Osteria Mazzantini (Galleria)

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I hadn't heard much about Osteria Mazzantini, but they were in Culture Map's voting contest for best restaurant.  Although, Jimy did mention at lunch today at Caracol that he heard they weren't doing well...for dinner Matt wanted to try something new, so that's where we decided to go, despite Jimy's heeding.  I did search on yelp and they go a 4 stars, so I thought, how bad could they be??  

The décor was nice, but average design.  Dark wood, browns, orange accents, an outdated color scheme....wow, I'm critical!  I know, it's just the thoughts that go through this head.  We didn't get the multi-colored light bulbs on the ceiling.  It made the place look a little cheap, in my opinion.  The wine casing did up the scale of the décor.  I did like the brick veneer too.  The orange aprons were kind of...trying to hard...going with black would have been sufficient.

The bread was nice, maybe a little too flavorful...with herbs and...I think our server said potato.  The texture was nice...chewy.  We got the mushroom polenta for appetizer which was pretty good.  The arugula salad was not very good, too much cheese.  With the help of our server, I got his suggested Carbonara and Matt got the Sirloin Steak.  I did not like the Carbonara and Matt said his steak sucked. I tasted it, it tasted bland to me.   He said the more he ate it, the worst it got.  It was cooked differently on the different sides of the steak, well done in some areas, almost raw in some.  He could not stomach the cooked arugula that came with his meal, and the potatoes were blah.  He also said the orange aprons reminded him of Whataburger. 

When our server, who was great, asked us if we would like dessert...which I had already decided I did not want to try dessert here...Matt just responded no, without asking me.  He usually asks me.  What we discussed later is how we decide if we want to try dessert or not...if the food is good, we're having dessert, if not, then we're not.  It's just funny that we were thinking the same thing without having discussed it.  I also asked him what he thought I would rate the restaurant...he said 2.5...he was totally spot on.  We don't have the same taste in food, but we tend to have the same taste in quality.  He said he thought I would rate it 2.5 because that's what he would rate it.  And now...I have written too much about this restaurant... 

Caracol (Galleria)

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I have heard good things, lots of it too.  Nice place, fancy...we don't have reservations for lunch, so we're set up outdoors.  It's not bad, not too warm, but they could probably use a few more umbrellas to shade from the sun.  Great outdoor space though.  I'm eyeing the red snapper tacos, but I was swayed by our server to get the chicken enchiladas.  Chung gets the red snapper tacos and because they're 3 in each entrée, we trade one each.  The red snapper tacos were perfect!  Light, fresh, tasty...I should have gotten these!  The enchiladas were good, but a little on the heavy side.  We also got the guac and chips, which I liked a lot.  The chips were really thick, and perfectly salted.  The guac, no bells and whistles, but just seemed like mashed avocado, and was surprisingly good, actually.  They did bring out this complimentary soupy shrimp appetizer, which was a little too seafoody for my taste.  But, everything else I really enjoyed, I shall return!

Common Bond Bakery (Montrose)

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Opened yesterday, Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to visiting!  News crew is here, not sure what channel.  I walk in and love the interior.  Tons of sunlight, airy, bright!  I love a bar around the perimeter of the café too, somewhere I can set up shop and work.  I'm standing in line and it doesn't look like they have a ton of options.   Maybe a handful of pastries...but they do look amazing!  With the recommendation of my helper, I get the chocolate croissant and the bosoft.  I also want the cheese Danish, as it's my favorite...but they're out.  I get to the cashier, order a vanilla almond milk latte, and they are out of almond milk...it's 9:30...AM!  The line is long and cashiers slow, so far, I'm not having the greatest experience....obviously they're still working out the kinks...

I sit and have the chocolate croissant...amazing!  So flakey, delicious, and the chocolate was off the charts good!  The salted caramel macaroon I ordered wasn't in my take away box...hm.  I do stay till lunch and order the grilled cheese and soup.  O...M...G...the grilled cheese sandwich is amazing!  The bread, the cheese...wow!  The food really makes up for all the kinks...wow...the bread is out of this world!  I mean it's all very simple tasting, but the quality is amazing.  I'm really impressed.  I can't remember the last time I had so much bread...that bread...and I can't remember the last time I had an entire sandwich in one sitting...that bread...mm mm mm...

Ugh...I ate too much bread.  I had the regular eclair and was very distracted by the fact that there was chocolate cream inside instead of the regular creme and can't say I liked it, but dang that chocolate creme was some good chocolate.  I ordered another salted caramel macaroon and wow...that was absolutely delicious.  So yummy!  Sweet, tasted and looked like real caramel, so so very good.  I also had a bite of the chocolate chip cookies...wow...now this is a real chocolate chip cookie, unlike the that cookie everyone at Tiny's raves about.  This whole bakery is just top notch!  Everything I tasted was A+ quality.  Very very good, I'm really impressed!

I also got to meet Roy, the owner/chef...he sure knows his food!

Punk's Simple Southern Food (Rice Village)

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I had read Punk's was located next to Coppa.  I had driven by Coppa on Washington and figured maybe they didn't open??  Then today, following google maps to Punk's, I realized oh, there's another Coppa in the Village!  Punk's and Coppa are next-door neighbors and located in a nice spot on Morningside.  This side of the Village is really nice, it's changed a lot.

On walking in to Punk's, I really like the decor.  Yelp says the price range is $$$ which means it's pricey, so I changed from my shorts into cargo pants.  Following google maps there, it said $$, so I just wasn't sure which was actually right.  Google was more accurate, it is super casual.  That seems to be the theme these days, servers in jeans and a flannel.  The decor is really nice, I like it a lot.

We are really excited about trying the food!  With our server's help, we order the hush puppies, the loaded tater tots, the wedge salad, chicken sausage gumbo, 5 piece fried chicken, and the chicken fried steak with green beans.  I tasted everything and everything was just ok.  I was pretty disappointed after the 4th item I tried, and had pretty much made up my mind, I didn't love Punk's.  Nothing was horrible, just nothing was good enough to write home about.  I especially did not like the loaded tater tots, texture, flavors, and I think it had blue cheese in it, which I really dislike.  You know, I never turn down dessert, and I just didn't feel confident it would be good, they way things were going, so we didn't order any.

You know, I don't know if I'm being too hard, I really wanted to like Punk's.  I'm wondering if I just don't like Southern food or something.  We did order fried chicken, hush puppies, tater tots, etc...which I never feel really good about eating anyways, after.  I really just didn't like it all that much...but the atmosphere was great, very festive.  Ethan, the 13 year old did love it.  His first time trying chicken fried steak, and loved it.  He also really loved the fried chicken, but later admitted he thinks he just likes all foods, unhealthy.  For me and the mister, all was just an eh kind of experience...