Fish Lipz

In a nutshell Fish Lipz in Fort Walton is to be by passed. We went at around 2 pm on a Monday and had to wait a good 15 minutes for a table. When we were seated we found there were plenty of empty tables, so why exactly we had to wait we weren't sure. We proceeded to wait more. We waited on our drinks, salads and food for an excessive amount of time. The food itself was ok, but nothing special. With the price for an entree at $15 or more you would hope for at least good food. I will say the view was pretty (see below). No matter where you were seated you had a good view of the water. They also have outdoor seating. I give the service a D, food a C+, but the view A-.

Wine Tasting at Chan's & Dinner at Graffiti

To start off, this evening was a date night for Joe and I, which was great. We got to go out with Sarah and Kelly Jones. Thanks to Mom and Dad Brown for watching Georgia and Elliott for us!

We started the evening off at Chan's Wine World in Uptown Station. Every Friday night they have a

$10 wine tasting from 5 -7 pm. You get to taste 10 wines accompanied by some light snacks. Each week they feature a different theme of wines. This week they featured 5 whites, including a sparkling, and 5 reds. We had a fun time tasting and pairing with the food. My only complaint was there weren't any tables set up to stand around, so it was a little akward to try and hold your glass, food and try and write any comments down about each wine. It was also disappointing that the guy pouring the wine wasn't very knowledgeable about the wines. I asked a couple of simple questions and he wasn't able to answer them. Overall, if you're looking for a fun thing to do on a Friday night to start your evening off I highly suggest this.

From Chan's we headed to Graffiti in Destin for dinner. We'd never eaten there before and had a 2 for 1 coupon courtesy of 89.1 FM NPR. :) Graffiti is the dining side of the Funky Blues Shack, which we've heard is a good place to go and hangout, drink some good beer and listen to music. While we were there the music hadn't started yet, so I don't have first hand knowledge on it. As for Graffiti, I give it a thumbs up. As you walk in you are greeted with a colorful array of eclectic paintings and works of art covering the walls. The restaurant is lit with multi colored strings of lights adding to the funky vibe of the place. By far the atmosphere is what sets this place apart. The menu consists of pasta, seafood, meats and pizza. The entrees averaged about $15, which is a good price for the amount of food you get. The Jones ordered the crab cakes off of the appetizer menu. They said they were good with lots of good crab and not much filler. The salads that came with our meals were the house and caesar. The house salad was great. It came with mixed greens, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and feta. I got the balsamic dressing which I thought was really good. Joe got the Italian which he likes. The Caesar salad had good greens and homemade croutons, but the rest of it was only average. The bread served was freshly baked and filled with grains you could actually see and taste. It was delicious. The bread was served with a very garlicy olive oil dip. The Bernardoni's would love it. :)

Joe ordered the Balsamic Pork Chops. The chop itself was a generous portion and well grilled. The mashed potatoes that came with it were described as garlic, but didn't taste like it. They were kind of on the dry side as well.

I ordered the Braised Veal and Beef Totellacci. It was not at all what I was expecting and was a strange pairing. The beef and veal filling was amazing. It melted in your mouth with a very good texture. But the sauce that was paired with it didn't go at all. It was a very salty, beef broth. A tomato sauce would've complemen

ted the rich meat filling much better. It was really disappointing.

The Jones ordered the Almond crusted Halibut with a hazlenut butter sauce. The fish was flaky and well cooked. However, the breading was a bit soggy as if it had been sitting on the plate a bit. The sauce was really good. The veggies that came with their meal and with Joe's were well cooked, still crisp.

Overall the food was decent. We all thought next time we would try the pizza. It does seem more like a pizza type place than the food we ordered.

'Mom' comment. I appreciated that on the kids menu they offered fruit as an option instead of fries with their meals. The bathroom also has a changing station, which I wouldn't have guessed. There were a couple of other families there with their kids and I would've have felt comfortable bringing Georgia with us.

My tip, if you're in Destin and in the mood to try out a casual dinning place with character stop by Graffiti.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we had Sarah, Kelly and Elliott Jones over for brunch. Joe and Kelly cooked up a fabulous meal. They started us off with Mimosas with fresh strawberries. From there they whipped up omelets with pancetta, goat cheese and avocado. These were served with delicious home-fries on the side. Since Sarah and I went through our pregnancy and now life with our infants together it was a sweet time getting to spend part of the day together. We are going to miss them when we move!

My little girl enjoying some sweet potatoes. She is quite the eater, who loves to feed herself.

Sarah, with Kelly in the background, showing off her brunch.

My delightful food

Happy Mother's Day

Biker Burger

So I had a request for a review of Biker Burger here in Ft Walton. I have been there once. In 2008 when Joe came back from his deployment he and I ate there on a date. (Don't blame Joe for picking the place. I actually did.) The menu is quite impressive. There are salmon, turkey, chicken, shrimp, beef burgers. The fries are really good too. Good portions and good price for lots of food. The atmosphere is much like the name implies. Photos of people on/with their motorcycles are all over. Seating is barstools at high tables. BUT, here is my negative review. I got really bad food poisoning from eating there. Puking all night and knocked out the next day. Needless to say I haven't been back since. If you're willing to still give it a go let me know how it is, but I probably will continue to avoid eating there.

Food Reviews

I've mentioned to Joe a number of times I think it would be fun to be a food critic/reviewer. Back in March we heard a food critic on NPR and I mentioned again about it. He suggested I use our blog to begin to review restaurants. So, on our recent trip to Biloxi, MS I decided to start.

Blow Fly Inn

The Blow Fly Inn is a local, mom and pop restaurant off the beaten path in Gulfport, MS. The restaurant is located on the water giving a beautiful view as you eat. (See picture below.) They serve a lot of your standard seafood/southern favorites including fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, shrimp, grouper, etc. We started our meal with an appetizer of asparagus baked in parmesan cheese, although to call it baked is a bit of a misnomer. It was sprinkled with parmesan cheese, but it wasn't crunchy or melted as if baked. The asparagus itself looked to be steamed and was cooked perfectly. At $3.99 it seemed a bit much to pay, but it was tasty. We then both had salads. They left much to be desired. The raspberry vinaigrette was really sweet, tasking more like syrup than dressing. The homemade 1000 Island was good. The salad itself was iceberg lettuce, croutons, a tomato and cucumber slice. Our entrees were the highlight of the meal. I had the crab cakes, which were made with real lump crab, not much filler and a spicy remolade. Joe had the Crawfish Etouffee with rice. For the view/atmosphere and entrees I would give the Blow Fly Inn an overall rating of a B+.

Burger, Burger

Burger, Burger is known for well, like it's name, burgers. We however, were only able to eat there for breakfast. The menu consisted of your traditional diner type breakfast fare pancakes, eggs, omelets, etc. I got the 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, grits, toast, 2 sausage breakfast. The pancakes were only ok. They were a bit crispy and tastes a little like the oil they were cooked in. I really like pancakes and I was a bit disappointed with them. The eggs I ordered over medium, but were over easy instead. Joe liked the grits and said they tasted like the long cooking kind. The sausage was probably my favorite part of the meal. They were a bit spicy and came out piping hot. Joe ordered the short stack banana walnut pancakes, which he throughly enjoyed. He also had the coffee, which was good. The service was really good. I liked the atmosphere. There were pictures up of local events and people. There was a group of regulars there enjoying their breakfast while we were eating. Unfortunately, I wouldn't really suggest Burger, Burger for breakfast. You honestly could get better food at IHOP. But I would be willing to go back to try their lunch menu.

Kim Long

Kim Long is a Vietnames restaurant that is very authentic (or at least seems to be, I've never been to Vietnam). The menu had crazy things on it like Coconut drink, intestines. The food is good, cheap and a lot. We started off our meal with the spring rolls. They were delicious with shrimp and beef in them accompanied by a peanut dipping sauce. Joe had the BinBun for his entree. This consisted of rice noodles with cilantro, beef, cabbage and a vinegar sauce you pour over the noodles. I had the BinMan. To me it was exactly like Pho. I couldn't really see what the difference was. There were noodles, BBQ beef, cabbage, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos all in a chicken broth. So, if you're in Biloxi and craving some Asian food look up Kim Long.

Los Rancheros

Los Rancheros was amazing. It was by far the best mexican food I've had since living in the South. As some of you know, I LOVE mexican food and have pretty high standards. When we walked in we were met by all Mexicans working there, speaking Spanish. I was a good sign. The restaurant is family owned and operated. But let me get to the food. They started off by bringing us chips and salsa. They made the chips and salsa fresh. We devoured them. (Funny side note: we both got water and it came in small pitchers, not glasses, but pitchers.) For our meal we ordered the fajitas for two. It came with beef, chicken, shrimp, peppers, onion, tomato all covered in cheese. There was enough of it for 3 or 4 people easily. We each got 3 tortillas, guacamole, beans, rice, lettuce, pico. The beef was tender and the chicken was marinaded and seasoned great, not at all dry. The meat was even good the next day reheated in the microwave. It was a good price too, only $24. This is a place not to miss.