Longhorn's Steak House (2009.12.06)

Pictures are worth a thousand words. I was doing a mystery shopper thing for lunch. I'm supposed to get reimbursed for the meal, it just takes 3-4 weeks. I would never eat here on my own tab, it's too pricey and upscale for me. And the portions aren't the right size.

Flo's Filet wrapped with bacon and a side of mashed potatoes. Well I ordered it well done, but it was just plain burnt. It was like they were rushed and turned on the fire real high but didn't bother to realize the steak was burnt. The inside was perfect, the outside, different story. Mashed potatoes were good, except for that butter or whatever white thing that was on top. I think it was melted butter, not kosher with that...



The dessert was called Golden Nugget Fried Cheesecake. I got it togo so it looked a tad different from the advertisement. I don't like fried foods and that reminded of of that. It was the type of fried batter that was just too much and too greasy. The cheescake was good and so was the ice cream. The strawberry drizzle was all right and I'm glad I didn't eat it there, it would've tasted funky with everything all together the way it's supposed to be. I ate them separately, fried cheesecake dipped with strawberry and ice cream dipped in strawberry. It tasted better that way. I would've liked the cheesecake by itself, but one can't ask for all that...



Total Cost: After tax and tip $30.50 (all of above plus ice tea)

Silver Diner (2009.07.28)

Fried Calamari - too much batterCrabcake Sandiwich

Copeland's (2009.07.25)

...of New Orleans. Today was the closing ceremony for one of the summer programs AJ runs. It went really well, the presentations were really good and their projects were pretty successful. =) We grabbed lunch at Copeland's of New Orleans in Columbia after the ceremony. It's near the Columbia Mall which is pretty close to AJ's house and my work place. At first we were going to go to King's Contrivance but they don't open for lunch on Saturdays!! AJ wanted to get the salad she got last time. Cravings...lol!

Anyway, we ended up at Copeland's. The service was interesting. AJ's napkin was filled with crumbs. It wrapped the utensils and on the outside were some crumbs, but more when it was opened. Ew. Our server was no where to be found because she zoomed away as soon as she gave us the salad (AJ got a side salad, no pic of that) and we each got biscuits with our orders (no pic of those either).

The lunch entree I got was called Tomato Basil Chicken. Fresh grilled chicken breast served alongside angel hair pasta, tossed with plum tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, a touch of garlic butter and topped with Parmesan Cheese. I asked for no cheese of course. When the waitress brought it to us, she said "with extra cheese." Everyone likes to joke...so funny, haha. I've gotten it with cheese when I asked for none, so I wasn't surprised, just wasteful, that's all.


AJ got the Pasta Shrimp Copeland which was tender shrimp, sauteed garlic, mushrooms, and fresh herbs, served over angel hair pasta. I thought about getting it since it had "Copeland" in the name - ought to be pretty good, since it's named after the restaurant, but I'm not a big fan of mushrooms. After seeing AJ'd dish, I'm glad I didn't get it, lots of mushrooms. Though it looked pretty good, a bit smaller portion than the dish I had, at least it looked that way.


Before we ordered our entrees, AJ was already looking for the dessert menu. One didn't exist so after we finished the entree, we asked for one. Surprising that we both had some room in our stomachs!! I got the Original Cheesecake Napolean. I like cheesecake and I got Napolean-style before and was rather interesting to me. The concept anyway. Is' cheesecake stuffed between pudding cake with a dab of whipped cream. It was pretty good. Tpudding cake and cheesecake mix tasted really good. Sweet with with tinge of cheesecake to balance the flavor out.


AJ got the white chocolete bread pudding. I like chocolate. I told her the story of the PoBoy Bread Pudding from the NO trip. Anyway, it looked like pretty good bread pudding, AJ liked it. I'm not sure I can switch to normal bread pudding after having the PoBoy version of it though.


Total cost = 8.29 + 9.99 + 5.99 + 6.99 + 2 (side salad) + tax + tip = approx $40 total

/*This is the first entry where I linked to so many other posts!*/

Homecooked Dinner (2009.06.27)

Roasted bittersquash with beef. This is in response to TkN and the ways we eat bittersquash. I bought some bittersqaush from the grocery store yesterday. It was on sale for the first time this season at $.88 per pound! It wasn't super fresh, but I managed to find enough for one meal. I told mom it had to be cooked right away, so she decided to roast it with cubes of beef.


Cauliflower was also on sale yesterday at $.98 per head. Just throw some garlic and spring onions in oil and add water, salt and pepper and you have a light soup base. Put the cut up cauliflower and you have a very quick soup!


I've always had soup at the end of a meal. It seems odd to drink it in the beginning like in American restaurants. I remember when I lived by myself I actually had a soup bowl and a bowl for eating rice. Instead of drinking water or other liquids, I treated soup as my "water." At home we just have one bowl, so I just drink the soup last as a way to finish off the meal.

Chef Siri's (2009.06.14)

It seems I only go out to eat with AJ or E. At least according to my tags anyway...lol

Chef Siri's is a Thai and American Cuisine. Of course, 80% of the menu is Thai, the American stuff is for the "Americans." This is the fifth time eating there. I've tolerated everything I've ordered. I don't love it, but I like it more than other places I've been. I've tried something different each time and haven't disliked something too much.

We ordered an appetizer, two entrees and dessert. For the appetizer, we ordered the Thai Shrimp. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it tasted ok. It's not something that would turn me away from eating there again. Thai Shrimp consisted of baked shrimp stuffed with crab meat, cabbage and vermicelli. Thai sweet and sour sauce is drizzled over the Thai Shrimp. The shrimp was rather tiny and non-existent really. I'm not sure if there was actual crab meat, though it did have a seafood taste. The sweet and sour sauce wasn't too bad. They didn't mix it together, so you weren't stuck with Thai Shrimp dunked in sweet and sour sauce.


One of the entrees was Siam Duck. The menu capitalizes all the letters to "SIAM DUCK." Well, at first glance, it can look like "Slam Duck," which E found super amusing and was the main reason she wanted to order it. lol. Siam Duck is fried crispy pieces of duck with scallions, broccoli, carrots (lots of big chunks) and onions sautéed in chef’s special sauce. The special sauce was a mix of soy sauce, garlic, basil and curry. Not quite what I expected... The fried crispy duck was mostly batter with duck. I think I had more batter than duck, a bit disappointed with it.


The other dish was Thai Basil with sliced beef sautéed with fresh basil leaves, carrots, onions, carrots (lots o big chunks), chili & garlic in a brown sauce. It was pretty good, the overall flavor was decent. The beef could've used a bit of corn starch to soften it up, was a bit tough. I like the taste basil leaves give, but I'm not a fan of eating it. It's like my philosophy with ginger and garlic. I love the flavors it gives food, but I need it chopped up finely so I don't pick it out!!


Oh, and can you tell we weren't fans of big chunks of carrots? I like my above philosophy applied to carrots. That or at least shredded or sliced, no chunks though.

For dessert we ordered Thai Sticky Rice with Mango. The sticky rice was not the kind I was used to. It's long and thin. The rice was warm and had coconut drizzled over it. Slices of mango accompanied the rice with dabs of whipped cream and basil leaves as decorations. On it's own the, rice and mango were all right. However, when you eat the rice with the mango, it's pretty good. I wouldn't mind trying it again. The coconut gave it a stronger taste since mango or rice on its own doesn't taste like much.


Total price: $6.95 + $14.95 + $9.95 + $4.50 + tax + tip = $23/person

Note: Pictures are courtesy of E's camera...