I know this is Cooking & Baking and not a restaurant forum but...

[hippywife]

yesterday my MIL took Bill and I to lunch as a belated birthday gift. We went to a restaurant I'd never heard of before even though it's a chain. Every thing was so fresh and delicious and relatively low calorie for the most part, say as compared to someplace like Applebees.

http://www.getcosi.com/

I had their Signature Salad with the addition of some very lean white meat grilled chicken. It was fabulous! MIL had something not listed on the website but as a summer special - Fig, gorgonzola and chicken pizza. O.M.G. was that delicious but if you say figs and gorgonzola to me in the same breath I swoon. Bill had the Tuscan Pesto Chicken sandwich and was pleased with his, too.

Just the night before we met friends at a local restaurant that was really wonderful, too.

http://www.keorestaurant.com/

It was so hard to decide (at both places) but Friday night I had the grilled yellow fin tuna and Bill had the shrimp crepe. Mine was really good, but his was dynamite and I never would have chosen it for some reason, and it didn't look appealing when it was delivered. We also shared the tempura veggies with our friends. The red pepper aioli that came with it was kinda spicy but really good. I even started out with a flirtini. LOL I wished I could have tried all of their specialty drinks. They all sounded so wonderful, but that wouldn't have been a good thing.

I guess all the birthday celebrations are now over, but they were all delicious! :9

[Tesha]

1. Life should be delicious!

What great places Hippywife! and Happy belated birthday!

[hippywife]

2. Great slogan isn't it? LOL

One of my favorite salads for many years has been the Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad, but I don't eat it often at all. And it's a really good thing because the other day I found out from their website that it's 1320 calories! :o This salad I had was every bit as good, if not better and fresher, and it was 611 calories before the cold grilled chicken was added. Their multi-gran flat bread was awesome, too.

Thanx for the belated wishes, Tesha. It really was a great foodie birthday. :D

[housewolf]

3. What a wonderful birthday celebration!

I imagine you really enjoyed having a couple nights off from your kitchen!

Belated Happy Birthday greetings from me, too!

[hippywife]

4. Well, yes...there was that, too. LOL

But I'm making up for it today. Thank you very much, sweet B. :hug:

[yellerpup]

5. Sorry I missed your birthday!

Here is someone else who would like to wish you well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bqo88UYPmg&feature=fvw

You have dined well lately! Way to go! :party: :woohoo: :party: :toast: :woohoo:

[hippywife]

6. You didn't know. LOL

Thanks for the belated wishes and the song. :)

Here's another song I've been passing around but not getting much love for it in the Lounge. Oklahoma gal like you should enjoy it. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWclzae2BOw&feature=related

[yellerpup]

7. What a sweet song!

For all the entertainers here locally, there is not half the music scene here as there is where you are. You are so up-to-the-minute when it comes to music. Do you perform?

[hippywife]

8. I wish!

I would love to perform but didn't have the patience to learn to play a guitar. I just love music...real down to earth acoustic stuff for the most part. Most of the artists I enjoy only get air play on a select and rare number of radio stations, and are mostly small venue and festival regulars. There is a great network of house concerts and festivals supporting these great folks.

[yellerpup]

9. It is hard in this country to be an artist of any kind.

You do what you love and hope for opportunity. :pals:

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Cosi is a French chain. Their flatbread pizza is really excellent.

Happy birthday!!!!!

There is a Cosi in Philadelphia's 30th Street (Amtrak) Station. It is a mandatory respite for me when I have business in Philly.

[hippywife]

12. Stinky!

Thank you!

I can see why this would be a mandatory stop. I've talked Bill into having date night there next Friday. I want to try everything! LOL

Their mango smoothie is awesome, too! :9

Glad to see you. :hi:

[grasswire]

11. HW, do you have a Panera nearby?

Their Asian Chicken Salad is only 400 calories. Probably not as big as Appleby's, but it is 11 ounces. I like it quite a bit.

[hippywife]

13. Thanx, E.

I might try that sometime. There are numerous Panera around here. :hi:

[Dover]

14. Sounds like a deeeelicious celebration! I had never heard of that restaurant either

so I followed your link. There is only ONE restaurant in this whole big state so far. If I'm ever visiting San Antonio I'll look for it. However, I may not be able to wait that long to try that amazing sounding pizza.
I've never had figs and gorgonzola together, but it seems like a winning combo. I looked for some recipes online and found this one (minus the chicken). I also saw one that includes prosciutto and arugula.
Mmmmmmm!

Anyway here's one of them (which includes the recipe for the flatbread too):
http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/fig-and-gorgonzola-flatbread-400675

And here's the prosciutto/arugula/fig/gorgonzola recipe.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pizza-with-Figs-Prosciutto-Gorgonzola-Balsamic-and-Arugula-354313

AND a salad: Grilled Fig and Arugula Salad with Gorgonzola Toasts
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1072130


I planted a fig tree this spring and anticipate learning a million ways to cook, eat and store them in the near future. So that's my incentive to try these recipes out

Happy B-day
:party:

[hippywife]

15. Dover!

Thanks, hon. Sorry there aren't any locations closer to you. I hope you get many, many figs! :hi:

[pengillian101]

16. Happy belated birthday.

Isn't it fun to go out and try new places to eat? Some pals and I went out last week and had a very good time! It's named and themed after Bob Dylan/Zimmerman who grew up in the area.

http://www.zimmys.com/index.html
http://www.zimmys.com/images/lmenu.pdf

[Dover]

17. A follow up comment -

Hippywife, just want to thank you for this post which introduced me to a new taste for my palate. And it's a meal which not only I find delicious and satisfying, but has also become a requested meal. It's the fig/gorgonzola combination either in a sandwich of flat or rustic bread loaf with prosciutto or ham, as well as in a salad with arugula (which I'm growing in my garden). Many thanks! :9

Can't wait until I'm able to harvest my own figs!

[hippywife]

18. I'm so glad.

It really is a drool-worthy combination of flavors.

Enjoy! :hi:

[The empressof all]

19. I put two fig trees in last year.

Actually I put them in big pots because I'm not sure I'll be in this house that much longer than another year or two. I got them as twigs and didn't expect to see fruit for a few years.

I have about a dozen grape size figs on one of the little trees this year.

We've had an extraordinarily cold summer here and I doubt they'll ripen to the point that I can eat them...

But I have high hopes for next year....