Category Archives: Patio

Antonio Ristorante – Tasting Tuesdays

If you’re looking for a new date night idea, or if you’re  constantly on the hunt for authentic Italian food (the Northern states have all the luck with that), boy do we have a treat for you.

Antonio Ristorante, nestled away in Addison Circle, will transport you to the Italian countryside with its food, wine, and atmosphere. Classically trained Chef Antonio hails from Calabria, Italy and brings a hint of French cuisine to his tables for their $20 Tasting Tuesdays. Guests are served three lightly-portioned courses and wine pairings for each course. Even better, they’ll send you home with a simple and authentic recipe to try out the dishes in your own kitchen.

Chef Antonio prepares the main dish in front of restaurant goers and explains the recipe over a microphone; a waiter then explains the wine pairing with the notes that are to be experienced. Reservations for upcoming Tasting Tuesdays can be made here.

All of Antonio Ristorante’s food is ordered often to ensure freshness. If a customer especially likes a certain dish, the Chef will take note of their email and phone number to let them know the next time they have that dish. They also offer a few wild game options for the adventurous. Wine bottle prices are 30% cheaper than at other Italian restaurants with bottles starting at $27 – which we all know means you can spend that extra money on more wine.

A new food special will be available soon, and it’s a doozy. Their #LateNightDateNight offers a free pizza with any wine bottle purchase. Coming next week (the week of 5/4) for your date night needs, Thursday through Sunday after 9pm!

Antonio Ristorante
Website
Facebook 
4985 Addison Circle (Addison)
(972)458-1010

Lunch Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-4pm
Dinner Hours:
Mon-Thurs 4pm-10pm
Fri 4pm-11pm
Sat 5pm-11pm
Sun 4pm-10pm

Shake Shack Plano is here!

Shake Shack Plano is now open for business! Blazing the trail for a lineup of pretty amazing restaurants planned for the new Legacy West development, the Plano Shack marks the second DFW location for the NYC chain; the first was in Uptown.

ShackBurger, Link Burger, and Fries

In addition to Shake Shack’s classic lineup of juicy burgers, crinkle cut cheese fries and frosty shakes, the Plano location features a special selection of locally inspired menu items. Sink your teeth into a Link Burger, topped with a Pecan Lodge jalapeño cheddar sausage link, and wash it down with something cold and local from Four Corners Brewing Co. or Deep Ellum Brewing.

Brat Burger

Oh, and by all means, save room for dessert. Locally inspired offerings at the Plano shack include a tempting lineup of custard concretes: the West Slide (vanilla custard, Sugar Ray’s old fashioned strawberry cupcake, and strawberry puree), the Top Twirl (chocolate custard, Top Knot banana chocolate cake and miso caramel) and the Pie Oh My (vanilla custard and slice of Emporium Pies seasonal pie).

PRO TIP: If you’re running by during your lunch hour, use the app to preorder and skip the line!

SHAKE SHACK PLANO
shakeshack.com
7401 Windrose Avenue, Plano (in Legacy West)

Opening Hours:
11 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sunday – Thursday
11 a.m. – 11 p.m., Friday & Saturday

 

Chicken In The Front, Party In The Back

If you’re a fan of the Truck Yard atmosphere and grandma’s quality southern fare, then you’re in luck.

Quincy’s Chicken Shack is the newest family style, neighborhood picnic-esque restaurant to pop up in Coppell. Now, all you Dallas folk are thinking, “Coppell? That’s way too far just for some chicken…” but I assure you, it is well worth the drive. This fresh, family-friendly place will have you fed and on the way to your fried chicken coma in just 11 minutes. 

First, let’s talk atmosphere. Located right near Coppell Old Town Pavillion, the restaurant features an outdoor patio that’ll make your heart sing. Full bar, truck-turned-stage for live music, and string lights to make all your pictures Instagram gold. 

Speaking of the bar, Quincy has come up with some outstanding cocktails to go with your meal, and the southern theme is strong. Our favorites in our group were:

Mint Julep: bourbon, home grown mint syrup, soda water

Grandma’s Secret (personal favorite): sweet tea vodka, taverna, lemon, black tea

Shoofly Punch: Enchanted Rock peach vodka, peach puree, ginger liqueur, lemon, champagne, topped with a peach ring! This one is a southern spin on the French 75

Backyard Party: frozen lemonade spiked with your choice of citrus vodka/blueberry vodka/sweet tea vodka/ whiskey with mint

Dee’s Lunchbox: beer cocktail with white rum, orgeat, lemon, topped with IPA

Bottled Manhattan: a perfect manhattan made with Herman Marshall whiskey, vermouth, bitters, luxardo cherry

Tequila Mockingbird: Blanco Tequila, lemon, triple sec, watermelon juice

Now, let’s get to the food. The restaurant serves its offerings family style, so come prepared to share … or prepared for a fork fight.

First up is some black-eyed pea hummus to keep things light and fun. Then you have a choice of a fried chicken or a rotisserie chicken dinner basket for the table. Each one comes with cornbread, rotisserie potatoes and loaded potato dip, southern beans, and a seasonal side. What makes this chicken so darn good is that all of it’s cooked in the rotisserie, and then either served like that or flash fried for 3 and half minutes. 

Luckily, their lunch options aren’t all family style. Some lunch options they offer are a BBQ Chicken Sandwich, which is pulled chicken with Quincy’s root beer BBQ sauce, coleslaw, and rotisserie potatoes, and the Fried Chicken Sandwich, which is fried chicken tenders (available regular or Nashville Spicy) with garlic aioli, bread & butter pickles, coleslaw, and rotisserie potatoes. They also have a lunch salad, which features pulled rotisserie chicken on mixed greens topped with cowboy vinaigrette, green apple, corn, black-eyed pea hummus, and cornbread croutons. Lunch options will be available starting today, March 11th. 

If you’re still hungry after all that, they’ve got you covered. Desert is a bowl full of egg-free cookie dough (not today, salmonella!) and a seasonal handpie served with vanilla bean ice cream. 

Quincy’s Chicken Shack
QuincysChickenShack.com
Facebook
505 Houston Street (Coppell)
(469) 251-9080

  • Tues– Sat: Dinner only ; Sun & Mon: Closed
  • Tues – Thurs: 5pm–9pm, Bar open at 4
  • Fri – Sat: 5pm–10pm, Bar open at 4

Piattello Italian Kitchen- Fort Worth

Marcus Paslay, for the win.

The chef and creator of Clay Pigeon has done it again. Piattello Italian Kitchen is now open in the Waterside development off Bryant Irvin and Arborlawn. This little piece of Italian food heaven features from scratch, seasonal dishes. Appetizers range in price from $6- $10 and entrees from $15- $44. The menu is fairly limited, but it changes frequently. You can’t really go wrong with anything you order–all of the breads, pastas, charcuterie, and cheeses are made in-house, and are made well.

The pictures of the food basically speak for themselves–every dish is outstanding. The pasta dish that crosses my mind about twice a day when I feel any sort of twinge of hunger is the most basic item on the menu is the Stozzapreti Cacio e Pepe (parmigiano, pecorino, and black pepper). So simple, but it is a must-order. A close second to that dish is the Spaghetti Pomodoro (San Marzano tomato, basil, parmigiano) that is also truly amazing.

They have figured out how to raise the bar on the most basic Italian dishes. Long story short- anything you order, you will come back for again and again (in my humble opinion).

I mean, the food at Piattello makes me drool just thinking about it, but those cocktails … yum. They have created well-balanced cocktail list with a little bit of everything. My favorite cocktail is the FunkyTown Punch (Tito’s, lemon, aperol, St. Germain, simple syrup). I could drink on a this all night long as it’s not too sweet and super refreshing. My other recommendation is the Goldrush (Four Roses Bourbon, honey syrup, and lemon). Again, this drink is super refreshing with a nice tartness from the lemon.

The current draft beer selection has a good mix, with something for every type of craft beer drinker with options from Rahr & Sons Blonde to New Holland Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout.

One word of caution: any choice you make from the bar will be pricey. They are worth it, but be warned–draft beers start around $7 and most cocktails are around $14, while wine ranges from $10-$16. Considering the entree prices, your one drink could cost more than your dinner alone.

I would highly recommend that you make reservations before you go; the handful of times I have dropped in for dinner, they were able to accommodate me, but I’m not counting on that to happen every weekend evening. There are a few seats at the bar, but that’s about it if they are booked up. (Reservations can be made on OpenTable.)

A great seating option at Piattello is the spacious patio along the Waterside Grove. The Grove is tucked back behind all of the retail so you aren’t looking at a parking lot, but rather a park with yard games and a community pavilion. So you have a chance of catching live music and some great people watching while enjoying dinner.

Piattello Italian Kitchen
PiattelloItalianKitchen.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
5924 Convair Dr #412 (Fort Worth)

Sun-Thurs:
7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Friday & Saturday:
7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

 

Super Chix in North Dallas

Move over, Chick-fil-A, there’s a new chick in town!

Super Chix is bringing flavor back to the traditional chicken sandwich. With the idea that simple is better, Super Chix marinates and hand-breads their chicken in-house daily. With locations in Dallas and Richardson (and soon to be Frisco location!), there’s no excuse to eat a sub-par chicken sandwich ever again. (Not that Chick-fil-A is sub-par … just in case the powers that be see this.  You NEVER want to piss off the CFA wizards.) 

The Super Chix menu features standard fried or grilled chicken sandwiches, as well as some new-to-the-scene, more creative plates … and yes, even salads.  Not to be missed is their extensive sauce selection. You can choose from six sauces–Mississippi Comeback, Alabama White, Nashville Hot, Cucumber Dill Ranch, Signature, and Honey Mustard … all delicious, 

Cordon Bleu Sandwich: swiss cheese, honey mustard, ham, and fried chicken. Served on a buttered potato roll.

Crispy Avocado Sandwich: Avocado half stuffed with Gouda cheese, breaded and fried, then topped with seasoning, garlic mayonnaise, lettuce leaf, and tomato. Served on a buttered potato roll. 

Blackened Cajun Chicken Sandwich: grilled chicken filet tossed in blackened seasoning, topped with garlic mayo, bacon, lettuce lead, tomato, and fried pickles. Served on a buttered potato roll. 

Fear not health-nuts, they also have delicious salads, such as the Southwest Chicken Salad, which features lettuce, tomato, avocado, grilled chicken, and tortilla strips.

As for drinks and desert? Well not only do they offer a bunch of craft sodas on tap, they also have a full custard bar with rotating weekly custard flavors. Find their custard menu here.

Super Chix
superchix.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Dallas Location: 14999 Preston Road, Suite 226 | 972-788-0660
Richardson Location: 1551 East Renner Road, Suite 830 | 469-466-1500

Open 11am to 10pm daily

True Food Kitchen – Truly Good Food

Eating healthy is hard. There are so many unhealthy options that are way easier (and let’s face it, way tastier) to fit into our busy schedules. Have no fear, friend! True Food Kitchen is making it easy and delicious to eat good-for-you food. This anti-inflammatory diet based restaurant has tons of options to help keep you on that health track … deliciously. The chef graciously explained to me that processed foods cause inflammation, which prevents the body from absorbing all the good nutrients it needs. This can lead to a plethora of unwanted things such as Alzheimer’s, rheumatoid arthritis, and even cancer. Because of this, True Food Kitchen doesn’t focus on calories. Instead, they focus on pure, simple, and delicious food that is hormone-free and antibiotic-free to help the body process nutrients better.

After a complimentary Corepower Yoga class, I tasted some of their brunch options, which are sure to give you the perfect kickstart to your day.

Garden Scramble: Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, organic eggs, and smoked gouda

Quinoa Johnny Cakes: banana and quinoa (these taste nothing like quinoa and everything like normal pancakes)

They also have Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins, Banana Espresso Muffins & Vegetable Salad on deck for you to nosh on.  They also offer vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options, all of which are on their regular menu!

True Food Kitchen also serves booze including beer, cider, wine, and cocktails.  Most cocktails are around $10. Because it’s always best to detox and retox at the same time …

True Food Kitchen

truefoodkitchen.com
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8383 Preston Center Plaza #100
214-377-3333

Take a Tiki Peeky at Pilikia

Guys … I’m so f**king excited for Pilikia, Dallas’s first-in-a-long-time full-time tiki bar, to open this Thursday … and for so many reasons.

First, I’ll clarify the intro.  Pilikia will be the “first in a long time” as we had an awesome tiki bar here in Dallas, Trader Vic’s, in what is now The Highland Hotel, that closed in 2010.  RIP.  Also, it will be a “full-time” tiki bar because our friends at Rapscallion are currently spoiling us every week with their mind-numbing (in a good way) Tiki Tuesday drinks thanks to bar badass Ravinder Singh.

Thanks to the dudes behind The Tipsy Alchemist, brand new ILL Minster Pub, and Deep Ellum club Truth & Alibi and their partner in the deal, Patrick Tetrick (owner of Three Sheets), we’ll be getting another outrageous concept that will have the Uptown crowd flocking.  (Ok … I’m going to be flocking, too, as is my mom, your boss, and just about everyone else in town that remembers Trader Vic’s or gives any sort of a shit about tiki bars.)  The team has created some winning concepts, and we’re hoping this will be another to add to their list of successes.

So what can we expect?  Kitsch, and plenty of it.  (Are you excited yet?)  The team was inspired mostly by the Beardon brothers’ favorite outrageous London tiki spot, Mahiki (which happens to be where I spent my 21st birthday), but are making a space all their own.

They took over the former Three Sheets space that closed to make way for this Polynesian heaven. Some renovations were made including a wall of golden skulls backlit by LED lights that will eerily change progressively, an additional outdoor bar, and a larger fireplace and a small stage for live music on the patio.  The furniture is a mix of loungy bamboo chairs, some really incredible wooden pieces brought over from Bali, and hammock chairs that will rock you to sleep after a sip too many from one of their potent potables.  And don’t worry, they’ll still have plenty of TVs out there.

On that note … let’s talk tiki.  Their not-too-overwhelming menu (which is unique at a joint like this) will offer 6-7 traditional tiki drinks including the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai and some other goodies like Painkillers, Zombies, and the like.  (They have such fun names, no?)  Not to be tired, they’ve also come up with some tiki concoctions of their own and will also be serving LARRRRGE format punches in smoking treasure chests and scorpion bowls with a heft price tag of up to $2,000.  Not.fucking.kidding.

Not into the tiki thing?  They have something for you … a door to walk out of.  Kidding.  Pilikia will have a full bar and bottle service for the less inclined.  And even better, they’ll serve food from a menu that Rodman Shields (Common Table) put together for them.  Having a few bites of chicken skewer means you can drink more … right?

So, some other important details and things to look forward to:

  • The name Pilikia means “trouble” in Hawaiian
  • Their happy hour is coming soon.  When it starts, it’ll be 2-7pm, Tuesday-Friday
  • At some point, they’ll start opening one Sunday a month to host legit luaus complete with a pig roast
  • Once it warms up (good joke) in the spring, they’ll be offering live music to make use of the new stage on the patio

Tiki is “so hot right now”, so it’s fitting that Dallas is jumping on the super kitschy bandwagon, and with a drink in-hand.  Stop in for their soft opening on Thursday, January 26 starting at 8pm to see what all the fuss is about.  Grand opening details are coming soon.

Let’s get into some trouble, shall we?


PILIKIA
PilikiaDallas.com
Facebook | Instagram
3113 Ross Avenue (Downtown/West Dallas)

Open Tuesday – Saturday, 8pm-2am
Closed Sunday and Monday

 

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.

salsa-limon-2

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
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
550 Throckmorton Street (Fort Worth)
817-615-9760

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