Episode XLIX: City Café Dallas (DAL)

I am a food blogger, not a Foodie. I would love to be a Foodie, but with a 5 year-old at home it is next to impossible.  When it’s Danny’s turn to pick where we’re going, chances are we end up at Chick-fil-a.

City Café in Dallas might be just the place to ease me back into the Foodie scene. It boasts menu items like Shishito peppers and Scallopini Milanese (neither of which is recognized by spell check in MS Word) as well as Bliss potatoes, and Shallot vinaigrette.

All of that will have to wait because there is an $18 Reuben on the menu.

Deli Style Reuben

“Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and Whole Grain Mustard with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”

Appearance – (4.3/5.0)

The first impression is good with clean, crisp lines on the plate. I had a good view of the chef at the window and he seemed to meticulously wipe the edges of each plate before it went out. He must have been ok with the mustard playing peek-a-boo out of that little hole in the bread. The coloring around the hole suggests that maybe the peek-a-boo was initially an eruption that was scaled back for service.

The bread looks perfectly grilled/toasted. If you start from the edges, you see a healthy burn that transitions to soft white, then a golden brown in the middle. Someone had their eye on that bread the entire time.

Quality of Ingredients – (4.7/5.0)

When I heard we were going to this place for lunch, of course the first thing I did was check the menu online to see if they had a Reuben. The description from the online menu matches the sandwich that was served and is what I included above. Here is what the menu at the restaurant had in print, “Pastrami, Rye Bread, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and House Dressing with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”.

Here is the comparison:

In-person print menu
“Pastrami, Rye Bread, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and House Dressing with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”.

Online/Served
“Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and Whole Grain Mustard with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”

This is a different group of ingredients and I am really curious as to how, when, and why these changes were made.  Have they not gotten around to changing the print menu? The print menu is a standard Reuben. (Corned beef is the classic but Pastrami is an accepted “standard alternative” for lack of a better term).  It looks like they decided to scrap the Rye in favor of Sourdough, go back to the classic Corned Beef, and get rid of the House Dressing to introduce whole grain mustard. Fascinating!

Whole grain mustard is a first for this blog and I had mentally prepared by myself for a mustard Reuben, only to get to the restaurant and find a standard Reuben on the menu. Then the mustard Reuben shows up at the table. Maybe they heard I was coming and were trying to mess with me. This is the burden of food blogger fame.

All of that to say, the whole grain mustard was excellent. The Corned Beef was tender and juicy but the sauerkraut was noticeably muted and tame.

Price – (3.8/5.0)

All week I had in my mind that I was going to eat an $18 Reuben.  That is real money.  When I was living the bachelor life in Boston I used to compare my discretionary expenses to how many burritos I could buy instead. A solid burrito from Anna's Taqueria back in the day was $7.50. So, if I wanted to take a cab back from the bars to Kenmore Square that might be, with tip, ~$15 or two burritos. Was the cab ride worth two burritos, or would I be better off walking home and treating myself to Anna’s the next day? I did this all the time to help make decisions.  I don’t eat at Anna’s anymore but I still try to use this thinking. Today I might think of a monthly payment to Netflix or a trip to Sonic to get Danny ice-cream but the process is the same. Using this logic, I don’t think this Reuben was worth $18.

This is a nice place that is ideal for a business lunch.  It has double white table cloth, good service, and you even get your ketchup served in a personalized gravy boat.  They also should get credit for making what can be a very messy sandwich into something you can eat in front of your boss. All of this seems to be what you are paying for because the sandwich itself falls short of the price tag.

Did I mention there was no pickle spear on the plate? I don’t even like pickle spears but for $18, I am going to want to see it.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (3.2/5.0)

This place was pretty clean cut and mystery free. The biggest curveball was probably the jalapeños in the calamari.  The single biggest JNSQ killer for this Reuben was the Sourdough bread.  A strong caraway seeded Rye is a risk, so when you see plain bread that is perfectly toasted it signals you are entering a safe space.

This rings especially true because they showed their hand! We all know that at some point they had Rye and decided to do away with it and it didn’t stop there. They got rid of the dressing and went with mustard.  I think the classic Reuben was too much to handle for the business lunch crowd and they had to dial the JNSQ way down.

Taste – (8.8/10.0)

Putting aside the menu confusion, it was a good sandwich.  The sauerkraut was not strong and it could have used that acidic kick.  In my opinion, this is another effort to transform the Reuben into something you can put on the tame business lunch menu.  The saving grace was really the Corned Beef and the mustard. The texture of all of the little whole grains was a new Reuben experience I really enjoyed. 

Overall – (24.8/30.0)

Would I order it again? Yes, but not the next time I go. There are other things on the menu I would like to try before I go back. I also want to hear the story of why they made the changes.

Sometime the scoring rubric does not suit a Reuben well and that is the case here. It was not a bad Reuben, but a risk-averse product is going to have a tough time racking up a high score here.

Episode XLVII: Cindi's New York Delicatessen (DAL)

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.

Episode XLV: The Grill House Cafe (DAL)

It can be tough being the new guy. I have been at this new gig for almost a month, but I’m still learning all the new-guy stuff. Where this room is, what that means, who reports to whom, etc…  You also get friendly people who want to get to know the new guy and even take him out to lunch. That was the case here, as one of my co-workers invited me out and, of course, found a place close by that has a Reuben.

Grill House Reuben

“Corn beef piled high, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, Swiss cheese on grilled rye bread”

Appearance – (4.1/5.0)

Pas mal. Ignore the ticket in the basket for a minute and look at the distribution of meat. Almost looks like a diagram out of a geology textbook showing a cross-section of a mountain. The corned beef is the rock and the Swiss cheese is the snow cap. The Parmesan cheese on the fries is puzzling. I wasn’t sure what it was until I tasted it. At first I thought they had gone nuts with the fancy sea salt in an attempt to boost their Quality of Ingredients score. The score could have been higher without the ticket, but there are no toothpicks and good cut-and-show presentation.

Quality of Ingredients – (4.2/5.0)

It turns out it wasn’t sea salt and the Parmesan was actually the weakest link here. The bread was great if only because it was not soggy the way the last two have been.  The cheese held its own, and I would not be surprised if they told me the Thousand Island dressing was homemade.  I don’t think the meat was made in-house judging by the uniform pieces and cuts, but it was still a solid product.

Price – (4.6/5.0)

$7.45. The cost of living in Dallas is great. There is a ketchup dispenser on each table and free refills on the drinks.  It is super close to work and the service was quick. Overall, this is a great value proposition. You do drive right by a Whataburger to get here though. I really love Whataburger. I thought that maybe, after being back in Texas and eating it a few times, the novelty would wear off. Nope. Still love it and eat it probably more often than I should.  This Reuben definitely gives the #1 with cheese a run for its money.

The best part is that my co-worker picked up the tab. The big boss at work has this thing where he wants his managers to have lunch together and has challenged us to get out there and network. As a result, this was a “working” lunch. So thank you to The Man for picking up the tab.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (4.0/5.0)

I checked out the website before we went, and I really thought this place was going to be fancy. Afterwards, I realized I was looking at the website for Grill House Café in San Diego. That place is Mediterranean (I managed to get close enough to “Mediterranean”  for spell check to know what I was going for. The worst is when even spell check can’t figure out what the heck you are doing.) Anyways, this place is more mom-and-pop than I expected, and I liked it. It is pretty unassuming from the outside, located in a strip mall just off I-35E. When we got there it was pretty empty but had filled up a bit by the time we left. The folks in there seemed like regulars too.

Taste – (9.0/10.0)

It is nice to know I have a great Reuben close to work. Remember how disappointed I was with the Coppell Deli that was so close to my house? (My editor really thought I let them off the hook for the sub-par Reuben there). This Reuben really was fantastic and it is the simple product of good ingredients and even better execution. Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start. The bread has to be good, and it was. It was toasty and crunchy!  This is really the only chance a Reuben has for a contrast of textures. The contrast of flavors is all over the place by design, but if you don’t have toasty bread, you’re done.

This Reuben was also not too salty. The weird fries and the out of place stack of pickles were not as good as the sandwich itself. I think you can hold the pickles on a Reuben plate. I am sure the cook in the back has been told to put pickles on every plate as it comes out. I will work out a cheat-sheet for him next time to help him out. We can barely get young people to eat Reubens as it is, and they want to start showing them with pickles.

One of the other reviewers on Yelp mentioned the homemade sauce and I believe it. The Thousand Island for me really did make it.

Overall – (25.9/30.0)

Would I order it again? Yes.  Even if it meant driving by a Whataburger to get there? Yes. It was that good and it is even better knowing that I have it close by.

Episode XLIII: Kuby's Sausage House and European Market (DAL)

“Go west, young man”

The time had finally come for me to move back to Texas and truthfully,
I was not sure it would ever happen.  The family is starting a new
adventure together in Dallas of all places.

A new job became available with a company I have always wanted to work
for. My old company was great but I can tell already that they are
different. Remember that Taylor Swift video where there are two
Taylors? One is the cheerleader driving the red sports car with jet
black hair and the other is the glasses- wearing marching band Taylor?
That is the situation here. My old company was cheerleader Taylor.  I
am not complaining about cheerleader Taylor. I know I had a good thing
going, but marching band Taylor is more my style.  She is a good girl
with a warm heart, sense of humor, and does not take herself too
seriously.  The only part of this metaphor that bothers me is that
this makes me the guy with boy bangs…

I have to give a quick shout out to the Reuben at Folk Art in Atlanta.
This is a fun little place in the Inman Park neighborhood. We went
there to celebrate the big news. I ordered the Reuben but had to step
out to talk to our Realtor when the sandwich came. I took a bite then
my phone rang again, this time from the relocation specialist. It was
a hectic first few days putting everything in motion. Anyways, I was
not able to give the Reuben the attention it deserves, so I promise to
go back and try that one again. The one thing I can tell you is that
it was just a bit too salty. Unfortunately, this is a common flaw.

Back to Dallas! On my first day after I finished the paperwork I saw
my desk. It was decorated with pictures of Reubens! My reputation as
the Ranger now precedes me. Who would have thought? It wasn’t long
before it was time to go to lunch. They told me we were going to a
German restaurant that had a Reuben. Works for me!

Reuben

“Kuby’s haus [sic] made corned beef topped with a mound of German
sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, then grilled to perfection”

Appearance – (4.1/5.0)
Clean presentation of the Reuben here with no obvious flaws. Take a
look at the Swiss cheese. It looks like it has been softened but not
completely melted. It is resting on the sauerkraut, a layer away from
the warm corned beef. This caught my eye and I will come back to this
in the taste section.

The pickles provide some color and balance for the plate.  The German
potato salad looks pretty good too. It is not exactly a Texas-sized
portion but I do appreciate that you can see the mustard seeds.

Quality of Ingredients – (4.2/5.0)
The haus made corned beef was well worth the time they put into it.
The seasoning balance was just right too. We are in Texas here, so
sourcing quality brisket is probably not an issue, it's what you do
with it. The menu does not mention it, but there was 1000 Island or
some kind of dressing on the sandwich. You can even see a little blop
on the picture. I don’t remember it making a big impression on me and
I don’t have anything in my notes about it. Usually when a dressing
has a kick or I can tell it is homemade it sticks with me.  I did not
detect anything special about the bread either. The marble is nice but
suggests it was mass produced. I think this was off-the-shelf bread.

I will give them a break on the bread because of the potato salad.  It
was obvious it was made-from-scratch with top notch ingredients.

Price – (4.7/5.0) 

$7.95 God Bless Texas and the German immigrants that
decided to make it their home. This is a great deal for $7.95! There
was plenty of corned beef in there and I can’t really complain too
much about the small portion size of the potato salad. The potato
salad was good and it left me wanting more.  Cost of living here is
great and I may have to recalibrate my thinking on price. For the time
being, I will keep this high score on record and have to keep this in
mind going forward here in the DFW Metroplex.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (4.6/5.0)
This place had loads of JNSQ. The meat-market in the front was nice
and the decorations in the main dining room were authentic. Our server
even had a German accent that I’m pretty sure was real. The potato
salad also really perked my interest. I got great vibes all around.

Taste – (8.7/10.0)
When I picked up the Reuben a clump of corned beef fell out. This was
the perfect opportunity to really see what the haus made corned beef
was made of. It had great flavor without being too salty!  I looked
around to see where I should attack the sandwich first. I didn’t want
to take a bite where the corned beef had just fallen out because it
wouldn't have the right weight and balance. (See what I did there all
you AvGeeks?)

I spotted a good one on the corner and went in. This was a respectable
Reuben. The corned beef was great and the Swiss and sauerkraut really
held their own. The Swiss was a thicker cut and it worked because it
was not completely melted. This makes it less messy to eat but also
gives it more body.  The menu does not say it, but I think the
sauerkraut was homemade. The reason that I think this is because some
bits were more acidic than others. The bread was just a bit soggy but
had decent flavor once you got past the texture.

Overall – (26.3/30.0)
Would I order it again? Yes. There were some other great things on the
table and lots of things that would be fun to try to pronounce on the
menu. I’m excited for the new gig and glad to finally be back home in
Texas! Texas Forever.