Potbelly Flats!

So, the point of this blog is to share experiences at new restaurants around town, not to visit chains. I stand by this mission.....until someone offers me free stuff.

I was recently invited to a blogger party to try the new Flats at Potbelly! I brought my mom along, and we tried several varieties of the new sandwiches. The idea is that you can now order any Potbelly sandwich as a regular sub, or as a flat. The flats come on flabread (duh) and have fewer calories than the traditional subs.

I am still partial to the regular subs, but the flats were really good! The Wreck and the Italian were my favorite varieties. We also got to try the frozen raspberry lemonade, which was tasty!

It was really fun to try the new items from Potbelly! Stop in and try them!

NOTE: These opinions are entirely my own.

FM Smokehouse

I'm continuing on my mission to catch up on the last few missed blog posts! A few weeks ago, we tried out FM Smokehouse in Irving. It's a BBQ restaurant with a great bar and beer selection. We went on one of the first nice nights of the spring and got to sit outside. The patio is pretty small, but we made it work!

Ryan and I got there a little early for happy hour, and I tried the (512) Wit and the Community Wit. I liked both, but preferred the Community variety.

For dinner, I had the Brisket Sandwich with the White Cheddar Mac and Cheese. The sandwich was good but certainly not the best brisket that I've eaten. The Mac and Cheese was amazing. Like some of the best that I've ever had. Overall, I must admit that there are much better BBQ options around town, but the food at FM smokehouse was still good. The beer selection definitely helps! This place is like a traditional restaurant then a BBQ joint. I usually think of a really good BBQ place as having picnic tables and plastic ware.

Check out that creamy delicious mac and cheese!

If you live in the area and you need a good beer and some solid BBQ, stop by FM smokehouse! If you are looking for something similar but maybe a little fancier, try Smoke. It's amazing!

Mangiamo Italian Restaurant

Sorry for the long delay in posts! This month has been a little crazy (but when are things not crazy, am i right?). Now that school is done for the semester, I'm catching up on everything else! These next couple posts will be short and sweet.

A few weeks ago, we went to Mangiamo in Dallas, and I loved it! It's a cute little restaurant with great food and it's BYOB!

We started out with toasted ravioli. Ravioli is not my favorite dish, but the friedness made this appetizer pretty tasty.

Ryan and I split an amazing pizza! They let us do the toppings half and half. I got garlic, red bell peppers, and mushrooms on my half. Super delicious!

Doesn't this look good?!?

Our fellow diners tried pasta dishes and reported that they were very good too! This is definitely a great spot, especially when you can bring your own beer. Do note that there is a small fee wine glasses - still worth it though!

Gotta love Rahr Blonde!

Mesa

Hello again Dallas restaurant goers!

Last week, Meal of Food Friday was at Mesa, a Mexican restaurant in Oak Cliff. I originally thought that we would be heading to the Bishop Arts district, but Mesa is actually a bit hidden in Oak Cliff a little way off of IH 35. The restaurant is small, but has a large bar with stools and a big enclosed patio, which is where we sat. You can tell that the place is fairly new, and the decor is modern and tasteful.

Unlike most places in DFW, Mesa is a Mexican restaurant rather than a Tex-Mex place. That means that they use more traditional ingredients and shy away from more Americanized dishes. I personally like both traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex food, and the more traditional fare was a nice change of pace!

I tried the Mesa Rita, which is essentially a skinny margarita. It's made with fresh lime juice, agave nectar, and tequilla. It was very tasty and pretty strong! One was plenty for me.

There is no better summer drink thank a margarita on the rocks with salt.

We had the guacamole as a starter, and I have to tell you, it was some of the best guacamole that I've ever eaten. It was creamy and delicious! The chips were good too - they are thicker than regular tortilla chips, so they did not break off in the guac.

I could have just eaten this for dinner and been perfectly content.

Because it is still Lent, I decided to order the Enchiladas Vegetarianas. As you can probably guess, this was veggie enchiladas. They came carrots, mushrooms, onions, and other veggies in two tortillas covered in mole (pronounce mo-lay) sauce. If you aren't familiar, mole is a type of Mexican sauce made from chili peppers, spices, and a little bit of chocolate. I like mole sauce.....but a little bit goes a long way as far as I'm concerned. I liked my dinner well enough, but probably would not order it again. There was a pork dish and a carne asada option that both looked really good. If we ever go back I will give one of them a try!

The drinks and guacamole were hands down the best part of the meal. If you ever go, I strongly encourage you to try them!

I liked this restaurant, but I felt that the entrees were a little pricey. The cheapest entree (which is the one that I ordered because it was one of the only meat free options) was $15.95. The drinks and appetizers seem pretty on par with other places around town. I'm cheap (or maybe I should say frugal? does that sound better or worse?) and this just seemed a little expensive for veggies wrapped in tortillas. I don't know that we will go back, but I'm glad that we tried it!

Truck Yard and Easy Slider

Once again, life has gotten in the way of Meal of Food Friday and the blog! No more, hopefully.

This past week, we enjoyed the unseasonable nice weather at The Truck Yard, and outdoor bar on lower Greenville. We were not the only ones who had this idea, and we fought lines to get a drink at the bar, but the casual atmosphere and perfect temperature made up for the wait!

The Truck Yard has a small indoor bar area, but it's mostly an outdoor venue decorated with recycled tires, records, license plates, etc. The name comes from the collection of food trucks that assemble in the yard area, along side the outdoor and a small live music stage. The indoor bar featured a wall of craft beers on tap, including my favorite Franconia Wheat! Set up wise, it reminded me of Chicken Scratch, which I reviewed a while back.

The food trucks in attendance vary, and Truck Yard has a google calendar of what trucks will be there on what day. We had sliders from Easy Slider.  our order got mixed up with another customer's, so we ended up with a "Sweet and Lowdown" (burger patty, bacon, goat cheese, and strawberry jam), a "Nutty Pig" (burger patty, peanut butter, lettuce, tomato, onions, and bacon), and two "Roadsides" (bacon, bbq sauce, jalapenos, cheese, french fried onion, on aburger patty) with a couple bags of Zapp's potato chips. I was surprised how much I liked the Sweet and Lowdown - I think the goat cheese really helped. So that one was a happy accident. I did not care for the Nutty Pig. The peanut butter with the burger was not good for me. The Roadside was good, but not my favorite. Our fellow diners tried the Classic Cheeseburger and liked it a lot. Overall, I would recommend trying Easy Slider.

Feast your eyes on the Sweet and Lowdown and the Nutty Pig!

I wish that I had taken some photos of the bar itself. It was definitely a great place to be on a night with nice weather! It was open air and lots of people brought their dogs. Had I known, I probably would have dragged Robin Sparkles along. She usually behaves pretty well at places like that....

This is from another patio that we brought her to a while back. I know I'm biased, but how cute is she?!

I will most certainly go back to the truck yard to try out another food truck option. My only advice is to be ready to wait for food and drinks, and possibly a seat. This is not an eat in a hurry type place - it's a hang out and have a few beers place! Luckily, there is a good amount of shade, so even in summer, this would be a fun place to try!

Caribbean Cafe

It's a new year! That means it's time to get back to this whole blogging thing! I was off work for a couple of wonderful weeks over the holidays and I got out of all of my good blogging habits :(

But things are back to normal now, Meal of Food Friday included. Last Friday, we tried a hidden gem called Caribbean Cafe. It's an authentic Cuban restaurant in Carrollton. It's in a small strip shopping center, and you might not notice it much from the street, but it's nice on the inside. It's actually right around the corner from Coconut Thai, which we tried a while back. The restaurant is pretty small, but we were able to get a table for 8 without a reservation. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't call ahead, but we lucked out and didn't have to wait.

Photo credit: http://caribbeancafecuba.com/home.html

Ryan and I started out with beef empanadas, which were very tasty. Empanadas are basically pastry filled with seasoned meat, fruit, or other filling. We had a similar dish at Casa Vieja, a Colombian restaurant also in Carrollton.

who can say no to a flaky, buttery pastry?

I tried the Vaca Frita, which is fried shredded beef with onions, served with white rice and red or black beans. Ryan went for the Chicken Cordon Blue - Cuban Style! It had seasoned chicken and ham with swiss cheese and came with rice and fried plantains. We both enjoyed our meals a lot. I like Caribbean/South American/ Latin American food because the flavors are strong and interesting. They use quite a bit of onions, peppers, citrus, etc.

The Vaca Frita with double order of rice (hold the beans). I used the complementary bread to make a sandwich of sorts. Very yummy!

Ryan's Chicken Cordon Blue.

I liked this restaurant a lot. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's cozy and welcoming on the inside. The prices are reasonable - entrees run from $12 - $15 (my entree was enough for two meals) and sandwiches run around $8. Our waitress was friendly and attentive, and they had a great selection of food and drinks. Finding these great, authentic, off-the-beaten-path restaurants is one of my favorite parts of MoFF.

Tillman's Roadhouse

Last week, we ventured to the Bishop Arts district for a birthday celebration! Courtney picked Tillman's Roadhouse for her birthday MoFF, which has been named among the top ten restaurants in Dallas by D magazine. This was actually the third time that MoFF went to Tillman's, but it was my first time to visit. Tillman's offers an upscale take on classic dishes, including their signature chicken fried steak, along with a large selection of cocktails. It's a somewhat small restaurant with lush and modern decor. We got to sit in the peacock room, which was very fancy!

This was one of many birds that watched over our meal.

Dinner started with complementary seasoned popcorn, which I think I ate an entire bowl of. I love popcorn!

We ordered the truffle goat cheese tater tots, french fry trio, and lobster tamales to start. The tater tots were amazing. They were the best thing that I ate all evening. I liked the fries as well. I stayed away from the tamales, but the fellow diners report that they were tasty. I had a hard time deciding what to order as I'm a bit particular about what I eat. I decided to try the Shiner Short Rib and subbed mac and cheese for the grits.

The food was good. The meat was very tender, and well flavored. I wasn't terribly impressed with the mac and cheese. It was good, but not the best.

For dessert we tried Tillman's special - the tableside s'mores. It comes with flavored marshmallos that you toast at your table. They were fun and tasty! I had the maple flavored marshmallow, which was a little weird, but the cinnamon sugar graham crackers were really good. The other options were mint and root beer.

Cutest little indoor campfire that you ever saw!

I can understand why people like Tillman's. It modern and cool, and they offer interesting food combinations. It is a very "foodie" type of place. I am not a foodie, and most of the appeal was a little lost on me. My opinion comes down to the fact that Ryan and I spend over $100 on our meal on a typical night out. We chipped in for appetizers and dessert, ordered two entrees, and we each had one beer. Sure it was good, and the s'mores were fun, but it just wasn't $100 good. Sadly, that seems typical of the Bishop Arts area. I'm glad that I got to try Tillman's, but I'm in no rush to go back.