501 Speakeasy

It's always a good sign when I open a restaurant's door and the Stones' "Paint It Black" greets me. That tells me the place has good taste in music and I'm hopeful that trickles down to their food. After having lunch at 501 Speakeasy yesterday I am happy to report that is indeed the case.

The girl and I were looking for something different yesterday so instead of making the usual right when we hit Campbell Avenue, we made the left to seek out the new eatery. One of the advantages of not being in the "heart of downtown" is parking is no problem so no worries about the tires getting chalked and winding up with a ticket on my windshield.

501 Speakeasy has a cool vibe without the hipster attitude. I didn't have my camera so only got the one shot above with the girl's phone. The stools, reminiscent of a Brooklyn luncheonette sans the glass jar of pretzel rods, line a counter. Tables sprinkle the space, with a couch and seating area tucked away in the back. Since there was a card on each table with dates of performances, I'm assuming that's where live music is played on the weekends. The art on the walls reminded me of the old Lower East Side's punk rock galleries before they were gobbled up by rich developers. When The Cramps "I Was a Teenaged Werewolf" came on, I knew I had to ask who had programmed the music. Pandora did. Gotta check that out.

Location, check. Music, check. Vibe, check. So now for the important parts...the food and service. There's not a huge menu, but there was enough on it for the girl, who is the most picky eater in the world, to find something. Me? I'm not so picky so there were a couple of things from which I had to narrow it down. I chose the Burek Salad which had two spinach and cheese "pastries" which I'm assuming were the bureks, served over greens with cucumbers, roasted red peppers, and tomato. The bureks were delicious -- flaky, not greasy, and heavy on the cheese. The blue cheese dressing was a little thin but quite tasty. The girl chose a chicken taco which she said she would get again. For her one was enough, for me, I would probably need at least two. She also got a caramel iced coffee something which she slurped down to the ice cubes -- a rarity for her.

Our lunch was light enough so that we had room for desserts, and a harder choice to choose only two. Anytime we see Tiramisu we give it a shot. Most places cannot get it right. This Tiramisu was good enough to pack up the leftover and walk through Kohl's with it so it wouldn't go bad in the car, but couldn't hold a candle to the real star -- coconut custard pie. Oh...my...God! That was the best coconut custard pie I have ever had. There were no leftovers. The chef came over and let us know his mom made it. Please tell Mom she is a great baker! I definitely look forward to trying more desserts, especially the pies.

501 Speakeasy is waiting on its beer and wine license which is almost a "must" for my husband to eat dinner anywhere. Until that time, I could probably talk him into going there at least for dessert after some sushi. Meanwhile, the girl has found a dinner break place close to the television station, and one where she doesn't have to deal with downtown parking on a Friday night, and can go to alone and not feel uncomfortable.

You know how I feel about supporting local businesses, and 501 Speakeasy is another one I think you should check out. Funny thing -- when I awoke yesterday morning "Don't Worry, Be Happy" kept playing in my head. I had no idea why. As we were paying our bill I noticed a reflection in the mirror of a sign with that exact phrase. Guess my subconscious knew where I would end up later that day. Good job brain!

I'll Stick to the Cigars

When a new restaurant opens one of the main things they should concentrate on is good service. When they neglect that basic tenet the diner will usually leave with a bad taste in their mouth. Add the bad taste left by the food and chances are the same diner will never return. That's how I feel after dining at the new Cuban restaurant that just opened in Salem.

Why I thought Cuban food would offer some "healthy" choices that would allow me to stay on my diet, I don't know. I'm mad at myself for not only allowing my "cheat" day to be moved up four days but for the poor choice in food as well.

First off let me say Cuban flies are nasty. You can't just wave them off. They don't take no for an answer and they're fast, like Speedy Gonzales fast. Strike one.

Since I'm not familiar with Cuban food I thought the best option would be to choose the appetizer sampler which I thought, according to what I read on the menu, would be a little bit of each of the four appetizers. My friend went with a sandwich, which she thought was going to be pork.

As we waited for our lunch we both opted for water as our drink. It was Salem's finest water, which if you work or live in Salem you know is pretty rank. Filter's are a must. Strike two.

The waiter came and brought a mini platter of some sort of very finely chopped mystery meat placed on top of a fried something. Spanish olives, the crappy ones you get in the $1.00 bottle, were placed on top of the meat. When he sat the plate down he said, "this goes with the sandwich." We were both surprised as the menu said French fries went with the sandwich. My friend starting eating one but couldn't decipher what it was so offered me one. I tried it and it reminded me of the Jamaican beef patty mystery meat on top of what I believed was -- although it didn't look anything like the ones I've had in Brooklyn -- a fried plantain. Just to be sure we called the waiter over and asked what it was and he told us in Spanish, which meant nothing to us. I asked if he could explain in English and he said beef with plantain.

A little while later the waiter brought out my friend's sandwich which wasn't what she thought it would be as there was ham and swiss cheese in it. It was rather large and came with a side of fries. After a couple of minutes more without my meal, I asked the waiter if they forgot about me, and he pointed to the leftover mystery meat appetizer. Apparently that was my lunch, and it didn't come with the sandwich after all. Luckily my friend didn't like it too much, so there were leftovers. I didn't like it much either but I felt weak after our walk and needed to eat something.

After I finished them I asked again where the rest of the appetizers were and was told they were still making the shrimp. Since the menu had listed four different items I thought I would be getting two others as well. More minutes passed with nothing brought to the table so I called over yet a different waiter. He couldn't speak English so he called another one over who then asked my friend if she wanted the second part of her sandwich boxed. I remarked that I was still waiting for my meal. He looked perplexed and left never to return again. How long does it take to cook shrimp anyway? Strike three.

A waiter came by again to fill my friends glass, neglected mine, (damn I should have left my invisibility cloak home) and asked her again if she wanted to take home the half sandwich. By the way, she did say it was good, but wouldn't try the fries since they looked rancid. I asked the waiter to bring over a menu and pointed to what I had ordered and asked what had happened with the rest of the items. From what I could garner with the language barrier and all, they put two of the items together -- the mystery meat and plantains and they were still cooking the shrimp. I pointed to the other two appetizers listed and he said they didn't come with the sampler. Silly me. We had to leave so I told him to forget the shrimp. He says, "Oh you wanted it to go." "Ummm, no I didn't. I wanted to have lunch with my friend at the same time. Just charge me for the one appetizer and that'll be fine." "Do you want separate checks?" "Yes please." Naturally he brought one check.

He did bring a to go box over to me and said I should take the shrimp anyway and he wouldn't charge me for it. It was three small shrimp fried? in a red colored spice placed on top of the exact same type of cup shaped fried plantains as the mystery meat. How many plantains can one person eat??? I took them anyway and tried one when I got to work -- horribly overcooked with the tail on. My husband wouldn't even try one. I threw them out.

Just a note...when I go out for Japanese food, the staff doesn't only speak Japanese, same with Italian and Mexican. I don't think it's too much to ask to have your staff speak English no matter what foreign cuisine is being served.

It may be that the place is so new that it still has to work out the bugs, but I don't think I'll be returning. I'm sure everyone else in the Roanoke Valley will love it and it will remain open for years to come. If this restaurant is an accurate reflection of what Cuban cusine is, it's just not for me...I'll stick to their cigars.

Where's the Beef?

The only Korean food I've had here in Roanoke was at the Local Colors Festival and I enjoyed it very much. Recently a new Korean restaurant, Wonju, opened up so my daughter and I thought we would check it out for lunch today. Based on the raves it received on a local newspaper website, we were looking forward to it.

We shared an appetizer of fried dumplings. They were okay, but nothing to write home about and would probably have been tastier had there been some sort of dipping sauce other than plain ole soy. We decided we would both order something different so we could share. Not feeling very daring my daughter went with the safe chicken teriyaki and I branched out with a Bibimpap. She requested fried rice instead of plain white rice as her side, which caused the waitress to apologize as it would be a dollar more. I told her no problem.

For those of you like me who have no idea what a Bibimpap is, here is the menu description - "Served hot in an earthenware pot, rice, cooked vegetables and beef, mixed with red chili paste *Served with rice & dumpling." Sounded good. When the waitress brought it over I was surprised to be greeted with what looked like a dog bowl filled with rice and veggies and a fried egg on top of it. It didn't mention any egg in the description so I asked the waitress if she had brought me the wrong dish. She said no. I pointed to the egg and said there was no mention of that in the menu, although there was another dish that did have an egg on it which I didn't order. She said that's how it comes. Now that wouldn't have been a problem except the egg was mostly raw and slimy looking. I gag at the thought of eating a raw egg so asked the waitress to please have the egg cooked some more. No problem.

There were four little sampler side dishes they give you, none of which my daughter would try and all of which sorta tasted the same to me...some sort of chilipasted cabbage, some sort of chilipasted bean sprouts?, some sort of chilipasted cucumbers? and seaweed. I've put question marks because I'm assuming the red coloring was chilipaste as it tingled and I think those were the vegetables. I tried a chopstick of each one but didn't like any of them.

My daughter's chicken teriyaki tasted nothing like teriyaki so I'm assuming Korean teriyaki is different than Japanese, Thai or Chinese. The chicken itself was overcooked and of poor grade, definitely not white breast. The "fried rice" was inedible. It was really just white rice that was overcooked, as if it was sitting in a pot for a week, splashed with some soy sauce and a couple of canned peas, carrots and greenbeans thrown in.

When my dog bowl came back the egg was cooked but the bowl was no way "hot", tepid at best. I searched and searched for the beef, but couldn't find any. I called the waitress back and asked her, "Where's the beef?" as I moved the contents around. "There's a piece!" Was that a piece of beef? I don't even know. It tasted more like a half inch of shredded steak-um. I found two other pieces as well, so the total amount of "beef" in the dog bowl was about 1/4 of a steak-umm, if that much. The rest of the dish was 3/4's inedible white rice, and some shredded mystery vegetables. I did recognize a mushroom, but it was one of those slimy ones that I don't like cut into six pieces so I didn't bother eating it. In fact I didn't bother eating hardly any of it. Well, I did eat the now overcooked egg once I put salt and pepper on it. The waitress noticed and asked why not? I told her I was disappointed because I thought the dish was going to have more/some beef in it and I felt the rice was way overcooked. She said that was the way the cook sometimes does it. She also recommended I put the red contents of the plastic bottle that was on the table in it to give it flavor. So I did. Ouch! That must have been the same chilipaste that was on the veggie samplers. That, as they say, was that. By the way, not once was I asked if I wanted a refill of my drink. When you're serving such spicy food that should be a given.

My daughter did not like her meal at all either, "Local Colors food is waaaaaay better. We should have just gone for Thai" so she declined, as did I, a "to-go" box. The waitress said next time I should try something else...like beef. Haha! I told her, "I thought I was! And by the way weren't we supposed to get dumplings with this?" She apologized again saying she forgot and said she would take one dollar off the bill.

We left and about a half hour later I needed to, ahem, use the bathroom, so we beelined home. We won't be heading back. I think I heard my husband breathe a sigh of relief. Based on the meal we had, and all the reviewers who've raved about this place, I am convinced that my taste in food, and oh so many other things, run counter to the vast majority of folks in Roanoke. Don't let this review stop you from trying it because you may very well rave about it. I wish anyone starting a business in this climate the best of luck. I'm sure Wonju will remain open for a long time as only the restaurants I like and think are good in Roanoke seem to disappear or change...the subpar ones linger on forever.

A Festive Roanoke Weekend

It was a busy, festive weekend in Roanoke. On Saturday, what felt like the hottest day of the year, my daughter and I headed downtown. We strolled around checking out the sidewalk art show. There were some very nice pieces I would mind hanging on my walls, that is if I had any extra walls, but they were way too expensive. I would have taken some shots but there were a couple of "no photo" signs so didn't bother. Luckily Di from Blue Ridge Gal took some great ones you can check out.



We walked around for about an hour before we felt faint. On our way to get something to eat in an air conditioned restaurant we passed some square dancers.



One boy ran out as we were passing by and asked my daughter to be his partner. Oh what I would have given to see that! She politely declined.



We ended up at Wasabi's where I had my favorite, the Sumo Roll. Yummmmm...



Later on that night my husband and I went to 419 West where I had a very tasty chicken and shrimp dish over mashed potatoes and smothered in a hazelnut sauce. I figure I better get my shrimp fixes in now while there are still shrimp to be had. There was an acoustic guitar player, Will Henson, probably most noted as the lead singer/guitarist in the Pink Floyd cover band the Darkside Project, who entertained us with a nice selection of tunes including some Stones, Hendrix, Young. Sorry, no photos here. By the way 419 West has a Saturday Night special == Bloody Mary's or Mimosas for only $3.00 each. I think I went a little overboard on the Bloody Mary's because I awoke with a splitting headache on Sunday morning.

My aching brain didn't stop me from heading out to the Lebanese Festival at St. Elias Catholic Church. Once I ate some delicious spinach rolls, hummus and green beans over rice my headache went away. Unfortunately I forgot to put the SD card in my camera so I have no photos to show. I took some great ones of the inside of the church. As we were leaving I asked my daughter what the little "IN" that was showing up on my screen meant and she informed me that the photos were going to internal memory where they will forever remain because I have no way to get them off. Oh well, at least I finally found out the difference between Roman Catholics and Maronite Catholics.

The RC's, that's me, can take the host in our hands, whereas the Maronite's only take it directly in their mouth. When I do go to church on that rare occasion I still only take the host in my mouth as well which probably stems from going to Catholic school and having it drilled in my head that it's "A SIN!" to touch it. Another difference is that we mostly kneel during the "important" part of the services and they don't, they stand instead. Our priests say the blessing before the Eucharist in Latin, well, not any more but they used to, and theirs say it in Aramaic, Jesus' language. Other than the perception that RC's like to "suffer" (which is probably true based on my experience) and the Maronite's are more "joyous" there really isn't anything else. Both sects revere the Blessed Mother and Saints as well. In fact I bought my daughter a cool black & white bracelet filled with pics of Saints and Mary. Padre Pio caught my attention and since we have a special relationship with him I thought it won't hurt to have my daughter bring it with her when she goes for her surgery. Hey, We'll take all the help we can get!

All in all, it was a busy weekend in Roanoke and over the next couple of weeks it's going to get even busier. Since today's the kids' last official day (yay to them for being exempt from all their finals) that means I no longer have to make lunches or get up at 6:00am. My whole routine is going to be going bye-bye, which means this blog may not be as updated as often as it usually is. Enjoy my official start of the summer!

Brooklyn "Must Eats"

Even though I walk so much more when I'm in New York, I think if I still lived in Brooklyn I would probably weigh over 200 pounds. The food is just too freaking good and I highly doubt what I like is healthy. As soon as I got there I unloaded my cooler that contained my cottage cheese and yogurts. I placed them in the back of the fridge where they remained for the rest of the trip. I had good intentions, but once I walked down 18th Avenue and saw the Italian cookies I knew the healthy breakfast I had sworn I would eat would be forgotten quickly. I didn't bother with bagels like most visiting ex-New Yorkers crave. I prefer a seeded Italian roll with Breakstone butter, but really my breakfast cravings are for the sweets. Nothing beats pastries, tiramasu, black & white cakes, 7-layer, and any Italian cookies served with a hot, strong cup of coffee while reading the NY Daily News and NY Post...breakfast of champions.

After driving for so many hours, the first night's dinner is usually spent just down the block at the Italian joint. Baked clams, fried calamari, veal Francese and a carafe of house chianti. No pics allowed there.

Other Brooklyn "Must Eats" include pizza, well duh. The pizzeria of choice is L & B Spumoni Gardens.



This place has been the same forever. Their squares are the best ever, sweet tomato sauces slathered over tender crusts, melted high quality mozzarella covered with grated cheese, still only $2.25 a slice or $19.00 for a half-pie which is 12 slices. That's what we went for.



After the pizza spumoni is in order. Spumoni is often referred to as Italian ice cream, but really it's more like a mix of ice cream and ice -- better than ice cream, not as thick as gelato and creamier than ice. I always get the cremolata flavor, which has little almond pieces in vanilla, or the tricolored -- pistachio (real nuts), vanilla & chocolate. You can't miss with either one.




My husband's "Must Eat" list includes Brennan & Carr's, from the side of town he grew up in. They've also has been around forever. Their claim to fame is roast beef dipped in broth covered with melted cheese on a roll. A side of cheese fries must accompany this.



When my son comes he orders the beef broth as well, probably because when I was pregnant with him that was one of my cravings. They recently changed the rolls, they're bigger, but not better. Still worth the trip.

We went to an all-you-can eat sushi place in Bay Ridge which was always my favorite sushi joint before they changed names and owners. It was still really good. It really is all-you-can-eat sushi or rolls for $18.95. The caveat is that you must finish what you order. If you leave anything on your plate you have to pay for it. With rolls like avocado peanut, spicy tempura and clam there wasn't anything left on my plate. I had a couple of sakes and it was a good thing my cousin lived right down the block because there was no way I could drive.

My least favorite meal this trip was a Thai restaurant in Bay Ridge. The Pad Thai was missing something, the garlic chicken was too bland and the Thai iced coffee was blech. The kicker was that they included a service charge of 20% without telling us. If I had been drinking I probably wouldn't have even noticed it. Pass.

My favorite place was and always is Joes of Avenue U, a Sicilian focacerria. This is the real deal and if it was up to me I would eat every meal here. I could never decide on what to get because everything is so freaking good. I always say the next time I get there I'm going to get the meatloaf, which is the best meatloaf in the world. I never do because instead I go for the panelle special, something I can only get here. Panelles are smashed chick peas, molded into rectangles and deep fried. They're placed on the best seeded rolls in the world, covered with ricotta cheese and smothered with grated cheese which I found out is Sardo from Argentina. It's unbelievable.



I also got a side of broccoli rabe which I have yet to find in any Roanoke restaurant.



The girl got a stuffed artichoke...



My husband the riceball special. Notice what real Italian bread looks like...



If I could only get my cousin the chef to relocate in Roanoke I would open up a focacceria/bakery with him. I know it would be a great success. Although he liked his last visit here, he's been hesitant to make the leap from NYC, "The guys are just not good looking enough..." Sigh. I can't help him with that.

Before we made the trip back home we filled the cooler with pinwheels of Italian cheese & parsley sausage, bracciola, pork skin, provolone, smoked mozzarella and Sardo cheeses, riceballs, potato croquettes, prosciutto bread and various cookies. I forgot to get one thing though...the raviolis! This is the way real raviolis should come...in boxes, not plastic bags!



Okay, so I put on another five pounds in the five days I was in New York, but it probably would have been even more had we not spent that one blistering hot day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I don't care...it was damn worth it. Now it's back to reality so I'm restarting my diet again...cottage cheese, yogurt, egg whites and spinach, here I come...Borrrrrring.

Eating Through Roanoke

I can't believe it's Thursday already...that means I have only two more days left to spend with my cousin. I miss him already and he hasn't even left yet. I haven't been productive in the writing department but have exceeded my expectations in the laughter field. The shop shit can wait another week...so can the taxes and my diet. Priorities, you know.

I only deviated once from my "a week in the life of me in Roanoke" theme by bringing my cousin to a restaurant that I had never been to before which wasn't on my "routine list." I should have stuck with the plan because so far the only disappointing meal he's had has been at Meze. The ambiance was nice...I particularly liked this wall sconce...



But found the electric candles to be tacky and unnecessary...



As far as the food went..."Overpriced and overcooked" was the way he summed it up. I agreed. That was the worst Moussaka I've ever eaten, and ended up being glad the $11 portion (that was supposed to be a full-sized meal) was so tiny. I could barely see through all the parsley they sprinkled on the plate and food, covering the coagulated cheese on top, which should have had a nice bechamel sauce oozing off of it. The cauliflower "tapas" were burnt. The waiter said that was just the spices they put on it that caused it be be black. Uh, yeah, no. I won't go through all the other crappy dishes we had but will give a bit of praise to one...the goat cheese and pear salad. Delicioso. If I only had eaten that I would be praising this place instead of passing by it the next time I'm downtown.

Other local restaurants we've been at include Macados (just because), Star City Cafe (he said it has the best coffee so far, everyplace else is weak, weak, weak), Sakura (his favorite so far...loved the seasoning on the scallops and the white cream sauce), Bastians BBQ (wanted to try Southern cooking and he really liked the pork pull and herbed lemon chicken), Viva La Cupcake (cupcake was just ok, but too expensive for size, coffee too weak, owner really nice), Nawab's lunch buffet (loved the vegetarian dishes) and El Rodeo (praised the salsa and tamales.) My cousin the chef has given a thumbs up to every place except Meze. My waist is crying. I've not only fallen off the diet but have put back everything I lost. I'm not going to fret right now. I'm having too much fun. On today's menu...Chinese (gulp!) and Italian...Ciao!