Archive for the ‘Restaurant and Bar Reviews’ Category

Freshii

Sunday, April 19th, 2015

Freshii strives to make “healthy food affordable and convenient.” The chain seems to be doing both well, as there’s enough demand that Freshii is located in more than 60 cities and 12 countries.

The menu is comprised of salads/wraps (you can convert a salad to a wrap), bowls, burritos, soups and smoothies. While all the items are vegetable-based, you can add proteins such as chicken, steak or tuna. Note that one of my visits was by invitation for the restaurant’s pre-opening.

My favorite dish was the Fiesta wrap ($7.49; field greens, black beans, avocado, aged cheddar, corn, pico de gallo, cilantro lime vinaigrette). When you bite into this, your mouth will be greeted with bright, fresh flavors. The tuna ($2.49) I added made this one of the best tuna wraps/sandwiches I’ve ever had.

The Buddha’s Satay bowl ($7.24) seemed promising, but I felt like a rabbit eating it with its overdose of carrots and broccoli. Frankly, the crispy wontons were the only item that gave this salad any flavor, as the rice noodles were extraordinarily bland, and there were only minuscule pieces of steak ($2.49) included (you can’t even see any in the photo).

I liked the density of the Smokehouse burrito ($7.99), which is made with brown rice, black beans, red onions, tomatoes, corn, aged cheddar and a surprisingly wonderful BBQ sauce. I ordered my burrito with falafel ($1.49), and I longed for a side of that sauce in which to dip the burrito.

Out of all the three soups, I tried the Southwestern ($6.99), a soothing concoction of chicken broth, brown rice, broccoli, tomatoes, corn and aged cheddar. All the vegetables were tender.

When you’re thirsty, quaff a juice or smoothie ($5.99). The ones I tried–the Green Energy Juice (apple, cucumber, kale, lemon, carrot, romaine, spinach), the Strawberry Banana Smoothie (strawberries, banana, low-fat frozen yogurt) and the Mighty Detox Juice (pineapple, ginger, apple, celery, cucumber)–were surprisingly not too thick and had semi-sweet, non-grassy flavors. I’d get the strawberry version again if it weren’t for the price.

Freshii is open Monday-Saturday for breakfast, lunch, dinner and carryout. Catering and delivery are available.

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See more photos in our Freshii Flickr album.

Freshii on Urbanspoon

New items at Little Caesars, Taco Bell

Sunday, April 12th, 2015

Three-and-a-half feet.

That’s how much bacon Little Caesars uses for its generically named Bacon Wrapped Crust Deep! Deep! Dish pizza. At $12, it’s more than double the price of other pizzas, but with good reason. Note, these pizzas are not “hot-n-ready,” so be prepared for a 10-minute wait after ordering.

I appreciated that Little Caesars gives you two four-slice pizzas instead of one eight-slice pizza so that you get eight corner pieces, meaning more bacon. There’s also bacon pieces sprinkled on top, along with the standard pepperoni (no other toppings are available).

To no surprise, each bite was very bacon-y; or in other words, delicious. The deep dish pizzas don’t have a true crust, which is nice, since you get to take bites of the strips of bacon with the main parts of the pizza. I would likely order this pizza again if it weren’t for the fact that each slice is 450 calories (and yikes, I ate three!).

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Taco Bell has further expanded its breakfast menu with biscuits shaped like taco shells, called biscuit tacos. Inside, you can get eggs and cheese, sausage/bacon and eggs or fried chicken (the latter two cost $2.49 each).

The sausage and eggs biscuit taco tastes exactly like McDonald’s version (that’s a good thing). Meanwhile, the bacon is served in bits in the bacon and eggs biscuit taco, which can make for a lot of crumbs. You’ll need coffee, juice or milk to wash these biscuits down, as they do get fairly dry in your mouth.

I particularly enjoyed the chicken biscuit taco. The chicken itself is perfectly fried on the outside and moist on the inside. (It seems Taco Bell could be in line to take on KFC.) Although the sandwich doesn’t need it, you can get it served with a rich, flavorful gravy, or a sweet Asian sauce-like jalapeno honey sauce. What a delicious and unhealthy way to start your day!

Twist Bar & Grill

Sunday, March 22nd, 2015

Twist Bar & Grill opened in January in place of Basie’s inside the Radisson Inn. While the decor and atmosphere are a definite upgrade, it needs more work to become a destination restaurant.

Don’t get me wrong. The food is good, but it doesn’t differ much from an Applebee’s or Chili’s. And I understand why: it needs to fulfill the room-service needs of its guests, who are looking for familiar fare. On several visits the place was dead; once for lunch I was the only diner.

To its credit, Twist does try to add its own twist to the Wisconsin-themed menu items. For example, the Cuban sandwich ($12) uses Carr Valley Gruyere and an unpressed ciabatta bun. Overall, the sandwich was a perfectly assembled mashup of flavors, though a bit on the salty side.

There are just five other sandwiches on the surprisingly small menu, and the Neuske’s bacon burger ($13) is one of them. It sports a super thick patty topped with Hook’s cheddar, a fried egg, Dijon aioli and an ungodly amount of sauteed onions. It’s hard to describe this any other way besides “not bad.”

The entrees–rib-eye steak, mac and cheese, grilled pork chop, wild mushroom pasta and seared salmon–also are fairly standard, which is why I didn’t feel any need to try them.

Appetizers include cheese curds, wings and pretzel rolls. I enjoyed the beer cheese soup ($4 cup, $7 bowl) for its creaminess, ample portions of Bavaria sausage and Cajun popcorn sprinkled on top.

If you’re sitting at the brightly lit bar, you can watch sports on one of eight TVs. The Twist theme is prevalent here, too. The Badger old fashioned ($9) contains Bulleit bourbon instead of the requisite brandy, though I gulped it down quite easily. Meanwhile, the Twistini ($10) is comprised of Absolut Citron, Grand Marnier and sparkling wine and is quite sweet.

Twist is open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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See more photos in our Twist Bar & Grill Flickr album.

Twist Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon

    North Italia Urban Air

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