Regular Joe's Guide

Closed: 2022 Last visit: Oct 2010 First visit: Jan 2003 I think us folks in NE Tarrant are pretty spoiled when it comes to Thai food. We have a triumvirate of Hall of Fame places: Bangkok Cuisine in Haltom City, Sweet Basil Thai over in Hurst, and lastly the great Sea Siam in Keller. We've fawned over these places in the past, and continue to do so. And that doesn't even cover the second tier places, that were they in other cities, would probably be our favorites. Like Thai Chili of Southlake, Nipa's Kitchen and Thai Belknap down in Haltom City, The Magic Springroll over in Watuaga, and Thai Riverside in Grapevine. It's not like this everywhere though. My first experience with Thai food came in San Francisco in the early 90s, and it was love at first taste. But on returning home to Denver, I couldn't find anything close to that good. As you know, the RJG now also resides in Denver part time, and the wife and I still can't find decent Thai food there. I won...

I know, I know... I haven't posted anything in 6 months. You were checking back every week, then every month and now I've fallen completely off your radar. Sorry about that. My only lame excuse is that I've been "saving up" for a good one. I've been wanting to write about Denver's Italian restaurants since we returned part-time last year. And you all know how the RJG feels about this style of restaurant . As someone who grew up in Dallas, perhaps I've been more drawn to cities that embrace their history rather than completely demolish it. Only recently has Dallas become more acutely aware of their past. Previously, any buildings not in use have been razed as fast as possible, to make way for the next brand new shopping center - all in the latest architecture naturally. Contrarily you have cities like St. Louis that are 19th and 20th century industrial ghost towns - places frozen in time because for most everyone who could, they just up and left to ...

Closed as of 2020. Last visit: Apr 2010 First visit: Sometime in 2003 I first ran into Michael's while working at Big Software Company You've Actually Heard Of, as it was relatively close, and a few of us decided to try all the restaurants in the area (gee, I wonder who the ringleader of that initiative was?). Today, Michael's is still a place I drop by once in awhile, as it's conveniently located halfway between NE Tarrant and the Northern Dallas suburbs. On this occasion, I met a new business contact coming in from Frisco. Michael's is perfect for that: Small, not overly crowded, relatively quiet to carry a conversation, and nicely decorated. And, of course, the food is quite good. They focus on the basics, and all of your favorite pastas, veal, chicken and seafood dishes are represented as well as subs and pizza. Their red sauce is light and flavorful. I would also recommend their Italian sausage, which seems to be homemade (I don't know for sure). Another ...

Last visit: Mar 2010 First visit: Sometime in 2003 About once a year, Mrs. RJG and I will drift over to Rufe Snow and Keller-Smithfield Rd in Keller and enjoy a weekday lunch at Mezza Luna. We first tried this "ristorante" for a dinner in 2003, and decided it was a bit too dear for what it is, and that lunch would be a better alternative. And since then, we've been there about 5 times - yep, once a year. I can count with my toes too... Remember terms like ristorante, zuppa and insalate mean $5 more per dish. Mezza Luna holds up this deep rooted tradition. Lunch, however, is very reasonable. Two entrees which include salad or soup won't set you back more than $20 including tip. Like almost all of the Northeast Tarrant County Italian restaurants, Mezza Luna possesses a Balkan heritage and is tied in with the Moni empire. They even have a dish called Cappellini alla Moni, for which I mentioned that my wife should get it for free. They didn't get it. There are s...

Latest visit: Mar 2024 (Voyager) First visit: 1982 (Dallas, TX) A loooong time ago whenever it was. The location was up in Prestonwood area of far north Dallas and is long gone. Heck, might of even tried it in Austin sometime during the 70s when the RJG was still a young teen, traveling there with my dad. HQ: Atlanta (Founded 1971 in Austin, Texas) Locations: 338 (-1) in 26 states. Colorado has 5 total with 3 in the Springs (same). Texas has, by far, the most at 209 (same) with Southlake hanging in there. First visit of the year, and could also be my last. Not that the sandwich wasn't great (it was - Medium Deluxe as noted below), it's just I don't go here very much anymore since they moved their opening hours to 10:30. I just happened to be on my way home during lunch and grabbed it to-go. At $11 including tax, it's a pricey option (what isn't these days?). There was a time when I would go about 40 times a year. Long ago it seems. Now once or twice.  ---7/16/23 up...

First visit: Feb 2010 For regular readers of the RJG, and given my light posting, I cannot imagine there's too many of those - you might remember my thoughts on the lack of German food in the DFW area. I truly feel it's a somewhat ignored regional food tradition. Here's more info on my feelings around this. So now us folks in NE Tarrant can crow about our own German restaurant. Well, OK, technically not NE Tarrant, but we'll adopt Roanoke for the cause. Gerhard's is a brand new restaurant in what is shaping up to be a very cool "old town" Roanoke. Thanks to the success of Babe's and the Classic Cafe, many flock to the quaint old one-horse train stop that has now become a desirable suburb of the vast DFW area. They're still in the process of recreating the town that never was, and doing a darn good simulation of such. The Dallas burger institution Twisted Root has been an early adopter (and we went on New Year's Day - it's excellent - an...

An excellent guest post from a regular reader, we never did make it here. They're still going strong with 4 locations across Texas including the below review (Fort Worth), along with Lubbock, College Station, and San Marcos. Basically college towns seem to be their market. Since the RJG cannot seem to get out of his rut of not posting, we are glad to announce that we have our first guest post! Joe Thomas runs The Grapevine TX Online website . Thanks Joe for the contribution! --- Originally based out of Lubbock Texas, Chimy's Cerveceria came to Fort Worth several years ago and has been serving up some of the strongest margarita's in town ever since. Their location is really just an alley behind a strip mall on the west side of Fort Worth. If this place doesn't look, smell, and feel like a Regular Joe's type place then nothing does. It is probably easiest to start with the margarita's which happen to be named after automobiles. You can get anything from the C...