Bread Winners - The Review
Go ahead and say it. I know you want to. “Bread Winners?” Tell me you’ve been there for lunch. Tell me that you didn’t even know they were open for dinner. Ask me if it’s all just sandwiches. “Seriously, Bread Winners?”
Yes…Bread Winners, and here’s why:Appetizers:
Lots of good variety on the ap list (Hummus Trio, Chipotle BBQ Pork Sliders, Tuscan Fondue), but my favorite has got to be the Spicy Bleu Cheese Potato Chips. Homemade potato chips baked up with mounds of Bleu Cheese and sprinkled with sriracha at $9. They even bring out sriracha-laden ketchup for your dipping pleasure. Dude…come on. I don’t have to tell you this is a must get. If you’re an artichoke dip ($9) kinda person theirs is good, but then again every restaurant in the world serves spinach artichoke dip. Seriously, how much longer before you can super size your #13 McChoke Sandwich meal? The only thing that separates the BW artichoke dip from everyone else’s is that it comes with homemade lavash, which is very tasty just by it self…or used to scrap up the extra baked-on bleu cheese when you run out of potato chips.
Entrées:
We’ve tasted a lot of the menu now in our couple of trips and most of it was spot on. I’m a big fan of the Turkey Sweet Potato Meatloaf with a great savory roasted tomato demi ($15). It’s a nice upscale twist on a home-style fav that works extremely well. The sweet potato in the meatloaf and the roasted tomato in the demi work brilliantly to give you everything you need to keep you from reaching for the ketchup. The meal calls for a side of mashed potatoes, something that BW has 5 different varieties of, but I’ve always subbed in the Green Chile Mac & Cheese. I could go on for days about how good this Mac & Cheese is, but I’ll just leave it at “just order it.” It is the best Mac & Cheese in town…hands down.
The Beef Tenderloin with a portabella mushroom demi and 3 cheese augratin is killer, with loads of juicy good flavor that that only gets better as you move through the meal. The Pork chops with blackberry demi ($19) was another nice use of a classic dish done up with a unique sauce. The only complaint I’ve heard was that the Nut Crusted Tilapia and Jumbo Prawns was inedible due to its overwhelming fishy flavor. Ehh…they cant all be winners. On the bright-side though, the waiter recognized that the fish wasn’t being eaten with the fervor of the roasted garlic and goat cheese mashed potatoes, and asked what could be done to correct the problem. A new entrée was brought out immediately and apologies were given.
Desserts:
This place doubles as a killer bakery, so no surprise every dessert here is insanely good. Only problem is that by dinner, a lot of the more popular cakes and pies are already gone. The pie/cake list is big, so we tend to order at least 3 different ones to suit the entire table’s tastes. I can never remember what we got last time, but you could close your eyes and pick something and still come out happy.
Overall:
We stumbled across BW as a dinner spot, and we really like it. The vibe at dinner is upscale, yet laid back. It’s got all the great qualities of upscale dining I like: attentive and knowledgeable wait staff, savory food, menu with something different - and none of the pretentious bullshit I don’t: ridiculously loud, douche-bag filled bar, and big prices for small plates.
Dinner at Bread Winners isn’t the kind of place you’re going to spend a small fortune and walk out saying it was the best meal of your life. It’s the kind of place you will walk out saying you’re pleasantly surprised with, you thoroughly enjoyed, and a place that you could see yourself eating at more often.
Café Italia – The Review
Café Italia could teach a masters clinic on how to run a successful upscale neighborhood restaurant. Step 1 - Take a tiny old house in a cool part of town and gut it. Step 2 – Throw some local art up on the walls. Step 3 - Toss some white table cloths down. Step 4 – Fill to capacity with everyone from 30k Millionaires to soccer moms complete with kids in tow. Step 5 – Serve good food at a very reasonable price.
Entrées:
Food here is way underpriced…or maybe everywhere else is just over priced?!? It's also not really Italian either. I mean they've got all of the Italian restaurant staples, but they've got a bunch of what they call Tex-Italian food...lots of different grilled protein and veggies over pasta. And now that I think about it, I dont think anyone in our group even ordered anything I would classify as classic Italian food.
I opted for the daily special of Angus Ribeye, jalapeno-corn mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus for $20-ish. My cut was fattier than I would’ve liked, and then others at the table had, but it was good. The potatoes had a nice kick to them but could’ve used a little more cream…then again when you live with Lindsay you become an expert on the intricacies of the mashed potato. Lindsay picked the stand out dish of the night with the King Ranch Chicken Pasta at $13. Pretty much everything about this dish was a success…down to the crispy red tortilla strips across the top. My ribeye was good, but I was jealous of KRCP’s cheesy, spicy, mushroomy goodness. I gladdly mopped up all of the left over sauce with the garlic bread until the bowl dry as a bone.
Desserts:
They only offer 3 desserts at Café Italia…so we ordered all of them. The Mascarpone Cheese Cake topped with fresh berries was really, really good. Simple, nice, and sweet. The Flourless Chocolate Cake was dense and rich. I’m not a chocolate guy, so it was a little much for me…but everyone else at the table loved it. My favorite was the Lemon Tiramisu topped with micro mint. What’s not to like about lemon custard, layers of coffee dipped biscuits, and a ton of whipped cream?
Overall:
Café Italia’s food was good, but when you combine it with the fact that it was so reasonably priced for what you got…it was great! It’s not someplace I’m dying to go back to, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it either. What's nice about it is that It's a place that you could go to in jeans and tee shirt, or for an nice dinner with friends. It's got a lot of repeat dinning versatility that you don’t find with Dallas restaurants...but you probably should.
The World Won’t Listen… Phil Collins Exhibition at the DMA – The Review
Linds and I hit up the Phil “not the one you’re thinking of” Collins karaoke tribute to all things Moz last night at the DMA, and freaking loved every minute of it.
Highlights include a Mod Indonesian couple’s Duet of “There is a Light That Never Goes Out," a man who sang "Shoplifters of the World Unite" in Spanish, and what I think was a woman in a lucha libre mask. The most moving track of the night was not surprisingly “Asleep.” The camera is hyper focused on the face of the singer to the point that it’s almost intrusive. All three renditions were capped off with the singer in tears. It was very cool.
Next time you’re in Dallas, I highly suggest you bring your gladiolas and make your way to the DMA. We’ll be going back again next Thursday to further indulge ourselves in the melancholy goodness
Coconut Records – Nighttiming
http://www.ezarchive.com/original/caseyr02/02WestCoast.mp3
I hate Jason Schwartzman. He and I are the same age and some how he’s been in 20+ movies (almost all of them are awesome), he’s toured the world with Phantom Planet, he’s made out with Natalie Portman in Hotel Chevalier, and he’s written and performed every instrument on a very good album. I repeat…I hate Jason Schwartzman.
My jealously aside, this is a really good cd. I think what I like best about it is that it’s got a little something for everybody: Chill, melodic, vocal tracks (This Old Machine, Summer Day, Ask Her to Dance)…Great pop tracks laden with keys and catchy hooks (West Coast, It’s Not You It’s Me, Easy Girl)…Nerd Rock (Back to You)…Disco (Nighttiming)…Beatles-esque 60’s Rock (Minding My Own Business, Thanks I’ll Get)…Alt-Country (Slowly, Mama).
The pop tracks stand out as the most listenable and the disco vibe of Nighttiming is very cool, but chill tracks like This Old Machine are when he’s at his best. They’re simple and evoke emotion with out being depressing.
Only complaint about this album is that it’s too short; it comes in at a paltry 33:30. The average track is going to be at 2:30 long. I’d like to see what he could do if he would open it up and push his abilities.
Overall, Nighttiming is a really good listen and will pay dividends on your $10 investment.
Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals
So I picked up the Yeasayer album a couple weeks back and have been slowly digesting it. It’s pretty good. Here’s my review…
If you’ve never heard them, vocally I hear a lot of Clap Your Hands mixed with a hint of Spree…musically I definitely get some Thievery Corp but less electronic and more jam band-y. Each track is layered thick with vocals, choral backing, sitar, guitars, percussion, cymbals, and about 10 other audio tracks. It’s a lot to mentally process.
What I like and don’t like about this disc is it’s one of those cd’s you can listen to all day and not really know where one track begins and ends. It speaks really well for the overall quality of the disc, but it’s hard to pick out one track that really stands out. Track 3, 2080, is the most listener friendly…cool guitar riff that sounds a lot like the bass line in Pink Floyd’s Money. But track 2, Waiting for Summer, is probably one of my fav’s. It’s got a cool sitar riff throughout and has a cool Native American-ish style vocal.
On another note…this disc was tricked out when they mixed it. My head gets dizzy listening to certain tracks, because of the left/right alternating parts. Sonically this thing is deep. If you were stoned, I’m pretty sure you’d throw up about half way through…
