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Showing posts with label Oakcliff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oakcliff. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Afternoon Tea @ Potpourri of Silk

Hi All. Sorry for the hiatus... life has been busy, and well, I just haven't felt like writing! XP But trying to get back into it. I'm gonna start with one of my birthday month celebrations back in April.

I love afternoon tea, high tea, tea and pastries, whatever you want to call it. But I mostly love the ones where the mini foods are served on tiered stands. A friend of mine found this place on Instagram and so I booked it for one of my many birthday celebrations. :)

Potpourri of Silk
317 N Zang Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 941-9941
www.potpourriofsilk.com
Price: $40 a person plus tax

A few things to note about this place... 
- Tea time is available from 10AM-3:30PM. 
- 24 Hour Advance Reservations is required. 
- It is BYOB - $10 corking fee per bottle. 
- A 15% gratuity will be applied. 
- And no children under 13. 
- When we went, they had a maximum party size of 6 people, looks like they've upped it to 8 now! Yay.

We went at the beginning of April. For some reason we had a freak cold front that weekend and it was freezing! Luckily it was nice and warm inside. The place is in an old-style house, the decor inside is more traditional, white linens, doilies, etc. Very cute. They had the classic looking tea pots and tea sets too... and the tiered stands! This is what I wanted!



We got to choose our own teas... the tea pots were huge, and I drank a whole one myself. haha. I liked that. I don't like having to ask for refills all the time.

Teas:
Apricot Rose Hips on Black. The other girls loved this one.
Earl Grey Lavendar on Red Rooibos
Japanese Sencha - this one was basically all me. haha. I'm a tea purist... and quite picky. I like the simple green or black teas. The other girls shared the other 2 teas.


These tiered displays are so cute, y'all. Yay. Happy Birthday to me! :P

Tea Sandwiches:
Chicken (diced roasted chicken, shallots, fine herbs, grapes, toasted almonds, aioli, and spinach)
Beef (roasted rosemary beef, cherry tomato, confit, swiss cheese). One of my friends was still hungry so she ordered a whole beef sandwich. They also do lunch here. So you can order sandwiches, and pastries a la carte.
Cucumber (picked cucumber, cream cheese, aioli, lemon, dill, spinach)
All these sandwiches were super tasty. After our last, disappointing tea outing (surprisingly at the famous French Room), our expectations were a bit low. My favorite was the cucumber!! It looks so simple and plain but it had really good flavor!

Short Breads (served with Strawberry Jam and French Buttercream):
Brioche. (the round breads among the sandwiches) Was a tad dry on its own, but cute, and worked well with the jam and buttercream.
Classic Banana Nut Muffin. Yum, we asked for more of this.

Cranberry and Chocolate Scone. I loved the scones. I think it was my favorite sweet item.

Patisserie:
Earl Grey Chocolate Ganache Tart. A little hard to bite into, but good flavor. Let the chocolate melt in your mouth.
Cream Puffs. It was filled to the brim with the sweet buttercream. Too much, too sweet. So I scooped some cream out and it was all good.

We had a really great time. The service was wonderful... very attentive and courteous. The food surprised us all, especially the savory ones for me. So far this has been one of my favorites in Dallas. It's good and still affordable in terms of High Tea. We will be back!!

And thanks to all the lovely ladies that shared this experience with me! Love y'all! :D

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Overall Experience: 




~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Kessler Pie Co.

I'm so behind on my posts... I almost don't want to do them anymore. Too many other things that take priority lately... mostly wedding planning. It's coming up in 3.5 months! Eeeeks!! So much to do still.

I thought I'd post about the really important places that happened in the last few months. :)

We start with the wonderful pies from Kessler Pie Co. They make all their pies and desserts from scratch. It's never frozen. They're currently offering pick up and delivery only. But they've recently announced that they are opening a store front soon!! Congrats to them. :) It'll be in Oak Cliff. Follow their Facebook page to get updates. And check their website for pricing and delivery options.

Kessler Pie Co.
Oak Cliff
(469) 877-6800
www.kesslerpieco.com

I got my lovely delivery in December. They were so sweet to drive all the way out to Rockwall and hand deliver these. I felt so special! I got an assortment of mini pies in jars and one in a standard sized jar. They were super cute!
 
 

All the pies were great. I especially loved that flaky salty sweet pie crust on some of the flavors. Some I did close ups...


The Mellow Yellow (hand spun vanilla custard, banana, vanilla whipped topping, salty-sweet crust). Loved the crust, wished there was more banana. But this was a sample size jar so I assume the normal size will have much more fruit.
 

Apple Cranberry (granny smith apples, cranberries, house herb mix, salty-sweet nutmeg and cinnamon infused crust). Warmed it up in the microwave for a few seconds and it was oozing over!! Yaasss! Sweet and tangy. If you like tart, this is for you.
 

Banana Nut Bread. Nice and moist. Pretty standard banana bread. But that little jar was loaded with nuts!

BP214 (cubes of bread and raisins soaked in coquito cream). I always love bread pudding, but I think I also like the crispy edges when you bake them in a pan better. This was good, and the raisins were super plump, but no crispy texture.

Cherry Cream Cheese (graham cracker crust, sweet cream cheese filling, country red cherries). My fiance loves cherries and absolutely loved this one. I let him have most of it cuz I'm nice. haha. :P

The Coco Loco (hand spun vanilla custard, coconut shavings). I'm not a fan of shredded coconut so this wasn't one of my favorites. But again... awesome crust.

Blue Magic (graham cracker crust, fluffy cream cheese, blueberries) #1 Seller. This was in the regular jar size. I can see why this is their number one. It was my favorite as well. The mixture of the blueberries and cream cheese was fantastic. The cream cheese was super fluffy... like a really light cheese cake. Yum!! Not to mention the gorgeous color.
 

What a nice treat to kick us off into the holiday season. Thanks to Kessler Pie Co. for sharing some of their creations with me. And I'm loving this new dessert in jars trend. Much easier (and cleaner) to eat than a cupcake. hehe.

*Note: I received the pies for free. But these are my honest opinions.

Overall Experience:




~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Vegan Pop Up Dinner + Floral Workshop

Back in November, I attended a Vegan Pop-Up Dinner in Bishop Arts District. I found this even through Instagram from someone I follow. Along with a 3 course vegan dinner, it also features a floral workshop. Sounds like so much fun! I got a friend to go with me, I was super excited.

This whole event was brought together through Instagram. I got to meet some great people and learn new things! Make sure you follow all these wonderful people!

Hosted by: @threetwelveco

Collaborators: @lalascakes, @wheatandsour, @wethebirdsmacarons, @vegannomstx, @clearlykombucha

Floral Workshop by: @thebackyardbouquet

Guest Speakers: @cgar1121, @plantbasedzak

We started with the floral workshop with Lauren from The Backyard Bouquet. It was lots of fun. She brought all these different types of flowers, herbs, berries, and other interesting plants. It was so eclectic. I love the addition of the herbs and berries. There was also wheat! We all got to pick our own plants and just let our creativity flow. Everyone's bouquets turned out so well!
 
 

Once the flowers were done, it was time for dinner! I've never had a full vegan meal. But I'm always interested in trying new diets and foods.

We started with the most amazing Butternut Squash Soup. With bread by Wheat and Sour. The soup was rich and warming and quite filling. The bread was fantastic with it. I used it to scrape the entire bowl clean. Soooo good!!
 
 

Clearly Kombucha provided the refreshments for the night. They were also the sponsors of the event. :)

Salad: Arugula, pear, radish, fresh lemon. It was light and fresh, really just highlights the ingredients.

Main Course: spaghetti squash, red sauce, roasted fall veggies, vegan provolone. 
This was delicious. I loved the red sauce on the squash. The flavors were also light, but still complimented each other. I love that you can taste all the ingredients on their own. And guess what? I never missed the meat in the entire meal!

Dessert: dark chocolate pumpkin butter cups, chai vanilla orange spice macarons, spiced pear soaked vanilla sponge cake with vegan cinnamon buttercream, chocolate chip banana cookies. 
 
A cute assortment of mini desserts. All vegan! That pumpkin butter cup was the best thing ever. I also really liked the chocolate chip cookie.

This was the most wonderful event. :) I enjoyed every minute of it. Learning about new flowers, how using herbs and vegetables makes an arrangement so interesting! And I was completely blown away by the dinner. Great job to all the people that cooked. Not once did I miss meat! After the meal, we had a short presentation by the guest speakers on the values of vegans. I learned it's not just a diet but a lifestyle and moral code. And I totally respect that.

So much fun. I hope they do another event like this again soon. Make sure you follow @threetwelveco for future events and pop ups. :)

Overall Experience:





~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Pink Magnolia - Brunch

Brunching with friends is one of the best things ever!! We decided to go check out Pink Magnolia in Oak Cliff. It's the newest restaurant by Chef Blythe Beck... known for her Southern, fried, and "naughty" cuisine.

Pink Magnolia
642 W. Davis Street
Dallas, TX 75208
(469) 320-9220
http://pinkmagnoliadallas.com
Price (for brunch): $$

We had a reservation but upon arrival, the place wasn't very full. We were seated immediately. The decor is interesting... faux grass, lots of colors. It's kinda like a garden party. I guess I can dig it.

Everything on the menu sounded yummy. But I'm a sucker for southern food, AND brunch. I asked our waitress for recommendations but she wasn't much help. She said all their menu items are the best versions she's ever had. I guess she has to say that right?? But it's of no help to me. haha.

I went with the Hoecake Stack (cornmeal cakes, grilled spicy sausage, bourbon maple syrup) $14~ I liked how the sausages and hoecakes were stacked but I wished the dish came with more... It was good, not great. I did like the sausage a lot.
 

Oak Cliff Cristo (smoky ham, honey turkey, melted swiss, strawberry port jam; with side of fries) $14~ 
My fiance got this. It was pretty yummy. The strawberry jam was an interesting addition to the savory sandwich. The fries would've been good if they were hot. It seemed like they were sitting out for awhile before being served.
 

Ham Benedict (toasted English muffin, sauteed spinach, grilled ham steak, poached eggs, cayenne hollandaise; with side of fries) $12~ 
A friend got this. She said it was ok. The eggs were kinda watery... like they didn't drain it enough after being poached. Eh.. The hollandaise was tasty though. And same slightly cold fries.

Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf Sandwich (melted cheddar, black pepper aioli, toasted ciabatta; with side of fries) $14~ 
Another friend ordered this. I was looking at this too, I'm totally regretting I didn't get this. I got to try a bite. 
Oh it's sooo delicious. That bacon wrapped around the meatloaf. Om nom nom! By far the best thing we ordered. My fiance was sad that he didn't order this either.

I've heard nothing but great things about Pink Magnolia's desserts. So we had to try some. We were all pretty full so we got one thing to share. Maker's Mark Banana Pudding (vanilla wafers, whipped cream, caramelized banana) $10~ 
 
Ooooo wheee! This thing is LOADED with bourbon. Is it ok that we start day drinking?? It was super strong, and yum. That one banana pudding was large enough for the 4 of us to share.

It was an ok meal, aside from the awesome meatloaf. We were all a little disappointed. And the service was lacking despite business being slow. :( I saw Chef Beck in the back several times, but she never came out to greet the diners. Oh well.. I doubt I'd go back any time soon. There are so many more places to check out on my list.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~