ROC - Allah's Kitchen

I’m in town for the weekend and have decided to finally take up my friend’s recommendation to eat at the vegan restaurant Allah’s Kitchen. They also happened to open a new location right by RIT’s campus in August which makes it so much easier for me to get to when I’m in town so I’m super excited for that aspect too.

LOCATION: 200 JEFFERSON RD, PARK POINT DR. SUITE 205, ROCHESTER, NY 14623

I knew exactly where this location was and used to frequent different restaurants there when I was in college so I went right in but boy was this a chaotic experience in terms of service. I came around 2pm just because that’s what time I arrived in town, and I was so hungry. There were a couple of women in the restaurant when I arrived and it seemed like they had already ordered and were having a fun little day out together. The counter at this place was sparse with space for food to be out for easy service but nothing actually out. Since it was 2pm I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I have no idea what it looks like during a normal lunch or dinner rush so that was odd but not a big deal. I waited for a little and there were two men working and one finally asked me what I wanted to order and I got the INFINITE BOWL. I will say that their menu is kind of crunchy and has these lofty names for their bowls that don’t indicate at all what’s in side of them, aka ‘infinite bowl’ but my friend highly recommends it so I’m along for the ride. The Infinite Bowl is gluten free and soy free along with being vegan so this place is a great option for people with any sort of dietary restrictions because most of their menu is soy free or gluten free as well. This bowl comes with coconut brown rice, aloo gobi (which is potatoes and cauliflower cooked in an Indian curry sauce), stewed chickpeas with spinach, kale, onions, peppers, zucchini, and plantains cooked in coconut oil. Now this sounds like so much food (which it is) but this infinite bowl had a lot of different sides combined into it so I wanted to try it in order to get a little sample of a lot to see if I liked this restaurant. Unluckily for me, they ran out of stewed chickpeas (which are often my favorite side dish) and they asked if a substitute of stewed cabbage was alright which was sad but fine with me.

Now, before I talk about the actual dish, let me just say that the service continued to be chaotic. There was no one that was at the counter full time, and even though there were only two men working they were not good at communicating with each other or with the (few) customers in the building. The man who took my order seemed more like the owner/manager and relayed my order to the server in the back well enough but then the server came out and packed a bag of food while asking the other two women if they were dining in or not (they were). Without saying anything else he places the bag of food on the counter and walks back into the kitchen to get the other order ready. The bag sits there and I stand at the counter with the other women and we’re all waiting for someone to come so we can pay. It takes about 5mins until the owner/manger comes out and lets us know that the ipad/credit card machine isn’t working and asks if we have cash. I have cash in my car but not small bills so I tell him I do but need change to which he replied there is no change. At all. So now, we’ve all ordered and don’t have a means to pay for our food because there is no cash change and no credit card machine. He goes into the back and starts making calls to see if someone can bring cash to him so we can all pay for our meals. Luckily for him, they also allow for payment via CashApp or Venmo and after 5 more mins of standing at the counter wondering what we should do he lets us know that this is an option. Now I’m looking for them on Venmo and he walks away. I have no idea how much my meal costs with tax and i stand there for another 5mins waiting for him to return just to tell me that the $17 list price on the menu is fine and I can just Venmo that amount. All 5 of us in the restaurant stand there staring at each other, he asks me if the food at the counter is mine (how should I know??) then looks inside and asks the server who confirms it’s my meal. He brings out the order for the other ladies who are unbothered by this chaotic transaction, and I Venmo my money and leave with my food. At this point it’s been at least 20mins for a transaction that shouldn’t have taken more than 5, and my food is no longer hot but at least it’s warm and I head to my parent’s house where I can reheat it quickly.

All suffice to say that I was very hesitant to ever return because, while they staff were nice, I do not do well in this chaotic unstructured food service space and miss the automation of Chipotle.

Still, I try to shake it off and get ready to try some of this food. I do realize that I did not get any spinach/kale/onions/peppers but there’s still plenty of food in this container and I’m beyond hungry I just dig in.

This food smells so good and warm/cozy. I realize it’s best just to mix everything together but I set the plantains to the side because I want to save them as a palette cleanser/pseudo dessert since they get sweet when cooked like this. The Aloo golbi, stewed cabbage, and coconut brown rice are such a good combination and it fill’s be up so fast. I eat more than half in this sitting and am just stuffed. The rice is a little harder than I like for it to be but that kind of comes with the territory of brown rice and isn’t off-putting in any way. I love the coconut-y flavor from their use of coconut oil to cook their food and it’s so good that I start to rethink not going back. The food saves the awkwardly weird service and I decide that they’re worth the chaos. I’m still hopeful that next time it might be a little more structured and professional in terms of a business but the meal is great and I’m ready for more. I need to get some chickpeas next time so maybe when I’m in town again, I’ll give this location another shot before switching over to their first location father away. In either case, they’ve won me over as a non-vegan.

FL - I Heart Mac & Cheese

We’re back! And even though Karie is lactose intolerant we’re going to I Heart Mac & Cheese because it’s a must between me and Michael and this is the last meal I get before we have to head back to New York.

LOCATION: 15999 Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines, FL 33027

I didn’t feel the need to order anything extravagant this time and went with a basic mac and cheese with broccoli. You can’t go wrong and I love this combo even if people think it’s weird. The main goal of this trip was that Michael told me they came out with new bowls for their mac and cheese shaped like a heart. This place is super cute with their branding and I love it.

While we were there Michael and I saw a sign for their new special Tacoroni which is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a bowl you get your mac and cheese in a taco shell and while I think it’s totally hilarious to put noodles in a taco shell, this item isn’t for me. Luckily though, Michael is all about absurd menu items and ordered one to try along with his pasta order. It turns out, the tacoroni tastes exactly how you expect it to taste. It has a nice crunchy texture with the cheesy noodles and it makes me laugh to hear Michael eat it but I’m glad he did so I didn’t have to. It honestly doesn’t look bad either but I’ve passed my phase of noodles inside more carbs so mac and cheese tacos or sandwiches are a thing of my past.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Chef's Table

Our big finale on this cruise was the CHEF’S TABLE dinner on our last night. It started of a little rocky because we kept asking around and were told to meet up at a bar on deck 5 but there were no signs and no indication of who we were supposed to meet so it was a little awkward figuring it out. Not the best system. Then when we did figure it out we learned it was less Chef’s Table and more food and wine paring. I’m not a big drinker and wine is definitely not my favorite but we already reserved the spot and I was hoping the food would make up for it. Also, Chef’s table is a dinner with 12 people total, so we were going to be eating with strangers and that’s not what I would call a fun time. Our group was a person short but half the diners were 1 family and my personality was not outgoing enough to mesh with theirs so it was a tiring experience. The upside was that the Chef’s Table took place in the main formal dining area which we had failed to make it to the whole cruise, so it was nice to be able to eat there with the giant chandelier and the white table cloths.

For some reason I can’t find a photo of the bread basket that started off the meal but it was a pull apart garlic roll that was about the size of a softball for each individual diner. It was sooooo buttery and warm and had us all very excited to eat. A couple of girls asked for the extra rolls to take with them after the dinner because they ate their whole serving and it was so delicious. I’m sad I didn’t take a photo to remember it by but it was so tasty I don’t think I’ll forget it.

(Excuse the sad lighting in the photos, it wasn’t the best but it is what is is.)

COURSE 1: SCALLOP CARPACCIO - Yuzu Vinaigrette, crispy quinoa

This was a great start to the meal; very light and delicate. The scallop just fell apart in my mouth and it wasn’t fishy or tough at all. The flavor was very mild and citrus-y from the yuzu and it was a good cold starter. It was a little tricky to eat because the scallop slices stuck to each other but it was enjoyable overall.

COURSE 2: SMOKED TOMATO SOUP - Garlic Focaccia croutons, Parmesan

This course started off with some showmanship but in the most basic sense. The waiter placed all our plates/bowls? then came back around and poured a warm tomato broth on top which helped keep the croutons crunchy. This was a perfect serving and even though I didn’t grow up eating tomato soup (or liking tomatoes for the majority of my childhood) I really enjoyed the smokey warmth of this course. I love soup in general and this was top tier.

COURSE 3: MAIN LOBSTER SALAD - Hearts of palm, pineapple, cilantro, vanilla dressing

This was a very surprising course and nothing that I’ve had before. I wasn’t a huge fan of a cold lobster in general but overall it was a unique take on a salad. The lobster was cooked perfectly and wasn’t tough and it had a great flavor to it that was surprisingly well balanced with the pop of flavor from the pineapple and the texture from the hearts of palm. I wasn’t in love with the little greenery on the plate and ate it just to clear my dish but it didn’t add much to the overall course.

COURSE 4: ROASTED BRANZINO - Grilled Zucchini, peppers, lemon confit, pesto, black olives

Apparently, I also failed to take a photo of the branzino which might also be an indicator of how I felt about a fish course. Fish is alright to me but I’m not a huge fan of branzino and while it was still a good course, having to eat around bones starts making me frustrated and takes me out of the experience of eating a ‘fine dining’ meal. This was also the course that had the most items that I’m not a fan of including the peppers and black olives. Add to this that I felt very rushed eating this course and spend a majority of my time trying to pick around the things I didn’t like and making sure I didn’t swallow a fish bone, this was my least favorite course of the night.

COURSE 5: GRILLED FILET MIGNON - Truffle Potato purée, asparagus, bordelaise sauce

Redemption! I’ve gotten my second steak of this trip, the downside is that while I was hungry at the start of this experience, by course 5 I was absolutely stuffed. So, once again, my poor filet, which I never get to eat at home, was partially wasted by a full stomach. I was beyond disappointed in myself. This was such a delicious course that was cooked so perfectly. The purée and the veggies were just right and helped me balance out the richness of the steak. I’m not great at eating meat because I hit my quota of how much protein I want pretty quickly but I’ve always been a huge fan of vegetables and no matter how full I am I can always eat another piece of asparagus.

I’m so sad this course came so late but this is a traditional course setting it the meal overall was good up to that point that it was bound to happen that I would be stuffed by the time the meat came out.

DESSERT - THE WORLD - Peanut Butter ganache, valrhona chocolate mousse, salted caramel gelato.

Let me start off this course by saying that I am not a dessert person, so I wasn’t terribly sad that I was full for dessert especially when I realized it was heavily chocolate based - I’m not a big chocolate fan and will take a bite or so of chocolate sometimes but I don’t typically crave it and I never what THIS much of it. It’s also quite lofty to name a dessert “the world” just because it resembles a sphere.

(A view of Karie’s dessert being melted)

Still, this was a fun course and the server again came around and poured a warm caramel sauce on top of the chocolate dome to melt it and reveal the inside. The idea was better than the execution and while the server was great all night, he decided to hold the pitcher of caramel sauce right in front of me while he poured it onto my dessert meaning I didn’t get a very good visual for my experience and the caramel sauce wasn’t warm enough or the chocolate dome was too thick that it didn’t melt impressively at all and was kind of anti-climactic. This is also a very rich chocolatey dessert and I kept checking the menu description because it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The “salted caramel gelato” tasted more peanut butter-y than caramel and was so icy and chunky it wasn’t enjoyable. The wateriness of it did help cut through how much chocolate was in this dessert though and I did end up eating only the peanut butter/salted caramel. I was much happier with the desserts at the specialty restaurants the past few nights.

In general, I did feel pretty rushed for some of the courses and felt like I needed to eat everything quite quickly so I wish that it was paced a little slower so that I could really savor the food and not feel so stressed about the timing with 10 other people. As nice as people at the table were, I still didn’t have a great time eating with so many strangers and that always comes down to luck and chance. We had 2 couples on either side of us that I would’ve liked to talk to more but it just wasn’t the way the conversation went and that’s going to be different each time with a different group so I wouldn’t take that aspect into consideration. Overall, it was fine. I probably would’ve considered it differently if I knew it was more of a wine and food paring but it was still fun to get that experience and now I know.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Izumi

It’s a full day at sea today and we’ve decided to spend it eating at IZUMI. They have a sushi bar that we want to eat for lunch and hibachi which we’ll do for dinner so we can wrap up our dining experience at all the restaurants on board. We made our reservation for closer to 1pm before lunch service ended which was good in the sense that it wasn’t too crazy and loud from the hibachi tables, but bad in the sense that you could tell the wait staff was ready to wrap things up and the service was just fine.

We started off with MISO SOUP and shared SHRIMP & VEGETABLE TEMPURA both of which were pretty standard. I decided I wanted to mix things up and try something special so I ordered their CHAMPAGNE LOBSTER ROLL which is blanched lobster, avocado, daikon sprouts, soy wrap, champagne sauce, and chili thread. It honestly tasted like sushi rice which was pretty boring and disappointing. I was full though just from all the eating so I didn’t order anything for dessert especially since it was just lunch and we had leftover key lime pie and cheesecake in our room hanging out in the cooler to snack on later. Not to mention all the dining areas on board the ship that were free if we wanted something to eat before we came back for Hibachi dinner.

HIBACHI: I was a little disappointed in Izumi for lunch but was hoping dinner would be more fun/better. It was not great. I forget that in terms of food, hibachi isn’t that good. It’s about the fun of the show but we didn’t have an amazing group of people at our station, our chef was a little awkward (though very nice and he tried very hard) and the food ended up being just salty and oily which is the norm for hibachi.

Overall, Izumi was the worst on board restaurant and while it wasn’t bad it wasn’t good either. Also, even with our dining package, Izumi is and extra $10ish to go to so we would’ve been better off going back to any of the other restaurants or getting food that was open to the whole ship at the buffet or at El Loco Fresh on the pool deck. At least we tried it though and it would’ve been a question mark for us if we didn’t go everywhere so it was good to go to in that respect. Would not go again or recommend that one to other people though.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Chops Grille

It’s night two and we’ve had a nice day at Coco Cay but we ate lunch late so we’re not super hungry 4 hours later. This is the danger of having to make reservations before knowing what our day would be like. I wish I was more hungry because tonight is dinner at CHOPS GRILLE and I’ve been dreaming of steak for the past week so it’s so sad that I’m not more hungry to really savor it.

STILL! We started off our dinner splitting the COLOSSAL SHRIMP COCKTAIL and a CAESAR SALAD. Nothing out of the ordinary but they were both pretty good and it was a nice start. The shrimp was a little sad to share seeing as there were so few pieces but it didn’t taste so amazing that I wanted more.

For my entree I, of course, had to order a steak and went with the 6oz PETITE FILET the perfect amount for how full I already was from the late lunch. It looked a little sad on the plate but it tasted great and our server offered various sauces that sat in the nice little ridge of the plate to dip with our meat. I did have a bite or two left at the end but if I had been properly hungry at the start of dinner it would’ve been a great amount. Karie ordered a larger regular filet and it was way too much food. Super sad to see quality meat like this go to waste. Sorry steak.

At Chops, apparently the sides come in little dishes for the table to share so we ended up getting GRILLED JUMBO ASPARAGUS, YUKON GOLD MASHED POTATOES, and SAUTEÉD MUSHROOMS. Everything was good so it was really sad we were so full we couldn’t finish everything.

Our waiter was nice too, and he kept trying to get us to order more so we would get our money’s worth so when we ordered the NEW YORK CHEESECAKE to share he offered to pack up two more desserts to take back to our room so we got another slice of cheesecake and some KEY LIME PIE. Both good choices but so rich when we ate it later.

So! Chops was pretty good. A classic steakhouse, again nothing too fantastical or amazing but it was a quality meal and worth it to me to get seated in a nice dining room instead of hustling through a buffet looking for free tables.