Food and Charm

I really like food. If I had my druthers, I would know enough to be able to consider myself a real "foodie".  (see definition #1, the not snobbish variety).  Having already completed a culinary arts degree, my wife, Amanda, is also a lover of food. When visiting new places, one of our favorite things to do is to enjoy a meal and a local eatery unique to the area.  Someday, we hope to own and operate our own restaurant, cafe, bakery, food truck, or some other such establishment. With this in mind, whenever we eat at a new restaurant, almost without exception, we observe and discuss the quality of its food, menu selection, service, and atmosphere, then apply our thoughts to our vision of our future establishment.

Since moving to Provo, we've tried a few local places.  Now that I have a blog, I figured I'd write about one of them.  Last night, we had dinner at The Banana Leaf:

The Banana Leaf is a new restaurant, recently opened in this yellow house on University Avenue in the northern part of what can still be considered a "downtown" Provo.  The menu consists of items from Sri Lanka, India, and Singapore.  A locally owned restaurant operating out of a historic home- this place has the type of charm that we'd love to have in our future restaurant.  Inside is nice as well.  Costs for a meal range from 10-15 dollars.  

Amanda had the coconut curry, which was fantastic  (she let me have a few bites).  The flavor was mild, but very good. It was served with some garlic pa'an that was also quite tasty.  

I had the Sri Lankan Beef Kothu.  I had never heard of it, but it was also quite good.  It consisted of strips of marinated beef, serviced with vegetables, egg, and strips of cheese that were nothing like I had ever tasted before.  The cheese was mild and just slightly melted under the sauce, vegetables and beef.  By the time I got my food, it wasn't as hot as I would have expected.  (The place was relatively crowded, with what appeared to be a very small staff.  I would have been willing to bet that my food sat out for a few minutes before our waiter was able to bring it to us.)  Still, it was pretty good.  

I think we'll go back and give them another chance.  

The Good:  Food, atmosphere, charm

The Bad:  slow service, seemingly understaffed

An Introduction

When I first decided to venture into the blogosphere, I wanted to write about some specific topic- some thing for which I could serve as a self-proclaimed expert.  It didn't take long for me to realize that there is no topic on which I am any significant authority.   Then, I decided that I would start a hobby and detail my efforts.  After all, I told myself, I could build an expertise in something and chronicle my path to expertness on the interwebs.  As I've mentioned in my about section, though, I have a wide variety of interests.  Further, my indecisiveness and fear of commitment kept me from choosing any one topic for this blog.  As such, I've decided to write about whatever I want. I realize this means my blog will most likely have little appeal to most people.  After all, while you may be interested in following a blog containing reviews of local restaurants, you may not be interested in reading about my take on politics.  Nevertheless, I'm going to write about those things and whatever else I find interesting.