DDD in the big D

So the hubs and I spent four days in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area last week. We visit at least once a year to see his sister, brother-in-law and adorable nephews. This trip was little different as we turned it in to a gastronomic delights tour. For those of you who follow follow this blog, you know we are big fans for the show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives". We even took a west coast road trip, mapping out our DDD stops along the way. I blogged a bit about it here. I also made mention of a couple Wisconsin DDD locations last November. But, this is all about everything being bigger in Texas (including our stomachs).

Our first stop was in the Dallas neighborhood of Deep Ellum, at the Twisted Root Burger Company. From the outside it was a bit unimpressive.


On the inside, we were shocked to see the 20+ people ahead of us in line. We were kept occupied by reading all the quirky signs covering the walls and our bottle cap table.


D and I ordered the Green Chile, Guacamole & Pepperjack Burger and the Chipotle, Guac & Cheddar Burger w/ Fried Onions, along with Twisted Fries and Spicy Fried Pickles.


We both agreed the burgers were just average, but the Green Chile was absolutely delicious. The fried pickles were extremely salty, yet the buttermilk ranch was one of my faves. As for the fries... who doesn't love curly fries? Even better was the Ancho Chipotle Ketchup. And I don't really even care for ketchup!

For dinner that night we went to III Forks. Although it is not a DDD location, it was more than worth mentioning. We had heard how great it was, but figured, "eh, it's just steak"... and our state mascot is the cow! How wrong we were in saying it's just steak. From the first bite of the III Forks Salad, we knew this was going to be different.

D and I had both ordered the Ribeye. It was melt in your mouth delicious. This was definitely in my top 3 steaks ever (I think I need them all side-by-side to really answer that). I loved sides too... the duchess potatoes and the cream corn. Oh my, the corn... it was "like butta". Literally. Creamy, buttery and so amazingly good. For dessert we ordered Grand Marnier Creme Brulee which was also excellent.

(photo from IIIForks.com)

The next day we headed to what might have been the most unusual of any restaurant we have been to before.... a gas station. When we pulled in to the lot at the Chef Point Cafe, we were impressed with the 20 or so Harley's that lined the front of the restaurant. Clearly word was out about this place.


We walked in to a restaurant of full tables and had a 35 minute wait for lunch... plenty of time to browse the menu. I had originally planned on ordering the "Better Than Sex" Fried Chicken, but, when my sister-in-law ordered the Blackened Stuffed Chicken, the waiter said it was his fave dish. So, I changed my order to the Blackened Stuffed Pork. D ordered the Duck a l'Orange and the kids went with the Chicken Tenders and Kid's Mac & Cheese.





We were a little concerned when our waiter said more adults like the Mac & Cheese. Seeing as how he was only 5, his palette tends to lean more towards the flavors in the blue box. I am pleased to say he loved it! His brother, who rarely eats anything that is not white, could not stop talking about how good the Chicken Tenders were. At one point I looked over, noticed that his chicken was mostly gone, and it appeared he had not even touched his fries. He even said that his chicken was better than KFC! Quite a declaration from a 7-year old.

D loved his Duck, and so did I. My pork was smothered in an incredible asiago sauce. The angel hair pasta was very good and the pork itself was so tender and flavorful. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the crab filling. D and I both thought it was 'too fishy' and, after my nephew's rave review, I was starting to think that I should have stuck with the fried chicken after all. However, my sister-in-law loved her crab stuffed chicken.

Despite the food being so delicious and filling, we knew we couldn't leave without trying the Bread Pudding... and thank God we didn't. It was incredible. That bread pudding is reason enough to make a trip back to Texas. I would also like to throw mention to our fantastic, friendly server. Unfortunately, I cannot recall his name.


In the evening we went to dinner at Prince Lebanese Grill in Arlington. Before the trip, this was the spot I was most looking forward to. It's hard to find good Mediterranean food in Wisconsin, and it's something I often miss. While the restaurant itself is fairly understated, the owner is front and center of the action in the dining room.


After some menu debate, we finally settled on the Lamb Mashwi Shish, the Falafel Plate and some Babaganoush. Our dining partners both ordered the Gyro Plate.






We first dove in to the babaganoush. I can say that it is the best 'baba g' I have ever had. I cannot say the same for the falafel. While it was good, it was certainly nothing to go back for. I am also sad to say that I did not care for the mashwi shish. I was so looking forward to it because it is was very highly rated, but I thought it was dry, overcooked and bland. In all, I felt our meal was quite disappointing. I did sample some of the gyro and thought the meat was incredible... one of the best I have ever had. I also tried the stuffed grape leaves our nephew ordered and was not impressed.
In finale, we ordered some bakalava and thought it was very good.


Whew! I cannot tell you how hard it was to write this blog while hungry... I gotta find some lunch.

happy new year

Its 3 days in to the New Year and I thought I would share our exciting New Year's Eve.

We didn't really want to go out, but I sure didn't have any interest in staying home either. Since we had some reupholstered chairs to pick-up in Chicagoland, we decided to get a hotel room and throw our own 2-person party. Using points, we booked a free suite at the Sheraton near my parent's house.




The only two things the hotel had to have was a pool and hot tub, and a Lou Malanti's nearby. We arrived around 5:00pm, checked in and looked around the hotel. Then we ordered one or two of our must haves whenever we are in Chicagoland... a buttercrust Lou's pizza. (just looking at the picture makes me want to eat one now)


Then we headed for little break in the hot tub. Unfortunately the pool area was overrun by kids and hardly tranquil. After a little time in the steam we went back to our room, played some games and watched TV, flipping between Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daly. FYI...Sequence, Phase 10 and Monopoly Draw are all great games for two people. We made it to just after midnight and then hit the hay. The best part was no computer to distract us. It was delightful!

In the morning we made a few shopping stops...including a trip to the retail store of Legoland. D just had to go. I was delightfully surprised at how few people were out on New Year's Day. The roads near Woodfield were almost abandoned and parking was a snap! Even our visit to Ikea was a breeze.

We picked up one of our chairs (pics to come) as only one will fit in our car at time; then we headed back home mid-afternoon. But not before a stop at our other dining must-have that WI is lacking...Portillos. mmmmm mmmmm


We completed our holiday weekend with 90-minute massages on Saturday. What else can I ask for?

a little Thanksgiving magic

D and I returned on Saturday from our week-long trip to Disney World. It's pretty much taken us the last two days to recover! We planned the trip with D's sister and brother-in-law. They made it a surprise to our nephews (5 and 7), only telling them the night before and the boys only knew we were there when the spotted us in the airport. Apparently they had been having "uncle D sitings" their entire trip, so finally seeing us was not too much of a surprise.

I have to say that the kids were real troopers. We dragged them all over the parks -- early mornings, late nights, no naps, etc. -- and only a few tears shed all week. All in all the weather was good all but one day. It was pouring rain when we were at the Animal Kingdom. Ponchos and rain coats did little to help, but it was also the perfect day to go on the water ride since we were all wet anyway. The upside were the walk-on wait times on the rides... even Everest, which is normally well over an hour. Everyone had left early that day, but D and I stayed a couple more hours and got to see it all.

The first night we got lucky when we just happened to arrive at the Magic Kingdom as a show was starting in front of Cinderella's castle. Here is a shot of the holiday lights on the castle. I want to live there.



On another topic, I have been searching for a somewhat ornate sideboard on Craig's List. I think I finally found it. I have been toying with whether or not I should get it as its more than I would like to spend. The buyer has made an offer at a lower price and I think I am going to offer even less. It needs a little work, but its just what I have been looking for. The fact that it's been posted for 3 weeks, and didn't sell while we were out of town, I am starting to think it was meant to be.
What do you think of it?

what a weekend!

We went to Chicagoland this weekend to do a little shopping at Ikea and place the reupholstering order for our "new" chairs. (My parents bought the chairs in the 60s and they have a groovy green fabric. We will have them done in a winter white for our living room.)

Anyone who knows us, knows we love to eat - and eat well. In our constant endeavors for delicious food, we have become big fans of Guy Fieri and 'Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives' (DDD). We even took a roadtrip to California and mapped out the restaurants along the way. We only ate fast food once on the week-long trip, and it was simply because we had a long day of driving to get from Grand Canyon to Palm Springs.

Anyway...this past weekend we finally got to eat at Frank's Diner. The diner is an old train car and sits about 10 feet wide. There is always a wait, and usually takes no less than 45 minutes to get your food once you order. The last time we went, we were a party of 7 and the other 5 didn't want to wait. This was finally our chance! Our wait was only about 30 minutes and we both ordered the 1/2 garbage plate with chrizo. It consists of a plate of hashbrowns, green peppers, onions, jalapenos, your chosen meat and three eggs (the full plate has 5 eggs) and homemade bread. The plate was good, but the bread was outstanding. We also ordered a slice of Cap'n Crunch French Toast, but it never came.
Then on the ride back north, we stopped at Comet Cafe. All I can say is OMG... the Meatloaf! DEElish.

At Ikea, we bought two pairs of curtains for the bedroom for only $30 and a down throw pillow insert for only $8. The pillow inserts are to replace the Pottery Barn inserts we have. The ones from PB are awful. They are twice the price and the feathers are always poking through and stabbing you. Not mention always picking them up from the carpet once they fall out.

What amazing weather! 65-70 and sunny all weekend!! Plus, we got to dine on Giordano's Chicago-style Pizza with good friends and their kids. It was SO good. Although, D was a little disappointed that Lou Malnati's had an hour long wait for a table... which meant no chopped salad or peanut butter chocolate chip pizza. mmmmm

On Sunday morning we went to the Goodwill near mom's house and scored with the three items below. The frame is going to be used for our foreign money art project. We hope to have it done by Christmas, but still need Canadian Dollars and Czech Koruna to complete it.
D was pretty excited about the Star Wars Galactic Battle Game. It is knock off of Battleship and actually works! I found this gold bowl, held it up to D and said "I was thinking of painting this black, or white, and", before I could finish my sentence he replied with "use it for displaying the skull?" I love that he knew exactly what I was thinking! All this for under $10!