ychromosome's Profile
Toys Cafe in Dallas - Thai - A review.
Last night my partner and I had some great food, and I thought I'd share the experience. We ate at Toys Thai food, located at 4422 Lemmon Ave. It's not in a fancy building, in fact, it's a hole in the wall in an old strip center, but it was clean and the food was EXCELLENT! Toys is the name of the proprieter, a little Asian lady with a quick smile and a warm disposition. She used to be in one half of the building, but when the store next door moved out, she expanded her restaurant to fill the space. It's still not large by any stretch of the imagination, being about as big as a small Pizza Hut inside. Tables are small, shiny, wood-grained laminate, and the chairs are the sort you see at church socials, the stacking metal-framed sort with padded seats. Not uncomfortable, but you're not going to want to sit there for hours chatting over tea.
But interior decor isn't why a foodie goes to a restaurant, is it? In short, the food met my single criterion that defines "good eating" - it was much better than I could have made at home for the same price.
Prices were very low for Dallas. My pad thai noodles with tofu was about ten bucks, My friend's chicken and noodles with spicy brown sauce was twelve. Fresh rolls, composed of nothing more than shredded iceberg lettuce in rice paper wraps and served with a delicious (if a bit thin) peanut sauce were three-fifty, which seems a bit steep for what they are, but I begrudge them nothing since the menu described them precisely. The peanut sauce was so good, we kept the remains to garnish our main course!
My companion first ate there for lunch with a friend a couple of weeks ago, and although he ordered it three stars hot (out of four), it came out spiced more appropriately for a nursing home. I guess they either misunderstood him last time, or maybe they just lighten up the spice for lunch so lightweight Dallas businessmen can crow that they eat "Four-star-hot" Thai food. Whatever, my friend's three-star chicken dish was PLENTY spicy! When Toys took our order, I told her that he wanted to sweat but not cry, and she took me very seriously! The food they put on the table was exactly that hot. I'm glad my tofu was only two stars or I'd have to consider putting a fire extinguisher in my bathroom.
Although the heat was there, it wasn't the immediate, punishing heat that can distract one from appreciating a subtle and complex flavor. It built over time, in the way that masterful Thai food manages to do. I don't think I could reproduce the sauce at home without considerable experimentation. It had a character of brown bean and hoisin, but was sweeter and....toastier, perhaps? Dark, yet not thick. Truly wonderful, and I'd recommend it without reservation to any foodie friend.
http://maps.google.com/maps?gbv=2&hl=en&safe=active&q=%224422+lemmon+ave,+dallas,+tx%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=2nWVSZbSEoG4tweQk5WcCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title
Dallas catfish: Hook, Line and Sinker review
I know I'm not covering new territory here, but I thought I'd chime in to add my two cents to other's reviews of this place.
My partner has been raving about Hook, Line, and Sinker, the catfish joint at McKinney and Lemmon, so we decided to eat there for dinner. The parking lot seems small, but that's because it's packed with cars at 7pm on a Friday night. We luck into a rock-star parking space, and as we walk in, the character of the restaurant is immediately obvious. It's an old style Louisiana catfish shack with a modern kitchen and a dining room tacked on. "This," I thought, "is going to be a downhome experience!"
The first thing I noticed was that the picnic benches on the porch were all packed with people who were obviously having a good time. The crowd was exuding that very positive vibe that only comes when the food, conversation and atmosphere are in perfect balance, and that made me smile! Dallas restaurants, especially in uptown, are all too often snooty places where trendy people go to eat trendy, overpriced food, and that sickens me. This was a place I wouldn't be embarrassed to bring an out-of-town friend to show that Dallasites are friendly, happy, and we can cook damned good food, too.
The order of operations is this: You wait in line to place your order, then take a number, find an open table, sit down, drink your beer and eat crackers until your food is ready. When your number is called (or your electronic puck buzzes) you pick up your dinner at the window. The tip jar at the register is for the busboys and the cooks, not for white linen service. We ordered what just about everyone does - the catfish. We also got a side of slaw and a piece of pie. They had a choice of five pies, pecan, chocolate, buttermilk, sweet potato, key lime. We chose the buttermilk.
Our luck continued to be good, as we found the perfect table outside, right off the bat. The wait for the food was a bit long, but not abusively so. At least we had the crackers and four kinds of hot sauce to snack on while we waited. Of allt he different sauces, I think I like Krystals the best in this instance. It's not as thick as the Cajun Chef and not as hot as the Tabasco, so you could really pour it on without overpowering the fish. The Tabasco Jalapeno was simply out of character for the food, and I didn't feel that it ran with the others.
When the food was ready, so were we! We fell on it like starving dogs on a pile of canned food. The fish was hot (obviously, having come from a fry vat 30 seconds earlier) and the fries were crispy. Any discussion of a catfish dinner has to begin with the main attraction - the fish. It was just about perfectt, with a flaky, perfectly cooked texture and a light, non-fishy taste. THIS is why I love catfish. The cornmeal coating wasn't overly seasoned, and had a great balance of crispness and flavor. The hush puppies were those disappointing cornmeal tubes that didn't have any onion bits in them that I could taste. They weren't awful, just typical. The coleslaw was the vinegar based sort, tasty without being greasy like many mayonnaise based ones are. It was very tasty, and I'd suggest it.
All in all, we had a great time! Next time we eat fish, I think we'll try Bill's in Arlington. I seem to remember that it was pretty damned good, and they serve the side dishes family style, so you can get all the pinto beans you want, covered in that delicious chow chow they serve. I hope Brad likes it as well as I liked Hook Line and Sinker!
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
Rise sounds fascinating! Thanks for the rec, bro!
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
I think you're right about the BBQ, but the places that serve the best meat usually don't have the most interesting atmosphere. I love Marshall's in Carrollton, for example. But perhaps driving to Fort Worth for Riscky's BBQ wouldn't be out of order...
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
He has a Wegman's, and we cannot compete in any way, shape or form. I am quite willing to be assimilated. :-)
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
Actually, he's from Rochester, but the food he's shown me there has been wonderful. You're dead-on about TexMex. I will make a point to take him someplace regional.
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
What a great list of suggestions! Thanks, buddy!
How to show a Foodie a good time in Dallas
I've got a friend coming into town who loves food and appreciates a good adventure. He's introduced me to many great restaurants up in New York, and now that he's coming down here I'd like to show him that down in the south, we're not culturally barren!
So where would you imagine I could take him? I'd like the first words out of his mouth to be, "Wow, this place is neat!", and after that he should be pretty much incapable of speech because he's to busy stuffing his piehole to speak. I've thought about Kalachandji's, and if the Queen of Sheba was still open on Lemmon, I'd take him there. Where would you take a fellow foodie to give them a memorable time? To make things a little more interesting, I'd like to keep the prices under $40 a person too.
Thanks!!!!
Where can I find good pizza in Dallas?
Because eating is about more than just the food. Campisis has atmosphere that can only come from a shady (but fascinating) past. And the pizza (and lasagna) isn't bad. Not world-rocking, but not bad.
