Gimme the Usual

Treebeards. Chungry and Ducky Momo had some errand to run. New new new guy (I'm thinking Cubed?) had plans. Los lobos el solo. 

Shrimp étouffée with a fruit cup to go. You know I loves me some étouffée.  Consistently awesome. Fruit cup also top notch. I have recently learned that I'm allergic to cantaloupe so at least now I don't need to feel bad about not eating it.  I know, who's allergic to cantaloupe? How random is that right? But apparently I'm allergic. Yay me!

Since I waited until after noon to head out I opted for tunnel location vs market square. The court house juror crowd can be intense over there. The advantage to the tunnel location is superior bread. Not sure why its better but it wails on the bread at market square.  I ate the bread against my better nutritional judgment. It was good. 

Gotta run. No 1 son is doing Harry potter magic at daughter No 2 and she is screaming bloody murder. Sigh. Is it Monday yet?

Curry Madness

Field trip with Twist!  I am always jonesing for Indian and Twist suggested Ponticheri in Upper Kirby. Another Awesome co-worker find. Even though she wasn't there is person she was there in spirit. Awesome had her baby and is currently having lunches daily with Awesome Baby. Mazel tov!!

So first up. I was loving this place. Great decor and vibe. You walk in and are greeted by a delicious and lovely baked good counter. Note the gorgeous rainbow toasty thing with heirloom tomatoes.

And it smells great there too. So I didn't know what Frankies were and ordered an okra one that sounded awesome. But then I got it and it was a wrap. Still good but I was wanting something to dip naan in.  My fault. I'll know next time. I also got an order of samosas and naan.

Samosa was spinach with some paneer. Mmmmm. Heaven. Nice crispy outside.  Good curry. You only get two which is kind of a bummer. Three would be good.  For $7 2 doesn't really seem like good value.

The okra Frankie above unwrapped. This was spi-cy. Nice mix of tomato and okra. I wasn't in love with the sweet chutney but it was ok. My preference would have been for some tomato kind of sauce.  I was expecting something like sauteed like a masala just put in a naan wrapper.  This was a little dry as is.   I needed it saucier overall. But nice crunch and flavors. You want to know what was good? The omelette Twist had was wonderful. Nice grill flavor on the meat. Good mushrooms and tomato here too. Super good portion. He ate it all. 

Kitchen sink omelette

After we got back Ducky Momo gave me the what for for going to Pondicheri without him.  Based on one reference to Fried Chicken Tuesday Dinners I was supposed to know that he wanted to eat there.  Go Figure.  However, I would go back any day of the week.  I am always on the prowl for Indian food.

 

Good debrief with Twist.  Caught up on lots of office news and gossip.

 

Pondicheri, is a 4 microwave and recommended

 

 

Food Porn

In Napa this week. So far food has all been good. Happy girl.

Behold:

update 7/11.  Notes on food below.  Overall Napa had some of the best food I have ever eaten ever.  All around solid.  Meal in San Fran at Okumo was top notch and our server was THE BEST server I have ever had in my life.  Friendly but not obsequious, attentive, but not too much.  Just right.  And, my man knew his sake.  On to some of the food.  Pics of SF meal on Hubs phone b/c I left mine at the hotel.



Gott's Roadside in St. Helena was the bomb. Perfect break in wine tasting. I went with hot dog, onion rings and mint chip milk shake. Perfect antidote for too much wine. Dog and burgers all from Neiman Ranch. Rings hand battered in some real good batter that was obviously mixed up on site.

sparkling rose tasting at Domaine Chandon.  I loved, hubs not so much.  Pink champagne is about as girly as my drinks get.



Fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta.  Holy Shit was this good! No lie. Brannon's, Calistoga

Some local pilsner in Calistoga at Brannon's.  Great atmosphere and they actually turn on the ac when it's 105 outside.  Bless.

Hemingway margarita.  Done with wine by dinner on the 4th.

baked squash with goat cheese.  I love me some baked squash and had to try this.  Not bad.  goat cheese was interesting.  Liked but only thing of the evening I did not LOVE in spades.

grilled trout

Fish and chips.  Not only was the portion generous, fish was fresh, tasty and moist and the beer batter was the bomb!  Coleslaw was meh, but you don't get this for the coleslaw. 



Cesar salad with romaine hearts.  I am a snot about Cesar dressing and this one got it down in spades.  Nice kick, good nchovy. No mayo taste.  Perfect size for appetizer.  A Fish Tale downtown Napa

This was my entree at Fish Tale in downtown Napa.  I don't think the name is 100%  May have been A Fish Story? I'm too lazy to go verify right now.  So, grilled trout with some arugala and some vinegar something or other around it.  Doesn't matter. it was wonderful! Perfectly done. This was the best meal of the trip I think.  Everything that came out of the ktichen on a busy night was 100% awesomeness.  Kudos to kitchen staff and the chef here.

Shrimp and fresh corn grits at A Fish Tale.  Shrimp perfectly done. beautiful flavors. Not too fussy. Fresh corn grits were a nice addition over traditional grits.

Bacon crackerjack sundae at A Fish Tale in Napa.  OMG. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this was!! Mastery of the salty sweet combo.

Just a Few Words . . . .

about Chili's.  Before I begin, a note on my crap update to work computer of MS OS and this crap explorer 9 browser.  All of a sudden my keyboard misses my key strokes and I have to type slow or really hard to get the letters.  so stupid.  I hate you Microsoft.  And, I mean it.  This is a hatred that goes to the soles of my feet from deep within my belly.  Enough about that.

So, Chili's.  Hubs and I used to eat here a lot for date meals back in the day when Chili's was pretty new and could be relied upon for pretty decent food, i.e. margaritas, chicken crispers and steak fajitas.  We rarely go there now b/c it kind of sucks, I think it's too expensive and oh yeah, we have 3 kids so eating out is a nightmare right now.

However, I want to put something out there; if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, send it right back.  The chips and salsa at Chili's are more often than not sublime.  We got some really super bad take out from there the other night.  Best part of the meal was the chips and salsa.  Remember when that was free?  If you don't then it means you are a baby and probably not old enough to be reading this.  The bag o chips was thin and crispy, hot and salted to perfection.  I'm sure the salsa is nothing more than some Pace spun up in the blender, but it is damn good.  I LOVE IT.  Yes, I do.  For all its other total suckiness, when they get the chips right it totally puts a smile on my face.  Over the course of 2 days I pretty much polished off the bag.  The end.

No photos.  I ate all the chips and most of the salsa.

Chilis on its own is like a 2.  This one menu item is a 4 and recommended.  If your chips aren't hot, send 'em back.

Aaaack!

For some reason I can't seem to keep up with posting lately. Here is a smattering of my eatings of late:

District 7 in EaDo ( what the hell does that mean? I'm guessing east of downtown?) an old high school bud was in town and doing something at the convention center nearby. Seemed better than going to Grove. Got the muffuletta. Overall tasty and generous size although the olive relish was cold while meat and cheese warm. All warm would have been my preference. Good atmosphere, funky location. My lunch companion went with Kobe burger. Desserts looked good but we didn't get one.   Had a good catch up convo and then she had to go back to her thing.  I think we were each pleasantly surprised to confirm the assumption that we shared quite a few philosophies. 

A little pricey for lunch but good variety of options.  I'd go back and recommend. 3.5 microwave. 

Oh yeah. I don't know if the steak fries were hand cut or Ore Ida out of a bag. Either way they were good yo!

Next up: Sophie's Mexican in the tunnels at Allen Center. Twist and I hadn't been to lunch in  for ever. Finally had a chance and threw caution to the wind here pretty much going in blind. Not bad. We each had lunch special which was two tacos with beans, rice and a drink. The beans and rice were out if a can. On the beans that doesn't matter much but on the rice front it IS possible to have bad rice. Believe. 

Our extended period of non lunch had reached critical mass and I was getting out of sorts. Glad to get squared away. However this week I think I saw Twist for maybe 10 minutes which was all work related. Booo.  Will work on that next week. 

Ok so Sophie's was pretty good. I had steak tacos. Meat was great. Downfall was the overuse of cilantro (shock).   Next time I will skip the sides. 

I'd say Sophie's is a 3. Stick with entrees. Good for a fast Tex Mex fix.  Otherwise the Mexican downtown sucks as far as I know. 

 

Lets see, what other gems do we have? 

Oh! Some ratatouille pasta from Hubbel & Hudson kitchen in The Woo.  Huge portion. Pretty good. I love ratatouille.  Pretty true taste wise. Eggplant could have been more tender. Hubbel added fresh avocado as well which was a nice addition.  Pasta was some little shell things. Perfect choice. Add a glass of Pinot noir and some gelato and you have a pretty happy tummy. 

Hubbel is always solid. Generally give them a 4 and recommended. 

Next day, more Corkscrew BBQ. Hubs made his poor dad go wait in line Saturday morning for an hour in 90 degrees to get some BBQ.  I should clarify FIL was not waiting alone. He was with Hubs and No. 1 son.  But still. That line is like waiting in hell. It. Is. Hot. Admittedly the payoff is huge. They scored brisket, sausage, ribs, pork and I thought there was something else but maybe not. Dessert was peach cobbler.  I still haven't figured out how they do the crust but maybe I don't want to. The magic might be ruined. 

Corkscrew 5 and recommended. Of course.   Plus anyplace that hands out free brew while you wait in the hot line has to be awesome, right?

And in really fantastic breaking news: Gigi's cupcakes has an outpost in the tunnels. It is both fantastic and awful. I usually don't like most of the designer cupcakes that are out there. Gigi's however make me want to smash my face into a box of them. Creative flavors, moist cake and I think what is maybe the best commercially produced frosting of its kind. The frosting is the shit. 

Here is a photo of a cookie dough flavor and then a peanut butter cup. Both delish.  

I don't know how they do it but cookie dough tasted like cookie dough in cupcake form. I was seriously impressed with that. Damn you Gigi. Damn you and your delectable cupcakes. The tunnels under chase tower are no longer safe. 

Gigi's gets a 5.  Recommended ifyou can handle it.  If you are a addictive personlity type . . . . stay far far away.

Picnic Lunch . . .

At my desk. 

Yeah bitchez you know that looks good!

BBQ chicken

Asparagus soup from Corner Bakery and tomato cucumber salad. 

Mmmm. It's summer. 

A Love Letter

Dear Corkscrew BBQ,

Finally had the pleasure of waiting in your long line to nab some goodies before you sold out. I admit waiting in the hot sun in work clothes was not ideal. Wearing white pants, also ill advised. But it all worked out. 

I shared the 3 meat plate with Hubs and we both are loyalists now. Ribs, brisket and pulled pork were our meats of choice. Sides were beans and slaw. 

Thank you for having a choice of sliced or chopped brisket as well as fatty or lean. You already know me. Of course I went with fatty.  OMG. To die for. The smoke and the flavor were spot on. Meat was tender and melt in your mouth. Same with the pork. Best. Pulled. Pork. Evah. For realz. And I know pulled pork.  Ribs came off the bone with a plastic fork. Insanely tasty. I can only guess at the mojo you have worked to get ribs that tasty.  Clearly you have made a deal with the devil in exchange for your mad BBQ skillz. 

Oh yeah, the beans were also superior. Cole slaw however was a let down. It's like the meat took all the flavor and none was left for the slaw. No worries though. I wasn't there for slaw. Oh and your cherry cobbler with its shortbread like crust also fabulous. And I didn't get anything on my white slacks. 

Thank you for being awesome and conveniently located near my house. I love you, man. 

Sincerely, Yodi