Semolina

Date

9/1/2010

Location
1329 W. Main St.

Charlottesville, VA

What I ate
8” Chorizo pizza: Spanish chorizo sausage, Guindillas de Ibarra, cilantro, bittersweet Spanish paprika, red peppadews, fresh mozzarella, and San Marzano tomato sauce.

Malheur 10 golden ale

Who went
Tiff, Nora, Katie

Website

http://www.semolinacville.com/about.html

Thoughts
2010 has been the year of The Pizza in Cville. With Fry’s Spring Station (formerly a car garage), Brixx (formerly Boston Market) and Rise Pizza Works opening - not to mention classics like Christian’s Pizza - the gourmet pizza market may seem a little saturated. Semolina is a sort of branch off from Basil Mediterranean Restaurant with both having the same owner.

Walking into the restaurant, you’re ushered upstairs where the seating is with the downstairs being reserved for the kitchen and take-out service. The place is covered in World Market décor, but the food and beer is anything but cookie-cutter. Katie got there about 45 minutes after everyone and had to brave the extraordinary girth of the beer and food menus alone. This place has a serious variety of approximately 200 beers with everything from Yuengling to Barley Wines to organic beers. The beers we tried between the four of us: the previously mentioned Malheur 10, Augustijn Ale, Hacker-Pschorr Weizze, Orkney Dark Reserve, Ayinger Brau Weisse, Pinkus Organic Pilsner, and the Brewdog Hardcore (an imperial IPA). Apparently their heffeweizens are pretty good since they were out of all but the Hacker. None of them disappointed as we all took at least a sip from each, and everyone agreed that the Malheur had a way of working every different tastebud in your mouth.

The pizza. Wow. I’ve really enjoyed going to Fry’s Spring since it opened, but this place puts FSS to shame. Not only does it have more combinations, but the variety and quality of the toppings is amazing. We all seriously had a hard time narrowing it down to about 4 different pies (I kept an eye on the Venison and Blueberry as well as the Wild Boar and Cranberry pizzas). In the end Nora got a clam and bacon, Tiff the bleu cheese, and Katie the Florentine. Again, as with the beers, we all sampled one another’s and, again, a round of “yums.” The flavors of each pizza exploded on the palate. My chorizo was excellent and totally did its Spanish inspiration right.

I also love places that have a pitcher of water on the table, and it was a good thing for this place to have since it was really warm inside. About halfway through the meal, we had to ask the waiter to adjust the air conditioning. Random observation: The huge, sharp knives on the table made everyone want to put it between their teeth and swing from ropes boarding ships pirate-style.

Recap
Pros -moderate prices, ample beer list, GREAT pizza
Cons - can be a little on the warm side temperature-wise
Overall - Overall, this place is definitely worth another (and probably more) visit since there are plenty of other tasty entrees and beers to try. At one point, Nora pointed out that the place was technically just a “beer and pizza” joint, but it’s definitely somewhere you should take a friend in from out of town.

15th Street Fisheries

Date
3/9/10

Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
1900 SE 15th Street, Fort Lauderdale

What I ate
Grilled swordfish with mushrooms, potatoes, and broccolini

What Kelly ate
Seared diver scallops with parmesan risotto and sweet onion marmalade
Trio of creme brulees - coffee, vanilla, chocolate-tarragon (I helped!)

Who went
Kelly, Grandma, Grandpa

Website
http://www.15streetfisheries.com/index.html

Thoughts
My grandparents have started the transition to being actual snowbirds, so Kelly and I met up with them when I was down in Florida for a visit.  Spending most of my time landlocked, I can't pass up the opportunity for fresh seafood and this place looked like it would fit the bill.  They embrace the nautical theme and have a bunch of seafood options.  That said, take a look at the menu before you go.  If you aren't that fond of seafood, there are limited options.  There are no vegetarian entrees.  Still, if you've going for fish, it has what you seek.

Note - I'm writing this review a few months after I actually ate the food, so my memory isn't quite as vivid as some other posts.

Simply put, the food was really good.  I probably could've used a slightly larger piece of fish, but that's being picky.  It was well-cooked and seasoned, and the sides were good complements, albeit unspectacular on their own.  I wish they had given me some of Kelly's onion marmalade instead; that was awesome.  I sampled a little and, honestly, the taste of that and the chocolate-tarragon creme brulee (more on that later) are the two tastes that stand out the most in my memory.  Everyone around the table spoke highly of their dishes, especially Kelly and Grandpa, both of whom had the scallops.  About those creme brulees - I need to get a set of ramekins and learn to cook them.  I've had a few flavored with herbs that seem like an odd idea but just taste great.  The chocolate-tarragon was no exception.  That said, the other two stood up really well, too.  The vanilla was classic, the coffee was the tastiest, and the chocolate-tarragon was the most interesting.

As far as the non-food aspects of the dinner, they were varied.  Our waitress was friendly and made good conversation, but she was a little pushy when it came to desserts.  They were quite good and I can understand why they were proud of their newly-hired dessert chef, but I prefer to make that decision with less prodding.  Being from out of town, I don't have a good handle on the prices.  They seem expensive, but that could just be because I don't live in a city and that's what things really cost.  Even still, it wasn't outlandish; I would still go there for a nice dinner out, but I wouldn't go there too regularly.  The dining room is upstairs and overlooks the water, with a view of things across the way.  After dinner, Kelly and I walked along the dock and admired the gaudy yachts.  Some day...

Recap
Pros - delicious food, great view
Cons - limited non-seafood menu (no vegetarian option)
Overall - Definitely worth the trip.  The food was great and it was pretty cool to overlook the water.  Maybe the novelty isn't there for non-tourists, but it sure worked for me.  It's certainly not a place to visit once a week, but if you're in the area and looking for a nice dinner out, give it a thought.

Brenda's French Soul Food

Date
5/16/2010

Location
652 Polk Street, San Francisco
I'm pretty sure this is smack-dab in the middle of Tenderloin

What I ate
Sampler of beignets (regular, chocolate, apple, crawfish) with Ally and Spiller
Grillades and grits

Who went
Ally, Spiller, Melissa, Dan, Sarah, Squid

Website
http://frenchsoulfood.com/home.htm 

Thoughts
First off, enormous hat tip to my friend Jeff.  He's out in San Francisco working in the restaurant scene and now has 6 new friends wanting to thank him for the awesome recommendation.  When I knew I needed culinary guidance, I immediately turned to him and he definitely didn't disappoint.

Let's get the boring things out of the way first.  Keep reading, the fun part is just after.  Yes, we had to wait.  I think it was about an hour.  We knew there would be a wait, but we didn't think it would be quite that long.  They ended up putting the seven of us at the counter, which worked fine.  The space is pretty small (max occupancy - 40) and there are a bunch of small tables.  It was a little odd to be right in front of the mirror, but it actually worked out well as we could use it to see from one end of the group to the other.  I can't talk about the non-food parts without talking about the great service.  The beingets were out within about a minute - our waitress said they make hundreds every Sunday - but the rest of the food was out only a few minutes later.  I was chatting with one of the waitresses as we were wrapping up (a fellow New Jerseyan from the county next to mine) and she passed me a sample of the delicious watermelon sweet tea.  Entirely unnecessary, but greatly appreciated.

Now, the fun stuff.  I knew I was in for a good food weekend from things like keeping tabs on my friend Jeff and following Mission Street Food, but I couldn't have predicted it would be this good.  The beignets were little pillows of wonderful.  The apple was really tasty, as was the crawfish.  The little touch of spicy Old Bay made it onto the other three sweet ones, and it made things even better.  The chocolate was so good I told Ally and Spiller that every day should start like this.  At first, I thought I'd be fine just getting my main dish, but I'm really happy that we started with the beignets.  Now, the amazing, I mean, main course.  I don't have grits often, but now I think I'm about to start.  The steak was so tender and the sauce was great; I think I have a new food memory to define "Creole".  I had my eggs over easy - tasty, but definitely not the focus - and was able to sop everything up with the gigantic biscuit.  It has been a very long time since I've had something this rich.  Often, I walk away from a good meal thinking that I should learn to cook it and tweak it.  With this, my goal is to try to recreate exactly the dish I had and I'm pretty sure it's going to be tough.  Wow.

P.S. I don't want to say that the quality is in the same league, but I was able to check something off the life list after a visit to In-n-Out Burger - Double double, Animal style.  Tasty!

Recap
Pros - amazing food, great service
Cons - beware the wait, somewhat cozy
Overall - Awesome.  Go.  I mean, like, right now.  The food was delicious.  The wait was long, but the food was entirely worth it.  Just assume you'll have to wait a little bit and adjust your schedule, and you will have a great Sunday.

Bel Rio

Date
4/24/2010

Location
407 Monticello Road
That confluence of tasty by The Local, Tavola, Mas, Belmont BBQ, and La Taza

What I ate
Fried plantains with chevre creme fraiche
Mirin-glazed burger with spinach

Who went
Suzie, Nora, Matt, Ellen

Website
http://www.belriocharlottesville.com/index.html

Thoughts
I was only back in Charlottesville for a day, so I figured I'd visit a new restaurant.  Tavola (across the street) was booked solid so we went over to Bel Rio; none of us had ever been there and the menu looked pretty good.  Things started out rough when the special on local beers was negated by the fact that they were having tap issues with those beers.  They were also out of the only real vegetarian entree.  Otherwise, things were pretty good.  The menu has a decent amount of variety for the meat-eaters out there.

The plantains were good and they didn't make them too sweet; that would've been a bad way to start the meal.  That said, I don't think I'd get them again.  They were tasty, but it seemed like an odd way to start a meal.  The burger was really tasty and well-cooked.  The mirin didn't overpower the taste of the meat and the sauteed spinach was an interesting touch.  The burger was also pretty big and, with the potatoes, big enough to be a filling dinner.  The garlic roasted potatoes were pretty good, but I'm curious to hear what my co-diners thought about the sweet potato crisps.

The atmosphere was decent, though there was a band on their way in while we were leaving and, from the looks of the chalk board above the bar, there is some sort of live music there almost every day of the week.  It would've been nice for the place to be a little better lit, but it wasn't so bad that you couldn't read the menu.  The service was good and we weren't waiting long at all for food.

Recap
Pros - tasty food, pretty good prices
Cons -no major gripes except the broken beer taps
Overall - Good food.  Nothing too remarkable, but definitely worth a visit.  Check out the music schedule to find a local band you might want to hear; that should make for a good evening.  A pretty good alternative if the fancier places around the block are booked.

Michael's Genuine Food and Drink

Date
1/13/10

Location
Miami, FL
130 N.E. 40th Street, Atlas Plaza, Miami Design District

What I ate
Roasted forelle pears stuffed with goat cheese
Grilled local wahoo with curried lentils

Who went
Kelly

Website
http://www.michaelsgenuine.com/content/home

Thoughts
Wow, what great food!  I spend a lot of my time in a town relatively devoid of great restaurants, but I still get to indulge in a favorite past time of mine - reading menus of nice places I won't visit.  I know, it sounds a little disappointing, but I really do enjoy seeing what people want to do and getting inspired to make my own creations.  Luckily for me, I was able to do both with Michael's; I knew I was going eventually, but had time to scan the menu and create before I actually went there.

My first impression was that it seemed a pretty swanky place, a nice spot for some relaxing food and drinks to cap off a long work week or a good date location.  The setup wasn't actually ideal for either - our table was very close to another and, not only was it a little loud in general, but we could hear the conversation next to us with no effort - but they still pulled it off quite well, making up for any shortcomings with the service and quality of food.  Our waitress was at the table quickly, making good conversation and answering questions about the menu without seeming intrusive.  It was pretty impressive how she and the bus boys were able to do a good job with the tables so close to each other, but I guess that just comes with practice.

Now on to the important part - the food.  The pears were a tad small, but they worked well as an appetizer.  They had a great roasted flavor with a little bit of sweetness that was far from overbearing.  The texture and taste of the cheese worked well with the fleshy pears.  They were probably not fork-and-knife food, but it seems like that's too classy an establishment to eat anything with your hands.  It was worth the work, anyway.  As good as the pears were, the entree was so much better.  The fish was delicious and very well cooked.  It was still quite succulent despite being grilled, and it had a bit of that blackened tasted to it.  The fact that it was local, a wahoo, and a hearty serving was certainly nice, too.  I was a little surprised by the rest of the dish, in a good way.  I expected the focus of the dish to be good, but I really wasn't thinking about the supporting cast.  The lentils were nice and al dente with awesome curry flavor.  The fish was topped with a parsley gastrique which was one of the tastiest things I've eaten in a while.  There was recognizable parsley flavor with a handful of spices that fully complimented the fish and lentils.  As far as things I've had on one fork, a big bite of lentils and wahoo topped with the gastrique is very close to the top.  When I read a menu and try to get inspired, I usually try to make something a bit different from what the menu reads.  You can be certain that I'm going to try to recreate this dish as close to the original as possible.

P.S.  Neither thing I ate paired with my St. Peter's Cream Stout, but it was all delicious, anyway.

Recap
Pros - awesome food, great entree portions
Cons - a little cramped, a little loud, a little expensive
Overall - No, you're not going to go here every day.  You probably won't even go here more than once a month unless you're really raking in the big bucks.  That said, if you're in Miami for a few days or for a year, you'd be missing out if you skipped a visit to Michael's.  Take a look at the menu online - it changes slightly with the seasons - and make the trip there.

Cantina

Date
8/5/09 (I think)

Location
Where Martha's Cafe used to be
Elliewood Avenue, across from the Biltmore
11 Elliewood Avenue

What I ate
Tuna taco, chicken burrito

Who went
Kelly, Matt, Larson, Suzie, Xander, Elise

Thoughts
This review is over 6 months late now, so my memory of it is kinda spotty.  I was definitely sad to see Martha's go, but I think this place will be alright.  The food was tasty and, despite some growing pains, it looks like they might stick around there for a while.  I'm interested to see how things are now that they've been open for a few months.

If I recall correctly, both tacos were cooked well and definitely not dried out.  The flavors weren't amazing, but they definitely weren't bland.  I think they even had a nice little kick, but I could just be making that up at this point.

Recap
Pros - good food, pretty well priced
Cons - limited selection
Overall - If memory serves, it's a pretty solid place to go on the Corner.  It would probably work well as a nice, quick dinner for someone who works near the Corner or had a long day on Grounds.

Brasserie Montiel Restaurant & Bar

Date

1/30/10

Location

2001 Commonwealth Dr.

What I ate

Duck Confit and Butternut Ravioli

Tamarind Glazed Smoked Pork Tenderloin w/ Basmati Rice and Caramelized Apple Chips

Poached Pear with Gorgonzola and Salted Pistachios

Who went

Ellen

Website

http://brasseriemontiel.com/default.aspx

Thoughts

My first impression of Brasserie occurred several hours prior to our dining experience. Unsure if the snow fall would affect our reservation, I received a call nearly two hours prior that the restaurant was indeed open and parking available. This was only the beginning of the professionalism shown by the restaurant staff for the entire evening. Further, this was a casual dining experience. Although not a place to wear jeans and a t-shirt, I felt comfortable wearing khakis and a button up for dinner.

The appetizer was a perfect way to start the meal. I have had my share of duck, and this was cooked extremely well. The sauce was flavorful, but not overpowering. Then, when the entree was served, I was amazed by the portion sizes. Unlike Boar's Head, or any other fine dining restaurants that I have been to, Brasserie served generous portions. The pork tenderloin was delicious though not as tender as I would have hoped. The rice and vegetables were solid, but I felt that they required additional seasoning or the tamarind glaze. The caramelized apple chips were good, but served more as decoration than food. The disappointment was in the dessert. Though I understood the concept behind the dish, and the magnificent presentation, the ingredients clashed with each other. Each ingredient is, on its own, exceptionally powerful and commanded attention, but ruptured the dish as a whole. Sadly, I was unable to finish this plate.

From the comments I could gather from Ellen, her meal was solid, but fell short of the level of fine dining I would have expected. Her appetizer of the carrot and ginger soup with micro greens and a sesame mustard vinaigrette appeared to be a mixed bag. The carrot and ginger soup was delicious, though Ellen commented that the salad had too much dressing. Her vegetarian tempura with three dipping sauces to me appeared to be underwhelming for fine dining; even with its aims to be "casual" fine-dining. Overall, the entree was nothing spectacular and we were both surprised by the lack of creativity or quality of the dipping sauces of ranch, chipotle ranch, and bleu cheese. However, this was made up for in dessert. She ordered the dark chocolate ganache and pomegranate coulis creme anglaise. This was well presented (though on a plate two or three times larger than necessary) and the portion was small. Yet, the richness of the chocolate made this the perfect ending to her meal.

Recap

Pros - great service, relaxed atmosphere, good portions

Cons - Meals were inconsistent

Overall - Overall I enjoyed my meal, the atmosphere, and the company. However, the meals were too inconsistent to classify this restaurant as Restaurant Week worthy.