After a long summer, the weather finally broke in North
Texas. Mary Alice and Danny were out of town and I had a beautiful fall morning
to myself, so I went for a run. There is a great network of trails in town and
I just felt like running. Before I knew it, I had been out for an hour and
worked up quite an appetite. Next on the
docket for the day was to try a Reuben. There were a couple of places in town
that popped up when I searched for delis in Dallas, and Cindi’s was at the top
of the list. They have a few locations around Dallas and the menu seemed very
legit.
I walk into the deli and I take a seat at the bar…
New York Reuben
“Choice of Corned Beef, Pastrami, or Turkey Grilled on Rye with
Sauerkraut, melted Swiss Cheese and Russian Dressing on the side”
Appearance – (4.4/5.0)
Wow. I don’t even know where to start. There is a lot of
food here. I really appreciate that they cut the Reuben and put the cross
section on display. You can clearly see the melted Swiss, lots of corned beef,
and even more sauerkraut (more on this later). This, like other Old World Reubens,
has the dressing on the side. They also threw in some slaw and more sweet
potato fries than I could eat. I don’t fancy pickles but it rounds out the deli
presentation.
Quality of
Ingredients – (4.0/5.0)
Take another look at the sauerkraut. There is lots-o-sauerkraut
on the Reuben and…. it was not the best. (even more to come later). The corned
beef was very good. I don’t think you would have multiple Cindi’s around DFW if
they didn’t, so something right on the meat. I found
myself picking it out of the sandwich and eating it solo. I like the rye bread,
no-nonsense rye here. It tasted like rye and there were no unnecessary swirls
or marbling. The Russian dressing did
not really knock my socks off. It is almost an afterthought on the plate.
Price – (4.2/5.0)
This whole plate was $10.95. I think that is pretty good. I
ended up taking home almost all of the fries. We are in North Texas here, home
to the $30k millionaire, so things can get expensive for no reason. But we’re still in Texas. Things are big and
cheap.
Je Ne Sais Quoi
– (4.5/5.0)
This was not quite like some of the Old World delis I have
been to in Chicago and Cincinnati for this blog, but it has its own character.
When I walked in, there was a counter with all kinds of bagels and treats
around. You can order some bagels from the counter or you can sit down for
traditional table service OR you can sit at the fully stocked bar! I went for
the bar.
They have pretty much anything you can imagine at the bar as far as
liquor or beer. I kept it simple with a club soda. There was an old lady to my
right and she did not seem too interested in small talk; she was pretty
occupied with her game of Candy Crush. The guy to my left was a regular and
asked for his usual breakfast. It was corned beef and hash with a side of
pancakes, and he ate everything! The rest of the place was filled with old
people and young families alike. Truth is, I took a seat at the bar because
there was a long wait for any table. It
is a great little place and it is worth reading the story of Cindi’s.
Taste – (8.7/10.0)
Great looking plate, fun place, good meat, but the
sauerkraut really killed this one. Have you ever bought a big jar of
sauerkraut? There is lots of (acidic) liquid in there. I can tell Cindi is putting lots of time and
effort into the corned beef, and I appreciate that. If she wants to go store
bought with the sauerkraut, that’s ok but she should probably go easy on it.
They really piled it on. Maybe they could just put it in a dishtowel and
squeeze some of the water out like you do with frozen spinach. Anyone knows
that if you don’t squeeze all of the water out of the frozen spinach you are in
trouble.
I took matters into my own hands and flipped the sandwich upside-down.
The sauerkraut dripped through the
bottom bread, so that was gone. The open faced Reuben with the Swiss cheese,
corned beef, and generously applied Russian dressing was awesome. There is
potential here for sure.
Overall – (25.8/30.0)
Would I order it again? No. I want to come back here but I
want to get the corned beef hash the guy next to me had. I already know they
have the whole corned beef thing down, so that makes it a relatively low risk
choice. Cindi’s story is real-deal American dream and I’ll be back for sure.
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