Busy Bee Cafe did me a huge favor, it made deciding where to take my mother for her birthday a no brainer. When Mom is not climbing mount Kilimanjaro, helping kids get through school, traveling Europe, swimming with dolphins, falling asleep before 9 o’clock, taking yoga classes, quitting yoga classes, calling herself a golden indigo, learning French, traveling to France, or deciding whether or not she is a druid, you can find her doing her latest hobby, which for the time being is bee keeping. Even though she has more hobbies than there are hobbies to have, she is exceedingly difficult to shop for. So lately, I have been buying her dinners, but where to take the mother who has eaten it all?

I read that the Busy Bee was a landmark of Raleigh, that it is nationally renowned as a great bar for beer because of their aging process, and it has a good score on UrbanSpoon, so I figure why not. Bee is in the title, Mom will love that. When I got there, I realized just how much of a bar it was. Lines of beer taps, a bar long enough to house 4 bartenders. Limited seating towards the back, but an entire upstairs for large and loud parties. When I think of “Busy Bee” as a restaurant title, I think of a place that probably sponsors NPR, hosts book clubs, and has one little old lady running the place with experience that longer translates to impressive speed, but this place is a legit bar ready for the working class to buy quality beer, wine or liquor.

After reading more about this place after my first visit, I guess their stand out item is their aged beer. I don’t think I have ever tasted aged beer. I have a can of beer that has been loitering on my back porch for a little over a year, but I think Busy Bee has a better system than that. Sadly, I cannot talk about the beer today, just the food and their signature Queen Bee martini, which my girlfriend agreed must be for the Disney princesses in the audience. This drink was so sweet that I think most kids would have a hard time finishing it or getting drunk off of it.

Bars that are known for their spirits rarely lend themselves to an expansive or entirely appetizing menu, and in this case, their menu has 4 salads, 6 entrees, and 9 burgers to chose from. Maybe the left the old lady in the kitchen to satisfy the one customer looking to order food for their meal and not an imperial stout. Either way, it is clear that they did not want their menu to become a formidable read for any drunks in the house.

For the food, my mother, who insisted that I call her Golden Indigo for this review (she assured me that my readers will know what that means), ordered the Arugula Salad. She wants you to know that she gives it an A, but she had a list of complaints that made me curious why she ate as much of it as she did. I think she was just happy to be at a restaurant that had goat cheese, but she wants everyone to know that the salad needed more goat cheese. I think it needs a dressing that is worth a damn, but that’s just me. We all agreed that the lettuce to toppings ratio was dreadful. I will never pretend to like salads built off of a fruit and a vinaigrette, so no one should be offended that I would give this salad a 1/5. HOWEVER, my girlfriend who said she would give it a 2/5…that’s a fruit and vinaigrette expert.

Let’s get to the meat of the matter. I ordered the drably named American Burger. Saying my order out loud almost depressed me. I thought American Burger as a name was out of fashion, kind of like…Chicken Nuggets. I expect my burgers to have no less than three adjectives in their name: “Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger” or the “Zesty Kung Pow BBQ Burger”. If that fails, give it an exotic name that sparks interest like the Skinny Dip Burger, the New Mexico Burger, or the Golden Indigo burger, that sounds…nevermind, I would never order that (what the hell’s a golden indigo?). I am slowly beginning to realize that a name means nothing in the food industry, because this burger rocked my world!

I want everyone to know that there have been times in my life where I have ordered a burger and wanted my first bite to consume me in a Jimmy Buffet song. Dear readers, I am happy to report that this burger has done just that. In my first bite, I was eating the burger that I have hoped for at every burger joint I have encountered. I found the meat incredibly flavorful, the bun perfectly toasted, and it was of such a size that I could easily eat the thing without 1/2 of it falling on my plate, but it was incredibly filling all the same. I’m dropping an extremely satisfied 5/5 on this burger. It’s definitely in the top 5 best burgers I have ever had.

My girlfriend’s Chicken “Philly”, had everyone’s senses aroused. The cheese was oozing off the bun, there were hearty chucks of meat and vegetables, and it was partnered with a polite mind of well seasoned and crisp, but not greasy, fries. I need to wipe my brow just thinking about it. Unfortunately, my girlfriend got pretty stingy when it came to sharing this dish. I managed to get one bite and though it tasted good, I had some portion problems, so I’m giving this sandwich a 4/5. My girlfriend would give it a 5/5. And Golden Indigo judged us harshly for finishing our meals of blubber instead of ordering salads.

Was there any trouble in the hive? Quite a bit: First of all, the service was embarrassingly absent, and I say embarrassingly because we were there at two in the afternoon. Competition for our server’s attention was not an issue. Now, to be fair, our server could have been trying to avoid Golden Indigo. After hearing that I had a food blog that was doing well, Golden Indigo must have concluded that I inherited the skill from her, because she became a geyser of suggestions. When I’m tuning someone who is talking about food out, we have a problem. At one point, I think Golden Indigo brought up ice cubes…so I retract my statement. Stay gone waitress.

That being said, several of Golden Indigo’s complaints were valid. For instance, I got fried green tomatoes as my side item, thinking Golden Indigo would like them (she normally does). These were inedible. Plain and simple. They were way too tart. And when they got poured from the fryer, I don’t think there was enough oil left behind to submerge a pickle chip. These tomatoes get a first ever 0/5 and between the three of us we could not finish one and when the server came by we told her she could take them. As someone who worked as a server, I just want to say that when I saw something like this or when a client asked me to take away an item that had three bites from it, I always offered to get the customer something else, but I was never an attractive blonde.

UPDATE: Since the first visit with Golden Indigo, I have returned to Busy Bee and I was yet again faced with an unsavory side item, this time in the form of broccoli potato salad. I would give this a 1/5 and, yet again, the waitress took it back largely unfinished. When she asked how it was and I told her that it was not very good, she asked if I would like something else.

I do want to thank the service at this bar, because a group of drinkers with a teenager’s mentality and a child’s ability to control their voice was causing a scene and this is not that type of a bar. They are not playing techno, they don’t cater to loud groups. Thankfully, the staff asked this group to keep their voices down and eventually the group left, before too many diners could beat them to it.

This time, I ordered the Fish Tacos and I was pretty letdown. They carry less flavor than most fish tacos and less fish for that matter. So they get a solid 2/5. There was no appropriate side item to order with them (fries, tots, potato salad?) and my $11 plate only came with two tacos. So we are talking tapas portions here.

My girlfriend ordered the Bacon Jam Burger, or something similar in name, and it was pretty good. Topped with a hearty onion ring, bacon, and jam. I still maintain that these burgers are the perfect size, only this one (in the few bites that I had), definitely could have used more jam, because the bites that I got were pretty one note.

My girlfriend wisely ordered Tots with her meal and they were damn good tots. Very crispy, well salted. I mean, I didn’t think the day would come where I would be impressed by potato tots, but here we are: 4/5.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = 4/5
Quality = 3/5
Portions = 2/5
Price = 2/5
Service = 3/5
Atmosphere = 3/5
Total Value = Definitely worth a try

If Busy Bee’s Chicken “Philly” got you hot and bothered, let me save you a trip to downtown Raleigh. My friend Torre has a recipe for you!

A philly style sandwich doesn’t have to always be a greasy meat sandwich smothered in cheese. And don’t get me wrong, very few things go better with a cold beer, a good football game, and a rowdy group of friends on a football Sunday in the Fall than a greasy meat sandwich that isn’t shy on cheese. This take on the chicken philly however, amplifies the great flavors of the classic philly sandwich ingredients and slightly re-imagines the presentation. Chicken is the perfect protein here as it binds perfectly the tangy, spicy, sweet and cheesy flavors of this sandwich.

Total Time: 40 mins Prep: 20 mins
Cooking: 20 mins Level: Easy
Servings: 6
Price of Ingredients: $

Ingredients:

2 lbs Skinless & Boneless Chicken Thighs (for white meat version use chicken breast tenders)

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Yellow Onion

2 Cloves Garlic

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Poultry seasoning

Italian Hoagie Roll

Optional: Your favorite vinegar based hot sauce. I use Cholula.

Instructions:
1. Season chicken thighs then slice into thin strips.

2. Thinly slice peppers and onions.

3. Finely chop garlic cloves then crush into fine paste. You basically want the garlic to melt away but leave it’s great flavor when added to the pan later.

4. Add vegetable oil, peppers, and onion to pan. Let simmer on medium high heat for about 7 mins.

5. Add crushed garlic and let simmer for another 5 minutes.

6. Add sliced chicken to the pan and let simmer until chicken is cooked through.

7. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup. Let simmer 5 minutes.

8. Add cheese to thicken sauce when melted.

9. Serve on warm hoagie, finish with a few splashes of hot sauce. Enjoy.

Note: Use hearty bread –like an Italian, French, or brioche –that can stand up to a sandwich with a little moisture.

Whoa! When I see the beautiful acronym BOGO also known as “Buy One Get One”, I always wonder what the catch is going to be. Do I have to spend a certain amount of money, show up a certain time, order off of the redheaded stepchild portion of the menu…it is a rare thing to find a true BOGO and Sushi O in Raleigh’s Downtown is not exactly a true BOGO, but it is very close. First, it is available every night for dinner, it is at lunch that there are some availability restriction. And, yes, it does limit its BOGO options to where it only applies to sushi, not sushimi (which does not bother me at all). When I want sushi, I want something that is rolled and I want it to be in good company. Did Sushi O meet my expectations? We’ll see.

I want to begin by saying that my girlfriend and I are suckers for Sweet and Sour Soup, and Sushio O’s soup is very unique. First of all, it is the spiciest Sweet and Sour Soup that I have ever had, but not in an unpleasant way. At first, it did surprise a cough out of me, I can’t lie, but after I settled into a few bites, I concentrated on the flavors and hearty elements: carrots, bamboo, mushrooms, egg, and chicken. The other thing that makes the soup unique is the portions. This bowl is so large that it comes with a ladle. I wouldn’t trust it at a table with kids unless they were all wearing floaties, I don’t care how long they have been swimming. Gangsters have been drowned in bowls of soup smaller than this. It is the only time in my life that I was full after a course entree.

Ordering the sushi had never been more difficult for me. I do not like rolls with cream cheese or hot sauce in them, which limited me to about 1/2 of the menu. Which may have been a good thing, because I didn’t realize how full I would be after eating the soup. The sushi came to the table and the roll portions were nothing spectacular. Don’t take me the wrong way, with a BOGO deal at hand, the plates were full and there was an embarrassing amount of sushi for two people to eat. I blame myself; I tend to go crazy and order all rolls with eel on the menu. Tonight, me had 5 rolls and an order of sweet shrimp. Needless to say, we did not finish it all.

Believe it or not, I learned something eating a Sushi O. To begin with, it shot down my theory that all you need for good sushi is eel sauce. I had the Cameron Roll and was: eel, cucumber, and eel sauce topped with smoked salmon and avocado and more eel sauce. This roll almost bothered me. The avocado with the eel sauce proved to be an awkwardly creamy texture that was too sweet for it’s own good. Some more cucumber or salmon could have gone a long way.

Even though I tried to avoid hot sauce, my favorite roll was the Amy Roll, which has a crazy cast of ingredients: octopus, cucumber, avocado and hot sauce inside, topped with crabmeat, seaweed salad and Yellow tobiko. It was the messiest roll I could ever hope to meet, but all of the flavors worked really well together and it had the perfect balance of textures crunch coming from seaweed salad, cucumber, and the tobiko, and there was a good chew in the octopus.

In the grand scheme of Sushi, I think this place will benefit from their open ended BOGO special (I personally would not go back otherwise). The service was very friendly, it is in a great location, but you could find their sushi just about anywhere, however, finding comparative dinner prices any day of the week, especially this close to downtown…not as easy.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = middle of the road
Quality = mid-high
Variety = mid-low
Portions = mid-high
Price = great deal
Service = friendly and timely
Atmosphere = standard
Total Value = good value

Sadly, it was the buffet Todai in Las Vegas that made me want to start a food blog. In America there exists buffets that are raising the bar of their reputation. They are producing quality foods at a good price and serving it to you in a true family style: eat until you are can’t do anything but sit in front of the TV. Of course, there are also buffets that are giving some costumers diarrhea. For those of you who are concerned about Todai’s sushi buffet, don’t be. If I didn’t get sick after 5 plates of sushi, I doubt you will. Not only was this the best buffet I have ever eaten at in my lifetime of buffet eating, but it is definitely one of my favorite dining experiences as well.

Before eating at a buffet, I always walk the line first to see if it’s what I want to eat. I could tell by standing in the doorway that I wanted to eat here. The sushi all looked so appetizing, the color variations made the buffet look like it was from a cartoon. And don’t worry, it all tasted just as good as it looked.

The menu itself is not breaking the mold, but that’s a good thing because is a sushi restaurant for everyone regardless of your sushi journey. If you eat sushi every day, you can expect all of the traditional rolls and they are made competently. If you don’t know a thing about sushi, this would be an incredible place to start exploring, and if you discover you don’t like sushi while eating here, don’t worry there are plenty of entree options to pick and choose from, including hibachi made to order.

Since eating at this restaurant I have tasted “higher quality sushi,” but Todai can hold its own against most sushi restaurants that I have been to and it is a buffet that is decorated in such a way that I would not be embarrassed to take a date here (please note that I have never claimed to be a romantic). Like I’ve said before, you can’t put a price on variety and portions and this place allows eaters to take full advantage of their incredibly fresh and tasty offerings.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = High
Quality = High
Variety = Middle of the road
Portions = All you can eat
Price = incredibly fair
Service = good
Atmosphere = nice/inviting
Total Value = Best Value I’ve Ever Encountered

In college, I developed a rather gluttonous addiction. At times, I had VERY little money and the money that I had I chose to spend on the finer things, like beer, movies, coffee, and restaurants. The expendables were clothes, heating my apartment (set the thermostat to a gracious 58 degrees in the winter), and buying groceries. My addiction to Makino Japanese Buffet in Knoxville TN was nearly all consuming, and, as long as I ate there once a week, I knew I wouldn’t die (bit of an over statement).

I thought this place was heaven under a sneeze guard. It had all you can eat sushi rolls! I have been to other buffets that offer the most depressing California rolls you could ever hope to see, but Makino has spicy tuna, caterpillar, rainbow, philidelphia, and eel, yes real EEL, rolls and it is all delicious!

To be fair, at the time I had not eaten a lot of sushi before trying this place, maybe just a few times when my mom had come into town. So for me, this was perfect. I never got sick or anything after the buffet, I could tell girls that I eat sushi and speak about it to some length, but, most importantly, this was one of the only restaurants where I could eat sushi and leave completely stuffed without spending $50.

Who would I recommend this place to? If you are looking to introduce someone to the world of sushi, this is a great place to start, because they have a fair variety of sushi options, from shrimp tempura (which is cooked), to more adventurous rolls like octopus or eel. The great thing is that if you go to this place and don’t like sushi, they have a really good hibachi grill and some of their other dishes like the honey chicken are really good. 

I would not say that the quality of the sushi is the highest you can find, I mean you are getting exactly what you pay for, but it still tastes good and being able to have a meal with a little bit of everything is priceless.

What problems exist? Be mindful of your rice ratios on the sushi rolls. The rice on these rolls is thicker than most, so I was in the habit of skinning off most of the rice or not eating it at all on things like the sushimi, but the last time that I was there the owner or manager said that I had to eat the rice. I laughed at him and kept to my routine. Sushi is a dish that takes time and when a good roll gets put out, it goes quick, especially during a busy day, so keep an eye out for the rolls that you want and act fast. Also, the hibachi takes a lot of time to cook, so I would always place my hibachi order first and then hit the sushi buffet and things normally timed out pretty well that way.

Lunch vs Dinner I always avoided this place for dinner, because the only noticeable difference on the buffet was the addition of octopus and scallops (and maybe a better steak option for hibachi) this was not nearly enough to motivate me to go. I have not been in a few years and maybe dinner has gotten better. If you have anything to add to this section, please leave a comment.

Truth be told, this was my favorite restaurant in college, and if I could transplant any restaurant from Knoxville to Raleigh, this would have to be it. I may have found better sushi, but I will never find a better value.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = Mid-high
Quality = middle of the road
Portions = all you can eat!
Price = incredibly fair!
Service = no complaints
Atmosphere = nice for a buffet
Total Value = incredible

On my trip to Las Vegas, I did find a better sushi buffet called Toma. If you want to take your Makino experience to the next level, Tomo is the place. It offers incredible sushi and more entree options and the price tag is not that much higher. You can read my whole review here.

<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/68/730892/restaurant/West-Knoxville/Makino-Japanese-Buffet-Knoxville”><img alt=”Makino Japanese Buffet on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/730892/biglink.gif” style=”border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px” /></a>

When it comes to relaxing, I have it down to a science. First, start off with room control. Is my couch comfy-womfy? Is my thermostat riding the edge of perfect? Could I fall asleep any minute? Do I need, no, want to be wearing pants? Does the TV have something worth watching? Is my beverage perfect? And is there anything missing? Ah, food! But we have a problem: I don’t want pizza, I don’t want a sandwich, I would rather starve than cook anything, and I just had Chinese food. What’s a man boy to do? What delivery options are there? I’ve been investigating new delivery options for my address. One of the first places that I tried was Stromboli’s.

Actually, I think Stromboli’s was one of the first meals that I ever ate in my new house. I was exhausted from moving and desiring something deliverable and on the lighter side. Stromboli’s seemed to be the only option. I want to say that I think their Anti-pasta Salad is one of the happiest salads I have ever seen. It is a heavy container with meat and cheese logs to make the idea of eating a salad as a meal less of a joke. And every bite of salad has a vegetable or something else to go with the lettuce, which is a rare accomplishment. It is definitely one of the most filling salads that I have ever ordered, but I am NOT a fan of Stromboli’s Italian Dressing or their Wedding Soup (consider yourself warned).

As for the entrees, they have always been better than expected (this is a delivery service after all, expectations must be reasonable, this aint Olive Garden!). The Chicken Marsala always stands out as a good dish, better than most middle of the road pastas, it’s a 4/5 for me. Same with the Chicken Giardino, whose orange sauce (a tomato and alfredo mix) was very comforting on after a particularly exhausting day, and because the dish was full of zucchini, mushrooms, and onions I didn’t feel as guilty eating it.

Truth be told though, I am a sucker for their Chicken Parmesan. It is far, FAR from a taste revolution or a culinary breakthrough, but it’s a solid dish and the portions! Mamma Mia! So much food. Love it! If I get it with a side salad, I can rarely finish the dish. Especially since every entree comes with a loaf of pretty good bread

The only problem that I have had with Stromboli’s is that their deliveries take a while. I would plan on waiting at least an hour for your food to get there. And sometimes it’s clear that the food has been sitting around for far too long, where it’s been sitting is hard to say: in a car, under a heat lamp, in a pan, or any combination of the three. The last time I got the Chicken Parmesan, the spaghetti had absorbed all of the sauce’s liquid and the pasta was very dry. I actually added some sauce that I had in the refrigerator.

I should probably be harder on this place. If I ever ate its restaurant, I might go crazy, but I give the delivery service a break for a couple of reasons:

1.  All of their entrees are buy one get one free for deliveries (so I always get a ton of food and at a very fair price).
2. The managers and staff are very friendly. I have complained in the past about delivery times and they always apologize and/or offer to give me a discount or something.
3. You can’t put a price on convenience.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = better than expected
Quality = Mid of the road
Portions = LARGE
Price = Very fair
Service = Not perfect
Atmosphere = I really like my house and don’t mind the wait
Total Value = mid high

If you are looking to put a contemporary twist on an Italian Classic, my friend Torre has the recipe for you. Try his Chicken Lasagna with a Garlic White Sauce; if only he delivered, I know I would order some right now.

My girlfriend and I have been arguing who is the least observant between us, and to be honest, I know it is me. The other day I asked what red sauce was on a sandwich in an advertisement, my girlfriend pointed to the advertisement, which labeled the sandwich as the Sriracha Sandwich and Sriracha was the only ingredient in the sandwiches description in bold and colored lettering. Before this incident, my girlfriend and I were not sure who deserved the title, because it took us a long time to find Handy Kitchen. And I do not mean a long time symbolically like “We had been looking for a good chinese place near our condo for a long time.” Nay. We were literally in the strip mall and it took us a long time to find handy kitchen. In case you are searching for this place, here’s a hint: it’s near the barbershop. And if you want to cut some corners, I can give you a cheat code: TheyDeliver.

Why it took us a while to find this place is difficult to explain, it’s kind of on the side of a grocery store for one thing and I think the sign just says Handy, but Barbershop is right next to it, so we were thinking it was the “Handy Barbershop” or that the shopping center was called handy. We were just confused and needed 10 cc’s of fatty takeout STAT!

After finally finding the place and getting some exercise in the process (for my car at least), it made the already delicious food taste all the better. I want to begin by saying that I do like this place, but I like it in only the way that I can like Chinese takeout. I will not spend an anniversary here, wow a friend from out of town with it, recommend it in casual conversation, or even eat lunch here. For me, it’s takeout or nothing from this place, and that is what it is built for. Outside of the kitchen, the location itself only has two booths and a refrigerator of canned sodas and a few two liters. They didn’t build a brick and morter restaurant to take part in cherished memories or birthday parties. They probably want you to take your food and leave, but they are always really friendly and I’ve never had to wait more then 10 minutes after placing an order. I’ve also never been the only customer in the restaurant. This place has a steady stream of clients all sharing in those weak moments where the stomach is lost without some pedestrian General Tso’s Chicken or some Moo Shoo Pork.

My favorite dishes are their Moos Shoo Pork and their Sesame Chicken, but I almost always get their Sesame Chicken. What I like about their Sesame Chicken is that it tastes really good. Okay, that’s not helpful at all. Their Sesame Chicken is never too sweet, which sounds like a simple thing to do, but it’s not. The secret of good Sesame Chicken: don’t make the dish more than it is!

Yes, this is the best Sesame Chicken I have had in Raleigh, game over. Sauce and flavor aside, my favorite part of their sesame chicken is that their chicken is always crispy! Save soggy chicken for leftovers. When you pick up your meal, it has been cooked on demand, the chicken has been freshly fried and then sauced. It does not come from a buffet pan that has been sitting around for a while. Also, with all of their food, the portions are quite large. I can never finish it in one meal and I always have plenty for lunch the next say (Got any tips for reheating white rice?).

Is there a downside here? Of course! Their soups are all really bland. I won’t order their sweet and sour soup again and their wonton soup is one step away from chicken broth. Strong not recommend.

I had eaten so much mediocre to bad Chinese takeout in Raleigh that I had almost given up, but then I saw a restaurant with a 95% near me, so I knew I would give it a try and I am glad that I did. My girlfriend and I agree that Handy always has the best entrees that we have tried. To clarify: should you come from Durham, Chapel Hill, or Texas to try this place? NO! But for now, I better get “It’s next to the barbershop” tatooed on my forearm so I can easily find this great tasting takeout place again.

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste = Mid-High
Variety = They have the same menu you find at any takeout hub

Portions = slightly larger than average(?)
Price = very fair
Service = friendly
Atmosphere = uninviting
Total Value = high

My dedication to Olive Garden runs deep and is full of childhood biases, however, my adoration is pure, worth fighting for, and if you can clean the plate that is this love letter to a chain that gets its sauce in a can and its chicken from a freezer, maybe when I say that “I get a cold rush in my chest that feels like Christmas Morning” you will certainly understand and pay for my therapy.

First of all, I want to say that there were a few trips to Olive Garden where I hated Olive Garden. I’m talking didn’t finish my meal and didn’t want to take it home. And it was so bad that I gave up on the idea of ordering something else. To this day, I still think their spaghetti and meatballs are 1/5 on their best of days, the alfredo sauce is crap, and (you won’t believe this, but) their bread sticks can be really boring, HOWEVER, they can also be drenched in butter and garlic and be f***ing delicious!

Even when I wouldn’t feed their pasta to my dog, what I loved about Olive Garden as a child was their salad dressing and to this day, they may still have one of my favorite salad dressings. I would suffer through their crappy pasta just to eat two bowls of salad. That’s a dedication, my friend! Now when I go, I can’t help but shrug away the fact that the salad is quite pathetic, one slice of tomato per person, you normally end up splitting an olive with somebody and the rest is iceberg lettuce and croutons. Lucky for me, I love iceberg lettuce and croutons.

Something changed radically and overnight. I can’t remember how it happened, but I tried their chicken parmigiana as a kid and I was on a sling shot to heaven. Why is that not every kid’s favorite meal?!?!?! It’s eating the best chicken finger you can imagine and dressing it up with cheese and pizza sauce…I’m interested. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a bunch of saps! Chicken Parm with one of my favorite salads? It’s a done deal, it’s so good that eating it needs to be a tradition.

If you need an idea for your Olive Garden tradition, feel free take one from my book. What better tradition could there be for a child than to eat lunch at Olive Garden every December 26th after returning presents and spending gift cards? So that’s what I did until I got to an age where I no longer had presents to return and we chose to eat leftovers instead. But I had a fantastic romp with this place and believe it or not, I can remember every table that I sat at on those days, because that was the only day of the year that I got to eat there.

I reviewed the Johnson City location because it is the location that fed many fond memories for me. I had my high school graduation party here, and I’ve had a few birthday parties here. I don’t think I ever tarried from Chicken Parmigiana except for one time when I may have ordered soup and salad to nurse a hangover that would have killed any other man, but it was the nectar of Olive Garden that nursed me back and helped me win the big game*!

So yeah, I’m a sucker for this place and I definitely recognize its faults, but I know exactly what Olive Garden is. Does Olive Garden has it’s own delusions? Absolutely. Why Olive Garden insists that it has chefs from Italy confounds the deepest of thinkers, and why it has purple…they have to be Olives, right, many people argue (my girlfriend being one of them) that they have grapes on their menu. Why is this ambiguous? Also, I have heard that Olive Garden shafts their employees, keeps costs low by only hiring part time and that’s too bad. It is rare that I have bad service at an Olive Garden, just another excuse for me to tip more when I’m there.

I can’t allow myself to get bogged down by the realities of Olive Garden as a penny pinching company. The true Olive Garden fan is that little boy fresh from raining Christmas money all over town. He has a twinkle in his eye, pasta on his mind, Christmas spirit in his hard, and a torturous desire to unwrap a basket of bread sticks and see if Santa left him any garlic butter!

VALUE BREAKDOWN:
Taste/Variety = mid-high
Quality = mid-low
Portions = mid-high
Price = very fair
Service = Excellent
Atmosphere = Comfortable
Total Value = mid high

*For the record, there was no big game, just an Andy Griffith marathon and probably a nap.

This is a hearty, flavorful, and unconventional twist on an Italian classic. While you won’t find a single tomato, no traces of beef, or pasta…oops, never mind, we kept the pasta, still this is a lasagna that even casual lasagna fans are sure to love. When was the last time you’ve seen a dish that required Jalapeno peppers, allspice, whipping cream, and zucchini to play harmoniously together in the same baking dish? If you are one of those folks that believe anything can be made to taste terrific if it’s is covered with Mozzarella, you can be assured that is definitely the case here. Enjoy!     

Forget everything you know about Lasagna

Meal Breakdown

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
Prep: 25
Cooking: 1 hr
Level: Medium
Number of Servings: six
Price of Ingredients: $$

Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground Chicken
1/2 lbs Smoked Turkey Sausage
5 cups Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
4 cups Mozzarella Cheese
4 cups Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper (diced)
1 cup Jalapeno Peppers (seeded and diced)
1/2 Yellow Onion (diced)
5 cloves garlic (diced)
1/4 cup fresh Basil
1 Zucchini Squash
Olive oil
1 egg
4 tbls butter
1/2 cup Light Whipping Cream
1 cup Plain Soy Milk
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

For seasoning:
Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Ground Allspice, Season Salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For Garlic White Sauce:

Add peeled zucchini and 3 cloves of garlic to food processor with soy milk. Puree until thick and smooth. Melt butter with medium heat in mid sized sauce pan. Add flour to melted butter and mix well. This is the start of a thick rue. Let the flour and butter mixture cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to cook to long, you don’t want a brown rue. Slowly add puree to the rue while continuously stirring. Be sure to stir your sauce until it is smooth and free of lumps. Add cream to to the sauce. If it gets to thick during stirring, add a bit of water to loosen it up. Season to taste with salt and pepper and let cook for about 7 minutes. Remove sauce from heat, stir in 1/2 cup of  Parmesan cheese and sit aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil then and chopped jalapenos, red bell pepper, onion, and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Saute until veggies are soft and translucent. Add ground chicken to veggies for browning. Season chicken with black pepper, season salt, and allspice. Before chicken is completely cooked add sausage and cook for a few additional minutes until chicken is fully cooked through, then add chopped basil to finish. 

Add ricotta, egg, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl and mix well.

Lasagna Assembly:

Coat the bottom of a large baking dish with ta thin layer of sauce to prevent sticking. Add a layer of noodles. Top noodles with layer of chicken, then layer of ricotta, then mozzarella, then sprinkle Parmesan. Add another layer of noodles and repeat layering, concluding with a healthy layer of mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover lasagna with tented (avoid cheese sticking ) foil and back for 40 – 45 minutes. Once initial baking is complete, remove foil and broil on high until cheese browns slightly.