Chipotle

                I recently went to Chipotle with my friend for the first time. I was a newbie to Chipotle, while a bunch of my friends have been experts. Chipotle must be popular with us college kids, because that is all I hear anyone talking about. But anyways, onto my experience.

                Chipotle is like Subway, but in Mexican food form. This means, “Each ingredient is laid out in front of you so you can choose the perfect combination to make your perfect meal. You can watch the process as your burrito, bowl, tacos, or salad is prepared exactly the way you want it and handed to you almost instantly.” Since I hadn’t been to Chipotle before, I felt a little unsure of what to order and how to order it, but the people working there were really friendly and helpful. So even though it was obvious of how out of place I was, they helped me along.

                So as you saw above, Chipotle offers burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads, which you basically build on your own with whatever you want. For the burritos, you have the “choice of rice, beans, meat, salsa and cheese or sour cream. Add peppers and onions instead of beans for a fajita burrito.”  For the burrito bowls, it’s “just like a burrito, but served in a bowl with no tortilla.” Then with the tacos, you have “your choice of three crispy corn or soft flour tortillas with meat, salsa, cheese or sour cream and romaine lettuce.” Finally, with the salads you have “chopped romaine lettuce with choice of beans, meat, salsa and cheese, with chipotle-honey vinaigrette.” So you pick your type of meat (chicken, steak, beef, pork, or vegetarian), type of salsa (fresh tomato [mild], roasted chili-corn [medium], tomatillo-green chili [medium hot], and tomatillo-red chili [hot]), and all the extras.

                I ended up ordering three soft tacos with chicken. The guy working there talked me into getting guacamole on one of my tacos (I had never had it before) without charging me extra (which they normally do). I thought that was nice of him, letting the newbie try new things. I had cheese and lettuce on my tacos, along with the hot salsa, which was hot, but not too hot. I like spicy stuff so I liked it. Thankfully I got the guacamole for free, because I wasn’t much of a fan of it. But other than that, I really liked my chicken tacos. It was something new for me (I have never had chicken tacos), and I am sure to get them again.

                Something cool about Chipotle is their “Food with Integrity” program. “It means serving the very best sustainably raised food possible with an eye to great taste, great nutrition and great value. It means that we support and sustain family farmers who respect the land and the animals in their care. It means that whenever possible we use meat from animals raised without the use of antibiotics or added hormones. And it means that we source organic and local produce when practical. And that we use dairy from cows raised without the use of synthetic hormones.”

                Chipotle wasn’t too expensive either, which surprised me, especially with the food’s seemingly high quality. Chipotle is a huge hit with my friends and I will surely be joining them on many trips there again!

photo from: http://www.chipotle.com

California Pizza Kitchen

                California Pizza Kitchen or CPK as my friends like to call it. There are a bunch of California Pizza Kitchen restaurants in the metro- Detroit area, as well as all over the country. California Pizza Kitchen is a cool, modern place with its black and yellow color scheme. It’s a big and open restaurant. I assume they are trying to capture the chill California vibe, and I believe they do, even though I have never been to California.

                I am a cheese pizza kind of girl, and their cheese pizza was great. They even brought me two pizzas because the first one they brought out was, according to them, not of the highest quality because it was a tad burned. (I didn’t notice this at all, but I gladly accepted two pizzas!) I thought this was such a nice thing for the restaurant to do, really showing how important customer satisfaction is to them. Bravo to them!

                CPK has a bunch of other pizzas. They include: Habanero Carnitas, California Club, Jamaican Jerk, the Original BBQ Chicken,Hawaiian BBQ Chicken, Chipotle Chicken, Thai Chicken (my friend’s absolute favorite!), the Meat Cravers, White Pizza, Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant,  Pear + Gorgonzola, BBQ Chicken + Applewood, the Works, The Greek, Five Cheese + Fresh Tomato, Honey-wheat with Whole Grain Crust, Tostada, Traditional Cheese, Roasted Garlic Chicken, Wild Mushroom, Pepperoni, Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage, BLT, and the Hawaiian. So many pizzas! I didn’t even mention the thin crust pizzas either! Those include the Roasted Artichoke + Spinach, Pesto Chicken, Sicilian, Four Seasons, Tricoloré Salad Pizza, and the Margherita.

                Not only are there pizzas, but CPK has a bunch of appetizers, pastas and other specialties, tacos and sandwiches, soups, and salads. So if you're not feeling pizza, there is so much more to choose from!

                CPK also provides a gluten free menu, a vegetarian menu, and a vegan menu.

                But hello! My favorite part! Desserts! There are so many desserts to choose from at California Pizza Kitchen. There’s the Six Layer Lemon Cake, Chocolate Soufflé Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Butter Cake, Tiramisu, Key Lime Pie, Apple Crisp, Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae, and a Hot Fudge or Caramel Sundae. Is your mouth watering yet?  I shared the hot fudge brownie sundae with a few of my friends, and oh my God, was it good! “A warm brownie topped with Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, triple-thick hot fudge, fresh whipped cream, toasted pecans and a cherry.” Yum!

                California Pizza Kitchen has great pizzas and great desserts. However, they are a little pricey, which is why I don’t go there too often. Also, when comparing pizza restaurants, I have to say that I like the pizzas at Boston’s better. (See my previous post of my review of Boston’s.) But I still really like California Pizza Kitchen and would go there again!

P.S. - On California Pizza Kitchen’s website, if you join their email list, you get five dollars toward your next visit to CPK! I think that’s a pretty good deal for just signing up to get emails and offers from them! I’m going to try it out for sure!

photo from: www.cpk.com

Hockeytown Cafe

                Hockeytown Café. One of the most perfect places to go to eat for a Red Wings fan. Perfect place to go before a game, after a game, to watch a game, or just whenever. According to the Detroit Free Press, it is “the best place in town to catch the face-off, kick-off, or tip-off.” Being the die-hard Red Wings fan that I am, Hockeytown Café is the next best thing to actually being at the Joe Louis Arena. It’s one of my favorite things to brag about that we are called Hockeytown. Detroit is called Hockeytown. Nowhere else.

                Hockeytown Café is located next to the Fox Theatre on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, practically next door to Comerica Park and Ford Field.

                The restaurant is two levels, and then there’s “The Roof”. I haven’t eaten on “The Roof”, but I’m dying to. It’s so cool inside. Red Wings memorabilia all over, Tigers memorabilia, other Detroit and Detroit sports memorabilia, and motorcycles all over the place.

                Anyways, onto the food. The food is so good! From their appetizers, to salads, to burgers, to pizza, to sandwiches and paninis, to entrees, to soup, and all the way to the desserts, Hockeytown Café has a ton! There’s something for everyone.

                I recently had the chicken Caesar lawash, which, according to their menu, is “grilled sliced chicken breast wrapped in flour lawash with romaine lettuce, caesar dressing, croutons & parmesan cheese.” I absolutely loved it! I love chicken Caesar salads, and this was just right for me!

                Of course, I went with my family. (We’re all die-hard Red Wings fans.) My brother ordered the deep dish pizza for himself, which I had a bite of too. He loved it, and I loved the piece I had. My mom had the Bar-B-Q chicken sandwich, and she really liked her meal. Then my dad ordered the Bar-B-Q pulled pork sandwich, which he loved.

                Hockeytown Café has a bunch of other things to order too, and it’s all not that expensive. The appetizers range from “Red Wings”, to loaded potato skins, to nachos grande, to chips and salsa, and so many more. Their salads include the BBQ chicken salad, classic Caesar salad, taco salad, the Michigan salad and a few others. The burgers include the “Hockeytown Burger”, the “San Fran Melt”, the “Double Play Burger”, the “Michigan Cherry Burger”, and the “Double Stacked Black Bean Burger”. Sandwiches include all the ones we ordered, plus many more and paninis. Entrees include BBQ baby back ribs, salmon, Cajun shrimp pasta, steak, chicken, and a few others. Surprisingly, we didn’t order dessert, but the desserts sound amazing. There’s the Hockeytown Brownie Sundae, Mile High Apple Pie, Chocolate Tuxedo Mousse, and a few others.

                According to ESPN2, Hockeytown Café is the “No. 2 sports bar in America”. (It should be number one!)

                Hockeytown Café is such a great restaurant. I’m so happy that Michigan, and specifically Detroit, can call it its own. Plus, it’s always great to say that we’re from Hockeytown! Go Wings!   

Photo from: http://www.hockeytowncafe.com/photo_gallery.asp?pagetitle=Photo%20Gallery