TacoLu Review

After hearing some friends talk about TacoLu at Jacksonville Beach, I told Mom that we had to try it. So since Mom had today off we figured that it would be a good day to go out to the beach and try these tacos.

First of all if you are driving down Beach Blvd. too fast you will miss the sign. There is not a large sign on the road, there is just a small sign on the front of the building. The parking lot is very small, but the street behind the restaurant will allow you ample parking. As you approach the front door there is an old VW van that is there and kind of gives you a vibe of what the restaurant will be before you enter. The inside of the restaurant is very eclectic. There is a lot of bright colors and there is a lot to look at throughout the restaurant.

This is the bar area

I like how they decorated the restaurant!

More decorations

When you first sit down your waitress/waiter bring you a bowl of tortilla chips and salsa. The chips and salsa are both homemade and both are delicious. The salsa is a little spicy, but it is not too spicy that you can't eat it. There are a lot of different items on the menu to choose from. There is everything from nachos, enchilada's, quesadillas and of course tacos. There are 12 tacos on the menu and there are a few that aren't but your server will tell you what those are. Here is a link to the menu: http://tacolu.com/menu-2 For my lunch I ordered a brisket taco and a bangin' shrimp taco. Now out of the two tacos that I had that bangin' shrimp taco was out of this world. It is literally the same shrimp as Bonefish's Bang Bang Shrimp with cabbage, chipotle crema on a flour tortilla. The brisket taco is slow roasted in Dos Equis Amber beer on a flour tortilla with a homemade ranchera sauce, poblano peppers, cotija cheese, diced onions and cilantro. Mom ordered the brisket taco also and she also had the 10 dollar taco, which is not on the menu and is not $10 (it is only $4.99). The 10 dollar taco has filet steak cooked medium rare, two different kinds of cheese and pico de gallo. And she said that her 10 dollar was wonderful! 

This is Mom's lunch... 10 dollar taco on left and brisket taco on right.

My lunch... brisket taco on left and the bangin' shrimp taco on the right!

TacoLu is now one of my favorite restaurants in Jacksonville and I cannot wait to go back and have some more delicious tacos!!

NFL Draft

Well I went into today being very positive about the Draft. Little did I know that I was going to end the night with a horrible headache. I was okay with how the draft started....but it slowly went down hill from there. 

Sadly the Jags did exactly what I didn't want them to do. Not only did they not take Tebow, but for another year they chose someone that no one ever expected to go number 10. The Jags took  Defensive End Tyson Alualu. Now I do realize that we need defensive people, but we need someone that had more than 58 tackles in their entire college career. 

The good news of the evening is that Tebow went to a team that will actually utilize his talents. Tim Tebow is now a Denver Bronco!! As my good friend Christie pointed out to me after he was selected we have enough Orange and Blue in our wardrobes to become Denver Bronco fans!!

The most interesting fact that I found last night was that the Jags season opener is at home vs. the Denver Broncos!! I called and woke up my grandparents and informed them that those tickets were mine and I will be sitting in the stadium in my Broncos Tebow Jersey!!

Whisky River

This evening for dinner Mom and I decided that we would try Whisky River. It is very new, it opened in April 6, 2010 but the actual Grand Opening events are taking place on April 21, 2010. Mom and I were watching the 11 o'clock news last night and saw the interviews about Whisky River. I then went on the website, http://thewhiskyriver.com/jacksonville/, and checked out the menu. I told Mom after looking at the website that we needed to go there for dinner. So tonight we went!

As you walk into Whisky River it is like an experience that you have never had before. There are TV's all over the restaurant, which will come in handy when football season starts again, the booths and chair backs are lined with what looks like cow skin, and there is just a great atmosphere in the building. We were sat at a 4-person high top table right in front of where the night club is. At 9:00 p.m. all of the tables are moved and the door open and the whole restaurant and club become one big party space. There are 4 fully stocked bars, an awesome VIP area and there is even a mechanical bull!! 

This is the club area

The VIP Area is above the bar

This is one of the 4 bars...with the mechanical bull behind it!

The Mechanical Bull

These are by far the coolest booths I have ever seen!

After we were done taking everything in we were greeted by one of the sweetest waitresses that I have ever had! Mom and I started to take a look over the menu. It was hard to concentrate on the menu when everything that was coming out of the kitchen looked amazing! After we returned from our ADD of food we finally decided what we were going to have. We started off with the Buffalo Dip Appetizer, which the smell alone was amazing. If the smell wasn't great enough the taste of the dip was out of this world. We decided that we were going to have the basic Buffalo Dip, you can add chicken or shrimp to the dip for an additional charge. Also when you order the Dip it comes with your choice of celery, fritos or tortilla chips. We decided that we were going to have it with the tortilla chips.

The Buffalo Dip

After the delicious tasting appetizer we got our food. I ordered the 8 piece boneless wings in lemon pepper butter sauce and Mom ordered 10 wings also in the lemon pepper butter sauce. We had decided that since we had the appetizer that we would not order anything else with our meals. When our dinners arrived at the table the smell again was amazing. The boneless wings that I had was the best boneless wings that I have ever had. They are very cripsy and the taste of the sauce was just great. Mom's wings were great also, she said that they were the best wings that she has ever had as well. The wings were crispy like my boneless wings and yet again the sauce was amazing!

My Boneless Wings

Mom's Wings

After tonight's dinner Whisky River is definitely a place that I will be going regularly! I cannot wait to explore their menu further and see what other great foods are on there!!

Photo Shoot with Christie Preview

One of my best friends is a women with many talents! She has done photos for me before, once with Randy and I and another with Callie and I. But this time it was a photo shoot with just me. We made it to be a very fun fashion shoot which was a bunch of fun! We did four different outfits at four different location in Downtown Jacksonville!! She has only edited a few photos, so I am going to share the ones that I have and then I will add the rest later! Enjoy!!

A Great Evening at Town Center

After work this evening Mom and I decided that we were going to walk around Town Center and enjoy the cool weather. As we were walking down one of the sides I looked over and I saw someone who looked very familiar with bright pink hair. I looked over at Mom and I said, "I think that is Tarina Tarantino." We walked across the road and sure enough it was Tarina Tarantino. She was there for an appearance at Sephora, but at this point she was walking around with her husband and daughters. I stopped her in front of Aerie and asked if I could get a photo with her. She is so nice and took pictures and signed autographs for anyone that recognized her and asked!

Happy Easter!!

This year for Easter we started all of our festivities on Saturday night. After dinner I dyed all of our Easter eggs and made sure that there was at least one egg per person! 

Getting Ready to Start

There are eggs in there...

The final product!!

After all of the eggs were dyed Nana decided that it was time to fix the Easter Baskets. Now if you had read my previous post about what I gave up for Lent, you would know that one of the things that I gave up was sweets. Well tell me how mean this is to put out on the counter with less than 6 ours till Easter...

This is just mean!

Bunnies

On Easter morning Mom, Nana and I attended the 8 a.m. service at Church and then went home to finish up everything for our Easter dinner. When we got back to the house Mom and I decided that it was time to give each other their Easter baskets!

Mom's Easter Basket!

A look inside

This is Callie's Easter Basket

She is trying to figure out everything that is in it!

I tried to get her to sit pretty next to the basket...didn't work...

all she wanted to do was play with her new toys!

Before the rest of the family showed up for dinner I had to set the table and get the Easter baskets out so everything was ready when everyone got there. 

Since I am the Event Planner of the family I thought that it would

be nice if I decorated each plate with their personalized egg so

they knew where they needed to sit.

My place setting

Falon and Josh's Easter Basket

Kenny and Sydney's Easter Basket

Mine and Randy's Easter Basket

Everyone finally got there and we had a great time. We all hung out before and after dinner and we all ate the amazing food that we had!!

Callie and I were looking cute!

Honey, Sydney, Kenny, Falon, Josh and Mom

Mom and I

So there is an interesting story behind this...So we are done eating and

there are still a few of us left at the table and Callie decides that she is

going to grace us with her presence! She is sitting in a chair being a good

girl and looking at all the left over food!

The French Pantry

If you read my blog you know that the French Pantry is now one of my favorite places to eat in Jacksonville. I was supposed to take Mom there for her birthday, but when I had to go to jury duty those plans went out the window. So when Mom told me that she had taken off Good Friday I figured that would be a good time to take her there for lunch. We arrived at about 10:50 a.m. and the line was already out the door. The restaurant doesn't open until 11 a.m. but people start lining up early. By the time 11 a.m. came not only was the line longer, but it was all the down the side of the building.

Yet again it was really hard for me to walk past all of the desserts because I have done so good not having sweets during lent, that I felt like since I only had 2 days left that I needed somethinng sweet, but that didn't happen. I did see some desserts that I didn't see the last time I was there, so I figured that I would take some pictures and show everyone more of their desserts.

These Brownies look AMAZING!

This is the Banana Fosters Cheese Cake

The Chocolate Fudge Strawberry Cake...After Lent I will

be having this!

Carrot Cake

The Creme Brulee....Another item that is on my list!!

After we ordered we got to sit a table in the corner of the restaurant that was very quiet. I had forewarned Mom about the bread and spices that they were going to bring out to us, but I don't think that she really understood. They were really quick to bring out the bread and dipping sauce and it was just as amazing as the last time I had it. I swear that their dipping sauce makes the dipping sauce at Carrabba's taste horrible!

Sadly I was not able to stary away from the same meal that I had last time, so I had the Shrimp, Artichoke and Goat Cheese Bruschetta. And it was just as amazing as it was the first time that I got it. Mom had the Reuban Sandwich which was amazing also! I still can't get over how everything they make has this amazing taste to it!

My Bruschetta

Mom's Reuban Sandwich

I can't wait to go back and try something new (I already know what I am going to have). And then next time I go back I finally get to have a dessert! YAY!