Bonefish Grill in Lakeland, Florida

Eating out plays a large role in our social activities at our vacation home in sunny Florida.  We get together with our neighbours a couple of times a week to eat at the clubhouse, at the Early Revue, or at a restaurant.  Most times eating out with them involves dinner followed by entertainment and socializing with other friends we have met there as well.  Their restaurant choices tend to be chain restaurants.  Since they live there year round and eat out daily, they tend to know all of the best places to eat.  They also know where to find all the best culinary deals.  As a result, we have joined a few restaurant loyalty programs which give extra savings and like many seniors in the area, we eat dinner considerably earlier in the day than we are used to at home.

Bonefish Grill is an American chain restaurant with locations throughout thirty-fours of the lower forty-eight states.  There are fifty-four locations in Florida!  We visited the Bonefish Grill located at 225 West Pipkin Road in Lakeland, Florida.

The facade of Bonefish Grill is impressive with its modern stucco exterior and sleek lines in a neutral light taupe and off white trim set on a background of palm trees and blue skies.  It is nicely lit to soften the hard lines.  The parking lot is spacious with ample parking to accommodate the busy eatery.  Large entrance doors beckon you to enter the cozy dining area, promising an enjoyable dining experience.

The maitre d' seated our party of four at a comfortable booth near a window.  The friendly waitress took our drink order then brought us a loaf of warm bread with herbed olive oil for dipping.  The bread had a soft interior with nicely formed pores and a slightly crispy, chewy crust.  The olive oil was lightly seasoned with herbs.

Olive oil is a tasty, lower calorie alternative to butter for bread.  It is delicious plain or lightly seasoned with herbs or even sun dried tomatoes.  I often serve olive oil for dipping with my homemade breads.  Although any olive oil can be used, we prefer a light olive oil.

We ordered a bang bang shrimp appetizer to share. This delicious appetizer is made with crispy shrimp in a creamy, spicy sauce on a bed of lettuce, garnished with chopped green onions.  My husband declared the bang bang shrimp a clear winner.  He was not wrong!  Everyone enjoyed this delicious appetizer. 

This is one dish I will be working on a clone recipe!  The shrimp is so tasty that it would make for a nice meat portion of a meal or served as an appetizer.  I brought a bottle of creamy, spicy sauce home to experiment with but have opened it yet. 

Entrées are served with a choice of two sides.  Market-fresh fish (wild gulf grouper, mahi mahi and Chilean sea bass, Rainbow Trout, and Atlantic salmon)  is cooked to perfection over a wood-burning grill and then topped with your choice of one of their complementary signature sauces. 

One of our friends ordered the grilled wild gulf grouper with French green beans and potatoes au grautin.   The tender, flakey grouper was perfectly grilled with nice hash marks.  The au grautin potatoes were rich and creamy.  This delicious entrée was a real keeper!

I ordered the grilled Atlantic salmon topped with sautéed spinach, goat cheese and bacon, with baked spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli.  The perfectly grilled salmon had a buttery texture.  This was a very enjoyable entrée, filling yet low calorie.

Our dining experience at this Bonefish Grill location was delightfully pleasant.  The friendly waitstaff were attentive and efficient, much in keeping with the cozy atmosphere.  The food was perfectly cooked and  nicely presented.  The portion sizes were a good size but not too big.  All in all, we certainly will be visiting Bonefish Grill again!

Carrabba's Italian Grill

A chain restaurant is one in which there are the same restaurants under the same ownership or franchise owned at different locations.  The chain may be small as only a few locations within a certain region of the country or it may be large with multiple locations throughout the world.  Chain restaurants are typically fast food or take-out, or sit down.  Chain restaurants regardless of the type are popular because they tend to be conveniently located, lower priced, family friendly and ideally the food is consistent from one location to the next.

We are not huge fans of and likely never will be fans of fast food chain restaurants.  They are usually seen by us as a last resort if we can't find a restaurant while travelling which is seldom as usually we can find a good truck stop restaurant.  We occasionally have Harvey's (Canadian burger chain) or Wendy's at home and we have tried a few of the fast food chains in Florida as well as en route, but for the most part, our preference is for sit down.

Sit down chain restaurants, while not fine dining really are a lot better than fast food chain restaurants.  Neither of us grew up with fast food so didn't develop the taste for it.  As newlyweds we barely had two pennies to scrape together so couldn't afford it and as our young family grew to what would be considered a large family today, sit down restaurants offered a way to enjoy homestyle cooking at a reasonable price.  Two of our favourite chain restaurants from the past were Mother's Pizza Parlor & Spaghetti House(pizza, spaghetti) and Ponderosa Steakhouse (steak).  Mother's ceased operations in Ontario in 1992 and currently there is only one Mother's in operation, located in Calgary, Alberta.  Ponderosa currently has locations in the US but ceased operations in Canada in 1984.

During our many travels, we have been very fortunate to discover a multitude of sit down chain restaurants.  Some are family owned while others are franchises.  Depending on the restaurant the price per meal ranges from low (eg. Steak & Shake, Five Guys, Long John Silvers) to moderate (eg. Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille, Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden).

We discovered Carrabba's Italian Grill during our December stay at our vacation home.  Carrabba's is a casual dining chain restaurant founded by Damian Mandola and Johnny Carrabba on December 26, 1986.  It is owned and operated by OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC headquartered in Tampa, Florida.  There are currently 231 company-owned locations and one franchise location throughout the US.  Carrabba's offer sit down dining, carside carry-out using their online service and catering.

We love restaurants with atmosphere.  In this respect, Carrabba's certainly does not disappoint!  The open style kitchen was very impressive as various pots of cooking food filled the numerous gas burners.  Of note, most professional and restaurant kitchens use natural gas for stovetop cooking because of the degree of temperature control possible.  There was a long prep counter facing the dining area with a glass shelf when plates of food were set for the waitresses to pick up.  Just out of sight to the right, attached to the prep counter was a small sitting area aptly named the kitchen counter for patrons to sit and and enjoy a drink while watching the food being prepared.

On the right side of the stovetop cooking area, there was a gorgeous and very impressive wood oven and grille.  Not only is the grill a workhorse, very much designed for function, it is also aesthetically appealing with the south of the border flare.  You can't help but be drawn to the counter to enjoy the dancing flames and tantalizing aromas!  The ambiance this indoor wood oven and grill creates is priceless.

Much like an outdoor charcoal grill, this wood grill infuses the food with a flavour that can't be duplicated.  This is a very versatile grill used for several of their dishes.  The wood grill allows for direct cooking over hot coals as well as indirect cooking using radiated heat.

The Carrabba chefs travel to Italy every year to discover what is new and exciting in the Italian culinary world.  Many of the dishes offered in the restaurant are authentic Italian dishes, unlike  some Italian restaurants that serve more of an American Italian style cuisine.  Be sure to check out their website as they have a few of their classic recipes for you to try at home.

Meals are served with a hearty helping of bread with lightly seasoned olive oil for dipping in traditional Italian style.  We ordered the the bacon & caramelized onion flat bread served hot from the wood-burning oven as an appetizer.  Oh my gosh, was it ever delicious!  This is a must duplicate at home dish.  It would be ever so easy to do so using homemade or store bought flat bread.

While many consider lasagne a casserole, Carrabba's Italian Grill lists it as a stuffed pasta.  I ordered the lasagne served with a choice of homemade soup or side salad, so I ordered a Caesar salad.  The salad was a basic Caesar salad with a creamy dressing topped with shredded Parmesan cheese.  There was no croutons, crumbled bacon, fresh cracked pepper or lemon wedges that usually accompany Caesar salads especially at Italian restaurants.

The lasagne was a very generous serving size of fresh lasagne pasta layered with house made pomodoro, bolognese meat sauce, fresh grated ricotta, mozzarella and Romano cheese topped with marinara sauce and garnished with fresh grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.  It was a delightfully, tasty lasagne!  I really liked the mingling of flavours of the two sauces that added an extra depth.  The fresh made pasta really set this lasagne well above what many restaurants serve, using dried lasagne noodles.

My husband ordered the veal Marsala entrée that was served with a cup of homemade soup or side salad, vegetable of the day, garlic mashed potatoes or cavatappi amatricana.  The tender, juicy veal was topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and Carrabba's Lombardo Marsala sauce garnished with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  The Marsala sauce, made from scratch daily, is their most used sauce.  He chose a bowl of their classic Minestrone soup and substituted the cavatappi amatricana with linguine in a creamy Alfredo sauce.  Doesn't it look yummy?  It was a delicious meal that got two thumbs up from him.

Crabby Bill's Seafood Co. in Clearwater Beach, Florida

When we are at our vacation home in Florida we often meet up with family and friends who are either visiting or living in Florida.  Our vacation home is located about mid-way between Tampa and Orlando making it an ideal, convenient location for meeting up with family and friends staying at Disneyworld and it is in the general location that is popular with Canadian snowbirds.  We also have family in area that live here year round.  This is always special times for us because we don't get to see them very often.  Friends of ours live in Clearwater Beach, Florida for about 6 months of the year.  During our fall vacation in October we met up with them for a lovely chat over a rather tasty meal at Crabby Bill's Seafood Co.  Crabby Bill's Seafood Co has six locations in the Treasure Island area on the Golf Coast of central Florida.  We visited the Clearwater Beach location located at 37 Causeway Blvd in Clearwater, Florida.  Crabby Bill's Seafood Co was founded by Bill and Dolores Loder in 1968.  The current CEO is their son Matt.

We really enjoy our seafood, usually having one  to three fish and/or seafood weekly.  I have to say I was very excited when we decided to buy our vacation home in Florida.  That quickly turned into disappointment.  While we have found some good seafood offerings, they are not what I expected for Florida.  The warmer waters give a different texture to the flesh, almost borderline mushy so I tend to stick with firmer textured choices in seafood.

We ordered the gator nuggets ($7.99) as an appetizer.  This is pieces of gator tail dusted in seasoned flour then flash fried and served with stone sauce.  Gator has quickly become one of my favourites in Florida.  The texture is firm and the taste is almost like frog legs but with a bit more depth.  It is usually served breaded, deep fried and with a zippy sauce as an appetizer.  The stone sauce was nice and flavourful but lacked the zip normally served with gator.

One of our friends ordered the steamed shrimp, served cold as an entée.  The generous 1 lb shrimp portion was delicious looking.  It was sprinkled with a little seasoning salt something that really isn't necessary with shrimp.  Shrimp is often served with seafood cocktail sauce as an appetizer which gives a bit of zing to the shrimp.  On the other end of the spectrum, shrimp lends itself nicely to creamy based sauces.

Shrimp is very easy to cook at home because it has a colour coded doneness factor.  Raw shrimp is grey but turns a salmony pink when cooked.  It can be boiled, steamed, or grilled.  Just don't over cook shrimp otherwise it gets rubbery.  To duplicate this recipe at home, choose large raw shrimp (frozen or fresh).  If frozen thaw.  Steam the shrimp in a steamer basket.  This keeps the flavour of the shrimp better than boiling in my opinion.  Remove the shrimp when the shell is a salmon pink and the flesh is opaque.  Cool.  Sprinkle lightly with seasoning salt.  Serve with a couple of wedges of lemon.

My husband ordered the grouper dinner ($19.99)  Grouper is a type of white fish that is fairly common in Florida.  The fish was served with mashed potatoes and green beans.  This is fairly close to the way I would serve grouper at home if I could find it.  Grouper is a mild flavoured fish with nice texture.  They are often used to make fish tacos and sandwiches in Florida so finding grouper in the grocery stores is fairly easy.

Crabby Bill's heavily seasoned the grouper with a seasoning salt that really took away from the mild flavoured fish.  In general, when seasoning fish use the like goes with like method.  Use strong herbs (eg. rosemary) and flavourings with strong flavoured fish like salmon and milder flavourings (eg. lemon, lemon pepper) with mild fish.  Never season fish to the point it masks its flavour.  The flavour should enhance rather than mask the flavour.

I ordered the frog leg dinner ($10.99) served with green beans and mashed potatoes.  The frog legs were delightful, something I always enjoy to the point I have cooked frog legs at home.  Frog legs are usually lightly coated with seasoned flour then deep fried until golden brown.  Crabby Bill's did a nice job with the frog legs.  I was impressed!

Quite often restaurants will resort to serving canned vegetable or use instant potatoes rather than the real McCoy.  I can always tell if the vegetables were canned because I pick up a metal taste.  Crabby Bill's did not do this.  The green beans were obviously cooked from fresh perfectly to al dente.  The mashed potatoes were also freshly made.  Now, I am not above instant potatoes for my emergency preparedness stock or home canned green beans (we eat a lot of those) but when I am paying for a meal in a restaurant, I expect the food to be cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this particular restaurant in their small chain as a 7.  That means I would go there again but it wouldn't be my first choice.  The atmosphere was pleasant, and I got the impression most of the food served was cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients.  Freshly prepared food is the only reason I gave this restaurant a higher rating.  The service was adequate, somewhat friendly but definitely not top notch as they were quite inattentive which is surprising since the food is well worth the extra effort of good staff service.  The prices were decent with our total for four with drinks coming in at $93.58.  In general, this restaurant is a bit too heavy handed on the generic, season everything with, seasoning salt.  To me, that is a major flaw, a definite sign of a cook stuck in a rut, not interested in putting a bit of pizazz into his or her cooking.   The nice thing is all of the food we enjoyed there can easily be made at home.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

[Note: This is not a paid post.  The opinions expressed in this review are based on our personal experience dining there.]

Prior to traveling to and staying at our vacation home in Florida as well as the many road trips we make while there, we do a bit of research looking for new restaurants to try.  We follow Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (host: Guy Fieri) and You Gotta Eat Here! (host: John Catucci) on Food Network Canada.  We also look for reviews and forum comments of restaurants in the various areas we will be traveling through or stay in.  Somewhere along the line, my husband heard about a restaurant chain called Five Guys that has quite a following of devoted fans.  It went on our list of restaurants to try.  We had the opportunity to finally try Five Guys during our fall vacation in October.

Five Guys is a privately owned restaurant chain specializing in hand-formed burgers cooked on a grill and fresh -cut fries cooked in pure peanut oil.  The combination is a sure fire winner!  The first Five Guys location opened in Arlingon, Virginia by Jerry and Janie Murrell  and their four sons, Matt, Jim, Chad and Ben as the original "Five Guys".  Jerry and Janie had a fifth son, Tyler, two years later.  Today, the five brothers are the current "Five Guys".  There are more than 1,000 locations across 40 US states and 6 Canadian provinces.   We visited one of the locations in Lakeland, Florida.

The colour scheme for Five Guys restaurants is black and crisp white with lots of cheery red accents for both the interior and exterior. A red checkerboard patter appears not only as part of the interior decor but also on their signage and packaging.   Five Guys restaurants do not have drive-through service but you can order online then wait for delivery or pick the order up yourself.  This is easy on your mobile device using their app (iPhone, Android) or through their website.  Signing up is required.  After signing up you can place your order and pre-pay via credit card online at any of their participating locations.

We stopped at Five Guys for a late lunch so it wasn't busy. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted with a bright, cheery atmosphere.  Boxes of help-yourself complimentary peanuts and 50 lb bags of  fresh potatoes were neatly lined up across from the open style kitchen and order counter forming a friendly, unique barrier between the counter and sit down dining area.  There is no limit on the complimentary peanuts but you can't take them out of the restaurant.

The interior of the Five Guys restaurant was quite spacious, bright and airy.  Clean line tables and chairs in a blond wood expanded bright and airy and yet the restaurant had some of the charm of a 50's diner.  There was ample indoor lighting combined with large expanses of windows.  The were wall-mounted cork boards on either side of the entrance with a stack of note cards and crayons for customers.  There is a self-serve drink bar and condiment counter.

The menu was neatly done on a board above the counter.  Five Guys is well known for their  simple menu consisting of burgers (hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon burger and bacon cheeseburger) in regular (2 patties) or little size (1 pattie) , hot dogs (Kosher style, cheese, bacon and bacon cheese), sandwiches (veggie, cheese veggie and grilled cheese), cold drinks (soda, bottle water) large or regular size, and fresh-cut fries (Five Guys style or Cajun style).  There is no tea, coffee, milkshakes or juice.  All toppings are free.  Those written in black on the menu board are included if order your burger with everything or all the way.  Those topping written in red are still free but you have to ask for them to be included.  Drink refills are free.  The drink cups are a hard plastic so they can be reused at home.  You can watch them make your burgers while you wait on the pick-up side of the counter.

The fresh-cut fries is just one thing that sets Five Guys apart from other fast food style restaurants and burger joints.  Fresh-cut fries taste so much better than the anemic ones some fast food restaurants have.  They are the selling feature for the restaurant chain and the only side offered so they have to impress customers and they certain do.

We ordered the large size salted Five Guys style fresh-cut fries to share ($4.99).  We measured out ketchup in the provided dipping bowls at the condiment station.  I would have liked malt or apple cider vinegar for my fries but there wasn't any.  From our personal experience, serving vinegar with fries is not all that popular in the US unless the restaurant serves English style fish and chips.  Vinegar with fries is more of a British and Canadian thing.

We also shared a large unsweetened ice tea ($2.29) and a tray of peanuts.  Now, we fell in love with unsweetened ice tea several years ago so I make it at home as well.  Unsweetened ice tea is very much a southern US states delight but we've been able to find it states further north as well.  This beverage is refreshing without adding any calories, just perfect for hot weather and ideal when enjoying heavier meals.

The portion size for the fries was very generous!  They were hot, steamy and crispy just perfect.  These fries are a must even if you don't eat the entire portion and they are perfect sharing size.  You just have to taste them to know they are about as close to homemade as you can get, with all the deliciousness of homemade, fresh-cut fries.

The peanuts are part of the Five Guys identity.  Those with peanut allergies or sensitivities should not go there.  There is signage on the doors to indicate that peanuts are served in bulk on the premises.  The peanuts were delightfully roasted, not too salty

Be warned, while most fast food is not the best food for you, Men's Health Magazine (2008) listed Five Guys fries in their 20 New Worst Foods in America Eat This, Not That!  A large Five Guys fries contains 1,474 calories, 71 g fat (14g saturated) and 213 mg sodium.  Overall, Men's Health gave Five Guys a grade of C in terms of healthy choice offerings.  However, you can reduce the calories by sharing as we did and simply asking for no salt on your fries would greatly reduce the sodium.

We each ordered a regular cheeseburger ($5.79).  I ordered my with the everything and added jalapeño peppers.  My husband ordered his with lettuce, tomato and grilled onions.  All of the regular size burgers come with two patties while the little size comes with one.  The patties are made with 100% fresh beef with no fillers or preservatives.  The beef is neither organic or free range but it is purchased from producers that treat the cattle humanely following all the procedures set by the USDA.

These were really tasty,  juicy, homemade style burgers.  We certainly enjoyed them!  Fully loaded, they were a bit drippy to eat but that really is part of the enjoyment.  These burgers seriously are some of the best.  To borrow a term from several reviewers, Five Guys' burgers are Burgericious, well worth the culinary experience.

Men's Health Magazine in the same rated the regular burger sans cheese or toppings as an unhealthy choice at 700 calories and 20 grams of fat.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest listed Five Guys' bacon cheeseburger (920 calories) in their 2010 list of the most unhealthy meals available at US chain restaurants.  The burgers are quite large especially with the two patties so you could cut calories by sharing a burger and simply omitting toppings like cheese, grilled onions and bacon you can certainly reduce the fat content but that's not the point.  I mentioned the unhealthy ratings for the Five Guys' food for a reason.

Five Guys is basically a meat and potatoes restaurant that has never claimed to be health food.  Of course it is not the healthiest food you can enjoy but it is down right good food!  If we are going to a burger joint it is to indulge a bit, and because we eat healthy the majority of the time, a bit of occasional indulgence is fine.  They use fresh, never frozen 100% ground beef and potatoes unlike many fast food restaurants that use frozen burger patties that may have preservatives and fillers and frozen French fries.  All of their products are trans-fat free.  Most fast food restaurants horribly over salt the food but we asked for just a little salt on our fries so ours weren't too salty at all.  I'm sure if we had said no salt that would have been fine as well.  However, I would not consider Five Guys a fast food restaurant.  It is a burger joint, and a mighty good one at that.  Unlike burger joints that have turned into fast food restaurants with drive-through windows and pre-made patties, fries and other menu items, as well as gimmicky characters combined with toys for the kids, Five Guys has stuck to its roots in offering fresh, handmade, homemade style menu items without complicating the menu by adding a lot of extras.  Instead they have focused on perfecting what they do best.  They also don't offer coupons or discounts but rather offer high quality products at reasonable prices.  All around, Five Guys gets a two thumbs up from us!

Steak 'n Shake

I am on a lot of foodie lists because being a foodie I'm always looking for a new dining experience.  Foodies tend to talk.  They share the good, the bad and the nitty gritty of their dining experiences.  My husband and I are not big fast food diners by any stretch of the imagination so even though so many recommended Steak 'n Shake we viewed it as a fast food restaurant so passed it by.  During a recent road trip we finally decided to try Steak 'n Shake and was pleasantly surprised.

Steak 'n Shake is a chain restaurant famous for their steak burgers.  The first Steak 'n Shake was founded in February of 1934 in Normal, Illinois.  The founder, Gus Belt was determined to serve the finest burgers and shakes possible.  He would wheel in a barrel of steaks then grind the meat into burgers in front of his customers leading to their famous slogan In Sight It Must Be Right.  Steak 'n Shake is a diner style restaurant chain in the Midwestern and Southern United States.  While most have a drive-through and front-window service, the main attraction is the diner-style sit-down service.

We were quite impressed.  The restaurant was quite busy yet we were seated promptly.  The decor was delightful, almost retro.  The wait staff was extremely friendly and very attentive.   The prices are very reasonable, if even a bit lower than the main stream fast food restaurants.  Steak 'n Shake offers soft drinks, tea and coffee.  It is very family friendly, just an overall very pleasant dining experience.  I honestly would not put this eatery into the fast food category.

The burger patties at Steak 'n Shake are made from ground T-bone, sirloin and round steaks.  The burgers are packed full of delicious flavour.  My husband ordered the cheesy cheddar steak burger (not pictured) and the double steak 'n cheese burger meal (pictured) and a white chocolate milkshake (not pictured).  The burger meal came with seasoned fries.  You can buy the seasoning if you would like to make the seasoned fries at home.  The predominant flavour of the fry seasoning was nutmeg, something just a bit different but absolutely delicious.  Believe it or not this delicious burger meal was only $4.99!  Now that is a frugal meal if you ask me.

I ordered the guacamole steak burger meal (pictured).  This double steakburger is topped with fresh guacamole, lettuce, tomato, pepperjack cheese, red onion and chipotle sauce served with fries.  Oh my gosh, this burger defines the reason for discovering new eateries and I'm not kidding.  This burger was amazing!  I am definitely going to be duplicating the flavours of this burger at home!

I love avocados but seldom use them for much more than guacamole or in salads.  This was a wonderfully refreshing way to use avocados on the burger.  I really liked the chipotle sauce as well so will be working on a clone recipe for that as well!

Shrimp Penne Rustica

We are in the midst of chaos here between me being sick and the move.  We started moving into our new home on September 1 while I was still experiencing a rather horrid allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was prescribed for an internal infection.  The antibiotic also affected my appetite so even though I knew I needed to eat, I couldn't.  While my stove and outdoor grill were still hooked up at our old house most of my cooking equipment was at the new house but the new stove and outdoor grill were not hooked up.  Essentially we have been living between two houses, neither fully functional.  My husband made the executive decision that our dinner meals would be eaten out until my stove at the new house was hooked up (tomorrow!) and we have done that with the exception of a lovely Italian roast I made in the slow cooker.  He's making headway getting the outdoor grill assembled but rain is causing delays.  I'm anxious to get back into the kitchen, cooking up a storm!

We went to Crabby Joe's for dinner with friends and the kids couple of nights ago.  Their food is good and the prices not bad, averaging $14 per entée.  I ordered a Greek salad because I still didn't feel like eating.  It was quite good but I couldn't finish it.  One of the kids ordered shrimp penne rustica.  The dish consisted of tender shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, spinach, garlic and seasoned tomatoes, with penne in a light olive oil and herb sauce topped with toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese.  I took a bite and oh my gosh it was delicious!  Now this pasta dish would be ever so easy to duplicate at home.  As soon as things settle down I going to work on a clone recipe.  I can see this dish quickly becoming a family favourite!

Spaghettini Bolognese

Spaghetti has always been one of my favourite dishes to order when dining out followed by steak or fish so depending on where we are dining, it tends to be one of those three entrée choices for me.  Oh, don't me wrong as I do like to discover different entrées, it's just that those are my favourites.  Besides within the three categories there is a wide variety to discover.  During our recent visit to Niagara Falls we ate at East Side Mario's on Fallsview Ave.  This is a chain restaurant specializing in Italian food.  The food is average and reasonably priced.  The restaurant is kid friendly but our service was below average.  That could have been due to the holiday weekend however, if anything a holiday weekend is the time to shine as it is a wonderful opportunity to impress new guests gaining repeat customers.

I ordered the Spaghettini Bolognese with the all-you-can-eat soup or salad and garlic homeloaf ($14.99).  Bolognese sauce originated in Bologna, Italy.  It is a meat-based sauce with a small amount of tomato concentrate.  It is not a heavy, aromatic sauce like spaghetti with meat sauce.

The East Side Mario's version was borderline bland.  It was mixed with cooked spaghetti (not spaghettini) topped with chunks of cooked tomato.  The waiter added fresh ground Parmesan cheese.  It was a nice but not spectacular dish.  Spaghettini bolognese is an easy dish to duplicate at home.  The nice thing about a bolognese sauce is it takes few ingredients.  You could easily base it on condensed soup if desired. 
amounts of celery, carrot and onion. Prosciutto, mortadella, or porcini fresh mushrooms when in season may be added to the ragù to further enrich the sauce. Milk is frequently used in the early stages of cooking to render the meat flavours more delicate but cream is very rare in the everyday recipe and only a very little would be used. According to Marcella Hazan in "The Classic Italian Cookbook", the longer Ragù alla Bolognese cooks the better; a 5- or 6-hour simmer is not unusual.[2]

The people of Bologna traditionally serve their famous ragù with freshly made tagliatelle (tagliatelle alla bolognese) and their traditionally green lasagne. It should be noted that the Italians do not pair Ragù alla Bolognese with the pasta shape spaghetti. Wider shaped pasta are thought to hold up to the heavy sauce better.

Hooters' Chicken Wings

Chain restaurants have become the norm and for good reason.  Folks unless adventurous foodies was consistency in the foods they order out.  Some reason that at least they know what they are going to get whether on the east or west coast, the food is the same.  They tend to be good restaurants to stop at when traveling in an area where you are unfamiliar with good local restaurants.  Hooters is an international franchaise featuring mainly pup grub style food.  It is a fun place to go with a nice, friendly atmosphere.  Orders are shot into the kitchen on a clip, the waitresses skate around on roller skates and one or more sports games are on the televisions scattered throughout the restaurant. 

We stopped at Hooters with a friend and his young daughter (age 8).  The chicken wings are available as bare or breaded with a variety of sauces.  We ordered hot bare, parmesan breaded, Louisiana breaded, spicy garlic breaded wings and the kids chicken strips.  There were 10 wings in each flavour served with carrot and celery sticks, blue cheese and ranch dressing.  Sides included sweet potato fries and curly fries. 

This is a meal that could easily be duplicated at home but every once in awhile it is nice to indulge.  We make sweet potato fries, French fries and chicken wings at home.  Some gourmet style kitchen stores sell the cutters to make curly fries if you don't want straight fries.  The cutter ranges in price from $20 to $250 depending on the style. 

Olive Garden in Lima, Ohio

This is the last post on our recent foodie finds while on vacation although I will be sharing so of the great things I make with the foods we brought home from the trip.  Going to our vacation home ends up being a mixture of eating out and cooking in.  This offers us the wonderful opportunity to explore some great regional foods, diners, restaurants, farmer's markets and grocery stores as well as get culinary inspiration.

Our final foodie stop on the way home was Olive Garden located at 1936 Roschman Ave in Lima, Ohio.  Olive Garden is a chain restaurant specializing in Italian style cuisine.  A chain restaurant when on the road traveling from point A to point B without sightseeing can be rather desirable as you already know the quality of food.  For that reason we often stop at truck stops when traveling.  This trip we decided to stop for a nice relaxing meal at Olive Garden.  It proved to be a lovely way to end the trip.  We still had several miles to travel but will filled tummies after a bit of down time from being on the road it made the last leg of the journey a lot more pleasant.

I really enjoy restaurants!  I love taking in the sights, the sounds, the aromas and the food presentation.  It is a great way to do a bit of pampering while peaking your interst in food.  Of course good company doesn't hurt!  We ordered the smoked mozzrella fonduta as an appetizer.  This appetizer consisted of oven-baked smoked mozzrella, provolone, parmesan and romano cheese garnished with parsley and chopped tomato served with Tuscan bread.  The baked cheeses where rich and creamy with a delightful flavour and just gooey enough for topping the bread medellions.  This wonderful mouth sensation would be extremely easy to duplicate at home so I will definitely be trying it. 

October is National Pasta Month so where better to indulge in pasta than an Italian style eatery?  Olive Garden offers several pasta dishes so were plenty to choose from.  My husband ordered the seafood alfredo.  This is dish came with fettuccine noodles topped with alfredo sauce, shrimp and scallops garnished with  parsley and fresh grated parmesan cheese.  Warm, soft breadsticks and a salad were included.  The alfedo sauce makes the dish rich and creamy, Seafood fettuccini is a very easy dish to duplicate at home and one we have made many a time.  My version is a bit saucier but very close to the Olive Garden's seafood alfredo.

Salad was included with both meals.  Instead of bringing out two side salads the waiter brought out a large, bottomless salad for us to share.  This is a nice presentation as each one at the table can help themselves to as much salad as they desire.  The bowl can be refilled if desired.  It is also a practical, time saving presentation for the restaurant staff.

I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce.  Now I have to confess this is the ultimate meal choice for me when eating out.  Yes I make spaghetti with meat sauce at home from scratch and I even can up some of my sauce for convenience but this has always been my favourite meal to order out.  You can tell a lot about a restaurant on the basis of their spaghetti with meat sauce!  To me a big plate of spaghetti covered with meat sauce is comfort eating at it's best!