Thursday, August 15, 2013

Restaurant Review: Bucket-o-Crawfish


Bucket-o-Crawfish
http://www.bucketocrawfish.com/images/bucket-o-crawfish-170.jpg1980 West 3500 South Suite #104
West Valley City, Utah 84119
(801) 419-0900
http://www.bucketocrawfish.com/
$$
5 star!!!
super casual, great for families, average noise

At first I was super hesitant with this dinner. I would consider myself a pretty adventurous eater and I am usually willing to try most anything but when we arrived I was a little hesitant. Our waiter explained everything to us and brought out a small sample - bonus points in my book, I hate ordering things that i'm not sold on. The crawfish (new to me) still has eyes, legs etc. and comes in a plastic bag, sauce and all, ready for you to dig in. So -- I tried the sample and immediately put my reservations behind me. It was delish! Here is a quick run-down of how it all works.

Step one: order your meat; You can choose from crawfish, shrimp, clam, muscle, snow crab and dungeness crab. Obviously, the fancier you go, the pricier it gets. 
Step two: order your sauce; Cajun, Garlic butter, lemon pepper and crazy mix of all of them (my favorite)
Step three: like it hot? pick your spice!
finally ORDER THE SWEET POTATO FRIES. Just trust me, okay?

and now for the fun part - all the tables are covered in plastic tablecloths. When your order is up they bring you a bib and DUMP YOUR FOOD RIGHT ON THE TABLE! What?! Does that go against everything you have ever learned at a restaurant? Yeah, me too. But, it was so. much. fun! We absolutely loved it! We tried a variety of crawfish and shrimp with several different sauces and we loved all of it. I'm not kidding on this, no plates, no silverware, LOADS of napkins (well, wet wipes) and a ton of fun!

Go try this if you are in the area. It is one we still talk about and want to take several of our friends for a little date night adventure!

Restaurant Review: Milagros

So we all love the tex-mex that is everywhere- Cafe Rio, Barbacoa, Chipotle - but in my opinion, true, legit, TASTY Mexican food is harder to come by.

*Don't worry i'm very aware that I might stand alone on this opinion, and that it probably goes back to my aversion of all things melted cheese...*

Well, Mexican Food taste buds prepare to GET. BLOWN. AWAY!!!!!!!!!!

Milagros in Orem, Utah is by far the BEST legit Mexican place, IN UTAH, ever!!! Although there are several street taco stands that come in as close second. I know I know, GASP! they are good, ok, don't judge :)

Anyway...here's the info:
For those that aren't sure how this works, look HERE

Milagros
970 W 800 N
Orem, UT 84057
801-655-1555
Monday  -  Saturday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
http://milagrosutah.com/
$$
5-Star!
Family Friendly, average noise, casual but not out of place if you are dressed up. 

This restaurant prides themselves in serving LOCALLY FRESH food. That was one of my favorite parts of our experience. If they could get it fresh and local, they did. The food was phenomenal, the service was fast and really friendly, (even when my three year old threw her root beer on the floor) and the atmosphere was comfortable and classy. We were impressed that even though it was full the night we were there, the noise level was very acceptable and the whole ambiance was fun and comfortable.

Both Mr. Chef and I were super impressed and would highly recommend it.

Also, we both loved our food, the kids menu was yummy too and from the looks of other people's tables, can't go wrong on the menu. One recommendation though - when you go, try the grilled honey-injected onion ball. It was so delicious!

Go, try it out and let me know what you think!

Just as a side note, in April 2013, City Weekly voted Milagros as "Best Utah Mexican Food" 

Here is another review to help convince you.

Best Miraculous Mexican Cuisine

“Milagros, meaning “miracles” in Spanish, is a heavenly take on Mexican fare. This Orem restaurant was started by Dave Tuomisto, the restaurateur who also founded the popular Bajio chain. His newest dining destination is a restaurant that offers a sometimes-sweeter take on traditional Mexican cuisine, such as the seafood tacos that come with pineapple salsa and roasted-red-pepper chutney, or the popular grilled onion ball that’s injected with honey and spices while in the oven. You also can’t go wrong with Barry’s Pollo Fundido-a chicken breast wrapped lovingly in a fried tortilla and smothered with sour cream, cream cheese, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses along with a smattering of sumptuous chilies and spices.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Pesto Paninis

I love summer cooking; Barbeques, grills, fruit, fruit and more fruit! So last night I decided grilled sandwiches were in order. I have issues with melted cheese, serious issues. If it's too thick and I take a bite a bathroom better be close by, and regardless of how hungry I am, I'm done eating for the rest of the night. My husband thinks I'm crazy. What can I say, it's a texture thing.

So, normally paninis aren't really my thing. That whole melted cheese gets in the way. However, last night these were delicious. AND the best part about sandwiches is everyone can make theirs just how they want. For example, my sandwich has one thin layer of cheese but Mr. Chef can't get enough of that ooey goodness. To each their own.

Remember : Make yours with whatever you want! You could have paninis every day for a month and never have the same sandwich twice :)

So - I'm not giving you a recipe. These should be made to order, just how you want.
Go choose a delicious meat from your local deli, get some tasty cheese (experiment a little with this, we got a cheddar with red pepper in it) and slather on the pesto!




Monday, August 5, 2013

Restaurant Reviews: Introduction


OK -- Mr. Chef and I not only love to try new recipes but one of our favorite hobbies is trying new restaurants. We love finding a new gem where we can try new things and have a fun night out. For example -- a few weeks ago we were going to a local tried and true pizza place and as we drove our 3 year old started crying, hard, and screaming, "I don't want pizza! I want sushi!"
uh oh! So -- to her future dates, we are really sorry. She is officially ruined. 

Anyway, new, different, healthy (most of the time) food? Bring it on!

Here is the plan. I try and post a new recipe once a week and now in addition to that I will be reviewing a different restaurant weekly.
I will post all the normal details of the restaurant as well as using a 5-star rating system and a 4 $$ symbol system as follows:

(per person/includes entree, drink, tax and tip)
$ - Cheapo, under $10/person
$$ - Moderate, $11-$30/person
$$$ - Spendy, $31-$60/person
$$$$ - Splurge, $61+/person 

Thoughts? Isn't that exciting?! I hate going to a new restaurant and leaving disappointed. Hopefully this will help a little. There is one catch though. We live in Utah and not all of these places will be chains. So, to our Utah readers - maybe this one is for you. Hopefully there will be something for everyone with these reviews but we'll see.

Review #1 (isn't this so exciting!?)
***update: I've moved the Bucket-o-Crawfish review to it's own post for simplicity of finding it.