I've had some great food recently and wanted to document it for posterity! :-)
Crabs: Joe's Stone Crab and Shaw's Crab House
From Joe's website: "Fresh stone crabs are found in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. They are hand harvested, one claw at a time, and thrown back to the sea. Joe Weiss, and his wife Jennie, discovered this unknown delicacy in the early 1920s, and soon after, began serving them in their restaurant in South Miami Beach. Now, the familiar "crack-crack-crack" can be heard here in Chicago and Las Vegas, as we treat you to the finest stone crabs in the world."
Ok, now that I've read that harvested and throw back thing it sounds really gross, but I will tell you that these stone crab claws are very tasty. They're served cold with a mustard sauce. I've had them twice this month - both at work event meals.
Bay Scallops: Shaw's Crab House
"Bay scallops – The smallest of all the scallops, bay scallops are not as plentiful as some of the other varieties, thus carrying a somewhat heftier price tag. Harvested as far south as North Carolina and up to the coast of Maine, bay scallops are sometimes referred to as Nantucket scallops. When you purchase a pound of this variety, you may get as many as 90 scallops. This sweet, tiny scallop is often used for casseroles, stews, and stir-fry, largely because of its manageable size." These were the special entree when I went to lunch at Shaw's last week. Oh my, they were sweet and delicious! I'm not a huge scallops fan usually - in fact, sea scallops was all I knew about. But the waitress talked these up, and she was not wrong. They were about the size of marbles and served sauteed in a garlic butter along with seafood rice. Yum!
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes: Pancake Cafe
We may have found a new great brunch place today. This local, family owned restaurant has a similar menu to Richard Walker's in Schaumburg (see July blog post about the baked apple pancake), but is 45 minutes closer and much less crowded. Ironically, we ran into our next door neighbors there. They said they go a lot and really love it. Jason had a pretty traditional omelette platter, but I had a special: cinnamon roll pancakes. They were delicious, and well, they tasted just like cinnamon rolls in pancake form! I asked the waitress how they did it (because they looked just like pancakes drizzled in cinnamon roll icing). She said it's just their buttermilk pancake batter with a chopped up cinnamon roll mixed in. Well, that sounds easy enough! Maybe I'll try that at home.
Asiago Breakfast Sandwich: Panera
Here's one you can all try! I know, it's just an expensive Egg McMuffin, but it's worth the occassional $3.99 splurge for the tasty bacon, egg, cheese and an asiago cheese bagel fresh from Panera's panini press.
Dark Cherry Mocha: Starbucks
Last week I saw this on the chalkboard when ordering a regular latte. It said, "Try the new Dark Cherry Mocha! You know you want to!" Why, yes, I do! It's on the menu for Monday morning. :-)
