Catching Up and Cooper's Ale House

I've been laid up for a little while for medical resons so I've missed a few weekends.  Sir T-Hawk has found an excellent Chinese/Japanses Hibachi style restarurant on the East side of Greensboro.  The name escapes me at the moment, but I will make sure we visit so I can do a full revew.  Sir T-Hawk brought me take out, but it's never as good re-heated.

This past weekend, we finished up an after class clinic a little after 5.  I was going to try and get T to go to the Indian Restuarant, but the only other person who stayed is rather a straight forward "meat and potatos" kinda guy and doesn't do Indian.  He said he wanted beef, so I managed to persuade them to hit Cooper's Ale House.  I'd never been, but it is so close, and I've driven past so many times, it peaked my curiosity.  I also wanted to see if it would be approprate for some of my younger students.  After all, it is a bar.

Despite the huge TVs everywhere, the game room (pool and videos) and the bar seating (primarily high top tables and stools, with some booths and regular tables), I think it would be fine for a lunch with teens.  They had a kids menu, so they can't be 21 and over only.  I admit, I was not fond of the TVs.  There was nowhere to sit without being able to see at least one, and my ADD is not up to fighting that much distraction.  They had several different games and races going, and several times there were bursts of cheers ... what you would expect from a sports bar.  I don't think I would have enjoyed it at dinner time, and it isn't somewhere I'd go on my own, but we were still a little early for a big crowd and there was not so much noise as to drown out our conversation.

Everything on the menu looked amazing.  I ordered their cheese fries (with bacon) as an appetizer to share, and for their Philly Cheese Steak (with queso dip) and mac&cheese for the side.  Both the guys got burgers made with bison, one with a side of beer cheese potato soup, one with homemade chips.  Alas, the cheese fries killed us!  It was a HUGE plate, and was wonderful.  One of the only times the chips didn't get soggy, I think they were batter dipped or something because they were very crispy and delicious and stood up to the massive amounts of cheese and bacon surprisingly well.  By the time our sandwiches came, we were already half stuffed!  The Philly Cheese Steak was ok - onions, peppers, mushrooms and provolone.  The queso was overkill - standard orange melty cheese and I think it killed the flavor of the shaved rib eye.  The mac & cheese was amazing, they use Goldfish crackers crumbled on top!  With one whole fish smiling up at me.  So cool.  It looked good, and had great flavor.  The pasta was al dente and didn't go mushy or weak.  I had half of it as lunch on Monday and it was just as good.

Sir T wasn't impressed with the soup.  Not bad, but didn't live up to the standard set by the cheese fries.  Both guys raved about their burgers.  One was med, one med rare, and I could tell the difference just looking at the burgers.  Very well cooked.  And both mentioned the flavor of the Bison and how much lighter it was than beef.  I think we all got to the point of - "I'm stuffed but this is so good I am NOT going to waste it by stopping now!"

Cooper's Ale House is definately a "go back again"!  SO much more on the menu to try ...

Thai Bangkok

I apologize for delays - I've been out of town and I know I've missed at least one restaurant.  We'll just have to go back so I can try again.  :-)

This past Saturday, Sir T-Hawk mentioned that he thought our favorite Thai place was open on Saturday afternoons, and I was craving veggies so we went.  It was open and is now back on our list of favorite places to visit after class.  Previously, we thought it closed between 3 and 5, as two other of our favorite places do.  So we are happy that Thai Bangkok is open.  It is, however, closed on Sundays.

As Sir T-Hawk puts it - we have never gotten anything there that has not been good.  I tend to stick to chicken, but Sir T has tried both chicken and beef dishes with never anything negative to say.  I like the way they cook their veggies - still crisp, not overcooked and limp.  And their rice has a good stickiness to it, great for sopping up the curry sauces.  This weekend, we tried one of their new special appetizers - a special version of crispy spring rolls with chicken and pork (I believe), served with lettuce leaves, fresh cilantro, Thai sauce and julienne cabbage.  Absolutely wonderful.  I wrapped the rolls in the lettuce with some of the misc veggies and sauce.  The crisp of the roll was a different crisp from the lettuce offering an excellent texture.  The roll itself had a mild flavor that complimented the sauce and the veggies.

Sir T-Hawk had the Sizzling Chicken, one of their new dishes, and I had an old favorite - Pangang Curry with chicken.  Sir T-Hawk is a Heat and Spice lover and if his Thai food doesn't make him sweat, its not up to specs.  He usually orders his food "Thai Hot" and asks for the spice tray.  This time, after tasting the dish, he said he didn't want the spice tray because the flavor was so good with the heat they put in, he didn't want to mess with it.  I'm more timid and only go as hot as "medium", especially with the curry!  I love the flavors, and for me the heat overpowers the flavor.

Two students came with us - one got the same curry I did, but Thai Hot, and the other got the Pineapple Fried rice, with only pineapple and chicken fried with the rice.  I don't usually like fruits with my meats, but seeing it after she ordered it I might try it sometime.  It usually has pineapple and raisins along with veggies and looked very tasty.  She also got an order of chicken satay, which looked very good and I will have to try sometime.  We all struggled valiantly, but we all took boxes home.

I have to be careful here.  We have been there so many times, it would be easy to start talking about food from prior visits, but I will stop now and save those other discussions for other visits.  (i.e. I LOVE their soups!  But with the soup, I can't eat the meal.  Hmm - soup and chicken satay ... )  I will use past experience to mention that they do a work week lunch special with a limited menu, and is usually PACKED.

Their prices are a little higher than average, but you get more food.  Since I have been dieting, I have not been able to finish a whole meal and always end up with a second full meal out of one plate.  With the appetizer this time, even Sir T took a box home!

Jimmy Johns

This past Saturday, our school had our first testing.  Everyone did great and I brought in party platters from Jimmy Johns.  Sir T-Hawk calls Jimmy Johns the best cold subs around.  We are both carnivores but still like their veggie sub.  The avacado spread they use is wonderful, and I may have to go back for a another bucket of pickles just for me!  I also like the way they will do low-carb subs as a lettuce wrap.

The restaurant itself is fun too.  The walls are covered with cute reading material: signs, lists, quotes, etc.

Chili's

Sir T-Hawk and I were sans students on Saturday and opted to break our usual preferences and hit a major chain restaurant.  We are both bummed/annoyed because 3 of our favorite local places close between 3 and 5 and with class ending at 3:30, that puts us looking for food at 4.  Phooey.

Primary reason for choosing Chili's - Hatch Green Chili.  I'd been there a few weeks ago and had one of their "limited time only" specials with the Hatch Green Chili and wanted Sir T to try it.  There are only 3 entrees with it, and since I tried one last time, Sir T and I ended up with the same thing - the Hatch Chili Cheeseburger.  Blew my calorie count, even though I'd saved up for it.  We went for the "2 for $20" deal and got the half order of Texas Cheese Fries (fries with LOTS of melted cheese and crumbled bacon).  Sir T mentioned that the half order is plenty for two people, and I agree.  Last time, I remembered dipping the cheese fries in the green chili, but my mouth was full when I asked for it and the waiter brought a cup of the regular chili ... which was still wonderful for dipping fries into.  Sir T said I can order with my mouth full anytime.  I also requested an extra cup of the green chili with my burger, so did Sir T.

The burgers had a pico de gallo type chopped veggie mix on the bottom, with pepper jack cheese and the green chili on the top.  Wonderful.  We both thought the burgers were amazing ... if a bit messy.  We waited for the burgers to cool a bit, let the cheese solidify to try and keep the tops from sliding.  It worked, but it was still a 3-napkin burger.  I'm not a connoisseur of french fries, but these were good - crispy and lightly seasoned, they didn't lose crispness or flavor as they cooled.  The fries were good dipped in the green chili, and any combination of chili, ranch and green chili.  I even dipped my burger in the green chili when I got it small enough.

Love the Hatch green chili, I wish Chili's sold it in jars.  Great flavor and an excellent way to spice up any meal without adding heat.  I had it with chicken last time, and a burger this time.  I wouldn't put it with highly flavored meat as the tastes might challenge each other ... but with chicken and a quesadilla, or on a cheeseburger the flavor stands out well.

Elizabeth's Pizza

Sir T-Hawk and I have a craving today for Thai, but our favorite place doesn't open for dinner until 5, and our class is over and ready for food by 4.  So we and two students went for nearby Elizabeth's Pizza (Quaker Village).  We've been there before, and not been disappointed so it as a good backup choice.  After all, nothing is worse than being denied a craving, then having your second choice disappoint.

I couldn't decide between two dishes:  Pollo Vesuvio (not sure of the name, it was on the specials list - chicken breast with artichoke hearts, roasted peppers and mushrooms in a garlic butter sauce over linguine) and Brosette Campagnole (pasta purses filled with cheese and herbs, mixed with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes in a pesto cream sauce).  The waitress touted the Brosette as her favorite and I wanted to see what "pasta purses" were, so that became my choice with a salad with the house dressing.  Sir T decided on the other one, with a bowl of Pasta Fagioli soup. 

The soup was a little disappointing.  All the ingredients were cook perfectly, but Sir T felt the broth lacked seasoning and was a little bland.  However, the garlic croutons were a great complement to the soup.  My salad was an average salad, the dicing of the vegetables made it a little above average for a place that doesn't get a lot of salad eaters, but the house dressing was nicely unusual.  The waitress said it was basically vinegar with pureed vegetables, and it did have a thick, V8 kind of texture with a lighter color, with a nice spicy flavor.  I was pleased to see red onions on the salad instead of the regular white.

Our students got pizzas - one cheese and pineapple, one heavy garlic, light ("almost no") cheese.  Both of them liked the pizzas.  Kudos for the effort the waitress's effort to get the amount of cheese just right and the bread-lover of the group loved the crust and the garlic.

Sir T loved his chicken.  I may have to try it sometime, at the risk of simply repeating his rave review.  Both the chicken and the pasta were cooked perfectly, the combination of artichoke hearts and roasted peppers was a great combination of flavors and the garlic butter sauce was amazing.  The butter was cut with EVOO and I kept glancing at Sir T's plate to see if it congealed, and it never did.  Even when boxing up the leftovers, the sauce was liquid, not lumpy at all.  It still looked delicious at the end of the meal.

For the sake of my calorie counting, I should probably have avoided the cream sauce, but I couldn't resist.  And I usually save up on Saturday's anyway.  I'm glad I did.  The texture of the pasta purses is very different, like a round mini ravioli with ruffles give both a filled pasta and a noodle flair.  Part of the joy of this dish was the combination of the pasta texture with the diced ham and the veggies ... both tender, but in different textures.  I think sausage or beef would have overpowered the pasta.  I added lots of Parmesan, but then I always do, nothing detrimental to the food.  The sauce was very tasty; perhaps more Alfredo than pesto cream, but I like a strong pesto.  An excellent dish in both taste and texture.

Last time we were here, Sir T and I split a stromboli and I just want to drop a quick note on how delicious it was.  Elizabeth's definitely gets "swords up" on both the "pizza place" and the "Italian entrees".

Taqueria El Azteca - Take 2

By request, we came back again for a second week in a row.  :-) 

Sir T-Hawk got steak fajitas and raved about them - well seasoned meat, but not overpowering.  Several others made similar statements about their own meals.  Someone got the "Authentic Mexican Tacos" (topped with radish and avocado slice) and agreed that the meat was seasoned perfectly to not overpower the other flavors, all tastes blended well with nothing overpower the whole dish.  LOTS of food, Sir T filled 4 tortillas and still had nearly a full meal of the meat, peppers  and onions to take home.

The cactus salad earned raves.  The request for Taqueria was partly made due to someone wanting to try the cactus salad and she was not disappointed.  We all agreed that the cactus salad is one of the unique qualities to Taqueria, both just for the fact of cactus salad, and for its unique taste.  I threw in my own cents from previous meals and added that it is also very tasty mixed with the Spanish rice.

I got another combo - taco and burrito.  I was craving crunchy.  The taco did not disappoint, but I will reiterate the drippiness.  However, I was also craving cheese, and ordered a bowl of the white cheese dip, which I adore.  (Dip a chip into the cheese, then add salsa - love it!)  Since I have been lowering my calories, my appetite has decreased and I ate so much of the cheese, chips and salsa, I only ate half the chicken burrito.  Not that it was bad, just a bit plain - only chicken, tortilla and sauce.  Someone else got an enchilada and it looked like the only difference was the sauce.  No cheese or sour cream or lettuce or tomato.  The chicken was tasty, but the overall burrito rather boring.  I only had a few bites of the Spanish rice and black beans, but I will second the comment about the beans - not a strong bite like you get with Cuban black beans, but a mild and pleasant taste.  I may have to save my calories for the Corripollo next time.

Service this time was excellent, everyone go their correct order and drinks were re-filled before they were even empty.

Taqueria El Azteca

Sir T-Hawk, myself and 4 others went for Mexican after class today.  My fault, I had a craving.  :-)  Taqueria El Azteca is our favorite local Mexican Restaurant.  Little place, not a lot of seating, across from Elizabeth's in Quaker Village Shopping Center.  Every time we have been there service has been great and the food excellent.  Sir T-Hawk especially raves about their Chili Relleno - says it is the best in the state.  And they are the only place I have ever seen offer a "cactus salad" as an optional side - diced cactus, onion, tomatos with cilantro and lime juice.  It's tangier than you might expect, but very tasty.  Impossible to find a calorie count for online, I tried.  While their menu offers MANY interesting and unusual options which I have explored in the past (I recommend the ChoriPollo - chicken breast, chorizo and the white melty cheese), today Sir T-Hawk and I both stuck with simple dishes.

Today, we both got the 2 piece combo.  Sir T ordered a Chili Relleno with cheese and chimichanga with sides of black beans and cactus salad.  I ordered a taco and a tostada with black beans and spanish rice.  We also ordered a fascinating dish they have called a Molenjeta for the table to snack on.

Unusually, today the service was less than expected.  Our lunch arrived very quickly, before the appetizer, so I cancelled the appetizer.  Sir T's Chili Relleno came with chicken instead of cheese and my black beans came as refried beans.  The food however was still excellent.  Sir T said that he had never had a Chili Relleno with chicken before, always with cheese but that despite not being what he ordered, it was very good.  He commented that the chicken was cooked perfectly and got a chorus of agreement from the other people at the table who ordered chicken dishes.  One of the students added that the steak taco he got was also cooked perfectly which surprised him as the steak was cut very small and usually ends up as charcol at that size.  However, he said it was great and his plate was completly empty when he was done.  He had ordered the "Authentic Mexican Tacos" which came with a slice of avacado on each taco and what looked like pico de gallo rather than just lettuce and cheese.

My food was very good, however their beef is very moist ... not greasy, almost a light gravy ... but it tends to make hard shells soggy very quickly.  I ate the taco first and it was still crunchy and VERY good.  The beef is not over seasoned, but very tasty and light (I did mention not greasy).  Several other people also seconded the approval of the beef in the regular tacos.  However, by the time I got to the tostada it was soaked through ... still tasty, but it lost its crunch appeal and was buried under such a load of iceberg lettuce it was overpowered with the loss of the crunch.  Usually, I just remove some of the lettuce when there is so much and mix it with the rice, but I wasn't thinking today.  Several people also agreed that the shells were delicious - crunchy, but still light (increasing the quickly soggy factor).  These were hard corn shells, not the flaky fried flour ones, but were nearly as light as flour shells.

Overall - not the best we have had there, not quite living up to our usual expectations this time, but still excellent food.

BEGINNING

This blog is partly just to keep track of places Sir T-Hawk and I have eaten and our opinions of what we ate, and partly to see if anyone would be interested in reading it.  We will repeat resturants, but try not to repeat dishes as we both enjoy trying new things.  Feel free to comment with suggestions of resturants for us to try.  We tend to stick to the West side of Greensboro, down through High Point - resturants which are quick and easy to get to after classes, on West Market St.

Some of our current favorites:  Thai Bankok, Tara Thai, Lubranos (on Centennial for Pizza, on 68 for pasta), Masala India, Elizabeth's Pizza, Taqueria El Azteca, Pho Hien Voung, Monesi.