Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Greek Good Eats


The Hummus salad plate

ZOES KITCHEN is a fast food chain cafe and this Plano Location opened recently along Preston road conveniently nearby my favourite store Nordstrom Rack!

Now I can combine guilt free shopping with guilt free lunching!

The menu leans heavily towards Greek though it calls itself Mediterranean with many "in house' made foods like the lovely creamy Hummus and everything I have tried there has been tasty and fresh
The cafe is casual with bright orange/lime decor and a plethora of choices for seating.
Feeling like a more intimate booth? They have that
A traditional cafe table? They have that. What about a stool along the window bar? yes they have that too. Even some patio seating to enjoy the cooler fall temperatures!
The staff are wonderful. Remember this is a casual chain cafe but the level of courtesy and attentiveness beat out many more fancier restaurants Ive dined at recently.
They even approached my table to take my plastic cup over to the soda fountain for the re fill. Now that's what I call service.

Arrive here around noon and the place will be heaving with the lunch time office crowd..sometimes service isn't so fast during these peak hours but the food never seems to suffer. The salads are always fresh, the hummus creamy, the raita chunky, the sandwich stacks were indeed stacked and the classic Greek salad had a lovely surprise under all the greenery- a tasty Greek potato salad!
This cafe is now a firm favourite for quick and affordable fresh food and they recently got their liquor license so if you are feeling like a nice glass of wine to wash down your meal you can do that too!


Zoe's Kitchen on Urbanspoon

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Texas State Fair 2010

BIG TEX
Ah.... the Texas state Fair and all the wonderful and bizarre fried foods that come with it!
Thank god for Lipitor. I took my double dose and headed down there to see what crazy creations there were this year.....











Fried Margarita
 The Fried Margarita- a new addition for 2010 but not a winner! Really this was just pieces of fried doughnut with tequila poured over it all topped off with a squirt of fresh cream and a slice of lime. Nothing special really and amusing that we had to show ID to buy one. I mean it was 14 coupons ($7) so who is going to bother getting wasted on this when just steps away from fair park there are bars selling better tequila for $1 shots!
Well it was worth trying and not bad!



Fried Beer???

  The winner of 2010 most creative food was the FRIED BEER! Yes you heard it right and yes we did have to show ID for this too!!!
Basically this dish was like a fried ravioli with a burst of beer in the center.
"be careful" they warned us after checking our ages " when you bit into this the beer will go everywhere"
Well hardly...I spill more beer than what was in the center of these
And the taste? Disgusting..imagine bland deep fried Ravioli with a bitter liquid inside. Then to top it all off they add cheese.
Excuse me while I blow chunks



Fletchers Corn dog
 A Corn dog is hardly unusual food, but it is quintessential State fair food. In fact the Corn dog was said to have been created for the Texas state fair back in 1942 by Neil Fletcher and so the Corn dog was born. A hot dog coated in Corn batter and deep fried!
My first ever corn dog too !!!
Fried Lemonade
I wasn't sure what to expect with the fried lemonade but was pleasantly surprised. Lemon doughnut cake  deep fried andsoaked in a lemon syrup with powdered sugar on top
Dentists around Texas will be cheer for this cash cow !

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Fearings


Putting on the Ritz


The Birthday girl and Dean Fearing
A visit to Fearings is a treat all round. First its located in the Ritz Carlton hotel so walking through the lobby foyer is an experience in opulence right there. The rattlesnake bar comes next.. dimly lit with a mix of "old money", "new money" and "would do anything for money" types. How I love to people watch here!
There is a a really nice patio bar too called "The Live Oak Bar" named after the large oak trees providing shade, but on this 100 degree night Oak trees weren't going to cut it, so we remained indoors until it was time to eat.
The Birthday girl on her Birthday throne

Dean Fearing oozes Southern charm and having the owner/chef visit your table and chat during dinner is just one of those touches that i like. This was my third visit to Fearings and each time he has approached the table for small talk and photo opportunities. Dean knows how to work a room, and what a room it is.
Fearings has to have my favourite decor in Dallas with several uniquely designed rooms and impeccable service on each and every visit.
This time was no exception.... Our birthday girl guest of honour was even given her own throne chair at the table which was a lovely touch.
We had arrived just in time for a few new "fall menu items" which I was excited about.

For appetizer I ordered the "yellow tail two ways" which jumped out at me on the menu as it said it came from the Tsukiji fish market which was the exact place in Tokyo we had visited. After eating it months earlier in the Japanese fish market I should have been prepared for disappointment. It wasn't bad....at all...but how could I have thought about matching that experience. My bad!
Roasted Van Vooren Ranch Pheasant
For the main i opted for the brand new Fall addition of the Roasted Van Vooren Ranch Pheasant which was wonderful. The dish was actually pheasant done two ways; one part was more simple in a gravy whilst the other was fried into tenders. Both were great but the fried pheasant blew away the gravy pheasant making it taste bland in comparison.

Hubby ordered the Broken Arrow Ranch NilGai Antelope and this had a lovely flavour, whilst the birthday girl tried the chicken fried lobster which was particularly decadent.
Fearings isn't cheap but it is a treat and you will be treated well. So if you are going to blow big $$ on a meal this is a good one to chose
Fearing's on Urbanspoon