Shula's

For a special occasion steak, there is one place in Tallahassee that I immediately think of: Shula’s. Now, I am normally a guy who prefers to dine at locally owned and operated “mom and pop” restaurants, so the large chain restaurant Shula’s, located on the lobby floor of the renovated boutique Hotel Duval, would not normally be my first choice. However, my fiancé had a Groupon for fifty dollars for the restaurant, so we decided to have a date night on a random Wednesday night.



First of all, reservations are required. While not a small place, there are still limited tables and on a Wednesday night we had to wait a few minutes, even with a reservation. Once seated, the waiter came over and took our drink orders and then recited the specials to us. My fiancé and I decided to try the crispy garlic shrimp to start, and we were certainly glad that we did. While they reminded us of the popular Bonefish “Bang Bang” shrimp because they were tossed in sauce and served crispy, we really liked Shula’s because they were not heavily drenched in a mayonnaise-based sauce, and they were a good portion for an appetizer.



We decided to share both a Caesar salad and then the filet mignon for our entrée with smashed potatoes and grilled asparagus as our side selections. The house salad was fresh, and the dressing tasted homemade. One salad split between the two of us was plenty, and we were glad we had decided to share because at the end of our salad’s we were starting to feel a little bit full.



But not too full! The steak was brought to the table and the server asked us to cut in the middle of it to see if it was cooked perfectly- he even brought out a mini flashlight to shine onto the filet so that I could see it better. We ordered it rare and it looked awesome- now it was time to see if it was worth all the hype. This was the best steak that I have ever had in my life. It melted like butter in my mouth, and my fiancé was just as much in heaven as I was. While the steak was absolutely delicious on its own, the Shula’s steak sauce was a perfect complement to the beef. The smashed potatoes were also amazing, and it made me glad I decided against the baked potato in their favor.



While I ate every bite on my plate, I felt satisfied when I finished my meal- I didn't feel like I need to be rolled out to my vehicle so I am very glad we shared our entree. Shula’s in an expensive place, so it isn’t someplace that I would recommend going every week. But as a special occasion restaurant, the steak just can’t be beat.

Pancakes

So yesterday morning I made pancakes for my fiancé and my self. I have been craving pancakes for months and have not had the opportunity to make them. Saturday we had time. Pancakes seem like a simple culinary undertaking but when it’s been a long time since you have made them you need a little refresher. I used to make them all the time when I was a kid but now I could not even remember what all goes into pancakes let alone the ratios!

Guys/ladies I recommend http://allrecipes.com

This site is a great place to start from. There are recipes foe every and any thing you can think of and if you are like me you don’t follow the recipe as gospel but rather use it as a guide and improvise. By the way I am always looking for new cooking ideas to share if you have any please post them at my other blog Conceptual Cooking. http://conceptualcooking.blogspot.com/

I digress, the pancakes turned out great. I added a few blueberries to hers and some chocolate chips to mine. The problem for me, aside from not being very good at splitting already small recipes, is when you try to pour pancake batter out of a bowl that has toppings in it they pool in the middle. Our cakes were a little uneven!

The one lesson to pass along here is that splitting a recipe is tough and pancakes cook a lot bigger than you think!

Here is the base recipe I used for the pancakes, try it out but remember add the toppings after you pour the batter into the pan, and a little goes a long way!

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/detail.aspx


By the way if you notice the picture of our pancakes…mine is the size of a dinner plate! My finance thought this was so funny she took this picture and sent it to our parents…..

Wake up and pay attention!

To keep this from being a restaurant review blog I thought I would vent a little. After all this is a place to post about what ever right? My fellow Tallahasseans why don’t you pay more attention! When you come out of a store or are driving in a parking lot you are not the only person in the world…look around! Be aware of other people!

Inverness

Ok I know this is Post Tally but I have to write about a restaurant I visited this week In Inverness, Fl. I travel quite a bit for my job (about 60 nights a year in a hotel) and I get to eat and stay at some cool places. Stumpknockers in Inverness (two locations) is about the best Florida food you are going to have. From the minute you walk into this place you are in the Central Florida state of mind and ready for some gator tail! There are stuffed gators on the wall and the general theme of down town Inverness carries throughout. Wooden floors local craft beers on draught and loads of regional decorations.

http://www.stumpknockers.net/Inverness_Downtown.html

I ate with my boss; we split a gator tail appetizer. We tried the local craft ale on draught. It was an IPA from Gainesville. It had a nice bite and a full flavor and finished smooth. I had the crab stuffed flounder with a side salad, loaded baked potato and a cup of the Cajon stew. Wow the stew was great the perfect balance of spice and heartiness. It was not quite dark or thick enough to be a gumbo and it was tomato based. Flavor was great and the spice as I said was perfect! The flounder was wonderful. The stuffing had a little sweetness to it. That combined with the natural sweet crabmeat and the spicy flounder filet balanced perfectly.

After two beers, the gator tail, the entre and sides there was no way we could handle dessert. Shame! They looked great. I travel to this are all the time next time I will save room! As I said earlier I am in Inverness at least once a quarter for work and will definitely eat here again! I would live to try the steaks. I purposely ordered seafood at the recommendation of my boss who eats there when he is in town.

The final verdict…we had much more food than we could eat! Rarely do I recommend a restaurant reducing their portions but here it’s warranted. The food was wonderful and I’m sure it would be great then next day out of a doggy bag however I was traveling and unable to take advantage of the large portion sizes. If you are ever in the Inverness area and are looking for some good Florida food with big portions check out Stumpknockers!

Riccardo's

I have eaten take out from Riccardo's a few times but never been in the restaurant. We decided to try it last night (7/16) and it was great!. We got there about 8:30 and had to wait a few minuets which was not bad considering every table was full and we were able to enjoy a glass of house wine ($3.75) while we waited.

Once seated, we decided on the garlic cheese bread to start with, a side salad with house dressing and to split the veal parmesan. It was wonderful! The veal was crispy and tender, the sauce was great. All in all great service, wonderful food and dinner for two for $40. win!

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