Casa Vieja

This week we made a return visit to a Colombian restaurant in Carrollton called Casa Vieja. We normally avoid repeats, but the first trip to Casa Vieja was over a year ago and only a few people went. I didn't mind another trip because the food is really authentic and delicious! The menu (and website) are mostly in Spanish, but don't let that scare you off - the staff is very friendly and eager to help you understand. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but don't let that scare you either. It's perfectly nice on the inside.

photo credit: http://mywebsitepronto.com/clients/casavieja/

If you are not familiar with Colombian cuisine, it uses a lot of seasoned meats, potatoes, plantains, etc. In my experience, it is similar to food from Cuba or other Latin American countries. I tend to like it because it is not spicy.

We started our the meal with handmade flavored margaritas. I tried the mango, and it was really good! It was really sweet so I didn't finish it all, but I would recommend it!

Reminded me of our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic!

We had the empanadas on our last trip and I was excited to have them again. Our waiter let us know that they are a Casa Vieja fan favorite. As you can (sort of) see in the picture, they are corn dough pastries filled with brisket and potatoes.Yum!

You can't go wrong with brisket.

I had the chicken and beef kabobs with rice, beans, avocado, plantain, and a corn cake. The rice was particularly good, and the meats were juicy and flavorful.

I love this place because you can tell that the food (and staff) are very authentic. Eating Colombian food was a nice change from our normal routine of burger, pizza, and tex-mex, and I would very much recommend Casa Vieja!

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen

We had another birthday this week, and Nick selected Pappadeaux for his celebratory dinner. Pappadeaux is a seafood restaurant that is part of the Pappa's restaurant group (along with Pappasito's Cantina, Pappa's Bros. Steakhouse, and Pappa's BBQ).

photo credit: pappadeaux.com/home

Now, I'm not a seafood eater, so my opinion on Pappadeax is a little biased. Thankfully, lent is over, so I was able to go with my seafood restaurant staple - chicken tenders.

If it comes from the water, I most likely will not eat it. No fish here!

These tenders were pretty good - pretty much tasted like your average fried chicken and fries dish. I left happy, but not overly impressed. I was impressed with the large beer glass that my Shock Top arrived in!

This glass required two hands to lift.

Pappadeaux's was pretty good, and we had fun celebrating Nick's birthday, but it's probably not somewhere that I would want to go back to. I'm just not into seafood and we've been to tons of places that I liked better. If we decide to repeat a Meal of Food location, I would choose somewhere else.

Chicken Scratch

This week MoFF took us to Chicken Scratch, a mostly outdoor fried chicken restaurant west of downtown Dallas. It's a pretty cool place - you walk up to the counter to order, then find an open picnic table outside to enjoy your meal.

Photo credit: cs-tf.com/wordpress

It has a stage area for live music, an adjoining bar called The Foundry and a play area for the kiddos. It's even dog friendly! I wish I would have known that - I totally would have brought Robin Sparkles. It had a very laid back, Austin style vibe. The only drawback was the wait - it was pretty crowded and we stood in line for quite a while before we could order. Luckily, the weather was nice, so the wait was no big deal.

Poor Sparkles had to stay at home.

 For dinner, I had the chicken fingers, and a biscuit. We got fries and mac and cheese for the table to share.

Just for the record, I split these with a friend.

The fries reminded me of the seasoned fries from Five Guys.

I liked everything that I had with the exception of the mac and cheese - it had green chiles in it, which I just didn't really care for. I had pretty high expectations of this place because I had heard that the Chicken Scratch has the same chef as Smoke and Smoke is AMAZING. The food was really tasty, but it wasn't as mind blowingly great as Smoke.

I would totally go back to Chicken Scratch. The atmosphere was cool, and it was great place to spend a evening outside in Texas, especially when the weather is so nice. It would be a fun place to go with a big group since it's so casual. If we go again, I hope to get there a little earlier so that we don't have to wait for so long and so that we can snag a better table. And I'm totally bringing the dog!

Nate's Seafood and Steakhouse

This past Friday, we celebrated Eric's birthday and the last Friday of lent by going to Nate's Seafood in Addison. Nate's is a popular seafood restaurant that prides itself on its authentic Cajun style dishes. We learned from our last attempt to eat at Nate's that we should arrive early to avoid the rush, which turned out to be important as we had a group of 13 people. The parking lot was full when we got there, so we had to park in the restaurant next door and walk over. In the end, we got our table without too much trouble, unlike our last visit!

We started our with hush puppies and bread. The bread was really tasty - pretty much because it was drenched in butter.

There was soo much butter on the bread! It was sooo good!

For dinner, I had a smorgasbord of sides since I was not eating meat for lent (last time for this year!) and I'm just not into seafood. It's a texture issue and I don't care for it. And yes, I have tried several different things. So I went with the side of veggies, the onion rings, and a baked potato.

some carbs with your carbs?

I liked the veggies and potato a lot. I wasn't super thrilled with the onion rings. They could have used a little more breading. Ryan was more adventurous then me and tried the blackened alligator Po-boy. He reports that it was tasty.

Um Um Gator!

We had a pretty fun MoFF! I can't say that I was a huge fan of Nate's, but I know that it's because I'm biased against sea food and I ate sides for dinner. I still enjoyed myself and I know that those in the group that eat fish enjoyed their dinner. My only caution would be to get there early if you want to go on a Friday night!