Every week, I would get a call from my Grand pop asking me if I went to the Hillel yet. The Hillel is the Jewish organization on campus that meets every Friday night for Shabbat. My Grand pop really wants me to continue practicing Judaism; this means only dating Jewish girls and going to Hillel every Friday. I haven't been doing either.
Since my Grand pop has a huge beer belly, I have been bugging him to hit the gym for the past year. Unfortunately, he has been as stubborn as I am about going to the Hillel. To solve both problems, I made a deal with him. I'd go to the Hillel if he went to the gym, which he agreed to in a heartbeat.
That Friday, I went to the Hillel for a Shabbat dinner. Overall, it was better than I expected. I enjoyed the Friday night prayers, and liked the people I sat with. However, I was a bit disappointed with the food. For dinner, I was expecting some traditional Jewish food, like matzoh ball soup, and a roast chicken. However, we had a Mexican themed dinner: tortillas and chicken. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was craving. Either way, it was a great experience, and hope to go again!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Panera Bread: Always Reliable
Since Dhall is getting boring, it's always a treat to venture somewhere else. Wilton, which is only ten minutes away, is a great place to go. There are a lot of familiar places that everyone loves, like Five Guys, Chipotle, Moes, and Taco Bell. Yesterday, I chose to go to Panera.
Panera is a fantastic bread and sandwich eatery. Their sandwiches are always delicious because they use their freshly baked bread and quality meat. While there are many great choices to choose from, I usually go for the Chicken Caesar Sandwich. This hasn't gotten old yet, and has been just as delicious every time. Panera also gives you a side of either bread or chips. Even though their bread is superior, it's better to get the chips. Eating a sandwich with a side of bread is pretty repetitive.
The secret to their delicious sandwiches is their bread. Panera has an ornate bakery in the front of the store. Right when you walk in, Panera ambushes you with the smell of bread baking, which pulls you in the eatery even faster. Before I ate sandwiches from Panera, I had their fantastic cinnamon crunch bagels. These are basically what they sound like: cinnamon, crunchy bagels (cream cheese not needed).
If you ever need somewhere to go, Panera won't let you down. Great variety, and always reliable.
Panera is a fantastic bread and sandwich eatery. Their sandwiches are always delicious because they use their freshly baked bread and quality meat. While there are many great choices to choose from, I usually go for the Chicken Caesar Sandwich. This hasn't gotten old yet, and has been just as delicious every time. Panera also gives you a side of either bread or chips. Even though their bread is superior, it's better to get the chips. Eating a sandwich with a side of bread is pretty repetitive.
The secret to their delicious sandwiches is their bread. Panera has an ornate bakery in the front of the store. Right when you walk in, Panera ambushes you with the smell of bread baking, which pulls you in the eatery even faster. Before I ate sandwiches from Panera, I had their fantastic cinnamon crunch bagels. These are basically what they sound like: cinnamon, crunchy bagels (cream cheese not needed).
If you ever need somewhere to go, Panera won't let you down. Great variety, and always reliable.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Subway, Eat Fresh?
It's tough to find food when we're away on tennis trips. Coach has to approve of the place, which knocks out every place that offers good food. We have to find somewhere that is quick, healthy, and vegetarian friendly. This means that more often than not, we will resort to Subway.
The first few times, I was pretty optimistic about Subway. You can basically get whatever you want there; they have almost every type of meat and bread to choose from. One of my favorites was the Spicy Italian, an Italian sub with some extra spice to it. They also have the "Five Dollar Footlong" catch phrase that gets customers rolling.
After we came back for the fourth time, I couldn't eat my sandwich. Along with everyone else on the team, I was sick of the cold cuts. There was something about their cold cuts that didn't taste fresh anymore. I ate probably half of my sandwich and couldn't eat the rest.
We then came back to Subway for a fifth time, and I had the worst sandwich of my life. Since I refused to eat anymore cold cuts, I tried their new "Orchard Chicken Salad" sandwich. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, let's just say that you should never eat this sandwich, even if you're stranded on an island and that's the only thing to eat. I hope you've had a different experience with Subway, because it's so convenient and inexpensive. Unfortunately, I hope I never go there again.
The first few times, I was pretty optimistic about Subway. You can basically get whatever you want there; they have almost every type of meat and bread to choose from. One of my favorites was the Spicy Italian, an Italian sub with some extra spice to it. They also have the "Five Dollar Footlong" catch phrase that gets customers rolling.
After we came back for the fourth time, I couldn't eat my sandwich. Along with everyone else on the team, I was sick of the cold cuts. There was something about their cold cuts that didn't taste fresh anymore. I ate probably half of my sandwich and couldn't eat the rest.
We then came back to Subway for a fifth time, and I had the worst sandwich of my life. Since I refused to eat anymore cold cuts, I tried their new "Orchard Chicken Salad" sandwich. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, let's just say that you should never eat this sandwich, even if you're stranded on an island and that's the only thing to eat. I hope you've had a different experience with Subway, because it's so convenient and inexpensive. Unfortunately, I hope I never go there again.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Most Important Meal of the Day
It's been too long since I've had a great breakfast. Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, this is a problem. I make a mean omelette and breakfast sandwich, but they're getting old. It's definitely not the same as going out.
I look back a couple months ago to a fantastic breakfast I had with a few buddies at Compton's on Broadway. If you're looking for a gourmet breakfast, this isn't the place. Compton's is an unattractive diner type of restaurant, that offers the basic breakfast foods. Unless you live under a rock, you know that these are the hidden gems for breakfast. It's cheap, fast, and pretty damn tasty. I should really go here more often; next weekend, I'm suggesting this to my friends after a night of hanging out.
While Compton's is a solid choice, it doesn't really compare to Max London's. I went to Max London's last semester with my family, over parents weekend. If you're looking for a gourmet breakfast, this is the place. Great coffee and fresh squeezed OJ is placed on the table, and they have choices from breakfast pizzas to topnotch waffles, salmon, and caviar. This place is definitely awesome to go to once in awhile; it's too crowded, expensive, and time consuming to go everyday to.
If Dhall didn't have such a terrible breakfast, I wouldn't need to go out. Hopefully, I'll take a trip out in the near future and satisfy this craving.
I look back a couple months ago to a fantastic breakfast I had with a few buddies at Compton's on Broadway. If you're looking for a gourmet breakfast, this isn't the place. Compton's is an unattractive diner type of restaurant, that offers the basic breakfast foods. Unless you live under a rock, you know that these are the hidden gems for breakfast. It's cheap, fast, and pretty damn tasty. I should really go here more often; next weekend, I'm suggesting this to my friends after a night of hanging out.
While Compton's is a solid choice, it doesn't really compare to Max London's. I went to Max London's last semester with my family, over parents weekend. If you're looking for a gourmet breakfast, this is the place. Great coffee and fresh squeezed OJ is placed on the table, and they have choices from breakfast pizzas to topnotch waffles, salmon, and caviar. This place is definitely awesome to go to once in awhile; it's too crowded, expensive, and time consuming to go everyday to.
If Dhall didn't have such a terrible breakfast, I wouldn't need to go out. Hopefully, I'll take a trip out in the near future and satisfy this craving.
Chipotle > Moes
Mexican food is one of my favorite types of food. Even though I don't like spicy food, I still manage to enjoy a good taco, quesadilla, and tortilla chips. It's hard for me to enjoy Mexican food as much as I enjoy Tacos de Pueblo, a Mexican food stand at the farmer's market right near my house. This place is outrageous. These four guys from Mexico hand make corn tortillas, put them on a stone over a fire, and grill them. They then offer beef, chicken, and pastor. I always get the tacos de pastor; this has unbelievable pork freshly cut from the spit, delicious mozzarella cheese, and pineapple. My mouth is watering as I write this. Anyway, now that I've had tacos from this place, I set the bar pretty damn high.
The two Mexican food chains, Chipotle and Moe's, are about as close as they get to Tacos de Pueblo. I've mostly been to Chipotle, and always get their tacos. You can choose to get the tacos with any meat, and toppings. They also do a great job on the taco shell. I like how they keep their menu simple; you can choose from a quesadilla, burrito, burrito bowl, and tacos, and then you tell them what exactly you want in them. Moe's is different in this way. The first thing I noticed was how confusing the menu was; I felt like a dumb ass trying to order because the menu had names for meals, without explaining what exactly they were. I just asked for tacos and told the guy what I wanted in them. The meal however came with chips, which is a huge advantage over Chipotle. The tacos were good, but I'd say I'm more of a Chipotle guy. It's hard to beat Tacos de Pueblo, but Chipotle will never let me down.
The two Mexican food chains, Chipotle and Moe's, are about as close as they get to Tacos de Pueblo. I've mostly been to Chipotle, and always get their tacos. You can choose to get the tacos with any meat, and toppings. They also do a great job on the taco shell. I like how they keep their menu simple; you can choose from a quesadilla, burrito, burrito bowl, and tacos, and then you tell them what exactly you want in them. Moe's is different in this way. The first thing I noticed was how confusing the menu was; I felt like a dumb ass trying to order because the menu had names for meals, without explaining what exactly they were. I just asked for tacos and told the guy what I wanted in them. The meal however came with chips, which is a huge advantage over Chipotle. The tacos were good, but I'd say I'm more of a Chipotle guy. It's hard to beat Tacos de Pueblo, but Chipotle will never let me down.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
In-N-Out
Over spring break, I went to California with the tennis team. Before I left, I was looking forward to four things: the 80 degree weather, the beautiful scenery, the tennis matches, and most of all, In-N-Out.
Whenever I told someone that I was going to Cali for spring break, we would end up talking about In-N-Out, the California burger chain that made everybody's mouths water. With all this talk about how good In-N-Out was, I needed to go.
The meal couldn't have came at a better time. Because our coach is a health nut, we didn't have great food on the trip. We never had snacks or deserts. We had these supermarket cold cuts in the fridge, and multigrain bread to make sandwiches. This was lunch, everyday. There was pasta from one night at dinner that we had as leftovers for three nights. Whenever we ate out, we weren't allowed to have red meat, or anything fried. And of course, Coach consistently refused our requests to go to In-N-Out. By the end of the week, we all couldn't take it anymore. After we played our last match of the week, Coach finally agreed to take us to our oasis.
The first thing I noticed was how simple the menu was. The options were a regular burger, double burger, fries, soft drinks, and shakes. I ordered a double cheeseburger, fries, a coke, and a vanilla milkshake. The meal was actually one of the best in my life. You know it's a good meal when you and you're friends barely talk while you're eating. None of us said a word. In-N-Out needs to move out to the east coast, or I'm going to have to go to California more often. Get to In-N-Out if you're on the west coast; you could be having one of the best meals of your life.
Whenever I told someone that I was going to Cali for spring break, we would end up talking about In-N-Out, the California burger chain that made everybody's mouths water. With all this talk about how good In-N-Out was, I needed to go.
The meal couldn't have came at a better time. Because our coach is a health nut, we didn't have great food on the trip. We never had snacks or deserts. We had these supermarket cold cuts in the fridge, and multigrain bread to make sandwiches. This was lunch, everyday. There was pasta from one night at dinner that we had as leftovers for three nights. Whenever we ate out, we weren't allowed to have red meat, or anything fried. And of course, Coach consistently refused our requests to go to In-N-Out. By the end of the week, we all couldn't take it anymore. After we played our last match of the week, Coach finally agreed to take us to our oasis.
The first thing I noticed was how simple the menu was. The options were a regular burger, double burger, fries, soft drinks, and shakes. I ordered a double cheeseburger, fries, a coke, and a vanilla milkshake. The meal was actually one of the best in my life. You know it's a good meal when you and you're friends barely talk while you're eating. None of us said a word. In-N-Out needs to move out to the east coast, or I'm going to have to go to California more often. Get to In-N-Out if you're on the west coast; you could be having one of the best meals of your life.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hattie's
Fried Chicken is the ultimate comfort food. It's one of those fulfilling meals that makes me feel like a different person afterward. Whether it's the juicy, tender meat or the fried, crispy skin, fried chicken definitely kicks ass. I'm marveling at fried chicken now because I went to Hattie's Shack this weekend.
I hadn't eaten for 4 hours. I had just played a tennis match, and felt like I was sitting forever watching the rest of my team play. I bought a pop tart to munch on, but that didn't last long because I had to pay taxes to all the guys on the team. Because everyone else was just as hungry, we needed a substantial meal. We decided to go to Hattie's Shack, an annex of the famous southern cuisine, Hattie's Restaurant. The result: an outrageously delicious fried chicken sandwich, with cajun coleslaw on a toasted kaiser roll. It was the best meal of the semester, hands down. And I've had my fair share of fried chicken. Over winter break, I had fried chicken from Michelle Bernstein's restaurant in Florida. Bernstein received the James Beard award for best chef in the Southern U.S. Her fried chicken was superb, but I'd be just as happy getting a fried chicken sandwich from Hattie's. Drive over to Wilton to grab this unreal sandwich; you won't regret it.
I hadn't eaten for 4 hours. I had just played a tennis match, and felt like I was sitting forever watching the rest of my team play. I bought a pop tart to munch on, but that didn't last long because I had to pay taxes to all the guys on the team. Because everyone else was just as hungry, we needed a substantial meal. We decided to go to Hattie's Shack, an annex of the famous southern cuisine, Hattie's Restaurant. The result: an outrageously delicious fried chicken sandwich, with cajun coleslaw on a toasted kaiser roll. It was the best meal of the semester, hands down. And I've had my fair share of fried chicken. Over winter break, I had fried chicken from Michelle Bernstein's restaurant in Florida. Bernstein received the James Beard award for best chef in the Southern U.S. Her fried chicken was superb, but I'd be just as happy getting a fried chicken sandwich from Hattie's. Drive over to Wilton to grab this unreal sandwich; you won't regret it.
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