Dallas Chop House

If you haven’t tried Dallas Chop House, make it a priority!

We decided to try it out after work for some happy hour specials. The dining area of the restaurant is huge and very nicely decorated. We ended up getting a table in the bar area since it was still early. The bar has floor to ceiling windows that look on to Main Street and their outside patio. It was raining so we couldn’t sit out here, but we definitely would have. They have a fabulous outdoor fireplace and fun furniture. By 6:00 the bar was packed with downtown professionals. Side note: While they offer a smaller bar menu, they allow you to order off of the full dining menu from the bar as well.

We ordered wine to begin with, but they have an array of cocktails as well. They even have Patron and Kettle One on tap! Apparently, this keeps the liquor much cooler. Who knew! Once the drinks were ordered, we were brought their complementary chips. They were basically a potato chip that was tossed with several different spices. I am pretty sure we ate the entire bowl!!

On our second round, we decided to order some appetizers to pick on. I asked the waitress what she recommended and the first thing that she mentioned was their mashed potatoes. Sold. You basically get to “design” your own because you get to choose the type of butter that you want to accompany your mashed potatoes. We picked truffle butter and we made an excellent decision! They were absolutely delicious. The waitress also mentioned that the lobster butter was also very good. I will be back for that!

We also ordered the steak fries, crab cake, and shrimp. The steak fries were tossed with garlic, swiss cheese, and prosciutto. The fries were really thick ( which I generally do not care for), but the coating was out of this world. They were crunchy and very flavorful. The crab cake was very unusual. It is sort of like a deconstructed crab cake that is served cold. It sounds weird, but it sure didn’t taste weird. The crab meat was mixed with an aioli sauce and then served on toasted brioche bread. The bread was buttery and the lump crab meat was scrumptious. We also tried the jumbo shrimp diablo. The shrimp were wrapped in bacon and served on a bed of cheese grits. They, they were drizzled with a creole meuniere sauce. The shrimp came four to an order and this could have easily been a meal in itself. The ingredients that were paired in this dish complimented each other perfectly.


I am sure you can tell, but we all absolutely loved this place. We will be back and all we have to do is go downstairs!
http://www.dallaschophouse.com/

Lemongrass

I know that Lemongrass is popular for lunch take-out when you work downtown; we went for dinner and I completely failed to see the appeal. The menu claims Asian dishes with French influences. I think a better claim might be undercooked and under flavored.


We were the only diners in the dining room the whole evening. Sometimes that can be uncomfortable. Our waiter was super nice, however. He lit the candles and did the whole rigmarole, and we appreciated his professionalism. But for being the only people in the joint, service was S-L-O-W.


We started with the soups. We had the cream of asparagus with crab meat and the cream of corn with premium crab meat. The prices were definitely appropriate, but they used the same stock base for both soup and just added corn or asparagus respectively. The difference between crab meat and premium crab meat was imperceptible. The crab was less than expected quality, so I would definitely skip that next time.

(not sure which soup this is...but it doesn't really matter since they were basically the same...)

The website claims that spring rolls are a favorite among the "regulars". I'm not sure why "regulars" was put in quotation marks...I can speculate, however. We split the vegetarian spring rolls. They were fresh, but after about two bites, the almost raw vegetables and the crunchy raw peanuts got tedious and lacked flavor.


We finished with the lemongrass chicken lettuce wraps. The lettuce that was served with the wraps made it almost impossible to wrap up your goods. The rest was decent: grilled chicken topped with peanut pieces, vermicelli, and fresh cilantro. It lacked that certain something, however, so we added some soy sauce to the mix in order to make it more palatable.



All in all - take a pass on Lemongrass.

Family Dinner

We know how to do it up RIGHT in our family.
This weekend we celebrated our Uncle's b-day in BBQ style.
Railhead provided the so yummy meat dishes, including ribs, brisket, jalapeno and cheese sausage, and regular sausage.





We provided the rest.
Take a look!
Appetizer #1: Cream Cheese, Pesto, Tomato Bake served with crackers
1 8oz package Cream cheese
1/4 cup pesto
1 plum tomato, chopped(or use little grape tomatoes)
1/4 cup grated cheddar

Heat grill to medium heat. Place cream cheese on an 8 inch square sheet of aluminum foil.~ top with pesto, tomatoes and cheese.Bring the sides of the foil together and roll down to kind of seal. Place foil on grill ~ cover with lid and grill for about 10 minutes. Transfer foil to platter. Serve spread with crackers. You can also prepare this in the oven 375 for 12-14 minutes

Appetizer #2: Relish Tray

Appetizer #3: Cream Cheese-Tomato dip with Fritos (everyone's fav)
1 package softened cream cheese
¼ can drained rotel (you can chop tomatoes, green chiles, onion,…instead, but why do that when you can just use rotel.)
Juice of ¼ lemon
1 to 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
**Secret ingredient**1 T. Wylors chicken granules. The Herbox granules don’t really work…not sure why.

Mix all ingredients until smooth and top with chopped fresh tomatoes or chives and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

Side Dish #1: Paula Deen's Crockpot Mac and Cheese

Side Dish #2: Paula Deen's Corn Casserole

Side Dish #3: Cole Slaw with Apple and Garlic (oddly, not pictured)
Side Dish #4: Green Beans with Bacon

We finished up with Chocolate Sheet Cake. Can't imagine why there aren't any photos of that...:)

Urbano Cafe

Last week, I finally got to try out Urbano Café. If you are familiar with Jimmy’s, then you know right where it is located! If you aren’t really looking, you might miss the entire place (I am pretty sure that there aren’t even signs out front). Right when you walk in, you are met with a feeling of warmth. There are about 8-10 tables in the entire joint and the kitchen is completely open. The café is BYOB (in which case we came prepared). They have their specials listed on the chalk board, and you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. That said, it was one of the better restaurants that I have been to in a while. Both of us were extremely impressed.
To start, we ordered the Prosciutto wrapped figs. They came on a piece of toasted bread and were drizzled with Texas honey comb. The prosciutto was the ideal thickness, the figs were perfectly poached, and the honey comb made all of the flavors come together beautifully. This was a perfectly balanced appetizer.

Next, we tried the crab cakes. They were two bite sized cakes that were lightly breaded and served on a bed of remoulade sauce accompanied by avocados and papaya sections. Topping off the crab cake was light red-pepper glaze. The crabmeat in the actual cakes was pretty generous, but we would probably skip ordering this next time because the flavors just weren’t there.


Then, we ordered the caprese s’ mores. These consisted of buffalo mozzarella and a fresh basil leaf served between two toasted crostini. They were glazed in a tomato and balsamic syrup. If you happen to go to Urbano, and do not order these you are definitely missing out. This was my absolute favorite thing that we tried.

I also ordered the smoked gouda polenta. I am a girl that LOVES my starches, but seemed a tad dried out. Flavorful, but not as fresh as I would have liked.

For the entrée, we ordered the stuffed chicken breast that was covered in thick prosciutto and stuffed with cheese and one basil leaf. This was served on a bed of Haricot vert and fingerling potatoes. This really was delicious. The chicken was tender and the basil leaf in the middle truly was mouth watering.

If you are looking for a cozy neighborhood joint that won’t break the bank, this is your spot!

Patti's Place Tea Room

We decided to try Patti’s Place on Saturday afternoon. It has been on our list for a while, but we just couldn't’t get together on a Saturday that worked for both of us. In the meantime, we have recommended it to several other people who have tried it and absolutely loved it. Since we have been going to tea rooms since we were about four, this was a must try.

The location is a bit outside of Dallas ( which is an abnormal venture for most of our restaurants), but worth the short drive. It is located in precious yellow historical house off of Coit Road in Plano. There are several benches on the front porch, and the overall theme of the house it Texas (with lace, of course).
You are seated at a table and given a number. You then go up to the counter in the country shop room and place your order. When it is ready, they will bring it to you. They have several choices for lunch- typical tea room fare- sandwiches, soups, and salads. They also have over two hundred different tea’s that you can choose from as well as tons of dessert options.

Emily ordered the cinnamon tea to start off with. Then, she ordered half an egg salad sandwich on homemade cheese bread with a cup of potato soup. I ordered the roasted turkey salad sandwich on cheese bread with a bowl of the soup. The sandwich was delicious- it had dried cranberries and pecans mixed in. It was a lot of food, so next time I think I would have to go with the half sandwich and cup of soup. Emily’s egg salad had bacon and celery, which she thought added a nice crunch. We both agreed that the soup was out of this world. Very creamy and all of the flavors seemed to work really well without overpowering each other.

For dessert, Emily ordered the coffee cake and I ordered the butterscotch pie. Wow. The coffee cake was served warm and was very moist. The pie had a homemade crust and was covered in whipped cream and butterscotch pieces. AMAZING!

Needless to say, we were both pleased with our tea room experience. We wish Patti the best!

P.S. They also offer High Tea, but you need a reservation if that is something that interests you!

Patti’s Place Tea Room & Bakery, 3921 Coit Road, Plano (972-612-4828 or pattisplacetearoom.com).