Category Archives: Reviews

Dining, Reviews

A slice of Philly in Carrollton, TX

Fred’s Downtown Philly

2521 N Josey Ln Ste 200
Carrollton, TX 75006
(972) 820-0882

This is the newest westernmost location of Fred’s Downtown Philly in the Dallas area. I was excited to learn they opened shop in Carrollton, despite the flagging economy. That says something about the food here.

The proof is in the Philly. I partook of the #4, Extra Meat Cheesesteak in the 10″ form and discovered heaven. I also realized my eyes were too big for my stomach, after managing to down only 6″ of it. But, it was oh-SOOO-good. Now that Fred’s is closer to home, I’ll be visiting more often frequently to try out every cheesesteak variety on his menu, including some of his specials, like the Teriyaki and the Chipotle Cheesesteaks.

The short steaks start at $4.25, while the 10 inchers start at about $6. You have the option to modify any order with a choice of 16 extras, which includes 5 different peppers and 5 kinds of cheese. Fred’s also offers hoagies, wings, salads and burgers along with typical side items like fries and onion straws. The Hockey Pucks (jalapeno cheese rounds) are bite-sized discs of heat, which complemented my cheesesteak order. Everything is cooked to order, so you’re guaranteed a fresh-off-the-grill experience when you visit.

Fred’s newest store is sparsely decorated, with a TV decorating a non-descript corner of a very barebones back room. I expect to see more Philly memorabilia covering the walls soon, but as with all of Fred’s other locations, don’t expect white tablecloth and champagne glasses: it’s a hole-in-the-wall that serves up some great Philly cheesesteaks.

Rating by epicureasian: 4.0 stars
****

Dining, Reviews

Sushi simple

Mua Sushi

761 S MacArthur Blvd Ste 121
Coppell, TX 75019
(972) 745-3377

Mua Sushi is a cozy little sushi shop off Beltline and MacArthur in Coppell. I’ve only been in a couple times during lunch hours, but both visits gave me a favorable impression of the place.

On my first visit I sampled their grilled mackerel bento and side dish of seaweed salad. The opener, miso soup, pleased me as it wasn’t as grainy or coarse as some other versions. The seaweed salad was perhaps a little too wet, but tasted typical of the dish. The star of my lunch hour was the bento box however, and what a beauty it was. A perfectly prepared slab of fish came surrounded by compartments of vegetables and sides, ala korean-style banchan–which I devoured with gusto. The fried dumpling and the California rolls also were also quite appetizing. Accompanied by ponzu (?) the grilled mackerel tasted fresh and delicious, the soft and supple meat hadn’t seen the insides of a freezer for long, if any. And to drive that notion home, the hostess dropped a hint on how fresh their fish was.

On my second visit, I decided to tame a sore throat with some soup. Sadly the only other soup entry on their menu was a Korean soup, a beef-vegetable dumpling variety, which I ordered along with their double-roll lunch special: the Casa and Eel rolls. My hostess emerged from the kitchen about 10 minutes later with a small bowl, medium-sized dumplings floating in a mild egg-flower broth and my rolls. The beef dumplings were excellent, though I wish there had been more than just 3 of them. The eel roll tasted average and I remain undecided about the Casa, a fried roll that came topped with a spicy cream sauce reminiscent of tabasco sauce. I didn’t think the fish content in both rolls merited more than a passing grade however.

Both lunches left me 15 to 20 dollars poorer per visit. I also have to fault them for their $1.95 charge on canned soda as well. However, the food is above-average, especially notable for their Korean elements, and the staff are friendly and accommodating. I look forward to more lunches here in the future.

Rating by epicureasian: 3.5 stars
***1/2

Nari Sushi

2625 Old Denton Rd Ste. 400
Carrollton, TX 75007
(972) 242-5200

Something about Nari Sushi makes me inherently suspicious.

Maybe it’s the freebies. On both visits, we were treated to two unexpected courses of appetizers, ranging from tempura to cold, spicy fish. But after a glance at their printed menu and at some of the prices, I’m not complaining at getting some of my food comped.

Maybe it’s the uncanny way they remembered us, by reciting our order from our previous visit. Butterfly kisses? Yes! Grilled mackerel? Yes!

Maybe it’s because they were too darned friendly? They checked up on us every time they passed by us from the kitchen. Was the freebie snack to our liking? How was our sushi tonight? Our hostess was always smiling and our sushi chef too accommodating. I suppose that wasn’t a bad thing…our glasses were always refilled promptly.

Maybe it’s the way Nari was tucked away behind a strip mall, far from the main road (by my reckoning) and that the entrance seemed oddly angled from the street. As if they were making sure they were hidden away from sight.

Don’t get me wrong; Nari has been a pleasant experience both times I’ve visited. But I have a feeling that they’re trying too hard…the food here speaks for itself. I’d come back for the sushi alone.

Rating by epicureasian: 4.0 stars
****

Dining, Reviews

Diet busters

La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe

2417 S Stemmons Fwy
Lewisville, TX 75067
(972) 459-5900

La Madeleine has lost some of its glamour over the years. Prices have skyrocketed and quality has suffered. It’s still a great spot to have lunch with the girlfriends and escape from the hustle-and-bustle or take a break from shopping. But wilted greens and bad-tasting chicken on a $12 salad can ruin one’s mood; despite the pick-up you can get from the dessert counter. I was dismayed to learn they now offer “reduced-calorie” tomato basil soup–smacks too much of corporate marketing. But the regular tomato basil soup still tastes fantastic, and you can never go wrong with their mushroom sauce on chicken friande or quiches. That same mushroom sauce is wicked good over a dinner pasta or chicken crepes. The dessert selection, of course, is as sinfully tempting as ever…it’s rare to walk out from the bakery without a to-go box of tarts, tortes, or sweet pastries.

My rating: 3.5 stars
***1/2

Brazilian Cowboy Steakhouse & Grill

1320 N. Central Expwy
Plano, TX 75074
(972) 881-8600

On our way to Plano on an errand, my man and I were stunned to discover this churrascaria off 75 and 15th. We cut our errand short, did a u-turn and drove back to it.

A word about the digs: the yellow-bricked building–once tenanted by a Tex-Mex restaurant–is something of an eyesore. If you’re used to Fogo or Texas de Brazil’s pretty facades, you won’t find anything appealing about the garish paint job, the old parking lot, or the ill-used patio. It looks onto a service road right next to busy Central Expressway. The tacky “grand opening” banners hanging over the doors will convince you there are no pretensions here.

But walk into the restaurant and you’ll notice that it’s calm, clean and orderly; Portuguese music plays overhead which partly drowns out the traffic noise. Servers are busily keeping plates and glasses refilled and tables cleared; groups of diners appear absorbed in getting their meat comas. A blackboard overlooks the dining room, announcing live music on certain nights and all the weekly deals, ranging from “date night” to “happy hour specials”.

The salad bar is small and contains only the basics: green salads, chicken salads, potato salads, some fresh vegetables. They also have a hot bar, chafing dishes filled with rice, stews, soups–what I assume are Brazilian standards–all very tasty and capably rendered. Tableside, my man and I were treated to some of the best cheese popovers I’ve ever had–better than any I’ve eaten at rival churrascarias.

But as with all Brazilian steakhouses, meat is king here. During our Saturday lunch, all of the expected players were represented: spicy sausages, bacon-wrapped chicken and beef, drumsticks, spicy beef, garlic beef, flank steak, top sirloin, house picanha. Add to that, grilled pineapple and smoky bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos (the latter an excellent surprise).

While I feasted on some of the best garlic beef I ever tasted, I closed my eyes and imagined I was in Rafain–partly because the traffic on 75 was distracting and partly to determine the quality of the food. I then concluded that the food was comparable if not better than all of the high-dollar Brazilian steakhouses I’ve been to in DFW: Fogo, Rafain, Texas de Brazil, Mastergrill–I’ve tried them all. As I ran down the mental list of experiences so far, I realized I had no complaints with Brazilian Cowboy’s food…and when the check arrived, the veil lifted from my eyes. I had been overpaying for the hype and glamor all these years at those overpriced restaurants.

Brazilian Cowboy brings the churrascaria to the masses; and it’s about time somebody did! This place exceeded my experience with Delicias Brazil in Irving and is now my number one choice for budget Brazilian steakhouse dining. Not in the mood for a buffet? Try their light menu: single-serving meat plates, burgers, sandwiches, pizza, and a full range of bar food appetizers.

Now, to convince the staff to keep the shades drawn while I dine there….

My rating: 4.0 stars
****

Dining, Reviews

More dining-on-the-cheap adventures

Cici’s Pizza

120 S Denton Tap Rd Ste 170
Coppell, TX 75019
(972) 393-2424

For $4.99 (drinks extra) all-you-can-eat pizza/pasta/salads, Cici’s has been the destination for budget-minded families dining on the super-cheap. This Cici’s location is roomy and staffed with polite, courteous folks, who keep the buffet lines constantly refreshed and tables cleared. On a weekday night, the line stretched out the door, though curiously the dining room was only half full. It seems that my party had arrived just as the dinner rush was ramping up, and the cheery cashier was doing her best to keep the line moving. I also saw the manager roaming around the dining room, serving full-sized pizzas and checking on customer satisfaction. Cici’s pizza isn’t Chicago- or New York-grade, but it’s value-priced filler. My disbelieving dining partner would not have believed “mac and cheese” pizza until he saw it with his own eyes…other notables include barbecue pizza, mushroom and chicken, spinach alfredo and the super-sweet apple pie pizza–all served fresh and hot. Their pasta for the night was a bland rigatoni drowned in pizza sauce; the salad bar was stocked with typical American iceberg lettuce and standard dressings. There are–without a doubt–plenty of places to enjoy a better pizza, salad or pasta, but very few cost this little and can satisfy the entire family.

My rating: 2.5 stars
**1/2

I Luv Pho

8350 N Macarthur Blvd
Irving, TX 75063
(972) 402-9799

Not a place for fat people.

My man is portly, and I’m a little wide on the hips…but my goodness, it’s something of a production to squeeze into those narrow eating spaces with hardly any breathing room to spare. It’s even more annoying when your neighbors’ kids are bumping their chairs up against yours when you’re trying to eat dinner.

But the menu is what we came here for, and despite the slightly cramped dining space, we dove into dinner with great anticipation. An opener of their eggrolls were merely passable. Though my partner enjoyed the meatiness–I felt it wasn’t meaty or tasty enough.

As much as I was leaning toward pho, I decided to try their Hanoi special vermicelli while the man ordered the combination stir-fried noodle with chicken. What we didn’t comprehend from the “combination” in the name, was that the chicken was accompanied by beef, shrimp and squid. So when his dish came out, it was more than what he had asked for. Still he had to give it a liberal dousing of hoisin sauce and sriracha to make it more palable.

In the end, as I downed my Hanoi special (tasty but lacking), I still felt a little hungry and disappointed that the food didn’t knock my socks off. I was ready to proclaim this my new haunt for Vietnamese, but I left the place only mildly satiated.

My rating: 2.0 stars
**

Chicken Express

136 E Belt Line Rd
Coppell, TX 75019
(972) 304-1122

This is your typical Chicken Express outlet dressed up in nicer digs…at this location you have a drive-in along with drive-thru service. The restaurant dining room is also a notch above other Chicken Express locations I’ve visited.

But the menu here is representative of the chain. They offer up catfish, livers and gizzards along with the normal fried chicken, wings and tenders. (Why don’t they offer combo packs of fish and chicken?) The requisite sides of mashed potatoes/gravy, corn, cole slaw and fries are joined by the CE signature sides such as fried okra, mini-poppers and fried pickles. Since my last visit to CE, they’ve expanded their drink menu to offer smoothies and frozen treats. They still sell iced tea, in both sweetened and unsweetened forms, by the gallon.

I wasn’t too impressed with their fried catfish, finding the portions small and overly bland–remedied by liberal dipping into the provided tartare sauce. The chicken also didn’t sit well to me, either coming off as too dry and the batter tasteless to merit seconds.

I will still prefer CE to KFC, but in the future, I’ll remember to go for the atypical selections rather than the standards.

My rating: 2.0 stars
**

Dining, Reviews

Donuts and Chinese food–on the cheap!

Luna Donuts

1630 Valwood Parkway Ste 102
Carrollton, TX 75006-8390
(972) 243-4077

Generic donut shop peddling standards such as glazed and powdered donuts, bear claws and fritters, fruit and sausage kolaches, and breakfast muffins and sandwiches. I always go for the sausage kolaches both in croissant and jalapeno varieties, and the good-natured lady running the counter always sends me off to work with a baggie of donut holes.

My rating: 2.5 stars
**1/2

New New Buffet

3822 Belt Line Road
Addison, TX 75001-4303
(972) 243-1198

If you’re looking for simple, fast Americanized Chinese food presented in a clean, friendly setting, New New Buffet won’t disappoint. Their hot line is representative of all the standards on a neighborhood Chinese restaurant menu: beef with broccoli, chicken with broccoli, sesame chicken, orange chicken, orange beef, jalapeno chicken, lo mein, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, etc. Most are solid renditions of their namesakes, and, quality-wise, are comparable to food court Chinese. New New also has a fried food section containing everything from crab rangoon (or is that just cheese rangoon) to jalapeno poppers and chicken wings; a soup bar populated by the predictable wonton, egg drop and hot/sour soups; a cold bar with california rolls and crab legs in abundance (along with drawn butter and ginger/wasabi sides); a salad bar (nothing exciting here), and a dessert bar overpopulated by cookies and cakes–no doubt purchased in bulk from a local warehouse club. Patrons who don’t like guessing what’s on their plate will be pleased with the taste and value of New New’s buffet. On a Sunday lunch visit, the hit on the wallet was $9.99 a person, plus drinks and tax.

If you’re looking for can’t-go-wrong neighborhood Chinese in bulk, this is the place to go. But if your tastes gravitate to the more authentic, the Josey/Beltline intersection where First Chinese resides is a short drive down the road.

My rating: 3.0 stars
***