WIAW: Travel Edition

Warning: It's gonna be a long one and it's all about food. Thank God for Jen, who decided to get all us crazies who are obsessed with food together every Wednesday to drool over one another's good eats :)

If you've never heard of WIAW (What I ate Wednesday), head over to Peas and Crayons and check it out! This month is all about veggies, and while my 100% clean eating ended January 26th - a big portion of what I eat is plant based and I try to keep it that way year round (big splurge on Friday though...keep reading).

  I spent last week in Tucson where the temperature should have been a balmy 75 or so, but never quite got out of the 50's. I may have whined about that a bit. Then I came home where a blasting 20 degree wind smacked me in the face, and I kind of started to miss that breezy Tucson weather...and its shopping - H&M, Banana Republic, Delia's and many more under one roof?!
Yes, please.

 

But you know what I'm really here to tell you about is the food:

 

We arrived pretty hungry Monday night. My co-worker was in the mood for steak. My only stipulation was that I be able to leave on my travel attire which consisted of an Aeropostale jacket and American Eagle sweatshirt, thus looking like a sloppy college kid. We settled on Firebird Grill (where there were some casual diners, but I probably should have tried a little harder).

The reviews we found before heading out said the place would make you feel like you were in a really nice lodge, and that pretty much sums up the vibe. A huge cackling fire, exposed wood beams, low lighting and stone walls.

I was a little worried when I first viewed the menu as the majority of entree options were red meat, and I was way too hungry to settle for a salad. I wound up choosing the Sesame Encrusted Salmon with mustard aioli, Parmesan mashed potatoes and fried spinach. Yes, I said fried spinach. Not like deep fried or anything, I'm thinking maybe it was an oven version because it was really just crispy and drizzled with oil...oh my yum. I was not disappointed with any of the meal, and particularly loved the mustard and spinach. If you're in Tucson this is definitely a place to try!

 

 A few nights later I went to dinner with some new friends I met at the conference. After finding out the wait was too long at the first restaurant, we settled on North, an Italian eatery right beside Firebird.

While I really like Italian, I gotta admit - I'll pretty much pick Olive Garden over any of the "fancy" restaurants every day. My mom still gets me an Olive Garden gift card every year for Christmas.
Just call me classy.

The ambiance at this restaurant was really cool. The dining room is basically a big circle surrounded by glass, facing an open kitchen so you can see outside as well as the meal being prepared. A few things I did not like: I do not speak or read Italian, and both the menu items and categories were listed this way. Maybe this makes me sound like an uncultured redneck, but hey - I don't know what Salumi means ok? Why don't you just say cured pig!?

Also, maybe another redneck issue, but you have to buy bread as an appetizer. At an Italian restaurant!? I don't even eat bread, but it just seems weird to not have it on the table at an Italian restaurant.

Ok, so more importantly - do you know one of the best part of making new friends?

They let you take pictures of their food! And they don't roll their eyes like your husband other people who may happen to live with you and eat dinner with you quite often. They don't say things like "you're going to run the battery down on your phone just from taking pictures" as if it's a federal crime. No, they just smile and perhaps think to themselves "this little KY girl is weird", then scoot their plate over into the light. It makes me happy.

 

From top left: 1) Calamari (which was basically a salad with a few pieces of fried calimari on top) and grilled artichoke, 2) New York Strip, 3) Braised Beef Short Ribs and 4) Chicken & Proscuitto with CrispyPotatoes ...ok, I may have the ribs and steak backwards because they look the same in these pics and I don't even eat red meat so what do I know?

Not pictured - my own Mafaldine which is spicy rock shrimp in a white wine, fennel, tomato, basil, garlic and chili sauce. It wan't as pretty as everyone else's but was nice and creamy with a little kick.
I don't think anyone was overly impressed with the meal. I heard comments like "too fatty" "too salty" and "where's the calamari?" a few times, but it was a cool place to try.

I left to fly home at 5 am on Friday and Jody met me at the airport in Nashville. My flight got delayed an hour due to a broken part (luckily I saw the maintenance guy walk by with a roll of duct tape - whew, what a save). Jody hadn't slept since the day before due to work, so needless to say he was a little grumpy. We found a room and crashed, but a few hours later I was ready to hit the town!

Jody was just hitting his REM sleep point.

I woke him up anyway, because I'm totally insensitive sweet like that, and...

we had reservations at the Melting Pot!!!

Now, before I launch into this monograph of fondue amazingness I must provide a disclaimer:

I realize these are not "clean eats" I'm about to show you and no, I'm not supposed to eat dairy. But I really, really, really wanted to eat there, and I've wanted Jody to try it as long as we've been married.

So I woke his butt up and broke all my food rules because let's face it - rules are made to be broken. And when you're in another zip code it's not really cheating, right?

I'M TALKING ABOUT FOOD PEOPLE!

 

 Ok, so the Melting Pot is an all fondue restaurant with locations across the country (even Hawaii), plus one in Mexico and Canada. Nashville's location is right in the heart of downtown in an old cellar. I've been to the Atlanta location as well, and definitely liked the feel of this better. I made our reservation the night of, then had to bump it back about 30 minutes and we still got seated right away. Well, right after they took our complimentary photo where I'm staring off into space and Jody is obviously still asleep:

 

Once we were seated I started trying to explain all the different options to Jody who is still looking at me like "please just let me go back to bed" and "I can't believe you dragged me to a fondue restaurant - this is totally for chics."

 

Thank God our awesome server Joshua came along and did a much better job of explaining how the meal would work. We decided to go for the full four course option beginning with the fiesta cheese and strawberry almond salad.

 

I guess the cheese was fine, but since I haven't had an actual dairy cheese dip in a while it just didn't do much for me. This salad however? I should have just licked the plate. Jody agreed that it was amazing as well.

 

For the main entree, Jody went with the Fusion option which included lobster tail, duck, pork and sirloin. Naturally I chose the vegetarian option with artichoke, mushroom sachetti, potatoes, brocooli and portobello.

 

No matter where we eat, I pretty much always find something that is "delicious" and "amazing" or just makes me smile. Jody on the other hand, thinks EVERYTHING is "alright."

Jody, how's your steak?  It's alright.
Jody, did you like that movie? It was alright.
Jody, do you love me? You're alright.
Jody, was it a big buck? OH MAN, IT WAS AMAZING AND MY BOW! OH, I LOVE MY BOW!!

Ok, I may have gotten slightly off subject...

So anyway, there I was picking out my favorite veggies and going on and on about which ones taste best and how long they should be cooked when I realize not only am I having a conversation with Jody about my food, but he's doing the same thing with his!

Then he said it...

"This food is wonderful. I love it! And we got the best server."

We could have ended there and it would have been worth every stinking penny...The Melting Pot had, for at least a night, turned MY husband into a foodie.

But then, oh then it came my friends. It came in all its sugary, unclean, melty glory:

 

 SMORES CHOCOLATE FONDUE

 

Can you hear the angels singing?

 

You better believe we used every last strawberry, graham cracker, marshmallow, banana and rice krispie treat to lick up that yumminess.

 

So obviously, I highly recommend the Melting Pot. It is expensive if you do the full meal option, but totally worth it for a special occasion or for us - a once in 10 years event! (Although now that Jody has tried and LOVED it maybe it won't be so long next time). You really do get an experience more than just a meal so if there's one near you and you've never been - go!

 

So there you go: three reviews in one WIAW! Making up for lost time I guess :)

 

 

What about you? Ever been to a Melting Pot?

Any restaurant you've wanted to try?

Do you dress like a slob when you fly? I can't stand those girls who have on their cutest outfit, boots and full hair and make up!! Ugh - I just want to be them...but alas, I can't make myself do it.