Irish Coffee Pub, East Islip

WE'RE BACK !!!!!!!

We would like to start off first by saying that the wifeypoo and I are so very blessed to have weathered Sandy with very little damage to our home and all of our immediate and extended family members are all fine as well. After spending some time the days following the storm donating food and clothing to our local church we decided to have some quality time with one another and took advantage of Restaurant Week at the Irish Coffee Pub. We have been there for two of our friends gatherings and enjoyed their food, especially their homemade beef barley soup. It is after eating it here that we have been tweaking our own beef barley soup to come as close to theirs as possible. Besides the food we happen to have met an extremely personable and funny waitress named Aine. She happened to be the same waitress from a prior event and we were delighted to be in her section. Obviously the meal started with two bowls of the extraordinary beef barley soup. I cannot resist ordering the Escargot every time I see it on a menu. The chef is kind enough to make this special for me by substituting the butter with Olive oil. I cannot put into words how delightful escargot is and how nauseating it is for my wife to be subjected to sitting across from me while I enjoy it to the very last scrumptious snail on my plate. We opted for the pre-fixed restaurant week entrees consisting of Chicken Marsala for the wife and the bone-in center cut Pork Chop for myself. The Chicken Marsala was served with an apple sausage and cranberry stuffing. The Pork Chop was served with mushrooms red onions and a topped with a cider demi glaze with a baked potato. Both dishes included a unique variety of steamed vegetables as well. My wife and I both thought both dishes were cooked, seasoned and presented very tastefully. Now onto my wife's favorite part of the meal, the desserts. She has an unsatisfiable sweet tooth. She ordered the Ice Cream Chipwich and I had the Chocolate Mousse with fresh berries. My dessert for something that sounds so simple was pretty decadent and regardless to say the wife enjoyed her sugar fix. I must say being a coffee aficionado myself that their brewed coffee is exceptional.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that have been devastated by this Storm. We should all pitch in whatever we can whether it be financially or physically to help the recovery process.

They get 5 out of 5 forks on this visit.

http://www.irishcoffeepub.com/irishCoffee

 

 

Crickets, Sayville

It was two Saturdays ago, that the wifeypoo and I had spent the day running several errands from food store to food store but by the time we finished going to the last store I could hear the grumbling sounds coming from my belly and so did the wife. I started to change in to my other persona - it was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The urge for massive amounts of food intake had changed me into Mr. Hyde. The wife had mentioned that a new Spanish restaurant had recently opened in Sayville, however after driving all around the town for quite a bit and realizing that we were not successful in finding it I turned to her with that look that she is well aware of, and figured out that she better find another place for us to eat at and pronto! So we decided to dine at Crickets. Friends of our have eaten there and have always said good things about the restaurant. The menu looked pretty good and the restaurant was extremely busy so in our minds we thought this may have been a good choice after all. They have a gigantic popcorn machine towards the back of the restaurant that patrons can go to and scoop up their own popcorn bowls as often as they like. Let me tell you that machine was busy; it even had waiting lines at times. I have never seen so many people going back and forth to grab up so much popcorn. We started with two appetizers consisting of fried calamari which you would think by now we would be sick of and a blooming onion. The calamari was just OK. The blooming onion tasted good but as we were getting about halfway through it or so we came across what seemed to be a puddle of oil at the bottom of the dish which made eating anymore of this impossible. I opted for the hamburger and the wife was dying for a grilled cheese sandwich. Both were served with fries and coleslaw. My burger consisted of a very thin beef patty on a large sesame seed bun. I chose this not only on my friends' recommendation but also from the description in the menu. Though the taste was good the hamburger did not live up to my expectations. As far as my wifes grilled cheese sandwich she enjoyed it, they did not skimp out on the amount of cheese which is one of my wifes favorite food. She and I both thought that they did an excellent job on their homemade creamy coleslaw. Even though I am not as big of a fan of coleslaw as my wife is, it was one of the best that we have had in a long time. Though they did not come with our meals because we had sandwiches not entrees, we had to ask for the pop-overs. They serve these instead of the usual bread at most restaurants. Well sorry to say they looked much better than they actually were. The pop-overs were under cooked on the inside and flavorless, nice thought though. Well once again after hearing the dessert menu could not pass up on the Pumpkin Layer Cake. Well thank god this meal ended with a really good dessert. We are definitely going to give it another try, based on every restaurant is entitled to have an off night.

On this visit they get 2 out of 5 forks.

http://www.cricketssayville.com/Crickets

Dani's House of Pizza, Kew Gardens

We have had some really wonderful dining experiences at Dani's with my family. My hubby and I went in to Kew Gardens for a quick visit to see my wonderful brother and sister-in-law to spend little quality time and it would not have been a complete visit if we did not include dinner at Dani's. We started going there a little over two years ago, and from the very first visit in which my husband tried their mussels he was hooked. So every now and then he gets a craving that must be satisfied. Dani's has been located on Lefferts Blvd in Kew Gardens since 1959. Its a tiny pizzeria with only four chairs at the counter and separate dining area that only holds about eight small tables. We have been told that there are people waiting in line for a slice of their pizza on any given night until the wee morning hours. My brother and sister-in-law have probably been going there for over 10 years now and is one of their favorite eating spots, hubby and I both agree with them. The owners are very friendly and there is a one particular waitress there; Jessica that has been waiting on them for many years now and you can see how much they truly enjoy being in each other's company they have so many laughs with one another you don't see that often between the customers and the wait staff. Well now onto the food, we opted for all of us to share the sauteed spinach which they happen to do a very nice job with. Sometimes I tend to think it might be too overpowering with garlic, but everyone else seems to enjoy that robust flavor. My brother and sister-in-law love sharing their meals it's quite cute after all these years being married they enjoy eating their food that way. They went their own custom made for them gigantic house salad that included cut up breaded chicken cutlet served with a few types of olives and feta cheese. Well as you can guess, hubby went right for the mussels over linguine and I had the homemade tortellini with pasta sauce. All of the dishes were very tasty as usual. We were all too full for dessert so we just had coffee and I have to say that have an excellent cup of coffee there, it was so good we had to ask the server which brand of coffee it was. It was none other than Juan Valdez Colombian coffee. Once again, a wonderful experience spent with our wonderful family.

They earned 5 out of 5 forks...as they do on every visit!

 

http://danishouseofpizza.com

Port Royal, Islip

My hubby and I have visited the Port Royal restaurant several times in the past, but that was way before we became the ever so famous Long Island Dining Couple (LOL). At all of these prior visits we thought the food was pretty good. This restaurant was also on an episode of Adam Richman's Man Vs Food where they were known for their "Davey Jones Locker Seafood Challenge". As of last year the owners have changed and so has the interior of the restaurant along with the storefront and menu. The interior has a much warmer feel to it then before, we like the colors and the decor they chose. Now onto the food experience. Hubby and I like to share a lot of the appetizers and entrees so that we both get a variety of different dishes offered at each restaurant we visit. But tonight we ordered our own entrees and just split the appetizer. I know you are all saying to yourselves they went with the calamari again... sorry to break the trend. We always enjoyed their chili in the past so that was our pick this time. But this was a totally different take on it. I enjoyed this one over the old one, where my husband enjoyed it as well but he prefers his chili to have a spicy kick to it like the old chili did. Their homemade Texas BBQ Chili in a bread bowl consists of all meat and no beans. The meats are brisket, beef, smoked sausage and pork (wow what a combination). The flavor was extremely enjoyable even without the spicy heat and the bread bowl was excellent. We devoured that dish in no time. Hubby had the Royal Burger and I had the Fish N Chips for the main courses. Once again here his burger was cooked perfectly and very juicy. They added a Montreal Steak Rub of sorts in their meat mixture which gave it an entirely different flavor (not a good addition). I had also taken a bite and for me I was not happy with that flavor either. For the first time I actually had agreed and understood my husband's theory that a "good piece of beef does not require any seasonings, it just tastes better all on its own". My fish fry was done in a flaky beer batter which I liked; the fish was very moist and flaky. Sadly to say it was just too greasy for me and my husband thought so as well, it may have been cooked at the wrong temperature allowing the oil to soak in. Now for the dessert; we were going to just have coffee and call it a night but after looking at the desserts and then listening to our waiter say each one is phenomenal we went with a Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake. The first layer was a chocolate graham cracker crust then the second was a chocolate mousse and the final layer was white chocolate, this is not made in house and we could not convince the waiter to tell us where they get it. All I have to say is OMG!!! We polished that off faster than the chili. We can't wait to go back again just to try a different dessert.

They get 4 out of 5 forks this time.

http://www.portroyalpubandgrille.com

Max Brenner, New York City

So once again we find ourselves dining at a restaurant that we had never heard of, but then again wifey poo and I don't get into the city as much as we would like to. My wife's dear friend treated us to lunch over the weekend to say "Thank you for helping to make her 40th surprise birthday party so perfect". Oh by the way did we ever mention that not only do we love critiquing food but we also are pretty good with decorating and floral arrangements too. But we will leave that discussion for another time. So off the four of us drove into the city. As soon as we walked into the restaurant we were like a bunch of kids in a chocolate candy shop. The entire restaurant has the aroma of chocolate, it is amazing. Our eyes were wandering all around as the smiles on our faces got bigger and bigger. I was thinking to myself that if Willy Wonka owned a restaurant this is how it would look and smell. The restaurant is known for its desserts, hot chocolate and coffee drinks. We decided to go lightly on lunch because we had seen the some of the desserts other patrons were having and wanted to save some room for the best part of the meal. My wife and I shared the Black and Tan Beer Battered Vidalia Onion Rings with dark chocolate ranch dressing and our friends shared Molly's White Corn Croquettes. The entrees consisted of  American Kobe Beef Hamburgers served with Waffle Fries that are dusted with Chili and Cocoa Powders,  Smoked Turkey Club and Rosemary Infused Waffle filled prosciutto, cheese, tomato and baby greens. Our waiter was so very friendly and helpful with the menu. His suggestions and elaborate explanations on the various dishes served were enlightening. Both appetizers tasted as good as they looked; that is to say they were spectacular. My wife really enjoyed her club sandwich and my friend and his wife had nothing but good things to say about their dishes as well. My Kobe burger was cooked exactly how I ordered my it; Medium Rare. The one thing that I am very finicky about when eating out is that I expect a burger or any other meat not to be served overdone. The seasoning of Chili and Cocoa powders on the Waffle fries could of been a bit more pronounced, never the less they were very good. Now onto the best part the desserts. We shared the Churros Fondue, Illegal Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes served with a warm white and milk chocolate in a tiny laboratory flask and the Banana Split Waffle. We could not stop indulging in their chocolate so we opted for a Double Espresso, coffee and  Mexican Spicy Hot chocolate. The espresso and coffee come in what is called a Kangaroo Cup. This cup has a rim designed to hold two pieces of chocolate to either eat as is or to drop into the coffee. Well what can we say the desserts were "Mind Blowing". It was the ultimate way to have ended our meals. In conclusion don't go to Max Brenner if you are counting calories but do go if you want to indulge in everything chocolate, this place is awesome!

They earned 5 out of 5 forks.

http://shop.maxbrenner.com/storelocation/index/edit/id/3/