Cherry Cheesecake To Die For

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The Carnegie Deli inside the Mirage Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, never fails for dinner. This night, after the trade show, I found myselt at the Mirage. I wondered toward the deli and ordered up a Turkey, Bacon, and American cheese sandwich on a kaiser roll. And.... for dessert, I ordered a piece of cherry cheesecake.

The sandwich as usual was very good. And plentiful. The picture does not do it justice. This sandwich was huge. The turkey was fresh, tasted great, the bacon crisp and plenty of it, and the chesse, just enough to make it pop. The kaiser roll was fresh and good.

But this is about the dessert.
The slice was tall, and long, with plenty of cherries and sauce topping. The taste, well, it was of course excellent. I was sad when I was finished. It was that good.

The total cost was around $40 without take out service tip.

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Longhorn Steakhouse - Filet Mignon

Longhorn Steakhouse

 The city of Youngstown has plenty of restaurants to choose from with many good steak houses. Longhorn Steakhouse in Boardman, Ohio was our selection for dinner tonight. We were seated quickly and our waitress came over to take our drink orders. A few minutes later she took our dinner orders

Salad

Our salads were delivered to our table. The salad was standard fare. It was fresh, had adequate lettuce and tomatoes, crunchy croutons, and several assorted other greens. The good thing about the salad was that it was fresh. That goes a long way.

Longhorn Rolls

The rolls were delivered at the same time as the salads. The rolls were warm, fresh, and appeared to be home made. They tasted very good as the butter melted right into the dough.

Loaded Potato Soup

One of my favorite types of soup is potato soup. Longhorns version of potato soup had of course chunks of potatoes in a creamy sauce. A sprinkling of bacon bits, shredded cheese, and some chives. The soup was very good, not the best, but very good.

Filet Mignon

Of course, when you are in a steakhouse, you order the steak. I selected the Filet Mignon and loaded baked potato. I asked for medium well done and to butterfly the steak. In less than 15 minutes, my filet was delivered to our table. It was cooked perfectly. BTW, this is the 9 ounce filet, and it was juicy and tender and bursting with flavor. There was not one iota of fat on this steak. It ranks up in the top 5% of filets.

The baked potato was well cooked. I hate when the potato is only halfway cooked and hard in the center. This one was hot and flavorful, with plenty of butter, melted cheese, and enough bacon covering the top to compliment the entire taste of the potato.

Strawberry Cheesecake

Feeling saucy, I went for dessert. I was full from all the food but the cheese cake looked intriguing. I ordered a slice. I wanted cherry cheese cake but alas, they did not have that on the menu. The closest they could get was strawberry sauce. The dessert capped off an almost perfect dinner. The cost of the dinner was right around $30 dollars not including tip but including dessert.

Also a plus was that Longhorn offers Coke Zero. I see more and more restaurants are offering this most excellent diet soft drink. Zero calories but all the Coca-Cola taste.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 4.5 out of 5 shots and recommends Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.

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Blue Wolf Tavern - Chicken Parmesan

Blue Wolf Tavern Boardman Sign

Believe it or not but the Youngstown suburbs have many restaurants to choose for dining. Patty and I drive by the Blue Wolf often in our travels and decided to stop for dinner. Was it a wise choice?

Blue Wolf Salad

We entered and I was amused with the sign on the door (More on that later) and we were seated right away. The waitress took our drink order and returned promptly with them and asked if we were ready to order. We were.

The salad came with my meal and as you can see, it is a standard salad. No frills attached. Just lettuce, a few onions, cabbage, cucumber, a few grated carrots, and mini tomatoes. No cheese, olives, hard-boiled eggs, celery! It was adequate, the lettuce crisp and fresh, the rest, in a word, adequate.

Blue Wolf Hot Fresh Rolls

However, the rolls were more than adequate. They looked and tasted home-baked. Not mass-produced from some roll company. They were hot out of the over, very fresh, and very good. Things were looking up after the salad.

Blue Wolf Chicken Parmigiano

The main entrée was Chicken Parmigiano with Penne and meatballs and of course a diet Coke. Crazy combination but it looked appetizing. And it was. The chicken was a sizable portion, cooked well, juicy and tender. The breading was golden brown, the cheese plenty and the sauce, a zesty taste. It was delicious. The Penne was well-cooked, plentiful with the same tomato sauce. The meatballs were an added bonus and tasted very good. Usually, restaurant meatballs are not made on premises, but shipped by a mass producing meat company. I think these were home-made.

Jo Jo Fries Blue Wolf Style

A quirky oddity was the Jo Jo fries. My meal came with an additional side. Not wanting mashed or baked potatoes, I opted for the Jo Jo fries. They were good. Crisp. Well cooked. Seasoned just right.

Cherry Cheesecake Blue Wolf Dessert

Usually we do not order dessert but we were feeling a little saucy that evening and went for it. I ordered a slice of New York style cherry cheesecake. It was excellent. Not the biggest slice in the world, but adequate. The taste more than made up for the slight offering.

No Guns Allowed Inside The Blue Wolf

Getting back to the sign in the window. Not only were we on surveillance but a sign clearly stated that no guns were permitted on the premises.

The service was very good, the waitress friendly and fast, the order was accurate and the food arrived in a timely manner and was good. The cost was $26.00 without tip including dessert.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 4 out of 5 shots and recommends the Blue Wolf Tavern for lunch and dinner. Just keep your firearms at home.

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Stage Deli - New York Style Cherry Cheesecake

Stage Deli New York Style Cherry Cheesecake

The Stage Deli in New York is not only famous for it's huge sandwiches, they are also famous for their New york style cheesecake. And nothing says New York like a big ass piece of cheesecake from the Stage Deli located on Times Square.

When entering the Stage Deli, the cheesecakes are enclosed in a glass showcase. There are many different types of cheesecakes available. I chose the cherry cheesecake.

I must say, it was fantastic. The texture was smooth, creamy and tasted fantastic. Service at the Stage Deli is second to none. Very fast, courteous, and professional. The price was about 10 bucks without tip.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 5 out of 5 shots for Stage Deli Cherry Cheesecake and recommends them for dessert.

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