Twisted Root Burgers - Commerce St

This evening the wifey and me had some bidness downtown. So once we were free it was time to get Twisted. Twisted Root is on Commerce St just east of 75 in the Deep Ellum area. At dinner time there is no problem being down here, but an hour after dark, I don't want to be here. Twisted is 1/2 hamburger joint and 1/2 watering hole. There really aren't that many people partaking of party beverages, but it is there. I always look forward to praying before my meal in a watering hole. We certainly effect a higher percentage of people than in Wendy's in Mesquite.

Our favorite burger here is the Ranch Hand. This is a peppercorn burger, with swiss cheese, ranch dressing, BACON, lettuce and onion. In our opinion this is the best hamburger in Dallas (a very very very close 2nd is the Incredible Burger at Zeke's).

Tonight we also ordered fried pickles. The best fried pickles are Razzoo's, but Twisted is the 2nd best. These are some pretty good ickles here. Make sure you ask for the chipotle ranch dip sauce, you don't get it without asking for it.

The one issue here is parking. It is either park in a parking lot for $5 to $8 or park at a meter. We had to make the block to find a meter open tonight.

We always enjoy the burger and extras and the people watching here. Speaking of extras, they have the fried ride (fried onion strings, fried pickles, fried sweet potatoes, and fried green beans). Take your antacid with you, there is so much oil in this that you will be some kind of miserable at the end. But it sure is fun getting there.

Giv'n em a 8.75

Mitcho
©2015

Cafe Del Rio - Mesquite

Today my very good friend and campin buddy Garyio needed help working on his travel trailer. So I spent the better part of the day helping him. We got so involved in the process that we never stopped for lunch. NOW MITCHO DOES NOT SKIP MEALS. It must be the 11th commandment. Meals certainly are very important to our lord as many of his miracles involved food and drink.

By dinner time I was HUNGRY. So I told the wifey that I needed a big meal for dinner. You know Mexican food can certainly step up to the plate and get you just some miserable. My goal exactly!!! So the wifey said I could pick my poison. It is a close decision between Posados and a free sopapilla at the end and jalapeno ranch dip at Café Del Rio. Some choices in life are very confusing.

So chipper and me did the Ballu tundu to Café Del Rio. Get me some chips and that jalapeno ranch dip. The chips are about normal for Mexican restaurants and the mild dip has lots of stuff in it but it is pretty short on taste, the hot sauce is not hot and only has a little more taste, but wait till your tea comes before tacking the Jalapeno Ranch. This is some hot stuff and it is very good!!!!! Pass me some more rat now.

As normal we ordered chicken fajitas for one with charro beans and rice. We were given a good amount of chicken tonight and it was fairly spicy. That's a good thing. They gave us corn and flour tortillas so we were flooded in tortillas which when you are starving the extra tortillas come in handy. The fajitas come with a butter sauce (which I don't get to eat because Chipper goes after it like a rabid dog, also I don't want to be called Stub), pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese and guacamole. As I mentioned it is my understanding that the butter sauce it very good. The charro beans were pretty basic tonight and rice is rice.

Overall this is a pretty good meal givn it a 9.15.

Mitcho
 ©2015
 

Chuys - Plano

Editors Note; Last fall our Canon Rebel camera died a horrible death on top of a mountain in Virginia. So to finish out our trip I went to Walmart and purchased a small camera. Well I need a use for that camera, so I am using it to spice up the ole food blog. Of course tonight I was almost finished with my meal when I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet. I am going to have to remember to take a picture, pray and then dive in likes there is no tomorrow.

So in April we have a number of family birthdays. Of course Precious gets her own party, presents and fun. The adult girls Darlin and Lefty have to share a birthday meal. So Lefty decided to go to Chuys. We decided to go to the one in Plano because of parking. We all like the one at Knox Hendreson better, but just try to park a car there. So we were off to Plano. It is not an easy thing to get a table for 11 on Saturday night, so we had to wait almost an hour for a table.

So we started the meal off with teas, Dr. Pepper, lemonade, Sprite and water and of course chips and hot sauce. The chips are a pretty good chip, but the salsa needs work. The salsa here is basically diced tomatoes. There is a small amount of cilantro and onion but certainly not enough of either. So immediately I order Jalapeno Ranch sauce. Now we are cooking. Our whole group thinks the Jalapeno Ranch rocks. Just try keeping our chip bowls full. Of course Chipper was leading the way tonight. We think two of the boys, Big Guy and Lil' Bud pretty much only ate chips. At one point Big Guy's chip basket was moved out of reach and he wanted that issue fixed immediately. He was sitting next to me his Poppy, so of course I saw to it that he had plenty of chips.

The wifey and me ordered combo fajitas for one and we split them. I intended to take a picture of the meal went it came, however, I was down to my last fajita when I realized that I hadn't taken a picture. I will get better.

The tortillas we very tasty, not as good as Rosa's but pretty close. This is big plus. I  had two chicken fajitas and one beef. Both the chicken and beef were decent, but nothing to really brag about. I think Posado's is spicier. The condiment tray had cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and a tomato and onion mix. This mix had some red onions which is a definite plus, you know Mitcho likes onions. The meal also came with refried beans and rice, but I didn't get to either one, so no report.

As I said Precious had a birthday earlier today and we had birthday cake left over. So the birthday cake came to this meal. However, no one thought to bring plates, forks , etc and we didn't start eating cake until some of our plates and forks had been taken. So we improvised. Once I was through with my cake, CBoss needed a plate and was not interested in putting his cake on top of where my cake was. So his Aunt Lefty took a tortilla that we didn't eat and covered the plate with the tortilla and then put his cake on top. He was happy. See the picture above.

Overall this was a good meal and a great time celebrating family. Givn em a 7.95

Mitcho
©2015

Napoli's - Mesquite

This is a real Eddie's Napoli's. I know he has one at Firewheel Mall and Garland on Centerville almost to Northwest. Eddie's serves some good grub and large portions, both good points for Mitcho.

So at lunch today, I was not all that hungry. No reason for it, just wasn't real hungry. So I had a light lunch. Of course by 3:30 I was starving, so I had a snack to hold me over. So at dinner time I was not very hungry again, I have to get out of this cycle and now. The wifey is a big fan of sharing a meal which normally is not my first choice, 2nd choice or 3rd choice, but I do it anyway. Tonight was a good time to share. As I pointed out above, at Napoli's the meals are large, so sharing is not all that difficult. So I suggested sharing at Napoli's. Now if I had suggested Napoli's she probably would have shot it down, but SHARING is the key word.

So we did the Bolero to Napoli's. The other two Napoli's have a booming business and you might have to wait for a table. The Mesquite one, you walk in and get your choice of tables. So we saddled up to a booth and ordered out teas. When the waiter brought our teas, he also brought a basket of rolls and these are some of the best rolls around. They also come with the marinara sauce.

Then you guessed it, we order a Stromboli for us to split. A Stromboli is like a closed in pocket sandwich made of a great crust, filled with cheese, pepperoni, sausage and I think Canadian bacon (around these parts, pig/ham). The Stromboli is about 15 to 16 inches long  and probably 8 or 9 inches wide. I am talking bigggggggggggggggggggggggg! So after the wifey cut her half off (and she took a full half), there was still a full meal to eat.  It also comes with a marinara sauce which has a nice tangy flavor. I really like the Stomboli here, it is very tasty.

This is some good grub, large portions and at a reasonable price. Some grab up a couple Italian wannabes and head to Eddie's Napoli. Any other Napoli won't do!!!!!

Givn em a 8.11.

Mitcho
©2015

Rosas - Rockwall

As you know we were celebrating Darlin's birthday today. So she decided that her family was going to Rockwall to Urban Air. This is basically a gym full of trampolines. Pretty cool.

So me and the wifey decided to go to Rockwall early and eat dinner on the way. You know Mitcho does not miss meals. Our Son-In-Law is from Odessa and has been eating in Rosa's for many years. So we had eaten in Rosa's in San Angelo, Amarillo, Midland, etc. before one ever came to the Metromess. So we have celebrated a Rosa's opening in Rockwall. The cashier asked me if I had ever been to Rosa's before, DUH!!!!!!!!!

I ordered two #18's and a beef burrito. (#18 is a crunchy taco) We also ordered some tortillas. The tacos are very tasty, pretty good size and a real crunchy shell. This is good fixins. Then I dove into the burrito. The meat at Rosa's has small amount of potatoes mixed in. I suspect to absorb gas, which is a really good thing. The burrito is in a Rosa tortilla which are some of the best there is and filled with meat. Of course I added onion and medium salsa. This is some pretty good grub. I also had two tortillas and as I mentioned they are real yummy!!!!!! Needless to say, I am a big fan of Rosa's.

Of course as we were finishing our meal, darlin and her family drove up to load up before the party at Urban Air. So we hung out and hasselled the grand kids while they ate.

See you at Rosa's next time.

Given em a 7.95

Mitcho
 ©2015

Casa Milagro - Richardson Campbell & Plano Rd

Today is Darlin's birthday. I can't believe how many times she has already celebrated her 29th birthday. It dawned on me today, that I don't guess I am 39 anymore!!!!!!

To celebrate her day, the wifey and me drove to Richardson and met her for lunch at Casa Milagro. I have been here many times before. D Magazine rates this place in the top 10 Mexican Food joints in Dallas. Considering how many Mexican joints there are, that's saying something. This is some pretty good Mexican faire.

The chips are the basic Mexican chip, nothing special but they are pretty good. However, the hot sauce/salsa is very spicey and tasty. Get your tea before you eat much of the salsa. This is a big plus.

I ordered lunch Dos. This is a cheese enchilada, beef taco, race and beans. The beef taco is a large taco and the shell is full of meat. No room at the Inn for lettuce, cheese or tomatoes. The taco meat has a really good flavor, shell is very crispy and a plate full of toppings.

The cheese enchilada is a good cheese with lots of queso over it. Pretty yummy here. The rice and beans are rice and beans. The service is fast, efficient and friendly. I have never had a bad experience here.

You don't have to wait till your daughter is getting old and having birthdays, get yourself on over to Richardson and grab some grub here. You won't regret it.

Given em an 8.05

Mitcho
©2015

Zeke's Kitchen - Garland - Kingsley & Shiloh

The wifey had a thing at lunch today, you know one of the pot luck meals where everybody brings a dessert and nothing else is available. So you eat 8 desserts, just because you had to. Of course I wasn't invited to this pig fest, so I was foot loose and fancy free. My rule of thumb is to go someplace the wifey will not want to go to.

Zeke's Kitchen is one of those places. Her concern here is that every meal on the menu is a manly sized meal. After eating lunch here, you won't starve to death for at least a month. I guarantee. Of course it is my kind of place, I am looking forward to being miserable after a meal. Hold it a minute while I go get a couple of antacids ............................................................... back to it.

So I did the Tranky Doo to Zeke's. I do have to admit that I am a friend of Zeke, he and his wife are great loving people. However, my food report is not tainted by such things as friendship. Mitcho does not speak with fork-ed tongue!!!!

I have had chicken quesadillas, Italian sandwich, The Incredible Burger, etc. and they are all very very good. I hear their chicken salad is to die for, I am just not a salad chicken. So today I ordered the Incredible Burger. There is no bragging here, the thing is INCREDIBLE. This is what you get when you take 2 pieces of very tasty sausage, 2 strips of bacon (you heard me, BACON!!!), a very tasty meat patty, generous portion of cheddar cheese, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, mustard, and you can add either BBQ sauce or chilli. I have added BBQ sauce in the past and that is a very good choice. Next time I need to add chilli. I did neither today, just the basic burger (there ain't nothing basic about this burger). Wow I am talking Incredible, Amazing,Yummy, Slap your Mammy GOOOOOOOD.

The meal also came with a side and I chose the baked beans. I have had em before, these are some of the best baked beans in these parts.

Grab your buds, tell your boss your gonna be gone for a while and that you are going to be worthless when you get back (whether or not your were worthless before you left) and get yourself to Zeke's.

Given em a 9.65

Mitcho
©2015

Dairy Queen - I-30 and Belt Line

If you know Mitcho, you know Mitcho knows Dairy Queen Blizzards. The number of Blizzards I have eaten is Legend wait-for-it ........................................dary. A few years ago it was the 25th anniversary of the Blizzard. To celebrate, over about a 4 month period I had 25 different flavors of Blizzards. I got the T-Shirt. So earlier today, the wifey got an e-mail with a buy one get one free coupon for a Blizzard. We certainly don't want that baby to go to waste, so we did the Tarantella to DQ (aka The Texas Stop Sign).

It is our practice when we go for dinner to order the 4 pc steak finger basket. This comes with you guessed it, 4 pieces of steak fingers, fries and Texas toast. So we get 2 a piece, some fries and a piece of Texas toast each. The steak fingers are breaded up real nicely and when salted and peppered heavily are pretty tasty. The fries at DQ are ok, but nothing to get excited about. The Texas toast is always good. The only real problem with this meal is the amount grease you absorb will make you feel bad a few hours later.

Of course the real reason to be here is the Blizzard. Tonight I went for the Butterfinger. This is ice cream loaded nicely with crunched up Butterfinger. This is one of my two favorites (the other is cookie dough). Any day that ends with a Blizzard at DQ, is a very good day.

Without a Blizzard, this meal is a 6.85, but with a Blizzard given it a 9.25.

Mitcho
©2015

The Taco Joint - Richardson

In the middle of the day today, I had some bidness to tend to in the Richardson/Plano area. So I was in Richardson at lunch time. I had eaten at the Taco Joint once before, but I couldn't remember where it was. So I had the wifey call Darlin' and get directions. Of course that worked into Darlin' coming along for lunch. You know a smart phone might be cheaper than directions. So we did the hand jive to The Taco Joint (at Belt Line and 75, near Party City).

Being that I was at the taco joint, I felt it necessary to order tacos. So I ordered two crunchy beef tacos and two soft beef tacos. Now I was at Taco Cabana on Sunday and had 3 of their street tacos, which were pretty little. That worked out to only be a snack. So I ordered 4 tacos to make sure I had enough food. Not necessary here. Each taco was a good size with plenty of lettuce, cheese, tomatoes etc flowing over. 3 of these babies would have been plenty.  The tacos were generous with meat, lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes. Overall both kinds were very tasty. They have a salsa bar that you can use to spice em up even more, but this time I figured I would judge the basic product. With some salsa on em, these would really be good.

So if you are in the Richardson area at bean time, slide into the Joint and try it out. You won't regret it.

Give'm a 7.99.

Mitcho
©2015

Pizza Getti - Buckner and I-30, the real Pizza Getti

Well it was one of those evenings. We got a call that Precious has broken her collar bone was needing to go to the hospital, so Lil Bud needed a place to stay. You know you don't want a 2 year old in emergency and you really don't want this two year old in emergency. So we grabbed him up for the evening. When it came dinner time, we asked Lil Bud what he wanted to eat and I suggested several items. When I got to Pizza, the decision was made. Now at this point, he speaks Eastern Ukrainian, but he can clearly say Pizza. So off to Pizza Getti we go.

Usually I buy Cheese Pizza for the grands, but since I had to eat the same pizza it was Pepperoni. Pizza here is a thin crust with a great sauce, plenty of cheese and you can't go wrong with Pepperoni. Actually my favorite is the Deluxe, but the grands aren't going to eat quality pizza yet. Since the owner was not there tonight, the pizza was cooked flawlessly and the service was immaculate. (Shout out to my buddy Kyle!!)

If you haven't been here, grab your wife and kids and bust a move to the Getti. Remember there are many Pizza Getti's but there really is only ONE. See ya there next time.

Given em a 9.65.

Mitcho
©2015

Mesquite Bar B Que - Downtown Mesquite Davis & Belt Line

The wifey had some serious business to do in downtown Mesquite this evening. So after we got our bidness done, it was time to eat dinner. In the downtown area, there are only a few options for dinner. We were across the street from Mesquite BBQ, so we decided to Bossa Nova on over there to grab some grub. This place has been in bidness since 1959. So it is a staple in the downtown area. I was surprised this evening by how many customers were there for dinner. Now this is a lunch joint, and it does a hearty lunch bidness, but no one is in downtown Mesquite in the evening, I mean no one, except of course the wifey and me tonight.

Our normal at a BBQ joint is the two meat plate. BBQ Brisket and Sausage. Now Mitcho is a Sausage kind of guy. The brisket tonight was fall apart good and very little fat. The brisket had a slight smoked flavor and pretty good BBQ. I commented that it was good, but Rudy's and Hutchins BBQ was better. Which of course the wifey agreed. Then she threw in that this BBQ is much better than Pecan Lodge. So much for being famous. Being good is better than being famous. The sausage was pretty decent, but it was basic sausage. Mitcho prefers peppered sausage, the spicier the better. But no real complaints here.

We opted for pinto beans and okra. Now if you are judging food in a BBQ joint, you must check the beans out. These beans were very basic pintos. They weren't bad, but there was no extra flavor here. Mitcho prefers some chilli powder or something to spice it up. Not here. Of course I soaked them in the BBQ sauce which made them pretty good.  The fried okra was a pretty good okra. The meal also came with Texas toast.

Overall, Springcreek is better. It has peppered sausage and home made rolls. But this is a pretty decent place to eat.

I am now declaring BBQ, the food of rednecks. Of course we all want to brag about our smokers, grills, etc.

Givn Mesquiter BBQ a 7.674.

Mitcho
©2015

Saltgrass Steakhouse - Mesquite

First of all a shout out to my followers in Russia, welcome back to the blog. I promise I will behave this time and not give you pause to stop reading the blog. No more making fun of the KGB.

It is time to fire the ole blog back up. Work has dominated my life of late so the blog has been pretty quiet. No more. Let's have some fun. A client of mine gave me a gift card to Saltgrass and the wifey is a fan of the Saltgrass steak. So off we went. Of course at the end of the meal, we discovered that the client gave us the wrong copy (her receipt for the purchase) not the gift card, so I had the pleasure of paying for the meal. Oh well, as I said the wifey enjoys a good steak so it was well worth it.

Being a redneck from The Grove (aka Grove Rat), we were poor growing up. So fine food in our house was red beans. That is why I am so good at being a redneck. Along the way my body never developed the ability to process meat that hasn't already been processed (steak). So I eat ground beef steak at steak houses. My steak was supposed to come with grilled onions (and you know Mitcho likes onions) and cheese on top. My steak tonight didn't have the cheese. You know if you have enough cheese everything is better. No cheese doesn't help matters at all. My steak was OK, nothing to write home about, but it was ok. Now the wifey loved her Top Sirloin (Wagon Boss). So the Boss ordered the Boss. The meals came with a salad and baked potato. The salad was very good, however, if you tear it apart, it basically was lettuce, croutons, and dressing. I prefer a little variety in my salad, you guessed it, onion, radishes, celery, etc. Not happening here. So Outback wins the salad war. And don't get me talking about Steak N Ale. The baked potato was loaded and was a good spud. The meal also came with bread, which wasn't bad, but it was a little short on taste. Outback's bread wins here hands down. I do like that they leave a pitcher of tea on the table for you to get your own refills. Mitcho is a heavy drinker of tea, so easy refills is a plus.

Overall, it was a good first meal of the season. Given em a 7.9.

By the way, I plan on expanding the topics of the blog to rock concerts and travel.  So hang on, we are going to have some fun.

Mitcho
©2015