Thursday, December 27, 2012

Restaurant Review(s)

Well, Happy Holidays!

As per usual, I have been a bit off the radar - life moves too quickly at times it seems...

To jump back into blogging (which I am putting on my New Years Resolution list) I figure I will give you a brief taste, if you will, of a couple restaurants I have visited in the past few months:

ELEVEN

Seasonal Heaven.

Eleven. was. delicious. I'm a big fan of innovative, fresh food - and that is exactly what this restaurant offered.

I chose a selection of appetizers and small plates versus an entree because there were just way too many exciting dishes to choose from. Being a big fan of beets, I started with a beet salad:


These roasted red beets were dressed with a light vinaigrette and were mixed with pumpkin seeds. This was an interesting October touch, unique and delicious, and while overall I enjoyed the meal, the salty roasted seeds made the dish, to me, seem a bit too salty. Didn't stop me from eating every bite though!

Next on my list were crab cakes - little filling and mostly all lump crab meat - delicious they were:


Being quite partial to crab cakes, I didn't notice what the dish was topped with - beets. As my friend Bianca said, beets are quite underrated - but I kinda wish I had paid more attention to the fact that both of these dishes were beet involved - it was a bit of an overload. I shared some of the beets on this dish with Miss Bianca.

I'm also a big brussels sprout fan, so how could I turn down a side of brussels sprouts:


And sauvignon blanc. I'm a big fan of sauvignon blanc:


 Oh, and since we were there in late October - Happy Halloween from Eleven!


Great food, a bit pricey, but not extreme - the prices wouldn't deter me from going back for dinner - but I will probably wait for a special occasion or event. The bar area, called 'The Tavern' has a different menu, a little less expensive it seemed - it is now on my list of places to try.

BURGATORY

Beers and burgers make me happy. So for a happy birthday, I went to Burgatory.

At Burgatory you have two options. You can either choose a burger from the menu (and there were some interesting burgers to choose from, believe me!) or you can create your own custom burger. I decided to go with a create your own, and so I had my burger topped with sauteed mushrooms and banana peppers (which is a standard for me) - I had them throw some onion straws on as well:


For a side, you can choose from your standard frites, or other typical burger sides, but to my surprise, they offered a Quinoa salad - that's what I went with, along with a good fall pumpkin beer:


The following did not come from Burgatory, but it is worth noting that this was waiting for me at home after burger time:


 Happy fall, and happy birthday to me!

POINTE BRUGGE

Not a whole lot to say, other than I now know why this place is known for their mussels - these were, by far, the BEST mussels I have ever had:


While I am trying my best to try new restaurants before going to places twice, I know I will break my rule with Point Brugge. Thank heavens they have a sister restaurant for me to try!


Happy eating,

MK