Despite the many Stephan Pyles restaurants in Dallas, I’d never been to any of them. Until I ventured into Stampede 66 located on the most southern part of McKinney Ave that I have ever been to.
I called Stampede 66 earlier in the day to make a reservation and the gentleman that answered the phone was very friendly and made me even more excited about my dinner plans. When I walked in the door, I was the first one there of my party for two and the hostesses seemed preoccupied and sent me to the bar to wait. So I decided I’d order a cocktail while I waited. That didn’t exactly go as planned. I sat at the bar for an awkwardly long time to not ever have one of the many people behind the bar ask me if I wanted a drink. My excitement about dinner instantly plummeted to disappointment.
When my friend arrived and we were seated, I decided to pretend my first 10-15 minutes in the restaurant did not happen and start over with a clean slate. Our waiter was awesome and I decided to started out with a specialty cocktail and went with the Passion-Chile Margarita:
It was so good! I loved the spice of the jalapeno, because of that it was definitely a drink to sip and enjoy so that you avoid burning your throat.
We gave a few appetizers a try, and I was impressed with the creativity of the menu and the choices available. We couldn’t decide what to get so we opted for:
That is the Chicken Adobo Tamales. They come two to an order so they were easy to share. And because how many times doe you see this on the menu we went with:
Yes that is a frito pie! It was AMAZING! I’m not normally a fan of Frito Pie but this isn’t your average Frito Pie. The Fritos are made in the restaurant. The beef was way more lean than any other frito pie I’ve seen and there were jalapenos! You have got to try this if you head into Stampede 66!
Then it was time for dinner…I went with the Honey-Fried Chicken, Mable’s Buttermilk Biscuits, Mashed Potato Tots
The honey in the batter added a nice sweetness to the chicken and it was delicious. I had never had anything like the Mashed Potato Tots before and they were really good. But I think my absolute favorite were the Buttermilk Biscuits, they were amazing!
My friend went with the Chicken-Fried Buffalo Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gun Barrel Greens, though he swapped out the Greens for an order of Mac and Cheese.
I have to say, the Chicken-Fried Buffalo Steak was amazing. The unique combinations of flavor worked very well together. It came with a spicy, I believe chorizo gravy, that I was skeptical about but it absolutely worked!
Whenever I go to dinner with this friend you can’t ever say no to dessert, I don’t think it’s allowed! I was so full but I decided to give the Cobbler of the day a try.
This particular cobbler was mixed berry and chipotle. I forgot about there was chipotle in it until I got a little kick of spice. It was a match made in heaven for this spice lover!
I loved the rustic dishes and serving pieces used for all the various foods on the menu and the decor of the restaurant was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, it was a modern twist to western rustic. After that delicious meal, I can absolutely forgive the hostesses and bartenders that made my visit to Stampede 66 start out a bit rocky.
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