Don Sol

In a previous post I talked about a restaurant in Mattoon, IL called Don Sol.  I mentioned their excellent Sunday buffet.  While grocery shopping last week, Jason and I decided to drop in for all you can eat Mexican fare.  We were disappointed when we discovered the buffet was no longer running, but we ordered off the menu and we were not disappointed.  Jason ordered the chicken torta.  It was huge; the size of two regular sandwiches and loaded with chicken, avocado, refried beans, lettuce and tomato.  They make their bread in house for this, and it makes a difference.  I had carnitas which were well seasoned and crispy on the edges, the way they should be.  We are sad the buffet is no more, but with so many delicious items on the menu, we will keep coming back.

Jason with his first bite of torta, I think I caught him off guard.

I kept saying "Hold it up to your face, so I can compare sizes."

The torta in all its glory (the fries were pretty good too)

My carnitas.  The sauteed, pickled jalapeno slices are a nice touch.

Louisville Part II

I discussed the first party of my Louisville trip yesterday, and I only featured food we ate at the Brown Hotel. Today I will discuss 2 other local places I ate on my trip.  The first was Moby Dick.  I was interested because I'm reading Moby Dick right now.  (If you've never read it you should.  It's actually really funny in some parts, and tragic in others) If you do a Google search for Moby Dick's in Louisville, you'll come up with a kabob menu, but the link is wrong.  This Moby Dick's is a fish restaurant.  Think a Long John Silver's but with Southern sides.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of my meal.  I had the Moby Dick sandwich, which contained 2 large pieces of cod on white bread.  The breading on the fish was excellent.  I also had the macaroni and cheese which was creamy and delicious.  They were out of the seasoned greens, so that was disappointing.  Overall, my experience was very good, and this no frills fried fish place made for a quick lunch.  I would go back again.

The outside of the restaurant.  I thought the ominous clouds were appropriate for the theme of the novel.

The last place we went before our drive home was Lynn's Paradise Cafe.  As soon as I announced I was going to Louisville several friends told me I had to stop here.  Even though we went at an odd lunch time (3:30) the place was packed with a 30 minute wait.  There was a little shopping area with different odds and ends to keep us occupied while we waited.  The menu looked excellent, and I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted.  Even the drinks were a difficult choose.  It came down to a bourbon ball milkshake or a fried green tomato bloody Mary with bacon blended in.  I went with the bloody Mary and was glad I did.  It was spicy and smoky and came with a garnish of a fried green tomato, which was excellent.  Jason had a gigantic mimosa made with fresh squeezed orange juice.  I'm not a huge mimosa fan, but it was very good as well.  We both choose breakfast entrees.  I had the Popeye omelet filled with creamed spinach, bacon, and tomatoes.  Jason had the Matador omelet which had chorizo, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese.  Some of the side choices with omelets were sauteed apples, cheese grits, baked macaroni and cheese, lima beans, fried green tomatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, and fresh fruit.  I really enjoyed having all these choices, and I had a difficult time decided what I wanted, but ultimately I went with the cheese grits, and I'm glad I did.  I had a great time at Lynn's and I would visit again.  You can find their website here.

Louisville Part I: The Brown Hotel

I went to Louisville, KY last weekend for a literary conference, and other than listen to people talk about literature, which was amazing, I of course, ate.  I'm splitting this into two posts (one today and one tomorrow) because of all the pictures.  For the first post, I'll be focusing on the meals I ate at the Brown Hotel.  When I'm visiting a new place I research the food and try to eat things unique to the area.  I think I did a good job on this trip.

It was around midnight when Jason and I finally checked into the hotel.  We were hungry, and I knew we were going to have a hot brown, which I'll describe when I get to the picture.  The lobby bar serves food until 2:00.  We started out with a few beers.  I had Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  It was a mix between beer and bourbon.  I didn't expect such intense bourbon flavors, but I like bourbon, so I was okay with that.  I'm not sure if you can only buy this in Kentucky, and I hope not because I'll buy it if I see it around here.

Jason ordered a La Fin Du Monde.  I didn't really care for it, but he liked it.  It had an interesting spice blend that is desirable for some people.

Finally our food came.  Below you'll see the Derby Pie.  It's basically what we call a Toll-House pie around here.  Think chocolate cookies, but baked into a pie shell and loaded with walnuts.  This was very good.


Then we had a hot brown.  The hot brown is a Kentucky original.  It's basically thick-cut bread topped with turkey, tomatoes, mornay sauce loaded with cheese and bacon.  It was very rich, and I'm glad we split it.  It was delicious, but I think a horseshoe (local food from my area which is open faced hamburgers topped with fries and cheese sauce) has it beat.  The Brown Hotel was the inventor of the hot brown, so I'm glad we got one here.


We ate in the hotel again for breakfast before we left, and this was my favorite meal of the trip.  I had the breakfast Florentine hot brown.  It was amazing.  It had poached eggs, roasted potatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, and Mornay sauce.  If I go to the conference again next year, I will order this.

Jason, who loves sweet breakfasts had the brioche French toast.  This was crazy, and even Jason couldn't finish it.  This was 3 thick slices of brioche bread coated in rice crispies.  It had a thick chocolate spread slathered between each piece.  It was then topped with a caramelized banana and served with housemade bourbon caramel sauce on the side.  It was excellent, but too sweet for me.  There were a lot of other great choices on the menu, but they only serve breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.  If you're staying in the hotel on a weekend I would definitely check it out.  Tomorrow, I will post 2 local spots we checked out during the trip.

Vitale's

I think I've blogged about Vitale's before, but I know I didn't have my camera then, so here are pictures of my Friday trip to Vitale's.  Vitale's is an Italian restaurant located in Macomb, Illinois.  I went to college in Macomb, and my husband's family lives there, so we always have reasons to go back.  Every time we go to Macomb I ask to go to Vitale's.  The entire menu looks great, but I always get the same thing: Arrabiatta with bow tie pasta.  This sauce is spicy, creamy heaven, and it's pictured below.  The portions are big, but I cleaned my plate because it's so good.

My husband's dish of mostaccioli with meat sauce and cheese.  (look at his beautiful model hands!)

Me enjoying my pasta.  I wish I had ordered one to take home with me.