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We went to The Blue Light Speak Cheesy when it was a pop-up at Dynaco. I just checked their site and it looks like they are there Mon-Fri evenings for dinner. Dynaco is a fun bar and you should check them out, too. Back to the food from The Blue Light Speak Cheesy! We popped into Dynaco because of the sign outside advertising the grilled cheese pop-up. Sooo glad we finally got a chance to check this place out because I had been lurking on their Yelp page for awhile. We settled in at a couple of seats at the bar and grabbed our drinks. We were planning on ordering some grilled cheeses already but the girl making the sammies came out and gave us samples of the Classic grilled cheese, a sharp cheddar on sourdough. It was SOOOO good. The cheese was super flavorful, perfectly melty, and the sourdough had a great lil tang to it that balanced out the heaviness of eating a cheese sandwich. Since we got a sample of the Classic, we felt like we should try something different so I ordered the French Onion and my boyfriend ordered the Outlaw. They both came with tomato soup dip, which was so delicious, by the way. The French Onion literally tasted like eating a solid version of french onion soup – which sounds like a really weird description but it was sooooooo amazing. I really enjoyed it and it was nice to have the tomato dip to sort of “change it up” and palate cleanse every so often. My boyfriend’s Outlaw was SUPER flavorful – the smoked gouda was delicious with a really strong flavor that worked really well with harissa. In fact, the French Onion and Outlaw were kind of a perfect pair to split because the French Onion was very savory and the Outlaw was like a flavor bomb. So it was perfect to eat some of one, then the other, and kind of switch back and forth. Can’t wait to try more of the sandwiches and, really, get another taste of that Classic cus it was also so good!

• The Local Press – Menu with Prices – 276 Woodford St, Portland
• Siro’s Bistro – Menu with Prices – 112 Arnould Blvd, Lafayette
• Countryside Meats & Deli – Menu with Prices – 781 Highgrove Pl, Rockford
• The Hawthorn Bistro & Bakery – Menu with Prices – 1307 N Monroe St #1, Tallahassee
• Mezzaluna Bakery – Menu with Prices – 202 West 7th St, Santa Rosa
• Town Tavern – Menu with Prices – 2119 Brewerton Rd, Syracuse
• Acropolis Cuisine – Greek & Mediterranean Cuisine, Metairie, LA – Menu with Prices – 3841 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie
• Fork and Dagger Eatery – Menu with Prices – 609 Abercorn St, Savannah
• Taste of Jerusalem and More – Menu with Prices – 707 N Pace Blvd Suite B, Pensacola
• American Harvest Eatery – Menu with Prices – 3241 W Iles Ave, Springfield
• The Richmond – Menu with Prices – 695 Bay St, Staten Island
• Grouchy’s New York Deli Menu with Prices 11525 Haynes Bridge Rd, Alpharetta

The Local Press – Menu with Prices – 276 Woodford St, Portland

I really wasn’t blown away. Walking in and placing an order for take out was incredibly awkward. The two gentlemen who took my order both kept forgetting what I ordered. I ordered an old fashion panini, a cup of French onion soup and a Nantucket nectar. Simple enough. After asking for the third time to confirm my order I pay and wait. They seemed bothered by my presence. As I get home I realize that my panini obviously looked nothing like the description. So I take a bite and was more than displeased. I went online to check the menu. They gave me a completely different sandwich called “the goodlife”. The sandwich itself was too heavy. It lacked any source of freshness or any acidity to cut through the richness of all of the ingredients. The fig jam and blue cheese were just piled into the center. The combination was way too sweet while the sandwich itself was overpoweringly salty. Super bummed out I didn’t get what I ordered. The French onion soup was disappointing. I opened the lid to find a huge curdled ball of solidified cold cheese. It was inedible. I dig past the cheese to scoop into two giant pieces of panini bread. So I basically paid 6$ for a third of a cup of soup. What little soup that was there was just okay. All together I paid 18$ and some change for a sandwich that I never wanted, a small cup of cheese, bread, onion pudding and a drink. That’s pretty pricy for the quality of the service and food I received. Overall My first impression wasn’t a good one. Not in a hurry to return.

Siro’s Bistro – Menu with Prices – 112 Arnould Blvd, Lafayette

In town for a few days and wanted to spread some love to the local fare. As a big French onion soup fan I read a couple of reviews saying it was good. While it’s a very small step from greatness I have to agree the French onion soup was delicious. Excellent flavor, just the right amount of saltiness, not too many onions, and the crouton was just the right thickness and didn’t take up half the bowl. The only thing I would do to make it absolutely incredible is serve it in a crock, top it with more cheese, and bake it just long enough to brown the cheese. It’s served in a styrofoam cup so baking isn’t actually an option. Maybe do it that way for to-go orders but serve it up right for diners eating in. On to the sandwiches. What s wonderful surprise. Delicious. Bread was amazing. Turkey and ham were probably the best I’ve ever had in a deli sandwich. And there’s no frugality on the meat portions! Subway could learn a thing or two about making sandwiches from this guy! I had the club and I can’t wait to have another. The owners were extremely friendly and everything we had was top notch. Even got to top it all off with an Abita Amber. So glad we tried this place day one so we can go back versus day four and not have the chance. Delicious lunch. Makes the favorites list hands down!

Countryside Meats & Deli – Menu with Prices – 781 Highgrove Pl, Rockford

I was on the hunt for a Chicago style corned beef sandwich in Rockford. Yelp’s #1 pick was Countryside Meats & Deli. Well, Yelp, you missed the mark on that one, but Countryside is great for other things. First of all, I tried the corned beef sandwich. It tasted like a corned beef sandwich I could make at home, and not in a good way. All the ingredients were fresh and appropriate but there was nothing that would make me want to leave my house and purchase the sandwich. It also wasnt Chicago style, but that’s probably not relevant to most people reading the reviews. I also tried the daily special, which a turkey and bacon sandwich on a croissant. I liked it much more so than the corned beef sandwich. Again, simple ingredients, but the combination worked very well and I would likely get it again. Someone else ordered chilli and french onion soup and based on the smell I had to try the french onion. It is made in house and came with a small piece of toasted covered in melted cheese. The flavor of the french onion soup was AMAZING although the onions had not reduced enough. I would go back, but Yelp, this is not the place for a corned beef sandwich.

The Hawthorn Bistro & Bakery – Menu with Prices – 1307 N Monroe St #1, Tallahassee

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. I went by here the other day to grab a baguette to go with dinner (and of course had to grab a cinnamon roll because they were there and were beautiful and spoiler alert: they are absolutely delicious) and I had zero regrets. The baguette was super delicious- best served warm with a little bit of butter. Because I was so impressed, I can back for lunch today and enjoyed it so much. The club sandwich was delicious, like wow. I’m not a ham or tomato person but in this sandwich it was delicious. The house made kettle chips were a perfect accompaniment to the sandwich. The grilled cheese (I got it with the sourdough bread and havarti cheese) was amazing and ooey and gooey and I’m sure absolutely scrumptious with a cup of soup. The bread was super crusty and if we hadn’t already bought a loaf of the egg bread (Also super delicious but much softer) we would’ve gotten a loaf of that…next time! I’ve resolved to try all the bread there. The greens were fresh with the grapefruit vinaigrette. I didn’t love the arugula in it, but if you like arugula, you’ll be fine! Another thing we got was the lemon lavender cookie which was a super surprising win. Honestly, all things here are delicious thus far. I love the aesthetics of this place and the service is quick. The chairs are super comfy and while it started picking up when we left, it wasn’t crazy crowded. What was crazy crowded was the parking lot. It’s a bit awkward of a lot, but just be persistent and you’ll get a spot. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Mezzaluna Bakery – Menu with Prices – 202 West 7th St, Santa Rosa

Oh, Franco American, I don’t have enough kind words for you. Even though I have never been by every time my family is in Santa Rosa my mom goes out every morning and returns with a loaf of fresh, fluffy, flavorful sourdough. My earliest memories include chowing down on their sourdough with my grandparents, slathered with butter. My grandparents lived a block away in the fifties, and enjoyed this bread on the daily. My grandma even used the French bread in her thanksgiving turkey. No bread compares to Franco Americans sourdough, and if you think differently FIGHT ME. Franco American, PLEASE sponsor me. (Even though I only have like 100 Instagram followers). To conclude their bread is a loaf of goodness no one should go a lifetime without trying. Just to show how delightful their bread is I eat about a half a loaf every day we are visiting SR. Once my mom even packed a loaf in her suitcase to bring home to NY. No regrets on her part. Update: I have since been by Franco American. I envy those who live within a blocks radius to the bakery as they have the absolute privilege of having the aroma of a 24 hour burning sourdough scented candle lighting up theirs lives. The staff is also very friendly.

Town Tavern – Menu with Prices – 2119 Brewerton Rd, Syracuse

Upon recommendation from a few people, we had to try their shaved ribeye steak sandwich. We ordered out for dinner 3 steak sandwiches (one with mushroom only; one with provolone, mushroom, and onion; one with swiss, mushroom, and onion). We also ordered a large fry and an order of beer battered onion rings. The steak was a great piece of meat. It wasn’t grizzly, fatty, or greasy. It was very tasty but would’ve been even better if it was taken off the grill a little sooner. I think it was a tad over cooked. There wasn’t much of the toppings which was really disappointing especially because they charge extra for the onion and mushroom. And even though the order was rang into the receipt correctly, the kitchen mistakenly added cheese to the one that wasn’t supposed to have any. Luckily it wasn’t a lot of cheese. The roll was a soft white hoagy. I think it would’ve been better if they grilled it a bit. It tasted like old white bread. All of the sandwiches came with a bag of Lays potato chips and a pickle spear. The onion rings were big fat pieces of onion coated in beer batter and fried to perfection. They were crispy and delicious. And not greasy at all. The French fries were so crispy and delicious. I was actually surprised how crispy they were after getting them home. Normally fries to not travel well. All in all… I would try them again… maybe with some special requests.

Acropolis Cuisine – Greek & Mediterranean Cuisine, Metairie, LA – Menu with Prices – 3841 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie

Acropolis is my favorite restaurant! I go every year for my birthday and I drag my family who usually doesn’t stray away from the basics. They love it too. A small and charming place on veterans where the food is real and the service is welcoming! There were quick to accommodate our table of 8 and the service was fast and charming. The wait staff serves together, everyone is constantly moving like a well oiled machine. We ordered the sampler, the baba ganoush was flavorful, the tzatziki was creamy, and the spinach pie was perfect. I do think that the hummus was a little dry but at least it didn’t have a terrible lemon flavor or zing after taste like some places. I had the 6 onion soup. Completely different from the french onion soup this a creamy white pureed soup, perfectly hot and served with a puff pastry baked right on top. I ordered the moussaka which is always prepared and seasoned perfectly. We ended the night with tiramisu and happy birthday. Tiramisu lovely as always and since this is such a wholesome family place, it seemed the entire place was singing. The manager, a very congenial person indeed, gave us a $25 gift card as a birthday gift as if I needed any sort of goading to come back. There are always excellent 3 or 4 course specials, especially on Valentines day and other holidays. I will definitely be back and you should definitely give it a try!

Fork and Dagger Eatery – Menu with Prices – 609 Abercorn St, Savannah

Be aware that upon first arrival this place does not seem to be in the best of neighborhoods. It’s attached to a huge building of what looks like run down sketchy apartments. The residents that stand outside and stare at you don’t really help with the level of comfort either, however, Yelp gave this place some fantastic reviews so we had to check it out. When you walk inside the menu items are written out on the boards on the wall and the inside isn’t very exciting (not that I cared, I just wanted food). I ordered the grilled cheese with a side of potato salad and my fiancee also ordered a grilled cheese but with a side of Mac n cheese. The grilled cheese was absolutely delicious. They used multiple types of cheese so it gave it a good flavor. Unfortunately the sides didn’t come out with the meal like they were supposed to so I had to go ask for them since they forgot about them. The Mac n cheese was not that great. I wouldn’t even said it was good. I didn’t taste any cheese on it at all. Maybe it was the type of cheese they used, because you can see it but it was super disappointing. They let us trade it out for some potato salad. Now the potato salad on the other hand, hands down some of the best potato salad I have ever personally had. Wow. That was some good stuff. Overall, I would definitely come here again and try something else they have on the menu.

Taste of Jerusalem and More – Menu with Prices – 707 N Pace Blvd Suite B, Pensacola

Incredible food. Everything here is so flavorful and delicious. I’m going to write this review for those unfamiliar with this kind of food bc everyone should try it! #1 is a good place to start because you get a little bit of everything: Shish kebab is delicious juicy chunks of marinated and grilled steak, chicken kebab are bright yellow pieces of juicy grilled chicken. Kofta kebab is ground sirloin and spices that are grilled into a long rope, and falafel is ground chickpea patties that almost have a texture like a cornbread but are very filling and flavorful. It comes with two sides, Jerusalem salad and hummus but can be switched. The Jerusalem Salad is a fresh and delicious mixture of veggies marinated together. If you like pico or bruschetta, or southern style tomatoes and onion salad, you’ll love this. The hummus is silky, delicious and doesn’t have an overpowering garlic flavor like I find Four Winds’ to have. The pepper sauce was my fav, zesty and tangy with a slight bite of heat. Tabouli (a parsley and grain cold salad with diced tomato and onion) was bright and flavorful, and the tzatziki (cucumber, yogurt and garlic sauce) was phenomenal on everything. If you eat in, you’ll get complimentary flat bread and plates of different sauces to try. I eat the meats on the bread with the sauces and I love that you can switch up each bite for endless combinations. If you order out (you can call in an order but I never wait more than 15 minutes) they will give you a couple sauces and fresh bread as well. I finished with a tiny piece of baklava. It wasn’t too much, or overly saturated with butter or honey, just a perfect bite. This place is a gem! The deli in Saigon across the street is also incredible, and Quickly just around the corner for sushi and boba tea! Brownsville food is the best y’all!

American Harvest Eatery – Menu with Prices – 3241 W Iles Ave, Springfield

Stopped at this strip-mall restaurant for dinner around 5:30. Being fairly early, there wasn’t any crowd so we got our choice of tables. The first thing we noticed was the very low lighting level – yes, we love ambiance too, but this was a little more than we were looking for.We started looking over the menu when our server arrived to take our drink order and tell us about the specials of the day. While we were deciding on our main, we went ahead and ordered our drinks and a bowl of their soup of the day, French onion (made with rosemary bread croutons and a local cheese).By the time the soup arrived, we’d decided on the salmon, described as coming with fava beans, peas, radishes, etc. (a fairly long list). Meanwhile, we tried the soup. The soup tasted sort of average and looked pretty anemic (at least as well as we could tell in the dark) – not the rich brown color and deep flavor that we normally expect to see and taste – in our opinion, they didn’t caramelize the onions to the point needed to build that rich complexity that we associate with this classic soup. The croutons were also somewhat odd – some were charred to the point were all we could taste was burned bread, but a few survived the torch and did indeed have a rosemary flavor to them. We couldn’t say much about the local cheese as all we got was one spoonful of cheese for the entire bowl – again, not what we would expect with traditional French onion soup.The salmon came out next. It was a good sized piece sitting on a bed of thick creamy pasta (risotto we think, again it was kind of dark in here), which some fava beans, peas, a couple radish slices, and some small, longish white tubers (baby japanese radishes?) scattered around. The fish itself was somewhat disappointing – clearly past its prime with a somewhat fishy flavor and slightly undercooked. Other than the fishiness of the salmon, nothing really had much flavor – no seasoning, except for the pasta which had a salty cheesiness which we tried to portion out to cover for the lack of seasoning in everything else and the fishy taste of the fish (curiously none of the tables had even salt and pepper on them – we have rarely seen this in even the most upscale restaurants). Frankly, all the window dressing just failed to cover up a poor quality piece of fish – if you have great, fresh fish, all you have to do is simply prepare it and provide a couple of lemon wedges. All the rest here was just distracting from the main problem, but failed at even that do to their own shortcomings.Having had two disappointing courses, we decided to give them one last try with dessert. They had a limited selection – three items as we recall. We went with the pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream (they talked about lemon mousse and marshmallow fluff, etc. but essentially this is what it was). This was actually pretty good.Service throughout was fast and friendly, but their food really disappointed us – especially at over $50 (without tip).

The Richmond – Menu with Prices – 695 Bay St, Staten Island

I am always a fan of new places on Staten Island, I hope for a day when I can stay on the Island and have great food rather than travel to Brooklyn, Queens or Manhattan. The Richmond comes pretty close. My sister found The Richmond and we decided to bring my father there for his birthday. We ordered the following French Onion Soup – This was the thickest French Onion soup I’ve had. They need to rename this to Thicc French Soup (oxymoron I know). It was pretty good, but if you finish it, there is a slim chance you will have any room left for anything else. Octopus – I personally wasnt a huge fan of the dish, but my family loved it. Especially my mom, and it wasnt even the octopus she loved, she loved the chickpeas. Beef Tartar – Telling people the beef you use is Kobe is not a good thing, Kobe means nothing if you are an avid steak person. One bite into the tartar I knew this beef was nothing special. Should skip this. Short Rib Mac & Cheese – this was the highlight of the night. Loved they used wheels instead of traditional elbow or any hollow pasta. There was not a significant amount of short rib but it was decent enough to give the M&C some extra flavor. The cheese selection was excellent as well as it gave the M&C a nice seafood-esq flavor. Kansas Ribs – just skip these, these shouldnt even be on the menu. This is that menu item that kills a restaurant and allows people to believe this is a mediocre spot. Mom ordered the Salmon which she raved about. The Richmond is the first restaurant to ever ask her how she wanted her salmon to be cook. She opted for medium rare and they cooked it to perfection. Sister & Dad ordered the steak, the fries were good and the sauce on the steak was interesting. However the steak was an average steak Overall the meals were good, the server was nice and took care of use really well. The thing that stood out to me was the menu. See pics. I hate it when I see some kind of residue on the menu. Reminds me of places like Miller’s or Applebee’s, its kills your appetite especially when you’re OCD about things being clean (I know the irony in this statement, especially when someone like myself likes to go out to eat, but out of sight out of mind)

Grouchy’s New York Deli Menu with Prices 11525 Haynes Bridge Rd, Alpharetta

Closest thing to a real New York Deli I’ve found here in the Atlanta area. Although I ordered through Uber, an item I ordered Knishes were sold out. The manager called me immediately to apologize and say he would be making fresh ones in the morning. We ordered the chicken matzo ball soup which came piping hot – matzo ball was perfect -fluffy -but firm to hold up in the broth. The broth had a good chicken flavor and fresh strips of carrots were added for that “just made ” taste. Plenty of various bagel chips were provided for dunking !! Yummy. In addition the Classic Deli Rare Roast Beef On pumpernickel was delicious ! Bread was nice and fresh – the roast beef was piled high nice and rare and very tasty ! Real deli pickle slices too!! French Fries traveled well, nice and plump and still crispy. The Challah French toast was Amazing!! Perfectly grilled – fantastic taste. Could have eaten more ! Not because there was but enough!! Potion sizes are very generous it just tasted that good. So for a first try and via delivery Grouchy’s gets 5 stars! Great fresh food and prices are very reasonable ! Will definitely have this again and again !!