Norfolk Chop House

Late this summer Cary and I ventured out to the Norfolk Chop House for a dinner with Tina and Eric.  We were both very curious about this new restaurant with exciting possibilities for good cow meat.

The special for Sunday evenings was Prime Rib.  Both of us love Prime Rib and we each ordered to our preference, Cary likes hers medium, and I like mine medium well.  Both came out almost rare and covered in fat.  I was dissapointed in the meat selection, I believe Outback Steakhouse has better cuts of meat.  By no means did the cook make the meat uneatable, or awful tasting.  I got the impression the chef thinks meat tastes good one way, rare, and he doesn't care what the order specificies.  Its a shame, Cary and I were hoping to like this place.  There really isn't a god steak place in Norfolk.

The appetizers were fine and the servers were very nice.  If you've never been inside the restaurant you should go once, they've done a nice job of making the place look like a nice restaurant.

http://www.norfolkchophouse.com/

Bermuda Food

The photos of the food that we ate in Bermuda are spread out over several phones and cameras, so this is not a complete photo-shoot and updates may come later.

Prior to travelling to Bermuda Cary and I both read that we should expect mediocre food, like one would expect to find in England.  We did not find this to be the case, the food was very good.  FIsh and chips was the staple.  This is the closest that I would get to England in a while and figured this should be pretty close to what I would get there.  I tasted good, the fried portion generally helps everything taste good.  Not much different than a serving one could get in the United States.  I think I had this meal three times in Bermuda, each one was pleasant and filled me up.

The picture above is of a T Bone served at the restaurant Blu.  Cary had the filet.  This was by far the best meal we had on the island.  Blu was on a posh resort with what looked to be a very nice golf club, the food was very expensive and the wait staff was average.  The steak was mouth watering good.

In the hotel we stayed at there were several restauarnts.  The neatest of which was a nautical themed place called "something."  They had an excellent sellection of seafod, expensively priced.  Cary had "unknown" and I had "fish"  My fish was only OK and Cary's was great.

 

The experience Cary and I had while in Bermuda was excellent.  One need not worry about the blandness of the food.  The only real bad experience we had was by the swimming pool when we ordered a vegetable wrap.  It wasn't that good and screaming kids will ruin any experience.

Ribs

Summer 2012

Based upon the ribs I had in Colorado with Nikolai and Audrey I attempted to replicate the recipe.  I bought one rack o' ribs from the store, cut it in two.  The length would not fit into the crock pot.  Placed both smaller racks in the crock pot with three bottles of beer and put the heat on low for about 6 hours.  In hindsight, I think I left it in the beer for too long.  When I estimated they were ready for the grill, much of the meat fell off as I was pulling the ribs out of the crock pot.  Prior to placing them on the rib I coated them with homemade barbecue sauce, courtesy of the internets.  I used the grill to place a nice crust on the ribs and then served with french fries and broccoli.  They were awesome!

Citrus Virginia Beach, Virginia

Cary and I ventured out to Citrus in Virginia Beach for brunch.  We had never heard of this place until it was recommended to us by a friend of ours.  Online we discovered that Guy Fieri had visited the restaurant for his Diners and Dives television show. 

There was a 45 minute wait to sit.  Fortunately they have a bar set up for the massive amount of people waiting to be seated.  The drink of choice was a Citrus Mimosa.  It tasted good.  Good enough to have two.

When we were seated our orders were promptly taken.  I chose the Fried Softshell crab sandwich.  Cary choose the Egg white Omelet with hashbrowns and Sweet Potato biscuit.  All of the food tasted as if it had been appropriately cooked. 

We discovered nothing at this restaurant that justified a 45 minute wait.

Coddie's Vegetarian Pasta Alfredo

Upon the return of my Colorado adventure, Cary invited the Coddie/Lexia family over to hang out.  Coddie was gracious enough to cook everyone dinner.  It was a wonderful vegetarian version of Pasta Alfredo, heavy on the mushrooms. It was wonderful.  I also ate through the pain on this one, ensuring I had properly finished my plate.  Thanks Coddie!

Cafe Nikolai and Audrey, Fort Collins, CO

The last night in Colorado I spent visiting Nikolai and Audrey we prepared bison burgers for dinner.  The bison burger was ground meat from a friend of Audrey's, the mushroom was picked from an undisclosed location in the woods by an expert mushroom identifier, and bread was a loaf from the grocery store.  Not an average burger, but the rusticness of the wild mushrooms and loaf of bread, vice hamburger roll, made the whole experience more than worthwhile.  I was stuffed on two of these monsters but could easily have eaten three more, if not for the size of my stomach.

Bruce's Bar, Severance Colorado

During my visit to Nikolai in Colorado the first stop we made was to Bruce's Bar in Severance, CO.  It was conveniently located between the Denver airport and Fort Collins, where Nikolai and Audrey live.  This bar is known for its Rocky Mountain Oysters.  The options are a platter of fried bull testicles, pictured below, with fries and cocktail sauce.

They also served turkey testicles and another type of fried testicle that escapes me now.  I was unsure how I would feel while eating balls, fortunately they are fried so heavily I was unable, or would be unable, to distinguish the meat I was eating from any other fried meat.  But that's OK, this is a food item to eat for the sake of eating it, not because it tastes amazing.

Bruce's Bar does have a good fry batter, we both ate all of the fried nuts and did not complain later about an upset stomach.