Restaurant Talk

   What happened on this visit to Friday’s was something that nobody expected and absolutely uncalled for.
    “Boom!” The noise jolted me from my preoccupied activity as well as getting the attention of everybody else hanging out in the cocktail lounge of the local Friday’s I frequented with my friends. Who says soap operas were reserved for daytime television? The drama unfolded in a matter of minutes and my friends and I had front row seats. Had the irate patron laid his hands on his girlfriend for the alleged affair, my companions and I would had to flee the area as to not get mixed up in the possible bar fight.  Thankfully it ended as quickly as it started. Read more

   Ever had a piece of salmon that just melts in your mouth and flakes off when you put your fork into it? Or pasta made al dente with light creamy sauce that isn’t overpowering along with quartered golden zucchini? How about a bite of USDA steak that is well seasoned and juicy to the palette where A1 Steak Sauce is not always necessary? Well, I have, and it is certainly not from a place where you would expect. I certainly did not. The dish is called the Cedar Seared Salmon Pasta and the USDA choice 6 oz Petit Sirloin from TGI Friday’s, respectively. Surprising, yes? Indeed. Read more

Located in a multiplex for retail shops, offices, and residential apartments and lofts, called Sodo right outside of Downtown Orlando, there's a cafe called Rock n' Joe's Coffeehouse and Bistro. I felt like I was not in Orlando anymore, but somewhere that reminds me of Seattle Metro.

I found the ambience rather soothing with their collection of rock music playing in the background. Dark wooded furniture and shelving decorates the place with a living room styled seating area sporting a vintage styled love seat and matching chair. It feels homey. The walls are donned with framed vinyl disks from various rock groups and some are actually for sale at an inexpensive price as collectibles. It’s quite contemporary actually.
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One of my favorite stops driving from Los Angeles north is Margie's Diner margie'sin San Luis Obispo. When I first started stopping there, the only Margie's Diner was in San Luis Opispo, in a former Howard Johnsons. Now there are three more in Salinas, Paso Robles and Morro Bay. Margie's is a family business, and the owners were often at the cash register. It's typical diner food in terms of the menu, but it's good food made with fresh local ingredients and served by people who want you to enjoy your meal, and come back. The breakfasts feature homemade buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls, fresh local eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice (or mimosas) and fresh ground Columbian coffee. The problem with breakfast at Margie's is that, well the food is really good and the portions are huge, so I want to take a nap after. Read more

The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, with its art collections and gardens, is one of the best things in Southern California. The Library, which contains incredibly medieval manuscripts like the beautiful Ellesmere Chaucer, a Gutenberg Bible, letters and rough drafts of the works of Twain, and Joyce, and early Shakespeare editions is surrounded by 120 acres of gardens, including a rose garden, a cactus and succulents garden, a Japanese Garden . . . It's a lovely place to spend a day. In addition, the Huntington art galleries contain Old Master paintings, sculptures, fine porcelains, furniture and art objects. There's an admissions charge of $20.00 per adult on weekends, and $15.00 on the week days that the Huntington is open. Read more

I still haven't found my "local" pizza place; this is every bit as important as finding a local brew pub and a local doughnut place. There's a really wonderful place in the area, but it's not really close enough for acts of spontaneous pizza.

But I think now I might have found it.

There's a small mini-mart sort of store called Yorky's in Fairhaven, WA. It's attached to a gas station, and sells the usual sorts of basic groceries, ice, and household necessities. Three things make Yorky's stand out: Read more

I suddenly developed an intense, The Greek House in Norman, Oklahomacraving for Greek food. More specifically, a gyro. After a bit of research, I settled on Cafe Akroteri as the restaurant, since I've not yet been to any Washington Greek restaurants.

It's a pleasant enough location, in downtown Bellingham. It's walking distance from the central downtown, and near enough to the higher end tourist hotels that I'd expect some walk-in traffic. On a Saturday afternoon at lunch time, there was one table occupied in the main dining area (decorated with Greek style Classical imitation frescos and travel agency pictures) and another in the lounge. Read more

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying dinner at one of Portland’s most hyped restaurants, La Pigeon.  For a place that actually offers pigeon on the menu, it was quite nice.  It’s conveniently located on Burnside, on the east side of the river near a few other specialty shops and boutiques.  Its location gives it the convenience of being downtown without all the hustle and bustle associated with a purely downtown location.  This restaurant consistently rates a 4.5 or 5 out of 5 on many web review sites and in many magazines.  I wanted to check out why it has received so many reviews, and perhaps discover for myself why it is so widely known on the west coast as an excellent French restaurant. Read more

Usually whenever I’m in an unfamiliar town or city I like to check out the restaurants and bars that come recommended by locals or other travelers.  I didn’t really have too much to go by when I found myself in Albuquerque last week, so I was quite excited to see a place like The Library Bar and Grill in a town that seemed so unexciting.  This Library has a huge façade on the building made up of giant spines of books with alternate titles that poke fun at some of the classics.  The outside of the building led me to believe that it was a place where people who had a passion for all things literary liked to congregate.  Or at the very least it gave me the impression that since it was so near the University of New Mexico’s downtown campus, it would be full of college students and academics.  My assumptions were quite inaccurate after I entered the building, looking for a run of the mill lunch- a burger and some fries perhaps, with a beer or two to wash it down. Read more

La SaletteI never thought that Portuguese food would be so delicious.  Sure I’ve experienced plenty of French delights and Spanish food is quite readily available if you know where to look.  But Portuguese, in a place like Sonoma, can only mean one thing: greatness.  La Salette definitely delivered and gave my girlfriend and myself a dinner to remember. Read more