Paris Coffee Shop

I'm ashamed to admit that it has taken me until now to finally make it over to the Paris Coffee Shop. Everybody tells me how great the food and service are (presumably from Flo), and how I must get over there and I just never made it.

Well, I went, so now I must discuss my experience. First off, I've been a big Ol' South fan for years. I usually go there because its convenient (on the way to work) and I like the atmosphere. So I was a bit skeptical about Paris. I assumed that people who like Paris don't like Ol' South. It turns out, you can like them both.

The Paris Coffee Shop is over on Magnolia, just west of Hemphill and sits amongst a great little urban-esque area that I'm sure the people at FortWorthology just love. And I'll admit, I like it too. From the mural wall outside to the entrance right on Magnolia that lets you face an old cleaners and a current salon and Hot Damn Tamales...it's a cool place. The interior is a little different from what I expected. For some reason I thought there would be more form to the seating but other than a few rows of booths on the edge and the middle row, the center table seating is fairly scattered. But I like that. It seems like most breakfast places you go into in small towns.

As I normally do when I eat at a restaurant in the morning, I ordered breakfast. I had the breakfast combo or whatever its called with eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast and some coffee. It was great. In my opinion, the food I had was better than the similar meal at Ol' South. Of course, Ol' South waitresses ask if you want chewy or crispy bacon, but I probably could have made that request had I been on top of things. The hashbrowns were not those potato strips mashes that are sometimes crispy on the top and soft on the bottom. It was actually chunky mashed up potatoes, served like a scoop of ice cream. But these weren't mashed potatoes. These were hashbrowns like we have some mornings at home. They really were great.

I have two regrets from my trip to Paris. I was hoping for a waitress named Flo. Also, I should have ordered the biscuits and gravy. There's nobody to blame but myself. Now I'll have to go back for those. Maybe Flo will be there.

To conclude, Paris Coffee Shop has great food, a cool location, and a dingy cluttered interior that seems about right.

Piranha

Well, this is only quasi-hole-in-the-wall related but I wanted to give an update on my Sushi experience.

A group of friends and I went to Piranha recently and with the exception of one person, we were all sushi-newbies. Although reluctant at first, everybody in the group agreed to go the raw route. To ease into the night we started with a compromise. We ordered the sesame seared tuna and some spring rolls. The spring rolls were supposed to be our safety food in case somebody just couldn't handle it. Unfortunately we were so hungry, they were gone before anybody knew what happened. The seared tuna was wonderful, but in my opinion it was the three sauces on the plate that really made the dish. The tuna came with a Mild chili sauce, an Aioli sauce and wasabi cream sauce. After our first foray of raw(esque) fish, we were ready for the real deal.

I must admit, we shied away from the sashimi. It wasn't because we were skeered, but it was because we thought ordering a bunch of the cool rolls would be fun for the table and we could all share. So we proceeded. Everybody picked a roll they wanted and we ordered one of each, so we ended up with the Birthday Roll, Rainbow Roll, Dragon Roll, Marry Me Roll, and a California Roll (another safety device). I'll let you read the descriptions on your own, but our favorites were the Dragon Roll, Marry Me Roll, Rainbow Roll, Birthday Roll, and California Roll. By our favorites, I mean the order in which they were consumed.

We really liked them all so much. Since five of us shared five rolls we were craving a bit more of our favorites so we ordered another Marry Me Roll, Rainbow Roll and California Roll (because it was cheap). Although our sushi pro friend and I preferred the Dragon and Birthday roll, we were outvoted by two girls and the reluctant friend who preferred the simplicity of the rainbow roll. Also, fiance's votes count twice when they really want something. Anyways, the second batch did us in. We all moaned and groaned as we shoved the last few pieces in our mouths and waited for our stomach to accept the raw offering. And we were done.

So the food was great, but don't forget the drinks. I had read about the martini bar and I had read about drinking sake with your sushi. With three guys and two girls, we managed to cover both areas. I have to admit, I skipped the sake and went for the martinis but for two very important reasons. First, they had one with Tuaca, which I've been a big fan of ever since I saw Tim Love doing Tuaca shots on Iron Chef America. Second, JD, on Scrubs always orders appletinis, so I had to get one of those. Hey, I'm engaged, I can order the girliest drink in the bar, right?

The girls also had some 'tinis but they were really girly and pink with flowers. They liked them, but they liked my appletini more.

The two other guys wussed out and had the sake. They both gave it rave reviews. I've known both of these guys for going on three years now, and they know beer. I don't remember which sake they got but it was the "not dark" one. Or something like that.

I'm almost done. One more thing to mention is the atmosphere. I've read about how this place is pretty hip and it feels very urban. I'm not very knowledgeable about what is and isn't urban but I imagine this is pretty close. We couldn't get in until nine (with a reservation), and the place was packed until the time we left which was close to 11. There were all sorts of people at the restaurant when we visited. There were Cowboys at the sushi bar, College-aged girls at one table, a couple of older people at another table, and all sorts of other groups that don't fit neatly into any one category. Basically, its a place where anybody can go and feel comfortable. Unless you're afraid of raw stuff. I don't mean a dislike for it, I mean an actual fear of raw stuff. You'll hate it. Seriously.

So, to sum up my short little review, I would definitely recommend this place. It fits on this blog because its quasi-locally owned. The original is in Arlington. That's close enough.

I would like to apologize to all the people sitting around us that had to endure me staring at their food or making lame sushi jokes. I now know, that comparing a sushi roll to a burrito is inappropriate and offensive to the stuck up people next to me. I mean, I'm sorry.

Here's the link if you want to plan a night out at Piranha: http://www.piranhakillersushi.com/

Cupcake Cottage

Some of you have probably already discovered this, but if you want cupcakes from the Cupcake Cottage, you might as well call and order a dozen or so. It is almost impossible to get there in time to enjoy the full selection, and even if you do, the guy in front of you will probably order all of the remaining cupcakes because he overheard you and it made him hungry. Jerk.

So, as you can probably tell, I made it over to the cottage o' cupcakes. If you can make it over there by 10:15, you should have a slightly limited selection of their full regiment. They open at 10 and apparently most of the cupcakes they make each day are sold before the doors ever even open. I don't know if thats a fact, that just seems to be the case. Anyways, I can understand why.

I tried a mixture of what was remaining (there wasn't much) and by far, the best cupcake I had was the fiori di Sicilia. The flavor page of the website says it is flavored with pure vanilla, almond, and citrus. The flavors were pronounced but not overpowering, the dwarfy cake was moist and the icing was not the kind you find at grocery stores that taste like the first step to a root canal. I'm not a huge super sweet fan so for me, this was great.

The red velvet was next and it was good with no complaints. I don't know anything about what makes a great red velvet cake but this one tasted right to me.

Finally, I had a chocolate cupcake. I'll be honest. In my opinion, a chocolate cupcake is a chocolate cupcake is a chocolate cupcake. This one was definitely good. It was moist, it had good flavor, and again, the icing was good, but compared to the fiori di sicilia, it was just a chocolate cupcake.

Some of you cupcake connoisseurs may have differing opinions, but this isn't your blog so you'll have to settle for making a comment. But, as support, my fiance agreed with me on the cupcakes. So thats two recommendations for the fiori di sicilia.

Oh, and no hard feelings towards the guy that ordered all the cupcakes my fiance and I were planning to order. He knew the cupcakes were great and he knew that when you go, you should order everything they have because it may be the last time you get there early enough to get anything.

Edit:

I knew I was forgetting something. The Cupcake Cottage is on El Campo, just east of Camp Bowie. To your right you'll see a link.

got sushi?

See what I did there? I took a popular tag line and made it my own. Brilliant.

Anyways, on a not-necessarily-hole-in-the-wall note, I'm looking for a good sushi restaurant. I would like to stay in Fort Worth if possible, but I will travel if necessary.

I am not a sushi connoisseur, and so I need a restaurant with great quality as well as a large selection so that I can be picky. The website for Piranha has a menu that seems fairly extensive and its downtown so I'm thinking thats the place to go. Have you been to Piranha and if so can you recommend it or warn me?

This is going to be a learning experience for me and I want to eat at a really good place, so that if I don't like it, I'll know I gave it my all.

Also, any recommendations on types of sushi or sashimi for newcomers to the raw world would be helpful.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Jazz Cafe

So, apparently I'm the last person in the world to try out Jazz, but just in case there's one other person behind me, I'm spreading the word.

If you're thinking, Jazz, this must be either a blues bar or a Southern/Bayou type restaurant, you're wrong. It's a Greek place. Or a sandwich place. Or maybe its both. I don't know. They have things other than sandwiches, like tabouli, and other things I can't spell.

Based on the prodding and peer pressure of my lunch companions, I tried the Gorsky (or some other unusual word). Unfortunately I forgot everything that came on it, but I remember some deli sliced meat, lettuce, and other things. But the kicker, is that this sandwich comes with fresh slices of jalepeno. I'm not a big eater of just plain ole' jalepenos but this sandwich has started to change my mind. The only way I usually eat these spicy peppers is in pico de gallo, grilled, and pureed. The kick those peppers gave my sandwich was great and is probably what will bring me back.

Now, this may be a rambling post but its because the food was food and although it tasted fine was nothing to write two paragraphs in a blog about....whoops. I'm sure other things are great there as well (see the discussion regarding tabouli and other things I can't spell).

But, the point of the post is to tell you about this place. It's on Montgomery, north of I-30, but south of Camp Bowie. It's on the west side of the road and when you drive by, you'll see a white wall, with a small sign that says "Jazz". You will probably end up parking on the street near the church next door. When you enter, you come into what seems like a great little outdoor patio, except nobody is eating out there. Also, there are dirt bikes and other junkyard items sitting near/on the tables. Then you walk into this little building that opens up into a quaint little dining space. It feels like a place that should be sitting over some water somewhere. Maybe thats why its Greek. The ambiance makes it feel like a place you could start to call your own. It seems like one of those places where you'd really like to be a regular. Also, if the phone on the wall rings, don't answer it. Trust me.

I thought this was a cool place because of the atmosphere and good food. I am not an expert and I claim no knowledge of Greek food other than gyros and tabouli. But I think next time I'll step out from behind my sandwich shield and try something new. If you haven't been, definitely give it a try.

Soul Cleanser

Well, its really more of a soul clogger, but you need to get to Drew's quickly...unless you eat there often, in which case you probably don't go anywhere quickly. Drew's is a hole in the wall soul food restaurant over on Horne, just south of Camp Bowie and if you haven't been, I would clear out some room in your stomach and head over there.

Last week I tried their chicken fried steak (CFS) while the person I was with had the smothered pork chop. Because I was hungry I skipped the lunch portion and went with the "small". The "small" CFS is actually two medium size pieces of deliciously fried meat. The fried portion was crispy but flaky and the meat was tender enough to cut with the dull knife provided. The "small" and lunch portion also both come with two sides and a cornbread muffin. The muffin was nothing special, but the sides were amazing. I tried the collard greens and candied yams and learned that I did not know how to cook either properly. The collard greens were just salty enough with a bit of bacon in them and the yams were tender and mushy. Whether that sounds delicious or not, I don't know, but it was. Trust me.

By the way, is there any dish that is not better off with bacon in it? Seriously, give me some examples...

The person I was with didn't get a chance to tell me how everything was because he swallowed his entire meal in about three bites. He tried to convince me the smothered chop was the greatest thing there. The CFS was terrific so I hope he's right because I'm getting the chop next time.

My meal at Drew's cost approximately $10 with the "small portion" and a sweet tea. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the sweet tea. They have sweet tea AND real lemons. Not those goofy lemon packets they give you at restaurants that hate you.

I give Drew's a quadruple bypass rating. I am forcing myself to make lunch each morning so I wont be as tempted to go over there. But seriously, if your doctor will clear you, head on over to Drew's and try anything. Please let me know how some of the other items are because I really want to try everything they have there. Also, if you or somebody you know has a spare heart, you should probably call dibs because you'll probably need it after a few visits here.

Ol' South - German Pancake

Have you had the German Pancake? No? Probably because you're afraid of the lemons and sugar...right? Don't be. In the words of the venerable Moe Sizlack, "it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited." A mouth party indeed.

In case you're unfamiliar (and this may be wrong so if you are familiar, just play along) the german pancake is a baked pancake about the size of Iowa. It comes out on a plate, with the edges folded in slightly to hide the 3 kilos of powdered sugar...or thats what I was told was in there. The waitress (Flo, no doubt), squeezes some fresh lemon juice into the powdered sugar mound and then mixes it together. The pancake is then folded into a chimichanga looking device and flipped over so the seam is facing down.

You then dig in and manage to embarrass yourself, your friends, and Flo. My pancake had the look and texture of a giant fried egg, but it tasted like happiness. The lemon balances out the sweetness of the powdered sugar which in turn balances out the tartness of the lemon. Well, needless to say, it's delicious and is definitely something I'll have to get again.

If you've never been to Ol' South, you should definitely go. On Fridays you can see the cowboys coming down from the stockyards. On weekends you can see the yuppies coming in from everywhere, and on weekdays you can see some of Fort Worth's civic leaders and other influential persons.

I would also recommend the normal pancakes, the hashbrowns (you can get them crispy, not soggy), and bacon (again, crispy or chewy, your choice).

Ol' South is located on University, South of I-30, just past the Macaroni Grill.