It's Love with Urban Amore

Friday night I had the experience of checking out one of my new favorite restaurants in the DFW area- Urban Crust in Plano, TX. Anyone that knows me knows that I love great food (pizza in particular), low prices, and a great bar. Urban Crust has all of these combined. An old warehouse building turned pizza joint, Urban Crust has 3 levels of fun.

When we arrived, it was packed and we were told that there'd be an hour wait, but that we could spend it waiting at the 32 degrees rooftop icebar upstairs. I have to say I was really excited about getting upstairs to see that bar. I had seen on the website that they were known for fresh fruitinis, so I knew while going up the three flights of stairs what drink I would be getting- a strawberry/dragonfruit martini. The whole way up to the bar is was packed. You could tell people knew how good this place was and were willing to wait a long time. We ordered our drinks and went out to the outdoor patio to hang out and wait for our table. We had fabulous weather, great drinks, and even got to watch some baseball while waiting. It turns out that the bar area was kept fairly chilly, the drinks served at 32 degrees, and there was a strip of ice across the bartop that you could put your drinks on to keep them cold. How cool! (no pun intended!)

When our buzzer finally went off, we were sat down on the first floor right next to the open kitchen- the perfect viewing spot to see the woodfired oven and expo station. We started with the calamari, and got three pizzas to share among the 6 of us- the Margherita, the Black & Blue, and the Urban Amore. Simple, meaty, and sweet/salty. The calamari was uniquely plated, and was delicious, but I was looking forward to the pizza.

After a round of drinks, some calamari, and bread, out came our pizzas. This pizza was placed right infront of me:

The one I'd been looking forward to! The Urban Amore- fig preserves, proscuitto di Parma, Texas goat cheese, aged balsamic, arugula. It was love at first sight.

Let me tell you about how delicious this pizza was. The subtle sweetness of the fig preserves mixed with the saltiness of the goat cheese, and the peppery arugula produced probably the greatest flavor combination I've ever experienced. The tasted crust, which was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, was a great, flavorful carrier of all the toppings. Not too thin, not too thick, and just right on the sweetness. I never thought I'd taste these flavors together, especially not on a ten dollar pizza! $10 bucks for this experience! A very small price to pay for this amazingness called the Urban Amore.

The other pizzas were all good and fine, but didn't compare to this pizza at all. As far as Margherita goes, Lombardi's in NYC killed this one, and the Black & Blue was a bit too "blue" (this coming from someone who loves bleu cheese). But, overall, a fabulous pizza experience. We had 2 calamaris, 3 pizzas, a round of drinks, and one other appetizer, for $15/person. How cheap is that?!

Anyways, this is definitely a restaurant I'll go back to- perhaps on a weeknight during their happy hour to enjoy the Icebar when it's less crowded. Check it out at www.urbancrust.com

Best (I mean worst) BBQ in Dallas

I never thought I'd say this but.....

I found bad BBQ in Texas.

I'd had sub-par BBQ at one of the Sonny Bryans chain locations, and at Red Hot and Blue, but I never thought I'd go to an authentic homestyle BBQ place and have bad q. I was terribly wrong..

The February issue of D Magazine featured The Best BBQ in Dallas- 16 of the best Q joints in the DFW area. I always love having a reason to go out and search for new restaurants to try, so this article really excited me. I'd heard of a few of the places, and one of them really stood out because I'd see it on the Food Network- North Main BBQ, #15. North Main BBQ's ribs were featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", and Food Network generally doesn't steer you wrong. So, now I had 2 reasons to go try the BBQ at this restaurant.

Last Saturday I made a lunch date to drive out to North Main BBQ in Euless, TX, which is about halfway between Dallas and Ft. Worth. We pulled up and the parking lot was absolutely packed...which started the beginning of our frustrations because the parking lot was extremely hard to navigate. There was a large pig statue out in front of the restaurant, and there were signs all over saying they weren't open any day but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I thought, man if they're only open 3 days a week, their business must sustain them the rest of the week.. which means it's good BBQ!

There was another sign in the front saying "World's Best Ribs", which up to this point, I believed! I walked in, and there were 2 choices on the menu- a sandwich platter (black plate) or a buffet plate (white plate). We chose the buffet so we could taste more varieties of the meat.

Here's where the disappointment started:

1. The food on the buffet was lukewarm..

2. There was no dessert... Come on!!! You can't have a real BBQ place without peach cobbler or pecan pie for dessert!! What state do you think this is?!

3. The BBQ sauce tasted like fruit. Disgusting.

4. There wasn't anything to drink besides Iced Tea and Sweet Tea (fine with me, but pissed Bobby off). And at that, it was served out of giant garbage cans... see picture.

5. The sausage wasn't crispy or smokey or tasty. It was straight up tasteless and rubbery.

AND THE WORST OF THEM ALL....

6. THE RIBS!! They weren't smokey, didn't have a smoke ring, looked very fabricated, and came straight out of a hot hold.

One bit of good news was that their beans were pretty good, although they tasted like chili powder. Different, but good. And their brisket wasn't bad, either... But, their crowning glory, what they're known for, what has been broadcast all around the US that they're good for, what I drove all the way to Euless for, and Ted Allen's favorite BBQ, was B-A-D.

Hopefully the next of the Top 16 BBQ Places in Dallas is better, but I have a feeling that the original Sonny Bryan's on Inwood will always be my favorite. I heart you Sonny.

Louie's Dallas- Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives

I never would've gone in this place had I not seen it on tv. It's off the beaten path of the trendy Knox/Henderson crowds, and looks like it was built in an old oil station or something. There is one sign out front with a martini glass on it, and shows no signs of life or food inside. All windows to the outside are covered up, and overall just looks like a really shady place.. that is, until you open the front door.

Upon opening the door to enter, we are bombarded by loads of people waiting to be seated. This indeed is a bar, with only about 7 tables for people to sit. You see, the food at this bar is so good that people come to a bar to eat, instead of going to a restaurant to eat and drink. There are games on the flat screens, people with drinks in hand, and lots and lots of ambiance.
Bobby and I are hungry, and grumble a little when they tell us that it'll be a 45 minute wait, but we go to the bar to get a drink and deal with it. When we got to the bar, we saw two stools open and asked if they were taken- NO! We're in luck. We decided to eat at the bar, as that is what we prefer anyways. Have you ever eaten at the bar? You get MUCH better service, it's OK to split meals, and you can talk to the people next to you and have a great time. We sat down and ordered a cosmopolitan and a beer. On Diners Drive Ins and Dives, I'd seen the bartender shaking up a cosmo at this bar and it looked great, so I had to have one :) We looked at the menu and noticed that it was very limited- a few salads, pizza, appetizers, and some desserts.. definitely bar food. But, it had to be good! So, we ordered the sauteed crab claws for appetizer (I know what you're thinking...crab claws? At a bar? YES! FANTASTIC!), and a medium pizza with pepp, onion, and green pepper for our entree (ordered EXTRA crispy, as recommended by the couple next to us). The pizzas were very easy to order, as you choose all of your own toppings. You pay a base price for a cheese pizza, and then you're charged for every additional topping.. I think it was like $.50 per topping.

The crab claws came out first. They were so good that we'd eaten half of them before I remembered to take a picture! All I can say is that this is the best way to eat crabs! The shell is already taken off for you, and all you have to do is pick it up by the claw and bite the meat off. And because the meat is cooked in a garlic butter sauce, the meat absorbs all of that great flavor. This appetizer was served with toasted french bread, which is a PERFECT mop for that garlic butter crab sauce. Yum. Onto round 2.

Ahh, pizza. My favorite. Again, it looks so good we just dove into it, and a couple slices were gone before I could take the picture. By the way- everyone in this dark bar kept staring at me and giving me weird looks everytime I took a picture haha. I guess it's just the price I have to pay to document my food! Anyways, as you can see in the picture, the onions are sliced extremely thin, and the crust is very thin. It's run through a sheeter until it's paper thin and see through (as shown on DDD) and then baked in a pizza oven. I liked the onions sliced thin, because I don't like too much onion flavor, so this was just the perfect amount in every bite. I'm a HUGE fan of thin crust, and with this pizza ordered extra crispy, the crust was so thin and crunchy and was delicious! After about 5 minutes, we'd inhaled the pizza, and the bartender asked if we were interested in dessert. Dessert?? At a bar? So we asked what kind of desserts they had. He said they were all handmade by the owner's mother (extra point!) and that one of the desserts was cherry cream cheese pie (SCORE!!!!). It sounded like cherry cheesecake, but I needed to make sure.. :-P

As you can see, the cherry cream cheese pie was hidden by a massive blog of whipped cream...ahhh, heaven! Yes, this little square of heaven tasted just like cherry cheesecake, but WAY better. This $4.95 bar dessert killed The Cheesecake Factory's cherry cheesecake for $8.00. It was creamy and cheesy and light and sweet.. mmmmm. I'd go back there just for a piece of this honestly.

So, after sharing an appetizer, a pizza, and a dessert, I left satisfied, but not overly stuffed. It was perfect!

As the second place in Dallas I've visited that I've seen on Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives, I can say that I'm really looking forward to visiting the 3rd. Both of these spots have been great, with a great ambiance, great people, friendly owners, and fabulous food. Nice work Food Network, nice work.

Starbucks Does Breakfast Right!!

Aside from their overpriced beverages and somewhat weird employees, Starbucks has come out with some amazing new breakfast and meal options for those trying to be more health conscious.

The breakfast of topic: The Greek Yogurt and Honey Parfait

Reduced fat greek yogurt topped with coconut-almond macaroon granola, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries. At $3.45, it's a little steep for a parfait, especially when McDonalds only charges $1.00 for theirs, and you're already paying over $3.00 for a drink! But, this parfait is totally worth it.

Rip off the top and pour the entire cup of granola into the yogurt and honey mixture, and stir it around to evenly mix everything. This makes for a breakfast filled with tons of protein, a healthy amount of fat, lots of calcium, and mostly natural sugars. The real damage is this: 290 calories, 12g of fat, 8g of protein, and 32g of sugar, but it'll keep you full past lunch and is absolutely delicious.

The Starbucks Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

If you're really hungry, or greek yogurt isn't your thing, you can opt for the larger fruit and yogurt parfait, which also comes with granola. This is usually too much for me to eat, but is equally delicious, and is a better value because you're getting 2 more ounces of food for the same price of $3.45. This has 320 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 11 grams of protein.

Both equally delicious breakfasts, at a pretty good value, definitely convenient, and overall pretty healthy!

Kudos to Starbucks for keeping up with the food trends and current consumer needs!

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives restaurant visits

For some reason, I've seen Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on TV a lot lately. It always seems to be on when I turn on the Food Network, so I just watch it. After watching a few times, I realized that it seemed like every episode had a place in Texas in it, so I kept watching. Recently, there have been 3 places in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex on the show, and I'm about to tell you about the first one I made it to!

5 Star Dining at a Conoco Station- The Chef's Point Cafe

The story behind this restaurant is that the entrepreneurs who started the cafe were declined a loan to open a restaurant due to lack of experience (neither owner has a culinary degree or food backround).. However, they were granted a loan to open a cafe in part of an already existing gas station. The restaurant attracted people from all over since its opening in 2003, and it finally made it onto the Food Network. Since its appearance on DDD, there is always a wait to get in!

A scene from the crowded restaurant, adorned with Guy Fieri pictures and autographs all over the walls:

After waiting 45 minutes to be seated, we knew exactly what we wanted and went to town. I ordered everything off of their Special Nightly Menu, instead of their regular menu.. I figured I'd check out the specialties while they're available! Bobby and I both ordered an appetizer and an entree so we could see as many menu items as possible, and then shared their famous dessert.

Appetizers
I started out with a bowl of their homemade clam chowder in a bread bowl, which was perfect for the cold night that it was. It was so creamy and meaty that it sort of tasted like loaded baked potato soup! YUM! It was also the first clam chowder I'd ever tasted that had huge chunks of clams in it- you could tell it was completely made from scratch!

Bob started out with cheese fries. I normally love cheese fries, but when I read that they were topped with cheese SAUCE and American cheese, I shyed away.. When they arrived at our table, Bobby just started cracking up.. it turns out the chef had just placed a slice of American cheese ontop of the fries and left it there to melt! The presentation wasn't great, but the asiago cheese sauce they were coated in was fantastic! Very good. Round 1 was delicious!

Onto Round 2-Entrees

I wanted to order the Osso Bucco from the nightly specials menu because it was a great deal at only $15.95, but they were all out! So I opted for the Teriyaki Glazed Salmon topped with Grilled Pineapple and Coconut Rice. It sounded FANTASTIC and isn't something I could get at any other restaurant. When it came, the presentation looked great, and I couldn't believe that I had two huge salmon filets and all of this rice for onlty $14 bucks! The rice ended up having green beans, peas, and corn in it, which was sort of weird, but the flavor was amazing. It even had a little bit of heat to it. The salmon, of course, was fantasticly sweet and sticky. Yum!

For Bobby's entree, I convinced Bobby that he should go outside his normal course of sandwiches and pizza and try something different so we'd have some good food to try! He ordered the Shrimp Scampi, which came doused in butter sauce. Holy amazingness! Both entrees also came with a slice of their homemade fresh garlic bread, which worked perfectly to dip into our sauces!

Dessert

I knew I had to try their dessert, so I put more than half of my salmon into a to go box and ordered up their bread pudding!

The bread pudding comes served very plain- a big square hunk of sweet bread mixture served in a shallow bowl of bourbon sweet butter sauce. I even got Bob to try it, even though he said he "didn't like pudding" LOL! Of course he couldn't stop eating it, and we finished it off.

It was a fantastic visit, and definitely worth the 45 minute drive to Watauga, and the 45 minute wait to sit down. No wonder it made it on the Food Network! I would recommend this place to anyone :) By the end of the meal, I realized that this wasn't a restaurant in a gas station- this was a gas station inside of a restaurant. We learned that the owners purchased 2 acres behind their current location and will be expanding to hold the demand! Excellent!

1 downfall of the restaurant- they do not sell alcohol at dinner (although it's sold in the gas station), and it's not a BYOB restaurant. I guess this just makes your dinner cheaper! :)

Need pie for Thanksgiving? Try Royers!

The Scene of this Blog:

Royer's Round Top Cafe

Round Top, TX

Home to down home country folks, a couple Ohioan tourists, and some fantastic pie!

Set scene: Roadside cafe in downtown Round Top, TX- population 81

Their motto is "Dive into the PIE box for an out of the box experience!"

Their shirts say "Remember the Alamode!"

Their pie is DELICIOUS!

I went to Round Top cafe after a visit to the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, TX. It was only about a 25 minute drive, but seemed way out of the way. I had read about this place in a Dallas Morning News article about roadtrips, and it seemed like a great place to go, so I thought it'd be worth the inconvenient drive.

When we pulled up, upon seeing the cafe, the exact words out of my husbands mouth were, "Where the heck did you take us to? This is it?" Little did he know, that in about 15 minutes, we'd have some of the best pie we've ever tried in our bellies- and quail, stuffed giant jalapenos, and rolls ontop of that! When we walked in the door, this is the view we were greeted with:

Pies, pies everywhere! Cherry, Strawberry Rhubarb, Apple, Chocolate chip, Pecan, Butterscotch, Buttermilk, Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Key Lime Buttermilk, and Coconut Chess.. all there for us to smell and savor!

We sat down and ordered pie immediately- a slice of Apple, and a slice of Strawberry Rhubarb- both with ice cream, of course, because they charge you 50 cents extra if you don't get them a la mode! As we waited for our pies to come out, we sat and looked around this quirky cafe. The walls were adorned with signs, old tshirts, pictures of local and national celebrities, Christmas lights, napkins... anything you could think of!

We sat and chatted with the waiter wearing overalls (who I think was the owner) and talked to him about my food blog. He, in turn, started bringing out free samples of everything under the sun! Grilled quail (first time I'd ever tried it.. very good!), HUGE jalapenos stuffed with crab meat, cream cheese, jalapeno, and a plethora of other things, bread with homemade jelly, and then our pies. The fabulous, down home service here was wonderful.. almost refreshing. You don't see many places anymore where you can sit and learn about the business from the server, and really get to know them. By the time we left I felt like I belonged in Round Top, and was born to eat this pie!

As we paid the bill and got up to leave, the server brought out a box and handed it to me. He said, "On the house. Please enjoy, and y'all come back." It was a large cherry pie, straight out of the oven, just for me. Free.

This place has my heart, and will always have my business.

So, if you're ever deep in the heart of Texas, somewhere between Houston, College Station, and Austin, stop by Royers Round Top cafe. They also ship their famous pies all over the US- just order at http://www.royersroundtopcafe.com/

The Best Burger in Texas

Please bare with me as I try to get caught up on all of the posts I've been meaning to write for awhile now.. So many new foodie experiences, and not enough time to write!!

Recently, the Texas Monthly Magazine published an article about the Top 50 Burgers in Texas. The writers of the magazine drove over 12,000 miles, ate at more than 250 restaurants, and finally came up with The #1 Burger in Texas.... which just happens to be in my own city- Dallas, TX! Now, this is quite a huge honor to have, especially in the great (LARGE) state of Texas, so of course I'd have to verify it for myself. So, I made a reservation for brunch to try the burger, and made a date with our friends. It was FABULOUS!

This is the excerpt from the magazine description:

"No. 1 Classic Cheeseburger$12 (Fries are included in this price.) The Grape, Dallas
Not to take the Lord’s name in vain, but if ever there were a burger that could sitteth at the right hand of the Almighty, this would be the one. We sweareth. This is a celestial sandwich in every tiny detail. The meat, ground in-house, is ten ounces of high-quality chuck-eye (renowned for having the best fat-to-lean ratio). The peppered bacon is cured on-site. The slightly sweet bun hails from a local bakery. Are you getting the picture? Are your salivary glands in Pavlovian mode? Let us rave on: The lettuce is Texas hydroponic Bibb, just the tender inner leaves; the Lemley tomato has achieved ideal ripeness. White cheddar cheese oozes across the meat patty, melding irresistibly with the Dijonnaise blend that has been swiped across the amply buttered, crisply toasted bread. Is there a drawback? Just one: Unless your mouth is the size of Julia Roberts’s, you’ll need to press this tower down to a manageable height before attempting to stuff your face. The Grape’s creation does not attempt any radical maneuvers, but in its simple perfection it achieves the pinnacle of burgerdom: It makes you wonder why you would ever eat anything else. That it’s offered only during Sunday brunch makes it even more desirable. Granted, some curmudgeons might balk at eating a burger in a wine bistro on Sunday morning, but they’d be missing the very best burger in Texas. 2808 Greenville Ave., 214-828-1981. PS"

The article is SO true. The Dijonnaise sauce that's on the sandwich couldn't be more balanced. The sharp white cheddar cheese that is melted ontop adds just the right amount of flavor, and the toasted buttery bun? Well, it's perfection. The bacon was crisped and hot, adding a small amount of flavory grease, and the lettuce and tomato were fresh. What about the twice fried fries, you ask? They were flavorful, crunchy, and delicious with Heinz ketchup!

My only wish for this classic burger is that the pickles would've been different. They tasted fresh and homemade, but were spicy instead of being a dill or bread and butter pickle. I like the taste of normal pickles, and usually add extras onto my burger, but with these I didn't eat too many of them.

Here are some pictures of the burger. The first one is the burger as presented to me, and the other is my burger after I built it. It WAS huge, and I couldn't finish it..

I can definitely see why it was called The Best Burger in Texas!!!