Critic News

Dallas Morning News hires another restaurant critic from Los Angeles

Michalene Busico.

Photo courtesy of Twitter

After nearly a year-long search, the Dallas Morning News has hired a dining critic: Michalene Busico, a native of Southern California and journalist at publications such as The Robb Report and The Los Angeles Times.

Busico replaces Leslie Brenner, the newspaper's most recent critic, who left in 2017 and now works for Rebees, the moniker-challenged company founded by restaurateur Tristan Simon.

Although Busico was once a food editor, this will be her first crack at being a restaurant critic. According to her Linked-in page, she was deputy editor for the Robb Report for eight years, and was previously with Entrepreneur magazine. The last time she worked at a newspaper was in 2008.

According to sources who prefer to remain unnamed, Busico was not the first candidate to be offered the job. Her salary is rumored to be "within the six-figure range."

Sadly, her hire is a rejection of our five suggestions for who should be the next critic, which included chef Jeana Johnson, man-about-town Wylie H. Dallas, and Instagram. With sites such as Facebook and Yelp, and a declining readership in the newspaper world, restaurant critics seem like a dying breed.

Busico represents a doubling down on the part of the DMN to a more old-school style of criticism. Her social media presence is currently slim, with a Twitter account currently boasting only 199 followers and a total of four tweets issued from 2016. Nonetheless, she will not be anonymous, and posed for a photo in the column that announces her hiring.

Among her stated goals is a plan to reshape the newspaper's star rating system, "so we can recognize less formal restaurants in a stronger way."

Busico has already written articles for the newspaper, including a profile of chef Julian Barsotti. In her column, which is behind a paywall, she divulges that she and Brenner are friends. (Her very first tweet was a retweet in support of Brenner, awwww.)

But dang, their friendship would seem to put her out of the running to cover Billy Can Can — which the paper momentously dubbed "the Texas saloon that might finally save Dallas' Victory Park" — or for that matter, any of the other Tristan projects coming soon to Victory Park.

Brenner's reign was controversial. She had some lingo issues, was banned from some local restaurants, and endured run-ins with chefs such as John Tesar and local heroes such as "BBQ Snob" Daniel Vaughn after "BBQ-Gate," in which a best barbecue list she crafted featured a number of restaurants he'd written about first.

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Downtown News

Mom-and-pop Italian grocery in downtown Dallas closes after a year

Ari's

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A buzzy grocery store in downtown Dallas has closed: Ari’s Pantry, the small local chain specializing in Italian groceries and to-go foods, has closed its location in the heart of the Central Business District at 1800 Main St.#124.

A statement from the owners called it "a difficult decision." The closure is effective July 15.

"We are truly grateful for the welcome Ari's Pantry received from the downtown Dallas community. You have supported our business and shared in our passion for Italian food and hospitality. After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close our Downtown Dallas location effective today," their post said.

The closure comes a little over a year since they opened in May 2025.

Downtown was the third location for the small mom-and-pop market, which debuted in Winnetka Heights in December 2023 to fulfill owner Ari Lowenstein's passion for all things Italy, with pastas, gourmet goods, dried foods, produce, plus meals for dining in or to go.

They opened a second location in Trinity Groves in 2024, which is currently marked on their website as "closed for the summer," although it does not list a re-opening date. Lowenstein was unavailable for comment.

The downtown location was originally a joint venture between Lowenstein and Alan Kearney, a downtown enthusiast who owns businesses nearby such as The Crafty Irishman and Patrick Kennedy's Irish Pub, as well as Cannon's Corner Irish Pub in Oak Cliff. However, Kearney withdrew from the store after it opened.

To accommodate the needs of downtown workers and residents, Lowenstein added a coffee shop and gelato stand. It was open for coffee at 7 am and until 9 pm, with a dining area where customers could have wine and cheese.

The location at 1800 Main St. seems to be in a favorable spot, surrounded by residential buildings and hotels such as the AC Hotel and Statler Dallas. Who has not spent a night in a hotel and longed for a market nearby with snacks and wine? It's also across the street from Neiman Marcus, whose imminent closure in September has provoked some pearl-clutching about the prosperity of downtown. But the downtown population does not always support local businesses.

Ari's was not the first to find the location challenging: It was previously occupied by the well-mounted Berkley's Market, which closed in 2024 after six years in the space.

The owners stated that they would "continue focusing on our locations in Coppell and Bishop Arts as we look ahead to the next chapters of Ari's Pantry," before thanking "every customer who stopped in for coffee, lunch or gelato, picked up dinner, discovered a new favorite ingredient."

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