FBF: Sozo American Cuisine

Now, I'd had the greatest intentions of cooking something spectacular this week and wowing you all with my culinary prowess... but it got to be a busy week with studying, training, and getting back into the rhythm of "normal life" (which is considered not traveling/racing). So, you're stuck with another restaurant review.

The other night Rachel took me to Sozo American Cuisine in Kearney, Nebraska for my birthday. Kearney is a small town, and the restaurant scene is a bit... lacking, shall we say... for a college town especially. If you're looking for date night, there are tragically few options that aren't stuffy and out-dated... I could really turn this into a whole other blog post... Anyway, I'm all about progressive cuisine with flashy plating, raw fish, and weird ingredients. The type of place my grandmother (who I do love dearly) would not want to eat at. So, Sozo was the place!

Those of you who knew it as The Venue and Legacy 272 will be pleasantly surprised to find the great atmosphere, wraparound bar, and general idea of the menu have not changed. While the service was good, it did not wow me. Having worked as a server I know this can be caused by anything from a bad tip earlier to stress from school, so I let it go.

Rachel and I ordered the tuna tacos as an appetizer to go with our beers. These were delicious! Tuna seared rare with Asian-style slaw, served in a crispy wonton shell and drizzled with a soy reduction is exactly what I wanted to celebrate my birthday. ORDER THIS APP!!

We both got salads for our entrees. Now I know what you're thinking, that salad isn't glamorous and shouldn't be included on date night, let alone a restaurant review. I say salad is a blank canvas, and I wanted to see what Sozo could paint... plus its on the Paleo Diet...

I had a steak salad with arugula, bleu cheese, roasted red peppers and balsamic reduction. All big flavors, but the smokiness of the peppers balanced perfectly with the sweet balsamic. And really, steak cooked medium rare and bleu cheese is always a winner. The meat was a little grisly, but well seasoned and perfectly cooked.

Rachel had a spinach chicken salad with apples, bacon, cranberries, and a maple vinaigrette. Strictly speaking, I had ordered this but we switched, so when I say this was the better salad it means I won dinner! The maple vinaigrette was amazing, and brought together the apples, chicken, and bacon... and plus it had bacon...

We finished the meal with one of their house-made desserts. A peanut butter fudge cake that was to die for. It was dense, rich, and decadent. I love that they make all their own desserts, and the choices change regularly. Always order a dessert if it is made in house!

All in all, I'd give Sozo an A rating. The ingredients are high quality and well prepared and beautifully plated, and it is very affordable. The service was good, and the atmosphere is great. It is perfect for a date night, although the bar and TVs make it great for game night with the guys too. Plus, its location right off the interstate is perfect for travelers. Don't go to the chain restaurants, get weird and try something new!

When you go, request one of the booths; the drapes make it feel very private and not like you're stuck in a dining hall. Order a tap beer and get the tuna tacos! Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!

Food Blog Friday: The Lucky Pelican

For my first Food Blog Friday, I will be doing a restaurant review of The Lucky Pelican in Sarasota, Florida. Now, I am all about trying out the local cuisine, I am not the dude who eats at Chili's when on vacation. I will literally go out of my way to find something you can't get anywhere else. I gotta admit though, I probably wouldn't have found The Lucky Pelican had it not been right next to our hotel... It's kind of off the beaten path, and since its in a strip mall, it doesn't exactly look like much as you pull up to it. We decided to give it a try, because we are triathletes and we were hungry and didn't feel like going far.
http://luckypelicanbistro.com

Well, we weren't disappointed. The Pelican offers all kinds of fresh seafood (I was seriously drooling as I walked by the display case with crabs, salmon, and tuna on ice) as well as some great beers on tap. The service was great both times, and the atmosphere is what I would call a lively family place. Maybe not the best for a romantic date night (unless your girlfriend is a bit like mine...) but perfect for group gatherings. The servers bring out this warm, yeasty bread before your meal, and unlike most places where the server rolls his eyes when you ask for more bread (yeah, I've totally been that server) they gladly bring out more without you even having to ask.

The first night we went I tried the fish and chips. They used cod, which was very flaky and juicy, although the breading was a bit on the greasy side for me. The coleslaw was better than your standard grandma's recipe, and the fries were, well, fries... French fries to me are a bit like sex; when they're good, they are REALLY good. But when they are bad, they are still pretty good! These were somewhere in between drunken hook-up and... well OK let's just say they were some solid fries. What stole the show for me was the sauce they brought out. It was some kind of garlicky/ranchy/aioli sauce that I wanted to drink with a straw. That brought the whole meal together for me and is the reason I'd order the fish and chips again.

The next night I split a mussel hot pot with a friend and had the ocean burrito myself. The mussels were a huge portion, definitely split them with a couple people if you're having them as an appetizer. The broth was a white wine and garlic cream sauce that again, I wanted to drink with a straw, and the mussels were the perfect blend of briny and garlicky. The bread they brought out was perfect for sopping up the sauce.

Now the burrito... oh my, the burrito... This thing had shrimp, crawfish, more fried cod, as well as beans, cilantro, jambalaya rice and corn salsa. And of course, they brought out a side of that nectar-of-the-gods dipping sauce. The spiciness of the shrimp blended perfectly with the jambalaya rice and the salsa, and the crunch from the fried cod absolutely made this dish. I don't feel like I need to tell you that the sauce was absolutely delicious on this. Go to the Lucky Pelican, get the ocean burrito.

Now I only tried the seafood here, but if the rest of their menu is anything like that, it should be pretty awesome. If you don't like seafood though, you might not want to go here... also, we can no longer be friends. I will definitely be back for more of that damn sauce....

Hope y'all enjoyed my first Food Blog Friday! Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT! #FBF

Food Blog Fridays Preview

When I first started this blog, one of the directions I wanted it to take was a food blog. I am very passionate about food and how it brings people together, tells a story, affects our mood, as well as how it nourishes us. Being a triathlete I eat a lot (wait, seriously?) and I think that's part of where my passion comes from, but for me cooking is an artistic outlet, not just a means to an end.

Evidently there is no qualification standard to becoming a "foodie," so I guess I'm just going to start calling myself one. I have worked pretty much every position in the restaurant business, I'd say I am a pretty damn good cook, and I watch Food Network a lot... That's qualification enough for me!

Combine all of the above information with my desire for motivation to blog more, and I came up with Food Blog Fridays. Every Friday I will make a post about food. It might be a recipe, it might be a restaurant review, it could be some information from the nutrition geek in me, or it might be just some sexy pictures of things you want to eat... Look for my first #FBF tomorrow! Hope y'all enjoy!

Sarasota Recap

This last Sunday I raced the Sarasota Pan-Am Cup down in sunny Florida. Coming off the Clermont sprint the weekend before was a great chance to really hone my racing skills, and I think I did a good job of that. I knew what I needed to work on, and this was a chance to make those corrections.

Sarasota is a cool town. I’ve been there several times, both for races and vacation, and I always enjoy it. I gotta say though, when we pulled up to the race site for the first time and found a giant construction zone, my first thought was, “what a s#!+ hole!” My opinion of the venue soon changed once I had raced on it! With their plans, a year from now this place will look as awesome as it was to race.

After my standard pre-race dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (ok, so sue me, it was baked ziti alright?!) a good night’s sleep, and my shakeout run that morning, I biked over to the course. I like doing this, it eliminates the hassle of parking, and it gets your legs warmed up. I had a solid warm up, called my momma and Rachel (S/O to my GF for being more nervous than I was race day morning! You keep holdin’ it down, shawty!) and I headed down to the water.

            

One of the skills I knew I needed to work on was aggression. Of all the things I can take away from this race, the fact that I CAN race aggressively is #1. If you got in my “bubble” on the swim, I probably hit you. If you hit me, I definitely hit you. If you kept rubbing shoulders with me, I used my size to drive you the hell off of me. For once, being a big guy helps! 

Coming out onto the pontoon after the first lap, I heard someone (I am assuming it was one of the Collegiate Recruitment girls) say, "oh, that's Sam! GGGOOOO SSSSAAAAAA-" splash... I couldn't help but think of the Murphy Lee line, "I want my name not, not said but screamed!" In that moment in the air, I felt like a baller. It was pretty cool, and definitely got me going for the second lap!

I was still in attack mode on the second lap of the swim, but not quite enough. There was a breakaway of 4 that I should’ve been with, no question.

            

Transition was bad news. My wetsuit zipper got stuck at my shoulder blades. I consider this an unforeseeable problem, not really a whole lot I could’ve done about it. I've literally never in my life checked a zipper before using it, but you can bet I will now before every race.

Either way, I lost 30 seconds on the main group (not the breakaway, they were long gone) and wound up having to settle for the chase pack. We were well organized, and we worked hard, but all we succeeded in doing was drop a few stragglers like a clingy ex-girlfriend (hehe) and keep the lead group within 2 minutes. 

            

The run time was fair. I should’ve packed up with a couple guys that I let go. I was afraid to take a risk. But, I need to take those or I’ll never know how fast I can truly be. I did reel one of the guys in on the last lap. All it took was getting angry. Once I decided I wanted his place, he didn’t stand a chance. I need to tap into that earlier.

            

B- overall on the day. But, A- on the mental aspect! I scratched the surface of a whole new me. There is a next level I saw glimpses of that I’ve been afraid to go to for whatever reason. Now that I know how to get there, I am very excited for this season and proud of how I turned around my head game in 1 week! Look out for Sam 2.0 in the coming races! Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!

Clermont Recap

This last Saturday, I opened up my professional season at the Clermont Pan-Am Cup. Clermont was a big disappointment for me. I completely underperformed compared to the way I've been training.

I am sure it was a mindset problem, which has been an issue in the past. I have struggled with this since high school, and only figured out how to really race in a pool my junior year of college. I guess I need to brush up on those skills and tap into that aggression again!

 Our race was at 11:15 AM on Saturday, so I got to sleep in a bit later than the EDR guys and went for a shake out jog around 8 am. After breakfast, looking over my race plan, and relaxing a bit I headed down to the race with Brandon.

Lake Louisa State Park, which is where the race is located, is a pretty cool place. I wish I'd had more time to explore it than my warmup/cool down and the race itself. One problem with the venue is there is not really any way to get a good bike warmup in unless you brought a trainer. I knew this going in, so I should've biked this morning rather than running to get those muscles activated a bit. I kicked myself, and took off on a run warmup. After this I set up my transition and headed down to the water for a long swim warmup.

I felt good going into the race. I had a solid mindset, and I had a great start, gapping everyone around me. Coming into the first buoy, I saw the fastest guys who had lined up to the right moving up. Instead of saying, "hey, I need to pick it up to meet them at the buoy," I thought, "hey, I'm right with them, I'm good!" But, (big but) they were moving faster and in a group, where I was solo and slowing down without realizing it. I got pushed to the back at the buoy, and had to make up ground coming back. I need to learn how to be aggressive, and never be complacent.

T1 was solid. I advanced, got my wetsuit off, and got into a decent position on the bike. I felt really strong and packed up with 4 guys. We were just off the front pack by maybe 30-40 seconds, and we were gaining on them. I took one pull which was too hard, and Kaleb VanOrt (who is just, like, a man-child on the bike) attacked. I was too tired and in the wrong position. He bridged, taking one of our group with him, and me and Vierula, a Canadian, didn't have a chance.

Its odd the way you get to know people when working with them on the bike. I could tell you his last name and what country he is from because of his race kit. I could tell you whether he swears a lot, what kind of deodorant he wears, and how much he likes to work on the bike, but I can't tell you anything else about the guy. There's also the underlying tension in your alliance, knowing that one of you has to lose.

Anyway, we got caught by the chase group, which had all the runners in it. Lack of focus and too hard of a pull. Dammit, dammit, and dammit.

I had a great T2 if I may say. Secret tactic (Ssssshhhh!) got me off my bike and to my transition ahead of anyone else in my group and I took off hard. Again, a lot of the fastest runners were in this group. I let them go by me. Mistake number 4! Seriously, where is my aggression?? I could've hung with a lot of these guys but I didn't even try. This is the biggest disappointment for me.

I ended up in pretty much the same place as last year at this race (which was my first as a professional) even though my time was 4 minutes faster. Somehow that doesn't make me feel better. In so many ways, I have come so far and changed so much in that year. The athlete who raced on Saturday is not the same athlete who raced a year ago, but he acted like it and made the same mistakes.

I am very disappointed in myself. I need to work on being more aggressive. There, I said it. Hopefully that is a step in the right direction. Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!