Aging Mommy's Profile
Best places to eat in Dallas
For up market dining I would recommend Bijoux - it's not downtown Dallas so lacks on atmosphere but of all the fine dining establishments we have tried so far this I think is the best. Go for the five course menu. The alternative would be Fearings where the food is a little hit and miss but when Mr Fearing gets it right is is awesome (the lamb dish is superb). It is a great spot for people watching and a special occasion as they really look after you. A lot of people rave about Stephan Pyles but in my view Fearing does a better job (Mr Pyles lamb dish is not a patch on Fearing's). Places to avoid in my humble view would be Local (unless you are on a diet if so then great as you will leave still feeling hungry) and York Street (definitely the worst meal I have had in a supposedly good food restaurant in a long time - hugely disappointing). Hope this helps.
Plano--fine dining?
I think Jasper's is very hit and miss and way too expensive for what is on offer. Service at night can also be hazardous as they get so busy and the staff are overwhelmed. At Shops at Legacy Bob's is good for steak, not amazing but a nice atmosphere and you can get a drink at the bar first (their measures are very generous). There are definitely better steak places but if you don't want to travel then this is a good spot. For casual dining (be prepared to wait for a table) Fireside Pies is a must as their salads and pizzas are fabulous. Everywhere else at Legacy is better missed - the new Global seafood place is OK but nothing to write home about.
Tell me about Jasper's in Plano
I have been to Jasper's twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Lunch was OK - they do a decent enough Kobe burger, however our return visit for dinner was very disappointing. The food was not good and definitely not worth a trip for. There are plenty of better and less expensive dining options.
What are everyones favorite restaurants in Frisco?
The pickings are pretty slim in Frisco, outside of the usual family oriented chain restaurants.
For a family style non-chain Italian try Fortuna Grill, not amazing food but friendly with some more unusual dishes like the vodka based pasta sauce which is excellent.
For burgers try Scotty P's - there is a new branch on Eldorado. This is a family run business that does inexpensive burgers and is very family friendly. Their onion rings with ranch dressing are great.
Best Thai does decent Thai food and is not expensive - the one in Addison is better however.
For fine dining however you really need to go further afield, the only place worth a try is Bonnie Ruth's which has a nice brasserie feel and decent food. Their creme brulee is excellent and most of their desserts are good. They do a brunch menu which is good and you can always polish that off with dessert!
Palio's Pizza place is a somewhat stark eating environment and deserted at lunch but gets busy at night as it is BYOB. The only reason I mention this place is because they do a really good BBQ Chicken Pizza. Don't bother with anything else here, it's less than ordinary but the BBQ Pizza is worth a try.
Randy's Steakhouse is expensive and not as good as others a bit further afield, however it's an unusual dining environment so might appeal.
Hope that helps
Hilton Head Island (HHI) - Report on Food
I visited Hilton Head with my husband and 2 year old daughter last month. Having a toddler in tow our priorities on food are somewhat different these days, so our choice of restaurants was limited to places that not only had a children's menu but also one with pasta on it as that's pretty much all she will eat - oh, and she is a connoisseur when it comes to bread. So the following are the places we tried.
Alligator Grille - our first night so we just went with the $14.95 early bird menu and soon wished we hadn't. The glass of house wine included was undrinkable - straight out of a box. My salad was just leaves and a watery dressing and my husbands gumbo he pronounced "weird". My entree of scallops with mushroom risotto was actually good - but only 2 scallops and a small spoonful of risotto left me feeling hungry still. My husband's salmon was akin to a frozen TV weight watchers dinner. Our daughter's ravioli was served up in a sauce straight out of a jar, but she liked it and she also liked the bread, but we were unimpressed with the $2 charge for additional bread! Service was slow too. Definitely not an impressive start.
CQ's - this is a really nice restaurant space with the high ceilings, wood everywhere etc and old fashioned feel. Service was slow and pompous. The kids pasta consisted of some enormous, knobbly lumps of pasta in butter which our daughter was not impressed with. The bread was good but the little pats of three different tasting butters was over the top and the flavors unappealingly sweet. My husband and I just opted for a main course, knowing our daughter would not sit and wait all night and thinking it worth splashing out on the main dinner menu. I had halibut which supposedly came with a bacon and red wine sauce, both of which were undetectable. The fish had been unnecessarily crisped on top and was too dry and it tasted frozen not fresh. It all looked very pretty on the plate but the accompanying vegetables were tasteless. My husband had the same comments about his dish. The bill of over $100 for 2 entrees, kids meal and 2 glasses of wine was pretty steep. CQ's chef in our view needs to work on flavor and pay less attention to presentation.
Redfish - our daughter loved her pasta and the sourdough bread so she was happy. I had the special which was Carolina red trout in a cajun sauce. The sauce was good but the fish was overcooked and dry. Mu husband had the kobe burger - his fries were excellent, freshly cooked and tasting of potatoes which is a rarity these days, but the burger was unexciting. I was expecting a very trendy space given the vibe of the Redfish web site but it was like stepping into a 1950's diner. This is a relatively expensive place to eat and with average cooking at best not worth the money.
Catch 22 - a quirky spot, with (as our daughter noticed, not us) shells packed under the glass table tops and quirky staff as well. Our daughter liked her pasta but the "fresh baked bread" was dry and inedible. My husband and I both had scallops to start, done different ways and they were tasty but a bit over-grilled and dry. I had the Turbot special and the fish was excellent, full of flavor and well cooked. My husband had the stuffed prawns and pronounced them "very good". Definitely worth a trip back here next year.
Aqua - I have read all the negative reviews about service here and have to say on both our visits the service was excellent. However, with a 2 year old we were dining at 5pm when the restaurant is relatively empty. On our first visit we had the $19.95 sunset menu and this was excellent value for money, the glass of house wine very drinkable, the calamari and spring rolls we shared were excellent and the catch of the day and seafood platters were both good, flavorful fish, expertly cooked and good sauces. Vegetables and rice are a bit boring but that is the only negative comment I'd make. Our daughter's tortellini went down a treat and she loved the bread and honey pecan butter (and so did I). Our bill was less than $50 for all three of us and was great value for money and great food. So we returned to Aqua later in the week and splashed out on the main dinner menu - it was worth it. I had mussels and they were excellent, the sauce was divine and my husband had the lobster rangoon which he really liked. My pecan crusted grouper was fabulous, excellent fish and the cranberry and mascarpone cheese sauce although very different went with it perfectly. My husband had the crab stuffed halibut special with lobster sauce and loved it. So our favorite restaurant of the week was definitely Aqua.
Next year we plan on taking the grandparents with us so they can babysit and we can try out some of the less child friendly establishments, which will be nice, but I would definitely return to Aqua!
Dessert each evening at our daughter's insistence was ice cream. Hilton Head Ice Cream serve up good ice cream. Don't bother with Marley's - akin to poor quality out of the tub grocery own brand and way too sweet tasting. Our favorite was Frozen moo - great for kids and with 92 flavors to choose from in all sorts of wonderful combinations everyone will be happy - our daughter loved the cotton candy ice cream.
