Big Fish Grille: C'mon Now

Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing, is all I have to say. My husband and I went for my birthday. I figured that it was a safe bet since I had been there two times before and enjoyed it both times. We went on a Thursday night, and the restaurant was relatively empty. Nonetheless, we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table even though there was only a party of two ahead of us. Now I remind all of you who think that I am one of those unreasonable "now now now" types of people (I seem to be thinking in 3s today) who don't understand how restaurants work, that I used to wait tables. I know that just because there are tables open doesn't mean that the restaurant is fully staffed to seat those tables. My gripe was because we went during peak dinner hours and several people left while we were waiting, waiting, and waiting. I was really hungry too, which did a number on my patience. We finally got seated, and I was going to order the prime rib/crab cake combo (a birthday splurge). I was told that prime rib was available only on the weekends, which annoyed me because the menu only said "limited availability." I feel like they should tell you if it's not available ahead of time. It's even more annoying to me because once I think that I'm going to get something, I become set on it. My second choice was the ahi tuna, which is usually good. My husband ordered the garlic parmesan tilapia. We started out with the warm brie appetizer. it was pretty good and came out drenched in honey and sprinkled with almonds with a generous portion of grapes and oranges and a few strawerries. It was good, but then again, it's hard to mess up brie. I was so sad about the tuna. I became suspicious about it when I was ordering. Mind you, the Big Fish Grille holds itself out at a seafood restaurant and is pretty pricey for the Crofton area. So I was shocked when the server did not ask me how I wanhted my tuna cooked. I asked him after he failed to ask me, first inquiring whether the kitchen normally cooks tuna a certain way (some places cook it medium rare as a matter of course). He responded that "it's probably sauteed or something." I thought "Geez. What kind of answer is that at a seafood restaurant? Are my expectations too high? No! It's not like I'm at Applebees or something." I then explained that I meant temperature, and asked that the tuna be blackened and cooked medium rare. I should have realized that no good could come from that exchange, but I plunged ahead with it anyways. The tuna came out way overcooked. It was nicely blackened, but dreadully overcooked -- mildly pink (like traces of pink) in the center (think steak cooked medium well). As one of my good friends has said, overcooked tuna is worthlessl; it's almost the equivalent of eating it from the can. To be fair, my husband's garlic paremsan tilapia was pretty good, but the fresh garlic in the coating had an odd texture. The fish was nice and flaky and perfectly cooked over linguine. Because it was my birthday, he insisted on trading with me and ate the bad tuna. Way to take one for the team :) I decided to go to Friendly's for dessert (yay peanut butter sundae) because I felt betrayed by the Big Fish. Definitely not going back. To encapsulate this overly verbose post, C'mon now. What kinds of seafood restaurant doesn't train its servers to ask how tuna should be cooked?

Cafe Pronto: The Molestation of the American Palate (A Delayed Reaction)

So, the title. First, is it even right to use the word "molest" in conjunction with the palate of all things? People are molested, not palates (even if it is a gramatically correct usage of the word). Second, is the American palate monolithic? Finally, it's a delayed reaction because the incident occurred back in May. I had written a post about this before but never finished it. However, the incident has become so seared into my brain, that I don't have much trouble recalling it. So, here's what happened. Back in May, my sister-in-law and I decided to stop at Cafe Pronto at Riva Festival for some coffee after making a run to Michael's for cake decorating supplies. I ordered the French roast (as is my custom) at Cafe Pronto, because I really like it there. I was warned that the French roast had been sitting around awhile, but the warning was followed by an offhanded "It is French roast. It's not like it matters if it's been sitting awhile." All of a sudden, I was embroiled in a discussion of the horribles of French roast. Both baristas were very anti-French roast. And yes, one of them said that Starbucks, by burning its coffee has contributed to the "molestation of the American palate," making people think that burnt coffee is good coffee. One of them told me that it smells horrible at the roasting plant when French roast is being roasted, and the other barista showed me French roast beans, which looked oily on the outside. Apparently, the oil on the outside should be on the inside of the bean, but somehow transfers to the outside after extreme roasting. So I asked why the store even sells French roast if it's awful. The answer? French roast "pays the bills" because millions of Americans support bad coffee. If so many people like it, is it really bad? Or just different? Who knows? At any rate, this is exactly the type of food snobbery that I despise. The type of food snobbery that stops people from asking questions at restaurants. I don't understand why people can't be a bit more openminded. It just so happens that I have an appreciation for all types of coffee, burnt or lightly roasted. The reason why I never select the light or mild roast is that I am usually disappointed, yes, even at Starbucks. However, when I visited Hawaii last summer, I never had a bad cup of coffee. The mild roasts were as excellent (perhaps even better) than the bold roasts. So, I know that good mild blends are out there, I just don't trust a lot of coffee shops to get it right or not make it too weak. In spite of this, I still go back to Cafe Pronto. I like that they're passionate about their coffee there (even if a bit too extreme). They have a killer carrot muffin, and this special machine that custom brews coffee. The custom brews are pretty good, but nothing to jump up and down about, in my opinion.

Plain Vanilla?

When I started blogging a little over a month ago, I thought, "You know what? I'm not going to be snotty about food. I'm going to write about everything." Only kinda true now, I guess. For instance, I went to Noodles & Co. (you know, the fastish food noodle chain) for dinner, and I don't really feel inspired to write about it. I had been there before and thought it was so so. I went again tonight because it was nearby, open, and fit within our $15 per meal budget. At any rate, it was boring and mediocre, yet not expensive enough that I could become outraged that I ate there. Just a word to the wise, though, the pasta rosa (of the Mediterranean genre on the menu) tastes like warm vinegary pasta salad. On to more exciting things like plain vanilla. Except vanilla is not so plain. My theory on vanilla and baking is that there's always room for more than a recipe calls for. I always add extra, and I add it even if a recipe doesn't call for it. I put it in whipped cream etc. etc. It always makes things taste nicer. Is that the end of the story? Of course not! The type of vanilla you use can make a difference. Here is a WARNING for you unwary vanilla buyers out there. My friend took a trip to Mexico and bought me this wonderful bottle of Mexican vanilla that tasted and smelled like any other vanilla I had bought here in the states. It almost had a coconut scent to it. I thought, gee, I will go to Williams Sonoma and buy some expensive vanilla because it has a higher chance of tasting like the Mexican vanilla. WRONG!!! I bought Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla. Okay, so I probably couldn't have expected it to taste like the Mexican vanilla, because after all, Madagascar and Mexico are thousands of miles away from each other. I thought that the Madagascar vanilla might be exotic or different. Instead, it tasted just like the standard grocery store vanilla. It cost $8.50, which is probably not that bad for an 8 oz. bottle, but don't buy it thinking that it will taste special.

Noodles, dressing, and revisiting

Ta da! More grocery reviews of good healthy groceries. Please don't think that I'm a lowfat healthfood nut, because I'm not. I only highlight healthier foods because to me, it's much easier for full-fat products to taste good than lowfat foods. I'll only eat healthy stuff (or any food for that matter) if I think that it tastes good. Why the disclaimer? Because I really don't trust a person's food judgment if they actually prefer the healthy stuff because they think it tastes better. C'mon. We all know that we would rather have bacon and fries and chocolate and donuts if we wouldn't gain weight and clog our arteries. On the noodles front (note how I am adhering to the organizational structure flowing from my title), I tried Annie Chun's Teriyaki Noodle Bowl (recommended by my husband). So many good things about it. Where do I begin? First, for all of you veggies out there, it's vegan. For all of you non-vegans and carnivores such as myself, don't let the absence of meat turn you off. It's tasty and relatively filling all the same, but I'll get to that later. Second, it's pretty lowfat and low cal. 400 calories and 5 grams of fat. Not bad for a lunch entree. Third, it is all natural and does not contain any MSG or preservatices. Finally, and most important, it tastes great! Unlike the standard cup of noodles, the noodles are fresh (not dried) and vaccuum sealed. The teriyaki sauce is flavorful. The only improvement I can suggest is better veggies. They're dried out like the veggies in the standard cup of noodles. There's supposed to be tofu, but I didn't really notice it. On balance, it's pretty good. It's a bit pricey ($3 a crack), but if you order it online, you can get a bulk discount and free shipping. http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ExecMacro/anniechun/home.d2w/report. Also, good ole Annie puts out a whole bunch of other dishes, which I have yet to try. I'll let you know when I do! Okay, on to dressing. I really like a good honey mustard. For a relatively healthy one that won't reverse the good diet effects of a salad, try Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard. You'll only intake 4 grams of fat and 70 calories for a two tablespoon serving size. It has a nice horse-radishy (my husband points out that horse-radishy is not really a word) kick even though it really doesn't contain and is nice and creamy with those pretty ground mustard seeds in it. I honestly would eat this instead of the full fat version because I think it tastes as good. Oh, the best of both worlds. Finally, revisiting. If you had nothing better to do than read my thoughts on Greek yogurt, you may recall that I reviewed Fage 2% Greek yogurt with peaches. I tried the honey 2% variety. Nice and sweet, but not nearly as good as the peach, in my opinion. See for yourself. Maybe when I start running more and don't feel like a total porker, I will try the full-fat version. Until then, I will indulge in only really unhealthy stuff -- like cake, ice cream, cookies, candy, and pie. Why waste the quota of fat on yogurt? Why, indeed?

Overwood Wood Fired American Kitchen

So, my husband and I took a trip out to Northern Virginia today, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a new restaurant. We are trying to cut down on our dining expenses, so we chose to go to Overwood Wood Fired American Kitchen (220 North Lee Street, Alexandria, VA 22314), which from the outside, looked like it wouldn't be too expensive. The ambience was a nice hodgepodge. There were flat panel TVs for the sports lover against the backdrop of a warm interior to save the restaurant from having a sports bar atmosphere. It looked kid- friendly as well. Also, if you sit in the back of the restaurant, you have a view of the open kitchen and some nice wooden wine cases. The food was pretty good overall, but as discussed below, it was not the place to go if you are looking to eat on a budget. That's the last time I'll ever take TVs showing sports to mean cheaper food. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 3.75. I know that I'm splitting hairs here, and most reviewers give half-points and don't go as far as quarter-points, but I was conflicted. Maybe I'd give it a 4 if it were food alone and I wasn't considering bang for the buck. Oh screw it. Just read. You can make your own assessment based on the lengthy detailed explanation. We skipped appetizers (again trying to save $$). There were some that looked interesting. I would have liked to have tried the fried green tomatoes, for one. We only ordered entrees. When ordering, I realized that we should not have judged the restaurant by its outside appearance. We thought it would be a bit cheaper, but most of the entrees aside from the burger option were $14 or over. I think that there was meatloaf for cheaper, but it had veal in it, and even I, the carnivore that I am, will not eat veal because I think that it's mean. I ordered the steak salad, which was $14.95, and my husband ordered cavatelli with sausage for $17.95 (a special and not on the regular menu). My steak salad was good. The steak was yummy with a nice texture and tasted like it had been lightly marinated. The salad contained crispy potato strings, standard field greends, grape tomatoes, a bleu cheese, and a decent ranch dressing. Nothing out of the ordinary, but still tasty. My husband's pasta dish was good as well. The pasta was perfectly cooked with a slightly spicy sausage and nice tomato-based sauce. It was accompanied by a large piece of crispy bread -- almost the consistency of a crouton. Pricewise, the salad was probably about right because of the quality of the meat. $17.95 for the pasta was a bit much. The portion was not especially large, and I don't think that it's justified to charge that much for sausage and pasta in a tomato sauce. We ordered dessert because we were slightly hungry after entrees. There were a lot of interesting options -- a double chocolate cheesecake, Elvis Pie (oreo crust, bananas, peanutbutter -- obviously in homage to Elvis's love of peanutbutter and banana sandwiches), and a few others. We selected the brownie sundae, which was pretty good. The brownie was served warm and had the perfect amount of moistness. For an interesting twist, the brownie was topped with two scoops of ice cream -- one chocolate and one vanilla, topped again with caramel sauce. The ice cream was high-quality, and the sundae was good overall. I decided to do the coffee test here. THE COFFEE WAS EXCELLENT!!!!! The restaurant uses coffee from local company M.E. Swing, which I frequented when I worked near the D.C. location. It was the perfect strength and not just good for restaurant coffee. On a scale of 1 to 4 mugs, I give it 4 full mugs! So, the upshot is that I would go back, but probably not that often because the price. Other good things were the interesting-shaped glasses, the pretty white coffee mugs, and the conveniently-placed coathooks on the booths.

Mi Casita

I highly recommend Mi Casita (1334 Defense Hwy Gambrills, MD 21054). I have been there twice. The first time, I went on a whim because I like to try new restaurants. I'm not sure how long it's been around, but I'm sure that it will stay around for quite awhile given the excellent food. Granted, I'm no connoisseur of Mexican food, but I know what tastes good and what's boring. The first time that I actually had decent tacos was at Tacqueria Nacionale in D.C. I didn't expect anything nearly as good at Mi Casita. It's in Gambrills for heavens' sake -- not in podunk, but not really known for its stellar food. During my first visit, I tried the marinated pork tacos. Excellent is all I can say. The stringy pork was tender and flavorful, and the tortilla tasted like a real, fresh corn tortilla. It's amazing how many Mexican restaurants on the mid-Atlantic coast are incapable of serving good corn tortillas. The first time that you have good tacos is an earth-shattering experience. We ordered sopapillas with ice cream for dessert. Again, fantastic. The sopapillas had the perfect texture and flavor, were drizzled with honey, and came with dense and rich vanilla ice cream. The second visit was just as good. I branched out from the tacos that I love and tried the marinated beef flautas. They were crispy on the outside, and the beef, like the pork the previous time, was perfectly marinated. They were topped with fresh Mexican cheese, and believe me, you can taste the difference. My husband ordered beef enchilladas poblano, which were topped with a chocolate-infused sauce. The chocolate flavor came out nicely and paired well with the beef. We ordered the fried ice cream for dessert. I wanted to order the sopapillas again, but my husband prevailed upon me. I'm usually not a big fan of fried ice cream, but it was excellent. The ice cream was coated with cookie crumbs and came in a fried cinnamon tortilla bowl. There was a choice of honey, strawberry, or chocolate topping, and we picked honey. It was absolutely delicious. Let's see. Other good things... The servers on both occasions immediately brought chips and fresh-tasting salsa to the table. Because I live in a perpetual state of hunger, I really appreciated it. The only downside was the rice and beans, which are never really that exciting. I thought that given how wonderful the rest of the food was, there might be something special about them. A minor complaint, though. Pricewise, it's more expensive than a lot of other Mexican food, but not by much. The quality of the food makes it well worth it.

Good Groceries

As I mentioned in the inaugural post, I am doing grocery reviews and recommendations as well as restaurant reviews. Here is my inaugural posting about groceries..... Loving food is a struggle when you are trying to eat healthy. I'm always looking for low fat or low calorie food that actually tastes good. My theory is that eating low calorie food is not worth it if you can't enjoy it. Why put the fat and calories in your body from health food if it tastes nasty? The foods described below are not only okay diet-wise, but are worth eating. I've found a great product -- Fage Greek yogurt with fruit. One of my co-workers was eating it, and I was intrigued and wanted to try it. Fage offers regular and 2% versions. While the carton has 12 grams of fat per pack, the 2% has only 2.5 grams of fat. I have only tried the peach variety and it is very peachy. The yogurt is packaged so that the fruit has to be mixed in at the time of consumption. I also like the texture of the yogurt -- not gloppy, but smoothe and creamy. Very yummy and a great breakfast if you are eating on the run. It keeps me relatively full until lunch, which is saying something because I get hungry a lot.

Another yummy snack is lowfat Boursin on top of Mr. Krispers Sea Salt & Pepper Baked Rice Crisps. Yes, I know that the full-fat version is tastier, but it's hard to come by a good cheesespread that won't clog your arteries. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact nutritional value on the Boursin, but I think that you could eat an entire tub and only consumer 20 grams of fat (which is an estimate on the high-end). You could consume 37 rice chips and only intake 3 grams of fat and 120 calories. Not bad, eh? The rice chips are made from brown rice, so it's a nice source of whole grains.

And for the last good low cal food in this posting: Kudos 100 calorie granola bars. I was actually trolling Sam's Club looking for the full-fat unhealthy version, but all I could find were the 100 calorie bars. I bought them anyways, because I am a candy bar fanatic and needed a good chocolate fix to prevent the 4 o'clock trip to the vending machine. I was pleasantly surprised. For 100 calories, I can eat a granola bar (even if it is a bit small) with the bottom coated in chocolate and either peanutbutter, m&ms or snickers mixed throughout. It is almost as good as a candy bar and way healthier.

Go enjoy!

The Inspiration of Agraria

Agraria (3000 K Street NW, Washington DC 20007 on the Georgetown waterfront) is the inspiration for this blog but not because of its fantastic food. I visited Agraria during restaurant week and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Granted, $30 is a good deal for a three-course dinner, but as I'm not exactly rollng in dough, I wanted good food and service for my money. Other preemptive responses to people who think that I'm too harsh . . . yes, it was restaurant week and you never get the best of the best during restaurant week. Maybe you can't get the most expensive thing on the menu, but the food should still be decent. Restaurant week can't be an invitation to pay $30 for a subpar dinner. At any rate, I was so unimpressed by my dining experience that I decided to start this blog to warn others off of food that is simply not worth the money. Thus the inspiration of Agraria. The food wasn't actually that bad. However, things got off on the wrong foot. Despite having a reservation, we had to wait awhile for a table. I'm patient and a former waitress, so I don't usually get annoyed at substandard service. I ordered the charcuterie plate as my appetizer. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact meats I was eating because it wasn't on the menu, and a bartender who knew nothing about the food waited on us. The presentation was lacking to say the least. The meat was pressed onto a plate. It didn't come with bread or any exciting accents. It was honestly like eating a plate of lunchmeat. My husband ordered the chicken soup. Good, but nothing to write home about. My friend ordered a spinach salad, which was okay, but again, nothing exciting. Luckily, the main course redeemed things a bit. I ordered fried chicken, which came with mashed potatoes and a vegetable that I can't remember because it was so long ago. It was excellent. My friend ordered the steak, which was cooked to order with a great flavor. I really wanted to take my leftover chicken home, but unfortunately, it was thrown away in the kitchen. I got an extra dessert to take home, which was a nice gesture, but based on how dessert was, I would have rather taken the chicken home. I ordered chocolate cake for dessert and the others ordered the pumpkin cheesecake. The pumpkin cheesecake was good, but not better than other renditions that I've had. The chocolate cake had fantastic frosting. It was deliciously fudgy. Too bad the cake was dry. We also ordered coffee, which ended up being pretty decent. There were good points to the meal, but I don't think that I would go back again.

Inaugural Stream of Consciousness . . . the Coffee Part of the Equation

Some people eat to live. I live to eat; thus the title of the blog. But this post is about the coffee part of the life equation. By way of background, I'm a coffee fiend, not only for the caffeine (decaf, even at night, is for wusses), but for the incredible flavor and smell. On a tangent, I suffer from major caffeine addiction. Don't worry, though. I can make the headaches go away in a snap. Two caffeine-filled Excedrin, and I'm as good as new. But back to the coffee. I'm super picky and would rather have no coffee at all than bad coffee. However, I'm not so picky that I won't drink Starbucks. Despite its chain-i-ness, I know that I can get a cup of strong, palatable coffee. (I can't say the same for cafes that serve Seattle's Best, which is why I like Barnes & Noble better than Borders). Ideally, I would prefer to go to cute and cozy local haunts, but I (or the coffee) have been burnt one too many times. It is shocking that there are so many coffee shops with wretched coffee. To name a local one, Baltimore Coffee & Tea. I bought a cup, and it was so terrible that I couldn't bear to finish it. Even my husband, who thinks that bad coffee is better than no coffee at all, had a hard time finishing his cup. The coffee was only slightly, and I mean very slightly, better than gas station quality. In a way, it was worse because my expectations were high since BCT holds itself out as a "coffee" shop. I haven't had the yuppie coffee drinks there. I will wait to totally pass judgment until I try one of those. That statement also reveals a bit about my coffee aura. I generally prefer regular coffee with a moderate amount of cream and a little bit of sugar, but on occasion, I like to indulge in yuppie coffee drinks. Anyways, here is my segue from coffee to food. Restaurant coffee. So many times, I go to restaurants with decent food, but the coffee is wretched. Honestly, how hard is it to brew a decent cup of coffee? You don't need super-expensive beans or a French press. The right amount of coffee in a lime-free coffee maker that hasn't been sitting on a burner for hours will almost always produce passable coffee. Since this seems to have escaped most restaurants, if I want something hot and caffeinated while I'm eating, I order tea for fear that I will have wasted my drink on a cup of dishwater. I've now started asking servers how the coffee is, and I must say that they have always been honest. No one has ever told me that the coffee is good when it really isn't. I get lots of "ers" and "I don't drink coffees." Back when I was brave and just ordered the coffee, I was often disappointed. I almost started thinking that it was a law of nature that restaurants (aside from the ultra-gourmet shi-shi ones) can't brew good coffee. However, my travels in Europe and Hawai'i restored my faith in common restaurant coffee and made me think . . . good restaurant coffee on a widespread basis could really happen on the mainland. Too bad it hasn't happened yet. Maybe if restaurant reviewers made coffee a big part of the review. Oh well. As a parting shot, by way of specifics, Les Folies on Riva Road in Annapolis has fabulous coffee! Onward, to food and beyond.