Archive for "Food and Drink"
Cutie at Food Trucks at the Fountain
Posted on May 13, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Brian and I ran into a cutie at the Food Trucks at the Fountain event last month. No, I’m not talking about the Flying Stove dude. I’m talking about the puppy.
She is such a cutie. She’s like the unofficial Kamayan Truck mascot and has been visible at many of their recent events, including the ones at the Pop-Up Urban Park.
I don’t know what it is about a guy holding a puppy but Brian looks even more handsome in this photo. Facebook even thought he was Chef Jason and insisted on tagging the photos as such. LOL.
Aren’t they both adorable?
We had food from the Kamayan Truck that day. Here are some food pics.
You must try the porchetta. It’s delicious.
My favorite part is the crispy, crunchy pork skin.
Brian loves their ribs.
The papaya salad is very good but too spicy for me. It almost needs its own chaser. Then again, I don’t really eat spicy foods so it could be I’m just not used to it.
If you missed Food Trucks at the Fountain last month, don’t worry. It’s happening again on Sunday, May 22. Brian and I will probably be there hunting down some yummy eats.
I remember when the only food truck we had was the Flying Stove. They’ve really started a revolution. Now there’s like 35 or so trucks that participate in Food Trucks at the Fountain. How amazing is that?
See you on Sunday, May 22!
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Scooter’s Downtown
Posted on May 12, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Did you know that there is now a full-fledge Scooter’s location downtown? We’ve had a drive-up Scooter’s for a while but never a sit-down location (complete with wifi) until recently. Brian and I found it last month when we were headed to Food Trucks at the Fountain. Brian, because he is pessimistic about everything, actually didn’t expect them to be open on a Sunday.
We were pleasantly surprised. Not only were they open, but there were no lines.
The space is nice and cozy. I usually end up at Mead’s just because it’s so close to my office but I’ve always liked Scooter’s because of their candy bar coffee flavors. I’m glad there’s one down the street now.
It’s conveniently located across the street from Emerson Biggins on Douglas if you want to check it out. You’re welcome.
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Rok:BRGR Burger Bar + Gastropub
Posted on April 29, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
This is supposedly the best burger joint in Hollywood/Hallandale. I would have loved to have confirmed this but we only had a few minutes before our ride to the airport showed up and I like my burgers well done. We didn’t have enough time, unfortunately.
The restaurant had ample seating outside, which is a must if your are located in Florida. You have to allow people to enjoy the beautiful weather.
The decor inside was pretty cool. I liked the indoor-outdoor bar.
Ginger, Darcy, and I were walking around looking for a place to eat when we ran into the rest of our group. Their ride to the airport was much earlier than ours so they only had time for a drink.
I think Darcy had the ahi tuna burger and truffle fries.
The first picture didn’t do the burger justice.
Ginger had fries.
I had the famous mac n’ cheese with bacon.
I would have loved to try one of their handcrafted burgers but we didn’t have enough time. I like my burger well done so we would have been waiting for our food forever, and the service was slow enough as it was already. We couldn’t afford to slow them down any further.
I’m not sure that any of us were really happy about our food orders. The mac n’ cheese was just okay. The presentation in the cute, little cast iron pan was cute, though. The fries also came in these cute little baskets.
Anyway, we scarfed up our food as soon as it came because we had to walk back to the hotel to meet our ride to the airport. We got there early but the van beat us and was there already. Good thing we didn’t lolly gag at lunch.
I wish I could have tried their specialty because it almost seems unfair to rate them based on my limited, not-so-great experience. I guess we will just have to check it out again next time.
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Larios on the Beach
Posted on April 28, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
I got to experience South Beach, though briefly, a couple of weeks ago while on a work trip. We were actually in Hallandale Beach, FL. However, since we were in such close proximity to Miami, we decided to go to South Beach for dinner.
One of our consultants wanted us to experience Cuban food, and not the watered-down variety that you get in Wichita either. She picked Larios on the Beach, Gloria Estefan’s Cuban restaurant. I was hoping that we would run into Ms. Estefan during dinner but no such luck. The closest I got was her image on the mosaic on the wall.
Here’s a picture of the bar that greets you as you walk into the restaurant.
Since it is Florida, there’s seating both inside and outside the restaurant. You can see the tables outside through the window. This way you can enjoy the food, music, and weather all at once.
Here’s a picture of the fancy waiting area, which also doubles as dancing area when the DJ gets the music going.
We had such a large group so we ended up at two separate tables.
The table next to the wall with the picture was part of our group as well.
This is a picture of the Estefan Cuban combo appetizer sampler. It consists of breaded stuffed potatoes, pork tamale, bacon-wrapped maduros, traditional ham, chicken & cod fish croquettes, and black bean hummus with plantain chips.
The restaurant offers three varieties of baked Cuban empanadas: “award-winning” slow roasted pork, minced beef, and roasted chicken. I tried a little bit of each. They were all great but I liked the pork one the best.
The food took forever but there were several of us so that might have contributed to the delay. We enjoyed some appetizers and munched on plantain chips while we waited.
The group also enjoyed some drinks while we were waiting. I couldn’t drink because I was recovering from pneumonia and was still taking antibiotics. I wish I could have drank though, because this mojito with the sugarcane garnish looked so good.
I talked Kelsey into trying the sugarcane.
Here’s a pictures of the dishes that others in our group ordered.
I got the fresh whole red snapper, lightly floured and flash fried. They got me at fresh. You can’t really get fresh fish here in Wichita.
I think this might be the famous criollo seafood combo with lobster, shrimp, scallops, calamari, fish, baby claims and mussles in a cuban criolla sauce. I got to taste a piece of squid from this dish and it was so good. I think it might be the freshest squid I have ever eaten. Usually squid tends to be rubbery. This melted in your mouth.
We got to try several desserts.
This is the tres leche: homemade cake soaked in three-milk Botran Reserva Rum sauce and finished with torched merengue.
This traditional Cuban flan is probably the smoothest flan I’ve ever had.
This was my favorite dessert of all. It’s tres leche de chocolate. Just when you thought tres leche couldn’t get any better. It’s exactly the same as the tres leche but in chocolate flavor. Brian would love this one.
This was one of the assorted sorbets. I’m sure it was very good but I didn’t get to try it because I was more interested in the other desserts.
I think this is the café con leche. I didn’t get to try this one either.
We had a great time at dinner. Can you tell?
Larios was super busy when we were there. There wasn’t an empty table in the restaurant.
The fact that they were so busy and there were so many in our group affected the service somewhat. I had to wait for my food forever because the server made a mistake when he was taking our order. One of the people in our group changed their mind and when they switched their order, my order got scratched off in error. This happened to a couple of people at our table so the two of us had to wait for our food while everyone had theirs already.
The server felt bad for the mistake and tried to offer me a free drink on the house to make up for it. I told him not to worry about it. Of all the times to be offered a free drink, it’s when I can’t drink. LOL.
Anyway, my red snapper was totally worth the wait. It was so good I didn’t even need any soy sauce. I’m definitely going to have to bring Brian to South Beach and take him to dinner at Larios. All things considered, this is probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had (Cuban or otherwise). I’ll be back!
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Billy’s Stone Crab
Posted on April 19, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Ginger, Darcy, and I had a nice dinner at Billy’s Stone Crab Restaurant while we were in Florida last week. The weather was perfect for dining alfresco.
We had a nice, rocking (literally, the table rocked back and forth) table on the dock.
Here’s the view at dinner.
Lots of options for dinner. Here are some of the choices.
Every now and then, boats would sail by.
Ginger and Darcy both had the fresh fish of the day Key West style.
I had Alaskan king crab legs. It is a crab place after all.
Here are a few more pictures of the restaurant.
Sitting outside, by the water, is definitely the way to go specially when the weather is so beautiful. There were regular tables and also canopy booths like the one we were in.
This is what the booths look like.
That sidewalk is pretty narrow. I wondered how many drunk people have fallen over. LOL.
Dinner at Billy’s Stone Crab was fantastic. The weather was absolutely perfect for dining outside. I just wished that we could have gotten there sooner so we could have watched the sun set in the bay.
Since I was still on my antibiotics and steroids I just had water that evening. The Alaskan king crab legs were a bit expensive but I didn’t feel too bad about splurging because I didn’t have any drinks. I joked that I blew my entire dinner allowance on the crab legs. LOL.
I highly recommend Billy’s Stone Crab if you’re ever in the Hollywood, FL area. It’s expensive but worth it.
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