Creme de la Cookie

NG stopped by today and we took advantage of being "off work" by visiting the newly minted Creme de la Cookie in Snider Plaza. Wow.

They were sampling two of their new products - the whoopie pie and the red velvet cake balls. They were generous sized samples and they were beyond delicious, I may have purchased both...
The minute the whoopie pie hit the tongue, all of the taste buds awakened and clapped.
The WP alone is well worth stopping in for!


I purchased the private reserve oatmeal cookie...how can you walk away from something that has a name like that? It came fully loaded with so many ingredients. I'm sure I'll leave some out, but it seemed like: raisins, chocolate chips, coconut, macadamia nuts, oats,
and a little bit of amazing.


I also had to try the peanut butter cupcake...a chocolate cupcake filled with pb. Heaven.
The cupcake selection was so innovative! And the icing at Creme de la Cookie is unsurpassed. It tastes of high quality ingredients and the icing is sweet, like it is supposed to be, but not waxy or too crisco-y....they are generous with it.



They have a plethora of other items for sale as well: lemon bars, brownies, cookies of different types, and beverages. Everything is priced reasonably and definitely worth whatever they are asking. The location is precious, done in all chocolate browns and aquas, with a tv, couches, and tables.

Stop by this place and give them some business. You won't regret it - you may even find a new favorite.

Unwind at Scardello!

I recently received an e-mail about Scardello's newest venture (in addition to their cheese classes, which I will write more about after experiencing...), Unwind.
Unwind is featured from 4:30-6:30 Monday-Friday at their Oak Lawn location.
The wines by the glass are all sold at a flat rate of $6, an excellent deal and quite a variety to choose from!
In addition to that, they offer up a "little bowl of nibbles" being almonds, fruit, or olives. Can't beat it!

KA and I decided to give it a try last night.
In addition to our little bowl of almonds, we ordered up a bottle of Riesling and a cheese plate. The cheese plate was yum-tacular! The cheese tray was a combo of sliced bread, a variety of fruits and honey, and then the two cheeses that we selected from the case (of course you can add more if you'd like). We told the man the kinds of things we liked and didn't like (goat cheese nemesis)...and he did us proud.

The whole thing was delicious and well worth a visit.
I would do this again, for sure.
The staff is overly accommodating and so knowledgeable.
The cheese is out of this world.
Everything I have tried here has been lovely. I highly recommend a visit.


Check out their website, too, by clicking here!
I joined their mailing list because I heart cheese and so far it's been very interesting to see what they're up to!! I also noticed that they do picnic basket rental and that has some very big prospects for the future.

Unwind at Scardello for sure.
Call me, I'll join you! :)

The Mecca Restaurant

I kept hearing everyone talk about Mecca: D Mag, my friend Maddie, my friend Nick....so Jas and I went down there for b-fast this morning and were glad to see that Mecca lived up to the hype. It's on Harry Hines in scary town, but worth the drive.


It's a dive, for sure, but one with southern flair - a diner type style - very old school. It smells like ages of grease and home cooking. College flags of all types are displayed on the wall, as well as old menus, photos, and ordering tickets from their grand opening...38 years ago. It has charm in spades.


For our appetizer, we ordered the cinnamon roll. It was served with a warm and generous helping of butter. It was so tasty! You can see from the photo that is a LARGE cinnamon roll. We probably should have stopped there, but we were going for broke.


Jas ordered the chicken fried steak breakfast. It was a decent sized CFS served with your choice of hashbrowns or grits, biscuits or toast, and 2 eggs cooked to your liking. When it arrived, it was accompanied by a big side of gravy. The CFS breading was delicious - light and crisp, just like a good chicken fried steak should be. He didn't eat the whole thing, it was just too much, but it was sure good!


I ordered Frances' Favorite, which was equally a large amount of food. This dish is your choice of ham, sausage, or bacon, 2 eggs cooked to your liking, grits or hashbrowns, and two pancakes. One write up of Mecca said that you could eat your pancakes without syrup there...and they were so right. Those pancakes were spectacular.


All in all, you're going to leave this place smelling like a greasy spoon, but it's worth it. You'll leave with a happy smile and a small potbelly.

Cava Restaurant

When we arrived at Cava around 6:30, we were the only guests in the place...which made our experience all the more interesting. It is a cute little location off of Preston and Royal. The patio outside looked darling, with little torches to keep things lit and a whole slew of beautiful flowers.


The inside was cute, too. They had all of the right elements. Our table even had fresh cut flowers in a vase, a candle holder, and nice crisp linens.


They immediately brought out hot popovers with garlic butter. You could smell the popover goodness from the basket. They bring one per person and then you can purchase extra if you please. Not a bad practice, as far as I'm concerned.


We did our usual sampling, the entrees all looked delicious, but we were just in a nibbling mood. Katie got the wild mushroom soup with truffle oil. I chose the cold avocado soup which was creamy and almost tasted carbonated it had such a bite to it. Both were a good start. However, we were the only patrons in the restaurant, and the waitress brought out the wrong soup. That seems kind of crazy. Write it down...I know I would need to. She was gracious about it and quickly switched it out, but she did it again later with the glass of wine I ordered.

Wild Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil

Avocado Soup

Cava offers several traditional tapas, so for dinner Katie and I chose the Croquetas as well as the cream cheese mashed potatoes AND the applewood smoked bacon mashed potatoes.
The Croquetas were fried and delicious.
The applewood smoked bacon mashers were delicious - the bacon maintained the right amount of crispness for these dense taters. The cream cheese mashed potatoes were a let down, Katie detected absolutely no cream cheese.


(Applewood smoked bacon mashers in the back, cream cheese let down potatoes in the front)

We finished off our glasses of wine and then ordered the Cuatro Leches Cake. This was the saving grace of the meal. Despite being drenched in the yummy cuatro leches, the cake maintained it's firmness and the caramel swirls all over the plate were a nice touch.


At this point in the evening, we were very generously offering Cava a 5 out of 10. However, as we waited for the check (now there were two other tables to be dealt with), our patience plummeted, as did their numbers.

This is what we can say for Cava - they have some glitches that need to be worked out before they are going to meet with success. The food was decent, but not extraordinary. They need some wait staff help If you are dead set on trying this place, you might just order the cake and sit on the patio. :) 4 out of 10. Maybe.

Liar's Den

So Jas and I tried to go to this place a couple of different times. Once it was closed for renovations, once it was just closed...so we decided to give it a third and final try...and it was open. Most of the diners were out on the patio that faced McKinney. Since we had to go back to work (or half of us did, anyway) we opted to eat inside.

It's a cute concept, and it's definitely a place for boys. You can see by the number of TVs JUST OVER THE BAR area, that it's a little sports inclined. ESPN was blaring while we dined. Between each TV is a photo of some known liar (hence the name - Liar's Den). The only one I recognized was Roger Clemens. On the way to the ladies room, however, there is a classic picture of Milli Vanilli that had me laughing.

The food is pretty much bar food.
We were going for broke that day, so we split the fried cheese (did I detect panko? Not sure, but it was delicious). Jas got the chicken strips and we split an order of the queso supreme that had beef, guac, and sour cream. I was hoping it would be like Matt's El Rancho, but it missed the mark a little and the chips were uber stale.

(Fried cheese - the star of the artery clogging show!! I would def. order these again!!)

Chicken strips - they also offer these ditties tossed in buffalo sauce for an extra treat!


Queso

This place still needs a little work (sticky table, for example), or maybe if you're of the male gender, you think it's perfect? I would rather visit somewhere like The Boardroom in Victory Park...cocktails, nice atmosphere, sleek tvs, and couches. However, I know that it will probably be pretty popular with the lads come football season (or any other televised sporting event).

Si Tapas

Last Thursday Morgan and I met at Si Tapas for some dinner. It is located in the State and Allen neighborhood area where Watel’s Cottage used to be. They have made some paint changes and “moderned” it up a bit. The biggest change is that they opened up the porch so that you can eat right on the street! Very New York. We started with Sangria and then ordered four different dishes. The first was the potato pancake. It was very good. Served warm with a mayo dressing. Then we ordered beef skewers. They were marinated in a butter sauce and were very tender. Next we ordered the ham and cheese croquettes. This was by far my favorite. Very creamy and delish (and fried). Finally, we ordered a rice dish that came with tomatoes and a fried egg. You are supposed to mix them all up together and eat it as a dish. We didn’t do this, so maybe that is why we didn’t care too much for it.

Overall, we thought that the atmosphere was just perfect for outdoor tapas. This place is precious!

Ladies Restroom- too cute!