Texas Restaurant~SmashBurger

Mike and I stopped checking out burger joints in Texas for some reason.  We decided to remedy that and checked out Smashburger in Addison last month. Some of our friends feel that Smashburger is better than Five Guys Burger and Fries but I wanted to compare the two places on my own.

Onion Strings.  Yum!  They were super think and light.

Mike ordered a burger with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and blue cheese dressing. Just like Five Guys, the burgers are made to order and you can choose to top your burger with unlimited sauces and toppings.

I ordered a small smashburger with grilled onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. 

Mike and I also shared a side of Sweet Potato Smashfries. These are tossed with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. These fries had the right ratio of crispy crust and potato meat. The rosemary and garlic was a nice touch, but I would be fine without it.
So what was the verdict?  Mike thought that Five Guys Burger and Fries slightly beat out Smashburger, but it is difficult to compare when the burgers are not served side by side.
Flavor-wise, Five Guys might have the edge, but the last time I ate a burger and fries there, my bun and my fries were a bit soggy.  I felt that if you take the price into consideration, I might choose Smashburger.  I can order a side of fries and a small smashburger for the same price as a Five Guys burger. 

Smashburger
Multiple Locations

Texas Restaurants~Lawry's The Prime Rib

One of my friends that I go running with recommended Lawry's The Prime Rib restaurant.  She's a deal-hunter too and told me that there is a coupon for a BOGO Sunday brunch in the Entertainment Book.  So what did Mike and I do?  We went there at 1:30pm for "lunner" (lunch +dinner).  Of course Mike did not agree to skipping out on dinner, but he was excited to go to this fine dining establishment for lunner. 

We started the meal off with complementary orange juice and mimosas, blueberry muffins, and sourdough bread. The blueberry muffins were delicious, soft on the inside, and crunchy on the outside. 

Each entree came with a starter. Mike chose the Wild Mushroom Bisque.  It was a rich, potent soup that was a bit on the heavy side. It kind of reminded me a cross between gravy and a mushroom soup. I enjoyed sampling Mike's soup and thought that it could be a meal on it's own. 

I chose Lawry's famous "spinning bowl salad" as my starter. Our waiter put all of my vegetables into a stainless steel mixing bowl that was atop crushed ice and then started spinning the bowl. While the bowl was spinning he added in the dressing. 

I ordered the crab cakes egg benedict (~$18) with my hollandaise on the side. I know I know, why did I do that?  I am not a fan of soggy textures. I want to enjoy crispy crabcakes, not crabcakes soaked in hollandaise sauce. 

Mike ordered a cut of roast prime rib ($32), which was served table side.  Doesn't his food look wonderful? I'm not a connoisseur of meat, but I felt like I've tasted better prime rib.  Mike felt the same way as I did, but then again he finished his meal. 

Yorkshire Pudding

The service at Lawry's was superb! There was never a time when my water glass was less than half empty.  The food up until the main dish was wonderful. I'm on the fence whether I would recommend this restaurant. The prices were reasonable too, especially when we used the coupon. The entree prices included the mimosas and the starter dish. 

I think that we may have ordered the wrong dishes, but how could you go wrong with prime rib at a prime rib restaurant?  Mike said that he doesn't need to go back to Lawry's, but I'm willing to give it another chance.   

Lawry's The Prime Rib
14655 Dallas Parkway
Dallas, Texas 75254
(972) 503-6688

99 Ranch Market

As you all know, I like love grocery stores.  A few months ago a 99 Ranch Market opened up in Plano, TX. We now have several Asian markets within a 30 minute drive from our house.  Now we have a choice between Asia World Mart, Ko-Mart, Hmart, and 99 Ranch Market.  Apparently there must be a lot of Asians living in Dallas because to support all these stores. 

Wooo..wooo.woooeeee!!! I told Mike that it was just like we were back home in Hawaii (except 99 Ranch is no longer in Hawaii). 

After looking around the store, I've concluded that this is the Asian market to go to for natto (fermented soybeans), tofu, meats, and seafood, and sauces. For the most part, the prices seem to be cheaper than Asia World Mart (another close Asian market). 

Oh my goodness, it's Hawaii in a box.  Not really, but it's Hawaiian Host Chocolate covered Macadamia Nuts!  Can you see the price of that box?  $7.79!!!!

And look, other Hawaii sightings.  Aloha Shoyu. There were at least three different Aloha shoyu bottles there!

I thought this danish looked neat. It's a "Teriyaki Danish." It looks like a pastry on a stick with bonito flakes on the outside.

This 99 Ranch location houses a bakery, a sushi stand, dim sum station, a Chinese food station, and a noodle bar.  It's one stop shopping. One day after work Mike and I checked out the dim sum and Chinese food there, and then ended our night shopping for groceries. 

99 Ranch Market
131 Spring Creek Parkway
Plano, 75023
972-943-8999
9:00M-9:00PM (Monday to Thursday)
9:00am to 10:00pm(Friday to Sunday)

Texas State Fair aka "Fried Food Madness"

Mike and me in front of "Big Tex" the Texas State Fair mascot

The Texas State Fair is Texas's annual fair that is filled with exhibits, a car show, farm animals, and TONS of fried food.  The fair usually runs for about one month between the months of September and October.  Last year we had just moved to Texas around the time of the fair, but missed checking it out because we were vacationing in Italy. 
   This year we were excited to attend and prepped ourselves for a day full of gluttony.  Just like our friends who we attended the fair with, we ate a small breakfast so that we could partake in all of the fried food.  We had also planned to go as a group so that we could share and sample small portions of the fried foods. 
  We decided to not try the any of the fried drinks (beer, lemonade, etc) because we heard that these items were not that good and who wants warm beverages?

Fried Frito Pie~Winner of the 2010 Best Taste Award

If you're not familiar with Frito Pies, It is a bunch of Frito's corn chips topped with chili and cheese.  These fried nuggets of goodness were composed of chili and cheese, coated with a batter of crushed Frito's chips. 

Chicken Fried Bacon~2008 Best Taste Award Winner

I got this because I really enjoy onion rings/strings.

2009 Most Creative Award 

Can you see that pool of butter in the middle of the nugget? These nuggets were actually like warm buttery biscuits containing a large amount of butter. I opted for the garlic flavor. Other flavor choices included: honey and cinnamon, strawberry, and chocolate. 
Last year I remember hearing that these nuggets were made by freezing whipped butter, then battering and then deep-frying them. 

The fried chocolate was in the running for an award but didn't win one.

I thought this was a decadent mass of chocolate. A piece of brownie was stuffed with chocolate, and cherry, battered, and then deep-fried. 

There were soooo many other food items that were available at the fair but we didn't try. Here's just a smidgen that I remember: fried pizza, fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwich, fried grilled cheese sandwich, fried moon pies, and fried peaches and cream.
Other food items that we tried but my pictures came out blurry included: Fletcher's corndog, texas caviar (black-eyed peas). 

The fried cheesecake was composed of cheese cake wrapped like a burrito in some kind of wrapper and then deep fried.  Surprisingly this cheesecake was pretty good.  I think this was my favorite fried dessert at the fair.  

Mike and his turkey leg

So Mike decided to go rogue on us and ordered a *gasp* turkey leg amidst our "fried food madness."  That huge turkey leg (I think Mike referred to it as an "emu leg") made him tap out early from all of the fried food eating.  It also triggered a game Mike quietly played at the fair called, "My turkey leg was bigger than yours."  He kept spotting people eating turkey legs and saying, "Man, I lucked out and got a massive one!"

Austin, TX~Touristy Activities and El Arroyo Restaurant

This concludes the posts about our foodie trip to Austin, TX.  While we were in Austin, TX we were also able to meet up with one of Mike's high school friends and saw some of the famous tourist sights. 

View from Mount Bonnell

People on Congress bridge waiting to see the bats!!!

Mike and I went on a bat cruise to see the famous bats fly out from under Congress Bridge to go hunting for food at night.  One of our friends told us that if you have a better view of the bats from the river rather than on the bridge. 
   It was a neat experience to see millions of bats fly out from under the bridge to hunt for their nightly meal. I think the string of bats lasted for almost 30 minutes. It's amazing to see so many bats, but after a few minutes I was over the bats.  I told Mike that I only need to see bats once in my life. After a few more minutes, I become a bit dopey and thought, "gee it looks like a lot of little black birds flying....or large pieces ash in the sky."  Now every time I see a large group of black birds flying in the sky, I immediately think, "Oh bats!"

A friend at work graduated from UT-Austin and sent me a list of her favorite places to visit and eat in Austin. El Arroyo was listed as one of her favorite Mexican restaurants. While Mike and I were trying to find Gourdough's we passed El Arroyo, and decided to make a detour and eat lunch at El Arroyo. 

Appetizer Sampler~Taquitos, bacon-wrapped chicken and shrimp, Mexican crab rolls, and guacamole

I ended up ordering a appetizer sampler platter for me.  Do you notice a trend in my ordering? I like the option of trying multiple dishes.  I sometimes order plates that contain food that I will not like, but I know Mike will enjoy.  Hmmm...maybe I should not do this because that means Mike will end up eating more.

Relleno De La Casa Especial (Based on my limited Spanish, I think this means "The house special stuffed")

Mike ordered this extremely rich dish composed of a poblano pepper filled with shrimps, cream cheese, and a tequila-lime sauce.  I did not care for the dish because it was too creamy and rich than I expected from a Mexican dish.  Mike seemed to like this dish, but could not finish it all because he was busy eating all the food from my plate.  

El Arroyo
1624 W. 5th St.
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 474-1222

Austin, TX~Gourdough's

This was the second donut shop that we ate at during our 40-hour stay in Austin.  It's this funky food truck with dozens of donut concoctions.

Here's some examples:
*Mother Clucker-Fried Chicken Strip with Honey Butter (which I heard tastes amazing...I heard this after we returned home from our trip to Austin)
*Flying Pig~Bacon with Maple Syrup (which I also heard tastes amazing)
*Son of a Peach~Peach Filling, Cinnamon, sugar, and cake mix topping. 

 Each donut costs about $5 a piece and costs an extra dollar for a scoop of ice cream or if it is a donut that includes meat (chicken strip or bacon).  

Miss Shortcake~Cream Cheese Icing with Fresh Sliced Strawberries (Mike's selection)

Mike equated this donuts as a "fancy supped up donut dessert."  I totally agree with his assessment of the Gordough's donut. These donuts are not your traditional cop-eating type of donut.  You have to change your mindset and expect a gourmet dessert...think along the lines of eating a piece of pie, or cheesecake.  Does that make sense?  These are large pieces of fried dough (delicious goodness) that are topped with sweets.  You cannot (or maybe you can) eat a half a dozen of these bad boys. 

Black Out~Brownie Batter, fudge icing, chocolate covered brownie bites

   I ordered this donut, and had mixed feelings about it. I think that if you're a choco-holic you would think this was the best donut in your life. But for me, I felt that it was too much of a sickly sweet chocolate overload for my tastes.  I really wanted to eat more of it, but just couldn't get myself to finish the whole thing. 

The donuts were really good, but if someone gave me a choice between Gourdough's and Round Rock donuts; it would be a tough choice, but I think that I'd probably choose Round Rock donuts.  I guess I'm a "donut purist" that enjoys simple taste and wonderful textures.  Plus I think in a Calorie showdown, I'd be able to eat at least two Round Rock donuts versus one Gorudough's donut.

Gourdough's

1219 S. Lamar Blvd.

Austin, TX 78704

Austin, TX~The Salt Lick

So, the good news is that we now have Internet in our apartment! Whoo-hoo! *happy dance* Now I can continue blogging about Mike and my food adventures in Austin, TX.  Mike's highlight of Austin was "The Salt Lick," an extremely famous bar-b-que joint that has been featured on numerous television shows.  If I'm not mistaken, in an episode of the TV Food Networks, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," both Duff Goldman and Bobby Flay said this was their favorite place for BBQ.

 

Look at all that barbecued meat!  The smoke pit was filled with sausage, brisket, and ribs!

I ordered the habanero smoked barbecue plate (~$14), which consisted of half a chicken, baked beans, potato salad and cole slaw. 

Mike ordered the all you can eat family style meal which included all you can eat beef, sausage, pork ribs, and sides (~$19).  He was in heaven! He said that this was the best beef brisket he has eaten in Texas. 

Mike did a good job attacking those ribs. 

This is a picture of my leftover chicken plate.  The portion was so huge that I was unable to finish it all.  

We left The Salt Lick with our bellies full and big huge grins on our faces. I think Mike dreams our next road trip back to Austin so that he can indulge in  BBQ again!

The Salt Lick

18300 FM 1826
Driftwood, TX 78619
Driftwood Hours: Open every day 11am to 10pm
Restaurant: 512-858-4959

Austin, TX~Round Rock Donuts

Mike and I had planned a drop down south to Austin, TX (~ 3 hour drive from Dallas) during Labor Day weekend.  Then the night before we were supposed to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to make the trek down to Austin, silly Lauren burnt herself.  We debated whether we wanted to still keep our plans since we had booked our hotel, booked our bat cruise, and were excited about all the restaurants we would check out.  My frugality won over the pain of the burn, so I popped a tylenol and we left at around 8am for a weekend full of shopping and eating. 

We arrived in Round Rock, TX (a city just north of Austin) at around 10:45am, and this begins our weekend of stuffing our faces.  Our first stop was Round Rock donuts. 

Mmmm....donuts. Everyone, I mean a bunch of people at work and a friend that I run with were telling me that I had to stop at Round Rock donuts on the drive down.  Boy did they steer us in the right direction! Donuts and breakfast pastries are not on the top of my list of favorite foods, but maybe these donuts might creep their way up my list. 

We didn't order these huge donut. We knew that we'd be eating all weekend, so we refrained from purchasing this donut. 

I ordered the original donut and it was AMAZING!  I think Mike only had two bites of it because I was hogging the whole thing. Visually, I would not consider this donut an appealing or attractive donut.  But, the light airy texture of the donut was wonderful.

The donuts are an unnatural shade of orange (due to food coloring), but do not let that deter you from partaking in this soft fried dough ring of deliciousness.  For those of you back home in Hawaii, think of the softest malasada that you have ever eaten and cross it with soft potato bread.  These donuts were lighter in texture than Krispy Kreme donuts.

Apple Fritter...Mike loves apple fritters. He enjoyed this one because of the large surface area of fried batter. 

Jalapeno, Cheese, and sausage (I think that's what was in it)  kolache.  Mike enjoyed this too. 

Round Rock Donuts

106 W. Liberty
Round Rock, TX
(512) 255-3629

Burgers~Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Continuing on with my burger reviews, Mike and I tried out "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" and really enjoyed the burgers here.  Since moving to Texas, I think Mike has eaten here at least five times, and we do not eat out much. 

One of Five Guys Burgers and Fries signatures is the free peanuts offered while you wait for your food. 

Yummy fries. There's just something about hot homemade fries that makes me smile.

I thought that these burgers were scrumptious and according to the Burger Bracket on Slashfood, Five Guys beat out other burger chains as having the best burger.  Although if you check out the original "burger bracket" put on by Burger Business, another burger restaurants takes the coveted first place. 

Burgers are made to order at Five Guys Burgers and Fries and you can choose to add most basic toppings for free.  Some of the choices are fried onions, mushrooms, jalapenos, tomatoes, lettuce,  and a bunch of different sauces. 

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
13350 Dallas Parkway, Suite 975
Dallas, TX 75240
(972) 239-8470
It's a franchise, so they are located all over the US.

Stay tuned for our next burger adventure...we'll be making our way to Twisted Root burger which we've heard nothing but great reviews.