Dining in Dallas.com

I had all four of my wisdom teeth taken out this past Friday and thought I’d offer some post-op dietary suggestions. Please be aware that your oral surgeon or dentist is the final authority on this matter and that I only offer my personal experiences.

The day of the surgery, I got a McDonald’s chocolate milkshake on my way home. The shake had a most pleasant effect in my mouth. It helps that I love milkshakes too. A little later during lunch, I got some mashed potatoes from KFC with gravy. Obviously wait till it’s close to room temperature and then eat to your heart’s content. Vary your diet so you still get different kind of nutrients which will aid in the healing process. That evening, I had some egg drop soup. It was cooked with shiitake mushroom, pork bones, eggs, and some sort of broth. Obviously I only drank the soup and ate the eggs. It was mucho delicious.

Next day, I ate the leftover soup and mashed potatoes for breakfast. For lunch, I ate a huge bowl of oatmeal mixed with taiwanese dried pork. It’s a type of pork that’s usually used for gruel and as such makes it soft and chewy. I usually abhor oatmeal.. but it was delicious and it’s healthy too. Then for dinner, I got some squash casserole and mashed potatoes from Boston Market. I highly recommend both.. although for the casserole, there were chucks of squash and cucumber so be careful with that. They’re soft but chew with your front teeth first and then swallow as necessary. Also, I had some maccaroni with cheese.. to me, it’s too cheesy for my taste and I honestly felt nauseated eating it. But that didn’t have anything to do with the effects of the surgery.. it’s just a thing I have with maccaroni I guess.

Day 3 (Sunday).. I ate leftovers from the dinner the night before for breakfast. For lunch, more squash casserole, mashed potatoes, and creamy spinach from Boston Market. The spinach was a little too creamy and salty but I ate it nonetheless. For lunch, much of the same thing. When I find something that works, I stick with it usually. For dinner, I got mashed potatoes and casserole again from Boston Market. I also scrambled up some eggs with soy sauce cause I had a craving for that.

Monday. Actually now that I think about it.. I might’ve mixed up some days but the general gist is the same. I ate Boston Market and KFC most of the time. For drinks, smoothie from Smoothie Factory and chocolate shake from McDonald’s.

So there you have it. I have a post-op appointment next week and until then.. unless I feel less swelling in the extraction sites.. I’ll keep similar diets and maybe gradually add new foods for variety.

We’ve eaten at Texas Land and Cattle before but I recently had a chance to go for a second visit. The first experience wasn’t too memorable so my expectations were not very high. However, the restaurant has definitely made some improvements and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and service this time around. The ribeye steak I ordered was cooked perfectly to order and was flavorful and tender. Service was quite good also and the food was served fairly quickly even during the bustling lunch hour. It turned out to be a nice meal and I left satisfied.

Complimentary bread

Seasoned onion strings served with barbecue sauce on the side

Ribeye steak with a side of garlic mashed potatoes

Texas Land and Cattle
3945 Central Expressway
Plano, Texas 75023
Phone: (972) 578-8707
Website: http://www.texaslandandcattle.com

Ambiance: 7
Food: 7
Service: 7
Health: 4
Cleanliness: 8
Value: 7

Overall: 6.8

Tags: Texas Land and Cattle

Allow me to rant.

One of the surefire ways that you can tell a restaurant is hiding something.. is if they make a scene about patrons taking pictures at the restaurant. I’m not talking about detailed pictures of every orifice of the place but just casual pictures of the entrees at the privacy of the patrons’ own tables.

To those type of restaurant owners I say this. And I speak from experience as I’ve worked and helped manage a restaurant for nearly 5 years. This is NOT a good way to run a business nor is it a profitable way. You do NOT question customers and single them out in a restaurant and you do NOT force them to delete the pictures in front of them. There’s this little thing called.. “serving your customers” that someone should give them a heads up about. Totally ruined the entire restaurant experience having to look over our shoulders every time we do anything. If they said it in a courteous manner, I wouldn’t have any issue because as the owners.. they have a right to dictate how they conduct their business. But their tone was just short of antagonistic and I pretty much wanted my fist to meet the owner’s face.

I’m not gonna name the restaurant but I will say this. Any restaurant you go to, take pictures openly of their food and take care not to bother anyone else. If the owner there speaks up and tells you NOT to take pictures rudely, spread the news and let customers decide if that’s the kind of restaurant you’d like to eat at. If they do it in a courteous manner, acquiesce to their pleas.. apologize.. and enjoy your meal.

Here’s an interesting video on how Chinese noodles are made.

Tags: Chinese, Noodles

Naan is yet another upscale restaurant in the Shops at Legacy in Plano, but it manages to distinguish itself by offering a unique menu that combines both Korean and Japanese cuisine. We visited Naan for lunch this past weekend and enjoyed our meal thoroughly. The fairly small lunch menu features a selection of bento boxes, rice bowls, and salads, as well as a separate menu for sushis. The sushis were quite expensive so we went the safe route and just tried the bento boxes. There are several bento boxes to choose from, including Spicy Barbecue Chicken or Pork, Bulgogi (Shredded Ribeye Steak), Prime Short Rib, and Chicken Teriyaki. We ordered the Executive Bento which gives you a choice of two meats. Every item in the bento box was delicious, and the meats in particular were prepared perfectly. Portions were just right and we left full and satisfied. Service was generally good except for a slight hiccup where our server mixed up our orders, but other than that there’s not much to complain about.

Miso soup

Executive Bento ($11) with Chicken Teriyaki and Bulgogi

Naan
7161 Bishop Rd #G2
Plano, TX 75024
Phone: (972) 943-9288
Website: http://www.naan-restaurant.com

Ambiance: 8
Food: 8
Service: 6
Health: 6
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 6

Overall: 7

Tags: Naan, bento

I’ve noticed a lot of new Thai restaurants lately. Just a couple of days ago we rated Bangkok City which we should have a review for soon. Thai food for me is a hit or miss. Sometimes I’ll eat something great at a Thai restaurant, but more often than not I’ve been disappointed. I blame it on this one Thai restaurant in Austin called Thai Menu. I probably had the best Thai food I’ve ever tasted at that restaurant. I think I tried every item on their menu at least once. When I found out they were closed I was beyond sad. Since then my expecation for good Thai food is sky high, which is why very few Thai restaurants appeal to me these days.

Still Thai food seem to be gaining popularity judging from the new restaurants popping up everywhere. Is Thai cuisine a new trend these days? Hmm… Actually that got me thinking. I’ve never tried cooking Thai food before because their seasonings and sauces seemed complicated. But I might start with a little help from from a kit at CurrySimple.com. The ready made curry mix and sauces should make the cooking experience a whole lot easier. Plus they claim the mix and sauces are made to restaurant quality WITHOUT the use of MSG or preservatives which is certainly very attractive.

Eventually though I’ll want to create my own Thai sauces. But until I’m good at it I’ll probably default to ready made sauces for now.

Tags: Thai, restaurant, curry, sauce, ready made

As you may know already, we recently started making our very own bento boxes. Yes, you can now enjoy those tasty, neatly-packaged meals that you see everywhere in Japan and Taiwan (among other countries) right here in Dallas! You can check out our menu history here. Let us know if you have any ideas or suggestions for future bento boxes — we’re always on the look out for good menu ideas.

As a side note, we’re also doing catering for special events on a limited basis (mainly for people we know right now). Our last catering event was more or less successful. Not everything went perfectly but it was definitely an enlightening learning experience. One regret was not having better equipment on hand. We definitely could have used some nice serving platters, pitchers, and other dinnerware. We had to use paper plates and cups, which isn’t exactly very professional, but at least the clean up was easy.

So try out our bento boxes and tell anyone you know that might be interested. It’s a healthy and unique alternative to your typical greasy fast food — and you won’t find it any where else!

Order online here