Nothing Bundt Cakes

After my weekly lunch at Torchy's, I cruised on down Preston to Nothing Bundt Cakes to get a little something for my sweet tooth.

Display Case - look at all of the little bundtlets at the bottom. Yum!

I was really surprised at how busy this joint was at 1pm on a Tuesday.
They have some great packaging ideas for parties or get togethers...and they ship nationwide.
You can order a 10 inch, 8 inch, or a bundtlet. I love that for $3.99 you can have whatever flavor of cake you'd like - and it is a generous portion.
They had samples out of the cinnamon swirl cake. This was an excellent idea. In my mind, bundt cakes are dried out. Not these guys. They're super moist, rich, and topped with decadent icing.


Decor in Nothing Bundt Cakes


Precious packaging - I love the sticker!


The flavor of the month is white chocolate blueberry...but regardless of which flavor you choose, you can't go wrong. Stop in and try one of these little gems!

Al's Steakhouse and Salad Bar

Preston and Royal has a new steak place: Al's Steakhouse and Salad Bar.
We tried it out on Monday night. When we arrived, we had to call out our greeting several times before it took. There are two entrances & we came in the back way. At 6:30 there was one other patron: a man at the bar. We had a brief discussion about slipping out undetected, but decided to forge ahead.

After ordering a glass of wine (thought the possibilities for adult beverage are endless, as they have a full bar), we perused the menu.

When we asked about the salad bar, we were told it was "canceled". I would like to remind our readers that the name over the door said "Al's Steakhouse and Salad Bar". The online menu boasts a salad bar for $10. But...there was no salad bar.
No love lost there, however. I'm not a super fan of salad.

Instead, we ordered the chicken corn chowder. Decent, but very Campbell's-esque.


The Caesar salad was good: authentic without being overwhelming.



The steak, cooked medium-well, was okay. Definitely not the best in Dallas, but passable. I was more in love with the scalloped potatoes served alongside, to be honest.





The wild mushroom risotto with white truffle oil was the star of the show. For $6.50, this tasty flavorful dish was our favorite. We almost fought over who took home the left overs. I would make a re-visit to Al's just to give this another try.



For dessert we opted for the Viennese apple-pear strudel with cream Anglaise. Flaky pastry, fat raisins, good sized bits of real fruit, served beside ice cream...I was amazed. I was also too full to finish it. Don't let that happen to you.



Al's has some work to do before it is truly up to standard.
However, on the whole, both the food and the service were pleasant,
especially if you live in the area.

La Grange

For a while now, I have heard that La Grange is a fun new place in Deep Ellum. Myself and a co-worker decided to give it a try for lunch. La Grange is located on Elm Street and has two store fronts. One is for their musical venue, and the other one is for their restaurant.

The restaurant section is fun and eclectic. When you first walk in, you are greeted with at bar where you place your order and pay. Once the order is complete, the wait staff brings you your food. Pretty simple. I ordered the mushroom melt with matchstick fries. The sandwich was served on thick white toast with mushrooms, melted cheese, and their avocado pico. I thought the sandwich flavors went well together. For 6.50, this a great value!
My co-worker ordered the smoked chicken nachos. This came with chips, cubed smoked chicken, and tomatoes. Fresh guacamole and chipotle queso was served on the side. This is a great way to eat nachos in a “guilt free” way since you can control how much you want of each condiment! The presentation was a nice surprise. Overall, we were both pleased. The atmosphere as fun and the food was tasty and affordable.

Boiler Room

Tuesday night we decided to have a high school girls dinner to catch up. We decided to meet up at Boiler Room.

Oddly enough, Emily had planned a dinner there herself. That said, get ready for a lengthy post!

Boiler Room is located in Deep Ellum on Elm Street. It is a musical venue, but they also serve food. We arrived a little after 7, and there were plenty of seats. We had a party of 4, and chose to sit at a long table in the middle of the restaurant. They have daily specials and then a regular menu with appetizers, sliders, sandwiches, and entrees. Overall, they have a pretty good selection of food.

Two ordered the sliders in our group. You can mix and match and order either 2 or 3. Melissa went with the chicken fried steak sliders with fries. These come on with a patty of chicken fried steak, creamy gravy, and a dollop of mashed potatoes. Kristen ordered 2 of the chicken fried steak sliders and then one bacon ranch chicken slider.

Jamie ordered the chicken jalapeno wrap. This came with bacon, breaded chicken, jalapenos, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. This was drizzled in ranch dressing in and served up in a tortilla with potato chips and a small fruit salad.

I ordered the veggie wrap. This came with sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. The ingredients were drizzled with a raspberry vinaigrette and wrapped up in a flour tortilla. The wrap was accompanied by potato chips and a small fruit salad. I really liked it and it was only 6.50! The dressing was well proportioned and all of the ingredients were fresh and crisp.

*********************

(The fried pickle/jalapeno basket with ranch)


We started out with the fried pickle & jalapeno basket, complete with ranch. We ate every bit of it...they were good as far as fried pickles go. However, I do like it when the pickles are a tad crisper. These were a little droopy.

Everyone at our table ordered the sliders, too - there were just too many slider options to mix & match. You have the option of adding sweet potato fries, one of my favorite things! However, after we ordered they let us know that they were out of SPF on this particular evening.

My chicken salad slider was good. My chicken fried steak slider was gristly. The spoonful of taters did make it feel like elementary school lunch all over again - the mashers were good.


We ordered the apple pie dessert, only to find they were out of that, too.

All in all, I wish I had tried the special, as recommended by the staff. Pot roast with veggies would have been a better route.

I can't say if I will make a return visit. Prices were great. Service was decent. Food was just mediocre.

Dive

Monday night we decided to try out Dive in Snyder Plaza. It is located where Balls Hamburgers used to be on Rankin Street. The restaurant definitely has a “beachy” atmosphere with pastel colors and accessories to tie everything in. You place your order at the counter and then wait staff brings you your meal. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly.

They have several different options in the “Skinny Dip” section which include: traditional hummus, roasted eggplant, baby bella and ham, tomato basil, and a cucumber yogurt. We decided to go with the traditional hummus. This generous portion was served with fresh warm pita and crackers. The hummus was creamy, garlicky, and definitely had a kick to it! We both liked it.

I ordered the hearts of palm salad and a side of the boursin mashed potatoes. The salad was served with shreds of romaine lettuce, hearts of palm, avocado wedges, and grapefruit sections. This was all drizzled with an olive oil and sea salt vinaigrette. It was light and refreshing. The potatoes were a hit as well! They were homemade and whipped up with boursin cheese.

Emily went with the spicy shrimp coastal tacos. These came as a set of three accompanied with a spicy slaw. The flavoring of the shrimp wasn’t her favorite, but the side of sauces helped to level out all of the flavors together. She also tried a "Pike" cocktail. This consisted of red wine, iced tea, raspberry puree, lemon juice, orange juice, and Agave nectar. Yum!
Dive offered plenty of sandwich and wrap offerings as well. The place seemed to be pretty crowded with a good number of folks ordering to go. Give this place a try if you are looking for a coastal experience.

J Blacks for Brunch

Thanks to the recommendation of AC, today we brunched at J Blacks. While they do offer a ton of drink specials, including a bloody mary bar, mimosas, and dollars off their other drinks, we stuck to soda. It was syrupy good.

For brunch they have a variety of breakfast choices. French toast, migas, breakfast tacos. They also offer their full pizza menu.



The Winner Winner pizza was out of this world and I can't say enough about it. I'm headed back just for this masterpiece. Shredded chicken, Boursin cheese, avocado, and a Parmesan crust, this really was the winner.



The Game Day Burger was flavorful. It came with a side of mustard, all of the fixings, and deliciously flavored fries. Make sure to add cheese!



Our waitress was very nice, but definitely overworked. It looked like she was serving every table in the place and, as a result, service was extraordinarily slow. It took over an hour for our food to arrive, and every request seemed to take an eternity. She was absolutely pleasant about it, which helped appease the frustration at the table. Still, take note: it's not quick.
Another side note is that is was extremely warm, temperature wise, in the restaurant. This was something that ceiling fans and moving tables didn't fix.

However, despite the long wait and the hot temps, a revisit for brunch is definitely on the list.

Burguesa Burger

Burguesa Burger had been calling to me for awhile, but this kind of burger will beat down your self-esteem, so i had to time it carefully. You see, Burguesa Burger isn't your normal burger. Oh, no. It is a burger to feed your hangover. It is a burger that will push you into the next weight class. It is a B-U-R-G-E-R.


The menu does boast a slew of options, but if you find yourself at this tiny drive up location on Inwood Road by Southwestern, you have only one real choice: The Monumental. It has all of the normal burger parts: meat, cheese, meat, cheese, bread, lettuce, onion, tomato... plus avocado, ham, special sauce, refried beans, AND A TOSTADA. My heart hurts just listing the ingredients.
(I did have the Monumental, Jr. which cuts down the meat and cheese by half and was still ridiculous. )




The soda fountain boasts pure sugar cane soft drinks in an array of citrus flavors like grapefruit, orange, lemon-lime, and cola (for those who don't think outside of the box).
When it come to fries, I highly recommend the spicy fries. I'm not sure what blend of seasoning flavored these fries, but it was tasty - smokey, bacon-y, and spicy pepper-y. The fries would have been pretty dull without this added extra.

The menu also listed churros, which I longed to try, but just couldn't bring myself to order. All in all, the burger meat wasn't the best I've ever had, but the experience was so unique, it was definitely worth a try.

Maximo

Maximo was our restaurant of choice this week because of D Magazine's "Best Of" list. Located on Alpha Road, across from the Galleria, the setting of this venue is amazing. Beautiful colors, neat decorations, and lots of space make up the dining room. One thing my dining companions pointed out: there isn't the constant noise that you have in the usual Dallas restaurants. They were playing music and the dining room was crowded, but you could still comfortably have a conversation.


Voted D Magazine's Best Margarita, the Maximo Heat is a traditional salty-sour blend but with the addition of muddled jalapenos. The jalapenos weren't too hot, but they did add an interesting kick to an old favorite.

This margarita served alongside their chips and salsa, made me glad to be a Texan.
Hot, medium, or sweet are your dipping choices. It's always superb to have salsa choices and these were pretty darn good. The hot version (far left) had the least amount of flavor - but that could be because it burned out my taste buds? The sweet version (far right) almost tasted pickled, but was definitely my favorite.

Maximo Chips & Salsas

This guacamole was created table side with super fresh ingredients. You could pick your level of heat and what things you wanted to go into your guac - something that picky eaters (or traditionalists - who don't like tomatoes in their guacamole) will appreciate.



Guacamole made table side

Pescado Rojo served with a butternut squash tamale

The fish (red snapper) wasn't my favorite, but the tomato on top had a great flavor and the tamale is well worth sampling.

House Salad with Chile-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Lobster Nachos

These were, by far, the best dish on the table the whole evening. The chips held up under black beans, lobster meat, a good amount of cheese, and a jalapeno slice. Amazing! These would definitely be on my list for re-ordering.

Churros with Vanilla Milkshake for dipping

The churros were warm and tasted less like a funnel cake and more like a delicious roll of French toast. The vanilla milkshake, we used for dipping (and added a little to our coffee). It tasted similar to tapioca, and was a good flavor blend with the churros. This dessert, served piping hot, is definitely something to try!