FOOD & DRINK

SHOPPING

Whole Foods Catalogue



IN 1986, THE 23,000-SQUAKE-foot Whole Foods Grocery store debuted on Lower Greenville with everything a health-food fan could want, right down to a cafe where vegetarians and peace-freaks could hang out.

After making do with only a few reorganizations over (lie past 10 years, a major renovation this spring added6,000 feet to the store.

“When we moved in 10 years ago, it was a state-of-the-art store,” says James Roe. a Whole Foods shift manager. “”This renovation just catches it up to the present. We’ve learned a lot about what our customers want through our other locations.”

What customers want is more, more-more choices and more new stuff. Take soup, for instance. A decade ago. Whole Foods carried vegetable broth cubes and a few types of canned soup. Today’s natural vegetable broth comes canned, frozen, bulk, and in a variety of dried. Now every Campbell soup has its chemical-free canned analog, and in response to our too-fast lifestyles, dozens of instant soups come in microwave containers.

As with the old store, the new Whole Foods exalts the eclectic and unusual. Where else can you gel fried parsnip chips? Or nonhormonal milk from a glass jug? The latest expansion rewards the well-to-do gourmet patron with a gleaming room full of exotic cheeses, coffees, and teas, and an impressive selection of beers and wines. A deli case overflows with pre-made specialties, mostly natural whole-grain versions of Greek, Italian and Spanish dishes like olive salads and bake-at-home pizzas. We’ve come a long way from bean sprout sandwiches. –Amy Martin

SUMMER FOOD

Ice Cream with a Kick



PSSSSST, YOU THERE…YEAH, YOU…I’VE SEEN YOU AT Starbucks every day, feeding your addiction for Italian dark roast. Well, now you can get that flavor in all its caffeinated glory without having to work up a sweat. Starbucks, in conjunction with Dreyer’s Grand Ice Creams, has come out with five-yes, five-flavors of Starbucks ice cream this summer.

This creamy, rich ice cream has the aroma and the taste of high-test Starbucks. If you like coffee, you’ll like them. II’ you like Starbucks coffee, you’ll be in heaven. The flavors: Italian Roast Coffee, Dark Roast Espresso Swirl, Javachip. Vanilla Mocha Swirl, and, our favorite, Caffé Almond Pudge, filled with roasted almonds covered in dark, coffee-flavored chocolate.

The quart-size containers are only available at supermarkets-in this area, at Albertson’s. Tom Thumb, and .Minyard’s. -Renee Hopkins

GRAPEVINE

COOL QUAFFING FOR THE TEXAS HEAT



In the smoldering summer, quaffa-bility is the sole demand on a wine. Less orchestrated summer meals demand unfussy wines that feel right at home at a picnic or by the pool in a plastic cup buoying a couple of tee cubes. Here are some fun quaffers that pair well with Texas heat [prices may vary).



WHITES

Domaine de Pouy, Cotes de Gascogne 1994, France ($6.49, Sigel’s): an ugni blanc with tots of refreshing, bright fruit.

Star Canyon White, Texas ($9.95, Marty’s}: this sauvignon blanc-semillion blend from Fall Creek Vineyards is clean, with hints of ripe pear, grapefruit, and soke.

Hopier Gruner Veltliner 1994, Austria (59.50, Marty’s): a refresh ing, slightly flinty wine with lots of bold citrus flavors.

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars White Riesling 1994, California ($8.99, Sigel’s): a crisp riesling with traces of green apple and peach.

Fetzer Vineyards Gewurtztramin- er 1995, California ($5.99, Tom Thumb]: a round gewiirz with a good balance of peach and spice.

Enrico Serafino Moscato d’Asti 1994, Italy ($9.95, Marty’s): floral tones and a hint of white chocolate highlight this sweet, effervescent muscat.

ROSES

Toad Hollow, Eye of the Toad, California ($8.99. Applejacks): a dry, crisp pinot noir rose with a bright copper color and hints of watermelon and pineapple.

Zonin White Merlot 1995, Italy IS6.25, Marty’s): a light rose with strawberry, nutmeg, and hints of black cherry.

RED

Chateau de Jau, Le Jaja de Jau, France ($5.99, Sigel’s; $6.99, Eatzi’s): a medium-bodied red with bright, cherry fruit and a good finish. Drink it slightly chilled.

-Mark Stuertz

FOOD BUSINESS

A SWEET WIN FOR FOUR SEASONS CHEF

Chocolatier magazine has named Randy Gehman, of Cafe on the Green at The Four Seasons Resort & Club in Las Colinas, one of the top 10 pastry chefs in America. Customers always save room for Gehman’s edible works of art, especially his banana ice cream served in a caramel basket, accompanied by banana cake and glazed bananas. Of his own dishes, Gehman prefers his warm cherry sauce over ice cream-or his other, less obvious passion, pasta. -S.H.

TAKEOUT FOOD

Pecking Order: Rating the Chicken Places



PUTTING TOGETHER A really nifty picnic? If you don’t have the time to spend agonizing over which loaf of bread to choose, you need a speedier solution. We plucked up picnics of chicken, rolls, side dishes, and desserts all over the Dallas area, hitting eight restaurants in just under two hours, and settied down for a taste test.

Although we sampled rotisseried, broiled, and grilled chicken breasts, the fried chickens clearly ruled the roost because of their moist, tender meat, with Popeye’s spicy, crispy, pretty grease-free crust making it an easy winner. Bubba’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s original recipe took second place, with Cowboy Chicken not far behind. Each captured the right crispy/juicy combination that the others missed.

KFC and G randy s dished out the best slaw, although they, like all the slaws tested, cried out for salt and pepper. Boston Market offered the best side dishes by far, with the Mediterranean pasta salad the tasters’ favorite. Bubba’s earned two wings up for their soft, homemade tasting rolls.

Desserts were mostly nothing to crow about, except for Popeyes’ cookies (made by Keebler) and Boston Market’s tasty oatmeal cookies. Bubba’s peach cobbler was mediocre and Church’s fried pie was unappealing by sight. Church’s scored lowest in most categories (it hasn’t been the same since they added fish), while Bubbas drew the most overall clucks of approval. -Suzanne Hough

DRINKS

Single-malt Scotches Symbolize the Good Life

AMONG THRONE? ed masses, at least, single-malt Scotches are moving right up there with steaks and cigars as class symbols of ultimate indulgence. In liquor stores, rising sales of the hearty-bodied, no-nonsense non-blends is particularly apparent in the city’s northern reaches-Sigel s Addison outlet moves more, for instance, than its Greenville Avenue store, while Spirits reports little demand in Deep Ellum.

Among restaurants, though, enthusiasm for single-malts is city-wide. And growing. Gershwin’s, which may have been the first here to foresee the trend, has been offering Scotch samplers for several years, pouring assorted mini-shots of various labels in a wine-tasting format at $4.25 to $7.25 a pop.

With 52 single-malts in stock, the restaurant still carries more brands than any other we’ve found.

The 8.0’s new Tar Bar offers 30; Fog City Diner and Joey’s carry around 20 labels each. Chamberlain’s Prime Chop House lists only a dozen, but reports high interest among its patrons. “People think of a steak and Scotch and a cigar as a new definition of the good life,” says a spokesman. -Betty Cook

OVERHEARD

SERVICE BEYOND TOE CALL OF DUTY

A couple left their month-old baby at home with a sitter and took an apparently rare night out at Mi Cocina in Fort Worth’s Sundance Square. While waiting for their food to arrive, they attempted to contact the Spanish-speaking sitter over a cell phone, but were unable to make themselves understood. They turned in desperation to their waitress, who calmly translated their concerns and instructions to the sitter and assured the couple that all was well with the baby. Wonder what kind of tip you leave for tableside translation? – R.H.