Crunchy Dragon

That is all.

-wm

Always Look in the Box

Take a good look at that picture. That is a picture of what I received when I ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza. Under the pepperoni and sausage is not cheese, but crust.

Yes.

Dude actually got some dough, put some pepperoni and sausage on it, then put that dry $#!+ in the oven, boxed it, and served it up to me. Luckily, I took a look at it first (a necessity for me, these days, no matter where I go).

That's the short version. More on the other layers to saga, another time.


Oh, and to be fair (although I'd rather not mention this as it's usually too distracting) I ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza without cheese of any kind. I did this because cheese and I don't get along and because ordering "a little" of anything can result in ... well, anything.

But I certainly didn't order bread and meat. That's called a "sandwich."

Orlando Restaurants - 2009 pt 2

While in Orlando, Florida, recently, we also visited McCormick & Schmick's, my second favorite restaurant ever. The pictures were taken with my Treo in restaurant lighting, so they're less than perfect. Hopefully, you've installed the color-correction Add-On into your imagination.

(click photos to enlarge)

clam appetizer


Yellowfin Tuna


Shrimp and Scallop skewer


The appetizer was decent, but nothing to write home about (and yet, here I am showing and telling). It certainly lived up to role as the culinary opening act.

The entrees were fantastic, as usual. It seems that McCormick & Schmick's menus may change from one day to the next, so I couldn't rely on my crutch of always choosing "old faithful" at a given restaurant. Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgeable, while also "working us," so he was able to recommend dishes and answer questions. Because of him, we got these two dishes and we couldn't have been happier.

The Yellowfin Tuna didn't sound like anything I'd want, but after hearing that I really enjoy (real) sushi, he told me, "Look, if you don't like it, I'LL EAT IT. I'm not kidding!" Then he grabbed a co-worker who echoed, "No, really. He's not kidding. He has it almost every day."

The meat is just seared. Don't ask me why the heck that raw/seared combo works, but it does. It kind of reminds me of the combination of a hot pie and cold ice cream.

I savored it, as usual.  You all don't need to hear me go on about the various levels of flavoriciousness, again, so I'll leave it at that.

The shrimp and scallop skewer was great, as well. Tasty, fresh, and generous portions. What more can one ask for?

We felt like we got our money's worth, had good food and a good time... and even managed to eat fairly heathily. Yes, that's a word now.

The service was great, as always, except for our server becoming over-extended and abandoning us, for a while. We forgave him.

As always, highly recommended. (As are reservations.)

Orlando Restaurants - 2009 pt 1

I'm not sure how I missed this in 2008, but in 2007 I posted pictures from our visit to some of our favorite restaurants. This post highlights Texas de Brazil in Orlando, FL.

We usually set up reservations, for convenience. There's valet parking available, but we usually don't take advantage of it unless the weather's bad.

When we show up, we're seated pretty quickly. The server makes sure we know how things work there: one price for the mega salad bar (the term hardly does it justice) and for their gauchos to bring cuts of meat directly to your table (drinks, dessert, etc. cost extra).

The server brings our drinks, puts napkins in our laps, and lets us loose on the salad bar. It's amazing. Again, the term hardly does it justice. Take a look at some of the old or newer pictures to get an idea of just how extensive (and lovely) it is.

By the way, while we were at the salad bar, the server re-folded the napkins he'd placed in our laps earlier. Just because.

While enjoying the salad bar items (a meal by itself) one may not be ready for the different cuts of meat to be offered. So that the gauchos don't bother you, the restaurant provides double-sided discs. One side is red - the other green. When the green side is up, that signifies that the diner is open to gaucho offerings. When the red side is up, that pretty much means, "let me eat in peace."

When my dining companion turns her disc to the green side, while mine is still red, the gauchos tend to offer me the same items they're offering her (veal, filet mignon, sausage, chicken, etc.) - to avoid the perception of rudeness, I assume. It's somewhat unfortunate, but I certainly understand the choice.

Either way, I still enjoy my meal immensely (which is why this is my favorite restaurant). I spend forty-five minutes to an hour enjoying the two or three dozen items on the salad bar, alone before starting on the meats. I like to try almost every single item separately so that I can enjoy the subtleties and (honestly) complexities of flavor in each of them. Then, after cleansing my palate with the mashed potatoes provided for that purpose*, I begin mixing them together in different ways. I didn't know food could be so enjoyable in so many ways.

I'm not one of those people who are impressed by fancy names, foreign languages, small portions, or high prices in a restaurant. The food and service are fantastic. By the time I'm done I feel I've gotten my money's worth and I recommend the place every chance I get. Heck, I'm even impressed by their music, restrooms, and napkins. How could I not?



Next time, I'll share photos from my second-favorite restaurant.





* - They also provide plaintains, but I can't eat those.

Don't Make Me Angry...

I was one of the comic book fans who griped, seemingly without end, when Mark Millar's Ultimates showed a cannibalistic Hulk munching on the evil, as well as the innocent.

One of my reasons for objecting was because this behavior was unprecedented, as far as I knew.

Apparently I was mistaken:

(click to enlarge)

Iron Man #131

Orlando 2007 - restaurants (plus)

I've spent the last couple of days sharing some my pictures and thoughts about MegaCON 2007, which took place in Orlando, Florida. I may not have mentioned that my girlfriend, who is not a comic book enthusiast (although she's open to a good story), and I also used that trip as a Valentine's Day get-away.

Today, I thought I'd take a second to mention a couple of restaurants we visited in Orlando, as well as a couple of places I've neglected to mention in the past. (There are a ton of stories, movie & restaurant reviews, and pictures I never got around to posting over the past year or so.)

All pictures were snapped by me except where noted.

ORLANDO

(below) The view from our room at the Renaissance Resort Orlando at SeaWorld

(above) a similar picture of the room (from their site)
Nice place, but they need to finish the renovation/construction quickly.
~~~
(below) McCormick & Schmick's restaurant

(below) We both had their excellent seafood bouillabaisse.

(below) Their desserts were just as impressive.

(above) I had the pecan-crusted apple pie with cinnamon ice cream.
Very good, but very sweet. Couldn't finish it.

I didn't have enough sense to take the pictures before grubbing down, but I thought I'd post'em, anyway.
Highly recommended.

~~~

(below) Texas de Brazil

(above) HUGE four-sided salad bar.
This is the classic, "I could make a meal just from the salad bar," situation.

Texas de Brazil has one price and no menus.
Each guest gets a disc - red on one side and green on the other.

Turn your disc to the green side and servers wandering by will offer their particular hot meat dish which they will cut & serve to you on-the-spot.
Eat all you wish.

Pricey, but highly recommended, as well.

~~~

ATLANTA

(below) A shot of the Cheesecake Factory my girlfriend, my mom, and I visited after hitting Mary Mac's one evening.

I didn't eat at this particular location, but the ladies were very pleased with the desserts they got "to-go."

I've always enjoyed my meals at 'the Factory - especially the pasta (and I'm no pasta-man).

~~~

I've mentioned my general fondness for and recent disappointment with Mary Mac's Tea Room, so I'll leave it at that.

~~~

PANAMA CITY
J. Michael's Dockside Bar & Grill
I don't remember what we had but it was pretty enjoyable, despite the somewhat cramped dining area.

We'd eat there, again.

~~~

Hopefully, this will prove useful to someone who decides to visit any of these places, the future.

Satisfaction

Mistakes are inevitable. I've made them all my life and I always will.

Inevitability, however, is not synonymous with irrelevance.

I think there are at least three things one should do after making a mistake that affects others:

1) Admit the mistake.
"This was my/our error. I/We apologize."

2) Fix the mistake.
"Here's what I/we would like to do to make things right."

3) Prevent future mistakes.
"Here's what I/we will do so that, hopefully, this particular error won't occur, anymore."

The first part is so rare that I'm probably a fool to hope for anything beyond it. The second one happens, on occasion, but I think it's only part of the resolution. Taking that third step means that anyone who suffered, a little or a lot, did not do so in-vain. A mistake has value when it leads to prevention or lessons learned for the future.

That's that. Feel free to stop reading now, as an example follows in the form of a rant:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I recently commented in Angie's post about my continued amazement at the completely unnecessary lies people will tell you with a completely straight face.

Just this weekend, some folks lied to me about some damned strawberry shortcake.

. . .

I kid you not.

A restaurant I've repeatedly praised on this blog makes a pretty mean strawberry shortcake - something I hadn't been enthused about in ages. So, when we returned to ATL, recently, we dropped by, ordering FIVE strawberry shortcake desserts: 2 with whipped cream and 3 without.

Before leaving, m'lady checked the desserts for whipped cream. 2 & 3. Looked good, so we left.

We decided to stop by Discover Mills, some 30 miles away. When we got there, I decided I wanted a bit of my dessert. I discovered the following:
I don't know how well you can see that on your monitors, but my girlfriend describes the above as a dry-ass biscuit with some sliced strawberries on it.

And she's right.

When I called the restaurant, not one, but TWO employees told me they knew, for a fact, that the dish is SUPPOSED to look like that. They said there's no juice, no syrup, no anything liquid in this dessert.

I told them that we've ordered these several times so we not only know how a strawberry shortcake is supposed to look, we know how THEIR strawberry shortcakes are supposed to look.

No love.

We finished shopping (albeit with a grouchy demeanor) and headed back downtown (sorry, I wasn't throwing away five desserts).

The manager who helped us, then, agreed that the desserts aren't supposed to be dry like that. She went to the kitchen, got the juice or whatever, and applied it to each container. She even added an extra dessert along with an extra container of nothing but the liquid we'd expected before.

She told us, in the future, to be sure to tell the servers to be sure to add the syrup to the dish. I informed her that both employees we spoke to claimed there WAS no "syrup" in the dish.

So, in the end, the desserts were fixed by a smiling, apologetic employee. So, you may ask, why am I not fully satisfied?

Because, these people made a mistake, as people do. Oh well. I can appreciate her approach of solving the original issue but, in my opinion, when someone makes a mistake, they should admit it (although that's a rare and valuable thing) AND take reasonable steps to decrease the chances that it will happen, again.

She only told US what to do differently, as if her staff played no part in this inconvenience. While I recognize that we, as consumers, have a role to play in ensuring our own satisfaction, I'm not sure that someone ordering 5 desserts should have to take them all out of the packaging, open each container, and make sure that that every single ingredient is present.

I dig that she took responsibility by fixing the original issue, but I'm disappointed that she apparently wasn't interested in taking steps ON HER END to make sure this doesn't happen, again, resulting in someone else having to drive all the way back to downtown Atlanta on a Saturday.