Tag Archives: pasta

Aboca’s Italian Grill at Central (75) and Meadow Road!

This time I decided to stray away from my Knox/Henderson safety zone so I went just a couple miles north off the highway.  Actually, I didn’t choose this place.  It was my brother’s birthday, so of course we let his wife choose the place.  ; )  Anyways, we went Italian this time at Aboca’s Italian Grill at Central and Meadow Road.  When you get off the highway, just look for Tom Thumb in a shopping center, and you’ll see Aboca’s a few doors down.  Just look for your sign.

When I first got there, I asked what beers they had, and my crew and the waiter quickly informed me that it was BYOB.  Initially, I began to calmly yell curse words in my head until they reminded me that Tom Thumb was next door.  When I was buying my booze, I actually realized I was saving money because of this BYOB “hiccup.”

I returned shortly and the waiter said he had to get our order right away because they were about to close.  Yep.  We were “those” people.  When we got our food, we ate like wolves so we wouldn’t keep them too much longer.  Still, they showed no signs of being terribly upset for coming in at the last minute.  Also, the food seemed like they took their time on it.  Everything was amazing!  I did take a picture of the hours so that none you do what we did.

Alright.  We started out with the calamari which was fried perfectly and not greasy.  Our dinner salads arrived shortly after.  I picked it up and swallowed it whole.  For dinner, I had the shrimp pasta aboca that had shrimp, garlic, shallots, mushrooms, capers, and artichokes sauteed in a lemon white wine sauce.  Yes, I copied that directly from their menu.  My memory isn’t THAT good, and I’m not that good of a writer.  Someone else had the beef lasagna.  I tasted it and thought it was some of the best lasagna that I’ve ever had.  The birthday boy and his other half had the pasta trio that had fettucini, manicotti, and lasagna.  They split it.  It looked and smelled great.  Someone who looked important even came over and asked how everything was rather than being upset at our last minute arrival.  Honestly, they were probably pretty happy about the quick in and out business and a big tab.  I made sure to tip insanely high to show my appreciation…  Plus, I’m a server, and we all always take care of one another.  It’s an unwritten code, y’all.

Oh.  Other things on the menu that we didn’t try this time?  They have a veal menu, seafood menu, and a pizza menu that includes calzone and stromboli.  They have more selections, of course, but I’ll just include a menu link down below.

In the end, I left very satisfied, and everyone working was very nice to us.  I highly recommend this place.  Don’t forget to arrive early and pick up a six pack before you go!  😉

Aboca’s Italian Grill menu!

Lemon Bar and Grill on Henderson! (CLOSED!!!)


This place finally re-opened as the Lemon Bar, and I’m a bit excited about this.  Another cool restaurant in my hood!  I love having more options nearby.  This building was known as Cuba Libre for many years but went out of business.  Another place opened soon after and tanked after about six months.  Now we have the new location of the Lemon Bar!
As far as food goes, I thought everything was really good considering I was told at the door that this was their second week in a “soft opening”.  She said most places do one day of a soft opening, but they wanna get as many imperfections out of the way as possible.  I love it.  Anyways, my jalapeño shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta was fabulous.  I’m still thinking about it the day after.  Check out my picture of it.  It looks pretty awesome, I must admit.  Actually, I was surprised I ate it all, because I had just had dinner at Victor Tangos an hour before.  I ordered it thinking I’d get a to-go box soon after!  Not so much. My friend had the chicken panini with coleslaw as his choice of side.  It wasn’t on panini bread or pressed in a panini maker, but it still tasted very good!  Granted.  They are in their “soft opening.”  I can’t wait to come back to get that same non-panini as an actual panini.  It was good.  I think it’d be easier if they just changed the name, but that’s just me.  It was a good sandwich.
As far as the rest of the place, they got HD HD HD and more HD!!!  :-). Ha.  I think I just like repeating HD in all my posts.  Obviously, it’s not a rare thing.  Upstairs, they have a small room perfect for clubbing on the weekend or gettin’ yo dance on!  Not really my scene anymore, but I’m willing to go with a friend so we can be wallflowers until the liquid courage kicks in and pictures are taken of me dancing with hot ladies half my age that I’ll never remember.
… Sorry.
Um, they have a small patio as well.  I hope they can expand it before patio weather comes back!  Check out their website below.  That’s all folks!

http://www.thelemonbar.net/Dallas_Location/Dallas.html

Shuck N Jive at Lovers and Greenville

I usually come here for the snow crab legs.  They’re always very good!  Of course, it comes with drawn butter, roasted potatoes, and corn on the cob.  It’s a pretty large portion for only $18.99.  So large that if I don’t crack and eat fast enough, it gets a bit cold in the end, so crack fast, y’all!  Cajun seasoning gives it a nice kick.  Yes, I went cajun again.  Sorry.  I gotta stick with a good thing.

Anyways, this time I decided to try things I’ve never had.  The menu said that the crab stuffed shrimp was an employee favorite, so I HAD to get it.  It was fantastic!  The texture, sauce, batter, and seasoning made me so happy!  (Check out the pictures).  Also, the blackened chicken pasta is “the most popular item on the menu”, so my friend got it.  It was actually suggested by a past employee that now works at Sundown (I’m currently the mayor there on Foursquare.  It’s a big deal.  Not really.)  Well, he loved it, and I loved every bite I stole from him.  The food was so good that I didn’t even notice that karaoke was going on until I left.  They really didn’t have a ton of beer selections, but the food made up for it.  Check it out.

www.dallas.shucknjive.com