EATS

I'm glad it's in the high 90s somewhere, even if it's just wine scores. If you know a wine geek who loves Robert Parker, Pogo's has several upper-90s-scoring, sometimes hard-to-find California reds. Some even have a few bucks knocked off the regular price. To wit:

• 99 - 2004 Colgin Cellars Cariad Red Wine Napa Valley $550


• 98 - 2004 Colgin Cellars IX Estate Red Wine Napa $500


• 96 - 2005 Dominus Estate Red Wine Napa $140


• 96 -2005 Spottswoode Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena $129


• 96 - 2005 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Eloge Napa $79.99

I don't know if this has anything to do with the dramatic drop in lobster prices I wrote about last month here, but TJ's Market & Catering has slashed prices on 1.5- to 2-pound lobsters to $12.99 a pound through the end of the year.

Furthermore, they will par-steam, crack or take the meat out for free. TJ's is at 11661 Preston (at Forest, southwest corner). Call 214-691-2369 or e-mail at sales@tjsmarketandcatering.com to reserve your lobstah now, as they say in merry old New England.

Hockey jocks Mike Modano and Brett Hull are set to open Hully & Mo Restaurant & Tap Room in the old Riccardi's space just before Christmas. The fare: chef-driven American comfort food.

They've got some great pals in the venture: restaurateur Eddie Cervantes, who gave us Primo's and the late, great Moctezuma's, and Dallas billionaire Tim Headington, who owns The Joule.

It sounds like some kinda swanky sports bar, with Hill Country limestone, leather booths, open kitchen, mutliple TV screens and sports memorabilia down to the hockey-stick door-pulls. They're looking to create an affordable, family hangout, according to the Dallas Business Journal. You can read more in the DBJ here.

This week, Restaurant Critic Bill Addison reviews Denton sushi bar Keiichi.

Kim Harwell reviews Go Fish Ocean Club near the Galleria.

Share your own review of these restaurants. Leave a comment below.

Photo of Keiichi's squid sashimi by Elizabeth M. Claffey / Special to DMN

Not sure where this prized East Asian citrus fruit is grown, but I have to assume it's pretty far away. Say, across the Pacific. Each year, Central Market seems to stock yuzu for about a week. Then it's gone.

Yuzu juice is an essential ingredient in Japanese ponzu sauce (citrus and soy sauce), which is sublime with salmon sashimi. More often in North Texas, ponzu becomes a lemon-juice-soy-sauce blend.

So I brought home my first fresh yuzu ($2.99 a pound), which looks kind of like a pale, nubbly tangerine, and its pulp was mostly dried up inside. Still, I managed to extract its meager juice into a bowl, adding lemon juice and soy sauce. Even that little bit made such a difference in the sauce, adding almost a mandarin orange scent and flavor.

A good foodie lesson, yes. But I don't know that I'd buy it again. I drizzled the sauce over fried tofu. Next, I'm going to fiddle with some Bergamot oranges somebody sent me. Its skin is the source of beramot fragrance.

Slow down on your holiday rounds long enough to stop by Flavors From Afar on Dec. 14 (that's a Sunday) at 1:30 p.m. Owners Nancy and Gary Krabill will be having a tasting of three 'nuovo' olive oils just in from Italy.

Nancy writes: "Fresh-pressed oil has a vibrant, green, sunny taste that rises up, cuts through and accents mellow and rich flavors." After about a month, it settles into a more mature mode. Here's what they'll be tasting (with Nancy's notes):

Tutto Tuscana - Estate oil from near Pisa. Leccino, frantoio and moraiolo olives. Big, bold taste with bitter aftertaste.
Casa Caponetti - Organic oil from near Rome. Canino olives. Nutty and spicy.
Rasna - Organic oil from near Sinalunga (in Tuscany). Leccino, frantoio, moraiolo and pendolino olives. Fresh grass, strong flavor, dense consistency.

Of course the oils will be for sale, but the tasting is free. Flavors from Afar is at 6712 Snider Plaza.

Chef Richard Chamberlain wants everyone to know that his son, Stephen, took first place in the Winston Science Artisan Cheese-making competition last week at Fair Park.

Stephen topped the "semi-soft rennet" category with his fresh goat cheese. Proud papa wanted to especially let the folks know who got a cheese-making lesson from Stephen in the chef's recent cooking class. Stephen's a seventh-grader at Prestonwood Christian Academy.

Cheese-making for seventh-graders? Paula Lambert, watch out.

It's such a gimmick, but it's so cute. Sigel's will take 20 percent off all wines in a category of wine each day through Dec. 13. Yesterday was Italy and Spain. Today it's Chile and Argentina. Here's a list of the other days and discounted categories:

Dec. 3: Red Rhones
Dec. 4: California whites
Dec. 5: French whites
Dec. 6: Red Bordeaux
Dec. 7: Closed
Dec. 8: Dessert wines
Dec. 9: California, Washington, Oregon and Texas reds (except cabernet sauvignon)
Dec. 10: Champagnes and sparkling wines
Dec. 11: Australia and New Zealand
Dec. 12: Red Burgundy
Dec. 13: Domestic cabernet sauvignon, including California, Washington, Oregon and Texas

Dallas haute chocolatier NOKA has opened a store in NorthPark Center between Neiman Marcus and Tiffany & Co. featuring the same single-estate chocolates that earned it a national reputation. It also has tasting sets with Riedel wine glasses. Check out the limited edition Winter Snowflakes boxes (left). (If you have to ask how much any of this stuff costs, you probably can't afford it.)

Potato chips. Mmmm. Back in the summer after a natural foods convention in Dallas, I wrote in the newspaper that Good Health Natural Foods Avocado Oil Potato Chips were a new item to watch for.

On my most recent orbit through Central Market, there they were, in Sea Salt, Chilean Lime and Barbecue flavors. The avocado oil adds a perceptible creaminess while the chips themselves are wafer-thin. I still don't know what's Chilean about the lime, but the flavor's quite snappy and good. Even at $3.49 for 5 ounces. Five servings. Two at my house. Maybe one.

This Saturday will be the season's last Market Day at Eden's Organic Garden Center. Although you can show up and see what's for sale, the best way to use this market is to pre-order so your goodies are waiting for you.

JuHa Ranch orders must be placed by 3 p.m. Wednesday, and no extra product will be available at the market. This is your source for sustainably raised, free-range chicken, pork and beef, as well as some lamb. You can find a full list of offerings here. Reach out to them at 903-695-2684.

Other purveyors who will be on hand include Cherokee Point Beef and P.O.P. Acres Ranch and Farm, which both raise pastured beef. Mama Bistro is the place for fresh-baked organic breads. In addition to other items, Mama Jeani is baking holiday baguettes: classic Italian, cheddar-pepper flake, Parmesan herb, Kalamata-roasted red pepper, roasted red pepper-Parmesan, sun-dried tomato-rosemary and cheddar-dill. These purveyors will take orders through Thursday.

E-mail Cherokee Point Beef at cherokeepoint2004@yahoo.com. E-mail Mama Jeani at mamajeani@yahoo.com. E-mail P.O.P.'s at popacres@peoplepc.com.

The market takes place Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, and kids are welcome to meet some of the animals and get a taste of farm life. There may also be producers and farmers who show up to celebrate the last day of the market days' successful second year. Market days will resume in the spring. Eden's is at 4710 Pioneer Road in Balch Springs.

Never one to waste a good turkey carcass (mine from a 20-pound bird), I broke it down into two pots with some onion, shallots and peppercorns (all I had on hand of traditional stock fixin's). Simmered it until the meat lost its flavor, removed the bones, and simmered it several hours more till it was reduced by half to a dark brown. Strained it, put it in the fridge to cool and skimmed of the fat later.

Then I pulled out Helen Chen's basic Egg Drop Soup recipe, which follows, and made it with my turkey broth as a base. I added a little soy sauce and shredded turkey for a comforting apres-Thanksgiving soup. You could also add mushrooms.

Special contributor Michael Hiller tipped me to this: Esquire asked "three of America's best young chefs to devise chili recipes exclusively for us, with no restrictions...and enlisted a master chef to be the judge."

That judge was Daniel Boulud, who owns numerous restaurants bearing some extrapolation of his name, and the winner was White-Bean-and-Sausage Chili by David Bull, executive chef at Bolla at the Stonleigh Hotel and Spa. His recipe is in the December issue.

'Think Boulud's not qualified to judge chili? "I love chili. Are you kidding?" he told the magazine. Boulud noted that Bull's chili had "...excellent herbal flavor, and a good balance of meat and vegetables. Mmmm. It's Italian flair in a classic chili - a true interpretation. Soul satisfying. This is chili you want to keep going back to."

But, Daniel.... beans?

Want to tune out the bailout-pleas from Wall Street and look out for yourself? Check out the Bail Us Out Dinner Special at Daddy Jack's Wood Grill, on Elm Street. Chef Salvatore Gisellu and his team will dish up a three-course dinner for $20 and throw in half-price vino (by the bottle) and other drink specials. All this on Friday, Nov. 28, from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Call 214-653-3949.

Campania Pizza owner Jay Jerrier says that he's kicking off brunch service at the Southlake location of his Old World Italian pizzeria Friday through Sunday in an effort to reach those intrepid shoppers who hit the streets the day after Thanksgiving.

"The frittatas are incredibly good," he says via e-mail, "and we finish them off in our wood-burning ovens." That does sound yummy. The restaurant will open at 10 a.m.; it's at 291 Grand Ave. in Southlake. He'll be making pizzas, too.

This year, the Splendid Table Turkey Confidential 2008 airs on KERA-FM (90.1) from 10 a.m. to noon on Thanksgiving day. This is the live, holiday edition of Lynne Rosetto Kasper's regular Sunday show, The Splendid Table.

Lynne lines up turkey experts, tosses out Thanksgiving ideas and helps callers with "turkey triage." In years past, I have turned it on and listened in while preparing the big repast. It's always entertaining, and if you really, really, really get stuck, you can call in.

If that doesn't work, the Butterball Hotline is operational from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1-800-BUTTERBALL. Of course, they'll only talk turkey.

This week, Restaurant Critic Bill Addison reviews Oak Cliff's Bolsa.

Kim Harwell reviews GoGo Burger in Frisco Square. She also writes about La Duni's new NorthPark location, Blue Collar Bar and other eateries in her latest Table Talk column.

Share your own review of these restaurants. Leave a comment below.

Photo of Bolsa's Twig and Branch flatbread by Michael Mulvey / DMN

Here's a deal for kitchen-gear junkies. For every $50 you spend on items in Williams-Sonoma stores this Friday through Sunday, you'll get a $10 coupon to use after the holidays. Click here to find a store near you. This should not be hard to pull off, no way. Those 12 Days of Christmas plates are pretty cool.

Aw, isn't that label just the cutest thing? That's Mionetto Novello, an Italian answer to Beaujolais nouveau, made with 100 percent merlot from the hill country north of Venice. The "new" wine is a fresh, young, cheerful red, and the price is right: $10.99 at Jimmy's Food Store, Fitzhugh at Bryan. Co-owner Paul DiCarlo has just 10 cases, probably fewer now.

Mercury Grill executive chef/partner Chris Ward joins FOX & Friends on cable Thursday morning to share recipes and techniques during Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

During two eight-minute segments, he'll show how to brine a turkey (it's probably a little late for that), as well as make green bean casserole, braised rosemary sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin Cognac cheesecake, braised veal rack, pomme mousseline, Asian pear and Gorgonzola salad, caramel-apple pie and bone-in rib roast.

Even if he only flies through the demonstrations, that's still a lot of food and food prep - which no doubt will provide a tasty after-show, on-set nosh for the staff and hosts. FOX & Friends starts at 8 a.m.; check your local listings for the channel.