Showing posts with label dos tragos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dos tragos. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Jeng Chi Restaurant and Bakery - Revisit

Where to Find It: 400 N Greenville Ave, Richardson, TX 75081


Food Group: Chinese


How Much to Fork Over: $


The Grade: A


Faves: Small Juicy Steamed Dumplings, Green Onion Pancakes, Seafood Noodle Soup, BYOB!


Peeves: Not enough Wine Glasses

The Jibba Jab:
Practical and Matter-of-fact Chinese.  It doesn’t take much to convince the customer that this place serves credible Chinese food, especially the dumplings with 3 names.  On the menu they are called Small Juicy Steamed Dumplings, then according to anyone who’s only language is English and has an opinion they are called Soup Dumplings, and finally in Chinese they call them, and I know I am butchering the word, Shalumbow.  Whatever the name, they are incredible and you should always order them!

Now, I know that I’ve reviewed this place before (click to read review), but I wanted to share my most recent visit, which involved a big group, lots of wine, and my adventurous palate, as stated by my co-diners. 

Dos Tragos Members
My good friend David was up to host Dos Tragos, which is our Supper Club, and since he’s a bachelor with a kitchen that hasn’t been used since Julia Child lived in France, he opted to choose a restaurant instead of cooking.  And that restaurant was Jeng Chi, under my recommendation.  Most of our members had other plans that evening, so it was a small group of 15, but we brought wine for a group of around 50, which we were able, and always able, to put a decent dent in.  On the other hand, Jeng Chi didn’t have enough Wine Glasses for our group, so a couple of people had to make do with little white dipping ramekins.  We are a resourceful bunch.

For starters, we ordered quite a few helpings of the Soup Dumplings, of course, the Green Onion Pancakes, and Vegetarian Steamed Dumplings.  All were gone within seconds of each helping being placed on the table.  As for the main course, and due to our previous visit (click to read review), myself and one of my best friends, who is also a person that shares my Firemouth-ness, shared the Seafood Noodle Soup – Korean Style, extra spicy.  The rest of the table ordered everything from Kung Pao Beef, to a few Chicken and Shrimp dishes, to Mofo Tofu, but finally I had to throw in a more audacious dish and try the Salty Duck, just because I liked the name.  Little did I know that it would be the topic of conversation once it was placed on the table…..all pale, shriveled and boney?  It looked like a chopped up murder victim that had been in the Hudson River for a few days.  Not appetizing to the eye at all, but I was still going to try it!  I grabbed a hunk, took a bite and……it’s cold, first of all..weird….and sweet…not really that salty, interesting, and….yep, that’s a bone.  It was not something that I would order again, A) because there are so many other daring menu items that have my attention and B) the look of it just scared too many people, but as foolish as it seemed, I actually liked it!  Later, with a table full of picked over dishes and an embarrassing amount of empty wine bottles, we packed up ship and headed to the nearest bar with Karaoke on a Saturday….and that place was Billiard Ben in Richardson.  Everyone was slowly fading, so we were never able to witness anyone humiliate themselves on stage, but we did get to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon from tap.  I never would have thought that I would see that anywhere near Dallas!
Green Onion Pancakes

Small Juicy Steamed Dumplings

Vegetarian Steamed Dumplings
Salty Duck.....Scary Right??

Kung Pao Beef

Seafood Noodle Soup - Korean Style

Mofo Tofu



Jeng Chi Restaurant & Bakery on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Destination Dos Tragos

This weekend was definitely fun filled because we made an excursion to our lake house in Burnet, TX. Although the trip was one of many there this year (and the past 29 years) the purpose was newfangled. We started a Supper Club in Dallas a little over a year and a half ago, which basically includes many of our friends from all over the metroplex of DFW. The name of our Supper Club is a unique story as well. First, our original rule was that the host of Supper Club, which occurs once a month, provides the food in any way shape or form, and each person must bring a bottle of wine. Montana and I held the inauguration dinner at our house in November of 2008, and needless to say in our group of friends, we ended up going through all of the bottles of wine and then much of our own stash. As a result, we decided to change the rule to everyone bringing two bottles of wine per person, so the incident wouldn’t happen again, and so the host would get to keep some of the wine for their troubles. Also, one of our members decided to start calling our Supper Club “Dos Tragos”, which he though meant Two Bottles in Spanish, but it actually means Two Drinks. Oh well, it stuck and now that’s what we call it. So now that you know the story behind the name, I’m sure you can guess the reason for the trip to our lake house. Yep, that’s right….we had a Destination Dos Tragos! The host for this month belonged to some good friends of ours, who have quite frequently visited the lake house, and since it is the middle of summer, everyone thought it was a great idea to make theirs a weekend event at the lake house.


We started out having a Cocktail Party or better yet, drink the night away on Friday night. There is just something about driving a long distance and seeing everyone the first night that makes you want to consume alcoholic beverages until the sun comes up. I don’t know why, but it always happens at the lake house. Saturday was crammed with the usual…. the guys golf, the girls drink mimosas and go to the island, I pick up the guys after golf, fill up with beer and gas and take them to the island, we all play red neck games and/or float in the water for hours, we make two trips back to the house, the wake boarders take advantage of the calm waters at sunset, the girls cook, the guys grill, we eat…..we drink….we play Giant Jenga….we drink and drink some more….good night! Sunday we make a few more boat trips of wake boarding and tubing, then we clean the house and leave! That’s the weekend in a nut shell. I hope you don’t feel too dehydrated!
Sunset on Lake Buchanan