{"id":5222,"date":"2009-04-25T09:33:40","date_gmt":"2009-04-25T13:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=5222"},"modified":"2009-04-25T09:33:40","modified_gmt":"2009-04-25T13:33:40","slug":"april-24th-2009-dinner-and-bjs-brewhouse-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2009\/04\/april-24th-2009-dinner-and-bjs-brewhouse-review\/","title":{"rendered":"April 24th, 2009: Dinner (and BJ’s Brewhouse Review)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi gang!\u00a0 Scott and I almost didn’t go out last night because he had a work thing going on that needed attention.\u00a0 I was a little bummed but tired so I was okay with that.\u00a0 Well he got it “working” (if you are a software developer or into computers you understand the quotes) so we were able to head out.\u00a0 First stop was to pick up my race packet!\u00a0 Disappointment begins here.<\/p>\n

We had to drive up to Westerville (20-30 min drive) to pick up my packet.\u00a0 The store was also hosting discounts and yesterday was the last day to get the most discount on purchases, 20%.\u00a0 Which is why I wanted to go that day.\u00a0 Since we were going to be up there anyway, Scott said we should have dinner which lead to date night.<\/p>\n

So we arrive and I look on the printout to find my number.\u00a0 I get it and inside the store is a bit chaotic.\u00a0 I guess everyone had the same idea I did, go in Friday night.\u00a0 Bummer because running stores aren’t big anyway so when there’s a bunch of people in there, I can’t think straight.\u00a0 Too much going on for my wee brain.\u00a0 I start looking for my packet and someone comes over to help.\u00a0 She seemed very flustered and very generic.\u00a0 Just going through the motions.\u00a0 She hands me my bib and then tells me that they don’t have any medium shirts because they didn’t arrive with the shipment.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Part of our race packet was to include a technical tee-shirt.\u00a0 A small is too small and I didn’t want a men’s (which were white and the women’s this really ugly gross grey. What’s up with that?!) so I have to wait until it arrives and then I can come back and pick it up.\u00a0 Lovely.<\/p>\n

We get back out to the car so I can look at my bib.<\/p>\n

\"eep!\"

eep!<\/p><\/div>\n

Here it is!\u00a0 I thought the bib was going to have our full name on them and I was excited about that until I saw only my first name.\u00a0 Booo\u00a0 It’s a name so I guess I should be happy about that, right?<\/p>\n

We drove around for a little bit because the area has changed since we last were there (we used to live in Westerville).\u00a0 Some new restaurants popped up and some old ones replaced.\u00a0 We decided to eat at BJ’s Brewhouse<\/a>.\u00a0 Mostly because I wanted a beer sampler as I’ve never had one before.\u00a0 We weren’t pleased that it was a chain restaurant as we do try to avoid those as much as we can.\u00a0 We were told it was a 30 minute wait but could be less since it was just the two of us.\u00a0 We sat down to wait.<\/p>\n

\"Passing

Passing the time...<\/p><\/div>\n

Waiting and waiting.<\/p>\n

\"Love

Love skulls...<\/p><\/div>\n

My shoes because I love them and don’t get to wear them all that much.<\/p>\n

The doors to the entrance are those big kind of circle turning doors.\u00a0 Normally I associate them with malls or banks.\u00a0 As I was sitting there waiting to be seated I couldn’t help but feel like it was sort of symbolic of the restaurant and how they feel about their customers.\u00a0 The door is basically used and meant to get people in and out quickly.\u00a0 No stopping or lingering around.\u00a0 Get people in, get them stuffed, get them out.\u00a0 It seemed almost like a bizarre kind of human cattle shoot of sorts.\u00a0 It didn’t endear me to the place and made it seem even more commercial and less welcoming.<\/p>\n

The decor was sort of funky hip warehouse.\u00a0 Exposed air ducts and frame work, garage doors open (again to let in the livestock?) and it wasn’t very big.\u00a0 From the outside you would think it was huge but it really isn’t.\u00a0 To their credit the booths and tables are spread far apart from each other.\u00a0 You don’t feel like you are on top of each other while you eat nor do you have to pretend to not hear your neighbor’s conversation.<\/p>\n

\"Brewery

Brewery <\/p><\/div>\n

Our server was nice enough but I did feel kind of pushed to order our drinks quickly.\u00a0 I wanted to look over the beers and talk with Scott about what kind of sampler to get.\u00a0 The server was sort of like, “Well if you like dark try these.\u00a0 Get the four set sampler and so on.”\u00a0 And then instead of giving us a second to think it over he just stood there looking at us while we made a decision.<\/p>\n

Let me breath for a second!<\/p>\n

We went with a four sampler of their darker beers.<\/p>\n

\"Our

Our samples <\/p><\/div>\n

\"Last

Last four...<\/p><\/div>\n

A red, a brown ale, a porter, and a stout.<\/p>\n

The red was good but with a bit of a lackluster finish.\u00a0 Nothing to remind you that you just drank a beer.\u00a0 The brown ale was weird and neither of us liked it.\u00a0 The porter was very good and great with food.\u00a0 The stout was so creamy and awesome but didn’t pair well with food and would be a much better sipping beer.<\/p>\n

And then we spent a crazy amount of time looking over the menu because neither of us could decide what to have.\u00a0 Apparently BJ’s is known for their pizza and while it looked good, I didn’t really want chain restaurant pizza.\u00a0 If I was going to do that, I might as well call up Pizza Hut, same thing.<\/p>\n

We did figure out an appetizer.<\/p>\n

\"not

not so spicy <\/p><\/div>\n

Avocado rolls.\u00a0 It was supposed to be avocado, chipotle peppers, onions and some other stuff eggroll style.<\/p>\n

It was really just some avocado and onion in an eggroll.\u00a0 It was good!\u00a0 Just not as spicy or flavorful as we were expecting.\u00a0 I had one of the smaller halves.\u00a0 We also placed our orders and mine came with a house salad.\u00a0 I got it with balsamic dressing and I should have asked for that on the side.<\/p>\n

\"Generic

Generic <\/p><\/div>\n

My salad was drenched!\u00a0 Allow me to get up on my soapbox for a second.\u00a0 This salad was so basic it’s silly.\u00a0 Iceberg lettuce, a few shredded carrots, two slices of not ripe tomato, and two slices of cucumber.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Iceberg lettuce even?\u00a0 I know they have baby field greens because it comes as part of some dishes.\u00a0 And I know they have romaine and other lettuces because they have a whole entree salad section.\u00a0 So why the iceberg lettuce with the house salad?\u00a0 What’s that all about?\u00a0 Give out some better salads! I absolutely hate when restaurants do this!\u00a0 Talk about taking the cheapest road possible and not taking care of customers.\u00a0 \/soapbox\u00a0 I didn’t eat all of the salad because it was over dressed and I was saving room for my dinner.<\/p>\n

My entree comes out and it’s huge!!<\/p>\n

\"blackened

blackened salmon <\/p><\/div>\n

I got the blackened salmon with veggies and instead of rice pilaf, I asked for some of the cheddar mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n

\"Roasted

Roasted and BBQ'd<\/p><\/div>\n

Scott got the roasted chicken with 1\/2 a rack of ribs, veggies, and some fries.<\/p>\n

I was surprised by how large that piece of salmon was.\u00a0 Goodness!\u00a0 That impressed me.\u00a0 It was a bit over cooked but still very edible and yummy.\u00a0 I had a few bites of the mashed and they were also good.\u00a0 I realize it’s loaded down with butter, cheese, and cream so I stuck with small bites.\u00a0 I wanted to try it and if I’m going for empty carbs (rice pilaf is also empty carbs) then I’m having something yummy!\u00a0 The veggies were basic but good and I bet cooked in butter.\u00a0 The salmon I’m also wondering if it was cooked in butter.\u00a0 I don’t know if places have olive oil so I never think to ask about no butter. It’s got to be cooked in something so there is going to be some fat but I don’t want to say, “no butter please” only to have it cooked in veggie oil.\u00a0 Ew.\u00a0 I’m not sure what approach to take in situations like that.<\/p>\n

I ate maybe 1\/2 the salmon, maybe 1\/3, it’s hard to tell but I brought a lot home.\u00a0 Most of my meal actually.\u00a0 I had a bite of Scott’s chicken and that was okay.\u00a0 I had two bites of ribs and they were good, a bit dry (but again, chain restaurant, you can’t expect great ribs) but good.\u00a0 And then a insane amount of his fries.\u00a0 They were battered and fried which made them glorious.\u00a0 And horrible. :p\u00a0 But I ate them because I don’t even remember the last time I had actual fries.\u00a0 Although I guess I don’t consider those actual fries since they had the batter.\u00a0 But still, yummy and lovely.<\/p>\n

We boxed up the leftovers and I peeked at the bill.\u00a0 Oh man what is this?!\u00a0 We got charged an extra 30cents for the stout sample!\u00a0 Yes I realize it’s only 30cents but the whole point behind a beer sampler is to try the beers at a fixed cost.\u00a0 Because it’s a sample.\u00a0 AND if this is the case why didn’t the server speak up and say, “Okay, but I need to point out to you that by including the stout in your sampler, there is an extra 30cent charge.\u00a0 Do you still want it?”\u00a0 Then we would have known ahead of time and had the option to choose what we wanted to do.\u00a0 Now we have to pay for it which is irritating to me.<\/p>\n

As always I had a great time out with Scott because he’s a good date. :D\u00a0 And while my food was one of the better meals I’ve had at a chain restaurant, I’m not sure if I would go back.<\/p>\n

\"Best

Best beer picture yet!<\/p><\/div>\n

We came home and took Rocks out for a quick walk and then settled in for some TV.\u00a0 Scott poured a black lager and I had a few sips but not much as I had my beer fill.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t full or overfull or anything but I still felt blah after my meal.\u00a0 I don’t know if it was sitting heavy in my tummy due to all the butter or maybe the fries or what, but I felt blah.\u00a0 I’m glad I had all those veggies and fruit at lunch though!\u00a0 That defintely made me feel more balanced.<\/p>\n

Columbus has some local breweries so it’s time to look for one to try out and test another sampler!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi gang!\u00a0 Scott and I almost didn’t go out last night because he had a work thing going on that needed attention.\u00a0 I was a little bummed but tired so I was okay with that.\u00a0 Well he got it “working” (if you are a software developer or into computers you understand the quotes) so we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-1me","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}