Fireside Pies - Plano Revisit

Cyberspace: http://www.firesidepies.com/
Grade: A+
Where to Find It: 5717 Legacy Dr, Plano, Tx 75024
Food Group: Pizza
How Much to Fork Over: $$
Faves: Burrata Mozzarella Pie, Outdoor seating
Peeves: Long Wait on a busy night

The Jibba Jab:
Still Pizza Ambrosia….no matter the location.  Upon this visit, my husband and I noticed a couple of new additions to the wine list and menu, so instead of going with our repeat favorites like the Fireside Cheese salad and the Balsamic Roasted Chicken Pizza, we opted for something new.  Our first pick to get our palates functioning ,the Harvest salad, consisting of Red Oak and Endive lettuces, Bosc Pears, Gala Apples, dried cranberries, blue cheese, almonds tossed with a Pancetta-Champagne Vinaigrette.  This salad is the perfect picking for a hot patio day in Dallas because it’s so light, refreshing and crisp, but my I’m still a Fireside Cheese girl. And the pizza of choice was the Burrata Mozzarella Pie with oven-dried tomatoes and basil pesto, plus our own add-on of roasted criminis.  Ever since eating the Burrata Broccoli at Savory in Malibu, I’ve been on a quest for a Burrata dish that is equally as good as that, and this pizza certainly did not disappoint me.  It was insanely delicious and our well-thought idea to put those criminis on the pizza was a fantastic one.  They added a wonderful nutty earthiness that beautifully complimented the creamy Burrata, the sweet and tangy oven-dried tomatoes, and the freshness of the pesto.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Burrata, it’s a cheese that is made with an outer shell of fresh mozzarella and the inside is made of cream and mozzarella.  If you haven’t had it, then go out and taste some soon!  I know that Scardello carries it and now you know Fireside puts it on one of their pizzas, which is now one of my favorites….not that Fireside ever makes a bad pizza.  

A Sunday Funday of Patio Hopping in Dallas

Brunch at Smoke

Cyberspace: smokerestaurant.com
Grade: A-
Where to Find It: 901 Fort Worth Ave, Dallas, TX 75208
Food Group: BBQ, Brunch
How Much to Fork Over: $$
Faves: The smell of smoky goodness that permeates the air throughout the restaurant, Bottomless Mimosas, Bloodymary, brisket

Peeves: Long wait

The Jibba Jab:

Our patio bar hopping day had to start at a fantastic brunch spot, so I had to try Smoke and see what all of the fuss was about.  

It’s hard to miss the immediate waft of smoky bbq when you walk through the doors, but once you stop drooling, you notice the décor.  It makes you chuckle, but feel right at home because they literally have family photos on the walls.  Hilarious, but so welcoming.  I get it! Definitely order the bottomless mimosas if you are truly looking for a Sunday Funday or get the Bloodymary.  Beware it’s rich, but delicious.  All of the brunch items on the menu are great, but I would seriously just steer yourself toward the brisket.  It’s amazing!

Bloodymary

Mimosa

Family Photos!

The Omelet with Salad & The Things Inside

Smoked Brisket Cornbread Hash

Pulled Whole Hog BBQ Eggs Benedict

The Foundry 

Cyberspace: http://cs-tf.com/

Grade: A

Where to Find It: 9303 Pittman St, Dallas, TX 75208

How Much to Fork Over: $$

Faves: Atmosphere

Peeves: Couches smell

The Jibba Jab:

Country Coolness in Dallas.  I loved that the entrance is adorned as a giant chicken coop; they use old train cars as seating areas, and a ton of old wooden pallets as a giant stage.  Then the cactus garden is the icing on the cake.  This place is all recycled, which is great, but the old couches need to be cleaned big time.  Just hang out in the middle at the picnic tables under the string of lights.  This is a great hangout for a big group! I also really want to try Chicken Scratch, which is the restaurant connected to this bar.

Rattlesnake Bar at the Ritz Carlton

Cyberspace: fearingsrestaurant.com

Grade: B+

Where to Find It: 2121 McKinney Ave, Dallas, TX 75201

How Much to Fork Over: $$$

Faves: Outdoor patio

Peeves: Pricey

The Jibba Jab:

A place to go when you want to feel really Dall-ass! 

The Common Table

Cyberspace: thecommontable.com

Grade: A

Where to Find It: 2917 Fairmount St, Dallas, TX 75201

Food Group: Gastropub, American

How Much to Fork Over: $$

Faves: Outdoor patio, Skittles Sangria, Dog Friendly

Peeves: We didn’t have a dog with us

The Jibba Jab:

Definitely a great outdoor patio, but the real kicker is the Skittles Sangria.  It’s childhood nostalgia with an adult spin.  FYI though, order the white sangria because you can see the skittle colors run down and get psychedelic inside the pitcher!  The red sangria just covers it up.  We also grabbed a few apps to soak up some of the alcohol we had been drinking. 

Red Skittles Sangria

White Skittles Sangria

Cool Huh?

Uptown Devils

Buffalo Meatballs

Pulled Pork Spring Rolls

Primebar

Cyberspace: primebardallas.com

Grade: B-

Where to Find It: 2520 Cedar Springs Rd, Dallas, TX 75201

Food Group: Gastropub, Pizza

How Much to Fork Over: $$

Faves: Outdoor patio

Peeves:  Didn’t care for the wine

Union Bear

Cyberspace: unionbear.com

Grade: A

Where to Find It: 3699 McKinney Ave, Dallas, TX 75201

How Much to Fork Over: $$

Faves: Outdoor patio, Beers on Tap, Pizza

Peeves:  Out of a few beer and food items

The Jibba Jab:

We learned that a beer expert is called a Cicerone here, which definitely means these guys know their stuff about beer.  Although, I’m much more of a wine drinker, so the beer talk doesn’t really appeal to me, but definitely drink a few brews here if you love the stuff.  It’s interesting.  On the other hand, all of the food they serve is here Farm to Table and that definitely appeals to me.  The Honey Pig pizza (Salami, Mozzarella, Thyme Oil, Texas Honey) and Habanero Asian Pear Salad (Seasonal Greens, Manchego, Tomatoes, Champagne-Mint Vinaigrette) were fantastic!  

Sorry, my food photos turned out horrible, so I'm not posting them.  Not enough light.

Il Cane Rosso

Cyberspace: ilcanerosso.com
Grade: B+
Where to Find It: 2612 Commerce St, Dallas, TX 75226
Food Group: Pizza
How Much to Fork Over: $$
Faves: Delia Pizza, BYOB, Service, Use NoWait Host app (will explain)
Peeves: No reservations, Long Wait on a busy night




The Jibba Jab:

A well needed resurgence in Deep Ellum?  I think it’s happening, and Il Cane Rosso is great place to start your night down in the Deep.  The service is friendly and assertive and they use this NoWait Host app on an ipad to organize their waiting list because they don’t take reservations unless you have a group of 6 or more.  What is this NoWait Host app?  It’s simple!  The hostess takes your name, party size and phone number.  When your table is ready, they text you!  Why is it so great?  Because you can go anywhere (and not be scrunched up against every other patron waiting for a table in the restaurant’s bar) while you are waiting for that long starving hour, and you will still get the text!!  So we marched ourselves down to the next cool and non-crowded bar and had ourselves a drink. 

Of course we came prepared with our bottles of wine to take advantage of BYOB, so when we were seated the waiter popped them open for us.  They do have a bar, but I love utilizing BYOB for 3 reasons: 1) It automatically chops your bill in half  2)You drink wine that you like, and aren’t limited to their menu  3)You can take it home if you don’t finish it!  I wish more places allowed it.  Before grubbing on our much anticipated hot, crispy, cheesy, delicious pie of all pies, we needed my always Go To as an appetizer….Salad.  Because they had Caesar on the menu, I had to try it to compare it with Louie’s Caesar, which is by far the best I’ve ever had…..and still is.  Cane Rosso’s was quite good, but it didn’t have that sharp, spicy, pow in your mouth flavor that Louie’s always achieves.  We also had the Mista salad parading a basic, but good balsamic dressing.

By now, you probably know that I glorify pizza with such esteem that I think it should be a food group (and it actually might be at a school cafeteria).  I also feel that the crust is just as important, if not more, than the toppings on the pizza.  It is my favorite part to eat, so I am quite particular about its characteristics, which should be crispy on the outside with a bit of fluff on the inside.  The only place I’ve recently had the pleasure of eating at that has achieved this type of crust flawlessness is Otto in New York City.  Mario Batali is a genius when it comes to anything Italian and his pizza perfection proves it. Now I have something to compare every pizza to….which brings me to my one and only complaint at Il Cane Rosso.  The crust just didn’t cut it for me.  It was beautifully cooked with those lovely little black charred spots, but the consistency was doughy with no crispiness at all….having said that, the toppings made up for most of it.  The Delia, which consisted of Bacon Marmalade….yep that’s right….tomatoes, House made Mozzarella….yep they make their own Mozzarella, and arugula was by far my favorite and most eclectic pizza of the day.  I wanted to smear that Bacon Marmalade on everything I touched it was so good.  The other two pizzas, Zoli (Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Basil, Hot Soppressata, Jimmy’s Sausage) and Gus (Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Basil, Jimmy’s Sausage, Mushrooms) were great as well, especially the Zoli because the Hot Soppressata was a huge hit…..nice and crunchy with the right amount of kick.  Overall, Il Cane Rosso is a great BYOB stop for some good pizza.  Keep it coming Deep Ellum!

Salads separated by fork: Mista on Left, Caesar on Right

Delia

Gus

Zoli

Fireside Pies (Grapevine)

Cyberspace: http://www.firesidepies.com/


The Grade: A+

Where to Find It: 1285 S Main St, Grapevine, TX 76051

Food Group: Pizza

How Much to Fork Over: $$

Faves: Fireside Cheese Salad, Balsamic Roasted Chicken Pizza, and Outdoor seating

Peeves: No reservations, Long Wait on a busy night



The Jibba Jab:

Pizza Ambrosia. This is not the type of pizza that would be comparable to New York or Chicago style pizza. It’s just Gourmet, and I believe it’s the Nectar of the Gods. I have visited all of their locations, except the one in Fort Worth, and they all produce the same caliber pizza as the original location in Dallas on Henderson, which I’ve been a huge fan of since they opened their doors. I have to admit that this place has a soft spot in my heart.

The Grapevine location is just down the street from their Historic Downtown, which is where a few great wineries are located; therefore, it’s a place that I have frequented quite a bit in the past several years, including this past weekend when we attended the New Vintage Wine Trail and Gallery. After a bit too much wine to drink, we needed a place to soak up all of the booze, and Fireside was in thinking distance.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to this location without having to wait a least an hour, but they have a great bar and plenty of room to sit outside with a drink in your hand. We opted to sit at the bar and order the Cured Meat Sampler while waiting because it was going to be a while before we were getting a table and we were hungry. It’s definitely a great appetizer to tie you over until you get something substantial in your belly, with a variety of salty cured meat slices and condiments to accompany them. When we were finally seated, as usual, we ordered the Fireside Cheese salad, and then tried the Seasonal salad, both of which were outstanding. For pizza, I just had to have the Balsamic Roasted Chicken, being superb every time, and then we threw in another first timer, the Molten Meatballs, which had such colossal meatballs that I thought they were going to roll right off the pizza. This was definitely another repeat pizza. We left satisfied and I was feeling a bit more coherent than 2 hours before. I definitely slept well that night!