Wordless Wednesday - Give a Kid a Camera

Restaurant Review: Bento

Since opening in 2002, Bento Cafe has become a staple in the Gainesville culinary community. It offers affordable & delicious Pan Asian cuisine including rice & noodle bowls, sushi & boba tea. I can't count the number of times PDubbs and I have ventured to Bento in the past 3 years - it's -our go-to dive for any occasion from a mid-week treat or an anniversary dinner. It's also our favorite place to bring family & friends from out-of-town! I documented our most recent excursion to give you a glimpse into why we love it so much.

Concept

As per the website & personal experience, Bento Cafe's concept is to bring a unique way to serve authentic Asian food fast and efficient. Between its extensive menu, fast service and cool, modern atmosphere, it definitely delivers!

Food

The menu varies slightly between locations but it can basically be broken down into "Sushi" dishes and "Kitchen" dishes. The sushi dishes are prepared in the actual restaurant in front of patrons at the sushi bar. Kitchen items are prepared fresh in the back but come out smoking hot. They also specialize in Bento boxes, hence the name of the restaurant! You can order any of the sushi or kitchen items as a box. The boxes come with a side salad with their special ginger dressing, wakame (seaweed) salad & a dessert.

After visiting so often, we've tried almost everything on the menu but we each have our favorite.

PDubbs has recently been ordering the Szechuan Chicken Rice Bowl. It always comes out before my roll but it's probably a good thing because it's always steaming! It consists of spicy chicken, stir-fried with snow peas, julienne carrots & scallions, all served over a bowl of white rice. Yum!

Once I had the Rainbow Roll, it was game over for me. It's the perfect sushi roll in my humble opinion. It's a basic California Roll with fresh tuna, salmon & tilapia draped over. It also comes with a small mountain of pickled ginger & fresh wasabi. I like it because it's cool & fresh with lots of different textures & tastes. I like to give mine a bath in a little dish of wasabi-infused soy sauce. Double yum!
The Boba Tea is also amazing. Boba is a milk tea made popular in the 1980's in Taiwan but has recently become hip here in the States. The menu has tons of flavors and offers combination suggestions. My favorite is chocolate + coffee = Mocha Magic!

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is definitely unique in that it can be a good place for a casual weeknight meal or a fancy dinner date depending on what you make it. After walking in the door, you are immediately directed to stand in line to order. The line can be out the door on a busy Friday night or completely empty on a Sunday afternoon, just like any other restaurant in a college town. But once you get past the mob of people ordering by the door, the restaurant opens up into a spacious dining room. They recently renovated it and added twice the floor space so there is even more room to spread out now. The ceilings are high with dimmed lights that totally add to the modern ambiance. During the evening, a single candle is lit on every table, setting up for a romantic dining experience. Or not, whatever floats your boat. There are also extra seating areas outside, both on the back patio & in front of the store. Or you could sit in front of the sushi chefs and watch them prepare plate after plate of sushi using only the freshest of ingredients.

Locations

There are currently 5 Bento locations, all are located in Florida.

Gainesville

1. 3832 W Newberry Rd

The original Bento Cafe. It's called Bento Blue because the interior is dominated by "cool blue dragon colors".

2. 3841 SW Archer Rd

Our favorite! It's also called Bento Red.

Orlando

3. 151 S Orange Ave

4. 7335 W Sand Lake Rd

Jacksonville

5. 4860 Big Island Dr

Jacksonville

Wordless Wednesday - T-Shirt Tiiiiime

Paddles

Last week, I mentioned my Littles, Rachael & Kristen. I said I was so very proud of them for toughing it out through the initiation process to become Brothers of Phi Sigma Pi, a national honors fraternity. What I didn't mention was how awesome each of these girls are in their own unique ways.

Rachael

I met Rachael at one of the first meet nights and we instantly hit it off. She's a freshman studying nursing (yay nursing!). She's tall and beautiful and could totally be a model. But she's also incredibly smart and kind. She genuinely cares about everyone around her, which is why she'll be an amazing nurse. Homegirl also knows how to have fun. She has a carefree & crazy spirit that sends her on some wild adventures. She's got spunk and I love her for that.

Kristen

Kristen actually played soccer with J way back in the day. We reconnected at a rush night and talked like we had never been apart. She's one of the most loyal and determined people I have ever met and truly wants to change the world for the better. She's also incredibly intelligent and a great converser. Seriously, she could have a rousing conversation with a rock. She's compassionate and driven and I love her for that.

My reaction. Needless to say, they are pretty awesome.

As with other sororities or fraternities, Phi Sig upholds the tradition of the paddle exchange where Littles make paddles for their Bigs. The paddles represent the relationship between the Big and the Little. They are a gift of appreciation for helping them throughout the initiation journey. Plus, they're pretty freaking adorable to hang up on your wall! The exchange happens at banquet at the end of the year with a big reveal.

Like my Littles, their paddles are so different from one another yet they each represent them perfectly.

Rachael put her quirky spin on it and through everything she had into it. I love all of the details that she incorporated. Details that only a good friend would know.

A bull-fighting nurse? How cute!

Kristen took a different route and made her paddle a piece of art. A perfectionist at heart, she said she LOVED decorating it, which really showed in the final product.

She glued on each and every one of those little bedazzlers. Beautiful details.

I was completely blown away by these paddles. These girls never cease to amaze me. Both of them were creative and unique and personal. Even if they had given me a slab of wood, I would still be proud to be their Big. These are great girls who will go on to do great things in the fraternity, in college and in life. I'm honored to be a part of their journey and can't wait to enjoy my last year of college with them as Brothers.

Sunday Brunch - Plan B

Last week, Erin and I were on a mission to try a restaurant that couldn't be found anywhere else but Gainesville. We relied on our best friend, the Internet, and came up with a bunch of options. But we finally decided on City Crepes.

Best. Decision. Ever.

We knew we chose correctly when we saw a prosciutto crepe on the menu. Yes, please! It was fresh, delicious and only $6!

I knew I had to get the word out about this place. And ever since then I've been waxing rhapsodic about these crepes on Twitter, Facebook and telling all of my friends. I knew right away that Stacy would totally dig it.

Stacy and I go way way back, about 13 years now. We've been able to stay so close because we have so much in common. And one of those common interests is our love of food.

We thought crepes would be a perfect fit for a lazy Sunday brunch. So Stacy, her roomie, Leslie, and I decided today would be the day to get our French on. We set out with high hopes and empty bellies. Crepes, here we come!

Minor detail: City Crepes is closed on Sundays.

Oops! Probably should have checked the website. But our bellies were still rumbling so we came up with Plan B - drive around downtown Gainesville until something struck our fancy.

Within 2 minutes, we stumbled upon Frresh Cafe. It's a new dive adjacent to the (old?) Common Grounds space. Having never heard a peep about the place, we decided to be adventurous and give it a shot. I'm so glad we did!

Love the mason jar glasses!

It's billed as a Latin Organic Fusion Cafe (whatever that means) but the menu was even more diverse. The restaurant consists of just an outdoor patio and an indoor kitchen. That's it. There was one waitress on duty and one cook in the back. When the orders were ready, the cook yelled out through a window - "Order up!". If we weren't the only ones there I think it would have been a really cool vibe.

We each ordered a different type of stuffed French toast. I went for the Guava Cream Cheese, Stace got the Berry Blend and Leslie went with the classic Peanut Butter & Banana.

This picture does not do it justice. But the plate sure is pretty!

We sampled each others' variations and agreed they were all equally delicious. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something different and affordable. I'm so glad our unexpected adventure turned out so perfectly. I can't wait to go back and try their dinner menu! The Marsala Churrasco wrap is already making my mouth water.

I wonder what Dr. Brother would order...