Tidbits
Back to Normal: Normally, things slow down around here over the holidays, but on Christmas Day, nearly 5000 of you from across the United States hit our pages looking for restaurants open on Christmas Day. That's what I call a *market*.Another One Bites the Dust: Rumor has it another downtown restaurant may be calling it quits this spring. This much awaited eatery on downtown's east side kept lots of new customers coming in this summer but apparently has found that good food and good service are what it takes to keep them coming back. No formal confirmation yet on a closing date.
Cottage Cheese: Do you eat cottage cheese? Have a favorite? Where do you find it? Who makes it? With so many local producers making everything from dry curd to long set (the old fashioned kind without rennet), I'm about to go on a health kick.
Quiz Answer: Caul fat is the fat that surrounds the intestines of a pig. Sounds gross. Tastes good. Rendered chicken fat is schmaltz. And I have no idea if there's even such a thing as fat from a pig's head. I made that answer up. 66% of you got it right.
13 comments:
Barcelona Tapas is closing?!?!? I love that place:-(
I hope it's not Tapas -- I love that place. I've found the service to be hit or miss, but the food - it's always been wonderful!
For cottage cheese -- Traders Point Creamery!
If it's BARcelona Tapas, I can understand why they might close. Our visits there have been hit or miss--great on one occasion, not so good on the next.
Traders Point Cottage Cheese is yummy, but needs salt, imo.
P.S. On the other hand, not sure there is anything low cal about it.
I guess if you consider 2 blocks east meridian "east side" of downtown.. then it's really the northeast considering it's 2 blocks from washington st.
Anyway, it seems like BARcelona always has a good lunch and dinner crowd from what I noticed. I however have been attending less due to India Garden being open again... I have a hard time passing up indian for spanish food.
I hope they don't give up.. I've seen a lot worse / poorly patronized restaurants stay open longer.
I'm sure if they close, it will turn into a "Chili's" or something equally awful.
Wow, if it isn't BARcelona Tapas it's a sure sign they're not doing well since so many are assuming they are closing. The food ( & service ) there was/is never good even from the beginnng. I've tried it twice and can only say that it was a great idea that was terribly done.
I'd hate to see Barcelona Tapas fail, but then again, the first time I went there was so aggravating (undercooked cauliflower, overcooked duck) that there hasn't been a second time.
As for cottage cheese--it's not local, but I love Michigan brand small curd cottage cheese, available in most supermarkets. Alas, it's full fat and maybe not the best food for a health kick.
I agree with your comment, I've been there once.. Chicken was overcooked to point of dry and tasteless. The other entrees were blah to yucky (deli style potato salad at a tapas place??) and the sangria was terrible and overpriced. Never went back. Had friends go, heard similar complaints.
I honestly don't think I've had poor tasting food at Tapas -- I've always asked for suggestions from my servers and have never been steered wrong. I love the baked goat cheese, seared tuna, salmon, brocoli, spanish meatballs, to name a few.
The Sangria isn't great, but I wouldn't call it expensive either so I suppose you get what you pay for...
I wish the owner the best and hope he can make it work - it'd be a shame to see this place leave downtown.
I wouldn't go so far as to say all the food is great. They have a few interesting dishes, a few questionable "tapas", a few great deals, and a few things that are just plain inedible. (One of the only places I ever had a completely inedible salad.) Plus, a strong penchange to slather that sweet curry mayo on everything.
That said, as Cory notes, over at his blog, http://blog.ibj.com/blog/?p=545,
there often ofther factors at work in the restaurant business.
braingirl said:
"a strong penchange to slather that sweet curry mayo on everything"
Even the gazpacho has an overpowering cumin/curry taste to it. I really anticipated it's arrival, and have given it so many second-chances, but have largely given up on it. The one last appeal of the place was that it served food later than most other places. The last time I tried to go for a post-10:00 snack, I was told only drinks were available. Strike tres.
The Traders Point Creamery cottage cheese is the best I've found. At our house we refer to it as the "crack" cottage cheese, because we can't stop eating it.
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