Today we went up to Champaign to see Marie Antoinette. If I were rating movies, this one would earn a “Gag Me with a Spoon.” It was a complete waste of $13 and two hours. But this is a restaurant blog, so I’ll get back on topic.

After the movie we stopped into Nitaya Thai on the corner of Church and N. Randolph in Champaign. We got our usually drinks, water for Sarah and a Singha beer for me. I usually try to have a beer native to the country whose cuisine we’re trying. We also opted for the egg rolls as an appetizer. They came out piping hot and quite tasty. For our main courses, Sarah ordered eggplant and basil and I got broccoli and beef and Nitaya fried rice. The Nitaya fried rice is really good. It comes with cashews, raisins, and pineapple mixed in and chicken wings, tomato, and cucumber on the side. We always split the fried rice, even though both our dishes came with white rice. Sarah’s eggplant and basil was good and my broccoli and beef was excellent. I’ll definitely order it again. As usual, we brought home enough for another meal. Not bad for under $40.

The music has changed!! Thanks, Mike. Much better. I can’t recall a single song that played tonight, and that’s how it should be. The music in a restaurant should be as noticeable and memorable as the conversation of the folks at the next table. If either sticks in your mind or disturbs the ambiance, something’s wrong.

Tonight I started off with a vodka martini again. Not bad for bar stock vodka. Very generous drink, too. Sarah and I split the Mixed Greens salad, which is HUGE and easily enough for two. Awesome salad.

Sarah had the pesto gnocchi. I had the Italian sausage lasagna and like last time, I asked for meat sauce instead of the alfredo sauce. Much better with the meat sauce, IMO. The lasagna was excellent. Sarah’s gnocchi was ok. We brought half of each home. Generosity is a theme at Michael Domani’s. 

I finished up with a cup of decaf. Unlike most restaurants where the coffee is mediocre, the coffee at Michael Domani’s is strong and rich. The perfect end to a meal.

On the corner of Rt 16 and 4th St in Charleston sits Jerry’s Pub. It looks like a large raised ranch home except for the parking lot in front. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings they have a pizza buffet and salad bar for $5.15/person. The salad bar is really pretty decent and it’s always fresh. The pizzas go so quickly they never have time to cool off. There are usually at least three different types of pizza on the buffet, along with garlic bread and spagetti. My favorite is the Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple. Very tasty. 

Cheap, fast, and delicious. What more could you ask for? 

Tonight we decided to trek up to Tuscola to eat at Tuscany. As you may have guessed, Tuscany is an Italian restaurant. There is also a Tuscany in Mattoon which is owned by the same folks. But the one in Mattoon just doesn’t seem to have the same standards as the original in Tuscola. We’ve had some decent meals in Mattoon, but we’ve had some disappointments as well.

The first thing we noticed about the Tuscola restaurant tonight was the temperature. It was decidedly chilly and many of the patrons were wearing jackets. They did turn the heat up after we’d been there a bit and by the time we left, it was more comfortable. Sarah ordered eggplant parmigiana and a salad. I got their excellent farfalle with shrimp, scallops, and artichoke hearts. It’s topped with a creamy tomato vodka sauce. I opted for the cream of chicken and rice soup. It was pretty good. We also munched on their warm breadsticks which are a highlight at Tuscany. Sarah was quite pleased with her eggplant and my farfalle was as good as ever. I purposely ordered it because I knew it was good there and the last time I had it at the Mattoon place, I was really disappointed. This just confirmed what we (and others) had felt, that the Mattoon location is a few notches down on Tuscola quality-wise. 

Another plus for Tuscany is their generous portion sizes. We always end up with enough take home to make another meal. Their wine servings are also surprisingly generous. And for all that, it’s easy to get out of there for under $40. Not bad for what is essentially four meals.

Tonight we had the buffet at Basmati on 1st St in Champaign. We’ve eaten there many times and always enjoy it. Their buffet is quite generous, but I’ve never seen Chicken Makhani included in it. That’s a shame because Basmati does that dish quite well. Tonight we had Vegetable Biryani rice, which was pretty spicy. We also had Murg Korma (chicken) and Matar Paneer (cheese cubes and peas in sauce) along with Tandoori chicken and some mushroom appetizers. The buffet comes with naan (always good) and a side table includes salad stuff, raita, mint chutney, and various desserts. I love the Gulab Jamun at Basmati. No one does it better.

Update-Oct 21: We went back to Basmati this Saturday evening for Sarah’s birthday. She was in the mood for Indian and in the Champaign area, that means Basmati. We started with their veggie pakoras, which are better at Basmati than any place else we’ve tried. Sarah ordered a chicken dish with peppers and onions (the name escapes me) and I got my traditional Murg Tikka Makhani. We also got two naan and some raita. The waiters at Basmati don’t even ask me any longer, they just bring me a Kingfisher beer.   Everything was delicious. Four Spoons for this visit. 

Today we had lunch at Jasmine Thai on 96th St in Indy. We had planned on either PF Chang’s or Cheesecake factory at the mall area, but both were swamped. There wasn’t even a place to park. So we ended up at Jasmine Thai, which we had passed by before and taken note of. It was 2PM Indy time, so we had no problem getting a seat. In fact, by the time we were done we were the only patrons in the restaurant. Naturally with such exclusivity we were doted upon by the waitstaff. We started with the Chicken Satay appetizer, which was pretty much as you find it anywhere. It was well prepared and quite tasty.

Sarah ordered the Pad Thai and I had Cashew Chicken. As I always do when eating Thai, I had a Singha beer with my meal.  Sarah’s Pad Thai was very good. I’ll have to take her word on it as I do not like Pad Thai. My Cashew Chicken was excellent. I don’t like celery and some Thai places use so much celery that the name Cashew Chicken seems like a misnomer. Not so at Jasmine Thai. The sauce used was really delicious and the ingredients were cooked just as I like them. The vegetables were crisp but not raw and the chicken was tender, but not undercooked. We were only interested in a light lunch, so I settled for the accompanying white rice, whereas I usually order fried rice. Maybe next time.

All in all an enjoyable lunch, if a tad pricey. We’ll definitely try them again one day.

Today we had lunch at Gaylord of India on Mall Drive in Schaumburg. We’ve had dinner there several times before, but today was the first time we’ve had their lunch buffet. I never thought I’d write my first Four Spoons review for a place with a buffet, but the buffet at Gaylord of India (today at least) was that good. Couple that with a nice atmosphere and you have an experience that meets the criteria for Four Spoons.

As I always do at an Indian buffet, I tried the Tandoori chicken and some rice. I usually hope to find one of my two favorite dishes, either chicken tikka masala or chicken makhani, but neither were present today. So I tried the kadhai paneer and ground lamb with peas. Both were excellent. I also had my customary Kingfisher beer. Sarah had the saag paneer (in her ongoing quest for the perfect saag), the kadhai paneer, bhindi masala, and the szechuan green beans. She was impressed with everything but the green beans. Here again is that lesson; if you’re in an Indian restaurant, eat Indian food.

Another gauge I use to judge Indian food is the raita and naan. I love good raita and hot, but not burnt, naan. I was very pleased with both today. These two seemingly insignificant items can really make or break a meal. They also had an interesting dessert buffet, but I was too full to try any. Maybe next time.

After a grueling 2 hour drive from Lake Shore Drive to Schaumburg on Friday evening, we stopped in for dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant on Meacham Rd by the Woodfield Mall. I called them when we were about 20 minutes away and got on their waiting list, so when we arrived, we had just enough of a wait for me to enjoy a perfect vodka martini at the bar. It was just the thing I needed to unwind after the nightmare drive out. Just as I finished up my drink, the pager went off and we were escorted to our table. And the table is one reason this is a Three Spoons review instead of four. It was along one of those benches that so many places use these days, with small tables for two set out side-by-side leaving one person to sit on the bench and the other to sit on a chair on the opposite side. The tables themselves are separated by only a few inches, so it’s like having dinner with two other couples sitting on either side. This type of seating is fine for Chili’s or Friday’s or some other clone, but it has no place in a High End steak place. Luckily for us the couples on either side of us were quiet talkers, but it’s just as likely to get a loudmouth or, even worse, a cell phone yacker sitting right beside you. But I digress.

Sarah ordered the beef brisket dinner. I started with a small cup of their Cincinnati chili and ordered a 12 oz filet mignon, baked potato, and a glass of merlot. The chili was superb, with just enough of a bite to it. My filet was perfect. It was just as I ordered it (medium rare), very tender, and quite tasty. The baked potato was also nicely done, with a couple florets of broccoli and some cheese sauce. The merlot completed the masterpiece. Sarah’s brisket was not quite up to the same standard of excellence. It was prepared well enough, not too dry, and the BBQ sauce was fine, but the meat itself was somewhat chewy, like it may have been too heavily marbled. Mind you, it wasn’t bad, but compared to my steak, it was a bit of a let down. Smokey Bones, a much less expensive restaurant, does a better job with brisket. And therein lies the other reason for the rating. My meal was heaven, hers was pedestrian. There’s a lesson here; if you go to a steak place, order a steak. It’s what they do best.

One interesting twist was the large plasma screen above their teaching grill (which was not in operation) that showed various chefs using Weber Grills to make meals. It was fascinating to watch, but with the sound off (for obvious reasons), it was hard to tell exactly what they were preparing. I’d have liked to have seen closed captioning. Still, it was a neat thing to watch.

I finshed my meal with a cup of coffee which, like all too many restaurants, was sub-par. Wine Spectator just ran an article on the lack of really good coffee in even the priciest restaurants, and the coffee at Weber Grill was no exception. Restaurants really need to pay as much attention to the end of the meal as they do to the rest. 

I’ve raved about Gunner Buc’s before on my other blog. They make the best hamburgers in the world, hands down. And to make it the deal sweeter, they’re cheap. You can get two large burgers and a large order of very good fries for a tad over $8. Another $5 for a couple of beers and you have a mouth-watering, inexpensive meal. We sat out in their screened-in porch and watched the Patriots kick Bengal butt. The weather was perfect for it. Inside there are several large screen TVs and several smaller ones. We try to avoid sitting inside due to the smoke, but when the place is not packed (virtually anytime except Friday and Saturday night), the smoke isn’t bad.

Gunner Buc’s is a sports bar, so don’t go dressed up and don’t expect to be doted upon by the waitstaff. You order your meal at the grill and you have to go get it when it’s ready. The waitresses only bring drinks. But they do a great job of making sure you don’t go thirsty. And the advantage of retrieving your own meal from the grill is that you get to build your own burger the way you like it. They have loads of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles right there where you pick up your burgers. That may be one of their secrets. You never get something on your burger you don’t like. And if you do, you only have yourself to blame.