Bread Zeppelin

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When I heard about Bread Zeppelin, I was excited because I always love trying a new foodie gimmick. Often, it's a brilliant success! That was certainly the case with Tom & Chee. So when I heard about a place that stuffs salads into hollowed out "zeppelins" made of fresh bread, that sounded like just the sort of upgrade this carb-lover needs for my salad.

I planned to check it out for lunch one day with a friend of mine, and since the location is near my sister's work, I invited her to come along. She was unavailable, but "you might want to get it to-go and take it somewhere else to eat," she warned, "the chairs there are super uncomfortable." Since I try to review restaurants for the total experience, I noted her comment but planned to eat in the dining area.

My first impression of the decor and branding was masculine, certainly attractive but not necessarily screaming "yummy food". Still, it was effective and I was excited to try my zeppelin.

The menu took a little study at first...

But I quickly established that I was to select one of several lettuce options...

...Then select 4 toppings if I wanted to stay within the given price for the salad (6 toppings if you did the salad without the bread bowl, but the base price for the salad was higher). Now 4 toppings sound like a lot, but that doesn't include proteins. Any proteins- meat, or egg- and avocado, those cost extra. And not just a dollar more, the chicken costs $2.75 on top of the price of the salad. So the bill adds up pretty quickly if you want a salad with any substantial ability to satiate. The toppings offered were a decent variety:

I ended up getting sunflower seeds, shredded white cheddar cheese, apple, asparagus, shredded carrots, and shrimp, because I had intended for this meal to be a substantial lunch, and I wanted to experience an ideal sandwich for my review.

Perhaps most noteworthy, at least as far as the menu is concerned, is the huge selection of salad dressings offered at Bread Zeppelin:

I want to say this in favor of Bread Zeppelin, the bread is clearly super fresh and super well made. Even before I tasted it, the little loaves looked amazing.

Bread Zeppelin also offers cookies, in-house made bread pudding (an excellent idea to use the centers they hollow out of the bread bowls, and if it's half as good as the bread, it's amazing), and a huge variety of chips- I only got a photo of one of the two displays.

My friend sat down before me, and as I approached the table, she said "you should mention these chairs in the review- they're super uncomfortable." I hadn't told her what my sister had said, but that was 2 strikes against the chairs and I hadn't even sat down yet!

As soon as I did, I knew what they both meant.

Now I'll never pretend that the Lord didn't bless me with abundant curves- in fact I'm pretty proud of the fact. But neither my sister, nor my friend, nor I would ever be categorized as obese, and this is Dallas, TX for heaven's sake- there are a whole lot of people bigger than us in this city. These chairs were like sitting in a children's swing. I seriously wonder if I were even a few inches wider if I would have been able to get out of the chair without an embarrassing call to the fire department. I'm certain even if I escaped I would have been bruised.

What does this say to people who are selecting a place advertising "Salads Elevated" if they feel that they have to be below a size 10 to literally feel comfortable eating there? If they're encouraging people to eat healthier by making salads appealing in a bread bowl, they should welcome the dieting crowd. If they're only interested in attracting a thin and healthy clientele, they may as well do away with the bread altogether. 

Anyway, the food itself- that's why you're really here:

My friend got a salad, and she repeatedly compared it to another place I'll actually review tomorrow, because she was unimpressed with the cap on the number of toppings and the amount of protein she got for the price of it. Overall it was a good salad, but the fact is, you can get a good salad in a lot of places, especially for that price, and most of the time if you're paying extra for protein they give you more than an ounce of meat. She also pointed out that she had to go through and pick a lot of the red onion out because the pieces had been cut pretty large, and they had put so much in that it overpowered everything else in her salad.

My Bread Zeppelin looked amazing when I unwrapped it, and I was totally impressed with the quality of the bread, which it turns out is dairy and egg free (most french bread recipes are, but it's a handy thing to know for certain if you happen to have allergies).

It was clear where the inspiration came from, and the idea of stuffing a salad into a small bread loaf did indeed elevate the salad, but it mostly reminded me throughout the consumption experience that it was essentially a sandwich with a lot of veggies and not enough meat. I had paid $3 extra for about an ounce of shrimp. I found that the asparagus was raw, which surprised me. I know asparagus can be and often is consumed raw, but usually, especially on salad bars, and particularly if the asparagus have just been quartered and are in large pieces, they're cooked. Ultimately I will say that I wasn't weighed down at all by the meal, I felt virtuous eating so much green and the crisp freshness of the vegetables was utmost.

Still, for the ultimate tab of ~$12 for just a drink and sandwich, I felt kinda ripped off. When it comes down to it, I could have gotten the same size sandwich or larger as fresh with as many ingredients and much more protein for $6.50 at Central Market. 

I like the overall concept of Bread Zeppelin. I get their idea, I like their gimmick, and I think they have the makings of a really successful chain- but they need to immediately reassess their chairs in future locations, if not take on the expense to exchange the chairs at all of their locations, and they need to look at their menu. It would feel like less of a rip off if the Zeppelins started out priced at $6.50 or $7 and at least one protein was included automatically. Nobody likes a $3 add-on, especially when the alternative is a lunch that is 100% carbs and fiber. 

I think this place isn't bad, but there are better places with similar menus out there. I have high hopes for Bread Zeppelin if they can pay attention to reviews and tweak their model, though, and their bread recipe is a flat-out winner.

**EDIT** After posting this review, my sister pointed out the following: "One thing I figured out is that it's a LOT more cost-effective there to pick one of their pre-planned options - most of them include a protein for only $1 over the base price, and I like that they've already thought out some of the ingredients that go best together. The NOLA is really good, and since I'm not a red onion fan they let me sub it out for something else no charge."

So check out Bread Zeppelin- just order off their pre-planned options for the best value. And unless you have 30 inch hips, maybe take your order to go.

Homemade: Asian Chicken Salad

I try to make meals that are varied, healthy, simple, and affordable. I feel like that's most people's goals. So I recently discovered the awesomeness that is the bagged salads at most grocery stores.

My favorite bagged salads are the ones heavy in cabbage. This is because it takes a LOT longer for cabbage salads to wilt than softer leaves. Still, a salad isn't enough sustenance for anyone, especially not a 23 year old man who works out regularly. My husband needs meat.

So I took some frozen chicken breasts, thawed them, and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I heated a greased skillet and lay the meat seasoning-side-down so that it seared in the flavor. then I seasoned the other side. After flipping chicken and sealing in all the lovely juices from both sides, I added a dash of soy sauce, because the bagged salad I would be pairing this chicken with was an Asian salad with a sesame dressing.

I sliced the chicken into manageable, thin pieces, added it to the salad, and tossed it all with the dressing.

Just before I served, I added the crunchy noodles and almonds into the mix, and served simply in a bowl.

Sometimes it's the super simple stuff that's most satisfying. It certainly doesn't hurt that I only dirtied one skillet and one large bowl making this meal. I think it's worth appreciating that we live in a time when it is easier than ever to eat good, healthy food that has been crafted by experts and put into a medium where we can fix it fresh for ourselves without excessive effort. Where will we be in another 10 years? Buying quality beef wellington in a box with 2-step baking instructions? How exciting that our experiences of food can be so broad, even at home!

What's your favorite gourmet-from-home option available nowadays? Let me know in the comments!

Introducing FrankenFood Friday: Oreo Churros

There are so many wacky mish-mashes and hybrids of two or more beloved foods in the world, and I find myself drawn more by curiosity than appetite to see if they do justice to either of the original inspirations, or both, or if they have successfully made something mind-blowing and delicious, finding the elements of muchness contained in each inspiring component and successfully improving on one or both.

And in light of the popularity of last week's post about the Burger King Mac N' Cheetos, as well as the abundant availability of these #Frankenfoods, I've decided to designate my Friday blogs to trying them out.

First on the list is the Oreo Churros:

I am a huge fan of Oreos, they're one of my top- if not the top- store bought desserts. So when I was at Walmart several months ago and I first saw this on display in the end-cap of the freezer section, it took all my resolve not to buy a box right away. It wasn't in the grocery budget, and I could always wait and get them when I was throwing a party or something. It just seemed like a random, decadent, and risky thing to just buy on impulse and make at home on a random evening (not that there's anything wrong with that on principle, but adding in the not-being-in-the-budget thing and I didn't buy it). But last week I found these sirens of the frozen foods section on clearance, and I realized my window of opportunity might be coming to a close.

So I bought them, and found an opportunity to make them up fairly soon. When something may be limited time only, you want to leave yourself some opportunity to go back and stock up in the event that it becomes your new favorite vice. One of my husband's favorite desserts is churros, so I saw this as a strong possibility.

This is what they look like straight out of the box:

They're dense, about 2.5" long, already partially cooked prior to being frozen, so all you really have to do is heat them up and crisp the outsides. Super easy prep- always a bonus. The box said there were "about 20" pieces in the box, and there were in fact 16. IN WHAT WORLD is 16 "about 20"? I only felt slightly ripped off because I'd gotten them on clearance and was just taste-testing anyway, but don't count on planning for specific numbers based on accurate labeling.

I heated them in the toaster oven according to the instructions, and prepared the sugar coating in a small bowl. I didn't come up with this- it came in a packet in the box. It's a mixture of white sanding sugar and oreo crumb/dust:

The finished product came out looking really good, if perhaps a little dirty. I properly rolled about 6 of them in the sugar coating before I got impatient and just sort of sprinkled/dumped them over the tops on the plate. 

They were not bad! Good, even, though they failed to earn the distinguishment of surpassing their original inspirations. As churros, they were probably about as good as a frozen churro could be, especially a chocolate one. They were quite dense, even for a churro, which I mostly chalk up to the recipe being too heavy on whatever ingredients make it taste like an Oreo. Churro dough usually resembles more of a Pate Au Choux, or a cream puff dough, which is significantly lighter and eggier than a cookie dough. Also, whenever you add cocoa to a recipe, it tends to become a little heavier. That's just the nature of cocoa as opposed to flour. 

And if I had to choose between these and an Oreo, I'd almost always choose an Oreo. However, if I were craving a warm dessert with a molten center, and also craving Oreos at the same time, this would be a perfect solution for a low price and minimal effort.

Finally, my favorite parts were definitely the sugar coating and the fluffy, creamy centers. I expected it would be a slight variation on the original Oreo cookie filling, perhaps a bit more  sugary to stabilize the shortening at high temperatures. but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was much more like marshmallow fluff- very airy, gooey, and smooth.

Verdict: Worth a try, just to experience something new. It's pretty good, but you probably won't buy them twice.

Do you know of any hybrid #FrankenFoods you'd like me to review? Have you tried the Oreo Churros? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

Green Waffles

Growing up, my mom cooked most of our meals, and she is a fabulous cook- truly inspired my passion for good food. But most Saturday mornings were my dad's time in the kitchen. His specialty was breakfast, especially when my sisters or I had sleepovers. When we had sleepovers, often we would fit three or four of us onto the hide-a-bed from the living room couch and we would reluctantly wake up to the sounds and smells of my dad cooking in the adjoining kitchen. Then he would give us one final startling wake-up call by pretending to fold is into a "taco" in the couch. When we finally got up to eat, we were always delighted to see what color the pancakes or waffles would be, because every time my dad made pancakes or waffles, he would add food coloring to make it fun.

So when my parents invited my husband and I over for dinner the other night, and I realized when I got there that my dad had kicked my mom out of the kitchen and was cooking us up a hearty breakfast for dinner, I naturally asked him what color the waffles would be. For me, my dad's colored waffles are as much of a tradition as how we celebrate Christmas. When my dad served us our spearmint-green waffles, I was excited to initiate my husband into the tradition, and I not-so-secretly hope he'll carry on the tradition for our kids someday.

I don't want you to think my dad is a one-trick pony, though- he also made perfectly crisp sausage and the fluffiest cloud of scrambled eggs you could imagine. My mom has taught me a lot about cooking, but my dad taught me how to scramble eggs. The trick is to add a slurp of milk to the eggs before you beat the everloving tar out of them.

What food traditions did you grow up in? Will you pass them on to your own kids? Let me know in the comments!

Luby's- Seriously!

Luby's Website                                                                                    Locations

Those who know me well can tell you that I have friends in all age brackets, including a handful in the over 80's category. I recently met one such friend for a bit of lunch and shopping, and she asked if we could meet up at Luby's.

I have eaten at Luby's before, but not since I've been tall enough to see over the counter. Even so, I have several sweet, early memories of eating there with our family friends after Sunday School, swinging on my dad's arms in the line and being fascinated by the green JELLO cubes served in a sundae cup. I wondered what it was actually like from an adult perspective, and especially as a foodie.

I was impressed with the variety and freshness of the salads, though I got the impression that guests were expected to have been there pretty regularly and to know what they wanted, as the line moved very quickly and you had to make decisions equally quickly. I also noted that the prices weren't intuitive or clear, so I hesitated to order a salad only to find that it was like a $3+ addition to my meal or something. I still didn't quite figure out the pricing system, but it did seem that there were soup & salad options etc that would have been reasonably priced after all.The freshness, however, was obvious, and the external humidity accounts for the excessive condensation on the glass.

The variety of entrees on display was daunting and impressive, featuring beef, chicken, and fish dishes that all reminded me of good, hearty home cooking on a Sunday afternoon. It was clear why my parents chose Luby's as an after church staple growing up, especially since kids eat free.

The sheer volume of food was unbelievable, especially considering it was a Tuesday at noon, not even the dinner hour.

I was hit with a wave of nostalgia when I saw the cold condiment bar, as I remember my friends and I taking gherkins onto our plates just so we could have fencing tournaments with the little sword toothpicks.

They even offered baked goods to-go at the end of the cafeteria-style line:

Ultimately, my shopping buddy settled for an assortment of smaller side dishes as her meal. She got the tortilla soup, which was extra thick and creamy, not brothy like one often sees, a cold pea salad, and stewed spinach sprinkled with pepper vinegar juice. She liked the spinach so much she took the leftovers home to reheat.

I ended up with a less colorful fare, as I caught on to the pricing towards the end of the line and quickly picked some reliable favorites I knew would be difficult to regret: Mac n' cheese, corn on the cob, and a half portion of chicken fried steak with white gravy.

The chicken fried steak may have been a half portion, but it was plenty of food. All of the food was decent, the steak a bit heavy, salty, and starchy, but it's rare that Chicken Fried Steak is not all of these things- that's kind of a part of its appeal. And to their credit, the breading actually remained on the steak, rather than crumbling or slipping off as so often happens. The macaroni and cheese was soft but the sauce was extremely creamy and delicious, and the corn was spared from becoming waterlogged or dried out as is so often the case when corn is displayed on a buffet.

I've long had the impression that Luby's almost exclusively attracted clientele of a geriatric demographic. While there were customers of other age brackets in the dining room, the overall feel of the place was consistent with this reputation. HOWEVER. The reason Luby's has gained this reputation appears to be virtuous and intentional. The fact is, Luby's offers home-cooked, comforting, simple foods that would be particularly appealing to people who have reached an age or disposition where cooking complex meals for themselves has become difficult or impossible. It allows for nostalgia and life-long favorite dishes to be accessible to the handicapped or just plain tired. 

Moreover, the staff at Luby's has fully embraced their target clientele, and they are so good to their guests. I regularly lunch with my own grandmother, who systematically eliminates eating establishments from our list of options based on whether she is expected to carry her own food on a tray. She says she likes to think she's lived long enough to earn the privilege of not being expected to cart her food around when she's perfectly able and willing to tip a waiter to take care of her. When my eating companion reached the end of the long line, the hostess not only recognized and remembered her by name, but she deftly and happily helped her navigate the computer system to get her bill paid without hassle, and had a member of the wait staff ready and waiting to carry my companion's tray to a quiet table, where we were served our drinks by a waitress who also remembered my companion by name and asked after her husband's well being. 

Furthermore, the dining area is large enough, spread out enough, and well enough insulated to absorb sound well. Such acoustics are not only pleasant for your average diner, they're essential to the comfortable experience of anyone who wears hearing aids.

Ultimately, the food is pretty good, kind of heavy, classic american homestyle cafeteria food. The statement that Luby's makes about how to treat not only customers, but an undervalued, precious, huge portion of our populous should be rewarded and emulated. I encourage people to check out this place not only for the nostalgic menu, but to support their contribution to our community as a welcoming place. It's truly a place you can feel good about spending your money.

Oh, yes- and don't forget there's JELLO.

Fast Furious

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My husband's boss turned us on to a new place in Addison called Fast Furious that became an immediate favorite. 

The menu at this Japanese fusion restaurant is unique and fresh, covering the gamut of Asian food cravings from sushi to bidimbap bowls with concise and exciting offerings. 

The menu itself is a little gimmicky and confusing. The attempt to incorporate car related terminology to keep with the theme of the restaurant is lost unless you have identical brainwaves to whoever came up with it. Although, come to think of it, I'm not an auto mechanic- it may make perfect sense to someone who speaks car. Either way, at first the menu looks like it's outlining chronological steps to ordering like some places offer, but by the 3rd or 4th visit I realized that the random titles are just separating sections of the menu into type. For easiest ordering, at least the first time, just look at the display of labeled photos on the wall.

In addition to the dinner menu, there is a hot bar with certain classic a la cart options available. The potstickers are good, perhaps not amazingly unique, but how many ways are there to doll up a potsticker? I only look for it to resemble a potsticker and be hot.

Now let's get down to the food. My husband usually gets the Wow Bowl (featured above) which includes lightly battered crispy chicken, fried rice with bits of egg, strips of seaweed, raw cucumber, raw, diced bell pepper, and is drizzled with two sauces, one a sweet hoisin based sauce, and the other a flavored mayonnaise based number. If you are looking to be filled and satiated, this is the bowl for you. you may opt to get the mayo sauce on the side, however, as it does seem to kind of take over and weigh you down by the time you finish sometimes.

I usually get the Spicy Bomb, which lives up to its name like you wouldn't believe. It starts with a base of white rice, chopped Iceburg lettuce, and cucumbers, which you'll be grateful for to cool your mouth and face as you delve into this devilish dish. The chicken is marinated overnight in a jalapeno marinade, giving it a ton of flavor and heat on its own, and then is smothered in jalapenos and a Sriracha based sauce that just barely straddles that line between too spicy to notice the flavor and really yummy, vinegary flavor. This dish is not for the faint palates out there- but if you love a hearty burn in your belly, this is for you. I personally squeeze a couple of lemon slices over my dish to balance the heat a little bit, and I find that amplifies the actual flavor of the dish, keeping it from being overpowered entirely by the spice.

A friend of mine tried Fast Furious for the first time with us the other day and she ordered the beef and shrimp with noodles. She gave high praise for the flavors and mostly virtuous option, though pointed out if you are looking for a healthy option, the noodles aren't the best starch for that.

Now for the bad news. I'm frustrated to have to write this because the Addison location has been nothing but amazing every time we've been. But when we found out there was another location opening on Greenville Ave in Dallas, we were excited because it's not as far from our neighborhood. So excited, in fact, we went twice to see if it had opened yet while they were still getting ready for opening. Therefore I hope it can be chalked up to a green staff that I have to criticize at all, but what kind of food critic would I be if I didn't report the truth?

If you've read my review of Wendy's, you're probably already aware of how important food safety is to me. When we went to the new location to eat and take photos for this review, my husband ordered the potstickers, as we often do. What I didn't see, but he noted, was that they just reached into the hot bar with their bare hand and grabbed the potstickers. Now this is a no-no on two levels for me. first of all, your hot bar should be keeping cooked meats at a temperature of 165+ degrees. That should really be too hot to touch with a bare hand. Sure enough, they weren't even warm when we got to the table. Secondly, and most importantly, EW! PUT SOME GLOVES ON OR USE TONGS! That's super gross. I didn't make a stink about it at the time, because my husband had already watched it happen and hadn't said anything. He noted that the employee had been deliberately trying to itch his/her nose without touching hands to face, so he did think s/he was trying to be careful about germs, but that's not how it works. The other thing is that it was about 7:00 when we were there and it was totally empty when we got there:

This makes sense for a new location on a Tuesday at a somewhat late hour, and a few patrons straggled in as we ate, but I guess the cook got bored, because he repeatedly went into jarringly loud, lengthy drum solos with his tools on the metal flat top, making conversation difficult until he finished.

Here's the thing. I LOVE the Fast Furious food. I LOVE their menu, and I have never in about a dozen visits had a single complaint about the Addison location. I have introduced several friends and family to the restaurant, all of whom have called it an instant favorite. Fast Furious was actually one of the restaurants that inspired me to start this blog. I have additionally had a couple of good experiences at the new location. So I hate to have to put anything negative in this review. But I also know that sometimes there are a few innocent kinks to be worked out in training employees at a brand new location. 

I acknowledge that the Greenville location is brand spanking new, with new employees and possibly new management, and their food still tastes excellent. So I'm going to issue a challenge. I will go back to the new Greenville location of Fast Furious in about a month, and if my experience has improved I will write a full retraction. I want restaurants to succeed, be discovered- that's why I write this blog. I want people to find new favorite foods and places to eat, I don't want to injure reputations. But I also insist on a quality experience and safe food handling practices. So for now, I think you should ALL check out the Fast Furious in Addison on Belt Line and Marsh, or the one on Royal and tell me how it is- I haven't been yet- and hopefully in a few weeks I'll be sending you to the new location as well.