Plastic Cups.

My semi-open letter to Panera (I typed it into a survey thingy for them already):

My big problem is that the soda cups that you use now are the clear plastic types. My normal lunch ritual is to soda during lunch and then on my way out grab a cup of coffee in the same cup. This may or may not be "allowed" -but the fact is I do it and that is one of the reasons why we choose to eat at Panera for lunch, especially when it is cold outside (my office seems to think that ice is the best room temperature setting.) Now that you have clear plastic cups that are not suitable for coffee I can not do this. This will cause me to think twice about eating at Panera since one of the things that I enjoyed about the experience is now not possible. When we do eat there I will just get water now since I am not a Pepsi fan, and I only could justify the purchase of a soda because of the coffee afterward.

Never trust a fat chef

When I moved to Tulsa I was happy to find that the restaurants per capita* was above average of the rest of the nation for major cities. As you may know I love eating and I love eating out, so I was looking forward to trying all the restaurants T-Town had to offer. After living here for a couple of months I am kinda disappointed, the average quality of restaurants here is below that in other cities.

I got to thinking about why this is, and the best I can come up with relates to my own personal idea of "never trust a fat chef". I figure if a person is a chef and is skinny he will be more likely to only serve good food where as a fat chef may be prone to serve any food, be it good or not. Since the fat chef eats a lot I assume that it means that he cares less about what he does eat. (I know that is morphing the original meaning of never trusting a skinny chef, but it works.)

So why would a city with more restaurants have worse restaurants on average? I think the best way to think about this is to imagine the opposite: why would a city with less restaurants have better restaurants? I think that this would happen because if there are less restaurants to keep track of the quality of each restaurant will be more widely known and thus bad restaurants will fail sooner. Now if there is alot of restaurants it is harder for people to know about all of them so that means that bad restaurants will get some business just because nobody has heard anything about them. This prolongs the life of the restaurant and thus drags the average quality down overall.

*(astute readers may raise your hypocrite flags, although it is a pretty standard phrase)

Pasta Bowl Italian Mix

It is time to even out some of that bad karma I tend to dole out on my blog. So I would like to give a bit of a positive review for once.

Pasta Bowl Italian Mix in St. Peters, Missouri accidentally found us this weekend. You see we made it up to St. Louis on Saturday for a another full weekend of playing hockey and we had about an hour until we needed to met up with the rest of the team at the rink. We were a bit hungry in the car so we drove down Mid Rivers Mall Drive on the look for some good eats. And there we saw it, on the horizon, Red Robin. That is some good eats, so we pulled in to the parking lot but we noticed that there was alot of people standing around and that wouldn't do because we didn't have time to wait. (Also playing hockey on a stomach full of hamburger didn't sound the best.) So we pulled out of the parking lot and noticed the place across the way called Pasta Bowl Italian Mix, after a quick vote in the car we kept on driving up the street to see what else we could find.

Luckily for us we ran out of food places fairly fast and we had to pull a U and we decided that we would just go eat at Panera. It turned out that traffic was bad and we ended up stopped in front of the entrance to the Pasta Bowl, and after another quick vote we decided to just eat there.

Best decision ever.

The restaurant turns out to be like Noodle's and Co. but it only does Italian food. The interior was very nice and modern and the prices were fair $7.50 for a bowl of pasta and a Coke. We ended up ordering a good variety of things and all of them were very good, actually they were all great. It was real Italian food (I should know; I have to eat Italian food made by Italians quite a bit during the holidays). The kicker was the owner (?) of the place that was just the nicest guy around. He was defiantly Italian (he had heavy stereotypical accent and all) and it showed that he cared very much for his food and his customers. In fact if it wasn't for him the Pasta Bowl would not be the topic of a post on my blog. But he was the kind of guy that you just have to smile because he likes doing what he is doing so much.

Well we had a good lunch and we headed on out to Matteson Square Triplex for our games, during which we played admirably (read: we lost). After the team headed back to the motel and showered and all, the topic of dinner came up. Jerry, our coach, said that he would like to try the place, if we didn't mind eating there again (we didn't). So we lugged our posse of 16 people out to the Pasta Bowl that had (we learned later) dismissed everyone to go home but two workers. When we arrived the guys at the place called some people to come back to work to help out and the owner came back to the store. This time when the owner saw us it was almost like a scene from an Italian Cheers episode: "Hey, you-a come back!" He actually seemed thrilled to have to come back to work late at night to get the food cooked for us.

Even though the staff apologized for saying that it took along time to get our food out, we all got our food in less than 15 minutes, which was a pretty good accomplishment considering there was only one cook. It turned out that the team thought that the place was good, and some guys seemed like the place even better than I did. Our Coach said that the Pasta Bowl will go on our (short) list of places to eat while in town, and we have already told the owner of the place that we will be back up there next weekend.

I know it sounds like I am paid to post this, but really I am not. I just wanted to give credit to people that really do a good job. I am of the thought that if you are going to make a restaurant, make it a great restaurant, and the Pasta Bowl is a great restaurant. Both because the food was good and because the people that ran the place were even better.

p.s. It also made me think that everyone should smile more often, it makes the world a happier place.

Liquid Bread -Hays, KS

It took over an hour to get our food. Luckily we met up with a friend there so we had someone new to talk too. Also they make their own root beer, which was pretty good.

But still, an hour to get food is just too long.

Tacos y Salsas

Before I headed back to Manhattan I ate at the newest mexican place in Garden City, Tacos y Salsas.

The place is actually a different kind of mexican restaurant, which is good because Garden, and well, most of Western Kansas, is saturated with mexican restaurants.

So here is the low down. You get free chips (home made) when you get seated, and then you get what ever salsa or other dip that you want from the salsa bar (pictured in the crooked picture.) There was a wide variety of salsas, but all of them ranged in spice from hot to even hotter. They all tasted good, but I wish there was something that wasn't so hot. I settled on guacamole which was only hot.

The name of the place doesn't lie. With your chips and salsa you get to order tacos. You have many choices, and essentially you are ordering different meat, because everyone gets a communal toppings plate and corn shells. Also you get enough meat to feed two people, so be warned if you don't like leftovers. The tacos are good and remind me of the bbqs that we had when I was in Costa Rica.

Overall this place does well to distinguish itself in a town that has more than it's fair share of mexican places. You can get a meal for two for $13-16, including drinks (the water comes in bottles, fyi) If you are in Garden give it a try.

McAlister's Deli

We ate at the new McAlister's Deli last night (here in Manhattan, Kansas). The best way to describe this place is Quizno's crossed with Denny's. You get sandwiches and stuff, but it is decorated country style.

Now the sandwiches are not as good as Quizno's and they aren't open all the time like Denny's, but McAllister's actually is a place I can see eating at once a month or so. They have large potatoes with a good variety or fairly good quality toppings, and they have salads (which I have not tried yet.) The prices are reasonable -it was about $16 for two people, including getting drinks. The only real complaint with the place is that it isn't open late at night (they close at 10 or so.) If they stayed open until 2 or 3 I would be a frequent customer.

So I guess in summary, I will say that McAlister's is a good place to grab a bite with prices that beat a sit down restaurant. But the food is not spectacular. It is worth checking out.

Edesia's Bakery & Cafe

Today for lunch we ate at Edesia's bakery and cafe which is a new restaurant that has opened up on Poyntz here in Manhattan (the Kansas version of Manhattan).

The first thing that I noted with the place is that it is very clean and nice on the inside. The front of the store is almost all glass so it was very bright inside even though it was cloudy today. Also there is alot of paintings on the walls which also lightens up the place.

Since it was lunch time I ordered a three cheese panini with potato salad on the side and Nicole got a curried chicken salad, I also got a double apricot italian soda and Nicole just drank water. Overall it cost us $17.

When I got my sandwich and Nicole got her salad I was a bit disappointed. My sandwich was a bit small (hopefully they just gave me a half sandwich instead of the full that I ordered) and Nicole's salad had a good amount of curry chicken, but not too much salad. (Look at the above picture, it looks like there is about twice as much greens on the plate as there actually was.) Besides the small portions though the food tasted fine. The panini was about what you would imagine, and the potato salad was better than average (but not as good as So Long's). Nicole's salad was alright but the greens could have used a bit of a vinaigrette or something. And my italian soda did not have as much syurp as I am used to (i.e. how Radina's does it). But overall I can not complain the food tasted fine, but maybe it was just a bit too small of portion or a bit too pricey.

What Edesia's should say is that they are a coffee house with decent food (unless they actually plan to sell some bread they should just drop the bakery in the name... yes I know there are scones and things, but so does Radina's, Blue Stem, Starbucks, and other coffee places that aren't bakeries). What really sets Edesia's apart from the rest of the stores in Manhattan is that it is a nice place to go on Poyntz. The coffee house makes a nice anchor for the street and should help everybody all the way down to the mall and Old Chicago's.

Overall it is at least worth a trip to Edesia's to see if you like it. I have not tried any of their coffee yet, so I know that I will have to go back there for that. Also they serve Republic of Tea, so if I get in the mood for tea instead of coffee Edesia's may be the place to find me. The food is decent, but a tad expensive, it will be about $20 for two people to eat there and also get something to drink. Also be warned that they are closed on Sunday's and their open hours the other days are from 6am to 6pm, so don't plan to go too late in the day.

While I am on the topic of "things that are new to the area" a new store to Aggieville, Bathmatiks, is pretty rocking. What you do there is make custom bathroom supplies. Nicole made some basil hand lotion that is very fun.

Also, if I haven't mentioned it before: Toto's Tacoz in Wamego, Ks is very good and worth the trip out to Wamego if you are in the mood for a different type of Mexican food.

If you have gone to Edesia's, or even Bathmatiks or Toto's Tacoz give me a comment below and let me know what you think.

Hereford House - Independence, MO

I have been putting off this post for awhile now, but I really need to do it so that I can get on to better things (such as three new games -exciting I know). But I have never felt this way about a restaurant before.

I hate the Hereford House.

Sure there are restaurants that I don't like, but in general I will give them a pass as long as they try. But the Hereford House is different, the dining experience was just plain terrible, and they flaunted it.

We went there on the way back from hockey in St. Louis. I had seen the buildings many-a-times before, and I had wanted to eat there, but it just never worked out. Well this time a remembered before we left St. Louis that it was there, so we made arrangements to eat there on the way through.

At first it seemed like a nice place to eat, it was cowboy-y and had a large fire place, it was nice but nothing spectacular (It was in partial disrepair, there was a horn missing from a piece of art, and a bench on the way in had a thick coating of drywall dust and nails on it, but nothing too bad). Then came the menu. We got there around 3pm so it was too late for lunch, but they did have a small early dinner menu. I looked through everything and, holy crap, nothing was cheaper than $20! Ok, ok there were a few things, but really nothing much.

After a minute the server came to take our drinks. After seeing the prices on the menu and noting that they had Pepsi I ordered a water to drink. And she almost sneered at me for getting a water, as if to say "How dare you just get water?". I have never seen anything like that.

We got calamari for an appetiser, it was fine, not too bad, and was a reasonable $8. For dinner I got a burger (for $9.50 it was one the three items for the early dinner menu) I could choose three toppings for my burger, and after the server listed the options off I got bacon, blue cheese, and mushrooms. Ok. No wait, not ok, I couldn't get both bacon and mushrooms, apparently if you charge $35 for a steak, you can't have too fancy of a burger for $9.50. I told her just mushrooms then. When I got my burger it had both bacon and mushrooms on it, so maybe they had a change of heart. I ate it and it was ok, I've had alot better before, it was as good as any $9 burger. Also Nicole got a quesadilla that was decent for $9. The real problem comes in with the rest of the food.

Jenette got a $12(?) salad, it was a turkey BLT salad or something like that. Anyways it sounded good, but when she got it we were very disappointed. It was just a cobb salad with turkey lunch meat on top. The lettuce was yellow iceberg and the other veggies were ok quality at best. The salad should have cost $6 at most, Chili's makes a better salad, and i don't like Chili's salads.

Nicole's sister Jayme got grilled chicken for around $16. The dinner composed of two breasts of grilled chicken and a side (and a marginal dinner salad before hand.) The chicken was not flavored, and there was nothing to warrant a $16 price tag. Jayme ate about half of the chicken.
Finally Nicole's mom was the only one brave enough to try the $20+ steak. I believe that she got a Flat Iron steak with au gratin potatoes on the side (around $22). Her bold choice landed her right on the bottom of the pile in terms of taste. The potatoes were over flavored and the steak (which had a rosemary rub and a butter garlic cause) flat out tasted bad. She did not even finish her steak which would not had been a hard feat to accomplish considering that it was 8oz.

In short: The Hereford House is one of the worst places that I have eaten at. They do not have good food and the prices are outrageous. Expect to pay $50-60 for two people and even then you will wish that you went next door to On the Border. I can not recommend anyone going to this restaurant.
(I know from my description above it just doesn't seem that bad, but there were just so many little things that I didn't list here. You have to trust me on this one; skip the Hereford House.)

Houlihan's in Manhattan

Our third new restaurant to open recently in Manhattan, Kansas (66502) is Houlihan's. The old Ramada motel that is across from campus was renovated and changed to a Holiday Inn. The Gold Fork restaurant that was attached to the Ramada was remodeled and re-opened as a Houlihan's. You may ask if this a good move. Well I respond; Does baby Jesus have rays of Glory?

When they remodeled the Gold Fork building they did a great job. Unlike Lemmy's Pizzaria (as they like to spell it) Houlihan's does not look anything like it's previous tenant. It is actually really hard to imagine the Gold Fork interior while inside. The decor is modern and red, with plenty of spot lighting to go around. It almost feels too classy for t-shirts when you go, but that doesn't stop me.

First off we need to discuss the drinks. Houlihan's has Coke, which as you know is a big plus. But I will give you some advice, don't waste your drink selection on just getting Coke. The Han's has a wide selection of flavored iced teas that are very tasty and very good quality. For 25 cents more than a soda (Around $2.50 for a soda) they are worth it. For 10 cents more than the teas you can get a flavored lemonade. I actually did not like the strawberry lemonade as much as I do Applebee's so I would suggest the teas as the drink of choice. (If you drink alcohol it is useful to know that Houlihan's offers a "flight" of drinks where you get three small drinks for about $6 I believe. It would be good for sampling while still getting something that you know you would like. I don't drink but I commend them on a very good idea.)

We ordered the lettuce wraps for an appetizer. for $7.50 you get four lettuce shells, some crispy things, a chicken like gooey filling and a sauce. They were good, and free of bugs, something that Chili's has a hard time with in their lettuce for the wraps. But I think I actually like the wraps at Chili's better. I would have to select something different next time I go.

What to get for dinner was a hard choice; on one hand everybody recommended the chicken or the pot roast, on the other hand to get that stuff it would cost around $15 or so. And since we already got an appetizer I wasn't keen on spending that much on dinner. So in the end I got the fish tacos, and Nicole got the calamari salad. (Jenette got fish tacos too, and Chris got a prosciutto pizza, which I did not try.)

I should warn you, one of may favorite foods is fish tacos from Wahoo's Fish Tacos. And apparently Wahoo's makes they tacos differently than everybody else in the world. The main difference is that Wahoo's grills their fish while everyone else batters and fries theirs. Houlihan's is no exception. Fortunately somebody in the kitchen knows how to make things taste good though because the fish tacos were very good, not as good as Wahoo's, but by far the best battered fish tacos I have ever had. The rest of the taco fillings were lettuce, pico de gilo, cabbage, a tangy sauce, and a lime wedge on the side. Did I say that it was tasty? For a side I had a choice of chips and salsa, fries, or coleslaw. And naturally since I don't really like coleslaw that is what I chose. (I really like everything that goes into coleslaw, but it never tastes good to me. I have been trying it lately just to be sure that I don't like it. And yup, it is something that I just don't like.) Jenette got chips and salsa, which consisted of a fair amount of chip on the plate and an above average salsa. But I think next time I will go with the fries. The tacos cost around $9

Nicole's calamari salad was chosen because of it's use of a very unique salad ingredient; bananas. The salad consisted of a bed of cabbage and carrots with peanuts, dried bananas, fresh bananas, and a very tasty dressing, topped with alot of calamari. There was wasabi dressing on the side as well as a cup of strangely good, but hot, red dipping sauce. I am not really a fan of bananas but this salad was very good. there was just the right amount of bananas that you would get one every other bite, which meant that you were reminded of the flavor with out it being overpowering. If you like to try new things this salad is for you. I believe the salad cost around $9.

Something that we always talk about when we go out to eat is whether to get a dessert, but it never happens. Well Houlihan's has found a way to make it happen -they have 6 desserts priced at $2. It is very tricky because at that price you almost fell like you are wasting money to not take up the offer. And we really don't like wasting money so we decided to try the smores envelope. This desert is severed in two parts, one is an envelope of sorts that has melted chocolate and marshmallows in it, the other is a cup of strawberries and sugar coated graham crackers (sugar overkill). It is a fun idea and the graham crackers dipped in the chocolate tastes just like smores, but it was just way too much sugar for me. On the other hand the strawberries with the melted chocolate and marshmallow goo was very awesome, and alone worth the $2. Next time I might just ask for extra strawberries and forgo the graham crackers. The one desert was actually more than enough for all four of us, by then we were very stuffed.

In short: Houlihan's is a keeper. It may cost $5 more bucks for two people to eat at than Chili's or Applebee's but it is worth it. They care about the food and it shows. The service was great, the restaurant looked good, and the food is a step above what everyone else is doing in Manhattan. You really need to check this place out.

My reviews about the other two new places in Manhattan are here: Lemmy's and La Fiesta. And please leave me a comment about what you think about Houlihan's.

Lemmy's Pizzeria

Well since it doesn't take long to get stuff from my blog onto Google anymore I think that I should do a review about Lemmy's since there is nothing on the internet about it (...common who has a business without a web page these days?)

Lemmy's Pizzeria is in Manhattan Ks (66502 for all your searching needs). It is the latest restaurant to go into the building that once was the best BBQ in town -Cox Bros. I know what you are thinking, "Another pizza place in this town, that is the opposite of what we needed." That is what I thought too, but I still gave it a try.

The first thing I should mention is that their hours are from lunchtime (don't know the exact time) until 10pm. They are also closed on Mondays. The first thing that I noticed when I walked into Lemmy's is that it still looks like Cox. Sure there are a few new coats of paint, but for the most part everything is the same. This made me uneasy as I am not sure how good a place can be if it doesn't take on it's own identity. They at least still have regular live music guests though, so that is nice.

For dinner we ordered a family order of cheesy bread for an appetizer a large cheeseburger pizza and a large Loaded Lemmy's. We also got various sodas and tea, they have Pepsi to drink (which for me is a minus in the books). The cheesy bread arrived quickly and it was huge. For $6 the family cheesy bread alone is worth a trip to Lemmy's. I'm not saying that it is the best food in the world but it is a good deal on decent food. After we stuffed ourselves with cheesy bread the pizzas arrived. The large pizza's are about the same size as a large from Pizza Hut's, and they cost about $15. I had the cheeseburger pizza which was about your average pizza, the crust is somewhere between a pan pizza and a hand tossed from Pizza Hut and the toppings were very reminiscent of what Pizza Hut had before they went to “all fresh” ingredients. The pizza crust is good fresh, but I learned today that the leftover pizza crust gets a bit hard when microwaved (the pizza itself when microwaved performs just like any other nuked pizza).

In short: Overall I think Lemmy's fills a nice spot that is missed in Manhattan Pizza cuisine. It is a Chicago like pizza place that doesn't really taste like anything else we have. The prices are decent and if you get some cheesy bread with your pizza you will have ample leftovers. Expect to pay around $25 for two people (but remember to factor in saving money from leftovers). Lemmy's closes at 10 every night and is closed all day on Monday. It is worth checking out.

If you try it out let me know what you think of it.
p.s. La Fiesta is also a new restaurant in Manhattan, you can check out a very very short review about it here.