April 15th, 2010-Azie

Hello all,

After our meal at Azie, we decided to make some asian fusion inspired food. Today, we cooked fried rice and ginger chicken and shrimp wantons. Once again, we were successful in our mission to recreate tasty food that anyone can easily make at home. Included are pictures from our night of prepping and preparing.

Recipe: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/dimsumwonton/r/wontons.html and http://chinesefood.about.com/od/rice/r/vegetable-fried.html

April 14th, 2010-Azie

Hello all,

This week we went to Azie for our latest restaurant. As we walked in, we could tell we were going to have an enjoyable experience. The atmosphere was all positive. The decorations were beautiful and the layout extremely stylish. It appears to be a perfect spot for dates, family meals, or friendly get togethers. In the middle of the dining area, a huge long table lined the inside of the room. A perfect spot, we thought, for an event dinner. Upon our arrival, the hostess was very pleasant and took us to our table instantly. Once we sat down, our waitress was ready to greet us and take our drink orders. After she brought us our drinks, she was back in the perfect amount of time to take our orders. For appetizers, we had a tempura calamari and Truffle French Fries with truffle butter. Both were ready in no more than five minutes and delicious. The truffle butter in the fries was the perfect amount, not overwhelming the dish, and a thick mayonnaise based sauce was given with the tempura calamari, which complemented it perfectly. The price of the appetizers ranges from 8 to 16 dollars.

For our main dishes, we ordered the Azie Fried Rice, Crab Meat Pad Thai, Grilled Swordfish, and Teriyaki Chicken. All were extremely tasty. However, we were too full from devouring our appetizers to finish our meals. The fried rice was different, seemed to lack soy sauce and heavy on the pepper, but their take on fried rice was new, exciting, and tasted great. The Swordfish was complemented with pesto linguini and chunky mozzarella tomato sauce. The combination created an overall balance for the dish that brought it to a new level of taste. The pad thai also had a great kick, and included crab meat, egg, bean sprouts, scallion, and tamarind sauce. Together, the ingredients created a new blend of flavor. Finally, the chicken included sauteed crunch green beans. The chicken was done perfectly with the right amount of sauce and the dish included an abundance of the crunchy and well seasoned green beans. The price of the main courses ranges from 16 to 30 dollars. Overall, we were very satisfied with our meal and our waitress appeared sporadically to check up on how we were doing and to re-fill our drinks.

Finally, we ended on a high note with dessert. We ordered the Cheesecake with a Berry Sauce. Although they did not meet our request to get the sauce on the side, the dessert was light, airy, and the perfect amount of sweet to complement our entire meal. We were very satisfied with our experience and would recommend this asian fusion restaurant to anyone.

Azie on Main

789 East Lancaster Ave

Villanova, Pa 19085

501 527 5700

April 9th, 2010-Cafette

Hello all,

Last weekend we re-created one of our desserts from Cafette. We found two separate recipes, one for pound cake and the other for lemon curd. Together, we made our own interpretation of a lemon curd pound cake, and were rather successful! Here are pictures from our cooking endeavor.

Recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=524037

April 7th, 2010-Cafette

Hello all,

So this week we had our first meal as food critics! We ventured to Cafette in Chestnut Hill for our first experience. When on the phone making our reservation, the hostess was very pleasant and amicable. Once we entered the restaurant, she was there to greet us with a smile. However, once we got to our table, things began to move a little more slowly. All three members of the staff were very delightful, but particularly slow.

We ordered a total of three courses, beginning with a starter of Grilled Golf Shrimp with Bloody Mary sauce and pickled celery heart. The sauce was delicious, but the shrimp a little small and unfulfilling. Although we enjoyed it, the dish probably wasn't worth the price. Starters ranged in price between 5$ to 9$. Then, we moved on to our entrees. We ordered the Louisiana Style Crabcakes, Stir-Fry with chicken, and Gorgonzola Pasta. The crabcakes included a cajun remoulade which blended nicely and added a wonderful kick to the dish. the Stir-Fry with chicken was presented very well with a plethora of colors. The flavors were also very balanced and complemented each other very well. Finally, the Gorgonzola Pasta was covered in a delicious gorgonzola cream sauce. While the sauce was rich, it was by no means overpowering. It accented the cheese and worked nicely with the spinach and sundried tomatoes. All were exceptionally delicious and worth the reasonable prices which never extended 20$. Finally, we had our dessert. We tried the Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin cookies along with the Pound Cake with Lemon Curd. The cookies were underwhelming and not worth the price (which ranged from 5$ to 8$).

The ambiance of Cafette works in it's favor. The lights covering the awning of the outside patio created a pleasant atmosphere and the tables were spread out evenly among the space to create a nice balance between diners. The rustic decor complements the homestyle of cooking that Cafette conveys. The cool glass mural apparent when one enters the restaurant matches it's location, showing that the designs pay great attention to detail. The flat wear and napkins weren't that consistent with the price but matched what the restaurant had to offer.

Overall, we would recommend Cafette on a nice summer night. Come with patience, but be prepared to enjoy your meal.

8136 Ardleigh Street

Chestnut Hill, PA 19118

214 242 4220

www.cafette.com