Well Fed On the Town

Last week I had the pleasure of dining at Spezia, in Omaha, NE. Now, I have written about Spezia before, so I won’t cover that ground again. Suffice it to say, I had an enjoyable business dinner with great food and company.

However, while I was looking over my available choices from the menu, I kept coming back to the fact that I just did not want any of those things that night. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great choices on their menu. Nothing was just reaching out and talking to me though.

So I asked myself, if I order something not on the menu, will they indulge me? You cannot expect that service from just any restaurant. Large chains, including fast food restaurants and restaurants designed around good convenient food (Chili’s, Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, etc.), often will only entertain mild substitutions.

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Located a few miles from where the road ends, just 10 minutes west of the small village of Hanalei, on the North Shore of the most remote Hawaiian Island, Kauai, I will admit that you would have to go a bit out of your way just to dine at Mediterranean Gourmet. However, if you happen to find yourself in the neighborhood, Mediterranean Gourmet is situated in the Hanalei Colony Resort and is well worth the visit.

Open for both Lunch and Dinner, the restaurant is situated right off of the gorgeous White Sand beaches a few miles from the Hanalei Bay and overlooking the crystal blue waters of the Pacific. The menu features many traditional, welcome Mediterranean delicacies, but several have a distinct island flavors twist to them. They effectively marry the unique bounty of the Hawaiian Islands with their Mediterranean roots.

Some of their specials regularly available are such things as Romantic Dinner for Two, a four course Prix Fie menu with a small variety of choices and Picnic Baskets for those wanting to grab some snacks and light foods to accompany their trip to the beach.

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The full winery experience in Manhattan? Yup. It’s coming.

According to the press release:

This fall, New York wine lovers can enjoy the art of winemaking in their own backyard — literally — with the opening of City Winery (143 Varick Street) in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Thanks to founder and CEO, Michael Dorf, oenophiles can now stomp, ferment and bottle their own barrels of Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay in the heart of New York City.

The 21,000-square-foot space blends a wine bar and event space with a fully operational winery that will house 300 barrels; 200 barrels are allocated for full or fractional private ownership. City Winery will import grapes from noted wine regions in California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Chile and Argentina, enabling barrel owners and visitors to participate in the full winemaking experience: crushing, pressing, fermenting, barrel tasting, bottling and labeling. Guidance will come from City Winery’s Master Winemaker David Lecomte, who hails from France’s Rhone Valley and was previously a winemaker at Herzog Wine Cellars in California.

It’s slated to open in the fall.

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Need something fun to do this weekend?  Then you might want to head over to Atlantic Station, “Atlanta’s hottest neighborhood,” for some fun with the Every Day with Rachael Ray gang. 

Get Reel! is a free, live celebration featuring films, food and outdoor fun; the event starts at 7 pm, and this weekend’s featured movies are ET and The Wedding Singer.  E-mail getreel@rd.com for more information.

Photo from RachaelRaymag.com.

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Now just wait a minute! How do you define “Authentic Chinese?”

Well, in this case, it was simple. They handed us two menus when we sat for Dinner, the “American Menu” and the “Chinese Menu.” A little background is in order though.

Seattle was just a day stop for us as we began our vacation. We hopped in the rental car, picked a direction and started driving. Of course, we didn’t notice it was rush hour. But that’s ok, we’ll manage. Then, it started with the sleet, freezing rain and snow…in late April.

So, having wandered north of downtown Seattle, during rush hour, in the snow…we took a side road and wound up seeing Chiang’s Gourmet. A few minutes after the usual, “That looks good, wanna give it a shot?” We were seated and sipping excellent green tea. The next 5 minutes was spent in confusion as we tried to figure out why we were given two menus. Is this lunch? dinner?

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