Regular Joe's Guide

Our next entry from the adventures of Mr. Music and family while in Hot Springs, Arkansas. --- The first time we stopped by this place, Mrs. Music and ChefGirl just stopped in for a coffee drink. We like to try local places over chains for coffee when out of town and the coffee drinks were very good. Mrs. Music was surfing up a different breakfast place to try since we had been to the English Muffin twice. We laughed when we saw that the place we thought was a coffee shop was recommended for their breakfasts too!  We ventured in to the very small, but cozy place. It was sort of like Café Brazil, or perhaps a little like Panera with a touch of Obzeet in that they had gifts, cards, creams, and soaps for sale. The menu had some nice breakfast and lunch options. They even had brick oven pizza that looked really good and a few beers on tap: Hoegarden and 2 others with some interesting choices for bottles as well. I also noticed they had quite a few bakery items - all made fro...

They also have locations in Fort Smith and Fayetteville. Well apparently the RJG is now going to be a major player in the Hot Springs restaurant blogger community! This is, of course, due to a recent run of reviews that our own Mr. Music just composed for the blog. He sent in no less than 5 reviews while we were away on vacation this week. That vacation, by the way, was to the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, and Southern Oregon. I really want to get some reviews out from that trip. We'll see. I had mentioned in July that we had recently returned from a trip, but never mentioned where. On that trip we had gone to Alberta - primarily Banff and Calgary. I did manage to get some thumbnail sketch reviews onto Urbanspoon for about 5 of the restaurants. Maybe I'll flesh those out here eventually. OK, onto Mr. Music's latest adventure in Hot Springs! --- We had taken a fun trip to Mount Ida to dig for crystals and diamonds at a crystal mine.  But it was here t...

They have two locations as of 11/29/24 --- The Music family took a little trip to Hot Springs for a last hurrah before school starts! We got into town a bit late and I was concerned that a sleepy town like Hot Springs might not have anything opened late - even on a Saturday night. We tried a couple places at 9:30 and struck out. As fate would have it, we happened on to a little Mexican place called Don Juan. Ahhh, opened until 10pm! Hmmm, Mexican food in Hot Springs, Arkansas? We shall see.  As we walked in, the décor was totally 70s Tex-Mex like El Chico or El Fenix. We were seated in a booth and they brought chips and 2 cute little pitchers of salsa. The chips were hot and fresh. The salsa had very little heat, but was VERY tasty. Works for me!  We surfed the menu for a time. Soft chicken taco with rice n beans for baby Music and chicken strips for Music Junior. Mrs. Music ordered a seafood quesadilla; I ordered the grilled tilapia fish tacos; $8 and $10. The ...

Apr 8, 2022 update: After many different variations, the Daddy Jack's chain appears closed, including their flagship location on Greenville Ave. in Dallas. The last one standing was in Sundance Square in Fort Worth. Last visit: Aug 2013 (Southlake) First visit: sometime in 2003 (Coppell) Every time the RJG travels to New England, I like to frequent a seafood chain from Boston called Legal Seafood. They're famous for clam "chowda", New England styled crab cakes, and baked fishes amongst many other things. Daddy Jack's is clearly aiming for that market. Right down to the red and white checkered tablecloths - which is not strictly an Italian tradition. So is Daddy Jack's really as good as Legal? Well, no, of course not. Legal has the distinct advantage of having the Atlantic Ocean right next to it. But Daddy Jack's is certainly very good, and one of the best seafood houses in DFW.  More casual and less pricey than Trulucks, which the food is on par with. ...

First visit: Aug 2013 ...And so after returning from my cattle drive, I spun tales to Mrs. RJG about my day with Mr. Music in the far off land of Denton. Most of the stories were met with an eye roll, or "better you than me", but it was my description of Taqueria Guanajuato that had her salivating. Mrs. RJG, born and bred south of the border, is always up for a true taste of the homeland. With that backdrop, we decided it was high time to finally try Taqueria Burritos Locos, a very successful taqueria that we once remembered being a Chicken Express. The first thing you will notice is that Burritos Locos is not a small, fast food place. It is in fact a full service restaurant. And as such, they cater to a much larger audience than a traditional taqueria would. But we were there for tacos and sopes, and so we stuck with the game plan. One advantage of the sit down restaurant, of course, is the complimentary chips and salsa. They provide two salsas, both with a pretty good spi...

First visit: Aug 2013 As mentioned in the Taqueria Guanajuato post, Mr. Music and I also dipped into Oak Street Tavern for one or two craft beers, before heading back over to the Taco Lady. This is a frequent hangout for Mr. Music, and I was eager to try it. Oak St. Drafthouse sits in a truly a cool setting that they describe as thus: " Being the third oldest house in the City of Denton, we’re making sure to keep the history and integrity of the house alive by making minimal changes inside the house.  (and also not to piss off the ghosts). All of the decor inside and surrounding Oak St. Drafthouse were found at local vintage and antique shops around Denton.  Our extremely large patio beer garden allows for a great time. On the weekends, we open the back bar for your enjoyment.  We have a very relaxing environment where people can carry on a conversation without getting distracted by loud music or tv’s. " Our plan for one to two beers turned into 3 as we met a...

Last visit: Aug 2013 First visit: 2003 We've spoken of Niki's before on the RJG , but there have been some changes since our last update. For one, it appears our loving duo of Northeast Tarrant County Niki's Italian Bistro's are no longer together (aww). The website, and the menu, are very clear in stating that the NRH Niki's is no longer associated with the one in Keller. And the other big change is they have moved across Davis to a beautiful new Tuscan structure that they painstakingly built for well over a year. The strip center location that Niki's had been in, for God knows how many years, needed an update badly. The place was, quite frankly, miserable. So rather than gut the 80's style strip mall, they purchased the Catfish Tucker's Haven across the street. And subsequently bulldozed it (I'm sure it was in worse shape than the original Niki's! One can only imagine all the fried fish - and cigarette smoke - pew). And proceeded to build a v...