Saturday, July 27, 2013

Electric Cheetah

So today, 7/27, Mel and I went to the local Farmer's Market to get some fresh fruits and veggies. After we were looking for a place to eat some breakfast or lunch. It was about 11 when we had finished shopping. Originally we were going to go to a place called Wolfgang's for some breakfast. We have been there before, I just have never done a review of it for some reason. So we were going to go eat and do a review. However when we drove past toward the parking lot, there were about 40-50 people waiting outside. We didn't feel like waiting that long so drove back down Wealthy toward Downtown. We were thinking about going toward Rosa Parks Circle since they have a lot of little places to get a bite there. However we saw Brick Road Pizza and thought pizza sounded good. And then we saw that right next door was Electric Cheetah, a place we had see but never been to. Feeling adventurous we chose to eat at the new place. We were not disappointed.

First off, they have over 40 different kinds of root beer there. I got the Sprecher Root Beer while Mel chose the Virgil's Root Beer.

I thought the Sprecher's had much more of a smooth vanilla taste to it while the Virgil's had more of a herbaceous taste. Both were very good. 

We both got sandwiches. Both were really good. 



Mel chose the Whippy Dippy, a sandwich with house smoked beef brisket sliced thin on a crusty roll with provolone cheese and served with a special jus made from the brisket drippings. In a first for the blog, here is Mel's take on her sandwich:
It was a lot more like a sub than a sandwich.  This thing was huge!  The brisket was perfectly done and had a great flavor of with hints of corriander and cumin.  The bun it was on was from Nantucket Bakery, which is always good.  It had an awesome crunchy crust on the outside but was super soft and porous on the inside, making it ideal for soaking up the jus.  The provolone cheese was an awesome addition, adding a little bit of gooey goodness to the ultra beefy sandwich.  The chips were good as well, though I wouldn't say they were anything "special".  
Yes, the portions were huge. They were about the size of a sub. Definitely worth the $10 for the sandwiches. 

Here is what I ordered:

That is the Buena Vista Social Club sandwich of porky goodness. It has house braised pork shoulder, hand sliced local ham, a garlic aioli, spicy stone ground mustard, provolone cheese, and pieces of pickle spears. To me the shoulder was the star of the sandwich. It was tender and every now and then there would be a little crispy bit. The ham was good, but not as good as the shoulder. The provolone acted almost like a glue holding the meet together. The garlic aioli added a hint of garlic but was not overpowering. The pickle and mustard were a great choice, as those flavors really compliment pork well. Pork and mustard is pretty classic. The pretzel bun was on which it was served was also from Nantucket Bakery and was a good base for the sandwich. My only gripe is that my bun was really greasy on top and bottom. Also, it has to be noted that the root beer went fantastic with this sandwich. 

The service was good and the ambiance is typical East Town hipsterish. The prices are good for what you get. Like I said, $10 for a sandwich seems a little high, until you see how big they actually are. We are both glad that we stumbled in there. We had seen it before, and heard it had decent food. But never been in. Will we go back, yes we will. I mean, c'mon 40 different kinds of root beer!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Disappointing Night Out

It's been a little while since Mel and I went out to a restaurant that is not a chain restaurant. Mainly because of the gift cards that my girl's soccer team got us as coaches gifts (Thanks Girls). So we have been to Carabba's, On the Boarder, and Logan's mostly. So two nights ago, 7/23, we went back out to one of our favorite places, Hop Cat.

It didn't start out well. When we got there it was seat yourself. That was fine. We spotted a table in the back corner that would have been perfect for two people. The only other tables were for larger groups. It was dirty however with the checks from the previous diners and empty glasses and crumbs. So we stood by the table waiting for someone to clear it off. It never happened, so after 5 minutes of standing and waiting we took a larger table. Then we waited another 5 minutes for someone to come around and give us menus and water. The dirty table was still dirty. We ordered our appetizer first along with our drinks.


We ordered the Buffalo Rolls. It was roasted chicken with a buffalo sauce inside a wonton wrapper and fried. Basically it was a buffalo sauced chicken egg roll. Also in the filling looked to be cream cheese. It was a nice start. The buffalo sauce had a nice heat but wasn't so hot that Mel couldn't eat it. The dipping sauce was like a blue cheese ranch that they serve on other sandwiches. It was a nice offset to the buffalo sauce without the overpowering taste blue cheese can have. The biggest complaint was the texture of the filling. It was as if the chicken was put through a food processor. It was mushy and kind of mealy and really needed a textural contrast. The crunch from the crispy wonton wasn't enough. But it was a good start. 

Unfortunately the service was again poor. The waitress only brought up one plate, so Mel went and got another one. And our main plates came out five minutes after the appetizer did. Not good timing at all. So we had our appetizer plate on the table, eating it, as our entrees were sitting on the table as well. 

For our mains Mel ordered the Porter Braised Beef Sandwich, which is reviewed in a previous post, and I ordered the fish and chips. Since there wasn't a picture of the sandwich I took one.

And here are the fish and chips

The fish is cod and it has been beer battered and fried. It is served with a house tarter sauce and crack fries. The batter is generally crispy and flavorful. This time it was a little on the greasy side. Cod is a pretty mild tasting fish so it is all about the batter and seasoning to add flavor to it. The tarter sauce is fairly standard, although it does have some other spices in it. The fries were also a little on the soggy side. Usually they are crispy. I have had this dish before, and the fries were crispy and the fish perfectly fried.

Again, back to the service. We ordered another drink. Our server screwed up twice on them. Once I can understand, twice is inexcusable. Also, that dirty table remained dirty for nearly 45 minutes after we arrived. However that is not the worst part. The worst part is that I got food poisoning after eating there. So I narrowed it down to the fish or tarter sauce. At 3 AM I got to know my toilet really well.

So over all this was an extremely disappointing outing to Hop Cat. The service was unusually bad and the food made me sick. I still like Hop Cat, but it will be a while before we go back.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Camp food

Wow, I didn't realize I only posted once last month. I guess it was really the only place of note to write about. Everywhere else we ate at were chain restaurants like Carraba's or Logan's. Anyway, I thought I would take a little different approach to this post. Mel and I went back country backpacking and camping this past weekend so I thought I would write a short piece about the food we ate.

For snacks we had trail-mix, Jack Link's beef jerky and beef sticks, and Clif bars. The trail-mix was made by Mel and was simply honey roasted peanuts, raisins, and peanut butter m&m's. It was a nice little snack to have on breaks. Then there was the jerky and beef sticks. I won't go into too much detail because I am pretty sure that everyone has had them before. They are nice for the trail. They back tight and are a good little meaty food source that won't spoil quickly. Clif bars are similar to powerbars. They are an energy bar. They usually have a rougher texture to them because they use whole grains in the bar. So you feel like you are eating real food, not a processed bar. They are good and are a great idea for backpacking in the back country. They provide some calories in a small, easy to eat bar. I had mine for breakfast.

For food we had a few choices of freeze dried food packs. These are pre-made meals that are dehydrated so they last a really long time. They also come in two serving bags that are light and easy to pack. To rehydrate you add boiling water, mix well, seal back up, and let stand anywhere between 10-20 minutes depending on meal. We had a little MSR pocket-rocket burner that screws on a fuel canister. We also had a couple of small, light weight mess kits. The first one we ate was a fettuccine alfredo by Backpacker's Pantry. It pretty much goes without question that none of these meals are restaurant quality. But after being on the trail for hours on end, it is nice to have a hot meal. The name is a little misleading; yes there was alfredo sauce, yes there was chicken. But no, it was rotini not fettuccine. No big deal though. Mel loved it. It was ok to me but a little too salty for my taste buds after that hike. See, your sense of taste changes depending on what you have been doing. Physical exertion does this. That is why the same flavor of Gatorade can taste different before and after a hard bout of exercise. But overall it was a good choice.

We also had beef stew from Mountain House. I enjoyed this one much better than the alfredo. There is something comforting about a bowl of beef stew after a long hike. I though the balance was much better, and there is just something about meat and potatoes that satisfies the soul. It also had some carrots, and I think celery, in a light gravy. This one got a thumbs up from both of us.

The last meal we had was a southwest style bean chili by Coleman. It was probably the best of the three we had. The chili was basically black and red beans and sweet corn. It was a nice consistency and the little bit of cumin and other spices added a nice warmth to the chili. It was perfect for eating around a campfire as the sun set and the air grew cooler.

I also recommend bringing some individual Gatorade powder sticks to mix with water if you are ever going to go for a long hike on a tough trail. It adds some sugar and electrolytes as well as flavor to your water. I also liked Maxwell House instant latte mix sticks. It was a great way to start the day with a cup of hot latte in the cool morning.