Good Eats Archives - The Traveling Four

Miami Fusion Café

March 28, 2021 by The Traveling Four Leave a Comment

Background

A family owned and operated business that brings a slice of Miami and Puerto Rico to Birmingham, Alabama. The Puerto Rican born and South Florida bred chef whips up a menu that brings Caribbean flavors to the South. You’ll find dishes of Jamaican, Cuban and Puerto Rican styles on this menu. All flavors merry well and give you an authentic feel of restaurants you would find in Miami. Luckily if you’re in the Birmingham area you won’t have to travel further south to experience such delight. With two locations Birmingham, 2015 5th Avenue North and 5511 Hwy 280 you won’t have to go too far to sample the plethora of dishes available on menu at Miami Fusion Café.

Our Experience

We visited the Miami Fusion Café located on Hwy 280. Once seated we got our drink orders (mojito, iced tea and water) and ordered our main dishes. Our orders consisted of the Lechon Asado, Pan Con Lechon, and Caribbean Jerk Chicken Plate (see menu below for more details). The roasted pork in the Lechon Asado was seasoned amazingly. The flavors really came through and paired well with the black beans and rice that was equally yummy. The Pan Con Lechon was tasty but I’ve had better dishes. The Cuban bread reminded me of a Panini, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The pulled pork inside was well seasoned but I felt like it could use some type of sauce. In the sandwich was also lettuce and tomato and it was accompanied by fries sprinkled with seasoning salt.

The Caribbean Jerk Chicken was also seasoned amazingly, the flavors really burst in your mouth. Being Caribbean though and having eaten jerk chicken at many different places including home made I would have to say that this is not what I would label as such. It’s more like baked chicken with jerk seasoning but not as spicy. This would be a great choice for those who love the flavor of jerk but can’t really stand the heat of traditional jerk chicken. And paired with the red beans and rice this dish packed a flavor punch.

Left to Right: Lechon Asado, Caribbean Jerk Chicken Plate, Pan Can Lechon

The mojito was top notch and the bar where it was made definitely gave me Miami vibes. All the color and vibrancy that came from the corner where the bar was just drew your eyes there. Even if you don’t drink you would want to at least sit at it. Miami Fusion Café also serves coffee, desserts and has a kids menu. All in all for the price, with the reasonable amount of food and the tastiness this restaurant was a great choice for a lunch spot.

Miami Fusion Café kids, drink and desert menu

My Rating

Scale: $-low cost, $$- medium cost, $$$-high cost; rating: ⭐ – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐

Cost: $ – $$

Food: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Service: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Atmosphere:⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Overall Rating:⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Miami Fusion Café also offers a dinner menu and can be booked for events. Check out this information and more one their website.

Bread and Butter Bakery – Covington, GA.

January 12, 2021 by The Traveling Four Leave a Comment

Bread and Butter Bakery is a super cute and quaint bakery in Downtown Covington, Georgia. There you can get a variety of drinks, from smoothies to coffee, and foods, including breakfast/lunch items and all types of desserts. It is located in the town’s square and conveniently located by several other shops you can walk to and visit. There is ample seating within the bakery, but they also have a few tables on the outside. It was a little misty outside on the day that I visited, so outdoor sitting was out of the question for me, but, some people still sat out there.

My sister and I decided to spend the afternoon of New Year’s Eve drinking lattes with a little dessert, so my sister recommended Bread and Butter Bakery. This was my first time visiting, but it will definitely not be my last. Upon entering the bakery, you immediately see the dessert window. In it, you see all of the cakes, cupcakes, macaroons, cheesecakes, etc., displayed. There were so many good items that it was hard to figure out what we wanted. Although it was a hard decision, the cashier working the counter helped us by giving us her top recommendations. She also gave us descriptions of the drinks and gave us recommendations for some of their popular drinks. Once we placed our order and paid we got to look around while our order was being prepared.

In the bakery, there is an area with gifts and other merchandise. And a refrigerated area where you can purchase items too. There is a room off to the corner with books, tables, and chairs in the back of the bakery. It is a cute little intimate space where I could see a book club holding a meeting or just a place to go to just for a little peace. There is also a wine area that you can go and buy bottles of wine. My sister purchased two bottles, and they put them in cute little reusable ice bags.

We ended up getting lattes, and my sister had cheesecake, and I had chocolate cake. The cake was super huge but also super yummy and moist. I couldn’t eat it all, but so I took the rest home for my boys to finish. Overall, we enjoyed our time at Bread and Butter Bakery, and I am looking forward to my next visit. If you are in Downtown Covington, stop in and grab a drink and some dessert. I think you will like it too.

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The Spot Coffee Shop

May 31, 2020 by The Traveling Four Leave a Comment

OMG…This Place is Delicious!

Every time The Traveling Four gets ready to travel on the road we always stop and get coffee. Consequently, it has become a slight tradition whether we realized it or not. Most of the time we go into a Starbucks to talk and unwind a little before we hit the road. I think the extra sugar gives us an added sugar rush to catapult us to our destination without thinking about the long drive itself.

While traveling through Alabama to get to Unclaimed Baggage, I stopped by this amazing Coffee Shop called The Spot. This establishment was really huge for a coffee shop, which made social distancing very easy. The mismatched furniture paired well with the lofty design and architecture of the building. I can envision going here for a business meeting or just to enjoy an ice cream cone with the kids.

Looking at the menu, I was amazed at how low the prices were compared to other coffeehouses. We ordered a brownie and 3 large drinks: one a caramel macchiato, a strawberry-banana smoothie, and a strawberry-banana, peach smoothie all for only $14. I’ve been to many coffeehouses and have spent $8 easy on one coffee beverage. Prior to visiting I hadn’t had a coffee beverage in at least two weeks…yeah, a shocker. So clearly, when that first sip of coffee hit my tongue I was in total and complete bliss. So deliciously crafted that I forgot to snap a pic of it beforehand. The strawberry-banana, peach smoothie that i stole a sip of was the absolute best smoothie flavor combination that I have ever tried, and I do mean ever.

Great spot to relax and spend a little time if you’re traveling or residing. In this instance, I found this spot while passing through, but you don’t have to take my word for it just look at their reviews.

The Spot is located at 101 Gault Avenue N, Fort Payne, Alabama 35967

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Breakers Korean Grill and Barbecue

March 9, 2020 by The Traveling Four Leave a Comment

Background

Breakers are a chain of restaurants that serve Korean style barbecue. Locations can be found in the U.S. in the states of Georgia, Texas, and Virginia. In Georgia you can find the restaurant in the city of Duluth and in Dunwoody. In Texas the cities of Frisco, Carrollton and Sugar Land are home to this fine establishment. Virginia only has one location in the city of Fairfax. The restaurants boast the use of the highest quality meats, outstanding hospitality and a luxurious atmosphere. The restaurants are open seven days a week with varying hours (usually mid-day to 11:00 pm) with later hours on the weekends. Visit the website for more details at https://breakersbbq.com/

Our Experience

We visited the Duluth location which had a very modern design and a welcoming atmosphere. This location was very clean and not smoke filled at all, which is what I usually expect when going to hibachi style restaurants. We got there between 1-2 pm on a Sunday afternoon and were seated right away. Not too long after arriving the waitress came over and took our beverage order and then soon after an array of sides were automatically brought out. This was our first time having Korean BBQ so we were a bit confused by this as we hadn’t placed any orders yet.

The waitress was kind enough to fill us in on the entire process. She stated that those six sides (house salad with soy sauce balsamic vinaigrette dressing, glass noodles, pickled asian pears, pickled cucumbers aka cucumber kimchi, kimchi, and house baked potato) come standard and that you choose which meat or combination of meat that you would like to go with it. The sides are refillable at no extra charge and any leftover can be boxed up along with any leftover meat. Each person is supplied with two sauces (a spicy sauce and a soybean paste) and some pink himalayan salt that you can use to enhance the flavor of your meal.

From the suggestion of the waitress we decided to go with the Breakers Combo C which includes servings of Ribeye, Beef Brisket, Fresh Prime Short Rib, Pork Belly, Teriyaki Chicken, and Jumbo Prawns at a cost of $99.95. The waitress came to the table with the variety of meats that came with the combo we ordered and also gave each person at the table a bowl of sticky rice. She started off cooking the Beef Brisket on the prewarmed Hibachi grill at the center of our table. Once cooked she serves each person a portion of the Brisket that you can enjoy with any or all of the sides that were supplied. She will continue to cook the meats starting with the plain ones- like the Brisket-and then finishing up with the sticky ones (like the teriyaki chicken).

Breakers also offers appetizers such as fried dumplings and deep-fried calamari, adiitional sides such as kimchi stew and steamed eggs, and desserts such as cake and ice cream. Some other meat choices on the menu are Beef Bulgogi (thinly cut steak with a soy sauce, brown sugar, pear juice and sesame seed oil sauce), Pork Bulgogi, Marinated Short Ribs, and Scallops. They have two all you can eat combos that offer such choices as Gangnam style pork (fried pork cutlets), spicy squid, miso soup, and stir-fried potato noodles just to name a few. The all you can eat choices run from $28.95 per person to $35.95 per person. If you’ve got a pretty large appetite this is a pretty good choice because you get a little of everything and will definitely leave satisfied.

Of the sides provided we definitely loved the house salad, the glass noodles and the cucmber kimchi. The spicy sauce paired well with everything, so much so that we kept requesting extra (LOL). The sauce isn’t too spicy but does have a little kick to it that is a great contrast to its sweet flavor. The soy sauce vinaigrette dressing on the house salad was amazing and we got quite a few servings of that as well. The quality of the meat was definitely top notch. There’s no denying that they get the best cuts of the highest quality meats. We loved the Brisket, the Short Ribs, and the Teriyaki chicken but all the choices were great. All in all, this is definitely a must try for restaurants in Georgia.

House Salad, Glass Noodles (top to bottom)

Cucumber Kimchi, Pickled Asian Pears, Kimchi, House Baked Potato
(bottom to top)