MAY: A Compilation

Sorry I missed posting in June, everyone. It's been a hectic yet fruitful month! I was too busy with job applications and interviews and round 2 interviews AND.... not one job offer, but TWO! Woohoo. That's right, this girl got herself a new job. I start Monday!

Also... I have to say that May was not an impressive month. Bummer. There wasn't a particular place that blew me away so I wasn't too enthusiastic in writing about any specific place. But I promised myself, and you, that I would post once a month so I'm still going to do a May post!

Here are 5 of my favorite bites, or sips, in May. (In no particular order.)

One of my favorite little shops in Bishop Arts District, Serve! Everything there is good but they recently introduced me to the Blackberry Almond Latte. Not only is it beautiful, it's probably my favorite latte at the moment. Also, bonus points to Serve for having reusable iridescent metal straws!

Detour Doughnuts. They're amazing. If you haven't driven at least once out to Frisco to get their donuts, you're seriously missing out. Their flavors change seasonally, so maybe you'll have to drive out 4-5 times a year. Haha. Their Beet & Ricotta (the bright pink one) was beyond amazing! And they make the BEST Creme Brulee donuts and mini fritters. This box was about $30? They just rolled out new flavors this past week!

Nutella Latte from San Martin Bakery. Served in a cool glass, comes with a cookie (baked in-house), AND it's less than $3. You will NEVER find prices like these anywhere else in Uptown. Yea, this place is in Uptown.

Jinya Bun from JINYA Ramen Bar in Victory Park. Slow-braised pork chashu, need I say more? They cooked it so well! Their ramen is pretty good too. Need to go back and try more things. And I freaking loved this wall.

I went to a media Happy Hour at Truluck's to check out their summer cocktails. The cocktails were beautiful and delicious but my favorite bites were the Prime Meatballs! During HH it's 3 for $6 or 5 for $8. Not too shabby! They have live music in the bar as well and it's a lovely time.

Happy July 4th week, y'all!

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

MARCH: La La Land Kind Cafe

So... I was actually a little worried on my pick for March. I have had some good food but nothing came to mind on what to feature. But then my friend told me about this coffee shop called La La Land Kind Cafe that was having their soft opening around the end of March. I was like "huh?" I've never heard of this place, but the day after, I saw an article out on it. Turns out this is the new business venture by Francois Reihani, one of the minds behind Pok the Raw Bar, my FAVORITE poke place. He also went on to open Bar Stellar. This guy just has the talent for business ideas. I DEF gotta check this place out!

Soft opening was on March 23rd. As I drove up this neighborhood road behind Lower Greenville, I see this bright white house. Incredibly cute and cheerful. With a white picket fence and everything! When you walk in, OMG, the cutest. The white and bright yellow accents, it just cheers you up. I remember it was kind of an overcast, meh day, but the colors at La La Land will make you smile. :) Oh.. and they have a doggy friendly area on the side of the house. D'awwww!

La La Land Kind Cafe
5626 Bell Ave.
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 579-9550
https://lalalandkindcafe.com/
Price: $-$$

As soon as you enter, several people greet you. You order at the counter, they give you a number, and they bring the food and drinks out to you. Guess what, they have an entire menu section for MATCHA! Pok gets the best matcha, so they must have high grade matcha powder here as well. They have some very interesting combinations of flavors too. The other half of the menu are different coffee offerings. They also have a really interesting loose leaf tea section (which I discovered 3 visits later. haha.) Plus they have most of the available Alternative Milks (almond, oat, coconut, soy) +$0.75~

On our first visit, it was so hard to pick what to order. We went with what was prettiest. :P
Campfire Latte (toasted marshmallow, chocolate, graham cracker, hot) $5.20~ The melted marshmallow over the edge of the cup is such a cute idea. My friend ordered this and I got to try it. It's really good!

French Toast Latte (cinnamon, maple syrup, hot or iced) $5.20~ This is the cutest!! They've really got the presentation down. Flavor wise, you can definitely taste the cinnamon but I'm not sure if I think french toast when I drink it... still tasty tho!

La La Avocado Toast (mashed avocado, lemon, red pepper flakes, cilantro garnish) $6.20~ I think the price has increased on this btw... but I forgot to snap a pic of the menu last time I was there. The bread they use for the toasts is really great with the avocado. I love the crispy edges, and it's a hearty toast. It's one of the only savory options on the menu right now. I'm hoping they'll add more food options soon!

Banana Brulee Toast (hazelnut spread, caramelized bananas) $5.50~ OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. I mean, just look at the picture. It tastes just as decadent as it looks. So simple... nutella and bruleed bananas, but just perfect.

Chocolate Chip Cookie $4~ And then I fell in love even more. This cookie, y'all. It's the best (and worst*) thing to happen to me in the past month. It is my dream cookie. HUGE, for one. Perfectly crispy on the outside with so many nooks and crannies. I have no idea how they make it that perfect on the outside. Inside is still soft, but NOT under baked. It's my idea of a perfectly textured cookie. And of course chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite. When it comes to you warm... ERMUHGUH! I can't contain my drool right now. *The reason I say it's the worst thing to happen to me is because, within 1 week of their opening... ONE... I had about 5 cookies. XD Bye bye, beach bod! Haha.

Thanks for the hat!! :D

At the end of our first visit, we each got a matcha drink to go.

Matcha Latte (iced) $3.50~ I felt like there wasn't enough matcha. But I have been informed that since the soft opening, they have increased the amount of matcha in the lattes. Gotta give it another try!

Strawberry Fields Matcha (matcha latte, strawberry, beetroot, hot or iced) $5.20~ Pretty! And really delicious. I'm kind of a matcha purist so I don't like to mix things with it, but this was a really good combo.

Here are some other menu items I've tried throughout my many visits. I think in the first 2 weeks I was there almost every other or every 2 days. :P

Flat Green $3.50~ This is matcha with milk, but the ratio is less than a latte so you get a stronger matcha flavor. Loved it.

Mighty Mocha (cold brew, espresso, cacao, iced) $5.20~ I wanted to try this since I love mochas. But WHEW! Too much coffee for me. This is definitely not for weak hearted! There's a lotta coffee and caffeine in there, folks. For those of you that get 3+ shots of espresso in your drinks, this may be for you! They were nice and gave me a regular mocha instead.

Breakfast Empanada (baked egg, bacon, potato) $4~ I liked this. It went well with the salsa they gave me on the side. I just wanted more! It's definitely not enough to fill you up if you want it as a meal. Better order like 4+. haha.

Ice Blended Drink (espresso base, thin mint flavor) $5~ It was a warm day, so I wanted something cold. This was yummy! Wished it was a bit creamier though. Definitely tasted the chocolate mint flavors.

So... do you love it as much as I do yet? If not, this will get ya. La La Land Kind Cafe serves a much bigger purpose than just serving us great drinks and foods. It supports Reihani's nonprofit, We Are One Project, which "provides the right tools for businesses to come together and employ foster youth". "La La Land is a training ground for aging out foster youth. At La La Land they will learn the basic the fundamentals of job skills. Timeliness, cleanliness, customer relations, productivity, and teamwork." (from We Are One Project website). SO. FREAKING. GREAT. This is definitely a mission and business I can stand behind. And as long as they keep making those cookies... just TAKE ALL MY MONIES! :P

This place has been packed every single day since it's opened, so I'm sure a lot of you already know about it. But what great concept, purpose, and quality. The menu is 100% organic, btw. No big. Haha. Plus they're open early, and they close late. Perf.

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Cow Tipping Creamery

*EDIT*
They now have donut cones!! Whoa. I've gotta go check it out some time. If you've already tried it, I'd love to hear your feedback! :)

Photo cred: Cow Tipping Creamery

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I've been wanting to go check out Cow Tipping Creamery since they opened. I've seen a million pictures of their epic soft serve stacks on Instagram and people telling me how awesome it was. It just so happens that it was next to our dinner spot one night. (20 Feet Seafood joint was bomb btw!) It might've played a big role on the final decision on the dinner location. haha.

Cow Tipping Creamery
1146 Peavy Rd.
Dallas, TX 75218
(512) 538-4039
www.cowtippingcreamery.com
Price: $

We were going to 2 different dessert locations that night. Cow Tipping Creamery was first. It's inside the same shop as Good 2 Go Taco, so look for that. I can see how some people said the seating is limited since they share a space, but Good 2 Go Taco closes by 3PM so the seating opens up for the afternoon/night customers. I like their chalkboard menu.

They're most known for their Stackers. Which is just soft serve flavor of your choice layered with different toppings and sauces so you get something in every bite. Why other people don't understand this concept of layering is beyond me. I remember once asking a girl at Red Mango to layer my toppings with my froyo and she gave me a confused look. Who wants to only eat toppings and then run out when you hit the actual ice cream/soft serve/froyo?!?!

They feature 3 different flavors each day and it changes, I'm not sure how often. That night the flavors were Triple Vanilla Bean, Milky Chocolate, and Peanut Butter. You can pick one of their suggested Stacker combos or make your own.

I needed to pace myself since we have another location to go to. So I just ate off some of my other friends' orders. A few bites here and there.

The birthday boy chose Gimme S'more (soft serve of choice, hand-toasted marshmallows, semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips, molasses graham crumb, dark chocolate sauce) 8oz. $6~

He chose the Milk Chocolate soft serve since he absolutely loves chocolate. Their Stackers definitely are pretty epic looking. It's basically double the height of the cups they're in. They melt pretty quickly too, so eat fast or it'll be all over the table, or you! haha. This was pretty good. He doesn't really like marshmallows so I ate all of them. I felt like most of them weren't really toasted tho. There was a ton of chocolate chips. I feel like that's all we were eating towards the end. Overall it was good, but wasn't anything spectacular.

CTC Banana Split (soft serve of choice, caramelized bananas, macerated strawberries, honey dusted pecans, rummy caramel, brown sugar hot fudge) 8oz. $6~ 

They chose the Triple Vanilla Bean soft serve. A few people ordered this together. They really liked it. I thought it was good, but never got the banana in any of my bites. My favorite part was the honey dusted pecans because it added texture. This one wasn't overly sweet so that was good. I still prefer ice cream over soft serve. I think if all of these were done with ice cream, I'd love it more. haha.

A friend did the Make Your Own - You start with 1 soft serve, 1 sauce, 2 toppings and any additional is extra cost I guess.
Peanut Butter Soft Serve (with nutella sauce, caramelized bananas, toasted almonds, and triple fudge brownie chunks) 8oz. 

I liked his best. I think cuz the peanut butter soft serve was delicious. Although... I would've preferred fresh banana slices over the caramelized ones.. I think it's a texture thing. The peanut butter soft serve was my favorite flavor of the night. It wasn't super sweet and was really nutty. It actually reminded me of peanut butter flavors from Asia, where it just tastes like the actual nut (less sugar taste). His was falling over! Gotta eat fast. haha.

Everyone enjoyed it. I liked it well enough but probably won't go out of my way to get it. I rarely go to this area. I do, however, want to try their Earl Grey soft serve flavor. So whenever they have that next, I'll have to venture out there. And my favorite part about their concept is the layering. All other soft serve/ice cream shops... take note!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Public School 214

2 weeks ago, we were attending the Fashion X Dallas event downtown. A friend of ours was showing some of her work for the runway show! :) We don't go to that area as often as I'd like, so I took the opportunity to plan an early dinner in uptown. Public School 214 has been on my radar since they opened at the end of 2014. They had one dessert that was the deciding item for us to choose this place. And you'll see it at the end of this post.

Public School 214
3700 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75304
(214) 599-6234
www.psontap.com/locations/ps214
Price: $$$

The fashion event starts at 6PM, but the runway show starts at 8. So we decided to get an early dinner so we can get to the venue around 7-7:30. The place was pretty empty still so we got a table immediately. The decor is eclectic but definitely has a school theme... globes, periodic table, and year books lined the walls. And super cute notebook paper napkins!The place was bigger than I expected. The bar was almost the same size as the dining area.

Our waiter greeted us with waters and was super friendly. He gave us a quick run down of their drink menu... they have a lot of specialty beers, and told us we can sample as many of them as we want. Uh oh... choices.. haha. While we were narrowing down options (by we, I meant him... I don't drink beer. haha) our waiter went ahead and brought us 3 samples to try. 

It's like he read my fiance's mind because 2 out of the 3 he brought were the ones he wanted to try. The samples were so cute! We ended up getting the Rubaeus by Founders Brewing Co (nitro raspberry ale with a rich depth of flavor both sweet and tart) $7~ I actually kinda liked it. I've yet to find a beer I liked... not even ciders. I can't drink a whole thing of this, but I sipped on it throughout the meal.

We ended up taking way to long deciding on the drink. haha. But finally we ordered.

He went with The Temptress Stout Short Rib (shaved horseradish yukon mashed potatoes, caramelized onion au jus) $23~ 

It was a sizable dish. I loved the actual plate the food came in. hehe. It was yummy. The short rib was off the bone and pretty tender. Not completely fork tender but still good. We both liked the horseradish in the mashed potatoes, added another layer of flavor. He finished the entire dish... it was a lot.

I got the BBQ Bison Burger (grass fed, whiskey bbq sauce, emmental, pepper bacon mushroom topping; with side of kale & brussels slaw) $17~ 

 

I was a little hesitant to order this at first, because I'm iffy about BBQ sauce in a burger. Sometimes they just put too much. The waiter assured me that they don't put too much. And actually... I wish they had put more!! The sauce was great! It was a good burger. The meat was cooked nicely pink, and it was juicy, unlike how bison can sometimes be dry. Definitely not the best burger I've had in Dallas, but was still satisfying. The slaw on the other hand... was the star. I was a little shocked by the amount of sauce on the slaw...but it didn't even matter. It was so good...the two of us fought to eat it all. haha. It paired well with the burger.

We were both pretty dang full. But no.. we came for the dessert!! So we must order the dessert! :P Nutella Cookie Sandwich (bacon brittle, chocolate chunk cookies, vanilla bean ice cream) $6~ 

Oh em gee. This thing was massive. A giant chocolate chip cookie sitting on a huge dollop of nutella, topped with a scoop of vanill ice cream, topped with ANOTHER dollop of nutella, then capped with an equally as large chocolate chip cookie. It's enough for 3-4 people to eat I think... But there was just the 2 of us. And we keeeeeeled it!! We did ask for a glass of milk. haha. And the waiter brought us a giant glass of whole milk. Oh my. Talk about extra richness. We had to dilute it with water. The ice cream sandwich was sooo rich and sooo decadent. 

The cookie wasn't as soft as I'd like, but still damn good. We also did not detect any bacon.. oh well. And our waiter did say that this usually doesn't come out this big. So we got lucky? Tell that to our overstuffed stomachs as we sit back in pain. haha. But a good pain right? I regret nothing!! I'd totally get this again, but maybe next time I'll start with the dessert and if I'm still hungry, then I'll order something else. hahaha. The dessert did not disappoint. We had to take a stroll around the area to try and digest some of the dinner. :P It was pretty epic.

This seems like a cool place to hang out with friends and grab a beer. Their brunch menu also seems pretty good. Our waiter, Moses, I believe, was great. Friendly and attentive. I'd go back in the future.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Hopdoddy Burger Bar - Addison

Ahhhhh... I can't believe I haven't really blogged about Hopdoddy yet. I've done their fries and shakes but not their awesome burgers!

We were running around looking at venues this past Saturday and realized it was time for lunch! I suggested Hopdoddy and my fiance immediately said yes, let's go. We decided to go check out the new one in Addison since it's close to the next venue visit.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar
Village on the Parkway
5100 Belt Line Road #502
Dallas, TX 75254
(972) 387-2337
http://www.hopdoddy.com/
Price: $$

It's in the same shopping center as the new Whole Foods on Beltline and Montfort but those familiar with that area, also knows that's a pretty freaking huge shopping center. I hadn't been since all the new shops went in so I didn't exactly know where it was. It was a beautiful day so we just parked and started walking around. We walked all the way to Whole Foods and realized it wasn't there so I called the place. She told me they were on the complete opposite end of Whole Foods, by the AMC theater. I had no idea where the theater is either haha. But we just started walking to the other side.

Finally we found it! And there was a line... not really a surprise. But it was almost 2pm by then. The line wasn't too far out the door so we decided to wait. I wasn't hungry when we arrived but was close to starving when we got to the register. haha. It gave me plenty of time to decide what I wanted though. I couldn't decide between 3 options.

You order at the counter, but while in line, someone comes and assigns you a table number. We chose to sit outside cuz it was so nice! The Luther Lane location doesn't have any outdoor seating but the Addison one has lots! :) And then they bring your food to your table. And everyone's so friendly there! From the guy that's directing the line, to the girl at the register, and the guys that bring your food out to you.

I ended up with the Goodnight/Good Cause (Angus Beef, Tillamook Cheddar, Hickory BBQ Sauce, Caramelized Onions, Sliced Jalapenos & Sassy Sauce) $8.25~ 

 

And it was for a good cause (hence the name!). $1 from each sale is donated to Heroes for Children to help families affected by childhood cancer. Sassy sauce is their house blend of horseradish, mayo, and honey mustard. I really liked it! I asked for the BBQ sauce on the side which was a good move because it didn't really need it. I'm not a huge fan of bbq sauce so I thought I'd be cautious. Their burgers are LEGIT!! So freaking good. The meat was cooked perfectly. I love the slices of jalapenos, although I could've used more. I dipped my burger in sriracha for some added heat. hehe. I love the buns...buttery, soft, with a slight crispy edge. It held up the the meat and sauce inside very well! And their burgers are always so delicious yet not too greasy. I finished the whole thing and didn't feel heavy or stuffed. I wanted MORE!! :P

My fiance already knew what he was going to get. It's his absolute favorite! Ahi Tuna Burger (Sushi-Grade Tuna, Sprouts, Teriyaki, Honey Wasabi, Nori Chips, Pickled Ginger, Mayo) $12.25~ 

 

I have to say, this is one of the best burgers ever. And it doesn't even have beef!! And everyone I know that's tried it says it's their favorite. Isn't it beautiful? Other than the perfectly seared ahi tuna, my favorite is the nori chips, basically fried seaweed. There's so much flavor and texture in this burger. The ahi tuna is super fresh. He got the mayo on the side, which it doesn't even need mayo... the wasabi was plenty good. Totally worth the wait.

They gave out samples of the Chocolate Stout milkshake to the people in line so we decided to get shakes as well.

He got the Chocolate Stout Shake $5.50~ (left) He's the target market when people give out samples cuz he will buy what he just tried. haha. And this is yummy.

Nutella & Chocolate Pretzel Shake $5.50~ (right) Me, on the other hand, I try a sample of something and then I wanna get something else, so I can try another flavor. hehe. This is my favorite shake here. You got the salty sweet between the pretzel and chocolate. And NUTELLA!! Who doesn't like nutella? There's sooo much crushed pretzels in there, so much crunch. I love it. Use a spoon!! You get more stuff that way. And check out that glop of nutella on the side of my cup there... You know I scooped that up for my first bite! :P

One of my absolute favorite burger places in Dallas. I'm happy they have multiple locations now! Bring one to Rockwall please!! There's always a line, but it moves fairly fast and trust me, it's worth the wait.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~