III Forks - Dallas Restaurant Week 2014

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately. But as of tomorrow night, I will be done with school FOREVER!! Yes... after 8 long years of part-time school, I will be graduating! Woohoo! Needless to say, this last quarter has been very stressful.

I'm gonna try and get all caught up. I've got several places I need to write about!

Of course I did Dallas Restaurant Week this year. I posted about Hibiscus earlier and our second location was III Forks. I've been there twice back in 2012. I was sad to hear that my favorite waiter was no longer there. :(

As most of you know. Restaurant Week runs for anywhere from a week to 3 weeks in Dallas, depending on the restaurant. It's either $35 or $45 a person and partial proceeds go to the the North Texas Food Bank and Lena Pope Home. III Forks was still $35 a person, and from what I remember, they give quite a bit of food!

III Forks
17776 Dallas Pkwy.
Dallas, TX 75287
(972) 267-1776
http://www.3forks.com/
Price (RW): $$$$

We had a pretty big group of 12 people and an early reservation at 6:15PM. I was surprised that the restaurant was already packed by the time we arrived! And if you've been to III Forks, you know the place is huge! We waited at the bar for a bit for everyone to arrive and for them to prep our table. This time we were sat "outside". It seemed like we were outside but it was covered and there was A/C, thank goodness. haha.

The waiter came by and took our drink orders and I gave him the Central Market 4th Course certificates. We had enough for everyone. Yay! (Some restaurants offer a 4th course which you can get free if you get these certificates. However, you have to spend $25 at Central Market to get one.)
Lobster & Lump Crab Shooters. 

These were interesting, I'm not sure if it's in a good way. I wasn't too impressed with them. No one could really figure out which was the lobster and which was the crab. Even though one of them had a chunk of the meat in the shooter. We think thats the crab...? The one on the right was cold, which caught me off guard. Almost like a cold tomato soup, maybe gazpacho? But no chunks of lobster or crab in that one. The other was warm. I'm not sure which one I liked better. Both were meh. Can't compete with the awesome lobster shooters at Abacus that's for sure. I dipped some bread into the soups and that was better.

First Course
III Forks Salad (green apple slices, Wisconsin blue cheese, toasted pecans and field greens with housemade vinaigrette) Pretty standard salad. Although they kinda went blue cheese happy with it. Great if you like blue cheese a lot. haha.

Heirloom Tomato Salad (UglyRipe beefsteak tomatoes, pickled onions and Bosque blue cheese) I was told this was good. I didn't get to try.

Crawfish Bisque (a rich Southern Louisiana specialty with simmered crawfish, tomatoes, cream and cognac). 

 

I knew I wanted to get this when I first saw the menu a month prior. I loveee bisque and crawfish too! It was a pretty big bowl with quite a bit of crawfish in it. However, by the time it came out, it wasn't that hot anymore, you can see the film over the top. I didn't care for this soup either. The crawfish was too fishy... And the bisque flavor needed something, either another spice or some type of crunch maybe? I didn't finish it... Hmm... maybe this is why the past two times I came here I ordered off the regular menu?

Entrees
Aged Midwestern Beef Filet Mignon (with Colbert butter and Worcestershire demi-glace). This was highly recommended by the waiter. And his recommendation was valid. The steak was cooked well and super tender.

Georges Bank Flounder (pan seared with blood oranges and fennel pollen, with basil-hazelnut pearl couscous). 

I opted for the fish. I've had their seafood before and I know it's good. I liked it over the filet. The portion was huge! The fish was flaky and buttery. I loved the sauce. And pearl couscous is probably my favorite type of couscous. And as always, their creamed corn is pretty awesome. I enjoyed my plate a lot!

USDA Prime Hanging Tender Steak (four pepper crusted, with brandy cream reduction and caramelized cipollini onions). I didn't get to try this one but from the description it sounded tasty. I heard it wasn't as good as the filet though.

I was pretty full by now. I finished my entire entree! The dessert was chef's selection so we didn't really know what we're getting. There were 2 options when we ordered and we didn't get much of a description for each.

I got the chocolate cake. 

I think it was the better choice. I loved the thick ganache layer on the top and side. It was super chocolatey and rich. The cake itself was a tad dry though. And this is nothing compared to their regular dessert menu which is amazing.

Summer Bread Pudding (cold bread pudding with berries). 

When I found out this was cold, I knew I didn't want to order it. It was strange. Bread pudding shouldn't be cold. I think if they had called it Berry Trifle or something, we would've accepted it better. haha. Someone commented that it would've been better if it was just the berries and cream. The bread part made it weird.

For the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. I was disappointed. I know for sure now I will order from the regular menu, especially for dessert. It's like night and day! The waiter(s) were nice but service was slow. We were there for almost 3 hours and some of the food came out warm instead of hot. Oh well, at least I really enjoyed my entree and got to spend time with some great people. So that ends my Dallas RW for this year. Until next time... I hope they add some new places next year!!

Quality of Food:

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~