Restaurant Review - Jimmy's Famous American Tavern

I recently had dinner at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern in Dana Point. We had a wonderful experience. After reading some of the Yelp! Reviews,  I was unsure if we should even give this restaurant a try - I am so glad we did!

We were seated promptly (make sure to have reservations) I made my reservations on line. Many people were walking in (without reservations) and were told that the wait was over an hour.

We were given a really large and comfy booth. Our waitress came over right way and helped us select some wine and beer and we ordered the Southern Pimento Cheese Appetizer. It was described as cheddar paprika, roasted green chilies and tortilla chips. It was a perfect appetizer. Yum.  Now I want to google some recipes and try to create this dish at home.

Lately I have been ordering a lot of dishes with figs. I love figs! So of course I had to order the Pear, Black Fig Jam, Gorgonzola, Fontina and Arugula Fire Roasted Flat Bread. It was huge. It would make a great appetizer for a party of four or a main course. It was also fantastic.

My husband ordered the Santa Fe Burger  it had avocado, green chillies, jalapeños, Jack cheese, chipolte, aioli and came with fries. He said it was almost as good as the burger that he had at Gordon Ramsey's  BurGR restaurant in Las Vegas.

We also ordered the Skillet Mac & Cheese - it was really good. The menu said that it served two - but we couldn't finish it.

Our waitress cheerfully packed up all of our left overs for us to take home.

I am so sorry that I don't have any food photos - we went at 7 p.m. and it was starting to get dark outside and was dimly lit inside.

We are planning to go back for Brunch and I should be able to take some decent pictures!

Restaurant Review - Nordstrom Cafe Fashion Island, Newport Beach

Today I met my girlfriend Joy at Fashion Island for a little retail therapy and lunch. We shopped for quite a while and decided to eat lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe - because it is usually quite quick.  Today it was quite slow. First a little over a week ago they changed the format of the restaurant and now the hostess gives you a menu and you order with a waiter. They also have a wine list. They serve wine and beer now. They have also added some new menu items.

Today we both ordered a "new" salad. I say a new salad because I always order the Cilantro Lime Shrimp salad - yummy!

But today we both ordered The Fresh Berry and Fig Salad with Goat Cheese - the description of the salad -

Fresh seasonal berries, dried figs, goat cheese and spiced candied almonds on organic baby greens and arugula with a vanilla bean vinaigrette.

The fresh berries were raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. We both loved the fresh berries and goat cheese. However, Joy did not get any candied almonds. And the nuts are her favorite part of the salad. So they brought her a little cup of nuts. Then I said these figs are fantastic. Joy started digging through her salad. She did not have one fig. So once again they brought her a little cup of figs.

Then it took forever to get our bill and the change. Despite this incident - we will always love Nordstrom Cafe!