Temper Grille

If you have never eaten tapas, you should, there is just something about a meal that includes small plates that you get to share, tasting a little of this and a little of that, for someone who prefers to "graze," it really is a dream meal. What is also a dream, is the food coming out of Chef Sean's kitchen at Temper Grille! The menu has a wide array of tapas with meat, seafood, and cheese plus delicious salads, soups, and veggies to eat alongside your small plates. We opted to share several small plates and each got a side dish/veggie, we started our meal with the steak bites, which were recommended by a friend, and were delicious! We got a plate of perfectly, medium rare bite size pieces of steak covered in a tasty remoulade sauce with pita wedges on the side, the steak was a little spicy for me (which means people without a completely wimpy palette will find these perfectly spiced), but with the pita bread to take some of the heat I was still able to nosh on these yummy bites.

What you should know about tapas, is that you will not get your food all at once, it will come out as the kitchen finishes cooking it, which, again, grazers dream come true! The next dish to come out was my creamed corn, which was described to be as "life changing," and frankly it definitely was a game changer in the veggie arena. I know some of you are turning your nose up at creamed corn, but this corn starts in a hot skillet with salt, pepper, and sugar to get it caramelized and then continues to cook in heavy cream as it reduces down to make this delicious sweet sauce, and then is finished with a red pepper sauce, it truly is a scrumptious and inventive way to serve up a side dish once only eaten in nursing homes.

Next my hubby's mac and cheese came out, he opted to eat it plain, but you can order it with pork belly, lobster knuckle meat, roasted peppers, and one other option we don't remember. He really liked the cavatappi pasta used in this dish, his only qualm was that the cheese sauce was in the bottom of the dish instead of coating all of the pasta, but he said it was a good and admitted that this is a popular way to make this dish.

The next dish that came out was one that we ordered without dispute, the pork belly, tasty, tasty morsels of the best part of the pig, smoked to perfection. If you have never tried pork belly, and I'm not just talking about bacon, you should know that it tends to be a little salty, and very rich, but when cooked properly, and it was, it is truly a food experience that you should have at least once in your life.

Our final dish to come out was the ceviche tostada, I wish I had a picture for you because this dish is as beautiful as it is delicious, but when it came out we started chatting with the chef and I forgot to snap a pic. If you like seafood and salsa, this is the perfect dish for you, it is very light and refreshing and was an ideal ending to our meal, well that and my hubby getting the chance to check out the chef's smoker. Temper Grille is a unique food experience and one you should definitely have!

Uptown Kitchen

My little brother is very conscientious of what he eats, he is a vegetarian who eats vegan as much as possible, so when he came home on leave a few years ago I knew that I HAD to take him to Uptown kitchen, and when he was given the option of where to go for his farewell dinner on his most recent visit home this was his choice. Uptown Kitchen at Heritage Square in Granger offers vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free meals in addition to many options for the omnivore, made from locally sourced, fresh ingredients. The kitchen is open to the dining room and as you look in you will notice that there is no microwave, deep fryer, or heat lamp, so when they tout fresh food, made from scratch they really mean it; in fact, when my grandpa tried to order bleu cheese dressing for his salad, the waitress informed him that it wasn't one of their dressings, and the chef promptly poked his head out of the office and told the waitress that he would make bleu cheese dressing, now that is service, fresh made dressing! My grandma, who also loves bleu cheese, tried the dressing and told our waitress that it should be added to the menu. We all were impressed with their from scratch, house made dressings, I had the balsamic vinaigrette which is one of their most popular and it was delicious, in addition to salads the meals also started with chicken tortilla soup, cream of mushroom soup, and from scratch applesauce all of which were proclaimed to be delicious, especially the applesauce full of chunks of apples. It is safe to say that everyone was impressed with their meals, I had the Kobe beef burger, which was absolutely scrumptious, I am normally one to salt a burger, but this one most definitely did not need it, the flavor was fantastic and was especially complemented by the sweetness of the grilled onions. My hubby ordered a salad for dinner, which is unlike him, but it was a salad nicoise, which is something he has long wanted to try and it did not disappoint, it was chock full of seared Ahi tuna, sardines, artichoke hearts, calamata olives (the only part of the salad he didn't care for), tomatoes, and garlic parsley dressing.

My grandma got the Cobb salad, which was a big bowl full of a little bit of everything like avocado, bacon, chopped eggs, tomatoes, bleu cheese, tomatoes, chicken breast, and a sweet Cobb vinaigrette, which, like Uptown's other dressings, was delicious.

Uptown serves breakfast any time of the day, (which is something I love even though I had a burger), so my mom had the house made corned beef hash and really loved it, and since they offered raspberry jelly for her toast she was an especially happy woman.

My brother chose one of the vegetarian options for his dinner, a potpie full of root veggies, like carrots, parsnips, and potatoes covered in a flaky crust.

The deliciousness didn't stop at the soup, the salad, or even the entree it continued right into dessert where we were all impressed with the many choices offered, and even more impressed when we started eating. My grandma promptly ordered a slice of coconut cake and with a look of euphoria on her face, proclaimed it to be "ridiculous" on the first bite.

The chocolate ganache cake and a slice of cheesecake were ordered, bites were shared, and each was declared heavenly, the cheesecake might just be some of the smoothest that I have ever had. At the advice of the hostess my brother and I ordered Reese's truffles which were delectable.

In fact, I looked over and caught my brother licking his plate...yes! It was that good!!

My brother had ordered an extra Reese's truffle, I asked him why he didn't order a different truffle to try, as they had may different varieties like oreo, lemon, and snickers, but my question was answered as we walked out and he gave the little boxed truffle to the hostess who recommended the tasty treat. Upon leaving handshakes were shared, appreciation given, and prayers of safety offered, as my dad had added to our reservation that this was my brother's farewell dinner and each employee seemed to have found this out. You might pay a little more for dinner at Uptown Kitchen than you will at an average restaurant, but you are guaranteed above average food, with exceptional ingredients, and extraordinary customer service.