Bem Brasil [CT]

Bem Vindo = Welcome and I did feel welcome as I walked into this little Brazilian restaurant on South Whitney Street near the corner of Park.

A small buffet is at the far side and food is weighed at the counter on the left. There are dishes [large] and two types of to-go containers for your luncheon/dinner of choice [$4.99 a pound].

My lunch of pork, chicken, beef, cold vegetable salad, manioc vegetable salad, rice and beans came to $5.89. The Guaraná [my favorite Brazilian soda] was $2 for the can. The place is nice and clean and the people were very friendly. The young woman at the counter spoke both Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish.

bloginfo: The don't have a churrascuria where the meat is cut with varying rates for food/meat/etc. This is a much more simple buffet than the other place of Park Street.

blognote: Just as I was finishing, they brought out a selection of Chicken Stroganoff, my favorite. Oh well, next time!

Glenburn Grill and Bakery [PA]

Stopped for breakfast on a quick trip in and out of Scranton. Was one of those neighborhood 'let's meet for breakfast after church' places. Wicked coffee and I drank way too much.


The breakfast was advertised on a hard roll; it was actually a huge, fresh-baked parker house roll. It came with fried eggs, cheese and kielbasa. Delicious and for $4.45 the bargain of the year. Too bad it's so far away.

Delta A330 HNL/ATL

Flew back today on the same airplane. Different menu but same good food.

Started with the Mai Tai and nuts. Wine was the same Chardonnay as the other flight. The salad was romaine and red cabbage with an olive oil vinaigrette this time.

My entrée was Mafalda Pasta tossed with asparagus and yellow tomatoes in a lemon cream sauce. For dessert I did have a sundae; passed it up on the flight over but had to try one. It was good.

Airline food has never been better than this; first class rules! Helps if you have lots of member miles.

Shabu Shabu Bangkok [HI]

We got last minute tickets to a Gamelan Concert [Javanese and Balinese] for our last night together and then went out for a special dinner. Saw this ad for a new Thai restaurant that specialized in shabu shabu which is really Japanese. It was great. 

Started with an appetizer order of Spring Rolls which were excellent. Then came the five different sauces; each person had their own set of five, some spicy, some sweet and all delicious. We ordered the meat combo plate with beef, chicken and pork. It also had some meat filled wonton, 'meatballs' and mushroom. Also ordered Vietnamese long rice [cellophane noodle] and baby bok choy. All of this we cooked in our own pot filled with beef broth. Later we ordered some udon noodles to finish up the remaining broth. What a fun way to go out to dinner!

Kako'ako Kitchen [HI]

Had a 'bento box' lunch in the Ward Center Shopping Mall. Ate outside, order at counter, get a number, wait for server to bring food. Great sitting outside with all the locals. The bento box concept in Japanese is beautifully presented in a lacquer box. Here the food came in an aluminum container but it was so good.

My daily special bento box contained sweet chili garlic chicken, fried mahi mahi, spam [yes, one of my favorites] and rice sprinkled with furikake [seaweed flakes].

Zippy's [HI]

Ate at the famous Zippy's in one of their many locations. For lunch I had Wun Tun Min [$5.65] which was a bowl of saimin noodles with sweet pork, green onions, choi sum [greens], egg and fish cake.

For dessert I had the Zippy specialty a Napple, blueberry cream cheese inside a flaky turnover crust [$1.95]. There were crumbs everywhere but it was worth it.

EAT Café [HI]

pitza

Had 'pitza' at the EAT Café in a design center after our Chinatown walk around. Pitza is pizza on a pita and very good. Our special of the day had sliced tomatoes, pesto and provolone cheese with a mound of micro greens on top with a garlic vinaigrette.

The Pacific Club [HI]

After the Kobashi Exhibit Preview at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, we were invited to The Pacific Club in downtown Honolulu by two members. This was surely a grand experience. I had traveled to Hawai'i expressly for the exhibit and this dinner added so much to the evening.

I had the Kona lobster served with braised leeks over an asparagus risotto. The lobster is sweet and tender. The wine was a Pinot Blanc.

For dessert I had Kula Farms mixed berries: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries from Maui. This was served with Creme Anglaise.

Elena's Filipino Food [HI]

We had visited Elena's on a previous visit in a different location and had the 'all you can eat' buffet for $9.99. This time we thought we were ordering much more lightly but ended up with lots of food.

Started with an order of Beef/Vegetable Lumpia, fried delights. Then two orders [for the three of us] of Odeng Fried Rice Omelet. The odeng is sweet longganisa and the omelets were huge and very filling.

For dessert we had an order of Banana Lumpia which really got us to the stuffed point. But we weren't sure when or where or what we would be eating that night .....

L&L Hawai'ian BBQ [HI]

Combo Plate: Chicken Katsu [fried], Locomoco [hamburger with brown gravy and topped with a fried egg], and Spam Musubi [like a square spam sushi] to take home for breakfast. This came with two scoops of rice and a scoop of mac salad: the Hawai'ian Plate Lunch.

This is your typical brightly lit, neighborhood takeout place with formica booths, plastic utensils and real good food.

Contemporary Café [HI]

Lunch outside under a red umbrella in the courtyard of the Contemporary Café at The Contemporary Museum in Waikiki Heights.

Soba Salad of cold whole wheat noodles with Asian slaw, cucumber, tomato, shiitake mushrooms, watercress with a garlic shoyu dressing. Iced Jasmine tea.

Great service!

Delta A330 ATL/HNL

First Class flight from Atlanta to Honolulu. Michelle Bernstein is the Delta Chef. This was a Delta/Korean Air codeshare.

Our dinner menu:

Welcome Mai Tai with warm mixed nuts

Salad of mixed greens, feta, dried cranberries, and pecans with a Greek Vinaigrette

Fusili in a creamed cheese sauce with pignoli, leeks and asparagus

Vanilla ice cream sundaes with choice of sauces, whipped cream and chopped nuts

Baci Grill [CT]

Dinner tonight at Baci Grill in Cromwell. An old favorite of mine and they were having wine flights for $9 so thought I would give it a try. The wine flights are Monday to Wednesday, a 2 oz. pour from any wine on the menu that it offered by the glass. I tried three Malbec and two were successful. They don't label the pours so don't remember which I didn't like. Good bread and garlicy dipping oil [tonight's trend?].

Ordered from the Antipasto and Salad menus. Both had the Peppercorn Ahi Tuna [$10] which were very good, rare, well seasoned and beautifully plated. Followed this with a Waldorf Salad [$9] and my Spinach and Mushroom salad [$8] which was very well appreciated. Lots of garlic and a garlicy dressing with feta cheese, toasted polenta squares and a grilled portabella mushroom.

For dessert [don't even go there] we ordered the 12 layer Chocolate Mousse Cake [$8] which was humungous and rich. Didn't even make a dent in it. That and a decaf Latte finished out the night.

bloginfo: Always a good choice; varied menu, quality food.
blognote: Alec B was our server and did a good job with all our questions.

Puket Café [CT]

Tried the new Rocky Hill location again for lunch today. Same good food in a beautiful site.

Two entrées: Chicken with ginger and Pork with eggplant [$9 with the $1 addition of brown rice]. Both chock full of fresh vegetables and delicious!

bloginfo: website for both locations here
bloginfo: No, this picture was not taken in Connecticut!