Loft 610

Loft 610

http://www.loft610.com/

Rating: B
Location: 5760 Tx-121Plano, TX 75024

Category: American

Pricing: $$$

Favorites: Crab Cakes and Mahi Mahi

Comments:

I was excited to finally try this place because Tre Wilcox, a former Top Chef and currently a Top Chef All-Stars Contestant, is the Executive Chef here. I never did get a glimpse of him in the kitchen, which is an open view to the restaurant, so I wasn’t really sure if he was there that night. I’m hoping not because the food was fine, but it wasn’t anything that I would want to try again or worth discussing amongst friends.

The ambience at Loft 610 is definitely modern and they have a wonderful wooden architectural display of their wine in a glass room connected to the dining room. The service was great, but for a Friday night the restaurant seemed a little empty, of course, this might be more of a trendy late night place because they have a Night Club on the second floor. We were seated at a comfortable booth with perfect viewing of the entire restaurant and were promptly greeted with menus and water. For wine, we chose the Panther Creek Pinot Noir, which was perfect for our choice in food for the rest of the evening. Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Truffle Champagne Sauce were among a few of the appetizer items on the menu, and we can never pass up crab cakes or anything with the word truffle in it, so we opted for those. Duo cylindrical towers of crab cakes in a pool of a yellow and green colored sauce underneath came out on a white rectangular plate, which gave off quite an appealing sight. We each took one and dove in….pretty good…definitely fresh crab, with a wonderful crust on the outside. The sauce on the other hand, did not have a hint of truffle in it. I was heart broken….none of that pungent earthy flavor that I love about truffles.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Truffle Champagne Sauce

Pan Seared Mahi Mahi

Moving on….we ordered the Pan Seared Mahi Mahi with Tiger Shrimp Dumplings, Brocolini, and Spicy Lemongrass Broth with a side of….here it is again…Truffle Risotto. The Mahi Mahi was beautifully cooked with a gorgeous perfect pan seared crust on the outside and gorgeous juicy white flakes of deliciousness on the inside, and the Lemongrass broth, which had not one hint of spice, was a delicately sweet and fresh compliment to the fish. The brocolini was fine, but the Tiger Shrimp Dumpling dough was partly hard and crunchy and then gummy and chewy...not very appetizing.  On to the Truffle Risotto, which had a nice creamy texture and cooked al dente, but it turned out to be such a disappointment. We could smell the Truffle when they brought it out, but once I took a bite I was immediately hit with the overpowering rosemary….way too much….once again heartbroken.

Truffle Risotto

Cookies

Finally….dessert, which we wanted to keep simple, so we ordered the assortment of cookies….my favorite type of dessert. The cookies came out in a glass jar, but then also wrapped in two separate cellophane goodie bags…..very cute display, but average on taste…..nothing too remember. In general, the night was very pleasant and the food was respectable, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to try it again. Sorry Tre!

Ginger Thai Express

Ginger Thai Express

http://www.gingerthai.net/
Rating: B

Location: 6300 Skillman st, Dallas, TX 75231

Category: Thai

Price: $

Favorites: BYOB with no cork fee! and Tom Yum Soup

Comments:
A friend of ours recently had a birthday and wanted everyone to celebrate it at Ginger Thai…..with wigs on! Yes, that’s right. We had a group of around 20-25 people and we all wore crazy wigs or a mustache, and I have to say it turned out to be really fun. We received quite a bit of attention from the few other customers that could eat in the small place, especially from the kiddos.

Chicken Satay

Now, Ginger Thai doesn’t look like much on the outside or in, but the prices are inexpensive, you can save more money by bringing your own alcohol, which our group definitely took advantage of, and the food isn’t half bad either. We started off with an order of Chicken Satay, Crab Cream Puffs, and Pork Steamed Dumplings. Between the three, my one complaint was the Peanut Dipping Sauce for the Chicken Satay looked like it came straight out of a jar of baby food. It wasn’t really appealing by sight or by taste, but the actual satay was nicely grilled and well flavored. The Cream Puffs were crispy on the outside and wonderfully creamy on the inside, which paired nicely with the sweet dipping sauce, and the Dumplings were quite delicious. For my entrée, I ordered the Tom Yum (Spicy Hot and Sour) Soup with Chicken. The broth was definitely was wonderfully fresh with hints of ginger aka. Galangal, lemongrass and cilantro, and they gave you big strips of delicious chicken in the soup. I would definitely order it again. On the other hand, my husband ordered the Chicken Pad Thai because that’s what he always orders at a Thai restaurant, and it was mediocre at best. It was just too sweet for my taste with hardly any flavor. I know that Pad Thai has about 20 ingredients in it, but all I could taste was that horrible baby food peanut butter in it. I wasn’t a fan. Overall, though, you got a good amount of bang for your buck, and BYOB is even better.


Crab Cream Puffs



Steamed Pork Dumplings

Tom Yum Soup

Chicken Pad Thai

LOWCOUNTRY

RATING: A-

LOCATION: 142 W 10th St. New York, NY

CATEGORY: Southern-Comfort Food

PRICING: $20 range on food entrees, wine and beer $6-$11

FAVORITES: Cornbread, Deviled-eggs, Fried Catfish, Skirt Steak, Lone Star Beer

COMMENTS: Quaint West Village restaurant with a southern feel. The menu does not offer a lot of choices but most of the food is delicious. The downside to this restaurant is that most of the entrees are smothered in butter or fried so don't plan on going here if you are on a diet!

Eno's Pizza Tavern

Eno’s Pizza Tavern

http://www.enospizza.com/

Rating: A

Location: 407 N. Bishop Ave, Dallas, TX

Category: Pizza

Pricing: $$$

Favorites: Truffle Cheese Bread and the South Hill Pizza, Ambience, Great for large groups, Beer and Wine

Comments:

I knew that I would like this place immediately just by walking up to it. The tree near entry way is decorated with white lights, the sign brightly lit on the façade makes you think of another era in time and the massive windows in the front show a hanging antler chandelier inside, a central bar, mirrors with menu’s written on them, and more white lights twinkling and calling you to come in and have a bite to eat. The atmosphere reminded me of being at one of the many restaurants in my favorite city, New York! The food was even better!

Truffle Cheese Bread

After ordering a bottle of wine and gazing over the vast selection of beers, we started with the Truffle Cheese Bread as an appetizer (because we like all things truffle). To our surprise it came with a little shot of Tomato Basil Soup to dip your bread in….Genius and Delicious! My only complaint was more truffle oil please! You should always have salad when eating pizza, so we opted for the Harvest Pear Salad, which was ok, but we weren’t there to fuss about the salad, we were there for the pizza, and it was amazing! We ordered more wine (a carafe of their house wine is only $20) and decided which pizzas were going to test out. I usually always look at the menu before going to a new place, so I already knew which pizza I wanted…..the South Hill. Again….all things truffle, so it had me at truffle oil. We also ordered the Eno’s Supreme as a recommendation from our server. When they came out piping hot, I was quite impressed at how cracker thin….and I truly mean cracker thin... the crust was on the pizzas. I thought Louie’s had the thinnest crust in town, but I was gladly mistaken. The pizzas were outstanding, but the South Hill was just a smidget better. We didn’t try any dessert, but I know that we will be back soon because it has officially become my new favorite restaurant in Dallas!

South Hill Pizza

The rest of the night was mostly a blur of events. It was one of those nights that you really can only explain by saying that it came straight out of a movie….Fun times and I’ll leave it at that!


Eno's Supreme Pizza



Cracker Thin Crust



Harvest Pear Salad