mercantile
Despite having recently gotten settled in their new location, it appears that we’re losing Oak Cliff Mercantile for good now. Having relocated from the Bishop Arts District into the funky and cool gas station (turned Ruth Chenoweth’s real estate office, turned Mercantile), Henry Branstetter and Tom McCoy … more

Each year hundreds of pumpkins take over the front lawn of Kessler Park United Methodist Church. They range from the 50-cent handheld size to $30 gourds that might appeal to Cinderella’s fairy godmother. The Kessler School Pumpkin Patch and Street Fair lasts from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., allowing plenty of time … more

Nothing about the pink restaurant with blue awning makes it stand out from the auto repair shops and taquerias that pepper this section of Clarendon. What could set it apart from the rest, though, is the heart and soul of owners Samuel and Carolina Garcia, and the fact that this place specializes in Argentinean fare. For the most part, that means adding eggs, usually sunny side up. “Argentineans, they use eggs on everything – the sandwich, the empanadas, the milanesa,”

Anyone who cares about cheap wine and who wishes wine scores would go away needs to read Robin Goldstein’s book, “The Wine Trials”

     David Lucas admits that he is a light sleeper.
     After waking up on a recent Sunday at 5:45 a.m. after the wrath of Hurricane Ike, Lucas looked out his back porch to survey any potential storm damage.
     “I was looking to see if there were any tree … more

As an introduction to this monthly column, can you give us a basic overview of the Southwest Patrol Division?

It all started a few months ago when one of my sons, unprompted, decided to venture into fashion commentary.
“Hey, your hair looks like a comb-over,” he chortled.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I’ve been cutting and combing my hair the same way for 30 years.”

“It looks like … more