Fontana Sushi: Where's my boat?

Fontana Sushi has been around in Bay Ridge for a long time but this was my first time trying it out. My brother suggested that we take our dad for father's day. My father doesn't like sushi or raw food but he went with the flow but I think we converted him to a sushi lover! This place is a nice, clean restaurant with booths and privates rooms available for parties. The prices are average, some specialty rolls are a little more expensive then some of the places I usually go. Most people are attracted by their all-you-can-eat special which is a decent price ($21.95/pp) but there are regulations and no sashimi (thinly sliced raw pieces of fish without the rice)! booo....

The menu has English and Chinese. It's obviously owned by Chinese owner...

All-You-Can-Eat special:

We didn't order the all-you-can because I don't think we can eat that much sushi anyway and I rather eat sashimi. So we order special with 20 piece sushi, 36 piece sashimi and any 3 rolls from the regular/specialty selection. As advertised on their menu this special was suppose to be presented on a big wooden boat. The amount of food on this boat is good for 4-5 people. Please note you must pick 3 different rolls. We wanted two spider rolls but they didn't allow it, which I thought was stupid. I really love all their rules and regulations....

The special came with miso soup and salad for everyone: Our lovely "boat" of sushi and sashimi...even though everything looked amazingly great but since it wasn't on a boat kind of sucked. We wanted to impress our parents with the presentation but that didn't happen... If you advertised the special on your menu with pictures of a beautiful boat of sushi then you should give your customer what they see on the menu. ($75)Okay...I'll stop complaining so much about the stupid boat. All the fish was GREAT! Everything was nicely chilled and very fresh.

We also ordered the beef teriyaki ($13): the beef was cooked medium rare, very tender. The sauce was nice and sweet. The broccoli could have used some more cooking because it was kind of hard. The amount of beef they gave us was very little, look like they cut a steak in 1/2 and tried to spread it out on the plate.

The 4 of us ate everything....

I'm not sure if I would come here again because the food wasn't all that great except for the seafood being very fresh. I kind of have a love hate relationship with them already...
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Fontana Sushi
9608 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11209
(718) 759-1100‎
You can find their menu at menupages.com

A Very Late Big Apple BBQ Block Party 2009 Review

Sorry guys, I should've posted these right after the event but with school and all, I just don't have the time. I know I've been MIA during these past few months, but that doesn't mean I haven't had the time to go venture off eating. I promise I will give you guys a recap of of all the good or bad food I ate during these past 2 months while I was MIA. I ate at alot of great place and I definitely want to share it with you guys.

Let's go wayyy back, back to the Big Apple BBQ event on June 13-14, 2009.

This was our first time at this event, omg it was awesome! I will make this one of my annual festival that I MUST go to each year. Just $8 a plate and we get to try AMAZING bbq food from all over the states, it's really worth it. Andy and I went to this event on that Saturday afternoon. It was raining all day but rain never stopped us from going to an outdoor event/festivals (especially one that has great food!!). Last time we were out in the pouring rain to eat at the Red Hook vendors and waiting an hour on line for tacos, that's another story...

We were prepared with our umbrellas. We thought there would be less people because of the rain but we were WRONG. It was so crowded and lines were sooo long! The average waiting time was around ~20min on the lines. I guess it would've been worst if it was sunny.

Us sad in the raining waiting to buy food....
there was an entertainment stage...

demonstration tents, this one was about wine tasting....

selling many different kinds of bbq sauce....

Everyone was eating in the rain, some even without umbrella. This group of people (picture below) were very innovated and took a garbage bag/plastic bag to over them while they were eating at the bench. We arrived at this event towards the late afternoon (~3 or 4pm). We knew we won't have time to go to each vendor but I doubt we would've been able to because we might just explode. We looked at the map and it took us awhile to decide which few vendors we wanted visit. My goal was to find the pit-master for each of the vendors we tried and to take a pictures of them or with them, let see if I accomplished that....

The first stop: Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, Birmingham, ALHomemade Smoked Sausage with Pimento Cheese & Saltines: I love the sauce they used on the sausage, it was very flavorful! It was sweet but it also had a nice kick to it. It was definitely a nice surprise being the first dish we tasted. The pimento cheese was creamy but a little too filling, I wished they served something light, like some veggies with the sausage.

Look who I found, the pitmaster for Jim and Nick's, Drew Robinson. He was quite surprised when I asked if I could take a picture of him but he was very nice about it.

2nd Stop: 17th Street Bar & Grill, Murphysboro, IL/Las Vegas, NV Baby Back Ribs & Beans: great taste but quite dry, it wasn't fall off the bone quality. I was a little disappointed. The beans wasn't that special either...
Andy eating in the rain and is very happy with his ribs...

3rd Stop: The Pit, Raleigh, NC

Ed Mitchell-pitmaster of The Pit
We had to sneak all the way into the restricted area to take picture with him!

Andy: "Mr. Mitchell I saw you on Throwdown with Bobby Flay! I couldn't wait to try your ribs today"

Ed Mitchell: "oh wow, thank you"
Me: "Can we take a picture with you?"
Ed Mitchell: "of course!"

Whole hog and Coleslaw: This is like pulled pork but not as saucy. I topped it with the coleslaw which went really well with it. The taste of the hog was very interesting, lots of vinegar taste, which sort of over powered the meat taste a bit. At first, I really liked it but then 1/2 way into eating it I thought it was just way too vinegary and the bread became too soggy. But overall I thought it was great!
yummi....roasting the piggy!

Last Stop: We were really full but when Andy pass by Blue Smoke (from New York, NY), he couldn't resist so we got on the line and I'm so glad we did!

Andy posing with the ribs...

Kansas City Ribs & Pickles: it was finally falling off the bone quality, the way ribs should be! The sauce was sweet and delicious! so far this was my favorite of the day!

Last picture with executive chef from one of my favorite bbq joint, Dinosaur BarB-Que, New York, NY. We were just too full so we didn't get anything from them and plus they were all out of food. They were serving: Pulled Pork Shoulder and Beans. I didn't have to try to know that it was probably awesome!

Convo with me and cheif:
Me: asking a staff in the area "where is the pitmaster?" the guy points to a guy sitting on the side of the truck smoking. I went over and asked him if I could take a picture with him. He looked exhausted and shake his head no but the staff yelled out, "just take a picture with her!" so he slowly gets up and stood right next to me.
*takes picture*
Me: Oh, I love the food at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Everything is great there! (which is very true...)

Cheif: Here's my business card, maybe you could use it one of these days....

Me: *very happy* thank you! It was a pleasure meeting you! (I'm not sure what he meant but I'm hoping it means I can get a discount when I eat there!hehe...)

Us leaving the bbq festival happy and full!

I <3>Sushi in Bay Ridge: Fontana Sushi

Fresh Seafood Joint: Chef With Sole

My 2009 Restaurant Week Reviews: Butter and Lure Fish Bar

Food Critic For A Day! Metro Asian Food Magazine-Shanghai Food

Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival- July 30th-August 2nd, 2009

Event: Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival
Date: July 30th-August 2nd, 2009
Time: Varies
Ticket Price: $30-$1,000
Event Schedule
For more information: http://www.harrahs.com/acfoodandwine/

Manhattan Restaurant Week July 12-31, 2009

Manhattan Restaurant Week is here!
July 12-31, 2009
Lunch menu: $24.07
Dinner menu: $35
Beverage, tax and gratuity not included. Saturdays are excluded but some restaurants are offering deals for Sundays. Make your reservations today!

For more information on participating restaurants and menus:
http://www.nycgo.com/views/programs/rw/srw.html

Happy Eating....

Free McCafe To Start Off Your Week....

Free Coffee on Mondays (Now-August 3, 2009)

McDonalds will be offering FREE coffee on Mondays starting July 13 until August 3 at participating McDonalds from 7am to 7pm. Customers will receive a free 7 oz iced Mocha or an 8 oz hot McCafe Mocha.

Yesterday after lunch, Teresa and I decide to check out the free McCafe coffee from McDonalds. There were big signs advertising the free coffee which followed by long lines. The wait wasn't bad, we probably waited around 10-15 mins.

was the wait worth it???

not really...

First of all, I'm not a coffee fan. I only drink coffee on a need to drink basis AKA when I need to stay awake to study. During the past month, Starbucks bottled Frappuccino (I hate starbucks coffee from the store, too bitter!!!) was what I survived on for my all nighters. I usually like to drink tea with milk and sugar or the HK style milk tea (yes, there's a difference...)
The McCafe didn't have much mocha taste at all. It was very rich but bitter. Will I order this in the future? yes, only if it's for free.... =X