Stone Street Tavern

After celebrating Ms. O's birthday in style the night before, I woke up famished. Thankfully we had already agreed to head to Stone Street Tavern for brunch. While sitting outside was an option we decided to stay indoors and enjoy a little of the air conditioning. The brunch menu has a lot of options and they had an additional menu with some specials. After spending a little time with the menu, we were ready to order. Considering the size of our group, our food arrived pretty quickly. Unfortunately, it was riddled with errors.

Mr. J ordered the Stuffed French Toast, which he had been raving about since the night before.

He knew immediately that there was something wrong with it. Turns out they sometimes stuff their French toast with bananas. That's called Bananas Foster French Toast. Mr. J's order was corrected and this arrived.

Yup, definitely what he wanted. Blueberries, mascarpone and vanilla sauce. That's what he signed up for.  Mr. M and the elder Ms. O ordered the Huevos Quesadilla.

The quesadilla was filled with cheddar jack cheese, jalapeño, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream. It also was advertised as coming with a fried egg. The egg was barely fried it was running all over Mr. M's plate. The waitress told Mr. M that the quesadilla was served with steak fries. Lies!! No fries were delivered. Ms. O's Hangover Burger was served with fries.

The burger was filled with cheddar, bacon, fried egg and onions. Ms. O also asked for mayonnaise and hollandaise. Our waitress forgot - shock! Mrs. A ordered the Omelette Special. The spinach, tomatoes and goat cheese were what made it special but she asked them to hold the goat cheese. It looked really good and I definitely had some food envy.

Mr. A ordered the Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwich. No cheese of course. He seemed to enjoy his sandwich.  

I ordered the Salmon Scramble. I asked for no cream cheese.

Of course it was served with cream cheese. The waitress was just not on it. I would put her name out here but I'm hoping it was just an off day. It was also just way too salty! I could barely stand to eat it. The home fries were good though. The company was great so the meal was worth it. If they got our orders right it would have been even better. They may have just been punishing us for sitting inside instead of out.  Overall I can say I was definitely underwhelmed, not whelmed and definitely not overwhelmed.

Hungry yet?

El Vez - Philadelphia

I fully intended on posting food news yesterday but in truth knowing that I would be out of town this weekend means I had less motivation to compile the list. (sorry!) I'm in Philadelphia for a firm retreat.  We are staying smack in the middle of Philly at the Ritz-Carlton.  I was initially excited because of the potential for delicious treats at the hotel, but that was quickly dispelled during our reception last night.  Breakfast this morning wasn't much better.  So for lunch, I set out on a little adventure to El Vez.

I read about the restaurant on Urbanspoon and figured if it was number 10 of all the restaurants in Philly, it had to be pretty good.  It was a surprisingly sunny day in Philadelphia so Ms. F and I sat outside.  Our server was very attentive and helpful in letting us know her favorites on the menu.  We started out with the "Indian Red" Lopez guacamole.  The guacamole is made with the usual ingredients and spicy crab, cilantro and salsa roja.

It's served with warm tortilla chips and red salsa.  The guacamole was amazing!  Fresh avocado, red onions and tomatoes mixed into a creamy delicious texture and topped with crab and salsa roja.  There definitely could have been more crab but I wasn't complaining (too loudly).  The chips were also really good and I definitely ate more than I intended.

Shortly after we started dipping into the guacamole, our Open Faced Shrimp Quesadilla arrived.

Looks just like pizza right?  This quesadilla contained oaxaca and chihuahua cheeses with pasilla chile sauce, red onions, jalapenos and of course topped with shrimp.  Woweee! This quesadilla was incredible.  Although it had tons of cheese, it somehow didn't taste too cheesy.  The onions and jalapeno added a nice contrast and bit of spice to the cheesy flavor.  Yup, I was definitely a big fan!  Once we devoured our quesadillas, our Sea Bass Tacos arrived.

The tacos were served with sweet potato puree, grilled scallions and fried jalapenos.  The sea bass was seared and sat on top of the sauce.  I was pleased with my first bite, but as I continued to chew, I realized  there was an odd taste that I wasn't ready to taste.   Somehow, they snuck a hint of cinnamon into this dish! Crazy yea? It actually worked pretty well but I needed the jalapeno to help cut through the sweetness.

After that taco, we were looking for something spicy.  Our waitress informed us that spicy isn't really their thing at El Vez and she recommended that we try the Duck Gorditas.

The presentation definitely looked good.  The gordita was stuffed with duck confit and chihuahua cheese.  It was topped with some combination of nuts and poppy seeds and served with pickled cucumber and mole negro.  I was so full by the time this arrived that I was only able to eat a small portion.  It was REALLY delicious.  I wish I could have eaten more but I could barely drink water let alone push another morsel into my mouth.

El Vez was definitely a good look and it's no surprise that they're currently ranked #10 Philly restaurant on Urbanspoon.  The service was on point, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was extremely lively.  Considering the track record at the Ritz, I'm happy I had such a delicious lunch so that way dinner won't matter much.  Although I must say, considering Eric Ripert owns a restaurant in here, they better step their game up!

Hungry yet?

Chicken Quesadillas & Spicy Mexican Rice

I definitely needed something easy tonight, but couldn’t quite figure out what to make.  I started surfing the various websites I look at for food inspiration and saw a Mexican fiesta spread.  I realized then that quesadillas are quick and delicious.  Couldn’t just make quesadillas though, had to get some sides going too.  So here we go…

Spicy Mexican Rice inspired by/adapted from Chelsie Kenyon

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cooking oil 

1 small onion, peeled and diced

2 shallots, peeled and diced

2 cups of rice

2 jalapeno, seeded and diced

3 1/2 cups chicken broth 

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup taco sauce

1 teaspoon oregano

Preparation:

Begin to sauté the onions in the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. 

Add in the shallots, rice, and jalapeno and stir frequently until the rice begins to turn golden. Add the broth, tomato sauce, taco sauce, and oregano and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer. 

Cover the pot and continue to simmer for 15 minutes (or longer, depending on how long it takes for the water to evaporate). When rice is cooked, fluff it with a fork and voila this is what you’ve got.  

The rice isn't as spicy as I would like.  The chicken broth is crucial though. Totally better than using water. 

While the rice is cooking, you should start on the quesadillas.  They really don’t take any time.

2 flour tortillas (may be labeled as sandwich wraps depending on your grocery store)

½ lb chicken breast, cut into small strips

salt and black pepper to season

1 tsp red chili pepper

¼ cup shredded cheese

Heat a small skillet and spray with cooking spray.  Add chicken and spices.  

Continue to stir and flip chicken pieces to make sure both sides are cooking.  Once chicken is cooked, heat up larger skillet to medium heat.  Place tortilla on skillet.  Add cheese.  Once cheese has melted a little, add chicken.  

Fold in half then turn over so the other side can brown.  Remove from plate, cut into quarters and serve with rice.

I also heated up a can of black beans with a little pepper.  You can also add the beans and rice into your quesadilla instead of serving on the side.

Hungry yet?