Family French Night at Gemmell's

Gemmell's

34471 Golden Lantern St.

Dana Point, CA 92629

Real French food has been a mystery to me. I have had escargot, crepes, and croissants before, but I am talking real French food here, with the heavy sauces and difficult names. It is not that I do not like French food, but I have just not gotten around to having it until now. I had bought a Groupon for Gemmell's, so I would be getting $50 worth of food for $25. This way, if I did not enjoy French food, I would not have to pay too much. As a double bonus, Katie's entire family would be coming with us. So, we would be able to look at more dishes, but the downside of that is that her sister Sara was going to be coming with us. Just kidding Sara!

Gemmell's is located in the harbor area of Dana Point. We got here at about six on a Thursday night. The crowd here is definitely on the older side, and the decor matches the clientele. We were seated on the enclosed patio in front of the restaurant. Space was loud and cramped, even with just one other party of six dining out there with us.

Gemmell's has been around in its present location since 2000. There actually is a Gemmell, and he is the owner and chef of this restaurant. He has a long resume of places he has worked in and out of OC. After waiting for the final portion of our party to arrive, we ordered and this is how it all came out.

We were presented with the breadbasket above. The bread here came out very hot, but the bread was nothing special.

Katie has really surprised me lately with some of her food choices, and her appetizer choice here was no exception. She had the Feuillette, which is puff pastry in a creamy white wine sauce, served with asparagus. This appetizer was simple, yet delicious. The puff pastry was cooked to perfection, and the wine sauce was really tasty. We would definitely get this again.

For shock value, of course, I had to go with the Casserole of Escargots. These Helix snails were sauteed in a Burgundy sauce, along with diced ham, garlic, mushrooms, and shallots. I have had escargot numerous times, but this is the first time I had it prepared this way. I was a little disappointed with the number of snails I received, but the ones I did have tasted pretty good. The sauce was good, and after I was done with the escargot, I sopped up the rest of it with the bread.

The first of our trio of soups that our party ordered was Kevin's selection, the Lobster Bisque. He felt the taste of this soup was spot on and smooth, but he was a little disappointed that there were no pieces of lobster in this bisque.

The patriarch of the family, Dennis, went with Cream of Mushroom Soup. He was not wowed by his choice, calling it, "just okay, nothing special". Sorry, the picture of this was so bad, I was halfway across the table from him.

Of course, you can not go to a French restaurant without someone getting French Onion Soup. Here it was Katie's turn to have this classic soup. The onion soup here is topped with croutons and Gruyere cheese. I ate half of this soup and felt it was pretty good. I liked the sweetness of the onion to go along with the saltiness of the broth. They really balanced each other out. Of course, the cheese was a great part of this as well. Very solid.

Both of these meals were basically the same, so I lumped them together here. The Angel Hair Pasta comes with chicken or shrimp, and this was ordered both ways by my table mates. The pasta was prepared with vegetables, tomatoes, garlic, and basil. The result was a light-tasting dish, that got rave reviews from not only the pasta but the chicken as well. Sara, even called it, "the best chicken I have had in a restaurant!" That might be a stretch, but I tried some, and it was very tender.

Lynn was feeling shrimp too, so she had the Shrimp Provencale. This shrimp dish combined basil, parsley, Roma tomatoes, and capers, along with rice and vegetables. She seemed very pleased with this meal. The shrimp were cooked well, and the sauce was very satisfying.

One last pasta dish, I promise. Katie kept the pasta theme going with the Gemelli Pasta. The pasta came with a Dijon mustard sauce, shrimp, and veggies. I am not usually a big fan of mustard sauces, but this one was pretty good. The mustard was a little more subdued here. Katie also felt that they were very generous with the shrimp on this.

Well, you can count on me to buck the trend and not order pasta. Chef Byron's Roasted Duck called, or should I say quacked my name from the minute I looked at the menu. This Napa duck was sliced and served in a sauce made from banana liquor and a dark rum reduction. It was also paired with caramelized bananas, which I felt was odd, but did not get in the way of this great-tasting bird. The duck itself was cooked to perfection, and the portion size was very generous. The vegetables were okay, and the potatoes were better than that.

Now on to dessert, and you probably can't tell what our first one is because of all the fruit covering this, but it is Creme Brule. This mountain of fresh berries was very fresh and really outshined the creme Brule. It was decent, but nothing that I would rave about.

Just like the pasta dishes, almost everyone got tarts for dessert. Above are the Blueberry Tart and the Lemon Tart. The lemon tart really took its name to heart because it was very tart. Wow, that is a crazy rhyme! Maybe I should pursue my dream of becoming a famous food rapper, they could call me Vanilla Ice Cream. Okay, maybe that is not such a great idea. Anyways, I did not really care for this at all. The blueberry tart was way more mellow, and a lot better.

Dennis always loves ice cream, and here was no exception. I did not get his reaction from this Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream, but he did finish it all, and really how bad could ice cream ever be. I also wanted to include this picture because I liked that it included the ice crystals on the scoop.

It has almost become a tradition now, whenever we go out to eat with the whole family, I have to include a picture of the pride and joy of the family, Emily. So here is this installment. Thanks for the great photo Em, the camera loves you!

Okay, so the food at Gemmell's was very solid. For the most part, everyone really liked what they ordered. The food came out nice and hot. The prices were a little on the high side, but nothing too crazy. Prices for entrees were in the $16 to $30 range. The decor seemed a little dated. The one big drawback here was the service. The food came out very slow, and the servers seemed overwhelmed by our party of eight. The entire meal took three hours, which is far too long. The waiters were not too quick on refills and other assorted things. We might have just caught them on a bad night. The food was good enough that we would give them another try. After eating here, I am looking forward to trying more French food in the future.

Out of five tall ships, (because the city of Dana Point hosts the Tall Ships Festival every September), five being best to zero being worst, Gemmell's gets 3 tall ships.

Gemmell's does not have a website, but you can find more information about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/gemmells-restaurant-dana-point

Finishing Our Boston Swing at Five Napkin Burger - CLOSED

Five Napkin Burger

105 Huntington

Boston, MA 02199

It was our last day in Boston, and I had four restaurants left to try, but only one meal left on our vacation. I knew that I wrote down too many places to eat, but I thought we had an outside shot at getting to them all. So it came down to what was closest to the Prudential Tower, and the winner was Five Napkin Burger.

Five Napkin Burger has six locations, three in New York City, one in South Beach Miami, another one in Atlanta, and this one in the Back Bay area of Boston. The gourmet hamburger place is all the rage right now, and I could not be happier about that. I love a good burger, and with a wider array of toppings and condiments, it makes every new burger experience a treat.

We made it to FNB on a Sunday morning, just before noon. The restaurant was half empty, but filling up by the minute. By the time we left almost all of the tables were taken. The decor was minimal, with the dominating feature being the lighting hanging from meat hooks. Even with the lack of big splashy decor, this place had a sleek, hip feel to it. Since we were here on a Sunday, we had the opportunity to order off of their brunch menu. Let's see how that worked out for us.

We started with a Stack of Cornmeal Onion Rings. These onion rings were fried to perfection, and not as greasy as I would have thought. The cornmeal was a different twist which was good. The rings were served with blue cheese dressing and 5N sauce. The blue cheese dressing was a bit off for me. The 5N sauce, which is a little less prickly than a thousand island dressing was okay, but I preferred ketchup and ranch dressing to either of these sauces for the rings.

Katie did not want another chance to go by without having lobster, so she ordered the Lobster Roll Sliders. These sliders featured Maine lobster, with 5N mayo, cucumbers, and scallions. She was very happy with these sliders. She felt these were not too rich, but still very flavorful. She also thought Five Napkin really got the mayo to lobster ratio right on.

This good looking burger is the Brunch Burger. The fried egg is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to put on a burger. Here the fried egg is accompanied by ten ounces of ground beef, American cheese, ham, and 5N sauce. I asked for this burger medium, and it was cooked exactly the way I wanted it. All of the condiments combined to make this a great burger. I would have liked to of substituted the ham for bacon, but it was still good the way it was served. This burger was also served with fries, which were seasoned well. 

I did enjoy my time at Five Napkin Burger. The service was fair. Not too friendly, but efficient. There were more gourmet burgers on the menu that caught my eye and would love to try. The Lamb Kofta Burger and the Original Five Napkin Burger with rosemary aioli sounded great. I have the feeling that this will be the kind of restaurant that could work in more cities, hopefully, some on the west coast. Just a little bit of a hint for you guys at FNB. 

Out of five Bostonians, (because for the week we were in their great city, they really made both Katie and I feel at home), five being best to zero being worst, Five Napkin Burger gets 3.5 Bostonians. 

For more information on Five Napkin Burger, click here: http://5napkinburger.com/

Redbones Making Boston a Barbecue Town!

Redbones Barbecue

55 Chester St.

Sommerville, MA 02144

When one thinks of barbecue, the city of Boston probably is not the first city you think of. Dallas, Kansas City, and Raleigh are probably most peoples go-to spots for BBQ, but when I was doing research on where to eat in Boston, there was one place that kept popping up, and that place was Redbones.

Redbones opened in 1987 and soon gained praise from locals and tourists alike. Located in Davis Square, just steps away from Tufts University, Redbones has won many awards for its down-home Southern-style food. They just recently won the readers pick for the best barbecue in Boston. They also stay open late and serve their full menu past midnight. This was a key, as we were coming from the Bruins game, and wanted to see if the food could match the hype.

We got to Redbones at about 10:30 on a Saturday night. The place was half packed, but there were definitely more people on the bar side of the restaurant. The vibe here is definitely southern with a laid back, comfortable feel to the place. The wait staff, including our waitress, had a hip, cool look to them. This is the kind of staff I could envision working at Tower Records when it was still open. I have never been to the deep south, but this is what I would expect a barbecue joint in Nashville to be like. Hopefully, the food would be just as good.

I always like when restaurants serve drinks in large glasses. Here they did just that but added a twist by serving drinks in large mason jars. The Corn Bread came with the meal and was just okay. I felt it was a little on the dry side, but I am not much of a cornbread guy.

To start our Redbones food adventure we chose the Fried Okra, which was served with salsa. The breading on this was the star of the show for me. Tasted great, and really enhanced the flavor of the okra. The okra was fine, but I was a little confused as to why they served this with salsa. It seemed odd, but I asked for and got some ranch dressing, and was much happier.

We will go over Katie's meal first. She went with the Pulled Chicken Sandwich. Chopped chicken, brown sugar, mustard, and spices, topped with pickles, onions, and slaw, combined to make a very flavorful sandwich. She really liked the contradiction of the sweetness of the sauce along with the tang of the pickles. The meat was tender and plentiful, and maybe because of the late hour or the fried okra, she did have trouble finishing this sandwich. This also came with beans and potato salad. The beans were pretty hearty. The potato salad was a hybrid between mashed potatoes and potato salad. Very unusual, but a good-tasting side dish.

I did what I usually do in a barbecue restaurant, order a combo plate of food, so I can sample as much as I can. This heap of meat is the Barbecue Belt. Consisting of Arkansas Pork Ribs, Texas Beef Ribs, Memphis Pork Spareribs, and Smoked Beef Brisket. Overall this carnivore's dream team was good, but some meats were better than others. The brisket was okay, but the pork ribs really were the best here. Very flavorful on their own, but when dipped in the sauces, they were made even better. They have four barbecue sauces here, sweet, mild, hot, and vinegar. The only one that we were not a fan of was the vinegar. I alternated between the rest, and the hot was definitely the best. The beef ribs had a great smokiness to them but lacked a lot of meat.

We came away from Redbones completely stuffed and satisfied. It was not the best barbecue we have had, but it was definitely above average, and unexpected in Boston. The service was very good, even at this late hour. We also felt the prices here were a great value. My half-ton of meat only set me back $20, and Katie's sandwich was $9. I wish we could have tried their pecan pie for dessert, but there was no way. The servings here were way too big. After eating at Redbones, we might have to add Boston to the list of great barbecue cities.

Out of five elephants, (because the mascot of nearby Tuft's University is Jumbo, an African elephant), five being best to zero being worst, Redbones Barbecue gets 3.5 elephants.

For more information on Redbones, click here: https://redbones.com/

Classic Diner Faire at Mike's

Mike's City Diner

1714 Washington

Boston, MA 02118

Sometimes when you are planning a trip you see places on a map, and think they are pretty close. Then you get to the city, and you find out that they are not as close as they seem. Once I got the lay of the land, I knew it was going to be a little bit of a journey to get from Cambridge to the South End, but I also had a feeling it was going to be worth the trip, and it was.

The object of our quest was Mike's City Diner. I had of course seen this place on the show Diner's, Drive Ins, and Dives. From the show I learned that this place is known for big servings and turkey dishes. Unfortunately, we were here on Saturday, and they only serve breakfast on weekends. So, no turkey dinner was coming my way, so I had to adjust my order.

We made it to Mike's at about noon. There was a line almost out the door. A very good sign that there was good food ahead.. This diner is run by a guy named Jay, who we had the pleasure of meeting while we were here. What a great guy, and he is very passionate about food. I knew his passion for food would lead to great things on our plates. Let's check out what they cooked up for us.

This picture does not do this Turkey Hash with 2 Eggs justice. The hash which was located under the eggs was great. Kind of had a stuffing feel to it, but without the bread. Very comforting taste, and when combined with the runny egg, it was made even better. Katie was very happy with this excellent comfort food.

I saw Emergency Room Breakfast on the menu, and of course I leaned toward it. With the ER breakfast you get two eggs, three bacon, home fries, and toast. All of these were cooked well, but were over shadowed by the pancakes above. At Mike's you can add fruit or chocolate to any pancakes for an extra $2. In my case I added both chocolate and bananas. The result was delicious. One of the best pancakes I have ever had. They tasted more like banana chocolate chip bread than pancakes. I was very happy with this breakfast.

Not only was I happy with the breakfast, but I was also very happy with Mike's Diner. The food was priced well here. My emergency room plate was just over $8, and Katie's hash and eggs was a steal at $7.50. Not only was the food great, but the service was great as well. Our waitress Victoria, was the ultimate diner waitress. She was bubbly, without being way over the top. Both her and Jay really made us feel like friends when we were leaving the diner. Well worth the trip, even from Cambridge.

Out of five saxophones, (because Bill Clinton has eaten here before, and he famously played the sax), five being best to zero being worst, Mike's City Diner gets 4 saxophones.

For more information on Mike's City Diner, click here: http://www.mikescitydiner.com/

Hitting the Target at the Red Arrow

Red Arrow Diner

61 Lowell St.

Manchester, NH 03101

When we were heading to Boston for a week's vacation, I knew that I had to find time to make a side trip to Manchester. Like leap year or the Olympics, the eyes of the US fall on the Granite state every four years. The New Hampshire primary starts the long race for the White House, and almost all of the presidential hopefuls eat at the Red Arrow Diner.

I had seen the Red Arrow on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It has been around since 1922. At one time there were five Red Arrow Diners throughout Manchester, but now there are only two, (the other is located in Milford). In 1998, they were named one of the top ten diners in America, by USA Today. So needless to say I was pretty pumped to make the hour drive from Boston to this Manchester landmark.

We got to the Red Arrow at about two on a Friday afternoon. The diner was busy, but we took two seats at the counter. The Red Arrow is not a big place by any means. It is hard imagining camera crews, presidential nominees, and others all being in the small space at the same time. After a very warm welcome and a long perusing of the menu, this is what we ordered.

On the show Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives, this was one of the items that were featured, the American Chop Suey. This New England staple dish contains ground beef, tomatoes, seasoning, and elbow noodles. This was a very comforting and hearty meal. Katie really enjoyed this a lot. It was also served with a decent garlic toast.

I also wanted to try a classic, homey meal, so I went with the Meatloaf Dinner, served with real mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. The meatloaf here was really good. Very moist, and the brown gravy on top added flavor as well. Eating the mac and cheese made me feel like being wrapped in a warm blanket. The cheese sauce was rich and coated the noodles well. The real mashed potatoes were excellent, just like Mom makes. This was a very solid plate of food. Just like I was expecting here.

Also featured on the show was this Dina Finger. This homemade Twinkie is made on the premises and was sweeter than it's Hostess cousin. The cake part of this was very good. I was happy that we split this because it was very sweet.

Red Arrow Diner is what all other diners should strive to be. The menu is extensive, and I wish I could have had more time to explore the rest of it. The prices were not bad at all. My meatloaf was under $9, and the American chop suey was a steal at $7. We both left very stuffed and satisfied. Now we know why there are so many people running in the New Hampshire primary. My new theory is because all the candidates like eating at the Red Arrow.

Out of five ballots, (for obvious reasons), five being best to zero being worst, the Red Arrow Diner gets 4 ballots.

For more information on the Red Arrow Diner, click here: https://www.redarrowdiner.com/

Downing Donuts at Kane's

Kane's Donuts

120 Lincoln Avenue

Saugus, MA 01906

On our last trip to the east coast, we found the best doughnut I have had to date. That was at Doughnut Plant in New York City. On this trip, I was hoping to have similar success with another east coast donut favorite, Kane's. We rented a car, and on our way to New Hampshire, we stopped by to see what all the fuss was about, at this local favorite.

Kane's has been in business since 1955. In that time they have made quite a reputation for themselves. Bon Appetit has named them one of the top ten donut shops in the US. The show, "Donut Paradise", featured them as one of their top donut destinations. With all of this praise, I was getting very excited to see what they had to offer.

We arrived at about eleven on a Friday morning. There was not much around Kane's. They are located in a neighborhood, in what could have been a converted house. The crowd was dominated by seniors sipping coffee, gossiping, and eating donuts. The selection of donuts was pretty impressive, so it took us some time to decide what we wanted. The counter girl was very patient with us, and this is what we came up with.

One of my favorite donuts is a Cinnamon Crumb, and that was the case here as well. This donut was not greasy like the ones I am used to. It had more of a cake texture without being dry. The cinnamon was subdued, but still noticeable. I also enjoyed the size of this as well. Much bigger than the ones at home.

Chocolate Honey Dipped was the next one that we tried. This one was good as well. Not too heavy, but still flavorful, this was baked perfectly.

The donut parade rolls on with the Frosted Donut. This was like a Krispy Kreme, but better. It was lighter than most glazed donuts I have had. The donuts here really impressed me with their lightness, and the lack of grease, but the best one was coming up next.

This is what people come to Kane's for, the Coffee Rolls. This one was huge, as you can see compared to Katie's hand. They were out of the frosted ones when we got here, so we had to settle for the cinnamon one. I was not too upset about that. This was served to us in a cake box, and we did not even make a dent in this thing. The taste of this was very good. I can definitely see people serving this as breakfast over the holidays. It had a homey kind of feel to it. We carried it back with us on the subway and watched all of the Bostonians eyeball that thing. Well worth the trip.

Kane's Donuts was not as good as the Doughnut Plant, but it was pretty close. Next time we are there we will have to have the Boston Cream Pie donut, and the Nut Crunch looked promising as well. Who am I kidding, I will definitely just have to get a dozen assorted to sample them all. It was well worth renting the car.

Out of five Scrabble tiles, (because Saugus is home to a world record holder in the game Scrabble, holding records for highest game score and highest word score ever), five being best to zero being worst, Kane's Donuts gets 3.5 Scrabble tiles.

For more information on Kane's Donuts, click here: https://www.kanesdonuts.com/

Seafood of the Gods at Neptune Oyster?

Neptune Oyster 

63 Salem Street

Boston, MA 02113

When you are headed to New England for vacation, you definitely have to have lobster sometime during your stay. Like lots of people, I love lobster but do not have it as often as I like. One of the reasons being that I live on the west coast, and it is not readily available. The other reason, of course, is the expense. We were on vacation though, so we decided to splurge. We heard great things about Neptune Oyster, so that is where we headed.

Neptune Oyster is a very popular restaurant as we found out when we got there. It was an hour and a half wait when we got there at eight on a Thursday night. Since we had nothing else to do for the night, and I really wanted to eat here, we waited in the bar across the street. They got our phone number and gave us a call after about an hour.

Neptune is a very small restaurant, in the North End of Boston. A part of the city that is renowned for its Italian food. If you blink you are going to miss this place, it is that tiny. The tables are very close together, so it is easy to meet your neighbors. They do have an oyster bar, but we were here hunting for the crustacean known as the lobster.

Of course, man does not live by lobster alone, and up until this point of our trip, I had not had any Clam Chowder. I rectified that here. This is your classic New England chowder. It was really good and flavorful, but I would have liked this a little more on the creamy side. They were very plentiful with the clams here.

This classy looking appetizer was Katie's choice, a Buttermilk Johnnycake. I was a little shocked that Katie would order this, but it was really tasty. It is a buttermilk cake, with honey butter, smoked trout tartare on top of that, and then topped with Little Pearl caviar. We could have easily eaten three of these. The elements of this all combined in an unexpected way and the result was delicious. The smokiness of the trout, along with the sweet from the cake, and the saltiness of the caviar enlightened our senses. One of Katie's best choices on our trip.

Now on to what we came here for, lobster. We had lobster in the form of a Maine Lobster Roll. They serve two kinds of lobster rolls here. You will see mine next. Katie opted for the roll served hot, with just butter added. This sandwich definitely did not need to be dressed up more than that. This rich sandwich was overflowing with lobster. I actually liked this one better than mine.

My Maine Lobster Roll was not bad by any means, just different. I went with a cold roll and had the lobster dressed up with some mayo. This was another rich sandwich. It had a tuna fish sandwich feel to it, but with the buttery taste of the lobster. I liked the warmed lobster better, but by just a little bit.

Neptune Oyster was well worth the hour wait. Both Katie and I were glad that we chose to have our traditional New England seafood here. The service was nice and polite, the prices were very good for the amount of food we got. The lobster rolls were $25, but they really fill you up on the lobster. I am guessing there was a half a pound of meat or more on these sandwiches. Plus you get the bonus of not having to crack open the shells by getting the lobster this way. Glad we got our lobster fix here.

Out of five tridents, (because Neptune, the Roman god of water and the sea, held a trident), five being best to zero being worst, Neptune Oyster gets 4 tridents.

For more information on Neptune Oyster, click here: http://www.neptuneoyster.com/7cg19egpgi4o214bldvm8hyuc9icbe