Acme Oyster House

We were in New Orleans for a couple days to celebrate New Year's with some friends. This was the third time that we spent New Year's Eve in New Orleans, previously ringing in 2007 and 2008 in the city. Right after we checked-in to our hotel, we drove out to Metairie to meet our friends and some of their friends at the Acme Oyster House for lunch. We weren't too hungry (we had sandwich stuff in the cooler in the room so we had plenty of snacks on the drive there and back), so we had a couple of oysters and we shared a shrimp & oyster po-boy. I love the oysters at this place (we had been there one or two times before), and the po-boy did not disappoint, either.

Cowboys: BBQ

Cowboys is a restaurant in Fort Pierce that opened just around a year ago. It took the place of RJ Gator's, which was quite well-liked for its "Floribbean" cuisine. Cowboys started out in Okeechobee (their website is rather outdated) and the Fort Pierce location is the second for the chain. Apparently they have also branched out to Sebring and are considering Stuart, but I'm not sure. The menu was much larger than the one online.

I had the "pig in a potato" which was pulled pork, sour cream, cheese, and chives in a baked potato. I was expecting the double-size potato like many other restaurants with a "potato section" feature. However, I was greeted with a single potato that was overpriced. I wasn't in love with the pork, but with the right sauce it was okay.

My friend, Tori, had the buffalo chicken sandwich, but she had it with garlic parmesan sauce instead of buffalo. She liked it, and I thought the sauce was tasty. Hers was served with a side of macaroni and cheese, which tasted like canned to me, though she liked it.

My friend, Heather, had the all-you-can-eat smoked half-chicken. It came with macaroni and cheese and collard greens. The chicken was okay. Heather is very critical of collards, and she wasn't a big fan of the ones she received, although she did eat them. Interestingly, the server did bring out a bottle of oil or something for her veggies, but we didn't even open it. She finished her first round of chicken, and when she asked for more, they brought out one piece, and didn't ask her what she'd like, so that was kinda weird.

Speaking of the service, it was pretty bad. Everything was very slow, even refills and getting the bill and such. And it was very clear that the waitresses were typecast. Yes, they were required to wear glittery belts and pants, but they were all attractive, well made-up, nice hair girls, and all but one were thin. I don't think I need to stress that I won't be returning.

A Touch of Brooklyn

Whenever we're in Florida we spend a lot of time catching up with old friends. For lunch on Christmas Eve, we met up with Eric and Kara at A Touch of Brooklyn, which is a pizza place in Sabal Palm Plaza. It was actually like our third choice, but many of the things downtown were closed on Christmas Eve. We'd never been there, so it was as good a place as any.

It's the kind of place where you order at the counter and then they bring it to your table when it's ready. Jonathan and I ordered a dozen garlic knots for the table, but they came reallllly late and there was little to no garlic on them. We ate some, but wouldn't order them again. We didn't finish them.

Eric and Kara split a salad (but they didn't finish it, so I'm not thinking it was excellent). Eric got the 2 slices of pizza deal, and he said it was "okay" pizza. Kara and Jonathan both had the pepperoni roll, and "okay" was the word of choice there, too. I chose the chicken parmagiana sub, which was about average, but it was nice to have as an option. I took part home (and in this case I mean Jonathan's parents' house) and had it a couple days later as a snack.

Barracuda Sushi

Jonathan, Andy, and I were getting together for a final meal before we left for Christmas. Andy likes this place called Barracuda Sushi in downtown Mountain View for their happy hours, and he said they did brunch, too, so we went there for Sunday brunch. They also have a few other locations in the Bay Area.

We started with ichiban roll, which is one of their specialties. It's white tuna, cucumber, and green onion, covered with unagi (eel) and avocado. I liked it okay, and Jonathan felt the same. It came just before the food, but we weren't feeling rushed either, which was okay. The prices seemed a little high at first, but after the food arrived and nobody could finish their order, it turned out to be appropriate. I had the two-item bento box, and went with chicken teriyaki and the pork gyoza. The chicken was delicious, the gyoza was average. The salad and sup that accompanied the meal were also average. The rice was good, the orange slices were tasty, and I didn't try the edamame so I can't comment on that. The boys both had donburi (rice bowls with egg), one with chicken and one with pork. The chicken was HUGE and both guys struggled to get even close to finishing. Jonathan said he'd get it again.

I also went with the $7 unlimited mimosas (available 11-3 or 4 on weekends), and I was apparently the only person in the restaurant doing so that morning, since they had to make a pitcher of it, and we noticed that it was only brought over to refill my glass, LoL. It was good, I'd recommend it. We're planning to go back there at some point, since they also had television on... although football season is over...

Morton's: A Steakhouse

For Jonathan’s 27^th birthday, his aunt and uncle sponsored a trip to Morton’s, which is a steakhouse chain (you may remember that he sent us to The Capital Grille for Jonathan's last birthday). We have one in San Jose, so it only took us fifteen minutes or so to get there. Because of the winter carnival going on, parking was problematic; luckily they have valet at a reasonable rate (especially compared to parking prices in San Jose).

We were seated almost immediately, and handed personalized “birthday menus,” since we had mentioned it was Jonathan’s birthday when we made the reservation. The menu covered a lot of different options, including six types of potatoes as side dishes! I was glad that we had the menu to peruse, as typically you order without a printed menu at all! 

Our server gave us a full presentation of the options, and we watched various other tables receive presentations of their own at various points throughout the evening. The server ("seasoned" would be a good word to describe her, as she clearly knew everything and seemed a little bored in her work) wheeled a cart over to our table, demonstrated the different cuts of meat, crab legs, vegetables, and appetizers. Jonathan chose the Porterhouse steak, after a tough decision between that and the Ribeye. I chose the broiled salmon fillet with beurre blanc sauce. For side dishes (served family-style), the potatoes lyonnaise and the grilled asparagus sounded great. 

While we decided on our orders, we munched on fresh onion bread. The large, round loaf that was brought out was very good. It was a little strange that there was no bread knife, but we had steak knives on the table when we sat down, so it was easy enough to slice ourselves.

We didn’t wait long before Jonathan’s baked five-onion soup arrived. It was crusted with Swiss cheese, and since it was heavy with garlic, we think that perhaps there is a type of onion that greatly resembles garlic. I had a small taste, and agreed with his assessment that it was delicious.

The table was re-set before the server brought the entrees, which was quite a nice surprise. The tablecloth was cleared of crumbs and new utensils were placed. We also received our drinks – Jonathan chose a “rare red" to go with his steak: a four-leaf cabernet sauvignon. I selected the holiday special, Sleigh Ride, which was a white wine (prosecco) with tuaca (a vanilla-citrus liquer), cranberry juice, and cherry liquer. Both were excellent choices. 

The Porterhouse was unique in that it was part New York Strip and part Filet. I thought it looked pretty neat, and Jonathan was very pleased with the aged flavor of both meats. I asked him to compare it to the steak that he had last year at The Capital Grille (where he first experienced aged steak), and he found it tender but not as flavored.

My salmon was very plentiful, and grilled just right. The sauce was a little thinner than I expected, but quite flavorful and an excellent accompaniment to the fish. I was not able to finish it all, and took a third or so home to enjoy for lunch the next day.

Since there were so many selections for side dishes, I was pretty excited when they arrived. The potatoes lyonnaise contained potatoes cut into pieces about the size of quartered lemons, fried with onions and bacon. It was absolutely exquisite, though the leftovers did not fare as well as the salmon. The grilled asparagus had a balsamic glaze that really brought out the flavor rather than mask it, as some sauces tend to do with that vegetable.

There were many birthdays in the restaurant that night – I think we heard the waiters sing their version of the “Happy Birthday” song five or six times, so we were totally expecting it, which was good… it’s always a bit awkward when you are caught completely by surprise! The restaurant also had a photographer who came around early in the evening to take a photo of us, and she delivered it later in a small Morton’s folder, signed by many of the employees. The complimentary birthday dessert was hot chocolate lava cake, with Godiva chocolate in the center. It was delicious with the ice cream on the side, but it would have been overly rich on its own. 

Overall, Morton’s was a great dining experience. From the cart and the spiel of options to the final presentation of food to the table, it was pretty unique and fun.

CB Hannegan's - An Irish Pub

We went to a birthday gathering at C.B. Hannegan's in San Jose on a Saturday night. We anticipated difficulties parking, but luckily found a spot about 100 yards down the road.

We were among the first few to arrive for the event, so five of us had a few appetizers before the rest of the group got there. First were the potato skins, which were large and delicious. They might've been a dollar or so overpriced, but no biggie. After that came the Irish Nachos, which were on steak fries, interestingly enough. I only had a tiny bit, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them, as they were pretty fast.

Jonathan and Jim split The Mondo Combo pizza, which included Italian sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, salami, onions, olives, bell peppers, mushrooms, and extra cheese. It wasn't amazing, but they seemed to enjoy it. It took the longest, which was weird when you consider how many people at the table had steaks and such. The had a leftover slice that sat in the fridge until I got sick of seeing the box, so it wasn't good enough to finish, LoL. I had the Classic CB Burger with fries. I added cheese for 75 cents (I thoroughly hate when you have to pay extra for a slic of cheese on a burger!). It was okay. I finished my leftovers, LoL.

The Fish Market

Kathy couldn't make it to any of the scheduled events for Jonathan's birthday, so we celebrated with her separately. She suggested a place that's very close to us (just past our nearest grocery store), simply called The Fish Market. We arrived at 7pm or so on a Monday night, and it was pretty crowded (though a very large party was taking up the bulk of one of the rooms), though we were seated quickly. Service was a bit slow in the beginning, but it picked up by the time we ordered our first appetizer.

We started out with with a half-dozen raw oysters, two each of Island Creek oysters (from Massachusetts), Malaspina oysters (from British Columbia), and Kumamoto oysters (from Humboldt Bay, CA). I wasn't a big fan (I prefer my oysters done Rockefeller-style), but they both liked them, and they had different favorites so it worked out well. We also shared the Baked Clams Kilpatrick, which was excellent. Six clams baked with butter and bacon.

Jonathan and Kathy both ordered the same thing - the Fish & Chips combination, which included fried scallops, fried fish, fried shrimp, and french fries. Neither was truly taken by it, and they agreed that the scallops, though large, were the poorest in quality out of the three. The fish scored decent marks, and the shrimp was average. I ordered the pasta con nova, which was a fettuccine with cream sauce, smoked salmon, and tomatoes. The idea sounded great, but smoked fish in pasta is really different. My portion wasn't huge, but fitting for the lower price. I wouldn't get it again, but only because I didn't like the way the fish made the sauce taste smoky.

Kathy had let the server know ahead of time that it was Jonathan's birthday, so they sang and brought out a delicious chocolate mousse - very rich and decadent. I'd certainly order that again in a heartbeat.