Goodfella's Old World Brick Oven Pizza

Once in a while I just get overwhelmed with blogging, cooking, baking and taking care of the day-to-day activities that have to get done. My husband can probably only take so much of my cooking anyways (hope not, he seems to love it). We all get those cravings. You know what I'm talking about: delicious and tasty pizza. Sorry Papa Johns, but you are not going to do it for me tonight.

Goodfella's (for short) is a wonderful pizza place really close to our home and I feel extremely blessed to have it so close. A while back I wrote another post on my other blog about Pizzology, which is another fantastic pizza place on the north side of Indianapolis. Both are amazing but I have to say that Goodfella's wins the  pizza battle, hands down. It even tastes perfect a few days later straight from my microwave! This was a perfect football Sunday lunch. Don't worry though, I was on the elliptical for 30 minutes, 6 days this week so I felt like greasy (albeit not too greasy) pizza was warranted.

The pizza is very traditional style in that the crust is a little crunchy, but still thick, and the center is very soft and thinner crust. You even get to watch them toss, knead and cook your pizza in the brick oven. It's pretty amazing. They also always give you bread and some parmesan olive oil dipping sauce that I have got to figure out the recipe for. So if you are ever in town and craving the most amazing pizza of your life, go to Goodfella's and I promise they won't let you down. Now don't forget dessert!!!

NOTE: The website has an incorrect address for the pizza place. The location in Carmel shut down (from what I've been told) and the only location here is at 96th Street & Olio Road, in Geist.

P.F. Changs China Bistro

I have been doing a lot of restaurant reviews lately, I know. The reason is because we were supposed to move mid-January. Then again at the end of the month and our closings kept getting delayed for one reason or another. I kept trying to get the bare minimum at the grocery store and we would go out one day (assuming that was the day we were closing .. to celebrate).

FINALLY on February 1st, we closed on our new home! Time to celebrate! It couldn't have been better timing too because the Indianapolis Colts are going to the Superbowl and we should have just under a week to hook up our family room. We can't wait!

Anyways, back to the review at hand. P.F. Changs is a place that my husband and I go to often. Mainly we go for the chicken lettuce wraps because they are divine! We normally get the Two for $40 deal they offer. It really is a fantastic deal. You get:

2 soups

1 appetizer

2 main dishes

2 mini desserts

By the time you are finished with all that food, the mini desserts are more than enough. They are fantastic. Okay, I can't really say that because the only one I have ever had is the cherry cheesecake. I just don't like change when I've got a good thing going, ya know. They offer other fantastic flavors, however. If you want gourmet asian food, this is the place for you!

Wait time: D (we waited 2 hours .. yes TWO hours)

Food: A-

Menu diversity: A (it is a "China Bistro" of course)

Service: A-

Nutritional value: C- (keep your portions smaller here for better nutrition)

Price: $$

Maggiano's Little Italy

Late August my husband and I always go to Maggiano's for his birthday. Why? It is by far his most favorite restaurant in the entire universe. I'm pretty sure if we took a trip to Italy he would still like this place's food better than anywhere there. Okay .. a little exaggeration, but you get the point.

Well he brought home a ton of leftovers from his business luncheon today: veal ravioli (shown above), calamari, ziti and creme brulee. YES, I said creme brulee! It's not quite as good leftover but trust me, it doesn't lose any of it's caloric value. That means me and the elliptical have a few after-dinner dates these next few weeks. Oh well. It's worth it to indulge once in a while.

At any rate, this place is always superb. Food is fantastic. Service is usually pretty good. The atmosphere is one of the reasons why we go. They play his favorite dinner date music: swing and big band. He's so adorable sometimes. If you have one of these in your area, you must go for a date, dinner or business meeting. It's perfect!

Service: B+

Food: A

Atmosphere: A+

Wait time: A

Diversity of menu: A

Nutritional value: D (not too many low-cal or healthier options)

Price: $$$

Panera Bread

Panera Bread. If you have one of these in your area, you have been there at least a half-dozen times .. or two. This is the perfect balance of soup, salad, and sandwiches to appease any taker. There are so many selections but I usually get the same thing over and over. Sometimes I stray from the norm and this was one of those times. I was pleasantly surprised too and had to write about it.

You would look at my meal and think, "Okay, Caesar Salad: semi-healthy. Whole-Wheat baguette: definitely better than the French baguette they offer. Mac & Cheese: probably not the healthiest." Dead wrong!

Here were the nutrition facts I pulled from the website: (click for larger image)

The french baguette is actually not much different than the whole-wheat except that it doesn't have as much fiber (3g less). Calories and sodium and other factors were almost exactly the same. So I have been thinking this whole time it's healthier!? Yeah yeah .. I know .. it's processed differently in our bodies. Yadda yadda. But it tastes SO GOOD!

Also, I always get the caesar dressing on the side (because they put it on by the gallon I think) and that saves a lot of calories. Doing this will! Dip your fork in the dressing, then some lettuce. You'll be pleasantly surprised at all the leftover dressing you have (and calories saved).

Now for the dreaded mac & cheese! This stuff was superb!! I want to learn to make mac & cheese like this at home. They were advertising this stuff everywhere in the store and it looked so good I had to try it. If I had known it was almost 500 calories .. NO THANK YOU! Other than that, it was fantastic!

All in all a 900 calorie dinner. Made me want to run to the bathroom and purge immediately. I could do it once in a while, but not on a weekly basis or anything.

Food taste: B (too much dressing)

Service: A

Atmosphere: A

Wait time: A

Diversity of menu: B (more of a luncheon place .. not for dinner really)

Nutritional value: D

RAM Restaurant & Brewery

Today marks a big day in my blog's history! It's my very first restaurant review. I have been meaning to do one but never bring a camera or it's not a place worth reviewing. Tonight my husband and I went to RAM Restaurant and Brewery . It was our first time there so it is a perfect chance to review.

Brad got the BBQ Pulled Pork Bomber and it was twice the size of my burger. He really liked it .. a lot. It also had a little bit of coleslaw on the bottom of the sandwich and he really enjoyed the combo of that. This brought on conversation about how his grandmother made the best coleslaw. I personally don't usually like it so I don't make it. I promised to find and perfect a recipe from my grandmothers recipe book if he can't find his family recipe.

I got the All American Burger. I ordered it well done and I typically like it char-black .. so a little more than well done. It was medium. It was still very red inside. Also they forgot to put lettuce AND mayo on it. The guy that brought the food said this burger doesn't come with mayo normally. Check the menu for yourself online. It does. I ordered no ketchup or mustard in which they of course put on there.

We both got waffle fries that were okay. They were room temperature and a little too crunchy for me. Brad got the 71 ale on tap and it was only $3 which was great. Also, their pints are 18 ounces so you get more for your money. The beer was good and I think I could even drink a pint even though I don't typically like beer.

Because of all of the sending back of my food and mess-ups, the manager gave us a free dessert, our choice. We chose the carrot cake, which also came with a couple scoops of Edys vanilla ice cream and caramel topping. It was phenomenal.

Food: C
Drinks: A
Dessert: A
Service: B
Wait time: A (didn't have to wait at all on a Saturday night)