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So... I need to preface this post by saying I've never been a huge fan of hot dogs. Not saying I don't eat them... but I don't crave them, if there are other options I usually choose the other, and the whole "mystery meat" thing just kinda makes me nervous. HOWEVER, once I tried Dog Haus, my life has been changed! I'm so glad I took the invite to go check them out. They're right across the street from my work too. I just never felt the need to go... Kinda slapping myself for that now. Check out my epic visit below!
Dog Haus Biergarten
744 S. Central Expressway
Richardson, TX 75080
(214) 935-9121
http://richardson.doghaus.com
Price: $-$$
First of all, this place is a cool place to chill. They've got a great, casual set up, and a pretty impressive outside/patio area. Too bad the night we went was cold and pouring rain. Definitely a great place to hang out once spring hits though.
We met the owner, Ron, who was super nice and gave us all sorts of great info on the business. For example, all the meat they use for the hot dogs and sausages are closely monitored and they use the best meats. Definitely NO mystery meats here! The meats are all hormone and antibiotic free. Cool tip: they are also King's Hawaiian's largest commercial customer. He also told us about the collaboration he's doing this year with some big name chefs to benefit No Kid Hungry. $1 per item sold from this special menu is donated.
I kind of squealed a little when I saw the flyer because I recognized most of the names on the list. HEAVY HITTERS! Several of these chefs have competed on Top Chef (one of my favorite cooking competitions/shows) and have WON their season. The chefs change every 2 months so you gotta keep going back to see what's new. I cannot wait for March.. Stephanie Izard is also one of my all time favorite Top Chef contestants. (She won her season AND was the first female chef to win Top Chef, btw, no big. haha!)
Currently on the collab list is the Salty Malty (salty caramel shake with salted caramel swirl, malt, dulce crispearls).
Created by Chef Brooke Williamson, an amazing chef... one of my favorites in her season on Top Chef. She was runner up that season. And she's currently back on Top Chef again! Y'all, this shake is amazeBALLS. You see, cuz it's got crunchy balls in there. haha. :P No, it's legit good. I especially like the crunchy dulce crispearls in there, adds a nice texture. The combo of sweet and savory is on point. AND you can get it gluten free by removing the malt and crispearls. :)
Dutch Chocolate Shake (made with Fosselman's soft serve) $4.99~ We also tried the chocolate shake. Almost reminds me of a Frosty, less thick, but just as delicious. The chocolate wasn't overwhelmingly sweet, but still decadent. Desserts before dinner, eh? On to the food!
Ron just told us he was sending out some stuff. I didn't realize we were getting half the menu! haha. There were only 3 of us. Needless to say, we all had a TON of leftovers to go.
ROUND 1:
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HausSausages - hormone and antibiotic free sausages served on King's Hawaiian rolls - $7.49~ each
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Porchetta 'Bout It (pork belly sausage with rosemary, fennel, garlic and lemon zest; topped with garlic aioli, giardiniera and chicharron; served on grilled King's Hawaiian rolls).
Created by Chef Bruce Kalman. This is also one of the collaborations for Jan-Feb. Chef Kalman is no stranger to food shows either, having been on Top Chef and Chopped. I've definitely heard of his restaurant, UNION, in LA. This sounded awesome, especially with those chicharrons on top. Just look at the griddle marks on those rolls! We all loved that they use Hawaiian rolls for everything. For one, it made for easy sharing, just cut along the lines! :P Plus that bit of sweetness with the savory hot dogs and sausages really elevated everything. The chicharrons added great texture. You got less than 2 more weeks to try this!
The Big "D" (smoked jalapeno cheddarwurst, chili pepper relish, chipotle aioli, cotija cheese). Tons of flavor. The sausage had a great snap to it. I thought it had a bit too much sauce so the flavors were a bit muddled though.
Reservoir Hog (polish kielbasa, haus chili, haus slaw, yellow mustard). Loved the slaw, not a fan of yellow mustard in general. Still good though.
The Love Boat (fries, haus chili, haus slaw) $3.99~ The fries were good. Again, I loved the slaw. It added some freshness to the fried potatoes.
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HausBurgers - hormone and antibiotic free beef, served on King's Hawaiian rolls - $7.99~ each
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Little Mule (fried egg, avocado, pickled jalapenos, chipotle aioli, cotija cheese, white american cheese).
Who knew a place that specializes in hot dogs would be amazing at burgers. But OMG. I think this is one of my top 5 burgers now. I freaking loved this!! It was most definitely my favorite of the night. Using Hawaiian rolls as the buns just made it even better. Super fluffy and slightly sweet. The meat patty was juicy but not greasy and I loved every single element in this burger. I've been thinking about this ever since that night. I need to go back soon!
For ROUND 2, we got The Mensch (pastrami, 1000 Island, haus slaw, white american cheese, pickles). Also great, but I liked the Little Mule better. The pastrami was a tad salty for me when paired with the patty. Also at this point we were getting full so our opinions may have been a bit skewed.
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HausDogs - hormone and antibiotic free, all beef dogs, served on King's Hawaiian rolls - $6.49~ each
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Sooo Cali (wild arugula, crispy onions, spicy basil aioli, avocado, tomato). We were getting ready to tap out, but then I found my favorite hot dog. If I had more room, I would've killed this. I discovered that I like their HausDogs better than the HausSausages. I just liked the flavor better for whatever reason. And the pairings with the toppings on this one was unique and delicious. Loved the texture from the crispy onions. Who would've thought to put arugula in a hot dog?! Loved it! I liked that it incorporated some veggies. I took most of this to go and had it the next night. Toasted it in the oven, and it was just as good!
Scott Baioli (top) (smoked bacon wrapped dog, caramelized onions, garlic aioli, cheddar cheese sauce). Thought this one was also a little too saucy. The flavors all melded together so I couldn't really get the distinction of the bacon around the dog. Again, I'm not a standard hot dog lover so my opinions will be quite different. I liked the arugula in the hot dog, haha. So the ones that are more standard weren't my favorites.
Cowboy (middle) (smoked bacon wrapped dog, bbq sauce, cheddar cheese sauce, crispy onions). Same on this one. Crispy onions were a nice touch though!
ROUND 2.5:
As if we hadn't had enough food... here are all the extras!
Cheeseburger Sliders (angus beef, mayo, white american cheese; served on King's Hawaiian rolls) $1.99~ Cute little sliders to snack on and share. The beef patty is just as good as the ones in the regular sized burgers.
Corn Dog Sliders (all beef mini dog dipped in haus made root beer batter) $4.49~ I only took one bite. Couldn't eat anymore. haha. But the batter was slightly sweet... from the root beer. I liked that.
Onion Rings $3.49~ Massive! And fried well. Great to share with your friends!
Chili Cheese Tots $4.99~ I personally like super crispy tots, so I would not order them loaded with any sort of sauce or topping. I ate the edges. haha. Definitely nice and crispy. I think I liked their fries just a little more though.
I never thought in my life that I would crave a hot dog. But it's happened. haha. I pretty much think about the Sooo Cali hot dog and the Little Mule burger at least once a day. Good thing those are on the regular menu so I can go back whenever. Hopefully soon! But I cannot wait to see what Chef Stephanie Izard has in store for us in March. In the mean time, y'all gotta get in there for that Salty Malty!!!!!!
Thank you so much, Dog Haus, for having us (and changing my thoughts on hotdogs, hehe). The quality of ingredients show through, and I love the originality of the menu items as well as their names. :P
*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*
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Service:
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Value: (comped)
Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
One of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Rockwall... My friend first tipped me off that HG Sply Co was going to open something in our neck of the woods months and months ago. For the longest time I thought it was going to be a second location but never really heard anything about it. Last week, I realized it was going to be a different name, Standard Service. I've actually seen the name on Facebook at some point a while back but the name didn't jump out at me. So the opening kinda snuck up on us! Do you have any idea HOW exciting it is to get a new restaurant in Rockwall? There's not many great places to choose from and something with the caliber of HG Sply Co and Remedy is huge! hehe.
Standard Service
760 W. Ralph Hall Pkwy
Rockwall, TX 75032
(469) 651-1100
www.thestandardservice.com
Price: $$$+
Once I found out Standard Service is the new restaurant name, I followed it's opening closely. Unfortunately they pushed back their opening date a few times since I started checking on it. We (a group of us) had been talking about going yesterday, then we found out the opening day got pushed to Monday, 10/10. Booo... Well, me being me, I decided to do a drive by with a friend Friday afternoon just to see maybeeeee they're doing a soft opening?! It's super close to my house anyways. As I drove by, I saw a lot of people inside. So I decided to park and go inside. They were doing training still so all the staff was there. I confirmed with them the opening date. MONDAY! And then they told me I'm welcome to sit at the bar and get a drink. Ooooo. So I casually asked if they are serving food as well. They said food service started at 6PM and it would be on them since they are still doing training. What?!? They're serving food AND it's free?? I immediately texted my husband and said change of evening plans and we're going to Standard Service! haha. I met back at the restaurant with my friend and her hubby at 6:30PM. The hostesses were super nice and said we can totally sit at the bar to eat and drink. Turns out they were having their friends and family night with mock services to practice. We felt so special that we were still allowed in since we're neither friends nor family. Although after the meal we felt like friends. :P
The space is super cool. High ceilings, lots of wood, the bar has a large window that opens up to their big patio. There's a ping pong table in the patio too. Definitely a cool place to hang out now that the weather is cooler.
We were given a smaller menu for their mock service night but the entire drink menu was available. We were so excited we didn't know whether to order food or drinks or just keep looking around the restaurant. Our bartender (who also took our food orders) was Jessica. She was super friendly and gave a lot of suggestions. You can tell she was very excited about the restaurant opening and their offerings. And... they have Moscow Mule and Old Fashioned cocktails on draft! What what!?! That's pretty freaking awesome. And they were good too. We tried both.
*I'm including the prices of all the menu items but the meal was on the house since it was a mock service. Sooo freaking awesome!!! :D
HG Moscow Mule (42 Below Vodka, Lime, Ginger Holy Kombucha, Agave) $10~ Very refreshing and definitely strong (for a lightweight like me) haha.
Right Grain Old Fashioned (Old Grand-Dad Bonded Bourbon, House-Mashed Barley Syrup, bitters) $10~ My friend really likes Old Fashioned and she said this one was really good.
Bison Chili Frito Pie (South Dakota bison, kidney, pinto, black beans, fritos, shredded cheddar, lime crema, guacamole, green onions) $9~
This was their only appetizer option of the evening so we go it first while still trying to decide what entrees to get. This was a pretty damn big portion imo. And it was definitely the prettiest frito pie I've ever seen. hahaha. Delicious!!! All the ingredients were super fresh and the flavors all complimented each other well. There wasn't too much of one thing or another. And it had the slightest little spicy kick to it. Yum. This could easily be a meal too.
The B-Webb (The Last Word: High Born Gin, Maraschino, Chartreause, Lime) $12~
Partial proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Hospital. They told us that they feature 5 different cocktails (the line up changes every so often) and each one has proceeds that go to a different charity. That's really awesome. Drink for charity, amiright? My friend got this. It was a pretty drink. It has a bitterness to it but is very smooth. Another winner.
Chicken Salad Wrap (chopped chicken breast, celery, green grapes in green goddess dressing, marinated tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, green onion, lemon, extra virgin olive oil, crispy brown rice; with side of potato salad) $13.50~
My husband chose this as his entree. I really liked the potato salad. You can also choose potato chips as your side. He liked the wrap... I thought it was ok. The flavor was fine but it was too saucy for me.
The Standard Stack (herbed smashbrowns with caramelized onion and jalapeno, green goddess dressing, marinated tx tomato and arugula; with choice of protein). Kansas City Kobe Beef Burger $15~ My friend's husband got this. He said it was good.
The Standard Stack (herbed smashbrowns with caramelized onion and jalapeno, green goddess dressing, marinated tx tomato and arugula; with choice of protein). Scottish Salmon $18~
I got the stack as well but with salmon. I shared it with my friend since we wanted to try everything. She said this was better than her husbands kobe beef burger stack. I ordered the salmon pink in the middle and it came PERFECTLY cooked. I mean.. just on point. And those smashbrowns... so good. Nice and crispy and flavorful. The whole thing was delicious and very well rounded. It didn't feel heavy at all. And at first the portion looked small to me, but its quite filling. Highly recommend this.
My friend got the Chicken Fried Chicken (sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken gravy) $16~
We also shared this one. Jessica (our bartender) recommended this one. They use chicken thighs instead of breast so the meat was extra juicy and tender. The color on the batter looked dark but it wasn't overcooked. I really enjoyed the crunch on the batter. The mashed potatoes were fluffy and the gravy wasn't too heavy. I think the chicken was my favorite thing of the night. Then the salmon and smashbrowns were a close close second.
We were having such a great time and the restaurant had completely filled up. The noise level is a little high but it's energetic not overbearing. We chatted with Jessica a lot throughout the night. It was very cool sitting at the bar watching them make all the drinks too. Since it's still their training, it's like we got a behind the scenes look at the restaurant. For their first night of food service, we thought everything went really well. The service was fast, attentive, and friendly. The food was spot on, no major snafus on anything. I'd say they're ready to open!
Finally we decided to ask if they were serving dessert even though it's not on the limited menu and they said yes. They only have 2 dessert options. One is a coconut blondie, called The Lucy. The other was The Ricky (dark chocolate brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate sauces, chopped peanuts, whipped cream) $11~
Such cute names! You can guess which one we got. hehe. It was pretty freaking awesome. I was on a no sugar diet, but I cheated and had 2 bites. The brownie was super fudgy and they gave enough ice cream to brownie ratio (this is important!) We killed it pretty quickly.
What a fabulous night! I saw the executive chef, Danyele McPherson, walking around the dining room later in the night but didn't get to meet her. She seems really nice. I saw her when she competed on Top Chef and have kinda been following her movement since. She used the be the chef de cuisine at The Grape then moved to Remedy and HG Sply Co sometime in 2014. I freaking love Remedy... especially their burger. I'm very pleased to see that the burger is going to be on the menu at Standard Service.
If you haven't noticed my excitement for this new opening... I'm telling you now... They open on MONDAY! Lunch & Dinner - 7 days a week! What a great addition to Rockwall. Go check them out. :) And say hi to Jessica for me!
Quality of Food:
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Value: (comped)
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I'm overdue for another post! I've got several actually. Last weekend was crazy busy and exciting! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. :)
I've been trying to check out Knife for awhile with some foodie friends of mine. We had scheduled it weeks in advance and still had to reschedule another time. Finally it was the day! We were all pretty excited since we've all loved Chef John Tesar's (former Top Chef contestant) Spoon in the past. I think we all had pretty high expectations.
Knife
5680 North Central Expressway
Dallas, Texas 75206
(214) 443-9339
http://www.knifedallas.com/
Price: $$$$+
It is located in Hotel Palomar on Mockingbird Lane. I've always really liked that hotel, it's really nice and modern inside. Although parking is non-existent. They offer free valet to dining guests though.
Some of us arrived a little early so we went to the bar. The drink menu is displayed on an ipad, which is cool. But I didn't care for most of their cocktail options. Nothing really interesting stood out to me. The cocktails range from $10-14~ ish...
My bf ordered a Oaxacan Mule. I guess it's similar to a Moscow Mule? But it had pear liquor or something so maybe that's the difference. It came in a cool copper cup and adorned with sliced pears. He liked it.
My other friend got an Olive Oil Martini. She said it was super strong and did not taste any of the olive oil flavor.
Once everyone arrived we were seated immediately. The restaurant decor was nice. I especially liked the eclectic yet Western style in the bar area. Although there were 2 chairs by the hostess stand that looked like coffins... not sure where they were going with that. haha. Made for a fun photo op though! :P There was an open kitchen/plating area after you walk in. And I saw Chef John Tesar working! It wasn't as big of a space as I expected. We had 6 people and were seated in a giant booth with a giant table, probably could've fit another 4 people pretty comfortably. haha.
Our waiter came by with more drink orders. Then later explained the menu to us with the different cuts of beef, the aging time, etc. It was a little hard to understand him though for several reasons. 1) The table was so damn big, we all had to lean in to listen. 2) Once the dining room started filling up, the noise level was kinda high. 3) He had an accent, and I'm so bad with accents. XP
We started off with a Complimentary Crudite: Cucumber, Radish, Celery, Endive, Carrots, Jerky; with Green Goddess sauce. Cool presentation. The veggies were nicely chilled in the ice and fresh. I liked the Green Goddess sauce a lot.
Bread Basket: Biscuit, Bread.
We got to choose from 4-5 kinds of bread. The waiter with the basket highly recommended the bread on the right. I think he called it "Lavon??", I can't be sure since I've never heard of it. I actually had to make him repeat it twice. haha. And in the end, I still didn't fully understand... The "lavon" bread was good, could've been warmer though. Fluffy, soft inside, and a harder crust on the outside. The biscuit was quite dense and kinda dry. Would've been better warmer too. And soaked in gravy... I'm just sayin'. hahaha.
It was time to order. Each couple ordered their own thing but we ended up swapping plates around the table.
Couple #1 got Teresa's Watercress, Endive and Walnut Salad (with goat cheese) $16~
They went ahead and split the salad for them (so the picture shows half portion). It came in these gigantic bowls. Cool presentation, but unnecessary? I got to try a little of the salad. I was hesitant since I don't like goat cheese at all, but it was good. The goat cheese was very mild. I loved the watercress, it's not everyday you see that in salads.
45 Day Dry Aged Niman Ranch Bone in Ribeye (32oz. for 2) $80~
This thing was massive. So impressive looking. And this is the first time I've had steak that was already cut for me. The meat was cooked well. And it had so much marbling, which I love. The flavor was great. They offer these sauces you can order on the side, but I think due to the aging process the meat already has a lot of flavor and the sauces are unnecessary. Plus with the fattiness of the meat, some of the richer sauces might be overkill? I really enjoyed this. Plus ribeye is my second favorite cut of steak only to prime rib. Can't say it was the best ribeye I've had, but it was definitely good.
They also got Johnny's Mac & Cheese $12~
There was some green stuff baked into the cheese. I'm guessing green chile? It was yummy. The pasta had good texture and it had a nice crust.
Couple #2 ordered the 45 Day Dry Aged Bone in Niman Ranch Sirloin (24oz.) $60~
This was also impressive looking and pre-cut. However, I didn't like this one as much. You can definitely taste the flavor difference between this and the ribeye. The ribeye was just richer and meatier. The sirloin is definitely a much leaner cut if you are into that.
Fettuccine Bolognese $19~
We also ordered this. They split the plates for all of us (half portion shown here too). I wanted to try their pasta because I know they make it in-house. I read online that the bolognese sometimes was too spicy so I asked beforehand if they can remove or reduce the spice. (I love spicy but my bf can't take much.) The waiter didn't seem to know and was hesitant to accommodate but he said he would write it down. I dunno how they prep the pasta, but I would think they could accommodate to people who can't handle spicy?? Wasn't too happy about that.... But I really liked the pasta dish. The fettuccine was cooked well. I loved the texture. The bolognese was good too. Not spicy enough for me, but still too much for my bf, so I ate his half too. I win! :P And we realized that the table was not so big after all. With all our large slabs of meat and split plates, the entire table was covered! hahaha. It was a feast!
They also got Roasted Okra, Tomato, and Bacon $9~ This was really good. Nice smoky flavor. The okra was cooked well. (sorry, forgot a picture)
Finally, the two of us opted for no steak because there were other dishes I wanted to try more.
Sous Vide Beef Cheek Open Faced Sandwich (morel mushroom gravy) $17~
I love beef cheeks. I've realized that the best part of any meat is the cheek. And fish too! The most juicy and tender. This was amazing. Sous vide is basically sealing the meat in an airtight bag and then cooked in a temperature controlled water bath for a long time. It makes the meat super tender. The meat was fork tender and had so much flavor. The combo of textures from the morel mushrooms and bread contrasted the soft meat. It was our favorite dish of the night.
Crispy Pork Belly (collard greens, pan juices) $18~
It also had pickles and mustard seeds. You know me and my pork belly! Gotta try it. They actually had 2 pork belly dishes and we chose this one. The pork belly was thick cut and had a really nice crust on the outside. The best part? The combination of the pickles, pork and mustard seeds. The slight acidity from the pickles made the dish. The collard greens lightened up the dish next to the fatty meat. Tasty. But not as good as the beef cheeks. :P
And of course we got the Fettuccine Bolognese $19~ as I mentioned earlier.
Vegetarian Collard Greens $7~ I wanted some veggies so we ordered this. Basically same as what was underneath the pork belly. Cooked well, nothing spectacular though. (sorry, forgot a picture, but it's just collard greens)
That was a lot of food. We were given dessert menus but seeing the price and how full we were already, none of us opted to get anything. I wanted to try one of them, but I think it was a good decision I didn't. Because... we were given Complimentary Mini Desserts (from left to right): Moscato Jelly, Shortbread Cookie, Banana Macaron, Brownie (with sea salt).
The macaron was by far the best. And it was so cute! They did this too at Spoon, where you get a complimentary beginning and end. Which I like, and not many nice restaurants in Dallas does this. We also got some parting gifts. Madeleines, which are French butter cakes shaped like shells. I ate mine the next day. It was moist and buttery and you can see the vanilla bean specks in it.
Overall the food was delicious. Everything else just mediocre. The waiter was nice, but not as informative or accommodating as I would've expected. It was a bit loud in there and conversations were kinda hard because the table was so large. And honestly I was comparing it to Spoon, which was phenomenal, so Knife had a tough act to follow...
I probably won't return. But don't mark it off your list if you haven't tried it yet.
Quality of Food:
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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