Pho Hang

Everyone should like Pho! What's not to love? Noodles, broth, spice, herbs!

Pho Hang has been a favorite for years

I went for the seafood pho, unconventional just like me.


My homie had the beef pho, which he always loves.



If you don't put the beans and thai basil in the soup there is something wrong with you, it is given for a reason!

If you've never had Pho I urge, in fact I insist you go to Pho Hang!

Pho Hang is located at  30921 Dequindre Rd, Madison Heights MI

The Beverly Hills Grill

When I need to treat myself to a delightful meal, I go for The Beverly Hills Grill in Beverly Hills MI.

Everything about The Beverly Hills Grill screams class. The food that comes out of the kitchen is around the exact same standard of what I like to produce when I cook at home, I'm jus sayin'.

This time around my homie had the kobe meatloaf with mash potatoes & porchini mushroom gravy. Sooooooooo delightful to all the senses.



I had the polenta egg benedict topped with crispy prosciutto. I was dumbfounded with taste, the hollandaise was so luscious... I love this place.


Every time we arrive, we are seated in almost the exact same seat, eye shot of this painting. We usually have the same waiter, or at least he enjoys our company and shoots the sh*t with us. The debate at hand: is she naked?


I say yes.



The Beverly Hills Grill is located at 31471 Southfield Road; Beverly Hills, MI

The Rain Forest Cafe

One Friday family funday I decided to take the monster man out to The Rainforest Cafe in Great Lakes Crossing mall. Not because we thought the food is fantastic there or that the service out-of-this-world...only because we thought Aidan would love the ambiance which is slightly annoying to the adult ear.

The menu was completely over priced as expected, so I went with the homemade veggie burger for shits n' giggles.

I ate it without the bun but threw the top bun on to show you what it looked like.

The burger had no flavor to it, I couldn't even begin to guess what they made it out of. All in all it was just as I expected however- average.


My homie had the Caesar salad with chicken, not sure what it was that possessed her to order such a thing. She hated it.



The littlest lunch guru dined on veggie burger & fries with ketchup. He loved it!


We had a wonderful time regardless, some more than others of course!

Sammi

Korean food is flavorful, spicy and decadent. Before dining here I really never thought much about it, little did I know how much I adore it.


We were first served an array of condiments & palate cleansers. Including small candied fish, kim chi and other unidentifiable items.


I had the chili squid and it was off the hook great. I would totally order it again and again.



My friend ordered some kind of chili pork dish that came on a sizzling platter- it was AMAZING.



The littlest lunch guru had a packed lunch I made him, but he was as happy as can be to just watch us indulge on the forbidden fruits.


My love.


Sammi of Troy is located at 3634 Rochester Road, and is worth ever penny!

Tokyo Sushi

Tokyo Sushi in Birmingham always makes me smile. Great prices, great food, great service- it's a triple threat.


Ginger salad, i'm all in coach.



I had the tempura paired with teriyaki salmon, friggin' fan-tas-tic.

Tokyo Sushi is located at 225 E Maple Rd, Birmingham MI.

GET SOME!

El Charro

Located right across the street from my parent's crib, I really didn't need much more of a reason to try out the newest Mexican grub station on the block. A quick check on google prior to the dining disaster informed me that the El Charro I was about to embark on was one of several, and family operated.

Here's the breakdown; El Charro used to be an Arbies. I spent my high school days in the drive through purchasing over priced cheese sticks, and the drive through still remains. The concept of El Charro is to order at the counter or drive through window, and the food will magically appear at your car or table.

Disappointment was brewing, and I was ready for my serving. The menu looked promising, but the vibe inside was lacking flavor. I ordered the queso dip, like a jackass. My mom ordered a 'small' quesadilla, and an side order of guacamole. $18.00 and 10 minutes later the food arrived to our table.


Hmmmm... really? Not so much.




You call this a what? I'm pretty sure my high school cafeteria could of pounded out one better.



The littlest lunch guru, not impressed.



Wait folks, we have a winner!


Senor guacamole face at your service!


El Charro is located... google it.

the Orchid Cafe

Damn I really fell off. There are just not enough hours in the day to work, take care of a child and everything else you have to fit in and still have time to blog...So more of less for the next several entries this will be photos of what I ate from where, and if it was satisfactory to the taste buds.

The Orchid Cafe in Troy has been around as long as I can remember. They always had great food, but recently they are under new- and what I presume to be Russian ownership? Which is strange but they still deliver.

I had the tofu pad Thai with extra nuts, because they more nuts the better- right?



My friend had the sweet and sour chicken, which I thought was pretty mediocre. Pretty sure it had cucumbers which I didn't feel should of been included in the mix, but what do I know?



The littlest lunch guru only dined on shrimp chips, he would not eat anything else for some reason.


Pad Thai was great, but as far as the littlest lunch guru was concerned the shrimp chips were tits.

The Orchid Cafe is located in Troy at 3303 Rochester Road

www.TheLunchGuru.com

The Littlest Lunch Guru with one of his mama's new business cards, YAY!

The Red Olive

Not your run o' the mill generic coney island, The Red Olive offers big portions fit for big appetites at reasonable prices.

I've been a regular here since they opened their doors, and the food has always been great and enough to eat later a second time around.

The Littlest Lunch Guru is a well known super star here, and loves stuffing his face and making a mess of the place.

I switched things up and ordered an appetizer of fried zucchini, and it was delish.


for my entree I had the greek salad with grilled chicken. Enough to feed an army, and I'm almost positive the secret ingredient in the greek dressing is crack.


Don't take my opinion as fact, try it out for yourself.

The Red Olive is all over the metro-Detroit area
visit www.redoliverestaurant.com for details

Al's Famous Deli

Self coined "Da best", Al's Famous Deli eats, sleeps & (positively) reeks Detroit's finest.

Only using and selling products local to the area, Al's is a must for hungriest of food connoisseurs. They carry an awesome assortment of desserts, Faygo & pickled products. The spot is small and seats are very limited, but regardless of if you have to eat while standing or sitting you will leave satisfied and yearning for more.

The menu is outrageously bottomless and overwhelming to choose from. Here is what the fam had during our victorious trip;


picky eater had the roast beast, not the prettiest of choices but he ate the whole thing!


pregnant sister from another mister had the turkey melt. Mmmmmm....baby likes.


And of course they had to make us jealous with their order of sweet potato fries


My homie had the corned beef with slaw


Big J had the the pastrami on rye


I ordered the turkey & ham stack with swiss.


and the Littlest Lunch Guru gorged his sweet cheeks on some fresh pickles


Momma approves :)

DON'T WALK, RUN TO AL'S! You won't be sorry, I promise!!!

visit http://www.alsfamousdeli.com/ and get yo lunch on.

Fuji Japanese Buffet

Be as large and in charge as you wanna be here, but don't come not hungry- cuz you'll be pissed.

The Fuji buffet has endless belly ache options to choose from. I can't help but warn you, you may leave slightly upset.

If you must, go solely for the sushi. While the average sushi extravaganza may cost you over $30 of your hard earned skrilla, for $11.99 a person here you can eat 'til you need to punch out a new notch on your belt.

We dined amongst the average, the savvy and starving. The first plate of food seemed promising that we made the right choice by eating here, but by the second plate we wished we went somewhere else.



vegetable tempura, an array of seafood sushi rolls, seaweed salad, fried whole shrimp & calamari. I picked around most of the food and left 50% of it on my plate. The second time around as follows;



Clockwise around the plate; baked fish, eel tempura roll, more shrimp, broccoli, inside out california rolls, something odd labeled "egg tart"and fried tofu chunks. The star in the center was misleadingly labeled "stuffed scallop". If by "stuffed scallop" they meant "dough stuffed with coleslaw" then they are correct.

I was incredibly unhappy, and swore I would never be back. I then went to take some pictures of the food troughs but was scolded like a child with the first picture I took. "NO PICTURES ALLOWED!"



Don't worry brosef, I'm not a Oakland County Health Inspector- but I will be reporting you for high levels of customer un-satisfaction.

The Fuji Buffet is located near your favorite Big Lots at  32153 John R. Rd, Madison Heights

The Chicken Shack

During the great Northeast black out of 2003, this place was my home base. The humming generators powered this well known eatery and supplied the masses with greasy deep fried goods when nothing else was open, and the crowd rejoiced.

Open for over 50 years, they have their methods to madness down and produce the same consistent crunchy battered fair that keep their fans coming back again and again.

Their food is pretty self explanatory, and you get what you expect as far as fried chicken is concerned.

I went for the fish, because I have never had it there...I was content.





The homie gunned for the chicken bites, and for a ballin' $5 lunch you can't go wrong.



I have left here many a time feeling gross, usually due to the over consumption of oil one ingests in a short period of time. I will say however, that this time around I didn't leave feeling that way.

If you want to play "fat guy" for the day go for the broasted potatoes, but if you want to play it safe indulge in the super tasty fries instead.

There are 18 locations throughout Michigan, visit www.chickenshack.com to find the joint closes to you.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club is humble, sweet & sassy. They take average dishes and turn them into something spectacular.

The breakfast here is your best bet and the most direct route to flavor town, as I learned the hard way this trip. I should of known better than to order a salad here, but I'm glad I did because I know never to do such a thing again!

Their menu includes everything from the ordinary to extraordinary. C'mon, this place has breakfast nachos... its gotta be good, right?


My dish- the crab cobb salad.

Obviously, a stupid choice. I was intent on finding out what they meant by "premium crab", and I was saddened by my discovery.

As I've learned through past Michigan crab adventures, it's damn hard to find GREAT looking crab around here! What do I really expect though, I know I am setting myself up for the 1-2 punch in my grill.



Smart choice #1- Carrot cake pancakes with cream cheese frosting

Decadent & delicious.



smart choice #2- The baked french toast. Their signature dish, the bomb shizzle.




smart choice #3 The wild mushroom omelet- with portobello mushrooms, green onion & cream cheese. Served with a side of tomatoes au' gratin & fruit

As you can clearly see, I really lost this round. Fortunately the Lunch Guru's dining partners were nice enough to allow me to taste.

The Breakfast Club has three scrumptious locations;

3o66o John R, Madison Heights
open 7AM- 2PM Monday-Sunday

38467 W. Ten Mile, Farmington Hills
open 7AM-2:30PM Monday-Sunday

1713 Haggerty, Commerce Township
open 7AM-2:30PM Monday-Sunday

The Red Coat Tavern

The Red Coat Tavern is just one of those places you have to love. Walking through the front doors it takes your eyes about 10 minutes to adjust to the dark, red hued lights. Once you can see your hand in front of your face it makes you feel like you've arrived somewhere special and unique.

Ask anyone, and they will insist the burgers are some of the best in the area. I too agree, they really don't get much better than this!

Each burger is handcrafted to your liking, and the menu contains about a dozen and a half of additional items to add. If you are balling on a budget, be sure to ask how much for each additional item you want, because they do not give the prices on the menu...they be schemin'.


I ordered the classic burger, with sharp American, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, lettuce & burger sauce.

Burger sauce is just mayo with chopped up onions, your mouth will thank you but your make out partner might hate you.


classic burger with gouda, bacon, jalapenos & sauteed mushrooms



Picky eater's burger with provolone & bacon.




The french fries tasted just like McDonald's to me, not sure why.

the onion rings were amazing, the beer batter was on point.

The Littlest Lunch Guru passed up everything for his new found favorite food- PICKLES!



Despite the "Don't feed the animals" sign, we ignored it and fed the Littlest Lunch Guru all he fancied.

Special thanks to Big J, for supporting this endeavor to the fullest :)

The Red Coat Tavern is located @ 31542 Woodward Ave, Royal Oak, MI
Open 11Am-2AM Monday-Saturday