18 to go

As of Friday morning we had 18 food places to try before our Reading Terminal eating challenge is over. Snow on Friday morning stopped us from getting breakfast but we wandered over for lunch. We decided to hit 4 places with the key component being Mezze Mediterranean Foods. We also decided to try Downtown Cheese, Tootsie's Salad Express and Blue Mountain Wines.

We had walked past Mezze earlier and had a our hearts set on the Salami, Prosciutto and Mozzarella sandwich. Fortunately we were there early enough and they were available and they looked great. What a surprise  when we unwrapped them to find that the fillings were on the surface and not stuffed. We were really disappointed. As T-Bone said "Such High hopes, but unrealized potential". On the plus side the bread was the best on any sandwich we have had and the fillings (what little we got) was very favorable. PrimeTime was reminded of his P90X experience, "a real kick in the nuts". We scored Mezze as a 2, 2 and 2.5*, primarily as we feel it could have been so much more and we felt taken. Also leaving hungry is never good. Bone Marrow had the Chicken Caprese describing it as "excellent taste" but again "no substance". The overall score was 2.25*

Tootsie's was an add on. Any place that is a salad bar charged by weight makes me nervous. A good salad for me is 3 olives in a martini, or a wedge of iceberg lettuce covered in blue cheese dressing, and bacon. We had spied earlier that it wasn't just salad but had chicken wings, chicken tenders, mac and various other hot foods. The wings looked a little suspect so grabbed we 2 chicken tenders and a large spoonful of mac. The tenders we above average. Large and moist. The mac probably came out of a box. The tenders we scored a 3 and the mac 1.5.

Downtown Cheese is different from all the other establishments. This is truly a cheese monger, and is more determined by our choices. We had 4 cheeses, an English Stilton, a Canadian Cheddar, a Wisconsin Pepper Jack and 2 1/2 year old Parmesan. The server was very helpful, he let us try the cheeses and guided as in our choices. The Cheddar scored a 3 and was described as sharp. The Parmesan was scored a 4 and was delicious. The Pepper Jack was spicy but PrimeTime would have enjoyed more peppers. It was scored a 3. The Stilton was creamy, delicious and the best of the four. All up Downtown Cheese scored a 3.5*. We also decided to rank them, and the were as follows:

Bone Marrow - Stilton, Pepper Jack, Cheddar, Parmesan
T-Bone - Stilton, Cheddar, Pepper Jack,, Parmesan
PrimeTime - Stilton, Parmesan, Cheddar, Pepper Jack
Cast Iron - Stilton, Parmesan, Pepper Jack, Cheddar.

The final place was Blue Mountain Wine. PrimeTime, T-Bone and I had the Cabernet, and Bone Marrow had the Pinot Grigio. The Pinot had a very funny pink color but Bone Marrow liked it. The Cabernet was liked by PrimeTime and T-Bone but below average for me. To be honest it was exactly what I expected. Too bad they weren't sharing their Shiraz by the glass, as it had recently won an award.