Tag Archives: dinner

May20

Square 1 Burgers and Bar: 5239 University Parkway, Sarasota, FL

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Gabriel and I had a coupon for a free appetizer with the purchase of 2 burgers so we decided to go to Square One for dinner a few nights ago. We arrived to find adorable cow/western-themed decor inside, but the a/c was blasting so high that we decided to sit outside instead. A friendly waitress came over right away with menus, water and suggestions for us and we took a few minutes to look over the menu.

We chose the bbq chicken wings for our free app- something I’d never order, but Gabriel loves them. To me they were so-so, but he raved about them. They were meatier than average wings, but I thought they were way too unhealthy to be worth the indulgence, especially since I had a giant burger in my immediate future. I did enjoy the celery that came alongside of them with a decent blue cheese dressing.

For my burger, I decided on the Buffalo Bob: Ground buffalo topped with applewood-smoked bacon, onion rings and spicy beer cheese sauce on a sesame seed bun. I actually opted to switch out the beer cheese (which sounded pretty vile to me) for cheddar. It came with a side, so I chose the fried jalapenos, and as it turned out, I was very glad that Gabriel chose sweet potato fries for his because they were fantastic. My peppers were eh. Kind of boring, not that spicy, and overly breaded. My burger was quite good. The buffalo meat was indeed lean- but not all that juicy and a little greasier than I expected. I thought the bacon, onion rings and cheese on top were all just glorious though.

Overall, this meal was pretty good- but not amazing, and for the price, even WITH the free appetizer, it was a bit too much for what we got. I think our bill totaled around $40. Huh? That’s just crazy.

May19

Thailand Restaurant: 2238 Gulf Gate Dr. Sarasota, FL

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All of my worries about being able to find excellent ethnic food now that I’ve moved away from NYC have faded into a distant memory. I met my mom and step father for dinner here a few nights ago since it’s only about 5 minutes from my place of work. It looks horrible from the outside and I think they’d  be very smart of them to remedy that, but once inside, a pleasant atmosphere awaits. Dark wood carvings, rich fabrics and cozy booths make for a warm and inviting interior.

Menus and ice water were brought over right away along with a fresh pot of green tea. We looked over the menus and decided to share a few things. I started with a basic thai salad with a delicious peanut dressing and we ordered a chicken satay for the table which was wonderful. Fresh, tender and generous pieces of chicken served with the classic peanut sauce and vinegar/cucumber sauce were a great start to the meal. We shared a cashew/shrimp dish and a chicken with veggies dish that were both outstanding. The preparation of both dishes was light and healthy, allowing the true flavor of each ingredient to shine through.

The service was perfect; efficient, knowledgable and fast. The price was extremely reasonable, although the entree portions were slightly on the small side compared to most asian restaurants. We were totally satisfied with our dinners, we just didn’t have leftovers to bring home like we often do.

I would strongly recommend Thailand Restaurant- just ignore the appearance from the outside and trust me 🙂

 

 

 

May13

Main Street Trattoria: 8131 Main St. Lakewood Ranch, FL

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I met my friend Rachel here for dinner the other night and was impressed for a few reasons. Our waitress was friendly and attentive and went over the specials right away for us. We were give ice water, menus and time to make our choices.

We decided to share a flatbread with fresh mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil and pesto and a ‘Chef Douglas’ favorite’ pizza with truffled arugula, domestic and portabella mushrooms and shaved parm. Both pies were delicious, made with super fresh ingredients and a crust that was a good balance of chewy and crisp. Now as a New Yorker, I am supposed to be very hard on out-of-NY pizza, but I can’t really compare this…it isn’t the fold-over style we NYers are bred to evaluate. This is more like artisan, thin-crust, brick over pizza- which is really a breed of it’s own, and for what it is, it is quite good.

The price was super reasonable and the service was excellent, casual but professional and attentive. There was live music outside that was WAY better than average and I really enjoyed listening to familiar songs, great voices and talented musicians.

The Main street location is very convenient and conducive to a pleasant evening stroll after dinner. I will definitely be going back!

May9

Ichiban: 2724: Stickney Point Rd. Sarasota, FL

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My new job is about 3 minutes from Ichiban and when I saw that they offer all-you-can-eat sushi for under $20 (if you pay cash. It’s $23 with credit cards) I couldn’t wait to check it out.

Gabriel picked me up from work yesterday and we headed straight over. We were seated right away and given paper check lists on which to make our choices. One menu included teriyaki and tempura options and the other was all sushi, maki rolls and hand rolls. There were 5 specials also included on the list and the waiter also informed us that we could also add salad and or soup. Wow. I was already impressed. The lists were very extensive. We are used to AYCE sushi in NYC that has only the most simple and basic choices and were really excited to see how far our $20 was going to go here.

We both started with a salad. The dressing was awesome, but the iceberg (blah, boring) lettuce was not fresh– brown pieces everywhere. We were both happy enough with the dressing that we ate it anyway, and I would quickly come to see that this first course was the ONLY negative thing about the whole meal.

Next, the waiter brought out our tempura and teriyaki choices. The tempura was pretty good- though not super light and flaky like it should be…but it was hot and fresh and the flavor of the sauce was perfect. The teriyaki beef was surprisingly good- tender meat with tons of sweet and tangy flavor. It’s cool that when you order from that hot cooked food list, you order by the bite sized piece, so it’s perfect for just having little taste samples of whatever sounds good without committing to huge portions.

Next we got our first plate of sushi. (I actually completely and totally forgot to photograph round 2 of our teriyaki, tempura and sushi choices..OOPS!) We had about 10 total rolls and 5 pieces each of very tasty fish. Some of the standouts were the scallop roll, the Sarasota roll (tempura shrimp topped with lobster and eel sauce, YUM. This was my favorite) and the alaska roll. The sushi here is very good. It is not the ultimate, top quality fish you find at some restaurants, but it IS definitely fresh and very very good. If you want to spend triple the amount for fresher fish, than by all means go for it. I’d personally MUCH rather spend $20 for ridiculous quantities of very good quality fish here.

When we were full-as-can be, we got our check and realized that we didn’t bring enough cash. My bad. So, we got one of the $19.95 deals but had to pay $22.95 for the one we used a credit card. Including tax & tip, we spent around $50 for this awesome meal, and calculated that we’d most likely eaten WELL over $100 worth.

We will definitely, positively, absolutely and certainly be going back. Frequently. Soon. Yay! BRAVO.

 

May1

Jameson’s South Trail Cafe: 7523 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL

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I just started to work a few doors away from Jameson’s so I stopped in for lunch on my break. It’s a cute, very casual atmosphere where everyone seems to know and like each other. I sat at a table in the corner and a menu was brought right over by a friendly woman with a big smile. Ahhh, what a nice, warm welcome.

I decided on a greek salad and it was brought out just a couple of minutes later with fresh ingredients, a side of very herby, homemade looking dressing and a fresh baked raisin brain (?) muffin. It was a perfect lunch- not too filling, refreshing and the right price at just under $10. The muffin, a flavor that I would not normally choose, was surprisingly tasty and worked to substitute for a sweet something that I would have liked for dessert if I wasn’t trying to be healthy.

The service was efficient, friendly and super fast. I will definitely be a frequent visitor! If you’re in the area, give it a try…the menu is full of great sounding omelettes, sandwiches, salads, hot lunches etc. with pretty much everything under $10

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Apr25

MacAllisters Grill & Tavern: 8110 Lakewood Main St. Lakewood Ranch, FL

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Gabriel was teaching yoga until pretty late last night so we’d decided to go out for dinner when he got back. We had a $10 coupon to MacAllisters since we’d moved to Lakewood about a week ago and the info/welcome center gave us our choice of restaurant gift certificates. We’d heard it was one of the only places close by that serves dinner until 10pm, so this was the perfect opportunity to try it.

We were seated right away and were surprised to see that it was fairly crowded. Apparently, Tuesday night is trivia night and a bunch of people were there to play and drink $1.99 beers.

We noticed right away that they also offer $3.99 martinis (!!!) so we decided to have a toast to our new Florida Driver’s Licenses and our 11 month-i-versary. I ordered a dirty martini with extra olives and I must say, it was excellent. The olives were gigantic and delicious and the martini was super dirty, just like I like it.

Our waiter Chris was extremely personable and friendly and we enjoyed chatting with him throughout the meal. He made some recommendations and took our orders and then our rolls and salads were brought out quickly.

I ordered the chicken marsala which came with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and a side salad with blue cheese to start with. The dressing was SO good with a little spicy kick to it that’s unusual in blue cheese. The rolls were warm and fresh- but we found it odd that they only brought 3 of them for the 2 of us.

I asked for more broccoli and less mashed potatoes so as not to have the carb-loaded side tempting me. He happily took care of that for me and the portions were perfect. The chicken was cooked nicely, tender and very flavorful in it’s marsala sauce, but I would have like a few more mushrooms.

Overall, for about $15 I had a hearty and filling meal and a great cocktail. Add that to the friendly service and late hours and we will surely be back soon.

Apr22

Lucky Pelican: 6239 Lake Osprey Dr. Sarasota, FL

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Last night, Gabriel and I joined 2 other couples for dinner at the Lucky Pelican. I’d heard about this restaurant a bunch of times already from my parents and their friends. Apparently, it’s one of the best seafood places around and people will gladly wait up to an hour for a table. The woman who organized the dinner was smart enough to call ahead (they do not take reservations but you can call to get on the list) to tell them the 6 of us would be there at 6:30 when our meeting time was really 7, so we only had to wait a few minutes before being seated. Awesome.

Our menus and drink orders were taken right away by our waiter, who seemed a bit ‘off’. Perhaps tired, perhaps overworked, perhaps completely and totally drunk. Hmmm.

I ordered a mojito and a water with lemon, both of which were brought out shortly and the waiter asked us if we wanted to order any apps. We hadn’t really looked over the menu yet, so we asked for a few more minutes to decide. He came back about 1 minute later and we still weren’t ready so when he left, I commented that since we’d just turned him away twice, he probably wouldn’t be back for 20 minutes the next time. Unfortunately, I was correct. When he did finally come back, we ordered the calamari and shrimp starters and happily received the bread and butter he’d brought with him. We also put in our entree orders at this time, during which, it became rather clear that he was in fact, drunkity drunk drunk. “I’d like the seared scallop salad please”, “ok, one ceasar salad”. Ummm no.

About 10 minutes later a busboy brought us our entrees. Huh? What happened to our apps? “Oh, you ordered apps?”

Oh boy. He also forgot 2 of the women’s sodas and Gabriel’s avocado. Ooookay. Maybe a pen and a pad of paper would be a good investment for this guy.

So, our entrees (and my mojito) were REALLY excellent. My scallops were cooked to perfection with a golden sear and light seasoning. The arugula, mangos and toasted almonds made a great combination with the scallops. The dressing was a  light, sweet vinaigrette and it was summery and delicious. I totally cleaned my plate. My friends, who eat here frequently, said they’d NEVER had a problem like this with the service and we all actually found it quite laughable….plus we saved money on the apps that never came.

We decided to skip dessert, although the choices sounded great. I will definitely be back since the menu had tons of appealing options, reasonable prices, excellent food and it’s about 3 minutes from my house…I’ll just be sure to sit in a different section next time in hopes of having a sober person to take our order.

 

 

 

 

Apr17

Miss JC Garden: 8310 Market St. Lakewood Ranch, FL

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Gabriel and I moved into our new condo in Lakewood Ranch today! We were so excited to finally get here and settled in right away. Around 9:30, we realized we hadn’t eaten dinner yet and didn’t have any groceries so we decided to see what our options near Publix were. Publix is an awesome grocery store, but we NYers aren’t used to supermarkets that close at 10pm and we had to rush to pick up some things we needed for the next day.

A few doors away from Publix, we found Miss JC Garden. In the window, we saw the sign that they serve Chinese, Thai and Malaysian food with a healthy spin. Wow, what luck! Totally our kind of place.

We were welcomed warmly and seated right away in the empty restaurant. Light, airy  crunchy noodles, mustard and duck sauce were brought out along with ice water and menus. The menus are extensive, and it took us a bit to look through and decide what to order.

We eventually settled on healthy steamed chicken and vegetables with szechuan sauce on the side. We were happy to find out that they don’t use any MSG or chemicals here in their preparation. We also ordered Moo shu vegetables that came with 4 thin pancakes.

Everything that we ordered was piping hot, fresh, full of veggies and high quality ingredients. Our 2 entrees were the perfect amount of food and we quickly ate everything in front of us. Our total came to just over $20, a very reasonable price for the amount of food we were served.

We will absolutely be back…not only because it’s 3 minutes from where we live, but also because the service was friendly and personal, the food was awesome and healthy, and the options are endless.

Bravo Miss JC Garden. You’ve impressed 2 NYers who were worried we’d never find decent Chinese food around here…We are VERY happy to be wrong about that assumption.

Apr16

How to find my recipes….

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For my recipes, just put “chez carey” into the search engine on my blog…or click here!

https://bigforkinmouth.wordpress.com/?s=chez+carey

Apr16

Salute!: 23 N Lemon Ave, Sarasota, FL

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My family and I went here for dinner tonight after our first attempt had an hour long wait and our 2nd attempt was closed. Salute has a great outdoor eating area with available tables and we were seated right away. Our waiter came over with menus and went over the specials. None of us wanted to order cocktails so we just asked for flat water. I also asked if, when he had a moment, he’d bring over some lemon for the water. When he came back to take our orders and to bring us bread and dipping olive oil, I again reminded him that I wanted some lemon. When he came back a third time to bring us our appetizers, I asked him for a third time for some lemon. Finally, he came back with 3 slices of lemon (for our table of 4. Hmmm) and my water glass was, by then, empty. Big fail. The bus boy overheard me complaining about the timing of this and re-filled my glass. Ok. Better late than never.

For my app, I shared an arugula, endive, radicchio salad with Gabriel. It came with a creamy balsamic dressing and shaved parmesan. Very nice and fresh, but kind of on the boring side.

For my entree, at the suggestion of our waiter, I ordered the chicken parmesan with penne. It was a great portion sized- very manageable and not overwhelmingly large which I appreciated. The chicken, however was totally overcooked, stringy, dry and unimpressive. The sauce and cheese on top were mediocre at best. I’ve had better chicken parm at a diner.

For the prices here, I would not return. Just a few nights earlier, we went to Cafe Baci for the same price and MUCH better food. I guess you’re really just paying for the lovely outdoor seating here and not much more.

Oh well, they can’t all be winners.