Monday, July 31, 2017

Hmm that looks better.

Had alittle bit of time, decided to change the look of this place abit.

Rather like it if I do say so myself, course its not like I would leave it undone to my liking right?

Anyway, looks great, and hopefully soon I'll be feeling well enough to go out and get some more reviews done!

yay me!!!


---

Chris

----

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Grill 110




Grill 110
27 Trafalgar Square
Nashua, NH

 I had heard good things about Grill 110 in Nashua, lots of good reviews online, raves on local television shows about where to get the good foods at, all of that, so on a snowy, cold, pre-blizzard Sunday afternoon, i decided to check the place out, having recently found where it is while deciding it wanted to try a near by Five Guys. I got there when they opened at 11:30am, i figured with the weather coming in, it would be best to get there early as to not feel rushed or under pressure to eat and leave so they can turn the table quickly for more customers. If there is one thing i hate, its that. We were greeted at the door by the staff as we walked in, who happily and politely show us to a table in the far dining area, had we sat in the main area we'd have been able to see the open kitchen at work, i find the more and more I do these sort of things, I love stuff like open concept kitchens, I know that makes me sound like some uppity foodie douche canoe, but I like what I like. Our waitress' name was Janet, she was nice and friendly and seemed to comment on how some of the stuff we ordered were her favorite things. I like that in a waitress or waiter, if you know the food and are excited about it, and are willing to share your thoughts with others, that ensures a confidence in those you're waiting on, and gives them a trust in your thoughts that helps make the whole meal come together in a great way.



After a look at the menu, which, sadly I felt was rather small for the kind of image this place was trying to portray for itself, it was also abit to heavy on fish, which is fine if you're into fish, but I am not, for starters we ordered one of both kinds of chicken wings they offer, maple barbecue and buffalo, as well as a spinach and artichoke dip,  though i am sort of an authority on wings, I've never had a spinach and artichoke dip before, this looked really good and I was looking forward to trying it, as well as the wings. the food didn't take long to arrive, and i must be honest with you here, I am kind of hoping the guy who works on hot apps just had a bad start to their day, because the chicken wings, both buffalo and maple barbecue, weren't completely cooked, the smaller ones were, but the larger ones were stone cold and pink in the middle, after discovering this and bringing it to the attention of Janet our lovely waitress, she brought them back, when she returned with what we were told were fresh wings, we were both pretty sure they were the same ones, with the half eaten ones replaced, the rest simply microwaved and then doused in more sauce, this was very evident in the maple barbecue, sense they were literally drowning in a watery pool of their sauce. Now I am not saying thats how they always are, if you wanna try them you might get a different cook and a better experience, but I would be abit gunshy to try the wings at all after that. As for the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, that was a whole other story, it was possibly one of the greatest dips I have ever had, even now many hours later I am still wanting more! Its heated cheese mixture, i could taste cheddar, feta, swiss, and afew others, in a sauce with spinach and artichokes, served in a garlic buttered sourdough bowl, served with some tortila chips, honestly, this was one of the greatest things I've had in awhile, I wanna learn how to make my own, its truly amazing!

 

 For our main meals I had a Cajin Chicken Sandwich and my mother had a Roasted Apple Cider Pork Tenderloin, honestly, between the spinach dip and these two meals, I had already forgive them for the mess up with the wings, not enough to give the wings another chance, but still, enough to not toss the whole thing in the trash bin and go to McDonald's or something. My sandwich was a cajin seasoned and grilled chicken breast with a nice thick slice of applewood bacon, some pickles, melted swiss cheese and some honey mustard sauce, served on a pretzel roll, I'd never really had a proper pretzel roll before, this was delightful first for me, the sandwich as a whole was amazing, I loved every single bite, and i loved how my perfectly done fries came in a neat little frying basket, sure it wasn't one they were really fried in, that would be insanely hot and impossible to touch that soon out of the fryer, but still its an awesome touch! My mother's pork was rather amazing as well, her pork itself was so tender from being cooked in apple cider that it was almost as soft and melt in your mouth as a piece of prime rib steak, combine that with the caramelized apples and onions as well as the roasted brussel sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes, the dish was incredible, the whole time she couldn't stop talking about great the meal was, which honestly is not something she's known for doing. Seriously the main dishes were great, so happy with them, and so happy this place is more then just lazy half assed chicken wings.



Now normally neither of us are dessert at restaurant people, most of them are pretty generic and not all that great, so rather then get let down normally we don't bother, however, this time, this one time, we HAD too, both of us had this thing called The Peanut Butter Cascade, and yes, it tastes better then it sounds, which is truly something! The Peanut Butter Cascade is made of the following, peanut butter ice cream, served over a hot brownie with hot fudge sauce, peanut butter sauce, and covered in smashed up peanut butter cups, and if your blood sugar just spiked reading that, yes, it is worth the possible sugar coma you might go into for this thing. Again, I am not normally one for desserts, but my god this thing needs to be eaten, honestly if you ever go here, you must try it, you should go here just for this thing at the end, its something that 6 hours later, I am still tasting and wanting more of, honestly I can not talk this thing up enough! 



So the big question, is Grill 110 worth a visit? Well I would say over all yes, though I had afew issues, the mostly fish menu, and lack of actual items on said menu, and honestly they have a lunch and dinner menu, and you can't order everything from the lunch menu on the dinner one, which bothers me because there is a burger I would like to try called "The Cure" thats on the lunch one and not the dinner menu, those are just personal dislikes, however I would strongly advice against the chicken wings in general, sure it could have just been an off day for the hot apps guy, and I am willing to admit that could be the case, I just would honestly be gun shy to try them again given just how badly done they were, and honestly, if those sorts of things are the only serious issue I could find with a place over all, I think thats pretty good. So if you're in Nashua, and you wanna give them a try, go for it, hopefully you will enjoy it, and remember, try the spinach dip and get the peanut butter cascade at the end, you will go home happy, very very happy.


---

Chris

Monday, May 9, 2016

Fun trip to Michelle's new Sweets Shop


Return To Michelle's Sweet Shop

Most of you that read this blog are aware that I have alot of love for a place called Michelle's Sweet Shop, where not only do i get some of the best cupcakes and other baked goods I've ever tasted, but is also the home of popcorn i love so much I ship it all over the world to friends. So yeah, i'm abit hardcore about my love of this place.

Well, back in October they moved to a larger location in Londonderry from their small, hole in the wall original location Epsom, both of which are on the other side of the state from me, but believe me, are well worth the wait. Anyway, I was supposed to make it out there for their grand opening, but to do some health issues with my mom, the same reason I haven't reviewed anywere new in long while as well, I wasn't able to make it out there for then. But now that things are alot better and everyone is healed up and ready for the warmer months ahead, we made some time to head out there on Mother's Day, and I am so glad we did!

I really like the new shop, it allows for alot more space and alot more things they can make, they've added fudge and cookies and afew other things here and there, its still heaven for anyone with a sweet tooth, they've added more storage for popcorn, and a selection of hard to find and rare candies now, and a machine that basically allows you to make your own pixie sticks, also, if you don't know what a pixie stick is, shame on you, secondly, they allow you to have so much sugar in one shot that you can fly.

Anyway, enjoy these pictures, we had a great time. And for those who wanna know, this is what we scored while we were out there.. 2 Chocolate Chunk Cookies, 1 pound of peanut butter cookies and cream fudge, 1 pound of cookies and cream fudge, one giant hostess cupcake, one cookies and cream cupcake, one peanut butter cup cupcake, 1 bag of Blueberry popcorn, 1 bag of blueberry and cream popcorn, and we were given a free bag of white cheddar popcorn because it was mothers day.





Honestly, I know I say this alot about this place, but, if you are ever in the area of Londonderry NH, you gotta go check this place out and spend some cash, you'll LOVE it.



---

Chris

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Tuckaway Tavern




The Tuckaway Tavern
And Butchery
56 Route 27
Raymond NH



When I first heard of The Tuckaway Tavern, I was worried, places with alot of hype around them make me nervous, there comes with them a kind of pressure to like them, not only for what they do, but for those who tell you that you just have to try the place, or because you want to be fair, and not let down your followers, thats why I was abit scared to do this review at first, I found myself thinking "Is this place REALLY as good as the hype?", "Could it all be as good as it looks when they are on tv?", "Is there a downside I don't see?", "Are the rumors about the up to three hour wait times real? and if so, are they truly worth the wait time?", so many questions going through my head, but finally, I decided it was time to just dive in head first, and not be put off by the hype, the awards, and the pressure to do a good review. And I must tell you, in all honesty, I am so glad I did, because The Tuckaway Tavern is truly amazing. 


And by amazing, I really do mean, amazing, their pedigree is incredible, several best of awards given out by New Hampshire Magazine, Yankee Magazine, The Hippo Press, as well as local food programs The Phantom Gourmet and New Hampshire Chronicle, for both the restaurant, and the butcher shop they have attached to them. Yes, you read that right, they have a full service butcher shop attached to them, aside from being an food person's dream, what this means for you as a customer is, say you order some of their best in the state steak tips, and love them so much, you want to take them home to share with your friends, or want to piss off a vegetarian you know, or maybe some crazy shut in relative that you cook for sometimes, that means you can walk right from the restaurant where you just ate them, and buy however many pounds you wish to take home, and the quality is exactly the same, because their butcher shop, is their suppler of all things they make. So you can literally take home the exact same meal you just ate if you wish. Isn't that the greatest and craziest thing you've ever heard? Personally, I love it.


Now before I get into the food, I want to stress something I feel is important, the restaurant itself, is very small, I estimated at most, maybe 100 seats, maybe alittle more, and though that might sound like a good size, remember, with all the hype this place has, people are coming in groups of 4 to 6 and sometimes more, infact when I went, my mother and I were the only group under 4 people that I counted in the entire place, this means the place fills up fast, and there WILL BE A WAIT, infact, we got to the Tuckway almost an hour before they opened, were allowed inside the building about 30 minutes before they started serving, and we were the forth people on the list to get in, and by the time they started serving, there was a line out the door of people waiting to get seated, meaning people know to get there early if they don't want to wait, and from what i gather, yes, the rumors posted on facebook and twitter of up to three hour waits sometimes are infact true. But they do allow you to call ahead and reserve seating for whatever time you wish, and do their best to get you to your reserved table at the right time, but its truly a case of knowing that the wait if you don't get there early, is truly worth it. I can not stress enough though, even though the wait is well worth it, you really should either get there before they open so you're seated right at opening, or call ahead and get your spot for whatever time you want as quickly as you can, this is infact my one issue I could find with the entire establishment, but I guess thats the burden of success.


Now for the food, though I will admit their menu reads like a mad chef's fever dream of unique creations I'm pretty sure you can't get anywhere else, and their social media is riddled with one day only specials that are just as insane, I have to admit, after trying what we did, I would be abit more adventurous with their menu my next time back, though admittedly as new comers there, we stayed in the shallow end of the pool so to speak. We started out with a buffalo chicken dip and house made cajun style pita chips. What this basically is, in simple terms, is a chicken puree, or, for the more astute among you, chicken humus, though i found myself wishing it had come with some blue cheese to add to it on the side, this was phenomenal, I've never even dreamed that chicken could be made this way, and I really wanted more, the pita chips were great as well, some places add spices or salt them, Tuckaway just leaves them as they are to be enjoyed, I couldn't stop eating this, it was just great, and I can't wait to go back for more.



My mother had their Meatbal Melt, which is their homemade meatballs, served with homemade tomato sauce and provolone cheese between two of the most well toasted s;ices of garlic bread ever! The cheese melted perfectly into the sandwich and the meatballs just disintegrate in your mouth like a good meatball should, it could however have used abit more tomato sauce. It was served with what I must say had to be the freshest coleslaw I think either of us had ever had, I honestly think they made it right before bringing it out to us, it was that fresh and flavorful, not that kind of coleslaw thats still good, but you can tell has been sitting around for awhile, though i must admit, I kind of think that sort of thing would never happen at Tuckaway, I really doubt they'd let their standards get to that point. I had what is called The Whole Tucking Farm, or as some of you might know it, that last picture over this paragraph thats had you drooling as long as you've been reading this, The Whole Tucking Farm is as follows; a 1 pound freshly ground beef burger, with a fried chicken cutlet on top of that, as well as a thick cut slice of smoked bacon, all covered in cheddar cheese and what they call Tuck Sauce, which is sort of a thousand island meets a thin but flavorful vinaigrette style salad dressing. This monster was beyond words, along with the fresh cut fries, this thing will fill you up, but you will still want more, it has to be one of the greatest things i've ever eaten in my life, you get abit of everything in every bite, some beef, some chicken, some bacon, some cheese, the sauce thats just oozing all out of the burger, I really am struggling to find words that fit just how good this burger was, well aside from yelling "go put it in your stomach now!" over and over in a loud booming voice, which I could do, but it might make things abit awkward between us, and nobody wants that, so seriously if you make it out to Tuckaway Tavern, the whole tucking farm is a must try.


There isn't much else to tell about Tuckaway Tavern, the food was beyond amazing, the staff was fast, extremely polite and helpful, and the food came to us in maybe the fastest time I've ever had at a restaurant, this place truly is worth allof the hype its been given, and I strongly suggest making a trip there if you're in the area, and if my review hasn't convinced you, then allow that image of their meat counter in the butchery shop, and the picture of their signature lobster roll to help with that, by the way, though i do not eat seafood, I feel I should point out, on mondays and tuesdays, their gigantic lobster rolls are by one, get one free, just figured you seafood fans would like to know that. Anyway, why ar you still reading this, get in the car and get out to Tuckaway, its well worth the drive, and the wait.

---

Chris


Monday, August 17, 2015

Thanks Michele!


Stopped by one of my favorite places for snackage in the state today, Michele's Gourmet Popcorn, was out that way reviewing a place I'm gonna post about tomorrow, anyway, stopped into Michele's because we always do when out that side of the state, and wanted to pop in one last time before the new store opens, because, well, maple popcorn.

As you can see we got a ton of great stuff, popcorn cupcakes and a case of my favorite locally made soda which i can't get on this side of the state, even though I have many times posted on social media asking why not. But thats a rant for another time.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a post thanking Michele for a lovely time and a fun talk while in her shop today, not many owners will do that sort of thing and interact with the customers on that level, truly a class act, there should be more shop owners like her.

For now though, just look at how amazingly good these cupcakes are... Sorry for the blur, was trying to adjust for lighting, failed miserably....




I truly can't wait till the new store opens in October.... Also, if you are ever up in the 603 (thats new hampshire for the unhip or those that aren't good with area codes), seriously, you need to make a trip to get their popcorn and baked goods, and other sweats, of which i restrained myself from getting all of today lol...

---

Chris


Monday, July 20, 2015

The Velvet Cactus




The Velvet Cactus
7655 Old Hammond Hwy.
Baton Rouge, LA

 
I’ve never written about food before. Well, I’ve written reviews, but never a blog experience. Here goes nothing. My bestie Raegan and I have taken to lunching every Friday now that my work schedule permits it. Today’s adventure was actually planned for another place, but we happened along this delightful establishment, The Velvet Cactus, on our way to the other place. I won’t mention the name because we still plan to go there. Upon entrance to The Velvet Cactus, the place looks cool as hell! 


The outdoor seating area is modern and fresh with polished chrome chairs and a large waterfall and lagoon with misters keeping outdoor patrons cool during these sweltering Louisiana summers. The place has not been open very long, and is quite busy for this time of day. It’s a sort of Mexican-Louisiana fusion place. Which, I will be honest, we have no shortage of around here, BUT, when a place smells THAT GOOD on the outside…you can’t help but want to try.


Waiting to be seated, I was checking out the art for sale on the walls. I honestly wanted to buy at LEAST 4 pieces. I love when restaurants display local artists, and/or good or wares for sale. It shows their dedication to the community, (something corporate restaurants lack). Their list of today’s special cocktails was displayed, on a chalkboard at the hostess stand, one being the “strawberry mint margarita”, which of course I had to try. It was such a gorgeous drink, I almost did not want to drink it. Almost...


We ordered a couple appetizers, because, what’s a new place without delicious appetizers? First up were the smoked pork tamales. As you can see, they were HUGE. Made with corn masa, 17 hour smoked, shredded pork with peppers and steamed in a corn husk. I mean, it speaks for itself really. They are in itself a meal for one person. We also sampled the shrimp cakes, which, isn’t a typical thing here as much as crab cakes.


They were BEAUTIFUL!! Gulf shrimp, roasted corn, bell peppers, chipotle aioli and pico de gallo. I mean, have you ever seen such a fresh seafood cake before? AND PICO ON IT???????????????? YES PLEASE!!!!! For our entrees, Raegan had the daily special; gyro tacos. I have never heard of a gyro taco in Louisiana before, so naturally we had to. Each entrée got two sides, so she opted for the chipotle cheese grits and the borracho beans which are cooked with Dos Equis and bacon. The portions are HUGE as you can see and neither of us could finish it all.


For my entrée, I had the pork pibil tacos, which are made with charred onions, smoked pork, peppers, cilantro and chipotle aioli. I can’t stress enough the flavor of this pork. It melted in my mouth. I also opted for the chipotle cheese grits, but I chose the creole cole slaw for my second side. I am very picky about cole slaw so I always try it at different places and I was totally impressed. It was crunchy, slightly sweet, vinegary and everything else slaw should be. We did not even have dessert because there was no way I could have enjoyed it as I should due to be stuffed to the brim. And, now that I’ve relived this experience in the writing of this blog, I feel I must go now to satiate my current appetite! Hope all of you can check out the place one day if you’re ever down in my parts! Bon apetite!



-------

Ashley

 

Friday, April 24, 2015

So this happened the other night...


So one of my first reviews, and often returns, Sandwich Master out in Rindge has not only expanded their menu to a 7 page booklet of awesomeness, but has also become not only thee place to get subs in the area, but is fastly becoming one of the best places to get a burger in my valley.

Behold, their triple bacon cheeseburger, yes you read that right, TRIPLE BACON CHEESEBURGER, one of the greatest creations of mankind, right there done to perfection on a plate, i had two of them with what is their medium order of fries, (fries come in small, large and family, so large is their medium) and oh my god, was these good! I am very picky about my burgers as those of you that read my reviews know, and these, these had to be some of the best ones I've ever had, EVER. It is abit on the pricy side though, at just about $14 per, but the trade off is worth it, the burger is made of three freshly made, never frozen high quality beef patties and everything else is fresh and locally obtained as well, they pride themselves on that sort of quality, which is one of the reasons we keep going back.

So if any of you were looking for more of an excuse to go out to Sandwich Master in Rindge, now you have it, go swing by and give Earl some business.



i want more just looking at them.. lol

----------


Chris