For the opening round in our whirlwind tour of ethnic NYC restaurants, we decided to go Thai, mainly because it was close to the hotel. Once we walked up to the place (on 9th Ave. between 55th and 56th Sts.), we realized we had eaten there before on our first trip to NYC. We remembered it being good, so we went on in and were rewarded with a nice table by the window. Because we arrived in NYC well after noon, we ended up eating lunch around 2:30. Now at 8:30 neither of us wanted a large meal, so we skipped the appetizers and fried rice and just went with one dish each. Sarah had Bo-Bae noodles with chicken, nicely sauteed with basil, onions, and peppers. I had Peow Wan, which was basically sauteed veggies with Thai sweet and sour sauce. I ordered mine with chicken as well. Not only were both meals really good, the whole dinner was surprisingly inexpensive (unlike our mediocre lunch at the restaurant lounge). Places like Thai Basil in NYC make you realize what you miss by living among the corn in the Midwest. The food tonight was every bit as good as our favorite Thai place back home (Siam Terrace), yet it came from a hole-in-the-wall neighborhood take-out joint. I’m surprised all New Yorkers aren’t seriously overweight. 

Our flight today wasn’t until 8:45PM, so we shopped around Indy for a while and then had dinner at El Morocco on 86th St. El Morocco is an unassuming little restaurant tucked away in a strip mall on the north side of 86th. The interior is pure Marrakech, though. You can sit at a traditional table and chairs or you can have a seat on the floor with your back against a large pillow. Moroccan tapestries and curtains adorn the walls and appropriate music fills the air. The menu is, of course, Moroccan. And the waiter we had was both friendly and funny.

Since we were about to fly out of Indy, we knew we needed to order light as there would be no doggy bags for us, so we skipped the appetizer. Nonetheless, we were served a very tasty vegetable soup and some interesting bread, which sort of had the consistency of cornbread. We were half full by the time dinner came. Sarah ordered Tajine Berber, which is sort of a vegetable stew. I went with a simple Chicken Kabob, which came with grilled veggies and some surprisingly good rice. Both meals were delicious and perfectly prepared. I ended up with an Athenian beer. It was the first time I’d ever had one, but it won’t be the last. Neither of us could finish our meals, but we didn’t leave much. We’ll be sure to eat there again and next time we’ll make sure there’s plenty to bring home.

I picked Montgomery’s on the Square for our ill-fated dinner trip last night, so it was Sarah’s turn tonight. She was in the mood for Indian and as she thinks Bombay Indian Grill has better saag than Basmati, we ended up at Bombay on Green St.

Bombay Indian Grill is typical Green St., not much atmosphere, but decent and inexpensive food. Tonight we started off with the Assorted Appetizer plate, which has vegetable and potato pakoras and a couple samosas. For entrees, we ordered Saag Paneer and Chicken Mahkani, along with a couple naan and some raita. Bombay Indian Grill makes really good naan and tasty raita. Both entrees were on the spicy side, but not too eye watering. In the past I’ve been disappointed with the quality of the chicken in some of Bombay’s dishes, but tonight it was fine. Sarah enjoyed her saag and the mahkani was very good.  We ended up with plenty of take home food for another meal. Now if Bombay could just get a beer and wine license… 

On the way back from Allerton Park in Monticello this afternoon, we decided to have dinner at Montgomery’s on the Square in the center of Monticello. We’d had brunch and lunch there a few times, but this was the first time we were in the area around dinnertime. We got there right at 5PM and were only one of two parties there at the time. It quickly filled in, though, and was about 3/4 full when we left.

I really wanted to like Montgomery’s, I swear. I was intrigued by the menu and had hoped for a memorable meal. Well, the memories are there, but they’re not pleasant ones. The first sign of trouble was the vodka tonic I ordered before the meal. The FBI forensic lab would have a hard time finding any vodka in that drink. And the tonic water was as flat as the tabletop. For that I paid $3.50. The appetizer that caught our eye was the Goat Cheese Fondue. It came with cubes of melon, sections of mandarin orange, and sweet potato fries. I had my doubts about fruit with goat cheese fondue, and I was right. The fruit diluted and overwhelmed the cheese, although the fries were ok with it. We ended up grabbing a couple of their tasty rolls to dip. The Mediterranean rolls went very nicely with the fondue. (This fascination with fruit seems to be a theme at Montgomery’s, as most entrees I saw had some fruit on top. Mine came with a raspberry and a couple of blueberries.) The fondue was $8. Not worth it at all.

For an entree, Sarah ordered the Stuffed Chicken Breast. It was served over pasta with a herb ricotta stuffing and a Chardonnay creme sauce. Sarah thought the chicken was dry and the sauce was pedestrian at best. I tried some and agreed. So much unfulfilled promise in that dish. I went for the Cresap Farms Braised Beef Brisket, which was described in the menu as being accompanied by Picholine and Kalamata olives, ceci beans, thyme, roasted tomatoes and preserved lemons over saffron rice. Nowhere in there does it say that this was more of a goulash than beef brisket. The miniscule amount of brisket was seriously overwhelmed by a strong, tart, soupy liquid that tasted of dry cooking wine and too much lemon. The beef fell apart like wet tissue paper and may as well not even have been there. I barely ate any of my meal and neither of us wanted to bring home the leftovers. I also ordered a glass of merlot with my meal. That was ok, but way overpriced at $9. I understand and accept the huge markup on wine in restaurants, but if you’re going to charge 1/4 of the bottle price for one glass, the pour should be 1/4 of the bottle.

I will say that the service was good and the waitstaff was knowledgeable and friendly. But without a doubt, this was the most disappointing $75 meal we’ve ever had. It makes me wonder how many of the patrons there today were actually returning customers.

All sorts of new places in the Mattoon area lately. Tonight we decided to try the newest Mexican place (yes, another one) called Don Sol. It’s located next to the CVS by the Ramada motel. Rumor has it that it was started by ex-El Vaquero workers and there did seem to be several familiar faces among the staff. The two restaurants are close enough for the workers to have a food fight.

We were impressed with the decor. Don Sol is roomy and bright. Their menu is very colorful and has pictures of the meals, which comes in handy if you’re not sure of what you want. Beer is cheap, too. Chips and salsa come free, although they seem to have the same chips supplier as every other Mexican place in this area.

After some tough decision-making, Sarah opted for Chicken Fajitas and a side of Guacamole and I ordered a Steak Chimichanga. That’s where our favorable initial impression started to slip. Half an hour later we were looking around wondering where our meal was. I flagged down our waiter who seemed to forget that he had taken our order. He went off in search of our lost meals. Ten minutes later, he returned with our meals, correctly stating that one was Chicken Fajitas and one was a Steak Chimichanga. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when I took a bite and realized I was eating a chicken chimichanga instead. Both meals were warm enough to eat, but not at all hot. I think they were prepared earlier and sat unclaimed for a while. Such is life in a new restaurant. Mistakes happen.

Despite having a meal I didn’t order, I was actually impressed with it. It was very tasty. The chicken was chopped really fine and there was no fat or gristle. Sarah enjoyed her fajitas, too. We never did get the guacamole, though. Still, the meal, once it arrived, was good enough to ensure a return visit. Maybe by then they’ll have the service kinks worked out.

Some months ago the Mattoon Tuscany restaurant closed. The restaurant, which is part of the Ramada motel, was bought by a Chicago restaurant owner and recently reopened as Taste of Italy. We went there tonight for dinner. First thing we noticed was that the menu not only had the same dishes, it was the same menu. Must have come as part of the deal. What I found strange were the specials. Today it was typical American Sunday family meals: roast turkey, roast chicken, and baked ham. I was tempted to try the turkey, but I really wanted to see how well they did Italian and compare it to Tuscany.

Sarah ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana, which came served over spaghetti. She also had a house salad. I was thinking about the Farfalle (which comes with scallops, shrimp, and artichoke hearts) as a direct comparison to Tuscany (I got that dish a lot at Tuscany), but I wasn’t in the mood for seafood today. So I opted for the Manicotti instead. I got a house salad as well. I also ordered a glass of merlot and got a very generous pour. The wine was nothing special, but for $4 I wasn’t complaining.

The salads were somewhat better than Tuscany’s. For one thing, they were less watery. I always found Tuscany’s salad to be too wet, no doubt from rinsing. And the salad dressing wasn’t as thin either. Two steps in the right direction. As with Tuscany, we got parmesan cheese and olive oil for bread dipping, and though the bread portions were small, we were happily given another helping.

Sarah was very pleased with her Eggplant. She felt it was a big improvement over Tuscany and that the portions were larger as well. (I have often seen large portions in new restaurants shrink in size as time passes.) My Manicotti was also very tasty and nicely presented. Our meal with tip ran only $30. Not bad at all. We’ll be back and maybe next time I’ll try the Farfalle for a better head-to-head comparison.

On a side note, I couldn’t help but wonder why someone buying out a failed restaurant would keep the same menu. Excuse the pun, but isn’t that a recipe for disaster?

Today we finally made it down to the Moonshine Store in Martinsville, IL for a couple of their famous Moonburgers. The Moonshine Store is literally out in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around it for a mile. And finding the place proved to be no small feat. We had a Google map AND a GPS navigation system. Despite being well armed with such gizmos, we still had to follow some bikers to get there. It’s at the intersection of 300th Rd and 600th St in Martinsville. Both Google maps and my GPS map placed the address further east at the intersection of 300th Rd and 850th St.

The Moonshine Store is a general store with a huge grill in the back and a collection of hard to find sodas. I was hoping they had birch beer and was pleasantly surprised to actually find one there. This place is big with biker groups as the roads leading to it make for an interesting ride, but it’s also a favorite of the locals. And despite being very crowded today, it’s amazingly easy to get to the grill and place your order. Then it’s a short wait until they call your name and hand you your burgers. There’s a table with an assortment of add-ons and condiments, and I hear the best time to be there is when the garden fresh tomatoes are available. We’ll have to go back later in the summer for those. Today it was pickles, onions, and ketchup for me and just mayo for Sarah.

The burgers themselves were very, very tasty, although not quite up to the bar set by Gunner Buc’s. But the thing Moonshine has over Gunner Buc’s in spades is atmosphere. Moonshine is a very cool place. Loads of interesting folks, a history buff’s dream of a building, and the fact that Moonshine Store is a destination unto itself add up to atmosphere most places would die for.

If you plan on going, be aware that they close the grill promptly at 12:30. Go early, leave yourself plenty of time in case you get lost, and arrive hungry. 

The Moonshine Store

The best way to get there.

The Grill

The Atmosphere (grill smoke included)

1. As part of a massive sell-off, the Darden restaurant group is closing 50+ Smokey Bones restaurants, including the ones in Champaign and Springfield, IL. Too bad. I liked Smokey Bones, especially their ribs.

2. The Serene Bean cafe in the McKinley building will be closing while the building is renovated and expanded. Hope to see them back after the dust settles.

3. For a different slant on C-U eateries and local news in general, check out Little Blog on the Prairie. You never know what you might learn. 

This afternoon we were trying to decide where to eat as we walked out of Borders bookstore on North Prospect. Just as we stepped outside, the smell of grilled steak hits us. In an instant, we decided to stop into Outback Steakhouse, which is right behind Borders. We were both pretty hungry, so we started with their Coral Reef Crab dip, which is crabmeat mixed in with gouda cheese and seasonings, served with little dipping toasts. It was tasty, although there weren’t enough toast pieces. We both ordered Filets with Sarah opting for the 7oz “Crowned” Filet (which was crowned with a horseradish/bread crumb topping), and I got the 9oz Center Cut filet. We both chose broccoli and salads for sides. I went with the basic House Side salad and Sarah had the Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped salad.

Sarah thought her salad was delicious. Mine was pretty basic, although fresh and nicely sized. The broccoli was perfectly prepared and very tasty. Sarah ordered her steak medium, but it was a tad shy of that. I asked for medium rare and that’s what I got. Both steaks were surprisingly good for a chain steakhouse, although Sarah found the horseradish topping a tad overpowering. Otherwise the steaks were excellent. I have to say I wasn’t expecting them to be of such high quality. Definitely worth the money.

I really never expected to give a Four Spoon rating to a chain like Outback, as we’ve eaten there several times before and have always felt it was just another TGI Friday’s/Chilis/Applebees clone with ok food but nothing special. But tonight’s dinner was a pleasant surprise and absolutely merits the rating.