Innisfree Irish Pub

If you know anything about Wes and me, you know we love to go to the patio at Innisfree. They have really great food, a fun atmosphere, and now we have made friends with the waitresses, bartenders, and managers. I know Innisfree is sometimes known as a bar, but the food is much more than just "bar food".  With all that said, this trip to Innisfree for the Discount Dish was all about trying new things and some of their specialties. You can find out more about what they serve, live music that is coming up soon, and more at their website or their facebook page.

We started by grabbing a table on the patio. This is the best patio in Tuscaloosa. It was really nice weather when we went so there were lots of people out on the patio. They also have a nice area inside with one room that has garage doors that open to the patio.

Ok, so let's get on with the food section. I am also going to tell you some of Wes and my favorites that we have gotten before at Innisfree. We started with the taquitos appetizer. We hadn't had this before, but we had seen it and thought it looked yummy. We were right. These aren't just any taquitos. These are made from scratch and fresh. It was similar to a philly cheese steak wrapped in a tortilla and fried. (Maybe that is exactly what it is) It had sour cream and salsa for dipping. We also really love the pub fries, waffle fries with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, and more. They also have great onion dip, shrimp and crab dip, and wings (try the Irish Gold sauce). Here is a picture of the Taquitos. We almost forgot to take it so you can tell we had taken a small bite already. :)

Now for the main attraction. We have never had the Shepard's Pie. I have heard good things about it and boy, were people right. It was delicious. I don't think I was expecting to like it so much. It's a traditional Irish dish with beef, topped with mashed potatoes, sprinkled with cheese, and baked. It came with a side of melted butter for dipping and made from scratch soda bread. We also tried the corned beef club. We have had several of the sandwiches before and knew that it couldn't be bad. It was really tasty with bacon, tomato, and a garlic mayo. If you like corned beef I am sure you will love it. You can see in the picture, Innisfree also has delicious waffle fries!! They are awesome. I like to get the chicken sandwich as a wrap and add Irish gold sauce, on my normal visits, with sweet potato fries(in case you were wondering). We also really like the turkey burgers, blackened shrimp sandwich or wrap, and Wes loves the wings as a meal too. And, I don't know of anywhere else in town that has a bison burger on the menu. And, it's delicious. I promise that we really have tried almost everything on the menu and it's always great.

Another great thing about Innisfree are the drinks. It is a bar so you can enjoy an adult beverage, as well as the great food. They have a $4 pitcher special all day until 10pm. What a great deal! And, I really like a good bloody mary occasionally. They have a new Irish Mary that has great flavor, but isn't too hot, and can also be an appetizer with olives, pickled okra, spicy green beans, and even bacon on a stick. You have to see it to believe it. They even have a bloody mary bar on Sundays now where you can make your own. Here is Amber getting us one of the $4 pitchers.

Basically, Innisfree Irish Pub is a really great restaurant as well as a cool bar here in Tuscaloosa. The food is always good, interesting and affordable! And don't forget how great the patio is. Here is the video I took before going in to eat. 

If you want the chance to buy a $50 gift certificate for only $25 go here Friday April 29th at 10am.

Hokkaido

Yummy!! That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Hokkaido. And that is exactly what it was when I went for my girl's night out last week. Check out their website for more information.
Most of the time when I go to Hokkaido, I sit in the front room and not at the hibachi grill. I forget how much fun sitting at the hibachi can be! Here is a short video of the chef cooking rice!

So, Laura and I started off with sushi. I wanted to try something new this visit and I am so glad I did. We went with the Roll Tide Roll. As the name might indicate, this is a top notch sushi roll. It has fried shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, spicy mayo, topped with tuna and the shrimp sauce and eel sauce drizzled on top of that. Of course, if you know anything about sushi, you know that some rolls are cooked and some are raw. This was a combination roll so you want to make sure you are cool with raw tuna before you order it. It was, however, one of the best rolls I have ever had. It was delicious. And, as with most of Hokkaido's rolls, it is definitely big enough to share. See for yourself.

If you order at the hibachi grill, you get to choose your meat, or if you prefer, just veggies. After the whole table orders, they bring out the soup and salad. Pace yourself! There is a lot of food to be eaten at a Japanese steak house, and it's all good.  Once you finish salads and soups, the chef comes to entertain and cook your food to order right in front of you. This is one reason that Hokkaido is a great idea for a family night out. There is entertainment for the kids.

I love scallops. But for some reason, I don't think I have ever ordered them at a Japanese steak house. These scallops were some of the best I have ever tasted, no exaggeration and the shrimp was delicious as always. Of course, we also had fried rice and veggies too. A couple of the people at the table actually asked for no veggies and double rice, but Laura and I were good and ate our zucchini, onions, and my favorite, the mushrooms. You can see the plate FULL of food that you end up getting. You can see the bowl of shrimp sauce in the background of this picture. This is some of the BEST shrimp sauce ever. And, they are very nice to keep refilling your bowl if you need it :).

At the end of this meal, there was no eating dessert. I had stuffed myself until I was ready to pop! This meal was absolutely delicious and as I type this I am wishing I was going back again tonight for more. I tried to be as authentic as possible and ate with chopsticks. Here is the picture. I think I did pretty well. I didn't shoot the food across the table or drop anything on me, at least.

You can buy a $50 gift certifcate for only $25 starting April 22nd at 10am. Just click here.

Opus

Let me tell you about an AMAZING experience Wes and I had at Opus. Opus is in Downtown Northport, right there on the corner of Main Ave when you get into downtown. I have been raving to friends, collegues, and just about anyone who would listen since that night. I wish I had gotten pictures of all the meal. I was, however, to busy devouring all the items to remember to take pictures. I did remember for dessert and for many out there that might be all that matters. I wanted a picture to share the atmosphere of Opus. The picture above shows you the main dining room. Isn't it lovely? What a great date night Opus made!! You can check them out on Facebook or their website.

Let's start with the appetizers we tried. Now, since I was there for the radio station promotion we were able to create a sampler of some of the appetizers. I don't think that's an option on a regular basis but it gives you an idea more on the menu. I will list starting with my favorite. Wes and I had similar 1through 4 rankings on this but not exactly the same. My favorite was the baked lobster macaroni and cheeses (yes, cheeses). Of course this is an amazing mac and cheese with lobster. What could be bad, right? It was so creamy and delicious!! We also tried the oyster du jour...this day it was Oysters Rockafeller. Neither Wes nor I are big oyster fans but we were both in love with these oysters. Opus is a sister restaurant to Kozy's and they have only brought over a few of the Kozy's items. The Kozy's mushrooms stuffed with angus beef parmesan and topped with cabernet demi glaze. We love stuffed mushrooms and these are no different. And we also tried the tempura eggplant fries with tzaziki dressing. These were much lighter than I expected and had a nice flavor with the dressing. All four of the appetizers were delicious and when we go back I will have a hard time deciding which one to order.

As if all that couldn't have been enough we each had a salad.  Now, Wes isn't much of a food sharer, but luckily on this night we shared all of our orders. I had the opus house and he had the grilled ceasar. I absolutely could not stop eating my salad. The dressing, a champagne dijion was unbelievable. I mean seriously, one of the best dressings I have had! The ceasar was no different. The biggest difference in this salad from others is the grilled romaine lettuce. The grilled flavor came out just enough to give the whole salad a different but delicious taste.

Now it came time to order the main meal. I had heard several people talking about the Newburg Pot Pie before we went. It was all you would imagine and more with lobster, shrimp, scallops, and and a delicious puff pastry on top. It was served with lobster spring rolls and grilled asparagus. The rich, creamy pot pie was to die for. We also ordered the filet mignon.  This was one of those times I was so glad we were getting to share our food because they were both so tasty but in very different ways. Of course, the steak was fabulous, great seasoning and perfectly cooked. By the time we got to this portion of the meal we were treading towards full but we pushed through and ate almost all of it. It was just too good to stop!

Now we get to dessert. I know many of you are wondering how we could have eaten one more bite. We were wondering the same thing. I truly thought it would be impossible until our waiter brought out these two unbelievable desserts. The cheesecake of the day was a mango white chocolate. As a cheesecake lover, this piece of cheesecake was divine. I still feel sad that I had to leave some of it on the table. And the apple bread pudding was a combination of warm apple pie, delectable bread pudding and a lovely warm sauce.





All in all, this was one of the best meals Wes and I have had in a long time. Of course, we rarely go to a dinner where we order appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts.  Nevermind ordering it all and not being able to stop eating any of it because it was too good.  Opus is a delicious addition to our community and is redefining fine dining, as they like to say on their facebook page.

You can buy a $50 gift certificate for only $25 here until they sell out. 

The idea

Ok, so this new gig with work has me eating delicious food all around town and offering you a chance to buy gift certificates at half price or even better win them. I wanted to be able to describe all the food I am trying and have a place where listeners and friends can go to see my expereinces at these locations. The first stop was an amazing date night with my hubby and I already have the second stop planned with a great girl friend for a girls night out!! How great is this.

Hope you can have as much fun with this as I am.

Julie