Archive for "Reviews"
Birthday BBQ Meal at Bite Me
Posted on November 3, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Brian let me pick where we ate lunch on my birthday. I chose Bite Me BBQ just down the street from work. It was a nice change of pace from our usual brown bag lunches.
The nice thing about Bite Me is that they give you enough food that two people can share, which is exactly what Brian and I did. Neither of us wanted to over-eat (something that I tend to do) and it also saved us money. We’d been eating out a lot lately so it was nice to be able to eat lunch inexpensively.
Anyway, I’m enjoying eating out now because Brian has already said that he is putting me on diet post-surgery. He sent me a couple of links to post-thyroidectomy weightless tips and such. It’s comforting to know that Brian won’t let me get fat after my thyroid surgery. LOL.
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Thai House
Posted on November 3, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Brian and I got our Thai House fix last week. We kind of went wild with eating out on account of my birthday, and the lack of groceries in the house (which has since be remedied, by the way). We called our order in so that it would be ready by the time we got there and we wouldn’t go over our allotted one hour lunch break.
It should come as no surprise that Brian ordered the Thai House fried rice with chicken. His favorite menu item at Thai House and one of his most favorite versions of fried rice. The owners told us that their pineapple fried rice is actually even more popular than the house fried rice. Brian thinks he will try that next time.
I got the #17 Lad Nha Thai House with rice instead of noodles and no tail on the shrimp. The owners are so fabulous and accommodating. Seriously. All you have to do is ask and, as long as it’s doable and no illegal, they will oblige. I was told that I was only one of two people who sub rice for noodle in #17. The other person is a Hispanic guy who doesn’t like noodles. It’s not that I don’t like noodles because I love noodles too, but I really, really, really love rice. I could eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday of my life. LOL.
BTW, we mentioned to them that we were so sad because we couldn’t get our Thai House fix a couple of weeks ago and ended up going to Hana Cafe for dinner instead. We had a great dinner, but really had our heart set on Thai House that day. It was a Tuesday and the restaurant is only open until 2 PM on Tuesdays.
The good news is the owners have decided to stay open for dinner on Tuesdays and have their short day on Mondays, which they said is the slowest day of the week for them anyways. I’m not sure when this new schedule will start, but I’m happy that I’ll be able to get dinner at Thai House on Tuesday nights in the future. WOOT!
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GreenAcres Market and Deli
Posted on October 28, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Review #4 was published this weekend so I can finally blog about it. Yeah! I usually try to avoid blogging about places that I review for the Wichita Eagle Dining Panel until after the article is published because I’m afraid that I’ll write the exact same words, which is against the rules. The Eagle can’t publish anything that has already been previously published elsewhere. The review has to be original/unique so they have to publish it first. Only then can we do what we want with our article.
If you are in a hurry, you can pick up pre-made sandwiches to go or fix something from the salad bar. We weren’t in a hurry so we ordered our food from the deli counter. There are some things that are already made like the bierocks and pot pies, but sandwiches takes a couple of minutes to assemble.
Brian and I were so disappointed when Under the Cork closed because that meant the end of free wine tastings. Guess what. Somerset Ridge has a space inside GreenAcres and they offer wine tastings Wednesday through Friday from noon to 6 pm, and Saturday from noon to 5 pm. I strategically left this detail out of my review because I didn’t want to seem like a wino. LOL.
This is “the hood” sandwich that Brian tried.
Doesn’t it just look so colorful and delicious?
One of the nice things about eating at GreenAcres is that you can get whatever you want to drink. I got a bottle of my favorite flavor of Naked juice — Mighty Mango.
Food-wise, I got the the house-made chicken pot pie.
Here’s a better picture of the trail mix cookie, which was super yummy. They are so good that I want to buy a few dozen and pass them off as my own. LOL.
This is a picture of their wonderful chef’s chicken salad.
A slice of heaven… I mean Italian cream cake. GreenAcres offers a vast selection of dessert items, so you’re not limited to just cakes.
When I think of food and dining, I normally don’t think about grocery stores. This experience has totally opened my eyes to the vast array of dining options available in the area. If you’ve never been to GreenAcres or have never tried their deli, I highly recommend checking it out.
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Chapada Chophouse & Churrascaria
Posted on October 27, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
The Secret
Jay and Becca, who got the same Groupon, joined us for dinner. I’ve heard mixed reviews of Chapada, but our experience was really good. The service was slow at first, but improved as the meal progressed. The process is just like any churrascaria. If you’ve not been to one, you have an all-you-can-eat salad bar and then gauchos with various meats on large skewers come to your table. If you want the meat offered, then you just ask them to slice off a piece for you. This goes on pretty much until you cry, “Uncle!”
Chapada is not quite the same caliber as Fogo de Chao, which is probably the most well-known out of all the churrascarias, or even Texas de Brazil, which we got to try last year when we were visiting Cousin Tracy and Jeff in Fort Worth. However, Chapada is the closest thing you can get to that type of dining experience around these parts because it’s the only churrascaria I know of in Wichita.
Here are some pictures from dinner…
Brian told them we were celebrating my birthday, which isn’t until Tuesday, but close enough — so they let me pick a dessert for free. I chose the cream brûlée (that’s not creme brûlée, mind you — they serve CREAM brûlée at Chapada — LOL), which consisted of three different flavors. There was a coffee flavored one, a raspberry, and a banana. The coffee one was my favorite. If we ever go back, I’m getting the cream brûlée again and asking for all three to be in coffee flavor.
Brian wasn’t a huge fan of the cream brûlée at Chapada. He still prefers the chocolate creme brûlée at Bonefish Grill, which is his favorite creme brûlée. It’s not always available, but he is always happy whenever he can get it.
At dinner Jay and Becca asked if we were having a birthday party for me this year. I told them no, that this was pretty much it. I think they were surprised and disappointed because we had a blast when we had the Ponderosa Party a couple of years ago, complete with “smash” cake and everything. There’s just too many parties going on this weekend already, and we have a mortgage to pay for now so we didn’t really have any extra money to throw at a birthday party (for catering, entertainment, decorations, and such), and we didn’t really have time to plan anything, and 35 is not really a poker hand. When I turn 44, we’ll talk. LOL.
Anyway, we had a great time with Jay and Becca last night. I was a nice, intimate birthday dinner — probably the first birthday dinner of several coming up, because we tend to have multiple dinner celebrations whenever we have birthdays. There’s really no point dieting during your birthday month.
But I digress… Chapada was not bad. However, the salad bar selection is not as vast as what you would find at Texas de Brazil, but you don’t want to get full on that other stuff anyway. You want to save room for the meat. Though it’s not the best of its class of restaurants, the cost is way less than other churrascarias, and it’s not like you really have a choice. They’re the only churrascaria here. For those of you who don’t want to spend the $35 per person for the all-you-can-eat parade-of-meat experience, but would like to try it at least once, then the Groupon is a great option. It’s going to be available for one more day. Go get one.
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Hana Cafe
Posted on October 24, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Brian and I drove to work separately yesterday because he was attending the HOA meeting and I was to go to Zumba. However, Darcy wasn’t feeling well so she left work early which gave me an excuse to be a slug and not workout after work. Since I wasn’t working out, Brian and I decided to meet up at Hana Cafe after work. It was my first time there since they remodeled. The place looks great.
We made it in time for Happy Hour when they have some of the sushi items at half price. We got a California maki and a Hana maki.
Brian wasn’t that hungry after the sushi, so he just had miso soup.
My favorite thing to get at Hana ever since I’d been going back when they were still next to the old Eric Fisher Salon on Rock Road is the beef bi bim bab. It’s been a while since I’d had it so I ordered it, even though I was already somewhat full from the sushi. I just couldn’t resist.
I like to eat it with teriyaki sauce instead of the regular red sauce they serve with it.
I had red bean mochi for dessert. It was super yummy!
It was a delicious dinner. I ate way too much. So much that I figured I would probably vomit in the middle of Zumba class if I went. I decided to go home and attend the HOA meeting with Brian.
Since we drove separately, we decided to race (without speeding, of course — I didn’t speed, but I can’t speak for Brian — he probably tried to cheat) and see who could make it home first. Naturally, I won. LOL. But that’s because I was smart and cut across to First Street and got on the Canal Route from there. Brian went around to Saint Francis. He will blame his loss on a lot of things, including having to walk to the parking garage and getting stuck behind a slow-moving dually.
The HOA meeting took a lot longer than I thought it would. I’m glad it only happens twice a year. Even then, I don’t know that I ever want to attend again ever. I only felt like I had to go to keep Brian from acting like a douchebag. He actually behaved himself and the big question that he wanted addressed was asked by someone else. So he didn’t have to be the jerk who brought it up. LOL.
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