Yucatan Taco Stand

The new Fuzzys, wait, Pei Wei, wait, no Taco Stand...wait, what is it? What is that new place on the Southside on Magnolia? Its the bastard child of Pei Wei and Fort Worth's very own Fuzzy's. They wont admit it, but even John Edwards will admit who this daddy is (haha, topical humor, haha).

I don't normally post reviews this quickly after a prior review, but this is important. Yucatan Taco Stand opened yesterday and I'm here to provide you with everything you need to know.

First things first. The entrance is in the breezeway on the east side of the restaurant so don't try to crawl over the little sidewalk fence. As you walk in, you'll notice something very familiar. Three mounted menu boards at an angle eerily similar to Pei Wei. Thats because Pei Wei is this baby's mama.

The menu includes appetizers, tacos, burritos, nachos, south american favorites, and others. The prices range from about $3 for a taco to plates up in the $20 range. I'm cheap so I opted for tacos and the yuca fries while the Mrs. opted for the tequile lime chicken nachos.

But, before I get into the food, let me catch you up on the appearance of this place. It's trendy looking. There are tables against the window, tables up against a middle half wall that has giant sheets of material going to the ceiling, and cabana booths on one end. So its sort of a mexican/south american style place but with a layer of sleek on top. It really does look like Pei Wei and Fuzzy's snuck off down to the river one night. And this was born.

Why Fuzzy's you ask? Because the tacos are very similar to Fuzzy's. I had a tempura fish taco and a cabrito taco. Technically, cabrito is spanish for gringo. But here it means lamb. The tacos come out just like Fuzzy's except the tortilla is triple layered and the meat is covered in a roasted garlic sauce. According to a random non-yucatan woman, the sauce is on everything. Think about that next time you sit down there. The tacos are topped with lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese, red cabbage, red onions, and probably some other stuff. They come in baskets on a piece of parchment paper and foil. Sound familiar? There's also a giant jar of hot sauce on the table.

The tacos are very fresh and tasty. However, the tempura fish tasted soggy (probably because of the garlic sauce) and I couldn't taste/feel much tempura. The cabrito was terrific though. It was a bit spicy and very flavorful. I put some of the green (medium) sauce on my fish taco and I'm not sure I could taste it. There wasn't much spice in those bites and I didn't really taste anything different. Both tacos were good, but the cabrito was the best. I would recommend skipping the tempura.

We also ordered the yuca fries with garlic aioli as an appetizer. These are fried pieces of yuca (I guess) with a sauce. If you remember the prime rule of eating - everything fried is better - then you know that these are good. They were crispy, warm and served with a delicious sauce. I would highly recommend these.

The Mrs. went with the tequila lime chicken nachos and I'm embarrassed to say that she out ordered me. Her plate resembled some Mayan temple, covered in guacamole, lettuce, red onions, red cabbage, chicken, cheese, tomatoes, and roasted garlic sauce. Queso covered Mayans....mmm.... It was great. The flavors all melded well and I think this would be a great item for a table to share.

She also had a margarita and it was terrific. It came in one of those goofy looking wine glasses without a stem, but don't be fooled by that. It's good with a great mixture of tequila and margarita flavor.

So that brings me to my overall opinion of this place. Its a Pei Wei family restaurant, so its a chain. But its the first one...although more are planned. So its technically a chain, on Magnolia, the home of unique Fort Worth restaurants such as Scampi's, Junsuree Thai House, Lili's, Spiral Diner, Paris, and Benitos, just to name a few. It has a very trendy feeling and its definitely different from the other places on Magnolia. It feels like it would fit in perfectly in Montgomery Plaza...oh wait... So I'm not sure how I feel about it being located in the heart of so much uniqueness.

But its also got good food (based on what we ordered) and it seems like a great place to grab some nachos and margaritas or beers and hang out for an evening. I'm sure this will draw new people down to Magnolia, so that's a good thing, but its expensive, compared to some of its competition (Fuzzy's).

I would definitely recommend checking it out. The service is still a bit spotty (they've only been open two days), but with the Pei Wei backing, they know how to run a restaurant so hopefully it will be around for awhile.

Let me know what you think.

Dos Gringos

That's spanish for "drunken cowboys singing karaoke". Is this place a joke just to lure drunk cowboys from the stockyards? Is the Mexican contingency of Fort Worth laughing at them on hidden cameras? Probably not. But you should go and laugh at them.

Dos Gringos is on University just north of the stockyards so it is conveniently located for this plan, if it exists. Apparently this place has been around for awhile, but I'm too busy watching the olympics to research how long. But I know why its been around. It's a decent mexican place.

I recently dined at the lovely establishment and was welcomed by a Townes Van Zandt wannabe singing beautiful music and showing why some people might make jokes about cowboys. He had a Texas flag shirt, that was five times too big for him. He also had an extra large cowboy hat. Not like the dumb and dumber cowboy hat, but not like you one you'd find at Leddy's. He had a classic look that said, "I sing here every night". Maybe he was more of a Garth Brooks wannabe.

But its easy to see how one could get drunk, buy a giant cowboy hat and Texas shirt here. The margaritas are served in what Texans call "fish bowls" and what people from Iowa would call, "pools". It took Mrs. FortWorthHoleInTheWall two hands and three minutes to drink it all. She said they were good but it was gone too quickly to find out.

The restaurant also had food.

First things first - chips and salsa. The chips were decent, in that light, airy and not greasy sort of way that makes things decent. The salsa had a good spice that hit on the way down but was a bit runny for me. For my meal, I had a beef enchilada and taco and they met the standard required for basic mexican fare - a bit of spice, cheesy, beefy, tender, and really good. Definitely worthy of a repeat trip.

The Mrs. had the beef fajita nachos and she promised me the beef was tender, the chips were covered in cheese and they were not at all decent (see above). They tasted good, but they were greasy.

So all in all, drunk cowboys, DWI inducing margaritas, chips/salsa that were good, good basic mexican food, and fairly affordable prices make this a place worthy of a revisit.

Let me know what you think.

The Pit Barbeque

Note:  Since this review was posted, the Pit Barbeque has closed down.

After six or seven gentle hints to get to Deer Creek, I finally made the journey to West Fort Worth. Heading down Camp Bowie, I had one thought: I've just used a half tank of gas travelling the 80 miles it takes to go down Camp Bowie - this place better be good. As my anticipation and hunger grew, I began to wonder what strip center BBQ would taste like. My last experience with strip center BBQ was Cousins and I wasn't a fan. But, one of my most frequent commentors has continuously praised it and he's been right before, so I was excited. Well, I have no validation yet. They were closed for pit maintenance (I'm picturing a hound licking the grates).

So now that I was out in Abilene or however far I was, I began the slow trip back into town, looking for lunch places. My stomach didn't give me the sign until I hit Henderson and White Settlement. There, across the street from Thai Tina's is The Pit BBQ. The Pit BBQ has been in this place for a long time. However, it masqueraded as a few other things for a while. Its back, and the menu says they've been there since the Trinity formed.

If you haven't been up this way in awhile (Henderson, north of Downtown), The Pit BBQ is a very casual place with an outdoor seating area, outdoor bathrooms, a front porch and a small interior seating area. They also play some good old country tunes that make you feel like you need some BBQ. According to the guy behind the bar, they are also adding a patio outside with some shade and an area for a band. This place has potential.

Without really reading the actual menu options I ordered a sliced beef sandwich, onion rings and potato salad. After ordering I realized that onion rings are nearly five bucks. That means one of two things: gold covered onion rings; or a pound of onion rings. It was the latter. But that's ok, especially when they're homemade onion rings. They have a batter similar to that used on long john silver's fish. Its not the super flaky, almost tempura batter you see at a lot of places and it was good. Plus, I tested this for you all. If you like onion rings but don't like onions, you can take a bite out of one, then completely pull the onion out of the opening.

The BBQ sandwich was great. The meat was piled high and was very tender. You have a choice of rye bread, Texas toast, or a regular bun. I stuck with the bun since I'm watching my weight. I also ordered the potato salad and it was good without too much of a sour taste. All in all - good food.

If you will all remember, I did a comprehensive BBBBQ review of the Fort's BBBBQ back in early April. Since then, I haven't been real hungry for any sort of slow cooked meats. But now that I've had the summer to get excited, I was craving it. The Pit BBQ met my need. My only complaints would be that the bigger onion rings were a bit undercooked and the food was not given to me for free. Other than that, I'll go back.

Another interesting thing - they have sliced watermelon on ice.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Lili's - For Dinner

Have you been to Lili's yet? Did you get the golden gorgonzola burger that kills you with happiness? If not, then why are you reading this? Is it just to make me feel good? That's cool.

As you've heard from me and everybody else, Lili's is a terrific place down on Magnolia. Its a skinny restaurant with an open kitchen, great staff, and the best food you can get for the price. Lunch time allows you to eat for under $10 (without a tip) and you'll be full enough to sleep through the afternoon. But I've covered that.

Now its time to talk about dinner. I have wanted to head to Lili's to eat dinner for months. I don't know why it took until now to get there, but it did. Actually, I know why...I'm cheap. No more. I plan on having two kids, just to sell them for funds so that I can eat at Lili's for dinner. Not that its that expensive. I just plan on going every night they're open. Seriously.

If you've been during the day you'll notice the tables are metal and the napkins are paper. If you go at night, you get table clothes and cloth napkins. Also, the wait staff is dressed a little classier and they pronounce everything with an elitist accent. Or not. I forget.

Mrs. FWHITW and I headed over there last week and decided to start the night off right - with hooch. So we got a bottle of wine. The wine prices are very affordable here (markup is only two-three times retail). We also got the polenta fries. If I'm not mistaken, this is polenta, cut into sticks, fried and served with a delicious romesco sauce. This is what a fancy McDonald's would serve. Imagine if Westover Hills had a McDonalds tucked beneath one of the Bass families' garage. It would have polenta fries instead of those dirty potato fries you commoners and Irish eat. Polenta is all I eat now.

Because we're fancy, the Mrs. and I each ordered a large plate. She got the beef tenderloin medallions and as you can probably expect, I out Lili-ed her. If you're not familiar with this, I generally always make better menu selections than her. But this time it was close. Her food was delicious. The tenderloin was perfectly cooked (medium-rare) and the mixed grilled veggies looked delicious. The only reason she got out Lili-ed was because Lili ran out of black pepper gnocchi. Not a problem. I'm the one writing the review, not her.

I ordered the dessert fish - Macaroon Flounder. Its a flounder, in a macadamia nut and coconut crust, topped with honey-ginger-lime sauce. Seriously, until I got to the sauce, the thing tasted like a cookie. I love fish cookies, so this was perfect. But then I got to the sauce and I never wanted another cookie in my life. This dish tasted like what macadamia nut and coconut crusted angels taste like. Along with the de-lish fish, I also reached one of my seven life goals - I ate Caribbean rice. Its a great compliment to the fish, but I think if Lili cared about us, the rice would be macaroonized. All in all, a wonderful plate of food.

What if they macaroonized polenta? Why do I write this blog instead of cookbooks?

It is no secret that Lili's is a treat we here in the Fort are fortunate to have. But now that I have told the masses (my parents and the one person who constantly posts comments with different names), Lili's will have customers for life. If you haven't been to Lili's yet, please read my previous posts and I promise you will want to go. Everybody I have ever sent to Lili's has loved it. You will too.

One side note. They just got booths a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure how I feel about this. They look good and you have a little more privacy while dining, but I sort of like the rambunctious feel of the tables like they were. Plus, you could combine four tables and make people glare at you while you gobble on a house burger. And Lili will come by and tell you thanks for stopping by (I don't know who Lili is but I think its either the large black man cooking or the smaller white guy walking around shaking hands).

Please feel free to let me know if there are non macaroonized dishes worthy of trying. If you've had the black pepper gnocchi, Mrs. FWHITW is wondering how out Lili-ed she was.

Vidalia's Hates Me

After I spent numerous minutes praising the Gingerbread pancakes, Vidalia broke my heart. I recently went to Vidalia's for breakfast. If you'll remember, Vidalia's is a upscale, southern themed restaurant. It wouldn't normally fit into the hole in the wall category because its hole is the eastern end of the Cruise Ship Worthington. However, I like it. Scratch that. I liked it.

What used to be a unique hotel restaurant with a theme has now become an expensive La Quinta Continental breakfast with omelet bar. Thats not completely true. They have a menu but without gingerbread pancakes it might as well be a napkin for me to spit up into.

The food still tastes great, but without gingerbread pancakes, they're just a hotel restaurant now. Its sad to me.