Shake Shack

I was never a big fan of Shack Shake but I gotta admit, I was pretty excited when I saw that one had opened up near Roosevelt Field mall. Finally, after 6+ months, I had a chance to try it.

I got a SmokeShack, cheese fries and a fifty/fifty (half lemonade and half iced tea). As I said earlier, I was never a big fan. But seeing one out in LI and hardly seeing a crazy line, I figured it would be a good opportunity to give Shack Shake another try.

I got there around 820 on  Tuesday night. No line whatever so that was great. However, while we were waiting for our food, a line about 10 people formed. Nothing compared to the typical shake shack line.

The burger was what I remembered it to be. Decent but nothing that blew my mind. The only thing that was memorable was the chopped cherry pepper. The burger can't compare to five guys imo.

Fries weren't special either. I never understood why a place like this would serve fries like that. You would think they would have better fries to go with their "delicious" burger. Anyway, I saw on their website that they are piloting a new "fresh-cut" fries in one of their location in Manhattan. I'm glad something better is coming! (Five Guys Cajun fries is the best!!)

Anyway, I'm glad this location is there but I think when I crave a burger, I will choose five guys 90% of the time.

...although I may come here for a late night milk shake??

Shake Shack
860 Old Country Rd
Garden City, NY 11530

shakeshack.com

Grand Lux Cafe

Anyone that knows me knows that I love me a good Chicken Parm!!

I don't know if it's sad or what but I really like Olive Garden's chicken parm. I find their chicken breaded nicely and flavored well. I can't say how many times I've ordered chicken parm at an Italian restaurant only to be disappointed. I guess that is what I get for ordering such a dish at an Italian restaurant.

Anyway, long story short, I found another place that makes awesome chicken parm.

The chicken is extremely tender and flavored well. Their portions are huge. The above pics represents their lunch portion. I can't imagine what their dinner portion looks like.

One thing I have to say is that I'm not too sure about their fettuccine alfredo yet. The first time I got it, it was good. The second time, I felt it could have been a bit softer.

Baked Apple Pie with Ice Cream

You have to order this when you order your food because they supposedly bake it fresh. We had to wait about another 10 mins after we finished our meal before we got this.

The crust was good but I found the apple slices a bit tart.

Latte

As you can see, the prices are pretty reasonable.

This place can get crazy packed. If you want to go there for lunch, I recommend showing up around noon to 1230. Any time after that, the lobby is usually packed.


Grand Lux Cafe
630 Old Country Rd.
Garden City, NY 11530
(516) 741-0096

www.grandluxcafe.com

Umberto's Pizzeria

My new addiction...I just can't seem to get enough of this place.

The pics does not do this sicilian justice (I messed up - I didn't take them from the right distance). Their sicilian is one of the best, if not the best sicilian around. It might be because I love bread but I think the best part of the pizza is the crust. It is crisp, light and just wonderful. The sauce is good too.

If you do end up going there, make sure you ask them to warm up the pizza so that it is hot. The temperature makes a world of difference. When it's just warm, the square just ends up tasting average. When it is hot, yum yum yum!

Note: I've had their regular slice and grandma slice. I still think their sicilian is the best.


Umberto's Pizzeria
633 Jericho Tpke
New Hyde Park, NY 11040
(516) 437-7698

http://originalumbertos.com/

Was trying to be healthy...

Went to to IHOP and while looking at the menu, I narrowed down my choices to two items: The appetizer sampler (fried mozzarella sticks, fried chicken tender and fried onion rings). Notice the common word in all of those items).

Feeling a little healthy, I decided to opt for my second option.

Ok, this isn't the healthiest dish but it's much better than the first. The pic had what looked like roasted potatoes, broccoli, garlic bread and fried shrimp. One fried item out of the whole thing doesn't sound too bad, so I ordered it. I'm a bit proud of myself at this point.

When I placed the order, the waitress asked if I wanted soup or salad...I decided to continue with my healthy choices and chose salad...

Yea, doesn't look good right? Well, it wasn't. I'm not a big fan of iceberg lettuce.

So, here's my main dish...

Can someone please tell me if that looks like what was advertised? First thing that caught my eye was the FRIED potatoes. The shrimp seemed super fried and my garlic bread and sauce was missing (I got it eventually).

Anyway, the only thing that ended up being healthy was the broccoli. I tried to stuff myself with as much as that as possible. I think i ate about 50% of it? Not bad. I can only take so much of plain broccoli.

(Ignore the bacon on my dish. Friend passed that along to me)

So what was the point of this story? Nothing really. Just wanted to point out that I had good intentions but kinda got screwed anyway. This is my venting for the day...

Here are some pics of my friend's stuff in case you guys like looking at ihop's breakfast items.

Cheesecake Factory

Going to the cheesecake factory soon so I figure I post up some pictures I took the last time I went.

I think these are the buffalo chicken fingers/strips? I remember them not tasting that bad. I believe the skin was a bit oily though. The buffalo sauce did satisfied me though.

Avocado rolls...for some reason, these didn't taste as good as the ones I had in Jersey.

Onion rings...it was eh.


I think this was the reese's pieces cheesecake...this was pretty rich...

 I think this was the Godiva brownie with ice cream. The brownie wasn't as soft as I wanted it to be.

Again, I think this was the red velvet cheesecake. Forgive me, I went here like 3 months ago. This was pretty good actually. Brought one for my sis and BIL and they liked it too.

Latte...eh.

So I learned one lesson from this meal. Don't order too much fried stuff! I felt pretty unhealthy after eating the appetizers. I guess the good thing is that I can finally check those items off my "to eat" list. 

Cheesecake Factory
1504 Old Country Road
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 222-5500

Minado Japanese Seafood Buffet Restaurant

I went to three buffets the past three weeks...this place was the beginning and end of my buffet spree. The first time I went was for lunch. The second time was for dinner.

Here are the lunch pictures...

First time coming here.

I was pretty impressed with the inside. Usually buffets are kinda dirty because of all the people traffic (at least most of the ones I've been to). This place, though, was pretty clean. The furniture isn't old or tacky either. I like it.

I don't know much about sushi so I'm just going to post all my sushi pictures and tell you what I liked ;)

I think I liked this. I might be confusing it with something else though.

I didn't eat the thing of the left and I ate one piece of the thing on the right. It was eh. Not used to it yet.

I really like these. It had a nice kick to it. I think it was either spicy tuna or salmon (?)

This was one of my plates. I enjoyed the mussels and baked clams.

Decided to get a plate of non-sushi items. The only thing good out of this plate was the baked clams. I didn't force myself to eat much off this plate.

I think this was the last sushi plate...

Dessert time!

Green tea ice cream. Never had it before. I liked it. Besides the flavor, the ice cream itself was pretty good.

They had a whole row of cakes and stuff so I grabbed a few items.

The carrot cake was good from what I remember.

Another round of ice cream before we left ;)

Aiite, so that was lunch. I think lunch is $21.50? After drinks, tax and tip, I believe it was $29 per person.

So here are the pics from dinner.

My friend's dishes.

This was one of my dishes. I liked most of the items off this plate.

Had some crab legs too.

Miso soup...it was warm..I like my soup hot so I didn't eat much of this.

Crepes for dessert! I had banana, chocolate and whip cream in mine. The side of ice cream was a nice touch.

So overall, I do like this place. Dinner is a bit more expensive. It's $31.50 before tax, tip and drinks. Although it's more $, I recommend going here to dinner. The selection is better. I enjoyed the food a lot more this time than my lunch meal.


Minado Japanese Seafood Buffet Restaurant
219 Glen Cove Rd
Carle Place, NY 11514
(516) 294-9541
www.minado.com