Well Stacked

Caruso, Shakespeare and Sears? No, it’s no joke. But—true—it is an unlikely combination and one that’s sure to prove successful when the ladies of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee stage their annual Used Book Sale in the massive Valley View Mall in Dallas.

This annual event boasts an inventory of more than twenty thousand items. The Brandeis supporters lure their customers with a variety of 35 special interest sections ranging from stacks of Classic Comic Books (in case your mother didn’t save yours) to classical music and jazz now preserved only on Red Seal discs.

The 1973 sale houses a wealth of volumes on Texas history for all those with an appetite for “Texana,” and there’s a delightful category of out-of-print children’s books. Spied among some of the spicier inventory was a limited edition volume entitled Shakespeare’s Bawdy (A Literary and Psychological Essay and a Comprehensive Glossary) by Eric Partridge, a respected English writer and scholar. The entire book traces the bawdy passages in all of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry. Rare!

Brandeis Used Book Sale/Valley View Mall/Dallas/October 24-28/ 10 a.m. til 9:30 p.m.

Meeting called to Hors d’oeuvre

On the outside it doesn’t look like much, but on the inside—ah, ‘atsa where Mike and Annie Granato do what makes Little Mike’s Ice House one of South Texas’ best places to get authentic, good and plentiful Italian food.

Two days a week the Granatoes and a small army of workers serve it up. Tuesdays, it’s the staple spaghetti and meatballs; Thursdays, it might be a special pasta, rigatoni, stuffed macaroni shells, lasagna or veal scallopini. The clientele is a cosmopolitan cross section, often as not sharing tables in a friendly atmosphere of loud fratellanza. Hostess, earth mother and universal friend is Annie, who’ll hug, hover, dispense cheer, scold if you don’t clean your plate and insist on wrapping up and sending with you your leftovers—if you’re foolish enough to leave any.

It’s the kind of place that often leads the City Council to recess a business session, pile into waiting cars and reappear en masse at Mike’s to queue up for pasta and a little caucusing—open meetings law and nagging press be hanged. They’re usually accompanied by the city manager, one of Mike’s cousins.

Little Mike’s Ice House/1722 S. Zarzamora/San Antonio/223-7856/ Italian specialties Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30-2:30/other days, regular fare/open 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. every day except Wednesdays.

Follow That Stagecoach

Things get underway on Monday morning, October 1, when a stagecoach and team will come galloping down Main Street, past all those banks and airline ticket offices, right up to Sakowitz’s front door, which will itself be transformed into a replica of Montezuma’s 14th-century cliff castle. Inside, visitors can peer into a 19-foot teepee, admire Indian craft exhibits, and ascend through a genuine Arizona copper mine tunnel to an exhibit of fabulous gems. The management has thoughtfully provided an authentic East Texas log cabin, an entire General Store, a prairie schooner, a stagecoach, a surrey, and an official United States Post Office. There will even be sixty prize-winning paintings by schoolchildren from last year’s Fat Stock Show.

Sakowitz Great Southwest Festival/Houston/224-11111Oct. 1 thru 20/daily except Sunday.

For Posters

The Duncan Poster Service in Dallas, which has quietly become an archive of movie arcana, is a sure bet for certified movie buffs. It is inconceivable that anyone absolutely determined to find a poster or still from some “A,” “B,” or “Z” grade movie made in the last 30 to 35 years would leave this gold mine of movie ballyhoo disappointed.

Most of the posters go for between 75¢ and $1; two-sheets for 75¢; stills for 25¢ to 50¢. And if you don’t see what you’re looking for, Mr. Duncan can usually help. Just don’t tell him who sent you—he upholds great traditions of private eccentricity that are best left untouched by fame.

Duncan Poster Service/20091/2 Jackson Street/Dallas/748-8639/Mon thru Sat, 10-5

Stalking the Wild Chalupa

Houston’s aspiring gourmet cooks have a rare chance to polish their skills on the exotic cusine of interior Mexico this month. Diana Kennedy, author of the celebrated “Cusines of Mexico,” now in its fourth printing, will offer a series of three-day courses in the regional specialties of our southern neighbor.

Fresh from a summer in Mexico City where she honed her own abilities by working eight-hour-days in a bakery, the celebrated author will instruct those who can afford the $60 price tag (one day for $25) in the secrets of pozole, mole poblano, and a variety of meat, vegetable, and soup specialties that don’t require hard-to-find ingredients. Between classes, she’ll serve as consultant in the kitchen of one of the few “real” Mexican restaurants in Texas, the San Angel.

Diana Kennedy Cooking Course/1534 Westheimer/Houston/528-9163/ at intervals thru Oct. 15/Sundays, 3-5; weekdays, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Greeks Bearing Goodies

October seems to be Greek month in these parts: each of the three largest cities is the setting for the annual fling of their Lone Star Hellenes, and the public is welcome to partake of the food, music, dancing, and general merriment. Not to be missed by anyone whose fingers ever snapped to the music of Zorba the Greek.

Greek Food Festival/Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church/Dallas/823-3509/Oct 25 & 26/lunch noon-2 (about $3), dinner 5:30-10 (about $5).

Greek Festival/Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral/Houston/526-5377/Oct 11 thru 13/5:30-midnight/small admission charge.

Greek Funstival/Villita Assembly Hall/San Antonio/735-505l/Oct 12 & 13, 6 p.m.-midnight; Oct. 14, noon-8/$2.

Betty and the Beasts

Braised Breast of Dove with Mushrooms…Quail with White Grapes…Duck Creole…Venison Teriyaki…Elk Sauerbraten…Cottage Fried Bear…Wild Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing…Whole Roast Javelina.

The advent of hunting season promises some fine banquets of Texas game for the dinner tables of those who know how to prepare them. The Hunter’s Cookbook by Betty Melville offers some sound advice for both the hunter and his wife—advice that starts with the do’s and don’ts of field dressing and processing (without which no recipe, however excellent, can succeed), and continues through several tantalizing chapters of recipes for deer, javelina, rabbit, squirrel, dove, quail, duck, wild turkey, and other large and small game.

Brightened by artful photographs taken from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department half-tones, the attractive format includes a lucid and readable text as well as more than 200 recipes. The book has been chosen as a Field and Stream book club selection for 1974.

The Hunter’s Cookbook/Little House Press/Austin/$7.95.