Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
It occurred to us that while we’ve rated several restaurants across the Dallas Metroplex, we seemed to have overlooked one obvious place. Downtown Dallas. Well, unless you consider Nana and the Denny’s next to Wyndham Anatole as part of downtown.. then we’ve been to a couple. Still, it’s a very small percentage, so we decided to do a dining spree downtown and hit up as many restaurants as we possibly can.
The plan was this. We would order just one entree from every restaurant and take it to-go to maximize the number of restaurants that we get to visit. Our target area was none other than the historic downtown West End. As our tour unfolded, however, we discovered that not everything went as we had planned.
*********************
12:00pm
“Parking’s $3 over there. Wait…it says $5 on weekends.”
“What about over there? It’s only $2.50. No, wait… $5 on weekends.”
“Look! $2.2…nevermind.”
“Let’s just park at the first place since it’s closer. It’ll be $5 everywhere anyway.”
12:05pm
“So, how do we get to the West End?”
“Dunno. Follow those other people?”
“They’re going to the Dallas World Aquarium.”
“Hey, you wanna check it out? I’ve never been.”
“Nah, I’m hungry, and it looks like the line’s pretty long. Let’s find a place to eat first.”
“There’s a restaurant! It’s… On the Border. I think we’ve rated it before, but do you still want to go?”
“Keep walking. We’ll go to the first restaurant we see that we haven’t tried before.”
“What’s that? Cadillac Authentic Mexican Restaurant. Anyone tried it?”
“Nope. Go in?”
“Okay!”
12:20pm
“I’m going to ask someone what their most popular item is. It should be a pretty good indication of what this restaurant offers.”
“Excuse me, what is your most popular dish?”
Bartender: “Try the Cadillac Burrito. It’s one of our specialties, and it’s a really good deal.”
“Okay, I’ll take one, and make that to-go please.”
12:30pm
Bartender: “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
“Whoa, this feels pretty heavy. Hey, let’s find some shade to eat this at… how about inside the West End mall?”
“Um.. I think it’s closed. For good.”
“What? Are you serious? When did that happen?”
“I dunno. Everything inside looks boarded up. Too bad, too, cuz I was hoping to see those fudge guys at work.”
“So what now? I’m not gonna eat outside in this heat. Let’s walk around and see if we can find some shade.”
Random Stranger #1: “Hey man, you gonna eat that?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“That was odd…”
“Man! It’s hot! Let’s go in here to cool off for a while.”
12:35pm
“This is a pretty good place. Let’s just eat here. I’m hungry.”
“Alright. Let’s see what we have here.”
“Good thing we have a knife and fork. This thing is huge. What else have we got?”
“Chips, salsa, and a soup. Cool. This *is* a good deal.”
“The salsa’s pretty good.”
“Soup’s pretty good, too. It’s creamy, and it’s got chicken, corn, and whatever else is in there. How’s the burrito.”
“Good. I can taste the ground beef, tomato, lettuce… and of course the cheese. It’s practically drenched with it.
12:45pm
“Um, guys? I think I’m full.”
“No you’re not. You can still eat. Come on, let’s start walking so you can work it off. Here, throw everything in the trash and let’s go.”
“But there’s still salsa left, we barely ate any.”
“Just take it with you. You can eat it when you get home.”
“Okay.”
“Where’s our next stop?”
“Good question. I see a Gators right across the street, and I think 3 or 4 other places down that way to our right.”
“We’ll come back to Gators. I need to walk a bit so I can be hungry again.”
12:50pm
“Gah, it’s so hot… hey, there’s a Hoffbrau Steaks place up ahead. Wanna try it out?’
“Sure, anything to get away from the sun for a while.”
“Ahh, nice and cool. So, what’re we getting?”
“This USDA Prime Flat Iron Steak sounds pretty good.”
Bartender: “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, let me get this USDA Prime Flat Iron Steak with fries.”
Bartender: “Soup or salad?”
“What kind of soup do you have?”
Bartender: “Broccoli Cheese Jalapeno or Prime Rib”
“Prime Rib soup? Okay, I’ll get that.”
12:55pm
“I think there’s an extra charge for take outs. I see a 10% gratuity here on the check, and I wasn’t served anything. I mean, what else can it be?”
“Yeah, I noticed the same thing back there at Cadillac, but it was insignificant so I let it go.”
“Man, that’s just wrong. I’m gonna make the bartender get me something. Hey bartender! Get me some water!”
1:10pm
“Gee, compared to the burrito before, this weighs like nothing.”
“Smells good though. Boy, this heat’s a killer. Let’s head back to the same place we were at before. I think that’s the only place open around here where we can go inside to eat.”
1:15pm
“Not much there, huh? Well, let’s dig in and see what it tastes like.”
“Mmm, pretty juicy. Perfect medium I think. What about you guys?”
“Hmm, not bad, but I wouldn’t say it’s great either. And these fries? The juice from the steak made them all soggy. Nasty.”
“I’ll agree with you on those fries, but the steak’s really pretty good.”
“I don’t think you’ll have anything good to say about this soup.”
“Why’s that?”
“Taste it and you’ll see.”
“Hmm, it’s okay I guess. Though I was kind of expecting this prime rib soup to have more meat and flavor. Tastes just like regular beef and vegetable soup.”
2:00pm
“Man, it’s so hot! And why aren’t more stores open?”
“I dunno about the stores, but I know some of the restaurants, like the Morton’s we past a few minutes ago, open only at night.”
“Look, there’s the TXU building. Wanna go there?”
“No!”
Random Stranger #2: “Can you spare a 5?”
“Uh, no.”
“There’s some weird people out here. See, he’s asking some other person down there.”
“Let’s go back. I can’t take this heat anymore.”
“But we’ve only tried two places so far. We passed a Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse and Palm Restaurant earlier. Wanna give those a shot?”
“I’m ready to get out of this place.”
“What about Gators? You said we were going to go back to it after we’ve had a look around here. Plus it’s on the way back to our car, so we’ll pass it anyway.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
2:10pm
“Let’s get a table and eat inside this time. I need to cool down a bit.”
“Look around this place. What do you see?”
“I see tables, people eating, a large alligator handing from the ceiling…”
“No, what I mean is the color of the walls.”
“Oh. Well… they’re kinda greenish… bluish… yellowish?”
“Doesn’t look too appealing, huh? Like the whole building’s been flooded and all the paint ran into each other.”
Waiter: “What can I get you guys?”
“I want something cold, so I’ll get the pina colada.”
“Let me try the Gator Attack.”
“I’ll just get the waffle.”
“And ice cold water all around.”
Waiter: “Be right back with your waters.”
2:11pm
Waiter: “Forgot to ask you, what flavor of ice cream do you want on your waffle.”
“Vanilla.”
2:13pm
Waiter: “Your Gator Attack comes with two sides. What did you want?”
“I’ll take the red beans and rice and um…”
“The waiter just took off.”
“What the…”
2:20pm
“Ow, brain freeze!”
“Quit drinking it so fast.”
“How’s the gator?”
“Okay I guess. Though it’s not as good as the ones we got at Pappadeaux. I can taste other stuff in this meat that’s not meat, like tendon and fat and stuff. The ones at Pappadeaux was all meat and looked white compared to this. It’s like comparing white and dark chicken meat, although they don’t taste like chicken. More like a cross between fish, calamari, and chicken… I think.”
Waiter: “Here’s your waffle.”
“What the heck is this? It looks like a broken waffle cone with a scoop of vanilla. What a rip off.”
“Yeah, and what’s the deal with this waiter? First he brought us *two* side orders of red beans and rice. Now my glass of water’s been empty for at least 10 minutes and he hasn’t stopped by to refill it yet.”
“Let’s just pay and get outta here. I think I’ve had enough of downtown Dallas today.”
*********************
Here’s what we’ve learned from our little downtown dining trip:
1. It was scorching hot.
2. West End mall is closed. For good.
3. Strange people will ask for money and food.
4. Some restaurants open only on weekdays and/or at nights.
5. There’s an extra charge for take outs.
Overall, our downtown experience was a bit of a disappointment. Most of the time was spent trying to find refuge from the heat. There was only a trickle of people wandering around, even on a Saturday. No wonder the West End mall closed down. Even the shops that haven’t closed down for good weren’t open on Saturdays. What the deal with that?
It’s safe to say we won’t be making another trip anytime soon. At least not in the middle of the day, and unless there’s a *really* compelling reason. On the average, the restaurants were okay at best. Definitely not enough to lure us back for more. Hopefully the next time we go it’ll be better. Then again, that’s what we thought when we toured downtown a year ago.
Posted in Eating Out | No Comments »
Sunday, August 27th, 2006
It’s been so hot outside these days that it’s gotten me thinking winter already. More specifically, Colorado… snow… and snowboarding. For the past 3 years it’s been an annual trip for me. Last year I went to Copper Mountain in Colorado, and it was my first year snowboarding. Boy I tell ya, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore in my life. I ached in places I never knew would ache. When the adrenaline was flowing during the day I was fine, but when the lifts closed and I was back at the lodge I literally could not move because I was so sore.
What’s a food fanatic like me to do when I’m in foreign territory? Why, try out the finest and best restaurants in the area of course! I think it’s gotten to be somewhat of a tradition to eat at a fine dining restaurant on every trip. I’d have to say we found some pretty good gems at the 3 Colorado resorts I’ve been to so far. At Crested Butte we went to Soupcon (now closed, so sad) which served French cuisine with a bit of Americanized flair. At Winter Park we went to Gasthaus Eichler serving German cuisine which I thought was interesting because I’ve been to only 1 other German restaurant my entire life. Last year at Copper we went to Blue Spruce Inn with a pretty large group. I think we ordered nearly everything they had on their menu, or at least it seemed like it.
I don’t even want to attempt to describe every dish we ordered because I’d probably need two pages, which will be too long, and mainly because I tasted only a couple of dishes so I can go into detail on just those two. As for the rest of the dishes, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
A foretaste of what’s to come.
You can browse through their wine selection while you wait.
Blue Spruce Inn has been around for quite a while.
Had to put together an extra long table for our group.
Just before I cracked open their menu to order.
Fresh baked bread with butter to start everything off.
Blue Corn Calamari. Fried calamari has always been my favorite. These were coated with just enough blue cornmeal and fried just right so the meat was tender and not chewy. The accompanying tomato and caper sauce provided just the right amount of sweetness and sourness to diffuse out any oily aftertaste.
All meals come with either caeser salad…
…or soup du jour.
I ordered the Crab Filet which was tenderloin stuffed with crab and covered in fresh bérnaise sauce. To the untrained eye this may look like a big yellow glob, but under this rich coat of sauce sits a perfectly seared beef medallion sandwiching generous flakes of crab. At a perfect medium, the beef was so unbelievably juicy it nearly matched the natural tenderness of the crab. I savored every bite slowly along with the chef’s potato (mashed potatoes with garlic and herbs), cabbage, and carrots. Everything was so good I even ate the decoration, a tiny skewer of pineapple and cantaloupe.
Slow roasted Prime Rib. Lots of marbling.
Caramelized Onion Sirloin, certified angus quality.
Roast Duckling. Slow roasted and served with a Grand Marnier lingonberry sauce.
Pomodoro Pasta with chicken.
Rocky Mountain Trout.
Grilled New York strip steak.
Bluegrass Baby Back Ribs. *Full* rack.
Ice cream cake with chocolate syrup and raspberries.
I love the homely feel of fine dining restaurants like this. Blue Spruce used to be an inn before it moved a couple of times and finally became just a dining establishment, but it still kept the “inn” atmosphere. When I think of an inn, I think of a place where you end up at the end of a day exhausted, and all you’re looking for is a nice hot meal before crashing in a nice soft bed. In our case, we went at the last day of our trip pretty much exhausted from all the snowboarding and skiing looking for a nice hot meal. The food just tastes that much better when you’re hungry *and* exhausted.
The fine dining experience was memorable, but it wasn’t cheap. Dishes ranged from about mid 20s to just under 30, but you get what you paid for. The full rack of ribs was especially a good deal. The slabs were so humongous that it hid almost everything else on the plate. Even some of the guys notorious for having a “bottomless” stomach cried mercy near the end.
Like I said, we had a pretty big group, and our server did a pretty good job of making sure our dining experience was enjoyable. We were relaxed while we ate and chatted, and the server only interceded when necessary. The rest of the time he wisely left us alone to mingle the night away.
The Blue Spruce
20 Main St
Frisco, CO 80443
(970) 668-5900
Website: thebluespruce.com/home/index.php
Atmosphere: 9
Food: 8
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 8.1
Tags: Blue Spruce Inn, Colorado, Frisco, Copper
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, American, French | 1 Comment »
Saturday, August 26th, 2006
Swensen’s, an established ice cream and food diner, is located right next to the Movies 10 dollar theatre on Coit and Park. It’s been there for as long as I can remember which was since the early 90’s when we first moved to Plano. This particular Swensen’s is the last to be operating in this area, but in other cities like San Francisco, the restaurant chain is quite popular.
Probably the first thing we noticed upon entering the restaurant was some of the decorations that clashed with the ambiance. In a local neighborhood diner like this, we didn’t expect to see a Hispanic piñata hanging from the ceiling not too far from our table. On top of that, just the overall atmosphere seemed a bit awkward. The lighting and wall decorations almost seemed spontaneous. Nonetheless, we were willing to forgive the appearance so long as everything else was good or decent. But to our disappointment, we came upon red X’s, red X’s, and more red X’s on our grading checklist of Swensen’s. The first X we gave was for the cleanliness. Upon sitting down at our table, we noticed that it wasn’t wiped down thoroughly and there were even straw wraps scattered around the near-empty sugar holder. The second X we, unfortunately had to give, was to the service as our water (which incidentally was never re-filled throughout the evening) came out after our food. Then we had to wait for a little bit because the waitress had forgotten to provide silverware and utensils for us to eat with. At the end of the meal, we waited roughly 15-20 minutes for our check until finally we were forced to walk up to the counter and request to pay for our food. As for the food, we were disappointed in the fact that everything was just unfresh and the portions were rather measly. The price wasn’t too high, roughly around $6-7 per entree, but it was almost equivalent (in our opinion) to getting a #4 at Braum’s Ice Cream for less than $5. Swensen’s emphasize quality over quantity but in this particular case, neither was adequately achieved. And because everything had been unsatisfactory up to that point, we decided not to try the ice cream menu they had to offer.
Chocolate Shake with whipped cream
Original Burger with fries
Swiss Melt Crispy Chicken with fries
Turkey & Avocado Melt with cole slaw
One thing I do want to make clear about Swensen’s is this - personally, I’ve been somewhat of a fan of Swensen’s since I was a little boy. In my opinion, the management of any restaurant is vital to the success of its business and in this case (or maybe that evening), they may have lacked in scheduling enough employees or they may have just been running on a bad night. In any case, Swensen’s has been able to offer great food (I love their Caramel Turtle Fudge ice cream) in the past and the service I was accustomed to a while ago, had been sublime. It’s too bad that particular evening just wasn’t quite up to par.
Swensen’s Ice Cream
1820 Coit Rd # 115A
Plano, TX 75075
972-519-0178
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Cleaniness: 3
Value: 5
Overall: 4.0
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, American | No Comments »
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