Restaurant Review: Mangia Qui, 272 North St., Harrisburg

A word of advice if you’ve never been to Mangia Qui – rearrange your to do list. This place is well worth the visit! The downstairs is a very nice, quaint Italian restaurant and the upstairs is a gorgeous tapas bar called Suba complete with a high wooden beamed ceiling, colorful artwork, and detailed spanish decor.

I chose to stop in on a Sunday for brunch and eat at a table outside on North Street. The service was good and the atmosphere very relaxed, but it was the food that most impressed me. The menu had quite a few great options on it which made the decision difficult but in the end I ordered the Italian breakfast – pecan raisin sweet bread dipped in egg, sauteed, topped with mascarpone and powdered sugar served with bacon. Was I ever impressed! The Italian style french toast was outstanding and the bacon was cooked perfectly, crispy and heavily peppered. My girlfriend ordered the Mozzarella en carrozza, a delicious grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. The soup turned out to be more of a dipping sauce but the two together were good to the last bite. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a bite left after all was said and done. The restaurant is known for using local produce and while the prices are a little higher, the quality of the food is well worth it. I’ve already put trying the tapas bar upstairs at the top of my to do list.

IdeaBlob.com, the site that gives out $10,000 every month for the idea that receives the most votes

Ever had a good idea? Now you can get that notion funded if it gets enough votes on IdeaBlob. The site is most definitely worth looking into. I just posted my own idea on the site that I’d appreciate you voting for or commenting on it: a website designed specifically for college students that outlines the events, discounts, destinations, jobs, and internships around the greater Harrisburg area. The idea is to attract more students to the region and really get those students connected to what’s going on here in hopes of reversing the region’s huge export of college students once they graduate.

The thing about this website that intrigues me is that really simple projects can actually win, you don’t need a doctorate to compete. In fact, the winner last month is a Penn State college student! Check it out or try your own idea!

New Events Website for Central PA Officially Launched!

Now you can find something to do, or at least find the spot to be everyday of the week in Central PA with the official launch of Spotobe.com . . . .

“Whether you’re looking to visit Central Pennsylvania, move here or already live here, bookmark this site to keep up with what’s going on in the region. Spotobe aggregates all the events—from concerts to exhibitions to hockey games, and much more—so you can view all your options in one convenient place.

In other words, if there’s a spot to be, you will find out about it on Spotobe.”

Get Downtown Discounts in Harrisburg

Want 15% off food at Bricco? $2 off Senators tickets? How about buy one get one free admission for all three of Harrisburg’s theaters? These deals and many more are available to you with a Harrisburg Young Professionals passport, free with HYP membership.

So membership must be pretty expensive right? Nope. Join HYP for a whole year for just $30. That includes admission to weekly HYP events as well as the discount card.

The Harrisburg Young Professionals are celebrating their 10th year as “a group of young, active, civic-minded professionals who have a clear vision of Harrisburg’s future as a great place to live, work, play, and shop.” Joining the organization is an excellent way to make new friends and contacts, familiarize yourself with the city, get a passport discount card, and find some fun.

Check out their website for upcoming events and more discounts: HYP.org

Harrisburg Young Professionals Annual Meeting – TONIGHT! (2.27.08)

Make sure to check out the HYP annual meeting tonight from 5:30-7:30 at the new HACC midtown campus, 1500 N. 3rd Street, Harrisburg. Of particular interest to most people is the part on the invite that reads, “Drinks and hors d’oeuvres are on us!”

There is no cost to attend, so if you’re interested in what the Harrisburg Young Professionals are all about and where you can get involved, make sure to check out the annual meeting. See you there!

Local Links, Local Events —> Get Connected

One day after watching 4 straight hours of CSPAN I came to a startling  realization of profound understanding about myself. I hate boredom. It’s so boring. I wasn’t sure if there really was anything more interesting to do in south central PA than take notes on the latest happenings inside congress and read Hardy Boys books in my basement. Valiantly, I embarked on a quest to find something more entertaining than the free channels on TV. What I uncovered I’ve made into a list. That list is now the new home page on the website www.ExperienceHarrisburg.com. I am always looking to extend the list, but for the time being I am pretty satisfied that if you can’t find something new to do from the links and events already listed on ExperienceHarrisburg.com you are nesting in a bed of lies.

True story.

Get Connected (Get off the couch and meet some new people)

It’s easy to get stuck in a routine of isolation after a long day of work – but just as easy to find some new people to hang out with, honest! With the power of the internet it is really a little spooky how connected you can actually get, I’m not into myspace b/c people I don’t want to find always find me!

Fortunately, there are sites that allow you to be a little more selective in who you’d like to meet; take meetup.com for instance. The website allows people to join a large variety of groups from wine enthusiasts to home entrepreneur groups and actually plan events to “meet up.” Just around Harrisburg there is quite a few interesting groups, a spanish group, an entrepreneur group, and a work at home group to name a few.  Might be worth checkin out.

Also, websites like zvents.com, eventful.com, campuscentral.com as I’ve mentioned before are great ways to get connected with whats going on in the area.

The Harrisburg Young Professionals (hyp.org) are another great group of people. The run all kind of events and social gatherings, a really great place to make contacts and new friends. The membership annually for HYP is $30 I believe.

SO, don’t make excuses, get off the couch! Use the internet to find some people of interest and get connected, life is more enjoyable than the average amount of time people watch tv every day – 4 hours!

Upcoming Event: Music Friday

And yet another sweet event has come to my attention – Music Friday – a night of music and shopping for a cause.

Check it out – http://www.lancasterarts.com/_files/live/MusicFriday_web_download.pdf

Basically there is going to be music at 25 different venues around downtown Lancaster Nov 30th from 5-9pm. Galleries and stores around the downtown are bringing in musicians to provide a warm holiday ambiance as you shop – and many participating shops are donating a portion of the evening’s proceeds to Music For Everyone.

If you’ve never been to downtown Lancaster, make a night out of it- there really is a lot to do and see. And this event gives you one more option for supporting local businesses this holiday season, not to mention having fun while you shop!

I’ll see you there!

The problem with “finding something to do”

If only everyone knew what there was available to do at any given time, perhaps then we wouldn’t have this ongoing dilemma of finding something interesting to be occupied with. I think the problem with finding something to do especially around Central PA is that people don’t really know what’s out there,and you can bet your beard that the people that do have something sweet to do aren’t so much in a hurry to pull you onto the wagon. It really isn’t that “there’s never anything to do around here” as I’ve heard from so many lips somany times it’s downright annoying.

 

 

Now I’ll admit that on occasion I too have uttered those words so disparagingly, but I have since decided to increase my efforts instead of my tab at blockbuster. The search has been rewarding; it took a great deal of time on the net, but I’ve come across a number of websites that do inform you about what there is to do in the area and when events are happening. Take for instance HarrisburgHello.com, or CampusCentral.org; PAMidstate.com or the burgblurb. These websites (although scattered and segmented) among others can really give you some options for the weekend.

However, my all time favorite event website would still have to be eventful.com. Make a note to visit the site, I’ve already set up a Harrisburg Metro events calender and Central PA group. Eventful is sort of a combination of facebook and google calendar and really has some sweet features. It’s easy to use, free, and does a great job of informing people across the net about what is happening wherever they might be. I don’t think it’s really taken off quite yet, so there aren’t too many events that get put on there of great interest -yet. But I aim to change, and I think if a few other people started posting events on the site it would increase in popularity real quick. The nice part about eventful is that if you do post an event on the site it gives you the option of posting the same event automatically to a dozen other web calendar sites. Free publicity for your next bingo party that’s for sure. Another website that is very similar and I also recommend is Zvents.com.

But don’t take my word for it . . .

MidState Restaurants (try something new and like it)

Where to eat tonight, tomorrow, this morning, WHATEVER. There is certainly a regular routine that forms around the dining out experience that takes place on weekends or for lunch during the week. I’ll admit, I didn’t grow up in a family that went out to eat a lot – if ever. Even still, now that my family has become rather fond of outsourcing dinner to the nearest restaurant, the dining choices have become pretty predictable.

Something quick? – Wendy’s. Hamburgers? – Red Robin. Something nice? – Olive Garden. Something new – um. . . no.

And why not? Simply because people don’t want to try something unfamiliar, something exotic, go outside those “safe” name brand restaurants. The problem for me is that I personally prefer trying new things; I prefer eating something I haven’t experienced before, something authentic. Even if it’s a flavor that I have had before, I want to support the non-name brand restaurant, the little guy, the local economy.

How can this problem be solved?!

The answer for MidState residents is thankfully an easy one: DineOutHarrisburg.com

This website allows anyone to rate or add restaurants that they have been to across the midstate and personally review the experience that they have had.

A perfect way to try something new and be the hero because you know what to expect! I wish this website had been out while I was attending college in central PA, but it is a rather new- and growing- attraction. Here you will find ratings on restaurants by genre: want to try Lebanese? Korean? how about a local Indian restaurant? You will find all you need to know including web addresses, ratings (out of 5 stars), and reviews (some people really do go all out here!)

So check it out: DineOutHarrisburg.com – Find something new to eat and actually enjoy the experience, become a restaurant connoisseur, or just support the little guy!

‘nough said!