SYR - Crazy Daisies

SYR - Crazy Daisies

One of my coworkers started a new job, so in order to stay in touch we’ve established the first group trivia night!

LOCATION: 4693 KASSON RD., SYRACUSE, NY 13215

I’ve never been to Crazy Daisies before but it’s such a Syracuse staple that it’s been on my list for the past three years. I’m so excited I got to visit and check the place out. Crazy Daisies is a super cute flower and garden cafe with greenhouses, a cafe, and outdoor seating for events. We’re here tonight for trivia night (I’m terrible but we’re here for the fun of it) and of course some fun food and drinks.

As established, I’m not a big drinker and I live about 40+ mins away so that car ride home after a long day of work and trivia is no joke. Luckily, they have a whole menu of mocktails and the snacks are plentiful (though a bit pricey if you ask me).

Me and my former coworker got there around the same time so we decided to get some snacks and drinks while we waited for my current coworker to arrive with her partner (we totally needed some male brain power to help balance out our trivia team). I started off with a pineapple coconut lime mocktail which has pineapple and lime juice, coconut cream, topped with soda water and a garnish. They gave me a little flower on top which was super cute and they gotta do something to charge $7 for a mocktail.

It was an okay drink too, not very coconut-y or pineapple-y. Very lime forward but it was cold and refreshing on a warm day with outdoor seating.

We also got some chips and salsa ($7) and I ordered a baked brie and apple plate ($16) because I’m bougie and I love brie but can never eat it all on my own at home. This brie came with honey, candied pecans, a house made raspberry coulis, apple cinnamon slices, and crackers. This was a solid order. The apple slices on top were VERY cinnamon dusted but with a little tap it was fine and it’s not like the cinnamon was terribly strong. The brie with honey was very good, though very sticky. I can’t say I’m huge on jams so I didn’t end up trying the raspberry coulis but the honey was enough sweetness for me. We were a little thrown off initially because the crackers were very bland in a more savory type of way when we expected that little waffle shape to be slightly sweet but everything balanced out well in the end.

Once everyone arrived and we were in the swing of trivia out on the side porch, we took shifts going inside and ordering individual plates. I decided on the goat cheese salad ($15) with mixed greens, goat cheese, season fruit which were blackberries in this case, red onions, walnuts, and a house poppyseed dressing which came on the side.

I love a goat cheese salad. I never make it at home, though this isn’t a difficult salad to throw together so maybe I should be more creative and make it happen. I wasn’t a huge fan of the blackberries because of all their seeds but overall this salad was very good. The goat cheese was soft and creamy, the poppyseed dressing wasn’t too much, and the sweetness from the fruit helped balance the red onions. I’m pretty neutral on a walnut but some added texture never hurts.

A lot of cheese but boy was I happy about it. We ended up in the middle of the pack for trivia but we had a few good rounds where we bumped up into the top 5. We just didn’t bet enough on the final jeopardy question and paid for being conservative with our points. It’s always a tough call when the category is History and the majority of us aren’t buffs. This was a fun activity. Would do it again, though weekly is a little rough for old me. I love being home early and getting cozy on a school night but it’s good to go out and spend time with people, especially old coworkers who I don’t get to see regularly.

CHI - Lou Malnati's

CHI - Lou Malnati’s

We’re in Chicago! We’ve been planning this trip for a bit and really came here for a quick visit so we could go to the Field Museum for the Pokemon Fossil Museum Exhibit that’s making it’s first year-long stop outside of Japan.

Caleb’s never been to Chicago before either so I’m excited to get to show him a little taste of my life when I lived here back in 2016 during grad school. First trip, of course, means we had to get some deep dish and since we’re making a quick turn around this first night was our opportunity.

When I lived here, I’d only ever gone to Giordano’s for deep dish. Four or five visits in two years each time someone new came to visit me to stamp their Chicago visit with a deep dish pizza. For some reason, I never strayed from Giordano’s either. I’m a New York slice every time, but when in Rome and Giordano’s became my staple. But after leaving, I realized it was a little silly that I never tried any of the competitors and I might’ve missed out so, this trip I decided we’d make a stop a Lou’s if we had the chance and we did.

LOCATION: 439 N WELLS ST., CHICAGO, IL 60654

Our hotel was up in River North and there was a Lou Malnati’s a couple blocks away. After being in a car for 10 hours, it was nice for a little walk and with the time difference, we ended up with an early dinner so there was only a 5 minute wait.

We’d been snacking all day and weren’t feeling terribly hungry and our room didn’t have a mini fridge so we weren’t looking to have leftovers and decided to just share a small pizza. Deep dish is deceivingly filling with it’s deep-ness and density so I wanted to proceed with caution and we could eat snacks or make another stop later if we weren’t full.

I was a little skeptical when I looked at the menu and the wait time for a deep dish was only 30mins. Now I’ve mentally prepared myself for years because at Giordano’s a deep dish takes an hour to bake because it’s just THAT deep. I’m not complaining about that wait time being halved but I was curious as to how they make that happen.

We were debating between getting a little salad because we’re only a day and a half into our trip but I could feel a need for some healthy veggies but Caleb isn’t a huge dressing person and dry salad’s are pretty sad for him. And again, we’re not trying to have leftovers so, we opted for The Lou which seems like a solid choice to pick a signature item. The Lou comes with a spinach mix of garlic, basil, and onion topped with mushrooms, fresh roma tomato slices, and cheese. I was half pushing for the Malnati Chicago Classic for similar reasons but it’s made with sausage and Caleb isn’t a big sausage person in general so The Lou it was! Plus some fresh tomatoes and spinach is a push in the veggies direction that I was looking for so it was an easy compromise.

So for a Monday evening, this place wasn’t packed but it was a fairly full dining room. Out server was very nice but almost dropped off someone else’s drinks until I let him know he had the wrong table and he took quite a bit of time getting us our sodas and also mixed them up. I was a little worried that it might take a little longer than 30mins if he was slow to put our order in or if it was going to sit at the pass for a bit before he remembered to bring it but it wasn’t terrible. It WAS a little longer than 30mins but we were having a nice time chatting and watching some of the screens and looking at the jerseys on the wall, and it was vacation so we didn’t have a tight schedule.

When The Lou did come out, it was the right size for what we were looking for. Nothing terribly impressive but a small pizza is a small pizza. Right out of the gate, it was obvious that it wasn’t as deep as a Giordano’s. This crust is their trademarked ‘Buttercrust’ and I’m not sure what that means but I’m not a fan. The crust was pretty dry and cracker-like. A little tough and hard to cut through for sure. Which, for a deep dish that you’re eating with a knife and fork, it wasn’t the more enjoyable cutting experience. I ended up trying to just pick it up with my hands and that kind of worked since it wasn’t so deep but also a little clumsy and clunky.

We both agreed the filling wasn’t amazing either. Overall, pretty bland and watery for a pizza. Adding a little parm (and red pepper flakes for Caleb) on top really did some lifting but it was disappointing that it wasn’t great on it’s own. I guess that’s what happens when you have a veggie pizza but you would think that a signature pizza with part of the name of the restaurant would be a little more flavorful and impressive.

Overall, a positive experience, a neutrally positive meal, but mostly mid food. I have a co-worker who mentioned she was going to be visiting Chicago in a couple weeks and asked for recommendations and I texted her before we even made it back to the hotel and let her know, Lou’s is a miss. Giordano’s is the spot to try. I’m pretty sad Caleb didn’t get to the better pizza but maybe next trip.

NYC - Yankee Stadium

NYC - Yankee Stadium

Self-explanatory but it’s my first MLB game and therefore my first time in Yankee Stadium! Caleb gifted his dad a bonding trip to see a Yankee’s game for this past Christmas and he decided to tag myself and Caleb’s mom along to do a little joint hybrid/birthday trip. Either way you shake it, I’ve won out.

Of course, one of my favorite parts of live sports is all the snacks. We’re girl dinner-ing left and right and Yankee Stadium has stepped up it’s game when it comes to food (from what I hear online compared to other MLB stadiums). I ended up not going too crazy but I got the couple of highlights that I was looking forward to trying so I count that as a success.

First on the list was the garlic parmesan fries in section 205 because it was right by our seats and I was ready for some sustenance after a an early morning trip into the city. I was hoping for this to be served in a mini hat like I’d seen on some websites online but the cute box of Yankee Stadium was a still a great touch. I had to wait a couple minutes for my order because these were FRESH out of the fryer and piping HOT. These fries are definitely on the shoestring side so they were really crispy, not my preference because I love a more starchy potato but the garlic parm flavor was very present. They were quite salty so I only ate about half of them since I didn’t get them with any protein in anticipation of my next meal item.

Cue the NEW King’s Hawaiian angry lobster roll (section 115). Now if you’ve been around for a little you’,ll know that I LOVE a lobster roll and went on the hunt on our first trip to Maine last Summer and this was no different. I saw that this was a new item for this baseball season and I love a little King’s Hawaiian roll as well so this seemed like a promising try. Not going to lie, this guy was pretty disappointing. This lobster roll comes with “cold-water lobster, lemon aioli, togarashi spice, and scallions all in a King’s Hawiian Split top bun.

I shouldn’t have expected this to be real lobster because I could tell just from the smell that this was immitation seafood right away. I’m a little surprised I didn’t see any word about it when I saw the new item announcements and reviews online. Everything else about this was good. The bread is solid King’s Hawaiian, the togarashi spice on top that gave it a pretty good kick, there wasn’t too much mayo, the scallions were fresh, but I could only make it through about two rolls of this imitation seafood smell/flavor before I gave up. I kept telling myself I would go back to it but I wasn’t feeling great and I ended up not eating that last roll even after spending $25 on it. I never regret trying new foods because you never know when it ends up being worth it but this was not one of those times.

SYR - Varsity Pizza Syracuse

SYR - Varsity Pizza Syracuse

A Syracuse University staple! I’ve been here a handful of times as the local greasy spoon right by campus but one of my campus friends has been wanting to try breakfast and I’m always here for a food adventure so we were off!

LOCATION: 802 S. Crouse Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210

I’ve never had breakfast here before and I wasn’t planning on getting anything but I love a savory meal and I was HUNGRY so I couldn’t just drink my tea when bacon is right there!

I decided to order a breakfast bowl with bacon which is a hash of potatoes, scrambled eggs, a protein of choice, and toast. It’s a classic breakfast which makes it hard to mess up. The bacon was perfectly crispy and I tend to not eat all the eggs (I may or may not be developing some sort of allergy) or the toast (filler that I typically don’t have room for) so my focus is always potatoes and bacon. Not a surprise if you know me at all. Perfectly crispy bacon was the star for sure and I have a feeling, we may be back for breakfast.

SYR - Plaza Grande Cocina Mexicana & Cantina

SYR - Plaza Grande Cocina Mexicana & Cantina

It’s end of year dinner time with the girls and while we may not have picked a place quickly, we did eventually landed on Plaza Grande!

LOCATION: 2212 W. GENESEE ST., SYRACUSE, NY 13219

The vibes of this gave us whiplash as we came in. For some reason there was a cardboard cut-out of the Rock in the corner (selling his newest alcohol it seems) and then we turned the corner into the dining area and we were seated right next to a fountain. We did some bathroom shifts while we were waiting for everyone to arrive and there’s a cute little faux flower wall along the way for a cute Insta moment. A lot going on but in the best way.

Of course we all banded together and decided that margaritas were in order and I got their house margarita with strawberry (we wanted frozen but it wasn’t available so on the rocks it was!) It was a solid margarita but I ended up only drinking about a quarter because that tequila hit me hard and I had to drive home so just sips to make sure I was clear headed by the time we left. This was a very good margarita though so I wish I had a DD for the night because I’m a big fan.

We kicked off the meal with some choriqueso for the table and with the drinks, it was perfect. It was creamy and perfectly meaty. I would have eaten a bunch of it but I wanted to leave some room for my main and I’m also trying to watch my fatty food intake now that I’m down a gall bladder. I decided to order the tequila shrimp tacos which came with grilled shrimp cooked in (more) tequila, lime, and sautéed red cabbage served with a side of black beans and rice (on the side). These were pretty solid tacos. Three tacos like this is usually the perfect size for me and then I graze on some rice to fill in the little gaps that the starter chips may not have filled in already.

This was such a nice dinner. The service was so kind and gave us tons of time and space to just chat and enjoy our night. I felt so full in the best way and dinner is always better when you have a great group to eat with and dish about surviving another school year. Life is good.