T.O. Fish & Chips

So... I actually haven't eaten anything here yet.  I'm sure I will update that when I do go for myself.  I recently picked up some food for my grandfather though, who wanted fish.  But my grandma wanted to start a directory of restaurants she and my grandpa like and the phone numbers if they take phone orders ahead of time.  So I looked up their phone number through yelp and happened to look through their reviews.  They have very good reviews, most seemed to be 4 and 5 stars with a few scattered 3 stars and a few 2 stars who say that going TO the coast or to New England is better.  (Personally, for convenience sake, I like NOT going the extra 10 miles and sometimes 30 minutes to Malibu, and New England- yeah- that's even farther for me).  There was only one 1 star review out of the ones I scrolled through and I liked looking at them too to see what was awful.  This guy said he wanted fish and ordered the chicken nuggets and that they were just a step up from grocery store nuggets in that they were freshly battered and fried.  I started thinking- what idiot (pardon me for the language if he/she happens to ever read my blog) bases a FISH place's rating on their CHICKEN?  That's not seafood.  It's not their specialty.  It's probably something they added to their menu just in case a family went and someone didn't like seafood.  They probably DO buy their chicken nuggets from the store or something or some form of pre-nugget to fry.  But if I were a fish place, I wouldn't waste my time making the chicken nuggets into some specialty when I'm known for just about EVERYTHING ELSE on the menu...  Anyways, my husband likes seafood and they seemed to have some good $10 lunch special- so we will likely be back some time.

The Cheesecake Factory's Fried Mac and Cheese

So a few weeks ago, my husband and I went out to eat, and while waiting to be seated, they had a tv advertisement of different foods and cheesecakes there.  I saw the picture of the fried mac and cheese...  MMMMM!  I served a mission in Louisiana and love fried foods and I've always loved mac and cheese.  Anyways, one of the things I miss is getting fried mac and cheese bites from some restaurant (Jack in the Box or Arby's?) and enjoying how good it is.  Anyways, I asked my husband if he wanted to split the appetizer with me.  I asked the waitress about it as well and she said it was served with a creamy marinara sauce (my husband says it was more of a vodka sauce- but tasted like it had some sun-dried tomatoes in it or something too) and at first I was a little skeptical...  'Ruin fried mac and cheese with a creamy marinara sauce?' was what I was thinking.  It came and I took a bite- it was good all by itself, but then I took a forkful and swirled it in the sauce...  I was definitely a fan of the sauce with the mac and cheese.  The fried part wasn't too heavy, so if you sometimes react to things heavily breaded- this wasn't.  But it definitely gave me what I needed when I wanted something fried, cheesy and good.  (Amazing in my opinion- but maybe I was overdue).  Either way I would recommend them to anyone who likes fried food and cheese or mac and cheese.