Restaurants

Restaurants

Queen Mary Sunday Brunch, Long Beach…definitely a flexitarian Sunday!

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

we haven’t been here in forever (since like Mother’s Day 10 years ago…) but we had friends in town for another doll convention (thankfully Jim has some limits)  in downtown long beach so the QM seemed like the perfect ace to meet up for Queen Mary Sunday champagne brunch .

   
The queen Mary from the parking lot as we arrived

 
Downtown long beach across the water

   
The dome….it’s just the dome…I have no idea what it’s doing.

Upon entering the queen Mary, you will see the hotel entrance (onboard the ship) , Sir winstons fine dining at the queen Mary, shops etc

The dining room for brunch is ginormous 

  
   
 
The famous ice sculpture dripping shrimp

   
The harpist who is mentioned in every review on yelp

 
Homemade by someone corned beef hash!  For a flexitarian, this was yummy!

   
Food and more food…pastas, Asian, salads, breakfast items, seafoods, a carving station, omelette station…

 
No, we did not get to eat at the captains table..he was busy as you can see

   
    
 
Omelette station

   
 
Four meats at the carving station including pork tenderloin in addition to the usual suspects

   
The desserts kept changing!   Rebecca say my carrot cake and when I went back there was none but chocolate covered strawberries had arrived and when Rebecca went back there was a time chocolate tart that wasn’t there before…

 
  

The price tag for this whole affair is like 56.95 a person plus parking…so this is not a brunch for just any old Sunday…..but the atmosphere is nice (come on!  It’s the queen Mary! And you are eating on the water and there are portholes for windows) and the food is pretty good and there is the harpist:-).  Then you get to wander the ship after.

After a brunch filled with numerous mimosas, you have to look around the ship.
Things like the worlds longest Lego brick model ship    

A Lego Winston Churchill     
Take in the views from the observation deck

    

   
 
(Look at my calves!  Now if I could trim up my waist to match them!)

And play in the phone less phone booths

   
 
Good day with good people…overall it’s a fun splurge …. 

Restaurants

Palm Springs eats part II

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

last but not least

Rio azul we went here Wednesday night with Cheryl our  implementation guru for our emr project.
   
The Cadillac modified with a special tequila:-)

   
 
Table side guac

 
Camarones Diablo  

And lovely crispy pork

This place was a win!

Three margaritas later 😉

 

Restaurants

Anniversary lunch at Garden Wok

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

  
Chinese vegetarian with all faux meats.  We’ve been looking at this place for quite some time and came here today after the other veg Chinese place we wanted to try was closed permanently (owners retired and left a sign).

Some of the “meats” are made with gluten but the serve cook owner was very knowledgeable about what and how and what could be substituted

   
Yup…no liquor license:-(

 
Fresh seasoned cucumbers

   
“Chicken” with lemon sauce 

 
“Pork” with pickled Napa 

   
Flat rice noodles and veggies

 
Everything was good and for a change we were able to have Chinese which is really rare since the gluten sesame situation kicked in.

Restaurants

Palm Springs eats

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

We just wound up four days in Palm Sparings for work and had little time to post much but we did get to eat a lot:-)

Upon arrival on Sunday our room wasn’t ready for check in so we were off to Olive A’sudden and then to a late lunch at Alicante which we have seen before, and have dined at their sister restaurant, but never yet tried.  It’s a blend of sports bar, tapas, and entree portioned Mediterranean/Spanish

   
That’s my blood orange Manhattan and Kim’s house made sangria.

 
I keep thinking I should have tried the smoked bacon Manhattan 

   
Gotta have octopus!

 
Roasted almonds, and artichoke and egg

   
Potatoes brava

 
Remarkably yummy citrus marinated olives.

This place was okay and was not very expensive overall…but it was just a light lunch for us.

Dinner became a new adventure to a place we had heard of but never tried Wangs in the Desert.  

This place is an eclectic blend of Asian cuisines. We were drawn because they advertise having a gluten free menu and a vegetarian menu.

   

Lychee martini for me!
    

This was our jalapeño calamari appetizer
  

Gluten free beef with broccoli

  

Green curry and veggie fried rice
    

Monday night: Tropicale

We always love this place and the fiery dragon and coconut martinis are always a hit

   
 
Big ass shrimp cocktail!  

 Definitely sharable

   
My pork chop with greens and mashed potatoes

 Jim got a huge burger in a lettuce bun

  

We hit Trio with local friends the next night. Where …surprise!  I took no pictures

But I highly recommend the Will Stiles

  

One more Palm Springs spot to describe and share but I’ll save that for another post
 

El queso grande

Posted on by Brian and Jim

yup

The big cheese! Visit their website.

We have gone here many a Friday for a few reasons…

1)  “….where everyone knows your name…” It’s comfortable and the managers and servers mostly know us and know that we have special dietary issues:-)

2) we know exactly what menu items Jim can modify and what sauces he can and cannot eat, etc

3) the margaritas are good and inexpensive

The food is good…it’s somewhere in between authentic Mexican food and white bread Mexican food.

Last night we returned after a break (thanks to Kenvention shenanigans)

Staring off with the margaritas:

   
 
(Yep…he’s taking a pic of his marg)
I always start with a Top shelf which is a Cadillac with premium silver tequila (I’m blanking on the label) no salt

Second round is Grand Don which is a Cadillac with Don Julio reposado 

Last night Jim opted for meat..,carnitas

  
And I did shrimp enchilada

  
Through like 9 years, we’ve sampled all or most of the menu items and now are down to just the regulars that we know we like or that aren’t too huge to consume ( I always clean my plate…that’s ingrained from childhood)

  
Looking at our last trip, got the tres enchiladas (supposed to be one chicken with a sour cream sauce, one cheese with rancheros sauce, and one pork with verde but I modify and ditch the chicken and get an additional pork) and Jim got carnitas again!  Do the pics look the same?

  
Wow!  They are identical almost…that’s consistency….which is why we go back—we know what to expect:-)

Villagio in rosemont, ill..last Wednesday during kenvention

Posted on by Brian and Jim

im almost caught up.  Nik took a group to dinner on Wednesday to Villagio…. It’s in a mall at the factory outlets And I had low expectations but they really performed!

We ate at the outside patio so the lighting was iffy.

The company was great too–Jim, Nik, Lamanda, lane, Donette, Lisa, Marie, Andy, Jef, and maybe that’s everyone !

  
The elevator ride was a whole other story…

So for starters…

 They called this a new fashion…it had flecks of basil… 

   
  
   Flatbread and bruschetta

  Caprese

  Carpaccio with the most incredible mozzarella

  

  My braised lamb shank which was fall off the bone yummy

  
Oh my gosh….I was bad at capturing pics that night

We also had a great meatball appetizer, calamari, Marie had a nice tiramisu for desert and everyone had really good entrees!

Lunch at Hugo’s Frog Bar and Chop House at Rivers Casino

Posted on by Brian and Jim

so behind with Kenvention Shenanigans at the forefront of the week.  This spot has become a new luncheon tradition during our time in Chicago.  Hugo Frogs is a traditional old school vibe steakhouse located in Rivers Casino.

We finally made it there Friday joined by our friend Jenny Jenkins..

Since it was breakfast at lunch time…I opted for the Bloody Mary and Jim had a fruity nonsense.

   
 
Jenny and Jim went for seared scallops and a side of fries for Jenny while Jim was prohibited…:-(

   
While I opted for the Alaskan King Crab Sliders and a giant piles of house made fries.

 
Next year I think we come back for a big fat steak!

Then we wound down the mean with a few pulls on the magic slots

   
 
Until next year….bye bye Rivers and Hog Frog.

Giordano’s…an annual tradition

Posted on by Brian and Jim

Every year we hit this place since Donette and I found it 4 years ago. Giordanos pizza.

drinks to start….duh and since we went to bed at 4 am we started lunch with Bloody Mary and whatever Jim got (tasted like kool aid)

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The the incredible calamari fritti

this thing has fennel, calamari, onion, lemon, peppers, green bean and probably more…

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Then Donette and I had the stuffed crust veggie pizza and Jim has gluten free cheese and mushroom

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Love this place!