9.23.2010

Wok On Wheels

About
123 E 1400 N - map it!
Wok On Wheels is located right next to the Little Caesars across from the mall. They've got an ad in the Aggies Coupon Book for a lunch special for $5.49 which included an entree, ham fried rice, egg roll, and a drink. A pretty good deal for any Chinese food lover. And they deliver for free with a $8 minimum order.


Menu
view menu!
They serve the basics you can find at any Americanized Chinese food place. Meat with veggies in a special sauce. Sweet and sour. Mongolian beef. Cache Valley's Tiny Spicy Chicken (I've been eating Chinese food all my life and I've never seen that one before). Everything is safe, there is more variety at mall food courts. If you have a favorite Americanized Chinese dish and don't care for anything hardcore Chinese, this will hit the spot.


Price Range
The price is decent for the amount of food you get for a lunch special. Everything is under $8 except for the family dinners. And a family dinner for two includes 2 entrees, egg rolls, fried won tons, ham fried rice, and fortunes cookies for $13.98, that can't be beat.

what beef with broccoli is supposed to look like
Verdict - 2 stars
I've eaten at this place once and never went back. I had Beef with Broccoli to-go and it was searing hot in one side and slightly cold on another- a sure sign of microwaving. The beef was sparse and mushy. It was a weird mushy where it felt like the beef just sat in water. Like fake, processed beef. The sauce that was on it was like duck sauce (that goopy red stuff meant for egg rolls). I asked the kid before I ordered it what it was and he said it was simply beef with broccoli in a sauce. Coming from an asian background that usually meant thinly sliced beef with pan fried broccoli in a dark teriyaki sauce with a bit of garlic. This had raw carrots in it, onions, bamboo shoots (which I love, but in this felt like a half hearted attempt to be Chinese), smushy broccoli caked in sauce, and of course that low quality beef. I tried eat the ham fried rice since I was so hungry but it was super bland- not fried and really dry. When I picked up a piece of ham for a closer look it had that grayish color and it smelled rancid. The ham in the ham fried rice had gone bad. That turned me way off and I will never go back there. This meal is so simple to make that I can't believe Wok on Wheels couldn't get it right. I probably should go back there one more time to make sure, but there is no excuse for rancid ham and microwaved food. Go to Panda Express, it delivers on quality and offers more authenticity. I love Panda Express and that will be my go-to Chinese in Cache Valley. Or I'll make it myself.

Wok On Wheels on Urbanspoon

9.16.2010

La Tormenta

About
105 E 1600 N - map it!
La Tormenta is located on the strip mall to the left the old Walmart (if you're facing Walmart). While the name provides entertainment in forms of wondering what the owners must have been thinking (plotting?) naming it the way they did, is it La Tormenta in the bathroom aftermath? Is it La Tormenta while waiting for the food? (We pompous English speakers crudely translate by taking off the a/o at the end). It's a dive-type of place, lacking decor and ambiance- but aren't those the best? No showy gimmicks, just honest to goodness soul food.


Menu
La Tormenta offers great, authentic Mexican at an honest price. I always go for the smothered burrito, and at $4.99 it comes with a side of rice and beans and a slow simmered beef burrito smothered in what has got to be the most cheese I've ever consumed in one sitting. But whereas that's enough to leave me a little over comfortably full, hubby always orders a couple of either the regular tacos or crispy tacos (not hard shell, actual fried tacos) alongside his burrito. You can probably tell we don't branch out of the smothered burrito, but why settle for less when we can order the best every time? They offer so much more, like stuffed peppers, the carne asada plate, fried fish, beef stew, and so much more. The quesadillas are lackluster, a simple tortilla filled with a white cheese and nothing else. it's teeny and at $2.49, definitely opt for the tacos instead ($1/ea for regular, $1.25 for crispy). All of the entrees come out with a cute mini condiments bar, a trio of salsa verde (which I slather on everything), grilled onions (it used to be pico de gallo but I actually prefer this more), and pickled jalapeƱos and carrots.

Price Range
The prices they have set for the more popular dishes have slowly gone up, but it's minuscule and they set them so low initially that it doesn't bother me. For a great meal for two coming in at around $10, I won't complain. It might not be romantic date material, but it satisfies like none other.


Verdict - 4.2 stars
While La Tormenta does not mean 'the torment' for us crude translators (it actually means 'storm'- brought to you by my lowly Spanish education), hubby and I love this place to bits and visit there at least once a week. It's so far one of the best Mexican in Cache Valley and it's taken the Logan college fooding scene by delicious brute force, nothing less we expect from La Tormenta. If you're looking for messy, satisfying, honest to goodness Mexican soul food, this is the place.

La Tormenta Restaurant on Urbanspoon

9.09.2010

Hamiltons Steak and Seafood

About
2427 N. Main Street - map it!
Hamiltons is set up with tables and booths in a very open, lodge-style building. It has a huge fireplace right in the center and big, exposed wooden beams in the ceiling and I aspire to live in it one day. They serve everything from seafood to steaks to chicken. It's a great environment for a nice date or a refined family outing and especially great for weddings. Hamiltons is where we had our wedding rehearsal dinner, so it's held in a special place in our hearts. That being said, let's pick it apart.


Menu
view menu!
Their caesar salad is ordinary, but their candied apple salad was fresh and playful (the sweet caramel vinaigrette is creative and delicious). The potato chowder is a must-try. It's not all all thick and chowdery but very like a soup and comforting. I preferred the miso glazed salmon over cedar plank salmon and my husband loved the chicken cordon bleu more than the herb chicken (I don't quite agree, but then again I'm not partial to chicken cordon bleu like he is). The steak was tender and everything it should be, but it is a steakhouse right? The desserts are simply the best, the sorbets are exactly what I imagine if eating perfume would be like in the best sense possible (airy, sweet, flowery, you get what I mean), and the german chocolate cake is so rich, the two of us couldn't finish it. The cheesecake was fantastic, although simple. And whenever you see an apple crisp on the menu, you know it's good. The creme brule made me sad because it was grainy and not custard-like as it should be. But if you crave it like I do, order it! It's still good (Haagen Daz makes an amazing creme brule ice cream by the way).


Price Range
Hamiltons is definitely on the pricier side from a college student's point of view, but the work they put into it goes above and beyond the standard. The menu is very well thought through and they use great ingredients. If you're looking to feed more than 10 people, going with the catered reservation is the cheapest way to go. It's just like the normal setting, you just get to pick the food people will want to order 48 hrs+ in advance.


Verdict - 4.3 stars
I love Hamiltons. It's a beautiful environment that makes you feel at home with great stick-to-your-ribs food and definitely an accessible fine dining option without being snobby. There is something there for everyone, no matter how shy or adventurous, picky or gluttonous.

Hamilton's Steak & Seafood on Urbanspoon

9.02.2010

We love food. We really love food.

Logan is very different. Cheese factories instead of sky scrapers, open fields with cows instead of suburbia, and mountains all around instead of suffocating greenery. We love it. But oftentimes I've wondered what in the world I was doing in Logan, UT. So many times I've frantically said to myself, there's nothing here!
But after several years of living here, you find there are things going on every day and new places to haunt.

Utah is amazing for food. Maybe it doesn't have it going on as much as Austin, TX (mm.. I adore Austin..) but it holds its own. Guy Fieri once said that his favorite city for food is Salt Lake. And I totally agree. Utah has so many small, local restaurants, and that's what you want! Small dives almost always serve amazing food.

Logan isn't Salt Lake City, but it's where hubs and I currently go to school. So we'll be posting lots of reviews from Logan's eateries, good and not so good for those people wondering, is it really as good as everyone says it is?