Restaurant of the Week: Sandella's Flatbread Cafe

We're starting a new segment on The Morning Buzz called "Restaurant of the Week." We're going to be visiting restaurants around town and inviting chefs and managers to speak about their restaurant on Thursday mornings on The Morning Buzz. Ben and I are forced to try all of the food so it's a really tough gig. But we're taking one for the team!

Our first restaurant of the week is Sandella's Flatbread Cafe. All I can say is "YUM!!!" It was fabulous and specializes in flatbreads, wraps, paninis and quesadillas.Fresh, hot and healthy food!

Sandella's started in West Redding, Connecticutt in 1994 and has had a lot of success on college campuses and military bases. Sandella's opened at 1414 12th Avenue North in  Fargo (right by NDSU) earlier this year. It's the first Sandella's in the midwest and is run by Nick Hacker.

Nick invited us out to lunch a couple of weeks ago. We sampled both quesadillas and flatbreads. We particularily enjoyed the barbeque quesadilla with its chicken, beans and cheeses with fajita seasoing, the aloha grilled flatbread with ham, bacon and pineapple and (my favorite) the Brazilian grilled flatbread with chicken and cheese and a special sweet and tangy sauce. Nick also recommends the buffalo panini and the tuscan panini and the sweet and spicy chicken wrap and the pacific wrap. So many great choices!

Nick says they also have plenty on the menu for vegetarians.

We left feeling very full but not stuffed. Nick says the food is healthy and fresh and won't load you down with fat and calories. In fact, most lunches are under 400 calories and transfat free.

A great value as well. Most of the entrees are about 5 or 6 dollars and gives you plenty of food.

If you can't make it to Sandella's, they're now offering online ordering. Just go to www.sandellas.com and find the Fargo store to place an order for delivery. Enjoy!

Posted by: morningbuzz on 7/02/2009 at 9:16 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

We're Here!!!!

We're in Medora!!! Join us as we broadcast live from Bully Pulpit golf course on Monday and the newly remodeled Roughrider Hotel on Tuesday morning. Check out this photo our trusty engineer Dean shot of us overlooking the golf course. After Monday's show we'll see it up close as we tee off.

We're also ready to hand out some awesome prizes to you, the listener. You could win a round of golf at Bully Pulpit for you and a friend or you could win $100 at the Roughrider Hotel restaurant. It should be fun! Tune in Monday and Tuesday as The Morning Buzz with Ben and Tracy take you on the road to Medora!

Posted by: morningbuzz on 6/28/2009 at 7:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Thanks Farrah and Michael!

Many mornings when Ben and I first get to work, we'll start going through our news stories, and websites and ask each other, "What should we start with today?" Well it was kind of a no-brainer today.

It's not often you lose two icons in one day. We knew it was coming with Farrah Fawcett. The former angel was waging a losing battle against cancer for the last 3 years. But news of Michael Jackson took us all by storm. I did not see that one coming.

It's a sad day. I won't go out and hold a candlelight vigil. I won't stop work to sob with my friends over these losses. Michael and Farrah were not my friends. Nonetheless, like so many Americans of my age, they were a very real part of my life. 

I remember getting Tiger Beat magazine in the early 1970's because my sister was a huge David Cassidy fan. Pictures of the Jackson 5 covered the pages with promises of great things or earth shattering news: "Win a dream date with Michael!" or "Michael likes girls who make him laugh!" 

I loved "Rockin Robin" and "ABC." I loved watching him dance. He seemed so full of joy. And such talent! Even at my early age, I could see that.

He faded from the spotlight as I hit my tween years. Now I covered my walls with new heroes: Shaun Cassidy, Starsky and Hutch and Charlies Angels. I liked these Angels. Like all TV stars they were beautiful. That's Hollywood. But they were different. They were smart, strong and independent. We didn't always see that from female characters in the 1970's. My friends and I even pretended to be them in 7th grade. Our math teacher Mrs. Krebsbach probably wanted us to get back to fractions instead of walking the halls calling ourselves "Kresbach's Angels."

I didn't follow Farrah much after she left the angels. I was glad to see she proved to the world that she was more than a pretty face. She became a highly regarded actress in serious productions such as "The Burning Bed" and "Extremities."

Michael, too, reinvented himself as a solo act with "Off the Wall" in 1979 and of course, with "Thriller." It remains the best selling album in history with 50 million copies sold to date. (And many more being sold with the tragic news.) I listened to "Thriller" over and over. We all loved the music and the videos that went along with them.

The last few years in both Farrah and Michaels' lives have been hard to watch. Her once beautiful hair and body ravaged by cancer and him living what seemed to so many of us a freakish and bizarre life.

That's not how I want to remember either one of them. I'm choosing to remember them at the height of their fame and influence. Her smile lighting up the screen and his moves and music bringing such joy. A lot will be written about both of them in the coming months and it's fair to reexamine whether we should idolize celebrities the way we do. But today let's just celebrate two lives that made the world a better place for a brief moment in time. Isn't that what we're all supposed to do?

Posted by: morningbuzz on 6/26/2009 at 9:39 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

What would you look like as another race?

Okay, we see you. You're at work, trying to look busy without actually working. Have we got some great activities for you. They're fun ways to waste a little time at work and focus on yourself.

First, on the show today we talked about the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland's new lab that helps individuals see what they might look like if they were another race, or a baby, or senior citizen. I tried it. It's weird. But you might have fun. Here's the link: www.perceptionlab.com

We've also told you about software that helps you see what celebrity you most resemble. I found I'm a combination of Laura Bush and Lucy Lawless (Xena:Warrior Princess). Nice combo, eh? Here's the link if you'd like to try it: http://celebrity.myheritage.com/celebrity-face-recognition.

If you'd like to see what you might have looked like if you had graduated high school in a different era check out www.yearbookyourself.com. I tried it on our staff here about a year ago. Check the blog archive from August of 2008. It's worth the effort just to see Dana Mogck in a 1990's era mullet.

Have fun! And then get back to work!

I

Posted by: morningbuzz on 6/24/2009 at 9:50 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

2 for 1 cat day

The FM Humane Society is offering a 2 for 1 cat adoption special as it tries to reduce a growing population of  homeless cats. Right now there are about 90 cats looking for homes. Starting Monday you can help and get two cats for about the same cost as you would pay for one. Contact the FM Humane Society at www.f-mhumanesociety.org for more details or call them at 701-239-0077.

Posted by: morningbuzz on 6/19/2009 at 9:44 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink