Del Frisco's Grille

Del Frisco's Grille recently opened a location at the Shops at Legacy.  I heard good things about the Dallas and Southlake locations, so I have been wanting to try the Plano location ever since it opened.  My wife and I had the opportunity to meet for lunch there one day and it just so happened to coincide with DFW Restaurant Week and their lunch special of an appetizer and entree for $20.

Cheesesteak Egg Roll

The DFW Restaurant Week lunch menu had several items to choose from and I chose to order the Cheesesteak Egg Rolls and the Grille Prime Cheeseburger.  The egg rolls were great and I liked the crispy egg roll and the flavor of the cheesesteak. I also appreciated the fact that the onions were finely chopped and didn't overpower the dish.  The cheeseburger was okay, but not earth-shattering awesome in any way.  The fries were bland, but that was easily remedied when I added some more salt to them.

Grille Prime Cheeseburger and Fries

My wife went rogue and actually ordered off the normal lunch menu instead of the Restaurant Week Menu.  She ordered the Chicken Avocado Wrap with sweet potato fries.  It was a very large wrap, so she gave me half of it and I loved the flavor of the chicken, avocado, thick-cut bacon, and the chipotle aioli.  Usually I am not a fan of wraps, but this one was huge and I actually preferred it to my burger.  Her sweet potato fries also tasted much better than my fries.

Chicken Avocado Wrap and Sweet Potato Fries

We enjoyed our meal and the service was decent enough with no real complaints except having to wait a little longer than we should for drink refills.  I really liked the laid back atmosphere of this high-end casual restaurant and plan on going back.  Their dinner menu is intriguing and I really want to try out some of the items that were not available for lunch. 

Del Frisco's Grille
http://delfriscosgrille.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Gordon Biersch

Gordon Biersch Brewery has two two restaurant locations in Texas.  The upscale casual brewery restaurant has one location in Dallas and one at The Shops at Legacy in Plano.  On a recent Sunday, I met my brother for dinner at the latter location.

Italian Cheese Pizza

We were both hungry and decided to start with the Italian Cheese Pizza.  The pizza was made with Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses and was between 12-14 inches in diameter.  Neither of us were impressed with the pizza, which was burned in some places and had a tough crust.

Marzen BBQ Chicken Sandwich and Garlic Fries

For my entree, I ordered the Marzen BBQ Chicken Sandwich with garlic fries.  The barbecue sauce was almost non-existent and the chicken was rubbery.  The garlic fries had way too much garlic on them for my taste and I didn't finish either the sandwich or the fries.  My brother gave me a bite of his Kobe Cheeseburger and it was the one item I tried that was actually decent.

Kobe Cheeseburger and Garlic Fries

The wait staff was decent enough and checked on us regularly, but the food was beyond disappointing.  Maybe some of their food is good, but I certainly didn't try any of it on this visit.  Gordon Biersch Brewery will not get a return visit from me, especially when their are much restaurants located at The Shops at Legacy.

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant
http://www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants
Livin the Good Life Rating=1

East Hampton Sandwich Co.

I am lucky that I have several friends that are also foodies and they frequently recommend restaurants to me.  These recommendations often lead to a dining excursion at the recommended restaurant. Two of my foodie friends highly recommended East Hampton Sandwich Co. to me.  The Dallas Observer voted the restaurant as the Best Sandwich Shop in 2013 and Thrillist claimed it was one of the 21 Best Sandwich Shops in America.  The high praise bestowed upon this restaurant served to set the bar very high in the expectations department.

In addition to their popular Snyder Plaza location, East Hampton Sandwich Co. opened up a second location in Plano at The Shops at Legacy.  Last Wednesday, my wife and I decided to meet for dinner after work and enjoy a hump-day meal at the Plano location.  One of the first things that we noticed is that they have a very nice outdoor dining area that looked like a perfect place to dine and visit with friends.  We contemplated sitting outside, but the wind made it a little too cold to dine outdoors on this particular day.  

We ordered our sandwiches at the counter and found a seat in the corner so our kids could be corralled without bothering other patrons.  The menu has several delicious-sounding sandwiches, which made it tough for me to pick just one.  After contemplating for a time, I finally ordered the Fried Chicken+Jack sandwich which consisted of Southern fried chicken, pepper jack, greens, bacon, avocado mash, tomatoes, and a jalapeno cream sauce.  The fried chicken breasts were pounded very thin and they had a crunchy batter that was seasoned well.  Although the chicken itself had a nice flavor, the sandwich was underwhelming in the flavor department.  Even the jalapeno cream sauce did not give it a punch of flavor.  Each sandwich is served with their homemade thick-cut potato chips.  The potato chips were certainly better than most, but they could have used some more salt.

Fried Chicken+Jack Sandwich

My wife ordered the lobster roll which included lobster, greens, chives, and a butter drizzle.  She felt the lobster roll on this day did not have enough greens on it and could have benefited from some more chives.  I tried a couple of bites and agreed with her assessment.  The sandwich was very bland, regardless of how much butter I liberally applied.

Lobster Roll

We ordered a grilled cheese for one kid and chicken strips for the kids.  They both ate well without any complaints.  We also had an order of the Hampton's Donut Bag with strawberry filling.  The donuts were somewhat tough to chew and seemed to be slightly overcooked.  The strawberry filling was very tasty, but you had to be careful eating them because the filling had a tendency to squirt out of the donut.

Hampton's Donut Bag (in a box, not a bag)

My wife and I were both disappointed in our visit to East Hampton Sandwich Co.  Perhaps I had over-hyped it in my mind, because it certainly did not live up to my expectations.  Different people have different tastes, but I will have to disagree with my friends on this particular restaurant.  The sandwiches were not horrible by any means, but they were not memorable either.  I also felt the sandwiches were a little on the pricey side, especially since they were just served with chips.  There may be a time when I give this place a second chance, but I certainly will not be going out of my way to eat here again.  

East Hampton Sandwich Co.
http://ehsandwich.com/
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

Kenny's Smoke House

This weekend, I took a short trip to Plano to visit The Shops at Legacy.  Joining me on this trip were my brother and oldest daughter.  I had been told that there was some good barbecue to be found here at a fairly new joint called Kenny’s Smoke House.

My little brother and my oldest daughter before the meal.

I was a little skeptical about the claim of good barbecue being found at The Shops at Legacy.  Being a barbecue purist, I expect to find good barbecue in a place that has a strong smell of wood smoke, a line where you order and see your meat being cut, and a guy named Earl or LeRoy cutting your meat on a greasy cutting board.  The meat cutter might or might not be missing a finger or two from occasionally not paying attention to his job.  You will not find these things at Kenny’s Smokehouse.  There is no Earl or LeRoy that one can see, but they could have been out of sight in the kitchen area.  In my mind, I was thinking that this place is far too "swanky" to serve up any decent barbecue.

Not the look of a traditional barbecue joint.

Even though this did not look like a traditional barbecue joint, I decided to hold my judgment until I had tasted the grub.  I ordered a combo meal with brisket, ribs, and jalapeno cheddar sausage.  For my sides, I had fried onions and the smoke house bbq fries.  The brisket was average at best and very tough.  The jalapeno cheddar sausage was not impressive at all and a little undercooked for my liking.  The ribs were absolutely terrible.  They might have been pretty good, had they not been basted in a horribly flavored barbecue sauce.  The waffle fries were overcooked and had a somewhat flavorful barbecue seasoning on them.   Lastly, the fried onions had a really flavorful and crispy batter on them, but the onions were not cut in a uniform size and about half the batch were still partially raw.

Combo plate with brisket, ribs, and sausage.

Fried onions.

My brother had a brisket sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich.  He said the brisket sandwich was decent, but said the pulled pork sandwich was the worst he had ever had.  Just looking at the sandwich, it appeared to have a lot more fat than pulled pork.  Sadly, my daughter’s chicken tenders were the best item we sampled at this barbecue joint.

Pulled pork sandwich and smokehouse bbq fries.

Kids chicken tenders and fries.

There are many good restaurants at The Shops at Legacy.  Kenny’s Smoke House is not one of them.  The wait staff was friendly, but the food was very disappointing.  I give this place a 2 on my 5-point scale.  I was even less impressed with this restaurant than I was when I visited Kenny’s Burger Joint.  There are many people that swear by Chef Kenny Bowers and his restaurants, but I cannot understand what all the buzz is about.

Kenny’s Smoke House

http://kennyssmoke.com/home/

Livin the Good Life Rating=2