Eating Dallas: Tre Wilcox Cooking Concept, Russo’s, TGIF, Cosmic Cafe, Velvet Taco and more

We made it to Friday. Unfortunately some of us didn’t. Last night’s shooting in Dallas kept me up most night. We were out for dinner with V’s colleagues when messages from friends and family checking on us started coming in. That’s when we learnt about what was happening just over a mile away from where we were. Thankfully we were out of harm’s way and once home saw on the news the sad turn of events of last night. It was so surreal.

My heart goes out to the families of the cops who died last night. And it also goes out to the meaningless loss of lives the past few days at the hands of officers. Let’s not define the people who killed those cops by their race. Let’s not make the recent shooting undo the efforts of all the 1000s of people who came to protest for a very pressing cause #blacklivesmatter. And lets accept that there is a lack of accountability when it comes to mistreatment of people of certain races. While we live in a bubble and only acknowledge things that hit closer to home we turn a blind eye to so many acts of terrorism that keep happening elsewhere in the world, and also the killings of innocent black people in cop shootouts. When a white person goes shooting the judgement is made that the individual is crazy or deranged, or had some psychological issues. His character is judged. When a black person does such a thing, the whole race is maligned- the same goes for the muslim community. Why? Lets not judge the whole race/religion based on the actions of a single individual. I don’t do the “prayfor” hashtags because then I will be posting every other day. So while we pray for Dallas lets pray for the innocent blacks that keep losing their lives, that get heavier sentences because they are people of color, let’s also pray for Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Baghdad, Pakistan and everywhere else that innocent lives are lost due to misguided, lost, deranged people. Let’s pray for humanity and love and that it will triumph over hatred peacefully.

In tragedy, its always endearing to see people coming together, spreading hope. These Dallas chefs are doing what they know best- feeding people and some Dallas restaurants are serving free meals to police officers. One of my friends, Leah from Flicks and Food Dallas has compiled a list of restaurants that are offering FREE meals this weekend and some the whole of July. You can check the post here.

I had the following post typed up last night before the shootings happened. I couldn’t post it without first addressing what happened last night. And as cliche as it may sound, life has to go on and so I am continuing with the post initially planned.

Last two weeks I haven’t posted anything under Eating Dallas. I had my friend visiting from Arizona and a a fairly active social life, with recipe testing thrown in between, which kept me with lesser time than usual to blog. Today I am back with Dallas based restaurant recommendations and things that I had the chance to taste and sample the past few weeks.

Looking for girl night options or even date night options? You might want to look at Tre Wilcox Cooking Concepts.

Sprouts Farmers Market recently organized a Bloggers Meet at Tre Wilcox Cooking Concepts and am glad to have been a part of it. Not only did I get to meet a talented bunch of bloggers, I got the opportunity to cook besides them.

Chef Tre Wilcox has been nominated twice for the “Rising Star Chef “award by the James Beard Foundation and has also been named Best Chef by the Dallas Morning News. At Tre Wilcox Cooking Concepts, he now shares his passion for cooking through teaching. Unlike most media events, which generally involve just tasting, this bloggers meet was more hands on. Everyone was broken into teams of 4 and had a cooking competition where we were given 4 ingredients organized by Sprouts Farmers Market. Using all the four ingredients in each dish we were to come up with two different dishes in 45 minutes. Our four ingredients were Marinara, balsamic vinegar, crackers and black beans. While not a fan of “pressure tests” when it comes to self, it was a fun night and we did end up creating a pretty tasty Italian burger that Chef Tre said he could eat any day of the week. Leaving some bones in our second dish which was a take on southwestern salad though, got us the third place. After 45 minutes of intense competition cooking, we all sat down for a delicious meal prepared by Chef Tre and his team while our dishes were judged.

Later Robin of robinsbite.com spoke to us about the importance of hydration, sharing easy to make flavored water recipes and other tips and tricks to keep hydrated during these humid and hot summer months. Here are some more pictures from the event.

Besides Tre Wilcox Cooking Concepts for a date night, check out these places for a meal.

Cosmic Cafe: One of V’s favorite places. And one of mine too. Cosmic Cafe is run by an Indian and you get authentic north indian food with some fusion flavors. Definitely get the Buddha’s delight.

 

Velvet Taco: Another place we frequently visit. I always order the chicken tikka taco from their menu. Love their takes on different flavors. A must if you are in the neighbourhood.

 

 

Friday’s Addison: I feel TGIF gets a bad reputation, even though I think when it comes to chain restaurants, the food and drinks are pretty good. The Addison location has a nice patio and each weeknight they have something special going on- live music on Wednesday, Trivia Night on Thursdays and game night on Monday. Do check them out. And while you are there order the Abso-bloody-lutely (pictured above)- a Bloody Mary that comes with burger, fries, bacon wrapped jalapenos and wings. Its from their newly launched Hangover menu and is everything you would want!

Sharing some pictures of our media event at TGIF in the slideshows below.

We loved the chicken a la vodka pizza at Russo’s Coal Fired Italian Kitchen in Richardson. They keep having specials – Monday nights are half of pizzas and their happy hours are great. Try their coal roasted wings. I would pass on the tiramisu though.

If you are looking for ideas to cool down, Three Twelve Co. is organizing a pool party at the W Hotel Saturday July 9 at noon. There will be a smoothie demo, 45 minute workout by the pool and fun in the pool. Buy tickets here.

If you are looking for things to do with your kids during summer, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a great option and learning experience. I took my friends kids to the museum and they did not want to leave. We spent the entire day there.

That’s it for today. Hope you have a safe weekend with your friends and family. If you have any recommendations in the DFW area please let me know in the comments. I would love to hear and try them out.

Still looking for suggestions? Here are some more from my previous posts:

• Eating Dallas: Taco Cabana, The Social House, The Rustic and More
• Eating Dallas: Dallas Box Co., Amsterdam Falafel, Dallas Grilled Cheese Co and more
• Eating Dallas: PepperSmash A Cocktail Kitchen

Disclaimer: While Sprouts, Russo’s and Friday’s Addison sponsored my meals at the respective places, the opinions as always are my own.