http://www.alanascafe.com
1020 Main St
Redwood City, CA 94063
A jewel in old downtown Redwood City!
(Mention YELP to get a 10% discount)
Friendly
staff, yummy food, great setting in a lovely mid-1800's family
home. Enjoyed a great breakfast - fresh fruit and scones tasted
amazing! Ate inside at a window overlooking the garden but should have
eaten in the garden at one of the many tables. Can't wait to go back.
My
friend has limited mobility and had to take the ramp around the back to
get inside. The ramp was too narrow to take her walker, but is a very
gentle slope.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147404-d1046663-Reviews-Gladys_Cafe-St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html
Charlotte-Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI
340-774-6604
GO!!
We
had a one day stop off the cruise ship. After exploring the island for
most of the day, the four of us were hungry, but not famished. We
wanted to have lunch where locals would go. We asked the manager of a
gift shop where SHE would go to have lunch:
"Make a right, go down three alleys and make another right. You'll see it down on the left." Seriously?
In
spite of the sketchy directions, we found it! Locals and Cruisers had
the place about half full at 2:30 in the afternoon. We shared the Jerk
Chicken and the Curried Chicken, and two Piña Coladas. The chicken was
well prepared, juicy. neither dry, nor tough. In spite of our cruise
ship food over-indulgence we were blown away by how good the food was!!
Trying the hot sauces were fun, too.
The place was clean, the
staff friendly, the bathrooms were further down the alley, supervised by
a friendly woman, and shared by several stores patrons.
Go to Gladys' if you are in St. Thomas!
Noms: We give 5 out of 5 -- it was a little pricy -- but not too bad for a resort area
1 pound ground beef (browned & drained)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
half can of milk (use soup can to measure)
1 can diced green chilis
6 oz. cream cheese
4 jalapenos (seeded & chopped)
1 pound bacon (cooked crispy)
2 pounds frozen tater-tots
mix beef, soups, milk, and chilis and cover the bottom of a casserole dish
dot with cream cheese chunks
sprinkle with jalapeno and bacon
cover the top with tater-tots
bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees (til the mixture bubbles)
Dieters need not bother.
This is a work in progress
we are thinking about tossing the mushroom soup and subbing creamy cheddar soup
partially pre-baking the tater-tots for a more crispy tot
french fries instead of tater-tots
shredded chicken?
http://www.facebook.com/SANDWHICH Chapel Hill, NC
http://www.sandwhichnc.com
After a short hike on the Tobacco Trail, Alex and I thought we'd try Sandwhich in Chapel Hill. I was overly ambitious and had the Outrageous Whichburger. There were too many toppings and the flavors were a bit muddled. Alex chose better with the Carolina Burger -- pictured above -- now that was a good burger.
Sandwhich was a bit pricey and a little far from home, so we don't know if we'll go back. If it were closer to home and I were going back, I'd have the Carolina...
We give it 3 noms out of five, mainly for price and the fries were not fabulous.
http://www.ladybedfords.com Pinehurst, NC
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lady-Bedfords-Tea-Parlour-and-Gift-Shoppe/132016440171670
The tea room itself was as you would hope: pastel colors and a Victorian feel. The room filled up as we were there between couples and small parties. The ladies who served us were attentive and sweet. The food came out quickly and was tasty.
Steve got a Tuna Salad sandwich on a croissant with fresh fruit. It tasted how a tuna salad sandwich should taste. There was a good portion of tuna on the sandwich, but he would have liked more fruit.
I got the Tea Plate that came with a bowl of soup, a selection of tea sandwiches, pastries and tea. I chose the Provence Tea with lavender. Although I didn't taste all that much lavender, it was quite nom.
Steve was really disappointed that the $3 lemonade was a mix. With my Tea Plate, I was expecting larger portions or a greater assortment of noms. (I wanted to share more things with Steve). For the price, we expected more food, or more from the food; some thing to elevate it: herbs, finer bread and pastries.
Altogether, it was a lovely experience though, and I am looking forward to bringing my mom back.
We give it 3+ noms out of five, but one goat for the lemonade
(Bad form for a mix)
This post is more about "City" than "Spatula".
Budget
minded, but seeking to see all of Austin metro, I sought out as many
Goodwill stores as I could find. Last time in Austin I went clothes
shopping, but it was haphazard. Since we have been having great success
in Raleigh with consignment stores, I started there.
Steve was
spending the days at the Onion Creek Fields officiating for the Aussie
Rules Football finals. What could I do that would give me an
opportunity to cruise Austin, and not spend too much money, and not eat -
since we had a tight dining schedule? SHOP!
After hitting a few
consignment stores that were too pricey, or uninspiring, I hit on the
chain of Goodwill Stores of Central Texas! (Besides, I found Austin's
first Trader Joe's, and a bunch of new restaurants along the way! - See Verts and P. Terry's)
Score:
1.
All the stores had a similar layout, identical and interesting logo'd
signs marking each area. Reassuring and had a sense of organized
marketing by the whole Goodwill of Central Texas. I walked into each
store and got the lay of the land quickly. Clean, and not cookie-cutter
buildings. Each were unique, but the clean bright stores and signage
UNIFIED all of them. Cool. Very cool.
2. Clothing is sorted
by type and color. Saved so much time! Bless their hearts, we can't
expect them to sort the whole store by size, but by color, yup. And it
looked good, too! (Pretty rainbow colors!!!)
3. Pricing. This was interesting. In the
less desirable neighborhoods, the t-shirt pricing was in the $1-3
range. The nicer parts of town had prices as high as $6. The men's
shirts were a little less, and men's small sizes were considered kids
shirts in half the stores and went for $1!!
I eventually figured
it out: find the men's smalls first, to find shirts for me, Alex, and
Niki. Then go to the women's shirts. It would take maybe one to one
and a half hours to go through each store.
Austin is a capital
city, like Raleigh is. It is a university town, like Raleigh. But,
hey! Austin is weird, right? I found so many interesting and fun
shirts for all of us. I could have spent time looking for purses and
pants, etc., but the "Shirt Safari" was plenty entertaining!
Yet
another "activity" for our next trip to Austin: hitting up more
Goodwill Stores. Yup. Another wonderful first world dilemma!
Five CHA-CHINGS out of five!
http://www.currasgrill.com Austin, TX
https://www.facebook.com/CurrasGrill
The plan:
Find the best barbecue on our way to the
airport so we could fly home bathed in smoke and sauce to savor the
whole flight home.
Reality:
A local told us...
"Oooo. You'll never get in there. They usually sell out by now. They might even be closed."
"So where do we go?"
We
passed Curras many times during the week going to and from the Onion
Creek Field for the Aussie Rule Football finals in Austin, TX. The
place falls in the "hole in the wall" category, based on it's location
and exterior: unassuming. Our Local told us she took ALL her out of
town friends to Curras. Now we know why.
Steve ordered Carnitas
Tacos. I had Chicken Mole. Our young waiter was happy to give us his
opinion. He has Mexican heritage and had worked in several Mexican
restaurants. He emphatically insisted that we would enjoy our food. He
explained the complex preparations of both dishes. The mole had over
27 ingredients! He promised us we would enjoy our meal.
Highlights:
-
Chips and Salsa: crunchy, thick chips, lightly salted. Complex and
gentle heat in the dip. Fresh. No disappointment, but this traditional
appetizer did not stand out from other great places we have enjoyed,
HOWEVER...
- The mole tasted like eating perfume. Seriously.
The flavors were subtle and complex. Light and satisfying. The chicken
was TENDER. Whoa! Whew! Yum! Woo! Wow....
- The Carnitas did not disappoint.
Now,
if you read my review of Hopdoddy this will sound familiar... Is it
Austin? Will we find this at more restaurants here? WHAT is with these
people?! They do not take any part of their menu for granted. For
99.99% restaurants a shell is a shell. Get it out of the bag, serve
your amazing food on the shell and out ya go! Right? Not here. Just
as Hopdoddy serves their amazing food on an amazing bun, Curras serves
their amazing food on an AMAZING corn tortilla.
- Soft Taco
Shells: Scratch-made at the restaurant, these corn tortillas were soft,
tender, flexible, silky. Da BOMB! Steve could not decide whether the
shells were flour or corn. He ordered corn. They smelled like corn.
They felt like flour?! The texture (both to the hand, eye and the
mouth) was CRAZY good! We were eating at a table by a window in the
afternoon with lots of natural light! These shells completely elevated
this dish.
If I sound effusive, I am. Plain and simple, our meal was simply amazing.
So
our flight home was not wrapped in glorious clouds of smoke and BBQ
sauce. Instead we were laughing about judging a "book" by it's cover.
An unassuming restaurant can hold a pearl of delicious dishes, prepared
with love.
Cinco NOMS out of cinco!
I can not wait to get back to Austin to try other dishes from Curras.
