Huge mistake!

[hippywife]

I've been planning for a couple of days now to make Sunday Gravy today. And I still am. It's simmering as I type.

But last night was date night. We decided we wanted to go to Carrabba's and have one of their grilled chicken entrees that are so incredibly good. No big deal, in Italy they eat Italian food everyday and it's not like the sauce and pasta I'm making is even close to the same type of dish. Right?

We just heated up our leftovers for lunch. Pollo Rosa Maria and Chicken Bryan with a little cavatappi amatriciana. OMG! Even reheated that stuff is heaven on a plate. As soon as we finished the little bit we had I immediately lost all desire for my own cooking.

It's the only Italian place around here that I can not just enjoy, but truly look forward to whenever we have the chance to go. It's such a good thing I don't work there. I'm overweight enough as it is and I'd be bigger than a house. I really could eat that every night and never get tired of it.

I'm sure dinner will still be good. It was smelling really good as I was browning the chuck roast and sauteing the veggies and aromatics. But damn! There is no way I could ever reproduce at home the meal we had last night. The taste is just incredible.

[grasswire]

1. so what's the Pollo Rosa Maria like?

?

[hippywife]

2. It's a well seasoned, fire-roasted breast of chicken

stuffed with fontina cheese and prosciutto, topped with mushroom slices and a very light lemon basil sauce. Really incredible tasting stuff.

The Chicken Bryan is the same chicken breast without the stuffing topped with sun-dried tomatoes, a round of melty goat cheese and the same lemon basil sauce.

Both are to die for and I could easily kill myself eating them every single day.

[yellerpup]

6. That sounds incredible.

Especially the Chicken Bryan since goat cheese is my fave. Glad that you have found a glorious local place to relax.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I agree with you about Carrabba's .....

It is actually a very nice place to eat. I like their sensibilities about Italian food. Not so much the actual items they make, but the way they make them. I realize the kitchen crew are not high end culinarians, but the formula they follow are well thought out and have a real Italian soul to them.

Yes, there are better Italian restaurants around here, but Carrabba's is no slouch.

[hippywife]

4. You know it at least has to be pretty decent if

the Italians will eat there. There was a large party last night waiting just ahead of us. Four men and their SO's. All four of the men were Italian. My dad even loves it and he has other choices, too.

They just really take that chicken to a whole 'nother level. And the cavatappi amatriciana? Oh my! I sometimes get just a whole order of that by itself. If it weren't for the fact I was making sauce today, I would have ordered some to bring home. There was so little of it left from our dinner.

No slouch is exactly right.


Good to see you, Stinks. :hi:

[hippywife]

5. And the other thing is

that it IS a NICE place to eat. The atmosphere is upscale without being stiff or stuffy.

When I go I don't dress up, but I dress nicely casual. There are so many people around here that traipse in wearing t-shirts and shorts, not nice ones, sloppy ones. Some guy last night at the hightop next to our booth was barely in his seat before he started complaining and raising hell. He was with his wife, both in their late twenties would be my guess, and small child, and an older couple. They were just seated and had their drinks delivered. I have no idea what happened to cause him to go off. Their seats couldn't even have been warm yet! But the manager came over to talk to him and brought another server to wait on them, the very nice and competent girl serving our station had disappeared.

All I heard him saying to the manager was that his wife had just left, probably never to return. I wanted to ask him if that were the case, why was he still sitting there? She returned a little later and the other couple looked embarrassed. The other servers and hosts were running around her tables checking on people and making sure everyone had everything they needed. When she came back out she had obviously been crying. I had asked the hostess who checked on us if she was okay and I told her I was so sorry she was having a bad night. We also tipped her like 35% to make up for the way the other table had treated her.

That's the downside of going out in a redneck town. Dealing with the other people that don't know how to behave properly in public.

[pengillian101]

7. Yikes!

Some folks are just rude and should NOT be let out in public! :hi:

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Hippywife

Try Villa Ravena (sp?) in The Farm shopping center at 51st and Sheridan. East (behind) Mazzio's and north of Ron's Hamburgers.

No, it's not Carrabba's but it is my favorite Tulsa area Italian place.

[hippywife]

9. I didn't know it was there.

I don't get over there that much but maybe we'll try it. We are really in love with those grilled chicken entrees at Carrabba's, though. As soon as that Pollo Rosa Marie hit my tongue the first time I was a goner.

Carrabba's and the new Thai Village at 81st and Lewis are really our only concessions to not eating out. We don't do it very often so we tend to go with the tried and true, ones we really love.

:hi: