A few recent Dallas restaurant reviews...

Cuba Libre
2822 N Henderson Ave
Dallas, TX 75206-6504

Had dinner here late on a Friday night after finding out there was a 45 minute wait at 9:45 at another restaurant. We only waited 10 minutes for a table. The entire menu is very reasonably priced, though it's high for tacos. The ingredients are a bit more gourmet though. I had the brisket tacos with crispy onions and a mango-BBQ sauce. The brisket was extremely tender and everything had a great flavor. There were 2 tacos on the plate. They do allow you to mix and match though, which I think is nice. My companion had the spicy shrimp tacos, and she really enjoyed them, too.

It was served with black beans and rice, which was too much food for me.

Overall, it's a good value, fresh ingredients, and something a little different. There seems to be a hopping bar upstairs with loud music, but we didn't check it out.


Village Burger Bar
3699 McKinney
Dallas, Texas

A friend and I decided to run in here for a quick dinner on a Friday night before catching a movie. I ordered the Chicken Pesto Panini with the famous sweet potato fries. She ordered the Cheddar Burger with regular fries. I had a Watermelon Mojito and she had the Mangorita. Her Mangorita was strong, but extremely tasty. My watermelon mojito tasted like a regular mojito -- perhaps they forgot the watermelon. The place was extremely busy with a line out the door at 8:00. We grabbed a table inside, and there were ample tables for patio seating, which will be nice when the weather is better. Our food came fairly quickly, and the fries were fresh and crispy. My chicken panini was good, but there wasn't a lot of pesto on the chicken. I could have done with a little bit more. Her burger was cooked to perfection with fresh vegetables on it. (Don't you hate limp looking lettuce??) The fries were EXCELLENT. I had never had sweet potato fries, but they were extremely tasty with the right crisp-factor. The regular fries were great, too. Altogether, I was impressed and thought it made for a tasty quick meal..


Gloria's -- The Original Location
3715 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206-5311

A friend and I visited this restaurant on a Sunday afternoon as a celebration lunch. I was surprised that it wasn't busy, but apparently they do a busy evening crowd. The salsa and bean dip served was quite tasty. The salsa has a really good flavor. We ended up splitting fajitas for two, and there was PLENTY of meat. We probably could have split an order for one. The beans served with the fajitas were different than the ones seved with the salsa, and they had a fantastic flavor. The beef was extremely tender, and the chicken was well seasoned. The pieces could have been cut a little smaller, but not a big deal. Service was great -- I don't think our drinks ever fell below half a glass. It was a little overwhelming, to tell you the truth... but I'll take it!

Over all, we had a fantastic lunch experience. The food was good, the service was great, and I'll definitely be back. I have heard that this is the original and best location in Dallas -- so I'll stick to it.

Get into theater!

I stumbled upon an AMAZING website today. From January 1 – February 13, the UK offers something called “Get Into London Theatre”. During this time, they offer 15, 25, and 35 gpb tickets to shows in the West End. The tickets go on sale in December, but they continue selling until sold out. I checked this out to see what was available for the Friday I’m in London, and they had tickets to hits like Billy Elliott, Wicked, etc. I was hoping they would have tickets for Jersey Boys, but they only have those available until Thursday… Anyway, here’s the website:

http://www.getintolondontheatre.co.uk/

It’s AMAZING!

The hills are alive!

Mary Beth and I have planned our Valentine’s Day (celebration!) evening in Londres.

We will be going to dinner (not sure where yet), seeing The Sound of Music (thanks Mom!), and going out for drinks afterward. A very subdued affair. Should be fun. :-D The Sound of Music is closing the following week, so we were lucky to be able to get tickets. Very exciting.

Now, I must figure out what I am going to do before Mary Beth gets there. (As if it’s hard to find things to do in London.)

Le Londres -- planning!

Now that I’ve gotten back and settled in, it’s time to start focusing on the upcoming London trip! As it stands right now, I will be putting in an appearance at the one and only Grosvenor House, my favourite hotel in London. Mary Beth won’t actually be arriving until Saturday, so I will have all day Friday to be left to my own devices. I will probably see a show Friday night, but I’m having difficulty picking! The Sound of Music and Dirty Dancing are at the top of my list… though it has been awhile since my last Wicked fix, so I could always see Wicked again. I’ve never seen it in London. ;-) (But is 10 times excessive? Is it?) The Sound of Music is closing the following week, so I may end up choosing that. We’ll see. I need to decide quickly though, as tickets for West End shows seem a bit harder to come by. Oh, I love theater!

One thing I definitely want to do is photograph the Tower Bridge at night, and hopefully get some dusk pictures of the Parliament/Big Ben/Tower Bridge areas. I am debating whether or not to take my tripod with me. I guess it will depend on how much I pack. ;-) There was no way I could take it to NYC and not check luggage. I really don’t like to check luggage on international trips, so we’ll just have to see how the packing goes.

I’m also hoping to visit the British Museum and the Sunday morning outdoor art fair.

I love planning trips. :-D

Nothing much to do at work today… yet. So here I sit, planning trips, looking up theater tickets, and debating which show to see.

Life is good, isn’t it?