Shade Bar and Grill

Shade Bar And Grill

Nashua, New Hampshire

Shade Website

Shade on Twitter

Shade on Facebook

**First off, i would like to apologize, I had forgotten my camera in my rush out the door to get to this one, so I have to use pictures off the website, so the pictures of the food won't completely match, sorry for that.**

Now, about a month ago, I was watching the local news broadcast at noon, and normally i dismiss their cooking segment, I never really understood the point of a cooking segment on a local news program, it doesn't make sense like weather or sports report, its just a local restaurant chef rushed through showing you how to cook a dish from their restaurant, it normally doesn't make much sense, and normally they're from the same few places, popular eateries in Manchester or Portsmouth or the lakes region or something, but this day, they had a chef from a place that wasn't to far from me, a place called Shade, and upon a quick googling, it turns out its literally right nextdoor to where my mother works, which instantly put it on the must check out list for both her and me alike. So after about a month of research and discussion, today was the day I decided to check out Shade, and I must tell you, I am so very glad i did.

Shade Bar and Grill is located in the western wing of the Radison Hotel in Nashua, above the Atlantis Sports Bar, its important to note that though the name is on the side of the building, and the entrance to Atlantis is clearly marked, the main doorway that leads to Shade, does not have the name on the door, but it is right inside on the right side, I found it slightly confusing personally, but maybe thats just because it was my first time there. Shade, like most american bar and grills is basically a sports bar/pub with better quality food and less we'll kick your ass if you don't like the local team feel. Seriously, we need to stop that. Anyway, the dining room is roomy and bright and honestly, has the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in at a restaurant ever, seriously, i didn't wanna get out of them they were so comfortable. The staff, though only two girls on duty when I went in, seemed polite and friendly, my waitress, who's name I couldn't make out on her name tag, and forgot to ask for, was very friendly and talkitive, even talking to me and my mom after we'd paid and were leaving, some might find such things abit annoying, but, i love a friendly waitstaff, they make you feel like friends and like you matter, thats a big thing to me, but maybe I'm weird, I dunno, stuff like that leaves an impression on me, a good one normally.

As for the food, its actually alot better then i was expecting. Normally when you see a restaurant thats latched onto a hotel, you tend to get hotel level food, you know that its passable but not something you would travel to where ever you're staying just for. Let me be clear on this, Shade's food is phenomenally good, my only issues would be personal taste nit-picky stuff, but I'll get to that as i explain what we ate.  We had to start, an order of potato skins, fried mozzarella wedges, and barbecue chicken wings. Now, the potato skins, though they were very large, there was only 4 of them on the plate, and though they were nice and crispy and full of cheese and bacon and chives, and tasted lovely covered in sour cream, i did find myself wishing for atleast 6 of them on the plate for the price they were, and similarly with the fried mozzarella wedges, I wish for the price there was maybe afew more, five not so large wedges really isn't enough of how good they are, but again thats small personal nitpicks, they were over all delightful. The highlight of the starters, and really the whole meal over all, was the barbecue chicken wings, I ordered a large, which was 12 wings, that could be served either hot or mild buffalo, barbecue, or teriyaki, thinking first they they'd be those microscopically small wings that most places serve you, you know the kind that look like they came off a baby chicken or something, and then thinking you can get buffalo wings and teriyaki wings just about anywhere, i'd go for the barbecue, and let me tell you, that was the RIGHT choice, now let me be clear on this, these chicken wings, not only where they amazingly flavored, and fried to a nice crispy outside and a juicy tender inside, but they were HUGE, seriously, as i said to my mom, i could see a group of friends going there and ordering a large of each of the three flavors you can get and that filling them all, these things were so big i almost asked for an order to go, and i'm thinking the next time we go, i just might get one to go after we eat, because they are simply amazing and a must try, i don't say that lightly either, so you know its gotta be a true statement.

As for our main courses, I, being the burger guy i am, got the Shade Burger and my mother got a Chicken Parmesan, both are made completely in house, my burger's meat is ground in the kitchen, and the chicken for the chicken parm is pounded out and prepped to order, and the sauce and pasta that go with it are also made on properly as well, you have to love that sort of detail. The Shade Burger was rather good, you could tell it was freshly ground, freshly ground meat has a certain flavor to it when its cooked right after grinding that is unmistakable, it was topped with some swiss cheese, really crispy bacon, and served with some delightful double fried fries, i love when a burger is so juicy when you bite it, the juice runs down your arm, this was one of thoe burgers, i enjoyed it a great deal. As for the chicken parm, it was giant, it was a whole large chicken breast, not the little kind you find at a grocery store, a the larger, free range ones that you find at butcher shops size breast, breaded, seasoned, and fried to a nice crisp, then covered in mozzarella and provolone cheese, placed ontop of in house made noodles, and covered in a house made thick and chunky marinara sauce. Now i will admit i tried a bite of the chicken and the noodles, and they were amazing, but sadly, the sauce, though i'm not a fan of thick and chunky tomato based sauces in general, was slightly bland and abit watery, my mom said she could probably get better out of a can, or that the sauce made by our local pizza delivery we order from alot was exceptionally better then the one she had on her meal. But as I've said with other negatively aimed things, they are just personal nitpicking things, and by all means, try them yourself and make up your own mind.

The prices aren't all that bad if i'm being honest, all together with drinks it cost me just abit over $65.oo for three apps, two meals and afew sodas each, which really isn't all that bad for a non-fast food type meal, and honestly is good enough that i would happily come back over and over, I mean the wings alone were enough to make me wanna go back to Shade, and knowing that its really not that far away from home is ofcourse a plus as well, so is that the staff is friendly and fun and enjoyable. If there was anything that i had to find as an over all downside about my time there, i would say the service was slightly slow, but, to be fair, we did show up on a saturday afternoon in that downtime between the lunch and the evening crowds, so maybe that had an effect on it, and also, that they don't list their deserts on their website, they have a chocolate cake that looks like passing it up might be a criminal offense, had I known about it before i went, i would have made sure I had room leftover to eat some, because, hey, house made chocolate cake, the simplest looking, but hardest to perfect thing there is. No, seriously try to make one, you'll see what i mean.

See what i mean? Look at that, and the hot fudge caramel moose next to it, don't those look just amazing? Seriously though, if you are ever in the Nashua area, or are up for a drive to the area for any reason or another, Shade really is a must try, you will leave so full that you'll get home and slip into a happy food coma, but it will be so very very worth it, i honestly am planning on returning soon, even if just for those wings, because seriously they are a must try.

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Chris

Mr. Mac's Macaroni and Cheese

Mr. Mac's Macaroni and Cheese

Manchester, New Hampshire

Mr. Mac's Website

Mr. Mac's On Twitter

Mr. Mac's on Facebook

 

if you were to tell me afew months ago, that i'd be sitting here so full that it might be bordering on a lethal dose of macaroni and cheese, i would have laughed at you and said you're crazy. but yet, here i am, only afew hours off from a visit to Mr. Mac's Macaroni and Cheese in Manchester, one of the bigger cities here in New Hampshire, and I feel as if i have finally, for the first time in my life, truly had the American classic that is Mac and Cheese. Now most will laugh and ofcourse think of their love or hate of growing up with the ready made in the box stuff that either has powder cheese or that pre-melted stuff in a silver container, but thankfully, none of that stuff is found here. Mr. Mac's is all natural, all made on the spot, and made the way Mac and Cheese is ment to be made, and oh my god is ever so damn good.

Mr. Mac's is a tucked away at the end of a business district outside of downtown Manchester, next to a UPS Store and an Auto Repair and Tire shop, but that sort of fits, the whole down home, hidden away little jewel type of place that not many know about unless you are aware what it is about or are adventurous with your food, its served, what i like to call high end cafeteria style, where you order at the counter where you get your drinks from the ice box next to it, you can also grab one of their desserts they offer too, but i'll get to those later. Once you've given your order, you are given a little standie with a number on and asked to find your seat, once your food is ready, normally between 15 to 20 minutes or so, because this is after all made to order, not scooped out of buckets and put on a plate and called dinner mac and cheese, when its ready a server or two will bring our your food like at any non-fast food restaurant, they then make sure you have all you need, and will leave you to it. The food is served in the cast iron skillet homestyle will a wooden plate and a pot holder on the handle to keep you from getting burned, i seriously love the fact they serve it in the skillet old school style, thats a touch I will never get tired of, ever.

Now after doing my research about Mr. Mac's before going, I found out the best way to spend your first time eating there, is to have yourself and whoever is with you, order afew small skillets and everyone pick and choose trying abit of everything, sort of like what they do with tapas in spanish food culture, or how American pub food works with nachos and chicken wings and such. Its rather fun and adventurous, which is really always fun. We ordered five different types, American Chop Suey, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Blazing Buffalo Chicken, with Blu Cheese on the side, Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese, and Pulled Pork Mac And Cheese, thinking this covered the gambit of what their menu is all about pretty nicely, both of us had a nice cold Ice Tea, cuz, well, thats just how we roll when it comes to cold beverages and such around here.

Now for the sake of those that just love details, lets break down what each of these lovely skillets of lovely goodness before i get into how they taste shall we? Lets start with the good, the two best, by far, where the pulled pork and the chicken cordon bleu, the pulled pork is your basic southern style pulled pork with barbecue sauce mixed in to macaroni and served with american and cabot white sharp cheddar mixed in, under a nice torched to a crisp top of both cheeses, its by far the best, the pork was sweet and tender and melt in your mouth, and the barbecue sauce was just so very good, and the cheese was so melty and oozing it was just amazing, i could eat this all day long and not once get tired of it. The chicken cordon bleu, is made of shredded chicken, candian bacon chunks, dijon mustard and American and Gruyere cheeses, I wouldn't have though this would be nearly as good as it truly is, because, for serious, this was amazingly good, I could eat this as much as i could the pulled pork honestly, sense they do full menu take out, i almost ordered one of each to go, but realized honestly, i would be far to full to ever venture more mac and cheese today. The Cheeseburger Mac is what you'd expect, its ground up hamburger seasoned with salt and pepper, mixed with american and cheddar cheese, its not anything amazing, but its what most people would consider a great traditional mac and cheese type meal, its very flavorful though, so, really, its worth a try.

Sadly though, the Blazing Buffalo Chicken, and the American Chop Suey really weren't that great, they were ok, but honestly i wouldn't try them again. The Blazing Buffalo Chicken is shredded chicken mixed with American and cheddar cheese and served with either bleu cheese or ranch dressing on the side that you can put on it, they say you can get it hot or mild, but I was never asked which I'd like, so I'm guessing i was given mild, which sadly, is not that great at all, the chicken and the cheese combo was great, but the spice honestly tasted like a watered down tabasco sauce was lightly sprinkled onto the mix, it was sparse and really not to good, it was however tolerable with the bleu cheese dressing on it, though i wish it could have been more chunky bleu cheese then the smooth kind, but thats just splitting hairs. The American Chop Suey, which to those that don't know what this is, its macaroni, ground hamburger, marinara sauce, and whatever the maker chooses to add, Mr. Mac's consists of, Macaroni, a thick chunky marinara sauce, and lots of peppers and onions, and though there are many that are big fans of such, i'm not personally, but by all means don't let my picky eating habits sway you from giving it a try if its your kind of thing, even though i never did truly know where the term American Chop Suey comes from, but thats a ponderance for another time.

As for deserts, they have four, they are kept at the counter and you can either buy it right off and take it with you to your table, or buy it after you've eaten, or do what i did and buy and take them home, my guess is most people take them home with their leftovers, seeing as I didn't see many people leaving with out a take home box. They offer locally made Moon pies, in house made chocolate fudge brownies, in house made giant chocolate chip cookies, and something called a waffle cookie, which i guess is a cookie made inside a waffle maker, the moon pie, my personal favorite, and a massive favorite all around new england, is what you would expect it to be, two beautiful chocolate sticky cakes with an almost oreo filling like thick cream in the middle, its just amazing no matter where you get it, sure you can get them anywhere, but, hey, anytime, anywhere, when its right its right, right? Their inhouse made fudge brownies are surprisingly good, they're a nice big and thick chocolate and fudge brownie topped with sea salt, its heavenly honestly, it truly is. The chocolate chip cookies are giant and full of chunks, big chunks of chocolate, and a nice gooey soft cookie, i love a nice soft cookie, they're just so damn good. Sadly, they were out of the waffle cookies when we were there, so i wasn't able to try one, they did try to offer me some gluten free cookies, but after explaining to the lovely girl behind the counter that I am a meat eating heterosexual, there was no longer any talk of that.

Overall we greatly enjoyed our meal, and exploring their menu, i would however suggest that if you plan on going to study the menu, they had afew lovely skillets we didn't try simply because we didn't have the room to fit them on the table, or in our stomachs, they also have a create your own special order option, where you can customize your own skillet full of whatever you like, which i think is a lovely idea. The prices aren't all that bad really, for 5 different types of mac and cheese and two drinks, we paid alittle under $50.oo, which is about average for any dinner out that isn't fast food, and about the same level as Five Guys which i reviewed before as you all know, I would say quality wise the two places are the same, though one is a national chain and the other is a place thats just starting to look for a second location to open, which i hope leads to a state wide or region wide chain, this stuff is so good you wanna share it with as many as you can. The place itself is also decorated rather well, its got that local/sports bar feel to it, having tons of pictures of local sports legends and locations both national and state level, i always get a kick out of such things.

So the big question, is it truly worth the trip? Honestly? Ofcourse it is, Mr. Mac's was voted as one of the best places to eat in the state, and has recently been featured on local food review television, as well as working with many local media outlets to get their name and how good they are out there, and the hype truly is deserved, this stuff is amazing, and is just beyond good, remember, even though i found afew not so great, that doesn't mean you or anyone else won't enjoy it, and when you add in the fact you can custom make, and take out your custom or any other type they make, it just makes you want to go back for more and more and more, truly i've not been this full and happy to be full in a long time. So if you can, make it down to their little corner of the world, order yourself afew skillets to try it all out, open up a nice cold Gold Peak Iced Tea and enjoy yourself a great hidden treasure tucked away on the outer edge of Manchester New Hampshire.

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Chris 

The Whittington Arms

The Whittington Arms

Lichfield, Staffordshire, West Midlands, UK

The Whittington Arms Website

It's always nice when you have an unexpectedly wonderful afternoon and suffice to say, this afternoon was just that. I'd finished work for the afternoon and my fiance and I decided to head out for a bit of lunch. After umming and ahhing about where we could go, we decided to head to The Whittington Arms, a lovely country pub only five-ten minutes drive away from our house.

We've been a couple of times previously and enjoyed the food and today was no different. We strolled up to the bar, a wonderfully wooden creation - it's all very lovely and well decorated, with a huge fireplace as you walk in that in the evenings will make the front door feel very warm!

We were sat right away in a small area at the back of the pub in a two tabled booth. There was already another couple there, but whilst it was cosy, it was pleasant. I ordered a white wine, my fiance had a lemonade - both arrived very quickly. One nice thing about British pubs is, they're always willing to take the time to know which wine you want, the waitress who served me asked what kind of wine I liked and got it spot on with the wine she brought back for me. Yes, there's always a wine list but a surprise is always nice. 

Looking through the delightful menu, we ended up stuck for choice, so plumped for the House Sharing Platter and a side order of chunky fries. It took around 15-20 minutes to arrive and we certainly weren't disappointed when it did.  The food was utterly delicious. The camembert melted and oozed from the crumb case, the soup made my jaw tingle as it was so sharp and flavoursome, the pork was tender and the apple fritter added a tangy flavour with some crisp texture, the goat's cheese was creamy and tart and the fishcake wasn't made mainly of potato like so many are. It was utterly wonderful. Chips in the UK can often be a huge disappointment, either from a frozen bag or just crap. These chips were well seasoned, fluffy inside and crispy outside, not greasy and super tasty.

So, we wolfed that down and sat thinking "Hmmm....dare we have a pud?". The answer to that query is always yes and again after perusing the menu, we went for the sharing platter. After about five minutes, a waiter came over and let us know that unfortunately, one part of the platter was unavailable and they would like to offer a replacement, and we agreed to one. Little did we know that they'd put a full size portion on the plate!!

Right - Left clockwise - you've got a peach creme brulee, an apple and summer fruits crumble with creamy cup of custard on the side, a warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, a pot of chocolate mousse topped with chantilly cream and our "replacement" (bugger me it was amazing) pudding, a salted caramel and chocolate pastry pot. Every single bite was heaven. I can't even describe, I just couldn't get enough!!!!

So, once we were satisfied, we got our bill - a total for the two platters and three drinks of £37, about $56 in today's converted currency. For a place like Lichfield, that's pretty reasonable.

Food was wonderful, setting was excellent and most enjoyed by the both of us. So hey, if you're ever over this side of the pond...check it out.


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Tiffany