Hampton Inn, Portland Waterfront

      As last week was the dear wife's birthday, and as I got to go to Fort Lauderdale on a business trip, and as the wife had not been out of the state in a LONG time, I decided to treat her to a weekend away. Since Maine was celebrating its restaurant week and since we both loved our last trip to Portland, it was decided, off we went. perusing tripadvisor, I was surprised to see that the Hampton Inn waterfront was number one for hotels in Portland. And since they A) had very reasonable pricing with breakfast include and since B) they were on Fore street which is where one of our favorite restaurant in the whole wide world is located, (shockingly called Fore Street), our room for the weekend was decided.

      Upon arriving the first thing you notice is, woah, this is a brand new building, last time we were here it was a sausage factory (two years ago). next you see that it is valet parking only, ($15.00 a day), so factor that in when you price this hotel. Very nice lobby with alot of room for seating, breakfast is included, (standard breakfast, premade eggs, sausages, potatoes, some pastries, standard free hotel food, buy HEY its free). I had reserved a king bed room, no view, (we were planning on being night owls). When we arrived into are room A) they aren't kidding, view is a parking lot  and B) king rooms unbeknownst to me have no tubs, showers only. As the wife loves soaking in a tub , this is a problem. So back to the front desk I go and the receptionist is extremely helpful, there are no king rooms available with tubs in this hotel, (something to remember), but she switches us to a double queen with a view of the ocean for no extra charge, YEA. Here are a few pics of the room;

      As always the pillows at these chain hotels SUCK, all air and no substance. But the bed was comfy, the room pretty quiet, (why are doors shutting so loud in hotels?) and there is a brewery attached to the hotel, (how convenient). And as always, location, location,location. You can easily walk from here to any spot in the old port area in only a few moments. AND our favorite restaurant in the whole world, Fore Street, is only a block away, (complete review coming soon).

      In conclusion, if you are visiting the Portland, Maine area, I would strongly suggest you stay here. Strong points, include free breakfast, free wi-fi, great location AND a brewery attached to the hotel as a sort of extra bonus, Weak Points $15 a day parking, poor pillows and a bit noisy inside. Overall I give the Hampton Inn Portland Waterfront a solid B+.

Jet Rock Bar and Grill

      OK, admittedly reviewing a restaurant located in an airport is weird, But with more airports bringing in higher quality food, I thought it was time . So my trip home from Fort Lauderdale took me through Philadelphia and with a two hour layover, I did a little shopping, (wife's b-day in two days), and then went looking for a place to eat. I could of gotten a meal at Legal Seafood's, or at one of many fast food joints, but I kept looking and eventually stumbled onto Jet Rock Bar and Grill. Sort of a pub and food place with over 40 different beers on tap. I sat down at the bar as my usual and was given a menu and beer list. After perusing the very large list I ordered a purple haze and since I was in the city of brotherly love , a Philly cheesesteak.

      And here is where things went down hill, my server was dealing with some jerk at the end of the bar who wanted his meal cancelled cuz it was taking too long and was giving her a real hard time ( jerks in airports making everyones life miserable, hope he got strip searched by TSA). OK, it happens, if your in the service industry you will have to deal with this at some point, but the problem was she proceeded to deal with it by becoming everyones worst server ever, surly, non responsive, dismissive, HEY LADY, I wasn't the jerk. Anyways the beer was very good, the sandwich was OK but the service ruined the whole meal. Go here to get yourself a great brew and a pretty good sandwich and hope you don't have my server.

Food,                     2.5  OK sandwich, your average airport food.  

Beer and Wine,    4.0  Nice beer and wine selections, best I have seen in an airport.
Service,                 2.0  AWFUL, if you can't shake off a bad customer, find a different business to be in.

Ambiance,             3.0  Its a bar and loud but for an airport it's OK.

Price,                     2.0  Airport pricing, enough said.

Overall                  2.70  If not for the server, I would of actually liked this place. If I am stuck in Philly again, I would go here. Hopefully my server will be gone. 

Quarterdeck Review

      The Quarterdeck is a chain of sports bars in Florida. Having spent over an hour waiting for a water taxi that never came, AND having spent the day in airports, we were starving and just wanted ANY place we could find within walking distance to eat. We stumbled across the Quarterdeck and were told there was a 45 minute wait but the bar had seats available, so in we walked and away we ate. I really wasn't expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and most of all the service.

      Think about Fort Lauderdale in late February, vacation central, so while the Quarterdeck is a very large place, it was PACKED to the rafters. And to top it off, we found out a couple of servers had called in sick, (can't blame them is was 80 and beautiful). But the bartender came over right away with menus and took our drink order, and was back with the drinks in a flash. I noticed they had a very large raw bar, so I asked about the oysters (this can be a scary proposition in a sports bar but what the heck I was feeling lucky). I was assured that the blue points had arrived fresh that morning so I ordered a half dozen. My fellow worker decided to start with the peel your own shrimp. Both plates were exceptional, the oysters really fresh and the shrimp huge, with a whole bunch of them. For our entrees, I went with a really unusual sandwich, blackened fresh grouper, fresh mozzarella, basil and cappicola on a ciabbata roll, and my buddy went with blackened fish tacos. The fish in both entrees was incredibly fresh, and while on paper my sandwich sounds weird the blackened fish, the fresh cheese and the salty, slightly spicy ham worked PERFECTLY together. This was a perfect start to our Fort Lauderdale business trip and highly recommended.

Food,                     3.25  Sports bar food but very well done
Beer and Wine,    3.75   Nice beer selection, typical grocery store wine selections.
Service,                 5.0     I have never given anyone a 5 but this poor guy was HUSTLING, and yet he was pleasant and took the time to explain the menu to us.

Ambiance,             3.0     Sports bar, enough said.
Price,                     3.5      One of the most reasonable of all our Fort Lauderdale meals.

Overall                  3.70 A really nice local chain with above average food for a sports bar. I would recommend them if you are in Florida.

Le Vent du Nord + the Pine Leaf Boys Review

       We had an opportunity to step out on Friday night to see a great double bill, put on by the Flynn and Lane series. Featuring two bands, playing very traditional music of their respective areas, but modernized for current times. We were allowed to participate in a lecture before hand about where this music came from, (France), and how it has changed over the years. I found the lecture really helpful in helping prepare us for the night of music we were about to see. And to have one of the founders of Vent du Nord also be there just enhanced the whole evening.

      The Pine Leaf boys took the stage first. From Louisiana, they are a traditional Cajun band. And even though the original music came from France and landed in Canada, it took a decidedly different turn when the Acadians were forced out of Canada and is not recognizable as original Canadian folk music anymore. As the lead singer told us, all Cajun music comprises of only three subjects, getting drunk, getting your heart broken and going to prison. And the absolute best Cajun music incorporates all three into one song. These guys were great, doing a wide variety of songs (well as wide as Cajun music gets, as they really only play two types of sounds, two steps and waltzes). Changing the tempos, singing mainly in French but every now and then in English, I really enjoyed these guys . For their last song they brought out the guys from Vent du Nord and all eight of them did a great rollicking "Whisky is my friend" song.

      After a short intermission. Le Vent du Nord came out. Now this is traditional French folk music by way of a little modernization. Absolutely great musicians, wonderful personalities, so much fun. If these groups appear in your neck of the woods, I would strongly encourage you to go see them . Yes, most of the evening will be sung in French but great music happens to be a universal language. The evening gets an A+ !!
   

Panera Bread Review

      For some reason, Seven Days, doesn't publish reviews for Panera Bread. I guess for the same reason they don't review McDonald's or Burger King. And while Panera is a chain like those others, I think the food is much better than your usual fast or casual food stop. So anyway here is my review.

      On this particular Saturday we were bored and decided to go to a wine tasting at our favorite wine store in the whole wide world, Dedalus, on the waterfront. Since we were going to be partaking of some rather yummy Austrian wines, we decided to go to Church Street for some lunch first. My first choice was the new taco place, but as we were walking through the mall we noticed Panera Bread. Having eaten at a couple of these in the past, we decided to try this instead.

      Panera is set up like most fast food joints, you order your food at a counter, picking from the menus posted overhead and then they bring your food to your table by locating you on a pager style beeper, (which wasn't working on this particular day, so the servers were having to shout while walking through the very large space). The problem with this is in the Burlington location, there is ALOT of traffic going through the same space as the line snakes through, and the lines can be HUGE. So this creates bottlenecks and confusion, in addition for people not familiar with the menu, (us for instance), you are walking past the bakery, looking up trying to read the menu, trying to find the correct line and trying not to bump into everyone coming and going . PHEW, alot of work involved in just getting your food.

     As you are looking for the correct line to lineup in, pay attention to the bakery you are walking by, it will come back to you in a bit. Fortunately, the place was packed so we had a bit of a wait in line. this gave us time to study the menu.When it was our turn to order, I went with the chipotle chicken panini and wifey went with the salmon Mediterranean salad. Now for my mistake, I was offered any item from the bakery for $.99 but since I had not paid attention to the bakery, I passed. My wife on the other hand spotted a strawberries and cream scone and got one of those . DUH, what a dunce I was, as the normal pricing for bakery items appears to be $2.99 AND on top of that the scone was DELICIOUS.

      Once you place your order, you now have the joy of finding a place to sit. It appears that Panera is a BIG hit with the downtown Burlington crowd. Of course, by offering free wi-fi you are guaranteed to have the laptop squatters taking up valuable table space for hours and hours at a time. I think after 45 minutes, Panera should be able to bring over a mini parking meter and if you don't constantly feed it quarters, out you go. ANYWAYS, we were lucky as we walked around the serving counter, boom a table magically opened up for us. As the wife sat down, I went off to look for the soda fountain, tucked wayyyy in the back, to get her soda. For some strange reason ,the lemonade is served behind the counter? Is lemonade really that much more expensive that you don't want to put it with the soda and coffee pots? So after delivering the soda, back up to the counter to get my now ready lemonade, weird way to do things.

       So how did all this taste once we finally got settled in and our food came to us? First, lets start with the scone. We ate this while we were waiting and it was delicious. Not at all dry and crumbly like a typical scone but rather soft and cake like with great flavors. In a REALLY quick manner our meals arrived;

      The food was very good,  my chicken sandwich was packed with meat and had the perfect amount of heat from the chipotle and smokiness from the bacon. As you can see wife's salad was HUGE, although I am not a big fan of cold salmon and to me it tasted a bit fishy. But the wife loved it and ate every drop. For $23.70, this place is a very good value for downtown Burlington. We left full and happy. And before I get nasty comments, I KNOW it's not local and I KNOW they truck in their food from all over the country and I KNOW they don't make everything fresh in house. But still, if you have to visit a fast/casual food place you could do ALOT worse.

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  Very good food. With a very good variety, providing you want sandwiches or salads.
Beer and Wine,    NO  No beer and wine so no rating.
Service,                 2.5   Counter service only and it will be assumed you have been here before.

Ambiance,             3.0   Nice space but CROWDED. Be prepared to fight for a table.
Price,                     4.0   Very reasonable for downtown Burlington.

Overall,                 3.25  I am not a very big fan of the whole fast/casual food chains, but I must say this is

one of the better ones out there. If your in a hurry or just want something quick, you could do MUCH worse than this one. 

Pistou Review

      On a brutally cold night, we decided to walk from Church Street down Main street to try a newcomer on the Burlington dining scene, Pistou. Opened by a young couple, Pistou serves French/American creative food. The space is dimly lit, and inviting, with a semi-opened Kitchen, ( you can see the chefs but not really the preparations). Perusing online, I noticed they have a very small menu that changes almost daily. I like that idea, as it means you are always getting the chef's freshest ingredients. Little did we know that, that very small menu shrinks even smaller on Sunday evenings, (we went before the Mama Mia show), down to 3 appetizer and 3 mains for a set price on $28.00 for one of each.This makes the Bluebird's 3 course Sunday evening meal for $30 a bit of a bargain, though you have NO choice in your courses, nor on this particular Sunday were they listing on their website what the courses were.

      Anyways, back to Pistou. We were seated immediately, DUH, as we were the only people there. In fact, the entire time we were there, 5:30 to 7:30, only one other couple came in. I think Sunday evening service may not last long. I will have to say, service was really lacking on this particular evening. Not in efficiency, our server was VERY efficient, but not a genuine note of friendliness was to be had. This is the type of server, who when he asks you how your food is, has already turned and headed back to the bar before you can answer. And considering how friendly I had heard the young owners were with previous reviewers, neither of them came over to the table to say Hi or ask what we thought of the food, again we were the only two in the place for over an hour.

      By now I am sure you are all dying to know how the food was. And here we hit almost all the marks. Food, preparation and presentation are all excellent. An amuse bouche of parsnip puree soup served in a shot glass was excellent, (Wife says best part of the meal and she wished it was offered as a bowl). Why don't more places start you off with an Amuse, this puts the diner in a great frame of mind, to get something from the kitchen as a prelude to the meal.  We started with a beet salad for the wife and a scallop and shrimp appetizer for me. Both had great flavors, the seafood was done perfectly and the burrata cheese that came with the salad was smooth and creamy. For our entrees, we both went with the seafood stew.  Again presentation and flavors were great. It came with a grilled piece of bread covered in a soft potato puree. The big problem with this dish was the amount of potato. Between the multi colored offerings in the stew (red, purple and regular) and the puree on the bread, this dish was 65% potato. I would of really liked more seafood and less starch.

      For dessert, the pain perdu, with chocolate ice cream and homemade peanut brittle. This was the one big clunker of the meal, the bread was DRY and flavorless, the ice cream cold and flavorless, the peanut brittle was GREAT. All in all, not a bad meal but once again closing in on $100 for two, is there no reasonably priced restaurants in Burlington serving great fresh food???

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,                     3.50  Very nice food , though a bit too heavy on the starches and not heavy enough on the proteins. Dessert was a total miss.
Beer and Wine,    3.0  Nice beer and wine selections, list is small and expensive.
Service,                 3.0  Is there some kind of class where servers are taught efficient but aloof. Come on people, be a bit friendly, it will help your tip tremendously.

Ambiance,             3.5  Nice space but the location seems to be a death knell for local places.
Price,                     3.0  VERY pricey, but the excellence in taste and presentation almost make up for it. Definitely a special occasion place.

Overall                  3.20 I really, really wanted to like this place. It's everything I can hope for in a Burlington area restaurant, locally produced food, innovative preparations, comfortable and stylish interior. BUT something just didn't set me on fire. Maybe it was the indifferent service, the extremely high pricing, or the lack of selection, but I just wasn't blown away. Maybe we will give them another chance at a later date and report back.

L'Amante Review

      For the dear wife's birthday and the fact I had been away to sunny, warm Florida for a business trip, I decided to go all out and take her to L'Amante. Despite it being around the Burlington scene for a while and despite many friends saying we must go and despite all the great reviews , we had never been to L'Amante. The room is elegant without being stuffy. And service was first rate. The menu looked very enticing but what won us over was the 3 course tasting menu. The particular night was the food of Veneto, (The Venice region). A three course dinner with three wines paired by the chef. We both decided to partake.

      The first thing you should know about L'amantes is it makes no pretense about being anything but a special occasion type of place. Anniversaries, Birthdays, all should be celebrated here. If you are going to come her on a regular basis, you better have deep pockets. Our meal was $58.00 each for a 3 course meal with wine, add dessert and tip and taxes and we were pushing $175.00. Was it worth it? Read on.

      First up some great bread served with hummus and a chicken liver pate. Man was that pate ever good, that sure woke up the taste buds. Our first course was white anchovies served over roasted red peppers with capers. And served with this a 2012 Pieropan Soave Classico. Wow talk about a grand opening, tons of different flavors with salty, and sweet, paired perfectly with a nice crisp white. This chef really knows how to pair wines , (as he should by being one the few Master Sommeliers in the world).

      For round two the chef served us white polenta , served over a wild mushroom ragu. WOW is all I can say this was by far the star of the evening. The flavors in the mushrooms (and I don't really care for mushrooms), were incredible and paired with the white polenta, that had been crisped up into a cake form, was divine. Pair this with a 2003 Nicolas Testal and you have a match made in heaven.

      The third course is where things faltered a bit. It was the course I was most excited about, grilled boar sausage, and quail with radicchio trevisano. The sausage was superb, incredible flavors and both the wife and I wished there was more of it. The quail was good but definitely overcooked, to the point of the meat being a bit dry. And the radicchio was a total failure, WAY over charded, so all you could taste was burnt leaves. This left a flavor in your mouth that overpowered the boar and quail. All you could taste was burnt. For the price we were paying this left a bit of a bad taste in our mouth (literally HA).

      For dessert, we had a great chocolate cake with an incredible espresso cream on top. A great way to end the meal. So pretty much an excellent meal with one miscue, forgivable but NOT when you are paying $175.00 for two. At this price point every portion of the meal better be perfect.

Food,                      4.00  Excellent food , but for one miscue. Did it ruin the evening , of course not but for this price it shouldn't of happened.
Beer and Wine,     3.75  Incredible selection, very expensive
Service,                  3.50 Service was very professional, just not very warm.

Ambiance,             4.5   Beautiful ding room and charming bar, possibly the best in Burlington..
Price,                     3.0  VERY pricey, but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it. Definitely a special occasion place. And slight miscues need to be taken care of.

Overall                  3.75  A really beautiful room, innovative and tasty food. A great wine list but some small miscues and that huge cloud , the price, makes this a once a year or so place to eat.

The WIndjammer Review

      For our office Christmas party, we went to the Windjammer. Arguably, one of the longest lasting restaurants in the Burlington area. The Windjammer has long been known for its salad bar and beef offerings. And as I quickly noticed a giant menu (unfortunately, you all know what I think of giant menus).

      As you are led to your table, you quickly notice how HUGE this place is, then you notice how many people are also dining on this Wednesday, (2 weeks before Xmas), night. Between the size of the menu and the amount of people, you just know the kitchen is going to be crazy and crazy isn't always good . We sit down and are given our menus and it is huge, they have just about every type of seafood or cut of beef you can imagine. The wine list is also quite large, if rather pedestrian, with alot of "grocery store" wines on it. BUT I will give the kudos for the beer offerings. lots of local brews and some of the harder to get ones. I finally got to try the Trapp Family lager and it was really good.

      Now, I must tell you about another personal quibble, I hate salad bars. Please don't write me angry letters, its a personal thing but even with every sneeze guard in place, I just don't think their sanitary.Who knows where the 300 people in front of you hands have been? Anyways, the Windjammer is famous for theirs and I am sure that's not gonna change anytime soon, and as it comes with your meal , we all trudged off to the salad bar to indulge. The offerings are substantial but not really innovative and again I am not a fan. So for my entree, I went with ;

Chicken Rotolo- tenderized 8 oz. chicken breast with housemade VT chevre boursin, baby spinach & lump crab meat, pita encrusted and rolled, finished with sweet pepper Arrosto $22.99

        I went with this because it sounded different from their usual meat and rather plain seafood items. Looking back now that was a mistake, if a restaurant is known for something, that is what you should probably order. The biggest problem with this meal and from what I could see around the table is everything was overcooked. I think because of the large volume of orders they do in a night, everything goes under an extremely hot salamander and cooks it to within an inch of its life. Now in their defense, no one at the table had steak, (weird, huh), so I can not comment on overdone steaks, just seafood and chicken. For dessert we shared three things across the table, and they were so memorable I can not remember even one of them. Something chocolate, something berry , none really bad, none really great. And THAT in a nutshell is my memory of the Windjammer. Nothing great, nothing really bad, just unmemorable food, prepared hundreds of times a night.

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,                     3.0  Not bad, not great, reliable in a box restaurant kind of way.
Beer and Wine,    3.5  Nice beer and wine selections, wine list is huge but rather boring.
Service,                 3.0  Rushed and not very informative but friendly just the same, like everything else not memorable.

Ambiance,             2.5  Huge and loud come to mind.
Price,                     3.0  Pricey, but not overly so. Portion tend to be very large

Overall                  3.00 If you love the box restaurants at Taft's Corner , you will love the Windjammer. BUT come here instead so the money stays local. Nothing really great but then again nothing really bad, dependable seems to be the correct word. And sometimes dependable works just fine.

Johnny V's Review

      This was on my advanced list of a places we should go to while in Fort Lauderdale. So I was extremely happy when we got a reservation for 6:30. Then I was extremely sad when I had to cancel because my boss's plane was delayed and he didn't get in till 6pm. After picking a second choice, I found I had to cancel that also, as a business meeting ran long. So we decided to head out to Los Olas Boulevard and see what pops up. Our cab lets us off and lo and behold we are right in front of Johnny V's. What a coincidence. I ask at the counter if they have a table for 4 and yes they do. WOO HOO .

      So in we go and I for one am VERY happy we did. The wine list is incredible and I started with an incredible Temparillo from Spain, with this great glass of wine we shared three appetizers, the blue corn crusted calamari, the slightly seared tune poke and the special of the night, baked oysters with spinach and bechamel sauce. All three were just incredible, the flavors, the presentation , everything perfect.

      For my entree, I went with the Duck, Duck, Duck and I must say this was one of the best entrees I have ever had. A duck leg confit, a roasted breast served medium and sliced and a bread pudding made of mushrooms and foie gras, YUMMY. Around the table, everyone else got fresh fish entrees and other than one fish being a bit dry, we all loved our meals. For dessert we ordered a chocolate samplers and there were 4 or 5 different preparations, all of them delicious.

Food,                     4.25  Excellent food, Imaginatively prepared with sometimes unusual ingredients. One of the fish dishes was a bit dry and overcooked, points off for that.
Beer and Wine,     4.0    Very Deep wine selections, list is huge and some of it very expensive.
Service,                 4.0    Our waitress was incredible, making suggestions and helping us out with the wine list.

Ambiance,             3.75  Nice space, but very narrow, some sidewalk seating, which would be fun.
Price,                     3.5   VERY pricey, but food this creative is rarely cheap.

Overall                  3.90  My favorite meal of the trip and probably in my favorite top 20 of all time. If you are in Fort Lauderdale go here

Casablanca Cafe Review

      As we were setting up the booth for the show, we realized it was well after noon and we suddenly were starving. As this particular day included 84 degree weather, with a slight ocean breeze and tropical blue skies, we decide to go outside and find a restaurant where we could eat overlooking the ocean. After a short walk, we noticed a large crowd at the Casablanca, so we stood in line to wait for a table. There was a big crowd sitting on the patio watching the ocean so when the Hostess said would you like to sit on the balcony we said sure, thinking we were getting on the patio. Instead she led us into the restaurant, up a spiral staircase and out onto a tiny 2nd story balcony holding three tables, SCORE, we had the end table, facing the ocean and getting a wonderful breeze in our faces, who said blind luck was overrated.

      Soon our server appeared and offered us some exotic drinks, but since I was working, I went with a Balik Gold beer instead. Perfect for a hot, sultry day. And for lunch, a thinly shaved, lamb sandwich, served on a warm pita bread, (OK, it was a gyro, why don't you just say so) and a nice Mediterranean salad. The lamb was perfectly seasoned and very tender. The salad nice and crisp with some great feta cheese on top. All in all, a perfect lunch plate for $9.99. And the view was incredible.

Food,                     4.0     Great flavors, nicely put together. 

Beer and Wine,    4.0     Nice beer and wine selections, reasonably priced (for Florida anyways).

Service,                 3.75   Waiter was not overly talkative but very efficient and the hostess got us a great table.

Ambiance,             4.5      All I can say is see the pictures.

Price,                     4.5      Probably the most reasonable place in all of Fort Lauderdale.

Overall                  4.15 This was a great find and would be one of my go to spots if I lived in Fort Lauderdale. If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and stop by.

Sweetwaters Review

      Given my unbelievable skills at organization, we found ourselves with tickets to consecutive nights at the Flynn. Looking for a quick but rather inexpensive bite to eat, we settled on Sweetwaters.Located in a former bank building, Sweetwaters is a very impressive space, the main bar area has 20 ft high ceilings with a large mural at the back of the room. Lots of little nooks and crannies abound for those looking for a darker more romantic space. Also available are tables right on Church Street, (covered and heated, this time of the year).

      Sweetwaters seems to go through many up and down cycles, sometimes we have had really good food, sometimes really bad. Since we couldn't remember the last time we went, we decide to give it a try. You won't find innovative gastro pub food here, (see Bluebird review), but you also won't find $30+ entrees either. We started with drinks, (shocking I know), and they do have some creative drinks here. Wife started with a mix of Stella's beer and Woodchuck cider called a snakebite, ( a better one was a mix of woodchuck cider and blueberry beer called a Chuck Berry, HA). And I went with a new brew from Long trail to help the hurricane victims called Irene. Both were very good, with the wife's tasting alot like an apple beer, you decide if that is good or not,

     For supper we went rather simple, wife with a chicken and pear salad and me with the Bleu burger. The burger was HUGE and came with blue cheese and bacon on it, along with a very large helping of hand cut fries. The wife's salad was well done, crisp lettuces and nicely grilled chicken, though she wasn't a big fan of the poached pears that came with it. All in all a very satisfying meal with no big breakthroughs but also no big disappointments. And sometimes that is all you can ask for. I do have to comment on the service a bit, we ate at the bar, which is our usual and we got very spotty service. When the bartender was there, she was very friendly but she would disappear for large chunks of time. Seems the soda machine was broken and nobody else there could fix it?

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  Dependable and tasty classics.
Beer and Wine,    3.0  OK beer and wine selections, like the food, nothing really unusual.
Service,                 3.5  Great when she was there, not really her fault the soda machine broke, more of a management problem.

Ambiance,             4.0  Nice, old building with lots of areas for dining or socializing.
Price,                     3.5  Consistent with the food, fairly reasonable for downtown.

Overall                  3.5  Nothing jumps out at me as being really sensational but then again nothing jumps out as being really bad. And sometimes this is exactly what you need before a show or a concert. Just good dependable food and drinks.  



Bluebird Tavern Review

      UPDATE; This review and visit occurred before Bluebird moved to their new downtown location. We have not had a chance to visit the new location but look forward to visiting soon.

      We have had a strange relationship with the Burlington areas very first gastropub. Our first experience was that we were seated and left for 25 minutes until we got up and walked out, (even then nobody said anything to us). After the owner heard, she was nice enough to comp us a $75.00 gift certificate and we tried again. Service was marginally better but the food was only so-so and unbelievably expensive (gift certificate didn't even cover half the bill and we left hungry). So we walked away from the Bluebird and waited for its eventual demise.

      But then we heard of a shake-up and that a new chef had taken over. Having eaten at the Daily Planet during his short stay there, I knew he could be innovative but still give you something recognizable to eat (really its nice you can cube chorizo to microscopic proportions but I actually like to TASTE my chorizo, thank you very much). So we mustered up our courage and went back, WOW, now this is what a gastropub should be like. Don't get me wrong  it was still ungodly expensive, but this time we both left full and very happy.

      So for my birthday, I was asked where I wanted to go and since the new menu at Bluebird featured bone marrow (OK, I may be obsessed with this and you just don't find it on very many menus), I said let's go back and see what's new. We had a 6pm reservation and they weren't quite ready for us so we had a seat at the bar and I had that oh-oh moment of, was this a mistake. The bartender gave us a drink menu and then forgot us for about 10 minutes. She finally came back to us and really wasn't the friendliest person in the world, though she did answer my questions about the different Hill Farmstead beers. Quick aside, I don't believe you can buy Hill Farmstead, (brewed in Greensboro), anywhere but Vermont, but if you ever see it in your local bar, BUY SOME. Just delicious.

      Once we received our drinks we were summoned by the hostess that our table was ready. And oh-oh moment number two. First the tables at Bluebird are VERY close together and the couple seated next to us did not seem to be having a good time. I found out later that they thought this was still the old Mexican place when they came in, well DUH one look at the menu should of cleared that up, Anyways he hated the burger he ordered and walked out leaving his poor wife to finish her meal by herself. There are serious jerks everywhere. Now at this point I must say that the oh-oh moments stopped and life became great. Our server was wonderful, the menu looked incredible and the beer ..oooohhh the beer. Hill Farmstead, I started with the Abner, (all their beers are named after relatives), an Imperial IPA, which was incredible and then with my meal had a George, an American brown ale, both beers were just superb and went well with my meal. The dear wife had a couple of glasses of wine, the first, on special, was a Leo Hillinger Zweigelt, what a great and unusual choice, full of full of great cherry and chocolate flavors, and the 2nd glass, Le Pinot Noir from France,,matched perfectly with her salmon.

      And on to the meals, I started with the aforementioned bone marrow, served with shrimp stuffing over the top and sitting in a deep pool of roasted garlic sauce with chunks of garlic, leek and carrot. An incredible melding of flavors and our server was sweet enough to rush over another helping of grilled bread, as this sauce could NOT be wasted.  Wifey went with the butternut squash bisque, laced with an herbed oil and cocoa nibs, YUM, and I am not even a fan of squash, hearty and delicious.

      For our entrees, I went with stuff stuffed with stuff, specifically pork belly and quail, stuffed with a stuffing made of pork, quail and mushrooms , served over french fries with an incredible gravy. GOD this was good , like the most unreal Poutine ever, (Canadian dish of french fries, cheese and gravy for you non-Quebecois). For her entree, the wife went with wild salmon over chestnut risotto and fried strips of parsnip and this also was just incredible (or so she says, as I was only allowed a very little taste). We both were extremely satisfied and also STUFFED, so an over all great meal.

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,                     4.8  Totally inspired, ridiculously good. One tiny quibble, stuffing was a bit dry
Beer and Wine,    4.5  Nice beer and wine selections, list is small but well thought out and highly unusual.
Service,                 3.5  I knocked it down by .5 for the poor service by the bartender,everyone else was superb

Ambiance,             3.5  Nice exposed brick but tables for two are packed in way to close to each other.Bar area is nice but its COLD back there.
Price,                     3.5  VERY pricey, but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it. Definitely a special occasion place

Overall                  3.96  I have to say this is probably my favorite special occasion place in Burlington. You are guaranteed to have a superb meal with expertly prepared ingredients. There just seems to always be one little thing that stops me from giving Bluebird all 5's, and it seems to always be something in the service. This is probably the last time we get to go to Bluebird at its current location, as they will be moving to downtown very soon and a new barbecue place is going to spring up here. Downtown is much more inconvenient for us but we will certainly check out the new space and we will try the new barbecue place once it reopens. Stay tune for more updates and please if you love innovative, unusual and well prepared foods, don't hesitate to visit.

Madeleine's Bakery Review

      We have a new bakery in Milton, Madeleine's. Located in the same building as the new Ace Hardware on Route 7. At first glance its hard to get a feel for this bakery, the outside door and storefront are very plain, looking like nothing more than another entrance to Ace. But step inside and be prepared to be amazed. As you step in, you see cases of goodies right in front of you, but what's even more amazing is look past the cases though an open window and see the actual working part of the bakery, and it is HUGE. it stretches back what must be 50-60 feet and filled with all kinds of cool equipment, (I love baking equipment).

      As I mentioned earlier, the first thing you see is two nice cases devoted to "normal" bakery type items. Doughnuts, bearclaws, cookies, croissants and many other items of the same ilk. To the left against the wall is another rack devoted to breads and rolls. This rack was rather sparse on the day I was there but I was assured many more bread items were coming. I did buy a loaf of white sandwich bread and it was good. There was a very good selection of dinner rolls.

      Off to the right hand side were two other cases, these are filled with more elegant desserts. napoleons, cakes, pies, really yummy looking stuff.  I will make one suggestion, DO NOT enter here on a hungry stomach. In the interest of a proper review, I felt I needed to test a number of products. HA, if you believe that I have some swamp land to sell you. Anyways here is what I ended up going home with;

      Let's go over the goodies one at a time. First plate, (starting at the top and in a clockwise rotation), cinnamon roll, nice and sweet, great cinnamon flavor, strawberries and cream croissant, point for using whole strawberries, point off for not enough cream cheese, maple walnut scone, only clunker of the bunch, dry with not alot of maple flavor in the scone, frosting was good, and finally bearclaw, great flavor but a little on the small side, must of been a baby bear.

      Second plate, cookies were both very good, chocolate chip and ginger. Donuts we ate the next day so they were a bit dry, but great flavors on the frosting, not cloyingly sweet. and finally the bread, not extraordinary but then again nothing bad. just a good old white bread. All in all a great addition to our little town.

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      Really good , fresh made goodies. Scones are dry.
Beer and Wine,    no   Its a bakery people, though I did just read about a dessert and wine bar (next business idea).
Service,                 4.5    Excellent, I was waited on right away and the person was very helpful.

Ambiance,             no    Strictly take out, no tables inside.
Price,                     3.5  A bit pricey but excellent selection and overall everything tasted great.

Overall                  4.0  This is great addition to Milton. now if we could only get a DECENT restaurant we would be in heaven !!.  

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.  

Wooden Spoon Bistro Review

      Due to my lovely wife's weird rotating shift, there is one weekend every month she has to work Friday and Saturday nights and gets Sunday and Monday nights off instead, YUCK. We like to try new places on the weekend but many restaurants are not open on Sundays, so our choices are usually limited. It was with great excitement I noticed a new Bistro/Bar that had just opened was indeed serving on this particular Sunday night. The Wooden Spoon Bistro is not easy to find, tucked away on Williston road, right in front of Higher Ground and in the same building as Quiznos.

      This is a cute little place with seating at tables for about 30 and a nice large bar holding maybe 15 more. The interior is rather sparse, but local art on the walls helps a bit. When we arrived the place was empty, (Sunday night at 5PM ), except for two other customers at the bar. We chose to sit at the bar and the bartender/server could not of been more friendly as were the customers, one of whom turned out to be the on duty server eating her supper. The wine and beer list is adequate, with some well though out and unusual selections on it, wife started with a Four Vines Zinfandel, yummy and I went with the Long Trail Double Bag, also very yummy.

      We were a bit disappointed to learn that two of the appetizers we had read about, (and were going to order), from a previous reviewer and from the menu online were now gone, the shrimp corn dog and the authentic Caesar salad with anchovies, not to mention the rum and coke chicken wings. This will be a theme that I will touch upon later. So back to the menu and we decided to try the risotto balls and the smoked salmon rangoons. WOW , is really all I can say. Both were sensational, crispy fried, with no discernible grease on either, this is a chef who really knows his fryer well. The rangoons were crisp with a smooth tasty cream cheese and salmon filling ( OK, I would of like a bit more salmon please) , accompanied by a great apricot dipping sauce.The risotto balls had a cracking outer skin, with a soft rice filled interior, PERFECT, and served with these incredible bacon strips, (quick idea chef, add the bacon INSIDE the balls, YUMMMY). Both appetizers came with some dressed greens, which were perfect for cutting through the fried foods. These were certainly two of the best appetizers we have had, they hit all the taste buds. Oh, and I can not forget to mention the fresh bread with MAPLE butter that came before the appetizers, YUM!!! You can just see the cute green colander it came in, in the first pic. Nice touch;

      After that start, the entree was bound to be a let down right? WRONG, we decided to split one of the nights specials, a blackened catfish served with asparagus and roasted potatoes. Again WOW,  perfectly seasoned catfish, juicy, a bit spicy, such an easy fish to over cook but this one was perfect. The asparagus, (which I don't eat), was undercooked, as American chefs seem to want to do. The trend for several years now has been to just barely blanche them and serve them "al dente". Unfortunately for my wife, she likes her veggies well done. There is hope, I just read an article on Italian chefs going back to their mothers and grandmothers roots and cooking vegetables long and slow to get a completely different flavor profile from them. Here's hoping US chefs adopt this, at least in some dishes. Finally the potatoes, I am not a huge fan of fingerling potatoes. I find them starchy and bland, and this chef seems to like to use them alot, ala the original chef at Monty's.  These were OK, but definitely underseasoned, a shot of the Cajun spice would of done them a world of good.  Here's a pic of our entree;

      The best compliment we can give this dish is about half way through my wife turned to me and said,"I wish I didn't have to share this with you" AMEN. Back to my one original quibble, this is a chef who likes to mix up his menu OFTEN. So what you see on the website certainly will NOT be what you find when you get there. I was initially disappointed, but I got over it quick and so should you. Don't even look at the website, just go and you will be very happy. I do have a business idea, I could start a social network site where Vermont restaurants could send me their daily specials and menu changes and I would post them for a very small fee. Any takers, contact me.This turned out to be a great find. Super friendly service and great food. We will certainly be back. Do yourself a favor and go find them tonight. Lastly, on the way home that evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset over Lake Champlain. Enjoy;

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,                     4.5  Totally inspired and ridiculously good.
Beer and Wine,    3.5  Nice beer and wine selections, list is small but well thought out.
Service,                 5    We had a great time with our bartender/server, BUT she only works Sundays, so your mileage may vary.

Ambiance,             3.5  It's a bar with alot of hard surfaces, the local artwork on the wall is a start.
Price,                     3.5  A bit pricey but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it.

Overall                  4.0  This is an incredible new place for Burlington. My only two hopes are, that the chef doesn't burn himself out working the long hours he's working, and it doesn't get too popular, so we can't just drop in whenever we want. Until those things happen, we will be regulars.  

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.