Barley & Board

Oh Barley & Board... I'm so happy I have found you. Or actually it found me.

I had never heard of this place until I reposted a picture on the MyFab5 @bestfooddallas IG account back in February. It was an epic looking S'mores oatmeal cookie. Little did I know that one little action was going to change my life. They saw the repost and reached out to me. I connected them with the founders of MyFab5 and we (the other 2 community leaders @thediningdino & @phileats_ and I, @chompdallas) were invited out to dine at their restaurant. Cool! The only thing was... it's all the way in Denton! I think I've only been to Denton once in my life. It's far... and now that I'm in Rockwall, it's REALLY far! I think the total drive time is around 70-75 minutes, ONE WAY! Eeeks. But since I was the one that made the connection and they were so excited for us to come out, we all found a Sunday afternoon and headed out there.

Barley & Board
100 W Oak St.
Denton, TX 76201
(940) 566-3900
http://barleyandboard.com
Price: $$-$$$

It's located in downtown Denton and it's quite cute! It reminded me of downtown McKinney, but bigger. I wish it was closer so I could go explore there more often.

It was a grey and rainy afternoon, but turned out to be the best lighting for taking photos. I arrived first, and Narciso, the head of PR for the restaurant, greeted me. He was super nice and told us we could sit anywhere we'd like. The restaurant was super cool. It was a renovated old building. The decor was amazing. Big open windows, high ceilings, and you can see the history in the building. They had re-purposed a lot of old bricks and other materials found around Denton. There was one long table in the middle of the dining room that was one single slab of wood. Things like that... really cool. We found a booth by one of the large windows. The lighting was perfect.

Narciso got us situated, then he told us he would get out of our hair and let us order and photograph as we please. He checked on us from time to time but pretty much left us to our own devices. We had gotten some recommendations from him and our waiter and we started ordering! And just so you know, the 3 of us can eat! Plus we always want to try everything so once we started ordering, you can't stop us. haha.

When we were first seated they brought out some Toasted Barley for the table and took our drink orders. At first I thought it was just decor? But you can eat it. Don't think I've ever had toasted barley like this before. It's very nutty!

Since it was quite chilly that day, I got an Earl Grey Tea $4.50~ Served in a French press. Nice!

We got a round of appetizers.

Blistered Shishito Peppers (sriracha, radish, cilantro, mso salt) $9~ These were the biggest peppers we have ever seen! All the other peppers have been like a third of the size, maybe half. Wow. Nicely blistered. I liked the addition of the radish slices and that aioli was bomb. I dipped everything in that sauce.

 

Bacon Wrapped Medjool Dates (chorizo, piquillo sauce) $14~ Highly recommended and I just have to say now... not one single recommendation was bad. Actually no single dish was bad. These dates were huge. The pairing with the chorizo and bacon was fantastic. And that piquillo sauce!!!! I had to cut mine in half in eat 2 bites.

 

 

Wicked Gulf Oysters (grilled with garlic parmesan butter) $12~ I've never been a huge fan of oysters. I mean, I'll eat them, but I would never order them on my own. These had really great flavor. If you love oysters, you'll love these. Again, they were large.

Roasted Bone Marrow (parsley pesto, smoked salt, grilled bread) $12~ I also never really order bone marrow, but I'll eat it. I loved the parsley pesto plus the bit of smoked salt. But I always feel like eating bone marrow is just slathering fat on a piece of bread. haha. If that's your thing, do it!!

Hen of the Woods Flatbread (roasted garlic, ricotta, mushroom, parmesan, truffle) $12~ This was one of my choices. You don't see Hen of the Woods mushrooms in many places so I had to have it. I love all types of mushrooms. It was a good flatbread, just felt like it needed some sriracha or sauce. So I dipped it in the aioli from the shishito peppers and it was amazing. :D

We ordered a bunch of different entrees.
Crisped Mechada (aji panca, organic egg, lime) $18~ This was highly recommended. It was so pretty. All the dishes were so pretty. The vibrant colors, the plating, on point! This was all about the sauce. It was so bold. A little too sour for my preference, but my tolerance for sourness is quite low. It definitely packs a punch!

Brazen Two-Faced Quail (b&b pickles, slaw) $23~ On of my favorites. The quail was so juicy! Which is rare... most place tend to overcook quail. And that batter was my favorite part. It was crispy and spicy. Sooo sooo good. Along with the pickles and the slaw were the perfect combination.

Parisian Gnocchi (market vegetables, broth, soft herbs, parmesan) $15~ Another beautiful plate with all the colors. I loved all the different types of vegetables in there: brussels sprouts, carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. It was a very filling dish.

Slow Roasted Pork Tenderloin (mexican street corn, crispy onions, chipotle honey) $19~ Almost didn't get this but the waiter recommended it so we added it at the end. So glad we did. Again, so pretty. The pork was cooked perfectly, not dry at all. I really liked the corn. The chipotle honey was quite sweet, so you have to be into the sweet and savory combo to enjoy this.

B&B Burger (sweet onion, b&b pickle, house sauce, american cheese) $12~ 

 

 

This burger.... O.M.G. It changed our lives. Seriously. It's the only burger on the menu, and it really is the only burger they'll ever need. It is amazing. By far my favorite thing of the day, and that's saying a lot since everything was good. No idea what they do to this but it seems like a simple burger, no extra ingredients, no frills, but it's so good!!!!!!!! It's like the onions and cheese melts into the beef patty and the whole thing is just super juicy. And their pickles are awesome, so that was the cherry on top. I dream about this burger. I will drive an hour to have this burger. (...and I did...stay tuned to my next post!) One of the best burgers of my life, and definitely in DFW. The shoe string fries were good too, but at this point we had to focus on the more important things. haha.

WE NEED A BIGGER TABLE. STAT! :P

Wow... good thing we didn't order more! But wait, there's always dessert. haha. Can't leave without at least trying the S'mores cookie that had started this whole experience!

I don't know the exact names of these desserts since they don't have a printed dessert menu.

Bread Pudding. Not sure what all is in it. But it reminded us of the whiskey cake at Whiskey Cake. Kind of toffee like. Dense, and that cream sauce underneath is just everything.

Oatmeal S'mores Cookie. This is such a beautiful dessert. Just flawless. But guess what, the Bread Pudding stole the show in terms of taste. I really liked the dark chocolate on top of the marshmallow. But I feel like the marshmallow to cookie ratio was a little skewed. Need more cookie, less marshmallow. But then maybe it won't look as epic? The dilemma! :P Still yummy tho.

This has been such an amazing experience. The food speaks for itself. Quality ingredients, wonderfully prepared, and beautifully presented. They brought "brewpub" style food to a whole new level. The service was amazing. Checked on us frequently and catered to whatever we needed. After, we got a brief tour of the space with one of the managers. The whole history and concept behind the restaurant is just fantastic. I want to hang out there all the time. And I just want to include a note that this was all comped, but we did leave a large tip. Gotta take care of your wait staff! All of us would've gladly paid for the meal.

Like I said, so happy I found this place. Just sad that it's so far away. Please open another location more Southeast in the future please! :P What an amazing experience. It is definitely my new favorite restaurant of the year. I will continue to support them as much as I can!

Quality of Food:

Service:

Ambiance:

Value: *comped*

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

18th & Vine BBQ

This place has been on my list since they opened. I got the opportunity to go when we had some European coworkers visiting back in March and the team was going out for dinner. Being the resident foodie, my boss told me to pick. When in Texas, you gotta have some BBQ right? Plus some people were taking our guests downtown to the AAC after for some hockey action, so this was on their way.

18th & Vine
4100 Maple Ave.
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 443-8335
www.18thandvinebbq.com
Price: $$$+

This area is quite cute! It looks like house-turned-restaurant but also looked really new. I liked the style, but definitely not the look of a typical BBQ joint.

I was in charge of ordering. Everyone was good with doing it family style because we all wanted to try everything.

Started with Burnt Ends $13~ 
Of course!! This is one of my favorites at any BBQ place. Theirs is top notch! Really tender and flavorful. It was my favorite of the night. The pickled onions and pickles paired perfectly with the meat. 

 

Fresh Fried Okra $8~ Also pretty awesome. Fried really well and wasn't too much batter. I had to force myself to stop eating it because the entrees haven't even arrived yet!

Wood-Kissed Salmon (green split pea, warm frisee) $25~ 

This was requested by one of our guests, just to throw a fish in the mix. I liked the dish. The split pea mash was interesting. If you don't like the taste of peas, then this is not for you. Luckily, we all enjoyed it. I wasn't a huge fan of the warm frisee though. It just seemed mushy and limp. A good dish, but was my least fav.

BBQ Braised Beef Cheek (akaushi beef, creamed spinach, parsnip cacio e pepe) $32~ OMGGGGGGG... So freaking tender. Everyone was going "Mmmmmm" as they put a bite in their mouth. Loved it!

Matt's Picks (Sample 2 smoked meats chosen daily, serves 3-4, family style) Mkt price. I wanna say it was around $40ish? It's been a while, I don't really remember. The selection of the day was Brisket (we chose the fatty ones), Ribs, and Chicken. Everything was good, but not the best bbq I've had. I would've rather just ordered 4 more plates of the burnt ends. haha. I really loved their pickles and onions though.

Apple Cider Slaw $6~ I think it was good? I don't really remember, but I know it wasn't bad. Maybe just got overwhelmed with all the other good dishes.

Seasoned Fries $6~ Their fries were amazingggggg! Perfectly fried and the seasoning was great. A must!

Jalapeno Cheese Grits $6~ Love me some grits. These were comforting and cheesy.

Pit Roasted Mushrooms $6~ Lots of flavor, big portion. It was great. I'd get this again.

It was a great meal. And we ate it all! Had no room for dessert. I guess I'll have to go back again. haha. Everyone enjoyed it, so yay for me on the ordering. :P I'd say the prices were a bit high for my preference but you can't think of this place as a BBQ joint. It's a little more elevated, and less casual. I'm glad it was on the company! :D

Quality of Food:

Service:

Ambiance:

Value:

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Smoke Plano

Over Xmas break, I got to finally go check out the new Smoke in Plano. I've always gone to the Dallas location, and only for brunch (which is fantastic btw...one of our go-to's). But this time I wanted to try dinner. I've been eyeing their Big Rib for some time now. :P

A friend of mine was back in town for the holidays so a group of us met up for dinner. It was a party of 7 adults and 2 babies. They put us at this super large table.. it was a little hard to talk to everyone cuz we were so far apart. haha. And I didn't bother taking pictures of some of the dishes that were across the table. :P

Smoke Plano
2408 Preston Rd. #704a
Plano, TX 75093
(972) 599-2222
http://smokerestaurant.com/plano
Price: $$$+

I knew I wanted to try the Big Rib... which is supposed to be massive. So I got a friend of mine to go in on it with me. When the waitress came to take our drink orders, I immediately asked if they still had any left. They have limited quantities of this so you gotta order fast! She went to go check... came back and said there's only 2 left! Yikes! I put my order in then and there. haha. The Big Rib (hominy casserole, fresh herb chimichurri) $38~ 

 

When this thing came... everyone at the table just stopped and stared. I was psyched! And shocked at the same time. MEAT FOR DAYYYYYYS!!! It was wayyyy bigger than I could've ever expected. The bone itself was longer than my forearm bone. O.O Whoa. Definitely more than enough for the 2 of us. I would say shareable for 4 people if you order sides or appetizers. Yowza. They're not playing around! We went to work attacking this thing. My friend wished that he didn't order the appetizer that came earlier. haha. This rib was spectacular. FORK TENDER, we didn't have to barely touch it to pull it off the bone. And soooo much flavor on that char. Some of the most tender bbq I've had. My friend loved it as well. And it came on a bed of hominy (basically like grits). OMG. Heavy, with the meat pairing but oh sooo good. The chimichurri added some brightness. I wish there were more veggies on the plate. The onions and parsley on top helped a little. At last, we lost. We binged ourselves to about 3/4ths of the dish. I was proud we got that far. haha. He took the rest home. So freaking awesome. I'd totally get this again, but next time share with more people. And the pictures never do it justice...just trust me when I say that is one big ass rib!!

Collard Greens. I did order a side of collards. Not sure how much it was but it was a pretty big portion. Unfortunately it was way too salty, so neither of us had much of that. I was hoping having some veggies would offset the large amount of meat. Instead we just focused on killing that rib!!

Smoke Sausage (stout beer, cabbage, spicy mustard) $11~ 

So my friend also ordered this to start. Not knowing what to expect with the Big Rib. It was ok... Not sure I like the sausage bathing in the soup. I would've preferred a drier dish... The sausage was good but nothing specials. I liked that they gave a lot of cabbage, but neither of us were fans of the beer "soup". We didn't drink it obviously, but it was a tad salty. The spicy mustard was nice. Always a good combo.. mustard and sausage. But like I said, we totally didn't need this dish. haha.

Coffee Cured Natural Beef Brisket (B&B pickles, potato salad) $22~ 

Another friend of mine got this. She subbed the potato salad for the Mac n' Cheese. And what a great choice that was. The Mac n' Cheese was on point! She originally wanted the ribs but they were out. Next time I guess. The brisket was super good as well. Thick slices and very juicy. I think she make it through about halfway of that mountain of meat. It was a lot! And I want to give a spotlight to those pickles. Fantastic. And I'm not even a huge pickle fan. I'd get this again too.

EB&D Loaded up & Truckin Burger (homemade thick and smokey bacon, sharp cheddar, frittered egg) $15~ 

2 of my friends ordered the burger. Somehow the orders got messed up and was never sent to the kitchen. So they waited forever for it. Finally it came. OMG. How do you even eat this thing?!? That frittered egg looked awesome. But do you just press down and smoosh the whole thing? haha. I think they decided to take a knife and fork to it. The burger patty itself was juicy and pretty flavorful. I got to try a bite, but was already so overwhelmed with the Big Rib that I really don't remember much. Their fries were good too from what I can remember. :P

It was a great meal. Quite epic actually. It's not everyday you eat something as big as your arm. hahaha. And always fun to catch up with friends. Other than the snafu with the orders, the service was good. And on a weeknight, I'd say their business was doing well! I'll definitely be back again for dinner. Just thinking about that Big Rib is making me drool. Just make sure to not go too late and order it fast, otherwise it'll run out!

Quality of Food:

Service:

Ambiance:

Value:

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~