You have ice cream shops and you have cookie stores. Somewhere in there is a high concept. Put em together! and you get an ice cream sandwich store: Pokey O’s, where you build yr own w/ 12 kinds of cookie + 10 flavors of ice cream. Go crazy - use 2 kindsa cookies. The concept isn’t totally new: There’s an ice cream sandwichery in L.A. called Diddy Riese which pioneered the idea in the ‘80s. But those folks are content 2B a single store (and charge $1 vs. $2 here); Pokey O’s is the seed of a chain, w/ more branches TK in the DFW area.

3034 Mockingbird Lane, near Horchow Finale, 214-987-1200 opening Jan 06

One thing that makes a town feel like a real city: places that stay open 24 hrs (other than Denny’s which is quintessentially suburban). So zankyouverymuch to Buzzbrews Kitchen, a snappy new 24-hr diner on Central (@ Fitzhugh) serving breakfast, burgers, salads, & a couplo entrees. Owner Omar Zuniga was a mgr at Café Brazil for 15 yrs; you can spot the proof in Buzzbrews’ coffee fixation (incl a serv-yourself bottomless-cup setup) & profoundly laid-back vibe. But the restaurant also feels urban, maybe cuz it overlooks a bizzy corner, where it sits in what usedta be the old Pitt Grill, the extra-greasy spoon whose layers of grime took Zuniga a full month to scrape off the walls. Buzzbrews also duz espresso drinks and makes a latte that’s A++

4154 N. Central Epwy 214-826-7100

Becuz it is Xmas week and who has the energy to track down a new place (but also becuz the restaurant in question has been in the news recently), today’s item comes almost straight from a publicist’s pen - namely that Il Mulino New York is doing a preset 4-course $45 menu, starting today & running thru ‘06. They’ll give you a choice of 1. caprese vs caesar, 2. porcini ravioli vs eggplant seafood rolatini, 3. sea bass, chick, or veal, and 4. dessert sampler. It’ll change monthly

2408 Cedar Springs. 214-855-5511

What might otherwise be the simple tale of yet-another chain acquires extra drama cuz this one - Zea WoodFire Grill – is HQ’d in NOLA & got derailed by Katrina. But Zea’s a go for Jan 06. Described as eclectic, the menu’s a kitchen-sink deal w/ Medit hummus, chick quesadillas, & Thai ribs. Salads, sammies, & entrees “contain ingredients prepared on the rotisserie.” (In other words, chicken?) Previous branches are in LA, AL, NM, & FL. It started out as Zea’s Rotisserie Grill; maybe that sounded too limiting (or else people didn’t know wotta rotisserie was?) Tsk, the new name is borderline illiterate; i.e., when they say woodfire, spose they mean wood-fireD?

8100 Dallas Parkway, Plano (121 & the tollway)

Snow is a new-ish carbonated mint bev impossible not to love. For who doesn’t find the concept of white powder refreshing? (Look, if they’re gonna name it Snow…) The minty soda water was created in Manhattan by an ex-Wall-Streeter whose vision was for “a clear & natural carbonated beverage that tastes like snow melting on your tongue“. It’s lightly sweetened w/ cane sugar and has 75 cals per serv, a little less than some competitors. They recommend using it as a mixer but doesn’t it seem better straight from a straw

Sold at only the most hipster-esque places: Central Market, Market Street, Pogo’s, select Centennials, Tei Tei, Lush, Che, and the hottest new spot that’s not-yet-open, Kitchen 1924

Pillsbury Sweet Rolls Cinnamon Mini Bites take an existing product & repackage it in another format: little squares rather than big circles. Before you go underestimating the accomplishment here, keep in mind how the regular Sweet Cinnamon Rolls W/ Icing can seem too like too much roll and not enough Sweet, Cinnamon, or Icing. These new mini bites solve that prob by offering a better surface area to volume ratio. Like so many of Pillsbury’s rolls-in-a-can, they’re yucky but strangely irresistible

Cool Whip French Vanilla appears to have been intro’d in 2003 but it’s new to NYCE so here’s an item. Whaddya spose is the diff between regular cool whip & French vanilla? Wiki sez FV = “strong vanilla aroma” + “originates from the French style of making ice cream w/ egg yolks“. The odd thing izzat this is limited to fall & winter only. Duzzn’t that seem odd, that a ahem shelf-stable-type prod such as cool whip (imitation whipped cream containing no milk prods, intro’d in 1965) would have a ltd ed? And what izzit about French vanilla that makes it a winter flavor

*sorry about the generic foto; kraft website duzzn’t have any prod shots at all

It’s silly to single out one product as the dumbest. But Tic Tac Silvers surely gets a spot on the list. Itzza “specially formulated candy mint”, individ wrapped in shiny foil, w/ a “sweet outer coating & a minty center”. In other words, a Tic Tac in a fancy wrapper. They’re described as “perfect for entertaining and sharing w/ your guests”. What, opening a container of Tic Tacs and shaking them out onto your guests’ palms isn’t enough? One of their selling points: they’re “perfect for decorating your home in a beautiful & tasteful manner”. Cuz nothing says good taste like bits of foil on a tabletop. They come in 2 flavors: pepp & orange.

Chex Mix has to be one of the dumbest products in the world. Who can’t buy a box of Life and add peanuts? But General Mills sez it’s the #1 warehouse snack (whatever that means) at conv stores (tho the shelf space required to house its 12 flavors - cheddar, party blend, hot n spicy etc - may have something to do w/ that ranking). Annnyway, a new flavor is sufficiently notable to merit a blog item cuz it combos salty + sweet - specifically chocolate (which beats out more generic sweet flavors such as honey), in its new Chocolate Chex Mix, in two varieties, turtle & peanut butter. btw, the choc is “candy coated milk choc pieces” (and you know what those are); for anyone who’s bought trail mix, this ain’t news.

Can’t get enough of these nut snack things. It might be one of those things where you can’t fathom how good they are until you’ve actually had them. It’s definitely one of those things where you need to like nuts. But everyone sez that nuts are a healthy snack. And these in particular, from a cali co called Mrs. May’s, are pretty much all nut (nut + rice malt + cane juice, which forms a very subtle brittle-y crust) like a payday, but nuttier. Mrs. May’s R avail at wholesale stores, at WF, and at SuperT (methinks they’re also doing SuperT’s private-label Archer Farms’ brand cuz they look identical). They come in a buncha flavors; the pumpkin’s awesome.