Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine

For the last few months, Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine has been on my "must try" list.  Being fond of all things Southern, and especially Southern food, I had high hopes for this restaurant.  I had also read favorable reviews, which sang the praise of this place.

Cornbread

We had reservations and were immediately seated and given complimentary cornbread.  The cornbread was pretty basic and nothing special, but I was hungry and we dug in.  I inquired about what soup of the day was and was told that they didn't have a soup on this particular day, but didn't give a reason as to why this was the case.  With no soup to choose from, we settled on the Black-Eyed Pea Hummus.  The hummus was okay, but the dish has a very high hummus to bread ratio and we quickly ran out of bread.

Black-eyed Pea Hummus

For my entree, I ordered the Oven Roasted Lemon Pepper Redfish. The fish was quite good and was served with a terrific sweet corn succotash and hush puppies.  Although the hush puppies were rather bland, the rest of the dish was very good and I would not hesitate to order it again.

Oven Roasted Lemon Pepper Redfish

My wife ordered the highly acclaimed Fried Chicken and attempted to order a side of Collard Greens.  Our waiter said he wasn't sure if they had any collard greens left and recommended she order a second side in case they were out of collards.  She ordered the Bacon Cheddar Cheese Grits as a back-up.  When her meal arrived, it arrived with the grits, which leads me to assume that they were out of collards.  The chicken had a tasty batter, but it was cold and dry.  The grits were fantastic, but couldn't compensate for the disappointing chicken.

Fried Chicken

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Grits

For dessert, we shared the Julia's Chocolate Cake.  The cake itself was dry and not great by any means, but it was served with a coffee ice cream that was commendable.  If I had a mulligan, I would have ordered the Lemon Cake or the Peach Cobbler.

Julia's Chocolate Cake

I arrived at this restaurant with expectations that it would be of the quality of Sissy's Southern Kitchen in Dallas, but it was anything but.  The food was disappointing overall and I was put off by the fact that neither the soup of the day or the collard greens were available on this night, despite the fact it wasn't even 7 p.m.  The noise level was moderate and the wait staff check on us regularly, but I am not sure if I would be willing to give this place a second chance.

http://juliapearlsoutherncuisine.com
Livin the Good Life Rating = 2

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

Angels with Bagpipes

On one of our days that we spent walking around Edinburgh, we decided to do a little fine dining and made reservations at Angels with Bagpipes, which is located on The Royal Mile.  I had a cousin that recommended this restaurant to me after she had dined there the previous year.  In addition to her recommendations, the Internet also offered up favorable reviews of this establishment which served up fresh Scottish Cuisine.

Bread and Oil

After ordering drinks, our waiter brought out some bread and oil  The fresh bread was fantastic and helped ease the hunger pains in my belly.  For my entree, I ordered the Fillet Steak topped with garlic butter.  My steak was cooked to perfection and the garlic butter gave it a little extra flavor kick that set it over the edge of greatness!  Without question, this was the best fillet (filet for us Americans) that I have had in a at least a couple of years.  It was served with an order of "chips", which were crispy and quite good in their own right.

Fillet

Chips (Fries)

My wife ordered the Salmon.  It was served with wild garlic and gnocchi.  As impressive as my steak was, her salmon was equally unimpressive.  My wife thought it tasted overly fishy and couldn't even finish it.  I sampled some myself and it did have a funny taste to it and was the worst of three salmon meals I tried on this visit to Scotland.  Our waiter was very gracious and insisted on having the chef remove it from our bill, which he did.

Salmon

Angels with Bagpipes is a very quaint restaurant with a comfortable feel to it.  Although the salmon was disappointing, I was quite happy with the quality and flavor of my steak.  The service was friendly and accommodating.  Since we had plans later that night, we skipped dessert, but they did have several interesting looking options on their menu.

Angels with Bagpipes
http://www.angelswithbagpipes.co.uk/the-restaurant/
Livin the Good Life Rating=3
 

Old Florida Fish House

My family loves Seaside, Florida and I was excited to eat at some of my favorite restaurants in the area and try some new ones during our most recent family vacation.  Having passed by Old Florida Fish House several times on our last vacation to the Seaside area, we decided to dine their on our first night of vacation.  The restaurant has their regular dinner menu, but they also have a sushi menu and even a sushi bar.  

Caesar Salad

For starters, I ordered a Caesar Salad and split an order of Fried Green Tomatoes with my wife.  The Caesar salad was pretty basic but it had a simple, yet flavorful dressing and had croutons that had a faint hint of garlic to them.  The fried green tomatoes were outstanding, mainly due to the fact that they were topped with a fantastic beurre blanc sauce and butter poached lump crab meat.  I wouldn't hesitate to order either of these items again.

Fried Green Tomatoes topped with beurre blanc sauce and butter poached lump crab meat

I went with the Chef's Special for my entree, which was Blackened Mahi Mahi over spinach and herb rice pilaf and topped with crawfish beurre blanc sauce.  This dish was the best seafood dish I have had in several months and I was blown away by the combination of flavors and textures in the dish.  The blanc sauce tasted similar to the sauce on the fried green tomatoes, but the crawfish put this dish over the top.  

Blackened Mahi Mahi topped with crawfish beurre blanc sauce

My wife went with the Sauteed Grouper Fish House, which our waitress claimed was the house specialty.  It was served over mashed potatoes and topped with a lemon beurre blanc sauce.  This dish was outstanding as well and my wife allowed me to eat several bites.  Although I loved both entrees, the mahi mahi was slightly better than the grouper.

Sauteed Grouper Fish House

Other members of our party ordered the sushi and were very pleased with what they ordered.  The food was outstanding and the service mostly good, although there were a couple of hiccups.  Bud and Alley's Seafood Restaurant seems to be the most popular seafood joint in the area, but the food at Old Florida Fish House was considerably better than any dish I have had at Bud And Alley's on my three visits there.  I highly recommend a visit to the Old Florida Fish House if you ever find yourself in the Seaside area.

Old Florida Fish House
http://www.oldfloridafishhouse.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Rum Runners

On our way to Seaside, we stopped in Sandestin around lunchtime. Having some time to kill until we were able to get into our beach house, we decided to go The Village of Baytowne Wharf because our kids had enjoyed it on a previous visit.  After walking around for while and perusing the various restaurants, we decided to dine at Rum Runners.

Having never dined here before, I asked our waitress what she would recommend for an appetizer.  She suggested the Caribbean Egg Rolls, which were crispy flour tortillas stuffed with Jerk chicken, onions, peppers, black beans, pepper jack cheese, corn, and salsa.  The dish was served with what tasted like sweet and sour sauce.  I anticipated a flavorful dish, but the egg rolls were very bland.

Caribbean Egg Rolls

Knowing that we would probably be having a big dinner with my in-laws, I decided to just order a sandwich and fries for my second course.  I chose the Fried Grouper Sandwich, which was the fresh fish of the day.   The fish was crispy and the sandwich was better than our appetizer, but nothing special and the fries tasted like they were frozen and out of a bag.  

Fried Grouper Sandwich

My wife had the Spring Salad and the kids ordered mini-corn dogs. The kids didn't seem to mind their food, but my wife barely touched her salad.  The service could have been better too.  While our waitress was friendly, she went long periods of time without checking on us and refilling drinks.  The restaurant had only a handful of other customers, which should have been a sign to stay away since it should have been busier on a Saturday at lunch.  Overall, I was disappointed in the restaurant and I cannot recommend it because there are much better casual seafood restaurants in the area.

Rum Runners
http://www.rumrunners.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=1

Bonefish Grill

There are not a whole lot of good seafood options in Collin County, so I was pleased to see that a new option is now available in Allen.  I have driven by the construction site of Bonefish Grill for the last few months and my family decided to dine there when it was finally open for business.  Upon arrival, we were surprised by how nice it was inside and we second guessed our decision to bring the kids.  We looked around and saw several other tables with kids of the same age, so we decided that our kids would not make too much of a disturbance.

Wagyu Beef Ginger Potstickers

I started with the Wagyu Beef Ginger Potstickers, which came with crispy onions, Thai peppers, and green onions.  The large order of potstickers also sat atop soy sauce.  There were several different flavors going on here, but they all blended well.  Despite this being a seafood restaurant, this dish was more than adequate and the dumplings were entirely filled with beef.

For my entree, I ordered the chef's special of the day, which was Fresh Grouper.  The grouper was grilled, topped with a lemon butter sauce, and served with seasonal vegetables and one side of your choice.  Potatoes Au Gratin were my side of choice and I also added a house Ceasar Salad.

Caesar Salad

The salad arrived first, but was disappointing and lacked flavor.  Instead of freshly shredded or shaved Parmesan, it came topped with grated Parmesan that looked like what people sprinkle over pizza.  The croutons were few and far between.

Grouper with Au Gratin Potatoes and Zucchini

The grouper was actually quite good and I was happy that I added the lemon butter sauce as a topping.  The fish was flaky, moist, and had a very mild flavor.  The potatoes au gratin were almost too rich, but I enjoyed each bite.  Zucchini was the seasonal vegetable of the day and it was also quite good.  

My wife ordered the Lobster Rolls with fries.  While the fries were not great, the lobster rolls were terrific.  The lobster tasted fresh, the cole slaw had good flavor, and the bread was delicious.  These were some of the best lobster rolls I have had in several months.  Unfortunately, my wife thought they were great too and only allowed me one bite.

Lobster Rolls

I was quite full after eating all this food, but I didn't let it stop me from ordering dessert.  The four of us decided to split the Berry Shortcake, which was topped with strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and an ample amount of whipped cream.  This tasty dessert had so much fruit that I almost felt like I was eating healthy!  We were more than happy with our choice of this seasonal dessert.

Berry Shortcake

My family enjoyed our first visit to Bonefish Grill.  The kids gave a thumbs up to their mac n' cheese and chicken strips.  Although this casual restaurant borders on being a fine dining establishment, the staff was more than accommodating to kids and the table is covered in butcher paper which the kids can use to color.  It was busy when were were there and I anticipate it continuing to be busy as there are not many decent seafood options in this area.  We arrived around 5:30 and by the time we left an hour later, there was a long wait (approximately 40 people) for a table.  The food and service at this place will certainly bring us back.

Bonefish Grill
https://www.bonefishgrill.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

S. & D. Oyster Company

Oysters on the Half-Shell

My wife absolutely loves oysters on the half-shell and S. & D. Oyster Company is her favorite place to eat them in Dallas.  I actually prefer oysters fried or chargrilled, but my wife prefers hers raw and she assures me that few are better than those served at S. & D. Oyster Company.  She has been dining there with her family for over three decades and we recently celebrated her birthday at S. &. D.

Hush Puppies and a French Loaf

While my wife ordered a half dozen oysters, the rest of us had seafood gumbo, hush puppies, and a couple of french loafs.  The gumbo was very thick and was just spicy enough for me.  As for the other items, the french loafs were slightly better than the hush puppies.

Cup of Seafood Gumbo

I ordered the Grouper Fish Loaf and fries for my meal.  Grouper is one of my favorite types of fish to eat and the Po'-Boy-like fish loaf was good, but it only came with tartar sauce and ketchup.  I would have preferred that the sandwich be topped with lettuce and tomato or cole slaw.  The fries were average at best and very bland.  Others in our party ordered the fried shrimp and the fried snapper, both of which got a thumbs up from the family members who ordered them.

Grouper Fish Loaf

My wife couldn't leave without getting the Bread Pudding, which she claims is her favorite bread pudding in Dallas.  I tried some and agreed that it was good, but I wouldn't consider it to be the best in Dallas.  I had the Lemon Pie and actually preferred it to the Bread Pudding.

Bread Pudding

The service was outstanding as usual and even the kids enjoyed their meals.  An expansion is occurring right now and it should greatly increase the amount of people that can dine at the restaurant, which is a good thing because it usually gets packed after 6 p.m.  While I don't hold the restaurant in the same regard as my wife does, it is still a solid seafood restaurant and judging by her smile it seemed that my wife thoroughly enjoyed her birthday dinner.

S. & D. Oyster Company
http://sdoyster.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

White River Fish House

On our last full day at Big Cedar Lodge, my family and I decided to go up the road a little ways and visit Branson, Missouri.  We explored the downtown area for a while and made our way to Branson Landing.  While visiting this outdoor shopping area, we decided to grab lunch at White River Fish House.

Dining area

After our waiter took our drink orders, he also brought  us a pan of homemade corn bread.  The corn bread was pretty basic, but it hit the spot and helped tide us over while we waited for our entrees.  The butter served with the corn bread was very good and helped the flavor of the somewhat dry corn bread.

Corn Bread

Walleye is one of my favorite freshwater fish to eat, so I was  happy to see that walleye fingers were on the menu.  The walleye fingers were every bit as good as I had hoped.  The batter was fantastic and the perfectly white walleye pieces were fried to perfections.  As good as the fish was, the fries were a huge disappointment and the cole slaw was unimpressive as well.

Walleye Fingers

My wife ordered the Ozarks-style catfish, which was served with cole slaw, tartar sauce, and onion rings.  Neither of us were impressed with the catfish and it was nowhere near as good as the walleye, but her onion rings were better than expected.  The kids ordered chicken strips and the kid's hamburger, both of which were only halfway finished due to the large serving.

Ozark-Style Catfish

White River Fish House was a mixed bag for us.  Some items were very good, while others were lacking.  The service was mostly good, but on one occasion, we did have to wait quite a while for drinks to be refilled.  I also felt it was a little too pricey or the quality of food that we received.  While I loved the walleye, I probably wouldn't visit this restaurant again if I ever visit Branson again.

White River Fish House
http://restaurants.basspro.com/WhiteRiverFishHouse/
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Fish Shack

Seeing a restaurant with a lot of vehicles is usually a good sign that there is good food to be found inside.  I am always skeptical of a restaurant that is not very crowded.  Since the parking lot has been packed  every time I have passed by Fish Shack in East Plano, I decided to stop in and give it a try.  

Dining area and menu board

The patrons order at the counter at Fish Shack, which can be quite daunting considering the very large menu board that they have.  Luckily for me, there were a few customers in front of me and I was able to look over the menu while other customers were ordering.  It had been several months since I have had a Po Boy, so I ordered the Catfish Po Boy and fries.  I am also a huge fan of hushpuppies, so I ordered the small order (6 hushpuppies) of those as well.

Catfish Po Boy

It only took a few minutes for my order to arrive, so I didn't have too much time to look back at the menu board and second-guess my lunch choice.  The Catfish Po Boy had a very crispy cornmeal batter that had good flavor, but it was a little tough and perhaps slightly overcooked.  Even with it begin somewhat tough, it was still above average in the taste department.  The bun was toasted to perfection and the veggies were fresh.  The fries were pretty basic and typical of most seafood joints, but the hushpuppies were incredible.  I could have easily ate two dozen of these and regretted that I only ordered six of them.

Fantastic Hushpuppies

My visit to Fish Shack was certainly worthwhile.  Although I only sampled a small fraction of their large menu, it certainly left me wanting more.  The food is fresh and tasty, the staff is friendly, and it is a fun place to have a quick meal.  I was glad I took the time for a quick lunch at Fish Shack.

Fish Shack
http://www.fishshackplano.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3