Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - Javier's

Javier's
4912 Cole Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75205
214.521.4211


I'm running a little behind with updates.. I had a hard drive die, and I've been pulling my hair out trying to get the data off it... long story there.

Anyway, this is a great Mexican Place on Cole Ave. It's listed as being Tex-mex, but the decor almost seems Spanish.

Waiting area

This place was a little difficult to find, and on a one way street. We had to turn around on a dead end street, and in the process of doing that, Valentina scraped the back of her new car on a pole. :(
Here she is not being happy about that.

Valentina, annoyed.


Chips, salsa and butter..


Valentina had the Carne Asada, and I had Chicken Fajitas. MmMmmmM...!

And margaritas of course! Because we needed a drink after our run in with the pole.. not that we wouldn't have had one anyway. :)

Chicken Fajitas


Carne Asada

And for dessert, Val had Tres Leches Cake, and I had the Key Lime pie.. as I am on a mission to find the best key lime pie in town. This was very good, but so far Kenny's is still winning.

Tres Leches Cake


Key Lime Pie and a margarita


After dinner, we took a little tour of the restaurant. Apparently this is one of the few places in town you can still smoke, as they have a smoking bar. And the place is full of dead animals. Because I seem to be attracted to weirdness I got lots of photos. :)

Dead Bear


Dead Waterbuffalo


Another Dead Bear

Dead Deer


Outdoor Patio


Selection of Cigars in the smoking area


Chandelier made of moose antlers


Smoking Bar


Dead Moose


Smoking Bar


Dead Warthog

Javier's 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Ok, when I was searching for the address of the restaurant I found this article. This was published shortly before we went there, and we hadn't heard this.

Popular Dallas Restaurant Manager Missing

A well-liked manager from a popular Dallas restaurant is missing. And the man's daughter is desperate for answers.

Jose 'Pepe" Ayala is the general manager of Javier's Gourmet Mexicano on Cole Avenue in Dallas.  He has not been seen for over two weeks, and emotions are running high for his daughter, Carmen. "When they called me that my dad was missing. I had no idea immediately I thought the worst. That I may never hear from him again,  may never see him again."

Carmen says Javier's is Ayala's life. He's a favorite among patrons and employees alike. "His employer told me that he was as dependable as the sun going down and the moon coming up. This is not him. This is out of character." 

Flyers are being passed out in Ayala's neighborhood, as well as at the restaurant he's worked at for nearly 30 years.  "I'm hoping for the best. I'm hoping to get his picture out there."

Ayala was last seen April 20 at his home near Northwest Highway and Jupiter.  He left behind his car, clothing and diabetes medication.  The only things missing were the garage remote control from his car and his wallet.  Dallas police have an open case file on this. They classify it as a 'want to locate' report.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - Cafe Madrid

Café Madrid
4501 Travis St
Dallas, Texas 75205
214.528.1731


This is another cool place off Knox. Cafe Madrid is a neat little Spanish place that serves Tapas. They also had live music.






We went ahead and did our Tapas-fest of insanely ordering everything we could. lol
And two glasses of Sangria. :)
We started off with a basket of bread and mixed Spanish olives. Then the different types of food just kept coming. :)

Bread and Olives

Then we had the Piquillo sweet red pepper stuffed with goat cheese, the spinach and cheese croquettes, and the shrimp in garlic sauce. The shrimp was ok for shrimp, but those spinach croquettes are food for the Gods. OMG.

Spinach Croquettes, Stuffed pepper and olives


 Grilled Shrimp

All the while we were eating, we were serenaded by a Spanish guitar player. Next course: The Spanish potato omelette, and the Chorizo in garlic and wine sauce.
Ok now.. seriously. If you EVER check this place out, get these two dishes. There aren't words to describe the absolute delishiousness. That is all.


Spanish Potato Omelette


 
Chorizo in garlic and wine

The dessert was noteworthy too. The Salvadore Dali Plate.
3 different choices: helado de turron (vanilla ice cream with some kind of tasty candy chips in it), Strawberries and creme, and flourless chocolate cake.

The Salvadore Dali Plate




I'd give it 5 stars just for the potatos and sausage!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen

Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen
6130 Luther Lane,
Dallas Tx, 75225
214.890.1103



This is a great place off Preston Rd. With the name of the place, I was actually expecting a diner. I didn't get great pictures because of the low light, but this place is beautiful. So I used some of their photos:








We started off splitting a bottle of wine. The 2006 Thomas Henry, Merlot. It was very nice. We need to do the bottle splitting more often.
And the mac and cheese. They have pretty good mac and cheese there. It doesn't make it onto my top 5, but it's definitely in the top 10. It's little half macaronis, onions and I'm pretty sure there was some pancetta in there. yummy.

Mac & cheese

After that, Valentina had the Woodgrilled Salmon, and I had the Beer battered shrimp and heirloom grits.

Salmon

Shrimp and heirloom grits

I can attest to the shrimp being delicious, and Valentina loved her salmon.

We ended the evening with the s'mores pie. Yummy chocolatey goodness. :)

s'mores pie!  mMmmMmmm....


I'd have to give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Brunch at Toulouse

Toulouse Café and Bar
3314 Knox Street
Dallas, Texas 75205
214.520.8999



Valentina at the cafe

Toulouse is this cute french cafe on Knox street. It's really nice. Right on the street. We were seated near the back and it was a nice day with a pretty view. Right off the bat we had horrible service. We found out afterward even though we were there at 11, our server wasn't on the clock until 11:30. And they didn't make a lot of effort to cover our table until he got there. Once he got there it was all good.. but that was weird.



We started off with your traditional brunch fare.. coffee and mimosas. Food of the gods. :)

Then I saw the weirdo. Unfortunately we were too far to the back of the cafe for me to get a picture of this freak. He was spectacular. lol

He appeared at first glance to be a guy working out on the street with his iPod.
Until he started dancing all over the street.. up one side.. down the other..like he was in his own private dance studio. Seriously. I need to go to brunch there again and hope he comes back so I can get some pictures. lol



Lunch was simple. Valentina and I both had the "Create your own Omelette", with Ham, Fontina Cheese, Gruyère Cheese, Spinach,Mushroom, Onions, and  Roasted Potatoes. Very yummy.

Create your own omelette

Beignets

Then we followed up with beignets with chocolate sauce. Afterward, some shopping of course. Then meetup. Meetup photos some other time.



3 1/2 out of 5 stars