Alphageek Talks Food

Bistro Bethem, Fredericksburg, VA

2013-01-26T18:27:00.001-05:00

January 25, 2013. We heard about restaurant week here in Fredericksburg. The most difficult decision was: where to eat? Mrs. ag did the research, and gave me some choices, I selected Bistro Bethem because it relied on variety a little more than some of the other possibilities. As soon as we entered, and noticed the packed but efficient restaurant, we had a good feeling about our dinner choice.

A couple of random pieces of data before we get into the meal reviews. During restaurant week, every meal costs $20.13. Bistro Bethem offered a tasting menu that allowed ordering a three course meal. There are many participating restaurants in Fredericksburg, and it is an opportunity to try somewhere new to eat. Make sure you call for reservations because everywhere is really full of people out to do the same thing: try new restaurants. I was not able to take any pictures because the restaurant is very dark at night. Great atmosphere may not make the best picture taking.

I started out with a Bistro Manhattan. I say "buy it". It is the most enjoyable Manhattan I have had in some time.

For the first course, I selected Beet Gin Cured Salmon Lox with housemade mustard, hard boiled egg, pickled carrots & daikon, and toast. Mrs ag had the Dragon Creek Fried Oysters with white cabbage & carrot slaw, and mojo sauce.

The salmon had a slightly sweet flavor from the beets, and made great little combinations to try with the other items on the plate. The alphageek loves mustard, and this mustard was some of the best I have sampled in a while. I tried one of Mrs ag's oysters, and they were great. I was drawn to the fact they were served very hot, and the temperature added to the great crisp finish to the oysters. If the rest of the meal was like this, we were already going to come back sometime.

For the second course, I went with Grilled Heart of Romaine with feta, pickled onions, and a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. Mrs ag went with the Roasted Beet Salad with goat cheese, greens, walnuts, roasted red beets & vinaigrette. She enjoyed her salad. I found my salad to be an excellent play on food. The grilled taste of the romaine tricked my mind into thinking I was eating a hamburger. I guess the alphageek brain associates warm lettuce with a hamburger. The grilled romaine had just the right amount of dressing to allow all of the flavors to show through, without overpowering the ingredients.

For the final course, I tried Pork 2 Ways: Pork cheeks & crispy pork belly, potato puree, and rapini. Mrs. ag went with Backyard smoked Lamb shoulder ragout, ricotta gnudi, Local North Cove Shiitake mushrooms, San Marzano tomato sauce, ricotta, and bread crumbs. I tried a little of Mrs. ag's lamb, and found the balance of smoke and flavor to be almost perfect. I tried the pork because I have had pork belly before and said: what is the big deal. I was supposed to be a good place when I tried the pork belly before, but I just got some strange chewy mess. Bistro Bethem can proudly say they showed me what pork belly is all about, and it was a great learning experience. It was a great crispy flavor that exploded with delight each time I sampled it. The pork cheek was a great contrast, due to the great tenderness the port cheek exhibited. I simply loved the dish. By the way rapini is not my thing. I promise I tried.

Online, I read some criticism of portion sizes at Bistro Bethem. The alphageek will never be mistaken for a light eater, and I certainly left full.

I decided to go for some desert. I could not help myself because they were offering homemade doughnuts. They were perfectly fried, and served very hot. I think there might have been a crumb or two left on the plate, but I thought it would be rude to lick the plate.

While restaurant week pushed us into trying something new, we now will add Bistro Bethem to our list of must try places. Heck, I would go back again for the great Manhattan alone.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

Midnight Moon Moonshine, Apple Pie Flavor

2013-01-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

Things have been busy here on your favorite site. I guess it is your favorite site, because I don't get many random readers on these non-restaurant review posts. Seriously, leave a comment if you don't know the alphageek in real life because I suspect I know both of my readers. Short an simple today. We have a companion site that gets all of the distilled spirits reviews, at least for now. Today, we tried some Midnight Moon Moonshine, Apple Pie Flavor. You should really go over there to check out the review. We don't have any adds over there, it is just a labor of love. Oh, you should take a look at the pictures because they were extra good. How is that for self promotion? Take me to the review!

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Keller's Bakery, Linthicum Heights MD

2012-12-20T19:59:00.000-05:00

Short and sweet sums up the post and the doughnut I had very nicely. I had a recommendation to try out the doughnuts at Keller's Bakery. I heard they were something special. I decided to try a simple doughnut myself, and write a quick review.

Take a look at the doughnut below. The doughnut is chocolate, with some chocolate sprinkles on it. I expected a syrupy and sweet taste, just like any old chain of doughnut store can give. When I bit into the treat, I realized I could not have been more wrong. This was a great, chocolaty treat. I got almost a mild bitter chocolate taste that made this a unique taste. I was glad to drive a few miles out of my way to try something different and unique.

Chocolate Donut

You should stop by and get a doughnut, if you are the kind of person that wants to try something different, that you can't just get anywhere. They have a many other baked goods there, as well as more doughnuts. If you are the kind of person that thinks Five Guys makes the best hamburgers, you will be happy with Dunkin' Donuts. To find Keller's Bakery, you can either use the map below, or click on this link

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

EarthDog Cafe & Bar, Berkeley Springs, WV

2012-10-10T18:33:00.000-04:00

Guess what? We were on the road again. Many of these reviews start this way, but what the heck, we are trying to explore a little while we are on vacation. We took one look at this restaurant on our trip from home, and saw a smoker outside. Right then, we decided to stop in for lunch, if we were here somewhat close to lunchtime. We are glad we did stop and find a great traveling stop. Yes, this one is worth getting off the "big road" to visit.
This is an alphageek kind of place. From the outside, it is not fancy by any means. However, that smoker out front is a great advertisement. We stepped inside, and we saw that we had missed the lunch crowd. All the better to find a table with some good lighting, and take notes for a review.

I decided before we even stopped that I was getting some sort of BBQ. Mrs. alphgeek decided that she wanted to read the entire menu, and then make a decision. She finally decided on hash made with corned beef, eggs and some home fries. I decided on Love Me Two Times Baby. I got to enjoy brisket and ribs, and selected green beans and potato salad as my sides. I really wanted to make some sort of Doors joke here, but I just don't have anything. Can someone share a joke?

The hash is covered up by the eggs, which is a shame because it was pretty darn good. The has had some nice chunks of corned beef in there, giving the hash a great taste. I certainly like the sample I was given.

Hash, Eggs and Home Fries

Below is Love Me Two Times Baby. The meats were well cooked, with just enough sauce for flavor, but not to cover up the fact that the meat was well cooked, and moist. It was a pleasure to enjoy. I would like a little more smoke flavor in the meat, but Mrs. alphageek says that I like meat to taste like tree bark, so maybe I am a little hard to please. I also enjoyed the green beans being steamed, and not cooked until they were mush. This meal was more "old school" barbecue, with more traditional sides.

Love Me Two Times Baby

We did notice that this restaurant was not as highly ranked as usual on urbanspoon. I can only tell you that we enjoyed our meals, and would stop by again, if we were in the area. Most of the complaints on urbanspoon centered on service, and seemed a little unfair. The complaints were along the lines of "I have eaten here ten times, and loved it. This time, the service was bad, so I am trashing them" which does not seem a good way to grade a restaurant.
Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

Rickard Ridge BBQ, Carryville TN

2012-10-08T12:56:00.000-04:00

We were on vacation. We were in need of dinner after exploring some amazing arch formations. Check those arch formations out, by the way. So when we found a bbq place down the road a little way, we decided that we needed to check out this little bbq place in a state park, called Rickard Ridge BBQ.
The first thing we noticed was that this was your standard "state park" looking place. The alphageek sometimes wonders if the same company builds every state park in the United States. All state parks seem to have the same look and feel. The second thing we noticed was that the restaurant was having live bluegrass night. Because we thought we might want to chat, we asked to be seated in the back, and the staff happily accommodated us. In the end, the level of the live music was just fine, and not so loud as to ruin a meal. Live music must be pretty common here. As the band was playing, members of the audience would join in for various songs, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Even though we are not bluegrass folks, we enjoyed it too.

We took some pictures, but they are just not up to standards, so this review is short and sweet.

It seems like bbq places these days are "new school" and "old school". New school seem to pay a lot of attention to changing the experience by adding some newer, more creative side offerings to the usual fries, hush puppies and cole slaw experience. Old school places are all smoked meat, with the kind of sides that are never going to out shine the main course. This place seems old school to me, in case you care about that sort of thing.

The menu mentioned several house specialties. Picking from those specialties, we settled on ribs with green beans and sweet potato fries for me, with smoked chicken thighs, onion rings and a house salad for Mrs. ag.

When the ribs arrived they were good, but perhaps a little dry that day. The tastes were excellent, and certainly still very good. I fixed them up with a little sauce, which was smokey as well, with a touch of sweetness. The green beans and sweet potato fries were good, but nothing other than a side to some good bbq.

How were those thighs? If we are ever back there again, we will be getting those chicken thighs again. They were smoked to perfection, and the meat was moist and tender. They were rubbed with a touch of seasoning as well. We made sure to get a to go box for those thighs, and mrs ag was nice enough to let me have them for lunch the next day.

We left satisfied, enjoyed the music a little before we left. Certainly, Rickard Ridge BBQ is worth a stop in, rather than stopping at some boring fast food chain.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack, Asheville, NC

2012-10-07T12:25:00.000-04:00

We found Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack by accident, but it was a good accident. They serve some excellent chicken, with great varieties of heat seasoning. The side dishes are worth checking out as well. We stepped up,and one thing was abundantly clear about Rocky's: they take their heat seriously. They just don't have hot or mild, but instead offer a range of heat flavors and tastes for every palette.

I am not going to walk you through some complicated review on this one. You should try Rocky's for several outstanding reasons. They have a little different take on heat. I ordered a medium hot, and it was plenty hot for someone that likes spicy food. They offer other hot and spicy flavors as well, that could keep someone coming back for weeks just to try all the flavor combinations.

They know how to fry chicken here. You should stop by if you want a change of pace from the usual fast food chicken places.

The sides were very tasty, with a nice touch of fresh herbs. Anything with sweet potato in it is worth a look, and they nailed sweet potatoes here.

Morsi's Mediterranean Grill, Fredericksburg VA

2012-10-06T12:45:00.001-04:00

October 5, 2012
On this site, we are not much of an opening restaurant kind of site. We usually like to let things settle out after a restaurant opens, and then go over and see the restaurant in steady state. However, Morsi's Mediterranean Grill has something that is becoming habit forming to the alphageek: kabobs. Kabobs may or may not be becoming more of a meal trend, but kabobs certainly are getting more attention here on the site lately. The desire for kabobs won out over the new opening of the restaurant, and the result is this review After walking in to eat, something jumped right out at me. The restaurant only offered drinks from a cooler, or a fountain. While I like my cola products as much or more than the next guy, the drink offerings took away from what is an interesting interior with about ten tables.

I took a quick look at the menu, and noticed many interesting, Mediterranean inspired dishes. Even the burger menu continues the theme with some offerings of interest. Don't worry, there is the good old fashioned cheeseburger too, in case you have a less adventurous dining friend with you. Yes, to answer what is becoming a common question, there are a few vegetarian options on the menu as well.

I picked the Lamb Kofta Kabob. The menu says this is ground lamb with parsley, garlic, cilantro, onions ginger and other seasonings. I will just walk you around the plate below, and give you some thoughts on each item. The alphageek loved the touch of the dish that separated the food. The food was all served hot, which added to the enjoyment. No half done things here.

The veggies in the center were lightly steamed, and still a little crunchy. The chick peas in the upper left hand corner were great and seasoned with some turmeric and other spices. They were a touch oily, but nothing offensive or greasy. The salad is hiding in the upper right hand corner, under some sort of crouton like thing. It is a shame the salad was covered up by the crunchies, because it was a darn good salad that deserved more attention. I recommend getting rid of the crunch, and enjoying the salad below. In the front, we the star, the Lamb Kofta Kabob. It was grilled well, without being overcooked, and was everything I wanted a kobob to be, without the stick. The listed seasonings made for a great piece of grilled lamb, and worth going back for again and again.

Lamb Kofta Kabob (click to enlarge)

Out of the picture is some bread that was advertised as naan, served with some mint chutney. The naan was not the best naan I ever had, but the chutney was great. I decided to enjoy the chutney on the rice, and was rewarded with a minty, hot seasoning that was fun to try.

While I ate there, I noticed at least three people ask for take out menus, so it would appear they enjoyed their food too.

Kabobs are starting to be a theme here, so keep checking back if you are an aficionado of seasoned and grilled meat. Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Defending the Banana Split

2012-09-22T15:45:00.001-04:00

This article was inspired by a podcast I was listening to. The podcast is called simply The Sporkful and is usually about some sort of debate about the best way to enjoy food. Most of the time I listen and perhaps voice an opinion or two to Mrs. alphageek while we are driving somewhere or other. However, this episode of the Sporkful got me fired up. Yes, it got me fired up enough to write a rebuttal. What could get the alphageek going? The Banana Split, pure and simple.
This particular podcast is about bananas, and is entertaining, as is everything on the podcast. The podcast was going along nicely, when all of the sudden, the banana split was vigorously attacked. I simply cannot let this attack go without simply saying: banana splits are great.
One point was that the banana was not front and center. I say, where are you getting those banana splits? Here is one I got recently, and the banana was clearly a star, and easily located. This location allowed the banana to be enjoyed with every bite of ice cream, until the end. The alphageek says great eating.

The other point was one should cut up the banana and simply sprinkle the chunks upon an ice cream treat. This is simply a bad idea because the banana will turn brown if cut up before hand, and if cut fresh, there are too many cuts to make a banana split quickly. The banana split below requires one cut to prepare. This technique allows for quick preparation rather than wasting time cutting up a soft fruit that is easily enjoyed with a spoon.

Go out and enjoy a great banana split today, and defend the treat today.

Banana Split (click to enlarge)

Mom

2012-09-11T21:21:00.000-04:00

On agtf, nobody gets a name. They always get some sort of nickname that describes who and what they are. Most of them, you have met at one time or another. Mrs. alphageek, anti-alphageek, retired lawman and others quickly come to mind.

Today, is about someone who needs no nickname, Mom. The alphageek's Mom passed away recently, and they alphageek is going to tell you a little about her. Some memories will be food, and some will be other influences, but this is my column, and I get to write what I want. I hope if you know Mom, you will take a minute to reflect about her.

Truly, there would be no agtf without Mom. At an early age, Mom taught the alphageek how to appreciate food. Before the alphageek had gone all the way to being the great geek he is, there was this little pile of putty, waiting to be formed into something or other. Mom was always trying to teach the alphageek to try new foods. She did what would work with a geek and tried patience. She got the alphageek to try crepes.

Mom-Do you want to try crepes?

Pre-alphageek-Craps? What are craps? Sounds awful. (Try to imagine a whiny 6 or 7 year old, not a whiny middle aged man here.)

Mom, CREPES, and they are just like pancakes, and you can have them for dinner. Crepes even have whipped cream on them.

Pre-alphageek-Pancakes for dinner? Count me in!

Sometimes, the examples were a little more out there, but those are the lessons that stick to this day. Mom always cooked dinner, but at some point, got a little tired of the usual dinner routine. The pre-alphageek liked the dinner routine. After all, geeks like their order of things. She started, shall we say tweaking(?) her recipes for beloved dishes like lasagna. The pre-alphageek had no taste for things like spinach in lasagna. While the alphageek to this day does not really like to many variations on lasagna, there was another benefit. Yes, the pre-alphageek was allowed to eat something else, as long as pre-alphageek cooked it. While heating up a can of soup or Chef Boy r Dee might not seem like much, when I got to college, I was not afraid of cooking, and I owe my love of cooking to experimental lasagna. Hey, it was only soup, but you should have seen my roommate who ate the same thing every day, to avoid cooking.

I suppose every Mom makes a favorite dish, and mine would be no exception. She had this recipe for Tamale Pie that I loved. It was basically cornbread on top of some quick chili and was prepared in a frying pan, and the cornbread then baked in the oven. If I were asked to serve you something reminds me of Mom, and inspires me to cook, it would be this simple dish.

In another break with the rules here on agtf, we are going to have a recipe. You can find this recipe right here at http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/31953 , or you can just read below. I guess that is another rule broken.

Ingredients

Tamale Filling

2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

1 Medium onion , minced

2 tablespoons Chili powder

Salt

2 Medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)

1 pound Ground sirloin (lean)

1 (15.5-ounce) can Black beans , drained and rinsed

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes , drained

3 ounces Cheddar cheese , shredded (1 cup)

2 tablespoons Minced fresh cilantro leaves

Ground black pepper

Cornbread Topping

3/4 cup Unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)

3/4 cup Yellow cornmeal (3 3/4 ounces)

3 tablespoons Sugar

3/4 teaspoon Baking powder

3/4 teaspoon Baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Salt

3/4 cup Buttermilk

1 large egg

3 tablespoons Unsalted butter , melted and cooled

Preparation

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. For the tamale filling: Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, chili powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Stir in the ground sirloin, beans, and tomatoes, and bring to a simmer, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. Stir the cheddar and cilantro into the filling and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. For the cornbread topping: Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk and egg together. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture until uniform. Stir in the butter until just combined.

5. Dollop the cornbread batter evenly over the filling and spread into an even layer. Bake until the cornbread is cooked through in the center, 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve.

If you are just here for the food, you can probably just stop reading right now. Like I said, this is my forum, and I get to say what I want. I have some other happy memories that I want to share.

The alphageek is clearly, through and through, a Hokie. Mom knew this before I did. The alphageek headquarters that this great writing comes to you from has an Orange and Maroon theme. While diplomas and pictures line the walls, there is something that is now in a shadow box, in a place of honor. When I was about 9 years old, Mom gave me a sports pennant. I was wondering why she did not get me one that was for my favorite NFL team, the Redskins, so I asked. She told me that I had been questioning my NFL allegiance lately (I was going through a Steelers phase), but she knew that I would always be a Virginia Tech guy. Little did I know how right she was. When the time to apply to college came, there was only one place I have ever applied: Virginia Tech. That simple banner has been with me every place I have ever lived, and is adorned with three simple letters: VPI. Some folks at Virginia Tech did not understand the pennant, but even then, that pennant was something I wanted to show off. Today, it hangs over the door to the headquarters, and I can look up at it from the desk where I work and draw inspiration from the moment the pennant was given to me.

So the alphageek is at college, and decides to join the Marching Virginians. Little did the members of the band know that the alphageek had already been to practice, long before the other members. When he was a youngster, Mom used to take him and his sister to watch the Marching Virginians practice. Little did he know what an influence watching practice would be.

Mom liked music. I guess her influence was pretty strong. My sister, anti-alphageek, is now embroiled in the field of music, and actually makes a living in music, which is not something every music lover/performer can say. The music influence was a little more subtle with the alphageek, but he chose to be an electrical engineer, so that he could understand how an amplifier worked. I guess there are worse ways to pick a career! Years later, the satisfaction of being able to listen to an interview with Tomlinson Holman or Bob Heil and follow their discussions of music technology would not have happened without first going to those band practices all those years ago. It was a great way to combine art and engineering.

Well, of course this column could go on and on. When I originally drafted the idea, there were many more lines to work in. However, what I shared today just feels right, and that is the final lesson for this column. While one can become the alphageek, learn many great geek things, such as what THX is and how MP3s really work, sometimes one just has to trust their feelings because there will be situations that geek things just can't answer.

Usually, this column ends with some begging to follow us on facebook or twitter, or perhaps to leave a comment. Today, we just ask that you go do something nice for someone, because Mom would want that.

More Fig Bars

2012-08-01T20:45:00.003-04:00

Some days, I put a lot of time into a post. I sit around, think analyze, take some pictures, ponder and that sort of thing. After all geek is in the title of the site. On rare days, something gets created spontaneously, without a lot of forethought. This article would be more spontaneous. Mrs. Alphageek suggested this article on a recent shopping trip, chronicled right here on this site. You can read that article at this link

Did you see the foreshadowing? I have to point this stuff out, or nobody picks up on the threads here. Speaking of threads, today's article is actually a follow on to the article at this link, about Fig Newtons and Fig Newmans. I was at the store, getting some more Fig Newtons, and complaining about the price. Mrs. Alphageek said to buy the cheap ones, and review them for the site. I decided she was onto something, so here we go.

I am just going to open the package, eat one, and write about it. Just like fig bars, nothing fancy about this review. I did throw in some pictures, just to prove that I still have a camera.

First up are the Giant store brand of Chewy Fig Cookies. The cookies are divided in half, in their own individually sealed sleeves. This is a nice touch, because the other sleeve of cookies does not get stale, if you don't eat the cookies right away. I open the package, and eat one of the cookies. I notice that the tastes are more subtle than the Fig Newtons I so cherish. After that initial taste, I do notice that these do not have any unusual off tastes that some bargain brand snacks have. While being more smooth in texture than many off brands, they still are not creamy rich like Fig Newtons. Still, I think I recommend them, especially for the budget minded. Take a look below.

Chewy Fig Bars (click to enlarge)

Next up, are the even more generic fig bars. Fig bars is about all the label says. Well, I did notice it also proclaims "Guaranteed VALUE", and the term is even trademarked, so don't use that one yourself. I have to admit, if value is the only thing this product has going for it, the "bar" might be set pretty low. The label makes me think, "hey, it least this food will not hurt you, give it a try."

I also notice this package is twice the weight of any other package reviewed so far.

I open the package, and notice all 32 ounces of fig bars have now been exposed to the air. I will need something to seal these, after the taste test is over. I take a bite and feel the label sold them short. They are worthy of at least a name. These have a taste similar to many of the off brand fig bars out there. There is a heavier taste of vanilla that covers the fruit taste up, as well as a little more texture in the flour department. However, they are not bad by any means, and I am going to eat another one. Yes, these are a little different than the first ones, but still pleasant to eat. Again, they lack the smooth texture that Fig Newtons have, but are a decent snack bargain.

fig bars (click to enlarge)

Is there a conclusion to be drawn? At the end of all of this tasting, I am not convinced that I would notice the difference, if someone handed me these either of these bars without being packaged. I would probably eat away, and take only a second to notice that one bar or another seems a little dry today, chalk it up to humidity, and keep on eating. So go on out, and enjoy any of these fig bars, knowing that they all pass muster.

SCAN IT at Giant

2012-07-29T08:17:00.001-04:00

We stopped by the grocery store, a Giant grocery store. Well, I don't know if it is large or not, but those things can be measured, but the name really is Giant. Giant is on the sign, the receipt, and all over the store, so I am pretty sure I got the name down.

We walked in a different door than usual, and noticed that Giant is offering something new, SCAN IT. SCAN IT allows you to scan your own items, bag them, and then simply pay on the way out. Mrs. alphageek said we should give it a try, so we started out by scanning our Giant customer card. No, we did not scan it with the scanner we were going to use, there is a different scanner, just for your customer card. I am sorry if you are confused, but it makes sense when you go to use it, because the clear instructions are right there. If you can't read, well, you are not looking at this site anyway.

So the card was scanned, and the little screen said "welcome alphageek". Well, not really, but that would be cool if the screen said that. Instead, one of the scanners lit up, and we removed it from the display. The very first thing I noticed was the little device starts out by showing some coupons. I scrolled through the list of coupons using the up and down buttons. This part might be too hard for you, if you think "smart phones" are complicated. The rest of you might like getting to see what coupons have been customized, just for you. The convenience of not having to mess with paper coupons gets the alphageek in a good mood too.

We walked around, scanning items as we dropped them into a bag, and we could watch the total as it increased. The scanner worked very well, but it did lose communications a couple of times. Given that I know how communications work, I tried moving a few feet, and scanning again, and the problem was solved.

While we were using the scanner, we ran into a mother and young son using another scanner. She said it was great for little children. Mrs. alphageek replied that a scanner was great for the alphageek too. This way, the alphageek did not wander off and get lost while shopping. In today's large grocery stores, it can take a while to find each other again, if a couple gets separated.

We did notice that new coupons appear as you walk around the store. I guess the store is trying really hard to get you to buy more while you are there. After scanning some Fig Newtons, a coupon for milk came up. Imagine the possibilities. You could scan ice cream, and chocolate sauce could come up. Scan some beer, and pretzels could come up. The possibilities are almost endless.

We included a picture of the scanner below. You will notice some fig bars. A sharp reader might remember that the last post was about Newtons vs. Newmans. Perhaps this is a bit of foreshadowing? The underlined text is a link you can click on to to see the post. I know most of you know this, but we have readers that really don't know.

Scanner (click to enlarge)

We went to the checkout, and scanned the checkout barcode. Everything was entered into the checkout in about ten seconds, and a receipt printed. We simply paid with a credit card and were on our way. Checking out was fast because we did not need to scan everything, and the groceries were already in a bag, ready to go.

This scanner is certainly something we will use again. We found it fast, accurate and convenient. Perhaps in the future, one could just use their own smart phone, and speed things up even more?

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Newtons vs. Newmans

2012-07-08T17:42:00.001-04:00

Today, two items are going to face off. One, a classic of the snack food world: Fig Newtons. After all who could argue with tradition? In the other corner, Fig Newmans: promoted by somebody famous, and organic. Fig Newmans represent the trendy item. It must be good.
So, what do we have today. I decided to do a face off between these two products. I was going to make Seinfeld jokes about hello Newman, with a pregnant pause, but that would just make for a bunch of obscure references. Instead, below is a picture of the old school product Fig Newtons, sporting the somewhat trendy Whole Grain label. I thought that would be fair against the organic competitor.

Here, we have the new product, Fig Newmans.

So, I was going to post a bunch of categories, and review these head to head. I decided that would be really boring, and you would not read very much. Instead, I will just tell you will which ones I would purchase and why. You can leave your feedback below, and tell me I don't know anything, or that I am wrong, or what ever.

First off, Fig Newmans are the trendy product. I am not really sure what the organic label gets you. I did some searching online, and about all I could figure out was that you get organic figs, and organic flour in the outer cookie part. That is why they get the trendy label here. About all I could find was something on the FDA page that says there is no legal definition of organic. Go look it up yourself if you don't believe me. Oh, these are fat free too, so it covers that base.

Fig Newton's are old school, really old school. One can go find commercials on youtube going back at least forty years for Fig Newtons. In this case, Newtons give in to food trends by going whole grain. Yes, these are whole grain, and the Newmans are not.

You get 14 ounces of Fig Newtons and 10 ounces of Fig Newmans. That is a definite score for Newtons. Combine that with the observation that Newtons are always cheaper than Newmans, and you are already appealing to the numbers guy in the alphageek.

So, the Newtons are now in front. About the only way Newmans can make up any ground is to taste head and shoulders above the Newtons. In the picture below, you can see that I have cut open each one, to give you a view of the cookies that you do not ordinarily get. The Newmans are on the left, and the Newtons are on the right. I even tasted the filling separately , just so that I can give you the taste results I know you crave. These really taste about the same, as much as I wanted to try to find anything different. The texture of the Newtons is a like more chunky, but they are whole grain, which makes that chunkiness something I expected.

So no difference in taste, combined with a higher cost for the Newmans, means it is Newtons for this geek. I just can't see paying extra for trendy foods endorsed by Hollywood, with debatable features.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Carolina Crossing, Grover NC

2012-06-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

We were in search of a meal, while driving the nearby interstate. We made a commitment to try a new restaurant on our travels, and arrived at Carolina Crossing. We discovered a new (well new to the alphageek) dish that made the stop worth talking about.

We have driven by this particular stretch of road many times. We always seem to stop at the truck stop/big car gasoline place out by the interstate. This time, we drove into Grover, NC and decided to at least try something new.

We stopped at Carolina Crossing, because it fit the bill nicely. It had several good reviews on urbanspoon, and it was just a short distance from the interstate.

When we stepped inside, we noticed right away that the furnishings are simple and straightforward. We took a seat, and looked at the menu. That is when we noticed something on the menu we had never seen before: red slaw or white slaw? We scratched out heads, and then decided we would ask the server, who informed us that red slaw is slaw with their BBQ sauce instead of the usual mayonnaise like dressing. I jumped right in, and ordered a BBQ platter with red slaw, and mrs alphageek ordered a BLT, with some onion rings.

Mrs. alphageek said that the BLT was your good, basic food, and was better than stopping at the truck stop complex. She let me try one of her onion rings, and I have to agree that they were terrific onion rings.

My BBQ platter was very middle of the road. Not the best, but not bad either. Considering that I did not see a smoker outside, I enjoyed the BBQ. It had the taste of being cooked in an oven, but that worked for me.
We would both stop again, just for the iced tea. It was freshly made, and went down nice and easy.

So, I know you are waiting for the red slaw, at least I hope so, if you are here this long. Wait no more, because the red slaw is pictured below. I gave it a try, and liked it. I thought the vinegary taste worked in an interesting way, and complimented the BBQ platter. Mrs. alphageek said she would stick with her regular slaw. Is this a "new" dish, or is this something that is some sort of regional dish? I do not know, but I did appreciate the originality.

Red Slaw (click to enlarge)

If you are looking to break the monotiny of your drive, Carolina Crossing would be a nice place to stop. You might not get a gourmet meal, but you get food well prepared, and you can try the red slaw, and come back here, and tell us what you think.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

You can use the map below, but if the formatting for your browser has messed the map up, you can try this link.

View Larger Map

Planters Wicked Hot Chipotle Peanuts

2012-06-24T08:48:00.001-04:00

Today is yet another product review. Up today are Planters Wicked Hot Chipotle Peanuts. I purchased these peanuts somewhere or other, thinking these would be great peanuts, and the review would make a great addition to the site. One of these ideas was correct.

Planters Wicked Hot Chipotle Peanuts (click to enlarge)

The can opens innocently enough, like any other can of peanuts. I noted that the peanuts are dusted with some flavor powder, where all of the seasoning should be. I was drawn in by the Wicked Hot description in the title. The alphageek likes spicy food, and flavored nuts are a great delivery system for the heat component. I took a couple of the peanuts, and crunched down, waiting for the explosion of heat.

That explosion never came. Instead, it was like being a kid and setting off some firecrackers that never go off. I hoped that I could just have another, and the heat would kick in, sort of like when you can just light some more firecrackers, and get that noise that you are looking for. I never really got the bang out of these peanuts, that they promised. There is even a face with steam or smoke or something coming out of its ears, right on front. I certainly did not get that.

What did I get? I got a product that had a very sweet taste. Sure, there was a small heat component, but I got mostly sweet. It was a synthetic sweet at that, combined with some sort of synthetic tasting smoke flavor that only served to remind me that I did not get the Wicked Hot promised on the label.

Usually, peanuts are something that don't last long here at alphageek headquarters. I like to chomp a few down when I arrive home from work, but these have been open over a month, and the can is still half full. My thoughts are that this is a pretty weak flavor profile, and you should stick with the standard Planters Peanuts, which have stood the test of time as a solid snack food, and stay away from the trendy product.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Milan Indian Cuisine, Lynchburg VA

2012-06-17T17:32:00.000-04:00

First, there will be no pictures today. The inside of the restaurant was just too dark to whip out the camera, and start snapping away. Visually, I wish we had a camera, so that I could capture what I saw for you. Red. Everything was red. Because I am the alphageek here, I will tell what I wrote down. Red table cloths. Red booths. Partially red walls. Red napkins. Red floor. While you might think all I remember is red, I do remember one other thing: incredibly exotic smelling Indian spices in the restaurant. Forget the red, and concentrate on the great smells, and you will be rewarded with a great meal.

When we were seated, some mint chutney and crackers were brought to the table, somewhat like chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. We tried the chutney, and hoped that the rest of the meal was as good, because the chutney was simply amazing, with just a little mint to bring out the flavor, but no so much that you thought of mint jelly.

We then ordered some tomato soup. We were really hoping for something different, but we got more or less good old tomato soup. While it was fine tomato soup, it really was nothing exotic. By the way, yes, the soup was red.

We then dove into our main dishes. We ordered the Milona Special Combination which included naan, lamb in sauce, tandoori chicken, roasted lamb, vegetables, and vegetable curry. The other dish was the Veggie Special Platter, which included spinach, chick peas, samosa and sweet chutney sauce and yogurt sauce. Ordering a meat combination with a veggie combination allowed us to get our vegetables in for the day. The lamb was perfectly cooked, as was everything else. The food we were served was all excellently prepared, and gave us a great start to our vacation.

Desert was a rice pudding with ground pistachios, with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top. While I am not usually a fan of rice pudding, the addition of the pistachios and nutmeg gave the rice pudding a little upgrade, that made it a great treat at the end of the meal.

When using the google maps, we did notice the maps tried to send us to the wrong side of the street, so you are looking for a strip mall across the street from McDonald's. You can use the map below, or click on this link to find your way there.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

Canned Treats

2012-06-09T21:15:00.001-04:00

A frequent visitor to the AGTF has been promising me a shot at some jalapeno jelly. Like many things in life, making the exchange happen has taken some time. The Retired Lawman upped the stakes with a gift of some pickles and canned green beans in addition to the jalapeno jelly.We are just going to jump right into this review.

First, we will start off with the green beans. We pried the lid off, but we were not really sure what we would get. Amazingly enough we got, green beans. Okay, green beans may not seem like much, but these green beans simply capture that fresh taste that canning was invented for. Sure, you could go get frozen green beans at the local grocery store, but they will not taste as fresh as these did.

Canned (click to enlarge)

The jalapeno jelly was the biggest surprise out of everything. I opened the bottle, took a taste, and expected to find a sticky sweet jelly. Instead, I was greeted with an excellent balance of sweetness and heat from the jalapenos. Did I say greeted? I should have said an explosion of flavor, the kind of flavor one could use as a sauce, right out of the jar.

Finally (we are not talking about the other jelly quite yet), we have the pickles. While I say pickles, there is a lot more going on here than just some cucumbers. There are some red peppers as well as some onions added to the mix. The combination of flavors is something you cannot get out of just any jar of pickles at the store. For those of you that did not get to try these, the loss is yours. These pickles are accompanied by an amazing array of spices that make them a unique treat that did not last long, once opened.

We close with a simple thanks, and the realization that we may have to give some pickling a try.

Kabob Corner, Fredericksburg, VA

2012-06-03T13:20:00.000-04:00

This is a relatively new restaurant that serves all kabobs all the time. We had some good food, but there is a real treat of a meal here. What is this treat? Read on to find out!

Below is the food we ordered for takeout one day. The dish that you see centered is the chicken and lamb combo. This dish is a tasty combination of seasoning and cooking to bring out some really great flavors, that one cannot get just anywhere. Lots of roasted spices bring an exotic flavor to the meal. The bread you see is quite a bit bigger than in the photo, and is an excellent flatbread, for soaking up the lentils and spinach sides that you can see. Additionally, there is a side salad. The rice has some exotic flavoring as well, to round out the meal.

Kabob Corner

So, what is that other meat dish, peeking out from the right of the photo? By the time we knew this tender bit of lamb would be the star of the meal, we were done with pictures. If you want the best thing they make there, try the Chopan Kabob. This dish is several tender, grilled piece of lamb, that virtually melt away in your mouth, spreading their grilled goodness everywhere. Because you read here, we have an alphageek tip, just for you. Call your order in ahead of time, if you get Chopan Kabob. They are really cooking at Kabob Corner, and this dish takes about 20 minutes or so to prepare, but the wait is worth it.

Kabob Corner also offers up some veggie kabobs as well, for those of you so inclined. I keep getting questions about vegetarian restaurants, so we will begin to start posting at least a little information for the meat challenged audience.

For a map, either take a look at our embedded map, or click on this link.

View Larger Map

Food Spotting and Other Random Thoughts

2012-06-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

There have not been many updates here lately. The crowd here at AGTF is incredibly sorry for that lack of good, useful information that you are used to. We will attempt to make up for this lack of good solid work, with some weekend updates, that may extend into the week.
We made an interesting discovery, doing the geek things we do. We heard about a recommendation to try a new service available via a android app, called foodspotting.

Basically, it is a service that lets someone post a picture of some incredible dish that one is currently enjoying. From time to time, we enjoy a dish at a restaurant, but don't really think the restaurant itself is alphageek worthy. For those times, we had been taking a picture, and sending the picture out via a twitter update. This service allows us to interact with other people that have the same goal of sending out the word on a great dish they have found on the foodspotting web site. We have already integrated the foodspotting into our twitter feed, so if you are subscribed to the twitter feed, there is nothing more to do because you will see the updates as they happen, up to the minute. You can check out our profile on foodspotting via this link. You might want to check it out because it is a pretty good service.

This leads to a natural question we get from time to time: what is the "best" way to follow activity on this site? We would recommend you just follow the twitter feed as the best alternative. However, many of our users simply do not like twitter. Hey, twitter is not for everyone. In that case, the next best way is to follow the facebook page. The facebook page has all of the updates that we put in the twitter feed, and is there for people that "hate" twitter. If you subscribe to the facebook page, you can also see what folks post to the wall of AGTF, and the wall does not show up on the twitter feed. You could use an RSS reader and follow just the blog, which is an option some users like. For now, the blog does not see any of the twitter updates. We might update the blog, but the twitter updates will be shown in one of the windows down the side, and will not be in the body of the blog., limiting the number of updates an RSS subscriber will see to only the articles we post. Finally, you could just check back now and then, but who wants to do it that way? No matter your preference, the links to subscribe to twitter and join the facebook page are at the end of the article.

Due to all of the ways to view a web site these days, with mobile devices becoming more and more popular, we have had to give more consideration to reformatting of the information, both by a mobile device and other third parties. The biggest impact to the web site by the reformatting has been the maps we include at the end of the reviews. Simply put, the maps are getting trashed by the reformatting, to the point of being unusable. From now on, you will see a link to the map as well as a picture. Don't worry, we will make the link to the map as obvious as possible for those of you that don't understand how to click on hypertext.

We have come across another challenge: restaurants closing. At first, we were going to take down the reviews. There was some further reflection, and we have come up with an alternative. We will edit the article, to let you know that restaurant is now closed, or has changed significantly since we reviewed it. If you think we need to make a change, you are always free to leave some feedback, and we will update the site accordingly.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Hotel Waffles and Cooking

2012-05-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hotels and breakfast. Today, many hotels will give you a free breakfast as a part of your stay. This idea is now almost universal. The alphageek cannot remember the last time a hotel stay did not result in at least the offer of a free breakfast. Over the years, the offerings have evolved, from a vending machine like package of a danish, into an offering of heated eggs and assorted meats, with everything in between. Now that each hotel chain has many derivative chains, perhaps that is how these various chains differentiate themselves. One chain has free eggs, another has free waffles, while a third is giving away an egg sandwich.

Where we stayed on vacation recently offered on of the alphageek's favorites: free make your own waffles. Even better, they offered the waffles where the batter comes out of a machine, rather than sitting around while some three year old sneezes in the open cups of batter. Sometimes, the alphageek wishes to be able to turn off the ability to observe.

Mrs. alphgeek walked over, and offered to make breakfast here. I was intrigued, when she asked me if I wanted nuts or crasins in my waffle. Of course, I replied both.

She then proceeded to do something very creative. She poured the batter, then added crasins and pecans from the oatmeal offerings, and added these masterful ingredients into my blueberry waffle mix. After mixing away, she made me the best waffle that was served in that hotel, ever. I was an original mix of ingredients that took the middle of the road omelet to over the top original.

I sat and enjoyed something that I had never tried: original cooking in a hotel, with almost nothing to cook on, or cook with. Mrs. alphageek wins the award for the most original cooking in the hotel. When you start to see this advertised on tv, or adding ingredients becomes an internet craze, remember that you read about it here first, on alphageek talks food.

Have an original hotel cooking idea? Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Cross Over Crisis

2012-04-30T10:36:00.000-04:00

There has been a crisis brewing, here at alphageek Talks Food.

We have a companion site, that talks about bourbon, thoughts about drinking bourbon, and random thoughts that occur while drinking bourbon. Recently, we tried a product that is technically whiskey and not bourbon. However, whiskey is close to bourbon, causing a crisis here on the site: who gets the review?

Much critical thinking has been applied to this problem. While it would be acceptable to put a non-bourbon whiskey here, instead of on the other site, life is easier with all of the bourbon like information in one place, on one site. This caused a great crisis here, that even had to be discussed in depth with Mrs. alphageek. The review even touches on a television show, making the analysis more complex.

In the end a decision was reached, and policy set. The review of the whiskey known as Kopper Kettle, will appear on the web site Alphageek's Thoughts. You can click this link to read the review of the Kopper Kettle. There are other reviews there too, so you may want to subscribe to that site as well. Hint, Kopper Kettle is pretty good stuff.

There you have today's analysis. Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

International Delight Coffee Creamers Interesting Flavors

2012-04-29T11:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, we are hitting up coffee here again. Yes, I know, there is an incredible amount of information about coffee out there. There is a little spin today. Do you like interesting flavors like Almond Joy, or York Peppermint Patty? How about those Cinnabons that permeate the your nose, when you are walking around the shopping mall? Well, like them or not, we are going to review them because they have that interesting little niche that the alphageek likes. We want to thank Foodbeast for the inspiration here. You can read their announcement of these products at the following link. Maybe if we cite foodbeast, we can start getting some readers here!

I was in Wegmans and I found a couple of the creamers there. While on vacation, I also found one more, so I decided to sit down, and share my thoughts with you. Creamers are an interesting contrast for a coffee drinker like the alphageek. Good coffee should not be covered up by other flavors, or even cream. Black coffee is the way to go. However, I find I am drawn to these flavors, when the last cup or two of coffee needs to be reheated. Once you reheat coffee, the taste goes downhill anyway, so why not punch up the flavors with some fun, in the form of a flavored creamer? After all, a little sugar and fat in one container is a great way to go.

For this review, the creamer should evoke the thoughts of what the name says. If it says delicate roses, your coffee should taste like delicate roses, and not marigolds. Those little differences make a big difference to alphageek.

I am starting off with Cinnabon. I actually took a picture of Cinnabon. I added a little to my coffee and took a sip. All of the sudden, I had visions of walking around the mall, wondering where that darn booth is that always tries to get me to eat three giant buns, when I really only want one, and really should not eat any. Given that the flavor profile hit exactly, we rate this one as a definite buy.

Cinnabon Creamer (click to enlarge)

Moving along, we tried the York Peppermint Patty. It made the coffee taste just like a liquid York Peppermint Patty. The minty chocolate was just right, and we rate this one as a buy as well.

Finally, we tried the Almond Joy. Unfortunately, this one just did not hit the flavor profile. The taste was just too generic. It could have been any sort of flavor in there, but it most certainly did not have that distinctive Almond Joy coconut flavor. The coconut flavor was barely there at all, making this one a pass.

These flavors can be a fun addition to a cup of coffee, and certainly the Cinnabon and the York Peppermint Patty are worth a try. The Almond Joy is nothing special, so pass by it.

Have you tried these creamers? Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que

2012-04-22T14:02:00.000-04:00

March 30, 2012 This is another of those legendary restaurants, the kind that you hear about many times before seeking it out. Since we had some time, we sought out a nearly legendary restaurant: Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a nearly empty parking lot and restaurant. Everyone must go out to eat at the same time in Williamsburg, because the place went from empty to full in about 15 minutes. There are some tables outside, but when we were there is was too cold to think about eating outside. When we ordered, we found the usual array of meats that one can find smoked in a restaurant. We won't go into that here, because you can look that kind of stuff up on google. We took a look at the menu, and settled on a Smoked Chicken Combo, and a salad, with some smoked chicken added.

We settled into our seats, and waited for our number to be called. That's right, you walk up, order, pay, and receive a number that you use to pick up your order. I hope you can follow that algorithm there. See how the alphageek decodes that for you? While we waited, we sipped our iced tea, and noticed that it tasted fresh brewed.

First, we have the salad. It was a simple salad made more interesting with the addition of some pulled chicken. The salad was very fresh and the chicken made for a great topping.

Salad, with Chicken BBQ (click to enlarge)

We moved on to try our Smoked Chicken Combo, pictured below. Before commenting, here is the alphageek barbecue disclaimer. I like many type of barbecue, and am okay with different types. I will try to stick to describing what we received, rather than inject too much of my own opinion. I am going to just run through what is on the plate. First off are the french fries you see. These are some good fries that are nice and crisp. The hush puppies you see are much the same. The pulled pork is fairly finely chopped, with the generous addition of some sauce. We will get to the sauce at the end. There were some ribs, that were well smoked, tender and covered in sauce. Finally, the pulled chicken is the same as you see above in the salad, finely chopped with a good balance of smoke and other flavors. The sauce is a vinegar tomato based sauce, with the addition of some cinnamon. It provided a little kick of heat at the end, but nothing outrageous. After all, everyone who came in was getting some of that sauce, if they ordered any meat.

Smoked Chicken Combo (click to enlarge)

After we ate our meal, we found out that Mrs. alphageek does not really like heavily sauced bbq. The alphageek likes to let the smoking do the flavor too, but does like some sauce. That is where this review ends up too. Sauce? You will enjoy Pierce's. Limited on the sauce? You might think this is a little bit too much sauce.

All in all, we enjoyed our meal, and left knowing that we had sampled another legend. The large crowds that arrived were a testimony to the popularity of Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que.

What do you think? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map

Smiley's Fuel City

2012-04-15T16:47:00.000-04:00

4/7/2012 Barbecue seems to be coming up pretty often on alphageek talks food. That is kind of strange, given that we are not really barbecue experts here. However, there seems to be demand for barbecue reviews, so we are trying to fill that demand. This review will be one sandwich, and that is all, but what a great sandwich it was.
We drew some inspiration from reading a blog post on the subject. You can read Down Home Foodie's blog post on Smiley's Fuel City here. That is correct, for those of you paying attention. We are reviewing food at a place that is more or less a gas station. Good food? We are all over that. Heck, we did not even know that Smiley's served any food, until we read the previously mentioned blog post, so we owe them our thanks. Smiley's is located in Raphine, VA off of I-81.

I was going to eat this sandwich inside, where they have seating, but someone spilled gas on themselves. The smell of gas was not what I wanted with my brisket sandwich and potato salad, so I ate outside, in my car. Just looking at the sandwich, I noticed that the brisket had a great pink color, which means it had absorbed a lot of smoke flavor, and the essence of smoke greeted my nose. I also noticed some fat. The extra fat is not my thing, and it was easily removed from the sandwich. I took a bite through the white bread sandwich roll and said "wow". How the heck do they slice this stuff? It is so tender, it should just be falling apart. I quietly ate my sandwich, jealous of the great flavor the barbecue had imparted. I only dream of smoking brisket this well. I wrapped up, and took the trash out of the car. When I returned, I noticed that the smell of smoke still permeated the car, making the inside of the car smell like a great roadside stand. I left knowing I just had a great sandwich.

Brisket Sandwich

Oh, there was some potato salad too. You can just skip the potato salad, unless very average potato salad is your thing. Just get the sandwich, and you will leave happy.

Make sure you call first if you are using the map below. The map is just not correct, but google won't change the map.

View Larger Map

Alamo BBQ

2012-04-15T15:48:00.001-04:00

4/1/2012 The vacation was almost over, and we wanted one more stop. We started the trip with a barbecue review, so we decided it was only fitting to end the trip with another barbecue review. We studied up, and found that Alamo BBQ, in Richmond VA seemed to have generated some buzz, so we decided to check it out. We found a great place to make a stop, and enjoy traditional barbecue, with some interesting side dishes, that are not dishes found at more "old school" barbecue establishments.

We arrived to find that there was a big tent in front of the building that serves the food. Something you might want to keep in mind is that you need to either get your food to go, or you will be eating outside and you need to plan accordingly. We ate outside, where they have about 8 or so tables. We noticed a large take out business going on as well as many folks stopping by for a meal.

Alamo BBQ (click to enlarge)

Below is my BBQ platter. The meal consisted of brisket, barbecue chicken, potato salad, Texas caviar and cowboy beans. Today, we will run through each item on its own.

Brisket - nice and smoky, with a great char on the outside, either a spice rub, or light sauce which allowed the meat to come right through

Chicken - just enough sauce to impart some flavor and add some spicy heat, but still let the cooking shine through

Potato salad - so many times, potato salad is not very imaginative at bbq restaurants, but not so here because it was full of fresh ingredients and did not at all taste like it came out of a big five gallon tub

Texas caviar - salad of black beans, corn and cilantro that has a great fresh taste. This was a personal favorite.

Cowboy beans - beans with chunks of meat, in a thick, but not sweet sauce

This platter is certainly one of the best plates of barbecue and sides that I have had in a long time.

We did not grab a picture of Mrs. alphageek's smoked pork burrito, but the pork had the same great smokey taste, and all of the ingredients were similarly fresh as well.

Barbecue Platter (click to enlarge)

We had a great spring day while we were there, so sitting down to a great lunch made for the perfect stop on the way home. Barbecue reviews are always a touchy subject, because folks are very opinionated about their barbecue, and there are strong debates about barbecue and preparation and serving styles. All we know is, we liked what we had a lot, and would go back again.

Belvedere Coffee Shop

2012-04-14T11:27:00.003-04:00

April 1, 2012 Research, research and more research. This is how one can find the hidden gems of restaurants in vacation cities. We decided to try and find a place that served simple breakfast food. You know, eggs, some sort of meat, some sort of bread, and some decent coffee. The reviews we found said this was a throwback to another era type of restaurant. These reviews were just what we wanted, so we went off in search of the Belvedere Coffee Shop.

When we arrived, we found a full restaurant, with only two seats at the counter, where we promptly took our seats. These seats provided a great view of the beach. Yes, this simple diner is right on the beach front, making Belvedere Coffee Shop worth the trip and wait for the view alone. There was one small downside, you won't get any food pictures today. While we had a great view of the beach, we also felt exposed, and kept the camera put away. The only picture you get today, is the picture below, which shows the view of the restaurant from the boardwalk. If you stay until the end of the article, I promise to make up the lack of pictures to you.

Belvedere Coffee Shop (click to enlarge)

I went simple and ordered two eggs, two pancakes and ham. What arrived was a great simple breakfast, just the way I like it. Generally, the alphageek saves the innovative meals for lunch and dinner. Mrs. alphageek ordered the Eye Opener. It had a fried egg, ham, and fried tomato on it. The egg was fried along with some parmessean cheese, giving the sandwich a taste unique to Belvedere Coffee Shop. It was fast, simple and delicious. I was a little jealous, and am going to get my own Eye Opener, if we ever go back.

So, the review is out of the way. If you stayed this long, I promised more. Mrs. alphageek kept hearing me say "Belvedere, come here boy" while we were driving to this restaurant. She did not know where the line came from. I told her it was a classic cartoon, that everyone should know. I went and found that cartoon. I present Dog Gone South for your viewing pleasure.

So there you go, a great write up and a great cartoon. I hope you find this review entertaining and informative, all at the same time. Hopefully, you now know where the "Belvedere, come here boy" come from, if nothing else.

Why not share some of your research with us? How about leaving a comment in the comment section below. Even better, why not use one of the links here on the page to follow us and all things food? The twitter feed gets everything at Follow @ageekfood , or you can try our facebook page.

View Larger Map