Fast Foodies: Dallas' Burger House

For our latest adventure, we picked a fast food destination that is a staple in Dallas, Burger House.  We had read several D Magazine write ups that they were voted best fries , and my family had recommended it for a quick bite. We met up on a Thursday night and had the restaurant to ourselves.

All of their burgers come with the standard toppings of mustard, pickles, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. You can specify how you want your burger, and there are other options for chicken sandwiches and hot dogs. Sara ordered the hamburger and I went with the cheeseburger, both of us adding grilled onions. We also ordered “Jack’s Famous Fries” to split.

Our meals cost us each less than $8 and the food was ready in just a few minutes. We started with the famous fries we had heard so much about. There is a special seasoning on these fries that makes you wonder what exactly it is. I tasted garlic, salt, pepper, and another herb I couldn’t place. Sara mentioned that they tasted like greek fries. The fries are really, really good. They are thin, crispy, and the seasoning is really delicious.  Also, they are not greasy. We both agreed that these were the best fast food fries we have had. A large order is $2.29, and that is a steal for how good these are.

 We then turned to our burgers. The buns are nicely toasted and the patties are very thin. Luckily, we weren’t trying to stuff ourselves so a single patty was perfect for each of us. The grilled onions were a great addition, and we both finished our burgers. The burger seemed lighter than most other fast food joints, and it was not greasy, which we liked.

When recapping our experience, Sara summed it up the best when she said “If In-N-Out Burger and Whataburger had a one night stand, this burger would be their love child.” It tasted as though it was light and fresh like In-N-Out, but with the more “Texas” flavor of Whataburger. I said that I preferred it to In-N-Out, while Sara said she preferred it to Whataburger.

Overall, we would definitely go back to Burger House when we want a quick bite. The fries are amazing, and eating the burger didn’t make me feel guilty. There are several locations around the metroplex, so there is sure to be one that is convenient for you!

Burger House Website

Fine Dining on a Dime

Finding the hidden gems in Dallas is our ultimate mission as Taste Buds, so we were more than excited when a follower suggested checking out the restaurant Technique at Le Cordon Bleu. He told us that the culinary students also run a restaurant serving a three course French meal, for a really low price. We made one attempt to go to the restaurant earlier this year, and found out that a reservation is a must and the days are limited to Tuesday-Fridays. After making a reservation about a month ago on Open Table, we secured a reservation and were excited to see what was in store.

The restaurant is definitely part of a culinary school and it is apparent from the moment you get there. You walk by the front desk of the school and the classrooms upon entrance. The setup is modest, white tablecloths and a dimmed lighting. The kitchen is open and you can see the students hard at work preparing your meal. Sara pointed out that the bread was under heat lamps, easily seen by the diners, which was a bit unappealing. The waitress (culinary student) came to our table and explained the menu. There are three courses, priced at $16. The restaurant also has a drink menu.There were a number of appetizing options and we asked her what her favorites were. She suggested for an appetizer the LCBLT salad or Salade Maison and as main courses, either the poached salmon or polenta cakes.

We received our bread from the heat lamp minutes later and I was unimpressed. Since Sara is gluten free, I was the sole judge. The bread simply tasted like a store bought baguette. Maybe we had a bad idea about it from the heat lamp exposure, but either way it was underwhelming. I started off with the Salade Maison with mixed greens, candied pecans, tart apple straws, blue cheese, sundried tomatoes , and a honey thyme vinaigrette. I really enjoyed my salad, and in retrospect, was the favorite of my three courses. The dressing was really tasty and there was a good balance of the other ingredients. Sara ordered the LCBLT salad with butter lettuce, bacon, pear tomatoes, and house made ranch dressing.  Sara was unimpressed by her starter dish, as the ranch dressing was bland and watery. I took a bite and really couldn’t even taste the dressing.  I declared myself a victor in round one.

For the main course, I ordered the steak frites, a 6 oz New York strip, béarnaise sauce, and hand cut pommes frites.  The béarnaise sauce was absolutely delicious and the fries were tasty. I kept dipping them in the sauce until I unfortunately run out. The steak was another story. This was probably the toughest steak I have ever received at a restaurant, and I ordered it medium rare. I kept trying to find its saving grace, but after Sara had a bite, we both decided there was not one.  Sara ordered the suggested polenta cakes with mushroom ragout, grilled asparagus, and truffle oil. She enjoyed the cakes, stating that they tasted much like cheese grits, but believed that they were missing a much needed sauce. She noted that her side salad with asparagus and truffle oil was tasty. Sara definitely won round two, although she was a bit perplexed this was the recommended entrée.

Lastly, we received our desserts. I ordered the spiced peaches vol au vent, which came out much like a deconstructed peach cobbler with ice cream. I was expecting the peaches to be warm, but they were cold. It was a tasty dish altogether, and I really enjoyed the lavender ice cream served as a side. Sara ordered the chocolate bomb, a chocolate mousse dome, devil’s food cake, and chocolate ganache. This dessert was in fact, the bomb. I even heard Sara say “I will eat this all day” mid course. I had a bite, and it was very tasty. This was definitely the highlight of both meals.

Overall, Technique at Le Cordon Bleu is exactly what you get for your money. It is “fine dining on a budget” and the presentation of all the dishes is very impressive. There were a few misses throughout both of our meals, but overall it was a fun and unique place to go.  Technique is somewhere I could take my dad and he wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by the “foo foo”,  but it is not somewhere I would try to impress a date. It is a great place for a couple, friends, or family to go and get something different for a very good price. We thought maybe we stumbled upon a place with five star caliber dining for a steal, but again the food is comparable to what you are paying for. Our waitress did tell us that they change the menu every six weeks, so we would not be opposed to checking it out in the future to see if our choices fare us a little better.

Sunday Funday - Lucky's Cafe and Tu-Lu's Bakery

Lucky’s Café is a little dinner on Oak Lawn with a wide-ranging menu and a fun atmosphere. One thing on their menu that caught our eye was the “Sleaziest, Cheesiest Grilled Cheese in Town”. With a name like that, how can we resist...right? So off we went on a Sunday afternoon for a Dallas diner experience we were excited to try.

Lucky’s is typically packed on the weekends, so when we arrived parking was a bit of a struggle. After securing a spot down the street, we headed in and only had about a 5 minute wait. No biggie. We were seated at a large booth with red vinyl seats and ordered some coffee while we reviewed our lunching options. Before arriving, we had noticed that the Grilled Cheese is not on the Brunch menu, which is what Lucky’s uses until 2 PM on weekends. We asked the hostess if they could make one anyway and she said yes. Score!

After trying to appease our seemingly impatient waitress, we decided on the grilled cheese with fried okra as the side, and the grilled pork chops and eggs with potatoes. Our waitress said they could MAYBE do a grilled cheese since the griddle was being used up by pancakes and eggs, but she’d check. We got our grilled cheese, thankfully. It came with onions, tomato, green chilies, bacon, cheddar & swiss grilled on Texas toast. We really can’t think of much else that could possibly make this sandwich better tasting. Haley enjoyed it and commented on how much she loved the green chilies and the crispy bacon. Her fried okra was also really good – fresh tasting, unlike some places that taste like the okra has been reheated too many times.

My pork chop and eggs were good. It came with 2 grilled pork chops, 2 eggs (I got them over easy) and breakfast potatoes that were heavily seasoned. All in all the food was what I had expected. A little salty for my taste, but wasn’t disappointing in the least. If I could do it again and weren’t gluten free, I would have gotten the banana pecan pancakes or waffle that was on the specials chalk board. C’est la vie!

When we went to the cash register to pay our check, I told the man that I had 1.5 free entrée gift cards (because one of them may or may not be expired), depending on what he wants to do with it. We were hoping that our humor might win him over. He looked at our bill for a second and then said ok, you’re good. We didn’t pay for anything, including our coffee! So nice – Lucky’s definitely gets points for being so accommodating.

After brunch, we decided to swing by Tu-Lu’s bakery for a gluten free cupcake (Haley indulged me on this one). We decided the mini cupcakes were too cute to pass up so we each ordered 3. We tried the red velvet, the chocolate with cream cheese icing, and the mint mojito cupcakes. Haley hated the mint mojito, but I really liked it. The chocolate with cream cheese icing was yummy. But (so disappointing) the red velvet minis were way overcooked. The upside: we couldn’t tell they were gluten free despite the dry red velvet. Next time, we will just get the normal sized cupcakes.

All in all, it was a fun foodie adventure. Some lessons learned, but still places we will definitely be visiting again soon.


http://www.luckysdallas.com/

http://tu-lusbakery.com/