I'm a little late, but I'm jumping in on the fun!
I do have a lot of dietary restrictions due to two gastrointestinal conditions that I have for which I am trying to have surgery to correct. These aren't true allergies, though I do have a few mild allergies to shrimp, tomatoes, bananas, and milk, but they can worsen my conditions and make me sick. These mainly include raw vegetables, lettuce, beans, tough meats, corn, and most recently I was advised to completely cut out gluten and dairy.
I completely feel your pain! I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease almost 6 years ago, so I know all about the raw veggies, dairy, etc that can so easily bother your stomach!
First up, we stopped at The Daily Poutine. Jason doesn't think there is anything better than fries, cheese, and gravy so he wanted to try this.
I've heard great reviews of this place, but as a Canadian I just can not bring myself to pay that much for a standard poutine!
Onward we went until we found B.B. Wolfe Sausage Company. I wanted to try their seasonal Oktoberfest offering, but since Jason didn't want anything I just went with the Braided Pretzel.
People. I'm a pretzel connoisseur. As we speak, I'm snacking on limited edition Ale Cheddar pretzel pieces. Let me tell you, this is the best pretzel I've ever had on property if not in my lifetime. I'm not sure if it was because the braiding changed the baking of the dough or what, but it was so soft and buttery and just perfect. I don't eat a lot of salt except for on pretzels, and this was the perfect amount. The cheese on the left side of the plate was almost like what they serve at Cooke's of Dublin without the bacon, but it was sharp and paired perfectly with the pretzel. I don't really care for mustard, but I liked the mustard they served with this. I'm not sure if the better bite was with the cheese or if it was when I put a little of the salt from the pretzel into the mustard. This is a really long paragraph for a pretzel, but that should tell you how amazing this was.
Ok, you've made a great case for this. I've recently fallen back in love with soft pretzels, so I think I need to add this to my list for when we're there in a few weeks!
Jason was still hungry and while he had just had poutine, he wanted more cheese and fries so we were off to Cooke's of Dublin for the Vintage Cheese dip. We loves this cheesy goodness with the bits of bacon in it. A few years ago, one of the managers gave us the recipe. We still get it when we're in Florida, though. I also wanted a little protein so we settled on a kids' chicken tender basket and a side of the cheese dip so that he could have what he wanted and I could have some chicken.
I like the crispy batter on the chicken, which is always juicy when we get it. However, there really is no flavor to it other than chicken and batter. I think it could use a little seasoning, but dip it in some cheese and it's all right with the world. These chips are the fluffy fries that I love so much. And, really, what else can I say about that cheese. We were both satisfied after our hodge podge meal around the Springs.
This sounds amazing! I love when chicken is battered in the fish-style batter, yum! Now I need to figure out where I can fit this in on our upcoming trip...
For our entrees Jason went with the Tonga Toast. He had never had this before. . . and will never have this again.
It was a little on the burnt side, and he only found one lonely banana inside. This was dry and just hard to eat. I think he should have sent it back, but he was polite and didn't want to trouble anyone.
Oh, that's so disappointing! We have a reservation at Kona for our first time, and I'm really looking forward to to Tonga Toast - now I'm worried!
Have you ever had Knorr's sides? So, that's little pieces of pasta and powder that comes in a bag for around .99 cents. Admittedly, I've eaten my fair share of these and enjoy it. But not for $32.00. The alfredo tasted identical to the Knorr's.
Yuck.
We cut into the soggy chicken and it was. . . not done. The bite I had was very rubbery and pinkish-gray and just about to tell me a joke about why the chicken crossed the road. To escape Tony, I think.
Oh man, that's terrible!
This is hilarious!
We ate at Tony's on our wedding trip, and it turned out to be an ok meal (probably made better by the bottle of wine we drank there
). That said, we went in with extremely low expectations, and it's not somewhere we're rushing to get back to. I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience though, that's really unacceptable for your chicken to not be fully cooked!
The sourdough rolls are good, but it's the onion pull-a-parts that are delightful. Warm and soft, with soft sprinkles of caramelized onions. I'm not sure which one of those above is better: the whipped butter with the Macedonian sea salt or the incredible roasted garlic that spreads on the bread like, well, said butter. Amazing!
Yum! I hate onions, but I loved those rolls!
For our entrees, I had the filet mignon with mashed potatoes and a Cabernet sauce.
I mostly order steaks Medium or Medium Rare if the occasion calls for it. This was cooked perfectly to a medium with a nice crust. The sauce just enriched the flavor of the steak. The mashed potatoes were stiff and buttery, just like homemade potatoes should be.
This looks so good!
This is Jason's dessert, the Lexington Sundae. This was certainly an interesting concoction. This was gelato with flavors of salted caramel and buttered popcorn. There are crumbles of butter cookies and drizzle of caramel and whipped cream. See the big S? That's a honey toasted marshmallow that tasted like it was freshly roasted over the fire. I'm not really sure how this worked together as the flavors were just so vast. It was strange.
This is so intriguing looking! So fancy haha!
Doesn't this look fabulous? This is the Admiral's Cake. It was huge. This decadent beauty was layers of Valrhona Chocolate Brownie, Caramel Crunch, Dark Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Sponge Cake, Bananas Foster Jam and Caramel Ganache. I love dark chocolate and ganache. How could this not be amazing? That banana crap stuck in the middle, that's how. I love banana foster caramel sauce, but this was just thick goo that tasted like Lara bars. If you don't know what a Lara bar is, it's basically a combination of fruit and nuts compressed into a bar. I saw someone send this back, and now I know why. Don't do it, folks, just don't do it.
This looks so good, how disappointing that it wasn't!