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Saturday, May 22, 2010

Hacienda De Flores

We have driven past this place a few times on our travels around town and it kinda caught our eye as a spot to try sometime.  When you see it from outside it seems a little home-made... like a family run buisness.  Maybe it is, I am not sure, but since we are soon to head south we decided to prepare by eating some Mexican food tonight, and Hacienda De Flores, 5 10 S. Freya, was our destination.




They have a great menu and the restaurant is nice inside.  The best part was the fantastic service.  The waiters and waitresses here were very attentive to our dining experience.  (The food was good too.)

Speaking of food, this restaurant seems to have it's own signature flavor in the enchilada sauce.  It had  a uniqueness... not sure what it was, maybe tomatillo?  Whatever it was, or is, Geo liked it.
We ordered chicken fajitas and a combination plate with a chile relleno, enchilada and chimichanga. 
As typical of a Mexican food restaurant, the meal came with chips and salsa, but here they serve two kinds of salsa and beans and pico de gallo too!  After diiiner, in typical hacienda hospitaltiy, they brought us some sopapillas.... deep friend tortillas with whipped cream, strawberry sauce and chocolate drizzled all over.  YUM!

Thai Cuisine... (or Linnie's II)

This fantastic little Thai place was recommended to us by some friends... you know who you are....  : )  While discussing the merits of Thai food... and eating in general, our friends said this is one place that should not be missed.  They were right.
Located in a strip mall at 2526 E 29th, it is a little hard to find, but well worth looking for.

The food here is spicy if you order it that way.  They do have food sutable to every palet, but if you order it spicy, they do not mess around.  We ordered our Tom Ka Gai at a "three" and that was enough for me... (next time I will go for a two!)  I have eaten at thai places and ordered a "five" and it was not spicy at all....  This was very true to the typical Thai food spicey scale.  Our friend warned us that it would be very hot!  He was right on this account also.

This restaurant has been here for 16 years and the name is Thai Cuisine, but it is also called "Linnie's II," at least on the internet....and on the mennu too, but  when I asked our server, she told e the name was Thai Cuisine.  Apparently, it is a sort of sister restaurant to Linnie's downtown, (another great place to eat Thai food)  which is named Linnie's Thai Cuisine. One feature of this place on 29th is that they are a feature restaurant of Thai Select.. This means that the restaurant has been tried and tested by Thai  food experts, even won awards for it's authenticity to Thai tradition and flavors.  In other words, when you eat here you get the real deal.

We ordered Thai Tea, Spring rolls, Tom Ka Gai soup and Thai Fried Rice.  We also had Ice cream with black rice.  Everything was wonderful.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Three Sisters

Geo was driving along Spragues one day and saw an old MacDonald's restaurant, converted into a Pho spot.  The sign that got his attention was Beef Noodle Soup.  He was a little suprised to find there were many different varieties. 













Eating at an old MacDonalds is interesting... bright and cheery....familiar (even if the food is rather exotic!) Best of all the Pho is really good. 



The name of this place is Three Sisters, named after the three sisters who started this restaurant business in the beginning of the year.

We ordered the Spring Rols, Beef Noodle Pho and Chicken Noodle Pho.  (From what I understand about the Vietnamese language, Pho is pronounced, "FA""
Here are our yummy Spring Rolls:














 And our Pho!  This is the Beef Noodle:



This is the Chicken:






When pho is serve, it usually comes with the condiments you see on the small plate.  Thai basil, mung bean sprouts, jalepeno slices, and a wedge of lime.  You put these into your soup.






My soup was very happy!

This place has some special lunch deals, so if you work in the area it might be a great place for lunch!  Veitnamese food is delicious!

I hear they have great Jasmine Milk-Tea!  I love Jasmine Milk Tea.. so maybe next time I will give that a try.  I love Jasmine Tea!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Olive It Cafe ... They Serve Up Local Music Too

Olive IT Cafe is located at 3402 N. Crestline, I posted on them previously, but they are more than simply a coffeeshop/cafe, so I will post again.  They also have music on Friday nights!  Telephone them for information about events and hours at 413-1589

Last night, a local performer named MO was here, singing, playing her guitar and a bit if piano too.   (Mo is a great Blues/Folk singer!) Towards the end of the evening, one of the waitresses pulled out her harmonica and sang and played along with MO.  It was great!  The kind of thing that takes one back to another era.

Our order seemed to take a little while... but we enjoyed our fresh squeezed lemonade...and popcorn as well as the music while we waited.   NEwsflash on the menu items: The Friday night menu includes five special kinds of pizza.  Some fancy sounding flavors too, but we opted for the Sausage plus.

Geo liked it.  He surprised himself in liking the flatbread turkey, bacon and provolone sandwich he ordered, accidentally ordering it on the flat bread.  He didn't think he liked flatbread sandwiches when he looked at the menu and when he ordered he forgot to order the kind of bread he likes.  (He did order the sandwich with the cranberry cream cheese on the side, because he didn't think he would like that either.)  But do you know what?  He put the cream cheese on his sandwich and decided that he liked the flat bread sandwich...and the cream cheese too!

What we really liked the best of all though was the live music scene.  It was so cool to have the opportunity to listen to Mo while we enjoyed this cozy little place.  If you are an inspiring artist, and if you want to play somewhere, you will have to check this little-known place out.  If you love live and local music and the arts, this little coffee shop in Hillyard, could be the place for you on a Friday night.  It's quite possibly be the next "best" college Friday night coffee hangout, especially in the way of being alcohol free and local artist supporting. They serve coffee, tea, and fresh squeezed lemonade, but no espresso.

Hooray for the Olive It Cafe in Hillyard!  They have a great idea for our community and make a great flatbread sandwich too!

Olive It Cafe on Urbanspoon

Friday, May 7, 2010

Sushi.com

Geo and I were wandering around downtown one evening, thinking of where we have yet to try and add to our blog, or if we perhaps wanted to visit a restaurant we have already been... a few did come to mind.  We decided to try a particular restaurant new to us that we saw but when we got there, we decided it was not for us.  We didn't particularly like the fare as we read the menu on the street-side marquee, and it seemed a bit pricey for the usual kind of food items that we might cook for ourselves if we were home.  So we walked around and lo and behold we soon found SUSHI.(dot)COM

Sushi.com is located at 430 West Main Avenue.
This place looked interesting! We could scarcely pass by the menu without wanting to at least give this place a try, even if the name sounded more like a website than a restaurant. 






The restaurant atmosphere is fun, the crowd was diverse, but mostly young, and the music was not quite oriental, but very intriguing.  The price was right too, so we ordered ourselves a family dinner, (for two.)  What a feast!  The good news was that we didn't even have to think about eating raw fish or anything like that.  (Someday I will.... it think.)  Our dinner was Miso Soup, Chicken Terriaki, Beef Teriaki, Veggie Tempura, Rice, Goyza and an orange treat!  Most of it came in on a boat too, right to our table!  Very fun, and delicious!


Several people who do eat Sushi have told us about this place, and with a name like sushi.com, one ight think that sushi was all one could get, but not so...there are a lot of really yummy things on the menu here...

Even dragon ball...whatever that is.  You will have to ask your server yourself.  Whatever it is, it is "NEW!"

I am not a sushi connoisseur, but I can attest to the teriyaki, YUM!


Sushi.com on Urbanspoon

Olive It Cafe

Drum roll please.....for Tasty Trek post 100....Olive It Cafe on the corner of Crestline and Brigdeport!

I so like this place. it is a great little coffee stop.  They do not have espresso, but they have good coffee, the real old fashioned, cafe kind.  It is just simply a fun little coffee and sandwich shop of the neighborhood sort.   I wanted to wait and post after Geo had been here too.... (I have actually been here twice now without him.) .  My first visit was alone for lunch about a year ago when they were pretty new...., my second on April 24th this year with a friend, and hopefully I will go there tomorrow too... with Geo to check out the Friday night scene and show him the cool phone booths..  (Will post more about it then.)  I can hardly wait to experience one of their special Friday Nights.  This little coffee house features musicians playing or authors reading their works and sometimes artists on Friday evenings.  I can hardly wait!   Besides that, they have great sandwiches.


Olive It's menu is geared for serving breakfast and lunch, so I was a little surprised to hear they would be open early evenings.  Also, I hear that clam chowder is made there and available on Fridays.

Olive It  is a relaxed atmosphere with a great selection of fresh. yummy food,. and you really feel quite at home.  You can read a book, play a game or if you are the superman type, they even have a nifty phone booth... just in case you need to don your suit and be a hero  in metropolis. There are actually two of them, a great photo opportunity of days gone by.  There are His and hers....I think.   I just want to say that I love this place..  It.s fun, friendly and the food is delicious!  It's served with a smile and an olive, of course!




I went to meet a friend and we ate lunch.  I ordered a flatbread BLT and cup of soup, oh and a fresh squeezed lemonade which was fantastic.  She ordered a regular sandwich. The waitresses bring popcorn and water to munch on while you wait for your food.  I think it is a special touch.

The restaurant has been in business for about two years.  I am especially intrigued with their hospitality as they work to make this little cafe a place for community to happen.  They have a keen interest in supporting the artist community too..  On this particular day in April,  there was a craft fair on progress....

Here is one of the crafters now....

Her expertise is recycling.  She recycles clothing into fashionable purses... hats and things like that!


Among other things....  She is an excellent artist, but then there were many excellent artists there that day.  There were jewelry makers, musicians authors, and artists...  and even items that were crocheted. 


The craft exposition was great.  It was not well-advertised, mostly just a sign on the street and a blurb on the web brought regulars and passer-bys in but I think it was their first such event.
They even had a live band, "Sound Travel."  The music played by Stephen Talley and Carol Smith was relaxing and gave the place a nice atmosphere.  Several vendors sold wares indoors around the room.  You can actually probably browse and buy their wares anytime because the Olive It sells their items in the store.  This was a special event for the artists that are on display in this little coffee house to meet the public!



There were many beautiful things to see, and buy... and to hear, on a day like the day I was there.  But mostly, there are things to eat.

Olive IT Cafe is located at 3402 N. Crestline.  Telephone them for information about events and hours at 413-1589

UPDATE  MAY 8:
Visited on a Friday Evening and MO was playing her guitar.  Great Blues/Folk singer!  Fun and friendly atmosphere!  One of the waitresses even pulled out her harmonica and sang and played along with MO.  It was great.  This is the kind of place to plan to visit a bit. Our order seemed to take a little while... and NEwflash on the menu items: The Friday night menu includes five special kinds of pizza.

Geo liked it.  He surprised himself in liking the flatbread sandwich he accidentally ordered.  He didn't think he liked flatbread sandwiches and forgot to order the kind of bread he likes.   He did order the sandwich with the cranberry cream cheese on the side, because he didn't think he would like that either, but do you know what?  He put the cream cheese on his sandwich and decided that he liked the flat bread sandwich...and the cream cheese too.

What we really liked though was the live music scene.  If you are an inspiring artist, and if you want to play somewhere, you will have to check this little-known place out.  If you love live and local music and the arts, this little coffee shop in Hillyard, could possibly be the next "best" (in the way of alcohol free/local artist supporting) music hotspot in the local area.

Hooray for the Olive It Cafe in Hillyard!  They have a great idea for our community and make a great flatbread sandwich too!


Olive It Cafe on Urbanspoon