The Jones B Side

Currently unranked

When the folks at The Jones decided to rent out the seemingly destined to fail location at 203 SW 2nd Ave, I was somewhat concerned.  I feel like such a huge part of The Jones' charm is the intimate location on NE 23rd Ave, so I was worried that they'd lose some of the magic.  Certainly I'm in favor of a place growing beyond its humble beginnings.  I mean, success is a good thing, right?  I guess I was mostly concerned that they'd close the old location (which they have done for dinner).  Also, even though I believe if anyone can make a restaurant succeed in such an ill fated location, it's The Jones, it's still a horribly ill fated location. 

So, now that I've had four lunches and one dinner at B side, I felt obliged to write a review.   I'm including the explicit disclaimer, however, that I'm still waiting to formulate my final opinion.  The jury is still out so to speak.  I'm also cautious to be completely honest.  The reason being is because I love The Jones.  I don't want to say anything mean about it.  So, I'm going to do my very best to be honest, but tactful here (I'm guessing you can already see where this review is headed). 

I still have hope and confidence that B Side will end up being a pillar of the dining community, and here's why.  (I know this is going to end up being a backhanded compliment, but hear me out).  When the original Jones opened for breakfast and lunch, it wasn't that good.  The service was terrible and the food was just OK.  But they got their shit together and ended up being the best in town.  Then, they branched into the dinner arena.  Likewise, at first, the dinners weren't that good and the service wasn't much better.  Again, however, they ended up being my favorite restaurant in town by far.  I could eat any meal there multiple times a week and never get bored of it. 

So, the moral of the story was, it always worked out in the end for The Jones, it just took them time.

A while back, I started to hear many grumblings via the internet and the local grapevine that the owners felt the tiny kitchen seriously limited their quality and production at the old location.  The move to the bigger place would help them out with much needed space, equipment, and the overall quality level.  I could be nothing but hopeful.

As we all know, the move took place and the new location has been open for a few months now.  Despite having run a restaurant for many years, the new location didn't open without its share of difficulties.  Overall wait times were in the 1.5-2 hour range (for a table and food), the computer system would crash, forcing them to send diners elsewhere (not sure why computers are needed to cook food and accept currency), and the food was still trying to find its own identity.

Finally, the service started getting whipped into shape and the place started functioning as an efficient restaurant.  It was at this point that I decided to check it out.  My initial impression of the menu was "there isn't alot on this menu."  For both lunch and dinner, the menu seems a bit smaller than the old location.  This obviously makes me wonder about the gripe that the old kitchen was significantly limiting their production.  I also noticed that the menu was extremely similar to the old location but with a few tweaks to old favorites.  I had heard from reliable sources that the B Side menu was to be different than the East Side one.  I guess that didn't work out.  I don't honestly care, but when the new place is offering up my favorite sandwich from the old place (the Veg Out), don't change it.  It was great the way it was! 

Pictured above is The Veg Out and The Alice.  Both sandwiches originated at the old Jones.  I had half of each sandwich.  The Veg Out had some sort of sundried tomato aioli instead of the pesto veganaisse.  To me, this was an unfortunate change.  As I said above, the old Veg Out was my favorite sandwich.  Why change it?  They also forgot to put avocado on it and the bread was barely toasted.  The avocado issue was fixed pretty quickly, but the bread was very sad.  The Alice seemed to be the same as the old location and was pretty good.

I have also eaten the steak and egg sandwich which came with gruyere cheese and pickled onions.  I'm not sure if it was the cheese or the onions or the combination of both, but the whole sandwich had an overall unpleasant stinky/sour taste about it.  There was certainly at least one ingredient in the sandwich that was killing the whole thing for me.  If it was the pickled onions, I'm going to have to insist that people in town stop putting pickled vegetables on everything.  It's a very specific application!

Finally, we went for dinner.  I hadn't seen the dinner menu yet, as it's not included on the lunch menu, so I didn't know what to expect.  I always applauded the old Jones on having a very diverse menu with several healthy, vegetarian, and vegan options.  I also believed their chefs created some truly great food that wasn't what I otherwise call Gainesville Gourmet (fake fancy) or blatantly derivative of somewhere else.  You could really get an excellent meal at the old Jones.  So again, I was surprised to see the seemingly smaller dinner menu.  Prices were up a bit and the variety seemed reduced.  There were significantly fewer vegetarian/vegan friendly dishes as well.

Also, many old favorites from the old location were gone (with the old location closed for dinners now, those favorite meals won't be available anymore).  My dining partner chose the tempeh wellington and I chose the shrimp and grits.  I know that these items are a little out of the box, but we thought they looked pretty good and decided to give em a shot.  Both ended up being somewhat representative of a general theme.  I think the new Jones is trying to be The Top.  The Wellington recipe was nearly identical to one The Top has served for years.  Also, both dishes relied heavily on a cream sauce crutch, something The Top is notorious for.
 
The Wellington was fine and the shrimp and grits were tasty enough.  However, both meals left us with strong feelings of regret.  I don't mind eating a rich meal if I leave it feeling satisfied and full.  I don't like one that makes me feel like I just ate a whole box of butter.  Here it is 15 hours later and I'm still not hungry again.  I also feel like I needed an after dinner blood thinner.  You can actually see below how the grits were literally swimming in thick cream sauce.  Also, the shrimp were tiny.  The roasted vegetables that came with the Wellington were varying degrees of cooked.  Some were quite chewy and raw while others were more cooked through.  You can also see they're not winning any awards for the presentation.

 
The ambiance is OK.  Honestly, The Jones should be set in a simple setting.  If they went way over the top with the decor, it would be wrong.  I think they did a fine job fitting the place to their needs.  I'm not sure, however, why they have tables that could accommodate two football teams.  The inside and outside area each has a table that can seat 20+ people.  I'm sure it's handy when a big group comes in, but when you need to seat 40 people of varying size parties, they might not want to sit so close to strangers.  I know it's very European to do so, but we're not in Europe.  I also don't understand the outside tables that are at shin level of the 3-4 booths farthest from the door. 

If I had to sum up the new place in one sentence it would be this:  It's very similar to the old Jones, just not as good.  I feel like The Jones lost its independence somehow by moving downtown.  It's like they're trying to fit into the already established Downtown dinner scene by emulating others and not making their own point of view heard.  I'm even more broken-hearted that the old location is now closed for dinner.

To be honest, I really had a hard time deciding whether or not to write this.  I knew there would be no way it would come off not sounding negative.  If you've followed me for any period of time, you know how effusive my praise for the old Jones was.  I'd ALWAYS call them the best restaurant in town.  That's why I'm holding out hope that the new place can improve. 

I want the Jones B Side to succeed, and I think the easiest way for them to do it is by doing the exact same thing they did at the old location. 

Thanksgiving

While Thanksgiving is centered around being thankful for what we have in our lives, it might be the only holiday we Americans celebrate based solely around food.  Christmas has a dinner, but there are  gifts and Santa and trees and lights and the ever lengthening shopping season.  Halloween has candy, but also costumes and parties and trick or treating.  Fourth of July has a bar-b-q but it also has fireworks.  You get the idea. 

Every family has its own traditions and favorite recipes, some of which are nearly sacred.  In our family, for example, it would be sacrilege to alter the sweet potato casserole that we've had since I can remember.  These family food traditions are solidified even more after sharing a Thanksgiving at someone else's house.  I've spent one or two Thanksgivings with another family only to be left incredulously wondering how they hell they can call some plate of soupy bread "stuffing."  I've been left confused when a platter of lamb appeared instead of turkey.  Who they hell are they to challenge my traditional beliefs of what a Thanksgiving dinner should be?

In our family, the Thanksgiving spread always consists of the following: turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, butternut squash, green beans (or green bean casserole), jellied cranberry sauce, whole cranberry sauce, bread, apple pie, and pumpkin pie.  If one of these items is missing, we might have a mutiny on our hands.   
 
Since meeting my wife (who's a vegetarian) over 13 years ago, we've always toyed with the notion of having a turkey free dinner.  Honestly, the average butterball turkey you buy at Publix is never really that great.  And we're well aware of the problems inherent in factory farming a breed of bird that's breast muscles get so big it can't walk by the end of its life.  We wouldn't really miss it, would we?  

Finally, this year seemed to be the one.  It was Tuesday night and we didn't have a turkey on order.  It really seemed like we were going to take the plunge and finally go meatless for Thanksgiving.

Then, just when it felt like there was no turning back, we learned of Laughing Chicken Farm, an independent small farm in Trenton (27 miles west of Gainesville).  It's a husband and wife operation that started small and is constantly growing in popularity.  They have chickens and turkeys that they raise "the way God intended: with fresh grass, natural grains and minerals, and lots of sunshine."  They studied under the legendary Joel Salatin (look him up.  He's been featured in many back to the earth style books such as The Omnivore's Dilemma). 

As luck would have it, they had a few birds that were unclaimed by their pre-order list and farmers market buyers.  As a result, we drove nearly 60 miles round trip to buy this year's turkey.  The bird was butchered the day before and was being kept fresh on ice.  It had never been frozen.  We did zero preparation to it, and merely put it in the oven for the appropriate amount of time.  After four and a half hours, it came out incredibly perfect.  It was juicier and more savory than any other turkey I've ever had.  It actually tasted like we basted the whole thing in butter before cooking it.  In the past, I've never taken more than 2 or 3 small slices of turkey for my dinner, but this year, it was the star of my plate. 

Now, if you read my blog at all, you know I rarely eat meat, and I understand and respect the mentality of a "cruelty free" diet.  When it comes to a meal like Thanksgiving, though, I'm prepared to make an exception.  I'm even more confident in my choices when I support someone who is doing everything they can to make sure their animals lead happy, stress free lives. 

The reality is that eating meat is never going away.  I certainly appreciate someone's desire to eliminate meat and all the nasty byproducts and environmental detriments of the industry from their lives.  At the same time, a large movement has been growing that focuses on bringing food back to the farm and away from the factory setting.  A very small, independent mom and pop operation like Laughing Chicken is more than deserving of our support.  You can actually visit the farm and see how the animals are treated, witness their free ranging lives, and actually taste the difference in the meat. By giving people like the folks at Laughing Chicken our money instead of a huge conglomerate factory farm, we are encouraging more businesses to treat their animals in a humane way.  And in the end, I think that may be the most responsible choice of all. 

Sabore: A big budget movie with no plot

Sabore 
Address: Tioga Town Center: Suite 129, 13005 SW 1st Road, Newberry, FL 32669

Phone: (352) 332-2727 

2.5 thumbs up

From their website: Saboré [sa-bohr-ay] is a world-fusion restaurant featuring a variety of European, South American, Mediterranean and Asian inspired tastes. Saboré's namesake is from the word "sabor," meaning "flavor." Saboré's menu features mouth-watering dishes that takes guests on a trip around the world, highlighting exotic flavors and ingredients from countries such as Argentina, Japan, Spain and Italy.

 

In reality, Sabore is a BIG budget movie without any plot, storyline, or memorable characters.  Sure, it looks impressive.  The dining area is quite fancy.  And all in all, it's not really a bad restaurant.  It's just not a good restaurant.  Here's why.  It's yet another American take on all of those other worldly delicacies.  You can't accurately impersonate European or South American cuisine when you're getting your food from Sysco uber corporate food distributors.  The flavor of the ingredients is too far removed from the earth and the individual who harvested/prepared them.  On top of that, it's another Gainesville take on an American take of exotic delights.  It's even one more level removed.  

First up, we ordered some wine.  Let me give credit where it's due.  Their wine list is quite impressive and we were more than pleased with our Organic Italian Pinot Grigio and Organic Spanish Monastrell, both reasonably priced at 7 bucks a glass.  

Next was the Sabore House salad, sans bacon.  It was pretty good, but not really worth the 8 bucks it cost. It had a total of two cherry tomatoes, a few slivers of almonds, four slices of cucumber, a very few crumbles of Gorgonzola cheese, and a small handful of lettuce.  The salad dressing was a sesame vinaigrette that was tasty.  

 

Next, we sampled two items off their sharable small plates section of the menu.   We had the Goat Cheese Croquettes with guava sauce and the Fiocci with Pears (pasta purses stuffed with pears in a gorgonzola cream sauce).  I LOVE pasta purses with pears and gorgonzola.  I've had a nearly identical item at a few other restaurants, including Manuel's Vintage Room and have always loved them.  Sabores, unfortunately, were very plain.  They had little flavor and the cream sauce was very unimpressive.  It just tasted like white.  There were a few bits of gorgonzola with each that did help with the flavor, however without them, it was nearly flavorless.  

The croquettes were just as bland and unimpressive.  The tiny bit of guava sauce did help, but they lacked any real identity.  They just tasted extremely deep fried, thus prohibiting the flavor of the goat cheese to show through. 

After these items, I felt like I didn't need to spend 10 more dollars on another shared plate to get the full experience of this place.   I was confident I could predict exactly what each other menu item would taste like.  In the interests of being thorough, however, we did try two more items.  

The crunchy fish tacos were the best of anything else we tried.  They had mahi inside with cabbage, pico de gallo, and a garlic aioli sauce.  I did enjoy eating these, but they certainly reminded me of something I used to eat frequently in my college days. 

Finally, we closed the night out with sweet potato fries.  Expecting a plate of delicately thin and deliciously crispy fries, we got the following soggy blobs of sweet potato.  I can't understand how the chef could spend so much time stroking his own ego on their menu/website and then send these duds out.  The sauce was a creamy dill and Gorgonzola sauce.  The "fries" did have some nice seasoning on them and didn't actually taste bad, but they were hardly what we expected.

All in all, we enjoyed our dining experience enough to say the place wasn't that bad.  It just wasn't that good.  I can't honestly see myself ever returning, though.  I didn't dig into the meat heavy portion of the menu, but again, I felt that I didn't even need to in order to get a representative sample of the chef's repertoire.  

With tip, our meal ended up being 60 dollars, which was honestly less than I anticipated as we kept ordering more and more item.  

Bottom line: Sabore serves some really average food being held up with crutches made out of Gorgonzola. 

Tacos Locos food stand

Usually located between South 1st and 2nd Avenues on Main Street, and mostly only during peak downtown nights (weds thru saturday).

3 thumbs up

The Tacos Locos food truck has become a permanent fixture of downtown nightlife over the past year and change.  Let's face it.  Everyone can go for a late-night taco, especially after a few drinks, and these guys capitalize on that market big time.  I've tried 3 things off their menu over the past few months and am finally weighing in.

First off, much like Burrito Brothers, it's not terribly authentic tex-mex street food.  But that's not the worst thing in the world.  I sampled their nachos with cheese (which of course was delicious), the shredded chicken taco (which wasn't so great), and their spicy beef taco (which was good but a bit unusual).

The nachos with cheese sauce was pretty awesome.  I believe they made their own cheese sauce, and I thought it was quite tasty.

The shredded chicken wasn't very flavorful and the toppings didn't wow me.  The iceberg lettuce was soggy and a bit of a bummer.  I would have much preferred the reliable crunch of cabbage on there. 

The spicy beef was much better, but it didn't taste terribly authentic.  It almost tasted like a beef stew taco.  It wasn't bad though, and I enjoyed it.

I think the truck is a much needed addition to late night food offerings downtown, and the tacos are pretty good overall. You can certainly get a better street taco from Pelican Brothers if they're serving them that night, but you really won't be bummed to have chosen Tacos Locos.  I think a few little changes would make them much better (more sauces, better seasoning of the chicken and beef, crunchier cabbage instead of lettuce).  But overall, it's pretty good. 

Bev's Better Burgers (Alachua & High Springs)

230 Main Street : Alachua
639 Northeast Santa Fe Boulevard : High Springs

Four thumbs up

If you've ever driven to the springs or passed through downtown Alachua, odds are you've seen Bev's Better Burgers.  We recently took a day trip to Ichetucknee Springs State Park and hit up Bev's on the way home.

Immediately, we wondered what made these burgers better.  Were they better than they used to be?  Were the old ones inferior somehow?  Or were they just better than the competition?  We'd soon find out.  While there, we sampled a range of their menu and enjoyed their "what the fuck do you want?" style service.

I ordered a cheeseburger and small fry.  The cheeseburger didn't look too pretty, but it was pretty good.  I'd say it was certainly a better burger than what I remember of fast food joints (I haven't had a Burger King/McDonalds/Wendy's burger in as long as I can remember).  The fries were good too.  They were like McDonald's, but soggier.  When the girl at the window barked "you want that all the way?" I said yes not knowing what that meant.  Apparently "all the way" doesn't include pickles, which I would have liked.  I figure "all the way" should be more than lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo.  But it wasn't.
 
Other people in our party tried the jalapeno poppers, which could have been called the deep fried death balls.  They were cream cheese and jalapeno pieces, battered and deep fried.  I highly doubt they made them themselves, but they were pretty offensive.

Overall, I and everyone in the group did enjoy the meal here.  The burger was smaller and provided much less remorse than a Whopper, but had similar characteristics.  Obviously, it wasn't healthy, and the people working there had some of the worst attitudes this side of the county jail mess hall, but it was a fun little stupid meal after a long day at the springs.

Back to School!!!

Even though it's been nearly 10 years since I've finished grad school, I cannot avoid the back to school vibe that hits this town this time of year.  None of us can.  Traffic picks up considerably, movie theaters are more crowded, and our beloved restaurants feel a surge of new life as dollar after student dollar begins to flow again.  If you're new to town and just discovering this blog, I hope I can help you.  If you're a long time reader (we almost have 20,000 views!!) I hope you continue to read.  So, in the spirit of getting back to the books, I'm going to do a handy reference local restaurant guide for you. 

Breakfast
Best: Karol and Bill's Plaza Diner.  This place is excellent.  It's everything you'd want out of a greasy spoon diner and more.  I love this place to death.  They also do lunch. Review here. 
Best: The Jones. Equally excellent but for different reasons.  Review here.

Lunch
Best: Flaco's.  Easily one of my favorite restaurants in town.  Great for lunch, dinner, or late night grub.  Excellent Cuban food.  Review here.
Worst: Gelato Company.  Just bad food.  Review here. 

Sushi!
Best: Fuji Sushi.  Hands down the best in town.  Review here.

Overrated: Dragonfly.  Overpriced, underwhelming, aimed at 19 year old sorority girls on their birthdays.  Review here
Worst: Ichiban (I'm sure there are worse places that I'd dare not try, but this place passes itself off as two legitimate restaurants).   Review here

Mexican/Tex-Mex
Best:  El Indio.  Some menu items aren't great, but easily the best in town.  Review here
Honorable Mention: Burrito Brothers. I like this place.  Not terribly authentic, but authentically Gainesville Review
Overrated: Las Margaritas.  I believe Mexican food should be eaten out of a bag, not off a plate.  That being said, Las Margs is OK, but I've had just as many blah experiences here as good ones.  I have not checked out the new location yet, but assume it's the same food.  Review here
Worst: Boca Fiesta.  I could submit Boca Fiesta as worst restaurant in the world and it would come close to winning.  I have no idea why this place is so popular. The food is terrible, the staff unsanitary, and the service slower than molasses.  Review here

Pizza
Best: Blue Highway (Micanopy or Tioga locations).  This is some of the best pizza I've had anywhere, and I'm picky as hell about pizza.  They make a damn good pie.  Review here
Overrated: Satchel's.  I love the vibe of the place and they make good salads, but the only explanation I can come up with for people who love this place (and there are TONS of them) is that they've never actually eaten pizza before.  Review here
Worst: Everywhere else.  I've never seen a town with such terrible pizza options

Pan-Asian
This is a tough category.  There are some REALLY bad Pan-Asian restaurants in town.  Some were so bad that they got shut down by the health inspectors.  I'll do my best to rattle off a few of each genre here:
Chinese Worst: Chopstix.  This restaurant is terrible.  People love it.  Again, my only explanation is that these people have never been to any sort of restaurant in their life before.  Review here
Thai Worst: Tim's Thai.  Easily the worst restaurant in the world.  Review here
Vietnamese Worst: Pho Hanoi.  Some of the saddest food I've ever seen.  Review here.
Vietnamese Worst: Bagels and Noodles.  Just as bad as it sounds. Review here
Chinese Worst: Mr. Han's.  Clearly a front for illegal exotic marine life and opium.  Review here.
Decent: Liquid Ginger.  This place is OK.  It takes forever to get your food, but it's really not bad.   Review here.
Decent: Saigon Legend.  I haven't been here since they moved locations.  Their ingredients are usually pretty cheap, but somehow, their food is always pretty good. (I somehow have never reviewed this place)
Unfortunate: Bahn Thai.  This place used to be pretty good.  It was in a seedy location and was always sketchy/dirty feeling, but they made good food.  It was far from the best Thai I've ever had, but it did the trick.  They recently changed owners and the quality has steadily plummeted.  Review here

American
Best: The Jones.  With a new location opening downtown, I'm excited to see what the good folks at the Jones are going to bring us next.   Review here.
Honorable Mention: The Top.  I don't go here much anymore, but it's always been a reputable source of solid food, good atmosphere, and a great bar.  Review here.
Worst: The Lunchbox.  This place sucks.  I've actually reviewed it multiple times, as I wanted to give it a fighting chance, but it has always sucked.  Review here.

Indian
Best: Indian Cuisine.  Great food.  Very slow service, especially during peak dinner hours.    It's not uncommon to be there for 2 hours for dinner.  Reivew here.
Best: Kabab House. Great, fast food.  Really like this place.  Don't be scared by the interior decorations.  Review here.
Worst: Taste of India.  This place is super gross.  I bought a bag of naan to go from here, and when the owner took the first bag out of the cooler, he deliberately put it back and took another one from the back (as it was clearly the oldest).  Needless to say, it had mold all over it.  (No review).

Late Night Munchies

Best: Pelican Brothers Food Truck.  Typically parked outside High Dive (Formerly Double Down/Common Grounds) late at night.  Excellent food.  These guys are upping the local food ante all out of a truck.  Review here.
Best: Hot dog cart on corner of SW 1st Ave and SW 1st St.  Great dogs.  Perfect late night eats.  Review here.

Dessert
Best: Karma Cream.  This place epitomizes what is great about Gainesville.  Locally owned and operated, artisan vegan baking (trust me, you won't care that it's vegan because it's excellent), and organic ice cream and vegan ice cream.  Review here.
Best: Mochi.  Another local success story.  Operated by the owners of Bento, this place is just great.  Japanese Frozen Yogurt is big these days, and no one does it better than Mochi, in my opinion. Review here.

Food Shopping
Best: Wards Supermarket.  A fantastic grocery store.  Locally owned and operated.  Review here.
Best: Dorn's Liquors.  I love this place.  Great beer, liquor, cheese, chocolate, and specialty items.  Review here.
Best: Uppercrust Bakery.  A truly European experience right in GVL.  Excellent breads, pastries, wines, cheeses, and other specialty items.  Review here.
Best: Wine and Cheese Gallery.  I'm not so in love with the attached restaurant, Panache, but I do love this cozy little wine store downtown.  They also have a great happy hour on Fridays.  Review here.

Bars
Best: Depending on what you're looking for, Gainesville probably has a bar/club for you.  Right now, for me, the best is The Bull.  It's laid back with a sophisticated, yet small selection of great beer and wine.  I prefer when the owners hand select 30 different beers for me to choose from rather than having 400 choices.  Review here (note they no longer serve food)
Best: Durty Nelly's.  This place has the best college-town bar vibe of any other bar in town.  It's somehow perfectly blends a representative sample of every population group.
Best: High Dive.  Formerly Double Down and Common Grounds.  It's the premier live music venue in town.  Plus, the porch is a great place to grab a laid back beer and bump into friends. 
Honorable Mention: Stubbies. Face it, they brought good beer to town.  Based on their efforts, the local distributors kicked their beer lists into hyper drive.  They also serve German food.  I find it a tad sterile and the bartenders can be a bit snooty about the beer, but it's really a well stocked bar.

   
Finally, I want to review how I rate a place.  I use a 5 thumb system.  I'm going to start using graphics to help explain


5 thumbs up : Excellent! Love it! Eat here multiple times a week!
4 thumbs up : Very Good! Not quite perfect. Eat here one-two times a month.
3 thumbs up : Good. It does the job and nothing to really complain about. Eat here only when you're in the area and can't think of anywhere else.
2 thumbs up : Not bad. I would think about trying somewhere else first if I had the choice. Eat here rarely.
1 thumb up : Meh. It's calories. I would definitely try to eat somewhere else if I had a choice.
0 thumbs up : Not worth my time. They're not even trying.
(skip 1-4 thumbs down, because at this point, who really cares?)
5 thumbs down : Terrible

 
 

Relish

 Relish Burgers Downtown (Next to the Starbucks by the Hippodrome)
1.5 thumbs up

We always need restaurants downtown, especially for a quick bite to eat.  Relish recently opened up in the old Quizno's location and I figured I'd give it a shot.  It's a burger joint by the people who do Pita Pit.  It's pretty much trying to do the exact same thing as Five Guys, but they don't do it as well. 

In all honesty, I'm not a big burger guy so I know I'm not the ideal judge of this place.  However, I do know what a good burger tastes like.  I got the dude below with all sorts of trimmings (ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and cheese).  Despite all the doctoring up, it didn't have much flavor. 

All in all, if you're downtown and really need a quick burger, stop in and give it a try.  It's not bad, but really nothing special.  If you have more time for lunch, however, I'd go get that burger somewhere else, for sure. 

The incredible villages and countryside of Provence

The mountaintop village of Bonnieux

While this post isn't strictly food based, I wanted to provide an account of an amazing day of travel.  If I wasn't such a homebody with a real job and pets and responsibilities, I could fancy myself as a travel writer.  I imagine I'd be cooler than Rick Steves (not too hard), but maybe fall short of Anthony Bourdain in adventurousness.  After all, no one really needs another travel guide on Europe.  It's been done to death.  But this is my blog and I'm going to write about what I damn well please!  So, without further ado, let's get going.

Provence is famously known for its quaint villages and pastoral landscapes.  We certainly intended to explore it as much as possible, but it wasn't until we rented a car in Marseille that the plan really came into fruition.  As I explained in my last entry, I made a last minute decision to rent a car in order to properly enjoy the region.  However, it certainly came at a significant and unplanned cost.  Looking to maximize the return on our investment, we decided that several drives across the French countryside were in order.  After experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors that we did, I can easily say that every last eurocent of the rental paid off.    

Our original car-less plan was to visit the smaller cities of Avignon, Arles, Aix en Provence, and a few others that easily connected to Marseille by train.  Once we had the car, however, we realized that the true Provencial experience lay in the small villages peppered across the countryside.  After trying to piece together a route from our not so great Rick Steve's guidebook, we promptly gave up and asked our B&B host, Mauro, for his advice.
 
From Marseille, we headed towards Aix en Provence.  During this day, we didn't stop in Aix, but did spend some time there the day before.  The reason I bring it up now is to share the beauty of the Patisserie with you.  Aix was a gleamingly beautiful, charming little city featuring countless food spots.  We were barely in town a few minutes before we found the above delights.  English is scarcely spoken in this part of the country, so we had to try our crude French to get these.  While the woman at the Patisserie was friendly enough, she wasn't going to give us much help when it came to the language barrier.  We had to point and dig deep for any descriptive french words we knew: chocolat, blanche, frese, frambois, and so on.  The French pastry shops were similar to the Italians in that they sold bite size portions of most of their offerings for very reasonable prices.  The above box cost us about 5 euro and tasted even better than it looks. 

Lourmarin

After passing Aix, we went to the village of Lourmarin.  We were pretty hungry, so we set out looking for lunch.  Finding a quaint square that housed half a dozen restaurants with ample outdoor seating, we tried to find one to suit our fancy.  Picking a restaurant in a situation like this is tough for several reasons.  First off, we're pretty hungry and not thinking clearly as a result.  Also, aside from menu prices and the overall vibe of the restaurant, there is little else to help you decide which one to choose.  The square was packed with people eating lunch, and every single one of them was French.  All the menus were exclusively in French and you didn't hear a word of English being spoken anywhere.  Having already gotten over my apprehension about being immersed in a different culture and language, I actually quite enjoyed the confusion.

The restaurant we settled on served omelets.  We figured that we hadn't had eggs the entire time we were in Europe, and imagined that French omelets kicked ass.  We were absolutely right.  Above is mine, which had Roquefort cheese and came with a salad (all the salads we had in France had a dijon based dressing).  The cheese was so perfectly rich and flavorful with the eggs.  The omelet appeared to be a bit overcooked, but didn't have that stinky overcooked egg smell or taste.  It was perfectly light and fluffy and was probably one of the best omelets I've ever had.

After strolling through the market again, we returned to the convertible to head towards our next destination, Roussillon.  As we climbed the mountain ahead of us, we realized we were going to pass through an unexpected village, Bonnieux.  As with Lourmarin, Bonnieux was extremely charming, but was much  smaller.  It was situated atop the mountain we were climbing and just as we began our descent, it revealed a series of roadside cafes overlooking the entire valley.

View from the top of Bonnieux

I'm not sure that any photographer could do this view justice.  The outdoor seats of the mountain top cafe were literally hanging off the side of the road, granting their occupants an incredible view of the village as it faded into the patchwork quilted farmland below.  Realizing we couldn't just drive past, we quickly stopped, bought two bottles of Orangina, and enjoyed the view for a while. 

Realizing we might not get tired of the view any time soon, we forced ourselves to move on to Roussillon.  This particular village is known for the ochre in the surrounding soil.  Hundreds of years ago, the locals would mine the ochre and sell it around the world as an orange dye.

The famous ochre of Roussillon

While we certainly enjoyed an hour long mild hike through the ochre forest, we came for more important things: ice cream.  One of the regional delights that was universally outstanding was pink grapefruit sorbet.  It was exceptionally refreshing.  We also tried lavender glace (ice cream), as neither of us had ever eaten anything with lavender flavor before.  Both were excellent.  

 As we drove across the valley, we noticed that food was everywhere.  Whether it was olives growing in one of the villages or cherries on one of the many farms, the bounty of Provence was omnipresent. 

Cherry Farm

Olive tree in Roussillon

Lavender just about to bloom

Quite possibly the most famous natural wonder of Provence's is the lavender.  We certainly saw it blooming, but it was still a few weeks away from the famous purple countrysides that we've seen in post cards.  Nonetheless, as we drove around, the air was fragrant with the sweetness of these tiny purple flowers.  What struck me the most was how mild and delicate the smell was.  Typically lavender products are very strong scented, but the flowers were subtle and sweet.    

Gordes (the mountain in the far distance is where Bonnieux was situated)

Finally, we ascended the mountain at the other end of the valley to arrive at Gordes, a medieval looking castle village.  By this point of the day, we were a bit tired, but still wanted to explore what seemed like a set out of Lord of the Rings.  The village was the quietest of the several we'd visited during the day, but stores were still open.  We hit up yet another patisserie for what I determined to be the best item of the entire trip: a pistachio eclair.  It was unreal.  The flavor was powerful yet light, the filling was rich yet fluffy, and the pastry was savory yet airy and flaky.  It was superb. We also bought a loaf of french bread for 50 eurocents.  What a bargain!  Finally, we hit up a little grocery/specialty store for the items you read about in last post's picnic #2.  All the shops in this town really seemed to be run by young people trying to keep classic French traditions alive. 

Pistachio Eclair.  Perfection

We still had about an hour and a half drive back to Marseille, but we could hardly care less about it.  The sun was setting slowly as we drove our root beer brown convertible across the lavender scented countryside.  A large portion of the trip ended up taking us along a less scenic and hardly romantic highway, but we didn't care.  We left the roof of the convertible down as we sped at 130 kilometers per hour (approximately 500 miles per hour by my estimated conversion).  As we approached Marseille, the airport appeared on our right.  The mountainous highway was elevated significantly above the runway and we were able to watch planes take off, yet remain below us for a few moments until they took their passengers far away from the paradise that we just discovered.  I knew we'd be on one of those planes in two days time, but put the thought out of my mind as I remembered the bags of produce and wine and cheese and bread and pastries that we had in the back of the car.  The road trip may have been ending, but the feast was about to begin.

Le Petit Jardin (our B&B) at night.

Brennan's Bakery - Unpleasant!

Brennan's Bakery
4917 Northwest 34th Street

Zero Thumbs Up

 

This little bakery used to be called the Northwood Bakery.  I'd driven by it several times, but never actually saw it open for business.  Lately, however, I've noticed the place has been open.  After a mid-day swim at the Y, I decided to stop in to see what they had to offer.  I was hoping for a nice loaf of bread or maybe a sandwich and something sweet.   
 
Upon entering, I noticed that there were slim pickins on the shelves and display cases.  It also looked old and sad.  It reminded me of an old timey, slightly dirty, nothing fancy bakery that my Grandfather might have taken me to in New Jersey when I was a little kid. 

I figured I'd try one of their subs.  Instead of traditional sub rolls, they had these large sheets of flat bread that they'd cut up to somewhat resemble a sub roll.  Having seen nothing like this before (I don't mean that in a good way), I immediately grew skeptical.  The guy who made the sub was friendly enough, and offered me the sandwich at a price that was much less than what was written on the chalk board.  I then figured I should try one of their baked goods, so I got a cookie.  There were chocolate chip cookies and what appeared to be double chocolate chip cookies. The guy helping me claimed that he didn't know what either of them were and actually admitted that the baker made the darker ones incorrectly, adding way too much of a particular ingredient (thus the darker hue).  As you could imagine, the cookie tasted like the baker accidentally added too much of one ingredient.

After a few bites of the sub, I could go no further.  The bread was terrible.  It was dry, flavorless, and pasty.  The cookie was bad too.  Everything about this experience was unpleasant.   The bakery seemed ill stocked, the ingredients seemed cheap and sub-par, and it just didn't taste good at all. 

I'm not sure how these guys hope to stay in business, but I'm betting they won't be around for much longer. 

France: The Market

One of the most amazing things I've witnessed in my life is the Provence Traveling Market.  It would roam around the region weekly, always stopping in the same towns on the same days.  We accidentally caught it twice during our journeys, once in Aix en Provence and once in Lourmarin.  Naturally, it blew my mind.  We have been in European cities that hosted markets before, but they were rarely more than booths filled with knock-off name brand t shirts and stupid souvenirs.  This crappy style of market was so frequently encountered, I didn't know they could be anything more.

At the risk of sounding redundant, I've never seen anything quite like the traveling market in the South of France.      

You can literally buy anything you'd ever want or need at these markets.  Fruits, vegetables, oils, vinegars, bread, cheeses, meats, fish, spices, soaps, utensils, knives, artisan crafts, clothes, shoes.  The list went on and on.  Each type of good would be grouped together in the same part of town.  As a result, the food was all together, the clothes were all together, the artisans were all together.  It was incredibly easy to navigate and impressive in its size. 

The very top picture was one of the first booths that drew us in: the spice booth.  They had what seemed like an infinite amount of different spices, teas, seasonings, and blends out in the open.  I've never seen anything quite so beautiful and tantalizing.  I could have photographed this booth all day.  We bought 4 tubes of Mediterranean salt mixed with herbs, one small bag of rose potpourri, and one small bag of lavender potpourri.  It was all incredible.

Next was the cheese stand.  As you can see above, they didn't mess around.  They brought a massive cooler full of hundreds of cheeses, all beckoning you to steal away with a baguette and eat till you felt sick.  We purchased 3 rounds of Chevre (goat cheese) for 6 euro.  Region wide, Chevre portions were always about the size of a hockey puck.  The 3 varieties we bought had honey, herbs de provence, and cracked pepper.  Feeling ambitious, we also bought a wheel of Camembert cheese.  Since a vegan friend once told us that Camembert cheese was the only thing she'd consider cheating for, we had to try it.  The cheese people also sold bread, so we grabbed a big loaf to add to our quickly growing handful of bags. 
 
Next, at one of the produce stands, we selected two large heirloom tomatoes and a bushel of cherries.  It seemed that dinner was already planning itself.  After a stop later in the day at the nearby beach town of Cassis, our dinner became complete with a local bottle of rose wine.

The Mediterranean as seen from the beach at Cassis

These markets gave us two unparalleled dinners, both enjoyed from the comfort of our B&B garden.  The first featured the following menu:
-French Bread
-3 types of Chevre cheese: honey (my favorite), herbs de Provence, and cracked pepper (my wife's favorite)
-Camembert cheese: which smelled like "ass feet" (a term I coined), but tasted incredible
-Rose wine (that's pronounced Rose-ay, not rose flavored) from Cassis.  A sip of wine after the Camembert cheese would create a turbo-charged taste explosion.
-Heirloom tomatoes sliced and served with nothing more than Mediterranean sea salt mixed with herbs
-the cookies in the foreground weren't good, but were very commonly seen around town.  They were chewy and tasted lemony.  
 
The second dinner was very similar and featured:
-The same cheeses left over from night 1
-French fiscelle bread (not baton, like my wife told me to say.  That means stick.) from Gordes
-A new type of heirloom tomato served the same way as the previous night.
-white wine from Gordes
-local cherries
-local strawberries and blackberries.  These guys won the gold medal for unparalleled taste.  I swear to you that you've never tasted a strawberry or blackberry until you've had one of these.  They were at the prime stage of ripeness and were so juicy sweet that you almost believed they were some new magical fruit you've never heard of before.  I'll swear up and down that you've never had anything like these berries before. 

 

The beauty of these markets really existed in the fact that everything was local.  And when I say local, I mean from right over there (pointing to some piece of land visible from where you are).  The fruit was meant to be sold and eaten on that very day.  It wasn't picked early and then "ripened" with chemicals.  That was the exact day for that piece of fruit to exist on my plate. 

More to come!