My Wife's Mountain West Burrito Review

Three months ago I visited Mountain West Burrito and reviewed it here. After that post and a subsequent post, my wife really wanted to try it. Last week we finally got around to visiting it again and I will now post our experience.

Like last time, we were greeted by a super friendly owner who brought our food to our table within a few minutes of us ordering. He also brought us free chips and salsa, which was awesome. I got the regular deluxe steak burrito, my wife got the regular chicken burrito and we got a plain cheese quesadilla for baby.

Like last time, the restaurant was spotless and the food tasted really fresh. There was still something missing though in the taste, and my wife was able to put it into words. She described the beans, rice, chicken, and cheese as combining to create a delicious wrap, but that the burrito itself didn't taste like Mexican food. I have to agree. I love the way that Mountain West Burrito uses fresh ingredients to create tasty wraps - but I wouldn't say that it's good Mexican food. But I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert on Mexican food. There is a common taste between Beto's, Cafe Rio, Maria Bonita, and El Azteca (local Mexican places I enjoy), and I don't recognize that taste in food from Mountain West Burrito. Maybe if they marketed themselves as a wrap shop instead of a Mexican place, I could get behind their food a little more.

Again, I am not an expert on Mexican food, I can only compare Mountain West Burrito to other Mexican restaurants in the area. My brother lived in Mexico for two years though, so he knows a thing or two about Mexican food. So in the next few weeks (or months), I will take him to Mountain West Burrito to get his opinion. And then I'll post his impression here.

Pizzeria Seven Twelve Review

Last night we finally made it to Pizzeria Seven Twelve in Orem for my wife's birthday dinner.

We started with an asparagus and egg plate ($7). It came with 8ish spears of asparagus well-seasoned and roasted with cheese and topped with an egg (sunny side up). I've seen egg and asparagus served together before, but I'd never had it. It was really good. My wife even enjoyed it and she'd been dissuading me from cooking it for weeks.

My wife ordered the pecorino, red onion, nicoise tapenade, walnuts, and mozzarella pizza ($15). It was one of the more exotic-sounding pizzas on the menu, and was very tasty. The flavors worked well together and the crunchy texture of the walnut did not distract from the experience as I feared it might.

I ordered the speck, soppressata, garlic, tomato sauce, and mozzarella pizza ($13). It was a more traditional choice and did not disappoint when it came to the flavors of the toppings. I love the thin crust that P 712 has created; the middle of the pizza is like a thick flour tortilla. The outer rim of the crust can get a bit crunchy and was burned in a few spots, but that's what happens when you cook in a brick oven and not a conveyor belt.

My only criticism of P 712 is that the toppings on the speck pizza were a little lacking in quantity. I understand that one doesn't pile up the toppings on a thin crust pizza, but I was definitely left wanting more. More speck, more soppressata, more sauce, and more cheese. It was as though the toppings were applied with a paint brush - just an even thin layer of each. Enough of each topping to whet my appetite, but not enough to satisfy it. I'd also prefer a pizza with more topping space and less crust space, which is to say that for the size of the pizza (radius = 1), the toppings were probably .75-.8 and the crust was probably .25-.2, where I prefer a smaller crust (.1-.15).

All in all we really enjoyed P 712 and will most likely return. My wife was a little hesitant to try it out, knowing that it's owned and managed by the same team that runs Communal, but we're glad we did. Pizzeria Seven Twelve definitely executes the sustainable farming/local ingredients idea much better than Communal. The food is great and reasonably priced. We paid about the same for two pizzas at P 712 as we did for one (larger) pizza in NYC at Capizzi, Lombardi's, or Grimaldi's.

The Last Cheesesteak

Yesterday morning we went to Campo's Deli on Market for a last cheesesteak before flying back to Utah last night. I got one with onions, peppers, and mushrooms and finally added the whiz instead of provolone. It was awesome. The whiz adds a juicy, greasy, and flavorful component that really adds to the sandwich.

We also got ice cream at the Franklin Fountain - a way cool olde ice cream shoppe with employees dressed like olde tyme soda jerks. The ice cream was a bit overpriced, but very good. If you dine in, the ice cream comes in real glasses and bowls and they don't even use plastic straws. It's quite the experience.

Both places only take cash - but there are plenty of ATMs around, so make sure you've got a great bank like Ally or USAA that reimburses random ATM charges.

Reading Terminal Market Cheesesteaks - Carmen's v. By George

We dined at the market again today for lunch and thought it would be cool to order some cheesesteaks from two different places and compare them. So we did.

By George - Referred to me by the dude at DiNic's that made my tasty Roast Pork sandwich on Wednesday. He said the By George cheesesteak is the best in the market.

Carmen's - When President Obama came to the market last fall, he ordered two cheesesteaks from Carmen's. If it's good enough for him - I should give it a shot.

We ordered a cheesesteak with onions and provolone from each location. By George takes credit card and the total came to $9.25. Carmen's only takes cash and the total was $8.15.

By George - This cheesesteak was significantly bigger than Carmen's. The roll was harder and had seeds. The steak itself was tougher than Carmen's and took longer to chew, but may have been more flavorful.

Carmen's - Though the cheesesteak was smaller than By George, it was very good. The steak was very juicy and the roll soaked up a lot of juice. The cheesesteak was easier to eat than By George and both my wife and I finished this sandwich first.

I don't know that we can declare either sandwich the winner. They were both excellent and the wife was impressed with them both. Tomorrow we'll try another at Campo's. This time we'll do it with the whiz.

Today's Food

This morning we had brunch at Sabrina's in Philadelphia. I had the blue cheese and bacon frittata and the wife had the stuffed french toast. Both dishes were excellent. We had originally planned on heading back to the Reading Terminal Market this afternoon for a late lunch of cheesesteaks (we had planned on comparing Carmen's with By George), but decided instead to visit Bobby's Burger Palace up by UPenn.

I ordered the Bobby Blue Burger with onion rings and my wife ordered the Crunch Salad with sweet potato fries. My burger was excellent - just enough crumbled blue cheese for the taste to come through without overpowering the other flavors. The onion rings and sweet potato fries were also quite tasty. My wife's salad however was pretty pathetic. We had a conversation like this:

Me: Hey, how's your salad?

Wife: Eh, it's OK. Pretty forgettable.

M: Well, that's why they don't call it Bobby's Salad Palace.

W: True, though you'd think Iron Chef Bobby Flay could put together a decent salad.

M: Touche.

My one gripe about BBP (other than the lame salad), was the service. We went around 4:00 PM so there were only about 12 people in the restaurant and it took a really long time for us to get our food. Once our food came, our sweet potato fries took another 10 minutes. A guy next to us waited even longer for his meal - and then even longer for his fries. If it was that slow on a late Thursday afternoon, I don't want to see it on a Friday night or weekday lunch. And it's not like the employees were busy - they were just standing around talking.

Mountain West Burrito Review Backlash

So a few days ago I went to Mountain West Burrito and wrote a review about my experience on my blog. I thought it was a pretty fair review and in the end I mentioned that I prefer a Beto's burrito to one at Mountain West Burrito.

Well the next day I was surprised to see that Mountain West Burrito posted a link to my review on its Facebook page. It's impressive that a restaurant will post a link to a review that doesn't completely gush about how amazing it is and how its food is the best thing since sliced bread. I think that says a lot for MWB and the people that run it.

Well evidently MWB has a very loyal fan base, because as soon as my review was posted, I read some interesting comments on my blog and below the posting on the MWB Facebook page. That's cool - I have nothing against people voicing their opinions. The comments made my wife a little mad (she's very protective of my opinions), but she knows that she can't be objective until she's tried the food. So as soon as we get back to town, we'll be heading back to Mountain West Burrito for another round.

We'll also finally get around to trying Pizzeria 712, to see if it really is better than Pizza Hut...

Bone Daddy's BBQ Review

Today we had lunch at Bone Daddy's BBQ in Midland before heading to the quaint MBS airport to fly to Philadelphia. The restaurant was pretty highly rated on Trip Advisor and we'd heard good things from my wife's brother, so we figured we'd give it a shot.

The wife ordered the pulled pork sandwich and I got the beef brisket sandwich. Both sandwiches were well under $10 and came with a huge pile of meat and a side dish. My brisket was piled so high that I had to eat 5-6 slabs off the top with a fork before I could fit the sandwich in my mouth. The brisket was fork tender and smothered with some of the best BBQ sauce I've ever tasted. The sauce had a rich smoky flavor and had the perfect amount of spice. I've tried a lot of BBQ in my day, but the beef brisket at Bone Daddy's is by far the best I've ever had. I ordered the onion rings as my side and it came with 7-8 large battered and fried rings. I tried the wife's pork sandwich and it was also very good. I'm not a coleslaw lover, but my wife said the blue cheese coleslaw that topped her sandwich was very good.

The restaurant has a 1940's-1950's fighter pilot theme and has lots of interesting pictures and memorabilia on the walls.

This plaque was above the urinal in the men's room

The service was a little lacking, but we were there around 2:30, so they weren't in the high gear of the lunch rush, so that may have explained it. Our two meals and soft drinks ran us around $20-25 which is amazing for the amount and quality of the food we got. Next time we are/If we're ever in Midland again, we'll stop at Bone Daddy's at least once.

Cafe Zinc Review

This evening the wife and I dined with her brother and his wife at Cafe Zinc in Midland, Michigan. The Cafe Zinc is located in The H Hotel and is the #1 rated Midland restaurant on Tripadvisor.com. Between drinks (non-alcoholic), a soup or salad, entrees, and dessert, a meal at Cafe Zinc will run you $45-50 a person.

I ordered the H Salad and Steak Frites and my wife had the French Onion Soup and Bolognese. My steak was cooked to a perfect medium and served with an herb butter. The fries were good and the dish also came with a side of peas with bacon and onion. My salad was very fresh and the herb-lemon dressing was just the right amount of lemony. The wife enjoyed her soup and her ragout was very tasty (she let me try it), though a little spicy for my taste. I am a wimp when it comes to spice though.

The wait staff was very attentive and our food arrived very quickly. The ambiance was nice, though the restaurant was a bit noisy. We ordered fruit tarts and creme brulee for dessert and thoroughly enjoyed them.

So if you're ever in Midland, Michigan and you are looking for a nice place to have a semi-expensive dinner, try Cafe Zinc.

Mountain West Burrito Review

Today I had lunch at Mountain West Burrito. It's a relatively new Mexican place in a gas station off State Street on the ProvOrem hill. It's one of those sustainable ingredients, Kangen water, free range places that prides itself in really fresh food, and then charges you extra for it.

I had the giant steak chimichanga ($14) and got a plain cheese quesadilla ($3) for baby. The food was really good and very fresh. I was super impressed with the speedy service. By the time I had ordered, filled my drink, and sat down, my meal arrived at my table. I usually don't order a chimichanga at a restaurant because I'm often wary of the freshness of the oil used to fry it. One look around Mountain West Burrito made me pretty confident that the oil was relatively fresh. The restaurant is very clean - especially for being in a gas station.

All this having been said, I still prefer Beto's to Mountain West for two reasons:

Value - At Beto's, a huge breakfast burrito and large quesadilla will set me back $5 instead of $17. Beto's doesn't take AMEX though, and Mountain West does.

Taste - The food at Mountain West tasted really fresh, but it lacked an indescribable quality that I enjoy in Mexican food. Is it possible that ingredients can be too fresh? Maybe it's something about week-old bacon, thrice-fried potatoes, or eggs and ham of questionable origin that makes Beto's burritos more tasty. I don't know exactly what it is, but the Mountain West burritos just didn't taste as good as burritos from Beto's.

I will admit though, that I'm not feeling the sickly aftershocks of a Beto's meal now, 3 hours after Mountain West. Usually a Beto's meal will leave me feeling slightly ill, but maybe that's the cost of perfection. I guess it's a choice between eating well and feeling well.

Communal Review

Last night we had dinner at Communal with some friends. We'd been to Communal before and weren't overly impressed with it, but we figured we'd give it another chance.

Our reservation was for 8:00 PM but our table was still occupied when we arrived at 8:05. We were eventually seated at 8:40 with a few apologies from the wait staff. We ordered our (overpriced) meal by 8:50 and the food came to the table at 9:30. I ordered the tri-tip and mashed potatoes and the wife ordered the pork chop and cauliflower custard. The food was good, not great, and the portions were kind of small. Our total for dinner was $68.

I have a love/hate relationship with Communal. I like the idea of a non-chain local restaurant that uses sustainable ingredients and whatever, but don't feel like Communal executes that idea very well. The wait staff is kind of unfriendly and the whole atmosphere is a little pretentious. The food is pretty expensive for what you get and the menu is very small (16 items).

Magleby's Review

Tonight we went to Magleby's in Provo for dinner. In the past we've really enjoyed Magleby's, but tonight was not impressive. We didn't get there until 8:30 or so and we were seated right away, but it took 25-30 minutes for our food to arrive once we ordered. That's a long time in a nearly empty restaurant. Furthermore, my bacon cheeseburger was medium well instead of medium and disappointingly small.

We used to love Magleby's when it was located in the Riverwoods. They had a great menu and the food always came promptly and tasted great. The menu at the new location in the Marriott Courtyard is much smaller and lacks a few of Doc's signature dishes.

Before going to the restaurant we tried to look up some information on their website (www.maglebys.com), but had trouble navigating it. It's horrible. Not only are there 10+ obvious typos on the main page, but there are a number of dead links and missing information. We couldn't even find a phone number for the Provo location. The text of the site refers to a "Locations Page" that unfortunately does not exist.

I looked up the web designer in charge of the site, and probably would have emailed him had his contact information been readily available, but it wasn't. I could either follow him on Twitter or be his friend on Facebook, neither of which I was interested in. I understand how a web guy can make grammatical errors. I have been known to make a few in my day. But this guy is in charge of the company's entire online presence. Talk about first impressions.

I know Magleby's prides itself in its local Provo recipes and homemade dishes, but the website doesn't need to look like it was written by a someone with a Utah high school education...