A Perk of Working At a Doctor’s Office

One of the perks of working at a doctor’s office are luncheons from reps from other provider offices and pharmaceutical companies. One day, we got Mediterranean food from Zoes Kitchen. I actually never heard of Zoes Kitchen so I googled it. Apparently, it’s a chain. Below is what I gorged on. There were also chicken and beef kabobs for my coworkers to feast on, but its not pictured below because I am a vegetarian:)

Zoes Kitchen Catering

Rice- The texture of the rice was great. The seasoning was flavorful and salty. It was actually too salty for my taste.

Limeade- The label said freshly squeezed. It was good, but more on the sweeter side. I wish it was more balance between the sour and sweet.

Homemade Greek  Salad dressing- It was made of olive oil blend, red wine vinegar, salt, and spices. The dressing was tasty, but then again I am biase. I love simple salad dressing especially vinaigrettes.

Pita bread- It was good, but a little stale.

Hummus- The hummus was creamy and not bad at all. I had worst and had better before.

Greek salad with feta cheese on the side- The salad was very fresh. It came with romaine lettuce, olives, sliced green peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and  hot peppers. It tasted very refreshing and light with the dressing.

Chocolate cake- The cake was very moisture, chocolatey, and not too sweet. Just the way I like it. I was tempted to eat the whole cake. It was my favorite food out of the other foods I ate at the this particular luncheon. 

Overall, I thought the food was okay. If I was in the mood for Mediterranean, I don't think Zoes Kitchen would be a go to place. 

Breakfast for Dinner- Challah French Toast

For a dinner gathering, we decided to go to Honey’s Sit’N Eat (21^st and South Street). There are actually two locations in Philly. They have one in the Graduate Hospital area and another one located in Northern Liberties. I never been to this popular brunch place. The atmosphere of the restaurant was that of a very homey diner.  They did offer a number of things I can eat---pancakes, potatoes, eggs, salads, and a veggie burger.  I was deciding between Challah French Toast and the Toad in a Hole. I never had Challah bread before and I never had a Toad in a Hole. Challah bread is special Jewish bread that is braided and usually eaten on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Toad in the hole was basically toast with a circle cutout in the middle and eggs in it. I finally decided on the Challah French Toast since I was craving something sweet.

Inside the restaurant

Challah French Toast

The plating of the toast was visually appealing. There were powder sugar sprinkled over the toast and syrup on the side. The toast was good; however, even though it was made with Challah bread, it didn’t taste different from any other French toast to me. The bread is just a little bit thicker then regular toast. I think I was actually expecting something more like some kind of kick to the French Toast, but I didn't get it. Overall, it was tasty and I would give it 4 out of 5. Maybe I should have tried the Toad in Hole instead. Maybe that would have satisfied my desire to taste something that was more unfamiliar and new to me. Well, I guess I can always go back and try it.  

Tasty Grilled Veggie Sandwich

Some of my friends and I were wondering around Olde City one evening and couldn’t decide where to eat. Then one of my friends found a yelp check in discount ($10 off $30) for JJ Bootleggers (35 S. 2^nd St). Of course, we went there because that’s how we roll. The place was quite packed. We had to wait like 20 minutes for a table. There were not a lot on the menu I could it eat---it was basically between 2 salads, 4 appetizers, and the grilled veggie sandwich. I decided on the veggie sandwich. And although this place is known for moonshine, no one at our table ordered it because we are cool like that.

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

The Grilled Veggie Sandwich came with lettuce and different grilled vegetables (squash, red pepper, kale, and onions) as well as a side of French Fries. The grilled veggies were tendered and seasoned well. I enjoyed the vegetables especially the kale. The French fries were good, too. It reminded me of McDonald’s French fries except they are not as greasy and there wasn’t a surplus of salt sprinkled over them. It was a pleasant dinner. The veggie sandwich definitely made up for the limited vegetarian options. I would rate the sandwich a 5 out of 5. I would totally recommend this to all my fellow veggie lovers out there. 

Layers of Goodness-Green Tea Brick Toast

Audabon Bakeshop (145 N. 11^th Street) is a fairly new establish in Philadelphia Chinatown. They are primarily known for their macaroons, but they do sell a limited number of other desserts such as different kinds of mouse cake and puddings. Their menu/favor offerings do vary from day to day so you don’t know what to expect until you get there the day of. My friend noticed one day that they were now offering brick toast. They had Green Tea Brick Toast. We love green tea and it's hard to get brick toast in Philadelphia. Actually, I don’t know where else has brick toast so, of course, we had to get it.

Green Tea Brick Toast

We got the original, which was 4 layers versus the mini, which only had two layers. In between the layers, were condense milk, raspberry jam, and sliced bananas. On top were green tea ice cream, green tea pocky, blackberries, sliced almonds, and green tea paste. The ice cream was delicious and could have possibly been homemade. The pocky, blackberries, sliced almonds, and green tea paste were tasty as well. The sliced bananas, condense milk, and jam along with the toast blended well together.  I thought everything about this toast was good and overall its components really did complement each other. I would give this brick toast a 5 out of 5. 


UPDATE: Unfortunately, Audabon closed permanently on July 5th, 2015. 

A Newbie to the Cheesecake Factory

I heard great things about the cheesecake factory, but I never got the chance to go there. One Saturday afternoon, my friends and I made our way to the Cheesecake Factory (931 Haddonfield Rd, Cherry Hill). The first thing I saw when I entered was the assortment of cheesecakes behind the glass counter. The restaurant was also selling salad dressing but who cares about that when there’s cheesecake!

The restaurant had an extensive menu, but there were only a number of things I can eat that were not salads. They had a SkinnyLicious menu with foods 590 calories and under. I opted to go with the Skinny Veggie Burger made of couscous and brown rice. See below for the picture and review.

Skinny Veggie Burger

The Skinny Veggie Burger came with a side garden salad. It was just a plain salad and there was no real dressing. It appears like fresh crushed up tomatoes was the dressing. I guess this wasn’t on the skinny menu for nothing. The veggie burger came on a small bun with mayonnaises, lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles and ketchup on the side. When the burger first arrived it reminded of meatloaf. On top of the burger was some kind of gravy like sauce. In my opinion, the sauce had a meaty aroma. For the most part, the burger was okay. I didn’t really like the texture. I was hoping it would have the texture of meatloaf since it looked like meatloaf, but the consistency was much more mushier. If I squeeze the sandwich too much/too hard, I can definitely see the burger falling apart. For the taste, it was average. It had favor, but there wasn’t anything special about the favor to me. No special herbs or seasoning that stuck out. There wasn’t any unexpected kick to the burger. Maybe I am just expect too much. I would give the burger a 3 out of 5.

Of course, we have cheesecake for dessert, but I was in a trance with the cheesecake and I forgot to take pictures. I got the carrot cheesecake. It was good and more on the sweet side and definitely tasted more like a cheesecake than a carrot cake. I think I was anticipating more of a carrot cake with a hint of cheesecake. My friend got Chris’ outrageous cheesecake. It was quite heavenly. It was layers of goodness- moist cake cake, chewy brownie, coconut pecan frosting and creamy chocolate chip coconut cheesecake.  It tasted better than my carrot cake cheesecake. I should have gotten the same one as her.

Overall, my experience at Cheesecake was great. The food was good and the wait for it was shorter then I expected. I thought the wait time to be seat, to be served, and to have our food come out would be forever considering how busy the restaurant was, but surprising it was not.  The wait to be seated was only about 15 minutes. Our food came out pretty fast. Our waiter was also great. He was one of the best servers ever. He was very nice, knowledgeable of the menu, and checked up on us.  But his check ups on us weren’t too excessive. I had experienced servers who would check up on us every 5 minutes, which can be annoying. This waiter checked up on us like 3-4 times to refill water and ask how things were which was reasonable. I am definitely going back to try other things on the menu and other cheesecakes. Hopefully, they are going to open the one in Philly very soon. 

Munching and Brunching at Café Fulya (727 S. 2nd Street)

I got a restaurant.com certificate and decided to pig out with my friends at Café Fulya. We never been there and we wanted to try something new. So why not Cafe Fulya, the café received great reviews on Yelp after all.

On one fine chilly Sunday morning we ventured to the cute and cozy neighborhood café. There were outside seating, but we opted to stay out of the cold.  When we entered the cafe, the whole cafe was within our view. There wasn’t a "real" kitchen.  Behind the counter was the kitchen.

To the left of door was a couch against the wall with a table and two small chairs in front of it. And that lucky spot was where we landed ourselves. The register and counter was a few steps in front of us. To the right side of the café and counter were more seating (1 table for two, and 4 tables for 4). As you can probably tell by my description, the café is quite small.

We ordered a number of things to eat and try out. The food was delivered to us in a timely manner even though there were a good number of people coming in and out ordering drinks and the place was packed inside with people brunching, but again I don’t think we ordered anything that was cooking intensive/ assembling. Below is my take on everything we ordered. Overall, it was a nice experience and the customer service was great.  My favorite eats was the hummus, cigar pie, Turkish bread, and the salad. Next time, if I come again, I would definitely try one of the actual breakfast platter not the Turkish “breakfast platter” or one of the sandwiches. 

Turkish Coffee

Even though I am not much of a coffee lover, how can I go to a Turkish café for the first time and not try their Turkish coffee?  The coffee came in an small expresso cup and was very strong. I would admit I haven’ t have enough coffee to be a fair coffee judge, but based on my taste, it was definitely strong and you can taste the quality of the beans. I would totally recommend coffee lovers to try Turkish coffee.

Jasmine tea

 There was nothing special about the jasmine tea. You can probably get the jasmine tea at any general supermarket or grocery store.

Chai Tea

The Chai latte was sub par in my opinion. It was too foamy and milky for my preference. It lacked the strong taste of chai spices. In addition, temperature-wise, the drink was not hot enough. It got cold real fast. I am not impress when my drinks are not hot enough.

Summer Salad

The summer salad was delicious. It had mix greens, strawberry, raisins, dry apriots, walnuts, feta cheese, and their special dressing. The dressing tasted like a strawberry vinaigrette. To me, important factors of a salad are it's freshness, the assortment of tasty nutritional components, and a flavorful dressing. And this salad has met all the criteria of an awesome salad under my standards!

Breakfast Platter

I wanted to go the authentic route and eat what the people eat in Turkey eat for breakfast. Again why not, we are at a Turkish establishment. Based on the yelp review, the breakfast platter supposedly resembles a real Turkish breakfast.  It was an assortment of things- cucumbers, feta cheese, dry apricot, tomato, olives, boiled eggs, cheese, nutella, cream cheese, and apricot jam.  Although it seemed like a great idea to eat like the Turkish people and the platter did sounded interesting, I don't think it was a good choice…..we didn’t really know how to eat it…We ate some of the spread with bread and ate some components by themselves . Maybe it would have been sufficient just to watch someone eat it instead of us actually trying it out. 

Turkish Bread

The breakfast platter came with Turkish bread. The bread was delicious! The texture was crispy on the outside and chewy in the inside. Although it was not warm, it was still somewhat fresh and delicious nonetheless.

Cigar Pies, Hummus with Cucumbers, and Zucchini Pancake

Cigar pie- I never had one before. It was basically like a fried egg roll with feta cheese and parsley inside. It was salty and tasty. The pomegranate dipping sauce which I think goes with the cigar pie had a potent taste. It tasted sweet at first but then it had a vinegary aftertaste. This interesting sauce was definitely not for me. If you know what this dipping sauce is made up of please tell me. It was nice to be exposed to something new and different, but I just was not digging it.

Hummus- The hummus was good. It was kind of creamy and tasty, but it was not spectacular. I wish they gave us pita bread to eat it with. There were only a few cucumbers to dip the hummus in. I felt like there were not enough things to eat with the hummus or spreads that the breakfast platter came with(do people just eat nutella, jam, cream cheese, and hummus straight up?).

Zucchinni Pancake ---I was actually excited to taste the zucchini pancake because I never had it before and I like zucchini. It looked like something I would eat. It had a soft texture like lasagnas; unfortunately the taste was disappointing. It was way too bland for my palate. I think that was the least favorite dish. How ironic when I thought in the beginning it would be my favorite. 

Spinach and Mozzarella Ravioli with Yogurt Sauce

The Spinach and Mozzarella Ravioli definitely had the taste of fresh homemade pasta.  Although I like the pasta itself, I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of the yogurt sauce. Similar to the zucchini pancake, it was tasteless. I think the yogurt sauce might be a taste that needs to be acquired especially since I am more use to a cheesy or tomato sauce with my pasta.  

Pistachio Baklava, Chocolate Pecan Baklava, and Coconut Macaroon

For dessert, we got one Pistachio Baklava, one Chocolate Pecan Baklava, and one Coconut Macaroon. As you can probably see from the picture, the baklavas are very small (maybe only an inch big). They were exceptionally delicious, though. If you don’t order anything else, I do recommend getting the baklava. It was fresh and wasn't too sweet. In the past, I had baklavas that way too sweet and on the verge of being bitter. These ones were not like that. These baklavas are actually some of the best baklavas I ever had.  On the other hand, the coconut macaroon didn't meet my expectations. We decided to get the coconut maroon in the first place because it was humongous and looked good. However, instead being good, the macaroon was very stale and obviously not fresh. I wonder what it would it taste like if it was fresh. The best coconut maroons I had before were crispy on the outside and chewy and flaky in the inside.  I regret assuming the macaroons were fresh and not asking if they were that day. 

Update: The cafe has been closed according to yelp.