Your Diva is on the mend, finally. It was a tough battle, but I think I'm over the worst of the cold. So, here we go...
Oak City Grille is a restaurant tucked away in the middle of a block. Other than the sign outside, there's nothing really special about it from the outside. At first glance, from the outside it looks like it might be a dive. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and found dark wood everywhere, nice brass light fixtures, a very nice wine list, and a menu with more than buffalo wings! Looks can be deceiving! I've been to Oak City Grill a couple of times prior to this visit, and I'm always given the same treatment. I ask for a table for one, and the greeter insists that I sit at the bar despite the fact there are several empty 2-top tables. I'm short. Sitting at the bar is very uncomfortable since my legs dangle. They don't care. Since I'm alone, I have to sit at the bar.
Once you are seated, you know this will be expensive, and they don't disappoint there. Since I'd resigned myself to paying more than usual, I went for gold! I ordered the Peppercorn Sirloin, and a glass of Pinot Grigio. While I waited for my meal I was given a basket of bread with cold butter that was subsequently hard as a rock, and never was I offered a glass of water. If I needed anything I needed to send up a flare to get the bartender's attention. As my wine glass emptied, never was I offered another glass of wine, and I'm at the freaking bar!
Despite the service, the food was fantastic! The steak was cooked to order (well done, without being dry), and topped with a spicy peppercorn glace. Some might call it gravy, but it's not, it's glace! Gravy is thick, flavorless and forms a skin as it cools. Glace does not! The steak came with a side of broccoli, a vibrant green and also cooked to perfection, and smooth, creamy mashed potatoes. For the meal and 1 glass of wine, I paid $26 (before tip).
The service leaves something to be desired, so don't go expecting first class treatment, but the food is amazing. However, I'm not sure the amazing food makes up for the substandard service and high prices.
Showing posts with label Mashed potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mashed potato. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Review - Holly Hotel (Holly, MI)
The Holly Hotel is a misnomer. It hasn't been a hotel in decades. It is a restaurant with a comedy club in the basement. DivaMom received a certificate for Holly Hotel in honor of their 31st anniversary. It was $31 off of a meal for two, and considering 1 meal can cost that much it was brilliant marketing especially if you send it to someone that can't allow a coupon to go to waste.
I made reservations for 7:45, I arrived on time and another couple walked in right behind me. The server that was on the phone when I walked in (I assume she was taking a reservation) looked around the room, and addressed the couple that walked in behind me and asked them if they had a reservation. They answered "No" and she said that there were tables being cleared off and she would be able to seat them shortly. Then she walked away. No acknowledgement of my existence, nothing. She returned soon after, and seated them without even so much as looking at my direction. Now I know my parents weren't glass makers and she couldn't see through me, but I have no idea why I was ignored. I stood there for about 10 minutes before another waitress came out (I had seen her and she had seen me as she was racing around taking care of her tables) and even asked if I had been helped. I told her what happened, she apologized profusely, and proceeded to seat me in what can only be described as "the train room."
The train room is a small 4 table room set up much like a dining car of a train. There are paintings and drawings of trains everywhere and there are overhead luggage shelves much like I'd imagine an old style train would have. I love this room. To add to the ambiance the entire hotel is decorated for Christmas, with classic old-fashioned ornaments that remind me of my childhood, lots of evergreen vines, and colored lights. There are even wrapped "presents" on the luggage shelves.
For dinner I ordered the Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin and it came with a salad or soup (I chose the green salad). DivaMom ordered the Chicken Strudel Holly Hotel (shredded breast, broccoli, herbed gournay, filo) and it came with cranberry quinoa. She also ordered the French Onion soup.The Holly Hotel also serves fresh bread and butter with their meals, and last night it was avocado/pepper butter with a cheese focaccia. I hate avocado, but this butter was amazing! It was slightly salty and it complemented the light cheese taste of the bread.
The soup arrived first, and DivaMom was in heaven. She loves their french onion soup because the cheese is on the bottom, the soup in the middle and the soup crock is topped with pastry dough and baked. This arrangement helps her avoid the cheese, while still enjoying the soup and bread. (she's a little crazy if you ask me, the best part of french onion soup is the cheese!). My salad arrived next. It was salad greens filling and surrounding a small shell made of filo dough, with dried cranberries and a blackberry vinaigrette. The salad was delicious, but could have used blue cheese crumbles to offset the sweetness of the vinaigrette. The filo dough shell was a little cumbersome to eat, I finally just picked it up with my fingers and bit into it. It was light and crispy, just the way filo should be!
The entrees arrived and I was not disappointed! I had 2 medallions of beef tenderloin with "glace de veau" (aka, gravy), some roasted mixed root veggies (carrots, parsnips, potato, and mushrooms), and mashed potatoes. The chef send out a third piece of meat with the explanation that when he plated the food it didn't look like enough meat. I ordered my meal well done, and I was happy to see my request was met. The meat was tender, but not pink, not an easy task but he/she (IDK the gender of the chef) achieved it! The gravy was tasty, which is amazing to me since I HATE gravy, and the mashed potatoes were perfection! I didn't care for the roasted veggies, but they were well seasoned and what I ate of them tasted ok. I'm not a fan of parsnips or mushrooms.
DivaMom and I passed on dessert. For once there wasn't anything on the dessert tray that struck our fancy, but we have had their personal apple tart, and it is amazing with a little vanilla ice cream.
Despite the little hiccup in the beginning the experience was enjoyable, the server that we had was great, and the environment is beautiful. Holly Hotel is a nice place to go for a nice slow meal. Don't go there if you are in a hurry or looking to kill time before another event (unless the event is the comedy show in the basement).
I made reservations for 7:45, I arrived on time and another couple walked in right behind me. The server that was on the phone when I walked in (I assume she was taking a reservation) looked around the room, and addressed the couple that walked in behind me and asked them if they had a reservation. They answered "No" and she said that there were tables being cleared off and she would be able to seat them shortly. Then she walked away. No acknowledgement of my existence, nothing. She returned soon after, and seated them without even so much as looking at my direction. Now I know my parents weren't glass makers and she couldn't see through me, but I have no idea why I was ignored. I stood there for about 10 minutes before another waitress came out (I had seen her and she had seen me as she was racing around taking care of her tables) and even asked if I had been helped. I told her what happened, she apologized profusely, and proceeded to seat me in what can only be described as "the train room."
The train room is a small 4 table room set up much like a dining car of a train. There are paintings and drawings of trains everywhere and there are overhead luggage shelves much like I'd imagine an old style train would have. I love this room. To add to the ambiance the entire hotel is decorated for Christmas, with classic old-fashioned ornaments that remind me of my childhood, lots of evergreen vines, and colored lights. There are even wrapped "presents" on the luggage shelves.
For dinner I ordered the Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin and it came with a salad or soup (I chose the green salad). DivaMom ordered the Chicken Strudel Holly Hotel (shredded breast, broccoli, herbed gournay, filo) and it came with cranberry quinoa. She also ordered the French Onion soup.The Holly Hotel also serves fresh bread and butter with their meals, and last night it was avocado/pepper butter with a cheese focaccia. I hate avocado, but this butter was amazing! It was slightly salty and it complemented the light cheese taste of the bread.
The soup arrived first, and DivaMom was in heaven. She loves their french onion soup because the cheese is on the bottom, the soup in the middle and the soup crock is topped with pastry dough and baked. This arrangement helps her avoid the cheese, while still enjoying the soup and bread. (she's a little crazy if you ask me, the best part of french onion soup is the cheese!). My salad arrived next. It was salad greens filling and surrounding a small shell made of filo dough, with dried cranberries and a blackberry vinaigrette. The salad was delicious, but could have used blue cheese crumbles to offset the sweetness of the vinaigrette. The filo dough shell was a little cumbersome to eat, I finally just picked it up with my fingers and bit into it. It was light and crispy, just the way filo should be!
The entrees arrived and I was not disappointed! I had 2 medallions of beef tenderloin with "glace de veau" (aka, gravy), some roasted mixed root veggies (carrots, parsnips, potato, and mushrooms), and mashed potatoes. The chef send out a third piece of meat with the explanation that when he plated the food it didn't look like enough meat. I ordered my meal well done, and I was happy to see my request was met. The meat was tender, but not pink, not an easy task but he/she (IDK the gender of the chef) achieved it! The gravy was tasty, which is amazing to me since I HATE gravy, and the mashed potatoes were perfection! I didn't care for the roasted veggies, but they were well seasoned and what I ate of them tasted ok. I'm not a fan of parsnips or mushrooms.
DivaMom and I passed on dessert. For once there wasn't anything on the dessert tray that struck our fancy, but we have had their personal apple tart, and it is amazing with a little vanilla ice cream.
Despite the little hiccup in the beginning the experience was enjoyable, the server that we had was great, and the environment is beautiful. Holly Hotel is a nice place to go for a nice slow meal. Don't go there if you are in a hurry or looking to kill time before another event (unless the event is the comedy show in the basement).
Monday, November 22, 2010
I Cooked - Potato Cheddar Cheese Soup
I love potato cheddar soup. I recently discovered this at a restaurant (surprise, surprise), so when I stumbled across this recipe I was excited to try it. It was a DISASTER!
Everything was going fine, until I boiled the potatoes. The recipe says to boil them for 15 minutes, and to use baking potatoes because "we want some of the potato to break down into smaller pieces and thicken the soup, baking potatoes are the perfect choice." Yeah, the potato broke down alright! It broke all the way down into mashed potatoes and absorbed every ounce of water in the recipe! Heck, there weren't even any potato lumps like homemade mashed potatoes are suppose to have! And why 4.5 cups of water? no milk, no cream, nothing to give it a smooth creamy texture like potato soup is suppose to have. The only word to describe this mess is GLOP! To make matters worse, this glop has no flavor! I tried throwing all of the bacon bits in the glop to try and give it some pizazz, and nada! It still tastes like flavorless glop with bacon bits. I think the glop actually made the bacon flavorless!
So right now I have a big bowl of potato glop in my fridge. I am going to try to doctor it up, but I don't know how well that's going to go. I'll keep you posted.
Everything was going fine, until I boiled the potatoes. The recipe says to boil them for 15 minutes, and to use baking potatoes because "we want some of the potato to break down into smaller pieces and thicken the soup, baking potatoes are the perfect choice." Yeah, the potato broke down alright! It broke all the way down into mashed potatoes and absorbed every ounce of water in the recipe! Heck, there weren't even any potato lumps like homemade mashed potatoes are suppose to have! And why 4.5 cups of water? no milk, no cream, nothing to give it a smooth creamy texture like potato soup is suppose to have. The only word to describe this mess is GLOP! To make matters worse, this glop has no flavor! I tried throwing all of the bacon bits in the glop to try and give it some pizazz, and nada! It still tastes like flavorless glop with bacon bits. I think the glop actually made the bacon flavorless!
So right now I have a big bowl of potato glop in my fridge. I am going to try to doctor it up, but I don't know how well that's going to go. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Review - YaYa's Chicken (MI/FL)
Today I tried Yaya's Flame Broiled Chicken. This is a chain restaurant that has locations in MI and FL. It's what I'd call semi-fast food. It seems like the food is prepared ahead of time, but if you come during the lunch rush, you may have to wait a bit for the latest round of chicken to finish cooking.
I love chicken, but not so much when it's on the bone. YaYa's only has bony chicken, so if you have picky kids, this may not be the place for you. The menu is long, and seems to have some healthy selections.
I ordered a chicken breast (with bone) and mashed potatoes (no gravy). The chicken tasted great! It was flavorful, not gamey, and it wasn't dry. I was worried that the chicken would be salty, but was surprised that the seasoning that was used wasn't salty at all! The potatoes needed some help though. I guess if you like gravy you wouldn't notice that they tasted like they came from a box, rather than homemade like "YaYa" (grandma) would make.
I'd eat there again, but I think I'll try the baked beans next time.
I love chicken, but not so much when it's on the bone. YaYa's only has bony chicken, so if you have picky kids, this may not be the place for you. The menu is long, and seems to have some healthy selections.
I ordered a chicken breast (with bone) and mashed potatoes (no gravy). The chicken tasted great! It was flavorful, not gamey, and it wasn't dry. I was worried that the chicken would be salty, but was surprised that the seasoning that was used wasn't salty at all! The potatoes needed some help though. I guess if you like gravy you wouldn't notice that they tasted like they came from a box, rather than homemade like "YaYa" (grandma) would make.
I'd eat there again, but I think I'll try the baked beans next time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)