Posts Tagged ‘west side’

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

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

New bar menu at Bonefish

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Folks from Bonefish Grill invited me to sample the new bar menu called the In + Out Bar Bites menu. Anyone who knows me knows that I live on happy hour, but I’m constantly disappointed by the lack of food choices, so I was excited to try these shareable small plates.

Since I had just about every item, let’s go in order of how they are listed. First up, street tacos, which come two per order; I chose the lobster over the ahi tuna tartare for the filling. What I liked was its use of a wonton for the shell, making the taco lighter in texture (vs. stiff tortilla shells) yet still strong enough to support the generous portion of lobster meat.

Oysters (on the half shell or baked Rockefeller style) are on the menu, but I had my eye on the oyster shooters, which are layered with cocktail sauce and salsa verde. I loved the kick from the habanero vodka, an unexpected touch. Another pleasant surprise arrived with the mac & cheese bites (five per order), which amazingly held form (so many often fall apart), were not at all greasy and worked very well with the sweet chili sauce drizzled over the top.

I was most excited to try the dim sum-style sliders, which comes with your choice of chipotle shrimp or BBQ pork and “mantou” buns. The shrimp was full of flavor, and I did enjoy the spiced BBQ sauce, but I’m so used to pork (or pork belly) with mantou buns that the dish just didn’t seem right. Next time I’ll be sure to try the BBQ pork.

Get a second napkin ready if you order the tostadas, which consist of three layers of crispy wontons with fresh avocado, mango, cucumber, red peppers and your choice of ahi tuna tartare or chipotle shrimp. The tuna was super fresh, and the creamy, spicy sauce had just the right amount of heat. Just be prepared to use your hands to eat this dish, as a fork and knife are useless.

This meal ended on a high note with the doughnuts. The three you receive are tossed in cinnamon, and then you get to inject it with caramel and/or chocolate sauce, plus smear it with whipped cream. WOW. The doughnuts will satisfy any sweet tooth, plus it’s always fun to play with your food.

Oh wait–did I forget to talk about the new cocktail on the bar menu? That would be the Mule, a Moscow Mule served in a copper mug. It’s extra ginger-y, as it’s made with ginger syrup and served with candied ginger (in addition to the included ginger beer).

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See more photos in our Bonefish Grill Flickr album.

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