Eklecticafe

That's right. An eclectic cafe. But one word.

Wow. This place wasn't even first on trip advaoros recommendation list of must-visits, but it was darn good! We got a chicken quesadilla with unique homemade salsa, chunky and not too spicy, and a gyro. The gyro came with either a salad or chips and was loaded with meat, tomatoes, red peppers, sprouts, and cucumbers and leafy greens.

I didn't notice where our food went, but it disappeared quite quickly. I left completely enamored with the place and its vibe. There was jewelry for sale lining the shop walls and in every table under the glass. The bathroom looked like a house if worship with it's odd colors and mother Mary. Except there was a ketchup bottle holding the hand soap.

The menu ranged from egg and bagel breakfast concoctions to a curry wrap or southwest burger. They had many pastries and fun coffee drinks too. I was at ease with the free wheeling' place. I should also mention they have ample outdoor seating under the shade of vines and trees. Quite pleasing to the senses.

Drifter's

http://www.drifterscookhouse.com/

In the middle of nowhere Colorado (that seems to be a theme running through my reviews recently) we stumbled across Drifter's Cookhouse. It looked like just another roadside general store, but after checking online reviews I found that it merited a trip, especially after comparing its reviews to others in nearby Walden, Colorado.

Entering the place we were greeted by the lush leather bar. Pretzels and tvs were lined around the room that was filled with wood and black leather comfy seats. The bar was quite impressive! A young boy who was barely old enough to speak was sitting at the bar, welcoming people as they entered and instructing them to sit wherever they liked. 

Potato Quiche with goat cheese, artichokes, and peppers

We sat in the main restaurant part of the building both times we dined there by a window hosting a hummingbird feeder and a jewelry box showcasing items for sale. What blew us away about the place was that the menu featured creative, adventuresome menu items that were prepared expertly. It's as if this gourmet gem was misplaced in the tundra!

Our first sampling there was of a three-item mexican fiesta dish. For 11 dollars we got a meal for one and split it three ways. It included: a carne asada taco, a pulled pork taco, and a chile relleno. To this day I will not forget the taste of the chile relleno - it was an authentic poblano chile full of flavor and not overcooked one hair. It was downright incredible how good that pepper (whole pepper with tail) tasted in contrast to every other relleno I've gotten while out eating Mexican fare. 

The two tacos were quite amazing as well. The pork was extremely well seasoned and not at all fatty. The carne asada came with an avocado slaw that was unlike anything I had ever had before. The meat was amazing but the combination all wrapped up in this little corn shell was just unforgettable. The meal was complimented by rice and beans, both well seasoned and more-than-edible, unlike most Mexican restaurants.

We didn't hesitate going back to drifters to experience their deluxe cuisine a second time. We went back for meatloaf and quiche - both adventurous orders I'd say. The meatloaf was out-of-this world delectable and the quiche was quite good too, although I'd say that the blend of flavors in this egg form was a little too creative.

Hiking opportunists stumbled upon quite a find in Drifter's!

two-color-eyed dog in front of Drifter's

Hammerheads

 http://louisvillehammerheads.com/

Recently on a Monday night based on a recommendation from a friend I dined at Hammerheads in Germantown. It was, well, interesting. The rec said that it was better than holy grale in terms of atmosphere especially. I couldn’t concur less!

We entered the yellow-colored walls that is the basement joint and joined a full house of 80+ degree heated bodies. Yikes, it was hot! We decided to dine outside, where we couldn’t drink beer and had no menu access or service. The waitstaff did accommodate us with service only after waiting about 5 minutes.

The waitstaff were very friendly and the prices were reasonable (7-11) but the beer prices were nothing to write home about. We ordered one brisket sandwich and one crab sandwich. The crab sandwich featured a jalapeno aioli which I wouldn’t have known were present if I didn’t read about it on the menu beforehand. The sandwich had a whole crab in it (!) with very delectable legs and arms and big claws (I don’t know what those things are called). But the meat of the crabs body could have been more flavorfully stuffed.

The brisket was downright bleh. The owner of said brisket said it was better than doc crows, but I was not amused by its natural state. It was rather fatty and unseasoned.. but then again I’m not a big brisket person to begin with (I prefer pulled pork).

All in all I don’t know if I’d go back there – at least not in the summer head. For what you pay for, I’d rather go for the full ambience at half the price and dine at holy grale.

Giac Loc of My Tho

In a busy intersection near the catholic churches and buddhist temples of My Tho, Vietnam you can find  a lovely corner restaurant that surpasses all expectations. Workers in the restaurant wear uniforms. The selection is incredible and includes two multi-tiered carts of meat options. The only thing is - there's no actual meat in this place. I don't think I'd ever know the difference. I had - honestly quite close to - the finest beef and sausage I've ever had in my entire here. This is my taste bud mecca. Come one, come all, to the circus!

Tofu and Rice noodle rolls with peanuts and mixed greens

At the intersection of delight and harmony - I should say - is where you'll find this place. We got the opportunity to dine there with fellow buddhists (vegetarians) from the university on one occasion and just had to come back.  We had already eaten about an hour or two prior to coming and asked not to have anything. Instead, we imbibed some sting (big red-ish/energy drink tasting) and green tea and enjoyed several dishes.


I was amazed at the quality of the food. They can think of 1,000 different things to do with tofu to make it not taste, look, or think like tofu at all. Tofus were alive at one point, right? Anyway, my soy senses were satisfied but not overdosed at this amazing restaurant. We ate some pho and then had the real treat, pictured above. I could have eaten the whole, friggin thing! Take some lettace, some cilantro, peanuts, lemongrass and mint, and devour rice noodle rolls and sausage/baconesque tofu that tastes like really good beef/sausage and looks kind of like savory bacon in a kabob form (if that's possible). Wow! It was really exquisite! I cleaned the house on that one!

Selection of fus (tofus, that is)

When we came back just two days later we  ordered freely and the highly of our order were the fresh spring rolls served with a due serving of sauces. Wow! Fresh and excellent. They substitute every meaty item appropriately there. I thought I was eating good-tasting fruit de mer instead of fu fu fu my tofu. It wasn't quite as pinnacle as our premier experience, but still gave us shelter from the rain and an incredible view of kids playing in the puddles on the street.


This restaurant does have a bathroom, in case you're in the vicinity, as does the post office.

Tangier Moroccan Restaurant

 Hey there! Welcome back to my food blog. It's been quite the summer hiatus, but it has not gone without good eats! I've got leftover Ethiopian in the fridge and deserted my way into a sopaipillo last night. Expect a flood of new entries to come in from around the globe - I'm excited!

I thought I’d start off with a sensation – Moroccan food in Boulder, Colorado. Per a recommendation from a friend to try their food and mint tea, I set out to Tangier Moroccan cuisine this Monday for lunch. The restaurant located on Boulder’s main drag has received rave reviews from TripAdvisor users, which have actually earned it the top spot on trip advisor… dang! I decided to give it a try.

The drab outside next to a Mexican grab-n-go didn’t make it look very appealing from the outside. It was closed when we tried to eat there Sunday evening and I honestly don’t know what brought us back.. good faith I guess. When you enter the doors of the place you are transformed. It feels other worldly. The smells and the floor to ceiling coverings in deep maroon through your senses way off. It was almost too much to enter into!

We were greeted and seated prompty in western-style seats and I quickly ordered a mint tea, which is green tea flavored with mint. You can get it either iced or hot, but there is an overriding grapey flavor to it that makes it unlike any other mint tea I’ve had. Coming from Vietnam where mint green tea is a staple, I admit that I was worried about how this tea would fare. But it was unique and out of this world! Glad it was a bottom-less supply of mint tea too, at that!

Our dishes came out quick. We ordered one lentil soup bowl (bigger than the sun) and one lamb tangine dish with artichokes seasoned in lemon and carrots, peas, and olives. Wow! Simply the best lamb ever! Not too gamey, a huge bone-in piece, and not too fatty or greasy. I was stunned by the flavors in the dishes. Eating the lentil soup, which I happen to love, was very different because of the spices (sumac I believe is used in theirs, as well as heavy fresh cumin). The use of cilantro on the saffron rice really jazzed it up. Also, we devoured a hummus plate!

Anyway, I cannot say enough about how good the flavors were – you’ll just have to try it out for yourself! The meals there are all homemade the cook told us, and can take a while because of that. Our meal came in no time at all, which we were very pleased about as it was around 3pm and we had been hiking all morning. There was something about the mix of spices, fresh foods, and proper use of oil that made each dish simply outstanding in comparison to all other foods we’ve sampled. It just goes to show you that good old home cooking can sometimes take you a long way!

Papalino's New York Pizzeria

http://papalinosnypizzeria.com/Home.html


This past weekend my family decided to try out Papalinos NY Pizzeria, located on Baxter Avenue in the Highlands. The location for this restaurant is interesting as it's only a few doors down from Wick's Pizza, a well-established restaurant that I frequent every Tuesday for its trivia nights. The choice of setting up another pizza restaurant on the same block as Wick's was clearly intentional and, I suspect, will provide a great deal of competition for Wick's.

Papalinos offers dine-in and carry out, and my family opted for the latter; this was probably a good idea, since the restaurant is very small and only has a handful of tables, both inside and out. When I picked up the pizza, the outside tables were completely full (not surprising, given the wonderfully warm and sunny weather we had that day), but no one was seated at the indoor tables. To be honest, I was less than impressed with the indoor seating; the eating area seemed dark and reminded me of grimy McDonald's I have been to over the years.

Picking up the pizza was also an adventure, though not unexpected. I was there a little after 7 on a Friday evening, so naturally all of Baxter was packed with people and cars. I ended up having to park at the Walgreens two blocks down (where I usually park for trivia at Wick's anyway), but I felt a little foolish carrying a large box of pizza down the street.

For five people, we got an 18" pizza to split between four people, while my mom opted for a single slice of pizza - which turned out to be about the size of a personal pan pizza. Even the slices on our pizza were massive, but I was so hungry that I downed two of them without thinking. I can't even remember what our toppings were besides sausage and cheese, though I'm sure we had something along the lines of onions, olives, and green peppers. Yes, I was that hungry.

Papalinos' claim to fame is that it's New York-style pizza, which prompted a discussion amongst us as to what, exactly, a New York pizza is. So off to Wikipedia I went in search of an answer. According to wiki, New York pizza "is large, wide, thin and foldable... It is traditionally hand-tossed and light on sauce. The slices are often eaten as a 'street snack' while folded in half, as it's [sic] size and flexibility sometimes makes it unwieldy to eat flat." And that's exactly what we had. In fact, my mom unknowingly ate her pizza in the traditional New York manner - folded over in the style of a calzone.

If you find yourself in the area craving a pizza and want something that doesn't have much sauce, you'll want to try out Papalinos. I prefer my pizza this way, and would therefore choose Papalinos over Wick's any day (Wick's tends to be sauce-heavy). But we debated for a while over whether or not Papalinos is better than Boom Bozz, my family's go-to pizza place. We concluded that although Papalinos was excellent, Boom Bozz is far easier to get to, and just as tasty. Still, Papalinos is not to be ignored, and I'm sure I'll find myself back there on some warm weekend after a night of drinks at O'Shea's (which is right across the street from Papalinos).

- Guest blogger, Hannah S.
http://primachocolate.blogspot.com/

Safier Deli

http://www.safierdeli.com/

This morning I thought I should write about one of the restaurants that I frequent most often, but that fails to make it to my blog. Sometimes I think I take good eats for granted. Eating at the same locale over-and-over again treats the taste buds well, but doesn’t seem novel to me, so I just assume it wouldn’t be novel to write about. But as I find myself wanting to return to old favorite places more often these days, I thought it’d be worth it to give my notable eateries some shout-outs. So here I go.


This is known as a Persian/Lebanese deli, although I think it draws mostly from typical Mediterranean and Indian fare. The Indian daily specials are some of the most flavorful I have had, as is the beef and garlic sauce to their chicken dish called shish tawook, which is just divine! Nothing is a greater turn-on than good, tasty meat, which they have plenty of.

Their dishes are affordable, being about 4.50 for an a la carte wrap to 6.99 for a plated meal. The meals come with rice, a small salad, and some pita and hummus. We have a running joke in our office about both the pickle and pickled onions that come with the sandwiches and plates. They appear in the salad portions of both and are usually unwanted because they taste so bright and sour in comparison to everything else. They really overpower the dish! It’s always a bad day in work-land when you forget to ask Safier to hold the pickle from your sandwich!

The restaurant is at a funny locale simply because of Yafa, its greater competitor across the street. The office crew’s decision has been that in a taste test, yafa’s pita and hummus, rice, and salad may win, but that Safier’s meats are tops (although I think the pita and hummus are debatable). Yafa surely has better hummus that is flavored with olive oil, a small relish of some sort, and some paprika and is generous in its portion; however, Safier’s pita may win due to the fact that it tastes more bready than sweet-doughy, although it is occasionally dry.

The sauces at Safier are excellent! Their tahini and zesty garlic “tawook” sauce are superb accompaniments to any dish.

Drew and JJ from my office would often delight in the veggie paradise, which is a hummus and vegetable wrap that includes typical Mediterranean vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, lettace, and some feta cheese as well. There is some tabouleh in there as well, although I don’t think they insert a lot with the hummus already present. They would often get fries, which were very yummy and freshly made, although I found the health combo and the lack of foreign-zest inherent in ordering fries a little bit surprising.

My debacle confronting me today is this: do I branch out into the unknown and try their baba ganoush, known as mutabal, or their fried kibbi (which sounds roughly similar to lamb naan), or do I go for an old favorite such as the beef shawarma or chicken tawook? Debates debates. I don’t want to have something I don’t like, do want to branch out some. Maybe I’ll get the kibbi. Maybe not. Ugg! Who knows what today holds…