sandilog的部落格

I was here for a weekend trip. My boss recommended Vito's pizza, it is well known locally. We were here around 3pm, still a few tables eating. Service was good.

We ordered salad and a medium pizza to share.

Mango Shrimp Salad - 3 pieces seasoned jumbo shrimp, shrimp was flavorful and fresh, loved the tangy fresh mangoes.

Deluxe Pizza Medium $21.50 - pepperoni, sausage, olives, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions .... pizza were a little undercook, a little soggy in the center. For the price of the pizza, I would expect the pizza to cook right.

[caption id="attachment_1255" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Deluxe Pizza Medium[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1254" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Shrimp Mango Salad[/caption]

Finally back from travelling, we were in Chicago spending the Thanksgiving. Lots to catch up!

First, we tried one of the busiest Sichuan restaurant in Chicago Chinatown, very disappointed. All dishes were missing the essential "Ma - numbing" from Sichuan cuisine. Service was extremely bad, rude manager! While we were waiting, there was the rude manager outside yelling down the street; he was holding a mini flash light point all over the place and to his customers, was it really necessary? Oh we waited 1 hour to be seated.

We got seated upstairs, no services at all, I wasn't expecting much anyway, but this was bad. We wait 20 mins to flag down a waiter to take our order. We ordered 3 dishes, took 30 mins for the first 2 dishes, and another 30 mins for the final dish. We had to flag down another waiter to get rice, oh boy, he just nodded this head and kept walking. What does that mean? Did he heard us or not??

Alright, back to the dishes.

Dry Chili Chicken: It was spicy and crispy. But where is the numbing sensation? Where is the peppercorn that's makes the "Ma" in Sichuan cuisine? Very disappointed.

[caption id="attachment_949" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Dry Chili Chicken - it was spicy, but no numbing![/caption]

Napa with Wine Sauce: It was ok, I can make this at home.

[caption id="attachment_951" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Napa in Wine Sauce - nothing special, I can make at home[/caption]

Spicy Boiled Beef: Bad ... the whole dish was lack of flavor, spicy, but not numbing!

[caption id="attachment_950" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Boiled Beef in Spicy Sichuan Saue - spicy, but again no numbing! To me, its a must in Sichuan Cuisine![/caption]

Definitely not worth the wait, won't be back.

[caption id="attachment_948" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Long wait, but not worth the wait[/caption]

We spent our Labor Day weekend in a nice little town Carmel, CA ... about 1.5 hour drive from Bay Area.  It is such beautiful little town. There are tons of restaurants, shops,  tasting room and amazing beach!

We ate lunch at the amazing Phil's Fish Market & Eatery for their famous Cioppino, will update in a separate post.









[caption id="attachment_769" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Carmel Plaza[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_770" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Carmel Plaza[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_771" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Carmel Plaza[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_768" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Beautiful Beach, a little cloudy that day[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_772" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Going home[/caption]

A short weekend trip to visit University of Chicago.