Doc Crow’s, Louisville, KY

We went out to Doc Crow’s in Louisville, Kentucky for dinner. Its a nice place, pretty popping for a Saturday night, about an hour or so wait.

I liked the decor, its set up kind of like a train car. Really long aisle and tables on the side. We got the best seat in the house, right next to the window in front of the street so we could people watch. We were downtown so there were a lot of bachelorette parties going on. Lets just say, people were already taking off their shoes at 8pm. Come on ladies. Gross.

We started the night with beer, wine and peel and eat shrimp. They were boiled in Old Bay and served with cocktail sauce. The flavors were great, but the shrimp had that “I was frozen” texture to it. To be expected, Kentucky is landlocked.

Oyster sampler, came from 3 different places in Virginia. I don’t eat oysters, raw or otherwise. The other ladies liked them though!

Mother of all nachos. Housemade bbq chips topped with cheese, pulled pork, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos, bbq sauce. What is this madness? Delicious.

This is what I should have gotten. Loaded baked potato. Loaded with goodness that is bbq pork, cheese, and sour cream. OMG. Now I want more.

Tacos. I didn’t eat them because they were soft shell, but it looks tasty. He ate it so fast I almost didn’t get a picture.

Mussels were great. I’d go back for mussels.

Baby back ribs. Glad I only got half a rack. It was packed with seasoning, and served dry on purpose. But it was so caked on that it tasted like…chalky. I had to rub off some of the rub, and pour bbq sauce on it to get through a couple bones, but in the end it wasn’t worth it. Maybe because I like a fattier rack of rib, so if you like dry meaty, fatless ribs, go for it!

Either way the service, the atmosphere and the company was well worth it. The ribs didn’t put a damper on our night!Thanks again to this awesome couple for taking us out and about!

Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar
127 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40207

Posted on August 6, 2014 by miemo 0

Lao Suki Yaki

According to wikipedia,

Sukiyaki in Laos takes the form of a bowl of bean thread noodles, various vegetables, thinly-sliced beef and other meats or seafood, sukiyaki sauce, and a raw egg in beef broth. The sukiyaki sauce is made from coconut, fermented tofu, tahini, peanut butter, sugar, garlic, lime and spices.

That’s a general explanation of it. My mom made the sauce with red curry, pickled garlic, fermented red bean curd, peanut butter, dried shrimp and love. It was my most favorite dish growing up. After we used up all the broth, we would also eat it this way.

When we found out that my mom didn’t have much longer to live, I realized I might not ever have her cooking again. Nor will my children get to taste how great their grandmother cooked. That’s when I decided I wanted to make a cookbook of Maman’s recipes and stories of the times I spent in the kitchen with her. That project has been worked on and off in the past 3 years. Still working on it.

I remember in the last couple weeks before my mom’s passing, she wanted to make suki yaki with me one last time. I couldn’t have asked for a better thing to do with her. Since it takes all day, it took a lot of energy out of her, so she did it with naps in between. I did everything, with her guidance. Now when I make it, I can picture us in my aunts kitchen, barefoot. Me in jeans, her in her pajamas. She was so frail and seemed smaller since the cancer was sucking the life out of her. But here she was, spending this time with me, telling me how to do everything her way.

I will forever be transported to that day whenever I cook this.

Posted on July 30, 2014 by miemo 0

Cheu Noodle Bar Philadelphia

Mmmm. Ramen noodles. Soups are definitely my comfort food. And I love that ramen is everywhere now. Thrillist featured this place as one of the top 25 ramen places in America, so while in Philly, I had to!

There was a little bit of a wait at like 9pm, but that’s a sign that its good right? The guy was super friendly, and we got a couple of the specials while we waited. I had the white tea/lychee, he had the watermelon ginger. Both were unique and delicious. I liked mine better because it was light, floral and only a tiny bit sweet.

Awesome shirt.

We sat at the bar, so we got to see the magic happen.

It must be a requirement for ramen places to be so cool looking.

Sichuan beef dumplings. Nothing to write home about. Sorry.

WHERE’S OUR RAMEN. Anna and John. Hilarious couple to road trip with <3…and the main event. Miso Ramen, with pork shoulder and sea beans. I think they ran out of sea beans in mine because I only got mustard greens. Which is fine by me. It was delicious. I actually never got a miso broth before. I usually go vegetarian or the full bodied broths. It was delicious and reminded me of my mom’s suki yaki, oddly enough. Now I want to make that.

I’m hungry.

Cheu Noodle Bar
55 South 10th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Posted on July 23, 2014 by miemo 0

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken

I love fried chicken. And chicken wings. And donuts. But more so chicken, since I don’t like TOO many sweets. The other day I stopped in at Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken. I never had the combination together, but I assumed it would be as delicious as chicken and waffles.

The place is super tiny. You basically just walk up. Order your doughnuts and chicken, they pull it out of this rack, hand it to you and you eat outside. Simple. Easy. Delicious.

The chicken came in this thick paper bag. And smelled wonderful. There were two options that day, the classic fried chicken and sriracha wings.

We got both. I really liked the fried chicken. It wasn’t very greasy, and it was crisp and full of flavor. I usually need something with my fried chicken, like ketchup or honey, but this was good on its own. The sriracha wings were yummy as well. It wasn’t saucy enough for the husband, who prefers my sriracha wings. But I thought it was still good. The wings aren’t cut, so the drummette and the flapper and still connected.

Creme brulee donut. I don’t like filled donuts. I’m not a fan of the surprise inside, but these were different. There was still a hole! The custard filling was still in the donut, and there was caramelized sugar on top. It really was like a creme brulee with the extra cushion of the donut. I did like it the best out of the donuts that we had that day, (Vanilla, and chocolate fudge was also on deck) but I could only have a couple of bites.

..and the also have a food truck!

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken
1308 G Street
NW Washington DC 20005
202-809-5565

Posted on July 16, 2014 by miemo 0

The Secret Garden Cafe

I never walked around Occoquan before. Perhaps the scary show about it being haunted is what kept me away. Is that why everything closes at like 5pm?

Any whooooo. We had dinner AND brunch at this place called The Secret Garden Cafe. I love the outdoor seating, and their dinner was pretty delicious.

For dinner we chose to eat inside, because it was hot and I’m trying to avoid getting anymore mosquito bites this year. The dining room is pretty intimate and the tables are small. It kind of looked like we were eating dinner at someone’s home (maybe that was the point?).

The staff is friendly and attentive. And they had a little bakery section if you wanted to take home a dessert! They had a big selection of wines, beers and ales to choose from. I rarely drink but I liked their hard apple cider.

For brunch, you can order off the menu or do the buffet. We sat outside for this one. Enjoyed their yummy MIEMOSas (had to do it), and went for the buffet.

It wasn’t a large selection, and if you are sitting outside you have to walk into the restaurant and back out again. The buffet included a made to order omelet station, and fresh belgian waffles. Plenty of bacon and sausages, home fries, fresh fruit, pastries, etc.

I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere. It kind of reminded me a little of France because of the quaint outdoor seating. Will be back!

The Secret Garden Cafe
404 Mill St
Occoquan, VA 22125
(703) 494-2848

Posted on July 11, 2014 by miemo 0

Ice Dreams Soda Shop

This little ice cream shop was so cute. It is basically a cola cola paraphernalia hoarders dream.

The owner collected all kinds of coca cola trinkets and decorated the shop with it. Along with their ice creams, they had cold and hot drinks to choose from. Cash only!

I got some crazy ice cream with chocolate fish in it.

It kind of reminded me of my mom, because she drank one coke a day, and loved the polar bears and those old school coca cola glasses!

Ice Dreams Soda Shop
3131 Muskoka Road 169
Bala, ON P0C 1A0, Canada

Posted on July 9, 2014 by miemo 0

Beach Bully BBQ

Say that three times fast. Okay, that didn’t do anything. Anywaaays. After a traffic filled trip on 95 South trying to get to Virginia Beach, the honey and I needed to get lunch. We wanted to stay fairly close to the convention center, so we chose to go to Beach Bully BBQ. I always, want ribs.

We opted for the Queen Platter, which is a rack of ribs, and two choices of sides. We went for their version of baked beans, and potato salad.

Verdict? I’d come again. Very straight forward, tastes good, and quick! There weren’t many people there, for a Friday during lunch. The potato salad, has dill in it, which isn’t what I am used to, and I’d pass on that if we were to go there again. But the beans and the ribs in general were good. Fall of the bone tender, and their bbq sauce wasn’t that bad. Is it something I will crave and have to have again? Probably not. But if I am in the area, and want ribs, this will do.

Posted on May 2, 2014 by miemo 0

Mama Miemo’s Macarons

Pretty much, this is my life currently. I made an announcement that I will be selling easter “egg” macarons. You can buy assorted packs of 6 flavors:

Orange Creamsicle, Lemon, Mixed Berry, Raspberry, Pistachio and Vanilla. In pretty spring colors.

I packaged them up in egg cartons, and it was a good way for people to try some of my flavors. I’ve gotten great feedback and have been busy busy in the kitchen making these.

And look! I have new packaging. Hopefully these are safer to mail! My poor kitchen, and fiance. I haven’t cooked real food in there, in a while. But I love making macarons! I really need to get back to cooking though. I miss it.

But I am also having fun developing new macaron flavors!

Posted on April 14, 2014 by miemo 0

Dune: Jean-Georges Restaurant

After our engagement, we had dinner at Dune Restaurant at The One & Only Ocean Club. The restaurant was beautiful. They had a koi fish pond leading up to the door, and 3 sides of the walls were glass. There was indoor and outdoor seating, but we opted for indoors because we were still warm from that crazy walk we had earlier.

We started off with bread, and infused olive oil. You got your choice of which infusion of oil you wanted.

I chose the prosciutto wrapped pork chop over a bed of glazed mushrooms. So simple yet so delicious. The meat stayed steaming until the end. The flavor combination was perfect, well seasoned and I just ate it as is. It’s a fairly large portion, and I was sad I couldn’t finish it!

(His meal)

The service was great, like all the service on the islands. We were originally sat next to the window but a large crowd of drunk and rowdy patrons came into our section. The server offered to move us to another table in the other area. We did. We were put in a crowded center table, but as soon as the window freed up, they moved us there and said, “It’s only fair right?”. Since we were at the window originally. They were very thoughtful, friendly and attentive.

If you are on Paradise Island, and looking for a fabulous semi formal place to dine, I’d definitely suggest Dune.

Posted on March 10, 2014 by miemo 0

Dangerously Delicious

I have a new favorite pie. Not the Baltimore bomb, but THE TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE. Holy OH MY. I haven’t found a chocolate mousse that I loved as much as when I was in France. But this pie. Takes the cake.. (haha!) So yes. That my go to slice now at Dangerously Delicious Pies. Chocolate lovers have to try. You’re welcome.

It’s not on the their site though. So it makes me a little sad. I had it at Killer E.S.P. the first weekend in February and it’s all I can think about!

Posted on February 12, 2014 by miemo 0

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