Salt Lick in Driftwood

Yea, I know...The Salt Lick is obviously not in Dallas and this blog is called Dallas Epicurious but guess what, I don't care! I'm going to write about it anyway OK. If you've ever been there then you understand. Alright, now that you've gotten off my back we'll get to the food.

My first trip to Salt Lick was totally unplanned. My wife and I were headed down to San Antonio and we were passing through Austin just a little after lunch time on a Saturday. We were trying to find a place to eat and after getting off the highway a number of times and not finding anything, my brain finally kicked into gear and I remembered that the Salt Lick was somewhere outside of Austin. After doing a quick Google search we found it.

By the time we pulled into the parking lot it was close to 2:00pm so both of us were starving! To our surprise the parking lot was set in the middle of a huge vineyard...hmmm, interesting start. We soon learned that they had just recently opened the vineyard and started making their own wine on site. We mozied on over to the check in line and there seemed to be a ton of people waiting. We thought it might be an hour or more wait but they told us it was going to be about 45 minutes. We walked around the outside of the restaurant which was very pretty and had a lot of seating. They were making homemade lemonade and popcorn for the kids. We then went inside to sit and wait and I noticed the trademark round smoker/grill that they are famous for. The grill was behind the kitchen counter top so I got as close as I thought I should to take some pictures. To my surprise they told me I could go back behind the counter and take more pictures so I jumped at the chance. While I was back there, one of the cooks asked if I wanted to flip some of the ribs with his fork and take some pictures....uhhh heck yea!!! My wife snapped off a bunch of great pictures of me in front of the smoker/grill and I was in heaven!!! And still pretty freakin hungry.

Our name was called after only waiting about 20 minutes. We sat down and perused over the menu like a couple of ravenous wolves....ok maybe that's a tad melodramatic. Anyway, I toyed at the idea of getting the all you can eat platter but decided against it. Lori chose to get the chopped beef sandwich and I got the three meat dinner with sausage, brisket, and ribs. My plate came with all I could eat potato salad and coleslaw. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, I noticed a bunch of people with little coolers at their tables drinking beer out of them. Then I remembered...a number of places in Texas are BYOB. I was very angry at myself for forgetting this while I watched two grandmas behind us down beer after beer...dang you grandma! Oh well.

When our food arrived I was already salivating to new levels. My plate looked amazing!!! We dug in right away and I was NOT disappointed. The barbeque sauce, to my surprise, was not a traditional Southern tomato-based sauce but more of a Carolina mustard and vinegar sauce. It was still very good though. My brisket, ribs, and sausage were to die for. The ribs were seriously the best I had ever had by far, and I've had my share of ribs as my waistline would tell you. You could see the smoke "bark" on the brisket, and the sausage was melt in your mouth good. Lori's chopped beef was very good too. The only thing that was a bit disappointing was the potato salad and coleslaw. The potato salad was kind of like a German potato salad but it was a little bit bland. The coleslaw was not too flavorful either, but the meat more than made up for it. After finishing off my plate I was very glad I had not chosen the all you can eat. I believe they have a dessert menu, but I kinda doubt it's ordered from very often. We HIGHLY recommend going to the Salt Lick at list once in your life and scratching one more thing off your bucket list as I did. Yea, you better add it to your bucket list. Trust me.

One thing to remember at the Salt Lick, they do not take credit cards, only cash. But don't fret, they have an on-site ATM in case you forget.

Flying Fish in Addison

It wasn't until after this first trip that I found out that the Flying Fish was on Guy Fieri's Diners Drive-ins and Dives. My first trip to Flying Fish in Addison was during one of my many stays in the area getting ready for our company's big move from Oklahoma City to Dallas. I was driving around Addison and saw a little hole in the wall place that looked inviting. I stopped in and decided to try out there fried oysters and fried shrimp. I also got a cup of their seafood gumbo which sounded really good. To my surprise, the oysters turned out to be some of the best that I had ever had! They use a cornmeal batter which can sometimes be a little much but they used the perfect amount of batter and the oysters were perfectly cooked. The butterflied shrimp was really tasty as well and I could tell how fresh they were. The only disappointment was the gumbo which was good but really salty. The gumbo was some of the darkest and thickest gumbos I had ever seen and it had tons of seafood in it.

On my second visit to Flying Fish I decided to try one of their daily specials which included catfish, oysters, and shrimp. They also offer to make your order "snappy" or spicy which I asked for. I also ordered another bowl of the gumbo since I really wanted to like it the first time. On this trip I got their tartar sauce and cocktail sauce which turned out to be made fresh daily. Now I have to tell you, I have NEVER really liked catfish. In my experience every other place overcooks it and overbreads it making it completely unappetizing. But, from my first great experience here I decided to give it a try. The spicy addition was great and not overpowering. The catfish, honestly, was really some of the best fish I had ever had. I know I said the oysters were some of the best I had ever had too....so I think you can tell I was starting to fall in love with this place! Seriously though the catfish was amazingly fresh, perfectly cooked, and just downright awesome! On my fish high, I then re-tried the gumbo and to my delight, it was great as well. It was not overly salty but just right this time.

On my third trip (which was only about 2 weeks from my first), I had another one of their specials which was snow crab legs and boiled shrimp. I made it "snappy" again. The crab legs again were obviously extremely fresh and the shrimp was a little spicy and very very tasty. This was all served with boiled red potatoes and corn. I'm guessing the corn and potatoes were good because the crab and shrimp monopolized all my time :) On this third trip I also learned that they have a repeat business stamp card where you can get a free meal after eating there 8 times. I'm almost there!!!

The Flying Fish in Addison is a great little seafood joint with a lot of character and amazingly fresh seafood. Drop by if your ever in the Addison area just south of Beltline off Montford.

Randy's Steakhouse in Frisco

Since my wife and I moved to the Dallas area around 4 months ago we've been looking for good places to eat and trying to stay away from the big chain restaurants. My wife had driven past Randy's Steakhouse many times taking our daughter to dance class in Frisco. Randy's is situated on Main Street in Frisco in an old Victorian home. The restaurant doesn't look very big from the outside at all but actually has seven separate dining rooms including a full bar with Piano Lounge. We made reservations but they were a little backed up because of a couple large parties so we made our way to the bar to check out the scenery and get a couple of drinks. The ambiance and feel of the restaurant was great and had a perfect personal touch to everything.

At the bar I ordered a Glenfiditch (scotch) on the rocks and my wife Lori ordered a strawberry margarita. Their blender was broken so they could not make her drink a frozen margarita but, no big deal. Her drink turned out to be almost too sweet to drink and my scotch tasted like it had been sitting on the shelf longer than it was aged in the bottle...not a great start. But that's okay. It was our first date night in awhile and I was just going to let it go and enjoy the evening.

We were escorted to our table after only waiting for about 15 minutes. We were seated in the main dining room with a number of other couples and families. Our waiter greeted us promptly but we could not for the life of us understand what his name was and many of the specials he rattled off. We decided to start off with the Panko encrusted Brie with roasted garlic. Our appetizer came out and looked fairly appetizing other than the fact that some of the bread was a little burnt...again not a huge deal. We dove into the Brie having not eaten since breakfast and we were both disappointed. The Brie was amazingly bland and didn't taste much like Brie at all. The roasted garlic that I assumed was meant to be spread over the bread with the Brie would have been great, except it was not done enough and was very hard to spread. No biggie, some great restaurants focus more on their main dishes rather than their appetizers.

After mulling over some of the different seafood items, I decided to go with the ribeye. Lori, as usual, went with the filet. All side items were ala carte so we ordered the steamed asparagus, potatoes au gratin, and a side of Hollandaise sauce. It took a little bit longer than expected to get our entrees but they were busy. Our food finally arrived and they asked us to check our steaks for doneness. I ordered mine medium-rare and it was slightly overdone but not too much. Lori always has to have her meat well done so they normally have to butterfly her filets. They did butterfly her steak but it was underdone. Lori hates it when she has to send stuff back but when you're paying good money for expensive steaks, you really shouldn't have to apologize, or send items back for that matter. They apologized and put hers back on the fire and it came back out well done in a couple of minutes. My "hand cut" ribeye was much thinner than you'd normally see in a fine steak house and really didn't have much flavor at all. My wife's filet likewise was not very flavorful...reaching for the salt shaker. We dug into the potatoes, Hollandaise, and asparagus hoping for a reprieve from the blandness...denied! The potatoes were way too thickly cut and the cheese tasted like cheap cheddar and it was bland. The asparagus was ok, not that hard to screw up, but the Hollandaise was not that great. People seem to make Hollandaise way more difficult to produce than it really is. Their Hollandaise was overly thick and greasy and almost tasted like some of that cheap cheddar somehow made its way into the sauce. Nevertheless, we both used the sauce to cover up some of the blandness of our steaks...almost asked for ketchup.

Randy, the proprietor, was constantly helping out in the dining rooms and greeting all the guests. I whispered to my wife and said, "I really hope he doesn't come over here. I don't want to lie." Well, Randy was friendly and he did come over to our table...and I lied. I know I know. The culinary elf in my brain told me to tell him everything that was wrong, but I just didn't have the heart. This place has won a number of local awards so who knows, maybe they were just having an off night. I normally do not like to write negative things about people and/or places, but Randy's Steak House just didn't make the grade for us.

Thomas Avenue Beverage Company

My wife and I bought a Groupon for the Thomas Avenue Beverage Company, not really knowing anything about it, only that it was in Uptown Dallas and looked pretty cool from the website. We decided to check it out one Sunday without our daughter Alexis, so we could check out their Brunch. I half expected it to be super crowded and requiring at least a 30 minute wait as many brunch venues can get on a Sunday in Dallas. After finding a lucky parking spot right across the street we were able to walk right in and sit right away out on their large wood deck out back which had huge shade trees and was really nice. While I was tempted by their Bloody Maries and bottomless mimosas (I know right), I decided to pass and get a cup of Lavazza coffee which I had not had until my last trip to Morocco. I was really leaning towards their chicken and waffles , having seen some being served, or their breakfast tacos, but I decided to "settle" on their eggs benedict. Now coming from a big foodie family I have extensive experience in tasting and partaking in Hollandaise sauce and eggs benedict so I normally do not order it at restaurants. But I decided to give them a chance and order it up. My wife Lori ordered the pancakes with eggs and bacon and maple pecan butter. The weather was perfect, there was football playing on the outdoor TV's, and I was really able to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Our food came out and everything looked awesome. My eggs benedict was not the traditional version consisting of Texas toast, Canadian bacon, fried eggs, and spicy Hollondaise sauce. The eggs were done perfectly and the spiciness in the sauce was perfect. I debated not eating both of my eggs, but that did not happen. I tried my wife's pancakes with the maple pecan butter and they were amazing as well.

We have not made it there for lunch or dinner yet but we will definitely be making the trip to try them out soon. We highly recommend the Thomas Avenue Beverage Company for brunch.