The Farm to Table Dinner

There are many idyllic places to eat a meal, such as: a boat, a forest, Grandma's house, but in the midst of a beautiful field at sundown, has got to top the list. So there I was, late at night, enjoying a completely organic meal, with my family and our friends the Cohens. The idea of the meal was that all of the food that was eaten there had to be organic, and from a 100-mile radius of New York City, therefore, benefiting local farmers. The meal was held at Katchkie farms, somewhere in New York, though I have no idea where. My mom's friend Liz Neumark was hosting the party, and her catering company, Great Performances was cooking on location. The meal included: Katchkie Farm Icicle Radish and Coarse Sea Salt, Katchkie Farm Tomato Water with Basil Ice, Potato Cakes with Hudson Valley Foie Gras and Apples, Katchkie Farm Pickled Vegetables, Mixed Greens, Tomato Jam, Katchkie Farm Veggie Burger Bite, Zehr & Sons' Wild Mushroom Tart with Warmed Nancy's Camembert, Katchkie Farm Beet Salad, Fresh-Snipped Rosemary, Flecked Old Chatham Blue Cheese, Baby Greens with Hot Bread Lavash, Grilled Pigasso Farm's Chicken, Katchkie Farm Roasted Turnip, Tomato, and Eggplant Salad, Roxbury Farm Sweet Corn on the Cob, Tomato and Tarragon Vinaigrette, Roasted Samascott Orchard Peach Tart Tatin, and Milk Thistle Farm Cinnamon Ice Cream. As you can see, it was a very comprehensive menu. All were excellent, but my favorites were the potato cakes, and the wild mushroom tart. Even though the tart was overwhelmed by the enormous amount of dough and eggs in the tart, the mushrooms had a very nice flavor. The ambiance of the meal was very nice, and the location was beautiful. We were able to explore the garden, tasting as we went. As the sun began to set, people began to leave the meal. I looked back where the 130 people had been before, and I remembered the highlights of the meal; the juicy, tender chicken paired with the buttery corn on the cob. The peach tart covered in cinnamon ice cream and blackberries, the cool beet salad paired with the warm Chatham bleu cheese. My mouth watered for more. One other highlight that had nothing to do with the meal was that we got to talk to an original Woodstock festival attendee, and I could relate between his story, and the book written by Michael Lang about the same exact thing. We left in the pitch black darkness, having eaten a meal in a field of dreams. I give the 100 Mile Menu dinner a 8.4/10.

Here's a link to their web site in case you want to enjoy one of these Farm to Table dinners yourself. http://www.100milemenu.com/index.htm

Texas Roadhouse

While my friend Matan is not the healthiest eater in the world, he does know a few restaurants that have healthy options. Texas Roadhouse was not one of them. (Personally I've noticed that my blog has featured some less "high-quality" restaurants. I have also noticed that I enjoy posting much more.) Anyway, walking in we heard music from the likes of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. It was vaguely refreshing. The floor was dusty with cracked and treaded-upon peanuts. This provided good and bad options. the bad was that it was rather easy to slip, and the good was that it was even easier to moonwalk. A few of the people there looked like the kind of people you would want on a bear hunting trip in Denali. With their wives and pubescent children.
We sat down, and our charming waitress Linda came to take our order. Linda was a middle aged woman who was actually quite attractive. She called everyone darling, and she seemed a naturally born Texan. I ordered an eight ounce steak with mushrooms and cheese. Some of the other orders included: ribs, barbecue chicken, a Cesar salad, chicken wings, tater skins, and jalapeno-cheese poppers. The jalapeno poppers were excellent and flavorful and I had three. Many firsts took place in this meal. It was the first time I had ever eaten jalapeno/cheese poppers, it was the first time that I had ever had tater skins with bacon and cheese, and it was the first time that I ever had, yes, chicken wings. All were tasty and unhealthy. All of the courses were excellent as far as I could tell, apart from my steak. It was dry and salty, as were the fries.
At the end of the night my mother got to ride on a saddle because we had lied to Linda, and told her that it was my mother's birthday. However, I was not surprised. Hoping to withhold some of our decency, we left without dessert, even though "Mom's big brownie" sounded tasty. I really enjoyed this meal, and I would really enjoy returning to Texas Roadhouse one day in the near future. I give Texas Roadhouse a 7.1/10. So, in spirit of the Texas Roadhouse's catch-phrase, "Saddle-Up!"

JuJew

If any of my readers enjoy my blog, be sure to check out my new blog on all pop culture things Jewish at: www.jujew.blogspot.com. It's going to be as funny as this one, and there are a bunch of new gadgets on it such as a poll, and a newsfeed. Hope you guys check it out!

Ihop, The Great American Pancake House

While I try to refrain from eating too unhealthily, I must say that I indulge myself at least once per day. So when I arrived in San Antonio, Texas, I immediately requested Ihop. For those who are not familiar with the most formidable pancake houses scattered around America, keep one thing in mind: they have a meal called the "big" chicken fried steak with eggs and pancakes. Just keep that in mind, as well as comparing your big to Texas big. My mother had warned me that around 60 percent of the customers were going to be obese, so I was not expecting to see a bodybuilding champion there. My overall goal was to order something that was not potentially life-threatening, so I requested sausage, two sunny side up eggs and two chocolate chip pancakes. My cousin began to slowly munch on a napkin. the service was nothing more than you would expect from a mid-western truck stop. The waitress was nice, just seemed more content focusing on her nails. After a much longer wait than I expected, the food arrived, dripping with oil. I quickly gobbled down my hash browns, eggs and sausages, leaving only the pancakes left. As I gently dripped the artificial blueberry and strawberry syrup onto it, I salivated slowly. It was good but not too good. The crust was overcooked, and it was unsatisfactory. On the other hand, my mother's egg white omelet with peppers and mushrooms was quite good while staying healthy at the same time. I hope that Ihop will be satisfied with a 2.4 out of 10. Hey, they do have very good-tasting syrup.

2nd Avenue Deli

While my cholesterol is not dangerously high, I do have to pay attention to it. So when my mother's friend from college, David Weinstein, invited me to the 2nd Avenue deli, I was pumped, yet I was worried. I knew from previous experiences that only about 3 things there did not have a life-threatening level of artery-blocking fat molecules within them. So I tried to grin and bear it, and ordered fried chicken skins for my appetizer, and a pastrami, corn beef and salami sandwich for my main course. I was hoping that I would survive another twenty years after that meal. The gribenes (fried fat) arrived, and I dug in, munching on it rather discreetly, as if that would make me look any less gluttonous. I only finished around half of it, then my high-rise of a sandwich arrived. The fat blended well with the sourness of the rye bread, and I felt as if I had been transported back to the day when people did not pay attention to the amount of calories they ate in a meal. Putting that aside, it was delicious but I only ate half because I did not want to end up resembling a hippopotamus. After our hearty meal was finished, we decide to go into the Empire State Building which was great fun. Even though we had to wait in line for about an hour, it was interesting to be behind the tourists and to hear what they were talking about. I had a wonderful time at the 2nd Avenue Deli, and I hope to go back some other time. The 2nd Avenue Deli earns a 7.2/10.

The Qdoba Experience (never going back there)

Today, May 4th, 2009 something truly terrible happened. Well, it wasn't that bad but my friends and I were pretty pissed. After school, as always, we went to get a snack. However, we were not in the mood for pizza, so we decided that we would split a burrito from Qdoba despite the risks of catching swine flu (yeah, right). Qdoba is the franchised burrito chain a block from my school where the food is delicious, and the prices are fairly reasonable. So my friend Noel and I walked in and went straight to make our order. The place was empty so we guessed that they were probably in dire need of business. The guy at the register took our order and placed the tortilla in the cooker. We were excited for the scrumptious meal to come. We ordered our burrito with ground beef, cheese, beans and rice. All this time the guy at the counter was chatting us up, and being really nice. When the food was about to be paid for, I shelled $4.75 out of my wallet, as that had always been what I had paid for the burrito. As we asked the price, an absurd thing tripped and stumbled from his mouth, "$8.19," he said. Noel and I both began to nervously laugh. "You're kidding, right" we said " It's only $4.75." "No" he replied, his tone becoming more and more cold by the second. "I'm not playing around with you guys." "Give me the money." Now, naturally we had no idea what to do because, between the two of us, we only had $6.75. When we told him that, he became outraged, and committed the unspeakable crime that I must write before you now. He took that juicy, beautiful, amazing, slice of heaven, rolled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash. Our mouths dropped. Why would he even think of doing that? For a brief moment we both thought of jumping the counter, slapping him, and running with the burrito. However, our inner adults took over, and we walked sullenly out of the chain. Our lives scarred forever. All I know is that if we ever see the same guy at the counter, we won't give them our service or our money. Oh, and by the way, I ended up spending the money on a slice of pizza at Pizza Box which was surprisingly satisfying.