Teresa's Molcajetes

Lets just start off by saying, if you like Mexican American food, check out Teresa's in Lakeville, MN among the other handful of locations.  My family have dined here and gotten taken out too many times to count.  Good affordable that always comes out fast and piping hot.

One of my favorites are their Molcajetes!  Molcajetes are served in a traditional stone grinding bowl made from a lava stone.  The food comes out in a flaming hot bowl that adds great flavor to your food and keeps your meal hot to enjoy throughout your meal.

Teresa's Molcajete

They have several different flavors and options with different combinations of steak, seafood, chicken, pork and chorizo.  Pick one that sounds good to you, fill your warm tortillas and make your own taco/fajitas. 

Last tip, don't fill up on the free chips and salsa before your dinner comes!

Last night in Dublin

After two weeks on the road in Ireland, we were just about spent as a team.  We spent our last night in Clontarf Castle Hotel, there was a graduation at the castle and waits to eat there were way longer then what we could tolerate.  So we asked concierge for a recommendation, and helped us make some reservations at Hemmingways which was a 5 minute walk from the castle.

 We got there pretty early by Dublin standards as we were road weary and hungry, plus wanted to get a good night's rest before travels back to the USA.

 I sampled the wings, very unique flavor, but also very tasty, I could have used a little more of the sweet chili sauce that came on the side, but they hit the spot.

 A twist on your traditional caprese salad was enjoyed by the ladies. Was called Capri Salad, grilled tomato & mozzarella slices topped with seasoned olive oil and basil peso jus.

I had this spicy shrimp dish (Pil Pil Prawns) that was extremely flavorful (chili, win & garlic sauce) to the point I tried to sop up as much of the sauce with my toasted bread as I could.  Pictured below a similar shrimp dish that my wife enjoyed with a more traditional garlic/cream type sauce.

Probably one of the best meals we had in Dublin area, if you are in Clontarf area, this is a restaurant to check out!  





In near future I intend to catch up on my domestic dining, but I am also taking a trip to Puerto Rico in January, so keep an eye out for those upcoming posts!

An Canteen is On Point!

My turn to pick a dinner spot came around again, I spent some time on my phone doing some research on Dingle restaurants.  Based on what I read, An Canteen fit the bill for type of food and a little easier on our budget.

 The actual restaurant is pretty small, so either go early or make a reservation!

Our two selected local Micro Brews!

  We started off with a couple micro-brews, the only brews you can get here, very good bears, nice change of pace.  As usual I cannot remember, what my vegetarian sister-in-law had for dinner, but it was seafood and she liked it.  My wife raved about here starter salad and I had a great Seafood chowder, best of the trip and I had it like 5 different times.

Best Seafood Chowder of my Trip!

I do recall, they were out of one thing I wanted to eat, so been gone from home so long I got the wings, they did an awesome job knocking off an American Classic!  Chips/fries were done well and the side salad was very tasty.

Great Buffalo Wings

The two others got a chicken dish that they both devoured and raved about it afterwards.

Chicken Dish

We did not spend a ton of time hanging out, as we went to a local folk music at a nearby church.  I would for sure be back to this restaurant if I ever return to Dingle!

Fresh Seafood - Dingle's Best Catch!

Based on our B&B's recommendation, we made reservations at Out of the Blue for my wife's birthday dinner.  It is a pretty small place and their menu is limited to what is brought in that day by the fishermen.  So if it is a stormy day and the boats don't go out, they don't open their doors for dining.  The menu has not meat on it, it is written on black boards daily. 

Don't let the outside fool you

The decor is nothing fancy, but they had some nice touches, like seashells for butter dishes.

Potato Crusted Pollack - Menu Mainstay when they catch'em!

They had a smoked mackerel pate that came with the complimentary bread that was really delightful.  We skipped any appetizers for this meal as we had a late snack at another pub earlier.  The other three in my group all got a Potato Crusted Pollack dinner, they all seemed to really enjoy it.  One interesting thing, is that most of our plates came with different sides, even people that ordered the same entree.

My great Tuna meal!

I had a grilled tuna that was cooked perfectly.  All our dishes came with a multitude of small and well prepared side dishes, a little something for everybody.  We also has some desserts, they were out of what we wanted and what we ended up with was just okay, but you come here for the seafood!  It was a little pricey, but portions were large and in the end, only a few Euros more then some of our other dinners elsewhere.

Fenton's Of Dingle

 Our first night in Dingle we dined at Fenton's based on the recommendation of our B&B (Milestone).  We had the option to eat inside or in the outdoor seating area in back which was like a little outdoor garden patio, nice but there were a few bugs.

Overall the food was pretty good, my favorite part was a smoked mackerel pate that they brought out to our table as a starter.  I believe our group has one fish entree, two chicken and I got the Chargrilled Kerry striploin of (Beef) Steak.  Others very much liked their chicken, my steak was just okay, flavor was okay, but definitely overcooked as I requested Medium Rare and got Medium Well, I am kind of picky when it comes to over cooking steaks.  There was no pink left in this steak :(

Steak overcooked and not overly large portion

Coffee Ice Cream

The sides came family style, they were quite good.  My wife enjoyed her coffe ice cream, but the highlight of the meal was the rhubarb crumble for dessert, we almost returned just to have that again!

Overall, food was pretty good, little pricey for the portion sizes, I'd go again for the crumble.

The White House - Kinsale

Night two in Kinsale was my choice for dinner, so after checking a handful of reviews on TripAdvisor and a few other sites, and reading some menus on the faces of the restaurants, I elected for us to dine at The White House.

They had a nice variety of food on their menu and some multi-course early bird options.  As a bonus they had Coors Light on tap, I very much enjoyed the Irish beers on my trip, but it was nice to have US "Domestic" lager with this meal.

Seafood Chowder

My meal consisted of a very nice seafood chowder and the Half Lobster.  The chowder was very delicious, probably my favorite of the trip, nice large pieces of clam and seafood.  The side salad was well done and the lobster was prepared perfectly.  A very filling meal that did not weigh me down.

Half Lobster & Side Salad

I don't recall what everyone else ate, but all were pleased with their meals and feeling good enough to take in the Kinsale Ghost Walk, which was comedic and entertaining, while allowing us to walk off our meals and then go out for drinks and music afterwards.

Get French in Kinsale, Ireland

After a few days on our trip, we started doing a rotation to select dinner places.  My sister-in-law picked Max's Wine bar for our first dinner in Kinsale.  Know for its fusion of French and Irish cuisine.  The place was definitely a little more expensive then most places we ate on this trip, but their early bird twp & three course specials made it a little easier.

Oyster Sampler

Definitely plenty of items on the menu that were different from our normal fare.  Between us, we had one fish entree, two Pork Belly entrees and I had a pheasant dish.  We also started with some oysters and some seafood bisque.  The bisque and oyster were quite good.

Pork Belly

As you may imagined, most of the food was very buttery, that is kind of what you expect with French cooking.  The pork belly was quite flavorful, a little rich for most and I tried a bite, did not quite care for the maple glaze, not my thing.

Pheasant

My pheasant was pretty good, but not outstanding.  We split some desserts that were very good as well.  I think we all agreed that it probably wasn't that the food was not good as much as our group is not real big on French style cuisine.

Based on my taste, I will give it 2.5, but I am guessing if you love French cuisine, you would enjoy Max's just fine.