Category: Food and Drink

Tasty things along the way

Domestic Delta Meals

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of flying first class on flights offering meals. Raleigh offers direct flights to Salt Lake City and Minneapolis, and based on time of day first class passengers are offered meals.

RDU-SLC: Breakfast

The flight from Raleigh to Salt Lake City departs at 7:25 AM, usually, and my flight offered a choice between cold cereal and an omelette with chicken sausage. Though the fruit was a little over-sweet, the omelette was surprisingly good.

Omelette and chicken sausage
Omelette and chicken sausage

RDU-MSP

There are flights from Raleigh to Minneapolis, and vice versa, many times a day. Though not as long as the flight to Salt Lake City, meals are still offered if you fly near breakfast, lunch, or dinner time! I opted for the bacon-egg sandwich served on a flaky pastry. As with the SLC flight, the fruit was way too sweet.

Bacon & egg sandwich on flaky pastry
Bacon & egg sandwich on flaky pastry

MSP-RDU

The 7:30 flight from MSP to RDU offers a satisfying dinner service; much tastier than the breakfast! The dinner options were a honey-glazed salmon on rice with vegetables, or a smoked turkey salad. I opted for the salad out of curiosity, and found it was a cross between potato salad, cubed smoked turkey, and edamame. The potato salad also had green beans and radishes. The salad was served with crostini and a cookie Overall a very nice meal for a domestic flight!

Smoked turkey salad
Smoked turkey salad
Crostini
Crostini
C is for Cookie!
C is for Cookie!

Raleigh Restaurant: Capital Grille

Invitation courtesy of American Express
Invitation courtesy of American Express

2016-07-08-Entrance

The Capital Grille national chain has come to Raleigh, and American Express sent me an invitation to sample their menu during a special event. Naturally, I was more than happy to take advantage of the opportunity!

Menu

For this event, only a small portion of their full menu was available to the guests, but it certainly did not disappoint!

Preview Event Menu
Preview Event Menu

I went with the Dry Aged steak while my girlfriend opted for the sliced Fillet. To go with our meals, I had a glass of Malbec, and she had a Blackberry Bourbon Sidecar.

2016-07-08-Drinks2

2016-07-08-Drinks1

Dinner

The presentation was excellent and the wait staff did everything they could to make sure our needs were met. They even served our appetizers to us while holding the plates!

Blackberry Bourbon Sidecar
Blackberry Bourbon Sidecar
Pan Fried Calamari
Pan Fried Calamari
Fillet with Onions and Mushrooms
Fillet with Onions and Mushrooms
Dry Aged Delicousness
Dry Aged Delicousness
French Beans with Tomatoes
French Beans with Tomatoes

For dessert, they surprised us with a chocolate lava cake served with cherries in a Chambord sauce. So many wonderful flavors!

Chocolate Lava Cake
Chocolate Lava Cake

They left a thank-you note as well as a survey to help improve their performance once they are fully open. I was more than happy to be a guinea pig!

Thank you card
Thank you card

Cancún Gem: El Fish Fritanga

While visiting Cancún for a timeshare presentation (I won’t say no to 5 days at a resort for dirt cheap!), the concierge at the Westin Lagunamar suggested what we visit El Fish Fritanga if we wanted some fresh seafood. Given our location, I thought this would be an excellent idea, and after a day of exploring Tulum, we made our way down from our room.

Location

El Fish Fritanga is facing the Nichupté lagoon with the entrance on the main-road that runs through the resort district. Though you have to walk between two buildings to get to the actual restaurant, you get to eat on the sand! Plus, it is located in walking distance of most of the hotels and resorts on the peninsula — a short 10 minute walk from the Westin Lagunamar.

Review

The food was spectacular — this was one of the few restaurants that had large chunks of octopus in their ceviche, whole fish for the same price as Chinese delivery in the States, and though I generally stay far away from sugary drinks… the best piña coladas I have ever had. If you enjoy seafood and well made drinks, do not pass up this opportunity!

Raleigh Gem: Tasca Brava

On December 30th, my brother and his girlfriend drove up from South Carolina to spend New Years with my girlfriend and myself. After some poking about online, we agreed on Spanish tapas for dinner at Tasca Brava.

Tasca Brava is a delightful hole-in-the-wall owned and operated by a very passionate married couple: Juan and Marta. I say very passionate because of how enthusiastic they are about their creations — it’s infectious! Give them a chance to wow you and you will not be disappointed!

You can find it at 607 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603, and there is parking immediately behind the restaurant so there’s no need to fight for parking on the streets.

For dinner, my brother and his girlfriend shared a massive paella (made in the traditional manner, no less), while my girlfriend opted for octopus. I had the lamb, pictured below.

20151230TascaBravaLamb

Juan makes wine choices easy by pairing Spanish wines with the larger dishes so even someone as inexperienced as myself can really enjoy themselves!

I can’t say enough good things about this restaurant and the experience we had; all you need to do is let Juan and Marta work their magic and you will not regret it!