During the month of September, I will be sharing a daily food log.
chicken
Honey Cayenne Chicken
It has been a little while since I’ve had chicken because at our house we have steak 3-4 times a week. I mostly prepare steak …
"just like your [Italian] Mama makes…"
My title is a quote from one of Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria‘s reviews. My husband and I went for a late dinner last night and had such a fun time.
When I first heard Ruben talking about Giovanni’s I just assumed it was a pizzeria where his townie friends hung out. I deeply regret that thought now that I have experienced the atmosphere, which comes with great conversation and the nicest staff I’ve ever dealt with at a local chain.
I had a couple of these (left)- I don’t know what it was, but it was very sweet and my favorite color 🙂
I also had their Chicken Parmesan (Dinner portion), which comes with a house salad and garlic bread. I did not get my garlic bread, but
the rest of my experience (not to mention large portion sizes) was going so great I didn’t even realize it until today. No real complaint there , but I will be craving the bread now. Also, we sat at the bar so I can understand the bartender forgetting if they do not usually serve food and just drinks.
If you ever come here, please please have their house dressing with your salad. It’s also available for purchase to take home and I honestly think it is AMAZING!
Ruben had a stuffed pizza – I took a bite and it was pretty good. The texture was perfect.
When our visit was finally over and we were leaving I noticed something – a very important something. There was a woman coming into the restaurant with what seemed to be her elderly father. The little Italian man could barely walk, but I could still see his enthusiasm about getting inside Giovanni’s. I realized if this little Italian man was coming to eat here, they MUST know what they’re doing!
Related Links:
Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria (Official Website)
——->I was kinda bummed that their online survey
and feedback forms aren’t working right now.
Urbanspoon page (for location I visited)
Now go support this place!
Zulaika H.
Recent Wawa Adventures
Wawa is a well known food mart which also sells fuel. Apparently, they are very common in some states/areas, but it wasn’t until this summer that our town had a couple locations premiere.
I personally love the place. It’s very entertaining to see everything neatly placed in the store. Everything is so organized – I love when stores are so visually appealing. With that, however, comes a consequence –Â overindulgence.
We stopped by tonight for a snack and I came out with something I didn’t plan on consuming – at all.
I wanted a Butterscotch TastyKake Krimpet cake (very delicious with milk), but after staring at all the labels and seeing the crazy calories I opted for a cup of soup instead. It may have still been a high calorie choice, but not as bad or as sweet as a cake.
Another cool thing about this place is the center of the store has this window area – behind the window is where the employees make your food. You can see everything.
My husband always gets a smoothie – strawberry, but usually banana related. Last night it was a banana smoothie. They are good.
The picture I took of my soup came out very blurry so I’m providing the Wawa photo from their site here (it’s the upper left bowl):
The soup reminded me of the Broccoli cheese from Quizno’s – I swear whatever they do (or buy premade) has to be from the same company. It tastes exactly the same – and it’s my favorite. The part that Wawa tops Quizno’s on is the buttered roll option. The bread goes perfect with the soup.
The last time I got hot food from Wawa was on Nov. 10th (Saturday night). It was the first time I tried their chicken strips and I really liked them (though they are deep fried and probably not even real chicken). Either way, they were good.
Related links:
Wawa.com
Urbanspoon page for the Wawa location I frequent
Thanks for reading,
Zulaika H.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Buffalo Wild Wings has a cool vibe. The location we went to is huge and features more than a dozen television screens all showing different sports and news channels. This was a fun place to
have lunch and all the staff was friendly and we will definitely go again.
As soon as you enter, you follow a path towards the register and place your order. After you do you are free to choose where you want to sit and someone comes to take your drink order. When it’s all ready, they bring it to you.
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| Here’s an indoor view of the location we went to |
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| All of the booths and chairs have their logo carved into them |
I ordered my wings with the sauce (they have 20 sauce/seasoning options by the way!) on the side (controlling your sauce instead of ordering them drenched is always my preferred option). I also got carrot sticks on the side with ranch – Yum!
Looking forward to our next visit – these wings were good. I can make better tasting ones at home, but their sauce selection is great and I enjoyed our lunch here.
Related Links:
Buffalo Wild Wings (Official Website)
Urbanspoon Site (for location we went to)
Zulaika H.
Marco Polo
Ruben and I have a weak spot for hibachi style restaurants and that’s basically how we got to this place. It isn’t fancy, but the prices are really good and if you know what to order you will leave happy.
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| Art hanging in the restaurant |
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| Restaurant interior |
My main advice is do not eat from the buffet – at least not as late as we went to the restaurant. They’re hibachi (made to order meals) are good, but I did notice that their meat was previously frozen. The more I type the more I realize why this place has mixed reviews. The last tip I’ll give is to have the staff mix your sauce for you based on your description. They are much better at the seasonings (I did not do a good mix for my second round).
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| A closer look at my noodles with beef and broccoli. |
Not sure if you will be ther best fan, but I liked it and would go again. Let me know if you have gone and what you thought.
Related Links:
Urbanspoon page for Marco Polo
Thanks for reading,
Zully
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.
Sparkpeople.com – Lose weight the right way
I’ve been feeling a little health conscious these days. Planning meals (lunches especially) has become a bit of a hobby. Here’s what a sample lunch looks like for me these days. The nutritional information is below in case anyone was wondering – not sure how healthy it really is. But it’s good 🙂
The nutritional information was gathered by using Sparkpeople.com – a weight loss/healthy social networking website I’ve been part of since 2007.
Want to know how many calories you ate today? Use this quick search!
Food Search:
I encourage you to logon and find me ZULAIKAH – the site is really easy to use and has SO MANY resources as well as trackers to help you learn what to do and what not to do. The most important feature of Sparkpeople to me is the social feature in which you find so many people who are motivating and friendly – wanting only your support in return.
Good luck,
Zulaika
