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.

Calypso Salad at Cheeseburger in Paradise

I was on one of the biggest salad kicks during our December stay at our vacation home (Nov. 29 to Dec. 20).  It really was the one dish I could not get enough of.  I love my salads, enjoying one at least once a day but in this case it was a bit different because I was listening to what my body was telling me.  I had been sick the week before we flew out, to the point I was concerned about having to cancel our flight.  Then while we were there I was again sick for four days.  Salads are high in nutrition, low in fat especially with no creamy dressing, easy to pick at when not feeling well AND they provide the body with much needed hydration.  It's best to decrease salad consumption if the illness is gastrointestinal until it subsides but as soon as it does subside, boost the consumption.

I really increased my salad consumption as soon as I felt well about four days before flying out.  I had a large salad at the airport while waiting for the flight then extra salads while we were there except when sick.

We arrived at the airport homeside about 10:30 AM and had planned to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  After a couple of stops, we found a Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant for lunch.  I ordered a Calypso salad ($8.99).  The salad consisted of  field greens, strawberries, grilled pineapples, mandarin oranges, apples, honey roasted almonds and red onions tossed with a citrus vinaigrette dressing.  Grilled salmon or blackened chicken could be added at an additional charge but I just wanted the salad.  This was a rather large salad, definitely more than most folks would eat even as a dinner salad.

This really was a delicious salad combining a lot of flavours in a unique way, well worth tweaking for a refreshing summer salad at home.  Overall, I really enjoyed it but when I make Calypso salad at home I will make a few changes.  I think the citrus vinaigrette flavour could have been a bit stronger and I found the honey roasted almonds too sweet which have been because I hadn't been feeling well, but I would replace them with plain toasted almond slivers.  A dash of lemon zest would really add a lot of flavour without the extra calories.  I also not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce.  It provides a lot of crunch and water but not nutrition.  I think a mesclun or spring mix would be a nice substitute for the iceberg lettuce.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Cooking Bacon in the Oven

Quickly cook a larger amount of bacon in the oven with minimum clean-up and no draining.  Place aluminium foil on the bottom of a baking sheet.  Place a wire drying rack on top on the baking sheet to form a space for the grease to drip.  Place the strips of bacon on the wire rack.  Bake at 350°F to desired crispness.

Dinner Buffet at Cleveland Heights Golf Course in Lakeland, Florida

During our third stay at our vacation home in late 2010, our neighbours invited us to the Early Bird Entertainment Revue and Buffet hosted by Ruby's at the Avenue in Lakeland, Florida (3405 South Florida Avenue in Lakeland, Florida).   This is a weekly event featuring a dinner buffet ($10.95) followed by entertainment by some of the greats - Jim Hendrick (radio station host and MC for the evening), Ken Brady (The Casinos), Jack and Jerry Calhoun.  Eddie Snyder (American composer and song writer)  was at the table behind us!  Nancy Cattarius (Vice President and General Manager of WONN, WPCV, WLKF, and WWRZ) is there fairly often.  Other wonderful entertainers include Dale Glenn (one of our friends), Pablo Reyes, Margaret Burcham, Lorrie Messina and Carlos Roman as well as special appearances by other talented entertainers.

In 2012, the Early Bird Entertainment Revue and Buffet was moved to Cleveland Heights Golf Course located at 2900 Buckingham Ave in Lakeland, Florida.  Cleveland Heights Golf Course is a Division of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Lakeland.  The Revue is held in the spacious club house which offers more seating and a larger dance floor than Ruby's which is nice as it has been a full house every time we have gone.  Seating is by reservation as far as I know.  We always sit with our friends, Dale and his wife as well as a couple of the entertainers, but have gotten to know a lot of the entertainers and regulars.

Ruby is the cook at The Avenue however the restaurant and kitchen are closed for renovations.  Cleveland Heights Golf Course has a full service restaurant, The Grille open from 6 am to 2 pm daily.  The dinner buffet for the Revue starts at 4 pm so the food is catered in from Ruby.

The buffet is set up is a separate room just off the lounge, behind the stage.  It is all you can with food available until the entertainment ends.  The meal usually consists of soup, salad bar, three choices of meat, three choices of vegetables as well as dessert.  Of course there are all the extras like dinner rolls, condiments and that type of thing.  The menu does vary.  Sometimes the theme is fish, other times chicken as well as pastas.  Usually one of the vegetables is some type of potato dish.

We enjoyed an evening at Early Bird Revue and Buffet the Tuesday before we left (Dec. 20) to come back to the cold weather in Ontario.  The food on the buffet is very much home style cooking and that's what makes it good.  It's not pretentious or fancy, just tasty!  I had roast turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy, ham, yams, collard greens and dressing.  Doesn't it look like a delicious, homemade, home style cooked meal?