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Sal Jafar, Jeremy Hargrove and James Beard award nominee Michael Martensen — the entrepreneurial trio behind the restaurant group Misery Loves Co. — have become a force in the Dallas culinary scene since their debut eatery, Proof + Pantry, opened in One Arts Plaza last year. This month, the team steps into the Park Cities with Madrina, located in the former Nosh space at The Shops of Highland Park. The executive chef is Julio Peraza, who manned the kitchen during a sold-out dinner at the legendary James Beard house in Manhattan in August. His menu at Madrina is a hybrid of Mexican dishes prepared with French culinary techniques — tacos de cabrito feature goat braised in red wine, wrapped in Maguey leaves and rubbed with dried thyme, lavender and achiote; the duck confit enfriolada is a taco- like spin on traditional duck confit with homemade cilantro tortillas, ricotta cheese, jalapeños and radishes. The interior has a homey vibe — "madrina," after all, means "godmother" in Spanish — care of Breckinridge Taylor, the design firm behind high-style nosh spots The Cedars Social and Spoon. One question remains: Once you're satiated, will you say merci or gracias? Madrina, 4216 Oak Lawn Ave., 469.513.2505, madrinadallas.com. Patricia Mora South of the Border MEETS THE CITY OF LIGHT W hat was once a 1900s-era machinist shop on the edge of Deep Ellum has morphed into one of the city's most intriguing new dining destinations. Filament is the second concept from chef Matt McCallister, whose much-lauded first restaurant, FT33, won the kitchen whiz recognition as a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef Southwest in 2014. Whereas McCallister's FT33 is a formal dining destination in the Design District, Filament rests on the more casual side of the dress-code spectrum, reflecting the urban-cool vibe and industrial decor. Exposed-brick walls and wood ceiling beams give way to a row of cobalt-blue booths and a well-stocked, centrally located bar where whiskey is the liquor of choice. But Filament's focal point is undoubtedly an antique drill press discovered during the building's renovation that commands attention near the entrance. The menu's modern Southern fare is a collaboration between McCallister and Filament's executive chef, Cody Sharp. Inventive dishes include ember-roasted onion dip, sunburst trout fritters, wood- grilled octopus and Appalachian fried chicken thigh. All that comfort food is complemented by creative cocktails with monikers such as Farmer's Tan, Old Quarter and, appropriately, The Machinist. Filament, 2626 Main St., 214.760.1080, filamentdallas.com. Linden Wilson CULINARY COMMON THREADS Grits with braised collards, soft egg and pot likker Madrina T he most combustible show to hit Dallas' museum walls in recent history arrives at the Dallas Contemporary mid- month: "Black Sheep Feminism: The Art of Sexual Politics." It's the envelope-pushing debut for the institution's recent hire, adjunct curator Alison Gingeras, and dishes up plenty of sexually graphic imagery — a perfect storm for prude-versus- pervert intellectual fervor. The international curator, who lives and works in culture capitals NYC and Warsaw, tenaciously mines uncharted art-historical territory, exploring artists who had been marginalized, even by their fellow feminists. Via email, Gingeras says, "I have been thinking about the 'feminist' problem for some years now, partially motivated by the fact that I was beginning to prepare a book on my writings over the past 15 years. I noticed that I had been writing much more about male artists, even if they also share a certain political edgy position or are maybe on the fringes of art world approbation. I have been challenging myself to question my own canon of art-historical interests and have been researching challenging women artists ever since this epiphany — leading up to this exhibition." Gingeras takes a long look at a quartet of '70s-era artists making their museum debut in Dallas: Cosey Fanni Tutti (15 works encompassing soft-porn Magazine Actions in which the artist cast herself as model and protagonist), Betty Tompkins (five paintings with unprintable titles), Joan Semmel (six paintings of copulating couples, which in their brooding neo-realism recall David Salle) and four canvases by Anita Steckel (including her trademark collaged cityscapes in which nude female figures cavort and fornicate with the phallic skyscrapers of Manhattan). "The impetus for bringing these four artists together is that they really represent a radical edge to the history of feminist art practices," the curator says. "And despite the decades that have passed and the shifts in sociopolitical mores, their work continues to disturb the mainstream sensibility and represents a still vital part of artistic agency." One parting thought: The foursome of "Black Sheep Feminism" created their art during a time far, far from our own — pre-Marilyn Minter's dirty glam mystique, before Cindy Sherman cast herself in the trope of heroine in cinematic vignettes and more than a decade earlier than the Gorilla Girls issued an insistent battle cry for parity in the art world. Bring that knowledge with you when you see this show. Read our full interview with Gingeras and more about this highly provocative exhibition at papercitymag.com. "Black Sheep Feminism: The Art of Sexual Politics," January 16 – March 31, 2016, at the Dallas Contemporary, 161 Glass St., 214.821.2522, dallascontemporary.org. Patricia Mora, with additional reporting by Catherine D. Anspon Feminism, DISCRETION ADVISED SZABO Cosey Fanni Tutti's TG Promo B, 1980, at the Dallas Contemporary Alison Gingeras, adjunct curator, Dallas Contemporary MICHAEL NAGEL