Ideas for Blog Posts

I am always looking for new things to write about in this blog and on my website, http://blonorestaurantreview.webs.com/. In this blog I will be brainstorming with a few ideas and giving you, the reader, an insight in the mind of The Food Guru. I am also willing to review or blog about some of your favorite places to eat or tips on how to get the best out of your dining experience.

The following is a list of ten blog post ideas.

• A review of Bocata Fresh!
• Bocata Fresh! is a Greek and Mexican fusion café that I visit weekly. It is open late on the weekends for all your beer munchy needs.
• A review of Garden of Paradise
• Garden of Paradise is a Greek restaurant just across from Eastland Mall in Bloomington. G.o.P. is the home of the best Ribeye Sandwich in town!
• A review of Windy City Wieners
• Windy City Wieners is the newest incarnation of Big Mouth’s Burgers in uptown Normal. If it is anything like Bigmouth’s then we are all in for a treat.
• A review of Brewe-Ha’s Burger Baskets
• The Burger Basket at Brewe-Ha’s is legendary. Such a great meal for such a low price of only $2.50, you can’t go wrong with this college standard!
• A review of D.P. Dough
• D.P. Dough is the calzone headquarters in Normal, enough said!
• How to enjoy some great food without spending all of your beer money.
• Keystone is cheap, but it’s not that cheap! Don’t blow all of your money on expensive food, you need that cash for the party tonight!
• The ultimate pizza delivery showdown!
• I will be pitting all of the major delivery joints in Normal against each other to see who is really the pizza king in this town.
• New and exciting things to do with that boring old Ramen in your cabinets.
• Every college student has at least one of these seemingly boring noodle concoctions in their apartment or dorm. Learn how to spice this noodle soup into something hip and new.
• Parents in town? Are they willing to take you out to eat? Go somewhere good that will guarantee lots of leftovers that you can live on for the next week!
• A review of La Gondola Spaghetti House
• La Gondola is a Italian dine in carry out restaurant that offers much more than Spaghetti. I recommend the pizza bread!

Staying Full without Going Broke

In this blog I am focusing on the restaurant scene in the Bloomington Normal, Illinois area. Over the next weeks and months I will be keeping you up to date on new restaurants and old favorites. As well as offering tips on how to fully enjoy these establishments without going broke.

I am a college student at Illinois State University in Normal and like many of my fellow students I am on a budget. I like to eat well but I know the value of a hard earned dollar. This blog is a testament of how I learned to balance my checkbook and my appetite. It took me three years to figure it out, but with my help you can be on your way to enjoying a fuller stomach and a fuller wallet. Which are coincidentally two of my favorite things.

There are many great options out there for staying full without going broke. There are also some options that might give you a bad name, such as mooching off your friends, or the old dine and dash. I do not recommend either of these tactics. Rather you should look for specials and even clip coupons. For instance Los Potrillos, just off College Avenue in Normal has a 10% discount for all college students. Brewe-Ha’s in uptown Normal has Burger Baskets that come with fries and one of the best burgers in town for only $2.50 everyday of the week. I love going to Brewe-Ha’s on Friday afternoons and getting a beer and a Burger Basket for $5, not a bad deal at all! Other restaurants like Taqueria El Porton, on Main Street in Bloomington, offer a meal card. For every 10 meals you get a meal on the house!

But the most important thing is just to get out there, try new things, and spread the word! You should especially let me know because I am always looking for a new place to get my food on at.

Los Potrillos

Los Potrillos, located at 201 Landmark Drive in Normal a block away from the College Avenue Krogers, is the premier location for Mexican food at good price in the Bloomington Normal area. I have been going to this restaurant for three and a half years and have not gotten tired of it at all. The menu is extensive but not so large that making a decision is impossible.

The menu offers many different tastes and styles of Mexican cuisine including seafood and vegetarian options. The menu contains a full list of appetizers including nachos and queso dips. Los Potrillos also stocks a large bar with many domestic and of course Mexican beers. I consider the frozen margaritas here to be the best in town. Monday through Saturday 11 am to 3 pm, Los Potrillos offers a huge lunch menu with some great deals all around five or six dollars. The dinner specials, served anytime, are all very large portions for between $7 and $10. The meal comes with complimentary chips and salsas. The salsas are two very different dips for everyone’s tastes. The first is a smooth sauce with lots of heat and kick. The second salsa is more of a pico de gallo, in that it is made up cut up onion, tomato, basil, and a few other trade secrets. Both are very tasty and serve as a great warm-up for the food to come. Just don’t eat too much of them because you have a large meal on its way!

The service and atmosphere at Los Potrillos are also excellent. The restaurant is adorned with many pictures, painting, and statues depicting horses, all with a certain Mexican flair. The wait staff is friendly and very quick. The waiters always serve you with a smile. And I always leave the restaurant stuffed, with a smile from ear to ear

Restaurants?

I plan on covering many genres of cuisine in this blog. Some restaurants I had in mind were Los Potrillos, Garden of Paradise, Bocata Fresh!, and Windy City Wieners. Do you have any suggestions? if so let me know at BloNoRestaurantReview@gmail.com

Thanks

Overview

In Bloomington-Normal there are a lot of great restaurants. In this blog and on my website, http://blonorestaurantreview.webs.com/, I will be reviewing many of these establishments. I will be focusing mainly on casual dining and moderately priced cuisine.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. I will going to restaurants in the Bloomington-Normal, Illinois Area and providing you with honest and reliable reviews of the food, service, and atmosphere