Mediterranean adventure

"Do you want to go to the locally-owned small cafe or the national chain?" I ask as we stand on the corner. The executives in the group look at each other, but say nothing, so Scrunch and I just start walking to The Atlantic, choosing the cafe. I'm happy knowing that my comfort food is just ahead of us.

As we enter, I spy the large table for our group of five and grab it. There are a lot of tables for four, but this is the last for more.

Our friendly waitress asks about Joe and Jared and takes our orders. Mary goes for a chicken gyro, Brady opts for the beef gyro with fries, our server chooses vegetable lasagna for me and Jon goes for the chicken pita sandwich. Following my recommendation Chuck orders one of the house specialties - Cevap (lamb and beef sausage) on panini with rice and salad.

As an afterthought, Chuck decides to get some dolmas for an appetizer which are served almost immediately to rave reviews. I wait patiently, watching the grape-leaf wrapped morsels disappear, as I think "dolmas might be one of those foods worth giving up vegetarian" -- but only for a second. They do look and smell great!

Over a single Diet Coke (Chuck) which has a fizz factor of 8 (maybe a bit high for a European-style cafe) excellent iced tea (surprising our waitress, who usually brings me coffee "weird!" she says) and "very watery" water, Brady tells his story of the being accosted by a panhandler while pumping gas, Mary tells of an encounter with another unsavory character, and I relate my (latest) drunk on the train story. Jon's got nothin'.

It's time for the out-of-context-quote-of-the-day: "If any of you guys need Viagra, I've got sources."

The plates arrive two at a time, just a little past the time we were expecting, and Chuck's arrives last. He marvels at the similarity to food he ate while in Bosnia.

After eating my balsamic vinagrette dressed salad, I enjoy the perfectly portioned vegetable lasagna (served with four slices of excellent bread) which is delicious as usual. Mary, Brady and Jon seem to like their meals, and Chuck raves about the cevap.

Walking back to the office our thoughts turn to ballet dancing attire and acorns and we all agree it is worth the walk, and wonder why we don't visit The Atlantic more often.

Sound clip of the week


Anna, Nadja and the rest always make sure the service is great: 9/10.
Vegetarian options: 9/10
Overall: I give The Atlantic a 9/10 if only to allow for room for improvement.

A Trio of four

As we approached Cafe Trio, I'm guessing that Scrunch, Wingnut, Brady and I all were thinking the same thing: how long is it going to take us to park this time?

You see, about a year ago, we visited Cafe Trio. Scrunch was driving. And driving. And driving. Around and around the parking lot, looking for a spot. The rest of us were laughing. And guffawing. And chortling. We eventually had to park quite far away, and the entire incident lives on in our memories as an "epic" start to that particular lunch.

Unfortunately, I remember the parking incident more than the food from that day. I remember that the food was good. But that's about it.

So as we entered Wingnut's big-rig and Brady suggested that Cafe Trio serve as our lunch destination, I couldn't really remember what to expect. But when we were able to pull into an open parking spot right next to the restaurant, I knew we weren't going to be disappointed.

We ate al fresco, and even though it was a scorching hot day and we were not near any misters (sigh), the awnings kept us cool. Well, except for Scrunch's left arm, which got a bit of sun. But we all decided he's young and is sure to recover.

For lunch, I chose the pasta carbonara, because, well, it has bacon. I love bacon. (For more on bacon, go here.)

For the non-food-educated among you, carbonara is a sauce for pasta that contains eggs and bacon or ham and grated cheese. And Trio does its carbonara right. The dish was big enough to be filling, but didn't leave me feeling stuffed. The sauce was substantial, but not too heavy. The bacon was flavorful, the peas were firm (nothing worse than mushy peas) and the noodles were cooked al dente, as they should be.

The service was excellent (servers were present, but weren't hovering). The Coke was a bit flat, and a few flies were buzzing about, but otherwise I have no complaints about Trio.

Of course, you really ought to get a good lunch at Trio, because it costs more than we in the GPaK Crew usually pay. For my lunch, with tip, I shelled out $18. Yikes! That means Trio is not an every-week place. But considering the quality of the food and the chance of an epic parking experience, it definitely IS a once in a while place that the Crew will visit again.

— GPaK

Sound clip of the week


Man-up possibilities: 8 (Wingnut's pizza was huge!)
Food quality: 9
Fizz-o-meter of Coke: 7
Service: 8
Overall: 8.5

Tacos Don Rafa

There is no way in hell they will go for this, I told myself.

But at least some of the boys (Brady and Jon) truly "manned-up" and took my challenge to enjoy a truly authentic Mexican food cart meal along Salt Lake City's famed State Street Friday. In fairness, GPak and GMac were out of town, while Big Red chose to wear pink today, carry a purse and go elsewhere.

"There won't be anywhere to sit," Brady complained this morning. But I assured him that the Sears parking lot at 800 South, famous for numerous fatal shootings, had places to sit, namely the foot-tall concrete wall separating the sidewalk from the parking lot.

Tacos Don Rafa did not disappoint. I couldn't decide between the burrito and the tacos, so I ordered both. Hell, those combined with a $1 can of Diet Coke only came to five bucks (Six if you include my tip).

I sunk my teeth into the chicken burrito — that I decided to eat "naked" — first. Bad choice of words for me. I could say "stripped-down" but either way you dirty-minded readers would think the worst. But I did choose to enjoy the flavors of the meat instead of piling on all the extras like other restaurants do. And it was delicious.The tortilla was grilled to perfection, albeit a little thin for this monster burrito stuffed with generous portions of grilled chicken, pinto beans, rice and cheese.

I finished about three-quarters of the burrito before diving into my two beef tacos and this time they were fully dressed with a wonderful combination of tomatoes, green onions, white onions and jalapeños.

There were a lot of jokes around the office about getting sick, but I had quite the Freudian slip when I suggested to Big Red I might get Gonorrhea from eating the tacos (I was thinking diarrhea ... but obviously my mind was elsewhere! LOL).

On a 1-to-10 scale, for food quality, I give a solid 8. They get a perfect 10 for their reasonable prices. And after watching a couple of guys visiting from Turkey devour their one-pound chicken burrito, I'd have to give Tacos Don Rafas a 9.5 on the Man-Up scale.

-Wingnut

cafe rio. in english, cafe rio.

hoy, los hombres y yo decidamos a comer en la fabulosa y muy popular destino de almuerzo el CAFE RIO.

que mal un idea.

ok, it wasn't that bad of an idea, it was just, well, disappointing on a few levels. and the SIX of us all left feeling a little like, "was that really cafe rio we just came from?"

you know what to expect when you order at this ubiquitous cafeteria-style mex fest: fast talkers behind the counter, asking pinto or black, and even faster foil containers of burritos, tacos or salads shooting down the line for the staff to stuff. unfortunately, it can become loud, and sometimes can be confusing on both sides of the order bar.

to whit: friend gary was in front of me and ordered a veggie burro, and then i ordered a barbacoa pork burro. these bad boys flew efficiently through the line, into the warming oven and then to the salsa stop like a well-oiled assembly line. problem is i requested the burrito sans enchilada sauce. but that's how it was prepared. ok, i can live with that. (for the record, they did offer me free chips or dessert for the oversight.)

but my very meaty order showed up first in the line, which gary took to the table. did i mention my friend's vigilance to the art and science of vegetarianism? luckily after we both took small bites, we discovered the error, and after gary assured us all he wouldn't immediately blow chunks post digesting shredded pork, we resumed dining our proper plates. (hope the golden habanero sauce wasn't too much on that veggie burrito, buddy!)

but because of the mass quantity of enchilada sauce, my sweet and savory barbacoa flavor was muted and overpowered. and for the record, no one does barbacoa like the eatery with its namesake. while city weekly plaques and awards adorn cafe rio touting this style of burrito, i think it's a cheap knock-off of the barbacoa real. i digress. no qualms on the quality of food, but sometimes, smothered isn't always better.

overall, the food at this lunch stop to cafe rio was above average, and the ingredients fresh and satisfying. others in the crew, however, complained of soft, crumbly tacos, and the overpowering enchilada sauce previously mentioned.

on the plus side, i now have another frequent eater card to add to my collection at home. yay.

Man-up possibilities: 7 (burros are huge, salads are grande and it appeared the tacos were stuffed)
Food quality: 6.5
Fizz-o-meter of Coke: 8 (from GPaK)
Service: 6.5
Overall: 6.75-ish

Summer Solstice

With the official arrival of summer less than 36 hours away, it seemed appropriate that we venture to a burger joint to ring in the occasion. And since we were half-sized this week (only three GPaKers were present and/or able to dine today), we took Brady's new rig (an Acura RDX) and made our way to Squatters Pub and Brewery.

With our location and mode of transportation accounted for, we first had to get a rundown of all the cool features on Brady's new toy. It's safe to say, we'd never spent that much time sitting in a vehicle in the parking garage on purpose. To make the journey even more delightful, Brady punched in our destination into the fancy nav system, and off we went. The only disappointing part was that Brady still had to operate the vehicle. I'm pretty sure this car can do everything but drive itself, which Brady will take care of as soon as he writes a script.

The month of June has pretty much been filled with rainy days, so with temperatures in the mid-70s and the sky blue and nonthreatening, we opted to dine on the patio under a shade of yellow awnings. Wise decision. Upon arrival, the majority of tables outside finished up and we pretty much dined on our own.

I opted for the Squatters Bourbon Burger cooked medium well. The caramelized onion offering was too good to pass up, and it did not disappoint. Between the sweet onion taste, a slice of cheese and the burger itself, it's safe to say I haven't had a burger that didn't at some point need a splash of catsup. I enjoyed it so much I almost forgot about the delicious sweet potato fries that accompanied my burger. Again, no sauce was needed, leaving the food about as perfectly prepared as I've experienced. A cold glass of watery water (this means it's a solid glass of water) chased my feast, and I left happy and satisfied.

From the time we stepped out of the vehicle until the time we had burgers in front of us was a mere 20 minutes. This, along with prompt but not over attentiveness from our server, left me thinking there was little this meal didn't accomplish.

Upon returning to the vehicle for the short drive back to the office, Brady's vehicle rang (his Bluetooth enabled phone interrupted our radio noise), so we got to experience a live phone call — another cool feature to an ultra-cool car. The Acura salesman who was on the other end timed the call perfectly and concluded what was a fast, fun and feastful lunch.

Man-up possibilities: 10 (Burgers galore and we didn't even look at the dessert menu)
Food quality: 9
Service: 9
Fizz-o-meter of Coke: 8
Overall: 9.5

—SuperScrunch

Herbivores rejoice

Everyone gather 'round; we're going to take a little test. Please answer true or false to the following questions:

I sometimes prefer a bran muffin to a doughnut.
Feta cheese is tastier than mozzarella.
A chicken breast is sometimes better than a steak.
A salad can be a main course.
I enjoy whole-wheat tortillas.
Adding fish to a veggie burrito is "manning-up."
The granola I buy at the store has twigs and small pieces of bark mixed in.

The correct answer to all of these is, of course, false. If you, however answered true to even a single question, you'd probably have a great time at the Oasis Café, the GPaK Crew's latest Friday lunch destination.

I admit I did not love the Oasis, but it wasn't bad, by any stretch. Really, it is just not my kind of eating establishment. First off, I had a hard time finding something that appealed to me. I was stoked when I noticed that the Oasis served breakfast until 2:30 p.m. Then I actually read the rest of the menu. No waffles, bacon, sausage, buttermilk pancakes or hash browns. I have to admit that the German Pancake sounded promising and I must have mentioned it loudly because a nearby waitress quickly sucked the air out of that idea.

"We're out of the pancakes," she called. Figures.

Next, I got excited when I saw the "Roasted Beef Tower," only to realize after a moment that it read "Beet" and not "Beef." Why anyone would eat a single beet is beyond me, much less a tower of the scary purple vegetables. I finally settled on the safest-sounding entrée, the Oasis Gyro. Too bad the meat choices were chicken breast or Tempeh.

For those who don't already know, Tempeh is made from cooked and slightly fermented soybeans and formed into a patty, similar to a very firm veggie burger. Sounds tasty, eh!? I would have gone for the Tempeh of course, but I already had a steaming Tempeh log for breakfast, so I opted for the chicken.

As far as chicken gyros go, it was fine. The chicken seemed fresh and was seasoned with a mostly appealing tomato and spice rub. The tzatziki sauce (which is one of the few condiments that agrees with my cosmopolitan palate) tasted all yogurty and cucumbery, as it should. The pita was fluffy and warm. Aside from a garnish of lettuce and a handful of olives, that's what I got. It was $9.

Believe me, I've had plenty worse, but I came away less than satisfied. I even had to go grab a second Friday doughnut to take the edge off my lingering hunger. I'm pretty sure the foofier members of the GPaK enjoyed the place well enough.

I suppose the anti-meattites of the world need a watering hole of their own. The Oasis Café might just be the place.

Man-up possibilities: 1
Food quality: 7
Service: 9
Fizz-o-meter of Coke: 4 (courtesy of GPaK)
Overall: 5

Kickin'

Anytime a lunch starts with an "epic" parking job by Wingnut, you know it's going to be a great lunch.

And Moochies proved to be one the best Friday lunches in recent memory.

The moment we walked in, the five of us were greeted by a friendly "Buongiorno" from the Moochies employee at the counter.

The staff quickly took our orders, which were amazingly simple: Five of their famous Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. And they didn't disappoint!

While Brady and I secured an open table outside, the other fellas grabbed the grub, which came out quick and hot. Good thing my truck comes with an optional towel for the daily spillage from my daughter! I was able to dry off our chairs to avoid the "wet butt experience."

While I focused my lens on my fellow GPaK crew, including new member Mark Reece (welcome aboard Big Red!), they sunk their chops into a mighty tasty sandwich.

Seriously, it has to be one of the best I've ever had. I manned-up with a side of "kickin' " potato salad, which had just the right amount of spicy factor and a very yummy, thick brownie that was perfectly soft, yet just the right level of crunch with chocolate chips buried inside.

We were rushed out of our leisurely lunch with a quick cloud burst, but it didn't dampen our spirits after a "kickin' " lunch.

Overall, I'd give the place a 9.0 for quality. Man-up potential is high at 9.5. A damn good place to add to the rotation.

— Wingnut