Friday, November 12, 2010

So much food, so little time . . .


Okay, yes, we're still out there eating!

Latest Mexican--Maya's Mexican Bistro.

It's one of the prettiest Mexican restaurants we've
visited, and the service was fantastic. Very friendly,
fast, attentive but not weird. Know what I mean?

Chips and sauce were okay. Not great, not yuck,
but okay. Scott had the carnitas, and they were,
well, okay, as well.

I fared a little better with the smoked chicken
burrito, which I thought was worth a second visit.

So, great atmosphere, excellent service.

Would we eat there again? Scott says while he
wouldn't go out of his way to eat there again,
it would be, umm, well, okay.

Okay?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

tomatoes (and a no-cook salsa recipe)


One of my favorite summer things is home grown tomatoes.

We had the good fortune to be the lucky recipients of
a friend who was going on vacation's second picking of
not only tomatoes, but jalapenos--THANK YOU, Chuck!


So, of course, that equals a batch of salsa.

This recipe was easy to make, easy to adapt to our tastes,
and I like that it uses all fresh ingredients.

Ingredients--for all, you can add more or less, to make
this salsa just the way you like it! Chop the veggies
smaller or larger, depending on the texture you like:

* 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion (I used about 1/2 cup)
* 2 small cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 medium cloves)
* 3 LARGE ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed, chopped
* 2 hot chile peppers, Serrano or Jalapeno, finely chopped
(I used three--added some seeds for more heat)
* 2 to 3 tablespoons minced cilantro
* 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons lime juice (I used 1/2 cup)
* salt and pepper

Preparation:
Put chopped onion and garlic in a strainer; pour 2 cups boiling water
over them. Let drain thoroughly. Allow to cool.

Combine onion and garlic with chopped tomatoes, peppers, cilantro,
lime juice, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours to blend
flavors. As much as you'll want to dig in right away, believe me,
it's worth the wait!!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

the answer to the question . . .

. . . is YES, it DOES make my bum look big!

Bad news--haven't been eating out as often.
(AT ALL, actually.)

Good news--lost five pounds, and my jeans
fit again!!!

:)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Cafe 75



One of the benefits of going to work is that our shop is right next door to Cafe 75, located in the Westbrooke Shopping Center, at the corner of 75th and Quivira.

I'm telling you, they have great sandwiches, some lovely soups (DH particularly likes the smoked pork soup), and the cupcakes are delicious. That's pretty magnanimous, coming from me, as we have a pretty high standard for baked goods. If it doesn't taste at least as good as something we make at home, we generally won't
even bother to waste our calories eating it.

What we eat at Cafe 75: Sandwiches, chips, soups, cupcakes.

What we think: I can personally recommend the turkey press (pictured), the Chipotle pork loin, and the Blueberry Almond Chicken Salad. Never had a green salad there, but they look wonderful, too. You can't go wrong with the warm, crispy, perfectly seasoned waffle chips! The service is friendly, the take out is fairly fast, the atmosphere is bright, clean, and cheerful. The cupcakes choices change out, but all the varieties we have been fortunate enough to taste, we very much enjoyed.

The little things count: They package the take out orders very nicely, and that's right, that sammich better come with a pickle! (It does.)

Would we eat there again? And again, and again . . .

*****Sad update--the Cafe has since closed, but Executive
Catering is still up and running, albeit at a different location.*****

Friday, July 2, 2010

Topsy's Popcorn



We were at Metcalf South yesterday, where there happens to
be a Topsy's. I have this thing for cinnamon popcorn, so
we stopped in--they even had a fat free variety, which I'd
never tried.


It was the best cinnamon popcorn I've ever eaten.
I don't know if it was a random mistake, or if Topsy's
has gone extreme in their flavoring, but this was so
spicy, it hurt (in a good way).

You notice there's no pic of the actual bag of corn,
right? Because we ate it all before we got home . . .

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Mr. Gyros



Today we lunched on take out from Mr. Gyros.
This was only our second visit to Mr. Gyros, which is really
strange, since the restaurant has been around for (according
to their website) 25 years, and we've been eating out in KC
together for almost 30!

Today we ate:
Gyros (duh, right?), baklava, and galaktoboureko.

What we thought: The gyros are great. We like the tzatziki--
it could have more garlic in it as far as I'm concerned, but
Scott says "don't mess with it." He also likes the super soft
pita.

The baklava was pretty good; I like mine layered, with a touch
more lemon flavor, but the amount of syrup was good--NOT soggy.
I do NOT like soggy baklava.

Which brings us to the galaktoboureko. Soggy. I've only had
galaktoboureko once before, but it was nice and custardy, not
soggy. So, I dunno if it's always like that at Mr. Gyros, or
if the custard had started to separate, or what.



The small things matter: Excellent napkins, nice weight
plastic ware that doesn't break when you try to eat with it.

Atmosphere: We went at lunch. They were super fast with the
service, not particularly friendly (probably due to being mega
busy). Very clean, bright, cheerful. The people waiting in
the vast line behind us didn't seem to mind a bit, probably
anticipating the good things to come.

Eat there again? No doubt. Like I said was our second visit,
so that ship already sailed.

Any new suggestions for Greek in KC? Besides Tasso's, and the
Mediteranean fare at Jerusalem Bakery?

Mr Gyro's Greek Food on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

RJ's Bob-e-que




What we ate:
I had the pork Butt Burger, which was the special, with fries and beans.
Scott had the blackened tilapia, with cheesy corn and beans.

What we thought:
The Butt Burger had a nice level of smoke flavor, and the sauce, while not a typical KC type, was yum. The beans are just so-so; not bad, but not good enough to make
me want to actually eat them (Scott says my homemades are better). The fries, on the other hand, may very well be the best I've ever eaten.

Tilapia: Scott gives the blackened tilapia a thumbs up. (Seriously, I just asked him what he thought, and he gave me a thumbs up.) Then he said it "satisfied
my palate, and left me desiring the next bite," but that sounds too dorky to post. ANYWAY, I liked the tilapia, too, and the side of sauce that came with it. Cheesy corn was pretty good, as well.

The small things matter:
Pickles, while a mere afterthought to many, are one of my bbq must-haves. RJ's are thickish, rippled, crispy, and delicious. I would have asked for extras, but ate WAY too many fries anyway, and thought Scott was going to have to roll me down the hill to the car as it was.

Service: EXCELLENT. Friendly, helpful, fast, even in the middle of a lunch rush.

Atmosphere: Hey, we like to eat. We're not all into the whole atmosphere thing, but in case you are, RJ's looked like a typical kind of bbq thing. It was clean, clean, clean--looked white glove tested all over.

Eat there again? Yes, no doubt--we plan on going back on an evening when they have live music.

Check it out for yourself:
RJ's Bob-e-que
5835 Lamar Mission KS, 66062

RJ's Bob-B-cue on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop & Satay Bar



Right. Okay. Basically swiped that pic straight from
their website. You can check out LuLu's at their
very informative page HERE.

What we ate:
I had the Drunken Noodles, we split an order of
spring rolls, and Scott can't remember what he
ordered.

What we thought:
The spring rolls were so-so, but the sauce that
came with them was fantastic.

The Drunken Noodles were delicious--when they say
"Hot," they are NOT exaggerating. I eat hot, so
I figured no problem, but THEN I ate a jalapeno
out of whatever it was Scott was eating, and almost
died.

His order of "whatever" was really good, too, by
the way. Something chicken.

Service:
Pretty poor. We arrived at 2:00 for lunch, and
there were only six tables with customers, with
three waitstaff. Our waitress was more interested
in preparing for the dinner crowd, as she was doing
all sorts of side jobs. Scott had to physically get
up and go to the bar and ask for water (hot food + no
water = ouch!), and then again for a carry out box.


Atmosphere:
Quirky, cute, small, cozy.

Eat there again?
Yep, definitely, the food was great, so a second
chance at better service is a no-brainer. BUT, due to the
negligent service we received, maybe we'll try earlier for
lunch or later for dinner.

Lulu's Noodle Shop & Satay Bar on Urbanspoon