Baker's Crust Ghent- Getting on Alex's Fighting Side

It’s like a sick cycle carousel. A Baker's Crust visit, that is. Often I go for lunch or dinner and all goes well. Other times, I go and my order is incorrect, the sandwich is a complete joke or they leave something out of my take-out. Let me start with breakfast. Baker's serves breakfast daily and then brunch on the weekends. Get there by 11am Saturday and noon Sunday. Typically, my brunch experiences have been good. I have had the West Coast omelette, which is spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, Muenster cheese, avocado and Pico de Gallo. Very fresh and not too heavy. Your meal comes with hash browns and the toast of your choice. Baker's has a lot of breads and any can be used on a sandwich or as a side. I typically choose the fruit and nut bread, which has cranberries and walnuts. Very good, along with the hash browns. I have also had the Riviera Toast and the Belgian Waffle. Both are delicious and satisfy that early morning sweet tooth. Kelly*, who often dines with me during breakfast, usually orders Doug's Killer Creation omelet, which includes maple sausage, house-made signature chips and cheddar cheese...yes all inside the omelets. I give Baker's breakfast two thumbs up. On to lunch, this is a mixed bag. Baker's offers a wide variety of soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees. For starter items, I have had the Tomato and Cheese Soup, the Kickin’ Corn and Crab Chowder and the Fried Mozzarella. The tomato soup is good, the corn and crab chowder is too 'crab' (read overwhelming seafood taste) and the mozzarella is what it is.

Sandwiches, get ready. Probably my favorite, the Panini Grilled Meatloaf with Muenster cheese on your choice of bread. Sourdough is a great way to go here. This is a hearty and very tasty sandwich combination. Go for it. I typically order the Cole slaw which is home-made and pretty good. The chips are homemade but are a little tpo 'plain potato chip' for me. Another good selection is the Malibu, which is turkey, Muenster cheese, avocado ((I like Muenster cheese and avocados), can you tell), cucumbers, sprouts, tomatoes and herb mayo. It's a great sandwich, but there is an irritating story about this one. I went in Baker's to place my order and wait to pick it up. I ordered the sandwich with the mayo on the side and on the Gruyere Focaccia bread. I take my order home, put on some laundry and then sat down to eat. Trouble. The mayo was ON the sandwich and it was the wrong bread. Can you say irritated? I immediately sent an email to Baker's through their website. The point of take-out is convenience, and I was not about to drive back up there and ask them to fix it. The sandwich was fine, but restaurants are in the business of taking orders, so they need to get it right. The General Manager did email me back and said she was terribly sorry for the mistake and gave me a free sandwich along with any appetizer, side, soup or dessert the next time I came. That is the way to right that wrong and I was pleased. Next, the Panini Grilled Avocado Goat Cheese Veggie. The name is too long, but this is a great sandwich if you are looking for something light, flavorful and not heavy. Laine was with me this day and had a salad. I boycotted the salads a while ago at Baker's. They are pretty lame. Lots of lettuce and not enough of whatever else is supposed to be on the salad. To this day, I still will not order a salad. For the final sandwich, Baker's is getting two thumbs down. The Roasted Tomato and House-Made Mozzarella Panini. Great idea, horrible delivery. There are two very thin, very small slivers of
Mozzarella, three leaves of spinach, a couple slivers of tomato and basil pesto. The taste was good, but I was so mad at what they give you for almost $9. The Meatloaf Panini is only forty cents more and at least TWICE the size. I was so mad I was spitting nails.

Now, for dessert. Baker's has great breads and great desserts. I have had the Caramel Cheesecake, the White Chocolate Cheesecake, the Cheesecake on a Stick, the Raspberry Bar, the Pumpkin Cheesecake, the éclair and the cookies, oatmeal, peanut butter with chocolate covering half and the toffee cookie. The Cheesecake on a stick is okay but hard to eat. My favorite is the toffee cookie, but the oatmeal is a close second. Of the other things I have had, they were all tasty except the Pumpkin Cheesecake was blah. I think they needed more sugar (and I do normally really like Pumpkin Cheesecake. Of course, this past weekend, Kelly* and I ordered a toffee cookie and one of the peanut butter cookies and of course got home and only had the toffee cookie. The girl did not charge us (she's lucky), but I was still highly annoyed. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

I will not boycott Baker's yet, but you better believe I will be double and triple checking my orders. Just go with the ‘prepare for the worst, hope for the best’ attitude.
~Alex

Need I say more? Exactly!
_Laine

Baker's Crust is located at the Palace Shops in Norfolk, Hilltop in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Williamsburg and Richmond has two locations. Hours of operation vary slightly depending on location.
www.bakerscrust.com

Let's Talk Wine

"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary." - Ernest Hemingway, "A Moveable Feast"

Agreed! I love wine too. I think that most people who truly love to eat, are also lovers of the grape. It is such a natural pairing, isn't it? A great glass of wine can complement your meal by accentuating foods' flavors and seasonings like nothing else. Am I a connoisseur? If quantity was a determining factor, I might be, but unfortunately it is not. For all my exposure to wine, countless explanations about how it is made, matured, how is should be tasted, etc. I simply have no retention of the facts. I liken it to Alex's feelings about cooking. It is not a matter of ability, but of desire. I guess I'm just not that interested. I don't want to talk about it, just pass the bottle man, I want to drink it! Despite all my efforts to the contrary, my mom did a pretty darn good job instilling manners in me and I can feign absorbed fascination convincingly well. While the experts are going on and on about the color and clarity, aromas, and flavors, all I really hear is "blah blah blah blah blah". Sad isn't it? Once I taste a wine, I know if I like it or not, and I am fairly good at remembering the label of a favorite wine. (Not the name, but the picture on the label...again, sad, I know.) It is with this background that I found myself entering the "Let's Talk Wine" store a couple of Saturdays' ago.

First, I have to say that I am not a fan of the store's name. No surprise there, since I already revealed that I don't really like to talk about wine! Further, it doesn't seem catchy to me. Just my opinion. When I entered there was one other customer who was just completing a purchase, so I browsed around the bins. The store is fairly small, so it is impossible to be unobserved. Once his customer left the person behind the counter, who I found out later is the owner, Ian, approached me and offered his assistance and a tasting of Riesling. As I said before, I know what wine I don't like, and I am not a fan of Rieslings. They just aren't my thing. On the other hand, I am not going to decline an offering of wine at 4:30pm on an errand laden Saturday. We chatted a bit about what wines I like and don't like, what I was interested in getting, spending, etc. Buying wine can sometimes feel like buying an appliance, or car, or furniture. There's a screening process involved. If I only put as much thought into every $20 dollar purchase! After a brief chat, Ian started his recommendations.

Of course, I got every one he suggested. I really am a soft sell in a wine store. He gave me detailed descriptions of each wine, its origins and flavors. I have to admit I liked Ian. He describes wine as "rock star" good, which made me smile. We have progressed from rock stars of the 70's stumbling around with bottles of liquor, to rock stars of the millennium sipping Ian's favorites! Here's what he suggested:













Atalaya Mourvedre 2007-Spain
Santa Martina Rosso 2005 - Italy
Maipe Bonarda 2008-Argentina
Marco Polo-Pinot Grigio - 2007
Domaine Sainte Eugenie Recolte 2004-France


The only bottle remaining untasted is the Santa Martina, which I am sure will be popped this weekend. We enjoyed all of them. Of course, I am not going to give you professional reviews, but I will tell you that the Argentinian wine was so heavy that it turned our teeth purple! HA! I loved it. I thought The Domaine Sainte Eugenie Recolte was 'just okay'. I would definitely buy the Spanish wine again, it was very interesting. One suggestion Ian made that I actually remembered, was to save my receipt. It prints out the names of all the wines you purchase. If you bring it back on your next visit, it will help him make new suggestions, based on what you liked/did not like from the previous batch. Of course, I want him to keep all that information in his computer database. I mean, I bet Google knows what wine I buy, they know everything else about me. But, since he seems like such a nice guy, I actually still have my receipt.

So, the next time you are in Great Bridge, or on your way to the Outer Banks for the weekend, please stop in and see Ian. Whether you want to talk about wine or just drink it, I'm pretty sure he can hook you up on both accounts. Or, as a rock star once said, "Never understood a single word he said but I helped him drink his wine…and he always had some mighty fine wine." -- 3 Dog Night

_Laine

Let's Talk Wine
Located right off the 168 Bypass
Take exit 8A, Hillcrest Pkwy
Hours are 10:30am-7:00pm
Friday and Saturday
usually till 9:00pm
Closed on Sunday

Angies Family Restaurant

If she was driving in the pouring rain for 20 hours straight, with no food or water, and her car broke down on a completely deserted highway from which the only sign of life as far as the eyes could see was Angie’ Family Restaurant, Alex might decide to walk to the next nearest place. Angie’s is located in an older shopping strip, next to a nail place that’s next to an auto repair shop and behind the BP gas station. Sounds pretty glamorous, doesn’t it? It’s just not Alex’s style. Having lived in Chesapeake now for over 4 years now, I have driven past Angie’s a minimum of 1500 times with the same sort of mindset. It struck me as passé, outdated… kind of “icky”. My husband mentioned earlier in the day that it might be interesting to try Angie’s out. He reminded me that our neighbors go there and in fact, Mr. V* raves about the steak dinner. I’m pretty sure I gave him some vague answer about trying it sometime, and quickly changed the subject. It is amazing how a week of rain, a day of errands, a hungry husband and starving 5 year old can change your frame of reference. Suddenly, early this Saturday evening to be precise, I found myself firmly planted in the mother-hood and Angie’s appeared to be an oasis in the storm.

We arrived early and were promptly greeted, seated, given menus and drinks. The service is friendly and brisk. The down home atmosphere doesn’t mean this is the kind of place where the server sits down at the table with you (that drives me crazy!) These ladies are busy, so they keep it courteous and move on. The menu offerings are as expected of a place labeling itself as a family restaurant: steak, chops, fried seafood, broiled seafood, spaghetti, etc. My daughter loves the classic popcorn shrimp, while my husband and I opted for Delmonico steaks, medium rare. Entrées are accompanied by salad/vegetable/potato. Bread is also brought to the table, along with a pitcher of water for us H20 lovers. While we waited for our food to arrive, the restaurant quickly started to fill up. The demographic was grandparents and older couples, the typical 5:30pm diner. There was a cute group of high school teens decked out in formal wear that came in too. Ours must have been one of the first orders in because the meals came out in about 10 minutes flat with all the condiments you could possibly want.

You know what? It was good. Seriously! You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?! The steak was really good and I didn’t need to use my stimulus check, which apparently has been lost in the mail anyway, and half my paycheck to buy it. I didn’t even smother it with any of the assorted steak sauces provided. The baked potato was really baked too, not microwaved. My baby doll devoured her shrimp, a testimonial of goodness from a girl who can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 5 hours to eat a meal. I nibbled a few and tested out the fries too. Not too shabby. Don’t get me wrong, these are not 16/20 count, peeled, lightly battered and fried. They are definitely pre frozen, but they are tasty and you can see that there is a real shrimp in there, not some miniscule, weird krab / seafood conglomeration.

I would definitely go back to Angie’s again, and it would not have to be at the end of an exhausting, rainy day. My Philly friend Brianna* told me that she goes there after church on Sunday’s for breakfast and says it is great. Let me clarify that Angie’s has not jumped to the top of my ‘favorites’, nor would it be an acceptable dinner “date” destination. It is definitely a place I would have to be in the mood for. Further, if I had gone to a prom, and the date had started by taking me to Angie’s, it would have been a rather short evening out for us. Sometimes a girl just wants to be wined and dined. When she’s in formal wear, that should be a given. Ah, youth!

_Laine

Angie’s Family Restaurant
335 Centerville Tpke S
Chesapeake, VA 23322
(757) 482-9614


…of course they don’t have a website…