Nice Outdoor Quesadilla

Today I was heading back from class and I decided that id like to try the Mexican place in the union(my favorite!). Blue Agave was bashed by some of my friends so I had to taste it for myself. I got a steak quesadilla with pico di gallo and some Monterrey jack cheese. I was surprised.

Initially it tasted fantastic. Cheese melted pretty well, it was still a little solidified and wasn't the best cheese. Steak was good, had a mesquite flavor to it. It was little bits of it not big hunks, which is critical for good quesadilla formation. The pico di gallo was fresher then my hopes and was the best thing about this. A nice fresh taste with some heat but still cool as well. The tortilla was a little too moist. It was crispy at first but over time it got soggy. It needed sour cream to act as a moisture barrier (thank you Alton Brown for that term). Overall I was extremely pleased, it tasted like something I could make. It was huge, a great deal for the cost, very filling. Though it was constructed in the usual cookie cutter manner, it tasted real .

Lastly it was a gorgeous day for me today so I decided to eat outside. This added to my meal experience. A nice cool fall day and a nice hot spicy dish. My stomach fulfilled I marched onward into the day.

My god

Today walking back from class I had remembered, "Didn't Mark say that the Chinese place in the union was good today?" I ventured over, and I was very pleased. I'm not going to lie, the picture is what was left after I got back to my room. I couldn't stop eating it. It was "Hong Kong Pork" and the same fried rice. The pork was tender and covered in sauce. It tasted sort of like the beef sticks that you can get at take out places. It was a beautiful glaze on the pork sort of sweet almost like a hint of pineapple. It was savory too, matched the sweet nicely. It was so good I couldn't even stop to breathe. I kept eating and eating. Tender and addicting I loved this pork and I thank my roommate Mark for pointing me to it.

Leftovers of last night fed me well

And I love eating real food! Its times like this that I wish Trussardi was a real man..... damn that would be a good time.

Saturday Night Sushi

Saturday night I went to get some sushi with my mom and neighbor. Its a usual spot for us and as always it was excellent. We started with the hot towel service, always a pleasure for me. Also we got this little free bar appetizer consisting of leftover fish that was fried accompanied with a seaweed salad. Like I have said in the past I adore when things like this are given before a meal.

Miso soup, a staple in Japanese restaurants, this time very different. The first thing that struck me was that it was sweet. Not the usual salty fare that I'm used to. No this was sweet, a new twist on miso soup. Perhaps a little too sweet for my taste, never the less I was surprised. The tofu was soft but still had some stability. Overall a nice new flavor.

Unagi is probably in the top 5 of my favorite foods. The meat is so tender and the crispy skin has a lovely smokey element to it. This unagi held true to that, especially the sauce. It tastes almost like a derivative of teriyaki sauce. I cant quite put my finger on it but its so very very tasty. The rice was seasoned with parsley(I think) and plenty of the unagi sauce. I loved this dish it warmed my soul!

Finally I needed something cool and refreshing to counter the hot and strong-flavored food. I got a tuna and cucumber roll. Simple, cool and basic.This roll was made with good quality tuna and fresh cucumber. Very Nice roll.

Its been rather strange eating truly real food. My tongue exploded like it was released from chains. I look forward to nights like this in the coming days.

Nothing worth mentioning

I didn't have much of any kind of food today just leftovers and snacks

there will be days like this and I probably wont post at all but for your time I give you this

Lunch and dinner.........and desert

Today was plentiful with foods, so lets get started shall we?

I stopped off at the union again(I go there a lot) for some grub. I was getting tired of just eating sandwiches!!! I eat more then just sandwiches!! So for a while no sandwiches!!! General Tso's chicken and fried rice!!

Lets start with this fried rice, there was tons of it.For about a buck i got more then I could handle. It consisted of eggs,onions,peas, corn(which I adore in fried rice) and green beans(which I hate in general). Good stuff this fried rice, not too salty, not too much in it. My favorite thing about it was that it stuck together. It wasn't hard to eat with a fork, with my left hand no less. It can be frustrating to try and eat loose fried rice as it falls of your fork before you can get it in your mouth. Cant say much bad about the fried rice.

The chicken was fantastic in the beginning. Good heat, big honking pieces of onion. I love that in these kinds of dishes. There was a little bit of ginger and visible pieces of the pepper. Also it wasn't lumpy like some versions of this dish. I'm sure you've had the clustery,miss aligned stuff. This was good it was meaty and consistent. I was enjoying it, but towards the end i started to get this funny aftertaste. Not too bad but it got to me. Overall good portioned meal, i was filled.

Now onto dinner, yes that's a chocolate cake and a Jamaican beef patty. Quite a combination but was tasty stuff. The cake was a little on the sugary side but was moist. Its a change having desert, its good good stuff after a long hiatus. I had never had a beef patty before arriving on campus.I have to say i like them very much. The flaky crust is somehow tender and flaky at the same time. The beef was an interesting texture at first. Kind of lumpy, now i enjoy it.A bit heavy on the stomach but now its one of my favorite snacks.

No more sandwiches for a while! And a heads up this weekend may be barren for I'm eating at home!!

Sandwich GOD

Today I'm almost at a loss for words. What I ate today was simply perfection. His name tag said "FOOD", then again there are no names fitting for this man. He is a sandwich god! He crafted my
sandwich with such tender loving care, it was almost hard to eat. Each slice of roast beef and cheese placed one by one. The placement of the lettuce and onion could not of gotten better. The bread was sliced exactly in half. Sandwich guy I tip my hat to you, for you have made the greatest sandwiches I have ever eaten.
Today's sandwich was roast beef and American cheese, really high quality(Boar's head).The beef was cooked perfectly and was a nice temperature.The cheese was creamy had that little bit of saltiness. The roll was ciabatta, freshly baked. Crunchy outside soft and a little chewy inside. Veggies had a big time crunch and were fresh, the onions especially. The mayo was like some I've never had before. It was still creamy, but it was light and had a bit of a tang to it. It wasn't overpowering at all in fact it helped the sandwich become a single entity.

I really cant say anything bad about this sandwich. Even if I tried It cant be done. There is no reason not to go out and get this sandwich right now. I had some really good chips with this sandwich too ,but they got overshadowed. Kettle chips,sour cream an onion. Really good taste had the real sour cream and onion zing and a good crunch.

I can say no more about this meal.
Seriously go get this right now. THE
best sandwich I have ever eaten.
Thank you sandwich guy!!!!

Benedict buffet

Tonight Is the first night I write two entries! Me and the guys went to Benedict for dinner. The pickings were slim. Things weren't looking to promising but I saw something and I said "why not". I took the dive and I was pleased

A boneless BBQ pork sandwich. Looked scary on the buffet display(rhyme!). But tasted better then one would think. I mean look at it. It looks a little scary. It has the whole McRib look going( taste too).

The sauce was good it was very "ribey" probably from a bottle but at least it was a good brand. It had the texture of ground beef, which i don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing. It was seasoned pretty well, I think old bay which interestingly enough worked well. The bun was pitiful it was comparable to white bread. Another thing was it felt kinda "fillery" which again I'm not too sure of. It was hearty though, Ill give it that. Not a bad thing to eat at all but there was no real excellence about it.

The Mac and cheese however was rather pleasant. It tasted freshly cooked, so much so that it reminded me of the "test pasta". When you cook pasta sometimes you take a piece out and eat it to see if its done. Thats what this whole serving of mac n cheese tasted like. And it was a fantastic choice of pasta. The shells kept the cheese tucked away very nicely. Sad thing was that the roux was a little to buttery. It wasn't thick enough, It didn't make "Squwooch" that mac n cheese makes when you dig into it. Also they neglected to salt the pasta water when cooking it, so it came out kinda bland. A little salt fixed that!

A nice little snack, quick and easy. A little lacking but they say hunger is the best spice.

Coyote Jacks

Today for lunch I decided I was going to try a different place for a burger. I was pleasantly surprised. This burger was superior to the other burger in my humble opinion.

A cheeseburger and some fries and interestingly enough some special sauce who's construction is rather peculiar but more on that later. The overall meal experience was like a classy Burger King. The taste was similar but the ingredients were better.

Lets start with the fries this time for a change. These fries were good, properly seasoned, crispy, nice consistency. They tasted really similar to that of burger king fries but these were much better i could taste the difference.There were a few stragglers of onion rings.which is always a nice surprise isn't it? There were also some dark fries, but I'm willing to overlook them.

The burger also tasted like that of a whopper. Char broiled heavy on the pickles and tomato, shredded lettuce. the charbroil was done very well perhaps a little too much but tasty never the less. The Pickles were crunchy, the tomatoes juicy( not to be confused with watery). The bun was the same exact one as the last burger in the SAC so I was very pleased about that. The cheese was a little lackluster, bland but still gave itself to the overall burger goodness.

Lastly the special sauce, this was a real gem. I have never tasted anything like this in my life, yet its was eerily familiar. It tasted like a mix between blue cheese dressing and honey mustard. It had the chunky bits and the starting taste of the blue cheese and the finish and sweetness of the honey mustard. This was fantastic I would of never dreamed of anything like this. It complimented the burger very well and i only needed a little bit. A very original tangy-soft taste.

In the end it was a very tasty burger.

[Picks up burger and takes a bite]

Frank: Mmm-mmmm. That is a tasty burger. Vincent, ever have a Coyote Jack Burger?

[Vincent shakes his head]

Jules: Wanna bite? They're real tasty.

The Lake Grove Diner

Today I was treated to dinner by my mothers boyfriend. We decided to go to the diner in town.

Its so different having legitimate food again. My taste buds thanked me for a refresher of what real food is like. I love diners, I always have, always will.

Right off the bat we got some cole slaw and a pickle. And it was the

standard usual coleslaw.It had a good crunch, which is important and that's partially due to the carrots. The texture was pretty good, a little on the liquidy side but good. I prefer a thicker coleslaw but never the less this was pretty good stuff. I'm not a huge fan of garlic pickles so I didn't eat much of it. I like when restaurants give you and appetizer before you even order. Usually in Japanese restaurants you'll get a little something. I absolutely love that, it makes the meal feel complete.

So First of the two appetizers were the potato skins. Don't let the picture fool you these were actually what the ideal potato skin should be. The bacon was perfectly cooked. Crunchy but at the same time a little chewy. It had onions in it and that's a new twist I enjoyed thoroughly. The cheese albeit a little oily was melted right into it and fused it all together. The texture of the potato was that in between baked and mashed potato texture. The skin itself almost got that crispness but fell short and was on the chewy side. A little seasoning couldn't of hurt either. A great tater-skin if I ever seen one.

Ah yes the wings. These were amazing wings. I love the dry wings. The heat was perfection the meat fell off the bone but not too much! Oh I was in heaven with these wings. They were crunchy, moist, tender, spicy these wings had it all. 10/10 by all means my favorite wings to date! I'm at a loss for words over these wings!!!!

Ah now for the main course a french dip.
For the record I think the french dip is one of the greatest sandwiches period

Today's dip was no exception. First of all it was a panini with chibatta bread so that's bonus points already.Roast beef was slightly overcooked but thats okay for me in a dip I like it a little chewy. I honestly couldn't tell you what kind of cheese it was, I think it was provolone. It had Swiss chard on it and I love swiss chard on hot sandwiches. So this was a grand slam the first few bites. Then I started to realize they put a little too much butter on the bread when they pressed it. It was greasy to touch, Napkins unfolded before me

I was disappointed with the au jus. It was overly salty
and probably originated in a can. It was good just I was
expecting so much more after tasting the sandwich.
Same goes for the fries, i was disappointed. They had
been cut fresh which was a change. But they spent to
much time in the frier. Drowning in hot oil these fries
were too crispy and too oily. Very bland as well, I needed
heavy hands when it came to the salt(pepper too!).
Pink lemonade again tonight it wasn't as good as last
nights. It was really diluted though refreshing

A very tasty meal indeed. Our bellies full we marched on.

Grill at the SAC

My first entry lets go! So tonight I dined at the SAC(Student Activity Center or something like that). I have eaten at the SAC numerous times since this school year started. Tonight I revisited a grill, and much to my dismay its the same grill I got sick from. But with hope in my heart I took the safe route and got a cheeseburger and some fries.

I figured "how can they mess this up?". I wasn't shocked when I saw it was a cookie cutter burger. Meaning that the meat was pre cooked for the most part and just needed some heating up. the bun was already set with lettuce and tomato. Though the burger patty wasn't perfectly round so that allowed some sense of security that it wasn't all premade in the sense that some other stuff was.

I grab a seat and take a look at what I have to eat. Lets look first at

the burger. The lettuce and tomato are as expected not the freshest

ingredients but tasted decent. The lettuce had sort of a defrosted almost metal aftertaste.Tomato was on the watery side but not too bad. I was very impressed with the bun, It was fresh and tasted like a real deal baked bun. Wasn't too hard or too soft and the little ridges were perfect. If only the burger was that good. Actually it was pretty good, better then a fast food burger to say the least. A little overcooked, but the char from the grill gave it a smokey flavor. The cheese was another high point, it tasted like it was once from a deli. Not the synthetic Kraft single i was expecting , no it was creamy. Towards the end of the burgers life it started to get dry and fall to pieces, and that's not the most appetizing thing in the world. All in all it was a sold burger I might even go back for another sometime soon.

The fries however were shoved in a bag in the back of the freezer and brought back to life in a fryer. Floppy soggy fries, really greasy and had that weird "freezer fry" texture. I salvaged them with some pepper and some ketchup. Its funny I never used to use pepper in the past but ever since I started eating here I love the stuff. Never the less the fries went down and helped round out the meal despite their lacking.

One last note This pink lemonade I got(Tropicana brand) was fantastic. It Tastes pink. Strange to say but its got that one flavor I cant put my finger on. It just tastes pink~!

Tonight's meal was good, a very solid meal. I was pleased with it despite its shortcomings.6/10 pretty good but not anywhere near some of the other places you'll see with me. Until next time!

Intro

Hi I'I'm Frank. This post just to get things started. I'm living on campus currently. So most of the food I'm going to be talking about is going to be on campus food. Occasionally ill take ventures back home and chronicle restaurants there and around here as well. I wont be talking about home cooked meals because, they are just too great and too dear to me. Hopefully Ill have some stuff up by tonight!

Oh and on occasion these guys will come and help