Our fans have requested a harsher review and that's what we are planning to give to Kanok.  We didn't want to do it, hence the 4 weeks of "post procrastination", but here it is.  Also it's been a busy summer, vacations, all consuming periods of watching "The Wire" on HBO Go (amazing show!) and so forth, but we bring to you our first negative review....


Place: Kanok
Date:8/17/11
BYO'd: Ménage a trois White
Corkage Fee:  $5 total for wine bottle
BYO Buzz: Can get better take-out for half the price - (see our review of this joint - SBL)

Atmosphere: Looks swanky and modern, golden silverware and accents, BEST music selection (waiter said it was Jason Mraz station on Pandora).

Service:  it was good, pleasant....we got our food so that's a plus.

 Kee-mao spicy noodle dish.  (note a "2" spicy at this joint is SPI-CY!!) was ok.  again nothing stand outish.  I've definitely had more flavorful spicy noodle dishes at other Thai places.  This was ehh.  One thing to point out - the chick in the dishes was very good.  There was a bout a 2 month span where the chicken bits in thai and chinese dishes was really creeping A out, but so was not the case here.  From the 2 views of the dish, its a plentiful portion and made a good dent but took home the rest for lunch the next day... except the hubby stole it and took it with him.

Stir-fried with spicy basil sauce, bell pepper, onion, bok choy, and basil leaf served with jasmine rice. 

I am a huge sucker for jasmine rice, which was tasty.  The meal itself was your run of the meal Thai chicken dish.  It wasn't bad, it wasn't great.  To say it eloquently,  it was "eeehhhh". 

I agree with A about the non creepy chicken.  Another plus was the spicy level.  A two worked perfect for me.  It wasn't too spicy, but spicy enough for me that it kept my mouth watering....to bad the food itself didn't do it for me.

Well, it was what it said: white sticky rice with mango.  Mango was mango, rice was........sticky.

The website describes it as: Three different grapes add up beautifully in our Ménage à Trois White. Chardonnay lends its firm, rich character, while Muscat shows up wild and exotic, and Chenin Blanc plays a soft supporting role. Together they produce one show-stopping wine

L describes it as YUMMY:).  A will give that a ditto.

We're Back!  Sorry for the delay, school ending, busy work, out of town and a little crowd surfing at the Weezer concert kept us from BYO-ing!

But we're back with a really great review of Cafe Zhino.

Place: Cafe Zhino
Date: 6/29/11
BYO'd: The Shepard Sauvignon Blanc
Corkage Fee:  $5 total for wine bottle

BYO Buzz: All around EXCELLENT

Atmosphere: Super cute - think it was an old garage renovated into a tiny little restaurant.  We sat outside - sidewalk by street and enjoyed the great weather.  There is something about chilled white wine and a restaurant patio the screams summer to us.  I took a peek inside and it was tempting since it was so homey and quaint, but ultimately the  gorgeous weather won in the end.    (i mean we do live in Pittsburgh, gotta make use of those weather days when we get them!)

Service: Fantastic - great delivery of the specials (we fully bought into the Figs stuffed with bleu cheese and soup of the day - chilled melon)  and our server's recommendation to "chase the fig with our melon soup". 
They also went out of their way to split everything on separate plates for us (we went halvsies on everything this time because we couldn't decide on one thing and it was a great idea!)  Take a look at this menu and tell me if you could pick just one.

So this place has a Mediterranean feel right, but then, out of nowhere, cornbread.  And, not just any cornbread, like the best I've had.  It was a very pleasant surprise. We give it 2 corny thumbs up    :) 

Bleu cheese stuffed fig with a balsamic glaze coupled with a cold melon soup.  The way that these two dishes of opposite taste and distinction work together is like a promotion of world peace.  If a fig with both tart cheese and glaze works so well with a sweet mouthwatering cold soup, can't we all just get along?  And now that we've got you thinking so deeply, let us ask you another plaguing question.....What the heck is the difference between a fig and a date?

Wild mushroom ravioli with an amazing zesty tomato sauce, when going halvsies, three a piece.  We could have had 12 each. With a sauce so brightly orange we wondered if perhaps carrots might have been involved?

Think this picture sums up our feelings towards the main dish (and wine).  You know the dish is good when you barely talk while eating it.  Although not actually pictured, this is the second appearance of the cornbread.  We didn't feel embarrassed swiping the remainder of sauce up with my cornbread, L is the President of THE Clean Plate Club and A is the VP.

Lavender cheesecake with a berry and vanilla glaze.  In the words of Ned Flanders it was "scrumditaly-umptious".  Our rationale for getting this dessert was the pure fact that it had lavender in it and we needed it to help us get to sleep later that night.....like the whole bottle of wine wouldn't do the trick.  (L was out by 9 o'clock that night, A made it to 9:30)

L might be the President of the Clean Plate Club, but A is the President of the Empty Bottle Club.  Together they have co-founded the CPAEBC otherwise known as the......uhh see above :)

What a lovely surprise "The Shepherd" was.  From the Napa region and flavorful, yet light, this was a not too sweet with a tad more than a hint of tart wine.  Went great with all of our selections and warm sunny day.  I'd definitely buy this wine again, a good white (for A anyway) is kind of hard to come by. I could try to guess the fruit -ish flavors, but i'd be making it up... lets just say it was emptied quickly.