Brunch 1/23/11— The Radnor Hotel 591 E. Lancaster Ave. St Davids (Wayne), PA

Like any “Foodie”, we always make justifications in our diet like we’ve been doing well so let’s live a little!  Isn’t that how most of us think?  Hey, we worked out this morning, so I’m sure we can afford those extra calories!   Exactly my thinking in choosing today’s brunch place, The Radnor Hotel. 

Today we were seated off of the main dining room in the Glenmorgan Bar and Grill—I considered this to be a plus because it was not nearly as noisy or as congested as the main dining area of the buffet.

This buffet is $27.95 for adults and $13.95 for children under 12.  The buffet literally had everything and then some that somebody would want in a brunch buffet.  The menu states that they have the following:   Champagne or Mimosa, Fresh Orange, Grapefruit and Cranberry Juices, Seasonal Sliced Fruit and Berries, Imported and Domestic Cheese Mirrors, Fresh Crudité and Dips, Variety of Smoked Seafood, Peel 'n Eat Shrimp, Tossed Salad Bar and Marinated Specialty Salads, Bacon and Sausage, Homefried Potatoes, Corned Beef Hash, Scrambled Eggs, Made-to-Order Omelets, Fresh Homemade Waffles, French Toast, Fresh Pasta Du Jour,
Carved Roasted Meats including the following:  Roast Beef, Turkey Breast and Ham
Grilled Chicken, Baked Fresh Fish, Rice Pilaf, Medley of Fresh Vegetables, Cheese Blintzes with Seasonal Fruit Sauces, Freshly Baked Breakfast Pastries, Bagels and Breads, Assorted Desserts
Chocolate Fountain Dessert Premium Belgian Chocolate with Fresh Strawberries, Crème Puffs, Pretzels and Marshmallows, Freshly Brewed Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee and a Selection of Twinings Tea.

I began my meal with a half of sesame seed bagel, cream cheese, lox, tomato and cucumber.  This was a nice start and the bagel was a good size—the lox came with capers all around it which added a nice touch as well.  I wouldn’t say the lox was the best I have ever had, but it was very acceptable as a buffet goes.  Overall this sandwich was a nice start. 

On my way back to the table with my lox and bagel, I stopped at the Omelet station and ordered one with spinach, mushrooms, tomato, onions, ham and cheese.  I would say that this was about a two to two and a half egg omelet.  The flavor of this was delicious and there is nothing like having one prepared to your exact specifications made right in front of you. 

As I finished the aforementioned, I was already thinking this was a lot of food since I have been watching my calories a bit more; however, in true “Foodie” fashion, I chose to get another plate albeit I didn’t opt for a lot of food in my second trip.  I chose to sample the carving station with a piece of roast beef and a piece of turkey as well.  I then put one spoonful of corned beef hash on my plate and went back to the table.  The roast beef was done medium well and was not to my liking because of the temperature of the meat, but the turkey was moist and delicious.  I would highly recommend the turkey as well as the corned beef hash.  The hash was just as I remember a good corned beef hash to be and was extremely tasty. 

As many know about me, I am not a drinker, but I did actually have two mimosas with the meal.  I found the mimosa to be very refreshing and quite delicious.  After the second mimosa, I switched to iced tea. 

As good as the appetizers and main course items were on this buffet, the desserts were even better.  The restaurant served a plethora of pies and cakes along with a warm cobbler.   While these desserts all looked very good, there is nothing like chocolate to complete the meal! 

The Hotel offers an unbelievable chocolate fountain.  I chose to dip 2 strawberries, 2 marshmallows and 2 crème puffs.  What a wonderful way to finish the meal.  Each bite was absolutely delicious and even though it is fairly decadent, I believe my 6 dipped smaller items would be better (calorie-wise) than one piece of the pecan pie (which was offered).   The chocolate was a Belgian milk chocolate and gave a wonderful flavor to all of the items. 

My companion had many of the same items that I did including the Omelet station as well.

Generally, I am not one who is a big proponent of buffets (hard to believe as the “Fat Foodie”).  This buffet though is an exception to the rule.  There is actually value in this buffet since all beverages are included.  Between us, we had 5 mimosas and 2 iced teas.  Normally this would add a lot of cost to the meal as a result, but it doesn’t here!   I realize there are probably some better buffets in the Philadelphia area for brunch, but they are considerably higher in price and not drastically better than this one.  If you choose to sit in the main dining room, there is a piano player.  Reservations are highly suggested.

Brunch was $56 before tax and tip. 

4.5 Brownies

Dinner 1/22/11— Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar 549 Wilmington West Chester Pike (Rte 202) Glen Mills, PA

Tonight we were joined by another  couple (very good friends--Jean and Joel) who we have known for many years.  They had suggested this new restaurant, Harvest, which is located in the Glen Eagle Shopping Center just South (on Rte 202) of the intersection of Rtes 1&202 and we were eager to try it with them.  Upon arrival, I thought we might have to wait a while because the place was really “hopping” and we were asked to go to the bar area.  The bar area is fairly large and I figured we were in for a long wait for a table, even though we had a 7:30 reservation.  Much to my surprise we were seated almost immediately and had to take our drinks from the bar to the table.

Once seated, we were greeted fairly quickly by a very gregarious waiter, Eric.  Eric went through the menu and specials with us and told us that the main concept of the place is to use all local purveyors and farms and that everything is very fresh as a result.  He also told us that almost all of the entrees are less than 500 calories unless marked otherwise. 

My review tonight will be in a bit different order where I review each appetizer first because three of us ordered the same nightly special.  I began with an Iceberg salad which is described on the menu as diced Tomatoes, prosciutto bacon & organic buttermilk blue cheese dressing ($8).  This salad was tasty enough although I thought the dressing lacked that good blue cheese taste that I would have expected.  The prosciutto bacon helped to offset this nicely though. 

One of my companions chose as her appetizer the boneless wings($9).  These were nicely served on long thin skewers.  These were described on the menu as grilled Mexican spiced, carrots, celery with gorgonzola vinaigrette.  I did sample the wings and agreed with my companion that they were very good and had a nice flavor.  

One of my other companions ordered the Baby Spinach Salad ($10).  This was the larger size of the nightly special salad that was available.  My companion indicated that the greens were nice and fresh and seemed to enjoy this as an appetizer.

My other companion chose the Winter Salad ($10) which was the larger size as well.  This salad was described on the menu as frisee, arugula, winter Anjou pears, cranberry chevre, toasted Pecans & pomegranate cranberry vinaigrette.   This salad looked well prepared and gave a nice appearance and my companion indicated it was very good.

Before getting to the main course, I would be remised if I did not mention that there is no form of bread or butter that comes with anything in following with the theme of lower calorie food. 

Our party did have additional drinks including a Grey Goose Cosmo ($10), a glass of Canyon Oaks Chardonnay($7) and a Coors Light ($4) before the main course was served.

As aforementioned, three of us ordered the same entrée which was the Pan Seared Grouper ($25).  Now as I have stated in earlier reviews, I am not keen on ordering “specials” because it’s like going into a fight unarmed!  The price can be any amount they want it to be because most people will never ask. 

The grouper was nicely prepared and came in a lemon sauce over risotto accompanied by green beans.  The grouper is a meaty fish and was very moist.  The risotto was done to perfection and delicious.  It was interesting because I felt as though the lemon sauce that the fish was prepared with overpowered the dish so I asked my two companions their opinions since we had the same meal.  One of my two companions tended to agree with me while the other thought it was fine.  Since we were even discussing this I would tend to believe that the sauce was not as much of an enhancement to the entrée as the chef might have desired.  The green beans were a nice accompaniment and done nicely albeit I thought the lemon sauce did them no justice. 

My other companion ordered the halibut from the regular menu.  This is described on the menu as Alaskan Halibut oven roasted with buckwheat soba noodles, asian vegetables and a ginger scallion broth ($23).  I sampled a piece of the halibut and concurred with my companion that it was very good.  The halibut is a bit more flaky of a fish than the grouper, but it was served nicely and my companion seemed to really enjoy it. 

Harvest is like a few other restaurants in having desserts already made and offering to the table in small glasses.  Each of these desserts is under 500 calories as well and is offered for $3. 

I chose the Smores dessert which was excellent.  The dessert was a nice size and had some chocolate mousse and mini marshmallows in it along with crushed graham crackers in the bottom and a small graham cracker on top.  I was quite pleased. 

One of my companions ordered the Key Lime Pie dessert which she felt was very good as well.  She indicated that this dessert was flavorful and had a wonderful consistency.  One of my other companions had the chocolate mousse which she also indicated was very delectable.  These desserts were bigger than other places mini offerings, but could have more calories so that becomes the trade off.

This restaurant is part of the Magrogan group of restaurants which includes Doc Magrogan’s and Kildare’s.  This concept is similar to what Seasons 52 is doing and I have already reviewed that place.  This is a tough restaurant for a true “Foodie” to review because portion size and cooking nuances dictate the goal of the restaurant which may not appeal to “Foodies”.  Also, I want to add that this place is done very well and has a beautiful ambiance, but again that isn’t what I rate on.   

I did think that the portion size of the entrees was small for the price.  While the food was very good, this enters into deciding how much value there was for the price paid.  Dinner for 4 without tax and tip was $180.

3.5 Brownies

 

   

Dinner 1/15/11— The French Quarter Bistro 215 Main St. Royersford, PA

Okay, so I know the reviews have been a bit more scarce to start the New Year, but that is not because the “Fat Foodie” has eaten out fewer times, it is because I have eaten at many of the same fine places I have shared with you in the last month since the beginning of the blog.

What I did realize is that it is a huge undertaking to put out twenty plus reviews in a month! 

That being said, on to the food!

Tonight, we went to a place that we have never dined in before, but the other couple with us had said it was very good, so we decided to give it a try.  The style of the food is Cajun/New Orleans and albeit I have never been one who is in love with more seasoned food, I believe my palate has expanded quite a bit from years ago.  For many who don’t understand my lack of “sophistication” with spices, it has to do in being raised in a household in which my father had a heart attack when I was still fairly young; thus, all of our food was cooked rather blandly to adhere to his dietary restrictions.

The French Quarter Bistro is in a quaint part of Royersford and has an ample sized bar as well as dining room.  The menu is rather extensive with a lot of cocktail and beer choices as well as extremely plentiful on all of the food available.

I began my meal with a cocktail ($6) which was a mixture of some various fruit juices and sour mix.  It was fairly unique tasting, but quite good.  One of the members of our party chose the beer special which was Magic Hat for $3.  My other companions had respectively iced tea and a pomegranate martini.  I am not one who likes martinis generally, but this was absolutely a great drink with very good flavor. 

All of the food sounded great as described on the menu so I split an appetizer with one of my companions—this was the fried tomato appetizer which was described on the menu as “Fried tomatoes with lump crabmeat and topped with a chipotle remoulade”.  This appetizer was tremendous.  There was a nice amount of crabmeat served with the fried tomatoes over some greens.  The remoulade accentuated the dish perfectly. 

This appetizer was relatively small since we were splitting it so I also ordered a crock rather than the bowl size of the gumbo.  Any New Orleans style restaurant needs a good gumbo if it is to be valued as truly authentic.  This crock of gumbo ($4.50) was outstanding.  This soup was a perfect blend of spices and “up there” for my temperature tolerances, but was truly a gem.  The gumbo had great consistency and was wonderful with the andouille sausage, crab and rice. 

Like any true “Foodie” might do to conserve eating space since I had the gumbo and the fried tomatoes, I asked not to be served the dinner salad.  The other members of my party all had the salad and it appeared to be a nice blend of lettuce almost like a spring mix.  The salad looked fresh, but again I did not partake.  I should also mention that the appetizers were accompanied by homemade cornbread which was outstanding.  The bread was moist enough to eat without any butter, but that just wouldn’t be this “Fat Foodie’s  MO”. 

My main course was a real winner.  This was the Louisiana Skillet Fried Chicken ($16) which is described on the menu as a battered fried chicken breast smothered in a mushroom cream sauce--served with mashed potatoes and maque choux.  This was arguably one of the best entrees I have had in a long time.  The chicken was done to perfection and the sauce was delicious.  Both the potatoes and the maque choux were outstanding as well.  For those of you who are not familiar, maque choux is corn with green peppers, tomato and onion with a hint of garlic and celery.  Again, the entire entrée was delicious!

One of my companions began her meal by splitting an order of the Cajun popcorn crawfish ($8).  I sampled this and concurred with her conclusion that this was an awesome appetizer.  The crawfish was served with a nice creole mustard .  Her main course was the blackened tuna ($19).  The tuna was fairly moist and was accentuated nicely with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and spicy green beans.  This was a very nice entrée for the money and tasted great.

Another person at our table ordered for her entrée the Slow Cooked Pulled Pork ($12) which came with mashed potatoes and the maque choux.  I sampled the pork as well and was impressed with this dish too.  The pork was a perfect blend of sweet vs. spice and had great consistency and tenderness. 

My other companion chose a special which included the crock of gumbo and the Shrimp and Andouille Jambalaya ($20 for the special).  I took a taste of this dish as well and again agreed with my companion that this was unbelievable.  My fellow companion is one who I would classify as a “foodie” as well and he took home a nice sized portion from his meal. 

Now at this point, I hope I have conveyed that there was a lot of food and it was all good.  Now most people might have called it an evening, but this “Fat Foodie” had to sample the desserts.  Although I was very interested in the Bourbon Pecan Pie, I didn’t order this for the sake of the calories if you can believe that.  I opted instead for the Bananas Foster Bread Pudding ($6) which was remarkable.  This bread pudding had a perfect blend of banana and the sauce was phenomenal.  One of my companions ordered crème brulee ($6) which she stated was delicious and done to perfection--  I did not sample!   One of my other companions ordered the Banana Caramel Fried Cheesecake ($6) which she also stated was delicious.  Again, I didn’t sample this one, but it looked great!

Dinner for four people with drinks was $147 before tax and tip, but well worth it!  This place is quaint and may not look like much, but the food is worth coming for again!

Overall 4.5 Brownies

Dinner 12/24/10— The Cheesecake Factory 640 W. Dekalb Pike King of Prussia, PA

For many years, our tradition on Christmas Eve was to eat home and then pack the kids into the car and go out and look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music on the car radio.  Well this ain’t your father’s Oldsmobile anymore!!  The kids are basically grown and do their own thing for the most part so our traditions are evolving.  That can only mean one thing to a Foodie--  Dinner out!!

This year with Christmas Eve falling on a Friday, restaurants were up against it a bit in the sense that they didn’t want to really lose their 2 strongest nights of the week.  This provided many more options to eat dinner in than what might normally be available as a result.

We chose The Cheesecake Factory in the King of Prussia Plaza.  I was a bit nervous going there because they do not take reservations, but when we called to determine how busy they were, they said there was no wait (normally on a Friday evening at 6:00 you should expect to wait 60 to 90 minutes here!). 

Upon arriving, we were seated almost immediately.  We were treated to a nice bread basket while choosing our entrees.  This bread basket had a nice sour dough loaf and a very good brown bread (not certain if wheat or pumpernickel with rolled oats on the outside of it).  

One of my dinner companions ordered the Hot Spinach and Cheese Dip appetizer ($10.95) which came with tortilla chips and a small portion of salsa.  This appetizer was large enough to feed all 3 people at the table and was delicious!  There seemed to be an endless supply of chips and the creamy texture and taste of the dip made it very appealing to continue to partake.

I chose the Factory Chopped Salad ($9.95) as my main course (yes a somewhat strange selection for this Fat Foodie on a holiday!).  This salad has great consistency with everything being chopped perfectly.  The salad consisted of romaine, grilled chicken, tomato, corn, bacon, blue cheese and apple with Vinaigrette.  I elected to ask not to have the avocado that comes with the salad and also to have blue cheese dressing on the side rather than the Vinaigrette.  This salad came together wonderfully because of its consistency—I truly believe chopped salad is a great way to have any salad.   The portion of salad is an obscene amount of food like most on the menu, but this “Fat Foodie” ate all of it!  The blue cheese dressing at Cheesecake Factory is unbelievable and probably one of the best around.

One of my companions chose the Chicken Dipana ($12.95).  The chicken was pounded out into thin pieces with a delectable light breading over the chicken.  This dish was quite flavorful because a light lemon flavored sauce is served with the chicken.  The dish is complemented with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and is an enormous portion for the money (could easily be split).  This was one of the best entrees I have ever tasted at The Cheesecake Factory!

My other companion chose the Southern Fried Chicken sliders ($8.95) for her entrée.  This comes with four nicely sized sliders and is complemented with a pickle slice and roma tomato slice for each one.  My companion wasn’t crazy about the sliders because she felt they were too highly seasoned.  I tasted the slider and concur that the batter has a little too much “kick” and would be a difficult dish for younger children.  Overall though, the sliders were still acceptable.

Now what is The Cheesecake Factory without ordering dessert?  Even though I had really eaten a lot of salad, it was still salad; thus, on to the dessert menu!!

Dessert at The Cheesecake Factory is like being let into a toy store, but only being permitted to play with one toy.  What do you choose?  Let me preface these comments by admitting I am not the biggest lover of cheesecake, but no worries here because there is still plenty of dessert to choose from.

Tonight, I opted for the godiva brownie sundae ($7.95)--  this is three small triangles of godiva brownies served with 3 small scoops of ice cream.  Each scoop of ice cream has a small godiva chocolate inserted into it.  The dessert is then finished with hot fudge around it along with slivered almonds.  This dessert is sheer ecstasy for a chocolate lover.  Whenever I have ordered this dessert, I have eaten one brownie and one scoop of the ice cream and have taken the remainder home—tonight was no exception.  This is a big dessert and could easily be split for the entire table. 

The bill was $59 before tax and tip. 

Now I realize that The Cheesecake Factory is a chain restaurant, but it is truly one of the best chains and the consistency of the chain is unparalleled.  I would highly recommend this place, but remember the wait can be substantial.

4.5 Brownies

Dinner 12/22/10— Anthony’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant 127 West King Street Malvern, PA

Tonight I chose to go to another neighborhood type restaurant--  Anthony’s Pizza & Italian restaurant in Malvern.  Anthony’s is on King Street in the middle of the cozy town of Malvern.  Don’t let the name fool you though because this restaurant is definitely more of a restaurant than a “pizza joint”.  Anthony’s is always busy and does a remarkable takeout business.  They are also a byob place and you will see numerous people taking advantage of this when dining.

Since it was a cold evening, I started off with a cup of homemade Chicken Pastina soup ($3.75).  This alleged cup was really a small bowl and was very nicely sized for the money.  The flavor of this soup was delicious and I remarked to my dining companions that if I am ever sick and there is no homemade soup in the house that this soup would suffice as proper medication!  It’s certainly not a chicken matzah ball soup, but the pastina noodle was delectable in this broth with an ample amount of vegetables and chicken as well. 

After my soup, I had a chicken cheese steak with broccoli and fried onions($7.00).  This sandwich could easily be split into 2 servings because it is served on a 12 inch roll and there was plenty of chicken on the entire roll.  Now this “Fat Foodie” understands that some may not like any green vegetable coming anywhere near a “cheese steak”, but this is truly a good sandwich at Anthony’s.  There is an ample amount of cheese throughout the steak which makes the sandwich very tasty.  This is truly one of the only places that I would actually order a chicken cheese steak from because I know that they do a good job with this sandwich. 

One of my dining companions ordered the Spaghetti with meat sauce, but actually was served Spaghetti with meat balls ($10.50) instead—she chose not to say anything and when I tasted this dish, I concurred that the pasta was cooked well and the meatballs were good.  This dish was served with a nice house salad first along with some good Italian bread.  The pasta as I said was good, but not overly memorable.

My other dining companion ordered the same soup that I had and then ordered a cheese steak ($6.25).  This cheese steak was a bit bland when I tasted it because she ordered a more dry cheese (provolone) and had no fried onions on it either.  This steak was not particularly to my liking, but again this is probably not the restaurant’s fault on this one!

Anthony’s as aforementioned does a great takeout business and continues to be a staple in the “downtown” Malvern business district.  They put out a good product at a reasonable price.  Tonight’s bill was $36 before tax and tip. 

3.5 Brownies

Dinner 12/18/10— Franzone’s 501 Dekalb Street (at W. 5th St) Bridgeport, PA

So after a rather poor lunch experience from earlier today, we decided to eat dinner a bit on the early side because we were hungry and want to celebrate the exhilarating win by the Eagles over the Giants!  We also had some Xmas shopping to do so we decided to go towards the King of Prussia mall.  Since we were going this way, I decided to go just 5 to 7 minutes past the mall to Bridgeport to one of my childhood pizza places, Franzone’s. 

Franzone’s has been in its Bridgeport location for 55 years so one would believe they have done something right.  The menu at Franzone’s is fairly expansive, but if you only go there very occasionally as we do then you should get their pizza!

We chose to order a large plain pizza ($11.10) and a veal parmesan sandwich ($6.25).  The veal parm sandwich was served first and we split this.  This sandwich was very good and the roll was unbelievable.  I am not certain which bread company Franzone’s uses, but it was a very good sandwich because of the bread.

The pizza arrived a few minutes later and looked phenomenal!  Franzone’s does a unique style in that they put cheese on the pizza first and then put the sauce in a circle ring over the top of the cheese.  The crust of the Franzone pizza is as close to a “Boardwalk style” pizza as you will find in the area.  This pizza has always reminded me of a sweet version of the famous Mack and Manco pizza in Ocean City.  This pizza was served hot and albeit I had to wait a few minutes to avoid burning the roof of my mouth, it was well worth the wait!  The pizza was cut somewhat uniquely into 10 ample slices and I believe is a 16 inch pie. 

Franzone’s at one point was a tough place to eat because they allowed smoking—they then tried to make a no smoking section for a few years, but that didn’t really work well either.  Today, with Pennsylvania’s laws about smoking, it is much more enjoyable to be able to eat in this restaurant again.  This restaurant is not fancy in any way, but continues to offer consistent food at a fair price.

Franzone’s has a beer license as well so they do a good business for takeout as a result.  On Monday evenings if one is looking for a value, Franzone’s offers a “beat the clock special” on plain pizza.  Whatever time you pick up your pizza (after 5:00) is what you pay for the pie; thus, a 6:15 pm pickup means you get your pizza for $6.15. 

Overall, this is a good place that has held its quality over the years.  Dinner for 3 was $24 before tip.

4 Brownies