Archive for the 'Eating Out' Category
Monday, July 9th, 2007
Allow me to rant.
One of the surefire ways that you can tell a restaurant is hiding something.. is if they make a scene about patrons taking pictures at the restaurant. I’m not talking about detailed pictures of every orifice of the place but just casual pictures of the entrees at the privacy of the patrons’ own tables.
To those type of restaurant owners I say this. And I speak from experience as I’ve worked and helped manage a restaurant for nearly 5 years. This is NOT a good way to run a business nor is it a profitable way. You do NOT question customers and single them out in a restaurant and you do NOT force them to delete the pictures in front of them. There’s this little thing called.. “serving your customers” that someone should give them a heads up about. Totally ruined the entire restaurant experience having to look over our shoulders every time we do anything. If they said it in a courteous manner, I wouldn’t have any issue because as the owners.. they have a right to dictate how they conduct their business. But their tone was just short of antagonistic and I pretty much wanted my fist to meet the owner’s face.
I’m not gonna name the restaurant but I will say this. Any restaurant you go to, take pictures openly of their food and take care not to bother anyone else. If the owner there speaks up and tells you NOT to take pictures rudely, spread the news and let customers decide if that’s the kind of restaurant you’d like to eat at. If they do it in a courteous manner, acquiesce to their pleas.. apologize.. and enjoy your meal.
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Monday, May 21st, 2007
I’ve noticed a lot of new Thai restaurants lately. Just a couple of days ago we rated Bangkok City which we should have a review for soon. Thai food for me is a hit or miss. Sometimes I’ll eat something great at a Thai restaurant, but more often than not I’ve been disappointed. I blame it on this one Thai restaurant in Austin called Thai Menu. I probably had the best Thai food I’ve ever tasted at that restaurant. I think I tried every item on their menu at least once. When I found out they were closed I was beyond sad. Since then my expecation for good Thai food is sky high, which is why very few Thai restaurants appeal to me these days.
Still Thai food seem to be gaining popularity judging from the new restaurants popping up everywhere. Is Thai cuisine a new trend these days? Hmm… Actually that got me thinking. I’ve never tried cooking Thai food before because their seasonings and sauces seemed complicated. But I might start with a little help from from a kit at CurrySimple.com. The ready made curry mix and sauces should make the cooking experience a whole lot easier. Plus they claim the mix and sauces are made to restaurant quality WITHOUT the use of MSG or preservatives which is certainly very attractive.
Eventually though I’ll want to create my own Thai sauces. But until I’m good at it I’ll probably default to ready made sauces for now.
Tags: Thai, restaurant, curry, sauce, ready made
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Saturday, March 24th, 2007
Last month we went to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s and thought that their selection of food and their salad bar seemed pretty nutritious and healthy. Then I stumbled upon this article on MSN…
Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta: The name for this Ruby Tuesday’s dish seems healthy enough. The chicken is pulled from a roasted bird and the broccoli is steamed. The pasta is standard penne. But then the entrée transforms into a cardiac catastrophe totaling 2,060 calories (can you believe it?) and 128 grams of fat (including 60 to 70 of the artery-clotting saturated variety).
What gives? It’s the parmesan cream sauce and the topping of Wisconsin cheddar cheese before baking. CSPI labels it “Angioplasta” and equates the dish to two sirloin steak dinners complete with Caesar salad and buttered baked potato.
Just as bad was this…
Colossal Burger: There are a lot of giant hamburgers out there for the gorging these days, but CSPI says Ruby Tuesday’s is the chub-house leader with its Colossal Burger. Two patties and the three-layer bun are just a starting point. You get a total of 1,940 calories and, as CSPI points out, that’s before the fries or optional sauce. The burger is so big it’s served with a steak knife to hold it together and allows for some forklifting as you actually try to eat the thing.
Along with the meat and bread, you get enough melted American and Monterrey Jack cheeses to equal eating four to five McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. Total grams of fat: 141 grams, which CSPI estimates is at least half and maybe three-quarters the unhealthy saturated type.
The health rating we gave to Ruby Tuesday’s was based on what we ate and what we saw on the menu. For the most part the menu had a somewhat healthy selection, but as you can see it can be misleading judging from an innocent sounding name like “Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta.” My suggestion if you don’t want any surprises, go for their salad bar. That way you can control what you eat.
The original article can be found at the Center for Science in the Public Interest Newsroom.
Tags: Ruby Tuesday’s, Colossal Burger, Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta, Health
Posted in Eating Out, Food News, Health | No Comments »
Sunday, February 25th, 2007
Just when we thought we had finally found our highest rated restaurant here in Dallas, I got news recently that it closed. The closing of Smith & Wollensky came as a shock to me. I was halfway through with my review for it, too. So instead of a review, I’ll make it a tribute.
Here it goes…
The ambiance of Smith & Wollensky was mysteriously inviting. The restaurant itself looked like a mansion or some government building. Basically it didn’t look like a restaurant at all. Even inside it didn’t look like a place to eat until we were led to the dining area. The service was excellent. One server took care of the entire dining area, and he was pretty knowledgable about the food when we asked questions.
The food was excellent. We chose their “pay your age” special dinner where you pay your age in price for a full three course meal. Minimum was $25. Obviously the closer to 25 you are the better the value. Usually at a fine dining establishment like this you expect to pay high prices for quality not quantity. Smith & Wollensky splits it down the middle at a happy medium. The quality is there, but the quantity was unexpected.
Cleaniness is beyond belief, a first for us. I took a trip to the washroom to wash up before dessert, and it was perhaps the cleanest public restroom I have ever seen in my life. It’s more like something you would find at a private residence. Instead of paper towels, they had actual towels for you to dry your hands with. Scented candles made the experiences even more memorable.
The bronze head of a bull over the entrance doors.
Our table.
Pay your age dinner menu. Simple to follow. One of us was over 25, but our server decided to charge us all the minimum. Nice.
We got a variety in our bread basket. The large flat bread stood out, and it tasted more like a large baked chip. One I particularly liked was the sweet corn bread stick. The others were good as well, soft on the inside and sturdy on the outside. With help from a little butter we emptied the basket within minutes.
Salad was perfectly dressed. There was no overrun of dressing at the bottom of the bowl. The bacon came in huge chunks and were pretty intense.
The pizza took us by surprise because was bigger than we thought. It was probably bigger than some of the medium pizzas you’d find elsewhere, and it’s just the appetizer.
Very rich and creamy pea soup. No incidents this time. Whew.
Best calamari I’ve had in a long time. Most restaurants don’t use the tentacles of the squid which I don’t understand because it’s just as tasty and offers a different texture. Hard to say which appetizer I liked best because they were all so good, but if push comes to shove I’d pick the calamari.
The tuna steak was seared on the outside but was medium to medium rare on the inside. With the vegetables it was a pretty healthy dish.
This NY strip steak was cooked to a perfect medium. Nothing else came on this plate because the meat itself needed no complements.
The filet mignon was unbelieveably tender and juicy. It was almost as tender as the tuna steak.
The lamb was served with a slightly sweet sauce. Also cooked medium, it was tender, savory, and somewhat fun to eat because some of the best tasting meat is right next to the bones.
I actually enjoyed eating this cheesecake, and I’m not a cheesecake guy.
Trust me when I say that this chocolate cake was HUMONGOUS. This picture doesn’t do it justice. The four of us barely made a dent in it.
Custard sitting on top of a sweet and sour raspberry sauce.
Three flavors of creme brulee. On the right had coconut shavings on top. The middle tasted like mocha, but my fav is still the original on the left.
There you have it. Our review for Smith & Wollensky that unfortunately doesn’t exist here in Dallas anymore. But if you ever come across it I highly recommend that you give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Smith & Wollensky
Website: www.smithandwollensky.com
Ambiance: 9
Food: 9
Service: 9
Cleaniness: 9
Value: 9
Overall: 9
Tags: Smith & Wollensky, steak, pay your age, closed
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Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
Found a nice little spot for some down-to-earth barbeque. Wherever there’s BBQ it means there are ribs to be had, which happens to be another one of my favs next to buffalo wings. I also found their logo to be quite unique…a pair of pigs wearing dark sunglasses playing guitars. Sums up the theme of RED Hot & Blue quite nicely, I’d say.
Bright neon signs spelling out RED HOT & BLUE pointed us in the right direction.
The pigs jazzing it up on the front cover of their menu.
I thought these were interesting. Each of us got a mini pitcher of water.
We got the dry rubbed ribs, and they were dry indeed. Luckily we had an assortment of sauces to eat them with. Loved the baked sweet potato and the potato salad. The sweet cinnamon butter worked well with the biscuits.
Four barbeque sauces to choose from. We tried all 4 on the ribs.
The nachos were loaded with pulled pork, jalepeños, the works. Very tasty.
Got a catfish sandwich to try their seafood. As expected, the catfish was very tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside.
Red Hot & Blue
5017 W. Plano Pkwy. #100 @ Preston Road
Plano, TX 75093
Phone: (972) 248-3866
Website: http://www.redhotandblue.com
Ambiance: 6
Food: 7
Service: 7
Cleaniness: 6
Value: 8
Health: 5
Overall: 6.6
Tags: Red Hot & Blue, barbeque, BBQ, ribs
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Sunday, February 18th, 2007
A new restaurant just opened up recently in the Chinatown square in Richardson on the East side of Greenville between Arapaho and Beltline. We decided to give it a shot. I was skeptical at first because there was another Japanese restaurant in the same square so I wasn’t sure what Ajisen could offer to compete with it. Turned out better than I thought.
The inside decor of the restaurant was very nice. I think they’re trying to create an upscale atmosphere in contrast to the other restaurants around it. The servers to customers ratio was high, so service was very good. The food was somewhat unique, but having been to Japan and tasted the more authentic dishes over there, it’s hard not to compare. Cleaniness gets a fairly high mark because the restaurant was actually newly built so everything looked new and clean. We even got a hot towel to wipe our hands clean with.
Ajisen served up a rather healthy fare compared to many restaurants out there. Japanese cuisine is usually that way. But they do come at a cost. Each of our ramen bowls were $9 each. I remembered paying the same price, maybe even less, for a bowl of ramen in Japan. You have to understand that prices in Japan are at least 20-30% higher than prices here. Plus the ramen in Japan tasted tons better too. Not to say the ones at Ajisen weren’t good, they just couldn’t compare.
The “Casual” refers more to the food than to the decor…
…as you can see.
Many items on the menu are tailored to eat with beer. This style of cuisine is more for the “salaryman” who after a long day’s work decides to go out drinking with some beer snacks on the side as fillers. Because of this, I think, many of the dishes are on the salty side.
We sat literally next to the kitchen. Only thing separating us from the chefs a couple of feet away is a wall of glass.
Cajun roll made of fried crawfish, spicy mayo, and avacado. Pretty good.
A traditional ramen. Portion looked rather small though, so if you’re a big eater opt for something else on the side. Oh, and don’t let the soup go to waste because it’s the main ingredient in true authentic ramen.
There was actually a pretty good selection of ramen on the menu. This one had chicken karage, basically fried chicken.
This one immediately caught my eye because I’ve not seen anything like this before served here in the US. It’s a rather plain combo plate in Japan though, but here it deserves some attention. I like the combination of rice, curry, and fried chicken cutlet. Could be better if the curry was spicer though.
Ajisen
Ambiance: 7
Food: 6
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 7
Health: 6
Value: 4
Overall: 6.5
Tags: Ajisen, grand opening, Japanese, casual dining, ramen, curry rice
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Monday, January 1st, 2007
Against our better judgement, we decided to eat at the airport since we had some time to kill before our flight and we were hungry. We already knew beforehand the food wasn’t going to be great in terms of overall value but at least it was something to fill the stomach. Well we ended up trying this Bamboo Express place in Terminal D area at DFW airport.
Needless to say it was not very good. It was overly soy sauce flavored and salty beyond recognition. It was about the same as Pei Wei’s I guess is the best way to describe it. I got the beef and chicken broccoli combo with fried rice. Incidentally, white rice was not available so that really made the dish that much more salty. And I think it came out to be like $9.00 or something with the bottled water. Normally I don’t get water but I needed to get water for the plane… that’s besides the point. Point is.. just reiterating what I said earlier.. generally it’s not a good idea to purchase food at the airports here in the US. They usually overcharge and stiff you on quality. I guess they’re able to do that because there are those who have no choice but to purchase food there.
This was the place we stayed at upon arrival at Breckenridge. Fully furnished kitchen shown. Jason did an excellent job booking a fantastic place for this trip. I was mucho impressed.
Our first night’s dinner at our resort in Colorado. I didn’t want to spend too much time cooking the first night, so we bought a baked chicken from Safeway and some ready to eat dinner rolls. The meat was pulled from the bones because I wanted to use the chicken bones to make stock. We cooked some broccoli and cauliflower for the vegetables.
This pic was one peering down a fork in one of the blue trails up Peak 8 I think. This was our second time snowboarding so it was obviously not as scary as last year. I guess the best way to describe this view is just.. awe. I stopped many a time to rest and just capture the greatness of His creation. Well that and my knees were super tired.
This view was taken near the mid part of a slope and it shows what I just snowboarded down from.
I had my mind set on steak when I found out that our lodge had a gas grill. It took a while to pick out the perfect steaks at Safeway. We ended up getting 3 ribeyes that were cut 1 inch thick and were at least 16oz a piece. Inspired by one of our fellow Dining In Dallas compadres who opted to go to NY rather than join us on the slopes at Breckenridge, I decided to prepare the steaks Korean style…or so he says. Basically I just used soy sauce, coke, and some garlic.
Just as we’re about to grill the steaks, however, we discovered that the grill was so dirty that it was unusable. I was hungry, and I didn’t want to waste any time cleaning whatever gunk the previous irresponsible tenants had left behind, so I grilled the steaks on the skillet. Fortunately they turned out okay…a little more done than I had wanted them to be but still tender and juicy. That night we ate steak, more broccoli and cauliflower, and ramen. I was super stuffed afterwards.
Next morning we made eggs for breakfast. There were 4 of us, and we bought 5 dozen eggs for 4 days. That meant each of us had to consume about 4 eggs per day which is okay if you like eggs. I don’t usually eat that many eggs, so I tried to mix it up by cooking the eggs differently each time. What you see here is my version of scrambled eggs and egg omelet.
Green eggs and ham? No, they’re just green noodles and vegetables. I think the noodles had some spinach inside or something to make it green. Whatever. It tasted okay so I didn’t mind. More brocolli and cauliflower…lots of it. We decided to cook the rest of it to get it over with. I think it was at this point that I realized that we had bought too much food. For our 3rd night we had spaghetti with green noodles. I built the sauce from a jar of ready made spaghetti sauce, added some chicken stock I made the first night, freshly diced tomatoes, grilled eggplant, left over steak from last night, and chicken drumsticks. Whatever I could throw into the sauce I did…except for the bananas, but even those nearly fell victim.
After dinner, we decided to do a little shopping and sight-seeing to walk off what we just ate. For me it was almost torture. Nearly every other building that we walked past was a restaurant or eatery. My mouth watered every time the smell of food hits my nose even though I just ate a huge dinner. I could resist it only so much. When I saw the cookies on display at Mary’s Mountain Cookies, I caved in. I bought a Muddy Mogul, fudge sandwiched between two huge peanut butter cookies.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw the sign in front of me. “Crepes a la Carte” it said. Turned out it was a street vendor selling crepes. Again, I found myself ordering a crepe before it even registered in my mind that my Muddy Mogul was still untouched. The crepes were either savory or sweet. I asked what their most popular sweet one was. The guy said smores, and that’s what I got.
To maximize our time on the slopes, we brought sandwiches. A turkey sandwich with American cheese, lettuce, and mayo on wheat bread to be exact. On top of my sandwich was the leftover smores crepe that I didn’t finish last night. I stuck my sandwich in the front pocket of my jacket which wasn’t such a good idea because they were all smashed together when I took it out to eat it. Didn’t bother me though cuz I was hungry. Everything tastes good when you’re hungry, even a turkey smores sandwich.
On our last evening here, we did our customary tradition of eating at a fine dining restaurant. We had it on good authority from the locals of a place called The Dredge (boathouse) and decided to try the place. Sure enough, this restaurant was a huge boat sitting on a frozen lake almost like an island with a couple of bridges leading up to the entrances.
A while ago I watch an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown made a French onion soup unlike any onion soup I’ve seen. Ever since then whenever I see onion soup on the menu I’m tempted to order it, but I never actually did until now. I guess my expectation for it was too high because I thought it was okay at best. The soup itself was good, but the bread was too soggy in my opinion. I was hoping for a little bit more texture from the bread.
House Salad was splendid. It had an assortment of veggies that meshed nicely together. Ranch dressing was supposed to come with the dish but the waitress had to be reminded because she forgot the dressing the first time around.
Coconut Braised Shrimp. This appetizer was very good. Probably the specialty in this dish was the sauce but the way the jumbo shrimp was prepared, was nothing short of perfection. I wanted more but at $3.00 a shrimp, it was a little impractical to order more.
Complimentary Bread. Not much I can say about this. Crispy on outside and soft inside makes for a good bread starter.
I love pork ribs. When I saw it on the menu I decided that I must have it. The question was, should I get the full or half rack? I ended up choosing the half because I had a picture of the full rack of ribs someone ordered at Blue Spruce last year in my mind, so I made my decision based on that. Turned out the half rack was just right quantity-wise. The meat was tender and the BBQ sauce was finger-licking good. The baked potato was perfect. I’ve never tasted a potato so fluffy before. I didn’t even use the butter that came with it because it didn’t need any.
Unfortunately there was one thing that I would’ve done to make this dish even better, and that’s the vegetables (more like the lack of). When I lifted the ribs, I found a couple sticks of baby carrots, exactly two pods of snow peas, and a slice of squash. They weren’t exactly there for decoration because I didn’t see them until I lifted the ribs. They’re not there as a side either (at least I don’t think so) because the quantity was laughably inadequate. My suggestion would be to either have more vegetables or not have them at all. Otherwise it’s just too confusing >_<
Salmon Special. One of the 2 or 3 specials that the waitress suggested. It looked very tender and much like the stuffed red trout dish, just under well done and very nicely seasoned.
Pork Saute. From what I could tell, it looked pretty good. Another person got this dish so I didn’t get a chance to sample it. He had no complaints though so I can only assume it was satisfactory.
Stuffed Red Trout. This dish was amazing. The red trout was prepared just a little under well done and stuffed with assorted seafood delights. I believe it was basically crab and shrimp stuffed inside. It was very well prepared and tingled my taste buds wonderfully. I, of course, squeezed the lemon all over the trout. The rice complemented the trout nicely because the stuffing was slightly on the salty side evident with the 4 or 5 glasses of water I went through.
The Dredge
180 W. Jefferson
Breckenridge, CO 80424
(970) 453-4877
Ambiance: 9
Food: 8
Service: 7
Cleaniness: 9
Value: 8
Health: 8
Overall: 8
We passed by this French bakery before our dinner at the Dredge. Again, I found myself inside the store a few seconds later. The owners were actually French, or people who spoke fluent French. They politely greeted me and said some other things, but I was only half listening because my focus was on the treats on display. I finally got a croissant fruit tart. For some reason I didn’t feel like cutting into it and messing it up, so I brought it back to Dallas with me.
We had so many eggs left over, that we decided to boil the rest and stick it on one of our carry ons back to Dallas. Waste not want not right?
Panda Express’s Orange Chicken entree. Ate this right before we went through security at Denver International Airport. It was actually not that bad considering I’m (George) not a huge fan of orange chicken. But as with any airport food, it probably wasn’t worth it. I didn’t see the receipt but that’s a safe assumption.
All in all, this trip was very efficient and fullfilling. On the snowboarding end, I think I learned or at least I achieved a better understanding of the S-turns. Before, my primary and only way to maneuver was with my heels but now.. I think I can use my toe to move a little. Far from mastery but just a little closer. Improvement nonetheless. One the food side, we were again pleasantly surprised with a great restaurant our last evening there. The locals did not disappoint us and gave us a wonderful choice. So basically, a solid trip all around. I can’t wait till next trip.
Tags: Breckenridge, Colorado, The Dredge
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