A to Z Wineworks Rosé 2008 ($10) USA

Welcome to the eighth annual Advocate rosé column, where our motto is: If it’s summer and you have $10, you can buy a pretty good rosé — and sometimes even get change back.… more

The quality of rosé has improved dramatically since I

Sample the menus of more than 60 local restaurants at Taste Addison, which kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday at Addison Circle Park. The three-day festival also features live music: Chris Cagle and Luke Bryan on Friday and Train on Saturday.  For the kids, there are carnival rides and midway games. The event runs until midnight Friday, noon-midnight Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

Comedian Maz Jobrani will perform all weekend at Addison Improv. He’s one of the founding members of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, featuring Middle-Eastern comics. Now, he’s on a solo tour, “Brown and Friendly.” He performs at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 6:30, 9 and 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Landscape pastel artist Brian Cobble will present his latest exhibit, “The Edge of Town,” at a 6 p.m. reception Friday at the Valley House Gallery and Sculpture Garden. He’ll give a talk at 11 a.m. Saturday. His work ranges from urban New York to rural Nebraska. The show runs through July 3.

The great Lynne Kleinpeter has very little patience with my never-ending — some would say obsessive — quest for the perfect $10 bottle of wine. As she has has said on more than one occasion: “Enough already. Just shut up and drink the wine.”

So when Lynne says that the Château Boisson ($10, purchased, available at Central Market) is pretty close to a perfect bottle of $10 white wine, you know it’s quality wine. I reviewed the 2008 Boisson, and it was more than decent. And the 2009 makes the 2008 seem quite ordinary.

It’s a white blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon, with some lemon fruit in the front and a long mineral finish. It’s about as close as I have come to finding older-style white Bordeauxs that don’t taste like New Zealand sauvignon blanc. As such, serve it chilled on its own, with almost any kind of grilled or roast chicken, and even with entree salads. Highly recommended and a candidate for the 2011 $10 Hall of Fame.

Tiffany Derry, the executive chef at Go Fish Ocean Club on Alpha Road, will compete in the upcoming season of the Bravo reality show, “Top Chef.” You can check out her snazzy portrait on the show’s website along with the 16 other contestants from around the country.

Her bio plays up her “don’t mess with Texas” attitude, recounting her days as IHOP’s youngest manager ever at age 17. She attended the Art Institute of Houston and taught culinary studies at the Art Institute of Dallas.

Go Fish has been highlighted as a fine dining “hotspot” for seafood in Dallas and has received several accolades. 

“Top Chef” takes place in Washington D.C. and premieres on June 16.

Fuzzy’s Tacos on Campbell has only been open about a week but the word is out, as evidenced by the packed dining room when I dropped in on Tuesday afternoon. Those of you who recall the circa-1982 Braum’s this place used to be will likely be impressed with the new digs. A few coats of brightly colored paint and new flooring have really spruced up the place, and soon, there will be a new patio out back.

The food here, which you order at the register, is mostly offered a la carte. So unless you order one of the platters, you’ll have to pay extra for those beans and rice .The big draw here are the baja-style fish tacos, though there are several other worthy choices, like jumbo burritos, grilled sandwiches, and salads. I was pleasantly surprised by the good hunk of vegetarian options — the grilled veggies tacos I had were delightful, as was the black bean soup and Latin-style fried potatoes. There’s also beer and margaritas here, and keep this place on your AM radar, as breakfast here includes huevos rancheros, migas, chilaquiles, and breakfast tacos and burritos.

Obzeet continues its weekend music lineup, beginning Friday with The Infidels, a British Invasion rock group. Then come the Midnight Believers who will perform classic rock cover tunes on Saturday. It’s $5 per table each night.

Big Shucks is hosting a crawfish boil Saturday with live music at both of its locations, including the one at 103 S. Coit. The crawfish special — $3.95 a pound — is from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and the music runs from 1 to 6 p.m.

The Richardson men’s soccer team will have a carwash from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Walgreens at Beltline and Coit.

For the next two weeks, the foodie grocery store‘s aisles will be stocked with Argentinean labels, giving us Texans a chance to sample this nation’s fare. Though you may be familiar with empanadas (if you’re not — and even if you are — make sure to pick up a few from the chef’s case), you may not know about Havanna Dulce de Leche. And you really need to learn about Havanna Dulce de Leche.

It’s essentially a sweet, gooey, caramel-like substance made with with sugar, vanilla and cow’s milk. Apparently, Argentineans put this stuff in everything (cookies, desserts, coffee, biscuits) and even eat it straight up. And I can’t blame them. It’s delicious. Havanna also makes all kinds of cookies and sweets, and their products are to Argentineans what Nabisco cookies are to many Americans. The prices are great, too; when I was trying samples in the store last night, I was told that some Havanna cookies are $1 or $2 a box.

The whole point of Central Market‘s event, which lasts through May 25, is to try the food of a different culture. Their weekly specials encourage the purchase of Argentinean fare, and their cooking school classes (if not already sold out) focus on Argentinean recipes and winemakers. If you can’t make it to one of the empanada classes, visit Central Market’s website for recipes and a quick tutorial (scroll down beneath the calendar and click on the first tab).

It’s easy to champion regional wine when there are regional winemakers like Kim McPherson, whose self-named winery in Lubbock produces some of the best wines in Texas. Best yet, McPherson’s wines are reasonably priced; he understands that you can’t ask consumers to pay $25 for a bottle of wine for no other reason than it’s a regional wine.

McPherson has three great strengths as a winemaker. First, he has never once said that Texas should be Napa, which is something the Wine Curmudgeon hears all too often from regional winemakers. Second, because he understands that Texas isn’t Napa, he makes wine with grapes that are suited to the hot, dry climate. That means Spanish, Italian and southern French varietals — viognier instead of chardonnay and sangiovese instead of merlot (and if I could only get him to make chenin blanc, the world would be that much closer to perfection). Third, he makes wines that are enjoyable, a concept that too many winemakers (are you listening, California?) don’t understand.

The sangiovese (about $16, purchased, available at Central Market, Goody Goody and selected Whole Foods, Majestic and Sigel’s) is one of the best examples of what regional wine should be. It tastes like sangiovese, with cherry fruit, balanced acid, and soft tannins. But it is not Chianti, the sangiovese from Tuscany, and it is not sangiovese from California. McPherson takes what Texas gives him instead of forcing the wine to taste like what he thinks it should taste like.

Serve this with anything with red sauce, roasted chicken, or even barbecue.

Texas wine, regional wine, McPherson Cellars, wine reviews, wine of the week, sangiovese

It’s national burger month and Smashburger is celebrating with several promotions over the next few weeks:

May 10 through 13: Free fries with every purchase of a hamburger

May 18 through 20: One free kid meal with the purchase of an entree

May 25: Buy one 1/3 lb. hamburger and get another free

May 28: Smashburger will be giving out one ‘golden ticket’ that’s good for free hamburgers, sides, and drink for one year

The restaurant will also be having a month-long canned food drive for North Texas Food Bank. If you’d like to donate something, just look for the collection bins by the door.

If you’re a procrastinator, like the person writing this, you probably haven’t given much thought to where you’ll take Mom this Sunday. Luckily, plenty of places are offering Mother’s Day specials, and here are a few happening in our neighborhood:

*Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House is offering a three-course $38 menu. Or, you can go for the $38 deal at Chamberlain’s Fish Market just down the road.

*Over at Canary Café, Northwood Hills neighbor chef Gorgi is offering a three course meal for $29.

*Blue Mesa is extending its usual Sunday brunch until 8 p.m. And just a reminder: that $18 buffet includes free champagne and mimosas.

*At Blue Goose, they’re offering a brunch special with $2 mimosas (they’re normally $4).

*If you take Mom to Ferrari’s, she’ll get a free tiramisu shooter with her lunch or dinner.

*Or, if you take her to Big Shucks, she can get a free flower with her meal.

Though the sign is still up, Café Marrakesh has closed. Reportedly, unsteady business drove those owners to move the restaurant to Fort Worth. It’s a shame. I was a fan of their lamb roast in my pre-vegetarian life.

In Café Marrakesh’s old spot, you’ll now find Tex Mex café Rio Azul — not to be confused with Dos Rios, another Tex Mex joint just across the street. Rio Azul is the brainchild of two guys who cut their teeth at Mi Cocina, and unlike most Mexican eateries, this spot will offer a lunchtime buffet.

Turns out that rumored Fuzzy’s Taco opening I reported on last week did indeed happen this weekend. It was packed as of Sunday afternoon when I drove by. I’ll be dropping in this week, so check back Friday for my two cents.