Lunch at Nadia's Bistro

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch at a new restaurant

in town.

Nadia's Bistro features Mediterranean 

and Indonesian style food

as well as American food.

The chef is from New York.

It has taken me this long to post

because I didn't have my camera with me that day

and had to take these pictures with my iPhone.

Then I couldn't get the pictures to load onto

my computer.

I finally had to text the pictures to the Foodie Daughter

and then she emailed them to me.

Convoluted.

But it worked.

 Nadia's Bistro.

 It was fairly quiet the day I was there,

but it was also later in the afternoon.

 The menu.

 The lunch menu.

 I asked for ice water with lemon on the side.

I got lemon on the left side. 

I wanted it on the side.

Not on the side of the glass.

I also had to wait nearly five minutes for a straw -

after I had to ask for one.

 A basket of freshly baked bread, both whole wheat and white,

was brought out along with a plate of extra virgin olive oil

with dried herbs.

This was nice.

I was told that the specials of the day were a soup and samosas.

I ordered the Brisket Philly Sandwich, 

which was a "super tender Angus beef topped with

caramelized* onions and Swiss cheese.  Served with fries."

The online menu notes that the chef keeps a secret stash of 

cheese-whiz in the back if desired.

*By the way, it would behoove any restaurant

to carefully proofread their web site to catch any errors

as the description for this dish read "carmalized."

I asked that the fries be served extra crispy.

Instead, they arrived barely crisp.

In fact, the first one I tried was still slightly frozen.

Fail!

I had to ask for catsup for my fries

and again it took nearly five minutes for 

the server to bring the catsup to the table.

The sandwich was very good,

if not particularly authentic, 

as I do not believe that Swiss cheese is the cheese

of choice in Philly.

But I'm in B-town, so that's okay with me.

Towards the end of my meal

the hostess brought a survey to my table,

asking that I fill it out so that they can improve 

upon their service and the restaurant.

So I let them know what I liked:

the sandwich and 

the friendly and knowledgeable staff.

I also let them know what I didn't like:

the lemon on the side of the glass,

the wait for the requested items,

the not-extra crispy fries and

the fact that they had used frozen fries 

instead of hand-cut potatoes to begin with.

However,

I do believe that overall this place has potential

and it can be good.

I will give it another try

- in a few months.

Lunch at El Ranchero

I decided to treat myself after my
bi-weekly massage and headed to a
restaurant that has been on my "to-try" list:
El Ranchero.

Mexican cuisine is a bit out of the way
in my world culinary tour,
but I was on the "wrong side of town"
after all.

Since this was my treat to myself because
of a month-long migraine
and this was a stopping point
before a special mini trip,
I could do what I wanted.
So there.

I was promptly seated in the expansive dining room.

There were quite a few diners present,

but this was a large place, so it didn't feel crowded.

The menu.

Having perused the menu online

before I arrived,

I already knew that I wanted the Carnitas.

A shot of the dining room.

I asked for a glass of ice water with lemon on the side.

Look, Rosie!

Four slices of lemon!

After taking my order,

the server brought out this large basket of warm

tortilla chips and the carafe of salsa.

Now, how am I going to eat all of these delicious chips by

myself?

Well, I tried.

They were very good.

Although I prefer pico de gallo over salsa.

The Carnitas arrived.

This is a plate of pork tips served with rice, refried beans,

guacamole salad and a side order of warmed flour tortillas.

Don't let the large hunks of pork fool you,

they were fork tender.

Carnitas are typically cut from the "Boston butt" or shoulder

of the pork and are slow roasted for several hours

until the collagen is broken down.

I bundled the various ingredients into the flour tortillas

and rolled them up.

I also simply ate components of the dish 

as they were.

Quite delicious.

Not spicy at all but this had some very nice flavors.

Not bad for $6.99.

Now that I was fed it was time to head off for my

adventure,

despite the fact that the wind chills

were in the low 30's.

Next up, a rugged hike through a beautiful

Southern Indiana nature park.

Going Greek

Today the Foodie Daughter and I went on a

whirlwind Christmas shopping spree.

But before that, we went on a slight detour to the

Greek Islands.

Or at least to our local Greek restaurant.

The Trojan Horse Restaurant has been a fixture of

the downtown Bloomington scene since 1978.

I of course ordered the Gyros (properly pronounced yearo),

while the Foodie Daughter played it safe and opted for the

Tenderloin sandwich with cheddar cheese, lettuce, pickles,

onions, catsup and mustard.

She loved this sandwich and said that it was crispy

and moist and flavorful.







My Gyros arrived with its distinctive blend of savory

lamb and beef seasoned with select spices,

onion, tomato and zaziki sauce

(a combination of Greek yogurt, sour cream cucumbers and garlic).

This was subtly spicy and messy and oh so good.




We decided to splurge and we both ordered dessert.


Baklava ice cream: ice cream with baklava folded in.



This was a good meal and I want to thank the

Foodie Daughter for traveling to Greece with me today.



Opa!

Crispy Orange Beef

Tonight it was just the Foodie Girls for dinner,

so I decided to head East for inspiration.

I pulled a package of boneless chuck eye steak that

had been marked down to $2.99 a pound

out of the freezer.

I peeled and cut a carrot.

I also cut a celery rib

and diced half a yellow bell pepper.

I cut about 1/3 cup red onion into chunks.

I then cut one bunch broccoli florets into bite-size pieces.

These were set aside.

I also had some leftover sauce from last night's dinner.

That was a whiskey sauce with soy sauce, honey, garlic,

red pepper flakes and a bit of whole grain mustard.

Then I added 2 tablespoons of orange juice

(since I didn't have an orange),

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon grated frozen (or fresh) ginger

1 clove garlic (not shown), grated

to the leftover sauce.

The meat was sliced into pieces against the grain.

I like the late afternoon light here.

The veggies are prepped.



The longer-cooking veggies are in the larger bowl.






After resting in the fridge for a bit, the meat is coated in

cornstarch.

The meat is fried in hot oil in small batches

and set aside until all is cooked.


All but 1 tablespoon of the oil is drained and then the

carrots, onion and celery are added to the pan.

Then the sauce is poured in and allowed to reduce.

Finally the meat is added back in and the

broccoli and peppers are added to the pan.

Then the heat is turned off and dinner is ready to be served.

I admit that I Semi-Ho'd the rice, using a microwave

product.

But, despite that fact, this was a lovely dinner.

We did decide that the next time we might try a

batter in order to keep the beef crispy.

The Foodies Travel to Afghanistan

- without a Passport

The Foodie Daughter and I made our next stop on

our culinary tour around the world.

This time we traveled to Afghanistan.

Samira Restaurant is a highly rated restaurant in B-town.

While they have an extensive dinner menu,

they also have a rather nice lunch buffet.

Please forgive the blurred picture,

but the Foodie Daughter had a migraine and needed to

eat ASAP,

so I tried to take the picture as quickly as possible.

She picked fragrant basmati rice, fried chicken thigh,

meatballs in a spicy sauce,

a flavorful mix of tomatoes,

green bell peppers, red onions, perhaps some cucumber,

cilantro and other seasonings

and a salad.

I chose the meatballs and sauce, basmati rice,

the flavorful veggie dish

(I need to figure out the name of that dish),

brown basmati rice with slivered carrots and raisins

and a yam and black bean curry dish.

Please note that I don't normally like black beans,

but I liked this dish - a lot.

In fact, there was a lot I liked about this meal.

Hummus on toast was presented to us.

I loved this dish.






We also had some flat bread.



The only thing that could have made this better is if we

had had some good olive oil in which to dip the bread.





But the piece de resistance?




The baklava.



I have had baklava at another restaurant in B-town before.



There was no contest.



This baklava wins.

Hands down.



The Foodie Daughter and I wanted to lick the plate clean.



It was just that good.

The Foodie Train Heads to Israel

Bloomington holds the annual

Fourth Street Festival

on Labor Day weekend

and I always attend on Saturday morning.

Today I had a second objective

in mind as I went to town.

An Israeli restaurant sits

a block away from the festival.

I knew this would be a good time to

venture out of Asia

and into the Middle East

in my continuing quest

to dine my way around the world

without leaving Bloomington.

Falafels is tucked away in the rear of Dunkirk Square.

The waitress was kind enough to explain what the dishes were.








The decor is eclectic and intimate.

After we ordered, a basket of grilled pita bread with

olive oil and tomato sauce was brought out.







The Foodie Daughter suggested that we get

a small order of Pita Chips.



These were fried and served with Hummus.

Very nice.




The Foodie Daughter ordered

the Shawarma Sandwich,

which is grilled chicken on their

freshly baked Pita Bread.



She chose to have onion, roasted peppers and fries

added to her sandwich.



The Foodie Daughter liked this,

but felt the sandwich was too much too large for her.



She also thought that next time

she would just add onion as the other

flavors were just a bit much.







I ordered the Original Beef Kabob Sandwich,

which is ground beef formed into patties and then grilled.



I added tomatoes and cucumbers, onions

and Mamaganush (feta cheese rolled in fried eggplant)

to my sandwich.



The meat was slightly spicy

and the flavors vaguely reminded

me of a Greek gyro.




These were some seriously big

sandwiches.



They were good and we enjoyed our "trip"

to Jerusalem.

To Recycle or Not to Recycle

Ah, that is the question, isn't it? Monday dawned bright and clear, so I decided that I should head out to the grocery store, with a stop first at our local recycling center. As the recycling bins at home have been overflowing, this seemed like a very good idea.

Okay, the back of the car is loaded. Sadly, this is only a portion of recyclables that need to go out.

Well, what do you know? The recycling center is now closed on Mondays. I tell ya, there's nothing like getting the word out. Oh wait, this was nothing like that. So now I have to drive around with a full cargo area. Rats. And here I thought I was avoiding all of the obscure holidays that the center seems to observe. National Pet-A-Wet-Chipmunk Day?*

*Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

Oh well, but since I am in the area, I think I'll make a stop for a photo op.

The bridge for the Clear Creek Trail is beautiful against the brilliant white snow and the azure sky.

One of the nice things about Bloomington is that people from all over the world come here because of the university. As I have documented from time to time, our community has many ethnic restaurants. That diversity carries over to ethnic grocery stores. One of the larger ethnic markets, Sahara Mart, recently opened a second store near where I shop. I thought I'd stop in while I was out this time.

It was very interesting to just wander around, reading the labels of the different products. This store has everything; from olive oils from Turkey to an entire aisle devoted to bins of coffee beans. They even carry horny goat weed powder and dragon blood chunks. The first is rather self-explanatory, while the second can either be used to cleanse the blood or in voodoo love spells.

As the television ads promised, the entire back half of the store was reserved for wines. Again, I had fun just reading the labels.

And it looks like I brought home some interesting things from the store.

Here I have a bottle of Tvishy wine from Racha, Georgia and a Rosso Barbera D'Asti from Canelli, Italy. I also found a Vanilla Balsamic Cream from Italy and I picked up a package of tabbouleh and a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich.



This is a big sandwich. Fresh mozzarella pairs beautifully with the sliced tomato and the aromatic basil.

And the tabbouleh was bright and refreshing.

I'm glad I decided to stop in. I know I'll be going back.