Galligaskin's Submarines ~ Fort Worth, Texas

Last visit: Jan 2009

First visit: Jul 1989 (Dallas NW Hwy - closed)

Thanks to a reminder from Food and Fort Worth, Texas, the Mrs. and I decided to journey over to Ft. Worth and visit Galligaskin's. You may think it's a bit far to go for a sandwich, and it is, but I wanted to revisit a place I haven't to in over 20 years.

Galligaskin's started in Dallas (near SMU) in 1972 by some guys who wanted to recreate the sub sandwiches they could get in Boston while attending college there. According to their website, they are the oldest sub shop in Texas. Really? Well a quick check of two of the most known of Texas sub chains, The Great Outdoors of Dallas (1973) and Thundercloud of Austin (1975) does indicate that Galligaskin's may indeed be the original - at least of those that are still around.

At one point, the chain had grown to quite a few stores throughout DFW, including one near Bachman Lake in NW Dallas. Even though Dad and I were loyalists to the nearby Great Outdoors, we did cheat on them a couple of times and gave Galligaskin's a whirl. In the end, we felt The Great Outdoors was the better of the two. Unfortunately, this location of Galligaskin's bellied up shortly thereafter (the Bachman Lake location of The Great Outdoors, though it held out much longer, has also been closed for some time). That was over 20 years ago. This may be the only place in DFW that I have a 20 year interval between visits.

Today, the Fort Worth store on Camp Bowie (opened in 1973) is all that remains of the chain. It's independently owned / operated and seems to do quite well. It has attained a cult following, especially those who have nostalgia on the brain.

I had the Italian, generally my test sub for these kind of places. Soft hoagie roll (plus), light on the meat (minus), with flavorful toppings and dressings (plus). It's a good sandwich, but I'd be lying if I said there isn't better out there.

I mentioned to Mrs. RJG, that the Philly is recommended here, and since that's one of her favorites, she made a go of it. It was a hit - and she allowed me a bite (what? half a sandwich isn't a bite?). We both loved the seasoning of the meat - a special salty blend. And the soft roll was perfect for the sandwich. We also went in for an order of tater tots, something that Mr. RJG remembers fondly from his days working in Boise, Idaho. Yep, these are homemade tater tots! Good and greasy, the latter sealing the deal on its authenticity.

Everything about the place recalls a Northeastern sandwich chain, from the lighting to the seating to the lettering of the sandwich board. Definitely brought back memories for me.

7/4/89; 1/27/09 (new entry); 1/29/23 verified

Porta di Roma ~ Watauga, Texas ***CLOSED***

Last visit: Jan 2009

First visit: Sometime in 2004

This is really too bad. Marco's was a very good place. Then they became Porta di Roma, and we visited early in its new tenure (see below), and it was good but not the same. But it wasn't long before the comments came in that the place had turned terrible. And now it's gone.

One of the beauties of having a blog is that it remains dynamic. Therefore I can make updates to past entries and re-enter them as new.

In June of 2008 we wrote about Marco's, a fine Italian restaurant in Watauga. It has since changed ownership and been rebranded as Porta di Roma. But little has changed. It's still a familiar Balkan owned DFW Italian restaurant. We noticed the bread was different and the sauces tasted a bit more sour. Because of this, there's no point in a new writeup, so the below represents a slight alteration of the original posting.

Porta di Roma is one of the many Italian restaurants in NE Tarrant with an Albanian or Yugoslav heritage. I realize when I use the term "Yugoslav", that it could mean Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Bosnian, Macedonian, etc... The RJG has traveled through the former Yugoslavia, in fact I was there in 1994 during one of the regional wars. Beautiful countries, all of them I've discovered that the local restaurants are starting to fib a bit about their heritage, and state that they are from Italy, but I know that's not the case. And so I've noticed a reluctance of the proprietors to reveal a more exact location of their roots. In this case, Porta di Roma is more forthcoming that they're from Albania. It truly doesn't matter to me, as long as the food is excellent. And I can say that almost every Italian restaurant in NE Tarrant is good. I do wish for more variety amongst the sauces, dressings and preparations - and there is some of that - but one can't blame these folks for earning a good living. And, truth be told, there weren't many Italian restaurants prior to their arrival, so we are more fortunate than not.

With that out of the way, let me introduce Porta di Roma, a very fine restaurant in Watauga, situated in a newish strip mall off of Rufe Snow near Starnes. In fact its predecessor, Marco's, was an original anchor tenant when they opened sometime around 2004 or so. I would say that Porta di Roma is slightly more upscale than most of the Italian restaurants in the area, but fortunately not reflected in the reasonable prices (and they also allow BYOB, adding to the savings). The menu will be familiar as will the house dressing, red and white sauces, meats, chicken, vegetables, etc... Other places we've reviewed already, namely Bellisimo and Dal Italia, will provide more detail on what to expect taste-wise. We were a little disappointed overall with the flavors. It seems some of the recipes have been altered, and not for the better. I do mean "little" though. Maybe one point less than Marco's but still good.

The only real complaint we have, and it's not food related, is the unusual setting of the restaurant. For whatever reason, the original Marco's decided to have a lot of windows, presumably to allow the natural light through. It's quite an elegant setting, and one can only imagine having a view of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, Lake Michigan or the Pacific Ocean to gaze at while enjoying a romantic dinner. Instead we get a wonderful, unobstructed, perfect view of .... Walgreens, Pizza Hut and the parking lot. Advice: Get some drapes! Go completely old school, and it will feel like a "classy joint" circa 1966. The RJG always gives points for retro. And besides, your Mom or Grandma will love it! I left the drapes comment in, because guess what Porta di Roma did? Added drapes! LOL. But not enough of them! The main window still leaves a perfect view of the Pizza Hut, etc... Ugh.

While on the topic of ambiance, on the plus side, I did want to compliment Porta di Roma for their music selection. Mostly it was soft 1950s/1960s era jazz. Perfect for the setting and probably the best we've heard since the now defunct Clear Creek Seafood played John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme".

6/24/08 (new entry); 1/23/09

Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse ~

Latest visit: Jan 2009 (Fort Worth Alliance - closed)

First visit: Apr 2004 (Southlake - closed)

Sonny Bryan's now down to 2 locations - the original in Dallas and one in Richardson. That's one less than the last check, and 7 since I wrote this.

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Started in 1910, Sonny Bryan's is a Texas legend for barbecue. Its original location on Inwood Rd. and Harry Hines in Dallas remains a tourist destination. As the menu itself states, the area was then considered "Far North Dallas". Hard to imagine that today.

While I've still never stepped foot in the original location with its DISD school desks (saw enough of those... in DISD schools), I do remember going to the Red Bryan's on Lombardy (Thanks Mr D for the catch!), just west of Webbs Chapel, not far from the "North Dallas" I grew up near. We had gone a couple of times on the way back from bowling at Circle Bowl when I was still a young boy in the mid 1970s. Curious - any of my readers ever bowl at Circle Bowl? Any of my readers ever bowl in a "Bantam League" (generally for kids aged 11-12)? Today, the old Circle Bowl is a dive bar of ill repute (11/4/10 update: it's been torn down to make way for the DART light rail). And the area where the Sonny Bryan's was is now a fully fledged Little Mexico. Actually the RJG recommends a couple of taqueria's in the area, but that's for another post.

NE Tarrant once had a Sonny Bryan's in Grapevine (TX-114 and Wall), but they closed down sometime around 2004. We visited only once, so I guess we didn't do our part to keep it open. The closest location for us is near the Alliance airport in "Far North Ft. Worth". There doesn't exist an Alliance, TX in reality. Despite the local boosterism.

On this visit I tried the brisket, pulled pork and jalapeno sausage. For sides I chose beans and mac & cheese. All were good, though no question I've had better elsewhere. I added their sauce (neatly heated in old Dr. Pepper bottles) as well as a "pork sauce" which I didn't care for. I couldn't find a homemade spicy sauce, though they offered the usual array of cajun sauces.

So yes, there's better barbecue in DFW. But if an out of town guest wanted to visit this legendary chain, then by all means do so - they won't be disappointed.

They currently have 9 locations, the other 8 on the east side of DFW airport.

4/7/04; 1/20/09 (new entry); 1/29/23 verified

Mancuso's Italian ~ White Settlement, Texas

Latest visit: Jan 2009

First visit: Jun 2007

In 1987, Cathy Mancuso opened up an Italian restaurant in far west Ft. Worth for the simple reason that there wasn't any Italian eateries out that way. Coming from Utica, NY where her Dad ran a place called Nash's for many years, Cathy comes from the New York tradition of making high quality Italian meals for the public at large. She would have a hard time finding a more incongruous spot than this.

We've had good luck at the RJG recently in finding Old School Italian hole in the wall's: Siciliano's in Garland and I Fratelli in Irving are but two examples. Add Mancuso's to the list. We have others to spring on you, including the RJG's favorite restaurant, and we hope to write about them in the coming months ahead.

As we mentioned before, the Mrs. and I like to use Saturday's for our "road games" as it were, and try places outside of NE Tarrant. We first visited Mancuso's in the summer of 2007, and this is our first return visit. It's quite a haul south and west, but not too bad without traffic on a Saturday evening.

Even though Mancuso's opened in 1987, there's almost nothing about the place that gives you the impression that we live in 2009. If you're looking for a time warp to 1962, then Mancuso's is the place to experience that. That alone gets you major points at the RJG. It's about the food and only about the food. As it should be. This is a place that should be experienced after dark, where you can imagine it's 20 degrees outside and you share the warmth of conversation with friends and family. In an earlier time, it would be filled with cigarette smoke, which I guess we should all be grateful that doesn't exist here now. But I still had that mental image.

Remember when all Italian restaurants had black and white photos signed by the stars and starlets of the day? It was a credibility thing. Mancuso's still does that. And where does Tony Bennett eat when he's in town for a concert? Mancuso's! Good enough for Tony, good enough for the RJG.

At this point I don't need to tell you that they do all the basics well. Pasta's (though we were disappointed that the default isn't al dente), red sauce, chicken parm, sausage, meatballs, meat sauce, salad, etc... it's all done the old way - heavy on good taste, long on quality service and short on gimmicks. The cappuccino pie for dessert was delicious. And house wines are decently priced. Check out their menu from the website I have listed on the bottom. That's all you need to know.

Even though I've listed Mancuso's in White Settlement, technically it's in Ft. Worth. Mancuso's is at the intersection of White Settlement Rd. and I-820, on the west side of I-820. The east side is White Settlement. Close enough for me.

When Cathy Mancuso opened up her restaurant, there was nothing there but cows and land. Today the intersection resembles an Interstate truck stop, with large gas stations, motels and big-chain fast food outlets. Hidden behind this Americana mess is Mancuso's - the perfect roadside find.

7/21/07; 1/19/09 (new entry); 1/29/23 verified