The Courtyard Tea Rooms, Poole, England

We had just over an hour in Poole, so we ducked into a pub for a warm, flat beer, and checked Trip Advisor to see what sounded good. The Courtyard Tea Rooms came up as number 3 and had such great reviews, we decided to go there.

There are two rooms inside and an outdoor courtyard for dining or enjoying a tea service. As we walked through the first dining room into the kitchen, it became clear that this establishment had been a home and was converted to a restaurant. The woman working in the home-style kitchen was cooking all of the food and baking all of the cakes in what was hardly larger than most Americans’ kitchens.

I had a fun time being introduced to Fentimans, a botanically brewed beverage. When it’s served, it comes with a quirky card.

I advise reading the card and following the directions for a cute little laugh.

The card suggests that one’s right hand is very useful for FURTLING, which, you’ll find, it is.

I ordered the soup of the day, which was vegetable soup, and it was served piping hot with freshly baked bread.

Fresh and delicious. Next was a cheese and spicy chutney sandwich with a side salad.

Sean opted for the frittata of the day, also served with a side salad.

The service was spectacular, the food was fresh and well prepared, and the owners are clearly hard-working and love what they do. We were so glad to have trusted the good old Trip Advisor recommendations on this one.

The Love Apple, Taos, NM

Shortly before heading off on our honeymoon to ski in southern CO and Taos, NM, we posted about our upcoming trip on Facebook. Our dear friend Grace, esteemed blogger of Grace(full) Plate, emphatically suggested The Love Apple, so we added it to our dining itinerary.

The Love Apple, another name for the tomato, is located in an historic Catholic church that was built in the early 1800’s. You enter a beautiful courtyard and are greeted by a blackboard introducing you to the local farms, cheese makers, and other purveyors. Signs like this make me excited to dine, so before even entering or looking at their menu, I was enlivened by this place.

The menu has something for everyone, and the wine list is well above average. We ordered a couple glasses of wine while deciding on our food and which bottle of wine we were going to order. Our first shared dish was the Sangre de Cristo Flour Tortillas, made in house daily with locally sourced flour. These were delicious, served with harissa, homemade creme fraîche, and cilantro lime relish.

Next, we shared two salads: the Raw Beet, Avocado, and Southwestern Ruby Grapefruit Salad

And the Local Green Salad with Pomegranate, Pecans, and Warm Goat Cheese.

Both salads were first and foremost nutritious and delicious, but the combinations of ingredients was inspiring. I especially enjoyed the breaded and fried goat cheese disk and, though I see it infrequently, never tire of this particular presentation.

For an entrée, he ordered the Housemade Baked Tamale and Oaxacan Style Mole which was a tamale filled with sautéed local greens and sweet corn, topped with red chile mole, a fried egg, and creme fraîche. He loved the combination of flavors, thought the mole was exceptional, and thought the egg was perfect and made a nice addition.

I went with the Grilled Ruby Rainbow Trout, which was served wrapped in a corn husk with lime compound butter. It was topped with chipotle creme and rested on top of a quinoa-piñon fritter (hiding behind the tail and missed by my camera), and cilantro lime relish.

I ate every single bite of food on my plate. The fish was perfectly cooked and moist, the fritter was a fun way to have grains on the side, and Sean’s wine choice was a superb accompaniment.

This charming old church was such a peaceful setting for dinner, I opted in to dessert. The theme of The Love Apple seems to be “house made,” so when I heard of the housemade spiced chocolate gelato, I said, “Yes please.”

Thank you, The Love Apple, for being an oasis of great food amongst a dessert of mediocre food in the southern CO, northern NM region. We’ll certainly tell everyone we know visiting the area to enjoy a meal from your kitchen.

The Burger Stand at the Taos Ale House

As the website says, The Burger Stand at the Taos Ale House is a brewpub with a diverse selection of small batch handcrafted beer and eclectic and delicious burgers. It’s a great place for burgers and beer in a town that pretty much closes up shop at 5 or 6 pm. There are few places in Taos that are, in the opinion of A Bolder Table, worth frequenting, and the Ale House is one of them.

We ordered a couple pints of locally brewed New Mexican beers, and then went to the burger Stand counter to order burgers off of a nicely varied menu. There’s something for everyone here.

While we waited, we perused the extensive condiment selection. They have at least a dozen sauces and accouterments to add to your burger, which got us pretty excited for our meal.

We had to try the green chili and cheese fries, and honestly, it’s the only thing we had that was disappointing. The green chili was good, but the fries were obviously pre-made and packaged, not hand cut as I had anticipated, and the cheese sauce tasted processed. So, those are my gripes. Moving on…

The Quinoa and Arugula salad was good and the dressing on the side as well.

My burger was great. Sean ordered one of their veggie burger options, but I neglected to get a photo. It’s always nice when places make veggie burgers in house, and The Burger Stand goes above and beyond by making two completely different veggie patties. I went with a turkey burger version of the Fire Burger, topped with avocado and habañero cactus jam. It was delicious, especially after a full day crushing the steep slopes at Taos Ski Valley.

We really liked this place, and went back the next night for a beer before heading out to dine at The Love Apple.

Eataly, Chicago- A Gourmand’s Dream Come True

You walk in to a gourmet fresh produce market with raisins dried on the vine, exotic fruits, fresh vegetables, and a free vegetable butchering service. Turn to the right and approach a coffee bar, then a snack bar, an ice cream shop, chocolate shop, and home goods specialty shop. Head up to the second floor and enter a brewery, winery, olive oil shop, bakery, cooking school, pizzeria, vegetable restaurant, fish market and restaurant, cheese shop, fresh pasta shop, butcher counter, salumi shop… I’m definitely forgetting a number of “shops” under this two-story department store sized restaurant and marketplace. But, hopefully you get my point if you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting EATALY in NYC, Chicago, or any of its other European, Middle Eastern, or Asian locations.

Sean and I did a really quick reconnaissance after enjoying The Publican, and decided to return the next day for lunch.

We chose to dine at the Verduri restaurant, and started with their Bruschetta del Giorno.

And a couple glasses of rosé in EATALY glasses (available for purchase, of course).

Next came the Asparagi dish with a beautifully fried egg on top.

We followed that with Verdure Piastra, which was essentially a big serving of farro topped with roasted veggies.

And chef had to try their Green Pea Farrotto, as he’d just been talking about wanting to put a Farrotto on his own menu at Zeal.

The verdict? The Farrotto, which is essentially a risotto-style dish made with farro rather than rice, seemed to be rapidly prepared rather than slowly cooked the way this labor intensive dish is best made for a creamy, delectable experience. It seemed like pre-cooked farro was added to a pea broth rather than cooked in a broth over a long period of time. But, the flavor was good. The Verdure Piastra was a HUGE portion of food, yet priced the same as the Farrotto. This seemed off to us. And in the end, lunch cost $130 including tax and tip. That’s a pretty expensive lunch!