Hotel Amour

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Amour, Amor, Amore…that’s love. For our farewell dinner, we decided to go to Hotel Amour. We saw the cute garden seating and decided it would be a nice place to say good bye. The restaurant was part of the hotel. The hotel itself was themed around love and sex. Pictures of nude ladies, as well has a well endowed Mickey Mouse decorate the inside. The garden seating is a courtyard where the walls are covered in ivy and little birds harass your feet.

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The staff were all attractive young women, who all could speak English. The courtyard was green and lush. And of course completely booked. We were so hungry we didn’t mind eating inside. But one of the ladies said she had one table and not to tell anyone *wink*. So we got to eat outside. Like most of the restaurants in France it was a prix fixe menu. I chose to start with the artichokes with mimolette, and for my entree, the roast chicken.

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The starter was raw artichokes, celery leaves, mimolette cheese all lightly seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. Simple, but the combination worked to create a savory starter. The chicken was served with a side of haricots verts. It tasted like it was marinated in italian dressing with orange zest and hazelnuts. The chicken was served with an au jus underneath. Perfectly juicy inside, and the skin was soooo crisp. I wish I could roast a chicken like that. It was half a chicken, so I couldn’t finish, and they don’t let you take it home. So I ate all the skin and as much chicken as I could before I had to walk away from that plate!

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Lucky its within walking distance, so Cece could go there whenever she wanted to for dinner. She got a burger and fries, and I LOVED the fries. Yes, they gave her ketchup. I was trying to research more information to share on the artist that owns this hotel (who has also opened one in NYC) but I couldn’t find any. But from what I am told, he is a street artist name Andre who’s known work is his love graffiti. So this hotel makes sense, because it goes with that theme. You can also rent the rooms by the hour, if you and your mistress need a place to shack up. I didn’t get to check it out, but it makes sense considering the decor inside.

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So next time you are in Paris, try the chicken at Hotel Amour! They speak English.

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SHWING!

 

Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant

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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.

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

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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.
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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.

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!