Bubba Gump - I Came, I Ate, I Conquered

It was on the list of places I had to try. Bubba Gump Shirmp Co. Just 4 blocks south of my gigs at News Corp, it was destiny.

I was pleasantly surprised with my experience here. At first I was a bit embarrassed because my co-workers I went with told the host that I was a food critic with a website. Well I guess he told his manager and the guy came to the table to talk to us. We had to tell him that it was really only my little blog. Anyway he was not so impressed after that. I think he could have threw in a free dessert or something.
So to start we got Bubba's Far Out Dip. It was really good! It was pretty much spinach artichoke dip with peppers. Good idea! A bit on the greasy side, but really tasty.
For my entree I took the waiters suggestion and got the Shrimp New Orleans. It was actually outstanding. It was grilled shrimp in a spicy Cajun brown sauce with white rice. I ate the whole thing. It also came with a piece of garlic bread the size of a boat.
The most amazing thing about the meal was that I was peer pressured by Princess Lovey Dovey to try her Mahi Mahi. Usually I do not succumb to such antics but she swore I would like it. It was the first time I ate fish since fish sticks in 3rd grade. I have to say, not bad at all.
Bubba Gump also has some fab drinks. Fun Lemonades with real fruit like blueberries or strawberries. I also sampled an adult beverage (shhh!!! don't tell my bosses). It was a peach vodka drink. Not strong at all, but really tasty.
The service and atmosphere at this place is also noteworthy. Our waiter was a lot of fun and quizzed use on our Forrest Gump knowledge. I thought that was a nice touch. They also have ping pong paddles on the table which is cute.
So in conclusion, I think this place is really good. I thought it was going to be like Red Lobster, but it is different. I would say it is fresher tasting and more spicy. It was a bit on the pricey side, I mean at least you get amazing rolls before your meal at Red Lobster and a salad but, if you have one in your area check it out. I mean there is one in Bali so I bet there is one in your neck of the woods.

Applebee's - Feeling Good Now!

Oh Applebee's you seem to really be springing up all over now. I remember when you were a novelty, a treat when I was shopping in Jersey, but now you really are everywhere.

Rockland, Manhattan, Woodbury Commons. I kind of think I liked you better when you were smaller.

The thing I love about Applebee's is that although they are a chain they try to be a neighborhood restaurant. They do this by hanging stuff (a la old school Friday's) all over the restaurant that have to do with your town. Usually it is stuff from neighborhood high schools. When I used to go to Applebee's in Jersey I would always imagine how cool it would be to have my high school on the walls and maybe a picture of me. Anyway, one did open up my me and much to my dismay no pictures of everyone's favorite national honor society president and soccer bench warmer made the wall. Instead they put pictures from like 1987 up with people in MC Hammer pants. Whatever.

Usually when I go to Applebee's now I get the Oriental Chicken Salad. It is probably one of my favorite chain salads. It is filled with chicken, almonds, and noodles. You can get it with fried chicken or grilled. Obviously it is better with fried chicken but the grilled is good too. The best part of this salad is the dressing. It is called an Oriental vinaigrette, it is really light and sweet and tangy and good. Love it! What is also cool is they offer the salad in a wrap form. I get that sometimes if I am more in the mood for a sandwich over a salad.

I used to get the Chicken Fingers and French Fries all the time here. I think they are a very solid choice. Way back in the day they had a Riblet and Chicken Finger basket, that was a nice option too but I probably would not get that now because I do not eat ribs anymore.

Now on the menu they have a bruschetta burger. It sounds really good, next time I am here I am going to try it. It is made with pesto so I am sure it is outstanding.

Another really important thing to note is that Applebee's had tons of "Weight Watchers" choices. I have had the Confetti Chicken and it was really good. You do not feel like you are eating a healthy dish at all. It is a mexican chicken with rice. The description online says it is a party on your plate, wow, can't mess with that. They also have Teriyaki Steak 'N Shrimp Skewers. I would try that for dinner.

I think my brother has had some of the steaks here and he says that they are decent. Good to know.

The desserts on the menu here are really good too, they have a weight watchers one, never had it. I mean dessert is dessert go all out. I would get the Sizzling Apple Crisp because I love that kind of stuff. I am always tempted to try to Maple Butter Blondie. Never did though, I wonder why?

One annoying thing to note, like most chain restaurants in Manhattan, it is totally overpriced. I went with my co-workers recently and it was like 25 bucks each. We could have went to Del Frisco's for like 5 bucks more. Also there were no pictures from high schools up either.

Breaking News - New Dressings at Hale and Hearty!

I have breaking news to report and what glorious news it is! Due to the beautiful weather in the city I decided to have a salad and sit outside for lunch. I know, what a concept!

I went to Hale & Hearty today and was pleasantly surprised to see that they are introducing three new salad dressings. Yup, not one, not two, but three! What was great is that they had little samples of each so you could taste them to see which one you would like. Good idea!

The first one is a reduced fat sesame one. It was a bit weird looking because it looked so white, I kind of imagine my sesame dressing to be a bit more of a peanut color but even though it looked kind of weird it was very tasty. If I am in an Asian mood, I would get it and it is reduced fat so kudos for that.

The next one was called Plum Raspberry Vinegarette It was very tasty, tangy and unique. It reminded me of something they would serve at a Cheesecake Factory or something like that. It is a nice addition to the mix.

The last new dressing is a fat free Balsamic Vinegartte. This was my favorite one. It is pretty much what it says it is a Balsamic Vinaegarette but it had some sort of tangy kick to it. For a fat free dressing, very good.

Anyway, this is great news and makes me love Hale and Hearty even more!

Pizza Hut -Cute Little Comforting Place!

OK, so I am from NY and have the luxury of eating really good pizza every day if I want to. I have lived in other cities and it is true, NY really does have the best pizza. Even the bad pizza is good pizza. I am also very proud to admit that I love Pizza Hut! To be fair, it is totally different than real NY pizza but that does not mean that it is not good.

First thing to really praise Pizza Hut about is their Book It program. I have no idea if this still exists but when I was younger they had this program where you got a free pizza if you read a certain amount of books. How great is that, encourage kids to read! Wonderful, reading is fundamental.
So the food, well I actually think that pizza at Pizza Hut is delicious. I love the deep dish plain cheese pizza. I think the best size to get is the personal pan. The bigger you get the worse it gets. I love the massive amounts of cheese, sauce and dough. The crust of a Pizza Hut pizza is awesome. They just use lots of butter or something. Whatever, it is good! Also, Jessica Simpson seems to eat a lot of Pizza Hut and she is pretty hot so it can not be that bad for you.

What I also love about Pizza Hut is their salad bar buffet. That itself could be a meal. They also have pineapple chunks and chocolate pudding as part of the buffet. Awesome! Pizza Hut is where I learned about mixing sunflower seeds with chocolate pudding. This might sound gross but try it and you will love it.
Pizza Hut also sometimes has a lunch time buffet. Besides all of the salad essentials they have lots of different kinds of pizza so that is fun. They also have dessert pizza which is kind of just like a danish in the shape of a pizza.
Of course you can not talk about Pizza Hut and not mention the breadsticks. They are amazing! They are big, soft on the inside, crusty on the outside and coated in garlic and served with a marinara dipping sauce. Delicious!
Now Pizza Hut serves pizza with the crust stuffed with mozzarella cheese. I have not tried that yet but think it is a very good idea and would like to try it sometime soon.
Lots of places serve Pizza Hut now like Taco Bells, etc but I think to really get a quality Pizza Hut experience you should go to an actual Pizza Hut.

Rosa Mexicana - My Man Arod Likes It So It Must Be Good

If I was writing this blog a year ago I probably would not consider this place a chain. I mean yes they have always had a few locations in Manhattan but recently they have been opening in cities all over the country. They have locations in Florida, DC, Atlanta and soon the great state of New Jersey. Very nice, very nice.

All around I think this place is great! Fun atmosphere, good drinks and great food! As mentioned in the title of this piece of literature it is also a favorite of my boy Arod. An A-bomb, for A-Rod!
For starters the guacamole is top notch. I could probably go here and just eat that. What I love is not only do they give you great chips but they also give you hot tortillas. Eating the soft tortillas with the guac I feel like my dad must have felt chillin Guadalajara 35 years ago. According to him, that makes it really authentic. Other than the guac, I do not see the need to order any other appetizers. Yes, the flautas are really good but you don't need them. Chow down on the guac baby.

For main dishes their are 3 that I totally love. The first are the enchilades de Mole Poblano which is really shocking considering I do not even like chocolate that much. Anyway it is just a really soft, tasty and fun dish. I also really like the Shrimps with Rice. It has a fancier, ethnic name but it is hard to spell and really the dish is essentially garlic shrimp with rice. Sometimes it is a bit on the greasy side so if you can, tell the waiter not too greasy. Other than that, delicious. The third dish I recommend are the short ribs. Just really tender and juicy pieces of meat. I do not often order this but I should. Actually nah, I will just eat it off my brothers plate and get myself something else.

Of course I must mention the drinks. They are most famous for their pomegranate margaritas. Good thing, because they are great. What a treat. They also serve sangria that is really good.

The desserts do not really stick out in my mind but I am sure they are good. I guess maybe just skip dessert though and order yourself another margarita!

Hale & Hearty - Yummy, Yummy

Really, I should have posted this a long time ago but in honor of my lunch today I am going to talk about Hale & Hearty. I am absolutely in love with this place.
Hale & Hearty is a soup and salad place located on almost every other block in NYC. Most of them have lines a mile long at 12:30 pm so you have to scout out the good ones that are not as busy to ensure yourself a speedy enjoyable experience. Sometimes waiting in line for a long time makes me crazy and antsy and that is never a good thing.
I am going to start with the salads because that is what I most often get. I first must commend them for allowing you to get a few freebies. I mean really all salad places should do this. How dare they charge $3.25 for a bowl of chopped up lettuce and then think it is alright to charge you $1.00 for a scoop of almonds. Anyway, Hale & Hearty at least gives you some carrots, onions and cucumbers as part of the basic price. So I pretty much get the same salad every time I go and it is always delicious. I try to go to other salad places and none compare. I get carrots, cucumbers, apples, walnuts, golden raisin and my new pick, mozzarella balls. For dressing, this the tricky part, I get a mix of the Hale and Hearty vinaigrette and balsamic vinegar. I have to thank my friend red headed Kate for coming up with this combo. It is nothing short of genius. There are lots of other choices to put in your salad like avocado, chicken, shrimp, craisins, goat cheese, corn, etc but I found what I like so I am sticking to it. I also always get a piece of their seven grain bread which is very tasty.
The soups here are also far superior than that of what other lunch places serve. My personal favorites are the Senegalese Chicken (which pretty much tastes like pad thai and is amazing), Cream of Tomato with Chicken and Orzo, Texas Beef Chili, actually I like all of the tomato soups and once I tried the Spinach Artichoke Cheddar one and it was pretty much spinach artichoke dip so that obviously rocks. I also just looked online and they have a Vegetable one with pesto that says it is low fat so I clearly need to try that ASAP.
I know the soups here are generally a bit more than at other places but they are kind of worth the extra price because of all the extra flavor.
This place also has sandwich's but I never get those but word on the street is that they are decent too.

Old School Charm - Nathan's

I love Hot Dogs, I think they are so delicious. I am kind of surprised how much I love them because of what they are actually made of but I just don't think about it. I guess I am kind of picky about what kind of hot dogs I will eat because I notice a big difference between Kosher and non-Kosher ones. Pretty much I will only eat Kosher ones . They just taste so much better (and because I am so religious). Of course there is one exception, NATHAN's.
When I was younger I used to always go to the Nathan's on Central Ave. in Yonker's. It was a blast! I would play video games, eat some food and if memory serves me right there was a clown there sometimes that would put on a show for kids. I remember always getting upset though when I wasn't picked to be part of the show. I guess I was always attention hungry. Sometimes the clown did not see the true star power I had as a 7 year old.

When eating at Nathan's, one should not even think of wasting times getting the burgers or the chicken. No way, stick with the hot dog! Also you must, must, must get the French Fries. They are so good. They are by far the best fries in the world. Load them with lots of salt, pepper and ketchup and it is heaven in a paper plate! When you are in a mall food court and you want to indulge the perfect meal is a hot dog, fries and Nathan's lemonade.

Sadly, I have never been to the Nathan's in Coney Island but I really want to go. I will make it a priority this summer. Let me know if you would like to come with me.

I must also note that you have to love a place that sponsors the most famous eating contest. For a while I contemplated becoming a competitive eater. I do not think I could really eat large amounts of hot dogs though ( I think I could do Pasta, Chips & Salsa, Fajitas, Chicken Fingers, Fried Rice or Ice Cream), but this place originated the amazing contest that gets world-wide attention so I must commend them for that!

Finding Chain Selections in Your Local Grocery Aisles

I kind of consider myself a gourmet cook thanks in part to the wide selection of frozen foods chain restaurants make available. These selections are much better than any other frozen food options you might buy. I am going to use this post to highlight some of my favorite ones.

I think the best frozen chain foods are the California Pizza Kitchen pizzas. They are so good, especially the roasted garlic chicken and the thai chicken ones! In college I used to eat them all time. I mean they are not as tasty as what you get in the actual restaurant but for a frozen pizza they are pretty stellar. The only downfall is the amount of fat and calories in them, it is obscene. I recommend not looking at the nutrition label and just enjoy it. I tried to figure out once how it was possible for them to be that bad for you, I mean it is bread, chicken and cheese, how bad can it be?

Anyway other great frozen options are made possible by Friday's. They have a spinach artichoke dip that is awesome! People try to make their own dips all the time and really they are never better than the Friday's one that you can easily heat up in your microwave. Save yourself the time and effort people. They also have their famous rectangle shaped mozzarella sticks that are delicious, available at grocery stores, and these very good chicken bites with a smokey bbq sauce. It is a feast baby! Oh and I can not forget that they make they sell their drink mixes. I have spent many a night enjoying a Friday's Mudslide, thank you very much.
Boston Market also makes their sides available in the frozen food section. I have never tried them but I am curious to see how they taste. I like the sides at the actual store a lot, so I am sure these are pretty good too.

Recently I discovered these amazing granola bars that are made by Caribou Coffee. The granola bars are chocolaty and have a bit of a coffee taste, not too much, just a hint of it. It is perfect really. If you see these in the supermarket, definitely pick up a box and give them a try.

Starbucks makes coffee ice cream flavors that you can buy at the grocery stores. I have had this a few times and I was pretty pleased. Maybe they should just make ice cream and stop making bad coffee.

The Kobe Burger

I am a burger lover, really there is nothing better than a good, juicy hamburger.
Makes me smile.
Anyway, I decided that I would stray from my usual Asian Salad theme food that I usually get at the Cheesecake Factory and go balls to the walls, I would order a hamburger. Oh, but not just any old hamburger, a KOBE Burger!
Much to my dismay I was very let down. There I was, mouth watering waiting for this piece of cow goodness and it just was so blah. I ordered it medium and it definitely came out well done. It was not really that juicy and kind of had a weird flavor, like a bad spice or something. The best part of the burger was the sauteed onions on top and that should not be the case. I have had Kobe burgers at other places and they were much better. I think though, Kobe beef should just stick to steak. Why waste it on a ground beef.
Oh well, I know better now, no more Kobe burgers for me!

Johnny Carino - Johnny So So

I went to this restaurant because of a recommendation from one of my loyal readers. I was really excited to try it. I figured it would be similar to Macaroni Grill but better. Starting the meal I was in a great mood, Arod just hit a grand slam to win the game for the Yankees. It was like all was right in the world. My family decided to sit in the bar area because there were TV's and the sports channel was on so we could see replays of this glorious hit. Anyway, maybe that was not such a good idea because we were seated next to the weirdest couple in the world. More about them later.
What I did really like about Carino's is that all entrees come with either a salad or a soup. I opted for the salad, just a house one. One of the dressings they offer is a house Chianti Vinaigrette. Well my eyes light up when I hear the word Chianti, wine, of course I will order that one. The salad was good, but not amazing, pretty standard. I liked the dressing it was a bit spicy and different so that was good. My dad got the minestrone soup and that was pretty good. I think if I was to go again I would get the soup. Better value.
Anyway, they also serve a nice bread with the first courses. It is a hot Italian Loaf with this nice garlic dipping oil. I love dipping bread in oil so I was happy with that but I must say I saw so much garlic in the oil that I was surprised it was not a bit tastier.
In between my salad and main course I was entertained by the weirdest couple ever. This man was telling his date that he loved her even if she did not have the nicest body. "Most of my other girlfriends had what you would consider perfect bodies, but I like yours better, I would not even care if you got bigger, I would still love you. I remember when I saw you on one of our first dates and you were wearing that outfit, I was so attracted to that outfit and the way you moved. We did not touch so much when we were at the club, but we got it on in the car." What, is this what you talk about extremely loudly at chain restaurants??? He just kept on talking and talking I was afraid I was going to lose my appetite. Especially when he was telling her the difference between strip clubs in Memphis and New York. Apparently you have to pay for lap dances in New York, not so much in Memphis, good to know.
Finally it was entree time - here is where I was a bit disappointed. I ordered the Spicy Shrimp and Chicken Pasta. It claims to include succulent shrimp. I do not think they were so succulent. Kind of just blah actually. I will take Red Lobster Shrimp any day over that. The chicken in the dish was good though. Nice and thin sliced, just the way I like it. The main downfall of the pasta was that it was just way to creamy. My pasta was swimming in a sea of cream sauce. I think if about 1/4 of the sauce was used it would have been a much better meal. My mom and brother got similar dishes and felt the same way. I did try my dad's Chicken Marsala and that was very, very good. Light and airy with lots of chicken and a good amount of pasta. If I was to go back I would get that or try the Chicken Parm. After I ate my pasta dish I felt like I needed to go run laps around the shopping center.
One thing that I was very impressed with about Carino's was their drink menu. They have Sangria - in pitchers and individual glasses, booyah! I ordered a glass of their Italian Sangria, it was very good, very, very good. It has a more berry taste than more traditional Sangria's. I mean is this the way they drink it in Italy, perhaps not but at Italian chains, it works!

Houstons - A Real Winner

Houstons truly is one of the best chain restaurants around. It is one of those chains where chain snobs like to go. I think they kinda of feel that this is not really a chain, but alas, it is. I guess the dark atmosphere and jazz piano player at the bar is a bit different that what you might get at Applebees.
Most good major US cities have a Houstons. It is actually owned by Hillstone Restaurant Group. They have many upscale American restaurants in California. I think they should expand and open some in the New York area.

Anyway, let's get down to business. I shall start with the spinach artichoke dip which is delicious at Houstons. Not as good as the one at CPK, but a close second. My most favorite thing at Houstons are their burgers. Oh my god, they are incredible. By far my favorite chain burger. They are always big and juicy and beautiful. Sometimes you order a burger and you say medium and it comes out burnt, not here, they know how to get it right. Also they are very cool with letting you substitute fries for a baked potato. Good thing because their baked potatoes are awesome. They coat them with salt baby.
I also recommend the Grilled Chicken Salad here. So if I was to get the spinach artichoke dip I would probably get the salad as my entree. It is kind of like a good Asian Chicken Salad.
My brother once get a steak here and he really liked it, so if you are in the steak mood you can go with that but I still feel the burgers are just so good, stick with that if you are diggin red meat. I am also pretty sure my aunt always gets the tuna and she is a picky eater so I trust her judgement so if you eat things like tuna try that.
What is also cool about Houstons is their drink list. They serve cool, regional beers, not just your standard Miller Lite, etc (not that I don't like Miller Lite, I am just saying). They also have a stellar wine list. I usually get a glass of Riesling here and I always like it.

This is Intense - The Best Coffee Chains

I love coffee! It is my favorite non-alcoholic beverage. A day does not go by that I do not have my coffee. I need it like I need water, actually maybe more. This weekend I had the honor of trying my new favorite coffee chain, Honey Dew donuts.

This place is really incredible. The coffee is so smooth and delicious. The regular iced coffee tastes as good as a latte at some of the higher prices places.

Anyway to celebrate my new obsession I am going to be ranking my favorite coffee chains.

1) Honey Dew - Wow, they need to open these in NY. How about we tear down 25% of the Starbucks and open these up. They have many different coffee flavors, I tried the French Vanilla and it was awesome! They also have great muffins. I had the pistachio one. It is green and tastes like a cookie. I am curious to try some of their low fat muffins to see how they taste.

2) Dunkin Donuts - This was my old favorite. I try to have it once a day. I like the French Vanilla coffee here but sometimes I find it inconsistent at different locations. You need to find a good Dunkin to get the best quality coffee. Some of them are kinda shady and some are just like big coffee factories but I still love it! I also like their hot chocolate and vanilla chai a lot. I am not a big fan of their lattes. Of course their donuts are amazing but usually I get a wheat bagel or corn muffin. Both are very yummy.

3) Caribou Coffee - I just went here in Atlanta and was very impressed. Their iced latte was delicious as was just their iced French Vanilla. They have a very nice menu of different kinds of lattes I want to try like Mint Condition, and Lite White Berry (kind of sounds like me). One thing I do not get is the whole log cabin feel of the place. Isn't coffee from South America?

4) Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf - This place is only on the west coast. When I first tried it when I was in Vegas I totally loved it. They have a lot of great iced blended drinks with cool flavors like Caramel, and Peppermint White Hot Chocolate. I think they put powder is most of the drinks which is kind of weird but it tastes really good so I do not care. The only reason why this is not higher on the list because when I tried it for a second time in Vegas I did not like it as much as the first time and I found the service kind of slow.

5) Starbucks - So, so, so overpriced and so blech. I really only like the lattes here. The regular coffee is just not good. The only way it is drinkable is if you put tons of milk and sugar which is kind of annoying. Yes the white chocolate latte or the caramel frapachino is delicious but they are both really fattening. Also they only sell New York Times in their stores. I mean come on sell the Post that is what people want to read anyway.

6) Coffee Beanery - I remember going to these way back in the day but they just are not that good anymore. I feel the coffee is kind of burnt there.

Honorable mention - Guy and Gallard - they get this because their chai is the greatest hot drink in the world. It is like a dessert and I love it!