Belted Cow Bistro Review

      We have eaten here a couple of times and always enjoyed the food. But the pricing made this a special occasion place only. So when I read that they were introducing a comfort food menu at a value price, I was very excited. I called on Friday to see if the new menu was in place and was told not yet but they were introducing a couple of items every week to see how the response would be. For this particular weekend, the two new items would be a hot chicken sandwich and meatball stroganoff, YUMMY. So we made plans to visit on that Saturday with sis and bro-in-law.

      NOW, before we go any further, I must admit when I was told about the new value menu, I did not ask what constituted value pricing, so shame on me. We arrived just after 5 PM and were the first ones seated. This may be the most beautiful restaurant in Northern Vermont. Gorgeous interior colors, beautiful woodwork, a great communal table (that unfortunately will disappear from what I hear), The bad, a tiny bar, and a really poor location, (from our gorgeous table, we looked out the window at a gas station and the 5 corners traffic).

      As the chef (and co-owner) was walking through, I asked about his recent win at the Jack Daniels championships. He was rather disappointed, as the win was for the grilling category not the barbeque, but for me still a great honor to bring back to little ole Vermont. I had noticed on facebook he was experimenting with things back in the kitchen and asked if he had any chicken skin skewers left and he happily sent out a plate full. YUMMY crispy, fatty goodness. The guys loved them, the ladies not so much.

      We ordered drinks, beer for the guys, martini for the wife , Kris went with a ginger ale. The wine and beer list is well thought out but small. I tried a "porkslap" beer and it was very good. No draft beers here just cans and the dreaded TEN dollar martinis. C'mon people, really 10 dollars for a martini in Vermont ? WHY ?? I make martinis for the ladies most every weekend and I know there is never more than $3. in ingredients in each one. MAYBE $4.00 at the absolute most and I only use high quality liquors. Nothing burns me more than seeing $9 and $10 drinks on a menu here in Vermont, I know, I know, overhead, staff, rent , etc., etc. but still its a ripoff. OK enough ranting back to our meal.

      We each ordered, 3 specials and one chicken dinner for Kris. And the first surprise, the new "value" menu was priced at $14.pp per plate. The guys ordered the hot chicken sandwich and Wife order the meatball stroganoff. Kris's chicken dinner, on the other hand, was $23.00, making our meals a bargain. I had high hopes it would be the biggest, best chicken sandwich ever and I could rave about the value. UMMM, not so much.  Don't get me wrong the food was incredible, the gravy perfect, but the portion was SMALL. Wife liked hers but said the meatballs were a bit bland. Kris was happy with her meal but again not the pricing, it was a good piece of chicken but not $23 good. And that in effect says it all, good food but the value is still missing.

On a scale of 1 to 5;

Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4.0  Very good flavors, though the meatballs were a bit bland
Beer and Wine,    3.0  Nice wine selections, list is small but well thought out, by the glass selection is poor, beer seems to be an afterthought and yet it goes so well with barbeque??.
Service,                 3.0  Efficient but certainly not friendly, owners are really nice though.

Ambiance,             4.0  Beautiful interior , just don't look out the windows.
Price,                     3.0  VERY pricey, and while the new "value" items cut the price down, they do so at the expense of serving size. Still most definitely a special occasion place

Overall                  3.40  I have to admire the owners trying to reinvent themselves in this trying economy. BUT dropping your prices and also dropping the serving size so dramatically is not going to work. At the sizes we were served they need to be more in the $10.price range. Will we go back? Maybe, but I would have to hear from others that they are offering the "value" in value pricing.

Douzo Japanese Steakhouse Review

      After our first choice fell through, (who knew Bobcat Cafe was so popular), we decided to have a meal at this new Japanese/Thai/Steakhouse restaurant. Located near Tafts corner, where the old Orchid restaurant used to be. The first thing you notice when walking in is how big the place is. Then you notice there is nobody around, that's because instead of stopping at the bar or what should be the hostess station, you need to walk all the way into the first dining room. Cavernous doesn't even begin to describe the place and this is a problem as I will point out later.

      Once you walk in, someone will guide you to a table. We were taken into yet another room, and this one was very nice, great decor, sushi bar, giant live tree, bubbling fountains and deep purple walls, This is a really nice spot and feels good too, as there are more people in here, so it feels like the restaurant isn't empty. We were handed two menus, one for drinks and one for supper. Beer and wine choices are limited, as is normal for most Asian restaurants, though I did see some unusual wine choices, must be for the steakhouse offerings. One of the specialties here is martinis, lots and lots of martinis. We ordered drinks, beers for the guys, one Thai and one Chinese and martinis for the ladies, (HA, if you read this blog you saw that one coming). Monkey Business for the wife and Lemon Drop for Chris, and hence the funniest line of the evening from the dear wife, "Do you want a picture of my monkey business before I drink" HAHAHA!!!

      The drinks were quite good, though the Lemon drop was very strong, and at $9.00 each, they should be. The beers OK, the Thai beer, Singhai, better than my Chinese beer which was merely cold, but then again you really don't want a beer too flavorful as this will fight with the flavors of the food.  We started our meal with two sushi rolls, the shrimp tempura and the spicy tuna;

      Both were good, though I thought the tuna was the better of the two, not too spicy but very fresh with a great flavored sauce. The shrimp was OK but I found it to be a bit tough and lacking in shrimp, (plus I am not crazy about asparagus in my rolls). A quick word about the menus, first they are huge, with MANY options, ranging from exotic to steak and chicken (cooked on a hibachi at your table, though I didn't see one in use). But the menus are the plastic laminated style with pictures of the food that you usually see in really inexpensive Chinese joints, NOT what you'd expect from such a high end place (and it IS high end, as we will soon see). Plus my plastic laminated menu was really sticky.

      For our entrees we went all over the place. Mike went with spicy salmon, Chris with sweet and sour shrimp and scallop, wife with sea bass and tamarind sauce and I went with spicy duck and scallop. Mike had the only two chili pepper dish of the bunch. Everything was quite good, though the sauce on wife's bass was WAY too sweet, (my sauce, while a bit spicy, was quite sweet also). So unfortunately for her, she didn't touch her rice, and as we all know white Thai rice has to be dunked in a sauce to be good. That said it wasn't that the fish wasn't cooked properly, just the sauce didn't agree with her. And that can be a problem when faced with so many choices, it's very difficult to pick the winners and the losers on a menu this size. My food was good, though I thought the duck was rather skimpy for the pricing, more bones than duck. The scallops were good though.

      Douzo seems to be a tale of two restaurants. On the one hand it wants to be a high end Asian restaurant ,ala San Sai. and it does do several things correct. The martini menu is large and fun, sushi is fresh and well prepared, and the menu is large and diverse. On the other hand, the space is overwhelmingly large and can feel empty, service can be cloying, too many people constantly asking if everything is alright and finally some of the items (menus, chopsticks, glassware) make it feel like your in a fast food Chinese spot. I guess for me what it always comes down to, is it better than Tiny Thai. I would say yes, by a tiny margin (HA), the variety is much better, the food about the same or maybe just a bit less and you can order alcohol, though at a price. BUT and this is a HUGE BUT, is it worth more than two times the cost and this is a BIG NO.

      If I am going to pay twice as much for something, then it needs to be twice as good. And while Douzo was quite good, it certainly wasn't twice as good as Tiny Thai. Plus the ambiance is more warehouse than homey.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     3.5   For the most part the food was excellent, sushi was fresh. Alot of the sauces are very sweet.
Beer and Wine,    3.   Limited beer and wine selections,lots of martinis. Some unusual wine selections (for the steakhouse side I guess).
Service,                 3    Can service be too good? We seemed to have someone at the table all the time.

Ambiance,             3    This is a tough one,where we sat was nice but the other room not so much.
Price,                     3    Very pricey, is it too pricey? That is up to you but I felt it was.

Overall                  3.1  I like that you can get Sushi, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and steak selections all in one place. Also that you can get a drink, without having to remember to bring your own. But the problem here is maybe the menu is too ambitious, the space is way too large and the pricing much too high. If we have a crowd where everyone wants something different, maybe we will be back. Otherwise, I'll stick to Tiny Thai. Still my champion for Thai food.  

The Tavern Review

    The Inn at Essex, (now called just, The Essex), has been going through a major remodeling ever since NECI, (New England Culinary Institute), moved out. A new high end restaurant called Amuse has been added to the old Tavern space and a brand spanking new Tavern has moved into a much bigger space towards the rear of the hotel. Looking at the menu on line, I have to say we were intrigued. So, on a what we thought would be a quiet Saturday, before leaf peeper season, we decided to try it out. BUT, what we didn't know, is The Essex seems to have become the go to marriage capitol of New England. On this supposedly quiet Saturday, there were no less than five wedding receptions and an engagement party. And were do you suppose all these people hang out before and after their receptions? Yup, you got it, The Tavern. Walking in there was like entering a football game, VERY LOUD.  So much for a quiet, romantic, date night.

     We did manage to find two seats way over at the end of the bar. And after a while, we were presented with menus, (did I mention how packed it was?). First a bit about the space, the bar is definitely the focal point, as it consumes about 1/2 of a very large space. And it is a very cool bar, as it has many different angles and alot of seats all around. This unfortunately can work against the two bartenders, as some patrons are at odd angles to them and may be hard to see. We started with drinks, (shocking I know), and our first disappointment, for such a high end resort the wine list by the glass is absolutely pedestrian, WAY too many grocery store choices for a place like this and for cuisine like the chef is putting out. The wife settled for a rather ordinary Zinfandel and I was excited to finally try the Trapp Family Ale, but alas, they were out and I settled for a nice ale from Belgium, Palm Ale if I remember correctly. It was good but not exceptional.

      We decided to try smaller plates so we could experience more of the menu. Though I will say some of the small plates were anything but. Our first taste was a avocado and crab cocktail. very tasty with a bit of heat ( a trait the chef exhibits in most dishes), just a little too much cucumber for my taste, but with a nice yogurt dressing and some crunchy bits on top;

      Our next plate was duck confit potato skins (did I mention this is a creative chef). These were wedges of potato, topped with duck, and some really sweet caramelized onions and a nice cheese. All of this was placed on a sauce of chipotle cream, (spice again). Very, very yummy and as you can see a really nice presentation;

      For our entrees, we went with two more smaller plates. For me short rib sliders,( watch this blog recipes for both short ribs and sliders coming soon, seems to be a bit of an obsession for me). And for the wife, the Pittsburgh Salad, an homage to the famous Primanti Sandwich ( HA, bet the chef hasn't had anyone else pick up on that ). For those of you not from Pittsburgh, a Primanti Brothers sandwich is a sandwich with meat, salad and french fries, all stuffed into a bun. For this version, the chef took a big hunk of romaine, topped it with fries, grilled hanger steak, tomato, cucumbers and a blue cheese vinaigrette. Very nice and quite yummy. For my slider order, I received two sliders, Boyden farm short ribs, Ascuntney mountain cheese (Yes, the tavern is proud of its local sources) and homemade barbecue sauce along with the aforementioned fries;

      We both loved our meals, though one of the sliders was more fat than meat and some of the steak on the salad was a bit overcooked. Overall, a very nice meal, OH and about half way through, the reception must of started, as the tavern emptied out and we could talk without shouting. And since there were about 100 less customers, service picked up substantially. We really liked The Tavern and while pricing is quite high, with appetizers in the $9-$13 range and entrees starting at $14 for the fish and chips and rises to $34 for the bone-in Prime NY Strip Steak, the quality and presentation is excellent.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4     Everything we had was very good, a couple of small miscues but overall great presentations and wonderful flavors.
Beer and Wine,    2.5   I am going to be overly critical here. As this is a high end experience, you should be able to get local and national beers that are unusual and interesting and wines by the glass should expand your knowledge of the wine world and be more than grocery store offerings.
Service,                 3.    Here I am going to be less critical, the place was packed and while our bartender/server wasn't super friendly, she was efficient but needs more insight into the menu

Ambiance,             3     Great room, nice bar and booths. LOUD when full of wedding goers. maybe a touch too casual for such upscale food.
Price,                     3     Above Average food with Above Average pricing also. Presentations and flavors like this don't come cheap

Overall                  3.1  The tavern advertises itself as a casual bar/restaurant serving upscale food , ala Bevo's or Wooden Spoon Bistro (review coming soon). In reality, it is a high end restaurant, ala Kitchen Table or Hen of the Woods, saddled with a casual space.  As such, it is a special occasion evening out, but doesn't really feel too special if it is packed with wedding goers. Next time I would check with management before arriving. The chef is very creative and I look forward to trying the REALLY high end space, Amuse. But only after a rigorous upgrade of the wine offerings.

Cool Runnings Review

     FINALLY, back to reviewing places close to home. Cool Runnings is a new restaurant? take out place? Caribbean grocery store and head shop selling prepared foods? all of the above? in Essex Junction. Located in the front of the Park Place bar. Having never been to Jamaica, I can not comment on the authenticity of the food. But to me it tastes like something your Jamaican grandmother would cook, (if, of course your Jamaican grandmother also blared reggae music at ear splitting levels and sold hash pipes).

      Exhibiting not much charm, Cool Runnings is basically a one room store. You enter and place your order from a list on the wall of what is available that day. Your food is scattered around in several locations, outside on the grill, stove top, in the stove and around the corner in big rice pots. It appears to me the food is probably made in another location and brought here once a day? Not sure about that but nothing I bought was made to order but rather loaded onto plates by a rather "laid-back" young man. There is one table for four in the middle of the room, but looking at the amount of plastic forks, paper plates, etc. loaded onto it , I'm thinking eating here is not much of an option.

      So if you have read this far you are probably thinking to yourself , let's avoid this place at all costs. That would be a mistake, despite the ear shattering music, despite the Caribbean attitude for service, the food is really good and the portion to price ratio is INCREDIBLE. For my meal I got goat Curry, two huge scoops of rice and beans, another scoop of vegetables (mainly cabbage and a few carrot and beans cooked down all day) and two big spoons of curry. While very tasty, goat curry is ALOT of bone and a little of meat. Probably won't order this again. Not so the Jerk Chicken, two complete thighs with drumsticks attached, chopped up into pieces, with said two scoops of rice and vegetables for ...wait for it...wait for it, $6.50!!!!!! WHAT, are you kidding me ! In addition, I noticed the patties sitting in the stove , huge fried dough size patties filled with either spiced meat or chicken,  one each of those please. Now how much for this veritable feast of Jamaican goodies , UNDER $20.00. People, this was enough food to last the two of us over four meals.

      Now for true, authentic, jerk chicken fans, be aware the sauce was not baked into the chicken. The chicken came lightly spiced (better for Vermont palates) and you could choose which sauce to put on. Spicy but bearable or OH MY GOD, and yes, I did take a large taste of each before picking. Both of these sauces came from jars you can buy at the store/restaurant/head shop, along with many other food items and the previously mentioned "tobacco accessories".

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.

Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing 

Price,                 And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4   Huge quantities and very tasty

Beer and Wine,   No No alcohol is served
Service,                 3  Very "laid-back" but friendly

Ambiance,             1  What ambiance?.

Price,                     5  Really? This much food for this price? Really?

Overall                  3.25  Don't let the score scare you too much. Think of this as a takeout place and not a restaurant and you will be fine. A bigger concern for  me would be is it going to stick around. They are doing no advertising that I can see, they are not in a really great location, and their food to price ratio (while appreciated) is really off, though maybe "tobacco accessories" have a major profit margin . Go while you can and let me know what you think.  

Tiny Thai Essex Location

      As we are in the midst of our annual triple H heat wave (hot, hazy, humid for those of you not from the South, or June, July and August for you Southerners),cooking on Friday night was the furthest thing from our minds. After a brief, what do you want, I don't care what do you want, I don't care what do you want, (if your married, you know exactly what I mean).  It was decided Thai food would be perfect, and if its going to be Thai, we only visit one place Tiny Thai in Essex.

      A quick phone call, revealed some intriguing specials, Skewered meatballs, and dim sum (OK really not a special, as its ALWAYS a special) for appetizers, Volcano shrimp for an entree. Yes, we will take all three and for wifey her one and only meal ever, Masaman with chicken and shrimp. I swear, if she could only eat one thing for the rest of her life, this would be it. I took a bit of a chance,with volcano shrimp as A)Deep fried doesn't usually travel well, but as we live pretty close and we would be eating as soon as I got home I thought I'd be fine and B) Ordering something called "volcano" at a Thai restaurant can be living on the edge. The nice person on the phone informed me it was two flames which is right at my threshold for pain. Sometimes 2 flames is OK, sometimes its ear ringing , throat burning hot. BUT he also said he could put the sauce on the side so I said go for it. Phew, disaster averted as the sauce was quite hot and a little went a long way.

      I got home in record time and as we were both hungry, hungry, we unpacked and started eating. Unfortunately, this would of been a good time for picture taking but was the furthest thing from my mind. It won't happen again, (well until the next day,as you will see later in the week, that's called suspense, kids).The Dim Sum proved once again why its our favorite appetizer, fluffy clouds of steamed dough filled to bursting with minced chicken, pork and spices, served with a side of soy based sauce. YUMMY. The other appetizer though didn't cut it for us. 3 skewers with three tiny meatballs, each looked great but the taste and texture left alot to be desired. the taste was very bland and the texture quite rubbery, as meatballs should be neither bland nor rubbery, we pass on this one.

      The entrees on the other hand were great. You really can't go wrong with the masaman curry, a nice blend of spice and coconut milk, with potatoes, carrots and your choice of meats, this never fails to satisfy. Ask my wife, its her go to meal every time.  My shrimp was great, a light crispy batter, (still crispy even after traveling, with beans, carrots and broccoli) and the before mentioned spicy volcano sauce, which tasted of chille's and tamarind. I was glad the masaman comes with alot of sauce as it was perfect on my rice.

      And what to drink with Thai food. Well, my suggestion would be a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The perfect combination of fruit and crispness to cut through the spicy and sweet food. So which of the many incredible New Zealand wines did we choose...ummm oops the pantry is currently empty so we had to make do. We had opened a California Chardonnay, one of my least favorite wines actually, as they usually are too oaky, too much alcohol, too buttery, too hard to match with food but, I say BUT, on our recent trip to Paso Robles we happened too stumble upon (we had visited ALOT of wineries that day) a really cool, small family winery called Oso Libre, and lo and behold a shining golden moment. a chardonnay made from the grape and not the barrel.(really people, some Chards, you should just dump in the sink and suck on an oak branch same flavor profiles). Now this is wine to have with food, the bright flavors and crisp acidity complemented the flavors of the food perfectly. Alas ( does anyone say Alas anymore) we only had a half bottle, so into the wine fridge to find something else cold and out came a California Sauvignon Blanc, should be perfect right?  Not so much, one of hundreds if not thousands of generic California wines , this particular brand while not offensive was bland, I would say its flavor profile was..........cold. Pull off the label and this could of been any white wine you find in your local grocery store, not bad but certainly not good. So if you can find Oso Libre, buy it , Groth not so much. As Oso Libre is such a small winery, you may be better ordering online at;

http://www.osolibre.com/



                                                          Good, Yummy Wine

No so good but cold wine

In Conclusion;

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.

Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing 

Price,                 And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4 One appetizer wasn't ...well appetizing, but the rest Excellent !.

Beer and Wine,    No rating Tiny Thai is strictly BYOB.

Service,                 5 The staff here is great whether you eat in or take out.
Ambiance,             4 I know this was a take out order, but if you eat here it's a nice relaxed space.

Price,                     5 Two appetizers and two entrees for less than $35.00 DEAL !!.

Overall;                4.5 One of our favorite restaurants in Vermont, Always consistent, Always good.