Chateau of Spain Restaurant in Downtown Newark, New Jersey

The post previous to this one is about my stay at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in downtown Newark, New Jersey.  I arrived late on my first night there so I wasn't sure what I might eat for dinner.  The hotel clerk recommended the Chateau of Spain Restaurant.  It was two blocks from the hotel.  After driving around for a while and not finding a parking space, I had to park back at the hotel and walk the two blocks to the restaurant.  Thankfully, the Chateau of Spain Restaurant did not disappoint.  

Chateau of Spain Restaurant in Downtown Newark, New Jersey

Upon arriving, I was told that the kitchen would only be open for another 15 minutes.  The dining room would only be open for another 30 minutes.  I expected to be rushed out because they obviously wanted to close on tine and go home.  However, I never felt rushed.  I was treated well by the restaurant staff.  My meal arrived in a reasonable amount of time and it was fantastic.

Fried Chicken Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries

I ordered the fried chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries.  As you can see from the photo, there was plenty.  I enjoyed half for dinner and saved the other half of the meal for lunch the next day.  It was so good.  My husband ordered the steak fajitas.  I didn't get a photo but he enjoyed his dinner as well.  

The Chateau of Spain restaurant served great food and the staff was wonderful.  If I'm ever back in the area again, I will eat there again.

If you're in the are, here is a pic of their menu as of April 2022.

Chateau of Spain Restaurant Menu

Chateau of Spain Restaurant Menu

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Chateau of Spain Restaurant in Downtown Newark New Jersey

If you haven't figured it out already, we go to Chattanooga, Tennessee a lot.  A few years ago, we discovered a little gem tucked away over on the North Shore.  It's a little Tex Mex restaurant called Taco Mamacita.  They serve a large variety of southwestern foods.  You can check out their complete menu in more detail here on the Taco Mamacita website.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

 Places to Eat in Chattanooga, Tennessee:  Taco Mamacita

One of our favorite items is their Sloppy Joe Taco.  Yes, a Sloppy Joe Taco.  I had never heard of one until we visited this little tucked away North Shore restaurant.  I like Sloppy Joe sandwiches and I like Tacos.  Well, the folks at Taco Mamacita figured out how to combine these two yummy foods into one and it is soooooo good.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

Look at that photo.  This really huge soft taco is filled with Sloppy Joe filling, loads of cheese, jalopeno peppers and I don't even know what else.  It is simply amazing.  Some days I want to drive the 2.5 hours up there just to eat one.

So, if you find yourself on Chattanooga's North Shore at meal time, head over to Taco Mamacita's and order one of these Sloppy Joe Tacos - or choose from a huge variety of other mouth-watering menu items.

Their Chattanooga address is:

109 North Market Street
Chattanooga, TN  37405

Check them out on Facebook here.

Learn about more interesting places here.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Today I want to tell you about restaurants in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  There might be a few fancy restaurants around the area, but we chose a few smaller eateries instead.  Some friends of ours told us about the Bad Bean Baja Grill so that’s the first place we headed.  The restaurant is located in Kitty Hawk, just a few miles south of Duck.  I ordered the Taco Salad.  It was the best taco salad I’ve ever eaten and I’ve eaten a lot of taco salads.  The food had a different sort of favor.  I’m really not sure how to describe it but to just tell you it was different.  It was different in a really good way.  I opted to add beef brisket to my salad.  It was absolutely delicious.  My husband ordered a burrito and it was huge.  He loved his meal too.  It’s the only place we swore to revisit before our journey home.

Restaurants in the Outer Banks

 The Bad Bean Baja Grill Taco Salad

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Duck Duck Burgers is another day for lunch.  The restaurant is located on Highway 12 right there in Duck on the opposite side of the street from the Boardwalk.  It was a cute little burger place that seemed a little bit retro.  We liked the atmosphere there.  The burgers were a bit expensive for our tastes.  After pricing a $12 burger, we noticed that most toppings costs an extra $1.00 per topping!  We thought that was outrageous.  The meal was OK.  It was close to our resort and the food was good.  It wasn’t $15 dollars good, but still good.  As far as restaurants in the Outer Banks goes, if you are staying in Duck, you have to drive a little ways to get to most of the restaurants.  Most of them are down in the Kitty Hawk, Nags Head area.  This little place is right there in Duck so you don’t have to go far for a burger.  You just have to be prepared to pay more for it than you might be accustomed to paying.  Here are a few pictures of the place.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

If you won’t mind a 20 or maybe a 30 minute drive over to Roanoke Island, you will want to eat at the Avenue Waterfront Grill.  It sits right on the water.  We were fortunate enough to get a table right by the window where we could view the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.  We like inexpensive meals which is the reason we don’t go to fancy restaurants much.  I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a fancy restaurant.   Casual attire is perfectly fine, but it is one of the nicer places we visited.  It was just a little bit pricy but the food was fabulous and the view was even better.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 I only took the photo above because I smiled at the political statement.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 The view from our dining table was nice.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The dining room was large and airy.  It was such a nice place to enjoy an evening meal by the water.

There are many more restaurants in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina.  These are just a few of the ones we visited while we were there.  Maybe someday we’ll get a chance to go back!

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.