El Tapatio – Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington, DE

http://eltapatiode.com/restaurant/

I had a coupon deal to El Tapatio, so my husband and I went with two neighbors to the Mexican restaurant.  The outside looks like a mini-mart, but the inside is bright and vibrant.  Each booth is painted yellow and had different murals on the outside of the booth seats.  There are chandeliers over each table with different figures painted on the glass (i.e. suns, flowers).  Very colorful, very welcoming.  It definitely wakes you up!

I wish I enjoyed the food as much as I enjoyed the décor, but it was just your standard local Mexican joint food.  Nothing special.  Except the sangria – that was strong!  They served it without ice or any fruit accompaniments.  Tasty, but it got me tipsy with just one glass.

El Tapatio has a “Vegetarian’s Delight” section on their menu.  I ordered the Vegetarian Fajitas (to be served with beans, salad and tortillas), but ended up with the Quesadilla.  The quesadilla was filled with cheese, peppers, and onions.  The taste was OK, but it did not wow me.  It came with a  side of refried beans topped with cheese (I avoid refried beans at restaurants because they usually have lard in them), lettuce, one tomato, guacamole, and sour cream. 

Our neighbors ordered the churros for dessert.  Four churros arrived on a plate, with chocolate sauce and whipped cream on the side.  Even though I do not care for cinnamon, I tried a piece.  They were good!  Soft  with just a hint of crunch on the exterior, and not really cinnamon-y.  They had a taste ore reminiscent of a sugared donut.

Overall, El Tapatio is OK, but I do not plan to go again.  The food is not amazing enough for me to make the trek to North Wilmington.

Kenzo Japanese & Asian Fusion Restaurant - Chambersburg, PA

One of my friends in Chambersburg, PA told me that she had been to Kenzo once and did not enjoy their food.  I completely disagree with her assessment.  My husband and I ate there and I loved the food that I had!  The service was a little lacking – there were about five tables seated at one time and the two waitresses on staff proceeded to serve all of the food to the tables that had already been sitting.  They did not even ask us for a drink order!  We waited about 15 minutes until somebody finally came to get our order.  I was on the verge of walking out, but I am glad that I didn’t.  The food was worth the wait!

Kenzo is a small restaurant in shopping complex that also houses Montezuma (one of two locations in Chambersburg) and a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo.  It is a small restaurant, with only about 10-12 tables (which makes the slow service even more confusing).  There is a small sushi bar with four or five seats at the back of the restaurant before the kitchen.  The atmosphere is quiet and a tad romantic (maybe because of dimmer lighting and dark-colored walls).  I felt comfortable, like it was a place I belonged.  I will give the servers and cooks some credit, though, they did get our food out rather quickly and were attentive after our initial wait.

I ordered the Vegetable Gyoza and a House Salad to start, followed by the Thai Original Curry (I picked green curry with tofu).  My husband ordered Roti Canai (Indian Pancakes) as an appetizer and some sushi as his main.  The Salad came out first – it was mixed greens with ginger dressing, simple, but the ginger dressing had a good flavor to it.  It was quite thick and they went heavy-handed with it.  I recommend asking for it on the side.   The Gyoza and Roti Canai came out next.  I ordered the Gyoza because during my adventures in Tokyo, my boss kept telling me I should try Gyoza, but we could only find meat-filled ones.  The Vegetable Gyoza at Kenzo are pan-fried and full of cabbage and spring onions.  I really enjoyed their taste, but the dipping sauce that they provided added a nice spicy kick to it.  It was a little too spicy for my husband, but I loved it!  The Roti Canai, according to the menu is a flavored Malaysian version of pancakes with curry dipping sauce.  I find the bread similar to naan, but slightly thinner with a bit of a fried crust.  The curry dipping sauce was yellow curry and had a hint of spice.  It was  very good.  My husband could not stop eating it!  He mostly ate that entire dish himself – I think I got two small pieces of pancake.

Now, on to my main dish – Thai Original Curry!  I am not sure which curry is the spiciest, but they had the options of yellow, green, and red.  I have had green curry before and found it to be just at the edge before I start to sweat.  The green curry at Kenzo was not quite to that level, but it had a delicious, beautiful curry taste with a kick of spicy heat.  The tofu was lightly fried and definitely not in short supply.  There was an abundance of green peppers and onions mixed with the curry and tofu and a little touch of potato.  They served the dish with a small side of rice;.  My mouth is watering just thinking about the food – the tofu was slightly chewy, the potatoes soft, and the onions and peppers slightly crunchy.  The curry soaked into the tofu and potatoes and clung to the peppers and onions.  I cannot wait to go back to Chambersburg to eat at Kenzo again!

Talula's Garden - Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA

http://talulasgarden.com/

My husband and I joined two friends at Talula’s Garden for Sunday brunch.  The restaurant is in the Washington Square area, just on the edge of the park.  You enter the restaurant by walking through a wrought-iron gate and their patio area.  Upon entering, you are invited in with tall ceilings and windows that let in a ton of light.  There are stone walls and three sections of seating – the main one you walk in to, one to the left in a slightly separate area, and one just ahead of you in the bar area.  We sat in a room with the bar.  Although the Brunch menu seems limited, there are a few vegetarian options, including a few egg dishes.  I did not choose one of these because we were there on the later side of brunch (almost 2 p.m.). 

I started my meal with the Tropical Influence Fresh Fruit, which consisted of Pineapple, Banana, Citrus, Pomegranate, Mint, and Elderflower Syrup. I was a little nervous at first because I have never had Elderflower Syrup, but I thought it was a very nice-tasting compilation of fruit.  The food was fresh (it looked like it had just been cut) and the syrup helped enhance the sweet flavor of the fruit.  I was slightly disappointed that the pomegranate was just a couple of strips, and not the seeds; also, the citrus was a couple segments of a mandarin orange, which I gave to my husband.  Overall, though, it was a good dish to start off with.

As my “main” I ordered the Orchard Pear Salad.  The salad included Red Watercress, Endive, Walnuts, Port Pears, Point Reyes Blue Cheese, and was coated in a Poppy Seed Dressing.  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for the dish without the blue cheese (which I close to despise), but I was able to push it to the side (another unfortunate thing, most of the walnuts were stuck to the cheese, so they went uneaten as well).  However, the rest of the salad had a good taste - the pears were crisp and had been soaked in port wine (with just a slight tint of purple color around the edges) and their sweetness contrasted nicely with the more savory flavors of the endive and watercress.  The poppy seed dressing coated the salad, but was not too heavy – there were no puddles after I got through eating it.  As a side, I shared the Fried New Potatoes, Leeks, and Farmhouse Cheddar dish with my husband (although I ate most of it).  The potatoes did not have a standard cut, but that made the dish more interesting.  They were quite crispy and the cheese had a shredded-melted texture as opposed to a wetter-melted texture (i.e. what you get with Velveeta).  The only thing I think could have been better with this dish is that there were only a few leeks and I would have liked a lot more. Oh well.

My opinion – check out this restaurant.  It’s worth the slightly high cost of the dishes.

Vegetarian Bean Curry

Vegetarian Bean Curry (from All Recipes, Servings: 8, Total Time: 1.5 hours)

Ingredients

·         2 Tbsp. olive oil

·         1 large white onion, chopped

·         ½ cup dry lentils

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         3 Tbsp. curry powder

·         1 tsp. ground cumin

·         1 pinch cayenne pepper

·         1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

·         1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

·         1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

·         ½ cup raisins

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.)    Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender.

2.)    Mix in the lentils and garlic, and season with curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 2 minutes.

3.)    Stir in the tomatoes, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, and raisins. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, and simmer at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

My neighborhood is having a Progressive Dinner and I made this dish for a tasting that we decided to have (pre-Dinner).  This was one of three bean curries that I made for the tasting, but it was not picked as a winner for the round two tasting.  The main reason, I believe, it that the consistency of this dish is more like that of a chili than a curry.  It is very thick and with all the beans, well, you can imagine.  I did add a double dose of kidney beans (the original recipe calls for 8 oz., but I could not find a can that size), but I still don’t think that it would have made a difference.

I know that I’ve said before that I do not like raisins, but I couldn’t even taste them in this dish!  Health benefits without the taste?  Awesome!  The only other change I made was that I used red lentils and I washed them beforehand to make sure that any dirt was in the sink and not in the dish.  The taste was good - kind of sweet (even with 3 Tbsp. of curry), so maybe not what some people expect when they hear curry.  I like it and I think that I will make it again for myself.  Good mix of protein and carbs and tasty – winner in my book!