Long Life Noodle and Jook Joint [CLOSED] - Jook Lang! Jook Lang! Like My Joke?! Ha!

Restaurant: Long Life Noodle and Jook Joint
Address: Sony Metreon, 101 4th Street @ Mission, SF
Cuisine: Pan-Asian, noodles, soup, jook
Date Last Visited: May 31, 2007

One day, I felt like crap. My stomach was cramping up and my muscles were tense. I needed something to warm me on the inside. So I thought that soup would be a good idea for lunch. I walked the short two minute walk to the Metreon food court and went directly in line at Long Life Noodle and Jook Joint. Here they specialize in, you guessed it, noodles and jook. I had a menu at home, so I already knew that I was going to get when I got there.



I ordered the Double Happiness soup that had wontons, egg noodles, (hence the double happiness), bok choy, and you get a choice of chicken or BBQ pork, I got the BBQ pork. Me and bok choy are best friends, so I was okay with that. Overall, it’s a simple Chinese soup. I am usually a Pho-eating person, but I needed something somewhat bland to relieve my gastro-issues. However, that did not stop me from going to the condiment/sauce station to fill cup a plastic container of hoi-sin sauce and sriracha. Yes, I started to eat it like Pho, and I caught myself.



It’s just that this soup does not have the taste as Pho. And I know that it’s unfair to compare and Chinese soup and a Vietnamese soup, but I guess you can see my bias. The noodles are like very thin spaghetti, but have a little more give. They seem a little more bouncy in your mouth.



The wontons were nice and big. They were stuffed with pork. There were about 10 of them in the bowl, which made the soup very filling.



The BBQ pork was a good flavor with the subtle soup. It gave an extra savoriness to the broth. I love BBQ pork already, so this was a treat. There were big hunks of it in the soup. Yummy.



The bok choy was fresh. You know that it was not sitting in the broth for a long time. They blanch the greens right before service so ensure that they have a little bit of crispness when you bite into them.

There is nothing SPECIAL-OMG about this soup. You can get a very similar wonton-noodle soup at any Chinese place, but it was great to have when my body was out of whack. It did bring a sense of comfort and I did feel a whole lot better after I ate it. The combination of ingredients was perfect for me, and I am eager to go back and try out their other offerings, like their stir-fried noodle dishes.

Citizen Cupcake [CLOSED] – Sweetness Atop a Music Store

Restaurant: Citizen Cupcake
Address: 2 Stockton Street, 3rd Floor, Virgin Megastore
Cuisine: Cupcakes, cafe
Date Last Visited: June 5, 2007



Every foodie in San Francisco knows about Citizen Cake, the shi-shi dessert shop and café that is owned by San Francisco celebrity-chef Elizabeth Falkner in Hayes Valley, but very few know that they can get a taste of it in the middle of Downtown at Citizen Cupcake Café and Bar, which resides on the top floor of the Virgin Megastore in Downtown.



Here at Citizen Cupcake, you do not have the variety at the mother-store, of course, but you do have a selection of unique cupcakes and a few desserts that are served at the Hayes Valley location.



-Visit 1: April 18, 2007-

Again I was wandering aimlessly in Downtown after school and decided to check out the café upstairs. They serve coffee, salads, and sandwiches, but I was there because I was craving something sweet. I had to meet up my Mom in Chinatown, so I had to get something to go. Honestly, I was sort of turned off by the prices. 3 dollars for a small cupcake? Granted they are beautiful to look at, and the Citizen Cake name has spanned television world (i.e.: Rachel Ray visited Citizen Cake in her San Francisco episode of $40 Dollars a Day), but sheesh, that’s a little steep for my budget. But being the sucker I am, I decided to buy one for experience. Yes, I do cough up bucks for environment, too…but what foodie doesn’t? I digress.



I noticed some Chocolate Chip Cookie cupcakes that were available. The catch was that they were from the day before. Hey, that’s fine with me. It’s like buying cupcakes from Safeway. You really don’t know if they’ve been sitting there for a day or two days or even three days. Buying a cupcake from the day before made them about 50 cents cheaper at 2.25. Usually they would be from $3.00-3.50. But let me get back to you on that. The cashier put it in a cute Chinese take-out box and I was on my way. On this visit, I didn’t really take in the environment because I was in a rush, but I promised myself I would next time.

I just couldn’t wait to get home and eat my cupcake. It was pretty funny when I opened the box:



It was SMOOSHED. It didn’t have that fancy swirl at the top anymore. It was just a clump of frosting, but that didn’t stop me from eating it. The chocolate chip cookie cupcake is so yummy. I love chocolate chip cookies, and this was so good. Citizen Cupcake uses a butter cream frosting. I am not too much of a butter cream. I go simple with a whipped cream, but there was something in the frosting that gave the whole chocolate chip cookie theme an extra oomph. I would get it again.

-Visit 2: May 15, 2007-

By the time I came here for my second visit, I found out that Citizen Cupcake was voted “Best Cupcakes” in SFWeekly’s Best Of contest. Awesome. So I promised myself that I would sit in the café and take in the view. Market Street from up there is lovely. People-watching is guilty pleasure of mine.

This time I wanted something simpler than the Chocolate Chip Cookie cupcake I got last time. So I went for the simple Vanilla that they have on-hand everyday along with the Chocolate cupcake. It cost me $2.50. They rotate specialty-flavored cupcakes everyday. Isn’t it pretty?



The inside was not dry, but I did find it a little grainy. I’m a little biased because I do make cupcakes at home, and I like mine a little moister. I also thought that the cake was a little too sweet. The butter cream that was stabbed with thin white chocolate straws made it over the top. I wouldn’t get the Vanilla again because I prefer mine less sweet and more moist. Yeah, that kind of killed it for me, but the view made up for it.



-Visit 3: June 5, 2007-

Okay, okay. I did think that the vanilla wasn’t all that, but I wanted to try something more out-of-time-box. I came in and noticed that they had a “Joe Cool Chocolate Mint” cupcake. This made me think of the grasshopper cookies that Ate Di fed me in the car one day. So I got it. =) Isn’t it cute?



It doesn’t really show in the picture, but the butter cream has a slight green tinge to it. In my first bite, I didn’t really taste the mint in the cake, but more in the frosting. That was a riff, I thought, but by the time I got to the center of the cake, I realized where all the mint flavor was stashed. In the middle in a dollop of what seemed to be a mint-flavored chocolate ganache. Oh dear Lord, was that a pleasant surprise! Awesome. This time I actually got to take in the ambiance.



In conclusion, I still do find their cupcakes a tad too sweet, but I do want to go there again. Crazy, eh? I go to Virgin a lot anyway to see the new releases and listen to some tunes. Besides they have a lemon-flavored cupcake with my name written all over it. And their sugar packets are c-u-t-e, too! It’s a cool place to hangout or to work on your laptop, and when you need to take your eyes off the screen, you can just look down on the street and watch the itty-bitty people rushing through the streets of San Francisco.

Coriander - I Wouldn't Mind Being Thai'd to a Tree and Force-Fed This Food

Restaurant: Coriander
Address: 845 Market Street, Westfield SF Center, Food Emporium
Cuisine: Thai
Date Last Visited: May 17, 2007

I swear, I am conquering the Westfield Center’s Food Emporium. It’s just that it’s so convenient to dine here. All I have to do is walk down the street, enter through Bloomie’s, walk down a very short staircase, walk through the home furnishings department, and exit Bloomie’s straight into the Food Emporium.

The Food Emporium is extraordinary. The first time I went there I was memorized. There was no Subway, or Panda Express, or Great Steak and Potato. We actually had some places that rival some of the eateries out there in the middle of Downtown.



Coriander is a “point at what you want” place. I was a little reluctant to eat there because I really didn’t know how long the food has been sitting there. However, I saw a few patrons eating the yellow chicken curry with white rice. I LOVE curry. A lot of people stay away from it. I don’t know why. It’s so complex. Plus there are so many types of curry. You have your Indian, Japanese, Chinese…Thai curry is one of my favorite foods.

They do combos here. You get to choose a starch (rice or noodles) and some entrees to eat it with. A two-item combo is $8.50. I swear, the girl behind the counter must’ve been wondering what the hell was wrong with me because I couldn’t make up my mind whether or not I wanted to spend that much money. I’m CHEAP! What can I say? But that yellow curry hooked me in. I also got a Sweet Basil Chicken to go with it.



Boy, am I glad I got this. The yellow curry has pieces of chicken, chunks of potato, and slices of white onion in it. I thought the flavor of the onion would be too strong for the creamy curry, but it was just right. I actually liked that slight crunch when I had a bite of chicken, onion, and rice. The sauce is so friggin’ good. It’s subtle. Some people are scared of curry because they all think it’s all the same. Japanese curry is so different from Indian, as are Thai and Chinese. They get a little turned off by the smell, but seriously, the flavor is far subtler than the smell. I loved how the white jasmine rice absorbed the curry. Oh my! How delicious.



The Sweet Basil Chicken was good, also. I wouldn’t order it again, however. Because it was sitting there for a little while, parts of the pieces of chicken, especially the ends did get a little dry. That’s why it is safer to get a “wet” entrée than a fried one, unless you know they consistently replenish it. I know they do that with the Orange-flavored chicken at Panda Express because it’s so high in demand. In places where there isn’t too much foot-traffic, be aware of what sells out fast because it usually is made fresh throughout the day.



Anyway, I will move on. The basil seemed like it was fried because it was crunchy. It was really interesting because it crunches in your mouth like nori (dried seaweed). The sauce was sweet with a hint of chili. I didn’t eat too much of this because I was head-over-heels in love with the yellow curry.

I did think like a heffa in the beginning, and foolishly thought I could finish the whole plate in one sitting. That’s why I was so reluctant to pay the 9 bucks because I didn’t know it would fill me up. But alas, it did, and it gave me some great leftovers for dinner that night. I didn’t explore their other options for the entrees, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be back for the yellow chicken curry any day. Their Pad Thai look scrumpdillyupmtious, but that’s a whole other story. Coriander, Westfield Food Emporium. TRY IT. NOW!

Andalé – Arriba Arriba Arriba!!!

Restaurant: Andalé
Address: 845 Market Street, Suite FE7, Westfield SF Center, Food Emporium
Cuisine: Mexican
Date Last Visited: May 18, 2007

Yes, I have truly conquered Westfield’s Food Emporium. It’s official. There are only a couple places left to go to and then I can honestly say I have eaten out this place. Ha. Dirty.

Get your minds out of the gutters, people!! On to the food. Andalé has tempting dishes displayed for your eyes to gawk at. That’s what got me to eat here. I was reluctant to eat here because I knew of taquerias where I could get some bomb burritos. However, I wanted to try something new. I usually do not order whole plates that include rice and beans. I usually get burritos or quesadillas and then get a side of rice. So this was going to be something new.



So I didn’t want to get a burrito or a quesadillas. But then I saw a display plate with enchiladas. Oh dear. They looked so yummy with that red sauce, cheese, sour cream and guacamole poured on top. True that it is artery clogging, but it was a Friday and I had just gotten paid that day, so there was a reason to celebrate.

As I was ordering I saw that they had a frequent diner card. You have to buy 9 entrees to get one free. Hmm, estimating that I would have to spend 10 bucks each visit, I would have to spend around 90 dollars to get my free meal. Eh, I took one anyway even though I barely go to the same place twice, unless I really really really really like it.

I ordered the two-item combo with the enchilada and taco. I had the choice of either a cheese or chicken enchilada. I chose chicken. The cashier asked me for my second item and I said, “Taco.” She asked, “Crunchy or soft?” “Crunchy, please.” “Chicken or steak?” STEAK? Whoa! On the menu, it didn’t offer steak tacos. They just mentioned chicken. I actually thought I was getting chicken in everything, so of course I jumped at the opportunity to get steak tacos. YUM! The cost including a bottle of Coke was a little over 14 dollars. A little steep for my budget, so I was nervous if it was going to be worth it.

She gave me a little pager to signal me when my food was ready. I found a seat and waited. What I like about Andalé is that they have a server-type person to set up your tray for you. Charming. =) My pager went off in about 3-4 minutes and I brought this BEATIFUL plate of food to my table. Doesn’t that look awesome? The enchilada and taco come with a side of rice, beans, and a type of slaw.



The enchilada was perfect. When it comes to Mexican food, I tend to load my tacos and burritos with all the fixing’s, so seeing how much sour cream and guacamole on it made me jump for joy on the inside. The enchilada was cooked perfectly and was filled with seasoned shredded chicken. It was topped with a light red sauce and all that delectable stuff I mentioned before. I liked how everything was not overly spicy. I think it was a great thing to add the slaw with the plate because it cuts through all the carbs and starches you are ingesting. It’s refreshing and has a slight tang. It might be vinegar? I am not quite sure. It reminded me of atchara (Philippine version of kimchee, but is sweeter because it is made with papaya and carrots and it doesn’t have the spiciness). Yes, that’s what it was: it’s a cross between kimchee without all the chilies and fermentation and stuff, sweet Philippine atchara and regular Cole slaw. VERY good. It went well with the sauces and savoriness of the enchilada.



The taco was off the hook. Before this meal, the most gourmet taco I had was probably the Double-Decker Taco Supreme from Taco Bell. I’m usually not a taco person, so this was exciting. Let me tell you, that’s crunchy tortilla is what sold me. It’s not a paper-thin taco shell from your regular Rosarita taco assembly kits you can get from Safeway. These are thick, crunchy, and strong. Strong meaning that it can hold all that steak, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream without falling apart in your hands. A little juice did get on the taco shell while it was sitting there, but even then it didn’t crumble to pieces.



I’m not a beany-type of person, especially whole beans. I usually get refried, so I didn’t finish all my beans. I mean, I was eating everything else and I was getting full. =)



The rice was good, too. For some reason, I always get rice. Even with quesadillas, I get rice. The rice is nice and mild and went well with everything. I actually like putting the rice, enchilada, and slaw in one bite. The difference in textures, temperatures and flavors was so great in my mouth. =)



So would I come back again? Yes, I think I will. The flavors were really good. It IS in the middle of a food court, but this is the supposedly the best food court in all of Downtown. And I actually haven’t seen any other food courts with Mexican food as good as this. The steak tacos are worth coming back for. However, like I said before I do know of taquerias that make great burritos, so I probably won’t be here for that. I saw a bunch of people throughout the weeks eating taco salads. It looked really healthy, but most importantly filling. Maybe that’s a reason to go back? We’ll see…

Tsunami [CLOSED] - A Wave of Asian Food-Greatness Washed Over Us

Restaurant: Tsunami Asian Grill
Address: Venetian Hotel, 3355 S. Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Date Last Visited: December 21, 2006
Dining Partners: Rizzle-Nizzle, Summertime, Chana, Manang, Avril, and Kare-Bear

I took a trip with a few girlfriends to Las Vegas, Nevada last December to unwind from the daily stresses. This was a real turning point in my life and I just needed to escape the Bay for a little while. I think I needed it. Now that’s another issue. =)

We met with a couple of friends down there, Chana and Summertime. They told us that their Aunt invited us to have a meal at her restaurant. At first, I was not very OMG about it because I know a bunch of people whose parents own restaurants here in the area, and they were more like Ma and Pop places. It would usually be a donut shop or small café or something like that. But when they told us that their Aunt’s restaurant was INSIDE the Venetian Hotel, I began to wonder.

It turns out that Chana and Summertime’s Aunt was Chef Duff, the Executive Chef at the Tsunami Asian Bar and Grill. If you ever went to the Venetian, you might have noticed the place on the 2nd floor within the Grand Canal Shoppes in St. Mark’s Square, at the very end of the canal, where people got on the gondolas and stuff. Inside is dark and sexy. Very modern and hip. Loved it at first sight!

We were so excited because this was our first REAL dining experience in Vegas. We didn’t order anything from the menu ourselves because Chef Duff made sure we got the best things from her repertoire. So if I’m not being very vivid with my descriptions, forgive me, because we never once looked in the menu (I did do some online research, however, to get the names of some of the dishes).

The first thing she brought out was a fishbowl cocktail for the table. I don’t know how much it costs, but hearing the types of liquor they put into it, like Bacardi 151, made me believe that it was worth a pretty penny.



The next few things seemed to come to the table all at once. They brought out bowls of edamame, or in English, soybeans. You eat them like peanuts. The outside was nice and salty, just how I like it.



Do you see that big thing of lettuce? I didn’t take of a picture of it at the time, but those were used for the chicken lettuce wraps. If you look closely on the left side of the picture, you’ll see a platter. On it was a large lettuce cup that sat on a bed of crisp fried bean threads, and inside the lettuce cup was the minced chicken. Basically, you put a spoonful of the chicken mixture in the lettuce leaf, spread a hoisin-like sauce over the chicken, and then fold it like a little taco or burrito. Man, those were good. The chicken was still warm and the contrast of textures and temps went nicely together.



Next we got a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Sushi Sampler. Doesn’t it look outstanding? Okay, let’s do some play-by-play action here:



Here we have some raw tuna, mackerel (I think), sweet prawns, and egg.



Next we have an unagi (broiled eel) roll with avocado at the top, a shrimp tempura roll in the middle, and this one I couldn’t point my finger on. I think it was spicy tuna, but it seemed like there was something extra in there. It was good though!



I think this was my favorite part of the platter: raw salmon and tuna sashimi, and spicy island poke. Poke is a raw dish that is made with raw tuna, sesame seeds, in a spicy dressing. LOVED IT! Manang and I looked at each other when we tasted it, and we just couldn’t believe how good it was. The fish was so so so fresh. It melted in our mouths. It was so luxurious!



Next we had this gargantuan plate of fried food: 5-Spice Salt and Pepper Calamari, egg rolls, and gyoza (potstickers). It was so cute how they put it in a pineapple shell. The calamari was so tender! I hate calamari rings that snap back at you like rubber bands. The sauces that came with them were so tasty, especially the soy-based sauce. What I really liked was that they were not greasy at all, and it didn’t taste like cooking oil. Each piece was perfectly cooked. Even though there were like 7 of us, we couldn’t finish this.



THEN…yes, there was MORE. They brought out Pad Thai. I don’t have a picture of that, but it was so DELISH. The noodles were nice and fluffy. Can noodles be fluffy? No, they were really soft and delicate. The pungent sauce was awesome, and I love putting lots of lime on it. YUM.



And then we were brought this pretty plate of chicken. Not sure exactly the name of it, but it’s an orange chicken/Kung pow-like dish, but not as spicy. Big pieces of chicken cooked with cashews, red and green bell peppers served in a bowl of fried noodles. I swear, I didn’t have the capacity to each much more. I did have one piece of the chicken with a spoonful of steamed white rice and it was lovely.



Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we finished the fishbowl. It took 7 girls, but we did it! Honestly, it didn’t even taste like there was even alcohol in it. It tastes like juice, but I did FEEL it a little bit. There WAS alky in it, for sure.

Finally came dessert. I think someone forgot to take pictures because we were all so excited to dig in! We had three desserts brought out. One was a plate of fresh mochi (ice cream wrapped in dough). Second were fried wontons that were filled with a creamy chocolate-raspberry filling. Oh my, I’m not a raspberry fan, but this was so good. Dessert wontons? That’s genius! Next was a fried banana dessert with ice cream. Oh jeez, I love fried bananas!



And this is what our table looked like at the end of the meal. Yes, we killed dessert. It was so good. *sigh* I can feel myself getting full from thinking of all this food. This has got to be one of the best dining experiences of my life. The staff was so nice to us and Chef Duff was so generous for treating us like celebrities.

I loved how she sat down with us and told us stories about the many celebrities who came and dined and even celebrated their birthdays there. She told us about Little John and Eminem. That was just awesome just to converse with her. I felt so fortunate to eat here. Chef Duff didn’t even let us pay for anything. The least we could do was pay for the wait staff’s tip. I don’t even know what the total check was. I felt so lucky to be sitting there with executive chef the restaurant. Truly unforgettable. Chana and Summertime are LUCKY to have her as an auntie.

Now here’s the bad news. Tsunami closed its doors at the end of 2006. A Mexican restaurant took its place, but Chef Duff is still involved with it. All I can say is that I am happy that I got the chance to have an extraordinary experience here before it closed. I surely wish it were still open! The food and Chef Duff were wonderful.

Out the Door – That’s the Direction I Went

Restaurant: Out the Door
Address: 845 Market St. Box 80, Westfield SF Center, Food Emporium
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Date Last Visited: June 1, 2007

Out the Door is the take-out/lunch version of Charles Phan’s wildly popular Vietnamese restaurant called the Slanted Door that is located along the Embarcadero at the Ferry Building Marketplace. I have read so many reviews about the Slanted Door, and how great it is, and how getting in is so hard. Wow. So I thought that Out the Door would be a good place to grab a few small bites like buns and Vietnamese spring rolls. I read reports on Chowhound.com that said the steamed chicken buns were to die for. This particular location at the Westfield Center’s Food Emporium is the second Out the Door. The original one is adjacent to the Slanted Door at the Ferry Building Marketplace.

So that’s what I got one day. I was going to work that afternoon and I wanted to bring a little something for a coworker who shares her food with me all the time during our lunch breaks. I thought that the chicken buns at Out the Door would be good because it’s from a reputable place. When you get to the place, there is a counter for take-out orders only.



You usually see a line out the door around lunchtime, but you can always sit inside. You order and you get a fancy-shmancy pager. You get paged, and you’re on your way. BTW, each steamed bun is $3.



I got to work and, of course, snapped a few pictures before I took a bite. They really are very pretty. I also wanted to eat one right away because I carried them all the way from Downtown on the train and then the bus. So I couldn’t wait.



UGH. I really could not believe how bad they were. Seriously, I had to eat sour cream and onion potato chips with each bite of the bun to help make the flavor seem not so bad. I know, I know that hundreds of people out there are totally disagreeing with me, and claim that Out the Door’s steamed chicken buns are the absolute BEST chicken buns ever. PUH-LEASE. I paid 3 bucks each for these babies, and I thought they would be worth it.



I don’t know if they are like this all the time, but these were just overloaded with ginger flavor. I’m not too much of a ginger fan, except for when I eat it with sushi. I mean it DOES say ginger in the description, but almost all chicken bun fillings have ginger in it. The description also said shiitake mushrooms, and I didn’t even notice them. I was real disappointed.



The outer bun itself was good. It was nice and soft, perfectly steamed, but the filling was just too much. I seriously can go down to Chinatown and get six steamed chicken buns for the price I paid for these two alone. And they would probably taste a whole lot better. I don’t know if the restaurant wanted them to be more Vietnamese than Chinese, and wanted to add more pungent flavors to it, but if that’s the case, I would much rather stick to my cheap steamed chicken buns from Grant than one from a famous, almost celebrity-status, restaurant.

At least with my cheap Chinatown buns, I’ll be able to enjoy it. The Out the Door buns were almost inedible. Huge disappointment. I’m beginning to think that this whole Out the Door/Slanted Door “phenomenon” is becoming way too overrated.

Rib Shack – Finger Lickin' Good!

Restaurant: Rib Shack
Address: 223 El Camino Real, San Bruno, CA
Cuisine: Ribs and Comfort/Southern Food
Date Visited: June 6, 2007
Dining Partners: Ate Di, BanYo and Miko



And a shack it is. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a place to be ladies and gentlemen. This is an elbows on the table joint where it’s actually a compliment to get sauce on your shirt. And if you’re lucky they’ll snap a picture of you and post in on your wall. =)



One of my friends works there and we all decided to eat there when Miko suggested it.



This is my first time here and I was excited! I really wanted to get my fingers all sticky from all the bbq sauce!

As you walk through the door, this fella is there to greet you. CUTE!



We got there at around 2, so we were in time for the lunch special. I asked Tes, the manager, which was better, the pork or the beef. She said the pork so that’s what I went with. The meal comes with two sides and corn bread:



Now I came to a hard decision. What were my two sides going to be?

There were collard greens:



Bavarian potatoes (cold potato salad) and cole slaw:



Macaroni and Cheese:



Green beans:



My friend who was working actually gave me a small sample of everything. Like the collard greens and the chili beans:



Everything he gave me to taste was good. I almost got the chili beans, but thought about the consequences later. And I wasn’t in a collard green-mood either, so I decided on the Bavarian potato salad and Mac N’ Cheese. I like contrasting temperatures in my sides. And this is how everything looked by the time I got it to the table including my tasting samples:



Lemme do a play-by-play here starting with those sides:

The macaroni and cheese was so luscious. Whenever there is a chance I can get mac n’ cheese, I get it. And they make a great version here. The sauce was rich and creamy. The way mac n’ cheese should be. And it's cool that it's not BRIGHT orange like that stuff that comes out of that blue box.



The Bavarian potato salad was good, too. There was some nice herbage in there and it looked like they added little minces of red pepper. It was a nice flavor to off-set the smokiness of the ribs. I love potato salad. It reminds me of Summer and Summer makes me happy.



The corn bread. Oh my goodness. The corn bread. Tell me why I think this is the best corn bread I had in a while. The top of it is sweet and buttery. I like sweet corn bread. It almost tasted like dessert to be quite honest. I should’ve taken a couple to take home. MmMmMmM.



Finally, the pork ribs. Y’all know that I love meat. The meat was so tender and so easy to take off the bone. I really didn’t care if I finished off the sides, I needed to eat all the meat!! Ain’t it purty? That char and the succulent meat…OMG!!! Talk about orgasmic!!



Oh wait, what made it THE BEST RIBS EVER was dipping it into the BBQ sauce. OMG. Did we feel like baboys! Ha! Baboys eating baboy! I mean, look at it. All I did was dip the rib in the sauce and dove in. It was SOOOO good, I remember Ate Di and I taking a bite, rolling our eyes back and exhaling a deep exhale. Yes. ORGASMIC. Sorry, I didn’t let any sauce on my face. =) I know you’re supposed to, but I’m a lady.



Now let me show you what BanYo got:

He got the brisket sandwich with the chili beans and CITRUS CUMCUMBER SALAD.



The sammie was so good. But it looks more like a pulled pork sammie to me...hmmm, I'ma get back to you on this. Maybe I heard wrong. Anyway...Oh dear. The meat was so tender. He poured some of the House Special Maple BBQ sauce over it and let me taste. Oh dear. That maple sauce was sweet and it was great with the meat. I think I’m getting that next time!!!



NOW. Let me talk about the Citrus Cucumber Salad for a sec here. This salad is so refreshing! I thought it was a normal salad, but then I saw the pieces of orange in it. Citrus is my favorite fruit! Why didn’t I see this earlier? Thank good ness BanYo got this, otherwise I would probably never have notice it. I am SOOOO going to get this next time. So refreshing. Savory and sweet. Perfect balance of flavors.

Then it was time for dessert. We had a choice of:

The brownies…oh yummy.



Or the tiramisu:



Or the mini pecan pies and sweet potato pies:



But I was really full and wanted something small, so I got a sampling of the cobbler.



Seriously, after eating like I haven’t eaten for 4 years, that was all I needed. My sugar craving went away like that. I liked the topping of it and the filling was nice and warm. It was like getting a hug from the inside. But that’s how comfort food is supposed to be, right? It should make you feel good after you eat it. That’s what Rib Shack did!

There are so many things on the menu that I have yet to try, like the chicken, sausages, and brisket. And those desserts look divine as well. I am so coming back. The manager, staff and the owner of the place were so friendly. They made sure to talk to us and ask us how the food was. Of course, it was awesome! They took a picture of us before we left, so if you’re there, you might see me on the wall!!!