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