Restaurant Review - Oak City Grille (Royal Oak, MI)

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.

Review - Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels

I love dark chocolate, I like caramels, and I like sea salt, but when I saw the three of them together in this Sanders Candy, I couldn't imagine it! Sanders is a Michigan candy company, they have been around over 100 years when there were Sanders lunch counters. The lunch counters are gone, but the candy and various confections remain.

I'm not a big candy eater. I'd rather eat cake than eat a piece of candy, but DivaMom received a box of the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels in a gift basket, and I was intrigued. DivaMom doesn't like dark chocolate, so I claimed them right away. I was a bit leery, I mean, I like eating savory and sweet things in rapid succession, but salt on candy? Seemed weird. I opened the box and it smelled like normal chocolate. I picked up the first piece and bit into it. I could taste the salt, the chocolate and the caramel, but my mouth was having a hard time distinguishing the flavors. They were just kind of a jumble. One moment the bitter chocolate was the strongest flavor, the next the sweet caramel, and then the next the salt. Major mouth confusion. I didn't know if I liked it or not. I had to try another...same result. Mouth confusion. I decided to give them a try again the next day.

The next day I knocked off some of the salt granules and tried again. Much better. The saltiness was still there, but the chocolate and caramel were able to shine through. This time the salt brought out the amazing sweet creaminess of the candy, rather than the three flavors duking it out for dominance.

I still don't know if I like the candy. I think I do, but only if I remove some of the salt first. At least I have the rest of the box to experiment with :)

Review - Little Joe's (Grand Blanc, MI)

Part of moving to a new town is discovering places that the locals know about, but take for granted. Little Joe's is one of those places. It's a bar and grill hiding in the facade of an old hardware store, in fact there is still the sign out front that says "Grand Blanc Hardware."When you walk in through the back door, you really don't know what to expect. You are greeted with a short hallway that opens up into a very small lobby, but then you see the dining room. This place is MUCH bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

I've been to Little Joe's several times, and it's always the same friendly staff. For a bar and grill, there's almost a homeyness, kind of like Cheers. This is the place that you come to meet up with friends. I sat at the bar, and the Bartender remembered me from my last visit months ago, but I threw her a curve ball and ordered a different drink than my usual Vodka and Tonic. This was more of a 7&7 day. It had been years since the last time I had a 7&7, so the first sip hit me hard. She made it perfectly! While I perused the menu, she offered me some fresh popped popcorn.

Joe's has a new sandwich right now. It's an open faced steak melt. New York Strip (well done for me), topped with melted cheese (provolone I think) open faced with fries and garlic toast. You can add onions and mushrooms for a little extra, I just added onions. Before long I had my meal. The cheese is perfectly melted over the onions and steak, the garlic toast has the perfect ratio of buttery crunch and garlicky softness, and the fries are hot and fresh.  Everything really just melts in your mouth. This is probably one of the best meals I've had in a while. The best part was the price. with my meal and drink, the tab came to about $15. Alcohol and steak for less than $20 is hard to come by, so this was a value!

If you are in Grand Blanc (and let's be real, why would you come here? It's practically the middle of nowhere) and you want good food, great service, at a good price, you need to go to Little Joe's...if you can find it.