Meals in Photos

I'm playing catch-up today.  I have so many photos and meals to share with y'all.  I was going to give each one its own post, but for some I just don't have enough to say.  Surprising, right?  I think by now you are all aware that I'm a little wordy.  Way back in 2006, someone even nicknamed me "verbiage."  Annoying, but really rather accurate.  So.  Since I don't have much to say, y'all are going to get what essentially amounts to a pictures-only post.  Enjoy!  And if you have questions about any of the meals pictured, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'll give you more details.


And now, without further ado, please take a look at this Hungry Lady's somewhat questionable photo abilities:

The Hungry Lady's Travels: Gullifty's Restaurant

Have you ever heard of Rosemont, Pa.?  If you're reading this anywhere other than the Philadelphia area, the answer is probably "no."  And that's just fine.  It's a tiny town, that tends to be lumped together with it's slightly more famous neighbors: Bryn Mawr (where Katharine Hepburn and Betty Draper from Mad Men went to college) and Villanova (which also probably doesn't mean anything to you unless you follow college basketball or you're Catholic).    At any rate, Rosemont is about 15 minutes from my mom's house, so a few months ago when my sister and I were home for Christmas (have I mentioned how far behind I am in blogging?) my mom took us out to dinner at a restaurant that is pretty well known in the area, but not necessarily outside of the Main Line. For those of you not up on your suburban Philadelphia geography, the Main Line is a part of the western suburbs that runs right along Rt. 30, straight into Center City.  They built a train route parallel to this route, and ever since, the towns along this route have been referred to as the Main Line.


But I digress.  On to the food!  We went to Gullifty's, a place that has decent beer, pretty good food, and is relatively casual.  Gullifty's has been around for awhile - I remember going there in second grade, and that was about 20 years ago.  Their menu has a ton of options from apps to salads to burgers to grinders (hot hoagies, again for those of you not from the Philadelphia area) to handspun pizzas to full sized entrees to sandwiches.  There really is something for everyone, at a fairly reasonable price.  Clearly it was the perfect spot for my mom to take her two fabulous daughters whom she rarely sees because they live too far away.  Of course, she does always have the option to visit...

Open That Bottle Night at Terra

Even though I don't eat there very often (between grad school, work, and a limited budget, it's takes all I have to even remember to eat), Terra is one of my favorite spots in Columbia. Terra was the first restaurant in SC that I reviewed for this blog, and it really set the standard for restaurants in town.  Needless to say, when the lovely PR folks at Terra emailed me about an event, I happily agreed to convey the details to y'all.

Mark your calendars for this Saturday (February 25) night and call to make your reservations, because Terra is hosting Open That Bottle Night.  What does this mean?  It means that on Saturday, you can grab some friends or significant other and the bottle(s) of wine you've been saving for a special occasion and head to Terra.  You'll be able to enjoy some spectacular food and not have to pay the corkage fee for your wine.  Sounds good to me.  Terra won't be featuring a special OTBN menu, but you can bet that there will be some pretty spectacular food.  No really.  Check out the menu. Tell me that you don't want to order one of everything.  I would highly recommend the lamb mac & cheese, quack madame, quail, and cannelloni.  And anything off of the dessert menu.  Or really anything on the menu in general.


You can read the full press release for the event after the jump.  If you go, definitely make a reservation.  And, since wine doesn't last long enough in my house for me to have a "special occasion" bottle, if you go and want to review it for me, just shoot me an email.

Restaurant Week SC, part 3: Villa Tronco

Better late than never, right?  The last stop on my Restaurant Week journey was Villa Tronco.  Like so many other places around town, I had often been told that I should go to Villa Tronco, but I had never had the chance, until RW presented itself.  Villa Tronco, of course, had a special RW menu, featuring four courses. I happily ate my way through all four delicious courses, and then promptly fell into a food coma when I got home.  Definitely the sign of a good meal.

Blogger Lunch Date: Momo's Bistro

Last week, I had the chance to take care of two things that have been on my to-do list for much longer than they should have been: check out Momo's Bistro and have lunch with fellow blogger extraordinaire, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is the mastermind behind Gastronomy (By a Wanna Be Chef), and the two of us have been talking about grabbing lunch since this summer.  Things finally worked out in our favor, and we met at Momo's last week to discuss food, families (on her end), grad school (on my end), and all kinds of other randomness.


Momo's lunch menu isn't terribly extensive, but it still manages to have a great selection of classic sandwiches, salads, and larger entrees.  It took us a little while to order because we were spending more time talking that looking at the menu.  Oops.  Anyway, when we finally did order, E went with the French Dip.  I know what you're thinking: How boring.  Let me tell you, this sandwich was anything but boring (at least that's what I heard).  See, Momo's makes their French dip with pot roast instead of roast beef.  I know, right?  Amazing.  And they top it with Gruyere cheese, instead of the more conventional provolone or Swiss. E was a huge fan, especially after she tried the au jus, which reportedly had a really rich flavor that just made the sandwich.


Please note that I have borrowed the pictures in this post from Elizabeth, as hers turned out infinitely better than mine did.

Look at all that cheese!  And you can just tell that the roll is crunchy.

Since I peeked at the menu before I left work for lunch, I was pretty positive that I was going to get the fish tacos.  These, like the French dip, were not your run-of-the-mill fish tacos.  These were made, not with mahi mahi or tilapia, but with grouper.  I love grouper, so you can just imagine how excited I was about these. The two tacos were served on corn tortillas and stuffed, and I do mean stuffed, with red cabbage, pineapple salsa, guacamole, and of course, grilled grouper.  Each taco was double wrapped - two tortillas per taco - probably since corn tortillas are a little more fragile than flour tortillas.  In this case, they were still delicate, but the extra two tortillas allowed me to split up some of the insides so that I could get the taco down to a more manageable size.  The fish was utterly divine.  It was tender and just perfectly done.  The cabbage added a nice crunch, and between the pineapple salsa and the lime served on the side, there was just the right amount of acidity.  Side note: I love that this was served with a lime instead of a lemon.  The entire plate was just gorgeous, but it tasted even better.  And, it was light and refreshing, which was perfect for the sunny, 75 degree weather that we were having in Columbia (in February.  I love this town).

Isn't that just beautiful?  It was crisp and light too.

I would go back to Momo's for lunch in a heartbeat.  I'd love to try them for dinner too.  Or maybe for brunch. Actually definitely for brunch.  I just looked at that menu, and now I'm starving.  I suppose that's an occupational hazard.  Anyway.  Y'all should head on out to Momo's when you get a chance.  It's definitely worth the trip, at least for lunch, but if dinner and brunch are anywhere near as good as our meal was, you'll be safe no matter what time of day you head out.

Final Rating

You can find Momo's on Facebook, Twitter, or on the web. Also, make sure to check out Elizabeth's post on our lunch date at her blog. 

Restaurant Week SC part 2 - A trip to Rosso

For my first restaurant week adventure about two weeks ago, L and I headed to Rosso.  Both of us had been wanting to try it for quite some time, but somehow and never managed to fit it in to our schedules.  Thankfully, RW provided us with the perfect opportunity.


First, let's talk about the atmosphere.  I pretty much fell in love with Rosso the second we walked in the door.  It's intimate and dark, but not overly so.  The walls are painted a fabulous garnet color (always a plus in Gamecock country), and the decor, at least around our table, appeared to be artwork from local artists.  The restaurant is a very open space.  The way our booth was positioned, we were actually looking out over the rest of the restaurant.  If only we had been gnawing on a giant turkey leg, it would have been very Henry VIII.  There was also a guy playing some rather Rat Pack-esque songs, which is always a plus in my book.  And he was actually good, so that helped.

Afternoon Delight - World Beer Festival Returns to Columbia

This is the first in what I hope will be a long line of guest posts.  The lovely April Blake, who writes her own awesome blog, The April Blake, was fortunate enough to win a ticket to the World Beer Festival held in Columbia this past weekend.  My beer drinking self really wanted to go, but already had plans.   Take a look below at what April had to say, and then make sure you pop over to her blog to check things out.  And April....next time, in order to keep track of your beers, may I suggest the use of the Untappd app?  It's kind of like 4Square for beers.

Imagine the guy that announces WWE wrestling matches saying this: "Are you ready for the Woooorld Beeeer Festivaaaal (recap)? "

According to the State paper, there were around 3,000 attendees at the early afternoon session of the WBF and I believe it. Despite cramming that many people into the two levels of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center with the goal of tasting as many two ounce samples of beer as possible, the crowd was a real delight. I wasn't stepped on, shoved, spilled on, or yelled at the entire time, which is more than I can say for a typical Saturday night out in the Vista. Upon entry, my friends and I received a miniature plastic souvenir beer cup, a perfect sampling size. We started on the main level and worked our way through the crowd to start at the Abita Brewery booth. Already a fan of their Purple Haze, I tried Turbodog, which was a bit thicker of a beer than I would normally try, but in a two ounce realm, I enjoyed it. A whole pint, on the other hand, might be a bit much.

Next up was the Sam Adams booth, where they had Alpine Springs brand new beer available for sampling, and an old favorite of mine, Cherry Wheat. I started with Alpine Springs and told a representative on hand my opinions on the beer, which was that "it tastes like fresh mountain air." It was a clean crisp beer that I would definitely enjoy an entire pint glass worth when it comes to bars in the area.

I pictured myself as a brewer, then went back for a hit of Cherry Wheat. After three beers in my glass, I realized that I needed to clean the suds out but didn't want to wade through the crowd to a beer rinsing station just yet. Pro tip:snag a handful of napkins to keep on your person to clean out your glass between samples, especially when the prior beer was very thick or flavorful.We made our way around the room, some beers were delicious, and some were not so much. Chocolate stout? Yuck. Absolutely not, not ever. My hits were on the lighter side- wheat beers, IPAs, a few brown ales. But since we were there, the beer was there, and they were just small samples, I did dive into a few beers I was pretty sure I wouldn't like, and confirmed my dislike of thick tasting and feeling stouts and lagers. Beers with coffee or espresso notes didn't sit too well with me either despite loving both of those things in their own elements.

Restaurant Week SC - Dianne's on Devine

We've been celebrating Restaurant Week here in Columbia since January 12.  So far, I've hit up two different places, with a third on tap for tonight.  I'll be recapping everywhere I've been (obviously), but I wanted to start with last night's meal at Dianne's on Devine.  No pictures, since the lighting was rather dim, and I wasn't going to use an overly bright flash to get good quality shots.

We Have a Winner!!!

Many thanks to those of you who entered my little blogiversary giveaway!  I appreciate the comments and suggestions about the blog.  I'm definitely going to try to put some of your ideas into practice.  I'm hoping our winner will enjoy the prize: a copy of Eric Dishes & Dustin Mixes.  Fair warning...my prize copy hasn't actually gotten to me from Amazon yet, but it should be delivered around the middle of this week.  As soon as it's here, I will send it off to the winner.


And now, without further ado, the winner of the giveaway (as determined by Random.org) is....

ASHLEY

Ashley, if you would please email me at thehungrylady [at] gmail [dot] com and send me your mailing address, we can discuss your prize.  Also, if you would like to provide a review of one (or more) of the recipes in the book, I'd love to have it as a guest post.  And make sure you stop over at Eric Dishes to let him know what you think of his book. 

Restaurant Week, 2012, and a Contest

Happy 2012, y'all!  Yes, I realize that I'm about two weeks late with the New Year's wishes, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.  This is really just a big housekeeping type post, though I promise that I have a few reviews that I'm sitting on.  Hopefully they will start to appear this weekend...assuming I don't have too much homework to do for my classes that started this week.


First things first. South Carolina Restaurant Week starts tomorrow, January 12.  It runs through Sunday, January 22, and features tons of deals across the state.  The options for those of us in the Columbia are pretty awesome, but if you're outside of the capital city or feel like a quick road trip, the choices in other parts of our fair state look to be worth the trip.  I'll be hitting up three restaurants (and finally using up my gift cards!) - Dianne's on Devine, Villa Tronco, and Rosso.  Needless to say, I'm pretty excited.


Moving on.  I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions because then I can't be disappointed in myself when I fail to keep them.  This year, I've decided to take a leap of faith and make a few.  But only for the blog. Not for my non-blog existence.  In 2012, I would like to:

• Visit a new restaurant at least once a month.  This may not seem like a big deal, but now that my gift cards are just about gone, I have to find a way to work it into the budget.  I think this is a resolution I can stick to though.  And I'm taking requests for places to review.
• Post at least twice a week.  This one may be a little trickier.  I don't want to write if I have nothing new to say.  I'm debating opening up the blog for guest posts, so let me know your thoughts about that.
• Figure out a way to incorporate my other great love into the blog.  That would be music, for those of you just tuning in.  I'm still hammering out the details on that one, but as music is food for the soul, there should be some way to work it in.
• Learn to cook.  There.  I said it.  My 2012 life goal is to learn to cook.  Here's the thing.  I am capable of cooking, I just really don't like to.  I get bored, so I stop paying attention, so everything burns.  Vicious cycle.  So this year, I'm going to start simple and try to find recipes that don't require me to pay too much attention.  I'm open to all suggestions.

Given that last resolution, it seems appropriate that as a prize for my 1 year blogiversary, I'm giving away a cookbook.  Yes, that's correct. The Hungry Lady turns 1 at the end of this month. To celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of Eric Dishes & Dustin Mixes, a new cookbook authored by my friend Eric.  Eric and I have known each other since we were awkward high school freshmen, and though we haven't really kept in touch (except via Facebook) since graduation many years ago, I follow his food blog and love his recipes.  The best part?  The recipes look like they make some fancy food, but it's all very simple to prepare.  I asked Eric if I could use his book for a giveaway, and he was all in favor of the idea.  

See what you can win?  Check out Eric's blog or the Amazon.com page for more information.  

So here's how this is going to work.  All you need to do is leave a comment on this post by 5 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 14.  Tell me why you like this blog, things you would like to see on the blog, how you feel about guest posts, your thoughts on Restaurant Week, etc.  Just keep it food or blog related.  After 5 on Saturday, I'll go ahead and use a random number generator to pick a comment and determine the winner.  The winner will be announced in a separate post on Sunday morning.  If you are the winner, you will need to email me (thehungrylady [at] gmail [dot] com) to claim your prize.  I must receive your email by Monday at noon EST.  If the winner hasn't contacted me, I'll pick a new one.  I know that sounds complicated and annoying, but it's the only way I can think of that doesn't require you to leave your personal email in comments.  Plus, I wouldn't mind the blog views.


Go. Tell your friends.  Leave a comment.  Check out Eric's blog (linked above).  Win the contest.  And if you win, and want to review one of the recipes in a guest post, that would be pretty awesome.  Happy 2012!