Love for traveling, food, and whiskey

District Coffee in St Cloud, MN

I started this visit with a delicious Ube Latte. The barista told me that the Ube syrup is made here using Japanese Sweet Potatoes! Absolutely amazing! It’s a must try!

The atmosphere is relaxing and chill. The staff was wonderful and sweet.

I typically love a lox bagel. This one looks cute, but it was so over salted that I couldn’t even eat a quarter of it. MAJOR waste!

Number4 in Mankato MN

Started the evening with a smooth bottle of Bonanza Cabernet

The Bacon Lollipops were super cute to look at, but not something either of us would do again. Some dry and unappealing and others were almost completely fat. We only ate half of it and decided not to waste time on subpar food.

Caprese Bruschetta

Toasted crostinis topped with burrata cheese, sliced heirloom tomato, fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic glaze and basil coulis.

Caprese Bruschetta was by far the most amazing of our food evening. Add a touch of sea salt and this will melt in your mouth and savor the flavor.

Steak Crostinis

Grilled sirloin steak, boursin cheese, pesto, and balsamic reduction. Delicious and definitely would do again, but let’s be real… there’s room for improvement. This is topped with a beet sprout which adds beauty but pulls away from the taste. Adding in parsley or shredded basil would add color and but not pull from the overall taste.

Traditional French Onion soup topped with garlic crostini and gruyere cheese. This was a perfectly balanced soup.

Creamy lobster bisque made from real Maine lobster and a touch of brandy, topped with chives. This was creamy and the large chuck of lobster was great, but it would have been nice to know there was more than just one large chuck.

The Haymaker in Peoria, AZ

Avocado Toast with egg. Great wheat toast, egg over hard with balsamic glaze. Delicious!

Western omelet. Good, but nothing special.

The Cowboy- the breakfast potatoes were the highlight of this dish. They had good flavor. The eggs, sausages, and sourdough toast were good, but a bit under seasoned.

Bread and Honey House Phoenix, AZ

The parking was less than ideal, and they were busier than they expected for a Friday noon. I’d give them another try because I think they were on the right path, but they need to make sure they have good and drink in stock; staff trained; additional staff to keep flow and clean.

CANTARITO

Modelo Special, ChamoyTajin Rim, Grapefruit Juice, Orange Juice. Shot of Tres Amigos Tequila.

Drink didn’t quite blend together and no ingredient was good or bad, just didn’t have that something to make it perfect. Lost opportunity.

PALOMA

Tequila, Grapefruit Juice Salted Rim

Great presentation, but the flavor was a bit off.

ELI’S FISH TACOS

Modelo Blanco beer battered seasonal white ﬁsh, on 2 medium size ﬂour tortillas over a bed of Honey chipotle coleslaw topped with cotija cheese, guacamole and cilantro. Served with ﬁre roasted salsa.

The fish had a light breading and deep fried with a light spice. The salsa with it paired nicely. The tortillas were delicious.

BIG BLT

Applewood bacon, spring mix lettuce, tomatoes. guacamole and mayo spread, all stacked and sandwiched between 2 pieces of Heartland grain bread toasted. Served with fruit.

The fruit was delicious and perfectly ripened. The BLT was PACKED with bacon! DELICIOUS!!

CHICKEN QUESADILLA

Flour Tortilla Toasted To A Crispy With 5 Cheese Blend, & Roasted Chicken, Guacamole, Crema And Roasted Salsa.

Great flavor and specifically the salsa was perfect. Home-made tortilla was perfect!

Organ Stop Pizza Mesa, AZ

Who wouldn’t want pizza and organ music together?! This unique restaurant was so fun. It features an organ that “has 1,074 keys, buttons, and switches linked to a series of xylophones, glockenspiels, gongs, and cymbals to create the sound of a full orchestra.” They take requests so you will hear everything from Flight of the Bumblebee to Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid to the Mario Bros theme. It was a full house and yet they did a pretty good job of getting food out promptly. If you are looking to step out of the ordinary, this is the dining experience for you!

Totally forgot to take a picture before we started eating! 😂 We went with The Combination pizza minus the green peppers. We also did a garlic cheese bread appetizer. The pizza crust was a perfect in between of thin and thick crust. We enjoyed the meal.

https://organstoppizza.com

Arizona Broadway Theatre NYE event

https://azbroadway.org/

For New Years Eve we did the dinner and a show at the Arizona Broadway Theatre. It started with a basic wedge salad topped with fried onions, diced onions and tomatoes and bleu cheese. We all chose the option of Italian dressing instead of the bleu cheese dressing. The salad was a bit of a bore and was just plain ol iceberg lettuce. It made do but did not match the level of expectations we had for the dish.

Steak and grilled shrimp with a demi glaze was our entrée. It came with roasted baby potatoes a carrot and asparagus. The meat was cooked medium rare and was great! The veggies had good flavor. Felt this course was great.

The meal concluded with a Turtle cheesecake. It was just what you want in a cheesecake, creamy and decadent but not too rich. Was a delicious treat for the end of the meal.

The show was the band Not Fade Away: a Rock and Roll Reignited. They did a wonderful job. They kept the show moving along and delighted us with the hits of Buddy Holly and others of the era. It was so fun to sing along and dance in your chair along with the band. It was especially fun to see how much the entire crowd enjoyed it. It really made for a great night.

The Flatiron Jerome, AZ

The salad came with the option to add goat cheese, so we did. It was delicious. Veggies could have been cut a bit smaller, and the apple cider balsamic was mild, but still a good salad. I also had a latte there. That was a hit and would recommend the latte.

Roast beef sandwich was good but very messy. It came with potato chips for a side.

The CAT sandwich was an avocado, tomato, lettuce, red onion and melted cheddar cheese sandwich on toasted whole wheat bread. It had a light amount of apple cider balsamic. It tasted ok. We definitely felt it was missing something to tie it all together. It came with a side salad of mixed greens, cucumber, carrots, and red onions with the apple cider balsamic. It was kinda lacking flavor.

Cute little, quirky place with lots of history, but the service wasn’t great, and the owner/ worker was less than polite… or might I say just downright rude.

Char in Peoria, AZ

https://charpizzeria.com/

We ordered the Lobster and Garlic pizza as well as the Meat Lovers pizza. Loved the lobster and garlic, it had great flavor, was cooked the right amount, and hit the spot. Only downside would be that the tomatoes were sliced too large, they should have been diced in our opinion. The Meat Lovers was a bit over done, had a LOT of grease, and was made of with all very processed meats. You could pick mild or spicy sausage. With choosing spicy, it gave the pizza some mild flavor but didn’t redeem it. Would go back for the Lobster and Garlic pizza. But wasn’t impressed by the other.

Franke’s Bakery

EST. 1914 in Montgomery, MN. We both said it was like stepping into great grandmas kitchen. The shop had an abundance of bakery items and fresh breads. Their Czechoslovakian heritage can be seen throughout the shop and had a mix of antiques and old photos as well. The only downside was the lack of beverages, specifically no latte options.