Monday, August 15, 2005
Salem Gyro & Submarine
1906 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33606
(813) 254-7752
Sa-ri-one
3940 W Cypress St Ste 41A
Tampa, FL 33607
(813) 874-2911
With hopes to use up a number of coupons from an expensive entertainment coupon book, my sister and I were on the lookout for a Checkers so we could put a notch in that page of the book. "Spend more to save" or so the paradox goes.
We never found a Checkers on Kennedy; I could have sworn there was one in the madness of fast food joints peppering it.
Instead we got takeout from two different places. The first is a Tampa establishment though I've never set foot in it. For a long time, I wasn't sure if Salem's was a harkening to a New England locale or a reference to something more Semitic, less pasty-white. Judging from the Arabic calligraphy hanging from the walls, I assumed the latter.
It was very much a traditional small business. Several customers who came in knew the people working there well. It felt very much like a Döner Kebap shop (which it essentially is, sans turc) with grease hanging in the air and the kebap meat spinning near the heating elements except with a faux drive-thru. These are few and far between in Florida though döner kebap shops could probably be much more easily found in larger cities in the Northeast.
I was curious as to how they dealt with anti-Islam sentiments especially as their clientele didn't seem to be the enlightened masses. However, they seemed to be black Muslims so the image (which is often the only thing that matters in the US) may be more black than Muslim.
Oh yeah, the gyros were OK. Nothing astoundingly good, but not bad. I'm glad to have introduced this concept of food to several family members. The pita was a little thick and the slices of gyro meat were too big and came out in big chunks. But it's good to know that it's all halal. One interesting gyro was the one with walnuts and raisins. Never had it in a gyro before but I've always been a fan of the nuts and raisins with meat idea. Very mediterranean.
We then made a trip to our beloved Sa-ri-one to pick up some chop-chae and galbi we ordered earlier. I can never get enough of that stuff. I could have chop-chae all day. As long as I had several gallons of water sitting next to me.
1906 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33606
(813) 254-7752
Sa-ri-one
3940 W Cypress St Ste 41A
Tampa, FL 33607
(813) 874-2911
With hopes to use up a number of coupons from an expensive entertainment coupon book, my sister and I were on the lookout for a Checkers so we could put a notch in that page of the book. "Spend more to save" or so the paradox goes.
We never found a Checkers on Kennedy; I could have sworn there was one in the madness of fast food joints peppering it.
Instead we got takeout from two different places. The first is a Tampa establishment though I've never set foot in it. For a long time, I wasn't sure if Salem's was a harkening to a New England locale or a reference to something more Semitic, less pasty-white. Judging from the Arabic calligraphy hanging from the walls, I assumed the latter.
It was very much a traditional small business. Several customers who came in knew the people working there well. It felt very much like a Döner Kebap shop (which it essentially is, sans turc) with grease hanging in the air and the kebap meat spinning near the heating elements except with a faux drive-thru. These are few and far between in Florida though döner kebap shops could probably be much more easily found in larger cities in the Northeast.
I was curious as to how they dealt with anti-Islam sentiments especially as their clientele didn't seem to be the enlightened masses. However, they seemed to be black Muslims so the image (which is often the only thing that matters in the US) may be more black than Muslim.
Oh yeah, the gyros were OK. Nothing astoundingly good, but not bad. I'm glad to have introduced this concept of food to several family members. The pita was a little thick and the slices of gyro meat were too big and came out in big chunks. But it's good to know that it's all halal. One interesting gyro was the one with walnuts and raisins. Never had it in a gyro before but I've always been a fan of the nuts and raisins with meat idea. Very mediterranean.
We then made a trip to our beloved Sa-ri-one to pick up some chop-chae and galbi we ordered earlier. I can never get enough of that stuff. I could have chop-chae all day. As long as I had several gallons of water sitting next to me.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Saigon Bay
2373 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33612
I don't understand how some restaurants are willing to spend plenty of money on decor but then don't have any web presence whatsoever which could cost them pennies. Saigon Bay is a well designed and clean restaurant. I especially dug the ceiling tiles and the tables which I might have sold to them. A deciding factor on my choice however was that they had advertised with the Entertainment guide coupon book and had a two-for-one coupon. Considering how cheap most things were I felt a little sheepish doing it, but I finally made up for the cost of the coupon book. On average, you'd be spending about $5-7 for an entree. For the specialities, you could spend up to $15 but more likely around $12.
Much to the appreciation of Athy, there were plenty of vegetarian options. By plenty I mean more than 4 bland items. The spring rolls could have just vegetables or shrimp - we took the latter. In the end we both got crepes (I forget the name in Vietnamese), vegetarian and Imperial respectively. As you can guess, the Imperial crepes are not Vietnamese. Finally, though I come to expect it in every restaurant these days, only a few follow through with having both Sriracha (preferably Huy Fong) and Hoisin Sauce.
The photos are on the way, Athy took them with her phone and is still trying to figure out how to get them off.
2373 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33612
I don't understand how some restaurants are willing to spend plenty of money on decor but then don't have any web presence whatsoever which could cost them pennies. Saigon Bay is a well designed and clean restaurant. I especially dug the ceiling tiles and the tables which I might have sold to them. A deciding factor on my choice however was that they had advertised with the Entertainment guide coupon book and had a two-for-one coupon. Considering how cheap most things were I felt a little sheepish doing it, but I finally made up for the cost of the coupon book. On average, you'd be spending about $5-7 for an entree. For the specialities, you could spend up to $15 but more likely around $12.
Much to the appreciation of Athy, there were plenty of vegetarian options. By plenty I mean more than 4 bland items. The spring rolls could have just vegetables or shrimp - we took the latter. In the end we both got crepes (I forget the name in Vietnamese), vegetarian and Imperial respectively. As you can guess, the Imperial crepes are not Vietnamese. Finally, though I come to expect it in every restaurant these days, only a few follow through with having both Sriracha (preferably Huy Fong) and Hoisin Sauce.
The photos are on the way, Athy took them with her phone and is still trying to figure out how to get them off.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Byblos Cafe
2832 South Macdill Avenue,
Tampa, Fl. 33629
I'd been here one time before but it was a sit-down dining experience with the obligatory belly-dancing. That was with one Shaun Berthelsdorf who had never had eastern mediterranean type food before nor anything from that part of the Orient. So that time was more spent explaining a lot of the things to him - not a chore but the focus was less on the quality of the place.
This time I went there with Megan and as we stepped into the restaurant on a rain-drenched Saturday night, we saw it was packed and braced ourselves to be turned away. The friendly hostess said it would be a 20 minutes wait in the bar area, apparently where we could also eat. As we were lead into the bar area, I realized it was silly not to eat in the bar area. No wait, comfy couches - though not so practical for eating unless you want to eat off your chest. I didn't understand why everybody didn't eat in that section.
We had the Byblos Mezze and a Beef Showarma. With the amount of food in the Mezze sampler, we didn't need an entree. The food was great; lots of purees to dip pita bread in; but what made it great was the atmosphere. The only thing that was missing was a hookah. Alas, the smoking ban in Florida restaurants has already taken place.
The belly dancing is a little distracting since I always feel the urge to put food on the women who do it. It's either that or put money in her belt which is also no good for me. I'm too poor and would feel weird tipping her like I would a stripper.
So Megan and I lounged there and ate the mezze and showarma slowly for about 3 hours. S'that invitation enough to say it's good?
2832 South Macdill Avenue,
Tampa, Fl. 33629
I'd been here one time before but it was a sit-down dining experience with the obligatory belly-dancing. That was with one Shaun Berthelsdorf who had never had eastern mediterranean type food before nor anything from that part of the Orient. So that time was more spent explaining a lot of the things to him - not a chore but the focus was less on the quality of the place.
This time I went there with Megan and as we stepped into the restaurant on a rain-drenched Saturday night, we saw it was packed and braced ourselves to be turned away. The friendly hostess said it would be a 20 minutes wait in the bar area, apparently where we could also eat. As we were lead into the bar area, I realized it was silly not to eat in the bar area. No wait, comfy couches - though not so practical for eating unless you want to eat off your chest. I didn't understand why everybody didn't eat in that section.
We had the Byblos Mezze and a Beef Showarma. With the amount of food in the Mezze sampler, we didn't need an entree. The food was great; lots of purees to dip pita bread in; but what made it great was the atmosphere. The only thing that was missing was a hookah. Alas, the smoking ban in Florida restaurants has already taken place.
The belly dancing is a little distracting since I always feel the urge to put food on the women who do it. It's either that or put money in her belt which is also no good for me. I'm too poor and would feel weird tipping her like I would a stripper.
So Megan and I lounged there and ate the mezze and showarma slowly for about 3 hours. S'that invitation enough to say it's good?
602 North Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33609
Went to a Korean sushi restaurant Matoi. Used to be called Sam Oh Jung back in the day, but I'd never been there when it was Sam Oh Jung anyway. We went in and to our surprise it was TC Choy's Asian Bistro's old sushi chef, Hide. He seemed genuinely glad to see our group and went out of his way to hang out with us. Of course, he was busy only watching TV when we came in.
The food was overall good and average priced. About $20 per person. Well, it was Hide's sushi we had anyway so it should be at least equal quality to what I'm used to at the Bistro. They make a big deal out of the "best sushi in the bay" thing - don't know if that was before or after Hide. The Korean stuff was alright too though less variety in the little dishes of stuff than at Sa-ri-one. The galbi was good and was recommended to us by Hide. The chop chae was so-so; they used bell peppers in it. Never seen that before.
Had conch, mmm.... conch.
Oh, conch. What was my life before you?
I read some reviews on it already and it seems to get good reviews on the service. Maybe they were by white people because as the only group of all asians in the restaurant, we got sub-par service. White folks sitting in the booths seemed to get better service. To my surprise, while we were ordering, the waitress actually said, "Hurry up!" I would have been offended if I didn't find it so funny. As expected, it's the kind of place where they try to take the food away from you when you are still halfway through it.
We had a choice of the waitress who was mean and the one that was less mean. As we were leaving they decided to be a little friendlier. Maybe they thought we would forget that they were really bad waitresses, and might write a blog about it. They even mustered up the gumption to say byebye.
By the way, isn't it cool that I can post images on the blog now?
Tampa, FL 33609
Went to a Korean sushi restaurant Matoi. Used to be called Sam Oh Jung back in the day, but I'd never been there when it was Sam Oh Jung anyway. We went in and to our surprise it was TC Choy's Asian Bistro's old sushi chef, Hide. He seemed genuinely glad to see our group and went out of his way to hang out with us. Of course, he was busy only watching TV when we came in.
The food was overall good and average priced. About $20 per person. Well, it was Hide's sushi we had anyway so it should be at least equal quality to what I'm used to at the Bistro. They make a big deal out of the "best sushi in the bay" thing - don't know if that was before or after Hide. The Korean stuff was alright too though less variety in the little dishes of stuff than at Sa-ri-one. The galbi was good and was recommended to us by Hide. The chop chae was so-so; they used bell peppers in it. Never seen that before.Had conch, mmm.... conch.
Oh, conch. What was my life before you?
I read some reviews on it already and it seems to get good reviews on the service. Maybe they were by white people because as the only group of all asians in the restaurant, we got sub-par service. White folks sitting in the booths seemed to get better service. To my surprise, while we were ordering, the waitress actually said, "Hurry up!" I would have been offended if I didn't find it so funny. As expected, it's the kind of place where they try to take the food away from you when you are still halfway through it.
We had a choice of the waitress who was mean and the one that was less mean. As we were leaving they decided to be a little friendlier. Maybe they thought we would forget that they were really bad waitresses, and might write a blog about it. They even mustered up the gumption to say byebye.
By the way, isn't it cool that I can post images on the blog now?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Whoops, just realized the last post didn't go in. Anyway, this is a linguini thing I whipped up with liver, carrots and zucchini. Makes me think of Hannibal Lector.
Can't see the carrots and zucchini very well here.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Thai Thani
615 Channelside Drive
The Shops of Channelside
Tampa, Florida 33602
had just about the spiciest thing I'd eaten in many years the other day. Naturally it was at a Thai place. Many other kinds of spiciness entails purely torture whereas Thai food is tasty enough for me to want to continue eating out of reasons besides trying to prove my intestinal (and lingual) fortitude. It was a seafood clay pot with bean threads. Broke the diet for the day because of it. Lots of seafood in it considering the price at $17 or so. Tried the Pad Thai as well. Good, but Thai Terrace's is still better. Though Thai Thani was much more hip, and at Channelside. Terrace is only across from Mons Venus; this has its perks as well so to speak.
615 Channelside Drive
The Shops of Channelside
Tampa, Florida 33602
had just about the spiciest thing I'd eaten in many years the other day. Naturally it was at a Thai place. Many other kinds of spiciness entails purely torture whereas Thai food is tasty enough for me to want to continue eating out of reasons besides trying to prove my intestinal (and lingual) fortitude. It was a seafood clay pot with bean threads. Broke the diet for the day because of it. Lots of seafood in it considering the price at $17 or so. Tried the Pad Thai as well. Good, but Thai Terrace's is still better. Though Thai Thani was much more hip, and at Channelside. Terrace is only across from Mons Venus; this has its perks as well so to speak.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
A taco - not the one Alan had. Working on getting that photo.
Taqueria by twilight
402 South Howard
Tampa, FL 33606
So I have been doing this no starches after dark nonsense for roughly three weeks now. My main intention is to limit my diet without stressing out about it. Irritable dieters have irritable bowels. That's a bad direction to go in. At dusk today I had myself a wet burrito at Taqueria Quetzalcoatl. Introduced to a distant family member from Beijing to tacos. I'd like to think of myself as a lightbringer to the digestive tracts of the world. My burrito was decent but I was more thinking of something more portable. If you're on the go, wet burrito should be low on the desirable foods. They forgot to put guacamole in it after I paid an additional $1 so I'm still a little miffed about that. Apparently they aren't allowed to have customers consume alcohol on the premises and 500 feet around the restaurant temporarily - you can buy alcohol however. Despite all this I still have faith in Taqueria Quetzalcoatl. Good Tex-Mex stuff and decent selection of beers.
402 South Howard
Tampa, FL 33606
So I have been doing this no starches after dark nonsense for roughly three weeks now. My main intention is to limit my diet without stressing out about it. Irritable dieters have irritable bowels. That's a bad direction to go in. At dusk today I had myself a wet burrito at Taqueria Quetzalcoatl. Introduced to a distant family member from Beijing to tacos. I'd like to think of myself as a lightbringer to the digestive tracts of the world. My burrito was decent but I was more thinking of something more portable. If you're on the go, wet burrito should be low on the desirable foods. They forgot to put guacamole in it after I paid an additional $1 so I'm still a little miffed about that. Apparently they aren't allowed to have customers consume alcohol on the premises and 500 feet around the restaurant temporarily - you can buy alcohol however. Despite all this I still have faith in Taqueria Quetzalcoatl. Good Tex-Mex stuff and decent selection of beers.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Kinda like Cyprus
Souvlaki & Bar is situated on the ground floor of Riverside House on Bankside. more info
Tas Pide is at 20-22 New Globe Walk, Bankside , SE1 9DR. more info
My uncle has rarely stayed in London since he moved there and so going out with his flatmate and us was big deal. Probably as much for him as it was for us. It was their turn to show us their town. As we marched towards and then along the Thames looking for restaurants to dine at, we passed several pub food type places. Most were quite packed as people getting off work trying to get in dinner and a few drinks before the 11pm last call were crowding out the pubs. These pubs were reserved as a second option since Kristien has never tried fish and chips. Pubs would be an ideal place since although they would be a little more expensive, the fish and chips experience would be ideal. I've had pretty bad fish and chips experiences myself. I guess you just have to know the territory.
We also passed by a Greek place called Souvlaki & Bar with plenty of outside seating that sat almost immediately on the Thames.
Eventually we decided to go to a Turkish restaurant, Tas Pide, that Rolf had heard about. This was great for all of us since it would be something interesting and something all of us could stomach. From what I have had of Turkish food in Turkey, it is heavily based on pastes made from mediterranean type vegetables and flatbreads. Also lots of blended and liquified eggplant, and chickpeas with lemon juice. I have not so much experience with Turkish restaurants outside of Turkey unless they involve a kebap. Turkish restaurants outside of Turkey are not cheap generally.
Apparently word had gotten out that Tas Pide was the place to be. There was about a 40-50 minute wait and the restaurant staff was feverishly trying to satisfy the customers. A guy played music in the corner. As we were already quite hungry at the time, we needed an alternative. The end result was to have starters and maybe a few drinks at Souvlaki & Bar and to have our main course at Tas Pide. Already the evening was smacking with significance as the two restaurants were unknowningly competing with one another. I could feel the centuries old rivalry starting up again. The EU peacekeepers stood ready to react rapidly.
We were given a seat barely able to fit the four of us but it was out on the deck so we didn't mind so much. Many professional carousers - they were professionals who were carousing, not being paid for carousing - giggled and cackled and guffawed as they started their evening here downing drinks. We hoped someday to be able to cackle and guffaw like they did as our order began to fall into disarray.
After quickly snatching more favorable seats, we made our order of all appetizers (three of them) and some beers. About 10 minutes later, an stern but apologetic tall blonde came up to say there was no more of a specific type of Greek beer - no problem, the other Greek beer is fine, and no more feta for one of our appetizers. No more feta!!? That's like an Italian restaurant running out of parmesan, or a Chinese restaurant running out of MSG. Although we found it quite silly, we switched our order to some toast appetizer which came out quite quickly... and it was the only thing to come out. I actually asked the person who brought out our lone appetizer if there was more coming and he said our main course would be right out. So much for being able to bullshit us.
Almost half an hour passed before we realized our appetizers were not coming and we should make our way over to the Turkish restaurant. After trying to flag down the waitstaff to give them money, three of us went ahead to Tas Pide and Rolf stayed behind to work out the details. According to Rolf, after several attempts at giving somebody money he gave up and left. They didn't seem very interested in doing business with us.
If Greek professionalism is at all reflected by that evening, then the 2004 Athens Olympics are doomed to failure.
Tas Pide's professionalism was from quite another planet as Souvlaki & Bar's. While waiting a little bit longer for them to sort out our table, we watched as the host dealt with several parties of pushy British customers. Soon we were sitting at the rock star seats right next to the door. Well, it would have been the rock star seats if the guy was still playing music, but they were only a few hours from closing up and eating themselves. There was an open kitchen and we could watch the flurry of activity going on between the ovens and the stoves. Flatbread flew this way and that.
Although my dish left much to be desired, the food was generally good. Not stunning but good and interesting Turkish food much like I described before what Turkish food would be. The house wine we had was imported from Turkey from what it looks like their own vineyards. It had quite a strange aftertaste to it but otherwise not bad. The hummous starter was of decent quality but since I've started making it myself, I have become much more critical of hummous. I was attracted to my dish with the promise of seafood, especially mussels. I think I would have enjoyed it more were it not boiling hot for quite some time after it arrive and not as drenched in cheese. It was supposed to be a tomato, mushroom and eggplant stew so I should have known that it would not be the most delicate of meals.
And one last nice touch to the restaurant, interesting and clean toilets.
If the toilets and this restaurant's quality have any reflection on Turkey, they should be able to join the European Union with no problem at all.
Souvlaki & Bar is situated on the ground floor of Riverside House on Bankside. more info
Tas Pide is at 20-22 New Globe Walk, Bankside , SE1 9DR. more info
My uncle has rarely stayed in London since he moved there and so going out with his flatmate and us was big deal. Probably as much for him as it was for us. It was their turn to show us their town. As we marched towards and then along the Thames looking for restaurants to dine at, we passed several pub food type places. Most were quite packed as people getting off work trying to get in dinner and a few drinks before the 11pm last call were crowding out the pubs. These pubs were reserved as a second option since Kristien has never tried fish and chips. Pubs would be an ideal place since although they would be a little more expensive, the fish and chips experience would be ideal. I've had pretty bad fish and chips experiences myself. I guess you just have to know the territory.
We also passed by a Greek place called Souvlaki & Bar with plenty of outside seating that sat almost immediately on the Thames.
Eventually we decided to go to a Turkish restaurant, Tas Pide, that Rolf had heard about. This was great for all of us since it would be something interesting and something all of us could stomach. From what I have had of Turkish food in Turkey, it is heavily based on pastes made from mediterranean type vegetables and flatbreads. Also lots of blended and liquified eggplant, and chickpeas with lemon juice. I have not so much experience with Turkish restaurants outside of Turkey unless they involve a kebap. Turkish restaurants outside of Turkey are not cheap generally.
Apparently word had gotten out that Tas Pide was the place to be. There was about a 40-50 minute wait and the restaurant staff was feverishly trying to satisfy the customers. A guy played music in the corner. As we were already quite hungry at the time, we needed an alternative. The end result was to have starters and maybe a few drinks at Souvlaki & Bar and to have our main course at Tas Pide. Already the evening was smacking with significance as the two restaurants were unknowningly competing with one another. I could feel the centuries old rivalry starting up again. The EU peacekeepers stood ready to react rapidly.
We were given a seat barely able to fit the four of us but it was out on the deck so we didn't mind so much. Many professional carousers - they were professionals who were carousing, not being paid for carousing - giggled and cackled and guffawed as they started their evening here downing drinks. We hoped someday to be able to cackle and guffaw like they did as our order began to fall into disarray.
After quickly snatching more favorable seats, we made our order of all appetizers (three of them) and some beers. About 10 minutes later, an stern but apologetic tall blonde came up to say there was no more of a specific type of Greek beer - no problem, the other Greek beer is fine, and no more feta for one of our appetizers. No more feta!!? That's like an Italian restaurant running out of parmesan, or a Chinese restaurant running out of MSG. Although we found it quite silly, we switched our order to some toast appetizer which came out quite quickly... and it was the only thing to come out. I actually asked the person who brought out our lone appetizer if there was more coming and he said our main course would be right out. So much for being able to bullshit us.
Almost half an hour passed before we realized our appetizers were not coming and we should make our way over to the Turkish restaurant. After trying to flag down the waitstaff to give them money, three of us went ahead to Tas Pide and Rolf stayed behind to work out the details. According to Rolf, after several attempts at giving somebody money he gave up and left. They didn't seem very interested in doing business with us.
If Greek professionalism is at all reflected by that evening, then the 2004 Athens Olympics are doomed to failure.
Tas Pide's professionalism was from quite another planet as Souvlaki & Bar's. While waiting a little bit longer for them to sort out our table, we watched as the host dealt with several parties of pushy British customers. Soon we were sitting at the rock star seats right next to the door. Well, it would have been the rock star seats if the guy was still playing music, but they were only a few hours from closing up and eating themselves. There was an open kitchen and we could watch the flurry of activity going on between the ovens and the stoves. Flatbread flew this way and that.
Although my dish left much to be desired, the food was generally good. Not stunning but good and interesting Turkish food much like I described before what Turkish food would be. The house wine we had was imported from Turkey from what it looks like their own vineyards. It had quite a strange aftertaste to it but otherwise not bad. The hummous starter was of decent quality but since I've started making it myself, I have become much more critical of hummous. I was attracted to my dish with the promise of seafood, especially mussels. I think I would have enjoyed it more were it not boiling hot for quite some time after it arrive and not as drenched in cheese. It was supposed to be a tomato, mushroom and eggplant stew so I should have known that it would not be the most delicate of meals.
And one last nice touch to the restaurant, interesting and clean toilets.
If the toilets and this restaurant's quality have any reflection on Turkey, they should be able to join the European Union with no problem at all.
