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907 Tahoe Blvd, Incline Village, NV
775-831-1000

www.bitetahoe.com

Want to try some upscale small plates? The plates really are SMALL and it doesn’t come cheap. It’ll probably take about 3 small plates per person to satisfy your hunger.

Petrale Sole with Double the Lemon Buerre Blanc and Huckleberries ($14) - Doesn’t look very appetizing does it? I don’t remember what the fish tasted like, but I do remember thinking that the huckleberries added a nice fruity taste that went well with the sole.

Grilled Chicken Sliders with Fearless Peanut Sauce ($9) - Very juicy, tasty sliders, but I couldn’t really taste the peanut sauce, which is what drew me to the sliders… so a little disappointing.

Tequila, Garlic Prawns with Cilantro Creme Fraiche ($13) - I’d say this was the best of the three. The prawns were expertly grilled and very delicious.

Happy Hour is offered every night from 5 to 6 pm and Happier Hour is from 10 pm to midnight (when you can also enjoy classic board games). These are probably the best times to go, so you can enjoy some specials on select dishes, wines, and beers.

3121 Old Philadelphia Pike (Rt 340), Bird-in-Hand, PA 17505. (717) 768-4400

http://www.plainandfancyfarm.com/

Plain and Fancy Farm offers a buffet served family style. Upon entering, you’ll be in their gift shop, where you can purchase a bonnet, apple butter, sweets, postcards, and other assorted souvenirs.

Some of the many dishes include:

Baked Ham with Cider Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Chicken Pot Pie with Homemade Noodles

Iced Raisin Bread, Corn, and Golden Fried Chicken

Shoo-Fly Pie - a gooey mixture of molasses, brown sugar, and spices.

Apple Dumpling with Vanilla Ice Cream

Here’s the same Apple Dumpling, but I cracked the crust, so you could see the whole apple. Stay away from this… I didn’t think it was any good.
I was a little bit disappointed since I had heard so many wonderful things about Plain and Fancy. I was expecting the best tasting food, but I didn’t think it was anything special. It was good… just not extraordinary. Fried chicken is fried chicken.

There was one treat that stood out though! Their Shoo-Fly Pie is so incredibly delicious! It was warm and gooey with a nice chewy consistency (much like a brownie). It’s even better with some vanilla ice cream =)

I will say that their service is excellent. We had over 250 people in our party and most of them were 8th graders, so to be able to deal with all that noise, attitude, and behavior is pretty astounding!

Taste: 7/10
Presentation: 3/5
Service/Atmosphere: 5/5
Total: 15/20

South Street Seaport, Pier 17, 3rd Floor, New York

http://www.nathansfamous.com/

Dave says, “As an aspiring Kobayashi wannabe, I just had to try out a Nathan’s hot dog while I had the opportunity. Just got a basic Hot Dog and Fries. The fries weren’t anything special, but I did enjoy the hot dog. Nathan’s hot dogs are a little different than the run-of-the-mill dog because of their outer skin (I’m food channel edumacated). When you bite into them, they have a bit more of a snap to them. Overall, a good dog, but nothing I’d go out of my way to get.”

Well, I liked the thick crinkle cut fries. I prefer those to the skinny shoestring fries. I didn’t try the hot dog though.

I thought it would be okay to do a review on this chain because it’s an east coast chain, but I found out that you can try it in San Diego!  The website says they have a location at North County Mall in Escondido.

Taste: 7/10

1012 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. (805) 965-4351

Well, someone wanted a group of us to drive all the way up to Santa Barbara so she could try on a wedding dress and not buy it, so of course, we got hungry and walked down State Street looking for a nice place. We stumbled on Chase. This was months ago during the holiday season, so they had some very festive decor…

The bread came with shall we say two companions, since I don’t remember what they were called. The brownish one had some beans in it. I think it was ok and I believe the red one reminded me of salsa. There is a tiny little bread carving station as you walk towards the restroom and you can watch them carve your bread with a careful eye, if you know what I mean…

I did not have this fish dish, but it looks like an extremely small portion.

I also did not have this pasta dish. It doesn’t look very appealing…

Ah, here we go… I had a pesto chicken sandwich. I believe all the pesto in the world was in this sandwich. In other words, WAY TOO MUCH! Half way through, I tried to scrape off as much pesto as I could, but ended up eating the rest of my chicken with the bread that was brought earlier and the potato wedges are probably the same as anywhere else.

The waitress asked if we wanted dessert, but we had seen another sweet spot within walking distance that we had already planned on having dessert at…

Taste: 6/10
Presentation: 3/5
Service/Atmosphere: 5/5
Total: 14/20

37 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022. (212) 750-2233. http://www.maloneyandporcelli.com

I recently returned from a long overdue trip to New York and there just weren’t enough meals in the day to eat everything I had on my list. I did manage to fit in quite a bit though and have lots of photos to share but here’s the best thing I ate that week:

I couldn’t take the picture fast enough before my dining companions and I fell upon this giant hunk of meat like hungry cavemen but holy heart disease - this was the most delicious thing I’ve eaten in recent memory. Maloney’s signature dish, the Crackling Pork Shank, starts with two pound-plus pork shank that is cooked very slowly, confit-style in lard, until the meat is meltingly tender. The whole shank then gets deep fried so that the skin becomes shatteringly crisp. It’s served with spicy applesauce and poppy seed-sprinkled sauerkraut. The dish should be illegal but it was so good! I’ve tracked down the recipe in case anyone wants to attempt to make something that calls for 4 pounds of lard. (If you do, let me know!)