For dinner, my fiance made reservations at Roy's, one of our favorites. We actually planned to have our Valentine's Day dinner at Abacus the following weekend to skip the crowds and prix fixe menus. But he still wanted to go somewhere nice on the actual Valentine's Day. I pretty much let him plan everything. :)
However, we weren't aware that Roy's was ONLY doing a V-Day Prix Fixe menu as well. We thought we were just gonna go for a normal dinner (but on Valentine's Day. haha) Are you still with me? :P
The place was packed but we were seated immediately. We opened the menu and realized we could only order from the special menu. Eeeeeks. That puts an extra dent on his wallet! The place was full from the time we got there to the time we left. It was a quite loud.. And there were actually quite a few families with little kids there. Not the most romantic setting, but oh well. We made the most of it.
He got the Signature Cocktail: Cucumber Ginger Mule Martini $10~ First time I'm going to say this about a drink...it wasn't strong enough. In the booze or the ginger aspect. He makes a much better one at home.
The special menu consists of a 4 course meal. You pick your choice of appetizer, a soup or salad, entree, and dessert. The price of the meal was indicated by the entree you select.
Appetizer:
He got the Chicken Fried Maine Lobster (truffled lobster gravy). Pretty small plate but yummy! The lobster pieces were big and cooked well. I liked the batter and the sauce was delicious.
Kim Chee Brussels Sprouts (house made pork belly). Brussels Sprouts...if I see them, I gotta get them. Also a pretty small plate, but it's part of a 4 course meal so that makes sense. It was quite heavy on the sauce, even though I liked the sauce. Therefore, a tad on the saltier side. I liked the crispy pork belly with it. I kept half of it to eat with my entree which turned out to be a great pairing!
Soup/Salad:
We both got the Chanterelle Mushroom Bisque (creme fraiche, toast point, truffle oil). It just sounded amazing. And it was pretty freaking delicious. It wasn't strained so you got all the pureed bits of mushroom thoughout the rich creamy bisque. I really liked the toast point on top. I wanted a few more. hehe. We both cleaned our bowls.
Entrees:
I got the Kalbi Grilled Bone-in Ribeye (wasabi mashed potatoes, green beans, Korean BBQ sauce) $78~
It was impressive when they put it in front of me. They thought it was his at first because his dish was so much smaller in comparison. I loved the Korean BBQ sauce. Slightly sweet and full of flavor. The wasabi mashed potatoes paired really well with the steak and sauce. And the ribeye was cooked a good med-rare. My only complaint is that my piece had a lot of gristle. It was hard to cut it with the steak knife and I felt like a lot of it went to waste because I couldn't cut it or chew it. :(
He got the Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast (fried cauliflower, pomegranate, kabocha squash puree) $70~
Such teeny little pieces of duck...and even smaller when put next to my steak. haha. But cooked really well. It was very moist and tender. I liked the cauliflower with the kabocha puree the best, lots of different textures. And the pomegranates added a nice colorful touch and some sweetness.
Dessert:
I chose the Belgian Chocolate Torte (raspberry sauce, seasonal berries, red velvet whipped cream).
It wasn't so much a "torte" to me...it seemed more like a really rich brownie. It was a pretty big piece too. The chocolate was dark and rich. The red velvet whipped cream was interesting! I've never had that before. It was a pretty bright red and actually tasted like red velvet. I took most of this dessert to go cuz I had to help him eat his. :P It was still good a few days in the fridge.
He really wanted Roy's Signature Molten Chocolate Souffle Cake +$5~
The waiter said that wasn't a problem. He would just subtract the value of the other dessert from our check and add in the cost of the souffle...which ended up being about $5 additional. Still one of my favorite cakes of all time. The inside was filled with molten, rich ganache. The outside was just lightly crispy but the cake is still super moist. And always need to pair it with the ice cream. Sometimes I want to ask them for more ice cream. haha. Since we couldn't take any of this to go, we finished it together.
It was a great meal (as always). More expensive that we expected... by double! O.O but oh well. You live and learn right? Next time we'll just stay in on actual V-Day. haha. We still had a good time though. The manager actually came to each table and gave us a $20 giftcard for dining with them on this special day. They just keep giving us reasons to go back!! haha.
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Ours was filled with some great food! :)
We started the day with lunch at Densetsu. My fiance had to take his car in for maintenance (so romantic, right? haha) so I picked him up and went to lunch.
Densetsu
4152 W Spring Creek Pkwy.
Plano, TX 75093
(972) 964-7874
http://www.densetsurestaurant.com
Price (for lunch): $$
We love this place. The food is always fresh...and HUGE! I had to remind him not to order too much stuff cuz their portions are so big.
He got his usual Miso Black Cod Bento Box (black cod with house miso marinade) $10.95~
Seriously good deal. If you look on their appetizers, just the miso cod alone is like $10. So their lunch menu is da bomb. And just a quick tip...they have lunch specials everyday! Not just weekdays! Soft buttery fish, with a nice salad and gyoza (fried dumplings) on the side. Yum!
I wanted some sushi so I settled on the Rainbow Roll (6 different kinds of fresh fish on top of california roll) $13.95~
It's one of my favorite rolls in general so I knew it was a safe bet. It was even bigger than I expected. haha. One was more than enough, I'm glad we didn't get any more food! Stuffed to the brim with crab and topped with fresh sashimi. Each roll is like a 2 biter at least. Definitely filled me up.
Great lunch. We sat outside in their covered patio. It was such a nice day!! One of the only nice days we've had this month really.. And even though we were outside, our waitress was still very attentive and checked on us often. :) It was just enough food. We didn't over stuff ourselves since we had dinner coming up in a few hours!
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
It's been a crazy month... work was insane, and then I've been sick. Stupid virus, I've been out of commission for almost a week now. Definitely not digging the indecisive weather of Texas. Hot, cold, hot, cold...no wonder I've been sick twice this year already. But enough weather griping... I've still had some good food outings!
Earlier this month, we discovered another new (to us) hidden gem in Rowlett. Seems like we gotta explore Rowlett more thoroughly!
Trying to figure out where to go for dinner on a Friday night, I pulled out my trusty Yelp app. And found a Austrian hole in the wall.
Fritzl's Euro Grill & Dessert Shop
3390 Lakeview Pkwy.
Rowlett, TX 75088
(972) 412-3555
http://fritzls.com
Price: $$
We didn't call ahead or anything. Neither of us really thought there would be an issue getting a seat. Man we were wrong. It's a pretty small place and there were already 2 parties waiting in front of us. Business is booming! And looked like they were pretty short staffed. Just a waitress at the front, and a guy, I'm assuming Fritzl, manning the kitchen. He also came out to take some orders.
One group got seated, and they vacated the small bar countertop. So we plopped ourselves down to wait. Then I asked my fiance if he's ok with just eating at the bar since it doesn't seem like anything is going to open up any time soon. The place was a madhouse! The waitress is trying to get to every table as fast as she can. They ran out of menus so we had to wait for some. But wasn't a big deal for us. This is definitely a hole in the wall, and very eclectic in its decor. Random signage, pictures and lots and lots of signed dollar bills covered the walls. It was quite entertaining trying to read everything.
While waiting for the waitress, we got Fritzl's attention and asked if we could eat at the bar. No problem, he said and found some menus for us. He was running around like a crazy person. Got us some waters and zoom, he was off to the kitchen again. He seems like he's a fun person to talk to when it's not too busy in the restaurant, but they were just hauling ass that night.
I haven't had much Austrian/German food in my life. I think this may be the first real Austrian restaurant I've ever been to...and so far it seems pretty legit, since the owner is Austrian (or German...I wonder if they get offended if you called them the other??).
I ordered the House specialty: Wiener Jaeger (Wiener Schnitzel stacked and covered with Jaeger sauce - cognac, mushroom cream sauce with garlic) Half $13.99~ All Schnitzel dinners are served with Austrian roasted potatoes and sauerkraut. Red Cabbage or Spaetzle can be subbed for $0.50 extra. A Schnitzel is a tenderized and seasoned piece of porkloin, breaded and fried. And I subbed for both the cabbage and spaetzle.
I've never had real spaetzle, but always wanted to try ever since I saw some people make it on Chopped (a cooking competition show on Food Network, for those who didn't know). hehe. And he said I lucked out because that was the last serving of spaetzle for the night! Wow...it wasn't even 8pm yet, and he was already starting to run out of things. It was delicious. The pork was thin and fried well. I totally loved the sauce... boozy, creamy and with mushrooms? What's not to like?! Spaetzle is basically fried dough... reminded me of unsweetened funnel cake maybe? Was a little salty for me but paired well with the pork. I liked the cabbage too. Everything went together very well.
Bratwurst Dinner (two grilled bratwurst) $12.99~ Served with Austrian roasted potatoes and sauerkraut.
My fiance loved his dish. I found the bratwurst to be a tad salty for my preference but it was still tasty. I loved the potatoes. I've never been a big fan of sauerkraut, but I was ok with this one. He totally cleaned his plate... actually we both cleaned our plates. Hit the spot, he says.
When you walk in, you see a dessert display case lit up in the middle of the room. Naturally I gravitated towards that while we were waiting. All the cakes and pastries (they have homemade strudels!) looked amazing, but I noticed one cake that was unfamiliar to me. One of the customers said it was an Austrian cheesecake, and it's light and fluffy. Sounds yummy.
We decided to get an Austrian Cheesecake $7?~
Fritzl told us all the pastries were made by him from scratch (as well as all the food). Impressive. So far we've loved everything. The cake was FREAKING AMAZING!! It had flavors of lemon and poppy seeds and was so light and fluffy...the cake layers AND the cheesecake center. We fought each other for bites of the cake. And then we decided to get another slice to take home. hehe.
When we were finishing up our cake, we noticed that they were doing the dessert service part of the evening. Plates and plates of cakes were lined up and they were doing an assembly line type process for efficiency. Plates and plates of desserts were served as we saw all the cakes were quickly disappearing before us. I'm glad we got a second piece before they were all gone!
While we were waiting for the check. A group walked in and Fritzl had to tell them they were sold out of food for the entire night. Wow... This was before 9PM. Crazy! I think we may need to go on a week night in the future, or just go super early!
Needless to say, it was a great find. And I think I can safely say it's authentic. We will definitely be back. And save room for more desserts!
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
