Bite of the Week - Healthy Choice Frozen Meals

Hey guys!  Laura here.  Guess what?  On Wednesday, September 22, my job let me go for the third time in five years.  It was an abrupt layoff - you know, the kind where you flip out, throw your keys at your boss, and walk out the door.  Yep, it was quite the scene.  In the middle of my meltdown, after gathering my things in preparation to storm out the door, I remembered that I had a Healthy Choice frozen meal in the office fridge.  Not wanting to leave my lobster cheese ravioli to the remaining cubicle dwellers, I stopped mid-rant, walked to the kitchen, and retrieved my meal.  As I pulled out of the parking lot for the last time, I glanced over at my box of ravioli and was glad to have rescued it from that rotten place.

The moral of this sob story is that no one gets between me and my Healthy Choice meals - not even a layoff, concerned co-workers, or that sneaky office thief who used to steal people's lunches right out of the refrigerator (I know who you are ... I think).

I've been eating Healthy Choice meals for quite some time.  I even did a review of one back in May of 2009 (click here to read it).  The reason I keep coming back to these meals is because they are inexpensive, very easy to take to the office, and are always fresh and tasty.

THE VERDICT:  Awesome!  Healthy Choice has never let me down, and if they have, I've obviously forgotten all about it.  Some of my favorite meals are the pumpkin squash ravioli, the portabella marsala pasta, the Asian potstickers, and the pineapple chicken.  I was lucky enough to receive some fantastic coupons from the main office, but even without the coupons, these meals would have definitely made their way into my shopping cart.  The vegetables are always fresh and crunchy, the meat is always tender and never chewy or fatty, and the sauces they use are insanely flavorful.  The Healthy Choice options are probably your best bet when you want to grab a quick, healthy meal.  They have so many options now (Steaming Entrees, Fresh Mixers, Complete Meals, Cafe Steamers, etc.) that you really can't go wrong.  If you haven't tried one yet, make sure you do.  It won't cost you much and you will be pleasantly surprised that a frozen meal can actually taste good.  I can't wait to bring them to my new job ... whenever I get one.  Is anyone hiring?

For more information, visit HealthyChoice.com

A quick look at Leo's Ristorante and a side note on Kool Kone

September 25, 2010

LEO'S RISTORANTE

Since we've already visited Leo's in Bristol, R.I., and done a full-review (click here to read it), we're just posting pictures of our latest lunch there to whet your appetite. We love this place and the food we had on this visit was outstanding.

We started with this:

GRANDE MOZZARELLA GARLIC BREAD

Laura loved this:

FETA FLORENTINE PIZZA

I devoured this:

PENNE PASTA WITH MEATBALLS

Our second visit has been as wonderful as our first and we highly recommend Leo's for some great authentic Italian food. To read their on-line menu click here.

Then get yourselves there for a great meal.

******************** 

KOOL KONE

After leaving Leo's and taking a nice ride toward Wareham, Laura and I decided to stop for an ice cream treat at Kool Kone. Now we've done a complete review of Kool Kone here, so I just want to tell you about this particular experience.

We both decided to get a small classic hot fudge sundae. The place was mobbed ( as usual ) but we were lucky. Since it was dinnertime, the food window was very busy but the ice cream window was less so. We got our sundaes after a short wait.

Hmmmmm....we've had better sundaes. First, where was the ice cream ? I honestly thought I had a cup of fudge. After digging under the fudge, I found a small scoop of vanilla pushed against the side of the cup. Second, were the freezers too high ? Laura found her ice cream more icy than creamy and I had to admit it was extraordinarily cold. Third, they were VERY generous with the hot fudge, maybe too much so. It was extremely thick and heavy and dominated the sparse ice cream serving. The whipped cream was tasty but the cherries a little shriveled.

The last time we had cones here they were great. Don't know what happened this time. Hey, everyone has an off day. We'll be back.

Don't forget to check out our friends at MenuJoy.com for great restaurant menus.

Graham's Hot Dogs

931 Bedford St.
Fall River, MA  02723

(508) 678-9574

September 23, 2010

Fall River, where I reside, is reknown for it's many hot dog shops. Many of them have been around longer than I have, and that's a long time. It seems like there's a shop in every neighborhood and everyone has their favorite. I can actually see 2 from my own corner. So you can see we're a serious hot dog town.

One of the oldest and most successful is Graham's and believe it or not, I've never gotten dogs from there, until now.

Tummies growling ( when are they not ), Laura and I were discussing what to get for an inexpensive lunch. Hot dogs came up and so did Graham's. They have Fall River's favorite style, small coney islands in steamed buns. We decided to get 2 dogs each and to split something we'd never even heard about until recently, a hot cheese sandwich. Our good friend Michael Stern of Roadfood.com wrote about the hot cheese sandwich that he'd had recently at Graham's. He seemed to really enjoy it and we couldn't wait to try it.

So around 2 p.m. Laura found herself in Graham's getting our order which we'd phoned in. The place is a typical old school hot dog place complete with the one-armed school seats that line one wall. These things are perfect for sitting and having a couple of dogs and I think they're kinda fun. While waiting Laura found many other selections on the posted menu. Besides great coney island dogs and hot cheese sandwiches, they had chourico ( Portuguese spicy sausage ), beans, kielbasa ( polish sausage ), burgers and fries. You can get these things in all sorts of configurations, beans in the buns or on the side, fries in the buns or as a side, sausage & beans together in a bun etc. Plus you can have that great hot cheese on everything along with all the regular condiments like coney island sauce ( spicy meat sauce ), mustard, sauerkraut and chopped onions. Plus Graham's has a great special : order any 6 items ...get a 7th. free ( and that's not just on the dogs ).

Greasy bag = delicious!

When Laura got back the first thing I wanted to try was that cheese sandwich. We split it in half and dug in. OMG, it was so yummy ( and very salty ). I'm not really sure what kind of cheese this is. I think it's a white cheddar but it's not slices. It's melty, hot and has a texture to it, very different. We had them also put some coney sauce on the cheese and that gave it a spicy kick. The bun was steamed warm and I was sorry we both hadn't gotten our own. I can't wait to have another.

Left:  Coney Island sauce; Right:  Plain

Two with the works

Now we dug into our hot dogs. Laura got her 2 with the works. In Fall River that's coney sauce, yellow mustard, and chopped onions. She found them to be delicious. I got my usual hot dog plain ( yes, I know, I know ) and then I got very brave and had them put coney sauce on my 2nd. Guess what ? I loved it. I'd definitely get it this way again. See, I'm expanding ( and not only in the waistline ). We loved these dogs. They were very well-prepared, fresh and tasty. No wonder this place has been around forever and always makes the "favorites" lists.

For a tasty inexpensive lunch, I heartily recommend Graham's. Our lunch today for the 4 hot dogs and 1 cheese sandwich came to $8.39. Not bad, huh ?

Make sure to call ahead for their daily hours.

Don't forget to check out MenuJoy.com for area restaurant menus.

Captain's Place

162 South Main St.

Acushnet, MA  02743

(508) 998-5886

September 18, 2010

I've been reading a lot of good reviews about Captain's Place in Acushnet. They're said to have great seafood and some fine Portuguese cuisine ( among other things ). So Saturday afternoon, around 3 p.m. ( our usual dining time ), we pulled into their parking lot.

This fish was spitting out rocks the whole time!

I'd heard this place was small and it was. A dozen or so small tables dotted the dark interior and there was a bar area off the side. This area tended to be quite noisy boisterous ( were there kids running around in there ? ). There were fish tanks lining the dining room wall but I felt kinda sorry for the fish. The tanks were a little cloudy, and having had tanks myself, I told Laura they could do with a good cleaning.

A pleasant waitress named Carol came over to take our drink order and leave menus. We ordered 2 Diet Pepsis and took a look at the nice sized menu.

It was a pleasantly diverse menu with appetizers that included shrimp, calamari, chourico and little necks. They have soups, salads and sandwiches and quite the selection of entrees like steaks ( prime rib, Portuguese style, shish-kebab etc. ), pork ( pork alentejana, cacoila etc. ), chicken ( Mozambique, Parmesan, Madeira etc. ) and fish and codfish dinners ( seafood casserole, little necks Spanish style, shrimp, scallops, tuna, swordfish and salmon, bacalhua and codfish gomes sa ) among others dishes. They even serve a nice children's menu with all their favs like hot dogs, spaghetti and chicken fingers.  You can check out their menu by clicking here.

When Carol came back with our sodas ( which had a funky taste, flat maybe ? ) we were ready to order. We saw chourico a bombeiro and got all excited remembering the last time we had it at another restaurant. It had come spectacularly aflame and was so delicious. So we knew immediately that this was our appetizer. Laura then decided on the cacoila plate and I chose the Boston baked scrod.

Soon after Carol took our order she was back with a really nice bread basket filled with slices of fresh Portuguese bread. Laura and I dug in while we waited for our food.

It wasn't long before our chourico arrived. Indeed it was aflame, so aflame actually that we were afraid it wouldn't go out. As the flames got higher Carol said ," Watch out for your napkins. I think I put on too much alcohol." lol Laura and I struggled with the meat and finally got it off the fire and onto a plate. Whew, are my eyebrows still on ? I cut the chourico in half and placed one half on Laura's plate and we dug in.

Hmmm, this chourico was quite fatty. The outside was nice and singed but the inside had chunks of gristle that were so unappealing. To tell the truth, the inside of the chourico tasted like it hadn't been cooked enough. It was a little disappointing.

We finished what we could of the chourico and then our dinners arrived. Laura had 3 large chunks of cacoila ( marinated pork ) on her plate along with some boiled potatoes and mixed veggies. She thought the sauce accompanying the meat was delicious. She also loved the boiled potatoes and 2 pieces of the cacoila. The 3rd. piece, however, had a lot of fat in it so she pushed it aside. The veggies were nothing special and actually looked like the frozen mixed veggies I find in the market. Laura said this meal was not what she'd hoped. When what you liked best are boiled potatoes, kinda sad. And although she found 2 pieces of the meat tasty, she also found them very stringy and was looking for a toothbrush after we left.

My scrod was a nice big piece of white fish covered with bread crumbs. It was also accompanied by boiled potatoes and mixed veggies. Hey Laura was right those potatoes were tasty. Hmmmm, again boiled potatoes were the hit of the dish. My fish was very overdone and dry. If it had been done correctly, it would have been spectacular because the fish itself had a great taste. However it was way too dry and was not helped by the exceedingly dry breadcrumbs on top. Usually the coating for scrod is crackers or breadcrumbs mixed with butter that enhance the moistness of the fish. But these were just dry breadcrumbs sprinkled on top that I could actually blow off. An otherwise great piece of fish was ruined with too much oven time and a dry topping. I also wasn't impressed with the veggies. But those potatoes were great.

We had decided we didn't want dessert but, not to worry, we weren't offered any. Actually I don't know if they even have any. None are listed on the menu.

We checked out the ladies room as we usually do and found it nicely stocked but in need of a floor wash. Other than that it was fine.

I'd have to say the whole experience was a little disappointing. I know this is a very popular neighborhood place and I love that. But I guess the ambiance of eating with friends makes you overlook some little flaws. I know this place will continue to be popular but I don't think I would come again. But hey, I never say never. Do try it and see for yourself.

Our bill for today's lunch was:

2 Diet Pepsi - $3

1 Cacoila plate - 9.95

1 Boston baked scrod - 11.95

1 Chourico a bombeiro - 7.95Subtotal - $32.85

Tax - 2.05

TOTAL = $34.90

With a tip for Carol ( a very nice and efficient waitress ), it came to $ 42. We left $32 plus a $10 gift certificate (from MenuJoy.com) on the table and headed out to our movie ( review to come soon ).

P.S. There was this ( I think ) drunk guy. He was walking around visiting all the tables with his drink firmly in hand. He particularly seemed to be infatuated with a lovely older lady who was seated behind us. He kept talking with her and touching her hand. She, in the meantime, was giving the eye to her daughter. lol I think she was a little taken aback. Oh well, she's still got it.

Captain's Place is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Don't forget to check out MenuJoy.com for great area restaurant menus.

Bite of the Week - Pillsbury Sweet Moments Bite-Size Brownies

In our quest for a weekly "Bite of the Week", we peruse every aisle of our local Stop & Shop to see what new products have made it to the shelves this week. It amazes me that there is indeed always something new.

While I was looking over the prepared puddings in the refrigerator case, I saw these little blue packages stacked off to the side. Hey Laura , look at this ....brownies. Laura is the brownie connoisseur in our family. She just loves a good fudge brownie. So when I pointed the package out to her she immediately said, " bite of the week". I agreed. They were $ 2.99 for a 5.6oz. package ( approx. 12 pieces ) and there were 2 flavors available, chocolate caramel and chocolate fudge. We decided on the caramel.

When we got them home we noticed they had to be kept refrigerated and did just that. Next morning, we decided to sample them. Opening the small bag, it didn't seem possible that there would be a dozen brownies in there. But there they were,12 teeny, tiny little brownies just waiting to be gobbled up. They were indeed bite-sized, and at only 60 calories each, a decadent snack.

THE VERDICT: They definitely had a fudgy taste ( as they were covered with a chocolate fudge icing ) but I couldn't taste the brownie part too much nor the caramel filling. Any caramel flavor was non-existent really. Mostly it was a cube of fudgy sweetness. I think a chocoholic would love snacking on these bite-sized shots of cake but I honestly thought they tasted more like candy than brownies. Laura loved them, but not being a chocolate fan, I found them a bit too sweet. And hey, where was the caramel ?

If sweet chocolaty-flavored morsels are your weakness, you have to try these little bites. At only 60 calories each, if they keep that sweet tooth in check, it's worth keeping a bag or two around. Try them yourself and see.

Don't forget to check out MenuJoy.com for great area restaurant menus.

Dartmouth Wasabi

747 State Road

Route 6

Dartmouth, MA  02747

(508) 990-9588

(508) 990-0488

September 11, 2010

I was a little nervous. Brave-eating, to me, is my not flipping the cheese off my burger when they make a mistake and put it on there. Brave-eating, to me, is not panicking when the juice from a ( dreaded ) pickle trickles near my sandwich. Brave eating, to me, is .....well, you get the idea...I'm not brave with food. So the thought of going to a Japanese restaurant had me in a tizzy. The food is, um, weird and I was terrified to try any. But fortunately, they also had Chinese food and I knew I'd be able to find something I could handle. So on a lovely Saturday afternoon, Laura and I pulled into the Dartmouth Wasabi parking lot armed with our MenuJoy gift certificate.

What a pretty place. There were lots of booths, oriental decorations, mirrors and even a sushi bar. We were seated at 3 p.m. and noticed a couple of other occupied tables. Our handsome waiter Loen came right over to hand us menus and take our order for 2 Diet Cokes. This is a large menu having both a Chinese and Japanese section. Plus on the wall that surrounds the restaurant there are lists of different sushi, rolls and drinks. Loen brought our drinks and also a small dish of rice chips with duck sauce. Nice. We asked for a few more minutes to look over the menu.

I looked over the Japanese side but I just wasn't brave enough. Appetizers included edamame, fried oyster and soft-shell crab ( among other things ). The sushi bar treats included seaweed salad and octopus with vinegar ( tako-su ). Then they have a huge list of sushi and sashimi like tuna, salmon, squid, octopus, eel, flying fish roe and sea urchin ( uni ). Even more impressive is their list of rolls , cucumber, avocado, tuna, eel, lobster and the more familiar California, Philadelphia and Alaskan. Their entrees include tempuras, teriyakis, katsus and noodles.

The Chinese section of the menu was much more familiar. They had all your favorite appetizers like egg rolls, spare ribs, chicken wings, crab rangoons and fried wontons ( and so much more ). They had soups, chow mein, lo mein, fried rice, egg foo young and veggie, beef, shrimp, chicken and pork dishes ( in all sorts of variations ). They also carry Szechuan and Hunan dishes which tend to be nice and spicy.  You can get their entire menu by clicking here.

Laura and I both decided to start with a cup of wonton soup. It was warm and delicious. Each cup contained 3 large meat-filled wontons, tiny ringlets of scallion and a seriously tasty broth. We really enjoyed this start to our meal. Plus I was seriously tempted to steal the little "chubby" spoons that came with the soup. Too cute.

Then Loen brought out our orders of fried wontons and crag rangoons. Both were very well filled and not just all "shell". We loved the very light crispness of the shells on both. They were so delicate and not at all greasy. And both orders were very generous. They were terrific. Actually I wish I had some right now, lol.

Loen then brought out our entree. We decided to share an order of sweet and sour chicken and were thrilled we did. The chicken was done perfectly. It was moist and well-done and again the coating was very light and crisp. We loved this and ate every piece. Accompanying the chicken, on the platter, were various grilled veggies like cauliflower and carrot. The hit, however, was the carrot carved like a french fry sitting on top. It doesn't take much to amuse me. lol Small minds ........

We were getting kinda full but we saw something on the menu that was intriguing, something called mochi. Apparently mochi is ice cream ( made with unusual ingredients) served in a rice paste shell. Hum. We had to try some. We can never refuse ice cream, even if it might be "strange". So I ordered the green-tea and Laura ordered the red-bean mochi. In a few minutes Loen returned with what looked like 2 flowers with whipped cream and sauce on a flat plate. It actually was 4 tiny rice paste cups filled with the ice cream placed together on the plate to form a flower. Very different. Now to taste. Hey, how do you eat this stuff ? The rice paste cups are edible ...right ? I scooped my ice cream out of the cup but Laura broke her cup with her spoon and ate it along with her ice cream. Are you sure we eat these ? But she was right, this was how to eat it. The cups tasted like marzipan and the fillings were cold and refreshing. My green-tea tasted exactly like it's name and I thought Laura's red-bean tasted just like raspberry. They were absolutely delicious and we've been talking about them ever since. I was so glad we decided to be a little brave. I'm just worried that after we left Loen wasn't looking for the ice cream "cups". Could you just hear that conversation .........

Loen:  "Large women ate the ice cream cups."

Second waiter:  "Not everything is edible."

LOL!!! 

We waited for our bill, full and really pleased that we had come here. Everything we had was very high-quality and fantastic tasting. I'm already looking forward to coming back. Hey, I might get even more adventuresome and get something crazy. I still don't know about the Japanese stuff though. I might need something stronger than a Coke to try octopus.

Loen, who was an efficient and pleasant waiter, brought us our bill along with 2 fortune cookies. We paid :

2 Diet cokes - $3.50

2 Wonton soups - 3.80

1 Crab rangoon - 4.50

1 Fried wonton - 3.50

1 Sweet and sour chicken - 7.95

2 Mochi - 5.90

Subtotal - $29.15

Tax - 2.04

TOTAL = $31.19

With a 20% tip for Loen , the total was $38. So we left our $10 certificate plus $28 ......great price for a great meal.

As is our habit, we visited the ladies' room and found it as spotless and well-stocked as everything else had been.

Oops, almost forgot to show you. When we first sat down we were presented with this vegetarian menu :

Now what's wrong with this picture ? lol Chicken ....vegetarian ? Yes, if it's all soy-based like the bottom of the menu informs us. We thought we'd discovered a HUGE faux-pas. Nope, just us being stupid, again.

Dartmouth Wasabi is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12-10 p.m. Sunday.  If you're using a credit card, please note there is a $15 minimum charge.

Visit our pals at Menujoy.com for lots of area reataurant menus.

Bite of the Week - Stouffer's Lasagna Italiano

Occasionally, I don't feel like making dinner. OK, this happens a lot. At these times you'll find me pulling the take-out menus from my take-out drawer, yes, take-out drawer, and grabbing the phone. But even this gets old after awhile. So sometimes I'll look in the frozen food section of the market to see what kind of family meals are available.

There are all sorts of ideas here. Family sized meatloaves, mac&cheese, sliced turkey, chicken and fish fillets and pasta dishes abound. And it was just those pasta dishes that caught my eye, specifically, the lasagnas. There are several brands of frozen family-sized lasagnas but Stouffer's caught my eye, not only because of name recognition, but because I've bought Stouffer's before and have always been pleased. They have the reputation of being a quality product and personal experience has found that to be true.

Now Laura prefers an all cheese lasagna while hubby prefers an all meat. What to do, what to do ? I bought the lasagna ITALIANO which contains both meat and cheese. I can always outsmart them both. lol

This particular package was 2lbs. 6oz. and contained approximately 5 servings ( in my house 3 ). It was made with fresh lasagna noodles, seasoned meat sauce, tomato sauce and real low fat ricotta cheese. It retailed for $ 7.99 at my local Stop&Shop. You can make it in the microwave in just 30 min. or you can do as I did, put it in the oven for 80 min. That's it really, just bake and serve, couldn't be easier.

VERDICT: Does it taste like homemade lasagna, of course not, nothing does. Does it make an easy, tasty, hearty meal....sure does. I was especially impressed by the pasta noodles. They tasted like real noodles and stayed al dente, just like you'd want them to. Most heated up pastas get very over-cooked and limp. These were great. There was just the right amount of meat sauce but a little more ricotta would have been nice ( we love ricotta ). The tomato sauce was the only failure. It was a bit too sharp and bitter, not nice and sweetly mild as I prefer. I think though, that sometimes frozen sauces have to have an exaggerated taste in order to sustain the flavor during the whole freezing process. That can be the reason most frozen foods taste,well, frozen. But that aside, this lasagna was tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again. Paired with a salad or veggies ( I made spinach ) and some nice hot rolls, you've got yourself a great meal here. So, pick up a STOUFFER'S LASAGNA ITALIANO or any of their other frozen meals, you won't be sorry . Plus you'll have some time on your hands for ............

Don't forget our friends at MenuJoy.com to get the newest restaurant menus.

Inner Bay Restaurant

1339 Cove Road

New Bedford, MA  02744

(508) 984-0489

www.innerbay.com

September 4, 2010

Armed with our $10 gift certificate from MenuJoy, Laura and I made the quick trip to New Bedford to dine at INNER BAY RESTAURANT. Now this wouldn't be our first visit here. We had come here for lunch, maybe a year or so ago, and left a little disappointed. Not with the food, which was delicious, but with the lunch-time selections. The lunch menu is quite small with only a couple of appetizers, sandwiches, salads or entrees. Since our mid-day meal is usually our dinner, we were looking for something a little more substantial. Then we had the brainstorm. We called ahead to see if we could choose from the dinner menu instead, even though it would be early afternoon. Assured we could, we set off for the restaurant.

We arrived around 3:30 p.m. on a very lovely Saturday and pretty much had the place to ourselves. I had forgotten how pretty this place was. All wood and white tablecloths with a continental flair. There were only two other occupied tables so we were able to take some great pictures. It was quiet now but I've heard this place is very busy at night. Besides the great restaurant, they have a fantastic bar area and now have outdoor seating as well.

Our very nice waitress Judie seated us immediately and handed us the lunch menus. Uh oh These were the menus I remembered. Only a few options were offered. I really do understand this. If you don't do a big lunch business why have a big prepared menu. But we wanted dinner. So I got very brave and when Judie came over I asked if we would be able to order from the dinner menu. She seemed surprised but immediately said , " Let me check ". She came right back with two dinner menus and the two Diet Pepsis we had ordered. She also brought a great bread basket that contained 4 soft Portuguese rolls and several slices of toasted baguette.

Now this is what I'm talking about. The dinner menu is extensive . They have kale & caldo verde soups , among others. They serve several appetizers such as shrimp cocktail, calamari, littlenecks, mushroom caps and kid favorites: potato skins & chicken tenders, plus much more. They have all manner of meats, fish and seafood . Just a few: carne alentejana, prime rib, lombo de porco, bacalhau silmo and seafood sampler and much more. Click on their website above for the full menu.

Laura and I immediately knew what we wanted as an appetizer ....CHOURICO BOMBEIRO. This was described as flamed, homemade, hot spiced chourico. We've been dying to try this. We ordered this and I ordered fish & chips and Laura chose a special Judie told us about ....FILETS NO FORNO. This was a beautiful cod fillet with chourico, onions and grilled veggies. We had a selection of soups and salads to go with our meals and I chose a salad with French dressing and Laura chose the kale soup.

In a few minutes our soup and salad arrived. My salad was very fresh and crisp and the dressing had a nice tang to it. Laura loved her soup especially since it was all veggie. But lest you think it was thin or watery ...it wasn't. It was filled with kale and potatoes and the broth was nicely spiced. She really found it flavorful. We ate these along with our bread basket items. What a great start to our meal.

We had just finished when out came our flaming chourico. What a great presentation. A whole tube of chourico, sliced partially through and spread apart, placed over a pottery kiln with flames lapping at the meat. I was so excited. lol Judie said to just let the flames die down and we're ready to go. Flames gone, we cut the meat in two and then finished cutting the slices on our individual pieces. It was delicious. Spicy ( but not too much so), very meaty and lean ( as lean as chourico can get ), and tasting grilled and smokey. We'd been wanting to try this and we weren't sorry. I would get it again in a minute.

Fish and chips

Oven-roasted scrod

Judie came to take the little kiln and clean off the table and then bring out our meals. I have to say this was one of the best fish & chips I've had in a long time. Two fillets, done perfectly, a very light ( beer-flavored ? ) batter that was thin & crisp and great shoestring fries. Along side were tartar sauce and cole slaw. I had been off fish for awhile because the quality just wasn't there. But this brought me back. Laura had an amazing cod fillet baked with chourico & onions and served with grilled vegetables and a "mystery" patty. At first she thought it was a cod fish cake but it tasted like potato. When Judie came over to see how everything was ( she did this with each course ) Laura asked her what the patty was. It was scalloped potatoes. They must have been roasted along with the fish and thereby picked up the wonderful flavors. Laura declared her whole meal outstanding.

Judie came by and asked if we'd like a refill on our sodas and we did. As we finished our meals we decided to go all out and order dessert. So when Judie brought back our refills, we ordered two flans. They were presented beautifully ( like everything else had been ) . They were large and covered in caramel sauce, ice cold, very creamy and Judie told us they were homemade. We believed it. What a perfect end to our fabulous feast.

I'm sorry we waited so long to come back here. We won't make that mistake again. I urge you to run...don't walk to INNER BAY for terrific food, served beautifully in lovely surroundings. And I hope you get Judie . She was a great waitress.  Our tab today was:

2 Diet Pepsi - $5

1 Chourico Bombeiro - 5

1 Fish and chips - 7

1 Filets no forno - 12

2 Flan - 6

Subtotal - $35

Tax - 2.20

TOTAL = $37.50

Basing a 20% tip for Judie on this total (before our $10 certificate) we had a grand total of $45 with tip. Then minus our $10 certificate it cost us $35.  Not bad at all.

P.S. Both Laura and I checked out the ladies room ( as we usually do for our reviews ) and were a bit surprised to find it lacking T.P. Also the lock is a struggle and once locked securely , you can't get out. Fact is, it looks like it could use some sprucing up. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the lovely restaurant.

Inner Bay Restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.  Inner Bay is closed on Wednesday.

Don't forget to check out MenuJoy.com for loads of area menus.

Sonic Drive-In

www.sonicdrivein.com

"The ice is great!" 

"Don't forget to try the ice." 

"How was the ice?" 

"Did you get ice?"

August 28, 2010

These were the questions banging around in our heads as we headed up to the first SONIC in this area ...Peabody, Ma. I know, I know, it's an hour and 20 minutes away. But those SONIC commercials were driving us crazy. Everything looked so good. Then when youngest daughter Mallory and her boyfriend Scott took the trip up and raved...that was it. We had to go .

Yucky Boston tunnel

Bunker Hill Bridge

So this Saturday Laura & I braved the almost 1 1/2 hr. ride up to Peabody to see what the fuss was about. It's actually a nice ride up because you get to travel on RT.1 in Saugus, Ma. ....one of the greatest restaurant areas around. You'll see almost every restaurant advertised on TV . Kowloon, Polcari's, Hilltop Steakhouse, Pizzeria Regina and so many more. My head is always on a swivel when we travel this way. Laura gets sick of my ...look at this... look here.... Laura look ! But today we followed our trusty GPS right to SONIC's cool 50's parking area. We arrived at 3:30pm.

The place was hopping and you have several options as to how you want to dine. You can go through the drive-thru to get your food to go. You can park and sit in the small seating area in front of the building . Or, you can do like we did, and drive around the building and wait for a stall to empty to get car-hop service. This is the most fun. Each stall has a large menu posted and once you've decided you just press the button and a "mysterious voice" will take your order. When it's ready a guy/gal will zoom over on skates and give you your order and take your payment. See...easy / peasy .

At least it would have been easy/peasy if the service had been better. You see, while Mal and Scott had quick service with hot fresh food served to them, Laura and I waited and waited and waited and then got stuck with cold limp fries, tots and toast. Let me explain. We were like kids in a candy store looking at that big bright menu.They don't have a large food menu. They have a couple of hot dogs, a couple of burgers,chicken strips, some appetizers and , of course, fries and a few other sides. Click their website to get the whole menu. What they do have, however, is a fantastic selection of drinks.... coffees( hot, iced or frozen ), shakes, slushes,fruit drinks etc. We had a hard time deciding. Laura finally chose the footlong chili & cheese hot dog with a medium order of tater tots and a medium cherry limeade. I decided on a chicken strip dinner with a medium chocolate shake. The dinner included fries, country gravy and a Texas toast. We put in our order and then the wait began. Over a half hour later a nice girl named Nikisha skated over with our lunch. Everything was correct and we paid her . There was a little mix-up with the change because we didn't know whether you tip them or not. But Nikisha seemed reluctant to give Laura back the change ...so I guess you tip. lol

We ripped open those bags ( hey, we were starved ) and dug into our food. Hmmm, a little cool. Since we had waited so long, I think our order had hung around a bit before it got delivered. Disappointing. Laura said her dog was really tasty but could have been warmer and her tots were luke-warm at best. My chicken strips were nicely spiced and tasty but my fries were cold and limp. I also didn't receive the country gravy but did get an extra chicken piece. My Texas toast ,however, needed some toasting. I sincerely believe the poor service ruined the food. I bet on another day ( with service up to par ) everything would have been great ...like Mal had.

The saving grace was the drinks. Laura loved her cherry limeade. It was carbonated ( which she hadn't expected ) and tangy and really good. Plus my chocolate shake ( though small for a medium ) was really chocolaty, cold and thick. Yum Now the ice . We've never heard people talk so much about ice like they do about SONIC ice. And I don't mean ice like a slushy, slurpy, mushy or burpy. I mean ICE ice. Now both Laura and Mallory said their drinks stayed cold all the way from Peabody back to Somerset. They also said the ice didn't melt into the drink and water it down. So, WHAT IS THIS STUFF ? So many people want it . It's said that people in Texas go to SONIC just to get glasses of the ice.Maybe someone should sit down with a SONIC exec. and try to get to the bottom of it. Maybe the ice is some space-aged NASA thing. Who knows?

Since we had driven all this way, we weren't leaving without some of their famous ice cream. So we hit the button again and gave our order. Laura got the banana split with nuts and I got the hot fudge sundae with nuts. And then we waited ...and waited....and 15 minutes later a boy named Chris skated over to tell us they had to go to the " shed" to get chocolate sauce. We saw them go the the shed ...now more waiting. In another 10 minutes we finally got our treats. They were both delicious. We had nothing to complain about here. We gobbled them up and started for home.

Shed full of goodies!

Sonic is a fun place with the car-hop service , sonic radio ( 50's tunes and their commercials ) and 1/2 price happy hour ( drinks & slush ) from 2-4pm. Their drinks are amazing ( I can think of at least 6 more I'd love to try ) and their ice is the ice of legends . They just really need to work on their service, and thus, their food . When you say you're going to SONIC and people tell you , "DON'T FORGET THE ICE " , that can't be good.

*1 Med. Cherry Limeade - $1.15

1 Foot long Coney dog - 2.99

1 Chicken strip dinner - 5.69

1 Med. tots - 1.99

1 Med. chocolate shake - 2.79

1 Hot fudge sundae - 2.89

1 Banana split - 3.59

2 servings of nuts - .90 (.45 each)

Subtotal - $21.99

Tax - 1.54

TOTAL = $23.53

*Half-price Happy Hour

The Sonic Drive-In visited in today's review is at 55 Newbury St., Peabody, MA.  The restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Sunday.  For more information, call (978) 535-9100. 

Don't forget to check out MenuJoy.com for great area restaurant menus.