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To all the Shell Shack fans... they have moved from their Uptown location to a bigger spot on Henderson (the former Mellow Mushroom location), with more parking, and seating! And there's a patio! To those who have never been, the new space is big with a large bar area and lots of TVs for all the sports watching.
I personally have never been to Shell Shack, so I was excited to check out their preview before the new location opened on Thursday 6/21. Walking in, I immediately noticed all the chalkboard art on the walls. They showcased all the different food and drink items as well as the market prices of all the different types of seafood available that day.
Shell Shack
2326 N Henderson Ave.
Dallas, TX 75206
(877) 434-1411
https://www.shellshack.com
We were greeted with drinks upon arrival. My friend grabbed the Blue Hawaiian (rum, blue curacao, real coco, pineapple juice) $12~ It looks fun! She enjoyed it.
Once the event started we were ushered into the dining room to get some appetizers. They had it set up buffet style. Can you say "ALL THE FRIED FOODS"?! Haha.
Crab Tater Tots - Big 'ol tater tots, filled with crab. What's not to like?
Fried Crawfish - I love crawfish. I thought it was fried well, but the batter was just a tad too salty.
Fried Catfish Bites - This was my favorite of the 3, I got a nice plump piece and it was so tender on the inside and fried beautifully on the outside.
I tried not too get very much cuz I knew there was more food coming!
For the dinner portion we sat down in the dining room. The owner made a welcome speech and gave us some background on the restaurant. This is replacing the old location on McKinney, just FYI. He also introduced the next course we were about to receive which is MORE appetizers. Each table got a sampler of the Buffalo Shrimp, Calamari, and another kind of Shrimp (cajun? garlic? I'm not sure of the seasoning).
The Buffalo Shrimp was my favorite... that buffalo sauce is money! The shrimp IS fried just so you know, the other one wasn't. I dipped everything in that buffalo sauce. haha. Calamari was good. The owner noticed that it had gotten cold since they were waiting to bring it out after the speech, so he sent out fresh ones to every table. Eat it hot, y'all, it's good!
For the main attraction, we were gonna get a bit of everything... crabs, shrimp, corn, potatoes. We did NOT realize they were bringing a full bag for each individual person! WOW! That's a lotta crab! All the seafood is market price, so make sure you check out their board to see what's available! And oh yea... we all get bibs! Love it!
King Crab
Snow Crab
Bairdi Crab
Flavor: The Kitchen Sink - which is like ALL THE SPICES!
I'm a crab newbie, so I wasn't really sure what was what. I could tell the King Crab because it stabbed me in the fingers. haha. Those spikes are no joke! It was super meaty! And make sure you get that melted butter to dip in.
I'm not sure if it was Snow or Bairdi I liked better... I couldn't tell which is which, but I liked them better than the King. While King Crab is meatier, the Snow/Bairdi was more tender/delicate. And just a fun fact, Shell Shack is the only place in DFW that serves Bairdi Crabs. You may have heard of this crab if you watch Deadliest Catch. hehe.
Instead of everyone keeping their bags on their trays, my table dumped all the bags in the middle. YASSSS! That's the way to do it!!! Free-for-all! My friends also did NOT use gloves, like most of the other tables. I did... cuz I'm a noob and also don't like to touch food. haha. But 2 minutes in, the king crab spikes punctured my gloves so I still got my hands dirty. :P This was SO MUCH FUN, y'all. Definitely go with friends who don't mind using their hands and getting dirrrrty. And oh the corn!! That was probably my FAVORITE thing of the night! I wish they had given us each more than one. My friend gave me hers so I had two! I could've eaten everyone's!
The potatoes were also perfectly awesome. I did wish we had gotten spicy though. I thing that would've made the flavor even better! But since it was a media event where they had to prepare for a bunch of people, it's safer to go with mild.
Catfish Basket & Fries $10.99~ We also had 2 hushpuppies in the basket. While we were cracking shells with our messy hands, they brought out MORE food. I thought maybe a basket for each table for us to sample, but no, a basket for EACH OF US! I'm pretty full at this point, how will I ever finish! haha. I made the mistake of taking a fry and couldn't really stop after that. I have no self control with fried foods if I start eating them. Fries were good.. I think they sprinkle sugar on it... Most of us ended up taking our baskets to go.
While everyone was slowing down, the owner said "well I hope y'all saved room for dessert!" Um. Sure! Bring it on. haha.
Bread Pudding (warm bread pudding topped with homemade Jack Daniels caramel sauce and salted caramel gelato) $6.99~ A surprisingly low bread pudding... usually they're more layered but the flavor was good, especially with that salted caramel ice cream. Good portion size I think.
Ultimate Chocolate Cake (chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, chocolate sauce, and chocolate hazelnut gelato) $7.99~ Are you surprised this was my favorite? haha. You had me at ganache! It was delicious. I took most of it home because we were too full. And it was even better 2 days later because I let it soften for a bit after taking it out of the fridge. CHOCOLATE WASTED for reals!
Carrot Cake. So.. they're known for their carrot cake. Which is epically huge. However, my table was the last one to finish our crabs because we ate EVERY SINGLE PIECE, so by the time our desserts came out, they had ran out of the carrot cake. Sadness. So I don't have a picture, but we ended up snagging a piece from a neighboring table (don't worry, we knew the people, haha). They had barely even made a dent in it! It's almost a quarter of the whole cake I think. Now I'm not a carrot cake fan, but one of my friends was and she took the whole thing home. haha. So I think she liked it. I do have to say the frosting was quite luxurious.
We had a great time. This is definitely a place for friends who wanna just get down and get their hands dirty. The crabs were fresh and meaty. And just forgo the gloves... they're only gonna get punctured anyways. Plus, Shell Shack has the best hand washer ever!! You just stick your hands in it. It sprays and spins warm water and soap and gets everything off. Your hands feel nice and soft and clean after. Go check them out, it's a great place to watch a game too... TVs everywhere.
Thanks so much, Shell Shack, for having me!! And congrats on the new location!
*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*
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I think I have found my favorite new restaurant of this year. Harvest in downtown McKinney just opened in late September 2014. I was first told by my old boss, who is also a big foodie, of this up and coming place. I checked out the website immediately and was excited to try it. McKinney is pretty damn far... but we were headed there for a group event this past weekend so I knew I wanted to stop in for dinner.
Harvest Seasonal Kitchen
112 E. Louisiana St.
McKinney, TX 75069
(214) 726-0251
http://harvesttx.com/
Price: $$$
My friends and I were scheduled to do a BYOB painting class at Wild Brush Studios at 7PM last Saturday. So I wanted to go get an early dinner before the class. My boss said he's been trying to go for awhile but they are always booked. Luckily it was an earlier dinner for us so we were able to get 4 people in at 5:30PM.
It's located right in downtown McKinney, which is such a cute place btw. You should take an afternoon and go check it out sometime. The place is super cute, large doors at the entrance were all open which leads into a covered "patio" area with chair swings, etc. Then you walk into another door to the main dining area. I loved the decor. Rustic, homey, but sophisticated. Brick walls, wood planks, wood tables, and wild flowers on the tables. The water glasses are like the recycled wine bottles. They had just opened up one of their new rooms the day we went so we got to sit in there. It was nice because it was smaller and less noisy.
While we were waiting on our friends, the waitress came by, brought us some waters. And introduced their cocktail menu. They offer these infused cocktails with flavors like blueberry and basil infused vodka, or charred peach infused bourbon which sounds interesting.
My fiance ordered the Harvest Cocktail (cinnamon and vanilla bean infused vodka, pineapple, lime juice) $11~
I thought the combination of flavors was quite unique. I wouldn't really think of putting pineapple and vanilla together. It was too strong for me and not sweet enough but I'm a super lightweight. He liked it. You can actually taste all the elements though, I thought that was cool.
Since we had a limited time to eat, we decided to order the Catfish & Hush Puppies (bacon, cabbage, brussels sprouts, chow chow tartar sauce) $10~ before our friends arrived.
They were running late. I loved the presentation of this on the wood board. It was fantastic. The catfish was fried perfectly, crunchy on the outside and melt in your mouth tender on the inside. My favorite was the hush puppies though, not sure what the used to season it but it had a lot of flavor. And paired really well with the cabbage/brussels sprouts slaw and tartar sauce. Deeeeelicious!
Bread Basket (multigrain, sweet bread, corn bread madeleines).
The waitress brought us some bread, all baked in house I believe. They were all good but the sweet bread was best. Slightly sweet, took me by surprise since I thought it was just regular white bread at first. They also had a corn bread madeleine. I enjoyed it, but it's not as good as the ones they used to have at Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen... (just thinking about them closing make me wanna cry!) :(
Deviled Eggs (Texas pecans, pickled mustard seed, pickled red onions) $5~
Our friends ordered this. The presentation was super cute as well. Using the egg cartons as the vessels for the eggs. Good way to reuse materials! I know it's a big bite, but I recommend eating the whole thing in one bite. It was fantastic. So many different flavors and textures. The candied pecan was such an interesting twist! It added sweetness and a crunch factor. The pickled elements had a slight tartness, the egg was savory and the yolk was creamy. I think it hit every flavor profile. I'd eat this again in a heartbeat!
They also shared a Kale Salad (goat cheese, candied pecans, cranberry, oat groats, lemon vinaigrette). The kitchen went ahead and split the plates for them. (Picture shows half size.)
For the entree I got the Farm Egg & Griddled Wheat (fried egg, griddled wheat cake, roasted butternut squash, mushroom) $15~
Everything looked good on the menu but the griddled wheat and butternut squash won me over on this. I was curious to see what griddled wheat cake was. The waitress kind of compared it to a polenta cake where it's shaped then cooked on the griddle. But the texture was definitely not like polenta. It was almost a more dense and compact form of savory bread pudding? Cutting into the egg and letting the yolk drip down was awesome. And whatever that gravy/sauce is on the plate with the butternut and mushrooms paired it beautifully. It was bigger than I expected and totally filling. Something I've never had before and I'm glad I got to try something new! Will order again!
Braised Beef Belly (red wine and tomato braise, mashed red skin potatoes, herbs) $25~
My fiance ordered this. It was also in my list of options. Anything "braised" or with "belly" is usually a winner in my books. He subbed the mashed potatoes for the Sweet Potato Hash. It was so good. The meat was super tender. A little too fatty for him, but I loved it. The red wine/tomato sauce on top had so much flavor. And I have to say... the sweet potato hash gave the main protein a run for it's money. It was cooked perfectly, had lots of flavor, and there were chunks of beef in there. Really really tasty.
One friend ordered the Flat Iron (broccolini, horseradish and parsnip cream, balsamic) $25~
When the dish came, the food was lukewarm. She mentioned it to the waitress and she immediately apologized and brought her a new one. She ordered it medium well which is too overcooked for me, but the meat was still really tender!
The other friend got the Chicken Fried Buffalo (squash gratin, mashed sweet potato, sage sausage gravy) $18~
I was curious about this too. I liked the batter/crust on the buffalo. I ate my bite with some of the mashed sweet potato and actually thought it was too sweet! I felt the sweet potato overpowered the other flavors a little. But I can probably eat the sweet potato on its own and love it. However, the squash gratin, which was served separately on the side in a little mini cast iron pot was the winner of the night. It was so velvety and luxurious. I think the waitress said it was a mix of 2 different types of squash... I forget which. I think I'll just take a bowl of this next time. :P
Since our class was at 7... we were already running late. That means no time for dessert. But I had already planned on picking up Emporium Pies to take into the class with us anyways. So it was dine and dash! Next time I will certainly set aside more time to enjoy the food and ambiance.
I thoroughly enjoyed this dinner even though it was rushed. I loved the decor and mood of the place. I also liked that you saw the open kitchen as you walk through the restaurant to the restrooms in the back. The service was fantastic. Smiles and welcomes as soon as we walked in. The food is wonderfully presented and all tasted great. Their concept is creating relationships with the community and environment. The menu is seasonal and feature organic, local and regional ingredients. They listed all the artisans, farmers, ranchers, growers, and fishermen that provided the goods in the back of the menu. I thought that was totally cool. I've heard their style of food being called "modern Texas cuisine"... I'm not sure if this is a fairly new term, but it's new to me. :P
I also wanted to mention The Seed Project. They gave us these little cards with our check. The waitress came by and explained it to us a little bit and told us that if we plant this card, flowers will grow! How cool!
The Seed Project is an initiative aimed at highlighting the importance of sustainability. The soon-to-be foundation funds education and agriculture initiatives that support sustainable farming. The project raises funds through the ‘Harvest Collection’ – a series of art celebrating farms, ranches and artisans in the area, the sale of seasonal ‘Harvest’ candles, the sale of our ‘One Heart Texas’ wine and seasonal harvest dinners, the first seasonal dinner will be December 22, 2014.
Harvest dinner dates:
Spring harvest: March 19th
Summer harvest: June 25th
Fall harvest: September 23rd
Winter harvest: December 22nd
I'm definitely going to try and attend some of these dinners! :)
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Some of my good friends from High School came back for the holidays to visit. YAY! We wanted to get together for dinner so naturally I thought of Blue Plate Kitchen. :) I wanted to take them to one of my favorite places in Dallas.
Starting from the call to make the reservation, I received nothing but first rate service. We were seated in one of the corner booths...the special ones! :P The manager came by and greeted us as well. My friends were pretty impressed. hehe. They are so nice, that's why I love going there!
We were given bread baskets with their assortment of delicious breads. It was quickly scarfed down and ready for a second basket...hahaha.
I ordered the Burgundy Braised Beef Rib Pot Roast (roasted root vegetables, pan sauce) $19~
It was really delicious. The flavor between the beef, mashed potatoes, root veggies, and the sauce meshed together so well. The beef was pretty tender, but being braised I would've liked it to be a bit more tender. I still used a knife instead of it being fork tender. Minor complaint...I would totally order this again. It was a lot of food, after sharing some with my friends, I still took some to go.
One of my friends ordered the Ancho Barbequed Pulled Pork (Cabrales Blue Cheese-Roasted Corn Grits) $16~ 
The waiter gave a caution that the blue cheese is quite potent if she wasn't a blue cheese fan. But I tried it and it was really good. The blue cheese added extra creaminess but it wasn't too strong. I'm not a big fan of blue cheese, a little bit is good though. The pork had a ton of flavor with the barbeque sauce. The strips of tortilla garnish added an extra crunch. It was tasty!
My other friend got the Mustard Crusted Texas Catfish (Red Pepper Creole Tartar Sauce, side of Creole Black Eyed Peas, Andouille Sausage) $16~ I've posted about this dish before so I didn't take a picture. But it was awesome. The fish was super fluffy and tender, and the outside was nice and crispy. YUMMMMY!
We were all super stuffed so we got 1 dessert to share. We got the Apple Tart (topped with Sea Salt Caramel gelato and Round Rock Cider Honey) $7~ 
This was the only dessert I have not tried on the menu. It was very pretty...didn't look like a typical tart. The edges were crispy as well as the caramelized sugar on top. The apples were thinly sliced and everything tasted so good together. I would suggest this dessert if you don't want anything too heavy but still satisfy that sweet tooth. :)
My friends really enjoyed the food and service. Yayyy :) Thanks Blue Plate, once again. I shall see you again soon.
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