Bon Appetit magazine’s September 2007 Restaurant issue features three finalists in a list of quintessential versions of six American classics: pizza, steak, tacos, hamburgers, fried chicken, and ribs. Winner will be announced on the Food Network on Aug. 18 (Good Eats with Alton Brown, 6 and 10 pm CDT). The finalists:

PIZZA: Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix; DiFara Pizza, Brooklyn, NY; Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles
STEAK: Peter Luger Steak House, Brooklyn; Cut, Los Angeles; Doe’s Eat Place, Greenville, Miss.
TACOS: Taco Taco Cafe, San Antonio; Taqueria del Sol, Atlanta; South Beach Bar & Grill, Ocean Beach, Calif.
Hamburgers: Bobcate Bite, Santa Fe, NM; Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, St. Helena, Calif; The Meers Store and Restaurant, Lawton, Okla.
FRIED CHICKEN: Willie Mae’s Scotch House, New Orleans; Price’s Chicken Coop, Charlotte, NC; Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tenn.
RIBS: Charles Vergos Rendezvous, Memphis; 17th Street Bar & Grill, Murphysboro, Ill; Jaspers, Plano, Texas.

The magazine also features favorite restaurant recipes, including: Lucia’s in Minneapolis-St. Paul; Eve in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dali Restaurant & Tapas Bar in Somerville, Mass.; Binkley’s Restaurant in Cave Creek, Ariz.; Kelly Liken Restaurant in Vail, Colo; Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles; and Park Kitchen in Portland, Ore. … And the mag also features 12 small restaurants and their recipes, including: The Little Owl, New York City; The Good Fork, Brooklyn; La Laiterie at Farmstead, Providence, RI; Cremant, Seattle; Bonne Soiree, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Hatfield’s, Los Angeles; Canteen, San Francisco; Revolver, Findlay, Ohio; Le Pigeon, Portland, Ore; and Komi, Washington, DC. epicurious.com/bonappetit

IN THE NEWS: The Dallas Morning News’ Bill Addison awards three stars to Urban Taco (5331 E Mockingbird Lane, Dallas) and two stars to Lonesome Dove Western Bistro (2406 N Main St, Fort Worth), while Kim Pierce gives three stars to Cafe Malaga (111 W Virginia St, McKinney), and Kim Harwell gives two stars to Tilley’s Grill (7033 Greenville Ave, Dallas). … Addison reports that David Gilbert has resigned from his post as Luqa’s executive chef. … Addison also blogs, “As first reported by D Magazine food editor Nancy Nichols on the frontburner blog, Ciudad in Oak Lawn is closing. The restaurant, which was opened in 2000 by longtime Dallas restaurateur Monica Greene and chef-partner Joanne Bondy, introduced diners to truer flavors of Mexico in a romantic setting that evoked Mexico City. Greene points to issues with the new owners of One Turtle Creek Village Center, where the restaurant is housed, as the primary reason for closing. The new landlords, according to Greene, have been planning to take the shopping center in a direction that doesn’t include Ciudad.” … Addison also reports, “Two of the city’s prominent hotel restaurants, Pyramid Grill in the Fairmont Dallas and Landmark in the Warwick Melrose hotels, are searching for new executive chefs. Scott Monell departed as executive chef of the Pyramid Grill in June. Sous chef Roberto Roman has taken charge of the kitchen in the interim. The restaurant’s management expects to have a new executive chef in place by October. Monell was recently hired by the Hilton Salt Lake City hotel to oversee its banquet and room service kitchens and its casual restaurant, Trofi. Joel Harloff, whose cooking earned a four-and-a-half star review from Dotty Griffith in August 2004, left his post at the Landmark in late spring. Executive sous chef Eric Holt is currently in charge of the menu. The Landmark’s management remains tight-lipped about the progress of their search for a new chef. Joel Harloff is slated to be the chef at Screen Door, one of the new eateries set to open at One Arts Plaza this fall.” guidelive.com … The Observer’s Mark Stuertz reviews Cafe Madrid (4501 Travis St.). dallasobserver.com … PegasusNews.com’s Teresa Gubbins reports: Brinker International is selling off Romano’s Macaroni Grill, after its revenue stayed flat for the fiscal year ending in June 2007. Macaroni Grill is Brinker’s second-largest concept, with 230 locations. Since 2004, Brinker has ditched Rockfish Seafood Grill, Corner Bakery Cafe, and Big Bowl Asian Kitchen brands — I.E., any of its chains that are actually GOOD. Its top brand is Chili’s Grill which has 1,220 locations. … The recent sale of the Luna Tortilla Factory building is hammering home the fact that Dallas’ Little Mexico area is disappearing. And the DMN says that the owners of the only two remaining Little Mexico businesses – El Fenix and the adjacent Hernandez grocery — might close for the right price.” … Greenville Avenue Seafood and Jazz will close on Aug. 25. … Fort Worth Weekly reviews Del Frisco’s (812 Main St.) and Krystal. fwweekly.com … The Star-Telegram’s June Naylor notes the newest location of Kincaid’s Hamburgers (4825 Overton Ridge Blvd., Fort Worth), while Patricia Rodriguez reviews Chapa Grill (7355 N. Beach St., Suite 173, Fort Worth). star-telegram.com

Compiled by Pat Embry, WhereTheLocalsEat.com

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