Well, we decided to try the new Sammy's Woodfired Pizza Kitchen that opened around the corner. I haven't been to a Sammy's in about 10 years and things have indeed changed. They now have a whole section of 'tapas,' in addition to pizzas, entrees, sandwiches & tacos, and salads. Perhaps the menu is a little too ambitious (I don't think Gordon Ramsay would approve), but I'm a fan of the tapas because it means I don't have to decide on just one thing.
We opted for a couple of tapas/appetizers and a pizza. The hummus and baba ganoush each came with what the menu called 'grilled flatbread,' which was actually pizza dough that was drenched in butter and some dried herb pesto/seasoning mix. You could hardly even see bread, there was so much seasoning on there. Needless to say, it was pretty overwhelming and basically impossible to taste anything except that. We asked if we could get some plain grilled flatbread and our waiter said it wouldn't be a problem. When he brought it out, he commented that he never realized they could make the flatbread without all of that seasoning nonsense and would definitely order it that way himself in the future. I am shocked that no one has asked for that before.
Anyway, we also got a BBQ chicken pizza....substituting mushrooms for chicken on half for the semi-veggie bf. Definitely should have requested light on the cheese, because there's enough on there to clog every artery in your body. If we go back, we definitely need to work on our ordering skills. Small pet peeve...they charged extra for the mushrooms on the pizza, even though they were substituting for chicken, which I have to imagine is more expensive than mushrooms. Whatever.
They kept bringing out these giant ice cream sundaes piled high with whipped cream to tables around us and the brownie sundae version sounded really good, but I was way too full and since I'm still trying to work on overcoming my tendency to eat until I'm in pain, I was a good girl and passed. In hindsight, I probably should have just ordered the damn brownie sundae for dinner.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
I challenge Bobby Flay to a throwdown...
Now that the bf is back in town, I've been getting out to eat more instead sitting at home watching the Food Network and Bravo while eating cheese & crackers (which is my current favorite snack). A couple nights ago we collected on the sushi dinner my brother owed us. We are not a fan of the all-you-can-eat sushi joints, but my bro went on and on about how great this place Oyshi is, so we broke down and agreed to give it a whirl. Besides, last time we picked the place and took him to Sushi Roku it was a debacle, so I'd rather not repeat that experience. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised by Oyshi. It's over on Rainbow and Robindale and looks pretty new. I'm sure it helped that one of the guys we were with is friends with the owner and everyone that works there, so we didn't have to abide strictly to the AYCE "rules." The sushi was pretty good and they even let the bf create his own roll. It's really hard to beat $26 per person, so we might have to go back at some point.
Last night, we had to go to a party over at Caesars for the Dream Team Poker Tournament that the boys are playing today. After standing around for a couple of hours, chasing down cocktail waitresses for drinks and contemplating eating from the antipasto bar they had set up, we decided to grab some dinner at Mesa Grill. Now, I have a special place in my heart for the ole Mesa Grill, since it was the first place my bf and I shared a meal just the two of us. It's always super busy and when we rolled in around 10:20pm, they told us it was going to be about a 25 minute wait. Oy. So we sat at the bar and had a drink while eavesdropping on the guy trying to hit on a couple chicks next to us. So pathetic, yet highly amusing for us. About 20 minutes later we checked back with the hostess and she seated us. Damn! The table was probably ready the whole time, they just want to make you wait. Should've gone and checked back in after 10 minutes. I hate it when restaurants play that stupid game. Anyway, we decided to try the wild mushroom quesadilla with truffle oil and white bean hummus as an appetizer. Our waitress told us she thinks it's the best quesadilla in the world, but I would have to disagree with that. The dollop of hummus that they put in the middle was cold and it was really off putting. It made the whole quesadilla seem lukewarm and just odd. It certainly didn't enhance the flavor. We weren't fans. Usually I think hummus makes everything better, but not this time. Anyway, on to the main course. I got a pork tenderloin with and ancho bourbon bbq sauce (or something like that) and a sweet potato tamale. The bf got black grouper with a chile tomato sauce and avocado. My pork was pretty tasty--very tender and moist. I did have a little mishap with the tamale though. I took the first bite off the top not realizing it was the pecan butter, so basically I had a mouthful of butter. It was gross and I was tempted to spit it out, but it kinda melted in my mouth before I could. The butter was the same color as the tamale so it totally blended in and was difficult to differentiate. That being the case, they should at least spread it around instead of putting a lump of it on top so you get butter and tamale instead of just butter in your first bite. Unfortunately, I was too full to get dessert, because there were 2 items that looked very tempting--a warm chocolate cake and a chocolate espresso layer cake. I usually have a totally separate stomach for dessert, but I was wearing my tighter going-out jeans and wasn't in the mood to be uncomfortably full. Especially since it would be a little while before I would be home and able to crawl into the I'm-too-full fetal position. I have decided that Mesa Grill is just really hit or miss these days. I wonder when the last time Bobby Flay was actually in the kitchen and if he approves of the cold hummus on the wild mushroom quesadilla. If so, I'd like to challenge him to a quesadilla throwdown. The bf and I would take him down for sure....
Last night, we had to go to a party over at Caesars for the Dream Team Poker Tournament that the boys are playing today. After standing around for a couple of hours, chasing down cocktail waitresses for drinks and contemplating eating from the antipasto bar they had set up, we decided to grab some dinner at Mesa Grill. Now, I have a special place in my heart for the ole Mesa Grill, since it was the first place my bf and I shared a meal just the two of us. It's always super busy and when we rolled in around 10:20pm, they told us it was going to be about a 25 minute wait. Oy. So we sat at the bar and had a drink while eavesdropping on the guy trying to hit on a couple chicks next to us. So pathetic, yet highly amusing for us. About 20 minutes later we checked back with the hostess and she seated us. Damn! The table was probably ready the whole time, they just want to make you wait. Should've gone and checked back in after 10 minutes. I hate it when restaurants play that stupid game. Anyway, we decided to try the wild mushroom quesadilla with truffle oil and white bean hummus as an appetizer. Our waitress told us she thinks it's the best quesadilla in the world, but I would have to disagree with that. The dollop of hummus that they put in the middle was cold and it was really off putting. It made the whole quesadilla seem lukewarm and just odd. It certainly didn't enhance the flavor. We weren't fans. Usually I think hummus makes everything better, but not this time. Anyway, on to the main course. I got a pork tenderloin with and ancho bourbon bbq sauce (or something like that) and a sweet potato tamale. The bf got black grouper with a chile tomato sauce and avocado. My pork was pretty tasty--very tender and moist. I did have a little mishap with the tamale though. I took the first bite off the top not realizing it was the pecan butter, so basically I had a mouthful of butter. It was gross and I was tempted to spit it out, but it kinda melted in my mouth before I could. The butter was the same color as the tamale so it totally blended in and was difficult to differentiate. That being the case, they should at least spread it around instead of putting a lump of it on top so you get butter and tamale instead of just butter in your first bite. Unfortunately, I was too full to get dessert, because there were 2 items that looked very tempting--a warm chocolate cake and a chocolate espresso layer cake. I usually have a totally separate stomach for dessert, but I was wearing my tighter going-out jeans and wasn't in the mood to be uncomfortably full. Especially since it would be a little while before I would be home and able to crawl into the I'm-too-full fetal position. I have decided that Mesa Grill is just really hit or miss these days. I wonder when the last time Bobby Flay was actually in the kitchen and if he approves of the cold hummus on the wild mushroom quesadilla. If so, I'd like to challenge him to a quesadilla throwdown. The bf and I would take him down for sure....
Thursday, March 19, 2009
My first time....
So here goes, my first foray into blogging. I decided to write a blog about food because it's really the only thing that I always have something to say about. Plus, I figure establishing myself as a food blogger is my best chance at someday achieving my dream of being a guest judge on Top Chef or Iron Chef (fingers crossed that the secret ingredient is chocolate!). Since I doubt Food & Wine is going to hire a noob with no journalistic experience (save for my stints on my high school and college newspapers) and I'm way too lazy to go to culinary school and work my way up the chef food chain in order to get invited, this is my best bet. I'm also way more passionate about eating food than I am about actually cooking it; which is why I watch Food Network constantly, yet cook rarely.
The boyfriend is out of town for a few days, so I have a lot of time on my hands and a productive mindset. I went to See's candy today for the first time to buy some molasses chips for the bf. I'm usually partial to Ethel M here in Vegas, but we saw a piece about these molasses candies on Unwrapped and the bf started saying they are the best candy ever. I have little faith in his taste in candy, since he is devoted to Skittles and doesn't really like chocolate (I'm not sure how we are still together), but I happened to drive by See's and thought I'd check it out. I haven't opened the box yet since they are kind of for him, but I got a dark chocolate truffle with chocolate chips for myself for the meantime, and in case the molasses chips suck.
I'm on a self-imposed health-kick for the next few days, so I probably won't have any good meals to report on. I'm contemplating doing some baking though, so we'll see if I work up the motivation to do that. I've been craving these cupcake cones my mom used to make for us as kids. My sister and I were just discussing ways to get the frosting down to the bottom of the cone, so that every bite includes some icing and not just the part on top. That's probably why I dreamt about cupcakes and icing a cake last night. I think I might need an intervention....
The boyfriend is out of town for a few days, so I have a lot of time on my hands and a productive mindset. I went to See's candy today for the first time to buy some molasses chips for the bf. I'm usually partial to Ethel M here in Vegas, but we saw a piece about these molasses candies on Unwrapped and the bf started saying they are the best candy ever. I have little faith in his taste in candy, since he is devoted to Skittles and doesn't really like chocolate (I'm not sure how we are still together), but I happened to drive by See's and thought I'd check it out. I haven't opened the box yet since they are kind of for him, but I got a dark chocolate truffle with chocolate chips for myself for the meantime, and in case the molasses chips suck.
I'm on a self-imposed health-kick for the next few days, so I probably won't have any good meals to report on. I'm contemplating doing some baking though, so we'll see if I work up the motivation to do that. I've been craving these cupcake cones my mom used to make for us as kids. My sister and I were just discussing ways to get the frosting down to the bottom of the cone, so that every bite includes some icing and not just the part on top. That's probably why I dreamt about cupcakes and icing a cake last night. I think I might need an intervention....
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