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Great things are coming, y'all!! Get excited! On April 1st, Frisco will be getting the first arepa restaurant in DFW, Arepa TX. We don't have that many places in Dallas that serve arepas. And those that do, do not put their focus on it. What is an arepa you ask? Arepas are Venezuelan pan fried corn flour cakes that are stuffed with sweet or savory fillings of choice. They are delicious! And they're gluten free, which is in line with the whole gluten free trend that's happening right now. Also, different items can be made vegetarian or vegan by just eliminating a topping or two.
Arepa TX
5355 Dallas Pkwy #600
Frisco, TX 75034
(603) 366-8471
www.arepatx.com
Price: $-$$
I recently got an amazing sneak peek at the food. I was 1 of 2 people to be invited by @prestonroyalsw to dine at the chef (and owner's) home!! What an honor! I've been to a good amount of media/blogger events at this point but this is the first time I was invited to someone's home. The hospitality from the Arepa TX team was beyond amazing. From the moment we walked in, we were treated like friends and family. They were all just super friendly. We immediately smelled the food cooking and my mouth started to water. How amazing is it to have the chef cook for you in her own home? I geeked out a little. hehe.
They were plating when we got there. I cannot wait! We got some drinks and sat around chatting with Jammil (the chef's son who is handling the management and finances of the restaurant) and his wife, Susana. Along with their friend, Eric, who's in charge of Development and Design. We got some background and insider info on the development of the restaurant and menu items. Everything sounded delicious and I was getting hungry.
We were seated in the dining room and I was glad that several of the family members sat down to dine with us. The conversation just kept flowing like we've all known each other for a while. Then they started bringing out the food.
First up... Brisket & Chimichurri Arepa (tender and juicy slow cooked brisket in an ancho and guajillo sauce with pickled onions and avocado). It was served with a side of Plantano Frito (sweet fried plantains) and Seafood Cocktail (shrimp and crab cocktail in spicy clamato, with crunchy white onion and avocado).
Everything was fresh and made from scratch. I'll start with the arepa... pressed thin and the outer layers were nice and crispy. The brisket and chimichurri combo was fantastic. Beef is always great with chimichurri... and of course, they make their own chimichurri! It's so creamy... but there's no cream! I've never had chimichurri of that consistency. I loved it. I poured it on everything that night. The brisket was tender and the combination of flavors was well rounded. The plantain chips were great too. Super crispy but not at all greasy. Went really well with the shrimp/crab cocktail and/or chimichurri sauce. I had a refill on the chips. I'd take these over potato chips any day! The shrimp and crab cocktail was a nice little side. The addition of the crab added a variety of texture, plus it's more seafood, so who's gonna complain. :P One of my friends that went with me is Mexican and she said she makes her shrimp cocktail with very similar flavors. So it's pretty damn authentic, I'd say.
The next one is their "Banh Mi" Arepa (tender chicken with radish, carrot, cucumber, and avocado crema).
I'm usually weary when I hear non-Vietnamese restaurants say they have Banh Mi. But you can't take this literally... they have components of a typical banh mi, but the flavors are very much their own. The chicken that was in there was unreal! It was incredibly tender and that was probably my favorite protein of the night. The radish, carrots, and cucumber added freshness. And the avocado crema was a nice creamy element. It was really fantastic. I don't care what they call it, I can eat this every day.
After the 2nd arepa, they realized we were all getting full so they made a mini version for the 3rd one. They will have both sizes at the restaurant btw, to accommodate all appetites. The last one we sampled was their Vegetarian Arepa (black beans, avocado, caramelized onions, sauteed peppers, queso fresco).
It had no meat, but can you believe that this was our favorite one? It had so much flavor!! Whatever that sauce was... I bow down to it. I can only imagine if I added the chicken from the Banh Mi one into this... it would be SO FREAKING AWESOME! :P
We also got to try some Yucca Frita ( crisp slices of yucca, served with chimichurri sauce). I love yucca fries and this is by far the best I've ever had. It was PERFECTLY fried and so crispy. When you see that translucency on the outside, you'll know you have a perfect fry. Yucca is a really starchy root, so to get it to that texture was amazing. I wanted to eat more... I was stuffed.
And then they brought out the desserts. haha. Luckily they were mini. They will also feature homemade custard popsicles at the restaurant. There are two sizes, regular and mini. These mini pops are so adorable! Mini Frozen Custard Popsicles: we got to try the Flan and Dark Chocolate flavors.
I'm so excited about the flan flavor... I love flan and this was great. My friend said she doesn't like normal flan, but loved this popsicle. Because these are frozen custard instead of regular popsicle mixture, they are a lot richer and more decadent. Just one or two mini ones had satisfied my sweet tooth. The dark chocolate was so smooooooth. Yum! I can't wait to try all the other flavors when they open. Supposedly they have a Horchata flavor too!
Like I said, get excited people! The food is freaking amazing and made with so much love. You can absolutely see the passion pouring out of everyone on the Arepa TX team. And I truly believe that when someone cooks with love, you can taste the difference. I think Arepa TX will do so well in Frisco, and cannot wait for them to expand through the rest of Dallas. Come to Rockwall, please! :P
I'm just still in awe of this phenomenal family team. They welcomed us into their homes with open arms, fed us amazing food, and showed us the love they have for their business. I really wish the best for them. Thank you Chef Mary Ann, Peter, Jammil, Susana, and Eric. This had been one of the best experiences for me to date. And a huge THANKS to @prestonroyalsw for inviting me and sharing this experience. :)
Their grand opening is April 1st. They will have some great deals I'm sure. Definitely go check them out. I want to try everything on the menu!
Quality of Food:
Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I absolutely love Smorgasburg. I went to it 2 years ago and I'm so glad it's a yearly thing! The weather was perfect on Saturday too! It was my 2nd thing to do in NYC (after Shake Shack). hehe. And it was about 20 min walk from our Airbnb apartment. It was such a great location!
Smorgasburg
90 Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Saturdays 11AM-6PM
(Sundays are in a different location)
www.smorgasburg.com
We got there around 11:45 or so. There were already a lot of people walking around and standing in line. There were a few vendors still setting up. This is a lot bigger than Madison Square Eats so it took a lot longer to walk around and scope everything out. We made it thru about 2/3rds and then gave up. Oh... and I thought all the vendors would have Square or something to take credit cards... I was wrong. We were running out of cash, fast! So consider yourself warned! Estimate $8-10 per item per vendor. You do the math.
While we were waiting for my fiance's sister to meet us, we stopped at the first vendor. This was new to me and they had displays set out. All looked yummy!
Duck Season
Crispy Duck Lettuce Wraps (I think it was $8 or $10~)
This was a new item so it wasn't even on their menu. The duck was nice and crispy but the lettuce was too frail to hold everything together. It was a messy item to eat while walking around. haha. Every element was good, just needed a bit more sauce. His sister showed up and was able to get the last bite.
Overall Experience:
So now that we had 3 people, we decided to split up, get different foods, and meet back at a central location. Didn't really work too well.. haha. Since different vendors cook food at different pace. Oh well...
Asia Dog
WangDing Hotdog (chinese bbq pork belly, cucumber, scallions) $5~
Sounded good but quite disappointing. At least it wasn't as expensive as everything else. It was a puny little hotdog with some pork sauce on it. I guess flavors were ok but very unmemorable.
Overall Experience:
Bite Size Kitchen
Braised Pork Belly Bun (cucumber,scallions, hoisin, pickled jalapenos)
Duck Bun (sesame seeds, cilantro, pickled ginger, fried garlic and shallots)
2 for $9~
Both were good. The duck won out over the pork belly. I think it was the sesame seeds and fried garlic/shallots.
Overall Experience:
Bassanova Ramen
Green Curry Ramen $9~ Plus Berkshire Pork (Chashu) +$1~
I had to wait a while for this because they were still setting up. It was cool that they torched the chashu on the spot but certain parts tasted burnt. The meat was tender though. I loved the texture of the noodles. Nice and chewy. And the green curry is more of a sauce, so it's considered a dry ramen. It was good! $10 for the portion tho, I'm not so sure.
Overall Experience:
Vaquero's
Elotes (grilled corn served with mayo or butter, cheese and chilli) $4~ Who doesn't love elotes?? Yummmmm!!
Overall Experience:
Brooklyn Soda Works
Apple Ginger Soda. Quite refreshing on a hot day.
Overall Experience:
BFC
Buttermilk Fried Chicken (with a cheddar waffle and pickle garnish) $12~
This looked so awesome, but I was disappointed. Very expensive for fried chicken btw. I liked the waffle more too. The chicken was fried well but needed way more seasoning. They had hot sauce on the side, so that helped a lot.
Overall Experience:
Dough
Hibiscus Donut.
Freaking love Dough. Their donuts are so big and fluffy! The hibiscus is good but their favorite of mine is still the Cafe au Lait!!
Overall Experience:
Palenque: Homemade Colombian Food
Arepa (arugula, Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, cilantro salsa) Vegetarian toppings: Tipica (mashed red beans and hogao) 4" for $8~ This is his sister's favorite. This time, however, it took forever for her to get her food. I think she waited like 20 minutes or something... It's good though. :)
Overall Experience:
We were pretty full at this point and talking about leaving. So we were trying to think of things that we saw on the website that we wanted to try but haven't yet. The only thing I could think of is this spaghetti burger that sounded really good but I never saw it. Oh well... we started walking out. As we were walking, I saw it! And they had no line! They had some of the spaghetti burgers on display and it looked really good. I was full, but was contemplating getting one.
Antica Pesa
Spaghetti Burger (lamb ragu, parmigiano, fontina) $10~
I was a little weary of the lamb ragu since I don't like lamb. But this is something unique and it WAS something I wanted to try from the start. BIG MISTAKE. I think it was already fried, but they fried it again when you order it so it would be hot. It looked really good, but was sooooo greasy. It also came with a cheese dip on the side. After a few bites, I started feeling queasy. But it was freaking TEN DOLLARS so I felt bad for not eating it. But I couldn't. I soon admitted defeat. And it was the biggest mistake of the trip because it completely ruined my stomach for the rest of the day! Booooo. Serves me right for trying to cram in one last item. :( Next time, stay away from deep fried pasta and cheese!! And lamb. The gaminess made everything worse.
Overall Experience:
It was a fun afternoon but I wasn't as satisfied this time around. The price to food quantity/flavor ratio just wasn't there. I wish I hadn't eaten certain things so I could have another dough donut. haha. And after the fried grease of a "burger" I was out for the count for the rest of the day. Probably good for me in the long run but still wasn't fun to feel nauseous all the time.
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
SATURDAY: Day 3.
I absolutely love Smorgasburg. I went to it 2 years ago and I'm so glad it's a yearly thing! The weather was perfect on Saturday too!
Smorgasburg
90 Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Saturdays 11AM-6PM
(Sundays are in a different location)
www.smorgasburg.com
Duck Season
Crispy Duck Lettuce Wraps (I think it was $8 or $10~)
Bassanova Ramen
Green Curry Ramen $9~ Plus Berkshire Pork (Chashu) +$1~
Bite Size Kitchen
Braised Pork Belly Bun (cucumber,scallions, hoisin,
pickled jalapenos)
Duck Bun (sesame seeds, cilantro, pickled ginger, fried
garlic and shallots)
2 for $9~
Asia Dog
WangDing Hotdog (chinese bbq pork belly, cucumber,
scallions) $5~
Vaquero's
Elotes (grilled corn served with mayo or butter, cheese
and chilli) $4~
Brooklyn Soda Works
Apple Ginger Soda
BFC
Buttermilk Fried Chicken (with a cheddar waffle and
pickle garnish) $12~
Dough Donuts
Hibiscus Donut.
Palenque: Homemade Colombian Food
Arepa (arugula, Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, cilantro
salsa) Vegetarian toppings: Tipica (mashed red beans and
hogao) 4" for $8~
Antica Pesa
Spaghetti Burger (lamb ragu, parmigiano, fontina) $10~ This was the last thing I purchased and ate. It was deep fried... so greasy it completely ruined my stomach for the rest of the day! Booooo. Serves me right for trying to cram in one last item. :(
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Grand Central Terminal
Zaro's Bakery
Shake Shack
Shack Burger (cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato
and Shack Sauce) Single $5.19~
Root Beer Float
--------------
Wonton Noodle Garden
56 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 966-4033
Roast Pork $8.95~
Beef Stew & Wonton Noodles $7.95~
The uber heavy spaghetti burger (or "the greasy devil") took me out of the running for our last day in NYC. I felt nauseous everytime we walked a lot and just couldn't eat much more the rest of the afternoon. Sigh... curse you greasy foods!!! Anyways, it probably did me a favor in the long run. haha. We still ate a lot that weekend.
Make sure to check out my separate review on Smorgasburg to get the lowdown of each item we had! :)
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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