93323 Sun May 14 19:07:58 -0700 2006 10 5 Texas 0 512290 I'm going to be in grapevine TX (I thinks its about halfway between FW and Dallas) for a week. Anyway, I'd appreciate any recommendations for breakfast lunch and dinner. Type of meals I'm looking for are (in the order of priority) are 1. BBQ 2. Great Mexican or TexMex 3. Great Chicken Fried Steak place 4. Great vietnamese/janapanese/korea place I'd appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance. BTW, I'm willing to drive to FW, Denton or Dallas from grapevine. Sun May 14 19:07:58 -0700 2006 0 Soup 1 512293 Grapevine is the DMZ for chow. You will have to drive to Dallas or FW. For those recs just check down the board, they are covered frequently and passionately. Mon May 15 11:31:33 -0700 2006 512290 0 Donnie C 2 512304 I have to take issue with all the chowhounds who are trashing Grapevine ("a DMZ for chow"}. I spent several weeks there last year on a consulting project and was taken to some very nice local restaurants by my hosts. The Big Fish at 414 Main Street has excellent raw oysters and very tasty gumbo, and the Main Street Bread Baking Company down the street serves delicious soup and sandwiches on bread baked by a genuine French baker. There is a great steak house, The Silver Fox, at 1235 William D. Tate Ave., on the edge of town - big, thick, tender steaks from the best cuts of beef. And there is La Hacienda Ranch on the other side of town. As long as you stick with enchiladas and carne asada there you'll be fine - just dont fool with wild boar quesadillas or flying fish caviar tacos or other stuff that is way beyond what any sensible person would order in a Mexican restaurant. A final word of advice: do not try to leave Grapevine and drive anywhere else. The traffic is worse than Rome and Mexico City combined, and you'll get lost and end up in Oklahoma with no dinner. Just enjoy Grapevine. Lonn Taylor Fort Davis, Texas Mon May 15 18:32:35 -0700 2006 512293 0 Lonn Taylor 3 512321 If there's wild boar on the menu, by God I'm gonna try it. If that makes me something other than sensible, well so be it. Silver Fox is owned by the III Forks folks. The building used to be a Good Eats, and it shows, from the outside anyway. Very old boys' club leather on the inside, and glassed-in central wine cellar. Very friendly sommelier at that location (last I was there). I find them in general to be overpriced for what it is--just good steaks and salads, nothing really breathtaking. I find that Saltgrass, while a chain, does a pretty good job of satisfying my occasional red meat craving (I get the filet) at a lower price point. I've eaten at the Grapevine location many times. Wed May 17 19:54:37 -0700 2006 512304 0 foiegras 1 512297 DMZ, lol :) There's an outpost of Railhead right off the highway in Grapevine/Colleyville. The original location is close to me in FW, and I like it--but BBQ isn't really my area of expertise. In FW, you might try Wilson's on Lovell off Camp Bowie. It's a genuine mom & pop joint, the owners are sweethearts, there's genuine smoke issuing from the stack, and linoleum that hasn't been disturbed for decades on the floors. I don't know of "great" Mex or Tex-Mex in the Grapevine metropolitan area. What *is* there is 62 Main, but their genre isn't on your list. Has anyone had the chicken-fried steak at Babe's? (Roanoke is near Grapevine--it would be a good place to go, but I always get the chicken.) If I were taking someone for chicken-fried, I'd probably go to Massey's in FW. Atmosphere is in the negative zone, but this they do very well. I know a lot of Asian folks who approve of Tokyo One I think it's called on Beltline in Dallas. There's also First Chinese BBQ, which is authentic and has several Dallas locations. I've been meaning to try Kirin Court, but haven't got there yet. It's supposed to be great for dim sum. Mon May 15 12:50:52 -0700 2006 512290 0 foiegras 2 512301 Grapevine is mostly a wasteland of chain dining, I'm sorry to report. But there are some bright spots, such as Railhead, mentioned in another posting. Mac's Bar & Grill is pretty good, too, also in Colleyville, for steaks and salmon. La Hacienda Ranch, for Mex, is OK - it's nextdoor to Mac's and Railhead. Lava Asian Grill in the same neighborhood is good to very good for sushi, duck curry and tempura dishes. Also nearby, try Kababish for fiery and tasty Pakistani food. On Grapevine's cute little Main Street, there's good seafood at Big Fish, a decent Chicago dog at Weinberg's Deli, and good gumbo and fried shrimp at South Prairie Oyster Bar. Inside the megahotel Gaylord Texan, there's fantastic beef at Old Hickory and Stephan Pyles' southwestern food and excellent margaritas at Ama Lur. I like the Mexican food in Southlake, which is the exploding rich folks' suburb next to Grapevine, at Anamia's, Mi Cocina and Buster's. Possibly the most important thing to bear in mind is that Plano is not at all convenient to Grapevine. And Tokyo One is the dogfood of Japanese cuisine, trust me. Babe's in Roanoke has decent CFS but fried chicken is the specialty. Mon May 15 15:18:03 -0700 2006 512297 0 halley p 3 512302 I've been to Mac's a number of times as I have a friend who lives in Colleyville, but last time we were there things had really gone downhill, and attendance seemed to be down quite a bit too. Don't know if it was a temporary management glitch or what ... I have had the worst experiences at La Hacienda Ranch, though the locals (many of whom are Yankees!) love it. Bones galore in my wild boar quesadillas, and raw bacon wrapped around my shrimp, for two examples. Slightly off the beaten path is a newish restaurant called something like La Reposados. It's more on the Mex side of Tex-Mex (lots of mole). Their cheese enchiladas in no way passed my test, but they did have this fantastic cilantro salsa that I really really liked. Kinda like pesto except with cilantro and still a tomato base. Also on Grapevine's Main St is a French bakery (yes, owned by real French people). Some of their cookies and pastries are pretty nice--and they do a mean chicken salad on croissant. Mon May 15 15:50:08 -0700 2006 512301 0 foiegras 3 512303 Tokyo One is worse than dogfood, but the place remains packed all the time. I vote to avoid it like the plague. And you're right about Plano ... it's very far from Grapevine, especially with construction on SH121. Mon May 15 17:06:25 -0700 2006 512301 0 Kirk 1 512298 I like Naan in the Shops at Legacy in Plano. It's a twist on traditional Korean and you can also order sushi. The grilled eel is fabulous. Mon May 15 13:45:33 -0700 2006 512290 0 Donna 1 512299 Also, Kelly's Eastside in downtown Plano has a great chicken fried steak. Not too greasy, just the right thickness, huge portions. Kelly's also has decent bar-b-q. Mon May 15 13:47:50 -0700 2006 512290 0 Donna 1 512307 My Grapevine and surrounding area recommendations: LOS AMIGOS (Business 114 at the intersection of Main Street). Lunch and dinner, as well as breakfast on weekends. Not much to look at from the outside but service and food is very good, especially the breakfasts. UP N SMOKE BBQ (South Main Street/Rt 377, Keller) Great barbeque, greater beer selection. I don't pretend to be a bbq expert and I don't know all the rules about what constitutes good bbq, but the pulled pork platter with fried okra and corn fritters can't be beat. I don't care what you order here - - just make sure you get the corn fritters!! And the beer. Don't forget the beer. In the big glass too, not the small one. ***IF I HAD TO PICK ONE OR TWO OPTIONS OFF THIS LIST, UP N SMOKE AND BREAKFAST AT LOS AMIGOS SHOULDN'T BE MISSED*** BABE'S (Roanoke) Enough has been said about this place over and over again. The fried chicken is wonderful, the chicken fried steak is worth the trip too. BYOB. ANAMIA'S (Southlake Blvd, Southlake) If you're familiar with the chain 'Mi Cocina', this place kind of looks like it on the inside and outside, only it's better. The original location is in Coppell and a few more locations have popped up in the past few years but the Southlake store is in a nice location with a lot other choices nearby. ESPARZA'S (Main Street). I'll admit that I've had better tex-mex but their margaritas are pretty damn good! JACK SHAWS (Southlake Blvd, Southlake) Good lunch location - been quite a while since I've been here, it doesn't fall into any of the categories you listed but the owner has some sort of tie to The Mansion at Turtle Creek so the Dallasites should approve. SUSHI SAMS (Southlake Blvd, Southlake) The sushi is good and it's fresh. Not really sure what else to say. JR'S STEAK HOUSE (Hwy 121, Colleyville) Just threw this one in there to prove that there are some good upscale restaurants available too. As a matter of fact, as far as 'nicer' restaurants go, I put CLASSIC CAFE in Roanoke up there as one of the best in the DFW metroplex. But I digress. Contrary to popular belief and other postings, I'm pretty sure that none of these locations are chain restaurants. And believe it or not, some are even worth a trip into the 'DMZ'. Enjoy your visit! Mon May 15 22:30:26 -0700 2006 512290 0 Chuck