Archive for the 'American' Category
Sunday, February 11th, 2007
If there’s really such a thing as authentic “Texan” food, you’ll find it at Love and War In Texas. From the more-than-generous food portions to the friendly hosts wearing Lone Star emblem shirts, everything at this restaurant is thoroughly Texan.
Items on the menu are categorized by various regions in the state
A blown up copy of the cover of the Texas Monthly is the type of decor you’ll find inside
Seasoned onion rings with a tasty dipping sauce in the middle
Nachos topped with fresh beef and chicken
Chicken fried chicken with a delicious corn on the cob on the side
Hamburger served with (slightly spicy) beans and fried potatoes
Love And War In Texas
Ambiance: 7
Food: 7
Service: 8
Cleanliness: 8
Health: 4
Value: 7
Overall: 7
http://www.loveandwarintexas.com
Tags: Texas, restaurant, food
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, American, Steak | No Comments »
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
Posted in Eating Out, Cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Miscellaneous, American | No Comments »
Thursday, December 14th, 2006
After hearing about the famous cheese fries at Snuffer’s, we decided to give the place a try to see what all the fuss was about. The restaurant was pretty packed when we visited, and we had to wait a few minutes before we got a table. The menu is a simple two-sided piece of laminated paper, which was fine except for the fact that all of the menus seemed oddly greasy (we would shortly discover the reason why). We didn’t think too much of it at the time and proceeded to place our order. We ended up getting a large cheddar fries with bacon/chives/jalapenos, an order of nachos, a mushroom swiss chicken platter, and a bacon cheeseburger platter.
The cheddar fries were served about two minutes later, and initially the plate looked like a pretty good value with extremely generous helpings of toppings heaped on top of the fries and a cup of ranch dipping sauce on the side. The only problem was that the fries had absorbed so much grease that they were about twice as heavy as they should have been. It tasted ok for maybe the first bite, but after that the overwhelming amount of grease made each successive bite increasingly difficult to swallow (I guess if you’re used to eating this kind of stuff it might not be a problem — we saw some of the people sitting around us happily devouring the fries like they were stir-fried noodles).
Unable to finish the fries, we decided to set it aside and wait for the entrees to arrive, hoping that they would at least be a little better. Much to our dismay, we got more of the same fat-laden, ridiculously greasy “food” that was served earlier. The nachos were coated with a thick, oily layer of cheese, and the cheese was pretty much the only thing you could taste. These weren’t your typical nachos where you have tortilla chips with cheese on top; these were more like cheese globs with some tortilla chips inside.
As far as the platters we ordered, the grilled chicken tasted decent at least, but only in comparison to the other dishes. It didn’t taste like lard, but it was still smothered in an excessive amount of cheese. Even the toast that came with the entrees was quite heavily buttered. We ordered corn and black-eyed peas for the side dishes, and those were the only things that we could finish (sort of). The mashed potatoes were ok as well — nothing special but at least edible.
In the end, we took about half the food home simply because we couldn’t manage to eat any more of it. The food here makes a Double Bacon Cheeseburger at Jack In The Box look like a veggie sandwich. The food was so unhealthy that we decided to add a new rating category for our reviews — the healthiness of the food. We think this is an important factor to consider when eating out, and so we will be including it for all of our future restaurant reviews.
One thing to note: we certainly understand that a sports bar type restaurant can’t be expected to serve carrots and brussel sprouts, and that you don’t exactly go to this type of restaurant if you’re looking to help your diet. But the thing is, we’ve been to plenty of sports bars that have been able to serve up a decent plate of nachos or fries that didn’t taste like pure grease. We’ll leave it at that, whether you agree or disagree, but suffice it to say that Snuffer’s is now on our official list of “banned” restaurants.
Snuffer’s Restaurant and Bar
Ambiance: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cleaniness: 4
Value: 4
Health: 2
Overall: 4.4
Tags: Snuffer’s, cheddar fries, greasy food
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, American | No Comments »
Saturday, November 4th, 2006
One thing about Schlotzsky’s Deli is their signature bread. It doesn’t really matter what the fillings are, but if they’re in between anything other than the “full of air pockets” buns, it ain’t a Schlotzsky’s sandwich.
The buns are hard on the outside so you have something stable to hold onto as you eat your sandwich. Sandwiches are served warm which makes them more of a meal than a quick lunch.
The chips are also unique to the Schlotzsky’s brand. Granted barbeque and jalepeno flavored potato chips aren’t anything new, but it’s nice to know that even the chips they stick to their own brand. For a flavor kick, try their vinegar flavored chips.
Schlotzsky’s Deli
2408 Preston Road, Ste. 704-B
Plano, TX
Tel: (972) 964-2830
Website: http://www.schlotzskys.com
Tags: Schlotzsky’s Deli, sandwiches, chips
Posted in Eating Out, American | No Comments »
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Ahh, Denny’s. The ultimate in comfort food. It became our haven for those times of disappointment after we rate a particularly lousy restaurant. Also, the fact that we can order breakfast 24/7 just appeals to us.
Well, was Friday night around 10pm, and most restaurant are already closed. Immediately I thought of Denny’s and their pancakes. I rarely cook pancakes myself, but I love eating them. I love to drench them in syrup and savor them one layer at a time. Once I had pancakes on my mind, it was pretty clear that we would be going to Denny’s.
Mmmm…pancakes. The butter I can do without, but syrup is a must…lots of it.
The *extreme* slam. Basically a grand slam with an extra sausage, bacon, and pancake.
Chicken fried steak with hash browns instead of biscuits.
In hindsight though, I don’t think I did my body any favors by downing those pancakes, sausages, bacon, etc. I said it was comfort food, not healthy food.
Denny’s
1830 N. Central Expwy.
Plano, TX 75074
Phone: 972-423-8005
Tags: Denny’s, breakfast, pancake, unhealthy
Posted in Eating Out, American | No Comments »
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
With all the fried fast food options out there, it’s nice to know that places like Charo Chicken exists. It’s essentially a healthy version of KFC, Churches, and Popeye’s because the chicken’s grilled instead of fried. Unfortunately, healthy isn’t always the most tasty, as we were about to find out.
We got a Mama Charo combo meal that came with two pieces of dark meat chicken, two sides, corn tortillas, and a drink. We also got a chicken quesadilla combo that had only the quesadilla and a drink. Both were $5.75, but you get a lot more in the Mama Charo combo.
Dark meat is the way to go. These weren’t too dry, and flavor was mild. I think the chicken would’ve turned out better if they were brined or marinated longer before grilling to infuse more juice and flavor into the meat. Luckily I didn’t get white meat because they were probably way too dry.
These corn tortillas were too dry. I took one bite and gave up on it.
The charo rice needed some work because, again, they tasted dry. The cole slaw was a little better, and it was a welcomed contrast to the other dry items in the combo.
The quesadilla combo was the tastier of the two. It helped that the quesadillas were made with flour tortilla and loaded with cheese.
Charo Chicken
2304 Coit Road, Suite 620
Plano, TX 75075
Phone: 972-312-8889
Website: www.charochicken.com
Tags: Charo Chicken, fire grilled
Posted in Eating Out, American | No Comments »
Sunday, August 27th, 2006
It’s been so hot outside these days that it’s gotten me thinking winter already. More specifically, Colorado… snow… and snowboarding. For the past 3 years it’s been an annual trip for me. Last year I went to Copper Mountain in Colorado, and it was my first year snowboarding. Boy I tell ya, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore in my life. I ached in places I never knew would ache. When the adrenaline was flowing during the day I was fine, but when the lifts closed and I was back at the lodge I literally could not move because I was so sore.
What’s a food fanatic like me to do when I’m in foreign territory? Why, try out the finest and best restaurants in the area of course! I think it’s gotten to be somewhat of a tradition to eat at a fine dining restaurant on every trip. I’d have to say we found some pretty good gems at the 3 Colorado resorts I’ve been to so far. At Crested Butte we went to Soupcon (now closed, so sad) which served French cuisine with a bit of Americanized flair. At Winter Park we went to Gasthaus Eichler serving German cuisine which I thought was interesting because I’ve been to only 1 other German restaurant my entire life. Last year at Copper we went to Blue Spruce Inn with a pretty large group. I think we ordered nearly everything they had on their menu, or at least it seemed like it.
I don’t even want to attempt to describe every dish we ordered because I’d probably need two pages, which will be too long, and mainly because I tasted only a couple of dishes so I can go into detail on just those two. As for the rest of the dishes, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
A foretaste of what’s to come.
You can browse through their wine selection while you wait.
Blue Spruce Inn has been around for quite a while.
Had to put together an extra long table for our group.
Just before I cracked open their menu to order.
Fresh baked bread with butter to start everything off.
Blue Corn Calamari. Fried calamari has always been my favorite. These were coated with just enough blue cornmeal and fried just right so the meat was tender and not chewy. The accompanying tomato and caper sauce provided just the right amount of sweetness and sourness to diffuse out any oily aftertaste.
All meals come with either caeser salad…
…or soup du jour.
I ordered the Crab Filet which was tenderloin stuffed with crab and covered in fresh bérnaise sauce. To the untrained eye this may look like a big yellow glob, but under this rich coat of sauce sits a perfectly seared beef medallion sandwiching generous flakes of crab. At a perfect medium, the beef was so unbelievably juicy it nearly matched the natural tenderness of the crab. I savored every bite slowly along with the chef’s potato (mashed potatoes with garlic and herbs), cabbage, and carrots. Everything was so good I even ate the decoration, a tiny skewer of pineapple and cantaloupe.
Slow roasted Prime Rib. Lots of marbling.
Caramelized Onion Sirloin, certified angus quality.
Roast Duckling. Slow roasted and served with a Grand Marnier lingonberry sauce.
Pomodoro Pasta with chicken.
Rocky Mountain Trout.
Grilled New York strip steak.
Bluegrass Baby Back Ribs. *Full* rack.
Ice cream cake with chocolate syrup and raspberries.
I love the homely feel of fine dining restaurants like this. Blue Spruce used to be an inn before it moved a couple of times and finally became just a dining establishment, but it still kept the “inn” atmosphere. When I think of an inn, I think of a place where you end up at the end of a day exhausted, and all you’re looking for is a nice hot meal before crashing in a nice soft bed. In our case, we went at the last day of our trip pretty much exhausted from all the snowboarding and skiing looking for a nice hot meal. The food just tastes that much better when you’re hungry *and* exhausted.
The fine dining experience was memorable, but it wasn’t cheap. Dishes ranged from about mid 20s to just under 30, but you get what you paid for. The full rack of ribs was especially a good deal. The slabs were so humongous that it hid almost everything else on the plate. Even some of the guys notorious for having a “bottomless” stomach cried mercy near the end.
Like I said, we had a pretty big group, and our server did a pretty good job of making sure our dining experience was enjoyable. We were relaxed while we ate and chatted, and the server only interceded when necessary. The rest of the time he wisely left us alone to mingle the night away.
The Blue Spruce
20 Main St
Frisco, CO 80443
(970) 668-5900
Website: thebluespruce.com/home/index.php
Atmosphere: 9
Food: 8
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 8.1
Tags: Blue Spruce Inn, Colorado, Frisco, Copper
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, American, French | 1 Comment »