Category Archives: Late Night

Velvet Taco’s New Uptown Home

When Urban Taco outgrew its Uptown location on McKinney, we were all left wondering what would take its place in such a walkable and restaurant-filled area. It doesn’t really come as a surprise that another taco joint has taken its spot. But boy am I glad it’s not just any taco joint—it’s Velvet Taco.

While this new location is quite close to the existing location at Knox and 75, this location offers all the same tacos you know and love (and a couple new ones), just with a new patio view of McKinney Avenue instead of a highway.

Their menu features tacos with delicious base options like fish, chicken, beef, pork, and many others. My two favorite tacos, you ask? The Spicy Chicken Tikka taco and the Bacon, Egg Frittata Taco. Taco prices range from $3.50 to $6.75 and they allow substitutions if you’re a little picky or have an allergy. They also have “WTF” tacos and brunch tacos served all day in case “normal” tacos aren’t enough for you.

The new tacos available at this location are:
– Chicken & Waffles – crisp tenders, country gravy, green apple slaw, maple syrup, peppered bacon, red chili aioli, chives, waffle tortilla. $4.75
– Monte Cristo – strawberry jam, honey ham, gruyere, strawberry jalapeño salsa, powdered sugar, micro mint, French toast flour tortilla. $4.25
– Flank Steak & Egg Frittata – crispy potatoes, Sambal hollondaise, arugula, tomato, pickled fresnos, queso fresco, micro greens, flour tortilla. $5.25
– Ahi Poke (Raw) – sesame soy vinaigrette, arugula, pickled red onions, pickled fresnos, seaweed salad, wasabi crema, pickled ginger, black sesame seeds, lettuce wrap. $6.75

Don’t forget to grab a margarita and a side dish like Red Curry Coconut Queso ($4.95), Elote Corn ($4.25), or my personal favorite: Crisp Tots & Local Egg. The Crisp Tots are tater tots covered in herb goat cheese, smoked cheddar, avocado crema, chili butter, and peppered bacon, then topped with an egg for $5.25.

If you happen to look up from your tacos for a breath of air, you might notice some pieces of art work portraying Marie Antoinette. Well, you do know what her most quoted phrase was, right? “Let them eat cake!” And red velvet cake you must eat when frequenting Velvet Taco.

VELVET TACO
VelvetTaco.com
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NEW LOCATION: 3411 Mckinney Avenue (Uptown)
OLD LOCATION: 3012 N Henderson Avenue (Knox-Henderson)

Chills 360 Fort Worth

So we’ve all seen the facebook videos of rolled ice cream, right? Well, Chills 360 brought it to Texas. Currently, they have locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Rockwall—Houston is next on the list of upcoming stores.

This Thai-inspired ice cream is made to order right in front of you. Pro: it’s really fun to watch and they can write your name in chocolate sauce … if you ask nicely.
Con: it takes a little bit longer than traditional ice cream shops.

All of the ingredients are placed on the cold plate and are mixed together. Once it has frozen, the slab of ice cream is hand-scraped into ice cream rolls.

The Cookie Monster (shown in the header) is full of yummy Oreo deliciousness and was my favorite. The next one I want to try is the waffle taco, but it’s only available on Taco Tuesdays. [Must remember to visit on the right day.]

Chills 360
Chills360 .com
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Fort Worth: 1005 Foch Street, Fort Worth

Monday-Thursday, Sunday: 1pm-11-pm
Friday-Saturday: 1pm-1am (perfect snack after a few drinks!)

Moviehouse & Eatery

Long gone are the days of “dinner and a movie”. There’s now a slew of dinner-movie combo experiences available, but my new favorite is Moviehouse & Eatery. It’s one of the newer movie/meal concepts and has locations in Flower Mound, McKinney, and Keller. Here’s why it’s awesome …

For starters, when you walk in, you’re greeting not by the ticket counter, but instead by a full sized bar. (Because that’s the best way to start just about any experience.) IMO, almost anything is made better with a great cocktail. Of the tipples I tried on my last visit to MHE’s McKinney location, the Stormy Weather (Bacardi 8 rum, Malibu rum, lime juice, bitters, ginger ale), was the stand out.

After sipping on your drink, you can head back to your theater and take your reserved seat in their special, fully reclining (oh yes), luxury leather chairs. (In fact, they’re so comfy that, if you weren’t there to watch a movie, I’d say you should take a nap in those bad boys.) Shortly after you sit down, a waiter appears to give you the run down and take your order. The whole menu is delicious (AND they have a brunch M-F 11am-12pm and weekends 11am-2pm!) and much better than one could expect from a movie/eatery. A couple of my favorites are the Big Jake Burger and the Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza.

The Big Jake Burger is a fresh-ground steak patty topped with pepper jack cheese, house-made bacon (yus), horseradish aioli, red pepper relish, and bourbon bbq sauce. They serve this bad boy with fries, topped with creamy queso blanco, and a whole pickled jalapeño.

The Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza is house-made ranch dressing with grilled chicken breast and house-made bacon. Then, it’s topped with mozzarella cheese and fresh green onions. I’ll say it … it’s surprisingly good for a pizza with so many qualifiers.

Even if you don’t have any problems eating wheat (like my butthead of a stomach does), you should always end your visit with the warm Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. I promise you won’t even notice there’s no wheat, and they might end up being your favorite cookies ever. I’ve honestly never tasted such delicious cookies before and I’m quite picky about my cookies. So take that GF business and run with it.

People always love seeing movies with family around the holidays, so here’s a list of what’s playing after December 14th so you can plan your ultimate dinner-and-a-show experience:
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Pitch Perfect 3
Father Figures
Downsizing
Ferdinand
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
The Greatest Showman

Moviehouse & Eatery
themoviehouse.com
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
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Salsa Limon – Fort Worth Centro

I’m pretty sure most Fort Worthians (I think that’s what we are called) will agree that Salsa Limon turns out some of the best tacos this side of Arlington. That said, I was really excited to hear that they opened a new location in downtown Fort Worth in the Tower building. This isn’t just a typical Salsa Limon … oh no … because this one serves liquor. Now you can get a margarita or a spiked agua fresca while enjoying the yummy tacos. Blessed be the taco gods.

Salsa Limon is trying to honor and preserve true Mexican taquerias–they use only the freshest ingredients. Their best selling taco is the El Capitan, which just happens to be my personal favorite. A buttery, toasted flour tortilla, Oaxaca-Jack cheese, pickled cabbage, onion, cilantro, and whatever filling you want. BRB I have to go wipe my drool real quick. I’ve always gone with my “safe” order of a Chicken El Capitan, but I got to experience some different meats that might have changed my order. I tried the Tripa for the first time last week, and to my surprise, I enjoyed this Mexican delicacy. If you want to just trust me that it’s really good, but not know what part of the animal it comes from … stop reading now. For those of you who are curious: cow intestine.

Now for the salsa. I may or may not be known to ordering large quantities of their amazing salsa and to keep it in my fridge … but let’s not spread that around. So the tomatillo (my favorite) and piquin are traditional taqueria salas, and the jalapeño and habanero are family recipes. Basically, if you haven’t tried all of their salsas, especially the jalapeño, you must. I personally believe that the range from mild to crazy hot goes a little like this: tomatillo > piquin > jalapeño > habanero. Salsa Limon says that piquin is spicer than the jalapeño, but try it at your own risk.

The difference between this location and the others, as previously mentioned, is that they have booooooze to calm your fired-up taste buds. I would recommend the sour margarita as it’s as pure a margarita as you can get here. All the limes are squeezed by their fun orange juice machine regularly, so it’s fresh fresh fresh. Not into margraitas? You can also add rum, vodka, or gin to their agua frescas. I personally enjoy the hibiscus tea with gin.

Bonus- This location is perfect for late night. I have always felt that downtown Fort Worth was lacking in late night eats- problem solved. They are open till 3 am Friday and Saturday nights. Double bonus- they have a pretty great patio that looks onto the streets of downtown.

Salsa Limon- Centro
Website
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550 Throckmorton Street (Fort Worth)
817-615-9760

Hours:
Monday- Thursday: 7am-10pm
Friday- Saturday: 7am-3am
Sunday: 7am-9pm

Old Chicago Mockingbird Station

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom celebrated its first birthday in Dallas since its opening on December 8, 2014 in Mockingbird Station. On December 11^th, they hosted a birthday bash with live music, giveaways, and more for the attendees. On December 13^th, I attended a media luncheon, where media supporters of Old Chicago were invited to experience their full menu and really extensive beer selection. Additionally, they invited us to experience their limited run of Blue Moon’s Gingerbread Spiced Ale and Martin House’s Pretzel Stout.

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom’s Dallas location boasts 36 beers on tap–some unique, some usuals, and some locals–and a menu of handcrafted appetizers, salads, entrees and amazing pizza that will satisfy any craving.

I first discovered Old Chicago in Arizona with my wife and was immediately hooked. In the three months that we lived in there, we consumed more of their pizza than was socially acceptable. (It didn’t stop us.) It seems Susie’s had a similar issue avoiding their Italian Nachos.

There are some of the things that make Old Chicago unique:
1) SERVICE: they have excellent service and you’re always greeted kindly at the door.
2) QUALITY: their pizzas are handcrafted and made from scratch every day.
3) LOCAL CONNECTIONS: it always feels like a local pizza joint though there are quite a few locations all over the United States. Their selections of local craft beers really emphasize a connection to the community. Some of the Dallas location’s taps include selections from Lakewood Brewing, Deep Ellum Brewing and Revolver. (Their Friday happy hour beer special is always a Texas beer of the week.)
4) LATE NIGHT: they’re open until 2am every night!!!

During this event, I sampled the Sicilian Pepperoni Rolls (amazing and very highly recommended) and my personal favorite, the Double Deckeroni Pizza. This pizza is the reason I fell in love with Old Chicago in the first place. It has all the cheese, pepperoni and hot sauce you could dream of in a deep-dish pizza. Other samplings included the Ale Crust Italian Grinder pizza, Hand-Tossed Chicken Wings, and more.

This was an excellent experience, and I want to thank the General Manager, Dan Childers, and their local marketing coordinator, Esther Hirsch, for inviting our team to join. If you haven’t already done so, head over to Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom and experience the great food, atmosphere and staff for yourself! Beer selections and pizza choices, along with other dining options, can be found at Old Chicago’s online menu. Also ask about the World Beer Tour, which rewards members for enjoying 110 of the best craft beers locally and across the globe.

Cheers!

OLD CHICAGO PIZZA & TAPROOM
oldchicago.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Mockingbird Station (5319 Mockingbird Lane, Suite 100)
214-821-5700

This event also featured a new amazing bakery in town, Tricia’s Treats, who surprised us all with a personalized cupcake for each attendee. I know we will be seeing great things from them in the future!