From What I Remember, Heartland Brewery Was Pretty Solid

As a self proclaimed patriot, Memorial Day is a very special holiday to me. To celebrate the 3 day weekend I participated in pretty much a booze fest with my lady friends that are just as lady like as me. On Sunday I made my way to South Street Seaport and needed a hearty meal to get me through my marathon event. I decided that Heartland Brewery would be the best bet. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience there. To start the meal we got the popcorn shrimp. They were very tasty and not too greasy at all. They were a great size to be shared with the group I was with. For my meal I got a big burger! It was cooked just the way I like it, medium and full of flavor. It was a very good burger. When I have been here before, the burgers were not as good. They also let me substitute mashed potatos for fries. The beers were also very good. I had to take a break to regroup a bit but my friends had some delicious ones, especially this raspberry flavored one. I had a sip and it was delicious. I really recommend the South Street Seaport location. With the opening of the new Water Taxi Beach down there, I have a feeling I will be down there a lot!

My Man is Mister Softee

It is a beautiful day in NYC and there is no better way to celebrate than indulging in a marvelous treat, Mister Softee!! After lunch I went and got some vanilla frozen yogurt from my favorite Mister Softee truck on 45th and 6th. He offers a delicous fat free(so it says, who knows if it is true, doesnt taste fat free) vanilla frozen yogurt in a small cup for the discount price of $2.50. On a beauitful day like today, there is no better way to celebrate.

Little Chrissy got Mister Softee from a competing truck on 48th street and his chocolate soft serve (not yogurt) set him back $3.00 and came is a smaller cup. Ha ha suckah, learn from your elders!

Friday's $5.00 Special - A Great Deal Any Day of The Week

If you are looking for a great food deal, here it is. Friday's is offering their entire sandwich and salad menu for $5.00. Yup just $5.00. At first I didn't believe it, but it is true, but I went and tested it out and it is.

I had the new Jack Daniels Chicken sandwich and it was delicious!!! It is a nice big, juicy chicken breast topped with bacon, onion straws, cheese and of course, Jack Daniels sauce. Friday's really perfected the Jack Daniels sauce, the same way I perfected being obnoxious!

They have expanded their sandwich and salad menu so there are a lot of great things to chose from and the portions are nice and big. I thought that the Shanghai Salad (it has dumplings on top), Strawberry Fields Salad, Chicken Parm Sliders (great idea!), and Thai Chicken Wrap all looked stellar. What I also love is that you can pick your side. I got a salad and it was delicious! Friday's - you are earning your way back to my chain of food heart!

The Chains of Dodger Stadium

On my most recent visit to LA I took a trip to discover the chains of Dodger Stadium. Of course the day I chose for my expedition just so happened to be the day it was revealed that Manny was on the juice as well and would not be playing. That sucked, I was looking forward to booing him and that trader Joe Torre.
I had no idea what to expect on my arrival to the historic field. It is in a very pretty location, close to the city, yet the surrounding make you feel like you are in a mountain park wonderland.

The first chain I saw when I walked through the old, vintage gates was, OMFG, Gordon Biersch. Can you believe it, I love this place, which is surprising because usually I am no a big fan of German things. Now, they don't serve the food menu really, just beer, I had one. It was a heffenwizen and it was delicious! They also serve garlic fries and they looked and smelled off the chain! Another chain I noticed was Carls Jrs. Carls offered lots of premade burgers, fries and chicken fingers as well as a hot dog. I refused to order my hot dog there because I wanted a grilled one, not a boiled one.

In addition Dodger Stadium offers Wetzel Pretzels (which looked delicious), Panda Express and a chain pizza ( I forgot which one, sorry - bad blogger).

All and all not really stellar. I guess I am spoiled with my Yankee Stadium grandeur!

Yogurtland Is My Happy Place

I know I wrote about Yogurtland already, but I am posting this picture to show my love for it.

I have figured out a way for me to move to LA. I am going to open a Yogurtland on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. It is a genius idea, hollah!

Maracas - Shake It

Ahhh, what a lovely weekend I had! I was graced with the presence of Red Headed Kate all weekend! Kate?? No, no, not my old roommate, my bud from the days of being an ASSt.

To celebrate her bday and Cindo de Mayo we decided to go to a fun restaurant in the Village called Maracas. Well I order my huge Margarita and much to my delight I look at my cup and discover, Maracas is a chain. Awesome! Besides their West Village location, there is also one in Ft. Lauderdale. That means when I move to Boca to become a gym teacher (a secret dream I have) I will be able to relive my wild times as a 20 something in NY right in Ft. Lauderdale!

To start the meal we ordered guacamole. I like mine spicy, most of the girls at the table like it mild, boo, boring. Anyway, my spicy guac was just Ok. I would say most of the other Mexican chains in the city have a better, more original tasting guac. I was pretty happy with my Marg. At first I didn't think it was that strong but by my second jumbo sized glass, I could hardly get it down. For $17 bucks a glass, it better be strong! For my entree I went with the Steak and Chicken Fajitas. For fajitas, it really was not a big portion but that was ok, because when your are throwing back margs, you get pretty full and I tend to over eat and then get sick and feel rather bloated in my cute going out attire (TMI - sorry). The fajitas themselves were just ok. I mean they do not hold a candle to Jose Tejas, but really, what does? Other menu items that I thought looked good were the Avocado Shrimp Salad and Pollo Limon. Next time I would probably get the salad. Of course they also have Mexican staples like burritos, tacos and enchiladas, so you could go that way as well.

Truthfully, you don't really go here for the food, you go for the atmosphere and the fun. You see, if it is your birthday, they turn the music up, get the disco ball and lights going, play Happy Birthday and La Bamba, put a Sombrero on you, give you a cake with this crazy candle coming out and take your picture. Its a hoot!

Le Pain Quotidien - Everyday Bread or Bread Everyday - I Don't Know

Not gonna lie I had to look up the definition of quotidien, I assumed it was French, but alas, I was incorrect. Le Pain Quotidien is actually a Belgian chain. Look at that.

Anyway, I apologize for taking some time off blogging. I have no excuse but I am back so...Hollah (yeah for some reason I say that a lot now).

So yesterday I met my buddy Alana for lunch here. Ah, how I miss actually having someone to get lunch with at work. I picked it because I have seen these opening up a bit and thought I should give it another try. You see the first time I ate here was when I was a wee-bit sales assistant who only ate things like chicken nuggets. When I went with some of my co-workers at the time they just loved it, I on the other hand was stuck eating bread with jelly. I believe the girls teased me about it and looked on in disgust. Perhaps that is why they would sometimes not include me on their happy hours. Whatevs, I can prob out drink them all now anyway. Ok, sorry for all the side stories, back to the food.

So yes, I totes eat more food now so I figured I would give it a try. The menu includes lots of sandwiches, tartines (just bread with stuff on top) and salads. Some that caught my eye were the Mozzarella di Bufala & Plum Tomatoes, Shrimp Salad (that has avocado and mango), Mediterranean Platter, Tofu Curry Salad Tartine and the Grilled Chicken and Smoked Mozzarella Tartine. But, the item that really caught my eye was the Black Bean Hummus Tartine and that is the one I went with. Overall it was pretty good but I found it kind of expensive for what it was. All it was, was 5 small slices of bread (that was actually a bit hard) with Black Bean Hummus and avocado on top. It it was more like an appetizer, not an actual meal. I wanted to get Mister Softee when I was done. My dining buddy said she was satisfied with her Turkey Tartine, I do not see how. I bet she was lying and probably could have gone for some Mister Softee too.

Also, the service here was not really that good. I had to ask for Sweet n Low a few times, they didn't have any, only Splenda, boo and our waitress got Alana's order wrong. Duh!

Besides the lunch items I mentioned this place has lots of teas, coffees and yummy looking desserts. I got a chamomile mint iced tea. It was just ok, nothing to write home about.

But the desserts look pretty awesome. They have this sweet Belgium Waffle (that should have probably given it away to me that this was a Belgian and not French place) thing that look amazing. They also had all sorts of tarts like a mixed berry one and a, hold on to your seats, a pistachio one. Those are probably awesome!

All in all, def not my fav place and I probably will not run back. Places like Urth Cafe are WAY better.