Rockford: Waffle Shop Family Restaurant

Location: Located in a small shopping area, nevertheless, this place was hard to find if you're unfamiliar with the area. We saw it as we drove past, and then it was really hard to try to get back to it again.

Cuisine: American, breakfast.

Atmosphere: This has the feel of a small-town restaurant. It was busy when we arrived, and quite loud as well. This is a place where you seat yourself.

Ordering: We were asked if we wanted coffee three times (turned down each time) before the waitress came and actually took our order for breakfast.

Service: See above. Plus, they got Tammy's order wrong when it came. Tammy thought she was going to get one thing, but got something else entirely. Since I know Tammy ordered correctly, and pointed to it on the menu when she ordered, I know that it wasn't Tammy's fault. Whether this laid in the hands of the waitress not passing on the right order or the cook had messed up, I don't know.

The Food: The food here wasn't very special. They did have malt waffles, made with golden malt flour, which did give the waffle a little bit of a different flavor, making it a little better than normal waffles. Otherwise, the food was typical fare, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to make it special, nothing to inspire you to go out of your way to go here.

Verdict: I wouldn't come here again, opting instead for other places in Rockford that I enjoyed more.

Rockford: Thai Pavillion

Location: Dekalb, Illinois, which is south of Rockford. I hesitate to say this is in Rockford, but it's been grouped into the "Rockford area" on Urban Spoon in much the same way that Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, have been grouped together with Milwaukee. However, at least this restaurant is on one of the main streets (East Lincoln Highway) of Dekalb, in the downtown area.

Cuisine: Thai.

Atmosphere: Thai Pavillion is in a small storefront of an old downtown. Nevertheless, the owners have made an attempt to decorate the restaurant with items from Thailand. It's the sort of place I may have walked past a couple of years ago without giving it a second thought. If you're a fan of the chain restaurant look, this isn't a place for you. This looks like a very small, independent restaurant.

Ordering/Menu: We were greeted almost immediately upon walking in and taken to one of the unoccupied tables and handed our menus. This restaurant has a wide selection of authentic Thai food, from noodles to curries to the entrees. The menus were updated by hand when things were no longer available, which did seem to make the place seem a little small townish, but that just means that this place doesn't waste a lot of money on paying to update their menus in order to keep their prices low.

Service: Service was always friendly and prompt, like you'd expect a place like this to be.

The Food: If you have never been in a Thai restaurant before (we hadn't been), the menu may seem to be a little unnerving at first. They have a wide selection of authentic Thai dishes, from spring rolls to noodles to soups and curries to the main entrees, and many of them sounded like they would be great. Unfortunately, we didn't have the intestinal fortitude or the money to be able to try them all. So, we just had to make due and try to make the best choices we could.

Tammy went with the green curry, thinking that it would be similar to the type of curry that you may get in an Indian restaurant which you would serve over rice. The menu describes it as: A typical Thai spicy green Curry, cooked with fresh hot peppers in coconut milk with distinctive flavors of lemon grass, green peas, sweet basil leaves and your choice of meat. This is actually a soup that comes in a bowl, which she wasn't expecting, but which I am told was very good. I'm not sure how spicy it was, but in Minnesota, that word is pretty much taboo.

I would highly recommend the Chicken Delight: Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, onions, pineapple, peapods with homemade sauce. This particular dish is going to be more familiar to you if you are familiar with eating at Chinese restaurants, though better.

Verdict: Like I have previously admitted, we have no other Thai restaurant experiences to compare this to, though this is a restaurant I'd recommend if you're in the area and looking for something a little different from what you'd normally eat at.

Rockford: Brooklyn Deli

Location: Brooklyn Deli is located in a strip mall along with other stores, making this a more convenient location. However, it is not located in Rockford but rather a nearby small town, so it's location takes a small hit here.

Cuisine: American, sandwiches.

Atmosphere: Well, it's in a strip mall. While that alone doesn't necessarily tell you much about the atmosphere of this place, also take into account that it's a deli. When you go to a deli, you likely aren't looking for much of an atmosphere. When we were here, we were the only patrons who actually ate inside.

Ordering: You order and pay for your food at the front counter, and they will bring it out to you.

Service: Okay, well, again, this is a deli. You pay for your food, it gets delivered to your table. Other than that, we didn't have much interaction with the employees here. Drinks are do-it-yourself.

Food: I'll be honest with you. I never thought that I would like a deli, and definitely never thought that one would be good enough to make it into something that I would consider top ten material. This place is just absolutely amazing. I ordered the Brooklyn Bomber sandwich, mainly because of the fact that it had cole slaw and fries actually in the sandwich. I didn't consider how this may add to the size of the sandwich until I actually had it in front of me, and I had to approach the sandwich with a strategy of how to actually fit my mouth around this sandwich to eat it, that's how huge it was. After accomplishing that, I found that the taste of the fusion of everything all in one bite to be absolutely wonderful. This is a must visit for anyone in the Rockford area.

La Crosse, WI: Culina Mariana

Location: This restaurant is located at the Shrine of the Lady of Guadalupa. That means that this restaurant is a bit out of the way from most of LaCrosse.

Cuisine: According to Urban Spoon, this is a European restaurant. I would consider it to be more American in style.

Atmosphere: The view from here could be magnificent if it's the right season. Unfortunately, when we were there, it was past peak fall colors, most of the trees were bare, and it was just a cloudy, rainy late fall day, so I wasn't all that impressed with the view while looking out the large windows over the forested area beside this restaurant. It reminded me of eating in a Christian retreat sort of room, which I suppose perhaps at one point, this part of the shrine was used as some sort of conference room or possibly a dining room. There is a high ceiling with chandeliers hanging, large wooden tables that looked heavy and glass protecting the wood, and heavy wood chairs. Most of the smaller tables were already taken when we arrived, so we ended up sitting at a table for six, and the tables were so wide across that we sat next to each other rather than across from each other.

Ordering: When you walk into this restaurant, you order your food at a counter with a register and pay up front. Right next to that was the dessert counter with various dessert items wrapped in plastic wrap. You get a number upon ordering to have your food delivered to your table. The menu, for the most part, is written on a chalk board behind the counter. What had peaked my interest based on their internet menu were some burgers that said they were gouda stuffed burgers. They don't have those anymore, and when I inquired about them, they said they removed them from the menu because too many people wanted them without cheese.

Service: Service was quick and friendly, and the wait staff was very good about making sure our water was refilled. There were signs on the tables explaining that water would only be provided when asked for to help save on expenses from people who didn't want water. It also reminded people to tip their servers. I can see how this may be a problem when you pay for your food in advance.

The Food: The food was good--I ordered a "specialty burger" which is just to say a 1/3 pound organic burger, and had to pay to have additional toppings put on it. It was served on ciabata bread, and came with homemade tortilla chips and salsa. I think I could have had more of these chips, as the amount of them seemed a bit sparse, and homemade tortilla chips are almost always good. The salsa was on the mild side and I wasn't impressed with that as much, and it was obviously made with the upper midwest palate in mind.