Tacos Palenque

Note:  Since this review was posted, Tacos Palenque shut down.  If I find that they relocated, I will provide a new review so check back...often!

Cock Fighting anybody? Is that inappropriate language for my blog? Nah.

I made it out to Tacos Palenque on Belknap/377 northeast of Downtown FW. I only had breakfast up there, but they've got a good selection. The huevos con tocino (eggs with bacon) were great and came with some soft corn tortillas, beans, and a potato hash type side. It took about 20 minutes to get our food but how big of a rush can you be in on Saturday morning? The eggs had plenty of bacon and were great. The beans, well, you can't really mess those up and they didn't. The potato hash was something I had never had before but it was good.

My buddy had the migas and they looked great. He confirmed.

The chips and hot sauce are what everybody cares about so here's my review. The chips felt stale but were thick. So two days ago they may have been great. The salsa was wonderful. Spicy, not too thin, not too thick (I'm not a fan of the chunky). When breakfast came, the waitress also brought a green "hot sauce" as she described it to me in her best english. Thanks. Anyways, it sort of looked like cat diarrhea but tasted much better. It was spicy, warm and really tasted great with the eggs.

Oh, the cock fighting reference. In the main (only?) dining room, there is a giant mural of a cock fight. Pretty cool. Its seriously worth going just for that. There are also some items you can buy for your loved ones. So, mexican joint, art museum, and store. What a place.

If you want to go, its on Belknap just before you get to the Haltom City border past Race street.

J & J's Update

Last week, I was down in Biloxi, Mississippi and had the opportunity to compare J&J's shrimp po-boy with those in the homeland of po-boys. From Biloxi to Foley, Alabama I managed to eat 5 different po-boys. Four were shrimp and one was catfish. I would now consider myself an expert on this delectable swamp treat.

Based on my po-boy review (all were "dressed" by the way - mayo, pickles, lettuce, tomato and sometimes onion) I think J&J's is pretty darn close to the original thing. The J&J's po-boy was better than two of the ones I had in Gulf-coast area. Their po-boy was actually very close to the best one I had on the entire trip.

The best shrimp po-boy came from a place called "Galley" on some backroad outside of Foley, Alabama. It was very similar to that of J&J's with big crispy shrimp, nice thick bread and a lot of smoke surrounding me.

I also recently had a catfish po-boy at Flying Fish. My review on Flying Fish is delayed in the "is it or is it not a hole in the wall" department. It's a chain, but its in an ugly building. So the editors are discussing this at the moment. But for comparison sakes, the catfish po-boy at Flying Fish was good, but not nearly as good as the one I had in Gulf Shores or Gulfport. I can't remember which city. But that's not really a knock at Flying Fish because the one I had on my vacation was simply the most amazing thing I've had in my entire life (well, in my po-boy related life).

-FortWorthHoleInTheWall

Fred's

Well, I have to admit, until the other day, I had never been to Fred's. But, I finally made it over to the fauxdive and had myself a $9 burger and fries.

Despite the undertones of that previous sentence I actually really liked the burger. It is apparently one of the few places where they'll cook your burger medium-rare. If health inspectors are reading this, I mean medium-well. The burger was good, the guy at the bar that ignored me for most of my meal was mildly helpful and quite fitting with a dive. Overall it was a good place.

For me, the price was a bit steep for the burger and fries, but they have some sexy options available for those who want to try something different. For instance, you can get bleu cheese on your burger. Of course the calling card of Fred's, is that beer goes to the happy hour prices when its raining.  That's $1.90. Those of you who were around in June and July this year must have had a great time up there.

I really need to get to Kincaid's and Tommy's soon so I can accurately compare, discuss, and then be berated by my three viewers who disagree. Just kidding, I think this blog gets about 100K hits a week...

Enough lying. Fred's = Good Burger. On the faux dive thing. I know the restaurant has burned down a few times so it obviously wont look like an old place, but a bleu cheese burger and $13 for a burger, fries, drink and tip almost bumps this out of the dive range. What will keep it there are the employees who are definitely dive restaurant guys. They're cool, laid back, and they get you what you need and let you enjoy your meal.

I've heard this is also a great place to go when they have live bands. Also, with the new development going on to the west of this area, Fred's will make a great contrast that really compliments Fort Worth's whole image (IMO). You'll have old style burger dive next to snazzy new shopping. I like that.

-FortWorthHoleInTheWall

More on Lili's

As per a great suggestion, I wanted to provide a link to Lili's. I'll work on including online information with each review if available. And if nothing is on tv to watch in the next half hour, maybe I'll make a permanent section on the side with the links for quick viewing.

http://www.lilisbistro.com

Lili's Bistro on Magnolia

Well, I finally made it over to Lili's and if you've been there already, I'm probably just preaching to the choir. Lili's is in the Near Southside of Downtown on Magnolia and is a great example of the type of small restaurant everybody wants near them. The menu has a wide range of items to select from and the actual restaurant is interesting enough to prevent any lulls in first date conversations ("oh look, Mrs. Bairds...").

Anyways, I went with a couple friends so we sampled a few items. First, we had to wait on the third person to show up, and after staring at our neighbors' gorgonzola waffle fries for five minutes, I gave in and we got an order of them. Amazing. All fries should be covered in gorgonzola and green onions. These are really just yuppie cheese fries and I don't mind admitting that I love them. The item is an appetizer and is huge. You could get by with one for a table of four but you'll find yourself glaring at your friend that you just know ate more than his share...yeah, they were glaring at me.

For the meals, my fiance had the smokin' hot turkey roulade, I had the basic burger, and our friend had the three-cheese burger. I know, the burger selection was pretty weak but I had to try it and I was in a burger mood.

To imagine a roulade, take all the ingredients in a sandwich and wrap them in a thin piece of dough. Then bake the bundle, cut it into fourths, and serve it to a drooling customer. The roulade was a hit except for the sprouts. Apparently the hot sprouts didn't go over so well, but there are other sandwiches without sprouts.

The burgers were amazing. I chose the sourdough bun but I remember them having another option. The burger was perfectly cooked and the trimmings were great. The bun/meat combo never seemed too messy or greasy. The three cheese burger looked good but my friend was not interested in letting me take a bite of his burger.

I haven't been for dinner but I definitely will be going soon. The food was great, the ambience was great, and our server was great. This is the ideal place for a date (first or otherwise) or a great place to meet some friends. The restaurant is not that big and seats are limited but its worth the wait. We went at lunch and got the last table open at 12:00. But don't let that scare you away.

As usual, if you agree or disagree, let me know. If you've been and have a recommendation on something to try let me know.

-FortWorthHoleInTheWall

Palermo's Italian Cafe

Note:  Since this review was published, Palermo's shut down.  Mamma Mia (the same one on Race Street) has opened in this location and is BYOB.  Check back for the review of Mamma Mia on Magnolia.

I made it over to the Near Southside of Fort Worth and had the opportunity to try some Italian food at Palermo's. One of my friends is Sicilian and I know how passionate these people are about their food, but I'm not so I may be a softer critic. With that said, I thought Palermo's was a great little joint.

Palermo's is on Magnolia and has a great lunch menu. For $5.95 you can have a baked pasta dish, salad and bread. My date and I tried the manicotti and baked tortellini. The manicotti stuffing was really creamy and the salty flavor of the melted cheese on the top completed the dish. The baked tortellini was recommended by the waiter and it did not disappoint. The tortellini was stuffed with cheese and, just like the maniccoti, was baked in a delicious tomato sauce.

We also had the cannoli. The creamy filling was delicious, rich and had a nice hint of cinnamon. There were small chunks of chocolate in the cream and the cannoli was drizzled with a generous amount of chocolate. I have to admit that this was my first cannoli and I loved it. I intend to eat one every day for the rest of my life. Which will no doubt be shortened by this new pledge.

The restaurant, in my opinion, really fits in well with the Magnolia Street attitude and seems like a great place to take a date or a big group of friends and make an Olive Garden type commercial.

My only complaint is that its not BYOB. I wasn't interested in drinking at lunch but it would be nice to take a bottle of wine for dinner. They do have a wine menu though.

One final thing, all the staff I talked with had an Italian (Sicillian?) accent which really added to the ambience. Cool place. If for some reason my extensive twenty second google search missed that this is a massive chain, please call me out on it gently.

-FortWorthHoleInTheWall