Weekend Update

Gosh. I feel like a news presenter typing that. Anyhoo...

Our weekend trip to visit Rachel and Nathan in Southern Ohio was very nice. We talked, shopped a bit, ate out, played a board game,went to church, had a nice home cooked meal and traveled home.

Saturday for dinner we went here:

OK. First of all, where does a Chinese restaurant get off calling itself a bistro? This is from Wiki, the ultimate source for everything:

"A bistro, sometimes spelled bistrot, is, in its original Paris, France incarnation, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. Slow-cooked foods like braised meats are typical. Bistro patrons do not necessarily expect professional service or printed menus.

Bistros likely developed out of the basement kitchens of Parisian apartments where tenants paid for both room and board. Landlords could supplement their income by opening their kitchen to the paying public. Menus were built around foods that were simple, could be prepared in quantity and would keep over time. Wine and coffee were also served. The limited space for diners in these cramped corners prompted the tradition of adding table service to the footpath. As the idea caught hold, architecture and menus both became more specific."

So, PF Chang's was not French. There were really no slow cooked braised meats in evidence. It did not really serve simple foods. Their "special" dinner for two was $40, which isn't that bad but I have to say, they have NOTHING on our local, family owned, truly reasonably priced, Chinese restaurant. I was quite unimpressed with the food we had. I'm glad we went though. The ambiance was excellent as was our waiter. The appetizer, which they gave us for free for being "first time" visitors, was VERY good. Something called a "Lettuce Wrap." It was some sort of seasoned meat mixture served on a lettuce leaf. We also had peppered calamari which was very good but not exceptional. I ordered Orange peel chicken and Dennis ordered Cantonese Shrimp. I really didn't like either selection, and I am not a fussy eater. The desserts were delightful mini sweets in square shot glasses. We had Tiarimisu. It was good, but painfully small. (They were $2 each.) The restaurant was lovely, service excellent, but the four of us spent $82 (including tip) for a meal that I thought was less than stellar. We could have a much better meal at our local Chinese place for $60. Ah well, tel est la vie! It was fun anyway.

Our trip home was a bit nerve racking because traffic was erratic on the freeway and there was high wind with a rain/snow mix. We were glad to get out of the city and back North where there is less traffic.

Very nice weekend over all.