ModestGeniusXL

Mike's Pastry

Okay..I lied.

There was at least one more eatery that I had to write about.  Not sure you could consider this an actual restaurant, but it was sure receiving the attention that most restaurants would love to have.  That place must have some magical powers.  So much so that the reason I remembered them is the food I had there was in a dream I had last night.  Pretty sad that I was dreaming about food, but it is what it is.

Anyway, Mike's Pastry is located in a part of Boston known as the North End.  Apparently it's a spot in town known for Italian heritage.  That one area had more Italian restaurants lined up and down that street than I have ever seen in my life.  Just one right after the other.  But before you could get to it, you had to past a bar that was the oldest bar in Boston.  Naturally, the drinkers of the group had to flock there.  Myself and another training cohort chose otherwise.  We had had our fill of the unofficial bar tour of Boston.

As we walked down the street of Little Italy (which is what you might as well have called the portion of town where we were) it was more than the literally hundreds of Italian eateries we noticed.  The place was also abnormally crowded.  Even for it to be Boston on a weekend.  It turns out that it was the same day as St. Anthony's Feast.  That would explain the mini-parade that kept circling the block.  As much as they could anyway with all the congestion of people going on.

Then we stumbled on the sign that said Mike's Pastry.  It was the only place that had a line around the block.  That's not even counting the dozens of people that were already crowded in the store waiting their turn.  I remembered one of other classmates from Portland remarking how she couldn't wait to get a cannoli from there.  I guess they are known nationwide?  I had never heard of them though.  Then again, I also had never had a cannoli.  But I knew there was no time like the present.

Surprisingly, that long line went incredibly fast.  We saw why once we got in the store.  They must have had about 10 different people working that counter.  They were getting orders filled quicker than I have ever seen.  It also helped that most of what anyone wanted to order was already ready.  Pastry shops can afford to do that.  Especially a place like this where they were probably selling them faster than they could stock them.

I wasn't entirely sure I would like the cannoli I ordered so I also ordered a piece of velvet cake cheesecake.  They had a large variety of cannolis to pick from but I didn't want to get too crazy with my first cannoli.  I just got a plain strawberry cannoli.  It was INCREDIBLE.   The crust was done just right so that it wasn't soggy yet wasn't too hard.  It was nice and crispy so that when you bit into it it could blend well with the flavor of the filling inside while still maintaining its own taste.  After quickly finishing it off I immediately wished I would have gotten two of those instead of the cheesecake.  Especially since they were so relatively cheap at $3.95.  As for the cheesecake?  Eh.  But I'm not a velvet cake fan anyway so I'm probably not the best person to ask.

So apparently Mike's Pastry is also known because they deliver as well.  They will ship to anywhere in the United States.  I thought that was rather ridiculous when I first heard that.  Then I had one.  Now I find myself on their website looking into getting some strawberry cannolis shipped to me.  I'm rather interested to see how they are going to ship it so that they still maintain their freshness.  But most importantly, I can't wait to taste one again.

 

Hichigo Ichie

This should wrap up my unofficial series of Boston posts.  I could have done a few more on the nasty places that we ate, but didn't feel the need to give them any shine.  I could have also done a composite post summing up the entire Boston experience which would give me an excuse to post more Boston photos out here.  You know...for the folks that aren't privy to the photo album I did on The Book.  Actually, I still may do that later on.  We'll see.  But as for restaurants, this one was a great one to end on.

I'm not 100% certain that I'm spelling the name right.  As you can see from the photo, they tried to get all artistic with their logo making a couple of the letters rather ambiguous.  That spelling appears to be the most accurate though.  I guess I could have looked them up online to get it 100% correct, but it's 9pm and I'm multitasking while watching the game AND the DNC so cut me some slack.

It was an accident that I even stumbled on this place from the get go.  I have been looking for a buffet restaurant like the one that Mom and Dad took me to in Bloomington ever since I last ate there months ago.  They called it a Hibachi Grill so that's what I was looking for.  But theirs was different.  It was Hibachi Grill food buffet style without the actual show.  That wasn't the case with Hichigo Ichie.

The first time  I went there it was just me and a couple of other guys from our training group.  It was a night that most of the group was staying in to study but we wanted some real food.  They gave us an option of regular dining or dinner with a show.  Of course we took the show.  We had to sit with another group of a family of 6 which we didn't know.  It didn't matter though.  We were in our world they were in theirs.  After just a few minutes of watching the chef work his magic, we immediately knew this place was the spot that was tailor-made for our particular training group.  It didn't take much discussion at all to convince the rest of the group to try it.  So for my final night there (I had to leave a day early), Hichigo Ichie it was.

I kept it simple with some steak and shrimp the first time.  The steak was alright.  The shrimp was tremendous.  Every piece was above average size yet not quite jumbo.  It was grilled just right so it wasn't too tough and still maintained a little sweet tangy flavor.  Of course that was greatly assisted by their seafood sauce that enhanced the taste even more.  I know it was only supposed to be used for seafood, but that sauce even made the steak taste better than it already was.

The second time around I switched it up and went with the fillet mignon.  Although I asked for it medium rare, it tasted closer to the medium side.  Still, even with that it had a richer taste to it than the steak did.  It only took me one bite to realize the mignon was the wiser choice.  To top it off, I tried some of their calamari appetizer.  Combining those with the mango dipping sauce made it the best appetizer I had the entire time I was in New England.

Our show the second time around wasn't near as exciting as the first time.  Due in part because our group was so big we had to have two chefs.  The chef in my group was much more low key.  It also didn't help that the folks in our group that were usually very spirited were a bit chilled out that nite too.  Now the other group had a much more animated chef who was probably the MVP of the chefs there.  We had as much fun watching him interact with the other half of our group as they did being a part of it.

If I had to pick a restaurant to have dinner at twice in two weeks then there wasn't a much better choice than Hichigos.  Not withstanding the lobster and clam chowder that I had on the coast.  But it wouldn't have been practical to go that far again just for those meals.  Hichigos was less than a minute away from our hotel.  Even within walking distance.  I may have found it by mistake but it was one of the best mistakes I've ever made.

Mattakese Wharf

Finally the moment of truth had arrived.  I wasn't the only on who had been looking forward to some fresh lobster from the coast all weekend.  Most of our training group had been talking about it all week long. Our Sunday trip to Cape Cod made that happen.  Mattakese Wharf was another restaurant we found on the internet while searching for locations that would be the best options for good seafood.  Once again, we scored big time from doing a little research.

Here was another restaurant that sat on a bay that was home to several pleasure boats.  Not so many yachts at this location though.  Also not quite as scenic as the one we saw in Rhode Island. But still  gorgeous view nonetheless.  In fact, it was also home to the whale watching boat that departed daily to take people on tours.  That was definitely something I wanted to do but didn't have time to.  It meant dedicating at least 5 hours of your time which would have meant cutting out a lot of other sightseeing.  It's definitely a bucket list item though.

Once again I made sure to get the clam chowder.  No way I was going to pass up another opportunity to get some real clam chowder on the coast.  Turned out to be another wise decision.  Theirs tasted just as amazing as the one I had at Trafford.  I only wish I would have went with the bowl size instead of the cup.  Unlike Trafford, there really was a big difference between their cup and bowl.  All that cup size did was make me angry that I didn't get a bigger fill. 

They offered their lobster in the option of either baked or broiled.  It seemed to me it would taste good either way. However, when they informed me the difference was that baked meant they did the hard work for us by already cracking it open, my choice was made.  I wasn't trying to have lobster juice flying everywhere.  And I wasn't trying to wear one of those goofy bibs they brought out either.  Plus, the broiled version came with scallops.

Interesting thing about the drinks at that spot.  Their bloody mary's came in the same Samuel Adams type glass that we got free at Doyle's due to our brewery visit.  I couldn't tell you what was in bloody mary if you paid me, but theirs sure did look good.  I'm not even talking about the alcohol part either.  They came with a HUGE jumbo shrimp cradling the top of the glass.  It almost made me want to order alcohol just for that scrimp.  Fortunately, someone in our group that did order one didn't do scrimp so I was still able to get one. 

So how was the lobster?  So good that I had to include a picture of it instead of the restaurant.  There wasn't a single thing on my plate that wasn't delicious.  Even the breaded crust in the lobster was off the chain.  But that lobster meat itself was incredible.  It made the lobster at Red Lobster (the only thing I had to compare it to up to that point) seem like it was reheated seafood.  It was just how I imagined real seafood should taste.  It was the type of juicy flavorful sensation that only comes from fresh seafood located in the same region.  Meals like that made me want to never leave the northeast.

 

Trafford Restaurant

FINALLY the weekend had come in Boston.  Our training group (or at least a select portion of us) had a full weekend planned of activities and sightseeing.  But more importantly, good food.  First up was a trip to Rhode Island.  I could finally cross seeing Rhode Island off my bucket list.  Okay...that wasn't an actual bucket list item, but getting real New England seafood was.  Trafford Restaurant in Rhode Island made that happen.

Finding a good restaurant in the area was a lot more difficult than you would imagine.  None of us were familiar with any of the restaurants in the tiny state so we had to rely on internet reviews.  And again, you have no idea how reliable any of those are.  We also used the restaurant's location to assist in our decision.  We figured if it was actually close to a bay then the likelihood was pretty great that they would have bomb seafood.  That's how Trafford Restaurant was chosen.

The first thing I immediately noticed was the amazing view the spot had.  It sat right on the edge of a bay that opened to the ocean.  Dozens of yachts of different sizes moved about and were docked just outside the restaurant.  I never thought that one of my best pics would come from a restaurant but that's exactly what happened.  I was able to capture a Rhode Island sunset from the bar patio as we waited for our food.  The entire place had breathtaking views in every direction you looked.  It was a photographer's cornucopia.

I started off with a bowl of claim chowder.  They had the option of either a cup or a bowl.  The difference was only a dollar.  However, when my bowl came out as opposed to the cup everyone else had gotten, it looked to me like it was the same amount of soup, just presented in different sized dishes.  After just one bite, I wished they would have had vat-sized.  I can NEVER eat Chunky Soup clam chowder again after having that.  Every bite had chunky and succulent seafood in it so luscious and could taste the freshness that required very little seasoning due to its natural flavor.

Trafford would have been a good spot to get lobster.  Instead, I wanted to save that for the trip to Cape Cod the following day.  I compromised though and went with a lobster roll.  I had never heard of it before getting to New England but I swear every place we went had their own version of one.  Figured it had to be pretty good.  Especially at that restaurant.  I just didn't think it would be a cold sammich.  Although even cold you could tell the distinct difference between their real lobster and crab and the canned/packaged version I would very seldom get at grocery stores back home. 

A week later, I'm still not sure which I enjoyed more about Trafford:  the ambiance or the food.  That lobster roll was really pretty decent.  However, sitting on that open patio with a 80 degree sunny weather while a soft breeze was blowing thru and a view of the sunset over the bay was beyond words.  That setting could have made any food taste good. 

Ninety-Nine

It was a given that there was going to be some hits and misses during my time in the Boston area when it came to restaurants.  Especially if we were going to be trying new places all the time.  Sure, we could get the advice from locals that were in class with us, but everyone'e palate is different.  You could trust online reviews if you want, but you can never be sure who's really writing them.  Then there are times you go with what's closest simply because you don't want to travel to far from the hotel.  Our night at Ninety-Nine was one of those nights.

Ninety-Nine is another chain restaurant that I had never seen before.  Never even heard of it.  Good or bad.  But again, it was very close to our hotel in Franklin.  Their presentation looked decent enough as far as their exterior was concerned.  They really had no place to go but up after the British Beer Company experience.

It had gotten to the point where our dining experiences in the Boston area were largely based on what places were willing to accommodate parties of our size.  We didn't always have our full training group of double digit folks.  Sometimes it was only around 8 or 9.  So the fact that this place had special booths that could be adjusted to comfortably seat 12 of us as if we were at one large table was pretty cool.

I wasn't feeling too adventurous that evening.  And their menu wasn't helping.  They seemed like your standard Applebees-type bar and grill restaurant.  Except maybe a little more seafood options than Applebees. Not that it mattered because there was no way I was getting East Coast seafood at a bar and grill type joint.  I went with the buffalo wings instead.  They were having a special of .49 cent wings that night.  And no, I didn't get 30 wings just to try to use up my per diem.  Now someone else in our party did.  Although I think it was more or less to challenge himself to see if he could actually eat 30 wings.  He did 24.

I've had better buffalo wings.  Although I've definitely had worse.  What I was not impressed with at all was their strawberry lemonade.  Now mind you, it's not like I expected it to be great in that type of establishment.  I just expected it to be decent.  I was even surprised they had it in the first place which is probably why I even ordered it.  So I probably shouldn't have been so shocked that it tasted like strawberry water.  It only took one sip to realize it was a waste.  The waitress gladly took it back.  Don't worry...I already had my food by then so there would be no spitting in it for them to get even with me.

The end of the night brought the biggest challenge for our group.  There were some drinkers and they tend to get a little vociferous when they get full.  Not a good mix for a restaurant of that caliber that was geared more towards a family environment.  Was it going to be the second place the training group got kicked out of?  Almost.  Management did "suggest" they try a bar further uptown that stayed open later.  Not to mention I noticed they were delivering the alcohol in smaller portions while still charging the normal price.

I can't judge Ninety-nine solely on the alcohol portion though.  It wouldn't quite be fair since I don't drink.  Up to that point, their service was pretty impeccable.  Unfortunately, the food wasn't enough for me to want to make another trip there.  Regardless of how close it was to the hotel. 

Legal Sea Foods

I have been to some training functions before where the training class I was with wasn't all that great.  Either they weren't a sociable group or there was always that one teacher's pet who annoyed the entire class.  There was always something that wasn't right.  That wasn't the case with this group.  In fact, one of things that worked to our advantage was we had a few people who were from around the area.  That came in extremely handy when it came time to find good restaurants.  Especially good seafood.

I may have grown up in the midwest all my life but I wasn't naive enough to realize that I couldn't get real seafood there.  It would take a trip to an area close to some real open water to get fresh seafood.  You couldn't ask for a better place to do that than Boston.  Actually, we were staying in a small town outside of Boston called Hopkinton.  No open water there, but certainly closer than the midwest.  Our local connection informed us that we could get as close as possible with Legal Sea Foods even though it was a chain.

The thing about chain restaurants is some of them are only regional.  I'm used to seeing places like Gates and Famous Daves.  They've never heard of those here.  Legal Sea Foods is chain popular in New England.  Not only do we not have it in the midwest (or Texas) but I had never heard of it.  However, I had a funny feeling that it had to be better than Red Lobster (the chain we DO know).  And keep in mind that I love me some Red Lobster.

Normally, I would have let the presence of a huge, corny looking fish on the outside give me second thoughts.  Could it have been any more corny?  But from the moment the appetizers came out, I could see the exterior meant nothing at all.  Although I'm normally not a calamari fan their Crispy Montauk calamari struck a chord.  It was regular, spicy, Rhode Island style (hot peppers and garlic).  The spices gave it an extra zest that made the calamari hard to put down.  Between those and the shrimp wontons I was confident that the actual dinner couldn't miss.

Everything on their menu looked SO good that I had a difficult time making a selection.  I decided early on that one thing that would not be an option would be lobster.  I was saving that for our trip to Rhode Island where we knew the lobster would be amazing.  So I went with the seafood casserole.  It was scallops, shrimp, lobster and scrod baked with cheese and cream sauce with a side of jalapeño cheddar polenta.  I didn't know what jalapeño cheddar polenta was but figured it was hard to go wrong with a combination that included jalapeño and cheddar.

When she brought out the dish, I was a little disappointed.  The dish the casserole came in was rather small.  It was about the same size as the dish that I've seen shrimp scampi come in as a side dish.  Looks were clearly deceiving in this case.  That small dish was deeper than I had anticipated.  And it wasn't bits of seafood in it.  It was nice-sized chunks.  Nice-sized, succulent, juicy chunks.  It was amazing. My mouth is watering again now just reminiscing about it.

Now the jalapeño cheddar polenta was something else altogether.  It was described to me from a local that it was almost like grits.  It wasn't.  Their version of it was more like a dried cornbread/crabcake hybrid.  Only without the crab.  I took one bite and quickly concluded it wasn't for me.  That was the only glitch about the experience though.  Given their other outstanding dishes and the very cordial service (although she had no place to go but up after the British Beer Company experience), I left wishing that Legal Sea Foods would expand to our area.

 

British Beer Company

So I never did get to tell you all the wonderful story about my flight to Boston.  Now that I look back on it, there wasn't much to tell.  I flew Jet Blue for the first time and was impressed with their spacious seating along with the ability to have some Directv channels available for viewing during the flight.  However, I got stuck sitting next to a cat lady whose cat crapped in the carrier halfway thru the 3-hour flight, two bickering kids in front of me and a crying baby behind me.  Thank goodness for my headphones.  That about covers the flight.

Now you can bet that with two weeks in a city that I've never been in before that there would be some eating out.  Especially since I had per diem to do it.  That meant that I would be taking every opportunity possible to try a restaurant I have never heard of and/or we didn't have back home.  Why waste per diem on eateries I can find anywhere?  I seriously doubt I'll be getting out this way again anytime soon so I've been all about experimentation while in New England.  First up was the British Beer Company.

Those of you that know anything about me are probably wondering why a person that doesn't drink would try a place like this.  Two reasons:  I remember that the Raccoon River Brewer Company in Des Moines had good food even though they were known for all their different flavors of beer so thought maybe that was the case here as well.  The other reason was even though I don't drink, most of the other folks in my training class do.  They wanted to see what it was like.  So a compromise was made.

Things weren't right from the moment we got in there.  We had a group of 15 people which didn't sit well with them.  But the place didn't take reservatioins so it's not like we could have called ahead.  They made us wait 30 minutes while they found us a table.  The "table" they found was actually two separate booths and one table top that were all in close proximity of one another.  It seemed a little odd since they had tables that could have been pushed together for one big table for all of us, but whatever.

I wasn't impressed with the menu selection at all.  Sure, I wasn't expecting to get my fill of real New England seafood in a place like that; however, I just expected there to be a little better variety.  The closest thing I could find to something I would like was the BBC steak.  Even though I knew full well that a steak in New England wouldn't taste anything near as good as one from the midwest or even Texas for that matter.  It was decent, but definitely nothing to write home to Mom about.

What was noteworthy was the customer service.  And not in a good way.  I swear our waitress was doing her best to avoid our table once we got our food.  A brotha couldn't get a refill on water to save my life.  I finally had to break down and get the attention of another waitress close by to get some more water.  Then our original waitress was the one who brought it out and had nerve to have some attitude about it.  I realized when our tab came why she wasn't going out of her way to be helpful.  The 20% gratuity was already included because of the size of our group.  Even though they split us up into three separate groups AND we had three different waitresses.

The real drama came after we started leaving in groups.  I thought that would have made it easier for them since there were less people to deal with.  I guess not.  Those of us that were ready to go home left while those that wanted to try other beers and drink more stayed.  I would find out later on that waitresses got even more rude with those that stayed.  Even went as far as refusing to serve two of the girls claiming they had already had enough to drink.  They hadn't even had a single alcoholic beverage.  Then they had the nerve to say they hope we come back again soon.  Yeah...that'll happen.

So overall, not a real good start to experiencing cuisine in the Boston area.  Fortunately, it was a location that wasn't actually in Boston so I didn't hold that against the city.  Also, it's not like it was an actual restaurant so I wasn't expecting their food to be outstanding anyway.  They didn't have to do much to exceed my preconceived low expectations and they STILL fell short.  That's one chain that can stay in the northeast.

Pluckers

Okay...I am SO far behind on my blogging that it's not even funny.  As of the writing of this post, I still have three restaurant reviews to do (if you count this one) as well as two movie reviews.  That's not even counting a brief synopsis on my trip to Boston so far.  I don't even have a viable excuse as to they aren't getting done since I haven't done a shoot in a minute.  Well, unless you count the day gig which has now been occupying my time.  So stay tuned as there's a lot I have coming up that you may (or may not) want to catch. 

First up is this Pluckers place.  If you're not familiar with the name, it's exactly what you think it would be with a name like that.  Chicken.  No clue why they couldn't have been more original.  Or at the same time, why they had to choose something that was so close to having a double entendre.  I can't even say the name with a straight face.  But Mariah wanted to eat there having heard so many great things about it.  I've been on this kick to try as many new restaurants in the area as possible so I was game.

Pluckers is yet another wing joint.  Like Buffalo Wild Winds.  And West Cyde Wings (that's an Ames thing).  And Twin Peaks (although that's a stretch for them).  And who knows how many other wing joints that are out there.  That is why I wasn't too geeked about going there.  Even less so when we got there and found out it was going to be 45 minutes to get a table.  I understand it was a Saturday night and all, but was it really that serious?  I would have thought that with all the options for restaurants that the wait wouldn't be like that.  Guess I thought wrong.

Their menu wasn't a whole lot different than any other wing place I've been to.  Except for one glaring omission:  there was no caribbean jerk wings.  I was really in the mood for those for some reason.  Wait...actually, I know the reason.  It was those caribbean jerk wings that AJ made for Fourth of July.  Yes, I'm STILL thinking about those months later.  The closest thing I could find to those were the cajun wings and the spicy ranch.  Both of them paled in comparison.  In fact, both of them were a rub instead of a sauce which disappointed me even more.

Mariah, on the other hand, went with a standard medium hot sauce.  The waiter said their medium was probably considered hot at any other wing place.  I tried it and it definitely tasted medium to me.  More importantly, it was GOOD.  It had just the right amount of spice and flavor so that you could still enjoy the wings without having to burn your mouth.  I ended up ordering extra sauces of that sauce to put on my wings.  As far as medium sauces go it was the best sauce I've ever had.

I would venture to say that Buffalo Wild Wings still has Pluckers beat when it comes to wings joints.  They just have a better variety of sauces.  That's what I look for when I got to a wing joint.  You can have as many sauces as you want but if the selection isn't that great then it doesn't matter.  Quality is always better than quantity.  That being said, Pluckers' medium sauce is about as memorable as they come.  It almost made that 45 minute wait worth it.  Almost.

 

The Ranch

Less than a week at the new gig and management announced they were taking the new talent out for lunch.  By the way, I was fortunate enough to have four other folks start around the same time I did.  It was our choice where we wanted to go.  Since I was the new Texan (that STILL sounds weird to me), I let the fellow newbies know that I didn't care where we went just as long as it was some place indigenous to Texas.  That's how they came up with The Ranch. 

The Ranch is located just a few minutes from our office in Irving. They went out of their way to make sure to they were special to Texas.  So much so that all of their food is homegrown right here in the state.  Just in case you want them to get more specific, their menu lists the exact location of where the menu item came from.  The exact town and/or city in Texas where it originated.  I guess when I told them I wanted something indigenous to Texas they could not have been more literal.

Their menu was diverse enough to cover just about every Texas-style dish you could think of.  That is if you were looking for chicken and beef.  Even fish.  Honestly, what else could you really want?  It was all looking so good that I had no idea which direction to go.  All I kept thinking was a restaurant of that nature would have me so full at lunch that trying to get thru those online courses the rest of the afternoon was going to be a huge struggle.

One of the fellow newbies who had been there before suggested the Kobe beef tacos.  I could do a whole other post on the story about how I didn't know for the longest time that Kobe beef had nothing at all to do with the Kobe that I know.  Instead, once I found out that it was actually high quality beef that is supposed to be some of the best beef around I figured it was right down my alley.  Then they put it in tacos?  Yeah, I could roll with that.

The problem I ran into was the Kobe tacos in question only came as appetizers.  Three tiny tacos.  Now I know I didn't want to get full at lunch, but that wasn't going to cut it either.  The waiter was feeling my pain and suggested I get a side of tortilla soup.  Now we were talking.  The two complimented each other very well.  Although to be honest, as good as that tortilla soup was I would have been perfectly fine with just getting a double order of the tacos.  I'll know better next time.

Some of the managers said The Ranch was a little ritzy.  They must have meant comparatively speaking.  It certainly was no McDonalds.  It reminded me of a Texas Roadhouse type flavor with its decor.  Except thankfully no peanuts all over the place.  I definitely have to try a traditional steak next time I go.  Maybe I can squeeze in another visit before I head off to Boston for training for two weeks next weekend.

Brahms Ice Cream

I knew when I came down here that one thing that would be increasing was my visits to new restaurants.  The good thing about that is even if they were chains they would still be new to me.  There are so many chains down south that we didn't have in Iowa.  So with that being the case then that also gives me the opportunity to share my experience with you all.  Or should I say my critique?

Elijah suggested Brahms when we were trying to find some place to get ice cream.  I would have been fine with good ol' fashioned Dairy Queen.  Especially since there is one right around the corner from the house.  Until Elijah informed me that it's nearly the only one in McKinney.  Which would explain why it's always packed.  And I wanted to try new things anyway so Brahms it was.

I was looking for something they had closest to the Blizzard.  I think it was the Mix?  Only I didn't see any flavors I liked.  And of course they didn't have that infamous caramel candy apple shake that I've been trying to find ever since Kool Moo.  Therefore, I decided to play it safe and go with a regular strawberry shortcake.  With nuts.  And caramel.  EXCELLENT choice.  The ice cream itself didn't taste a whole lot different than any other vanilla ice cream I've had (with the exception of Blue Bell) but the combination of all of that with the nuts was AMAZING. 

Brahms also had a regular food section must like DQ has.  Their new 4 cheese burger looked good in the picture which was good enough for me.  I swear that joint was up faster than a McDonald's order.  Was it already ready in the back and they just nuked it?  I really should have paid closer attention.  Whatever the case, it was tastier than I expected.  It reminded of a large version of a slider burger.  Without the slider burger effect.  It may have been the 4 different types of cheeses helping it out though.

But it was that strawberry shortcake that really got me.  I've already been back there again for more.  I need watch it or I'll be as big as a house.  Between that and Blue Bell ice cream, I'm going to end up as big as a house if I don't watch it.  And this only one of a few different restaurants I have to report on.  And this is only the first week here.