Whisk Crepe Cafe

If you love French crepes, you've gotta go check out Whisk Crepes Cafe at Sylvan Thirty. The owner, Julien, is French, and this is about as close to being in Paris as you can get. :)

*FYI: He's got a 2nd location, called Whisk & Eggs, opening in the new Legacy Food Hall (Legacy West) in Plano THIS WEEK!! Be sure to check that out too! He's gonna be serving up more than crepes there! I can't wait to try the egg sandwiches.*

Whisk Crepes Cafe
1888 Sylvan Ave. F120
Dallas, TX 75208
(469) 407-1899
www.whiskdallas.com
Price: $$

I had been to Whisk Crepes when they first opened and was very impressed with the quality and flavors of their crepes. I was very excited when I got invited to check them out again. I rarely go to Sylvan Thirty area so I haven't really been back. The place is really small. Intimate and quaint, I'd say. But I wouldn't take more than 2-3 people with you at a time. They also cook all crepes to order, so be prepared to wait a little bit. You're in France now... you have to learn to slow down, sit back, and relax. :P

I met Julien when we arrived. He actually remembered me from my previous visit. :) We sat down and got served some waters and waited for him to take care of the table that was there before us. When he came to us, he asked if we drank... I don't, but my friend did. But Julien insisted that I needed to try their French Cider. Sure... why not. :P He explained the cider to us a little bit. It's made from fermented apples. And it's gluten free btw.

Domaine Dupont Reserve. Cider from Normandie. Matured six months in Calvados Casks. 6.9% ABV. 

This was delicious. I was surprised I liked it since I don't like most wines, ciders, alcohol basically. haha. It wasn't even super sweet like the moscatos I drink. But there was no bite from the alcohol, no sour aftertaste like wine. Just smooth. And you get hints of the fermented flavor at the end... and in the smell. But I'm Chinese, I love fermented stuff. As does my friend, he's Vietnamese. It's seriously good stuff. Initially I only told him to pour me a little taster. I actually refilled my glass! He said the cider pairs really well to the buckwheat crepes. I started feeling it pretty quickly though. haha. I'm a super lightweight. Time to get some food in my belly!

They have "Wine Wednesday" specials FYI. When I was there it was $4 glass of wine, and $3 mimosas.

Julien started recommending some of their items. The first one he mentioned. The smoked brisket, was one of the ones we were looking at. Done!

Smoked Brisket (queso fresco, mozzarella, pickles, jalapenos, bbq cream; in a buckwheat crepe) $12~ 

Buckwheat has a more earthy flavor and is gluten free. It's great with savory crepes. He said the smoked brisket actually works with both types of crepes, the flour one just adds a sweet and savory combo. The brisket is sourced locally from Lockhart BBQ in Bishop Arts, one of my favorite BBQ places in town. You get the smokiness right off the bat. The pickles and jalapenos complimented well to the meat. We enjoyed this a lot.

He also mentioned their special that day. Which was also the other one we were looking at. haha.

Special of the Day: Monte Cristo (turkey, ham, gruyere, dijon mustard; served with a side of strawberry preserves; in a flour crepe) $11~ 

Flour crepes have a more sweet nature... reminicent of a thin pancake. It's great for sweet crepes, or if you want more of a sweet and savory combination. Since normal Monte Cristos are already sweet and savory, it makes sense to use the flour crepe for this. I never order Monte Cristos because they are like heart clogging monstrocities. haha. Typically they are ham and cheese, and sometimes turkey too, sandwiches that are battered, deep fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served with a side of jam. Whew... they're soooo heavy. But it wasn't the case with this. I LOVED it. One of the best crepes I've ever had. It had all the positives of a Monte Cristo with none of the heavy, heart-clogging parts. The crepe was much lighter than bread, and the flour crepe was perfect with the ham as well as the preserves. The strawberry preserves are a French brand, so staying with the theme. I can eat this every morning, noon, and night. I told him he MUST put this on the regular menu.

Of course we had to have dessert. I already had two options in my head when he mentioned their special of the day...

Special Sweet of the Day: Belgium Cookie Butter & Bananas (with coffee whipped cream, caramel, and Biscoff cookie crumble). Um. I'll take that. Yes. Thank you. 

I freaking love cookie butter. It was delicious. The coffee whipped cream made it. It wasn't too sweet so the bitterness from the coffee helped to balance the sweetness of the cookie butter and caramel. He said his inspiration is that when you're in Europe and you order coffee, they generally give you a little cookie or Biscoff on the side. I hope he puts this on the regular menu too. haha.

This visit was even better than the last! Not only did I get to try some amazing new crepes, I also discovered an alcohol that I enjoyed! Next time you go, I highly recommend you get the French Cider to go along with your crepes.

Thanks for having us, Whiske Crepes. I'll be back for that Monte Cristo! :)

*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Niwa Japanese BBQ

My good friend, @basicbrunches, was moving at the end of June. *Tear* So that means we gotta send her off with style! The two of us along with @catchows decided to go to Niwa for her farewell dinner. Thanks so much to Niwa for hosting us! It was the perfect dinner to send off a food blogger, and she this was her first Japanese BBQ!! What an experience!

Niwa Japanese BBQ
2939 Main St.
Dallas, TX 75226
(214) 741-6492
www.niwabbq.com
Price: $$$+

The owner, Jimmy, came and greeted us after we were seated. He, along with another waitress, took care of us the entire meal. We all felt so honored that he personally took care of our table and introduced all the dishes. He basically told us that he was just going to send out a bunch of things he thinks we should try. He also asked if we were adventurous eaters, and YES! We are! :D (Note: a lot of these dishes are reduced portions since we were trying so many things, but the prices I'm posting are for the full portions on the menu.)

We started with some drinks...

(On the left) The Hummingbird (tropical citrus, Benedictine, hand crafted grenadine, Hum liquer, Hayman's Royal Dock Gin, house bitters; served over ice) $15~ @basicbrunches said it was good, and strong, I think.

(On the right) Okinawa Ice-Tea (passion fruit, cloudy apple, citrus, cold-brewed green tea; shaken) $8~ Both drinks were cute. The tea was a little tart for my taste but quite refreshing.

Hot Genmai Tea $3~ I decided to stick with my standard hot tea. :)

Spicy Edamame (with chili threads) $5~ I really enjoyed this. This is the first time I've had edamame with sauce on it and it's delicious! It's not really spicy but it had so much flavor. A solid starter to get your appetite going.

Niwa Salad (green cabbage, radish, corn, carrot, tomato, hard-boiled egg, roasted sesame dressing) $7~ This was my favorite out of the 2 salads. I think it was mostly because of the sesame dressing and corn. The dressing was slightly creamy and I loved all the flavors of the elements together.

Wafu Salad (seasonal greens, cucumbers, arare, daikon, Japanese wafu dressing) $7~ My two friends liked this one better. I mean, I liked this too, but I liked the other better. hehe. I always eat my greens! The arare (crispy rice balls) were a nice touch on top for some crunch.

Buta Kakuni (braised pork belly, ginger, mustard, ajitama egg) $9~ 

Jimmy had asked if we specifically wanted anything from the menu and this is the first thing I asked for. I freaking love braised pork belly. That egg on top was great. Perfectly soft boiled and had lots of flavor. The pork belly was tender and fatty, just the way it's supposed to be. I really wanted a bowl of rice to go with this and it would just totally bring back childhood memories. The only thing is that there was something in there that was a little too sweet. I think it was the mustard greens, I can't be sure. But that threw me off a little.

Horenso No Goma Ae (sesame seed cold spinach) $5~ 

I got really excited when we got served this dish. You don't typically see this in Dallas... at least I don't know where to get it. The only time I've seen it was in Japan, and also a Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn that served a traditional Japanese set meal. The sesame gave it a nice nuttiness. Loves it!

Spanish Octopus (fingerling potatoes, aji amarillo, shiso coulis, sudachi aoili, nasturtium leaves) $12~ 

We found out this dish is actually not on the menu. The kitchen prepped it just for us. And it was one of our favorite dishes of the night. Gorgeous colors. The char on the octopus was fantastic. And it was super tender... None of that typical octopus chewiness. I also loved all the various flavors of the different sauces. It was a bold dish, and very well rounded. Hopefully with all the rave reviews, they'll actually put it on the menu?

Sweet Butter Corn (soy butter) $5~ 

This was kinda fun. It was served in a foil pack and placed on the grill to heat up. Once the bag puffs up a little, the waitress came to empty it into a bowl. Such a simple dish... it's just corn. But you can definitely taste the butter and it goes so well with the steamed rice.

Ribeye, NY Strip, Hanger, Beef Belly, Berkshire Pork Sausage. 

We got a sampler platter with a bunch of different meats. I remember the belly was my favorite. It was so thinly sliced and the strip of fat adds so much flavor. The other meats were marinated. The hanger was the most tender if I remember correctly. But I loved the marinade on the ribeye. The pork sausage was just like a hot dog. A mini one. hehe.

Filet Mignon (cherry wood smoked, butter) $12~ Very cool presentation. It comes in a covered bowl to keep the smoke in to flavor the meat. We all had our cameras out to video when he pulled off the lid. hehe. You get just a hint of the cherry wood. It wasn't overwelming at all.

Beef Tongue (shallots, green onions, garlic, lemon) $10~ 

I love beef tongue. It was a first for @basicbrunches and it took some getting used to. haha. I don't think I've had tongue in such big slices before. You can basically see the sections/muscles of the tongue! TMI? :P It's delicious! It wasn't the most tender beef tongue I've had but I enjoyed the texture. It was also served with a sesame oil/salt/pepper mixture to dip in since this wasn't marinated.

A Miso Soup Intermission... :P

Outside Skirt (miso marinade) $10~ and Short Rib (karubi marinade) $10~ 

These were Happy Hour portions. HH Pick 2 Meats is $11~ Their happy hour specials are pretty killer y'all. So if you can go M-F between 2-6PM, you are getting a really good deal. I loved the flavor of the skirt cut. The short rib was a little tough. But by this time we were all getting really full so I wonder if the enjoyability was diminishing too. haha.

Berkshire Pork Jowl (with housemade Yuzu Kosho) $11~ 

Yuzu Kosho is a paste typically made from chili peppers, yuzu peel, and salt. They made theirs in house and it was done with Thai chilis. That means it's got a kick to it! Loved the combo. And seriously... any cheek or jowl on any animal or fish is the most tender. Trust me.

We were finally winding down. Oooooof. So full! But we haven't had the Pièce De Résistance... the Wagyu!

We got to compare the American vs Japanese Wagyu. Can you guess which is which??

Texas Wagyu (Chuck Flap; 2 oz.) $18~ From A-N Ranch in Sherman, TX. It had beautiful marbling and color but sliced thinly, you can't really appreciate the quality. It was not soft like butter... but was still tasty.

A-5 Japanese Wagyu (NY Strip) $47~ From Miyazaki, Japan. OMG. This is the real deal. We lightly seared it on each side and it basically melted in my mouth. Didn't even need sauce or anything, just wanted to cherish the pure beefy goodness. It was amazing, and was perfect to end our wonderful meal. Guy and girls, take note, if you want to impress your date, get this! It's foodgasmic!

We were down for the count. But of course they sent out desserts. Deep breath! We can do this!!

Panna Cotta (Madagascar vanilla, yuzu strawberry coulis, chilled raspberries and a matcha sugar). 

Beautiful presentation. The panna cotta was soooo jiggly! We had fun with some videos of that. hehe. So light but you still definitely get the vanilla flavor. I'd say eat this one first if you get multiple desserts just because the flavors are so delicate. I think this just edged out as my favorite of the night.

Semi-Freddo Cheesecake (Lemon cheesecake, ginger blueberry compote, lemon curd and a graham crumble). It's like a super rich cheesecake ice cream. Again, beautiful plating. If I wasn't so full I would've killed it. But it's quite rich so I finally gave up. haha.

Coffee Jelly (Full City Rooster's Guatemalan coffee, sweet cream, hazelnut powder and candied almonds). 

This was very interesting. It tasted just like a tiramisu. But the texture of the jello threw me off. It's a very light dessert. The flavor makes me want a denser cake or something instead of the light jello. But then again, I tend to gravitate towards more decadent and rich desserts anyways. This is @catchows's favorite.

What a fantastic meal. We expanded @basicbrunches' culinary horizon and sent her off properly. Thank you so much to Jimmy and the Niwa team for taking such great care of us. I highly recommend checking them out. The Happy Hour specials are a great way to try it without spending the big bucks. Or just go all out if you want to impress someone. And this is a great place for a date... they have suction vents right at the rim of the grill so all the cooking smoke gets sucked in. So you don't smell like you've just been standing next to a smoke grill. haha.

Also, I wanted to mention a series of Sake tasting events they are currently hosting. The first 2 have passed but there are 2 more!! July 23rd and August 6th. Sake Nights. They feature 5-7 sakes for each date. Every date has different ones so the point is to go to all of them to try it all. Plus you get this cool booklet to document your notes from your tastings. Sounds like a fun event with friends!

*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*

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~~ 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!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~