Tsunami (sushi restaurant) - Baton Rouge, LA

We chose Tsunami because it was recommended to us by several people, particularly for the view, and one of my coworkers had never seen the Mississippi River. Of course, it had started down-pouring again on our way there so we waited out the rain by the bar. I tried my usual "ask the bartender make me a really great drink that's not on the menu" trick where I describe the kind of drink I'm in the mood for (ie "fruity but not to sweet, more tart") and see what they come up with but they weren't up to the task, so I ended up with a Cosmo. It was good, but I was a wee bit disappointed they couldn't come up with something more creative at such a nice restaurant.

When the rain stopped for the night and we were taken to our seats, I admit the view was breathtaking. Luckily the rain stopped in time for us to catch the tail end of the sunset. The view was pretty much the best part, though the sushi was quite delicious and the sushi had a Louisiana spin. We couldn't resist getting the Cajun-themed rolls with alligator in them. That was probably my favorite one actually.

I will say, however, that several things went very wrong over the course of our meal. The food took a very long time to arrive. There were cockroaches (big ones) running around grossing everyone out. When a guy at a neighboring table killed one, we all cheered and some people bought him drinks. I know the rooftop is outdoors, so it's probably to some measure beyond their control, but it was pretty unappetizing. And to finish the night, my coworker dropped his credit card and it fell through one of the slats between the pavers that the patio floor was made of. Luckily we were able to retrieve it with the help of the employees prying up one of the pavers (see left). But that's a serious design flaw. The restaurant did try to make up the slow food arrival by giving us a free glass of wine, but only one glass (which I can't complain about because they gave it to me for some reason - I guess because I was the only lady at the table) and so my other coworkers' delayed gratification went unredeemed. But the restaurant still gets props for at least recognizing they did something wrong and taking steps to rectify it. I have been to other restaurants that didn't even accomplish that.

Overall I would give Tsunami a 3 out of 5 but say that the view makes it worthwhile to attend, despite other flaws.

48 Hours in Louisiana

Work has me traveling a lot lately. Most of these trips are roughly 48 hours, so I thought I'd kick off a "48 hours in..." series (inspired by the NY Times "36 hours in..." series). The first trip that kicked off what will be about a dozen trips over the next few months was to Louisiana.

On a Friday, around noon, our flight arrived in New Orleans and the second we walked out of the airport my jeans immediately shrink-wrapped to my legs. Even living in DC, I don't think I've ever experienced humidity quite like that, and it was about 96-degrees (fahrenheit). Our final destination was Baton Rouge and it started down-pouring the moment we got in our rental car. I have to say, first impressions between the airport and getting on the highway was that New Orleans was kind of a shithole - it was all concrete, power lines and run down strip malls. However, I realize the outskirts of many US cities pretty much look just like this and once you get to the Bayou, which is almost immediately after you get on the highway, it's pretty (if you can see beyond the pouring rain and ignore the oil refineries).

We drove to Baton Rouge through several sporadic deluges. Seriously - it's sunny one minute and the next it's raining so heavily that you can't see more than 3 feet in front of you (see above). But when we arrived it was sunny and even more humid from all the rain. We checked into our hotel: Doubletree by Hilton Baton Rouge - nice digs, especially for a highway-adjacent hotel. My room had almost its own mini living room with a couch and (2nd) tv. We changed clothes (to be dressed more appropriately for the heat) and went to do some of work. Our work that day had us mostly outdoors around the LSU campus and my coworker kept referring to it as "Africa hot." Luckily the rain stayed away while we worked so instead the sun just beat down on us mercilessly. After several hours of being outside, we sought refuge in the LSU gift shop to enjoy their air conditioning and drinking fountain. While I've always found excessive school spirit (or being an extreme fan of any one particular thing in general) to be rather strange, I was especially bemused to find that LSU has its own cologne.

We got several restaurant recommendations from people but the most recommended (primarily because of the view, I believe) was Tsunami, a rooftop sushi restaurant on the Mississippi river. While I'm going to write about this place in more detail, I would say overall it was a positive experience. Of course, it rained on our way to the restaurant but it cleared up quickly enough that we were still able to eat outside.

On Saturday, we were back at work, again near LSU, and it was Game Day for the Tigers, so the fans were out in full force. So was the Southern Hospitality - we were offered food and drink by several of the tailgaters we encountered. My favorite part was a 25-gallon drum of Jambalaya (making 25 gallons of anything taste good is pretty impressive to me).

After a long, very hot and humid day of work, we were exhausted so we stuck close to the hotel for dinner. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which is a chain, though I had never seen it before. Despite being in an area of town where the food options are almost exclusively fast food, it was damn good steak in a really nice atmosphere. I would say it was in the top 10 steaks I've ever consumed and the side dishes and drinks hit the spot, too.

Sunday, we drove back to New Orleans. Our flight didn't leave until after 4pm, so we were looking forward to spending some time wandering around the French Quarter. On our way there, though, the GPS took us a really weird way and we got off the highway and I have to say it was pretty depressing how much of the devastation of Katrina you could still see in parts of New Orleans. Anyway, I'll try to stick to the positive.

My coworker has spent a lot of time in New Orleans, so he showed us around. We started on Bourbon Street, which was smelly and disgusting. Maybe it was the heat magnifying the stench of urine and vomit but I couldn't handle it for very long. It was also strange because, while there weren't many people around, there were still a few people here or there who were wasted and partying like it was Mardi Gras and not noon on a Sunday in September. So it was very quiet and then you'd hear "wooo!" and other drunken yelling and someone would stumble out into the street. Then we walked up Royal Street, but almost all the stores were closed (come on, people, this is the 21st Century!)

We ate lunch at a little cafe on Jackson Square. The food was mediocre - I ordered a po' boy, thinking there was more to a po' boy than meat and bread. I was mistaken, although apparently it depends on where you go. So I had a basically flavorless sandwich for $12. But the view from that restaurant was fantastic (see above). We were looking right out onto the square where all the artists sell their stuff and there was the cathedral and it was just lovely.

We spent a significant amount of time browsing the art on the fence at Jackson Square. My coworker bought a few small paintings for his kids. I bought one medium-sized painting for my home, which I love. I would've bought more if I could afford to. There was one artist who I wanted to buy from but he had left a sign saying he was around the corner at a bar watching the Saints game and to text him if you wanted anything. Apparently that's not uncommon at Jackson Square but I found it surprising that he was that trusting.  I didn't want to wait around for him though, so I bought a painting from someone else. Most of the artists take credit cards and are willing to ship the art to you if you can't take it as your carry on (I guess another example of trust, since I don't know these people, but my painting arrived safe and sound).

Then we walked to the Mississippi River. The view of the French Quarter from there was quite nice (see above). But my coworker was focused on the shoreline to see if he could see some famous New Orleans-specific rat-type creature. We never saw one, which I think I'm thankful for. And then we headed to the airport, sticking our heads in the few open shops and galleries along the way back to our car. There was one cool antique store open that had all sorts of random stuff - weapons from various wars, old armor, antique art from different regions of the world, etc. But we didn't buy anything there, most of it was quite expensive.

I want to ‘Go with Oh’ to Barcelona

The last few trips I've taken have been a bit... third world. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed all of my trips to Central and South America over the past few years, but frankly I just want to enjoy the luxuries of western culture on my next trip and not end up with a stomach virus or worry about whether or not going to the doctor in a country would be more detrimental than just ignoring a head injury....

So Europe it is. It's decided. I've been itching to go to Spain for a while now, with the particular desire to spend significant time in Barcelona. Barcelona has a little bit of everything that I look for in a vacation destination: it's urban, it has beaches, it has stunning architecture, rich history, and just every cultural activity you could imagine. So here's the top 5 activities on my Barcelona wishlist:

1. An architectural tour of the city, including the Gothic Quarter, the modernista buildings,
 the work of Antony Gaudi, Park Guell, the Casa Batllo and the many World Heritage sites. I would especially like to see Gaudi's still unfinished cathedral, The Sagrada Familia (see above). It looks like nothing else I've ever seen, and over what few weeks I've spent in Europe over my lifetime I must've seen hundreds of Cathedrals and churches.
2. Spend some time on the beach. Barcelona was named the best beach city in the world by National Geographic and apparently third best beaches in general in the world. As someone who grew up in a landlocked state, beaches are always exciting to me - plus I've never been to the Mediterranean!
3. Take a day trip to monastery at Montserrat for spectacular mountain views of Catalonia and for the magnificent rock faces of the mountains themselves, which the monastery is nestled amongst.
4. Eat at the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, (or La Boqueria), a massive, historic public food market. I love trying the local produce in particular, and in a place like Barcelona that is so close to the Mediterranean, the fruit will probably be especially flavorful.
5. Buy something unique from one of the vintage stores or boutiques on the Carrer De La Riera Baixa, Barcelona's hippest street for shopping. Apparently, it's actually quite affordable and you can find practically anything there from as early as the 19th century.

Now, if I'm really lucky, I'll get to go to Barcelona for free by winning a trip from GoWithOh.com! But you too can enter to win fabulous prizes through their Facebook competition, so go check it out!

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua - Treat yo'self (food and drink)

So besides the hardy but delicious meat dinner we had at our hotel, we had many other phenomenal meals in San Juan Del Sur. In fact, we really didn't have a bad meal during our whole trip. I'm separating the food posts into two, one for higher end stuff (although we're still only talking maybe $15-20 per person, including booze). Unfortunately, San Juan Del Sur does not seem to be the most vegetarian friendly place (at least restaurant-wise), but the fruit and vegetables were certainly some of the most flavorful I've ever had, and as more hippie expats move down there, that may change.

On our first day, the group we had been surfing with headed to the restaurant/bar within the luxury resort Pelican Eyes to have a drink while watching the sunset over the harbor (see above). San Juan Del Sur's harbor faces almost exactly West, and the sunset was always framed in a really beautiful way by the hills on either side of the harbor. We had a Macua (see below), which is apparently the Nicaraguan national drink. Of course it was rum-based (everything is rum-based there) and had lots of delicious tropical fruits (according to wikipedia, it's usually lemon and guava juice but I'm pretty sure this had some grapefruit in it too, possibly orange and mango, as well...)

After the sun set, my boyfriend and I went to Josslyn's, which is right on the beach - not that we could see the beach but we could hear the waves and it was a pleasant ambiance. Now, one thing you should probably understand about me is that I really don't like most seafood, so going to ocean-side towns tends to be a bit rough on me sometimes. However, that wasn't the case this time around. I ordered a fish in garlic sauce and it was exquisite. I normally don't like most fish, but it was moist and flavorful and not uber-fishy. Unfortunately I don't know exactly what kind of fish it was. It tasted sort of like salmon except it wasn't. I believe my boyfriend ordered shrimp and he loved it. We also had drinks: a pina colada and a strawberry daiquiri, both of which hit the spot after a rather long day. I think the whole meal cost us $37 (with tip and tax and everything)

The next night we went to El Barrio Cafe, which is sort of what we had used as an "anchor" to learn our way around because the market is right across the street and it's basically in the center of the town. It was pretty crowded, although there was a Harley convention in town. Both Mike and I got the filet mignon and it was definitely in my top 5 most delicious steaks of all time. It was tender, cooked just right with that slight char on the outside and came in a creamy mushroom sauce that complimented but didn't overpower the meat. Oh, and did I mention it was $10? Yes, $10USD. Amazing.

Our third night we had our meat plates at the hotel and then our fourth night we tried to go to a Mediterranean restaurant called El Calibri because we heard it was the best restaurant in town but unfortunately they're closed Monday nights so we didn't get to try it. If you do go, chances are you'll have to make a reservation because another couple at our hotel tried to go one night but had to make a reservation for the next night because the wait was just too long. Instead, we went to El Timon, and I will say that this was by far our most mediocre meal. Another beach restaurant, we went at sunset and they had live music. You can actually sit right on the beach (though I feel like this is more for drinking and less for eating unless you don't mind sand in your food). But the fish wasn't nearly as good as at Josslyn's or at the hotel. I would say probably not really worth your time when there are so many other good places to choose from.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua - Overview

This year's "get out of the cold winter" trip was to Nicaragua. We bought a package through Living Social that included 4 nights stay at the Villas De Palermo in San Juan Del Sur (SJDS, for short) and a number of activities. While I really wanted to travel around Nicaragua more (particularly visit Lake Nicaragua and some of the many volcanoes in the area), Mike was worried about safety concerns and I didn't really have much vacation time to work with, so we ended up just staying in SJDS. In this post, I'll do the overview and then I'll do more detailed postings about the various aspects separately.

Safety
Nicaragua is a pretty poor country, so obviously tourists need to be careful. Petty crime is common and violent crime, while getting better, still happens. However, I think much of the warnings you'll read on the internet about it are based on how dangerous it was, not how dangerous it is. We got all freaked out when reading about how dangerous it is but we had no problems and SJDS in particular seemed pretty safe. I think Managua might be a little rough (but my impression was that there isn't much to see there, anyway). Oh, and don't go to the Caribbean side of the country - there's big drug cartel problems there and apparently those regions are actually autonomous regions. Managua, Grenada and SJDS are all on the Pacific coast and they are probably the areas you should stick to.

The 2-2.5 hour drive from Managua to San Juan Del Sur was actually one of my main worries about the trip because everything we read said one of the most popular forms of robbery was to put roadblocks up (such as a big tree branch in the road) and then rob you when you stop to move it and we were in what was obviously a van for tourists. I was more than a little nervous but we encountered no problems. SJDS itself is filled with tourists and American expats and I guess they've been cracking down on crime there, so it seemed perfectly safe to me. Of course, don't be an idiot: don't flaunt your money, don't be out late at night (but there's no reason to be because there is not really any nightlife), keep your belongings close to you, etc. We had also heard that taking taxis was a bad idea (that the taxi driver or some other robbers would take you to the middle of nowhere, rob you and leave you there) but we took several taxis and had no problem. Maybe that's a problem in other areas but labeled taxis in SJDS are generally considered safe. Once the guy did pick up a few other people, which wasn't ideal because the small cab got quite crowded, but whatever.

History & Language
Nicaragua is a small country with a population about the size of Philadelphia but it has a complex and violent history of wars, uprisings, and international politics. I suggest you look into it to learn more about the history but the main reason I mention it is that there is still some political unrest so you need to be careful not to end up in the midst of a protest, which often turn violent. It seemed like these mainly happen in Managua, but a fellow traveler said that they had to take a detour on their way to SJDS because of a strike.

Spanish is the language, but Nicaraguans (or Nicas as they say for short) actually pronounce it a lot differently than I had ever heard before so I had a very hard time because I don't know Spanish that well as it is. For one, they drop a lot of their "s" sounds, particularly at the end of words. There were a few other differences that someone explained to me but I honestly can't remember them now... People who spoke better Spanish than I didn't have as hard a time, but I definitely had issues and so did Mike who has a lot more Spanish experience than I do. Also, I assumed a lot more of the hospitality (hotel and activity) people would know more English than they did. Most of them actually spoke little to no English.

San Juan Del Sur
There is sort of a finite number of things to do in SJDS: surfing is the primary activity (which actually takes place at beaches north or south of SJDS but SJDS seems to be the hub where everyone stays/lives); then there's boating, fishing, turtle or whale-watching (if you're there at the right time), zip lines and horseback riding. Unless you really like surfing, I would honestly recommend you only spend a few days there (3-4 seemed to be about the right amount). There's not much to see in SJDS itself, though it's a cute little town (population 2700). It has a central "downtown" area with lots of shops and restaurants. I will say, the food was amazing. I had one mediocre meal my whole time there (not including breakfast at the hotel which was always mediocre). The town is also beautiful and almost anywhere you go from the center of town by the bay, you're going to be going uphill so you will have beautiful views.

Cost
Nicaragua is pretty cheap, although accommodations don't always seem to match that price. But we would have amazing gourmet meals for two people with booze for about USD$30 and you could get really good meals from smaller food stands or market shops for C$60 (about $3). Taxis weren't as cheap as I thought they would be, but they weren't bad... The taxi between town and where we were staying, the Villas De Palermo, (about 3km) cost us C$60-80 ($3 or $4 - they also usually take USD too) depending on how willing the driver was to negotiate.

Things I Wish I'd Done
If I were going to go back to SJDS, I would stay in town. Most of all, I really wish I had gone to Grenada and spent some time at Lake Nicaragua and the various volcanoes there. There's a cloud forest that sounded cool at the top of dormant Mombacho, but you can also take tours of active volcanoes. The island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua also seems worth a visit. Also worth a visit I've heard is the massive market in Masaya, which is sort of between Managua and Grenada.

Minneapolis, MN - The Convention Grill

The Convention Grill is pretty much my favorite restaurant of all time. A 50s diner/soda fountain thatt's a historic landmark (it's remained virtually the same for decades) and has been in tons of food and travel magazines. Technically, it's just a diner. But it's the best damn diner that ever existed. EVER.

You might think I'm a little biased since I literally grew up down the street from it, and I have fond memories of walking out of my house only to have the delicious smells of grease, meat and onions wafting toward me. But really, I've never met a person who didn't love it. Their milkshakes, which come in a much bigger array of flavors than at most diners, are so thick you usually can't drink them through a straw, at least not at first. They are served in huge metal containers that allow you to get 2-3 full glasses worth. Their burgers are big and juicy. Their grilled cheese - my favorite - is a double-decker sandwich that comes with 3 slices of bread and 3-4 different types of cheese (you can also add with tomatoes and bacon). Their french fries come in huge portions (a "half order" is good for 2-3 people at least) and they're greasy, skin-on style and quite tasty.

So basically, save lots of room in your stomach before you go. Also, be prepared to wait if you go at the dinner rush, particularly on a nice day. It's a popular place, deservedly so.

Freestyle Cruises - Know Before You Go

So-called "Freestyle" cruises are really the primary type of cruise that seems to exist anymore. Here's what it means (at least on Norwegian Cruise Lines) and some of the things you should know before you board the ship:

• Cruises are basically impossible to do on the cheap. Even if you get a "deal" for the base price, the extra costs add up quickly. Only go if you can afford to spend at least a few thousand dollars on this trip. 
• It is REALLY easy to lose track of how much you're spending. Your room key also serves as your "credit card" (they connect it to a credit card when you board) and so it's easy to feel like you're not actually spending money since it's your room key you're swiping. You are constantly waited on hand-and-foot, so it's so easy to say "sure, I'll have another drink," and it's not like you can check on how much you've spent so far by looking at your credit card statement online. They do give you receipts though so if you're diligent, you can keep track that way.
• Your time is not structured, you can participate or not participate in activities exactly as you please.  When you go to meals, you go whenever you want and sit where ever you want. That's why they're called "freestyle," as opposed to some cruises where things are more scheduled, you may sit with a certain party at each meal, etc.
• Excursions away from the boat cost extra (prices should be outlined in the list of options) but they make it super simple for you. They literally shuttle you to shore and to your destination and then shuttle you back so you don't have to worry about a thing. You may or may not have some free time to shop or eat near port after your activity. Some of the excursions will take you on a shopping detour. All of this shopping will be tourist trap stuff but some of it is worthwhile (we got a really nice stone mask in Mexico and some cheap rum in the Cayman Islands).
• If you purchase booze on shore at one of your excursions, you don't get it back until the end of the cruise. They hold it for you, supposedly for legal/tax reasons but really I think it's just so that you keep paying for the overpriced booze on the ship.
• While you probably think of cruises as time to relax and do nothing, you can actually jampack your trip. There are tons of activities on the cruise ship, most of which are free. There are stage shows, comedy shows, there are games, there are ice-carving demonstrations, barbecues, clubs, pretty much anything anyone might possibly want to do. Most of them are better than they sound, so if you're skeptical, go give it a try.
• On our cruise, you could eat for free at the primary buffet. However, the restaurants were all amazing - seriously some of the best food I've ever had in my life - and only an additional $10-15/person (not including drinks). AND, to top that all off, something we didn't learn until our last night there is that for that $10-15/person, you can literally eat as much as you want. We assumed it meant one appetizer, one entree and dessert. Nope. You could order 10 appetizers, 4 entrees and 7 desserts and try a few bites of each if you really wanted to. Now, I don't actually recommend this because it's super wasteful (and cruises are overindulgent enough), not to mention the increased potential for overeating (the average cruise attendee gains a pound a day). But it comes in handy to know if you can't decide between two appetizers and just really want to try both.
• Internet was not free, which always makes me mad. And I don't think there was any wi-fi, you could only access the internet from their computer lab. This may be different from ship to ship though. Then again, this may have been a good thing for keeping us truly disconnected.
• There are spas and a gym and they'll try to sell you all sorts of expensive stuff. The gym is free and is very nice but they'll try to sell you stuff while you're there. Needless to say, the spa is very pricey.

New York, NY - Risotteria

One of my favorite, more affordable restaurants is Risotteria, in the West Village. The menu is primarily - you guessed it - risotto. They also have gluten-free pizzas and panninis, but the risotto is to die for so I'm not sure why anyone would get anything else. On top of almost everything on their menu being gluten-free, they also have tons of vegan and vegetarian options so it's a great place to go if you have a group of people with dietary restrictions.

Unfortunately, logistically it's not so great for groups. It's TEENY TINY and they don't take reservations so there's always a wait around the dinner hours. I would not recommend going with a group of more than four people. And honestly, I don't know why they don't get a bigger space. Customers are constantly going elsewhere because of the long wait and I'm sure they could rake in enough money for a bigger space with the added customers. Plus people might be able to sit further than 4 inches away from each other. They do have take-out though, so maybe that's the best option.

New York, NY - Park Avenue: Winter (or Spring, Summer, Fall)

My favorite restaurant in New York City is Park Avenue: Winter. Or well, Park Avenue: (insert season here). They change the menu and the decor of the restaurant with every season, but most of the times I've been there have been in the winter (not intentionally, it just worked out that way) so I think of it as Park Avenue: Winter. Winter is pictured above and Spring is pictured below to give you an idea of how much it changes. It's pretty pricey (think $30-50 per entree) but the food and the customer service is amazing. And actually, it's really not that pricey considering the overall experience.

I found out about the restaurant because they were featured on Gossip Girl and they had a promotion, which was listed on one of the "cheap things to do in NY" blogs that I read. The promotion was that if you came dressed as a school girl, you got a free meal. FREE. So I went with five friends on St. Patrick's day of 2009 and I was thinking it would be, you know, a free entree and everything else you had to pay for. Nope! They gave us a free appetizer, free entree, two free side dishes, two free alcoholic drinks AND a dessert. The whole meal would've cost probably $120-140 per person had we paid for it. Not only that, but they still treated us like royalty even though they knew we were eating for free. At this same meal, I had the most delicious filet mignon I've ever had (to this day).

I have to say, this whole free meal thing was a genius move on their part. While at first we wondered how they weren't losing massive amounts of money on this deal, I have been back to the restaurant several times since, as have most of my friends. And I've recommended it to countless other people. So they've definitely made their money back off of at least our free meal, and then some. The second time I went really stood out to me, as well. For one thing, they had this side dish of broccoli and cheetos that was surprisingly amazing (albeit rather incongruous with the rest of their menu) and secondly, the table was wobbly so my drink spilled on my skirt and they rushed to make it right immediately: they put something under the table so it wouldn't wobble, they gave me soda water for my skirt and (best of all) they took a few items off of our bill. Really, their customer service is amazing. You really feel like your business matters to them and I find that improves my restaurant experience almost infinitely.

So if you can only afford to splurge for one meal during your time to New York, make it Park Avenue: Winter (or Spring or Summer or Fall depending on the time of year you go).

Seattle, WA - The Space Needle

I often shy away from tourist attractions, but the Space Needle in Seattle was awesome. Eat at the restaurant there if you can afford it (it's quite pricey but completely worth it - day/night tickets cost $22 for adults if you don't eat a meal there, so why not get a nice meal too - and you don't have to pay for tickets if you're eating at the restaurant). We went at dusk, which was really perfect because we got to see everything in the sunlight, then getting duskier (it's called "magic hour" in film for a reason - that warm glow that dusk settles on everything) and then we got to watch the city light up as it became night time. The Space Needle rotates ever so slowly, so you get to see the mountains, the harbor, and the city no matter where you sit, and it really is a breathtaking view in most directions.

One of many breathtaking views of the Seattle skyline from the restaurant in the Space Needle

The food was exquisite, as well. I had the Oven-Roasted Jidori Chicken and for desert we shared a rich, mouth-watering chocolate cake (which I can't find on their online menu to tell you what it's called). It really was a spectacular meal and a very romantic night - my boyfriend and I were there celebrating an anniversary, and this was the perfect way to do so.


If you go during the summer, there's a whole amusement park at the base of the Space Needle, but that was closed when were were there, as it was October so I can't tell you if it's any good or not.

Baltimore, MD - The Glass Grill

One of the most interesting ideas for a restaurant that I've ever heard of is a restaurant attached to a glass blowing studio. I found out about "Date and Demo night" at the Glass Grill by looking through events on Baltimore's Citypaper.com, which seems like a pretty useful resource if you're thinking about going to Baltimore - we also found out about the Walters Museum's free First Friday event on Citypaper.

The Glass Grill is kind of a strange place upon first glance. The restaurant looks like a hole-in-the-wall, greasy spoon type of sports bar (and has a menu full of burgers to match), but then has beautiful glass pieces everywhere, not to mention a gorgeous chandelier. You have to go outside and across the yard to the glass blowing studio, where they give demonstrations and later in the night you can make your own pendant, flower or ornament if you want. And even if you don't make your own, the demonstrations are really interesting to watch.

In terms of food, I just got a traditional cheeseburger from the place, but I have to say it was one of the best cheeseburgers I think I've ever had. I was quite upset because I wasn't feeling well and couldn't finish much of the burger, despite how savory it tasted (note: it doesn't reheat well unfortunately, a lot of that flavor is lost). All in all, I would definitely recommend this place as a unique and worthwhile place to visit if you're traveling to Baltimore.

Louisville, KY - Buck's Restaurant

For dinner my one night in Louisville, we went to this very nice restaurant, Buck's. The atmosphere is great - they have a live piano player singing old classics and it's a very elegant looking restaurant. We got there earlier than our reservation so we sat at the bar for a little while. The bartender was nice and recommended different types of bourbon to my boyfriend (since we had just come from the Maker's Mark distillery, he had Bourbon on the brain). There are free Andes mints at the bar and by the door (not the cheap red and white candies that most restaurants have). The food was delicious - I had the Bourbon Pecan Chicken (stuffed with brie cheese, yummy!) and my boyfriend had the Breast of Duck Hoisin (though I'm still not sure what hoisin sauce is). For dessert we split whatever was the most chocolatey item on their menu (their dessert menu isn't listed on their website so I forget what it was called). It was all quite delicious and attractively served. The service was good, everyone was quite pleasant. They even called a cab for us to get to our next location (we didn't drive so that we could share a bottle of wine).

For some reason, most of the patrons of the restaurant seemed to be over 50 and I kept thinking that the young people in Louisville are clearly missing out, (so don't let that deter you if you're younger - I'm 23 and my boyfriend is 26 and we very much enjoyed it). I highly recommend this place and it was one of the highlights of my (very short) trip.