blog& BACK TALK

GATTI TOWN OPENS

After a lengthy zoning battle, Preston Hollow neighbors Paul and Aimee Griffiths have finally opened the doors to Gatti Town at the Park Forest Shopping Center. If you go, keep an eye out for the Dallas-themed murals by Brent Hale (my favorite is the painting of Big Tex), and the bumper cars are also a must-do.

—MARLENA CHAVIRA-MEDFORD

I love their dessert pizzas, craving the cinnamon icing one now! Glad to know that there is one closer to home.

—SUSAN

Give me a jalapeño-pepperoni and a Mavs game on that big screen, and I’ll never go home.

—PAUL

TO VIEW A VIDEO of the new Gatti Town, visit advocatemag.com/gatti.

Disddistrict 1 Race

DISD District 1 incumbent Edwin Flores defended his seat in the recent school board election. He’ll now focus on raising the District 1 graduation rate, something that ranks near the top of his priority list. Flores, who had second thoughts about running for this term, said this will likely be his last round on the school board.

—MARLENA CHAVIRA-MEDFORD

Congratulations, Edwin, and thank you for serving us so well. With respect to increasing the graduation rate, I totally agree with what Edwin wrote for the voter guide: “...bring funding for extra-curricular activities closer to that of adjacent districts as there is a strong correlation between student involvement in extracurricular activities and the graduation rate.”

—LOUISA MEYER

FORMER W.T. WHITE FOOTBALL COACH MIKE ZOFFUTO

As this year’s football season grinds to an end, Kevin Sherrington with The Dallas Morning News writes a touching story about former W.T. White football coach Mike Zoffuto, who today has what appears to be earlyonset Alzheimer’s, and his wife, Marcie, died of cancer three years ago. This is a touching story about a guy who affected a lot of lives in the coaching world — Sherrington says as many of 15 former Zoffuto assistants have become head coaches — but today has trouble remembering to put his socks on.

—RICK WAMRE

My heart goes out to Z and his family. Two of my children were swimmers for coach Beckie Sweatman and we will never forget what he did for her.

—BELINDA

Nothing Bundtcakes Opening

Nothing Bundt Cakes is opening at Preston Royal Shopping Center in early December. This 1,650 square-foot location next to Black House White Market will be a grab-and-go style bakery with delivery service. Like the name suggests, this small cake shop sells a variety of bundt cakes — and bundtlets, should you want a mini-cake to yourself. And next year, they’ll add bundtinis, which are bite-sized poppers you can buy by the dozen.

—MARLENA CHAVIRA-MEDFORD

This is a franchise concept, and I’ve been to the one in Southlake. Awesome cakes — if you like cake, you’ll want to go check this place out when it opens.

—THEBINBIGD

Podcast

Whether it’s what’s happening at city hall or a trend we see gaining ground in our neighborhood, we’re talking about it. You can listen to our newlylaunched podcast series every Monday by visiting our Back Talk blog.

Back Talk

For the latest on what’s happening in our neighborhood, click on “blog” daily and get the scoop from Advocate reporters.

GET ON THE A-LIST

It’s the best of the website in an e-newsletter version, delivered to your inbox weekly. Sign up by clicking “personalize” on the home page.

ALL A TWITTER

Follow Advocate on twitter.com/advocate. mag and be the first to know about the latest news, photos, podcasts, and videos posted to our website.

Storefront

Check out the newest portion of advocatemag. com, where you can find listings for all sorts of businesses and services all right here in our neighborhood. And if you’re a business owner, feel free to add your own listing here, too.

PRODUCTIVITY-KILLER

Help pass the time your weekend begins with a mindless, yet amusing, diversion. You can find that workweek escape on the Back Talk blog every Friday at 2 p.m.