Friday, June 21, 2013

Southern Cross Kitchen






We had the pleasure of dining at Southern Cross Kitchen, located on 1st Ave. in Conshohocken, a southern food restaurant located right in the heart of Conshy.

We ordered the cheesesteak egg rolls as an appetizer, which were delicious - a perfect combination of meat and cheese wrapped in a spring roll wrapper and fried.

For dinner we ordered the jambalaya with a side of the mac and cheese and the fried chicken sandwich, which comes with a side of fries.

The sandwich was very good, but the chicken was the real star of the show, however, unfortunately masked by all the other flavors on the sandwich. The fries were fantastic as well.

The jamabalya was definitely the star of the show. Chicken and sausage, with a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor. The mac and cheese (which is served as a side or as an entree) was very good, however, I definitely recommend that you order it as a side.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

FigOly





Directly across the street from LA Live, and located within the Luxe City Center Hotel, is FigOly, a very cool restaurant hidden from some of the more chain and overpriced restaurants located at street level.

For dinner, we asked to be seated by the large windows to watch the hubbub on the street. Definitely request one of these tables, best view in the restaurant.

We ordered the Tagliatelle, made with wild boar, lamb and a putanesca sauce and made with house made pasta, which was fantastic. We also ordered the margherita pizza, which was rich and delicious.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Casa Chalupa



At the corner of San Jacinto Blvd. and Cesar Chavez St. sits Casa Chalupa. We were looking for Tex-Mex while in Texas, however, while the food was very good, found that this restaurant was more generic mexican than what we were looking for.

Again, the food was good, we had nothing to complain about. The service was, on the other hand, an atrocity. The hostess spent more time with us than our waitress. And, had our waitress just disappeared we would have not had real issues, but we witnessed her spending much more time with other tables.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Salt Lick







About 30 minutes outside downtown Austin, in Driftwood, TX, (and worth every minute of the drive) is The Salt Lick, some of the best barbecue in Texas. We ordered a platter (The Rancher) to sample a number of the offerings and split it between the two of us (it was A LOT of food!).

Our platter came with turkey, brisket, pulled pork and sausage and ordered a rib on the side.

The ribs are double cut, so there is meat on both sides, and they are huge and full of meat. Of the platter meats, everything was delicious, we couldn't choose our favorite - although the sausage and the brisket was definitely a highlight.

For dessert, we ordered a slice (again, huge slices) of pecan pie. Best pecan pie - ever. Don't argue with me on this, just order it.

The Salt Lick offers wine at the winery next door, however, the restaurant is BYOB, so bring your own wine and beer.

Expect a little bit of a wait here. They do offer popcorn outside while you are waiting for your table, as well as live music on the weekends.  Also, be prepared with cash...they do not take credit cards.


Monday, June 17, 2013

Grape Creek Vineyards



One of the Texas Hill Country vineyards that grows their own grapes right in the state of Texas is Grape Creek Vineyards, in Fredericksburg. Of the two wineries we chose to sample, this was definitely our favorite, both in the quality of the wines and the quality of the tasting room.

When you purchase your tasting, you get to keep the very large wine glass and are assigned a space at one of the tasting tables. There is space for three to four groups at each table, which is served by one host bartender. Each taster can choose six wines to taste - we chose 12 and split the tastings so each of us had a chance to try all the wines available on the list.

Of the wineries open for tastings, we definitely recommend stopping here.