Joyce & Gigi's Kitchen

Last week I had dinner with a friend for her bday. It was a small group and she had chosen to go to Joyce & Gigi's. It's been on my radar for a while and I haven't gotten to try yet. I made a reservation for 6 people at 7PM.

Joyce & Gigi's Kitchen
1623 N Hall St.
Dallas, TX 75204
(469) 334-0799
http://joyceandgigis.com
Price: $$$

We arrived right on time. The place was empty, and it was a very small restaurant. Maybe fits like 40 people... maybe? The decor is nice, quite cozy. Apparently this is a mother-daughter duo so you get that homey feel. They specialize in South American food. I sure love me some Latin food!

Two of my friends were already there and ordered cocktails from the bar.

Sour Joyce (Creamy papaya, pisco sour) $12~ This was a pretty drink. A little tart for me but not bad.

Joyce and Gigi's (Rhubarb and strawberry sangria) $11~ This was delicious! And I never like sangria because I don't like wine. But it was like drinking juice. So yum!

We were seated immediate (duh!). The table was 2 small square tables put together. For 6 people, it felt quite cramped. :( I guess you can say "more intimate". Haha.

The waitress came and gave us the specials and took our orders. Then we were served their Homemade Mint Bread (with chimichurri butter). 

It was fresh out of the oven. And it was heavenly! The bread had so much flavor, and that crust on the top was perfection. At first we thought the butter was chunks of cheese. But then we spread it on and realized it wasn't. It was really rich in flavor and went very well with the hot, fluffy bread. I found out that you can buy a fresh loaf to go for $5.50~ I decided to get one before dinner was over. hehe. They freshly baked one for me to take home. Made my car smell so good! You can buy 8 oz. of butter to take home as well...that's a lot! I think it's like $8.50 or something.

One friend got the Soup of the Day: Peanut Soup (with beef and noodles) $6~ 

Sounded very interesting. The waitress said it was more brothy. But one would think peanut soup would be more creamy/rich. It was a very dark soup and the flavor punches you in the face. It was really tasty but I don't think I could finish that bowl in one sitting. It was very strong and heavy. It went really well with the bread though.

For the entree I got the Milanesa (Chicken milanesa fritatta, served over chicken skin quinoa grits and a side of beurre blanc sauce, garnished with a pickled onion and herb salad) $16~ 

 

The waiter poured the beurre blanc over the chicken for me when he served this dish. It was not a typical chicken milanesa which is usually a pounded out chicken cutlet. This just looked like fried chicken. Tender juicy awesome fried chicken. haha. It was pretty damn tasty. The crust was really nice. It was on a bed of quinoa which I felt was a little soggy? But still went ok with the chicken. The pickled onion salad was a nice compliment with the fried foods.

Pescado Sudado (seared chilean sea bass served over a yuca root cake topped with dried chili broth) $27~ 

This was market price, just FYI. So ask before you order because the price will change. It was yummy! The fish was cooked really well and paired surprisingly well with the yuca cake. I thought 2 soft textures would be boring, but the flakiness of the fish and the creaminess of the yuca was great. The sauce had so much flavor. I don't know if I liked this more than my chicken!

Feijoada (Pork sirloin, pork shoulder, homemade chorizo and black bean stew, served with a pickled onion and tomato salad) $17~ 

This wasn't as good. It was mostly beans, which was actually cooked well. But I dunno if I'd want to eat all of this as a main entree. I didn't get to try any of the chorizo, but my friend said it was very dry. He didn't like it very much. :(

Majadito (Duck confit red risotto with plantains, topped with a poach egg, garnished with pickled onion and tomato salad) $18~ 

I almost ordered this, but 3 other people were getting it so I changed my mind. I'm so glad I did, cuz this did not live up to expectations. First of all, where's the duck?!? It was so finely shredded and mixed in that you couldn't really tell. And usually I find risotto as an entree is just too much carbs... too heavy. The flavor was actually good, to me. The flavors were surprisingly light. The poached egg was nice. But we also didn't see any plantains. I'm thinking that was probably mashed up and mixed in as well. One of my friends really did not like it so she barely ate. I took the leftovers home to my fiance. haha. One of my other friends really enjoyed it though. Just depends on your preference I guess. But it would've been nice to have actual sliced duck on top or something and more textural differences in the dish.

So the dinner started off good but then took a different turn. Some of us really liked our dishes and some hated theirs. The drinks and bread were amazing though. By the time we had gotten our food, the place was almost half full. It's definitely a quaint little place off the beaten path. I doubt I'll go back again, but I don't regret trying it.

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Lalo's Fine Mexican Cuisine

I've never been a fan of Tex-Mex... I always find it a bit repetitive. But... I LOVE Mexican food. There's a big difference!

Two of my friends were in town for the weekend from NYC so of course Mexican food is on their list. I found this place and they had mole!! OMG! I love mole and ever since I had it again in Cancun, I was dreaming about it. So I suggested this place.

Lalo's Fine Mexican Cuisine
18484 Preston Rd. Ste 118
Dallas, TX 75252
(469) 298-3017
www.lalosmexicancuisine.com/
Price: $$

I didn't even know about this place! It had really high Yelp reviews too. Looks promising! We arrived on a Saturday around 6:30PM. The place wasn't completely full but business was pretty good. I thought the decor was nice. Casual yet somewhat elegant.

We got some complimentary chips with salsa and black bean dip. The salsa had a kick to it! :) And the black bean dip was almost as good as the ones at Gloria's... almost... hehe.

Mango Strawberry Frozen Margarita. My friend got one of these. It was really pretty. And she said it was good. I couldn't try it though since I'm allergic to mango. I'll take her word for it though.

Chile Con Queso. Her husband had thought this was "chili" so he was a little surprised. teehee. But this was really good. He totally enjoyed it. It was great with the chips and the salsa.

Pollo Oaxaca (chicken breast simmered in Oaxaqueno Mole served with beans refritos and arroze blanco) $14.99?~ 

I already knew I was going to get this. Normally I see mole on enchiladas, which I always end up subbing the corn tortilla with flour. But this is perfect because there's no tortilla at all (less heavy)! It was delicious. The mole wasn't as good as the one from Mexico, but it was still really tasty. Lots of complex flavors with that tiny hint of sweet from the addition of chocolate. Just a disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on mole. I just know what tastes good to me. hehe. The chicken was super tender. I didn't even use a knife. I loved the pairing with the sauce and the rice. I asked to sub the beans for veggies. It was the perfect side to the chicken and rice. I also liked the slaw on the side. The whole thing was great. I would totally go back and get this again. And it was a big portion too. I took almost half of it home. And it was still good the next day when I had it for lunch. :)

Carne Asada (grilled steak or grilled chicken breast served with Mexican rice, Sopa de Frijol, guacamole and pico de gallo). My friends shared this since they weren't too hungry. Also a good sized portion. The guac was very good. And the Mexican rice had good flavor. They both liked it.

Tres Leches Cake. I love tres leches so I ordered it before I even finished my dinner. Even though I wasn't that hungry either. haha. It was good, not the best I've had but I would get it again. I wish they had served it on its side with more milk to soak up but it was still surprisingly moist and fluffy.

Sorry I didn't include the prices. I forgot to take a picture of the menu... But both dishes were arond $14-15 which was decent for the portion size. And my friends paid for me... again... Sigh. Everytime they come visit, they always end up grabbing the check. I feel bad. I'll get them one day! haha. And I have such awesome friends. :D

It was a great dinner. Our waiter was also really nice and attentive. The ambiance was nice. I will be back for sure!

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Américas River Oaks - Houston Trip

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to Houston to visit my fiance's family. His parents live there and his sister from NYC also flew down. They wanted to take us out for a nice dinner to celebrate our engagement and also it was his parents' anniversary! So I started researching places to go and came across this place. I love Latin food. The menu looked delicious and we were able to get a reservation on Saturday night even though it was only a few days in advance.

Américas River Oaks
2040 W Gray St.
Houston, TX 77019
(832) 200-1492
https://www.cordua.com/
Price: $$$$

Only after I made the reservation did I discover that it was also Houston's Restaurant Week and Américas is participating! $35 a person for 3 course like in Dallas, and partial proceeds going to charity. :) They had so many choices on the RW menu. Excited!

The restaurant is located upstairs in a shopping center. As soon as we walked in, we started noticing all the decor. It was very unique! Then we saw a plaque that says Zagat's Best Decor Award in 2013. It was very whimsical. Lots of interesting shapes on the walls, chairs, lots of different textures too. I haven't seen a restaurant like this before. They had one wall with these giant popcorn all over, made with some sort of fabric? The booths' chairs were over the top and really cool.

The waiter came by to greet us, he was very nice. Took our drink orders and we got some Fried Plantains with 3 dips. All 3 were great, especially the chimichurri. I love plantains, these were fried to perfection. And with the sauces, yum! We were hooked.

My fiance's sister ordered a michelada, which is Mexican beer mixed with lime juice and assorted spices and peppers... kind of a Mexican bloody mary. Looked pretty cool, and quite spicy!

4 of us ordered from the RW menu, and his sister decided to order from the regular menu.

RW First Course:
Empanadas (flaky, golden-brown savory latin pastries): Beef (caramelized onions, cumin, malbec-soaked raisins, roasted peppers and olives with rocoto sauce); Chicken (pulled roasted chicken, red pepper, sherry, basil and candied pecans with avocado mousse). 

I got one of each, and his mom got just chicken. Both were fantastic. The crust was flaky and crispy. But the sauces were the stars on both. I thought I would like the chicken better because of the avocado mousse but the rocoto sauce on the beef edged it out. It was amazing. I have no idea what rocoto is, but I can drink it!!!! Both had a ton of flavors. Definitely two thumbs up.

Cubana (black bean soup with onion-cilantro relish and provolone cheese served in a toasted sourdough bread boule). 

 

My fiance got this. It looked so good. So cheesy and the soup was thick and full of beans. Really tasty. However, the bread bowl was hard to eat. And there was a lot of it. There really wasn't as much soup as it seemed. But that may be a good thing since this is only first course!

Fish Taco (mahi-mahi, cabbage, rocoto pepper and pico de gallo). Cute little taco. A little small compared to the other dishes but looked yummy.

Mixed Greens Salad $6.95~ His sister ordered this. Looked great with all the toppings... pickled onions, corn, etc. She said it was spicy too! Nice.

RW Second Course:
The Churrasco (6 oz. signature center cut beef tenderloin, chimichurri seasoned and chargrilled with fingerling potato, grilled vegetables and bearnaise sauce). This was "Voted Esquire Magazine's Top 20 Steaks in America". His dad ordered it and said it was really good. I didn't try it since I had steak myself.

Beef Tenderloin Brocheta (grilled beef tenderloin and shrimp with onion and poblano over chorizo caribbean rice). 

This was my entree. Huge portion. The beef was super tender and the rice had so much flavor. So far everything here was a flavor explosion. It was hard to tell everything apart after awhile since all the flavors are so bold. But it was good. I shared some and still took over half of it to go, there was too much food!

Grilled Mahi Mahi (black bean and shrimp veloute, fried pickled okra). His mom ordered this. The fish was cooked well. It was good. The fried pickled okra was totally interesting and awesome.

Achiote Seared Ahi Tuna (cilantro broth, citrus salad, goat cheese snow). 

My fiance got this. I didn't even consider it because of the goat cheese snow. (I don't like goat cheese as y'all know.) But you can't taste it at all. It was amazing. Best dish of the night in my opinion. The tuna was top notch and full of flavor. And such beautiful colors!

His sister got the Lobster Corndogs (house made lobster sausage, carnival style corndog batter, lemon chardonnay aioli) $12.95~ 

As soon as she saw they had this, that was it. It was so fun! The plating was very whimsical like their decor. And food on a stick, always fun to eat.

With all our dishes, they gave us some sides. From the top: some sort of fried yucca balls, white rice, sweet plantains, and lentils. The lentils and plantains were my favorite. Sooooo good. The yucca balls were good but quite dense. I like the yucca fries better.

We also got some additional Sides $6~ each:
Chargrilled Corn & Crispy Mushroom. Interesting flavors, we couldn't quite pinpoint what some of the spices were. I liked the crispy mushrooms for added texture. 

Grilled Asparagus. Pretty standard, good with the creamy dipping sauce. 

Yuca Steak Fries. No picture, sorry. But looked like normal thick cut fries. It was fried really well.

RW Third Course:
Tres Leches (soaked in sweet vanilla laced cream then topped with Italian meringue). 

One of the best tres leches we've had. My fiance recently discovered this dessert and he's now pretty obsessed with it. haha. He said it was definitely the best one he's had. It was sooo moist, the meringue on top was great.

Kettle Corn Tres Leches (fresh grated corn, whipped mascarpone, caramel, and Italian meringue). 

This sounded totally interesting. It was topped with caramel and kettle corn. I liked the added texture of the popcorn. But the caramel made it a tad too sweet for me. My fiance tasted mine second and he was like "omg yours is even better". And then he would eat anothe bite of his, and say that's still the best. haha. He couldn't decide, they were both amazing.

Besame con Alfajores (miniature melt-in-your-mouth dulce de leche cookie sandwiches).

His dad ordered this just so we can all try something different. These little cookies were so cute. And they really did melt in your mouth. The filling was rich and sweet. It would be great with tea or coffee.
Their normal tres leches comes with a tableside show. They light it on fire! I was a little disappointed that they didn't do it for the RW desserts. But the table next to us got one and I was able to get it on video. I'm always a sucker for tableside presentation... and FIRE! :P

Really great find. Not only great food, but an experience to discover all the little (and big) decor elements. All their door handles were these dog or mouse figures. The bathroom was trippy too, like walking into Alice in Wonderland a little bit. It was a fantastic dinner. We ate so much and it was all delicious. I definitely recommend this place. I would go back again whenever I'm back in Houston. And a big thank you to his parents for taking us out to dinner! :)

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Brunch @ Baleen in LA

This past weekend we went to LA for a wedding. Before all the wedding festivities, we went to Redondo Beach with 2 of my friends Saturday morning to do some beach side bike riding and brunch. :) The weather was beautiful and great for riding.

We went to Baleen at The Portofino Hotel for brunch because we all bought a Travelzoo deal. It was $45 for 2 people to have a 3 course brunch with unlimited mimosas or champagne. Amazing deal!! Unlimited mimosas?!?

Baleen @ The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club
260 Portofino Way
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 372-1202
http://www.hotelportofino.com/

After riding we arrived at the hotel like 20 minutes earlier than our reservation but were seated immediately. The hostess was super nice. We were seated upstairs by the window and it overlooks the dock with all the sailboats. It was so nice and bright by the water...perfect for brunch!

Everyone got a mimosa except me. I opted for orange juice which were freshly squeezed and so refreshing! I don't like champagne so I don't care for mimosas. The orange juice was sooo fresh and yummy!

First Course --
I got the Strawberry & Yogurt Parfait (honey, lemon & granola).

It was a nice portion..full of toasted granola and fresh strawberries. The yogurt itself wasn't very sweet so the honey and granola added just enough sweetness to the dish. I really liked the pumpkin seeds in the granola as well. It was fresh and actually quite filling!

Crisp Calamari (lemon, smoky cocktail & tartar).

The presentation was really cute with the mini fryer basket. The calamari was fried well and had good flavor. It was pretty standard.

Smoked Salmon (crostini, Boursin, tomato, red onion & caper).

My friend thought this was amazing. The salmon was smokey and paired well with the cheese and crostini. It was definitely the best deal out of the starters. I'm not a fan of smoked salmon but my friend said it was really great. The Boursin cheese however, was phenomenal. I've never had this cheese before, and I'm not big on eating cheese on its own but I can eat spoonfuls of this on its own. It was creamy and milky and divine. I will definitely go get some of this cheese next time I go to a dinner party or something.

Main Course --
Fish Tacos (seared Snapper, cabbage slaw, avocado, Pico de Gallo, cilantro).

You get 3 tacos on corn tortilla. I only tried a bite of the fish which was cooked nicely. My friend liked it a lot.

Steak Frites (hanger steak, fries, arugula salad & housemade steak sauce).

This is what I got. It was a huge plate! I don't usually eat this much food for lunch! I ordered it medium rare but I think because it was so thin, it was a bit more cooked through than medium rare. But the flavor was great. It was definitely seasoned well. One of my friends ordered this as well. He ordered the steak medium but it was definitely overcooked...kinda dry. He still liked the flavors though. And neither of us cared too much for the steak sauce.

Huevos Redondos (black bean quesadilla, fried eggs, avocado, romesco, feta, cilantro).

My bf ordered this. I really liked it which was surprising because it was corn tortillas layered in there. I don't like corn tortillas at all and this was the first time I didn't mind it being in a dish! The combination of the beans, tortilla, avocado and sauce was great. YUM!! Without meat, it was still a very hearty dish.

Sweet (to share) --
One dessert is shared between 2 people and there were only 2 choices on the menu so we got one of each.

Chocolate Macadamia Torte (chiantilly cream & raspberries).

I really enjoyed the dark chocolate sauce on the plate, not too sweet and quite decadent. The chiantilly cream was also great on the torte. The torte itself was good but I wanted it to be a bit more fudgy. There was too much chopped nuts in there for me.

Lemon Meringue Pie (white chocolate anglaise).

I saw on online reviews that this was the dessert everyone raved about. I don't care for lemon desserts but this was awesome. I definitely preferred it over the chocolate torte which was surprising. First of all, the presentation was adorable and clean. I loved the torched little dome of meringue on top of the pie. And I really liked the fact that it was a mini pie, not a slice cut from a bigger pie. The meringue was fluffy and not too sweet. The lemon pie was velvety and fantastic. Just the perfect amount of sweet and tart. The white chocolate anglaise on the plate was a nice additional flavor to it all. I would sooo have this dessert again. I was already so full but I ate most of this myself! :p

I had read iffy reviews on Baleen about the quality of their food and service so I was a bit nervous since we already purchased the coupon. But I don't know what those people are talking about. We had a fantastic time! The hostess and waiters/waitresses were all super nice and accommodating. The food overall was very enjoyable with some hints of greatness (like the lemon meringue pie) hehe. The Travelzoo deal was amazing! And we definitely got our money's worth and MORE! Between my bf and 2 other friends, I think they had 20 glasses of mimosas or more... Hahaha! OMG!

It was a beautiful relaxing day to hangout with my friends and enjoy some good food. That's how vacation should be!! I would recommend Baleen for a relaxing brunch any time. :)

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