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Category Archives: Food

Historic Boone Tavern Hotel & Restaurant at Berea College -Southern Hospitality At It Finest

Barb about to enter the vintage as well as newly remodeled Historic Boone Tavern Hotel & restaurant at Berea College in Berea, KY.
Barb about to enter the vintage as well as newly remodeled Historic Boone Tavern Hotel & restaurant at Berea College in Berea, KY.
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Tim Glotzbach, Director of the Student Crafts Program showing a student made turned giant bowl.

WWW.AMERICANPRESSTRAVELNEWS.COM – Jan 25th, Berea College, KY.-Bob & Barb “On the Road Again” and “Stopping to Smell the Roses,  We dined at the Historic Boone Tavern Restaurant, a place to to enjoy traditional and modern offerings of excellent cuisine, libations and a feeling that you’ve come home to family. Don’t remember when I felt this way before on any writing assignment, needing to researching the essences of a “place in time and space.” Berea founded in 1885 started and has grown to be a college of highly respected by it’s Alumni, professors, college staff, especially students and their families and friends. We spent two nights at Historic Boone Tavern Hotel and Restaurant. We visited all their crafts departments, ate dinner at their restaurant, met and interviewed students, instructors, the 500-acre farm Director, ate and purchased the makings of what has become a century old tradition of “Spoon Bread” with all or almost all ingredients produced on their working student operated farm. I guess what really shone through throughout our stay and experiences was the deep respect for the work ethic and cooperative nature of the peoples that made up the “Berea Experience.” Today Berea is know as the “Crafts Capital of Kentucky” and for very good reason, crafts in woodworking, pottery, broom making, farm-craft among others, are taught, created and sold in the many crafts shop both in Berea, state and nationwide.

chicken flakes in a Bird Nest closeup
Chicken Flakes in a Birds Nest
birds nest being served by Maitre De
Maitre de brought us some of our dishes!!

We settled in comfortably in a great King bed, bath and beyond, and were spoiled rotten at the Tavern. Our waiter (student) brought us our Fried Green Tomato Salad, out of their farm gardens, a traditional dish offered here for many decades-” Chicken Flakes in a Birds Nest”and Barb’s opted for glazed salmon. We had a Bourbon, local wine, and a real Mint Julep, all KY. style. The special Souffle’ like Spoon Bread was fantastic and has been served here for more than 70-years, an Appalachian traditional recipe.
We finished, or they finished us off with a Pecan Pie with crust steeped in chocolate and a Caramel swirl and a nice big square of bread pudding. We slowly walked out for a longer walk around the block before heading up to our room for some hot showers. Go to Berea, visit the school and all its craft programs, stay at the Historic Boone Tavern, get spoiled at lunch or dinner, talk to some of the students, stop by at the nearby Kentucky Artisan Center to make a hand-made craft of a lifetime. I promise you will come away wishing as we did, to have gone to school there yourself. www.berea.com

Weavers ply their crafts at Berea's new Incubator strip!
Weavers ply their crafts at Berea’s new Incubator strip!
Pecan pie at the Tavern!
Pecan pie at the Tavern!
barb and salmon dinner
Salmon en glace’ Barb loved it, I did too!

Hyatt Regency Offers Rockin’ Restaurant-Fiorenzo!

Appetizers were above the pale!
Appetizers were above the pale!
Wonderful cheeses! Exotic fruits, meats, and nuts made up terrific appetizers!
Wonderful cheeses! Exotic fruits, meats, and nuts made up terrific appetizers!
Lamb Chops from Colorado, Risotto, goats cheese. Unreal tastes!
Lamb Chops from Colorado, Risotto, goats cheese. Unreal tastes!
Chef Jim was a hero to us! His presentations of Yellowtail Snapper and Lampchops entree' were extremely excellent!
Chef Jim was a hero to us! His presentations of Yellowtail Snapper and Lampchops entree’ were extremely excellent!
Chocotini: a Martini that is most memorable
Chocotini: a Martini that is most memorable. So delicioso!

APtravelnews-November 24th—The Hyatt Regency  Orlando-Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL.—We visited the Hyatt’s Fiorenzo Italian Steakhouse after our day at a Manufacturers Fishing Show, for dinner. It turned out to be a highlight of our visit to Orlando! Hopefully, you’ve been reading APtravelnews, so you would have seen that we travel by auto, air, foot, but also on our stomachs. No adventure away from home can be successfully wonderful if the cuisine isn’t. No problem here! Fiorenzo’s Chef James O. Stafford (Jim) is an artist with meats, produce, dairy and sweets! We started out with a Chocotini (Martini with a lace of chocolate) and an appetizer matched to home baked Crostini and delicious Condiments. We chose a selection of smoked Scamorza, Truffled Pecorino and Jamon Iberica( Iberian Ham). Cheeses were “off the grid” terrific and the Wild Boar Salami has a new fan! A tasting cup of Fagiole Soup created with Cannellini Beans, Sweet Italian Sausage, Escarole and Basil Pesto, plus a cup we shared of Spicy Tomato Soup with roasted eggplant, Fregola and Olive oil capped off our appetizer list. At this point It might have been enough for anyone with a smaller appetite, but oh no, not us! Next on our hit list was Yellowtail snapper, one of President G.W. Bush’s favorite fish (recipe in my Calypso Café book) it was a special this night,  so we tried their fish entrée and another entrée; Colorado Lamb Chops, complimented by a spread of incredible Risotto. This combo, really brought home Chef Jims expertise. Good, really great Risotto takes a balance of great products and excellent understanding of cooking times and blends, needed for perfection. Jim has it down! From the cheese rolls, to the final assault on our wastes; the desserts, we swooned (probably a bit from the exotic flavored Martini’s too) over the hot chocolate Volcano Bomb (they don’t call it that, but WOWser- oozing chocolate, Filbert nuts, red raspberries, and, and I do mean: “and” Cinnamon Gelato! Promise; this was incredibly tasty and memorable. Barb went for her favorite: Tiramisu. I tasted it and found out once again why it’s a heavenly Italian treat. If it’s done correctly, almost nothing can beat it for an end-of dinner delight! Guess we have to go back again for Barbara’s Birthday and again for our Anniversary, and for my Birthday, the kids, the family, the extended family! We loved everything about Fiorenzo. Our waitress Laura Ardron was so attentive and informative about all of the menu items, we felt she was a great asset to Fiorenzo, probably one of the very best wait staff people we ever came across.      Get in touch with Fiorenzo Steak House just inside the front door at the Hyatt Regency Orlando across from the Convention Center, at 407-345-4555

 

Dessert? Oh yes! This hot chocolate and cold Gelato Cinnamon treat was the best!
Dessert? Oh yes! This hot chocolate and cold Gelato Cinnamon treat was the best!

Give the Gift of Meat this Holiday Season with Help from Hi Mountain Seasonings

 
American Press Travel News News from Karen Lutto-RIVERTON, Wyo. (Nov. 10, 2016) — The kitchen table was the source of the best gifts for centuries before the advent of online gifting, but prior to this new form of instant click-and-done holiday gratification, people used to use their talents to create something meaningful for their loved ones. You can resurrect this time-honored tradition of homemade gifts with the delicious organic game meat in your freezer, some Hi Mountain Seasonings and a little time in the kitchen.
 
With 25 Jerky Cure & Seasoning, 14 Snackin’ Sticks, and 12 Sausage and Bologna kits to choose from, Hi Mountain can help you create something truly special, unique and quite delicious for every member on your shopping list. The best part is that using Hi Mountain kits to create your choice of gift is really quite simple, and its not very time consuming.
 
This holiday season, don’t settle for store bought gifts for your family and friends when you can dazzle them with a special treat of homemade Hi Mountain Seasonings jerky, sausage or Snackin’ Sticks. With nearly 20 different flavors to choose from, you’re assured to find a favorite for each person on your list.
 
Each Jerky Cure & Seasoning kit will season up to 15 lbs. of meat and retails for $7.99 and includes one package of cure, one package of seasoning, a shaker bottle for easy mixing and detailed instructions. A Snackin’ Stick kit will season up to 20 lbs. of ground meat, retails for $21.99 and contains two 3.0 oz. seasoning packets, two 4.2 oz. cure packets, and four strands of 21 mm collagen casings. With retail pricing between $19.99 and $20.99, each Hi Mountain Seasoning Sausage or Bologna kit will season between 18 and 30 lbs. of ground meat—depending upon they type of kit—and each includes all the seasoning, cure and casings required.
 
Hi Mountain’s entire line of products, cooking tips, instructional videos, and recipes are also available at www.himtnjerky.com, and the products can be found at high-quality sporting goods stores, farm-and-ranch stores and many local grocery stores.
 
Located in the heart of Wyoming, Hi Mountain Seasonings was founded in 1991. It is the premier manufacturer of kits for homemade jerky and sausage. Hi Mountain Seasonings has successfully captured distinct, traditional Western flavors in its jerky cure & seasonings, Western-style seasonings, bacon cures and other products that make up the unique line of gourmet Western seasonings. For additional information, write: Hi Mountain Seasonings, 1000 College View Drive, Riverton, WY 82501; call toll-free 1-800-829-2285; or visit the company website at www.himtnjerky.com.

Deano’s Italian Grill The Authentic Brick Oven Favorites on Main St. Dublin, GA.

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Chicken Marsala had the most tasty mushrooms and sauces ever!!
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Barb enjoying EVERYTHING!

AmericanPressTravelNews.com-Dublin, GA.-November 7th,-Bob & Barb “On the Road Again and feasting again! We headed out from Page House B & B into town by car (although it was in walking distance) and stopped in front of Deano’s Italian Grill. We are familiar with the great tastes that come out of a wood-fired brick oven, and when I saw the massive grill full of various Italian dishes and pizzas being done to perfection in the black-body heat method (cooks through and through quickly and leaves all dishes moist and not dried out) of radiating cooking temperature, perfect for doing dishes perfectly, I sat down-period!

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Pizza Bruni with fresh mozzarella and copicola sausage, basil and red onion.

Robert and Jennifer Shaffer owners and operators, both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, came from Florida to Dublin in 2010, to do their thing! And boy, do they do their thing. Their wait and cooking staff are really committed to this restaurant,  as besides loving the fare, they respect and like the owners as well, I learned this based on me asking a few of them how they like working at Deano’s. 

Check Deano’s out at: www.deanos-italian.com

So what did we eat, well, we popped a pizza, a chicken marsala dish, Calamari dish to perfection and then desserts to salivate over. So we were talked into a Crème Brule’ that was fab-plus!img_6218

Pizza Bruni, a delight to the eye and the palate!
Pizza Bruni, a delight to the eye and the palate!
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Candied walnuts salad with excellent sauce and farm fresh greens! WOW!!
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Calamari was touted by our waitress as best in GA. We ate and agreed with her!
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An overhead view from their upstairs party room.

Calamari was light floured and flash fried. It came with marinara and cherry pepper sauce. The citrus garden salad was crafted with strawberries, mandarin oranges, grapes candied walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese with balsamic vinaigrette.  The Chicken Marsala was a pan seared chick breast with delicious sauteed mushrooms, in roasted garlic butter and Marsala wine sauce. We finished our meal with Coffee and crème brule.