Miss Foodie Two Shoes: Brownstone makes the list

Digging deep into DFW's dining scene

Travel + Leisure magazine just put out its list of Best "Top Chef restaurants" — restaurants where former Top Chef contestants play a significant role. We're glad to see places run by our favorites Kevin Gillespie (Woodfire Grill in Atlanta) and Bryan Voltaggio (VOLT in Frederick, Md.) make the list. We're also pleased (though not surprised) to see Casey Thompson make the list with her new Fort Worth restaurant, Brownstone. Thompson has impressed us ever since she was executive chef at Dallas' Shinsei. And if you haven't tried Brownstone yet, now you have another opportunity: Since last Sunday, it's been serving a weekly brunch.

Find It: Brownstone, 840 Currie St., 817-332-1555, www.brownstonerestaurants.com.

Sushi, Nebraska-style

We're always ready for good sushi, even if it comes from unlikely places. Like Omaha.

Surprisingly, what looks to be the one of the prettiest sushi places ever to open in Cowtown is Blue Sushi Sake Grill and Sake Bombers Lounge, coming to the Cultural District from an Omaha-based restaurant group. The sleek new place, being readied on the ground floor of the contemporary flatiron building at Museum Place, sits right between the Modern Art Museum and Eddie V's.

The best news of all: the executive chef will be the endearing Ped Phommavong, who stole our hearts and palates with his Thai-Japanese fusion food at the humble but hip Mochi Kitchen in Haltom City.

Look for Blue Sushi to open in late September. Updates will be posted on Facebook at Blue Sushi Sake Grill Fort Worth.

J.R. takes his best shot

J.R. is at it again. Colleyville's Johnny "J.R." Ragland is opening his second restaurant on Airport Freeway: J.R.'s Grill. "We've done a good job with the steakhouse, and now we want to do something casual with the same kind of quality," said Todd Phillips, Ragland's chef at J.R.'s Steakhouse and the new grill. J.R.'s serves 10-ounce, prime-beef burgers — like Pappas Burger — and tops them with everything from caviar to cheese enchiladas. Yes, enchiladas. The Hamburguesa Asada is topped with ancho barbecue sauce and two cheese enchiladas Caviar comes with Boursin cheese on the ground-filet-mignon Prime Time Burger ($18).

Find It: J.R.'s Grill, 5220 Texas 121, 817-571-1414, www.jrsgrill.net.

In-N-Out to West 7th?

In-N-Out Burger, the storied California hamburger drive-in pioneer, has confirmed that it has signed lease and purchase agreements for North Texas locations, but none will open until late 2011.

There is mounting speculation that the privately held, family-run burger chain that never strayed far from the West Coast has focused on a particular site on West Seventh Street in Fort Worth, not far from Montgomery Plaza, for at least one of its DFW locations. In-N-Out spokesman Carl Van Fleet declined to confirm or deny any site, or give the number of stores planned for the region.

"Most of those sites have contingencies that involve our ability to obtain the necessary entitlements and permits," Van Fleet said in an e-mail to us. "Until we get all that done, it really is too early to speculate as to opening timelines for any of the locations we are pursuing."

Earlier reports by D Magazine's Nancy Nichols have pegged the first North Texas In-N-Out to open at Firewheel Town Center in Garland. And an Orange County Register story suggested at least five In-N-Outs will be opened in DFW along with a processing plant. (One of the reasons In-N-Out hasn't expanded much beyond California, according to the OCR, is that the company processes its own meat at a plant there and the proximity of the 249 In-N-Out's allows the burger-maker to exercise quality control.)

With Five Guys Burgers and Fries recently opening its first Fort Worth location and bagging the coveted Zagat prize for best fast-food burger, not to mention Cowtown faves Kincaid's, Fred's, Tommy's, Love Shack, etc., In-N-Out will be walking into a full-scale burger war whenever it arrives here. We can’t wait.J