Dallas On A Tuesday Night

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - Avila's Restaurant

2010-08-14T00:56:00.001-05:00

Avila's Restaurant
4714 Maple Avenue
Dallas Texas, 75219
214.520.2700

This is a little Tex-mex place on Maple Avenue. It's in a crummy little house next to a body shop. They've been closed for remodeling and have reopened. The decor is cute on the inside.

Margaritas on the rocks! They don't make the frozen ones. Valentina said they taste just like the ones her mom makes.

Margarita Rox

The obligatory chips and salsa.

Valentina perusing the menu..

Valentina ordered the Chili Relleno, and I got the Spinach Quesadillas. Very tasty!

Chili Relleno

Spinach Quesadillas

There was this thing on the wall behind us.. I guess it's a religious icon of some kind. I said I thought it looked like a Klingon battle cruiser. Valentina called me an enormous geek. lol

Religious Klingon Battle Cruiser

And behind us at another table there was a guy with no hands. Just hooks. I got his picture unintentionally when I took a shot of the room.

Hook Man

And these are from some type of fortune telling deck.

We skipped dessert. There was nothing either of us really liked.

3 out of 5 stars.

Afterwards.. more shopping!! I needed some stuff from Sephora.
So back to Northpark. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Friggin hideous.

Can anything be uglier than this?

Tacky 80's retread

This outfit is so ugly someone threw paint at it.

More lame hipster fashion. I'd like to know who told hipsters that dressing like homeless clowns is "cool and unique".

Back at one of our favorite stores.. Anthropologie.
Here's a lamp made of a stump painted silver. It's weird but I sort of like it. lol

Stump lamp

And I love this dress. Very Marilyn Monroe.

A couple outfits Valentina likes. :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - The Oceanaire

2010-08-13T23:54:00.003-05:00

The Oceanaire
13340 Dallas pkwy, Suite 1369
Dallas Texas, 75240
972.759.2277
The Galleria

Atmosphere-wise, this is one of my favorite places to date. It looks like a cruise liner from the 1930's. Everything's Art Deco. Even the fixtures in the bathrooms. You almost expect Fred and Ginger to jump out and start tap dancing at any moment. Though I actually preferred Fred Astaire with Eleanor Powell. She was a much better dancer than Ginger.

Women's bathroom

Women's bathroom

Alrighty then... we start with drinks. I had a Shiner, and Valentina had a glass of Riesling. Our waiter Bobby, brought us some bread. Bobby provides very good service. Go Bobby!

Valentina ordered the crab cake and some clam chowder as appetizers. The crab cake was amazing. You have to try it if you go there.

Clam chowder, crab cake and bread

For dinner Val had the "Black and Bleu" Texas Redfish. According to her, it was amazing! I had a wedge salad again this time around. I love Blue cheese, and I haven't had too much appetite lately with this damned heat we're having, so salad was just right.

"Black and Bleu" Texas Redfish

Wedge salad

Did we get dessert? Why of course we did! Big surprise right? ;)
I ordered Key Lime pie (because I can't resist Key Lime Pie,EVER), and Val ordered a "Chocolate Chip Cookie Pecan Ball". That seemed to be pecan ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies with some fudge sauce over it. She couldn't finish it and couldn't take it home for later because it was melty. :)

Ok.. the Key Lime Pie.. they brought me out a piece of pie that was GIGANTIC. It was the size of 3 regular sized pieces. I took most of it home, and I'm still working on it actually. I got a pic of it next to my iPhone so you can get an idea of the size.

On top of that it came with a huge knife sticking out of it.
I wondered if that was some kind of threat from the kitchen. "You'd better like the pie, or ELSE!". lol

Bobby explained that it's so multiple people can share it. Which makes sense since it's the size of a small dog.

Here's Valentina going all "Michael Meyers" on me with the pie knife. :)

I keel you!

Excellent all around! 4 out of 5 stars.
(Valentina would give it 5 stars. I almost never do 5 stars unless the food is orgasmic or something. lol.. in case my grading scale is confusing. ;) )

Afterwards,we weren't ready to go home.. and we WERE at the Galleria.. so... you guessed it.. window shopping!!
Ok.. we're getting a little bored with the shopping too, so if anyone can think of something we can go do in Dallas after 8pm, that doesn't involve eating or drinking anything, please feel free to comment.

However, I do love taking photos of the "tacky and overpriced" that is considered fashion these days.

gag!

Shiny!

Trying on shoes again.. Valentina has on these old fashioned "fully fashioned" stockings. I know some people are really into them, but I don't really get the appeal. They always bunch up at the ankles like granny stockings. Wait.. I guess they are granny stockings.

I also ragged on her because she has at least 3 pairs of shoes in this exact same style. She keeps trying on the same shoes. :)
"But they're comfortable!" lol

Val likes this outfit. :)
she wears a lot of black.

And I like these shoes. They look like they'd go great with a vintage dress or vintage costume jewelry (which I collect).

Stay tuned for next week's adventure!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - Victory Tavern

2010-08-13T21:33:00.000-05:00

Victory Tavern
2551 N. Houston St.
Dallas Texas, 75201

This place is right next to the American Airlines Center. When we got there we walked around the corner because we could hear some event going on. Ringling Brothers was set up outside and they were doing magic for some kids and had some creepy clowns performing.

I was actually expecting this to be a tavern. lol
It's a nice modern restaurant with a lot of wood. It's very pretty, but it was really dead in there. I don't know if that's normal for Tuesdays or if Ringling Brothers had something to do with it.

Valentina ordered the Chips with Maytag blue cheese sauce to start, and I ordered a side of mac and cheese. Which was huge.
Both of them were just "ok". I had a few bites of the mac and took the rest home for lunch the next day. The cheese sauce on the chips sort of had an odd taste and the chips get soggy really fast, but it was decent.

Chips and Maytag blue cheese

Mac and Cheese

For dinner Valentina got the Petite tenderloin, and I just got a wedge salad. I can't seem to get enough blue cheese lately. :)
I believe Val enjoyed hers, but she needs to weigh in here. (AHEM!)

Petite Tenderloin

Wedge salad

For dessert we split a piece of lemon pie. Which was VERY good.

Lemon Pie

It was mostly a good experience but they also had bad music playing. The restaurant is nice and clean and the service is good. I thought the food was good too, but I don't think it makes my top 10 places.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - Blue Mesa Grill

2010-08-08T22:48:00.000-05:00

Blue Mesa Grill
7700 W. Northwest Highway
Dallas, TX 75225
214.378.8686

This is a really cute place. Serving "Southwestern cuisine". The pretentious way of saying Mexican food. It's right across from Northpark mall. It's nicely decorated and there's a huge bar. They have 4.00 happy hour drinks, and they serve free quesadillas during happy hour. You can fill up for free and you don't have to go get a table.
It's just a teeny bit too trendy for me though, and the music they played in the restaurant was some awful techno crap. I would go back for the food. :)

We started off with some drinks and appetizers. She got a Mojito and I had a blue margarita. And then I got some queso and Valentina ordered a side of guacamole. The guacamole is cool in that a guy comes to your table and makes it right there. Not that I'd eat that.. stuff. :)
The bad thing is, I figured out later, that it ends up being around 8 servings of avocado and probably around 10,000 calories. :)
Valentina got a side and a half. lol

Mojito and Blue Margarita

Queso (Bad washed out photo. It isn't actually white) lol

Guacamole bar

Waiter making guacamole

Guacamole

For dinner Valentina ordered the Mesa Sampler and I ordered the goat cheese enchiladas. Which were FABULOUS. It's a big portion though and I ate half of them for lunch the next day.
Her sampler came with some type of hot pepper jelly which nearly set her mouth on fire when she tried it. Wish I'd gotten a picture. It's fun to get snaps of her when she's just eaten something hot that she doesn't realize is going to be hot. hehe

Mesa sampler

Goat cheese enchiladas

Big painting of a jar full of fish.

I'd rate this 4 out of 5 stars for the food, but I have to subtract half a point for all the hipsters and the heinous music. 3 1/2 stars.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - The Mercury Grill

2010-08-08T22:14:00.001-05:00

The Mercury Grill
11909 Preston Road Suite 1418
Dallas, TX 75240
972.960.7774

This is one of those places that's supposed to be in with the restaurant crowd. Chefs will come here on their evenings off. I thought it was good, but I wasn't blown away by it. Chris Ward is their chef. He's won all kinds of awards.

To start with, they brought us butter and paté. I recognized the paté, but I was trying to figure out what the yellow stuff was, and Valentina was laughing at me because it was just butter. :)
In my defense, I've never seen butter served like that before. hehe

Paté and Butter

And of course..alcohol! woo! Valentina ordered a martini, and I ended up ordering one too because they didn't make any of my favorites.

Good Martoonies

We started off with the pan seared shrimp with jalapeno cheese grits. Completely tasty! I also ordered a side of macaroni and cheese... In my quest to find the best mac and cheese. We wanted it with the shrimp but the waiter didn't bring it until the entrees were ready.

Pan seared shrimp and jalapeno cheese grits.

Afterwards Valentina had the Salmon, and I thought.. I'll eat light and just try appetizers so I ordered the Tagliolini Gratinati al Prosciutto. I had no idea what that was, and it turned out to be angel hair pasta in creme sauce with proscuitto. So with the mac and cheese I had a huge carb fest. lol
I need to learn some Italian. Oh, and the mac and cheese was just OK.

Mac and Cheese

Tagliolini Gratinati al Prosciutto

Crisped Salmon (looks barbequed to me)

Bad photo of the inside of the restaurant.

Ugly vase near our table.

Our waiter that night was a disaster. I really think this was his first serving job. He'd come and do nitpicky little things for us, like changing our martinis into cold glasses, but then he'd ignore us the rest of the time. He never came back to see if we needed anything, and it took him forever to bring us take out boxes, the dessert menu and the check.

Ok, the desserts.. Valentina had the lava cake and I've already forgotten what mine was called, but basically it was a rice crispy bar with some kind of weird foam on it, some hazlenut ice cream and a little chocolate cake with chocolate mousse on it.

Lava cake

Unknown dessert. lol

Ok.. I have no idea whos idea this was, but the little mousse cake thing looked like a pile of poo. lol
I took a camera phone picture of this thing and I think I texted it to everyone I knew.

chocolate mousse/poo

I'd rate it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Afterwards we headed over to Northpark to window shop. Which always ends up turning into actual shopping because we're drawn like a magnet to Nordstrom's shoe department.
Where we found (and both bought) the cutest shoes in the world. :)

Tuesday, July 5, 2010 - Herrera's Mexican Cafe

2010-07-08T00:57:00.002-05:00

Herrera's Mexican Cafe
4001 Maple Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75219
214.528.9644

We had to go on Monday this time instead of Tuesday. Valentina had to work. This is a great "hole in the wall" Tex-mex restaurant, and a Dallas landmark, so to speak. It's another old establishment that doesn't have a website. The building is a little dumpy but the food is fantastic.

Margaritas to start, of course. Valentina orders a swirl. Ok, the margaritas.. not good. They're too sweet, and you can't taste any alcohol.

She's such a tease.. ;)

The salsa is really excellent. Both of us ordered the "Larry" special. Which is one cheese enchilada with chili sauce, one Sour cream chicken enchilada, and one green chili enchilada. OMG, this was cheesy ambrosia of the gods! They might just be beating out Ojeda's here (which is my absolute favorite). I have to order the cheese enchiladas there first to compare. I always get puffed tacos. Next time I'm here though, I'm going to get a whole order of those chili cheese enchiladas and wallow in them.

The "Larry"

Valentina ordered a side of guacamole, and the waitress recommended she order the guacamole on a tostada instead of the side, because apparently it's the same amount of guacamole and it's about 2 dollars cheaper. Just keep that green sh*t away from me. :)

Guacamole tostada

Ok, this is the funniest picture. Valentina wasn't posing here. She thought I was taking a picture of the plate and this is what she was doing with her silverware while she was waiting on me. She didn't realize she was in the photo. Of course this is a shot I couldn't resist. :)

lol

And Sopapillas for dessert. Oheda's definitely has better sopapillas.

4 out of 5 stars

oh, and this was a big news item a couple years ago...

Mike Herrera, of Dallas restaurant chain Herrera’s, dies at Parkland Hospital

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

DALLAS — Michael L. "Mike" Herrera, 58, of Dallas Herrera's Restaurants chain, died Saturday at Parkland Hospital, after waiting nearly 19 hours to be seen.

He came to the emergency room on Friday afternoon because he felt a sharp abdominal pain while golfing -- he had a hernia -- but had no health insurance and wasn't suffering from an urgent injury such as a gunshot wound, so he kept getting bumped back in line. Friends and family came to visit him while he waited. On Saturday morning at 11 a.m., he was on his way to an examination room when he began vomiting and collapsed. Doctors tried to revive him for almost two hours.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - Afrah Mediterranean Restaurant

2010-07-08T00:09:00.002-05:00

Afrah Mediterranean Restaurant

314 E Main St
Richardson, TX
75081-6045

972.234.9898

Great Mediterranean style food in Richardson, Tx. This is another cafeteria style place. It's not much to look at but the food more than makes up for it.

We started off with mint tea. It's really similar to mint tea we used to get at a place called Cafe Marrakesh, that isn't open anymore.
The tea isn't sweet here though, and it was at Marrakesh. I counted how many spoons of sugar it took before it tasted the same. 4 and 1/2! for one cup. eep!
And we used to drink pots of the stuff.

Valentina and the mint tea

Valentina started with an order of Tabbouli. She loves this stuff, but it sort of tastes like lemon flavored parsley to me. I can take it or leave it.

Tabbouli

After that, we both ordered the Shish Tawook.. which is basically chicken kababs, and they came with your choice of sides. I got hummus and fattoush which is a type of salad, and Valentina had hummus and baba ghannouj, which is sort of a baked eggplant. It came with turnips and a fabulous garlic sauce.

Fattoush

Shish Tawook with hummus and baba ghannouj

Shish Tawook with hummus

MmMMmmmmmm....

These are turnips. Why and how they dye them fuschia I have no idea. But it's a little disturbing.

Just about this time, they seated a couple at the table beside us with a toddler about 2 years old. A screaming toddler. And the woman was egging him on.. teasing him with pieces of food and making him scream louder. So I feel a rant coming on...
lady, people aren't looking at you because they think you're funny or your baby is cute. They're thinking up ways to kill you. Even the occasional woman who might come up and tell you how cute your baby is.. she doesn't mean it.. she's trying to gauge whether or not her fellow diners will turn her in if she stabs you and the kid with a butter knife once she's in range. No one wants to go out and spend 30 to 100 dollars on a nice evening, to have their peace and quiet ruined by your screaming spawn. If an adult screamed non stop in a restaurant they'd be asked to leave. ..And that also goes for you brainiacs who bring your kids to R rated movies and let them run up and down the aisles. Take your cheap asses home and hire a baby sitter. rant over.

Dessert was awesome! Except we had to eat it over the sound of screaming.
They have all kinds of different flavors of baklava and gelato.
We both went for the pistachio baklava and coffee flavored gelato. It's worth going there just for the dessert.

pistachio baklava

baklava and coffee gelato

Afterwards we drove down the street to TGI Fridays to get a drink. We both left with a headache from the screaming. Afrah doesn't serve alcohol.

4 out of 5 stars (for the food)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - Pizza By Marco

2010-07-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

Pizza By Marco

10720 Preston, Suite 1014
Dallas, TX 75230
214.363.6122

Apparently they are the oldest "pizzeria" in Dallas.(According to them)

Frank, the son of Marco, is the only person who knows the secret spices that go into the sauce and dough which he makes fresh daily.(according to them) Since 1956, they've been voted as having the best pizza in Dallas by over 30 publications and websites. Citysearch just recently awarded them "the best pizza in Dallas for 2009". No other pizza in Texas has won more awards.(according to them)...

Valentina and George

Ah, just being snarky.. ;)

It was actually very good pizza. Their Preston location hasn't got any seating though, so you have to take it to go. I don't know if I'd rate it "best"... Carmine's is pretty amazing also.

Our friend George came to hang out with us, so we took the food back to Valentina's office.

Valentina, enjoying her salad

Sorry, ended up with crappy iPhone pictures for the rest of it.

Valentina had some red wine also, which went well with it all.

We split a Feta salad, an Augustus pizza, and a pizza with pepperoni, black olives, green olives and jalapenos. While we sat around kidding each other and drinking too much.

Feta salad

Augustus pizza

Pepperoni, green olives and peppers

Ok here's George, having the only drink I've ever seen him have.

salud!

to good ideas. ;)

3 1/2 out of 5 stars for the pizza, 5 stars for the company! :)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - Sweet Georgia Brown BBQ Buffet

2010-07-06T21:21:00.003-05:00

Sweet Georgia Brown BBQ and Soul Food Buffet
2840 East Ledbetter Drive
Dallas, TX 75216-7516
214.375.2020

Apparently this soul food place is a chain. I wouldn't have guessed it. It looks like it's in a building that used to be something else, so I thought it was a local place. And they don't seem to have a website so I put in a mapquest link.

Anyway, this place is awesome. It's cafeteria style and you get practically a trough of food for the same price you'd pay for an average meal at a chili's or other comparable chain.

The food is SO good. And it should be, because you can live on one of their plates of food for 3 days. I ate until I was stuffed and the container was still full when I finished.

Ok, Valentina had beef tips in gravy, sweet potato casserole, broccoli cheese rice casserole, black eyed peas, corn bread.. and some thing I am not remembering.. cabbage?

Beef tips in gravy, sweet potatoes, and broccoli rice casserole

I had the BBQ sausage, mashed potatoes and gravy with beef tips, and broccoli cheese rice casserole. And I snagged some of Valentina's cornbread.

BBQ Sausage, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli rice casserole

For dessert they have soft serve vanilla ice cream.. all you can eat, for free.
And they can give it away because after you've had one of their meals, you're not getting much ice cream in there.

soft serve

awesomeness.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars. The food rates higher, but I had to take 1/2 point for general atmospheric grunginess.

We went out a little earlier than usual because we had to drive to Oak Cliff, so we were finished fairly early and looking for ways to entertain ourselves... so of course.. shopping! Our home away from home, NorthPark Center. woo!

Actually more like "window shopping for weirdness".
And I always manage to find some. At Anthropologie. :)

Yes, they want 50 bucks for this craptastic piece.

windchimes made of cut off bottles.

Anyone remember the Ronco bottle cutter? We had one, because of course everyone desires candle holders made out of used bottles. We were thinking green in the 70's.. ;) All we ever did was get glass dust all over ourselves.

pieces of broken scrap wood painted black and priced 800 dollars! marked down to 350. dang!

I don't even know. It looks like a craft project from the 50's

Not weird. I love this bed. It looks like a canopy of trees

Still trying to figure this one out.. a lopsided bottle with the end cut off, and a rope around its neck.

Next we headed to Barneys and they had all kinds of fun weirdness for us. They had these essential oil candle scents (that I didn't take pictures of dammit), and I swear all of them but one, smelled like ass. I did manage to record some other fun stuff for you. :)

weird expensive jars that look like inflated, decapitated heads

decapitated head in a jar plate. I really should have looked at the prices because I'm so curious about this one now.

Kitty. I like it.

skull candles with lizards wrapped around their heads... or are they gila monsters?

This is a stick up! Hand over your garden tools and no one gets hurt!

Call this guy an "asshat" and he might take it literally

A too short, foray into the shoe department.. Valentina wearing a pair of 2,100 Christian Louboutins, marked down to 1,200. Me wants! I tried them too. Lovely.

Christian Louboutin

Because everyone needs resin armadillos that hold stuff.

If you've bought one of these, you might just be a redneck.

And last but not least, some tidbits from this marketing gem.

Anyone want a little head? ha! sorry, couldn't resist.

alrighty then.....

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - Javier's

2010-06-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

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

Close

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

2010-06-07T22:45:00.003-05:00

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

2010-06-07T22:01:00.001-05:00

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

2010-06-07T21:18:00.000-05:00

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

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - The Landmark

2010-05-24T21:32:00.005-05:00

The Landmark
3015 Oak Lawn Ave.
Dallas, Tx 75219

The Melrose

The Landmark is a restaurant inside another landmark. The Melrose hotel...A brick Chicago style apartment hotel designed by Dallas architect C.D. Hill. It has been a visual and social focal point for the Oak Lawn neighborhood since its opening in 1924.
Several years ago it was completely renovated.

The other cool place inside is a piano bar called The Library. It's literally set up to look like a library. I used to go there all the time in the 90’s.. which is another long story... ANYWAY, The Landmark.

The Library

This is a beautiful, tastefully decorated place. It reminds me of Chez Quis, that snooty french restaurant in "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" where he poses as Abe Froman the sausage king. Lol

I thought it was oddly empty, but that might be common on Tuesdays.

Jennifer was our server, and she's excellent. If you go, request Jennifer!

This is copied directly from their website: “The Warwick Melrose Hotel, Dallas culinary team has been honored with the AAA Four Diamond award the prestigious DiRoNA award and the Wine Spectator award.”.. so.. .the food is award winning! Word!

Drinks to start. We're usually needing a drink by the time Tuesday rolls around.

Valentina and I both had their special, which is an appetizer, an entrée, a dessert, and a glass of wine for 30 dollars.

To start, Valentina had the Tuna tartare, and I had the wedge salad. The wedge is bacon, tomatoes and blue cheese dressing over a lettuce wedge. Anything that has bacon in it ranks pretty high up there in my book.

Val can tell you about the tuna, because I don't do raw tuna, thanks.

Tuna Tartare

Wedge Salad

For dinner we both had the Angus filet, with potato pierogi, roasted mushrooms and a cabernet demi glace. OMG.. lovely.

A nice table

Angus filet and pierogi

We had the Penfolds Merlot to go with that.

Pierogi. One of my favorites. Seriously. I can eat my weight in these things. These were good but not quite what I am used to. They’re usually made of potato dough and these were pasta.

Dessert was the “My adult cupcake” for both of us.
It’s a chocolate cupcake filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate mousse. This was wonderful chocolately heaven!

My Adult Cupcake

Throughout the evening Jennifer was bringing us little things to taste. One she called an "amuse-bouche" Which was a little spoonful of fruits and bacon if I remember... something like this:

Amuse-bouche (ours didn't sit there long enough to be photographed)

This was along the same line.. a little after dinner macaroon.

Macaroons.

All in all, a wonderful experience except for the muzac. Which. Was. Bad.

Really bad.

Really REALLY bad.

Like A Summer Place and Dr. Zhivago, bad.

Like 60 years out of date, bad.

Can you tell we thought it was bad? ;)

Afterwards we weren’t ready to leave so we headed to the Library for a couple drinks, and bribed the piano player to play a couple songs for us. I think it was Erik Barnes. :)

The Library

The Landmark.. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Afterwards we went back to Valentina's office, where I had the brilliant idea to add more RAM to her laptop. Not realizing the one that needed replacing was in the middle of the machine and I'd completely have to take it apart.
It's done though! :)

David, up to his usual hijinks.

Because I just don't know when to stop. :)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - The Angry Dog

2010-05-24T20:04:00.002-05:00

The Angry Dog

2726 Commerce, Deep Ellum
Dallas, Texas, 75226

This one of those little Dallas dive bar landmarks that’s been around forever. The building, not the restaurant. The building is old.. it looks like it’s from the 30’s at least, but I couldn’t find any information about what it was originally used for.

Eatin at the Angry Dog.. it’s hard to say that with a straight face.
Apparently their claims to fame are the “men’s room art”, and 100 different kinds of bottled beer. I couldn’t check out the men’s room obviously, so if any of you guys out there go, I’d appreciate some photos. Lol

They had all sorts of promo items too. I thought about buying a T shirt, because they’re cool. But my stomach bloated up and constricted my brain and I forgot.

Valentina and I both had cheeseburgers, and we split an “Angry Dog”, which is their signature entrée. It’s basically a big smothered chili cheese dog.

Cheeseburger. With bacon. Just because.

Valentina gets to be the cheeseburger eatin' subject of this photo. :D

The Angry Dog. Greasy Heaven.

We had terrific service, but our waiter looked like a tropical fish. (think big fin on his head)

Everything was really really good. I should have ordered the Angry Dog instead of the burger, because I liked it better even though the burger was great.

Note to self: DON’T help eat another entrée when you’re already full.

After that, we went and walked around a little because personally I thought I was going to split in half and die.

Val had only eaten once that day though, so she decided she had room for ice cream. (There was that empty space in there somewhere near the end of her leg). ????????

We walked to a place across the street so she could order a milkshake. I’m not going to be specific about where, because it’s on our list of places to visit another time.

Some kind of Amaretto milkshake..which I will probably be having when we review this place.

I was a little nervous, because no matter where you seemed to walk down there, someone was trying to hit you up for money. As you can see, it's kind of a craptastic neighborhood.

We also stopped in to check out Adair's. It's a little bar that has been open in Dallas since the 30’s or 40’s.

Adair's

And then there's a weird little taco bar.

Sol's Taco Lounge

I was trying to figure out what they're selling here.. filet of arm?

Ah lovely Dallas. :)

Dallas skyline viewed from Deep Ellum.

The Angry Dog 3 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - Cafe Izmir

2010-05-10T22:19:00.003-05:00

Cafe Izmir

3711 Greenville Ave.

Dallas Tx, 75206

214.826.7788

I liked this place. They say it's "Mediterranean" food, but it reminds me of greek food. It might mean the same thing for all I know.

Tuesday night they have discount Tapas and 15$ pitchers of Sangria. The Tapas were great. Don't waste your time with the Sangria. It tasted like wine flavored water. We drank an entire pitcher.. about 3 glasses each and I didn't even get the slightest buzz. I'm never looking to get flat out drunk, but I like the alcohol to relax me a little, and I don't think there was alcohol in that at all.

We were seated at a tiny little table in the very back. The waiter was great and seated us earlier than we thought we'd get in. The tables are tiny though, and you're packed in... practically in other people's laps. The noise level isn't bad.
I took a photo out from our little cubby, and this Aussie guy next to us was like "WTF"? lol

Slightly annoyed Aussie guy. lol

We started off with an order of Hummus.. which Valentina swears is the best Hummus EVER.

After we annihilated the Hummus, we ordered an array of Tapas, which are like little appetizers.

Greek Olives, Tabouli, and Russian Chicken Salad

I ordered: Greek Olives, Russian Chicken Salad, marinated Asparagus, Chicken kabobs, and Piroshki.

Valentina ordered: Greek Olives, Tabouli, Grilled Vegetables, Chicken kabobs, and Piroshki.

Piroshki, Chicken Kabobs, Asparagus, Greek Olives

Those Piroshki are HEAVEN on a plate. Meat and vegetables in a thin fried crust. They're very similar to egg rolls. I ordered extra and took them home for lunch for the next day.

The chicken kabobs were tasty and a little spicy.

The asparagus were good but slightly undercooked.

Greek olives, always a winner. Valentina has to weigh in on the grilled veggies. She took those home, so I never heard if they were any good.

Grilled vegetables

After dinner we had two Turkish coffees and something called the Izmir dessert special.

Turkish Coffee

The coffees were lovely.. sort of chocolatey. And the dessert was great. MmMM..
It was ice cream layered over cake, baklava, and strawberries. We shared one, and it's a good thing, or we wouldn't have made it out alive.

Izmir Dessert special

Oh that dessert was terrible.. we sent the leftover back to the kitchen. ;)

Seriously though, we probably would have licked it clean if we hadn't been in public. ha!

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - Bubba's Cooks Country

2010-04-28T23:48:00.002-05:00

Bubba's Cooks Country
6617 Hillcrest
Dallas, Texas 75205
214.373.6527

This place is an old favorite of mine. Not the absolute best food in the world, but pretty good southern cooking.
Comfort food! mmmMM...

The inside looks like an old 50's diner.

Good old standards... :)

David came along with us again on this one.

Valentina and I had fried chicken strips, mashed potatos, and green beans. mmm....

Chicken strips dinner

Valentina, incognito with her chicken

David had the fried catfish, okra and tomatos, and squash casserole.

Catfish dinner

Mmmm.. that roll smells good. ;)

Afterwards there was cherry cobbler for dessert.. mmMmmmmm!

cherry cobbler

Good cherry cobbler..

And a little something to go, for lunch the next day. :)

No, there is no escape from the camera.... MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

3 out of 5 stars.

Ok... so.. many of our dinners seem to end up with little shopping forays afterward.
Valentina and David decided to help me out with a little project I'm doing for work, so off to the craft store we go.
I'll post pictures of that next week, once we get everything set up at work.

And THIS is what happens when two hammy actors find the silly hats section of the Michael's....

DAHLING!

getting ready to flip burgers..

He's very handy..

grrrrrrr!!!!

Nurse Val thinks that injury is going to be fatal..

Of course they get me to participate.. I look like I'm high.

It's a bird! It's a plane!... no wait... it's a bird.

*sigh*

I keel you!!

No! I keela YOU!

Woops.. shoulda ducked!

In case you missed our rousing (ha!) entry about Vajazzling several weeks ago, David made a design suggestion if Valentina was thinking about vajazzling her hooha. lol

I'll get him back...

Ah.. so much fun, so little time.. :)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - Suze

2010-04-25T00:42:00.005-05:00

Suze
4345 West Northwest Highway
Dallas, TX 75220-3807
214.350.6135

This is a cool little place crammed into a corner of a strip shopping center at the corner of Midway and Northwest Highway.
The weird thing is the more nice restaurants we visit, the more they all are starting to look alike on the inside...kind of modern/pretentious..lol

The food was very good though.

We started off with fried green tomatoes and some wine. Valentina likes Riesling, so she had that, and I had a glass of Merlot.
This is the second place we've had fried green tomatoes and these are better.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I had the Porcini Papardelle Pasta which was ground veal, noodles and Spanish Manchego cheese. It reminded me of a much tastier kind of hamburger helper. lol

Porcini Papardelle Pasta

Valentina tried an assortment of appetizers instead of an entree. She tried the Kobe Beef Carpaccio, the Sayklay salad, and the Shaved Brussels Sprouts.

I thought the Kobe Beef was some crackers sitting on a little lake of sauce. lol
That's what it looked like! But it was a slice of beef shaved razor thin.

Kobe Beef Carpaccio

Shaved Brussel Sprouts

Sayklay salad

Valentina discovers her Sayklay salad is spicy.

For dessert I had the berry and pear cobbler. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures. :(
This thing was huge.. a trough of cobbler. I ate part of it and it took me two days to eat the rest.

Valentina had something called a chocolate gob. Which was vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake, and a stick of Hazlenet tuille. And if you know what that is, you're more ahead of the game than we are. ha!

Tune in next week, kids!

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - Hector's On Henderson

2010-04-15T01:00:00.004-05:00

Hector's On Henderson
2929 N. Henderson
Dallas, Texas 75206
214.821.0432

This is a FANTASTIC place! I enjoyed every minute.

Of all the places we've been so far, we had the absolute BEST service here.
James was our waiter, but Hector came and took care of us himself for much of the evening!

It's a cosy little place with modern but warm decor.

Everything was fantastic right down to the drinks!

Valentina had the trout. (It was PERFECT! SOOOO good......Val)

I had the lite 7.5 oz filet..Very tasty.

We also split a side of mac and cheese and a side of cheese grits. I have to go back for both of those. The mac and cheese was a little peppery. Delicious!
I have to remember to photograph my food before I start to demolish it.. lol
Val hadn't started on hers yet though so I got a nice one.

Trout

7.5 oz Filet. It did look much lovelier than this photo. lol

Cheese grits

Mac and Cheese

Afterwards she had the Tiramisu, I had the moon pie. Which is a moon pie layered with fruit and chocolate sauce. It was huge. I had half of it for breakfast. Sugarfest.. breakfast of champions. ;)

Tiramisu

Moon Pie

Okey... after all the bazillions of photos I've taken of Valentina, she finally got a little camera revenge on me. Which is NOT fair because she's photogenic and I'm NOT. And most of the time she is paying me to take the photos too. lol (photogenic? I just look old and chubby...Val)

uh.. ok..

Enough already... (I love this glare!!! The Evil Niki Eye....Val)

talk to the hand...

ahhhhh......

Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

Nyah! lol (See? Old, tired, chubby. Yuck....Val)

Hector was really sweet and took a photo with us as we were leaving.

5 stars! (Yes, 5 stars! Hector is adorable, and this was a perfect evening! Val)

And we walked down the street and peeked in the windows of the antique shops. No goofing off at the shop though, I didn't feel very well.. allergies?

If it's weird, I'll photograph it.

Anyway you the reader were spared our late night shenannigans. ;)

Let's Go Shoot Something!

2010-04-15T00:33:00.002-05:00

I'd like to get my concealed carry license, and Valentina had never fired a gun at all, so we headed out to the firing range at Target Masters with our friend George. :)

Firing a 9mm glock that I rented.

Me, looking really happy about blowing some stuff to pieces. :)

Valentina firing George's 45 Glock. She was really funny. We didn't think we were going to get her to fire it at ALL. She heard the noise, and was like NOOOO.... lol
I talked her into just doing it once though, and then she saw it wasn't so scary.
(It was FUN! I decided that a Native Texan really should know how to handle a firearm, and I hate being a weenie! I couldn't believe how noisy that place was......................Val)

George, making us both look bad. ;) (George is the COOLEST person I know!........Val)

No idea what he was telling me here.. probably to point it AWAY from HIM. lol

Valentina, still a little scared of the gun.. see the cringe? ;)
George's 45 shot every other shell backwards into your forehead, and she got the shell to the forehead every time. lol (How come in the movies you never see those shells bopping the Hero in the face??? It's very hard to look cool with that happening...................Val)

VERY nice man in the stall next to us let me play with his really LARGE shotgun. lol

He's showing me how to hold it.

Me shooting it. The barrel was so long I could barely get my fingers in the strap. It kicks backwards not up. I want one! A shorter one. LOL

Shotgun blown to hell. lol

George telling me to lean forward.

He made me shoot it one handed with my right hand. I'm left handed so it was pretty shaky. I could barely aim it.

The obligatory redneck stuffed possum.

Stay tuned for next week kids, when we do it again! wooo!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - Cafe Istanbul

2010-04-14T23:36:00.010-05:00

Cafe Istanbul
Inwood Village
5450 W. Lovers Lane
Dallas, Tx
214.902.0919

This is a cute little place with a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately it was still a little too windy to sit out on the patio which looked amazing.

Valentina ran into one of her clients before we could even get the order in...she's so famous. ;)

The place was covered in old fashioned evil eye charms!

David joined us for this outing.

David had Manti - Grandma's homemade dumplings, filled with tender lamb and fresh mint, simmered to perfection and served with a drizzle of garlic yogurt sauce.

Manti

Valentina had Istanbul Doner - Seasoned beef and lamb marinated overnight in a centuries old tradition accompanied with Turkish rice pilaf.

Istanbul Donner

I had the Adana Kebab - Homemade blend of lamb and beef minced in-house to tenderize, charbroiled on a skewer and accompanied with traditional pilaf, red cabbage salad and onions.

Adana Kebab

And Baklava for dessert...

Baklava

David had Kayisi Tatlisi - Dry apricots filled with light cream and served with a drizzle of walnuts.

Kayisi Tatlisi

Can you tell I copied all this right off the menu? I wasn't going to be lax with the descriptions this time!

The weird things..Our waitress was a little disconnected and inattentive in an almost empty place. And we couldn't help laughing at the menu because there were gross misspellings.

If you go to the website, beware! The volume is at full blast and it has to be turned down on every page.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Afterwards we walked around Inwood Village.

Take another picture and die...

Redneck in the Village....

David thinks the dress looks like it's made of scabs...

And then back to Valentina's shop!

Where we discussed The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste, containing among other things, Zsa Zsa Gabor's bad behavior and horrid 1960’s feminine hygene products.

Which somehow led to a rousing conversation about Vajazzling and Clitter. lol

After we stopped laughing so hard, I realized I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, in the hallway outside the blinds on the door.

Valentina thought it might be her son, but whoever it was, was too quiet.
I thought the lawyer next door might have accidentally let his dog out of his office.
David peeked through the blinds, and there was an ugly man bending a prostitute over right in front of the door, having sex with her.
We thought about doing something to scare them after we stopped wheezing with laughter, but it was a quickie and they were gone. lol

Valentina needs an office in a different location. LOL!!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - Coast Global Seafood

2010-04-14T23:20:00.001-05:00

Coast Global Seafood
7501 Lone Star Drive
Plano, TX 75024
972.265.4722

LOVELY seafood place in Plano.
We sat at a window table, overlooking the patio, because it was a little too chilly and windy to be outside.
The patio overlooks a very large fountain, which sad to say, was off, and very un-fountainty. lol

The UN-fountain. lol

That was the worst thing I can say about the evening though.
This place is great, and everything is decorated in a cute modern undersea motif.

Ceiling jellyfish

Coral reef behind the hostess' stand..

Fishy chandelier..

Bubble tank behind the bar..

We both had the "Coast Excursion", with the Coast salad, Black Grouper, two different wine samplings and the Lemon Phyllo tart.

The salad was tiny, but delicious, and the Black Grouper was the best fish I have ever eaten in my life. Seriously. For me, Coast Global is winning on the fish. lol
The Grouper came served with mashed potatos and brussel sprouts in a light sauce.
I really don't like brussel sprouts, but I tried them again here in the event my palate had changed. Nope. Still loathe them. lol
I gave them to Valentina. :)

Black Grouper

Lemon Phyllo Tart

excellent place, 4 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - Ojeda's Mexican Restaurant

2010-04-14T23:00:00.002-05:00

Ojeda's Mexican restaurant
4617 Maple Avenue
Dallas, TX 75219
214.528.8383

My absolute favorite Tex-mex restaurant in Dallas. We went to the original location on Maple Avenue.
They serve it fast, tasty and greasy, just the way it should be. lol

Val and I both had the Puffed Taco dinner, which I believe they invented.
And margaritas of course!

Afterwards we both had a sopapilla.

We actually recommended this place to some tourists on the street and they followed us here. lol

They loved it too!

No pictures I'm afraid.. too busy digging in to take any. lol

4 out of 5 stars. Not gourmet, but it's my favorite. :)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - Maximo

2010-04-14T22:51:00.003-05:00

Maximo Cocina Mexicana and Margarita Lounge

5301 Alpha Road, Suite 80,
Dallas Tx, 75240
972.233.5656

Maximo the Dungeon...

An upscale Tex-mex place started by chef Amador Mora. Lovely place..to me the decor seemed sort of "old Spain" rather than Mexican.

David joined us for this trip as well. :)

Margaritas, yeah!!

I had the Alberta's enchiladas, which were great. I don't remember what David or Val had because apparently all I was concerned with that evening was dessert.. since that's all I filmed. sheesh!

Chocolate Brownie dessert

Flan?

More ambiance...

The Margarita Lounge...

The "wall 'o beer"

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Afterwards, a trip to Barnes and Noble, and then back to the shop.
I spared you any photos of us terrorizing Barnes and Noble.

David, trying to find music that doesn't suck? ;)

Look, it's a hole...

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could SO make some comments here, but I won't. ;)

Creeeeeeeeeeeeepppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....

The lucky Neko kitty wishes you a good evening.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - Gloria's Restaurant

2010-04-14T22:19:00.002-05:00

Gloria's Restaurant
5100 Belt Line Rd. Suite 852
Addison, TX, 75254
972.387.8442

A very nice restaurant in Addison, with lovely atmosphere. They serve El Salvadoran food, and I believe they have Salsa dancing on the weekends.

In spite of the nice atomsphere I was a little disappointed. The food was just OK. The place was loud, and totally surrounded by TVs set to every sports channel. I was expecting it to be a little less cheesy?

The chips and salsas were great, and they have good specials on margaritas and mojitos. Which is probably why most people go there.

I had the Carne Asada which was really good. It tasted like steak pizza. lol

Valentina had the Gloria's sample platter which I don't think she liked very much.
And I know we had dessert, but I don't remember what. One of the hazzards of playing catch-up!

David went a few days after we did, and he thought it was terrible..but in fairness, he ordered a salmon salad and made them change it up. lol
Salmon and lettuce by themselves.. probably not too hot. :)

2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - Louie's

2010-04-14T21:57:00.007-05:00

Louie's‎
1839 North Henderson Avenue,
Dallas, TX 75206-7524
214.826-0505

Terrific bar/pizza place on Henderson.
Again, it's one of those deals where there isn't much
parking though, so you might have to park a block or
two away and walk over.Very charming little place.
It is sort of half sports bar and half pub.

The drinks were great, and the pizza was even better.

It might be the best pizza I've had yet. All the reviews we read said
the service was awful, but to be fair the place was PACKED and
there were only 2 waitresses.
In spite of that, I don't think we had to wait extremely long
for anything. Our server did a great job!

There's also a lot of artwork on the walls from a local artist. I don't
remember who he is exactly, but he's either a regular
patron or associated with the place.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

‎

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - Campisi's

2010-04-14T21:24:00.003-05:00

Campisi's Egyptian Restaurant
5610 E. Mockingbird Lane,
Dallas, TX 75206
214.827.0355

This is the original location on Mockingbird Lane. I ate at a location in Plano once and I was under-impressed. Anyway, where to start with this place? We're talking Dallas history here.
It's a good Italian place with lots of history and scandal.
Jack Ruby ate dinner here the night before he shot Oswald, and Campisi's was thought to be a mob hangout in the 40's and 50's.

Wikipedia has a short entry.

We started off with some baby crab legs in butter sauce. Very yummy!

For the main course we each ordered the spaghetti, and we split a medium pizza. The spaghetti was really unimpressive. My mom's is far better.
The pizza was fantastic though!

I'm sure Val is going to be massively sick of me taking pictures of her eating at some point.. if she isn't already. ;)

Dessert was NY style cheesecake for me and a Cannoli for Val. Very tasty.

A little ghosty action in the adjoining room...

NEXT!

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, February 12, 2010 - La Duni

2010-04-14T21:20:00.001-05:00

La Duni Restaurant
NorthPark Center
8687 North Central Expressway Suite 1516
Dallas, Texas 75225
214.987.2260

Great Latin Cafe opened by chef Dunia Borga, in Northpark mall in Dallas. Probably my favorite mall. We've both been shopping there since we were kids.

We went early to avoid the rush, and the place is beautiful!
They're also known for their custom made cakes.

We started off with Mojitos..really BIG Mojitos. I had to slurp some of mine down fast or it was going to overflow the glass. Valentina got hers on the rocks.

Excellent chips and salsa..

We started off with some sort of sweet fried plantains. very Yummy. My memory is a sieve. What are these dishes called? lol

I had the Carne Asada Arrachera, and I substituted the mashed avocado for potatos. Because avocado.. yuck. (I'm sure there will be comments. lol)

I don't remember what Val had except there was cheese and vegetables. I'll just vague that up for you. lol

Everything was great, and our waiter Luis, took good care of us.

4 Stars

We ate so much.. I'm sure people thought it was the attack of the giant bloated things, once we hit the mall.

We decided to go see Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which was playing in the mall theater, but we sat in the restaurant too long so we had to catch a really late showing.. which left us about an hour and a half to kill in the mall until showtime.

Great chance to walk off some of our dinner right? ;)

Valentina's idea of walking off dinner. ;)

We killed some time in Urban Outfitter.
Plenty of fun weirdness to be found!

I liked this.. it looks like someone vomited shoestring potatos up against a wall.

Valen..lincoln? creeepy... lol

Valentina's shopping.. because you can't have too many palmistry hands.

And out in the mall... am I the only one creeped out by this thing?

Oh and I rate Percy Jackson a 7 out of 10.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - Maple And Motor

2010-04-14T20:17:00.002-05:00

Maple And Motor
4810 Maple Ave,
Dallas, Texas
214.522.4400

Great Place on Maple Avenue.
Kind of an old fashioned Diner/Hamburger joint. Great Burgers and fries, though in my opinion Kenny's is still winning the burger comparison. :)

My mom came along with us that night and we all had the cheeseburger and fries.

Also there is NO temperature control in the bathroom, so dropping pants on a cold night was an adventure.

I'd go back though. :)

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
I snagged a few of their photos from their Facebook page. None of my photos came out.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Neighborhood Services Bar and Grill

2010-04-06T01:02:00.006-05:00

Neighborhood Services Bar and Grill
5027 West Lovers Lane
Dallas Texas 75209
214.350.5027

This place is great! It's hard to know where to start..

Ok, first off, from the outside it looks like a crappy little bar.
The food here is excellent, and the place is always packed.
You have to call ahead of time, and making a reservation does NOT get you a table. It gets you a place on the waiting list.
So you make a reservation to go wait. That's how busy it is. lol

We were on time, but we still had to stand in the bar area for about 30 minutes, so we both had a champagne thing while we waited. I think it was a "Beauty School Dropout". Very tasty.
As this was Tuesday night.. I can't imagine the wait time on a weekend.

It's also a tiny little place.. sort of narrow. And the tables are small and packed together. And it's LOUD.
My only real complaint. The place is SO loud, Valentina and I had to shout to hear each other across a table 2 feet wide. It's the loudest restaurant I've ever experienced. And that includes airports and theme parks.

I do not remember what Valentina ate. (Help me out here!)
I had the Coq Au Vin. It was Vincent Price's recipe and it was amazing.
We also split an order of french fries, and an order of 3 jack mac and cheese.

Ok, the mac and cheese gets a paragraph of its own. So far, best mac and cheese I have EVER EATEN. I made a joke that it was so good I wanted to be alone with it for awhile, and she still laughs at me for that. lol
There's definitely sour cream in it...that's part of what makes it so good, I'm sure.

When you go to the ladies room, instead of music, they have Vincent Price on the speakers reciting recipes from his cookbook. That's definitely funny. Obviously I'm not sure what kind of audio is going on in the men's room. :)

For dessert we went a little nuts.. we both got Butterscotch pot du creme in a little glass pot. And I got a home made Ding Dong. Yes, it's as good AND weird as it sounds. lol
And Valentina got something else also, and again I'm not remembering what.

And I took an order of mac and cheese to go.. LOL

3 out of 5 stars. I'd rate it higher if it wasn't so horribly noisy.

The food here is amazing, but I think I would get a To Go meal instead of being subjected to the noise! Seriously, it was really irritating to eat in such a DIN! I hated that noise, AWFUL!

And the No Reservations Thing...when I'm hungry, I really want to eat, not stand around with a cocktail watching other people eat. There are very few seats in the bar, so it feels sort of RUDE and dismissive.

But here are the Good Things: 1. Excellent valet service! 2. Absolutely Perfect Mac And Cheese.

3. Funny Vincent Price soundtrack in the Ladies' Room.

My dinner was the Short Rib, and it was good, not as good as Smoke, but okay.

The Pots du Creme were really just too sweet, and sort of a one-note dessert...Valentina

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - India Palace

2010-04-06T00:33:00.002-05:00

India Palace
12817 Preston Road, #105
Dallas Texas, 75230
972.392.0190

Ok, I can tell you this right off the bat.. their website annoys me. For all you would-be web builders who think it's a cool idea to add music to your site.
DON'T DO IT!!!. Step away from the audio!

Seriously. Thank God there's an option to shut it off, or I'd have scratched my own ears off.

Restaurant-wise, they're pretty good. I could not tell you exactly, what I had though. David and Valentina helped me choose because they eat here all the time. All I remember is a lot of curry was involved. I'll look at the menu and see if I can be a little more specific.

Oh and David Alexandre joined us for the first time tonight. Welcome, David!

Ok, I believe I had the Tandoori chicken and I think I shared some Tandoori prawns with David and Valentina. I am guestimating though, seriously. There was curry. That is all.

It was really good, but there was a lot of food, and I had quite a bit left to take home. For some reason though, it made me a little ill the next day so I threw it out. I hate wasting food. Especially good food.

David and Valentina were fine though, so it was probably not food poisoning, and I'm just a lightweight when it comes to curry.

Valentina will have to tell you about that orange concoction she's drinking here. I just remember it scared me. lol (It's a Mango Lassi...yogurt with mango, really super-delicious, and goes SO well with Indian Food...nothing to be scared of!....Valentina)

3 out of 5 stars.

India Palace is one of my Old Standby places; I've enjoyed it for years! Now and then I just HAVE to have Tandoori Chicken. We were there at dinner this time, I think the lunch buffet is great because you have the fun of trying new things.................Valentina

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - Salum

2010-04-05T23:15:00.004-05:00

Salum Restaurant
4152 Cole Ave #103
Dallas, TX 75204

214.252.9604

This a really lovely place on Cole Ave. Excellent food. It was opened by renowned chef, Abraham Salum. My only real complaint is that it was so dark in there it was hard to see each other.

(Yes, but I look much Younger in dim light...dim light is a PLUS...Valentina)

We started off with the Texas Goat cheese and garlic in virgin olive oil.
Oh. My. God..... You. won't. let. the. plate. go. without. licking. it. clean. lol

Goat cheese, garlic and olive oil, also known as crack. (UNBELIEVABLY Good!!! Next time, I want my own plate. Or two. Val)

Valentina talking to David.. because if he doesn't say "hi" when we're at dinner, he'll die. ;)

For dinner, I had the Roasted Windy Meadows Farm Chicken, and Olive oil mashed potatoes. Which I inhaled without photographing.

I believe Valentina had the Grilled Beef tenderloin, but I won't swear to it. lol
She needs to weigh in here. (Yes, I did, and it was GORGEOUS, loved it......Valentina)

All in all, a lovely experience. It's definitely on the list to visit again.

(Beautiful place, lovely atmosphere and PERFECT food...Valentina)

Afterward, we drove down the street and had a few drinks at the McKinney Avenue Tavern. Owned by Mr. Ed Price. I wasn't able to catch him there, because I didn't know in advance I was going, so I could tell him. :)

Check it out though. Fun sports bar with lots of character.

Salum: 4 out of 5 stars.

(I would give it 5 STARS...Valentina)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - Lumi Empanada and Dumpling Kitchen

2010-03-24T21:50:00.004-05:00

Lumi Empanada and Dumpling Kitchen
3407 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75204
214.979.2424

The Ambiance...

What can I say..we went absolutely insane here. I think we ordered one of everything and split it... And had a couple drinks each, so we were full AND toasty. Lol

What we ordered: Classic Pork and Chives Dumplings, Thai Panang Curry Chicken Dumplings, Ahi Tuna Nachos, Thai Blue Crab Fried Rice, and Spicy Sriracha Buffalo Wings.

Let the gorging commence!

The Pork and Chives dumplings – very tasty.. and the chive sauce was plate licking yummy. I almost did lick the plate. The waiter boxed up the extra sauce for me, and I poured it on all the leftovers. lol

Thai Panang Curry Chicken Dumplings – also very tasty, but I liked the pork ones better.

Spicy Sriracha Buffalo Wings – OMG.. new best for wings. ( I'm going back JUST FOR THESE!!! They are fantastic.............Valentina)

Ahi Tuna Nachos – very tasty, but the tuna was too sushi/raw for me. It had a slimy texture I didn’t like. I'm all about textures. lol
Valentina rated them highly. (Yes, I thought they were exceptional, I could have eaten about 10 plates of just those tuna nachos...........................Valentina)

Thai Blue Crab Fried Rice – ok, the waiter brought out this large stack of fried rice being hugged by a fried crab. Literally. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a picture until after we’d demolished it.

The crab scared me a little and Valentina laughed at me. I eventually demolished it to get the tiny bit of meat out of it, only to realize there was crab all through the fried rice. Duh! Very tasty though.

And we finished with the Chocolate Empanada with ice cream. Awesome. Till they have to roll us out!

Drinks: They have a pretty good happy hour. I had the St. Germain Elderflower champagne. Very tasty..and some kind of specialty drink with Thai coconut? The champagne drink was the better one, but they were both good.

Valentina had the Lumi Lychee, and the Jalapeno & Pineapple Margarita. The jalapeno tasted better in it than I thought it would, but I was bothered by the pineapple. It made it too sweet. The Lychee was really tasty. (The best drink was your Champagne and Elderflower...that's just a marvelous concoction, that will be a perfect Summertime in Dallas drink...Valentina)

The place is beautiful and we got there around 6:15, so it was early enough to get a table easily, and a good parking spot. The lot is small and fills up quickly. It filled up after we’d been there about 30 minutes. Good service, and our waiter was a hottie. lol Unfortunately I'm blank on his name! (Be warned that parking is a nightmare, they have only something like six parking spots for the whole restaurant, give yourself time to park! Valentina)

Oops!! Don't forget the box!

NEXT!

Afterward we farted around in West Village and then hung out at Barnes and Noble on NW Highway for a bit.

Lumi: 4 out of 5 stars.

I do not remember where this is... (Why do I look like this? I look so disturbed, like I've just spotted the Alien Mothership. What an unfortunate photo! How much do I have to pay you to remove it? Valentina)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - Cadot Restaurant

2010-03-24T21:38:00.009-05:00

Cadot Restaurant
18111 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75252
(972) 267-5700

A very nice French restaurant with a Mediterranean atmosphere. Opened by chef Jean-Marie Cadot. He cooked in many upscale places before opening this restaurant.

Excellent food, needless to say...

I had the Veal Paillard, and it was amazing! It melts in your mouth...
Like meat candy.

Yes, I know I’m going to burn in hell for having veal, but I don’t care. AND I’LL DO IT AGAIN!! MWAHAHAHA!

Valentina had the Cassoullet.(spelling?) and I think she felt the same way about that dish.
For dessert we had some kind of cream puffs stuffed with icecream. YUM. (Profiteroles...Val)

Veal Paillard

Cassoulet (Otherwise known as HEAVEN ON A PLATE..............Valentina)

Cream Puffs (PROFITEROLES. Profiteroles is a much more fun word. These were fantastic!

I LOVE CADOT. Did I say that yet? I LOVE CADOT.......Val)

Valentina enjoying her cassoulet. I love this photo. She just looks crazy. lol
(Let me just explain that I have been searching for a place to eat real, old-fashioned Cassoulet for, literally, YEARS! When we arrived and Cassoulet was the Special, I nearly fainted from joy! I will always love Cadot for this! Val)

Here's a better one. I will play nice. :) (No, the awful photos are funnier. I always look crazy, anyway. I just need to embrace my crazy-look! I am SO HAPPY here! Cassoulet!!! Val)

Every week we pick our next restaurant from our trusty little green box.
So in photo fairness, here's me shaking the box.

"The Box"
Cadot: 4 out of 5 stars. (FIVE STARS! CASSOULET and PROFITEROLES!!! Val, insane.)

After we ate this evening, we went and goofed around at the Galleria.

The Ugliest Shoes in the World.

Still not sure what they're trying to sell here... fear?

For the person who has everything.. buy them a big glowy giraffe. That'll show 'em.

Morris had some indigestion after eating a little too much Taco Bell.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - Smoke

2010-03-24T21:29:00.004-05:00

Smoke
901 Fort Worth Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75208
214.393.4141

Really great place. Like upscale barbeque.

It's decorated in a 1950/early 1960’s style. On the wall they have put up old family photos of the owner, and also of some of their regular patrons.

It's on Ft. Worth avenue, right next to "The Belmont", a historic Dallas hotel. (which we explored after dinner). We both had a Shiner and I had the "EB&D loaded up cheeseburger". It was pretty good, but it had an egg on it, which I thought tasted just a little bit weird. I guess that's a pretty common way to do burgers, but it was just "off" to me. Good fries though.

Valentina had the BIG RIB. And it was a BIG RIB!

It was like someone chopped off a hunk of brontosaurus and brought it out on a plate. It was like The Flintstones in real life.
Really REALLY tasty. But freakin huge.

Valentina and the BIG RIB

For dessert we tried the key lime pie, because they were pushing it as “best in Dallas”. It was good, but not “best in Dallas”. Sorry guys, so far Kenny's Woodfired Grill is still winning for best key lime pie in my opinion.

Key Lime Pie

After we looked around the hotel we drove down the street about a mile to a historic graveyard and just looked around. Did you know Clyde Barrow, of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame is buried there? We didn't stay long though. It's a bad neighborhood and Valentina was creeped out. lol

View Of Downtown Dallas from the Belmont Hotel

Smoke 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - Hatties American Bistro

2010-03-24T21:12:00.002-05:00

Hatties American Bistro
418 Bishop Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75208
214.942.7400

Another great Oak Cliff area restaurant. It's in a gorgeous old building.. an old furniture store from the 1920’s. It still has all the original trim and tin ceilings and stuff. Excellent service.

We split an order of fried green tomatoes to start. Then Valentina had the Carmelized Onion and Cheddar tart.. and I was feeling cold and wanted comfort food, so I got Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Valentina’s was excellent but my meatloaf was just ok. A little undercooked.

(My Onion and Cheddar Tart was SO GOOD! This is what I will return to eat! Val)

I warmed up with a Jameson and coffee though. :)

I made the mistake of not going with my first instinct and getting the Low Country Shrimp and Grits. Next time!

Definitely worth a return visit. (I'm going back for some more Tart.....Val)

4 out of 5 stars. (I agree.....Val)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - Bolsa

2010-03-24T21:05:00.002-05:00

Bolsa
614 West Davis Street
Dallas, TX 75208-4744
214.367.9367

This is a little place in Oak Cliff, Texas with all fresh food. None of it's packaged or frozen. The menus change daily depending on what food they buy for the day.

YUM!

It's all kinds of awesome! If I knew how to pronounce “YUM” in other languages, I’d probably throw a few more yums in here. Lol

It's a cute little place, built into an old service station from the 30's I think. And they make and sell their own sauces and honey and stuff. It's a little bit tight and a bit noisy but the food made up for it.

I had the Windy Meadows Chicken Breast, and I practically licked the plate afterward. I don't remember what Valentina had. (I had a pork tenderloin that melted in my mouth! Val)
And we had something small for dessert that had their homemade honey in it. Totally blank on what it was.

It's definitely worth a second trip.. and a third trip..etc.

(I've been here many times, and it's always really good! It's a fun place to take visitors to Dallas. The food is always terrific and surprising.........................Valentina)

It's not easy to find parking though. We parked about 2 blocks over and walked to it.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - Bliss – Raw Café and Elixir Bar

2010-03-24T20:55:00.004-05:00

Bliss – Raw Café and Elixir Bar
6855 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75231
214.987-0204

Alrighty then.. out of all the places we've been so far, the first bad review.

I don’t think I even have the right words to completely describe this trainwreck.

First off, it’s tiny, and crammed into a weird spot, so if you blink, you drive by it and have to turn around.
Secondly we went there on a really cold night and there was NO HEAT. Most of the tables are outdoor patio style, and the hostess couldn't figure out how to turn on the kerosene heat lamps outside. You'd think they'd just pack it in that being the case, but noooooo..... and we were just as retarded for staying. ha!

So.. we ended up sitting in the only warm spot..huddling at the bar that overlooks the kitchen and balancing on uncomfortable bar stools.
Oh and to get to the inside part you have to actually walk outside, around the restaurant and go in a different door, because the kitchen is smack in the center of the place.

And it just kept getting worse.

The food.. ugh.

Ok.. first we were advised to try some elixir that our server described as “refreshing”. We both took a sip and froze. And took another sip expecting it to get better and it didn’t. It tasted like grass and old crayon wax. She took them off the check though and we got water.
I ordered something they called the “Rawsagnia”. Like lasagna. But it was weird cold layers of various raw things, no tomato sauce, cheese or pasta. I was afraid, but surprisingly it was very good. Valentina got some sort of raw bean tostada thing that was apparently horrible.

Afterwards we had desserts. I had a marbled cheesecake sweetened with agave nectar (no sugar) and Valentina got a carob chocolate mousse. I thought they were good, but a little went a long way.

Oh, and their website is a pretentious piece of crap with really loud music and no menu listing.

I give it 1 1/2 stars because it was so uncomfortable, even though I liked my dinner. Valentina would probably rate it lower. lol (I rate it NO STARS. This food is inedible. Val)

(Okay, first let me explain that I was actually a RAW VEGAN for about six months last year, and I LOVED it, so I'm not someone who goes to a specialty-diet type place and is ready for it to suck. I SO wanted Bliss to be wonderful, because I love the Raw-Foods Diet, and the problem with a raw diet is the prep time required...wouldn't it be fabulous to have a delicious raw restaurant in town? I was so excited when they opened!

And Bliss REALLY isn't good; we had nothing that I would go back for or recommend. A friend of mine says the wraps are pretty good, he's tried them at lunchtime. I was SO grossed out by the awful flavors and textures, I will never return to try them. The tostada on my Cowboy Nachos was not even chewable, I couldn't even cut or tear it with my knife! The only thing edible was the dessert, the Carob Mousse, and it was WAY too sweet, just sickening after a few bites.

Will someone PLEASE open a GOOD raw restaurant in Dallas? A place something like PURE in NYC? Please?..................................................Valentina)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - Masaryk

2010-03-24T20:38:00.002-05:00

Masaryk
5004 Addison Cir
Addison, TX 75001
972.701.8500

Described as "Modern Mexican". I'd post a link to their site, but apparently they didn't pay their hosting fees. Nice modern atmosphere and food. We would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been raining and ass freezing cold the night we went. And good luck finding close parking in Addison Circle, even on Tuesday night.

We both had some pulled pork enchilada thing, and a glass of sangria. It was very good, but when it comes to Mexican food, I’m really happier with the cheap greasy stuff. ;)

Masaryk’s website is still disabled, so I couldn’t check the menu to remember the name of the menu item we ate.

This was really good...I think it was the Chile Rellenos we had. It was a little hard to find (the restaurant, not the Chile Rellenos) We were soaked and chilled by the walk, and the food and wine warmed us up nicely! Val

3 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - Obzeet Restaurant and Tropical Bar

2010-03-24T20:28:00.004-05:00

Obzeet – Restaurant And Tropical Bar
19020 Preston Road
Dallas, Tx, 75252
972.867.6126

I love this place! It's absolutely adorable for atmosphere. There are twinkle lights in the ceiling, pretty salt lamps all over the building, and an outdoor waterfall and pond. They often have live music on the weekends.
There's also a gift shop full of unusual items inside, but I don't think I've ever seen it open.

We shared an order of crunchy olives which were heavenly. I had a steak tremezzino. It was good. And big. I had part of it for breakfast the next day. I don’t remember what Valentina had.

It's better to go when it's warmer, I'll tell you that. Going in November it was a bit chilly. Even inside.

(I honestly can't remember what I ordered that night! All I remember is those marvelous olives! This is a fun place to meet friends, and it's actually quiet enough deep in the bar to have real conversations! The menu has SO MUCH CHOICE that it's easy for everyone in a group to be happy. For me, this is another Always Good place......................Valentina)

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - Ziziki's

2010-03-24T20:22:00.004-05:00

Ziziki's
4514 Travis St. #122,
Dallas, Texas, 75205
Phone: 214.521.2233

We went to this one on Valentina's birthday. She had the Mousaka, and I had the Chicken Fettucine. Mine was really good. Afterwards we had the Baklava Ice Cream cake. Definitely worth a trip just for that. It's a beautiful restaurant with a nice atmosphere.

4 out of 5 stars.

Happy Birthday To Me! I always get the Lamb Salad here (have for years), so decided on the Moussaka (My pal Spero just loves it). It was really, really, good! The Baklava Ice Cream Cake is my favorite cake in town, after La Duni's Quatros Leches. I think it's the textures that make it SO GOOD...the crunch of the nuts and pastry with the creamy rich ice cream. If I have to be a year older, at least let me eat marvelous food...........................................Valentina

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Kenny's Woodfired Grill

2010-03-24T20:15:00.004-05:00

Kenny’s Woodfired Grill
5000 Beltline Rd. #775
Dallas, TX 75254
Phone: 972-392-9663

Great place! Tasteful and Cozy. Make a reservation though, people are finding out about it fast. I had the sterling silver burger. Best. cheeseburger. Ever! Seriously..Best I’ve had to date. Also in my opinion, the best key lime pie I've had to date. I don't remember what Valentina had. My good friend Mike Nichols is a manager and bartender there. He gets all the credit for my discovery of this place. :)

I rate it 5 stars.

I also had the Sterling Silver Burger, perhaps the Best Burger I have ever eaten! This is now one of my Top Five eateries in town...That burger, with a dirty martini (they keep bringing you chilled glasses and pouring your drink into a fresh glass...WOW!) is my new Comfort Food!!!

I Love This Place!!! Can't wait to get back. The French Onion Soup and Mac and Cheese are amazing. I rate it FIVE STARS................Valentina

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - The Porch

2010-03-24T20:06:00.005-05:00

The Porch
2912 N. Henderson
Dallas, Texas 75206
214.828.2916

Ok.. Bear with me as I get caught up for the last couple months...

The beginning of our tour of restaurants.. The first place we went: The Porch. It has a nice atmosphere, but crowded. I had the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Cobb Salad. Valentina had some little miniature hamburgers, and the mac and cheese. The food was good, but not extraordinary.

I'd rate it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

I thought it was just okay, not really worth a second trip. I did indeed have the sliders; they were heavy and greasy...the mac and cheese was not spectacular..........................Valentina

First post!

2010-02-14T22:31:00.002-06:00

I'm just getting us set up, so bear with the setting up process. :)