I thought I would dedicate one post to some of the great food we have found. David and I both enjoy trying new places and look for some of the out of the way places. Since we are both BBQ lovers and from the South, we have tried several BBQ places so we could make a adequate comparison to NC BBQ. You do not have to thank us, we felt is was our duty!! For me I prefer the NC BBQ vinegar based sauce but the Texas sweet smokey sauce is a close second. Now for the preferred meat. I choose pork but have had some pretty awesome beef brisket while I have been here. Then you get into the whole chopped, pulled or sliced argument. I prefer pulled or chopped over the sliced. As David often points out to me, I don't bite my sandwiched I dismantle them! I like to pull them apart and eat them. Yes a crazy way but my way (actually I passed it to my girls).
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| Scholl Bros BBQ |
Our first sample of Texas BBQ was at Scholl Bros BBQ in Paris, Texas. We jumped in the car one day and took a drive exploring the Northern part of Texas. It was a beautiful drive with a great stop for lunch. The exterior is not fancy but you could tell from the parking lot that is was a local hangout which is always a great advertisement. We were NOT disappointed!
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| Hammond's BBQ |
Our next adventure out was to the Fossil Rim Center in Cleburne, Texas (will address that awesome place on another post). We did stop for lunch at Hammond's BBQ (again another local hangout). Another great place. My daughter tried the ribs and as you can see she enjoyed them! I tried some fried okra on the side and it was the bomb! Even got some SWEET TEA.
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| Hammond's BBQ |
We have also tried Red Hot and Blue, Sonny Byran's BBQ and Dickey's BBQ. Yes Dickey's is a chain but still a good one. I have seen them in NC but never ate there until we came here. Worth the try if you never have, sauces are great.
So next up is burgers. We looked up places that Diners, Drive-ins and Dives had been to in Texas. One of the places in Dallas was Twisted Root Burgers. On one of our exploration days around Dallas we decided to try and find Twisted Root and give it a sampling. By the time we decided to start looking for it we were starving (bad idea to look then). We ran across another little hole in the wall place in a strip mall and decided to give it a try. It was the BEST decision of the day! We ate at Liberty Burger and it was awesome. They have many unusual burger combs; burgers with egg/bacon/hashbrowns, or pablano peppers/queso cheese/tortilla strips, or olives/roasted tomatoes/arugula/cheese, or Ahi tuna burger, or lamb burger just to name a few. The onion rings and fries are awesome. We thoroughly enjoyed our great burger find.
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| Liberty Burger |
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| Fred's Texas Cafe |
On our first outing to Fort Worth we tried Fred's Texas Cafe. I read a lot of great reviews when I was looking for potential eating places.. It was another great choice. Great honky tonk bar atmosphere and the burgers were outstanding. Again I got the Blue Chesse Burger and David got the Diablo Burger. His had chipotles peppers and grilled onions along with the unusual toppings. I have a great pictures of him with pepper sauce all over his face and hands but he would kill me if I posted it. As you can see, mine was loaded with blue cheese (yum). We have not tried In & Out burger that a lot of people say is good fast food type place. We did try Whataburger which is big out this way for fast food burgers. It is made to order which is good and fresh.
Tex-Mex is plentiful as you can imagine. We have eaten at many places but not many pictures. During our first week here while getting settled we tried a place close by, Mariano's Hacienda. The food was good but the margarita I had could have been better. Went to Mattito's for dinner with a group from work and then David and I went one night after work. Food was ok, margaritas made up for it though! Convienent since it is across the street from the hospital. One afternoon after wandering around Trader Joe's we went to lunch at Blue Goose Cantina. Their Taco salad with shredded chicken was delicious. David ordered some limoncello that was good too! While wandering around The West End with Kathryn on her visit we ate lunch at RJ Mexican Cuisines. As you can see from the pictures it was pretty good and good looking.
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RJ Mexican Cuisines
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| RJ Mexican Cuisines |
On our trip to Houston we tried Bubba Gump's. We shared a sampling of different style shrimp and a spicy chicken bite appetizer. It was all very good!
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| Bubba Gump's |
A few of my other recommendations are Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pluckers, Wing Stop, Catleman's Steak House, DaLat Vietnamese Restaurant and Raising Canes. Pappadeaux is an upscale seafood place with great food. I have never had Vietnamese food but this place is owned by the husband of a PA I work with. I'm glad I tried it! Went after work one night with some co-workers. The atmosphere is great, bar like and the food was good. We started with DaLat rolls (a pork roll inside of a spring roll). I could make a meal out of them! For my meal I got the Vietnamese version of fried rice. It was very good, not greasy like you get some times. My most favorite food find here has been Raising Canes. It is a chicken finger fast food type place. They have the best chicken tenders and their homemade dipping sauce is the best! I could just drink the sauce. And speaking of chicken, those that know me know that I have to find a place to get wings. Well I have found 2 places that are within 2 blocks of the apartment (not good). Pluckers is a sports bar type place that has awesome wings and homemade chips. Took my travel friend Anna there for her birthday and we made ourselves sick! She is my wing eating partner. We sneak away and go to Wing Stop that is right across the street from my apartment complex. Really good wings and big sauce selection. Surprisingly we have only been to one steak place. I know, we are in Texas, what better place to get cow?! We went whole hog or cow if you will when we went to Catleman's Steak House in Fort Worth. The steak was amazing and we found a new yummy Sangria. It was good, very pricey and world famous (guess that explains the pricey). Glad we went but certainly couldn't eat out like that often. We only have one more week here and many more places we wanted to try. Guess they will have to wait until next time! We are making our final foodie adventure at the world famous Texas State Fair. And as we have seen advertised, we can get anything we want FRIED! I'm sure I am going to be grossed out by the things they fry and other food creations. Will let you all know how it goes.
Sorry for the long post....hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
