Ranch 99 Dim Sum

While we were in Dallas, we had to grab a quick breakfast, and the only thing that opens and no wait was Ranch 99, yes the supermarket.

Here,  in clockwise, we have turnip cake, chicken sticky rice wrapped in leaves, shu mai & har gow, and steam ribs.  Not pictured: steamed soy milk and congee.

You can see how much meat and rice wrapped up in a pouch.  

They have the counter by the side, and besides dim sum, they also have noodles and rice dishes too.  All for very reasonable price.  Not to mention they are open early, it tastes good too.  

It's a very surreal thing, since I grew up in that part of Dallas.  Back then, it was mostly fields, literally, and where this Ranch 99 was located, it was an Albertson back in the early 90s, which sad to say, it's been 20 years ago.  Now, it's a mini Chinatown, an extension of the one in Richardson.  Apparently since Albertson closed the store, the rest of the stores in the strip center pulled out as well.  Luckily, an anchor store like Ranch 99 went in, which brought in other Chinese restaurants and stores.  

Ranch 99

131 Spring Creek Parkway

Plano, TX 75023

972-943-8999

http://www.99ranch.com/stores/plano-texas

Company Cafe

Another place we went to in Dallas was Company Cafe. 

The look and feel was entirely different than the last time we went.  Well, duh, they moved down the street as opposed to the original cafe area.  No wonder.  Service and food, however, has not changed, but I love the extra parking in the back of the building very much.

I got the BBQ pork sandwich on gluten free buns.  Look like they made their pickles, they're nice and crispy.  The BBQ sauce is nice and sweet.  I will say though, towards the end, I was frustrated with the bun and just ate the pulled pork by itself, which is just as good.

My dad got the fish and chips and are very decent.  Not too greasy and fish is not full of batter.  Saturday brunch was easy to get a seat, we tried to go back on Sunday for brunch, however, no such luck.  It was packed with people with at least 40 mins wait.  So, plan early kids.

Company Cafe

2104 Greenville Ave

Dallas, TX 75206

214-827-2233

http://www.companycafe.com/

Origin Kitchen & Bar

So, we were in Dallas and David's friends were recommending Origin.

This is a super family friendly restaurant, so with little ones, you can get them some healthy food and you can also get some decent food yourself.

Yep, we feed our child fries.  It's not too salty, and little one gobbled them up.

I got the Cornish Game Hen, not too gamey.  The bottom has rice, lentil, almond, raisins and these little sprouts.  Frankly, I love the hen alot, it's not too dry, skin is a bit crispy but not liked fried or anything.  The rice mix, however, not so much.  It was super dried.  I liked the almond and raisins put in there, but the entire mix was dried.  I basically just had the hen and gave up on the bottom part.

Was talked into the dessert.  When our server was telling us about a fruit infused custard, we didn't quite know what that meant, until we got it.  It has the fruit paste in the custard and they still put that sugar for you to crack on top, but they also have the same fruit paste as well.  So, when you dig in, you get the fruit paste on top, sugar, custard, and fruit in one bite.  It's nice, unusual, but nice.  Not too sugary.

Parking is plenty, depends on the hour, you may have to fight parking with the nearby shops or restaurant, but it's not horrible.  Easy to get to, definitely go back!

Origin Kitchen & Bar

4438 McKinney Ave

Ste 150

Houston, TX 75205

214-484-3970

http://originkitchenandbar.com/

La Madeline's breakfast

Liked to come into La Madeline's for a quick breakfast.  You know the eggs aren't fake and you got bacon.  Like BACON!  This time I ordered the French Breakfast, it comes with eggs, bacon, potato galette (yum!) and croissant.  Honestly, that's alot of food.  I had to take the croissant to go.  It can be a breakfast sandwich with the hash brown on the side.... basically it's tons of food.  Bang for the buck for sure.

La Madeline's

6205 Kirby 

Houston, TX 

713-942-7081

http://lamadeleine.com/

Gogo Ice

Needed a quick Boba Ice fix.

As you can see, besides the normal tea or coffee with tapioca, they can do various mix and match. 

I got the Taro Milk tea, the purpose didn't show up very well.  But it's not too sweet and the tapioca was just chewy enough.  I liked the tapioca not too mushy but still have some elasticity and bouncy.  For $3.25 you get the drink and they give you a punch card too.  Buy 10 and get one free.  They also have shaved ice too, definitely need to try that next.

Gogo Ice

9188 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 

281-902-9298

https://www.facebook.com/gogoicehouston

Osaka

Went to Osaka while the little one was napping. 

 I always liked to sit at the bar and chat with the sushi chef.  I secretly thinks that I get better service there too.

 You get all sorts of freebie before your food get there.  You get the stuffed bell pepper.  It has a shrimp mix, tempura-ed and has the sweet sauce.  Nice and crunchy.

You also get 2 pieces of shumai, it is definitely from frozen, you can taste the difference.

 The sushi chef had taken such good care of making the roll, though I'd have to take a picture to show it.

 Close up, just love the cucumber flower.  This is a spicy salmon with lobster topped with tuna and tobiko and spicy mayo.  It was definitely worth it.

 I got unagi & chopped scallop.  I love the smell of unagi, so nice and yummy. 

Before you go, they give you some ice cream to send you on your way.  I got red bean ice cream and a small slice of fried banana.  So yummy, just need some honey to go with it.

I think they raised their price since I've been there last.  I understand they have to keep up with the price, and to me, the roll with as much ingredients, is worth the price.  The nigri, however, for the price like Kata's, I expected fresher fish.  Though, it's definitely times better than bad sushi I've had.

Osaka

4001 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77025

713-838-9812

http://osakahouston.com/

Whole Foods Market Dim Sum

In a pinch for some dim sum craving... remembered that they sell them at Whole Foods Post Oak.

This is the steamed pork buns.  The order came in 2s, but I snagged one.  Pretty decent quality in terms of non-dim sum restaurant setting.

I got dumplings.  So, how it works is, the order has 4 pieces, and you can mix and match from all they have that day.  They have pork, chicken, veggie, and other variations. 

Same goes for the dessert buns.  Each of the dessert bun orders comes in 2s, you can mix them with custard center, lotus centered or red bean centered.  

Overall, for to go dim sum, it's not bad.  You can have more choices if you want.  The server was super patience, but from what I can tell, alot of office folks come thru and get some dim sum for lunch and go back to their offices.  It's nice for a quick bite.  Decent food and not too filling that put you to sleep.  Nice little tapas.

Whole Foods Post Oak

1700 Post Oak Blvd

#100

Houston, TX 77056

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/postoak