Da Kine of Place You'll Love

Since I started the new job and the misses started at home training for her new gig, we really haven't had any us time besides the few moments we relax on the couch together before bed. So on the day where we were both off we took advantage of it, I decided to stay out of the house doing this that and the other for as long as possible. We were doing this and that, we were talking about looking for someplace new to eat, this is every time we want to eat out occurrence so nothing new there. I had planned to take her to Pinkberry the night before, but the time at the gym kind of ran over and by the time we were showered and ready to go they had closed. So while out I decided we would get Pinkberry for sure but that doesn't fill you up.

Mid way through our entire day date the misses and I started to get hungry so we started looking for a small (by small I mean non-chain) place to get some good food, We drove by Da Kine and I'm a fan of food trucks, since the idea of food from a truck is sub par, most food truck vendors go above and beyond when it comes to quality food. So I had the Misses urbanspoon it based on the reviews and the fact we were starving and without any other hopefuls in sight we stopped by (and thank god we did).

We get out of the car and you could smell the wonderful aroma of all things great. It's a small food trailer where everything is cooked out of, they have all types of options on the menu, dinner plates, mix and match, samplers, and more. A few different drinks that you can't normally find, so we walked up scanned the menu, placed our order and watch as they cook our food, then take and hand chop the chicken and fill the styrofoam containers completely full.

We got our drinks and I should have got 2, the coconut water with pineapple was the best I have ever had, and I can't find the brand they sell anywhere else in town. The service was great, very quick to get the order ready. Now the seating is small like only one picnic bench under a tent, but what do you expect from a food trailer? So we opted to get it to go and headed down to cypress point park, found a nice spot under a tree for some shade. Then proceeded to open up the containers, the smell again was amazing as we look at 3 types of chicken Sweet Shoyu, Sweet'n'Hot, and Teriyaki.

All three were good, the sweet shoyu had great flavor and was a perfect match with the Sweet'n'Hot, the only complaint was with the teriyaki was a bit salty, more than to be expected. Besides the over dose of sodium the food was great, the chicken was cooked perfectly, not overcooked. We ordered a side of veggies and macaroni salad.

 I have to say that Da Kine has the only macaroni salad I have ever tasted and liked. The veggies were just steamed bag veggies so you can't really mess up on them. I plan to go back if I'm in that neck of the woods again, the food was great but not worth the trek from my house to just get some grub. If you're in that part of town and looking for some good food for a decent price that will not only fill you but give you something to eat later go check out; Da-Kine Hawaiian Café located at 3316 S Dale Mabry Hwy

Tampa, FL 33629 or visit their website at http://www.dakinehc.com/

We also hit up Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt and fresh fruit, then decided we needed to walk off all the food we ate from Da Kine and walked through Westshore mall for a few, over all the day date went well and I enjoy spending time with the Misses as she is the best company I could ask for.

$5 Burger Mondays

So since I started a new job, a few of my coworkers wanted to go out a grab some lunch. We decided on Burger Monger, which I have been wanting to try ever since I heard they serve Kobe beef burgers. We make plans to go the Monday after payday, which was perfect because if you know me I love to save money, shop sales, use coupons and basically try to save as much money as possible. Plus Mondays at Burger Monger are $5 burgers.

If thats not a great logo.... I don't know what is.

So we are released to lunch and we all pile into a co workers new SUV and make way for some grub. As we pull up the lot was packed, but we walked into a very small line, that soon changed as people were waiting behind us and out the door (looks like we made it just in time). I walk up and place my order for the $5 burger and their smallest order of fries(1/2 pound) and I choose what I wanted on it from what seemed to be an endless list of options, I went with cherry wood smoked bacon, grilled sweet onions, grilled mushrooms, mild cheddar cheese, and a side of bbq. I get my number grab my drink and go take a seat with the coworkers. We start doing our normal lunch routine of belittling one another. Not to long after I got to the table the food was brought out and that stopped all the talking. The burger looked amazing as did the half pound of fries.

Talk about an amazing looking burger.

I took one bite and knew I would probably never find a burger to top this one. When I first saw Burger Monger I thought; Why open a burger place next to a McDonalds? Well because this burger would destroy ole Ronalds any day!!! They have been in that location for awhile now and I bet they have did a lil Hamburgling of McDonalds business. I mean this burger melted I'm my mouth like butter does on corn on the cob. The taste was amazing, from the bun to the toppings it all complemented this marvelous burger creation. The fries were great, they were hot and not greasy, not overly salty and I mean it was a half pound of spuds.....can't go wrong right? So if you want to have the best burger for under 20 bucks go check out Burger Monger at;

http://www.burgermonger.com/

10412 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa 33618

Sun-Thurs: 11am-10pm

Fri-Sat: 11am-11pm

Phone #: 813-968-6860

Philly Lacks Phlava

This is one of the few restaurant reviews I have left to post, still working hard on the new clean eating goal, getting better and better ever day. I was cleared by the cardiologist so that's a plus. I hope to be in the best shape of my life by the time my baby is born 1/1/2012!!

So me and the Misses were out and about running some errands our normal weekend activity. When I got a craving (and I'm not the pregnant one) for a Philly Cheese Steak, after searching for a place close by I broke my code of going to small locally owned restaurants and went to Philly Phlava on the corner of Dale Mabry and Fletcher.

First off the place is small and covered floor to ceiling with signs and posters. Decorated with stainless steel and plastic. The overall look of the place you would think they have to know what they are doing with the sandwiches.We decided to share a sandwich with (onions, peppers, shrooms, and provolone) and some cheddar bacon fries.

 After overcoming the "sticker shock" we take our seat and wait for the food, now I've heard a few good things about this place so I hoped for the best. After realizing they charge for just about everything, air seems to be the only free thing there. Our food came to the table. It was very fresh and hot.

The quality of the food I would have expected from a sandwich truck not a place with philly in the name, the fries were boring and without the cheese and bacon I would have left them in the basket. I rarely ever give bad reviews and this one isn't "bad" really but more of a warning that you can get the same quality from the mall's food court or a sandwich truck for a better price. Their big thing is their rolls and those were just a little better than average.

So until I can find a really good Philly I will just stick to making them at home. So if your out and about and want to see what Philly Phlava is all about by all means stop in and see, but I won't be back. You can find it at; 13149 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33618

Celebration and a cooter!!!!

So I make ends meet always have, its just in my DNA. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a hustler, and that I've been identified as one at pretty much every job(mainly sales gigs) I've ever had. You can also ask around, I'm the guy that can make a dollar outta 15 cent... So I embrace this and know I will with Gods help make it. So that being said, I've been out of work for a few months, and been doing what I do with help from my amazing wife, who is also unemployed due to a company having no moral code whatsoever, she's better off without them. I would much rather work a full time job, than make money here and there to pay bills. I like a regular paycheck to pay bills and my money I make here and there(all legal may I add) to go and have fun with. I've worked so many B.S. jobs that I could write a book, so to find out I got hired on at a international lending company, with great pay and even better benefits I was thrilled. So my wife decided to apply and not use all of her unemployment benefits, low and behold after weeks of the website glitching every time she tried to contact them her phone rings. After her conversation they wanted her to come in the next day, so we did and everything seemed to go very well......seemed.

So we decided to hit the beach for a lil celebration and relaxation. Out of the blue I sold another electronic cigarette kit so there was a lil extra money so I decided to treat my wife and myself to one of our favorite beach side spots. Plus I wanted an excuse to write another restaurant review style blog. So as we are pulling in the round about off of Clearwater Memorial Causeway I tell the wife to take the second right instead of our normal way to Sand Key Park. She looks puzzled but when she ask why I think she had already answered her own question, but I told her anyway.... We're going to Cooters to celebrate before we hit the beach for the rest of the day.

 We get there right in the middle of happy hour (from 3-6 daily), so after navigating their rather small and packed parking lot. We walk up on their wood deck and are greeted right away. We decided to sit on there deck, the weather was perfect and a great breeze was coming off the gulf. We meet our waitress and place our drink order, and since its happy hour they have .50 raw oysters (on of my favorite foods).

When our drinks come I place an order for some oysters, and we start to look at their daily specials and browse the menu. We wanted something filling but light enough we could go straight to the beach and not feel to full. So the oysters come and were amazing nothing new here.

We decide, order some sandwiches, the Misses went for their Fisherman's Ruben and I chose their Philly Cheese Steak. We finish off the oysters and take in the scenery (not an inch of wall is uncovered).

The food comes and smells amazing, then the wife has a moment of greatness and suggest we trade half of our sandwiches of course!!! (I was feeling a bit down about not ordering seafood as an entree this close to the beach, so she solved that.) This Fisherman's Ruben was perfect, just like a ruben minus the corned beef and add blackened mahi, my Cheese Steak had the right amount of peppers, shrooms and onions to complement the rib eye. So good I almost forgot to take pictures.

We chow down and swap thoughts on each others choice of sandwich and ponder what to eat next time we come back. After we finish our plate...well baskets... We decide there's room for dessert and since its Florida we opt for Key Lime Pie. We get our Pie and its placed on top of this green sauce so the wife has to taste it to see what it is.....gotta love her always up to be a guinea pig. Turns out it was a Key Lime sauce/gel, that complemented the pie rather nicely. The pie was good, not enough key lime taste for me, tasted more like a key lime cheesecake of sorts, but it completed the meal great.

We get the check this place has amazing food, but it's even better if you're on a budget! So we tip and head to the car, with sand and salt water on the mind.

If you're looking for a great west cost beach side spot that's great on the taste buds and even better on the wallet be sure to check out; Cooters at 423 Poinsettia Ave. Clearwater Beach, FL 33767

http://www.cooters.com/

Plus its just a stones throw away from one of our favorite beaches located at Sand Key Park. We hit the beach after feeding the meter, find a spot on a rather empty beach(just the way we like it).  We walk the beach for awhile, noticing a wedding taking place down on the far end. So that spun off talks of ideas for our vow renewals and such. Then we get back to our spot and head into the water. It was nice luke warm water, after chilling in the waves for a bit, we decide to go relax on shore. And relax is what we did, it was so peaceful just laying on the shore with the love of my life by my side it was truly a gift from God. We just laid there for over a hour or more, then some tourist plop down about 20 or 30 feet from us, which is no big deal. Being born or living in Florida for any given time you get use to a few things; Tourist, Snowbirds, Lovebugs, Mosquitoes, and a thousand other annoying things we deal with to live in paradise. The only issue we had with the tourist after they entertained us with all their picture taking and amazement of the surroundings. Then they start to feed the seagulls and if you've ever did this you soon realize what a mistake you just made. What seemed like every seagull on the beach was flying over us and to them. They keep feeding them to get more pictures, and keep feeding them and keep feeding them...it didn't stop...

 Then the seagulls start to hover and me not wanting to have to shoot a bird for dropping a deuce on me and the lady. We decide to call the day quits, so thank you annoying tourist for making us miss the sunset and ruining the mood and flow of a great florida day. But we live here so enjoy your trip, this is our backyard! That alone makes me okay with them doing what tourist do. We head back home shower up and enjoy our night...

Well enough of my rambles that started out  as a restaurant review. See you never know with me...   P.S. To my lady, I love you!