One Day in Frisco (Texas) *

I spent yesterday in Frisco, TX, a suburb of Dallas and had some time for a bit of culinary exploration. For lunch, I asked the Concierge at my hotel to recommend a local Mexican place that is off the tourist radar. She suggested Manny’s Grill in downtown Frisco. As soon as I heard Manny’s, a light went on. I remember that Mia’s, the restaurant famous for brisket tacos had a sister restaurant named Manny’s and I figured that this was going to be a great place. Actually, this particular Manny’s turned out to be no relation whatsoever to the famous one.

Manny’s Grill – Frisco


Although this place was good enough for a quick Tex-Mex fix, there were no brisket tacos to be had and the place had the ambiance of a Jose O’Briens Tacoporium.

Manny’s Makes Margaritas


I ordered the number 8, which is a lunch special consisting of a chile relleno (choice of ground beef, chicken or cheese) a small scoop of guacamole, beans, rice and crema.

Manny’s #8 Chile Relleno Plate


The food was good enough, but nothing special compared to what we can routinely get around here. Let’s just say that I won't be flying into Dallas for a another quick relleno at Manny’s Grill anytime soon.

Directly across from Manny’s is a nice little frozen custard place called Double Dip. While it’s no Kopp’s, it is pretty darned good. My vanilla cone hit the spot on this 100 degree afternoon. Strangely, Double Dip was completely devoid of customers at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Double Dip Frozen Custard


I fared much better at dinner thanks to a recommendation from Scott–DFW. He had recommended a place called Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. Babe’s is a sister restaurant to Bubba’s, which is a favorite of mine, so I had to check it out. Babe’s is located in a strip mall in Garland and is quite the place.

Babe’s Chicken Dinner House


At Babe's, the choice is simple. All you’ve got to do is pick your meat from a choice of fried chicken, chicken fried steak, smoked chicken, fried catfish or pot roast. The rest is completely automatic. Each meal comes with bottomless sides which include a house salad (a bowl full of iceberg lettuce), mashed potatoes, creamed corn, green beans, turnip greens and, of course, gravy. Also included are home made biscuits which are worthy of JimInLoganSquare’s notice. The biscuits are served with pats of Plugra butter as well as honey and sorghum. The various components arrive separately and it's up to you to put your own plate together.

Babe’s Chicken Fried Steak Dinner (Some Assembly Required)


Final Version


The CFS was really good, although I think I prefer the version served at Bubba’s. Everything was homemade and served quickly. The only thing I really thought was sub-par was the potatoes, which were of the powdered variety. For desert, I had the last serving of banana pudding, which is an interesting version; light on the ‘nilla wafers, but topped with meringue instead.

Babe’s Banana Pudding


Babe's is a great place, with kitschy décor to match the down home country feel. They also hunt their own wild chickens using their own custom built assault vehicle.

Babe’s Giant Chicken Roundup Assault Vehicle


My thanks go out to Scott-DFW for pointing me in the direction of Babe’s. I’ll be back in Dallas for a longer period of time next month and I’ve already made plans to make it back to Babe’s to check out the fried chicken.

Manny’s Grill
7210 W. Main St.
Frisco, TX
972-377-6765

Double Dip Frozen Custard
7511 W Main St
Frisco, TX
(972) 377-8668

Babe’s Chicken Dinner House
1456 Belt Line Rd.
Garland, TX
972-496-1041

* Having spent a lot of time in the Bay Area, I know better than to ever refer to San Francisco as Frisco.

Where were you, and Babe's, when I was stuck in Frisco/Plano those many times? Damn.

stevez wrote:* Having spent a lot of time in the Bay Area, I know better than to ever refer to San Francisco as Frisco.

You and Herb Caen

Those biscuits do indeed look pretty darn good, just based on the size alone (no bigger than a toddler's fist).

The sister restaurant to Mia's is Mi Cocina, started by Mia's son Mico. There are locations all over DFW (and one in Kansas City, Mo) but none of them serve Mia's signature brisket tacos.

veeral wrote:The sister restaurant to Mia's is Mi Cocina, started by Mia's son Mico. There are locations all over DFW (and one in Kansas City, Mo) but none of them serve Mia's signature brisket tacos.

Manny's is also related to Mia's (not the one I went to, though) and features brisket tacos, enchaladas, etc. Check out this review from Scott--DFW

Steve, my man, sorry about the Manny's mix-up. I guess I should've been more specific about the location. (And, veeral, Mi Cocina does serve "Tacos 'De Brisket,'" as you'll see on their menu. I don't enjoy them as much as Mia's or Manny's, though.)

Looks like you might've had some bum luck at Babe's also, based on the photo of your CFS. Bubba's can do a good CFS. But, on average, the Garland Babe's is better. I just put up a report on Babe's (as well as a few other well known suburban and Fort Worth CFSs) here, for anyone who's interested.

Better luck next time.

Scott