Archive for February, 2008
February 24th, 2008
Rockford has thankfully been getting a lot of new restaurants and cafes lately. Ember, just off of Perryville, is one of those new restaurants and it seems it has been flooded with people since its recent opening. It’s great to see everyone willing to try out the new eating options available! Unfortunately, our experience this past weekend at Ember was not spectacular.
First of all, we waited for about 45 minutes to get seated. Normally, this would be expected; however, we had made reservations in advance, so we were a little disappointed. Obviously, we would recommend making reservations, but in our case they really didn’t help much. Just be prepared to wait.
After we were seated, it took awhile to get our drinks too. We seriously aren’t even that picky, but it seriously took AWHILE. Fresh pretzel rolls were brought fairly quickly, though, and were possibly the best part of the meal. We tried the Frisco Burger and a calzone. The Frisco burger was pretty boring. Usually, we like Frisco burgers because of the Thousand Island dressing and sourdough bread make it interesting. For some reason, this one was unexceptional. The calzone was huge! You definitely get your money’s worth, but I was only able to eat ¼ of it. It tasted good, except the cheese was a little overpowering. Overall, our food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything superb either. The frisco burger was $8, and the calzone was $6. Next time we might try some of their appetizers. They had a great selection from Parmesan Garlic Zucchini to more traditional Spinach and Artichoke Dip; both of these appetizers are $8.
We couldn’t help but notice a similarity between Ember and Granite City (out by Cherryvale Mall). The atmosphere, tall glass windows by the exposed kitchen, and Sunday buffet option constantly reminded us of that restaurant.
Hopefully our experience wasn’t the greatest because they were so busy, and this was an exception to the norm. Granted, we did go on a Friday night at 6:30, but still, the food taste and service were a little lacking in our opinions. Try out Ember for a (seemingly) fun bar atmosphere, but unfortunately for us, not much more.
[Ember is located at 6957 Olde Creek Road in Rockford. You can call them at 815-316-4000.]
February 20th, 2008
One of our favorite local bands, Scatteredtrees, plays this Friday at the Rock Box. After a two-month break, their concert this Friday comes highly anticipated. We have seen them play once before at the Rock Box, and they were amazing! Their mellow sound seemed us like the perfect music for a coffee shop. And ironically enough, their song “Sparrow” is actually featured on the Starbuck’s CD Off the Clock, Vol. 1…I guess Starbucks agreed with us.
We encourage everyone to come out to the Rock Box this Friday at 6:30 to see Starlite Radio and Jason Harper opening, and then for the headlining performance from Scatteredtrees. See you there!
[The Rock Box is located at 317 W Jefferson St in Rockford.]
February 18th, 2008
We love dance movies and thought the first Step Up was fun, so we were really looking forward to the release of this sequel.
The main character, Andie (Briana Evigan), is forced to attend Maryland School of the Arts to avoid having to move to Texas. There, she learns that while her street dancing is good, she lacks classical technique and doesn’t really fit in. She doesn’t have many friends besides Moose (Adam Sevani) and has a sarcastic, bitter relationship from the beginning with the director of the school’s brother, Chase (Robert Hoffman). In typical movie fashion, though, she learns to overcome her differences with Chase and work together toward a common goal – winning the Streets, a dance competition. Yes, that part is cheesy and predictable; we thought so, too.
Overall, the film may have lacked in plot a little, but it made up for it in awesome dance scenes. The final scene, hip hop dancing in the rain, was our favorite. The relative unknowns that make up this cast did a decent job with what was given to them and impressed us with their dancing. It has a few laughs and a few “Aww! Cute!” parts, but you should probably go into this movie just expecting amazing dancing.
February 10th, 2008
On Saturday we went to Lucille’s Tea Room on Newburg Road. This adorable tea room is located in a Victorian-style house that is well over a century old! When we went it was decorated in a “Victorian Valentine” style, which included a lot of themed antiques with hearts and other Valentine’s Day accents.
Upon first arriving, we were asked to choose a hat that we liked. All of the hats were sanitized between uses, so no worries! This added to the “tea party” feel. Once we had picked our fancy hats, we sat down and were introduced to the different ways to drink tea. My style is “tiffy queen, ” meaning I put the tea in first and then add milk, while Cathryn’s was “boring”, meaning she drinks it black.
We were then served a 3-course lunch. It began with roasted red pepper soup in a tea cup. Then, we tried a variety of tea sandwiches, roast beef croissants and cream cheese and cucumber. We then sampled many different desserts. Our favorites were a cranberry scone with apricot jam and the lemon tarts. The delicious lunch was finished with a brownie topped with whipped cream and raspberries. It was all very tasty and we left the tea room completely stuffed! The cost of this amazing meal is $20 per person.
Since Lucille’s is first and foremost a tea room, a large focus of the lunch is the tea. In the spirit of trying new things, we decided to experiment with how we drink our tea. I always use milk, so I tried different sugars. They had cubes of plain cane sugar and brown sugar. Cathryn tried as hard as she could to like tea any other way besides boring. She tried milk, sugar, and even lemon, all to no avail. I guess she’s just a boring tea kind of person…
If you don’t like tea, we kind of wonder why you would be going to a tea room, but if you really wish to, they do serve another drink. It is always a cold drink to accompany the hot tea. For our lunch, it was a delicious raspberry beverage.
After your meal, make the journey out of the house to the garage area – the location of Nooks and Crannies. Nooks and Crannies has an antique store feel and sells an eclectic variety of gifts. Some are tea related like cups and pots, but others are more inside and outside home décor, including candles and a variety of bath products.
This was such a unique experience. We felt like we were in England in the olden days having a quaint lunch with the queen. All of the guests who were with us really made the afternoon! It was such a great way to meet new people, and to have fun in an enjoyable atmosphere. Unfortunately, they are closing in May by choice of the owner so that she and her husband can move in to the adorable house. So visit it while you can. It will definitely be missed!
[To eat lunch at Lucille’s, you need to make a reservation. They have two lunch servings at 11 and 2 Wednesday through Saturday. Call them at 815.484.9906. They are located just east of Perryville at 7066 Newburg Road.]
