Mike Salsbury’s Blog

About 25 years ago, my family and I lived in Brazil, where my father worked on that country’s first nuclear power plant. One of my fondest memories of that time is a visit to a Brazilian restaurant called a “churrascaria”. These are a uniquely Brazilian invention which, in my opinion, would do well in the USA. They are an “all you care to eat” style restaurant that features barbecued meats of every variety. In a typical churrascaria, you are seated at a table, partake of a salad and vegetable bar, and when you’re ready for meat, you have a device (typically a card) on your table that indicates you’re interested in meat. Roving servers will drop by to tempt you with various cuts of steak, chicken, pork, lamb, sausage, etc. If you like what they have, they’ll slice some off the skewer they’re carrying and you grab it with tongs and put it on your plate. When you are full, you use the device to tell the servers you’re finished and they stop bringing the meat.

I’ve just returned from “Sal & Carvao” (Portuguese for “salt and charcoal”), a restaurant located at the intersection of Finley and Butterfield in Downers Grove, Illinois. This churrascaria is one of three I’ve visited in the United States. The others were located in Washington, DC, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It’s definitely a good one.

My vegetable plate included asparagus, roasted spring vegetables in a balsamic vinaigrette, and jambalaya (technically not a vegetable dish). I also had some proscuitto and salami. All of it was first-rate, fresh-tasting, and delicious. This was followed by the meat courses, which included “bottom sirloin”, marinated chicken breast, linguica (sausage), lamb, chili-lime chicken, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and probably one or two other meats I’m forgetting. In addition, there were three side dishes offered. These included garlic mashed potatoes, a vegetable medley, and truffled french fries.

The service at Sal & Carvao is great, easily an 8 or 9 out of 10. I rarely wanted for anything.

The side dishes weren’t bad, but not my favorites of the meal. I don’t care much for garlic mashed potatoes, though theirs were better than average. The vegetable medley was good, but I’d gotten my fill at the harvest bar (salad bar) earlier. And the fries, well, I didn’t care for them but they were OK. (The side dish concept, by the way, is something I’ve only noticed in the U.S. churrascarias. I assume they’re provided to reduce the guests’ intake of meat items, which are probably cheaper in Brazil than in the U.S.) I generally ignored them during my dining.

The meats were all good. The filet was probably my least favorite since it was a little dry, but even that was good. The marinated chicken breast was excellent. The bottom sirloin was great. The linguica was perfect. The lamb was the second-best I’ve ever had (the best, interestingly, was at a churrascaria in Washington, DC).

On balance, I’d have to give Sal & Carvao at least an 8 out of 10. The service is excellent. The food is really good. The seating was comfortable. The “harvest bar” was very good.

I have only two real complaints about the place. The music got a bit loud during the latter part of my visit, and took away some from my enjoyment of the food. My other complaint is that they don’t have a location in Columbus, Ohio. If they did, I suspect it would become one of my regular haunts at home!

admin Food barbecue, brazilian restaurant, churrascaria, downers grove illinois, restaurant review, review, Sal & Carvao, Salt and Charcoal

This evening I dined at Bombay Palace, an Indian restaurant located at 2020 K Street NW in Washington, DC.  It’s right next to Legal Sea Foods, where I ate lunch, interestingly enough.

The interior of Bombay Palace is very upscale looking.  Everything is in excellent condition, clean, and in good repair.  The atmosphere is quiet except for the air pumps driving the huge aquarium at the back of the restaurant, a sound which fades into the background after a time.

I ordered Mulligatawny Soup as my first course.  It was, without question, the best Mulligatawny Soup I’ve ever had.  The flavor, spice level, texture, etc., were all excellent.  If I lived in the DC area I would come back here often just to have this soup.

My main course was Chicken Vindaloo with Keema Nan.  The vindaloo was good, but not the best I’ve ever had.  The keema nan was different from some I’ve had, better than some, and worse than others.  On balance I’d have to say it was above average.

One thing I found very odd about Bombay Palace was the fact that they charge extra for rice.  Every other Indian restaurant I’ve ever visited has provided the rice for free.  Bombay Palace charges $3.95 for it… and no, there’s nothing special about it. It’s the same rice you’d get anywhere else.

On the whole, though, this was one of the better Indian meals I’ve ever had.  I can certainly understand how it got in Zagat’s guide, and why its cooking inspired a professionally published cookbook of its recipes.

On a 1-20 scale, I’d rate it a solid 8.

admin Food Bombay Palace, restaurant review, washington Dc restaurant

Today for lunch I had the opportunity to eat at one of those restaurants I’ve heard good things about but never seen… Legal Sea Foods in downtown Washington, DC.  (2020 K Street NW) 

I ordered the crab cake combo, which included a crab cake made with lump crab meat, a couple of grilled shrimp, and a couple of grilled scallops.  In the middle of the plate was a large quantity of mesclun greens with dressing on them.  My side dish was mashed potatoes.

The crab cake was certainly one of the better ones I’ve ever had.  It was probably 90% or more crab meat with a light amount of seasoning and other components.  It had a good flavor and went down very, very easily.  I can definitely recommend it, though I’ve had one better (from the Roosevelt Tavern in York, PA).

The grilled shrimp were clearly fresh and tasted good, though there were bits of shell grilled onto the meat that negatively affected the flavor (giving it a burnt “fishy” taste).

The scallops were plump, cooked to perfection, and certainly the next best part of the meal.

The greens were, to my taste, rather bitter and the dressing didn’t help much with that.  I ate a few bites but simply couldn’t handle more.

The mashed potatoes were decent but nothing to write home about.

The bartender/server was excellent and attentive.  I don’t know how much he makes but he certainly earns every penny.  Given all the customers around the bar at lunch hour and the fact that he seemed to give us each personal attention speaks well of his skill and of Legal Sea Foods’ management for hiring him.

I would definitely recommend the place and based on this one experience I’m giving them a 7.5 out of 10.

admin Food Legal Sea Foods review, Legal Seafood review, restaurant review, washington Dc restaurant

I’ve been in Washington, DC, this week attending a technology class.  The location of the class is very near a small shop called “Julia’s Empanadas” at 1000 Vermont Avenue NW.  I’ve had empanadas in the past and enjoyed them, so this sounded like a good opportunity to try them again.  Yesterday for lunch I went in and ordered a couple “Chorizo” (sausage, black beans, and rice) ones.

From the first bite, I have to say that I was disappointed.  The breading along the outer edges was extremely dry, like a saltine cracker.  The filling inside did not have any chorizo flavor that I could detect, though there was a reasonable quantity of rice and black beans inside.  I ordered two, but ended up eating most of one and throwing away the rest.  There wasn’t much flavor and they were just disappointing all the way around.

Given the number of people going in and out of the place, some of whom seemed to be regulars, my assumption is that I may have simply made a bad choice.  I was there near the start of lunch hour and perhaps mine had spent the most time under the heat lamps.  I don’t know. 

Regardless, I’m in no hurry to go back.  It wasn’t a very enjoyable experience and I’ve no interest in repeating it.

admin Food Julia's Empanadas, restaurant review, review, washington dc

Not long after I moved to Columbus, I began seeking out the various
Indian restaurants to try to find one whose menu, quality, and
atmosphere were to my liking.  It didn’t take long to find and
settle on the Taj Palace at Mill Run in
Hilliard.

Taj Palace offers a variety of both
vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.  The decor is tasteful and
the restaurant is very clean, well-lit, and open.  The service is
generally excellent, though at times is only adequate (usually when
they’re really busy).

On Monday night they offer a non-vegetarian
buffet.  Unlike many Indian restaurants, the buffet at Taj
Palace is a good sampling of the dishes from their normal menu
with no shortcuts taken (e.g., at many restaurants the chicken dishes on
the main menu are boneless, while they’re bone-in on the buffet). 
There are certain staples on the buffet like samosas, chicken tikka
masala, tandoori chicken, and so forth that are usually present, but
they do mix it up a bit.  If you go every week, you’ll usually find
a dish there that you didn’t see before.  That, too, is a pleasant
difference from other Indian restaurants I’ve visited.

On Tuesdays
they offer a vegetarian buffet.  I’ve not been to one of these so I
can’t really comment on it.

On Thursdays they do another
non-vegetarian buffet, which is identical to the Monday menu and
excellent.

Over the past few years, I’ve eaten probably 2/3 or 3/4
of their menu items.  I’ve yet to have anything there that I didn’t
at least consider “good” and there are some items I especially
love, such as the Madras Curry dishes, the Vindaloo, Mulligatawny soup,
and the flan dessert.

If you like Indian food, you can’t go wrong
with Taj Palace. 

Taj Palace
3794
Fishinger Blvd.
Hilliard, OH
http://www.tajpalacecolumbus.com/

(614) 771-3870

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admin Food Food, hilliard, indian, indian food, indian restaurant, palace, restaurant, restaurant review, review, taj, taj palace

During our recent vacation to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, my wife and I
had the good fortune to have dinner (twice) at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse.  This
seafood restaurant is located on the water near the airport.  It
features a pretty diverse menu, focusing on crabs as you might
imagine.

The Rustic Inn sign (taken by my
camera phone at night, so the quality is lacking)

On
our first visit, we both had shrimp cocktails as our appetizers. 
We agreed that these were probably the best shrimp cocktails we’d ever
had.  The shrimp were very large, much larger than you might get at
Red Lobster.  They were cooked to perfection and lightly
seasoned.  The sauce was tangy with just the right kick of
horseradish to it.  The price was about $11.99 for the half-dozen
or so shrimp in the cocktail, but it was amazingly worth it.

As my main course on the first visit, I had a crab sampler platter
that showcased their most popular crab types and flavors (their claim to
fame is inventing the garlic flavored crab cluster).  I really
enjoyed the Alaskan Queen Crab cluster, which had an excellent
flavor.  I didn’t care much for the garlic crabs or the blue crab
varieties, as they are a nuisance to hammer open and provide relatively
little meat. 

On our first visit, my wife had a shrimp
dinner that was quite good.  It was more than she could eat, so I
helped her finish the dish after eating all my crab clusters on the crab
platter.

Our second visit a few days later had us revisiting
the shrimp cocktails.  We enjoyed them just as much the second time
around, so I don’t hesitate to recommend this item on their menu.

My
wife enjoying her shrimp cocktail.

I ordered just
the Alaskan Queen Crab clusters on my second visit, as did my
wife.  They were properly cooked, arrived hot, and were
delicious.  My wife enjoyed them, but not  $26.99 (menu price)
worth.  I thought they were the best crab clusters I’d ever
eaten.  They were seasoned expertly, cooked properly (i.e., not so
overcooked that the meat sticks to the shell), and delicious. 
Again, I’d recommend this dish.

For dessert on the second
visit, I had their chocolate cake.  While I can’t say it was the
best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten, it was certainly quite good. 
My wife had the Key Lime Pie and loved it.

The Rustic Inn
isn’t a cheap place to eat.  Our bill was over $100 (including tip)
both visits.  But if you’re looking for great seafood and great
service, in a very casual and fun atmosphere, look no further.

admin Food crab, crab house review, crabhouse, evaluation, house, inn, restaurant, restaurant review, review, rustic, Rustic Inn Crab House, rustic inn crab house review, rustic inn review, seafood