16 August 31 - september 6, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents know, confusing) are behind the Texas ex- pansion. “We loved the concept so much when we were in California that we decided to bring it here,” Steck tells us. From food to work style, Nick the Greek transcends the traditional definition of a fast food chain. “It’s a chain, but it’s not a chain. It’s a fam- ily affair,” Steck says. “We make all our food fresh in the morning. Nothing is precut or prestored. We all talk to each other daily, and we’re all involved in every aspect of the busi- ness. That’s the Greek way of doing things.” Nick the Greek, 7707 N. MacArthur Blvd., Irving. Daily, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. ▼ FIRST LOOK LAND OF MILK AND HONEY TIKTOK CRAZE HONEY TOAST LANDS AT A DAY CAFE NORTH OF DALLAS. BY ANISHA HOLLA R ichardson has grown into one of Texas’ hottest Asian food capitals, home to favorites ranging from Asian Mint’s crispy pad Thai to Junbi Matcha’s fully matcha-based desserts and drinks. Now, it’s host to yet another craze in the Asian food scene: viral honey toast. Richardson’s A Day Cafe plates hundreds of these TikTok-famous desserts each day, topped with different fruits, creams and sweet syrups. What starts as a plain-looking slab of milk toast is slathered in honey butter and popped into the oven. The result is a golden, buttery hunk of toast that can be decorated with just about anything. In fact, the beauty of the honey toast is exactly that: Its extrava- gance is completely customizable. While some may argue that the dessert’s simplicity is what makes it beautiful, the Richardson cafe gives you the liberty to personalize the dish. Order yours covered in chocolate, sprinkles and whipped cream or just lightly brushed in honey. It’s just as soft, fluffy and addicting either way. A word of caution if you’re trying to get adventurous here, A Day Cafe doesn’t hold back on toast, toppings or sugar. The cafe’s signature creation is its honey butter toast ($12.85), an option that seems simple at first glance. But what comes out of the kitchen is a gargantuan 6-inch by 6-inch slice of classic milk toast, brushed in a sweet-and-salty honey butter glaze and topped with fruits and whipped cream. The chocolate overload toast ($12.85) is no less extravagant, garnished in just about anything chocolate: M&M’s, Kit Kat, Oreo cookies and syrup, with a melting scoop of ice cream on top. It’s an almost animalistic fight at the table after the dessert’s arrival. Forks and knives are marginally — if at all — useful. The thick- crusted slices of toast, endless piles of top- pings and fast-melting ice cream make any attempt to eat with utensils easy to abandon. If you’re like us, you’ll resort to shredding the toast apart with your hands. It’s instinctual. While best known for its honey toast, A Day Cafe offers other sweet delicacies. Sip and chew on dozens of creative bubble teas, which include a strawberry-scented yogurt, alongside options like an Oreo smoothie and an ombréd butterfly drink. Crepes are served almost (but not quite) as extrava- gantly, stuffed with different fruits and creams and patterned with swirls of whipped cream and syrup. It’s not easy to prepare any of these des- sert monstrosities in the kitchen. Expect a 10- to 15-minute wait. But the sumptuously plated dishes that arrive at the table are worth the wait. Just let your instincts guide you. A Day Cafe, 1811 N. Greenville Ave., Rich- ardson. Tuesday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 9:20 p.m. ▼ DELIVERY FROM THEIR KITCHEN TO YOUR DOOR COOKIN, A HOME COOKING FOOD DELIVERY CONCEPT, HAS LAUNCHED IN DALLAS. BY NICK REYNOLDS Y ou’re home. You’re hungry. You punched in this morning, and your eight hours felt more like 12. And as a reward for surviving, you’re given an op- portunity to participate in the sadistic daily bloodbath ritual known as rush-hour traffic in Dallas. Still feel like cooking? Or dressing up and venturing back into that same traffic to sit at a restaurant so you can order something you’ve probably had more times than you’d care to admit? Cookin, a concept built around getting fresh-to-order, home-cooked food to your door, wants to give you a new alternative to getting your kitchen dirty, dining out or or- dering the same, tired, chain-dominated fare that Uber Eats and similar delivery apps mostly offer. Recently, the Cookin team invited us to join their Dallas opening day launch tasting party. It was in an unassuming (albeit nice) home in the M streets of Dallas that we and others were treated to some of what one can find on the Cookin app — along with the op- portunity to meet three chefs on Cookin’s Dallas roster. Morley Ivers and Michael Baruch co- founded Cookin. Having launched the con- cept in their hometown of Toronto, they did their research and decided to make their next move to Dallas. Why Dallas? For Ivers and Baruch, it was the combination of a “su- perb pool of talented food creators” along with a rich and burgeoning market of “food- curious consumers.” Here’s how Cookin works: download the app and sift through different home kitchen culinary creators and their respective menus. After you place your order (assuming you’re within the delivery radius), you’ll receive an ETA when your order should arrive. All Cookin home chefs had to pass vigor- ous screenings before earning their spot on the Cookin roster. From meeting with Cookin team culinary lead Erin Willis (who headed RM 12:20 Bistro) for guidance in cu- rating their menus to kitchen inspections, everything’s fully legit and meets full health code regulations. All home cooks must also possess a Texas food handler’s certification. More than 1,500 aspiring home cooks have applied, with only the best of the best surviving the cut to receive an opportunity to represent Cookin. In turn, these home chefs will get a chance to alter their lives by trans- forming their kitchens into businesses (and keeping upward of 85% of their revenue) as they showcase their culinary talents to a rich Dallas customer base. They have complete freedom over their schedules and pricing. And these home chefs bring real-world restaurant experience. They’re not just wan- nabe cooks. Take Juan Altamirano, for example, whose résumé includes cooking at fine-din- ing restaurants and experience as a private chef. Samarcus Palmer has 10 years of culi- nary experience and worked the kitchen of the Ritz Carlton in Denver. At the launch tasting, Palmer’s tanjiro ta- cos — marinated pieces of chicken in a won- ton shell topped with red peppers, red onions, cilantro and avocado cream cheese — were glorious. Altamirano’s oxtail beig- nets were among the most talked about sam- plings of the party. And the third chef we got a chance to meet and greet, Neydi Hernan- dez (who also has experience in restaurant kitchens), treated us to an assortment of in- credible tamales. These items just scratched the surface of what Cookin is offering right now app-wide. Some of the other items you can find: cheese steak banh mi, gumbo with smoked elk and venison sausage, 15-layer Bolognese lasagna, duck confit tacos, Argentinian beef empana- das and stuffed goat cheese peppers. Cookin’ is in the early stages of this en- deavor, but plans are to expand to Austin and Houston later this year and then to Tampa and other U.S. markets in 2024. And with ev- ery order a donation will be made to the North Dallas Food Bank. We were handed gift bags on the way out. In our gift bag was a handwritten note from Ivers and Baruch. One of the lines on the card read, “... we’re excited for you to enjoy the best food this city has to offer from the most talented food creators.” We are too. ▼ STATE FAIR FRIED FOOD GLORY THE 2023 BIG TEX CHOICE AWARD WINNERS. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS E very year about a month before the State Fair of Texas reigns at Fair Park in South Dallas, chefs and judges gather around the fryers to select the Big Tex Choice Award winners for best savory, best sweet and most creative. The process starts early in the summer with more than 50 entries, which are slimmed down to a roster of 36 semifinalists in July. In early August, 10 finalists were an- nounced. This weekend the winners were chosen. All entrants in the fried food competition need to have been a vendor at the State Fair for at least one year prior. Most vendors fry food not as a hobby but for a living or a seri- ous side hustle (perhaps for a restaurant), as was the case with last year’s winner: Peanut Butter Paradise, from South Dallas’ very own Southside Steaks and Cakes. Other fair veterans like Abel Gonzalez, aka Fried Jesus, prepares all year for the 24 days of the fair and operates several concession stands at once. This year Gonzalez was, once again, a Big Tex finalist with turkey ribs. For this final competition, which took place on Sunday, Aug. 27, the vendors set up shop behind a big stage and prepared their foods. The panel of judges worked their way through 10 different items: five savory and five sweet. It’s a tough job. The panel this year included Brad Bat- son, co-founder of Karbach Brewing; Jamie “Jazze” Goodspeed-Maxie of Radio One Dallas; Dallas Mavericks play-by-play an- nouncer Mark Followill; Norm Hitzges, the recently retired radio host at KTCK The Ticket; Richard Chamberlain, chef of Cham- berlain’s Steak and Chop House; Sumera Syed, baker and content creator; and Zach & Tee, food content creators. The implications for winning a Big Tex Choice Award are substantial: the State Fair prints a map each year with the finalists highlighted. cdIt translates into big busi- ness. We previously wrote about the deep- fried money that was exposed in the A&E series, Deep Fried Dynasty. In the show, Gonzalez’s daily sales goal was Anisha Holla The chocolate overload toast is piled high. City of Ate from p15 >> p19
