Be Raw Food and Juice near Douglas Ave. and N.W. Hwy!

Here’s your sign!

Vegan advice.

Small dining room.

Kale salad.

Spaghetti and “meatballs”.

Enchiladas.

Primavera bowl.

The lineup.

Dessert.

We like to share.

Animal lovers.

Okay.  So I’m playing Words With Friends with my friend in New Zealand, and he says in the chat box, “Dude, your blog is a meat fest!  You should go to a vegetarian restaurant.”  It’s funny, because I actually discussed that with a co-worker the day before.  So!  I took one for the team!  Not only did I go to a vegetarian restaurant, but I went to a VEGAN one that did ALL RAW foods that’s ORGANIC and GLUTEN-FREE!!!  This is way out of my zone, but I had to do it.  We went to Be Raw (fresh) Food and Juice near Northwest Highway and the Tollway.  When I sat down, I asked if they have beer, and they said no and that I need to cleanse myself.  Oh man.  If this was the military, I’d get an achievement medal.  Anyways, I stayed.  We ordered the kale salad to start off with, and I honestly thought it was very good.  It had avocado and tomatoes on it, and the kale was marinated in olive oil and lemon juice.  We devoured it.  After that, we shared the coconut kale enchiladas, spaghetti and “meatballs,” and the primavera bowl.  Family style.  You can tell from the pictures what they had in them, but if you want an in-depth description of the ingredients, I put a link to their menu below.  I will tell you that my favorite items were the kale salad and enchiladas.  The fake cheese was awesome, and the tortillas had a nice spiciness to them.  The noodles were tasty, but they threw me off a bit because they were cold.  Duh.  Raw.  I should’ve expected it.  I just wasn’t thinking straight because I didn’t have a beer to wash the food back with.  Oh, the “meatballs” are made with walnuts, basil, olive oil, and marinara.  I hit a wall when I was here, because there’s only so much healthy food I can eat.  I was still a little hungry yet had to stop, but we ended up sharing a chocolate bliss smoothie that had raw cacao, agave nectar and coconut butter.  That was the best thing I had and was literally finally full after the few sips I had of it!  It’s really hard to believe that it was vegan.  So tasty.

They have a lot more items on their menu like soups, sandwiches, raw pizza, wraps, and rolls.  I just shared what we had on this visit.  Maybe next time I’ll get a soup and ask them to microwave it!  Just kidding.  They’d probably hurt me if I did that.

Honestly I wasn’t sure if I’d come back because of the lack of a bar, and I didn’t wanna get in trouble for concealing a flask, but Yelp says they’re a BYOB joint.  If this is the case, I’ll definitely be back!  I really need to add healthier foods to my body.  Check this place out for sure, especially if you’re one of “those people.”  You know?  Health conscious, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose intolerant, or a recovering alcoholic.

Thanks for reading!  🙂

Be Raw Fresh Food and Juice menu!

The RAW website!

The LOT at Gaston and E. Grand Ave./Garland Road!

Here’s your sign.

Crispy baked kale.

Luscher’s red hot mini dogs.

Meatloaf sandwich.

The LOT burger.

The dining room.

Nice fireplace and lounge area near the front.

The main bar.

Side patio.

Play area for kids.

Play area for adults.

Dining area over what once was a swimming pool.

Not sure what this is. Ghost bar? 🙂

I truly love what they did here at the Lot in East Dallas.  It was once known as the Backyard Beach Bar for many years where there was a swimming pool and a few volleyball courts.  I had fun going there to prove that older people could still play volleyball.  Granted.  I did seek out the drunkest team available so the “Dirty Thirties” could win.  Anyways, enough about me, on to the Lot!  My friends and I went on opening day in February of 2013.  It was Monday, and they were super busy!  So busy, in fact, that they ran out of the two items I chose from their menu online before even going, so I MUST go back to try them.  If you’re curious, I wanted the wagyu beef tongue sandwich with a fried egg and the bison bleu cheese buffalo meat balls.  Still, what I ended up getting was very satisfying.  We started off with the crispy baked kale and the red hot mini dogs.  They were both good.  I’m curious how they seasoned the kale to make it taste so good.  For dinner I had the turkey meatloaf sandwich, and my friend had the LOT burger.  I saved the second half of my sandwich for later because I hate eating until painfully full, and I didn’t want to waste such a delicious juicy sandwich.  My friend’s LOT burger had smokey ham, cheddar, white onion, crisp lettuce, and red chile smear.  He finished it all.  What a pig!…  or it was a good sandwich.  We also shared the hand-cut fries.  They tasted really fresh and were seasoned perfectly.  I didn’t get a picture of it, because we attacked it before I thought about grabbing my camera.  😦

After dinner, we ordered their healthy juice drinks.  One had carrots, orange, and ginger, and the other had beets, orange, and ginger.  Well, I guess forgot I don’t like beets!  The rum we had them add (for $2 more) made it better, though.  I drank it all for a nice healthy buzz.

Outside, although the swimming pool and volleyball courts are missing, they have a huge dining area resting atop where the pool was, and they have a play area for kids and one for adults (bags/cornhole etc.) where the volleyball courts once were.  It also looks like there will be an outside bar when the weather gets nice.

Overall, I like the new dining room and appreciate all the hard work they did in renovating.  It looks and feels great.  Their Chef is very good and pleasantly creative.  I’m glad they have vegan options for my weird friends, as well.  I’m gonna miss the swimming pool I never swam in, but I will actually miss the volleyball courts.  It looks like it’d be easy to bring them back, though.  They will soon expand the back area to connect with the Sante Fe Trail, and I’m sure this will bring them more traffic.  Sweaty runners and bikers get hungry and thirsty just as much (if not more) as us cave dwellers.  I hope they do well because I would love to have this place as an option to go to whenever I’d like.  I like what’s going on here.

Check out the link below for the rest of their menu.

*cough*bring back volleyball*cough

The Lot website and menu.

Velvet Taco at Knox/Henderson and Central(75)!

back patio

VELVET TACO

The number 9 and 18! 😉

The wall menu

dining area

front patio across from Victor Tangos! 🙂

Alright.  So this is my first takeout post!  I really wanted to do one, and Velvet Taco immediately came to mind.  By takeout, I mean no servers, but they do have a dining room and beer.  These aren’t street vendor tacos, though, even though I love those as well.  These tacos are made with quality ingredients and seemingly by a Chef.  Also, just because they don’t have servers doesn’t mean to pretend the tip jar isn’t there.  Throw something in.  You’ll feel better.

I had two tacos.  I was satisfied, but three would’ve filled me up.  I only ordered two this time, because one of my tacos was a bit pricy, but I HAD to try it.  It was the maine lobster.  It was good, but if I would’ve expected the lobster to be cold, I would’ve enjoyed it more.  Good flavor, just shocked by the temperature.  The shredded pork taco I had was excellent!  It made me moan (just a little bit okay).  It had bleu cheese crumbs and avocado cream on it!  They may not have a bar or servers, but there is a beautiful wall with shelves of healthy beverages, but on the bottom?…  Beer!  Good beer at that!  If you’re not a boozer like me, then they have creamsickle tea that gets refills like the sodas.  I also highly recommend the rotisserie corn “elote style”.  Just get it.  You’ll like it if you like corn.  If you like chicken, it looks like they slow cook it rotisserie style.  You’ll see the whole birds rotating.  A chicken taco is next on my list.  I didn’t see the those birds until after I ordered.  😦

They do have two little patios, if that’s what you’re looking for.  If you’re looking for some HD action, get it to go or for “takeout”.  😉  Anyways, I just had to say HD for no reason.  Check this place out. Their food is great.

Velvet Taco website

Velvet Taco menu…  even though I took a pretty good picture of it for you.  😉

Sundown at Granada on Lower Greenville!

They have an upstairs and downstairs patio. Check out the projector screen upstairs at night!

This is the stage they built in the dining room. It’s pretty big!

The chicken on the Freebird was very juicy and tender!

For the fitness feast you choose a protein and a salad.

I love this place.  It must be the feng shui (?).  Very earthy and inviting inside and out.  They are passionate about their cocktails, and local support of food products, beers, vodkas, wines, etc.  Texas, y’all!  My favorite burger there is called the Sundown.  The onions are caramelized in root beer (or they were back then)!  Grass fed beef, goat cheese, and pecan smoked bacon.  Wow.  My favorite appetizer is the Mediterranean.  It has taboulleh, roasted garlic, hummus, feta, olives, and pita bread.  The garlic is my favorite part.  You gotta squeeze the clove out.  My favorite cocktail is called the Sundown (go figure).  It’s got Sailor Jerry’s rum, fresh jalapenos, agave nectar, fresh lime, ginger beer, and bitters.  On this visit, I got the Freebird.  It was a thick and juicy chicken breast with pepper jack cheese melted on top with mushrooms.  Sweet potato fries were served on the side.  My friend and I are trying to do low-carb, but we devoured those fries!  Oh, his meal?  He got the Fitness Feast where you choose a protein and a salad.  He got the andi salad (kale) and Chisolm trail patty.  It’s hard to make kale taste good, but they rocked it!

Speaking of rock, they recently built a huge stage in the dining room!  Pretty soon, they’re gonna have live music every night of the week from 11pm to 2am!  Food and drink in the day, and music at night.  I love it!

Ah, I forgot to mention that they have awesome flatbreads, entrees not mentioned (surf and turf), vegetarian, AND vegan options.  I can’t really write about those options.  I’m too busy flossing the flesh from my teeth.  If you’re out late, come join me at the bar!  😉

www.sundownatgranada.com

Oh, check these videos out.  I put it on youtube.  I think it was on a Wednesday.  Birds of Night. http://youtu.be/xUSsd9yHDMU

and Monday.  Effinays.  http://youtu.be/2d9u4rYisZA

Dalat Vietnamese Restaurant on Fitzhugh!

Fried egg rolls wrapped in a spring roll with peanut sauce on the side.

You can add “stuff” to your beef pho by using the fresh salad bar. Yummy!

Alrighty, then!  I was told to go here because they have good food and play a lot of Michael Jackson music.  I LOVE Michael!!!  Of course, you know I love food.  I was told to get the meatball shot by a bartender near by, but I came to eat.  I started with a Vietnamese beer called HUE.  It was light and refreshing.  The appetizer I ordered was called the Dalat roll.  It was a crispy egg roll wrapped in a spring roll.  I ripped it apart and ate them separately for some reason.  You know?  We eat Reeses PB cups in different manners.  It just felt right.  The peanut sauce made it that much better.  Delicious.  My main meal was the beef pho suggested by the bartender.  It was very good as it came but even better after I “tweaked” it.  He told me about their “side bar” where I went to pimp my pho.  I got limes, cilantro, beets (?), etc., but passed on the fresh jalapenos.  I threw all that in and added sirachi, pepper, and a mysterious brown sauce.  I couldn’t stop eating it!  It was good!  Check this place out.  I highly recommend it.

…

Also, they have a projector screen that they use for sports and stay open until 2am every night.  (once was 3am, but a select few drunks ruined it for us all).

dalatdallas.com