Carrabba's is Snazzy

Carrabba’s has the same dark, romantic feel of Bonefish Grill next door. Both of these chain restaurants are owned by Outback Steak House, but the similarity ends with the ambiance. The lighting is arranged so well that only the tables are lit, just as in Bonefish. The bar in Bonefish is very cool -- and I forgot to notice it in Carrabba's. WELL-- I'm not a pro at this, you know. Carrabba’s is decorated with old, black-and-white, presumably Italian, family photos on the walls.

We went to Carrabba’s with friends who eat in one of this chain of restaurants often when they vacation in Florida. We met at our semi-functioning house to share a glass of vino and to show off our kitchen demolition. Our friends and The Man Who Occasionally Drinks A Glass Of White Wine enjoyed a bottle of Chateau St Michelle Indian Wells Reisling while sipped a glass of Clos du Bois red zinfandel – drinkable. Their Reisling was more interesting, with an exceptionally long finish for a white wine, in my opinion (and that’s the only one you’re going to get). At Carrabba’s our friends were pleased to see that the Brookfield branch of this restaurant had a Reisling on their menu. He sampled that and found it drinkable, while she had a glass of very tasty Blue Moon Belgian Wheat Beer ($4.75) that was served with a slice of orange.

With our drinks some nice, hot bread was served with olive oil and a mixture of herbs to mix in. The herbs are peppery and tasty, but there were not enough of them. The four of us dipped them away and had to order more. I believe I enjoyed the pesto in the olive oil at Bonefish more than these dried herbs. I guess I’ll just have to go back and try it again to refresh my memory...

The Man Who Enjoys, And Even Remembers, Every Bite Of Italian Food He Has Eaten (which is more than you can say for most of his wife’s cooking) ordered something he remembered eating often when we visited Italy – Quatro Fromagio Pizza ($9.49)(I’ll tell you that means Four Cheese Pizza, but I don’t’ mean to insult your translating ability. Not all schools were as good as yours, you know.). The Man was so pleased to see it on a menu here, and then so disappointed that it wasn’t better. Crust too thick, not enough cheese, no tomato sauce, just a few sun-dried tomatoes, and the cheeses weren’t quite the combination he rememebered from Italy.

I ordered a caprese salad with my dinner of Spiedino di Mare - supposedly shrimp and sea scallops grilled and topped with lemon butter ($16.75), but mine was all scallops - which was fine with me. They were fabulous. Slightly breaded and grilled to perfection. For my side dish I had broccoli, also a good-sized, well-cooked portion. The caprese salad was a meal-sized portion, however, so I could have been happy just with that. There must have been a whole, large ball of fresh mozzerella in the salad. I actually like my own caprese salad better, however. Carrabba’s serves theirs with pesto as the dressing and very little basil on the salad. I prefer lots of fresh basil and just olive oil on my tomatoes, basil and cheese. Picky, picky...

One of our friends ordered Chicken Bryan ($14.99), which is a rich, delicious whole grilled chicken breast topped with two huge scoops of soft goat cheese and grilled, with a basil lemon butter sauce. It is outstanding, if way too much food. And she had the Pasta Weesie ($13.99), made of shrimp, mushrooms and scallions on fettucine alfredo – and talk about rich! Even The Man Who Is Cooking Averse could create food that tasted good by using THAT much butter. Both of them had a Caesar salad with their meals. And all of us, except The Italian-Eating Pizza Man brought home doggy styro containers.

The ambiance is lovely, the seating is gracious, but I’d put Bonefish Grill above Carrabba’s as a more-or-less regular dining spot, because the food at Carrabba’s is too rich, too calorie-laden. Of course, I could just order less of it... And, though you could never beat the service we had at Bonefish, the company at Carrabba’s was more entertaining (which is not the fault of the restaurant, but of all of you who have not yet joined us for dinner on Bluemound).

Kitchenless in Brookfield

It’s Monsoon Season on Bluemound

Actually we haven’t had enough rain in Brookfield to keep my garden happy. I should be out there comforting the chrysanthemums, but I have all this eating and writing to do.

I fell behind on this blog-writing, because I had to get out the newsletter for the Waukesha County Land Conservancy. And do so without ending up in divorce court. The Man Who Loves Weird And Difficult Computer Programs Like The Printer’s Program, Quark, is also The Man Who Cannot Spell or Punctuate. I, on the other hand, would rather shoot myself in the head than sit and watch The Man move a title over .1 millimeter or create a vertical block in which to write a photo caption and check out what it will look like in 62 different fonts. But if I don’t watch, The Man would never put a period at the end of a sentence. I am not making that up. He actually glares at me when I tell him that the caption, “Tom touches Tina’s tush,” is a complete sentence and must have a period at the end. (This sentence does not actually appear in this newsletter.)

This issue of the Land Letter is now in the hands of Lithoprint. There was no divorce this time, but yesterday chose to go out to lunch with our attorney – just to keep him at the ready...

We lunched at the oh-so-classy Monsoon. I got there early to check out the ladies facilities. Wow! This one is way nicer than either of my facilities at home. I even noticed the beveled edge on the granite countertop and the gorgeous earth-toned floor tile. I’m SO hip about the latest trends in decorating. If you go to Monsoon, use the bathroom. You might want to bring your camera for future remodeling ideas. No... maybe not...

What a great place to go for lunch. The reddish wood tables, gold walls, the wall-mounted waterfalls, the really cool, oriental-styled cloth covers on the light fixtures, all add up to a stunning, modern atmosphere. Though the Emperor’s Kitchen may be more authentic-ly Chinese, both in style and menu, it is one big, characterless room, while Monsoon is beautiful.

Though not quite as exciting as Bonefish’s menu, it is fun just to read Monsoon’s menu. “Orange beef: Stir-fried beef with a succulent orange sauce over julienne vegetables.” That one is $13. Some of the meals have a price for lunch and one for dinner. The Grilled Salmon Salad, which I’ve eaten here before, and love, has goat cheese (yum), pecans and mandarin oranges, is $8 for lunch and $11 for dinner. I’ve also previously ordered the appetizer of Crab Rangoons, wontons filled with crab, cream cheese and spices and served with a mango dipping sauce for $8. Are these actually Chinese foods? Perhaps the wontons... So if you care about authenticity in your ethnic food, Monsoon isn’t for you. It reminds me of PF Chang’s menu.

I ordered the Chicken, Cabbage, Onion and Cilantro Spring Rolls with a Black Bean sauce ($8). It was to die for! Three large spring rolls, crisp and hot, with a delicious sauce and served on a chopped salad. The Attorney Man I Was With had barbeque shrimp, a ample portion of shrimp in a somewhat spicy barbeque sauce that he said was exceptionally good, served on rice. I think it was $10, but, I’m a lousy reviewer. I was so busy sucking up my Spring Rolls, I failed to notice.

Meanwhile, back in my kitchenless house, my bamboo flooring was just delivered. (By the cutest, curly-haired young guy - gee, this remodeling stuff is fun. Tubeworm, he reminded me of your eldest son.) The dry-wall guys will finish their work today – I have walls! And the flooring will be installed on Monday and Tuesday.

If you remodel your kitchen, call Cabinet Werks. They see to it that there is always someone ‘werking’.

I am having so much fun going out to eat every day, I almost wish the project would slow down. (I didn’t say that, Mike.) Tonight we will dine with good friends at Carrabba’s. Maybe that’s why I’m so pleased with this remodeling project right now. This reviewer is at a classy part of Bluemound Road's restaurant scene.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Bonefish Grill Now Leads the Pack

I’ve found another GREAT spot to dine on Bluemound! Bonefish Grill. Let’s start with the wine list. The first thing I noticed on the lengthy list was Caymus cabernet sauvignon. The best wine I’ve ever drunk was a bottle of Caymus at a restaurant meal to which a lighting fixture salesman treated us – back in the days when salesmen would take their clients and spouses (that would be me) out occasionally. And here it was again, on Bluemound Road at the Bonefish Grill for a mere $94 a bottle. I price Caymus when I see it at liquor stores. It’s always over $75.

We didn’t order it.

But the Man Who Is Seafood Averse suggested – HE actually suggested! – that we split an order of the crab cakes appetizer ($9.90). Does he love me, or WHAT? After sampling his portion, The Man said this crab cake was as good as any he’s ever eaten (he has limited experience in this category of food, but he has tried crab cakes occasionally when I make frozen ones at home). These came with two sauces, both of which were beyond my spice tolerance. But there was so much tasty crab in the cakes that who needs sauce?

Another appetizer at Bonefish that sounds tempting is the bacon-wrapped sea scallops with mango salsa ($9.90). But these I can make at home (in a kitchen with appliances, of course).

I had a glass of Bridgeview “Blue Moon” pinot noir ($8.50) with the crab cakes, while The Man had a glass of beer. (I forgot to ask what kind – I’m a lousy reviewer. I can only do a couple of things at a time, and sip wine and eat crab cakes about takes care of that.) There were 11 beers on the menu – and 44 wines – by the glass! This is an amazing number of bottles to have open. Bonefish must be serving many wine-drinkers to keep that many open bottles fresh. And my pinot was perky and delicious – obviously just opened and a perfect choice with my appetizer and my dinner.

While we studied the menu, our waiter, Omar, brought us a basket of hot, crisp crusted bread and some great pesto that he mixed at our table with olive oil for dipping. I make a mighty fine pesto (my recipe follows – and this one was deliciously heavy on the basil. Omar mentioned that in addition to the usual Parmesan cheese and pine nuts, Bonefish’s pesto is made with Kalamata olives, another of my favorite foods (besides all kinds of cheese).

After a lengthy conversation with Omar about the many delicious-sounding menu items, I decided on grilled Arctic Charr with a side of vegetables-do-die-for in a butter sauce ($16.40). Charr, Omar explained, is a mild salmon. Doesn’t that sound interesting? There are many interesting choices on the menu, including ten kinds of grilled fish, each with four possible sauces. This is another menu that a foodie, like me, would just like to take home and browse through while soaking in a hot bath. While I tried to decide between two of the sauces, Omar suggested that he would bring two sauces for me on the side – the Mediterranean sauce and the lemon butter sauce. The lemon butter sauce was perfect. I wanted to taste this mild fish and even the herb-laden Mediterranean sauce hid the flavor of the perfectly cooked fish filet.

Bonefish has a pleasantly dark, glamorous atmosphere, with tables far enough apart and the acoustics such that you cannot hear the conversations of the neighboring tables. What added to the gracious feeling of the restaurant was the charming Omar. Bonefish must have a policy requiring the wait staff to sample all menu items. Omar could tell us which herbs were in which recipes, how large were the portions, etc. When The Man Who Loves His Cow Meat ordered a 6 oz. tenderloin filet and said he wanted it to have a hot center, it was cooked perfectly. Omar also brought us a small sample of the soup of the day, a Crab and Corn Chowder with potatoes. It tasted mostly of fresh corn and was light and lovely.

I know I’m going on and on about this restaurant. But I was SO impressed, so pleased with everything here. I don’t think I need to tell you that the bathroom was as lovely as the restaurant. It was. Bonefish Grill now ranks as #1 on my list so far, replacing Louise’s by a hair. Or maybe it’s a tie for the #1 spot. Perhaps if I had just come here for dinner one night, I would not be so enthused, but after all the mediocre meals we’ve eaten in the last few weeks and the less-than-stunning ambiance of many establishments, Bonefish was such a treat. We did spend $69.31, and we would not do that every night.

But would that we could!

Kitchenless in Brookfield

My Pesto Recipe:

3-4 packed cups of basil leaves (I have some to share in my garden, if you need it)
4-5 good-sized garlic cloves, peeled and cut in pieces
1 cup pine nuts (can use walnuts, if pine nuts are out of your budget this year)
1 cup best-quality olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
salt and freshly grated pepper to taste (I like lots of both)

Combine basil, garlic and nuts in food processor. With motor running, slowly add olive oil. Shut off motor. Add cheeses, salt and pepper. Process briefly to combine. Cover and store in refrigerator. It can be frozen. Makes 2 cups, or enough to sauce 2 lbs of pasta. When using on pasta, heat and thin with heavy cream.

Boston Market -- 50's Food

Boston Market would be one of the places at which The Man Who Considers All Herbs “Funky” should be able to eat happily. A 50's sort of place. A Macaroni and Cheese, Meatloaf, Green Bean Casserole sort of place.

The way it works it that you choose an entre and then, right in the compartments of your divided plastic plate are plopped two side dishes of your choice, plus cornbread. The main dish selection is not huge: chicken, sirloin, turkey, meatloaf, and chicken pot pie, ranging in price from $5 to $11, depending on the size of the portion you order. There are 14 side dishes to choose from. The clientele, which included many families with small children, are taking advantage of the children’s portions of the entres for $3.49.

The Man Who Married Me To Be Closer To My Mother’s Meatloaf ordered – tada! -- meatloaf, with sweet potatoes and green bean casserole ($6.49). I ordered 5 oz. of Roast Turkey with sweet potatoes and creamed spinach ($7.29). These items are all on display in a chrome steam table, at which the waiters scoop up your choices and slap them on your plate. It reminded me of lunches at Liz Waters dormitory when I was in college. Same food, even.

The first thing The Man said after taking a bite of his sweet potatoes was, “Well, we won’t have to order dessert.” There was as much sugar in those sweet potatoes as there would be in sweet potato pie. The next thing he said was, “Whoa. This meat isn’t warm.” “Is it cold?” I asked. “No, it’s just slightly above room temperature.” I tasted my turkey with gravy. It was the same tepid temperature. YIKES! This is the scarey part about eating in restaurants of all kinds every night. Somewhere there could be food poisoning or some bacteria lurking in your salad or gravy. I ate a small amount of my main dish and left the rest. We did not get sick – praise be to the gods of cafeterias everywhere. I ate all of the spinach, which was hot and rich and delicious. Did your mother make creamed vegetables, like creamed peas and creamed broccoli? Mine did. This creamed spinach started with onions sauteed in butter – lots of it. That butter was the main ingredient in the white sauce that smothered the chopped spinach. I consumed ample fats and calories just eating the creamed spinach. The cornbread was a disappointment -- a dry concoction of too much flour and not enough cornmeal.

A final note: the bathroom was clean, but they could wash the outside of the waste container sometime.

If Boston Market would be more careful of the temperature at which their food is served (and his parents would allow it), our 4-year-old grandson would love this food. His tastes tend to run in line with his grandpa’s, though the little one is far more adventurous. He’ll even eat scallops, praise be!

Kitchenless in Brookfield

The Fastest Fast Food - and plumbing

I almost forgot to tell you all about the plumbing disaster of the weekend. Okay. “Disaster” is a bit over-the-top.

I used the bathroom at about 6 AM one morning. In my bare feet, I couldn’t help but notice that the floor was not dry. Actually, it was not damp either. It was very wet. After some serious thought, I decided that I had not, indeed, had an accident earlier in the evening and therefore this was probably related to the plumbing. In the still of the night, I could hear a steady, but rapid drip, drip, drip... I awoke The Man Who Hates Plumbing. He muttered, went to the basement and shut off the water, and went back to bed, “till Ace opens”.

I cannot tell you what the problem was, actually, but it was hours and hours which The Man Had Not Planned To Spend This Way and several trips to Ace Hardware, interspersed with some colorful language, much bending and reaching behind the toilet bowl with a variety of tools (have you noticed how inaccessible toilets are?) and something about replacing something with a flexible something.

When The Man was done, I put a bowl under that valve thingy, just in case... This afternoon I noticed there is a small puddle in the bowl. What do you think? Should I tell him?

Then last night we had another fast food meal on Bluemound. Did you realize that some of the fast food joints are the cleanest places in town? Okay, not KFC. But McDonald’s! Yes, McDonald’s on Bluemound and Brookfield Road is immaculate. Floors scrubbed, bathroom positively shiny. Someone was scrubbing the napkin dispensers and the soda machine while we ate dinner there at 9:30 PM last night.

The Man’s food was just what he’s come to expect at this dependable establishment. A 740-calorie double quarter-pounder with cheese meal ($5.40). With large fries, of course. And diet soda (for the calorie conscious). When I eat food from McDonald’s (when traveling with The Man Who Doesn’t Waste Time Eating While On The Road), I usually order the Asian grilled chicken salad with Paul Newman’s Sesame Ginger dressing. It’s 390 calories, if you eat the whole packet of dressing, which you won’t. I know what to expect there too – mandarin oranges, almond slivers, greens, grilled chicken – good stuff. But someone, some friend who’s name I can’t recall, but when I do, will no longer be my friend, recommended that I try her favorite menu item at McDonald’s - the Southwest chicken salad ($4.40). I decided to expand my horizons. I ordered it. With Newman’s Southwest dressing and a cup of decaf ($.50).

What is wrong with my memory retention? (Do not answer that.) Why can’t I recall that within the last couple of weeks I have complained (that’s the polite word for it) of the spicy salsa at a Mexican restaurant, and have wondered what I was thinking when I ordered something that said it was “Cajun?” A Southwest salad dressing? What was I thinking? I scraped the dressing off as well as I could and ate the grilled chicken.

My brain failure is not the fault of the restaurant. Actually, through the smoke emitting from my nose and ears, I still was able to detect McDonald’s nice, dark woodwork and the classy, navy, plaid wallpaper. This McDonald’s is a nice place for a quick, cheap meal (our total was $10.83).

Avoid regrets. Have the Asian Grilled Chicken Salad.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Emperor's Kitchen and "our" garage

The kitchen/basement sorting is a seriously contagious disease. Today it spread to the garage. The Frugal Man saved some of the old kitchen cabinets for slightly more organized storage in the basement and in the garage. The Man Who Never Leaves Till Tomorrow What He Could Do Today has already installed the basement ones under a hunk of old countertop in my storage, giftwrap and Christmas decoration dump. This weekend he installed three wall cabinets in the garage – which he immediately started to fill with car wash equipment (he hasn’t washed a car in 15 years, I’d guess) and open cans of driveway sealer (he’s hired someone to seal the driveway for probably the last 20 years). This would not do. I need the best, most convenient storage space for MY gardening supplies, which I actually do use almost daily during our extensive gardening season here in Wisconsin. There was a bit of a tiff in the garage. I always win. The Man Who Was An Only Child was raised to treat his mother with respect (thank you, Isabel Gennrich) and is a wuss.

The Man Who Makes Neat Piles doesn’t throw stuff out (he would dispute that claim, but he is not writing this). I love to throw things away. So as The Pile-Maker would stack stuff on a shelf in the garage and turn his back, I would grab the stuff he stacked and say, “We don’t need this, you haven’t used this for years, I hate this sprinkler, etc. etc.” and pitch it all in the garbage cans. I really must have pruners, plant stakes, gloves and a trowel in a convenient spot. That’s all I insisted on – and – of course – I got that. After all, HE has two lawn mowers (he says he needs a spare in case one needs repair), a generator, a power washer, four gas cans, a chain saw and many other tools that I can’t even name. (This is in addition to the Milwaukee Tool Company that is his basement workshop.) Never mind. The garage looks spectacular. I hope the garbage men will not be TOO picky about what they’ll take.

Last night's dinner was an al fresco, stand-up affair in Madison before the Badger football game. Beer and brats and barbequed pork chop sandwiches do not need reviewing. You all know that’s The Best. Besides, the Badgers won, and the company was a blast.

So my most recent dinner on Bluemound was at the Emperor’s Kitchen. Good food, not expensive for what you get, but nothing to speak of in the way of ambiance -- Just one big room with simple tables and paper placemats. That seems to be the common decor of Chinese restaurants in this country. But the Emperor’s Kitchen is located on the second floor with lots of windows, so even though the room is bare and the view is not of the snow-capped Himalayas, it is not unpleasant.

Next time I eat at the Emperor’s Kitchen, I will try to remember that the portions are ridiculously enormous. Even if The Man and I had been agreeable enough to share one order of food, we could not have eaten it all. I probably ate no more than 1/4 of my Cantonese chow mein, which is served with delicious fried noodles, lots of medium-sized shrimp, bamboo shoots, those tiny corn cobs, water chestnuts, pea pods and whole mushrooms in a bland sauce that improved with a sprinkle of soy sauce. The Man Who Has Still Not Had His Fill Of Fried Food ordered Orange Chicken, and I must admit it was yummy. Again, it is a mountainous portion of small, deep fried chicken pieces in a sweet sauce, served with orange slices and rice enough for the Vietnamese army. For an extra dollar, our meals came with really tasty, vegetable-laden egg rolls (deep fried, of course), tea and dessert of an almond cookie. Our total bill was $23.12, for enough food to last for three days. But don't despair; we ate the leftovers for weekend lunches, so we wouldn’t have to delay tonight’s meal at McDonald’s. Oh, goody...

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Africa -- or Bust

So I thought it was just a simple plane crash I had to worry about. There are SO many ways to screw up a perfectly lovely vacation trip. Once I forgot my driver’s license and the airline wouldn’t let me on the plane. Fortunately, I was traveling with The Man Who Is Obsessed With Being The First One At The Airport, so we actually had time to drive back to Brookfield and get the driver’s license and still make the plane. Which was probably going to be late anyhow. And how often have you missed connecting flights? I don’t even consider that as an inconvenience anymore, though I much prefer it happen on the way home. Lost luggage? Pretty common. Again, no big deal if it’s on the way home. If not, consider it a great excuse for a totally new wardrobe of clothes from a foreign place. We’ve traveled a LOT. We’ve been to Antarctica – not a good place for shopping, actually. We’ve been to Japan, New Zealand, Finland, Costa Rica, Trinidad, etc, etc... Yet I almost pulled an entirely new fiasco for our upcoming trip to South Africa. I failed to notice on the printed airline confirmation, dated June 3, 2007, that it said, “You must have a paper ticket. You will not be allowed to board this flight without a paper ticket. Your tickets will be delivered via Fed Ex within two days. If they are not, call our help desk immediately.” Our trip leaves in 2 ½ weeks. YIKES! Even The Man With The Stellar Memory did not remember seeing paper tickets, though he is not actually in charge of anything when we travel, except his underwear, prescription drugs (or any recreational ones he wishes to try to get on board), and video equipment. I didn’t remember seeing paper tickets either. I had two folders labeled “Africa”. No paper tickets in either of them.

Of course you remember the small complication in my life right now. Everything from 16 cabinets and 9 drawers of our former kitchen is packed in boxes or stashed in odd places all over the house. I’m lucky if I can find a roll of toilet paper when it is needed, let alone paper airline tickets.

Another complicating factor in this equation is that I have a cleaning woman who comes every two weeks. The evening before she comes, I stash everything from my desk into drawers and shelves. And then I forget about it. Forever. So last night, after our daughter who is traveling with us to Africa and makes most of our travel arrangements (she’s a pro at this; she’s something called “Global Product Manager for Travelocity Business – and don’t ask. I have no idea.) Anyway, it was she who asked to make sure we had these paper tickets. SHE knew about this requirement, even though she is not flying with us. SHE is flying first class from Dallas and on different flights and airlines and will meet us there. But she was capable of putting me in an absolute tizzy with a simple question – do we have our paper tickets? This was at about 10 PM last night.

By 11 PM I knew I wasn’t going to find them – if I ever had them. The Computer Whiz In The Family (that would not be me) went on the internet to see if he could find out how to get these paper tickets. He came to a place on the airline website that said, “Your paper tickets will be mailed to you. You should receive them in 12 days.” Holy Moly! This was too close to when we are leaving, so The Man With No Patience For Telephone Calls Without A Person On The Other End called the help line at the airline. After poking 492 buttons, issuing some unusually colorful language, he actually got a person to pick up a phone. She said, “Oh, that policy was changed. You won’t need a paper ticket. You were credited with $19.72, because we didn’t have to issue the paper ticket.” Somehow The Man Who Pays The Bills didn’t happen to notice that huge credit when it appeared in July on our credit card bill, among thousands of dollars of charged expenses for the coming vacation – not to mention the coupla bucks for the kitchen remodeling job.

It was after midnight when we made our last phone call to assure our daughter that we were indeed going to be traveling with her, when she said, “The hotel reservation in Johannisburg is in your name as are the two car reservations. You should have those receipts.” The Man said, “They must be in one of your folders,” and went to bed. It was another hour later that I thought of looking in the pile of information about dread diseases available to tourists in Africa (malaria, hepititis, eboli) and found those car and hotel receipts.

After that, why go to bed at all? Someone has to think of all the other possible disasters that could befall us on this vacation.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Calories from Kopp's

This would be Tess, the Tub, reporting to you from Kopp’s restaurant on Bluemound and Brookfield Road. Oh, my. Do they make good, but calorie-laden food! It’s been three hours since we ate at Kopp’s and I’m still tempted to lie flat on my back and groan.

So tonight it was a lovely 80 degrees and no humidity – perfect weather for al fresco dining. West of Brookfield Road there were two restaurants I was still compelled to report from: Kopp’s and Emperor’s Kitchen. The Emperor has no al fresco seating. Winter is long. We chose Kopp’s.

Oh, the agony of decision: do I order a Sprecher root beer float (with frozen custard, of course) ($2.40) or wait till after I eat my fish sandwich and have a scoop of my favorite flavor at Kopp’s – turtle sundae? Float or cone, float or cone... Such a trauma. Eventually I decided on the root beer float, figuring that Kopp’s will again have turtle sundae custard on Sept 28th (it’s on their flavor-of-the-day list) – though I doubt my digestive system will recover sufficiently by then.

Kopp’s patio was busy at 6 PM. The Man With The Patience Of A Great Blue Heron Waiting For His Fish Dinner To Swim By waited for our food order to be prepared while I grabbed one of the last available tables outside, overlooking all of Bluemound Road’s scenic beauty. It’s odd. I’m getting accustomed to the traffic noise. It actually seemed pleasant tonight. The patio has a narrow bed of flowers – petunias mostly – surrounding it. The tables are of some manmade stone-like material, and tonight they weren’t even sticky.

The food and The Hungry Man joined me shortly. My fish sandwich ($2.70) and his cheeseburger ($3.60) were HUGE. The buns (soft, uninteresting affairs) were about 5 inches across. The fish was a large, square slab, very generously breaded and crisply deep-fried. I ordered tartar sauce and cheese (of course) on it. Good choices. It was yummy. What’s not to like about fat on fat on carbs? The cheeseburger was judged to be – believe-it-or-not – better than McDonald’s, said The Gourmet Man. He’s becoming so discerning. I tasted the burger and was unimpressed, though the fried onions were ample and tasty. I think my George Webb’s bacon double cheeseburger was better somehow. It’s probably the bacon. What’s not to like with fat on fat on fat with salt – and carbs? The Man managed to eat part of an order of onion rings (generic, with more heavy breading for $1.95) and a chocolate malt ($2.70) with his meal. We had to eat fast to consume that many calories in one sitting. Boy-oh-boy, was I stuffed! Good thing I worked in my garden for about three hours today. How many calories can you burn off digging up and dividing daylilies that are growing in clay soil? Probably not enough.

Far from hungry while
Kitchenless in Brookfield

Qdoba before Africa

The Working Man Who Finally Has A Decent Amount Of Vacation Time and I are leaving for South Africa in less than three weeks. I should be excited. Why do airplanes crash just before I am scheduled to take off on a sojourn across the ocean? It’s a height thing. I am not even fond of ladders. I am not convinced airplanes should be up there anyway. I used to require several Bloody Marys to get me on an airplane. But now my kids live far away. I had to get over it. Sort of.

Why am I writing this? Oh, yea. The plane crash in the far east. I’m going in the other direction. Does that matter?

Forget about airplanes. Time to eat. Another fast food spot. Another Mexican restaurant. Qdoba. No waiters. One orders at the counter. While not gracious, that also means no tip, which always pleases The Man With The Wallet. But ambiance there isn’t. The restaurant is loud, cold, with metal tables that make it seem even colder while showing every splash and fingerprint, and with crud spilled on the carpet, even though we arrived at 6PM on Monday evening. We were eating early because The Man had a tennis game this evening and hoped to digest a bit before his turn to serve.

The menu at Qdoba, like most fast food joints, is printed on the wall above where you order. It isn’t long. There are a number of burritos, nachos, some tacos, some salads. While I do occasionally eat burritos, I prefer my tortillas fried somewhat. So I decided on a Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango Salsa in a taco shell bowl, while The Man Who Better Tolerates Spicy Foods ordered Three Shredded Beef Tacos with hot sauce. He had five levels of “heat” to choose from in his sauce. He ordered “hot,” the middle level. Though the sauce was very thin and drippy, he reported it was good. As you already know, I don’t do “hot,” so you’ll have to trust his judgement on this. Neither of us likes crunchy, store-bought corn tortillas, so he ordered his tacos in flour tortillas. However, these were not warmed or fried at all. The meat was good, the sauce was good, there was plenty of lettuce, but the cheese was the usual Mexican “queso”, which translates into “tasteless sort-of-cheese stuff”. My grilled chicken had a nice smokey taste, and the mango salsa was sweet and yummy with it. There was also romaine lettuce and a pinch of the tasteless cheese in my tortilla shell bowl.

It isn’t the food that would prevent me from returning to Qdoba. It is the total lack of graciousness. Most of the customers who came in while we were eating ordered take-out food. What a swell idea. Because Qdoba SO lacks charm, we ordered, ate and were back in our car in 20 minutes. So much for digestion.

By the way, the bathroom was one of the cleanest I’ve seen on Bluemound Road. How’s that for a surprise?

Just beginning to dream of cooking again, when I’m no longer
Kitchenless in Brookfield

Quiznos and kitchens

A kitchen milestone: we passed an inspection today. The electrical inspector was here. He apparently at one time owned a business that competed with the electrical contracting company that My Engineer Man works for. Oh, my. I got to practice my discretion and humility, probably not attributes for which I am famous. Mr Inspector said, “They got it right in Europe. There they make engineers not only go to school for four years, but they have to work in the field for two years before they get a license.” I said, “But My Man did not DO the wiring. An electrician from his company did.” He said, “Those big companies may know how to do commercial wiring, but that doesn’t mean they know anything about residential work.” About now I decided it would be wise to keep my mouth shut, which is also not something I’m famous for. I smiled sweetly and told Mr Inspector Man how much I appreciated his vast wisdom.

We passed the inspection. Mr. Inspector Man will be back for the final inspection when everything is done. I think I’ll be busy that day. Mike can deal with him.

More submarine sandwiches today. Actually, I decided on a salad at Quiznos. I’ve been missing vegetables in all this eating out, especially in these fast food places. I mentioned this on the phone to my Virginia daughter, the potter who travels a lot to art shows all over the country. She offered that Quiznos has some good salads. Though she suggested one that had warm chicken and warm bacon, our Bluemound Road establishment did not have any salads with warm ingredients. But I still ordered the Roasted Chicken Salad ($5.99). It was good sized, but not so huge that I couldn’t eat the whole thing. The combination of romaine, roasted chicken, bacon, ham, cheddar (I didn’t find much of that), red onion and tomato with a tasty, honey mustard dressing hit my vegetable-deprived spot. The Man Who Must Have Been Italian In Another Lifetime ordered the Italian sub sandwich ($5.59). The grilled bun looked yummy, and the combination of pepperoni, salami, Italian sausage, ham, mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and red wine vinaigrette dressing hit his meat-lovin’ taste buds too.

Other things we noticed at Quiznos:
1) The guy working behind the counter was friendly and helpful, even though we showed up at 7:45 PM, and they are supposed to close at 8 on Sundays. He did not rush us.
2) I initially asked for a Cobb Salad, but they were out of hard boiled eggs. We asked for small soft drinks, and they were out of small cups. He did not charge us for the larger cups ($1.29 for a small soda). They were also out of the flatbread that is supposed to come with the salads.
3) The bathroom (there is one shared by all) has different issues than usual. Though the waste container was not overflowing and the floor was reasonably clean, the sink looked like it had never been scoured.
4) The ice maker in the machine that dispensed soft drinks wasn’t working, and the drinks it dispensed were warm. There was clumpy ice to scoop for yourself in a styrofoam cooler next to the drink machine.

Still, I might consider this when on the road sometime. But while in Brookfield, I have already found many better places to eat (for a price, of course).

Wired safely, but still
Kitchenless in Brookfield

Mama Mia's pizza and my caprese salad

I’m really enjoying this simplified life. I just took even more stuff to the basement that, since I’m not cooking, I can live without. For what did I think I’d need tupperware buckets during this remodeling project? Did I think I'd need to store leftover Raisin Bran or caprese salads?

Do you know about caprese salad? Usually at this time of the year I am using the basil from my gardens to whip up batches of pesto (which The Man considers funky – or sometimes even “esoteric.”) Creating pesto is a bother when you have no garbage disposal in which to rinse bowls, and you have to wash the cuisinart in the bathroom sink. So instead I’m using my basil supply to make caprese salad for lunch everyday. Just for me, of course. The Man Who Loves Most Italian Food considers fresh mozzarella a bit too funky for his taste.

So, Sandy, who requested that I include a recipe on this blog now and again, here’s my recipe for today: caprese salad. Buy a yummy, locally-grown tomato at the farmers’ market (while they last; we’re getting to the end of the tomato season here in Wisconsin). Cube it. Buy a ball of fresh mozzarella cheese in the local deli. This is white, soft stuff, not the hard mozzarella that is melted on pizza. Cut up the cheese in an amount about equal to the amount of tomato pieces. Go out in the garden a pick some basil leaves. You’ll want maybe a couple of tablespoons of chopped leaves. Cut them up, stir the three ingredients together and drizzle with good, extra-virgin olive oil (I like Berio or Bertoli). Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Devour! Ooh, happy, happy...

I’ve found that too many of the Bluemound Road establishments do not have stellar wine lists, and, as I promised to review wines with my meals on this blog, I’ve decided that sometimes, depending on which restaurant we're hitting, I will sip a glass at home before we go out. Saturday night's sample from our basement wine rack was a simple Ravenswood zinfandel. As befits its price, while drinkable, it does not have a complex of interesting flavors nor a long finish. I think it is about $9.99 a bottle.

So it was a tad late for dinner, even for your hip-and-trendy restaurant reviewer and The Man Who Never Goes To Bed Before Midnight, when we hit Mama Mia’s for pizza on that night. Late, as in 10 PM. I was correct in assuming that Mama Mia’s wine list might be less than extensive: 3 red wines vs 17 beers. I’m sure my glass at home was at least as good as any that Mama Mia’s was offering for $4.95 a glass.

Mama Mia’s menu includes a kids' and seniors' menu with items like spaghetti or ravioli for $5.25. I’ve never seen a combination children’s and seniors’ menu. That would be handy for smaller appetites. My Italian Food Afficionado and I seldom fit that description, so we ordered a large cheese and sausage pizza ($12.95) and ate about 2/3 of it. Personally, I think it is the best pizza in town, with lots of cheese, well-seasoned tomato sauce and ample, nicely spiced sausage on a crispy, thin crust. Salad and garlic bread for two is well worth the additional $4.75. I’ve loved Mama Mia’s garlic bread, dripping with salty oil and melted butter, since high school, when my gang of girlfriends used to go to their restaurant on 88th and Burleigh. And before that I think I remember the original Mama Mia’s was on North Avenue, maybe about 48th St. How about that, Mardie or Pat or Judi? Can any of you girlfriends recall that place – or am I making that up?

The ambience at Mama Mia’s is nice wood-and-dark-carpeting comfortable, with those fun wine-waiter pictures on the walls. The background music is pleasant Italian tenor stuff, like “That’s Amore” and “Santa Maria.” Mama Mia’s attracts a middle-aged “crowd”, if you could call it that. Six tables were still occupied when we left at 10:45. The ladies’ bathroom is pleasant and clean, except... the overflowing waste basket, of course. As closing time approached, our waitress was washing tables and benches and chairs and even the salt and pepper shakers. That’s a good sign...

Full of all kinds of mozzarella, while
Kitchenless in Brookfield

Mi Cocina

Here’s today’s prize techie Engineer quote: “I’d just as soon use an 18 or 19 gauge 3/conductor rather than an 18/4 which I have a little bit of in the garage,” he said to me, heading out to Home Depot or Menard’s or Ace Hardware. When I asked him to repeat that, so I could be sure to get it down correctly for you all, he put those slashes in, as in “three slash conductor”. Ooooh! Be still my beating heart!

I’ll bet there isn’t anything I could say that The Man With Numerous Functioning Brain Cells wouldn’t understand. Even though he doesn’t cook or plant in the garden, he’d probably get it if I said, “I sauted the lamb chops” (though I can’t imagine why I’d say that to The Man Who - to my knowledge - Has Never Turned On A Burner On The Stove). Or if I said, “I’ve planted an amelancheir behind the ligularia,” he’d be right on top of that too. Honestly, he understands everything he hears because he remembers everything he hears. (And heaven knows I DO tell him a lot of stuff.) If I cluttered my brain with gauges and conductors, that would be it. No plants, no meat sauces, not even your name. (Well, I actually don’t remember your name much of the time anyway, even without the conductors, etc., in there.)

I do remember the name of the Bluemound Road establishment at which we ate last night – Mi Cocina – “My Kitchen,” if I recall from my 2 years of high school Spanish (the long-term memory is the last to go). We are in another shopping center, close to Brookfield Road now. This somewhat cozy Mexican restaurant has a large bar area where you enter and a busy dining room. We were seated in the middle of the dining area, but moved to a booth near the windows to get a bit further from the speaker pumping loud music into the room. Not Mexican music; just loud elevator music. The Man looked out at the parking lot and commented that this was a Chevy Blazer crowd -- a young crowd with many with small children. By 6:30 on this Friday evening, the restaurant was nearly filled with families.

Mi Cocina’s menu has three red wines at about $7.25 a glass vs. 20 beers. I’m finding there are fewer restaurants on Bluemound where I’d drink a glass of wine than I expected. I ordered a Dos Equis lager for $4. The Diet Pepsi Man ordered a medium-sized margarita for $8.75, which turned out to be 27 ounces! The ubiquitous chips served with the drinks were slightly warmed but otherwise identical to any you can buy at Pick ‘N Save. There was only one salsa served with the chips, and its spice level was HOT! Many items on the menu seemed to include poblano chilies. I asked our waiter how spicy these chilies are. “Not very spicy -- medium,” he explained. “How would they compare in spiciness to your salsa?” I asked. “About the same amount,” said he. Well, that narrowed the menu down for me. I ordered Queretaro: a meal of two burritos, one chicken and one beef. The Man ordered beef chimichangas ($9.95). We had barely gotten the order out of our mouths when the food arrived. Nothing can be individually cooked that fast.

This food was totally without seasoning. It could have passed for my mother’s goulash. Hot chili peppers are not the only spice available to Mexican cooking. There was no sign of cumin or cilantro. My chicken burrito was filled with tough chicken and some cooked onions. The beef in the other burrito and in The Man’s chimichanga was ground beef, not shredded. The sparing red sauce on top of each was tasteless tomato sauce. My sauce had some tiny white squares in it, which may or may not have been cheese. The chimichanga, which contained as much potatoes as beef, came with similarly tasteless rice and very thin refried beans. Only chopped iceberg lettuce and a dob of sour cream shared my plate with the burritos. I ate less than half of my dinner and would not have bothered to take the rest home, even if I had a kitchen in which to reheat it.

The bathroom was worse than I have come to expect: chipped paint on the walls and overflowing, rusty containers of ALL kinds (YUK! You ladies get my picture).

I’ll have to say it again: if you want Mexican food in Brookfield, go to Fiesta Garabaldi at Ruby Isle. The food is delicious and less expensive. Our total bill at Mi Cocina was $33.75, including tax but not tip. In the future, if I’m looking for an inexpensive, quick meal and must eat on Bluemound for some reason, I’d prefer the food at Subway or George Webb’s for half that price.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

George Webb's

When I wrote yesterday that my ability to drink coffee and tour my gardens in the morning was upset by the strange-men-in-my-house-first-thing-in-the-morning, that was ridiculous. All that this invasion of workmen has done is make me get dressed to drink coffee and tour my gardens. Cabinet Werks is doing an amazing job of getting these workmen all coordinated. For a kitchen that was just demolished one week ago today, the amount of work that has been done is impressive. And the schedule (yes, I actually have a schedule of who is coming when) for next week is even more amazing. There will be inspectors and plumbers and carpenters and dry-wallers here every day. And if I am not going to be home, Cabinet Werks will be here to let people in.

I will be sure to let you know if the work continues to be as professional as it has been. So far, we are very satisfied. And neither The Engineer Who Brings Home The Bacon (figuratively only) nor I are related to Mike Wahlen. We just met him at our neighborhood block party this summer. I did threaten that I would kidnap his adorable children and hold them hostage if our kitchen remodeling project did not proceed at a reasonable pace. He replied, “When do you want them? This weekend?” I’m afraid that threat was ineffective.

Meanwhile, on Bluemound Road, we met OLD Friends (I’m talkin’ my Best Friend from fifth grade through ‘Tosa High School and her husband) at George Webb’s for dinner last night. As if our waitress, Julie, recognized me walking in as the arbiter of rest room cleanliness, she greeted us with, “I am SO upset. We are all supposed to clean the bathrooms when our shift is over, but when I arrived today, it was SUCH a mess! I just finished cleaning it, and my manager is going to hear about THIS!” How is it possible she knew I was coming?

I checked it out. She was right. It was immaculate. Nice work, Julie.

If you want breakfast anytime, day or night, George Webb’s is calling you. They are open 24 hours a day and serve breakfast at anytime. Seems that our friends, who are careful about their health, and thus never have eggs in their house, go to Webb’s about once a month to have eggs for dinner. They ordered scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast ($2.99). You can’t beat that for a bargain dinner! The Man Who Knew This Was Going To Be His Idea Of Good Food, ordered a Ruben sandwich ($4.99), a bowl of chili ($2.99) and a Sprecher Root Beer ($2.50). He admitted it was more food than he needed, but he couldn’t stop at Webb’s without trying the chili he remembered from his youth. Our Frugal Friends brought a coupon that we could use for a bacon double cheeseburger with hash browns for $3.59. I wanted to taste the hamburgers Webb’s are famous for, so I ordered the double bacon cheeseburger. Does that sound yummy, or what? I must admit, I enjoyed it immensely. The burgers are thin slabs of meat and the bacon is ample and very tasty. The cheese is pathetic, but probably pleases most tastes. I suppose that not everyone would enjoy aged cheddar on their burgers, so we all have to put up with tasteless American pseudo-cheese served with most hamburgers. The Man Who Loves Casseroles Of All Kinds If There’s No Funky Stuff Or Seafood In It loved the chili, though it was missing most of the beans that are the essential component of chili, if you ask me. There was lots of ground beef and enough chili powder to recognize which spice they were using. There is also some pasta, which MY chili would not be contaminated with – if I had a kitchen in which to cook such a dish.

George Webb’s is a local hamburger chain started in Milwaukee in the ‘40's. No longer owned by the Webb family (actually, it’s owned by a woman), it now has 41 stores, all in the Milwaukee metro area. My H.S. Friend and I remember when the chain first predicted that the Braves would win 12 games in a row, and Webb’s would give away free hamburgers at all their stores. Oh my goodness, we were Braves fans! As preteens, we took the streetcar to many games and sat in the bleachers for 50 cents, got autographs of Andy Pafko and Eddie Mathews (drool). We formed the Taylor Phillips fan club, because he so young and unknown that he would actually talk to us. Anyway, the Braves never won the 12 games in a row, but when they’d get close, everyone in Milwaukee was cheering for Our Team. The promotion was continued for the Brewers, and in 1987 the Brewers did it; they won 12 games in a row, and George Webb’s gave away 168,194 free hamburgers!

Such a great story. George Webb’s helped to make Milwaukee a “baseball town.” So drop in and have a bite to eat of Milwaukee history. Perhaps Julie will wait on you. She is vivacious and charming and made our dinner more enjoyable. With the prices here, I doubt that she is getting rich on tips. I hope George Webb’s recognizes what a gem such an employee is and pays her accordingly.

Actually enjoying being
Kitchenless in Brookfield

Chaing Mai and The Man

TeeHee! I can’t wait for The Big Time VP Electrical Estimator And Engineer to get home from work. Two electricians were here today from Staff Electric, where The Man works. One is mounting fixtures in the ceiling. So I ask him, “How’s it going? Looks like you’re almost done.” He says, “Well, I’m waiting for your husband to bring me some more light fixtures.” HeeHee! The Professional Estimator Man Who Can Add Twenty Numbers In A Column In His Head didn’t buy enough fixtures for the electrical plan HE designed. And, of course, this is what he does for a living – count fixtures and miles of wire to estimate the cost for the electrical work for big buildings like hospitals and sewage treatment plants. So he needed 12 light fixtures for my kitchen and only bought 9. The electrician tried to cover for The Man, saying, “I’m sure they told him the wrong amount were in each box,” but I’m not for one minute going to let that deter me from givin’ him the biz.

The electrician will be back at least one more day. Houses the age of ours just were not built with the number of circuits we need for our cuisinart, our toaster oven, our expresso maker, our slow cooker, our blender, our microwave - all stuff no one had when this house was built in 1957. And the existing circuits service rooms from one end of the house to the other, including a few outlets in the kitchen. So if the circuit breaks from some problem with the cuisinart, you can’t take a shower, read in the dining room, or operate the TV in the living room. Soon my house is going to be SO in the 21st century.

Until then, we opted for a different ethnic cuisine at Chiang Mai Café last night. And what a surprise! For a small storefront establishment in the midst of a shopping center, it has good Thai food.

The huge menu has 76 items – all numbered, in case you don’t wish to try to make yourself understood saying, “Dang Phooey” or some such. Some of the items are Thai, others are Chinese. Following my new rule: don’t order wine when everyone else is drinking beer, I had a Sapporo beer with my meal.

For dinner I ordered Panang Nau ($11.25), which the menu describes as beef and cabbage in a curry paste with coconut milk, ground peanuts and sweet curry paste. It was somewhat zippy, but tolerably so, and I love the coconut/peanut combination that is used in some Thai cooking. The Man Whose Idea Of Edible Vegetables Runs To Peas, Beans Or Corn, had Pud Prig Khing (I didn’t make that up) - stir fried pork with curry, ginger and string beans – lots of them, it turns out. This was delicious - period. With all entres comes a crispy egg roll, a choice of two soups (both were good), a beverage (soft drink, coffee or tea) and dessert of a large plate of deep-fried wontons drizzled with honey. As is often the case with Chinese restaurants, you’ll have plenty of food to take home for your next night’s dinner.

The bathroom is a single room, I would call it spartanly decorated, but it was CLEAN! Yippee! No overflowing waste containers here.

Chaing Mai had 5 tables filled at 6:30 PM and perhaps another 5 people came in to pick up take-out orders while we were there. So they’ll probably still be in business if you decide to try this establishment when you're kitchenless someday.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Louise's Trattoria and the electrician

First a couple of comments on your comments – from techie-talented people who could figure out this Google blog. Sandy, I said I threw out the onion soup crocks? Dang. Since The Man Who Taught You Your Work Ethic apparently likes my onion soup, I may have to search out new crocks, once I’ve got cupboards to put them in.

And an Oops! on my part: Mike, who is in charge of making my kitchen the coolest in Brookfield, actually spells his last name “Wahlen”. So when you see my fab kitchen and decide to have him fix up yours, look for that spelling in the phone book. Or just look for Cabinet Werks.

Today both Mike’s carpenter and the electrician are banging around in my house. Early this morning The Engineer Who Drew The Electrical Plans And Likes To Kibbitz and the electrician were perched on two ladders, consulting in the future Best Kitchen In Brookfield, when I mentioned that the fan in my bathroom doesn’t work today, but the lights coming from the same switch do work. There was this moment of silence. Then The Eloquent Engineer said, “The same switchplate, not the same switch.”

Good grief. Get a life.

Maybe construction people could manage to get a life if they didn’t start it so blessed early in the morning. If I actually have a best time, it’s not morning. After The Man Who May Never Retire leaves at about 7:15, I like to have a leisurely cup of Starbuck’s sumatra while perusing the New York Times, and then take a second cup with me as I tour my gardens. After that I can almost face the day’s phone calls and meetings.

One of the major inconveniences of remodeling: strange guys in the house before 9 AM. (I’m too old to actually enjoy this.) This is probably even worse than the lack of a garbage disposal and adequate electrical circuits.

I think I’ll go for a very long walk. And remember a lovely dinner at Louise’s Trattoria. I have to confess we did kind of pass over George Webb’s in favor of Louise’s. I promise to have a meal at Milwaukee’s finest all-night breakfast establishment (that would be George Webb’s, for you out-of-towners), but after the Melting Pot, I needed a fix of Good Food.

If there is a nicer place with better food on all of Bluemound than Louise’s, I haven’t been there yet. The decor is stunning, with blond woodwork and cool European light fixtures, or as the Man Who Often Exclaims About The Light Fixtures In Public Buildings explained, “cable system lighting with MR16 lamps”. Ooh! Don’t you just LOVE that techie talk? The bar area is mighty cool too. For the couple who asked me to be on the lookout for neat bars, this one would be hard to beat. Very attractive, with a conveniently located TV on which to watch your favorite Brewer’s game, and a lovely bartender to distract you from your team’s occasional meltdowns.

We each ordered wine, even The Connoisseur Of Diet Pepsi. My sangiovese (when in Rome,...) had decent tannins and a pretty long finish for $6.75 a glass. The Man Who, If He Drinks Wine, Drinks Chardonnay, had a Kendall Jackson ($8). The wine is served with Louise’s delicious chunks of bread rubbed with spices and oils, though for my taste their dipping oil is too sweet and has too much vinegar. But the bread is so good, who needs to dip it? Our waiter was charming and helpful (not to mention handsome – but of course that makes no difference in how I judge an establishment). My, isn’t this evening off to a good start?

The menu at Louise’s also gives me goosebumps – I just want to take it home and browse through it while soaking in a hot tub. I finally settled on the Tortelloni Vegetali with spinach and a parmesan sauce ($10.95). It was rich and delicious and.... what else can I say? The Man Who Has No Indecision Problems In Italian Restaurants ordered the meat lasagna ($13.95), which he was pleased to point out was just what he expected. That is, it was just like home and his wife’s lasagna – though I haven’t told him that he doesn’t get homemade pasta from my kitchen.

A final note: it’s suddenly turned to fall in Wisconsin, so our al fresco evenings may be over. But if they are not, Louise’s is the nicest al fresco location on Bluemound, which perhaps isn’t saying much. The restaurant’s location is high above and pretty far from the road noise, and its outdoor tables are screened from the traffic by a dense hedge.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

Melting Pot, plus More Dumpster

I hear that putting comments on this blog is very difficult – that Google doesn’t recognize the passwords you’ve created, etc. How annoying. I’m sorry. It’s so much fun to read each other’s responses. Let’s hope Google gets their act together... Meanwhile, if you can’t figure this out, you can send your witty(or not) responses to my personal email if you want, and I’ll address your comments either there or on here.

So this weekend The Electrical Engineer Who Shares This House With Me got to play with the electrical work for the new kitchen. He was practically drooling over being able to see inside the walls: all those delicious-looking cables and wires and switches and stuff. He was up on a ladder peering into the attic when I asked how it was going. His reply, verbatim, was, “Still got some circuit 17 things to disconnect to figure out where the hell they go.” He has a degree in this stuff. I’m sure he actually knows what he’s doing. But I find that kind of ambiguity a bit disconcerting.

I spent the weekend trying to fill the dumpster from the storage dump that is our basement. The old cookie tins and wooden hangers and bent candles were easy decisions. But the 33 rpm record albums from the 60's were more agonizing ones. Peter, Paul and Mary and Harry Belafonte and, would you believe, Nancy Sinatra. I actually had an album by Nancy Sinatra. The Man Whose Taste Runs To Beethoven convinced me that no one would have the equipment to play these relics anymore. So, with much angst, I pitched 37 of these gems into the dumpster. If you tell me that today they are worth hundreds of dollars, I’ll just have to shoot myself. Or get a ladder and climb into the dumpster...

We showered before we headed off to the next restaurant on Bluemound, a Thai place that turned out not to be open on Sunday. Next was the Melting Pot, so I’ll write a few words about that establishment. We had eaten there a couple of weeks ago, and The Man’s wallet would not, ungrudgingly, open again for fondue. He and I can well remember when fondue pots became all the rage. Probably this was in the Peter, Paul and Mary, mini-skirt- and- lime-green- patent-leather- boots stage, when I wore my hair teased up into a ski slope. Though the music was great (in my opinion), neither the fashions of that era, nor the fondue, need to be revived.

The tiny, expensive menu of the Melting Pot is what first stuck us. Mostly there are meals for 2 people, which require that 1) you are dating and trying to impress each other with how similar your tastes are, or 2) you are twins. The man who describes some foods as Funky (like broccoli or cilantro) and I do not share all food tastes. Besides, the meals for 2 are $54- $86. Rather pricey for a blue jeans kind of chain restaurant. The remainder of the menu consists of cheese fondues and a few entre items, of which only two would appeal to The Red Meat Man.

Then there’s the ambiance. It’s dark. Is this meant to attract lovers? People who don’t wish to shampoo their hair that day? And the tables are high, with low bench seats in the booths. Not ideal for families with children, which most of the customers seemed to be.

We settled for a simple cheese fondue, as it said this came with vegetables to dip. Well, darned few of them. So a pot of melted cheesey stuff (and not very cheesey tasting at that) with a few carrots cost $7 per person, plus $9 each for a glass of wine (my rioja tempranillo was very good, by the way) and $5 each for an unexciting caesar salad. We won’t be back.

Kitchenless in Brookfield

APPLEBEE'S

I’ve discovered that electricity is a major issue when kitchenless. This is the first weekend we’ve suffered with no kitchen. Okay, “suffered” is strong. But I sure made a mess of making coffee. I do not share coffee tastes with The Man Who Can Drink Caffeine At Any Hour But Likes Weak Coffee. Thus I brew decaf expresso for me and brown water with a shot of caffeine for The Man. But both coffee pots now take turns plugging into one extension cord. So I moved the expresso machine across the room to the bay windowsill near another outlet. In the move, I must have wiggled the little pot into which it brews. Then I walked away to create the rest of our breakfast. By the time I looked back, there was coffee spewing in all directions, on the windows, the carpet and puddles on the wood surface of the bay windowsill.

The rest of breakfast was waffles and bacon. Not exactly served together however. I cooked the bacon, as I usually do, in the microwave. The frozen, whole wheat, cinnamon waffles said you should make in a toaster oven. The problem: my $29 microwave and my borrowed toaster oven and the refrigerator are now all on the same circuit in the sunroom. You can see where this is going... The refrigerator turned on while heating the waffles and bacon and – blooey! No power. We had a very gracious breakfast of separate courses: first bacon, ten minutes later, waffles. After I found the jar of maple syrup in a box behind the bar in the rec room. And after cleaning up the coffee disaster. Next weekend – Panera’s.

But I know that what you really came to read is the restaurant review. At about 8 PM last night, we went to Applebee’s for dinner. Again we were about the only people over forty eating out at that hour. Kinda fun to be out with the hip and trendy crowd every night.

I applied the lesson I learned at Pano’s Char House: when everyone else is drinking beer, do not order wine. I ordered a huge, 16 oz bottle of Hacker Pschorr. Weiss beer with a lemon – yum. Applebee’s giant menu shows drool-enhancing pictures to tempt you to order luscious, gooey stuff, like mashed potatoes smothered in bacon and mountains of cheese. The Beef Eater Man went back true to form and ordered a bacon cheeseburger ($6.99), preceded by a bowl of onion soup. Mr. Gourmet Man declared the burger was “even better than McDonald’s” – high praise indeed. It had a charcoal grilled taste, plenty of cheese and a crisp bun. His onion soup was also good, though he affirmed it was not as good as my homemade onion soup. (The Man is not stupid.)

After much agony of indecision, I ordered the Cajun lime tilapia ($8.99) and a side caesar salad. I like fish and seldom cook it at home, to avoid gagging noises from The Man Who Is Seafood Adverse. Well... What did I think “Cajun” meant? Wow! The fish was cooked to perfection (I think), but the spices rubbed on all surfaces rendered it about 500 degrees beyond my palette. I tried to scrape them off. I nibbled in the middle. I thanked the gods of malt and hops for 16 oz of cold beer. I nibbled a bite of fish, slugged down some beer, and quickly ate some of the delicious vegetables that came with the fish. I ate all the vegetables. And all the beer. I downed my caesar salad, even though it was swimming in dressing and had dry croutons, but at least the romaine lettuce was cool.

Bathroom review: close to disgusting at this busy time. The large, under-counter waste container had run over, so women were throwing their paper towels in a heap in a corner. To Applebee’s credit, when I told our waitress of the problem, someone went in quickly to clean it up.

My opinion on this issue: women wash their hands. Busy places should assign someone to empty the waste container OFTEN. A messy bathroom turns me off of the entire establishment.

With clean bathrooms, though
Kitchenless in Brookfield

this WAS the kitchen

YOKOSO RESTAURANT

Japanese food and German wine. Our parents, aunts and uncles are turning over in their graves. Well, actually, our families came from Germany (long before The Great War), so they’d probably forgive the wine. And we hosted an exchange student from Japan and have travelled there, so we, well, no – one of us, actually likes the food.

The Friends Who Requested That We Check The Al Fresco Dining On Bluemound met us at Yokoso Restaurant last night. Yokoso is tucked in the back of a shopping center, closer to the freeway than Bluemound Rd. Thus its al fresco dining, located in a small, treed area on the south side of the building, is not negatively affected by the roar of Bluemound, and it is almost distant enough from the freeway that it, like a child of the 50's, can be seen and not heard – much. But al fresco in Wisconsin is such an iffy proposition: either the umbrellas are weighted down with snow and ice and it’s 3 degrees, or it’s raining, or it’s hot, or it’s disgustingly humid, or, like last night when none of these other factors were an issue, the mosquitoes could carry a good-sized German-American across the freeway into New Berlin. We ate inside.

Looking around as we entered, it felt like we were not in Kansas anymore, nor even the Town of Brookfield. So urbane and sophisticated is Yokoso. And the customers must come from San Francisco and New York City. They are young and pretty and thin, with beautiful skin, and dressed in that casual, but intentional look of people who like themselves and have interesting ideas to talk about. Whew! It feels good just to be one of them. Our table in the SW corner of the seating area was pretty noisy, but getting any table on Bluemound Road is lucky on a Friday night.

I must digress to the kitchen demolition here. I spent the whole day tucked back in my office while the US was waging WWIII against Mexico in the other part of the house. Bombs were screeching across the sky, smashing into concrete bunkers, Hispanic soldiers in tanks were driving across metal bridges, jackhammers were upending convoys, all to the rhythm of mariachi music. Was it noisy! And then it became cold. And colder. The workers had a door open through which to cart out the bodies of appliances and cabinets. Meanwhile the air conditioner chugged constantly to chill outside Brookfield. The war was in a sealed-in area which contained the thermostat. I could not get to it. Nor could I get out. I had planned to finally file everything neatly in my office. Instead I cruised the internet, munching a bag of granola, sipping water from the bathroom, with occasional forays into bed to warm up.

Which is to explain why I spent quite a lot of time on Yokoso’s website (www.yokosorestaurant.com) to study their menu and wine list. After all, I am a restaurant critic. I must do my research. They had a Duck Pond pinot gris that I researched. Duck Pond is good stuff in red wine, but I figured we’d have white wine with the very seafoody Japanese menu. Just in case we wanted a glass of red, I researched the Budini Malbec on Yokoso’s wine list. Malbec is a favorite wine of Our Daughter Who Travels A Lot.

Back at the restaurant that evening, I told the waitress I’d like to try the Duck Pond pinot gris. “Sorry,” she said. “We no longer carry that.” Our Friends Who Are From San Francisco And Know Wine Better Than Anyone We Know hoped to order the gewurtztraminer that was on the website, but it was not available in the restaurant. The Budini malbec was also not available. As a third choice, they said the Bex reisling ($30) would go well with the fish. And they were right. It was light, a bit sweet, but with enough acid to be an interesting accompaniment. We enjoyed the snack of steamed, salted edamame ($4) while studying the lengthy menu.

(I hope you haven’t fallen asleep yet, before you get to the food course.)

Our Friends Who Had Been Here Often ordered a variety of sushi and sashimi ($2.25-$2.50 each) and a Brian roll ($13), which they had discovered other patrons enjoying in the past. I am hesitant to order raw fish so far from the ocean, so I ordered smoked salmon rolls ($5.50) and a sliced crab-stuffed roll called the Spider Man ($10). Our Yokoso-Experienced Friends were right again. The sushi and sashimi were the best. Delicious, fresh, fresh, fresh yellowfin tuna and maguro tuna and flounder and salmon. The Man Who Accompanied Me To Japan And Made It Home Without Starving To Death Of Funky Food Disease ordered Udon noodles stir fried with vegetables and beef ($13) as his entre and was perfectly happy with his meal.

Desserts are not worth the calories they're made of. We split two mochi balls ($1.95 each), which are nothing but a scoop of sherbet wrapped in rice paper. The ladies room is beautifully decorated with granite and one of those bowl-type sinks, though it did show the signs of a busy evening (full wastebasket, t.p. on the floor).

After our meal, we quizzed our waitress on the food items she likes best. She said she thought Yokoso’s appetizers are the best. We had only tried the vegetable tempura appetizer ($5), and it was tasty, generous chucks of broccoli, squash, banana peppers and sweet pototoes fried in a batter you could only describe as “dainty”. The only complaint I’d have is that these large pieces of vegetables are difficult to handle with chopsticks, at least for the chopstick-impaired (me). One of the amazing memories of traveling in Japan was watching The Man Who, it turns out, Handles Chopsticks Like A Chinaman. While I was trying to retrieve chunks of squid I’d dropped into the tempura sauce in a tea garden in Kyoto, he was whipping rice in the wasabi and to his mouth without disaster.

I’m going to try to show you a photo of the-room-that-used-to-be-my-kitchen. I’m amazed at how small it looks and how old. Cabinet Werks is going to have a challenge turning this into “the most beautiful kitchen in Brookfield” as Mike Whalen promised in his comments on this blog.

Now I’m REALLY
Kitchenless in Brookfield

SUBWAY: FAST AND HEALTHY

I am getting stuffed from eating my words. I may actually have to rave about a fast food establishment. Okay, so “rave” is a bit of an overstatement. Still, it’s quite shocking. I thought our meal at Subway was good.

The Man Who Foots My Bills By Working, Instead Of Retiring, Like Normal People Would Do had a meeting to go to last night. Thus our dinner could not be our usual affair at which we chat intellectually about the important issues of the day while leisurely sipping our wine. No, it was to be Subway, the fastest of the restaurants in the next shopping center as we headed east on Bluemound.

Walking up to the counter to order, what should I see but a printed nutrition list! Right there where you order your food. And whole grain bread choices for any sandwich. Gee, Todo, we are not in KFC anymore. It appears that this restaurant chain uses an emphasis on “eating fit” as its marketing ploy. How unique.

I settled on a Subway Club sandwich on honey oat bread. It comes with ham, turkey and beef slices, atop which I chose lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices, olives and red onions from the raft of sandwich toppings. My honey mustard dressing was one of the many fat free selections. The whole thing was ample and pretty darned tasty.

The Man With The Happy Wallet And Full Tummy did not over-extend either his calorie or his food budget here. The Wallet forked over a total of $11.11 for two 6" sandwiches, a small bag of chips and two 16-oz soft drinks. As for calorie cost: my sandwich contained 320 calories, The Man’s Cold Cut Combo blew 410 calories. Could be worse.

There is no al fresco dining possible here, which is a good thing, considering the location amid shopping mall. My ladies room trip found the toilet flushing when I went in and it continued flushing and flushing... As for cleanliness, no one had scrubbed in the corners – ever, but I’ve see worse (KFC comes to mind). My advice: use the bathroom at Panos’ across the road.

One goes to fast food for convenience, not ambiance. Still, I would say generally Subway was reasonably clean, light and cheerful, and the food was tasty and perhaps even healthy. Even the patrons looked fit – with a couple of exceptions...

That would be the two who are
Kitchenless in Brookfield

PS: Exciting kitchen demolition photos soon!

Panos' Char House

I’ve never had any desire to eat at Panos’ Char House. In my mind it is Greek. Enough said. I’ve never been tempted by gyros. Okay, okay. So I’ve been wrong before. I’d eat my words, but I’m too full.

The Man Who Pays For The Food I Review took me out tonight for our first actual, kitchen-under-demolition meal. Actually, the kitchen will be demolished tomorrow, it turns out, but I have no kettles, no plates, nothing left on which to cook and no electricity with which to cook it. The Man Who Keeps Track Of All Things Including The Order Of These Reviews said Panos’ was next on my list. I kind of dressed up – put on slightly less scruffy sandals and combed my hair, as I figured Panos’ looks more upscale than KFC. And it is. But the clientele is not. Jeans and t-shirts rule. As for al fresco dining, there is a patio, whose location is suitable only for automobile enthusiasts, though there is a Panos person somewhere who knows something of garden design. Able to ignore the beautiful flowers but not the humidity, we ate inside.

The wine list is neither extensive nor expensive. There are nine red wines available by the glass or bottle, none of them over $30 per bottle. I ordered a glass of B.V. pinot noir ($7). It was drinkable, though not interesting in any way. As we were eating I looked around at what the other patrons were drinking. Hmmm... Mostly beer. I checked the beer list. There are 12 beers on tap, including that yummy Spotted Cow, and there are oodles of bottled beers offered.

So I learned something: When everyone else is drinking beer, don’t order wine.

Okay, moving on to the food. The menu is large and quite varied. There is a section of Greek food, but most of the menu would fit the Char House motif. Speaking of motif, the decor is definitely US western. Huge hand-painted murals of canyonlands cover the walls. It has the look of a place in which you’d expect to find great grilled steaks. But did we order those? Of course not. Even The Man Who Darned Near Always Orders Beef ordered a chicken stir fry ($11.95). I decided to do the “When in Rome” thing – or rather Athens – so I had a Greek salad ($3.25) and spanakopita (spinach and feta filling in phyllo dough) ($11.95). And, surprise! Everything was delicious! My Greek salad was loaded with feta cheese and kalamata olives (not those disgusting black rubber-tasting things from a can) and peppers and red onions on Romaine and came with a very nice home-made dressing, a balsamic vinaigrette with chunks of feta cheese in it. (You will soon figure out that if it comes with cheese, it’s sure to please me.) The Man’s meal came with chicken dumpling soup. It too was wonderful, a large portion with delicious home-made dumplings in a chicken stock that had never seen the inside of a can. Our waitress, Terri, assured us that all of Panos’ food is prepared on the premises. Somehow I doubt that will be the case in many of our Bluemound Road establishments.

On to the main course. First, the size is prodigious. I do not consider volume as a criteria of value when it comes to restaurant food, but Panos’ surely offers that. The Male Appetite I Was With ate perhaps a third of his serving of chicken stir fry, and not because it wasn’t incredibly good. It consisted of large pieces of chicken, pea pods, water chestnuts, lots of other vegetables, all in a teriyaki sauce. My perfectly browned and crispy spanakopita could also have fed three more people.

Terri could see that we were bulging at the seams, but cheerfully asked to show us the dessert tray. What a selection of yummy-looking treats! Several cheesecakes, a number of chocolate gooey things, a tempting home-made carrot cake. Perhaps next time...

I cannot even say a negative word about the ladies room. It was spacious and sparkling clean and attractive, with pastel decorative tile walls and floor, granite sinks and – is it possible? – waste baskets that were not overflowing!

I will go to Panos again. Perhaps just for dessert and coffee. Or maybe for beer and an appetizer.

With no electicity, you can call me...
Kitchenless in Brookfield

PS: We hadn’t planned meals of leftovers. I’m going to try to freeze them all until I am with kitchen again. Otherwise all this perfectly good food would go to waste. And my mother would be appalled.