2022 December Preston Hollow Advocate

pin trio from Violet and Brookes, sold at Sample House for $38. Photography by Jessica Turner.

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SERVING SENIORS

Meredith Mallard, a junior at Ur suline, started volunteering at Presby terian Village North last year.

“I enjoy it because I feel like the res idents have a lot to offer me because I get a different perspective on life in general,” Mallard says. “They have a lot of stories to tell or things they want to talk about that I wouldn’t necessarily even think about to begin with. It just is kind of like a shift in my day, and it’s so fun to hear what they have to say and the stories they tell.”

Mallard continued working at the senior living center after her volun teer time ended. She says she loves her residents too much to leave, and they might love her even more.

“She’s excellent at what she does,” says Susan deLarios, a resident at Presbyte rian Village North. “It’s good for us, and it’s good for them (the young servers). You get to know them and let them know how important they are.”

Mallard is able to keep a flexible schedule serving at the senior living facility while in school. On top of her job and her classwork, she is on the Ursuline lacrosse team and Global Ad visory Council, and she’s an Ursuline ambassador.

“People wouldn’t expect a high school er to like hanging out with and serving the residents because they’re so much

older than us, and most people would probably think it’s a little boring,” Mal lard says. “But they have a lot to say and they’re so lively and always wanting to tell stories.”

Presbyterian Village North works with high schoolers in a volunteer and em ployment setting to attempt to bridge the gap between seniors and young peo ple throughout the year.

“You always want to give good service, but it’s a different type of service. It’s more about making a connection with the person,” says Keo Velasquez, director of corporate operations at Forefront Liv ing, the parent company of Presbyterian Village North. “They’re going to ask you questions about your background and what you do and what you enjoy. It becomes a very personal relationship.”

Presbyterian Village North is always looking for more high schoolers to have the opportunity to work part time with the residents, and those interested can apply online.

“We really enjoy being able to connect with her and her fellow classmates,” Vel asquez says. “You can see with Meredith how much she enjoys it and how much she’s gotten out of it. She’s been a great addition as far as interacting with them and encouraging her fellow classmates. She’s very bright, and it exposes her to a whole different industry.”

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Meet Ursuline student Meredith Mallard Story by ALYSSA HIGH

Meredith Mallard and with some of her favorite friends. Photo courtesy Presbyterian Village North.

TR

A SOUND MIND

Michael Gruber has a very particular set of skills that make him an understated wunderkind of the radio world

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

In the days leading up to its October debut, Dallas’ talk-radio channel The Freak generated buzz galore due to its headlining talent, including Mike Rhyner, erstwhile voice of The Hardline on sports radio stalwart KTCK, The Ticket. Rhyner’s likeness and the words, “I’m back” popped up on billboards around town. His fans tuned in.

A few minutes into that first broadcast day, Rhyner surprised listeners when he introduced his producer, Michael Gruber, who operated the soundboard at The Ticket for about a decade. Known widely as Grubes, Gruber is a cult hero among local sports fans.

Gruber’s face appeared on several of the billboards post reveal. His inclusion in The Freak’s cast, which features several KTCK exes, had been a guarded secret.

“Some people might have known. I had some texts asking about it,” Gruber says. “I did not feel good about not responding to people, but we were trying to keep it under wraps.”

While contemplating his comeback, Rhyner thought of Gruber, the Preston Hollow native whose radio career started at The Ticket when he was 16 and still a Jesuit College Preparatory student. But Rhyner says he dismissed the idea because Gruber had moved on and was enjoying success running audio for the Texas Rangers.

“I thought he was just as happy as he could be doing that,” Rhyner says.

When he realized The Freak management team was serious about getting Gruber, he says, “that’s when I really started to get a grasp on the possibilities here and figured that they were going to do things right.”

Rhyner did not know that Gruber was poised to leave the Rangers to take a position with Bally Sports Southwest.

“I was already planning a move when he called me,” Gruber says. “I knew I wanted to do it. There were some formalities to work through, but there wasn’t much doubt on my end.”

life sized. Some featured Gruber riding a unicorn.

Gruber — who at 97.1 operates the soundboard for the Ben and Skin show and is the board op/producer on The Downbeat — is the best at what he does, says Rhyner, who’s been in radio since the 1970s and knows whereof he speaks.

Board operators control music, sound effects and other audio throughout the broadcast.

“But no one does it like Grubes,” Rhyner says.

Being Grubes-esque requires a rare combination of technical expertise, razor-sharp observational skills, pitch-perfect comedic timing, a grasp of human psychology and a gift for provoking your peers in a way that is hilarious but not cruel, Rhyner says.

Gruber landed an internship on The Ticket’s Norm Hitzges’ show in 2002, when he was a junior playing baseball at the all-boys Catholic high school.

“I was just a huge P1 (one who listens primarily to The Ticket), and I wanted to do anything that they would have me do there,” Gruber says. “I would have cleaned the toilets if that’s what they needed. I just wanted to be a part of it.”

Grubes mastered the sound board and climbed rank to The Ticket’s afternoon show, The Hardline , with Rhyner and co-host Corby Davidson. The Ticket’s guy-talk, pull-back-thecurtain style, pioneered by Rhyner, meant everyone involved in the show production, including the technical crew, has an on-air presence. Fans started to recognize Gruber. Unlike some of the other polarizing personalities, everyone loved Grubes.

“There might be figures around here who have more supporters,” wrote Levi Weaver for The Athletic, but as far as approval rating? There are only a few legends that rank higher than Grubes.”

During his Ticket tenure, Gruber perfected the fine art of the audio drop.

He launched and skillfully landed recorded clips of hosts hollering at

callers, transformed vulgar slip-ups into multi-part auto-tuned harmonies and made benign phrases such as “I like steak” part of the regional vernacular.

“He just paid so much attention to the show,” Rhyner says. “He got to a place where he could predict what we were going to do next. It’s uncanny.”

Ten years ago, Gruber left The Ticket and went back to school. He didn’t stick around for the degree, but enjoyed myriad, arguably cooler, adventures.

An incomplete list of Gruber’s accomplishments includes DJing for the Dallas Stars, the Mavericks, and baseball’s minor league Frisco RoughRiders. The latter resulted in a series of Grubes bobbleheads.

Texas Monthly featured Gruber performing a “weird” job for the Texas Rangers that involved “entertaining a crowd that wasn’t there—and also simulating that crowd with sound effects,” during the pandemic.

The Athletic called him the Forrest Gump of DFW, due his perpetual adjacency to the metro’s biggest sports stories.

His father, a prominent Dallas attorney, once acknowledged while accepting an award that he is best known as “Grubes’ dad.”

Gruber says his parents, Mike and Diane, are incredibly supportive and loving. “Frankly, I couldn’t have done most of what I’ve done without them,” he says.

NBA star Dirk Nowitzki bought his home in Preston Hollow from the Grubers.

During one interview on The Ticket, Nowitzki asked: “Where’s Grubes at?” And the Big German’s first-ever Tweet in 2010? “I don’t know where Grubes at.”

The Ticket versus The Freak rivalry has stirred emotions among radio listeners. On the news and discussion site Reddit, some say Mike Rhyner’s presence at the new station is a betrayal. Others welcome the expansion of talk-radio choices and opportunity for emerging audio

talent. But there is common ground in a fondness for Grubes.

“I hope the man has never had a bad day in his life, and if he has, I’d like to give a strong middle finger to whoever caused it,” wrote one user.

Others praised The Ticket for keeping Grubes’ spirit alive during his absence from the airwaves.

One commenter shared that Gruber helped him during one of the darkest times in his life by sitting and talking with him at a neighborhood bar.

Fellow radio personality Jeff Cavanaugh noted that his talent at his particular job, at which he is “the best to ever do,” pales in comparison to what an amazing person he is. “No one anywhere makes people feel better for just having been around them.”

Gruber says he feels lucky to be back on air with his buddies and that, thus far, being at The Freak has been a blast, which he will enjoy as long as he can.

“I’m just going to keep doing stuff that people enjoy, making more connections with fans and listeners,” he says. “It’s all been a really awesome wave that I’ll be riding until it crashes.”

I’M JUST GOING TO KEEP DOING STUFF THAT PEOPLE ENJOY, MAKING MORE CONNECTIONS WITH FANS AND LISTENERS.

EVENTS TO CELEBRATE THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Story by ALYSSA HIGH | Illustrations by JESSICA TURNER

THIS YEAR HANUKKAH FALLS ON DEC. 18-27 , and our neighborhood is packed with events to celebrate. For those who aren’t familiar with the holiday, Hanukkah is celebrated by Jewish people to commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian army in 165 B.C.E. and the liberation of the Temple in Jerusalem. The holiday is celebrated annually by more than 15 million people worldwide by lighting the hanukkiah, a special menorah for Hanukkah, eating foods such as latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts) and playing games.

Preston Hollow is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Texas. Temple Emanu-El is the state’s oldest congregation. Our neighborhood is also home to several prominent schools for Jewish children, including Akiba Yavneh Academy and Mesorah High School for Girls.

To say “Hanukkah Sameach” this winter, check out these six events hosted by our neighbors:

A Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, is a ninebranched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

GALLERIA DALLAS is lighting a large-scale menorah every night of Hanukkah at 6 p.m. with the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. It’s on Level 1 near Tiffany & Co.

Chabad of Dallas and Friendship Circle, two Jewish-run organizations based in Preston Hollow, are partnering with THE INTOWN CHABAD FOR CHANUKAH FEST of Klyde Warren. The second-annual event features nightly lighting of a giant pink menorah, sufganiyot and more festivities on Dec. 18.

Texas Jewish Arts Association is hosting THE ART OF FAITH & CULTURE Exhibition from Nov. 9-Dec. 31. The exhibition features Hanukkah and Shabbat artwork, sculptures and heirlooms at the Dallas Arboretum. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online.

JCC is hosting an adults-only class where participants can learn about the history of Hanukkah and make a hanukkiah to take home at THE AARON FAMILY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF DALLAS on Dec. 15. Tickets are $10 each.

For the little ones, JCC DALLAS is hosting Babies and Bagels, Hanukkah Light Play 11 a.m.-noon Dec. 21 in the Yad B’Yad Room. The special play session will help babies explore the magic of lights through rope lights, light tables and projectors, and materials for casting shadows.

Preschoolers can join THE DALLAS PUBLIC LIBRARY at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 21 for a Hanukkah celebration at Bookmarks in NorthPark Center. Learn the story of Hanukkah, make holiday crafts, have some holiday treats and light the hanukkiah.

Tricky Fish’s bourbon sherry linguine with shrimp, low country Cobb salad and mule flight.

FROM CAJUN TO COCKTAILS

Tricky Fish is Gulf Coast cuisine

Story by TINA TIEN NGUYEN | Photography by KATHY TRAN

TRICKY FISH IN PRESTON HOLLOW VILLAGE has some Cajun-like items on the menu, but it’s not a Cajun restaurant.

It’s better described as a Third “Gulf” Coast-inspired seafood restaurant.

“We hope that people don’t just think of us as strictly Cajun, because we want to be more of the Gulf Coast,” owner Chris Degan says. “It’s a big coastal line that goes a long way, and there’s more variations of seafood along there that’s kind of fun.”

Degan, who also owns three other Tricky Fish restaurants throughout Dallas-Fort Worth, opened in Preston Hollow’s loca tion in 2021.

“Preston Hollow is a great part of town, and it seemed like it would be something that would hit our market pretty good too,” he says.

Degan has lived in Texas for 30 years, though he wasn’t born here. His previous homes and trips influenced his decision to start a seafood restaurant.

“I grew up in the Northeast, and I lived in places like Massa chusetts and Cape Cod,” Degan says. “I have family in Naples and Fort Meyers, so I’ve spent a lot of time along the coast that goes from South Texas all the way to Naples and South Florida. I’ve gone fishing with friends along the Panama Coast and South Texas as well, so I’ve always had a passion for seafood.”

Degan has a lifetime of experience in restaurants. He started in his parents’ restaurant when he was 14, and he has a degree in restaurant management from Cornell University. From 1993-2019, he was the president of Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe, a popular Cajun-in spired restaurant. It was at Razzoo’s where Degan created a dish called “tricky fish,” which became the name for his new restaurant.

“My favorite part of the restaurant is actually the kitchen,” he says. “I love getting behind the kitchen and helping. That’s my background. I cooked all throughout college and restaurants when I was in school.”

“Today’s catch” at Tricky Fish allows guests to pick from a list of main plates along with a choice of seafood options. One popular dish is the signature “tricky fish,” which comes with crawfish etouf fee, dirty rice and okra. The wilted spinach salad has a homemade mae ploy sauce and pairs well with grilled salmon or red snapper. Bourbon sherry linguine, which Degan says goes well with black

Tricky Fish’s wilted spinach salad with grilled salmon.

ened shrimp, is made with a smoky bourbon cherry sauce.

Other favorites are the fish and chips platter, shrimp and crab bisque, shrimp and catfish platter, crab cakes, bacon-wrapped shrimp, oysters and the fish sandwich.

Sauces including the honey mus tard vinaigrette, tartar, cocktail and remoulade sauces are made in-house. Fish is freshly prepared and cut. Most of the seafood is sustainable and comes from Ocean Beauty Sea foods.

“I just feel like all things are much fresher and better when you make them in house,” Degan says. “We put our own spin on things, like the cocktail sauce may have more lemon than what you would find in other ones.”

The okra, which isn’t fried, has a fresh flavor. Spices including cay enne, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika shine because they aren’t masked by grease. It was supposed to be a testrun on the menu, but its popularity made it stay.

“I could never take the okra away now,” Degan says. “People ask for it all of the time.”

Tricky Fish also offers salads and chicken tenders for people who don’t want fish. Degan says the “low coun

try Cobb” is his favorite.

The dessert menu features home made banana pudding and a French toast sundae, and brunch and happy hour are also served.

Tricky Fish uses fresh fruit and homemade syrups and beverage mixes. The most popular cocktails include the “painkiller” Mai Tai, and the Louisiana Purchase (Tricky Fish’s version of rum and coke). Customers can take classes at the restaurant to learn how to make cocktails.

“We want to stress fresh seafood on top of good, freshly made crafted cocktails,” Degan says. “I definite ly want for people to come in and appreciate both the food and the drinks.”

Décor is simple, casual and neu tral, except for the big fish made of old straws, utensils, pencils and crushed cans by the bar area. Degan says he believes the focus should be on guests interacting with each other, talking about the food and drinks.

“The little lights we have through out the restaurant give a very inviting and relaxing feeling, so things are a bit muted here with the decorations on the wall so that you’re not here to talk about what’s going on around you other than the food,” he says.

For Degan, Tricky Fish was never

about getting a customer in and out quickly. Instead, guests should relax and unwind.

“The hangout should be an ex perience, not just a meal,” he says. “When people go out, they really want to catch up and enjoy all the time they can with their friends. People should be allowed to have a good time here and not feel rushed out the door.”

The staff is what makes Tricky Fish so successful, Degan says. He relies on them to create good expe riences for guests, especially because he can’t be at each location every day.

“We try to find people that are hospitable by nature and that have that as part of their personality,” he says. “The service industry is all about hospitality, and that’s what we preach first and foremost.”

Degan says he hopes Tricky Fish will continue growing and getting busier, and he wants to keep look ing for ways to improve.

“For some people it’s all about the hospitality, and for others, it’s just about the food,” he says. “I think restaurants have to offer both in order to be truly success ful.”

Tricky Fish, 7859 Walnut Hill Lane, tricky-fish.com

Fried oyster BLT from Tricky Fish.

ROAM Fine Goods, located in Preston Royal Shopping Center, is a curated boutique bursting with unique clothing, home decor and trinkets galore. ROAM sells 14-karat diamond initial studs for $168 in every letter.

Stocking Stuffers

SHOP LOCAL THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH GIFTS FROM SMALL BUSINESSES

Story by ALYSSA HIGH Photography by JESSICA TURNER

Every December, stockings line the chimneys (or entertainment centers) of festive homes. These red and white socks are full of candy, toys and jewelry, but our neighborhood shops have even more in store.

Preston Royal’s Sample House carries a diverse array of home decor items as well as fragrant can dles, diffusers, sprays and other giftable goods.

For the benefit of our furry friends, The Plaza at Preston Center sta ple Lucky Dog Barkery sells high-quality treats, chew toys, beds, collars and clothes. Lucky Dog has pups covered this holiday season with yummy snacks, squeaky playthings, Santa-cladden collars and festive stockings.

For the active person on your gift list, Friends of Northaven Trail sells water bottles, fanny packs, hats and shirts. Pictured here are the Northaven Trail T-shirt, $40, the Northaven baseball cap, $31, and the Northaven Trail visor, $33.

Trova Wine + Market — a cozy wine bar and shop in The Plaza at Preston Center — offers a carefully selected assort ment of vino from around the world. Trova is set for the holiday season with several favorites including a brut, merlot or chardonnay that fits snuggly into a wine bottle-shaped stocking.

WORSHIP

By GEORGE MASON

Everything seems existential

And then there’s reality

Wre e’ve come out of an election season again this year that purport ed to be most important election of our lifetimes. Until the next one. Apocalyptic framing of the crises we face makes everything seem exis tential — a contest between good and evil with life-or-death consequences.

This is rarely true, regardless of how hot our political passions run. We always pick ourselves up and return to the work of persisting or resisting, depending on where we are in the power grid at the time.

December brings spiritual insights about light and darkness from two religions’ holidays: Hanukkah and Christmas. (I should also mention the Hindu, Sikh and Jain holy day, Diwali, which happened in October this year. Diwali is called the festival of lights. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, freedom over oppression, and en lightenment over ignorance.)

Hanukkah recalls the victory of the Jewish Maccabees over the Se leucid ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had humiliated the Israelites by desecrating the Temple in Jerusalem with the blood of a pig. When the sanctification of the Temple took place, only enough oil was found for the ceremonial lamps to burn for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days. Thus, the nine-candled meno rahs (eight for the eight days, and one helper candle used to light the others).

Christmas lights — white and colored both — are everywhere, it seems: on Christmas trees, Advent wreaths, windowsills, front yard trees and bushes. Jesus is called “the Light of the world”. He came to chase away the darkness of sin. We light our little candles on Christmas Eve from the

Christ candle, reminding us that we too must share the light in a dark ened world.

Light and darkness always coex ist. Yet every contrast isn’t as stark as noon and midnight or even sunrise and sunset. We have dawn and dusk, too. If you didn’t have your watch on, you might not know whether twilight hours bode more light to come or less. So, we might ask, “Is this moment,” as Valarie Kaur puts it, “the darkness of the tomb or the darkness of the womb?”

The modern Hebrew word mashber means crisis. It comes from an original meaning of “birthing stool.” In other words, we should always be looking for hope in the midst of whatever de spair we feel, new life in the shadow of death. Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur of Paris, France, says that mashber “is a time of anger and hope, death and life. It’s the birthing of something new, and no one knows what that’s going to be.”

Politics is something but not ev erything. Culture is the underlying driver of politics. And religion is an important component of culture. People of faith must remember that God is the true mystery of the world. Therefore, surprising judgments and unexpected breakthroughs are pos sible no matter how bright or bleak the affairs of state. We can and must shine our little light of hope and point the way to paths of peace.

Let’s walk that way together.

GEORGE MASON is pastor of Wilshire Bap tist Church, president of Faith Commons and host of the “Good God” podcast. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. 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

ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809

Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m.

Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org

WILSHIRE BAPTIST CHURCH / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

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

PRESBYTERIAN

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

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MeetnewNorthPark’s Santa

Aerospace engineering to sleigh flying

Interview by ALYSSA HIGH | Photography by NORTHPARK CENTER

NorthPark Center’s resident Santa retired this year after more than 30 years, but Joel Lagrone is ready to fill his boots.

Lagrone has a professional background in aerospace engineering, music and community theater. While maintaining a 23-year-long career at Lockheed Martin, the Southern Methodist University graduate explored his creative side acting in musicals, community theater events and local Saint Nick gigs, not to mention his rock ’n’ roll band AeroMotion.

Lagrone brings his musical talent to NorthPark for this year’s storytime.

Santa season kicks off Nov. 25 with visits and portraits with Santa benefiting Children’s Health.

WHICH CAME FIRST, THE LOOK OR THE INTEREST IN BECOMING SANTA?

With the beard, the white hair and the suit there’s a certain amount of iconic character that just happens. For me, having the stage experience, I tried to develop that character so that I looked like Santa to myself. Because I always looked like me to me, even in these other characters I have to convince myself and bring those characters to life.

WHO ARE YOUR SANTA INSPIRATIONS?

Certainly The Miracle on 34th Street , there’s a genuineness when you have a man that portrays what we all want to be and there’s a sweetness there. I’ve been compared with Tim Allen based on the look alone and he tends to be a bit less serious. Looking back, there’s Ed Asner in Elf who is kind of cranky and sad or even the dad that gets caught wearing the fake beard. With all of these, I can understand the character a lot better.

WHEN IS A TIME THAT THE ROLE OF SANTA BECAME MORE THAN A ROLE TO YOU?

One time, I got a call from a group of people who didn’t know me; they only knew about me from a mutual friend that I could sing and play guitar. I’d already made it known before I even started that my hope was to sing and play carols at events and things like that, not knowing what Santa could be. In early November, they called and had a

friend who they said would not see Christmas because she was in hospice. They decorated the house for Christmas, and we met around the corner with around 100 people. I strapped on a guitar, and we walked down the street up to her and sang Christmas carols. It was the perfect night: Nov. 10, 2018. We sang about three more carols because it was all she could take. As we exited, people were just so thankful to me. And I said, “No, thank you. Because if this is Christmas, and this is Santa, where I get to see people love on their friends in this way, then I’m good.” She passed away two weeks later.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE CYNICAL KIDS?

There’s this particular age group, above 8,9,10. Because they’ve been told that Santa knows everything, they challenge you at every level. It’s a fun game to play with the children because of course my first thing is to torment that bag, right? If they say, “what’s my name?” I’ll say, “You forgot it already?” Eventually, one of their brothers will admit it, or I’ll catch them saying it. But you also get such sweet, tender moments with the little kids when they aren’t afraid, and they’re just so happy to be there.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONGS?

It’s hard to pick favorites sometimes because I sing them a lot, but there are a couple that are really meaningful to me — the “please come home for Christmas”type songs always get to me. I love “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Of course, the kids’ favorite is always “Jingle Bells.”

YOU’VE BEEN SANTA FOR MANY DIFFERENT EVENTS OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS. WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT BEING NORTHPARK’S SANTA?

It wasn’t a conscious thought, even as a new Santa. I just didn’t understand the breadth of what they accomplished there. Still, as we began our discussions with NorthPark and I realized how involved they are in the community with their fundraising, I realized it was everything I liked about being Santa. It’s a fantastic gift to the community to do that.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.