Tuesday 22 April 2014

Lorenzo in Bellingham

 Lorenzo's 
This place is colourful and vibrant just like a being in Mexico. 
http://lorenzosmexicanrestaurant.com/menu.php


The meal started almost instantly with a generous bowl of taco chips, and a tasty red salsa.  The spice level was moderate, as it was meant to please the masses, but overall this is one of our favorite parts of Mexican restaurants in the US.  I wish that they would do this more often in Canada.  We did notice that the server, while very friendly, was overextended with the arrival of large parties.


Tacos de Carnitas (Back)Shredded port marinated and stuffing to to three corn tortillas. 
Reuben ate this so fast. Not sure if it was delicious or he was hungry. I got a taste of it and it was much better than the carnitas Racheras as it was tender with a decent amount of flavour, and ingredients in the make it yourself tacos.  The ingredients included chopped white onions, cilantro and lime wedges.

Carnitas Rancheras (Front)

Sliced sirloin steak cooked with green peppers and onions. Served with guacamole. Decent meal.The steak was on the tougher and drier side. My rice was bland and simply appeared orangey with little seasons. My salad as very simple and very poor quality. I was disappointed in the 'healthier' alternative.


Coronita or (Mexican Bulldog as we call it in Canada) $8.00
Delicious lime maragarita served with an upside-down 7oz bottle of Corona! Should have asked for it slushed. Didn't even taste the beer flavour.

OVERALL:
+ large portions 
+ very close to the border
+ good deals

Bad:
+ Service was meh; didn't refill our chips
+ Average flavours

Lorenzo's on Urbanspoon

Sunday 20 April 2014

Wonderful Buffet @ Bellingham

ENTER THE AMERICA!

Under 25 minutes border wait, we have finally crossed the border on the Saturday morning. Our first pit stop was Bellingham to pick up a couple of snacks for the road at Traders' Joe and Deals Only. Another destination of our trip was seeing the Skagit Tulip Valley. Even on a rainy and windy day the traffic was backed up. It took us another 20 minutes to get to the parking lots. After an hour of walking in the muddy fields, we were starving. Feeling hungry and stoked for a weekend of indulgence we decided to make our first foodie trip at Wonderful Buffet located in Marysville. I have been here once with my family and was satisfied with the selection and decided to come back by it was Reuben first time! Get ready to put on those stretchy pants and unbutton those jeans.

Wonderful Buffet 

A Chinese owned buffet with wide selection from hot and sour soup, fruit bar, coleslaw, broccoli slaw drenched cream sauce,  iceberg salad bar (no spinach or romaine lettuce), sweet and sour pork, fries, deep fried wings to steamed clams (the highlight of my meal). The steamed clams were extremely popular. People were lining up to fill their empty plates with several scoops of steamed clams. There was a sushi bar where the chef was rolling up California rolls, tuna and salmon maki, and other simple rolls with imitated crab meat. There were mussels, small shrimps, baked mushrooms, fried rice, fried noodles, various pork and meats with sweet and savoury sauce. 


Dessert was disappointing. With a prepackaged butter cookies, cream puffs, jellos and soft serve ice cream it did not it provide a much selection as I had hoped. 

Good:
+ CHEAP->Under $10 for Adult Lunch Buffet!!
+ wide selection 
+ Accepts Card

Bad:
- desserts were disappointing
- greasy spoon
- soup was flavourless, and very starchy

Wonderful Buffet 旺德福 on Urbanspoon

Pear Delicatessen

On our Easter Long Weekend trip to Seattle we took the train to downtown, and were quite hungry after looking for breakfast on Easter Sunday.  Not surprisingly (although at the time to us it was) there wasn't very much open, even in downtown.  We thought our best luck would be around Pike Place, so that is where we headed.



Rather than wait inline at some of the more popular venues (Piroshky Piroshky, or Le Panier) we chose to go somewhere that would fill our food needs quickly.  This lead us to the Pear Delicatessen along Pike Place.  Pear Deli was inside of a shop that had a lot of local foods and drinks, so there was plenty to look at while you waited.

Reuben decided to go with the Salmon Lox on a Pumpernickle Bagel.  This was a satisfying choice as it had plenty of cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion and capers.  The bagel was also excellent.
Veggie Girl went for the Ham and Cheese Croissant.  The croissant was still soft despite being toasted, and the cheese seemed to be processed.  The flavours were on point, and this was a satisfying choice.

Although this choice came out of desperation it ended up being a good decision, and in my mind was a better option than waiting inline at the tourist traps down the street.

Summary:
+ Great alternative to the busier restaurants in the area
+ Delicious food
+ Interesting shop
- Not a lot of seating, better for takeout

Pear Delicatessen and Shoppe on Urbanspoon