The Verdict on Mi Piaci, Local, Nora, and More

Leslie Brenner awards Mi Piaci two stars. She praises the housemade pasta, but flavorless truffles, boring steak and overcooked tuna add up to a restaurant that "has lost the scent of its Italian inspiration". [DMN]

D Magazine revisited Tracy Miller's nine year old Deep Ellum gem Local. Although they found "nothing revelatory or challenging", the food, including seared foie gras with housemade Texas toast and "perfectly cooked" scallops in a citrus butter glaze, is still capable of inducing swoons. [D Magazine]

Scott Reitz reviewed Nora, the new Greenville Avenue Middle Eastern Spot from the owners of North Dallas' Afghan Grill. He praises the aushuk, "a sauteed leek dumpling wearing a thin veneer of pasta dough and topped with yogurt and meat sauce", saying that "heaped on spaghetti it would beat the ragus served in many Dallas Italian restaurants", but finds missteps like Turkish coffee that is "much too silty", and flavors repeated throughout the menu quickly grow redundant. [Dallas Observer]

THE BLOGS: Entree Dallas also weighs in on Nora, Jayme Campbell at Confection Confessions calls the desserts at Snack "lackluster", and City of Ate's Gavin Cleaver finds the meat at Mama Faye's BBQ to be "deliciously juicy and tender and wonderful."
[Photo credit: CraveDFW]