La Bodega Kansas City April 2009

It's funny that my husband and I aren't very adventurous with our dining choices in Kansas City considering we'll eat just about anything. We usually eat at Blue Koi, a noodles and dumplings place by the Med Center, because it's our one of our favorite places to eat period. It was also because every time that we did eat somewhere new, we were disappointed in the food and wondered why we didn't eat at Blue Koi. But we have decided to try to branch out in our Kansas City restaurant picks and try to only eat at Blue Koi like every fifth time (haha).

We were going to go to the Chris Cornell concert with our friend, Dustin, so the men decided on going to the tapas place, La Bodega, for happy hour before heading to the show. Happy hour includes half price beer & sangria plus a selection of half price tapas. We had heard a lot about this place, but just hadn't had a chance to try it. The happy hour is such a great deal and we ended up stuffing ourselves for around $40 (plus 2 sangrias and a beer). The food was excellent and the sangria was one of the best that I have ever had in a restaurant (not overly sweet or with a thick layer of sugar at the bottom of the glass).


Pintxos de Higo-- Roasted red peppers, goat cheese and a fig coulis on grilled bread. A suggestion of the waitress and one of my favorite ones.

Champiñones a la Plancha-- Roasted mushrooms with garlic & white wine- parsley sauce.

Calamares a la Plancha--Sautéed squid in olive oil, garlic and lemon sauce.

Pincho de Pollo y Chorizo-Skewered chicken and chorizo with garlic cumin aïoli.

Albóndigas Caseras Meatballs in a spicy garlic cream sauce. One of our favorites. We actually ordered another one at the end of our meal. YUMMY!

Patatas Bravas-- Potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce. Probably Chris' favorite since he loves potatoes.

Queso de Cabra al Horno--Goat cheese baked in tomato sauce and garlic bread. This one was my least favorite which was disappointing because I love goat cheese. The tomato sauce was a bit bland. Probably won't get this one again.

A pic of our outside table with my sangria in the middle. What a great little meal!

One of the biggest reasons that Chris wanted to eat here is by the time that I have this scheduled to post, we'll be enjoying the real deal in Spain on our belated honeymoon!

Brother's Birthday Lunch

My brothers both have birthdays in December, then Nathaniel is a New Year's Eve baby. I get pretty tired of celebrating holidays by Christmas time. Since my brother's birthday is three days after Christmas and then three days later is Nathaniel's, so sometimes a chore to figure out where to eat for my brother. Nathaniel always picks sushi (his favorite), so my brother usually tries to pick something quite different. In the past, we have eaten anything from steaks to Swedish food to French to seafood. This year, we went to Charlie Palmer's restaurant in Bloomingdale's at South Coast Plaza. For you foodies out there, you probably already know who Charlie Palmer is (not to be confused with Charlie Trotter, another well-respected American chef). But for those who don't, Charlie has written four cookbooks and owns restaurants all over the States. I believe this is his first restaurant in Southern California and it was well worth the wait.

The adults decided to have the three course prix-fixe lunch, while Nathaniel dined on Kobe steakburgers and freshly made french fries.

First Course:

ARUGULA AND FRISEE SALAD BLUE CHEESE, WHITE BALSAMIC, GOLDEN RAISIN

I picked this one, while my hubby picked the soup. I usually don't like blue cheese, but this one was very light and palatable to my taste buds.

or the ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH BANANA SOUP HAM HOCK AND APPLE RAVIOLI

I don't like fruit in my soups, so I passed on this one. But Chris and my mom really raved about it. They brought out the soup bowls with the only apple ravioli in it, then poured the soup out from small containers at the table. Very elegant.




Main Course:

BUTTER POACHED BABY SHRIMP MEYER LEMON RISOTTO, PARSLEY ESSENCE

This is what my mom and I got. It was good, but I wished that I would have picked the steak.


CHARCOAL GRILLED HANGER STEAK ROSEMARY FINGERLING POTATOES, CARROT EMULSION

This steak was fabulous! The flavors were amazing and it was cooked to perfection. I kept stealing bites off my husband's plate.
Nathaniel's Kobe Steakburger Sliders. These came with a tuffle mayo on the side. The sliders were delicious (I took a very small nibble), but not sure that the fries were worth the $8 or whatever they cost to go along with them.

Dessert:
MOLTEN CHOCOLATE PRESERVED MEYER LEMON, ESPRESSO ICE CREAM

I am not a chocolate person, but almost everyone else ordered this dessert. They even "accidentally" made an extra one for Nathaniel, who didn't eat the prix-fixe meal. He LOVED it. He even loved it more when my mom gave him most of hers!

APPLE TARTE TATIN CRANBERRY SEMIFREDDO, CINNAMON ICE CREAM

I LOVED this one. The ice cream was very tasty and the cranberry semifreddo (a lot like a mousse) was good enough to still think about.

It was an amazing birthday lunch. Nathaniel keeps talking about the sliders and wants to go back next time we are in town. Can't say that I blame him!

Foodies in Santa Fe Part 4--Dinner #2

We had spent most of Sunday walking around the Plaza area. Right before the holidays, the Native Americans bring their goodies to sell. I am not big into the turquoise jewelry, but there was plenty to choose from if you are. We did pick up an etching of a cat from a local artist that Nathaniel picked out. While walking around, we made sure to look at all the menus posted in front of the restaurants to see which places might be a good one for the whole family because while Nathaniel isn't as picky as some children, he still has his dislikes.

We continued to go back to read the menu at the Sleeping Dog Tavern, which is an upscale bar and grill that you are able to peep into the kitchen from the street. After watching the dishes that the chefs were preparing, we decided that we would give it a try.

When we got there around 7:30, there was no one eating at all (people were at the bar watching football) and we were questioning our choice of restaurants. But we are worries were swept away when we got our delicious food.

Nathaniel's fish and chips, made with salmon (his favorite):

Chris' duck confit with mashed sweet potatoes

And my favorite dish, Local Free-Range Steak with Horseradish Butter. Yummy!

The restaurant did start to get busier the longer we sat, so we didn't end up being the only ones eating in there. They also had some yummy beers on tap. Chris and I like to try out local beers whenever we travel somewhere. A great dinner to cap off our trip to Santa Fe!

Foodies in Santa Fe Part 3--lunch

Tecolote Cafe is another Roadfood find restaurant that is only open till 2 PM.



Pork tamales covered in green chile and cheese with pinto beans and hominy. The tamales look small, but they are actually quite thick and filling.

Chris' original plan had been to eat a green chile burger (a must in Santa Fe), but we had only eaten 3 hours before (we had to rush to get there before it closed since the burger joint that we first planned on going to was closed on Sundays). So instead, he opted for the smaller dish Frito pie--green chile, Fritos, cheese, ground beef, beans, lettuce, onions and tomato.

Nathaniel ordered a plain cheeseburger that was so tasty that he ate most of it before I could get my camera out. They also came with these delicious, thinly sliced, lightly fried potatoes instead of regular fries. At first, Nathaniel wasn't a fan of them, then he just continued to eat them until they were all gone!

Foodies in Santa Fe Part 2

Harry's Roadhouse is off the highway right outside of Santa Fe. It's a great eclectic restaurant that we found out about on the Roadfood website again. Since it was Sunday morning, we lucked out by only having to wait for 10 minutes when we got there for breakfast. When we left, there was a huge line waiting.

Chris' dish: Sunny side-up eggs over smoked salmon potato hash.

Mine: Huevos Divorciados, one corn tortilla with green chile sauce, shrimp & cheese, the other with red chile sauce, avocados on top of refried black beans (I am ok with black beans, but usually don't eat them all) and a homemade flour tortilla to soak up all the sauce. Messy, but really tasty.

Nathaniel wanted one of their famous cinnamon rolls. It was baked in a huge muffin tin. He loved it and the side of ham that he ordered too.

Santa Fe was cold when we were there, so we were luckily seated next to a fireplace. But during the warmer months, it would be lovely to sit in the sitting area that overlooks the back patio. I recently read that the desserts are very well known, so I guess we'll have to go there for lunch or dinner next time. Oh, bummer.

Foodies in Santa Fe part 1

During the 2007 holiday season, we drove out to So Cal via Santa Fe, NM (and Phoenix...not that exciting). Chris and I ended up loving this foodie destination, so we ended up doing it again for two nights this trip. We have not had a bad meal in this city and the quality of the ingredients is very evident at the restaurants that we ate at. Being a foodie, the thought of having Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Wild Oats within a very small 1-mile radius makes me very happy because it's a sign that the people of Santa Fe care about their food. I have often read in food magazine about the Santa Fe chefs who insist on fresh, local ingredients, which means usually means quality food. This does mean that eating in the NM capital won't be cheap, but it's worth it for a foodie.

This time, we also had my foodie son in tow (he flew last time), who is a very vocal food critic. After being a picky eater as a little child, he has grown into a young teenager, who will try everything at least once. We started with a Roadfood.com find that we had ate at the year before, The Plaza Cafe. I have actually been dreaming about eating there again since we decided to drive to CA again (heck, I am still thinking about it). The restaurant is in the plaza (go figure) and was packed when we got there at 8 PM. Everyone was very happy with their meals (including the food critic child, who happily ate the entire plate). The one thing that I wished that I would have taken a pic of was the dessert that Nathaniel got to go (there was no way that even my two endless pit boys could eat another bite at the restaurant). He picked the chocolate cake, which consists of multiple layers of cake and frosting. It was so big that the chocoholic couldn't finish the cake and only ate half of it (he did manage to eat the rest in the morning).

There are our pics from our first meal in Santa Fe:
My dinner salad. I hate when you order a dinner salad and they bring you iceberg lettuce, a couple of shavings of carrot and a big tomato wedge. This was definitely a major improvement on a dinner salad--jicama, lots of carrots, homemade ranch (I think it might have been a Southwestern one, but very tasty. I need to start taking notes at restaurants) and a small scoop of a tasty bean salad (I ate the green beans, but not the pinto).

Nathaniel's dish was fish tacos. He has recently discovered that he loves fish tacos. I believe this picture was taken after he had actually already eaten one. BIG plate of fish tacos. Very tasty. He ate all of them, but not the plate of rice and beans that also came with his meal. The two little cups of sauce are homemade green chile sauce (my favorite) and fresh salsa.

Chris ordered a pork dish, the Anchiote Pork Plate--browned pork with Yucateacan spices and topped with your choice of chile (always green for us) and grilled onions. It was amazing. My favorite out of all of them, but then they were all really delicious.

Cashew Mole enchiladas--chicken enchiladas with mole sauce and sour cream. There is two in there and they were big. I could barely eat one (my hubby happily finished number two after cleaning his plate).

I did not get a chance to take a picture of the HUGE sopaipilla that comes with the Southwestern meals (there is also a good variety of Greek stuff since the owner is Greek, but we never get that far in the menu). They are always freshly made and come hot from the fryer. Nathaniel had never had one and I told him fried Mexican doughnut that you can pour honey on. Sold. Another sopaipilla fan. Maybe I couldn't finish my meal because I ate my sopaipilla and most of Chris', but I'll never admit it. :)

P.S. Nathaniel got home from school today and I showed him the pics of this blog entry. He is still talking about this meal!

Austin, TX

I forgot to write about the Austin part of our trip. It's only about an hour away from San Antonio, making it a nice day trip for us when we are visiting. If you have never been to Austin, it's a huge college town (1.6 million if you count the surrounding Round Rock suburb) with lots of great non-chain restaurants, live music nightly, a very nice university art museum, etc. etc. It's definitely the "coolest" city in Texas and a foodie paradise. Chris and I have eaten in Austin quite a few times and have yet to have a bad meal.

On this trip, we decided to try out Shady Grove, a roadfood.com suggestion. We were pleased with the cheese fries (so good that Chris didn't even offer to let me eat the last one), Chris' hippie sandwich (a bunch of grilled veggies on their homemade hippie bread) and my Monterey Chicken (grilled chicken topped with bacon, green chile strips, Monterey Jack cheese and green chile sauce). I was also very happy with the homemade jalapeno ranch dressing for my side salad. It was so tasty that I thought about getting another side salad to use up the rest of the dressing!

After lunch, we made a stop at LBJ's Presidental Library that is located on the University of Texas campus. It's free admission (free parking too) and worth the stop. An old lady at the admission desk talked our ear off for about 10 minutes explaining the museum layout to us, but we couldn't really complain because she was so excited about everything!

Our last stop in Austin was Amy's Ice Cream. I had heard about this terrific place while watching Food Network before our last trip out there and I am addicted now. The ice cream there is fabulous (14% butterfat--how could it be bad?). I was excited to see that she had a location in San Antonio (which I ended up visiting a couple of times).

We were disappointed that we missed out on a roadfood find, Eva B's Bakery and Cafe. They were closed by the time that we drove by and we didn't get to try all the delicious looking kolache that they have. It looks like we'll have to make another trip to Austin in the near future...bummer.

Slacking!

Sorry about the lack of posts! With the holiday and my trip to see the in-laws, I haven't had much time to blog! I didn't get a chance to cook much before our trip since we were busy with an out of town guest and running around trying to get things ready for our trip.


We ate A LOT of great food in Texas, but I have to say that I was a little relived that I finally got to cook and eat at home tonight! Our friends from Dallas were planning to come down for the weekend and Jeff told us that there was only one thing that he wanted to do was eat at Taco Taco, which was named best taco in America by Bon Appetit. The small no-frills restaurant only holds 40 people and the homemade tortillas and authentic Mexican fillings in the tacos made us recall the delicious tacos that we had in Mexico. It was so tasty that Chris and I made another trip to the restaurant the day that we left San Antonio for a final meal there.

April, Brett and I also ate at the Tip Top Cafe (while the adult males were golfing on Sunday), which I had seen on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I had never eaten at a restaurant that I had seen on this show and always wanted to, but I was pretty disappointed with the food. My chicken fried steak was huge, but pretty flavorless and I'll probably skip any of Guy Fieri's choices from now on.

Sunday night after the nephews left, Chris' dad took us to Welfare Cafe in Hill Country. The restaurants is in the middle of nowhere on a working ranch. Unfortunately, the weather was windy and cold, so we couldn't sit outside on their porch. There was a bluegrass band playing that night, making most conversation hard to hear, but the food was wonderful. They have a rotating small daily menu (not a good place for vegetarians or picky eaters).

We ended up eating at Liberty Bar the last night that we were in San Antonio. It's a restaurant in an old building with a crooked floor. I have eaten here a couple of times and I wasn't really that impressed the first time, but it's a place that Chris' parents like to eat at. The menu is extensive, which sometimes isn't a good thing. But this time, I did have some delightful pasta (which was a great choice after all the super fattening foods that I had eaten during the trip).

I can't wait for another trip down to San Antonio next year for some more mouth watering food!