Grand Lux Cafe

It's 3:00 in the morning. Just came back from seeing friends, reuniting with old friends, and making new friends. Can't seem to get to sleep. Am watching Millionaire Matchmaker online, figure I should do something productive, but clearly schoolwork is not the productive activity of choice.

So let's get a start on recapping Vegas with Grand Lux Cafe, owned by California Pizza Kitchen. We went twice, once for dinner and once for lunch. Not so much sharing going on here, so most of my review will be on my entree of choice.

Two weekends ago, we went to Las Vegas for JC's birthday. For the record, best birthday celebration ever!! We stayed at the Palazzo, so, partly out of convenience, partly out of curiosity, we did dinner at Grand Lux one night. Jung-Ah got the Jamaican Pork Tenderloin, my memory tells me JC got the reuben but I can't find it on the menu, not quite remembering what JL got, KL had the Asian Nachos, BT went for the Chicken Pot Pie, and I had the Madeira Chicken. I only got around to trying Jung-Ah's and BT's dishes in addition to mine. The Jamaican pork was really good. It comes with rice, mashed sweet potatoes, and mango salsa. Hearty. If there's one criticism, maybe it was a bit salty. The chicken pot pie was the biggest. pot. pie. EVER. The area of the crust was as big as both my hands together. Ok, so I have midget hands. But still! Creamy. Delish. My Madeira Chicken served with mashed potatoes and asparagus was perfect. I'm always a fan of any creamy wine sauce. Mashed potatoes equals comfort. Asparagus equals love. It's nothing super fancy, just exactly what my taste buds were asking for.

Fast forward to one day later. We had been up till 9am playing blackjack and were running on no sleep. Slightly dejected after losing a fair amount of money, but mostly needing showers, we went back up to our room to shower and get ready for checkout, then Jung-Ah, JC, JC2, BT, TC, and I had our last lunch at Grand Lux. Not remembering what everyone had this time. I'll venture to say the DeLux Drive-In Burger, Grand Club, and the Santa Barbara Chicken Sandwich were among the choices. Definitely not remembering what Jung-Ah got. She was too preoccupied with getting back to the blackjack tables. So Jung-Ah is huddled in the corner struggling to stay awake, conflicted between her desire to take a nap and her significantly more urgent need to get back to the tables. I ordered the Spicy Flat Bread Chicken Sandwich, which was excellent. A chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato, kicked up with pepper jack and avocado-corn salsa. I want to say it was one giant sandwich cut into quarters, but it was really four still-giant sandwiches. Before I got to my second sandwich, Jung-Ah had already finished whatever she ordered, threw her credit card down on the table for us to pay with, and ran back to the casino. By herself. Addict.

In the past, I've also had the Crispy Thai Shrimp & Chicken Spring Rolls, Lemon Chicken Piccata, and Banana Cream Pie, all of which I would recommend. I've always had great service, the atmosphere is great, and it's just the kind of place you want to be. Comfortable and consistent. Unfortunately there aren't as many pictures as usual, as I was too preoccupied with my meal companion or we were too concerned with getting back to the blackjack tables, but there are a few that will hopefully suffice. In summary, it's simple, nothing absolutely crazy gourmet, but definitely hits the spot and more than satisfactory. Huge portions and so good! Yummers!!!!

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www.grandluxcafe.com

Ann Arbor

Any Ann Arbor readers? Any readers, period?

We've clearly done a bad job of writing up restaurants from our Thanksgiving extravaganza, but it will be done! Also to be reviewed are a couple of places from our trip to Las Vegas a couple of weekends ago. And to the joy of all (ha!) of our Ann Arbor patrons, I'll be making some stops around campus and downtown, so get excited for that.

Requests for A2 and/or DC? Please leave comments :)

Cashion's Eat Place

I should be studying for my first final tomorrow, but it's lunch time and I've started to think about food.

The night after an AMAZING home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner by the Park sisters, we had dinner with JC at Cashion's in Adams Morgan. Another seasonal menu, which apparently is a sign of quality. The place is part swanky, part homey. "Funky-elegant" is a quote from the website, which I think is pretty spot-on. Elegant is definitely the word, you walk in and everything is very clean and sleek, some interesting architecture around the bar in the middle of the restaurant (sort of like an isolated dome). But if you take the time to look around at the many picture frames mounted all along the walls and in the bathrooms, you'll find that they appear to be authentic family photos - kiddos playing on the hood of the car, grandpa sitting with his arms crossed at the dining table, black and white portraits from back in the day. It makes you feel at home all the while knowing that you're getting quality food and service.

Also of note, you'll find a large proportion of the servers and staff to be Asian. Hmm. We're thinking that someone Asian must have some degree of proprietorship. Which makes sense seeing as a lot of the pictures involve an Asian family. That's all.

So. I knew I liked this place as soon as we were seated and our server introduced himself. Shane. What a great name. And what a great face. I believe the first thing I said after he left us to ponder over the menu was "Can we leave him a big tip?" He wasn't just eye candy, though. He was actually very helpful. He was knowledgeable about the wine list and always aware of us as customers. At one point, we saw "bronzino" on the menu (which Wikipedia tells me is spelled "branzino")... and question marks floated about our heads. Thank goodness our generation comes with smart phones and we were able to look it up. "A delicate whitefish... to be handled delicately." Shane walks over: "The branzino?" Me: "I love you."

Oh, sorry, this is a restaurant blog. Back to the food. We started with drinks and appetizers and nibbled at the bread basket. Wine for Jung-Ah and JC, apple cider for me. I'm not an experienced whiskey drinker and, while the drink was tasty, found it to be a bit strong. I guess I'm just not man enough. It warmed me up quite a bit (given it's meant to be a hot drink anyway) but maybe a little uncomfortably so. Although I probably wouldn't argue against a glass of it right now - it's flipping cooold!! For apps, Jung-Ah had the olive oil sampler, JC had crab cakes, and I had carrot ginger soup. The olive oil sampler came with evoo from Argentina, Chile, and Spain. I think it was the Argentinian evoo that we liked the most; it had a burst of fruity flavor while the others didn't particularly stand out as different from the Romulo evoo I have at home. Bertolli! (Haha! Oh man...) JC's app looked, smelled, and tasted amaaazing. Oh my gosh, as the plate was being walked over I could almost see the smells wafting up into my nose like wisps in a cartoon. My carrot ginger soup I could have done with or without. I was expecting something zestier, but it was a little bland in my opinion. Something was missing. For entrees, Jung-Ah had salmon, JC had lamb gyros, and I had the branzino. The salmon was... just salmon. Jung-Ah was highly disappointed, so I ended up finishing off her plate at the end of the meal. Pff, I thought it was fine. Taken together with the sides, including the pickled beets, it was a lot more enjoyable. But like I said before, it was salmon. Nothing spectacular. JC's lamb gyros were hot, steamy, and tasty. BUT my favorite was my branzino. No stomach space to waste filling up on other people's food. I don't quite recall what it was served with, thus this is not a very good review, but it was absolutely delish. If it wasn't such a nice place, I probably would have licked the plate. Um... I mean... if I were at home. Alone. Private. Can I say - SO good!! It really was excellent. I really wish I could remember the veg and puree it came with, but I can't even look it up on the menu, as it changes.

No room for dessert. But we stopped by Evolve for drinks afterward, a restaurant/lounge next door. I'm not going to lie, it's where the homies hang out. Or so it seemed that night. Haven't had a chance to go by for food, but the menu certainly sounds appetizing. Holler at the owner, Jason Washington!

And so ended our lovely evening at Cashion's. The receipt shows our server as Shane B. I'll call him Shane Branzino. Yummers!!! (I promise I'm talking about the food!)

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www.cashionseatplace.com