Travelsmartplanet

An international idea celebrated in 50 countries, Restaurant Day is a food carnival created by food-loving people setting up one-day restaurants. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and meet others in our community. People offer their family cuisine, favorite recipes, desserts or whatever in their backyard or a park.  Prices are very inexpensive.

Check the maps to see if there is one in your city.

Date: Sunday, August 17
http://www.restaurantday.org/

Tags: carnival, city, countries, cuisine, dessert, family, food, map, people, recipe, Restaurant

Michelin listed Ghent restaurant t’Pakhuis (www.pakhuis.be) takes the concept of farm right to table so seriously that they bought the farm – in Bresse, France. So now they breed and serve famous and flavourful Bresse chickens, guinea fowl, Hampshire down lambs, and Bayeux pigs. From home in Belgium, they get special tomatoes, their herbs, and even “lost and forgotten” vegetables

Located in a former ironworks factory with painted cast-iron pillars and a soaring wrought-iron balcony now filled with light from the huge roof skylight, the noisy chattering happy diners, both inside and out might be enjoying the beers and fancy cocktails at the bar or on the large terrace. In keeping with it’s slick metallic theme, it has the coolest bathroom lock I’ve ever encountered and I challenge you to try to turn on the tap without having to ask!

And the food – my liver screamed for mercy but my mouth was bathed in smiles. Though you could start with  a lighter lobster soup or beef carpaccio, if you dare, the foie gras plate had the most generous hunk of silky foie we have ever encountered accompanied by sage apple cream and dates. Had I stopped there, it would have been a perfect dinner.

But yet we ventured on to the grilled duck breast in pea cream with baby veggies and mashies that were so smoothly whipped that they could have been served for a dessert sorbet. The asparagus risotto with lemon butter was so yummy, it alone could turn me into a vegetarian.

We could have ended the meal with a locally favorite flavor, gingerbread, in cheesecake with vanilla sauce or gone lightly with some sorbets, but we took it to the max with a silky creme brûlée. Sigh.

Tags: apple, asparagus, balcony, bar, Bayeux, beef, beer, breast, Bresse, butter, Carpaccio, cheesecake, chicken, cocktail, cream, creme, date, dessert, diner, dinner, duck, factory, farm, foie, food, fowl, France, Ghent, gingerbread, gras, guinea, Hampshire, iron, lamb, lemon, liver, lobster, mashies, Michelin, pea, pig, pillar, Restaurant, risotto, sage, skylight, sorbet, soup, t'Pakhuis, terrace, tomato, vanilla, vegetable, vegetarian, veggies, wrought

Exit 339: Latitude 30 – If you just couldn’t decide what to do tonight, should I go out to a restaurant, grab a pizza, go bowling, watch a movie, take the kids to an arcade, catch a sporting event, or enjoy a comedy show, you don’t have to choose – head here. You can dine deliciously in the restaurant, for food comes first here, or in any of the above while you enjoy your entertainment.

Noise level is high so babies can cry and the kids don’t have to be quiet or sit still while you finish eating – this is the future of family dining. The sports theater sports 19 screens, the pizza chef is stretching and tossing dough by the brick oven, the cocktail area is buzzing, the arcade is dinging (prizes right up to an iPad), bowling balls are crashing in the 20 lanes (comfy couches) while their 9 screens are showing sporting events so you don’t miss anything (football AND bowling) or you can escape into one of the 2 movie theaters. If that wasn’t enough action, there’s live music Thurs-Sat nights.

You can just sit and watch it all while you have a tiramisu martini (or 40 brands of beer) and then chow into: a prime rib kabob with creamy horse radish sauce, quesadilla, lettuce wrapped Asian chicken in peanut ginger sauce, sesame crusted teriyaki calamari with citrus wasabi aioli, steak and blue cheese in flat bread, shrimp po’ boy, chicken salad with cherries and pecans, blackened mahi mahi or build your own burger.

Dinner entree salads can be made with flat iron steak or blackened ahi, there’s a chopped cobb salad, lobster mac ‘n cheese, veal pot roast, Guinness fish and chips, bacon wrapped scallops and we loved the homemade potato chips. Southern red velvet cake and bread pudding can finish it off for you. You will need to take advantage of the free valet parking, the lot is packed.

Location: 10370 Phillips Highway, Jacksonville FL, USA
Tel:  904-365-5555
www.latitude-30.com

Tags: arcade, Asian, baby, beer, bowling, calamari, chicken, cocktail, comedy, entertainment, fish, football, Latitude 30, lobster, mahi, martini, movie, music, pizza, po'boy, pot roast, prime rib, pudding, quesadilla, red velvet, Restaurant, salad, scallop, screen, shrimp, sporting, steak, teriyaki, theater, tiramisu, veal

P.P. Cobb General Store and Delicatessen was opened in 1860, by the first postmaster, Peter Paul Cobb.  Cattle drives passed by during the day and fisherman on the pier stocked up.

You can still eat here and stock up with their eclectic mix. You can grab a carton and make your own 6-pack of  hard- to-find sodas: Cheer Wine, Rebel Soda, Black Lemonade, Kama Sutra, Boylan‘s or 500 kinds of artisanal beers (San Miguel, Turbo Dog, Avalanche, Stouts).

Kids young and old will have fun at the candy stand: Boston Baked Beans, Zagnuts, Gold Rocks, red waxy lips, candy cigarettes, Double Bubble, waxy bottles of sugary liquid, and newer larvets or crick-ettes, insects in amber candy, and cookie dough nibbles.

The husband and wife team open for breakfast (homemade sausages, omelettes) or lunch. There’s homemade soups: roasted red peppers and sweet potato (can’t take off menu), creamy leek and potato, beef barley, and sandwiches on homemade bread, 10 paninis and 4 wraps.

Finish the meal with coffee, tea (iced green tea, genmai cha), homemade cookies, shakes (ginger custard), smoothies, root beer floats, or green tea ice cream. For a local taste try Florida fruit wines: orange, grapefruit and mango. If you need some there’s also soap made by Cherokees in Arizona.

Hours:  M-Sat 8:30-6, Sun 10-4
Location: 100 Avenue A, Fort Pierce
www.ppcobbgeneralstore.com
Tel:  772-465-7010

Tags: Avalanche, Black Lemonade, Boston Baked Beans, Boylan, candy cigarettes, Double Bubble, Florida fruit wine, genmai cha, Gold Rocks, grapefruit, homemade sausages, iced green tea, insects in amber candy, Kama Sutra, larvets or crick-ettes, mango, omelettes, orange, Rebel Soda, red waxy lips, San Miguel, Stout. Cheer Wine, Turbo Dog, waxy bottles of sugary liquid, Zagnuts

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens will clear your head from the buzz of I-95.  You have to walk slowly, deliberately, in order to appreciate the sculpture of leaves, bushes, flowers and branches which are painstakingly maintained. In 200 acres, you will walk Roji-en, through the centuries: Shinden Garden (9th-12th), Paradise Garden (13th &14th), Early Rock garden (14th), Lake Rock Garden (15th), Flat Garden (16 th &17th) and the  Modern Romantic Garden (19th-20th) as well as thru towering bamboo, waterfalls and bonsai, of course.

There are exhibition rooms on art, history, and Japanese culture and you might be able to enjoy a tea ceremony if you arrive at the right time.

The gardens were donated by George Sukeji Morikami of the the Yamato colony, an early 20th century Japanese farming settlement in Florida. In the original building, you can learn about the colony and see Japan Through the Eyes of a Child: school supplies, kitchen, bullet train and a bathroom toilet which washes your butt.

The gift shop sells tea sets, origami, abacus, calligraphy brushes, chopstick rests, kimonos and cool Piperoid Robography. You can dine gloriously in the Cornell Cafe and Tea House with its pan-Asian food overlooking gardens.

4000 Morikami Park Rd, Delray Beach
Hours:  T-Sun 10-5
IconT 561-495-0233
www.morikami.org

Tags: abacus, bamboo, bathroom toilet, bonsai, branches, bullet train, bushes, calligraphy brushes, chopstick rests, eaves, flowers, George Sukeji Morikami, kimono, kitchen, Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, origami, Piperoid Robography, school supplies, tea ceremony, tea sets, waterfall, Yamato colony

On Saturday Sept 10th, My husband and I will be on Radio Centre-Ville’s Centre-Ville Consumer show with Beta Wayne.

Tune to 102.3  between 12:30 p.m.  and 1 p.m. and you’ll hear about our experiences in Holland and Flanders, Belgium in May. It will be the full half hour of conversation between us.

www.radiocentreville.com

Tags: Belgium, Beta Wayne, Centre Ville Consumer, Flanders, Holland

Who would expect to find a hidden elegant café in the Antwerp train station? Behind the magnificent facade of the old station (built by Leopold II in 1895), facing the tracks go to your extreme left hand corner. Inside the doors of the fancy looking café you will find sandwiches and 5 kinds of croque monsieur (variations on grilled cheese) without fancy prices.

If you just couldn’t decide what to do tonight, should I go out to a restaurant, grab a pizza, go bowling, watch a movie, take the kids to an arcade, catch a sporting event, or enjoy a comedy show, you don’t have to choose – head for Latitude 30.

You can dine deliciously in the restaurant, for food comes first here, or in any of the above while you enjoy your entertainment. Noise level is high so babies can cry and the kids don’t have to be quiet or sit still while you finish eating – this is the future of family dining.

The sports theater sports19 screens, the pizza chef is stretching and tossing dough by the brick oven, the cocktail area is buzzing, the arcade is dinging (prizes right up to an iPad), bowling balls are crashing in the 20 lanes (comfy couches) while their 9 screens are showing sporting events so you don’t miss anything (football AND bowling) or you can escape into one of the two movie theaters.

If that wasn’t enough action, there’s live music Thurs-Sat nights. You can just sit and watch it all while you have a tiramisu martini (or 40 brands of beer) and then chow into: a prime rib kabob with creamy horse radish sauce, quesadilla, lettuce wrapped Asian chicken in peanut ginger sauce, sesame crusted teriyaki calamari with citrus wasabi aioli, steak and blue cheese in flat bread, shrimp po’ boy, chicken salad with cherries and pecans, blackened mahi mahi or build your own burger.

Dinner entree salads can be made with flat iron steak or blackened ahi, there’s a chopped cobb salad, lobster mac n cheese, veal pot roast, Guinness fish and chips, bacon wrapped scallops and we loved the homemade potato chips. Southern red velvet cake and bread pudding can finish it off for you. You will need to take advantage of the free valet parking, the lot is packed.

Location: 10370 Phillips Highway
Tel: 904-365-5555
www.latitude-30.com

Tags: aioli, arcade, Asian, bacon, beer, blackened ahi, blackened mahi mahi, blue cheese, bowling, bowling ball, bread pudding, brick oven, burger, calamari, cherries, chicken, chicken salad, cobb salad, cocktail, comedy show, couch, family dining, fish and chips, flat bread, flat iron steak, football, ginger, Guinness, horse radish sauce, kabob, lane, Latitude 30, lettuce, lobster, mac n cheese, martini, movie, music, noise, peanut, pecan, pecans, pizza, po' boy, pot roast, potato chip, prime rib, quesadilla, red velvet cake, Restaurant, salad, scallop, screen, sesame crusted, shrimp, sporting event, sports theater, steak, teriyaki, tiramisu, veal, wasabi

Who would think you can stop on an exit of I-95 and have bragging rights that you have eaten in a Daniel Boulud restaurant?  At Cafe Boulud at The Brazilian Court in Palm Beach,  you can expect the prices will match the excellence of the presentation, service and the quality of the food. Everythiing is made, cured, cooked or smoked on the premises.

If you want to eat and not drop a bundle, do breakfast. There are typical omelets and porridge and the Boulud Benedict was divine. The restaurant is located in a 1926 hidden gem historical (condo) hotel with 2 courtyards and an iconic fountain in a great location – you can walk to Worth Ave and it’s 1 1/2 blocks to the ocean.

Location: 301 Australian Ave.
Tel: 561-655-7740 or 800-552-0335
www.thebraziliancourt.com

Tags: Cafe Boulud, Daniel Boulud, The Brazilian Court

NYC Restaurant Week, the City’s original culinary celebration and world’s first Restaurant Week—will feature more than 320 restaurants for its 20th Year.

The two-week event will take place July 11–24, Mondays through Fridays; Saturdays are excluded and Sundays are optional.  For the 12th consecutive season, prices for the prix-fixe three-course meals will remain at $24.07 for lunch and $35 for dinner (excluding beverages, taxes and gratuities).

The full list of participating restaurants will be available at www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek on Wednesday, June 29, when reservations are open to the general public. Early-access reservations were announced on twitter yesterday. (http://www.nycgo.com/rw-earlyrez/?a=1&b=1&cid=fb_rw).

Tags: New York City, Restaurant