vktp's Profile
the cookie lounge?
I know the owners of Tiff's and have been loyal to their Snickerdoodle since college. But when Cookie Lounge opened, I was intrigued-- love the idea of mixing and matching to make my own custom cookies. I haven't been (live in Dallas now), but my sister ordered Cookie Lounge when she was having a meeting, and here's what she emailed when I asked how it was: "The concept is great, but they need to work on execution. The cookies were hard and small and not as tasty." But maybe they just need time to iron out the formula for now.
(DFW) Grapevine recs
Rio Mambo on 121 is my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant in DFW. Strongly recommend the spinach quesadillas, brisket tacos, beans, rice, and pork tamale.
Officially on the Colleyville side of the highway.
http://www.riomambo.com/
one great dinner in dallas please
Steel-- it's all right. Not in my top 5 for sushi in town, and definitely not where I go to drop $$$$
Banh Mi in Dallas
Lee's Sandwiches finally opened at Belt Line and Jupiter in Saigon Mall. Baguette was fresh, filling on #11 Dac Biet was fine, mall was crawling with people.
DFW-The Black and White Cookie
I've heard people drive in from Tyler to pick up a dozen of Samantha's b&ws. A couple of my friends have confirmed that Rush Patiserrie's version is dead on to NY
[DFW] Cafe San Miguel
Agreed. When I'm in the mood for Tex-Mex in the area, I go to Manny's just a couple miles away.
DAL: Where to buy a 12-14LB Pork Shoulder With Skin On?
Give David's Meat Market in Richardson a try. He hooked me up with a whole pig, weight to my specifications, a few years back. Just had to call ahead.
J.S. Chen's, Plano. Comments on Dim Sum Please
Took my mother and brother there for dim sum today. All in all, I would say the experience was fair. The shu mai was ok. The ha cao my gold standard for judging dim sum, was also middling. The wrappers were thicker than I like, but the proper degree of sticky and the filling was well balanced. Our favorite dish was the shrimp and sweet potato fritters. Perfectly fried, not too greasy. We'll be returning eventually based on the strength of this dish alone. Also looking forward to trying their dinner menu. If anyone has an opinion on their regular menu, let me know. . .
Anyone been to Pulcinella on Henderson yet?
My 2 cents: I wasn't expecting much from Pulcinella's, since I feel a little pizza-d out, but I was pretty pleasantly surprised. On my first visit, we got started with a margherita pizza. Like several other places around town, Pulicinella's touts itself as authentic Neopolitan pizza. Never been to Italy, so I can't vouch for it's authenticity, but it was good. The secret is in the sauce-- which wasn't overly sweet or tangy. Rather, it had a fresh bright taste that carried the entire pizza. The mozz was sparing-- silver dollar sized circles dotted each slice. The crust was thin, crisp, and perfect. Since they had comped us the pizza, I felt obligated to order an entree to follow. Chose the special of the day: penne a la vodka sauce. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the sauce was balanced. My friend had the eggplant soup, which she loved as well.
I immediately dragged yet another friend back last night, but had a moderately different experience. We had the salami pizza. There was a heftier portion of mozz, and there was something missing with the sauce. The pizza was crisp, but didn't reach the level of perfect texture they had achieved earlier in the week. It lacked the wow factor overall.
Still, Pulcinella's is putting out good product and is worth a visit.
Is Olivella's really that good (dfw)?
My friends and I weren't that impressed with Olivella, but we haven't been since it first opened. Also the group as a whole is a bunch of Campania's loyalists, though I'll also admit I've been gettign soggy crust there lately.
Anyone been to Pulcinella on Henderson yet?
It's at Capitol and Henderson-- same shopping center as Fish City Grill, and across from Capitol Pub.
Jasper's In Plano
Jasper's has been discussed on this board before, just use the search function at the top. Here's one recent thread: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/481636
I've really liked the burger but never had the ribs. I've generally enjoyed every meal I've had there.
Umeko Sushi and Grill
On kuidaore's strong recs on this board, my family and I tried Umeko for the first time yesterday for lunch. My brother was in the mood for sushi, while the rest of us wanted Chinese, and Umeko fit the bill. We had the eggplant with basil and shrimp with walnuts and mayonnaise. Everyone was pleased with the shrimp dish, though opinion was split on the eggplant. I enjoyed the earthy profile it had to it, whereas my siblings really didn't care for it. The sushi rolls we ordered were predicably bland, since I had a fair idea sushi was not the main draw for other Asian patrons, though the portions of fish were fresh and large. Definitely looking forward to returning and venturing into more of the Taiwanese offerings.
Villa-O??
Had dinner there last night; the service is still working out a lot of kinks, but the food was pretty good.
I called almost a week in advance for reservations; the hostess was generally confused about whether they even accepted res, so she took a message, and a manager called me back. They put me down for a reservation for 6 ppl at 7:30 Saturday. I called back Saturday at 5:45 to let them know we were down to a party of 4. Because they now only allegedly take reservations for parties of 6+, the hostess said she would have to shift me from the reservation list to the wait list immediately, but that she was sure a table for 4 would be available within 15 minutes of the original reservation. Upon arrival at 7:30, we were assured we had been moved to the wait list immediately upon our call, making us 9th on the wait list, and that a table would be available within 30 minutes (which would indicate that there were 9 parties who had been waiting for a table for an hour and 45 minutes, with no hope of being seated soon. . . ). When I checked on the status of our reservation again at 8:20, I was told it would be another 30 minutes. At that point, I was sorry I hadn't gone with the 9:30 reservations that Nonna had originally offered me for that night. We were finally seated around 8:45.
To be fair to the hostess, the restaurant was past capacity. 2 weeks after opening, every table was full, and people were milling around the bar and up and down Travis, waiting for their table. Well-heeled and several had been starving for much longer than the time they had been waiting for a table
Owned by the same people as Trece, I had been expecting a fairly similar experience. The drinks (Black Sapphire martini, Lemontini, White Peach Bellini, Mexican Martini) indeed were well-designed and expensive. The food was good at a better price point than at Trece. We started with the calamari ($9), which was differentiated from the other versions in town by the addition of sweet peppers-- the combination went over well with the group. I opted for make your own pasta combination-- angel hair tossed in alfredo ($13). The pasta is made in house; its fresh, homemade character came through. My companions were happy with their puttanesca with organic sausage and peppers, seafood risotto, and pizza. We ended the meal with a shared tiramisu and espresso, which were also fair.
The "O" part of the gimmick is apparently that they try to make everything with organic ingredients-- organic strawberries with our tiramisu, etc. I can't say that the organic schtick really made much difference that we noticed throughout the meal.
All in all, I enjoyed the food well enough, the people watching was great, but I don't plan on returning until the crowd dies down.
Dinner Options Near Westin City Center Dallas Hotel
I used to work in that building. Dinner options were limited to either the restaurant at the Westin hotel (rather mediocre) or walking to Stephan Pyles (do a search here to get the scoop). Past that, we had pizza delivered or waited it out and left downtown.
Cosmic Cafe burned down???
DMN Eats Blog reported today that no one is answering the phone, doors still closed, no news on when they might re-open.
Fun/Trendy Downtown Dallas Dining Option
If money's not a problem, then Stephan Pyles.
Warning you now, the food at Iron Cactus is pretty mediocre.
Best Soup/Chowder/Stew/Bisque in D/FW
Taking back my rec of the green chili stew at Market Street. The first 2 times I had it, the soup had a clean, spicy flavor to it. Today, they clearly recycled an old batch; the potato chunks had imparted a thick, muddy starchiness that ruined the whole thing for me.
NORTH NORTH Dallas hot spot?
Pork tenderloin, medium rare.
My parents liked the salmon.
There used to be a great burger on the menu too, though I don't see it anymore.
NORTH NORTH Dallas hot spot?
They have a pretty lively bar area, and the food is so great, I opted to just get there early for drinks. But from what I vaguely recall, there's a few wine bars in the Shops at Legacy, if you really want someplace else to linger first.
NORTH NORTH Dallas hot spot?
Jasper's
Bob's, also at Legacy and the Tollway
Yao Fuzi for something slightly less expensive.
Cafe Malaga for tapas on the Square in downtown McKinney
