Archive for the ‘Restaurant and Bar Reviews’ Category

Bowl of Heaven

Sunday, January 15th, 2017

I finally got around to visiting the Hilldale location of Bowl of Heaven, which serves acai bowls, smoothies and fresh-squeezed juice. Basically, you’re coming here to get your daily dose of fruits and vegetables in a sweeter, more palatable way.

Acai berries are rich in antioxidents. At Bowl of Heaven, they are frozen and blended with other fruits to make a frozen yogurt-like base for the bowls that are then layered with other ingredients. The bowls come in regular and large sizes, and you should be plenty full after a regular-sized serving.

20170112_115338The Sunset Bowl ($7.50/$9.50) has a blend of pineapple, mango, strawberries, unsweetened coconut milk and MAQ 7 (“a unique blend of nature’s most powerful and exotic superfruits around the world,” according to Bowl of Heaven) and is topped with flax seed granola, shaved coconut, strawberries, kiwis and honey. Obviously, your mouth will experience a breadth of flavors in every bite–for example, the mango brings brightness, and the coconut lingers in your mouth–yet they all harmonize very well.

Meanwhile, you could easily detect the density of the peanut butter bowl ($7.99/$9.99).  If you like peanut butter and bananas, the two predominant flavors, you’ll probably enjoy this, but I’m not sure how anyone could eat a large bowl of this. Personally, I would have liked more honey on this bowl, as there were only a few drops of it.

20170112_115441A special bowl for Madison is the UW Badger Bowl ($7.99/$9.99), which is topped with strawberries in a pattern resembling the Union Terrace chairs. For all bowls, you can add “boosts” such as fresh mint or fresh ginger.

Juices include orange juice ($4.99/$6.99) and beet juice ($6.99/$8.99). If you can get past the murky brown color of the Hulk-n-ator ($6.99/$8.99), you may be pleasantly surprised that the lemon and carrots help mask the parsley, kale and spinach flavors. The liquid was thinner than expected, which also made it easier to consume.

If you’re in a hurry, Bowl of Heaven also offers grab-and-go items, such as salads ($5.99) and Paleo treats ($4.50).

Bowl of Heaven is open every day during lunch and dinner times, plus weekday mornings.

Bowl Of Heaven Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Everly

Saturday, January 7th, 2017

tuna-bologneseOne part of Bluephies became Miko Poke, and the other part is now Everly, a California-inspired restaurant that leans heavy on vegetables and grains. Food Fight did a commendable job of making clever, unique restaurants that are worthy of regular visits.

The bright space of Everly includes a full bar, though there are currently no plans for happy hour or nightly drink specials, according to a bartender. I look forward to the summer, when a full-service outdoor eating area will open.

Everly’s menu is robust, so I did my best to try a cross-section of it, starting with the “Vegetables” section. The serving size of the yellow curry eggplant ($7) dish was much smaller than expected. The eggplant was perfectly tender, and the chiles added some welcomed heat, but the curry sauce itself was bland.

The best way to describe the Tuna Conserva Sandwich ($12) is fresh. Everything from the ample tuna to the cucumbers and roasted red peppers exuded freshness. The lemon caper aioli provided the flavor for this sandwich, which was held firmly together by toasted bread. You’ll also find a burger ($12) and a roasted chicken sandwich ($12) among the sandwiches.

mushrooms-eggplant“Things on Toast” is actually a section of the menu, and I ordered the seasonal mushroom toast ($11). It’s a minor point, but I liked that the semi-sour, (marrow) buttery toast had slits cut into it to make it easier to pull apart and eat. The abundance of mushrooms, which included shiitake and crimini, captured the flavors of the garlic and herbs with which they were sauteed.

Among the pastas, I chose the Buckwheat Bolognese ($16). The ground Heritage pork, which I look forward to eating at every restaurant in which it’s served, was dry and flavorless, and the buckwheat fettuccine was under-cooked (too al dente for this dish). Fortunately, they were saved by the deep, complex Bolognese sauce, which must’ve absorbed all of the flavor from the pork.

The only sections I missed were salads (I already had enough veggies here) and big/small plates. The latter includes buttermilk fried chicken ($9) and pork + white corn grits ($16). Brunch is served on the weekends.

Everly is open for lunch on weekdays, dinner every day and brunch on weekends.

Everly Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Lalo’s Mexican Restaurant

Saturday, December 31st, 2016

20161213_114828Lalo’s Mexican Restaurant, near the Original Pancake House on University Avenue, is more similar in concept to a Laredo’s than a Taqueria Guadalajara, where the owner used to work. There’s a bar at the entryway–though I can’t imagine many people coming here to drink–a lunch menu catered to the in-and-out business crowd and free chips and salsa as you are seated.

Let’s start with that lunch menu. Prices range from $6.99-$8.50, and half of the menu consists of heuvos dishes, while the other half consists of combination platters.  I ordered the Heuvos Lalo’s ($8.50).  The steak was slightly chewy, but that was the only downside of a well-crafted dish. It included a good amount of fresh, homemade sauce, two eggs sunny side up (mine were over-cooked as over-hard) and a grilled tortilla to hold everything together.

Burritos, fajitas, “sides” (e.g. quesadillas) and dinner entrees comprised the rest of the menu. Tacos ($2.25 each) are one of those sides and come with your choice of meat such as pork and chicken. I appreciated that the taco was generous in its serving of meat–in my case, beef tongue, which was quite tender–and that overall it had enough flavor that no sauce was necessary.

20161220_121338Lalo’s Special ($12.99) packs a lot on a plate. I wish it came with more than just one piece of the highly flavorful chorizo. The steak had good flavor, too, but it was a bit tough. The thinly sliced potatoes didn’t add anything to the dish.

Tamales are available as a dish ($7.50) or side ($1.75), with chicken or cheese. I have to warn you, the tamale is not pretty to look at, appearing under-cooked. The corn tasted a bit off, and the limited chicken didn’t help. I had to douse it with salsa to get through it.

I really wanted to try the soups (menudo or pozole for $8.99), but unfortunately they’re only served on the weekends. Surprisingly, there’s a kids menu, too.

Lalo’s is open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner. The parking lot is tiny, but in the evening, you may park next door at the Original Pancake House.

Lalo's Mexican Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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