Restaurant Review: Rococo (I love it, but I have complaints)

Posted on October 29, 2010 by lowandbhold

One of my favorite restaurants in Oklahoma City, is Rococo Restaurant and Fine Wine.

I’ve done a review of their brunch before, but I’ve been waiting to do a review of their full menu and now’s the time.

I recently won a $25 gift card to the establishment for commenting on one of my favorite local restaurant blogs – Eat Around OKC - be sure to check them out if you’re ever looking for advice for a great place to eat.

I grabbed the SIL and we headed to Rococo for a lunch date.

Speaking of date, I’d say Rococo is one of the top date-worthy restaurants in OKC. So, if you’re looking for a hot spot to take someone you’re trying to impress. Go here.

The food is really good, the lighting is dim and the choice of booze is excellent (for if the lighting isn’t quite dim enough…). Those three things are enough to get even me to go on a date, and I hate dating.

Anyways, since our lunch date was on a Friday and we were feeling the arduous effects of a long work week, the SIL and I imbibed.

She had a glass of Alamos Malbec (one of my favorite wines) and I had a draft Coop Native Amber. (No pictures because we happened to go on the day before the crappy illness I’ve since been battling first reared it’s ugly head and I was in self-pity mode.)

Major points to Rococo for having a sophisticated wine list and local beer on tap. Those things are hard to find.

We started with one of Rococo’s most famous menu items – a cookie appetizer.

No, that doesn’t mean we had dessert before our meal. Cookies are basically different genius variations of bruschetta with all sorts of yummy toppings.

We chose the one topped with blue cheese, toasted garlic slivers, and asiago cheese.

I don’t like blue cheese, but I could have eaten about 20 of these little guys. The garlic and asiago balanced out the pungent flavor of the blue cheese, and I mean, when is bread and cheese not good?

I’ve also had the privilege of trying the Gangster cookie (on one of those pesky dates mentioned above), which is Italian sausage and sweet onions with pomodoro and parmesan. To die for.

Moral of this story? The cookies at Rococo rock.

Rococo does a lot of things well.

Lobster? I’ve heard it’s to die for.

Pasta? Pretty much the reason for going.

The fish and steak options are supposed to be wonderful as well.

However, I have to be the bearer of bad news here. There are some things that Rococo could improve.

The first – salad. For one thing, they don’t have a lot of salad options, but more importantly when both the SIL and I ordered salads on our lunch date – neither was very good.

I got the Rococo Little Salad.

The thing is, it was probably our own fault. When you’re going to a restaurant with an acclaimed chef like Bruce Rinehart, you don’t order a salad.

However, if you are an acclaimed chef with an acclaimed restaurant I argue that every single menu item should be delectable, salads included. But perhaps I’m just a tough audience.

Another gripe would be the coffee at Rococo. It’s bad. Real bad. Almost undrinkable.

This… is not acceptable. Coffee is not hard. I make coffee that tastes better than the coffee at Rococo.

Luckily, I can be consoled with a cold beer. Other people may not be so forgiving.

So, Rococo, please learn how to make better coffee. Your patrons will thank you.

My last and final complaint would be the service. While not bad, it’s also not good. When the SIL and I went for our lunch date, I had to have my entree (a turkey burger that was just okay) boxed up so I wouldn’t be fired for taking a two-hour lunch.

You should be able to walk into a restaurant, sit down at the bar, and get in and out in under an hour. I don’t think that’s asking too much.

Now, you may be wondering why I like this restaurant so much if I have so many not-so-great things to say about it.

The thing is that the good at Rococo far outweighs the bad, and our city needs more places like Rococo where culinary genius reigns supreme.

As Oklahoma City restaurant enthusiasts we need to be honest about what works and doesn’t work at places like this, so that they’ll stay in business and more businesses of a similar nature can exist.

So, I’ve said my piece, and I can’t wait until the next time I eat at Rococo. If you’ve not been there, I highly suggest you go.

Order a cookie and a glass of wine and be happy. Then thank me for the recommendation.

Enjoy the weekend all!

Freaky Friday

Posted on October 29, 2010 by lowandbhold

Hey guys! It’s Friday already and Halloween weekend is here!

I have a restaurant review I’m going to post shortly, but wanted to check in first and see what your plans were for the holiday?

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but my personal computer (a 2008 Macbook) is broken and has been at the Mac doctor for over a week now

I’m not too uspet about it because in the six years I’ve been a Mac user, this is the first time I’ve ever had any sort of problem, but I miss it!

This means I’ll have no way of keeping up with ya’ll and your fun plans and costumes this weekend.

So, humor me…

Q’s:

If you celebrate Halloween, what are your plans?

Are you dressing up?

And for fun: Mac or PC?

I haven’t exactly ironed out any specific plans yet, and I don’t usually dress up, but you just never know what could happen. I do know I’ll probably watch lots of scary movies!

*** Also, if it’s taking forever for my posts to show up in your reader, you can update your feed to http://lowandbeholdblog.com/feed/ and that should solve the problem. Sorry for not bringing that up sooner!

Okay, have a Freaky Friday everyone!!!

Reminiscing: Thoughts on a cheesesteak

Posted on October 28, 2010 by lowandbhold

I always get somewhat reminiscent in the Fall.

The change of the seasons brings back a lot of difficult memories, and I usually end up feeling a bit down. Maybe it’s SAD?

In the last few couple of years, however, I’ve learned to embrace these feelings instead of letting them upset me (I talked about this last year on the blog.)

So, last night I reminisced. I enjoyed some great memories and great food, no sadness allowed.

I had one of my favorite sandwiches from my college days with one of my dear friends whom I met in college.

More specifically, I had a delicious chicken cheesesteak from Texadelphia. It was spicy, cheesey, chewey and just plain marvelous. On the side were some standard chips and salsa and it was all washed down with a cold Miller Lite.

I loved Texadelphia in college. I only went there a handful of times, but those times were always memorable. Maybe because they didn’t have their liquor license and I could actually remember it… but I digress.

They recently opened a new store in Bricktown/downtown, where I lived for a year after graduating.

The new location has an updated menu and a pretty cool interior, perfect for a quick bite before a Thunder game.

Speaking of the Thunder, last night they opened the season against the Bulls and won! Sweet. OKC is making a name for itself I tell ya.

Since Taylor and I didn’t have tickets to the game, we wandered around for a bit to find a dessert option.

Maybe it was the brisk Fall day or the return to my old stomping grounds, but I was feeling bold and loaded up my froyo cup. I mean, I really didn’t hold back.

My cup had:

Chocolate froyo
Peanut Butter froyo
Cupcake froyo
Cheesecake froyo
Chocolate chips
kiwi (that was ill-fitting in retrospect)
brownie chunks
Heath Crumbles
Butterfinger flakes
2 peanut butter cups

It. Was. Legit.

The guy at the register so enjoyed my froyo enthusiasm that he gave me a discount! Thanks Peach Wave guy! I couldn’t finish it all, but I made a valiant effort.

P.S. – Fat free chocolate froyo is not delicious. Steer clear.

Taylor and I chatted some more, and then wandered back to our cars.

As I headed home I got to thinking about how things change.

My favorite cheesesteak place got a makeover and is now a sophisticated “social grill”.

My old neighborhood keeps growing and improving.

My friendships keep strengthening and changing.

The weather air is colder and the leaves are transforming.

Most of all, I’ve changed.

I’m kinder to myself.

I don’t feel the need to bash myself for my past mistakes. Instead I rejoice in the good choices I’m making now.

I don’t allow myself to feel fat and ugly. Instead I eat a cheesey sandwich and a ginormous cup of sugary sweetness with a smile on my face.

I walk outside, feel the cool air brush against my arms, and revel in the hope of new possibilities instead of the dread of a cold, lonely winter.

Times change. Places change. People change.

Bring it on, Fall.

Q’s:

Do you like cheesesteakes? I’ve never had a true Philly cheesesteak, but the chicken ones from Texadelphia are pretty damn good.

How have you changed in the past year?

Bread and cheese zone

Posted on October 27, 2010 by lowandbhold

I ran last night for the first time in nine days!

Just this past Sunday I was asking myself if I’d ever feel like getting back into my workout routine.

I hadn’t been feeling it and I was paralyzed with goal fear, so I didn’t force it. Then, this week my motivation returned with a vengeance!

I ran 4.5 miles at an easy pace. Sadly, my leg still hurts. Happily, my endurance felt great. I guess one outta two ain’t bad.

I’m planning to only run 3 times per week until the half to avoid further aggravating my injury. In between that I’m going to do lots of yoga and hopefully a little strength training.

After the run, my appetite was meager again, but I still wanted to get in a decent meal – and try out the Nature’s Pride Oven Classics Oatmeal bread Foodbuzz sent.

I wasn’t feeling as spunky in the kitchen as yesterday, so I just whipped up a cheesey egg in a basket with a side of carrot sticks.

Clearly, I’ve been in a cheese zone lately. And a bread zone.

Eh, who am I kidding I’m always in that zone. In fact, I usually have a hoard of bread at my desk at work just in case. No lie.

I’ve also dominated one of the crisper drawers in the fridge at work, filled with cream cheese, fruit, yogurt and veggies. That’s how I roll.

Truth be told I need some green veggies in my life. Truth also be told, I don’t have enough money in my account to cover my bills this month. That could be a dilemma…

Q: Do you keep hoards of food at work?

Amazing Cheesey Lemony Garlicky ‘Chokes

Posted on October 26, 2010 by lowandbhold

I’ve always thought I’d be the kind of person that, if chased by a knife-wielding serial killer, would be so siezed by fear that I’d be unable to escape harm.

I’d simply stand there and stare at the murderous fiend until he either killed me or decided I was too boring to bother with.

This theory proved to be true in the past few weeks.

No, I wasn’t hunted by a homicidal maniac – but I was being chased by the goal I had set for myself to run a marathon.

You see, the past two weeks or so, I’ve been so terrified by my injury and lack of appropriate training that I’ve just been frozen, waiting to be sliced up into little bitty pieces.

I’ve barely run or done anything active, and on top of that my appetite vanished.

By releasing the original goal and focusing instead on a half marathon, I suddenly felt like myself again.

Jess commented yesterday that she could tell I’d made the right decision because of how good it made me feel.

She is so right. I feel so much lighter and more excited about running now that I’ve chopped my goal into something more reasonable.

I also felt ready to get back into my regular routine.

I have been craving yoga something fierce lately and even though I still wasn’t feeling 100% yesterday (stomach bug, injury and allergies seem to be the sum of all my woes), I hit up a class at Third Stree Yoga anyways.

I’ve talked about the class I took before, and last night it was even better – just what I needed.

Everytime I take a yoga class I spend the entire time wondering, “why don’t I do this more often?”

The answer is, quite simply, because it’s hella expensive, but I still really need to make an effort to go as often as possible. It just makes me feel good.

After I’d arrived back home and showered I realized, with delight, that I was starving.

It had been so long since I wanted to eat anything but buttered toast and soup that I nearly jumped for joy.

Instead, I bounded into the kitchen to do some cooking.

Okay cooking might be overstating it a tad, but I combined ingredients and the oven was involved, so I’m going to call it cooking.

I dub these Amazing Cheesey, Lemony, Garlicky Baked ‘Chokes.

I’m sure you’ve all made something similar in the past. I just combined a tablespoon of olive oil, the juice of one lemon and one chopped garlic clove and poured the mixture over a drained and rinsed can of artichokes – all topped with a mixture of 2% cheddar, asiago and parmesan cheese baked in the oven at 375 until things looked right.

To make the dish more meal-like, I toasted up a slice of Nature’s Pride Oven Classics 100% Whole Wheat bread that Foodbuzz sent me as part of their Tastemaker Program.

Don’t ask me why, but eating this meal made me feel very French.

I don’t personally know any French people and I’ve never been to France so take that with about fifty grains of salt.

I loved eating this and I was so happy that it came out of my own little kitchen.

Not that I can promise it’ll happen again anytime soon. Baby steps.

Q: What’s your favorite scary movie? Sorry, I had to! I know a lot of you don’t like horror films, but I LOVE them – especially this time of year.

Marathon Dreaming: Detour

Posted on October 25, 2010 by lowandbhold

Well friends, here comes the announcement I did not want to have to make.

I’m not going to run the Route 66 Marathon anymore.

I am, however, going to run the Route 66 Half Marathon.

When I started the process of training for a marathon, my hopes were high and I was unbelievably excited for the journey.

Then, life got in the way.

It’s a busy time of year for us all, and I commend those of you who have the time to commit to training for marathons. It’s proven to be too touch for me.

After my longest training run of 15 miles, I sustained an injury that has only gotten worse over time.

To top it all off, this weekend I had some sort of stomach bug and could barely move the morning of my scheduled 18.0-mile training run.

Have I mentioned that the race is less than a month away?

Laying in bed that morning – sick, hurt and exhausted – I started to beat myself up for failing at my goal.

Then I realized how ridiculous that was.

If anyone else I knew was having this predicament, I would tell them that not running the marathon was no big deal.

That there would be other marathons.

That their health was the most important thing.

So, I gave myself that little speech and it worked.

I realized that not only was it not safe for me to continue training for this marathon, I just really didn’t want to anymore.

A week ago, I would have considered changing races to be the ultimate failure, but now I realize it’s just another step in my marathon journey.

I know that I’ll run 26.2 someday. I am a runner. I love to run. I love to set goals and accomplish them.

I’m really looking forward to this half. I know I can run the distance and even though my leg isn’t healed I think I can make it through safely.

Then, I can continue looking forward and figure out what my next goal is.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me during this process.

I know I’ve been a little bit distant from the blog lately. This decision, and some other things, have been weighing heavily on my mind over the past month and I’ve been distracted.

Also, my personal computer is at the doctor, so it makes it harder to prepare good content.

I do hope you’ll stick around because I still majorly heart this little blog and plan to get back to the good stuff soon!

Happy Monday!

The Tasting Room: Fall Favorites Cooking Class

Posted on October 22, 2010 by lowandbhold

Well folks, it’s been awhile, but I finally present you with a post dedicated solely to food.

Well food and drinks. When are there not drinks?

I had totally forgotten that I’d signed up for another Tasting Room Cooking Class with Chef Kurt Fleischfresser last night.

I was a bit late, so the SIL took over picture taking for the first half hour of the class.

She started with a Last Word cocktail, from the Prohibition Era – containing gin, vodka, bitters and charteuse.

I can’t do these kinds of drinks. Too hardcore for me, but the SIL liked it.

Instead, I stuck with wine. We started with a small pour of White Night Viognier.

At first I didn’t care for it, but as usual, it paired amazingly well with the first dish – Oyster Stew with Swiss Chard Pancakes.

If you love oysters, you would love this stew. If you hate oysters, you would still also love this stew.

It was perfectly mild, with thin slivers of leaks and the saltiness of the oyster.

The chard pancake was strange, but in a good way, and the wine really opened up all the flavors.

Delicious.

Next up was a dish that I knew would wow me – the Experimental Beet Salad - which had apparently come to Chef Kurt in a dream recently.

The beets were roasted until tender, and then sliced like an accordian to create space for thin sheets of Manchengo cheese.

To accompany the beet, there was an ouzo-soaked toast and a bed of spinach with a sweet vinaigrette of cherry vinegar, leftover pureed beet and a bunch of other stuff I’ve forgotten.

We washed it down with a taste of this Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir Rose.

I’m not usually a big rose drinker, but this wine was quite elegant and I enjoyed it a lot.

Then came the dish that I was most apprehensive to try – Braised Duck Orachetti with caramelized onions.

I’d only had duck one other time in my life before last night. It was a duck that my brother and father had shot, killed and cleaned and my mother had cooked.

I was probably around eight at the time, and my pallet just wasn’t ready for duck yet.

Sixteen years later, I’m a convert. I was shocked as to how much I liked it because I’m not a huge fan of poultry, but the dish was incredibly rich and hearty and the flavors of the onions and walnuts made it incredibly unique.

It was exquisitely paired with a glass of Lenore Syrah.

Everyone raved about this pairing, and I agree it was quite nice, although I was more impressed with the Viognier/Oyster Stew pairing myself.

As usual at this point in the “class” I was full and a bit tipsy, but I had to press on for dessert – Sweet Potato “Pot de Creme”.

That would be a chunk of cinnamon french toast on top, made with fresh-ground cinnamon. Oh yeah. It was even better than it sounds.

Then, I rolled myself home. As usual it was a wonderful night of food and I may have even learned a few things.

Maybe.

Q’s:

Do you like oysters? The first time I tried them my dad made me eat one on a saltine cracker with cocktail sauce. 1. The oyster was sandy. 2. I hate cocktail sauce. It was a disaster. I’ve since learned to semi-enjoy them on the half shell, but I don’t go out of my way to eat them.

Have you ever had duck?

Working out at work

Posted on October 20, 2010 by lowandbhold

Some time ago, when I was feeling particularly motivated, I brought a set of resistance bands from home to keep at work.

I brought them in, put them in a cupboard and promptly forgot about them.

Since I haven’t been able to attend Body Pump lately, I decided to whip them out yesterday and see what it was all about.

I was a bit intimidated. I’ve never really used resistance bands before and I didn’t know how it worked.

I figured it out though. There were three bands of various resistance and you just hooked the one you wanted to use up to the handle.

I made it work and did a nice little in-office workout consisting of:

3 x 15 shoulder press
3 x 15 bent-over rows
3 x 15 lateral shoulder raises
3 x 15 bicep curls
3 x 15 tricep dips
50 crunches
30 desk push-ups

It was nothing compared to a Body Pump class, but my upper body is sore today so I consider it a major success!

In other workout news, my leg is hurting more than ever now that I’ve actually been to a doctor. Go figure.

I tried to run last night but had to resort to the elliptical. I’m hoping for better luck tonight, and then I’ll do the elliptical again tomorrow to prepare for my 18-miler on Saturday!

I reallyneed to keep up with my mileage if at all possible, I want to run this marathon!

Q: Do you ever workout at work? I know this girl does. I have a spare pair running shoes in my desk and always think I’m going to go walk at work, but my office is in a semi-scary part of town and I always decide against it.

I need to eat more apples

Posted on October 19, 2010 by lowandbhold

[source]

The doctor’s appointment yesterday was, as expected, a bit of a drag.

The doctor (who really was hot, but is married with two lovely kiddos) ordered some x-rays, which confirmed nothing.

He says he thinks I have the beginning of a stress fracture, and that I need to do as much of my mileage in the form of cross training as possible.

Blah.

He also gave me some heel lifts to help with the pain and a calcium/vitamin D supplement.

I know that’s the best that he could do, but I wanted a solution. You know like do A + B and then you’ll be all better.

[source]

NOT!!

So, I didn’t get the quick fix I wanted, but I’m going to put my big girl drawers on and deal with it!

The plan is to continue training like normal, except I’m going to sub in the elliptical for one to two of my shorter runs per week.

Hopefully that will be enough to keep the pain at bay and then after the marathon I can let things heal up for good.

We’ll see how it goes.

Other than that, yesterday was a strange day. It was good, and then not so good, and then good, and then not so good.

But… today is a new day and even though Tuesdays are generally a bummer I am ready to perservere!

Do you go to the doctor often? I hate going and usually put it off until I can’t anymore.

Finally Owning It

Posted on October 18, 2010 by lowandbhold

Today… I’m finally going to own it.

This past weekend I ate out five times, and I liked it. A lot.

Friday night I went to a wine tasting and ate there. Offerings included cheese and crackers, stuffed mushrooms (ew, I don’t like fungus!), and chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was bomb.

Saturday for lunch I split Hideaway pizza with my coworkers, and also had one and a half fried mozzarella sticks dipped in ranch.

That evening, I was so full from the pizza and fried goodness that I had a dinner of three beers and half a sushi roll. I fully support beer as dinner on occasion.

Sunday I got a petite vanilla scone and a latte from Starbucks as breakfast number one. I had another breakfast later, but it still counts as eating out.

Then, Sunday night I had takeout tofu tepanyaki for dinner. Oh, and I ate it on the couch while watching TV.

It was all good. Sorry, I’m not sorry.

You see, I love to cook and I love to eat healthy, but I also love to do and eat new things and cultivate new relationships and opportunities.

Sometimes that means that it’s easier to eat out.

Sometimes it means you want to eat out so you can spend more time with people you kind of like.

Sometimes it means someone is offering to buy you food, and only a fool would say no to that.

So yeah, 5 out of 7 meals this weekend were eaten out. I own it.

Oh yeah, and all of that food I ate out? Not one picture.

Sorry, I’m not sorry.

I really did used to like food blogging. It was easy, it was fun and I was decent at it.

Then, I started to open up about things that mean a little bit more to me than the food I put in my mouth and I fell in love with blogging about what I want and not only what I eat.

There will still be food on this blog, but with much less regularity.

Consider it owned.

In fact, food blogging was making me binge.

Have you ever eaten five handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese out of the package just because the attractive dinner you blogged about didn’t feel you up?

I have and it wasn’t pretty. Food blogging was great at first, but eventually it started to limit me. I know a lot of other bloggers have expressed similar experiences.

It’s just not worth it. And honestly, I’m pretty sure no one really cares that much what we’re eating.

I mean, we like to look at pretty food and all, but does it affect anyone else if we have a hamburger versus a salad for lunch?

Nope, it sure does not.

Now, I eat what makes sense for me at the time. Usually, that’s 7 to 9 small to not-so-small snacks per day and maybe one full meal.

This keeps me from eating half a jar of peanut butter later on because I ate what the blog wanted all day instead of what I wanted.

It’s owned ya’ll.

Nine times out of ten, boots will be more important to me than groceries.

So when I stumble upon that perfect pair of black flat boots that I have been envisioning in my head for over a year and never found in person, I will definitely buy them and eat peanut butter and jelly for then next two months if necessary.

This may or may not have already happened. Either way, sorry I’m not sorry.

I like fashion more than food. Totally owned.

I have not followed my marathon training plan for ummm… about three weeks now due to injury and distraction.

Okay, maybe I’m a little sorry about this one – because I’m so scared about this upcoming 26.2 mile jog that I’ve taken to wearing Depends.

However, even though I feel like total wuss, I’m going to see the doctor today to get some advice about healing up my leg so I can get back on the wagon.

Oh, and when I went online to download the forms for my appointment, I noticed that the doctor was hot, which means I definitely dressed cute today.

For that, I’m definitely sorry, I am not sorry.

Hot doctors are… hot.

Owned.

What do you own today?

October 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Sep				Nov »
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31