Free Sandwich!

I met up with P and J for lunch the other day. Since we all live nearby, we just decided to stop at Saxby's. Since the first time I was here and discovered that they actually have food here, I wanted to try it out. So here we were. They have sandwiches, salads, smoothies, fro yo. We wanted real food, so we all got sandwiches. You get to pick what kind you want and on what kind of bread. I ordered an egg salad on ciabatta. When I got it and took it back to my table, I noticed that there was no egg salad in it. But instead, it was the prociutto sandwich. Oops. I took it back, but he said I could keep it and he would make me my egg salad. Score! Free sandwich!

So ok, I eventually got my egg sandwich. It was a nice heaping of egg salad with lettuce, tomato, pickle, pepper jack cheese, and a red pepper spread. Really quite nice. But the best, I mean BEST, part of the sandwich was this ciabatta bread. Goodness! It was amazing! Like perfection! There was something about it, and I can't even put my finger on it, but it was just the perfectest sandwich bread ever. It was lightly toasted so it was crunchy, but good crunchy, not tear up your gums crunchy, yet still soft. I don't even know. It was just the best sandwich bread ever. And it came with chips. I don't really eat potato chips much, and I certainly never buy it, but if it's there, I'll eat them. Man, I wolfed these down.

So since I ended up with a free sandwich, I ate the other one for dinner. I enjoyed it even more because it was free! The free one was a prociutto sandwich, with a hunk of mozzarella, avocado, roasted red peppers, basil, and an olive tapenade. I could have done without the olive tapenade, because I loathe olives, but otherwise, another excellent sandwich. Count two wins in the sandwich column for Saxby's.

They have outdoor dining here, which is a plus. It was just a bit too hot for that on this day. I had a nice iced coffee too. The sandwiches are not cheap, but I think it's a good place to grab a bite and a coffee. The place itself is nice, the workers are friendlyl, and the quality of the food is good. Try it out!

Ardmore Birthday Dinner

So it was birthday time again, my mom this time. And if history tells me so, you know she's gonna pick a sushi restaurant. She's a pretty predictable lil lady. So this time, we stayed round me and she picked Mikado / Thai Pepper. The place has been around for a long time, but it's been years since I've been there. And the last time I was there, it was still two separate restaurants. Now they're physically linked together. So because these two restaurants are together, you can get both japanese and thai cuisine at the same time, which can be handy.

So I got an ardmore roll as a little appetizer. I forget exactly what it was but it had spicy tuna, avocado, and tempura crunchies on it, with some sauce on it. This was delicious! And it had some of the softest most melt-in-your-mouth avocado I'd ever had. And the roll was so big! I picked a damn winner this time around.

My mom got the sushi and sashimi for one. This is what she typically goes for, one of those for one dealies. It had plenty of food in it, but the fish was pretty standard - tuna, salmon, shrimp, and one other thing. So nothing extra special in this, but plenty of food for one person. And the sashimi was nice and thick.

For me, I got the tempura udon. When I feel like getting a non-sushi entree, I usually always go with an udon dish. I love me some udon noodles. And while it's still not the warmest out, I'm going to enjoy as much soup as I possibly can. This udon was ok. The broth was nothing special, and neither were the noodles. The shrimp were pretty good though, and it also had some carrot and sweet potato tempura in it too. The portion was surprisingly large for the price. All in all, a decent bowl of udon and a pretty decent price.

The service was pretty good. Our waitress seemed to be japanese, fresh off the boat, and her grasp of the english language was questionable. She started every sentence with "excusa me". It was too polite and after awhile, it got annoying. She doesn't have to excuse herself when she brings me food, it's her job, and it's what I went there for! In all, everyone was very pleasant and friendly.

My Auspicious Review

Over the holidays, I passed by Auspicious Chinese Restaurant, right next to Milkboy on Ardmore's Cricket Ave. It seemed swanky, and strangely out of place. The name was weird, and I asked myself "is it auspiciously good?" K had told me that she got takeout from there and had liked it, so I decided to give it a shot. I decided to overlook the corniness of their website address (go ahead, click on it and find out for yourself). They also have very punny dish names. Weird.




Indeed, it is very swanky on the inside. Clean lines, dark woods, definitely not typical of a chinese restaurant. The serving staff was also caucasian. PF Chang's anyone? Some green tea was ordered. It said it was "gourmet tea". It seemed pretty ordinary to me.



We got the sesame chicken. It was very breaded and the portion was small. We were still hungry afterwards. We've both had far better sesame chicken at my local takeout place. They're also very very stingy with their rice. You get a very small cup. Way too small for my liking. You have to ration it.

We also got the ni hao ma po tofu, or to normal people, just ma po tofu. I've had this before, but never this runny. It was good though, and extremely spicy. It sure would have been nice to have lots of rice to eat it with. I know it was a "lunch" portion, but come one. We're hungry. When you eat chinese food, you expect decent portions. And espcially with the prices, they shouldn't be so paltry.

When our check came, they brought out chocolate fortune cookies. I've never seen these before. I was intrigued. Then I ate it. This was the grossest thing I've ever had in my life. Not only did it taste bad, it was beyond stale. Even if it wasn't stale, it would have been disgusting. Awful. Just awful! The service was ok. Nothing spectacular. You can tell it's a pretty new restaurant. If they put a bit more effort into the FOOD and not the decor, they might have something. But it's not for me. I'll stick to my local takeout. It's about the food, and thish place just isn't anything special. Auspicious Chinese Restaurant - it's auspiciously mediocre!

Indian, Tiger Tiger style

It's been a heavy cook at home week. Now I don't go out to eat all that much, but this week has been especially full of actual activity in the kitchen, beyond popping something in the oven. Not sure why. I made one of my most favorite dishes to make last night - Chicken Tikka Masala. Indian, you say? Yes, Indian. Not from scratch mind you, but it doesn't get much easier than this. I use the Chicken Tikka Masala sauce from Tiger Tiger. Now you can also find similar sauces at Trader Joe's or even your grocery store, but typically they are not Tiger Tiger. When I say Tiger Tiger is the best, please listen to me. Their sauces are by far the best when it comes to Indian cooking. I've tried Patak's, and it ain't no good. And neither is Trader Joe's. Tiger Tiger is your only choice.

I used to have to drive all the way to Delaware and go to World Market to get this stuff. Whenever I'd go, I would buy 5 of them at a time so they would last awhile before I had to go back. Lucky for me, now I have a much closer source. I live near the Ardmore Farmers Market, which is also conveniently located 10 feet from the Trader Joe's. There's a new spot at the Market called Adriana's Caravan. It's not a store, because well, it's not a store. It's right at the entrance across from Trader Joe's when you walk in. You see Genji Sushi right in front, and to your left, is the nook that Adriana's Caravan occupies. This place is GREAT. It basically has every ingredient you will ever need to make any international dish. EVER. All and any ethnic cuisine you can think of, they've got what you need. And they carry all of the Tiger Tiger products. Apparently they have an exclusive agreement. All I know is that now I'm only 5 minutes away from Tiger Tiger goodness. Plus, the lady who runs it is super nice. And she named the place after her daughter, Adriana.

So when I say this is easy, I mean it. Cut up the chicken and onions and cook it for awhile in some oil. Then dump the sauce in and simmer for a bit longer. Put over rice and start shovelling. Seriously kids, it's delicious. If you buy some naan from Trader Joe's, then it's even better. So tonight's dinner was the leftovers. Plus, today at work, it was Pretzel Thursday. All hail Pretzel Thursday!