Vacation Days: West Hartford & Beyond

Hey there, stranger!

Yes, it's been almost a month since you've heard from me, and it's due to three things:

1) I'm planning a wedding. If you haven't gathered from this blog, I am a super Type A, organized planner of a person, and whenever people had previously told me how stressful and difficult and crazy it is to plan a wedding, I always thought, "I believe it, but how bad is it really?" Well the Wedding Planning Gods are now laughing their faces off at me, because y'all? It's seriously a lot of work. It's fun, don't get me wrong! But a massive time-suck. Bear with me through these next six months. (Because eek! I decided it'd be a good idea to only give myself SIX MONTHS to plan a wedding!)

2) I'm quietly cleansing. Well I guess it's not so quiet since I'm announcing it on my blog. I did a lot of traveling last month that entailed eating indulgent (albeit DELICIOUS) food, as well as *slightly* over-imbibing some of the alcohols. So I'm on day 10 of a modified vegetarian Whole30 (allowing myself tofu, beans, quinoa, and permission to not be a total spaz when I actually do go to restaurants) in order to clean myself out a bit. But only for 20 days because I value my sanity. (Also, my sister will be in town on Day 21, and we have champagne plans <~~~ Real reason). But this means I'm not really eating out at new restaurants a whole bunch, so there's a lack of content for the blog. Whomp whomp.

3) I traveled more than I was home last month. I'm still catching up on everything after a trip to Disney World, a work trip to New Orleans, a work trip to Vermont, and a trip to West Hartford, Connecticut.

What's that, you say? Can I share more about my trip to Connecticut? I thought you'd never ask.

Jon and I visited our close friends Lenny and Christy in West Hartford towards the end of September. This was tacked on to the tail end of our trip to Vermont. West Hartford is adorable and charming and filled with great food, restaurants, and bars. When Jon and I arrived, Christy took us to the laid back restaurant Max Burger for lunch.

I ordered The Grateful Veg with a fried egg on top and a side of baby broccoli. The restaurant's housemade quinoa-sunflower seed burger was topped with cheddar cheese, shaved red onion, roasted tomato, baby arugula, green goddess dressing, and avocado. This was one OUTSTANDING veggie burger, filled with unique textures and mouthwatering flavors! Lenny joined up with us after he finished work, and we headed over to happy hour at the open, airy, and pretty Max's Oyster Bar (same owners as the burger spot!). We enjoyed some bubbly champagne and oysters (I opted out of the oysters because, #shellfish).

After freshening up and hanging out for a bit at L and C's house, we headed out to dinner at the Italian restaurant Treva in West Hartford.

Our super engaging server was born and raised in Italy and full of fun, informative facts! We started off with a delicious bottle of red wine, and some of the restaurant's complimentary rustic bread with olive oil.

For our first round of food, we ordered the restaurant's burrata.

I adore burrata, and this one ranks high on my list. The inside of the cheese gave off a textured, almost cottage cheese-like consistency. The flavor was light and slightly tangy, and paired wonderfully with some roasted peppers and arugula salad. It was delicious!

For the next round of food, we split the arancini.

Another crowd-pleaser, these golden-fried rice balls were stuffed with luxardo cherries and more delicious burrata. The sweet/salty combo that resulted was lovely!

For my final round of food, I couldn't not order the restaurant's tonnarelli cacio e pepe.

(If you know of my love affair with Coltivare's version, you understand why).

Treva's version was a bit heartier, with thicker noodles and a more syrupy olive oil. It was smooth, simple, and really wonderful!

The next day was our day of hopping around (aka eating food around) the state of Connecticut AND Massachusetts! We started off with breakfast at Goldberg's in West Hartford (as recommended to me by my friend Lauren).

I ordered a jalapeño cheddar everything bagel with scallion cream cheese (say that ten times fast), and it was EVERYTHING. Fluffy, oozy, melty, tangy, spicy, and absolutely GLORIOUS, eating it was essentially a religious experience.

After that, we headed to New England Brewing Co. near New Haven to taste some local beers!

I'm not even anywhere close to being any sort of beer expert, but these beers were REALLY good. And the tasting space was small, but super fun!

After that we decided we hadn't had enough bread, so we were off to the restaurant Frank Pepe for some authentic New Haven pizza!

We ordered a tasty house salad, which meant the whole experience was healthy of course.

For our main course of food, we split two pies: One was half tomato pie/half mozzarella, while the other was half pepperoni/half mushroom, garlic, and onion. New Haven pizza really is in its own category of pizza. It's a thinner, crispier, slightly sweeter version of New York pizza, and I really really enjoyed it! The mozzarella pizza was a nice introduction to this style of pizza, but the tomato pie and the mushroom/garlic/onion versions were tied as my favorites. While other tomato pies I've had in the past had no cheese at all, Frank Pepe's version had a very small amount, which allowed the sweet tomato sauce to shine without being overpowering. And the veggie pizza was simply outstanding. The caramelized veggies were wonderful atop the crispy, almost-burnt crust! I even had some later that night (and maybe accidentally bit into a pepperoni that somehow ended up on my slice? Oops. I didn't freak out too much though).

After we had finished filling ourselves up on [more] bread and beer, we headed up (over? down? I'm terrible at geography) to Worcester, Massachusetts to see the band We & Mrs. Jones play at Nick's (fun fact, a scene from American Hustle was filmed there!). L and C's friend Madelyn is the lead singer of the band, and she is AWESOME.

Actually, we got to witness one of her final shows before going into retirement to have a baby! It was so seriously great.

I sipped on a sturdy martini ('natch), and we also ordered some food to share - a giant pretzel, along with a no-frills cheese plate. The pretzel came with a side of - wait for it - CREAM CHEESE, which seriously completed my life. The cheese plate was massive, and really just what we needed (MORE CARBS).

The next day, Jon and I headed back home to Houston, but not before stopping at Total Wine, the rest of the country's response to Spec's. And it was glorious.

And that concludes our trip! It was a whirlwind of an awesome weekend with great friends, great food, and great fun in West Hartford and beyond!

I should probably have some more bread now.

Leave a Comment bagels, bars, beer, breakfast, burgers, dinner, drinks, food, hartford, italian, lunch, new haven, pasta, pizza, restaurants, travel, vacation days, vegetarian, worcester

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Houston Restaurant Weeks at Radio Milano

Man, I LOVE this place.

So it was a cryin' shame that Jon and I hadn't been back to Radio Milano in over a year! As this is definitely a fine dining restaurant on the pricier side, we decided to take advantage of their Houston Restaurant Weeks menu and enjoy dinner there last weekend with our friends Dillon and Melinda.

Radio Milano is great - not only because the food is out of this world - but because if you want, you can make a whole experience out of it, which is exactly what we did. It's located in Hotel Sorella in Houston's City Centre area, so there are so many additional things to do nearby. The restaurant has a beautiful bar with excellently crafted cocktails downstairs, so we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink. Jon ordered a bourbon, and I went for the greatfruit rose cocktail, with vodka instead of gin.

The (beautiful!) drink consisted of lillet, grapefruit, elderflower, and vodka. It was subtly sweet, subtly bitter, perfectly boozy, and super refreshing!

After we'd all enjoyed our cocktails, we headed up to the restaurant's main dining room for some food. We ordered a bottle of wine and were presented with some bread to snack on.

The bread was herby and fresh, and it was served with a side of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The vinegar was syrupy and sweet, and paired very nicely with the savory bread!

All of us decided to order from the Hosuton Restaurant Weeks menu (in contrast to last year when the four of us visited Caracol for Houston Restaurant Weeks, and we all went rogue and ordered off the main menu). But before we even delved into our individual meals, we ordered their antipasto (meat and cheese) plate to share.

The cheeses consisted of a soft cheese similar to a brie, Manchego, and something else I don't remember (blue maybe?). All had incredibly prominent, delicious and different flavors and textures. Served with lightly toasted bread, honey, jam, and pickled vegetables, I was a big fan!

For our first course of food, Melinda let me try her caprese salad, and I ordered the corn soup without bacon.

The caprese salad was SUPER fresh and sat in a lovely, creamy Thai basil sauce. My corn soup was awesome. Smooth, rich, and sweet - it was summer in a warm bowl!

For our next course of food, everyone ordered something different. I went with the vegetarian choice, the goat cheese tortellinis.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I never met a cheese I didn't like. BUT there are some that I'm less enthused about than others, one being goat cheese. I think goat cheese must be carefully done in dishes because it has the tendency to dry everything else out. So while the goat cheese didn't necessarily have that effect on this pasta, I think something softer in flavor like ricotta might have brought it together a little better. HOWEVER the rich, decadent brown butter sauce combined with fragrant sage and crunchy hazelnuts certainly was outstanding!

For our final (dessert) round of food, we made sure at least one of each desserts was ordered. Thus, we were all able to try the chocolate souffle, affogato, and pistachio napoleon.

The chocolate souffle was covered in an amaretto sauce and served with a side of marscapone cream. It was a full, rich, dense brownie of a chocolate cake, and the marscapone cream added a lovely softness to it.

The affogato was a scoop of hazelnut ice cream topped with vanilla infused espresso. This was basically coffee in dessert form,-It was completely different from the souffle, and also great!

I think all four of us agreed though, that the colorful pistachio napoleon was our favorite. The dessert consisted of raspberries, pistachio cream, raspberry sorbet, and a light wafer of some sort. The flavors were so contrasting (bright and tart raspberry sorbet, versus earthy, soft pistachio cream) that the end result was fantastic!

Extending our lovely Houston evening, after dinner we walked over to a bar right next to the restaurant (still inside the hotel) that had lounge chairs and cabanas around a little pool. Then we also may have had another drink downstairs? (shh...)

Both times I've been to Radio Milano have been wonderful. This fine dining Houston restaurant has incredible food and an incredible atmosphere, so it's definitely one to add to your list. And I DEFINITELY recommend taking advantage of their $45 Houston Restaurant Weeks menu to get a taste of several different outstanding food items. I refuse to wait another year and a half to go back!

Like, seriously. I want to marry this restaurant.

Leave a Comment bars, city centre, dessert, dinner, drinks, fine dining, food, houston, italian, pasta, restaurant weeks, restaurants, vegetarian

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Vacation Days: San Francisco

After frolicking (aka drinking) for four days in Wine Country, California, Jon and I were off to San Francisco!

^ But not before I biked into downtown Sonoma for some food and fun reading time while Jon was still asleep!

(I was able to sneak in a lot of reading this trip, which was so so lovely.)

Then, Jon and I were off!

So there's this big red bridge in San Francisco that people go crazy over. Huh.

(I'm kidding YOU GUYS, I know about the Golden Gate Bridge, sheesh.)

Before checking into our rental, we popped into a restaurant called Saru Sushi for lunch.

We split the edamame, which was good - your standard edamame. Then I ordered the restaurant's delicious - and slightly sweet - eggplant appetizer, as well as a veggie roll filled with avocado and sweet potato. It was soft, warm, sweet, and DELICIOUS. Jon ordered two big ole rainbow rolls and really enjoyed them. He said it was some of the freshest sushi he's ever had!

After lunch, we bought some gear for the Giants game we were going to in a couple of days (since our beloved former Astro Hunter Pence is on the team, this seemed acceptable), and then we checked into our really cute studio apartment we rented off of VRBO.

(it had a killer back patio.)

(which I never used because it was 66 degrees outside and I was cold.)

(you can punch me in the face now.)

Once we were settled in, we walked to the restaurant Al's Place for dinner. This is THE place to eat in San Francisco right now, and it's very hard to get a reservation. Rated the Top New Restaurant of 2015 by Bon Appetit Magazine, I was super pumped.

Once we were seated, Jon and I looked at the menu and realized we had no clue what we were looking at. Most of the ingredients were completely foreign to us, so we had many questions about the food. In terms of drinks, Jon went with a glass of wine, while I tried one of the restaurant's cocktails. Their small cocktail list is made up of mixed drinks with low proof alcohol that I'd never heard of and fun names such as "Mr. White," "Mr. Pink," and "Mr. Orange." After chatting with our very helpful server about my preferences (we were seriously lost), I opted for "Ms. Brown." It had a light, almost bourbon tinge to it (though I can't exactly tell you what it was), and it was good enough for me to order a second one!

Then we ordered our food. The restaurant's menu is designed for sharing, and our first item to try was their infamous brine pickled french fries with smoked apple sauce.

These were very unique and very tasty. They had the consistency of french fries (with a little more sponginess), but the pickling process gave them a salty fermented taste that made them taste altogether like something else.

Next up was the fava'd mushroom broth chawanmushi (don't worry, we didn't know what it was either) with cherry and pistachio.

To be honest, I don't really remember what this tasted like, so I can't tell you much about it. But the general reaction we were starting to have about everything was, "This is pretty good..but it tastes very different than I thought it would..."

Our next round of food consisted of the General Leo's cauliflower with mashed peas, burrata, pistachio mousse, and rhubarb.

Do you see cauliflower in this picture? It's there, I promise...I think? The chilled burrata was very nice, and the cauliflower (the brown stuff below the greens), actually tasted like a very fishy fish. So once again, it was unique... but good... but odd.

After that, we shared the yellow eye bean stew with torn bread. I didn't snap a photo of this one (probably because it was our favorite shared item), but Jon and I really enjoyed this. It was hearty and herby, and did in fact taste like bean stew!

Our last shared round of food (Jon also ordered trout and pork belly, and had similar puzzling-but-not-bad reactions to them) was the campanelle with smoked fumet, charred fava pesto, and goat's gouda.

Not pictured, I also ordered a poached egg on the side, which I added to it. I enjoyed this pasta as well, and it did taste like pasta. The pesto was a little thicker and earthier than what you typically find due to the use of fava beans, and it was a very hearty dish. It was fragrant, and had some lovely flavors. Altogether, it was a nice course.

After ingesting all of these teensy tiny plates of what we had come to learn were molecular gastronomic surprises, we were hungry for dessert. We ordered some sort of berry and cream compilation that sounded promising and safe.

...until I put it in my mouth and ATE AN ENTIRE WAD OF CILANTRO!!!! (or something else that tastes like cilantro, because we know it couldn't actually have been cilantro). I haven't recoiled from a piece of food so drastically in a very long time. Jon explained that once he mixed everything together the "cilantro" taste was subdued, but I couldn't stomach another bite. He really liked it, but he also really likes cilantro. SO.

In conclusion, re: Al's Place. If you are looking for a creative - and I will say, surprisingly non-pretentious dining experience (the clientele was chill, and the staff was super friendly), and you aren't worried about paying a premium for it (oof.), you will definitely get that at Al's Place. I think by this point after all of the elaborate meals we had been having recently, Jon and I were pretty tapped out of the culinary dramatics. The food was good, and it was never what we expected it be, and I totally get that that's the whole point. We certainly laughed a lot, and our new game of "Guess what the heck I'm eating now?" was quite entertaining!

After our scientific dining experience, Jon and I hit the hay so we could wake up early for...

dun dun dunnnn!!

Alcatraz.

Jon is a major history buff, so this was one of his "must-sees" in San Francisco. We purchased tickets ahead of time for the first ferry tour of the day, so we could beat the bulk of the crowds.

While Jon ate the tour up, I was glad I did it, but probably wouldn't do it again. First of all - and I completely understand that the reason they do this is to accommodate the sheer mass of people that come in every single day - I found it strange that everyone was given an audio headset for a guided tour and walked around in silence throughout the island. It was really bizarre to me. That, and I'm acutely affected by my surroundings - shopping malls depress me (anyone else?), so I'm sure you can imagine what a crumbling maximum security prison might do to me.

But it really was fascinating, and I learned a lot of interesting facts about Alcatraz, like 1) It started off as a Civil War fort, but of course California didn't really do anything in the Civil War, so it remained untouched until becoming a state prison; 2) Since Alcatraz was a state prison, there were like only seven prisoners there who'd gone to jail for murder, since that's a federal crime. Most of the prisoners were there for things like theft and tax fraud; 3) After it closed down, Alcatraz became the site of an American Indian occupation in the 60s, which was a peaceful demonstration that lasted almost two years.

See, I learned stuff!

Also, there were some killer views of San Francisco from the island.

After a few hours, we headed back into the city for food!

Lunch was at the restaurant Tony's Pizza Napoletana. As advised by my parents, Jon and I snagged seats at the bar, where we had front row seats of the employees making perfect pizzas in the woodfired oven. Jon ordered a pepperoni pizza, and I ordered one of the restaurant's specialties - the tartufo, without prosciutto. Oozing with melted mozzerella, burrata, and goat cheese, the crisp, fluffy-crusted pizza contained wild musrooms, truffle oil, a sprinkling of piave, and some fresh arugula. It was absolutely as rich and lovely and satisfying as it sounds!

Once we'd finished up our food, we did some exploring!

We decided we should walk over to Lombard Street, since it wasn't too far from Tony's.

(Sidenote: When I say we "walked" anywhere in San Francisco, what I'm actually saying is we "hiked up a 90 degree incline, aka Mount Everest 2.0.)

Then we wandered over to Chinatown!

On the way there, we stopped at City Lights Bookstore, which is a really famous historic bookstore with a bajillion books that I just had to check out.

(Actually, props to Jon - he's the one who did the research and found this gem for me.)

San Francisco's Chinatown reminded me a lot of NYC's Chinatown - Crowded, bustling, colorful, and filled with lots and lots of stores containing a variety of different knick knacks.

Once we'd felt we had gotten our Chinatown fill, we went back to the apartment to rest up before dinner.

(PLAN YOUR NAP TIMES, PEOPLE.)

Speaking of dinner, we actually had reservations at another high profile San Francisco restaurant that night. But as previously mentioned, Jon and I were pretty tapped out and just wanted some chill, no-frills, yummy food. I canceled our reservation, and did a quick search on my phone of restaurants nearby. We settled on Emmy's Spaghetti Shack, located in San Francisco's eclectic Bernal Heights neighborhood.

The inside of the restaurant was funky and casual (think string lights, aprons hanging on a line, photo booth in the back, etc.) There was about a 15 minute wait, so Jon and I had a drink at the bar. He ordered a glass of wine, while I opted for a white sangria.

I'm not even close to kidding when I say I think this is the best sangria I've ever had! It was sweet and light, and the beautiful flavors of the fresh basil and strawberries were astounding. We were off to a great start!

After we were seated, Jon and I were presented with some complimentary bread with oil and vinegar.

The spongy focaccia had a nice hint of rosemary to it, and was a great way to kick everything off.

For our first order of food, Jon ordered a dungeoness crab cake, I ordered  a small mixed greens salad, and we split the bocconcini balls.

Jon thoroughly enjoyed his crab cake. My salad was simple, and nothing out of the ordinary, but I was needing some greens in my life, and this is exactly what I was looking for. The two of us went nuts over the bocconcini balls though - Deep fried, ooey gooey fresh mozzerella was wanderfully crispy on the outside and loaded with sensational herby flavors. Served with a house marinara and homemade ranch, they were absolutely fantastic!

After eyeing the size of an order of spaghetti at another table, Jon and I decided to split one for our last round of food (and he got meatballs on the side).

And let me tell ya, there's a reason Emmy's restaurant is called the Spaghetti Shack! This was soooooo good. The thick, fresh, gummy noodles were beautifully soaked in a tart, citrusy tomato sauce and sprinkled with fresh parsley and a heaping amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese. This hearty dish was comforting, simple, and just wonderful.

It's safe to say this last minute change-of-plans dinner was one of our favorite meals (and one of the cheapest!) during our entire vacation!

(This is why it's good to make plans, but also be okay with changing them while on vacation based on where you're feeling you are right then in your life.)

The next morning began with more sightseeing, starting with Fisherman's Wharf!

The seals at Pier 39 are HILARIOUS. They sunbathe, and do synchronized swimming dances, and make the most ridiculous trumpeting barking noises, and we are kindred souls.

After communing with my seal peeps, we headed to the Ferry Building to grab a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed at West Bluff Park.

With arguably some of the best views in San Francisco, we were shocked to find that this park was not very busy or touristy at all! I DEFINITELY recommend doing this if you're ever in San Francisco.

And remember how I mentioned in my last post Jon's new passion for Insect Photography? Well...

^ Are you dying? I'm dying. Step aside, bugs!

After we'd finished our food and wine, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the Giants game!

Pride was happening in San Francisco that weekend, and it happened to be Pride Night at the game, so I wanted to buy a rainbow scarf to celebrate! (and keep me warm, let's be real). We headed to Castro street, which was so alive and buzzing with happiness and rainbows, my heart burst into a million pieces.

There was also a really moving shrine to the victims of the Orlando shooting, which definitely brought me to tears.

After we walked around, and I had purchased my scarf, we headed to the game.

AT&T Stadium - where the San Francisco Giants play - is GORGEOUS. With sweeping views over the bay, this is definitely the most stunning baseball stadium I've ever been to.

A few years ago AT&T Park was rated by Peta as one of the Top 5 vegan ballparks. So there were plenty of options for this vegetarian! I went with a veggie dog (slathered in cheese), and I really really enjoyed it. We also kept seeing signs for garlic fries? (because apparently that's a thing in San Francisco?), so we ordered a side of them. They were very good, but very potent, and I'm pretty sure my pores were oozing out garlic for the next three days as a result.

(sorry to everyone I came within feet of.)

The Giants won, and the game was awesome! It was a great way to spend our last night in San Francisco.

If you have the opportunity to go to Northern(ish) California, I strongly encourage it. Everything is completely surrounded by jaw-dropping natural beauty, there are so many things to do (WINE.), and lots of fantastic food options. By time we got back to Houston, Jon and I were already talking about what we were going to do on our next trip back!

^ Huh. There's that big red bridge again.

*All photos were taken by me with my iPhone, or by Jon with his Nikon.

2 comments asian, baseball, breakfast, dessert, dinner, drinks, food, fun, italian, japanese, lunch, pasta, pizza, restaurants, san francisco, sushi, travel, vacation days, vegetarian

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