Some Saturdays turn out to be great foodie Saturdays. This was one of them!
Brunch: D'Amico in Roseville
Dinner: Mangos in Osceola, WI
A great foodie Saturday brings at least one interesting recipe on TPT cooking shows.
Kevin Belton, with a new 26 episode cooking series on TPT, is one of the fun new faces that brings his special personality to the kitchen, and today he was doing mirlitons!!!!
You ask..."Did you ever serve mirlitons at Marianne's?" Okay, once
again, you didn't ask...but...yes, yes we did. The first offering was mirliton pickles, 4 or 5 years ago and many times over the years.
Kevin was making mirliton
gazpacho...not in my Marianne's repertoire but it will be in the future. Watching Kevin, I
had momentary doubts as the blender created a
slurry with a decidedly off-putting green tinge. But with some tomato juice, the
'mirliton veggie slurry' and a giant bowl of fresh veggies, you want to reach through the screen and steal the
bowl. Time was pressing to meet the 'Brits' so I'll have to catch the interesting mirliton options on a re-run.
Brunch at D'Amico
Now we think D'Amico in Roseville has its ups and downs. We've had pretty decent dishes there
and some that we found nearly inedible. So, we were rolling the dice
today...lucky Saturday.
We chose from a range of items
on the brunch menu and one of the salads in the case. The salads are better early in the day before they taste...like the case.
Nothing disappointed today.
The bread puddinggy French toast with fresh fruit was superior. We all
took some bites from the generous serving and pronounced it Delish!
The tall 'Brit' chowed down on a beautiful breakfast
sandwich...almost more than he could finish...but he bravely gave it
his all.
The breakfast pizza was adorned with high quality, non-harsh
sausage with spinach, eggs & cheese on a perfectly oven-fired crust. So
large that some of it had to come home and move into
our refrig.
The salad was composed of fresh mozz, chickpeas, tomatoes, onion,
green beans, asparagus....delightful...and large enough to come home and
spend time hanging out with the extra pizza.
One of the best meals we've had at D'Amico. Kudos!
John Redeems Himself on Osceola Dining...Mangos
Toward the end of the day, we
thought we should grab one more meal. We contemplated just digging in
the refrig and pronouncing it dinner. But John has nursed some
Norwegian guilt since last year when we drove to Osceola
on a tip about a place that was supposed to have a great Reuben.
Right down the block from the DQ, we would have been better off with a
DQ Fan Food 'entree' and a blizzard. Both places had teenagers
'preparing' the food...couldn't really tell the difference
between DQ and the place we actually chose [John: "Never take a food recommendation from a teenager."]
So, a little trepidation that we would screw up our perfect food Saturday
by trying the new place in Osceola. But that Norwegian guilt will
hang on forever if you don't move on...so we decided to try a little
food
therapy.
Mangos Mainstreet Eatery opened
in 2018 in what appears to be a bar in downtown Osceola. We fortunately
scored a parking space within a block...didn't know there was a brew
fest going on...right behind Mangos.
Entering the very busy restaurant
where we were
Most of the tables were occupied
by people who seemed to have just arrived en masse since very few had
food in front of them. Seat yourself tonight, so we grabbed a nice
quiet table near the old bar for a little privacy...the other tables
were stuck in the middle of the room which was not appealing.
The two servers were in full
service mode, moving non-stop, taking good
care of everyone. We ordered beer...the Bent Paddle was sold
out...so we made a second choice..
a 'moose' something...no time to take note...we wanted to get an
order in while we had a second of the servers' attention.
The drinks arrived quickly; good
thing we took the same approach with ordering...we were ready when a
server could pause in her cruising the room. Lots of variety on the
menu, so we sampled from three parts to get a
view of what they're doing.
Philly Egg Roll
Who could pass up a Philly egg
roll...a little work of art? We pondered it for a
minute... The big, fat, crisp egg roll was filled with beef and onion,
and presented on a giant artful schmear of cheez whiz...and then adorned
with a delightful salsa topped with fresh cilantro and some pickled
jalapeno slices.
The egg roll wrapper distinctly reminded
us of the State Fair, with a donut-like flavor with crisp texture and
loaded with beef. We thought about the cheez whiz for a second...then
pronounced it absolutely correct. The traditional Philly...in
Philly, the cheese steak sandwich is slathered
in cheez whiz.
We wondered what other compliment could have been on
the plate (the salsa was delish and tossing a jalapeno slice in with a
bite of egg roll gave a harmonious result)...then we decided that this
salsa tied the Philly and an egg roll concept
into Mangos' overall theme. Yup, we liked it
Cuban Chicken Bowl
Main dishes arrived a little too
quickly, but
better than too late when it's busy. John had the Cuban chicken
bowl...another twist on something we all know and something
new. Grilled chicken highlighted with a chipotle sauce on a bed of
sort of 'dirty rice' with corn and black beans, topped with a chilled mango
salsa on top. Pretty to look at--John was staring at other tables
before he ordered---and a successful melding of concepts
into a new dish. He thought that a little more chicken and a little
less rice would have perfected the balance and would have preferred a little less chipotle sauce, but he pronounced it good
enough to remove his Norwegian guilt from last year's Osceola food
adventure.Mac & Cheese Pulled Pork
My choice doesn't seem to really
have the same ties to the overall concept that our other two choices
attained, but we were sampling across the menu, so had to throw in a
sandwich option. The mac & cheese pulled pork
sandwich would fit on a lot of menus these days.
A great rustic bread excellently grilled filled with
pulled pork with just a bit too much BBQ sauce and a nice portion of mac
& cheese. A really good sandwich...too big to eat!
I decided to work on 1/2 and see if between 2 people we could polish
off the rest...it was a valiant effort...we only fell a little short.
The side of fries were herbed and mostly crispy but disappointing. Next time
I'd opt for the slaw...to see if it, too, tied the main theme on the
plate into something 'mangoey'. This might be a good place for a side
option like the salsa on the appetizer...the freshness would contrast
with the heavy nature of the sandwich. But
the sandwich was well-executed.
Foodie Day Redemption
- So, a great food day.
- John was able to shake off his Norwegian guilt over his previous Osceola dining choice
- Mirliton reminders of Marianne's
- D'Amico scored an A
- Mangos put an interesting spin on some more standard food ideas---and pulled them off successfully overall
- There are a few things in our refrig for tomorrow to remind us of the good day we had today.
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