Tag Archive | restaurant

Brasa – Raleigh NC

Brasa is a Brazilian steakhouse located in Raleigh, NC. This was my first time at a Brazilian rodizio style restaurant. Dinner with the rodizio service was $37.95. They offered other options, but why go to a Brazilian rodizio restaurant and not order the all-you-can-eat meat?

After I was seated and they took my drink order, they explained the set up. I had a rock that was painted red on one side and green on the other side. Green means to keep passing by with over 12 different cuts of meat (pork, beef, lamb, chicken, etc). Red means stop. In addition to the copious amounts of meat that was being offered, there was an extensive salad bar. I did look over the bar just to see what was being offered. I picked over one plate of food, and since I was there for the meat, I did not want to fill up on salad, rice, and bread.

My rock show GREEN and I was ready to eat. At this point, the service was a little slow. I am guessing it was because they had to cook the food. I am not sure. Maybe the time passed slower because I was so hungry. It seemed like I was waiting a long time to eat. It was not as I imagined, person after person passing by the table with different meats. The waiter would come with chicken and ask if I wanted some. If so, he would slice a piece for me. Then he would move on to the next table. Five or ten minutes later, he would come by again with another meat. One time he came by with chicken hearts. I decided to leave that alone. He was stingy with the lamb, slicing very small slivers (see picture). I kept asking him for more until he gave me what I thought was a sufficient amount.

When I was at the point that I felt I had enough, I turned my rock over to RED. Then the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. Grilled pineapple coated with cinnamon sugar was served. The caramelization of the grilled sugar gave the pineapple a little crunch exterior. On the inside, it was warm and juicy. I never had grilled pineapple before, but it was a satisfying end to a delicious meal.

They are little stingy when serving the meat, but if I kept asking for more, they kept cutting. They were also slow to come around with the more expensive cuts. Everytime I turned around, they were trying to serve chicken and sausage. This was another reason why I tried to get what I wanted when they had it because I did not want to have to wait a long time for them to return. Overall, I would eat here again.

Atlanta restaurant review – Veni Vidi Veci

Sep6

I was in Atlanta November 2010 and wanted some really good Italian food. I did not want to go to a chain restaurant but wanted to visit a place with a little more personality. My friend recommended going downtown to Veni Vedi Veci. I checked the website and saw they recommended making reservations. They use Open Table reservation system so it was easy and quick to reserve a table. Unfortunately for me, Atlanta traffic was going to make me late for my original reservation time. I called the restaurant and changed the time with no problem. The person that answered the phone was polite and courteous. At one point on my way to the restaurant I was lost, I called the restaurant again and the person gave me directions. Once I finally arrived, the valet parked my car and I went inside.

The hostess took my name and seated me almost immediately. I wanted to taste everything on their menu because it looked so delicious. I decided to go for the three course menu for $29.

For my Antipasti, I chose shrimp polenta. I thought this was a fitting dish for an Italian restaurant located in the South since people love to eat shrimp and grits. The shrimp were very tasty and not overcooked. The texture was firm but not tough. The polenta was creamy and cheesy. I am not a big fan of polenta, but I can say this was probably some of the best tasting that I have ever tried.

For my Primi, I chose rigatoni with sweet peppers. Only one word to describe this dish: SUPERB. It was really good. It was not spicy for those people who cannot handle

For my Secondi, I chose Trota Salmonata. This was Idaho Red Trout cooked with olive oil and parsley, served with potatoes. The skin on the trout was crispy, while the fish flaked apart without much effort. It tasted very fresh.

For dessert, I decided to try their strawberry with marscapone pizza. The server did not describe this dish very well and I was disappointed. It was a pizza (dough was not sweet) with strawberries (that were not sweet) and marscapone cheese (that was not really sweet). And it was served hot. So after the light delicious flavors from dinner, I had this warm not quite sweet, not quite savory pizza. I tried to eat just the strawberries, but eventually gave up on that. Since I love my desserts, this was a disappointment. If they had added more sugar, I think that it might have tasted better. The overall concept had promise, but there was a lot missing in the execution.

Overall, I would go here again. Next time, I would probably not experiment on the desserts and just go with cheesecake. It is hard to screw up cheesecake.

ADDRESS:

Veni Vidi Vici

41 Fourteenth Street Atlanta, GA 30309

Cross Street:

(404) 875-8424

Maggianos creme brulee

Sep5

One evening when I did not know what I wanted to eat, I decided to go to Maggianos and see what they had on the dessert menu. I was prepared to spend about $10 for dessert and coffee because I wanted something that much. To my surprise, Maggianos now has these mini dessert options that were less than $5. They were like dessert bites. That is good for me because I really only wanted a small portion. I cannot eat all of the regular size.

Today I went with the creme brulee. It is not often that restaurants really do this dessert well. Most times, the custard is cooked at too high heat and the result is not creamy goodness but more like cooked vanilla eggs. In this case, Maggianos did everything right. The burnt sugar on top was thick enough so that it took a swift tap of the spoon edge in order to crack. Then the spoon scoops the creamy custard. When I put it in my mouth, it tasted like candy velvet.

Maggianos Creme Brulee = AWESOMENESS

Crave big breakfast

Sep5

After finishing my corn muffin, I turned my attention to my Big Breakfast. The pancake was the size of the plate, I ended eating that for 2 days! So much food! The potatoes were seasoned with some herbs and were very tasty. The bacon was crispy perfection also.

Everything about this meal was awesome. Coupled with the fast, friendly service and this brunch was a good experience.
Crave was my plan B for brunch this day, but next time they will be the first choice.

http://www.cravemtp.com

Crave corn muffin

Sep5

Crave in Mt Pleasant, SC has the most delicious little corn muffins that they serve with their brunch items on Sunday. It was moist but held together well. It was a little sweet but not overly so that it tasted like cake. I thought it was perfect. I would go back just to have another corn muffin.