Si Senior Mexican Food

November 2, 2012

Date #56

Tonight I wanted to go back to our favorite food, Mexican, because last week’s date night wasn’t so good. I found a place in Beaverton, close to home, Si Senior Mexican Food was our destination tonight. I used my wonderful GPS on my Android phone and she directed us to the location effortlessly.
When we enter the parking lot around 8pm, it was a good sign that the parking lot was still full. The restaurant is quite large, we were sat at a table immediately, and presented with chips and salsa (my favorite). The salsa was good, nice chunks of veggies, and a mild to medium spiciness level, just a bit too spicy for me but I did eat plenty.

Chuck ordered a combo plate of a tamale, taco, and enchilada, and I a cheese enchilada, both came with rice and beans. The sauce that covered the enchilada’s and tamale tasted like a mole sauce, full of wonderful flavors, it wasn’t just a regular enchilada sauce. This sauce also went well with the rice and beans, and we ate up the rest with the chips.
Great dinner tonight, especially because last week’s wasn’t so good. We will definitely come back to taste more of their yummy food.

Queen of Sheba

October 26, 2012

Date #55

I don’t like it when Chuck brings out his iPhone and plugs in the address for date night, because it’s the iPhone map…ugg. True to form with this stupid app it doesn’t work very well and takes us around the block many times during rush hour traffic. Finally, we sit in a parking lot where the app says the restaurant is, but is not, and look for it the old-fashioned way, by actually looking at the address on the map. After much stress we find the restaurant and find a place to park on the street.

The place is nice, not very fancy, with quite a few tables full. I wasn’t too excited to try Ethiopian food but it is date night and I can’t say no, Queen of Sheba is the place. So we ordered 2 vegetarian dishes, and a lamb dish for Chuck. The server said it’s served family style, and that was ok with us.

The enormous plate came to the table with 4 folded over pancake looking breads with the 3 different dishes we had ordered and a salad atop the pancakes. There were no utensils, we needed to use the pancake to pick up our food. The pancake tasted like fermented bread, not my favorite flavor. The potato dish tasted good, but the mushroom dish was way too spicy to even taste. Chuck enjoyed his lamb dish, and ate most of mine.
I’m sure this restaurant is a favorite place for many, and the serve was great, but this is not a favorite place for us. Chuck had tried Ethiopian food before and enjoyed it, but my first try will probably be my last.

Urban Fondue

October 19, 2012

Date #54

This weekend my parents came to visit so they joined us for date night tonight, this is not their first time either. While planning this visit they told me they had put a list together of restaurants they wanted to try from previous date nights. I thought to myself it would be fun to go to one of the fondue restaurants as we could celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday, but later talked myself out of it because we used to do fondues all the time when I was younger and I thought they would like to try something different. To my amazement while talking on the phone to my dad a few weeks before they came he told me he would like to try a fondue restaurant, sold!
Of the two fondue restaurants we have tried, we decided on Urban Fondue because we like non-chain restaurants so much better. We were taken to a cozy booth with high cushioned backs and pillows to sit on; it was very private and quiet. We ordered a few fancy drinks to start and 2 cheese fondues, a white cheddar and caraway, and a brie and gorgonzola with roasted hazelnuts. They came with bread but we also ordered house made Italian and French garlic sausage. When the fondues arrived, the talking quieted due to the scrumptiousness of the offerings. We had the cheddar one before which was amazing, but the brie and gorgonzola was out of this world. This surprises me because I didn’t think I liked gorgonzola.
The next course consisted of steak, pork, and veggies for Chuck and I, and steak and lobster for my parents, and we did share. Also included with this course were many different types of sauces to dip your nuggets into after they are cooked to perfection in the stewing liquid of tomato fennel broth, and urban yosenabe. Our wonderful waiter told us which sauces went with each meat and vegetable, but by the time he was done explaining each sauce we forgot which sauce went with what meat, but it didn’t matter they all tasted good together. Chuck added a bit of every sauce to his plate and mixed them all together, yummy!

By this time we were all very full, but we couldn’t not skip the best course…dessert. We chose a milk chocolate and roasted hazelnut fondue. Included as dippers were chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie dough, cream puffs, donuts, banana, strawberries, and dried fruit. Decadence is an understatement, if you have never tried a chocolate fondue this is not something to miss. Maybe next time we will just go for dessert…
The night was amazing, full of eating and drinking, talking and laughing, just a really good time. Thank goodness the car was parked a few blocks away, sitting in the car right away would not have been a good idea. We still have 3 more days of fun, let it begin!

Nonna Emilia

October 12, 2012

Date #53

Starting out year number 2 we had discussed going to where it all began, The Spaghetti Factory. Two things we don’t do on date night, discuss with the other person where we are going, and go to the same place twice. When we started out tonight Chuck had me all confused when we went the opposite direction from The Spaghetti Factory. I was glad Chuck decided to go somewhere different, and that place was Nonna Emilia in Aloha. It’s located in a large building, almost looks like an old barn, the place was packed, bring on the authentic Italian food.

One of my favorite appetizers is fried mozzarella, we always are searching for great mozzarella and marinara sauce. This version was ok, I have to say it tasted like they were the frozen kind you can purchase at the grocery store, nothing wrong with them, they just weren’t amazing.

I had one of their appetizers for my main course, mushroom ravioli and marsala sauce. I’m not sure why this was on the appetizer menu, so inexpensive, and the portion was huge. It was so tasty, I love the flavor of marsala sauce.

Chuck had cannelloni with marinara sauce covered with melted cheese. There is something about putting an Italian dish under the broiler for a few minutes, to melt the cheese, that just makes it so much better. He could tell that this dish was passed down from generations of an Italian family, yummy. 
Nonna Emilia is an Italian family restaurant, with friendly staff that makes you feel welcome. I also noticed that all the staff, waiters, food runners, bus boys, and managers all paid attention to each table making sure dirty dishes were taken away and water glasses were filled. This is something you don’t find too much anymore, great service!
Nice start to year number two Chuck!

Curry in a Hurry

October 5, 2012

Date# 52

It has been a while since we had Thai food so I typed that into Urbanspoon and found a place I knew we had to try because of the name, Curry in a Hurry, such a great name I knew this was the place. I plugged the address into my GPS, and we were on our way. I like to confuse my GPS so she has to reroute, I know she doesn’t like that. I knew the direction she was taking me, on Stafford Road in the dark, was not the way I wanted to go, so I headed to I-5 then let her have control, that was the wrong place to let her have the controls. She took us through some back roads to get back onto Stafford Road, probably a longer route than the original one she wanted us to take. I’m sorry Helga, I will never doubt you again! We finally arrive at our destination in a strip mall on the outskirts of Lake Oswego, the restaurant is very inviting and so was the staff.




We found ourselves a table and ordered shrimp rolls and pot stickers. I just love the freshness of these appetizers, I am pretty sure they were made when we ordered them, this freshness makes such a difference in the taste.

I ordered garlic shrimp stir fry. When I was presented the plate I thought it was weird to have bread crumbs sprinkled over top of the veggies, but then I realized it was toasted garlic, oh my gosh WOW. Again the veggies and shrimp were so fresh and the sauce didn’t overwhelm the flavors. I have to say this could be the best stir fry yet. I saved enough for lunch on Monday, wished I had saved enough for Tuesday.

Chuck had chicken curry with green beans and rice on the side. They asked him how spicy he wanted it, this was a good thing so he could enjoy the flavors of the curry and not burn his taste buds with the heat. I had a taste of the sauce and green beans, they were very flavorful and fresh tasting.
Afterwards we went driving around downtown Lake Oswego, I was sure we been here before, but I guess we hadn't, everything was new to us, the streets, signs, and buildings were so fancy, even the 7-11, not something we are used to.
Tonight's date marks the end of the first year of date nights, 52 Friday night dates, and we didn’t miss one. To do this we had to date in another country, a date with both sets of parents, and 2 house remodel dates. We also got to try many different cuisines that we have never tried before. When going out to dinner before we started date night, we used to pick our regular places not really stepping outside the box, but when you want to surprise your spouse with a new place and the other can’t say no, we were able to try so many wonderful new restaurants.  I guess when you set a goal and stick to it new flavors are discovered. Year 2 here we come.

Salvador Molly's

September 28, 2012

Date #51

It’s funny, since we started date night and blogging about it, we get many suggestions from our friends and co-workers about restaurants we should try for date night.  We like to try these suggested restaurants, and Salvador Molly’s was our spot tonight. We drove into the small parking lot and found 3 cars waiting for spots and plenty of people standing around waiting for tables. This is a very good sign that the food is good, but bad because it would be a long wait. We added our name to the list and went into the bar for a drink. We saw a few tables in the bar and decided to eat in there instead, a few minutes later we realized that these tables were not “bar” tables, and we moved back to the bar. A few minutes later we were actually sat at the table we had just vacated, guess we knew that was our table.  

We started out with chips and guacamole. I have only become a fan of guacamole over the past year. We make a great version at home, and love a few restaurant varieties. This one was ok.














I chose a wrap in a wheat tortilla, chick peas, and spices along with local veggies and rice. The wrap was very good, the tortilla didn’t taste like a regular tortilla, may have been made fresh. The veggie mixture was wonderful, I could tell how fresh they were, and this was the first time I have tried okra. The okra was an unexpected flavor for me, just from the looks of the vegetable I thought it would taste more like jalapeno, but not at all.

Chuck had the Hawaiian style pulled pork with coleslaw, garlic mashed potatoes, and a spinach salad. He is always happy when he has meat for a meal, and this was no exception. The pork was tender and flavorful, and the coleslaw had just the right amount of sweet and tangy. I had a taste of the mashed potatoes because he said they were so good, and yes they were, creamy and garlicy, two great flavors.

When we left the restaurant around 9:30pm there were still many people waiting for tables, definitely a popular place. I'm not sure if I will be back, it's not because the food didn't taste good, I just don't like Cuban style food.

New York NY Pizza

September 21, 2012

Date #50

I know I have talked about the slices of pizza we had during a visit to Annapolis Maryland, but we are still looking for that wonderful New York Pizza in Portland. One of our friends posted on Facebook about some great New York pizza they had for dinner so I decided New York NY Pizza would be my choice for date night tonight. Chuck drove tonight, I told him the restaurant was on Barbur blvd., he had an idea where we were going, then when I told him I chose this restaurant because of a post on Facebook, he knew exactly where we were going. I guess he really knows me.

It was pretty late by the time we got to the restaurant so I was pretty hungry, as soon as Chuck asked if I would like an appetizer I said yes, fried mozzarella it was. I was so happy we tried this because it’s the best fried mozzarella we have ever had. The mozzarella was fresh, the breading flavorful, and it was covered in the best marinara sauce we have ever had. We had ordered dinner by the time the appetizer came, and Chuck said he was so happy he had ordered the meatball sub because it was drenched in the same marinara sauce.

I wanted to try the pizza so I ordered a small one with onions, green peppers, and pineapple. The crust was thin , flavorful, and not at all soggy like many pizzas. The only difference between this one and the one we had in Maryland was the toppings, so next time we come here I will have a plain cheese pizza. Just a wonderful tasting pizza, best I have had in Portland.

Chuck’s meatball sub did not disappoint, the marinara sauce was tasty, the meatballs so flavorful, encompassed by the bread and cheese made this a fantastic sandwich.
We felt so relaxed in this restaurant, with the high back comfy chairs, to the checker table clothes, we stayed chatting till we were the last people in the place. Just a tasty relaxing date night, so good!