Justin P.'s Profile

Q: How do you pull off habanero pepper in an ice cream?
A: You don't. You go here and pay these guys to do it.

Stopped in here with a friend on 7/25/10 after hiking and kayaking at Nockamixon State Park.

It's an unassuming little building (apparently used to be a mechanic's) with only a small parking lot, but fortunately we were able to pull right in.

Nothing fancy on the inside - it's cheerfully painted, and there are a couple seats by the window, but other than that it's just a simple setup with a single ice cream case and a register.

MAN, is the ice cream good. Creative flavors and great texture.

Now, about that habenero ice cream. They cool off the pepper with the sweetness of raspberries and creamy banana. Just brilliant, and worth every penny (and it really wasn't that expensive, anyway).

I also went for the lemon ginger, and she got a scoop of the honey lavender. Both good choices. The Brazilian iced coffee was tempting on a hot day, but I wanted to savor the aftertaste of the ice cream (especially that habanero!) for as long as possible.

A must-stop that will become part of my regular hiking/paddling routine at Nockamixon.

I used to go to the Temperance House a lot from 2004-2006 when I lived within walking distance. It's gone through some changes since then, but it's still a quality place (even if I only make it there 1-2 times a year now).

The main restaurant used to do a number of buffets (a full-on seafood buffet on Fridays and a crab legs one in the middle of the week); I'm not sure whether that's still the case, but if so, the seafood buffet was one of my favorites.

Nowadays, I usually eat in the bar area, especially if it's weekend night. The Temp does a lot of live music - mostly blues and rock, small (2-3 person) groups - and it's a lot of fun to have some live entertainment while downing a burger and brew. The bar menu is reasonably priced and the food ranges from decent to excellent. You can get your burgers, pizza, etc. but there are also some more high-falutin' dishes - on a recent visit, my date had a tasty spinach salad with apples, pecans, Gorgonzola and raspberry vinaigrette. (I opted for the somewhat less chic Carnivore pizza.)

(Note: smoking is permitted in the bar, which normally puts me off, but it's well-ventilated and you don't typically leave with a smoky smell on you.)

Nothing but good things to say about this place.

I ate here with my family while in town for the Cherry Blossom Festival.

We had to wait maybe 15 minutes for a table for 8 - not bad for a Saturday night walk-in. Fortunately, the old framed covers of Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post and other classic magazines that cover the walls kept me amply entertained.

One cool thing about the City Tabern is the long list of (remarkably reasonably-priced) specials.

The shrimp bisque special I started with was thick and hearty, with little shrimp that I could've mistaken for crayfish, given how they fell apart in my mouth.

From there, I moved to the rainbow trout in mushroom and shrimp sauce. The giant portion of trout and the heap of shrimp, mushrooms and sauce that buried it more than made up for the occasional dry bite.

By the time dessert rolled around, we could barely move, but we rallied enough to split a slice of Key lime pie (which was plenty for 8 of us).

All in all, a real bargain.

Grabbed lunch here - fortunately I had some time to kill.

The food was inexpensive and very tasty, especially if (like me) you like chili.

Our group ordered the chili cheese fries as a starter - a good choice. The waffle fries held onto the chili well and absorbed just enough of the juice to make it a different experience than ordering nachos or Frito pie.

I followed that with the Double Wide - 2 hot dogs wrapped in a tortilla stuffed with more chili. God Bless America. The dogs were as thick as bratwurst and the tortilla did a surprisingly good job of keeping the chili in without getting overly soggy. Very tasty (and probably more food than most people need - definitely splittable, especially if you're going to get an appetizer or side as well).

The real drawback to my experience at this place is that the service was horrendous. The waitress was nice enough, but she just disappeared for interminable lengths of time. She came over to get our drink order, bring our food out and drop off the check, and maybe one other time. We were there for an hour and a half, at least. And one guy never got his food (he showed up 10 minutes after the rest of us and placed his order as everyone else's food was being dropped off. Apparently that order never made it in.)

So it's good stuff, and cheap, but just hope that you don't get our waitress. You might have better luck sitting right at the bar (after all, the bartender can't go very far, right?).

Had dinner here during SXSW. Started with the guacamole appetizer and moved on to the smoked salmon enchiladas

The guacamole was smooth with a fair amount of avocado chunks - I like a lot of guac with my chips, and wouldn't have minded having a bit more than was provided. Still, pretty decent for $6.

The salmon enchiladas were a new dish for me. They weren't too spicy, which was nice, and the creamy avocado sauce paired nicely with the fish.

The ambience was OK - there was a mariachi band, which was kind of cool, but they walked through the restaurant and played. The tables were way too close together for it. Why not just use the stage in the restaurant? Kind of obnoxious to have some guy blaring a trumpet right next to you.

Went there for breakfast this morning as it was near the Convention Center. Really dug the airy feel given off by the high ceiling and enormous windows along the street.

Had the garden omelet, sausage, sourdough toast and coffee. The coffee was not the best I've had, but more than passable... plenty strong, with a couple grounds at the bottom of the cup.

The omelet was excellent - big mushrooms and pieces of broccoli and buttery cheese. I wish the tomatoes had been peeled and cooked as they felt a bit out of place with the rest of the omelet, but they didn't detract significantly from the dish.

The sausage was moist and just spicy enough to be interesting, and while the toast wasn't anything special, the orange marmalade that accompanied it topped off the meal nicely.

Service: I sat at the bar and was attended to promptly. The waiter was friendly in that Southern hospitality sort of way, and my coffee cup was never more than halfway empty... I think I drank about a quart of the stuff.

Highly recommended for breakfast.