#75 - Corner Bakery Cafe, Dallas TX

When we got to Dallas for the bowl trip, my first stop was North Park Mall and the Origins store.  I had a coupon that was expiring that day, and for some reason it's only valid in their retail store.  Which used to be okay, until they closed all the retail stores in Oklahoma.  I like North Park Mall, but not on NYE when it's absolutely jam packed and I've just driven 4 hours, the last 30 minutes in horrendous Dallas traffic.  And then the parking lot was absolutely ridiculous and it took us another 20 minutes to find a parking spot.

You have to be focused when you go to North Park.  It's a massive mall, and very easy to get distracted.  But that will never happen to me on the high-end side, considering I can't afford anything in those stores.  It always cracks me up because there's hundreds of people walking through the high-end side, but I hardly ever see anyone in the stores.  But it is Dallas, so I'm sure there are a lot of people who can and do shop there all the time.  When I was done in the store we were starving and it was time for some lunch. I had wanted to try this brand new restaurant in the mall, but my mom wasn't real fired up about the menu when she looked at it.  We had seen a Corner Bakery Cafe when we first walked in, and she voted we eat there. 

They have about 10 tables inside, and then a very good-sized patio that wraps around 2 sides of the café.  They've also got some seating along the window inside.  I love that they also have the Coke machine where you can mix & match all the different flavors.  I wanted ginger ale, but it was Seagram's and not Canada Dry.  I decided to try it anyway...one sip and I tossed it out and got Diet Dr. Pepper.  It has a funky aftertaste.  Like Panera, they have a "pick 2" menu--they call it Corner Combos--where you can get half sizes of soups, salads, and sandwiches.  I knew I would be eating a big meal later that night so I wanted to keep my lunch on the light side. 

I got the uptown turkey sandwich on harvest toast and mixed greens salad.  All the combos come with a couple choices of sides, and I picked a bag of chips and a pickle.

Smoked turkey breast, applewood smoked bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato & mayo

My mom and I both had the salad, and she had asked for her dressing on the side.  I didn't, and they got our orders backwards.  In hindsight we should have asked for them the same way.  But you know, they really didn't go overboard with the dressing the way some places do.  I asked my mom if she wanted to switch, but she said no, it was fine. Which definitely means it wasn't too much.  I'm so happy it was a mixed greens salad, instead of your normal boring iceberg lettuce.  And the dressing was light and very tasty.  The sandwich was pretty good, your basic turkey sandwich.  The chips were very good.  My mom isn't a huge fan of chips and so tasted one of mine before she opened her bag... and promptly gave me hers.  I actually got 2 pickles, and they were delicious and crunchy.  After lunch my mom went back in to get cookies. Originally I thought about the whoopie pie, but every other word of the description was "rich".... not really what I was looking for. So I went with the chocolate chip. The only negative was that it was crunchy, not soft.  But that's just my personal preference, and it was still very delicious.

The inside was packed, so we sat out on the patio.  It was great people watching out there, so I'm glad we did it.

Will I go back?  Most definitely! But, no surprise, there's no locations at all in Oklahoma.  How disappointing.  But next time I'm in Dallas, I'll have to go back.  I saw someone with a salad and it was huge and looked really good.

UPDATE:  There is now a location in Oklahoma City!!  So happy about that.  Must have to go and do a Repeats post