The Fly Trap - Ferndale, MI

The Fly Trap was kind on an unusual place.  The outside is painted a bright yellow-green color.  You could imagine yourself a fly walking into a venus flytrap plant.  When you first walk in you notice the reggae music turned up kind of high.  There are  people eating strange piles of grass in these huge bowls that could be mixing bowls except for the fact that they are a little too delicate.

I found it to be part normal American diner and part vegan restaurant.  It seemed to me that a diner would be the last place a vegen would want to eat.  But, they had a lot of Thai dishes made with tofu that the non-meat eaters like.  Not me though.

I got the red chili salmon burger and a salad with blue cheese dressing.  I started with the salad.  The salad was more like what you would find in an upscale restaurant.  It had several types of greens. I could not identify all of them.  The blue-cheese dressing was really nice.  It was obviously fresh made, not out of a bottle or can.   I'm not quite sure what kind of magic the cook used but it was at the same time like a normal blue-cheese dressing in that it was creamy and had the distinctive sharp blue-cheese taste yet, it was also somehow light. 

The salmon wasn't a slab of salmon but actually a salmon patty.  I didn't see that coming.  The salmon sandwich had a splotch of mayonnaise with some cucumber slices on it. The mayonnaise was their garlic lime aioli.  I tried it first just the way that it was set down in front of me.  It was nice but, a little on the bland side.  The cucumber add a light crunchy taste to the fish.  I really didn't pick out the aioli taste.

The waitress offered a jalapeno and a habanero carrot sauce.  I dabbed on some of the green habanero sauce which made a huge difference.  It just picked up the whole sandwich experience.  It added just a little pepper kick and somehow made the whole sandwich more exciting. 

The service was pretty good.  There was just one waitress working but, she seemed genuinely excited about the menu and eagerly asked how I liked everything as I got to it.

I would give the Fly Trap a 9 out of 10.  I would eat there again.  I'd like to try some of the Thai food next time.


The Fly Trap - Ferndale, MI
22950 Woodward Avenue
Ferndale, MI 48220
(248) 399-5150
http://www.theflytrapferndale.com

The Red Iguana - Salt Lake City

The Red Iguana was everything that I am looking for in a triple-D restaurant.  The food was original and amazing and the atmosphere was really enjoyable.

The service was exceptionally friendly even though I showed up during their peak dinner rush. I came in and got seated up front.  I initially thought that the restaurant was really small because I only saw about eight tables.  I later found the other 80% of the place.  There was even one table for two wedged into a former closet big enough for 1 1/2.

The mole plates caught my attention.  I had never heard of it before.  A quick wikipedia search says that mole is "Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl mulli or molli is the generic name for a number of sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces."  They had seven different types of mole plates.

They let me try a dish with a sample of all of the mole sauces. They were all quite excellent.  The yellow Mole Amarillo sauce was kind of hot, the mole colaradillo was kind of nutty-chocolatey, the mole poblano was more like regular mexican sauce, the mole verde tasted like avocado, the mole negro had a banana chocolate taste, the red pipian was pumpkin and the lomo de puerco en mole de amendras tasted good but like 
The pumpkin sauce was the most original to me so, I tried it

The pumpkin red pipian mole was really excellent. It is tough to describe the taste because it didn't really taste like anything else I've ever had.  The pumpkin flavor was really evident but, not like pumpkin pie or a pumpkin muffin either.  You'll just have to try it.

The place seemed to be a hit with the locals because it was pretty much packed and there were people flowing through for their take-out orders.

I'm giving the Red Iguana a 9.8 on the triple-D scale.  I liked it that much.

The Red Iguana
736 W N Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
(801) 322-1489
www.rediguana.com

Good Dog Bar and Restaurant - Philadelphia, PA

I started off my meal with the smutty-nosed pumpkin ale.  It was autumn in Philadelphia and the seasonal ale seemed appropriate.  As I lifted the glass, there was definitely a pumpkin spice scent present in the aroma but, it was not overdone in the taste, which I was initially afraid of.  It had a somewhat heavy consistency like a wheat or stout.  Sometimes seasonal beers quickly lose their novelty.  That wasn't the case here.  I found this beer actually growing on me.

Good dog is an old-time bar. I should probably be ashamed to say that I felt at home here because it reminded me of a lot of bars in New York where I had a lot of fun during my misspent youth.  There were lots of black and white photos of dogs all over the bar's walls.  There is no doubt a story behind the dog theme.

The bar tender was a 20ish tough dude probably not afraid of tossing drunks out into the Philadelphia streets. But, being more than twice his age, I don't think that he knew how to address me. The two guys immediately before me were "Bub" and "Boss" but, I was "Sir." I'm not called sir a lot north of Mason-Dixon.  I was definitely bringing the average age of the room up.

I ordered the duck pot pie. The waitress said that this was what Guy Fieri had ordered.  So, how could I say no to that.  I don't think that I'd ever had duck that I can remember. I expected it to be gamy but, it really wasn't.  The duck was really savory but I had to look for it.  The pastry seemed much more dominant. The pastry was nice and light and flavorful like a butter croissant. The duck meat was very tender and the taste was distinctive.  It is now my baseline for what I think duck tastes like. It was present but in the background like the way sausage might be a secondary flavor on a sausage pizza.

It came with a little spinach salad on the side of the plate that was surprisingly good also.  The pot pie was so savory and filling that you really needed the crunchy, leafy contrast.


I liked the Good Dog Bar.  I'd rate it a solid 9.  I'd like to explore their menu some more and might be back again.


Good Dog Bar and Restaurant
224 S 15th St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 985-9600
http://www.gooddogbar.com/