Having recently returned from a holiday travelling the south
and east side of the United States, I thought I’d blog about the different
cities I visited and the awesome food I devoured along the way.
First stop was Dallas! After a 16 and a half hour non-stop
trip from Sydney, I was dying for a good feed when I landed. It was around
dinner time by the time I checked into the hotel and freshened up and decided
to explore Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum is a part of town known for casual eats,
relaxed patios to drink on and a whole range of restaurants to suit your
appetite.
I had done my research on the best of Deep Ellum and decided
to check out Cane Rosso, a pizza joint. We started off with charred brussel
sprouts with pancetta, almonds and a balsamic reduction and 2 pizzas to follow.
The brussel sprouts were cooked nicely with a bit of bitterness from the
balsamic but saltiness from the pancetta.
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| Charred brussel sprouts |
The pizzas were Cane Rosso (sausage, roasted onions &
peppers, san marzanos, housemade mozzarella and parmiiano) and Capricciosa (prosciutto
cotto, mushrooms, artichokes, olives, san marzanos, housemade mozzarella). Both
had good flavours and the dough was a lot softer than your average pizza.
However the longer we took to eat it, the more the toppings soaked into the
dough making it a bit soggy towards the end. All in all not a bad pizza but
definitely not the best. Having just gotten off a 16 hour flight though, it
tasted like heaven at the time.
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| Traditional Capricciosa pizza |
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| The Cane Rosso |
Onto the next day where I was keen to check out some of
Dallas’ best food trucks in Klyde Warren park. Klyde Warren is a park in the
middle of the city built over one of the highways. On most weekdays at
lunchtime there is a line of food trucks serving all types of cuisines from
Mexican tacos, to Maine lobster rolls, to New York City deli sandwiches. A lot
of choice and so hard to narrow it down to just a few but in the end I went for
a pastrami hotdog and beef brisket nachos.
First the hot dog from Gandolfo’s food truck. All beef
sausage covered in thinly sliced pastrami, mustard, cheese sauce and a pickle.
It was so incredibly delicious from the first bite. The pastrami was a great
addition to a normal hot dog and can certainly see why the food trucks in Klyde
Warren are so highly recommended. More than just your typical New York side
cart hot dog.
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| Pastrami dog |
Onto the nachos brought to you by Walt Garrison BBQ food
truck. It was a scorching summer day but that didn’t ruin my appetite for the
generous portion of corn chips covered in barbequed chopped brisket, cheese,
jalapenos and tomato salsa. Quite possibly one of the best nachos I’ve ever
had! The brisket was so tasty and much more appetising than a typical minced
beef and beans mix. The cheese was melted all the way through and you can see
the great cheese pull from the pictures. The spiciness from the jalapenos
combined well with the salsa provided and there was more than enough brisket
right up to the last bite. They also provide traditional barbeque plates with
all the meat trimmings but unfortunately I did not have the stomach capacity to
sample these.
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| BBQ Brisket Nachos |
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| That cheese pull! |
After all this food, I needed something to cool myself down
in the heat. Luckily there’s a food truck for that! For dessert I opted for an
ice-cream sandwich from Coolhaus food truck. They keep it nice and simple here,
you choose your cookie sandwich and the flavour of ice-cream you want to put in
the middle. Quick, simple and delicious! I chose thai milk tea flavoured
ice-cream with a coconut almond chip cookie sandwich. The ice-cream was so
creamy and full of flavour. A winning combination! I would definitely recommend
Klyde Warren food trucks if you love choice and have an empty belly to fill.
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| Simple ice-cream sandwich |
There are definitely no shortage of burgers across America
and I had my fill on this trip. The first burger I tried out was Hopdoddy.
Walking into the place it seemed like a casual burger joint where you could
also order beers and wine. However upon inspection of the menu, the burgers
they offer have such interesting ingredients and combinations it was so hard to
choose just one! The best part about this place is that they also offer truffle
parmesan fries! I’m a sucker for truffle parmesan fries and usually order them
if I see it and this was no exception.
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| Truffle Fries |
To go along with my fries I ordered Llano Poblano (Angus
Beef, Pepper Jack, Roasted Poblano Chiles, Apple-Smoked Bacon, Chipotle Mayo)
and my girlfriend ordered the Good Night/Good Cause (Angus Beef, Tillamook
Cheddar, Hickory BBQ Sauce, Caramelized Onions, Sliced Jalapeno, Hickory BBQ,
Sassy Sauce) burger. It’s called Good Cause because a portion of the money
spent on the burger will go to a charitable organisation.
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| Good Night/Good Cause and Llano Poblano |
The burgers were cooked medium and were seasoned well. My
apple-smoked bacon was so crispy and the whole thing went well with chipotle
mayo. The Good Night/Good Cause burger was juicy and delicious with a hint of
spice from the sliced jalapenos. All in all both great burgers with fresh
ingredients and nothing to fault with them. The size of the burgers were just
right to satisfy us. A bit bigger than a Shake Shack burger and didn’t leave
your hands all greasy at the end unlike other burger joints.
The star however were the truffle parmesan fries! A mountain
of fries were brought out to us covered in flakes of parmesan and truffle oil
and also a side of truffle mayo for dipping. The fries were so crispy and thin
cut and didn’t go soggy even towards the end of the meal.
Hopdoddy has the feel of a Shake Shack joint but with
friendlier staff. The staff who brought water out to us made sure it was always
full and always checked up to see if everything was ok. Top service that’s
exceeded by the burgers and fries!
The last leg of the trip was through Dallas again and for
our last stop, I just had to go to Shake Shack! Undeniably one of the most famous
burger franchises out there, Shake Shack provides simple burgers made with
fresh ingredients and juicy meat patties.
Whilst I was there, there was a special limited hot chicken
burger available which was a spicy version of their already delicious chicken
burger. A crispy chicken breast covered in cayenne pepper to give it a bit of a
kick and topped with coleslaw and pickles.
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| Hot Chicken burger |
The burger was freakin’ awesome! The chicken was crunchy yet
juicy and the cayenne pepper gave it so much extra flavour. The heat of the
pepper was cooled down by the generous serve of slaw and pickles. I couldn't go to Shake Shack and not have their original Shack Burger. I opted for the single Shack burger and it's so delicious and made with the freshest ingredients. Every bite was a delight! I can only
wish that one day they’ll bring Shake Shack down here to Australia so I can
indulge on their delicious burgers and concrete shakes on a regular basis.
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| Shack burger (Single) |
Alas, that was the Dallas portion of my food trip summed up
but there are more cities to talk about shortly! Coming up will be Austin, New
Orleans, Miami, Orlando and the city that never sleeps (and never runs out
food) New York City!
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