Toulouse Café and Bar, a casual French bistro

What comes to mind when you think french food for dinner?  Dressing up, super expensive, fancy, and must make a reservation....well at Toulouse this is not the case. This cute little restaurant is causal, homey, and no reservation needed.  This restaurant is busy, you can hear people talking, laughing, and its a comfortable setting for friends to get together and enjoy come fantastic French cuisine.  This was our first time and what a treat!

We started our night with 2 cocktails...Rossini on the left and Hemingway Daiquiri on the right.  Oh both were so refreshing!  The Rossini had a touch of sweetness from the raspberry but still let the sparkling champagne shine through.  The Hemingway Daiquiri was slightly tart, clean, and prepped your  palate for the food.

We then went on to our starters, lobster bisque and charcuterie maison.
The lobster bisque was rich and velvety.  The lobster flavor came through and you get bites of lobster meat....scrumptious!
The charcuterie maison was pretty fantastic.  The best thing on the plate was the chicken liver mousse. OMG the texture was so creamy and lush, the flavor was a punch of the livery flavor but done extremely well.  They topped the mousse with a sweet jam...*drool*  The duck prosciutto and the lomo was also done well.

We also chose their goat cheese tart and sea diver scallops for our entree.
The goat cheese tart was exquisite.  The puff pastry was flaky and buttery, the creamy goat cheese flavor paired extremely well with the tart and sweet tomato confit, and the basil pesto gave the tart a fresh touch.
Our entree, the sea diver scallops was also delicious.  The tender caramelized scallops were topped with a sweet and savory bacon tomato jam, and underneath the delicate scallops was a bed of spinach with a rich sauce (resembles hollandaise).  The other part of the entree was a meyer lemon risotto which was also a surprise.  The risotto had a really good lemony scent and lemon peel accent to it, it was creamy yet very light at the same time.
Overall another amazing experience.   The food was awesome...didn't really find any flaws.  We would rate this restaurant a 9/10 for flavor, ambiance, and preparation.

Toulouse Café and Bar
3314 Knox St
Dallas, TX 75205

Alounak, Delicious Persian Food at an Affordable Price

We were skeptical going in.  We didn't believe you can possibly find affordable, abundant, and delicious Persian food here in Dallas, Tx.  We were wrong...YUMMY!

This is just a small restaurant with about 10 tables, 1 waitress, and 1 cook who does everything.  Do not let the 1 waitress and 1 cook fool you, we received decent service, and our food arrived quickly.

First came our complimentary beet soup.  The  color was a vibrant purple..very pleasing to the eye.  Flavor wise, it was sightly tart, strong dill flavor, and the texture was grainy because of the crushed beets.  I did not like it very much but my boyfriend liked it.  It was a nice gesture from the chef though.

 We ordered sides of hummus and mast-o-khiar.  Both were delicious, the yogurt dip was creamy and refreshing with bits of dill and cucumber.  The hummus was not over whelmed with garlic like the ones you usually get at Mediterranean restaurants.   Off to a wonderful start!

We ordered the lamb shank, koobideh, and shish kabob.  All were very scrumptious!

The lamb shank was braised to tenderness in a carrot, potato, and onion broth.  The lamb was tender but still kept a good bite to it.  Our favorite thing about it is that they kept the fat, bone, and tendons.  Yum..after tearing off the meat, DO NOT forget to dig the bone marrow...it is amazing!  Our lamb shank came with rice and a side salad.  For $10 bucks, it is a steal!

Our koobideh was also fantastic.  The meat was moist and flavorful.  $8 for a whole big plate of food...how can you pass this up?  The plating was colorful and the smell of the koobideh taunts you.

The best thing of the afternoon was the side of shish kabob.  For $6 you can get a side skewer of shish kabob....man this was awesome!  The meat was so tender and cooked to perfection.  The meat literally melts in you mouth....*drool*

What an affordable meal!  We received mountains of food at a wonderful price...how do they do it?  I have no idea.  The meats were of good quality and handled with care.  We would rate this place a hard 8/10 for it's value, flavor, and quality.

Alounak
7989 Belt Line Rd
Ste 146
Dallas, TX 75248