March Single Shot- Barada Kabob

It is not often that I try a new place by myself, but I did and thought I would write about it (Hence the name single shot. I was by myself.  See what I did there?)  There is a small fast food style restaurant in Valparaiso called Barada Kabob.  I was looking for something for lunch today other than the ordinary fast food options, but didn't want a waitress as I was by myself and I always thought that was weird.  I looked online, and from the pictures of this place it looked like a small lunch counter, so I went.  Boy was I glad I did!  First let me say that when I go out by myself what I am looking for is a comfortable place where I feel comfortable sitting by myself, reading a good book.  This place offers this.  There is one or two tables off to the side, but most of the seating is at a counter that runs along the length of the windows.  Everybody is facing out in high back swivel chairs, so you can easily turn and talk to the people around you, or if like me, you are by yourself, you can face the windows without being disturbed.  OK, enough you want to know about the food, and not how it also makes for a comfortable reading nook for Sally ;)

This restaurant offers Arabic food that is rare around here and unheard of around here in a fast food style.  They offer beef kabobs, falafel, hummus, shawarma, halva, and a bunch of other stuff I've never heard of.  If you go with your less adventurous friend, there is also a hamburger on the menu ;) When I went in I was greeted by a very young cashier who looked to be about 16 years old...maybe.  Super young, but also super sweet.  He could tell by the length of time I spent staring at the menu that I was a newbie.  He sweetly offered me a free sample of his favorite thing on the menu.  I don't remember what that was, but it was good.  In the end I decided to go with the shawarma because it is something I have had before, so I knew I would like it.  It was really good.  I made mine a combo meal which came with fries and a drink, but next time I might skip the fries and order two ;)  I can order two because it's supper cheap.  Everything on the menus was right around $3.00, which was a nice change from the day before when I paid $11.50 at Panera for half a (stale) sandwich and a cup of soup ;)

I am so happy I found this place today.  I probably wouldn't go there for a dinner date or anything, but for a small lunch I would totally go back.  It would be worth the 20 minute drive just to go there and enjoy a small lunch and get some reading done.  In fact, I'm already planning on going back during Spring Break to try the falafel ;)

Overall Experience: 4 STARS
Price:  Offer to Pay (SUPER CHEAP)

March '16 - The Market

Chicken and Waffles

If you scroll through this blog you will find a review for The Valley from back in 2013.  The Valley is a farm to table restaurant in Valpo that prides itself on the freshest local ingredients.  The owners of The Valley (they also own The Tomato Bar) wanted to open a more casual, speedier lunch style restaurant.  In comes The Market (located in the old Strongbow's restaurant).  This restaurant gives you the option of ordering at the counter (a little more fast food style) or sitting in the bar area where you will be given a waitress and the full service dinning experience.  We opted to order at the counter.  The service was still good.  They gave us a number, we filled our own drinks, and then about ten minutes later they brought out our food.  The busboy checked on us and cleared our dishes, so even without a waitress, we had good service.

Seriously Spicy Chicken Tenders and Chili

If you are thinking about coming to this place, you might want to check out their menu ahead of time to see if there is something that you would like, as their menu is pretty small.  I opted for the chicken and waffles, which is not on their normal menu but was today's special.  It was delicious.  I had never tried the chicken and waffle combo before, which is partly why I ordered it.  I am trying to branch out.  The waffles were nice and fluffy and the magic sauce (or syrup if you prefer to call it) was delicious.  I was happily surprised when my meal came out that the chicken was boneless chicken tenders and nothing I had to pick off the bone.  Bonus in my opinion. My side dish was a house salad, and given the fact that these owners pride themselves on fresh local ingredients, it shouldn't be surprising to hear that the salad was super fresh and packed with veggies (not like the usual two pieces of iceberg lettuce you get from other places around here).  Brian ordered the seriously spicy chicken tenders and chili, which was too spicy for me, but he is into that sort of thing.  It was so spicy that we went through 4 or 5 beverages.

I read reviews for this place online before we went and a few reviews were commenting about the price.  It is a lot more expensive than fast food or other cafes, but the quality is also a lot better so I didn't mind the price.  For Brian and I our bill was $27 which is about the same or cheaper than a lot of other sit down places.  I do see why you would expect it to be a little cheaper because it is more like eating in a cafe than a fancy restaurant and I also see how your bill could quickly sky rocket (they have appetizers and desserts which we skipped and a full bar which I heard is really expensive but we don't drink). I didn't mind the price (maybe because I didn't pay, lol)

Overall Experience: 4 STARS

Price:  Offer to Pay (expensive for what it is, but still cheaper than taking your date to one of them there fancy places).