White Rock Rowing is hosting an Open House this Saturday to recruit new members for their middle school and high school rowing teams. Students from public and private schools all around the White Rock Lake area are encouraged to come out to the historic White Rock Boathouse from 9-11am to meet the coaches and the current team, check out the facilities and get into a boat. Parents and active volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about the sport’s time and financial commitment, how to earn PE credit at school, and the opportunities for college scholarships.

If your student catches the rowing bug, instructional summer camps are available. For more info, you can email rowing mom Monette Irwin here.

Lake Highlands resident Joel Allison, President and CEO of Baylor Health Care System, will receive the 2012 Distinguished Business Leader Award. The Dallas Chapter of the Texas Association of Business (TAB) voted unanimously to recognize Joel and will present him with the honor at their luncheon April 4th.

“Joel is a pioneer in the health care industry,” said Tom Leppert, former Dallas mayor and 2011 recipient of the award. “Most importantly, Joel is driven by a personal commitment to bettering his community and pursuing philanthropic causes, something that should be emulated by every CEO in America.”

Other past recipients include Dick Cheney, Herb Kelleher, Ebby Halliday, Norman Brinker, Robert Dedman, Ray Hunt, H. Ross Perot, Ray Nasher and T. Boone Pickens.

The luncheon will be held at Union Station and tickets can be purchased here.

The Wildcat Wranglers of Lake Highlands High School will compete this Saturday in the annual Country and Western Dance Off at Richardson High School. The Berkner Ramblers, Pearce Stampede and Richardson Desperados will also participate, showing off their boot scootin’ and stunting skills.

The event begins at 12 noon and $5 tickets may be purchased at the auditorium door. Proceeds will go to North Dallas Shared Ministries, a cooperative effort of 52 congregations that combine resources to efficiently deliver assistance to Dallas’ poorest individuals and families.

Where do I begin to praise the Trocard ($10, purchased, available at Spec’s)? Cheap wine does not get much better than this:

• It’s a previous vintage, and it’s still yummy.

• Classic white Bordeaux, made with sauvignon blanc. That means not much fruit and certainly none of that New World grapefruit stuff. That’s something one doesn’t see enough anymore because too many French producers are on a misguided quest to make their wine taste like it came from somewhere else.

• Clean, crisp, grassy and fresh. Just enough of everything to make it stand out, from aroma to finish, but not too much of anything. And only 12 1/2 percent alcohol.

• A simple wine that proves the adage that simple does not have to mean inadequate.

Serve this chilled on its own, or with almost anything that goes with white wine, whether seafood, chicken. or salads. And it’s probably a good match with an uncomplicated cream-style sauce (chicken fried steak or chicken pot pie, for example). Highly recommended and almost certainly in the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

The old AMC Theater at Central and Walnut Hill has been vacant since 2006 when the chain relocated to NorthPark Center. Now, empty 35,000 square-foot space will be demolished to make way for a Dave and Buster’s flagship restaurant.

Dave and Buster’s bought the land for an undisclosed price, the Dallas Business Journal reports. Construction on the new complex is scheduled to begin within the next nine months, transforming the barren shopping center. The new restaurant will incorporate more games and an extended menu.

The Dave and Buster’s will close its current location near Presbyterian Hospital when the new restaurant is complete.

Lake Highlands’ favorite power couple is at it again. Joan and Alan Walne will be honored April 3rd at the annual Spirit of the Centennial Award Luncheon by the Friends of Fair Park. Joan, President of the Dallas Park and Recreation Board, and hubby Alan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Fair Association, will receive the 2012 Spirit of the Centennial Award for their visionary service and commitment to Fair Park.

The long-term LH residents have served in more leadership positions than I can count, including Alan’s tenure on the Dallas City Council and continued mentorship role in the LH Exchange Club. Joan is a life member and past president of the LH Women’s League, though, when asked about her proudest accomplishments is likely to whip out photos of newest grandbaby, Brett Robert Walne, and her other cherubs. (Joan and Alan are shown here at last year’s LH Exchange Club Fourth of July Parade.)

Tickets to the noon luncheon, to be held in the Crystal Terrace of the State Fair Music Hall, can be purchased online here. You can join Friends of Fair Park here or learn about other non-profit Fair Park-based organizations, such as the Dallas Historical Society, State Fair of Texas, or WRR Classical 101.1.

Like most high school coaches, Hanes Brindley is known as a tough disciplinarian who draws a hard line with the men of his varsity soccer team. As Winston Churchill once said, “there are some things up with which we shall not put.”

Brindley turns to mush, though, when it comes to his youngest daughter, Anna Catherine. The two-year-old bundle of energy with Down Syndrome is the apple of his eye, and she keeps their household hopping.

Brindley, wife Anna and oldest daughter Arabella will be joining Anna Catherine April 15th at the Rise & Shine 5K Walk and Run in support of The Rise School where Anna Catherine attends. They’re inviting family, friends, LHHS teachers & staff, current and former soccer players & families, and anyone else who’s interested to jump in and walk for fun or run the race.

You can click here to register or show up for race day registration at Reverchon Park at noon. The 1K kicks off at 1pm and the 5K begins at 1:30. Beginning at 2pm, there’ll be live music, food & drinks, clowns, bounce houses, a bungee trampoline, a petting zoo, a rock climbing wall and more.

If you can’t make it on race day but you’d like to wish Coach Brindley well, you can email him here. He’ll be glad to hear from you.

LH’s Elaine Patterson didn’t get to take home an Oscar for her work promoting Undefeated, the Academy Award winning Best Documentary, but she did get to hold the golden statue and she did get a hug and big thank you from Sean “Diddy” Combs. Elaine is Manager of Publicity at The Weinstein Company in Los Angeles, and Combs served as Executive Producer on the film.

Elaine graduated from LHHS in 2005 and the University of Texas in 2009, working as an intern here at Advocate Magazine offices before heading off to Hollywood. Her busiest time each year is the filmmaker award season between Screen Actors Guild and the Oscars, and this year was especially exciting. TWC cleaned up, winning multiple awards including Best Picture for The Artist, Best Actress for Iron Lady (Meryl Streep) and nominations for My Week with Marilyn.

Undefeated is the true story of an inner-city football team in Memphis, the white coach who loves and leads his kids, and the winning year they have after he works to build the squad. Bill Courtney, the local lumberyard owner who volunteers to serve as coach, sees through their hardened, menacing exteriors to reach the vulnerable children underneath. Meanwhile, he misses dinners with his own family and the sporting events of his own children. He vows to help his team get over the “inner-city knock”- that reputation that says if you get up on them by a couple of touchdowns, they’ll give up. “You think football builds character. It does not,” he tells them. “Football reveals character.”

The magic of the film is that you’ll be worried about Montrail “Money” Brown’s injury, dubious about bad boy Chavis Daniels’ ability to obey the rules and stay on the team, and hopeful about talented O. C. Brown’s college prospects by the movie’s end.

Undefeated has been playing at the Angelika since February 19th, so this week could be your last chance. You’ll be glad you went (and so will Elaine).

Olivella’s at Hillside Village, Mockingbird and Abrams, opens Monday at lunch time.

The new pizzeria brought to us by Charlie Green, owner of Neo’s pizza in Victory Park and another Olivella’s near SMU, had a friends-and-family preview Sunday.

The menu includes sandwiches and salads, but we just sampled the pizzas. Neapolitan-style and cooked in a wood fire oven, they lived up to the Olivella’s reputation—USA Today named it one of the 50 great pizzas in America, Zagat called it “The First Real Pizza in Dallas” and Rachel Ray called it the most delicious pizza you’ll ever eat and put it in the top 64 in the U.S.

Perhaps the best of the bunch I tasted was the mozzarella, mushroom and truffle oil pie. (I had to ask what made it so heavenly. Truffle oil was the answer.)

Mint and prosciutto and big ripe tomatoes are just a few of the ingredients that made for outstanding, complex flavors. Looks like they have a nice wine list as well.

Green has made extensive updates since Pizzaria Venti occupied the space, most ostensibly to the patio. The remodeled outdoor area will hold 40-50 guests, he tells us. As of Sunday, there were not yet tables out there, so diners may have to wait for al fresco seating.