Although I am not usually fond of the service I receive at this particular establishment, the side dishes and Galbee Tang lures me back. Overall the restaurant is very clean and has a trendy upbeat atmosphere.
The most wonderful thing about the experience at Beque is probably the side dishes. There are variations on a day to day basis, but there’s about 9 side dishes that are replenished upon request. My favorite dishes are the fish cake, potato, and potato salad dish (not pictured). The potato dish is absolutely delicious, the potato is cooked to just the right degree of done-ness and the marinade’s flavor is fully infused with every bite. The kimchi is also quite nice, but I found it a bit sour tonight.
Now on to my favorite entree: The Galbee Tang, which is basically the short rib soup, is AWESOME. I find myself ordering this entree EVERY SINGLE TIME I visit this restaurant. There are about 4 large pieces of short ribs in the extremely flavorful beef broth. The short ribs are cooked until tender, the meat literally falls off the bone, but it also still offers enough bite and texture for chewing (it doesn’t turn to mush). The broth is also seasoned just right, no need to add any salt at the table. There’s a mixture of ingredients in the soup including egg, onions, green onions, daikon, dried seaweed, carrot and cellophane noodles. The soup portion is a good size and is served with a bowl of rice on the side. I like to eat half my rice “dry”, and then put the remaining half in my soup. Its NOMELICIOUS!!
My mom ordered the Dduc Maandooguk which is also a soup based entree. Her soup is also the short rib soup but has dumplings and rice cakes in it. There are pieces of beef in the soup, but not large chunks like in the Galbee Tang.
This place is one my dad’s favorite Indian restaurants. The reason for this is mainly due to the fact that the food is not overly salty, it is flavored just right. The selections are a bit limited, but what do have is prepared well. Their tandoori chicken is juicy and tender, not at all dry and tough. They also offer a hot chai tea (yum!) that is unsweetened so that you can customize the amount of sugar you would like to add. Naan bread is served hot and directly to the table. I find that their naan is nice and soft, and doesn’t usually have a lot of ‘burnt’ spots.
Over the last couple years I have been looking for a good cheesesteak shop closer to home, and last night I believe I found one. It was recommended to me by a friend a couple weeks ago. Although I should have gotten my cheesesteak with peppers, I still enjoyed my sandwich immensely. The portion sizes at Amato’s are HUGE. Even the “small” 7″ sandwich is enough to make you feel stuffed. Its actually quite humorous to see the cooks preparing the larger sandwiches, I think there was a 14″ sandwich being prepared when I was placing my order. I literally stared for like 10 seconds because I just couldn’t believe the visual size of the thing. O.O
Even though I ordered the “Steak Sandwich” that supposedly is only “just steak”, they still asked me if I wanted cheese and onions (I said yes ofc). I didn’t get charged extra either. The beef had just the right amount of ‘chew’, and the bread was soft (not crusty). The cheese was nicely melted and creamy. I also ordered french fries that I shared with a friend. The french fries are fried to a nomelicious goldeny crispy texture, and they are HOT. Fresh out of the fryer no doubt. I absoultely HATE soggy/soft french fries, and Amato’s fries are DEFINITELY NOT soggy or soft, they are super crispy. My friend ordered the “Chicken Sandwich” which is basically the same as the Steak Sandwich. The chicken was also unbelievably good (though I do prefer the flavor and texture of beef). The creamy cheese and chicken reminded us of a creamy chicken alfredo. :D
Definitely will be going back to this place, but am always on the look out for more cheesesteak shops in the area. Saw an ad in the Wave magazine of one that is also relatively closeby. Will give that one a try soon and do a sort of comparison.
When I think of German food, the first thing that comes to mind is the Schweinshaxe. The delicious pork shank roast that has juicy tender meat and a crispy crunchy skin. While I did not use a traditional German recipe, I made my first attempt at the Schweinshaxe using seasonings of my own choice and the cooking methods presented to me. The result was absolutely delicious. The meat was moist and tender, and the skin was super crunchy… just the way I like it. Two cooking methods were used, boiling and baking. I tried to take some pictures along the way to help illustrate. The pork shank was marinated for about 2 days before cooking, I think I would marinate it just a little bit longer or season it a little more heavily.
I was extremely happy with the result. Will try again with some minor seasoning tweaks again soon.
I created a new category “In-Betweens” because of the Cardinal and my experience there on 2/26/2010. This was my second visit, and I wasn’t as impressed as I was before.
The reason for suggesting the visit to the Cardinal was so that I could get my hands on a Monte Cristo. I rounded up a couple of friends and dragged them to the extremely tacky coffee shop for some late night noms. The Cardinal features a lounge, but this lounge is definitely NOT the place to be if you are part of the younger generation. I would say that the people who visit this particular lounge are easily 40+…. Since it was late when we went in for food, there were some ‘tipsy’ older people… doing incredibly stupid things that not only embarrassed themselves but also everyone who was unfortunate enough to be present.
So anyway, on to the actual dining experience. Our server that night was terrible. He reminded me of a greasy salesman. First it took him forever to come over to take our order, then he didn’t bring our drinks until the food arrived (he had to be reminded), he tried to not give me preserves with my sandwich, and was just generally unpleasant. Maybe he was just having a bad night, or maybe he was just a terrible server. I don’t think I’ll ever find out.
I ordered the Monte Cristo, which is like a ham cheese and turkey sandwich dipped in egg and deep fried. It wasn’t as good as it could have been, I suspect that the oil used at the restaurant could do with changing. But it was alright. The melted cheese helps the meat and bread stick together. French fries could have been more crispy… I really hate soggy soft french fries. One of my friends ordered Cinnamon French Toast, and was severely disappointed not only with the taste, but also with the portion size, and miniscule amount of maple syrup that was served with her food. Literally, she got maybe a tablespoon or two of syrup. Another friend ordered Chicken a la Leonardo, which he was satisfied with. The chicken was tender, the melted cheese was very good, but the dish could have used more mushrooms and garlic.
Alright, onto more information about the Cardinal. The bathroom. While, I personally did not visit the bathroom, my friend did and was not only disgusted by the conditions but was severely traumatized by her experience. The floor was soaked in urine. No doubt left behind by the drunken cougars that frequent the Cardinal’s lounge.
All in all, I’m categorizing the Cardinal under the new category “in-between” because the food wasn’t “nasty”, but the experience on the other hand was. Maybe someday I’ll find it in my heart to give the cardinal another try… You never know when I’ll get a craving for mediocre food and tacky red vinyl seats.
This is a place that I am very familiar with, and its one of the few places that offers fried Eggplant the same way that my mom makes them. Since we hadn’t been here for awhile (2/24/2010), we ordered a lot of items that we missed… Although in the future I don’t believe we’ll have this many ‘fried’ dishes all at once.
The Eggplant and Fried Fish Fillet both have this wonderful crunchy minced garlic that is extremely flavorful, it goes extremely well over rice. I did find that the eggplant was a little more greasy than usual, but then again, eggplant does tend to soak up oil. The noodle soup was a little bit spicy, but the noodles were yummy.
Lion Heads (meatballs) are awesome. They are very tender, quite different than the meatballs that you would get with spaghetti. If you’ve never had a Lion Head, I suggest that you give it a try the next time you’re at a good chinese restaurant.
I love this place. Nomalicious food always brings me back to a restaurant. Its nice that they run daily specials that offer a soup, salad, bread basket, entree, and dessert. The soup and dessert vary on a day to day basis. Unfortunately this particular day (2/16/2010) wasn’t the bread pudding day (my favorite!)… but the pecan ice cream is NOM anyway.
The soup was Navy Bean, and it was good, not my favorite, but still good. Normally, I don’t order pork chops in restaurants, and the reason behind this is the fact that most places overcook their pork chops into a tough dry piece of meat. Country Way does not disappoint when it comes to these babies. The Grilled Pork Chops are moist, tender, and juicy. Not at all like the pork jerky that you get other places. Their thick cut fries are also fantastic.
My sister opted for the Beer Battered Cod, which was also excellent. Cutting each fillet in half you can clearly see the white cod fish inside, big whole chunks of fish. What I think is fantastic about Country Way’s Beer Battered Cod is that the batter around the fish is not thick at all. It is just right, and is deliciously crunchy when you bite into it, the fresh cod is moist and offers a contrast in texture. Another thing that I have to mention is that the steamed vegetables on the side are decent, much better than the steamed veggies that you get elsewhere… These veggies actually have TASTE. :D
Love Country Way. :) Love them! :D
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Alrighty, the actual day of new year’s (2/14/2010) was spent with my extended family at my Grandma’s house. My Grandma and Aunt spent hours cooking up a beautiful and delicious dinner for everyone to enjoy. Home cooked Chinese food is awesome. And yes, there were egg rolls at New Year’s dinner as well since they basically represent “fortune” because of their beautiful golden color (gold bars!). Literally, we call them “Gold Bars” in Chinese. Very funny.
New Year’s dinner lasted for about 3 hours of continuous eating. My family loves food, and they love food even more when its shared with family. To me, these family dinners often become competitions where everyone is shoving food on someone else’s plate. You will inevitably hear these phrases being shouted: “Don’t be shy, eat!” ”Have some more food!” ”Did you eat enough?” ”There’s more here, take some!” ”Hurry, eat it before it gets cold.” ”Let me get you another plate.” Oh man, I am stuffed! XD It’s almost like a war zone at the dinner table. :)
Ah, Chinese New Year. Definitely one of the BEST times of the year for food. My mom and dad cooked a delicious dinner (I helped with Egg Rolls!) that we enjoyed with just the immediate family. Unfortunately I can’t name each dish because I don’t know what they’re called in English, but pictures should offer a good illustration. :)
If anyone really wants to know what something is, feel free to contact me via the “Contact Us” page.
Korean BBQ. NOM NOM NOM. Hahaha.
Korean BBQ is SUPER nom, definitely one of my favorites! :D Palace is pretty good (imho), their short rib marinade is awesome. I believe that BBQ should always be a fun social event, so on Friday night (2/12/2010) I invited a bunch of friends out this delicious meaty excursion. Everyone had a good time, and I spent most of the night cooking (flipping and serving) the meat. I watched my friends slowly slip into their food comas, and I helped it along by placing more meat on their plate. The only complaint I have about this excursion is that the grill was too small, and the fact that we all smelled like BBQ for hours afterwards. I think the grill was on the small side because we did have a large party (7 people!). Other than that, it was definitely good times.
