Lunch and Bowl: The Goodnight

The Goodnight is a restaurant/bar/bowling alley/game place near where we live.  We decided to go and try it out for lunch yesterday. We arrived early, which was perfect--no other folks were bowling. We ordered food and bowled while we waited for it.  So fun!  I tried to relax and not throw the ball and I bowled a good game (for me.) The restaurant has lunch specials--an entree and a side for 10 dollars. And bowling is basically 5 dollars per person for half an hour including shoes.  I ordered a burger and salad, and Ross ordered a chicken fried antelope sandwich with mashed potatoes. The food was great. We were so busy eating and bowling that I forgot to take a photo of our food. Look at the balls--they are colored like pool balls. We actually had to hand score the game, but that's okay.  Ross knows how.  He won, but I wasn't too far behind.  It was nice that I was easily able to find a ball that fit my fingers and wasn't too heavy.

We will definitely do this again--but only lunch.  Food and bowling are way more expensive at night there.

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant

After the Castle we went to the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, which is part of the Culinary Institute of America, for a late lunch.  The CIA is in a big stone castle-like building.

I guess because of the time of year and time of day the restaurant wasn't very crowded.  The ambiance was nice--although I think it was a bit chilly in the room. First, I want to talk about the food.  The most important part, right? So, as Nicole says, here is the food porn.

 I decided to have some butternut squash soup to help warm me up.  It had pomegranate seeds in it.  Odd combination, but as I bit into each seed there was a juicy burst of flavor.

 Ross started with the steak tartare.  The toast had blue cheese and carmelized onions.  It was very tasty.

I chose the lamb ragout.  Very good, except for one giant pappardelle ball.  It was a lot of food, so Ethan helped me finish.

Ross and Tiffany got the duck.  It was the clear winner.  The celery puree was so smooth and perfectly seasoned.  Ethan demanded steak, so he and Robert shared the steak.  It was a part of a prix fixe menu that included 3 other courses.

This is Robert and Ethan's dessert. A molten chocolate lava cake and vanilla bean ice cream.  We all had a taste.  We were stuffed at the end.

Now the service.  As Ross said---it was Rank: Amateur.  Easy things like water and bread...took forever.  The time between courses (and keep in mind we are very leisurely eaters) was excessive.  For being the wine spectator restaurant you'd think the'd ask if we wanted wine or make recommendations.  Nothing.  The service was very disappointing. It would have been disappointing anywhere, but the fact that we were paying 50 bucks a head somehow made it worse.  Even though the duck was exceptional the service was enough to deter me from ever going there or recommending it to anyone.

The Greystone also has a Bakery and Cafe that is run by the students.  We were disappointed that it was closed.  We were hoping to get some pastries for a late dinner/dessert.  The gift shop had lots of beautifully decorated chocolate truffles.  We bought two stout truffles, but haven't eaten them yet.

Since we still wanted sweets for later we went to Dean and Deluca.  We got an eggnog late that was divine.  Ross and I got slices of coffee cake.  His was much better (and bigger) than mine.  I was so stuffed at the end of the night that my tummy hurt--just from being so full.

Restaurant Review: Rasika

We had dinner at Rasika last night. The place is so popular that we made reservations two months ago. That was the soonest we could get in--2 months. Rasika is upscale Indian food. Unfortunately we couldn't eat any naan or gulab jamun (it's Passover.) Still, everything we ate was divine. We had crunchy spinach--that kind of tasted like a crunchy salsa. I had a lamb curry, Ross had a green chicken curry, Nicole had cod, and Ryan had duck. The green chicken curry also tasted a little like Mexican Food. Oh, and I ordered a side of potatoes and eggplant in a tomato sauce--super yummy.

The food was spicy, but not overly so. It was spicy enough that I ate almost all of my rice. Oh, drinks. I had a cucumber vesper, Nicole had the mango cosmo, and Ryan had a pisco sour. My drink tasted like cucumber rocket fuel until the food came. It was much better with the spicy food.

The food is so good that we've already decided to make reservations right away for our next dinner there. We'll see if that's two months from now.

Rasika is great, but I don't think it's the best restaurant I've ever been to. And I'm not sure it's the best Indian food either. I've had some great meals at Taj Palace in Austin.

Because I'm super picky I have three complaints.

My three complaints:
1. There was no toilet paper holder in the bathroom. Come on people. If I'm eating in a restaurant of that caliber I don't expect to find the toilet paper on the back of the toilet. The toilet paper holder is broken--so run out an get a standing toilet paper holder.

2. The waitress at first said that one of the dessert choices was mango pepper sorbet. When she returned and I asked her to repeat the sorbet/ice cream options she said "Mandarin Orange Pepper Sorbet." When I clarified that it wasn't mango, she said "No, it's orange."  Well, guess what, it was mango. Luckily I like mango, and I'm not allergic to it.

3. Ross's iced tea was gross and his chai was bland. Messing up tea is really bad. The iced tea was flavored, and we couldn't place the flavors. Ross said it tasted like menthol. The chai was really spice-less. That's better than it being overdone with spices, but you think they'd have something in there.

Like I said, we are going back because the food was good. I don't give a crap about ambiance. I care about the food. It was good and so was the service. Good thing it isn't close by, cause it is pricey.

Nicole's take on dinner, with photos.

Denver Eats

We ate out a lot in Denver. Every place we went was great. We started off at Annie's and ended up at Del Frisco's.

In between we went to a couple of other restaurants. Fruition was by far the best. We met up with Ross's cousin Aliza (whom we had never met), and had a full-on 3 course meal. I'm not sure how to describe the restaurant. It is fancy, but you feel like you're sitting in someone's dimly lit dining room. It is frou-frou, but not hoity-toity. It's seriously good food without a serious attitude. Ross had the duck, Aunt Judy had the vegetarian option, and Aliza and I had the veal cheeks. Ross says his was the best, but mine was nothing to scoff at. The meat just fell apart. We shared 5 desserts. Yes, 5! I actually had the cheese plate. I'm not sure which I liked best, my cheese plate or the espresso bean pot de creme. Everything was heavenly. I even had tea with dessert. I'm sure if you check out the menus you'll find yourself drooling.

At Del Frisco's we had steak and cake. We shared the lemon cake for dessert. We came up with a new name for it--death row cake. If I was on death row, that's what I'd want for my last meal.

Overall Denver seemed like a really cool place, a place I could see myself living in. Like Aunt Judy said--if we can't get straight back to Texas we might have to consider moving to Denver.

Chaps Pit Beef

I pass Chaps Pit Beef on my commute. I've always been kind of scared to go there--mostly because it is in the parking lot of a strip club (and my last experience with pit beef was rather disappointing). On the weekends I never think to go there because we don't usually go that far South, and if we do we take the interstate. Things lined up just right on Saturday and we decided to give it a try.

Ross and I both got the same thing--a pit beef sandwich-medium. The beef was thinly sliced and tasty. The BBQ sauce was available on the side. It was really good! I'm surprised because I'm pretty picky when it comes to BBQ sauce. We were able to eat outside and I didn't get any sauce on my pretty dress.

Now that I've been there my anxiety has been overcome and I think it would be a good place to occasionally stop and get dinner on the way home.

Spies, Sweet Syrup, Dirty Nappies, and More!

This morning we headed to DC to visit the International Spy Museum. We got discount tickets through Living Social, which also entitled us to free key chains. We weren't allowed to take any photos, and I didn't even take one of the outside of the building. I visited the museum back in 2003 I think. There were more exhibits than I remember. It was pretty cool. We only lasted for 2.5 hours. I learned a lot. Unfortunately, I've forgotten most of it already.

After the museum we headed to Ella's Wood Fired Pizza. We started with the butternut squash risotto. The flavor was great, but the rice was undercooked. A bit crunchy. I was hungry, so I inhaled it. Then we had the wild mushroom pizza--which came with mushrooms, tomato sauce, spinach, and goat cheese. It was pretty good, but I agree with Ross that there was just something missing. I think it was garlic. We didn't have room for dessert. I wanted to try the tiramisu, but I'll be making some tomorrow, so I let it go. Ross had a Dr. Pepper that was all syrup. It tasted so good! Between the two of us we polished off 2 glasses. That was probably enough syrup for 5 glasses! It was so tasty though. It almost tasted like real sugar. The service was friendly, but a bit lacking.

After lunch we walked to the Cowgirl Creamery. We decided to buy one of the cheeses that was on sale--we sampled it and it was pretty tasty. We'll take it to tomorrow's superbowl party. When the lady at the cash register asked if I wanted a bag I said no--that I'd put it inside my bag inside a bag inside a bag. I wrapped up the cheese in a plastic grocery sac, dropped it into my reusable bag that I always carry with me, and then put it into my purse. Ross and I then noticed a sign on the register that businesses inside DC charge 5c per plastic bag. I didn't know that.

We left the Creamery and headed back down to the Metro. Something smelled really terrible, so Ross and I moved further down the platform. I moved again. Then as I was sitting on a really cold concrete bench I noticed the smell again. Like a dirty nappy. I put my head into my purse (Yes my big head fits into my purse, have you seen my purse?) and the dirty nappy smell came out at me. I yelped "It's me! I'm the stinky one!" Seems the cheese we bought is rather fragrant. We drove home with the cheese in the trunk, and the smell still crept up and tried to knock us out.

We did some grocery shopping on the way home. I needed things to make tiramisu. I also grabbed some fruit for Pimm's cups. I saw a coat in WW that I liked, but they didn't have my size. I'm jealous of Ross's new $15 coat. I'm going with him snowboarding next week and I want to look all cool. I ended up buying a $6 coat, but it isn't very heavy. I'm going to check another WW tomorrow (how sad is that...)

10th Anniversary Dinner

Last night Ross and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. We went out to Dinner at Liberatore's in Bel Air. I wanted to try something different, and I didn't want to go very far. We ordered the Rustichella as an appetizer. It was bread topped with goat cheese, kalamata olives, onions, raw garlic, tomatoes, mozzarella, and pesto. It was too many very strong flavors colliding at once. Overall, I didn't like it.

For our main courses I ordered the tortellacchi and Ross ordered the filet of Pisa. My dish was pasta stuffed with veal and beef and folded into a giant tortellini. The sauce was a very strong, red tomato sauce. Ross's filet of Pisa was a meat sandwich. The beef was the bread, and in between was a slice of mozzarella and a chunk of portabello mushroom. The whole thing was set on a bed of cooked spinach and topped with a tomato. Not a slice of tomato. A cut-to-look-a-little-fancy roma tomato. Ross also got sides! The entrée came with veggies and mashed potatoes. It was enough food for at least two people. Ross really liked his steak. I liked my pasta, but I thought the sauce was a little heavy and overwhelmed the flavor of the actual tortellachi.

Ross ordered a cappuccino, and it didn't take forever like it does in some restaurants. I thought it was good. We also ordered tiramisu. I like to try tiramisu wherever I can. When it came out we laughed. It looked like some kind of ghetto oreo cookie cake. The taste was good, but I didn't like the texture. The "cake" was topped with ground chocolate that was so chunky that at first we both thought it was mini chocolate chips. I couldn't actually taste the mascarpone. The dessert (I hesitate to call it tiramisu) was basically lady fingers (the soft kind) covered in some sort of frothy white sauce and then topped with ground chocolate. Of course there was chocolate sauce drizzled on the plate.

Overall it was good dinner, but not great. I prefer The Olive Tree. It might not be as hoity-toity, but the food is never disappointing. Sadly, their tiramisu isn't awesome either.

Ross surprised me with a necklace. I feel bad that I didn't get him anything. I'll post a photo of the necklace soon.

Second Chance: Sizzling Bombay

Ross decided we should have Indian food tonight since I won't be having Rasika for restaurant week. I was way too sleepy to go all the way down to Charles Street, so I thought we could give Sizzling Bombay a second chance. Our first experience at the restaurant wasn't great.

This time we had vegetable samosa. Man, I love potatoes. Ross ordered the masala chai and the waiter said it would take at least 5 minutes because it had to be cooked. It was basically fresh ginger milk tea. It was very good.

I ordered the chicken tikka masala and Ross ordered the malai kofta. The chicken tikka masala was great. I could taste the jalapeño. It had some sort of green peppers in it that were good and some onion too. I think it was basically a chicken tikka kabob that was dumped in some awesomely creamy sauce. The malai kofta was a bit mushy, but the sauce was very good. We ordered the garlic naan again and they gave us two orders. We really only needed one. Oh, and the rice was very fragrant--spiced with cinnamon.

The whole experience was much better this time. I'm glad we gave it a second chance, I just wish it wasn't so expensive.

I'm really full now and so Ross and I are going to chill and have some chainog (we decided it is pronounced k'nog) -- malsala chai with egg nog. I was so happy today to find that the store still had a cooler full of egg nog.

Sizzling Bombay Trial

Last night we decided to try out Sizzling Bombay in Bel Air. Until two days ago I had no idea that we had an Indian restaurant in our neck of the woods.

We got there around 7:15. There was only one other couple in the restaurant. The place was nice--the seats were comfortable, but it was a bit dark inside. We started off with samosa. They offered us a choice between vegetable and lamb keema. I chose lamb keema because I know Ross loves lamb and I love keema. I think the samosas were good.

Ross ordered iced tea. There was something funky about it. He ordered a refill with no lemon. Oh yeah, it was funky. It was spoiled.

For our main courses Ross ordered malai kofta and I ordered lamb vindaloo. I really wanted vindaloo and my only two choices were chicken and lamb. Ross also ordered garlic naan. The malai kofta was really good. It reminded me of the curry and raisin sauce my dad used to make when I was a kid. The vindaloo sauce was good, but the potatoes weren't fully cooked. I also think they were skimpy on the lamb. The naan was tiny. Despite all these complaints, we didn't hate it.

The check came--wow--expensive. The samosas were like eight bucks! That tiny naan was 3 or 4. It was over 50 dollars with tip. Then the waiter asked us if we had cash because his credit card machine wasn't working. Uh, no. He got the credit card machine to work.

I ordered gulab jamun to go. I had it this morning for breakfast (yeah, breakfast of champions.) It was good.

I think despite all the complaints we might try this place again. The best thing really is the location. We don't have to drive into the city. If the tea is bad again though, I'll never go back. I mean, serving spoiled tea? Charging 16 bucks for undercooked potatoes? What's wrong with these people?