One of my favorite things about vacation, I admit it, is the food. The good, the bad, the ugly. I haven't stepped on the scale yet to see the damage, but do I plan to get back to the gym tomorrow.
At The Shark, a casual shark-themed (duh) place on the bay, I had dinner one night and lunch another day. From the menu, which describes it better than I can:
Granny Smith’s Bleu Cheese Topped Filet
Grilled tenderloin filet of Certified Angus Beef topped with a walnut & bleu cheese blend & caramelized Granny Smith apples & sweet onions.
and
White Pita Pizza
A delicious blend of spinach, artichoke, two cheeses, diced tomato &
onion spread atop a soft pita crust. Topped with grilled chicken.
Since the demise of the old family favorite (about which I'm still too upset to write), the Shark is now officially my favorite restaurant in OC.
Macky's is a favorite of the family, but the seafood is lost on me because of my allergies. They have seating right on the bay, though, and beautiful views...the first sunset picture in my photo album was taken there. For dinner I had (again from the menu) Grilled Chicken Breast: A plump Eastern Shore Chicken breast, seasoned with garlic and lemon peppers and grilled, served with steamed vegetables and a side salad.
The Hobbit is also on the bay, but more of a white table cloth, dressy place. I've heard the owner is trying to sell the land to condo developers, but that the restaurant will remain in some form. I hope so, because the food is lovely. This was the full-throttle, screw the diet day, with appetizers and dessert...we had roasted garlic spread (roasted garlic, pistachios, horseradish, fresh chives, Montrachet and cream cheese. Baked until bubbly and served with French bread and apple slices); for dinner I had stuffed potabello with spinach and cheese (this isn't listed on the online menu, so my description isn't as vivid, but it was excellent), then chambord cake (a moist yellow bundt cake flavored with raspberry liqueur topped with homemade whipped cream and served on a raspberry sauce).
Fresco's is a new one for us (and it may be new this year). It too is a dressier, upscale place...almost too upscale; when the hostess heard we hadn't made reservations she had a bit of a tone to her voice when she agreed to seat us despite our transgression. Again, though, the food was really nice, and again I won't do it justice because my dinner isn't on the online menu. I had ravioli in a cream sauce with pine nuts and cheese. I'm only just learning how to really appreciate food after years and years of Big Macs, and this sauce really impressed me because it had so many layers of different flavors.
While I didn't bother with McDonald's during the trip, I did indulge in good old fashioned junk food, too:
From Dumser's I got the Dusty Dumser sundae: three dips of our creamy vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, crushed malted milk balls, whipped cream and a cherry. When they say scoop, they don't mean a scoop like the ice cream scoop in the kitchen gaget drawer. You could use their scoop to dig a hole and plant a tree. I couldn't finish it, but damn, I love malted milk balls.
We had lunch and breakfast at The Dough Roller, which really doesn't count as junk food. One of the things I really appreciate about them is that I can get vegetarian dishes there (besides cheese pizza), and it's a good place to take kids.
And of course, I had Thrasher's fries covered in vinegar and salt, but Thrasher's doesn't have a web page. (This story about them appeared in the local paper while I was there, though.) I bought the medium tub, figuring I'd share with the family, nice person that I am. The kids didn't want them. Dad's gone low-carb. Even sharing with the seagulls I ate more than I needed, but what the heck, it's once a year.
And I really will go to the gym tomorrow.
Posted by Nic at August 23, 2004 07:35 PM