The Stable Cafe at Biltmore Estate

The Bitmore Estate & Stable Cafe

My husband and I spent the Memorial Day weekend in North Carolina, travelling through various cities. Our first stop was Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore Estate. If you have never been, I highly recommend checking it out. It's the country's largest private residence, and it is just phenomenal. Your admission to the house also includes the Biltmore village shops, the house, gardens, winery and Antler Hill Village. I've been in both the fall and spring, and each time of year had it's benefits. We were able to see the gardens in full bloom this year, and in the past I was able to see the changing leaves in the fall. I really want to go back at Christmastime as I'm sure it's even more beautiful there! 

Before our admission to the house tour, JJ and I had some time to kill and decided to get lunch. We both decided that we'd rather eat in the restaurant than in the cafe area where you purchase food and bring it to a picnic table. We chose the Stable Cafe for lunch, which was the old stable house, and was renovated into a restaurant, but still contains the original architecture. The cuisine is sort of Traditional Southern meets contemporary Bistro Cafe, a nice fusion of the two. 

We were seated at a booth, which lined the walls and were originally for the horses. Each had a trough for hay and a water bucket (which now has a plant in it). 

After browsing the menu, we decided to start with the Fried Green Tomatoes. They were very fresh, the breading had cornmeal in it and was crisp, the tomatoes were thick sliced, sweet, tart, and very warm. The tomatoes sat on a salad of sliced cucumbers, red onion, and dill-ranch-buttermilk type dressing that was exceptionally light and refreshing. 

When it came time to order, we found out we had both been eyeing up the same two dishes, but had our reservations. I thought the Apricot Chicken Salad looked great, but worried it might have too much celery, the only vegetable I despise! 

Luckily, JJ had been considering that, so he ordered it and told me we could share. The salad was enormous, made with fresh rotisserie chicken, chunks of plump, dried apricots, and minimal celery. It was served atop a bed of butter lettuce and two yeast rolls with fresh whipped butter. The rolls were warm and the butter was sweet. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the binder was really light, perfect for us may-haters.

For my lunch, I settled on the waitresses favorite, the Southern Salad. It was quite the eclectic mixture of traditional Southern favorites, and more of a platter of items on a bed of lettuce. It was amazing. Again, the base was a bed of butter lettuce (my personal favorite), then it was topped with a mound of fresh, pulled rotisserie chicken breast, shaved salty, sweet ham, a few nuggets of fried okra, 2 deviled eggs, a few tomato wedges, and a few strips of smoked Gouda. The salad was served with a light, buttermilk ranch dressing.

The okra was perfect, crisp and warm. The chicken and ham were tender and fresh, the tomato tasted  hydroponically grown, but was still good. I'm not a fan of deviled eggs, so I only ate a bite of one, but it was good. I'm also not a fan of smoked Gouda, but a few bites mixed in with the chicken and ham were great. 

Had it been dinnertime, we definitely would have sprung for dessert, the Southern Dessert Sampler looked amazing, but we had to get on our way to tour the house.

I highly recommend the Stable Cafe, the prices were reasonable, and the food and service were outstanding! 

Restaurant Review: BLU Boy Cafe & Cakery

BLU Boy Chocolate Cafe & Cakery

112 E. Kirkwood Ave.

Bloomington, IN

(812) 334-8460

http://www.bluboychocolates.com/

Location: Downtown on E. Kirkwood next to Chumley Theater, near Walnut

Cuisine: Gourmet Chocolates, Baked Goods in store and to order

Price: From what I can remember, chocolates were about $3-4 each,

Cake slices and cupcakes were about $4.50 each

BLU Boy Chocolate Cafe and Cakery is a newer bakery and chocolatier in Bloomington, opening in 2008. After doing my research, I learned that Blu Boy is very focused on buying locally and using fresh ingredients without preservatives. They have a blog where they show some of the visits to their ingredient suppliers: http://bluboychocolate.typepad.com/.

I first tried their chocolates right after they opened. They are decadent, melt in your mouth, and many are very beautiful (hand painted!). They are expensive if you compare them to a Hershey's bar, but the quality is superior and they make a very thoughful and delicious gift.

Blu Boy currently has a promotion if you bring back an empty chocolate container for refill, they will give you one space free!

Because chocolates are such a popular hostess and holiday gift, why not buy local and support Blu Boy or any chocolatier in your city rather than buy a box of Godiva?

I recently learned that Blu Boy teaches chocolate classes on the 1st Tuesday of the month from 7-9pm, I wish I could have gone to one!

I have had a few desserts from Blu Boy including chocolate cake and hummingbird cake.

The chocolate cake iself was very moist, rich and velvety. The icing was a little too buttery for my taste. It was borderline eating a stick of chocolate butter. The icing was a little thick, too. I scraped most of it off and just ate the cake.

Hummingbird cake was something I've never had before, so I decided to go for it. It looked beautiful and chock full of flavor, which it was. If you've never had hummingbird cake, this is place to try it! It has bananas, pineapple, pecans, cinnamon, and lots of flavor! It's like a carrot cake for banana lovers.

I was a little disappointed the last time I went there because it closes at 6pm Monday thru Thursday, so if you want to drop in after dinner for a treat, it has to be on the weekend when they're open until 10pm (Sunday's they're closed).

I don't know that I'd go to Bluboy specifically for a pastry or cake, but their chocolates are definitely something special!

Restaurant Review: Uptown Cafe

The Uptown Cafe

102 E Kirkwood Ave

Bloomington, IN

(812) 339-0900

http://www.the-uptown.com/

Location: Downtown on E. Kirkwood near Walnut

Cuisine: American with Creole Influence

Price: Breakfast Entrees $8-10, Dinner Entrees $10-15

JJ and I went to Uptown one night recently because so many people recommend it, especially for breakfast.

The restaurant is somewhat fancier than most in Bloomington, but other patrons were still dressed very casually. Our server was very nice, attentive, and willing to answer my questions with no problems.

We started out with the Artichoke-Kalamata Olive Dip, which was wonderful, and not overly pricey at $5.95. This was a decent amount of food for two to start out the meal.

I have heard, and our server told us, that Phil's Famous Garlic Bread is what many people start out with. I don't like when restaurants charge for bread, so I'd rather order something a bit more if I'm going to have to pay anyway.

I had looked over their menu ahead of time, and wasn't very impressed with any of their vegetarian selections. They have 2 or 3 vegetarian dishes, but then many other dishes have the option to not have meat for a cheaper price.

What they did have though was a specials board with about 6 entrees. I've always read it's best to try the specials because they're generally fresh and seasonal. I saw something called Pasta Bella, so I asked what it was. Pasta Bella is a fresh linguine tossed in a saffron broth with crumbled feta, which melts a bit to make the sauce creamy. Artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, olives and more feta are added to the dish and tossed in with the pasta. It was probably one of the best pasta dishes I've had. The saffron added enourmous flavor, it was creamy but still light, and the fresh pasta was wonderful. I wish there was a bit more sauce and vegetables, but it was great. The Pasta Bella was $13.95, with the option to add lamb chops for a few dollars more. I was a bit dissapointed it didn't come with a salad, they are $3.95 extra to add on.

JJ ordered the Louisiana Hot Pepper Chicken, which was crispy chicken strips over rice with a spicy pepper cheese sauce. His was $13.95 as well. JJ thought the chicken was really tender and crispy, the rice was well seasoned, and the sauce had a good balance of heat and flavor. He said he wished there were more peppers in the sauce because he didn't get many vegetables.

We passed on dessert, though the key lime pie was hard to pass up. Overall, I'd say we had a nice dinner at Uptown, but I don't think it was very high up on my personal Best of Bloomington list. I had no issues with the quality of my dinner, the flavor was good, but it wasn't a very memorable dinner, and a little more expensive than similar dinners I've had elsewhere.

Restaurant Review: Dunn Inn

Dunn Inn

208 S Dunn St.

Bloomington, IN

(812) 330-2002

http://www.thedunninn.com/

Location: Downtown on Dunn between 4th and 3rd
Cuisine: American Bistro
Price: Sandwiches/Burgers about $10, Dinner Entrees about $15

I have been to the Dunn Inn two times, once for lunch with a group from work and once for dinner, so I have tried many things there! I enjoy going with groups because I tend to eat vegetarian and others don't, so I get a better idea of the whole menu.

The Dunn Inn is a relatively new restaurant in Bloomington. It's got a great patio for sitting outside, a nice, big bar area, and about 15 tables inside. Both times I went, I noticed it seemed kind of dark inside, especially at lunch time.

The Dunn Inn has a great beer selection including Guiness on draft, which made me very happy! The prices are pretty standard for beer and wine. Both times we had great servers. When I eat out I drink a lot, and the waiters were great about keeping up with my refills.

My first dining experience there was with co-workers for a birthday at lunch, so we all chose lighter options. I had the Black Bean Burger and Red Cabbage Slaw. The burger was pretty standard, but the Dunn Inn dressed it up with an avocado spread and feta, which I would have never thought to pair together, but were delicious. The slaw was also very good, fresh and crisp red cabbage in a sweet and sour vinaigrette.

All of my co-workers chose Burgers including the Bleu-Bacon, the Done Inn's Burger. They said they were both standard burgers, juicy and a good portion. All three ordered the fruit salad, which looked like it had specks of saffron and mint in it. I appreciated the way that took something simple like fruit salad, and added some nice, quality ingredients to really dress it up.

The second time I went to the Dunn Inn was when my dad visited Bloomington for the weekend. We started out our dinner with the Roasted Garlic Hummus with Grilled Pitas appetizer. The hummus was great, however we all felt that the portion could have been a bit bigger. I think we each got 2 pita points with a smear of hummus and piece of red pepper.

*As a side note, ordering/buying hummus and paying so much tends to irk me anyway because it's so cheap to make at home, but I try to look at reviewing restaurants from the average patron's point of view who can't make hummus*

When it came time to order, something very funny happened, JJ and my dad both ordered the same beer, and then both proceeded to order the Famous Crab Cake Sandwich. It was a large lump crab cake seared and served with a garlic aioli. Both my dad and JJ really enojoyed the crabcake and said it was priced well for what they got.

I ordered a Grilled Eggplant and Pepper Panini with Pesto and Mozzarella. I thought the sandwich components were delicious, but the bread was too greasy for me. It's important to note that I do not like greasy food at all, so others might not find it as greasy. I again ordered the red cabbage slaw, which was as great as the first time.

I would definitely recommend the Dunn Inn for a nice, casual restaurant with a great bar selection and something on the menu for everyone. It would be 'safe' for picky eaters (grilled turkey and provolone), but it has enough flare on the menu for patrons who expect something different (like the avocado spread and mint saffron fruit salad). I would also recommend going in the summer and enjoying the nice patio seating and the abundant parking downtown when school is out!

Restaurant Review: Samira

I've decided to do my restaurant reviews in reverse chronological order. On Saturday night, I had the best dinner I've had in Bloomington at Samira, so I wanted to start there.

Samira

100 W. 6th St.

Bloomington, IN

(812) 331-3761

http://www.samirasrestaurant.com/

Location: Downtown, Corner of Walnut and 6th

Cuisine: Afghan

Price: About $15 for an entree + appetizer + soup/salad

On Saturday night, JJ and I went to Samira with my friend Vickie, her husband John, and Vickie's sister Amy. It was great having a larger group because I was able to see and taste some of the different menu items.

The restaurant is in downtown Bloomington in a popular location. The restaurant doesn't look special from the outside, but no frills keep the prices low and the quality high. We got a table right next to the window (there are 2 tables in front) and the rest are in the back of the restaurant, which is a little darker than I like, so I was glad we had the natural light. The decor is standard, somewhat minimal and clean looking. There is outside seating as well, but it wasn't set up and it was really hot out. Our server was wonderful, very friendly and attentive.

John elected me to choose a bottle of wine. I chose a Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blend because I'm a Shiraz girl and JJ likes Cabernet Sauvignon. It paired really well with the food, which was earthy and spicy. It was $20 for the bottle, one of the less expensive wines on the menu. I think I saw bottled beer for $3-$3.50.

As soon as our waiter brought the wine, he also brought out our appetizer, which was included with an entree. We had a giant basket of fresh, warm naan and each of us got a plate with grilled eggplant and carrot slices dressed in herbs and olive oil. It was so delicious and unexpected (though it does say at the very bottom of the menu it's included, we just didn't notice).

We then ordered our dinners, which came with soup or salad. Three of us got the soup which was a tomato broth based lentil and vegetable soup. It had tons of herbs, cilantro, dill, and great spice. The salad was a mixed greens salad with a house vinaigrette.

I chose the Vegetarian Special for my entree, which had sabzi, badenjan and dal with rice. The sabzi was spinach with spices, very fresh and earthy, the badenjan was eggplant covered with a tomato sauce and yogurt, and the dal was standard brown lentils with turmeric and spices. The rice was outstanding, it had cumin and cinnamon with plump raisins and carrot ribbons. The whole dish was very hearty but not heavy (Vickie also got this). My favorite part of the plate was the badenjan, the eggplant was tender and the sauce was outstanding.

JJ chose the Pasta Combination, which was manto and aushak served with rice. I have made manto before on the blog (see here) so he was somewhat familar with it. The aushak was like the manto, but filled with leeks and topped with a meaty tomato/yogurt sauce. His plate was beautiful and the tomato/yogurt sauce again was delicious.

Amy ordered the Chicken Manto, filled with chicken, white leeks, cilantro, topped with tomato-basil sauce and spiced yogurt. John ordered the Traditional Manto, filled with seasoned ground beef and sauteed onion, topped with tomato-onion sauce and yogurt sauce.

I think we all agreed that the entire meal was fantastic. We tried all of the manto, but I was hoping someone would get Kebaabs as that is a large portion of their menu.

I would highly recommend this restaurant, and wish I wasn't moving so I could go back!

As a personal aside, it was really exciting to go to an ethnic restaurant and recognize and have made many of the dishes on the menu! I am so glad I did the country challenge because I really feel like I have expanded my knowledge and skills cooking so many different dishes!

Restaurant Review: Siam House

Siam House

430 E. 4th St.

Bloomington, IN

(812) 331-1233

http://www.siamhousebloomington.com/

Location: Corner of 4th and Dunn

Cuisine: Southeast Asian

Price: About $15 for an Entree, $5-10 for an Appetizer

Last Friday I had to prepare our month end financials by the end of the day, so that meant coming in really early and staying late. I was not in the mood to cook, so we decided to go out. I knew I wanted to eat outside, so I told JJ we should park the car and walk around downtown until I found somewhere we hadn't been that had outside seating.

My co-workers had told me I should try Siam House because they'd been there a few times and love the lunch buffet, so we decided to give it a try. JJ wasn't so sure he wanted to go because he's not a big fan of Chinese food, but I saw there were curries and some Thai inspired food, so he agreed.

The atmosphere outside is wonderful, the patio is behind a white picket fence with ivy vines and tons of pretty yet eclectic garden decorations. It was like a secret garden with the bumpy brick floor and the overgrown, lush greenery. It was exactly the atmosphere I was looking for after spending a long day in the office staring at the computer.

We looked over the menu for quite some time. They have so many varities of stir frys, curries, barbeque, noodles, rice dishes, and appetizers.

We decided to order wonton soup while we looked over the menu. The soup came out in a large pot to serve family style. It was the most delicious and original wonton soup I'd ever seen. The wontons were definitely hand made, they looked like purses, filled with ground pork and shrip. Then simmered in the broth were baby bok choy halves, bean sprouts and whole stems of cilantro. The vegetables gave the soup such delicious flavor, and added substance, which wonton soup is often lacking.

The Siam House recommends, like many Asian restaurants, to order a few different style dishes and eat family style. Since only JJ and I were there, he ordered a curry and I ordered a stir fry.

JJ decided he'd order a curry for us to share. We're both partial to red curry, so he ordered Gang Dang with Chicken, a red curry simmered with coconut milk, bamboo shoots, carrots, zucchini, green beans, eggplant and basil leaves. On a scale of 1-5 of heat level, he ordered a 3. I thought it could have used a bit more spice, but since it wasn't terribly spicy, the flavor of the curry was very strong. It was sweet from the basil, with hints of spice. It was brothy, which was great because it was served over rice and the rice really soaked up the curry.

I ordered a stir fry, Pad Tour Lun Tao with Tofu, which had snap peas, water chestnuts, broccoli, baby corn, carrots and onions in a garlic soy sauce. I ordered my spice level at a 4. My dish was much spicier than JJ's curry, which was nice because it really brightened up the vegetables and tofu. This dish was very similar in taste to Tofu in Garlic Sauce that any generic Chinese Food Restaurant would serve. I chose this dish because it had some of my favorite vegetables - snap peas, baby corn and water chestnuts.

I think the food at Siam House was great, but at the same time the entrees weren't anything that unusual. If I were to go back, it would definitely be for the wonton soup! Though there were a few other dishes I'd love to try with Pumpkin and Eggplant, and I wish I hadn't played it safe with something I knew I'd like.

If you'd like to try a curry similar to what we had at Siam House, check out this recipe! For a basic wonton soup recipe, check this out. I'm definitely going to try it out again with the cilantro, bean sprout and boy choy additions!

Dinner at Lolita!

For my birthday, my sister and brother-in-law took me to Lolita, one of Chef Michael Symon's restaurants in Cleveland. I am a huge fan of his, so I was very excited to go there! I love how he has such a positive attitude in the kitchen, and he seems to really have fun with cooking! Our dinner there was delicious! We each got something different and tried eachothers. I highly recommend Lolita!

(Our server let me keep a menu!)

Bread and Olive Oil, standard!

Their alcohol isn't too expensive, either, $5 for a Guiness

Our appetizers, Flatbread with Ricotta Dip, Zucchini Keftedes (Fritters)JJ's dinner - Macaroni and Cheese, the chef's specialty

Shredded chicken with Macaroni in a Goat Cheese and Rosemary Sauce
Kristine's dinner, our favorite, Gnocci with a Pork Ragout, I will definitely be re-creating this one in the near future!
My dinner - Wild Mushroom Flabread Pizza with Tallegio, Arugula, and perfectly cooked tender mushrooms

Dan's dinner - Meatballs with Mascarpone Polenta