9/25/09-Coyote Blue, Middletown, CT

Out to dinner with our friends Jeremy and Amanda and this time we tried Coyote Blue in Middletown. We sat in the bar area for about 45 minutes waiting for our table and had some drinks and chips and salsa while waiting--the salsa was pretty good and had a slight kick to it (had corn in it also--a tex-mex thing?). For entrees, we were all pretty satisfied--Amanda had chicken fajitas (I believe she enjoyed them), Jeremy had the West Texas beef burrito (it was huge and he polished the whole thing!), Tom had the Coyote combo (which he says was all-around pretty good) and I had the chicken enchiladas (not bad, but I do prefer mexican style with mole sauce over tex-mex).

Neat place, although tiny, with quite the western feel with the decor. Service was excellent in both the bar and dining area and prices are reasonable. My personal preference is for mexican though--not tex-mex--especially since we just got back from Mexico and I felt spoiled there with all sorts of great food! In all, we had a great time and can't wait to try another new place with them!

www.coyoteblue.com

9/20/09-J Cakes, North Branford, CT

There's no way I wasn't gonna post about our wedding cake. It was AMAZING.

J Cakes is a small bakery in North Branford that is well worth the trip. Hope is a sweet girl who pulled out the stops to get us a cake within our budget and design. I gave her creative liberty to do whatever she wanted to do with the design of the cake, as long as it was beach/tropical themed since we were married on the beach and she did a fantastic job. I have been eating cake everyday for a week straight now and it is so worth it. We chose a marble cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and a cannoli filling. I cannot tell you how many compliments we got on the cake--I think it was everyone's favorite part! If you read this, Hope--thank you so much for everything! I cannot wait to get another cake from you!

www.j-cakes.com

9/20/09=Ascot Catering, Wetherfield, CT

I know the posts have been lacking as of late, but for good reason--Tom and I were married in Cancun Mexico and haven't really been eating out much with all that was going on! The following post is kind of a catch up from our small family reception-I feel I owe our caterers a good review.

Our reception was gorgeous. I know I am probably biased because it was our reception but the Hartford Boathouse really is a spectacular location. We ended up choosing Ascot Catering to use for our reception and we made a great choice. For our entrees, we had Mediterranean pasta, Roast Pork Tenderloin, Beef Tenderloin with a merlot sauce or a horseradish cream sauce and Chicken Asiago--absolutely everything was fantastic. Their timing was impeccable, service was fantastic--it all went off without a hitch. If you are looking for a caterer in the Hartford area, I do not hesitate to recommend them (and you can tell them we sent ya!)

www.ascotcateringus.com

8/14/09-Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, Cromwell, CT

Such an unassuming place in a strip mall off Rt. 3 in Cromwell, we were so pleasantly surprised at how damn good the food could be! We walked in to a small space with brightly colored paintings adorning the walls (all for sale, incidentally) and were told to choose a table. Dinner started with house salads for us, topped with plantains (I haven't had plaintains since Mexico! What a nice surprise!) We then had the festival dumplings which were served with a creole sauce and a jerk sauce--for us, the jerk sauce was the clear winner, though the creole was also excellent. The dumplings were golden-fried crisp on the outside and soft and bready in the middle--and so filling! For entrees, I had a hard time deciding what to try (that just means we'll have to go back!) but I ended up choosing the Zesty Curry Chicken-Tender pieces of chicken marinated in caribbean curry. The chicken was amazing--such flavor and so tender I barely touched my knife to it and it was falling apart in my plate. The rice and bean sides that my dish came with were excellent but I was envious of other diners who had the macaroni as their side (next time!). Tom ordered the Jumpin Jambalaya--a rice combination with shrimp, sausage and chicken tossed in creole sauce and spices--he got a huge dish full of this and it was amazing. I really wanted to try their rum cake for dessert, but sadly we did not get that far. So much food and all of it so good. You can tell that these recipes are tried and true and the restaurant is a labor of love. We'll be back, for sure.

www.imperialcaribbeanrestaurant.com