Baja Fresh

Of all the fast food Mexican restaurants, Baja Fresh is my favorite.  My splurge is the steak and shrimp burrito ultimo.  Major favorite!!!

Mizu Southcenter

We enjoyed a night out celebrating The Big Guy who has turned 9, don't even ask me how that is possible.  His dinner choice was "one of those places where they cook the food right in front of you".  We opted for Mizu and I admit I was a bit disappointed that we went for the Southcenter (old) route versus Covington (new)... until we got there.  Best.  Dinner.  Ever.

We started out by trying their agadashi tofu which is the closest we've had yet to the legendary Grand Cayman one.  FIT and I shared a scallops and steak and between the three foods we had more than enough food to go around.  The Big Guy insisted he wanted plain rice and then proceeded to eat half my (our with FIT) fried rice.  

When the show started we were in for the biggest treat.  Because it was The Big Guy's birthday (or because the chef is a rock star... not sure which) he let TBG try and toss and egg!  It was so cool, funny, special... what fun!  Three of the four caught bits of rice in our mouth (poor FIT... he'll get it someday) and TBG just felt like the special guy he is all night.  Mission accomplished.  We also enjoyed an "on the house" dessert.  We all agreed this was the best choice TBG could have made for his birthday dinner.

On the way out we had the added bonus of running into his birthday twin separated by one year.  Great minds think alike and his buddy opted for the same birthday dinner spot.  Which was just super fun to see.  We like that family so much.

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

 

The Crab Pot

This was pretty cool.  Just after going to Serious Pie (thinking we would be on our own all evening) The Critic called saying his friend The Restauranteur wanted to take us to The Crab Pot!  I've never been and was looking forward to having FIT try it out as well.  And thankfully The Big Guy wasn't starving which meant he MIGHT have a good attitude.

The Restauranteur ordered for us so I have no idea what feast we got -- but it was a LOT.  I asked if we could order chicken tenders for The Big Guy -- they were great when they eventually came out but he would have been fine with everything we had.

The big hit for all of us was the crab.  If we went again, I honestly think this might be all we need.  The Critic and I liked the cooked oysters (I had the raw ones as well... not bad... just raw oysters).  FIT even attempted... and failed... a raw oyster.  FIT kept spitting stuff out because "it had a crunch".  He liked the salmon skewers a lot (the rest of us weren't too impressed by them).  He wished he had clam chowder.  I ate the mussels and clams.  The sausage wasn't bad.  The potatoes and corn were obvious fillers and weren't anything to write home about.

It's funny to me how dressed up we got to go to a place that stood likely to stain our hands and everything else red! 

Fun part was that we got a mud pie and a rootbeer float the size of Texas for The Big Guy since it was his birthday tomorrow.  Totally tasty as well.  The rootbeer float could be passed on -- it's HUGE and no one could finish it.  Neat that it was "on the house" -- but really?  Everything was for us.  Which was a pretty special experience.

I've finally been to The Crab Pot!  And guess what?  It's a hit with the whole fam damily. 

Serious Pie

On a whim picking The Guys up from camp we decided to try out Serious Pie.  It was a little early for dinner but that turned out to be a good thing.  The Big Guy's quote is pretty spot on...

"It's not bad, but it's not the best pizza either."

At least now I can say I've been here. 

It's ok -- just not best for me and my kids.  The pizza "flavors" didn't really appeal to us and we ended up getting the basic cheese (which The Big Guy wasn't even a fan of the buffalo mozzarella cheese for goodness sake!).  Thankfully it was happy hour so we got a small amount for half price.

Here's something interesting.  The Big Guy opted for a "house made blackberry soda" which the server assured us was incredibly good.  TBG took one single sip and declared "I don't like it" which kind of frustrated me and I thought he was just being, well, himself!  I took a sip and admitted there was an odd flavor I recognized but couldn't quite place.

FIT tried it of course and said it was "pretty good" but after a few sips even he was done with it.  I kept trying to place it and it finally came to me.

Apple cider vinegar.

Once I passed this on to The Guys the FIT said "Who would put apple cider vinegar into their sodas??? That is just Ca-RAZE-ee!!!  I mean... cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo." 

Yep.  Not best for my kids. Their palates are just not that sophisticated yet.  Come to think of it, neither is mine I suppose. 

Ristrettos

Stopped in for a brief lunch during a work training. I wanted some fresh food and happily remembered I have wanted to taste food from this interesting place.  I got the strawberry salad which has intrigued me the two times I have been in the restaurant but I never ordered it. On the menu I thought it said it had goat cheese -- and maybe it was -- but maybe it was feta? It seemed feta-like. It wasn't bad -- it was certainly very fresh.  But the overall flavor was too sour for me. Don't get me wrong -- I didn't want too sweet -- just sweeter.  It wasn't my favorite, but I certainly have had worse!

Carino's

We headed up to Bellingham for the weekend and got stuck in MAROR traffic the whole way, so rather than push it all the way up we decided to stop at Carino's in Mt. Vernon.  The great news is that The Dad was able to join us -- always a treat.

I had the wedge salad which I have always enjoyed -- I shared some with The Dad who agreed it was delicious and even had enough for leftovers.  Surprisingly, this wedge salad is equally delicious even two days later! 

Gotta love that they have diet coke -- unless you're The Big Guy.  His main problem with that means no rootbeer.  Diet coke means Barq's rootbeer.  Barq's has bite -- aka caffeine.  Which is kind of a no-no when you're nearly nine.  But his luck was that they had bottomless Italian sodas!  Score!  He had peach and vanilla and FIT had cherry twice (I think).  All were big hits -- no cream.

Main course for me was the bowtie pasta.  I like it a lot but it probably isn't the healthiest option.  I broke The Critic's heart when I asked if he was getting The Cuban -- turns out I had a different specials menu that was outdated.  He got a chicken parm panini and liked it fine.  He asked for the Parmesan fries and I'm pretty sure he didn't get those.  The Dad got the jambalaya and gave me a taste -- very tasty!

For The Guys it was bowtie pasta for The Big Guy, plain, with a meatball.  He didn't really like the meatball so hopefully posting this will remind us of that the next time we go.  FIT got spaghetti with butter and Parmesan which he said was fine -- but not as good as Old Spaghetti Factory.

Love this restaurant and how convenient it is when we head to Bellingham.  Bonus is that there was PLENTY of space for us to park, even though we were pulling the boat.

Sport

Can't remember what I wanted to post about this except to say that, contrary to what The Big Guy wants to believe, he does NOT LIKE JALAPENOS!!!!  And I have eaten more jalapeno things as a result of this not being able to get through his head.  The stuffed jalapenos here are spicy!!!

I have a note that we tried the uber bacon -- which I think was good.

We just learned that this is owned by the same people who do John Howie!  Also known as tempura bacon.  Explains the love of the uber bacon.

They have garlic fries!  Like stadium garlic fries!  Which is uber important if you are The Big Guy.

As for me, well, I'm not a fan of diner food in general.