Kate mentioned that my last week in food posts have been exceptionally positive. I looked through them, and I have to agree. Especially my last post, where I used the word “perfect” four times. (In defense of that post, it was an exceptionally good week). For the most part, though, I eat at places I like and order things that I know are good. I may start taking comments from people I dine with on their dishes, especially at places like Lee’s Grill and Cafe Europa that I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about. Anyway, this week was not a great week in food, so hopefully it’ll average things out a bit.
Monday: Lunch at Aromas: Even after my one good experience there, I still never remember that Aromas exists. Today I did. I ordered the Chicken Shwarma and while it was good, only one thing about it was exceptional. They used this pepper sauce/chutney stuff on it, and it was very flavorful and very spicy. I wish I could describe it better, but I have no idea what it was.
Tuesday: Dinner at Mono Loco: I started off with this jalapeno margarita. I’d never had anything like it before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. For my entree I ordered the Pork con Queso. Mental note: never order anything with “cheese” in the title. I got a bowl of rice, cheese sauce, and pork. The pork was good, but the richness of all that cheese was way too much for me. I made it a few bites in, and then I had to surrender.
Wednesday: Lunch at Brix Cafe: I’ve had recommendations for Brix from Alison and Jennifer here and here. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile, and I finally remembered to make it out to Pantops. Brix is a nice little bakery that used to only do catering. They have a variety of sandwiches for lunch, and I ordered a chicken panini. It took forever. This place is really, really slow. A friend of mine went more recently and had the same experience. When we finally got our food, we both enjoyed it, and the quality was very high, but at that point we needed to move so I ended up scarfing it down. On the plus side, if the baked goods in their case taste one-tenth as good as they look, they will be amazing, so I will be going back to try some of those.
Thursday: Lunch at Michael’s Bistro: We rarely lunch at Michael’s, which is odd because it’s not too expensive at lunch and they are fairly quick given it’s a sit-down place. I ordered the Veggie Press, which consisted of roasted vegetables and provolone on ciabatta. The sandwich was good, but not great. To their credit, I asked for my mayo on the side, so I wasn’t eating it as it was intended to be made. I’d still order it again.
Thursday: Dinner at Brick Oven: We got to Brick Oven while they were taking down the salad bar. We should’ve taken this as a sign to leave, but we stuck it out. I ordered the Hot Tomato, which consists of pepperoni, tomatoes, prosciutto, and jalapenos, and it was as good as it always is, but unfortunately, the salad bar is an integral part of the Brick Oven experience. Without it, I just wasn’t satisfied.
Friday: Dinner from Christian’s Pizza: My parents were spending the night at our house on their way to New York where they were dropping my brother off at college. My mom absolutely loves Christian’s, so she asked us to pick up a few slices for dinner. As Kate and I were scrambling to clean the house, I only had 15 minutes to pick up the slices before they got in. I drove downtown, parked pretty much in the most illegal way possible, and ran into the store. Luckily, there wasn’t much of a line so I quickly selected nine slices, asked them to skip baking them and just toss them in a box, paid for them, and ran out. I was probably in and out in under three minutes. I got home, tossed them in the oven, and had them ready when my parents walked in the door. I think I enjoy them even more without that extra sprinkling of cheese that they put on it in the store. I really hope they can maintain their high standards when they open their new locations.
Saturday: Dinner at Sakura: Kate and I were craving sushi. We don’t have it nearly as often ever since we stopped going to Asian Buffet aka China King Buffet since they now suck. We decided on Sakura which made me happy, because I love their bento boxes. I got the sashimi bento box which included a bowl of miso soup, a small salad with ginger sesame dressing, tempura (two shrimp and some veggies), a spicy tuna roll, and a few pieces of sashimi. None of the food is super exceptional, but it is all very solid. Also, none of the portions are huge, but together they make the perfect amount of food, and all the variety makes it feel like an enormous feast. The only downside is the price, which makes Sakura an occasional splurge rather than regular rotation.
