The Shack

I decided to have my first post back be my birthday dinner post.  This evening was wonderful.  I looked up several restaurants on Zomato, as I am not overly familiar with the restaurant scene in OKC.  Even though my boyfriend is from here, he only knows about a couple of dives and I look forward to sharing those places with you here.

Out of all the restaurants I could have picked for my birthday dinner, I decided on The Shack Seafood and Oyster Bar.  I wanted, no... needed a Cajun/creole and seafood fix.  It's been a long time since I had any sort of good Cajun/creole food.  I decided tonight would be a perfect night to try something new because it was the only way I was going to get my boyfriend into a new restaurant.

We started off with drinks.  I usually get water, no lemon, but decided to get iced tea, no lemon.  I will school you on why no lemon some other day.  It's a foodborne illness nightmare.  Anyway, after mulling over the menu for what seemed like hours, I finally decided on the fried pickles.  I am picky about fried pickles.  I really dislike the thick breading and super thick slices of pickle many places have.  But the Shack did it up just perfect.  The fried pickles were lightly breaded and tender.  The pickles had the perfect amount of brininess and the breading was flaky.  It came out with a side of ranch.  It really doesn't need ranch as it was good all on it's own.

You will have to excuse my extremely amateur pics.  I'm not a professional.  Lol... After looking at the menu, I asked our waitress about recommendations.  She recommended the Crawfish Half and Half, which is what I chose.  My boyfriend decided on a cup of the red beans and rice and a cup of the chicken and sausage gumbo.  The red beans and rice were okay, I guess.  Nothing special.  The chicken and sausage gumbo was delicious!  The roux was dark (not as dark as the red beans and rice) and had a great flavor.

My dish was simply amazing.  There is no other way of describing it.  It came out with the crawfish etouffee on one side and the fried crawfish tails on the other.  Down the middle were two beautiful scoops of dirty rice.  Let's start off with the etouffee.  The stewy goodness had crawfish tails, a blend of vegetables and seasonings.   The sauce had a perfect amount of heat, just enough to tickle the back of your throat, clear your sinuses and leave that warm feeling in your belly.  It was the kind of spiciness that kept you wanting more, like a good bowl of kimchi soup on a cold day.  The crispy crawfish tails were the perfect interruption between bites of etouffee.  The fried nuggets with the aoli cut thru the richness and spiciness of the other half of the plate.  It was a perfect marriage.  I am so glad I took the recommendation.  Here's what my plate looked like:

Empty!  If you want to know what it looks like, you must go to The Shack right away and find out.  Honestly, the food looked so good, I forgot to snap a pic until it was too late.  If I could have licked the plate and not been stared at like a mongrel, I would have.

We ended my birthday dinner with a free dessert.  I originally ordered the chocolate chip bread pudding but they were out of an ingredient.  Darn!  So we decided on the Mudslide.  It was a good choice.  The chocolate cake was warm and moist (yes, I said moist) and the chocolate center was fantastic.  I like to mix it with the whipped cream while my boyfriend prefers the ice cream.  This dessert is rich, so it's an easy share with someone you love!

Our meal, without dessert totaled to $33.54 before the tip.  We left $8 to our waitress and decided to take one of the cups home as a memento for my birthday dinner.

I absolutely love this place and will be recommending it to all my friends.  It's right behind Abuelo's and La Quinta on Memorial Rd.  I am kind of glad it's not right on Memorial.  It's almost like it's a hidden gem and it's all mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update

I do believe it's time to update and get this blog back up and going.  Stay tuned!

Bonefish Grill

It's been forever and a day since I last did an update. Well, here we go! Last night my niece and I went to Bonefish Grill. It's one of our favorite places to dine, so much, we almost eat here every 4-6 weeks.


We started off with the Mussels Josephine. This is one our most favorites! The broth is to die for! Yumm! We love sopping up the broth with the crusty bread they bring to the table. I got the Chilean Sea Bass, cooked perfectly. I opted for the whipped potatoes and a Caesar salad. Both were great pairings with the fish.


After our main meal, we decided on dessert. Featured last night was their fresh strawberry shortcake, which my niece devoured. I chose the traditional creme brulee. Despite the mountain of fresh whipped cream, the desserts were delectable. The creme brulee was rich and the sugar shell was done perfectly. I love the sound my spoon makes when I break through to the creamy goodness below. It's almost like unwrapping a Christmas present ever so gently, as to not disrupt the package. Ah! What a lovely meal.


Our server was awesome. We always get great service when we come here. Tonight, we had Steven O. Oh my goodness Steven! You rock!

After School Snack

Spending time with my son is always a real treat, especially now that he is a Freshman in high school and has a social life that usually does not include his mom. All while he was growing up, I made our dining experiences around the Wichita area as frequent as possible. I wanted him to grow up comfortable in those settings. He's been ordering his own food since he started reading and is quite particular about his food. Certainly, he doesn't get that from me, right? lol....

Anyway, after school the other day, we decided to grab a light snack at Panera. I opted for the cinnamon chip scone and a low-fat mango smoothie. They were delicious. The cinnamon chip scone reminds me of the little cinnamon rolls my mother used to make when I was a kid. My teenager decided on not one, but two brownies and a cinnamon roll for a "snack" later. He usually does not eat a lot of sugary foods, but that day, he went all out.

Times like these are the best. We sat, drank, ate, and talked about school and friends. Times like these will be more scarce as he gets older, so I am taking advantage of it now.







 

Birthday Favorites - Old and New

Yesterday was perfect! My boyfriend finally turned 30! Yay! We decided to head over to our all-time favorite breakfast place, the Copper Oven. Yumm! I love this place! The coffee here is fantastic and the service is wonderful. The management team are all familiar faces and every Saturday, there is a line going out of the door to get a seat. It has truly become a gem to the Wichita area.

I decided on the mushroom and fresh spinach omelet ($6.82). The omelet is made with three eggs, sliced button mushrooms, a handful of fresh spinach, and topped with cheddar cheese. The omelet comes with their signature salsa, ranch potatoes, and your choice of bread side. I opted for the biscuit
and a side of cream gravy ($1.00). The biscuit is flaky and beckons you to dip each bite into the seasoned gravy. Ah! So tasty!

After we waddled to our car, we decided to drive down to the Farmer's Market located at 21st and Ridge. Big mistake! We drove right past. There was a line to get into the parking lot! Looks like we will have to arrive much earlier in order to walk around and browse the local hearty fare.


For dinner we decided to try a new place. We chose the Cactus Cantina and Grill. It is located on 2802 S. Hydraulic in Wichita. It's right next door to the very good greasy spoon, Fat Ernie's, a place we are known to lurk in every so often.

The Cactus Cantina has really good food! The menu states, 'If you can't go to Mexico, we'll bring Mexico to you.'


The salsa and guacamole are made fresh. The chips come out to your table warm. I ordered something from the "Real South of the Border" portion of the menu. It was the Teocaltiche Plate ($9.95). It was basically chunks of pork meat simmered into a special blend of spices. It came with rice, beans and tortillas. Sooooo gooood! My boyfriend ordered the #4 combination (9.95), which consisted of a chile relleno, beef enchilada, beef taco, rice and beans. That chile relleno was excellent! I loved that small bite of chile relleno almost as much as I loved my whole meal. It was that tasty!







Everything was to our liking. The manager was our waiter and he took excellent care of us. This is definitely a place we will come back to. If not for the chile rellenos, then definitely for the guacamole!