Food Quest: Peel

So while I was in Illinois visiting my family I was able to catch up with a buddy from high school.  She took me to Peel in Edwardsville.

I always LOVE going somewhere I've never been before and this was a treat!

We started out with a baby spinach salad.  My mouth waters at the mere thought of it!  Baby spinach with walnuts, sunflower seeds, goat cheese, dried figs, balsamic reduction and extra virgin olive oil.  If felt oh so decadent, but really not bad for you in the grand scheme of things.  *sigh*  My mouth was so happy!

We shared a wood fired pizza.  You can't go to this place and not get one.  It was fantastic!  I can't find it on the menu now, but I loved it.  It was a steak with a Cabernet marinade of some sort and topped with sage.  Oh such goodness!

Pros

Family friendly atmosphere

Fantastic food!

Well lit (as many know this is a peeve of mine)

Kid menu

Great service

Fantastic food (did I mention this one?)

Con

Very popular (so be patient)

Thanks again Denise for taking me here!  I loved it!

Food Quest: Press 626

So on the  30th of March I was able to go out with a group of my fellow Navy wives and try a new place for dinner.

We went to Press 626 in Norfolk.  I'm glad I got there early as parking was a BEAR!  They do have a tiny parking lot, but it was already full and I had to find street parking.

My pal, Deborah, and I had the Petit Fillet Provencal.  It came with rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes and seasonal vegetables.  Which were asparagus!  My favorite!!  The steak was AWESOME!  It was like butter.  Melted in my mouth good.  I'm drooling now as I write about it.

Their grilled cheese looked really good too.  Maybe another time.  It's made with 4 (yes you read that right) different cheeses.  Vermont cheddar, Swiss, pepper jack and goat cheese on sourdough bread.  And to make it even more yummy?  They added bacon.  Drool!

Deborah and I split a bottle of Llama 2010 Malbec, which was very nice.  My buddy, Stacey recommended another wine but I don't recall the name.  Only that it was 76 on the wine list and they don't number it on their website, so I have no idea which one it is.  Sigh.

Our server, Brock (I hope that's the spelling), was knowledgeable and extremely helpful.  A good server definitely helps make for a good evening.  And ours was wonderful!

I ended the meal with a peanut butter bread pudding.  That was quite big, but huge.  I was unable to finish it.

Pros

Fabulous Food

Wonderful Wine List

Great Staff - Very Friendly & Willing To Help

Seasonal Foods (So it seems fresher)

Did I mention the wine?

Good Selection

Casual to Dressy Code (I saw dresses & jeans)

Cons

Parking!!

Lighting (It was a bit dark & I really don't like that)

Small (I recommend making reservations)

Did I mention Parking?

All in all I had a wonderful time and will be going there again!

Food Quest: Passions

So on Monday the 2nd my brother, Tim, and I went to Passions in Chesapeake and did their Cooking Class. They do this something like every other Monday. Basically it's like sitting at the chef's table and watching what goes on in the kitchen. The head chef walks you through each course and how he makes it. It's pretty fun.

The first course was classic Caprese with Balsamic Reduction. They make their own mozzarella. And they have a garden behind the restaurant that they got the tomatoes from.

They paired this with a 2009 Gouguenheim Malbec from Argentina. Which complimented this course very well.

The second course was White Truffle Risotto with Asparagus Tips. There's not much I can say about this. It was a bit cheesier than I would have liked, but the asparagus was nice and crisp. Just the way I like it.

They paired this with a 2008 Kung Fu Girl Riesling from Washington state.

The third course was Chicken Francais over Smoked Apple Wood Bacon-Potato Hash. I really liked this course. Of course, they had me at bacon. The only thing I didn't care for was the capers that were in the sauce. Easily remedied though because you could take the capers out of the sauce.

They paired this with a 2008 Santa Barbara Winery Sauvignon Blanc. I wasn't all that impressed with it. It wasn't as crisp as I like my Sauvignon Blancs to be.

The fourth course was Bananas Foster. I don't care for bananas, but I really loved the sauce over it.

They paired this with Mumm Napa Brut.

I know at the end of the Food Quests I normally put the pros and cons of the restaurant, but this time I don't think I will. I'll just leave it at how I enjoyed the food and the experience.

Food Quest: Waterman's Surfside Grill

So today we decided to wander the beach this morning. We decided to stop for breakfast along the beach, which turned into brunch due to the time. So we stopped at Waterman's Surfside Grill, because it had a number of people on the patio and we figured we could probably get breakfast there. For once we were a bit more adventurous and tried something new. We both got the Lump Crab Omelet. Which was wonderful! They used lots of crab and it wasn't imitation crab either. Their home fries were done properly (crispy on the outside and warm and tender on the inside). You'd think that home fries would be an easy thing, but many restaurants screw it up. And the sticky buns that they make are really good too. In fact we could have probably ordered some of those and coffee and have been fine. But I'm glad we didn't.

Pros:

fantastic food

staff works hard

fresh food

nice view

kid friendly

did I mention great food?

Cons:

VERY busy (so be patient)

Food Quest: 11th Street Tap House Bar & Grill

So over the weekend we went to the beach and came across 11th Street Tap House Bar & Grill and decided to give it a try. We had been walking the board walk and decided that stopping for a bite to eat was a good idea. This was the view that we had from our table. We could have sat on the patio, there's access to the patio from the beach, but I wanted to be in the A/C.

We decided to share an appetizer and got the Surfer Muscle. It was muscles steamed in Ale and garlic, finished with leeks, shallot and a blue cheese cream sauce. Toast points were included.

It was so yummy that I wish I'd had my own order of them so I didn't have to share!

We both had a glass of beer with it, which was very good. I had something that I was told was local while Jim had a Yuengling. I wish I remembered the name of the beer because it went very nicely with the muscles.

For our main course we decided to share a pizza. I think our theme for the meal was sharing. So we ordered the Knarly Pizza. It had diced chicken tossed in their house made BBQ sauce, diced red onion and tons of mozzarella. Very yummy and cheezy!

Pros:

Nice atmosphere

Good Food

Cons:

Staff was sluggish (Hard to get their attention)

Not really child friendly

Food Quest: Sandfiddler Cafe

So today I went to Sandfiddler Cafe with my buddy Greta and her little boy. She had taken me there before, but I hadn't blogged about it. It's a small restaurant, but the food is good and the service is quite nice.

Last time we had the turkey sandwiches. It had turkey, apple slices, provolone and apple butter. All served on a chewy bagel. It was fantastic! We both had potato chips. And I don't mean the crispy kind. They were slices of potatoes, fried. Yum! Her son had pancakes.

This time she had the harvest salad with balsamic dressing. It had walnuts, chicken and strawberries on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. It looked fantastic. I had the fried chicken salad with honey mustard dressing on it. Her son had pancakes again. We shared an order of potato chips as well.

The good thing about this is it's kid friendly. They supply crayons and coloring sheets for kids. Which makes it nice so you can have a conversation without constant interruption, if you're lucky.

Pros:

Great food

Kid friendly

Nice atmosphere

Good service

Cons:

Location (it can be hard to find)

Space (it fills up quickly at lunch time)

Food Quest: Texas de Brazil

Or maybe a more appropriate title would be, A Carnivores Delight!

I actually got this idea from another blog, Navy Wife, Navy Life. Watch Me Sink Or Swim. and thought it was a really neat idea. So I'm jumping on this band wagon.

So yesterday we went to Texas de Brazil. It's a Brazilian steakhouse in Richmond, but there are others out there. So yeah, it's a chain. Sadly I didn't have the camera on me, so there are no photos.

We've been here before and truly enjoy it. They have lamb, chicken, pork and beef. The servers come around with skewers of meat, so all you have to do is say yes. Their salad bar is also very good! I had fillet mignon, bacon wrapped chicken, lamb chops, leg of lamb, garlic sirloin and bacon wrapped fillet mignon. My other half had the same, plus a few of the other sirloins that were going around. All was very tasty, but the red meat was the best by far.

We also had wine with dinner. We had a Goulart Reserva Malbec/Cabernet 2007 blend. Didn't realize it was a blend when we ordered. Or I would have gone with the other wine that was 100% Malbec. It's from the Mendoza-Argentina area. Malbec goes very well with red meat. Since we couldn't finish the bottle off they did package it so we could take it home.

For dessert we had coffee and pie. I had the pecan pie warmed up and my sweetie had a coconut chess pie warmed and served with ice cream. It must have been good, because he didn't even offer me a taste.

Pros:

Fantastic food!

Great atmosphere

Fabulous service

Wonderful Wine List

Attentive Staff

Did I mention fantastic food?

Cons:

Lighting

Location

I feel the need to explain my pros and cons. The atmosphere is wonderful. You'd feel fine going in jeans and a shirt, your Sunday best or formal wear. We saw some couples in there prom finery. And the staff is quite attentive, but NOT in a stalker sort of way. The only problems I have are as follows. The lights are very low, which I realize creates a mood, but I'd like to be able to read the wine menu. And I don't like the drive it took us to get there. Over an hour, but at the same time it was so worth it. And in the midst of a mall area, so the GPS doesn't take you exactly to it's location. Also I don't think this is a child friendly place. More geared to the adults.