Bin 303

Ah.. Bin 303. One of the shiny gems of Rockwall. We can always count on them to deliver a great meal. Since we finally tried their burgers, we knew we had to go back again, on a Tuesday, for their $10 burger night. In fact... we went back TWO Tuesdays in a row! haha.

Bin 303
105 Olive St.
Rockwall, Texas 75087
(972) 771-5303
http://bin303.com
Price: $$-$$$$

Their burgers are normally $14 each but on Tuesday they have a special $10 deal. Honestly, it's worth the $14, but a special deal just makes the food taste that much better. hehe.

First time back, I decided to try a different burger. (They only have 3 options.) Bin Burger (blue cheese mayo, nueske bacon, arugula, port braised onions; in a brioche bun) $14~ With side of barley salad. 

 

I was a little hesitant on the blue cheese mayo since a little blue cheese goes a longgg way. I don't like too much of it. But honestly, I could barely taste it. The braised onions and bacon were great toppings. And I love the pepperiness and slight bitterness of the arugula to kind of round off the heaviness of the meats. And again, that bun... ohhhh sooo good! It certainly holds everything together well. I think the Texican I had last time still has the edge, but only because it has guac on it. :P

My fiance stuck with the Cheese Burger (aged cheddar, shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles; in a brioche bun) $14~ With side of sweet potato fries. He really enjoys this one so why mess with a good thing? And OMG, lurrrrrrv those sweet potato fries.

We also decided to try the Apricot & Cranberry Potato Hash $5~ 

It was a side dish. I think they recently updated their menu for the fall? Not sure, but it certainly sounded tasty. It was not what I expected. Usually I think of chunkier potatoes in a hash. This one was pretty much all mashed together and then seemed like it was pan fried? Either way, it was yummy.

The following week we went back with some different friends. I wasn't super hungry that day, and was trying to be good... so I opted for a salad. Gasp! I know... why am I getting a salad when there are $10 burgers?!! haha.

Crispy Avocado Salad (bed of greens, roasted red pepper vinaigrette, seasoned crab meat, jicama, pico) $15~ 

 

The waiter highly recommended this. And as he was describing the crispy avocado to me, I was like, "done, order it, do it." haha. Avocado covered with breadcrumbs and fried. What's not good about that? It was a delicious salad. There was a ton of crab meat and they were so light. The vinaigrette was super flavorful and everything was so fresh. And then you get the creaminess from the avocado. Yum. However... it did not fill me up. I guess my stomach wanted a burger. hahaha. I highly recommend this though.And my fiance got his usual Cheese Burger so I got to have a few bites. :)

It was our friends' first time there. They both loved the burgers.  AND the sides too. :)

Always a good time there. Love the ambiance of being in a cozy home setting. Service is always friendly. And the food yummy.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Sunday Brunch @ Smoke

I love brunch! And I got to have it at Smoke on Sunday. :) I've been wanting to go to Smoke for a few years now and finally made it!

Smoke
901 Ft. Worth Avenue
Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 393-4141
www.smokerestaurant.com
Price (for brunch): $$

We arrived around 12:30PM, I was really worried that there was gonna be a long wait. But the hostess said it was 25 minutes... not too bad! So we went outside and looked around. About 5 minutes later, we went back in to check out the bar and she told us our table was ready! Sweet! :)

It's a cute place, kinda homey, eclectic decor. It's a little loud though, but I didn't mind. It had good energy.

Our waiter greeted us and brought us water. He was really friendly and welcoming. He gave us some recommendations on drinks, then gave us some time to look over the menu. I already knew what I wanted, but my bf was a bit overwhelmed with all the delicious options. :P

My bf decided to get the Double Barrel Bloody Mary (Starlight Texas Vodka, Tim's Roasted Tomato & Chile Mix, olive juice, pickle relish). 

It was a big drink!! Lots of spices in there, but it was too salty... Neither of us are really fans of Bloody Marys but for some reason he wanted to get one. And he liked it, but it was too salty to drink it all. It actually paired well with his entree.

Ok. Food time! We asked our waiter for his opinion and he helped make the final decision for us. My bf ordered the Smoked Brisket Cornbread Hash (with poached egg and green chili rajas) $14~

 

It looked really yummy. Lots of colors and layers and I couldn't wait for him to cut into the poached egg! He cut up the egg and mixed everything together. It was delicious!! All the different flavors were great together. The brisket was smoky and slightly crisped. I liked how they diced up the cornbread into little pieces. The green chile was really great with the mixture, I do wish there was more of it though. And the egg was poached nicely. I ate some of it with the giant jalapeno on the bloody mary. Amazing! I think they should put jalapenos in the hash in the future! :P Really really good, I'd TOTALLY get this again.

I got the Heavy Handed Blueberry Pancakes (with vanilla poached apricots and cream) $10~ 

 

It looked so awesome I just wanted to dunk my face in it. hahahaha. Each pancake was at least an inch thick. I've never seen pancakes that thick before. And... it's still so fluffy! You can see large plump blueberries throughout the pancakes. And the vanilla poached apricots? YUM! I've never had that before. They were sweet and plump and basically served as the syrup for the pancakes. Again, every element worked together wonderfully. It wasn't too sweet either. NOM!

I also got a side of the Thick Cut Pork Belly Bacon $3.50~ 

I read in reviews that their bacon is super thick and awesome. And they were right. The bacon was amazing! Thick cut and still had a crispy sear on it. It had a hint of sweetness too! It went really well with both the hash AND the pancakes. :)

We were both really full, but I managed to finish my pancakes and pretty much the rest of his hash. hahaha. No wonder I gained a few lbs. this weekend. XP

It was a wonderful brunch. It was everything I imagined it would be and even more delicious. I wish I had more room to try more stuff! :P The food was awesome, our waiter was super nice, and I liked the vibe of the place. The waiter noticed that my bf barely drank the bloody mary and asked if he didn't like it. My bf said he liked it but was just too salty so the waiter went ahead and took it off the bill. That was very nice of him. :)

I definitely recommend brunch at Smoke. I hope I have time to go back in the future!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Medina Oven & Bar

I went to go see my first ever hockey game Saturday night! It was the last game for the Dallas Stars and they were playing against the Detroit Red Wings at the American Airlines Center. I'm not a big hockey fan (obviously.. haha) but I really just wanted to see a fight! And this would've been a good game for that. So we lost... 3 to 0, but I got to see one fight AND got to try a new restaurant after for dinner! All in all a successful outing! hehehe. :P 

We decided to check out Medina Oven & Bar, which features Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine. It's just a short walk from the AAC and across Victory Park. It's a little hidden... You need to walk past Neo Pizza and it's in the next corner. 

Medina Oven & Bar 
2304 Victory Park Ln. 
Dallas, TX 75219 
(214) 979-0003 
http://www.medinadallas.com 
Price: $$$ 

It's a cute little place. The inside seating is about as big as the patio seating out front. The decor is Moroccan and intimate with low lighting and cool lamps. You can see into the front of the kitchen and the oven. I thought that was pretty cool. 

We were seated immediately, it wasn't very full at all. It took a while for us to get waters and menus but after that the service was great. The menu looked interesting and delicious, there were a ton of options I chose from. At the bottom of the menu we all saw "Sexy Drinks"...haha. They all sounded pretty good. We decided to get some and drink our hockey loss away. :P 

Sexy Drinks: 
Caramel-Fig Martini (Grey Goose, fresh lemon, roasted fig, caramel swirl) $9~ This was a pretty drink. They actually swirled caramel on the inside of the glass. There's also a roasted piece of fig at the bottom. My bf enjoyed it a lot. 

Moroccan Mojito (Bacardi Rum, brown cane sugar, fresh lime, fresh mint) $9~ I got this and asked them to make it a little sweeter for me. I like really sweet cocktails... being a lightweight and all. haha. I enjoyed it. The added sweetness made it much better for me. :) 

The Arabesque (apricot brandy, peach schnapps, fresh OJ, white cranberry) $9~ Our friend ordered this. (No pic...sorry) This turned out to be my favorite. It was the sweetest out of the 3 cocktails and it tasted like peach juice! I'd go back and order that again. hehe. 

On to the food! Can't go to a Mediterranean place without ordering some sort of dip or spread! 

We started with the Smoked Egg Plant Spread (garlic-saffron tomato confit, cilantro, white vinegar; served with oven baked pita bread) $5.50~ 

I don't like eggplant...but the Greek/Mediterranean preparation of it is the only way I'll really eat it. And I love it! The spread was chunky and light. The pita bread was nice and warm, just out of the oven. The cold spread with the warm pita bread paired very well together. 

Poached Calamari (in Ras El Hanout and drenched in shermoula tomato puree, seafood spices, garlic, cilantro, fresh lemon juice, served on mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette) $10.50~ 

I got this appetizer as my main course. It was more than enough too. Pretty big size and tons of calamari! I asked the waiter to explain Ras El Hanout and he says it's a mixture of 23 or so different spices. I can taste many different spices but overall it was very mild, in a good way. The spices did not overpower anything else. The calamari was cooked perfectly, great texture. And I got to have my salad/veggies underneath. I enjoyed it a lot. I actually took half of it to go and had it the next day as a cold dish. Being cold, it was even better in my opinion! 

My bf got the Chicken Apricot Tagine (braised marinated chicken breast in saffron cinnamon, honey, poached apricots and toasted poppyseeds; served with warm pita bread) $19~ 

Tagine is basically the dish with the lid that it came in. I liked the presentation. This was a really sweet dish... since it had honey, cinnamon, and apricots but I like sweet and savory so I enjoyed it. It's definitely not for those who don't like sweet in their food. There were some potatoes at the bottom of the dish. I don't know how they cooked them but I thought it was the best part! It was soft and creamy and gooey almost and amazing! haha. 

Our friend got the Imperial Fez Seafood Couscous (scallops and shrimp, spice mix and herbs on warm couscous with cinnamon apricots, asparagus, toasted pine nuts, golden raisins) $23~ 

I got to try a bite of the scallops which was cooked perfectly. It was also a slightly sweet dish, with the apricots and raisins. The seafood was cooked really well. But he said there was a bit too much couscous, which he left some on the dish after he ate all the seafood. haha. But it was definitely yummy. 

It was a great dinner. I haven't had many Moroccan cuisines and really enjoyed it. The ambiance was nice, our waiter was super nice and helpful. The owner or manager came by and checked on us a few times. He was super friendly as well. Plus they have cocktails I like! I will definitely go back in the future. :) 

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~