Today I had to go over to Phoenix to get a haircut and pick up my mail. My barber and the location of my P.O. Box both stem from when I used to live in central Phoenix and I've kept them ever since. It's inconvenient unless you look at it as an opportunity. After getting my haircut taken care of I went to La Purisima to pick up some Mexican baked goods and tamales. I got there around 11:30, and there were so many people in line that it took about 15 minutes for me to get my stuff. I picked up the usual apricot and strawberry empanadas and I tried the sugar donuts again. I wanted to get a dozen of the green tamale, but they were out. Next I went to Da Vang to get some barbecue pork bahn mi [sandwich] for lunch. Da Vang was bustling and I found all the activity around the kitchen entertaining.
I was going to head home when I remembered to get something to drink. Specifically a jugo [juice]. I'd been meaning to try La Brisa on 15th Avenue and Indian School for a while and this was the perfect excuse. The shop was small, but they had Thrifty ice cream, paletas [frozen fruit bars], milk shakes, and even tortas [sandwiches] in addition to fresh juices. The juices weren't in glass carboys, but in large metal containers in a cooler, so it didn't as appetizing as it should've, but there was fresh fruit on the back counter that was reassuring. I got a horchata for Lynn and a pineapple juice for myself, but I wished I noticed they had strawberry juice before I got the pineapple juice though.
I ate one of the sugar donuts on the way home. The first time I had a sugar donut from La Purisima it had a distinctive citrus flavor that made it quite tasty, but the citrus flavor absent this time leaving an average donut. I also tried my pineapple juice which was thick with a very good fresh pineapple flavor. It was a little too sweet for me, but it made me want to try the strawberry juice.
I got home and Lynn and I had the bahn mi. The barbecue pork in the bahn mi was tender and a little salty, but something seemed to be missing from the sandwich that kept it from being great. It was a little disappointing, but I'm already over it. Lynn actually thought the bahn mi was better than normal. Lynn tried her horchata and said it tasted overwhelmingly cinnamon. I tried it and it had so much cinnamon that it tasted dusty. Neither of us liked it.
Running around central/west Phoenix always makes me nostalgic for my old neighborhood, but today I especially missed having a plethora of options for authentic Mexican foods. The funny thing is most of those options didn't exist when I lived on that side of town.
[Addendum: 10/1 - The filling of the apricot empanada tasted like apricot marmalade for the second time, which I can't stand, so I'm sticking with the strawberry empanadas from now on.]
[Previous visit to La Purisima.]
Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill was one of my favorite restaurants before they closed nine months ago. I still had a dinner I didn't write about and put it off eventually figuring that it was irrelevant. Yesterday I received an email from Lotus saying they're currently catering while scouting a new location. I couldn't be happier, and they've inspired me to finish that old visit. If you want to order some excellent Indonesian food (like corn fritters, lemper, Javanese fried chicken, noodles, etc) you can always email them at lotuscatering2004@cox.net or call 480-456-0597.
One Sunday night Lynn and I went out with Ken to Cyclo, but they're closed Sundays. It was a good excuse to take Ken to Lotus instead. We started with an order of lemper and corn fritters. Lemper was Lynn's favorite appetizer because the sticky rice stuffed with a little mild coconut milk stewed chicken agrees with her. I like it in a comfort food sort of way. My favorite appetizer is the corn fritters: mixed vegetables battered, deep fried, and served with a fairly mild chili sauce. Deep fried anything tends to be decent, but the combination of deep fried vegetables with chili sauce is great. Ken liked my appetizer better.
We got a good range of food between the Javanese fried chicken (my favorite entree), sizzling turmeric and lime shrimp, noodles (my other favorite entree), and sauteed long beans with lime and chili. The turmeric and lime shrimp were ok, but Lynn remembered them tasting better before. It was actually the shrimp in peanut sauce that she was remembering. The fried chicken was once again moist, tender, and quite tasty. The long beans had a very sharp lime flavor and were searingly hot. They caused Ken to turn red immediately. The beans were one dimensional and too hot for any of us to enjoy.
The noodles were soft with a hint of wok flavor and sweet from the sauce they were cooked with. I love 'em, but I was surprised Ken went crazy for them because I didn't think they were his style. I guess we have like tastes in noodle dishes. Ken's enthusiasm might've caused a problem though because he scarfed down the egg in the noodles even though he's allergic to eggs. Suddenly his question, "Is it hot in here or is it just me?" took an ominous turn. Thankfully it didn't cause him an irreparable damage, but it scared Lynn and I.
Dinner was what I always loved about Lotus Asian Cafe, great food and a little adventure. I can't wait for them to reopen. You can also read Ken's version of dinner.
[Previous visit to Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill that I wrote about].
I finally finished my 05/06 Japan trip, complete with pictures. The next project I'll work on is converting my site to blog software. The fun never ends.
Lynn and I had been jonesing for a burger from Delux for a few days, but I kept putting it off because it's one of the more difficult restaurants to take a baby due to their tight seating arrangements. Monday I finally couldn't resist any longer.
Sitting on the patio or at the bench against the wall would've given us enough room for the baby seat, but when we got there all the bench seats were taken and someone was smoking around the patio. The hostess was nice enough to suggest seating us at the end of the long table in the middle of the restaurant so we'd have room for a chair for the baby seat. It worked.
I considered getting a beer, but when I read the description for the Bosteels "Tripel Karmeliet" (wheat, oats, and barley with muscat and raisins) I knew I was getting a beer; it sounded too interesting to pass up. The beer was very light and highly carbonated with a fruity flavor and a spicy clove finish. I thought it was a great beer, but only had about a minute with it before our food arrived. I don't like beer with food, but this was one of the more food friendly beers.
For food we got a half order of fries, a standard burger (medium) for Lynn, and a Delux burger (medium) for me. The fries were crispy and once again excellent. Our burgers arrived and it looked like they gave me a patty and a half. I wasn't complaining, but I knew it'd be more than I could eat. Lynn got her bun on the side so I could use it for my burger. The bun was light, crisp, and buttered with a sweet flavor like King's Hawaiian Bread. The bun went perfectly with the burger because the sweetness effortlessly flowed into the caramelized onions or the blue cheese and finished with the meat. It was the best burger I'd had from Delux. I even almost finished it. Lynn was equally happy with her burger with mustard.
The banana split lava cake had always caught our eye, but the timing was never right. This time we finally got it, and when it came out it was large enough for four people with three large scoops of Haagen-Dazs ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry), two split bananas, and a small chocolate cake. The cake had a good chocolate flavor, but was dry. Lynn fixed it with the chocolate sauce served on the side while I used the ice cream. The vanilla was the best flavor of the ice cream while the strawberry seemed to be missing something. The chocolate ice cream was good, but not my sort of thing. The dessert was on the expensive side for desserts, but if you had enough people sharing or you could handle that much dessert then it would be worth it.
Dinner was excellent and satisfying. Hopefully Delux will be around long enough for the baby to actually taste the food.
[Previous visit to Delux.]
Does "MY CIGARS ARE SICK!" explain why I don't usually care for Cuban cigars? Is it possible that most of them have been in their sick period when I've smoked them? Somehow I doubt that's the problem, but I'll age my Cubans longer before smoking them anyway. It couldn't hurt. I wonder if the author of the book referenced knows what he's talking about because his aging periods seem excessive.
[Addendum: 9/28 - I knew there was something I didn't like about the book the article was based on; the book's author ignored the fact that most cigars aren't age worthy just like most wines aren't age worthy. There's no point in aging something that will only degrade with aging.]
The last time I was at Restaurant Mexico I tried the chorizo even though Murray said it wasn't any good. It's not that I didn't believe him, but I was desperate to find something good there other than the deshebrada [shredded beef] tostadas. The chorizo was mushy with a weak red chili flavor and only vaguely resembled any worthwhile chorizo. I think it's time I stop exploring Restaurant Mexico's menu.
One of the changes brought about by my new work schedule is that I actually have to eat breakfast. The cafe at my work makes breakfast burritos, but they aren't good; the bacon in their bacon burrito is so small that it could almost be mistaken for specs of black pepper. Murray brought me an "Americano" (egg, cheddar, bacon, and ham) burrito from Filibertos that was really good. The bacon was in large satisfying pieces and the burrito was hearty. The only improvement I could think of was if they used a white cheese instead of cheddar. Obviously not a big deal.
One night Lynn and I needed to make dinner, but we didn't feel like grocery shopping so we could only use what we had on hand. Luckily we had almost everything we for BLTs (bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and brown mustard on whole wheat bread) except for the bread. We did have pita though. I thought the pita would make a poor bread substitute, but after they were warmed in the oven they were part of a near great sandwich. I guess I won't underestimate pitas again.
Today Murray got some barbecue chicken wings from The Barbecue Company that were excellent. The large wings with crispy, well seasoned skin were one of the better things I've had at The Barbecue Company so I'll have to get them myself sometime.
This weekend was Bill's poker tournament so that meant dim sum. Normally we go on Saturday, the day of the tournament, but for some reason they decided to do dim sum today instead. Lynn and I went to meet Ken and everyone else at C-Fu Gourmet only to find it closed for renovations. There were two other dim sum options close by, but Ken seemed vehemently opposed to China King so we went to Jade Palace. When we got there we found that Jade Palace was now Phoenix Palace, and even though they didn't serve dim sum we ate there anyway.
The interior of Phoenix Palace was stark, but comfortable. I looked at the menu and the only things that looked good were some of the appetizers and vegetable dishes. We got an order of potstickers (one of my Chinese restaurant yardsticks), Shanghai soup dumplings (I'd never had them before), and crab puffs. The crab puffs were very crispy with plenty of crab in the cream cheese filling, but the filling lacked anything to set off the flavors (like black pepper or green onion) so the crab puffs were only ok. The potsticker dough was pan fried crispy, but the pinkness of the pork filling put off half the people. I would've considered eating it anyway, but I didn't care for it because the meat was too finely ground for my tastes and barely spiced. The soup dumplings were steamed and filled with soup in addition to the pork filling. The meat in the soup dumpling was the same as the potsticker, and it was also somewhat pink. The soup didn't add much flavor to the dumpling so I was disappointed with my first soup dumpling experience.
We were eating family style so we all had braised green beans, eggplant with fried tofu, a whole fried chicken, and beef chow fun. The green beans were still firm and cooked with a generous amount garlic. They were my favorite dish. The eggplant was my second favorite dish despite the tasteless fried tofu. There was a mild sauce with the eggplant that was very good, and the firm bell peppers and bamboo shoots in the dish made up for the mushy eggplant and added another dimension. The fried chicken was crispy and moist, but unsalted. There wasn't salt on the table so it wasn't possible to fix the chicken. The beef chow fun wasn't bad, but there wasn't nothing good about it either.
A plate full of orange segments came with the bill, which I thought was a nice touch. Unfortunately the lack of interesting menu items and the undercooked pork will probably keep me from returning to Phoenix Palace. Lynn's not heartbroken because she didn't have anything that makes her to return.
Yesterday Lynn and I had a hankering for Delux when I remembered that Havana Cafe existed. It had been too long since I had calypso chips (fried plantain chips with black bean sauce) and Lynn had papas rellenas [beef stuffed potato croquettes in cream sauce] so Havana Cafe won.
Other than the calypso chips and papas rellenas none of the appetizers sounded good (which is unusual). There was an entree special that sounded good, gallina frita (shredded poached chicken pan fried with onions and lime), so we split it. In all the times I've been to Havana Cafe I've never once tried a salad, and this was the perfect opportunity because for once we didn't order too much food. There were a couple of salads that sounded worthwhile, but the one we went with was the ensalada de frijoles negros (black beans, corn, peas, chopped romaine lettuce, diced onion, sliced red cabbage with avocado, cucumber, hard boiled egg, roasted red peppers, white asparagus, orange slices, and pink grapefruit slices in a cilantro vinaigrette).
I got a can of Inca Kola, but for some reason the bubblegum flavor didn't taste right. Maybe I subconsciously knew what I learned later, that the can cost me $3. Talk about excessive.
The calypso chips were crispy, but salt free. Easily fixed they were tasty with the garlicky black bean sauce. Lynn loved her papas rellenas, but all I could taste was the dishwater flavored sauce.
The salad filled the entire plate with multiple tasty combinations. There were a lot of different ingredients so it was amazing that only two of them didn't work with the rest of the salad: the grapefruit slices were so tart they clashed with the other ingredients and the white asparagus were mushy with a bland bottled flavor that was completely out of place. The salad dressing wasn't especially assertive, but it complimented the vegetables and had a cumulative heat that became noticeable after three or four bites. It was an excellent salad and something we'll probably order whenever we go to Havana Cafe.
The gallina frita smelled great when it arrived and the crispy bits of chicken with onions looked very appetizing, but the flavor was very mild and one dimensional. A little salt was a great improvement, but it was still too mild for Lynn. It really could've used some fresh chili peppers, and I couldn't help but think that if it were a Mexican dish it would've rocked. The dish came with white rice, black beans, and a couple ripe plantains. I love the black beans at Havana Cafe by themselves, but they also paired well with the fluffy white rice and the chicken. The ripe plantains were sweet and the crispy edges were great.
I'd been missing the pastelitos de guava [guava turnovers] so even though we were stuffed we got an order. The two small turnovers feature a tasty crispy pastry with a good guava filling that wasn't overly sweet. Lynn thought she was too stuffed to eat more than a bite, but she ate one of the pastelitos. I could've eaten both of them. I'm glad the pastry at Havana Cafe has returned to its former glory.
Our lunch at Havana Cafe was on the expensive side for lunch, but we were stuffed, satisfied, and even had some leftovers so it was worth it.
[Previous visit to Havana Cafe.]
I've added a few new distractions of very different types on my Distraction page.
Lynn has a baby book she's been reading that has a billion different baby milestones to look for. Of the ones she's told me about there are only two that have meant anything to me so far. The baby used to actively avoid looking at people's faces, but last Wednesday he started looking people in the eye. He's much cuter when he looks right at you. Last night he started to giggle and smile for the first time. He's used them sparingly today, but I'm sure it won't be long before he starts using them for manipulation. It's amazing how thrilling these little milestones can be. I wonder what the next one will be.
Monday I passed by Lemon Grass Thai Cafe and noticed they were open. I had just come back from lunch so I had to wait until Tuesday to give them a try. Murray and I went there and were impressed with the restaurant's interior. I expected the usual homegrown casual dining design, but with an earthy coat of paint, large tiles of alternating color, and a tasteful color scheme it had the look of a dining destination. My only complaint was that the restaurant was a little dark for me.
After we were seated we were quickly brought a salad with iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and cucumber. The salad tasted like whatever the vegetables were stored with, which I didn't care for. There was also a mildly sweet dressing on the salad that didn't do much for the salad. I got their Thai iced tea, which was thick and a little sweeter than I like, but good.
There was a sign on the door saying they were giving a away a free spring roll their opening week so I was curious about their appetizers. There weren't any appetizers on the menu so I asked the waiter about them and he gave us a dinner menu to look at. There was a much better selection of appetizers than I expected so it was a little difficult narrowing my selection down. The most unique appetizer I saw was the "Golden Nest" (fried shredded potato nests filled with ground chicken, carrots, green beans, and corn with sweet and sour sauce), which also sounded good so I had to try it. I thought they might bear some resemblance to the corn fritters at the now defunct Lotus Asian Cafe, but they were completely different. The potatoes were formed into a basket and deep fried, then filled with the chicken and vegetables (almost like a chicken lettuce wrap substituting potato strings for lettuce). They were awkward in the eating and not very rewarding for the trouble. The basket would crumble after the first bite, and the only flavor I could taste was the fried potatoes. It was an interesting concept, but it just didn't work.
Murray was curious about the crispy sweet potatoes with plum sauce so we got an order of that too. The sweet potatoes were sliced, battered, and fried crispy. They weren't very sweet, but combined with the sweetness of the plum sauce I found it too much. We got a side of the ginger sauce that came with Murray's entree, and the savory sauce balanced out the sweetness. The initial flavors were ginger and garlic, but the finish was pure sweet potato. We both enjoyed it.
I got the "Lemongrass Basil" with pork because I love Thai basil and Thai basil with a spicy garlic sauce sounded even better. It was a load of vegetables and pork in quite a good sauce. For a dish with basil in the name there was surprisingly little of it in the dish though. At least the garlic sauce was good enough to keep me from missing it too much.
Murray got the "Ginger Queen" with pork. The sauce was similar to mine, only with a lot more ginger in it. I liked it, and Murray did too, but he said it was too much so he probably wouldn't order it again. Today he said it tasted much better left over, but I forgot to ask him if he changed his mind about ordering it again.
The free spring roll was crispy rice paper wrapped around cellophane noodles and vegetables. This was different from any Thai egg rolls I've had before in many ways, but most importantly, it was delicious. Deep fried anything is usually good, and the vegetables (including corn!?) gave the spring roll an excellent flavor. It was excellent with the thin Thai sweet and sour sauce, but I had to use the sauce that came with the "Golden Nest" because they didn't bring any out with our entrees.
Lemon Grass Thai Cafe wasn't like a typical Thai restaurant closer resembling Thai Basil than Benjarong (my favorite Thai restaurant). Lemon Grass seems to offer a more generic version of Thai food, like Thai Basil, but Lemon Grass is better; they both have more vegetables in dishes than other Thai restaurants, but Lemon Grass at least doesn't seem like they're throwing the same vegetable mix in every dish. For example, Murray's dish at Lemon Grass had different vegetables than mine, but the pad gaprow and spicy noodles (two very different dishes) I had at Thai Basil both had the exact same vegetables. Lemon Grass also doesn't feel like they're going cheap on anything, like drinks or portion sizes. Given the food at Lemon Grass was pretty good, and they have plenty of menu options, I planned my return there before we even left the restaurant.
Today I returned to Lemon Grass with Murray, Long, and a couple of other coworkers. The salad made its appearance and I still didn't like it. I ordered a Thai iced tea again and was once again happy with it. Long, a Thai iced tea connoisseur, liked it too. Murray got the fried sweet potatoes again and everyone liked them.
My previous rice dish was good, but I'm more of a noodle person so I wasn't satisfied. This time I got the spicy noodle with beef. For the first time the waiter asked everyone how spicy they wanted their dishes so I got mine spicy (it seemed appropriate given the name of the dish). It was chow fun with vegetables in the same garlic sauce as the "Lemongrass Basil". It had more vegetables than I'd ever gotten in a chow fun dish before, but it was good. The beef had a nasty unsalted flavor which'll probably keep me from getting the beef at Lemon Grass again. There was enough dried red chili in the noodles to be hot without being overwhelming, but I'd probably order it medium next time. I was once again happy with the spring roll, and slightly bummed that I wouldn't get one for free the next time I go to Lemon Grass. I am willing to pay for them though.
Everyone enjoyed their food with the exception of one person who ordered the "Spicy Cashew" medium only to find it too spicy to really enjoy. Murray got the curry noodles, which had noodles drowning in a yellow curry. I didn't expect to like it, but the curry was more complex than most yellow curries. It was also thinner than most curries with coconut milk, but I still wanted to try all their curries though. Murray liked the curry noodles enough that he'd order it again. Long got a pad Thai that he was happy with, but he preferred my chow fun (being a chow fun connoisseur in addition to a Thai iced tea connoisseur).
Lemon Grass is closer than the other Thai restaurants in the area, and they have the best food of them too so they'll probably get many return visits from us. The service and kitchen were both quick enough to deliver a quality meal in a reasonable amount of time even when we ordered appetizers. The service could improve though because it'll make you feel like you're at a Vietnamese restaurant when your entree comes out before your appetizer or when your friends get their food five minutes before you. They are doing well for being less than a week old though.
For a while the food at El Tlacoyo looked like it was taking a nosedive. First the enchiladas suizas stopped being spicy and then the last time I had the carne asada torta (one of my all time favorite sandwiches) it was bad. I decided not to go back there for a while to give their kitchen a chance to straighten out before I had another bad experience and wrote them off forever. Recently I remembered they existed so I wanted to see if the food was worth eating again.
One day I took Daniel to El Tlacoyo for lunch. We sat there a while before we were brought chips, salsas, and menus. The chips were thick, crispy, and nice. The red salsa was hot with some smokiness to it while the green sauce had a cumulative heat that made it hotter than the red salsa. I got a glass of mild horchata with a hint of vanilla that would've been good if it weren't watery.
I had to try the carne asada torta since it's my favorite item on the menu and I also got a taco al pastor just out of curiosity. The pork in the taco looked soupy so I hoped it tasted better than it looked. The tortilla was a little crispy from being grilled, and would have been great with anything better than the so-so pastor. The main event was the carne asada torta anyway. The torta was still carne asada, slices of cheese, a whole chipotle, refried beans, mayonnaise, sliced avocado, and sliced onion on a toasted fluffy bun. The only differences from their classic torta was the carne asada was chopped up instead of thin slices of beef, and the carne asada tasted better. I was happy to find the sandwich still unique amongst tortas and great.
Daniel got the carne asada plate and liked it enough that he'd get it again. I guess I'll know how much he liked it if he wants to drive there again.
The only thing that made me unhappy with lunch was the slow service. There was only one waitress, which sounds understandable, but she was distracted by some novela [Mexican soap opera]. That being said we weren't there as long as it felt like we were.
A couple of days later I went back to El Tlacoyo with Lynn. She got a horchata, and her's wasn't watery. It was once again very mild and creamy with a hint of vanilla. I thought it was good, but Lynn wanted some cinnamon flavor. I got a jamaica [hibiscus drink] that was sweet with hardly any flavor. I wouldn't get it again.
Lynn's favorite dish at El Tlacoyo is their chicken tortilla soup (which tastes like dish water to me), but the soup is too spicy for her right now. She got a carne asada torta instead and I got my second favorite dish at El Tlacoyo, the enchiladas suizas [chicken enchiladas with a creamy green chile sauce]. The enchiladas suizas were topped with sour cream and cheese which balances a spicy sauce, the way they used to make it, but made the dish too bland with a non-spicy sauce. All I could taste apart from the dairy based items was the chicken, which was very bland. At least the carne asada torta is still great.
Lynn's torta was almost the same as the one I had except her carne asada had a better beefy flavor. I was a little jealous.
We had the same waitress I had days earlier, but the service was quicker this time. At least until I had to pay the bill.
I never went to El Tlacoyo often enough to go through some of their more uncommon menu items, but now that I know the food is worth eating again, and I only like the carne asada torta, it's more likely to happen.
I love music, but I'm terrible at keeping up with my favorite artists. Today I checked up on Amon Tobin to find this video preview of his new album. I love it. The sound is trademark Amon Tobin with an even darker, grittier sound. The black and white video fits well with the music too. Sounds like the new album is promising.
I believe in special meals for special occasions so for my birthday dinner I wanted to go to Marcellino Ristorante since they were rapidly becoming one of my favorite restaurants. They're one of the few places that's great from appetizers to desserts and varies their specials enough to keep my fickle attention. One Saturday night Lynn made a reservation for us.
The restaurant had just reopened after their summer vacation and the place was nearly full. We were seated in a corner that was as private a spot as they had. All the hard surfaces in the restaurant had it so loud that we had to practically yell to be heard, reminding me why I like most restaurants better on a weeknight. I already knew what appetizers/dessert I was going to order, and I was looking forward to hearing the pasta specials, when I was told we were doing the chef's table. I was kind of conflicted because I was curious about what the chef's table included, but at the same time I wanted a meal of my favorite dishes.
Before the food started arriving we were brought a small antipasto plate with parmesan, salami, and olives. The parmesan was excellent and the salami had a peculiar flavor that didn't bother Lynn, but I didn't care for. Lynn tried the olives and said they were ok.
About two minutes after we got our antipasto plate our first course arrived. I didn't like the timing. The first course was two small servings of dishes served on the same plate. One of the items was a caprese salad with roasted red pepper while the other one was some sort of cold salad with shrimp, mushrooms, white beans, and sliced onion. The caprese was good, but it was fairly typical. The cold salad had a pleasant mild flavor that I liked with the beans and mushrooms. The shrimp were tail on, which caught me off guard when I bit into one. I only liked the shrimp by itself, but Lynn liked a little bit of everything together.
The second course had a seared scallop with pesto and mushrooms with polenta, which was great because those were the two appetizers I was going to order. The scallop wasn't seared so it was only ok with the cheesy pesto. With the proper sear I thought it was better than Va Bene's excellent version, but without it I'm not sure I'd order it again. Lynn enjoyed the scallop more this time than the first time we had the appetizer, but that was probably because her taste buds have returned back to normal (they were a little strange in the last month of pregnancy). My other favorite appetizer at Marcellino was just as good as it should've been; the mushrooms were on the meaty side in a sherry sauce that complimented the mushrooms and the polenta.
The third course was pasta. Marcellino usually offers about five pasta specials daily, and I haven't been disappointed by any of the specials I've ordered (Lynn's on the other hand...) so we couldn't wait to see what we were getting. The two pastas we got were paccatelli (a short pasta) in a sausage ragu and spinach-ricotta ravioli in sage-butter sauce. The paccatelli tasted similar to beefaroni to me, which I found extremely disappointing. Lynn likes ragus and beefaroni so she thought of it as comfort food. The ravioli was much more what I was looking for. The pasta was fairly thin and light, and despite my loathing of the cheese of the devil (ricotta) it made for a mild pleasant filling. The sage butter sauce was especially excellent being light with a balanced sage flavor. We both liked the ravioli enough that we'd get it again.
The fourth course was meat, a pork medallion with port reduction and a beef tenderloin with balsamic reduction. The pork tenderloin was stuffed with even more tenderloin wrapped with prosciutto and watercress. Normally I don't like pork on pork combinations, but this one wasn't bad, and it was nicely complimented by the sweet port reduction. Lynn didn't like it because of occasional porkiness. The beef tenderloin was typically tender and the balsamic reduction gave it a good sweet/tart flavor. I don't know if I'd order it again, but it was very good. The meat came with broccoli rabe and mashed potatoes. The broccoli rabe was bitter without any redeeming qualities. I'm beginning to think it's just a terrible ingredient. The mashed potatoes were rich and creamy so they went well with either sauce.
The final course was dessert. I hoped we'd get chocolate mousse as a part of it, but that wasn't meant to be. The two desserts were vanilla panna cotta and ricotta cheesecake. We knew we'd be happy with the panna cotta because it's our second favorite dessert at Marcellino, but the cheese of the devil cheesecake sounded like a terrible idea. The panna cotta was mild and creamy making it a perfect end for a heavy meal. The cheesecake was dry with a crumbly texture that did nothing for its bland flavor. There was a hint of lemon that almost redeemed the cheesecake, but the cheesecake wasn't sweet, making it very unlike a dessert. There was supposed to be caramel on the plate, but the little dribbles of caramel were too small to be useful. I thought the sweetness from the caramel would fix the cheesecake so I asked for some more caramel. I poured it on the cheesecake preparing for something delicious, but received a shock from the caramel instead because it was burnt. I had Lynn taste it and she came to the same conclusion. I was pissed that the kitchen never bothered tasting the caramel before using it; two seconds of quality control would've prevented a ruined dessert.
The chef's wife Sima, who serves as hostess, checked on us at the end of the meal. When she asked how everything was I replied it was all good except for the burnt caramel. If you've read me long enough then you know that I'll only usually mention problems if it's a restaurant I like and plan on returning to so I don't have to deal with the problem again. Sima looked at the caramel and told me it wasn't burnt. She then sniffed at it and repeated that it wasn't burnt. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't care if she thought the caramel was burnt, but her insistence that it wasn't pissed me off. Last I remembered I said it tasted burnt so I asked her to taste it. She dipped her finger into it, tasted it, and repeated that it didn't taste burnt. She then proceeded to say, "I don't know what kind of caramel you're used to, but this is real caramel. It's only butter and sugar." What a pointless reason to alienate us. Lynn told her we knew that caramel was butter and sugar, but it shouldn't taste bitter. She then told Lynn to give her her tongue (to replace her tastebuds) and said she'd go get me some butter. I was happy to see her go, which she did without any attempt to fix the issue.
I've known since our first visit to Marcellino that they can be a poor value depending on what you order, but the chef's table was damn near a rip off. We could've had more food ordering off the menu for about half the price, and we would've had left overs on top of that. Sure we wouldn't have had the same variety, but I don't think smaller portions of regular menu items justifies the exorbitant mark up. At the very least they could've included a green salad. Lynn was especially unhappy with the fact that Sima built up the meal as something special when almost everything was straight off the menu. I agreed because you expect better from a restaurant with daily specials. Those reasons alone aren't enough for me not to return to Marcellino, but the caramel incident had me pissed because it was a stupid way to ruin a perfectly good meal. I was conflicted how much I'd let it influence how I felt about the restaurant because on one hand complete restaurants are a rarity in Phoenix, but on the other, I don't take other people's shit. Never returning to a restaurant where the one of the principles insulted us is more than I can stomach for any food though.
Daniel saw a new place on University with a sign that seemed to only say "New York Deli" so he wanted to try it. Always on the look out for a good sandwich I was game.
The place was actually Gandolfo's New York Delicatessen, an obvious chain. The menu on the wall was extensive so I hoped I found something interesting before the cashier was free to take my order. The Sicilian (roast beef, mozzarella, parmesan, tomato, marinated mushrooms, and marinara sauce) looked like my best bet in the 40 seconds I had to skim the menu. The full sandwich was $7.50 so I hoped it would be worth it. The line of microwaves didn't make me feel too confident about my hot sandwich.
The sandwich was large and weighty so it appeared worth the money by sheer volume. The marinara sauce and marinated mushrooms both made the sandwich wet and messy denying any hopes of eating half of it later. The bread was soft without any crust, which isn't my preference, but at least it never got completely soggy. The combination of mozzarella and parmesan was good, but the roast beef was only ok. It was a good sandwich, but the roast beef is much better at Zero's Subs.
If I'm going to pay $7.50 for a sandwich I want it to be great, but it's possible there might be a great one on Gandolfo's menu.
I learned two things trying to get lunch today. One, Copper Kettle wouldn't let me order off the menu at lunch because of their buffet even though they let me do it before a year or two ago. It was a real disappointment because I was in the mood for a nimbu pani [lemonade], lamb sindhi bryani, and great naan. The other thing I learned was that the acili ezme at Efes Turkish Cuisine really did change (which I already knew, but it's nice to get validation sometimes). The acili ezme used to be brilliant, but when they changed their recipe it just became strange. I found one of their old menus and the acili ezme used to be "finely chopped green and red bell pepper, tomatoes, onions, and crushed chili peppers", but now it's "walnuts, bread crumbs, and chili spices all blended in a light oil". Completely different and a serious devolution.
So my first night taking care of the baby by myself was a disaster. He cried most of the night giving me only an hour of peace during his longest quiet period. It was sort of like having a job where your boss comes in every 15 to 45 minutes to yell at you, but you never know why. I finally figured out he was fussy because he was gassy when I got him to sleep at almost four in the morning. Obviously he's doing a lot better tonight, mostly because he's making up for all the sleep he missed yesterday.
Watching the baby and having a job does cramp my eating habits so I think I need to find someone (some business?) who'll actually pay me just to update my site full time. I've even got a couple of ideas on how to make that happen, although they seem implausible. It's a start anyway.
Tomorrow Lynn returns to working nights. That means I'll have the baby 12 hours a day four days a week. We'll see how that affects the web site and my sanity. As an aside, I think the boy is beginning to look like William Shatner (the way he looks on Boston Legal, not Star Trek). What the hell did she do while I was in Vegas last November?
Recently I've been trying to do quick restaurant visits because I've been editing my Japan trip. Hopefully I'll get that done next week. I just found Dan Yakicic's trip to Osaka and I'm jealous that random people talked to him. Steve and I must look really unfriendly (contrary to what that lady at the soba restaurant said).
On a completely unrelated note Banksy (legendary English graffiti artist) and Danger Mouse (soon to be legendary producer responsible for the bootleg Beatles/Jay Z mash up album) pulled off a massive bit of subversive art by remixing Paris Hilton's new album and replacing 500 of them in English record stores for people to unwittingly buy the bootleg version. Don't feel sorry for those poor schlubs who dropped £10 for the fake album because if they knew what they had they could sell it on ebay for £300+. I wasn't impressed with Banksy's doctored artwork, but you can see the images in the article "Danger Mouse, Banksy Burn Paris". I wish I could find mp3s of the songs.
I was in the mood for a hard taco today so I thought I'd try the hard tacos at Rosita's Fine Mexican Food again. I went with Gordon and we both got a horchata. I didn't like the grittiness of the horchata last time, but even gritty horchata is better than soda. This time the horchata was grit free and perfect. Creamy cinnamon flavor will never adequately explain an excellent horchata. Rosita's chips were crispy and tasted very fresh, but the excessive black pepper in the salsa detracted from them. I still ate too much of the salsa even though I didn't like it.
I went with the build your on combination again getting two hard tacos and a red chile beef tamale. The taco was crispy, and it would have been a good taco if the beef wasn't cooked down to tasteless mush. This time even the hot sauce couldn't save the beef. That's the last time I get the hard tacos. The tamale masa seemed well balanced, but it was difficult to notice the masa when the red chile flavor in the beef filling was overwhelming. It doesn't look like I'll be getting a tamale again either. Gordon also got a tamale and he really enjoyed it.
This time I noticed that the combination came with a choice of rice or fideo [thin pasta] and refried or black beans so I got the fideo and black beans. The fideo was saucy, mild, and a little too mellow even for comfort food, but I still prefer it to the usual Spanish rice. The black beans were sadly generic.
The horchata makes me want to believe there's something worthwhile at Rosita's, but they're not going to get many more chances for me to find what it is.
I used to have lunch at Monti's La Casa Vieja years ago, but haven't been back since they tend to make for an extra long lunch. And I've never found their steak impressive. When Gordon invited me to lunch there I thought, "What the hell, why not?"
We went to lunch with another person who seemed to be a Monti's expert because she wanted to sit in the room behind the register off of Mill. She said the service was faster there, and it may well have been because we finished lunch in record time for Monti's.
The one thing I remembered loving about Monti's was their Roman bread, a crispy bread with rosemary. We started with an order of it and were brought a heaping plate full. The bread was chewy with a thick, chewy top sprinkled with rosemary. It was good, but I didn't think it was as good as it used to be. It was a long time ago so I could be wrong.
Gordon recommended the 7 oz. prime rib (medium rare) for $12 so I gave it a shot. It was herb crusted, but the flavor only penetrated about a half inch into the meat. I've never really liked prime rib because it's rarely seasoned enough for me so the au jus and horseradish sauce were required to make it decent for me. I got a side of onion rings that were very crispy with a good onion flavor when they weren't covered in too much batter (which was half the time).
Lunch didn't convince me that I was missing anything at Monti's, but I may return to try one of their sandwiches.
I'm not a fan of taquerias because they all pretty much have the same menu and the majority of them tend to be mediocre. Taquitos Jalisco is an exception because they actually make some things well, like tostadas, which I'm always in the mood for. Their close proximity make them too convenient to pass up when the urge strikes, like today when Lynn and I went there for lunch.
We were so impressed with the carne asada the last time we visited Taquitos Jalisco that that's all we got. We both had a carne asada tostada and I had a carne asada torta while Lynn got a carne asada taco. We both noticed that the carne asada wasn't as good as last time, but it was good enough for a fine torta/taco/tostada. The tostada shell was crispy and the beans tasted a little salty, but had a good flavor (very important for a tostada). I still missed whatever cheese they used the first time, but we were both happy with our tostadas. The tostadas were more consistent than the carne asada as was my torta. It still well made with a toasted bun and a spicy guacamole that complimented the carne asada. Some cheese would have been nice, but it was a tasty torta without it. Lynn liked her taco, which I didn't taste because I had plenty of food.
There are a couple of non-taqueria items on Taquitos Jalisco's menu that I may try someday, but for now I think I'll stick with the tostadas and tortas.
For some reason I was in the mood for shawarma from Cafe Istanbul so I headed there for lunch today. I like juice options so I had to try one of the juices at Cafe Istanbul. I got a strawberry juice that had plenty of strawberry seeds and was highly enjoyable. I thought it would be just straight strawberry juice, but it was blended with ice making it a pleasant surprise.
I got a lamb-beef shawarma lunch plate which came with the choice of soup or salad. I was in the mood for vegetables so I got the salad. The lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber in the salad were only as good as the dressing, and Cafe Istanbul's vinaigrette is just missing something. Maybe I'll try the soup next time.
When the shawarma plate arrived I was impressed by the serving size; it was almost a heap of meat and rice (vegetables were an option, but rice sounded better) on a large plate. I wondered how the dinner portion could possibly be bigger. The lunch came with hummus and a very coarsely chopped tabbouleh. The hummus was mild with a hint of lemon and an underlying burnt rubber flavor. Despite the burnt rubber flavor I found the hummus tasty with pita. I don't like parsley so naturally I didn't like the tabbouleh. The rice was light and fluffy without much flavor, but it was good with the meat. And the meat... very savory and assertive. It'd be too much by itself, but with pita or rice to balance it out it was delicious.
Having one thing I'll return to Cafe Istanbul encourages me to try their other items. There's always their lunch buffet...
[Previous visit to Cafe Istanbul.]
A friend of Lynn's wanted to have steak for dinner, but after barbecuing six pounds of skirt steak the day before I didn't want to look at another steak. He decided on Delhi Palace instead, which sounded good to me because I wanted to try them for dinner after the lunch buffet I had there.
I got myself a lemonade and it tasted like it came straight from a soda gun, not at all the same thing I had the first time. I think it was because I ordered it as lemonade instead of nimbu pani. There were five people at dinner so we got a pretty good selection of food: naan, garlic naan, chili lamb, lamb vindaloo, chicken tikka marsala, mushroom chicken, and chicken madrasi.
The naan and garlic naan were decent, but not the type I go out of my way for. The chili lamb was my choice because chili, lamb, and onions sounded great on paper, and it was great in execution. It had a spicy, complex flavor that description would never do justice to. Occasionally it only tasted like chili powder, which wasn't nearly as good. Lynn got a mild chicken tikka marsala because she needed something mild. It tasted kind of like a buttery hot wing sauce without the heat. Lynn liked it and I would have liked it with some heat. The lamb vindaloo was decent, but there was something rather one dimensional about it that made it the worst of the dishes. The chicken madrasi had a good coconut milk based flavor that didn't resemble any other cuisine that uses coconut milk. I dug it. The mushroom chicken had a good earthy flavor, but it wasn't something I'd order again.
There were a wide variety flavors at dinner and I was significantly happier with dinner at Delhi Palace than lunch. They were definitely worth the return visit.
The last few times we've been to Benjarong have been good to us. One time we got the nam sod, our favorite salad, and it was once again very hot, spicy, and complex. I love the salad, but it can be a bit much to take. Lynn tried the only curry she hasn't tried at Benjarong before, the green curry with beef. It was a sweet like their usual curries, but it was complex and had a bite to it. The coconut milk, Thai basil, and green chiles made for a great combination. I finally found a curry I'd order there again. I thought it would have been better with chicken than beef though. I had my favorite noodle dish, the pad woon sen, and every time I eat it I fall in love with it again.
The next time we went to Benjarong I felt like a beer or a Thai iced tea. I went with the Thai iced tea because it was more refreshing of the two. As always it was very good. Lynn tried the lemonade, which was too sweet for her and sweeter than I preferred.
We like the salads at Benjarong and decided to try a new one because we weren't in the mood for something super spicy. The salad we tried was the yum nau yang [thinly sliced beef, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and sliced onions] and the sauce was very spicy, savory, and tasty while the vegetables were cooling. It was excellent and my new favorite Thai salad.
Lynn wasn't in the mood for meat so she got the green curry without meat, and even just with vegetables it was amazingly good. I was in the mood for something different so I got the sweet and sour pork. It is very different from what normally passes for sweet and sour because the pork wasn't deep fried and it had tomatoes and white pepper in it. I liked it, which was no surprise because I've had it before.
The last time we were at Benjarong was Friday night before their 9:30 weekend closing time. We liked the yum nau yang salad so much we got it again, only we got it with pork instead beef (yum moo yang) because I forgot we got it with beef last time. We also got it mild because peppers don't agree with the baby. Even mild the salad was spicier than something Lynn should eat. The pork was a little porky, but soaked with the sweet-spicy sauce and eaten with the sliced onion it was good. We both liked the salad a lot more with the beef though.
Lynn got the green curry with beef again while I got the pad woon sen again. Even mild there was some heat to the green curry, but not too much for us to worry about how the baby would react to it. I was surprised how good the curry was mild. There wasn't as much white pepper on the pad woon sen as normal so Lynn actually liked it. I still loved it too, but I wish I wouldn't run out of noodles before the egg or the chicken though.
Benjarong is one of our favorite restaurants and they remind us why almost every single time.
[Previous visit to Benjarong.]
There's a new place opening up on Baseline and Extension called Jerk Shack Grill. I hope their name means they're a Jamaican restaurant. If they are I hope they're actually open during their business hours (which has been the problem with every Jamaican places I've been to). I can't wait until they open so I can try them out.
Viva Maria, another place that was never open when they were supposed to be, has changed ownership. Despite their lax work ethic they were one of my favorite restaurants because they made the best hard tacos I've found. Last Thursday Lynn and I tried to go there for lunch, but they were closed. The next day Gordon went there and met the new owners. They should reopen in about two weeks. I hope their hard tacos will be as great.
Lynn hasn't found her thing at Big City BBQ so it's difficult to get her to eat there. One day recently I didn't give her a choice, and we picked up food from there.
The pork chops are the best thing I've tried at Big City BBQ, but I wanted to try the smothered variety to see if they could be even better. I'm still trying to find a side dish I like so I tried the black eye peas and potato salad. The flavor of the gravy on the pork chops was so light that I could hardly taste it so their net effect was to make my crispy pork chops soggy. The pork chops weren't bad with the gravy, but my preference is to leave it off. The dinner came with a piece of cornbread that was sweet and cakey. I like my cornbread to taste like corn. The black eye peas were bland despite being made with some sort of pork product. The potato salad had whole mustard seed in it, but it only tasted ok.
Lynn tried the barbecue beef brisket and got mashed potatoes and gravy and fried okra. The brisket was very tender and mostly broken down to small fibers instead of just slices (it was towards the end of the night). The brisket was good, but it was just missing something. It was no where near as good as the last I had brisket. Lynn thought the brisket was so oily that it kept her from being able to taste the beef. Doesn't look like it's going to get any easier to get Lynn to Big City BBQ. The mashed potatoes needed salt and the gravy, the same stuff that was on my pork chops, didn't add much to the potatoes. The okra was firm in a hard, crispy batter. They were a little salty, but we both dug them, and if they're consistent it's the first side at Big City I like.
I was happy with dinner, but it didn't help my cause of getting Lynn to like Big City BBQ. It'll probably be one of those restaurants we forever disagree on.
It's taken three days, but the new kitchen sink/garbage disposal is installed. Yesterday we did so much running around that I didn't get to work on the pipes until last night, and by the time I figured out that I was missing one vital piece of drain pipe Home Depot was already closed. Today I got my pipe and the install only took about five minutes. Then I spent the rest of the day hunting down leaks. There was one particular leak that was difficult to find because it was coming from the kitchen faucet! Trying to fix it was the most frustrating part of this whole ordeal, and even though it's an American Standard with a lifetime warranty I got a new faucet because I didn't want to live without a faucet until their customer service opened on Tuesday. I'm pretty pissed about the leak so they better make this process as painless as possible.
The reason it's only 95% victory is because there's a slow leak from one of the drains. I either have to find a way to hand tighten it even more or find a pair of channel locks big enough to tighten the drain. Either way it'll wait until tomorrow.
I found some lost notes for La Purisima so I thought I'd use the opportunity to write about our favorite items too.
Lynn and I both love the empanadas at La Purisima, but we differ in favorites. I thought the apricot was easily the beast while Lynn was split between the strawberry and the peach. One time we couldn't differentiate the apricot from the peach so Lynn has been loyal the strawberry ever since. I think the strawberry is the second best empanada they make. The time when the apricot and peach tasted the same both fillings tasted like jam, which I really disliked. Thankfully they haven't repeated that mistake.
My favorite non-empanada/pan dulce item is the individual angel food cake wrapped in a pastry shell. I've never been a big fan of angel food, but La Purisima's actually has a good flavor to it, and the contrast between the angel food cake and crunchy pastry works for me. Lynn's favorite is a colorful pinwheel thing that looks kind of like a Little Debbie strawberry shortcake roll. They're angel food cake and raspberry rolled up and coated with shredded coconut. We took Lynn's mom to La Purisima once and she really liked the pastry with cheese filling covered in toasted coconut. I'm sure my mom has a favorite too, but I don't know what it is.
We don't try too many new baked goods at La Purisima anymore because we've pretty much tried everything that looks interesting to us. The last new one we tried was their sugar donut. You might think there couldn't be anything surprising about a sugar donut, but the citrus flavor (citron?) caught us off guard. It only took us a bite to wrap our head around the idea, then we really enjoyed it. They might be added to the regular list of things we get from them.
These days La Purisima is so much more than the pan dulce/empanada place it used to be for us, but I wish I could find a Mexican bakery just as good on the east side of town. I should try El Sol Bakery in Chandler again, but their parking situation always bothers me.
[Previous time I wrote about La Purisima.]
Today I planned on finishing the final draft of my last Japan trip, but instead I'm installing a new kitchen sink and garbage disposal. Earlier Lynn and I were doing something useful when Lynn noticed a leak underneath our kitchen sink. I thought the leak was probably from the reverse osmosis system, it takes a lot of hoses to make pure clean water, but after some looking I found a hole in our garbage disposal. We knew the disposal would kick someday soon so it wasn't a surprise, although how the hell does a disposal get a hole in it? There's a decent amount of plumbing work involved in replacing a disposal and our other drain looks like crap so I wanted to replace it while I was fiddling beneath the sink. I then figured if I was going to do that much work underneath the sink I might as well replace the sink too since we've always hated the cheap, shallow, stainless steel thing because it makes the rest of the kitchen look bad.
We found an American Standard sink made out of Americast (an engineered material that I can't seem to find information on) with 9 1/2 inch deep bowls that we liked for looks and utility. I spent quite a bit of time removing the old disposal, pipes, sink, and disconnecting the reverse osmosis system. I put the new sink in place, but there's too many adjustments to the plumbing for me to get it done tonight. I'll finish it up tomorrow and hope for no leaks on the first try.
The new sink looks great with our old coutertops and should look great whenever we get new ones. I'm happy to do something that makes our kitchen look better, I just wish it didn't come at the expense of something I was trying to accomplish.
Murray said Don Jose Mexican Food made better shredded beef hard tacos than Viva Maria so I had to see for myself. I had been to Don Jose once before a long time ago, and they didn't make much of an impression, so I hoped their hard tacos would rectify that.
Don Jose is in a converted IHOP building complete with all the utensils. We were brought chips and hot sauce served in a syrup jug (as Seth Chadwick noted in his visit to Don Jose). The chips were crispy and the hot sauce was smooth, hot, and sweet. It was very similar to sriracha and quite tasty.
I got a cheese enchilada, beef tostada, and, of course, a shredded beef hard taco. The taco shell was homemade, but on the chewy side. It was a good taco, but even with a crispy shell I don't think it would be Viva Maria's equal. Oddly enough the tostada shell was completely crispy and I liked it better than the taco. The enchilada didn't make an impression.
I wasn't impressed with Don Jose, but I'll probably return one or two more times to see if I can find something there I really like.
Lynn had been unable to eat raw fish for a long time so to celebrate her being able to partake again we decided to have dinner at Sea Saw. When I called to make the reservation the person who answered asked me if we were doing the omakase [tasting menu] or ordering off the menu. I planned on making that decision when we were there based on however I felt at the moment because I might have been in the mood for the standard eight course omakase or the summer special four course meal with wine (available Sunday through Wednesday for $50). Forced into a decision I chose the menu option.
We arrived and were given a choice between sitting at a table or the bar. We both prefer the bar because we like watching the chefs at work. We got there at 6:30 and nothing was happening in the kitchen until we ordered quite a few things off the menu. Chef Nobu wasn't there so we hoped it wouldn't affect the food.
Lynn had a celebratory sparkling cosmopolitan (cava, kumquat syrup, and cranberries) that she really enjoyed. The drink wasn't as sweet as it sounded, but it wasn't my sort of thing. I got a half bottle of Mukune, a junmai ginjou sake from Osaka, for us to split. I tend to like ginjous and since the Mukune was from Osaka I had to try it. The Mukune was a good reintroduction to sake because it was mellow, semi-dry, and full bodied. We both dug it.
Since we ordered everything at once I wasn't sure how they'd bring everything out so I was happy that dishes appeared one at a time. The first dish was thinly sliced raw hamachi [yellow tail] with avocado, grapefruit, and ponzu. It was one of our favorite dishes our first visit to Sea Saw and it was this time too because it was great with excellent ingredients and finely balanced complex flavors.
The second dish was the tako and tomato (octopus, mozzarella, tomato, olive oil, truffle oil, wasabi aioli, and pink peppercorns), another favorite of ours. The pink peppercorns were a new addition to the dish, and not necessarily a good one. The combination was great without the peppercorns, but I liked the light spice one or two peppercorns added. The six or eight they put on was overpowering. Lynn hated the peppercorns, but loved the dish without them.
Last time Lynn really liked the white fish carpaccio (raw fluke with garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds in hot oil and yuzu), but I couldn't stand the burnt garlic. This time the garlic was crispy, not burnt, and that made all the difference in the world. The lightly cooked fish was fantastic with the ginger, garlic, and yuzu. I liked it just as much as the one we used to get at Shinbay. The ciabatta served with the dish tasted better this time too, and was a good way to finish the yuzu-oil combination.
I knew Lynn wouldn't like the saikyo yaki [grilled saikyo miso marinated black cod] with spicy shiso daikon salad when I ordered it, but I had no idea I wouldn't like it either. When the plate was set down in front of us it looked good, but it had a fishy stench. Lynn moved it as far away from her as possible. The cod was very tender, but tasted as fishy as it smelled. To Lynn's credit she tried the fish, but instantly regretted it. I tried to eat the fish, but after a couple of bites the fishiness got the better of me. I had to stuff the salad into mouth to get the taste out. I think I don't like black cod. The salad was sour and spicy with a kick I enjoyed. Too bad it came with a terrible fish.
All of the prior dishes were primarily meat so I was happy to see the mushroom melange (mushrooms baked in parchment with some flavorings [including yuzu?]) even if it wasn't crazy about the dish. The mushrooms were a little salty and only ok. Even Lynn wasn't thrilled with them, and it made us both miss the mushroom and clam dish at Shinbay.
The dish that compelled us to visit Sea Saw the first time was the tuna tataki with Pinot Noir reduction and roast beet puree. It's a great dish that has somehow been overshadowed in our minds by other dishes. The serving was large enough to feed about four and tasty enough that we finished it.
The dish I was most looking forward to trying was the cool duck with kumquat jelly(?) and soy-Zinfandel reduction. It sounded great to me, but there is a difference between description and execution. The first piece we tried was bad; for me it was fishy with a liver finish while for Lynn it was just gamey. It was so bad Lynn didn't eat another piece and I considered not trying it again. I braved it and the rest of the duck I had was decent by itself and good with the jelly.
The duck was the last dish we initially ordered, but we were still just a tad hungry. I was dying from lack of starch so I would've loved some sushi (for the rice), but the only starch on the menu was the sea bass with soba noodles, and we just weren't feeling it. We settled on pure fat instead with the miso marinated seared foie gras with seared peaches and yamamomo [Japanese mountain peach]. The seared foie gras was absolutely delicious, like butter with a hint of miso, and a natural match for the peaches. It made me want toast, or even better, a glass of Sauternes. I asked, but they don't sell Sauternes by the glass. Too bad, it would have been great. This was my second favorite preparation of seared foie gras behind Binkley's and L'Assiette Champenoise (tied for first). Lynn ranked it above Binkley's, but below L'Assiette Champenoise.
We wanted dessert, but couldn't agree on just one so we got two. I wanted something simple so the almond and peach tart with basil ice cream and basil syrup sounded good to me while Lynn was feeling experimental enough to dare the "Three Tastes" (Japanese sponge cake with candied orange(?), soy sauce flan, and green tea ice cream). My tart was mild, tender, and sweet. I enjoyed the peach-basil combination, but I also liked the peach-basil cobbler we made so it's no surprise. The basil ice cream was very creamy, but could've used more basil flavor.
Lynn's sponge cake was plain so it was meant to be eaten with the candied fruit, but I couldn't stand the fruit. Lynn liked it a lot better than I did. The ice cream was unusually sweet for a green tea ice cream with a slight powered green tea fishiness. I thought Lynn would hate it, but she liked it for some reason. The best of the three tastes was also the most unlikely, the soy sauce flan. It was a mild, creamy flan that served as a great background for the deep, salty flavor of the soy sauce syrup. It was strange, but tasty. It was also so distinctive that I couldn't eat it too many times in a row.
The couple next to us were having the four course tasting menu so I was happy when I looked at their menu and saw it was the usual menu items. That's not what they were served though. Two of their courses were really samplers of all sorts of small, tasty looking things. It made me want to try the four course menu since I wouldn't know exactly what we'd be getting. One of the sampler items was seared peppers topped with shaved bonito that the chef let us try because we were asking him about it. I liked the smokey flavor of the bonito with the mild heat of the pepper, but Lynn found the bonito a little too fishy for her. We loved watching the chefs assemble dishes and occasionally asking them questions so much that I'm not sure we'd like Sea Saw as much if we sat at a table.
I was stuffed at the end of our meal and quite satisfied (conveniently forgetting two dishes). It was an appropriate celebratory meal and helped us get over the closure of Shinbay.
Frozen food hardly ever makes its way to our dinner table, with the notable exception of frozen creamed spinach. We love creamed spinach, but we never make it fresh. We've had to keep changing brands of frozen creamed spinach as our supermarket stops carrying the stuff we like. What we've been left with is the Kroger (supermarket) brand so it's unlikely it'll disappear anytime soon. Lynn likes it cheesier than they make it so she mixes in sharp cheddar. Last week Lynn used sharp provolone instead of cheddar, but it didn't work out well because it made the spinach entirely too sharp. Lesson learned.
I love La Purisima and probably visit them more often than any other food related place that's out of my way. Today I picked up the usual assortment of baked items, plus a couple of tamales. I tried La Purisima's tamales before, but I didn't remember what I thought of them (maybe I should get a cell phone with an internet connection to search my own site?). This time I got a red chile beef tamale and a pork tamale.
They were consistent with putting too much lard in the masa resulting in fairly tasteless masa. The red chile beef had a cumulative heat to it, but was otherwise bland. The pork tamale had some pepper (probably jalapeno) in the masa and the masa had some actual corn flavor so I liked it. The masa combined with the pork filling made for a tamale I was very happy with. I'll get a dozen of those the next time I find myself at La Purisima.
So does anyone know of any tasty tamales (hopefully closer to the east side of town)?
In my quest for a great hard taco someone recommended Rosita's Fine Mexican Food (not to be confused with Rosita's Place). I had been there once before years ago, but I didn't remember how I liked it. I know I didn't have a hard taco so one day Gordon and I went there for lunch.
I love horchata so I had to try Rosita's. I liked that it was thick and creamy with a nice amount of spice, but I didn't like its grittiness. Without the grittiness it would be an excellent horchata.
I looked over the menu and found a build your own combination option so I got a shredded beef hard taco, shredded beef tostada, and a cheese enchilada. The taco tasted like the beef needed to be salted, but it was very good with some hot sauce. It wasn't great, but certainly worth eating again. The beef in the tostada tasted sort of like beef jerky, but odd in a way I didn't like. It was very strange since it looked like it was the same beef in the taco and the tostada, but tasted different. The cheese enchilada was full of cheddar, but very plain.
I liked the taco and there are plenty of interesting items on Rosita's menu so I'll probably make it there at least a couple more times.
The Original Hamburger Works has been at 15th Ave. and Thomas for as long as I can remember. I frequented Mary Coyle's and McGurkee's at the same intersection for years, but never went to Hamburger Works once (at least that I can remember). I figured it was about time to reward their longevity and pay them a visit so one night Lynn and I met Ken there for dinner. We looked at the menu on the wall, put our orders in at the register, sat at a table, and waited for our names to be called.
We went nuts with the sides and got onion rings, fried zucchini, and fried mushrooms. They all looked overcooked because they were dark brown, but they were fine. They were all pretty tasteless though. I had a bacon cheeseburger that was only ok because the flavors never came together.
Hamburger Works may have been around forever, but it doesn't seem like I've been missing much.
I try to stay away from game consoles because they'd occupy too much time I should be spending doing something else. When Steve went to Japan he left me his Playstation 2 (PS2) and I've been trying to avoid it ever since. When I came back from that last trip to Japan I found out that there's a PS2 version of the Gundam Z DX A.E.U.G. vs. Titans game I kept feeding ¥50/¥100 coins to called Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam. I never bought it even though I wanted it more than my free time, but my mom just got it for me as an early birthday present. It's a wonder I've found time to do anything else in the last two days.
On a completely different note today was a beautiful day, and I was able to spend part of it smoking a cigar on my patio enjoying the brilliant weather while I was working. It reminded me how great my job is sometimes. Then for some reason, maybe because last night I watched the first half of "Overnight" and figured if that egotistical asshole could talk someone into giving him millions of dollars then anything is possible or maybe because I just don't like working for other people, I decided to find a way to make a living that doesn't require having a job. I'm obviously not opposed to working, just punching a clock. I've got a couple of things I want to get done first, but I'll start thinking about it soon after.
When I heard that the cuisine at Vincent's On Camelback was a combination of French and Southwest I had to try it because I hoped it would be similar to Janos (the only other French-Southwest restaurant I know).
I made a reservation which didn't seem necessary the night Lynn and I visited. The interior looked surprisingly casual to me, like French country, but we both liked it. The restaurant was divided into different rooms so it still felt intimate despite its capacity. We were seated in the room closest to the door and it wasn't long before my ass alerted me to how little padding was on the chair. Midway through the meal I kept adjusting my posture to try and find a comfortable position, but there was no avoiding a sore ass.
Lynn had a glass of Taittinger "Le Fraincese" while I had a glass of Rex Hill "Pinot Noir". The Pinot Noir was medium bodied, kind of creamy, and not bad. I wouldn't buy a bottle of it, but by the glass it was fine. Lynn's champagne was medium bodied and kind of musty. Definitely not what I look for in a wine, but Lynn enjoyed it.
We were brought two kinds of bread, mini croissants and some sort of bread. I found the bread addictive with its medium thick, somewhat crisp, crust that surrounded a dense dough. The croissants were like dinner rolls with a thin crust.
There were a few appetizers that sounded interesting so it was difficult narrowing it down to two. My choice was the corn ravioli with white truffle oil while Lynn's was the lobster chimichanga appetizer special. They split the appetizers for us so we had both on our plates, which was a nice touch. The ravioli were delicate and filled with a mild cheese that served as the perfect background to frame and compliment the white truffle flavor. I've never been a big fan of truffles, but dishes like these are turning me into a truffle fiend. I liked it so much I wanted to eat another order. The lobster chimichanga was essentially a chimichanga with lobster in it, but there was something about the execution that made it much better than your average chimichanga. Lynn loved it and I was happy with it.
Lynn couldn't pass up the lobster-tomato bisque so I had to get something. I was in a vegetable mood so I tried the spinach salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, and spiced pecans. The soup had a little lobster flavor and a little heat to it, that appealed to neither of us, but I've yet to have a lobster bisque I like. The spinach salad was quite large and had a rich, meaty flavor. I ate as much of it as I could, but I had to stop otherwise it would've killed my appetite. It would be a great entree salad.
There were a couple entrees that appeals to me, but the appeal of the risotto in the entree special of halibut with risotto was too strong for me. The halibut was tender and the basil on the fish made it quite nice. The vegetables were excellent, but the risotto wasn't creamy and was somewhat undercooked. It was very disappointing, and kind of soured me on the dish. Lynn loves scallops slightly more than I do so she got the seared scallops with butternut squash sauce. The scallops themselves were good, but the flavor of the butternut squash sauce overpowered the scallops. I thought it was a terrible match although Lynn didn't think it was bad.
Vincent's offered three different types of souffles, all made to order, so we had to try at least one of them. We got the raspberry souffle, which we expected to be a raspberry flavored souffle, but turned out to be a plain (vanilla?) souffle with a raspberry sauce poured into it. The souffle was very airy, and kind of eggy, but the flavor was lacking. I got a glass of late harvest Chennin Blanc that I hoped would pair well with the souffle, but the wine wasn't sweet enough to go with the souffle.
When we finished with dinner they brought out a couple of mini chocolate souffles(?) that was rich with a good chocolate flavor. We both liked it better than dessert.
The appetizers and salad were impressive, and the service was good, but the rest of the food was disappointing so while I felt good about returning to Vincent's I didn't fall in love with the restaurant.
We planned on taking Lynn's parents and my mom out to dinner when Lynn's parents were in town, and there were only a couple of restaurants we even considered. Obviously we decided on Vincent's.
Our table of five was sat in a different room where we could see another dining room that was huge. Vincent's looks deceptively small from the exterior.
We were brought a basket of bread and it was an off night for the bread. The bread I liked last time was decent, but the mini croissants were somewhat hard. There were also crusty sesame seed covered dinner rolls that were the bad combination of dense and hard. I had a lot of bread on my plate, but not much of it was eaten.
We were couldn't decide whether to get a bottle or red wine or white wine for the table so we got both. For the white wine we went French with a Macon-Villages that was pleasantly acidic. Everyone who drinks white wines liked it. The red was a Marshall Family Wines "Gamay Noir" that sounded interesting to me because I rarely drink Gamay. It was slightly earthy with dusty tannins and some fruit. It was different from what I normally drink and pretty good.
I ordered several appetizers for the table: corn ravioli with white truffle oil, shrimp beignets with lavender dressing, and macadamia nut crusted scallops. They split the appetizers again so everyone had a couple of ravioli, shrimp beignets, and an enormous scallop. I loved the ravioli the first time I had it, and it was still an amazing appetizer to me. The combination of light pasta, corn, cheese, and truffle flavor is just impressive to me. I think everyone liked it, but I was probably the only one who loved it though. The shrimp were battered and fried, but they weren't crispy. There was a pleasant bit of heat to the batter and a mild lavender flavor to the dressing, but ranking only good it was the least of the three appetizers. The scallop wasn't fully cooked, just the way I like it, and sort of meaty with the macadamia nut crust. It was a unique preparation for scallops that was the big winner of the appetizers because it was practically everyone's favorite.
The soup of the day was roasted red pepper, which instantly had Lynn's and my mom's attention because they both love roasted red pepper soup. It was a rich, hearty soup with only a little red pepper flavor in the finish. It was good, but I wanted more red bell pepper flavor. Both Lynn and my mom like the roasted red pepper soup at Christopher's better for the same reason.
Vincent's still has a few entrees that sound interesting to me so I had to think about what to order. I settled on the boneless beef short ribs with raisins and figs because I thought it would be a little different. The beef was very tender, but the sweet fruit sauce was indistinctive. It wasn't bad, but I hoped for a lot better. At least the vegetables that came with it were good and the rich mashed potatoes were perfect with the sweet sauce.
Lynn had the grilled lobster with habanero pasta linguini. Somehow the lobster was chewy although it wasn't fully cooked. It was ok, but the pasta was light with a little heat to it that we both found excellent.
We're all family so we all got to try a little of everything. My mom got salmon, and it was fishy. Neither of us were happy with it. Lynn's mom had the veal tenderloin, which sounded mindnumbingly tender and bland, and not surprisingly the meat was bland. There was, however, an interesting herbal flavor to the sauce that I couldn't place, but enjoyed. Lynn's mom really dug it. Lynn's dad had an entree special of halibut with creamy rice and the creamy basmati rice was significantly better than the risotto that came with my halibut last time. He seemed to like his dish, but he's difficult to read.
The Jack Daniel's pecan pie with "Jack Daniel's" ice cream sounded great to everyone, but Lynn so Lynn got a mixed berry cobbler while two orders of the pecan pie were split amongst everyone else. The fruit in the cobbler was too tart for me, but Lynn dug it. The pecan pie was rich and just great. The ice cream tasted like vanilla, but whatever it was it went well with the pecan pie so I didn't hold it against it. The mini chocolate souffles at the end of the meal were once again appreciated.
The service was good all night, but the waiter always sounded condescending when he spoke to Lynn. I couldn't tell if he really was being condescending or if he thought he was coming off as playful, but it was a bad move because Lynn thought he was being condescending and she was the one leaving the tip.
I love the appetizers at Vincent's and I now have a dessert to love so hopefully I'll find an entree I like there someday. It might even be someday soon because I'm considering going to Vincent's for my birthday.
Just to give you an idea about the restaurant experiences I haven't written about yet.
Tonight Lynn and I treated ourselves to a celebratory nine course meal at Sea Saw. For the most part it kicked ass. I was impressed that a couple of the dishes I didn't care for our first time at Sea Saw were great this time.
Last Saturday I went to Va Bene for the lamb in red chile sauce Lynn had only to find out they weren't offering it as a special. Being the great people that they are they made it for me anyway, and it was glorious. I must have been in the mood for a different type of lamb.
Twice we've eaten at Vincent's On Camelback and twice I've thought it would be a great restaurant to order appetizers only. The last few times we've eaten at Zest Spirited Dining I've thought the same thing.
I never thought I'd have a terrible experience at Janos, but it happened. Janos Wilder personally handled the situation, which I thought showed a lot of class. Something else I never thought would happen was that I'd find a curry I like at Benjarong, but I've actually found one to love (the green curry in case you're wondering). I also love the risotto at La Stalla, which is one of the best I've had.
I had to wake up early for dinner tonight so I'm checking out early too. Night.
Next week Lynn's mom leaves and we'll be on our own. Oddly enough I don't think it'll be too bad. I've gone from a certified baby phobe to a halfway decent dad in a very short time. Recently the baby started smiling and giggling. I think he's also learning how to cry to get attention. He's still not quite done being fussy at night, but he keeps getting better.
Incidentally, I really should be working on baby pictures for the family instead of messing with the web site.
Yesterday I wanted something light and refreshing which really limited my options. Since I couldn't think of a specific dish that would have satisfied that craving that left me to find a juice drink like limeade or jamaica [hibiscus water]. Vietnamese food didn't sound good and I don't know any Mexican restaurants in the area that make limeade, but I do know one with jamaica. Taquitos Jalisco carries the Bang line of aguas frescas, of which the only decent one is jamaica. That was good enough for me so Lynn and I hit them for lunch.
We put our order in at the counter, and I got a large jamaica. The jamaica tasted kind of like watered down cranberry juice and it was satisfyingly refreshing. All the Bang drinks taste watered down, which is why I don't like them, but the jamaica is the least watered down of the bunch.
I didn't want anything meaty or deep fried, but the carne asada tostada was the best thing we had the first time we ate at Taquitos Jalisco so we both got one. I also noticed that they made shredded beef hard tacos, my quest for a hard taco as good as Viva Maria still unfulfilled, so I got one of those too.
The hard taco was oily, which wasn't detrimental to the taco, but the shredded beef was so plain that I had to drown the taco in red hot sauce to give it some flavor. I sampled some of the carne asada from my tostada and it was great! The meat was nicely seasoned and some of it was crispy. It was quite a bit better than the carne asada we had the first time. The tostada itself was also a little different because it had shredded cheddar instead of the powdery white cheese and the tostada shell was much thinner. The tostada shell was great either way, but the white cheese was the better option because it added a necessary sharpness the cheddar lacked. The carne asada on the tostada just missed being great because of the occasional over seasoning and gristle.
The tostada was served surrounded by chips, which I found an insightful touch. One of the things guaranteed when eating a tostada is that some of the toppings are going to fall off. The chips were perfect for scooping up fallen toppings and just perfect in general because they were thin, light, and crispy with a good flavor. If they sold chips and salsa I'd get them at least once.
We picked up some food to go for Lynn's mom so we also got a carne asada soft taco for ourselves. It was the standard taco with two corn tortillas topped with meat, diced white onion, and cilantro. The taco was almost great if they didn't forget to pack a lime wedge for our taco and if they buttered the tortillas. I'd still probably get it again considering how good the carne asada was.
Taquitos Jalisco surprised me in a good way and we were both happy with lunch. Next time the jamaica might not even be the reason I eat there.
Driving down Broadway in Tempe I noticed a sign at the old Dimontes Grill location stating that Lemon Grass Thai Cafe will be coming soon. Thai and Mexican are my two favorite cuisines, and I don't have a clear cut favorite for either in Tempe (although Mucho Gusto comes close), so I'm looking forward to a new Thai place close to work.
Occasionally Lynn goes out to eat without me and brings back something especially tasty. Last night Lynn went to Va Bene and got tonight's lamb special, lamb in chile sauce with feta cheese. Lynn thought it was pretty tasty and liked how the creaminess of the feta balanced the chile heat. The chile sauce basically tasted like red chile powder to me, which was questionable on first bite, but for some reason it worked with the lamb better than any mole ever has. Va Bene almost always makes great classic lamb, but this was completely different. Different and great. I liked it so much I'm thinking about going to Va Bene tonight to get it since it is tonight's lamb special.
I chuckled to myself when I read the article "Fantasy football sacks real work production" because I spent more time reading the article than on my fantasy football team. Of course football season hasn't started yet and there are five people in my department (including myself) in my fantasy football league and another five in a different league so there might be something to the study. I wish they concentrated on how to get more productivity out of your fantasy football team instead though.
On a related note Bud Light has "honored" fantasy football managers as real men of genius. Listen to it here.
Today I had absolutely no idea where to go for lunch so I went through my restaurant to do list. There was only one place, Cafe Istanbul, located in Tempe so that was made my decision easy. I didn't know where to find them so I had to look up their location, and I was dumbfounded that I'd never seen them before even though I've been eating in the neighborhood for years. They're located on that little stretch of Apache east of ASU that probably has the highest density of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants in Phoenix, like Haji Baba, Pita Jungle, Tasty Kabob, Urban Cafe, King Tut Cafe, and Oasis Cafe (to name the ones I remember off the top of my head).
I found Cafe Istanbul in the building behind Oasis Cafe, which explained why I never saw them before. It was a combination market-cafe like Haji Baba, but the interior of the cafe was a lot nicer than the utilitarian Haji Baba. It did have that heady spice scent of a middle eastern market though.
O recommended Cafe Istanbul's shawarma so I gave it a try along with their lemonade and side salad. The lemonade was very sweet with a hint of rose water. I think I must be one of the few people who like their lemonade sweet and tart because I hardly ever find places that make them tart.
I got my food to go and when I opened up the bag the scent of the lamb-beef shawarma was great. It was almost equally appealing to look at because it was a large pita wrapped around long cuts of meat and vegetables. It looked satisfying in a way that a gyro could never match. The flavor of the meat was very savory in a sauce that tasted like it got a generous dose of Worcestershire sauce. I didn't like the pickles in the shawarma (easy to remove) and I could've lived without the sprigs of parsley (not easy to remove), but it was a very good sandwich.
My sandwich came with fries which weren't crispy. You could blame that on the fact that they were steaming themselves in a styrofoam container before I got to them, but the starchy light yellow color told me they never were crispy. The side salad was romaine lettuce with large chunks of cucumber and tomato in a sweet vinaigrette. The salad was only ok because the vinaigrette was only ok, and I'd probably only get it again if I had a serious craving for vegetables.
The shawarma at Cafe Istanbul was well worth returning for, but the next thing I'll probably try there is the baked lamb which almost had me talked out of the shawarma. Cafe Istanbul also seems to offer a buffet so I might have to try that someday too.
I haven't read much cyber punk because it tends to be a little too pulp fiction for me, but the description for "Snow Crash" sounded like it completely played up the cheesiness. Hiro (pronouced "hero" in Japanese) is a top hacker and swordsman that puts his life on the line delivering pizza for the local mob pizza delivery chain. If that doesn't sound entertaining I don't know what does. The setting is the appropriately gritty America overtaken by corporations. The story itself started out well, but eventually got mired in some linguistic/religious details. I hoped it would build to a climax, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. It was an entertaining read, but in a fast food, empty calorie sort of way.
I did find Stephenson's description of The Raft interesting because it reminded me a lot of Armada from "The Scar". I wonder if China Mieville read this book and became intrigued enough with The Raft to write a book about it.
I'm not a car person, but I've always liked roadsters; there's something about a small, fast convertible that just sounds fun. When I heard that the Tesla Roadster, from Tesla Motors, is an all electric car that can go from zero to sixty in about four seconds I had to check it out. I was impressed that they made it look like a sports car instead of some sort of toy. It seems like a well thought out concept except that it's a roadster that can only go 250 miles per charge. If I had a roadster I'd want to take it road trips in it, and 250 miles would get me to Flagstaff or Tucson, but not to Los Angeles or Las Vegas. I also don't know if a fast car would be as satisfying without the sound of the engine, but chances are I'll never find out.
Last week I was in the mood for Mexican seafood so I gave Rosa's Mexican Grill another try with Lynn and her mom.
The horchata made quite a positive impression our first time at Rosa's Mexican Grill so Lynn and I both got a glass. It was mild, creamy, and perfectly balanced. There might be a better version of horchata somewhere, but I can't think of one off the top of my head. Lynn's mom had never tried horchata before, but she was impressed with it.
We were brought the usual array of chips and salsa, and I had them bring out the hotter version of the red sauce. About half the chips tasted either completely unsalted or over salted. The hot red sauce really was sorta hot and had a good flavor. The green sauce was sweet and I still found it somewhat addictive. I thought the mild red sauce was ok, but Lynn thought it tasted like it had Texas style chile powder in it.
I had enjoyed the mango-chicken salad we tried long ago at Rancho de Tia Rosa, and those were the people who developed the menu at Rosa's Grill, so I wanted to try Rosa's version. It was romaine lettuce topped with small cubes of mango, grilled chicken, and carmelized onions. For some reason the combination didn't work; maybe it was because the mango was too sweet, or that the chicken was diced too small to taste, or both. Whatever the reason it compared badly to Rancho de Tia Rosa's.
There was a nightly special of shrimp Veracruz (shrimp in a chile-butter sauce and topped with cheese) that sounded great to both Lynn and I, but Lynn went with the shrimp Mazatlan (skewered grilled "seasoned" shrimp and green peppers, onion, and pineapple) instead. I knew she switched because I hate getting the same dishes so even though Lynn had wanted to try the shrimp Mazatlan I tried to talk her out of it because every time she orders something else for my benefit it works out badly. The shrimp were large, but weren't seasoned. There was something repulsive about their blandness and I could only eat half a shrimp. Lynn tried to slog her way through it, but after a couple of shrimp she gave up and decided to return the dish. Our waitress disappeared so it about ten minutes before Lynn was able to ask for it to be exchanged with the shrimp Veracruz (she refused to give the shrimp Mazatlan another chance). The shrimp Veracruz were medium sized shrimp that were mildly seasoned and pretty good. The sauce did double duty complimenting the shrimp and making the Spanish rice worth eating.
Lynn hasn't been happy with our last two visits to Rosa's Grill so she doesn't want to return there again. I haven't been uphappy with my meals so I might have to find someone else to eat there with, but if I don't eat there again I won't be too heartbroken.
Last year when I was taking my Japanese class one of my favorite new places to pick up dinner before class was Asian Cafe Express. Unfortunately once class was over the restaurant stopped being convenient. The last time it was convenient I tried the chile salt wings and Shanghai pork chow mein for the first time. The wings were in a thick, crispy, well seasoned batter that wasn't bad. The lo mein had shredded pork, julienned cabbage, and regular lo mein noodles, unlike the thick noodles in the Shanghai noodles I had at Best Hong Kong Dining. They had an excellent wok flavor that was satisfying, although not as good as the fat noodles at Best Hong Kong Dining.
Tonight I made it back to Asian Cafe Express again to refresh my memory of the Shanghai pork chow mein. There was a little more oil in the noodles than I like, but there was a hint of ginger and some wok flavor that was pleasant. The shredded pork wasn't bad either. I liked the lo mein, but it wasn't good enough to go out of my way for.
[Previous visit to Asian Cafe Express.]
Earlier this week I went to Comedor Guadalajara with Gordon for lunch.
The chips and salsa were still only ok, and I still ate too much of them. The horchata was still creamy, mild, and pretty good. The complimentry cup of soup was a little different with a thin tomato broth, vegetables, and pasta shells. It was ok.
Gordon talked up the carne asada during our first visit to Comedor Guadalajara so it sounded worth trying even though I didn't try it last time. They had a special combination plate with a chile relleno and carne asada that sounded perfect. The batter on the chile relleno was on the eggy side, but it still had a good flavor. The tomato sauce with onions that smothered the chile relleno made it very enjoyable, but the bottom of the chile relleno was overcooked, which tasted terrible. I had to remove the bottom half of the batter to keep it from ruining the chile relleno. The carne asada was a decent sized piece of thinly sliced beef that was well seasoned. It was good, but too thin for my tastes, on the dry side, and not as good as the carne asada we make at home.
Gordon got a beef hard taco, and he said it wasn't as good as Viva Maria's.
I feel like I keep missing what's great at Comedor Guadalajara, but it's not convenient enough that I want to make too many more trips to find out.
I never thought "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" on the SciFi Channel would be a good show because how dumb does a reality series about people trying to be a superhero sound? Amazingly it's been an entertaining series. Some of the people are characters (Major Victory is my favorite) and the challenges usually have interesting little twists; the first challenge I saw was for the hero to change from their secret identity into their costume and run to a specific point as quickly as possible, but the actual objective was to help the lost little girl along the way. Sometimes they are participating in a challenge and they don't even know it. It seems like these people have to be more on the ball than your average reality tv participant.
In honor of Ty'veculus' redesigned costume I created my own superhero using their HeroMachine. It's not the sort of hero I imagine saving the earth, but he'd save your ride on the city bus from complete boredom.
"Hell's Kitchen" has never appealed to me, but Lynn watches it which means indirectly I watch it too. The last episode I tried not to watch had Gordon Ramsay presenting a trademark dish of his. Apparently it was pan fried sea bass with white bean puree and a grapefruit juice and basil beurre blanc. I had some orange roughy I needed to do something with so I decided to try making the sauce (which is probably the worst thing I make). I tried making the sauce tonight, but it never came out right. I tried to make a regular beurre blanc after that, but that didn't come out right either. I blame the white wine. At least the pan fried orange roughy was excellent.
Yesterday my mom and I went to lunch at Thai Basil. We got there early so there was only one other table occupied. We sat ourselves and the waiter handed us menus. A minute later he brought us both a small salad of iceberg lettuce and julienned carrots with a sweet dressing. I didn't expect much and still managed to be disappointed. The lettuce tasted like it was stored uncovered and absorbed the flavor of something musty. It wasn't strong enough to make the salad completely inedible, but it made me reconsider eating it every time I noticed the flavor.
I scanned the menu for a drink other than soda or Thai iced tea, and noticed the limeade. I hoped it would be better than the Thai iced tea, but it was over sweetened and tasted artificial. Apparently I can't order anything but soda at Thai Basil.
The lunch menu is very abbreviated compared to the dinner menu, which is what I looked at last time even though it was lunch, but I was able to find one dish that looked good. I love noodles and I love spicy so the spicy noodles with pork was the obvious choice. I got the noodles medium and was glad I did because the heat level was just enough to be provocative without being overpowering. The flavor of the noodles themselves was very good as was the pork. I found my dish at Thai Basil.
My mom wasn't sure what to order so I got her the green curry with pork. The curry looked white instead of green and the curry only tasted of coconut milk on the pork. I almost dismissed the dish, but the broccoli and the red bell pepper did a better job absorbing the flavor of the curry. If they loaded up the curry with a lot of broccoli I would've loved it, but it was only ok as it was.
Sometimes I wish Thai Basil would stick to the best ingredients for a dish instead of an assortment of vegetables, and I think they don't put enough effort into their drinks, but now that I've found the spicy noodles I've got at least one dish to return for.
Not long after Lynn had the baby when Lynn's parents were staying with us and Ken was visiting our new addition we went out for an early dinner. Lynn and I went through a thorough list of restaurants for anything that sounded good until we finally arrived at Efes Turkish Cuisine, which sounded perfect.
Our group sat in the cushioned section in the new addition to the restaurant. The room was pretty cool, but had a warm feeling to it at the same time. I dug it. I got a pot of Turkish tea to split between myself, Lynn, and Lynn's mom. The rose water was a little too powerful for me this time so I had to add sugar to cut some of the floweriness.
Lynn and I have had the appetizer sampler several times, but not the super sampler (stacked with hummus, patlican souslu, acili ezme, cacik, yaprak sarmasi, ispanek borek, rice crisps, falafel, and pita). We had enough people so we gave it a try. No one was impressed with the hummus. The acili ezme was the same red chile paste version I had the last time we were at Efes. At least it was better this time because it wasn't oily and it gave some life to the hummus, but it wasn't the tasty dip it used to be so I'm no longer recommending it. The patlican souslu [stewed eggplant and other vegetables] was once again only decent to me, but a favorite of Lynn's parents. There wasn't one person who liked the yaprak sarmasi [stuffed grape leaves].
We've never had the hot appetizers before so they were a happy surprise. The ispanek borek was spinach and feta wrapped in crispy puff pastry, and better than any spanakopita (the Greek version of the dish that tends to be pretty common) I've had. The pastry was crispy with a very good flavor that was only made better by the well balanced spinach-feta filling. The rice crisps were rice patties that were lightly fried. They were plain, but eaten by themselves or with the cacik [a mild yogurt sauce] they were satisfying. The falafel [deep fried ground chick peas and fava beans] were the biggest surprise for me because they were well spiced with some heat to them that I really enjoyed. All of the hot appetizers were good enough to get again.
I was in the mood for a salad so I got a large coban salatasi [shepard's salad] for the table. I also wanted to try the fattoush [lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, garlic, fried pita, olive oil, and lemon juice], but it would've been overkill so it'll have to wait for another visit. The coban salatasi is lettuce free with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell peppers, red onions, olive oil, and lemon juice. The flavors were all complimentary and the crisp texture of the salad is a nice change from the usual leafy greens. We got the salad with optional feta so there were five cubes on the side, one for each of us. The cheese added a little extra sharpness and richness to make an already excellent salad great. Everyone at the table was pleased.
The iskender doner [ground beef-lamb (think gyro meat) with pitas, yogurt, and tomato sauce] is the entree I love at Efes so I hoped two orders of it would be enough to feed the table. Ken wanted to try something else so we also got an order of patlican kebab [skewered pieces of eggplant and ground beef-lamb (courser than gyro meat)]. I guess the combination of the super sampler and the salad was more than enough food because we had an entire order of iskender doner left over. The doner was missing the crispy bits that make it great, but I still found it satisfying. Ken didn't like the yogurt sauce so he didn't care for the dish. Lynn's parents liked it, but didn't love it. The meat in the patlican kebab was spicy, but the eggplant was so bland that it sucked the spiciness right out of the meat. At least the meat was good. Ken figured out that the eggplant was significantly better with a fat dollop of acili ezme. It was a good way to salvage two of the least tasty parts of the meal, but I wouldn't get the patlican kebab again.
Everyone was stuffed, but prepared for dessert so we got a few orders of baklava to split. The baklava at Efes is one of my favorites because it's not too sweet, but I didn't pay attention to what everyone else thought about it.
Dinner was a huge success with everyone happy and stuffed, and I was happy that everyone enjoyed it. I was impressed with the hot appetizers and might do appetizers only next time.
[Ken wrote his version of our meal at Efes.]
I decided not to give any details about the delivery after all. I'm surprised how the days have flown by since the delivery. I've been a little short on sleep, but not sleep deprived like Lynn, who's had to deal with recovering from child birth and feeding the kid every couple of hours or so. The first week is supposed to be the hardest and the last two nights it's been living up to its reputation. At least Lynn's mom and dad will help us out tonight if we need it.
Whenever Lynn feels up to it we're going to have a celebratory dinner at Sea Saw. Right now I'm writing about Japan when I'm not doing stuff with the baby. We'll probably be back to our regularly scheduled program very soon.
Yesterday Lynn's water broke at 2:30 and Mario Edward made his appearance at 9:36. He was bigger than expected at 6 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long. Today him and Lynn are doing fine at the hospital. I'll probably fill in some of the details tonight when I get home.
These are the remainders of my quick restaurant visits.
Last week Murray and I went to Long Wong's in Tempe for lunch. We split a bucket of wings and we were going to eat there, but it was too hot in the restaurant to stay there. I don't know if their air conditioning was out or if they were trying to be cheap, but at least their hot wings are tasty.
[Previous visit to Long Wong's.]
The last three times I've been to El Pollo Supremo in Tempe I've had the beef and chicken combination plate, and the beef has always been worth getting again. The beef used to be gristly, but they seem to use much better beef these days. I'm glad I can recommend the only two things they make at El Pollo Supremo.
The last time I was at Julio's Too in Tempe I knew better than to get a three item combination, but I did it anyway; I wanted to try a beef enchilada and a Tijuana taco (beef, shredded raw cabbage, cilantro, and lime) while still getting a chile relleno. The chile relleno was good, and I don't remember a thing about the enchilada so it was probably ok. The taco was stuffed full of shredded beef that was nicely complimented by the cabbage, cilantro, and lime. I'll have to get it again. I would've never thought about eating raw cabbage with beef, but I liked it enough that I'll try it at home (if I remember).
[Previous visit to Julio's Too.]
Lynn didn't go into labor early so yesterday we had the baby shower at our house. We cleaned the house up and even though the house wasn't exactly clean, it was the cleanest it's ever been. The baby shower started well with Lynn's best friend secretly flying in from Houston to surprise her. There were fifteen to twenty people total and I had to barbecue enough meat to feed them. Early on I ran into a problem I'd never experienced before; the coals burned down too quickly. Remembering the guys at Ted's Hot Dogs and their indoor grill I just lifted the grill and dumped more coal in. It worked, and there was so much meat that I would have to repeat the process once more. The food was tasty and I think everyone had a good time, but I hope I never do something like that again.
Friday I couldn't figure out what I wanted for lunch to the point that I waited until I was starving to make a decision. Since I wasn't in the mood for any of my favorites I went with something new. Ever since Bangkok Express closed years ago I've been unsuccessfully trying to find a Thai restaurant that I like around work so this gave me an opportunity to try Thai Basil.
The restaurant was close to packed for lunch making their small dining room very noisy. It was tidy though so there wasn't anything about the place to scare off the business diners. I went to the register, perused the menu, and ordered a Thai iced tea and the Thai Basil with pork (their signature dish). They gave me my Thai iced tea immediately, but I didn't make it past two sips: the Thai iced tea was so syrupy that it tasted they made the tea from concentrate and forgot to dilute it with the requisite three parts water.
The lunch came with a Thai spring roll that had so much rice paper that the spring roll was dense and somewhat tasteless. At least it was free. The Thai Basil was pad gaprow (meat, chilis, garlic, Thai basil, and rice) with all sorts of vegetables (onions, carrots, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, zucchini, and green beans). I got the dish medium so I was happy there was some heat to it. The pork was very good with the chilis and garlic, but there wasn't enough of it to make up for the vegetables that didn't absorb the flavors (which was practically all of them except for the onions).
Thai Basil's Thai Basil showed potential so I'll give them a few more tries to see if I can find something to love there.
Just out of curiosity I created a custom US map of the states I've visited using World66's Visited States page.
I only counted states that I've spent more than a day in to exclude the places I've just driven though. As you can see I haven't visited too many states so my preference for international travel should be obvious. Right now I'd rather spend my time really getting to know places instead of discovering new ones anyway, although I'm hoping Lynn earns us a trip to Hawaii through her job in the not-quite-near future. Someday I'd also like to take a road trip through some of the lesser known wine countries in different states. Even the research for it sounds fun to me.
So, are there any big US travelers around who aren't sales reps? Lynn's map is much better than mine, but her dad was in the military.
Last week Lynn's mom got into town and she'll be staying with us until sometime after the baby's born. She's been handy so far cleaning the kitchen. Lynn is starting to get contractions, but they aren't the birth inducing type so she probably won't have the kid before the baby shower this Saturday. There are some things I need to get done around the house before the baby shower so it's doubtful I'll get anything else done. I wish I could take this week off.
I have more restaurant visits to catch up on than I'll ever complete doing them one at a time so if it's something that can fit into a paragraph or two then it'll get rolled up into a digest form. This is the first of possibly two or three digests.
The Barbecue Company used to be my absolute favorite burger place until they changed their burger patties. I was reluctant to try their burger again, but I had a duty to find out if the burger was permanently ruined. I got a Southwest burger with grilled onions, and looking at the patty is was obvious that it was still the new patty. The patty wasn't as tasteless as last time, but it was still missing the beefy flavor it used to have. The burger now only ranks as decent, and it's been removed as a recommendation on my Food Map. I'll still frequent The Barbecue Company though because their "Thick Sliced Brisket" (brisket with bordelaise sauce and garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables) is still great.
The third time I visited Restaurant Mexico I took Lynn there for lunch. We had the guacamole, beef and avocado tostadas, and I had a deshebrada [shredded beef] tostada. The guacamole was full of diced onions and tomatoes, but sorely needed lime juice, salt, and pepper. There was salt and pepper on the table, and I got some limes from our waitress, so we doctored the guacamole to a respectable level. The beef and avocado tostadas were decent, but not on the same level as the deshebrada. It looks like I once again find deshebrada the only thing worth ordering at Restaurant Mexico.
[Previous visit to Restaurant Mexico.]
Twice I went to Cyclo and found the beef carpaccio increasingly short on lime juice (which makes the dish gross). I'm happy to say that the last two times I've had the carpaccio since then it had plenty of lime juice. I'm glad I don't have to stop recommending the carpaccio since it's one of those simple, but brilliant dishes.
[Previous visit to Cyclo.]
Long ago Lynn, Gordon, a coworker of ours, and I went to Hodori for lunch. I thought I ordered beef ribs, but it turned out to be beef stew. I've only had one Korean stew before, and this was the same thing with cellophane noodles, green onion, and beef. The stew was an intimidating shade of red that was completely misleading because it wasn't spicy or hot. It was a decent stew, mirroring my previous experience. Gordon got the kalbi, which is normally excellent, but was only decent this time. The kalbi typically comes out sizzling on a fajita plate, but it didn't this time which might explain the difference. The pork bool kogi our coworker got was searingly hot. I like spicy stuff so it was perfect for me even though it was one dimensional. I haven't returned to Hodori since, but through no fault of theirs; Lynn hasn't been in the mood for Korean very often since then so we've been going to Takamatsu when she does since she likes them better.
[Previous visit to Hodori.]
The last time I had the souvlaki at Jay's Gyros the pork was fairly moist in the center, but it wasn't as well spiced as the first time I had it. I like the pork eatable, but I don't like it bland. Hopefully they'll make it eatable and well spiced someday. Until then there's always their gyros.
[Previous visit that I wrote about to Jay's Gyros.]
The last time I had lunch at Top Shelf in Mesa I was disappointed. Their salsa was watery and tasted like stewed tomatoes and black pepper. I had a green corn tamale and a beef hard taco. The hard taco was good, but the green corn tamale didn't taste like much. If I only had a couple of hard tacos I would've been happier. Lynn tried the green chile burrito only to find it boring with a generic green chile flavor. It made me pine for the green chile at Rito's.
That's all I can stand writing for now.
One of the good things about Lynn working at night is that I can actually work on my travel photos. Here are some of my pictures of Japan. I really should've started on the photos from a trip I've already finished the text for, but I've never been altogether practical.
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I've known people who've seen ghosts, ufos, and possibly the devil, but I never thought I'd see something unexplainable. One night I was in our backyard watering with the flood lights on when I heard a metal rattling noise. I thought one of the neighbors behind us was having a problem getting out of his gate into the alley. The sound persisted, which made me wonder just how much trouble one person could have opening a gate in the dark. When the noise got frantic I got a little worried; it sounded like they were trying to rattle the gate of its hinges instead of opening it. I began wondering what kind of people lived behind me.
The sound got louder and graduated to a metal on metal shrieking that resembled a freight train running at full speed without any lubrication. It was easily the most unnatural thing I've ever heard. I got a shot of adrenaline as I realized that whatever was making that sound was headed straight at me. It was fight or flight time and I resolved to beat the living hell out of whatever it was with my hose.
The sound was now uncomfortably loud and I was tensed to face the unknown. Then I saw it in the air, gliding in low, the largest bat I'd ever seen. The largest bat I'd seen previously was the size of my fist if it was lucky, but this thing was the size of a large cat. I'm sure this type of bat was the origin of the whole vampire-bat connection. I watched it as it came towards me, then lost sight of it behind our palm tree. I kept watching for it to reappear as it left, but it never did. The sound stopped and it just disappeared. It seemed to somehow disappear into our palm tree without so much as a thump.
A bat of unusual size is hardly a ufo, but it's the strangest thing I've seen. At least I was ready to kick its ass.
I'd been to Peppersauce Cafe years ago, thought their burger was ok, and wasn't impressed with the place in two visits. I never wrote about the place and then I forgot they existed until earlier this week.
Today Murray and I went there for lunch because I wanted to try them again. I was really hoping for fried chicken and Tuesday is the day they make chicken fried chicken. I thought it was weird to name fried chicken "chicken fried chicken" until I saw it. It was the chicken version of chicken fried steak or more appropriately, a giant chicken nuggest slathered in tasteless sauce; the chicken was finely ground, the batter was limp, and the sauce was completely bland. Murray beat me to the salt and pepper. The only redeaming value to it was that the chicken patty, or batter, was nicely seasoned. I'm not fond of finely ground chicken so there's no chance I'll ever order that again.
The chicken came with sides of mashed potatoes and green beans. The mashed potatoes seemed real, skins and all, but lacked potato flavor. The salt and pepper proved even more useful. The green beans weren't bad, which made them the best of a subpar meal.
There might be something worth eating at Peppersauce Cafe, but it's highly unlikely I'll return there after three visits.
Normally Ken is the person who initiates dim sum, but it had been a few months since the last time I had dim sum so it was time to go. Yesterday Lynn, my mom, DJ, Ken, one of Ken's friends, and I went to Great Wall.
After we were seated we were quickly approached by carts. It was a good start, but we saw the same five or six carts for about 20 minutes. Towards the end of our lunch they started bringing out more items and it wasn't until we were done eating that it seemed like the full variety of items came out. The touchiness of the timing irritated me, but C-Fu Gourmet is similar with their dim sum service too.
We only had six people so we didn't get a huge variety of items. The favorite of most at the table were the char siu bao [steamed barbecue pork buns] and we went through four orders of them. The filling didn't resemble traditional barbecue pork because the pork seemed ground or minced and it wasn't sweet. The flavor it did have was excellent though. Other good items where the gailan [Chinese broccoli] and beef chow mein, both of which had to be ordered because they don't put them on carts. There was a little bitterness to the Chinese broccoli, but not enough to prevent its quick disappearance. We also had something that looked like a deep fried ball of fuzz. It was something starchy stuffed with pork (possibly the same barbecue pork as the steamed pork buns) that was pretty tasty. It was like a stuffed potato croquette with more meat than potato.
The shrimp in rice noodle, shrimp and pork dumpling, and deep fried ground pork stuffed ball of rice flour were all ok.
There's something great about crispy pork skin, but not when it's attached to cold fat. The roast pork was about 50% fat so I couldn't get into it. If I read about the last time we had dim sum at Great Wall I would've known better. There was also a pastry stuffed with pork that was so flaky that we couldn't taste the meat. Two stinkers isn't too bad for dim sum.
We wanted custard buns for dessert, and they were around the first 30 minutes we were there, but once we wanted them they weren't around. We decided to ask a waitress for them, but there wasn't one of those to seen around either. Eventually we got a waitress who get them fresh from the kitchen. The custard buns were good, but not worth the wait. It's too bad I didn't remember the excellent custard buns with the crispy tops.
Dim sum was good, but neither Lynn or I found it satisfying. I think a lot of our dissatisfaction had to do with the timing issue. Next time we go to dim sum we'll get there at noon instead of 11:15. You think we'd know better by now.
Long ago a coworker recommended Rosa's Mexican Grill and I'd been meaning to follow up on that recommendation for a while, but I have an aversion for driving into Mesa. Last week I got over it and took Lynn with me for dinner.
The restaurant looked familiar when we pulled up, but I didn't remember eating at there before. Forgetting food, faces, birthdays, and things I'm supposed to do is typical for me, but it's not like me to forget a restaurant. I think Lynn and I probably tried to go there one night and left before going in because Lynn wanted to leave. It seems likely since Lynn wanted to leave this time because the restaurant was too bright for her. Bright appeals to me so I didn't have a problem.
We were brought a basket of chips and two kinds of salsa. The chips were very light, crispy, and some of the best chips I've had recently. Their tomatillo salsa was sweet, which is not a flavor I normally like in salsa unless they're fruit based, but it wasn't too bad despite its complete lack of heat. Their red salsa was decent, but needed more heat. The menu stated there were four kinds of salsa, and the two they didn't bring out were a hotter version of the red salsa and an habanero salsa. I was curious about how they prepared the habanero salsa so I gave it a try. It tasted like a standard red hot sauce with way too much habanero in it. The habanero salsa was more of a dare than a salsa meant to be eaten.
I got a glass of horchata and wanted a second. Its creamy texture and mild flavor with just enough spice to know it was there was near perfection. I'll have to keep them in mind when I'm in the mood for a horchata.
The menu blurb explaining the salsas and the restaurant's interior reminded me of Rancho de Tia Rosa. A quick look at how they described their meat had me convinced they were owned by the same people. I couldn't resist trying the meat at Rosa's Grill to see if it was better than Tia Rosa's even though they put a lot of effort into their seafood offerings.
It seemed wrong to go to Rosa's Grill and not get a seafood dish so we tried the blackened shrimp and green chile quesadilla appetizer. The quesadilla had a nice combination of cheese and shrimp that we both liked, but some of the shrimp were too charred for me. Lynn didn't mind the char so she was happy. The quesadilla came with sides of sour cream and a guacamole that was nothing but mashed avocado, but it covered up the carbonized shrimp so I liked it. I was generally happy with the quesadilla until the one green chile I got to taste in the quesadilla tasted like soap. Lynn said the green chile she had tasted fine so it might've been me.
Lynn wasn't very hungry so she only got a cheese enchilada with green sauce. The strained look on her face was enough to tell me that she didn't like it. I gave the enchilada a try to see what the problem was. The cheese and the corn tortilla made for a tasty enchilada, but when sweetness of the green sauce hit me I was tempted to spit it out. Neither of us made it past the first bite.
I got a meat platter with beef and pork, roast peppers and onions, Spanish rice, refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole. Both meats were tender, but a bit dry. I liked the flavor of the beef better than the pork, but both were good with the vegetables and guacamole. I actually thought the roast vegetables were the best items on the plate; the onions had a sweet smokey flavor that was great and the bell peppers were almost as good when their skin wasn't burnt. The Spanish rice was moist with some red chile flavor and refried beans were ok, but together they were worth eating.
The food at Rosa's Mexican Grill was good and the daily specials looked intriguing. I'd like to explore their menu, but Lynn may have other ideas.
I later found out that Rosa's Grill was the original restaurant opened by the people at Rancho de Tia Rosa, but they sold it to open Rancho de Tia Rosa. That would explain the resemblance, but I liked Rosa's Grill better.
I think buffets are a terrible idea, but Indian buffets seem to work out pretty well. Yesterday I tried to take my mom to Gandhi India's Cuisine for their lunch buffet, but they've permanently closed because of the light rail route right in front of their restaurant. That's too bad because I really liked their naan. I was still in the mood for Indian so I headed to the only other Indian restaurant I knew of in the area, Delhi Palace. Naturally the restaurant is located in an unassuming strip mall. The restaurant's windows face west and must get too bright/hot in the afternoon because they were completely covered to keep the sun out. The result was a very dark restaurant, but the interior was better than your average hole in a wall so it avoided being depressing.
I got a lemonade that was pretty good, but it annoyed me when a waiter took it away even though I wasn't fully finished with it when I went to get my food. There wasn't enough for me to make an issue of it though. Naan is my favorite Indian food item and great naan can make up for a lot of less than great food. The naan at Delhi Palace was thin and chewy; not bad, but I wouldn't return just for them.
Overall the vegetable items were much better than the meat. The saag [spinach] had a good spinach flavor that was nicely accented by fresh cilantro. The cabbage in the cabbage aloo was seasoned well enough to make it delicious, unfortunately the potatoes were undercooked. The vegetable korma was mild and creamy, but in enough quantity it had enough heat to keep me happy. I'm sure the samosas and pakoras were sitting under a heat lamp as soon as the restaurant opened so I didn't have high hopes for either. The pakoras were too starchy, either from being partially dried out or the batter being made too thick, but the samosas were tasty with some tamarind chutney. The only other vegetable dish I didn't like besides the pakoras were the split lentils, which lacked flavor.
The only meat dish I liked was the lamb curry, which had very tender lamb in a weak curry. The chicken curry was also weak, but the chicken wasn't as tasty as the lamb. There was another dish with ground lamb and onions that wasn't bad, but I could've lived without it. The worst meat dish was the tandoor chicken because it was tough and had a flavor that bordered on unpleasant.
We finished lunch with dessert, and the Delhi Palace buffet offered a few options. We didn't have a lot of time left so we only tried the rice pudding and mango custard. The rice pudding tasted unseasoned, which made it very boring eating. It sat ignored while the mango custard took our attention. It wasn't sweet, had a mild mango flavor, and was very thin, but it was cooling and tasty. It was good enough that I wouldn't order off the menu without getting it on a hot day.
One of the other reasons I normally don't like buffets is lousy service, but other than being a little too enthusiastic with my lemonade they were very good. We never wanted for water or naan.
I didn't think the buffet food at Delhi Palace was great, but it was good enough to warrant return visits and I wouldn't mind trying their dinner menu either.
It's been a couple of months since I spotted Eggroll 'Lumpia' Factory, but Lynn hasn't been in the mood to try Filipino food so I had to wait until I was on my own to give them a visit. Their sign said they're a "One Stop Shop for Filipino Appetizers and Desserts" so I wasn't sure if I could get an entree there, but when I got there they had all sorts of entrees I'd never heard of (which is no surprise since I'm not very familiar with Filipino food).
I got as much food as I could handle at lunch: some pork lumpia, a chicken empanada, and pancit bihon. The lumpia were long, crispy, tight rolls of rice paper surrounding ground pork and who knows what else because I couldn't really taste the filling. They were good with the fruity, spicy sauce, but their only real appeal was that they were crispy. The chicken empanada had all sorts of stuff in the filling, but I couldn't taste most of it because the dough was too thick.
Pancit is a noodle dish I've enjoyed at a couple of Thai places so I thought I'd try it at a Filipino restaurant for a change. They had two different types of pancit to choose from and I got the pancit bihon because it sounded like the better version. It had short, thin rice noodles, chopped cabbage, julienned carrots, chicken, and a funky flavor that I didn't like. The flavor reminded me of a funkier, heatless version of white pepper.
I thought the food at Eggroll 'Lumpia' Factory was only ok, but there's more menu to try. Ultimately I just may not care for Filipino food since I've yet to find a Filipino dish that I love. I'll keep looking though.
Tonight Lynn starts the night shift and will be on it until her delivery. The big change for us is that we won't be seeing much of each other Tuesday through Friday, but it'll ensure that we don't have to pay for daycare when Lynn returns to work. We'll see how long we can take this schedule.
I don't know if this means I'll have more or less free time since eating out and cooking both occupy a lot of time and while I may eat out less I'll have to cook more to make up for it.
Lately I've been writing about my Japan trip, and it's put me in the mood to start/finish my Gundam models. I put together two Gundam models while in Japan and brought back a couple more in boxes. I'd really like to do them right so I've been reading up on how to put together and paint Gundams. One of the more useful things I've found is this video "'How to Build Sword Calamity' DVD". If you're geeky enough to like giant robots or models then you might find it interesting and if you're just curious what a Gundam is then the first video shows the completed model before and after painting.
Today Lynn and I attended part two of the Lamaze class. The class wasn't as useful as yesterday's, but I suppose the breathing thing will come in handy.
After class Lynn was in the mood for shrimp scampi so we went to Red Lobster for lunch. I guess you know something is ubiquitous when it finds its way on Red Lobster's menu, and now they make seared scallops. The scallops weren't large, but they were seared (which too many restaurants can't seem to manage) and tasted pretty good. We were both happy with lunch, but it made me wonder if a local seafood restaurant doesn't exist because the only places I could think of are chains (McGrath's Fish House and Rockfish). Does anyone know of a good local seafood restaurant (not Asian or Mexican)?
We don't like soccer, but we've been watching the World Cup games for the first time. Naturally we had to be out while the final was playing today, but we taped it and avoided hearing the results before we watched the game. I wasn't rooting for France to win so much as I was rooting for Italy to lose. All the teams in the World Cup push, shove, and hold to some extent, but the Italian team was just dirty. They clipped more than any other team I watched and I was amazed how many yellow cards they didn't get. Apparently they thought they were good actors because they were also constantly diving to the ground trying to draw a call for nothing (which worked more often than it should've). The only redemption for Italy making it to the final for me would've been if France humiliated them.
The game started with Henry going down in the first 30 seconds and I hoped that wouldn't cause them to fall apart. Henry returned and Zidane made easy money from an early penalty kick. It was an interesting game to watch, but Lynn only recorded up until full time so I missed the outcome of the game. I had to read about Zidane's head butt. What a disappointment and what a way to end a career. His action might very well have lost the game for France. Maybe there's a reason I never watched World Cup before. At least I only have two more months to wait until football season starts.
Lynn only has five more weeks until her scheduled due date so it was about time for us to attend Lamaze class. We went to the first of two classes today, and I learned things I'd rather not know about. It was extremely useful though.
The class was scheduled to go from 10 to 2 without a lunch break, and we didn't pack ourselves a lunch so we were starving when we got out. We didn't have any ideas for lunch until we passed Cyclo. An urge for their green papaya salad struck me since it was a hot day and a cool, crisp salad sounded perfect.
We got the salad, the spicy green beans, and an order of the beef chow fun. Even though I only had the green papaya salad once before the memory of it stayed vivid in my mind, and this one did not disappoint. The julienned papaya was crisp with just enough julienned carrots and crushed peanuts for the occasional accent and plenty of chopped mint and lime juice to make it refreshing. The only thing we didn't like about it were the shrimp, which was too bland for the rest of the salad. The shrimp would've been much better if they were grilled. I thought it was a great lunch, but Lynn thought there was something missing from the flavor of the chow fun.
Heading north on Dobson Penny's Ice Cream was on our way home so we stopped in for the first time. They carried Cascade Glacier ice cream, which I'd never tried before. Lynn got the Moose Tracks (vanilla with peanut butter cups and fudge) while I got coconut-pineapple and pecan praline. The ice cream had a few ice crystals in it, but nothing a couple of minutes at room temperature couldn't fix. The pecan praline was very good, but too sweet for me when I hit the caramel swirl. The coconut-pineapple tasted like sun tan lotion smells, but I like the pina colada flavor combination. There were bits of pineapple in the ice cream that I liked and bits of coconut that I didn't. Lynn loved her Moose Tracks. The ice cream was good at Penny's Ice Cream, but I didn't like it enough that I'd go out of my way for it.
It had been a while since the last time Lynn and I had been to Delux, but a serious burger craving fixed that.
I got a bowl of gazpacho, a Delux burger without a bun, and a half order of fries. The gazpacho was a bowl of diced tomatoes (among other things) served with some goat cheese. The soup was refreshing with a bit of heat, but there was a hint of pimento (or was that the parsley interacting with red bell pepper?) that kept it from being great. The goat cheese covered up the pimento flavor so it was a good addition to the soup.
The fries were thin, crispy, well salted, and perfect. As always their ketchup was great too. I thought I'd try the burger medium well to cut down on some of the grease. Well, my burger was grease free, but it was also a little chewier than I like. Looks like I'll stick with medium from now on. The burger was tasty, especially with the blue cheese and sauteed onions. I still don't taste the bacon or the fresh arugula that comes on the burger, but that doesn't stop it from being a tasty burger.
I also got a seasonal beer flight that consisted of Red Hook's "Sun Rye", Beach Bum's "Blonde Ale", and Anderson Valley Brewing Company's "Summer Solstice". The "Sun Rye" is actually made with rye so I wondered if there would be anything unique to the flavor, but there wasn't. The beer was super light and lightly hopped, reminding me of Asahi's "Super Dry". The Beach Bum was also very light, but it was more assertively hopped like a Kirin "Ichiban". The "Summer Solstice" was dark amber and creamy with a sweet vanilla aftertaste and a mild sharp malty aftertaste. It almost tasted exactly like a vanilla cream soda, which didn't seem possible for a beer. The beer only tasted that way because I had the Beach Bum before it otherwise the sharp maltiness dominated the "Summer Solstice". If I ever get another "Summer Solstice" I'll have to get a Beach Bum too.
Our lunch at Delux was great, but we knew it would be.
[Previous visit to Delux.]
Ever since Lynn and I discovered Benjarong Thai we've stopped eating at Pink Pepper even though they used to be Lynn's favorite Thai restaurant. They were never my favorite Thai restaurant, but they have some dishes unique to the restaurant that I was missing so we ate there the other night.
Our favorite appetizer at Pink Pepper is their eggplant and shrimp salad so we got it even though we knew it was going to be too spicy for Lynn. The sauce had a complex, spicy flavor, but it was also oily. It's been better, but it was still tasty. The eggplant were cut into large chunks that were almost a mouthful and were very good with the sauce. The shrimp were undercooked so I didn't care for them; shrimp is the only shellfish I always prefer fully cooked. I have one very minor food allergy that I almost never run into, but whatever sets it off was in the salad. It didn't ruin the salad for me, but I wish I knew what the allergy was.
The orange roughy in spicy garlic-lemon sauce is the one entree I remembered loving at Pink Pepper, but I wasn't in the mood for fish so I got the chicken in spicy garlic-lemon sauce instead. The grilled chicken breast was just as good with the spicy sauce as the fish, and combined with shredded cabbage it was a very good entree.
Our visit brought back good memories of dinners at Pink Pepper past; we should never let a year or more pass between visits.
[Quite possibly our previous visit to Pink Pepper.]
This weekend has been fruitful in that I've reaffirmed the goodness of one of my favorite croissant bakeries and tried a new gelato place.
Pleaissant Croissants has been a favorite of mine for their stuffed and regular croissants. The last couple of times I'd been there the regular croissants didn't taste like they used to. It was almost like somebody substituted margarine for butter. I had hoped it was a temporary issue, and yesterday I found out it was.
I actually got up at a decent hour and picked up four stuffed croissants and a regular one too. I tried the bavarian cream croissant for the first time and my favorite, the strawberry croissant. There wasn't much bavarian cream in the bavarian cream so it was only ok. The strawberry, not surprisingly, was much better.
I got Lynn the blueberry cream cheese for the first time and one of her favorites, also the strawberry. Her experience was similar to mine; she couldn't taste the filling of the blueberry cream cheese and she dug the strawberry.
The regular croissant was the one I was worried about, but it was crispy with a good flavor. I didn't have a croissant from Lee's Sandwiches to compare with, but I think Lee's croissants are probably better.
Today Lynn and I visited Lombardo's Gelato small stand in front of the Sears inside Fiesta Mall. The lady behind the counter said that they give unlimited samples so feel free to sample anything and everything. I tried the cantaloupe and it was good. The flavor was very fresh, but it was too sweet, contrary to cantaloupe's refreshing, but not especially sweet, nature. I got the straciatella and horchata gelatos. The straciatella tasted like sweet cream with a thin ribbon of chocolate mixed in. It was creamy and quite tasty. The horchata was far spicier than any horchata I'd had with to the point it had some cinnamon based heat to it. I didn't like it at all and realized I should've sampled it before I got it.
Lynn had the chocolate gelato and thought it was much better than Angel Sweet's. Angel Sweet's light, hazelnut-cocoa flavored couldn't compare to Lombardo's dark, bitter-sweet chocolate. I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate and even I thought it was excellent. I would've liked it with the straciatella so it could've balanced the straciatella's sweetness.
Lynn and I were both impressed with the quality of the gelato even if I only liked half the flavors I tried. The white chocolate-strawberry and the white chocolate-hazelnut both look interesting to me, and next time I'll sample before getting anything.
A while ago I had a serious craving for the iskender doner at Efes Turkish Cuisine so Lynn and I went there for lunch. When we walked in I noticed they added another room since the last time I was there. I was happy that they were doing well enough to expand.
Lynn was feeling a little pregnant so she wanted to sit on the cushions instead of at a table. I liked the cushions, but they didn't seem significantly more comfortable than a chair, and the platter type thing that's used as a table seemed smaller than a regular table.
I was in the mood for something different so I tried a Turkish tea for the first time. It had a good tea flavor along with rose water. Normally I don't like rose water, but it seemed a natural match for the tea.
Lynn was in the mood for a salad so we got a coban salatasi [tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and other stuff] which was refreshing and tasty. I was at Efes for a favorite entree so I also got an order of my favorite appetizer, the acili ezme [a spicy Turkish salsa type thing]. I could tell by looking at the oily, menacingly deep red pasty stuff that it wasn't the same dip I was used to. It didn't look like it would taste good, and it didn't. It was hot, but too oily with too much paprika. I asked the waitress if it had changed and she said it had always been that way. It was very different than the last last three times I had the acili ezme so I knew that wasn't correct. I don't know why I ever bother to ask.
Lynn wasn't feeling too hungry so we only had the one order of the iskender doner [rotisserie meat with pita, yogurt, and tomato sauce]. The meat was tender, but there weren't any crispy bits, which make all the difference between great iskender doner and good iskender doner. It was disappointing and I got the feeling that the regular chef was off.
It was a disappointing lunch, but I'll still return the next time the craving for iskender doner strikes me. On a positive note, Efes is open until 11 on Friday and Saturday nights.
[Previous visit to Efes Turkish Cuisine that I wrote about.]
Cafe Poca Cosa is mine and Lynn's favorite restaurant in Tucson so a trip to Tucson almost doesn't seem complete without a lunch there. A few months ago we visited Poca Cosa to find their restaurant abandoned. There was a sign on the door stating they'd moved a couple of blocks up the street. I'm not familiar with downtown Tucson, but two blocks up the street sounded easy to find. I found them in an office building and grudgingly paid for parking.
The vibrant Mexican interior of the old restaurant was replaced by a cool hipness with only the wooden masks demonstrating any of its previous Mexican heritage. It was nice, but it didn't feel like Poca Cosa to us. I don't know how long they'd been out of the location, but the restaurant was packed so it seemed a lot of people found the new location quickly. What's funny to me is it was the busiest I'd ever seen the restaurant. I wondered what it was that people didn't like about the old restaurant.
We were seated in an area that felt a little like the corner office it used to be. We weren't in the mood for anything specific so we both got the plato Poca Cosa (plates with a small salad and three dishes, usually a meat, a chicken, and a corn casserole). My plato consisted of cod with slaw, chicken with habanero cream sauce, and corn casserole with mango-jalapeno sauce. The habanero cream sauce was very mild, but tasty with the moist chicken. I wasn't thrilled about getting the cod, but I ended up liking it the most. The cod, which moist and lightly seasoned, was good on its own, but the citrus from the slaw elevated the flavor to something sublime. It was a simple preparation, but great. The corn casserole was very nice combined with the fruity-sweet, spicy-hot sauce.
Lynn's plato had carne asada guerra, chicken with chipotle mole, and corn casserole with cauliflower cream sauce. The carne asada guerra paired tender beef with a zesty sauce that had a heavy flavor we both enjoyed. The chicken in chipotle mole was very mild considering the chipotle, but if you like sesame seeds it's a fine mole. We both thought it was far superior to the regular mole, but I liked it a lot better than Lynn did. Lynn's corn casserole was too bland for me, but Lynn liked it.
Our food was excellent, but we really miss the old location. That's not going to affect how often we return though.
[Previous visit to Cafe Poca Cosa.]
