Apparently they are changing their wine menu.. no Pinot Grigio for you..but the Pinot Noir (Etude from California) is a worthy substitute.

Haven’t reviewed many C-ville restaurants. There are quite a few nice ones. Black Kettle is good food. Quiet vibe (with usually good wine). We sit at the bar. Little cozy but fun.

Crab Caprese

Seafood Pot

Since the Ravens are not playing football right now, I thought I should see what my guys have been raving about. This is their favorite “steak salad” and “burger” site. So Ive decided to try neither.

Brick & Porter Beer Cheese – Fresh Baked Pretzels and Tortilla Chips – Cream cheese based, light and fluffy, good but not strong flavor, fresh pretzels and chips. Solid

Buffalo Chicken Salad – Romaine, Shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese, Red Onions, and Tomatoes with a Buffalo Tossed Fried Chicken Breast – Clean and simple salad. Big salad with the flavors described. Not my favorite Buffalo Chicken Salad (that is GL shacks). A good clean salad. Fresh.

Eastern Market-ish local place. The restaurant is as small storefront, right on Pennsylvania Ave. just a few blocks from the Capitol Building. They specialize in fresh seafood with an emphasis on oysters. They always have a good selection of oysters. Today I tried the chowder and po-boy today.

Habanero Cafe – Austin Texas

Small place, short wait. They claim it’s Tex Mex but the traditional food is some of the best I’ve had.  Lots of locals and a steady line of people waiting. Cash only.

Salsa is a bit spicy but fresh. Chips are home made.

Chili Con Queso is excellent. Creamy and flavorful.

Tacos are simple but flavorful. The fajita seasons is awesome. Skip crunchy and go soft. A bit easier to eat.

Great selection of Mexican beers. Had a Victoria.

Verde sauce with enchiladas had a good flavor.

Thumbs up to the refried beans

Though the chili con queso was of the velveeta yellow variety it had a nicely spiced flavor

Austin has interesting vintage shopping

Stopped at Gueros for a break. Strong margs, cheap happy hour, interesting beer. Chips and salsa does not compare to the earlier place.

Did a bunch of vintage shopping. Found an awesome Metallica tee.. too small. Also saw a “vintage” sun tee shirt that matched mine. Hmm.

Last stop before training it home is the Yeti store for some cooler seats and canned wine.

12/31

Went to Muse again

1/1

King Street Mexican – Juanitas

Excellent nachos with our favorite kind of cheese and toppings. We had the shrimp corn nachos. Shrimp was nicely seasoned and cooked perfectly. Corn chips had that perfect crunch and saltiness. Nachos had black beans, pico, lettuce, cheese, jalapeños and shrimp

Walked to Leon’s and took an Uber to Revelry Brewing. It was closed. Stopped at the Biergarten on East Bay Street.

Back to Muse

1/2

OK-U

1/3

167 Raw Bar

Oysters

Standish Shore MA

Rockynook MA

Thatch Island MA

East Beach Blondes RI

At the fish sandwich. Pastrami’d Swordfish

Rebe had the Oyster Poboy

I had Keylime pie

Rebe ate a hush puppy from a random street person.

It rained on us..

Happy Hours Notes..

High Cotton for some wine and cocktails then the happy hour crowd showed up and gave us 100 recommendations for happy hour. Stopped in at O-Bar for happy hour per their recommendation.

Went to Bars Tapas. Food was excellent. Service suffered

1/4

Holy City and Brewery bar crawl

1/5

Jack of Cups Saloon

Ricotta Toast

Rebe had the Saag

Mike had the Beef Curry

Aruba

1/18

Arrived after 2pm. Took the local bus to the resort. Stayed close to resort today. Had some local beer. Ate Italian pizza and cheese / meat app. Very windy roof top. Service was slow but typical for an island location. Meats weren’t special. Cheeses were nice. Pizza was good.  Warning they do not take Amex.

1/19

Breakfast at Uncle Joes Pizza. Good traditional local. Had a free voucher.

Ate lunch at pool grill for the resort across from us. Not very good. Played bingo. Terrible bar chairs.

Italian dinner at Ritz. Very good. Bit of a scene. Had fresh pasta with meat sauce. Huge cheese plate. Wine was good.

1/20

Whilamena Restaurant

A friend recommended this place. It definitely lived up to the hype. It was run very professionally with all the little services that you expect from a quality restaurant. Changing silverware between courses, cleaning crumbs off table, and all the servers working together as a team. The menu was modest with a variety of fish and meat dishes.  The appetizers had twists to traditional fare. The wine list was  a decent quality with a variety of choices at a reasonable price.

Before the meal came out the service brought us a palate cleanser (amuse Bouch) and taste of mushroom soup and a pork puff. To start we shared the tomatoes with lobster app. It was a simple clean (fish, lobster, cherry tomatoes) dish. It came with a clear broth. The dish was light and had a slight mustard flavor.

I had the fresh fish dish for the main course.  It was a Panamanian rosado fish prepared perfectly in a beat and cream sauce. The fish was white and flakey. Perfectly cooked. The sauce had a nice Smokey hit of flavor. The dish was light with just enough flavor.

Rebecca has the risotto with shrimp and cauliflower.

Desert was the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

The actual dinner bill was the following:

Albarino Martin Codax

Chablis William Fevre

Chardonnay MacMurray

Choco Gateau

Fish of the Day Rosada

Prosecco Villa Sandi

Sauvignon Blanc Tarant

Shrimp Risotto

Tomato & Lobster

1/21

Kalins Mexican for dinner. Average Mexican food and drinks. Fun atmosphere.

Had cocktails at the Passions on the Beach.  Good margaritas. On eagle beach. Excellent bar tender. Very quiet and relaxing.

1/22

Had Dutch cheese and crackers at airport in Aruba. Very nice.

At Mexican at the FLL airport.  Food was below average. Bar tender was great.

2/1

Yayla Bistro

Turkish Mediterranean

I had the Doner Kebab; Rebe had the Halloumi Cheese and the Falafel

Falafel was some of the best I’ve ever had.

The Kebab was over rice. Super tender lamb and beef. Awesome and not overly filling.

halloumi was pan fried. Lightly. Just firm enough. Not chewy at all. Had a marmalade with it. Good pairing.

Located just outside the Charlotte airport. Family run business. The waitstaff has been the same for years.

This place is alway a stop I make if I have time before a flight. The food is well seasoned and not too spicy. I normally get queso but this visit I went for the Fajita nachos with grilled steak and veggies and I had a crunchy gringo taco.

Fajitas in nacho form were a little more food then I normally like. The Fajitas made the chips soggy. Good thing I had regular chips to use. The nachos had good flavor and a variety of veggies including mushrooms, onions, peppers, and zucchini. My favorite queso was on the nachos and it really brought the flavors together. The gringo taco.. excellent. May as well have been made at my home.

This place is good with a large menu. You can really find some hidden gems here.

I have no idea where this was but it sounds excellent. It was in DC. That is what I know.

Rebe’s meal was the cottage fries with a sauce that I could take home. My entree was the fish which now is a salmon. The gnocchi that accompanied, I thought was tofu, but it was the best part along with the mushroom mix.

Dessert was the dark chocolate S’mores Macaron. OMG. How did they make a marshmallow toasted sauce. Good good good. Dark chocolate sauce made the dessert.

This was Whaley’s

Prior top chef contestant opened a restaurant in Louisville. Had to try it. For apps I had a single deviled egg. Best egg ever. Good texture and spice. Awesome flavor. Not over the top. Crack fries were good. Bit spicy but cooked well. I had Ramen noodles, which were very well cooked. Al dente for sure. The seasoning was as advertised and yummy. Broth was amazing. The butter flavors pop and separating the broth is a good idea.

Rebe had the scallops. Red Snapper for me. Cornbread spectacular. Good wine list with interesting Middle Eastern wines. Cheese plate for dessert with our dinner companions, plenty for 4. Good ambiance. Shares a space with an art museum. Service was special. Make sure to visit the men’s room.

Lunch here. Second time I’ve been. I wasn’t impressed last time I was here but I had a different experience today. Mahi Mahi taco was spectacular. Fish was cooked perfectly. As always a little too much crema but it worked. Salsa is a fabulous spicy chipotle flavor. Chips are eh. Brussels sprouts taco is my favorite. They are well seasoned and roasted. Nice avocado sauce. Too many onions in the mushroom for my taste, but avocado sauce again. Chilorio De Res was nice. Braised beef was well cooked and tender. A little heat but well balanced with the avacado sauce and braised beef. Another good taco. Mushroom taco was simple but compared to the other tacos it was average. Margaritas were decent. Excellent bar tender / owner

Pregame dinner here. Sat at the Chefs table. Had 1/2 dozen oysters. Wait staff and expediter were knowledgeable. They have an excellent selection of East Coast oysters. Had the smoked catfish toast and cheese plate as a small plate. Good portions and sharable without being too much. The two cheeses had good flavor and were our style (no goat). Smoked catfish was too mayonnaisey for Rebecca to love. Sourdough toast with cheese was fabulous. Charred. Crisp. Buttery. I enjoyed the smoked catfish. Lots of deviled eggs flying through the kitchen. I will try one later. Dinner is the Virginia brook trout. Skin on trout. Flavorful and well cooked. Light fish. Super good and flavorful. Small cauliflower and a purée. Brown butter was a sweet touch. Tomatoes were nice, but hard to know they were there. Added touch. Croutons good crunch to finish. Spectacular deviled egg. Perfectly cooked egg. The devil was firm and flavorful. They offered a vegetarian version but Rebe declined. Smith Island for dessert. Apple butter rather than chocolate. Dusting of powdered sugar. Pumpkin whoopie pies as a gift from the chef. Wine selections were interesting and well thought out. Need to mention the hospitality. This place gets it when it comes to service. Everything from teamwork, changing silverware, and escorts to the WC by a wait staff who thought I looked lost. A++