West Virginia State Fair- Lewisburg, WV

 In early August I went to the West Virginia State Fair with my family. The fair has always been an end of sumer hurrah for my family, and every year we get pretty excited for it. The fair is full of rides, games, food, exhibits, and contests. We ride everything and enjoy walking around seeing crazy things like alligator wrestling, pig races and cow pie throwing contests.  In my opinion, however, by far the best part of the fair is the food. Every year I have thought about getting something in particular, but always decided against it and regretted it later. This year I decided that I would finally get it - a deep fried candy bar.

My Mom's LARGE bag of Kettle Corn!

   This year we were able to go on opening day and we were there just as everything was opening.  As soon as we bought our tickets for the fair and entered the gates, I made a beeline for the fried candy bar stand.  The stand is the second store from the opening gates at the fair. Coincidentally, the candy bar stand also happens to be right next to a kettle corn stand, which is my mom's favorite fair food by far. Every year my mom gets a bag of kettle corn, and has to choose between the two sizes, small and large. Every year before the fair my mom says she will get the small because she eats too much and she feels sick the next day; but every time the fair comes around, she somehow always ends up getting the large bag.  This year was no different, a large bag of kettle corn starts the day.  Anyways, back to the fried candy bar. Although there were many great-sounding choices like Twix, Milky Way, and Butterfinger, I went with a Snickers.  It turns out my fried snickers was the first fried candy bar of the fair! It only took a minute or two for them to fry up a candy bar, and once I got it, I could barely contain myself. I was about to take a giant bite into the  candy bar that I had been waiting so long for, but as I began to take that big bite, I stopped myself, and just in time. Because the candy bars are made to order, they are straight out of the frier when you get them, making them extremely hot. So after it cooled down a considerable amount, I got to work. The candy bar was good, but not what I expected it would be. I didn't feel like I got enough of the snickers, but you know what, it was still pretty good.

   Thankfully the fried snickers was not the food highlight of the state fair, or we would have had a

MMMmmmm…. Bacon AND Donut!

pretty disappointing day. Good thing we didn't stop our fair-food tasting there, because the next thing we ate was legendary. As we continued down the fair food lane, my brother announced that he was getting hungry, and wanted a hot dog. We stopped at the nearest hot dog stand, which happened to be the same one we went to last year, where they had a bacon-wrapped corn dog! This year they had something new; The MAPLE BACON DONUT DOG. The Maple Bacon Donut Dog was a hot dog, wrapped in bacon, stuck through the middle of a glazed donut, and drizzled with maple syrup and bacon bits. I had the first bite, and had to hold myself back from eating the entire thing. This is the fair food you hear about - something so crazy they just can't serve it anywhere else.  It was soooooo good, warm, crispy, sweet and salty, almost like a food one could only dream about. All in all, definitely the best fair food and maybe junk food I've ever had.

Butt Fries? Yes… Butt Fries

   We continued our quest for crazy foods and found BUTT FRIES!  When I saw the sign I was a little nervous, but then we found out they were french fries piled with pulled pork, cheese, scallions and sour cream.  They were very filling and really tasty.  They were kind of like nachos, just with fries and pulled pork.  We had our choice of several bar-b-q sauces for it and tried several.      

You can't go wrong with the classics!

   The last thing I want to mention is a staple at the WV State Fair - Ben and Ellen donuts.  I don't know how long Ben and Ellen have been coming to the fair, but it seems that everyone there eats at least one of their donuts.  We actually saw a list one time of the top things to do in the area and eating one of these donuts was one of the top ranked activities!  At the fair, for seventy-five cents, you can get a warm, delicious, fluffy, cinnamon sugar coated
donut.  Mmmmm…… Donuts. Definitely worth the seventy-five cents.

I think it was a really good fair food day.  We all enjoyed trying new, crazy things as well as having a couple of our traditional favorites.  I can't wait to see what new things they come up with for next year!

La Duree- Paris, France

La Duree!

   One of my favorite foods in France were the French macaroons, and while I was in Paris, I went to one of the most famous macaroon places of all time; La Duree. La Duree is on the Champs Elysees, the most expensive street in Paris. I guess that La Duree had earned a spot on the Champs Elysees, because their macaroons were anything but cheap. 

   La Duree was a VERY popular macaroon shop.  There was a huge line of people waiting to get in.  The line wrapped around the corner of the block!  You should know that it didn't just sell macaroons, it also had small assorted pastries as well as another whole section for actually eating meals. Since we had already eaten lunch, we decided to just get a box of macaroons to go. Choosing which macaroons

to get was going to be the hard part, considering that there were twenty-three different flavors to choose from. We learned that most of them are there all the time, but some change based on the season.  At La Duree, you could buy a single macaroon, or buy a box and choose your flavors. There were boxes of two, four, eight, ten, sixteen, twenty-one, and forty-eight. Instead of spending a few hours trying to pick and choose flavors, my dad told us we could get a box of twenty-one and just pick the two that we didn't want. We decided to not get a mint-thyme and a basil-lemon.

   I've been to a number of other macaroon shops in both the US and in France and I was impressed that all of the macaroons at La Duree were perfect.  Several other places we've visited would have some macaroons that were cracked or just not right, but here you could tell they were serious!

Mmmmm... Macaroons

  Because you are waiting in a huge line to get your macaroons, inside and out, you can really scope out the place. First of all, La Duree is furnished and decorated in a very Victorian style, with hardwood tables and chairs, and floral carpet and green walls with ornate gold decorations. I found it beautiful and very interesting. Anyways, as soon as we received our macaroons, we hurried outside with our treasure. Right outside of La Duree the restaurant had an ice cream and sorbet cart, and my brother was immediately drawn to it. He picked a cup of raspberry sorbet, and because the ice cream/sorbet cart was part of La Duree, they even put a macaroon on top! My brother ate it so fast no one else got to try it, but after finishing the sorbet; with a huge, sticky ring of pink around his face, he commented that the sorbet was pretty darn good. Over the next few days my family and I ate our box of macaroons from La Duree, and I have to say, they were really good, definitely better than I expected for some reason. All of the flavors were bold and evident, except for a couple macaroons that were different kinds of the same thing - those tasted the same. All in all, a cool experience with great macaroons.  The flavors included: Raspberry, Pistachio, Coffee and Chocolate Coconut, with a few of my family's favorites being: Salted Caramel, Peach and

Fancy Macaroons; Fancy Box

Rose Petal!

  The service may be different if you were eating a meal, but with us standing in the line and buying the box of macaroons for take out it definitely felt like we were being rushed along.

  As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being old, burnt, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being perfect, warm, gooey, chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie goodness! My Cookie Counter ratings for La Duree are:

  

  Food: 8 Cookies

  Atmosphere: 7 Cookies

    Service: 6 Cookies

La Goret- Beaune, France

La Goret; The Piglet

France! One of the most interesting small towns I visited on my vacation in France this summer was Beaune (pronounced "Bone"). It is a small town in the Burgundy region and it was truly beautiful.  We were only in Beaune for one night, so we wanted to take advantage of it.  An online site lists 150 restaurants in Beaune and my Dad 

found one that we thought would be fun to go to.  It is currently listed as the top restaurant in the town but we choose it because of the description of the menu.  Like many of the restaurants there it is quite small and it is on a small side street, so you may have missed it.  Its name is "Le Goret", which translates as “the piglet.”  It was pretty funky and a great experience.

The restaurant definitely had the right name because literally everything on the menu was pork and the restaurant was themed around pork. Almost all of the decorative items were pigs or pig related: pig shaped lanterns, pig shaped bowls, pig shaped chalk boards with the menu, etc.  

This is the menu, pig-shaped of course!

When we arrived at the restaurant we quickly realized that NOBODY in the restaurant spoke English except us.  The place was packed and we thought that it was a good sign that it was filled with locals instead of tourists.  We were greeted by the owner, who is also the chef and it turned out also served as our waiter.  He was really friendly.  We used our limited French speaking skills and played a bit of charades with the chef to try and decipher the menu.  After several funny minutes we figured out that there were only three menu items.  We figured out one was a pork chop.  We also knew that sausage was one of the specialties but we had trouble figuring out the third dish, eventually figuring out it was pig cheek in a burgundy wine sauce.  Because we were with another family and my Grandma, we were able to try everything! My brother, my friend and I, as well as my Grandma all had the pork chop.  My Dad and my friend’s Dad had the sausage while my Mom, my friend’s Mom, went with the cheeks! With the language communication problems we really weren’t 100% sure about what all was coming, but when it came out it had definitely been worth the wait.

My Pork chop!

My pork chop was way better than I had imagined it would be. It had very little fat, was very tender and had great flavor. Now, I usually don't like pork chops because of their fattiness and their lack of flavor, but this pork chop was one that I definitely enjoyed. With no fat and a lot of flavor, I am happy to say it was definitely worth my time. It came with a side of fried potatoes, and those were pretty good, too! They were very crunchy on the outside, but fall-apart tender on the inside.  Pretty good, if I do say so myself! Everyone’s dish came with at least

some of the restaurant’s home-made sausage, which was also very good.

The Dad’s had actually thought their meal, which was called the “trilogy” was going to be three different cuts of pork.  Instead it was three types of sausages.  My Dad was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a chop with his, but the portions were so big that everyone was able to eat some of each.  I think the chops were everyone’s favorite.  The restaurant also served a pesto sauce on certain cuts of its sausage.  My family loves pesto, so we all thought was a great idea and gave an extra punch of flavor to the meal.

For dessert we decided to have ice cream at the restaurant, which was the only dessert they had.  I would say that there were about eight or ten different flavors, but since our French skills didn’t really include knowing the names of tons of ice cream flavors we had to make guesses about what they really were. I had the caramel ice cream, my brother had the chocolate, and my friend had the strawberry. When the ice cream came out, it looked amazing! Not only that, but it tasted great! Unlike all the caramel ice cream that has that fakey caramel taste, this

The Sausage "Trio"

actually tasted like caramel, and as a bonus, it had caramel chunks in it! Everyone else's ice cream was good, but in my opinion my ice cream was the best!

At the end of the meal my Dad asked the owner if we could get a picture with him because it had been such a fun, different kind of meal.  The owner said yes and shocked us by immediately grabbing a hat that looked like a big, pink, pig’s head and pulling it over his head.  He seemed really happy to take the picture and it was obvious that he had done it a lot in the past.  When we were trying to get the picture taken in front of the restaurant some local guy kept photobombing us – jumping in EVERY time we took the picture.  That was weird, but kind of funny too.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being old, burnt, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being perfect, warm, gooey, chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie goodness! My Cookie Counter ratings for Le Goret are:

   Food: 8 Cookies
   Atmosphere: 8 Cookies

   Service: 8 Cookies

Le Refuge des Fondues- MontMartre, Paris, France

Le Refuge des Fondues!

  While on our three week long vacation in France, we ate at some pretty interesting places. One of them was Le Refuge des Fondues. Le Refuge des Fondues means "The Refuge of Melted". The restaurant is located in the area of Paris known as Montmartre.  We had read about it online and we thought it sounded fun.  It took a little while to find, but once we found it, I knew that this place would be like no other. First of all, the restaurant was no bigger than a hotel room, and only seated about 30 people. There was a long bench along both walls with essentially what was a long table running the entire length of the restaurant in front of it.  Half of the people sit on these benches and if you are going to sit on one of them you had to climb OVER the table.  That was pretty crazy.  We had a party of eight, so we took up quite a chunk of space in the restaurant and four of us had to climb over.  We were there when it opened and it filled up really quickly.

   Probably the strangest thing about Le Refuge des Fondues was also the coolest. Everyone drank out of baby bottles!  Whether you were having water, orange juice, or even WINE (for the adults), it all came in a baby bottle. Watching grown adults and kids alike all drinking out of baby bottles was probably the funniest and strangest thing I have seen in a long time.  I think they do it in case you kick someone's drink while climbing over the table.  The restaurant also has a baby bottle on the

The Crew! (Note the baby bottles!)

front door instead of a door knob! 

  At Le Refuge des Fondues, there are only two fondue options: "cheese and meat".  When we asked what kind of meat the waiter simply answered "meat" which we thought was funny.  Because we were so hungry, we ordered both, and I'm glad we did. When our cheese bowl came out, I was the only kid who really liked the cheese, but all the adults liked it. The cheese was warm, gooey, not very strong or flavorful, but added warmth and more texture to the olives, apples, and bread that were put out for us to eat with the cheese. In all honesty, even after having some cheese, everyone was still starving, and were eagerly waiting to get the meat course. You cook the meat in boiling oil and while the oil and meat were coming out, we met a couple that had just sat down next to us. They were probably in their early twenties. Once we started talking to them, the parents and this couple immediately bonded. Within 15 minutes, the moms were showing each other baby pictures! (okay, that part was kinda weird)  Anyways, the meat course came out, and it was okay, except for two things. One, I found it very difficult to cook anything just right. No matter how long I waited after putting in the meat, the first time it would always still be raw on the inside.  Then if I put the meat back in, even for just a few seconds, it would turn out hard and overcooked. The second thing was that every time you put one of the potatoes in, it would disappear. It always dropped off and we would lose it in the oil, and it was then really difficult to get the potato out. On the very rare occasion that you could get it out, it would either fall back in or be half disintegrated. So in other words, the oil was pretty lame. I mean, burnt meat and disintegrated potatoes aren't all that great. Anyways, this restaurant wasn't really abut the food, it was about the experience and we did laugh a lot. They also let you write your name or graffiti on the walls, which I thought was cool.  Everyone in our group had a fun time that night,and we all agreed it was one of

Me climbing over the table!

the best nights (but not meals) we had on our trip!

   All the staff were nice, and they spoke English, too! I really enjoyed Le Refuge des Fondues, and even though the food wasn't great, the experience more than made up for it. So if you happen to be in Paris at Montmartre, drop in for a night full of fun - and baby bottles!

  As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being perfect, warm, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Le Refuge des Fondues are:

Food: 5 Cookies
Atmosphere: 8 Cookies
Service: 7 Cookies

Le Refuge des Fondues Google+:  https://plus.google.com/104769547298971501729/about?gl=us&hl=en

Jim's Drive In, Lewisburg, West Virginia

Jim's Drive In!

In Lewisburg, West Virginia, there are many excellent restaurants. One that I really enjoy that you may not have tried is Jim's Drive In.  Jim's is a fast food joint where you can either sit and eat in your car, or sit at one of the picnic tables that they have outside. Every single summer, I go to Jim's Drive In at least once. I usually go with my family, and some friends of ours. Although the food is so good, I'm happy we only go once a summer, because I probably couldn't handle any more since we typically eat so much!  The deal with Jim's Drive In is that practically everything is fried. They have fried onions, fries, pickles, banana peppers, green
beans and many more.  Generally we are pretty healthy eaters, but some times at Jim's we order everything fried on the menu for the table.  We call that "the fried extravaganza!"  They also have burgers, chicken fingers, corn dogs, and other entrees. My favorite part of Jim's Drive In is the milkshakes. They have about two dozen different flavors of milkshakes, everything from Butterfinger to Oreo. My personal favorite is the Butterfinger. It is a vanilla milkshake with many pieces of Butterfinger mixed in. While we were there recently, they had a few special summer shakes. They had a Mocha, Carmel Coffee, S'mores, and Hawaiian (coconut, banana, and pineapple). This time, I decided to be adventurous and have a S'mores shake.


   On my most recent trip to Jim's Drive In, I ordered a cheeseburger, fried banana peppers and a S'mores milkshake. My brother ordered chicken fingers, mac n' cheese bites (deep fried balls of mac n' cheese), and a

My burger and fried banana peppers!

Fried mushrooms! Yum! 

Oreo milkshake. My dad ordered the signature "Big Jim" Ranch Burger, which has ranch, ham, lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese, and onion on it with a Mocha milkshake. He says it is one of his favorite burgers from anywhere.  My mom detoured from the usual burger and decided to go with the fried green tomato sandwich. The fried green tomato sandwich had fried green tomato, provolone cheese, bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise on it. She really liked it.  I tried it but I like the burgers more.  We also ordered onion rings, fried mushrooms and fried green beans for the table. Because Jim's is such a great restaurant, it is usually packed at lunch time and the restaurant only has 3 or 4 employees, thus the food took a little while to come out, but the food was worth the wait. My S'mores milkshake, as expected was delicious! It actually tasted like real s'mores! It was a vanilla milkshake with crushed graham cracker blended in, and pieces of chocolate mixed in as well. My cheeseburger was also really good, as it was meaty, juicy, and tender to the point of almost falling apart. I have three favorite fried foods at Jim's: The fried banana peppers, the onion rings, and the fried mushrooms. The fact that I love the fried banana peppers so much has always come as a surprise to me, since I won't even touch a regular banana pepper, but when Jim's fries them, they become a magical, great-tasting food! My second favorite fried food at Jim's are the onion rings. Now, unlike normal onion rings which I find are too often soggy and drenched in grease, the ones at Jim's are crunchy, and have little to no grease on them. Now for my third favorite fired food, I really love the fried mushrooms. They are really hot (as in temperature), and are crisp on the outside, but meaty, chewy, and juicy on the inside. Even though all these fried foods are great by themselves, there is a way to make them even better. The answer? Ranch. Jim's ranch is unlike any ranch I've ever had before. It is thick, creamy, tangy, and smooth, plus it compliments any fried food perfectly, blanking out the little grease the fried foods have with a thick, creamy coat of ranch goodness. For dessert my mom and I split a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles on top! It was really good! The ice
cream was house-made, so it was flavorful, creamy, smooth, soft, and a very refreshing treat in the middle of the day!

   One of the reason I love Jim's so much is because of the people there; they will bend over backwards just to make you happy. Everyone is so nice, and are happy to help you with any question you might have. And the best part? All of this is in one of the coolest small towns in America!

    As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being old, stale, burnt oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being warm, gooey, chewy, chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Jim's drive-in are:

Food: 8 Cookies

     Milkshakes: 9 1/2 Cookies
     Atmosphere: 6 Cookies
     Service: 12 Cookies

Note: The fried mushrooms as shown in the picture contain many more mushrooms than what is shown. They were so good that they were almost all gone before I could take a picture! :)

Jim's Drive-In Google+: https://plus.google.com/110521968412177484113/about?gl=us&hl=en

Bistrotters- Paris, France

Bistrotters!

   Recently, I took a three week long vacation with my family all around France. It was the coolest thing I have ever done, and I had the best food I've ever eaten. On our second day in Paris, my family and I went to a small but highly-respected restaurant called Bistrotters.  My Dad found the restaurant on a website rating restaurants in Paris and out of over 10,000 restaurants it was rated #3, so we had high expectations.  Bistrotters did not disappoint, it was the best food that we ate on the trip and also the best meal I have eaten, ever!  The restaurant itself probably seated no more than 25 people, with most people in one small room at the front of the restaurant. The deal with the menu was that you could do one of two things: a two course meal, or a three course one. For the two course meal, you could pick either a appetizer and an entree, or an entree and a dessert. With the three course meal you got all three courses. For each course you have about 4 or 5 options to choose from, and they all looked delicious. My brother and I each chose to do the two-course dinner, with a entree and a dessert, but our parents and grandmother did the three-course dinner.

A very colorful veggie tart, indeed!

   For an appetizer my mom ordered a vegetable tart, and even though I don't normally like vegetables very much, this dish
made me want more of them. The vegetable tart consisted of a flaky, buttery, crispy puff pastry with mixed vegetables in a sauce on top. The vegetables were in a sweet soy sauce, and they were really good. All the vegetables were tender and soft, just perfect for the dish. It was a great start to an amazing meal! For my entree I went with a pork belly with potatoes, carrots, and onions. The pork belly was a little fatty, but the people at Bistrotters had warned us about that, so it was okay.  They said that you can just cut away the layer of fat at the start, which is what I did. The potatoes were tender and soft, the sauce on the pork belly was salty, thick, and warm. I really loved

My pork belly!

how the pork belly was crispy on the outside, but still tender and juicy on the inside. My meal was great, but someone else's was better. My mom got a fillet and it was amazing! it was tender, juicy, warm, and had a peppercorn sauce to dip it in that was smooth and peppery and went perfectly with the steak. For my dessert, I had a time choosing between a brioche french toast with a salted carmel sauce and the chocolate lava cake with raspberry sorbet, but in the end, I went with the french toast and was happy I did. Brioche is my favorite type of bread for it's butteriness, softness, and it's overall texture and taste. The brioche was cut into strips and fried and had a maple syrup tasting crust on top. There were two thin slices of chocolate which melted atop the french toast and made it even better. The salted caramel sauce wasn't very salty, but that was okay. The french toast was a little dry by itself, so the caramel sauce added not only another dimension of great taste, but some moisture that the french toast needed.

BRIOCHE FRENCH TOAST!

My grandmother got the chocolate lava cake with sorbet, and that was pretty good. The chocolate cake was rich, moist, and sweet, and the "lava" was warm, thick, rich, gooey, and chocolatey. The raspberry sorbet that was on the side was really good. It was cold to the point of refreshing, but not too cold, and the fruit in it was obviously fresh and because of this, it was evident that the sorbet was homemade.

   The atmosphere in Bistrotters was quaint and welcoming, small but special. It looked like just another small restaurant from the outside, but on the inside, it was so much more. It was the best meal I've ever eaten, but I can only hope I eat somewhere even better in the future. Also, the staff (which consisted of two people( the owners) and a chef) were all very nice. The menu was not only in French but also in English, and the staff were happy to answer any questions we had. They spoke both fluent French and English, making it easy to communicate. Overall, this was a great restaurant with the best food I've ever eaten. Everything from the presentation of the food on the plate to the taste to the atmosphere and service was fantastic.

  If you find yourself in Paris, go to Bistrotters.  Make a reservation, though as they turned away a lot people the night we were there. They book 12 days in advance.

   As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being the perfect, warm, gooey, chewy chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie. My Cookie Counter ratings for Bistrotters are:

Food: 25 Cookies! (yes - 25 out of 10 - it's THAT good)
Atmosphere: 7 Cookies
Service: 10 Cookies

Bistrotters Website: http://www.bistrotters.com/?lang=en

 

Christiana Campbell's Tavern- Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

 Another tavern that we went to during our stay at Colonial Williamsburg was Christiana Campbell's Tavern. As we arrived at the tavern, I saw a few familiar figures. Some of my family's friends surprised us by coming to Williamsburg and having dinner with us when we weren't supposed to see them for another week and a half! We walked in and took our seats. There were two areas to sit in, a dining room on the ground level and a dining room on the second level. We ate on the second level. Much like
Shield's Tavern,  all of the waiters there are dressed in colonial period attire, and there is live music and singing. The exterior and interior of the tavern were made almost completely our of wood. The tables

The Crew!

 and seats were made of wood as well. We ate dinner by candlelight and without air conditioning, just as it would've been in the colonial times.

    Christiana Campbell's Tavern offered a wide range of food and also had a kids menu, both menus featuring colonial and modern food to appeal to all tastes.  For an appetizer, I decided to try the clam chowder. The soup was very creamy, warm, and had a lot of flavor. It was one of the best soups I've ever had! Once I finished my soup, I began looking at the menu for an entree.  To me, everything looked good, so it was hard to choose. I ended up going with a steak, my brother ordered a hamburger, and my friend Meredith wanted fried chicken, but asked for a bun to make it a sandwich. Our food came out in a matter of minutes! I have nothing but good things to say about the food. My steak was tender, juicy, and cooked exactly like I asked. My brothers burger was juicy, meaty, and awesome! My friend's fried chicken sandwich was nice and crispy, but the one complaint she had was that the chicken had bones in them. (This was kind of expected because she ordered fried chicken and just added a bun) After a filling and wonderful meal, we went for dessert. For dessert our group chose to order three kinds of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip. All of the ice creams are made in house at the

The inside of Christiana Campbell's Tavern

restaurant, and are always fresh. Once the ice cream came out we all dug in! I first tried the classic vanilla, and even though I usually don't like vanilla ice cream, I really liked it! The vanilla was evident in the ice cream, strong and wonderful. The actual ice cream was soft, creamy, and dreamy.  The chocolate was amazing! it was so good that it was almost like frozen hot chocolate (which is AMAZING if you haven't tried it!). But if the chocolate was like a dream, the mint chocolate chip was like a dream in paradise. Unlike most ice creams where they have that fake mint taste, this one actually tasted like real mint! The ice cream wasn't that fake green, but instead white, the natural color. The mint ice cream was a little harder, but still very good. That right there was the best ice cream I have ever had in my life. The entire meal left me overly stuffed but in a good way, because I loved every bite I took of my food from there.

   Everyone in the restaurant was so helpful, and when someone's soup came out a minute later than the others, our waiter apologized profusely. They knew everything about the menu, and were so patient even though we were such a big group! As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being a burnt, old, stale, nasty oatmeal raisin cookie, and ten cookies being the perfect, warm, gooey, chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie. My Cookie Counter Ratings for Christiana Campbell's Tavern are:

Food: 8 Cookies

Service: 9 Cookies

Atmosphere: 8 Cookies

Shield's Tavern, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

 This weekend I was in Colonial Williamsburg for a family trip. It was a very cool experience, with everyone in costumes and all.  During our trip we ate at a few different restaurants, some good and some which we didn't enjoy as much.  Shield's Tavern was one that we thought was just okay. The restaurant's only light source was candles, and there was no air conditioning (We were supposed to be in the 17-1800's). All of the waiters were in costume, and some were even playing music on guitars and violins while singing! Unfortunately, it was a cold evening, because it was pouring rain outside, but the candles and the food kept us warm.

Shield's Tavern

   There were quite a few options on the menu, and a couple of them looked pretty good to me.  I ordered the special, which was haddock with a crab cake (and a side of potatoes), but because I thought I wasn't going to be able to eat it all, I asked for a half portion.  My brother ordered the pork shank because he loves any and all pork dishes.  He also ordered the half portion as well.  Our food came out pretty quick, which surprised me, because there were quite a few people in the restaurant. Now my brother's plate in itself looked like a full meal, even though it was a half size. Mine, in comparison, looked like an appetizer. I had what looked like a half of a crab cake, and a

Crazy small portion... (My Haddock)

VERY small amount of fish. My side of potatoes looked bigger than the fish itself. My meal did have a little bit of revival, because it tasted good. The fish was cooked well, and had some pretty good seasoning on it. The crab cake, however, was only okay, it was a little overcooked, and did not have enough seasoning. The potatoes were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, just how I like them. Considering the fact that my mom had also ordered fish, but I ordered a half portion, and hers looked at least three times bigger than mine, I was a little annoyed. My brothers dish was really good, tender meat with a really great sauce. All in all, good food, but the portions were totally messed up.

   All the waiters were really nice and made sure that they were able to fulfill our every need. They were very knowledgeable about the menu, and were able to tell you what everything was like.  All in all, this restaurant was pretty good, but had a very big problem with portion sizes.

   As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being a burnt, old, stale, nasty oatmeal cookie, and ten cookies being warm, gooey, melty chocolate chip cookie (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter Ratings for Shield's Tavern are:

Food: 6 Cookies (because of the crazy portion problem and unseasoned crab cakes)

Service: 8 Cookies

Atmosphere: 7 Cookies

Shield's Tavern Information: http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/do/restaurants/historic-dining-taverns/shields/

Mussel Beach- Delray, Florida

Calamari! Yum!

   Until recently, I had never tried mussels. A long time ago, I tried an oyster, but did not like them because of their rubbery texture and taste. The oysters kind of kept me away from trying mussels. But for Mother's Day, because my mom loves mussels we took her to a restaurant called Mussel Beach. Mussel Beach was on a street corner near the ocean, and it had inside as well as  outside tables! The inside of Mussel Beach was very nice, and had a very casual, laid back feeling to it. There was a big hanging sign of a mussel with muscles on the wall, which was pretty funny. There was a guy singing songs, and he was really good! I don't know if he is there all the time but we enjoyed listening to him. This is a great restaurant for a casual dinner of a couple people, or an entire family!

   Everyone in my family got something different, but we shared everything. We started off with a basket of calamari and a bucket of truffle fries. The calamari was cooked to perfection: soft and a little chewy on the inside, and crispy and crunchy on the outside. The fries were

The Lobster Bisque Mussels!

something else. They brought a whole new level to fries that I didn't know was possible, because they were AMAZING!!! They had parmesan cheese, truffle oil, and chives on them, and oh my gosh, they were the best fries I've ever had! Crispy, not too greasy, and just pure deliciousness! It didn't take long to polish off both appetizers, so we moved on to the entrees. You can get the mussels with different types of sauces. My mom and dad both got mussels; my mom got  the French Onion and my dad had Lobster Bisque. My brother and I didn't go for mussels, so instead I got the risotto, and my brother got the Ahi Tuna burger. In all honesty, my risotto wasn't very good, and I wouldn't go order it again. It was flavorless, bland, way too thick,and had barely any texture. I couldn't even finish it, it was that bad. On the flip side, my brother's Ahi Tuna burger was amazing. It had great texture and was cooked to perfection. It had a brioche bun which complimented the tender burger so wonderfully. Both of my parents were pushing for me to try the mussels, and I thought "Why not?", and decided to try them both. I tried the Lobster Bisque first, and I was impressed. I realized that all my worry about trying mussels was pointless. Why? Because they were amazing! The Lobster Bisque mussels had a wonderful, delicious sauce, and the French Onion had French Onion soup that was by far the best I've ever had.

   Everyone at Mussel Beach was very nice, and kept checking up on us to make sure that everything was satisfactory. They knew the menu inside and out, and answered each and every question we had.

   Although I didn't like my risotto, the restaurant as a whole was really good! I definitely look forward to returning, but next time, I won't get the risotto - I'm eating mussels!

   As always, I will be rating the places I eat on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with  one cookie being a burnt, old, stale oatmeal cookie, and ten cookies being a perfect, gooey, warm, chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie! My Cookie Counter ratings for Mussel Beach are:

Food: 8 1/2 Cookies

Service: 9 Cookies

Atmosphere: 8 Cookies

Max's Harvest- Pineapple Grove, Delray Beach

A couple weeks ago, my Grandpa and Grandma joined my family for diner at a restaurant called Max's Harvest. Prior to our visit, we had heard great reviews, so we figured we had to try it ourselves. When we pulled up the address, we found out that it was right next door to The Grove, a great restaurant on Pineapple Grove in Delray. (Go check out my review on it!) Anyways, once we arrived at Max's Harvest, I could tell it was a bit different.

My AWESOME Mac and Cheese!

There were spaces for windows, but there were no windows there. The staff used that as an open passageway to get from the inside tables to the outside ones.  Because of this, the restaurant has a very open atmosphere, and I found it really cool! Once we sat down and were looking through our menus, I noticed something on the  very bottom of the menu. It said that all of the ingredients used to prepare the food at Max's Harvest are always fresh from the farm, not store bought, and all of the animals are given the best care possible. I was really happy to see that, because in today's world, there are so many foods that are beginning to be genetically modified, and it makes them very unhealthy for us, and the consumers would never even know. Kudos to you, Max's Harvest!

   As I looked through the menu, I found a few things that I thought sounded really good! Apparently all the members in our group had found a few things as well, although most of them were appetizers. We decided to order and split a bunch of appetizers and ended up getting one Deviled Heritage Hen Farm Eggs, one Heritage Meatballs, one Local Ricotta Gnocchi, and one Smoked Gouda and Pancetta Mac and Cheese. I was most looking forward to the Mac and Cheese. After waiting for only a few minutes, our food came out, and it smelled great! It

That Crispy Risotto Cake!

took all the willpower I had not to just take the Mac and Cheese and run. Luckily, I was able to withstand the impulse to take it and run, because there was another good treat in store for me soon. Not wanting to eat all of the Mac and Cheese and leave none for everybody else, I opted to try the gnocchi first. To tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed at all by the gnocchi. At first, I really thought I was going to like it, but I really didn't. The gnocchi was huge, and there were only a few of them. The sauce was kind of bland, and didn't really add to the flavor profile. Not Max's Harvest's best work. On the other hand, the Heritage Meatballs were pretty good! The meat was very delectable, and pretty juicy, too! The tomato sauce that the meatballs was submerged in was very good. It had a bold flavor, and you could just tell that the sauce was meant to be with those meatballs. Before this visit, I had never had deviled eggs before, but at the dinner table, my grandma convinced me to try one. I didn't really have any expectations for it, so I guess it was ok. It wasn't something I would go back for, but I did sort of like it. It was pretty salty, and was sort of tangy. The rest of our group really liked them but like I said, I thought it was just ok. Wanting to save what I felt would be the best for last, I finally tried the Smoked

Gouda and Pancetta Macaroni and Cheese. This Mac and Cheese was totally worth the wait. The gouda made a really rich cheese sauce for the dish, and the pancetta added a great smoky flavor. Over all, I would definitely come back for this dish, and it was certainly my favorite one of the night. Because we liked the appetizers so much, we made a group decision to go for another round of them, minus the gnocchi and adding two dishes of the Mac and

Those heavenly frites!

Cheese. I made sure that it was clear that one of the Mac and Cheese's was all mine!  

We also ordered the Crisp Parmesan Risotto Cake, the Scallops & Grits, The Parmesan Truffle Frites (French for french fries) and "THE Burger."  I didn't eat a lot of these because I was so excited about having more mac and cheese.  I did try the Risotto Cake and I ate a bunch of the Frites.  As the menu says, the Risotto Cake was nice and crispy on the outside and the inside was really tasty and gooey.  It came in a tomato pepper sauce that I really liked and had some mushrooms, carrots and zucchini with it.  I didn't try the scallops or burger but my parents both said the scallops were excellent and my Grandpa enjoyed his burger a lot. I absolutely loved my fries, and would've ordered another basket of them if I wasn't so full after these ones! The fries had some really great cheese on them, and it made it taste like a baked potato! The truffle oil was heavenly, so I guess this was a basket of portable baked potatoes made in heaven!

All in all, I really liked Max's Harvest. The staff was great, the food was mostly awesome, and the atmosphere really separated this place from many others. I strongly suggest going to Max's Harvest!

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one being burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten being a warm, gooey, perfect chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie. My Cookie Counter ratings for Max's Harvest are:

Food: 8.5 cookies

Atmosphere: 8.5 cookies

Service: 9 cookies

Max's Harvest Website: http://maxsharvest.com

Charlotte, NC - Bar-B-Q King

A year and a half ago, my dad and I went to a drive in called Bar-B-Q King in Charlotte, N.C. While on a road trip a few weeks ago, my dad knew we were going to pass right by it (it is less than 1.5 miles off the highway) and decided to time our drive so we could stop there for lunch. Because this is a drive-in you have to eat in your car. Just make sure to get extra napkins, because this BBQ is going to get messy!

The outside of Bar-B-Q King

But the messiness is totally worth it! This is the best barbecue you will ever eat, guaranteed! Guy Fieri did a Triple D (Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives)  review on this place and said it was the best barbecue he'd ever eaten.  He also talked about it on the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." If that isn't reassurance that this place is great, I don't know what is. Guy Fieri's Triple D review of this place is how I found out about Bar-B-Q King. My brother ad I were watching Triple D, and when this place came up, i just knew I had to go there and try this great-looking food.  Guy Fieri also spray-painted his face on the wall, so if you do go there, try and find it! BBQ King itself is pretty interesting. It's been around for decades, and the food, or the people who own it, hasn't changed in over 40 years!

My barbecued pulled pork platter!

When you drive up to a little lane/spot, you park there, and wait for someone to come and take your order. It's kind of like a regular restaurant, but without a table. The menus are printed on these little stands next to where you park your car, and you just sit in your car and pick out what you want. Since my dad and I had been there before, we knew what to get. We got two barbecue chicken platters, two pulled pork platters, and an order of hush puppies (deep fried corn meal in the shape of balls). I liked the pulled pork better than the chicken, but they were both really great! The barbecue that BBQ King uses is a vinegary barbecue, which in my opinion, is the best type of barbecue! They also "double-dip" their chicken in barbecue sauce. Once before frying it, once after. If you order any type of platter, it comes with the main part (chicken, pulled pork, ect.), a container or house-made coleslaw, a buttery, flaky biscuit, and a hush puppy or two! My dad and I are both coleslaw fans and we both really liked theirs.  The platter is definitely a better value than the plate, so I strongly suggest that you go with that!

All the people that work at BBQ King are really nice and friendly. Most of them have worked there for a long time, and will help you with anything in any way they can. If you have any questions, just ask! The people there will be happy to help you! Overall, this is an awesome place! Great food, great people, great barbecue! So if you happen to be driving by, be sure to stop in for a quick bite! I guarantee you'll be coming back for seconds.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being burnt, old, stale, burnt, oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being the perfect, gooey, warm chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie. My Cookie Counter ratings for Bar-B-Q King are:

Food: 8 Cookies
Atmosphere: 7 Cookies
Service: 9 Cookies

Bar-B-Q King's Website: http://barbqking.com

Boca Raton, FL - Taco Bell

     This past Friday, after a sports practice, my dad and I were heading to my school's winter carnival. Along the way, we both realized that we were getting pretty hungry.  Not wanting the carnival to close before we arrived, we did something we almost NEVER do - we opted for fast food. There were a few places around us, but we ended up choosing Taco Bell. I am a pretty big fan of mexican food, so I didn't object. When we walked in, I immediately noticed to decor. The building itself was painted in

pretty neutral colors, with some checkered patterns on the walls, and a red horizontal stripe that went around the room. But what really caught my eye were the paintings. There were these really neat paintings on the walls that were done in a graffiti style. They were super colorful and really vibrant.

I'm a grilled "stuft" nacho bandit!

My shredded chicken burrito

     My dad and I ordered two shredded chicken burritos, a grilled "stuft" nacho, and two Doritos locos tacos (1 cool ranch, 1 fiery). Our food was ready about 60 seconds after ordering, so very convenient. My favorite thing I ate was the shredded chicken burrito. It was a burrito with shredded chicken, rice, and an avocado sauce that was really creamy and really yummy. The grilled stuft nacho was also pretty good, but it was basically a triangular tortilla with beef, nacho cheese, and some corn chips. Unfortunately all of the beef had gone into one corner of the triangle, so in each bite you either got all meat or no meat. I normally like Doritos, so I was surprised when I didn't really like the locos tacos. The cool ranch one was okay, but the shell (Doritos) didn't really taste like the chips, and the filling of the taco was about 70% lettuce,  23% beef, and 7% cheese. Not great... The fiery one was pretty much the same story, except for the fact that shell was spicy. I don't like most spicy foods, so I wasn't a fan.

     One of the best things about Taco Bell was the staff. All the staff there were really nice, and circled the restaurant every 5 minutes or so to make sure everyone was okay, and that everyone was enjoying their food.

    Earlier, I reviewed a restaurant called Rocco's Tacos. If you are choosing between these two places, here's my input. Both places will offer mexican food, but the better one BY FAR is Rocco's Tacos. It is more of a dining experience, and is a lot better.  Taco Bell lived up to our expectations for being fast, but not much else.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being a old, stale, burnt oatmeal raisin cookie, and 10 cookies being a perfectly baked, soft, chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Taco Bell are:

Food: 5 Cookies
Atmosphere: 4 Cookies
Service: 7.5 Cookies

Taco Bell's website: http://www.tacobell.com/



   

Livery Tavern - Lewisburg, West Virginia

     Because I was on winter break, and because my family traveled up north to see some of our cousins, we got to go to some really great restaurants with some really off the charts food. Livery Tavern was one of those places that I was super happy to get to eat at.  We've eaten there a few times before and have really enjoyed it.  Before we went to eat there this time, I looked up the restaurant online, and found the entire backstory of the place. Turns out that the family that owns the Livery also owns another nearby restaurant, "Stella's". Stella's was their first

The Livery, all decorated up for Christmas!

restaurant, and was created as a beautiful and elegant restaurant, which they say is just like their mom (Their mom's name was Stella hence the name). When their first restaurant did really well, they decided to open another, called "Livery Tavern".  Because their first restaurant was modeled after their mother, they decided to model this one after their father. A masculine interpretation of a mid-1800's tavern, they certainly delivered. This place looks like a tavern in the woods, which in my opinion, looks AWESOME! The Livery on the outside is made of stone and wood, and the same on the inside. Inside there is a bar, waiting area with couches and a fireplace, and the dining area. One of the things that I really like about this restaurant is how it is such an open atmosphere. Unlike most restaurants, in which rooms and areas are separated by walls, The Livery is one large room, which is really neat.

   One of the really unique aspects of The Livery is that they change their menu every four to six weeks, so you usually have a different menu every time you go there. This way, you are always in for a new and delicious treat! This time I was there, a certain pasta caught my eye. It was a penne pasta with a tomato creme sauce and fresh vegetables. I was intrigued, and decided to go for it, knowing that anything I ordered would be awesome anyways! My dad decided to order oysters to start.  When our food came, I realized I was totally right about the pasta! It was phenomenal! The past was house-made,

My pasta! Yum!

which made the pasta fresh, soft, and just totally perfect! Now the sauce was a whole other ballgame. Normally when I get tomato creme sauce on my pasta at  a restaurant, it is more creme than sauce and you aren't able to taste the tomatoes. This was completely different. You got a really great and bold tomato flavor, and the creme didn't dilute that flavor, which made me very happy. The creme's only purpose was to improve the sauce's texture, and it did just that. The vegetables were fresh and cooked to perfection. Overall impression: Great Pasta! My dad's oysters were really good too! They came cooked three ways; fried, baked, and raw, and all were delicious! Not only is The Livery a place to get great food, it's also a great place to chill out and meet new people. Everyone, including the staff, are nice, and it's always fun to meet new and interesting people! I love The Livery, and I know you will too!

    Livery Tavern is a great place, but kind of far from where I live, so sadly, we can't get there often. But whenever I go, I make the most of it. I strongly suggest that if you're in town, or just nearby, drop in for dinner sometime. I think you'll be happy you did.

   As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with 1 cookie being old, stale, oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and 10 cookies being the perfect, warm, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie. My Cookie Counter ratings for Livery Tavern are:

Food: 8 Cookies
Atmosphere: 9 Cookies
Service: 8 Cookies

Livery Tavern's website: http://liverytavern.com