Archive for "Food and Drink"
Yet Another Reason to Love Carrabba’s
Posted on June 18, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Food and Drink.
We just got home from a fantastic evening at Carrabba’s. We received an invite for a complimentary food and wine tasting to celebrate the return of the summer season. Ashley, the server who helped us on our last visit, recognized us and directed us to the appropriate area.
I had not had the opportunity to write about our last experience at Carrabba’s but suffice it to say Ashley was phenomenal. I was foolish enough to order a carafe of sangria for myself. I have no idea why I thought that I would be able to consume it all. By the second glass, I was already crying uncle. Ashley was not only attentive and friendly, but she anticipated our needs. Instead of having to ask what to do about the remaining sangria, she told us that she was checking with a manager to see if the remainder could be rebottled for us. They were able to do it and so we took the rest of my sangria home that evening. We had at least two more glasses left so it was really nice of them to do that for us.
Ashley dazzled us that evening with the quality of service she provided. We were so pleased that we sent a compliment to Carrabba’s via their web site. A couple of weeks later, we received a nice note back from the regional manager thanking us for sending the positive feedback. She also gave us a coupon for free appetizer or dessert on her.
When we ran into Ashley tonight, she thanked us for the compliment and told us that she got a free tie out of it. That is their form of recognition. That was really nice. I’m glad that she got recognized for her hard work and for going the extra mile. Joe, the owner, also came by and thanked us for sending the compliment for Ashley.
Brian said that Ashley told him that she saw our food blog in the paper a could of weeks ago, and she made the comment to him that the food pictures finally made sense. We get a few strange looks sometimes because I take pictures of everything I eat. Apparrently, Joe has seen the food blog too. I thought that was neat.
Anyway, back to the tasting.
The cheeses offered were romano and fontina. The wines from Jacob’s Liquor were as follows: Librandi Ciro Bianco 2007 (Calabria, Italy); Ducarosso Chianti Reserva 2003 (Tuscany, Italy); Montevina Terra d’Oro Zinfandel 2005 (Amador, California); and Pascual Toso Reserve Malbec 2006 (Mendoza, Argentina). The Jacob’s rep came by right before the tasting began and explained everything. He also came by to check on us a few times throughout the evening. There was a drawing for bottles of wine and dinner certificates that evening and we actually won a bottle of the Malbec. We are bringing it to Brian’s parents’ house tomorrow.
There were five courses during the tasting. Here are some photos:
The Bianco was paired with the crab stuffed shrimp and lemon butter sauce shown above. This was really good. The crab stuffing reminded me of crab cakes, which I love. I was really happy with it because then I got to enjoy crab and shrimp — two of my most favorite seafood items. Brian doesn’t usually like seafood, but he loved this appetizer. That’s truly a testament to how good it is. Oh, and the white wine is my most favorite out of the four options.
Incidentally, the crab stuffed shrimp is going on the specials menu in the next two weeks. I believe it will be offered as one of the special items for the next three months.
Next came the Mediterranean chicken salad and pesto vinaigrette paired with the Chianti. The Chianti was my least favorite of the four wines. This salad was really good, though. I thought the pesto vinaigrette dressing was fabulous. The chicken that they served with it the same chicken that is served in the chicken gratella dish. Brian and I both agreed that we could see ourselves making meals out of the salads on our next visit.
Then we had the veggie ravioli and roasted red pepper sauce paired with the Zinfandel. This was good, but I’m not a big fan of it because I’m not much of a veggie eater. I like my meats. The sauce is really good, though. The roasted red pepper sauce is the same sauce that they used to serve along with the crab cakes (no longer on the menu).
The veal marsala paired with the Malbec was the last food item. It was good, except I’m not too fond of veal. Our entire table agreed that this would be good with a tenderloin, or pork medallions, or something.
Finally, they served us mini mocha mousse desserts and pomegranate martinis. The chocolate mousse was superb. I think Brian and I have found our new favorite dessert. Too bad it won’t be on the menu for another month and a half. The pomegranate martinis probably would have been better had I not eaten dessert first. The sweetness made the martini taste stronger and more bitter. It was good pomegranate martini, though. Brian gave me his so I got his as a bonus.
It was a wonderful evening altogether. Joe came by several times throughout the night to provide us with more information about how the dishes are prepared and to see how we liked everything. We were really pleased with how smoothly everything went. And, we had the opportunity to meet some really fantastic people. Joe said that these tastings are normally held every third Wednesday of the month for $25 per person. The next one is on July 16. We might just do that and Bring Jan and Brian’s parents, too. I’m thinking they might enjoy it.
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Riverside Cafe
Posted on April 25, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink.
The other day Jan and Brian and I went to Riverside Cafe for lunch. Usually Jan is the one who takes me to all these different restaurants in the area that I’ve never been. This time we took her somewhere she had never been.
Actually, Brian and I had never been to Riverside Cafe before either. So we were all trying it out for the first time. We decided to go there because I found this “buy one get one free” coupon at the 360 Wichita web site. That, and Brian and I didn’t have breakfast that morning. It worked out perfectly because Riverside Cafe serves breakfast all day.
Brian and Jan ordered the exact same thing, and they both added a half order of biscuits and gravy to their meal. Their half orders of biscuits and gravy are enormous! It’s like what you would get if you asked for a full order at most places. I was thinking they could have split a half order between the two of them, specially since they had their separate meals anyway.
My meal consisted of corned beef hash, hash browns, eggs, and wheat toast. Plus, I ate Brian’s bacon. He didn’t like it because it wasn’t super crispy. It’s not like “floppy” bacon, but it wasn’t “crispy crunchy” the way Brian likes it either. My food was delicious. I think Jan and Brian were satisfied with their meals also. We were all very, very full.
The only disappointment was that we put .50 cents in jukebox but we never got to hear our songs play. =( All of the music that played was good, though, so it wasn’t too bad. At least we know not to put money in the jukebox next time.
Riverside Cafe is a pretty good place to eat. I wouldn’t mind going there again.
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Sabor Latin Bar and Grille
Posted on January 20, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
A friend of ours we play OGame with told us about Sabor Latin Bar and Grille a few weeks ago. He said it was outstanding. I think he was a little inebriated when he was giving his recommendation so I didn’t pay too much attention.
I did have the opportunity to try Sabor at lunch with a couple of coworkers on Thursday. He was absolutely right! Food at Sabor is outstanding!
I saw the “Tostones” banana chips on the appetizer list and was immediately drawn to it. I love banana chips. Whenever we went to Healing Waters, they had these muchie bags and I would always pick out the banana chips. Sometimes we would buy banana chips at the grocery store for muchies at home while watching TV. So I ordered some for us to try.
The “Tostones” were nothing like I expected. These are actually plantain chips, sliced very thinly lengthwise and salted. So they were not sweet like regular round banana chips. I had never savored anything like these before. I’m not sure how they are prepared. They look like they have been dehydrated and then fried. They are very thin and crispy. They’re served in a vase-like presentation vessel with sauce holders on either side for chimmichurri (a delicious concoction of olive oil and herbs) and avocado crema for dipping. Avocado crema makes me think of guacamole, but this is ten times better. Personally, I don’t like guacamole but I really enjoyed the avocado crema. I preferred it for my chips over the chimmichurri. (more…)
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Our Day Today
Posted on January 5, 2008 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink, Games, Life.
We decided to take the day off from working on the office. I was supposed to wake Brian up at eight or nine, but he was sound asleep so I didn’t get him up until eleven or noon or so. Anyway, that pretty much killed our morning.
We got up, showered together and decided that lunch at Olive Garden was in order. We were both really good during the week, bringing lunches to work and making dinner instead of eating out so we figured that we deserved a nice lunch date. I had recently watched Alton Brown making meatballs on the Food Channel so I was craving some spaghetti and meatballs (except I had to substitute spaghetti with capellini because I like the skinny noodles better). Brian decided to be adventurous. He tried the lasagna rollatini with chicken, a new special menu item. It was delicious! I think we will have to go again and just split that next time. The serving he received was enough to feed two people.
After our late lunch, we went to visit grandma and grandpa at Cherry Creek. We are donating some stuff from the office: our old dresser, TV, and VCR. The activities director was really thrilled to find out that we didn’t want any money for it. They’d been wanting a new TV for the activities room because the one they have is ancient. This one isn’t exactly new but if you’ve seen the one they currently have in there, it’s a huge improvement. Brian was scoping out where we would put the stuff. We are delivering the items tomorrow.
Anyway, we brought grandma and grandpa a tin of Godiva chocolate and toffee covered caramel popcorn and a case of Ferrero Rocher, grandma’s favorite chocolate candy. At Christmas we promised them that we would swing by and bring them some special munchies and finally had the opportunity. Grandma, grandpa, and their friend John were playing Phase 10 in the activity room when we got there.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Tim’s where we met some of Tim’s coworkers: Errick (who is in the MBA program also), Chase and his wife Tiffany (who made this excellent chocolate cake), and Tim’s other coworker who is a transplant from California. She didn’t stay very long, though, so we didn’t have the opportunity to get to know her very well.
Chase and Tiffany brought their two-month old baby Titus. They were the next to leave and Errick left shortly after. Don, Sarah, and her husband Tony came too. The five of us were the last to leave. We left at the same time Sarah and Tony did. Don was still there and contemplating eating again as we were leaving.
It was an interesting afternoon/evening. Tim’s house is really nice. I think it is big for a single guy but it is in a great neighborhood (Chestnut Ridge, where Everett and a few of Brian’s other coworkers live also) so he could very easily raise a family in his new house. If anything, he can probably sell it in a few years for a very nice profit.
I tried several times to bring up playing a game. I wanted to play Catchphrase but Brian wouldn’t let me. Everyone was busy chatting and visiting, though, so maybe it wasn’t the right time. Once we get the house all sorted out (or after we move to the new place, wherever that might be) maybe we can have people over. Then they will have to play by my rules and we’ll play Catchphrase. LOL.
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Dinner at Tokyo on Thurdsay
Posted on December 29, 2007 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink, Life, Reviews.
The last time we were in Derby (Christmas eve) I noticed a new resto — Tokyo Steakhouse. Brian and I both like Sumo and Kobe so we figured we would give this place a try. We managed to talk Jen into going with us. Here is her colorful account of the evening:
Arriving at Tokyo, and realizing that my sister had not made reservations, I started making a mental calculations of how long we would be waiting based on how many people were sitting and eating, how far along they were at eating, and how many people were standing around waiting for a table.
As we waited I noticed I really pissy looking hostess. She was short and thick, and had those faces you just immediately want to slap. No clue why. Then beside her, another hostess, this one super tall and super skinny, and her mannerism kinda made you feel like she’d been picked on for most of her life. I couldn’t help but watch them really, because as the people piled in at the waiting area their attitudes started really showing. The skinny one kept looking at the seating chart, looking around, looking back at the seating chart and periodically she kept putting her elbows up on the table and burrying her face in her hands. I think she was trying not to make eye contact with the patrons, now growing impatient, and all watching both of them to see who was going to be seated next and when. The pudgy one kept walking from the back of the restaurant and back to the hostess table, and she was carrying this air of importance that you could tell didn’t belong to her. I guess, Brian overheard an argument between the two of them on whether to seat people on the empty tables or wait for thsoe that actually made reservations. In the long run, skinny chick won.
When we got seated, Ching started getting really concerned about whether they served sushi or not. I’m not sure why, because she didn’t want to order sushi, but she was really concerned. And she also started jotting bits of information about the night, I think for her review. Like she would have a really hard time recollecting the night or the food if she decided to sleep before writing about it. So she sat there looking around for a sushi bar, and jotting things down on an Inspector Gadget looking notepad. And then when the hibachi chef came by, the show really started. Not because he was anything different than all the other hibachi chefs we’ve seen, but because Ching was really into interacting with him. In a fairly somber table, she was trying to out-joke the guy whose job it was to make jokes. I think this happens because she rarely drinks, and my theory is that your body has to expel weirdness and absurdity. Usually people that drink have an outlet, but with Ching you just get it randomly, whenever her body feels it has to expel these things to make more room.
Either way it was a great meal, but for my money, I still prefer Kobe’s.
I haven’t written my review for Foodies yet, but that is coming. First, I need to find my “inspector gadget-looking notepad” and get some “weirdness and absurdity” out of my system.
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