Asian Mint off Forest and Central Expressway will be serving a Valentine’s Day Dinner on Monday, Feb. 14. The restaurant will have special dinners and desserts inspired by love and passion including an assortment of French macaroons and brownie cupcakes. For anyone interested in celebrating during the weekend, it will continue to serve its February chef’s choice: a sweet and spicy medley of pink noodles tossed in a pink bean sauce with minced chicken, tofu, and wantons for $10.95. To make a reservation, call 214.363.6655.

They risked their lives so that my house-bound and hungry children could eat.

Last week when the roads were iced over (after the snow had piled high on the ice) and Papa Johns and Dominoes were both so backed up that they stopped taking orders, Primo Brothers Pizza saved the day at my house.

Kids were stuck at home, “starving”, and we had a house guest and I was trying to work and didn’t want to spend my afternoon trying to feed everyone — I called Brothers and they said it would take about an hour, but they would get the food to me. They added a few dollars to the normal delivery fee, but I didn’t blame them — it was a huge risk to be on the road. My two extra large pizzas — steamy, cheesy and just the right amount of greasy — and Brothers salad, a large bowl of lettuce, olives cheese and ham, arrived in about an hour, delivered by the restaurant’s owner.

An ex- large pizza at Brothers is $15.99 plus $1.99 per topping; the salad is $6.99. I normally opt for Tony’s, at Ferndale and Northwest, because they are a little cheaper, but for their performance on this icy snowy day, Brothers now holds a special place in my heart.

Find them at 9310 Forest, behind the CVS. 214.341.4414. primobrotherspizza.com

After slipping my way over to a fast-food restaurant Wednesday, I began talking with the owner. He had time to talk with me because the weather had pretty-much killed his business for the day. In fact, one of the questions he asked me was: “When do you think I should close today? I don’t want the employees to drive home in icy weather after dark.”

I thought it was an odd question, coming from a guy who knows the fast-food business inside out, and I told him that. So he told me why he wasn’t sure if he trusted his judgement:

First, he told me how he arrived very early Wednesday (this place is typically open from about 6 a.m.-11 p.m.) to spend three hours personally dumping salt on the parking lot and sidewalk, scraping the slowly melting ice and then dumping more salt and scraping more ice. He also was coordinating employees’ schedules, since not everyone could get to the business from home, and he wasn’t exactly sure how many he would need anyway.

Things were so bad Tuesday, he said, that he didn’t bother to open at all. Employees couldn’t get there, and he couldn’t clear all of the ice — so since the weather was bad and there were lots of safety issues, he just figured staying closed made the most sense.

But this morning, the owner told me that a regular customer stopped by the store and “ripped me a new one” about how he hadn’t opened the store the day before. Seems the regular customer needed a fast-food fix, and he figured if he could get to a store, it had darn well better be open.

The store owner was telling me this with a sense of both embarrassment and annoyance. It annoyed him most that the “regular customer”, someone the owner felt liked the business and typically appreciate his efforts, just laid him out for being closed during one of the city’s worst stretches of weather.

Does a service business have an “obligation” to open, regardless of the weather? If someone wants a hamburger or chicken sandwich, is it a right or a privilege? And is it appropriate to berate a store owner for keeping his own business closed?

It’s something to talk amongst yourselves about while we’re still thawing out.

Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, is a conundrum. It’s significantly less expensive than champagne, the French sparkling wine, which immediately makes it suspect among the Winestream Media. Their thinking, of course, is that something that isn’t pricey can’t be any good. Yet there is a not a thing wrong with cava, most of which deliver quality and value for around $10.

So, as a public service, here is the Aria (sample, $13, available at selected Sigel’s and your favorite Spanish restaurant), since it is actually a little more than $10. (There are cavas that cost $20 and more, though they are rarely available in the U.S.)

The Aria is a little richer and more full bodied than basic cavas like Cristalino and Freixenet, and is probably a little closer in style to champagne. But it’s still cava, with the typical fresh, clean lingering finish, a minimum of fruit, and a notable absence of yeast and oak. In all, a lot of wine for not a lot of money.

Serve this chilled on its own, or with most white wine dishes. It would also work with cold plates — Iberian ham, corned beef on rye, and the like.

Cut up the buffalo chicken wrap for a perfect party snack.

Super snack suggestion: order from Cheddars. Yes, Cheddars. It’s been there at Greenville-635 forever, I know, but I recently discovered the awesomeness of their appetizer/sandwich menu when I was charged with getting finger food for a Golden Globes watching get-together (yes, I am a nerd).

For about 8-10 people I got a couple orders of the buffalo chicken wrappers ($6.97). Those include four sizeable wraps per order and, hint, you can cut them in half for a perfect bite-sized hors d oeuvre. I also picked up potato skins and mozzarella sticks, Texas cheese fries ($5.99 each) and onion rings ($3.99 per). I spread it all out and it was a hit, and best, I didn’t have to spend an extravagant amount of money.

I predict a return to Cheddars for the Super Bowl party.   Cheddars Casual Cafe, 12355 Greenville Ave, 972.235. 5595.

The restaurant has become a mainstay in our neighborhood, serving up comfort food favorites like sweet yams, cabbage and roasted chicken that falls right off the bone.

Valentine’s Day is — next to Thanksgiving — perhaps the most requested wine recommendation holiday on the calendar.

Updates from Dallas Plumbing Company, CrossFit Lake Highlands, Crossroads Diner and more …

Picasso’s Pizza off Skillman and Walnut Hill has some good news for neighborhood fans. The restaurant, which is updating its current website, will offer online ordering beginning Monday, Jan. 31. Laurie Stovall, director of marketing and catering sales says the restaurant initially tried the online delivery with the Frankford and the Tollway location in October and discovered it was a major success. “Month after month the business has increased with online ordering, so we rolled it out with them first–just testing the waters– and then our Inwood location started this past Monday and then the Lake Highlands location will be this Monday,” says Stovall.

Stovall says the new website will have more information than before, and the online ordering is a user friendly and convenient way to order. ”We’ve seen how the restaurants have success with it, a lot of times people are content with just perusing the menu, and ordering at their leisure instead of talking to someone on the phone,” says Stovall.

Customers can view the entire menu online, and there will be no delivery charge for any order. For more information, call 214.553.8100.