Friday, October 28, 2011

Marcos Pizza

Marco's Pizza on Urbanspoon

When two people love each other very much, they get married. Part of the marriage process is registry shopping. Part of registry shopping is the pizza stone and premium cutter with promises of using it. Then life takes over and you start getting carry out like you always do after the tremendeous effort in cooking pizza at home. There was always a satisfaction because it was less greassy than anything you could take out and the pride in the ingredients reflected in the amazing taste and willingness to get the kitchen covered in flour. I have found a place that can do pizza like I do.

Mood: Grab it and run.
Service: Speedy
Value: 8
Flavor: A

The Marcos that I went to was ajoined to a smoothie shop on Magnoia and it is just there. It doesn't make a real big production out of being there because all of the workers are just hustling on the inside trying to get all of the pizza out the door. For a thursday night, they were moving pizzas out the door and to the take out crowd (3-4 orders who walked in and the smart people who called ahead just grabbing and going). It does have a dinning room with the requisite shakers of cheese and red pepper but no one at this location was taking advantage. The order was on par with what my party usually orders at a sit down pizza chain and we were pleasently suprised to have it be $10 cheaper than the other pizza shack.

The food...oh was it good. The boneless wings had a really good buffalo sauce on them that was tangy but not "keep you up all night with cayenne and vinegar". The bread sticks were really good and a great indication of the dough that they were using. Silky,not chewey. The pizza was amazing. The meatlovers was loaded down with good sized slices of pepperioni and ham while the sausage looked like it was cut from a link...a whole new world compared to the crumbled sausage at other restaurants. Even with all of the meat, it did not produce the usual amount of grease that comes from other pizza changes version of the same variety. With the great sauce and three cheese to compliment the work on top...it was a meal to rememeber.

Most pizza places go for size and they sacrifice in dough quality which leads to that aching jaw from trying to tear into and chew the pizza. Give this place a shot and give your jaw muscles a break from the usual huge sliced pizzerias and enjoy a rich slice of what tastes like home cooked pizza.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Reangthai Thai Restaurant

Reangthai Thai Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Mood: Quiet, Romantic
Service: Very attnetnive
Value: 7
Flavor: A

To put the mood into perspective, there are some restaurants where you can barely breathe. Reangthai has a formal layout but does not need the Tux treatment. It is perfect for a quiet, personal evening. Chef Donna even came by our table to see if we liked everything and believe me we did.
The food at Reangthai is fundamentally different from all of the other Asian inspired restaurants in town. It became clear when speaking with the Chef and the servers that everything served was prepared that day. This difference puts it in the Pantheon of other Tallahassee fresh restaurants that people rave about or at least should. The only thing that will put people off is what happened to my party and I am sure countless others. If you enjoy Thai food, you are familiar with the scale of heat that goes from Medium to Thai Hot and everyone has the level to which they are comfortable ordering in Thai restaurants. In every other restaurant that serves Thai food, I will order Hot because I have this need to go to sleep at night and do not have the fabled iron stomach. For this restaurant, I recommend going one level lower than you normally go because you are competing with a force in this culinary attraction called freshness and it makes everything better.
On judging the food, you will pay about $1 more than at any other Thai restaurant and I guarantee you that the money will reflect in the quality of the food. It is not a markup but simply the cost that must be paid to not have canned or bottled sauces and flavors. Don’t misunderstand that there are a few things bottled and used but the difference from other restaurants will have you believe as I do.
This is a recommend to all of the Thai food fans. It is worth a stop for Lunch or Dinner. I am already planning my next trip back for some Fried Squid stir fry. They maintain strict hours for lunch and dinner so check the website to make sure they are open. Check for specials and try something different, you will not be disappointed.