1951 West

One of my husband and I's favorite places to stay while in Green Bay, Wisconsin is the Comfort Suites on Bond Street (for those that know us personally, you will realize why that is funny!). Even though we have previously stayed here, this was our first time eating in the restaurant that is in the hotel, called 1951 West (which also happens to be the hotel's address). The style of cuisine in my opinion is upscale American food. I know I have talked about Nakashima's on my blog before, and how it was in my top three favorite restaurants in the area. Well, so is this one.

The decor is very modern and dark with deep wood tones and different textures from the walls, to the floors and even the tables. It is absolutely beautiful.

This is the 1951 Ultimate Appetizer. On the giant platter in the above left picture, is a massive assortment of goodies. Starting from the upper left corner, there is Bruschetta; a toasted baguette topped with fresh Mozzarella, diced tomatoes, shredded Parmesan and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.  To the right of that are the Tuscan Stuffed Scallops, which are broiled Sea Scallops on the half shell stuffed with Pancetta, sun dried tomato, basil, baby arugula and Parmesan cheese. That large heap in the middle is the West Tavern Chips. The homemade chips are smothered in Applewood smoked bacon, green onions, and topped with a bleu cheese sauce. In the bottom left corner are the Reuben Rolls. The won ton is stuffed with slow cooked corned beef, bacon-beer kraut and Swiss cheese. The dipping sauce is Maple Dijon horseradish. Last but not least in the bottom right corner, is the Ahi Tuna won tons. The Ahi Tuna is seared with a sesame crust, topped with a Chipotle-mango chutney, Asian citrus slaw, and finished with a wasabi aioli. They also have some sort of sweet dipping sauce that I never did find out what it was, and a huge side of wasabi paste for the daring. Not only was that a mouthful to type, but also to eat! I had never tried scallops before, or Ahi tuna considering I am not a huge seafood person and hate fish. I tried everything but the bleu cheese nachos (I still can't bring myself to eat mold). The Ahi tuna was amazing! I never thought I would eat a piece of fish that was still raw in the middle, but that sesame seed crust on the outside and the fresh mango and sauce jazzed up that fishy taste and made it delicious. I have also never eaten a scallop in my life until now, and other than the piece of grit (I am assuming maybe from the shell), the flavors worked very well together. I still might have to warm up to the texture of scallops, but it really wasn't bad.

This, is why I love fancy restaurants. If I could do it for a living, I would be a food stylist for that reason. The food here looks absolutely beautiful. I am a stickler for "you eat with your eyes first", and let me tell you my eyes were drooling! For my main course, I ordered the Cajun Tenderloin, which was a featured dinner entree. The meat was an 8 ounce tenderloin with a maple bacon topping. On the side was a Dijon pesto mashed potato, caramelized brussels sprouts, baby carrots, and roasted butternut squash. Drizzled on top of the whole thing was a cranberry balsamic reduction. I never order beef, I'm more of a chicken person, but this is one of the best pieces of meat that I have ever had. And the Cajun crust on the outside sent it over the edge. It had quite a bit of kick, but in a good way.

My husband's main entree, which of course he let me taste test everything on his plate, was the Red Stag Buffalo Meatloaf. The Bison meatloaf was wrapped in Applewood smoked bacon and glazed with a homemade Red Stag BBQ sauce. It was served over a cheddar and chive potato croquette, with a side of fresh vegetables, and topped with fried breaded onion strings. This also tasted even better than it looked.

I also got a very strong but tasty beverage to celebrate my best friends birthday (pictured above), and also on the same day, my husband and I's 5 year wedding anniversary. The drink pictured is a Hazelnut Irish Cream, which is made up of hazelnut liqueur, whiskey, and Irish cream, and dolloped with whipped cream. 

This restaurant is absolutely amazing. I don't know how much more I could rave about it without sounding repetitive. We will definitely be eating here every time we stay at this hotel, or in the area. The food is to die for, and the ambiance makes you feel cozy and elegant. This is a must stop for people in the area!

1951 West, Main Site
1951 West, Facebook Page

Nakashima of Japan

If you were to ask me where my favorite place in Green Bay, Wisconsin is to eat, this is in the top 3. I absolutely love this restaurant. Every time we visit I make a point to try and eat here. It is on the pricy side, but it is fantastic food. Hibachi is probably one of the only style that I like, because you can see all of the ingredients that they use while cooking, and you know it has been prepared right. The fact that they make a show on top of it makes it even more fun. The onion volcano is my favorite trick. It is hard to take pictures while eating in there considering how dark it is, and you can't really turn a flash on while they are doing tricks in fear of screwing them up and blinding someone else. But I managed to take a few pictures none-the-less.

My husband and I always get the hibachi for two, which is filet mignon, shrimp and chicken. They come with two different dipping sauces, and the ginger one is by far my favorite. Before they start cooking your meal, you get a salad with a ginger dressing, and a bowl of miso. For dessert, if you can find room, you also get either vanilla ice cream or orange sherbet.

This type of restaurant makes dinner fun and entertaining. All of the chefs that I have ever had have been very entertaining. They also have a sushi bar for those who love sushi. I haven't quite warmed up to sushi yet, unless it's all veggies. If you are in the Green Bay area and don't mind spending a little extra money for dinner, this is a fun and delicious place to stop! Be aware though, if you get there during the busy dinner hours, you may end up waiting a while for a table. They fill up fast!

Nakashima Facebook Page

Nakashimas Main Site

Trip to Green Bay, January 2015

Those of you that know me, know that I am a proud "fairy godmother" (godmother) to a handsome little boy in Wisconsin. We took a trip to visit him and his mom who is my lifetime best friend (literally friends since babies) to celebrate Christmas, and instead of posting my restaurant experiences separately, I am going to combine them all into one food packed mouth watering blog post.

On the way down, we stopped for a late lunch at Storheim's Restaurant in Iron Mountain, MI. In the past 10 years I have been to Iron Mountain many times and had always wanted to stop there. The slightly ironic part, which I would find out later, is that the Storheim's in Iron Mountain was started because of a frozen custard place called Storheim's in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The owners of of the Iron Mountain restaurant over the years got to know Ray Kern, the founder of Storheim's in Green Bay. A friendship was created and a suggestion to open up a branch in Michigan was set in motion. They have been in the service industry for 15 years now, and has also opened up "Pizza Pete" using their own personal pizza recipe, and "Taste of Sweden", which was created from family recipes that they have eaten while growing up.

My husband and I ordered the BLT wrap (I ordered mine without mayo). They were great! Everything was fresh, the bacon was crispy, and there was just enough sauce to where the whole thing didn't become one big soggy mess. I ordered the cheese curds instead of fries (they were okay, not the best kind of cheese curds and had too much breading). My husband ordered the crinkle fries, which I loved because they weren't greasy and over salted like most places do. There are many many mixed reviews on this place. Most of the negative comments are that it is a knock-off of Culver's, which if you read above, is not the case. I myself thought it was great and had many fresh options to choose from, and I will definitely be back again. Hopefully around breakfast time since I love potato pancakes!

The hotel that we always stay at while visiting in Green Bay is the Quality Inn and Suites, located in the Downtown area. He have never ventured around the hotel to explore, but we found a place that the kitchen was open till 11 PM and since it was already late we decided to go there. The Fox Harbor Pub and Grill is actually located directly across from our hotel. The building was gorgeous. While reading a plaque on the wall, we realized it was an old hotel converted into a bar/restaurant. The only problem we had with the atmosphere, is the noise factor. Yes, I know, it's a bar, and we were technically there during bar hours. Nowhere in the rules of owning a bar does it say that you have to blare the music so loud that you can't hear the person talking next to you. And we couldn't, we attempted a few times to talk to each other but gave up because it was just too loud.

While in the cheesy city, I had to order one of my favorite appetizer items of all time; cheese curds, made with Wisconsin cheese. They were some of the best cheese curds I have ever had!

I ordered the chicken fajita wrap. The chicken and veggie mixture was spicy, but not so hot that my mouth was on fire. The meat was cooked perfectly and there was no chicken fat to be found. It was slightly on the saucy side, but that's really the only complaint that I could come up with. The wrap was delicious. If we were to go back, I would go during lunch or early dinner time to where hopefully it wasn't so loud, because the food is definitely worth going back for.

For lunch the following day (which of course we hit 12 PM exactly during rush hour on a weekend with a Packer game), we stopped at Red Robin for a bite to eat. Even though the place was packed, we only waited about 15 minutes to get a table, which wasn't bad considering the line of people waiting to get seated.

My husband ordered the strawberry lemonade which I had to take a picture of because it was in an awesome glass, and very refreshing I might add. For an appetizer we got the pretzel bites with a beer cheese dip. I wish I could have asked for the sauce recipe because it was good enough to drink by the bottle. We were starved, and they didn't last long on the table.

We both ordered the bruschetta chicken "burger", that was topped with bruschetta salsa, pesto aioli, melted provolone, romaine and balsamic cream all stuffed into a ciabatta bun. For our side, we tried the new garlic Parmesan fries. Yum! The sandwich was juicy and the fries were salty and cheesy. A great choice for a mid-day meal.

The last meal we ate before backing up our bags to head back to the UP the following morning, was Polito's pizza, located just down the street from our hotel. We got our food to go so that we could enjoy it from the hotel room (and jump in the pool with my godson after eating). Should have known the pizza would be good when reading that the family that opened up the restaurant was from Sicily. A man named Phillip Polito opened his first pizzeria in Brooklyn, New York, and in 2007 opened the first branch in Wisconsin. It wasn't until more recently that they opened up a location in downtown Green bay, and I'm glad they did!

For a couple "sides" so to speak, we ordered the garlic knots and the wings. The wings that we ordered were coated in a Pineapple BBQ sauce that was finger-licking good.

I asked my godson before we ordered what his favorite kind of pizza was, and his answer was "mac and cheese and pepperoni", so by golly that's what we ordered. The Macaroni & Cheese pizza (with pepperoni on top) was one of the weirdest combinations, and only because it actually worked. If you get the opportunity to order pizza from here, try it out and you won't be disappointed. Another one of my favorite pizza's is the Tomato Basil. Although I wish it would have had fresh basil chopped up and put on top, the dried stuff wasn't terrible. And the combination of the dried basil and tomato with all of the melted cheese made for a good choice.

Overall, the mini vacation to Green Bay was packed with amazing food and it is nice to have such a wide range of cuisine. Next time we visit I would like to try out some of the more exotic food choices rather than Italian and chain restaurants. A link to all of the above restaurants are below:

Storheim's Restaurant

Fox Harbor Pub and Grill

Red Robin

Polito's Pizza