Which Wich? And this Witch!

Gone are the days of limp or burnt subs; at "Which Wich?" you can truly have it your way. For a difficult/picky eater this sandwich shop is heaven. Being a picky eater I often feel as though I am being a Witch because I am so particular on what I eat and how it is prepared. But in a sandwich shop where I am supposed to select whatever I want... I really can’t feel bad at all for being so picky.

I appreciate the fresh and high quality ingredients. I even love the fun way of ordering, which the children that were there that day seemed to get a kick out of as well. You feel like you’re in control and it is lovely not having to yell across the counter at the little sandwich boys like at other sub places.

When you walk in you will be greeted by an employee who will help you order if you get confused (so don't be scared; it isn't rocket science). It really is not too hard to figure out the ordering process. You pick a brown bag which has a category at the top of the bag in red for example: turkey or seafood or classics.  Then on the bag you select whatever items you want on your sandwich. Please see examples below.

I chose the turkey, regular size sub, toasted with pepper jack and provolone cheese, chipotle mayo and lettuce & tomato. My husband went for a classic roast beef and swiss cheese toasted; it is basically a French dip. The bread was beautifully toasted to make a perfect crispy vessel for our cheesy meaty goodness.

They have homemade potato chips which are crispy warm and simple not over flavored or over processed chips. I was even excited to see the little brown bag the chips come; I quickly became nostalgic because the little paper bag reminded me of when you took homemade lunches to school. I thought that was a cute little touch.

So if you are ever in the mood for a really good sandwich and you are feeling a little picky, then definitely check out "Which Wich?"

Carlos Miguel's Es No Bueno

Mexican food….now this cultural delight I am extremely picky about. Maybe it is because there seems to be an interweaving of my favorite ingredient…cheese; that makes me an “expert” on Mexican food. Or it could be the fact that my mother-in-law can make some killer tamales, the world’s best homemade Spanish rice and (when I did eat pork) she has a phenomenal / mind blowningly delicious smothered green chili burritos. ßThis could be the reason why I gained 20lbs after marrying my husband.    

Yes there is a special place in my heart for Mexican food. So if you take me to a Mexican Restaurant it better be darn good. Now there are different types of Mexican food believe it or not there is more authentic which finds it roots in Mexico City and in my opinion the cooking style found a home in El Paso Texas. There is the Tex-Mex, New Mexican and then my least favorite water downed Mexican Food (mainstream Americana Mexican food i.e. on the border). My preference is for New Mexican cuisine which staple is the red or green chili that drowns unsuspecting sopaopillas, enchiladas and/or burritos.

Now that I have gone through my very long winded and scientific explanation of different types of Mexican food let’s get to the review of Carlos Miguel’s; which is located on the North East side of town, off of Powers near the new Cordera Super Target. This restaurant is swanky in its décor and the place was packed when we went for dinner on a Saturday night but we didn’t have to wait too long for a table. I do have to say the service was slow which could be just growing pains of a new restaurant but it took forever to get our food and when it came my husband’s order was wrong.

I liked the salsa it was chucky with a lot of cilantro and onion which I am a fan of but can be overpowering to some people.  We ordered the chile con queso which was rather milky and runny; it came out boiling hot but lacked the consistency that I like in my queso.

I went safe after seeing the queso and ordered the steak fajitas which ended up not having that much steak at all. The flavor was simple run of the mill fajitas; nothing special.

My in-laws got the ground beef burrito that had beans and cheese. My husband ordered a combination beef burrito and chicken enchilada but they brought him a taco and chimichanga. We had to wait for our waiter to come by to tell him that my husband's order was wrong; but they finally brought the correct order over after the rest of us were finished with our meals.

We all decided to order the sopapillas; which is one of my favorite desserts. Now this fried pastry is supposed to be light and fluffy like how my mother in law makes them. But the sopapillas came out thick and doughy. It was cute that they were heart shaped but I rather they would taste good instead of looking cute.

All in all the Carlos Miguel’s off of north powers is just an okay Mexican restaurant and Colorado Springs has plenty of those already. The food was good but it wasn’t anything that warranted a return visit.

Aloha Colorado

I am naive when it comes to the Hawaiian culture; therefore I need to interject the views of my friends who frequently visit Hawaii and my family members who are Hawaiian. L&L Hawaiian BBQ is a staple for my friends who visit Hawaii and they never forget to stop by and eat there when vacationing. Another viewpoint of my close family member is L&L is yuck (equivalent to McDonald’s of Hawaiian BBQ).Now after hearing these opinions you can imagine I was a little more hesitant to go there with my husband for dinner. Finally after much persuasion; I caved in.  

L&L is an extremely bright lit restaurant (I am guessing it is so dang bright in there to simulate the Hawaiian sun) which did have an incredibly fast food feel to it, due to the excess of plastic and gimmicky memorabilia. Yet I did appreciate Hawaii’s beloved export that was represented with a hanging SPAM beach ball. 

The food is served to you in to go Styrofoam boxes which needless to say gave me Goosebumps every time my fork and knife hit the container while cutting my meat. I could have been happy with a paper plate. I had chosen a safe selection… chicken; you really can’t go wrong with chicken right?

The chicken Katsu it is a crispy breaded chicken served with a Katsu sauce. What is Katsu sauce you say? I had no clue. It tasted like kethup, soy sauce and was incredibly salty but it had the consistency of a honey based BBQ sauce. The chicken and sauce were just okay; nothing that would make me want to come back. But, I can be a bit picky. The chicken was served with two snowball size servings of sticky rice (one of my favs) and macaroni salad. I loved the macaroni salad!!! It was extraordinarily basic… and I mean basic. It consisted of elbow noodles, mayo, and finely shredded carrots. But hey sometimes less is more.

My husband ordered the Hawaiian teriyaki beef … which was you guessed it beef sirloin strips marinated in a teriyaki sauce. This dish was delightfully delicious because the beef was tender and juicy. This dish reminded me a lot of Korean short ribs for some reason which again I love (can you tell I am secretly in love with food?). I ended up eating the rest or my husband’s macaroni salad and tasty teriyaki beef.

So if you are in the mood to try something different then give the L&L Hawaiian BBQ an Ahola (ßthat was cheesy). Just don’t get the chicken opt for the beef ribs. Or be a little bit more daring then I was and try one of their many other Hawaiian dishes.

Puttin' on the Ritz

Oh, I do feel fancy eating at the Ritz; especially at lunch time surrounded by local politicians and lawyers. Yes this is a pricey place to eat and at night it turns into a meat market (has nothing to do with food).  I would stay clear of the place at night unless that is your screen. But I would totally try the Ritz out for lunch if you haven’t already.

Just one word and one word alone Voodoo!!! That's right the Voodoo Chicken is to die for (insert scary laugh here). I tried the Voodoo Chicken appetizer for lunch limiting the amount of carbs. My coworker, and sometimes I will refer to him as a friend but usually not in public and never to his face, order the Voodoo Chicken Sandwich and side salad. The Voodoo Chicken is tangy and spicy but not overwhelmingly hot for your taste buds just a light kick of spice. I would say if you like buffalo chicken at other restaurants then you would like the Voodoo Chicken.

I ended up going to the Ritz two days in a row for lunch with two different groups of coworkers. The first day we had great service; our waiter was on top of his game bringing refills before we asked and frequently stopping by to see if we needed anything. Oh and by the way he was very personable and witty which is always as a plus. The following day the waitress seemed distracted and very slow with our order which is something that can’t happen during lunch breaks.  So just for warning you could possible wait awhile in getting your meal depending on your server.

Ummmmm….carbs! I do enjoy the warm sour dough bread that is complimentary with your meal.

Both days I went to the Ritz two separate coworkers order this next dish and one allowed me to try it. The Cajun Chicken and Shrimp which has… you guessed it chicken and shrimp as well as red peppers, poblanos, a creamy Cajun sauce and angel hair pasta. Now this pasta has a nice kick to it and even though it has shrimp is does not have a seafoody taste to it because of all the Cajun spices.

The second day I went to the Ritz I wanted something lighter then the Voodoo Chicken so I order the iceberg wedge. The wedge is usually served as shown in the picture with tomatoes, bacon, fried shallots and an oh so creamy gorgonzola dressing (I love a cheese based dressing); but since I am picky and don’t eat anything cute I 86’ed the bacon. My coworker got his wedge with bacon and had no complaints. 

Two of my coworkers ordered the fish in chips which ended up taking awhile and when the plates did come out each plate only had two pieces of fish instead of the full order. The rest of their order came out later which was odd. I don’t eat seafood and especially not fish because I am a picky eater. But my two coworkers assured me that with the Ritz fish and chips I wasn’t missing much.

If you are ever in the downtown area and looking for a fancy place to grab a bite to eat...

"Spending every dime, for a wonderful time
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits,
Puttin' on the Ritz."

East Coast Deli- The Connection

We share meals with our family members, good friends and even sometimes our coworkers. The people we end up spending most of our lives with are in fact our coworkers. So what is so special about a team lunch? The connection... ultimately the bond that is created between people through sharing a meal. Food is a common tie between every person on this Earth; we need it to survive and the meal has created a venue in which people can get to know each other.

Therefore, when a team luncheon was discussed I was the first one to sign up to participate. I enjoy good company as much as I enjoy a good meal and fortunately for me, that day I had both. We decided to get our order to go since there was horrible weather outside and more importantly having visited East Coast Deli at lunch it has notoriously slow service.  But please don't let their slow service turn you off of trying the food.

I love East Coast Deli’s hot sandwiches and my favorite is the Tampa Bay. The Tampa Bay is the hot turkey sandwich with warm melted Swiss cheese, thick slices of avocado and mayo stacked perfectly on butter grilled sourdough bread.  There is always a ton of meat and the only complaint I have is that it is too difficult to look ladylike while eating this mouthwatering sandwich.

Now, you have to get the potato salad for your side. I love love love their potato salad. Why do you ask? Because it is simple and it is back to the basics; potato, onion, thinly sliced pieces of carrot and mayo. I am extremely picky about my potato salad...I dislike the over powering egg, olives and mustard used in others' potato salad.



My coworkers ended up sampling a variety of different items which were scrumptious:

There was another sandwich that was ordered that day which sincerely made me question my choice for lunch. It was the Southside Special which consists of a thick hot layer of roast beef, yummy melted jack cheese, green chilies to kick up the heat and tomato and mayo on again delectable butter grilled sourdough bread.



The cobb salad is an explosion of colors, like a confetti of food, with greens, reds and yellows. The cobb salad has slices of grilled chicken, fresh pico de gallo, crunchy pieces of bacon, cheddar cheese, red onions and chopped egg.  Again it was a hearty salad that could be shared by two or three people.

One of my coworkers ordered the Chef salad now when I think salad I think of small not filling light meal. But, this Chef salad blew my concept of salads right out of the water. It had these massive rolls of turkey, roast beef, ham, American and Swiss cheese.  They honestly can be described as meat pinwheels of color. The salad was topped off with the usual suspects; hard boil egg, tomatoes, cucumbers and artichoke hearts.

Mirch Masala- Sunday Spice

               I was first introduced to Indian food in England by my parents when I was a child. We would go to the Indian buffet after church; it was one of our rituals. I was amazed by my first taste of curry spices with an unusual combination of flavors and textures. Now as an adult that childhood love of Indian food has never vanished.

Here is where I flip the script on you; I was not the picky eater when sampling Indian food... my husband was the picky eater. When I took him to his first Indian buffet he ended up hating pretty much everything he ate. But with a great deal of persistence I was finally able to find an Indian restaurant in town he liked with food he ended up craving. Mirch Masala is the location we love in town and they offer a wonderful buffet that we like to eat at after church on Sundays.

The Chicken Tikka Masala is mouth-wateringly divine; it is a chicken curry which is rich and creamy sauce.  I absolutely love the vegetable samosa which is like deep fried mashed potato puff pastry with peas and curry spices. My husband likes the butter chicken which has of course butter, onions, tomatoes and ginger. Also you are given endless portions of warm buttery naan with the buffet. The cabbage curry is tasty as well as the tandoori chicken which is roasted chicken sautéed in yogurt curry spices which include turmeric (a known cancer fighter). My husband likes more spicy foods so he usually gets the spicy chili chicken which is for those who enjoy a great deal more "flavor".

Naan

Chicken tikka masala, cabbage curry and vegetable samosa

               Vegetable samosa, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala and the spicy chili chicken

               Vegetable samosa

 I like to finish each meal with a brilliantly bright orange mango custard which is sweet, creamy and refreshing after a hot curry. *** Note: The buffets are rarely ever spicy so go for dinner so you can kick up the heat level on your individual curries. Curries are supposed to have many benefits including cancer fighting and Alzheimer’s preventing ingredients or so I have been told. 

Mango custard 

So next time you are in the mood for curry try the Indian Restaurant Mirch Masala off of Academy and Union next to Big Lots. They have great prices for incredible curry.