Wednesday, 16. November 2005, 00:34:49
lunch (11/14) »
- Chicken Portabello with Spinach orzo pasta
- Deep Fried Calamari
- Warm Chocolate Cake
As I mentioned in yesterday's haiku, I had the day off. After the DMV, Sharon and I went to Ala Moana to try out the newly opened
Romano's Macaroni Grill. It's an Italian restaurant chain with a feel much like that of The Cheesecake Factory. We wanted to try lunch there on Sunday, but the wait was 50-60 minutes. It was only about 5-10 yesterday, as we had arrived around 11, before the lunchtime crowd.
The waitstaff were trained with a canned introduction that included writing their name on the disposable "table cloths" and preparing the olive dipping oil for a great focaccia bread. We got our appetizer of deep fried calamari promptly. It was perfectly battered and fried for my taste, as it still retained a nice crunch. It came with two dips: a zesty tomato sauce, and a creamy pesto dip. Sharon thought the calamari itself was bland, which was unfortunate, as she didn't really care for the sauces.
Our entrees also came in good time. I had the Chicken Portobello served with a spinach orzo pasta, and Sharon had the Boursin Filet (medium) with butternut squash and garlic mashed potatoes. The chicken was okay -- flavor was good, but the meat was a bit dry. What I really enjoyed was the orzo pasta. It was colorful and flavorful. Sharon was almost full by the time her meal arrived, but still fully enjoyed the well-done sides of the steak. So far, so good...?
The only thing bad to say was that as the lunch crowd came in, it became very evident that the Macaroni Grill doesn't have sufficient staffing. Our friendly and helpful server's attention became woefully absent from our table. We were ignored long enough that we were scanning for our server, so that we may proceed onto dessert. Eventually, the server did come around (he looked frazzled, with perspiration visible on his face), and we ordered a Smothered Chocolate Cake to go.
Aside from the dearth in service at the end, everything else was good. I'd recommend the Macaroni Grill, provided that you go at non-busy periods to avoid the huge waits to be seated, and to be served.
lunch »
- Boursin Filet with buttersquash and garlic mash potatoes (11/14)
- homemade salad (11/13)
- Asian pear
- Pokka AloeV + white grape juice
For today's lunch, I brought Sharon's leftover steak. Luckily, Sharon ordered the steak medium, since after reheating, it came out
PERFECT. The flavor was distinctive, with the Boursin cheese smothered on top giving a heavy, smoky aroma. The meat was pink-but-not-bloody, still retaining much of the juices. And to top it off, the garlic mashed potatoes were the perfect complement. Yum!
Two great lunches in a row, yay!
Although I couldn't pursuade her to let me cook, I got to cube the beef. She couldn't refute that a sick person shouldn't be touching raw meat. So, the curry came out great: 
Sharon got a few pieces from Daiei and it was a tiny bit porky -- hmm, really need to get Chinese style roast pork from a normal roast meat vendor. I ended up stir-frying it with a lot of green onions and flavoring with oyster sauce. Surprisingly, it came out pretty good. The only thing "wrong" was that I overcooked it...but the way I look at it, the pork became a different dish...one with much more crispiness to the meat and skin. Hey, the pork was originally cut into small bits for a different dish, so I made do with what I had.
WIDGETIZE