Recently I took a trip to Central Illinois where I was able to visit with family as well as revisit some long-time favorite restaurants.
We started out with Papa Del's pizza. This is a University of Illinois institution, but sadly I couldn't find a website! It's a deep dish pizza with lots of crust, sauce, and cheese. We did the pepperoni version which was as good as we remembered. Papa Del's pizza is so thick that 1-2 slices is plenty of pizza. Really one is probably enough, but given we don't eat it very often it was hard to stop at one. There is another local pizza favorite that I didn't have this time around, but worth a mention. Monical's is a favorite for the townies. It is about the exact opposite of Papa Del's - a thin, cracker crust pizza cut into squares. You can get deep dish at Monical's, but really...why bother. If you're going to do deep dish, go Papa Del's. Both pizzas are good and worth a try if you have the opportunity. We finished the evening with cupcakes from Cakes on Walnut. This is a relatively new bakery in downtown and worth a visit. They have some great flavors and are nice and moist.
Lunch the next day was a visit to Farren's Pub. This is a small restaurant that has grown to be one of my must visits when in town. It has a small kitchen off to the side of the bar and you might expect run-of-the-mill bar food. It is a pleasant surprise to be presented with a menu that will please both the foodie and the non-foodie in the group. The burgers are great and the handcut french fries are worth getting. They offer a Kobe burger on the menu. I've had that in the past, but the regular burger is just fine with me. I don't need the "massaged beef" that the Kobe offers. My only disappointment with this restaurant is that once or twice they have had a wonderfully seasoned barbecue pork sandwich on the "specials" menu. They haven't had this the last several times I've been there. I wish they had this on the regular menu so I can be sure of getting it when I visit.
That evening we were on the western edge of Central Illinois and stopped at a restaurant in a small town, Liberty, Illinois. Mike's Place (no website) has to be the local favorite of that area. It is traditional country cooking at its best. I had to go old school and get the Country Fried Steak. It was exactly what I expected - fried yummy goodness and mashed potatoes covered with gravy. The rest of my party went with breakfast for dinner. We all ended the meal with homemade pie.
We ended the western edge visit with brunch at the country club the following morning. The meal was good and a great way to end the weekend visit.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Biella Ristorante
Thanks to my iPhone and the Open Table app, several weeks ago we tried Biella Ristorante in Excelsior on a whim. Biella is in a beautiful space. An old building with exposed brick...very cozy!
We were among the first guests that evening, so our waiter was very attentive. They had a large staff ready for the tables to be filled with diners. While they waited there was a lot of adjusting of tables, fixing unsturdy chairs, and shining silverware. It was interesting watching the wait staff check their tables and make sure the settings were in good shape for their guests.
We both started off with a salad. I had the Mista which was comprised of Romaine, Sweet Corn, Baby Tomatoes, Blueberries, Provolone, & a light Balsamic Vinaigrette. The Vinaigrette made the lettuce look like it was old and wilted, however the lettuce was crisp and fresh. I might suggest they put the dressing on the side so that the salad at least looks fresh when it is brought to the table. I enjoyed the blueberries in the salad. I'm sure this salad would seem much fresher if it was the middle of summer. The hubby had the Florentine Salad which had Mizuno Greens, Egg, Bacon, Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber, and Olive Oil & Lemon. Both salads were fine, but not outstanding.
I stayed with the blueberry theme for the main entree and ordered the Manhattan Filet. This was an 8oz. Filet with Blueberry Demi, Potato Puree, & Broccoli. The filet was more like a New York Strip than a filet and was a bit on the tougher side. I think they could have butterflied the filet to cook it. Instead I went with ordering it medium (versus my normal medium well). It had a nice flavor. While there was a blueberry demi sauce, I didn't get an overwhelming blueberry taste. I suppose that was fine, the sauce was still a nice addition to the meat and the potato puree.
The hubby went with the Chicken Ravello - which was a seared ChickenBreast, Fingerling Potatoes, Spinach, Bacon, with Star Anise Glaze and a hint of Truffle Oil. I know that if there is anything on the menu with truffle oil, he'll end up ordering it. Same thing with polenta - although that was not on the Biella menu that evening. His meal was fine, although the fingerling potatoes were oddly cut and seemed to just roll around on the plate.
Overall the meal was nice and the atmosphere was great. Our waiter was one of the best we've had in ages. He was attentive, able to explain the selections, kept the water glasses filled, and all in all was very good.
Biella is a good restaurant if you live on the west side of the metro area. I doubt we'll be rushing back anytime soon, but mainly that is because we have so many restaurants to try that it's hard to revisit average ones.
Happy Eating!
We were among the first guests that evening, so our waiter was very attentive. They had a large staff ready for the tables to be filled with diners. While they waited there was a lot of adjusting of tables, fixing unsturdy chairs, and shining silverware. It was interesting watching the wait staff check their tables and make sure the settings were in good shape for their guests.
We both started off with a salad. I had the Mista which was comprised of Romaine, Sweet Corn, Baby Tomatoes, Blueberries, Provolone, & a light Balsamic Vinaigrette. The Vinaigrette made the lettuce look like it was old and wilted, however the lettuce was crisp and fresh. I might suggest they put the dressing on the side so that the salad at least looks fresh when it is brought to the table. I enjoyed the blueberries in the salad. I'm sure this salad would seem much fresher if it was the middle of summer. The hubby had the Florentine Salad which had Mizuno Greens, Egg, Bacon, Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber, and Olive Oil & Lemon. Both salads were fine, but not outstanding.
I stayed with the blueberry theme for the main entree and ordered the Manhattan Filet. This was an 8oz. Filet with Blueberry Demi, Potato Puree, & Broccoli. The filet was more like a New York Strip than a filet and was a bit on the tougher side. I think they could have butterflied the filet to cook it. Instead I went with ordering it medium (versus my normal medium well). It had a nice flavor. While there was a blueberry demi sauce, I didn't get an overwhelming blueberry taste. I suppose that was fine, the sauce was still a nice addition to the meat and the potato puree.
The hubby went with the Chicken Ravello - which was a seared ChickenBreast, Fingerling Potatoes, Spinach, Bacon, with Star Anise Glaze and a hint of Truffle Oil. I know that if there is anything on the menu with truffle oil, he'll end up ordering it. Same thing with polenta - although that was not on the Biella menu that evening. His meal was fine, although the fingerling potatoes were oddly cut and seemed to just roll around on the plate.
Overall the meal was nice and the atmosphere was great. Our waiter was one of the best we've had in ages. He was attentive, able to explain the selections, kept the water glasses filled, and all in all was very good.
Biella is a good restaurant if you live on the west side of the metro area. I doubt we'll be rushing back anytime soon, but mainly that is because we have so many restaurants to try that it's hard to revisit average ones.
Happy Eating!
Suburban Restaurants
Over the last several weeks, I have visited a number of new restaurants. I will provide a few thoughts and overall impressions on these restaurants. Two of the restaurants were visited on a work night for a “see what the suburbs have to offer” meal.
One evening we ventured to The Cove. This restaurant is not really new, but until recently my interest in going to it was very low. During our time in the cities, this location has housed approximately 5 different food establishments. I’m not sure what the problem is with the location, although it shares a building with a Live Bait shop – which in my opinion is not exactly appetizing advertising. Another part of my hesitation was based on their website which is awkwardly put together. In addition, the menu is rather obnoxious. The addition of the z on the end of wordz is annoying. The menu is difficult to read and I often wonder if people who create menus actually look at the finished product. Different fonts are used and way too much verbiage is used on the different songs/records that introduce the different categories of food. Just feels like they are trying too hard to have a theme.
We did venture out one evening to the restaurant to give it a try. The evening we went, it was pretty well populated. This is always good to see. They had some awkwardly placed tables in the restaurant – meant for one person, but the person would have to face the wall in the corner. I know when I eat in a restaurant by myself, I like to be able to look out and people watch. I would feel like I was in trouble if I had to sit in those seats facing the wall. The restaurant is decorated with various rock ‘n roll posters, albums, etc. This played along with the theme on the menu. Ironically, the tv station was turned to the country station and the overhead music was country as well – although not the same which was annoying.
So …what about the food? I went with a plain hamburger and fries. The hubby went with the Chubby Checker Chicken Sliders and the Elvis Cheese Curdz. The food was surprisingly pretty good. I think I had low expectations so the fact that the food was decent was surprising. I doubt I will rush back to The Cove, but if I’m in the area…I’d give it another try.
Next up…Casa Nostra Pizzeria and Ristorante Italiano. We tried this new restaurant during their opening week. We will go back and try it once they are a bit established, but it was worth a try this particular night. We went fairly early and had no problem getting a table. By the time we left, nearly every table was full.
The restaurant is pretty small in size. The décor of the dining room was pretty nice…deep red walls with dark trim. One of my biggest pet peeves of restaurants is when they don’t think through all of the design elements of the space and how the customers will experience the meal. This particular restaurant had an opening between the kitchen and the dining room that had no door. While it was nice to not have a door swinging back and forth, the harsh bright light of the kitchen was distracting. Unfortunately I chose a seat that faced that door. It was very distracting to me throughout the meal. A simple curtain would have helped provide a barrier.
The hubby tried the fettuccine alfredo and thought it was ok. I ordered a pepperoni pizza that when delivered had a neon orange look to it. It was so unappealing looking that if I were the chef I would never have served it to a customer. I gave it a try and it was tolerable. Part of the problem was the grease from the pepperoni. That coupled with what appeared to be a cheddar cheese blend provided the orange glow. While I didn’t send it back, I also will not order it again if I go back. They have paninis that might be worth a lunch trip some day if in the area.
Both of these restaurants were worth a week night try. I won’t rush back to either one, but they do offer a suburban option.
Happy eating!
One evening we ventured to The Cove. This restaurant is not really new, but until recently my interest in going to it was very low. During our time in the cities, this location has housed approximately 5 different food establishments. I’m not sure what the problem is with the location, although it shares a building with a Live Bait shop – which in my opinion is not exactly appetizing advertising. Another part of my hesitation was based on their website which is awkwardly put together. In addition, the menu is rather obnoxious. The addition of the z on the end of wordz is annoying. The menu is difficult to read and I often wonder if people who create menus actually look at the finished product. Different fonts are used and way too much verbiage is used on the different songs/records that introduce the different categories of food. Just feels like they are trying too hard to have a theme.
We did venture out one evening to the restaurant to give it a try. The evening we went, it was pretty well populated. This is always good to see. They had some awkwardly placed tables in the restaurant – meant for one person, but the person would have to face the wall in the corner. I know when I eat in a restaurant by myself, I like to be able to look out and people watch. I would feel like I was in trouble if I had to sit in those seats facing the wall. The restaurant is decorated with various rock ‘n roll posters, albums, etc. This played along with the theme on the menu. Ironically, the tv station was turned to the country station and the overhead music was country as well – although not the same which was annoying.
So …what about the food? I went with a plain hamburger and fries. The hubby went with the Chubby Checker Chicken Sliders and the Elvis Cheese Curdz. The food was surprisingly pretty good. I think I had low expectations so the fact that the food was decent was surprising. I doubt I will rush back to The Cove, but if I’m in the area…I’d give it another try.
Next up…Casa Nostra Pizzeria and Ristorante Italiano. We tried this new restaurant during their opening week. We will go back and try it once they are a bit established, but it was worth a try this particular night. We went fairly early and had no problem getting a table. By the time we left, nearly every table was full.
The restaurant is pretty small in size. The décor of the dining room was pretty nice…deep red walls with dark trim. One of my biggest pet peeves of restaurants is when they don’t think through all of the design elements of the space and how the customers will experience the meal. This particular restaurant had an opening between the kitchen and the dining room that had no door. While it was nice to not have a door swinging back and forth, the harsh bright light of the kitchen was distracting. Unfortunately I chose a seat that faced that door. It was very distracting to me throughout the meal. A simple curtain would have helped provide a barrier.
The hubby tried the fettuccine alfredo and thought it was ok. I ordered a pepperoni pizza that when delivered had a neon orange look to it. It was so unappealing looking that if I were the chef I would never have served it to a customer. I gave it a try and it was tolerable. Part of the problem was the grease from the pepperoni. That coupled with what appeared to be a cheddar cheese blend provided the orange glow. While I didn’t send it back, I also will not order it again if I go back. They have paninis that might be worth a lunch trip some day if in the area.
Both of these restaurants were worth a week night try. I won’t rush back to either one, but they do offer a suburban option.
Happy eating!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Solera
So my post about Solera has to begin a number of years ago. Specifically, I’m going back to 2004. This was the year that the hubby and I decided that we were tired of the same old restaurants. Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine published their Top 50 restaurants and we decided to “work the list.” Every week we would pick a different restaurant from the list and make reservations. Thus began the love affair of trying new restaurants. Now we never did hit all 50, we’re both not big sushi fans and several of the restaurants are focused on that cuisine. However, we did hit a fair share of the list and most of the Top 20. The one exception – which is still on the list is Canoe Bay in Wisconsin. That would require a likely stay overnight due to the drive, so we haven’t gotten there quite yet.
Which brings me back to Solera, after our first visit to this Tim McKee restaurant, I fell in love. As Reservations for One indicates, the Chorizo Stuffed Dates are an all-time favorite of mine. Now when you are working the Top 50 list and new restaurants continue to come and go, it is hard to always get back to restaurants that you’ve tried already. Solera is one of those that I make exceptions for. I’ve been there for birthdays, before a play, after a concert, happy hours, and just because. Now I still don’t go on a regular basis, but in the last 6 years I’ve been there a number of times.
When visitors come to town, this is one of the restaurants I always want to take guests too. My girlfriends from high school have been there….unfortunately one HATES goat cheese which was very disappointing given my love of the dates. We are still friends though; I just know we have our differences. One of the more memorable excursions was when we took my parents to Solera after a Garrison Keillor show. My dad is “vanilla,” plain and simple. He likes vanilla ice cream, regular coffee – no snooty latte or cappuccino, he’s a meat and potato man through and through. My mom on the other hand enjoys trying whatever we suggest and is more open to new foods. When I mentioned Tapas to my parents, I think my mom was intrigued and my dad was skeptical. We got them to go and my dad absolutely LOVED this place. My mom enjoyed it, but the surprise of the evening was how into the various tapas and the experience my dad was. (I will have to say this was after seeing Garrison and guest performer Wilco, so he was in a pretty decent mood.) It was a lot of fun and the food was great as always.
Which brings me to my recent visit…Reservations for One and I went there after work one evening. She has a great review of the dishes we tried. Please check out her blog for the specifics. I do depart from her on the Chorizo Stuffed Dates review. When you have the creamy goat cheese, who cares about whether there was enough Chorizo in the mix. They were still as good as ever! (And thank you that I got the extra one!) They no longer offer the breadsticks with Serrano ham, cheese and honey. That was also a great dish and I was sad to see it go. Every dish we tried was great. What’s awesome about tapas is if there was a dish you didn’t care for as much, you order another. It’s not like you are stuck with a full meal of something you don’t like. We also enjoyed a nice glass of Rioja which paired well with the items we ordered. I agree with the review of the dessert dish – the chocolate was just not quite sweet enough.
I would encourage you to give Solera a try if you have not already. As for me, I will be back and will order Chorizo Stuffed Dates as my first tapas.
Happy eating!
Which brings me back to Solera, after our first visit to this Tim McKee restaurant, I fell in love. As Reservations for One indicates, the Chorizo Stuffed Dates are an all-time favorite of mine. Now when you are working the Top 50 list and new restaurants continue to come and go, it is hard to always get back to restaurants that you’ve tried already. Solera is one of those that I make exceptions for. I’ve been there for birthdays, before a play, after a concert, happy hours, and just because. Now I still don’t go on a regular basis, but in the last 6 years I’ve been there a number of times.
When visitors come to town, this is one of the restaurants I always want to take guests too. My girlfriends from high school have been there….unfortunately one HATES goat cheese which was very disappointing given my love of the dates. We are still friends though; I just know we have our differences. One of the more memorable excursions was when we took my parents to Solera after a Garrison Keillor show. My dad is “vanilla,” plain and simple. He likes vanilla ice cream, regular coffee – no snooty latte or cappuccino, he’s a meat and potato man through and through. My mom on the other hand enjoys trying whatever we suggest and is more open to new foods. When I mentioned Tapas to my parents, I think my mom was intrigued and my dad was skeptical. We got them to go and my dad absolutely LOVED this place. My mom enjoyed it, but the surprise of the evening was how into the various tapas and the experience my dad was. (I will have to say this was after seeing Garrison and guest performer Wilco, so he was in a pretty decent mood.) It was a lot of fun and the food was great as always.
Which brings me to my recent visit…Reservations for One and I went there after work one evening. She has a great review of the dishes we tried. Please check out her blog for the specifics. I do depart from her on the Chorizo Stuffed Dates review. When you have the creamy goat cheese, who cares about whether there was enough Chorizo in the mix. They were still as good as ever! (And thank you that I got the extra one!) They no longer offer the breadsticks with Serrano ham, cheese and honey. That was also a great dish and I was sad to see it go. Every dish we tried was great. What’s awesome about tapas is if there was a dish you didn’t care for as much, you order another. It’s not like you are stuck with a full meal of something you don’t like. We also enjoyed a nice glass of Rioja which paired well with the items we ordered. I agree with the review of the dessert dish – the chocolate was just not quite sweet enough.
I would encourage you to give Solera a try if you have not already. As for me, I will be back and will order Chorizo Stuffed Dates as my first tapas.
Happy eating!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Anchor Fish and Chips
The hubby and I ventured out to The Anchor Fish and Chips recently to see what all the hype was about. I actually was more interested in trying it than he was - the idea of Fish and Chips just sounded appealing. We had an event to go to in the evening, so we hit The Anchor around 4:45 pm. It was packed! There are pros about being a party of 2 as we were seated immediately while larger parties had to wait.
The place is small, but not confining. I'm borderline claustrophobic and small enclosed spaces can sometimes bother me. This was not that way. While the waiting area is small, the actual dining area was comfortable. I wouldn't necessarily go there to have a serious conversation with someone - others will hear you. But really, who has a serious conversation over fried food? My one complaint on the space (and one that I have with other smaller restaurants) is the lack of a vestibule from the outside to the restaurant. There was not much between the guests and the outside air. In the middle of winter that can make for some drafty dining. The decor of the restaurant was simple and on the dark side. Very cozy, minus the drafty door.
We placed our orders relatively quickly. I went with the restaurant namesake, the Fish and Chips. The hubby went with the Sausage and Chips. I think I had a Diet Coke and he had water, so no commentary about the beverages on this review. Although a cold beer probably would have tasted pretty good with the fish and chips, I'll save that for summertime.
The wait for our food didn't seem to take too long. The fish portion was a generous serving. Technically there were two fillets, but they were huge. I think we could have easily split this and maybe an appetizer to go with it. There was one sausage in his meal. It was quite large and definitely filling. The chips were very good - especially with the white vinegar. I ordered a side of tartar sauce (ahhh....childhood memories of fish stick night)! This was not your Mrs. Paul's tartar sauce. We shared it between the fish, sausage and chips. Hints of garlic. Mmm. Very refreshing and worth the 50 cents extra it cost. The fish was an Alaskan cod deep fried to a golden brown. The fish itself was flaky and oh so tasty. I tried it with the vinegar, then the tartar sauce, and by itself. All 3 ways were appealing. The breading was good, but I quickly tired of it as the portion was so huge. I ended up leaving quite a bit of the fish...next time I'll split it! I didn't have them box it up for leftovers. I just don't think it would have lived up to the hype had I reheated it later. The sausage was presumably good as well. I didn't try it as it just didn't appeal to me. I like sausage for breakfast, but later in the day...not so much. He enjoyed it though and I think would recommend it to others.
We finished the meal and gave up our table for the waiting crowd. We both agreed it was a good choice and one that we would go back to again. However, the food was fried and heavy and stuck with us for awhile. We actually contemplated blowing off our evening event since we were uncomfortably stuffed. Thankfully we didn't as we had fun at the event and the uncomfortable full feeling went away fairly quickly.
My overall opinion is great restaurant for good pub food. Split the Fish and Chips with someone. Go early as it is busy. Looking forward to trying it again in the summer.
The place is small, but not confining. I'm borderline claustrophobic and small enclosed spaces can sometimes bother me. This was not that way. While the waiting area is small, the actual dining area was comfortable. I wouldn't necessarily go there to have a serious conversation with someone - others will hear you. But really, who has a serious conversation over fried food? My one complaint on the space (and one that I have with other smaller restaurants) is the lack of a vestibule from the outside to the restaurant. There was not much between the guests and the outside air. In the middle of winter that can make for some drafty dining. The decor of the restaurant was simple and on the dark side. Very cozy, minus the drafty door.
We placed our orders relatively quickly. I went with the restaurant namesake, the Fish and Chips. The hubby went with the Sausage and Chips. I think I had a Diet Coke and he had water, so no commentary about the beverages on this review. Although a cold beer probably would have tasted pretty good with the fish and chips, I'll save that for summertime.
The wait for our food didn't seem to take too long. The fish portion was a generous serving. Technically there were two fillets, but they were huge. I think we could have easily split this and maybe an appetizer to go with it. There was one sausage in his meal. It was quite large and definitely filling. The chips were very good - especially with the white vinegar. I ordered a side of tartar sauce (ahhh....childhood memories of fish stick night)! This was not your Mrs. Paul's tartar sauce. We shared it between the fish, sausage and chips. Hints of garlic. Mmm. Very refreshing and worth the 50 cents extra it cost. The fish was an Alaskan cod deep fried to a golden brown. The fish itself was flaky and oh so tasty. I tried it with the vinegar, then the tartar sauce, and by itself. All 3 ways were appealing. The breading was good, but I quickly tired of it as the portion was so huge. I ended up leaving quite a bit of the fish...next time I'll split it! I didn't have them box it up for leftovers. I just don't think it would have lived up to the hype had I reheated it later. The sausage was presumably good as well. I didn't try it as it just didn't appeal to me. I like sausage for breakfast, but later in the day...not so much. He enjoyed it though and I think would recommend it to others.
We finished the meal and gave up our table for the waiting crowd. We both agreed it was a good choice and one that we would go back to again. However, the food was fried and heavy and stuck with us for awhile. We actually contemplated blowing off our evening event since we were uncomfortably stuffed. Thankfully we didn't as we had fun at the event and the uncomfortable full feeling went away fairly quickly.
My overall opinion is great restaurant for good pub food. Split the Fish and Chips with someone. Go early as it is busy. Looking forward to trying it again in the summer.
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