Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

website

7651 Campbell Rd
Dallas, TX 75248
(972) 407-0007

I saw this new fast food restaurant on the corner of Campbell and Coit, on my way to the local Home Depot. The parking lot looked almost full and the drive-thru had a line wrapping around the building, so I resolved to stop by before going back to work.

Well, I was pressed for time, so I decided to go through the drive-thru. I beheld their menu and thought: “Chicken fingers? That’s it?” Yep, that’s all you get. They had a chicken finger sandwich, but most of their combos was a variation on the theme of chicken-fingers-in-a-box. Six menu items, a small number of sides, standard fountain drinks, lemonade and sweet tea by the gallon. Okay, at least I’m not confronted by a multitude of choices…decisions, decisions, what do I get? Oh, the chicken fingers.

So I ordered my 3-finger combo, pulled up, was accosted by a cheery lady and my meal. Good thing they take plastic! But as I received my receipt, the window girl asks me to verify what I ordered…then proceeds to hand over another bag. Perplexed, I pulled out of the drive-thru and did a quick inspection: yep, 2 combo meals for the price of one. And no cole slaw. In either box.

I tried to back up to pull into a parking space, but I was already cut off by another vehicle behind me. My turning options were extremely limited, the parking lot was small, the road was narrow. So much for running in and returning the spare meal. Besides, I was already late for work.

So as I sat down in my cubicle to partake of the meal, my coworker remarked that Cane’s was “pretty good” chicken. The chicken was indeed tender and moist, and of a nice size and color. The batter was non-descript, lacking a crunch factor that might’ve improved the eating experience. The sauce seemed decent, a bit peppery, but nothing too impressive considering its mayo base. Much is written about how Cane’s ripped off their “secret sauce”…but really, who cares? It worked well with the crinkle fries (somewhat bland) and the chicken fingers. Did I mention those chicken fingers were moist and juicy? I’m happy to say it wasn’t overcooked and didn’t taste like it sat frozen overlong.

The success story behind Cane’s is probably what keeps this chain in business–I read on the net that this chain has over 50 locations in the US, mostly centered in Louisiana and the south. Limited menu options aside, Cane’s must be doing something right.

My rating: 2.5 stars

Banana Leaf

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17370 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75252
Phone: 972-713-0123

Ever since we lived on the Addison/Carrollton/Dallas crossroads, Banana Leaf had been a bastion of Thai dining in the far north Dallas area. In fact, Banana Leaf introduced us to much of what enamored us with Thai cuisine. Many other reviewers tend to downplay or dismiss the milder and sweeter flavors which Banana Leaf uses, but hubby and I prefer their renditions over others. Their Pad Thai noodle is unquestionably newbie-friendly (though I prefer mine liberally seasoned with fish sauce). I also rate their Coconut Chicken soup the best in the metroplex, even though many reviewers bash Banana Leaf’s version as too sweet/not salty enough. Tigercry Beef made us literally cry with joy the first time we tried it; on subsequent orders, hubby wisely requested their spicy sauce on the side. I’ve also sampled their Waterfall Beef on past occasions when feeling health-conscious…the lime dressing with fish sauce complements the perfectly grilled steak on salad presentation (though this is a daunting salad for newbies). My favorites, aka comfort food selections, from their menu: Panang Curry with Beef (sweeter again than most places), Grilled Peanut Chicken (ask for some hot sauce on the side), and Basil Fried Rice (I love the basil fresh taste of this fried rice). I have yet to try a most recent addition to their menu, Duck Curry, but one of these days, I’ll venture over to Banana Leaf to try it. And don’t forget to try their Mango with Sticky Rice or Rice Pudding with Custard, both beautifully presented and tasting divine. But usually for lunch I just grab a to-go order of Green Tea Ice cream…a fine ending to a spicy meal.

My rating: 4.0 stars

Zoom Vietnamese & Thai Cuisine

4727 Frankford Road, Suite 349
Dallas, TX 75287
972-713-8884

Gaudily painted Asian restaurants worry me. I’ve been in a number of restaurants with the same color scheme that tried to pass off their Asian fusion cuisine as “the next big thing”, but I don’t buy it. I usually have a great disdain for Asian fusion, looking upon it as a way to persuade Asian food neophytes to embrace ethnic cuisine. Sadly, the fusion they try to present is nothing more than watered-down, over-priced imitations of authentic Asian cuisine…you Asian fusion foodie fans just need to run to your supermarket and grab your fusion from the frozen dinner section.

Happily Zoom doesn’t dumb down their menu or their flavors. In fact, those unfamiliar with Vietnamese or Thai fare might find the authentic-sounding names on the menu a bit daunting. But the food here is the real deal. And despite the garish colors, Zoom tries to be a little more upscale in their presentations.

I haven’t yet tried their Pho, since I make it a point to order the coconut chicken soup at every Thai restaurant I go to. Zoom’s presentation is a masterful rendition, with huge chunks of chicken and mushrooms, in a savory, not-so-sweet broth.

Zoom also does appetizers well, having tried their satay and various eggrolls, both cooked and fresh, and passing with flying colors. If you’re interested in trying out a sampler plate, they have that too.

I’ve tried a small selection of entrees at Zoom over the year that I’ve hiked over to it from work. The one thing that always struck me is their choice of vegetables that they add to their dishes. I’m enamored of their eggplant and string bean additions to their curry, and while their Panang isn’t quite what I’m used to at Banana Leaf, I still admire the flavor of it.

I have to say the best dish I’ve had at Zoom is off the menu, a Red Curry with Lychee Fruit that I constantly crave, when thinking of Thai curry. I only wish they had it on their regular menu or on a rotation.

Don’t be put off by the Asian fusion vibe or slightly higher price point when coming here; Zoom aims to please and you’ll be treated to some of the best Thai/Viet food in Dallas.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Asia Grill Fusion

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208 Coit Road Suite 700
Plano, TX 75075
(214) 473-6647

Of the Thai joints I review here, Asia Grill is the least polished. Perhaps it’s because it’s the newest of the three and still trying to work out the kinks. But on several lunch outings, Asia Grill only does Thai in a mediocre way. Their curries left much to be desired, and I was rather put off by their commercial cut veggies–no surprises here, just beans, carrots, and bell peppers. (Although one time I ordered Panang, there was no evidence of string beans in the dish as the menu suggested.) Their Tom Kha Chicken soup was tasty, though I think the addition of tomatoes gave it a more acidic bite than I’m used to. Their peanut chicken dish left me puzzled, as the sauce looked like it had cooked over-long, looking goopy and lumpy as it draped over the grilled chicken.

I’ve attempted to order take-out dinner via phone, but they never seem to answer the phone on evenings, so I’m not sure where the problem lies. However, I’ve still been able to walk in and order food to-go, and the wait has never lasted longer than 10 minutes.

If Asia Grill would work on their menu some more, I’m sure it could be a destination for fine Thai in the area. (It is probably the nicest of the three restaurants in terms of ambience and decor, but sadly lacking in polished service.) As it is, Asia Grill is still a work in progress.

My rating: 2.5 stars

New San Dor

business

240 Legacy Dr
Plano, TX 75086
(972) 517-0700

DH and I finally made our way to New San Dor…and we have to say that we both were not too terribly impressed–too much hype maybe. The surroundings are nice, spacious and clean…so maybe the American crowd finds New San Dor less daunting than other ethnic Chinese spots, i.e. no pig heads or ducks hanging behind a glass window. We ordered chicken corn soup, shrimp with mayo, seafood fried rice with garlic, szechwan string beans, and beef on a sizzling platter. I was very disappointed to learn that they didn’t offer char-siu, bbq pork, here…and even more disappointed that I didn’t get a peek at their ethnic menu (which apparently only Chinese know to ask for).

The thick chicken corn soup held a nice amount of chicken, but I wish they had some green onions to it. The string beans had plenty of minced pork with it, and while flavorful, it was definitely NOT spicy. The shrimp with mayo surprised us with its huge battered jumbo shrimp slathered with mayo sauce…it scored points with the hubby, and I admit I was satisfied with this preparation. The best plate of the day was the house special seafood fried rice with dried garlic…it made the Filipino girl inside of me squeal with delight as I dug into the mound of rice and smelled the garlicky aroma waft into the air. Alas, this brief high came crashing down when we sampled the dreadful sizzling plate that hubby and I wouldn’t, couldn’t finish…the soggy, slimy pieces of beef were wholly unappetizing, and the sauce didn’t recommend itself either.

Overall, New San Dor needs to work harder on their menu if they’re to woo us back to spend our hard-earned dining dollars with them. Our meal rang up to $60…not the typical amount we spend at First Chinese BBQ or Plano Chinese.

My rating: 2.5 stars

Kobe Teppan & Sushi

business

2380 North Central Expressway
Plano, TX 75074
(972) 881-8819

We almost drove into the new Kobe Teppan & Sushi parking lot a couple of weeks ago in our excursion to Zenna, but I was determined to have my Thai and so decided to try Kobe later.

Yesterday, I met hubby for dinner at Kobe. Walking in, I was confronted by a room-high aquarium with a small assortment of colorful, exotic fish swimming placidly about. Being a weekday, I peeked into the darkwood-framed dining area and saw a few parties enjoying their hibachi meals. Looks like Kobe is positioning themselves to impress and attract business parties and family gatherings…their hibachi tables looked brand new and comfy.

We opted to go for sushi; Kobe separates their sushi diners from the hibachi room with a short hallway, which leads to an area no less well-appointed than the rest of the establishment. Everything had a shiny new veneer, imparting a sense of upscale comfort without being too ostentatious. Even the large-screen plasma TVs were few and unobtrusive; Kobe wisely employs mirrored walls to entertain diners from additional angles.

On to the menu. Our hostess handed us our menus, and to be honest, it had the standard Japanese fare that most restaurants had…lunch bentos, appetizers like tuna tadaki and assorted tempura, teriyaki, chicken/pork katsu, unagi rice bowls, and the ubiquitous sushi boats. At first, hubby leaned toward getting a boat ($75-$85 a selection), but I persuaded him to go for our regular favorites on the paper menu, which he obliged. And I’m sure glad we did.

Hubby ordered two types of eel rolls, Eel Avocado and the Dragon Roll. He also ordered a house roll with 4 different kinds of sashimi wrapped in cucumber and floating on a ponzu-like sauce (the name of it escapes me) which he devoured hungrily. We also asked for their Mango roll, salmon sashimi and of course, mackerel (saba) nigiri. In addition, we sampled their Baked Mussel appetizer (excellent) and ordered an Unagi bowl from their a la carte menu.

Their rolls proved to be surprisingly fresh and well prepared. The Dragon impressed us with its enormous chunks of eel, the Eel avocado also proved tasty. The mango roll was the only disappointment as it seemed too dry and lacking the flavor and substance of the fruit that I was looking for (i.e. too much like buffet sushi). Again, hubby expressed approval of all of the rolls he ordered, which disappeared rather quickly.

A service snafu happened at the beginning of the meal when our server brought out a Tuna tadaki that we did not order. Another server had to come out and verify that we hadn’t ordered it at all. We later realized how the confusion came about after we paid for our meal: somehow our server had mixed up her letters and never brought out the unagi bowl that I had ordered. Which I was glad didn’t materialize, since the Dragon and Eel rolls proved to be enough eel for one night.

I’m hoping Kobe will succeed here on the Plano corridor, despite the competition up and down the strip from other sushi joints. I learned after Googling up the restaurant that Kobe has outposts in Arizona and California. So maybe success here will extend their reach. Kobe may be attempting to court the large gatherings with their attractive teppanyaki (hibachi) rooms. Plano doesn’t have many hibachi options that I’m aware of, so here’s to hoping they’ll be successful due to their expressway location and setup. I’m looking forward to trying out their hibachi in the future.

My rating: 3.0 stars

Sheik’s Restaurant

1410 K Ave
Plano, TX 75074
(972) 578-1500

I harassed DH long enough that I was able to lure him to this downtown Plano spot for dinner. I was hungering for kebabs the entire week, and after hunting this place down, I was ready to sate my meat fix.

I read on the Guide that Sheik’s love their garlic here, and I enjoyed the hummus and the extra order of labneh with garlic. While hubby did his best not to be put off by the lemon-garlic flavors, he seemed to tolerate the yogurt-dip labneh better.

I have to express some disappointment in not getting fresh, warm pita bread to scoop up the labneh and hummus…the bread basket came to our table and I just couldn’t get used to pulling my bread out of plastic bags. Almost ruined the hummus and labneh.

Not wanting to go overboard with the exotic, we selected the combination platter for two. A salad came out, dressed in a light vinaigrette, which of course the hubby shunned. Aye, it reminded me too much of Italian vinaigrette, but I didn’t dwell on it, looking forward to the main course.

The platter for two came loaded with the meat goodies I expected, lamb shawarma and beef kebab, and two kinds of chicken. The shredded chicken was strongly lemon flavored while the chunk chicken tasted pleasantly grilled. Of course both hubby and I devoured the lamb, fighting for the last cuts. And I savored those huge, marinated medium-rare beef cuts, tasty. The meats came accompanied with a simple rice pilaf, whose flavors didn’t detract from the stars of the plate. The kibbeh and dolmas didn’t garner as much attention as the kebabs of course, they tended to be more of an acquired taste. I still can’t get used to cold dolmas…they taste too much like pickles. In the kibbeh’s case, the ground meat (lamb I think) had a somewhat spicy kick to it.

I have to say the folks manning the counter remained friendly yet distant as we forged ahead with this adventure, but they checked in on occasion to make sure we were doing fine.

I can’t wait to visit again to get my carnivorous fix. As we were paying the bill, hubby did point out they had a stock of rice pudding in the fridge. Which is all the more reason to come back and try their desserts.

My rating: 3.0 stars