December- Leadbelly

Cheers to the end of our year long adventure!

Yesterday Brian and I wrapped up our year long project of a new restaurant a month. We met my sister and her boyfriend in Chicago and we went to a hamburger place called Leadbelly. Leadbelly's is named after a blues singer named Lead Belly. All of the sandwiches are named after his songs, and the entire restaurant is rock and blues themed. The restaurant is decorated with posters of famous musicians, and the big screen TV doesn't play sports (YEAH!), it plays old concerts.

Brian and I both agreed that as far as our year long project goes, we saved the best for last. The restaurant is small, and you order at the counter and they bring the food to you. I ordered The Gallows Pole, which is a burger with caramelized onions, mushrooms, smashed taters, Swiss cheese, and Bearnaise sauce (whatever that is). Brian ordered Black Betty which is a burger with smoked bacon, bleu cheese, onion straws, and buffalo sauce. We split an order of bleu cheese fries which were covered in bleu cheese and buffalo sauce. Both of our sandwiches were very flavorful. The bun was nice and soft, the burger meat was super fresh and flavorful. The size was just right. It filled me up without pushing me over the deep end. The buffalo sauce was a little spicy, but I usually can't handle spice, and I still thought they were good. You know it is a sign of good food when everybody at the table ordered a burger and fries, and not one person reached for the ketchup and mustard bottles that were on the table. Oh I almost forgot, each meal comes with a tasty cookie.

The Gallow Pole and Bleu Cheese Fries

For beverages they have coke products, but they also have wine, craft beers, milk shakes, and spiked milkshakes. Brian and I got...you got it. Coke. At first I was annoyed that a can of Coke cost $1.95, but then when I went up to buy two more cans for Brian and I, they gave them to us for free, so you do get free refills if you ask (unless the girl was just being extra nice to us).

Black Betty

I know we will go back to Leadbelly's this summer. In fact when we were sitting there Brian and Marcus were discussing what they will be getting next time. We drove through a snow storm to get there and I will still say it's worth it :) I highly recommend Leadbelly's to anybody looking for what Brian called, “The best burger I ever ate.”

And with that our year long project comes to a close. Brian and I had a lot of fun experiencing different things each month. Happy New Year, and we will see you again next year with perhaps a new blog idea :)

Food: 5 STARS
Price: Offer to Pay

November- Cooper's Hawk

Next month is our last month in our little new restaurant a month project. Brian an I both agreed that our second to last choice has also been our best choice so far. Last weekend we went to Cooper's Hawk Winery. The restaurant is inside the mall in Merrillville. It was kind of strange that such a nice looking, and expensive place is inside of a mall.

At Cooper's Hawk they make their own wine, and the food on the menu is paired with the wine. Brian and I skipped the wine and just had iced tea (I know you are not surprised). Before our food was brought to our table, they brought us a little loaf of pretzel bread. It was delicious. We devoured it in less than five minutes. For our main meal Brian ordered maple, mustard & pretzel-crusted pork medallions and I ordered Dana's Parmesan crusted chicken. The food was delicious. It was very flavorful. Mine came with a side of the cheesy potato casserole that was to die for. Brian and I both agreed that if we just ordered a giant side of those potatoes we would have been satisfied. The one down side of the food was the portions. Luckily I ordered what I did. Brian's meal was a very small portion (typical expensive fancy restaurant, pay $20 for the tiniest piece of meat in the world), but luckily with the chicken they give you two giant pieces, so Brian was able to eat some of mine.

Cooper's Hawk was a good choice. Good food and our waitress was friendly. This is one place we will go again once our bank account has recovered. They do have a cheaper lunch menu and sandwiches if you want to go , but not spend as much money

Food: 4 STARS

Price: Make your boyfriend pay.

October- The Warsaw Inn

I let my mom suggest our October restaurant, and no offense mom, but that probably won't be happening again any time soon.  The Warsaw Inn is a polish buffet in Illinois.  Based on what I was told about this place, and the name of the restaurant, I pictured a cozy little place.  When we walked in, I felt like we were walking into a nursing home.  The decor and set-up made me feel like we were in a cafeteria, and the place was filled with old people besides us and one other table.  Having said that, the place was packed, so if you are old, you probably will love this place :)

The buffet was filled with German food for Oktober fest.  There was soup, salad, a large assortment of meat and sides, and dessert.  The food was typical buffet food.  You know, there was some good stuff, some bad stuff, and some stuff that I had no idea what I was eating.  The best part was by far the desserts.  They had a bunch of flaky sugary cookies that were very tasty.  The staff was very nice, and was very friendly with Brian and I (probably because we were the only young people in there).

Did I mention the entertainment!!!!!  About 10 minutes into our meal an accordion player started up, and as Brian said, "Well this just got 43% better." Brian and I were both laughing hard about the absurdity of the situation we found ourselves in.  As we were leaving I started bobbing my shoulders up and down to the polka music, and the busboy whispered, "Please stop.  If they see you they will all start dancing."  He was serious :)

If you are into polish food and music, and our over the age of 60, you might enjoy Warsaw Inn, but as a date night for a young couple stay away unless you want a good laugh, and a story to tell your grand kids one day.

Food: 2 STARS
Price: Offer to Pay

September- Burgerhaus

September's restaurant is right next door to August's. When we went to the pizza place last month we noticed a place across the parking lot called Burgerhaus that looked pretty good. Burgerhaus is exactly what it sounds like. It is a restaurant whose main focus is gourmet burgers. It is a little causal restaurant with a small bar and an option for outdoor dining. By the looks of their website it looked like it was a little fancier than it really was, so we wore nice shirts and jeans. When we got there, there were a couple of people looking nice, but most people had on jeans and t-shirts, so you can where what ever you want. The restaurant environment was comfortable and the staff was friendly. My only complaint was they sat us in a booth between two other couples when there was plenty of other places to sit.

Like I said earlier, we went to their website before we dined. On the website the hamburgers looked small, so we decided to order an appetizer. Totally not necessary! The burgers where much larger than they appeared online. We both took home half of our burgers, and Brian always finishes his meal, so that is saying something. Most of their appetizer options are some sort of fry, but all of their sandwiches come with fries. You could also (for a few dollars extra) get a salad or chili as your side. We decided to get chili cheese fries as an appetizer and then not get fries with our meal. The chili cheese fries were really good. They give you a big portion (Brian and I only ate about half), with plenty of toppings and the chili was not too overpowering.

For my main dish I ordered The American which was a hamburger topped with bacon , bleu cheese, and caramelized onions. Brian ordered The Aussie which was topped with bacon, American cheese, and egg. The hamburgers were a filling size. As soon as I picked it up, the juices ran down my arm. The burgers were flavorful and juicy. I told Brian that they were greasy, but just the right amount of grease. He disagreed and said they were a little too greasy :) I got a side salad for my side dish, which was just your typical lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad, and Brian got chili. I tried his chili, and it was perfect for me because I do not like a lot of spice, therefore people who do prefer a lot of spice, might be disappointed in the chili. Brian said the chili was very filling which is why he couldn't finish his sandwich.

In the end, Burgerhaus had pretty good food, and I would enjoy going back.  It was a nice change from the chain burger restaurants around here.  The bill was over $40 for just the two of us. I think next time I will save some money and skip the appetizer. The burgers are plenty filling on there own.

Food: 4 Stars

Price: Make your boyfriend pay

August- Shoe's Pizza

 

Our August pick was a pizza place in Valparaiso called Shoe's Pizza. We had driven by many times and I always thought the sign was interesting, so we gave it a try. When we first got there we were a bit confused because it is a sit down place with waitress and everything, but you go up to the counter and pay before you eat, more like a fast food place, so we were a little unsure of what to do. 

The food came out straight from the oven.  It was so hot we had to let it sit on our table for awhile.  We ordered hot wings as an appetizer. We both liked them a lot. They had a nice flavor and had a lot of meat on them. For our main meal we ordered a sausage pizza. The pizza was not our style. As Brian put it, the pizza had a lot of crust and very little sauce, and we prefer the opposite. The crust was a little thicker than we would prefer and something on the bottom (not sure if it was flour or salt I was feeling) made the crust feel a little chalky. The pizza wasn't bad, just not what are used to. If we ever go again I will definitely ask for extra sauce on the pizza or maybe just order a bunch of wings instead because they were delicious.  They also have a sandwich menu which might be worth checking out.

The customer service here is wonderful. The staff was very friendly and attentive. Our glasses never fell below half full. I would recommend this place for families with children because it is reasonably priced. If you like a thicker crust pizza you may enjoy it more than we did. What can I say Brian and I are pizza snobs.

Food: 3 Stars

Price: Offer to Pay

July- Dinning on Vacation

We just got back from our east coast vacation, and because we are now to poor to go out to eat we will count our vacation as our in restaurant in July :) On this vacation we knew we had to try cheese steak in Philly and pizza in New York City to see what the big deal is. I think we choose the right places, however it was proven to us that Brian and I are true mid-westerners

We had two cheese steaks while in Philly. The first one was on a food cart and the other was at Geno's, which is a popular, historic, cheese steak place that a co-worker told me about before we left on our trip. Brian actually preferred the food cart sandwich.  At Geno's I got whiz on my sandwich which is the way to go. It made the sandwich more moist. You have to get whiz and onions to do it right.  Geno's was a neat place. It was in a small neighborhood and if you want to eat there you need to hunt for it. It is not something that you are just going to bump into if you are on vacation. You could tell just by being near the building that this place has a lot of history. I would definitely seek out Geno's if you are going on vacation in Philly. Having said that, Brian and I both agree that we prefer the Italian beef sandwiches of Chicago over the Philly cheese steak.

Our New York City pizza was the exact same experience as the cheese steak. We made the right choice, but we prefer the thicker saucier pizza we get in our area. We went to John's pizza which is just west of Time Square. The building was neat with a huge mural on the wall, and they made the pizzas in brick oven that you could see from your tables. When we got there the place was crowded, so we knew this was the place to be. Once again, the pizza was good New York pizza and this is the place I would recommend if you are on vacation, however he both prefer the more saucy pizza found in our hometown.

We ate at many good places on vacation. My number one recommendation would be the Reading Terminal Market which is within walking distance from all of the historic attraction in Philly. This place is rows and rows of food vendors. They had a fruit/fish market where you could buy stuff to cook at home, but they also had food vendors selling everything under the sun.  We took part in a German place, a grilled cheese place, and a cupcake/pie place.  The one warning about this place is to go early in the day.  We got there about two hours before closing and a couple of places ran out of stuff we wanted to try.  The Reading Market was kind of like a giant food court at a mall without any pesky stores to get in the way. Oh and none of the restaurants where chains which we enjoyed.

After our great vacation I will leave you with this little bit of useful information, if you find yourself in a hotel in Exton, Pennsylvania at 10pm and they point you in the direction of the 24 hour diner in town, run in the OPPOOSITE direction ;)  Happy Eating and Happy Summer!

June-Octave Grill

For our June selection we picked The Octave Grill in downtown Chesterton. Many people had told me I should check out this place because they have amazing hamburgers, but back to that in a second. Octave Grill is the true definition of a hole in the wall restaurant. First off, when we were trying to find it, we almost drove right past it. When we got inside we discovered that it was just as small on the inside. I was convinced that if I laid across the floor and stretched, I could reach both sides of the restaurant (Brian says this is false). You must not be afraid to get cozy with strangers when eating at this place. Adding to its charm, all of the chairs and dishes, and salt shakers were mismatched, making it feel like you were eating in somebody's kitchen. (Brian's meal was actually served on the exact same dishes my family was sporting back in the 80s)

OK, now the important stuff. The menu is mostly sandwiches with a large selection of different types of hamburgers. They also have a big selection of local beers. I ordered wrong. I ordered a sandwich called the Adrian. The only reason why I decided to order this was because my nephew's name is Adrian :) It was a pulled pork sandwich topped with coleslaw. It wasn't bad, but the reason why I say I ordered wrong is because I took a bite of Brian's. Brian ordered the hamburguesa which was a hamburger with guacamole, bacon, habanero, and chile sauce. It was delicious. The meat was so juicy and wonderful. He ordered fries as his side dish (they were ok), and I ordered taco tater tots, which are tater tots seasoned with taco seasoning and served with sour cream and guacamole. They were very tasty. For dessert we had short cake with ice cream and blue berry sauce. The cake was crispy and sounded like it might have had cinnamon on it. So good.

Overall I was very happy with Octave Grill. The staff was nice, the prices were similar to any gourmet hamburger joint, and the food was wonderful. Next time I will make sure to order a burger seeing as that is why this place was recommended to me in the first place. Sorry Adrian, but your sandwich just wasn't as good.   

Food: 4 STARS

Price: Offer to Pay

May #2- BC Osaka

Holiday weekend equals two new restaurants :) 

Last night Brian and I went to BC Osaka, a place where neither of us had been before. This place is a hibachi grill on one side and a buffet on the other. One of my co-workers said that this place was better than House of Kobe, one of my favorite places, so my expectations were high. 

Walking into this restaurant I felt like I needed an instruction manual. First off, we went early so we were not given the option of the hibachi grill. We had to get the buffet. On our first trip up to the buffet, we grabbed the typical Asian buffet foods (egg rolls, rice, kabobs, sushi, etc). During our second trip, I noticed all of this raw food (vegetables, noodles, meats, and eggs). Brian and I were discussing how you probably put what you want on your plate and they cook it up. There was no sign or instruction posted to indicate that, and nobody to tell us. Brian, being just as shy as I am, had a genius idea. He decided that we needed to go hide behind the sushi bar, and hope that a customer who knew what to do would come along. Eventually this lady who seemed in the know came up, and was explaining how it worked to her friend. Score! 

We now knew how to get our food. You pile all of the food that you want on your plate and they cook it up, just like we thought. It was pretty good ( the steak way better than the chicken and beef), but the one think I didn't like was they had a bunch of spices, and you had to spice up your own food. Not being the greatest of cooks, I just threw some stuff on my steak and hoped for the best. 

The food at this place was mediocre, but the amount was incredible.  As I heard one man say at the buffet, "It just keeps going."  The buffet options just seemed to go on forever, including a large sushi bar if you are into sushi. 

I would go back to BC Osaka.  Now that I know how things work, I feel I could better attack the buffet. It would also be interesting to do the hibachi side to see if it is better than House of Kobe. From my experience last night I would say, no, House of Kobe is much better. I would also say if you are going to BC Osaka, go with an instruction manual.

Food: 3 Stars

Price: Make your boyfriend pay.

May- 3 Greeks

I will call this a mini review. The restaurant isn't really a date spot, but it is a new place that neither Brian or I had been to. 

Last week, a new fast food option opened in Portage. The place is called 3 Greeks, and it opened on Willowcreek Road, in the old Quizno's location. The menu at 3 Greeks includes gyros, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and much much more. 

 Brian ordered the gyros plate and I ordered a Philly cheese steak. Each meal came with fries and a drink. The first thing we noticed before we even bit into our meals, was the amount of food they give you. My sandwich was big, and filling (I left overly stuffed), but Brian's was HUGE! They have a gyros combo, and a gyros plate. Brian ordered the plate, which came with two gyros. He had a hard time getting through all of it. The meat on both or our sandwiches was delicious. My sandwich was very moist and juicy. The juice was running down my hands. Brian enjoyed the meat on his sandwich, but complained that the pita was a little too thick, making it seem dry. Overall, we were both happy with the food. It is always a good sign when the table conversation is us staring at the menu trying to decide what we want to order next time. The price was right too. Brian's plate was a little more expensive, but most of the combos were between $5 and $6. The restaurant was clean and has plenty of comfortable seating both inside and outside.

I am excited that Portage got this restaurant. By going to this place, you get fast food without having to go to one of the major chains that, I don't know about you, but I am getting very sick of. If you are looking for a quick, cheap, high quality meal I definitely recommend 3 Greeks. Opa!

Food: 4 Stars

Price: Offer to pay.   

April-Margarita's

Last night we went o Margarita's.  This restaurant is a popular place downtown Valparaiso that I had never been.  My personal experience was less than stellar, but it might have been the fact that we went late at night, so I would like to give it another chance sometime.

The main room of the restaurant looks nice enough.  It looks like an elegant Mexican restaurant.  The main room is a little loud because it is a narrow room and half of it was taken up by men watching hockey at the bar.  Unfortunately I picked all this up in the brief second it took the hostess to lead us out of the main room.  Off the main room there is a small room with three tables, two doors that lead to the bathroom, and then a little closet looking door that the busboys kept needing to get into.  Yep, that's where we sat.  We sat at a two seater high-top right next to that door, so all night I was sucking in my stomach as employees came behind me to get through.

The staff was very nice.  Everybody smiled and welcomed us kindly, even the busboy who helped me decide what to order (by the way all the busboys wear sombrero's which was a nice touch).

The food was good, nothing that stands out above and beyond all of the other Mexican restaurants in NWI, but good.  I had fajitas and Brian had some sort of combo plate.  Brian liked his food.  He agreed with me, that it was comparable to all the other Mexican restaurants we have been to.  Good, but nothing special.  The one exception he said was the tamale, which he said was fantastic (I'll have to take his word on that one, I've never been a huge fan of tamales).  My fajitas were good, I was a little disappointed when they first arrived because I ordered the steak/chicken combo, but when I got it there was no steak on my plate.  Not one to normally take food back, I settled for no steak.  The chicken was very good.  It was tender and well seasoned.  The best part of the meal was by far the delicious flan that Brian and I shared for desert.

Margarita's is good Mexican restaurant despite the couple of things that rubbed me the wrong way.  I would like to give it another chance, perhaps this summer, earlier in the evening, and when it is warm out so we can sit on their outdoor patio.

Food: 3 STARS
Price: Offer to Pay

March-The Valley

Our March spot is The Valley in downtown Valparaiso. This restaurant focuses on locally raised meats and produce.

The staff was polite and was very knowledgeable about the food, and was able to tell the people at the table next to us what would go well with different kinds of wines even though our table did not personally partake in any wine. They also had what seemed like the world's longest Martini menu. The restaurant was small, but we went early in the evening so we didn't have a wait.

The menu was small because of their focus on local, in season foods. I ordered the special which was chicken served over grits, and Brian ordered Walleye. My food was good and filling. The grits, which is something I am normally not too excited to eat, were very flavorful. Brian's walleye was way too lemony for my liking, but I am not a huge fan of fish to begin with. Besides our meals, we had salads and fries as an appetizer. I do not know what they do to their ranch dressing, but it was amazing. After all is said and done, Brian and I were both underwhelmed with what we ordered. We both agreed that it would be interesting to go back during the summer to see how different it is when the menu changes.

Food: 3 STARS

Price: Make your boyfriend pay.

February-ZAD

For our February pick we traveled across state lines. We went to ZAD which is on Broadway Street in Chicago. Zad is a small Mediterranean restaurant. Before this I had only had Mediterranean one other time in my life. I am not really one to try ethnic restaurants. I was presently surprised.

It is a small restaurant and would be suitable for a nice date or a casual stop after an afternoon of shopping. The staff was friendly and it was very laid back.

I loved the food! I ordered chicken shawerma and Brian ordered lamb shanks. We also ordered a variety of appetizers. Brian and I both agreed that mine was the better choice. It was super creamy and flavorful. Brian's was good, but we both agreed there should have been more meat for the price. The falafel and hummus appetizers are mouth watering, and once you start eating them you can not stop. This place definitely made me a fan of Mediterranean food.

Food: 4 STARS

Price: Make your boyfriend pay.

January-The Battle of the Texas Themed Restaurants

Our January choice is a chain restaurant, and not really thinking outside of our dinning box, but when a new restaurant comes to town, one feels a little obligated to give it a try.

In December a new Texas Roadhouse opened in our town. I had never been to one before and wanted to give it a try. We have a Texas Corral right down the street that both Brian and I enjoy. I asked a few friends who had been to a Roadhouse before how it compared to Texas Corral and everybody said it was so much better. I half agree.

The service and atmosphere at this Texas Roadhouse was much better that at the other place, however I chop that up to it being a new restaurant. Everything was clean and new, and of course their newly hired employees were eager to please. The staff was very friendly. I think five different employees smiled at us and asked us how things were going. As far as the layout and design of the restaurant, it looked like every other Texas themed restaurant I have ever been in. By the way since when did Texas become such a popular theme? Seriously?

The food was good, but I wouldn't say it was so much more amazing than the other Texas restaurant in town. I would say they were pretty equal. The one thing that I did enjoy much more at this place was the house salad. It was big, fresh, and the ranch dressing was tasty. For my main dish, I ordered an 8 oz sirloin and baked potato. The steak was good, nothing fancy. I wasn't a fan of their house steak sauce. It had an unusual taste that I was not expecting (I have told others it tastes like egg nog and they think I am crazy). The baked potato was seasoned with a lot of salt, but was pretty good.

I have been back to this restaurant a couple of times since this first trip, and I am sure I will be back many times as it is right down the street from us. It will be interesting to try different things on their menu to really see if there is a difference between our dueling Texas restaurants. After all it's hard to judge based on what I ordered. You can't really mess up a steak.

Food: 3 STARS

Price: Offer to pay.

Introduction

Do you and your significant other ever find yourself in a food rut?  That is exactly what was happening with my boyfriend Brian and I.  We love going out to dinner, but we always find ourselves going to the same three or four restaurants over and over again (not to mention we always order the same thing at these three or four restaurants).  We decided, or rather I decided for him, that this year we were going to challenge ourselves to expand our dinning horizons.  We are going to try one new restaurant a month (a place that neither of us had been before).  This not only encourages us to find a new date spot once a month, but it also encourages us to try a different variety of foods we would have not tried otherwise.  I recommend this to any couple, because three months in and we are already having a lot of fun with this, and as they say variety is the spice of life!

I recently decided to turn our adventure into a restaurant review blog, so any friends or family looking for new date night ideas in the Northwest Indiana/Chicago area can get some ideas from us :)  Oh and I am obsessed with blogs and creating my own thanks to the movie Julie and Julia.  Now to see how good my memory is from our first three months of dinning experiences...