This blog, The TriCity Review, is moving. The new posts will be located at http://defoenet.com/review/ until I can get the domain name moved.
Mountain Town Station
August 1, 2008We attended the opening night of the 2008 Labadie Pig Gig last night. This year we decided to get bbq from Mountain Town Station. The plate included a piece of chicken, some ribs, cole slaw and baked beans. The chicken had great flavor but was a bit over done. I had to peal off some of the outside burnt parts. The ribs were excelent! Even using a plastic fork the ribs just fell off the bone. The flavor was a little but smokey with just a little bbq bite. They were not spicey at all but had a deep full flavor. The ribs also had almost no fat with a lot of meat between the bones. The bbq beans were a little bit runny but again the mild smokey flavor made for a bold flavor that had a great aftertaste. I highly recommend the ribs and becuase they are full of flavor without being spicey Mountain Town Station is a good choice for anyone.
Frutista at Taco Bell
July 25, 2008
taco bell frutista
I’ve seen the ads on TV and the Frutista looks great and refreshing. I had not tried one until last night. I’m not a real fan of overly sweet drinks and without trying a frutista my first thought was that it is a super sweet drink. Last night my wife and I were driving to meet some friends to carpool to Meadowbrook Festival to see Live and Blues Traveler in concert. We were both thirsty and she wanted a Frutista. We stopped in Taco Bell and she ordered the Mango Strawberry. I had a taste and was quite surprised to find out that it didn’t taste overly sweet.
The ads are great. They use a tropical scene and show the fruit being sliced fresh. If you listen to the voice-over it says natural mango flavor and topped with real strawberrys. Everytime I hear an ad like this I have to look into the facts. It clearly states on the Taco Bell website that “made with natural fruit flavor and contains no fruit juice.” The advertising also states that it is “topped with real strawberrys.” So what are the nutritional facts? This 17oz frozen beverage contains 250 calories, 59g of sugars and 62g carbohydrate! WOW!!! Let’s compare with with a Coca-Cola. A 20oz Coke has 240 calories, 65g of sugars and 65g carbohydrate.
OK so we know that fast food resturants are not the healthiest places to eat. We paid $2 even out the door so it’s more than a Coke but less than an energy drink. The Frutista is refreshing and (the mango strawberry one) is not overly sweet so it makes a nice treat on a hot day.
Wrap at Tropical Smoothie
July 7, 2008I hadn’t visited Tropical Smoothie in a while. It was over 80 deg outside, the kids were gone and neither the wife nor I wanted to cook. She recommended Tropical Smoothie on Gratiot in Shields. Seemed like the perfect idea.
I had a hard time reading the menu but finally decided on a Jamaican Jerk wrap sandwich. The Jamaican Jerk wrap was filled with a decent amount of chicken, rice, corn, black beans, and cheese. Looking at the menu it also was to include asparagus but I don’t recall any in the wrap that I received. Anytime I think of Jamaican jerk I think spicy. This wrap was spicy although not a first. It took a few bites for the spice to build up. I enjoy spicy and the flavor was excellent and it left a good burn after the wrap was gone.
I ordered a combo which included chips and a smoothie. I must admit that last summer I was addicted to the smoothies but hadn’t had many this year. One of my favorite smoothies is the Blimey Limey. This smoothie contains strawberries, pineapple, orange and lime. The Blimey Limey is sweet but has a bit of a tartness due to the lime. The tartness adds to the refressingness in a way that a vinegar cucumber has a way of quenching your thirst. On a hot day I find that this is more refreshing that something more sweet.
I understand that a cup full of fresh fruit is expensive but at just over $10 for a sandwich, bag of chips and a smoothie this is not an inexpensive meal.
Olive Garden Ravioli di Portobello
July 1, 2008Pretty much every time we visit Olive Garden we get the soup and salad. This Thrusday night was no exception. We ordered the soup and salad. The waitress reminded us that at dinner time the price goes up and it would be about $10 per person. Well shoot, for that price I might as well get something different. So I re-opened the menu and selected the Ravioli di Portobello.
Now I love mushrooms. All kinds of mushrooms and cooked in all different ways. The Ravioli di Portobello is made with a creamy smoked cheese and sun-dried tomato sauce. When the waitress put the plate down it looked good and I couldn’t wait for a bite. The ravioli was cooked just right, not to hard and not overcooked to the point of being starchy. The sauce was very cheesey and flavorful. And underneath it all you can still taste the mushroom but it is not over powering. After the appetizer I really didn’t think I could eat all the ravioli but it was so good (and there were only 7 on the plate) I ate it all. Even though Debra is not a fan of mushrooms I had her try a bite. She said the sauce was excelent but a little to much mushroom for her.
Taken at the Olive Garden on Bay Road in Saginaw, MI
Yeah Cheese!
June 30, 2008I love cheese, all kinds of cheese. To me, and many others, cheese is the ultimate comfort food. That is one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to dine at Olive Garden the other night when my wife suggested it. It has been quite some time since they added Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta to their appetizer menu and quite some time since my tastebuds had the enjoyment of tasting it. And what can be better than oven-baked smoked mozzarella, provolone, parmesan and romano cheese served with Tuscan bread? Well actually it was better with the garlic breadsticks! We finished our plate of bread and still had a good amount of cheese left. Not to waste any of this very tasty goodness I spooned some on a piece of garlic breadstick and voila – it was better. Next time nix the Tuscan bread and give me another bowl of breadsticks!
Taken at the Olive Garden on Bay Road in Saginaw, MI
Onion Rings & a Milkshake
June 27, 2008The other night we were waiting for my son to get done with his Tae Kwon Do class and had 30 minutes to kill. It was after six we had both been at work all day and were quite hungry. We didn’t really have enough time to grab dinner plus it was over 80 deg and very humid. Even though we were hungry the heat didn’t make us feel like eating. Debra suggested that we walk over to Michigan Coni Island on Court Street and grab a milkshake. This was a perfect idea for a hot day.
Michigan Coni Island was busy, almost to busy. We were standing there watching the one worker at the counter try to help the people in line and keep getting more behind. Having a limited amount of time we discussed just leaving and going somewhere else. We decided to stay. I ordered a strawberry milkshake and we decided to split an order of onion rings. We paid the girl at the counter and sat at one of the booths. The restaurant was busy and we had a hard time finding a clean table although there were 4 that were empty.
It was a short time later when they brought the shakes and onion rings to the table. The shake was cold and was hand mixed with real strawberries. It was very tasty and helped cool me down on this hot evening. The onion rings were real onion with a hand dipped batter. I was trying to figure out if it was a beer batter but we could not come to a conclusion. It’s hard to say anything bad about greasy comfort food and these onion rings were great. They were hot, made with fresh ingredients and not to salty. With a little catsup is was a perfect snack.
Amazing Sausage
June 25, 2008Debra and I spent the past weekend at the Bay City River Roar. At weekend events like the River Roar we are usually to busy to think about eating and have a tendency to eat very poorly until we get home late at night. This year there was a breath of fresh air (or fresh food) with the arrival of Bone Daddy’s BBQ. We had our chairs and equipment setup behind the Bud Light boat team and up pulls the Bone Daddy’s truck complete with smoker grill on the back. Before lone they had the grill fired up and the entire dock area smelled soooo good.
It was a few agonizing hours later when the meat was done and we were offered a sausage in an oversized hogie bun. The sausage meat was lean and full of flavor. The owner put a decent amount of his hot sauce on the sausage and it was even better! The hot sauce had a decent amount of bite but not go much. The sauce had a great taste and left a sweet after taste when finished.
This was one of the best sausage dogs I have ever eaten. Later that night when we were driving home at 11pm I could almost taste the sausage and wanted another one!
Pizza at the Schuch
June 25, 2008Well, what can I say? We actually went to the Schuch to get pizza because we have had pizza there before when the owners were gracious enough to let us use their building for a photo shoot all day. I must tell you though, this pizza was even better than I expected. I will start at the bottom!
The crust, I think they may just have the best crust around. It is made the way a pizza crust is suppose to be made; just the right thickness and consistency, UMMMWAHH! Then there were the toppings. I think David would agree with me that their sauce rocks! Then they pile on the fresh, real cheese and I am telling you they didn’t scrimp on either ingredient. We ordered our pizza with green pepper, onions and green olives and I was a happy girl when it arrived! I was even happier when I tasted it because the veggies were good but they also used the good, huge green olives stuffed with pimentos and nicely sliced. They were awesome. I am an olive fan!! All of the ingedients were fresh and absolutely tasty so instead of one piece, which by the way is filling enough, I had to eat two!! And how do I know it was a great meal…..yes, I had to undo my button!! My waist was a little tight and I ate more than I should have. Truly, I couldn’t help it!
David topped his meal off with a draft and I of course had a Blue Moon so it was a very refreshing and satisfying meal.
I Love Pizza!
June 16, 2008I have to admit, I love pizza! It is such a versatile food. Pizza can be gourmet or junk food.
It was Friday the 13th and we just didn’t want to cook. Pizza is always on the top of the list for things to eat and we wanted pizza! It didn’t take much convincing to get Debra out the door and off to Old Town Saginaw. We decided to stop by Perry’s Schuch Hotel and Bar on Hamilton Street. We ordered a large pizza with onion, green pepper and green olives. My preference would to have mushrooms but sometimes we have to accommodate the wife! Friday night is all-you-can-eat fish night and as the waitress walked by with two big plates of fish for another table I wondered if we ordered the wrong thing.
The server brought us a basket of peanuts in the shell and we each ordered a draft. Debra ordered a Blue Moon and I got the $2 domestic on special. I have forgotten that it is a long tradition at the Shuch to serve peanuts and this was a pleasant appetizer.
The pizza arrived after a while and was hot and tasty. The sauce is mild but has a nice blend of spices that gives it flavor. The veggies were all fresh and the onions and peppers still had a little crunch to them. Judging from the stringiness of the cheese I would guess that it was 100% real cheese none of the processed cheese food (what the heck is cheese food anyway?) that some fast food pizza places use. We each ordered another draft and chatted with the owners a bit.
The decor at Perry’s Schuch Hotel is filled with antiques and gives the feeling of being in an old saloon. Later at night the Schuch does turn into a nightclub but we were out of the resturant by 8pm and the dance crowd had not shown up yet.
We were only able to eat 1/2 of the pizza but that’s ok because we always like left-overs. The pizza is not fast but real pizza with fresh ingredients always takes a little while to cook. I highly recommend the pizza at the Schuch and with two beers (and a basket of peanuts) our total bill was $31.19.
