Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - Afrah Mediterranean Restaurant

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, May 4, 2010 - Cafe Izmir

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 6, 2010 - Cafe Istanbul

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, October 27, 2009 - Ziziki's

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