End of 2011: Round-Up Restaurant Reviews

Here are some places we ate at during the closing months of 2011. We visit the beach every weekend so many of these places are near the coast of Florida.

In an order to catch-up, they will each be mentioned briefly in the interest of time.

Halifax Plantation Golf Club Restaurant - Ormond Beach, Florida -
Typical Country Club fare. Good atmosphere, and good service from our friend Kristy. Tasty items include the escargot, the baked brie, the seafood sampler, and the brandy Alexander. 3.25-Forks

Cinematique of Daytona - Ivy Lane Bistro - Daytona Beach, Florida -
This is an Art House Cinema showing Foreign and Independent films year round.
It is a great place to watch a limited release movie and have a nice lunch or dinner served by the Ivy Lane Bistro located next door. The friend green tomatoes are a must have. 3-Forks

Plantation Bar & Grill - Ormond Beach, Florida -
Located next to the Halifax Plantation Publix, this local eatery is not too bad. They have a nice variety of dishes, it is clean and attractive and hosts a nice clientele.
The pork osso bucco and the lobster ravioli are two of our favorites. 2.75 Forks

Kings Chinese Restaurant - Ormond Beach, Florida -
In the same shopping plaza as the Publix at Halifax Plantation, this is truly a wonderful Chinese restaurant. All of the entrees are great and the fried rice is excellent. We do "take-out" often. 3.25-Forks

Joe's New York Style Pizza - Ormond Beach, Florida -
Delicious Pizza for take-out. Double Pepperoni is our favorite 3-Forks

Stonewood Grill & Tavern - Ormond Beach, Florida -
This place was packed at 6:00 PM on a Friday doing a phenomenal business.
The food was not bad. The Bruschetta was ordinary and not cooked at all. The Char-grilled oysters were very good but not very much to eat.
The steaks were thin and overcooked. However the Duckhorn Cabernet was very delicious, and our server was very friendly and informative. 2.75-Forks

The Lobster Pit - Ormond by the Sea, Florida -
The lobster bisque here is spectacular. Did not care much for the Lobster rolls (boiled lobster on a hot dog roll). The hush-puppies are delicious here too. 3.5-Forks

Hijackers - Flagler Beach, Florida -
Great atmosphere, and fun fried foods. Located at the Flagler County Airport, it is a fun place for locals to spend an afternoon or evening with friends. 2.75-Forks

The Cellar - Daytona Beach, Florida -
A historic restaurant in DB, this place is delicious and the service is fantastic.Excellent wine list.
Some of our favorites are the Veal Osso Bucco, the fillet Mignon, the rib-eye, the carpaccio, and the Fettuccini Conigilo. 4.25-Forks

Thai Erawan - Ormond Beach, Florida -
This is a delicious Thai restaurant in the Heart of Ormond Beach.
Located in the TGIF shopping center on SR 4o and AIA, this place has excellent Thai food in a beautiful setting. Our favorites included Crab Meat soup, Soft Shell Crabs, Red Snapper lad prig, the Pad Prig Chicken, the Tom Yum Shrimp, the Thai Erwan Sampler, the Mee Krob, and the Mango Cheese Cake. Expensive but Good 3.75-Forks

The Ravenous Pig - Winter Park, Florida
This restaurant is a local Gastro-Pub and serves very nice dishes.
The service is excellent and we always sit at the bar area for a nicer more casual atmosphere.
Some of our favorite dishes there are the Beef Carpaccio, the Ceviche, the Cavatelli pasta and the Pork Platter. Expensive but Good 4-Forks

Ruby Tuesday - Jacksonville, Florida
Met a friend there going to the airport.
The food was good in an average way. Our favorites were the Blackened Talapia in a mango sauce, the Lobster Carbonara, and the Avocado Chicken Sandwich. 2.75-Forks

Los Galanes - Detroit, Michigan -
This is a Mexican Restaurant we visited during Thanksgiving week in Michigan.
The food and the service is always excellent. Standard Mexican fare including, Steak and Shrimp Fajitas, Beef Tacos, Carne Asada, and Camarones a la Diabla. Delicious Margaritas too.
3-Forks

Cafe Cortina - Farmington Hills, Michigan -
This is an excellent Italian Restaurant in the suburbs of Detroit called Farmington Hills.
The food is awesome and the service is good but can be slow on a busy Friday or Saturday night.
The poached fish is delicious and the Zabaglione desert is light as a feather. 4-Forks

Freighters Restaurant - Sault Ste Marie, Michigan -
This restaurant resides inside the Ojibway Ramada Hotel in the upper peninsula of Michigan.
It is a very nice restaurant with good food and it is teared so that you can see the ships as they approach the Soo Locks. Breakfasts and the White Fish are our favorites here.
The Captain's Lounge is also a very nice place to eat while at the Ojibway. 3.25-Forks

The Brass Pointe - Farmington Hills, Michigan
This is a good family restaurant that serves solid comfort food. The specialty of the house is its broasted chicken and the B-B-Q Ribs. 3-Forks

Ocean Side Bar & Grill - Flagler Beach, Florida -
This is a great place to eat breakfast near our place on the beach.
They have excellent sweet potato fires. We like it just fine. 3-Forks

KoKoRo Sushi Bar and Japanese Bistro - Palm Coast, Florida -
We ate there before the change in ownership took place. Back then it was very good
and the owners made you feel welcomed. 3.25-Forks

Fancy Sushi - Palm Coast, Florida -
This is a nice sushi place with very friendly service and nice fresh sushi.
We were treated very well and the food was fresh. 3-Forks

The Columbia Restaurant - St. Augustine, Florida -
This used to be an excellent restaurant when it was first opened in Ybor City many years ago.
Now, it has become a tourist mecca for those wanting to sample Spanish dishes.
They have very good tapas and other representative dishes. Too crowded. 2.75 Forks

Southside Hickory House - Flagler Beach, Florida -
This is a new place in Flagler Beach and we hope they make it. We have been there once and ordered the baby back ribs to go. We did not care much for them. Their specialty seems to be Cincinnati Chili but we are not sure how well that will go over in central Florida. 2.5-Forks

Rossi's at the Beach - Flagler Beach, Florida -
This is an excellent place for breakfast, outdoors, overlooking the ocean.
Not a fancy place. Just a wonderful setting and casual laid back atmosphere. Good breakfasts.
3-Forks

Friends Cafe - Flagler Beach, Florida -
This is a very busy breakfast joint in Flagler Beach. It is usually filled to capacity with folks waiting outside. Breakfasts are good but ordinary, for all of the hoop-la. 2.5-Forks

Martin's Restaurant - Flagler Beach, Florida -
Martin's is a well attended restaurant that is usually filled to capacity at dinner time on weekends.
The steaks are large from what we have heard but we love the Alaskan King Crab legs. We also experienced great service. 3-Forks

Brian's BBQ - Deland, Florida -
This is a typical BBQ place with the smoked ribs and BBQ meats and beans. We really enjoyed it. It is clean and friendly and we had excellent service. Our favorites are the ribs. 3-Forks

Atlantic Grille - Hammock Beach Resort, Palm Coast, Florida -
This is a very nice establishment at another one of the local Country Clubs.
It does have beautiful views and the food is not too bad at all. Our favorites when we were there were the Scallops and the Flounder. Great service. 3.25 Forks

Le Crepe en Haut - Ormond Beach, Florida
This is a very fancy and expensive restaurant that has lost some of its luster.
They need to get a better chef and wait staff.
Our dinner was good but not as good as expected from this caliber restaurant. 3-Forks

Alfie's Restaurant - Ormond Beach, Florida -
A great little place for breakfast right across the street from the beach.
Fast friendly service and reasonable food. 2.75-Forks

Board Games, Brain Teasers and Other Fun Stuff

Hello and WELCOME to our Gaming Blog.
In order to maximize the content of this page, we have joined Board Game Geek.Com and are archiving and reviewing the board games we play on their database (plus many others, of course). We got most of our information on the different games we own from this web site. It shows most, if not all, of the board games available, together with forums and links for the games.

Our Games list will give you the description and some of our own insights on each game.

In brief, these are the games that we currently own, I have listed them alphabetically. Clicking on the name will take you to the appropriate URL on Board Game Geek.Com:
- 24, the DVD Board Game;
- Acquire;
- Africa;
- Autobridge;
- Battleship;
- Caylus;
- Cities & Knights of Catan (with the 5-6 player extension);
- Cranium;
- Da Vinci's Challenge;
- Da Vinci's Dilemma;
- Da Vinci's Mancala;
- Dominoes;
- El Grande Decennial;
- Gemlock;
- Gheos;
- Gobblet;
- Ingenious;
- Leonardo Da Vinci;
- Marvel Heroes;
- Monopoly (Original, Orlando and Nostalgia versions);
- Pit;
- Power Grid;- Probe;
- Puerto Rico;
- Quinto;
- Risk (Original and 2210 A.D. versions);
- Scene It? 007 Collector's edition;
- Scrabble (Original and Super versions);
- Seafarers of Catan (with the 5-6 player extension);
- Settlers of Catan (with the 5-6 player extension);
- Size Matters;
- Skittle-Bowl;
- Starfarers of Catan;
- Thurn and Taxis;
- Ticket to Ride;
- Tigris and Euphrates;
- Tripoley;
- Trivial Pursuit (Volume 1, Volume 3, Volume 4 and Volume 6);
- Twilight Struggle;
- Upwords;
- Win, Lose or Draw;
- Yahtzee


Ok, Roll the Die; Its your turn.

Your Hosts, Ken and Len