Post #5 - NOTO Saturday Market

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For those of you who don't know, NOTO is starting their Saturday Market, which will be on every Saturday, throughout the summer and fall. NOTO can be found on the North side of Kansas Avenue Memorial Bridge. The market will begin on April 7 and continue until Nov. 3. The idea is that it will supplement the Downtown Farmer's Market. It will feature live music, arts and crafts, and cultural food vendors - such as bierocks, Indian tacos, Italian sausage and more. The creators want to represent the rich cultural diversity that one can find in Topeka.
"With a focus on the arts, antiques, fine crafts, flea market items and local produce, the goal is to have an area of heritage food booths which are reflective of the multi-cultural neighboring community, providing a rich cultural experience." - NOTO website, http://notoartsdistrict.com/noto-saturday-market/

Post #4 - Bradley's Corner Cafe

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If you are searching for the best breakfast in Topeka, you can stop looking now. In the heart of the North Topeka Arts District, Bradley’s Corner Café is the best spot for home cooked anything-and-everything. From any kind of omelets, to breakfast sandwiches to corned beef hash, Bradley’s knows how to do it right. I have been going there for 3 plus years and have yet to have a bad experience, or anything less than superb.

            The service staff is friendly, quick and also part of the family that owns the restaurant, which adds to why I love it even more – it’s local. Every time I go there, it’s packed and seating is limited, but it’s worth the wait, and usually you don’t have to wait too long. The walls are painted in bright yellow, and faux brick, with various Southwestern styled decorations, cactuses and cute vintage signs. The booths and tables are worn from much use, like I said, it’s always packed, and add to that home-style café thing they got going on.

            The food is the best part. It’s exactly what you would expect of a small café in Topeka, Kans. I don’t come to a café to be surprised by the food, and since they do it right, it’s exactly what I want on Saturday or Sunday mornings.

My first favorite was the chicken fried steak, and it was actually the first thing I ever ate at Bradley’s. It was the best chicken fried steak I had ever had, hands down – and still is today. The gravy is home made sausage gravy, and the meat is breaded and fried fresh as well. It comes with hash browns, two eggs and choice of toast, pancakes or biscuits. The toast is toast, the pancakes are fluffy, and the biscuits are where it’s at. The biscuits and gravy are an excellent choice because the biscuits are homemade as well, and that just can’t be beat.

            My new favorite, which I ordered the last time I was there, is the Special Omelet, but minus the peppers and onions. It has sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, onions, and American cheese and Swiss cheese melted on top. This monster comes served with hash browns and choice of toast, pancakes or a biscuit, and you will lucky to fit it all in your belly in one sitting. The omelet is always cooked just right, with crispy-not-burnt hash browns, and I switch it up every time with the bread choice.

            This café is priced reasonably as well, and is worth checking out. 

Post #3 - Chez Yasu

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Right down 17th Street from Washburn's campus is one of the best restaurants in town, Chez Yasu. Every time I have been there I am pleased, and the food is always cooked perfectly. The price may be a little high, but it's worth it because everything is made from fresh ingredients, and made to order. 

The food is classical French cuisine. Escargot, calamari and scallops can all be found on this menu. I ordered the calamari, and if you are expecting fried calamari, you have another thing coming. They sauté the squid in a lemon butter cream sauce, with mushrooms and green onion stalks. The legs were tender while the rings were a little tough but normal for calamari. The sauce was so good I wanted to drink what was left - but I had to save room for my entrée.

I ordered the beef medallions and mushrooms in red wine cream sauce, which is served with a salad. The salad is plain and simple, but good. It consists of romaine lettuce with their special house dressing, which I couldn't find out exactly what the dressing was. Every person I asked just simply stated that it was a house-made dressing - not very helpful. It's creamy, but not as creamy as a Caesar dressing, but it kind of looks like Caesar dressing. It's got a light flavor of lemon and it pairs nicely with the romaine. 

The beef medallions came cooked medium, in a delicious red wine sauce, with mushrooms. The thing about French cuisine is it's heavy in sauces, and if you don't like sauce, you probably won't like the dish - that being said, this sauce was amazing, just like every other sauce I have tried there. Every entree comes with the vegetable of the day, and today was sugar snap peas and baby carrots - a favorite of Chef Yasu. They are always cooked perfectly as well, and I could eat a whole entree of the baby carrots, which are glazed in what seems to be brown sugar and butter.

By the time I finished what I could, I had no interest in dessert – I was full.  The dessert menu is low priced and includes crème brulee, gateau chocolat, napoleon, and gateau fromage. Since I didn’t order any of these, I am not sure what they are like, but going off the rest of the menu, I am sure they are delectable. Plus they only cost $3.95 each.

I will definitely be returning to this restaurant and I recommend it for your romantic night out, or even lunch with friends or for business meetings.

post #2 - Henry T's

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This week my friend and I ate at Henry T’s, and I wasn’t necessarily going to write about the food. But my experience there chose my next blog post, so here it goes.

I have eaten at Henry T's a couple times, and it's always been an all right experience, but this last time was less than all right.

First off, I ordered some guacamole because I love me some guac - unfortunately guac was not what I received. There was no cilantro and no garlic, two things I think are needed in good guacamole, and too much lime juice. This was very disappointing because I have eaten there before and everything was good, so I splurged for the large dish of the green dip, and was sorry I did.

This all being said, the taco salad, which I ordered with grilled chicken was pretty tasty. It comes with salsa and ranch for dressing, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, grilled onions and peppers, all in a huge fried tortilla shell. Just because I chose the grilled chicken doesn't mean you have to, the other choices include crispy chicken or ground beef.

My friend that came with me ordered the fried pork tender sandwich, and that thing was humungous - it wasn't your typical fried pork cutlet. It is served with your choice of a side, anywhere from French fries to mandarin oranges, to macaroni and cheese. My friend ordered the mashed potatoes and brown gravy and could only eat half of everything.

The service was friendly and timely, and I enjoyed my time there and usually do. Although the guacamole was not to my satisfaction, the other food is good. They have daily specials, and their prices are suitable for college students - plus it is right by Washburn.

Post#1- Burger Stand

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I went to the Burger Stand at College Hill last night and had a wonderful experience. I chose the Kobe burger with pickled red onion and truffle butter, which I of course, ordered medium. The pickled onion was bright purple and tasted sweet with the smokiness of the burger and the richness of the truffle butter - altogether the burger was pretty scrumptious.

My husband got the Black and Blue burger with Maytag blue cheese and a granny smith apple chutney, ordered medium. If you don't like blue cheese don't get this one, there is a substantial amount of it on this burger. The apple chutney contrasts it well because it's sweet, and my husband I both agreed they should add some of those pickled red onions to it. 

We ordered a basket of regular French fries, and beer-battered onion rings, and I couldn’t stop eating either. The fries were crispy, salty and perfectly golden and the onion rings were crispy and beer-y and juicy on the inside. I couldn’t complain about anything - well except that the pickle on the side wasn't dill and that's what I was expecting.

We tried a little bit of every different sauce they had, including the chipotle-cocoa ketchup, parmesan-roasted garlic aioli, and guajillo-chili dip; they had more but I am not going to list them all.

Of course you pay a little extra for all this yumminess, but if you want cheap, go get cheap at McDonald's. But if you are looking for something more than a Whopper or Big Mac, check out Burger Stand at College Hill.

Here's a link to their menu:

http://thecasbahburgerstand.com/Menu.html