2022 August Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate

LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS

AUGUST 2 0 2 2

AUGUST 2022

A D V O C AT E M A G . C O M

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3544 WHITEHALL | SOLD 4 Beds | 3.1 Bath | 2 Car | 2,642 SF Mary Poss - 214-738-0777

2127 CENTENNIAL VALLEY | SOLD

NEW LISTING

908 SHADYSIDE | $900,000 3 Bed | 2.2 Bath | 2 Car | 2,776 SF Sinnott, Clayton, and Dybvad Group 214-536-8786 PENDING

NEW LISTING

4 Beds | 4 Bath | 2 Liv | 2 Car | 3,013 SF Carolyn Black - 214-675-2089 PENDING

7411 WALLING | $625,000 4 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Car | 2,692 SF Steve Cairns - 972-740-2517

5635 VICTOR | $600,000 3 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 2,156 SF Selzer Stell - 214-797-0868

5830 ELM LAWN | SOLD 3 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 1,845 SF Perry Flowwers III - 469-233-9099

9115 BOUND BROOK | SOLD

3320 REAGAN ST. #119 | $325,000

LAKEWOOD | LAKE HIGHLANDS | 214-826-0316

3 Bed | 1.1 Bath | 2 Car | 1,132 SF Peter Loudis - 214-215-4269

PRESTON CENTER | 214-692-0000

2 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 1,121 SF Steve Cairns - 972-740-2517

EBBY’S LITTLE WHITE HOUSE | 214-210-1500

9342 CREEL CREEK | SOLD

4 Bed | 3.1 Bath | 2 Car | 3,466 SF Dennis Coleman - 214-498-4136

Keep Your Cool in This Market 2131 HELSMINSTER | SOLD 3 Beds | 3.1 Bath | 2 Car | 2,323 SF Mary Poss - 214-738-0777

617 GUADALAJARA | $669,900

4 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Liv | 2 Car | 3,179 SF Brown-Qualls & Schrickel Group 214-801-1795

When the Texas heat is cranked all the way up, we find ourselves inside … A LOT. That makes it all the more important to love where we live. If you want to upsize, downsize or rightsize, but have questions about what that would look like with current interest rates and market conditions, one of our experts

7319 CASA LOMA | SOLD

2 Beds | 2 Bath | 2Car | 906 SF Peter Loudis - 214-215-4269

1416 CHATSWORTH | $533,500

4 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Car | 2,703 SF Kathy Richardson - 214-886-1277

would be happy to talk you through a strategic plan that works for you.

PENDING

Ready to get started? Let’s chat!

ebby.com 4117 HERSCHEL #4119A | SOLD

1 Bed | 1 Bath | 1,050 SF Baldemar DeLeon - 469-996-7880

6106 SUMMER CREEK | 240,000

2 Bed | 2 Bath | 1 Car | 1,272 SF Rene Barrera - 214-497-2035

aug 22 contents

LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS ADVOCATE VOL.29 NO.8

PROFILE 10 Brandon Friedman DINING 14 Five-decade-old diner on Greenville FEATURES 18 Down on the corner 30 Sweet as pie COLUMNS 42 Food and family 48 Worship: Acts of virtue

A wall decoration at Sfuzzi. Read more on page 24. Photography by Jessica Turner.

FROM BIRTHDAYS TO TUESDAYS, EVERY DAY IS A SPECIAL O ASION

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS! SERVING SENIORS SINCE 1922

Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve are not enough. We believe in celebrating all the days in between. Every day is another opportunity to leave your responsibilities behind and enjoy fun moments with friends, explore life-enriching activities or just relax on our beautiful 20-acre campus across from White Rock Lake.

EPT NOTHING LESS THAN THE BEST IN DALLAS SENIOR LIVING. Visit ccyoung.org or call 214-256-1875 for more information.

Independent Living • Assisted Living • Memory Support • Senior Care Services License #: 000532

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

Specializing in Family, Cosmetic, and Implant Dentistry

“I love seeing how a patient’s life change as they become more confident in their smiles and themselves.” Travis Spillman, DDS Trusted Lakewood Dentist

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203 ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Frank McClendon 214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com Greg Kinney 214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com Michele Paulda 214.724.5633 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com Catherine Pate 214.560.4201 / cpate@advocatemag.com Linda Kenney lkenney@advocatemag.com Heather Abbott 214-326-2555 / habbott@advocatemag.com Annette Lentz alentz@advocatemag.com Classified Manager: Prio Berger 214.292.0493 / pberger@advocatemag.com Marketing Director: Sally Wamre 214.686.3593 / swamre@advocatemag.com Development Director: Alessandra Quintero 786.838.5891 / aquintero@advocatemag.com Digital Marketing & Analytics: Autumn Grisby agrisby@advocatemag.com EDITORIAL Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Jehadu Abshiro jabshiro@advocatemag.com SENIOR EDITORS: Rachel Stone 214.207.8309 / rstone@advocatemag.com Renee Umsted rumsted@advocatemag.com Editor: Alyssa High ahigh@advocatemag.com Editor-at-Large: Christina Hughes Babb chughes@advocatemag.com Digital Editor: Raven Jordan rjordan@advocatemag.com Senior Art Director: Jynnette Neal jneal@advocatemag.com Art Director/Photographer: Jessica Turner jturner@advocatemag.com Interns: Alejandra Puente, Natalie Murphy Contributors: George Mason, Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Sam Gillespie, Lucy Erspamer, Matthew Ruffner, Eric Folkerth, Betsy Swetenburg Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Emil Lippe, Corrie Aune, Yuvie Styles, Shelby Tauber, Azul Sordo, Johnathan Johnson, Sylvia Elzafon Chief Revenue Officer: Rick Wamre 214.560.4212 / rwamre@advocatemag.com Advocate (c) 2022 is published monthly in print and daily online by Advocate Media - Dallas Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Dallas and first published in 1991. Contents of this print magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements and sponsorships printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject ay editorial, advertising or sponsorship material in print or online. Opinions set forth in Advocate publications are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the Publisher’s viewpoint. More than 180,000 people read Advocate publications in print each month; Advocate online publications receive more than 4 million pageviews monthly. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate print and online publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one print copy per reader. For information about supporting our non-profit mission of providing local news to neighborhood readers, please call 214-560-4212 or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

 dental center of lakew ABOUT THE COVER

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Wave Wash car wash on Greenville Avenue. Photography by Jessica Tur ner.

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6 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

Newsletter: advocatemag.com/newsletter

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FACE

OF COLDWELL

BANKER REALTY

TATUM HOOD Tatum Hood has built a strong background in the real estate industry by serving home sellers and homebuyers with world class service over the last 14 years. Tatum has honed his craft and grown his real estate experience by practicing real estate in three different states over that period of time. Tatum is able to help sellers get more for their home than the methods used by traditional real estate agents. He prides himself on using proven, repeatable marketing and sales strategies and systems to get all of his clients the absolute best results when buying or selling a home. Tatum has been featured in Real Producers magazine and D Magazine. Tatum has also earned numerous awards and accolades including Realtor of the year, Founding Partner Award and constantly ranks in the Top 500 realtors in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Tatum Hood Coldwell Banker Realty 972.876.8205 tatum.hood@cbrealty.com

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p ro f i l e

SPILL IT Here’s the tea on how Brandon Friedman’s company helps farmers thousands of miles away Interview by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

10 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

H ELLO,

Summer!

5502 Goodwin Avenue | $1,250,000 SOLD

MICHAEL HUMPHRIES

6939 Pasadena Avenue | $1,799,000 SOLD

ALAN SMITH

214.668.3640 | michael.humphries@alliebeth.com

214.914.1343 | alan.smith@alliebeth.com

6903 Santa Fe Avenue | $885,000

5119 Worth Avenue | $925,000

JOE KACYNSKI

MARSUE WILLIAMS

214.850.7195 | joe.kacynski@alliebeth.com

214.762.2108 | marsue.williams@alliebeth.com

2251 Forest Hollow Park | $599,900 SOLD

7319 Rutgers Drive | $515,000 PENDING

SUSIE THOMPSON

214.354.8866 | susie.thompson@alliebeth.com

alliebethallman | 214.521.7355 | alliebeth.com

randon Friedman experienced tea culture while he was in Afghanistan and Iraq, a member of the third brigade of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. Anytime Friedman and the Rakkasans — the name for his unit, taken from the Japanese word for “parachute” — sat down with locals, there was hot tea. In Friedman’s home state of Louisiana, tea means iced tea, which he didn’t like. Other than that, when Friedman thought of tea, he thought of British women wearing big hats, sipping with pinkies up. In the Middle East, Friedman learned a new way to drink the beverage. “Drinking tea with locals, especially in Iraq, was like an oasis amid all the chaos of combat,” he says. “You’re in this chaotic environment, dealing with an insurgency fighting, but then you gotta go to a meeting with some local guy. And you can just sit back and just relax for half an hour, an hour, just drinking tea and pretending you’re normal.” After Friedman left the military, he wrote a memoir, The War I Always Wanted, discussing his experiences and how he sometimes felt betrayed. That led to political blogging and enrolling in the public affairs program at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he met his wife. Then Friedman started working with VoteVets, a political action committee. He was part of Tammy Duckworth’s 2006 congressional campaign, and when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, Duckworth became an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs and asked Friedman to join her. While in D.C., Friedman also worked at the FleishmanHillard public relations firm and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2015, he co-founded a PR firm, which lasted a year and a half because he didn’t enjoy it. Pivoting from selling services to selling products, he decided to start a tea company. Friedman called fellow Rakkasan Terrence Kamauf, aka TK, and together they founded Rakkasan Tea Co. It started out in a 200-square-foot space in Deep Ellum, and now there’s a storefront at 1619 N. Hall St. in Old East Dallas. The company sells several varieties of teas from nine countries recovering from war: Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Nepal, Rwanda, Colombia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Friedman, the District 14 representative on the Office of Community Police Oversight board, has lived with his family in Hollywood/Santa Monica since 2017. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO JOIN THE MILITARY?

I grew up in the ’80s watching all the war movies. My grandfather was an influence on me, too. He was a World War II veteran. And my grandmother was, too. She was never overseas, but she was in the Navy.

WHY DO YOU THINK TEA HASN’T CAUGHT ON IN THE U.S. THE WAY IT HAS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD?

Tea is the most widely consumed beverage after water globally. And it is in every country except the United States. However, the United States is the only country in the world where tea consumption is growing. Everywhere else in the world, tea consumption is pretty static because the market’s saturated. And it’s growing here because people are looking for healthy alternatives. People are more in tune with health trends. There was a while there in American history where it was more patriotic to drink coffee, in the era after the Revolution. In more recent years — I think tea, good tea, requires a little more preparation than coffee. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA TO ONLY SELL TEA FROM COUNTRIES RECOVERING FROM WAR?

In researching it, I just sort of came upon the fact that a lot of areas that grew tea had been impacted by conflict, which is something I knew about. As I looked into it, I realized there was a lot of good tea from these places, but you couldn’t find it here. It occurred to me that a lot of these places — Vietnam, Laos — had been so impacted by war, and their economies were still not great. Sometimes it was our fault. That sort of spoke to me, having been in combat zones and war zones. I just saw the cost of war and how it impacts communities. I felt like I could combine my understanding of war zones with tea and we could help tea farmers reach U.S. consumers. A LOT OF YOUR BUSINESS IS E-COMMERCE. IS THAT WHAT YOU ORIGINALLY INTENDED?

Yeah, so we were gonna be mostly an e-commerce company. We thought we would sell mostly to people in places where hot tea, premium tea, was more in demand. We thought we’d have a bunch of customers in San Francisco, Boston and New York. But what I didn’t know at the time is, buying local is a thing. It is really a thing. People love buying local. I had no idea. We had so many customers in Texas and Dallas. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOUR BUSINESS IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THESE POST-CONFLICT COUNTRIES?

We’re not going to make a real impact with our sales. We don’t buy enough. We’re not going to turn around somebody’s economy ourselves. It’s sort of a drop in the bucket. But what we’re trying to do is show that companies can do well by doing good. And we’re trying to set the example for other companies to take the environment into consideration, take worker care into consideration, make sure people are treated well. And also, give your business to the underprivileged, people who haven’t had as much of a chance, the underdog. Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

12 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

We know the neighborhood.

7417 Axminster • $2,195,000

6177 Vickery • $1,895,000

8535 Groveland • $1,749,000

7354 Dominique • $2,250,000

5455 Richard • $1,050,000

7314 Robin • $1,800,000

JacksonSells Team 214.827.2400 scott.jackson@compass.com jacksonsells.com All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. All measurements and square footages are approximate, but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of real estate brokerage. Compass is a licensed real estate broker. Equal Housing Opportunity.

y l i Da al i c spe

N S BEE A H S YEAR CA F E 0 S ’ 5 N R JOH CE FO IPPE A L P EMIL L y b Y y L h I tograp A FA M | Pho STED y Story b

E UM

RENE

14 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

J O H N ’S CA F E i s o n e o f t h o s e unassuming neighborhood diners that loyal customers have kept in business for decades. It’s just a short walk from Greenville Avenue’s trendiest spots, where patrons are shelling out $15 for a cosmopolitan or hundreds for a 12-course tasting menu, but it couldn’t be more different. Housed next to a Thai restaurant in a strip center, John’s Cafe is now in its third location since John Spyropoulos established it 50 years ago. Walking inside the place — which looks much like it did when it originally opened — is like stepping back in time, with old newspaper and magazine articles and photographs documenting five decades of the diner’s history. That’s not to mention the retro booths, tables and readerboard menu hanging above the counter. Spyropoulos moved from Greece to the United States when he was 21 years old. He came to Dallas, where he had relatives, and started working for local restaurants such as Vincent’s Seafood. In 1972, he opened John’s Cafe at 2724 Greenville Ave. The business lasted there for more than 30 years, until Spyropoulos lost the lease. A bank was coming, and John’s had to go. “The big fish, they eat the little fish, you know,” he says. “That’s what happened.” Spyropoulos moved the restaurant to a spot at Plano Road and Miller Road. The majority of the customers who frequented the Lower Greenville location came on weekends, and lunchtime was busy, but the breakfast crowd just wasn’t there. After a year and a half, Spyropoulos got a call from the landlord of a restaurant called Nick’s Cafe, located at 1733 Greenville Ave. The tenant was going to vacate the space soon, and the landlord asked Spyropoulos if he wanted it. “I started smiling,” he says. “I said, ‘Yes, I’d like to come down.’” After six months of renovations, John’s Cafe opened in June 2007 in its current location. On the first day,

AUGUST 2022

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there was a line of customers waiting to get in, from 6:30 a.m. to closing time at 3 p.m. Neighbors still pour into the diner for breakfast and lunch favorites. Omelets are top sellers, along with pancakes, which kids can get shaped in a golden brown likeness of Mickey Mouse. After 50 years in business, John’s has become a staple spot for neighbors. Some have been coming for decades, once as children and now bringing their own kids with them. Others come in twice daily, for breakfast and lunch. Spyropoulos is a fixture at the restaurant, too, along with his wife and daughter. They let him have a few days off now and then, he says, but he’s usually at the restaurant at 5 a.m., hours before the door opens. The diner has six employees, including one who’s been working there 32 years. “Good food, service. People love it,” Spyropoulos says. “This place is a family place. That’s why the people love it.” John’s Cafe, 1733 Greenville Ave., 214.874.0800, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday

16 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

Comments from neighbors Victoria Vanderwoude: For many years I drove past this gem and heard the stories of happy customers. Finally we decided to try it. I wish I had sooner. The biscuits melt in your mouth, you don’t need jelly or butter; the pancakes are perfection, and maybe if you are lucky, your partner will allow a bite or two or more. The large breakfast plate fills you up and puts a smile on your face. The quality service with a smile is consistent every time. Simple menu, yet no frills for a great breakfast joint which is why people keep coming back. It’s a space that we now go to one to two times a month for breakfast. I can’t wait to work my way through the lunch menu. East Dallas used to be filled with many “family owned” restaurants and slowly that is going away block by block. It’s still nice to grab a bite from a local place that you can take your family without breaking the bank. Kevin Hunt: That open-faced roast beast sammich … Ahhhhh GIT IN MY BELLY! Bob Cheek: Breakfast & patty melts are the best Ursula Fuentes: Love John’s! Used to go every Saturday when it was on the corner of Greenville and Vickery. We used to walk down the block from my grandma’s house to get breakfast every Saturday. Beth Bridges: A co-worker took our lunch group to John’s after we left a restaurant down the street that is no longer in business. I was so surprised at the food! Delicious! Their burgers are the best! Their daily specials are worth trying! Love this place!

Photos courtesy of SWOON, the studio

RJA Construction, LLC | 972-804-5540 | rjadallas.com

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AUGUST 2022

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TWO’S COMPANY The restaurant duo revamping the Samuell-Grand intersection Story by RENEE UMSTED Photography by SYLVIA ELZAFON

T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N of E. Grand Avenue and Samuell Boulevard was long a hub for Tex-Mex. East Dallas residents could head to La Acapulqueña for a sit-down meal, and next door, El Taco Loco satisfied late-night taco cravings. Neighbor and business owner Patrick Donlin saw this corner as ripe for revitalization. It’s just down the street from Meson Maya, formerly El Torito Grill and Brownie’s, the 24hour diner with tabletop jukeboxes that served the neighborhood for five decades. Donlin acquired the space that used to house the two Tex-Mex restaurants, plus one adjoining storefront, and decided to fix it up and lease it to two local entrepreneurs. “I really like East Dallas, and I like trying to be more a part of the community, so I had been looking for something that was transformable,” he told the Advocate in April. “The big thing for me is it’s got to be good bones, good structure, good history.” Soon after, he found a tenant for both restaurant spaces; Mami Coco took the smaller of the two, and Mixtitos the larger. Here’s an introduction to two of East Dallas’ newest restaurants. Tacos, which weren’t originally served at Mami Coco, are now among the most popular orders.

18 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

MAMI COCO Gustavo De Los Rios opened his first restaurant in Crowley in 2013. He lives in Mesquite, so it took an hour just to drive there every day. The long commute meant he hardly saw his newborn daughter during the first month of her life. A pizza restaurant was next to his place, and he agreed to sell his restaurant to the pizza company. But he says he thought he had failed because his restaurant only lasted a year. “I went to landscaping for a year and a half, and then I went to Lyft, and then this industry brought me back to where I belong,” he says. One day when he was hungry, he stopped by one of his favorite taquerías, which was located on Bryan Street near N. Carroll Avenue. There was a sign on the door saying the place was available. Two weeks later, he had signed the lease. A month after that, Mami Coco opened. Many people thought it was named for the Disney movie Coco, but it wasn’t. De Los Rios’ daughters call their grandmother mommy Coco. Mami Coco is primarily a togo spot, with limited seating at the indoor counter and outdoor picnic table. When De Los Rios opened the restaurant, he knew exactly which dishes he wanted to offer — flautas, burritos, quesadillas and enchiladas — and how to make them. Some customers would pop in looking for tacos, realize there weren’t any and then leave. So after about four months, he added them to the menu. “I knew how to make tacos. I’m like, might as well; let me give it a try,” he says. “Tacos are key.” N o w, t a c o s a n d e n c h i l a d a s are the most requested items. The menu is still small, with six basic dishes, but there are ways to customize them to satisfy vegetarian and vegan diets. Donlin approached him earlier

this year to ask if he wanted to rent out the smaller space on Samuell Boulevard, and De Los Rios jumped at the opportunity. At the second location, expected to open soon, there are a few tables inside, and De Los Rios’ wife plans to paint a mural. The menu is about the same as the current Mami Coco, except De Los Rios wants to sell beer, micheladas and maybe sangria. “I want to keep it simple,” he says. “That’s so I can concentrate 100% on the final product.” Mami Coco, 2706 Samuell Blvd. Suite B, mamicoco.org

MIXTITOS KITCHEN Jose Luis Rodriguez has been in the restaurant industry for 22 years, but he’s never owned his own place. One of his first jobs was working as a carhop at Sonic. Even though he was at the bottom of the industry ladder, he wasn’t bothered. “I love to do this, so the restaurant and serving people is part of my passion,” he says. He couldn’t speak English well, so his wife volunteered to help him learn the menu. One day, he helped a mystery shopper at Sonic and received a perfect score, surprising his manager. From there, Rodriguez went on to work at several other restaurants, including Cafe Brazil, Bistro 31, and Charlie Palmer at The Joule. O n e d ay, a s a f o o d r u n n e r at Palmer’s namesake restaurant, he served Palmer and his wife, Lisa. Rodriguez’s service was so good, Palmer asked him to be a trainer at all of his restaurants. “I’m a believer, so I think God has been moving us, as a family, in mysterious ways,” he says. “So when I see this miracle happening, my l i f e w a s c h a n g i n g t o t h at direction, which has been serving and helping others.” Rodriguez and his wife knew they wanted to have their own restaurant by the time their oldest AUGUST 2022

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daughter went to college, and they’re meeting that goal. It’s a dream Rodriguez has had since growing up in Mexico, selling cakes door-to-door. Their oldest daughter just graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, and Rodriguez’s first restaurant, Mixtitos Kitchen, was expected to open in July. The name reflects the diversity of cuisines represented in the menu and pays homage to Texas-based Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Rodriguez saw the for lease sign outside the Samuell Boulevard property and called Donlin. He was interested in the smaller space, but Donlin told him he thought the restaurant would be better suited for Mixtitos. Rodriguez went for it. At the restaurant, expected to open around Aug. 1, diners can order a variety of dishes for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. There are Japanese options, inspired by Rodriguez’s wife, who’s half Japanese. In addition, Mixtitos serves French dishes and options like steak and seafood. Drinks are sold from the bar. Though Rodriguez never went to culinary school, he has decades of experience working with award-winning chefs. “This corner I think has something,” he says. “We have to contribute to it, and just to bring some light to this place is our goal. It’s very, very important for us to give that to our clients and friends and family, to have a place they can rely on.” Mixtitos Kitchen, 2706 Samuell Blvd., mixtitoskitchen.com

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BEST

F 2022 2022

BEST ACTIVITY

WINNER - THE DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2ND - WHITE ROCK LAKE PARK 3RD - WHITE ROCK FARMERS MARKET BEST HOME TOUR

WINNER - SWISS AVENUE HOME TOUR 2ND - LAKEWOOD HOME FESTIVAL 3RD - WHITE ROCK LAKE HOME TOUR

Neighbors voted to select the best of 2022. Be sure to visit all of these local spots, and share your pictures on social media — we’d love to see you around the neighborhood.

BEST LIVE MUSIC

WINNER - GRANADA THEATER 2ND - DALLAS ARBORETUN AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 3RD - BALCONY CLUB BEST LOCAL ATTRACTION

WINNER - WHITE ROCK LAKE 2ND - DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 3RD - LOWER GREENVILLE SPONSORED

Thank you, Lakewood! I want to offer my sincere appreciation to my clients, family and friends for making Erin Page Salon the Best Salon in Lakewood. I will continue doing everything I can to make you look your best! Call today to book your next appointment!

7331 Gaston Avenue, #175 The Village Salons, suite 200 469.644.7168 · erinpagesalon.com

Best of Culture

2022

Best Salon

BEST PLACE FOR KIDS

WINNER - DALLAS ARBORETUN AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2ND - KLYDE WARREN PARK 3RD - DALLAS CHILDREN’S THEATER BEST PLACE TO TAKE YOUR DOG

WINNER - WHITE ROCK LAKE DOG PARK 2ND - TRUCK YARD 3RD - GOODFRIEND BEER GARDEN AND BURGER HOUSE 3RD - SWISS & LIBERTY DOG PARK AUGUST 2022

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Best of Services

BEST FINANCIAL PLANNER

WINNER - TRUE LIFE FINANCIAL PLANNING

BEST CLINIC

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New Nostalgia RESTAURANT VETERANS BRANDON HAYS AND PHILLIP SCHANBAUM RESURRECT SFUZZI Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

here’s been an iteration of Sfuzzi in Dallas every decade for the past five decades. It’s the comeback kid that won’t stay down. When the original Sfuzzi opened in 1987, now-owners Brandon Hays and Phillip Schanbaum were toddlers. Robert Colombo and his team were operating a boozy pizza and pasta spot on McKinney, frequented by Dallas Cowboys and socialites alike. The upscale Italian concept expanded to 20 restaurants by 1993. Then Sfuzzi went bankrupt. Colombo moved on to other concepts, like Trece and Villa-O on Knox. It was the early 2000s, when Hays and Schanbaum firs t me t while in their early 20s, working the nightclub scene. “I think work ethic kind of separates itself pretty quick,” Hays says. “And we both had a mutual respect for each other’s work. And so

we looked for a way to work together going into the future.” “And then we’ve literally never not worked together since,” Schanbaum says. They were working at Suite, a nightclub on Travis in the space that became high-baller favorite Rio Room. Trece and Villa-O were on that same block. That’s where they met Colombo. “Robert took notice, and came back and met us, obviously being neighborly. Let me borrow some sugar or whatever the old adage of whatever you need. So there was a relationship there when we were working,” Hays says. Colombo approached Hays for a partnership opportunity when reopening Sfuzzi on McKinney for the second go-round in 2009. Schanbaum came on as a manager. It was their foray into the more stable restaurant business. “It was crazy the amount of freedom

we were given to design, operate and execute the vision of what it was going to be done,” Hays says. That 2009 iteration — still a place for pizza and partying — closed in 2013. The duo formalized their business r e l at i o n s h i p w i t h T h i s & T h at hospitality group. No safety net, no trust fund. T h e y g o t b u s y. T h e y o w n e d Wa y w a r d S o n s . T h e i r p o p u l a r Uptown spot So & So’s, a nightlife and brunch staple with an elevated menu concepted by chef Nick Amoriello, operated from 2015-2017. They reconcepted the space into Parlay Sports Club with hospitality group SBBC Hospitium. About the same time, for a hot second and unrelated to them, Sfuzzi made a comeback for six months in 2015. Anyway, T his & T hat opened a sle w of neighborhood-centric concepts. AUGUST 2022

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Left: Layers of pasta filled with house bolognese, ricotta and parmesan. Right: Sfuzzi’s famed namesake peach bellini.

“We love approachable for the masses,” Schanbaum says. The Whippersnapper, known for reinventing itself into themes like Friends or The Simpsons, is a retro party that doesn’t stop. High Fives, next door to T he Whip, has a laid-back patio with games and drinks. Tiny Victories is a cocktailfor ward bar that seats only 40 people. Alice, a cozy Miami-vibes concept, features pan-Asian cuisine. Ferris Wheeler’s backyard vibes is all about barbecue. (The pair had a friend who knew a guy in New Mexico with a Ferris wheel who needed to get it off his hands. It

26 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

was an offer they couldn’t pass up. This was also the concept that made them think about hiring general contractors instead of managing from the ground up.) “We’re doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that. So all of our concepts are different,” Schanbaum says. “We really enjoyed the creation process and being able to take what works in that neighborhood and build something specific.” The Capitol Pub space on Henderson had been sitting empty since New Year’s 2020. “We walked in, and it was like a wraparound patio, the U-shaped bar was there. We could see it very easily,” Hays says. “But I think going

through Covid, certainly something where that longing for nostalgia came back.” 2 0 2 2 ’s S f u z z i i s j u s t e a s t o f Central Expressway in the KnoxHenderson area. “T his was a really impor tant concept. It was our first restaurant. It was also somewhere where we were really excited, ready to get to that next level of our career,” Schanbaum says. “After we started our own company, we were able to go back and restart this brand.” Fo r m e r b a r b a c k Fe r n a n d a Roosano has returned to handle the bar menu. The namesake frozen bellini is on the menu. It’s $12 now. The pizza is cooked the same way in

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the exact same oven. “There’s something about just a classic pepperoni pizza the way that we do it in our woodfire. It tastes unlike anything around town,” Schanbaum says. “And tasting it again was awesome. We took notes on all those things that people really loved and missed. And we brought it back.” There are a lot of parallels between the 2009 rendition of Sfuzzi and this one. It’s in a dense neighborhood with high walkability. The barstools, the leather in the booths and the paint colors are exactly the same. But the place has been

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modernized. That ’80s cosmo that was replaced by a 2009 vodka Red Bull is now an espresso martini. The menu has new items, like the beef carpaccio. A third of the visitors are diehard Sfuzzi fans, back for a slice of nostalgia. Another third are neighborhood regulars looking to grab a pizza or have a quick happy hour on their way home. And there are the newbies, nowadults who were too young for the previous versions or freshly minted Dallasites. “We obviously get the crowd that remembers the brand, but it’s fun to be able to introduce the brand to the new generation that hasn’t seen it,” Schanbaum says. The full menu runs to 11 p.m., and then the pizza oven runs until 2 a.m. The cast of Wicked came in during their production looking for a real meal, since most kitchens don’t operate late. “ N o m a tt e r w h a t , w e s t i l l present the opportunity to have

28 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

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a real dining experience all the way ’til two o’clock in the morning,” Hays says. “We’ve seen that kind of become a niche, that night owl who’s still looking for a meal.” I t ’s g o o d f o o d i n a f u n environment with a touch of sentiment. “We want people to be able to come out and enjoy themselves. You can make a pizza at home. But can you come out and enjoy the environment? Have the service, have the experience? That’s what we tr y to build with all of our concepts, you know, we don’t want it cold,” Schanbaum says. “We want it to be fun.” Sfuzzi, 2401 N. Henderson Ave.

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ROLLING

THE DOUGH Simple ingredients and sustainable growth formulate Emporium Pies Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

wo young women opened a pie shop in the cutest little cottage on what was the edge of the Bishop Arts District in 2012. Now Emporium Pies’ flagship store sits at the center of the district. Wedged between Paradiso and A J Vagabonds, it is the smallest of the locally owned chain’s four locations. The shop at 314 N. Bishop is where Megan Wilkes and her then-business partner Mary Sparks baked, sold and marketed pies six days a week for a year and a half. “A guy came in about five years ago and said, ‘I thought they said two young girls ran this place!’ I feel like the president; I’ve aged 30 years since I opened, like Obama with his grey hair,” she says. The little pie shop in Bishop Arts went from baking five pies at a time to operating a 6,000-square-foot production facility that turns out thousands of pies a month. The company, which has more than 50 employees, offers paid time off and a living wage for retail and production workers. Ten people worked elbow-to-elbow in that tiny old house, ovens blazing year-round and lines out the door, before they opened a second location in Downtown McKinney in 2014. That gave them the economy of scale to rent their first commissary kitchen and remove the baking operation from the retail. Opening the Deep Ellum shop in 2016 enabled the Pie Palace. The Pie Palace is a light-industrial facility near Lake Cliff Park where everything is

produced for Emporium Pies locations in McKinney, Deep Ellum, Fort Worth and Bishop Arts. Frozen cherry pies are also produced for delivery nationwide via Goldbelly and UPS. The company runs its own delivery service because its cargo is too fragile for Uber Eats, etc. A fleet of three Emporium Pies vans delivers all over the Metroplex. PIE SCIENCES

One thing about Megan Wilkes: She loves a play on words. That’s evident in product names like “lord of the pies” and “papa don’t peach,” and in her email signature, which describes her as Entre-PIE-neur. The company recently sold its original delivery vehicle, a Ford Transit Connect named Vanny DeVito. Auto-pie-lot is the algorithm the kitchen managers use to project how much pie to make so that there’s very little waste. “That’s our closely monitored piece of intellectual property,” Wilkes says. “Because you can get out of control, waste-wise. And what a terrible thing, to squander people’s work.” Auto-pie-lot contains data from previous years and how much sales are up year-over-year. The stores report any waste daily as well as what reason there might be for that, such as rain. Weather forecasts are also considered in the open-source document. The “pie-culator” within Auto-pie-lot crunches all of that into daily quotas, and Wilkes says it’s quite accurate. The algorithm tells them how much pie to deliver to the stores each day before the vans — Pie-lennium Falcon, Starship Enter-pies and Piemetheus — head out. “If we make a little bit too much, we freeze it and put it into ice cream,” Wilkes says.

“Our business plan was not for success. It was for like, ‘OK, if pie doesn’t work, we can add cookies to the menu.’”

THE ART OF MANAGEMENT

Emporium Pies recently invested in equipment that eliminates repetitive tasks that are hard on the body. Swiss machinery rolls out the dough and cuts it, tasks workers used to do by hand. “But we still make the dough by hand and crimp every single pie with our fingers,” she says. Portion fillers mean employees no longer have to scoop filling into each shell, a repetitive motion that could cause injury over time. Those innovations also make the pies more consistent, Wilkes says. Pie fillings are still cooked manually on a stovetop, and everything is done in batches of 25 pies, a number that’s compatible with the Autopie-lot algorithm. The pies are baked in two rotating industrial rack ovens that cost about $65,000. Workers can roll the racks into the ovens and close the doors without stooping or reaching. “The story isn’t that Megan and Mary built a pie shop,” Wilkes says.

32 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

“It’s that we’ve always had people who are incredible and are able to help us with it.” Pie Palace employees start out as bakers-in-training until they’re experienced enough to become bakers, which comes with a raise, and then shift leaders. They can work up the ranks, and the pay scale, at their own pace. A star chart tracks who’s been trained at which tasks and how well they know them. Most current employees are shift leaders, meaning they are capable of running the kitchen day-to-day, Wilkes says. “It takes a long time to learn everything,” she says. “Our menu changes every few months, so it’s like a year to get fully trained up.” DRINKING FROM A FIREHOSE

The first five years of Emporium Pies’ existence was reacting to overwhelming demand. Figuring out how to scale up their recipes and production on the fly to satisfy immediate demand. Making a plan for their No. 1 holiday, Thanksgiving. “Our business plan was not for success,” she says. “It was for like, ‘OK, if pie doesn’t work, we can add cookies to the menu.’” If they could pay themselves and two or three other employees, she and Sparks thought that would be a success. The shop sold 300 pies in three hours on its first official day in business in 2012, and it sold out of Thanksgiving pies three weeks before the holiday. “People were like, ‘How does a pie shop not have pies for Thanksgiving?’” Their Thanksgiving ordering and pick-up system now runs like a machine. Wilkes says she began coming up for air about five years ago, applying for loans instead of operating on cashflow and planning more for the future.

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That’s also when the company began to codify its systems and processes into employee handbooks. The Auto-pie-lot algorithm came together less than two years ago, combining multiple spreadsheets that Sparks developed over the years.

Bishop Arts store was “maxed out,” Wilkes says. “I used to go to Deep Ellum when I was young, and I have very fond memories of it,” she says. “That store has been really well-received by the neighborhood, and it’s fun to have.”

WHAT’S NEXT

NO SILVER BULLET

“To be a good steward of the amount of space and equipment and talent that we have, we’re going to need to open more stores,” Wilkes says. Emporium Pies opened a new store every two years, and she is itching for the next one. With a degree in interior design and an MBA she has a formula for locations. “I’m the kind of person who falls in love with a building first,” she says. But there also has to be a barbecue place and a burger place withing walking distance. The Deep Ellum shop triangulates between Pecan Lodge and Easy Slider. T hat store opened because the

March 14 is the shop’s second-busiest day of the year because the date is 3.14, pi day. In 2020, that was the day before Dallas County issued shelter-in-place orders because of the coronavirus. Wilkes and Sparks saw it coming, and the company managed to sell its thousands of pi-day pies and rent three trucks to move all the furniture out of the shops overnight. They devised contactless systems, where customers could order, pay and receive their pies through a window. That was paid for by a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant from the U.S. Small Business Association. Since then, there have been some

34 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

challenges with supplies. Wilkes purchased cardboard-box futures after a shortage left her scrambling to find them for Thanksgiving last year. Insect-borne cherry diseases have caused woes this year. Employee retention has been high, she says. Anyone exposed to COVID-19 was given immediate two weeks paid time off. The pandemic slowed the company’s growth a bit, but a PPP loan and business savings provided insulation. “It really does take the whole team to get anything done every single day. It’s the entire team,” she says. “And that’s not just us, that’s every restaurant.”

“I used to go to Deep Ellum when I was young, and I have very fond memories of it.”

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food soul FOR THE

KALACHANDJI’S RESTAURANT HAS BEEN SERVING VEGETARIAN DISHES FOR 40 YEARS Story by RENEE UMSTED Photography by YUVIE STYLES

alachandji’s Restaurant is known for its longstanding vegetarian buffet. And though there’s no spiritual requirement for diners, there’s a spiritual component to everything that’s served. “We believe that food that’s prepared with devotion and offered to God has spiritual potency,” says Danny Thomas, the manager since 1995. “When we cook it, we don’t taste it until after we’ve offered it to God. We put it on a nice silver plate, put it in front of Kalachandji, ring a bell, say some prayers and ask him to accept it.” The remnants are called prasadam, a Sanskrit word meaning mercy, and they’re what’s served at the restaurant. Kalachandji’s Restaurant opened in 1982 as a way to spread vegetarianism throughout the Dallas community. It’s located at the Radha Kalachandji Temple at the corner of Gurley Avenue and Graham Avenue. The building, which used to be Mount Auburn Christian Church, was purchased in 1971. It’s a multipurpose site. There’s the restaurant, which can accommodate about 100 people at a time inside and in the outdoor courtyard. There’s the worship space for devotees of the monothetistic bhakti tradition, the yoga of devotion; it’s also called Vaishnav, which means worshippers of Vishnu or Krishna. Then there is space for classes, where instructors teach vegetarian cooking, meditation, martial arts and tai chi. And the old church sanctuary has been converted into a 3,000-square-foot rentable space available for events. The restaurant, now in its 40th year, has recently

36 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

expanded to other outlets. There’s one in the university center at the University of Texas at Arlington and another at the food court in the student union building at the University of Texas at Dallas, where they’re making vegetarian pizzas. Every day, Kalachandji’s Restaurant serves basmati rice and brown rice; a split-pea soup; a green vegetable such as mustard greens, bok choy, kale or spinach; a dry vegetable such as potatoes, green beans or cauliflower; a wet vegetable such as squash or pumpkin; and a bean curry with chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans or something similar. For dinner, paneer (cheese) and an international entree such as quiche, lasagna or eggplant parmesan are also available. Devotees believe that the material world functions under the influence of three modes of nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. Foods also can be classified under these modes. Fruits, vegetables and grains are foods of goodness; they promote health and “make the mind peaceful,” Thomas says. Foods in the mode of passion stimulate the mind and body and are characterized by excessive heat, spice or

pungency. Foods in the mode of ignorance are toxic to the body and dull consciousness. Meat is seen as a food of ignorance, so it is avoided. Garlic and onions are considered to be in the modes of passion and ignorance, so they, too, are not used in any recipes at Kalachandji’s Restaurant. Instead, recipes call for asafoetida, a powder that has a strong smell. “In fact, all the spices, they’re all also medicinal herbs, and they’re meant to make the food more digestible as well as more tasty,” Thomas says. Though the restaurant is influenced by religion, it doesn’t really function as an outreach program. “We proselytize just like everybody else, but we keep our preaching out of our restaurant,” he says. “We’re very strict about that because we serve the general public, and we recognize that most people already have their own religions, and they’re not coming here to get preached to.” AUGUST 2022

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SMOKED BRISKET,

MEET THAI HERBS Ea st Da l l a s ’ Lo ro m a r r i es Texa s ba r b e c u e w i t h As i a n f l avo rs Story by RENEE UMSTED Photography by KATHY TRAN

When Texas barbecue is crossed with flavors and ingredients of Southeast Asian cuisine, the result is Loro. The second location of the Austin-based chain opened in Old East Dallas last year. Founded by chefs Aaron Franklin and Tyson Cole in 2018, it joins the other Hai Hospitality concepts: Uchi, Uchiko and Uchiba. Josh Healy is the chef de cuisine at Loro, and he isn’t new to the Dallas food scene. Before he was hired at Loro, he was the corporate chef for PILF, the restaurant group behind Cane Rosso, Thunderbird Pies and more. “I love pizza. I love what they do, really great company. But it was kind of like, where am I at in terms of being aligned with the long-term goals?” he says. Wanting to find a role where he could learn the business side of a restaurant, preparing him to one day open his own place, he started putting out feelers. Healy applied for a chef de cuisine job at Uchi. Within a day, the company called and wanted to interview him for the same position at Loro. Af te r t h e f i rst i n te r v i ew w i t h J a c k Yoss, t h e c u l i n a r y director for Hai, Healy says he knew it wasn’t just a job he wanted; it was a job he needed. “It’s truly a people-based company,” he says. Though the Asian smokehouse offers brisket, turkey, c h i c ke n a n d r i bs co o ke d ove r Texa s p ost oa k , t h e m ost

requested item is sesame rice noodles ($5), a cold vegetarian dish served with chili vinaigrette, black sesame and green onion. The popular crunchy sweet corn fritters ($8) are served with srira c h a a n d a i o l i . T h a i sa u sa ge hand pies ($7), only available d u r i n g h a p py h o u r, a re n ’t o rdered nearly as often as they should be, Healy says. Speaking of happy hour, his drink recommendation is a swirl w i t h t h e f roze n g i n a n d to n i c and the frozen mango sake. That can be enjoyed inside or on the patio. “Everything’s designed to be shared. It’s designed to be, get a bite, this plate, that plate,” he says. “Share with your friends and your family.” The design for the space was inspired by a Texas dancehall, AUGUST 2022

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FOOD FACT: LORO SELLS OUT OF ITS SMOKED BABY-BACK DUROC PORK RIBS BY 7:30 P.M. EVERY SUDAY. THAT’S ABOUT 60 ORDERS, OR AROUND 140 POUNDS.

The oak smoked beef brisket sandwich is topped with papaya salad, peanuts, chili aioli and Thai herbs.

40 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

Malaysian chicken bo ssam is served with yellow curry-yuzu vinaigrette and Thai basil.

says Ellen Saathoff, the director of design for Hai Hospitality. That concept is carried out through exposed wood trusses and cedar and white oak o n t h e wa l l s. Co m p l e te w i t h n a t u ra l to n es a n d handcrafted touches, designers reinterpreted the original Austin location into a new neighborhood. Knick-knacks for behind the bar were sourced from nearby Dolly Python, and Lower Greenville Designs helped create wood shelves and other pieces for the walls. Denton-based Stal Timber built the host stand and utensil carts, and Focus Powder Coating helped with signage. One piece to highlight is a custom flag hanging on one of the walls. Made from vintage Japanese denim, it was chain-stitched by Austin company Fort Lonesome, which combined Loro design elements with a Dallas-inspired landscape. “I think for Loro, we really want to create a

space that feels warm and inviting, like a place that you want to come hang out with your friends and your family and feel really at home,” Saathoff says. The dining experience at Loro, which serves l u n c h , d i n n e r a n d we e ke n d b r u n c h , i s a ca s u a l one. Grab a seat. Order food and drinks at the bar. Keep the puck they give you visible on the table. There are no looming employees to interrupt conversations; servers will bring out the meal when it’s ready. “It’s definitely designed for quick service, but the plates don’t always look like that,” Healy says. “The goal is to make the plates look like you’re getting this nice experience at a finer place, while we also try to keep prices down, and we try to keep it with the feel of community.” Loro, 1812 N. Haskell Ave., 214.833.4983, loroeats.com, 11 a.m.10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday

AUGUST 2022

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OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

By PATTI VINSON

Dishes like Hungarian paprikás chicken give Sandor Korponai a connection to his family. His father and uncles were among the refugees who fled to the United States via Austria in 1956, after the Hungarian Revolution. Photography by Emil Lippe.

Taste of home Food helps this neighbor remember family and heritage

f you’re walking in Old East Dallas and smell the warm aroma of onions and garlic cooking, along with a generous dash of paprika, chances are you’re in the vicinity of Sandor Korponai’s place. His Hungarian dishes are tasty, but they also come with a side of family memories and a large helping of history. Korponai works long days in global financial technology and often cooks to unwind. He thinks of his paprika chicken and noodles as comfort food, not only for the flavors but for the connection it brings to his ancestors. In 1956, Hungarians took to the streets to protest the repressive communist regime and Soviet influence in the country. During the revolution, Korponai’s grandfather ended up in a prison camp outside of Budapest, but he managed to escape and return to the small town where he lived with his family. “My grandmother had had enough,” says Korponai. The family, including Korponai’s father and two uncles (ages 10, 8, and 6 at the time) escaped the country on one bicycle, traveling about 20 miles to Austria, where they found refuge at a Catholic nunnery. As refugees, they were sent to London and while there, Korponai’s grandmother received word that her brother had made it to the United States. She started saving money and working on getting documents to go to America. By 1957 they had the required paperwork and came to the United States aboard the RMS Queen Mary. When they landed on Ellis Island and cleared customs and immigration, they headed to Milwaukee and obtained housing and jobs. “My dad and his brothers went to elementary school and learned English, and my grandparents worked in different factories,” he says. Born and reared in Milwaukee, Kor-

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ponai has vivid memories of visiting his grandmother’s home and watching her cook. “She would usually have something on the stove, some kind of Hungarian dish.” he says. “One of the things I’ve brought forward from Grandma’s house is there’s always a hot meal and a cold drink at my table.” Bubbling in the pot might be chicken soup or one of Korponai’s favorite dishes: Hungarian paprikás chicken. A dish made made with a whole chicken, stewed in a paprika and sour cream sauce.

“One of the things I’ve brought forward from Grandma’s house is there’s always a hot meal and a cold drink at my table.” “I particularly remember Grandma making the noodles for paprikás chicken. The noodles are called nokedli and she would start with a big bowl of flour, drop in a couple of eggs, some water, salt, and beat it all together. Notice, there was nothing measured, so that’s how I learned.” He remembers, “She’d end up with this gooey kind of mess and then she would take out a utensil that looked like a grater. She had a special paddle she used for it and she would drop the dough that she made onto this grater and run her paddle across it and the noodles would drop into the boiling hot water. These noodles would come out of the hot water and she’d put them in a frying pan, maybe with a little butter or a little oil, and she would crisp them up for me.” Korponai’s mom, who was born in the U.S., tried to learn the ins and outs of Hungarian cooking, but Grandma didn’t make it easy.

44 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

One of the best Advocate's for our neighborhood. “She had to sneak watching my grandmother cook these dishes,” says Korponai. “Grandma would never tell you what was in whatever it was she was cooking. She’d just say ‘Oh… you know.’ And then she’d always try to sneak in what her special ingredient was, so you had to keep an eye on the old girl.” His mom, and later Korponai himself, would take home as much of the recipe as they could remember, and try to cook it. Korponai apparently picked up a fair amount observing Grandma. He frequently cooks for himself and others and is often asked to prepare dishes for events. “When I make paprikás chicken for friends and family, they all love it. They’ve said, ‘Oh my gosh, what did you put in here, how long did it take to make this, it’s my absolute favorite.’ When they hear about the simple ingredients that go into it and generally how quickly I can have it prepared, they just rant and rave.” He adds, “I think everybody’s favorite is the noodles and sauce. If I’m preparing paprikás chicken, I’ll often have to double my noodle recipe and make sure I make extra sauce because they’ll bring dishes with them to take home leftovers.” His magic ingredient? “I will say that my secret is that my paprika comes from Hungary. I don’t buy just any paprika at the store.” Fate and a daring escape on a single bicycle brought Korponai to eventually land in Old East Dallas where he lovingly honors his family history in his kitchen. “Hungarian traditional food makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It gives you the comfort that you need after a long day,” he says. “The nostalgia and the smells of a Hungarian kitchen make you think about your heritage, your roots, where you came from.”

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WORSHIP

By GEORGE MASON

A summer of discontent Ou r co m m u n i ty d e p e n d s o n a c ts of v i r t u e

ello, it’s me, again. Apologies to Adele and my grade-school grammar teacher (pop artists aren’t much on predicate nominatives). After saying goodbye a few months ago to my regular monthly column, I am back in a quarterly rotation with some admired colleagues. What have I missed? The opportunity to write about the spiritual significance of unfettered access to guns after Uvalde; Southern Baptists facing up to a legacy of institutional coverups of sexual abuse; Jan. 6 Congressional hearings; the Russian invasion of Ukraine; stock market swooning and inflation ballooning; COVID-19 hanging around like an old boyfriend: Nothing much, huh? Let’s take a summer break. Bad news has a way of dominating our dispositions. We get cranky with ourselves and one another when it seems the world is cracking apart. But the goodness of God shines through like a shaft of light through a dark cloud. We see it in the small acts of kindness of good people. Like the young couple who found a wallet while strolling through the Water Gardens in Fort Worth a few months ago. Yours truly had absentmindedly left it on one of the concrete steps under a tree. The sinking feeling of reaching for my wallet at a restaurant and finding an empty pocket led to my rushing back to the spot and finding it gone. After canceling credit cards and applying for a replacement drivers license and insurance cards, I settled in to days of beating up on myself for my stupidity. Then out of the blue, a call came to the church that someone had found

48 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022

my wallet. They had sleuthed the Internet and figured out who I was. I drove to Fort Worth and recovered the wallet with more cash in it than I knew I had. After paying a hefty reward that was received with embarrassed gratitude, my faith in humanity was restored along with my valuables. In this summer of our discontent, I am reminded that goodness can still be found among us. I don’t know whether the young couple was informed by a faith tradition or was simply acting out of shared sense of humanity. But either way, this is what keeps hope alive when we think all is lost in our striving for self-interest. Neighbors I didn’t know cared for someone they didn’t know as if it had happened to them. Our community and our country depend on acts of virtue. People looking out for one another as if ever ything depends upon our actions. When we despair for the state of the world and worry that we can’t count on anyone but ourselves, a simple gesture of kindness changes everything. What if we could imagine the consequences of every vote and every political decision on people we don’t know before we act? How would it change our city, our state and our country if we followed the example of a young couple like them? The ties that bind us would never be broken. GEORGE MASON was the pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, president of Faith Commons and host of the “Good God” podcast. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

WORSHIP BAPTIST PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org Bible Study 9:15 / Worship Services 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500 WILSHIRE BAPTIST CHURCH / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Open to all / Worship at 11 a.m. Sunday School at 10 a.m. / wilshirebc.org

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185 Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

LUTHERAN CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

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METHODIST LAKEWOOD UMC / 2443 Abrams Rd. / 214.823.9623 Sunday Morning Worship 10:30 am / mylakewoodchurch.org Messy Church for Children and Families Sunday 5:00 pm MUNGER PLACE CHURCH / Come & See

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PRESBYTERIAN ST. MARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 9999 FERGUSON RD. saintmarkchurch.org / Sunday School 9:15am / Worship I0:30am/ 214.321.6437/ Rev. Rick Brooks NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. 214-827-5521 northridgepc.org / Sunday Worship: Summer schedule begins May 29 at 10:00 am. A community of people dedicated to doing life together. PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

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