National Pancake Day (at IHOP)

IHOP is continuing their tradition of National Pancake Day giving.

Starting in 2006, IHOP decided to celebrate National Pancake Day
(also known as Fat Tuesday) by giving away a free short stack of pancake to anyone who came in.
All they ask is that you try to pay it forward.

Their website states:

On Tuesday, February 24, 2009. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., we’ll give you one FREE short stack (three) of our famous buttermilk pancakes.* All we ask is that you consider making a donation to support local children’s hospitals through Children’s Miracle Network, or other local charities.

Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly two million dollars to support charities in the communities in which it operates. With your help, we hope to raise $1,000,000 for Children’s Miracle Network in 2009!

I think their goal is commendable, and I'd like to encourage you to help them achieve it. 

Rickshaw Cafe

Should you be traveling down to Saint George for some summer fun, there is one place that I think everyone should eat. The Rickshaw Cafe. It doesn't sound fancy, and really it isn't, a tiny restaurant trying to make a start. They serve all kinds of cuisine from all over Asia, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. All of which aren't bad, they come in small meals served on trays for a reasonable price, but one meal stands above the rest. It is their Malaysian Walnut Shrimp. Each bite has to be savored individually. It's made up of battered shrimp and candied walnuts in a white honey sauce. The flavor is heaven, and I don't use that lightly. As a whole the restaurant doesn't rise above six plastic spoons, but that dish raises it to ten if not higher. I would recommend this dish to anyone (unless you have a nut or shrimp allergy). Even if you don't normally eat shrimp, or Chinese food, try this. I guarantee you'll love it.

Cafe Orleans

Okay, I'm new to this blog so someone let me know if I do something wrong.

I recently went to Cafe Orleans, the restaurant that replaced Boomers Cafe. (Isn't it about time.) The decorations were about the same, though the posters are different and someone threw a bunch of Mardi Gras masks about the place trying to improve it, and failing. But despite the strange vibe from the restaurant I had heard good things about the place.

My husband, Sandin and I always share a plate, portions at most places are insane. We decided to do the same there. We decided on the Crawfish platter. Not a bad choice since it comes with jambalaya, steak fries or sweet potato fries, a green salad, and cornbread or French bread, and hushpuppies.

Like most people here in Utah, I'm an unexperienced Creole eater. Sandin on the other hand served a mission in North Carolina so he at least knew the southern terms, like hushpuppies. The food was interesting. We got the chicken and sausage jambalaya, cornbread, and sweet potato fries, as well as their Creole salad dressing.

The jambalaya is a rice dish with plenty of spice and large chunks of meat in it. It was good, but too spicy. If I went again I might try the crawfish jambalaya instead. The fries were delicious, but we didn't get any sauce to eat them with and they needed something (I'm not precisely sure what, something sweet perhaps). The hushpuppies are a small cornbread based deep fried dumpling. They were really good. They too needed something to dip into, but they were good on their own still. The salad dressing (I'm sorry I don't remember the exact name of it) was really good. It tasted different enough to be worth ordering. The crawfish was good as well, the small pieces of it were deep fried and once again could have used some dipping sauce.

The best part of the meal was the cornbread. It was the best I've had in forever. It was moist and sweet, but not too much. It didn't need butter or honey, but stood on it's own. This is a good thing, since neither butter nor honey were offered.

Altogether, the food was not bad, but the service was. We waited forever before we could order, our food came in a fair amount of time, after which the waitress disappeared and didn't return until it was time for the bill.

On the whole I give the place five plastic spoons entirely on for the food. The standing might have been higher if anyone had been around to get us something to dip our food in. But it's different, and in Cedar City we like anything that's different. There are so few restaurants here that it's definitely worth trying if you're tired of Winger's, Applebee's, or Fast food.

Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill

My parents and I left Cedar City for St. George one Saturday before lunch, and we didn't stop to eat until nearly four in the afternoon, so on my first trip to Sharky's we were famished!

My mother recommended Sharky's because she remembered that the last time she came they served a lot of good food for very little money. That sounded great to the rest of us, so we pulled onto Red Cliffs Drive, just east of the freeway on-ramp and easily spotted Sharky's near Starbuck's.

The place was already busy, but the line moved quickly, and by the time we'd decided what we wanted, we were at the register. We ordered one large plate of nachos for the three of us (total $5.99) even though the fire-roasted pizza was the same price and the picture on the window looked delicious, though more like a very large tostada than a pizza. We agreed to try that on our next visit to St. George.

The nachos came topped with pinto beans, black beans, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, cheddar cheese, guacamole and sour cream. We were very hungry, so even though my mother assured us that we would be full when we finished, we added meat (they have chicken or steak; we chose steak) for another $2. (total now $7.99, plus tax)

We headed for the salsa bar in the corner, and I got excited! They had pico de gallo, green tomato salsa, fire roasted salsa, Sharky's original salsa, a warm salsa, and a very hot salsa. There were wedges of lemon and lime, a mix of onion and cilantro, and lots of little clear plastic cups to fill with your toppings. The cups were much too small. I got one filled with each salsa, and had to refill them twice before I was done. My parents each had a set that they refilled at least once, too.

By the time we got our salsa to the table, our nachos were there, on wax paper covering an aluminum platter about 20" in diameter. The corn tortilla chips were hot (crispy but not overly greasy), and they filled the platter almost completely. The ingredients were all very fresh, the guacamole was smooth with chunks of avacado, the beans were soft and tasty, the steak was diced, tender and juicy. I don't usually like steak, but this was really good!

At first, I thought the toppings were a little sparse for the number of chips they were covering, but halfway through the meal, I realized there was more there than I'd thought, and when the toppings were gone, there was still all that great salsa to go with the rest of the chips!

We cleaned up after ourselves, and I noticed that the dining area was not huge, but it was comfortable enough to be busy without people running into each other.

It's funny, but my mother told me I needed to go see the bathroom before we left, so I went there to wash my hands, which were rather messy from all the finger-food. I was really surprised! They had set stone-like square tiles on the walls, though the floor was just cement painted black. On the wall, where the tiles ended about the level of my elbow, there were rough multi-colored pebbles set in grey grouting in a wave-like pattern. My mother liked it so much that she wants to do something similar at our house!

I give this meal 7 plastic spoons--we fed 3 hungry people on $8, the atmosphere was nice, the place was clean and tastefully decorated, and the food was worth talking about afterwards! It even settled well on the long drive home, thank goodness.

Sharky's serves lots of Mexican dishes, and they all looked as tasty as ours, though some were perhaps more expensive. I hope I get to stop there again and try something else soon!

Location:
158 N. Red Cliffs Dr. Ste. 2
St. George, Utah
(North of the freeway on-ramp going north from St. George)

Phone: 435-656-2991

Viors

Roland was stuck, so I came to his aid,
It was lunch time, and his Computer was broken,
well not broken, but not working right either,
So I told him I would stop by on my way home.

When I was done, he bought me lunch, and since Vior's Bakery and Deli is really close to our offices, that's what I got. And ohh was it good.

He has them on speed dial... just in case he can't get out,
and speed dial works well. You give them your name, and then tell them your sandwhich,
(He also has a menu for super easy ordering)

I asked him what was good, and he said "everything." I had to be skeptical.
So I asked him about the Chicken Panini.
That's the one he's never had.
That's the one I wanted.
In the Store I think it was called Vior's Chicken Panini, but on his menu is was something else,
like Tenegate Chicken Panini, I would look it up, but they don't have an easily accessible website. When I got there my sandwhich was ready. Of course I had to get an Alligator Jaw to close out my meal.

I took the food back to my office, and oddly, it was still warm.
When I took the first half of my sandwhich out of the container
(I got a full-- two halfs), I thought this bread feels funny,
but as soon as I took my first bite, my hesitation began to disappear.
The sandwhich was amazing! And it was still hot!

Vior's Chicken Panini
The chicken was nice and warm. And it had the perfect texture,
I think it was pulled. It was thinnish, but it still felt like chicken.
It wasn't dry, and I didn't need to stop to cut each bite before I ate it.
(it may have been in chuncks, but it didn't feel like chunks, it just felt, and tasted perfect).

Then I noticed the bread it was really good.
not overly airy, but not overly dense either.
It's a panini, so the bread is not typical bread. This Panini bread is baked
in single serve size "loafs"

The sauce was really good. It's something like big mac sauce, but a little lighter.
I didn't compare the sauces but I think Vior's is better, maybe a hint of BBQ.
Either way the sauce was way good. In fact I would buy the sauce alone,
and I think it would fix many a dull sandwhich.

At this point I really wish I could find their website.
I don't remember everything that was on the sandwhich,
I just remember that it was amazing.

If I had to guess I would say lettuce, and tomato, and Red onions.

Not only was the Sandwhich very tasty, but it was big too.
Like I said, I got a full, and that's what it did too.
After the first half, I already new this was a meal!
The second half was just as good, but I had to wait to make room
for my alligator jaw.

Alligator Jaws
Call it a guilty pleasure,
or maybe it's those found childhood memories,
but part of me really likes alligator jaws.
It's a deep fried triangular donut, then they cut it open,
and fill it with this uber-sweet pink frosting.
They can't possibly be good for you, and sometimes even I think it's "too much"
(not too big just too much, though the size is nice),
But it's a tradition, and I love them.
so I had one of these too.

and when I got to it,
it was good too.

It seems like I ate there once before, but It's been a while,
that time I got a cressant, (and It may not have been Vior's at the time)
but it was too small.

Viors is located on 4th south, just off of Main St.
In Cedar City, They also have a location in St. George,
I think it's by the Factory Stores.

Viors Bakery
50 West 400 South, Cedar City, UT 84720
(435) 586-4572

Highly satisfying
I give this visit to Vior's 8 wooden spoons, (even with dessert and a drink, I stayed under $10)