the americano – new york

Typically, the Sunday after my brother’s show we have a recovery brunch and typically, I am so hungover I feel like I might die, but this trip to New York Fashion Week was not typical. Instead of getting hammered at the after party and falling down in front of celebrity strangers and friends, I kept things sober and politely mingled. Lame, I know.

That meant that when it came to brunch, I had some catching up to do. “Bring on the mimosas and don’t be shy with the extras!” is what I was thinking when the cocktail menu was set in front of me at The Americano (Chelsea, New York).

The beverage listed at the very top, was something too good to be true. It was a Detox Belini, made with Wheat Grass, Celery Juice, Apple Juice and of course Bubbly. The person who thought this up must have been recently vegan. That is the only explanation for putting booze in something that really should not be boozy.

When the drinks were delivered, mine stood out from the rest. It was bright green, fizzing, and filled to the rim of the champagne flute. I have been drinking green juice for several weeks now, so I was not shy about taking a big gulp of the green effervescence.

It was absolutely……disgusting. Undrinkable. How dare they do such a thing to my beloved bubbles? I have never left a glass of sparkling un-drunk unless I was passed out for the evening, but I could not get it down. I had to order a green smoothie just to wash the taste out of my mouth. It is a sad, sad day when a green smoothie wins out over boozy brunch drink.

There are plenty of things to mix with Champagne, but wheat grass is not one of them. What are you favorites?

co-op food & drink - new york

Photo: Daniel Krieger at nycgo.com

After my uber-talented brother showed an amazing collection during New York Fashion Week, we went to what I refer to as THE BIG DINNER. It was a dinner hosted by my brother with a small group of family and celebrity friends to celebrate his 10^th season showing.

It was my first big meal out since I started eating vegan and I was not sure what was going to happen. I was a nervous that I would have to explain myself to strangers wondering why I was not eating. I thought it was possible that I would have to skip some courses entirely, and I was anxious that I would be starving at the end of the meal. Absolutely, none of those things happened.

The Chef at CO-OP Food & Drink (New York) had prepared a tasting menu for our group. I live for a Chef’s tasting menu! And even though I did not get to try everything that hit the table, what I did eat was amazing and I felt amazing that I had enough self control to stick to my plan and keep it clean.

The dinner started with a cocktail called “Christian’s Russian Rose” which was essentially a watermelon martini with fresh basil and a blood orange juice ice cube. Totally vegan.

Then the plates started to hit the table. Course one included Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice, a Fried Chicken Biscuit, and a Chopped Salad. This was an obvious choice for me, chopped salad of Napa cabbage, smoked almonds, avocado and a sweet ginger dressing. I could have eaten 10 plates of this salad. I almost smacked the hand of the waiter that tried to clear the bowl for the second course because there was one morsel left. Fortunately for him, he had quick reflexes.

Course two was the sushi course, Red Snapper, Salmon, and the purple potato roll. I have eaten purple potatoes before, but never like this. This was a tempura sweet potato roll with avocado and jalepeno. I could not click my chopsticks fast enough.

Course number three was tricky. On the menu was Ginger Fried Chicken, Fresh Pappardelle with Short Rib Ragu, Truffle Mac & Cheese, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Talk about tempting. But I stuck to my guns and spooned some sprouts on my plate. The server confirmed they were cooked in oil, not butter, and all while playing detective.

To be honest, I was already stuffed, but when he came with a specially prepared vegetable bowl with rice that I had not even asked for, I just could not help myself. I did not want to be a special case that made the meal difficult, but I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to eat those incredibly prepared veggies. My bowl had more of the delicious Brussels sprouts, sautéed garlic spinach, caramelized mushrooms, fresh avocado sliced in a beautiful fan and perfectly cooked brown rice. If only I knew how to cook veggies like that at home.

The meal, the company, and my outfit were all amazing. Not to mention I stared in the face of Fried Chicken and Mac & Cheese and left the table the victor of that battle.

Photo: Brad Walsh

jack’s bistro

Photo Credit: Mixed Eats

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That may be true, but I believe that the true definition is going to a restaurant where they are serving Mac & Cheese & Chocolate and not ordering.

I spent this weekend celebrating one of my very best friends. It was a Bachelorette-Bridal Shower weekend extravaganza in Maryland and as the Matron of Honor (how I hate that term) I was responsible for planning the festivities.

Our celebration happened to fall on Baltimore’s Restaurant Week. Participating restaurants were serving 3 courses for $30 and after looking at a handful of menus online, it seemed there was only one place we should go, Jack’s Bistro (3123 Eliott St, Baltimore).

I picked this restaurant before I decided to eat vegan. One dish in particular, the famous Mac & Cheese & Chocolate, was my main motivation for its selection. It did not even hit me that I would have to rethink my order until we were seated at the restaurant. Oh, and did I mention that I volunteered to be the designated driver. I am officially a glutton for punishment. No meat, no dairy, and no cocktails! It was a test of my will power that is for sure.

Here is what I ordered:

Cocktail - Water

Course One - Roasted Beet Salad with bibb lettuce, smoked balsamic, and shaved fennel

Course Two - Bohdi Dal, Indian curry, green lentils, zucchini, tomatoes, basmati rice, pita

Course Three - Water

Here is what I wish I ordered:

Cocktail -Date Night, house popcorn infused white rum, real sugar cane cola

Course One - Mac & Cheese & Chocolate, shell pasta, with smoked cheese sauce, and Columbian dark chocolate

Cocktail: Violet Martini, crème de violette, house made lemoncello

Course Two - Sous Vide Steak Frites, finished on the grill Truffle, garlic butter, fries

Course Two - Lamb Pasta, ground lamb, tomato sauce, rosemary, thyme, oregano, linguini

Course Three - Fried S’more, graham cracker encrusted chocolate marshmallow cookie with chocolate sauce & chocolate ice cream

Yes, I realize that there were two course twos in there. In my fantasy I can have two course twos and they would not even charge me extra, and the cocktails would be free and everyone would be skinny!

Back in reality, all of the ladies loved their dinner and mine was good, too. I left the table proud of myself that I did not give in to temptation and bury my face in a bowl of macaroni. After Jack’s we headed to Walt’s Inn (where they serve all their drinks in red solo cups). We had a blast singing karaoke until 2 in the morning and the bride was happy. What more can you ask for?

sweetgreen

What can I say? I forgot to take a picture.

This weekend, I made a trip to Bethesda, Maryland to go to this kick ass cycling studio, ZenGo Fitness. Yes, my obsession with indoor cycling has led to weekend road trips just to ride bikes indoors, but that is not the purpose of this post.

My purpose for hammering away at the keys on my laptop while my husband is trying to sleep is so that I can share with you what people are doing to salads in Bethesda. It is so bizarre that there must be rules against it in certain states.

If I had to guess, I would say this is illegal in Texas. Texas just seems like a place that outlaws random things.

Assumption confirmed! Apparently, in Texas, it is illegal to take three sips of beer while standing. It is also illegal to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel. But back to the salad…

Here it is. The crazy thing people in Bethesda are doing to salads….(suspenseful right?)

THEY PUT SRIRACHA ON THEM!!!

Right? Tell me this is not crazy.

My favorite salad place on this earth, sweetgreen, has made a lot of changes to their menu since the last time I was there, but sriracha on a salad?

Of course, I had to try it. The full salad recipe goes like this: baby spinach, spicy quinoa, spicy broccoli, carrots, raw beets, basil, sprouts, tofu, with carrot chili vinaigrette and a squeeze of sriracha. They call it the spicy sabzi. I swapped the carrot chili vinaigrette for the lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette because if you are going to get spicy you have got to have a jalapeno.

I think I made a face when the guy at the dressing station squeezed the bottle of fire over my greens because he immediately asked  if I was ok with spice. I think he was worried about me. I was kind of worried about me. But in the face of adversity, I sat down at the reclaimed wood table with my biodegradable fork in hand, and as they say…went for it.

Who knew a bowl of vegetables for lunch could be such an adventure. And who knew that I could write an entire blog post about one ingredient.

Oh, you want to know how it was…

It was delicious!!! It was THE most interesting salad I ever tasted. Every vegetable was fresh and exciting with just enough spice to keep me wanting more. I cannot believe I just wrote that about a salad.

Thank you, sweetgreen, for opening my eyes to what vegetables can be like when you add the right ingredients and just go for it.

Here is a little blurb from their website to tell you a little about sweetgreen's operating philosphy: “sweetgreen is a place where you can get fun, fashionable food that's both healthy for you and aligned with your values. simply stated... food that fits.”
 

Who knew sriracha fit so good?

the vault – new york

Time for poppin’ bottles! That’s right. The after party for my brother's fashion week show was at The Vault (643 Broadway, NYC).

I am amazed that I still get invited to the after parties, because despite my best intentions, I am always a mess.

A couple years ago, I was wearing some super high platforms, slipped on some spilt Champagne and crashed on the floor drink in hand. Amazingly, I did not spill one drop of my bubbly, but I fell so hard the whole room stopped to look and Mena Survari said, “Did that girl just fall?” to which my brother replied, “Yes, yes she did.”

Then there was the year that I blacked out and took a taxi back to the hotel WITHOUT my mother. Yep, I left my mom at a club in New York.

There was also the year that my friend took a bunch of really messy pictures of me and tagged me in them on facebook. My bra was hanging out in every single one (not in a fashionable way), including the one of me with Angelo from Top Chef.

It seems that open bar bubbly is just too much for me to handle.

This year, I did pretty well to my current knowledge. I am still waiting for facebook tags to come rolling in. I recall one picture in particular that could be a little compromising. I was bent over talking to someone sitting on a sofa and my friend took a picture of two people posing on either side of my backside. I will take this as a compliment that it looked so good in the dress that it was photo worthy.

The absolute highlight of the night at this particular after party was the cocktail list. It had a drink named after my brother. I get excited for just about everything he does, winning a wildly popular reality television show, appearing on Oprah and continuing to make beautiful clothes, among many other things, but nothing brings a proud sister tear to my eye quite like him being honored by cocktail.

The recipe includes: The Ultimate Vodka, St. Germain Liqueur, fresh grapefruit juice and rosemary. That, my friends, is something to get excited about.

I hope you enjoyed my NYC recaps. For more thirsty richmond excitement, head over to the facebook page and hit like.

toy – new york

Even after my episode at dinner the night before I was able to squeeze in to a fabulous Christian Siriano dress for my brother’s show. It was a black lacy number with a bustier top that was way more flattering than I could have hoped for. After looking in the hotel mirror, I was feeling pretty good about myself and strutted out on the NYC streets in black cocktail attire at 2pm.

The show was an absolute blast. The clothes were incredible, celebrities like Natasha Beddingfield and Sia showed up to support and the general feeling was that this collection is going to be a great seller.

After staring at rail thin models and having conversations with actresses with a waist line the size of my 15 year old self, I was ready to go eat my feelings.

Lucky for me, my brother had arranged a multiple course dinner at a fairly new restaurant called Toy (18 Ninth Ave, NYC) in the Gansevoort hotel. The meal was served family style which means they drop a big plate of food in the middle and expect you to share. I am smart about things like this, so I strategically placed myself next to the vegetarians. That way I could eat their share of the meat dishes (and also because they are generally weaker from lack of protein and can’t fight as hard for the first go at a plate.)

You can image my disappointment when the first course came out and it was Edamame. I didn’t waist my energy fighting over that plate. The veggie people can have at it.

The next couple courses were much more my style, Hidden Lobster Dumplings, Seared Tuna with an 18 Vegetable Salad and Maitake Noodles. I had my fill of each while sipping my Sip and Slide cocktail of Brugal rum, mango and prosseco.

If stuffing my face full of dead animals in front of long time vegetarians isn’t enough for me to feel guilty, sitting in between people who are doing incredible things in the world while I write a blog about restauranting sure makes me feel like an ass.

There was the social worker from the Bronx, the front woman of the fantastic band, The Beautiful Bodies, who lives at home to help her ill parents cover their bills, and finally the Harvard lawyer who worked to convict the former president of Bolivia of crimes against humanity, but is now playing in the band that just got offered a recording deal after coming off a national tour. It makes the “So, what do you do?” question that much more awkward as I stuffed my mouth full of Chicken Fried Rice.

the smile – new york

What is it with New York restaurants serving warm tap water?

 

I am seriously asking this question. I realize that New Yorkers brag about their tap water being great tasting, clean water because it comes from some reservoir upstate, but that seems more like water marketing than actual truth.

 

Do restaurant people think we will upgrade to bottled water if we want something cold? That makes no sense to me. That would be like serving a basket of stale bread and saying, we have better bread if you would like to pay $2 for it or you can just eat this.

 

I completely blame this whole tap water situation for why I totally fell off the wagon at

The Smile (26 Bond St, New York).

 

I had been eating really clean and drinking nothing but water for almost a week so that I would look anorexic for fashion week. Sure, I had a couple slip ups and accidentally had

Spanikopita at Stella’s and two beers at Mekong, but other than that I was practically Ghandi. Leave it to me to be so good and then mess everything up at the last minute.

 

Drunk on warm Yankee water I couldn’t think rationally. I pointed my finger to the menu, felt my lips move and heard sounds come out as if I was having an out of body experience. “I’ll have the Moroccan Lamb Meatballs and a Hibiscus Margarita” said the voice that could only have belonged to some sort of Moroccan/Mexican meat craving demon that was living in the un-chilled water and temporarily possessed my body.

 

That is the only logical explanation for my actions because I don’t remember being that hungry. That is not to say that if I did have complete control over my decision making abilities, the words “simmered in a spicy tomato sauce” wouldn’t have a one upped “vinegar and celery seed dressing”. You guys know how I feel about celery.

 

I ate those meatballs and drank that margarita mostly out of fear of what could happen to my family if I tried to battle the evil spirits right there at the dinner table. 

 

Thankfully, my family made it through the meal unharmed, I survived without need for an exorcism and the meatballs were freaking delicious.

mexican café – annapolis

My three year old nephew is at the stage where he repeats everything he hears. My seven year old niece is at the stage where she makes very observant statements that are sometimes not very polite. This made dinner at The Mexican Café (609 Melvin Ave, Annapolis) very entertaining.

There were seven of us, so we had a little wait for our table and waiting for a table with a three year old is awesome. This particular three year old had won a plastic pirate sword a few hours earlier at the neighborhood jamboree. Do you know what a three year old does with a plastic sword? They hit things with it, and by things I mean people including their sister, mother, grandfather, hostess, waitress and anyone else that walks by. All while exclaiming, “hot poop!” (My bets are on my step-father for that one.)

Not two seconds after my butt hit the seat, I put in my order. Margarita, rocks, salt, stat.

We placed our food order and needed a distraction for the kiddos. My niece loves to play games on my iphone, but if I don’t watch her she starts going through my pictures and then the conversation goes something like this:

Her: Why do you have so many pictures of drinks on here?

Me: None of your business, iphone privileges revoked

I managed to suck down half of my margarita that tasted more like dishwater than tequila, when mom came to the rescue with a better distraction, etch-a-sketch pads that you could write on with a stylus. The three year old could scribble and my niece and I could play hangman. She put her dashes down and was pretty confident that she stumped me with her word selection. I started guessing letters and ended up with a full hangman, eyes, eyelashes, a nose and a mouth. Turns out, the phrase was “Love You To”.

When I didn’t get it, my helpful husband announced, “I can’t believe you didn’t guess that.” to which my niece exclaimed, “Really. Your brain isn’t working right!” Only to be echoed with giggles from the little guy, “Yeah, your bwain isn’t workin wight!”

If you think it is bad now, wait until this next margarita glass is empty. And my mother wonders why we aren’t in a rush to reproduce.

*All joking aside, I love spending time with my family and these kids and really good kids. Mel, if you are reading this, hot poop, to you, too. I love you guys.

balthazar - new york

I have some pretty funny memories of my family trip to Italy a few years ago and by funny I mean absolutely traumatic. It was literally 110 degrees, so hot that we could only stay out for a few hours a day. Every day when we would leave the hotel to go look at paintings of Madonna and Child, the staff would turn off the AC units our room. It was so hot that my brother slept on the ceramic tile floor because it was the only way to get cool. My stepmother spent a lot of time in her room ordering buckets of ice which were not free. I think they were $5 a pop, but I have no doubt that they were worth every penny. And we watched a lot of MTV Italia, which played the same four music videos over and over. One of those videos (the only one in English) was Rhianna’s S.O.S. To this day when I hear it, I think of that hotel room.

When I was in New York a week ago, my brother made brunch reservations at Balthazar (80 Spring St, NY), a French bistro in Soho. He knows that I am in to restaurants and went out of his way to get reservations. It seems that the place books up way in advance which is why he was totally freaking that we were going to be late. I completely blame him for rushing me, which caused me to seriously burn my arm with my curling iron.

After I practically lit my arm on fire, we got a cab and headed to visit his shop before brunch. This cab had non-functioning AC. I don’t know why I risked my limbs to fix my hair because after that cab ride, I looked like I just got out of the shower. We got dropped off and had to New-York-walk* several blocks in the blazing sun.

By the time we got to the restaurant (on time for the reservation, I might add) I was sweating like my mom after hot flash and my arm was throbbing. We were seated right away and the waitress filled our water glasses with lukewarm water, no ice.

I immediately started hearing Rhianna’s song on my internal radio. Were they trying to make a point about ice being an American commodity that they don’t serve in fancy French bistros or were they just messing with me? I saw a perfectly chilled glass of Coke on the table next to me filled to the rim with ice cubes.

I asked for some ice and the waitress brought out a huge bowl of it almost like she was mocking me. If I am (read: someone is) paying over $20 for some smoked salmon that doesn’t even come with a bagel, you better believe this ice better be on the house.

I felt like those grumpy celebrities in the snickers commercials. Shannon, you aren’t yourself when the temperature is 100 degrees and sweat is pouring down your back like you just ran a marathon in Death Valley even though you only New-York-walked two blocks. Grab a snickers, or in this case, bowl of ice cube.

Once I got a couple glasses of cold water in me, I started to feel like myself again and S.O.S. started to slowly fade in to the background of regular restaurant noise. The clinks of glasses and buzz of chatter, just the kind of thing I live for.

It turned out to be a fantastic brunch. The Smoked Salmon was some of the best I had ever had. It was served with crème fraiche and capers and didn’t even need the bagel. The other entrées ordered were Classic Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine and Sour Cream Hazelnut Waffles. Really the only thing missing was a cocktail, with ice in it.

*New-York-walking is like regular walking but faster because everyone pretends they have somewhere really important to be even though they don’t most of the time.

me and my bro in matching stripes

the standard grill – new york

I spent my weekend in New York, visiting my brother and attending the BlogHer conference at Hilton Midtown. Meals were included with the conference registration, but after eating hotel food for breakfast and lunch I was incredibly happy when my brother told me he made reservations at TheStandard Grill (848 Washington St, NY) for dinner.

It wasn’t just dinner for two. His good friend met us at the restaurant. This friend happened to be a model. I don’t mean a model citizen, but a model model, a six foot tall, size negative one, perfectly high cheek boned kind of model.

There is nothing like sharing a meal with someone who doesn’t eat, or worse, someone who eats plenty and remains the size of a starving toothpick.

I don’t mean to be a hater. This model friend of my brother is a down to earth, smart, fun to hang out with girl from New Jersey. See, her life isn’t so perfect.

We hit it off really well and even ordered the same glass of wine. I kind of felt bad about hating her at first glance, but those feelings of guilt came to a screeching halt when she ordered the pasta special. I think I made a fist around my fork when she buttered her second piece of bread while we waited for our entrees.

“Where, exactly, are those carbs going!?!” I thought to myself. “Are you just doing this to show the world that you are invincible?” Well played, model, well played.

I had the sesame crusted sea scallops with roasted tomatoes, my brother had pan roasted free range chicken, and there she sat innocently twirling the house made tagliatelle with pancetta, heirloom tomatoes and uni butter around her fork as if it wasn’t offensive. She might as well have flicked it at me across the table. Actually that might have been less horrible than eating it in front of me and seemingly getting skinnier with every bite.

She said that her dinner was just ok. Mine was pretty damn good. So even though she was wearing a fantastic vintage dress, perfect two-tone heels and carrying an adorable clutch, it doesn’t make the food taste better.

Truth be told, I just can’t hate her. She was unfortunately a really cool girl. She may have hit the jackpot in the looks department, but I have advantages, too. I know that uni butter is sea urchin extract blended with butter. I also know that sea urchin roe is used by fisherman to attract fish because they like the stink of it. So, she basically ordered fish bait pasta and everyone knows that doesn’t pair well with a dry rose, duh.

Photo credit. - NY Daily News

vacation recap - traverse city

Let me start by saying it is no secret that I indulge when I am on vacation. Okay, I indulge most of the time, but I really go crazy when I have an extra excuse like being on holiday. (I know that no one in America says “on holiday”, but I like how it sounds and I am going to start saying it, so deal with it.)

On my first day back at work, after my holiday, a person that I work with (who shall remain nameless) said to me, “It is so good to have you back. I really missed you while you were gone last week. Did you put on 3 or 4 pounds?” This would be a completely offensive statement had it not been exactly true! I gained 4 pounds on my vacation and here is why.

Traverse City was named by Bon Appetit as one of the five best foodie towns in America.

We took full advantage.

The Boathouse
After a four mile bike ride on Traverse City’s TART Trails and a jump in the water, we were famished. Our hunger led us to The Boathouse. At The Boathouse we ran in to our friend, Heidi, who happens to be a foodie and an amazing tour guide. She recommended her boyfriend’s new wine Big Little Pinot Gris (so good!) and then we went wild on the menu. We had foie gras French toast, whitefish pate, fresh oysters, tempura asparagus and morel mushrooms, and a Kobe Wellington “hot pocket” with Kobe style beef, cheese whiz and other deliciousness baked inside a flaky phyllo. I almost had to roll myself out of there. If you aren’t already drooling, you can see their full menu here.

Frenchies
The following day Heidi took us around. This girl walks fast and doesn’t mess around when it comes to eating and drinking. She not only picked the place for lunch, she ordered for us! What we got was absolutely amazing pastrami sandwiches from a  little hole-in-the-wall place (with no air conditioning) called Frenchies Famous. This is one of Mario Batali’s favorite restaurants IN THE WORLD. I’m telling you people, it was a helluva sandwich.

L. Mawby
And what better to wash down a delicious sandwich then a glass of Michigan sparkling wine. Heidi’s boyfriend, Pete (of Big Little), has family working with L.Mawby which produces some damn fine sparkling wines. He works there, too, and took us on a tour and schooled us on the process of making sparkling wine, all while we were knocking back glass after glass of bubbly.
*They sell L. Mawby in Richmond at Corks and Kegs, so run and get it and if they are out, throw a tantrum so that they get more because this stuff is fantastic.

Wineries
After our visit to L. Mawby and a tour of the space that will be a tasting room for Big Little we hit up another fantastic winery, BlackStar Farms. Heidi’s friend who works there took us through a tasting of her favorite wines and we ended up bringing home way more Michigan wine than we had planned. I had no idea we would be doing so much wine shopping so we had to make a stop at Menard’s (Michigan’s version of a Super Store) to buy another cooler to hold wine from Chateau Chantal, Brys Estate and Bower’s Harbor. We drank alotta wine.

Trattoria Stella
And because when one glass goes empty, somewhere a plate must be full, we stayed in Traverse City for dinner at the amazing Trattoria Stella. Everything they do is sourced locally. They list where every ingredient comes from on their menu, that changes daily! (I swiped a menu to keep for the memories. Yes, I am a nerd.) We ordered lamb crudo, beef carpaccio, beets with strawberry vinaigrette, bruschetta with Cavalier cherries and pappardelle pasta with chicken. AMAZING.

Needless to say, it is amazing that I didn’t gain 50 pounds from the decadence that was eating and drinking my way around the Leelanau Peninsula. I will sweat it out over the next couple of weeks and long for the day we can return to the mitten for more.

vacation recap - detroit

When I told people in Richmond that I was going on vacation to Michigan they looked at me like I told them that I believe in Santa Claus. “Haven’t you seen those Pure Michigan commercials?” I thought. My friend told me I should just tell people I was going to Canada since that sounded more glamorous. Well glam or not, we had an amazing time up North (as they say).

The first stop on our Michigan tour was Detroit. This underdog city is making a comeback with some great eats, drinks and activities. We got married in the city two years ago and have a soft spot for all things Detroit.

Sugar House

Our first stop after checking in (and a quick drink at the hotel bar) was Sugar House, a craft cocktail bar in the Corktown neighborhood. They make all their mixers and bitters and have bottles of liquor I have never heard of. Oh, and they measure everything in a jigger. We did some damage at this place, ordering the What She’s Having, Mai Tai Redux, Mr. Extraordinary and a couple of Dealer’s Choice which is whatever the bartender feels like making after you tell them what you like. We stumbled out of this place after meeting some fantastic characters including a guy who told me his drink, the Leather Bound Book, was “like where the Indians sleep…in tents”.

Roast

After our many beverages, we were in need of some food, so we headed to Roast, Michael Symon’s restaurant in the Westin downtown Detroit. We ordered a half dozen Oysters, Crispy Veal Sweetbreads with apple, celery, bacon, mustard jus, Scallops with saffron risotto, peas, crispy prosciutto, aged balsamic and Rosemary Fries. As far as I can remember, everything was delicious, the scallops being the best of all, but to be perfectly honest the meal was a little blurry.

Wheel House Detroit

There is nothing like late night food to curb your hangover. And thank goodness for that, because the next day we took a 16 mile bike ride through Detroit city. That ride ended up being extended to 20 miles because of a little adventure to White Castle for breakfast and the ride to visit our brick on the Detroit River Walk.

When we were married, our Moms bought us a brick with our wedding date so we would be a part of Detroit forever. This is clearly me before the bike ride. Notice the big building in the background. That is our hotel, the General Motors Renaissance Center.

Astro Coffee

Before we were ready to leave the city, I had to stop Astro Coffee in the Corktown strip. This little coffee shop serves coffee drinks and a small selection of eats made from products locally sourced through Brother Nature, Grown In Detroit and other suppliers. I got a Cubito Guatemala, coffee with apricot and blackberry jam and the Spaghetti with purple pesto, almonds, capers and parmesan. I have no idea was makes this pesto purple or why you would mix coffee with jam, but when you are on vacation, you have to take risks.

After Astro it was on to our next Michigan city. The theme of our vacation, drink, eat, drink, sleep, repeat.

michigan vacation

Posting may be light next week because we are going on vacation!!!! Can you tell that I am excited from the over use of exclamation points?

We are headed north on a tour of Michigan with our first stop in Detroit. We are planning to go with the flow on this holiday. We have a basic itinerary and a short list of things to do and places to be, but for the most part we are going to wing it.

I hope to be updating you on the following spots.

Sugar House (Detroit) for cocktails
Roast (Detroit) for dinner
Wheelhouse Detroit (Detroit) for bike riding
Astro Coffee (Detroit) for breakfast and coffee
Shorts Brewery (Bellaire) for beers
G’s Pizzeria (Kalkaska) for pizza
Founders Brewery (Grand Rapids) for more beer
Billy's Lounge (Grand Rapids) for music

We are looking forward to visiting family and friends in the mitten and are doubly excited that temps will be in the double digits. Have a great weekend!

Photo credit.

paladar latin kitchen & rum bar - annapolis

I had the pleasure of celebrating one of my best friend’s birthdays at Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar (Annapolis, MD) this weekend.

I know what you are thinking. Is she really writing about eating in a chain restaurant? Oh the horror! Well if you don’t like this, you are really going to hate when I write about the Doritos Locos Taco I had on the way back to Richmond. Sorry folks, a girl’s got to eat!

We picked Paladar because of our mutual love of guacamole. They are currently running a promotion titled “It’s a Guac Off”. (If you are a fan of the movie Zoolander, you understand this.) The deal was, you pay $11.95 and get three different types of guacamole. Then you go online and vote for your favorite. If the guac you voted for wins, you get a free order on your next visit. The tagline is “Guacamole….so hot right now.” As a marketing person, this is the stuff I live for!

The three guacamoles we tried were Caramelized Onion & Balsamic, Mango & Roasted Garlic and Heirloom Tomato Basil. All three were good. I voted for the Tomato Basil, so you should immediately also go online and vote for it so that we all win guacamole in Annapolis, MD. Don’t worry, if you can’t use your coupon, you can send it to me and I will shower my Maryland friends and family with guacamole gifts and be the best friend they ever had. That is of course, if you want to and have five seconds of time to spare, which you clearly do, since you are reading this whole ridiculous rant.

After consuming what I can only guess-timate to be three whole avocados each, dinner was not really that important. Plus we were way too busy drinking our carafe of Strawberry Sparkling Sangria and gossiping about our friends. We got to catch up on work, dating, married life, family and everything else that you talk to your best friend about when you live cities away from each other. A meal can easily turn in to three hours, even when all you are eating are avocados and a pretend salad*.

*A pretend salad is a salad that has absolutely no nutritional value, but makes you feel better about yourself because you picked it over something delicious like a burger or tacos. But in actuality it probably has the same amount of calories because of the insane amount of salad dressing you had to put on it to make it taste like anything. You may or may not also have wanted to impress people with your amazing self control in the face of caloric temptation, but then forgot that you just ate three whole avocados with chips, of course, and 3 glasses of Sangria, so you might as well had just ordered the braised beef.

Happy Birthday, Jen! 

lemon drop cupcake - charlottesville

This little cupcake has been the talk of my “office” for the past week. Our Executive Chef’s wife is very very pregnant. She was due to deliver early this week, but at her last check up the baby was already 8 pounds. 

The doctor told it could be any day.  She has been trying all kinds of tricks to go in to labor, going on long walks and even drinking castor oil. When you are desperate, you are desperate.

So what does this have to do with a Lemon Drop cupcake? This little baby from Cappellino's Crazy Cakes in Charlottesville has been known to send overdue mamas into labor! Not one, not two, but 19 mothers have reported that this little sweet started their contractions within 30 minutes! And that was according to this report published in March of last year.

It just so happens that Evan is commuting to Charlottesville this week for work. So we sent him on a mission, a mission for cupcakes.  (I also put in a request for a couple extras in a chocolate variety for myself.)

Tuesday evening, she ate the cupcake. 

I was waiting for my text message to chime, but heard nothing. The next day, we waited to see if he would show up for work, and he did. Bummer!

She did start having contractions one hour after eating the cupcake, but they subsided and we are still awaiting patiently the arrival of a baby Chef. 

Another road trip may be in order. “Two, lemon drop cupcakes, please!”

Photo credit.


Update!!! A few minutes after I posted this, Chef called to tell us that his wife had their baby. A healthy baby girl!

saudé creek vineyards - lanexa

We went for a picnic lunch at Saudé Creek Vineyards (Lanexa, VA) to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It is a new-ish winery off 64 towards Williamsburg. Not a bad drive (unless the President is coming to town and they decide to literally close the highway, but that is another story).

This winery is absolutely beautiful. Their wrap around porch was perfect for hanging out on a semi-rainy day. Once the fog cleared you could see the Pamunkey River.

The tasting was $7 and the wine was good. They had wine available by the glass and by the bottle. I had a glass of their Merlot and then helped Evan split a bottle of Vidal Blanc.

We snacked and drank and enjoyed the company of good people. That is what good Saturdays are made of.

level small plates lounge – annapolis

A visit to Annapolis is not complete without cocktails downtown. Even though I was there for less than 24 hours, I managed to get to a bar with friends for a couple beverages this weekend.

Level Small Plates Lounge (69 West St) is the ONLY place in Annapolis that does small plates and craft cocktails. I have no idea why no one else has jumped on board with this trend, but as of now, this is the place.

I was so happy to have drinks with my friend and hair stylist, Jamie and her body builder boyfriend, Devin. They are totally a hoot and when I am with them I never have to wait for a drink. Devin is one of those high protein kind of guys. He ordered 4 orders of Beef Satay and one order Lamb Osso Bucco, for himself. Get a mental picture of what our table looked like…

I didn’t have any food because I had just eaten an entire large popcorn at the movies, but even though I was full, I never say no to a cocktail…or two.

For my first drink, I had a Smoky Margarita. It was very very smoky.

For my second beverage, I went back to a drink I have had and enjoyed before, their Baked Apple Pisco Sour.

Right as my second drink got there, so did my brother and his friend Chuck. That is when the bachelorettes, the birthday boy and the Chef all came up to take their picture with him. He is always such a good sport. He is nice and talks with every single fan. I am so glad that I am not famous because I would totally be a diva. Especially, if people bother me while I am cocktailing.

tre dici - new york

Dinner in Manhattan for 7 people is usually a feat, but fortunately for us, Tre Dici (128 W 26th St) was right down the street from our hotel and had an opening. And after having had cocktails a few blocks away, I was ready for….another cocktail!

Lucky for me the cocktail list at Tre Dici was delightful. Both Mom and I ordered the same drink, go figure.  We had the Pretty Effen Good. I guess you could say it was a girlie drink.

Everyone in our party, except for me and Evan, ordered the Angry Lobster. It was a one pound lobster with Cajun seasonings. You know what they say, “When in New York, order the lobster.” Wait, no one says that?

I was content with my roasted vegetable salad and a couple bites of Evan’s pasta. Plus, I wasn’t in the mood to shuck a lobster.

cafeteria - new york

We were in NYC last weekend and stayed in midtown Manhattan. I know there are a million restaurants in New York, but surprisingly not very many within walking distance of our hotel. I got on my phone and hit up Urbanspoon to see what was close and found a couple options that looked promising, Cafeteria (10 blocks away) and Tre Dici (3 blocks away).

The youngsters in our group (and by youngsters, I mean, not my parents) decided to go to Cafeteria (119 7th St.) for cocktails and meet up with the parents at Tre Dici for dinner. 

I hiked it 10 blocks in my 4 inch stilettos and once we were a block away, I realized that I had been to Cafeteria before. Of all the places in NYC, I had brunch here 3 years ago with a friend from college. Crazy!

We got three spots at the bar and had ourselves some delicious cocktails, an Apricot Sage for me with vodka, apricot puree, crushed sage and a splash of citrus, and a Blood Orange Mimosa for Melody. Beer for Evan.

I made the statement “I LOVE blood oranges” when Melody was picking her cocktail. Evan caught me off guard when he asked me, “When have you ever had a blood orange?” It stopped me in my tracks. I don’t think I ever have actually eaten a blood orange. I have had blood orange juice in plenty of cocktails and once in a cheesecake, so I stand by my statement, I LOVE Blood Oranges.

For bites, we had bacon wrapped dates and fried calamari. The dates were very good, but not as good as The Empress. It made me miss home....

*We told my brother that we went to Cafeteria, his response was that the place was “scene-y”. That means a place that small celebrities go to be seen….do we have anywhere like that in RVA?

Photo credit.

devil’s backbone brewery tour

I was very lucky to be invited on a tour of the new Outpost Brewery for Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company in Lexington, VA. It was a long ride, but worth it to see the space before it is officially open to the public. DB will be opening their new taproom in March of this year in a building that broke ground just months ago. They were still putting the finishing touches on their space, like a door to the ladies room. But even without a door (or a sink), it was still an impressive space. We tasted the Vienna Lager and the 8 Point I.P.A. which you can currently find on many a Taste the Local drafts around town. Both are great beers.

After our tasting and tour, we headed to their Brew Pub in Roseland, VA which is not close by any means. It was a considerable ride considering that I had had a few beers and was getting antsy. But, we made it and were seated in an enclosed patio space by a burning fire. They even had blankets on the chairs for snuggling. (Not that I was snuggling since I was ravenous and with coworkers.)

Don’t ask me why, but I was doing a meatless Monday thing, so I had the Hummus and Vegetable platter and Butternut Squash Bisque. Hummus was hummus and veggies were veggies, but the soup was bowl lick-able. It was just what I needed. Everyone around me was having delicious sandwiches like the DB Turkey Reuben and Rob’s Bonedipper, beef brisket, bacon, Muenster cheese on Ciabatta. What are you gonna do?

It was a good trip, even though it was sooooo far away, but definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.