Dallas Restaurants~JS Chen's

J.S. Chen is probably Mike and my favorite dim sum restaurant in Texas.  The flavors reminded us of dim sum in Hawaii and the prices were reasonable too. Now we're back in Hawaii so we enjoy dim sum all the time!

Black Bean Beef Thick Noodle.  During our three year stint in Texas, Mike and I did not find a Chinese restaurant that served a "Chow Fun."  This dish is the closest we could get to Hawaii's chow fun. I think that the noodles in Hawaii are thicker but cut into thinner (diameter is shorter) so you end up with a slightly chewy noodle.

Shrimp Dumpling.  I usually always order a shrimp dumpling (har gau) and that fried wonton covered shrimp with the sweet mayonnaise sauce.

One of my favorite kinds of dim sum-TARO PUFF.  Mike would roll his eyes when I say this is one of my favorites. I always order it, cut it in half, scoop out the pork filling and place it on Mike's  plate and eat the crispy outside and the taro layer.  Yum!

Mike tends to order sticky rice...and he eats it all by himself because I rather fill up on other kinds of dim sum rather than a lot of rice.  

J.S. Chen's
3948 Legacy Dr.
Plano, TX
(972) 491-7267

Pupusa, Gorditas, and Arepas

During my pregnancy, I was lucky and did not have any food cravings. I also was not starving and usually did not gorge myself with food.  Mike would probably raise his eyebrows in response to the first statement that I did not have any food cravings. Let me clarify, I did not have any food CRAVINGS, I merely had several food OBSESSIONS. Pregnancy or no pregnancy, I sometimes become obsessed with foods. For example, during the past few weeks I've been obsessing over gau (chinese mochi).  It was on sale at Don Quixote for Chinese New Year and the three times I checked out Don Quixote in Pearl City, they were sold out!  I did not want to make a special trip out to Chinatown just for gau, so luckily Mike's mom picked some up for me when she was in town this past weekend.  

Well, back in the Spring of 2012, I could not stop thinking about the arepa that I had eaten in Boston earlier in the year.  I wanted to find a restaurant in Texas that served arepas.  Arepas are fried (or sometimes grilled) corn cakes usually filled with cheese and/or meat.  

I could not find any nearby restaurants serving arepas, so we checked out an El Salvadorian restaurant serving pupusas.  Pupusas are described as corn tortillas filled with meat and cheese, but it just did not taste the same as the arepa I ate in Boston.

Cheese Pupusa

Cheese and Chicharrons (Fried Pork Rind) Pupusa.  For the record, I did not order this one, Mike did.

We then checked Casa Vieja in Carrollton. I ordered an arepa and an empanada.  This arepa was basically a corn tortilla topped with meat and tomatoes.  This was far from the fried arepa.

Empanada

I also tried ordering a gordita at a small hole-in-the-wall type of place.  

We also checked out a Latin restaurant called "Zaguan." Still it was not the kind of arepa that I was searching for.  Maybe it made a difference that the restaurant in Boston served Venezuelan food versus El Salvadorian or Columbian food.  Well, I determined that I will just have to fly back to Boston to eat those yummy hand-made arepas.

Texas Restaurants~Sichuanese Cuisine

I've been looking through my old posts and I cannot believe how much we ate out in Texas.  It felt like Mike and I only ate 1-2 meals out a week, but I still have quite a few more posts about the different restaurants that we visited during our last months in Texas.  

I wanted to check out Sichuanese Cuisine located near the 99 Ranch in Plano, TX. Mike was off on a weekday while I was on maternity leave, so we went there for a lunch special.  Mondays through Fridays from 11-3pm, they have lunch specials that cost $5.95-7.95.  What a deal!

Soup is included with the meal.  Mike and his standard hot and sour soup. My standard egg drop soup.  It seems like most Chinese restaurants in Texas offer both types of soup.  The standard protocol for us is Mike orders the hot and sour (I dislike the sour flavor of the soup), I order the egg drop, eat about half of it, and then Mike finishes up my bowl.

He ordered Kung Pao Chicken ($5.95), but we were pretty sure that we received a pork and fried rice.

Eggplant in Garlic Sauce ($5.95). It was tasty, but SOOOO oily. But aren't the delicious ones always so oily? At least I did not order fried rice with my meal.

Sichuanese Cuisine
141 West Spring Creek Pkwy, #405 Plano, TX 75023 972) 517-6888

Taj Grocers~Chat and Dosas

More Indian Food! Taj Grocers opened up in Plano a couple of years ago. We loved the chaat at their initial location, but did not want to make the drive down to Richardson with the baby.  

Aloo Tikki Chaat-Our favorite kind of chaat.  A fried potato patty covered in a chickpeas (garbanzo bean) sauce, topped with crunchies and yogurt.

They also sell dosas here, which are a staple to South Indian cuisine. These thin pancakes are made from ground fermented rice and lentils.  We tried dosas in Illinois back when I was in grad school. It was at a student fundraiser, so we were not sure how authentic the dosas were.

These dosas were a little thinner and crunchier than the ones we tasted in Illinois. We always see people ordering and eating dosas, but Mike and I prefer to stick with our favorite Indian chaat and curries instead of dosas.

Taj Grocers
6921 Independence Parkway
Plano, TX 75023
(972) 584-1398

Texas Restaurants~Rice and Roti

So long Indian food. Mike and I really enjoy Indian food (we actually enjoy many different kinds of cuisines) but we knew that once we moved back home, Indian restaurants would be limited back in Hawaii.
After the baby was born, we became more pressed for time and did not want to drive a long distance with the baby in the back seat.  We checked out Rice N Roti, which was about a 12 minute drive away from our apartment.

Non-vegetarian Sampler (~$10)-Biyrani rice, basmati rice, chicken curries, chutney, raita, dessert. Mike's sampler was pretty tasty. The curries were a bit rich so I only ate a little bit of it.

Naan Bread-Did I ever mention that I love carbs? I love naan bread. I love sopping up curries and sauces with good slightly chewy naan bread.

Here's an extra side of naan.

Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)-Chicken stewed in a butter, tomato, yogurt, cream, and spices.

Rice and Roti
2411 Coit Road Suite 160
Plano, TX, 75075
469-467-9525

Texas Restaurants~Good 2 Go Tacos

A few years ago, I remember watching a show on the Food Network and saw that a taco shop located in a gas station was featured in Texas.  I did not know the name of the restaurant, but searched for it on yelp.com (it received an average score of 4.5 out of 5 stars) and found out that it was called "Good 2 Go Taco" and was close to White Rock Lake.  My mom, Mike, and I finally made it down there during the last few weeks we were in Texas. 
Good 2 Go Tacos is known for funky (or just plain good) fillings containing quality ingredients.  The tacos are much larger than Torchy's and Rusty's and I'd choose tacos from Good 2 Go versus the other two restaurants. Mike's still a fan of Torchy's, but he's willing to admit that from a cost perspective, you can get full on less Good 2 Go Tacos versus Torchy's.

Hotlanta (deep-fried waffle battered chicken, fried sweet potatoes) with green salsa.  Great concept, but the flavor profile was nothing compared to the Honey Bear.

Honey Bear-Yum! Yum! Yum!  Scrambled eggs, topped with spinach, goat cheese, really CRUNCHY bacon, and honey.  It's a very messy taco, but it's SO good! I love the sweet and salty and the crunchy and soft texture combinations. I am going to try to replicate this at home one day!

Swine Bleu-Pork with Bleu cheese and slaw. This was our least favorite taco (it was still good), but I was biased against it from the start because of the strong bleu cheese. 

Too bad we did not find this place earlier!  If we were still living in Texas, we'd definitely stop by here again and try other tacos on the menu.

Good 2 Go Tacos
1146 Peavy Road
Dallas, TX 75218
214-519-9110

Zoe's Kitchen

Okay, so I am finally getting around to blogging again. I can basically blog when the baby is napping, but have been working on some other things during that time.  At a little over five months old, our baby girl has already started "crawling" (well half crawling and scooting, but she's pretty mobile). If I do not keep a close eye on her, she's off exploring other parts of the room!

I am going to try to wrap up all the Texas posts and then move on to Hawaii posts! 

While we were adjusting to life as parents, Mike and I greatly appreciated all of the home-cooked meals that we received. Erika, one of my friends from grad school sent us a gift certificate to Zoe's Kitchen a local restaurant in Frisco, TX. 

The portions were large and the food we ordered lasted for multiple meals!

We ordered a greek salad.

Hummus

Meditteranean Tuna Salad. Yum! I liked the addition of kalamata olives in the mixture and the fact that there was no mayonnaise in the salad.

Shish Kebab-Shrimp, Chicken, and Steak

White Beans

Chocolate Cake!

Thanks for the thoughtful gift Erika! It was much appreciated!

Zoe's Kitchen
1901 Preston Road Suite 1000
 Plano TX. 75093
 972-248-1010

Texas Restaurant~La Duni

Now that it's Thanksgiving break, I have a few days to look through my drafts and post about some of the restaurants that Mike and I went to pre-baby.

I've been to La Duni in central Dallas and I heard that brunch is pretty good here. Early this year (or was it late last year, another La Duni opened up near the Allen Premium Outlet mall.  La Duni is known for their Latin cuisine and I've heard from numerous people that brunch at La Duni is scrumptious.  

Mike ordered the Brunch Chile Relleno-Roasted poblano pepper filled with refried black beans, bacon bits, 2 scrambled eggs, cheddar, mozzarella and gruyere cheeses, queso fresco, and charred salsa roja, and roasted potatoes  He thought it was tasty, but thought that the portion could be bigger for the price.  His meal was about $11 and he could have eaten more.  

I ordered the Migas Cuatros quesos -Two scrambled eggs with bacon, cheddar, mozzarella and Gruyere cheeses, stone ground corn tortilla chips topped with queso fresco and salsa roja, served with flour tortillas and roasted potatoes.  After reading the description I thought that it sounded like a breakfast nacho.  I thought that the food was tasty, but a little on the pricey side. When there are so many good Mexican restaurants to choose from that are cheap, it's not fair to compare it to a nice sit-down restaurant for brunch.  

I would definitely go back to La Duni for brunch. I probably would have to drag Mike to come with me, because I'm sure he'd rather buy 5-7 breakfast tacos for $11 at Rusty Taco or Taco Cabana.  

La Duni Latin Cafe
233 Town Place
Fairview, TX (972) 549-4069

Our First Date!

Mike's parents visited us in Texas this week and got to meet our little baby girl.  I cannot believe how quickly time flies, she's now over 12 weeks old! Even though they have been watching our baby during the day, they were super nice and watched our baby one night so Mike and I could go on a date sans baby. 
One thing that I read is that is is extremely important to foster your relationship with your spouse and even though you want to spend all your time with your baby/child, you also need to make sure that you making your marriage a top priority.

Mike and I checked out Private Social, a restaurant that opened up last year by Tiffany Derry, a past Top Chef contestant. She did not win the competition that season, but I think that she may have been voted fan favorite.  She seemed like a nice person on the show and did not go on any rants, or sabotage other contestants.
The restaurant serves seasonal local foods and has a theme of "private" and "social."  The restaurants is divided in two sections and you can choose whether you want to have a social time (think drinks and appetizers) or a private time in a more quiet setting.  When I read the review in the local newspaper, it said that this concept was a bit flawed because only some glass hangings separated the two sections.

The chef sent out an olive tapenade amuse bouche.  It was a nice little bite.

Appetizers that we Ordered:

Oysters Rockefeller-Bacon, Spinach, Pernod, Pecorino Romano Cheese
This was the better appetizer of the two that we ordered. Mike has never had Oysters Rockefeller in his life, so we decided to order them at the restaurant. It was a really rich and decadent dish.

Surf ‘n’ Turf Sushi Roll (Spicy Tuna, Torched Beef, Ponzu, Truffle)
Mike's felt that he understood the concept that the chef was trying to achieve, but it failed because sushi is supposed to be clean.  The truffle flavor muddled the true essence of the fish and sushi concept. 

Pan-Seared Scallops with Texas Creamed Corn, Lobster, Basil
I enjoyed my scallops in creamed corn.  Last year, we bought these huge scallops and cooked them at home. Mike kept telling me that I undercooked the scallops and told me to cook it some more. After eating scallops at Private Social and at Nosh, Mike agrees with me and said that I correctly cooked my scallops at home.
I LOVED the creamed corn. I'm sure that the recipe was simple-sweet fresh corn, heavy cream, sugar, and salt. But it was so tasty that I slurped up all of it! The scallops were yummy too!

“Peking Style” Duck Breast Duck Confit, Enoki Mushrooms, Glass Noodles, Bok Choy
Mike had a difficult time deciding between the duck, suckling pig, and the duck fat fried chicken. He settled on the duck after our waiter recommended it. Mike was a little disappointed with his dish, especially when we saw a plate of the fried chicken being delivered to another table.  He thought that I would like the dish since it had an Asian flair, but I thought that the whole dish was too salty. 

Blueberry Almond Cake-Blueberry Sorbet, Lemon Sauce
Yum yum yum. Funny thing is, I think my favorite item of the night would either be the blueberry sorbet or the creamed corn that came with my scallops. The sorbet had an intense fresh blueberry flavor and tasted rich, even though there was no cream.  I also enjoyed the blueberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar.The cake was a bit too heavy for my taste, but Mike enjoyed it.

Warm Chocolate Budino Olive Oil Gelato
What the heck is a budino? I just assumed it was cake, but it's actually a heavy pudding.  Main criticism of this dish, the budino was not warm when it was served. I thought that the whole dish had a savory feel to it.  The budino was a bitter dark chocolate (almost tasted like coffee), and the olive oil gelato (sounded interesting at the time) and was slightly sweet. It was an interesting dessert, but I prefer my desserts to be just a tad bit sweeter. 

Mike and I had a great time, even  though it's been a tiring week with us both back at work.I'll keep you posted on other future dates. 

Private Social
3232 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75204
(214)754-4744

Dallas Restaurants~Tofu House

There are several Asian grocery stores in the city that we live in. Asia World Mart is about a 15-20 minute drive from our house, so we go there to buy Asian vegetables and ingredients. There is a small food court in that shopping complex and sometimes we stop by for a quick Asian food fix. The Tofu House usually has a line of people waiting to order, so we decided to check it out.  After all, would you rather eat at a busy restaurant full of people or an empty one?

Tofu Soup with Beef. This soup is great on cold days or when you feel like you're about to catch a cold. 

Pan Chan-Daikon kim chee, seaweed noodles, broccoli, kim chee. I love pan chan!

Chop Chae and sweet marinated potatoes (in the way back)

Fried Pork Dumplings-from another restaurant in the same Food Court.