Senior Art Director: Jynnette Neal jneal@advocatemag.com
Creative Director/Photographer: Lauren Allen lallen@advocatemag.com
Contributors: Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Sam Gillespie Interns: Katharine Bales, Elizabeth Truelove, Presley
Pate
Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Yuvie Styles, Victoria Gomez, Amani Sodiq, Rae Overman, Cat Iler, Jenni Cholula, Austin Gibbs, Ethan Good, Tanner Garza, Gabriel Cano, Brandon Gonzalez, Jessica Turner
Advocate (c) 2024 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 214-5604212 or email aquintero@advocatemag.com.
Velvet Taco located at Preston Forest Shopping Center. Photography by Lauren Allen.
Talk to us: editor@advocatemag.com
Newsletter: advocatemag.com/newsletter
permitting pandemonium
After long wait times, the City of Dallas has made strides in commercial permitting
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
In 2022, Colorado-based fried chicken chain Birdcall announced plans to move into Lakeridge Village on the former site of the demolished Chase Bank building. In early 2025, after unsuccessfully filing two sets of commercial build permits, the center listed suite #100 as available for lease, signalling the end of the ill-fated project.
Wait times for commercial construction permits became a conspicuous issue in Dallas following the pandemic. In 2021, the median wait time for a commercial construction permit in the City of Dallas exceeded 300 days. Permit tracking, software issues and staffing shortages drove the delays, The Dallas Morning News reported in 2022, although a City permitting department statement to the Advocate stated, “Dallas’ inspection staff did not significantly change during the years 2019 to 2022.”
Streamlined workflow and en -
hanced coordination were major objectives listed by Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert in a June 21, 2024 memo announcing the merger of the Department of Development Services and the Department of Planning and Urban Design.
“This new department will house all land use and permitting functions in one organization, combine zoning implementation and interpretation teams, restructure the permitting function to provide clearer ownership and accountable service delivery, and create a new team focused entirely on customer and team excellence,” she wrote in the memo.
The new department launched a publicly accessible online permitting dashboard with updated data on commercial permit turnaround times shortly after.
Another major initiative designed to improve the permitting process came in May with the launch of DallasNow, the department’s new online software which houses permitting, planning, platting, inspections and engineering in a single integrated system. Online inspections have also been introduced to accelerate initial timelines.
While it appears progress has been made, the department’s dashboard shows an increased median turnaround time of 184 days for commercial building permits in 2025. The dashboard has not been updated since February. That month, that number jumped to 218 days, although the dashboard attributes 75% of the delays to applicants.
In a memo from Nov. 1, Tolbert touted a median issuance time of 114 days for commercial building permits, a far cry from the average wait of close to a year seen in 2021. The jump was aided by the department’s closing of “stale permits,” or applications that have been inactive for more than 180 days without follow-up by the applicant. Of over 10,000 stale permits identified in a review process beginning in September, only 200 remained by its conclusion, according to a statement from the department.
ALLEY TRASH PICKUP TRANSITIONING IN 2026
Dallas Sanitation officials recently announced the City will move to end alley garbage pickup for more than 20,000 customers in 2026. On July 3, Dallas Sanitation Services director Cliff Gillespie told The Dallas Morning News that around 26,000 homes would be transitioned from alley to curb pickup. A similar effort in 2024 was stymied by considerable public outcry. The new plan was developed in response to those concerns. Most neighbors will be transitioned on Jan. 19, 2026, with the remainder to switch over in July. In total, 95,000 households currently utilize garbage pickup in the City of Dallas.
Alley pickup customers slated to move to curbside pickup in January mostly live in neighborhoods with 8-9 feet wide alleys and where the vast majority of homes have front driveways. Customers with dead-end alleys that spanning than 200 feet or semipaved and unpaved alleys will also make the transition in January. Areas with smaller proportions of front driveways will make the jump on July 20.
The sanitation department’s website has an interactive map of affected areas. In Preston Hollow, widespread changes will come to the Preston Hollow and Midway Hollow neighborhoods, with the map showing large portions of the area between Marsh Lane and Hillcrest Road moving to curb pickup. “Our sanitation department took our concerns seriously this past year — listening to residents and working through logistics,” District 10 Council Member Kathy Stewart recently told the Advocate . “They’ve developed a plan that minimizes the impact to our community — and I am grateful.”
“We see routine equipment damage that is running in 8- and 9-foot alleys, contact with fences, utility poles, overhead wires. More troubling are the worker injuries and near-misses for electrocution and fires,” Gillespie told City Council.
“I think alley service should be maintained,” newly elected District 11 Council Member Bill Roth told the Advocate . “I consider it a basic service that should be provided by the City, and the homeowner should not be penalized. This hybrid plan will be difficult to implement in many neighborhoods — especially in District 11 — because most homes were designed for alley service. This plan will cause significant disruption to our neighborhood.”
Roth said many of the problems noted by Gillespie were the result of city alleys not being maintained properly.
The move is primarily motivated by safety concerns for sanitation workers and the ongoing shift to automated trucks, which the department’s FAQ page describes as “the industry standard for safety and efficiency.” Alley pickups are typically serviced by rear-loading trucks manned by three-person crews, which the website says are “labor-intensive and costly.”
One of the primary concerns raised by neighbors and residents across the city last year was the impact the plan would have on elderly residents who would have to drag their garbage carts to the front of their home for collection. To respond to the concerns, the department is encouraging those without an able-bodied person in their household to sign up for the Helping Hands Program.
The program sends sanitation workers to assist neighbors during garbage collection. Residents can sign up online or call 3-1-1 to enroll.
Dallas Sanitation has also proposed an adjustment in the sanitation fee structure to account for the change. While the City currently charges a flat fee for residential pickup, the proposal recommends the adoption of a tiered fee structure that charges remaining alley pickup customers more than those with curbside pickup. The proposal will need to be approved by council, unlike the upcoming service transition, which is at Gillespie’s discretion.
According to the department’s website, a public awareness campaign will notify neighbors of the change and provide guidance on new pickup procedures.
Eva’s Cookies’ snickerdoodle bar cookies feature a cinnamon sugar cookie sprinkled with cinnamon sugar on top. Opposite: The chocolate peanut butter bar cookies taste like your favorite chocolate peanut butter candy. Photography courtesy of Eva’s Cookies.
BAKING PEOPLE happy
SNeighbor Eva Spak shares her cookie company’s success story and hopes to expand
Story by ELIZABETH TRUELOVE
even years ago, eager to share her homemade treats, Hockaday School student Eva Spak enters her seventh-grade advisory with a cookie cake in hand. Her impressed classmates ask Spak the question that alters the course of her future career: “This is so good — could I buy some from you?”
Current Cornell University student and Preston Hollow neighbor Spak has been baking ever since she was a child. At first, Spak says, she spent most of her time in the kitchen helping her mother.
“I was always interested in baking,” Spak says. “Even when I couldn’t do everything by myself, I would be hanging out in the kitchen when I was little and (my mom) would give me little tasks. She would show me how to roll the cookies or spread the cookie dough out if we were making it into a cookie cake.”
As she grew older, Spak began creating her own desserts and bringing them to school. Whether for an advisory-wide pizza party or friend’s birthday, Spak says she used any excuse to make a treat.
While she’s always enjoyed baking as a hobby, after some urging from classmates, she realized that a little dough on the side wouldn’t hurt either.
“After somebody just said to me, ‘This is so good, could I buy some?’ I just stood there and thought, ‘Why not?’” Spak says. “You know, I like to bake these, and I like the way money sounds, so let’s just do that.”
Thus, the idea for Eva’s Cookies began.
While Spak knew how to make her baked goods, she didn’t know how to go about selling them. For guidance, Spak sought out her mother Shelby Spak. Founder of her own respective business, Shelby Spak Design, Spak’s mother made the perfect business mentor, Spak says.
“I asked my mom, and because she has a small jewelry business, she was very helpful in getting it off the ground because she knows what it’s like to start a small business,” Spak says. “She also knows some of the legality behind it. So, she was like, ‘Yeah, totally. We can look into this.’”
In the beginning, 13-yearold Spak primarily fulfilled her friends’ orders. Then, through word of mouth, her business steadily grew to reach the greater Preston Hollow community. The biggest growth to her brand occurred when Spak began selling her treats in her school’s bookstore in the eighth grade.
“I would love to say that I came up with that idea myself, but my mom is the one who did it,” Spak says.
Since her mother’s jewelry was already sold in the bookstore, Spak asked the manager of the store if she could begin selling her goods, too. Spak sold out her cookies in her first week in the bookstore. But then the pandemic hit the next week and sent Spak and her classmates home.
As Spak approached the college process, she realized her passion for Eva’s Cookies aligned with her dreams of a career in the food or hotel industry.
“I wasn’t always sure that I wanted to go into some business-related field, but when I started thinking about what I wanted to major in, I realized that I really liked all the work that I did for my cookie business,” Spak says. “I thought, ‘Oh, it’d be really cool to do this on a bigger scale.’”
With multiple alumni family members, and an older brother who currently attends, Spak had her eye on Cornell University going into the fall of her senior year. Now, Spak is majoring in hotel administration at Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
Spak says the most ironic part of it all, to her surprise, was the amount of fellow founders of small cookie businesses surrounding her in Ithaca. The like-minded students at her university are just one of the many parts of Spak’s program that have inspired her future aspirations in the industry.
“My freshman year, when we were all in masks, I was constantly emailing (the manager), and finally halfway through my sophomore year, she said I was allowed to start selling cookies there again,” she says.
Since then, Eva’s Cookies has been a staple in the Hockaday bookstore and consistently sells out before the end of the school week. Despite the high demand for her cookies, Spak says that she never felt pressure balancing both her school workload and baking.
“I never really struggled to manage it,” Spak says. And I also always enjoyed baking, so it was a nice break from homework on the weekends to just sit down and package up some cookies, or decide the flavors for the next week. It never felt like a big time commitment because I enjoyed all of it.”
“I want to work in either the food industry or the hotel industry,” she says. “I’m not sure where exactly. I’ve just been working at different places, trying to figure out which one interests me more. I see a future for myself where I’m working with people in the way that I worked with people for Eva’s cookies.”
While Spak now works as a chef at the hotel on campus and participates in numerous food-related clubs at Cornell, her business is still thriving back in Preston Hollow. She still manages Eva’s Cookies from afar, but an underclassman she hired handles the day-to-day decisions back home.
“I oversee it in the sense that I still send the invoices,” Spak says. “But I pay her to do the baking. I let her decide what flavor and how many cookies to bring, and she’s done a good job at that.”
Though she’s continuing her business in Preston Hollow, Spak dreams of bringing Eva’s Cookies to her new campus and even selling her own creation, “Ithaca Winters,” as a flavor of cookie on her website.
“When I was in high school, a few times I would visit (my brother), and I got all of the brothers in his fraternity onto Eva’s Cookies to the point where they were taking pre-orders from me,” Spak says. “I would bring a large suitcase of cookies up to Ithaca. I had my own merchandise, too, so I had all these random fraternity guys in Ithaca wearing Eva’s Cookies merch, and I still see it around sometimes. So, the foundation has been laid, right? I just got to develop it a bit more.”
Ella - vated
Ella Dine + Drinks offers unique cocktails like the Libertad (left), a rumbased drink with clarified watermelon and salted sakura blossom, and the Raspberry Fields (right), with salted raspberries and cocoa butter.
At Ella Dine + Drinks, the martini doesn’t just come with a twist — it can come with a caviar bump. Does it get more Dallas than that?
This is one of the many small luxuries that define the American-style bistro that opened in Preston Hollow Village in June. The space used to house Chído Taco Lounge. Owner Blaine McGowan says that when his team started looking at making a change from Chído, they wanted to ask what was missing from the neighborhood.
“The restaurants that are similar to what we do are all down toward Downtown Dallas and Bishop Arts, and we really felt like this neighborhood needed something like this,” he says.
Ella Dine + Drinks offers luxury dining, craft cocktails and a speakeasy experience all in one
Story by NIKI GUMMADI
“What we do really well here is we provide all of that in one spot,” he says.
Ella’s beverage director and general manager is Julian Shaffer, who was given the 2024 Michelin Guide Texas Exceptional Cocktails award for his work as bar manager at Rye on Lower Greenville. He is now creating a cocktail experience that appeals to both the traditional and the adventurous.
Diners can choose from options like the Raspberry Fields
McGowan says Ella’s location puts it a little “behind the eight ball” because it’s not in an area where people typically plan to eat dinner then hop to a bar afterward for drinks. Instead, Ella aims to bring all of that under one roof, offering an elevated dining experience, creative cocktail program and the tucked-away Customs Agave Lounge speakeasy.
Photography by ETHAN GOOD
($19), featuring salted raspberries and cocoa butter, a tequila soda ($19) crafted with salsa verde and whey, or a classic martini ($18) — though this, too, can be spiced up with a caviar bump ($15).
The food menu is a reflection of Executive Chef Kyle Farr’s personal and culinary background. Farr was previously the chef at the now-closed Bishop Arts favorite Boulevardier. Ella offerings include homages to the French bistro, including the mussels ($28) served with the same casino butter that was used on oysters at Boulevardier.
Another tribute includes one of Farr’s favorite dishes on the menu. Ella’s braised pork cheek ($30) features an orange jus made by deglazing the pan with Fanta, a reference to Boulevardier’s root beer-braised pork chop.
While paying respect to the past, Farr has still managed to create a menu that is uniquely his. A native to the city, Farr says he draws most of his inspiration from “working here in Dallas and understanding what the people of Dallas enjoy.”
The menu has a hint of Mediterranean influence, with a
hummus starter available with grilled pita and marinated olives ($14). The chicken entree ($28) is one of McGowan’s favorites and is served with orzo, kale, feta, sun-dried tomatoes and harissa. Farr attributes some of this influence to his childhood, when he spent time with a Lebanese grandmother (though not his own), who introduced him to traditional Levantine dishes like dolmas and tabbouleh.
The personal touches expand beyond the menu at Ella. The restaurant is named after McGowan’s 10-year-old daughter Ella Francis, who goes by Frankie.
“I wanted something that was meaningful and has a purpose behind it and something that would really just make me smile every time I think about it, every time I see it, and it does every time I walk up. It makes me think of her,” he says.
Frankie can sometimes be seen at the restaurant on a Friday night, helping the team run the floor or run food to diners.
“She always wants to be a part of it, and it makes her proud as well,” McGowan says.
Hospitality design company PlanB Group redid the space’s interior with a more feminine-forward design.
Though Ella has only been open for two months, McGowan is happy with the reception it has received from the community. Good reviews have come in from the press and diners alike, and sales are trending in the right direction, but “if you ever meet a restaurateur that tells you they don’t want to be busier, they’re lying,” he says.
In the coming months, McGowan says he and his team want to find a balance of being a neighborhood spot where neighbors will visit time and time again but also keeping a steady flow of new people coming to try Ella for the first time.
Though he believes his team has the skills and talent to win awards, he says their only goal is to create an enjoyable experience for their guests.
“We all love making people smile, and we love seeing people have a good time.”
Ella Dine + Drinks, 7949 Walnut Hill Lane #130, 214.242.8853, elladtx.com
The braised short rib is what Executive Chef Kyle Farr calls “a labor of love,” as it takes time to make and “always ends up being delicious.”
WHAT IS A DAME?
Jennifer Bajsel talks women supporting women in Les Dames d’Escoffier
Story by KATHARINE BALES
“Iwas told as a young chef that I could deliver food, but I couldn’t actually cook it because I was a woman,” Jennifer Bajsel says.
Bajsel always found the notion ironic and hypocritical.
“I always joked and said, ‘Who taught you how to cook? Oh, your mother?’” she says, laughing.
Bajsel serves as the first vice president of Dallas’ chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international nonprofit organization and philanthropic group representing women in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. Through chapter events, Les Dames raises funds for grants, scholarships and endowments so that women can have the resources to pursue careers in the industry. The Dallas chapter, based in Preston Hollow, will celebrate its 40th anniversary in August by giving out $40,000 in scholarships for women continuing their wine education.
“There just weren’t any organizations for women, so our New York chapter, which is also international, decided that we should have one that supports women in this industry,” Bajsel says.
Les Dames has several chapters throughout the United States, in addition to international chapters in London, Italy and Mexico. Members of the organization range from chefs and farmers to media professionals and food bloggers, Bajsel says. The Dallas chapter’s current membership includes celebrity chef Tiffany Derr; Chefs for Farmers producer Iris Midler; Break Bread, Break Borders founder Jin-Ya Huang and Asian Mint founder Nikky Phinyawatana.
“We have some really cool women in our organization,” Bajsel says proudly.
She notes that the chapter’s membership has evolved since just a few years ago, though. This fact may call for different types of fundraisers, she says.
“Just like any organization, as the years progress, careers change,” she says. “We didn’t have food influencers back in the day, but now we do. We now have a couple of lawyers who only represent the hospitality industry.”
Les Dames International changed its application guidelines around five years ago, making it easier for women to apply and join. New members initially had to be sponsored by someone inside the organization.
“Well, that’s great, but then you’re only bringing in the people that are in your circle,” she says of that old procedure.
Now, applicants qualify to apply if they meet criteria such as tenure, time in the industry and leadership skills.
“It’s been wonderful because we’ve had people come into our organization that may never have been looked at before — not because they weren’t fabulous, but because we didn’t know them,” Bajsel says.
Les Dames aims to serve as a unifying organization in which women are both recognized and represented. Gender disparity remains an issue in the hospitality industry, Bajsel says.
“I can tell you that our industry is still not equal,” she says. “Pay is not always equal between men and women in the same position in the hospitality industry.”
The organization has empowered women in the field to support both each other and those seeking an education, Bajsel says.
While working as a private chef for multiple clients and writing her first cookbook, Bajsel is set to become president of Les Dames’ Dallas chapter in September.
“My big focus for the incoming year is to really get Les Dames back home into the community,” she says.
Bajsel wants to increase Les Dames’ external engagement in the Dallas area by hosting more local events.
“We used to do a huge fundraiser that was called ‘Raiser Grazer,’ and it was a big food and wine event,” she says. “Because of the stature of the women at that time — we were chefs and restaurateurs in our organization — it was always successful. It raised a lot of funds for us over the years.”
The chapter stopped hosting Raiser Grazer in 2018. After the pandemic hit, Les Dames began hosting smaller socials for members only, as opposed to large events for the public to attend.
“I’m trying to move away from that. I would really like to see us partner more with the community,” Bajsel says.
For the past three years, the Dallas chapter has partnered with Eataly at NorthPark Center to host Festa della Donna, a food and wine event.
It’s one of the largest events in Dallas to celebrate Women’s History Month. Festa della Donna offers member-provided food stations, wine tastings and educational classes. It also features celebrity chefs, which have included Lidia Bastianich and Tiffany Derry.
Besides being a place for women to support each other in a male-dominated industry, Les Dames acts as an opportunity for women to share their passions about food. Bajsel looks forward to what the future holds, she says.
“I feel like it’s an honor to be part of this organization and certainly to be in a position to lead it,” she says. “That same ‘women supporting women’ mindset and just being there to lift each other up is a common theme no matter what chapter you’re in, no matter where in the country you are. You just really get that sense and that culture.”
LEGACYOF LEATHER HowCelebrationRestaurantbegan
its54yearsinbusinessasaleathershop
StorybyELIZABETHTRUELOVE
PhotographybyLAURENALLEN
AFTER MOVING FROM HOUSTON TO AUSTIN
“to be a hippie instead of a rodeo girl,” Rae Waldrop says she met Ed Lowe at a mutual friend’s house party in 1967. They both eventually moved into a house on an inlet of Lake Travis. Here, Lowe and Waldrop began crafting various leather pieces to make extra cash.
“We would make a leather purse, or something like that,” Waldrop says. “Back then, everybody wanted fringe, so we started doing little odds and ends there in that little lake house.”
Two years later, they moved into Lowe’s parents’ lake house on Lake Texoma. The couple continued leatherworking, but Lowe’s parents began to pressure him to have a more stable lifestyle, especially after he didn’t finish college at the University of Texas at Austin.
While Lowe and Waldrop wanted to open a leather shop, Lowe’s parents knew people with experience in the restaurant industry in Dallas. So, they compromised. Their work partners agreed to handle all aspects of the restaurant while Lowe and Waldrop managed the leather shop.
They acquired the lot on West Lovers Lane, a slightly dangerous area in the ’60s, Waldrop says. Then, they began the work to open the beloved farm-to-table restaurant, Celebration, in 1971.
However, Lowe and Waldrop’s partners soon left the project after siphoning money off the business for their personal use.
The couple, consequently, took on developing both the restaurant and the leather shop, spending their days refurbishing, planning and managing their business.
“We wound up doing all the original interior in the restaurant ourselves,” Waldrop says. “So, we did all the leather benches that were in the booths and the murals that were between each booth. I remember spending 16 hours on one of them because I wood-burned it.”
Each day, the couple drove to 4503 Lovers Lane from their mobile home in Addison before the Dallas North Tollway was there, bringing the leather they sourced from Oklahoma or fresh ingredients picked up from Dallas Farmers Market.
“We would work on leather (in Addison), and then take it in town,” Waldrop says. “We would come in every day, and we’d spend 16 or more hours per day, seven days a week.”
Within their first year, the couple moved onto the street behind Celebration, Amherst Avenue, but Waldrop says their real home resturant’s office.
“We literally had a mattress in there until we opened,” she says.
Through Celebration’s over five decades of business, the leather shop has crafted various pieces for the restaurant, including menus, aprons and business cards.
Waldrop says there was a two-hour wait each night outside Celebration’s door. Since the restaurant helped subsidize the leather shop, this meant Waldrop and other employees were able to offer new products in their store and sometimes commissioned for pieces by local celebrities.
“I made chaps and saddle bags for Larry Mahan, Billy Bob and a lot of those guys,” Waldrop says. “I started making leather jackets and coats and stuff like that, too. We actually started stocking belts for some of the bigger western stores like Cavender’s.”
Most of the time, she says, customers were inspired by the latest fashion trends and asked her to replicate them. So, over time, Waldrop learned new styles of leatherworking and collected an impressive collection of tools that allowed her to create such intricate pieces.
“It took lots and lots of trial and error, and some sliced fingers,” Waldrop says. “Nowadays, I have thousands of dollars worth of tools that you use to do leather work. There’s a lot that you have to have. Depending on what you’re doing, you could need a hundred-plus tools of all different shapes, designs and sizes.”
Some of the most rewarding pieces were the items used in the restaurant, like the wood-burned leather menus. With each letter hand-pressed and dyed, the menus, Waldrop says, hold intricacies and the charm that makes Celebration stand apart.
“I can still tell the difference between mine and Ed’s (menus),” she says. “The way he did his capital ‘E’ was always printed, he never did cursive. My daughter, who still has a few of the original ones, will sometimes ask me how I can see it, and I just say, ‘Trust me, I know.’”
In the late ’70s, Waldrop and Lowe separated, but both continued to work at Celebration. However, after finalizing their divorce in 1982, Waldrop left the business as Lowe remarried. The original leather shop remained open for another year following the divorce but closed in 1983 to be converted as more seating for the restaurant.
Celebration’s leather continued to be sold at both the Fort Worth location and Prestonwood Mall until both closed in 2000. Despite this large part of its history ending, Celebration continues to prioritize the inviting, community-driven culture by hanging original pieces in the restaurant.
Now, compay president Shannon Galvan hopes to keep up the history of the restuarant enters its 55th year in business. She will have to do so without the help of Lowe, who died in 2018 from a fatal fall in Big Bend National Park.
“Since we unfortunately do not have Ed as a resource to ask questions, we really try to use what we learned from him and listen to stories from those who were around him while he worked at the restaurant,” Galvan says. “Keeping those same standards of what has always made Celebration successful is important to us.”
To Waldrop, these standards meant keeping the same warm hospitality and honoring Celebration’s decades of history.
“People came in, they ate, they tried it, and they loved it because we put so much into it,” she says. “There’s just so many stories. I always think, ‘Man, if those walls could talk.’”
FOOD & DRINK
BEST BAKERY
WINNER - SUSIECAKES BAKERY
2ND - NOTHING BUNDT CAKES (TIE)
2ND - STEIN'S BAKERY (TIE)
3RD - EATZI'S MARKET & BAKERY
BEST BAR
WINNER - THE MERCURY
2ND - INWOOD TAVERN
3RD - THIRSTY LION
BEST BRUNCH
WINNER - MAPLE LEAF DINER
2ND - BREAD WINNERS CAFÉ & BAKERY
3RD - FIRST WATCH
BEST BURGER
WINNER - BURGER HOUSE
2ND - HOPDODDY BURGER BAR
3RD - CHIP'S OLD FASHIONED HAMBURGERS (TIE)
3RD - LIBERTY BURGER- FOREST LANE (TIE)
BEST CATERING
WINNER - PRESTON HOLLOW CATERING
2ND - A TASTE OF THE WORLD CATERING
BEST CELEBRATORY DINNER
WINNER - KNIFE & FAULK
BEST CHINESE
WINNER - ROYAL CHINA RESTAURANT
2ND - WOK STAR CHINESE
3RD - HOWARD WANG'S PRESTON HOLLOW
BEST COCKTAILS
WINNER - HILLSTONE
2ND - ESCONDIDO
3RD - BERNIE'S AT PRESTON TOWER
BEST COFFEE
WINNER - WHITE ROCK COFFEE
2ND - NEUHAUS CAFE (TIE)
2ND - CIVIL POUR COFFEE + BEER (TIE)
3RD - DRIP COFFEE
BEST DESSERTS
WINNER - NEUHAUS CAFE
2ND - BUTTERFIELD GOURMET
3RD - SPRINKLES CUPCAKES
BEST DONUT SHOP
WINNER - INWOOD DONUT
2ND - FOREST DONUTS
3RD - B'S DONUTS (TIE)
3RD - CRAVE DONUT (TIE)
BEST FROZEN TREATS
WINNER - BOTOLINO GELATO ARTIGIANALE
2ND - PACIUGO GELATO CAFFÉ
3RD - HOWDY HOMEMADE ICE CREAM
BEST HEALTHY BITE
WINNER - FLOWER CHILD
2ND - TRUE FOOD KITCHEN
3RD - THE GEM ORGANIC FOOD & JUICE
BEST HOT CHICKEN
WINNER - CELEBRATION
2ND - SLIM CHICKENS
BEST ITALIAN FOOD
WINNER - CAMPISI'S RESTAURANTLOVERS LANE
2ND - IL BRACCO
3RD - EATALY
BEST JAPANESE/SUSHI
WINNER - SHINSEI RESTAURANT
2ND - BLUE SUSHI SAKE GRILL
3RD - KU SUSHI JAPANESE CUISINE
BEST MEDITERRANEAN
WINNER - ZIZIKI'S
2ND - GREEK ISLES GRILLE & TAVERNA
3RD - LUNA GRILL
BEST MEXICAN FOOD
WINNER - MESERO
2ND - ESCONDIDO
3RD - JOSÉ
BEST PATIO
WINNER - IL BRACCO
2ND - R+D KITCHEN
3RD - HILLSTONE
BEST PIZZA
WINNER - I FRATELLI PIZZA NORTH DALLAS
2ND - PRINCI ITALIA
3RD - D.L. MACK'S (TIE)
3RD - PENNE POMODORO- PRESTON & FOREST (TIE)
BEST PLACE TO WATCH A GAME
WINNER - THIRSTY LION GASTROPUB
2ND - TIME OUT TAVERN SPORTS BAR
3RD - D.L. MACK'S
BEST SANDWICH
WINNER - CINDI'S NY DELI
2ND - MENDOCINO FARMS
3RD - NORMA'S CAFE
BEST SEAFOOD
WINNER - TJ'S SEAFOOD MARKET & GRILL
2ND - REX'S SEAFOOD AND MARKET
3RD - FISH CITY GRILL
BEST TACOS
WINNER - TORCHY'S TACOS
2ND - VELVET TACO (TIE)
2ND - TACO JOINT (TIE)
3RD - MUCHACHO
BEST THAI
WINNER - ASIAN MINT
2ND - MALAI KITCHEN (TIE)
2ND - SAUCY'S THAI + PHO (TIE)
3RD - BANGKOK DEE THAI CUISINE
BEST WINE LIST
WINNER - SEVY'S GRILL
2ND - WOODLANDS AMERICAN GRILL
3RD - TROVA WINE + MARKET (CLOSED)
balling out
Kerry Paradise has built a meal prep brand for moms, by a mom
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Photography by VICTORIA GOMEZ
L STREETS NEIGHBOR KERRY PARADISE OF BALLER MOM KITCHEN KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES TO FEED A FAMILY NIGHT-IN AND NIGHT-OUT.
A mom herself, she was responsible for putting food on the table for her three sons,
who are 6-foot-8, 6-foot-6 and 6 feet tall, respectively. Her background is primarily in hospitality, having worked for companies like Brinker International and TGI Friday’s.
She’s always enjoyed being in the kitchen and grew up in a house where home-cooked meals made with fresh ingredients were the
norm. In her childhood home near Casa Linda, Paradise’s family pantry was constantly stocked with vegetables from the produce cooperative her parents were members of.
“They would have whatever those people decided to buy that week. That’s what was in (their delivery),” she says. “And it might
be as obscure as sugar cane or as nasty as Brussels sprouts. I love them now. At my house, you ate what was on your plate. If it was good for you, it was going to go in your body, and it was not going to go in the trash.”
Even after her career took her away from chain restaurant operations and into real
estate, Paradise still had to make dinner for her family at the end of the day. But while she ferried her kids to basketball practices, games and tournaments, a trip to McDonald’s was oftentimes the path of least resistance.
“They all played sports. We were always on the go,” Paradise says. “Still, I was the mom
to where I was trying to serve (dinner). So I’m trying to juggle work and all of the sports and extracurriculars and feeding the crew. I love to cook, and I had great intention, but even for us, too many times, we were going through drive-thrus, and I didn’t love that.” There were plenty of drive-thru trips, but
she still prioritized home-cooked meals and experimenting in the kitchen as her boys grew up.
“I have no formal culinary background at all. I was a mom. I was a really good cook. People would always say, ‘You should open your own restaurant.’ And I would be like, ‘I will absolutely never do that.’”
She kept her word on that — kind of.
In 2020, Paradise launched Baller Mom Kitchen from her home. While it’s not a full service restaurant, the business churns out hundreds of pre-made meals every week for neighbors who need to put food on the table but may not always have enough time to cook a hearty meal for four.
“I do believe that there’s real value in sitting around the kitchen table as a family and having dinner,” she says. “And that was something that we were missing the mark on in our household. And I knew so many of my mom friends were feeling the same, so I built this for us with that experience in mind.”
Her original team consisted of local moms working out of her home. The pandemic, however, forced the business to adapt its staffing model.
“We were scrambling to find gloves, and we were scrambling to find packaging because all of a sudden, every restaurant wanted the same packaging we’d been buying,” she says. “But there was available talent because restaurants were laying off people. I’d lost my mom workforce because they had to stay home with their kids. And so it was very much a huge shift for us in how we did things.”
Another shift came after a surge in popularity forced her to abandon her home oven and move into the larger kitchen at Highland Oaks Church of Christ. She and her team of about 10 employees now work out of the commercial kitchen at Cochran Chapel United Methodist Church off of Northwest Highway and Midway Road.
She gives the credit for much of her rapid expansion to her fellow moms in Lake Highlands, where she does about half of her business, she says.
“The turning point was a Lake Highlands mom named Melissa Moore. I didn’t know her at the time, but she had ordered salads from us and loved them. And I think she posted in the LH Mama’s page, or somewhere on the Lake Highlands moms network, about this new thing she had found,”
she says. “And we jumped by, I don’t even know what percent. I think we went from like 120 people following us on Facebook to 500 in a weekend, and then it was just up from there.”
BMK’s menu changes weekly and draws from its lineup of over 150 rotating dishes. Menu items include baked casseroles, keto bowls, salads, pastas and TexMex-derived staples like chicken quesadillas. Some of the most popular items, like chicken spaghetti, country salad and a Tex-Mex bowl, have remained constants since the business’s early days, she says.
Most of her business comes from local families with busy schedules and hungry children. However, she also sells to early career professionals, empty nesters and elderly neighbors.
“It makes me so incredibly happy,” Paradise says. “Most of our customers are families, but there’s a widower who’s in his late 60s, and his wife died, and they always hosted Sunday dinner for their daughters and their grandkids, and he didn’t cook. Now, he orders casseroles and salads from us, and he can still host family dinner on Sundays.”
As it has grown, BMK has expanded into catering, large corporate orders and wholesaling to Dallas restaurants. East Dallas Middle Ground serves BMK breakfast burritos, egg bites and sandwiches, and locally-acclaimed burger joint Burger Schmurger has a special called the “Sweet Heat” that comes with BMK pimento cheese sauce.
Paradise’s business also engages in charitable endeavors. It served over 3,000 free meals during COVID and has partnered with the Office of Homeless Solutions to feed unhoused individuals staying in inclement weather shelters.
“The amazing thing is, about Lake Highlands and our community at large, the people that subscribe to our newsletter and follow us, when OHS reaches out and says, ‘We need help. Can you?’ And I say, ‘Yes.’ And they say, ‘How much?’ I say, ‘Give me a minute, and let me see what I can cover,’” she says. “And then I put out the word and tell people, ‘Here’s what we need and here’s what we’re looking for.’ And then, my Venmo goes off, and we have it covered, and I can tell the city, ‘We don’t have to charge you anything.’”
Paradise would like to expand her corporate catering business and continue supporting local restaurants in the short term. While she hasn’t ruled out food blogging on a beach in Mexico further down the road, she says Baller Mom Kitchen will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
In the meantime, she has some advice for moms as the school year gets underway.
“For back-to-school, plan ahead and utilize us for two meals a week,” Paradise says. “Plan ahead for the rest. Make your life a little bit easier. Don’t forget your teachers. Order lunch for your teachers, or order a casserole for your teachers to take home that first week because their life is really hard.”
Cheers to great times at your neighborhood bar
WHERE CAN I FIND LOCAL ...?
AC & HEAT
ALEXANDER HOME REPAIR. AC/HEAT Repair & Install. LIC#28052 469-226-9642
AIR SHIELD LLC AC/Heat Repairs, Installs Airshieldpros.com. 214-394-1788
THE HEATING & AC EXPERTS Installations & Repairs Emergency Services 24/7 On-Call 100% Satisfaction
ASK ABOUT DISCOUNTS!
214-710-2515 dallasheatingac.com
APPLIANCE REPAIR
JESSE’S A/C & APPLIANCE SERVICE
TACLB13304C All Makes/Models. 214-660-8898
BUY SELL TRADE
I BUY USED CARS
Sam. Dallas. 469-609-0978.
!!OLD GUITARS WANTED!! Gibson, Fender, Martin, Etc. 1930’s to 1980’s. Top Dollar Paid. 1-866 -433-8277
SALE: FULL SIZE BED. $400. Bed frame, headboard, box spring, mattress, Good Condition. 469-363-2480
CABINETRY & FURNITURE
JD’S TREE SERVICE Mantels, Headboards, Kitchen Islands, Dining tables. Made from Local Trees. www.jdtreeservice.com 214-946-7138
Relax ...We’ll Clean Your House, It Will Be Your Favorite Day! Bonded & Insurance. Free Estimates. 214-929-8413. www. altogetherclean.net
CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133
WANTED HOUSES TO CLEAN. Organize, De-clutter, pack +more. Dependable, Thorough,Honest, Great Refs,15yrs.Exp. Sunny 972-487-6599 / 214-724-2555
WINDOW CLEANING Power washing No Job To Small. 30 Yrs exp. 214-360-0120
COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS
CONFUSED? FRUSTRATED? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky Windows computer. Hardware/Software Installation, Troubleshooting, Training. $100/hr. 1 hr min. Dan 972-639-6413 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net
NEED HELP WITH YOUR COMPUTER, Smartphone or Smart Home? My Tech Guy Harvey. 214-770-2598. hmccall@mtgharvey.com.
CONCRETE, MASONRY & PAVING
ADVANCE STONE ART CREATIONS
Decorative Concrete Overlays. 214-705-5954
CONCRETE, RETAINING WALLS 25 yrs exp. T&M Construction, Inc. 214-328-6401
RGC - HOME IMPROVEMENTS 214-477-8977 HOUSE PAINTING
BENJAMINS PAINTING - Professional work @reasonable price. In Advocate since 2007 214-725-6768 HECTOR PEREZ PAINTING Commercial/residential. Intrior/ Exterior. Fair Rates.
alvinohuizar@yahoo.com
WHERE CAN I FIND LOCAL ...?
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Tubs, Tiles or Sinks
Cultured Marble
Kitchen Countertops
SERVICES FOR YOU
LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES
#1 WHITE ROCK TREE WIZARDS Professionals, Experts, Artists serving Dallas 15 years.Trim, Removals. Tree Health Care services. Insured. Arborwizard.com. Free Est. (972) 803-6313.
A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 18 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925 Lawns, Gardens & Trees
DAVIS LAWN CARE, LLC
580-222-4909 or davislawncare214@yahoo.com Serving Lake Highlands & Lakewood.
PAT TORRES 214-388-1850 Lawn Service & Tree Care. 28 Yrs. Complete Landscape Renovation. New Fence Install & Brick Repair. Concrete Removal and Gutter Cleaning.
RED SUN LANDSCAPES • 214-935-9779 RedSunLandscapes.com
RGC - STORM WATER MANAGEMENT drainage solutions 214-477-8977
TAYLOR MADE IRRIGATION Repairs, service, drains. 30+ years exp. Ll 6295 469-853-2326. John
WALTON’S GARDEN CENTER
Stop in for home decor, candles, house plants, succulents and more. It’s time to plan for spring. Call us for design, prep and plantings! 8652 Garland Road 214.321.2387
Imagine A Night Outside Without Mosquitoes NATURE KING PEST MANAGEMENT INC. All types of Pest control. Natureking.com Natureking.com. 5 Star rating on Google 30+yrs. Exp. 214-827-0090.
"Keeping Children & Pets in Mind" Termite Specialist - Mosquito Mister Systems Licensed · Insured · Residential · Commercial · Organic 214-350-3595 • Abetterearth.crw@gmail.com abetterearth.com
PLUMBING
AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943
of
ABOUT DISCOUNTS!
CERULEAN
staggsplumbing.co
AGING ROOF? New Homeowner? Got Storm Damage? You need a local expert provider that proudly stands behind their work. Fast, free estimate. Financing Available.1-888-878-9091.
BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 877-543-9189
BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR. We want to read your book! Dorrance Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation,production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author’s guide 1-877-729-4998 or visit dorranceinfo.com/ads
DENTAL INSURANCE- Physicians Mutual Insurance Company. Covers 350 procedures. Real insurance -not a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit! 1-888-623-3036 www.dental50plus.com/58 #6258
DIRECTV STREAM - Carries the most local MLB Games! ChoicePackage $89.99/mo for 12 mos Stream on 20 devices at once.HBO Max included for 3 mos (w/Choice Package or higher.)No contract or hidden fees! Some restrictions apply. Call IVS 1-866-859-0405
DONATE YOUR CARS TO VETERANS TODAY. Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800 -245-0398
&
Kitchens, Bathrooms, Windows, Doors, Siding, Decks, Fences, Retaining Walls, New Construction
New Construction & Remodels FiferCustomHomes.com• 214-727-7075
Family owned and operated for over 40 years • Residential/Commercial • Over 30,000 roofs completed • Seven NTRCA “Golden Hammer” Awards • Free Estimates www.bertroofing.com
ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate today. 15% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-855-402-0373
GENERAC Prepare for power outages today with a GENERAC home standby generator $0 Down + Low Monthly Pmt. Request a free Quote. Call before the next power outage: 1-844-334 -8353
GET DISH SATELLITE TV +INTERNET Free Install, Free HD-DVR Upgrade, 80,000 On-Demand Movies, Plus Limited Time Up To $600 In Gift Cards. Call Today! 1-866-479-1516
HUGHESNET Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live.25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499 -0141
PROFESSIONAL LAWN SERVICE:
Fertilization, weed control, seeding, aeration & mosquito control. Call now for a free quote. Ask about our first application special! 1-833-606-6777
REPLACE your roof with the best looking & longest lasting material steel from Erie Metal Roofs! 3 styles & multiple colors available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited Time Offer up to 50% off install + Additional 10% off install. (military, health &1st responders.) 1-833-370-1234
SAFE STEP North America's #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-theline installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available. 1-855-417-1306
THE GENERAC PWRCELL, a solar plus battery storage system. SAVE money, reduce your reliance on the grid, prepare for power outages and power your home. Full installation services
WATER DAMAGE
cleanup & restoration: A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! Call 24/7: 1-888-872-2809
TUTOR/LESSONS
WANTED: OBOE TEACHER needed for 14 year old student. Call 214–235-7429
PIANO LESSONS 30 years exp. Also voice & composition. Text (469) 708-6151
