The Original AL....

The Mother of all Adventure Lunches

This is the golden standard against all future trips will be measured.  It had all the elements, danger, excessive hype!

This is also the shortest Blog to date since I am cleaning out my hard drive!

Royal China

[description TBD]

Who said sack lunch can't be an adventure?

Even when eating lunch at work, adventure can be found. To go along with our standard sack lunch routine we had freshly cut tender coconut water drinks. As we enjoyed our lunch, we could just sit back and image a cool breeze and hear the sound of the ocean around us before returning to reality. The taste could have been improved if we had some rum around.

These coconuts were gifts from the Bistro B restaurant in honor of Chinese New Year. They handed out a box of these along with cookies and a crisp $2 bill -- true story. 

We had an expert coconut chopper straight from India handle the opening of the coconuts with a knife that was about 3lb too light, but still he made short work of these while creating minimal mess in the break area.

Knife that was smuggled in to open the coconuts:

Lunch in Korea! Adventures galore.

Eating in Korea is a real adventure.  I actually really enjoyed it though, including lots of strange stuff like kimchi, squid, at least 10 kinds of mushrooms, and raw beef.  

  

If nothing else, I impressed our Korean colleagues with my sense of adventure, use of chopsticks, and tolerance of spicy food.

This bowl of red soup with angel hair pasta in it was one of the stranger things.  It was icy cold like slush with ice still in the broth, but it was spicy hot and full of vegetables and seafood.  It was brought at the end of the meal like dessert???

Ziziki's - meh..

Bottomline.. quality of the food (desserts not included in this statement) was acceptable. Not so the quantity, or the ratio of meat to everything else.

Moussaka:

This was my order. It was good. Not enough of it though.. I had to get a supplemental whopper on the way back.


Grilled Salmon Souvlaki:

Notice the tiny slivers of Salmon. This dish should've been called "Pita bread with random tid-bits of Salmon"


Sliced Lamb souvlaki:

Lamb chunks(?) Souvlaki:

Dessert - Baklava layered with icecream:

One of us took the plunge, but was very disappointed.

Same thing after being passed around a table of 16..

'nuff said!


I'm not going back anytime soon..

This is the below author's Freebirds card...

Any questions??

Freebirds

In the workplace there is a great divide when it comes to selecting burrito venue. But for me there is always a clear winner.

Perhaps it is behavioral conditioning from my Alma Mater, Texas A&M—or perhaps it is the superior taste and general quality and selection of the ingredients that sets Freebirds apart from other lesser burrito joints. But given a choice, Freebirds always gets my vote.

There have been some recent disappointments such as the pandering to people with Chipotleian tendencies by offering “Cilantro Lime” rice as a menu option. To the purist, it just throws you off your game to be asked what kind of rice you would like. But all is forgiven once you bite into a burrito that is second to none.

Be sure to get a Fanatics card—buy 10 get one free. Or if you are there with me, I’d be more than happy to take your burrito credit on my card.

Below is the Monster chicken burrito on a cayenne tortilla if you have a substantial appetite. For those lower on the food chain, there are also the Freebird (regular) and Hybird (small) options. Or if you’re really up to a digestive challenge, the Super Monster awaits you. Don’t forget the Death Sauce to enhance your burrito consumption experience.

Yes, perhaps there are other burrito restaurants closer to your place of work that are more convenient. But does saving a 10 minute drive really justify subjecting your taste buds to anything less than the best?

http://freebirds.com/locations/

Canyon Creek Freebirds

238 W Campbell Rd

Richardson, TX 75080

Old Town Freebirds

5500 Greenville Ave

Dallas, TX 75206

Belt Line Freebirds

5000 Belt Line Rd

Dallas, TX 75254

Pollo Regio - More than just Chicken

Barbacoa tacos

While I concur with the previous review on the chicken at Pollo Regio, they
do have other alternatives that are tasty.

Menu item #10 are the Barbacoa street tacos. At $5.95 for five tacos, these
are a filling and satisfying selection. These come only with diced onions and
cilantro. Drinks are extra, but the fresh salsa bar, as always, is complimentary.

(Note, only 4 tacos are shown due to my enthusiasm to eat before taking the picture!)

The definitive grilled chicken (Pollo Regio)

"Definitive" is defined as:

de·fin·i·tive

  [dih-fin-i-tiv]

adjective

1.

serving to define, fix, or specify definitely.

2.

satisfying all criteria.

The criteria (like Asimov's laws of robotics, there be three of 'em for the purposes of this blog), as adopted by the exalted and elevated committee for all things lunch :-) are..

1. Taste alone (would you have it again?)

2. Taste vs. price (would you pay for it often)

3. Taste vs. location (would you be willing to drive to get it again?)

The chicken at Pollo Regio gets a resounding YES! on all the above without breaking a sweat. Consistently well-seasoned, moist meatiness on almost every visit. This is my go-to place for lunch for something quick, tasty and very economical. $6.99 gets you all the goodies in the pictures below.. half a chicken + rice + charro beans + 10 corn tortillas + cold beverage. The rice, beans and tortillas are no slouches either, and I haven't had better anywhere else.

Bottomline.. I've been there a _lot_ this past year, and I do not see that changing for the foreseeable future.

Locations:
http://www.elpolloregio.net/locations/

Our normal location:
http://g.co/maps/c6uvc

“Fish City Grill” and “Nothing Bundt Cakes” Day

The purpose of this lunch trip (yesterday) was really to pick up some bundt cakes for a friend’s birthday but we figured that we might as well try smth different to eat in the vicinity. So, we decided to go to Fish City Grill.

As soon as we entered we were warmly greeted by the staff; the atmosphere and the cleanliness of this location looked promising and the aromas from the kitchen were welcoming. As soon as we sat down though we noticed that one of the sets of silverware for our party was wrapped in a dirty napkin. Still, we gave the benefit of the doubt to the staff that it could have been an accident. Easy to happen with paper napkins…I was personally still excited to try what was touted in the menu to be “the best fish tacos in town”
The food arrived pretty soon and it looked delicious (see the pictures of what our party ordered: shrimp tacos, Mahi Mahi and fish tacos). However, my fish tacos could barely be called tacos. They were tasty but I would call them more fish wraps. There was too much tortilla wrapped around breaded fish and other ingredients for me to justify it being called fish taco. The fish was the main protagonist of the dish but it was as if the director knew that it did not have star quality.

Fish Taco

Left - Shrimp Tacos  :: Right - Grilled Mahi-Mahi

Bottom Line: If you would like to have a tasty generous serving of fish wraps for under $15 (including drink and tip) definitely get this dish. If you want to try the best fish tacos in town, keep on looking

Location: In Preston Oaks Shopping Center at the SE corner of Preston and Royal
Dallas, Preston & Royal
214-891-9979
10720 Preston Road #1012
Dallas, Texas 75230

PS What about the cake place you’d ask? All I can say is that a lot of my family members for the Holidays will be getting cakes from this place. Delicious!

Location: 10720 Preston Road, Dallas, TX 75230-3864 (214) 691-2253

Bone Daddy's

Sliced Beef sandwich with Fried Okra and Mac 'n Cheese