CombatCritic's TravelValue™: 2020

CombatCritic™ ... World traveler - 42 countries and counting; Military Leader - Four combat operations; Amateur chef; Published author and producer - over 4 million visitors on seven platforms! Yelp "Black" Elite '14/'15/ '16/ '17/ '18/ '19 / '20/ '21/ '22 / '23 / '24; TripAdvisor ¨Local Guide¨, Zomato "VERIFIED CONNOISSEUR"; Booking.com "GENIUS"; and Foursquare "INSIDER". On the Front Lines in the Battle Against Mediocrity - Follow Me To TravelValue™ ... That's A Freakin' Order!

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Ohlao, Portugal: Delícia Food, Bread, Booze, and Sweets, All At Very Low Prices

Delícia de Olhão

Padaria, Pastelaria e Snack Bar

Av. 5 de Outubro, 20A

8700-302 Olhão, Portugal

Phone: +351 289 702 406

Prices: €€€€

On the main drag, along the waterfront in Olhão, you will find many eateries, most with high prices for food that you can get at a fraction of the cost a few blocks inland. Then there is Delícia de Olhão.

We stumbled upon this place one evening after I was shamed for forgetting to mask-up at a restaurant a few doors away. It was bright, clean, and had several customers inside and out front on the sidewalk.

They have a simple, basic food menu with grilled sandwiches, omelettes, fish and meat dishes as well as small selection of pizzas. My wife has tried their baguette sandwiches as well as the toasted variety and for just €3, they are a very good value.

I have ordered the pizza here on two occasions now because it is pretty darn good and inexpensive. A large 'normal' pizza comes with tomato sauce, ham, sausage, mushrooms, bell pepper and a s**tload of cheese. The crust is medium thin, crispy enough to support the abundance of toppings, but not thin and crunchy like the horrid pizzas they sell in Rome. All that for just €10. Can you say two meals for €10? That is just €5 a pop!

The house wine is good and cheap, but the selection of desserts/pastries is obscene ... HOOAH!. They have just about any confection you can think of from giant pastel de nata to creamy cakes with fluffy pastry and more. They also sell homemade bread and I have been told that the line is out the door and down the block on Sunday mornings.

Dinner for two, including mains, drinks (water/wine/Coke), and dessert runs around €20. The severs are young, friendly and efficient, but do not count on too much English as this place caters more to locals than tourists.

CombatCritic Gives Delícia de Olhão An Initial 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Eight Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "What-The-Fuck ... Over!"

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Olhão, (Algarve) Portugal: Quaint, Tiny And Tasty - A Definite TravelValue ... HOOAH!

Tasca O Galo

Rua da Gazeta, 7

8700-396 Olhão, Portugal

Phone: +351 964 709 746

Facebook Page

Reservations: Yes

Prices: €€€€ (€40 for Two - Including Wine)

On a tiny alley in the back roads of Old Town Olhão, you will find a tiny tasquinha with old world charm, excellent service, and outstanding food at very reasonable prices. It is called Tasca O Galo, some calling it Tasquinha O Galo, roughly translating to tavern of the cock (get your mind out of the gutter, it's a rooster dammit).

TripAdvisor told us that they opened at 18:00, but they often get things wrong (leading me to tell them to shove my 'Top Contributor' designation a few years back) and we were 30 minutes early for dinner. No worries, we will come back shortly, I told the nice lady who spoke pretty good English.

A cute little place, maybe a wine cellar a couple of centuries ago, they have three four-tops and two tables for two, so you had better get there early if you want to eat. There are cocks all over the place in tribute to their name and to the Rooster of Barcelos, one of the most common symbols of Portugal. This tavern has a comfy and homey feel, the perfect spot for a tasty southern Portuguese meal with some influence from a few other delicious cuisines (Belgian/French, Thai, Japanese, Italian, and others).

We started with a bottle of 2016 Herdade Grande (€15), a robust red (tinto) from Alentejo, the gastronomical capital of Portugal well known for their excellent wines. Along with the tasty red, we ordered a basket of fresh, homemade breads (€1.50), a delicious olive tapenade (€1), and a bowl of fried potato cubes with slices of savory chorizo (€4) ... YUM!

My better half ordered a spinach and cheese omelette (€8.50), more like an Italian fritatta than an omelette, coming with a side of hot, crispy fries. My wife gave me two thumbs-up, a definite winner in her book.

I decided on the filet with roquefort sauce (€18), cooked medium/medium-well, also coming with a side of fries, a savory cooked cabbage, that I thought were onions, and a dab of pureed plum compote. The filet, three good size medallions, was one of the most tender cuts of meat in memory and the roquefort sauce sublime, plentiful enough to coat my crispy fries as well. The only faux pas, and I am not sure it was unintentional, was that my filet was cooked much closer to rare than medium/medium-well. I am not a blood lover and normally would have sent it back, but after giving it a try, I found it tender and flavorful without gushing blood all over my decadent roquefort sauce. The chef obviously knows what he or she is doing, but following orders is obviously not a forté.

Finishing our meal off by splitting a dark chocolate mousse sprinkled with sea salt and a hint of chili pepper (€3.50), we left very well satiated with thoughts of 'what will I have next time'. Being new residents of Olhão, we will likely be returning to Tasca O Galo for years to come. Less than €38 for a bottle of wine and a meal like that, all I can say is ... HOOAH!

CombatCritic Gives Tasca O Galo 9 Bombs Out Of 10 ... With A 1 Bomb Deduction For A Chef Who Thought They Knew Better Than The Customer ... More Bombs Are Better!

Nine Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "U.S. Marine Response To A Verbal Greeting Or As An Expression Of Enthusiasm"

Friday, October 16, 2020

Vancouver, WA: Paws Down the Best Dog Training Outfit This Side of the Columbia ... HOOAH!

Paws Down Pets Dog Training

2804 NE 155th Avenue

Vancouver, WA 98682

(360) 936-6129

pawsdownpets.com

Prices: $$$$

Paws Down and Julie stepped in when another local training facility refused to tailor a program to get my dog, Kemper, and I where we needed to go before a last minute move overseas.

I am a disabled combat veteran, but do not qualify for a 'service animal' from non-profits because I do not have the 'correct' diagnosis, even though I suffer from the same exact symptoms as those with PTSD.

My wife's mother, who lives in Europe, recently had a stroke and my wife has been by her side since early August. If I hope to see my wife at all over the next several years, because of her and my commitment to ensure that her mother gets the care and attention she deserves, we needed to be much closer than the Pacific NW, hence our uprooting.

In order to have Kemper fly with me in the cabin on a grueling 10-hour trans-Atlantic flight, he needed some several skills which he was lacking when we adopted him from the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society after six years of being abandoned and abused, for no reason, by one owner after another. Even with his unjust and unconscionable treatment early in life, he is one of the sweetest and dogs I have ever known.

Julie and Kemper quickly developed a strong bond and she was willing to work with me one-on-one, tailoring a training plan for both of us to get us where we need to be with just two months before boarding the plane.

Having a Master's in Psychology, I am an expert in operant and classical conditioning, but lacked the understanding of how dogs think, so Julie was training both of us along the way.

Kemper picked-up on things quickly and me, not so much, but we were compelled to get the job done and succeed in our mission, no room for error. Paws Down is not exactly cheap when it comes to private training, but Julie did not charge for travel time to our home and routinely stayed after the allotted one-hour appointment times.

Yesterday, less than two months after starting with Julie, Kemper passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test and his certificate is on the way, arriving well before we need it for travel to our new home.

Thank you Paws Down and Julie for helping me ensure that my support animal and I make it safely to Europe, reuniting our family after moths apart.

CombatCritic Gives Paws Down Dog Training 10 Bombs Out Of 10 And A Spot On My 'WALL OF FAME' ... More Bombs Are Better ... HOOAH!

Ten Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians:

HOOAH!: "Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary

"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com

"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique like "ROO-YAH" or "HAL-A-LOO-YAH", we said 'screw it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH!" - CombatCritic

Pages - CombatCritic's "TravelValue"

Follow Me To TravelValue!

Faro, Portugal; Great Expectations, Oustanding View, But A Disappointing Breakfast Buffet