Pounders Grill

473 South Main St. (Logan)

A little piece of Hawaii is a welcome addition to Cache Valley. Pounders opened on March 30 and its generous Hawaiian hospitality is quickly growing in popularity. Pounders is a casual dining environment and flip flops are alway welcome. The line may be long, but moves quickly (and is worth the small wait). Place your order at the register and then have a seat inside, or out under the colorful umbrellas. Your meal will quickly be carried out to you, so keep an ear listening for your name.

Pounders menu consists of 8 basic meats that can be combined in 3 different meals, as salads and as sandwiches.

The Keiki gives you the choice of 1 meat, rice and salad. The Pounder lets you choose 2 meats, and also comes with rice and a salad. With the Kahuna you are able to sample 3 meats as well as a salad and rice. The prices start at $4.99 for the Keiki and I believe go up to $8.99 for the Kahuna. The front counter has a tray of different sauces for you to enjoy. Included in those are their Katsu sauce, a teriyaki sauce, as well as soy sauce. Pounders serves Pepsi products.

My first visit to Pounders was with my sisters. I ordered a Pounder with Katsu Chicken and Kaluha Pork. The pork was exactly the same as I remember eating at a luau on the island of Oahu. The Katsu chicken is a Panko crusted chicken served with Katsu sauce. A sweet sauce made with apple sauce. Two sisters ordered ribs, but found them to be tasty, but very greasy. The other sister ordered a sandwich, but was left wishing she had opted for a more traditional plate instead. Meals are served with macaroni salad, but may be subsituted by a green salad upon request. Fries can also replace the rice if you so chose, but I don't recommend it.

On my second visit I once again had a Pounder with Pounder Chicken and their ribs. The Pounder Chicken is breaded and fried and served in the signature Pounder sauce. It is my favorite item so far. Instead of greasy, I found my ribs to be rather tough, although the flavor was delicious.

If Spam and seaweed are your thing, look for the Spam rolls next to the register.

On my most recent visit I noticed the shaved ice machine enticing me to come back for a Pounders Shaved Ice.

Grab your Hawaiian shirt and head to Pounders. You won't regret it.

The Bluebird

19 North Main St. (Logan)

The Bluebird is one of the longest-standing establishments in Cache Valley. I know people who remember going to the Bluebird for for dinners and receptions long before I was even born. It's where my wife and I had our wedding dinner as well. In addition to being a restaurant, they still have an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, as well as their own line of chocolates and candies.

It's not hard to see why the Bluebird is such a beloved place that has become a tradition in Logan and throughout the Cache Valley. The prices are extremely reasonable (we got our dinners - including rolls, salads, and sides - for about $10), and the food is certainly good. I highly recommend the steak and Bluebird chicken dinner (it's actually on the menu as steak and sweet & sour chicken, but they will allow you to substitute the Bluebird chicken instead).

When you go to the register to pay for your meal, it's easy to get drawn in to purchasing some of the delicious choclates that are on display. You certainly won't be disappointed if you do.

And the old-fashioned ice cream parlor at the front of the restaurant is a great spot to take a breather while checking out all of the downtown Main Street shops.

All-in-all, the Bluebird is a perfect place for a family dinner that won't break the bank, a romantic throwback date at the ice cream parlor, or to sooth your chocolate cravings with locally made confections. It's no wonder that the Bluebird has been around for so long, and there's no reason to believe that it won't be around for a long time to come.

RockHaus

1780 North 200 East (Logan)

Ever since the husband and brother-in-laws went rock climbing in December I wanted in on the climbing action.

RockHaus is the local climbing gym. The staff there is beyond friendly and helpful. They made me feel at ease my very first time there. We've since made it our goal to go at least once a month, which is a bit of a stretch in comfort for my heights-fearing husband.

After a thorough little introduction (and all the release forms), you're good to go. You can rent all the equipment you need there, and they have some for sale in their shop. You better have little feet or be a larger woman for any of the picked-over shoes and clothing currently stocked to work for you. The selection was better last month, so I don't know if they're phasing out this part of their operations, or if new merchandise is coming.

Today, from the comfy sofa, we enjoyed watching some graceful and fluid climbers in their lead climbing. The sofa in the gym seems a little out of place, but I like it. The whole place has a "come hang out and enjoy it all" vibe. We're starting to recognize the regulars, and find watching them inspiring.

If you're into bouldering, there is a decent-sized bouldering room upstairs. For me, bouldering is just a little too high for comfort without a harness. I'll stick to top roping it. With routes changing on a three month rotation, we'll be back next month to see what's new.

Kamin Thai Cuisine

51 W. 200 S. (Logan)

Kamin Thai Cuisine is (to my knowledge) the only Thai restaurant in Logan. We have been there a couple of times, including a visit last night. If you like Thai food (kind of like Chinese, but less greasy and fried), I would certainly recommend it. Last night, I had the Thai Cashew Nut Chicken and my wife had "The King" with pork - which was basically a ginger-based dish. The flavor is a little milder than I would have liked, but I could have asked for mine to be extra spicy, had I thought about it.

The only thing that went wrong during our visit was that we both asked for brown rice and were brought white rice. I didn't really mind, but my wife got her rice switched without a hassle.

Kamin Thai doesn't hold a candle to my favorite Thai restaurant - Talay Thai in Washington, D.C. - but, for compared to other restaurants in Logan, it's got a great feel, atmosphere, and pretty good food.

Blackstone Restaurant

255 S. Main (Logan)

My wife and I recently went to Blackstone for a casual lunch date. Blackstone is fairly new to Logan's restaurant scene; an old Deseret Industries building turned into somewhat of formal dining restaurant, similar in appearance and atmoshpere to Hamilton's. After it opened, I heard mainly negative responses from those who had gone there, so I had never been too eager to try it myself. However, my wife and I felt it was time to give it a shot and make up our own mind.

Upon arriving at the restaurant a little after 2pm, we waited at the vacant hostess desk for a good five minutes before someone must have spotted us. All I know is that we heard someone loudly yell the hostess's name and she soon appeared, moving quickly to help us and probably hoping she wasn't in too much trouble for leaving her post for an extended period of time. Not a good start.

After being seated in the nearly empty resetaurant, we took a little time to browse through the lunch menu. I had heard that Blackstone's prices were fairly high, which was one reason we had decided to come during lunch. But even the lunch menu prices were a little higher than what we were expecting. I settled on the cheesesteak sandwich with fries, while my wife got the pesto chicken focaccia sandwich with rice pilaf.

The cheesesteak sandwich was generously filled with juicy steak and a healthy amount of cheese, but the most abundant ingredient and taste was grease. The wedged fries were extremely unevenly coated with seasoning - some with none at all, and others with patches or lines of seasoning coated on way too thick. Only a healthy dose of ketchup was able to make them palatable. They were overly crunchy on the outside and overly mushy on the inside.

My wife described her sandwich as decent, if lacking in the pesto department, but difficult to eat with the large slices of peppers slipping out from the focaccia at any chance they could. The rice, in her words, was definitely nothing to write home about.

We  then waited for another ten minutes after we were done before the waiter even showed up to see what he could get us for dessert. But after the lackluster service and food already experienced, we decided to pass on having dessert, as I think we will pass at eating at Blackstone again.