Lonestar Grill & Cantina

Lonestar Grill and Cantina in Fairfield, Texas

On a recent trip to Fairfield, Texas, my brother and I found ourselves looking for a place to eat dinner one night.  For a small town, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from in Fairfield, but we were looking for a place to sit down, relax, and watch some games.  The Lonestar Grill and Cantina was recommended as a place we could do those things, so we decided to give it a try.

We were both hungry, so we started off with the Grande Fried Cheese Sticks.  When they arrived, I immediately knew why their name started with the word Grande.  They were the same length as your typical cheese stick, but were at least twice as big in diameter.  The cheese sticks had a very crunchy batter as well and the cheese was piping hot with each bite.  For the dipping sauces, I preferred the marinara to the ranch dressing, but the marinara was cold and it would have been better served warm.

Some Chubby Cheese Sticks

For my entree, I chose The Dude, which was a 10 oz. center cut sirloin.  My brother ordered the same steak medium rare and we both chose the same sides: fries and mac & cheese.  I don't generally eat sir sirloins, but I was on a budget and had to forgo my usual ribeye or filet mignon.  The sirloin at Lonestar Grill and Cantina was better than I expected.  It was tender, lightly seasoned, and cooked to specifications.  As good as the steak was, the sides were disappointing.  The mac & cheese lacked any semblance of cheese flavor and the fries were cold.  The meal was also served with a cheese biscuit that had good flavor, but was rather dry.

10 oz. Sirloin with Two Sides

They had several dessert options, but I was stuffed after eating the huge cheese sticks and the sirloin.  The food was hit and miss, but the service was great.  If you are looking for a place to kick back and watch a game on television while you eat, this is a good place to do so.  They have plenty of TVs in the bar area, which is where the majority of patrons were sitting on the night we dined at Lonestar Grill and Cantina.  Maybe next time, I will not be on a budget and I can try one of the ribeyes that I kept eyeing at the table next to us.

Lonestar Grill & Cantina
http://www.lonestargrillandcantina.com/Home_Page.php
Livin the Good Life Rating= 2

Mexican Sugar

Prior to having children, The Shops at Legacy used to be one of the go-to dining destinations for my wife and I.  Since having children we don't go nearly as often, but still like to dine in that area when we have the opportunity to get a babysitter or a grandma that wants to keep the kids.  In November, a new restaurant called Mexican Sugar opened it's doors at The Shops at Legacy.  As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to try it because it was opened up by the folks at Whiskey Cake (which happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in Collin County).

On a recent Saturday, my wife and I visited Mexican Sugar shortly after 5:00 p.m.  Despite the fact that this time of day is usually designated for dining with the blue hairs, my wife and I like going to eat early because we usually beat crowds.  It worked out great on this visit, because we were seated immediately in one of the last remaining booths.  If we had arrived fifteen minutes later, we would have had a serious wait on our hands. 

The crowds arrived early on the evening we visited Mexican Sugar.

Our server recommended that we start out with the queso blanca and roasted salsa.  Since the wife and I consider ourselves to be connoisseurs of queso, we took her up on her recommendation with anxious anticipation.  We dug in as soon as the queso arrived and it was certainly top shelf with plenty of cilantro and chili powder on top.  Perhaps even better than the queso, was the roasted salsa which was served warm.  The warm salsa was not very spicy, but it was extremely flavorful.  It took us two and half baskets of their very good tortilla chips to finish off the queso and salsa.  

Queso Blanca and Roasted Salsa

I would have been perfectly content just having the chips, queso, and roasted salsa as a meal, but we went ahead and ordered entrees anyway.  I ordered the Lomo Tacos, which had ancho roasted beef tenderloin, pickled radish, chimmichurri, epazote, manchego cheese, cilantro, and tomato-mango chutney (which I requested on the side because I was unsure of how that flavor would taste on my tacos).  The first bite of the taco was an explosion of flavor and it turns out the tomato-mango chutney was a perfect flavor to add to the beef tenderloin.  The pickled radish was the only ingredient I could have done without.  I can honestly say that this was one of the top three tacos I have ever had.  I quickly devoured all three that were in my order.  For my side, I substituted the Brussels sprout shred for the poblano rice.  The rice was not your typical rice served at Mexican food restaurants, but it was absolutely perfect.

Lomo Tacos and Poblano Rice

My wife ordered the Brasas Tacos, which had roasted chicken, salsa, roasted corn pico, queso fresco, cilantro, and a chipotle cream sauce.   She was kind enough to give me one of her tacos and I was happy she did.  It was not as good as the Lomo Tacos, but it was also terrific and had a very different taste than my tacos.  The chipotle cream sauce really rounded out the flavors well.  She had the Brussels sprout shred with hers and it tasted very much like Cole slaw.

Brasas Tacos and Brussels Sprout Shred

Even though we were both extremely full, we decided to have dessert.  We were torn between the Cinco Leches cake and the Chocolate Avocado cake, but chose the Cinco Leches.  I am a huge fan of Tres Leches cake, but why have Tres Leches when you can have Cinco Leches.  Dos Mas Leches has to make it even better, right?  The Cinco Leches had almond milk, rice milk, heavy cream, goats milk, and was topped with their version of a Mexican cream whip.  It was so good, that my wife and I finished it in less than one minute.  It was the perfect ending to our meal.

Cinco Leches Cake

After dining at Mexican Sugar, I now have a new favorite Mexican food restaurant in Collin County.  The appetizer, meal, and dessert were all excellent.  The waitstaff was amazing and fawned over us all night long.  The ambiance at Mexican Sugar is very high energy and this would be a great place to dine with friends.  We can't wait for our next trip to Mexican Sugar so we can try some of the other menu items.

Mexican Sugar has some excellent food…No bull!

Mexican Sugar
http://www.mexicansugarcocina.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating = 5

Landers BBQ

Social media really seems to be fueling the recent Texas barbecue craze.  I am as guilty as anyone, following several of my favorite barbecue joints and barbecue critics on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  I like viewing pictures of barbecue as much as grandparents enjoy looking at pictures of their grandkids.  Admitting this is probably my first step towards recovery of my barbecue addiction.  

The brisket had very good flavor.

Landers BBQ is a local joint that has been getting a lot of publicity lately on Facebook and Twitter.  This barbecue trailer opened up last fall and I had seen several people commenting about it on social media, so I decided I would give it a try.  Landers BBQ has a McKinney address, but is actually located on 380 between McKinney and Princeton.

The sausage also got a thumbs up.

The day I went to Landers BBQ, it was a chilly February day and I ordered some barbecue to-go since I didn't feel like sitting outside. I ended up ordering a pound of brisket, a pound of sausage, a pound of turkey, and a side of baked beans.  The brisket had a nice bark on it and a great smoky flavor.  Although it didn't pull apart easily, it still had a great texture and was much better than your average brisket in Collin County.  I am not sure if there sausage is house-made or if they purchase it from a processor or butcher shop, but my wife and I were both very impressed with the flavor.  It had a familiar spicy taste to it, but I couldn't place it.  The turkey was somewhat disappointing, because it was processed turkey and didn't have much smokiness to it.  The baked beans were were pretty basic and had a sweet taste to them.  

Turkey 

Baked Beans

Landers BBQ has some good brisket and sausage, but I really want to try their ribs next time.  They only serve ribs on Fridays, but I have been drooling over the pictures they have posted on Facebook.  I also hear they serve a good burger, so I might have to get a burger for an appetizer on my next visit.  The brisket and sausage were certainly good enough to warrant a return trip to Landers BBQ.

Landers BBQ
https://www.facebook.com/LandersBBQ
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Mash'd

I rarely have a Friday night where I am not working, so it was a special treat that I was actually off on a Friday.  This particular Friday also happened to be my birthday.  Not wanting to let a rare opportunity like this slip by, my wife wanted her and the girls to take me out to a birthday dinner somewhere close to work.  After vetoing several restaurants that my wife mentioned, we finally decided to try Mash'd.  Based on some good reviews from friends, I had been chomping at the bit to try this new restaurant and moonshine bar that had recently opened in Frisco.  When we first entered the restaurant, it had a very energetic vibe to it but I could still hold a conversation with my family. 

TVs aplenty at Mash'd

I was somewhat worried that this place might not be family friendly, but it turns out I had no reason to worry because we were quickly seated and asked if we wanted to go ahead and order for kid's dinners.   The entire night, our waitress seemed to know what we needed before we asked for it and she quickly took the kid's order and brought out our drinks.  While looking at the entrees, I decided to go ahead and start with bowl of gumbo. The gumbo arrived two minutes later and was excellent.  It was made with andouille sausage and chicken, but I was surprised to see that it had corn in it.  I have never had gumbo with corn in it, but it blended in well with the other ingredients and was certainly above-average in the gumbo department.

Andouille Sausage and Chicken Gumbo

For my entree, I decided to get the fried chicken.  The dish came with a boneless breast, boneless thigh, and mashed potatoes.  It also came with a half of lemon and jalapeño marmalade.  My waitress recommended squeezing the lemon on the chicken prior to dipping it in the marmalade.  It sounded like a weird combination of  flavors, but it was absolutely fantastic.  The boneless fried chicken was great by itself, but I particularly liked the jalapeño marmalade.  The mashed potatoes were not bad, but the certainly played second fiddle to the fried chicken.  

Fried Chicken with Jalapeño Marmalade

My wife ordered the BELT (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce, and Avocado) sandwich with fries.  She said it was really good, but would have preferred the cherry tomatoes to be cut into smaller pieces.  She shared her fries with me and I thought they were very tasty.  Both kids enjoyed their meals of grilled cheese on a pretzel bun and chicken strips.

BELT and Fries

The best part about this entire meal was the fact that we were in and out of the restaurant in forty minutes.  We certainly enjoyed our first trip to Mash'd because the food was terrific and the service was even better.  The restaurant is in a great location (off Preston and close to Stonebriar Mall), so I expect that it will do well.  Good food and a good location usually translate into restaurant success.  If our next visit to Mash'd is this good, we will certainly put it in our regular restaurant rotation. 

Mash'd

http://www.mashd.com/

Livin the Good Life Rating = 3

Sam's Restaurant

A hunting trip with my brother in early January, found me in Fairfield, Texas.  My brother and I had been drawn for a public hunt at Fairfield Lake State Park.  Although we didn't have any luck getting a deer, we did enjoy our visit to the town and found some good food.  One of the places we tried, Sam's Restaurant, was very impressive.

Great Loaf of Bread

Sam's has a regular menu, but they are best known for their buffet.  The restaurant sits right off I-45 and sees many a hungry traveler in addition to the locals that frequent the restaurant.  We arrived right at 11:00 a.m. and the restaurant was already getting full.  Since we had skipped breakfast, we were starving and elected to get the buffet.

Trip #1

The buffet had a fairly extensive salad bar, but I only had a little salad as I wanted to save room for all the meats and sides.  The thing I remember the most about the salad bar was the fact it had delicious croutons.  I am not sure if they were homemade or not, but they were great.  While we were making our way back from our first trip to the buffet, the waitress delivered a very good loaf of bread to our table.  We ended up making several trips each to the buffet and tried a little bit of everything.

Trip #2

Trip #3

The buffet had fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, meatloaf, brisket, sausage, etc.  They also had an extensive selection of sides.  I usually don't have high expectations for the quality of food at buffets, but Sam's is not your typical buffet.  Most of the food here was actually really good and I particularly liked the fried chicken and chicken-fried steak.  With the exception of the brisket, I was impressed with everything I tried.  Sam's also had an extensive selection of desserts as well.  Even though I was incredibly full, I was able to sample a piece of chocolate sheet cake to top off my meal.  The chocolate icing was really rich and it was liberally topped with chopped pecans.

Trip #4-Chocolate Cake

My first visit to this feed trough was a memorable one and I certainly didn't leave hungry.  The food is excellent and the staff is great.  Next time I am traveling down I-45, I will certainly plan a stop at Sam's.  If you are ever in the Fairfield area, I recommend that you stop by and give Sam's a try.

Sam's Restaurant
http://www.samsoriginal.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating = 3