Comedor Guadalajara

 These past couple of weeks we have been gathering suggestions of restaurants to try.  One that was mentioned by a few people (shout out to Caroline, Omar and Mike to name just a few)  was Comedor Guadalajara in Central Phoenix.  This restaurant has been in business for over 40 years and for good reason.  We were told by our friends that the place can get busy so plan to arrive early.  So we pulled into the parking lot about 4:45 pm and made our way to the hostess stand. To our surprise the place was already 80% full but we still had a slight wait as they seated the couple before us.  We asked the waiter what type of sodas they serve and when he told us that it was Pepsi products we went with water for Patti and lemonade for me.  Shortly before our drinks arrived they sat a complimentary bowl of chips and salsa on the table.  Here's my advice to you for this restaurant.  WAIT for your drinks to arrive before you dive into the incredibly spicy salsa!  It did have a fresh tomato taste blended well with the red chili peppers.  The only reason I stopped eating the chips and salsa was to periodically attempt to quench the fire on my lips.  We ordered two appetizers.

The first one was Campechana, a Mexican seafood soup served cold.  It includes oysters, octopus, mussels, shrimp, squid, and scallops in a broth that has your choice of Clamato or lime juice.  We went with the lime.  It also includes vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, avocado, cilantro and of course jalapenos for a kick.  This is a cold seafood lovers dream.  The flavors of the seafood mix well with the fresh vegetables.  Even though the jalapenos added a kick, the large chunks of avocado were able to quickly soothe my mouth.  I was expecting the mussels to be tough, the squid to be chewy and the octopus to have the texture of an old worn tire.  This is not the case.  Each piece of seafood must have been cooked separately before being added to the dish because each bite was still tender.  And the old tire texture I was expecting turned out to be a tasty tentacle instead.  As the appetizers go, I was glad I chose the small order rather than the large.  I as nearly full before my entree arrived.
Patti decided to go with an authentic yet classic appetizer.  She ordered the "Quesadilla de Pollo Con Nopalitos"  which roughly translated means chicken, cactus and cheese between tortillas.  True to their roots, this restaurant appeared to use homemade, fresh tortillas that were grilled to a slight crisp on the outside and bursting with melted cheddar cheese, juicy chicken and slices of nopalitos (prickly pear cactus).  In addition there were red bell peppers and she suspects some jalapenos because of the spicy kick.  This quesadilla is so large that it needs to be shared.  And even after sharing it you will most likely be taking some home for left-overs.  At most chain restaurants when I order a quesadilla I am able to easily pick it up with my fingers because they are thin with little inside.  Here at Guadalajara's I recommend using a fork to help you get all the pieces to your mouth.


Patti couldn't decide what to get until she found a sampler of three soft tacos.  This allowed her to sample all three types of meat they typically offer in their entrees: steak, chicken or pork.  It comes with soft four mini tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, lettuce and tomato with a side of refried beans and rice.  Of the three types of meats, steak was the least favorite.  It was dry with no seasoning.  To make it more tasty I recommend you add the pico de gallo and guacamole liberally.  The chicken was definitely seasoned and grilled.  This was much better than the steak and could be eaten without any additional condiments if so desired.  The pork however was her favorite.  This was a deep fried pork loin and had the most flavor of all three.  Like so many things, deep fried always makes it taste better.  As it came out of the kitchen it was still juicy and she was willing to eat it all by itself.  The side of re-fried beans is a welcome soothing addition to any traditional Mexican meal as it will help tame the kick from jalapenos or chilis.  The rice at this restaurant, on the other hand, has more of a spicy kick than you would typically find at more Americanized places.

As you may well know by now, I enjoy being a bit more adventurous than an average restaurant goer.  So I decided to order off menu and get one of their specials of the day.  It was listed as "Molcajetes de camaron w/ Napales, chili rojo" but our server let us know that we could substitute carne asada for the shrimp (camaron).  Molcajete is a lava bowl similar to a mortar and pestle.  Inside the bowl is carne asada (aka grilled beef), nopalitos (aka prickly pear cactus), chili rojo ( aka red chili peppers), grilled scallions, mozzarella sticks all served in a red sauce.  This also included flour tortillas, pico de gallo, rice and beans.  I had an idea that it was going to be a spicy dish.  So I prepared myself as I dipped my fork to retrieve the various ingredients in the bowl.  As I popped it into my mouth, the temperature was warm but as I continued to chew the temperature started to rise.  That was when I realized it wasn't the temperature but rather the spice that was making me sweat.  The more I chewed the more my mouth was on fire.  Then I realized that I was not chewing on a piece of carne asada but rather a full red chili pepper.  I think it took at least a half a glass of lemonade to cool my mouth back to a five alarm fire.  Now that I know how to spot the red chilis, I was able to retrieve the cactus and beef to eat with the tortillas.  This was incredibly delicious.  As long as you don't continually chew on a red chili pepper,  the dish's spice doesn't overpower the rest of the flavors.  I barely made a dent in my Molcajete and feeling very full.  As I felt that I had made a pig of myself, I found the humor in the face of the pig that adorns the side of the bowl.

Before we came to the restaurant, we had looked at the menu and thought for sure we would be ordering the fried bananas for dessert.  However, when that time came, we were too full to even contemplate ordering dessert.  So tell me how it is if you get a chance to try it before I can get back here.

Comedor Guadalajara is definitely an authentic Mexican eatery.  You can tell by the atmosphere as well as the food.  If you have visitors from out of town looking for southwestern cuisine, this is a must for your to-do list.  Just remember to go early or be prepared to wait.  But it is worth the wait because if you haven't tried a Molcajete, you gotta try it now.

Rustler's Rooste birthday

" Back before there were fences here in the valley, a few outlaws made their living by rustling cattle in the middle of the night and then selling them to the local restaurants.  The rustler's lived in an old wooden cabin high atop a butte in the foothills of the South Mountains, hidden from eyes of ranchers and more importantly the sheriff." or so the story goes on the menu.  But before we get started Rustler's Rooste has a few rules such as "dancing with horses, dogs, coyotes and lampshades is not to be encouraged";  "If lead starts flying in here, grab your plate and eat under the table, it will stop in a minute" and "no hired hand shall be permitted to rustle any cattle or stock horses from the herd already rustled at the rooste".

As you first walk into the entrance you pass a bull with very large horns.  I looked around to see what his name was, I couldn't find a name plate so I just named him "Dinner".  Years ago when the rooste was a small cabin, there was a tin slide installed for a clever escape plan in case of bounty hunters.  The rustlers could just open up the cellar and jump down the slide to their horses.  This is still the case but now you go down the slide to your table rather than to your horse.  Jerry, who was celebrating his birthday on July 15 joined us as I celebrated my birthday too.  We were good sports to let Patti take a picture of us going down the slide.

The drinks selections were Pepsi products and since I had been up since 3am, I decided to get a Dr. Pepper so I could stay awake through the festivities.  Our first appetizer on the top of my list was rattlesnake.  This is a seasonal appetizer because it gets harder to rustle them up during the winter.  The snake is deboned, battered and deep fried served with a chipotle ranch dipping sauce.  Have you ever heard the expression "tastes just like chicken"?  This is a true story with rattlesnake but since it is full of muscles it tends to be more chewy than chicken.  It did have a nice crispy batter and the dipping sauce gives it a creamy kick.  For added garnish, Rustler's Rooste serves it with the deepfried backbone skeleton.  I don't recommend you eat the skeleton but it does make for a nice toothpick.

Next on our list was to order the Fresh Prickly Pear Cactus Fries.  Yes this is actually made from cactus, which is sliced into strips then battered and deep fried.  I was at first apprehensive about trying these because when I've eaten prickly pear cactus before it reminded me of eating green beans.  I couldn't imagine deep fried green beans being very appetizing.  But true to my motto, "if you haven't tried it, try it now", I had to try it.  These were less like green beans and more like pickles.  I've had deep fried pickles before and I found them to be more tart then I liked.  The prickly pear cactus fries were not tart but still had a pickle taste that contrasted with the batter and nicely topped off with the spicy kick from the chipotle ranch dipping sauce.  After our appetizers, we were served Indian fry bread and biscuits with butter as well as cinnamon butter.  The bread was hot and a good vehicle for eating the butter.  Then came a large bowl of salad  served family style for the entire table.  The salad had a variety of vegetables in it and already dressed with their house dressing.  If you are particular about how your salad is made or the type of dressing you like, you will need to voice this to the server up front.

 Rustler's Rooste is primarily a steak house, so we ordered steak.  Each steak comes with corn on the cob, green beans and cowboy beans.  Jerry ordered the "Rustler's Cut" which is a top sirloin steak.  This is a 10 oz steak and he chose to have it cooked "medium-well" and looks to be one of their more popular steaks.  We call this one "big".
Patti ordered the "Wagon Master" which is a New York Strip cooked "medium".  This is 12 oz of choice beef.  We call this one "bigger".  Despite being cooked medium, Patti found it to be dry.  All the juices seemed to be left on the plate rather than in the meat.  It did not even come close to the perfection of Frank's home grilled steaks. 
I got a good look at the cow out front and thought he could spare a few pounds, so I went with the "Trail Boss" which is a Porterhouse steak.  We will call this one "the Biggest".  Darn near two pounds of genuine aged Angus beef.  Of course, I prefer my steaks to still be mooing so I ordered it medium rare with a leaning towards the rare side.  My waiter asked if I needed any steak sauce, and I responded that if I needed steak sauce I shouldn't be eating this steak.  After taking a bite, I should have taken him up on his offer of sauce.  My steak was cooked perfectly but as temperature goes, it was lukewarm at best.  There was very little seasoning on the meat itself but don't get me wrong, the steak was still good, I just wished I had been able to add more flavor.

Since we were celebrating my birthday, we decided to go for the "Buckaroo Birthday" package.  This starts off with a server approaching your table while clanging a large dinner triangle and announcing to the entire restaurant that it is your birthday and we will all join in singing "Happy Birthday" to you.  When he reached the table he quickly takes a straw cowboy hat wrapped in an Arizona State flag bandana and places on your head while the everyone starts singing.  Once the song is over, he placed THE largest eclair I have ever seen in my life in front of me with two candles burning.  Of course, still being a young man, I was confident I could blow those candles out quickly.  But to my surprise the funny pranksters at the restaurant put relighting candles on the eclair.  After making another attempt at blowing them out, I licked my fingers and doused them rather than spitting directly on the dessert.  This eclair was excellently plated and extremely delicious and because of the size I did allow Patti and Jerry to share.  Even with sharing I still ended up bringing a quarter of it home.

 After every meal, each table is brought a can of cotton candy.  This is actually a nice unexpected treat and can be shared with the whole table.  We noticed on the menu that were no other desserts to choose from so if you don't order the Buckaroo Birthday this cotton candy is the only dessert available.  At least that we know of.

 Rustler's Rooste is a true Arizona icon and I would recommend bringing out of town guests here for a taste of "The West".  After dinner you can walk out onto their patio/balcony and enjoy a panoramic view of the Phoenix valley.  A great photo op can be had from just about any spot on the patio.

So if you are ready to try some true Arizona food and you are willing to try the snake more than the steak, Rustler's Rooste is definitely your place.  Because if you haven't tried Prickly Pear Cactus Fries, try it now!

Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles

 
There are all types of choices when choosing a restaurant.  You might be looking for an adventure or something spicy.  And then there are times you just need something from your momma's kitchen.  When we think of home cooking, we always think of comfort foods.  There are no greater comfort foods than those you find in the Southern United States.  So the place we chose for this week is called "Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles".  This is a family owned business that takes great pride in their food.  Such pride that many of the entree's after family include names of people known to Lo-Lo.  (Lo-Lo is also known as Larry White by the way.)  They have two locations in the valley and we opted to try the newer one in south Scottsdale.
We arrived at the restaurant a little after 5pm and the place seemed to be at least three quarters full already.  We had a waiter come to our table and ask about drinks.  Besides Pepsi products they have many flavors of Kool-Aid on tap.  I decided on lemonade while Patti went with her usual water with lemon.  Drinks are served not in an ordinary glass but in a large quart mason jar.  This is an excellent way to have enough to drink, I didn't need to worry about my glass becoming empty.  But that really wasn't a problem because any worker that walked by your table would ask if you needed something, would ask how your food was or what else they could do for you.  The service is amazing and if that is their policy I think it makes for a good business model.

The first thing on the menu that caught our eye was something called "Stupid Fries".  These are hot seasoned fries topped with tender fried white meat chicken, gravy & onions, green & red bell peppers and smothered with cheese.  I took one bite of these fries and the thought that came to my head was "I wanna slap mah momma fo not serving these to me before".  The reason I think they call them "Stupid Fries" is that you would be stupid not to order them.  So to describe these start with a french fries and cheese combination, which by themselves are good.  Then you throw on the pieces of southern fried chicken and a splash gravy that then gives it a southern comfort food taste.  It is then topped with red and green bell peppers and onions for added color and a sweet flavor.

You don't go to a restaurant with "chicken and waffles" in the name and not order "chicken and waffles" so Patti did.  This is the "Lo-Lo's" entree and it consists of 3 pieces of chicken prepared southern style, with 2 golden waffles just like the name says.  The chicken comes lightly seasoned and fried but not greasy.  Depending on the piece of meat you eat, determines how juicy it was.  We found that the leg and thigh dark meat was very juicy but the white meat was a little dry.  Some people would say that waffles are just waffle but you could tell these waffles had a little extra love put into them.  There was a hint of cinnamon throughout that gave it a unique flavor.  This is not your Eggo brand or IHOP waffle for sure.

I went for the "Chicken fried chicken".  This is a filet of boneless chicken breast double dipped, fried, and smothered in a creamy sausage gravy then served with grits, potato salad and cornbread.  The chicken was nice and crispy outside with tender juicy meat on the inside.  The sausage gravy on top gave an extra salty southern flavor.  This entree definitely reminded me and made me miss the southern cooking I had in Georgia.  Patti hasn't had much experience with southern cooking or soul food.  I wanted to have her try some fried okra but they didn't have any available.  So of course my next choice was grits.  The grits were served in a small bowl with a healthy portion of butter on top.  For those who have not experienced grits before, the best way I could describe it would be similar to malt-o-meal.  When you hear the word "grits" you might associate it with "gritty" and expect a similar texture.  These are far from it as they were smooth and creamy.  There is very little flavor in grits so the butter adds some to it, I recommend adding a touch of sugar to balance out the salty taste.  One side that I was really impressed with was their potato salad.  Their potato salad is very similar to my own homemade recipe, that may be why I was particularly fond of it.  The potato salad had an excellent balance of egg matched with mustard, a smooth mayo with fresh ingredients.  This is not your typical restaurant, mass produced potato salad.  You could definitely how freshly made it was.  To top the meal off you are given a large warm piece of corn bread.

Half-way through our meal, we were starting to feel the carb overload.  We asked for a couple of to-go boxes and our waiter asked if that meant that we didn't save room for dessert.  Despite being full, we were curious what kind of desserts they had.  We were tempted by and gave into the Banana Puddin'.  This consists of homemade banana pudding, fresh bananas, Nilla wafers and topped with a mountain of whipped cream and served in a mason jar.  Remember we were already full by the time we got our dessert.  We thought we would only take one or two bites and have to bring the rest home.  Well that one and two bites turned into four and five and pretty soon our mason jar was completely empty.  This is truly THE best banana pudding I have ever had.

I really enjoyed this restaurant because they obviously take pride in their service as well as pride in their food.  So if you haven't tried chicken and waffles, try it now.

Fresh Wasabi

 What are some of the reasons that we go out to a restaurant?  Is it to spend time with friends?  Is it to enjoy good food?  Maybe it is to get to know someone one, or we might know someone who owns or cooks at a restaurant, or maybe it is to try something completely different.  This Fun Frank Friday, I was fortunate enough to experience all of this. 

This week we are off to our friend, Rosemarie's favorite sushi/teppanyaki place located in Glendale called Fresh Wasabi.  We arrived at 5:30 (just before the dinner rush) and although some tables were already taken we were seated quickly.  While browsing through the menu, one particular item caught my eye, under appetizers they have "Monkey Brains".  It is not what you think.  I am not munching on the thought centers of our primate friends.  Monkey brains are mushroom caps stuffed with spicy tuna then deep fried and topped with special sauces.  The mushroom caps gave an earthy flavor to the spicy tuna mixture.  The tempura gives a nice contrast to the smooth texture of the dish.  The special sauces give it just the right accent.  This is a must try appetizer and I will be ordering this again.

We also decided to get the seaweed salad.  Put aside your prejudices and opinions of sea weed.  This seaweed did not taste oceanic or fishy at all and it wasn't slimy.  It was marinated in a sesame seed dressing.  The texture however is very different.  It is one of the few textures that is difficult to explain.  If you have followed my blog, a similar texture was the marinated jelly fish.  "The best way for me to try and describe it, is when you bite into a really good sausage and the casing provides a crisp snap.  You then pair this crisp snap with a limp noodle." 

Next our sushi started rolling out.  First was Rosemarie's: Guilty Pleasure, the School Bus, Crunch Spicy Tuna roll, and a Tuna avocado.    The tuna avocado was a simple roll with tuna and avocado of course surrounded by rice.  The Guilty pleasure is a spicy tuna roll, covered with Hawaiian white tuna and dressed with sliced jalapeno, garlic, tobiko, nuts, eel sauce, spicy mayo and creamy wasabi sauce.  This is another must order roll if you like something with a bit of a spicy kick.  The thinly sliced jalapeno gave it a nice fresh vegetable flavor which was paired nicely with the thinly sliced garlic on top of this roll. The School Bus is tuna and avocado roll topped with fresh salmon.  The Crunch Spicy Tuna roll is a spicy tuna with tempura flakes on the outside.  There is more to this roll than meets the eye.  The tempura flakes give an exciting crunch to this roll.  You don't have the deep fried taste that most tempura has but it still has the crunch.  This makes an excellent pairing to the smooth spicy tuna.

Next came the first of our rolls.  We chose to start with the Cherry blossom, the Guilty pleasure and Patti's favorite, Tootsie Roll.  The Cherry Blossom is fresh salmon and avocado covered in tuna and eel sauce.  This was a beautiful presentation of a roll.  The bright pink rose of the tuna gives it its name and contrasts with the yellow and orange of the avocado/salmon center.  The Guilty Pleasure was the same as Rosemarie's, yes it was that good we ordered two of them because we didn't want to share.   The Tootsie is crab mix, cucumber, avocado and shrimp inside, topped with tempura flakes and eel sauce.  You can't miss with any roll that has eel sauce.

Mark is not very keen on sushi and sometimes has a difficult time finding food that he enjoys when going out with friends that like seafood and sushi in general.  The first plate that was put in front of him was a tempura vegetables.  It had zucchini, sweet potato and a tempura onion ring and also happened to include a few pieces of tempura shrimp.  His first look was of skepticism when he saw the shrimp but he made quick work of the onion ring.  To satisfy Mark's appetite he opted for the grilled chicken salad.  Even though that we tried to entice him to try some of the raw food, he was quick to point out that he already had, most of his salad was raw.

Next came round two of our sushi rolls.  This round included the Climax which consists of shrimp tempura and cream cheese on the inside, covered with spicy tuna and dressed with sliced jalapeno, garlic, tobiko, nuts, eel sauce, spicy mayo and creamy wasabi sauce.  This one is similar to the Guilty Pleasure but it does have a different flavor and texture to the roll.  You will however still enjoy the same spicy kick.  The Booty Booty roll consists of shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, eel and spicy tuna topped with spicy mayo, creamy wasabi sauce, eel sauce, and nuts.  This roll is not only fun to say but yummy to eat as well.  There is just something about eel and shrimp tempura that really makes a great sushi roll.  Next was the Geisha roll which was smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and cucumber inside with flying fish roe and eel sauce on top.  Our version of it came with mango instead of cucumber inside.  I enjoyed the smoky flavor of the salmon paired with the smooth cream cheese balanced with the sweet mango.  The flying fish eggs gave it a snap crackle pop that made this an outstanding roll.  Last but not least was the One More Night roll.  This had lobster, cucumber, avocado inside and mango slices with eel sauce on top.  This is a perfect roll to end with as it is cool and smooth with the sweet and flavorful mango on top.

 When I heard that Rosemarie had never tried sea urchin before I found a perfect opportunity to test her sushi skills.  Those of you who know me, know that my past experience with the sea urchin resulted with a strong oceanic flavor.  So I put Rosemarie to the test and had her try uni with me.  She popped the uni in her mouth and I waited for the possible look of disgust on her face.  I was a little shocked when she said it wasn't that bad and gave me a questioning look.  So I took a bite of mine and I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh this sea urchin was.  My past experiences have made it very difficult for me to want to continue to order uni.  Either it hasn't been fresh or just not prepared very well. I finally found a place that was able to meet both.

 One of our highlights of the evening was when Mr. Kim, owner and chef of Fresh Wasabi, came out to greet us.  Previously, he had been invited to come camping with Rosemarie and us.  As he approached our table, he offered us something that wasn't on the menu.  He calls it "I'm sorry I couldn't go camping" roll.  It consisted of spicy crab mix and cucumber inside with salmon and kiwi on top.  To the side was a choice of eel sauce or spicy mayo for dipping.  This is a fantastic roll.  You could tell what a creative chef he is by the combinations of flavors and colors in this roll.  Mr. Kim, you are a true artist when it comes to sushi.  The kiwi was an excellent addition to the flavor.

 Rosemarie said there was no way we could leave this place without trying the tempura cheese cake.  This is great way to have cheesecake.  It was better than a cream filled doughnut.  There was light crunch of tempura on the outside with the warm sweet creamy cheese cake inside.  As each of us took our first bite, you heard an ecstatic moan in unison.  It is not too often that you get a chance to try tempura cheese cake or even monkey brains for that matter.


 This is an excellent and friendly place.  There is no need to waste your time with other sushi restaurants, so if you haven't tried Fresh Wasabi, you need to try it now.

Cowboy Ciao!

 While looking for ideas for this Fun Frank Friday, we browsed through the internet for restaurants in Phoenix.  Cowboy Ciao's caught our eyes with wording on their menu such as this description of their dessert: "Save room to satisfy your sweet tooth with equally creative selections from Pastry Chef Country Velador, who contributes housemade breads, ice creams, sorbets, you name it – take the Cobbler on Quack, which features duck fat ice cream (you heard me, duck fat ice cream – like I could make that up)"  and their description of the Black Tiger shrimp with "habanero chile/apricot glazed, grilled, served atop “I'm gonna get you, sucka-tash”
(roast corn, snap peas, bacon, red onion)".    When Patti also saw that the top of the dinner menu started with desserts rather than appetizers she said "this is my kind of place!" and since I haven't tried duck-fat ice cream, I had to try it now making this "my kind of place" too.

Shortly after we sat down, I was craving something a little different than just a Coke.  So I decided on a Sioux City Sasparilla.  Patti was able to get her favorite, Cherry Diet Coke.  After our waiter brought our drinks, we started in on the third degree questions about the different appetizers.  The main one that sparked my interest was the Wild Boar Meatballs.  Before I mentioned that I was thinking about it, the server indicated that was one of his favorites and he couldn't understand why it wasn't served as a full entree.  He also recommended the Buffalo Carpaccio and he did say that Ahi Tuna Tartare was made with fresh tuna.  Our choices ended up being the Wild Boar Meatballs and a for a contrast the Ahi Tuna Tartare.  The first to arrive at our table was the meatballs.  Wild Boar Meatballs are ground wild boar with salsify, charred broccolini, chanterelles, cream, truffle oil, shaved Montasio cheese.  The meatballs were seasoned perfectly to match the wild boar flavor.  They were well cooked on the outside but juicy and moist on the inside.  They were covered with bold cream sauce and served with vegetables and the entire thing topped with cheese.  These rich flavors on the appetizer were so incredible that I agreed with our server that it should be offered as an entire entree.

Every good meal needs a balance of powers so to speak.  For every sweet there should be a sour, for every smooth there should be a crunch, for every bold meatball there should be an Ahi tuna tartare.  The Ahi tuna tartare consists of fresh raw tuna chopped then topped with charred orange/prickly pear vinaigrette, black sesame seed kettle corn, and popcorn shoots.  As bold and rich as the Wild Boar meatballs were, this appetizer was smooth and cool with a sweet flavor and the popcorn gave a crunchy texture.  These two went together like a ying and a yang.  It was best eaten with alternating bites between the two dishes.

My entree was the first one to hit the table.  I was a little reluctant to order swordfish and as many times it is known to be dry and tough.  But I was assured by the waiter that this was not the case here at Cowboy Ciao.  The Grilled Swordfish is grilled to medium, served with green peppercorn/oyster mushroom cream saute and ‘Chef Lester-veg’ (a mélange of charred rapini, salsify, garlic, onion & speck).  So I may not know what all these terms mean but I do know that the fish was moist and flaky which surprised me because it was at least 2 1/2 inches thick.  The cream sauce was similar to that on the wild boar with a strong bold flavor.  I enjoyed this dish especially when I was able to have the flaky fish, the crunchy vegetables and the smooth cream sauce in one large bite.  My entree was so good that it reduced my dinner conversations to simple grunts of satisfaction.
Patti was intrigued with the entree called "We're Bananas for Flat-Iron".  We tested our waiter to see if we could get special orders.  They were happy to accommodate our several requests which included putting the coffee/veal demi-glace on the side.  This dish is described as a half-pound-plus flat iron steak, grilled to temperature, sliced and fanned, with fried plantains, served over shaved parsnips, and a Meyer lemon/mint/cherry tomato salad on the side. A flat iron steak comes from the shoulder muscle and in layman's terms it is generally a tough cut of meat.  Patti took one bite of the steak and said "Frank this is so tender that it rivals your filet mignon" (which she LOVES by the way).  I was skeptical so I had to try a bite, and I wasn't quite satisfied so I had to have two more and it was delicious.

By the time we finished our entrees I was feeling full, but the draw to try something on "quack" was too strong.  Patti couldn't resist the dessert that included not only her favorite flavors but also her name.  The Peppermint Patti Brownie was a rich warm brownie topped with a peppermint cream pattie which was then topped with chocolate ice cream.  The ice cream froze the peppermint cream into a crunch that was a surprise contrast to the gooey brownie center.  The ice cream also was drizzled with a light peppermint sauce and a chocolate crumb sprinkle.  It may sound rich but the contrast of the light mint kept the chocolate from becoming so overpowering that you can't take more than a single bite.
To me, my dessert was irresistible by name alone: Warm Apple Cobbler - on Quack (with brie cheese crema and duck fat ice cream).  The apple cobbler was made with fresh apples and given the same care as any grandmother would give her own recipe.  I was very curious what duck ice cream would taste like.  Duck with a strong poultry flavor is not an ingredient one would think to put in ice cream.  As I put a spoonful into my mouth, it was actually very similar to a vanilla ice cream.  The only difference being it had more of a rich creamy flavor due to the duck fat. 

Cowboy Ciao was a fun adventure, a fusion of flavors with sense of humor and great atmosphere.  And if you've never tried Cobbler on Quack...try it now.

Mijana- Authentic Lebanese Cuisine

 Too often when dining out, it is so easy to say "let's go grab a burger" or "let's get Chinese".  How many times have you heard "Let's do Lebanese"?   Well if you are going out to dinner with me, you will hear it more often.  Patti and I sat down at our table, we tried to decide what to order.  The first thing that jumped out at me was the veal tartare, but because this specialty dish needs to be ordered in advance to ensure freshness of the meat, I was unable to have it this time.  But rest assured the next time I eat at Mijana's I will order it in advance!  Since we were unfamiliar with what constituted Lebanese cuisine, we opted for their house "Dinner Special" that included a variety of their menu options.  It first started off with Fattouch which is Romaine lettuce with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, radish, tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, sumac and pita chips.  This salad was very well mixed and it also came with two freshly baked loaves of pita bread.  The bread was warm to the touch and ideal as an essential component of the rest of the meal.  
Next was the appetizer sampler or Mezza.  This included:  hummus, a puree of garbonzo beans with tahini, garlic and lemon juice then topped with a drizzle of olive oil; babagannouj, fire roasted eggplant pureed with tahini, garlic and lemon juice also topped with a drizzle of olive oil;  falafels, four made from scratch chickpea croquettes with tomatos, onions and pickles; borek,  crispy handmade fillo pastry rolls filled with feta, mozzarella and herbs.  The hummus was an excellent dipping sauce for our warm pita bread but for a real zing in the mouth I preferred the babagannouj.  It had more tang from the eggplant, lemon juice and garlic together.  I was pleasantly surprised on the taste of the falafels.  I expected it to be more dry and cardboard like with an after taste of sawdust.  These falafels were crisp on the outside and warm, moist on the inside but not doughy.  There was a hint of curry to them as well.  But out of all the appetizer choices, I loved the borek the best.  

After trying one of these you will never want to go back to the breaded, fried mozzerella sticks again.  The light pastry was crisp on the outside melded with the smooth creamy cheese inside.
The added herbs gave an extra delicate flavor.  All these appetizers came with two small spears of a homemade pickle.  Although it might appear to be just a garnish, the pickle was excellent tasting as well.

Now that we were starting to feel full from all of our appetizers, the main entree came to the table.  The Dinner special included Kefta kabobs and chicken kabobs.  Kefta is seasoned ground beef and lamb minced with parsley and onions. Grilled and served juicy over rice with tsatziki (yogurt and cucumber mix).  While the chicken is charbroiled and also served over rice, with a garlic dip.  The kefta had a rich bold, meaty flavor and fall off the skewer tender.  We used our pita bread to pick it up and dip it in the tsatziki sauce.  The chicken appeared to be dried as it looked similar to tandoori chicken we have had in the past.  We were pleasantly surprised to find it was not.  This chicken was soft and so juicy that I wasn't sure if I was drooling or if the chicken juices were dripping off my chin.  This kabob was the best one.  It had an amazing accent with the garlic dip.  It was so rich, creamy and with garlic to the tenth power that it will take days for the garlic flavor to leave.  Now I am not a big fan of rice, most of the time, I usually taste it and push it to the side.  I am not often impressed with dry and bland rice.  But this rice was smooth and extremely flavorful from what seemed to be exotic spices.

 Our first dessert was baklava.  It is a fillo pastry filled with honey, nuts, cinnamon and nutmeg.  The plate was drizzled with a berry syrup and pistachio pieces.  As baklava goes, I felt it was weak and needed the berry syrup to give it more dessert flavor.  Patti on the other hand, who is not a big fan of baklava typically, enjoyed it.  She felt that the berry gave it more of a balanced sweet taste rather than the overpowering honey and spice that typical baklava has.



We saved the best for last.  The dinner special menu recommend that we try their "Baked Kanefe for Two" so we did.  It is described as a "vermicilli " looking fillo pastry that's shredded then colored orange..with a layer of cheese in between- baked..and topped with sugar syrup and pistachio pieces before serving. Oh. My. Sweet. Goodness.!  I think I discovered what they must serve in heaven.  Whether you are a cheese lover or not, this dessert will blow your mind on so many levels.  I enjoyed the shredded wheat texture from the pastry contrasting from the creamy smooth melted cheese.  The sweet syrup was singing praises on one side of your mouth while the nuts were dancing on the other side.  This is a must try!  And an item that will be calling us back to Mijana in the future.  So if you haven't tried Kanefe or babagannouj, try it now.

Fun Frank Friday on Steriods....Part two

So of course who can resist going to Alaska and not ordering Reindeer sausage?  And of course if you order reindeer sausage you need to ask for the maraschino cherry.  Why you ask?  So you can have a Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer sausage of course.

I tried the reindeer sausage in a few places (this one was at the Sourdough Mining company).  I found the meat to be smooth and flavorful.  This is a type of sausage that could be easily eaten any Fourth of July barbecue.

Being in Alaska there are a few other staples that you must try.  Crab legs and halibut are a given and easily found in just about any state.  But when you eat them in the neighborhood of where they are caught they just have such a fresh taste to them that rivals any fresh fish you've gotten anywhere else.  I wish I could tell you more about the crab legs but I blinked twice and they were inhaled.  I did savor the halibut a bit longer and it was tender, flaky and extremely moist surrounded with a light beer batter.  This is fish that does not need tarter sauce.

Patti chose the Alyeska Chicken Burger, a mesquite chicken breast, grilled over an open flame, and served with teriyaki sauce, swiss cheese, and two grilled pineapple rings.  The most notable item that accompanies each dish is the "Korn Fritters".  So put a muzzle on your hushpuppies and make room for some.  The flour dough is mixed with fresh corn, cut off the cob and rolled into little balls, then deep fried and served with honey butter.  Korn fritters seem to be quite popular and we found them throughout Anchorage.  They served them in many restaurants as well as at the weekend farmer's market.  They are so filling that Patti was only able to eat half of her burger because she stuffed herself with fritters.
Right across the parking lot from the Sourdough mining company is the Alaska Wild berry products store.  Where you will find the world's largest chocolate fountain.  It was so big that we couldn't fit it all into one photo.  There is a sign that warns you not to eat, taste or touch the chocolate.  Having seen Willy Wonka we didn't want to end up like Augustus Gloop so we didn't.  This was an excellent place to buy Alaskan souvenirs to take home (or in our case mail home).

I must say that my favorite part of Fun Frank Friday on Steriods/20th Wedding anniversary was the riding the Harley's through the Alaskan mountains.  Patti and I rode the trike and my piece of advice to you when learning to ride a trike...DO NOT PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN WHEN YOU STOP!  I found out the hard way and actually broke my toe early in the morning.  Not wanting to spend my day in the emergency room, I didn't tell anyone.  That way I could spend my time riding the motorcycle through the mountains.  It was an extremely scenic view.  We passed many waterfalls on the side of the road (down the mountains) and watched bald eagles landing on the opposite side (where the river was).

 Since we were on motorcycles we got more of an open view and Patti took this opportunity to snap photos (look closely in the rear view mirror).  We headed down to Seward where we enjoyed our lunch and visited the SeaLife Aquarium.  On display there were many fish, sea lions, seals and even a discovery center where you were allowed to touch sea slugs, starfish and even hug a sea urchin.  After our visit we headed over to the Exit Glacier.  This was a mile and a half trek up the mountain to where the glacier is now.  The walk wasn't strenuous and it was soothing to hike through the woods.  We found a beautiful landscape overlooking the mountain valley to take our picture.  Please forgive Patti's helmet hair, it's a natural byproduct of motorcycle riding.
As we were walking up there were signs with numbers representing years on them along side the trail.  Each of these spots were representative of where the glacier was during that year.  This shows the gradual receding of the glacier.  We were finally able to reach the glacier and as we stood next to the glacier all you notice at first is that it looks like a pile of dirty snow.  But as you look closer at the cracks and fissures you will see a deep beautiful icy blue.  At this time the temperature outside was about 67 degrees and I was amazed that a mammoth sheet of ice was still standing in front of us.

Now we decided to hike back down to the visitor's center, another mile and half back down the mountain.  Though it doesn't seem that it would be such a strenuous hike, with every step Patti was reminded that she was wearing her sister's motorcycle boots.  As we approached the bottom, I was reminded with every step that I still had a broken toe.  Once we reached the visitor's center, we sat down to rest our feet for a few minutes.  I noticed there was still a patch of snow on the ground, so as Patti took off her boots and socks, I snuck over, grabbed a handful and proceded to "help" her cool off her feet.

By this time it was already 5pm and we needed to start heading home.  As we were on the road home in an area that had zero cell phone service, Patti's nephew Sam got a flat tire on his Harley.  After two, 20 miles each way, runs back to Seward to get "Fix a Flat" and then more "Fix a Flat".  We were fortunate to have a tow truck driver stop in our pull-out as he secured a car that had been involved in an accident earlier.  He quickly was able to plug the hole and filled the tire with air.  All that was left for us to do was wait for Linda and Dave to return from Seward so we could let them know it was fixed.  Since it was getting late, we stopped off at the next town up for dinner.  The Trail Lake Lodge in Moose Pass, Alaska was still open for dinner.

Sam had the chicken fingers.  Linda had the taco salad.  Dave had the French dip.  Patti had a grilled chicken salad.  And I had the Rock Bass burrito.  After being on the road a long time, this food hit the spot and it was perfect in helping us have the energy to return home.



As were on the road home, we saw moose grazing in a field near the road.  But what was truly spectacular was seeing the sun set behind horizon.  It was brilliant hues of orange and yellow and was incredible to watch this happen at 11:30 at night.  I was even more amazed that when we arrived home at around midnight, I still had my sunglasses on because there was still light outside.

The next day we explored the Wasilla Urgent care where the doctor x-rayed my toe and confirmed that my toe was broken.  By this time, we were finished with the motorcycle ride so I was able to take pain meds and limp around without any one threatening to take away my fun.

For our last night in Alaska, we stayed in Anchorage and explored downtown.  We visited various souvenir shops and even got to pose with Yogi (or Smokey, whomever you prefer).  But this will give you an idea how big the bears can be.  We also spent some time at the Bear and Raven theater with it's quaint and kooky exhibits.  This was made more bearable/enjoyable by the pain meds I was under.  They show a couple of films with interactive elements (i.e. blowing snow on your seats).  We watched one about the Iditarod and also one about bears in the wild.

As we walked down the street we found a couple of totem poles that would make excellent Alaska pictures.



There are so many things that we were able to do and eat here in Alaska.  If I told you everything, you would be wondering when we found the time.  But to give you an idea, we took a picture at 11pm to show you how bright and long the days really are.

So if you ever get the chance to go to Alaska, try to fit in as much as possible in your schedule.  Sample some of the local cuisine because if you haven't tried reindeer sausage, try it now.