Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant

When I was visiting the Outerbanks for the first time, we went to Sugar Creek Seafood restaurant. I had really high hopes for this place. We were eating dinner around sunset, outside with the cool ocean breeze, it was a pretty magical set up. The website sells it as a pretty fancy place.

I started off the meal with a pina colada. It was delicious. We are off to a good start!

Then it went down hill. I had really high hopes for the food here, which is probably why I felt it was sub par. The clams were COMPLETELY filled with dirt/sand. The flavor was there, but I could not get over how much dirt I was eating.

For the main course, I chose shrimp and scallop duo. You can either have them fried or broiled. I was leaning towards broiled, but when asking our server, she said she loved everything fried. Wrong choice for me. Deep fried scallops are disgusting. And this one was soggy on the bottom. The fries and shrimp were good though!

I guess the draw on this place isn’t really the food but the atmosphere. We had a really nice view and our server was awesome. The only part of the restaurant experience that I wasn’t fond of was the stank face I got from the blond curly haired hostess. The other hostesses were polite, but she just sat there and gave me the nastiest look and rolled her eyes. Rude. Other than her, all the staff was great. The food, not so much.

Not going back.

Nags Head on Dwellable

Posted on July 11, 2012 by miemo 0

Brunch: Fireflies in Del Ray

YES! I found a brunch place who’s eggs benedict doesn’t taste like vinegar. HAPPY FACE. However, they don’t have a classic benedict, and I don’t like the texture of prosciutto (under eggs, I enjoy duck prosciutto and regular prosciutto atop my rustic pizza). But all in all the food was delicious. And the service was awesome. They have outdoor seating and Del Ray is just a cute neighborhood to be in! I will definitely want to go back to Fireflies again for brunch, to try out other things, since their eggs benedict did so well. OH and I want more belgian waffles. NOM NOM.

However, brunch hopping I will go, because food makes me happy! Any more brunch suggestions? I will be going back to Birch and Barley this weekend. So excited!

Posted on April 12, 2012 by miemo 0

Walker’s Grille for Brunch

On one of his evening runs, the honey discovered this place. So one Saturday morning, we got up and headed over for brunch. It was a lot nicer than I expected. They have outdoor seating, a bar, booths, this place was legit. AND! They have eggs benedict. Yes I know I should probably get tired of them soon. Maybe I should just learn how to poach an egg….

Anywhoo. The verdict? Great selection. I’d go back to try something else. I don’t know if it is me, or if everyone is using the vinegar trick but all the eggs taste vinegary, 2 out of the 4 places I’ve had poached eggs. But his breakfast tasted amazing, yes I took some of his breakfast too. The hashbrowns are nommy, and the bacon are thick applewood style. SO GOOD. However they shaved their ham so thin it was like prosciutto and I wasn’t a fan. Also their english muffins we’re toasted at all/or enough. Fail. Maybe next time I’ll get eggs florentine with a side of bacon. Love that fresh fruit comes as a side :D.

Posted on March 26, 2012 by miemo 0

Evening Star for Brunch

I am back with another brunch recap! Saturday mornings, I wake up and immediately google brunches nearby. This time I landed on Evening Star in Del Ray. Super cute neighborhood, and they have a parking lot in the back. Love the decor and how the tiny space was set up.

I ordered the eggs benedict of course, and it came with a plate of vinegary greens. I also got a side of bacon, because that is just what I do.

The hash browns were awesome. The bacon was a little thin for my tastes, and the eggs benedict were cooked just right. My belly had a good time. Not to mention, stellar service. I was impressed that one of the guys there noticed our table was uneven and fixed it without us prompting him to.

I’d go back. But I would probably try something else. The vinegary greens made everything I taste like vinegar. Even a bite of his chicken and waffles!

Posted on March 19, 2012 by miemo 0

Bistro Cacao for Brunch

Brunch Brunch Brunch. I am ADDICTED. Ever since Birch and Barley, I’ve been obsessed with getting brunch on weekends. I wake up demanding eggs benedict and threaten to hulk smash anything that will get in the way. Well, not really. But I think my new thing, is to eat as many classic eggs benedicts as possible from different places and write about it. Yeah. And MIEMOsas. yum.
So Valentine’s day, the boo took me to Bistro Cacao. The outside looks like a row house on the Hill. We walk in greeted by a friendly fireplace and a crazy wine room. I loved the way it was laid out. Room after room of dining areas. The host seats us in a nook behind red drapes and 3 windows overlooking the street. When it comes to brunch, I am still pretty new. The only brunch I’m familiar with is Dim Sum. So it was my first time having a classic eggs benedict and it was amazing. I am smitten. Quite smitten actually. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Like most places that host a brunch, its a fixed menu that you get to choose items from. All come with a starter mixed pastries basket. This was my favorite from the basket. Nutella. Yum.
My food. So delicious. So happy. These eggs benedict changed my life. The challenge is to find something like this every weekend. I accept. I would definitely want to brunch there again!

Over all the bistro was GREAT. I’d love to try their dinner menu. If I do, I’ll definitely let you know 😉

Posted on March 13, 2012 by miemo 0

The Cajun Experience

…not really. Out of all the cajun restaurants I’ve been to in DC, looking for a taste of home, this was my first disappointment. After coming down from my personal mardi gras 2012 party, I was having high hopes for a professionally done Mardi Gras dinner. I was looking for the Cajun Experience, pun intended.

Lets start off with the food, because that, to me, is always where we should start! I love food. Instead of offering their regular menu tonight (which is what I was hoping for), everyone was getting the buffet. The place was set up nicely, and had a great, fun zydeco band with a tiny dance space available if you wanted to get down. I did enjoy the vibe and I like the space.

Abita beer was unlimited that night, which was awesome considering the $45 price tag. The food however was sub-par. I really expected better, but I won’t be too harsh, since it was massed produced for the crowd. There was a variety of traditional cajun entrees, gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee..and mac and cheese and hushpuppies. The jambalaya tasted like tomato sauce from a jar with sausages thrown in. There was no hit of cajun spices. The etouffee was good, I prefer my cajun dishes a lot spicier, but I understand that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. However there were no spices on the table to help it out. You were confined to your styrofoam divider plate and your plastic cups.

Needless to say, I only had one plate, and spent the night enjoying the music, and my company and $45+ worth of delicious abita beer. I also felt overlooked as a customer. Our server was very sweet, could be a little more attentive, but nothing blatantly wrong with the service. The guy who might have been to the manager seemed to talk to every table and dropping off goodies such as masks, and drink cozies, and didn’t even make eye contact or attempt to say hello to our table… but made a point to say hello to the surrounding tables. Make note that I wasn’t even in a corner table. And no, I wasn’t a quiet mousey, no eye contact patron either. I joked with the table next to us, clapped and cheered to the live band and was trying to make it a good experience. Overall it was not.

I will give it another shot on a regular day, their brunch menu sounds awesome. But I won’t be attending their Mardi Gras party again in the future.

Posted on February 22, 2012 by miemo 0

UMAMI Burger

As quoted from wikipedia…” Umami /uːˈmɑːmi/, popularly referred to as savoriness,^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Umami is a loanword from the Japanese umami (うま味^?)meaning “pleasant savory taste”.^[6] This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai (うまい) “delicious” and mi (味) “taste”. The Chinese characters 旨味 are used for a more general meaning, when a particular food is delicious.”

And at Umami Burger… delicious is right. Continue reading →

Posted on February 2, 2012 by miemo 0

Birch and Barley for Brunch

Nope. I have never had brunch in DC before. Never. Crazy I know, all the food I eat and I’ve never done it? Well Nikki changed that. This past Sunday, (because Sunday is THE brunch day) she invited me to join her and Kaoru for brunch at Birch and Barley. Continue reading →

Posted on January 31, 2012 by miemo 0

Daikokuya Original Noodle and Rice Bowl

For those of you that know me, or read my tweets/blogs enough, know that I LOVE noodle soups. They are just so comforting and I could eat it even if it is hot outside. Something about them just makes me happy. A foodie trip to Los Angeles wouldn’t be complete without stopping for ramen there!

Since I had no idea what to do, or eat, I left it up to Steve to pick out our stops for the trip. First and favorite noodle place? Daikokuya Original Noodle and Rice Bowl. Like my beloved ramen joint in DC, its a first come first serve type place, with your name on a list. We were there on a Saturday night prime dining hours… I would say we had about a 45 minute wait. Well worth it.

Decorated with Japanese themed elements, it’s what you would expect from a noodle and rice bowl shop. Service was quick and friendly, food was AWESOME. Though the noodles don’t taste as fresh as they do at Toki, but you can’t win them all. It was still really good!