Love

Thy name is Sonic

Work Dinner or Dinner with Work People

Work dinner at Mazzantinis in Galleria. Had "discussion" with Twist prior as to whether I had been there before. Ultimately I concluded no. I think he is still unconvinced. 

Pimms Italian. Sweet but tasty. Knocked that down in short order. The company GC was our host. Man is she a live wire! Polled table for things each cooks well and fav turkey day item.  Respect that line of questioning. She and I will get on famously I think. 

Cramer Light was with as was borrowed associate, 2 attys from office and their boss. Half the table had nuclear experience on top of your basic energy. So yeah. If you are thinking nerd fest, you would be correct. 

This is some sausage and Brussels sprouts app that someone else ordered and I basically helped myself to. Holy shit. The goodness cannot be described. Even the sprouts melted in your mouth. 

Some risotto. Very well done. My compliments chef person. Most people can't make good risotto. And by most people I mean 90% of restaurants and the general population. Yes. Of course I am in the 10%. 

Ok so this was was good but why we got it hilarious. I'll put this down as Italian amuse bouche. So the manager comes over when we are ready to order and More or less says  'you can't order now bc we are dumbshits that sat every table in this place within 10 min of each other and can't stack the kitchen'  so this lovely crostini was the peace offering I guess. I could have forgotten all about it if I'd been given say 3-5 of these rather than ONE. One just isn't fair. Ham and cheese both delictable. 

Entree was Hunters chicken which was like a fancy cacciatore. Super tasty. Good flavor.  Nice potatoes too. It was so good going down that I can prob overlook the stomach cramps and GI issues that arose the next morning. I assume the chicken was the culprit. It always is. I so rarely order it for that very reason. 

No one else had anything worth mentioning. Plus I forgot anyway. I saw some fish at the table though.  

Dessert was a honey panna cotta. Again, holy shit! The tastiness was a surprise. Very delicate and nicely done. 

Grabbed a cab back to The Woo. Cramer made sure one arrived for me before he left. What a nice boss, huh? 

Def recommend Mazzantinis and give it a 4   

Very Lame

Oh my gawd. Last week I think I had at least three days where I had no lunch and skated through the afternoon on petite vanilla scones leftover from breakfast and a latte it took me all day to drink. Embarrassing. That is what happens when I don't have anyone to make me go eat. I definitely need to hire Twist. 

Help me. 

So Many Posts So Little Time . . .

Blergh. I have to really *work* at this new job which has cut considerably into my posting time. 

I wrote about the Disney Meal fiasco. I think I left out my good ACC conference meal. I got with my former coworker peeps and we want to The Lobster House at Santa Monica pier.  Dude, it was good. I started off with the mussels in white sauce. I basically scarfed down the mussels and drank the broth.  Entree I got some lobster and succotash thing. It came out of the shell with some gravy stuff on the lobster and of course, succotash.   GOOD. 

When the check came everyone pissed out on expensing the whole dinner so our poor winter had to go back and break it up 6 ways. I don't think he was happy with that. I tried to tip him accordingly. As in more so he wouldn't rip off my new corp card number and go shopping. 

I also have to say that half of my dining companions were Mormon. Which actually is less about them and more about me and the fact I didn't feel right getting my drink on surrounded by a bunch of diet coke drinkers. And I was the only girl. It tends to feel guys out when I drink more than them and can generally hold my liquor. 

Turns out the Santa Monica pier sux too. No offense SM. But I was under the impression that your pier was like the one in Lost Boys. It's not. It's not even close. 

Anyway dinner was a success. Lobster house is a 4 and recommended. 

Check it out, yo. 

Worst Meal Ever at Happiest Place on Earth . . .

through this arch is the legit dining room

Take a potty break and grab a snack people.  This will be a long one.

Never thought I would be saying i had a really crappy meal at Disney____anything.  Just typing it makes me sad.  But- I do think there is distinct difference in level of castmember service at WDW vs the DL due in part to the crowd demographics and "vactioners" vs. local crowd.  Sadly, a perfect example of this was my recent dinner at Cafe Orleans with Hubs.  If you love Disney and don't like to hear negative things about it, cover your ears or move away from this page immediately.  I have lots of negativity to impart.

So, Hubs and I are regulars at the WDW in Flo-rida.  Disneyland, not so much.  Right now we are on pace for once every 7-10 years or so.  So we have this conference in LA and decide to fly in early to go to Anaheim.  Super excited for Carsland etc.  As soon as possible we got reservations for Cafe Orleans with big plans for the Monte Cristo and some beignets.  Cafe Orleans generally has raves from diners--and why should we be different?

Day Two a cold front arrives.  Cafe Orleans has no heaters on its extensive patio.  Consequently, it was a little chilly once the sun went down.  upon check in at Cafe Orleans we say we'd like indoors please.  We wait for like 15 minutes and get called for our table.  Hostess takes us immediately inside the door to the restaurant and a service station and seats us at a super unglorious table by the outside door that is wide open.  Technically, yes, we are seated inside, but seriously?  I didn't want to be a dick so I didn't say anything and just sat.  We had a view of the hostess stand out the door and the waitstaff station inside the door.  nothing else.  We weren't even technically inside the restaurant.  You could tell that this used to be the wait area where the hostess stand had been at one point but it got cleared out for 4 extra tables.  At the end of this foyer was the real entry and doorway to the indoor dining room.

We sit and sit and sit.  One of my pet peeves is no one at least bringing you water so already this was not going well, table aside.  Per Hubs, the waiter popped his head out, looked at his one table of 8 and then his table of 2 (us) and went for the table of 8 first.  10 minutes later he finally cruised over with drink order and a lame "oh sorry I'm so busy".  We order and he goes away.  Hubs had asked if we could get a basket or bread or something while we wait.  Waiter-man looks really confused by this.  I guess no one ever asks for bread?  He does however offer us the option of ordering a basket of french fries.  Um, no thanks.

Iced tea arrives.  Full to brim and not one hint of an ice cube. On top of that it was dark brown and just looked nasty.  My man didn't even get it off the tray before I told him to get some ice and come back.  It wasn't even my tea.  I ordered a latte and apparently they had to go to Starbucks to get it and bring it back based on the amount of time it took to get it to the table.

I ordered some fall chicken stew thing--actually can't recall, and Hubs did in fact get the Monte Cristo.  But not before the Waiter stops by and proudly offer us the "bread" he has procurred.  A small plate of 4 melba toastish garnish for the onion soup.  Whatever.  He was bummed we were not as excited as he was.

The disappointment continued when entrees arrived and the MonteCristo sandwich, a deep fried and therefore, traditionally HOT sandwich, arrived luke warm.  As in marginally warm outsides and cool to the touch cheese and meat insides.  I was warned not to touch my plate b/c it was so hot.  That extended only to the plate though.  My stew was also only moderately warm.  Overall tasty but too much smokey flavor.  it was like the DL kitchens had just gotten a new indoor smoker and everything that came out of the kitchen was getting smoked.  It was overkill.  My meal the previous night at Carthay Circle was also uber smokey.   Back to the shrimp . . . it was ok but I didn't eat even half and neither did Hubs.  His biggest food pet peeve is definitely non hot food.  My man likes his food HOT right out of the oven.  And really, are you going to serve a deep fried sandwich that is cold?  How does that even work?  It makes me think they make them ahead of time and just refry or microwave or something.  Whatever they are doing IT IS NOT WORKING and must be stopped immediately.

By this point the waiter sensed how pissed off I was getting and just stayed away from us for the most part.  No one got a drink refill or anything.  He was gone.  Eventually he came by to ask if we wanted the check--clearly we would not be interested in dessert.  When he brought the check he dropped off some consolation birthday beignets shaped like Mickey heads, and HOT.  Good to know that they can really make hot food there.  The beignets were far and away the best part of that meal.

And thus we ended our trip to Disneyland on a low note the likes of which i have never experienced at a Disney anything.  Way to go Cafe Orleans.  You get a 2 and a big fat NOT recommended.

sad table right inside the door

looks good!  but its cold.  gross! and wait- what is on the side there?  is it BREAD?

best and hottest part of the meal