Aburi Gardens

It has been a while since I've written anything, but last night I had a great experience that I just had to write about. 

For several days, we had been finishing up a big pan of lasagna that I had made, and I couldn't eat another bite of it! I wanted to try something new... something different! Something... not lasagna!

My husband and I decided to head up to Aburi Gardens in Woodbridge which serves traditional Ghanaian food. Neither of us had tried that kind of food before and we definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Instead of making us feel awkward, we were instantly welcomed. 

It is a comfortable, casual, and clean family owned place. There were nice big TVs on either side of the place which were both tuned to football, which was great. 

I think you are supposed to go to the register and order, but someone came to our table to help us. He told us that he could tell we weren't familiar with the food and he offered us some suggestions. He suggested a goat curry and a fish curry. Both came with spicy rice and plantains. The fish could be mixed with either black eyed peas or spinach. We went with the black eyed peas but in retrospect, I think the spinach would have been better. 

Still, the food was excellent. My daughter, who is now a toddler just under the age of 2, couldn't get enough of the spicy rice. She would eat a bunch of it and then drink lots of water. We finally had to cut her off from the rice so that it didn't get too much for her... but she would have kept eating if it were up to her!

The fish was delicious, but we had to eat it carefully because it still had the bones in it. I often feel like I prefer fish that way, though. The bones seem to keep the meat tender. I wasn't a big fan of the black eyed peas, though. I thought they were too starchy. I think this dish would have been perfect with the spinach choice. 

The goat was a little fatty, but sooo delicious. Some times you need a little fat to make things taste even better ;)

The vibe in the restaurant was so much fun. People were sitting in booths, chatting about their day. Others were just hanging out and watching the game. At half time, they showed the monkey that rides on the dog. A man a couple tables away laughed, turned to me, and remarked how there must be more videos of them on youtube. (There are... I've seen them there, lol) It felt really homey and nice to be there. 

The portions were large and not that expensive. We ordered two dishes and took half of the food home. The dishes were $12-$13. 

All in all, if you are feeling a little adventurous, I would definitely recommend trying Aburi Gardens. We had a great time!

Gelato Cafe

Did you know we had a gelato place in Stafford? I didn't.

After a few rough nights due to my daughter teething and related issues, I was pretty burnt out and ready to do something fun. Even my daughter needed a break and despite having a limited vocabulary, she relayed that message to me by repeatedly asking for her shoes.

A quick Google search brought up Gelato Cafe. It is located in Aquia Park off of Jefferson Davis near the Aquia 95 exit.

Though strangely colorful outside, it is surprisingly modern inside.

Strangely colorful.

Surprisingly modern.

It looks like a great place to meet up with or hang out with friends.

I read on Yelp that the owner gets cranky if you ask for too many samples. I didn't feel like testing that theory since I was out for a fun trip with my daughter after a rough few days. I asked for samples of caramel and chocolate. I liked them both and opted for chocolate. It was enjoyably sweet and lighter than ice cream. You are definitely not going to confuse it with gelato you would find in Italy, but it was really solid and I enjoyed it. It was perfect for the warm day.

Happiness in a cup

A small cup of gelato and a Horizon Organic chocolate milk box came out to $4.99, which is a little high but actually not terrible considering both of those items are usually pretty expensive. I got the chocolate milk for my daughter because she isn't a big fan of ice cream and other frozen desserts. I'm hoping it is a phase she grows out of soon.

I also noted that they had a sugar free (Splenda) flavor, so I will probably come here the next time my family visits because there are a couple people who don't eat sugar.

All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the trip. I highly recommend it as somewhere to try if you are looking for somewhere to go and hang out.

Sushi at Taka

Hi all! The past couple months have been busy with family and friends so I haven't had much time to post. You missed me, didn't you? ;)

So we have all heard about my terrible experience at Sake... if they ever get better, someone please let me know. I am really addicted to sushi (giving up sushi was the hardest part of my pregnancy!) so I was really curious about Taka. It opened recently next to Fresh Chops and Goodwill. I even had a 20% off coupon that I had received in the mail.

The decor inside is nice, but the layout is a little strange. They have several hibachi tables and a sushi bar. We didn't want hibachi, but we couldn't sit at the sushi bar because my daughter's high chair wouldn't reach that high. They don't have a regular table to sit around if you want to go out to sushi with a bunch of friends. Before my daughter was born, I didn't mind sitting at the sushi bar if it was just me and my husband, but when you have a group of friends it is really hard to talk if you are all sitting in a line.

Anyways, although the restaurant was completely empty except for one family that was sitting at a hibachi table, the hostess motioned for us to sit at the same table as them. I thought it was strange but I sat down. They looked uncomfortable. We looked uncomfortable. I also feel bad subjecting other people to sitting with a toddler. My daughter is really well behaved at restaurants for her age... but she is still barely older than one.

We looked through the menu and found no mention of sushi anywhere. After looking it over a few times, we finally looked back and saw the pile of sushi menus next to the hostess. She saw us looking at her and said "oh... did you want a sushi menu?" and gave us two. We then realized she hadn't given us a pencil so my husband went back up to her to get one out of the little jar.

They have a lot of decent priced rolls between $5 and $6 and also some specialty rolls that are more expensive, but not unreasonable. We marked the rolls we wanted. When our waitress came, my husband asked her if the nigiri prices were for one or two pieces. She had no idea what we were talking about. She had no idea what nigiri was. She kept asking us what number we were talking about. My husband looked confused and said "any of the nigiri... are the prices for one or two pieces?"

The prices seemed in line with places that serve two pieces of nigiri per order... but we never did find out. She went to ask someone and then returned with "it could be one piece or two pieces." When we asked her what she meant or which ones she was talking about, she answered with "Sometimes it is one and sometimes it is two." ... wha?! I'm still not convinced she has any idea what nigiri is. If anyone goes to Taka and gets nigiri, please let me know how many pieces you get.

We finally selected some rolls: 1 spicy crab, 1 spicy salmon, one Jazz roll (spicy tuna, crab, avocado), one shrimp tempura roll, one Hollywood roll (yellowtail, salmon, cucumber), and two eel and avocado (we always get a couple of these now because my daughter likes them). We handed our sushi paper to our waitress and she stared at us. Then she said "oh... you don't want anything else?" I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a concept of how much sushi a person usually eats. Seven rolls is actually a lot for us, we usually get six. I'm also pretty sure our waitress had never eaten sushi before.

Then the teppanyaki show started. I have nothing against teppanyaki or the show, but it isn't really something I had planned on taking my daughter to.

At first the chef was swinging knives around and making lots of noise. My daughter's eyes grew very big but she seemed interested, not scared. Then he made a giant fireball. If my daughter wasn't strapped into the high chair I think she would have jumped about 4 feet in the air and landed on my lap. She was terrified. She didn't say anything but it was all over her face and her arms were flailing towards me and my husband. We took her out of the high chair and asked if we could move to one of... you know... the empty tables?

We moved ourselves to the table in the back of the restaurant. Not trusting our waitress, my husband waited a few minutes and then went and retrieved our water from our previous table. She finally arrived with new silverware and said, "oh... I would have gotten that for you." I'm sure she would have... eventually.

A bonus about sitting in the back of the room (aside from the fact that we were away from any giant fireballs that may scare my daughter and we got to sit at our own table) is that in this location we had a second waitress we could flag down who seemed more competent than the first.

Our sushi arrived. Our original waitress brought it to us and said "they said they didn't have yellowtail." We looked at our plate and there were four rolls. I scanned to see what was missing and asked where our eel and avocado rolls were. She looked extremely flustered by my question and stammered, "they said everything was here except for the yellowtail!" I don't think she had expected to answer any more sushi related questions. My husband then said, "we ordered two eel and avocado rolls and they aren't here." The waitress scurried back to the sushi chefs with our sheet. I think it was an honest mistake because all of the rolls we had marked were on one side of the page except for the eel and avocado rolls which were on the other side. I just found the situation kind of amusing. Usually when you order sushi, the waitress puts the rolls right in front of you and points to the various rolls and tells you what they are. Our waitress seemed to have no idea what sushi was at all.

As we waited we looked around the restaurant. There were two (non related) families sitting next to each other at the second hibachi table looking at each other uncomfortably.

You know what can ease the pain of a bad service experience? Good food.

What? You spilled water on my head? Okay!

The rolls were really good. The spicy rolls were flavorful but not so overly spicy that it hid the flavor of the fish. The Jazz roll was delicious... a tasty roll with fresh fish piled on top. The only roll I wasn't too fond of was the eel and avocado roll. The actual eel and avocado tasted great, but the sauce on it tasted weird... kind of like what I imagine eating flowers would taste like. All in all, I was really happy with the food.

While we were eating, our waitress brought us a plate with two tempura shrimp pieces on it. My husband and I were confused and told her that we didn't order it. She looked again looked flustered at the question but told us that it came with one of our rolls. It did? We found that to be strange, but hey... free is free. It was really delicious, too!

I'm pretty sure I will get (takeout) sushi from Taka again. The sushi chefs are really good.

When our bill came it came out to $38 which I found reasonable for the 6 rolls that we ordered. We couldn't find our waitress so we flagged down and handed our bill to the other waitress.

My advice for Taka would be to educate the chefs on the food they serve. Maybe it didn't seem important because it was assumed that everyone who wanted sushi would sit at the bar, but people with children in high chairs or booster seats can't sit at the bar. Also, when you advertise yourself as "Taka Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi," not everyone is going to come in there looking for hibachi or teppanyaki. It is strange to have no regular tables at all that people can sit at. Oh and people don't like sitting with people they don't know. If there are empty tables... sit everyone separately! I understand if the restaurant is full and there is nowhere else to sit.. but it is really uncomfortable when you are in a quiet and empty restaurant seated right next to a family you don't know. Lastly, when a family with a toddler is done eating, please take and process the check quickly... there is only so long a kid that small can stay on her very best behavior :)

To summarize... the food was good and the service was bad. Oh... and I forgot to use my coupon. D'oh.

Thai Orchid

After our last disastrous Thai experience (also known as Sake), I felt like I had to leave Stafford and get something better. I hadn't had decent Thai food in the longest time!! After reading a bunch of good reviews about Thai Orchid, we decided to head over there.

It isn't the closest restaurant in the world... you take exit 158 and it is 3 miles down the road. Still, if you are visiting Woodbridge to go to Wegmans, Potomac Mills, or for some other reason, I highly recommend making the trip. It doesn't look very impressive when you park in front of it. It is in a strip mall (is there anything in Stafford/Woodbridge that isn't?) and next to a Giant.

Inside it is clean and the booths are comfortable. Our waitress was really polite, friendly, and responsive.

My husband and I both got lunch specials. I think there was a choice of appetizer, but we both got spring rolls. They were goooooooood.

So good that I couldn't wait to take a bite before I took the picture 

The sweet sauce to dip the rolls in was yummy, too. I'm not sure about the lame salad on the side, but I'm pretty sure places just put those there for decoration.

I ended up getting a ginger based beef dish and my husband got a basil based chicken dish. They were really good!! They were the way you would expect a regular Thai dish at a decent place to taste! Why can't I just find a NORMAL tasting Thai restaurant in Stafford? Is it that hard to do? They have decent Thai places all over the country, can we please just get one close to home!? </rant>

Yummy Thai food. I can haz at Stafford, pleez?

If anyone knows of a better place closer to home, please let me know. If this place was closer, I know it would become one of our family regulars and I would eat here two or three times a month.

Pho 88

It's no secret that Stafford doesn't have as much ethnic cuisine as some of our neighbors to the North, but that doesn't mean that there is nothing to try! Tucked away near the Goodwill is Pho 88. I think the restaurant also calls itself Pho's 88, so call it what you like.

I was a bit skeptical before I ate there, but you never know how good the food is until you try it. I was even more skeptical after I read a sign on the door about how the restaurant wont refund your money once you have eaten the food. I'm not sure if that's the best way to set the ambiance.

The pho was surprisingly decent... the chicken was not. 

My husband got a large beef pho. At almost $8, it isn't the cheapest for pho, but they give you a good amount. It was surprisingly solid. The broth was salty and tasty. The beef was cooked well. It also had these beef meatballs in it. I wasn't a huge fan of those, but my husband seemed to like it. Is it the best pho in the world? No... but if you are craving something warm and savory on a cold day, it is not terrible.  I've read other reviews about this place that said that the pho was tasteless and cold, but we didn't have that experience.

I got chicken and mushrooms. I don't recommend it. It was overly seasoned with hoisin sauce. The mushrooms then absorbed the sauce. It was like eating sweet pieces of shredded rubber. Mmmmm.

The service was really good until the husband/boyfriend/whatever of the waitress came in. After that, we were pretty much on our own.

I'm not sure if I will go back, only time will tell. The experience wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. How is that for a glowing review?

Sake Sushi and Thai

No one was more excited than I was that a new Thai/sushi place was opening up in Stafford. I'm a big fan of both types of food. My husband was more leery. He warned me not to get too excited and that places that try to make two different types of food are rarely successful. Still, I played the optimist.

I visited Sake as soon as I could after it opened. The location is convenient, right by Home Depot. The decor is very nice. The booths are raised on platforms so if you have a child in a high chair (like I do) then you have to sit at a table. Speaking of high chairs, the first one we tried didn't latch, even though it was probably brand new!

Our waitress was pleasant but seemed like she was really scared. I figured that it was probably a new job for her. She brought our drinks and menus. She did forget to put a lid on the kids cup (which defeats the purpose of a kids cup) but she brought one when we asked.

Several people sitting at tables near us asked for the lunch special since it was listed on the menu, but apparently they don't have the lunch special on the weekends. They should put that on the menu somewhere.

We decided to try an appetizer, some sushi, and a Thai dish. That way I could try a little bit of everything and let you know how it was. That's right... I do it all for you ;)

The Appetizer:
Spring rolls. A win. I thought they were really good and the dipping sauce was, too. They had chicken and vegetables inside with a perfectly thin wrapper.

The Sushi:
The prices on the menu were... high. When we usually eat sushi, we get a few inexpensive rolls and then one or two special rolls. They have a small selection of "small" rolls, which are six pieces. They are a decent price, all under $5. Looking at the website now, they have added a few rolls to this section. They had a larger selection of "large" rolls, which are 8 pieces and ranged from $10- $13. I find this expensive because most people eat 2 1/2 rolls at a time. $25 - $32.50 for lunch seems excessive unless the sushi is spectacular. They even have a few rolls that cost $25 each. I'm not sure what the rolls must be like to justify that price.

The small rolls are very basic and the selection was limited. Still, we chose a tuna roll and an eel roll from there. We decided to try one special roll. We asked the waitress which special roll she recommended and after looking scared and confused for a few moments, she finally admitted that she liked the Dynamite Roll.

When we got the rolls, the waitress pointed them out like they usually do. Tuna, eel, and Dynamite.

We looked at them ourselves. The tuna roll had a thin looking orange sauce in it... but there were 6 pieces. Small spicy tuna isn't even a choice, so I'm not sure what roll that was supposed to be. We tried it and  the spice in the sauce was so overpowering, I could barely eat it. You couldn't taste the tuna or the rice at all, which defeats the purpose of sushi in my opinion. You might as well just eat some lava.

The eel roll was really good but definitely not what we ordered. It had eel on top of a California roll. I found out later that they had actually given us a Dancing Eel roll.

On the menu, the Dynamite Roll was described as "Mixed seafood in sriracha sauce." I've had Dynamite rolls in other places. In most places there are two or three types of fish with some sauce and you can usually tell what you are eating. This looked like they had chopped up whatever leftover fish they had and poured that same sauce from the spicy tuna roll on it. The sauce bled into the rice so it looked like an orange colored fishy mess in a roll.

The Thai:
We decided to go with Crispy Duck. That's an easy one... it is just fried pieces of duck in some batter. I've had it in many places. Sometimes they make it too greasy and sometimes the batter isn't that good, but it is still always edible, right? Nope!

The small pieces of duck were mixed with random vegetables and leaves (I don't know what they were) and then cooked in a sweetish dark colored sauce which wasn't very good. The only way I could eat it was to pick out the pieces of duck and mix it with a lot of plain rice. Ugh.

The Conclusion:
In the end, the only part I really liked was the appetizer. They also had to have the manager come out and fix our bill since two out of the three sushi rolls were not the ones we ordered.

My suggestions to them are to a new Thai Chef and lower their sushi prices. My suggestion to you is to head to Woodbridge or Springfield for decent Thai. Head to Umi or Miso in Fredericksburg for sushi. They have great lunch specials... even on the weekends.

FOODE

On Saturday, I finally went to FOODE! I was looking forward to going there all of last week. I first heard about FOODE when I was reading about the whole Locavore movement and I've wanted to go there ever since. I warn you... this might be one of my longer descriptions... but this place deserves it!

The entrance is very cute. You walk down a pathway from the main street to the restaurant. When we walked in, it was a tiny bit chaotic... but in a good way! It looks like I wasn't the only one who wanted to go there that day! Inside, there are brick arches and you can imagine the room being a part of historic Fredericksburg. There are a couple of sofa chairs and a few tables. There is also a long community table with stools instead of chairs. There isn't a lot of seating so if you are going at a really busy time, you might have to wait for somewhere to sit!

View from the community table

When you go in, you pick up a menu from the counter where the register is. The menus were all printed on paper because apparently they change their selection pretty often. The menu isn't very long, but it is diverse. Since the menu changes so often, I'm sure you can go back and not be bored by the choices. You order at the register and then go sit down.

I ordered the chicken quesadillas and my husband, a true Texan, couldn't resist ordering the brisket. I was a little nervous that he would be disappointed with the restaurant because it wouldn't live up to his brisket standards.

We went in around lunch time. Even though it has only been around for four weeks, it is already popular and the tables were full. We sat down at the community table, but then we pulled the high chair up to the table. Oops! The community table is higher than the rest of the tables so it was at my daughter's forehead level! Luckily, the people at one of the tables near us were almost done, so we quickly moved our stuff over there.

The kitchen is one floor above the restaurant and is connected via an outdoor staircase. Once an order is ready, someone brings it downstairs, comes through the front door, and calls out the name on the order. I watched this while our order was being prepared and I wondered what they do when the weather is bad.

When our food arrived, I realized that I was actually nervous! You know when you build something up so much in your head? All I had been thinking about all week was about how they pride themselves on quality local ingredients.... how the chef had worked with Kevin Gillespie (who I am only slightly obsessed with)... how I couldn't WAIT to try the food!! I was thinking about it so much that I actually had a dream about it where I went and the food was terrible and it was so disappointing!

Well, ladies and gentleman. I did not have to worry.

My husband's brisket came as a large sandwich. Did it taste like Texas brisket? No... but in a good way! It wasn't trying to be something that it isn't. I've been to many barbecue places that claim to have "Texas Barbecue," but what you end up with is what the chef thinks Texas barbecue should taste like and you get a very artificial and overpowering kind of flavoring. This was FOODE brisket. Cooked perfectly so it was extremely tender and moist. Seasoned really well and just enough to bring out the flavor of the meat. It was very very good. There was potato salad on the side which was really yummy, too!

A brisket sandwich that satisfies even a Texan's hunger.

Sorry for the low picture quality! The picture doesn't do the sandwich justice. 

My chicken quesadillas did not let me down, either. There were juicy chunks of white chicken meat, beans, and the perfect amount of cheese. The bread was really fresh and yummy too and the sauce on top complimented everything perfectly. Honestly, I wasn't as big a fan of the rice and tomato relish on the side. It's not that it tasted bad with the whole meal, but I just didn't need it. I enjoyed my quesadillas the way they were!

There was also a small size with 3 pieces, but my husband wanted to try some so I got the large!

Finally, it was time for me to order dessert. They had several choices that I wanted but I really wanted to try the hot cocoa most of all. I am a sucker for good quality hot chocolate and/or cocoa. The best I've ever had was in a small cafe in Venice, Italy. Here in the good 'ol US of A, the best I've had is at the aptly named Hot Chocolate in Chicago. The best around here? It must be FOODE.

Please hold my calls...

They cook it on the stove so order it a little bit earlier than you normally would for a dessert. It comes with cinnamon whipped cream, which at first was a little worrisome for me. Cinnamon can make desserts really sing, but sometimes people add too much or use low quality cinnamon and it starts to taste pretty bad. Not the case here. The whipped cream is as rich as frosting and has the perfect amount of cinnamon and sugar. It complements the rich cocoa perfectly and melts slowly into it like a marshmallow. I would come back here just to have it again. And again. And again. I can't stop thinking about it.

My husband tried some and then entertained my daughter while I enjoyed the rest. And by "enjoyed" I mean tuned out everyone and everything else around me and had a special moment with my mug of cocoa.

Oh... FOODE... I'll be back.