Category: restaurants

Burgers at Humperdinks

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I went to Humperdinks with Jason and Julie this evening. I ordered a Border Burger, while Jason ordered a Cajun Burger (rather spicy, but in a good way, so he says) and Julie had chicken-fried steak (no surprise there). The Border Burger consisted of:

Border Burger
All-beef [1/2 pound] patty, covered in guacamole, with bacon, Pepperjack cheese, spicy jalapeños and fresh salsa on our bun with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. 8.99

Before ordering, I was slightly concerned that the “spicy jalapeños” might end up being too spicy, but our server assured me that the burger had only a medium-heat to it. As it turns out, that was a good assessment — it had some spiceness, but not too much or too little.

I’ve been disappointed by some burgers elsewhere, but this one was very good. The meat was hot and almost crumbly (but not at all spongey). The guacamole and salsa were piled high along with the bacon atop the patty. Sometimes patties with many condiments have the pitfall of becoming too slippery for their buns, but this one faithfully remained within the confines of its bun.

In the end, the burger was good and I wouldn’t hesitate in ordering one again sometime. However, $9-hamburgers are probably not sensible sustenance for unemployed web developers :(.

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event – November

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The DFWBlogs Cocktail Event for November was held this month at Cosmo’s. I had a great time, and it was just what I needed after a hectic day at work.

Cosmo’s has a jukebox that didn’t drown out our conversation, though the sheer number of people later in the evening tended to do so. Their interior lighting was a bit quirky, but lovable. It was full of those goofy colored lamps that see you see at places like Eurway.

According to the GuideLive review, Cosmo’s speciality is its little personal pizzas. And, actually, that seemed to be the only thing on the menu (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

The pizzas came in 7” and 12” sizes, and I knew that a 7-inch would be plenty for me. They had various topping-combos, including Greek (feta cheese, olives, and so on) and Sun Dried Tomato (sun dried tomatoes, garlic, and other toppings).

The menu also had an option for a make-your-own pizza at $4.95 + 50 cents per topping. Considering that the combo-pizzas were all $7.95, that’d allow me to choose up to four toppings while still costing less or equal to the regular combo price.

So, I chose Italian sausage, pepperoni, and sun-dried tomato. The pizza arrived shortly and, though it was appropriately hot, its other features could have used some improvement. Sure, the sausage was tender and crumbly (just how I like it) and the sun-dried tomatoes had a pleasant sweetness, but I didn’t detect the pepperoni (perhaps they forgot that).

The dough was full of good flour-and-yeast flavor and had a browned-crispiness from a good oven. The make-or-break factor in any pizza, I feel, is the sauce. And, in this case, the pizza didn’t fare so well. After a few bites, I realized that I couldn’t taste the sauce. Thinking that maybe the other ingredients were simply overpowering the sauce, I even took a quick peek under the cheese: I couldn’t see any sauce in there.

Consider an entree made from freshly baked dough with a generous helping of hot mozzarella chesse, and what do you have? That’s right, I had apparently unknowingly ordered an open-faced mozzarella-based grilled cheese sandwich ;). As grilled-cheese sandwiches go, it was pretty tasty — especially with the Italian sausage and sun-dried tomatoes sprinked on top. But, it didn’t make much of a pizza.

Kidding aside, the food was still a pleasant change-of-pace from my normal dinners at home , and I look forward to the next Cocktail Event.

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event – October

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

This month’s DFWBlogs Cocktail Event was at the Stoneleigh P. The GuideLive description specifically mentioned their “super burgers”, so I figured I’d try those.

Oddly enough, their menu advertises “No fries! No ketchup! No pickles!”. That impressed me a little bit, as their hamburgers would have to be very good to stand on their own like that. However, they weren’t.

Sans ketchup, sans pickles, it’s pretty much just meat on a bun (with some mayo). It was like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, only without the jelly. To be fair, my “Ranchero Deluxe” included chipotle mayonaise, but it was more like mayo with diced tomatoes — or, as Gary put it, the mayo closely resembled McDonald’s special sauce ;).

Per the menu, the Ranchero Deluxe was touted as an 8 oz burger. I know my 1/2 pound burgers, and this one didn’t seem to live up to that. I wouldn’t think they would lie on their menu, but it still didn’t seem to be a full half-pound.

Other than the hamburger debacle, I enjoyed the evening. They had Sam Adams on tap, and that’s always a good thing. And, the decor was delightfully kooky (including obsolete arcade games that no one played, as if they were around just for decoration).

Slashdot Meetup – September

Ashley Bischoff5 Comments

Last night, I went to the Slashdot Meetup for Dallas. It was held at the Dave & Buster’s just down Walnut Hill (not the one near Walnut Hill and 75).

The plan, from e-mail discussions with people from the last Slashdot Meetup was to meet at Dave & Buster’s, but then to go somewhere (cheaper) from there.

It was scheduled to start at 7pm, and I actually got there around 7:07pm (oops). I was concerned that maybe the group had left for the new-restaurant without me, but they hadn’t. Oddly enough, instead of the about-ten people from last time, there were just three people this time around (myself included).

We waited in the entrance-area just in case there were any more late-comers. By around 7:30pm, I suggested that we head-out to the new-restaurant. For some reason, one guy (Dave, I think his name was) was reluctant to do so. I believe his words were “I’d be real hesitant to leave, in case anyone were to still show up”.

Firstly, I thought it was a bit odd that he thought more people may be showing up, even though it was 7:30pm at that point. Secondly, though, I thought it was especially odd that he used the phrasing “real hesitant” instead of the more straight-forward “I would prefer…”.

The three of us had no interest in the arcades, but agreed that some food would be good. So, we found a table for ourselves. Chad (the non-Dave guy of the three) had some chicken nuggets before coming to the Meetup, so he just ordered a Bass. As it turned out, Dave and I also ordered a Bass each.

For food, Dave ordered a Double-Double Cheesburger-Cheeseburger (or something equally cheesily named) which was described as having two beef patties and a slice of American cheese on each. I ordered their Cheese Buster Burger — esentially the single-patty version of Dave’s order. As written in the menu, it included American cheese, which I generally despise (I consider American cheese to be the Microsoft of cheeses).

I asked our waitress whether I could get a different cheese, and she confirmed that I could get jack, swiss, blue cheese, and a few others. I elected for the blue cheese (especially as it was crumbled blue cheese). I asked whether the burger came with fries and, sure enough, it did. I’m trying to reduce (though not eliminate) my carb intake, so I asked whether I could substitute the fries for something else; but all the alternatives were high-carb items as well (rice, baked potato, and so on). So, I just stuck with the fries with the compromise that I’d eat about half of them.

Our food arrived shortly, and my blue cheese was conveniently on-the-side in a small aluminum shot-sized cup. From there, I proceeded to dump all of it onto the patty, along with the tomato slice that was also on the side. With a dollop of ketchup, my burger was compete.

I wish I could say that it was a great burger, but it actually wasn’t. Unlike an ideal burger with loosely packed ground-beef, this burger was very dense. It was almost as if the chef-droid in the kitchen had been flattening and compressing my burger with his spatula at every opportunity. On top of that, the burger wasn’t all that hot either. A good burger should just be on the cusp of burning one’s mouth, but this one was merely extra-warm.

Don’t get me wrong — the burger was tasty enough such that I would accept it if someone were to buy one for me. However, I don’t think I’d order one again from Dave & Buster’s.

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event – September

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

The DFWBlogs Cocktail Event for August was held at the Tipperary Inn on Live Oak St. It’s an Irish-style pub, and the interior bars were even made in Dublin and shipped over (!).

Being that it was a Wednesday evening, it wasn’t very crowded — which I thought was a good thing. With fewer people, it’s easiler to have conversations with other people. Still, the sound still easily reflected off the many flat surfaces such as all the polished wood. But, that was only a minor issue (especially comapred to sitting next to the large glass windows at The Hurricane Grill).

I ordered a bacon-cheddar burger and a Kelly’s Cider. The burger had a good amount of meat to it, probably 1/3 lb or more. Pleasantly, it also had that char-taste that comes from a properly flame-grilled burger (mmm). The burger was $8. And, it was very good. But, was it $8-good? I don’t know about that. Maybe $7-good ;).

The fries were “very warm” but not quite “hot”. And, they were crispy-style fries with almost a crunch to the outer skin. I don’t see that fry-style much these days, and it was a nice change of pace.

Before I ordered the burger, I selected my drink. When I asked our waitress what they had on tap, she rattled off an impressively long list of beverages. I heard “Newcastle” among them — definitely one of my favorites — but my ears perked up at the mention of “cider”. I didn’t even hear what brand of cider it was, but I knew that it was one that I hadn’t previously tried.

It turns out that the cider was Kelly’s Irish Hard Cider (an Irish brand, no surprise there). As I write this, I’m having difficulty putting into words the delicousness of Kelly’s Cider… It was full of distinct apple flavor, but not oversweetened, so it remained very dry and crisp. It was fantastically delicious and highly refreshing.

Though Savanna Dry (only available in South Africa, as far as I know) is still officially my favorite cider, Kelly’s now takes the crown as my favorite-cider-actually-available-in-North-America.