Dads Kitchen - Sacramento, CA

Dad's Kitchen is kind of deceptive compared to what you see when you first drive up.  There are neon beer signs for cheap beers and the signage is cheap and hap-hazard.  When you first step in there are some old pinball machines set up.  Who plays those anymore?

It looks like a tiny hole in the wall restaurant but, when you get inside it just keeps going back to the back of the building then out into the little yard in the back.  I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.  Both the food and the service were really good.

I ordered the onion rings with red bell pepper aioli to start.  I had to eat it with a knife and fork.  The onion taste and texture was really very pleasantly strong and crunchy.  It almost was a meal unto itself.  I had some help with me this day to eat it.  The aioli sauce was like something you would get from an expensive upscale restaurant.

I followed it up with dads chili pulled-pork sandwich.  As a Texan, we are not prone to praising anyone else's BBQ but, this was pretty good.  Guy steered us right this time.

Parking was kind of tight, but worth putting up with the bother.

I would rate Dad's a 9.8.  It was a dive but, not too much of a dive.  It had a cool atmosphere and the food was really something special.  I took three other people with me and they were all excited about what they ordered.  So, it was a hit with us.

Dad's Kitchen

2968 Freeport Boulevard 

Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 447-3237
http://ilovedadskitchen.com/

The Tamale Place - Indianapolis

I wasn't expecting much from a Tamale restaurant in Indiana which probably made the experience all the better.  The tamales were probably the best I've ever had.

When you walk in they have their menu on a dry-board.  It looks like the prices next to the menu items but they are not.  Those are the number of each item that they have left.  I ordered the chicken tamales in green sauce.  I thought that it was going to be $11 but right after I ordered she erased the 11 and wrote down 10.  I tried ordering  two things before she decoded the board for me and told me to pick something with a number next to it.

The tamales were fairly large, in the corn husks as you would expect tied off nicely with corn husks.  The flavor and texture were really nice and surprisingly authentic compared to what I get in Texas, if that is any kind of accurate measure.  You get your choice of beans or rice and hot or mild sauce with the combo.  I went with the black beans and mild (wimp) sauce.  The beans and sauce came in little take-out tubs.  The tamale comes with nachos in a styrofoam container.  You won't leave hungry.

The service was okay.  You don't spend a lot of time dealing with the people who work there.  You order then get the heck out of the way so that they can serve the next person.

The atmosphere was also okay.  It was not a diner, not a dive and not a drive-in.  It was an unremarkable restaurant in a nondescript strip mall with white walls and tables.

I would rate The Tamale Place 8.8 just for the quality of the food.

The Tamale Place
5226 Rockville Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46224
(317) 248-9771
http://www.thetamaleplace.com/

Twisted Root - Dallas, TX

There are a few Twisted Root restaurants in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  I've been going to the one in Roanoke since they opened up probably a year ago.  But it was the original restaurant in Dallas which was featured on the Food Network.  So, I've been holding off on my review.

I'm glad that I did because the original restaurant definitely has a different personality.  The one in Roanoke is more tailored to the suburbs where it is.  The Dallas location is more edgy.  It is in the Deep Elum section of Dallas which is a bit more edgy.  The bar tenders are more heavily pierced and tattooed.  The graffiti is harder and funnier.  Except for the silly Chuck Norris comments everywhere.  There was obviously an inside joke that I didn't get.

You can order any kind of food that you want as long as it is a burger.  They have normal beef, ostrich, buffalo, turkey burgers, you name it.  It is all really very good.  The onion rings are perfectly done fresh.

There was a football game going on when I was there on a Saturday afternoon.  The beer was flowing freely and the crowd was really excited.

I would rate the Twisted Root a 9.6.  I almost wanted to rate it lower because I am there all of the time so I am used to it.  But for someone who had never been, I think that they would definitely enjoy it.  The atmosphere was good and the burgers are great.  It is without a doubt a classic triple-D restaurant.


The Twisted Root
2615 Commerce St.
Dallas, Texas 75295
214-741-7668
twistedrootburgerco.com