Every single time I go to Firehouse Subs I place the same order. Two years ago, I had noted that this was my favorite sub place and I (for some odd reason) still had not made a blog post about it (until now).
Reviews for restaurants I have been to. Most synced with my Urbanspoon.com account.
Restaurant Reviews
New York City 2012 Part 3
The mention of Astoria always reminds me of New York, low-key fashionistas, and now it also reminds me of the very cool brunch Ruben and I had at a place called Fatty’s Cafe. Today actually marks a whole month since our visit, but the experience is my favorite from the entire trip (to be beat only by breakfast at Tom’s – more on that another time).
Part of me wishes I would have taken more photos of the ambiance, but I was too excited to think twice of it. Fatty’s is a small cafe on the corner of Ditmars Blvd. and Crescent St. When you approach it, you might almost miss how perfectly awesome it is. If you go, (and weather permits) request to be seated out on the patio. You’ll walk on the sidewalk to the back of the building to enter a whole new realm. Instantly, we felt as if it wasn’t even New York anymore. The atmosphere is that different.
Your order is taken – drinks first of course. Take note: Each brunch entree ($15) comes complete with your choice of a Orange, Mango, or Pineapple Mimosa. I am pretty sure we all chose Mango flavored. I also couldn’t help but to order and try their “Cafe con Leche” (espresso with sweetened warm milk). It was really good…
But let’s remember my husband is Cuban – and no one makes a cafe con leche like he does.
At any rate, Fatty’s cafe con leche did not disappoint.
Ruben had Steak, eggs and home fries (which he thought would be fries and not potato chunks) he didn’t eat the potatoes. I tried not to crop this photo too much so you could see the natural light we were basking in 🙂
I ordered pancakes, eggs and bacon – and sadly could not eat it all. But really tried!
I enjoyed visiting this place, and it is very hard to put into words the feeling of comfort you get by coming here. The servers were friendly, the food was good, and there were no negatives. I don’t know when our next trip to New York will be, but I would not hesitate going to Fatty’s again. Please feel free to share your reviews as well if you’ve ever gone – I’d love to know what the other food was like.
Related links:
Fatty’s Cafe, Google Plus page – Scored a 22 in Zagat
Thanks for reading,
Zulaika H.
Wing Stop – Casselberry, Florida
Below is a “critique essay” I wrote for school on my visit to Wing Stop on Saturday the 6th. I also incorporated my pictures from the visit for the post.
“Let’s go to Wing-Stop”
With that said my husband and I were off to have a late lunch. I had never been to Wing Stop, but Ruben had already gone a few times with his brother and friends. I already knew we were in for a good meal because of their tendency to return at least every couple of months to the nearby restaurant. My experience with the multi-flavored chicken at Wing Stop turned out positive and I see myself going back for more in the near future.
As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by an employee who’s enthusiasm actually seemed honest. This gentleman, who also took our order, even went as far as frying us a sample wing my husband and I were not sure of buying. After sitting at our table to wait for our food I took notice of the staff-to-customer interaction. What I really liked was each member’s attention to detail as they took many orders; it was Saturday afternoon after all. It was nice to see they served everyone with the same positive attitude we experienced ourselves – both to customers walking in and calls they were taking constantly on two phones. There were at least six employees all working toward the common goal of getting it right for each customer.
The Casselberry restaurant is small and seats about 30 people. As soon as your order is taken you are free to choose your table. Location, location, location. I quickly decided on a table by service counter where the drinks were given because my husband likes his soda refills. The table for two was small, but still able to accommodate comfortably when our pile of chow was set onto it. We were sitting against a wall with a covering I can say was literally “rustic”. The bottom half is a metal sheet with rows of burnt orange rust that seemed to almost coincidentally appear in stripes. The top half was adorned with random posters either relating to aviation or Pepsi Cola. Overall, the feeling for Wing Stop’s atmosphere was different, clean, and welcoming.
I was excited when our food was set on a tray before us. This was the moment I waited about fifteen minutes for. My husband ordered barbecue flavored chicken strips (i.e. think crispy breaded chicken bathed in gooey sauce). I ordered Louisiana style wings which were rubbed with Cajun seasoning and packed quite a kick. I would rate the spiciness an eight out of ten. They were so good dipped in blue cheese sauce! Each entree is served with french fries which tasted fresh. I really enjoyed them because they were cut without peeling and potato skins hold a lot flavor. We also ordered half a dozen of their “Yeast Rolls” – sweet bread baked in the shape of a ball. These were really tasty and also helped balance the heat from the wings.
Our visit to Wing Stop is one that will definitely repeat. I am mostly looking forward to trying a new style and flavor of wing. From the moment you walk in to the restaurant it feels like you made the right decision. The customer service and food quality only makes it better at Wing Stop. I would absolutely suggest Wing Stop to my friends and family and would bet this is one of the reasons for the non-stop phone orders coming in while we ate our lunch that afternoon. What a tasty and filling lunch that was.
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Thanks for reading – soon I’ll post Part 3 of my New York 2012 series.
New clue… it’s powdery.
Zulaika H.
New York City 2012 Part 2
I promised I’d be back with more!
This post is about the best sliders I’ve ever had. I’ve eaten these all my life and I think over time I have realized what makes them taste so amazing is the fact that there is always a long period of time between my visits to the family owned fast food business.
Photo courtesy: WhiteCastle.com
Half my life, I lived in New England. We were about two hours away from New York City and made frequent visits to see family there (at LEAST 4 times a year). One thing we always (I really mean always) did was eat White Castle. My mouth literally waters any time I think of it… Am I the American Fatty or what?!
As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I made a trip to NY and this is a photo from our late night dinner trip to Slider Country. It’s really too bad they aren’t a franchise – I’d seriously open one up here in FL!
Here’s another of (some) of my food – I think I ate 5 or 6 altogether. This is horrible I know, but I couldn’t contain my craving!
Here are some related links:
Official White Castle Website
How to make your own White Castle…
Thanks for reading and please come back to read up on the next part of our NYC series!!
Hint: There’s powdered sugar involved.
Zulaika H.
New York City 2012 Part 1
This past week my husband and I went on a trip to NYC. I know I keep saying this on Twitter, but I really have a bunch of stuff to share with you all and will post them soon. Come back these next few weeks as I share some of what we ate within just a few days in the Big Apple.
The first meal for this series could not be more appropriate. As soon as we dropped off our luggage we headed to the BEST Chinese place in China Town. WO HOP
Picture this – my husband and I come up from the subway into China Town in the POURING RAIN. We had to buy a pair of umbrellas at the first shop we passed. I was wearing my Sperry’s and so my feet were SOAKED!! Finally we see it – we race down the steps to get out of the rain.
We were both relieved and excited. My husband had been here before, but it was my first time. Luckily we got there just a little after 11 a.m. and so there wasn’t a line of people waiting outside to eat (the inside doesn’t seem to be large enough for more than 40-60 customers at a time).
It was really like we traveled back in time to a restaurant that didn’t care it was 2012. The walls were covered with photos – There isn’t a way to know what color the paint is in the room. The people in the pictures taped/hung were a mix of actors, musicians, random television personalities and “regular” people. Many were autographed. By the booth we sat in I saw a couple high school student IDs. Anyone who wanted to leave their mark basically had the option to in any way they wanted. It was very different, and made the room seem even smaller.
There’s an image on Obsession Confession (a blog) if you’d like to see what it’s like – here’s the link
As we waited for our food (about 10 minutes or less for the entrees), we got to see a couple tables full of men working… apparently the kitchen is too small to prep back there. A couple (senior members of the kitchen) cleaned fresh snap peas and 3 or 4 others were working on prepping dumplings. It was really cool to witness them doing this – really made the experience feel that much more authentic.
Before our entrees were served I had wonton soup (about $2) just because I love it and wanted to know if they had the goods… Their fried wonton are 75 cents (do not come with the soup). They tasted as if they were fried on the spot because they were still warm.
I was not disappointed, but found it surprising they did not put chives in the broth. Still very good.
As an entree I ordered BBQ spare ribs, which I’d rate a 7 out of 10 – the smaller cuts of meat were a little tough from being overcooked. The larger ribs were juicy and tasty. Ruben ordered Honey Crispy Beef which to be completely honest did not look appealing to me at first (and is NOT crispy). It’s a breaded steak, which is then bathed in a sweet syrupy sauce and served. I tried it and did really like it. Unfortunately I was too full to have a real serving of it. My husband really liked it.
We also ordered Beef Fried Rice to share. It was very good.
Something to make note of is the fact that they do not serve soft drinks or a variety of beverages at all actually! Water or Tea – that is all.
Overall Wo Hop lived up and exceeded my expectations. I look forward to eating there again whenever we visit next. The portions are very big and can easily be shared between 3-4 hungry people. This is probably why everyone loves it. You don’t have to take my word for it though – it has hundreds of positive reviews. I haven’t found a negative one yet!
Google Search (see the positive notes just in the results!)
Google Plus page (Rated a 22 in Zagat)
NY Mag profile page
Wo Hop Chinese Restaurant’s Official Site (the simplicity of the site shows they’d rather be serving food than making it sound and look good. They KNOW their stuff is good!)
After our lunch my husband and I continued with sightseeing – luckily we had cooperative weather for the rest of the day.
As always, thanks for reading – please come back for my continuation of this series from my NYC trip.
Zulaika H.
Jalisco – the real Mexican tacos
Tonight, my husband stopped at Jalisco to pick up dinner. It’s a little Mexican “bodega” that sells groceries and deli items as well as serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
We each usually just can eat two of them. I really like the hot sauce. They can be ordered with more toppings, but we prefer to just have onions and cilantro with our meat.
Here’s the picture of what they look like:
I also had Ruben pick up some “queso fresco” (or Fresh Cheese). It’s like a saltier, crumblier (if that’s a word) mozzarella. I like to eat them with fresh lime juice on them (but not too much).
Thanks for reading… Buenas noches!
Zulaika
Smokey Bones Restaurant
Yesterday, my husband and I went to Smokey Bones for lunch. I haven’t had ribs for a while and I felt hungry so that’s what I decided to have – the Baby Back Ribs (just a 1/3 rack) with fries and cole slaw. I was surprised to actually like the slaw – it was very moist but still crunchy 🙂
Ruben had a Smokehouse burger – he had to take some of the onions out towards the end because the taste of them was a little overpowering.
Menu description: “A mouth-watering 1/2 lb burger fire-grilled to your liking, smothered with BBQ’d onions, peppered bacon slices, melted cheddar and crispy onion straws, all on a toasted burger bun.”
Overall I’d rate our outing a 7 out of 10.
Location: https://plus.google.com/111789603078334239221/about?gl=us&hl=en
Zulaika
Grunt work, fun work
I’m having lunch and really enjoying it though my choices aren’t the healthiest. But the onion rings are SO good here LOL. I don’t think I’ll be eating the burger though…So I’m at A School and my training group is on hold due to our small size (and the holiday yesterday). This means that, for the week, we are janitors. Now this may sound horrible, but it really isn’t. My first assignment was to sweep the third deck of the female house (building).
Done!
Then after some light lollygagging I got the assignment to weed the garden by the quarterdeck (which I love to do anyhow). I can’t walk by it now without feeling a sense of pride – it looks good. That’s all I’m saying! Haha
Now when I get back from my lunch break I’ll work some more ’til about 3:30 p.m. Then we’re off for the day until we muster before bedtime. And this is what I’ll do for the rest of the week.
I plan to hit the gym or go for a run this afternoon.
P.S. The milk tastes like water so I’m not finishing that. But this white cheddar broccoli cheese soup is pretty good. Salad last…
Talk later,
Zoolsterr
