20071215

I have too many blogs

First, I was just posting here and linking from MySpace. This was too much and no one from MySpace cared anyway. Now, my hetero dogg 4 life has decided to alter his content format at www.planetidiot.com. He asked me to contribute, so it was understood that I'd say yes.

Restaurant reviews are boring and no one cares. But maybe I'll keep posting them here. Urban adventures, video game talk, and the meaning of life and the universe has moved over to www.planetidiot.com.

Have a day.

20071103

I called hookery on the bummery

After regularly getting preyed upon by the bums at the St. Paul station, folks who wait for you to buy your ticket, then approach you for money, I decided to take action. I called DART. The guy on the phone said they'd send someone out right away. I don't think the guy understood that this was a daily issue, but I guess I can call again.

By the way, headphones do not act as a bum talisman in Dallas.

NYC

I went to New York City last weekend. It is an expensive place. But not a single bum hit me up for change. And there were plenty of people walking around. It was a community. Not like the soulless mish-mash of roadways that makes up Dallas.

I just read the D Magazine article about the Trinity War and Gail Thomas's involvement. I agree that Dallas needs a soul. But the key is not just a vibrant downtown center, but a transportation system that doesn't separate everyone into their individual bubbles, a system that encourages people to interact, or at least be in proximity of one another. Maybe that's why I have problem with the congestion problem being an argument for the toll-road. What about rail?

Okay enough soapbox and back to New York. My friend tipped me off to a great brunch place there. Glass one of unlimited mimosa (or belini, sangria, what-have-you) was normal flute size. Subsequent glasses were large wine-glass size, filled about three-quarters up. Anyway, the place is called the Arte Cafe. It's near Central Park. It's classy and at the same time not snotty.

Other than that, a pub we descended upon featured the Gaffel Koelsch. Wish I could find that in Dallas.

20071023

Steve Goes to Court and Makes Six Dollars

I went to Court today! It was a lot of fun. It came with a free bus ticket, but the bus wouldn't take me there when I wanted it to. Then I waited in a line. It took forever! Then I went through Security, just like the airport. I was really sorry when the gate went BEEPBEEPBEEP at me after I walked through it, but the man ignored me. Then I got into a big room with other people. A movie played that talked about why I was there. I felt special. Then a lady told me I could go home. They gave me a certificate and I made $6! Hooray!


JU$TICE

Fried Chicken replacement

William's Fried Chicken downtown at Akard and Elm closed. Big huge frown there. It wasn't a bad walk at all to the fav fried chicken establishment.

But it was a good opportunity to find a replacement. And to that end, I introduce Brother's Fried Chicken in East Dallas. It's at the corner of Gaston and Fitzhugh. The shack features a drive-through and an ordering stand. No seating. And the drive-through was made complicated by the security bars. And the purchase was made complicated by the credit card machine being down. Actually, no. I think it's a good thing I did not try to shove a credit card through those bars.

But daaaaaamn, does their stuff taste good. Nice flavoring in the batter, although my wife says it's too much salt or spice or something. Our family meal came with white bread, and we also ordered fries and okra. Tasty.

I don't know what the heck the Guide is thinking when they rate it a 4-star. That involves a certain level of service and atmosphere. And I would expect the bread to be homemade. But it's good fried chicken.

Compelling Prosticution

This topic is dated a couple weeks, but I feel it must be documented.

So I get this postcard in the mail from the Texas Department of Public Safety, "NOTICE OF HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDER IN COMMUNITY". Well specifically, my building. It says a dude moved in that is currently on probation. His offense? Compelling prostituion. Age of Victim? 13. He pimped a 13-year old. So much wrong there. 

The next day, each of the residents gets a letter from the building management. Apparently, this guy listed an apartment in the building as his home address, even though he's never lived here. So building management was working with the Dallas Police Department, and a felony arrest warrant was put out for the dude for registering a false address.

It's also nice to know that my building's management would never have rented a place to a sex offender.

I kind of wonder what happened. Hmm. The PD's website only says "Absconded or Disappeared" under his address.

20071006

Mignon

Really liked Mignon. Except the location. But Plano just gives me a rash in general. Most folks were dressed business casual, although the few that wore shorts or a t-shirt seemed to feel out of place when they saw the few of us who wore a jacket.

Service was great, including a follow-up by the chef. Our waiter was new, though, so he couldn't dole advice on the whole wine list. Being a full four-stars, I also expected more attention to the flatware (ate my salad with a dinner fork) and the post-course debris.

But who gives a crap. My peppercorn steak was served up medium-rare, according to recommendation, on a bed of spinich-mushroom risotto. I don't normally do the medium-rare, but this worked well. And the risotto's flavor was still in my mind the next day. There was some sort of wine reduction in there. It was nice to be that affected by a flavor.

Silver Fox Richardson

Hmm. What to say about my visit to the Silver Fox steakhouse in Richardson last month. Nice, but not classy sums it up. It's like the wanna-be richer-place. It's located in a Richardson strip center off George Bush. There was no valet. The bartender swore. Dress was casual.

On the up side, it's convenient to that area, it's come as you are, and our waiter, at least, knew exactly what he was doing.

The food was great, although there was some confusion regarding sides since there were no potato-type things listed. Each plate comes with a side, although I can't remember at this point what it was. (My apologies - there were personal issues taking place at the time.) The wine list also features the Messina Hof vineyard in Texas.

20070823

Nobu

Went to Nobu for Restaurant Week, although I've had a hard time finding the motivation to write about it. There was much socializing that night, so my focus wasn't on the food. So I'll have to keep this to a brief guide.

1) Nobu is in the Crescent Court. Valet is $4. I think you can park your own car in the garage downstairs, but there is probably also a fee.

2) Although a nice place, men, you don't need a jacket. You won't be out of place with or without one. It was however slightly warm in there.

3) The service was friendly, efficient, and helpful. I would have preferred it to be slightly less intrusive.

4) The dining atmosphere is not intimate, most if not all of the restaurant is in one large room with high ceilings.

As for the food, I only remember it being tasty. Describing it further would be inaccurate. I seem to remember liking the Olivier LaFlaive '04 Chardonnay though.

20070817

Road Rash

My previous theory does not seem to be holding. Since riding the train, I haven't encountered the bizarre and unusual as I have in the past. Not even a racial slur. Just a lot of bums chasing me for my change.

But I did have an adventure recently nonetheless. This involved me, my Trek 1000 racing bike, morning traffic, riding parallel to trolley tracks on McKinney, an attempted 30-degree left turn onto Harwood, my thin wheels alternating from falling into the rut between the rail and the asphalt and losing traction on the smooth surface of the rail, both wheels slipping out from underneath me, and the left side of my body slamming onto the asphalt in the middle of McKinney Avenue.

The result is a bloody elbow that's still oozing puss, a strained ab, bruised hip, and a minor cut at my ankle. Well, my bike's important too, so it's going to need its alignment done, and the shifting mechanism got twisted around the handlebar.

Lessons:
1) Cycling in rush hour is stupid, even when it's just a couple miles from the Katy Trail back to your apartment in Downtown Dallas. Uptown is particularly bad since the streets that get you back to Downtown are limited.

2) Crossing streetcar lines with racing tires works best at 90-degree angles. In fact, that may be the only way I care to do that ever again. I would have still taken Harwood, but I would have crossed one street at a time like a pedestrian.

3) I feel stupid, irresponsible, and lucky to be alive.

Del's Is Back

By convenience of location, I returned to Del's to give the current owner a second shot. The burger was juicy and delicious. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's come into its own now, a better burger than it once was.

Kudos Hoss.

By the way, Del's seems to have a bigger draw. Expect a crowd.

20070722

Nick & Sam's

Made it to Nick & Sam's last week for a guy's night out. I haven't done this in a while, so I hadn't had a good steak in a while, but this was far better than I ever remember it. I had the bone-in filet, and although it made a big difference in the flavor, there were no flaws in the steak either. You can go to plenty of reputable establishments and still wind up with a portion of the meat overdone or fatty. The rest of the steak is great, but that small encounter leaves a bad taste in your memory. This steak, this bone-in filet, this was totally worth the upgrade price and then some.

Also ordered were the "Damn Good Fries," which arrived in the form of a heaping pile of seasoned potatos that didn't seem to have an end. For dessert, I split hot fresh doughnuts with the evening's spice of cinnamon.

Aside from that, yes the lighting is really dim. Fine for those like myself who prefer the cave, others are presented a small flashlight for reading the menu. The wine list was expansive and you would have to be a wine nerd or a regular drinker to recognize any of the names. The service was helpful and educated.

Finally, you will likely feel poor if you go here. I don't care what car you drive, it will still suck compared to the Rosso Corsa Ferrari F50 that the valet pulls around for the guy in front of you.

20070712

Coal Vines

I can't say that I can give Coal Vines a full review yet. I dropped by Monday only to pick up a pizza on my way somewhere. Still the place deserves some merit.

This isn't Pizza Inn. This isn't even Campisi's. The owner, Joe, dressed in a casually-expensive way greeted me at the patio. The place itself is a tight fit - maybe a dozen tables plus the bar. Where there weren't floor-to-ceiling shelves of wine, there were paintings. There was one television, a widescreen HD showing a ballgame.

From what I encountered, the service was very friendly. I could tell they were well-trained.

Parking is scarce. I nabbed the open spot for take-out. The rest were devoted to valet for Medici. This made me a little nervous, considering I drive a cheap car, had a bunch of Roland equipment in the backseat, and Joe was hanging out in the lot on his phone checking out the new Mercedes next to me. So I was constantly looking over my shoulder while I was waiting at the bar. At any rate, I'm sure it's not too hard to find a spot on the streets around there and walk a short distance.

As for the food? Well I didn't get to eating it until I arrived at my destination. By then, the pie was starting to get cold, although I could still get a feel for the flavor. New York style crust, long slices of red and green peppers and large chunks of sausage. Reminded me of some of the stuff I got in Corsica in way.

I'm going to have to go back for a table, get a proper menu, and wash it back with some wine.

20070710

Kenichi at the W

My wife and I went to Kenichi this weekend for her birthday. Kenichi is number four in a US chain of Japanese restaurants. This doesn't surprise me since nothing in Victory Park is an original except the American Airlines Center. Moving on...

The food was good. The service was good. The atmosphere was good. I think the real problem with the circa $150 tab for two was that in Dallas, this doesn't stand out. There are a number of established Japanese restaurants in the area that provide a hip atmosphere, the freshest fish, and creative twists on traditional cuisine.

Granted, I should go back and try more of the cooked menu since we stuck mostly to the sushi. My wife did rave about the Godzilla roll, what I remember to be a Caterpillar Roll with strawberries on top, but it didn't really hit me. And the place was hopping with younger energy. As we were leaving, we passed a crowd of seemingly single folk in the late-20's or early-30's bracket drinking by the bar. If I were single and drove a Porsche too, then I would totally be joining them.

Finally, the valet was subsidized by the restaurant at $5, a fair price considering folks heading to shows down there would pay upwards of $15 for parking. There's also the option of taking the special-event line to Victory Station, but you have to plan your return trip with the exodus of the evening's major event. But it won't be long until 2009 when the station is a permanent stop on the future Green and Orange Lines.


Follow-up: Kenichi called the following week to make sure we enjoyed our dinner. Service++.

20070628

Joe T's

Alright, so I went Joe T. Garcia's in Ft. Worth last night. Sort of a Tex-Mex establishment over there. Personally I'm not impressed.

No restaurant is worth waiting as long as we did...probably 20-30 minutes, although we did have a party of eight. There were only two choices on the menu, fajitas or enchiladas. I had the chicken-beef fajita combo. At best this is average, but the chicken was so dried out it might as well have been beef. There are number of better places to go for Tex-Mex, so I just don't see the appeal.

Last night was a special occasion, of a sort I will not describe here. Let's hope it did the trick.

20070626

Who's Who

Where can you get a delicious kobe beef cheeseburger for $7? Who's Who in Highland Park. And really, that's the reason to go. Phil Romano says so, and I completely agree.

According to unsubstantiated rumor, you can also donate $100 to the charity of the house that will permit your signature on the wall. I suppose you could make that your reason to go, like Luke Wilson did. But really, in the words of Mr. Brown, I'm just here for more food.

20070622

Return of the Mass Transit

The wind was blowing the rain at a 60 angle toward me. I tilted my umbrella forward a little, but little did this help. My shorts were already getting wet.

It didn't help when a late-model Dodge Ram drove quickly through the curbside lane. I could see him coming, spraying a six-foot-high wave of gutter water onto the sidewalk but thought he might have the courtesy to switch lanes. Never underestimate the thoughtlessness of your fellow citizen.

Yes folks, I have returned to the DART after almost a year. With the Live Oak exit gone until 2009 (will it ever come back?), Central has turned into a consistent nightmare. At best, the freeway gets me home in 45 minutes, which means I might as well take Greenville Ave. And I don't really want to do that for the next two years. Note the irony that DART's construction on the Live Oak exit is prompting me to ride DART.


Side note: Sol Irlandes is the establishment that took over the Thomas & Leggitt space. It's actually a much preferable, casual tex-mex joint to the across-the-street Iron Cactus. The fish taco wrap is irresistible and the burger is bordering on good and unique. They also allegedly feature live music on Saturday nights.

20070207

Deep Ellum Burger Roundup

A couple months ago I made it back to Local for their fancy buffalo burger. Completely worth the $22 listed on the menu, the meat, special sauce, yellow tomatos, lettuce and caramelized onions were perfectly matched with the recommended Chimay. Delicious.

Also returned to Twisted Root, this time retrieving fries that were quite good. Would be much better if I dined in.

So that's the belated Deep Ellum Burger roundup. We'll be lucky if they're still open next month at the rate everything is closing there. Thank you Dallas city council.

Car smash / Shrimp tacos

I have returned for a quick post. Today, after I was nearly murdered on 635, I was unsurprised when a car rear-ended me at the Mockingbird exit on the Tollway.

The shrimp tacos at Fernando's are mighty tasty.