Live Life To The Fullest Food Review: Beleza Restaurant

Julie The Wanderer — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:24:01 +0000

For my Birthday dinner Terrence took me to this restaurant I’ve been dying to try near my apartment (it’s on Juniper Street) called Beleza. I’ve heard such amazing things about it because the food is supposed to be very organic, healthy, Brazilian and kind of quirky. I have to tell you that the reviews have certainly lived up to the standards. It is done in a Tapas style, so we ordered a bunch of plates and I sampled everything. It was some of the most unique, exciting and tasteful foods I’ve had in a long time. Plus…very healthy. So much flavor and very tropical. This is one of the best places I’ve found post Lap Band. And since it’s a tapas style, you can sample different plates!

Coconut Caipirinha - Coconut-infused cachaca, muddled organic lime, agave nectar, crushed ice

They grow herbs on the walls and use them to cook!!!

Quinoa - Sweet corn, Crimini Mushroom, Avocado, Scallion Coulis

Spicy Bigeye Tuna - Watermelon, Habanero Coulis, Cilantro Oil

Ceviche Trio - Ceviche Blanco, Ceviche Rojo, Tuna Ceviche

Lobster Salad (foreground) & Shrimp Moqueca (background)

Pineapple-Peach Salsa - Smoked Jalapeno, Cilantro, Malanga and Yucca Chips

A great place for friends, a date, co-workers ... or your gay best friend

Live Life To The Fullest Food Review: Richard Blais’ HOME Is Where The Heart Is (And Fried Chicken)

Julie The Wanderer — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:00:06 +0000

If you’re a Top Chef fanatic like I am, than you’ll know that the runner up in last season’s show was Atlanta’s own Richard Blais. I was happy that Stephanie won, since it’s the first time a woman has won Top Chef, and I thought she did a TERRIFIC job. But of course I would have been happy either way if Richard had won. I have a lot of respect for both of their styles since they were so different. Thank Jesus Lisa didn’t win. She was a bitch. Richard had a lot of tricks up his sleeve and incorporate a lot of Southern flare into his flavors. So when my parents asked me where I wanted to go out to dinner for my Birthday, of course I was like, “We have to go to Home!…No, not to our house…it’s a restaurant called Home”

I snapped some pictures for my Blog. I will say that the food was excellent. Kind of a gourmet Southern style with a modern flare. Unfortunately, RB wasn’t there that night (he was in NYC for the Today Show…who does he think he is to not have been there on my Birthday?!), but the waiter promised me that next time I came in he would make sure I met RB and have him give me a tour of the kitchen! This would be a total dream come true, since cooking has become one of my biggest passions next to Photography (and I’ve already met Annie Leibovitz…what more is there?!)

I probably ate the most bad-for-me food here since I got my surgery. I splurged a little bit, but couldn’t finish everything so I didn’t feel too guilty. The menu had a lot of fish dishes on it, so next time I go I will surely get a fish. But this time, I opted for some Southern goodies:

A watermelon Mojito! Refreshing and anti-oxidants

Biscuits are brought to the table. I had a little bit and gave the rest to my dad. Biscuits are my FAVORITE bread-item-food, so it was hard to say goodbye, but I didn’t want to fill up on it. It was damn good though. It came with some honey butter and pimento spread.

The Arugla salad with goat cheese and grapefruit…yum!

My dad got these Fried Green Tomatoes for the table. I had one of them. I’ve never had FGT like this before. They were amazing.

It looks really yellow in the picture, but it was prettier in person I got fried chicken with honey vinegar and it came with fresh veggies a la carte and cauliflower mac n’ cheese. I could only eat about half of my plate. I’ve never been a huge Fried Chicken fan, I have probably only ordered it once in my life and that was at KFC! This was by far the best Fried Chicken I’ve ever had. Apparently they soak it in Vodka and flash fry it and then get it back to room temperature and then cook it again. It was so, so good. The mac n’ cheese was awesome.

And for dessert they brought me out some Red Velvet cake I shared it with the table. The ice cream was really awesome – I think it was like sour cream ice cream or something, which sounds awful but it was really rich and creamy. If you watched Top Chef, you wouldn’t be surprised by Richard Blais serving sour cream ice cream! My mom got their famous home-made moon pie which I had a bite of and it rocked.

All in all, Home was a terrific restaurant. I can’t wait to go back.

» Restaurant Review

Live Life To The Fullest Food Review: Beleza Restaurant

Live Life To The Fullest Food Review: Richard Blais’ HOME Is Where The Heart Is (And Fried Chicken)