Restaurants/Bars

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Restaurant Review: BRIO Tuscan Grille

Published June 27, 2012 by mrsrag

Located in the Gardens Mall on PGA Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  Phone (561) 622-0491.

www.brioitalian.com

 

Ross loves a good lunch spot and one of our personal favorites is the quaint and sophisticated BRIO.  The best spot in the house is on the lovely patio underneath the cool breeze of the fans.  Or right at the bar, if you happen to find an open seat. There are two certainties while visiting; the beef carpaccio as an appetizer and our ALL TIME favorite Riesling, Wente.  We adore a Riesling.  However, it was not always this way.  I was devoted to red wine, but after moving down to balmly Florida, I rediscovered the refreshing effects of a chilled white.  The Wente encompasses everything great about Riesling, medium sweetness with a dry finish.  Crisp and fruity with gentle undertones.  It is the perfect match to the robust and flavorful carpaccio.
 
As usual Maria, you have cut right to the chase.  The Wente Riesling (we call it the George Wendt Riesling, in homage to Norm from Cheers) and the beef carpaccio, absolute must haves.  BRIO is indeed quaint and sophisticated, which is quite unique for a chain restaurant with 50 locations in 20 states, the majority of which are located in malls.  In Florida we have the most, 7, with 4 of those between this PGA locale and Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, an hour south.  BRIO offers a wonderful alternative to the usual food court fare found at most malls.  A relaxing and delicious sit down lunch, mid-afternoon snack or even dinner after a day of shopping.  Or, in my case and even better, just stopping in without the shopping at all.  The menu is diverse offering salads, fish, pasta, veal and lamb dishes for the meat lover.  With nothing on the menu more than $28, you don’t have to tax that credit card too much more after the damage you did at the mall.
 
Somehow I knew Ross would pay homage to Norm.  He’s a big Cheers fan.  Ross got me started on the carpaccio, something I usually would never order.  It is served with delicious field greens, capers, mustard aioli and Parmigiano-Reggiano.  It’s light, delicious and a perfect first course.  BRIO always has a great salmon special, but its difficult for me to shy away from the extensive salad menu.  I was getting in the habit of ordering the strawberry balsamic chicken salad, but ventured onto something new during our last visit.  And I was mighty impressed with my new found love: the BRIO sliced steak salad.  They start with the always fresh mixed greens, ripe tomatoes, gorgonzola, mushrooms (which you MUST try sautéed), candied pecans and a creamy horseradish dressing.  It is then topped with tenderloin that is grilled to perfection and a balsamic glaze.  This will be a hard salad to upstage.  The blending of flavors and ingredients is amazing.  And one of my favorite things about it, is that they don’t skimp on the tasty treats.  There is plenty of creamy gorgonzola and sweet pecans to go around.  Something that most other places add sparingly to their salads.  I love BRIO because when I leave there, I don’t feel guilty about what I’ve eaten, but I feel satiated.  Something that is, more often than not, difficult to balance.
 
The salads are excellent and perfect for lunch.  My favorite is the Tuscan Harvest Salad, which has grilled chicken, mushrooms, bacon, almonds, gorgonzola cheese, apples and dried cranberries topped with their Tuscan italian dressing.  And as Maria mentioned, they give you plenty of the good stuff.  Every bite loaded with the things you ordered the salad for in the first place.  The lettuce is just filler and BRIO understands that.  The fish dishes are excellent as well.  The salmon never disappoints and they frequently have a mahi special which I customize by ordering it blackened (I think I could eat a shoe if it was blackened).  On the menu it says: “To eat well is to live well.”  Truer words were never spoken.  Except possibly, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”  
 
Maria’s Rating: 4 Wine Glasses out of 5.
 
Ross’ Rating: 3.5 Wine Glasses.
 
 
 

Restaurant Review: Season’s 52

Published June 19, 2012 by mrsrag

Located at 11611 Ellison Wilson Road, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33458. Phone #: (561) 625-5852

Website: www.seasons52.com

 

I hate to play favorites and I realize you haven’t seen a lot of negativity from either Ross or myself, BUT (spoiler alert) you aren’t about to read a bad review.  In fact, when its a special occassion and I get to pick where we go, Season’s 52 is always in contention.  It’s consistently great food, a decent selection of wine and a one of a kind ambience provided by the intracoastal views outdoors, off set by an indoor piano bar.  It’s also one of the few places I always feel cheated if I don’t order dessert.  The only problem I have when we go to Season’s 52 is choosing what flatbread to try  for our appetizer.  That usually sets the tone for the meal.  If we’re going to be adventurous, we’ll splurge and get the daily special, but if we’re sticking with what we know best from trial and error, its right to the ripe Plum tomato flatbread topped with fresh garlic and basil.

Much like the flatbread at Season’s, Maria has set the tone perfectly for this review.  I’m positive we will review someplace we don’t like at some point, but Season’s 52 will certainly not be that place.  Their tagline is “Seasonally inspired cooking with every item under 475 calories”, and everything they serve has a fresh, just picked, just caught or straight from the butcher flavor.  The flatbreads are an absolute must start to the meal, and you simply can’t go wrong ordering meat, fish or poultry.  Everything they serve is seasonal, so the menu changes constantly, but the grilled T-bone lamb chops and the oak-grilled filet mignon are two of my personal favorites.  Situated right on the intracoastal waterway directly across from the River House (another one of our fave’s that we’ll be reviewing soon),  if the weather permits, I would highly recommend trying to reserve an outdoor table on the water.  A perfect place for a romantic dinner for two under the stars.  Enjoy your wine, the perfect portions of food and of course don’t forget to finish with a couple of their mini-desserts that come in shot glass-type servings.  The rasberry-mango cheesecake and key lime pie are two notables.  You and your date/wife/husband/lover will leave happy, full (but not too full), and thinking about your next visit.

Ross loves a filet, so thats almost always a staple.  At any other place, I would not double us up on meat (we usually share our dishes), but those lamb chops are so tasty and flavorful that my mouth is literally watering just writing about them.  Lamb is one of my favorite meats and when its prepared well, its just that much more intriguing.  The T-bone chops are from New Zealand and as it states in their description, they are grilled.  They are served with asparagus, truflle mashed potatoes and finished off with a red wine glaze.  I’m not usually too keen on drowning out the flavor of my meat with any sauce, but this red wine glaze adds a nice contrast and the meat isn’t swimming in it.  Another item that Ross did not mention are the caramelized sea scallops.  This is usually my alternate choice, if I’m not feeling the beef and lamb combo.  The scallops taste fresh and are cooked to a nice tender texture.  Usually we try and mix up the “mini indulgences” at the end of the meal, but one dessert shot that rarely misses our table is the raspberry mango cheesecake.  It is simply delectable.  Perfection packed into a tiny shot.  If the words mango and cheesecake in the same title don’t whet your palate, I’m not sure what will.

Been there numerous times, never had a bad meal.  A beautiful setting, great service and prices that are extremely reasonable for fine dining.  That all adds up to quite a winning combination.  Season’s 52 is as close as you can get to a sure thing.  I will finish with two observations.  First, I do LOVE a filet, no doubt.  And second, I always WANT Maria to choose where we go, but I ALWAYS end up doing the picking.

Well, in my defense, he did know I was a fickle Gemini when he popped the question.  He should be thankful that he got such a definitive ‘yes’ to that one (Ross- Oh, I’m beyond thankful!).  I want to make it clear before you read our ratings that we will be writing about places we didn’t enjoy.  Put yourself in our shoes, if you were to start writing reviews today which ones would you remember, the places you hated or the places you loved?

Ross’ Rating:  5 Wine Glasses out of 5.

Maria’s Rating: 5 Wine Glasses (I’m not a fan of perfect scores, but this one is well deserved.)

Restaurant Review: Too Bizaare Cafe and Wine Bar

Published June 12, 2012 by mrsrag

Located at 287 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter, FL 33477.  Just east of Alt. A1A on the north side of the road, close to Boston Market.  Phone Number: 561 745-6262.  www.toobizaare.com.

 

Recently, in our review of the Savannah Nail Bar, I mentioned Too Bizaare.  I had dropped Maria off at the former and headed over to the latter to check on their hours of operation, as we wanted to grab a mid-afternoon beverage and a bite.  I had been to Too Bizaare several times over the years, and Maria, being relatively new to the area had never been, and I was fairly certain it would be right up her alley.

He’s pretty good at knowing what’s up my alley and as he puts it, “he rarely ever steers me in the wrong direction”.  Ross said the words wine, art and tapas…so immediately I was sold.  We pulled up to a nondescript building and I had no idea what kind of other worldly place awaited me.

Eclectic is one way to describe Too Bizaare.  Saying it looks like a thrift store bomb exploded inside would be a better description.  There is a New Orleans type theme in one corner, a mermaid manequin up in a high cranny, art hanging all over the walls and mismatched furniture everywhere.  An iron french horn sculpture at the bar, a fish tank, and a massive, gaudy chandelier only steps away.  It sounds a bit crazy, but it all works, really well.  And in another cool twist, most everything you see is for sale!  You notice a painting you like?  Check for a price tag, pay up and take it home.  They have replacements waiting on deck.

It sounds a bit cluttered, but it doesn’t have that feel when you’re inside.  The best description I can give of the decor is organized chaos.  Other unique touches make a beautiful and interesting environment that take you miles away when you’re really only steps from home.  One corner can remind you of Morocco, while another is reminiscent of Paris.  There are many tables to accomodate patrons who prefer the standard dining set, but they also have a great collection of big, comfy couches.  We sat on a gorgeous red love seat, equipped with a table that suited our height.  The menu is just as eclectic as the ambiance, featuring items ranging from sushi to duck pizza.  Ross and I had a hankering for Sake, so we started with a warm flask and a delicious appetizer of little neck clams simmered in a savory garlic herb butter, basil and white wine sauce.  Our next beverage of choice was a sweet and delicate riesling called Relax.  It complimented the several sushi rolls that we had as our main course.  The Philadelphia and the spicy tuna roll were very tasty, but I was blown away by the flavor of the special eel roll.  This roll encompassed BBQ eel, cucumber, avocado, eel sauce and then was finished in tri-colored Tobiko.  It was only rivaled by the Narita Roll, which we tried on our second outting.  The Narita roll was a unique compilation of shrimp tempura, scallion, cream cheese, tuna and avocado.  However, this roll was accompanied by a kimchee sauce.  My all time favorite Korean side dish is kimchee and since I grew up in a household where Korean food was prevalant, you can trust that I am an excellent judge of kimchee sauce.  It was spicy, flavorful and added so much character to the roll.  My only regret is that I have not tried enough of the tapas yet, but I plan on remedying that sooner than later.

As Maria mentioned, the sushi was as good as you get anywhere.  The tapas are great as well, (the Portobella Napoleon is one of my faves, have to bring my honey back for that one).  The menu is extensive, varied and quite reasonable.  The most expensive single dish you’ll find is $33, with most things much less.  Everyone should be able to find something they like.  Too Bizaare is an extremely unique establishment, in a time where finding anything different is very difficult.  Like I said, I have been there quite a few times, but when I talk to people about it, I hear the same thing often, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that place, but I’ve never been.”  Well if you’re one of those people, make it a point to go.  I would recommend it highly for a first date.  If you want to make an impression with that Match.com-er you’re taking out, you couldn’t find a more interesting spot.  If you have a  significant other, what could be better than cuddling up on a couch while enjoying some wonderful food and ambiance?  Too Bizaare?  Not to me.

Not too bizarre for me either love.  I found this restaurant to be a welcome, refreshing change of pace and can’t wait until we revisit it.

Maria’s Rating: 4 Wine Glasses out of 5.

Ross’ Rating: 4.5 Wine Glasses.