Sweet Sue's

The smell of the juicy pancakes wafted into my nose as I stood under the aging sign for Sweet Sue's.  As I entered the restaurant, I noticed immediately how loud it was.  I was not surprised however, as I had already visited this prominent restaurant many times with my grandfather, who absolutely loves the restaurant and its pancakes.   It took the waitress a little bit of time to seat us, so we just seated ourselves.  The service was not exceptional at all but the food was absolutely delicious.  I ordered a banana-chocolate chip pancake and some fries.  The  fries were delicious, but the pancake was the best pancake I have ever eaten.  It was enormous, and usually large pancakes are doughy and lumpy, but this pancake was juicy and delicious.  The decor was definitely nothing special, but there were reviews scattered everywhere explaining in depth how good Sweet Sue's was.  In fact, it won an award for the best pancakes in the entire Catskill mountain region.  The decor was relaxing, the food was amazing, but the service was mediocre.  I give Sweet Sue's a 8.8/10.

Red Onion

Nestled in the shadow of the Catskill mountains,  the Red Onion was anything but sleepy.  Even though we were the first occupants of this lively restaurant, the kitchen was ready to cook and our waiter was alert and attentive.  As we began to order our meal, more and more people began to file into the rest of the restaurant.  I ordered a cornet of fries and some scallops served with mushrooms and gnocchi.  The main problem with my entree was the fact that the food made me sick, thanks to the fact that the scallops were drowned in truffle oil.  In fact, I had to go outside multiple times to try and get all the oil out of my system.  The main  reason that I ordered the fries was to see if the fries were at all influenced by Belgian cuisine.  While they were not, they still were very good.  The decor was mostly pictures of nature and scantily dressed women, not exactly the most enjoyable thing to be looking at during a meal.  Other than that, the atmosphere was enjoyable and the decor was pleasant.  The service was knowledgeable but unenthusiastic.  The food however was very rich and mediocre.  I give the Red Onion a 7/10. 

Last Chance Cheese

Recently, my friends took me to a restaurant called Last Chance Cheese.  The restaurant was located in the sleepy town of Hunter.  The restaurant itself was partly antiques, partly candy shop and partly restaurant. The food was Continental American and Italian food, but it did not impress.  I ordered a Ceasar salad that was very dry and they forgot my anchovies.  Talking about forgetting, our waitress forgot to bring us water and overall just did not do a very good job.  The decor was very interesting, taking into context that there were many antiques strategically placed around the restaurant.  For my entree, I ordered a chicken parmesan.  It was all right, but I was not impressed.  In fact, I was slightly disappointed in the fact that they failed to execute such an easy dish.  However, this restaurant had imported over 300 beers and over 100 different kinds of cheeses.  We ordered some s'mores for our dessert, and we had the privilege to cook it at our own table.  However the real highlight of this meal was the shop.  I got to buy a package of pixie sticks which I am going to put in a cup and drink it from a straw.  Thank you Taliana.  I rate this restaurant a 5.8/10.

Special Edition: Friterie

While I was in Belgium, I had the opportunity to visit a friterie.  A friterie is a stand that sells french fries on the street among other things.  The thing that really makes these stands so special is that there are around twenty different sauces to choose from at this stand.   I ordered mayonnaise, which even though it was delicious, you could taste the cholesterol.  However this stand made delicious, crunchy, golden, crispy, juicy fries that I can still taste while I type.

La Paix

The most recent restaurant that I enjoyed the privilege to go to was La Paix.  La Paix is not in the United States.  In fact, it is right next to an old slaughterhouse in Brussels, Belgium.  My grand -parents took me, and even though we had a minor problem with traffic, we arrived at the restaurant unscathed.  The restaurant had many specialties, such as beef cheek and tomates et crevettes, which means tomato and shrimp.  I did not order an appetizer, only a steak cooked rare.  my grand-father shared his tomates et crevettes with me, which was very tasty, even though there was a bit too much mayonnaise.  The restaurant was not crowded, and the noise level was very enjoyable.  When my steak arrived, I noticed that half of the platter was filled with fat.  I ate the beef which was very fatty as I had presumed, but it was also very chewy.  Chewing all that beef gave me a workout.  The service was very slow and unenthusiastic.  The food's consistency was very good, but after a while the steak just became a little boring.  The food was nothing amazing, the decor was very simple and the service was mediocre.  Overall, I rate this restaurant a 6.5/10.

 

Resto

The most recent restaurant that I went to was Resto.  Resto serves Belgian food, which include the traditional Steak Frites and Moules Frites, and the not so traditional pig's feet and pork toast.  However, do not be fooled by these... curious foods, might I say and get ready to enjoy one of the top 5 Belgian restaurants in town.  The service is very welcoming and entertaining and they did whatever they could to spice up the meal, no matter how flavorful it already was.  For my appetizer, I decided to order the deviled eggs on the pork toast.  The pork toast was deep fried and very delicate and possibly the best pork toast I have ever had, and also the first.  Another amazing appetizer that another customer was very pleased with was the prawns with anchovie sauce.  It was pallet-awakening and very fresh.  For my entree, I ordered the Burger that was simply out of the world.  It was crunchy, but at the same time juicy and rare.  It was one of the best burgers I have ever had.  The problem with the meal was that it was too loud.  You had to scream to get yourself heard.  However this meal was very good and I enjoyed it a lot.  

I rate this meal a 8.3/10