Zorba's Greek Cafe - Plano, TX

I don't know if it's a chain.  If it is, it's not national... and if it's national, then there is hope for America.
If you can find this little gem tucked away behind fitness stores, medical device shops, and condoms to go, you are in for a treat.  Signage is clear.  Please wait to be seated.  The other signs were bright, hastily scrawled, and out of place sitting on a Greek column.  I wanted to judge but I'm trying to get better at making quick judgments.  I guess if you have a Greek restaurant, you can't theme the daily specials by carving them into stone or drawing them on a vase.
If you had any questions about what type of place you were in, the menu would clear that up: Greek potatoes, Greek green beans, Greek salad, Greek water... I hope no one walks in here expecting American deep fried chicken.

I started with a spanakopita.  This flaky phyllo crusted dish should be bursting with spinach and just enough egg to hold it together and puff up the filling.  I don't mind bits of feta cheese in it but not so much that you cover up the bright veggie flavor.  Also, you have to really drain the spinach thoroughly before you add it to the dish or you get a mushy, gluey texture on the bottom.  The spanakopita at Zorba's was nearly everything you could ever hope for.  I say nearly because the egg content was fairly high so the spinach was very dense.  The crust was perfectly flaky, though, and I didn't get the glue at the bottom.  I also looked like my mouth had dandruff from all the flaky dough flying everywhere.  It's not a pretty dish to eat but is is worth the awkward eye contact with other patrons.

The Greek salad came next.  Nothing amazing to report except that C gave me her onions and they were some of the most potent little guys I ever ate.  I told C about this and laughed at the strength.  I shouldn't have laughed because my breath stunk and the blast of air in her direction harmed out friendship a bit momentarily.  Crunchy lettuce, ample feta, good olives, and a tangy house dressing made this dish a good setup for the main course.
I got the sampler platter.  If you go here, you should get the sampler platter.  Whenever I go to a new spot, I spend the first part of the meal flirting with the waitress hoping to get good service, a discount, or even a phone number.  At Zorba's, my waitress was a dude... oh well.  He still piled my food on high and was so good at his job, I'm asking for him when I go back.  Well done, Giorgios. But, back to the important part.  The food was terrific.  The lamb gyro was mostly lamb instead of beef, the dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice) were perfectly pickled and not slimy like they tend to be, and all the other food piled on the plate was a carb lover's dream! The lamb kabob could have been charred more and it was a tad dry.  The sausage was mild and the sauteed red peppers confused me.  I wasn't sure what they were supposed to go on and unless you eat them when they are piping hot, soggy red peppers remind me of eating giant blood platelets and I'd rather have them fresh and crunchy... peppers, not blood platelets.  The actual meal was not a study in delicate food pairings but if you are getting a sampler, you are probably not giving heed to that.  I'm not judging... unless you ask for ranch, then I'm judging.



Normally, I'd give Zorba's an 8 out of 10.  Fire char the meat, get someone other than a drunk 7 year old, left handed blind kid to write out the daily specials but Giorgios was so dang nice and charming, I'm going to bump them up to a 9!  You deserve a raise, sir.

Happy eating, y'all.

La Salvadorena - McKinney, TX

I have hit the holy grail of Mexican/San Salvadorian food.  I'm almost afraid to tell people about it because I don't want a whole bunch of people to flood the place and make me wait for a table... but then, since I have about 5 readers (love you, Mom) I figure I'm safe.
La Salvadorena (I don't know how to make the little ~ sign...) specializes in pupusas.  While I wouldn't recommend you using this term in polite conversation, at a San Salvadorian restaurant, this will get you a corn meal pancake with different fillings.  They also serve traditional Mexican food so, for the benefit of my readers, I ordered a ton of food so I could give you a good report on several menu items.
Signage is lacking at the front door but usually the hostess/waitress/cashier is there to greet you and tell you to sit where you want.  The walls are decorated with very bright colors and tapestries no doubt made by village women in San Salvador or 12 year olds in China.  Either way, I got the impression they were hung partially for ambiance and partly to cover stains on the wall.  This place is a dive but well worth it.
I don't know what a pupusa SHOULD taste like but these were both comforting and tantalizing.  By comforting, think of a bowl of mashed potatoes and by tantalizing, think of the seared edge of a steak. The pupusas come with a red salsa of moderate heat and a giant heap of fermented cabbage.  The salsa was light enough in the heat that the tomato flavor came through.  The cabbage hit my tongue in a completely different place than the filling of the pupusa so there was no competition for flavor, just accompanying or dare I say, friendship?  I asked my waitress (in nearly perfect Spanish) which one I should try.  She told me (in perfect English) to get the traditional pupusa with pork, potato, and spices.  I also tried one with cheese and one with carne asada.  All were delicious and perfectly browned.
I ordered a torta as well.  This Latin twist on a sandwich isn't usually layered with delicate flavors.  It should be served warm, bread soft and easy to chew, and some kind of mayo traditionally accompanies the filling.  The problem with most tortas is that it's over laden with lettuce and the mayo covers up any flavor the meat may give.  Depending on the quality of the meat, this might be preferable.  This torta was warm, soft, had more meat than veggies, and just enough mayo to give it that signature taste.  I'm not a fan of mayo, usually, but this was well balanced and did not offend my taste buds.
The gorditas were out of this world.  Gorditas are little pockets of tortilla stuffed with meat, lettuce, some times tomato, and queso fresco.  Most gorditas I've had were mostly tortilla.  This was all about the filling.  The meat was a bit salty and the queso fresco is, by nature, salty but when I added the red salsa from the pupusas, it cut the salt and the heat provided seemed to mask the salt.  But, again, I am more sensitive to salt than most so I'm going to guess that most other people would think it's perfection.
Finally, the horchata.  Again, not a word to use in polite conversation but this was amazing.  Not homemade but still mixed well.  Rice milk with cinnamon and other ingredients make this little liquid treat worth ordering.  It reminds me of drinking the milk after you've eaten a couple bowls of cinnamon toast crunch.  Ahhhh, child hood and possible diabetes.  I've since had several of their agua frescas and they are all terrific.
I made a quick pit stop in the bathroom... yikes.  You should probably go before you leave.  It was an afterthought.  And it has a certain, how do you say, Norman Bates quality.  The choice of dish soap as hand soap is fun, I guess.  Some may say quaint.  I just want to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, or at least be tricked beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the bathroom is clean.
Last item of note... I snapped a photo of the kitchen.  This is the reason the food is so good.  Small, unassuming cook top and these ladies are making everything from scratch and by hand.  I'm a fan of this food.  No fuss here.  Just good, honest, food.  Next time you go out to eat, tell your significant other that you would like to eat pupusas.  If they don't slap your face and leave, take them here.  You won't be sorry.


I give La Salvadorena an 8 out of 10.  Clean the bathroom and wipe the tables down but don't mess with the food.











Happy eating, y'all.

Rye - Mckinney, TX

Rye is a little, tucked away restaurant on the downtown McKinney square.  It's easy to miss but make sure you don't.  It is a new gem that needs to stick around.
I'll start with the negative... The ambiance.  It's not bad. It's not good.  It's just nice.  (Into the Woods fans can start humming now) The front station where you wait to be seated is clearly marked and so close to the doorway, you are likely to run into it if you aren't careful.  The inside is a reclaimed wood/exposed brick theme.  It looks like HGTV barfed in the room.  I really liked look for a few years then everyone started doing it.  Now, national chains have picked up the trend and it's time to find something else.
All that aside, our waiter was very cordial if not a bit talkative.  He sat me and my friend, Red, at a table right next to another patron.  A bit awkward but it's better than Paris, France where you sit in your neighbor's lap.
I ordered a McKinney Mule to start the evening.  Rye brews their own ginger beer and they make a Moscow Mule with this ginger beer.  A good ginger beer should embrace the ginger, shun the sugar, and leave you a little breathless from the burn.  A good Moscow Mule should make you forget most of your evening and influence you to make bad life choices.  This one did both.  I'll not go into detail on the latter but the former had all the pungency of a great ginger beer and the lime/mint undertones were perfectly balanced.  Kudos to the mixologist for using copper instead of mason jars.  You can go either way in the "barn chic" atmosphere but the mason jars are hard to drink out of. Plus, my mom canned a lot when I was a child and every time I see a mason jar, I taste tomato.
Appetizer was a corn bread with white cheddar, green chiles, and a honey butter.  The texture was outstanding: fluffy without being crumbly.  A lot of corn breads are too dry or too wet.  If you're dumping a can of creamed corn in your mix, that's cheating.  this had a great crunchy outer layer and the honey butter was delightful except for the layer of salt.  As I've mentioned before, I'm sensitive to salt so the littlest bit makes me grimace.  I imagine most people would think it's fine.  The cheese in the corn bread is salty as is the corn bread itself.  The extra layer on the butter was not needed.  I would also like to have more green chiles in the bread.  I was expecting more heat.  It's like taking a gulp of ice cold water only to find out it's luke warm prune juice.

For entree, the waiter talked me into the Bucatini Carbonara. If you ever want to impress people or just be pretentious (*raises hand) make a dish of spaghetti with an eggy cream sauce, add bacon and peas and call it Bucatini Carbonara.  However, if you want a mind blowing version of this dish, get to Rye.  Their version comes with peas, bacon, egg, and grated grana padana... I'm not sure what a grana padana is but it is: 1. Fun to say and 2. Delicious.  The bucatini was cooked to perfection.  Since bucatini is basically a thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle, you run the risk of carrying lots of extra liquid from the pot to the dish.  This was not so.  The noodles had a firm bite to them and were evenly coated with the Carbonara mixture was perfection as well.  The bacon and peas were appropriately crisp and plump adding a fun texture to the dish.  The sauce was evenly coated and had such a delicate flavor to it, I almost forgot it was there.  It seemed to add a fantastic neutral background to the stronger flavors of the dish but also heightened the egginess of the pasta.  Perhaps that was the egg heightening the egginess of the pasta... whatever heightened the egginess, it was noticed and I give them points.  I also give them points for their grana padana.  In a world filled with pepper jack and Five Cheese blend, a good grana padana was appreciated.  I will need to ask a cheese person about this if I'm ever in a cheese shop and not hurling from the stench.  I hope a Latin song writer makes a great Samba from the words Grana Padana.

It's a tiny place with standard decore.  The waiter was nice and appropriately attentive.  He assumed we liked the food (and he was right).  The food and drink was outstanding.  I will be definitely be back to try some more menu items.  If you come here, get ready to pay.  It's a tad expensive.

I give Rye a 9 out of 10.

Happy Eating, y'all.

B 21 - Frisco, TX

I'm a burger snob.  In my mind, burgers are split into two different categories:
1. The classic, greasy burger
2. The chef inspired burger
If the first one is done right, the paramedics will lose grip on your arm due to grease when they take you to the hospital for cardiac arrest.
If the second one is done right, you will marvel at the intricacies of the beef, the chew of the bread, the zany flavors of the sauce, and the texture of the toppings.  All flavors highlight the beef.
After finding out there was another burger place in Frisco, I raced there as quickly as possible only to wait in line behind another couple who were confused about the menu. I thought they were delightfully clear.  Points to them.   I looked over the menu at the wide array of flavors.  Some of them sounded good, like bacon burger, but the meat here is supposed to be healthy so I was pretty sure I could rule out burger type number 1.  I wasn't going to waste calories on a chef inspired bacon burger (please note subtle sarcasm... bacon burgers should be dripping with grease and cheese.  If you advertise lean beef, leave the bacon for others to cook with) so I went with a Mexican themed burger... which is just a normal burger with avocado and onion strings on it.  Take that, Mexico.  We have boiled your entire culture and cuisine down to one fruit.  It is a worthy fruit to be known for but in the end, it's the Aztec word for testicle so, again, you lose.
The fries are a-la-carte.  This annoys me and I'm taking points off. I paid 8 bucks for a burger.  Give me the dang fries.  They do offer sweet potato fries so I will soften my animosity slightly.
Once you order your food, you walk over to a completely separate counter and order your shake.  They advertise real ice cream but I used to work at Dairy Queen as a teen and I know a mix when I see one.  Plus, it's not Bluebell so points off.  I ordered a creme-brulee shake on a separate transaction (you're welcome, Bank of America) and sat down to wait for my food.
The manager brought me my food with a smile and asked if I needed any sauces for my fries.  The plurality of "sauce" caught my attention.  He took me to the condiment counter and there, like a glowing angel chorus, was the sauce selection.  This was actually my favorite part.  There was a marshmallow dip for the sweet potato fries, several different varieties of ketchup, BBQ sauces, hot sauces, and mustards.  I tried several and all were good for a condiment.  Points awarded.
The burger was ok.  Just that.  Ok.  It wasn't dripping.  The bread wasn't particularly interesting.  It was a buttered Brioche.  The menu told you that several times.  I was eating a buttered Brioche with flavors that overpowered the burger. At least the Brioche was buttered, though.  If I ever get an un-buttered Brioche, me and the chef will have words.
The fries were good: crunchy without being crispy, filling in tact so you actually believe you are eating an unprocessed sweet potato.  Slathered in marshmallow cream, you hardly remember that sweet potatoes are healthy.
The star of the show was the shake.  Even though it wasn't made with real ice-cream and was a bit on the sweet side, the flavor was very similar to a creme brulee.  It also came with a toasted sugar disc.  It was both inventive and pretty.  I will give them points.
In the end, I give B21 a 6 out of 10.  Good shake spot and good fries.  Ordering should be simpler with only one transaction.  The burger should commit to either a really creative grouping of flavors, or a sloppy mess of all things bad for you.  This is the main course and I feel like they spent more time on the sides. Lastly, DON'T MAKE ME PAY EXTRA FOR FRIES!

Happy eating, y'all.

Nola Grill - Frisco, TX

Nola Grill is a Cajun restaurant in downtown Frisco square.  Against the backdrop of multiple Tex-Mex places, Asian noodle chains, and every other national chain conceivable, Nola captures the attention like a giant cake wheeled out to the middle of the floor during a bachelor party.  However, after eating there, it's like that cake bursts open and out steps Liza Minelli... circa 2016.  I mean, it's cool 'cause it's Liza but you were kind of hoping for... something else.
Good signage:  You wait to be seated.  Exposed brick with wood decoration is a cool ambiance but except for the occasional Fleur de Lis, there is nothing to let you know this place is remotely connected with New Orleans.  Points off for that.
Then, there was country music playing.  C'mon!  There are a few things that N.O. is known for: Gumbo, beignets, voodoo, remorse, and JAZZ! I'm not saying you should have a witch with a chicken's foot greet the customers but Jazz is an easy fix.  I'm sure you could find a CD in a bargain bin or even a New Orlean's jazz playlist on youtube... this hurt my heart.. my achy, breaky heart. points off.
I ordered a shrimp po-boy and a bowl of duck and andouille sausage gumbo.
Po-boys, while usually a cheap meal, should never taste that way.  A good crusty bread, heaps of meat, simple veggies, and a light mayo all combine to make this classic sandwich an un-forgettable treat.  No gourmet treatment needed.  Toast the bread, don't cover the flavor of the meat.  That's about all you need to know... oh, and don't get all fancy with the vegetables.  They are mainly there for looks and to use up whatever is going to go bad, I'm guessing.
A good gumbo should be the color of chocolate, have several layers of flavor, and be illegal in most democrat controlled states due to heat level.
My po-boy was like "grocery store bolo roll - hunt for the piece of breaded shrimp hiding among the jungle of iceberg lettuce."  The only similarities this had to a real po-boy was that it was filling... that's like saying your 8th grade math teacher looks like Scarlett Johansson because they both wore shoes.
The gumbo was even more disappointing.  The color was right but the taste was wrong.  It tasted so strongly of salty beef stock that there was no  hope for the lighter, more oily taste of duck to shine through.  There were strands of some type of meat in there but it could have been pot roast for all I knew.  Instead of chunks of smoky sausage, I was treated to the occasional zap of a few pieces of graduated hot dog.  This gumbo had all the excitement of Bill and Hillary Clinton's honeymoon.

The only reason I'm giving this place a 3 out of 10 is because they had signage and I didn't get food poisoning.  It's expensive and mis-leading in almost every way.  Somewhere, a real New Orleans' chef is having chest pains... and I bet he knows a voodoo guy with a doll... and that's not something you want to tangle with.

Happy eating, y'all.

Saravanna Bhavan - Frisco, TX

I have to be honest about this one.  I'm new to Indian food not served on a buffet.  And since I typically hate buffets, I am not extremely knowledgeable about Indian food.  After my experience at Saravanna, I am definitely going to get more acquainted.
Saravanna is a Southern Indian, all vegan restaurant.  Don't let this scare you.  There are plenty of other things to scare you but this shouldn't be one of them.
Upon entering, signage is clear:  The wait staff will seat you.  Everyone I met was very nice... this is quite different from other Indian restaurants I'd been to but I was later told that's more of a northern Indian thing. It's like the USA only less fried and definitely less meat.   The decorations are clean, open, airy, and tasteful. The kitchen is in the room behind a glass and you can watch your food get prepared without hearing the sizzles and smelling the smells.  I like sizzles and smells most of the time but in a restaurant that has multiple curries, I can see the benefit of this.  I'll give them a point.
There was a water pitcher on the table in a shiny pitcher.  Points for shiny and points for self serve water.  This saves the waitress from having to stand there while you deliberate about getting a beverage that is going to cost money and then decide to be "healthy" and get water.  This also saves me from getting fruit in my water... I hate fruit in my water unless it's Lemon and sugar all mixed together.
The waitress gave us a menu.  I was with my good friend CT who is a vegetarian and was really excited to finally have options.  The waitress turned my menu to page 3 and said, "Americans usually order from this section."  I was amazed she knew I was an American.  I've always thought I looked British... except my teeth are straight.
CT and I are both experienced travelers, and decided to order from the Indian portion of the menu.  It was sort of a sampler and since I'm not up on my Hindi, Indie, or Sanscrit, I'll just say that I ordered food that had names like "Poodie" "Padi" "Soodi" "Sadie" and "Satan's pickle"... but more on that.  The couple next to CT and I overheard us say that it was our first visit.  We struck up a conversation and they ended up really helping out.
Our food arrived in a large, round tray.  A giant bowl of rice in the middle and several small containers of dips encircling the rice.  On top of the rice was a giant piece of puffed bread.  Sort of like naan but puffy.  The texture of the surrounding dips moved sequentially from soup all the way to porridge and a smaller dish at the end with a little pickle sitting in a red sauce.
I tasted a little of the soup... Pootie, I think it was called.  The pootie was good but our friendly neighbors began shouting, "no no no! You aren't eating it right." Great, now I'm self conscious.  Self conscious and gun shy.  I guess I'll have to add Indian food to my list of gun shy activities.  Truth or dare, Open stalled urinals, and Indian food.
Luckily, the friendly neighbor man walked over to our table and began instructing us how to properly eat the food of his people.  He was soon joined by our waiter and they would converse in non-American then instruct us on how to eat the Rooti, Tootie, and Tadi.  They began telling us of the health benefits of each dish.  Lots of fiber...
I got hung up on the flavors.  So light yet vibrant.  Each texture and taste hitting the tongue differently so as not to completely annihilate the previous dish.  Then I realized they were going in levels of heat too.  The waiter asked if the spice level was ok (points off for timing) and I assured him it was fine and that I have a condition that makes my upper lip drip like that. I was able to tame the heat by dumping it over a bit of rice on the banana leaf provided on the tray.
CT was not as lucky.  She doesn't eat much rice and made it around the circle before I did.  Poor thing popped that pickle right in her mouth.  The place got quiet and I saw one of the wait staff cross themselves (do Hindus do that?).  Her eyes popped open and she explained, in between expletives, that the pickle was actually a small piece of Satan's nipple and under no condition should I eat it.  I dipped the tip of my fork in the sauce and concluded she was right.
We rounded out the meal trying to learn the Indian translation for some of CT's words and with a cup of Indian coffee.  The coffee was heavy with a chai spice and the cream used in it was light, sweet, and didn't overpower the drink.  I need to learn what was in this.  My ears were ringing by this point and I think some sweat had blocked my right ear canal so I'll get the ingredients on my next visit.
A healthy meal, friendly staff, clean environment:  I give this place a 9.5.  If they would have warned us about Satan's pickle, it would have been a perfect 10.
Even a few hours later, as I sit here in the john with "Chocolate Rain" on repeat, I am eagerly awaiting my next trip.

Happy Eating, Y'all.

Last Chance Grille - Frisco, TX

Imagine my surprise when I happened upon a restaurant in Frisco that I hadn't been to.  I was giddy with excitement when I walked in the door.  The giddyness turned to apprehension when I saw the bar nearly full and the restaurant floor empty.  Cheap beer and good food rarely go together. Not easily dissuaded, I followed the bar tender's direction to find a seat.
The room looked like a spiffy country club (points off my blog for using the word spiffy) except for the pinball machine and electronic poker machine. Those definitely detracted from the spiffyness.
My waitress was a heavily eye-lined college grad whose enthusiasm for serving was very much like my enthusiasm for root canals.  I asked her what was good.  She said she had only been there a couple weeks and had only eaten a couple things.
Waiters, you HAVE to test the product.  Restaurant owners, let them test it.  Give them free food 'till they've had everything.  That way, I, the customer, don't have to listen to the fake apologies of an uninformed wait staff.
After a titillating conversation about my waitresses' eating habits, I ordered the chicken salad sandwich.
A good chicken salad has several layers.  Chicken taking the primary flavor punctuated by salty, sweet, crunchy, and creamy. The bread also plays a part.  A good chewy bread that adds another dimension of flavor is always great.  My favorite is sourdough.
The sandwich, when it arrived, was beautifully browned.  The toasting color was beautiful.  Both sides of the bread, even.  I really wanted to frame the sexy slab of gluten, but I ate it instead.
I should have framed it.
The chicken salad had pecans, celery, chicken, and some kind of cayenne pepper (which I felt, not tasted) but because the bread was toasted in butter.  Lots of butter.  I'm a fan of butter but I think there was so much on it, it coated my tongue and I couldn't taste the food.  It looked fantastic but had the culinary excitement of french kissing an Elmer's glue stick.
On top of that, the waffle fries were cold and soggy. *sigh. If you have a cold sandwich, I feel like hot fries shouldn't be too hard.  If any readers have a really good reason why this isn't so, I'd like to hear it.  (fourth wall broken)

On the plus side, the menu was laid out well and the prices are very good.  It looked like they had a really great beer selection.  I'm a bit sad for the people drinking it at 11:30am o'clock in the morning.  For all I know they could be going through a really rough patch or a high school math teacher.

Fast service, good menu.  Cold fries and chicken salad a la oatmeal... I give Last Chance Grille a 4 out of 10.  I may try it again and give the burger a go.

Happy Eating, Y'all.