Tag Archives: food

Victoria’s Fancy Foods – Gourmet grocery shop fashioned after the shops of Paris.

Posted on by

Morning Y’all!

A lot of folks think that this blog is about restaurants, WRONG! it is about good food in general, whether it is in stores, my friends kitchens or my own, bakeries, or restaurants.

I moved in the Severna Park/Pasadena area a year ago. My husband and I used to live in Essex, MD.

One of the main reasons why we decided to move was because there is close to -nothing- in Essex when it comes to food. There are not a lot of choices of good restaurants, grocery stores, etc..

I love cooking, and I have been blessed to have been surrounded by friends that enjoy it as much as I do.

While grocery shopping is a burden for some, I personally LOVE grocery shopping because I see it as an adventure. I prefer grocery shopping than any other type of shopping, any day of the week. When I used to live in Essex, my choices in grocery store were: Mars, Shoppers, Geresbeck’s, and Aldi, and that was it. Guess what the closest store to my house was?? Aldi ! I went to that store -once- because I had to make an emergency run as I needed something for my dinner that night.  After I parked the car, I was on my way in and there was a bodyguard at the entrance that fiercely looked at me and made it clear that I needed to turn around. Yep, a giant disgusting cockroach was right in front of the entrance, staring at me, daring me to make a move. I have a phobia of bugs. Needless to say that I can’t tell you what the store look like inside. Off to Mars I went that day (could have been literal since I flew back to my car after the sight of that disgusting thing).

My friend Yvette who has been living in Severna Park for years had told me numerous times about this place she goes to called Victoria’s Fancy foods and that I needed to check it out at some point. Never really made it there since I wasn’t living close to that area.. Until I moved here…….

I checked Victoria’s website (http://victoriasfancyfoods.com/) and the front page  caught my attention immediately:

Untitled

“Local clean foods and fine crafted wine”…..then it says “Our gourmet grocery shop is fashioned after the shops of Paris with wooden floors and chalkboard signs.”

slide792267250_230993923610194_8017641_n

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this was me jumping up and down, cartwheel and all..).

Then it says this: “We take pride in every item we offer to you.” I had to check it out and let me tell you that everything in that description does check out. Why didn’t I move in this area years ago???????????? Between all the restaurants I am discovering, Hawthorne Bakery and Victoria’s, I am not home sick anymore!

Please allow me to introduce you to this lovely lady, Victoria Stagmer, proud owner of this gourmet store:

22161_1252156864964_6547227_n

Victoria is another hard working, dedicated and passionate woman I have the honor to know. She takes customer service to an entire new level and she knows her stuff (and top of it all, she is a certified wine specialist 🙂 ). She told me once that there is nothing in her store that she hasn’t tried. Remember this on her website:  “We take pride in every item we offer to you.”?

So let me recap, she offers gourmet food (from fresh pasta to olive oil, from crackers to jams, teas, coffee, spices, cheeses, bread….) and Wine from all over.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yep, I did it again).

Let me take a second and talk about the bread. She gets frozen bread from a bakery in New Jersey (except for the sourdough which is authentic sourdough from LaBrea bakery in San Fransisco): olive bread, rosemary bread, whole grain (my personal favorite because it honestly taste like candy and it’s good for you!) regular bread (and I may be forgetting some). You take it home, you let it thaw for a bit, and stick it in the oven for 15 min at 380 degrees. Voila! fresh awesome bread coming straight out of the oven like you baked it (well you did). Slice it, add to that this wonderful Saint Angel Cheese she carries (that thing can’t just be triple creme, because triple means 3, I would guess a 100!) and top it with nice bottle of wine. That’s dinner for me right there.

She would also give me stuff to sample at home so that she can make a decision on whether she should carry it in her store or not. First of all, I feel very special that she values my opinion, second, I love trying new food! (Victoria: the truffle couscous is amazing!!!!! I tried it last night and it is phenomenal!! carry carry carry!).

I can’t tell you how many times I would call her up and ask her if she could bake a loaf of bread for me and that I would pick it up on my way home from work.  I double dog dare you to tell me that you can do that at any other store! She would also give me suggestions for wine pairing depending on what I am having for dinner. Talk about customer service!

Did I mention that I love that store? (and Victoria of course!).

Also, Victoria’s Fancy Foods has an opportunity to relocate into a larger space. She is obligated to her lease in the current location until February 2015 and actively looking for a business that would be interested in sub-letting this space. If you know of anyone, please have them get contact her!!!

Listen people! Go to her store, Follow her on Facebook, on Twitter, sign up for her newsletter, I am personally following this woman everywhere she goes! (sounds like stalking I know..).

So Get Fancy, Get local! and I can guarantee you that you would love that store as much as I do!

Stay hungry friends!

Aida.

 

 

 

Beucherts Saloon, 623 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington DC

Posted on by

Image

Happy Sunday!

Sorry it took so long to blog about Friday night, but I must confess (appropriate for a Sunday morning 🙂 ), I had to recuperate a bit. We dined and wined so much this week that I felt the need to stay away from food for at least a day and work out a little. I didn’t want to be forced to change the blog name from “wherethehungrywomenat.com” to “fatbrokeandhappy.com”.

In any case, let’s turn the wheel and go back in time to this past Friday evening:

Our dear friend Jessica Knudsen (Executive Chef and owner of Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pasty, http://hawthornefinebreakfastpastry.com/ trust me: we will blog about this!) mentioned Beucherts Saloon a little while after we started this blog and told us it was a MUST GO.  I would go _anywhere_ Jessica recommends, that girl knows her stuff when it comes to food (and wine!).

One thing I would like to point out is their website: http://beuchertssaloon.com/ which is a very fun website to navigate through. They have randoms rules that appears such as Rule # 266 Unattended children will be given espresso and a puppy (my personal favorite). Check it out for yourself when you get a chance.

We had a very nice ride down DC listening to the “Best of Al Jarreau” CD and arrived at Jessica’s place around 6:00pm. After being molested by her 2 wonderful giant dogs for about 15 minutes (lots of kisses), Jessica opened a bottle of 2004 Behrens & Hitchcock “14th of July”. I honestly can say that this was one of the best red wine I have had in a while: a nose of dark fruit and spice, beautiful color, big, think chewy, velvety blend of deliciousness, I didn’t even want to go in the restaurant and wanted to sip on that wine all evening!  See, I like my wine the same way I like my cheese, if it smells like dirty feet, you know you are in for a treat!

What a wonderful start of the evening that was.

We walk down to the restaurant from her house which was a nice little walk (I always enjoyed walking in the middle of DC). The picture I posted above is the entrance of the restaurant. Looks like nothing right??

I loved the way the bar looked:

Image

They also offer a cork fee for $25 which means that they will open your own wine and decant it for you! Our beautiful waitress Liz should have gotten a warning that the crazy and hungry women were coming over. She kept saying that she didn’t want to be in a picture because she was convinced that she was not photogenic, I think she is darling!

She hang in there the whole evening (trust me, hard to do with our crowd).

We took full advantage of the cork fee offering (I couldn’t get over the difference in color of both wines a Cristom Pinot Noir and Newton Puzzle, yum yum and yum):

ImageImage

I was the designated driver for the evening, so decided to not have a cocktail to start, the other 4 ladies each chose a different concoction. The winner cocktail was the Beuchert’s 75: Gin, lemon, seasonal herbal syrup and prosecco. I am not a big fan of gin but I have to say this was quite refreshing and delish (what? being the designated driver didn’t mean that I couldn’t take a sip!)

Image

In the meantime, we ordered the  Charcuterie, Country Pate and Fromages board to start with. I am not going to write too much about that board as we took several pictures through the “process” of enjoying it:

Image

Absolutely Zero shame in our game, none. We mean business.

It didn’t take us long to make a decision the entrees: Sherry and Daun shared the Dry Aged Strip Steak, Jessica had the Fried Green Tomatoes, Sarah had the 5 spice chicken sausage, I had the grilled lamb loin chops. As far as the sides, Jessica suggested the GPOD French fries, the roasted mushrooms and the white corn grits.

Here is what the entire meal looked like:

Image

I never liked grits. I think they taste like _nothing_. I _never_ tasted grits that taste better than mashed potatoes! white corn and got cheddar. Nuff’ said. The roasted mushrooms were as delicious as the grits.

The fries. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah the Fries….Jessica warned me and I quote: “Their fries are stupid!” which is a big compliment in her own language. She was right, they were above stupid, despicable yuminess with a creamy mayonnaise with Taragon at the bottom of the dish (I had to ask for a separate container with that sauce), yeah, I am dipper.

I really have no idea what GPOD stands for, if i had to guess, it would say it is God’s Presents Of Deliciousness. We had 2 servings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of our meals were delicious and so fresh. The highlight of all the entrees was this one:

Image

This was Sarah’s chicken, looks obscene right?? Well, all I am going to say is this: Sarah’s sausage was enough to satisfy 5 women and some!

Sarah had to excuse herself to go to the Ladies room. We all understood. 🙂

Anyway, down to the desserts (yes, you are all thinking that we are out of our mind after all this decadence, and that gluttony is a sin and bla bla bla).

Descent to hell it is, head first:

Image

Our least favorite one was the Popsicle (after Sarah’s sausage, I think it might have been a visual thing, we were scared for life after all…).

But we are ladies after all, and when ladies enjoy their meal (dessert is this case), this is what they do when they want to compliment the Chef:

Image

Speaking of Chef, Jessica and I went to talk to him while he was busy making everyone happy, and I wanted to take a picture of the creator of everything we had the pleasure to sample that night. We didn’t take too much of his time but did mention to him that he was definitely blog worthy!

Image

Since as usual, we were the loudest in the room, Chef Andrew Markert came over our table and introduced himself to all of us. What a delightful surprise that was!

And what a nice and talented young man. We had a very nice chat, he told us about his background (See the About Section on the Beucherts’ website) and that he actually does everything in the kitchen (including the desserts!). He also changes the menu twice a week.  I seem to remember that the only thing that they do not make in the kitchen is the bread.

The _only_ bad note is the Coffee. DON”T order it, unless you like Chicory because that is what it taste like. Other than that, all the stars for this restaurant and Chef Andrew Markert. We are all big fans and will definitely come back, worth the trip down to DC!

Stay hungry and enjoy your Sunday!

Aida.

4 Seasons Grille – Crofton location

Posted on by

Image

On the 28th of June, Sherry and I decided to go see the movie “The Heat” with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (even though we are talking about food here, I highly recommend that movie if you don’t mind peeing your pants).

Since the show was at 7:40pm and the theater location we chose was in Crofton next to the Wegmans, we were wandering around trying to decide where our next eating adventure would be. Sherry had the brightest idea to go the 4 Season Grille (in the shopping center where the Home Goods is). I seem to recall that she has been there once but it was for lunch, not for dinner (Sherry, correct me if I’m wrong!).

I have been in that shopping center multiple times, but never realized that this restaurant was even there! It was pouring down rain that day and we were soaked just running from the car to the restaurant.I wasn’t too sure about the 4 Seasons and as the name seemed very similar to a restaurant downtown Baltimore that I was very disappointed with. The name will come back to me at some point.

Anyway, the waitress took care of us immediately and we had a nice little booth. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded.

I think we ordered a Trivento Malbec and started to look at the menu. I was hungry, everything in the menu looked divine.(http://www.4seasonsgrille.com).

Going down to the list of appetizers, we saw this at the same time and pointed it out to each other:

Goat Cheese Brulee
Goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic & pine nut blend, caramelized Parmesan crust, pita chips, balsamic glaze

Being a big fan of creme brulee myself (and so is Sherry!), Goat cheese brulee sounded so interesting. Looking at the ingredients, I drooled (yes, I do that a lot).  Sold! we looked no further, ordered it without even looking at the entrees yet. About 10 minutes later (while we were still trying to decide our entrees), the dish came and it was beautiful (I still can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of it!).

We both took a piece of the pita chips and dipped into the dish: oh my! I think I forgot my name. Sherry was making all these noises that were becoming quite obscene, we just couldn’t stop until it was all gone. Once our food orgasms were over (I think at that point, we were both making inappropriate noise), it was down to the entrees.

I personally chose this:

Truffle Mignon
8 oz. filet mignon, truffle butter, roasted garlic spinach, roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

I already said before that I have an addiction to truffle and will soon be going to the Truffle Anonymous, so everything that has the word truffle in it, I am all over it!.

I think Sherry had a pasta dish but I can’t remember which one. Even though her dish was good, I gave her a bite of mine, and here she was again, singing, speaking tongues that even I couldn’t understand. She didn’t finish hers, we both shared mine. (She actually took her dish to go and forgot it in my car! shame shame…).

I also recall that we were not the only ones speaking tongues. A couple of tables over, there was a nice little group that were screaming and making THE noises. I had to know! (I felt like when Harry met Sally movie with the famous line “I want what she had!” after Meg Ryan did her thing). I walked over and asked the group what was the fuss about, and they told me that they had this:

Seafood Crepes
Filled with shrimp scallops, asparagus tips, lemon zest, Parmesan, mascarpone cheese, baked, seafood bisque

That one will be next on my list when I go back there because I will most definitely go back!!!!

Overall, another highly recommended restaurant. The prices are reasonable for food that good. Worth every penny. (The menu on their website actually have all the pricing for every item so check it out before you go).

As usual, stay hungry my friends!

Aida.

Independance day, Bastille day, Birthdays, so many things to celebrate in July!

Posted on by

Good morning! This month has been a very busy one with so many birthdays to celebrate, therefore multiple occasions to eat out and so many things to blog about. The first one that we absolutely need to discuss is Vin 909 in Annapolis (http://www.vin909.com/).
Sherry and I tried the Dayboat Local See Scallops and the French sliders. The scallops were good but not as orgasmic as the ones we tried at The Point Crab House and Grill (http://www.thepointcrabhouse.com/) which is a restaurant on the water in Arnold (we will definitely come back to this one!). Now, let me point out the description of the French Sliders: All-natural dry aged local beef, triple crème brie and gruyere fondue, truffle mayo and caramelized onion. I triple dare anyone not to just drool by reading this description. I just LOVE truffle and let me tell ya,: These sliders makes you wanna sing or hurt yourself (or both!)! We had to take a moment to ourselves and pray (I have a picture that proves it!)20130710_141255.
The meat was cooked to perfection, the combination of flavors was amazing, I went to heaven and back through every single bites! On a scale from 1 to 5, that one is a 6!. Our experience at Vin 909 was far from over and the food orgasms didn’t stop there. Since we were celebrating Sherry’s birthday, dessert was in order.
We both ordered a French press coffee and a Chocolate pot de crème. Oh. My. Gawd! Being French myself and a food snob, in this tiny little restaurant, how good can it be. I stand corrected. BEST POT DE CRÈME I have had since I came into this country 13 years ago. Rating: that’s a 10 even if the rating system doesn’t go as high!
You add to the entire experience a wonderful Aqua de Piedra Malbec which made this lunch simply perfect.
Overall, pricing is reasonable, portions are perfect which means that you don’t leave the restaurant feeling like you are 9 month pregnant, service is excellent and the staff is very friendly, great atmosphere: HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
We made a promise to ourselves to go back there and sample out the rest of the menu so stay tuned! And as always, stay hungry my friends!”