Regular Joe's Guide

Latest visit: Dec 2016 First visit: 2004 Our last two visits are noteworthy. The last was for the official RJG's Mom's birthday. It was way too crowded. It was between Christmas and New Year's Day of last year (2016). The time before that was we chose this restaurant to celebrate the RJG obtaining his new job in Baltimore (Nov 2016). Of all places... And we haven't been back since. Cafe Italia is probably the epitome of the type of Italian food you're likely to run across in NE Tarrant. And one can argue that it may be the best of the Eastern European owned Italian eateries in the area. We've been going to Cafe Italia almost since we moved to the area in 2003, though not on any kind of regular basis. All the same, it's surprising that we're just now getting around to posting about it. In the early days, because of its popularity, there was usually a line out the door. So they further opened a second "overflow" location a few miles south near t...

Last visit: Dec 2016 First visit: 2003 Last update: Dec 28, 2017  I'll be darned, it's closed. We hadn't been in a long time as well. It's interesting to note that Bellisimo was the RJG's first restaurant post. It was never a favorite, nor a place we frequented all that much. But timing is everything, and we visited here right after starting the blog. --- On Friday night, me and my favorite dining companion Mrs. RJG, wandered over to Bellisimo in Colleyville, right off Highway 26. Colleyville is definitely one of the more interesting burbs in NE Tarrant County. They're the "old rich" of the area, providing a stark contrast to the nouveau silliness of Southlake or the filthy rich of Westlake. And, as is typical of old money type areas, there's always a run down area or two to go slumming. Texas State Highway 26 provides this thrill. Amongst the aluminum siding plant sheds and farmers markets, there are shut down old Taco Bell's and sports b...

Last visit: Nov 2016 First visit: Jul 2012 The entire Company X and Y story below (from May of 2016) ended up with me being let go outright by Company X (in Nov 2016 - we went here to celebrate my new job!). The Garland Troublemaker was retained as a contractor by Company Y (and he left soon after), and The Indian Godfather becoming an employee of Company Y. He has since left as well. And we've all landed much better jobs for ourselves. Wow. --- Timing really is everything. The last time the RJG visited Casa Milagro was in May of 2013. In fact, I believe that's the last time I was in Richardson altogether. The RJG's work changed at that point, and the need to go to Richardson subsided. And yet exactly 3 years later, in waltzes the RJG just as the blog is rolling again. And for this visit, The Garland Troublemaker who graces the article below, has rejoined me. And we also had the Indian Godfather on hand. It was time for a meet . We talked about this prior in our Banana L...

Last visit: Nov 2016 First visit: Nov 2009 Yu's Gold-In is now closed and is Pho-In-The-Box Vietnamese (and comes recommended as well). As mentioned in the September entry, it had been my goal to group similar restaurants for a more comprehensive and useful post. But when it comes to Chinese food in NE Tarrant, we've only found one we like to date - and we really like it - and that would be Yu's Gold-In. While we certainly haven't been to them all, we have tried many Chinese joints in NE Tarrant including: Golden China (Southlake), Hong Kong Express (Keller & North Richland Hills), New China (Watauga), Pearl (Grapevine), Ying Cafe (Watauga), Bo Bo China (Grapevine) and Szechuan (Hurst). Most are pretty good, with the nod going to Bo Bo China as the best of that lot. But none inspire us to make a special trip, nor have I written about any of them in this blog. Yu's is the clear leader to date. You won't find the name "Yu's" on the outside,...

Apr 8, 2022 update: It appears Jack Mac's shut down in 2019. That's really too bad as this was a favorite. Last visit: Oct 2016 First visit: Jul 2013 I met with The Garland Troublemaker for a final time in October 2016. We both moved on to new (and better) jobs in short order. We knew this would be the last visit in our time with Company X. Perhaps we will have a reunion here again! --- Interesting that I've met with The Garland Troublemaker for the last two straight weeks. Especially considering I may see him two times a year these days. This visit was from last week, and Jack Mac's is just as great as it always has been. I'll leave the review below pretty much intact, with a few edits and formatting changes. Jack Mac's is incredibly consistent. And one reason for that is Jack is usually there and cooking for us! Great guy too.   It all started with some research on Ratebeer about some local beers that folks were rating. I asked myself "Where are the...

Latest visit: Aug 2016 First visit: Jul 2004 Fresco's can also be found in Burleson. There are a few things that make Fresco's special, and worth the journey to Watauga. Foremost is their trio of sauces that you can request to supplement the regular salsa that comes out with the chips. Actually, even if you didn't know about the trio, the primary sauce is a medium heat level chipotle concoction that is unique and quite excellent. Amongst the trio, they offer a fiery chile de arbol, a honey jalapeno, and a blazing hot habanero. They added the latter in the last few years, and it replaced their tomato based mild sauce. Apparently everyone liked the hotter alternative. Just like the RJG! And while the chile de arbol made us happy enough, the habanero clinches the deal. This may be the hottest salsa I've ever had at a Mexican restaurant - at least of those that weren't custom designed for me by a sadistic, angry chef. The flavors for everything I tasted lat...

It appears Malli's closed sometime since 2018. Last visit: Aug 2016 First visit: Nov 2011 Malli's is a pleasant little Mexican restaurant situated on a busy stretch of Rufe Snow, north of I-820. It's colorfully decorated, and as you may have noted already, their focus is on authentic Mexican food. Based on the menu alone, it would appear they have Tex-Mex offerings, but we didn't try them (though I will next time). They have a lunch and dinner menu, and we didn't ask if they serve them at all hours. However, they do serve breakfast all day, and Mrs. RJG decided to go hardcore Mexican today (after all, that is where she's from) and ordered the Huevos con Nopalitos. That is to say, eggs with cactus. Seems like that would hurt don't it? I mean, pulling the needles out of your mouth and what not. No silly, says the wife, it's actually quite delicious and she went on about the process on to which you "harvest" cactus. Whatever you say, dear. Well...

Latest visit: Aug 2016 First visit: 2004 Banana Leaf is a Thai restaurant Mr. Music first took me to over 9 years ago when I had an office nearby. As such, this is the longest running Thai restaurant that we have continued to patron in DFW. Of course, at best I only visit about twice a year, whereas some of our faves in Northeast Tarrant may see us 30 to 40 times in that same time span. Banana Leaf has become our go-to spot to "have a meet" with the Godfather of our India Mafia. So The Garland Troublemaker, myself, The Godfather, and one of his Capo's sat down "ta 'scuss bizness." In the old days, we went to Italian restaurants to do this. Nowadays it's Thai and Indian cuisine. Ya gotta move with the times...      The Garland Troublemaker's fave dish is the Yellow Curry with two bowls a rice - and a couple of Singha beers to wash it down with. The Mafia guys, while not strict vegetarians, try to stay true to their customs and stick to the meat ...

As of Feb 2021, Ojeda's has 3 locations including the original on Maple Ave plus Desoto and Plano. Lewisville is closed. Latest visit: Aug 2016 (Lewisville - closed) First visit: 1989 (Dallas - Maple Ave.) In the Avila's and Herrera's posts found on this blog, I spoke of the Mexican restaurants on Maple Avenue we used to haunt back in the late 80s and early 90s. The other two were Rosita's (now closed) and, the focus of this post, Ojeda's. Ojeda's is old school Tex-Mex, which is a nicer way of saying HEAVY Mexican food. These are places you don't just walk out of, but rather waddle out. Expect lots of gooey cheese, beans with lard, mush meat tacos with filler, thick flour and corn tortillas, and as many chips as you can stuff in your face. Top that off with a few cervezas, and you have instant 5 pound weight gain. Is it worth it? HECK YEA! No point in walking you through the meal, as Ojeda's isn't that much different from Herrera's. Both plac...

Apr 12, 2022 update: Blue Corn has the same owners but the restaurant has changed names and been "reimagined" as Hidden Mountain. We'll create a separate entry for it. Last visit: Aug 2016 First visit: Aug 1997 We first went to the Blue Corn Cafe in downtown Santa Fe in 1997 (not long after they first opened), only about 6 months after Mrs. RJG and I were first married. And we've been regular visitors ever since . Regular in the sense of when we visit Santa Fe of course. Though in recent years we moved to the south location off of Cerrillos near the Santa Fe Place Mall. It remains one of our favorite places to eat when we go to Santa Fe, which lately has been an annual event (but that's not always been the case). Food: Blue Corn is at first a New Mexican restaurant, followed by traditional brewpub fare (burgers, sandwiches) and Mexican (fajitas, etc...). Of course, we come for the New Mexican food, and while Blue Corn's reputation isn't the highest in...

Latest visit: Jul 2016 First visit: 1989 Avila's has become all the rage since Guy Fiori featured the little place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - a favorite show of the RJG as well. This lead to a lot of business for Avila's, and thus they made some changes to the restaurant itself. The good: They opened the fence next door which allows for much more, and easier, parking. They also now have some outdoor patio seating (nothing more than a couple of park benches, but it's still cool). On the down side, they changed the dark red painting to a lighter blue shade. It doesn't feel as intimate as before. And, as with any place that gains notoriety, the neighborhood feel of the place has deteriorated somewhat. There's more of a wannabee yuppie thing going on. "Slumming on Maple with the Wilson's" just ain't for the RJG. I felt the food quality held serve (and on this night the salsa with the chips was really kickin'!), but Mrs. RJG said it was greasi...

There are currently 10 Fort Worth area locations with two of those "temporarily closed" including Keller. Latest visit: Jul 2016 (Keller) First visit: Nov 2011 (Bedford) Jan 2014 update: The good news is that Mexican Inn is back in Northeast Tarrant! They built a new structure only a few hundred feet from their old one that had to be demolished due to the construction. The 121/183 road expansion continues, so it's still a bit of a challenge to get here, so I recommend for local travelers anyway, to take back roads to Bedford Rd. It's nice to see that this Mexican Inn is continuing with the full menu, and as such, I replicated the meal that I had below, since it's been well over two years since I last had it. The trademark greasy fritos styled chips, house salsa, frozen margarita, and chicken / shrimp dish were excellent, as last time. The rice was very disappointing this time, and was slightly mushy in texture. The beans lacked the sharp bacon flavor, and seemed a...

So it looks like Baja Cantina finally put together something that looks like a corporate structure. They renamed Funky Baja's in Keller as well, and we still have that entry up on its own. Currently there are 4 locations, all in NE Tarrant or SW Denton: Keller, NRH, Watauga, and Roanoke Latest visit: Jul 2016 (North Richland Hills) First visit: 2004 Baja Cantina is the latest entry for the loosely knit local Baja chain that is slowly proliferating throughout NE Tarrant County. We recently updated the Funky Baja's entry, and if you search further into the blog, you'll find entries for Peace Burger and Dive Bar in Grapevine, as well as Baja Mex Grill in Watauga, both of which need updating. We've also been to Baja's Bar and Grill in Southlake, but that was many years ago, and we never reported back on it. Let's see how the new place stacks up. If you've been to any of the Baja's elsewhere, then you'll find Baja Cantina is right in line with the othe...

As of 11/29/24 they are only open in Bedford. First visit: Jul 2016 (North Richland Hills - closed) We've driven by Los Jimadores a number of times, curious what had taken over the old Antonio's spot, that at one time we enjoyed immensely. When my wife first pronounced it to me, I thought she said something along the lines of "Humidor".  I thought it was some sort of vape place! Or an extension of the cigar bar next door at the very least. Well, apparently not. So finally the day arrived for us to try it. Let's venture in and see what we find... Can I start with a pet peeve? You know we don't talk about service at the RJG much, because we realize that workers in this industry tend to be transient, and on "any given day" you might get great service or terrible. But what drives us nuts are these waiters who don't write the order down . What is the problem? Are they lazy? Are they trying to be some sort of 5 star restaurant waiter? Are they work...

Last visit: Jun 2016 First visit: Jun 2015 We've been a few times over to Main Street Cafe, including very recently. A consistently good place, though the non-distinctive name and location keeps it out of the memory bank when thinking about places to dine. Of course, it tries to replicates the main street town diners of old, but that's hard to do without a grill that's been cooked on for 70 years... Breakfast is the main draw, but they also serve lunch and dinner every day (except dinner on Sunday and Monday). We would categorize their breakfast as a "cut above" the ordinary places such as Denny's or IHOP. In the past, the RJG frequently questioned the variation for breakfast, as eggs and pancakes are often too similar to differentiate. But with the advent of skillets, creative omelettes, and artisan breads/meats, breakfast has become much more interesting in modern times. While we've yet to discover a standout dish, we've been more than satisfied w...

Looks like they've added a location in Roanoke as well. This appears to be independent of the restaurants in California, so I'll leave as is. Interesting that I went in a 2 week time span, and never returned. Huh. Latest visit: Jun 2016 First visit: Jun 2016 THIS... this is what I've been talking about in regards to artisan pizza and craft beers. The craze that is taking hold in America is reflected quite well here at Wise Guys. Though the pizza isn't really in the same category as Grimaldi's or Spin!, it's still a fine blend of well made pizzas and a superb local beer selection. Mrs. RJG and I had visited two weeks ago, and when Mr. Music and I planned a day of food, drink, and tunes, I decided this would be the perfect lunch location. Following that, I would enter it here into the blog. Pizza is the main draw,  but they also have a fine selection of pastas, sandwiches, salads, and soups. We've only sampled the pizza so far, but based on the sauce that c...

First visit: Jun 2016 (Southlake, TX - closed) They're still open in Richardson and Frisco. Most of their locations are in the Kansas City area. Spin! represents the latest fad sweeping America: Artisan Pizza meets Craft Beer. Something akin to Grimaldi's , but with more focus paid to locally made beers. In fact, we tried two such places while in West Virginia last week: Backyard Pizza and Raw Bar in Huntington and Pies and Pints in Charleston. It's the latter that is most like Spin! in that it's both a small(ish) chain, and that their menu offerings are similar. If you've read these pages long enough, you'll know that Mrs. RJG isn't the biggest pizza fan you'll encounter. But she likes these kind of pizzas. The Napoletana style, that we first spoke about long ago at the now closed Campania , just a few blocks away. For our two visits so far, we tried the Italian Sausage and Onion 12 inch pizza. It was just the right texture and crispiness, while t...

First visit: Jun 2016 Mrs. RJG and I just returned from a week long road trip through the southeast, culminating in West Virginia, before heading back through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. It's tempting to write about all the places we ate, as all of them were uniformly excellent - and all very much "local". But I fear readership would be small, and not of much use for most of you. Perhaps I'll pen a few notes on Trip Advisor for each of them. But I didn't want to exclude Lou Viney's, since Sulphur Springs is in the vicinity of DFW, and it's definitely worthy of a destination drive. I think we've been to Sulphur Springs once, and I remember little about it. But times have changed, and the downtown area is revitalized, and quaint, with many restaurants, shops, etc... throughout. It's nice to see small town America have that same sense of relevancy as you would find in Europe for example. I wish our country would have competitions for "...

A small delay, as I had a couple of other projects to attend to. In the meantime, Mr. Music sent this one in recently. It looks like a restaurant nearby to our Indian Godfather. I'll have to ask him if he's been! --- Kumar’s South Indian Village in Plano is a unique experience. They are located in an OLD strip mall on Custer Rd in Plano. They serve home cooking and offer all you can eat on weekends. It’s not really a buffet, it’s much more fun than that! I went there with my friend on Saturday. We had to make reservations because it is very small (12-15 tables) and gets very crowded quickly. Our table was set with a tray covered in a banana leaf for each of us. We sat down at our table and I noticed in the middle of the room were these giant receptacles filled with fresh cooked basmati rice. The staff brings a big bowl of it over, and shovels a mountain of it in the middle of our tray. Then, servers come by with buckets of curries and other goodies. Depending on what you...

Latest visit: May 2016 First visit: Oct 2014 I promised some new entries, so time to get crackin' on that. As mentioned, we do tend to enjoy our favorites, and have moved away from trying new places. Not only is that routine beginning to change (again) but there are some restaurants we've added to our favorites that we have yet to write about here. DeVivo Bros isn't quite in the latter category yet, but it's moving towards it. We actually had intended on writing about DeVivo Bros. back in 2014, not long after it opened, and was receiving rave reviews even then, while racking up some local awards. We had a visit in October of that year, and unfortunately we weren't impressed, and decided to wait it out. Today, DeVivo Bros. is considered the #1 restaurant in Keller for both TripAdvisor and Yelp, and #10 in Zomato (where they list it simply as a "bakery"). But we all know that the latter is completely broken these days (we really do miss Urbanspoon). In a...

Hello everyone! Back again, after a long silence. After a nice bit of restaurant going last summer and early fall, Mrs. RJG and I fell back into the habit of eating at home, with a few dinner excursions, mostly to our standby's that we've already written about here, and dutifully updated. Seems the Santa Fe trip wore us out! LOL. I have to say it's been a somewhat permanent status for us. It's certainly a lot healthier this way! In any case, we do have a few exciting new restaurants to review, as well as continuing our update program. My original plan was to update an existing entry every three years, and that's still my intention. There are some long time favorites, and even those we only frequent occasionally, that need a good thorough scrubbing. So we'll be pushing those forward to keep them relevant and up to date. In the meantime, we lost two more RJG restaurants to closures. One is Billadelphia's, a favorite of ours since the beginning of this blog...

El Paseo maintains 2 locations, one in Fort Worth and the other in Azle. Keller closed in 2017. Last visit: May 2016 (Keller - closed) First visit: Jan 2003 (Keller) When the RJG first started discovering Mexican restaurants in the 1980's, one of the logical axioms was that the more fancy the place seemed to be, the more bland the food proved to be. I felt this to be 100% true until deep into the 1990s, and suddenly one would find themselves in restaurants you would feel comfortable taking anyone to, and also would come out completely satiated. Such were my thoughts when I entered and exited El Paseo for the first time in 2003. And ever since... As mentioned in prior posts, one can usually get a quick read on a Mexican restaurant based on the quality of their chips and salsa. Here the chips are excellent, very crisp, with a strong taste of corn (and lots of chili powder - see comment section as well!) while the salsa has more of a kick than expected. It's a tomato base...

I've been sitting on this review from Mr. Music for over 2 months. Need to blow the cobwebs off this machine, and see what we can do here. In any event, Taste of the Islands brings us back alive. And this is our first Caribbean entry - and we've been going at this for 8 years! --- Today Mr. Music found himself in Plano at Taste of the Islands with some friends. This is a Caribbean restaurant / bakery / grocery store that has a small quaint room for lunch time and a larger room with a stage for reggae music on the weekends. On Thursdays and Fridays they have a buffet which is a great opportunity to try different things if you’ve never had Caribbean food! They change things up from day to day, but today they had steamed rice dotted with pigeon peas (a bit like black beans) or plain steamed rice. They served yellow curry potatoes, seasoned spinach, spicy cole slaw and seasoned green beans for veggies. There were several meat choices including my favorite, goat curry as well a...