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.)

Movie Review: Madagascar 3- Europe’s Most Wanted

Published June 12, 2012 by mrsrag

(Starring the voices of: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen)

PG.  Animated.  Running Time: 1 hour & 33minutes.

We actually took my little boy Ethan (he’s 8) to this movie on the day it came out, June 8th, but we went away for the weekend to celebrate Maria’s birthday (she’s 28).  Apologies for the delay, but we had a grand time.  Needless to say, Ethan and I see all the kids movies worth going to.  Percentage-wise, they are consistently better than the mainstream Hollywood movies.  The latest in the Madagascar franchise is no exception.

It was a wonderful birthday weekend and going to see Madagascar 3 kicked it off.  I love a kids movie, but as you can imagine I wasn’t seeing them as frequently as I do now with Ethan and Ross.  The Madagascar trilogy is one of my favorites and it embodies what I believe is the best recipe for a kids movie: adult humor mixed with childish antics, dancing accompanied by pop music and a heart warming story centered around morals and friendship.  The film is spackled with sub-plots involving lovable characters such as the penguins, King Julian and my personal favorite, Mort.

Our heroes are all back and end up in Europe this time, on their never ending quest to get back to their beloved NY.  Those scene stealing penguins and their monkey lackeys return as well, and don’t disappoint.  Frances McDormand does a wonderfully sinister voice for the relentless, French Captain Dubois the leader of Animal Control, who has a single minded, dogged pursuit for Alex The Lion’s head.  The movies haven’t seen this kind of never-say-die persistence since Jackie Gleason’s, Sheriff Buford T. Justice chased Burt Reynold’s, “The Bandit” in the 1977 classic, “Smokey and the Bandit”.   Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria have to join the circus to try and escape, and the characters they meet are superb.  Of course our favorite lemur, King Julian (Baron Cohen) is back, and his budding romance with Sonya, the huge, tricycle riding circus bear is hilarious.  Bryan Cranston (from A&E’s Breaking Bad) as Vitaly the Russian Tiger is also worth noting.

A clever twist on the recurring plot and the introduction of some new characters made this film wickedly entertaining.  McDormand’s hilariously over-the-top accent and animation makes for a villain you absolutely love to hate.  And Cranston’s Vitaly portrays the hard-edged, ‘chip on his shoulder’ antagonist who thrives off the newly found friendship with our beloved zoo crew.  It’s just one of those kids movies that you not only don’t mind taking your kids to see, but look forward to viewing yourself as well!  I do have one important question…must every single movie be in 3D!?

Couldn’t agree more baby, the 3D is too much.  Seems an excuse to charge $3 more per person, and I don’t notice an appreciable improvement of viewing quality.  That aside, Madagascar 3 is an excellent way to spend an hour and a half, with or without the kids.

Ross’ Rating-  4 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Maria’s Rating-  3.5 Gummies.

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.

Salon Review: Savannah Nail Bar

Published June 5, 2012 by mrsrag

Address: 104 W. Indiantown Road, Jupiter, FL 33458

Salon #: (561) 529-2659

Website: www.SavannahNailBar.com

 

Every woman loves getting pampered, especially when it comes to her nails.  A frequent problem I have is chipping my manicure before I even leave the salon parking lot.  You’re fumbling for keys, trying to get your seat belt on and before you know it that perfectly polished thumb nail is a sloppy mess.  Well, a good friend of mine suggested that I try “gel nails”…I realize this is not new to everyone, but I had never heard of it.  I was visiting family in New York at the time, so I decided to stop in and try the new craze.  At first I was thoroughly impressed.  She finished polishing them, I stuck them under a UV drying device for less than 5 minutes and I was out the door.  Nails of steel.  Nothing was chipping this baby.  It didn’t dawn on me at the time to inquire as to how you remove this super polish.  5 weeks later and my hot pink nails were still going strong – but sadly growing out as well.  I tried regular polish remover, no go.  So, I’m back at home in beloved South Florida and I hop into my local nail salon.  I literally could not stand one more day of looking at my half a mani.  As I suspected, they couldn’t take me right away and I didn’t have the time to wait.  On our usual cruise to Jupiter beach I gazed out the window, trying to eye a plaza for any old place that could just clean my nails up.  That’s when I spotted Savannah Nail Bar in a distinct green building, just West of A1A & Indiantown Road.  I decided I could deal with 1 more day and then I’d have to try this new place.

The next day, we pull in and I drop Maria off.  She goes inside, gets the, “ok they can take me now”, and I take off to check on a couple of things.  First, down the road to find out a movie time at the Cobb on US1.  It was a no go.  No offense baby but I wasn’t too disappointed.  The word “Yemen” in the title didn’t scream movie magic to me.  Anyway, on the move again to the west and a stop at Too Bizaare Cafe (our next review btw) to make sure they were open for a libation, as it was mid-afternoon.  Success on that front!  Back across Indiantown Road to the nail shop.  I was a bit hesitant to go in, I’ve never been in a nail salon for more than 60 seconds.  I bite my nails.  I know what you’re thinking, but I am the Michelangelo of nail biting, seriously.  So, I walk into the place and immediately I am feeling totally comfortable.  Maria has two girls working on her,  feet and hands at the same time.  The proprieter of the establishment greets me with a warm, welcome smile and offers me a seat next to my honey.  Then she blows my mind by asking if I would like a beer or a glass of wine while I wait.  Hell yes!  I had a glass of  Moscato and Maria joined me.   Now this is a nail salon.

I had heard a few of my friends talk about salons where they served cocktails, (Note: You have to be a patron of the salon amenities in order to enjoy its alcoholic beverages) but I had yet to experience one.  We just happened to stumble upon SNB serendipitously.  It was pure pleasure getting my hands spiffed up and my toes painted while I enjoyed a refreshing glass of wine.  Not to mention the affable staff, who indulged Ross and I with some stimulating conversation about local business.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a glass of wine as much as the next guy, probably more.  {Maria- “No probably about it…just sayin’.}  And as you can tell, I’m not truly qualified to review SNB, as I’ve never partaken in nail services.  I can review what I know though.  The place is aesthetically very appealing.  Wonderful space, beautiful wood floors, great lighting and awesome music (Pandora-Jack Johnson station).  The people are kind and friendly, and make you feel at home.  It certainly isn’t just the fact that you can have a drink while you’re waited on that makes SNB a place you want to revisit.  I’ve always felt that a dude getting his nails done was way too metrosexual, but the girls there assure me it isn’t.  I won’t make any promises, but I’m at least not ruling it out anymore.  One thing is for sure, I’m going with you sweetheart, everytime you go back.

I’ve been to a few nail salons that I hated.  Mostly the ones located in malls where the quality of work seems to wane and the smell of nail filler may very well kill you.  If the people working on your nails are wearing protective masks – then why aren’t we?  That was always unsettling to me.  Most times its a simple case of “you get what you pay for”.  At SNB I received excellent service at a very reasonable price.  Firstly, the proprietor got me started by soaking my nails in acetone, which is apparently what you have to undergo in order to remove the ‘super polish’.  You have to appreciate when someone takes initiative like that to speed up your visit.  As soon as she had me wrapped up, they moved me to the pedicure station.  It was not the usual set up I’ve seen over the years.  Personally, I preferred the unconventional portable foot bath and comfortable reclining chair.  Especially when the owner informed me that the disposable plastic liner for the foot bath is the most sanitary way to perform a pedicure.  I am a borderline germaphobe, so you can imagine that was music to my ears.  Since the other nail tech didn’t have a customer at the time, she worked on my nails.  Another plus in the efficiency and time management department.  I didn’t miss the token massage chair.  Frankly, I would have found it annoying as I tried to enjoy my beverage.  Sipping and vibration don’t mix very well.  Overall, I felt comfortable and relaxed at SNB.  I think they more than embody their tagline, “Nail services with Southern Charm”.  If you’re looking to party hard -go to a real bar.  This “Bar” is for the lady just looking for the standard mani, pedi or both.  And to top it all off, my baby got to sit right next to me and indulge as well.

Ross’ Rating:  Service and Value- N/A.  Everything Else- 5 Nail Files out of 5.

Maria’s Rating: Overall – 4.5 Nail Files.

 

 

Movie Review: “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Published June 3, 2012 by mrsrag

{Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron}

PG-13. Action/Adventure. Running time: 2 hours & 7 minutes.

 

Ross and I had an interesting evening at the movies this past Friday.  If you haven’t noticed EVERY single movie that comes out in theatres these days is either some sort of remake or the 7th sequel of some series. (Thats called alliteration people.)

Nice honey.  Yes it was interesting.  Let’s be honest, we didn’t know what the hell we wanted to do.  Snow White appealed to both of us, but the times weren’t working.  We went to the Jupiter Inlet, watched the water and the boats, and got eaten by mosquitos.  Had some frozen yogurt,  (a review for another day), and killed just enough time to make the 10:15 PM showing.

10:15 PM…there’s the start of our adventure.  I am by no means old, but boy did I feel that way at a 10:15 PM movie.  I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie that started later than 8 o’clock.  Ross and I were feeling a bit fickle as we mulled over getting a large popcorn.  We always get popcorn, its basically sacreligious not to.

Actually, we were a bit delerious because we were thinking of experimenting with a large popcorn and no drink.

Experimenting is an interesting choice of words.  What Ross means is, I turned around and asked, “Baby, what do you want to drink?”  To which he replied, “Nothing.”  Then I laughed and said, “What the hell are you going to do, beg the guy next to you for a sip of his diet coke…we’ll be choking in there.”  Needless to say there was more excitement at the usher’s stand.

Indeed there was my darling.  I handed him our tickets and he said, “2nd theater on your left”.  Well I happened to spot a poster of the soon to be released Bourne movie, without Matt Damon, to my right and had to go check it out.  The dude lost his mind; “NO!  I said to the left!!”  Easy kimosabe, I’m just checking out a friggin’ poster.  Anyway, to top it off, the theater is packed, so cold you could hang meat in it and the seat next to us was “Out of Order”.  I shit you not, the fucking seat was Out of Order!

You are probably asking yourself the same question I did, “How the hell can a seat be out of order?”  I mean, it appeared to have the usual makings of a theatre seat – cushion, back and arms.  Anyways, lets put the time, popcorn, usher and seat incidents aside and start talking about the movie.  It may tip you off a bit, since we’ve been blabbing -that the movie was by far the least interesting occurrence of the night.

Yes, the movie.  It wasn’t horrible.  It also wasn’t very good.  Too long.  Too dark.  Kristen Stewart reminds me of a female Hugh Grant.  No range and plays the same character in every movie.  She Bella’d her way through this one, with one tiny scene of something resembling passionate acting.  Charlize Theron was way over the top as the evil Queen, trying to steal every scene.  Chris “Thor” Hemsworth wasn’t bad as the damaged Huntsman.  But the best part of the movie, BY FAR, were the “dwarves”, played by full size actors including Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, a very old looking Bob Hoskins and Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes movies).  They came in very late and were grossly underused.  I have a way of judging how much I like a movie.  When it comes out on DVD will I rush to get it?  Can’t wait to see it again?  If the answer is “yes”, well that is very good.  Snow White?  Maybe when it’s finally on HBO, if there’s nothing else on at 1AM.

Well, here I go, defending Kristen Stewart again.  I can’t help that I love tween themed entertainment.  I’m bordering a Twihard and I’m proud of that.  However, I do admit that I feel as though everytime I turn around there’s some Twilight star trying to break free of their defining role.  I thought Stewart was the wrong choice for this one.  She is a beautiful girl, but she just didn’t capture the essence of this childhood heroine.  I agree that Charlize was trying to steal every scene as the evil queen Raveena, but more often than not she was successful.  I found myself captivated by her portrayal of the wretched queen.  Some of the scenes were a bit over-the-top.  For instance, the one featuring her bathing in some sort of white, milky plaster…or whatever the hell it was supposed to be.  Overall, I felt that the film was lacking something.  I did enjoy the dwarves, but as Ross said we could have used a lot more of them.  The movie kept the integrity of the fairytale, but tried to make up for its lack of heart with too much action.

I have a feeling honey that we’ll be pretty close on our final ratings of this movie.  I definitely had more fun getting there than I did watching.  But then again, I would have a fantastic time watching grass grow with you my love.  Let’s wrap this puppy up.  We’ve already spent more time on it than it deserved.

I could not agree more.  He’s so fucking sweet, isn’t he?

Maria’s rating: 2.5 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Ross’ rating: I concur my darling.  2.5 Gummies, for the dwarves!