Deck on Pappadeaux's - Dallas Restaurant Review

On my very first work trip, I found myself in Houston. When I told one of my friends that grew up in Louisiana that I was going on the trip he told me to make a trip to Pappadeaux’s. I did, and I was blown away. That was a year and a half ago. Now every time I fly through Houston, I make sure to place an order at the Bush International Pappadeaux’s and pick it up before my next flight leaves. Why do I tell that story? Because on this trip to Dallas as we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go to dinner, someone mentioned Pappadeaux’s. My ears perked up and my mouth started to water a little bit. I know it is a place I’ve been before, but I haven’t written about it yet, and I knew it would deliver the goods.

After a short deliberation, it was concluded that Pappadeaux’s was the place to go, and we headed out. When we got there, I was excited. It’s the type of place that is really designed to hold a lot of people that are interested in eating a lot of good food. Our waiter (Chris I believe) was one of those guys that’s just friendly and full of energy, offering suggestions while convincing you to get more than you could possibly eat. Looking at the menu, I decided I would try an appetizer this evening and placed my order for Boudin, a dish that seemed uniquely Cajun (with a description that read “sausage stuffed with rice”…I was curious to say the least). Chris then gave us a few minutes to look over the dinner menu, but I knew I didn’t need to. There was one thing I wanted, the reason for going to Pappadeaux’s; the crawfish etouffee served over dirty rice. It was the recommendation from my first trip there, and it is still the only thing I order…well, until I saw the crawfish platter that combines the etoufee with fried crawfish. Double the crawfish on one plate?? Why not!?

When Chris returned, I happily placed my order (after convincing two of the people with me that they too needed to order it), and then turned to my Sam Adams and conversation. It wasn’t too long until a plate was placed in front of me with two full sausages, rice, dipping sauce and bread. I wondered if Chris realized that I wanted the appetizer portion of the Boudin, and not the meal portion. Then I looked at the other appetizers, remembered where I was, and knew that I wouldn’t be leaving hungry (and that I had a date with the gym in the morning). The Boudin was very interesting, and very good; kind of a shredded meat in the sausage casing with a great kick to it that was balanced very nicely by the rice. The sauce was a little bit of a cream based sauce that again added a little heat and a little cool. But, what stood out was the flavor of the meat, which was very moist and flavorful, definitely not overwhelmed by the spice.

I ended up eating 1 full sausage, and giving away a bit of the second one knowing that my etouffee was still en route, and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for that. Shortly after we finished our appetizers and ordered another round of drinks, the entrees started to arrive. There was some fish with sauces and the like at the other end of the table, but all I noticed was the plate set in front of me. I decided to first take a bite of the fried crawfish, which was great; kind of like popcorn shrimp but with more flavor. The thing is after that first bite of the fried, I realized that I had made a mistake. By ordering the platter, I got a half order of the etouffee!! And it wasn’t that the fried crawfish wasn’t good, it’s that the etoufee is great. It has this wonderful spicy kick to it, the kind that sneaks up on you and just slowly spreads across your tongue, but not in an unpleasant way. The spice is complimented by a rich roux based sauce, with the crawfish adding a hint of sweetness, and the dirty rice is there pretty much just to soak everything up. I was definitely pleased, and I could tell from the chorus of “Oh wow!” and “Oh my gosh!” that the others that ordered it were pleased as well. In fact one of the guys kept saying “I can’t eat any more” as he continued to work his way through the etoufee. In the end, we all finished off all of the etouffee, leaving some of the fried crawfish behind.

At this point, we were all sufficiently filled to the gills. That’s when Chris offered dessert. But he didn’t just bring us a menu. No, he brought a tray with each of the desserts and set it in the middle of the table. How do you say no to that? We definitely couldn’t, though we did talk ourselves into only splitting a banana pudding. And while I’ve never had the banana pudding before, you can bet that every time I fly through Houston, it will be added to my order. It was ridiculously good, not too sweet, and not too overwhelmed by the banana which I found to be surprising (I can’t order smoothies with banana because the flavor is so strong and distinct). It was topped with some whipped cream and had Nilla Wafers in the middle. And of course it was served in a Mason jar.

The one thing to remember though is that it's about ordering the right thing. If you are from Seattle, don't order the Salmon or crab because you know you will be disappointed. But for us, we all left the meal very satisfied, without a doubt, and it is a place that I will go back to. I’m sure it’s not the greatest Cajun food in the world, but for me, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Maybe next time I’m in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or somewhere in Louisiana, I’ll give something else a try (in fact I know I will). But for sure, every time I fly through Houston I will be going to Pappadeaux’s for the incredibly delicious crawfish etouffee (now with banana pudding)!

Final Verdict – 4.5 Stars

Deck on Maximo Cocina Mexicana - Dallas Restaurant Review

This week I find myself in Dallas for work.  Ok, not quite in Dallas, but out in the 'burbs in Addison.  When we met up with our work colleagues for dinner, we suggested Mexican or Barbeque since these are things that aren't as common in Seattle.  After a little discussion we decided on Mexican and headed over to Maximo Cocina Mexicana which happened to be conveniently located near the Hilton where we are staying.

As we walked up, the first thing I noticed was that it was a little fancier than I had anticipated (maybe it was my preconceived notion of "Mexican" and "Texas").  I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and felt that I was a little underdressed.  The door was a very large, very heavy wooden door that opened into a little foyer.  On the right was a nice, swanky looking bar, and on the left was a very open dining room.  For some reason, the outdoor seating was not available at this time.  We took our seat and started looking through the menu.

While we were deciding on our drinks, a tray with three different salsas and a batch of tortilla chips arrived.  Before diving in, we pretty much unanimously decided on margaritas, especially after we were told that it was a homemade recipe that simply included lime, alcohol free triple sec and one other ingredient that shamefully I cannot remember.  After the waiter left, we dove into the chips.  They were very nice and crispy, more in the form of strips, and appeared to be tortillas that were placed into a fryer and then lightly salted which made them quite crispy and tasty.  The salsas ended up being a bit of a surprise.  On the right, was a sauce that I had thought would be more of a salsa verde, but ended up being very sweet; made with pineapple, ginger and tomatillo.  The middle salsa was more expected, an ancho chile based traditional salsa.  And on the left was one that I thought was an avocado crema type sauce, but ended up being jalapeno with a little kick.  It was unexpected and a very good start to the meal.

After snacking on chips and salsa, our drinks arrived.  Mine ended up being a hot margarita (apparently things got mixed up) meaning that it had some jalapeno pieces in it to add heat.  The thing is that they weren't muddled in any way, and were just finely diced peppers with no seeds or veins, so really didn't add any flavor, and was a little annoying.  My second one later I made sure was just a regular margarita which was much better.  For dinner, after much deliberation, I decided to go with what they called the Pollo Al Mole.  I was a little nervous because the only mole I've had to date was at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill in Chicago and when I asked if it was a traditional mole poblano, I didn't really get a yes/no answer that I was expecting.

To satiate us while waiting for the food (which took like 20-30 minutes to arrive) we also got some guacamole.  It was made tableside for us with just some avocado, lime, tomatoes and jalapenos.  It was ok, but I'm also not a huge guacamole fan, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.  It definitely wasn't something that was going to convert me to a guacamole fan.  When the meals finally arrived, I was ready to dive in.  It looked and smelled good with the mole served over the top of some rice and the corn tortillas on the side.  The mole was actually pretty good and pretty flavorful.  There wasn't one flavor that really jumped out at me, but the whole thing work together to have sort of a mild but rich flavor.  Unfortunately I was a little let down by the chicken which was very dry and couldn't even be saved by the mole.  Also, I couldn't really tell if the tortillas were handmade, but the flavor was reminicent of those that I've purchased before.

The restaurant was definitely more along the lines of traditional Mexican (or at least what I understand to be traditional Mexican) which was different than I had expected.  And the food was good, but considering that my baseline is the Frontera Grill, Maximo started the night behind the 8-ball, and just wasn't able to push past.  Next time in Texas, I think I'd like to go more in the direction of Tex-Mex rather than traditional Mexican; looking for a little more spice and heat.  Overall, I wasn't underwhelmed, but neither was I overwhelmed.  Just kind of middle of the road.

Final Verdict - 3.5 Stars