Clover Eats!
Sharing restaurant experiences through photography!
CloverReturns: another Restaurant Week dinner at Mani Osteria
Last year, we so thoroughly enjoyed our Restaurant Week dinner at Mani that we decided we had to return this year. Many members of our table ordered the always-wonderful pork belly appetizer, but this year, we decided to branch out a bit with pickled tomatoes and beef carpaccio. I thought the carpaccio was fantastic, and although less filling than the pork belly, worked as a better appetizer with our giant entrees. The pickled tomatoes were also great, but I’m biased, as I love anything that’s pickled. Almost everyone ordered pizzas, which Mani is most well-known for, but the one pasta dish we ordered, the pappardelle, wasn’t particularly impressive; while I always love thick, sheet-like noodles, here, the sauce was too meaty for my taste. All the pizzas that we ordered were amazing; you can’t go wrong with any of them. I even got an egg on my pizza this year, and the creamy yolk made everything that much more delicious. For dessert, our waiter was kind enough to substitute decaf espresso for its full-power version. I love the flavor of coffee in my desserts, but can’t sleep a wink if I have coffee after dinner, so this was a major decisional factor in ordering the affrogato over the cannoli, which I wasn’t too big a fan of last year. Overall, a lovely meal, as is always the case with Mani. Check them out on Yelp, or at their official website!
CloverTravels: delicious macadamia nut curry at Maui Thai Bistro in Kihei, Maui
Tucked away at the end of a strip mall, it was hard for us to find exactly where Maui Thai Bistro was. However, once we found it, we liked it so much that we came back the next day. The restaurant is really colorful, you can make reservations through OpenTable, and it’s BYOB with a liquor store just across the parking lot. We read wonderful things about the macadamia nut curry, and oh my goodness, it was amazing. There was so much flavor, just the right amount of spice, and perfect texture. There were also free refills on their Thai Iced Tea, which they kindly topped off with coconut milk rather than cream at my request. The only dish I didn’t love was the Ahi Larb; I thought the spicy poke I got from the grocery store was more tasty. Overall, a great experience!
Check them out on Yelp or at their official website!
Also, a snapshot from our crater hike. You guys can call me J. J. Abrams, but I love how this lens flare turned out.
CloverTravels: shave ice at Breakwall in Lahaina, Maui
This is one of my favorite treats when it is hot out. If you’ve never had it before, it’s similar to a snow cone, but much more fine and light, like fresh snow. Be careful when ordering because the actual shave ice turns out a lot larger than what the empty base cup may make it seem. We stopped by this shaved ice shop while in Lahaina admiring the giant banyan tree, and it was decorated with surfing stuff. We watched videos of surfers on giant waves as we ate our giant shave ice. We always get azuki beans and a condensed milk cap, yum. The store also offers real food that sounded interesting (waffle hot dog? Mason jar salad?) and smelled tasty, but we were all stuffed after our shave ice! Check out their official website or Yelp!
CloverEats: Chicago’s Little Goat!
I love the style at Little Goat, from the bar to the bread shop, little things like having “cereal killers” on the menu and goat statues. It was definitely worth walking through the crazy cold and snow. We were worried about getting a table for our big group, but Little Goat has large communal tables and cozy booths that are great for groups. We were seated quite quickly despite it being an evening in the holiday season, but I wouldn’t have minded a wait, as there was plenty to look at in the bread shop attached. The cocktails here were fantastic. Everything I tasted was delicious, and there were quite a few more dishes I would be interested in trying another time. Overall, a great experience! Yelp, official website.
Happy New Years from CloverEats!
CloverEats: Evanston’s Al’s Deli
The tiny shop is packed with things, sometimes the line goes out the door, no bathroom, they’re only open for lunch…I still find myself loving this place. I always get the smoked turkey with garlic aioli on rosemary olive bread and a butter cookie, and it never fails to disappoint! I personally don’t like chili, but I hear it’s also amazing here. Check out their website!
CloverEats: Chicagoland’s many Joy Yee’s
I still remember the first time I saw Joy Yee’s. The windows were packed full of gigantic, lifelike preserved dishes, and the walls were lined with fruit. The mango tapioca smoothie tasted just like real mangoes, and the avocado smoothie was the first time I ever saw avocado prepared in a sweet form. The portions were huge, beyond anything my tiny stomach could consume by itself, and the bill was very manageable on a tight budget. The service and quality may at times leave one wanting, but for a quick meal with old friends, and avocado smoothies, there’s a Joy Yee’s in Chinatown, Evanston, Naperville, and more keep opening up. Check out their website here.
CloverCooks: Chinatown’s Xiao Fei Yang (“Little Fat Lamb”)
This place used to have all-you-can-eat hot pot for $13.95. Unfortunately, the price has slowly been rising, so make sure to come hungry. It’s possible to communicate with the staff in English, but speaking Chinese will help smooth things along. The servers are always running around really rushed, so it helps to bring someone outspoken with you. But then again, you didn’t come to a little hot pot spot for the service, did you? You came for the boiling broth, the tender lamb, and my favorite thing of all time, handmade noodles! I could sit here and eat those thick, doughy noodles all day. Be careful about ordering, because you get charged a hefty fee if you leave too much food uneaten. Yelp!
CloverEats: Ann Arbor’s Isalita
Owned by the proprietors of Mani, and sharing its basement, is the wonderful restaurant Isalita. For a restaurant with a name that is “100% fictitious”, Isalita has built a restaurant with a very present atmosphere and awesome cocktails. Things can get a bit pricey for the amount of food, but each bit is jam-packed with flavor and there are great happy hour deals. Ceviche, plantains, and blood orange margaritas for the win. Check them out on Yelp!, or at their official website.
CloverEats: Ann Arbor’s Miki
Is it silly if I say my favorite thing about Miki is the hot towels they provide before the meal? Their cocktails are okay, and the sushi is pretty good, but what I really dig are the hot towels. Check them out on Yelp!
CloverOrders: a series of delicious takeout/delivery meals that have so far been unfairly underrepresented on this blog
In reviewing recent posts, I realized that there are several staple restaurants that I have completely failed to mention. I always make sure to bring my camera when we are dressing up to go out for dinner, but often neglect to on our sweatpants/scrubs, pick-up/delivery, eat-in-front-of-computer/Netflix sort of nights. Which is, to be fair, most of our nights.
Here are some of the restaurants we eat from the most:
Syrian Cuisine & Exotic Bakeries: Love the beet salad, yogurt, and rice pudding. Tucked away behind the little set of stores at Plymouth and Murfin. Used to come here after badminton or swimming at the NCRB.
Seoul Street: Soy/Garlic thigh pieces + Milkis = OMG OMNOM; call early before you get hungry because it’s made to order and can take a while, but is definitely worth the wait.
Cardamom: Get takeout because this place gets too crowded and slow to dine in; they’re one of the only places with Kashmiri naan and their mango lassis are excellent. I think we ate their paneer makhni almost every night on surgery.
Curry Up: I am super addicted to the sweet/savory Dahi Vada, lentil dumplings with yogurt and chutney. Also, the rolls are huge!
There we go! Justice is done. What are some of your favorite takeout places in Ann Arbor?
And because no post is complete without a photo, and most of my photos of the aforementioned places are taken on my iPhone, here is our cat from Halloween:
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