Samar by Stephan Pyles, a final taste of restaurant week 2012!

This was a last minute decision.  Out of the blue we finally went to a restaurant week with just the 2 of us.  A very comfortable experience, we sat outside, got serenaded by live music, had breezes of wind (yes, cool wind in Texas during August, pretty unbelieveable!), and of course FOOD.

Right in the heart of downtown, this restaurant is heavily decorated by beautiful draping and soft lighting.  There are hookah pipes laying on the floor, and you hear chatting throughout the Indian/Mediterranean restaurant inside.  On the outside, it was serene because people kept their chatter on low so the live music can flow.

This time we actually ordered only 1 restaurant week tasting menu and ordered several things off their regular dinner menu.

We chose 1 starter off the regular menu and 1 from the restaurant week menu.

To be honest both our starters were the highlights of the night.  Our favorite, the foie gras brulee and 2nd would be the lobster fritters with coconut rice.

The foie gras brulee was to die for!  Definitely FOOD PORN 101.  When the brulee hits your palate you get this really rich and intense flavor of the foie gras, then the silky texture coats your mouth and lingers forever, and finally finished with some crispness from the bacon, and fresh sweetness from the peaches.  This is a definite must try!

The lobster fritter with the coconut rice was pretty special.  This has a Thai influence mixed with an Indian touch.  The coconut rice is the Thai and the pickled mangoes was the Indian. There was just something very comforting to the rice, maybe it was the creaminess or possibly the indian spices that you got with every mouthful.  The lobster fritters were very light and crispy, kind of like a tempura batter.  The lobster was very fresh and succulent.  The coconut rice with the sweet and sour mangoes was actually a very perfect combination.  This just didn't seem like a starter course though, but it was delicious!

Then came our 2nd courses.

From the menu was the fried potatoes, chorizo and over easy egg, but what made it extra special was the tiny piece of foie gras that came on the side!  When we got our plate of food, the server instructed us to mix all the ingredients together so that the potatoes are coated with the richness of the egg yoke, savory saltiness from the chorizo, and the goodness of the foie gras.  A very simple potato and egg dish with a surprise and a kick.

We also ordered the optional course from the restaurant week menu, crispy fried poached egg with mushroom salad.  This is what I imagine a fried poached egg to be!  The egg was light and crispy on the outside...soft, running, and oozing with yoke on the inside.  This was done well!  The salad was light and earthy, very refreshing.  We would have preferred the cheese shredded on the salad, we get the presentation factor but it didn't incorporate in the dish well enough.

Our entrees...

Tiger Prawn  Bombay style with crispy okra and spiced pear chutney.  This is just how you would imagine it.  Fresh shrimp, we didn't really get the Bombay style but the shrimp was good.  We thought the crispy okra did not live up to its name.  Maybe because it wasn't crispy.  The texture was kind of like stale old chips...they need another preparation method if you ask us, maybe even a double visit to the deep fryer.  The pear chutney on the other hand was delicious and went really well with the shrimp.

Our 2nd entree came from the restaurant week menu, Greek style meatballs with pearl couscous.  This was actually better than we thought.  The meatballs were very tender, moist, and flavorful.  The couscous had kind of a pesto touch to it, it was very delicious and the portion was actually a lot bigger than we had first imagined.  We do like the pearl couscous over the small ones.  The texture is a lot better, similar to eating a tiny pasta like orzo.

Last but not least, sear bay scallops with olive oil poached potatoes and crispy artichokes.  This was very clean and had some pretty fantastic cooking techniques.  We loved the crispy artichokes, and they were crispy...we were just wondering why they know how to make this crispy but not the okra.  The olive oil poached potatoes was YUM!  The potatoes literally melted in your mouth and was coated with a sweet olive oil flavor.  They used small fingerling potatoes, purple and yellow. The scallops were small but tender and sweet.  All in all a great dish, very much like a warm salad.

Our dessert was an Indian style funnel cake with cardamom ice cream. We've had this wonderful texture from the described funnel cake before at a traditional Indian wedding.  The funnel cake is sweet and the  peaches at the bottom cut the richness of the dessert.

This meal was overall a great experience.  We had a great time, date night!  We got to try things off the regular menu also and found the prices are fairly reasonable for a nice restaurant like this one.  We also got live, relaxing entertainment, this made us forget we were in downtown Dallas.  We would rate this place 8/10 for its atmosphere, creativity, taste, and price.

Samar
2100 Ross Ave
Dallas, TX 75201

Central 214, our 2nd restaurant week reservation!

What a great night!  Another tasty restaurant week to fill up our bellies with ups and downs.  We think it was great because of the people we had with us that night, great conversation, met new friends, chatted it up with old friends, laughed a lot, and ate everything up.

When we walked in we noticed a dimly lit orange color bar, a brightly lit open kitchen, and some comfortable sofas if you needed to wait a bit for your reservation.  The sofas we have to say were extremely comfortable!

As we looked through the menu we started out with a cocktail.  We ordered one of their specials, it had lemon, honey, passion fruit, and a liqueur which we do not recall what it was.  The drink looks beautiful but very very strong, we remember telling the waiter we wanted the drink to be light, but we got the opposite. One of our friends waited for her drink and never received it until we ate all of our appetizers, that was disappointing.  We almost tasted the whole menu that night!  Sadly, some of the entrees on the menu were sold out or was changed, and we got one of our orders wrong.

Here comes our appetizers!
The scotch egg sounded like a wonderful idea but it was not as great as the menu made it seem.  To be honest it just seemed like a regular hard boiled egg with a crust.  We found it under seasoned, over-cooked and probably wouldn't order it again. We left wondering what all the fuss was about when people raved about it.

The dinosaur kale on the other hand was delicious!  This totally surprised us and caught us off guard amongst the appetizers.  The kale was seasoned well, very tender, and the garlic flavor really came through.  The ricotta gave it some creaminess, the artichoke added to texture to the dish, the watermelon radish just tied the dish together.  This was much better than we expected after reading the description on the menu.

The Israeli melon with chorizo and manchego cheese was pretty awesome in its own right.    The melon was super honey sweet and juicy, the chorizo was just the right amount of saltiness and gave the dish a savory touch, and the manchego cheese was nutty and rich.  This was very a bright and refreshing highlight to our meal.

The star...Wagyu Carpaccio.  OMG YUM!  The beef literally melts in your mouth.  The duck egg was smooth and soft, when you dip the beef into the broken yoke, it was like a butter sauce coating the delicate silky beef.  The watercress was kind of in the way, but it gave the dish some texture and peppery notes, but to be honest the beef was so delicate, we could have done without it.

Our entrees were beautiful.  We would've tried the duck too but our waiter got the order wrong..unfortunately =(
The bavette steak was cooked to perfection.  The steak was moist, tender, and seasoned with just salt and pepper.  Very simple preparation but cooked to perfection.  The mash potatoes were rich and velvety, and the shaved fennel added texture and a brightness to the beef.  Overall a solid dish of meat and potatoes.

The red fish was delicate, fresh, and exquisite.  Also a very simple preparation, nicely seared fish with some herbs and the capers gave it a briny saltiness which we love.  The capers definitely added points for the fish.  The sauteed spinach was also cooked well, and not overcooked and mushy.

The handmade trompetti was the big entree surprise for the table, colorful and sensational in your mouth.  Even though it was a vegetarian dish, the pasta was surprisingly flavorful.  The pesto coated the pasta evenly, very fresh and bright.  The goat cheese and the mushrooms gave the pasta a very earthy and rich tone, they basically substituted the meat in the dish.  We all thought it would have been much better with some type of meat or seafood, but it was still delicious and nothing was left on the plate.

The slow cooked goat brisket was pretty tasty.  To be honest some parts of it was lacking a little bit of fat, its either that, or they just did not handle the cooking temperature correctly and they just got dried out.  We couldn't tell because it was coated with their sweet BBQ sauce.  The parts where there is some fat left was moist and tender, but the part without the fat was kind of dry.  The avocado slaw was tangy and creamy from the avocado, and the corn bread was actually not bad, still had some moisture to it.

DESSERTS MMMMMMMMMMM!
Unfortunately they ran out of the honey lemon cake, but luckily they substituted it with a delicate flan.  The flan was one of the best we have had. The flan had a good egg flavor, delicate, and soft.  The caramel and the pecan added texture and sweetness.  The caramel was not so thick that it stuck to your fork, but light and smoothly covered the flan.  The garnish was little champagne grapes which were tasty and helped cut the richness.  This dessert was YUM!

The chocolate cake was a beauty.  We have no idea why they called it a ugly pug chocolate cake.  This was very rich and kind of hard to eat after a big meal.  It was good, but compared to the flan, it did not compare.  But the cake was moist, and if you really like chocolate cake, you would like this.  The chocolate cake was coated with a thin chocolate shell and covered with Chantilly cream. The cake was very dense and almost an adult version of a Hostess Ding Dong.

Last but not least, the green tomato pie.  A very interesting dessert if you ask us.  Have you ever had a green tomato pie?  Definitely worth a try.  This kind of tasted like a regular green apple pie if you had your eyes closed and didn't look at the menu.  The chevre ice-cream was also pretty good.  A light way to end because it was sweet and tart, which didn't make it feel too heavy to eat.

Overall the food was tasty, the ambiance was nice, decor was pretty, but the service was not great at all.  They got our orders wrong, ran out of several things, and at the end of the day, our checks were incorrect and the waiter looked pissed off...you would think you would get better service for a high end restaurant in a high end hotel,  but we were wrong.  We would rate this place a 6/10 for bad service, good food, interesting menu, and nice trendy environment.

Central 214
5300 E Mockingbird Ln
Dallas, TX 75201

The Landmark, Restaurant Week 2012

Welcome to Restaurant Week.  We have been anticipating this special week of 3 course meals at fancy restaurants for a while now.  We were anxious to share this special event with special people.  We brought two along with us this time!  Our foodie motto is, sharing is caring =)

We were welcomed by their extensive wine selection, beautiful lighting, and a simple table setting.

We almost tried their whole menu.  The only thing we didn't get to try was their pan seared striped bass and their watermelon salad.  We got a snap shot of their special summer cocktails for you all to enjoy.  As we waited eagerly for our food we nibbled on some of their dinner rolls.  Our favorite was their rosemary dinner roll with creamy butter.  We must mention that their service was not as great as we were expecting for such a nice place for restaurant week.  We had to ask for the dinner rolls which should have been brought over automatically but we waited and waited, until we got impatient and just asked for it. Even for a restaurant week event, the place wasn't even close to being at capacity. 

We started our with some cocktails and a complimentary amuse-bouche which was made from pureed chilled peaches.  This was a very clean and sweet concoction.  Then comes our starters!

We forgot to get a picture of the ceasar salad.  But it was well made and our favorite part, the Parmesan crisp...we simply loved the cheesy saltiness.  

The scallops were seared perfectly.  They were caramelized, sweet, and tender.  The pearl couscous was actually a great pair against the star scallop.  The eggplant was a pretty garnish but didn't add much to the dish flavor wise. 

The crispy quail was our favorite. The quail was fried to perfection, crispy and a bit sticky on the outside because of the kumquat marmalade, and moist and oozing with quail juice on the inside.  The kumquat marmalade kept the dish light and made you want to eat some more.  The quail paired wonderfully with the quinoa and peas.  The quinoa and peas gave the dish a textural contrast.

Our entrees were all DELICIOUS!

The lamb was excellent.  You can tell the lamb was of a higher grade quality.  It had the good lamb flavor that all true lamb lovers love.  The lamb was cooked right, pink on the inside.  We didn't care much for the white bean ragu though, it kind of got lost and totally played second fiddle when compared to the lamb. 

The pork belly pasta was to die for!  The fattiness and plump pork belly went really well with the pasta.  The freshness and earthiness of the mushrooms, basil, and sage rounded up the whole plate.  The dish as a whole meshed really well together.  We didn't let the sauce go to waste...we soaked our rosemary dinner roll in the sauce...DROOL!  This was one sexy dish.

The short ribs was also very tasty.  The cherry demi glaze kept the dish light and cut through the richness, this is just another great sweet and savory pairing.  We did yearn for a bit more fattiness in the short ribs though.  The mash potatoes were buttery, velvety, and smooth with a wonderful shallot flavor.  We wished we had the mash potatoes with our lamb.  The carrots were the fresh yellow and orange petites   

Our desserts...outstanding!

The peach napoleon was awesome!  The peaches were fresh, sweet, and still retained some of its crisp.  The phyllo dough was a great change from the ordinary puff pastry you would expect.  The phyllo dough made the peaches shine because its not covered by all the pastry.  The burnt honey chevre actually gave the sweetness of the dish some savory and creaminess.  

The banana creme brulee was our favorite.  The top was brittle and cracked open to the touch.  The inside was silky banana heaven!  You can tell its full of pureed banana and not the fake banana flavoring.

The strawberry tower with Godiva chocolate cake was delightful.  The chocolate wasn't too sweet, it was just right.  The coconut mousse has bits of shaved coconuts in there and combines well with the strawberry sauce and chocolate cake.  The strawberry sauce gave the dessert some tartness and cut through the sweetness.  

Overall the meal was delicious from start to finish.  We were a little disappointed with the service considering this is a high end restaurant which comes with a higher price tag but overall we had a wonderful time!  We would rate this restaurant a 7.5/10 for its quality of ingredients, flavor, preparation and atmosphere.

The Landmark

3051 Oak Lawn Ave
Dallas, TX 75219

Swan Oyster Depot, a casual, no-frills joint for seafood lovers

Our trip to California was driven by Anthony Bourdain's recommendations.  Swan Oyster was our top pick of them all.  If you want exceptionally fresh seafood...COME HERE!  To be honest, this place is simple...just really fresh seafood, they have a great raw bar selection.  Tip:  Remember to bring CASH and expect a long wait or you can do it like us and take it to go.

We didn't make it here on our first day of arrival because they close at 5:30pm but because they are always so packed and they do plan on leaving on time, they start kicking people out with a complimentary tall glass of beer at around 5pm.  You have to understand this restaurant is literally a narrow alley, there are only around 10 stool seats inside.  But...we actually really loved our plan because we got to have 2 great people join us for our feast...I am talking our last meal, breakfast, which was a fantastic seafood feast, picnic style!  The warm hospitality, friendly people, and the happy faces you see at Swan Oyster Depot is unmistakable.  We were greeted with a complimentary freshly cracked crab claw...MmMmMmMm =)  You can truly feel they LOVE their job, which makes you feel really good as a customer to know that they love serving you and they adore what they are doing.  

We ordered 3 different type of raw oysters (super plump and juicy), shucked sweet crab meat (very convenient when you are eating picnic style and we watched them shuck them), and a scrumptious seafood salad packed with crab meat and shrimp.  

Our star and what we truly came for was this crab head filled with crab brains...OMG drool!  It has a very rich, buttery, and ocean saltiness to it that is unmistakable and irreplaceable.  When you dip your sourdough bread into this pool of golden goodness...seriously you will be speechless.  We all were!

Overall this place was mouthwatering.  The freshness and quality of the seafood was fantastic, the price was reasonable, and the hospitality was welcoming.  Other than the wait and their odd hours of operation, we really didn't find anything to complain about.  We would give this place a 9/10 and we would definitely come here again if we go to San Francisco.  This place is truly a foodie landmark, in a city full of foodie landmarks.

Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk St
(between California St & Sacramento St) 
San Francisco, CA 94109