Erica "It's shake n bake and I helped!" P.'s Profile

These guys are the best! Dr. Mary and Dr. Brian get out all my knots and kinks and they take my insurance! They even have massaging chairs in the waiting room, and they are totally flexible with my schedule (and constant need to reschedule on them)

Go! Now! Tell em I sent ya :)

Ok, so I really don't like soup... but their Kale salad (who knew I liked kale!?) is SO delicious. And really good for you. And you can get half a sandwich too so you are still being healthy. But really, it's about the Kale salad. Trust me.

Went here last night with a group for dinner. This was by far one of the better dining experiences I have had lately.

Started with a mix of Amuse Bouches - one drawback here is that half the table got one thing, and half got the other, so we were unable to try both! (I had the agnolotti, a small pillow like ravioli that was delicious!)

The rolls were warm potato bread (yum!) served with a soft onion butter, I was pretty hungry when we arrived, but this tasted and smelled divine!

I started with the Kampachi tartar, a baby yellow tail with avocado in a great Asian inspired sauce. It was served with szechuan buttons, which were tiny flowers (we joked they were "herbs" of another variety) served on a little spoon that we were told to place under our tongues prior to eating the dish - weird and I didn't really get it, but it made for some funny conversations during our appetizers.

My entree was to die for, seriously. It was duck breast, served with a kumquat confit and ravioli stuffed with foie gras and sweet potatoes, this was incredible.

For dessert we had carrot Cake and some cheese. The cheese was good, nothing special, paired with apples and candied walnuts and the carrot cake was very well executed, as I often do not like carrot cakes and I really enjoyed this one.

Service was good and non-intrusive and as we were wrapping up our meal we had a celeb sighting as D.L Hughley was being seated a the next table!

I'll be back for sure.

Could have sworn I reviewed this place when I went a few months back, well anyhow, it wasn't very good, and now it is closed.

Went here Wednesday night with a group of girls. We had just come from the spa and were not looking too hot (My awesome knee high snow boots, with dress pants tucked in, and no makeup - VERY attractive :P) We were treated as though we were just as lovely as the next table - off to a good start! We had drinks and ordered our meals - I had the Tasmanian sea trout sashimi, on a bed of crushed edamame, with yuzu foam and Asian pear. This was light and delicious, though I was also coveting my dining partners' tuna tartar - I tasted, lovely in texture and flavor, served with the cutest little scallion pancakes! And did I mention the amuse, a fresh raw oyster with American osetra caviar, nothing fancy or innovative, but delicious nonetheless. Between courses, we marveled at the gorgeous room, the great service and the surprisingly quiet ambiance (I must admit we stirred up the last point a bit, having a table of 4 girls catching up - but no one seemed to mind, too much :)

For my entree I ordered off the appetizer menu, the bay scallops (those are the small ones) with blood orange, endive and lemon poppy seed sauce. This was also very tasty, but to be entirely honest, not really well presented (kind of just tossed about the plate) all the other dishes came with beautiful plating, nice structure and balance (think squiggly lines of sauce, formed shapes, etc) In their defense, they increased the size of the portion for me, so that could have affected the aesthetic.

On to dessert! We were celebrating my birthday, and the waiter brought out (with prompting by one of my companions) an extra dessert with happy birthday written on the plate, they said they didn't do candles in their desserts, but I blew out the candle decorating our table (I'm SO classy :-P)

We ordered four desserts, and four glasses of frangelico on the rocks. (yummy!) My favorite by far was the huckleberry creme brulee, which unlike traditional creme brulees, was served with fresh fruit in a huckleberry syrup and small scoops of creme brulee scattered throughout. The caramel sauce on the plate was to die for. The Apple dessert (a strudel) was good as well as the chocolate souffle. The flour less chocolate torte was recommended by the waiter, and the peanut butter that accompanied it was amazing. I didn't really like the Mango Pavlova, but I was never one for meringue.

After desserts, we were presented with a tray of yummy little chocolate things, the best being the chocolate cup filled with peanut butter and peanuts. So good!

All in all a gorgeous and fancy dining experience that lived up to its looks for service and food. Sadly, we didn't spot S and lonely boy canoodling anywhere.
xoxo - foodie girl :)

We went to Manducatis rustica on saturday night for dinner. The place was empty and we still stood there waiting for someone to notice us for about 5 minutes (there were four of us) We were told the main dining room was hosting a private party and were seated at the smallest table in the cafe area while some man sat all alone at a huge table. We were then ignored, not even given water, for a good 15 minutes when the waitress came over and told us about the menu: pizza and then one veal dish, one chicken dish, one pasta. All with mushrooms. Then she left. After still being ignored after that (still no water!) we decided to take our business elsewhere. I understand they may have been preoccupied by their private party that hadn't yet begun, but if that's the case they should have simply turned us away. Instead they decided to seat us and ignore us to the point that no one in my party plans to ever patronize their shop again. Best of luck, but I'm not holding my breath.

Finally made it to Scarpetta! My closest friends and relatives (ok and co-workers..part of facebook) have heard me incessantly talking about wanting to eat here for weeks (maybe more) ...and tonight the new(ish) bf and I went for dinner...the place looked great; wood and oranges, exposed lightbulbs, and very hip/cozy for a brisk autumn night...

Ok on to the food...
Let's start with the bread basket... 4 or 5 different choices, a toasted foccacia type, a salami and mozz sandwich bread (yum!) a hard water roll, and some rustic-y (maybe sourdough)slices. Paired with lemony olive oil, butter and an olive tomato mashup that tasted like pasta sauce.

I started with the tuna susci rolled up with carrots and greens drizzled in truffle oil. Delicious. The flavors sound weird but taste great. Scott had the short ribs, with barley and corn and cherry tomatoes, the meat was really tender, (i tasted everything ;-) and we split the yellow tail with ginger oil and sea salt (scott didnt like the crunchy salt - but) being kind of a salt lover and big on texture, i enjoyed it.

Then we had 2 pastas. The cavatelli pasta with rabbit and mint -Interesting flavors (very good!) & The agnolotti, a mixed meat ravioli, in a white truffle cheese sauce, so rich, but sooo good.

for entrees, scott had veal wrapped in pancetta with butternut puree, I don't even eat beef and this was good. I had the scallop appetizer - tartare style with greens, avocado and citrus (lemon or grape fruit, not sure) - this had great flavor, but, imho, could have gone a little heavier on the citrus.

For dessert we split the pumpkin cheese cake with pineapple cream (mascarpone?) and some reduced gingery sauce (was supposed to have cherries too, but I'm allergic) this was amazing - with great spices and texture and not too filling at all (and believe me we were pretty filled!)

all in all - probably closer to a 4.5, but I'd have to go back to be sure...  :)

Rack and I went here Friday night. While Restaurant Week was still in effect, we found the choices on that menu to be limited and not as exciting as the regular menu (ah such is life)

The restaurant is nicely decorated, though the laquered canvas that is the same color as the wall in the back room was caught somewhere between minimalism and lack of imagination...

Our waiter was very nice and had a little personality which is always nice when unwinding and the bread basket, though populated with normal french type bread also had these interesting (and somewhat addictive) seaweed crisps.

We decided to split three appetizers and a sushi roll. The puffed rice crusted shrimp roll was delicious, a lighter take on a shrimp tempura roll and included some yummy sesame flavoring (Rack liked it so much she almost ordered another!). Then the Yellowtail Tataki, a salad with yellowtail served seared, topped with a nice light dressing and surrounded by different herbs (basil, and other greens) as well as fennel root and yuzu (which tastes and looks surprisingly like grapefruit). After that we had the chicken dumplings, really moist and served in a soy based sauce (Rack wanted another order of these too!) Lastly, we had the seared scallops, served on a cauliflower puree with pickled mushrooms This was by far my favorite as the flavors really came together wonderfully!

All in all this was a great dining experience, great service and delicious food. I am sure we will return.

Had dinner here last night. While the company was great :) the restaurant will never have the honor (ha) of my presence again.

Walking in for a 7pm reservation there were maybe 6 total other customers in the restaurant. The place looked like one of the bars that probably looks good in the dark, but looks like a frat house basement with the lights on. And it smelled funny - musty even. The back part of the room looked like it had been cleared out for a bar mitzvah and really made the room even more unpleasant.

The two stars above are for the friendly prompt service, the small but impressive (and inexpensive) wine list and the Tuna Pica, the appetizer we split.

Tuna Pica-Tuna, Black Currents, Avocado, Almonds, Pickled Cucumber, Soy Glaze and Gyoza Skin. This was really light and delicious, even though the currents were raisins and the almonds tasted more like peanuts. It came plated as a glorified napoleon with the ingredients resting atop crackers in a mini tower of piza. The cucumbers were pretty unnecessary, but the dish was enjoyable.

Sadly, our main courses were not up to the same standard. My companion had red Snapper, with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Kalamata Olives, Roasted Artichokes and Shellfish Tomato Broth. This dish came out luke warm, and the fish was so-so. The potatoes were the best part. My main course (actually from the small plates menu) was the Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Organic Baby Greens, Cherry Tomatoes, Yuzu Tobiko, Truffle Oil. The best part of this dish was the Yuzu Tobiko. The scallops were over seasoned and over cooked, the baby greens were in a Dijon type vinaigrette which didn't match well with the seaweed and Asian type influences, the truffle oil was non existent and the cherry tomatoes were not cherry, they were regular slices.

I miss star foods. :)

My dinner at Buddakan, or the day I realized I really am a food snob.

So I went here with work as part of a big SATC night (silly yes, fun obv!)

The place is gorgeous and you just feel like a celeb walking in. We ate at Carrie and Big's rehearsal dinner table, the big long one in the center of the room down the stairs. The chandeliers were amazing-the room reminded me of Temple of doom meets Ikea or Gymboree. Weird I know, but between the elegant details of the walls, the fresco-like painting on the walls and the colorful abstract window sculptures, it's what came to me.

The service was spectacular and the waiters were knowledgeable and friendly.

But on to the food... here is where i realized my snobbery. From the room, the hype and knowing the cost of things - I was expecting to be amazed by the food. I wasn't. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't blown away. It reminded me very much of a Chain restaurant, much like a Ruby Foo's.

We had the Edamame dumplings, which I see raves for on Yelp, but am wondering if these people enjoy baby food as well. The dumplings were filled with green pureed mush and the "Sauternes broth" did not taste of Sauternes at all and was, imho, a waste of a good dessert wine.

The lobster egg rolls were decent- did not taste of mint though they were touted as such, and were no better than local delivery. The lobster meat was a little tough too; one bite and the filling was all hanging from my mouth while i still held the shell!

The crispy calamari salad was delicious and would be something I would return for (and is the only food related reason for the 4th star) and the General Tso's Chicken dumplings were messy and kind of boring.

I only had a few items from the sides we ordered as I was pretty full (and ok, getting a little tipsy - which sometimes kills the appetite) but the crab fried rice was gross - a little too fishy, and overloaded on coconut or something sweet-ish. The Sugar snap peas we tasty but not very impressive/innovative.

I had the sweet and crispy jumbo shrimp for my entree, and while it had interesting flavor, it also tasted like it was doused in the mayo sauce they use to make spicy tuna rolls, minus the spice, so it tasted like shrimp covered in sweet mayo. Nice flavor, strange texture - and once I think of seafood with mayo I get a little nauseous.

I did get to meet Chef Dale (of top chef fame) which was cool, and while the food was well prepared (go Dale) it was really the structure of the dishes/menu that left me thinking Buddakan ought to stick to the less picky/more easily impressed metro areas, i.e. philly.

A co-worker was a big fan of the beef dishes, and as I avoid those, I will defer to her, seems beef is their wheel house... but I still claim that Buddakan is overrated...

Maybe I really am just a jaded foodie.