Cardigan's, Tulsa, OK

Tony met my friend Darren tonight. We went to an amusing little bistro in his neighborhood called Cardigan's. Dinner was entertaining enough. Darren was a whimp and only ordered a large Caesar salad, and didn't even have chicken or shrimp or anything thrown in for fun. Tony had the 14 ounce club steak with a baked potato, dinner Caesar salad, and a huge piece of lemon merigue pie. I started with the house salad with a blue cheese dressing that was interestingly based on a buttermilk-herb recipe. For a main course, I had the grilled yellowfin tuna, medium rare, served on a bed of fresh spinach leaves and topped with a sautee of artichokes, diced tomato, chopped onion, chopped parsley, minced garlic and a hint of rosemary, all liberally doused with a balsalmic vinegar reduction. It was quite good, though on one occasion, I did get a shocking splash of vinegar in one of the artichoke pieces, and I thought the fish was cooked just a touch beyond medium rare. The accompanying rice pilaf was rather ordinary, but it was inconsequential. My dessert was a coconut cream pie, the filling of which was delicious, but I found the crust to be too thick, too salty, and too undercooked. After dinner, we went back to Darren's house for coffee, which I think he said was some Mexican organic something or other.....

And just think, Darren wanted to order delivery pizza and stay home!

Lao-Thai, Tulsa, OK

Lunch today was at the new-ish Lao-Thai in Brookside. I had a great pad thai scallops which was not only tasty but very reasonable.....it was $7.95, and I must have had at least a dozen good sized scallops in the dish. Tony had a red curry that smelled good, but was laden with green and yellow bell peppers, which I thought amusing since he really hates peppers.

Juanita's, Jenks, OK

My friend Bill called me to come rescue him from the Wal-Mart in Sapulpa, where, for some inexplicable reason, he took his car for an oil change. We did lots of shopping in Sapulpa (there are outlet stores for both Frankoma Pottery and Barlett Glass), then he took me to lunch at a cute Mexican place in Jenks called Juanitas. The service was rather poor (high school girl with Jenks-style "attitude"), but the food was excellent. The omnipresent chips and salsa were good, with a nice smoky taste to the salsa, and I think I detected a bit of tomatillo. We ordered some guacamole, which had a great flavor to it, and was freshly made upon our order. For entrees, Bill had some kind of combination plate, and I had what they call a "Mexican kiss" I loved it! It kind of reminded me of a quesadilla, and was similarly constructed. It was a large, thick, flour tortilla with some yummy pulled pork, cooked onions, and cheese, plus herbs, in the middle, folded over into a half moon, then fried on both sides. The chicken flautas were also juicy and full of flavor.