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C-Man

By C-Man
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threesheets

threesheets 1674

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On 11/21/2018 at 11:25 AM, Gaelic said:

Luigi's in Rockwall, FTW

I worked at the one in Lubbock for a while.  The son of one of the Rockwall owners started it.  I read up on him a while back and he was doing a bit for running guns and meth out of another location he'd opened in Longview.

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Gaelic

Gaelic 63

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14 minutes ago, threesheets said:

I worked at the one in Lubbock for a while.  The son of one of the Rockwall owners started it.  I read up on him a while back and he was doing a bit for running guns and meth out of another location he'd opened in Longview.

Bummer.  My folks really liked Dino.  

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PorscheGuy

PorscheGuy 127

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Finally made it to Lucia last night.

Full review

Food was PHENOMENAL! You really feel like you are in a small restaurant in Alexandria or San Francisco.

Everything is made in house. Even the butter.

House cured Capicola with charred arugula and pepper jam and thin sliced parmigiana was awesome.

Pasta dishes (we had the butter parmigiana noodles with white truffle and the sage squash ricotta ravioli with brown butter) was as better then anything I have had in Texas. Food was on par with Spiagga in Chicago.

Approachable wine list, service was good.

All that said, the experience ended a little sour when we got the bill. When we were seated our waiter was explaining the menu to the table behind us, no big deal, not in a rush. after a little bit of a wait he comes over and noticed we did not have a wine list and says I’ll bring you some Prosecco to enjoy when I bring back the wine list to look over. He did made a spot on recommendation for a bottle of wine. He made it sound like the bubbles we comped for the slip up at the beginning. Service from that point on was perfect.

In the end, it was not enough to spoil the evening, just seamed like an unnecessary money grab when you are already well over $200 for dinner.

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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5 hours ago, Sparky said:

Looks like Eater Dallas has spoken on this matter.

 

https://dallas.eater.com/maps/best-italian-restaurants-dallas-where-to-eat

 

Pretty solid list from the ones I’ve tried.  I might add 1-2 (Sprezza, Perfect Union) and drop 1-2 (Kenny’s, Campisi’s).  But overall pretty spot on.

Of all the different food sites, I seem to gravitate toward Eater the most.  Not sure if it’s more reliable than some others...or if they just tend to agree with me the most.  Either way, I find their lists to be the hardest to argue with.

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Spoosner

Spoosner 86

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51 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Well...shit man, then whatcha got?  Because if there’s better Italian that they didn’t cover on this list, I’m obviously missing it.  And given that I could pretty much eat Italian about 6 days a week, I need to know.

I think you interpreted his post incorrectly.  That or I'm missing your sarcasm.

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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38 minutes ago, Spoosner said:

I think you interpreted his post incorrectly.  That or I'm missing your sarcasm.

Ohhhhhh...I see.  I thought he was saying this list sucks.  He’s awaiting a bunch of surly assholes telling him how much this list sucks.  Got it.  Damn I was hoping there was a trove of Dallas Italian places I just hadn’t heard about.  Anyway...list doesn’t suck.

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3117

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4 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

The list doesn't suck.  My only thought is that the current iterations of Campisi's are a pale comparison to The Egyptian Room located on Lemmon Ave. when I first discovered/loved that place in the 70's and 80's. 

Losing my mind.  Obviously, I meant to say Mockingbird Lane.  Right across the street from Dr. Pepper world HQ.  Foots Clements of Dr. Pepper was known to hang out there some.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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Lucia is phenomenal food-wise  - head chef is a dick though (or was the one time I was there). Also doesn't have a full bar. 

For cheap Italian, Italia Express in Cedar Springs is absolute money. Can't speak to the pizza but you can get pretty damn good pasta for 8 or 9 bucks that comes with sinfully good garlic bread. 

Campisi's has it's moments. I actually like their pizza a lot. Everything else is trashy American-Italian (as is Prego).  

Pizza wise - I know it's a chain - but nothing tops Grimaldi's for me. Product of being in Texas I suppose. 

Taverna is fine. Toulouse is better and next door. 

Dolce Riviera is great. Going to be there on Monday for a company Holiday party. More North Italian. 

But....

By far...

Jimmy's Food Store is the most authentic Italian establishment in Dallas. Best Italian sandwich you will find within 500 miles. Great place to grocery shop for a dinner party or just check out the wine selection. 

 

 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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23 hours ago, ztejas said:

  Pizza wise - I know it's a chain - but nothing tops Grimaldi's for me. Product of being in Texas I suppose. 

Taverna is fine. Toulouse is better and next door. 

Dolce Riviera is great. Going to be there on Monday for a company Holiday party. More North Italian. 

But....

By far...

Jimmy's Food Store is the most authentic Italian establishment in Dallas. Best Italian sandwich you will find within 500 miles. Great place to grocery shop for a dinner party or just check out the wine selection. 

 

 

I don’t think I’ve ever tried Grimaldi’s...guess I need to add it to the rotation.  Didn’t see it mentioned in the pizza thread.

Disagree on Taverna vs. Toulouse.  I love both and easily eat at each of them 1-2 times per week.  But I’ll take Taverna most of the time if I have to pick.  I find more things I want to order at Taverna and the service to be slightly better.  Of course that could just be that I like Italian food more than French food.  Both are great.

Didn’t love the food or service at Dolce the few times I’ve been there.  However, it’s been a while and only went for dinner there once...mostly just do brunch.  The scene and space are awesome though.  Got a buddy who works there.  Last time I was there (just for drinks), I saw him doing a cheese wheel pasta, table side that looked amazing.  Need to give dinner there another shot.

And yeah...Jimmy’s feels about as legit for Italian as it gets in Dallas.  I’ve only had a sandwich for lunch from there, but I need to branch out more because it feels like the kind of place I should be going at least once a week.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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28 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Anyone that doesn’t like Grimaldi's Pizza is dumb. Pretty damn good imitation of the original (taste wise). 

Took my dad when he was in town one time (hadn't been) and we got a large pepperoni, sausage and peppers, thinking "eh it's alot of food we can take some home if we need to". 

That pizza didn't stand a chance. 

I think my fav is the straight up classic with extra mozz. Doesn't need anything else. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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4 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

I don’t think I’ve ever tried Grimaldi’s...guess I need to add it to the rotation.  Didn’t see it mentioned in the pizza thread.

Disagree on Taverna vs. Toulouse.  I love both and easily eat at each of them 1-2 times per week.  But I’ll take Taverna most of the time if I have to pick.  I find more things I want to order at Taverna and the service to be slightly better.  Of course that could just be that I like Italian food more than French food.  Both are great.

Didn’t love the food or service at Dolce the few times I’ve been there.  However, it’s been a while and only went for dinner there once...mostly just do brunch.  The scene and space are awesome though.  Got a buddy who works there.  Last time I was there (just for drinks), I saw him doing a cheese wheel pasta, table side that looked amazing.  Need to give dinner there another shot.

And yeah...Jimmy’s feels about as legit for Italian as it gets in Dallas.  I’ve only had a sandwich for lunch from there, but I need to branch out more because it feels like the kind of place I should be going at least once a week.

Grimaldi's is the place if you are a fan of authentic, thin crust NY style pizza. The kind of pizza that New Yorkers will judge you on if you don't fold the slice. 

Haven't done Dolce for brunch - the one time I went for dinner I was pretty hammered by the end of the night but I still thoroughly enjoyed the food. I'll report back after I go there again. 

On brunch - that's my fav at Toulouse - prob why I lean there over Taverna. 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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8 minutes ago, ztejas said:

On brunch - that's my fav at Toulouse - prob why I lean there over Taverna. 

Oh, yeah...I lean Toulouse over Taverna for brunch too.  Better menu and they have a full bar where Taverna just has beer and wine...so bloodys and screwdrivers.  Also think Toulouse is a slightly cooler space.  But the rest of the week I like Taverna.

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C-Man

C-Man 27262

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Toulouse isn't Italian, though, is it.

Anyway, haven't read the list yet but Campisi's sucks -- pizza sucks, Italian is only average compared to the shit being turned out by the truly great places in town.

Lando, based on what I know about you I'm not sure you'll like Grimaldi's -- from the atmosphere on down to the food. And they only have pizza and salads. Last time we went to the West Village location, the service was terrible as they were accommodating take-out and/or Favor delivery pickups than in-house patrons. That's fucking bullshit if you ask me. Just terrible. I like the pizza personally but I don't like it better than other locations with better service/ambiance etc.

All that said, went back to Sprezza a week ago Fri (night before Texas-OU 2.0) and it was absolutely incredible -- again. Wife didn't like the bolognese dish we ordered because it wasn't red sauce (oops -- my bad). She said it was fine but I snuck away to the bathroom and pulled the guy who I determined was running the show as GM or manager. I told him my wife is going to kill me if she knew I was doing this but she the bolognese wasn't what I thought it was going to be and could they bring her the ravioli instead. He immediately told the kitchen to fire another ravioli. It was on it's way over by the time I was on my way back from the bathroom. I found out later that was none other than fucking Julian Barsotti himself. They didn't even charge us for the ravioli and I ate my wife's bolognese (that's what she said!) the next day.

Sprezza is my #1 right now but still need to try Lucia and The Charles.

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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18 hours ago, C-Man said:

I found out later that was none other than fucking Julian Barsotti himself.

Sprezza is my #1 right now but still need to try Lucia and The Charles.

That’s awesome.  That dude (arguably) has all 4 of his restaurants on the top Italian joints in town list.  Probably 1-4 honestly.

Speaking of...we went to Fachini last night so this post hits close to home.  It was amazing.

I’d suggest y’all wait a few weeks on the Charles.  It’s a shit show normal times of the year.  I can’t imagine how bad it is during the holidays.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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On 12/8/2018 at 7:24 PM, mdmost said:

Toulouse is a French cafe and the brunch is really good there. That's normally where the wife wants to go if we're doing brunch. 

http://www.toulousecafeandbar.com/

Yes. The brunch is kick-ass. Only mentioned it because it shares a building with Taverna. 

Going to Dolce Riviera tonight (because everyone loves work Holiday parties on Mondays 🙂🔫). Will report back.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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Dolce Riviera was pretty good. Service is A+. Super classy, business forward establishment. Waiter knew his shit and apologized about something I wasn't even looking for an apology for.

Food wise - eh. It's fine. I dont think I'd pay my own bill there. Good place to go if you're on a company card looking to have a few drinks, get some conversation going and get a good meal.

Nothing special.

The beef carpaccio was pretty good - I'm a sucker for an arugula garnish.

2nd course they did a truffle gorgonzola gnocchi - little too much truffle but it was passable.

3rd course I did the rib eye. Medium well, perfectly cooked but a bit over salted (as I thought everything on the menu was).

Overall, 5/5 service, 4/5 ambiance, 3/5 food. Food was probably in the Taverna tier. Nothing near something like Lucia (but the atmoshphere, cocktails and service blow Lucia out of the water. Food matters the most to me - to each their own).

Happy hunting.

*I'd say it's a great place for a couples night. Not a great place for an anniversary dinner or some such where you're trying to knock her socks off and get an after dinner BJ.

 

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Dolce Riviera was pretty good. Service is A+. Super classy, business forward establishment. Waiter knew his shit and apologized about something I wasn't even looking for an apology for.

Food wise - eh. It's fine. I dont think I'd pay my own bill there. Good place to go if you're on a company card looking to have a few drinks, get some conversation going and get a good meal.

Nothing special.

The beef carpaccio was pretty good - I'm a sucker for an arugula garnish.

2nd course they did a truffle gorgonzola gnocchi - little too much truffle but it was passable.

3rd course I did the rib eye. Medium well, perfectly cooked but a bit over salted (as I thought everything on the menu was).

Overall, 5/5 service, 4/5 ambiance, 3/5 food. Food was probably in the Taverna tier. Nothing near something like Lucia (but the atmoshphere, cocktails and service blow Lucia out of the water. Food matters the most to me - to each their own).

Happy hunting.

*I'd say it's a great place for a couples night. Not a great place for an anniversary dinner or some such where you're trying to knock her socks off and get an after dinner BJ.

 

Rereading - I meant medium rare. Jesus Christ I would never order a steak medium well. Sorry. Had a few adult beverages. 

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C-Man

C-Man 27262

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On 12/9/2018 at 10:27 AM, Landomatic said:

That’s awesome.  That dude (arguably) has all 4 of his restaurants on the top Italian joints in town list.  Probably 1-4 honestly.

Speaking of...we went to Fachini last night so this post hits close to home.  It was amazing.

I’d suggest y’all wait a few weeks on the Charles.  It’s a shit show normal times of the year.  I can’t imagine how bad it is during the holidays.

Forgot to mention the incredible brussel sprout appetizer we ordered. It was flash-fried sprouts with thinly sliced apples and goat cheese. Fucking mind-blowing.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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9 hours ago, C-Man said:

Forgot to mention the incredible brussel sprout appetizer we ordered. It was flash-fried sprouts with thinly sliced apples and goat cheese. Fucking mind-blowing.

Need to check it out.

For anyone that's been to both - would you do Fachini or Sprezza?

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Need to check it out.

For anyone that's been to both - would you do Fachini or Sprezza?

Tough call.  They're 2 totally different experiences.  About the only thing they have in common is the same owner and both are some version of Italian.  Their locations are pretty good reflections of what they are.  Sprezza is like LA and Fachini is like New York.  Not really to say one is necessarily fancier or better than the other.  But I don't hesitate to wear jeans and a t-shirt into Sprezza and I'd definitely feel under-dressed in that at Fachini.  Sprezza has better food in my opinion, but Fachini is about as good of elevated red sauce pasta joint as you can get in this town.  Using your scale, both are closer to 5/5 in all three categories, but Fachini is for anniversary and Sprezza is for just a date night.  Just depends on what you're looking for I guess.

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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Went to Fachini again last night.  They’ve really hit their stride.  Everything was damn near perfect and the place was rockin pretty late into the night.  We didn’t wrap up until around 11:00 and there were still a ton of people there.  It was a little hard to tell but I think they might have made the music a little louder as it got later which is cool.  Pretty sure it was the Sopranos soundtrack too which is badass.

One knock I’ve had on the place in the past was that their portions were too big and the prices matched.  That’s fine for a big group as I like trying a few different things at a place like that.  But for just a date night, it’s either way too much food (with a tab to match) or you’re just getting 1-2 things.  Found out last night that they can do half orders on most things.  That’s the move right there.  We did half orders of like 4 different things and it was perfect.  Check was under $200 and we left really full and pretty drunk and brought home a lot of leftovers.

Service was great, food and drinks were great, scene was great.  Pretty tough to beat in all 3 categories.  Definitly adding it to the normal rotation.

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 278

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That sounds great.  We love Sprezza, but need to make it to Fachini.

Do you want to know what is not hitting it's stride?

Circo Misses The Mark

CIrco Is An Expensive Disaster

It sounds like the douchiest place ever, expensive and bad.  A pool?

Quote

“Let it go,” my dining partner mouthed, the night a server returned to murmur that they couldn’t make my macchiato, as they lacked the caramel syrup. I blinked, and then I did.

Quote

Here began the comparisons to wedding banquet fare.

 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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1 hour ago, DFWTexEx said:

That sounds great.  We love Sprezza, but need to make it to Fachini.

Do you want to know what is not hitting it's stride?

Circo Misses The Mark

CIrco Is An Expensive Disaster

It sounds like the douchiest place ever, expensive and bad.  A pool?

 

Yeah check out my post on page 1 about Circo.  It was so bad we still laugh about it. I told the Manager he should polish up his resume because that place wasn’t going to last long.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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Posted (edited)
On 1/20/2019 at 11:11 AM, DFWTexEx said:

That sounds great.  We love Sprezza, but need to make it to Fachini.

Do you want to know what is not hitting it's stride?

Circo Misses The Mark

CIrco Is An Expensive Disaster

It sounds like the douchiest place ever, expensive and bad.  A pool?

 

Makes you almost think it was an asset dump or they're laundering.

I don't understand how you could be that tone deaf opening a restaraunt in Dallas. This isn't OKC. People aren't just going to go there because it's "cool".

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C-Man

C-Man 27262

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Which would you boys recommend to take the wife for her birthday in March? Sprezza or Fachini? Also might look at Lucia's sister restaurant, Macellaio.


Can’t go wrong with Sprezza. Need to get to Fachini. The Charles is apparently incredible too — plan to get there in the next couple of weeks.
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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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3 hours ago, ztejas said:

Makes you almost think it was an asset dump or they're laundering.

I don't understand how you could be that tone deaf opening a restaraunt in Dallas. This isn't OKC. People aren't just going to go there because it's "cool".

Yeah it does make you wonder.  The two extremes of overbuilt space to shitty food and service were unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  Just polar opposites.  How anyone could dump that amount of cash into building out a place without even slightly hinting at some thought to the menu and service is mind blowing.

I saw one of the sons of the original guy from the original Le Cirque restaurant on TV one time and he was dumb as a brick.  I mean like the definition of a spoiled rich kid who never had to work for anything in his life and was very accustomed to riding the Le Cirque name.  Maybe it was a 2nd or 3rd generation decision.  How’s that saying go...first generation makes it, second generation spends it, third generation blows it.

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ztejas

ztejas 43537

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9 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Maybe it was a 2nd or 3rd generation decision.

This might make sense. Some dumb kid with zero consequences. 

There are plenty of SMU kids that become "entrpreneurs" either right out of or during school. With a million dollar "loan" from their parents.

You aren't an entrepreneur, you're rich and playing with daddy's (or mommy's) money.

I mean there are some legit kids that are super impressive, too, but give me a million dollars and I'm sure I can fuck up a restaraunt less than some of these clowns.

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PorscheGuy

PorscheGuy 127

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Finally  made it to the Charles.  It's menu is "loosely Italian based" but has something for everyone.  Service was stellar from start to finish.  Everything we ordered was really good to freaking fantastic.  Loved the oysters and pasta dishes.  The short ribs were really good.  Desert was perfectly decadent. 

The Charles is now near the top of my Go-To list.   

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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21 hours ago, PorscheGuy said:

Finally  made it to the Charles.  It's menu is "loosely Italian based" but has something for everyone.  Service was stellar from start to finish.  Everything we ordered was really good to freaking fantastic.  Loved the oysters and pasta dishes.  The short ribs were really good.  Desert was perfectly decadent. 

The Charles is now near the top of my Go-To list.   

Keep this on the down low...the place is busy enough.

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 278

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The Charles is a glitzy big night out. She'll put on the Manolos for the seen and be seen crowd.  The good news is that the food lives up to it.

Sprezza is for a more intimate, simpler night out.  She can meet you there after work in her Ann Taylor.   But the food is also excellent and creative.

You can't lose either way.  It just depends on how you like to celebrate birthdays. 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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3 hours ago, DFWTexEx said:

The Charles is a glitzy big night out. She'll put on the Manolos for the seen and be seen crowd.  The good news is that the food lives up to it.

Sprezza is for a more intimate, simpler night out.  She can meet you there after work in her Ann Taylor.   But the food is also excellent and creative.

You can't lose either way.  It just depends on how you like to celebrate birthdays. 

Should I be concerned that I understand and agree with your fashion analogies?

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