Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar

Did you know that Tommy Bahama has restaurants?? All I've ever known of the Tommy Bahama brand are those really festive, colorful, tropical shirts. Well... they DO have restaurants, and we got one this year at Legacy West in Plano. And you know what? The food is good!!

Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar - Legacy West
7501 Windrose Ave.
Plano, TX 75024
(214) 501-3600
www.tommybahama.com/restaurants/plano
Price: $$$+

I was invited to go check it out. Excited! I went on a Saturday for lunch with a friend. The last time I had seen the space, it was still under construction. Now it's got the retail store, with the restaurant, with a HUGE covered patio next to it. And it was a beautiful day. We opted to sit inside because there were less people. The inside decor was very tropical. It felt like you were at a resort, on vacation, and I liked that very much.

Our waiter was pretty awesome and took great care of us from the beginning. He went over the cocktail menu with us. Neither of us really drink much alcohol so he was giving us recommendations.

I really liked that they had a mocktail section called "Zero Proof" for people like me who want pretty drinks but none of the alcohol. :P I chose Blue My Mind (muddled blueberries, passion fruit, scratch lemonade) $6~ 

It was very pretty. The yellow of the passion fruit was super bright and fun. It was a bit more tart than I would've liked, but then again, I can't take a whole lot of sour. I wished the blueberries were more muddled like in the description. They were mainly whole. But were very pretty in the drink, and were nice and plump.

My friend got the Handcrafted Pina Colada (bacardi, muddled pineapple, coconut, gosling's black seal float) $10.50~ She wanted something pretty sweet, and pretty. And this fit the bill. It was very good. It made you feel like you were sitting on the beach.

Our waiter also explained the whole menu to us. While he said everything is delicious, he pointed out some of their most popular items.

World Famous Coconut Shrimp (papaya-mango chutney) 4 pieces $11.50~ 

There's a bigger size to this.. I don't remember if it was 6 or 8 pieces, but that's $16.50~ I did notice that that prices for dishes here are a bit high, at least in my opinion, but they also have the same menu for lunch and dinner so it's gonna seem a bit more steep for lunch. The shrimp was fantastically fried. The fried coconut was very crispy and the shrimp was tender. I would totally eat it again. But the dish was a bit expensive for the amount.

Bread (cinnamon butter). I always love it when restaurants give bread. Their bread was a funny shape. Hehe. Yes, I'm being immature. But it was yummy. Warm and fluffy on the inside, it paired really well with the whipped cinnamon butter.

For our entrees we decided to get a sampling of different things. Land and sea... and sandwich. haha.

Cuban Sandwich (house roasted pork, ham, gruyere, pickles, sriracha mustard, jerk yucca fries) $13.50~ 

I love Cubans. At first glance, this looked a little sad.. the half on top kind of drooped over the bottom half. However, it is delicious! The bread was also pressed nicely. I think the bread was just a bit thin that's why it draped over the other half. Loved the pickles in there. The meats were tender. The yucca fries were fried nicely. They were dense though, so I couldn't eat too many. Yucca is a very dense and starchy root vegetable. The slaw was good. Not overly dressed and nice and crunchy. But I feel like they use this as a default side to everything. Would've been nice to have had different dishes along with different sides. The slaw was on every dish, including the appetizer...

Kona Longboard Fish & Chips (fresh catch, island tartar, jerk yucca fries) $22~ 

I love fish and chips. In their case, the chips were actually yucca fries. I wish we had subbed one of the yucca fries for something else. It was definitely too much! The fish was SO fluffy on the inside and the tempura batter was nice and airy and thin. It was a good fried fish. And I love tartar sauce. Gimme a jug and I'm happy. :P

Grilled Baby Back Pork Ribs (sweet & spicy blackberry brandy BBQ, island slaw, cauliflower-potato mash) Half Rack $19.50~ 

I'm so glad we got this. I was debating between the fish and chips and this. Smart that we got both. haha. The blackberry brandy BBQ sauce was oh so good. The meat on the ribs was super tender. I actually think this was my favorite out of the entrees!

We made sure to save a little room for dessert this time. Since they had the dessert display front and center when I first walked into the dining room. Their desserts were huge!! But our waiter told us that we can actually get half portions for everything, except the pineapple creme brulee. I really appreciate them giving that option!

Malted Chocolate Pie (chocolate cookie crust, mocha mousse, english toffee crumble) Half Portion $6.50~ 

The whole portion is basically the complete pie. I liked the half portion presentation better actually. It's so cute, being cut into little wedges. And man... 1 little wedge is enough! It was so decadent. Freaking delicious, down to the chocolate sauce they decorated the plate with. I made sure to eat a bit of the sauce with each bite and it made a difference. The crust had a great texture and paired with the smooth mousse perfectly. This will satisfy ANY chocolate lover.

Pineapple Creme Brulee (tahitian vanilla bean, caramelized pineapple) $9.50~ 

As soon as we saw this, we knew we were getting it. Even though it was the full size and we were getting full. It was just so pretty! And I typically don't choose creme brulee if there's a cake or something as another option, but I'm so glad we did. Not only is is beautiful, it is THE BEST creme brulee I've ever had in my life. Hands down! Nothing comes to mind from any previous experiences that can beat this. I mean, I love pineapple, but I always prefer more chocolate in desserts. This was light, you can see and taste the vanilla bean, and it has small chunks of pineapple under the custard. Lots of texture, with the fruit chunks and sugar crust. The pineapple was incredibly fresh too. And the base of that pineapple "bowl" is actually a whole slice of pineapple. I used my spoon and dug into that as well. LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEED IT! I will go back just to get this.

We had a great time. The food was good, but the price point was a little high for me to go back frequently. But the desserts? Another story. Seriously, TAKE ALL MY MONEY when it comes to the desserts. I cannot wait to go back for the creme brulee and try something else. Their drinks are also on point, presentation especially. If you want to feel like it's still summer or pretend you are at the beach, this is the place to be.

Thank you so much, Tommy Bahama, for having us. And introducing me to the dessert that CHANGED MY LIFE! :P You know you'll see me again.

*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own. Plus, always tip your wait staff even if you get a free meal!*

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Caribbean Cafe - Frisco

Went to dinner with some friends this past weekend. I was looking for some place to try by Stonebriar Mall area since we were gonna go watch a movie there later. I came across Caribbean Cafe while searching on google. I love Latin food so decided to give this a try.

Caribbean Cafe
3401 Preston Road
Frisco, TX 75034
(972) 668-9734
www.caribbeancafecuba.com

Price: $$

This place is tinyyyy. Luckily they had one large table for my group available. I think this place is fairly new, since they say they are still waiting on their liquor license. So at the moment they are BYOB!! There's another location in Carrollton.

The waitress was very friendly, but overall the service was very slow. She was the only one working. She gave us some bread after we ordered....we didn't realize the bread was very important since we didn't get our food for at least another 30 minutes!!

I wasn't too hungry so I shared with my bf. We asked the waitress for recommendations and decided on the Puerco Asado (roasted pork) $12.99~ All of their entrees come with grilled plantains, beans and rice. The pork was nice and tender with good flavor. I wish the flavor was a bit more bold, but I was still happy with it. The black beans mixed really well with the rice and the plantains were sweet and yummy. I enjoyed this dish a lot.

Another friend of mine ordered the Vaca Frita (fried shredded beef with garlic, onions, and citrus juices) $13.99~ And she substituted the plantains with yucca fries. The shredded beef was lightly fried which gave it a slightly crispy texture. It was very good. The yucca fries were awesome. Crispy on the outside and soft and pillowy on the inside. Probably one of the best yucca fries I've had so far. And it tasted great dipped in the black beans!

I didn't try much else except the Papa Rellena (potato filled with ground beef and fried) $2.99~ It looked like a giant crispy egg thing. The exterior was sooo nice and crispy and inside was like soft mashed potatoes and then ground beef in the center. It was pretty awesome. I would recommend this.

So dinner ended up taking FOREVER...since it took a longggg time for the food to come out, and then it took a longggg time for us to get our checks. Even after we told her we needed to get our checks first because we had to leave.... We got to the theater 5 minutes before the showing and it was sold out. DAHHHH! I'm definitely gonna dock points for slowness..

Overall, the food was pretty great. If you have a couple hours to spend, I would recommend this place. Don't go if you are in a hurry. haha.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

CHOMP! goes International!! ^.~

Wow…I’ve been so behind on updating this blog…

Well, May has been a busy month! It turned out to be “vacation” month…full of fun, sun, and eating!!

I went on a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas at the beginning of May. It was my first cruise and I was definitely excited that food was all-inclusive! :P

There’s wayyyy too many pictures to post so I’ll keep the text to a minimum. A description of the dish and what I thought of it overall…

Mambo Café – Miami:
- Vaca Frita (flank steak grilled and smothered with onions served with white rice, beans and yucca) $11.95~ SUPER delicious…tender meat, sweet yucca, great combinations of flavors!

Royal Caribbean – Majesty of the Seas:
- Windjammer Marketplace – Buffet
o Build your own salad bar – fresh ingredients, not bad at all
o Breadstick, steak, sautéed veggies, garlic bread, fried rice, tomato salad, pasta salad, grilled Portobello, pasta with sundried tomatoes – pretty good for buffet food
o Build your own Risotto bar (mushroom, tomato, spinach, corn, parmesan, broccoli) – FREAKING awesome! Creamy, flavorful, delicious!
o Pound cake, chocolate/peanut butter cake with toasted almonds, tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate layer cake - looked SOOOO good…yet they were a huge disappointment… :( all of them…
o Coffee ice cream with chocolate shavings - creamy and very tasty!

- Room Service
o Pizza Florentine – just ok…it was a little too doughy and the texture was kinda weird
o Bacon Cheeseburger with coleslaw - pretty dang good…we finished all of it :P
o Raspberry Cheesecake – not good; didn’t have texture of cheesecake, more like mousse, but BAD mousse…
o Chocolate Chip Cookies – stale, stale, stale…like they put it out for a couple days before serving it to people

- Main Dining Room – Formal Night
o Caesar Salad – good but average
o Shrimp Cocktail - seemed fresh and was cooked nicely
o Lobster Bisque – not good at all, no lobster in it
o Medium Rare Sirloin with mushrooms, asparagus and mashed potatoes – meat was tender and cooked nicely but sauce tasted like cafeteria food…blah!
o Roast duck with red cabbage and potatoes – nice flavor combinations; duck was not too fatty, my favorite dish of the night
o Sea Bass with spinach and capers – fish cooked nicely but sauce, again, was no good…
o Grand Marnier Souffle - not bad…definitely not as good as the one’s I’ve had around Dallas, but I enjoyed it
o Strawberry Cheesecake – really good! creamy but not too heavy
o Cherries Jubilee with Vanilla Ice Cream – meh…
o Chocolate Ice Cream with biscuit – really creamy and yummy

- Midnight Poolside Buffet
o Assorted cakes – again…BAD desserts…dry, wrong textures… Sigh~
o Chocolate and Pecan Praline ice cream – YUM, they can get rid of all other desserts except the ice cream :P

- Compass Deli – best food place on the ship!
o Chocolate Banana Crepe – made on the spot, delicious! Can’t go wrong with bananas and chocolate!
o Build your own salad bar – fresh ingredients, lots of options
o Smoked Salmon Crepe – also made on the spot, fresh ingredients

- Main Dining Room – Last Night
o Spinach Dip with Tortilla Chips – not bad
o Potato Gnocchi with ham and peas in cream sauce – gnocchi was overcooked and too soft, cream sauce was quite heavy, but overall the flavors were good
o Chef Special: Shrimp and Mahi Mahi Tempura – best dish of the night! Nicely battered and cooked, sauce was slightly sweet, great pairing with the seafood
o Sirloin with tomato, mushroom and mashed potato – generic steak, nothing special, needed more flavor
o Vegetarian Biryani with yogurt sauce – not bad, a little dry
o Chocolate Brownie Sandwich – really tasty, rich brownie with creamy mousse middle
o Banana Parfait with nuts – not really a parfait but very very good; light, layers of different textures

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~