Too Much Salt is Asin

There’s this old Filipino joke that roughly goes like this -

Why did the priest stop eating salt? Because it’s asin!

You see, salt in Tagalog is asin. A sin. Ha ha! Alright… done with the silly jokes.

M and I went up to Clifton Park for a little bit of shopping and a quick bite to eat. I was leaning toward Saigon Spring, but burgers and fries are usually a good cure-all after a night of drinking. The menu at Red Robin has changed since we were last there, and I think the prices have gone up slightly. We both ordered the Whiskey River Burger, with the veggie burger.

I’ve ordered it several times before, and it was always really good. This time, nowhere near that. My burger was salty. And not just slightly salty, but extremely salty. At first I just thought it was some seasoning I had accidentally sprinkled over it while spicing up my fries. It wasn’t throughout my burger – there were bites that were completely fine. But it was salty enough for me to not finish it. It was starting to make me feel nauseated. M finished it, but also remarked how salty it was.

What the hell. So horrible. I actually wanted to have more fries, but anything with salt was making me sick.

M and I are thinking it was the onion straws. Someone went salt crazy and I was the unlucky victim. I really don’t think we’ll be going back to that location.

Pizza Hut Dinner

Didn’t feel like cooking dinner the other night, so I got pizza instead. It’s been a while since I ate anything from Pizza Hut, and my sister and I were talking about breadsticks.

Max’s Chicken Take Out

Max’s Chicken is finally open! I still haven’t checked out the restaurant, but one of my aunts stopped by this weekend and was nice enough to bring some over. Like Red Ribbon and Jolibee’s that came before it, Max’s is the newest restaurant transplant from the Philippines. I’ve had it over there, and well… chicken was scrawnier and saltier than what I’m used to back here. But that was the Philippines and chain food in general tasted off to me (except for Chow King).

It’s How Much? (Take Two)

This “dish” is called Tostadita Nachos.

Really?

Because that doesn’t look like nachos. They should call it scraps. Why? Because it’s five corn chips topped with cheese, salsa, lettuce, avocado, and crema fresca. Normally it comes with seasoned ground beef, but I was going to share with M, and he doesn’t eat things that once had a face.

Do you want to know how much this cost? $8.99.  I could have just ordered the nachos and asked for no meat, and salsa and guacamole on the side… and the price for it would have been reasonable. Hell, what you see on that plate would make up one… maybe one and half of a taco and the price for one of those is still half of what they’re asking for with these “nachos.”

Here is what M thinks about the whole “nachos” fiasco:

They tasted pretty good… I’ll give them that. They reminded me of what I make after I come home from work. Except when I make mine, I make enough to fill me up, or at least satiate my appetite. This didn’t. I could buy a head of lettuce, a bag of tortilla chips, jar of salsa, block of cheese, and some 'fancy'-sounding sour cream for nine bucks and eat these things every day, for every meal, for a month. Five chips at a time.

I should have known better and asked the server how big it was. I should have just stuck to the tableside guacamole.

Not cool, Chevy’s. Tsk… tsk.
Refunds welcome.

CiCi’s Pizza (Colonie, NY)

Today was the official opening of Cici’s Pizza in Colonie. I wouldn’t have known about it had I not looked at Steve Barnes’ Table Hopping blog and his brief mention of it.

One free pizza buffet a month for a whole year to the first hundred people to show up at their grand opening? Okay, I’m game. M too.



We made it over to Wolf Road just after 10:30, thinking that half an hour before opening wouldn’t be too early, and hopefully the line wouldn’t be impossible (the line we saw the day before  wasn’t too bad… and that was the pre-opening opening). And we were right- no crazy crowds, just order and what could only be some very tired people. By the time we joined, the line had reached the entrance to Outback Steakhouse.



I’m not sure when the first person on line got there, but it was pretty early. A woman ahead of us told M and I that her daughter got there at six in the morning so she could be one of the first to get in. Sounds crazy, but eh… it’s summer Gives you something to do, and a story to tell when you’re older.

People at the front of the line made their wait as comfortable as possible by bringing folding chairs and blankets. Many of the groups waiting to enter were families with young children (from the looks of it, the demographic CiCi’s may be aiming for).



If you were one of the first hundred, you were given a “token” as seen on the left. As you walked in, you handed your “token” to the owner, who in return handed over the free meal card.

Inside was bright, cheery, and very chain-like. After entering you are steered straight to the register where they do their hellos and explain how the buffet works. The $4.99 covers just the food, and it’s another $1.6(5/9) for a regular sized drink. Throw in another .75 cents and you get a large take out cup (which has some tab thing where you can win more free stuff).



I figured I’d whip up a layout of the place so you get a better idea of what’s going on. This could be their generic layout for all I know, but it’s very different from most buffets.



Salad Bar – There were two options available, although they looked exactly alike. Both were iceberg mixes, one just looked shinier than the other (pre-dressed salad I guess). There were some chopped vegetables you could add to your salad, and a few different types of dressing. I especially liked the large slices of mushrooms. No skimping out there.



Soup/Pasta/Garlic Bread – Both the soup and pasta tasted like they came from a can. I didn’t try the pasta, but M said it reminded him of Chef Boyardee. Funny, because the soup almost instantly made me think of Campbell’s soup. Little salty, little sweet, but good enough. Did not necessarily like the bits of “chicken.” As for the garlic bread… I might be rushing judgment here, but don’t eat it. I tried to look up the ingredients for what they put on it, but it’s nowhere to be found on their website. The garlic bread is one of their zero trans fat items, so I’m pretty sure it’s chock full of artificial ingredients. A good thing to know is that the marinara sauce they will offer you to accompany the garlic bread will absolutely cover that chemical taste.

 

Pizza – The customers at the opening today seemed to like the pasta topped pizzas. I didn’t have any, but I saw quite a few people going for the macaroni & cheese pizza. And for a second I swore I saw a Hamburger Helper topped pizza, but it was probably the Italian style sausage or beef pizzas. I helped myself to the Pepperoni flip, regular pepperoni, and thin crust Italiano. The pepperoni pizza was okay, but the dough was a little chewy. The thin crust was not as crisp as I thought it would be, and it was a tad too salty (but corrected with a dip in that tomato sauce). The flip I did not like at all- it was salty and oddly runny. I don’t know if that was from the oil that cooked out of the pepperoni or the cheese they used. But like the Italiano, a dunk in that tomato sauce made it much more tolerable.



Dessert – The apple pizza and the cinnamon rolls were pretty good. I’d actually consider ordering a whole apple pizza pie.

Lunch for two was just under 15 bucks. Not too bad, considering what I ate wasn’t the greatest stuff. Will I be going here often? No, but I will stop by at least once a month. And the prices on their take out pizzas (I think I saw $4.99 for a medium and $5.99 for a large 1-topping) are very budget friendly. We’ll see if M and I ever check it out.

CiCi's Pizza
145 Wolf Road
Colonie, NY 12205
518-482-2424

Su - Th 11:00A - 10:00P
Fri - Sa 11:00A - 11:00P

I Gave In To the Chain

I fully support local. There are some great places in the Capital Region that I've been going to since undergrad. We're talking over a decade, folks. I encourage everyone to check out what the area has to offer, not to mention I supported The Profussor's attempt to get more local recognition on the Times Union Best Of lists.

But the stomach wants what the stomach wants.

And my stomach wanted Bucca di Beppo.

We started with the fried mozzarella. Pretty good, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking "why are we even here?!? I can make this myself!" My chain guilt may explain why I didn't have much of it.

Penne San Remo without chicken. Without the bird, it was artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, and peas. Tossed in a cream sauce, which I'm really not a fan of. I didn't notice it in the description when I picked it, but eh... not bad. Not my favorite, but it was different.

Because of the cream sauce, I ended up just eating a little bit of it. Not that M noticed, he pretty much scarfed the plate down.

Stir Crazy

I love the market bar. At least I know what's going into my dish, since I'm the one choosing the ingredients. I went with a vegetarian one, but I will admit I didn't fill up that wok as much as I could have. I didn't want to look so piggish.

My friend also got the market bar and look at his dish- it's huge! Plus it takes up like the whole thing. Mine took up about half. Shame on me for not maxing out on vegetables. But then again, he added chicken to his meal, and that takes up space.

Either way, it was a good dinner.

Eggplant?!?

M and I had dinner at Macaroni Grill last night (yes, I did a surprise visit to the CR). I was boring and got some penne in a spicy tomato sauce, but M decided to order the eggplant parmesan.

The picture doesn't really show it, but the slices of eggplant that came with his dish were HUGE. And there were three of them. They were about the size of the bread plates! If you laid it them out, I'm pretty sure it would have covered 3/4 of his dinner plate. And according to M, it was delicious.

Branchetto Feast

Dinner with the family = fuuuuuuun.

And of course, I got the kiddie side.