Food Adventures: Salt #3

Well my friend Shealaina and I made another trip back to SALT which has to be my favorite restaurant by now, everything I have eaten there has been amazing. This time around we went for the weeknight tasting menu, which was a limited selection of a small plate, salad, and a large plate, and all of it was for a very decent price.

I have shown a picture of this on here from the first time we went, but this was my first course, shrimp and grits with a rich spicy tomato sauce. I liked it so much that I had to just get it again. There was some deep fried noodles and parsley on top. It was great once again, I would eat anything they put with the grits, just so amazing.

This was Shealaina's first dish, it was General Tso's pork belly, and it was amazingly good. It was chunks of pork belly with the flavor of General Tso's, also there were some fried rice balls, some roasted broccolini, and a sriracha aioli. The pork belly was amazing along with everything else in the dish. I would also order that again, such a great combination of flavors.

I was feeling a bit daring, so I thought I would try the roasted beet salad, I have honestly not ever really eaten beets, but I thought I would give it a try. It was large pieces of roasted beets under baby arugula that was lightly dressed with vinaigrette topped with some goat cheese. Honestly I liked every part of the salad but the beets, in the future I will just get a normal side salad, but I liked that I got out of my comfort zone and tried something new. I think if the beets were broken down a bit more they would have been easier to eat with the other ingredients, but it was super hard to cut them in the dish they were served in.

  This was my large plate that I chose, it was call steak kim-chimichurri, and it really did combine the flavors of both kim chi and chimichurri. It was sliced seasoned flank steak, with a papaya slaw(which took the place of kim chi), they were on top of some chorizo croquets, with chimichurri sauce and some guacamole. That is a lot of different elements that really worked well together. I tried to get bites with everything in them and they were all delicious alone and when combined together. I would absolutely order this again. My mouth is watering while writing this.

I have to say it was another awesome trip to SALT, and I know that we will be going back again some time.

Food Adventures: S.A.L.T. in De Pere Brunch Edition

Well I wrote about my previous trip to S.A.L.T. here, but my friend discovered but they also have a brunch menu, so we decided to go back and try the brunch menu as well.

This time I was able to get a pretty good picture of the menu that if you click on will get larger and is pretty readable. We decided to order a few different things and to share. I will say that I enjoyed that there are 2 dishes that are references from The Lord of the Rings in them, and there was also poutine, but I somehow didn't get poutine, this time.

This was the truffle fries on the menu. I have had some things with truffles in the past that, so I wasn't too eager to try them, but my friend wanted to get them, and its hard to not want to at least try fries of any kind. I liked them quite a bit although I made sure not to fill up on them. The fries were nice and crispy and were more of shoestring fries, which probably helped get that level of crispy. There was a little Parmesan cheese, parsley, truffle oil, and a poached egg on top. The truffle oil was not overpowering, it was more just the essence of truffle. The best fries were the one that got some of the yolk on them.

This was my main dish, chilaquiles. It is a dish that I have seen on all sorts of different shows on tv and always looks so good, but it was something I had never seen on a menu before. I know a low of what I had seen on tv was done with a green chile pork, but this dish was cheese grits on the bottom, seasoned tortilla chips that had a little kick to them, slow roasted pork, queso sauce, minced onion, cilantro, and a poached egg. I didn't mention the tomatoes because I am not a big fan.

This is a shot after removing the tomatoes, and popping the yolk on my egg that made all of the other elements of the dish even more enjoyable. I actually said during the meal something along the lines of "Egg yolk is the best sauce."

A shot that has a bit of the grits in it, they added such a nice creamy element to the dish along with the spice, the slight sweetness, and the richness of the egg. I really enjoyed all of this dish, as I have pretty much everything at S.A.L.T.

Evidence of how much I enjoyed the dish, I have definitely made a habit of doing that at this restaurant.

The other dish we shared was the pastrami hash, the eggs on top are actually duck eggs, I actually didn't notice any flavor difference while eating, but looking at them now, they are bigger, with really big yolks in them. I think I have definitely broken the record for uses of the word yolk in a blog post here. The salad was good, it was mixed greens with a little bit of beet in it too, the salad was good as was the hash. The potatoes had a good crunch on them, and the pastrami was in good sized chunks also with a good crisp on them. It was another. great trip to S.A.L.T.

Food Adventures: Richmond, Virginia

Well I really had meant to write a little about my trip to Richmond, VA sooner, but I just haven't been in the writing mood. This will be a bit minimal about my trip, I should have written about it sooner when my memory was fresher. I also wish I had taken more pictures, but I am just not that much of a photographer. I need to learn to be if I am going to write about things I do.

The first place we went where I took pictures was Capital Ale House. They had a very nice menu at this bar, and I think the rest of my family enjoyed the beer selection as well. It was also a pretty short walk from where we were staying during the trip as well.

This was the pulled pork poutine that was on the menu at Capital Ale House, french fries covered with cheese curds, gravy, and pulled pork. My dad is actually the one who ordered this, the portion was quite big, but of course there were too many fries and not enough toppings, but still it was quite delicious.

This was my dish at Capital Ale House, bacon and onion stuffed chicken, with au gratin potatoes, and broccoli. It was really good. I loved the garlic and onion flavor in the stuffing and the chicken was cooked perfectly. It was a great, slightly healthier option on the menu because I knew I would be having some less than healthy foods during the week.

The next morning my brother and I went off to a local English pub to watch some Premier League soccer, the place was called Penny Lane, and yes after The Beatles. I got the full English breakfast. It was quite mediocre, as I thought it might be at a pub, but it was high in protein and really filling.

We went out to a French restaurant with some friends of our father. There really wasn't all the much that appealed to me on the menu here, but I decided to get some mussels, since I was closer to the coast seafood was one of the things I wanted to eat. These mussels were flavored with ingredients that also go into clam chowder, and there were a few clams included as well. Seasoned with bacon, leeks, and cream, they were quite good, but were weirdly served with french fries, all of which together was quite salty.

This is the last food picture I have from the trip, the one thing I wanted to have more than anything else, Chicken and waffles! I also had it with some sweet tea for a true southern experience. The chicken and waffles was everything I wanted it to be, crispy, chewy, salty, sweet, and juicy. The one complaint that I would have preffered some pieces of chicken other than wings, but other than that it was amazing.

The one other thing I had to add to this was a picture of the Lucky Strike building in Richmond, I guess Richmond used to be one of the biggest cities for tobacco companies, and there is a long row of former tobacco warehouses that are being repurposed as apartments and condos. I just thought the Lucky Strike tower was really cool. There is also a Native American looking over the corner of the building.

The Lucky Strike building from a different angle.

Food Adventures: Black Cat Cafe in Green Bay, WI

This will be a shortish entry, but I just wanted share about this amazing cafe that has the best savory breakfast dish I have ever had. My mouth is actually watering just as I am typing this.

The Black Cat Cafe is on Broadway Street just a little bit south of downtown. The cafe has 2 halves, there is a dining area as well as a bar area. The decor is quite unique with paintings by local artists all over the walls, as well as some unique kitschy decor. I really like the feel of it, almost a little bit hipsterish, there isn't much that is like it in the Green Bay area.

They only do the full brunch menu on Sundays, and I believe they are known for the variety of bloody marys that they offer, although I don't drink so I have never tried that specialty.

The main thing I wanted to show was the dish that I have gotten each of the last 5 times I have gone there:

I present to you the Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict from the Black Cat Cafe. The dish consists of cornbread topped with pulled pork, topped with poached eggs and some amazing hollandaise sauce, with a side of their cafe potatoes. Once again my mouth is watering just at the thought of this dish. I had it earlier today, but I am hungry for it again.

The buttery hollandaise, the gooey egg, the salty pulled pork, and the sweetness of the corn bread all combining together for an amazing taste combination. It truly is the best savory breakfast dish that I have ever had. I am not someone who will always get the same thing at a restaurant, but I can't bring myself to get away from this one, its just too delicious.

Here is the shot of my plate after I was done:

I would normally have eaten the orange but it was sprinkled with pepper so I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to eat it.

Food Adventures: S.A.L.T. in De Pere, Wisconsin

I have been wanting to start writing about dining experiences in the area, and when I travel, but I haven't because there really aren't all that many interesting and creative restaurants in the area. I didn't take pictures like I really should have, but I will get better at this the more I do it.

I had come across this restaurant while viewing someone's dating profile of all things, and looked up the website. I never messaged the girl, but I really enjoyed the restaurant.

S.A.L.T. is a restaurant in downtown De Pere, Wisconsin, an area that I am discovering more and more has some great great food options in it. This restaurant has a nice laid back atmosphere, and serves a menu of what it calls modern comfort food, taking classic comfort foods and moving it into the modern world.

I went with me fellow foodie friend Shealaina, I don't really like the term foodie, but there isn't another term that people use for being a fan of trying new foods, and creative takes on foods. 

The menu offers small, medium, and large plates, while there is also a menu of different pickles, meats, spreads, and cheeses that was offered as well. My friend and I decided to get a few of the small plates to share, and then each got a medium tray for an entree.

We both loved the things we saw on the menu, and we plan to go back and try some other things.

I especially enjoyed the Breaking Bad reference in "Los Pollos Hermanos" on the menu. The menu as a whole was so much more creative than the things that you see in restaurants around here, the Green Bay area, is not known for its culinary creativity, I think Shealaina and I will be doing a better job of searching for new places and new things to try in the area in the future though.

For the small plates we ordered the sampler, and the shrimp and grits. The sampler came with house made pickles, curry hummus, goat cheese, cherry compote, mustard, brewers sausage, toasted bread slices, and some pita slices. I loved the shrimp and grits, the grits were nice and creamy, the shrimp was cooked in a great rich tomato sauce, all in all a great starter. The sampler was amazing, I think the curry added to the hummus was my favorite part of it, but we devoured everything on the sampler plate. I think next time we will try more of the little parts from the ala carte menu on the bar menu, to get to try new things, like the pickled brussel sprouts, or the artisan meat tray.

For our medium plates Shealaina got a great butternut squash risotto, she loved it, I enjoyed the tastes I got of it, and I am not the biggest fan of squash. I got the schnitzel, which was everything I wanted it to be plus more. The schnitzel was served on a bed of spaetzle, which are small hand made German dumplings, on the side was a pureed red cabbage, which reminded me of the cabbage my dad used to make, on the side there were also some fried brussel sprouts, and finally on top of the schnitzel was a wonderfully gooey poached egg! I know that sounds like a lot, but all of the elements of it works so well together, the textures and flavors were all amazing! The schnitzel was very tender and crispy, the spaezle was great, I enjoyed the cabbage puree, and the fried brussel sprouts were great, I have never been that much of a fan of them, but fried crispy they were great.

Finally we decided we had loved all of the food that we wanted to share some dessert too. Their dessert menu had some great options on it, but we decided to go with the sticky toffee pudding, which was a great moist little cake that was topped with a nice sticky toffee sauce and then also with a great cream sauce, it was wonderful and definitely worth it after the whole meal.

As I said before, Shealaina and I both loved the food we got, and look forward to returning to this restaurant. Well this was the first post in what I hope is a series of posts about the food adventures I have.