With a Name Like Chocolate, It Has to Be Good! Chocolate Bar

I can't think of a better place to have a fun night out with girlfriends than a restaurant that has both chocolate and martini in its logo. When my friends Merri and Julie called and suggested going to dinner, we all agreed we needed to check out the Chocolate Bar. 

Located in Huntsville's new Twickenham development, Chocolate Bar is next door to Publix and right across the street from the Cajun Steamer at 300 Pelham Ave. SW. We all love this new area near Huntsville Hospital. It has shops, restaurants, and condominiums with lots of sidewalks and lights. The first thing we saw when we entered the Chocolate Bar was this case filled with desserts. This looked promising!

As we walked to our table, we looked around the chocolaty interior of the restaurant. Chocolate details were everywhere. The room was even divided with giant cacao pods strung from lines. Very cool!

It was such a nice night, diners were seated on the outdoor patio.

We studied the extensive menu. There were lots of drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts. The drink menu was exciting. The mojito menu alone included eleven alcoholic and seven non-alcoholic options. Beer, beer tails, wines, champagnes, hot chocolates, alpine chinos, flights, bombs, non-alcoholic drinks and martinis. You just need to go look at the menu! While we were deciding, our server brought out glasses of water. I promise this is not trick photography. Those water glasses were leaning! Either that or just looking at that menu made us light-headed.

                              

We finally decided to try three martinis. Merri got a cherry lemon drop, I got a Georgia peach and Julie hit the ground running with a chocolate salted caramel. They were delicious. Between the two fruity martinis, we liked my Georgia peach the best, but Julie's chocolate martini was in a league of its own! It was crazy good.

On the appetizer menu, we quickly zeroed in on the sweet potato fries with a trio of dipping sauces. We love dipping sauces! We agreed these were some of the best sweet potato fries we have ever had. And the sauces? Maple mayo, rosemary butter and dark chocolate...they were all wonderful.

After debating the merits of just about every item on the entree menu, we finally settled on three sandwiches and asked our server if he could have each sandwich cut into three pieces so we could each taste every sandwich. Don't you just love eating with women! Guys would never go for this! 

Merri got a smokey grilled cheese, I ordered a roasted chicken and Julie went with a steak BLT. We loved them all. The grilled cheese had applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, smoked gouda and tomato on a grilled sourdough. My roasted chicken came with spinach, sun-dried tomato pesto and homemade mozzarella on a rosemary foccacia. Julie's sirloin steak sandwich was filled with lettuce tomato, provolone, applewood smoked bacon and basil mayo on a grilled foccacia. We loved each and every one and picking a favorite would be hard. The grilled cheese was a favorite and the steak might have edged out the roasted chicken by a tiny margin. All of our sandwiches came with a pickle spear and chips. 

Roasted Chicken Sandwich

Sirloin Steak Sandwich

Grilled Cheese

Finally, we were ready for desserts. Merri decided her dessert should be liquid, so she ordered one of the chocolate salted caramel martinis. I can't pass up strawberries and chocolate, so I ordered Dip Your Own Berries. I got a platter of fat, red strawberries with a decadent cup of warm dark chocolate for dipping. Julie had a turtle cheese cake which was flat out amazing with chocolate, vanilla, caramel and toasted pecans. We were all really happy with the desserts we chose.

Julie's Turtle Cheesecake

My Dip Your Own Berries

Merri's Chocolate Salted Caramel Martini

We had a wonderful time at Chocolate Bar. The food was yummy, the service was wonderful and the company was the best! If you get the chance, stop by Chocolate Bar with your friends for a fun night. For an extra fun night with your girlfriends, you might consider going to Chocolate Bar on one of the Martinis and Manicures nights. On those nights, when you buy a martini, you also get a manicure. Chocolate Bar is one of a group of Huntsville bars that also hosts Paint Nights where guests can sip delicious martinis while they paint a beautiful work of art. Check here to pick the work of art you would like to create-->Paint Nights

Three Friends and a Fork give Chocolate Bar 3 Decadent Yums UP! 

Leaving Louisiana: Restaurant Stanley and Central Grocery

My two nieces and I had enjoyed a fun, fast and furious expedition to New Orleans, but our two day whirlwind trip wasn't quite over. On the morning we were leaving Louisiana to head home, we managed to squeeze out one last little bit of adventure and, well, food. Some of the restaurants we had considered for our last Louisiana meal (I know that sounds like we were on death row and planning for the last meal we would ever have, but we take our food seriously. We don't want to waste calories on sub par meals.) happened to be closed on Sunday, so we had to do a bit more research. After our marathon the day before, we decided to try to find something a little closer to the French Quarter.

Restaurant Stanley

Luckily what we found was right in the heart of Jackson Square. The name of the restaurant was Stanley and it had great reviews. I was a little worried we might find getting a table difficult, since it was smack dab in the middle of the major tourist area, but we got lucky. We got there just at the right time. We had a small wait, but right after we got our names on the waiting list, we noticed that people were being given considerably longer waiting times.  The restaurant used the No Wait app, which I thought was genius. Because the app is on your phone, you are not tied to a buzzer, which gives you the ability to shop and stroll around outside the restaurant without worrying that you are getting out of the buzzer's range.

When my phone rang, telling us out table was ready, we quickly hurried over to get seated. The place was packed, but we got a comfy table near the front of the restaurant. We ordered drinks, studied the menu and made our choices.

Haley got an omelette sandwich, but she left off the best parts of the sandwich...the bacon and the ham! Go figure! She seemed happy, though.

Ayla went sweet with Bananas Foster French Toast. Heaven help me! It was breakfast and dessert all wrapped up in one magnificent creation. Battered French bread, sliced bananas, vanilla bean ice cream and toasted walnuts all drizzled with that New Orleans original, buttery, brown sugary, bananas foster sauce. Good golly, it was good! To offset all that sweet, Ayla got a bowl of savory bacon and cheese grits. They were delicious, as well.

I couldn't leave Louisiana without one more order of oysters, so I chose Eggs Stanley, a decadent creation of cornmeal crusted oysters, perfectly poached eggs and Canadian bacon, smothered in Creole hollandaise sauce and piled on top of a toasted English muffin. It was Restaurant Stanley's Creole version of Eggs Benedict. My yummy entree was joined in holy matrimony with a plate of Creole hash browns. Trust me, it was a marriage made in heaven. I'm getting misty-eyed just thinking about how wonderful it was. 

                             

                           

Apparently we were not the only diners who were moved by our delicious breakfast at Stanley. These girls practically broke out into a song and dance.

                             
                                 

Central Grocery

We left Stanley happy and fully fortified for our drive home, but we had one last stop to make before we hit the road. We bought a styrofoam cooler and dashed over to Central Grocery, the place where muffulettas were invented, to get a little taste of New Orleans to take home with us. A muffuletta, for the uninitiated, is a large, round Sicilian sandwich, piled high with deli meats and cheeses and distinguished by a zesty olive salad that gets poured over the other fillings before the top layer of bread is added.

When you visit Central Grocery, and it really is a speciality grocery carrying all sorts of Italian ingredients, you find yourself a spot at the back of the line of customers that snakes around the shelves and terminates at the counter where you place your order. Muffulettas can be ordered in whole, half or quarter portions. A quarter portion is a large meal for one person. A whole one could probably feed half the Duggars.  Since we were going to be traveling, I wondered if I needed the olive salad on the side. I was worried the bread might get soggy. The answer is no. The gentleman behind the counter told me they ship the sandwiches all over the world with the olive salad in place and the sandwich would be just fine. He was right. When I got home, the sandwich was perfect...no sogginess whatsoever.


                                

So, that's it! We had a great time in Nola and can't wait to visit again. In the meantime, Three Friends and a Fork give 3 hearty Yums UP to Restaurant Stanley and Central Grocery. Thanks for the memories New Orleans!

The City that Calories Forgot...Eating Our Way Across New Orleans Day 2 Part 2

So, day two of our trip to New Orleans began with breakfast at Satsuma Cafe and a mid afternoon snack of, well, bugs. It ended with more walking through the French Quarter, a search for a restaurant with both oyster po'boys and shrimp and grits that didn't involve a whole lot more walking, checking out a famous bar and a late night coffee.

Amazingly, the bug buffet did not fill Haley and Ayla up as much as one would think, so after another stroll through the French Market, we began to think about dinner. I really wanted an oyster po'boy and the girls had their hearts set on shrimp and grits. We wanted to check out another restaurant suggestion Scott had made, Casamentos, but it was just too far away. We were quickly running out of steam and needed a place we could get to without much effort. Luckily, The Original French Market Restaurant and Bar was just steps away and, miracle of miracles, it also met our menu requirements. So, off we went.

It turns out, The Original French Market Restaurant and Bar is not a fly-by-night establishment. Their website says the restaurant opened its doors in 1803, twelve years before Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans. Unlike Satsuma, which was full of locals, The Original French market Restaurant and Bar, was stuffed with tourists. Even though the place was busy, we were quickly seated.

After our drink orders were taken, we chose a shrimp and crab appetizer with Creole cream cheese, artichokes, and spinach topped with provolone cheese and served with crusty French bread, Since we knew what we wanted before we got to the restaurant, ordering was easy.

Here is my oyster po'boy. It was very good.

And here are the shrimp and grits, which both girls seemed to enjoy. I made that deduction based on the fact that there were none left at the conclusion of the meal.

We left The Original French Market Restaurant and Bar full and satisfied and ready for more exploring. We wandered around the French Quarter some more and then decided to check out the two hundred year old Jean Lafitte's Old Absinthe House. The bar has a storied past. The pirate Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson are said to have met in an upstairs room as they planned out the Battle of New Orleans. Other luminaries, from PT Barnum, Mark Twain and Robert E. Lee to Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli and Franklin Roosevelt, have enjoyed the hospitality of the Old Absinthe House. 

We went in thinking we would try out one of the mysterious drinks from the old watering hole. Because of its hallucinogenic properties, true absinthe, made from wormwood, is no longer legal in the US, so the Old Absinthe House now serves substitutes, most often Herbsaint, which is produced in New Orleans and features a picture of the Old Absinthe House on its label. The flavor of Absinthe and, I assume, the substitutes, is said be similar to licorice. Since none of us like licorice, our thinking was we would just get one drink and taste it, just for the experience. However, after we studied the menu, we concluded the prices were too much to warrant wasting the money for just a taste of something that was probably going to be strong and licoricey. But, who knows? I did have that delicious Herbsaint-smoked gouda mornay sauce with my oyster crostini at Commander's Palace and it was divine, so I might have liked it more than I anticipated. Then again, Chef Tory McPhail can probably make roofing shingles and caulk taste good.

Since we didn't have any refreshments at the venerable Old Absinthe House, we moseyed on down to the Envie Espresso Bar for late night coffees. After all, we were in New Orleans! Who sleeps there? After a great big slug of caffeine, we were ready to head back to our room and get rested up for our last morning in the Crescent City. 

Next up, our last meal before heading home, plus a little something to take home with us. In the meantime...

Three Friends and a Fork gives 2 Yums UP to The Original French Market Restaurant and Bar. Though it is pretty touristy, the food was good. It was not super original, especially by New Orleans' standards, but tasty nonetheless. 

The City that Calories Forgot...Eating Our Way Across New Orleans Day 2 Part 1

Our second full day in New Orleans began with a hike...literally a hike, as in we hiked our way across town. By the time the day was done, the heart app on my phone was groaning from the number of steps I had taken. I was really surprised alarms didn't go off. The main reason for all this walking was a restaurant Haley had found from watching Anthony Bourdain. We had no idea how far away it was from our hotel or we would surely have taken a taxi. We started out walking for breakfast, but we ended up arriving for lunch.

The restaurant in question was called, Satsuma, and it lies in the Bywater area of the Upper 9th Ward, far away (at least by foot) from the tourists in the French Quarter. We walked through some sketchy areas, which I don't recommend. If you get a hankering for the fresh, organic offerings of Satsuma, grab a cab.

On the plus side, we did get to see some interesting New Orleans architecture and I enjoyed looking at the shotgun houses along the way. We even passed by a home with a cornstalk fence similar to fences we've seen in the Garden District of New Orleans, as well as the one in Foley, Alabama.

Satsuma, itself, has a totally hipster feel. Artists, poets, musicians, and bohemians looking for healthy green juices and a kale fix would be right at home in this quaint little joint. The decor and the menu both reflect this attitude. It looks a bit like your crazy, hippie cousin, Moon Child, inherited old aunt, Agnes' house and funked it up with a colorful coat of paint while hanging on to all the dusty old relics. 

Upon entering the cafe, visitors approach the register to make their selections and place orders. There was a line when we walked in, but it was just the right size because it gave us time to study the chalkboard menu and make our selections. For a small place, there were quite a few choices.

So, what did we choose? Well, I got a salmon melt with some of my favorite things...capers, red onions, dill aioli, celery, tomatoes and swiss, all piled up on toasted sourdough bread. It was delish! I swear, by now you guys could probably order for me. I am so predictable! I also had a cranberry, poppyseed scone, which was yummy, as well. I was a little skeptical of the "healthy" drinks. I've been burned a time or two and gotten something that sounded good and healthy, but tasted like quinine, so I carefully asked about the drink situation before I ordered. The lemonade I ended up with was perfect. 

Haley went with a coconutty muffin and a turkey sandwich with pesto aioli, roasted red peppers, arugula and provolone on ciabatta. She got some kind of iced coffee to drink, which she proclaimed her best coffee in New Orleans. She was pretty happy with her selections. 

Ayla, the breakfast girl, ordered a cinnamon pecan pancake and a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. I am not much of a breakfast girl, at least not in the traditional sense. I eat breakfast, but you should not be surprised to see me eating spaghetti or chips and salsa for my first meal of the day. I have to say, I thought Ayla made the best choices on this day. Her pancake and the biscuit were both delicious. 

Fully stuffed and groaning, we left Satsuma's and dreaded our hike back to town, because now we knew just how far we had to walk. We had things to do, however, so off we went, taking a different (better) route back to the French Quarter. 

                            

I told you it was a hipster neighborhood. Even the puppies have swag!

Alas, the French Quarter was not our destination as Haley had another activity in mind for us. I did manage to get the girls to walk through the French Market... 

as we made our way to, you won't believe this, The Audubon Insectarium. No, I am not joking. I went to New Orleans and looked at bugs. There are two reasons I was okay with this. First, I was exhausted from all the walking and burning up from the heat and humidity, so anyplace with air conditioning looked really good to me at this point. Second, one of the reasons Haley wanted to go to the Insectarium, was to belly up to the bug bar and scarf down a few creepy crawlies. I knew I didn't want to miss watching the girls eat bugs. And, no, I was having no part of this. I am very particular about wasting calories. 

Haley and Ayla dined on cricket cookies, grub worm chutney, wax worm salsa and chocolate ants. It was truly as disgusting as it sounds and the green looks on their faces when they finished told me I had made the right decision, no matter how cheerful and convincing the little bug chef tried to be. 

I did, however enjoy our stroll through the butterfly exhibit as we were exiting the building. 

This is my version of the Insectarium and I am sticking to it. You can check out Haley's version, at life-n-b-tween.blogspot.com. We'll catch up on the rest of day two in the Crescent City later. Until then, we are giving Satsuma Cafe 3 Healthy Yums UP. I can't judge the bugs because I didn't eat them.