Golden Road Brewing

On Memorial Day last, Katie and I remembered it was our Four Year anniversary since we started going out. In celebration we decided to try out a new restaurant, Golden Road Brewing.

The best way to describe their menu, is Gastropub. Many different eclectic dishes (including the Banh Mi which I got) that were anchored with some good ol' American favorites like the Oven Roasted Chicken Breast that Katie got (Hands down favorite of the evening). We wanted to get the soft pretzel, but they had just run out when we ordered so we instead went with the Wild Mushroom Risotto Fritters with Vegan Pimento Cheese, which I can only describe as 'meh'. Not much taste to these, but the cheese dip was pretty tasty.

They have a pretty good selection of rotating house brewed beers as well as a large rotating menu of other local brews. I got the Get Up Offa That Brown, another resounding 'feh'. I think it would've been much better with a burger. Katie chose the Golden Road Berliner Weisse, with Woodruff syrup and, well, let's just say she won the night in terms of her choices. Clean taste, slightly bitter, with a hint of vanilla.

Katie and I toasting each other (via Instagram)

Only complaint is the service is a little wonky. You order everything at the bar. The "server(?)" who helped us was very friendly and happy to help us make our selections. You're given a flashy-pager thing like you'd get at an Olive Garden waiting for your table, and when it goes off, you go pick up your food at the counter. When I went, no one was there to help you, you just grabbed your food and left. This seemed to work okay when we went, but I hope they have a better system for busier nights.

All in all, we loved it and will be back. We'll probably bring all visitors and even the locals when we can. Great food, good beers, atmosphere, and prices!

Until next time. Love and PEACE!

Strawberry and Golden Raspberry Pancakes and Bacon

Quick post this morning.

Katie and I have been looking for a decent substitute to Gene's Sausage Shop back in Chicago. I went searching on Yelp this morning and found Handy Market of Burbank.

As a market, I'm not overly fond of it. It's not the cheapest and there's not a giant selection of organic or natural products outside of the butcher/deli and produce. Their meat selection isn't quite as large as Gene's but it all looked great.

We got their thick cut bacon today and Katie and I practically died. This may be the best bacon I've had in my life. Perfectly crisp, fatty but not terribly so, and just salty enough. If you're in the Burbank area, I highly suggest dropping in and getting some for your weekend brunch or breakfast.

I don't want to undersell the pancakes, they were also good, I used fresh strawberries and golden raspberries that I got from the Burbank Farmer's Market. I'm just not sure anything can stand in comparison to that bacon.

They also cook BBQ all Saturday and sell it on a truck just outside of the shop. On a future Saturday I can see stopping for that BBQ with maybe pick up some of their craft beer's. Sound good to anyone else?

Spinach-Filled Gnocchi Rolls with Sweet Butter and Basil

So I made this recipe, probably about 6+ months ago. I really loved it and I've been thinking about making again sometime soon. What better time to finally get around to posting it!

Ho boy. So Katie and I had been receiving bags upon bags of potatoes through our CSA Angelic Organics. I hit the cook books to find some recipes. Katie's mom leant us a book last summer called Smith & Hawkins: Gardners' Community Cookbook. This book isn't necessarily the best organized for my mind, but it comes with a huge amount of great, fresh recipes.

Spinach and Camembert-Filled Gnocchi Rolls with Sweet Butter and Basil

I was really skeptical about making this recipe at first. I've never made my own pasta before, but the recipe made it sound fairly simple so I gave it a shot.

All in all, it was simple to make this recipe, but it was also time consuming. I think it took me nearly half a day to make and cook the gnocchi. 

The sweet butter with basil was the perfect sauce to go with the gnocchi as well. It was perfectly light and the sweetness really worked well with the camembert cheese.

So, if you've got a day to kill and want to make a great late spring/early summer dish, I'll figure out a way to share it with you, just let me know!

That's all for now.

Love and PEACE!

The recipe made four rolls. One was more then enough per person.

Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna

Wow. So the last time I posted was about mine and Katie's trip to LA from nearly a year ago to this day.

This may come as a shock to many of you, but I tend to be a little lazy. About the weirdest things too. Yeah I'll MAKE the food, but to write maybe a few hundred words, take a couple pictures and form an opinion? Too much can't be bothered.

Anyway, tonight's recipe was courtesy of the Food Network. Rachel Ray's Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna.

As usual, the master of lighting strikes again. End result wasn't quite this yellow.

The recipe is as delicious as it sounds (and more delicious then the picture makes it appear).

Rachel does some fun things like adding lemon zest and nutmeg to your ricotta cheese and it offers a subtle taste that works well with the rest of the ingredients. I wish I would've let it bake maybe a little longer, I like my lasagna to have a little crust to it.

Overall, tastes great and it's easy to make. Unless you're having/going to a dinner party and are strapped for time, I'd suggest avoiding the packaged ravioli. It's incredibly expensive. If/when I make this recipe again I'll probably use some fresh mushrooms and other vegetables and just use traditional lasagna noodles.

See y'all next time! Hopefully not a year from now...

Love and PEACE!