Westbury Manor

 I know. I went to a wedding and I took photos of the food. So not fair. You can't go here and eat this, but I don't care. I ate it and I'm blogging about it damn it! This was our salad. It was a spring mix with tomato and mozzarella and mushrooms and pruscuitto. Olives on the side. 

 Curtis had the filet. It was tasty. It even came with it's own carafe of brown sauce (not pictured). I don't think he used it though.

 I had the salmon with grilled prawns and champagne sauce. It was also good...although I was expecting a head on my shrimp. I was ready for it.

Cookies and cream with whipped cream. Nothing makes ice cream better then crumbled cookies.

Calz

I grew up near a Calz. I have always thought their wings to be the best. Recently I had them again. The verdict? They are still the best. I love these wings for their simplicity: crispy skin, hot sauce, blue cheese. 20 pieces for less than $20 - with delivery fees. For your next football game, call a Calz for wings.

Daisy Cakes

My boss quit last week. Friday was her last day. We had a send off for her and we got Daisy Cake to do it. This bakery is in South Carolina, but they packaged the cakes in dry ice and shipped them to us. Apparently the owner was on a TV show called Shark Tank and she won. The concept of the show is to convince investors to back your idea/product. Was it a good investment? I'd say so... This was carrot cake.

I had the coconut cake. It was really good but also really sugary. One serving is 1/24th of the cake. And it contained 60% of your daily allowance of fat. Seriously! 1/24th of an 8"cake! 

This was a seasonal cake: Apple Caramel. A lot of folks said it reminded them of carrot but it had hunks of apple in it and a caramel frosting. I thought the coconut was better.

3 cakes and $165 later...

Oh, we washed it down with bubbly 'cause that's how we roll...

Sonoma Wine, Town Center

 We took our newly wed friends out to dinner the other night and we decided to try out Sonoma Wine. We ordered a Pinot Noir that was very lovely and then we ordered entrees. Curtis had a play on chicken parmesan. I think he wanted something with more tomato sauce and cheese, but he still ate all of his dish. LOL. Truth be told, this isn't chicken parmesan. It's fried chicken over Israeli couscous with a cucumber slaw. 

I had the monk fish. It was cooked to perfection. The asparagus and potatoes were good too. I enjoyed it immensely. I really liked this restaurant but I had 2 down points: 1. Our table was really high. I felt like a kid sitting at the table. 2. It was REALLY hot in the restaurant. I would've ordered more red wine but I was already flushed and sticking to my chair. Not a pleasant dining experience. I have been here before (I try to go whenever I'm in town) and even though it's pricey - it's one of the pricey places in Town Center that's worth it. Also - the servers are top notch. Super knowledgable and professional and they leave you alone. I don't have Kelli (Yes, with an i) trying to serve me AND be my best friend or deal with her writing cute notes on our check. If you're in around, you should grab a flight and check out the wines...and the food.

Saffron

 Went to an Indian Bistro with my brother and his wife the other day. This place is located in Town Center, but it's a little more modestly priced than some of the other restaurants in that area. Plus, the food is amazing...and we had tons of left overs. This is Butter Chicken. It looks crazy spicy, but you can order it "American mild" and it's not too bad. It's boneless chicken with a cashew cream sauce with bell peppers and onions. It served with jasmine rice. 

 I ordered Mussels Porial. These mussels are steamed in a coconut broth, southern India style. This is an appetizer portion. 

I also ordered the Seafood Soup. It looks the same as the mussels - ahaha! It was amazing! And full of blue crab, jumbo U10 shrimp, salmon and scallops. I would definitely recommend this dish!

 We got the naan bread basket so we could try all the different naans. I liked all of them.

 This was Chili Chicken. Also an app for the table. Boneless chunks of chicken with bell pepper and onion with tomato and spices.

This was Mango Scallops. Yummy scallops served in a sweet and sour mango sauce with ginger and mango.

Cutty Shark

Despite the rolling black clouds that looked like "The Nothing", I went out with my brother and my sous chef on a skiff last week. A skiff is a tiny boat. Holds about 2 to 3 people. Even after the first drop of rain, my brother tried to convince me all was well. 5 seconds later he says, "Yeah...maybe we should pull over into the Marina." Yeah. Maybe indeed. As we were docking the bottom fell out and we JUST made it to safety. Oh - and we had NO ROPE. So we tied our life jackets together and tied the skiff up that way. Ghetto ass shit. Good thing Cutty Shark had food and beer to keep us occupied for an hour. I stole some of the steamed shrimp from Will. They were delicious. Love dipping them in hot butter then cocktail sauce. Delish!

 My sous chef ordered hush puppies. The trick to eating them: cut one in half and dip each end in butter. Reconnect the puppy and pour on the malt vinegar. Perfection! 

I had a cheeseburger (which I also split with my sous chef). It was a frozen patty (bummer) but I didn't seem to mind. I also enjoyed eating my fries dipped in ranch dressing. I think we weighed the boat down quite a bit on our way back. Oops. 

Orapax

 We went to a place in Norfolk for lunch today called, The Orapax. It's a little authentic Greek spot that's been around for years. The portions are huge and tasty. We took our grandma with us and we all ordered the same thing. Too funny. We all had the grilled chicken pitas with fries.

To start we shared an enormous Greek salad. It was out of control! But super delicious! 

Taverna Cretekou

 Before we made our way back to NYC, we stopped off at a pretty Greek restaurant in Alexandria, VA. It came highly reviewed on Yelp and was moderately priced. I really enjoy traditional Greek food. I love grilled meats, fresh fish, lemon, olive oil, and feta cheese. This place definitely looked the part (reminded me of being in Greece) and you could tell it was family run. Dinner started with bread and yummy homemade green olive oil. I had the flounder stuffed with spinach, feta, and pine nuts. It had a creamy lemon sauce on top, which I didn't mind but would have preferred with out. It was served with really simple rice and veggies.   

 Fried cheese appetizer. 

 Stuffed mushroom appetizer. 

 Traditional Greek Salad. 

My sous chef had the meat kabobs. I wished we had more time here, we had to run out and drive like crazy people to get us to the bus depot in time before our bus left. They had a really nice garden area in the back - I could totally see myself chilling back there with a bottle of white on a summer night. I would go back if I lived closer.

Five Guys

Yes, I know. This is a fast food place and it's in basically every neighborhood across the US. I just wanted to take a minute though and highlight something for you all. This cheeseburger junior and large Cajun fries were the same price as a meal from McDonalds but tastes way the hell better. If you're eating McDonald's - you should be ashamed. That is all.

Pablo's Burrito Cantina

I went camping with another couple last weekend. After we almost died hiking, we rewarded ourselves in town with lunch. I had an average margarita and this. This is a "taco salad". No kidding. Notice how much lettuce is in this picture. Also, it didn't come in a fried bowl. It came over a bed of tortilla chips. In fact, this wasn't a salad at all. This was more like chicken nachos. Good thing I'm nicer in the afternoon, 'cause this would've been sent back had it been 7 am. Oh, this was $10. I forgot about that. Mmm...nope.

El Pollo Rico

 When we were in DC recently, we hit up a Peruvian chicken joint. Ok, technically this place is in Arlington but I call that DC in my book. This chicken was fantastic. The skin was seriously the best part. I was beyond full (got the half chicken with fries and slaw) and yet I managed to make sure I ate all the skin. The seasoning was spot on and the charcoal taste really nailed it for me. 

You know when you see something like this, it's gonna be good. Thanks for the recommendation Missy and Matt! (Oh, and for taking us!)

Kincaid's

 When I was in town visiting my niece (for the first time!), my folks took us out to dinner. We went to Kincaid's in Macarthur Mall. The set-up is strange. There is definitely an after work happy hour crowd when you first walk into the restaurant. In fact, you have to walk through the bar area to get to the actual dining room. My mom had salmon cakes (pictured above) with asparagus and potatoes.

I also had a special - these were burbon glazed pork chops with sweet potato mash and roasted veggies. I appreciated the sear on the chop and the glaze. The meat was just slightly over done to my taste. I was surprised to see Joel Gott Cabernet on the wine list though. Had a glass of that to wash this all down.

Galaxy Diner

We went with friends to a wedding in CT yesterday and on the way back to the city we stopped to say hi to our friends mom. The plan was to have dinner at the diner. My sous chef said he wanted to go to the best diner that they had, so we ended up at the Galaxy Diner in Bridgeport, CT. I had a dish called "The Satellite": grilled white American cheese with extra crispy bacon, tomato and a mountain of french fries. It came with a side of coleslaw (which I ate happily since it wasn't all mayonnaisey). It was good - I was already full and I ate it all anyway. The ambiance was a diner that was trying to be a restaurant: You could tell they had expanded years ago for more dining space and I even spied a wine rack on the back wall. But as much as they tried, they couldn't hide the oversized menus with everything under the sun on them and the old fashioned counter seats right as you walked in. Good job, Bridgeport.

456 Fish

 Came here for a birthday dinner with friends and basically had crab two ways. First, the 456 Potato Chip Encrusted Jumbo Lump Crab Cake: White Truffle Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad and "Inner Beauty" Remoulade. 

Second, the Crab Cocktail Norfolk: Chilled Colossal Crab, Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce, Lemon Oil and Celery. Just look at those hunks of crab! Amazing!

El Azteca

One of the perks of visiting my home town (aside from the obvious like seeing my family) is being able to have white sauce again. I freaking love it and you can't find it in NYC.

I also love the low quality Mexican food chains - they're everywhere and they have my favorite taco salad. The taco salads in NYC just can't quite get it right. You need refried beans, lettuce, chicken, guacamole, sour cream, cheese and a tomato to get it perfect and El Azteca makes it perfect.

The Foods of Iceland

Ok - so we got back from Iceland a month ago, but I haven't blogged about the food just yet...until now...

First up, this hot dog stand on the side of the road is like the country's National food - seriously. Bill Clinton ate here back in the day (and oddly had a heart attack a week later, but that didn't stop us!) I ordered "The Clinton" - which is just mustard - but not like yellow mustard - more like a brown sweet sauce. We also ordered one with the works (I split that with Curtis). It had the mustard but also crunchy onion bits and maybe something else - ketchup? I liked that one better actually.

We also had our fair share of burgers in Iceland. Once we ate at Hamborgarafabrikka, which coincidentally enough is a famous "Reality TV Show". I use that term loosely because you can tell the show is scripted but it's supposed to be like Icelandic reality TV. Anyhoo - this burger here is one that our friend Justin ordered. Love that fried egg on top - it just looks like a cholesterol nightmare! haha

We also went to this more traditional burger place - Burgerjoint. This one here is the original and the best. The burgers here are more like a typical fast food burger but the meat is fresh and all burgers come with cheese!

So, this photo is funny but we didn't eat any sheep's head or lamb face - but I did try fermented shark - but idea. At first it didn't taste like anything (but I plugged my nose - they smell is HORRID!) then all of a sudden my tongue started going numb (I swear they soak that stuff in formaldehyde!) So I spit it out. Never again. The legend is that virgins pee on the shark meat and then they bury it in the ground for several years to develop the flavor. Umm...yeah...you can tell just by that that it can't be good! haha Anthony Bourdain actually said it was the worst thing he's ever eaten and he's eaten some horrible things!

Speaking of Tony, we did make it to one restaurant that he praised highly called "3 Frakkur" or "The 3 Coats" or also translated as "The 3 Frenchmen". There we enjoyed wonderful halibut with wasabi mash. So good! I also tried whale for the first time. (I know, that's bad...) Whale tastes like steak - not like fish at all. (Pictured above) This place is featured on Food and Wine and is a treasure to chef's worldwide. The gallery on the website has Jamie Oliver posing with the Chef.

Lastly, we ate at FishMarket and had the tasting menu - about 8 or 9 dishes that ranged from huge mussels, to sushi, to fish to lamb...it was so much food! Fish Market uses Iceland’s freshest ingredients to prepare original fish, meat and sweet dishes with a modern twist. They buy direct from the country’s farmers and fishermen to guarantee the sustainability and quality of our dishes. Everything was delish!

The best part of Iceland wasn't the food (although the food was great!) It was definitely the people - love you Kristin and Steini!

Good Italian in Cancun?

Yes, it was actually! Sorry this post is so late! I forgot I had these pictures! This was our amuse bouche. A delightful warm pesto bite!

Chicken Parmigiana. So fancy for resort food!

Seafood Marinara. (So yummy!)

Thomas was creeped out by the giant prawn's head.

Terrapins

Over the Xmas holidays I was down in Virgina Beach, VA and I had the chance to dine at one of my favorite restaurants: Terrapins. The first time I went with my good friends Missy and Matt and the second time I went with my parents. Both times I forgot to take pictures of all the dishes. (What's wrong with me? I'm slippin' up!)

However - thanks to the internet I was able to find a few photos for you so that you can have some understanding of what my delightful gastronomic adventures looked like.

We begin with the first courses:

My dad had the MUSHROOM RISOTTO with local & wild mushrooms, fresh thyme

white truffle oil & parmigiano-reggiano. I took a bite (even though I HATE fungus - and I actually liked it!) Truffle oil makes everything amazing!

I had the TRUFFLE MAC & CHEESE with Vermont extra sharp white cheddar & black truffle. I convinced my mom to try it too and she loved it! Some other dishes worth noting but not featured here are Matt's PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND MUSSELS in a green curry & coconut milk broth. Delish!

For dinner, I had the BRANDT "ALL NATURAL" NY STRIP with truffle & Parmesan french fries, local seasonal broccoli rabe and thirty five year old emiliana balsamic drizzle. It was amazing! Both my parents had the same thing - they were not disappointed! BTW - truffle oil and Parmesean french fries? OMG! Where have you been all my life?! Some other dishes not shown here but consumed by us were Matt's Colorado Lamb: pan seared lamb chop loin, cauliflower puree, lemon roasted peewee potatoes, apple cider-mint sauce, smoked chile oil. Also. the second time I went I had the LOCAL ROCKFISH with pee wee potatoes, crispy pancetta, fried sage, collards & whole grain mustard sauce. Missy had the FENNEL POLLEN SPICED SEA SCALLOPS: local dave & dee's oyster mushrooms, wild mushrooms,oven dried tomato, sea beans, & truffle pan sauce.

I had a spoon for dessert - and with it I used it to taste some of everyone's desserts. This was the CHOCOLATE TURTLE: rich valrhona chocolate & caramel cream, warm butter caramel, toasted pecans, tahitian vanilla bean gelato & turtle tuile.

THE MACAROON dark chocolate mousse, rich fudge brownie, crispy french macaroon, sour cherry spoon sauce & pistachio gelato.