Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!

Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific
five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!


But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new
Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!

We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.


SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Olde Peninsula

Kristin: Pretzerella Sticks and a Florentine Calzone
We had such a blast at Olde Penn (or OP/ Ocean Pacific, whatever else you'd like to call this spiffy brew pub.) Our server was awesomely attentive, and had a good sense of humor to boot- he took very good care of us.
We've been here before (you may recall our "Zombie" meal.), and at the time we commented on how very hard to eat the pretzerella sticks are (they fall apart as you hold them). But Kate came up with a wondrous solution to this - ask for a little plate and then eat them with a knife and fork. PERFECT.
I also have to tell you about my Calzone- you know that scene in When Harry Met Sally, when Sally spends five minutes ordering a slice of pie to her exact specifications? I tried to ask for the Florentine without chicken and with the alfredo on the side. They couldn't do the no chicken request (calzones are pre-made... sad face.), but they did bring me the alfredo on the side. Looking at that stuff in a little cup kind of turned me off to the idea of eating it, so I also asked for a little cup of Marinara. THAT... That, my friends, was absolute perfection.
My Calzone was filled with chicken, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, was cooked in an unexpectedly light crust, and was shaped like a three corner hat - so of course I happily geeked about about my hat calzone for few minutes. Long story short - I got what I wanted how I wanted it and it was super yummy.
Here's my one and only beef with the good Olde Penn: Their no smoking section is cut off from the smoking section by a series of windows that don't actually cover the entire wall, so the smoke definitely travels through those gaps over to the supposedly smoke free side... this is not altogether helpful when you're trying to enjoy all the tastiness you're working with. But that being said, really the only person who could fix that is the big wig behind the OP - maybe he's a Kzoo foodies reader?
four golden forks out of five.

Kate: Sunset Red Burrito with Chicken and Pretzella Sticks
So, yes, clearly our zombie state from the last visit did not allow me to think about eating the pretzella sticks with a fork. They were, again, quite yummy, and much easier to eat with a fork.
The burrito was delicious! It was a huge portion and it was served with tortilla chips, but no salsa, which I thought was odd, but I was so overwhelmed when I saw the plate, I commented to the server on the amount of food he had placed in front of me. My first bite was, well, HOT! I felt the warm beans going all the way down to my stomach. YES, that hot. So, once I recovered from the third degree burns to my throat, I took a second bite and was very pleased with what I was tasting. The bean mixture inside the burrito had such a wonderful blend of flavors! Add that to the tomatoes, cheese, and lettuce, and you have yourself a delicious burrito. I had been craving something Mexican-like lately, and this seemed like a slightly lighter version that something I might have gotten somewhere else.
I did not have much room for chips, but I did have a few, and they are very well seasoned. They remind me of the chips at a little local place that used to exist where I grew up. Really good.
Coupled with the Rockin Raspberry Wheat beer, I definitely enjoyed this meal after a long morning of working at the mall, even with the cigarette smoke drifting through the wall...

four golden forks out of five.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey ladies I just came across your blog today... Nice read!

Suggestions for food... Mangia, Mangia, I just went there last night first the first time. Eh.

The London Grill in Plainwell is sooooo much better than the kzoo one.

I also heard 'Big Joes' will be making a return to kzoo ... super excited!

-dj

Kristin said...

Howdy!

Thanks for the tips DJ! What is this Big Joes place you speak of?

Daisy Jean said...

Big Joe's was a sandwich place. There used to be a locations off West Main, Westnedge in Portage and downtown. The had simple yet tasty sandwiches, it was my favorite spot for lunch until all locations closed.

Kristin said...

OoOoo. Big Joe's sounds good! We're both very sandwich people. Hopefully you're right - it would be great to check it out!

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