Dining in the Dash: Mary's Gourmet Dinner

This post is so severely overdue there are fines on it. I can't remember when exactly when ate here but it was before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! That was a long time ago.

We met Anne and Locke here for brunch on a Sunday. I'm not sure why we came here on a Sunday considering this is their busiest day of the week and both of our husbands are off for 7 days in a row and we could have come aaaaany other day, but here we were on a Sunday, waiting in line for brunch.

That was probably my first tip off that this was going to be a good meal. Waiting in line for brunch is the norm of course… IF that is, you live in New York, Chicago, LA, San Fran, DC or any other city with public transportation and people who don't regularly go to church on Sunday. Waiting for brunch in Winston, sure. Waiting in a LINE twenty people deep? Doesn't happen here.

Fortunately, it was worth the wait. Totally, totally worth it.

There were so many things on the menu I wanted to try that I can't believe we haven't been back eighty times since then. (Matt, we need to go back to Mary's.)

Anne and I both couldn't decide between a savory or a sweet breakfast, so we split the difference. She ordered the French toast special with lemon curd and I ordered the Apple Butter, Baby. Apple Butter, Baby: scrambled eggs, smoked sausage and homemade apple butter on wheat toast.

If you don't have a friend who's willing to go half-sweet, half-savory on brunch with you then I would recommend interviewing everyone in line to find one. Best idea ever.

Our food was great, our service was excellent (responsive without being overbearing), the prices were decent and most important of all to us these days, it was very baby friendly. The husbands both had various omelets and were equally as happy. We have had so many friends recommend this place to us and I completely understand why now. It is a favorite among Winston-Salem residents and we can be counted among them now.

In fact, we liked it so much we went back just two weeks later. This time, on a Wednesday.

A review of our “Dining in the Dash” Project

• Kitchen Roselli
• The Screaming Rooster
• Goat Lady Dairy
• the Taco Truck
• Sweet Potatoes
• Breakfast Of Course
• Bernadin’s (My Review - 12/15/12)
• Meridian
• Old Salem Tavern
• King’s Crab Shack (7/01/12)
• New Town Bistro
• Muddy Creek Café
• Winston-Salem Prime
• Spring House Restaurant (My Review - 5/11/12)
• Lexington BBQ
• Hillbilly Hideaway
• Mooney’s (My Review - 6/11/12)
• Vin205
• MamaZoe Michael’s
• El Maguey
• Chef Dion Sprenkle 

We Went to Chicago

We went to Chicago last weekend!

We packed up our warmest winter gear and a jumbo pack of "hand hotties" and headed up to the Windy City with the Glenns. Our reason for going was to see the Wake Forest vs Notre Dame game on Saturday (despite the inevitable outcome), but we gave ourselves a few extra days to explore Chicago first.

We loved it. And we really, really, really loved that unseasonably warm weather. (I saw a few guys in shorts - it was not that warm. But it was warm enough that I only used 2 of my 8 packs of hand hotties.)

We arrived Thursday morning and set about exploring. We wandered from our hotel down to the Michigan Ave area and had lunch at a Chinese / Thai restaurant called Big Bowl. Our meal was delicious - just the beginning of us eating our way through the city.

After lunch, we went up to the Signature Lounge in the Hancock Tower to get a bird's eye view of the city. The view was really breathtaking - and a little dizzying. We had a drink, rationalizing the overpriced beverages beat paying a fee for the observation deck one floor up, then snapped a few pictures and headed back down to solid ground below.

After our jaunt around Michigan Ave, we headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner plans. After consulting a few emails from Jamie who had been in Chicago literally one weekend before us, we settled on an Italian place called Topo Gigio. Holy moly. I'll be perfectly honest - I don't generally like Italian. But the few times I've had really good homemade Italian, I've considered calling a truce with my pasta grudge. This was one of those cases. (I said the exact same thing when we went to a little Italian joint in San Fran. Maybe Winston just needs an alternative to the ol' Garden of Olives.) After dinner, we decided to see if we could catch a show last minute at Second City comedy club and we were able to get in to see a local improv show. It did not disappoint and I am quite certain I laughed hard enough to burn a few of the thousand calories I took in at dinner.

Friday we basically did two things: walked and ate. (Thank goodness for the former.) Breakfast at Yolk, lunch at Gino's East and dinner at XOCO.

No, really. We walked. And walked and walked.

And we ate. And ate and ate.

We wrapped up Friday evening pretty early since we had an early wake up call to head down to South Bend. We really loved our visit to Chicago. It was an easy city to get around and we barely made a dent in our recommendations of restaurants and things to do. I think it'll definitely be on our return list. However, we probably won't tempt the weather gods twice... next time we'll hedge our bets and go in the spring!

La Jolla Kayaks and Old Town Tortillas

When we got back to San Diego on Sunday, we debated a surfing lesson but nixed it due to the potential frigidness of the Pacific this time of year.  Instead, we took to the water in kayaks!  We set off from La Jolla, and paddled around the coast til we got to an area populated with seals.  Seals!

Seals are really, really loud.  Who knew.

Our kayak outing was not particularly strenuous - the water was very placid, the sun was setting and the breeze was light.  I found it almost meditative, especially once I found my rowing rhythm.  Now, all I need is a lake to wake up on every morning and my very own bright green kayak to achieve total bliss.  OHMMMMM.

The highlight of our kayak adventure, though, was when we got home and went to upload the seven or so photos my brother had taken on his roommate's nifty waterproof camera.  I plugged it into my iPad only to see over 200 pictures pop up!  We broke into a fit of giggles when we realized he had set it on "every 5 seconds" and our entire trip was documented from the perspective of my brother's lifejacket.  Lots of awkward pictures of chins and knee caps, but a few neat ones we found in the mix.

After our kayak (and photo) adventure, we set off on another culinary adventure.  Yes I am keenly aware that the only thing that kept me from weighing twice as I do by the end of this trip was all the activity we did!  One of Matt's attendings had told him to visit a specific Mexican restaurant in old town because they had "the best margaritas in town."

Done.

Only apparently, that's like saying "go to the Chinese restaurant in China town."  Old Town IS pretty much all Mexican restaurants and tourist shops!  Fortunately she had provided specific name and address that Matt pulled up on his email, and we were able to find it.  When every other restaurant was empty at 6pm on a Sunday night, this one had people spilling out into the street waiting so we were pretty optimistic.

It was indeed the best margarita I have ever had.  Hands down.  I rarely get margaritas in restaurants because they seem to be all sugar.  This one was the exception.  A 6 count of tequila (which according to former bartender brother is 2 shots), a 3 count of Triple Sec, a squirt of sour mix all into a pre-chilled, pre-salted glass. 

Mmmm.

Oh and the food?  Almost forgot about that.  It was also the best Mexican food I have ever had.  Lo siento Carolina del Norte, you've got nothing on San Diegan Mexican cuisine.  (I assume being about 25 minutes from the border has a little something to do with that....).

Anyways, we enjoyed our Mexi-meal and headed home with our bellies full and happy.  Another day, another adventure, another meal.  We are loving our West Coast vacation. 

Rana Loca? Claro que si!

A few Fridays ago, we headed out to dinner at Xia's - a small Asian fusion restaurant tucked away on a side street (Spruce St) in downtown Winston. On our way to Xia's, we drove down 4th St which was packed on both sides with restaurant and bar goers. There was a ton of foot traffic too, ranging from workers with gym bags slung over their shoulders headed to Rush to a bachlorette party all gussied up headed to Noma's to those in jeans and t-shirts headed for a bite of pizza at Mellow Mushroom to families grabbing custard at Wolfies. Downtown was busy, and looked like a real city should on a Friday night. Matt and I both looked at each other and went "Is this Winston?"

We are both so excited to see the changes that have happened in our little city over the 9 years we've been living here. Truly you can see that people are investing time and money into making downtown a desirable place to be. For a moment, we even pondered to each other whether should we have spent a few years in one of the new lofts on 4th St or the newly renovated Nissan Building.

Living in downtown Winston? It would have been unheard of, pointless, just a few years ago.

(For the record, we both agreed we love our country bumpkin locale more than the lure of being able to walk to the gym and/or custard shop. And let's be honest, we both know which one we'd walk to more often.)

For our anniversary, we tried out one of the new restaurants on 4th St, called Rana Loca. It's a Mexican restaurant, which to any Winston-Salemite sounds pretty blase. I mean, we've got La Carreta, El Torero, Monte Del Rey, El Dorado, Tequila's, El Mague, La Botana.... let's just say, that is one genre that is well established.

But our friends had given it a thumbs up and we went. I was delighted by the menu - empanadas, ceviche, fried yucca... this is not your typical Mexican menu here.* (No "combinacion numero dos" available here.) Their build your own menu is fantastic - you get a big magic marker and check off burrito, taco, quesadilla; the type of meat you want, all the veggies, the sides - guac, different types of salsas, etc.

What I loved about the food was how fresh everything tasted. I tend to find most of the dishes in the Mexican restaurants I've been to all sort of taste fairly similar and bland and rather salty. I usually just go to munch on chips and drink a 'rita, and then I always complain that there's no tequila in my 'rita.

There was definitely tequila in the 'rita here. And wine in the sangria. Heck yea.

Needless to say, I'm excited about the most recent addition to our little city and I can't wait to go back. Delicious foods, yummy drinks, great location? What more could you ask for? Hope you are here to stay, Rana Loca.



*Come to find out after a little Google research the restaurant is owned by John Cahoon, owner of Finnegan's Wake, the Irish bar on 6th St. When I asked the waitress for extra guac, por favor, she just laughed and said "Yea, no one speaks Spanish here." So, as I said - not your typical Mexican restaurant. Is it authentic? I don't know, and truthfully? I don't care. It is delicious. Eso es todo lo que importa.

Amateur restaurant review: I Like To Eat, I Like to Write, This Should Work

Holy guacamole. Tonight my mom and I ventured downtown to try out a new restaurant called Dorado, opened by a friend of mine from high school. I had followed the progression of said restaurant on Facebook, drooling over mobile upload pics of tortilla soup, stuffed poblanos and other delectables. Unfortunately MY phone did not work, so no food pics ala megeats for this meal. You'll just have to trust me when I say it was holy four-letter-word-dropping good. Little known and unvalidated fact, North Carolina has one Mexican restaurant for approximately every four citizens. So needless to say in my nine years of living here, I have become an expert at all things tequila and/or cilantro themed. This cuisine, however, takes the cake. Or rather, the torta.

Even my mom, who is a sworn anti-avocado eater, was spooning the guac as if I might snatch it across the table from her in any second. (In her defense, I did.) It was was smooth, light... almost like a guacamole mousse. And there was a hint of something unknown - was it amaretto? That doesn't make any sense but I couldn't place what was there besides cilantro and avocado. If the waitress knew, she wasn't telling.

And that was just the appetizer. Mom had a salmon taco and I had a mahi mahi taco. There wasn't a hint of fishy-ness, and the sour cream, avocado and fish blended together perfectly. I loved that the side dish was field greens with a light vinaigrette dressing on it - instead of the usual rice and beans side that leaves you feel worse than a post-thankgiving food coma. What's this? Mexican (or Central American, I should say) food that might actually be healthy? Love it.

The atmosphere was awesome as well - it would make a great late night spot to go with friends for a few glasses of wine (or some 'jitos? por favor) and munch on tapas plates. My only complaint: HURRY LIQUOR LICENSE. A guac without a rita just ain't right.

All apologies to those of you with no Rochester ties, but to sum up my impromptu restaurant review in 2 words: Go Eat. Before I beat you there and polish off all the homemade chips in the house.

Parental Visit

My parents are here visiting now, back from being with my sister down in Charlotte. For the last 24 hours, my dad has had the same GI bug that Matt and I fell victim to a few weeks ago. I think my sister feels a little jipped - that I had him healthy on Saturday, he spent the day in the bed/bathroom on Sunday and Monday, and now that he's healthy he's headed back up here. Oops... sorry sis? While I've been toiling at work (slash blogging), they've been roaming the aisles of Harris Teeter, stocking me up on soy sauce, Frosted Mini Wheats and toliet paper. All the essentials. Sigh - they are some generous people. I'm anxious to finish up work and go hang out with them, so I suppose I should work instead of blog. I think the game plan is to go to Milner's tonight - my fave WS restaraunt. Southern gourmet. Yummmmmers. Last night we had a dinner for the my research study staff at another new restaurant called Ombu which is also super good and way cute/trendy. I'm getting way overfed this week, but I can't say I'm complaining.

Dishing It Out

One thing Winston-Salem is well known for is it's tremendous variety of places to get some good grub. However, we keep finding ourselves repeating the same places over and over again - because they're close (Kimonos/El Dorado), they're a good price (Kimonos/any mexican place/east coast wings), or we know they're tasty (Village Tavern, Village Tavern, Village... you get the point.) So the other day, we got a coupon for $10 off at Texas Land and Cattle. I have to say, generally I am not a huuuuge fan of steakhouses. My dad is a whiz on the grill and Matt has deftly picked up where he left off, and it's hard to justify going out and paying for steak when the men in your life can serve it up at home just as good, if not better. But, I'm a coupon-lovin' gal, so we thought we'd give it a try last night. My expectations were low. I was anticipating the environment of Texas Roadhouse (which Jamie loving refers to as the Wal-mart of steakhouses) with the cheesy "meals with alcohol flavors" theme a la Chili's based on their online menu.

I was wrong and I'm happy for it. The atmosphere was way nicer than I thought - just a small step below Riverburch caliber - and the food was delicious. No nutrition information posted online, which is about the only thing that disappointed me. Definitely a new one to add to our rotation.

Better yet, I am thinking of dishing up a new challenge for me and the hubby. Rather than rotate through our standard four (maybe now five), I am thinking that as our time may end here in Winston, we need to step up our dining experiences. I found this list on the WFU student homepage. From my best guess, it looks like there are close to 300 restaurants on there. Think we could knock them all off? We better get hungry...