Mom's Night Out

KOBE’S

4228 15^th Ave SW, Fargo, ND 58103

http://www.kobescuisine.com/

Thursday 3/24/11

It was Mom’s Night Out within our kid’s playgroup.  Six other moms and I went to KOBE’S. This is one of my favorite restaurants, so I was pretty excited.  When you walk in there is a large koi pond with a bridge going over it.  Past that, you enter a big room with multiple hibachi grills. In the back there is a sushi bar and to the right there are booths and regular tables. To the left and back, there is another area with booths and tables, this is where we sat.  It is a very clean place.  One of the moms really notices when restaurants are dirty and sees the dirt in the nooks and crannies, but it passed her inspection. The décor is Japanese themed with Japanese water color paintings, cream colored walls, rich wooden chairs and accents. One of the moms made our reservations the day before, and our table was ready when we got there. We were planning to sit at the hibachi grill but the tables were full until 7:30 and we planned on eating at 6:30, so the reservation was made for a regular table. I suggest if you have a large party and want to eat early at the grill make the reservation a couple days in advance.

Even if you don’t sit at the hibachi grill you can still order from it, but it may take longer. One of the advantages of sitting at the grill is they put on a little show while making your food.  The chef cooking your food toss extra chunks of veggies allowing you to try and catch it in your mouth.  They squirt sake in your mouth also. The disadvantage is you can’t really carry on a conversation because you are sitting in a semi-circle watching the chef.

 All the other moms ordered from the hibachi grill, which came with a mushroom soup made with chicken broth, julienned onion slices that are coated in panko crumbs and fried, slices of mushrooms and scallions. I am a big fan of this soup.  It has just the right amount of mushroom flavor and each time you take a bite of the crispy onion it changes the soup flavor altogether so you never get bored with just broth.  Since I did not order off the grill, my food did not come with soup.  So I wouldn’t feel left out, they gave me a free bowl of soup. I thought was really nice, even though I know that soup cost next to nothing for them to make, but most places wouldn’t do anything like that. Their dinners also consisted of fried rice or noodles and a choice of protein (shrimp, chicken, steak, scallops or salmon). The scallops were very small and a little disappointing for the price. It also came with vegetables and two dipping sauces. The moms told me they enjoyed their meals and had no complaints.

I was craving sushi, but since I’m pregnant, I can’t eat raw fish.  But I ordered a vegetarian roll. It was called the Green Peace Roll and consisted of mango, avocado, and asparagus. The rice was well seasoned with rice vinegar and sugar and it was tender and moist. It was very delicious and plated beautifully with avocado slices and drizzled with a mango sauce. I forgot to take a picture of it, but they have some good pictures of their rolls on their web site.  A roll usually fills me, but with an increased appetite and no protein, I thought I would order an appetizer of Haru Maki (fried spring roll).  A spring roll is kind of like an egg roll, but wrapped in rice paper instead of dough. I was very disappointed with these spring rolls.  I thought it would be more flavorful and more homemade, but it tasted like something you could pick up at the grocery store in the frozen section.

Over all it was a great night out. I got to get to know my new friends a little better while enjoying a lovely dinner. Like I said, this place is a one of my favorites.  I know what to expect when I go, great food and  a great atmosphere. I can’t wait till next time!

Friday night dinner

The Shack on Broadway

3215 North Broadway

Fargo 58102

Friday 3/11/11

I had a migraine today and dinner was the last thing on my mind so Jarred said lets go out to eat. We do observe lent but Jarred forgot and already ate meat today and we ate fish for Ash Wednesday and being pregnant I can only eat fish once a week. So we decide to just go ahead and eat meat if we wanted to for supper and start eating fish next Friday (any one know of a good fish fry in Fargo?).

 We have driven by The Shack many times and always wondered if it is any good so tonight we decided we should try it. We got there at 5:30. We were greeted right away but it took the lady a minute to sit us then she seemed confused on where to seat us with a high chair and finally asked if a table was ok and sat us down and got our drink order. The layout was like a Fryin’ Pan or a Perkins but decorated like somebody’s house kitchen with a country theme. It was very clean and it kind of looked like it just got remodeled with fresh paint and new tables. The menu had a little bit of everything on it breakfast, sandwiches, and dinners.  

 Our waitress came over to take our order. The poor girl was still very new and was having a rough night she messed up on two other tables while we were there. She did check up on us a lot to see if we needed anything.  Jarred ordered Tanya’s pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. I ordered the patty melt with fries and a side salad and Gio got a grilled cheese and fries. We decided to get an appetizer of breaded mushrooms.

 My side salad came out right away, it consisted of mixed greens, croutons, carrots and cucumber slices with a side of ranch dressing.  It would have been very good but it was wilted and dry. The mushrooms came out in about 5 minutes they were very good. I am sure they come pre-breaded and frozen, but the breading was crunchy and had great seasoning.

 20 minutes after our waitress took our order, Gio and I received our sandwiches. Gio’s grilled cheese was very buttery and crispy made with Colby jack cheese the fries were over cooked. Gio was not too fond of the Colby jack cheese and did not eat much of the fries or sandwich; I took a bite of his sandwich and thought it was pretty good.  My Patty melt was very greasy the onions were undercooked the patty was very blah and they just had a tiny bit of Colby jack cheese on it and my fries were over cooked as well.

 Five minutes after Gio and I got our food Jarred got his sandwich but it wasn’t what he ordered it was a half sandwich of cold beef with nothing else on the plate. So she took it back and then his came out in about another five minutes. His sandwich looked a little sad; with a small plain bun.  I tried some of the meat and I liked the BBQ sauce, but the texture of the pork was off. It came with a side of coleslaw which came in an ounce portion cup he took one bite and gagged, and he loves coleslaw. He did not let me try it for fear I would get sick from it. He did get a good portion of sweet potato fries and they were very good.

 Over all it was a very disappointing dinner out. I am glad we did finally try The Shack but I do not think we will be eating there again any time soon.  

A Day out in Fargo

Passage to India

855, 45th Street, Suite A3, Fargo, ND 58103

www.passage-2-india.com

Saturday 3/5/11 

We have been craving Indian food for a while so we decide to go to passage to India. We went at 12:30  for their lunch buffet. We walk in it smells amazing we are seated immediately the floor plain is a little too open and the tables were a little too close together, but it was very clean and decorated appropriately. We sit down and jarred orders a soda and I order a mango lassi (a yogurt drink Mango flavored) the lassi was good a little rich I couldn’t finish it Gio really like it.  They had a lot to choose from everything tasted amazing I didn’t keep track of what I got (I forgot I was going to start blogging) I tried about a little of everything.  They were out of some things and it took them a long time to refill the buffet but they were super busy with large groups so it was kind of understandable. They refilled my water once but never offered to refill Jarred’s soda.  The buffet for two and our drinks cost around thirty dollars which is pretty good for everything they had.  This is a restaurant we would like to go to again, we like to go and try their dinner menu.

Denny’s

4437 13th Ave SW,  Fargo, ND

www.dennys.com

Saturday 3/5/11

We were out all day shopping and running errands, it was 5:30 p.m. and being 14 weeks pregnant I was starving.  We drove past Denny’s and I got a craving for their cheese burger, fries, and a Chocolate milkshake.  We walk in and they sit us down immediately.  It is very clean and they have a floor plain that is more private with floor dividers.  The restrooms were also clean and well stocked.  Our server greeted us right away and got Jarred a soda, Gio an apple juice and me water. We knew what we wanted right away so we ordered when he brought our drinks. Jarred ordered the double cheeseburger with pepper jack cheese and fries.  Gio got Macaroni and cheese with fries. And of course I ordered a cheeseburger with cheddar cheese, fries and a chocolate shake.  He brought out my shake right away which was rich thick and chocolaty. It only took about 15 minutes to get our food while we waited Gio and I colored the kids menu.  When our food arrived it was hot and looked delicious. I cooled down some Mac and cheese for Gio and his fries. He dug in; he ate over half of his food so I am guessing he loved it! My cheeseburger was thick and juicy, I could only eat half of my food their burgers are so big but that’s ok I love leftovers.  Jarred’s burger was enormous they were very generous with the hamburger meat. He thought his was good but all he tasted was meat.  Jarred and I agreed the fries tasted sweet like carnival cakes. I noticed on the menu they had pancake puppies so I am thinking they fried them in the same oil. I wonder if they cook their onion rings in the same oil making the pancake puppies taste like onion rings. Our server was good on checking in on us seeing if we need refills and to make sure everything was good. Overall we had a great experience and it is a great restaurant to go to when you are in the mood for diner food.

Getting to know my blog

I have wanted to start a blog on food for a long time. I have a culinary arts degree and I love food in general. I have been having troubles deciding what exactly I wanted to cover on the food topic then when me and my family were trying to figure out where to eat and we couldn’t remember if we liked that one restaurant I joked that we should start writing down what we think of restaurants we go to, then voila the topic for my blog emerged.  My family (My husband Jarred and my son Gio) and I go out to eat for many different reasons for fun, quality time, celebrations, convenience and sometimes just because.  We love trying new places and love every kind of food. We would love any recommendations or if you have wanted to try a place but not brave enough to try it tell us and we try it first and let u know if it’s worth it.  I know everyone has different taste and so you may not always agree with what we have to say but let us know and we are always willing to give a restaurant a second chance. This blog will cover Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota.  But, in the rare occasions we do some traveling, I will blog about the restaurants we visit on our journey.