Burger 21

Over the past few months a few restaurants have open around the area that I work in. The usual lunch type restaurants like Panera bread and Chipotle are around but there’s a new  restaurant that opened recently that caught my eye called Burger 21 .  The ambiance is  stylish and trendy and very hip, very similar to these new upscale burger joints that’s been popping up lately  like Burger-Fi and Evolution Burger. Thought they don’t offer grass fed beef burgers , they offer 100% certified Angus beef, Chicken , Turkey, Seafood, hotdogs and Veggie burgers. Which to me makes them pretty awesome since there’s something for everybody even for gluten free dieters. I’ve  visited Burger 21 three times now  and have come to enjoy some of the burgers they offer, making this one of the many places I can go to during lunch when I want to splurge. My favorite burger thus far is the black bean burger, I’ve fallen in love with the black bean burger in general because unlike most commercial veggie burgers its doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t.  It doesn’t try to taste like chicken and it doesn’t try to taste like beef , its simply itself a black bean . I’m not really a fan of veggie burgers but I’ve tried the veggie burger which is a Greek style inspired burger topped with cucumbers, feta and red peppers and also I also had the spicy thai shrimp seafood burger that comes with a Sriracha aïoli and hot chili slaw. I never had a shrimp burger let alone a seafood burger so i didn’t know what to expect, even with all the toppings added to the burger, you really got a overpowering shrimp burger. It was too much for my liking but for some one who love shrimp this would be perfect.  The black bean burger on the other hand is so yummy it comes with fresh avocado, sun-dried tomato aïoli, and a cilantro cream that is finger licking good! Everything on their menu is  a-la carte and they offer shakes, sundaes and other dessert  as well as a ketchup bar with different types of sauces for your fries or burger. If you’re ever in an area that has a Burger 21 I  definitely suggest trying them out, you wont regret it! What’s your favorite burger

 

Lunch at Panera Bread

With all that been going on lately with school ,work and life, i decided i needed  a little break to do nothing for a whole day.  That lasted for about 2 hours till my mom suggested we run some errands. Let me be the first to tell you that there’s nothing like running errands , that aren’t really your errands on your day off . Being the team player I am though, I got dressed and went . While running around the city with my mom, my sister called and said “lets do lunch at Panera”. I gladly accepted and brought my mom for the fun as well. So we met up with my sister at Panera Bread and  we had the best daughter  and mother lunch you could ever have. I ended up trying their new summer shrimp roll and their summer corn chowder and my sister had her usual.I generally don’t like eating cold shrimp sandwiches and chowder but this was the exception, It was everything that you would expect from Panera Bread  and more.I like switching things up every once in a while and this didn’t disappoint, but I’m still sticking with my tried and true tomato mozzarella panini and broccoli cheddar soup . But who am I kidding, you can never go wrong with Panera Bread.

Sunday Brunch

I have come to realize that being a grad student is the equivalent to having no social life.  From juggling work and school, my spare time is used to catch up on sleep.So this past weekend i was determine to have a little fun and go to brunch with my sisters. I love breakfast food but being vegetarian and disliking anything eggs, brunch can sometimes be tricky. I’ve been to numerous brunches where a majority of the menu were omelets, or eggs in five different ways. So  headed to brunch i knew my selection was going to be limited. It was, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying a great brunch with my sissy’s.  We went to this nice little restaurant called South Street located in the art district in Miami, which I’m sad to say closed down a few days ago. At most restaurants you would find shrimp and grits as one of  the brunch items, but they are usually cooked in bacon or chorizo. So to my surprise when i saw on the menu Fish and Grits, with no bacon used  i had to order it. The grits was buttery and creamy the catfish was fried to a crisp and the restaurant  signature sweet potato bread( similar to cornbread but made with sweet potatoes)  was out of this world. When i  tell you this was the best brunch i had in a while, that would be an understatement. So when i heard of the news that this restaurant closed, i was flabbergasted. But i was glad i was able to check this place out before it did. All in all brunch was quite eventful , and really helpful in de-stressing from a crazy semester. I would love to hear what’s your favorite meal to eat at Brunch, Drop me a line below!

Its a Celebration!

October is my fave month of the year not just cause its my birthday month but its also my sister and brothers’ as well. So at our house October is a month of birthday cake and celebrations! First up was my sister’s birthday,we had an all day girls  day of shopping and getting pampered and later went to dinner with the family. That night we went to Grand Lux for dinner, We practically had the whole restaurant to ourselves which for Grand Lux i never seen happened  but it made it that much special. I ordered fish tacos with a goat cheese salad.  While my family ordered Pizza, Buffalo wings, Turkey burgers, and a Chicken& Shrimp platter. Trust me eating dinner with them for a transitioning  vegetarian (pescatarian)  isn’t the easiest but they are supportive of my change and that is all that matters.  At the end of dinner the waiter surprised my sis with a birthday pastry surprise that was just the cutest thing ever.  We than celebrated at home with cake and wine and finished the celebration with watching the Presidential Debate. That’s what i call a great start to a month long of celebrations!

Fish Tacos

Birthday Surprise

The restaurant all to ourselves!

Thanks but no thanks

So these past few weeks I’ve been on a carb overload… Thanks to my mom who had a craving for bagels, there was a baker’s dozen from Panera Bread  lying around the house.  I’ve been known to chug a green smoothie with the best of them but I’m not that strong when it comes to bread especially when they come asiago cheese and cinnamon crunch flavored.

Any-who yesterday my sis and I was in an adventurous mood after church , so instead of our usual Chipotle we decided between Pei Wei or Gyroville. Never having either we chose Pei Wei,I had some Pei Wei Spicy Shrimp while my sis had Caramel chicken. At first  i was so intrigued by their soda machine that offered different flavored sprites and cokes, that i forgot all about the food. But i digress, The food was good but it was a bit on the high sodium side for my sis and I.  I truly believe its cause our body hasn’t been use to sodium levels like this in a long time ,since 75% of our daily intake is low in sodium or close to natural as we can get.

It was an interesting experience, but a few hrs later my sis and i felt like crap and i had a burning sensation on my chest that wouldn’t go away….All in all, Thanks but no thanks Pei Wei  -_-

Full and content

This year for Independence day, me and my sis decided to do something different from the norm. So instead of doing a barbeque we decided to go to Joe’s Crab Shack and get some seafood. Some might say why seafood, but like i said in my last post: eating veggie/soy wings is not my idea of how life should be. Any-who Joe’s is known for their steam-pots, but i hate working for my food. The thought of cracking crab shells don’t intrigue me one bit. So instead i went for the instant gratification of fried goodness, and ordered “the hook up”. Which came with coconut shrimp, hush puppies, fish and chips, and crab stuffed shrimp. I know it’s a mouthful literally and figuratively but none the less, me and my stomach left Joe’s Crab shack full and content. 🙂