Tag Archives: Texas

Neighborhood Services, Dallas

Up until last Friday, I had never heard of Neighborhood Services in Dallas. It’s surprising I even ventured to that side of the metroplex, I’m a Fort Worth kind of gal. “Neighborhood Services” doesn’t exactly sound like the name to a restaurant but I’ll tell you right now, it’s one hell of a place. No wonder it was voted D Magazine’s #1 Restaurant for 2013.

Nick Badovinus is owner / chef to a few restaurant’s in the Dallas area. Many of you may be more familiar with him than myself. From what I gathered on Friday evening, this man prides himself greatly on what he is presenting. The menu selection at NS is varied. Pork, veal, chicken, steak, seafood galore made with only the freshest ingredients. Each night, there are various new specials on the menu, which is what people go for and smart people they are! Whatever suits your fancy you will find here, just be prepared for a wait and to pay a higher price.

As mentioned, I really wasn’t sure what to expect except that “this place is phenomenal”. We walked in and the place was packed… and an hour wait (at least). That’s fine. We headed to the bar. The bar needs a little more space. Tight fit, we ran into some really nice people and one not so nice person that elbowed one of my friends in the head, then when we pointed it out he said “You know how people get elbowed… they walk into elbows.” This is why some people in Dallas get a bad name… moving on.

The Bar. A PBR draft will cost you $7. So will a Shiner draft. (A PBR draft in Ft. Worth will cost $1.50… just saying). My immediate thought, this food better be damn delicious and I don’t want another beer. On the other hand, they serve microbrews and that’s a love that I enjoy.

(I apologize for iPhone photos… I wasn’t prepared.)

Finally seated, we ordered a couple appetizers. Roasted Green Chile and Jonah Crab dip. Both dips were savory and delicious although I will say I favored the Jonah Crab dip…huge chunks of crab meat!

Butchers Meatballs in a voodoo peppercorn sauce. The meatballs fell apart as soon as you tried to lift them off the toothpick and then melted in your mouth.

Entrees. It was my birthday last week, I had the “go big or go home” mentality. The waiter also found out about my love of seafood and how I had never had swordfish and talked me into one of the specials of the evening. Let me introduce you to one of the best meals I’ve had…

Swordfish topped with Dungeness crab seated on top of mashed potatoes with grilled asparagus.

Holy mother. Best, meal, ever. Hands down / hands up – however we do it. Savor it! Savor it!

We also decided to split macaroni and cheese among the table. Baked mac and cheese?! The noodles were just floating in cheese goodness.

I’m not really sure why we decided to do this because I don’t think any of us had room for dessert (we were already set to roll right out of there) but here came dessert. We couldn’t pick one or two options, for five of us ladies, we picked three.

Butterscotch goodness. Slightly thicker than pudding but two bites of this and you’ll be delighted with your sweet tooth.

I think the next was Key Lime Tres Leches. Yum! Savory Tres Leches cake with a hint of key lime.

Lastly, a chocolate ding-dong with chocolate ganache topping.

Needless to say, we had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant. Now that I look back on the experience, this also explains why they have valet for vehicles…

If you’re looking to treat yourself to a well deserved evening, set some time aside for a good 3-4 hour meal and enjoy a bit from each course. It’s well worth it. Your belly will thank you!

Texas Music Scene – Magnolia Motor Lounge

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Nothing compares to the music scene in Texas. To say that I love it, is an understatement. Singers, songwriters, musicians alike, mix together like one big family (many are actually family). Some of the best nights can be found sitting around with good friends (or even solo) enjoying the company of the folks on stage and listening to them talk about what inspired a certain tune. It doesn’t always have to be dancehalls and honkytonks, sometimes, a small venue is where it’s at. Case in point – Sunday evening at Magnolia Motor Lounge in Ft. Worth.

Saturday afternoon, I received an email stating William Clark Green had just announced a show at Magnolia Motor Lounge in Ft. Worth for Sunday. Honestly, I don’t usually go out on Sunday nights but I’m loving his music right now and thought what the heck (staying out late always sounds good until the next morning, right?). Sunday evening came, I met up with a friend (really thinking I was only going to stay until 10 so I could get some sleep) and we were ready to see WCG. What we got in return was an unbelievable show.

Walt Wilkins, Tommy Alverson, Owen Temple, William Clark Green

Honestly, I’m surprised the place wasn’t packed to the brim. To the folks that weren’t there, you really missed out. Each artist took a turn telling a story about an experience and then played a tune. To see, listen and be there in the moment with them on stage was phenomenal. It ended with Walt Wilkins “Poetry”, the perfect way to end the evening. It’s definitely an experience that goes down in my top 10!

If you have time to check out these guys or swing by one of their shows, don’t pass it up! If you have seen them, you probably have a good idea what I’m talking about.

Support the Texas music scene, there’s absolutely nothing like it!

Diana and Heather’s Awesome Adventure

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(Writer’s Note: When better to write a post than when you’ve reached the “crash and burn” feeling after a long, eventful and absolutely amazing weekend… here we go.)

Earlier today, Heather and I returned home from attending BlogHer ’13 in Chicago. Returned, is the choice word because I think I speak for both of us when I say, it feels like we hit the Twilight Zone earlier. Let’s have a recap of the day.

BlogHer is amazing but let’s all face the facts… when it’s time to go, the swag takes up a lot of room. Our morning thoughts pretty much consisted of “I’m amazed this all fit in our bags!” and “This better be under 50 lbs.”

We dragged our bags out of the hotel (so thankful for wheels – best invention EVER) and grabbed a cab. Cab driver delivers girls, four suitcases, two large duffel bags and a purse to the train.

Yes, we did the cab to train route.

Yes, we had ALL.THAT.LUGGAGE.

Here, we came across realization…

#1: We appreciate Southern gentlemen and they don’t exist in Chicago.

It only took the 6th out of 7th high school young man to hold the train door for us while we and the small pharmacy in our bags (among other things) moved onto the train. (Props to you young man… you’ll be winning over the ladies later on.) Had we been in the South, this would’ve been done by the first (or second) man we ran into.

See you later Chicago! We will miss you.

Heather and Diana meet Midway Airport. (below)

This was just the line to have our ID’s and tickets checked.

It went by quicker than expected.

I can’t say the same about the security line…

We left the hotel three hours before our flight – and made it to flight while boarding.

We were the last two on the plane.

Our flight had a layover in Wichita, Kansas.
“Cool, we’ve never been to Kansas!”
Wrong….
We’re not going back to the Wichita Airport. (by choice)

We both fell asleep on route to our layover destination.

This is when I believe, we fell into the Twilight Zone.

Low and behold, I seriously thought I was going to see Michael J Fox or MC Hammer inspired outfits just start walking thru the airport.

Nervous? Very.

We saw the sign and this was said…

“Wichita is the ‘Air Capital of the World’ because no one wants to be ON THE GROUND.”

The Wichita airport is tiny.

There’s not a lot to eat.

We had to leave security to eat at Burger King.

Yes, we literally had to leave the secure area.

When we went back thru security, no line.

The carpet was from 1979 (if not earlier… probably earlier).

(Writer’s Note: We were told they are building a new airport and it should be opened next year. We’re cheering for a Auntie Annie’s Pretzels.)

Our layover was 2.5 hours. Obviously too long when mixed with exhaustion.

Finally, we board our second flight headed to the big D.

One hour flight and we land.

I check into Four Square and I’m not even kidding… this happens.

like DALLAS! WE ARE HOME!

(Well, close to it.)

Realization #3: There’s no place like home (even if it happens to be Love field).

Think we were happy?

Big hats, big belt buckles, big hair, tight jeans, boots and too much makeup means we’re back in Texas y’all! (And the airport décor also proves we’re back in 2013!)

Almost home…

We had to leave the airport.

We parked in airport parking which meant we needed to take a bus to get to the car.

Realization #4: Remember that issue with lacking Southern gentlemen in Chicago? Well, we have just the opposite problem in the South… Southern women. (Writer’s Note: Not all Southern women but be honest… you know which one’s I’m taking about.)

To the Southern men… Northern women is where it’s at!

The only thing that stood between us and getting on the bus was this Southern lady.

She tried to cut in front of us to get on the bus not once, but TWICE. The only reason it took TWO times was because the bus was full the first go around.

The bus actually went to her car first and I wish I was kidding when I say this happened…

The bus stops next to her car and opens the bus door.

She stands and as she is walking off the bus points her finger with the upmost arrogance towards the bags and says “The purple bag and the pink bag” and off she goes.

As they say in the South, “Bless her heart.”

We made it to our car. So did all our luggage.