Social Weekend

Hubby and I had another great (hot) weekend in Fort Worth.  It all started with dinner on Friday night.  From our neighbors, we had found out about a pop-up pizza restaurant that had just begun coming to Fort Worth on Fridays and Saturdays.  The restaurant, Cane Rosso, serves Neapolitan pizza.  They have a brick and mortar location in Dallas but also have a traveling oven that gets up to 900 degrees.  The pop-up restaurant in Fort Worth was being held at the Swiss Pastry Shop on Vickery.  Hubby and I were so excited to have some good pizza and were not disappointed.  The pizza came out quickly with bubbling cheese after being in the super hot stone oven.  Hubby had the Che Cazzo piled high with spicy meat and tons of topping while I had the more simple Bianca.  The pizza was perfect, just like the Neapolitan style pizza we had in New York (and pretty close to what we had in Naples).  The only thing better than the pizza that night was the leftovers the next day.

This is the truck that pulls the trailer with the oven.

 A simple menu that gets to the point... pizza!

Hubby's meaty pizza was good, but way too spicy for me.  Texans don't joke about spicy.

My simple pizza was good, but I want to try something more fun next time.

After dinner, it was still light outside, and hubby and I decided to go for a walk in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.  It was much larger than we expected and very beautiful.  We strolled peacefully around the grounds enjoying the escape from the unnatural world.  Parts of it reminded us of central park, especially the Northeast portion of Central Park where there are more manicured gardens.

Doesn't this have a Central Park feel to it?

Hubby strolling through the archways.

Saturday began with a bike ride to Einstein's for breakfast.  The ride took us up an intense hill, through the University Place neighborhood, and just past TCU.  Although it wasn't very far, it felt like so much work, especially before breakfast.  We were both hungry, and our bagels tasted just that much better since we had earned them.  The bagels at Einstein's are good, but we do miss New York bagels.  I think it's impossible to get New York bagels anywhere but New York.  In Einstein's favor, I will say that their schmears are delicious!  After breakfast, we road our bikes around Fort Worth, but the best part was getting to go down the hill that had killed us on the way to breakfast.

As the title of the post says, this weekend was a social one.  Saturday afternoon, we met up with my friend and her husband in Dallas with the intention of going stand up paddle boarding (SUP), which is becoming increasingly popular in the area.  It is so popular that we were not able to get boards without reservations.  Instead, we decided to go kayaking.  We rented two tandem kayaks, one for each couple, and leisurely rowed around White Rock Lake.  At first, we tried to be coordinated, aspiring Olympians, but it didn't take very long for us to appreciate all the work Olympic athletes must have to do just to row in a straight line. 

After kayaking, we went to dinner (don't worry, we showered first) at Salum, which was a culinary treat.  The boys ordered the rack of lamb while my friend and I ordered the scallops.  It had been so long (probably since my days as a consultant) since I had eaten scallops, which are a favorite indulgence of mine.  The food was delicious with rich flavors and perfect portions (though possibly a bit small for hubby).  We completed dinner by sharing two desserts, an apple and berry crisp and a caramel chocolate tart.  Both desserts exceeded expectations.  The crisp was crispy (of course) and almost savory which complemented the sweetness of the warm interior fruit.  The tart was decadent served with espresso gelato on the side.  After dinner, we went to Salum's neighboring sister restaurant, Komali, for drinks.  It was such a fun (and delicious) night and a nice break from Fort Worth's more glutinous, laid back scene.

Although located in a small shopping center, the experience was anything but small.

 The lighting was miserable for taking pictures, especially with my phone, but you can see that the food still looks delicious even with a horrible photo.

Sunday morning we had brunch plans with two of our college friends who had gotten married last year.  They had suggested brunch at Hattie's in the Bishop Arts neighborhood of Dallas located just southwest of downtown.  Hubby and I were delighted for the more convenient commute to Dallas and excited to see a new area.  It was the best brunch we have had since coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  That being said, we really haven't tried too many brunch places.  It definitely beat out the Ol' South Pancake house, whose diner food leaves something to be desired.  I had a crab cake benedict that was fresh and rich while hubby had the omelet of the day filled with seasonal vegetables.  The feel of the restaurant was light and airy with white walls and tablecloths and windows that let in sunlight without letting in the heat.

Afterwards, we walked down the small stretch of Bishop Avenue that is filled with shops and boutiques.  We popped into Dude, Sweet Chocolate and were greeted by the friendly sales people who told us about the homemade chocolate.  They handed us small samples as we read through the descriptions of the different chocolate options, which all had great names.  Tub of Love is an Italian hazelnut chocolate spread.   Albatross is a fudge with dehydrated bleu cheese and sea salt.  Fungus Amongus is a toffee with porcini mushrooms and pumpkin seed.  Although some may not sound as appetizing as others, they were all surprisingly good.  We bought an assortment of chocolate creations, and opened up Crack in a Box for dessert that night.

Bishop Avenue seemed like a quiet street, but there are plenty of restaurants that I am intrigued about and will have to go back to.

 I'm obsessed with their name, which I think is awesome and brilliant.  Their website says they are selling chocolates at Avoca Coffee in Fort Worth, which will have to be another adventure.

All the chocolates were packaged in simple boxes.

This is Crack in a Box.  I cut some up so it was easier to share, but it was also messier.

We relaxed at home the rest of Sunday, and hubby made burgers for dinner.  It was another busy, but very fun, weekend.  Hopefully there will be many more like this to come.

Hubby's burgers from Central Market were juicy and delicious!