Carrollwood Deli

Well, finally we find a deli where nothing can go wrong.  We have been twice just to test our first impressions.  We had the Deli Duo and the New York Pastrami sandwiches with a cup of French Onion soup and two ice teas.  First, let me say that I usually I do not necessarily like rye bread due to the fact that most rye breads are so rye tasting that it overwhelms any meat or dressings.  We found out that the bread is made by the owners daily as are all the meats.  Our waitress was one of the owners.  She actually talked me into trying the rye bread first before ordering to ensure that I would like it.  It was very mild and when accompanied with the rest of the sandwich, it was fabulous!  The portions of meat used was large and well worth the price.  The meats were done to perfection, juicy and tender.  There was not an overload of dressings either.  It was magnificent!  We also tried the French Onion Soup.  Now I must say that I am spoiled when it comes to this type of soup, having had my first in a small town in Colorado which was made by a woman that was from Germany.  I have never found a French Onion soup that could compare.  Well, I have to say that I have now found nirvana.  In most small delis you will not be given true brewed iced tea.  The iced teas were received were perfect, brewed to perfection.  This deli offers a large list of sandwiches and daily made soups that do change.  I would highly recommend this deli to anyone who wants a great lunch at a decent price and wonderful service.  They are online at www.carrollwooddeli.com and are on facebook.  I can not say enough about them.

Clearwater Beach!!

Being older and wiser adults we went to Clearwater Beach for our anniversary and we decided to get a room for the night and do a little food and bar hopping while enjoying the beach and sunset and our anniversary.  We got a room at Barefoot Bay, a queen deluxe, and found it to be decent, clean and fresh smelling for the area.  We went to Cooters for a little appetizer and drink.  We got there during happy hour and wings, oysters and shrimp were offered at $.50 each and $.99 drafts.  We ordered a dozen oysters and shrimp and two drafts.  The beer was cold, good.  Next the oysters and shrimp came out on a shared platter with all the fixings, horseradish, Cooters hot sauce, lemon and cocktail sauce.  Oysters were raw and shrimp were cooked.  First oyster was cold and good.  Second oyster tasted like iodine and not in a good way.  The rest of the oysters what few more I could take were warm, definitely not fresh.  Shrimp, how can you mess up shrimp?  Well, over cook the shells off of them.  Staff were friendly and great, besides the cold beer that was the best part.  Never ones to let a little thing like that to stop us, we traveled on to the Beach Club.  No food but good service and good prices.  Next on to the Brown Boxter.  We got wings and Crab Bisque and Tuna Ahi.  All the food was decent and warm and tasted good.  Staff was friendly and prices decent.  Then on to the beach.  Walked around and ended up at Frenchy's Saltwater Cafe.  Ordered was the Shrimp and Scallop Cerviche and Shrimp.  The "Cerviche" was not cerviche and definitely would not ever get it again.  The idea of cerviche is to let the citrus juices cook the raw seafood and is usually done as ordered, this was pre-pre-prepared and tough and took an entire pack of Tums to settle our stomachs from overboiling to simmer.  To say the least not an impressive evening.

Ballyhoo!

Well, we have driven by this restaurant several times and it has always been packed.  So on a Sunday afternoon we stopped by for a low key lunch.  It is a nice set up and smelled wonderful.  We were seated and waited a bit for someone to come and take our drink orders.  First thought, nice but a little slow!  We ordered a bowl of the She-crab soup and then waited a little longer to give our entree orders.  Second thought, OoooKkk, look at the young couple playing on their phones... still slow!  We got our soup and gave our entree orders, server disappeared.  Now we are not the pushy kind nor are we hard to please (most of the time) but our thoughts were that when ordering soup it will be hot, unless it is traditionally served cold.  This soup was just south of luke warm, let's not mention that the soup tastes like it is from a can.  Server returned some minutes later and we asked to have soup warmed up.  She takes them and returns a little while later.  They are warmer but still marginal at best.  The entrees ordered were the daily special of a Prime Rib Sandwhich with blackened slice of prime rib, lettuce, tomato, cheese, remoulade and french fried onions on a french roll, slaw on the side and the Southern Fried Salad, a crispy tortilla with field greens, black beans and toasted corn and mixed cheeses with chicken either fried or grilled (got it fried), avocado ranch dressing, sour cream and guacamole.  Now they offer table side service of guacamole as an appetizer, so with that in mind thought I would be safe.  We waited and waited some more, thoughts of leaving quickly rolling through our heads.  The entrees came out after having witnessed two other tables getting bread and dipping sauce, we were not offered this at any time.  Presentation of the entrees was good.  Salad looked as if the greens were spilling out of the tortilla and the beans and corn cascading down the greens with nuggets of fried chicken placed like rocks in a waterfall and a large helping of sour cream and a brownish green blob (found out that is the guacamole) at the top.  Prime rib sandwhich was presented in halves and slaw on the side, nothing too fancy but not messy.  Problems- the salad was absent the avocado ranch dressing was completely absent, sour cream a little out of date, guacamole brown and liquified, chicken was fine but I can do it at home for less than $2.00. The sandwhich was dry and definitely not blackened, the cheese was processed cheese food and not real cheese (good for a hamburger at your buddy's house but not a restaurant) which was the major taste for the whole sandwhich, couldn't taste the remoulade or see it, frech fried onions over done.  Now at this point we just wanted to pay the bill and go home to fix something ourselves.  But the chef did come out and wanted to know what was wrong, I told him about the salad and my partner decided to keep quiet (definitely not a Chef Ramsey type).  The chef took our check.  So, fortunately we did not have to shell out $40 for a lunch uneated but this is not some place we will go back to nor understand why it seems the upscale yuppies will continue to go.