Yet Another Place Way Better Than Wichit

So Bee Hee suggested that we try Figaro's for lunch.  I wasn't going to be able to be there but that's how the cookie crumbles.  I bet I had more fun doing what I was doing than the other Monkeys had eating sandwiches.  The problem was that no one even thought about taking pictures for me.  They all told me how great everything I missed was, but did they think about my blog and the post I was supposed to make for a new food place?  No.  So this is a second trip to Figaro's.

A variety of things were tried.  A couple of the steak and cheese sandwiches, a couple of the chicken sandwiches, and the meatball too.  Everyone agreed that they were all good sandwiches.  (I really liked the chipotle mayo on my Two-Timer.)  And my sandwich weighed in at a little over a pound.  It was very filling. 

 

It does not look like you can customize anything.  I mean, you can ask, but I'm not sure I would risk it.  You might be banned for ever.  And you wouldn't want that.  Because the food is really good.  I want to try the Italian but I might have to wait until I can get someone to split with me because it will be hard not to order the steak.

I do believe we will be going back.

Moody's Defeats Wich It

Everyone knows how I feel about Wich It.  I think is sucks.  But I have finally defeated my sandwich foe.  After some bad sandwiches and some bad reports the guys finally agree with me that we should never eat at Wich It again. 

 

 

It didn't hurt that we found Moody's just a few minutes away.  It is so close even Babbit can walk there.  And the sandwiches are awesome. 

Henry and I got the Tex Mex.  Henry got extra hot pepper spread on the side and added all of it.  I thought mine could have used a little more heat but it already had a little kick so I don't know how he could taste the meat over the hot peppers.  But the sandwich was filling and delicious. 

Danny...Boy and Bee Hee split the Carolina Pulled Pork and the Katz (they got the mustard on the side because they are scared of mustard now because of Wich It.)  They said both were really good and the pulled pork was not smothered in BBQ sauce but had just enough.  So I might even like it. 

Alan got the Banh Mi.  He also approved.  For what that's worth.  Henry, of course, warned him against getting the Banh Mi but it seems to have worked out. 


In an attempt not to stuff ourselves we decided not to get any sides.  We did not need any.  Despite the initial worry we had when we saw the tiny bag (well, tiny as compared to the Sam LaGrassa's bag) all the sandwiches fit in the sandwich was just the right size.


We will be going back.

We Was Fancy For a Night

Now, I think we can all agree that the Shipping Monkeys are not fancy.  But sometimes we like to pretend.  So since Bee Hee has been going on forever about us going to Capital Grille, and it was Dine Out Week, and we have been putting a little money aside every week, we decided to act like we can afford to eat at a steakhouse. 

 

We all got dressed up in our best collared, navy blue work shirts.  And tried to be on our best behavior.  And I have to say we did a pretty good job. 

 

They put us in a little alcove off to the side that was cozy and didn't feel like everyone would be looking at us.  It turned out that the waiter, Adnan, knew Bee Hee.  He was very good and was able to handle all of us without ever loosing his smile.  Which is quite a feat. 

The bread basket was awesome.  We all had to try really hard not to fill up on bread before the food came.  There was an iPad on the table which had the drink list on it.  I thought that was pretty cool.  The only problem was the beer wasn't on that and we had to ask the waiter to tell us what they had.  Danny...Boy was very impressed with the Coke, and quickly found out why.  They have tiny little glass bottles of Coke.

Babbit got to get his precious French Onion Soup even though it wasn't on the menu, and he and Bee Hee enjoyed that.  The clam chowder was also a big hit: it was thick and creamy with lots of clams.  And according to DB3 the Caesar salad was also a winner. 

The entrees were all steaks.  There was New York Strip and Filet Mignon and both were excellent.  The Kid added shrimp to his and he said those were good as well. 

I love crème brulee.  And I loved this crème brulee.  But it was the softest, loosest crème brulee I have ever had.  It tasted really good but the texture was off.  The flourless cake was rich and delicious.  (Or so I heard, I didn't taste it myself.) It was just the right size because anymore and you would not be able to finishe it.

On the way out there is a big bowl of candy, which instead of mints is tiny little hard fruit candies.  They were tasty and since I am not a fan of mint I was glad they had something different.

I think I can safely say that everyone had a good time and would go back in a heartbeat.  As soon as our monetary resources have been replenished.

 

BBQ!

That's right, the last lunch before I go to Texas we get BBQ.  Larry J's BBQ Cafe to be specific.  We ordered a lot of food and we got a mix of things and sauces so I think we got a pretty good feel for the place.  First thing to note, if you have a big order - order early.  I mean before they officially open.  We had six people ordering food and poor Babbit got manhandled (I know, I know.  He usually likes that) and yelled at when he got there.  Apparently if you have a lot of food you should call in at eight in the morning even though the place doesn't open until 11:30.  How we were supposed to know this, I don't know.  Also, if you are the one causing the long line you will be pointed out to everyone waiting in line behind you as the culprit. 

As for the food...eh.  People liked the brisket and the burnt ends.  Alan liked his pulled pork sandwich.  (But remember this is Alan we are talking about.)  The chicken and the ribs were just okay.  The sausage was good and very spicy.  The fries were a hit too.  The cole slaw was good as well.  It is more vinegar than mayo so tangy instead of creamy.  The baked beans were well received.  The cowboy beans (which did not have ground beef in them no matter what the internet says) and the collard greens I would say are not worth getting again.  And the mac and cheese was inedible according to Danny...Boy.  All of the sauces were liked by those who tried them. 

Overall I would say that we were not impressed with this place.  I don't see us going back.  But then Bee Hee is the one who suggested it and he had been there before and liked it enough to go back.  I'm not sure what it was that he was so happy about since even he said the ribs were just okay.  And if a BBQ place can't do awesome ribs then what is the point. 

Personally I did not think it was worth the calories that I ate or the price that I paid.  Especially if Babbit is going to be in physical danger.

Rondo's is Always the Answer

So to celebrate Henry's birthday we went to Rondo's.  And as always it was awesome.  So awesome all our hearts were asking for mercy.  No quarter was given.  We all ate every last bit.  Even Henry.  Who, the Shipping Monkeys have agreed, we are slowly killing with our group lunches.  He used to eat fish and vegetables.  We have put a stop to that.  You're welcome, Henry.  You might not live to see another birthday but it will be a tasty trip while it lasts.

Impromptu Lunch

I'm sure this will come as a shock to everyone but, Babbit did not bring his lunch on Monday.  And neither did Bee Hee.  So Bee Hee suggested Mediterranean.  Babbit made bad faces at first but since he can be talked into any place he doesn't have to go himself he finally agreed.  And since I have no will power I joined as well.  We ended up going to Pita.  You know, the place Pizza is always asking if we have tried.  By the way, don't tell her we went there or we will get her going on it again.

So I got the falafel salad.  Which is just what it sounds like, falafel on a salad.  I like to think that since it was a salad it was good for me.  I will just ignore the fact that it had fried food on top.  I enjoyed it.  The salad was a salad, not the best salad I ever had but nothing wilty or anything bad. It had olives in it (obviously) and I even ate one.  I was surprised to find they still had pits for some reason.  The falafel was good too.

Bee Hee got the chicken shawarma salad.  He said the chicken was dry.  And didn't say much else.  So I'm not really sure what to tell you.

Babbit got the chicken kabob combo plate.  He said the chicken was really good but the rice was just okay and kind of bland.

You did get a pita with the salads and Babbit scored two free falafel with his combo. (I think it is a Monday thing but I am not sure.)  The dressing for the salad was very thin but tasty.  And all the portion sizes were good.  I think we were all willing to go back some time.

Burgers

So the Monkeys used to have about five places where we would go to lunch all the time.  Lately we have been branching out and adding new places to the list.  They are all burger or pizza places, but still...  And with all these places to eat sometimes one gets shuffled to the back of the list and kind of forgotten.  It happened to Sweet Tomatoes and we were so glad we remembered it when we finally got it again.  The same thing happened to Shake Shack.  We had it and liked it but with all the other burger places we somehow ended up not going back.  Until now.  (Henry had the day off and we can never tell him we had burgers with out him.  It would break his heart.  But he, of course, would blame Babbit, even though he wasn't here either.)

Once again we all enjoyed it and were glad that Danny...Boy had brought it back up.  The burgers were slightly crispy around the edges and juicy.  Those who got bacon said it was cooked well and you could actually taste it.  If you remember from my first post about Shake Shack (which you can see here) the fries got an ambivalent review by almost everyone but me, who liked them.  But this time people were singing their praises.  We each got our own fries this time because they only have one size and it is pretty much a single serving.

It was around $10 a person which is more than some but not bad.  Especially since we all enjoyed it so much.

More Food We Ate

This is another double post of things I should have posted awhile ago.  But, well, deal with it.

real burger

large shake

So for Danny...Boy's birthday lunch he picked Mooyah.  Which none of us had ever heard of before.  But it's fun to say.  And odds are you are not going to get a bad burger.  I mean, it's a burger.  There are levels of goodness but even the not so good ones I will still want to eat.

So some of us just built our own but Alan and Henry got the cheddar bacon burger and Bee Hee got the double diablo, only as a single and Babbit got a turkey burger.  (Don't tell Henry.  Because apparently turkey will kill you.)  We also got fries to share and only in the interest of being able to make a full report on the offerings of Mooyah we also got a large vanilla shake to share.

fries 

turkey burger

They also have chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and chicken tenders.  And we all got potato buns but you could get a wheat one or have lettuce as your bun if you are watching your carbs.

Everything was very good.  Not all the toppings are free like you would get with Five Guys but the burger was slightly better.  The fries were yummy too.  The shake tasted like a melted cup of ice cream and probably would have been better if we got to it before it had melted so much.  Babbit said his turkey burger was good (I mean, for a turkey burger).  Everyone was pleased.  We now have several burger places that are on our lunch list so we might have to get burgers more often.  Which would be just fine with me.  And maybe if we get burgers enough one of these days I'll be able to pass one up to try a hot dog, because those looked good too.



The second half of the food double feature is an oldie but goodie.  We had not been to Sweet Tomatoes for a long time and decided it was time to go back.  As always we had trouble picking out our toppings.  (You would figure we would have this down by now considering all the pizza we eat.)  We finally landed on a broccolli, feta and tomato, a pepperoni and ricotta, and a mushroom and bacon.  We got three large because apparently we are idiots.  That was way too much pizza for the five of us.  Even taking into account left overs for Fishy Fishy it was a crazy amount of pizza.  But it was all delicious.  Every flavor combination worked.  There were the right amount of toppings so you could taste everything and still be able to pick up the pizza.  And, although I think it is completely by accident, I like the pick your own size slices.  They range from tiny to huge depending on how you feel.  I don't know why it took us so long to go back to this old friend but I think everyone was glad that we did.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is Danny...Boy's birthday.  Happy Birthday!  And to celebrate, as usual, we ate.  Usually I make the famous Danny...Boy cookies.  Even thought it is July and not the season to have the oven on.  But this year we mixed it up a little, sort of.  I am calling them Danny...Boys 2.0.  They are the original cookie with the filling for the Swiss roll.  Danny...Boy thought of it himself.  And it turned out to be a very good idea.  They were yummy.  If I do say so myself.  I think we have just started a new birthday tradition.

Et Tu Tutto?

squishy Italian

Ham sandwich - Not Italian

So we got Tutto's again.  I love Tutto's.  Some times the thought of getting a Tutto's sub for lunch is the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.  And this time Alan was going to split with Babbit so both Danny...Boy and I would both be able to have a whole Italian sub.  (Babbit goes on and on about how it is a really good ham sandwich.  And, for a ham sandwich, it is a good sandwich.  But let's face it.  It is no Italian.)  Everything was right with the world.  And then I got my sub.  And the normally delightfully crunchy roll was soft and squishy.  Don't get me wrong.  The sub was still good.  But it was not the iconic Tutto's sub that rips apart the top of your mouth that I'm used to.  The sub that I look forward to for days.  It was just not the same.  I blame Bee Hee (I know, you thought I was going to say Babbit.)  Bee Hee, who usually gets the braided roll or sliced bread or some other softer choice, got a sub roll this time.  And we all suffered for it.  Well, not all of us.  Danny...Boy said his was the same as always.  He said it several times.  Thanks for rubbing it in by the way.  And since Bee Hee liked his that way really it was just me.  Yet another restaurant that is out to get me.  Why?  I thought we were friends Tutto's.

WTF Wichit?

I was just beginning to think that it was an honest mistake.  That maybe, just maybe, Wichit wasn't actually trying to kill me in the mustard incident.  I even went so far as to say they were off my s#!t list.  But now I am more convinced than ever that Wichit hates me and doesn't want me to eat their food.

For like two years I refused to eat a Wichit sandwich.  During which time the guys continued to rave about them. And now, just when I started eating there again, they have the worst food they have ever gotten from Wichit.

They got the order wrong.  Three sandwiches were supposed to come with chips and only one did.  And they put sauerkraut on Danny...Boy's sandwich when he didn't ask for any, The Monkeys say that they have never gotten bad french fries from Wichit,  This time they were dreadful.  They were cold, old and stale.  It was like someone had forgotten to throw away yesterday's fries and they just decided to serve them even though they had been sitting out all night.

Several of the Monkeys even complained that the sandwiches were not as good as normal.  And this time I went off the map a little and got a buffalo chicken wrap.  The description says 'crispy' chicken but no matter how crispy if you put it in a wrap with buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing the breading is going to be a soggy mess.  And in the end the wrap tasted like something you could get ready made at Star Market.

Maybe it was just a bad day.  I will give them another try.  But really, I think they are out to get me.

Big Night Out for the Monkeys!!

For our big night out the Monkeys decided to go to Floramo's.  We have been planning this for months and I think we were there for about 15 minutes.  But that's okay.  We managed to eat a lot in that small amount of time.

looks like a prison

I don't know how we came up with Floramo's, but we are all red meat lovers so it all worked out.  Even The Kid decided to forgo seafood for the night.

they don't do take out

It was raining which made parking an adventure.  Drainage is next to nonexistent in the parking lot and there were puddles that were half a foot deep.  So be careful where you park.  The building is not all that inviting from the outside.  It looks like it is a fairly busy place but we lucked out and only had to wait a few minutes for our table.

huge rack

The menu is extensive and you can get just about any combo of items you can imagine for all the indecisive.  The bread for the table was nice and fresh and came with a boat load of butter.  I don't know what they do to their fountain drinks but both Babbit and Danny...Boy thought they were significantly better than other fountain drink they have had.  But they do not give free refills.  The service was friendly but rather abrupt.  Bee Hee and The Kid got the mixed grill, Henry and I got the steak tip and rib combo, Danny...Boy got the rack of ribs and Babbit got the chicken tips.  All of them served with your choice of side and a salad.

The salads are uneventful but nothing was wilted or anything.  But they were all overdressed.  By a lot.  It was more a little lettuce with my dressing than anything else.  Maybe getting the dressing on the side is the way to go.

Babbit got onion rings for the table and they were good.

plenty of butter

overdressed

yummy

tips and ribs

rice and potato

The food came out in a reasonable amount of time.  And the portions are huge.  But you would think that a place that serves so much steak would have a way to tell which plate is cooked to which temperature.  Henry and I ordered the same thing only his was cook well done and mine medium rare.  It's a big difference.  But when he was handing out the plates and I asked which was which he had no clue and just took a close look at them and guessed.  The ribs were served at about room temperature but they were delicious and meaty and the meat did fall off the bone as advertised.  The steak tips were tender.  The chicken tips, and lamb tips were good.  The sausage was flavorful and just slightly spicy.  In fact all the main dishes were good, if not quite as hot as I would have liked them.  The side dishes however were a different story.  The mashed potatoes and rice were pretty blah and the roasted potatoes were not roasted in any way I could see and did not taste very good either.  

Danny...Boy's car in a lake

chicken tips and roasted potatoes

We were not encouraged to stick around and take our time nor were we offered dessert.  As soon as we started to slow down our waitress came over and asked who wanted boxes.  

We left full and reasonably happy with our meal.  Poor Danny...Boy got back to his car only to find that it was now in the middle of a small lake and had to swim to his car.  But other than that I think we all enjoyed the night.  Floramo's is by no means gourmet and there were a few disappointments but the prices are good and it showed enough promise that we wouldn't write it off completely.