Nancy Matocha

I think "one adult male" should read "one "adult" male." Other than that can CSI Flower Mound put the BB to the BB gun?

Time to dust off my French maid's costume, stuff my tired, ol' middle-aged body into it and brush up on my housecleaning skills!

Thank goodness someone is finally coming to Texas to teach us about global warming! I've heard about it for ages, but I really don't know what it is; but hey--maybe their bus will bring some cold weather!

There's a new TFIG's in Flower Mound near Highland Village. It's sure to give Chili's a run for its money with an appetizer menu like that. Located on 2499 south of 407 in the Lowe's parking lot, my mouth is currently watering for their high-sodium pot stickers, crispy fried green beans and comforting spinach and artichoke dip. That's right--it's all about comfort food with nothing too unfamiliar (though that was the first I'd heard of fried green beans). The hubby was not thrilled with his tilapia, cooked in chutney and cilantro: "It didn't do anything for me," he says. (Between you and me, he has never liked cilantro.)

The kids' menu? Just what you'd expect--pizza, chicken pieces, pasta, hot dog, hamburger. And like many chains, TGIF's is offering fruit or veggies in lieu of french fries if parents just can't stand the starch. But since I was carbo-loading myself--it was just one of those days--the kids got fries. Oh, come on! It's a once-in-a-while treat!

Ama Lur is set in the palacial Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center. Expecting a tapas bar, I was a year and a half too late. They now serve southwestern cuisine.

For starters, my husband ordered the Red Snapper ceviche, mixed with apples, fennel and vanilla. He didn't finish it -- too fishy he said.

I started with the Tortilla soup, something I like to sample at all restaurants where it is served. Theirs is a ruddy, tomato-based, and not very flavorful soup with chunks of avocado floating in it.

Upon request, our server substituted goat cheese for blue in our sweet pear and endive salad, which was very tasty.

No complaints from my husband on his prawn dish. The meat fell off the bone of my barbecued short ribs entree. Very tender. And the jalapeno-chihuahua cheese grits fulfilled all my fantasies, but I was too full from the peachy rita to finish them, alas. That did not keep me from ordering a second rita to walk around the grounds with seeing how the other half travels. Nice digs.

I probably won't go again, at least not on my dime. (Entrees start in the low to mid twenties.) The service was all it should have been, but the food not quite so. Still, if you can put it on an expense account, by all means go. The ambience is fifty percent of the tab.

In the national Italian-restaurant conversation, love for The Olive Garden is the love that dare not speak its name. Last night, I had the Ravioli di Portabella--or is it Portobelli in Italian? I’m not sure. It’s a very decent pasta dish in a pink sauce. My husband tried their new Chicken Caprese, a grilled chicken served on a bed of pasta with basil and tomato. I thought it was tasty too, though he prefers the Chicken Castellena.

The thing about this chain restaurant, which sets it above the others, is its interior design. You are not seated in a huge barn-like structure only to have everyone’s conversation amplified from four walls and a ceiling -- and therefore picking up only fifty percent of your dining companion’s conversation. The place is seemingly constructed of several different rooms, so you have the auditory illusion of dining with only four or five other tables. I always want to compliment the architects and designers on that every time we eat there.

One of the great things about living in the Bible belt is that no matter how long the wait for a table, there are always a few seats at the bar to relax over a glass of wine or tea as your taste requires.

I have never found the service to be lacking and as everyone who enters Flower Mound is issued two children at the border, it is a child-friendly restaurant, complete with extra olives in the salad.

Not quite an oasis, but definitely an escape from the ordinary, Noodle Swing, part of Kroger’s corner on F.M. 1171 and Long Prairie, is tastefully decorated in a minimalist style of pale yellow walls contrasted with bright blue chairs surrounding square oak four-tops.

Ambience means a lot, so you’ll appreciate the piped-in piano music, the tastefully framed art and you’ll have to forgive the school-cafeteria-style ceiling – it is, at least, set high.

I have never gone wrong with the Pad Thai, but last time I was there, I ordered the Nutty Professor -- peanut sauce over white chicken meat, surrounded by broccoli spears and slivers of carrots, served with rice. At about $10, there was enough for a doggy bag.

Their kids’ menu is helpful offering up grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken nuggets in addition to kid Pad Thai and other Asian fair, in case your little ones’ taste buds aren’t yet ready for something different.

Though they don’t have a bar, they do serve mixed drinks and have a limited wine selection. It’s a good place to go when you’re sick of patronizing the usual chains.

Looking for swank? Hightail it up to Parker Square in Flower Mound to the Sonoma Bar & Grill. Play it casual or play it cool, you'll fit in and enjoy their fine cuisine where dinner entrees start at $11.95 with their smoked chicken and angel hair pasta dish and end at $15.95 with their Macademia nut-crusted snapper.

But if you're not hungry and just need a place to unwind, luxuriate in their lounge on one of their many half-price bottled wine nights early in the week (call to be sure). Order a bottle of buttery Toasted Head chardonnay for around $15 with the Vintner's Platter (fruits, cheeses, smoked salmon, prosciutto and dip) for $7.95 and split both with a friend.

Or come stag on the weekend and listen to a jazz trio, with your favorite glass of wine, and since you're alone, go ahead and order the Sonoma dip, an artichoke, crab and spinach creation mixed with Monterey Jack and served with toast points. Mmmmm ...go ahead, do it. You know you want to, and since you're alone, no one's going to know anyway!

I keep coming back for their Chicken Cappuccino dish. Yes--you read that right-–Cappuccino. And no, I have no idea why it’s named after a Starbucks drink. The dish is a giant grilled chicken breast served in a creamy pink sauce with mushrooms and pepperoncini peppers. It has a mild spiciness to it and a faraway dark sweetness. At $9.95, it’s served with spaghetti in the same sauce. The dinner salad is mostly iceberg lettuce and a la carte at $1.75. Comfort food, I guess.

I’ve never sat in the bar, but it looks well situated far enough away from the hordes of families scarfing on pizza, which is good pizza, but not Flower Mound’s best. Also, for those with discriminating tastes in diet soda, rejoice! They serve Diet Pepsi.

Bari’s has super-high ceilings and a dark-–almost fancy-– atmosphere. But not too fancy. It’s a great place to bring kids. First of all, their booths are so high that if your toddler stands up and turns around to visit with the folks in the next booth, he comes face to face with more booth. Second, it seems heavily staffed with teens or early twenty-somethings.

Actually, good service seems to be correlated with the age of your server. The younger the server looks, the less s/he seems to care about when you get your meal or check. But it’s never been bad enough to complain--or even overtly reduce the tip--just enough to notice and mildly annoy.

Oops! Make that "pecan-crusted rainbow trout" Nobody cooks pan-crusted rainbow trout, for crying out loud! Sheesh.