Gregory's Bistro

For years, I have heard great things about Gregory's Bistro.  Even with all the praise, my wife and I had not dined at the restaurant, despite the fact it was so close to us.  The restaurant recently moved from it's location in Downtown McKinney and opened at it's new location in Adriatica Village.  On a recent Friday, we decided to finally go give it a try.

Upon walking in, our first impression was that it was a beautiful restaurant with simple decor.  Having reservations, we were immediately seated and some delicious bread and butter was brought to us.  For a starter, we decided to split the Crab and Lobster Cake, which was absolutely delicious and was a great start to the meal.

Lobster and Crab Cake

For our main course, my wife and I found Gregory's Feature of the Day to sound appealing and ordered that.   The feature was a Pan Seared Texas Redfish with Lobster and Hatch Green Chile Butter Sauce.  The dish was served on a bed of Pesto Fingerling Potatoes. I am not exaggerating here when I say that it was the best seafood dish that I have had in years.  The flavor was amazing and the ingredients went together nicely.  The potatoes were great too and went well with the fish.

Pan Seared Texas Redfish with Lobster and Hatch Green Chile Butter Sauce

Instead of splitting a dessert, we each ordered our own.  My wife had the Bread Pudding, which was quite tasty.  I had the Texas Pecan Cream Cake, which was light and not overly sweet.  Both desserts were great, but we could not agree on which we liked the most.  My wife liked the bread pudding best, but I loved the cake.  We each had a cappuccino to go with dessert and the coffee got a big thumbs up as well.

Bread Pudding 

Texas Pecan Cream Cake

Cappuccino 

We were quite pleased with our first visit to Gregory's Bistro and I would definitely rank it in my top 3 restaurants in McKinney, Texas.  Our table had an amazing view of the lake at Adriatica Village and you didn't feel like you were in the middle of a Dallas suburb.  With the decor and architecture of Adriatica Village, you almost felt like you were dining in Europe.  The service was absolutely on point and it was an amazing dining experience.  We can't wait for our next visit!

Gregory's Bistro
http://www.gregorysbistro.org
Livin the Good Life Rating=5

Rise

My wife and I recently celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary.  We usually try to celebrate by gorging ourselves on massive amounts of high quality food, but this year we were just back from some heavy dining during our vacation and were looking for a place that was both tasty and low in calories.  Having heard great things about Rise and their soufflés,  we decided to venture into Dallas and see what this casual bistro had to offer.

Marshmallow Soup

The Marshmallow Soup came highly recommended by our waitress, so we followed her advice and promptly ordered it.  The soup's name is somewhat misleading, because it is actually a tomato bisque with lumps of goat cheese that look like marshmallows and topped with pesto.  The soup was had a very rich flavor and tasted like it may have had a hint of carrots as well.  We both enjoyed this unique soup and the breadstick that accompanied it.

Southwest Chicken 

For my main course, I ordered the Southwest Chicken Soufflé which was topped with tomatillo sauce.  This was my first time eating a soufflé and it was really good, but somewhat bland except for the tomatillo sauce.  My wife ordered the speciality soufflé, which was Corn and Serrano Pepper.  I liked the taste of this one as well, but once again felt it was somewhat bland and a little more spongy than I anticipated.  My wife assured me that this was normal for these dishes and after reading up on soufflés when I got home, I found that this was quite normal and that most have a very "mild" flavor.

Corn and Serrano Pepper

The dessert soufflés were my favorite part of the meal.  My wife had the Praline and I had the Chocolate.  Both were very good, but I felt the chocolate was phenomenal.  The chocolate sauce that topped it was fantastic and I could have drunk a gallon of the thick sauce.  These dessert soufflés are not to be missed when dining here. 

Chocolate

Praline

We enjoyed our first experience at Rise and felt it was a perfect place for a romantic night out.  The friendly waitress was extremely helpful and the ambiance of the restaurant was perfect.  A great thing about this place is that you can have a fantastic date night here, but it is also casual and will not break the bank either.

Rise
http://www.risesouffle.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Bouchon

On our last day in Vegas, my wife and I woke up early and wanted to grab breakfast somewhere close.  Since it was 7:30 a.m., most of the Venetian/Palazzo restaurants had not opened for breakfast/brunch yet.  The concierge's desk recommended Bouchon, which is a French restaurant owned by Thomas Keller.  Having heard good things about the restaurant, we decided to give it a try.  For those unfamiliar with Thomas Keller, he has won several James Beard Awards and was voted Best Chef by Time Magazine in 2001.  

Fresh Bread, Butter, and Jam

While looking over the menu, our waitress brought us out some fresh bread, butter, and jam.  The bread was still hot and the butter and jam were both great.  I didn't want to have a heavy breakfast because I planned on working out later that morning, so I ordered the Fruit Salad and a Chocolate Croissant.  The fruit salad had honeydew, cantaloupe, pears, and pomegranate.  All the fruit was fresh and delicious.  The chocolate croissant was also very flaky and the chocolate was very rich.

Fruit Salad and Chocolate Croissant

My wife ordered the Petit Dejeuner Americaine (small American breakfast) with over easy eggs, bacon, toast, and jam filled beignets.  She thought it was very good and I was able to sample the bacon and the raspberry-filled beignets.  Both were good, although I prefer beignets with powdered sugar and without any filling.

Petit Dejeuner Americaine

Beignets

Our breakfast hit the spot and was  enough for us to start the day on a good note.  The service was absolutely spectacular and the rich and robust coffee may have been my favorite part of the breakfast.  The breakfast was good enough to where I would like to try out their dinner menu on a future visit.  The Venetian/Palazzo complex has some very good restaurants and Bouchon matched the quality that I have come to expect from all of their restaurants.

Bouchon
http://www.venetian.com/restaurants/signature/bouchon.html
Livin the Good Life Rating=3