Chicano's Restaurant

It was a dark and stormy night. We longed for tacos. So we went to Chicano's Restaurant on Prospect in South Scranton. This is authentic Mexican food, although I'm not so sure I can call it Mexican food. The owners are from El Salvador. I guess it would be Latino cuisine, then?

This is one of our favorite restaurants, despite the very low budget decor, which consists of folding plastic banquet tables and chairs, an El Salvador flag, a classroom map of the US, and a tv which is always on. This is a hallmark of all local Latino restaurants. They think everyone must want to watch Telemundo while they eat. I enjoy Mexican soap operas as much as the next girl, but don't really require them while eating.
They have pretty good chips and salsa. You have to take Danelle's word regarding the salsa, because it is way too hot for me. I literally put one drop on a chip and ate it, and thought I would have to be rushed to the hospital. It's that hot. But she loves it. It's a little creamy.

Oh, and they serve Coca Cola in glass bottles.

We both had what they called Tacos Dorado, which they said was a crunchy taco. But it was actually a deep fried tacquito. Not quite what we wanted, but we go so often that we were bound to be a little disappointed at least once. The total bill was $12.50. That's why we love it here. But also because the food really rocks. They are opening another restaurant on Cedar Ave. soon.  Check them out!

The Longhorn Steakhouse

This is a chain steakhouse located in Moosic in the Montage Shoppes. And we do pronounce it Shoppies.
We have been eating here more than we should, as it is a little bit out of our budget for frequent dining. So it's a bit pricey, and we've noticed that it's always chilly there, whether it's summer or winter. It's always a little uncomfortable.
But the food....wow! It's delicious. We've never been disappointed. The steak is always good, and so Danelle ordered Flo's Fillet, which is a 7 oz steak for $18.79. We always order the smallest steak, and it is always more than enough. This comes with salad and your choice of side, but if you don't get the mashed potatoes, you are crazy. I mean, if you're gonna splurge, you might as well go all the way. They are actual potatoes, with some red skin bits in there. You can get a dinner salad or a cesar salad, and they do this correctly as well. The dressing is homemade and not chemically tangy or tart. They also serve this insanely delectable honey wheat bread (warm).
I had the Chicken Tenders for $13.99. These are served with a divine honey mustard sauce (which is a little creamy), a side and salad. These are the best chicken strips I've ever had. Ever.
We've had the same waitress (is it politically incorrect to say waitress?) every time we've been there. And she's nice.
This place has one weakness, in our humble opinion, and that is the desserts. I had key lime pie, which was way too sweet and frozen. And Danelle had the cheesecake, which was also frozen, and tasted no better than a Sara Lee frozen cheesecake from the supermarket.  Oh, and one more negative: they play country music. Needless to say, because of this, we don't linger. We just eat and go. And pray we don't get a dumbass song about a John Deere tractor stuck in our heads.
But overall we can confidently recommend this place for like-minded carnivores. Two thumbs up.

Staying Home Tonight

We are staying in tonight. I will be cooking up a hot plate delight..probably Amy's Organic Black Bean Soup.

In the meantime, here is just one of the places we will NOT be returning to. (We have a long list of these places.)
The Waffle House on Davis St. Why? Well, Danelle had the waffles, and proclaimed them to be the worst waffles she's ever had. They were also tiny, yet expensive. My food was ok (eggs), but also a tiny portion. We actually left hungry. The vibe there was also odd; this could've been due to the perpetual help wanted sign in front of the place. It's been there for months. It's reasonable to conclude that there is probably a "difficult personality" conflict going on there, if you know what I mean. You could cut the tension with a knife in this place. Anyway, if I had to say something nice, it would be this: Man, that place is clean. Spotless, as a matter of fact. But this could be due to the fact that there are rarely customers there. Just an observation.
So as we're sitting in our window booth seat, we couldn't help but notice these homemade church bazaar looking wreaths hanging on every window. They are made of  cut up ribbon stuck into round styrofoam thingys and have objects hot glued to them. For example, one was NASCAR themed, so the ribbon was black and white, and there was a matchbox car glued to it. It had a $15 price tag on it. There were differently-themed wreaths in each window. So I said to Danelle "Hey, I know what you're getting for Christmas", and we laughed and laughed. While in the throes of laughter the phone rang, and after a brief conversation the lady came over to our window, took down not one, but two wreaths, and shouted to someone in the back, "These two are sold. Hold them for Mrs. So and So."  Holy crap. No way!!! We left there in disbelief...do people actually want these?? The answer is a resounding "yes". We have to drive past here everytime we get on 81, so we always take note of the windows. They are freshly stocked once a week, and day by day, they disappear. I'm in the wrong business.
So the moral is, if you go to the Waffle House, don't eat the waffles. But do get a kickass wreath for that special someone on your gift list.

The Greenwood Family Restaurant

Tonight we ate at our most favorite establishment, the Greenwood Family Restaurant in Moosic. It's in front of Kmart on Birney Ave. We eat here at least 3 times a week. They know us. They love us. We love them. Here is the hostess and our favorite server (although all of the servers are delightful).

A word about the soups here: They are the greatest soups in the world. We mean it. Made fresh daily. We pictured the chef resembling the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, but we were so wrong. One day, overwhelmed once again by a delicious soup, we asked if we could meet the guy who makes the soup. The server brought out a tiny, painfully shy young man named Carlito. We worshipped him appropriately for a couple of minutes, but he did not at all like being the center of attention.

I was feeling adventurous today and had the sirloin. It came with onion rings, mashed potatoes, vegetable of your choice, and of course, soup. All for $12.95. It was pretty darn good.
Danelle had the macaroni and cheese. Because she's real adventurous. Yeah. Anyway, it came with the salad bar, soup, bread, stewed tomatoes on the side, a glass of wine and desert, all for $9.95. She enjoyed it.

It's a nice, friendly place with reasonable prices and good food. If you go, have the soup!

Danelle enjoying soup and salad

Old Forge Pizza is Incredible

Ok, a little background. I was born and raised in Scranton, and left at age 18. I've been away for 27 years and returned 5 months ago. My partner Danelle is a California girl. This is where we've been for the past 10  years or so.
The thing I've missed the most about this great area is the pizza. I love it all. Pizza by Pappas, Buona's on Lackawanna Ave., The Slice, and the list goes on. We've had to endure California Pizza, which pretty much boils down to Domino's or Pizza Hut.
So last night we went to Arcaro and Genell's on Main Street in Old Forge. It was a very nice experience.
It's one of the few pizza joints in the area that have actually updated the decor since 1978. Nice looking bar, cute tables and linens.
They served a complementary appetizer of bread and antipasti which consisted of chickpeas, roasted red peppers and garlic. We ordered a "tray" of the red original crust. (I'll get into the whole "tray" anomaly in another post). Wow, I had forgotten how fantastic Old Forge Pizza is! We both enjoyed it thoroughly, and the bill for the pizza and two soft drinks was $17.00.
We will definitely be back the next time we're craving pizza.
http://arcaroandgenell.com/menu.htm