Following the trail...

I've gotten into the habit of trying out new eateries around Dallas. Specifically the ones mentioned in the Dallas Observer. I dunno why. I've sorta fallen a little love with the local publication. Maybe because it makes me feel cool. Or maybe because it has some good content, real opinions, and if you're lucky, an article chalk full of curse words.

The other day, me and Escobar went to the Exposition Street Cafe at the corner of Exposition and Peak. It was a cold, windy day. A good day for soup. I was excited. We went towards the corner location and it took a few walks back and forth to find the correct door. There was a patio area up front, a door with a chair in front of it, and then a side door. The side door was the winner. We walked in and was greeted by a tall, blonde chick. It was one of those hip, artsy places like you find in Austin. Or maybe Austin got its flavor from this place; I dunno, they can duke it out between the two of them. I'm not getting involved in that malay.

We had the choices of wither small tables or large tables. I opted for the larger tables because bigger is always better and who knew if we would want the extra table space to stretch out or order three appetizers (cause ya neva know). I realized my mistake when I heard the squeak whenever I moved in my booth-seat. There was a large metal plank or rod or something that made me either slide too much to my left which would have me hanging off the side or too much to the right which would make it look like I was eating by myself. And I wanted to be in front of Escobar to chat. But I didn't have the guts to move to an entirely new table, so I opted for almost falling off the side of the booth. I'm lame that way.

I forget the waitress's name. We'll call her Lola. Lola began to rattle off about how they're expanding and apologized for their tattered menus which I thought were charming. She began to tell us about all the menu items that were not on the menu like the catfish and cheese hoagie, or their regular burgers, or their fish tacos, etc. etc. etc. and I really mean ETC. She went on for a good 3 minutes.

We started off the meal with the chicken skewers, a twist on Thai satay. The peices of chicken on a stick were juicy and tender. It came with two sauces, the sweet chili that comes out of a bottle and a in-house green salsa which was great and spicy. Great start.

Escobar got the ostrich burger and I got the chicken and waffles. Both were decent orders. It gave promise. A kiss of better things on the horizon. The ostrich burger was lean but Escobar thought it had a strange taste to it that didn't sit well with his tastebuds. But his french fries were superb, sprinkled with seasoning salt. And it came with a refreshing side of honeydew. My chicken and waffles were good. The tortilla-crusted chicken at first was really nice. It was quite big. But then as I made my way further down, my tastebuds were getting a little bored. I wanted more of that green salsa that came with the chicken skewers. And the waffles were interesting but not light and fluffly like I wanted them. They were more on the dense side.

All in all the experience was pleasant. The entrees we ordered didn't give us an outer body experience, but we can't wait to go back to find out if something on their menu does have that kinda power.