So on Tuesday evening we flew into DFW from Virginia. We had lunch outside of Washington DC on Tuesday, but loaded the plane at 4:00 to fly home. So we flew through dinner time. So once we landed, got our luggage, got to our car, it was way past dinner time. After 8 days in Virginia, I was in dire need of taking an infusion of TEX-MEX Mexican food. El Fenix has conveniently put a restaurant just outside of DFW. So, when we get home from trips we normally eat a meal here to cleanse our system of going without TEX-MEX.
I am a big fan of the chips at El Fenix. They are pretty light, and have a unique texture. They also have a faint taste of corn. The salsa is a spicy flavor with a light sweet taste. I love the salsa here most of the time. We are off to a good start.
So I order a beef taco, cheese taco and cheese enchilada. The beef taco was very tasty and good size. The Cheese taco was a cheesy taco with probably a strong cheddar cheese blend covered with a nacho cheese sauce. It's looking very good right now. The meal is topped off with a cheese enchilada, which has the same cheese filling and covered is a very tasty chili sauce. By this point, I am miserable. A very good miserable. I AM HOME!!!!!!
Givin El Fenix an 8 and loving it.
Mitcho
©2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Rancho Viejo - Luray, VA
So last week the wifey and me were vacationing in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. We were doing some hiking in the mountains taking in the fall foliage or what there was left of it. Who knew that the 3rd week of October would be a week too late for foliage color. We were staying in Luray, VA, not a very big town. When we are on the road, I get reviews from urbanspoon.com, yelp.com and traveladvisor.com. So about the 3rd night on the road, we had used up the best options. And of course by the 3rd day, my system was saying it needed Mexican Food NOW!!! So I check out the reviews and Rancho Viejo had magnificent reviews. What I didn't pay attention to was the reviewers were from New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. None of those places have TEX-MEX. So we did a Pinata beating to the Rancho Viejo.
The chips were ok, almost as good as normal here at home. The salsa was mediocre but edible. My best signal about chips is Chipper. On this occasion, we only had one basket of chips. Chipper is good for two by herself. So not excited at this point.
I ordered a combo meal with a meat taco, cheese enchilada, beef enchilada and rice. Turns out the rice was the best part of the meal. Need any more info??? So I tear into the beef taco. I am still not sure exactly what that was that they called beef. So needless to say, the taco was not good at all. The cheese enchilada was a very poor quality of cheese and not very tasteful. After my taco experience, I passed on the beef enchilada which was loaded with the same beef type stuff. As I said the rice was rice, which turns out to be the best thing here. Chipper only ate part of her meal also.
Footnote here, the owners and employees of this restaurant were Mexicans. Have they been here since the Civil War? because they certainly don't know Mexican food anymore.
Overall I am giving Rancho Viejo a rousing 5. This is of course is giving them credit for trying to be Mexican in Virginia.
My lesson here is in the future, when I leave the Great State of Texas, I am also leaving Mexican Food behind and should not deal with that issue until I cross the Big Red coming home(Red River). So outside of Texas, I have had some decent Mexican food in New Mexico and that is it. I have tried it in a number of states including Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Virginia, and many others. What they call Mexican food is NOT Mexican food.
Mitcho
©2014
The chips were ok, almost as good as normal here at home. The salsa was mediocre but edible. My best signal about chips is Chipper. On this occasion, we only had one basket of chips. Chipper is good for two by herself. So not excited at this point.
I ordered a combo meal with a meat taco, cheese enchilada, beef enchilada and rice. Turns out the rice was the best part of the meal. Need any more info??? So I tear into the beef taco. I am still not sure exactly what that was that they called beef. So needless to say, the taco was not good at all. The cheese enchilada was a very poor quality of cheese and not very tasteful. After my taco experience, I passed on the beef enchilada which was loaded with the same beef type stuff. As I said the rice was rice, which turns out to be the best thing here. Chipper only ate part of her meal also.
Footnote here, the owners and employees of this restaurant were Mexicans. Have they been here since the Civil War? because they certainly don't know Mexican food anymore.
Overall I am giving Rancho Viejo a rousing 5. This is of course is giving them credit for trying to be Mexican in Virginia.
My lesson here is in the future, when I leave the Great State of Texas, I am also leaving Mexican Food behind and should not deal with that issue until I cross the Big Red coming home(Red River). So outside of Texas, I have had some decent Mexican food in New Mexico and that is it. I have tried it in a number of states including Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Virginia, and many others. What they call Mexican food is NOT Mexican food.
Mitcho
©2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Cotton Patch - Rockwall
Well there hasn't been much to blog about lately. We have had a steady diet of Wendy's, Whataburger, McDonalds and Cici's. Do I need to tell you that I have eaten a lot of meals with the grand kids. So last night we headed to Rockwall to keep a couple of the grands and we decided we would eat adult food tonight. So we swung by and grabbed Precious and Lil' Bud. We have eaten at Cotton Patch before, mainly in smaller Texas cities. But they are among a number of small town brands that are invading the Metromess. Which is a very good thing. The Cotton Patch is very similar to Black Eyed Bean.
It was about 7:30 by the time we got to The Cotton Patch. We had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for a table. Rockwall on Friday night is very crowded at every eating place there. The grands behaved marviously during the wait, which with Lil's Bud not being two yet, it is always a gamble. Of course his parents told us when they got home after their date that he had melted down right before we got there. So you never know. Anyway we were seated finally.
After some negotiation, the wifey decided we were splitting a Chicken Fried Steak and some sides. Of course she wanted to split two sides. So I negotiated up to 3 to split from. You know I have to win something every once in a while. So we ordered the CFS, mashed taters, green beans and cinnamon apples. We also ordered a meal for the two kids, of which they didn't hardly touch and it was macaroni and cheese and French fries.
On the menu, they indicate that the CFS is large and it was. After cutting it in half, it was about the right size. The CFS was breaded very nicely and the steak was pretty tender and tasty. The mashed taters had the peelings in them and some spices, they tasted pretty good. The green beans were for the wifey, so call her if you want to know what they tasted like. The cinnamon apples were very sweet with a good hint of cinnamon. Of course the bread was very good also.
Overall this was a pretty good meal in which the kids were more interested in coloring than eating. But coloring kept them occupied and quiet. Lil' Bud did tell us that he was coloring with yellow and he was correct.
Givn The Cotton Patch a 7.96. We'll be back.
Mitcho
©2014
It was about 7:30 by the time we got to The Cotton Patch. We had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for a table. Rockwall on Friday night is very crowded at every eating place there. The grands behaved marviously during the wait, which with Lil's Bud not being two yet, it is always a gamble. Of course his parents told us when they got home after their date that he had melted down right before we got there. So you never know. Anyway we were seated finally.
After some negotiation, the wifey decided we were splitting a Chicken Fried Steak and some sides. Of course she wanted to split two sides. So I negotiated up to 3 to split from. You know I have to win something every once in a while. So we ordered the CFS, mashed taters, green beans and cinnamon apples. We also ordered a meal for the two kids, of which they didn't hardly touch and it was macaroni and cheese and French fries.
On the menu, they indicate that the CFS is large and it was. After cutting it in half, it was about the right size. The CFS was breaded very nicely and the steak was pretty tender and tasty. The mashed taters had the peelings in them and some spices, they tasted pretty good. The green beans were for the wifey, so call her if you want to know what they tasted like. The cinnamon apples were very sweet with a good hint of cinnamon. Of course the bread was very good also.
Overall this was a pretty good meal in which the kids were more interested in coloring than eating. But coloring kept them occupied and quiet. Lil' Bud did tell us that he was coloring with yellow and he was correct.
Givn The Cotton Patch a 7.96. We'll be back.
Mitcho
©2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Mr. Teriyaki - Gus Thomasson & Town East next to Subway
Mr. Teriyaki is a small restaurant next to Subway. I have been eating in this restaurant for a few years. It has been probably a year since I have been here. Since I was here last, it has been remodeled and the employees are different. So it may be under new ownership. Since we are always looking for a new blog post, we decided to Shim Sham to Mr. Teriyaki.
I ordered the Orange Chicken lunch special. This comes with you guessed it, Orange Chicken, rice, egg roll and a drink. The Orange Chicken had a very tasty sauce that was thick and spicy. This was the best part of the meal. All of the chicken was dark meat chicken, which tasted ok, but I am a white meat chicken kind of guy. It did take about 15 minutes for them to cook the chicken and it was over the top hot the entire meal. Also each piece of chicken was 3 or 4 bites, yet you don't get a knife to cut the pieces into bite size. So it is a Bring Your Own Knife kind of place. BYOK. It's kind of like living in the Grove again.
The rice is rice. The egg roll had very little taste to it. After soaking it with the Orange Chicken sauce it was OK, but nothing exciting.
Of course being Chinese type food, an hour and a half later I was hungry again.
This is not a fast food, fast food kind of place.
Givn Mr. Teriyaki a raging hot 6.43
Mitcho
©2014
I ordered the Orange Chicken lunch special. This comes with you guessed it, Orange Chicken, rice, egg roll and a drink. The Orange Chicken had a very tasty sauce that was thick and spicy. This was the best part of the meal. All of the chicken was dark meat chicken, which tasted ok, but I am a white meat chicken kind of guy. It did take about 15 minutes for them to cook the chicken and it was over the top hot the entire meal. Also each piece of chicken was 3 or 4 bites, yet you don't get a knife to cut the pieces into bite size. So it is a Bring Your Own Knife kind of place. BYOK. It's kind of like living in the Grove again.
The rice is rice. The egg roll had very little taste to it. After soaking it with the Orange Chicken sauce it was OK, but nothing exciting.
Of course being Chinese type food, an hour and a half later I was hungry again.
This is not a fast food, fast food kind of place.
Givn Mr. Teriyaki a raging hot 6.43
Mitcho
©2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Fuddruckers - Rockwall
Yep, it was dinner time again. So the wifey asked if I wanted to go to Rockwall and eat with our grands. Duh!!! So we settled on Fuddruckers and called to see if they would join us. Of course when a free meal is coming, mom and dad are pretty special for a little while.
The Fuddruckers has not been open here very long. It is in a building with Luby's at I-30 and Hwy 205 (there is a Costco in this shopping center). NOTE: My receipt indicates I purchased the meal from Luby's, wrong.
So we did the Reggae to Rockwall. We met Bud, Precious and Lil' Bud. All the way there the wifey was promoting sharing a burger. Say what???? So at the end I made a stand for manhood and indicated I needed my own burger. I won tonight, that doesn't happen very often.
I ordered the 1/3 pound burger. They have about a dozen options to add to the burger for $1.00 per item. However, with the burger and sauce and veggie bar, you are going to get a pretty good burger. So when I got my burger I went directly to the sauce bar (you know, mustard, mayo, ketchup, cheese pump, etc.) It was near emergency. An employee there indicated that the cheese pump was empty. If you haven't figured out, the cheese pump is the whole reason you go to Fuddruckers. So I was desperate. I started hitting the cheese pump just to make sure there wasn't some goo left. I was lucky because it started pumping cheese and I pumped until my burger was covered. Off to the veggies bar for lettuce, onions, pickles., etc. The burger was a pretty good burger, not special but pretty good.
We also ordered wedge fries. They also have chili cheese fries, but I can see Lil' Bud now after eating them and he would be a major size mess. So we settled for wedge fries. These fries were pretty good, but not in my top five. You see, I like thin and crispy fries, not large and soft fries, aka wedge fries. So not overly exciting here.
The burger gets a 6.85 and the fries don't add to the score. If you go to Fuddruckers, when you get to the cheese pump, look around and see if I am there. If I am there, make sure you don't take all of the cheese please.
Mitcho
©2014
The Fuddruckers has not been open here very long. It is in a building with Luby's at I-30 and Hwy 205 (there is a Costco in this shopping center). NOTE: My receipt indicates I purchased the meal from Luby's, wrong.
So we did the Reggae to Rockwall. We met Bud, Precious and Lil' Bud. All the way there the wifey was promoting sharing a burger. Say what???? So at the end I made a stand for manhood and indicated I needed my own burger. I won tonight, that doesn't happen very often.
I ordered the 1/3 pound burger. They have about a dozen options to add to the burger for $1.00 per item. However, with the burger and sauce and veggie bar, you are going to get a pretty good burger. So when I got my burger I went directly to the sauce bar (you know, mustard, mayo, ketchup, cheese pump, etc.) It was near emergency. An employee there indicated that the cheese pump was empty. If you haven't figured out, the cheese pump is the whole reason you go to Fuddruckers. So I was desperate. I started hitting the cheese pump just to make sure there wasn't some goo left. I was lucky because it started pumping cheese and I pumped until my burger was covered. Off to the veggies bar for lettuce, onions, pickles., etc. The burger was a pretty good burger, not special but pretty good.
We also ordered wedge fries. They also have chili cheese fries, but I can see Lil' Bud now after eating them and he would be a major size mess. So we settled for wedge fries. These fries were pretty good, but not in my top five. You see, I like thin and crispy fries, not large and soft fries, aka wedge fries. So not overly exciting here.
The burger gets a 6.85 and the fries don't add to the score. If you go to Fuddruckers, when you get to the cheese pump, look around and see if I am there. If I am there, make sure you don't take all of the cheese please.
Mitcho
©2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
The Fried Pie Company - Gainesville, TX
By now, I am sure you know that Mitcho likes pie!!!!! So on Thursday, I had to see a client in Sherman. So I purposely scheduled the meeting so that I had time to get to Gainesville for lunch. You know for PIE. So the wifey and me did the Tribal Style Belly Dance all the way to Gainesville. I have been to The Fried Pie Co before for pie, but we have never eaten a meal there. So I figure it was only right that we eat there once.
So after a long period of negotiations in which I though I was going to have to bring in a lawyer to break the stalemate, we decided (yeah the wifey decided) that we would share a chicken fried steak and get our own pie. So we ordered the CFS. It came with potato salad and special beans.
We believe the CFS was a frozen chicken fried steak like something you would order from Schwans. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what we were expecting. The potato salad was a mustard potato salad which is a plus for Mitcho, but that's were the good ended. I also like some relish and maybe some onion to give it a crunch and more flavor. Not this potato salad. So it was overall ok, but nothing to look forward to. The special beans was a cheap version of pork & beans that seemed to be watered down. Enough said here. Overall, the entre/meal gets only a 5.0.
After all of this it was time to get it right with pie. The wifey ordered a chocolate fried pie and I ordered an apricot fried pie. The chocolate fried pie came with powdered sugar over it and after wifey commented about that, it was GONE. So I am thinking it must have been very good. The apricot fried pie had a very tasty crust and some really good apricot pie filling. The pie was about a handful, so it was good size also. The fried pies were a Mitcho get some more.
So my advice is, if you are in the Gainesville area, go by the The Fried Pie Co and buy two baker's dozens of friend pies. Bring one dozen by Mitcho's and I will reimburse you for your cost. Enjoy the other. Go by Whataburger for lunch either before or after.
Mitcho
©2014
So after a long period of negotiations in which I though I was going to have to bring in a lawyer to break the stalemate, we decided (yeah the wifey decided) that we would share a chicken fried steak and get our own pie. So we ordered the CFS. It came with potato salad and special beans.
We believe the CFS was a frozen chicken fried steak like something you would order from Schwans. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what we were expecting. The potato salad was a mustard potato salad which is a plus for Mitcho, but that's were the good ended. I also like some relish and maybe some onion to give it a crunch and more flavor. Not this potato salad. So it was overall ok, but nothing to look forward to. The special beans was a cheap version of pork & beans that seemed to be watered down. Enough said here. Overall, the entre/meal gets only a 5.0.
After all of this it was time to get it right with pie. The wifey ordered a chocolate fried pie and I ordered an apricot fried pie. The chocolate fried pie came with powdered sugar over it and after wifey commented about that, it was GONE. So I am thinking it must have been very good. The apricot fried pie had a very tasty crust and some really good apricot pie filling. The pie was about a handful, so it was good size also. The fried pies were a Mitcho get some more.
So my advice is, if you are in the Gainesville area, go by the The Fried Pie Co and buy two baker's dozens of friend pies. Bring one dozen by Mitcho's and I will reimburse you for your cost. Enjoy the other. Go by Whataburger for lunch either before or after.
Mitcho
©2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Dos Charros - Rowlett Rowlett Rd & 66
Today Chipper (aka Wifey) spent the afternoon keeping grands and shuttling them. So at dinner time we decided to meet half way so we decided Rowlett Rd & 66 was half way. Now we have to select a place to eat, which is not always easy, especially when you have 3 picky kids to feed. So by process of elimination we decided to do the Zumba to Dos Charros. If you decide to go there, good luck finding it the first time you go. It is located in a strip mall on the South West corner of the intersection. The strip mall is behind some other buildings so you most likely will not see it. Remember Location, Location, Location. So Chipper brought along Darlin, CBoss, Big Guy and Lil' Darlin. I don't know why but Lil' Darlin always wants to compare our stomachs and I bet she doesn't weigh 25 pounds soaking wet.
Since Chipper and Darlin was sharing a meal, I didn't have to worry about fighting off the sharing crisis. I ordered the Wednesday Special. This is a beef taco, cheese enchilada, cheese taco and rice. The taco was a good size with beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. The driving taste force in a taco is the meat. In this taco the meat's taste was limited and certainly not outstanding, but it was ok. The Cheese Enchilada was a cheddar kind of cheese with chili on top. This enchilada was pretty good, about normal for a Cheese Enchilada. The Cheese Taco had what must be nacho cheese filling with nacho cheese sauce over it. It also was pretty good but not outstanding. The rice was rice. The chips here were a little thicker than most places which gives a stronger crunch taste. The sauce was mediocre, but not bad.
The highlight of the meal was when CBoss informed me that the French fries had too much potatoes in them. Really?????? I am not sure how you reduce the amount of potatoes in French fries. If you have this awnser, send it to me.
Givin Dos Charros a 7.119.
Mitcho
©2014
Since Chipper and Darlin was sharing a meal, I didn't have to worry about fighting off the sharing crisis. I ordered the Wednesday Special. This is a beef taco, cheese enchilada, cheese taco and rice. The taco was a good size with beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. The driving taste force in a taco is the meat. In this taco the meat's taste was limited and certainly not outstanding, but it was ok. The Cheese Enchilada was a cheddar kind of cheese with chili on top. This enchilada was pretty good, about normal for a Cheese Enchilada. The Cheese Taco had what must be nacho cheese filling with nacho cheese sauce over it. It also was pretty good but not outstanding. The rice was rice. The chips here were a little thicker than most places which gives a stronger crunch taste. The sauce was mediocre, but not bad.
The highlight of the meal was when CBoss informed me that the French fries had too much potatoes in them. Really?????? I am not sure how you reduce the amount of potatoes in French fries. If you have this awnser, send it to me.
Givin Dos Charros a 7.119.
Mitcho
©2014
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