Saturday, December 7, 2013

Babaloo International Café & Bar

In the upper right hand of this picture is Babaloo International Café & Bar. Hubby happened to find a Groupon so we decided to try this Spanish tapas restaurant out. I wasn’t sure what to expect on a Saturday night. They offer live music Friday and Saturday’s which starts at 9:30pm. We didn’t get to see it because we where there from 7:30-8:30pm. The place is a good layout and a little on the dark side.

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We started off with drinks, D ordered a Mango Mojito $8 and I had their house made Sangria $5. As most reviews online said the mojito lacks the alcohol in the drink, you mainly tasted the mango and mint. Mine on the other hand was really good, my only complaint is that it could be in a larger glass.

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We rattled off a list of tapas from the menu and got to tasting. We started with the Sautéed Calamari $8.50 (Sautéed calamari marinated with a coat of paprika seasoning, sautéed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and a good squeeze of lemon). Ok first off the calamari was overcooked and chewy. Second the sauce was the best part and there’s no mention of that in the description. You need the squeeze of lemon on there for sure for that touch of acid, because I’m 99.9% sure they didn’t squeeze any lemon on there. I probably wouldn’t recommend this dish.

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Next up the Cuban Crab Cakes $8.50 (Cuban crab cakes wrapped in plantains, fried & topped with an avocado aioli). I happened to like this dish except for the fact it was not hot it was less then room temperature. D didn’t care for it as much. I’m not sure what made the crab cake Cuban, because it tasted like a normal crab cake to me. I would get this one again.

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Next the Mini Beef Wellington $10.95 (Tender pieces of choice beef tenderloin sautéed with herbs and sprinkled with dry sherry, placed in a flaky puff pastry with mushroom Duxelle). Um I don’t know how to put this nicely, but I’m starting to feel like we are being served frozen appetizers from Sam’s Club! Another dish not hot and the puff pastry was soggy. Not to mention it’s totally not worth the $10.95 for 4 bites of meat which didn’t taste like choice pieces rather the ones that have that super meaty flavor that needs to be marinated out of it.

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Moving on to the Fried Green Beans $5. You really can’t go wrong with these and they where served with a flavorful dipping sauce.

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Last up was the Bacon Wrapped Scallops $9.95 (Scallops dusted with seasoned bread crumbs, wrapped in smoked bacon tossed with homemade bbq sauce). OMG come on!!!! Now I know I’m having Sam’s Club frozen appetizers and the sauce has to be KC Masterpiece! The scallops where just warm enough to eat. Horrible!!!!

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For our last round of cocktails D ordered a Jack Daniels Fresca $10 (Jack Daniels Whiskey, Fresh Lemons, Elderflower Syrup, Muddled Mint Leaves, Sweet & Sour and a Splash of Sprite) I thought it was a really good drink that I would sit by the pool and drink. D didn’t care for it as much and said it had too much Sprite. I wanted their Holiday Martini they had advertised on the table, but was informed they where out of the main vodka used to make the drink so I settled on a Little Ricky Sampler $13 which was a choice of 3 mini martinis. The Tootsie Roll had rave reviews online so I chose that one, a Sour Apple Martini and a Lemon Drop. By far the best one was the Lemon Drop. I’m very picky when it comes to a lemon drop, but this one had a nice balance of sugar rim with just a pinch of salt in it and they make their own lemonchello which made the drink. I praised the bartender on that being one of the best I’ve had in a long time and he said it’s because of the lemonchello which he gave me a shot of.

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Honestly I will not be going back to this place, even if you offered to pay. This is not the flash back to our magical trip to Spain I was thinking it would be. The only good thing was the lemon drop martini and fried green beans. Will see how long they stay in business I guess the hope to stay afloat by counting on people to drink and not realize the food is awful.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Double Horn Brewing Company

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We had been to lunch at Double Horn Brewing Company before. (Click HERE for details) This time I could actually drink since I’m not pregnant anymore. I’m not wowed by their beer, but the food is still really good.

Since we where with another couple I didn’t do my normal “let me take a picture of your food before you eat it” speech so I just snapped a quick one of my dish. The DH Chicken (Grilled chicken breast, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon and avacado served on ciabatta bread) was really good and moist. Of course you can’t go wrong with sweet potato fries. The sandwich is big and filling and worth a try!

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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Moonie’s Burger House

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Our neighbor told us about the best burgers in Cedar Park, Texas so we stopped in on our way back home to give them a try. Moonie’s Burger House has 4 locations in and around the Austin area and they are a huge hit with reviews online. I do agree with the complaints, the floor is sticky, no matter where you walk you will stick to it.

I ordered the Hawaiian Burger $5.79 (Grilled pineapple rings and sweet teriyaki sauce.) The burger is messy, but it really is good!

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D ordered the Western Burger $5.79 (Bacon, cheddar cheese, smoky BBQ sauce & a crisp fried onion ring.) Another messy burger, but worth every bite.

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We also split an order of Onion Rings $2.99 and Sweet Potato Fries $2.49. The onion rings where a little on the greasy end, but the fries where really good.

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I’m looking forward to when my son is a little older, the kids meals come with a snow cone. We’ll stop back in here again for sure!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Zoe’s Kitchen

I have never been to a Zoe’s Kitchen before, but it’s a pretty popular place. If you have the Foursquare App be sure you checkin because they have an offer for 10% off your meal. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. The place is warm and brightly colored and I loved the location the chose to build it out in my area of town.

We started out with the Hummus & Pita $4.89 This has to be one of the best Hummus’ I’ve ever had!

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Chicken Salad Sandwich with Greek Salad $8.59. This is a huge sandwich. It may not look like it by the picture, but it’s super filled.

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I would love to go back and try some of their other items.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse

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We don’t get to go downtown much anymore, but when we do we try to hit a few places on our list to try, and this has been on our radar for a long time. Vic & Anthony's is so fancy, I felt like a who’s who there. As you walk in there’s a nice display showcasing their meat and lobster tails.

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We decided to go all out since we had a sitter and could enjoy the night away from our little man. D ordered a Julet $13 made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon and I stuck with a glass of wine.

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The pictures are going to be a little grainy due to using my cell phone and not bringing my good camera to dinner.

The bread just melts in your mouth and I loved that they had soft butter.

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For a starter we ordered the Bacon & Bone Marrow Crostini, Smoked Salt & Okra Jam $18. I would order this again and again! OMG I’ve been waiting to try bone marrow so I didn’t know what to think going into it, but let me tell you if done right it melts in your mouth like butter. The okra jam I didn’t think I would like, but it’s sooooo good. The whole dish is just perfection at it’s finest.

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We also ordered a Jumbo Lump Crab Cake $20 (Finished with Jumbo Lump Crab in a Chive Beurre Blanc). This is one of their popular dishes. It’s really good don’t get me wrong, but for $20 a crab cake it’s a little steep. The sauce is really good, I would have licked the plate if we didn’t have bread haha.

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Lobster Bisque Finished with cognac $11 is also worth a try and silky smooth.

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I ordered the Filet Mignon 8oz $41 adding on the Jumbo Lump Crab Oscar Topping for $15

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D got the Filet Mignon 8oz $41 adding on the Bone Marrow Bordelaise $7. The picture is dark, but this is a rich and lick the fork clean dish.

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We also ordered a side accompaniment of Au Gratin Potatoes $10 and Mac & Cheese $10. Again a little steep on pricing, The potatoes where cooked in duck fat, so you know they where tasty. I think I would get them both again anyway.

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And if we didn’t have enough already we ordered dessert since we didn’t know when we would have the chance to come back. The Crème Brule was amazing and Bread Pudding was just ok. It was really dense, but the ice cream we really good and house made.

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I told you we went all out! We did take home pretty much half of everything except the starters and dessert. The attention to detail is spot on and if you have the budget it is worth a try, but being in Houston there’s many steakhouses to try.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Willie G’s Seafood & Steaks

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We intended on trying out Willie G’s as part of restaurant week until we got there and found that their Three Course Meal was better looking then the one wanted.

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While we decided what we wanted we ordered a round of drinks. I chose to try something different and got a Texas Ruby $12 (Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka, Fever-Tree Club Soda, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, fresh lime). Overall it wasn’t bad just a little different.

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We always like to order and swap plates so we can try more things so we got each of the starters, a cup of gumbo and a Caesar salad. I didn’t care for the Gumbo and it didn’t seem to have much seafood in it. D really liked it so he got to finish it. The Caser salad is nothing special. You couldn’t taste much of the dressing and the croutons where on the stale side.

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We also added on a Jumbo Lump Crab Cake $15.99 and a cup of Lobster Bisque $7.99. The crab cake was good, I just thought it was way over priced for what you got. The bisque on the other hand is oh so yummy!!!

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On the entrees we ordered the Blackened Salmon (Topped with crawfish etoufee) and the Shrimp Scampi (with a garlic white wine butter sauce and angle hair pasta). On rare occasion we actually just finish the dish we order which is what happened here. I didn’t care for the green beans which needed to be cooked longer and I didn’t care for the fish. On the other hand while mine was good D didn’t care for the sauce which was a little too buttery.

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Dessert left us with one of each listed a key lime pie and a cheesecake. Both where really good.

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Would I come back to this location? Probably not, it’s just over hyped and over priced for the low quality of food you get. I may come for happy hour and have a bowl of bisque, but it’s not worth going out of my way for.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Longhorn Steakhouse

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We recently had a Longhorn Steakhouse open up on our side of town. Even though it’s a chain restaurant we have never been to one before. Honestly before we got there I was already thinking it would be a “just ok” kind of place like Outback Steakhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised. Once inside the decor is really nicely done in Western style. If no one was there I would have thought it was an upscale place, but they designed it that way on the family friendly casual side.

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Of course looking at the menu there is a ton of choices. I wasn’t expecting the best quality or quantity with the prices being lower. While we waited to order the waitress brought over some honey whole wheat bread and butter. I could have used another container of butter, because they didn’t give you much to use, but they never brought me more every time I asked.

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I did really like our waitress Jessica V. She was very outgoing and helpful since it was our first time here. One new pet peeve I have is them asking if you want a cocktail or appetizer right when you sit down, even asking if you have ever been here before. I just wanna look at the menu for 1 minute. She talked us into trying the Firecracker Chicken Wraps $8.49 (We call these Firecrackers because they are bursting with flavor! Spicy grilled chicken and cheese wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla, served with a cool Avocado-Lime dipping sauce.) They where good, but there wasn’t much chicken in them. I did like the sauce and ended up dipping my bread in that once we where out of butter.

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For the entrée I chose the 8 ounce Rancher's Sirloin $15.49 (A juicy, grilled sirloin topped with applewood smoked bacon, a sunny side up egg & bordelaise sauce.) Each steak is served with choice of side, salad. The Caesar salad was ok, not the best or worse I’ve ever had just not memorable and a little lack of flavor. As the side I upgraded for an extra $1.59 to Steakhouse Mac & Cheese (Corkscrew pasta, four cheeses & bacon.) Normally I ‘m a filet girl, but I thought I would branch out and try something new. Sirloin has a real strong meat taste to it so I see why they had sauce, egg and bacon to it. Overall it was good, but not something I would pick again. The mac and cheese was really good.

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D ordered the 12 ounce Ribeye $19.49 (Cut fresh, juicy and flavorful.) and as a side chose the Sweet Potato with Cinnamon & Butter. His steak was really good and better then most restaurants.

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Overall for a nice meal on a budget this is a good place to go and you can bring the kids. We’ll be back again to try some of the other things they have to offer. Before you go check out there website and fill in your email to get a free appetizer.