Restaurant Review: Rainforest Cafe

Rainforest Cafe
Burlington, MA

There are many Rainforest
Cafes around the country
and the world. Every
January, one of our
nephews (the kids' cousins)
has his birthday dinner at
the Rainforest Cafe at the
Burlington Mall. Even now
that he is a teenager, this
is his choice destination.

The appeal is obvious.
The surroundings are
unique and entertaining,
and if your kids aren't
vegetarian, then the
kids menu will feed them
CHEAPLY. But they have
to make money, right?
So the adult entrees stick it to you. And if you are vegetarian, then your choices are limited. If you are vegan, well, forget about getting out of there on a budget, because there is nothing vegan on the children's menu.

Kids like Maia and
Nate can just share
off a grownup meal.
Maia was more inter-
ested in running around
checking out the many
tropical fish tanks
anyhow, saying "weesh!"




























There used to be more vegetarian fare available years ago, but now vegan choices on the menu are pretty limited. You can order the veggie burger (and fries cost $1.29 EXTRA) for $10.99, but make sure to ask them to hold the sauce because it's made with mayo. The burger itself is actually pretty tasty--you can see Ryan yumming it up. But still, what a rip off for the money. The guacamole on top was browning upon arrival, the fries barely warm.

To be fair, the menus vary by region. But the menu at our nearby location is HUGE, yet it is almost entirely meat and seafood. Rainforest friendly? Um, no. Okay, maybe if rainforest animals were on the menu (alligator sausage, monkey brains, etc) then the moniker would make some sense.

But visit the massive gift shop (you can't avoid it since you have to pass through it to enter the restaurant) and you'll see that the message is all about rainforest animals as friends, saving the rainforest, etc. So you'd expect some environmentally friendly, local, vegan or "healthy" foods on the menu in my opinion. Not so much.

The Rainforest Cafe is all about pleasing the average Amercian palate and clientele, in a Disney-like "wild" environment. We enjoy our annual visit there, but it's not somewhere we go regularly for a good family meal.

This Rainforest Cafe is located inside the Burlington Mall (section B, lower level, between Nordstrom and Macy's), 781-272-7555. The Burlington Mall is located on the Middlesex Turnpike, near the intersection of route 3 and route 95 (128).

still frozen friday

The temperature may have warmed up past zero, but the ponds in the area were still frozen and patchworked with ice fisherman. We went out across Dug Pond in Natick to Blueberry Island for a look around...no blueberries to be found this time of year though!

In food news, I was gifted the Happy 101 award AGAIN! This time via Kashmirkat over at An American In Bento. Kewl!

Ryan's lunch: striped apple slices; avocado maki; peanuts; a dropper of soy sauce; dried apricots; cucumber slices; cold tofu.

I didn't think this
little box would
be big enough, but
Maia climbed right
in and Ryan pushed
her around. The box
contained an order
of vitamins--something
I don't worry too much about--but the kids do enjoy the Animal Parade multivitamins and calcium (which tastes like vanilla ice cream sundae).

a great year already

Woohoo! Thanks to Jenn
at Bento for Kidlet for my
new blog award! What a
great way to start off the
new year. If you want to
see some nifty food
marker art, check out
her blog!

I hope no one minds that
I don't have time right
now to list 10 things about myself or pass along the award. Life is busy busy busy! But how cool is it to receive a blog award with cupcakes on it?!

In case you haven't noticed, I've been packing Ryan's lunches in tall slender bentos recently. His metal lunch box broke, and he's presently using one of my old soft lunch bags until we can afford him a new one. His regular single tier bentos don't fit without being tipped sideways, so I'm using only the longer variety bentos for now...
Ryan's lunch: vegetable gyoza; brown rice; steamed broccoli; fresh pineapple; cold tofu w/soy sauce; cantaloupe chunks.

a little girl

Well, yesterday Maia officially turned 18 months old. I always think of that age as no longer a baby anymore.

First though, food...I used the last of our frozen strawberries from the farm that we harvested back in June. Five more months until we get more!
Ryan's lunch: rice triangle; blanched spinach; edamame; side of strawberry applesauce.

And now a brief photo spread of not-a-baby Maia...

party leftovers bento

Ryan certainly gets a good deal when AJ has a birthday...
Ryan's lunch: grapes & cantaloupe; chocolate cake; steamed broccoli; leftover pizza with spinach, mushrooms & black olives.

And here are a few more pictures of AJ's birthday yesterday evening...












Presents, and a big
chocolate cake with
vanilla frosting and
sprinkles.

Maia really enjoyed
her cake. She's been
trying to use a fork
a lot recently. Here
she is using the same
exact fork that I have
a photo of myself
using to eat my cake
with when I turned 2.

But lucky Maia gets
chocolate thanks to
her big brother!

I must say chocolate
cake is my favourite
too. Some Trader's
Joe's cherry chocolate
chip soy ice cream
went nicely with this.

Here's my hunk o' cake...

And yes I did have
cake & pizza for
breakfast this
morning!

party time!

AJ insisted on having his
6th birthday party at
LazerZone just like his
brother Ryan did on his
6th birthday. I didn't
manage to get a photo
of his cupcakes that didn't
include a crowd of other
kids, but I did get some
fun pics of the other action!

























The boys brought home popcorn for Nate and Maia, and a mini skateboard prize for Nate, since he really wasn't old enough to go and had to stay with grandma and Maia.

Then this morning AJ woke up bright and early with one goal in mind...to climb into Ryan's bunkbed! Federal law
states that children under
6 are not supposed to use
bunk beds, so he's been
waiting patiently for his
birthday to be able to
visit Ryan. He was just a
little bit excited...

Downstairs a SpongeBob singing balloon awaited...
Maia had a hard time waiting for her turn.












AJ opened one present before heading off to school. I made a fruit snack for his class: pineapple, cantaloupe, & grapes...
I made the frosting for AJ's cake while he was at school, and Nate graciously helped to lick the mixing implements. Then he and I brought the fruit over to school. Nate enjoyed the wlk home on the snowy rail trail, often used for cross country skiing in the winter.
























AJ loved the giant pencil and sharpener he got from his teacher, and his sticker of course!
And no school day would be complete without Ryan's bento...Ryan's lunch: smoked Tofurky, soy cheese, spinach & Veganaise sandwiches on 12 grain bread; soy cheese & nori polar bear faces; grapes; a pickle; yellow bell pepper; baby carrots; leftover cupcake on the side.

pureed stuff

The boys love SpongeBob Squarepants, but I must admit I sometimes get a kick out of it too. Sort of a modern take on Ren & Stimpy that I used to love. One of my favourite SpongeBob episodes has to be about boating school. SpongeBob repeatedly fails his boat driving test. The poor instructor is quite sick of him!
Ryan's lunch: Thermos of potato leek soup; a pickle; cucumber slices; dried apricots; Corn Nuts & soy cheese "Boating School" sign; baby carrots; apple slices.

Nate's preschool
snack: a chocolate
chip cookie; vegetable
crackers; soy cheese;
cucumber slices.

This little Keroppi
snack container easily
fits in the palm of my
hand. It's about 2-3
inches in length.

I'm always surprised when someone asks for my "applesauce recipe". Really, there's nothing to making applesauce, it's just smooshed apples! Yet I am biased because I admit that my applesauce tastes very different than everyone else's. I really can't stand storebought applesauce; I only get it when I need something non-perishable for a trip or a recipe calls for it as an ingredient.

What do I do differently? I dunno.
- I always use fresh local apples, even in winter I buy apples that were grown in the next state or closer.
- I add a bit of lemon juice, though nothing special, just the stuff that comes presqueezed in a bottle.
- I don't add sugar unless I'm using a tart variety of apple or "wild" apples that I usually pick before they're ripe (fewer worms).
- I almost always add a handful of strawberries, always organic, usually the really sweet local ones from our farm. They not only give the applesauce a delicious flavour that reminds be of Spree candy (LOL), but they impart a beautiful pale pink colour.

Because I rarely buy applesauce for straight consumption, the kids are always thrilled when they smell applesauce cooking on the stove. We eat it for a snack or after dinner treat, warm and pureed til very smooth. It's more like warm apple pudding, yet the recipe couldn't be more basic.

Applesauce Hooray!

6-8 large apples, peeled
and cored
1 T. lemon juice
6-12 strawberries (frozen
are fine, about 1/2 cup)

Peel, core and chop
apples into big chunks.
Place in a medium
saucepan with lemon
juice over low heat.
Cover, stirring occasionally
until apples begin to boil
and bubble. Remove
cover and add straw-
berries. Cook until apples
are reasonably soft, but they don't need to be total mush.
Remove from heat and allow to cool until not dangerous to handle. Move cooked apples to a food processor (it may take 2 batches depending on the size of your machine). Puree until very smooth (I use a Magic Bullet because it creates a super-smooth consistency in a matter of seconds). Eat while still warm, or cool for later. Great in a sealed container for a lunchbox!