Foodie News

Teresa Gubbins' top 5 CultureMap Dallas foodie picks from 2020

M&M White chocolate peanuts.

For starters, the headline is ironic. There's very little that's "foodie" about this list.

A real Dallas foodie list from the year 2020 would have an elaborate-yet-simple pasta from Homewood Dallas, like this bucatini dusted with sourdough bread crumbs; chef Matt M. is into crumbs these days.

It should have a foodie find from one of the many obscure pop-ups that have proliferated during the coronavirus, possibly culled from the Instagram page of "Bata Eats." And definitely something ultra-authentic Asian, maybe a discovery from the "Asian Grub in DFDUB" Facebook page.

No legit Dallas foodie list would be complete without a slice of Detroit-style pizza and/or takeout from one of the Nashville-style hot chicken places.

But this list has none of those.

To its credit, there is an item from Eataly, which brought Dallas into the foodie elite. Otherwise, these are just five things I liked enough to share.

Vegan Reuben sandwich at Mendocino Farms
Mendocino Farms is the California-based gourmet sandwich shop chain that made its Dallas debut in March 2020, and is opening a second location in Addison in early 2021.

They have a convenient to-go model and great sandwiches that include the "vegan" Reuben, featuring vegan corned beef from Mrs. Goldfarb's Unreal Deli, a company in which Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has invested.

The corned beef is an amazing fake with the tangy flavor and loose texture of the real thing. The sandwich also has apple-celery root slaw, pickles, and smoky Thousand Island dressing on rye bread, which has caraway seeds, very authentic.

White Chocolate M&M Peanuts
M&M's has been issuing flavor variations like coffee (also good), honey nut, and chili nut for more than a decade. Their white chocolate action began with a white-chocolate M&M in 2017, followed by white chocolate M&M peanuts in September 2018.

For 2020, they debuted a holiday-edition Sugar Cookie M&M's, featuring a white chocolate, sugar cookie-flavored shell with a crispy center. It came out in November and is now mostly off the shelves - but you can still find the M&M white chocolate peanuts at some stores including Walmart (and online for a pretty penny).

They're a godsend for fans of white chocolate, which has become more popular in recent years — less sweet than milk chocolate and not so oppressive as dark chocolate, with the peanut making them seem "healthy."

Integrale bread at Eataly
Truthfully, the best "bready" thing at Eataly, the Italian market at NorthPark Center, is the Roman-style pizza by the slice. The dough is made with a combination of three flours: type 00 flour, buratto flour, and whole wheat. It creates a crust that's thick yet light, crunchy yet airy, and comes with yummy toppings like mushrooms and butternut squash.

But sometimes you want bread, and among Eataly's breads, the Integrale is my favorite.

If you ask Eataly, their best bread is The Rustic, a sourdough that's their best seller. You can get it plain, or in varieties such as olive, walnuts & raisin, and chocolate chip.

"Integrale" is Italy's version of whole wheat bread, though not as heavy or dense as whole wheat bread can be. Many versions of Integrale, including Eataly's, have a bit of sweetness. Eataly's also has a seed-herb mix on top of the loaf that gives the crust an irresistible charred-toasty flavor.

Red Bull cola
This cola is part of a non-energy-drink line of sodas that Red Bull introduced in mid-2019. Called Organics by Red Bull, it has four flavors: cola, bitter lemon soda, tonic water, and ginger ale.

It's really my perfect idea of what soda should be, with artisanal-type ingredients and in a smaller size (8.4-ounce can, same as regular Red Bull) than the usual 12-ounce soda.

Sometimes you just want a shot of something carbonated and sweet, but not a whole 12 ounces, and not loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and a bunch of other garbage.

Red Bull Cola contains carbonated water, sugar, flavor, and a bunch of plant extracts that include lemon, ginger, lime, vanilla, licorice, cinnamon, kola nut, cocoa, orange, cardamom, mint, pine, mace, and clove. It's spicy, like a foodie version of soda.

This isn't the first time Red Bull has introduced a cola: They debuted a similar one in 2008, but discontinued it in 2011. Ahead of their time. Pepsi put out a similar product with its 1893 line but discontinued it in 2018.

Beet greens at Dallas Farmers Market
On a December 5 trip to the Dallas Farmers Market, I got two large bunches of absolutely perfect beet greens from Gerald Pruitt of Pruitt Farms in Mexia, Texas.

Pruitt tried to give them to me for free because the beets were small. But I buy beets for the greens. I love beet greens.

Some Dallas old-timers still moan about the "old" farmers market and how convenient it was to drive up and shop for produce — despite the fact that the majority of the stands in the old days were not manned by farmers but were instead vendors selling the same not-grown-in-Texas fruits and vegetables they could buy at any supermarket.

The current farmers market features actual farmers. Exclusively. It's not as convenient as pulling in and getting pineapples from Hawaii and strawberries from California, but it's not a fraud.

The Dallas Farmers Market will never be like markets on the West Coast where so much of our food is grown. But with its cute collection of shops selling Texas-raised meat, Texas-brewed wine and beer, popcorn, tamales, coffee, cheese, T-shirts, and gifts, some indoors, some outside, it is a nice way to spend a weekend day, a place to take guests, just like the markets on the West Coast - and you go home with local produce.

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Eco Warrior News

Dallas restaurants doing amazing little things for the environment

Southwest Airlines

Cute bamboo cup from Southwest Airlines

One unfortunate legacy left by the pandemic has been a huge increase in the use of plastics — setting back progress that was being made pre-pandemic.

Plastics are bad. They harm everything they touch: the environment, health, food security, and economies. But they're convenient, subsidized, and in some cases necessary.

Before the pandemic, a growing awareness had started to snowball regarding the negative impact of plastics, particularly plastic straws and single-use plastic containers — and it was significant enough to make the plastics industry very nervous.

"In the two years leading up to the pandemic, the public backlash against plastic was a major concern for industry leaders," says a story about plastics and the pandemic in The Guardian. "As a corporate executive remarked during an industry event early in 2019: 'We need to get the image of plastic in oceans out of the public’s mind. Otherwise, we could lose our social license to operate.'"

But then the pandemic came along, igniting mass hysteria about contagion, and suddenly, bans on single-use plastics that had been in the works were reversed in countries around the world: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Overnight, plastics went from public enemy No. 1 to consumers asking for everything to have as much packaging as possible and to be single use," said one gleeful analyst for Shell Oil, who are a major plastics player.

The urgency of the plastics situation remains invisible to most people, lined up at the drive-thru for their coffee or Chick-Fil-A, piling up nearly 250 pounds of plastic waste every year. (That's what the average American amasses — more than any other country.)

But there are brave, pro-environment efforts being made by Dallas companies and organizations, big and small.

La Casita Bakeshop cup Revolutionary compostable cup at La Casita Bakeshop.Facebook

Dallas efforts
The Dallas restaurants and organizations listed below have taken steps to fight waste, even though it costs them money.

Plastic Free Lunch Day is November 22
Dallas ISD’s Food and Child Nutrition Services will participate in Plastic Free Lunch Day on November 22, to help reduce the amount of single-use plastic in school cafeterias.

Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by middle school students in Brooklyn. The initiative was such a success that it was adopted by all New York City public schools in 2022. The concept has since spread to public schools across the country — including Dallas ISD, which was the first in Texas to participate, when it joined up in 2022.

It creates an opportunity to educate students and the community on ways to positively impact the environment, including skipping plastic. Dallas school cafeterias will replace the plastic items they regularly use during lunch with biodegradable alternatives. (Plastic cutlery, cups, and straws will be available upon request for the crybabies.)

Southwest Airlines bamboo cup
Southwest Airlines Co., the Dallas-based airline, has introduced a new bamboo cup for inflight cold beverages, and a wood stir stick in place of a plastic stick. The airline expects the new items to reduce its inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

In July 2024, Southwest transitioned to a paper overwrap for its napkins made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials — fully eliminating plastic from this service item. The airline is making an effort to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030.

La Casita Bakeshop compostable cups
La Casita Bakeshop, the award-winning bakery and cafe operation, recently debuted fabulous new cups that are 100 percent compostable, soil- and marine-biodegradable, breaking down naturally after 90 days. and are made from natural materials.

"We are always trying to find ways to be more environmentally friendly and this is a big way we can," they said in their post announcing the new cups. "We just want to be proud of our paper trail and being a restaurant it's hard to do that."

Smoothie King biodegrable cups
Smoothie King, the Dallas-based smoothie chain, previously used styrofoam cups, but began testing a biodegradable cup in 2019. They now offer it as the default choice. They're using Vio Foam, specially made cups that biodegrade 92 percent in four years. They'll still accommodate whiny selfish customers who insist on getting a plastic cup instead, but their Vio foam cup not only helps the environment, it also keeps their smoothies cold a little longer.

Kate Weiser Recycle Box Program
Kate Weiser, the Dallas chocolatier, sells its gorgeous eye-catching bon-bons in a variety of boxes, from 4 pieces all the way up to 35 pieces. (OK, they'll sell them individually, too, but who goes to a chocolate shop and buys a single chocolate?) They have a program where you can bring your empty box to the store and get a refill and get 5 percent off. (Weiser amusingly calls it a "secret hack.")

Dude Sweet Chocolate freezer packaging
Dude Sweet Chocolate, the Oak Cliff chocolatier, has a next-level campaign in which they will accept cold-ship packaging you've received in the mail and re-use it. Say, for example, that you ordered an 8-pack of ice cream pints from Double Rainbow in San Francisco, and it arrived in a box with freezer packs and a foil liner. You can drop that packaging off at Dude Sweet's factory location at 1340 Inwood Rd., and they'll re-use it in one way or another when they're doing shipments of their chocolate.

Note: Whether you're putting it in the blue bin or the gray bin, your plastic is not being recycled. The best course when it comes to plastic, especially single-use plastic, is to not use it at all.

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