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Having out of town guests means going out to eat! But then again... it also just means it's the weekend. hahaha. What else is new? :P
My fiance's parents were in town last weekend so I had made a reservation at Casa Rubia in Trinity Groves for Saturday night. I talked so highly about it the first time I went, my fiance really wanted to try it. Also, we wanted to show his parents the downtown cityscape. Usually when they come visit, we just end up staying around Rockwall. They've never really seen our downtown! Plus at Trinity Groves, you get the best view of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which is probably one of the coolest structures we have in DFW! :)
Casa Rubia in Trinity Groves
3011 Gulden Ln.
Dallas, TX 75212
(469) 513-6349
www.casarubiadallas.com
Price: $$$-$$$$
We arrived on time for our 7PM reservation and was seated immediately. Our waiter greeted us and was very friendly. He took our drink orders and introduced the restaurant concept to everyone.
He asked if we'd like some Bread (with tomato and garlic spread) $8~
I had this last time I was here. It's not on the menu and one of the ladies I was with had to ask for it. This time the waiter suggested it. So that was cool, cuz we wanted to order it again. Although he also didn't tell us how much it was going to be. So for a second I thought maybe they started serving it as complimentary bread for the table. haha. Oh well, it wasn't free, but it sure was delicious! The bottoms were nice and crispy and the bread was warm and fluffy. The tomato/garlic spread had so much flavor.
We knew we were getting the Paella... which you can't order unless you have 4 or more people, btw... so take your friends and/or family with you. So we just got 2 other dishes. It's all tapas style so all the dishes are not super big.
Pulpo a la Plancha (Spanish octopus, duck fat potatoes, pickled onions, smoked tomato-jerez vinaigrette) $16~
My favorite from last time, so we had to order it again. Again, it was super tender. I don't know how they cook it to be sooooo tender. The sauce was a little tangy and paired well with the duck fat potatoes. A great dish once again. My fiance's dad even liked it. He's more of a meat and potatoes guy. Yay. Win! :)
Costillas Cortas de Cerdo (heritage pork short ribs, coriander-tomato jam, charred onion, rainbow chard, porcini emulsion) $17~
We also wanted a meat dish. This was soooo good. The meat was seriously falling off the bone tender. No need for a knife! My fiance liked this better than the octopus. I can't choose... I love them both!
We had a little time to chat and digest and then the finale arrived. Paella del Dia (squid ink, chicken, clams, mussels, shrimp, kale, peas) $50~
This takes 35-40 minutes to make, so make sure you order it early. And the price is market price, just FYI. When the waiter described it to us, he said it was black rice. I was thinking forbidden rice... but it's actually rice colored by squid ink. Score!
Both my fiance and I love squid ink. I've even had squid ink ice cream once. :P It was soooo yummy. The rice was cooked perfectly. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have as much chicken this time as last. The chicken was one of my favorite parts of the dish. The squid ink added a savory, sea-like quality... umami. Yummm! And I love the aioli the include on the side. Adds a tanginess and creaminess to the dish. We each got a pretty big plate full... and we still took half of the pan to go. Yea, this is why you need to take more people with you. But for us, we got leftovers for the next 2 days! Woohoo!
For once, we didn't over stuff ourselves! So we MUST get dessert! :P
Pan Calatrava (vanilla bean flan, Texas blueberry-almond bread pudding, ginger ice cream, sea salt caramel) $8.50~
I had this last time too. It was so good, I couldn't get myself to order a different dessert. Still just as good. That crust on the bread pudding is fantastic. So much complexity in texture between the creamy, silky flan and the bread pudding. And that caramel sauce just pushes it over the top. Deeeelish!
It was a fantastic dinner once again. His parents were so impressed, and we got to take a stroll by the bridge after. :) Service was great as well. I will definitely be back again.
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
Last weekend, a friend and I decided to take a day trip out to Ft. Worth. Neither of us have been there much and just wanted to check out the sights, and of course, food!!
The first place I wanted to hit up was definitely Hanabi. I've heard great things about it and almost everyone who's been there has said they have the best ramen in DFW. God knows we need a good ramen place here!
Hanabi Ramen & Izakaya
3204 Camp Bowie Blvd
Fort Worth, TX
(817) 420-6703
Price: $$
Obviously I've never been, so I always imagined it to be a small place. So I was pleasantly surprised that they took reservations. I made one for 3 people on Saturday at 11:30AM. We arrived on time, and there was maybe 3 other tables there. haha. And the place is wayyy bigger than I thought. I guess the reservation is totally unnecessary. Oh well. Better safe than sorry, eh?
We were seated immediately and the waitress came to take our drink orders. We all got the hot green tea which was really good. A lot of matcha flavor. :)
We got some appetizers to start.
Squid Leg Fry (6 pcs.) $4.50~
6 pieces for 5 bucks is a little expensive in my opinion, but at least the pieces were big. It was yummy. It came with a side of Asian mayonnaise to dip. Loved it! The squid was cooked well, the outside was fried nicely. The mayo had a sweetness that paired well with it.
Salmon Onigiri (salmon rice ball; 1 pc.) $3~
This was good too, esp with the mayo as well. But these tend to have more rice than filling ratio, and this was no different. There wasn't that much salmon in the middle.
I already knew what I wanted. The dry ramen. If it's an option, I always opt for the dry. The noodles are generally thicker and chewier, which I prefer.
Kara Miso Aemen (pasta style ramen, without soup, with pork belly, egg, cabbage, carrot, chives and green onion) $11~
My fiance decided to get the same thing. It was a HUGE bowl. Wow.. I think we could've shared! haha. The sauce is all on the bottom so you have to mix everything together. As soon as I started mixing I realized there was chili oil... this was spicy. The name should've tipped me off "Kara" indicates spicy but I didn't even think of it. And they didn't put "spicy" anywhere on the menu... I think restaurants should indicate that, not everyone can take spice. I mean I love spicy so it's great. But my fiance can't eat spicy. It really upsets his stomach. So the waitress overheard and told him not to mix, and they would remove the bottom part with the sauce for him. I dunno, that seemed like a stupid move on their part but we didn't say anything. She brought a new bowl back with everything that was above the sauce. So basically half the noodles were gone. She told him he can add additional flavor with the soy sauce at the table... Uh... ew? He decided to just go with what he had. He didn't use the soy sauce, but just threw the squid in for extra flavor. haha. I told him he should've sent the whole thing back and gotten something else. And why didn't they offer him the broth from the dipping ramen or something?? Doesn't this ruin the flavor/experience of someone's meal? Needless to say, it was bland bland bland. But he was too nice to complain. :(
Mine however, was great. The spicy sauce on the bottom had chunks of meat in it. The egg could've been a bit runnier but I didn't mind it. There were plenty of veggies, which I appreciated. And everything was finely chopped so it was easy to pick it all up with the noodles. The noodles were great. Nice chewy texture. Although I think the noodles at Wabi House was even better. Hanabi totally trumped with the flavor. It reminded me a lot of the Chinese Zha Jian Mian, which is one of my absolute favorite noodles in the world. So that was a plus. I tried to finish it all because it was really good, but couldn't. It was wayyy too much.
My friend got the Karami Tonkotsu Ramen (creamy broth made with pork bones; with chashu, egg, bamboo shoot, green onion, takana, nori; spicy) $10~
At first bite, she said "this is good!" Better than Wabi. I tried a bite or two. I felt the noodles were a tad overcooked but it was the curly kind so I still liked it better. The broth flavor was good. We both agreed that so far this has been the best in DFW.
I really enjoyed it. My friend did too. My poor fiance... not so much. I think they should've discounted his dish too, but they didn't. To pay $11 for bland noodles is not a great feeling. But he did learn to always verify spicy or not in the future. Other than the poor choice in dumping out his sauce instead of giving him something else, our waitress was very nice and attentive. I do agree with most people that it's the best in DFW. As comparison to the rest of the world tho... it's somewhere in the middle. And it's so far from Dallas still... sigh.
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My parents planned a 3 day 2 night road trip for all of us around Taiwan so we can see some sights! Normally we just stay in Taipei so this time we get to see the rest of the country. However, due to some misinformation, the trip ended up being 70% in the car and not being able to enjoy much of the cities we are in. :( Word of advice... when you go to Kenting (the southernmost part of Taiwan, take the train most of the way AND THEN get a car. We had a driver from Taipei to Kenting and it was torture. Took wayyy too long. We didn't arrive until it was dark and wasn't able to enjoy the beach at all. Also... another piece of advice... 3 days 2 nights is not enough to hit 2 different cities and see the sights. It was basically views in the dark and then views from the car. Blehh... Although we did make time for food and everything was great! (except the afternoon tea...)
On the way south to Kenting, we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. Now the rest stops in Taiwan is nothing like the ones in the US. They are amazing! Large, clean bathrooms, and food courts and shops! The food was pretty good too!
Pork Chop Rice
Tonkatsu Curry
Croissants
Matcha Ice Cream in a Croissant Cone
We arrived in Kenting and my dad had reserved for us to enjoy afternoon tea at the UFO Lounge in the H Resort. It has a 360 view of the ocean, too bad it was cloudy and stormy all day... we didn't get to enjoy the view.
UFO Lounge High Tea NT$450 + 10% gratuity/service charge. Normally in Asia you don't pay tip, but certain places charge you a service fee. The High Tea includes 4 types of desserts, 3 savory pieces, seasonal fruits, and a beverage.
My mom got the fresh Kiwi Juice.
I got the Earl Grey Tea. There's no milk but they made it frothy! It was soooo strong though.
We each got a food carrier/tray. I always loved this presentation. Starting at the top we had cheesecake, some sort of custard tart, cranberry scone, and a panna cotta with blueberry sauce. The middle tier was a deviled egg, ham and cheese sandwich, and tuna mousse. The bottom was watermelon, pineapple and kiwi.
It looked good and fun. But we soon discovered that you pay for the view, not good food. It wasn't that good at all. The cheesecake was my favorite.
The scone was too dry, but I spread some of the "artificially tasting" blueberry sauce from the panna cotta on it and it was not bad. Actually we ended up crumbling the scone and mixing it in the bottle with the panna cotta. Genius! haha.
The flavor of the tart was indiscernible.
The ham sandwich is so generic.
Deviled egg was good.
The tuna mousse was soooo salty.
After we checked into our hotel in Kenting, the driver took us to the main street where it's basically a giant nightmarket. Shopping, food, and lots of people walking around. They had some different things in the nightmarket that I haven't seen before.
Korean BBQ Chicken Skewers. Sooo freaking tender. Delicious!
My sister got some Clams. They cook on the spot for you!
The difference with this nightmarket? They have booths with bartenders, actually doing mixology and stuff! Not just beer, but cocktails. Wow... first time seeing that.
Student Chicken Bar. We got a Chicken Bar, more like a wrap. NT$70~ The guy rolls out the dough and cooks it after you order so it's still hot. Fills it with diced chicken, cabbage, onions, some salad sauce, and pepper. It was my favorite of the night. Like a crepe/chicken wrap.
Grilled Squid - 3 for NT$100~ This is something we always have to get. It was pretty good. This place used pepper instead of chili powder for the spicy version, so it wasn't really that spicy.
Breakfast - Complimentary of Fun Space (our boutique hotel).
Black Tea and Soy Milk, self service
Yogurt with Granola, Bananas, and Honey
Homemade Sandwiches (with side salad and steamed egg).
I got to the lobby too late so I got ham and cheese. My family got there earlier and they got sandwiches with chicken, and it was really good! All the food was fantastic, and the hotel was so cute! I'd definitely recommend staying there. It has an ocean view from the front of the hotel.
For lunch, the hotel recommended us to go check out the Kenting Fishmarket. There are multiple vendors but they told us to go to Ah Xing.
You pick the live seafood you want and they prep and cook it right there. This was one of the best meals on the trip and guess how much it was total? For 6 people!! US$40 freaking dollars!!! That's normally the price of 1 person at a seafood place in the states.
Super fresh sashimi (tuna, salmon). Freaking US$3~ for 20 pieces!!! What?!?! I'm still in shock! And it was like buttah... Mmmmm.
Squid with Basil
Uni (sea urchin). This was only US$5~ but it didn't really have much stuff in it. Worst choice of the meal.
Stirfry Noodles
This is Shark Meat!! I've only had Shark Fin, but the meat is good too.
Veggies
Fish Soup (made with salmon)
Clams
Whole Steamed Fish
Some sort of Egg and Mushroom mix. It looked like seaweed, but my mom said it was some sort of mushroom. Either way, it was tasty. haha.
$40 US DOLLARS TOTAL!! AHHHHH!!!! Never in a million years will you find this in the US.
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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