310 Park South

Tomorrow is Kevin’s last day at his current job. He got a really great opportunity with a different company, and I’m so excited for and proud of him. He works really hard, and I’m so glad it’s paying off. Last week we went out to celebrate his new job offer and ended up at 310 Park South. We actually hosted our rehearsal dinner at its sister restaurant 310 Lakeside. Their menus are the same, which worked out well for me because I was craving the same exact meal I had from our rehearsal dinner.

I ordered the smoked salmon pappardelle, which came with a huge filet of their house smoked salmon and a creamy sauce that had a pretty spicy kick from red pepper flakes. The salmon was really moist on the inside and had a lot of smoky flavor. The spicy kick warmed my whole throat. It was hearty and filling.

Kevin ordered the filet mignon, which came with mashed potatoes and a coarse mustard sauce.

It was really nice to sit outside and have an evening to ourselves to celebrate.

This weekend kicks off spring break for the University of Florida…however, I’ll be one of the few venturing toward the town for class. Since I’m in a part-time program, we don’t follow the typical academic calendar so no spring break for me.

Tonight I’m packing so I can hit the road after work tomorrow. Hope your weekend is more relaxing than mine!

Final preparations

I’m less than one week away from my first weekend in Gainesville for my MBA program. I’ve been diligently going through my accounting book that I need completed by the start date and tying up all the loose ends that need to be taken care of (i.e. paying a lot of money). One final thing I’ve been procrastinating on is getting something to carry all my class stuff around in. I have no clue what the kids are wearing today. Are shoulder bags in still style? Are backpacks the rage? What about messenger bags?

Last night, Kevin and I hit up the mall to figure out what would make sense for me to carry all my books and my laptop around campus in. Finally, we landed on Lululemon’s Take Me With You Tote in black and mint. It’s actually a gym bag with laptop and tablet compartments. It can carry up to 50 pounds and has two strap types.

Source

It’s huge…almost too big, but I think it will be perfect for throwing everything I need into it. It comes with an inner bag for dirty gym clothes or shoes, plenty of compartments and I love the color I settled on. I’m excited to wear it around campus!

Burger 21

While on our mall journey, we ventured to Burger 21, one of Orlando’s newest quick-service burger joints. They have a huge menu of different types of burgers and toppings combinations, and they have a dipping sauce bar, featuring many unique condiments.  Some of their unique sauces included toasted marshmallow, apple cider, ragin’ Cajun and Thai ketchup. They also have a black bean burger, chicken burgers and seafood burgers.

I ordered The ‘Shroom, a burger topped with crimini mushrooms, fontina cheese and veggies on a brioche bun.

To accompany, I ordered sweet potato fries. The burger was perfectly cooked and tasted like high-quality beef. I loved the sweet buttery bread and all the flavorful mushrooms. My favorite types of fries are shoestring cut, so it was so nice to get sweet potato fries in that format. I actually preferred them without all the exotic sauces. The sauces were very unique, but a little too out there for me. I preferred the flavor of the sweet potato fries on their own. Overall, I was really pleased with my meal.

Kevin ordered chicken fingers and normal fries. His fries were really delicious too.

I was eying some of the ice cream and milk shakes others ordered. I was too full for dessert, but they looked really elaborate and tasty. I would definitely return to Burger 21 for a good burger and exceptional fries.

What did you use for your books when you were in school? In high school, I was  a big fan of the messenger bag, and then in college, like every other girl in the south, I had my Vera Bradley tote.

Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries

Burgers are to Kevin what sushi is to me. High expectations are involved, and it’s incredibly sad when the end product falls short. Unfortunately, our experience at Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries just didn’t impress. Boardwalk is a quick-serve hamburger chain with many options. You choose your bun type, burger type, toppings and sauces. They’re located on East Colonial near the Fashion Square Mall.

Our trip may have been slightly tainted from the beginning because the man taking our order was very terse and just seemed to have a lot of attitude. After placing our order, it seemed to take quite awhile for the food to arrive, and when it did, there was nothing spectacular about our lunch.

Their hamburgers were bland in the flavor department.

I ordered their black bean burger on a whole wheat bun. I was really pleased that they had this option for a lighter choice. The bean burger has chunks of whole black beans and onions. This burger also didn’t have a lot of flavor, which was surprising since I could see all the onions inside.

Their fries also didn’t taste very fresh. Hopefully we just had one bad experience and this isn’t indicative of their usual level of service or quality.

I can’t believe the weekend is already over (as I usually feel on Sundays). I’m busy gawking at the Golden Globes red carpet overage. I’m loving all the ball gowns!

Congrats to everyone who participated in the Disney marathon and the Color Run! I’m so jealous of everyone’s post-race photos. Maybe one of these days I’ll get the courage to sign up for one myself!

What is your favorite burger place?

J. Alexander’s

Don’t forget to enter both my Tuttorosso and Lone Star Steakhouse giveaways. I’ll pick three winners this weekend!

The other day Kevin and I were in the restaurant row area and decided to grab lunch with Kevin’s step mom at J. Alexander’s. They are a contemporary American restaurant chain with locations scattered across the country. They have a pretty similar menu to our beloved Hillstone. I think I actually may have been craving Hillstone because I ordered pretty much my standard go-tos that I would get there. To start, we ordered grilled artichokes, drawing the first Hillstone comparison.

The grilled artichokes at J. Alexander weren’t as large as the ones at Hillstone nor were they as flavorful, but they were still incredibly tasty. I really liked the salty seasoning they put on the artichokes.

I ordered the veggie burger, and once again, it just wasn’t Hillstone. For my side, I ordered mac and cheese.

The burger was good, but in my opinion, Hillstone just has the best veggie burgers. The mac and cheese was wonderful. It had bits of onion in it, different cheeses (not your typical cheddar) and the top was nice and crunchy from being baked. I love the pieces of dried out pasta, like the edge of lasagna. I could have probably eaten two ramekins of mac and cheese.

Kevin ordered chicken tenders, and Kevin’s step mom ordered a cheeseburger.

J. Alexander’s seems to really know what they’re doing with their sides. Their fries are really good, and I’ve also had their loaded baked potato before (delicious). Even though I was feeling the Hillstone vibe, it really is a good restaurant in its own right. The service is good, and it’s great for a classier lunch.

Tomorrow is my last day of work until the new year. I’m excited to launch into my first Christmas as a married woman. I’m still in awe that it’s only five days away. Where did the year go?

What is your favorite type of mac and cheese? My sister makes a great mac and cheese with fontina, gruyere, blue cheese and bacon. It’s heavenly.

Hot Olives

Kevin has been really sick all week, so I flew solo Tuesday evening to meet my parents for dinner at Hot Olives, a modern American restaurant in Winter Park. We had a few hiccups in our evening, but overall I really enjoyed Hot Olives and would return.

Right off the bat they had me sold by placing a basket of assorted breads at the table accompanied by a pile of olive tapenade. I love olives, so this was right up my alley.

For an appetizer, we ordered the Hot Olives, their signature dish. These are jumbo black olives stuffed with cheese then breaded with panko and fried. They are served with bleu cheese and chili sauce.

The cheese and olive combination was great, and the breading was nice and light.

One thing I really enjoyed about Hot Olives was that you could order half portions of many of their dinners. I ordered a half portion of the shrimp and grits, which was plenty after all the bread and hot olives I ate.

Along with jumbo tiger shrimp, the dish featured mushrooms and bacon. These were coated in a demi glace and sat on top of peppery grits. The dish was extremely savory and filling. I was very pleased with my selection and cleaned my plate.

My step mom ordered the grouper sandwich but was actually presented with the crab cake sandwich. Like me, she’s not very picky so ate it and said it was very good.

I always feel awful about sending things back.

My dad ordered the Key West Grouper and thought the lime flavor was too overpowering.

Our waiter was extremely attentive and polite all evening, and when he saw that my dad didn’t enjoy the grouper (which was by no fault of the restaurant, just a personal preference), the waiter immediately offered him another dish. My dad didn’t take him up on his offer, but I thought the level of service we received was very good despite him bringing out the wrong dish.

Besides a wide variety of seafood, they offer pasta dishes and meat dishes. They also have a very interesting cocktail menu.

If you could pick any one ingredient for a restaurant to revolve around, what would it be? I’d have to say garlic. But it probably wouldn’t be a big hit for date nights.