Okay, so it's been awhile...I'll admit, since I last shared my coffee and cuisine adventures but hopefully in the coming days I'll do better. I've been to coffee and had many a brunch and seen a silly shirt or two and now hope to recall all the nitty gritty details for the two of 'you' that read this. Monday, Feb 15th. My lovely sister Carmen asked the night before if I was available the next morning for Breakfast, it was to be a kid friendly excursion with our sister Suzanne and her four children along with my Lorelei. We were all meeting up with Carmen's friend and his daughters, along with his grandson the youngest three kids all 2 days to 2 months apart... needless to say, with 6 kids, all under 6 years of age, brunch had to be at a family friendly place. Enter Dilly Deli it is a wonderful Brunch place located in Tulsa, Oklahoma at 2nd & Elgin, Downtown. I haven't had biscuits that good since my Dad used to make them for us when I was a kid, that was a long time ago. No one makes good biscuits, and I've been looking. Some places make 'okay' biscuits but mostly I get toast, because the only thing you can do to ruin that is to burn it. The Food: What can I say? it was amazing! it was as good and some things better than what I make at home. [and let me tell you, I'm no greenhorn] I'll let a few of their own Menu discriptions speak for themselves.
A cinnamon roll as big as your head! This is one big mama.
[This is not what I ordered but I'm getting it next time!!! it looked amazing and I'm sure it was as big as Jed's head]
THE G-PA: 2 homemade buttermilk pancakes
SIMON: 2 Heath Bar, banana & caramel pancakes
MEL & NORMA: 2 chocolate chip pancakes
SWEET CAROLINE: 2 strawberry shortcake pancakes
BECK: 2 M&M pancakes
[The M&M pancakes were a unanimus vote for the three oldest kids; they usually pick the same thing but besides that fact i'm pretty sure they'd still pick these although I might have gone for the 'Sweet Caroline' or even the 'G-PA' myself, but I'm content with my choice and given the smiles on their faces, I think they were too. ]
All omelettes come with potatoes and a side of bread
THE BIEHLER: our Denver omelette - onions, peppers, ham & cheese
CHRISTINE: just ham & cheese, please
HEIDI: tomato, spinach & feta cheese
DRU: bacon, ham, sausage & cheese
["Can I have an Omlette please? " "Which one?" "all of them! They all sound so yummy I just might need to try them all"] The Decor: Well, there wasn't much to speak of. The walls were painted a limy-minty green, the floor- cement, the chalkboard- full of fun pictographs, a pastry case with cinnamon rolls and other great things, and big wooden tables, with small bistro tables and a lovely mish-mash of chairs, oh and a wonderful bunch of cooks and servers... I like it,a lot but with one caveat... the coffee- it was too strong, bitter and kinda yucky...go to Doubleshot at 18th & Boston for coffee and stick to the orange juice here! it's way better.This was a rather interesting evening, as were most of those spent in my hometown of Tulsa, these past couple of weeks. Let me preface this little description with an explanation of why I’m writing this- blah blah blah…so, I spend a majority of my time in the busy [and currently freezing!] city of Chicago, attending design school at an art school- anyway, I was home for Christmas and New Year’s and that is where this story begins. A good friend whom I’ve known for half my life had asked me several times when we could get together and go out, and because his schedule never seemed to mesh with mine, we’d not gotten together and the time for my return to Chicago was coming we’d decided to just go out the Sunday before New Year’s. Well, that was a convoluted mess. Anyway I’m just going to describe the getting coffee part. Ok I’m not going to sugar coat this! You should never ever get a paper cup before a ceramic one! This has become a pet peeve of mine as of late and after reviewing a previous post realized that I have the same complaints here as I did there… After entering the Nordaggio’s location at 81st & Lewis, The Plaza, for those of you who know Tulsa, my friend David and I approached the counter and were greeted by both employees working behind the counter this was nice and always is. I always love talking to the Barista, server, waiter/waitress or whoever is behind the counter at any given place I go. I think it either greatly adds or detracts from ones experience. I don’t know about anyone but myself, but I don’t go out much, this is mostly my own choice, I generally prefer to cook myself, or what have you. But if and when I decide to visit a particular restaurant or coffee shop it had better be amazing. I really don’t think that it is too much to ask for good quality food/drink, a pleasant experience and decent service…on the flip side though, the ‘customer’ should also have manners as well, but that’s another story. So while my friend is deciding on is order the Americano I ordered is being made… it was strange but I asked for a small Americano, which has become my new standard, and the guy asked if I wanted “room for cream”. This question threw me off a bit and this is what went through my head while I was searching for something to say… “Room for cream! What in the world?” Once I figured out what he was asking I said “No” [I said “No” because I’d never heard of anyone putting cream in an Americano, I mean if you want cream, just order a latte or a regular coffee…don’t ruin a perfectly good Americano with cream – this way of thinking is all thanks to my friend Brian, who has taught me all I know about coffee, and thus spoiled me for life- never can I go back to the days when I thought QT ‘cappuccino’s’ and Starbucks mochas were a good thing.] Back to the story… as David finally ordered his mint-chocolate blended concoction that bears no resemblance to coffee, my Americano was being handed over the counter to me in an obviously too small styro-paper container. One could tell it was too small especially since the guy passing it too me spilled it, only an ounce or so but it got all over his hand, the counter and the cup… I was disappointed. I wasn’t asked if I wanted a paper cup and I hadn’t said my order was “to go” and I still got a paper cup. I assumed that because no one had asked and I’d not mentioned it was to go that I would get a ‘real’ cup. I was wrong, and you know what they say about assuming, well I really don’t know what ‘they’ really say about it, but I can imagine it would go something like this…”one should never assume, because it will probably be the wrong assumption”. Anyway I got some napkins to clean up the coffee and attempted to put a lid on the mini cup but even the small ‘to go’ lids were too big, and after saying something about the horrible cup and how I’d wanted a “real” cup. David asked the guy for a real one and this time I got a cup and a saucer! The Americano wasn’t quite as good as I would have hoped, but it was decent, especially after I poured it into a real cup. It was a bit on the acidic side…I think that’s the right term…it the flavor was a bit sharp and not as smooth as one would have liked and this obscured the flavor of the coffee…oh, well…maybe next time.
Starbucks State & Jackson St in Chicago A Latte and a Muffin…'Tall’ that was anything but tall, it was small. “What size did you want?” “A small” I said *** “Tall Latte!” she shouts back over her shoulder to the ‘Barista’. I don’t know if I should really even call her a Barista, because she really didn’t do much more than push a few buttons on the machine, but… anyway. The seats were comfortable and although the extent of my coffee conversation with the people behind the counter was somewhat minimal, it was pleasant. They didn’t ask if the order was “to go” they just assumed and the woman behind me had already ordered her sugar-free coffee with skim milk or whatever it was before I’d even moved the 2 ft over to pay. My muffin came, not on a plate but in a bag. I’m not sure that I liked this very much. I went to go sit down and found what I thought would be a comfortable place to sit, it was comfortable well, the chair was comfortable and the ottoman was good but there was a horrible draft, or maybe it was the air-conditioning, I don’t know, but it was uncomfortable. I came into Starbucks only because it was literally an assignment for one of my design classes. I was told to write an analysis on Starbucks specifically and that I should order something and stay for a while to really grasp the atmosphere of the space and so on. Conversations in this place are always oddly entertaining, but nothing is more annoying than a cell phone going off. I hate cell phones [in general] they never ring when you want them to or they ring exactly when you don’t. The woman sitting next to me started talking on her phone…something about brunch plans and the like…I will be trying out “The Orange Peel” as soon as I figure out where it is… Ok, after that segue, I’ll get back to the point… which today is the coffee [I’ll forgo the interior description and analysis]. Watery…and too foamy! the coffee that is (I didn’t think that latte’s had foam…cappuccinos yes, lattes no.) Where is the crema? And then there is that underlying burnt taste that would completely obliterate a good latte if in fact this were one. Oh,and lets not forget the ubiquitous paper cup, that was thrust upon me instead of a nice ceramic one, which they didn't even ask about. I dislike being cold and it was so exceptionally cold in that store that I didn’t even unzip my jacket let alone unwind my orange Pashmina that encircled my neck…Ugh! That disgusting coffee aftertaste has set in… you know the bad coffee kind and on top of that my latte which was at first too hot, is now cold. It wasn’t good enough to drink faster. I’ll give my personal coffee advice next time but until then…save your money and your taste buds, forgo the Starbucks.
It has been a little while since posting last, and although I have not been anywhere monumental. I will soon be updating with a food/ drink experience I was forced into...not fun, but still good to do on occasion. For the time being enjoy living, and drink good coffee. Go to DoubleShot!
