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!

Monday, March 2, 2009

The Strutt (formerly Dino's)

Kristin: Margherita Pizza, the Mediterranean Place, Sidewalk Crepe (for dessert)
I'm pretty pleased that we stumbled back across The Strutt (formerly of Dino's fame). Pretty much the same vibe and atmosphere as good ol' Dino's, but the Strutt has opened up a lot of their menu selections to be more friendly to someone looking for a meal instead of a snack. And the Margherita Pizza friends? Well let's be honest, with mozzerella, tomato and basil on pizza crust... it's the pizza version of caprese. So you all know I'm on that like stink on a monkey. (which in retro-spect is probably a poor anaology for a food blog. hmm)
Kate did it up right by insisting that we check out an appetiser before the meal. A great idea, 'cept they were out of polenta (our first choice). So we opted for the Mediterranean plate: hummus, babaganoush, pita, olives and feta. It was good, but Kate and I aren't really olive people, and there were many on this plate, plus we could have used some more pita pieces I think. We'll have to go back to get the polenta some time soon, since I think we were both really jonesing for that (I say that like we need a reason. ha.)
The pizza was just like I already touted it folks: caprese on pizza crust. If you've read this blog before, you already know it was great for me. There was a lot of olive oil on it though, so I felt kinda greasy eating it, but otherwise I quite enjoyed my meal.
And the Sidewalk crepe. Total yum. It was really light and just a hint of lemony. There isn't much more description I can offer past that, but Kate and I both liked it bunches.
I have to note that I've gotten pretty good - minus my addiction to all things caprese - at ordering food without really knowing what it will look/taste like when it arrives. This sweet crepe was one of those things that came out much differently than I expected it to. And I was happily surprised.


four golden forks out of five.

Kate: Goat Cheese Salad, the Mediterranean Plate, Sidewalk Crepe (for dessert)
So, we know we have been bad with the blogging lately. And, honestly, we have not had the chance to eat out very much. So sad! Money has been tight, and we have been working our tails off. So, we decide to venture out for dinner tonight, and were shocked to find several places closed. What!?! So, we continued to drive around and then I remembered that one of my students was telling me about the Strutt just the other day... so off we went to the Strutt.
Now, we enjoyed Dino's, when it was Dino's... so we were pretty jazzed when we heard this was even better. The inside is pretty similar, but the menu has definitely expanded. I was in the mood for something light, so I went with a salad, And, boy was this salad good. Spring Mix with candied walnuts, and goat cheese drizzled in the lemon herb vinaigrette. Wow! So tasty. It really fit the bill for the evening.
The Mediterranean Plate was a substitution. They had fried polenta on the appetizer menu, which is what we ordered. Sadly, they were out for the night. So we went with this instead. I was not blown away by it. The hummus was good, but not the consistency that I prefer. And, there were an awful lot of olives on the plate. More than I would like. The pita was good, and there were cucumbers and tomatoes drizzled in oil with some feta. That was good. I would like to try the polenta, as I think that is more to my taste that this plate.
The Sidewalk crepe is a crepe (duh) drizzled in lemon butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar. WOW! Really good. Not a heavy dessert. Light enough to satisfy the sweet tooth but not make me hate myself after eating it. I would definitely get this dessert again!
So, the new Strutt. We will return. They have lots of live music. Good beers on tap (which we did not enjoy that evening, but we know they are there) and many more tasty options to explore on the menu!
four golden forks out of five.

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