Restaurants - Here We Come!

DRINK UP!
When it comes to restaurants, we are not normally big alcohol drinkers. Frankly, it’s expensive to get drinks. And we’d rather use the extra calories on dessert anyway. So, before insurance gave us the go-ahead, we were a: Share an ice tea between the adults, and the kids get water, family. My, how things have changed! Now, we’re a: Everybody gets your own non-alcoholic drink and why not some wine or a strawberry margarita here and there for the adults, family.

GETTING USED TO MAGIC!
For the first batch of receipts we sent to our insurance, we were a bit scared. They said eat whatever you normally eat. Okay, but did we really cook like this at home? Heck no! Our agent questioned a couple things in the beginning; I answered her honestly and she was fine. In May, it was my first Mother’s Day I couldn’t have in bed, but we made up for it at brunch at The Marriott in Dana Point. We were freaking out a little until we got the big insurance check back. We were freaking out until we got a couple more checks too. You should have seen the Father’s Day brunch receipt from the St. Regis! By the way, some of the best Eggs Benedict I’ve had, and some of the worst pancakes. The “pancake chef” could not make a decent pancake for the life of him! He had all these amazing fixins’ but kept burning the pancakes. We’ll just blame the portable grill. ☺ Everything else was excellent. Best part — We got to sit right next to Magic Johnson and his wife! He was cool to give our boys a high-five after the photo he posed with them. That was a memorable Father’s Day.

THIS CHEF HAS SOME NERVE
At The Peppercorn Grille in Big Bear, David just ordered a pizza, but since it looked like a very classy restaurant, the boys and I decided to get fillet mignons. We order them medium rare. When the steaks arrive and we cut into them, they are all medium well, so we sent them back. About 5 minutes later, the waiter brings all 3 plates back out to us with a message from the chef. “The chef wants to know if you’ve cut all the way to the center and to make sure you want to send them back.” We are astonished, and yes, we are sure! The waiter says he is only the middleman and he agrees with us, “These are not medium rare.” When he returns, the waiter says, "The chef said he will take these back for you.” Really? Like he was doing us a favor for cooking our food improperly! To top it off, the new fillets came back raw in the middle. I didn’t want to deal with the chef again so I just ate the outsides and will never return.

NEXT POST
More restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression to come. Stay tuned! Scroll down for the photos.