Stan's Grill

Ahh... This'll be my LAST post for 2011! This year has flown by...craziness!

Earlier this week I met up with some of my HS friends for dinner. The first place we went had a 45 minute wait so we went around the corner to Stan's Grill. This is a pretty new place but the few reviews online seemed pretty good.

Stan's Grill
3645 Dallas Pkwy
Plano, TX 75093
(972) 850-0953
http://stansontheparkway.com/
Price: $$

The place was pretty empty. There were a lot of TVs everywhere so I think this would be a good place to watch games and stuff in the future.

We were all pretty starving so the menu looked good.
The waitress was really friendly and gave us some of her recommendations.

My bf got the Fish Tacos (3) (flour or corn tortillas filled with sauteed or blackened fish, lettuce, pico de gallo, cilantro and a cheese mix; served with homemade salsa; with side of fries) $7.95~

It was a pretty big plate of food. The fish and toppings were very fresh but the pico was a bit watery and made the tortillas kinda soggy. Their fries were pretty dang good!

I got the Chicken Fried Chicken (8oz. chicken cutlet, topped with choice of country or jalapeno cream gravy and Texas toast; served with vegetable of the day or mixed grilled veggies and a choice of fries or mashed potatoes) $10.25~

It was also a pretty big portion. Some of my friends got the Chicken Fried Steak and it was even more massive than the chicken. The chicken was cooked well and quite juicy for being all white meat. I liked the batter but the gravy made it a bit soggy. The jalapeno gravy could've been a bit creamier and spicier in my opinion. Again, the fries were yummy! The vegetable of the day was sauteed broccoli. I liked it a lot!

Some friends got the Crunchy Queso Catfish (fried catfish covered in homemade queso with pico de gallo; served with vegetable of the day or mixed grilled veggies and a choice of fries or mashed potatoes) $10.95~

This was one of the dishes highly recommended by our waitress. I was a bit skeptical... queso? with fish? But it was pretty fantastic. The fish was SUPER tender and I liked the batter. The queso on top complimented it really well. And it was a huge portion. You get 2 large pieces of catfish and 2 sides. My friends cleaned their plates!

The manager (I think...or maybe it's Stan?) came by to check on us a few times. He was super friendly and hospitable. It made us feel really welcomed to be there. From what I remember they had some pretty good specials either for happy hour or during game time. I think next time we'll go there to watch a game or something.

I would recommend checking this place out. Really great service and good affordable food!!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

HAVE A SAFE AND DELICIOUSLY HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! :)

Picasso's Ristorante

Yesterday I went to Picasso's Italian Ristorante for a friend's birthday. Our main reason for choosing this location is because they are BYOB. Also, online reviews say the food is pretty good! But...they also said how bad the service is. Well...it's super close to my house so I've always wanted to give it a try.

We had a party of 10+ and I was able to get a reservation the night before. Good thing I did because for a Wednesday night, the place was pretty packed!

Picasso's Italian Ristorante
3948 Legacy Dr #217
Plano, TX 75023
http://www.picassosrestaurant.us/
(972) 618-4143
Price: $$

It's a family run place so it's got that kind of homey, dated look. It could be a somewhat romantic spot.

A few of us got there a bit earlier than the reservation but we were able to get seated. We got a few appetizers to start. Just FYI...they charge $1 per glass for wine. And I apologize for not taking pics of the appetizers.

We got Garlic Bread $1.50~ and Calamari Fritte (sliced calamari steaks prepared in seasoned bread crumbs, fried and served with marinara sauce) $6.95~ The garlic bread is a really good deal. It had a nice crust on the outside. The calamari however...disappointing. The calamari pieces are in no way "steaks". They were teeny and so the breading totally overpowered it. It could've used a bit more seasoning too. Eh.

On to dinner...

My bf got the Margheritta 10 Inch Pizza (fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese) $8.50~

This isn't really a Margherita pizza in my opinion. It's typically a thin crust pizza and this is clearly not. And it could've used more toppings on top. But, I did like the dough. The texture of the crust was nice, so as a regular pizza, it's not bad!

Many of us ordered the Spaghetti (served with your choice of meatballs, meat sauce, Italian sausage, mushrooms with tomato sauce or olive oil & garlic) $8.95~

It was a good size portion. The pasta was cooked really well...al dente, just how I like it. The meatballs were very moist and tender. I didn't care for the marinara though. It was a little too sour for me, and my friend agreed.

Special of the Day: Lobster Ravioli $13.95~

This was really good. I got to try a bite. There was a good amount of lobster inside the ravioli and the cream sauce was very nice. Not super heavy but definitely filling.

Picasso's Seafood Delight (combination of mussels, shrimp, scallops sauteed with broccoli, carrots and mushrooms in your choice of wine creamy garlic sauce or zesty marinara sauce served with linguine pasta) $15.95~

This looked really good. There were lots of seafood on top and the cream sauce was definitely better than my marinara!

Vitello alla Marsala (veal scaloppini sauteed in marsala wine sauce with fresh mushrooms served with linguine pasta) $13.95~ I didn't get to try but my friend cleaned his plate. That's a good sign!

So the food overall was pretty good! But the service definitely lived up to it's reputation from online reviews. The waitress wasn't very friendly at all and she was very slow getting everything. One of my friends asked for a refill on water so the waitress took her glass and then never came back... Also, with the entrees we were supposed to get bread. None of us at the table got bread so I asked the waitress if we were supposed to get garlic bread or some sort of bread with our meal since it's stated on the menu. She just replied "It's not garlic bread, just plain. Do you want bread?" I was thinking... DUH! I just told you that we're supposed to get it with our entrees so why are you even asking me if we want it? At the end of the meal she came around and asked if we wanted anything else. And this was another thing that ticked me off... I took that chance and told her it was my friend's birthday... Normally restaurants would offer a free dessert or something for birthdays, especially Italian places. And seeing how it's a family run place that prides itself on being a "neighborhood gem" you would think they would go above and beyond with their hospitality. She just stared at me and then asked the table again if we wanted anything else. OMG! Didn't even have any sort of reaction. Even if they are not gonna give us a free dessert, at least tell my friend "Happy Birthday" or something. Nada...

We still ended up ordering one thing to try.
Tiramisu (lady fingers dipped in espresso coffee with mascarpone cheese, eggs and a touch of brandy) $5.50~

This was praised on the reviews. It was pretty good. I liked the mascarpone cream a lot but there wasn't enough lady fingers in my opinion. We also asked for a candle for this and she said they didn't have any. Sigh~

She gave us the check all together. Initially I wanted to ask her to split it for us, but then didn't bother for the frustration and ended splitting the check myself among 12 people!

All of us were a little miffed by the service. Even if the food is pretty good, I don't think it's good enough to go back and deal with the lack of service. At least we saved a bundle by bringing our own alcohol!

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OAHU - PART 3 - Honolulu

I think the final part of the trip had overall the best food. Starting with one of the best meals of the entire trip!!

There was a Japanese udon place just behind our hotel that we drive by everyday and there's always a long line out the door...day and night. At first we thought it was some tourist hype but then we looked up reviews online. People RAVED about it. We were getting excited reading about it. Now we HAVE to go!
Marukame Udon
2310 Kuhio Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 931-6000
- Curry Udon (Regular) $5.25~

- Plus Half Boiled Egg $0.50~

- Kamaage Udon (Regular) $3.75~ Hot udon with ginger dipping sauce. This was my fav. It was basically udon in hot water. You can really taste the flavor of the udon and appreciate its texture. The dipping sauce was perfect. Light yet full of flavor. :)

- Bukkake Udon (Regular) $3.75~

- Vegetable Tempura $1.50~
- Eggplant $1.50~
- Fried Chicken $1.50~

- Vinegar Rice & Sesame Seed $1.50~
- Squid-Ten $1.50~

- Croquette $1.50~
- Sweet Potato $1.50~
- Salmon Musubi $1.50~

First of all, they make everything in the restaurant, including the udon! You can see them rolling the dough and cooking it right as you walk in. The place is cafeteria style where you take a tray and walk down the line and pick what you want. They also make the tempura and musubis right there in front of you. Everything looked so amazing. Plus it's super cheap!! Under $4 for udon?!?! That's unheard of! It was by far the cheapest meal we had on the trip. The quality of the udon was amazing. The texture was perfect. Definitely the best udon I've ever had. The different types of tempura were tasty as well. My favorite was the fried chicken and sweet potato. I really wanted to go back again but we didn't have time. :( And the line moves super fast so definitely go check it out.

The next day we were over on the east side checking out Lanikai Beach and Sea Life Park. One of our friends had recommended a place around here. It's his one of his favorite places to eat.
Keneke's
41-685 Kalanianaole Hwy.
Waimanalo, HI 96795
http://www.kenekes.net/
(808) 259-9811
- Pork Adobo Plate Lunch $8.50~ The pork was really moist and flavorful. It was definitely better than Kalua Pig!

- Omlette with Cheese $4~

- Teriyaki Beef Sandwich $5~ It was just a meat patty with some sauce. I didn't think it was a very good deal.

- Mahi Mahi Sandwich $5~ I wanted a light lunch so I ordered this. The fish was cooked perfectly. It was a great sandwich!

- Chocolate Macadamia Nut Ice Cream $3~ This was yum! Rich and creamy and lots of macadamia nuts in there.

It was local Hawaiian fare but they had some other options as well. And it was cheaper than most other Hawaiian food places. I would say out of all the local Hawaiian food places, I liked this place the best.

For dinner, we wanted to get poke from Safeway, which was also a recommendation. No pictures. :( But the poke at Safeway is AWESOME! Especially the spicy poke. The one we got in North Shore was such crap compared to Safeway. YUMMMMM!

Down the street from Safeway was Leonard's Bakery. Malasadas!!! This place has been on my list since the beginning of my planning!
Leonard's Bakery
933 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
http://www.leonardshawaii.com/
(808) 737-5591
- 2 Cinnamon Malasadas $0.90~ each
- 2 Custard Malasada Puffs $1.25~ each
- 2 Dobash (Chocolate) Malasada Puffs $1.25~ each
- 2 Flavor of the Month (Lilikoi Custard - Yellow Passion Fruit) Malasada Puffs $1.25~ each

I totally went overboard and got 8 malasadas. They're basically like beignets or donuts...either filled or plain. I would recommend only getting what you can eat at the moment. Fresh is wayy better than a day old malasada. I liked the filled ones a lot. The plain ones were eh...like a regular donut. I really liked the passion fruit custard. You get the essence of passion fruit and it wasn't too sweet with a hint of tartness. The malasada was warm and pillowy when it first came out. Delicious! The next day... they are not as good...

We hit up a local recommendation the next day for lunch. Multiple people throughout the trip had recommended this place so we went to check it out. And apparently Man vs. Food has been here! Cool!
Helena's Hawaiian Food
1240 North School St.
Honolulu, HI 96817
http://helenashawaiianfood.com/
(808) 845-8044
- Kalua Pig & Cabbage $4~
We have to get this at every meal otherwise there are no vegetables at all!

- Short Ribs Pipikaula Style (Large) $10.40~ They are known for their short ribs. For a large order, it's not very big but I thought the flavor was pretty good. Not the best short ribs ever. But still tasty.

- Fried Butterfish Collar $4.85~
This was my favorite of the meal. I love me some butterfish. And the collar meat is always the most tender. Fried makes it even better! :P

- LauLau $4~
The pork was pretty juicy but the leaves were a little bitter.

- Haupia (comes with the meal)

This is a coconut milk based Hawaiian dessert. It's kind of like a stiff gelatin. I liked it a lot. It's light, not too sweet, and very refreshing after a heavy meal with all the salt and meat. I would say it was a better Hawaiian meal than all the other times I've had on the trip so far...

For dinner we hit up another highly recommended local Hawaiian joint. The place is tiny and normally has a line. We went pretty early so got seated immediately. It definitely LOOKS like a hole in the wall. haha.
Ono Hawaiian Foods
726 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 737-2275
- LauLau Plate (LauLau, Pipikaula, Lomi Salmon, Haupia, Rice) $16~
The pork laulau was a tad dry in my opinion, but they had the best leaves. It had the best flavor.

- Chicken LauLau $6.25~
This was really good. The chicken was super tender.

- Plain Butterfish (Boiled) $6.25~
Totally NOT worth the money. Tiny little pieces. Kinda bland...
- Kimchee $2~

Theirs was even better cuz it was just a tad sweeter than Helena's. I could just eat a giant block of that!

We met up with a friend of mine that goes to school in Honolulu later that night. She introduced us to this place. I'm still wondering why no one had told me about this place earlier!! It's open late and there's ALWAYS a line out the door.
Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts
1010 University Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96826
http://bubbiesicecream.gourmetfoodmall.com/
(808) 949-8984
- Chocolate Eggnog Mochi Ice Cream

- Chocolate Mint Mochi Ice Cream

- Strawberry Dark Chocolate Chip Mochi Ice Cream - 3 for $2.95~

The strawberry was by far my favorite. I liked how the mochi was really thin. They had a lot of interesting flavors. I tried guava too and that was pretty good!
- Multiple Orgasm Ice Cream Cake (Oreo, Coffee, Chocolate ice cream) $5.45~
Online reviews raved about this cake. It was pretty tasty!! You can't go wrong with 3 different layers of ice cream!

- Bubbies Navel (chocolate chip cookie sandwich with coffee ice cream and dipped in chocolate) $4~
This looked better than it was. It was kinda hard to eat and the middle of the cookie was too doughy. But still not bad. I love ice cream. haha.

Our last day in paradise.... Sigh. :(
We had a great lunch! Found a tiny little Japanese restaurant actually next to the place where we booked our surf lessons! :) It seems to be owned by an old Japanese couple. Only about 4 tables plus a small bar area. And the entire time we were there, only Japanese people came in to eat. That's a GOOD sign!
Hana No Sato
2410 Koa Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-9635
- Baked Ginger Pork Set (Ginger pork, salad, miso soup, rice) $6.98~
For the price, this was an amazing deal! Fresh salad, lots of pork. Good flavor and tender. Yum!

- Sea Food Bowl - Regular (Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Octopus, Squid, Red Snapper, Shrimp, Egg, and Fish Eggs on rice; with miso soup) $9.98~

I totally wanted sushi during this trip but never really got it, so this'll have to do. For all the different types of sashimi on top, this was also a great deal! The fish was fresh and it made me happy. :)

We ended the trip with happy hour at our hotel later that night and watched the sunset. Sigh... I sooo didn't want to go home.
Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Splash Bar & Bento
120 Kaiulani Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
http://www.princess-kaiulani.com/dining/splash
(808) 922-5811
All the drinks were so colorful and pretty!
- Blue Hawaii

- Mai Tai

- Chi Chi
I've never had a Chi Chi before and it's awesome! :)

It's been a great trip. I can't wait to go back to Hawaii. Surfing is so fun!! And I just love the beach... Gotta save more money so I can take more trips!!!

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~