Friday, February 26, 2010

Bailey's Bar & Grille

Last night, during the snowstorm, we decided we were going to have Denny's for dinner. Pancakes just sounded good, and they now have unlimited pancakes (and french fries) with any entree that includes those items. Jonathan called Rob to see if he wanted in, and he told us he was on his way to Bailey's Bar & Grille for their Thursday night wing special. We decided to head that way.

It's in Levittown, in the area known as Five Points, as a ton of roads come together, and it's even worse than Confusion Corner in Stuart, FL. Not far from us, just one light past H-Mart and Walgreens, so maybe a 15-minute drive when there's no traffic and no snow.

Rob and his roommate, Jason, had a good table, and we were able to watch the Olympics (women's single figure skating and women's aerials, specifically) as we dined. The place is a dive bar in a strip mall, really. I probably would have overlooked it and never gone (particularly since they have no website), but it was a decent experience.

The place is really smoky, and we didn't even see any smokers, so the place just must be naturally smoky at this point. This is the only major downfall to the place, although I imagine that parking would become an issue on a major sports day or something. We also only saw two staff members the entire time, but perhaps the low number of patrons contributed to this. Otherwise, I imagine service would be very slow (it was average timing, but very friendly last night).

The wing special runs from 9-11pm on Thursday nights, and is 35-cent wings. Minimum order of 10, no maximum. 9 flavors, and you can choose bone-in or boneless. We went with 10 sweet and spicy bone-in and 10 garlic boneless. I was happy with the size of the wings, as sometimes boneless are pretty puny. I was anticipating to enjoy the garlic more, but my first bite soured that idea. In the end, I only ate two of those, as I thought they kinda tasted like a marinara with garlic. Luckily, Jonathan really liked the flavor, so he had the rest of those while I had the sweet and spicy. They're much more sweet (like honey), but the hint of heat was nice. Little gristle and excellent preparation made for good wings that could be picked clean.

Not sure how much the wings are normally, but I'd recommend the place on a Thursday night. We had twenty wings, ranch and celery, and a Sprite and paid $13 WITH tax and tip. Of course, this also requires waiting to eat until 9pm, so your mileage may vary. This worked out for us since Jonathan had a raquetball game at 8pm, and we almost always eat after the gym.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Great American Diner & Pub

We were out with some friends, and stopped by The Great American Diner & Pub. I had the tiramisu, Jonathan went with a country-fried steak breakfast, and our friends had a pancake breakfast and the carrot cake, respectively. I thought the tiramisu was really good, although I would have been happier if it was $1 less. Emily reported that the carrot cake was good, but the icing was disappointing. Jonathan thought the steak was good, the gravy was different and kind of sweet, the potatoes were thick (much like the kind I had at the Maurice River Diner) and I didn't ask about the eggs.

It was our first time there, although Bryan and Emily had been there a few times before. It's an interesting place. There were way more cars in the parking lot than people in the place, but it was still busy for a Friday night. The bar area kept most people occupied though, and the service was pretty prompt. I don't know if we'll go back, but we have been meaning to try out more diners, so it's entirely possible.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Yardley Pizza

We've been meaning to take in more local pizza. And we found a great place. After we went sledding in Lambertville (NJ), we came back along the river and ate at Yardley Pizza. Family-owned and operated, in downtown Yardley, and they take cash or check only. They also make a great pizza.

We ordered a medium pan pizza to share, with white sauce (olive oil and garlic instead of the traditional marinara) and pepperoni. Great flavor all around. Plus, leftovers! I can't wait to try more!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Wing Wah Chinese Restaurant

There we were... we had just come out of the meat shop (not a butcher, just a meat shop, LoL), and had started the car. While Jonathan was looking at the GPS to plan a better route home (we were down New Falls), I noticed it. A Chinese restaurant across the street. But not just any Chinese restaurant... the sign read "Dim Sum Szechuan Cantonese" ... and before I knew it my arm was extended and pointing at the sign, as I said "Look! Dim Sum!" Our plans to head home were temporarily set aside as we quickly decided to dart across the street and check out Wing Wah.

The Dim Sum menu consisted of nine items and a combo platter. We ordered the platter to go, and Jonathan also tried the chicken egg drop soup. We waited about 15 minutes and then were headed home again. The menu also featured a bunch of regular dishes, and some unique things which we may go back to try at some point, especially if we're down in that area of Levittown.

We were quite excited about how good the food made the car smell (we also needed to stop at the liquor store on the way home, since I needed to pick up some sherry for a soup I was going to make the next night). When I opened the container in the kitchen, the mouth-watering aroma came pouring out all over again. I divvied up the goodies, and we each had plenty for just $7.25.

The shrimp dumplings were fantastic. The pork shu mei was very good. They fell apart a little bit, but that could have been because they sat in a closed box for twenty minutes so there was a bit of condensation build-up. The mini spring rolls were tasty considering their size and content. The flavor was more intense than many of the plain spring rolls most places serve. Lastly, the satay beef sticks were very large in portion. They had a great, sweet sauce lightly on glazed on them, and even I thought the beef was delicious. Jonathan said that the soup was "a little different" and "it had crunchy things in it," LoL.

If you're in Bucks County and want dim sum, this is the best place we've found. And for a great price, considering this isn't Chinatown! If you know of something better, please share the info!! :)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Brother's Pizza and Restaurant

We wanted to have pho. We drove to our normal pho place, Savor Saigon, but it was closed. We should have known better, since they get wimpy and close whenever it's snowy (we also tried there in December when we ended up at Cheeseburger in Paradise for the first time).

So, we went a couple doors down and tried Brother's Pizza and Restaurant. This is not the same Brother's Pizza that we had back in November, it's a completely different place (not a chain). It's a small little place, and a lot of people got the pizza ($2 a slice, either with tax or they're not charging tax, since many people just gave two singles). We were hankering for something else, so Jonathan got a cheesesteak and I got a chicken wrap with fries.

The cheesesteak was massive, packed full of meat and had the good, melty provolone. He liked it a lot. My chicken wrap also had provolone, and then boasted roasted peppers, tomatoes, and onions. The wrap was more like a pita than a tortilla, which was different. But good. My only complaint was that the grilled chicken was pretty dry, and I had to add ketchup. The fries were very dry and very plain, and I liked them that way. No grease, no soggies, no salt.

We got our order to go, and they were pretty quick, considering they had to cook it all. It was a good deal, and we'll be back (especially after seeing their pizzas!!).

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Primo Hoagies

Jonathan had heard great things about Primo Hoagies from work. We decided to give them a try the other night, and now also have great (and one negative) things to say.

We walked in and took a look at the menu, a large board above the counter. There were a lot of details about the ingredients in each sandwich, but no prices whatsoever. Eventually we decided that there must be a flat rate for each of the three sizes (small, primo, and whole... primo is footlong, and that's what we each ordered). After we finally ordered and got the receipt, we were made aware that there were different prices. But no place in the store except the takeout menu features prices, so it's kinda hit-or-miss and crappy in that respect. This is the one negative thing.

We waited less than ten minutes and were were out the door with our fresh hoagies. I ordered the Whacked Chicken, which is a breaded cutlet with sharp provolone, pesto, and bruschetta. The bread was toasted with sesame seeds. The combination of pesto and bruschetta was really good, making for a tasty overall sandwich. I think that $9 might have been a tad steep, but it was really good, and I was able to make it two meals, so maybe. Jonathan went traditional with the Italian , which included prosciutto, provolone, hot cappy, and genoa salami. His also came with all the typical trimmings - lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, oil & vinegar, salt & pepper. He liked it a lot, and even I thought it tasted good! His was only $7, and he swears it was worth every penny. It also served him as a second meal.

One of the interesting things about the place was their "primo sides" that they had in a refrigerated deli case along the wall. Everything from potato salad and macaroni salad to pepperoni bites and marinated mozzarella balls was available. Cole slaw, olives, pepper shooters, stuffed olives, pasta salad, fruit salad, and I'm sure I'm missing some. And these were all very competitively priced to a grocery store around here.

End note: miiight get them again. But, they're kinda far, like almost 20 minutes away. Far + pricey = bad news in my book. Jonathan wants to try at least two more of their hoagies tho, so who knows...

Friday, February 5, 2010

Old Country Buffet

So we're not really buffet people. You might have guessed that by now. In Florida, you're forced to have Chinese buffet because there's not good dim sum restaurants in most of the state (if you actually know of ANY dim sum place in FL, let us know!), but otherwise we don't have buffet much there, either. This is with the exception of Golden Corral, which is pretty good most of the time.

Anyway, there's this place called Old Country Buffet (same company as Ryan's) that we pass all the time. It's probably about three miles from our apartment, maybe even less. We finally decided to go this past Sunday, since we worked most of the day and needed a break.

I didn't care for the beginning part... you don't have an option not to pay for a soft drink or hot beverage since it's included in the price. Nobody shows you to a seat. There are no trays in the place, so you are limited to just one plate at a time. But you do get a green slip of paper to "hold your table" while your group is up at the buffet.

Overall, there's not a lot of selection. Hot, carved meats included turkey breast, roast beef, ham, and pork ribs. The ham was a little fatty, but good. Ribs were dry. Starch sides included creamy but bland mashed potatoes, rice, very good macaroni and cheese, and blase penne alfredo. The fried chicken had delicious skin but was too greasy on the inside. The taco bar has simple options, nothing fancy. No refried beans option. The salad bar was boring, and the pre-made salad options were scarce. Potato salad was mustardy yet strange. The seafood salad was shells with mayo... I had a tiny piece of krab in a large scoop of salad. The rolls were delicious. We didn't try the pizza or the spaghetti... nor the french fries or corn-on-the-cob. Jonathan thought the green beans were average. Corn chowder and chicken noodle soup were the soups of the day, but we didn't try either. There was rotisserie chicken, baked fish, and some good fried butterfly shrimp.

Jonathan went with the lemon meringue pie (pretty good), the fudge (good), and vanilla frozen yogurt with chocolate chips (good). I had a great brownie, rubbery hot sundae cake, a hard snickerdoodle, a non-descriptive sugar-free chocolate chip cookie, and some great chocolate mousse (but don't eat the crust). The apple crisp was sticky and rind-y. The white chocolate caramel and french vanilla cappuccinos were out of order, so I had a very good hot chocolate with dessert, and Jonathan had decent coffee.

Final thoughts: it took us twenty minutes to find water. We both ended up with Sprite on round 1 because there's only one small spigot for water, and the container probably holds less than three gallons. It's a pricey buffet, at over $12/person. Nothing was notable enough to go back for seconds on. We even got a buy-one-get-one coupon for another time, but I doubt we'll use it, except maybe for a breakfast. Stay away.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Amy's Birthday: Thai for Dinner

We found a great little Thai place for my *real* birthday dinner. I discovered it by searching Yelp for pad thai in our area. Two good reviews came back from Concerto Fusion in Morrisville (which is pretty much the same place as Yardley... the boundary is impossible to locate), and the menu looked good on their website, so we went for it.

We ended up not arriving until almost eight o'clock, and despite the fact that it was open until 10pm, we had the restaurant to ourselves after the first ten minutes or so. The ambiance is absolutely beautiful, and I'd definitely recommend wandering in just to see the lighting, waterfalls, glass, fish, and everything. The tables were very nice, but the height is a bit awkward -- there was probably only an inch of space between our legs and the bottom of the table, making the smallest gesture like putting a napkin in your lap rather difficult.

We started with a red dragon roll, which is eel, cucumber, and avocado, topped with tuna and tobiko. It was pretty good, but the eel was actually too fresh for me (aka it was still warm from having just been cooked). There are a lot of sushi specials, and we're planning to go back some Thursday when they run sushi specials during happy hour.
I went with the pad thai, of course. Prawns with no peanuts and extra lime (but I still could have had more lime than the extra I was given). I was slightly concerned initially since it had the spiciest indication on the entire menu, but it was the same as usual pad thai, so nothing to worry about. It was delicious, definitely in the top 3 pad thai dishes I've ever had. A great mix of sweet and spice, and even the tofu had good flavor. Jonathan ordered the General Tso's Chicken with brown rice.  It was a perfect flavor, plentiful in portion, and came with really green broccoli. Jonathan finished his meal, but I had a great lunch the next day with the leftovers. I really can't emphasize enough how wonderful the meals were... I can't wait to go back and try other dishes there... and the whole thing was just so pretty!