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Friday, April 15, 2011

Company Cafe :)

My friend and I found a great new restaurant last night. I recently heard about this place from Thrillist.com and was immediately interested in checking it out. They offer organic, farm-fresh, gluten-free foods and the menu sounded delicious! I'm always trying to eat healthier these days so the whole organic/gluten-free trend interests me a lot.

Company Cafe
2217 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 827-2233
www.companycafe.net
Price: $$

Company Cafe is located in lower Greenville, on Greenville and Richmond. It's just North of Libertine Bar... Even though it faces Greenville, it's a little hard to see while driving. I had to park and call them to figure out where they were at. The place is cute. The decor is earthy but modern and there's a nice patio out front. When we arrived around 7:45PM, they informed us that they had lost power for the past 4 hours and just got it back and are still prepping for service. They immediately offered us some complimentary wine while we waited. We were in no rush so we took that time to look around and chill. We were hungry though so we kept staring at their cakes. haha.

Finally decided to get a slice of cake before they were ready for dinner service. Most of their cakes are gluten free, there were a couple that were not. They all looked really good. Now, we've had bad experiences with gluten-free cakes at Kozy Kitchen which were SUPER dry...but I had to try it here. We chose a slice of the gluten-free Oreo Cake $5~ I believe they bake all their cakes in-house, and they also have gluten-free cookies and brownies. It was a yellow cake with bits of chocolate chips in it with a whipped cream type frosting and topped with oreo crumbles. The cake was a little dry, but pretty good. The cake was quite dense and felt substantial, but was surprisingly light. I personally liked the denseness of the cake. The cake itself wasn't very sweet at all, the sweetness of the whipped topping offered just enough sweetness to bring it all together. With the frosting, the cake was great, and the oreo crumbles added that extra bit of chocolatey-ness! The cream balanced well with the texture of the cake. I was surprised by how light it was, I think I could've eaten several slices and not feel weighed down at all. Overall it was a pretty tasty cake. I can't wait to try some of their other cakes and desserts!

Business started picking up after we got there. They had 2 guys taking care of the dining area and they were running around trying to take care of everyone. The dining room filled up pretty quickly and the guys were definitely trying their best to get to everyone. They kept apologizing for the delays but I thought they were doing a great job! Everything on the menu sounded yummy!

We started with the Loaded Sweet Potato Fries (Fried in olive oil topped with Texas cheddar, applewood-smoked bacon, green onion and jalapeno) $7~ This was served in a giant bowl. We both stared at it with disbelief when they brought it out. The portion was huge! And it looked and smelled amazing! The taste didn't disappoint either. The sweet potato fries were fried perfectly, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The cheese, bacon and jalapeno topping were great combinations with the sweetness of the fries. Big chunks of crispy bacon and spicy (but not too spicy) jalapenos hits all your senses and taste buds. At $7 for that whole thing, this is a great deal! It was definitely too much for just the 2 of us...

My friend ordered Chef Fred's Gluten-Free Chicken and Waffles (Olive oil fried chicken with gluten free waffles that are stuffed with applewood-smoked bacon and roasted jalapeno. Sided with real maple syrup) $14~ It also looked and smelled awesome. Again, portion was quite large. The waffles had bacon and jalapenos IN the batter! The chicken batter was gluten-free as well. The chicken was OMG AMAZING. I was hesitant to see that it was all white meat but it was sooo incredibly juicy and tender. The crust was nice and crispy with sweetness from the syrup. I would have to say one of the best fried white meat chicken I've had. The waffles looked great but were a little disappointing. They were too dense and heavy and did not have a crispy crunch on the outside. I didn't taste much of the jalapeno in there even though I could see it. My friend tasted it, but didn't care for it.

Later the chef came out to greet us and we mentioned it to him. He totally knew what we were talking about and told us that he was still playing with the recipe to try and perfect it. Because it's a gluten free batter, the texture/consistency is harder to make fluffy. I trust that he will perfect it in the near future and I can't wait to go back and try it again.

I initially ordered the Braised Short Ribs and was sooo looking forward to it. To my disappointment...they ran out of short ribs. :'( I wanted to cry... But the manager suggested a bacon wrapped filet that they had which wasn't on the menu. So I went with his suggestion and got the special: Bacon Wrapped Filet (6 oz (I think) bacon wrapped filet with side of creamy grits and sauteed vegetables) $16~ They serve grass-fed beef. I ordered the filet medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. The outside had a nice seared crust. I wish the bacon could've been a little crispier though. The side veggies were sauteed mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and spinach. It tasted very fresh and paired well with the beef. The grits were super creamy and had a southwestern flare to it I thought...there was s slight spice to it. However, the grits were wayy too creamy and heavy. I couldn't finish it all and I thought it kind of overpowered the filet and veggies. I guess I'll just have to go back and get the short ribs next time. haha.

Overall, we were extremely impressed with the place. It has lots of potential to be a fantastic restaurant. The service was great despite the delays. They were friendly, casual and unpretentious. They also gave us 20% for all the wait...which we weren't even expecting. The food was pretty dang good even though they still have some kinks to work out. I will definitely be back there in the near future.

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