After the third and final day of trade show goodness, and where it was actually truly warm enough to hang outside, we ate at the restaurant at the hotel pool. And really, the weather could not have been lovelier. And it was super relaxing. For me, a passion fruit smoothie to soothe the stress away…
I think these are southwestern style egg rolls. These weren’t half bad!
A grilled chicken sandwich with fries. You can’t really tell from the photo, but this sandwich was huge. I mean, like freakishly huge. Like fit for three people to eat huge. I snagged a lot of these fries and really liked them.
I got the fish tacos. They were served with some guac, pico, sour cream, and mango salsa. The tacos weren’t all that great, I ended up eating only two of them because the last one just wasn’t worth eating. But the fixins were all good! And the fruit too. And the food came out beyond slow. I mean, you’re at a pool, so I guess you can just hang out. But it was really nearly unacceptably slow. What are you gonna do?

It’s hard to believe, but I’m not allowed to say that I’ve never eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe anymore. When a team dinner calls, you must go eat. We were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel, so the cafe at the CityWalk was just a quick walk away. It’s pretty ginormous. In fact, it’s the largest Hard Rock Cafe in the world. Wow. Yes, there’s music memorabilia everywhere. There are even these pretty cool stained glass windows. There’s also some kind of convertible that’s spinning around above the bar. It’s a spectacle.
I wasn’t up for drinking that night so I got a smoothie of some kind. It came in a giant glass and it was quite enjoyable.
Here’s M’s hickory-smoked pulled-pork sandwich. He got his with the Hickory BBQ sauce and not the carolina vinegar-based kind. The sandwich is topped with marinated slaw and also served with seasoned fries, ranch beans and fresh coleslaw. This was pretty decent. The best things were the beans!
I got the anti-cobb salad.  Basically, it was a bunch of fruit on top of lettuce, and I loved it! It was a bunch of mixed greens topped with dried cranberries, fresh Granny Smith apple slices, fresh strawberries, diced grilled chicken breast, fresh orange segments, avocado, and mango served with a tangerine balsamic dressing. This was a spectacular salad! I loved all the fruit and the dressing was just awesome. And you got a heap of protein with the grilled chicken so it wasn’t just fruit only. I really did love it so, I could have eaten this every day! Our server did a great job putting up with us. And for such a large party and a large restaurant, the food came out pretty quick. The kitchen and staff must be massive!

On my second day of jury duty, I took a quick walk to lunch on some soup and a sandwich at House. Look how cute this place is! I couldn’t resist going into a place that also shares the name of my favorite TV show about an ornery curmudgeon doctor.
This was the corn and bell pepper soup, which was the soup of the day. Oh my word, this was delicious. It kind of looks awful, but it’s amazingly sweet and delicious. It’s chunky and coarse, but in a good way. The corn flavor is super strong and it’s just incredibly hearty. This is some of the best corn soup I’ve ever had.
I got a soup and sandwich combo, and my sandwich was the El Nino. The gal at the counter recommended it and said that it was quite popular. This beauty has avocado chicken salad, tomatoes, and bacon, with chipotle remoulade and is grilled on a panini press. Again, just like the soup, this was a total winner. Avocado chicken salad? Give me more! Every single ingredient in this worked well together. It was a fantastic sandwich! This place is adorable. If I was a local I’d be a regular!