Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

Half Moon Restaurant and Saloon – Native Nutrition Cuisine
108 West State Street
Kennett Square, PA
Reservations or gift certificates – 610.444.7232
info@halfmoonrestaurant.com 
http://www.halfmoonrestaurant.com

Hours:
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30AM – 5:30PM, Sat. Noon – 5:30PM
Dinner: Mon-Sat 5:30PM – 10PM
Late Night Menu: Fri & Sat 10PM – 11PM
Closed Sundays

On the Roof Top (It is indoor/outdoor all year, glass enclosed atrium. The garage door windows open up during nice weather and are heated during cold weather. – All non smoking.) Warning if you scared of heights, roof top dining is five stories up.

Simply the ultimate healthy eating can be eaten at Half Moon. Their meats are natural raised, what is the difference between wild meats and other meats, wild meats have extremely less fat, totally lean healthy meats; the best for you.

I recently heard about this restaurant and immediately put it on my list of places to eat in. I truly love foods that my ancestors ate. Seldom I get a chance to enjoy a big buffalo burger or bear stew, however I don‘t think they have bear. So as you can imagine me like a kid in a candy store when I went to the restaurant.

A few of my friends and my cousin accompanied me on this healthy adventure.

There is a long list of choices from their dinner menu. Claire and Ayaka went straight to the entrée menu; they ordered the North Atlantic Salmon wasabi crusted, tamari soy, Chinese black rice, with garlic chili oil for $23.

Jordan and I got the Mondegreen from the Salad menu; Edamame beans, greens, pepper slaw, mandarin oranges, almonds, cilantro lime vinaigrette for $7.50 along with the Blackened Alligator for $5

I ordered the Kangaroo Loin* to split among the four of us; prosciutto fingerling hash, exotic mushrooms, in port wine syrup for $28.

I noticed they have the Ostrich Filet, peppered goat cheese, micro greens, pancetta, potato galette, truffle essence, in natural jus for $28.

There a children menu (Lil buckaroos) price range – $5 and under

Happy Eating!

Fry Bread

This is different from what I normally post here. When we, (MousaGenre), have promo shows or band parties; so forth we prepare a lot of food, among the items is fry bread. A lot of people who have attended our parties always ask us for our fry bread recipe. So to narrow down the load of emails, I thought of posting the recipe here. There are such varieties of the same recipe online, basically it’s like the basic fry bread we only kick it up a bit.

Edit – Yes, this is a great recipe for touring bands who have access to a kitchen.

1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon powered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 jalapeno pepper chopped or slightly diced [can use two peppers for a hotter kick]
1/2 cup water [milk or buttermilk can be use if preferred]
Vegetable oil or Canola oil

Sift flour, salt, powdered milk, and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix jalapeno to water or milk, then add wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir the dough with a fork [for better formation use your hands, form hands like a tiger claw] stop mixing when dough forms into a clump.

Do not knead! Scrap excess mixture off your hands and fingers, flour your hands and shape dough into a firm ball then cut into fours or more (if you want bread smaller). Take each piece and shape, pat, stretch, and form each piece to about 3 – 5 inches in diameter, depending on how big you want them. And no they don’t have to be perfectly shape.

Pour oil into a cast-iron skillet or you can use a fryer, [cast-iron makes the bread taste better; everything taste better when made in a cast-iron… Paula Deen said so]. The oil should be about 1 inch deep.

Lay bread into the hot oil [hot oil test, throw a pinch of flour in the oil if it sizzle its hot] carefully and often press the dough down while frying it with a wooden spoon so the dough is submerged under the oil. Flip bread over after about 2 or 3 minutes or when golden brown. Golden brown on each side, lay bread onto paper towels to remove excess oil and place in a 200 degrees warmer oven until ready to serve.

Toppings for fry bread are of such varieties, it is whatever you can think of. We usually serve them plain with different sauces to choose – example: tomato chutney (made with tomatoes, red/green peppers, onions, okra, and cucumbers) Mozzarella cheese, sweet jams (blackberry, strawberry, or kiwi). Or you can make a taco pizza, have a breakfast disk (with eggs, bacon, and sour cream) or simple eat them plain.

Happy Eating!

York, Pennsylvania

Mexitaly – South-Western/Italian cuisine
1170 Haines Road
York, PA
171.600.8226
http://www.mexitaly.com

Open Daily 11AM – 9PM

Only up and running since 2004 but they have established quite a name for themselves. I am a foodie for South-Western and Italian cuisines. I do have to warn you, this is still Pennsylvania and the food there is huge like Texas, perfect example is the Monster Burrito, one could feed at least two or three people. They believe in wholesome cooking, fresh ingredients, divine sauces best I have ever tastes next to my mother’s cooking of course… it is like eating at home.

The burrito choices are such varieties, Southwest Steak, Chorizo, Seasoned Beef, Pork Carnitas, beans and vegetables oh decisions, decisions, decisions! What to choose?

Other choices are tacos, pizzas in a variety of toppings; build your own and gourmet brick oven style, of course the burritos, salads, Strombolis, It took me almost a half an hour to choose before ordering the Deep Fried Mexiboli with chorizo, chicken, beans, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. There is a heavyweight size and a lightweight size… guess which one I ordered yeah the lightweight for $6, the standard (heavyweight is like $10) I also ordered the Greek salad for $7, made with Romaine lettuce, onions, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, cucumbers, feta, dressed with lemon vinaigrette and served with focaccia Italian bread; along with a bottle of Guava soda $1.50.

The next day I went back and ordered the Shrimp and Scallops Taco Salad – around $9 (8.99) made with Iceberg lettuce, beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole with Chipotle Seared Shrimp and Scallops with Tamarindo soda. Delicious!! Loved every bite.

There is a children menu all under $5.

Happy Eating!

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Original Hot Dog Shop – Diner cuisine
3901 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA
412.621.7388

Hours: Mon-Thu 10AM-3:30AM
Fri-Sat 10AM-5AM

Suggested by Matt Miller

Only hot dogs and fries are served at the diner, when I want something quick and easy and away from home-cooking, I go for the hot dogs and fries. It so happened that I was going to be travelling through the PA area, so I thought of checking out Matt’s suggestions.

Original Hot Dog Shop, nicknamed ‘The O’, ‘The Original’, or ‘The Dirty O’. This place is cool, the dogs were the way I liked them; they do have a slight kick to them (yeah on the spicy side). The fries were divine, they were cooked twice; never thought of doing that to French fries, they did taste like they were fried in regular oil — canola or vegetable oil. First, I thought being twice cooked the fries would be like potato chips but they were not. They were soft and fresh tasting inside and crisp like a potato chip on the outside.

I ordered a beef sausage and an order of fries, once I was served my late dinner; I thought I had someone else’s order but nope, their meal portions are colossal. Seriously, the entire MG staff could have made a meal from what I ordered; either that or we are simply like a bird with small stomachs. I never have seen so many fries in my so-far life. The food I had was all under $10.
————

Another suggestion -

Primanti Bros.-Strip District
46 18th Street
Pittsburgh, PA
412.263.2142
http://www.primantibros.com

Open 24 hours (there are several locations: city and suburban areas)

The menus are simple, choices of sandwiches and fries, hot soups, side dishes, favourite variety of drinks. All sandwich orders are made with French fries, tomatoes, cole slaw, you can request onions if you like them.

Looking over the menu, I quickly spotted the Colossal Fish and Cheese and thought hmm, ‘like ‘The O’ I’ll pass. Thinking of eating lightweight I ordered the Smallman Street Fries – with cheese, chilli, bacon, and sour cream around $5, can’t beat it and definitely filling to the limit. Of course I saw the Kosher pickle and had to have it for $1.50, then washed it down with a Ginger Ale – $1.50.

I spotted other good eating on the menu; the Turkey and Cheese sounded great. I noticed some people eating what they called Pitts-Burgher Cheese Steak. I saw the Imported Sardine and Cheese on the menu, I thought of ordering it since I do like sardines but I wasn’t in the mood for any types of fish. I did notice that the restaurant is like Texas most of the meals are large like portions, including the bread for the sandwiches… thick as an 18-wheeler truck tire. Most all sandwiches were priced around $5 – $6, not a bad deal.

Happy Eating!