one food guy

Service can make or break a meal.

2011-11-14T13:48:00.002-05:00

When a professional kitchen puts out good food on a consistent basis, the success of every meal becomes the responsibility of front-of-house staff. A great bartender, a knowledgeable server, efficient service, all these make for a memorable meal. When bartenders give a little attitude about a drink they don’t know how to make, when a cold dessert spoon is brought to the table for a hot soup, when a cocktail is placed on the table and the glass is chipped, these things obviously have a negative impact on a meal. On the other hand, when a bartender is not familiar with a drink but still says, “sure, we can figure that out” and asks questions about the ingredients or looks it up on a smart phone, when table service is so efficient and flawless you hardly recognize the presence of wait staff, when small mistakes are acknowledged and corrected quickly, these are signs of a great restaurant that pays attention to detail.

After eating out twice this weekend I experienced both ends of the spectrum. A fantastic meal with stellar service from the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left, and a meal rife with service gaffes from start to finish with some pretty good food in the middle.

While I don’t ordinarily write negative reviews I know this restaurant can do better, and has done better during several of the previous times I’ve dined there. I’ll first tell you about the less than favorable experience I had at Sel de la Terre Natick. My wife and I arrived early; we were meeting friends, so we went to the bar for a drink and an order of SDLT’s famous rosemary fries. It was at least a few minutes before either bartender acknowledged our presence and when one finally did, she was certainly friendly, waving from halfway across the bar like we were old friends as she came over to talk to us.

I asked if she could make an Old Cuban, my favorite cocktail at the moment and one I was introduced to at Eastern Standard. The bartender said she had no idea what it was and when I mentioned that I’ve had it at a few places in Boston and maybe it’s a Boston thing, she responded with what I perceived to be an attitude saying, “well I’m from Boston and I’ve never heard of it.” She made no effort to inquire about its ingredients and that was that. So, I asked for a cocktail menu and asked her to put in an order of fries. J and I order a couple drinks, and waited for our friends to arrive, the fries never did and we settled the bill, no fries, to move to a table in the dining room.

Our server at the table was nice, telling us about the specials and taking orders for another round of drinks. I ordered a martini, when my drink arrived I noticed the rim of the glass was chipped, after I took a sip. I informed our server and he replaced the drink right away with a fresh one. That’s great but the glass should have never made it to the table – the service bartender or the server should have noticed the chip. The next gaff came when the soup I order arrived at the table, without a spoon. I asked the server for a spoon and he disappeared for a couple minutes. He finally returned to the table from the kitchen with a spoon, an ice cold spoon which I presume he grabbed from a reach-in cooler where spoons intended for dessert are stored. There were a couple other issues with the meal that can be chalked up to miscommunication but I feel like a more attentive server would have cleared things up with questions before it go that point. At the end of meal the food was good, very good even, and we enjoyed a side of the rosemary fries that we ordered at our table. With better service this would have been a very enjoyable evening, instead, we talk about how the food was good but the service really fell short. With that said I would still go back to Sel de la Terre Natick because I know from personal experience they can do better, they have done better, and the food is quite good. Although I must say they outsource their bread service now and the quality has really suffered.

Now on to the better dining experience of the weekend, dinner at The Regal Beagle in Brookline. I’ve heard good things about the Beagle since they opened two years ago. Arriving around 7:30pm, our party of four was told the wait would be about an hour so we headed to the back where the small bar was crowded. One of the two bartenders saw us right away and handed us cocktail menus. After looking at the menu for a moment I asked the bartender if he knew how to make an Old Cuban, he said, “no but we can figure it out, we’ll make you whatever you want.” I think he overheard me describe the drink to one of my friends and I also think he looked up a recipe on his iPhone. Either way, he figured out it, recommended making the cocktail with a 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala and managed to make a fantastic Old Cuban. I was very impressed by his willingness to make something new to him and at how great it was. Score 1 Regal Beagle bar, 0 SDLT bar. After a couple more cocktails our table was finally ready. Once seated, we were greeted right away by our server; she was friendly, knowledgeable of the menu, and willing to make suggestions and help us make decisions when we asked. All four of our meals were excellent, appetizers and entrees were great. And, we were having such a great time we had some desserts too, equally as good. The one slip up that our server made was that she forgot to bring a green tea we had ordered with the rest of our dessert, and when reminded she quickly returned with the tea saying that since she forgot the tea was on her. She acknowledged the mistake, took responsibility, and made it right. Well done!

So two different restaurants, both with very good food and clearly very qualified kitchen staff, however one meal was okay and the other was outstanding. Service can make or break a meal but can never make up for bad food. Do you agree?

Are you in the restaurant business? How do you make sure your staff is ready for anything? Do you empower them to make decisions that could impact the restaurants bottom line?

A Tale of Two Burritos

2011-08-24T13:47:00.001-04:00

I've been a fiercely loyal fan of Anna's Taqueria for as long as I can remember. My first taste was many years ago at the Harvard Street location in Brookline, long before they expanded not only the size of that location but their footprint in the city. Super chicken with black beans, sour cream and jalapenos was my go to burrito. I'd mix it up occasionally with a super steak, but that was rare. Going to Anna's has always been about the experience, at peak periods it's akin to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. From the tortilla steamer on down the line, your burrito, taco or quesadilla is built right in front of you. Watch your burrito built up and expertly rolled before taking a seat to eat.

I've never lived very close to any of the Anna's locations so stopping in was always a treat. It was almost always on a weekend, until I started working in Cambridge, a mere ten minute walk from the MGH/Beacon Hill location. Anna's is now an almost weekly staple in my lunch diet, and I am fiercely loyal. I've been vocal about my lack of love for Boloco, Qdoba will do when there is no Anna's around, and Chipotle, well, they are a former McDonald's start up, don't get me going on how I feel about McDonalds. I've also moved on from chicken and almost exclusively order the carnitas, its the best I've had, anywhere, until recently.

There are many other independently owned and operated taquerias in Boston. La Verdad turns out some of the best, no, the best tacos in the city and incredibly reasonable prices, $1 a piece on Tuesday's when the Red Sox are out of town during the baseball season. There is also El Pelon, an institution with a following as fiercely loyal as those that love Anna's. Unfortunately their Fens location suffered a great fire shutting it down some time ago. I hear they are about to open back up in the very near future but they also opened a new location on Comm Ave across from Boston College. I never visited El Pelon in the city before the fire, and never visited the Boston College location, until last night.

On my way home from the city, having forgone dinner for a couple after work cocktails at Eastern Standard, I decided to detour onto Comm Ave and stop in for a burrito at El Pelon. Let me first by stating that there is no experience at El Pelon, I don't know what it was like at the Fens spot pre-fire, but at the Boston College location, the burritos are rolled behind a high counter top. There is no watching the assembly of your burrito, there is no experience. However, the carnitas burrito, with hot sauce, no sour cream, was great. Seriously. I felt like I was cheating on Anna's because I enjoyed it so much. The carnitas was tender, not a dry piece to be found. It was big, spicy, and delicious. But again, no burrito experience.

In this tale of two burritos, Anna's wins. I have only this one El Pelon experience so I can't speak to the consistency of their flavors, texture and rolling, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that since they too have very loyal followers, they're doing something right. The edge goes to Anna's though, for the great burritos AND the great burrito experience.

Stop in to any one of Anna's locations and see for yourself. You won't be disappointed. For comparisons sake, head over to El Pelon too. When you've tried both, let's talk.

It's Not About the Bike

2011-08-05T17:39:00.000-04:00

In a few short hours, more than 5,000 amazing people will pump up their tires, lube up their chains and strap on their helmets as they ride their bikes across the state of Massachusetts in the Pan Mass Challenge. I'm talking about cycling and raising money for the fight against cancer, people. These 5,000+ people have spent the last seven months raising MILLIONS of dollars for The Jimmy Fund in the fight against cancer. For the last four years, I was one of those riders, but not this year. Please read the following letter I just sent to all the people who have donated to the PMC in support my past rides.

If you would like to make a donation and join the fight against cancer, please consider donating to one of my friends riding this weekend. Visit their pages to read their stories, and donate.

To donate to Rosa Gyllenhaal visit: http://www.pmc.org/profile/RG0153
To donate to Danni Ward visit: http://www.pmc.org/profile/DW0128

And now, please ride why this year I am sitting on the sidelines:

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend, the first weekend in August, has special meaning for a lot of people including myself. Each year, the first weekend in August is when more than 5,000 people ride their bikes in the Pan Mass Challenge. The first weekend in August is the culmination of months of training and fund raising for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2007, I rode in my first Pan Mass Challenge and it was amazing. I registered again in 2008, and 2009, and once more last year. Each year the fund raising got harder but the ride started to become a part of who I was. For the first eight months of each year, I was focused on two days in August. A finite goal, raise money and be prepared for 192 miles of pain and pleasure. Since my first ride, you have supported me with your encouraging words and your generous donations. This year, however, I did not register, I did not train, I did not fund raise, and tomorrow, I will not ride.

My decision to not ride this year was a difficult one; it was especially difficult in January when registration opened. Some friends, one of them a first time rider, registered for this 32nd Pan Mass Challenge and asked if I would be riding again. To say "no" was difficult. Even writing this note to you today is difficult; I'm sitting on the sidelines this year and it does not feel good. The Pan Mass Challenge is an incredible event supported by amazing volunteers and generous sponsors along with thousands of riders. But I don't need to tell you that since you've been supporting the event too. The riding and fund raising are both challenging, but these two days in August that are the Pan Mass Challenge are life changing. Knowing that I'm not riding this year has been on my mind since registration opened in January. But the emotions I feel today, knowing the weekend kicks off in just a couple of hours, have been more difficult to process than the stress of fund raising over the last two years. The financial commitment required for to register for the 2-day Sturbridge to Provincetown ride is significant; $4,200 is guaranteed with a credit card when each rider completes the registration. With your help I have met my fund raising commitments each of the last four years, but not without some stress. Stress that I thought I could do without this year. Stress that my family agreed has been a heavy burden the last two years. So this year, I did not register.

The Pan Mass Challenge is about more than the thousands of cyclists who toil in the hills of Truro on Sunday, suffering through the last few miles of a seven month journey from registration in January to 192 miles to Provincetown. The Pan Mass Challenge is about a mission. A mission to find a cure for cancer so that 1.4 million people each year won't have to suffer through chemotherapy, radiation, and often times, painful death. It's about finding a cure for cancer so that the millions and millions of people won't have to suffer when their friend or family member utters the words "I have cancer." Lance Armstrong wrote a book titled "It's Not About the Bike". He is so right, it is not about the bike. It is not about the 192 hilly miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown. It is not about the $4,200 that each 2-day rider must commit to raising. It is not about me. It should never have been about me. It is about finding a cure for cancer. The fact that I decided to sit this year out because the fund raising has been difficult hurts. It hurts me. And today, with the start of the PMC just hours away, it hurts even worse. I've come to find over the last couple weeks that it has hurt some of you too. Some of you who have asked why they had not yet heard from me about donating money this year.

Over the last four years I have raised $18,700.20 for The Jimmy Fund. This is an accomplishment I am very proud of and I am extremely thankful for your support and your donations. I am not proud of the fact that this weekend I will mow my lawn, go to the beach, or do something else that is just for me, instead of joining in the fight against cancer while riding my bike.

I will ride again next year. I will rejoin the fight against cancer. I will register in January. I will train. I will fund raise. I will get creative and raise more money than I have ever raised for a single event. I will get emotional again because I am involved though, not because I am sitting on the sidelines.

Thank you for your support and donations in the past, I hope you will continue to support me in the future and be generous with your donations next year. You'll have had a whole year to save up.

Sincerely,
Scott

Sucker

2011-06-29T11:18:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I'm a sucker for good marketing. Take for example this Vitamin Water commercial featuring the awesome Barbara Streisand song by Duck Sauce. I saw this commercial a few days ago and thought it was well done, nothing more. Cool song, cool visuals, that was about it. Fast forward to today, I'm feeling a little under the weather, having had three, maybe four too many beers last night. Feeling like I could use a drink, a little light went off in my head telling me to follow it to the refrigerator case and grab a vitamin water revive.

Now I've been a fan of vitamin water for a while now, openly professing my love for XXX and more recently fawning over Spark. Have you tried the Spark flavor? It tastes just like the old Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip grape. But this is the first time in a while that I feel like a commercial actually prompted a response in me and called me to action. It even drove me to write about it. Well done.

Guest Post: Russell House Tavern Review

2011-06-24T15:49:00.000-04:00

For the first time in One Food Guy history I have a guest editor, Chad Lingle, professional eater, artist, photographer, and owner of the Real Estate and Property Management firm Artisan Properties.

Before getting to Chad's review of the amazing Russell House Tavern, let me tell you how we got here. Earlier this year J and I were at Coppa with Chad and his wife Leah, demolishing plate after plate of amazing food, fawning especially hard over the amazing charcuterie and beautiful might-cost-more-than-my-car Berkel hand slicer. While on the subject of the charcuterie, J and I gushed to them about how great the charcuterie is at Russell House Tavern and that they should go. Fast forward a couple weeks and I receive an email from Chad while I'm sitting outside a Starbucks in Frankfurt, Germany, sipping on a cappuccino, killing time before my flight to Bangalore, India. Side note - I abhor sitting in an airport for hours and hours on a layover so I hopped on the S-Bahn to downtown Frankfurt for a few of hours of fun. Chad tells me about this amazing meal he had just had at Russell House Tavern, really it was more of a short story than an email but it was a pleasure to read and he has graciously agreed to edit it for your reading pleasure.

When you're finished, go eat at Russell House Tavern.Seriously. Go. Or go now and read Chad's story later. Whatever you decide, just be sure to eat at Russell House Tavern. Maybe I'll see you there.

And now, Chad's Russell House Tavern Review:

I was really looking forward to eating at Russell House Tavern all last week and now it seems I'll be spending all of this week looking back and reminiscing! Visions of smoked pork loin are dancing in my head - seriously. So I actually have a lot to say about this place & since it is still fresh in my mind/belly & since you asked... here's my take:

Ok, so let me preface this by saying on the spectrum of good-to-great, there really can't be any disappointments. But since good was the worst the RHT seemed to be able to do, the only qualified disappointment of the night came at the very beginning of the meal with the Lamb Trio Cassoulet. Overall the meat was perfectly savory, but there just didn't seem to be enough of the dark lamb meat (belly/shoulder/sausage) to balance out the small abundance of white beans. It was like an NBA team photo in the 1950s.

The Crispy Pig's Head Cake (besides being fun to say) was awesome. It makes me want to write the word awesome with periods in between every letter. It's a super-inventive take on head cheese that's so distinguished it should rightfully spawn its own evolutionary branch of pig-food. It was served warm with a perfectly crispy, breaded, puff-pastry style shell with possibly the most beautiful poached egg I've ever seen plopped on top. Whoever thought to add the egg deserves a raise. The creaminess it added to each lightly fried breaded bite was godly. Plus there was some Maple syrup involved in the Aioli so, while it went perfectly well with beer and a 5 o'clock shadow, I think they may have created the most perfect breakfast food - ever.

Figs N' Blankets could alternately be called candy for carnivores. Little roasted figs wrapped in the RHT's house Guanciale were such an extremely good balance of salty and sweet that they definitely set the record for least time at the table. They lasted like 4 seconds.

I wouldn't have picked this place for raw bar offerings, but at the behest of one of my table mates, we ordered 12 (6&6) of their 2 oyster offerings. Misty Points and some other kind of Points (I was too busy with the Pig's Head Cake to pay attention to that part). They were sweet, a little briny - everything they were supposed to be. I even enjoyed their pickle mignonette but didn't order more, because I've heard oysters can be an aphrodisiac and I was at a table with 3 other dudes who probably didn't need any encouragement.

The stand out award of the night (sorry Pig Cake) goes to the Tavern Pizza with house-made Cotechino Sausage & house-made Ricotta. It was so perfect I don't even want to write about it. It must be eaten to be appreciated.

Next, the Crispy Long-Island Duck Confit and Ozark Heritage Pork Trio battled for space on the table. The Duck was perfect, & exactly what you would expect it to be. It came with a little side stew of pork belly, roasted chestnuts, and figs with some crispy sage. It was just some straight-up farm-style goodness. The Pork Trio included a smoky-tasting Loin (yum), already-fell-off-the-bone Butt, and some more Pork Belly. Unbelievably the most memorable part of the Trio dish was its pancake-shaped base of grits. The pale & creamy grits were nearly invisible against the white plate - hidden under a small salad of greens, but once we found it - whoa baby. I could have eaten a mixing-bowl full of 'em. Mmm...

With the first round of pizza-pie making such a good impression on us, we couldn't leave without digging in to some more of the cheesy stuff. So, we ordered (at our delightful server Maria's suggestion) the Andria. This concoction was so full of Very Local Buratta that it bordered on fondue. I'm told there was some sweet garlic and even more figs on there, but really it was just a lot, a lot of Buratta - which is a good thing really.

We rounded out the night with an order of their Redondo Black Serrano Ham which came with a torched square of Manchego. The cheese was topped with some caramelized honey which made for a crunchy top to one of my favorite cheeses. Along with little toasted brioche points... this was like some other-worldly deconstruction of the best ham & cheese sandwich of all time. I plan to begin reconstruction efforts at home asap.

Feeling cordial, full and friendly (a few glasses of Old Rasputin Imperial Stout @ 9% ABV will cause friendliness) we actually spotted an old pal who, as it turns out, is now the GM of the place. A real blast-from-the past... He stopped by the table to say hello before heading off to the awaiting company party at RedLine. So we say our goodbyes and send him off to his fête but he finds out it is my table mate Alex's birthday and proceeds to send half of the dessert menu over to our table.

Round 2's first victim was the Flourless Chocolate Chili Cake with chili salted caramel and Mexican chocolate ice cream. Now, chili-spiced chocolate can sometimes walk the fine line between artfully decadent dessert and some overweight tourists' "look what we brought back from our trip to Cancun" disaster. What the kitchen (more specifically Jessica Pelletier) at RHT produced was sublime. A dense but not fudgy; sweet (without being cloying) little chocolate mini-cake with just the perfect amount of spice to let you know it was there.

Another great take on a traditional favorite was the Carrot Cake Bread Pudding with raisins, toasted walnuts and a cream cheese swirl. Wowsers... I mean, has there ever been a concoction so excellently suited for bread pudding as carrot cake. I think not.

Finally we make it to our last dish; the Layered Ginger Spice Cake. The thing was big. Layered with a coffee buttercream and an espresso reduction - this Ginger definitely had a soul. The buttercream alone was enough to curl your toes and by the time we got down to deftly scraping the espresso reduction off the plate with our spoons I was in heaven.

So I went there with a few friends with the simple intention of doing some hearty eating. I left the place that evening with the distinct feeling that I was somehow a better, happier person than the one that had walked in a few hours earlier. It could have been Old Rasputin whispering in my ear, but I do know that I left thoroughly impressed with the restaurant & I hope to return soon.

Good Friends, Great Sandwiches - All Star Sandwich Bar

2011-06-17T15:05:00.006-04:00

They say a good sandwich is like an old friend and old friends are usually the best friends, right? Well at All Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, MA that is definitely the case. Brothers Johnny and Kosta Diamantopoulos treat all their guests as old friends and serve up some of the best sandwiches in the city and beyond. I've considered them friends since my second visit to the restaurant more than a year ago and have enjoyed dozens, yes dozens of amazing sandwiches since then. It's always a pleasure to see Kosta and Johnny and the staff is ALWAYS warm, friendly and efficient. Read what I had to say about my first two visits to All Star Sandwich Bar.

As for the sandwiches, they are divine. Regular menu options are always a solid choice, especially sandwiches like the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown, The Texas Reuben, The Po Boy and the Veggie Cubano, but the daily blackboard specials with sandwiches called the Funky and Extra Funky are what really sets the All Star sandwich apart from the rest. My very first All Star sandwich was the Extra Funky offering on February 26, 2010, a jerk grilled chicken breast sandwiched between two perfectly grilled slices of sourdough bread with jack cheese, sliced pineapple, chayote slaw and mango habanero barbecue sauce. One bite of this sandwich and I was hooked. Sandwich number two was the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown. Number three, a Texas Reuben. Four, a fried oyster Po' Boy, and the list goes on. I'm pretty sure I've eaten at least a dozen, maybe two dozen sandwiches at All Star, many of them more than once.

Along with great sandwiches Chef Johnny also makes a popular chili and some great sides too. Hell Fries and Hell Rings are good choices, hand cut fries or onions rings dusted in cayenne and doused with delicious and spicy Inner Beauty mango habanero barbecue sauce. Gravy fries, cheese fries, chili cheese fries and poutine are available every day and blackboard special sides have included amazing scallion and jalapeno hush puppies with Tabasco remoulade, fried hearts of palm with goat cheese and marinara, and curried chickpea-battered fried cauliflower with mint yogurt dipping sauce.

Once a great local find, this place has been put on the national map as a destination for serious and casual eaters alike. Chef Johnny can be seen on how2heroes demonstrating some skills in the kitchen and this Monday night, June 20, at 10pm, All Star Sandwich Bar will be featured on the relatively new Food Network program, Meat and Potatoes with Rahm Fama. Chef Fama and his crew were at All Star back in March to film and Chef Johnny made a special Extra Funky sandwich that day, the Rahm Fama Lama Ding Dong with Dr. Pepper braised short ribs, fried cheddar, and sweet potato bacon mash, I was there and it was GREAT!

Rahm Fama and Kosta talking Sandwiches

Chef Johnny making an Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown for the camera

Tune in Monday night to see the whole show. Now enjoy some of the great sandwiches and sides I've had at All Star Sandwich Bar:

Extra Funky - Rahm Fama Lama Ding Dong
Dr. Pepper Braised Short Ribs, Fried Cheddar, Sweet Potato Bacon Mash

Texas Reuben

Fried Oyster Po' Boy

Chile Relleno Burger

Homemade chorizo sausage, fried poblano pepper, corn salsa, pepper jack on grilled brioche.

Extra Funky - Guava Pasilla Chile Braised Pork Shoulder

with Jack Cheese, Crispy Fried Poblano Peppers, Avocado, Pico De Gallo

Sweet Corn Queso Fresco Crema on Grilled Sesame Telera Bread

Hell Fries

Rings of Fire

Fried Hearts of Palm with Goat Cheese and Marinara

Crispy Fried Chickpea Battered Cauliflower with Mint Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Fried Green Beans with two Dipping Sauces

All Star Sandwich Bar
1245 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA
Ph. 617.868.3065
http://www.allstarsandwichbar.com

P is for Passion, and Pizza!

2011-02-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

Friday night is Pizza Night. I've been making pizza for years, all the while perfecting my technique for stretching dough, topping dough, transferring said dough to a hot stone in the oven, and mastering the time and temperature needed for near perfect pizzas. Not every pizza I've made is a masterpiece and since I buy my dough from a store not every dough ball is the same out of the bag, but I'm getting ready for that day in the not too distant future when I build a wood fired pizza oven in my back yard. Until that time I'll continue to make the best pizzas I can taking inspiration from local pizzerias like Emma's Pizza and Za Restaurant as well as blogs like The Wednesday Chef and Slice.

I always try to use the best ingredients possible, almost always making my own sauce and buying fresh and sometimes organic toppings when possible and reasonable. I do still buy my dough from either Trader Joe's or Whole Foods even though I have a bag of Tipo 00 flour in my pantry. Tipo 00 flour is an Italian flour that is higher in gluten (protein) than all-purpose flour and is also milled more finely. These properties allow for easier dough stretching and help create a chewier, crispier crust than doughs made with all purpose flour. The doughs from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods also have very different properties. The Trader Joe's dough is more prone to tears while I'm stretching it but it is much easier to stretch into a really thin crust. I primarily use Trader Joe's dough and have gotten quite good at stretching it without tearing. The Whole Foods dough is much more elastic and much less likely to tear while stretching but it is also much more difficult to stretch it really thin, if you like doughy pizza, try the Whole Foods dough. The Whole Foods dough is also much more prone to bubbling while it bakes. I prefer the Trader Joe's dough, do you have a favorite? Do you make your own dough?

To cook my pizzas, I place a pizza stone in the bottom third of my oven and crank the heat up around 500 degrees. The stone I have now is from Williams-Sonoma and is my third; it's by far the best I've had, going on six years. It's very important to put the stone in a cold oven and allow it come up to temperature with the oven. Putting a cold stone in a hot oven will inevitably lead to it's demise, sometimes in spectacular fashion with it cracking into dozens of pieces. Experimenting with different locations has led me to believe that in my oven, the lower third produces the crispiest crusts, which is what I'm after. Placing the stone higher in the oven will cook the top faster leaving a chewier, sometimes limp dough depending on what's on top of it. Experiment for yourself to find the ideal location for your pizza stone. My pizzas almost always take between 8 and 10 minutes to cook, again, depending on what toppings are on the pizza. For transferring the dough to the oven, I dust a wooden pizza peel (paddle) with corn meal.

Maybe someday I'll open a pizza place of my own, one can dream, can't he? Until then, I'll make pizzas in my oven, and soon, I hope, in my very own backyard, wood-fired, pizza oven. To see my next pizza creation, follow me on Twitter but until then, enjoy some of the pizzas from my very own Pizza Hall of Fame.

Bacon, Yukon Gold, Manchego, Cilantro, Basic Tomato Sauce, Truffle Oil

Smoked mozzarella, Cured Black Olives, Rosemary Sauce

Applegate Farms Pepperoni, Provolone, Basic Tomato Sauce

Caramelized Onion, Sweet Potato, Baby Spinach, Buffalo Mozzarella, Crumbled Goat Cheese, Basic Tomato Sauce

Apple, Pear, Caramelized Onion, Honey, Goat Brie, Walnuts, Olive Oil

Shredded Buffalo Chicken, Red Onion, Scallion, Manchego, Basic Tomato Sauce

Shredded BBQ Rotisserie Chicken, Red Onion, Scallion, Manchego, Barbecue Sauce

Caramelized Onion, Arugula, Brown Turkey Figs, Crumbled Goat Cheese, Olive Oil, Aged Balsamic

Melted Leeks, Thyme Roasted Cremini, Buffalo Mozzarella, Pecorino, Rosemary Sauce

Goat Gouda, Crumbled Goat Cheese, Cracked Black Pepper, Rosemary Sauce

Lemon-Garlic Green Olives, Sheep Feta, Crumbled Goat Cheese, Cracked Black Pepper, Garlic Olive Oil

Truffled Shitake Mushroom, Buffalo Mozzarella, Fresh Sage, Olive Oil, Truffle Oil

Pepperoni, Manchego, Pecorino, Oregano, Basic Tomato Sauce

Do you have a favorite pizza? Please leave a comment a share your passion for pizza!

A Fine BLT at Emma's Pizza

2011-01-03T12:10:00.000-05:00

The BLT. A sandwich so simple yet so delicious. It would be easy to simply say "everything is better with bacon" and be done with it, giving the BLT the sandwich crown. I mean it's true, everything IS better with bacon but the truth is it is not just the bacon that makes a BLT so good. It's the fresh, crisp lettuce, the juicy, plump tomato, the sinful, rich mayonnaise, and finally, the crispy, smokey, salty bacon. Oh, the bacon!

The best BLT I have had in recent memory can be found at Emma's Pizza in Kendall, Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Emma's is known for its incredible thin-crust pizzas but also offers an assortment of salads and sandwiches worthy of their own recognition, including their BLT. Emma's BLT is constructed with extra-thick, double smoked bacon, house-roasted tomato, Boston Bibb lettuce and a smear of Ken's extra-thick mayonnaise on grilled Iggy's sourdough.

You should go to Emma's for the pizza, and stay for the BLT. Tell them One Food Guy sent you.

More Food and Culture from Berlin

2010-12-30T12:05:00.000-05:00

Our free time in Berlin was extremely limited so Jenny and I compiled a short list of places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do. First and foremost was to get some currywurst which we were able to accomplish almost immediately after leaving our hotel on day one. Next was the Jewish Museum which was educational, emotional, and quite moving. Some of the exhibits were so powerful they left us both speechless. While in the museum, it started snowing outside! It was only the first week of November and neither of us was prepared for the cold weather! The Jewish Museum is a must visit if you travel to Berlin.

The Jewish Museum

Inside The Garden of Exile

The Garden of Exile as seen from inside The Jewish Museum

The Memory Void

After spending the afternoon in the Jewish Museum, Jenny and I headed over to Potsdamer Platz in Berlin center where Winterwelt, or the Winter World Christmas Market was in full effect. The sights, sounds and smells were a treat. We started our late afternoon tour of the market with a hot cup of glühwein mitt schuss, which is hot mulled wine with a shot of rum! Now that the sun was down it was quite cold out and the glühwein warmed me up from the inside. I love glühwein!

After taking the chill off with another glass of glühwein, Jenny and I started exploring the Winter Market. The Winterwelt Christmas Market on Potsdamer Platz is such a fun place to visit. Open from the end of October to the beginning of February, Potsdamer Platz is truly transformed into a winter wonderland with an ice skating rink, a tubing hill, and lots and lots of vendors selling everything from incense to bratwurst, especially bratwurst! In the three days we were in Berlin, I must have eaten at least five or six of these delicious sausages, smothered in spicy German mustard!

All good trips must come to an end and our trip to Berlin was no exception, but it wouldn't end before one last bratwurst and one final beer, enjoyed at the airport before heading home. Another treat on our journey home included a view of the Fernsehturm Tower in Berlin, as well as the London Eye Ferris Wheel and Buckingham Palace all from out the airplane window. To view my entire photo set from Berlin, please visit my Flickr set.

Street Food in Berlin

2010-12-29T12:47:00.001-05:00

When I booked a trip to Berlin, Germany last year with one of my colleagues, all she could talk about leading up to the trip was currywurst! Currywurst is a popular fast-food dish found throughout Germany and is particularly common from street vendors in Berlin. It is basically a grilled pork sausage, cut up into pieces and covered in a curry flavored ketchup and dusted with curry powder. Since we were in Berlin for a just few days and will be working most of the time, our first mission was to find currywurst and it didn't take long. On our way into the city on our only free day, we came upon a currywurst cart. It was cold and raw in Berlin that day, but fortunately the cart also had an enclosed picnic area with propane heaters for us to enjoy our street treat. We ordered some pommes frites as well, European style with ketchup and mayonnaise. This was just the fuel was needed for a jam-packed day of Berlin fun.

With mission number one checked off our list early, we spent the rest of the day at the Jewish Museum, Potsdamer Platz, and the KaDeWe. Stay tuned for more on our time in Berlin.

Eating in the Swiss Alps, Part 2

2010-12-28T13:14:00.000-05:00

Arosa, a mountain resort town in the easternmost canton of Switzerland, Graubünden, is popular in both the summer and winter for recreation. Last winter, I spent a weekend there with friends for a couple days of skiing and some really great mountain food! The first meal pictured below is of alpler magronen, also known as aelpler makkaroni; as I mentioned in part 1, this traditional Swiss mountain food is a macaroni and cheese-like dish consisting of pasta, potato, bacon/ham, and cheese served with a side of apple sauce. I enjoyed this incredible, hearty dish at Carmenna-Hütte on the side of the mountain.

On our second day of skiing, we stopped into another mountain-side restaurant, Alpenblick, where I ate half of a rotisserie chicken that was cooking right outside on the restaurants deck. This was quite possibly the best rotisserie chicken I have ever eaten. This was a locally raised chicken, roasted with fresh rosemary and served with a delicious salad of lambs lettuce and shredded carrots, fennel and roasted beets. I also had a couple glasses of jagertee (jaeger-tay), a delicious blend of hot, black tea and rum with some other tasty spices - the name is slightly misleading, there is no Jaegermeister in this drink. This was a perfect warming drink that I actually prefer to glühwein, another favorite winter drink of mine popular in Germany. Glühwein is hot, mulled wine.

Enjoy the pictures!

Eating in the Swiss Alps, Part 1

2010-12-27T13:10:00.001-05:00

My real job takes me to a lot of places and one of my favorites is Switzerland. On one trip to the country I spent a weekend in the Alps for some skiing, some fun, and a lot of great food. On what was my first foray into the Swiss Alps I visited Melchsee-Frutt and Andermatt. Pictures of the beautiful mountains and delicious food follow below. Mountain food in Switzerland is simple, satisfying, and sustaining, but most importantly it's delicious! On this trip I learned about rösti and Älpler Magronen, a delicious Swiss macaroni and cheese-like dish consisting of pasta, potatoes, ham or bacon, cheese, and onions. The version I ate at the top of Andermatt was good (see below), but on a later trip up into the Alps in Arosa I would have what may go down as the best Alpler Magronen of all time. More on my trip to Arosa in another post. For now, enjoy my visit to Melchsee-Frutt and Andermatt.

Melchsee-Frutt

Kalbsbratwurst mit Zwiebelsauce und ein butter-rösti
[Veal sausage with onion sauce and buttered potatoes]
Gasthof Waldhaus Stöckalp - Melchsee-Frutt

Apfelstrudel [Apple Strudel]

Andermatt

Älpler Magronen high up on Andermatt

A Paella History Lesson

2010-09-26T17:56:00.000-04:00

I don't remember when I first ate paella, but I do remember my first memorable paella experience. The year was 1997 and J was in her last year of school at the University of Rhode Island. She was living in a beautiful condo with a few of her friends right across the street from Narragansett Beach. I was already a working stiff in Boston and went down for a visit one fall weekend. While sitting out on her deck, enjoying the views of Narragansett Bay, we met one of her neighbors, Rob. He lived alone in the condo next door and if I had to guess was in his early 40s. Rob had some friends in from out of town and after introductions we were offered some of their homemade sangria. One of Rob's friends, Pepe, a large Spanish man, had hands so big he could hug you with them. Yes, his name was Pepe and we vividly remember his handshake. That's not all we remember from that night, we were invited over for more drinks and stayed for dinner, take-out from a local restaurant called The Spanish Tavern.

The Spanish Tavern, closed several years ago, was famous for their mixed seafood paella and that is just what Rob ordered for dinner. Served in a disposable, aluminum pan, not unlike a lasagna pan, this paella was a beautiful sight. The rice, seasoned and colored with classic Spanish saffron, was cooked perfectly. Mixed in with the rice were fresh mussels and clams, tender calamari and shrimp, boneless chicken, and delicious, salty chorizo, a spicy Spanish sausage. But that's not all; the pièce de résistance of this paella was a whole steamed Maine lobster, split in half, resting on top of this already perfect pan of paella. This amazing meal may not have been the first time I ate paella but it was certainly one of the most memorable times.

Then there was Mexico in 2005. J and I were celebrating our one year anniversary at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach Resort on the Riviera Maya. One afternoon while lounging on the beach, we noticed a HUGE pan of paella being cooked over an open fire. This paella pan, a traditional paella pan, must have been five feet across. The paella lunch was part of a weekly beach party held at the resort that included live music and a bikini contest, which I did not win. With all these wonderful paella memories, it's surprising that I've never attempted to make paella, until now.

Paella is generally considered the national dish of Spain. However, if you ask a Spaniard, they will tell you the dish is from Valencia, Spain's third largest city on the Mediterranean coast. The word paella was used to describe the wide, flat pan that this rice dish is made in, but came to describe the actually food as well. Considered by many a laborers meal, paella was originally made in the fields of Valencia. Classic Paella Valenciana is made with chicken, rabbit, snails and beans, all items generally available in and around the fields of Valencia with snails being the most common because of their availability and cost (free if foraged.) Chicken and rabbit, while still common, were saved for more special occasions.

The paella that most people think of when they hear the word paella is Paella Marisco, or seafood paella. This variation, while not the original, is still considered a classic, traditional, Spanish dish and contains contains seafood like shrimp, mussels and calamari and can also contain meat like chicken and chorizo. For my recreation of the classic Spanish paella, I am making a Paella Marisco containing chicken, chorizo, calamari, shrimp, mussels, and clams. This is the dish I remember from The Spanish tavern, without the lobster which is definitely not a traditional Spanish ingredient. And one more thing, paellas are traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire, so I'll be cooking my paella over a charcoal fire in my Weber Kettle grill. I also do not own a classic paella pan, so I'll be using a large saute pan.

Chimney starter used to start charcoal fire

Two level fire (hot side and cool side) built in grill

Black forest bacon rendered down

Diced onions sweated in bacon fat

Chicken added to onions to cook

Diced tomatoes added to chicken and onions

After chorizo cooked for a few minutes, rice added and coated well with mixture. Water added next

After about 15-20 minutes of cooking, calamari and shrimp are added. Mussels and clams are added a few minutes later for the 4-5 minutes of cooking.

Seafood Paella, garnished with diced red pepper and a lemon wedge

One important part of classic paella is the crispy bottom of the pan. To get this crispy bottom, it is important that you do not stir the pan once the seafood is added to the mixture. If you must stir in the seafood, be careful not to scrape the bottom or else you will disturb the much sought after crispy bottom layer!

Paella Marisco
Adapted from Lisa & Tony Sierra, About.com Guide
Serves 6
1 yellow onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 lb bacon, diced
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 lb chorizo sausage, sliced into disks

1/2 lb calamari (squid) cleaned and sliced into rings
3/4 lbs raw shrimp, medium
2 cups medium or short grain rice
4-6 cups water (I added 6 cups and it was a little too much.)
1 teaspoon Spanish Saffron
1 dozen or more mussels
1 dozen or more littleneck clams

1 red pepper seeded and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges

1. Light a full chimney of briquette or hardwood charcoal
2. When charcoal is lit, about 10 minutes, create a two level fire in your charcoal grill
3. Place pan on hot side of the fire and add bacon to pan. Cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy. Remove bacon from the pan and save for something else.
4. Saute onions in bacon fat until translucent, about 3-4 minutes
5. Add chicken to pan and cook until chicken starts to brown, another 3-4 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to season the chicken.
6. Add diced tomato to pan and stir
7. Add sliced chorizo to pan and cook for a 2-3 minutes
8. Add two cups of medium grain rice, bomba rice is best if you can find it. Stir until coated with from fat and juices in pan.
9. Add water, saffron, salt and pepper to taste. Stir, and cover to bring to a boil. Traditionally, paella is cooked without being covered but I wanted to get the water boiling quickly.
10. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, then add in calamari and shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes.
11. Add mussels and clams to top of pan and cover, cooking another 4-5 minutes or just until mussels and clams have opened. The mussels will open first, with the clams taking a couple minutes longer to cook.
12. Taste rice, adjust the seasoning if necessary.
13. Serve, garnishing with lemon wedges and diced red pepper.

The Most Crowded Place on Earth

2010-09-25T13:51:00.000-04:00

To really experience a new city, you should visit one of its public markets. Having visited public markets in the US I know they can be quite crowded on the weekends, but in a country like India with a population of nearly 1.2 billion people, I had no idea what I was in for when I visited the Krishnarajendra Market in Bangalore last summer. The Krishnarajendra Market, also know as the Bangalore Central Market or City Market, is an enormous public market with entire floors dedicated to food, flowers, cooking equipment and parts for heavy machinery, really! At times while I was walking through the market, it was obvious that I was in one of the most crowded places on earth!

It would really be hard for me to do the market justice with words, so please, enjoy these pictures and try to imagine what it was like walking through Bangalore's Central Market. It was an experience of a lifetime and one I hope I will never forget.

Reflections: My Life in Food

2010-09-18T13:45:00.007-04:00

I've always been an eater, so have you if you think about it. We started out on a liquid diet, advanced to pureed solid foods, and soon after discovered SpaghettiOs and hamburgers. I would be willing to bet that each and every one of us has at least a few memories that involve food. I know I have many, here are just a few.

Growing up in a Kosher home meant no shellfish, no crustaceans, and certainly no pork. Classic dishes like meatloaf, tuna casserole, and chicken and rice were what we ate for dinner. Family vacations, however were different. Many years ago my family went up to a New Hampshire mountain house with several of my parents friends and their kids, some of whom were also my friends. I remember this house very vividly even though this vacation was many many years ago, maybe twenty-five years ago, or more - I'm thirty-five years old if you're paying attention. So this house, I could tell you about the kitchen, the sunken living room, the finished basement with a game room or the loft on the third floor where many of us kids slept. But what I want to tell you about is one food memory...the bacon!

Yes, the bacon. I know, Kosher home and all which meant we are a conservative Jewish family who kept Kosher...except on vacation. I had obviously tasted bacon before, maybe at a friends house, maybe out for breakfast, so I knew what I was in for when I saw my dad unpacking the groceries in the kitchen of this house and out came a few packages of Oscar Meyer bacon! I remember a lot about that long weekend spent up in this beautiful mountain home, but my most vivid memory is of the bacon, not of breakfast - I couldn't tell you what else we ate - but of the bacon! I loved vacations for the bacon! Yes, we had a Kosher home, but would you say that we didn't actually keep Kosher because of our out-of-home indulgences?

Fast forward to my high school years. I was an active, three sport athlete and very fit. I was constantly eating, which in hindsight may have been the beginning of who I became as an eater. Is it wrong that I actually liked school lunches? French bread pizzas, chicken patties, and bacon burgers with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Mind you the bacon burgers were not hamburgers with bacon on them. Rather, they were some sort of all purpose patty that resembled a sausage patty in color and texture, tasted of no real bacon, but had a flavor that I liked. I was also a big fan of the salad bar, yes my high school had a salad bar. If I remember correctly, school lunch was like a $1.50 or maybe a $1.75, it was in the early 90's, and the salad bar was not sold by weight. I would fill my plate with salad, a couple scoops of tuna salad, and grab a couple slices of bread, all part of the salad bar. I would make a tuna sandwich and eat my salad, and drink 2 8oz. cartons of whole milk. I would also eat a snickers bar and sometimes a mountain dew after school, right before practice - football in the fall, and track and field both in the winter and spring. I will never forget that salad bar, I was even quoted in my class video year book saying I would miss the salad bar most, because "the sign [at the salad bar] said 'keep portions to a minimum' but I would take as much as I wanted and they never said anything!" Things would change when I got to college.

Syracuse University, a five hour drive from my home in the western suburbs of Boston, is where I went from being active and healthy to being sedentary and overweight. When the snow started falling on the hill, in October of 1993, I stopped going to the gym, and like many students who attend college in cold climates, started drinking beer to stay warm! My meals weren't very healthy either. Eggs and toast for breakfast, almost every day, and grilled cheese and tater tots for lunch, at least a few times a week. I'd wash it all down with a couple glasses of mountain dew. No one was there to tell me I shouldn't be eating that every single day, so I did. I also liked to cook Velveeta shells and cheese in the electric hot pot that I had. I wouldn't always clean the pot after I ate and learned that the cheese sauce must have been loaded with preservatives because it didn't mold...after weeks in the pot still sitting on my shelf. I moved off campus my junior year, although off campus at Syracuse is still walking distance to campus, so I kept the dining hall meal plan and my meals remained much of the same. I gained 35 pounds in college. I was fat.

My diet didn't improve much in the first few years after college either. Bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin' Donuts or Honey Dew Donuts - picked up on my way to work in the city and eaten in the car. Fried buffalo chicken sandwiches for lunch. I was not working out, not running, cycling or anything else, and eating poorly; I was still gaining weight. Another ten pounds before I reached my tipping point.

In 2001, I remember this clearly, I was away for a weekend visiting with a friend out of town. Getting ready to leave his apartment, I was changing my shirt when he said, "you got soft." That was my tipping point. I changed my eating habits, no more bagels, no more pizza, no fried foods. I joined a gym and worked out five to six days a week. Spinning, running, lifting weights, I was determined to get healthy and fit once again. I started feeling better and losing some weight after a few weeks, I was determined. My breakfasts became smoothies made of yogurt, orange juice, strawberries and bananas. I would occasionally treat myself to a croissant or cheese danish too. I was not on a diet, after all, I was making my own rules. Lunches were balanced meals, carbs, protein, fat. I was eating well. Five months passed and people at my office were noticing a change. I lost 40 pounds! I bought new clothes, down from an almost 38 inch waist to a 34. And since I had a consistent work out routine, I started introducing some of the foods I had stopped eating into my meals. I was eating pizza again, and enjoyed an occasional bagel, or two. I was simply making smarter choices. Nine years later and I have maintained my weight loss and my healthy lifestyle. I have become a first class eater.

August 4, 2006, that is the date of my very first post. My motivation to begin writing as One Food Guy is threefold. First, something has always drawn me to food and cooking. I loved to cook and having worked in professional kitchens and waited tables for several years earlier in my life, thought I had an interesting perspective. Second, I was fresh off a five month consulting gig in Manhattan that had me living in the Grand Hyatt hotel and eating three meals a day on an expense account (I gained about ten pounds but ran them right off when my schedule returned to normal.) Babbo, Esca, Morimoto, Tao, Sushi Samba, Craft, Asia de Cuba, and more. I ate very well. And third, the August 2006 issue of Food & Wine Magazine. Two articles on food photography and blogging were all the inspiration that I needed. I started finding more blogs and stumbled on the burgeoning LA food blogger community. Eat, Drink, & Be Merry, Oishii Eats, Daily Gluttony (now Rants & Craves), and immaeatchu were some of the first few blogs I started following, and they are all still part of a thriving LA food blog community. There were very few, none that I knew of, Boston bloggers back in 2006 and I was trying to fit in.

I started off by sharing some tips on how to grill a steak, and reviewing some restaurants. I planned a dinner party. I even created a weekly feature called Tuesday's Tasting that was all about reviewing an item from Trader Joe's freezer case. I shared my experience of working one night on the line in a professional kitchen and tried a recipe for aubergine in tomato sauce that I found on Chez Pim. I was starting to find my voice and in mid-2007 Ryan the Girl from Foodbuzz found me. In September of 2007 I became a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher.

A lot has happened in my food life in the last three years. I have traveled around the world, eating in India, Germany, England, Scotland, France and Switzerland. I have eaten some amazing meals and challenged myself with some interesting food. But I have not yet reached my potential as a food writer.

As a Foodbuzz featured publisher, I'm now participating in Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog. Two thousand bloggers compete against each other in ten challenges resulting in one winner and a $10,000 prize! One of my biggest challenges over the last year has been making the time to write. I have enjoyed some great meals, tried some fantastic recipes, and traveled to some outstanding places on our planet where the food always shines. So follow along as I re-immerse myself in One Food Guy and reintroduce you to my world as seen through food.

Join the Global Fight Against Cancer - Donate to The Jimmy Fund Now!

2010-08-04T09:03:00.001-04:00

This weekend I'll be riding my bike 192 miles in my fourth annual Pan-Massachusetts Challenge. The PMC, as it is known, is a charity bike ride raising money for life-saving cancer treatment and research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through donations to The Jimmy Fund. One hundred percent of all rider-raised donations go directly to the Jimmy Fund, there is no event overhead thanks to thousands of volunteers and hundreds of corporate sponsors!

As an active cyclist, I am not as challenged by the cycling as I am the fund raising! With a $4,200 commitment pledged the day I register, I must raise the money or have my credit card charged for the balance. The ride is in four days and I still need to raise nearly $2,000!

Will you join in the global fight against cancer and make a donation to The PMC and The Jimmy Fund? Will you go out for steak tacos instead of a steak dinner and donate the difference to The Jimmy Fund? Will you buy a beer instead of a martini and donate the difference to The Jimmy Fund? Will you order a salad instead of a three course meal and donate the difference to The Jimmy Fund? Will you eat in instead of going out altogether and donate the money you saved to the Jimmy Fund?

To make a 100% tax-deductible donation online, please visit http://www.pmc.org

From the Pan-Mass Challenge web site:

Cancer Facts & Figures

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by either the runaway growth of cells or the failure of cells to die normally. Cancer can arise in any organ of the body and strikes one of every two American men and one of every three American women at some point in their lives.

Each year, nearly 1.4 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States, a figure that does not include the 900,000 cases of skin cancer diagnosed annually. Cancer is the second leading cause of death (after heart disease) in the United States, accounting for 560,000 deaths every year. While more than 3 million people are diagnosed with cancer around the globe each year, the figure most likely represents just a percentage of people who have the disease but remain undiagnosed due to decreased access to health care in different parts of the world. There are more than 100 different varieties of cancer, which can be divided into six major categories. Carcinomas, the most common type of cancer, originate in tissues that cover a surface or line a cavity of the body. Sarcomas begin in tissue that connects, supports or surrounds other tissues and organs. Lymphomas are cancers of the lymph system, the circulatory system that bathes and cleanses the body's cells. Leukemias involve blood-forming tissues and blood cells. As their name indicates, brain tumors are cancers that begin in the brain, and skin cancers, including dangerous melanomas, originate in the skin. Cancers are considered metastatic if they spread via the blood or lymphatic system to other parts of the body to form secondary tumors.

Strawberry Watermelon Breakfast Juice

2010-05-12T08:43:00.002-04:00

I am fortunate to have received a Vita-Mix blender as a gift last December along with a great book full of juice and smoothie recipes. For Mother's Day this past weekend I decided to make a fresh juice for everyone to start the brunch I was hosting at my house.

J found a juice recipe that sounded simple to make and delicious to drink, Watermelon Breakfast Juice. With just four ingredients (watermelon, ginger, mint, and lime juice,) it couldn't get any easier. So on Sunday, I followed the recipe and got some great feedback from my family: "it could be a little colder" - so I added some ice in the second batch - "too much ginger" - so I grated a little less in the second batch, and it was delicious. Everybody was happy. This juice was a hit and I've made it twice since then, with some modifications.

When brunch was over on Sunday, J and I were left with an abundance of watermelon - I bought a whole watermelon and only used about a third of it for the juice on Sunday, and an abundance of strawberries - due in part to my lack of planning. I asked my sister to bring dessert without any specification, so she brought angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped topping. And I asked my sister-in-law to bring fruit, again without much specification, so she brought a couple pounds of strawberries. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I decided to modify the watermelon breakfast juice recipe to try and use up some of the strawberry bounty in my kitchen, so now it's

Strawberry Watermelon Breakfast Juice
3 1/2 cups watermelon, cubed
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (~1 juicy lime)
7 or 8 fresh strawberries, untrimmed
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped (optional, but recommended)
1/2 to 3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 cup ice

Add watermelon, lime juice, strawberries, mint, ginger and ice to a blender and pulse until smooth. Do not blend for too long or it will get frothy. There is also no need to trim the leaves from the strawberries but do be sure to wash them first. For those with a powerful blender like a Vita-Mix or Blendtec, you probably dont even need to chop the mint or grate the ginger, but I do recommend it for better blending. I pulsed the juice six or seven times on the variable speed setting of 7 on my Vita-Mix and the juice came out perfect.

This recipe makes about two tall glasses of juice, or approximately 32 ounces.

Final thoughts: this juice is fantastic with or without mint, I've made it both ways; I do, however, think the mint balances everything out and adds some depth to the flavor of the juice. I also think this juice would be great with some vodka, rum or tequila, although I have yet to try it. Let me know what you think.

Transendental Dining in The Eliot Hotel

2010-05-10T13:28:00.002-04:00

When is the last time you've been to a restaurant for which you had high expectations and those expectations were not only met, but exceeded to the point where you were left speechless by some of the plates set in front of you? For me, it was a few months ago when I ate at Uni Sashimi Bar.

Considered one of the best restaurants in Boston, if not the country, Uni Sashimi Bar is tucked inside the Eliot Hotel in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. Owned by James Beard award-winning chef Ken Oringer, chef Chris Chung was heading up the sashimi bar at the time of my visit. Since then, chef Chris Gould has taken over the reigns has been doing a fantastic job.

On this night at Uni Sashimi Bar, Chef Chung transported me and my fellow diners to Japan for an amazing feast of fresh Japanese seafood prepared with both subtle and bold flavors. Chef Chung masterfully sliced and prepared flown-in fresh Japanese fish like pink sea breem, Japanese sea robin, and Japanese greenling. I had never heard of these fish or the incredible Japanese pen shell, a giant type of razor clam with which I would instantly fall in love. In addition to the incredible raw fish preparations, I also tried a few tempura preparations. First, the highly regarded and oft-reviewed rock shrimp tempura served with spicy red pepper aioli and Korean pepper threads, and then, the tempura of seasonal vegetables with soy-dashi dipping sauce and miso aioli. The tempura batter on both of these preparations was very light and well seasoned. Both the shrimp and vegetables were fried to perfection.

Of all the great Japanese fish I ate on this night, my favorite dish may have been Chef Chung's Scottish Salmon preparation of perfectly sliced salmon sashimi served with homemade Chinese black bean tapenade and fresh ginger. The salmon was the freshest, most perfect melt-in-your-mouth salmon I have ever had, and the black bean tapenade was a delicious blend of fermented black beans, fresh ginger and garlic.

Another dish that really blew me away was the taragai and uni. Taragai is the Japanese pen shell (giant razor clam) and uni is the roe of the sea urchin. The pen shell as I mentioned is a giant razor clam from Japan that reminded of both a scallop (sweetness) and a clam (texture). The uni, slightly warmed, was super fresh, delivered earlier that day from a fishery in Maine. The flavors and textures of this dish were amazing. The sweetness of the super fresh uni and the texture of the slightly sweet pen shell worked so well together.

In addition to having the freshest available fish and shellfish, Uni also has some pretty outstanding cocktails. Prepared by the bartenders in Clio, another Ken Oringer restaurant inside of the Eliot Hotel, the hand-crafted cocktails did not disappoint. I tried an original creation, allowing the bartender to craft my cocktail based on a few simple instructions, make it with good gin, not too sweet, and stiff. Whatever I was served (I failed to write it down) was outstanding. My friend tried the Enter the Dragon cocktail (Stoli Ohranj vodka, Cointreau, kalamansi lime juice and cayenne pepper) which was also excellent, spicy, tart, and sweet.

I highly recommend a visit to Uni Sashimi Bar whether it is for a special occasion or just a night out on the town. Follow them on Facebook for information on their Maki Monday and Sake Bomb Tuesday specials that make it fun and affordable to eat there on a regular basis.

Offerings at Uni change regular with what is fresh and available, here is what I ate on my visit:

* Anago Tempura (Salt Water Eel) with green tea salt and shirred egg
Duck egg is removed from the shell, gently cooked with butter, yogurt and fleur de sel, then returned to the shell creating this amazing, custardy, incredibly delicious compliment to the beautifully fried, unbelievable fresh salt water eel that was dusted with green tea salt.

* Taragai & Uni (Japanese Pan Shell and Sea Urchin) with XO Sauce, myoga & garlic soy
Outstanding dish, salty, sweet, fresh, amazing textures. Tairagai, or Japanese Pen Shell is a giant Japanese razor clam. It had textural qualities of both a scallop (sweetness) and a clam (texture). The Uni was slightly warmed and the combination of flavors and textures in this dish were out of this world. The Uni was from Maine.

Rock Shrimp Tempura with spicy red pepper aioli and Korean pepper threads
Lightly battered, perfectly cooked rock shrimp. The spicy aoili was slightly spicy and delicate, a perfect emulsion.

Tempura of Seasonal Vegetables with soy-dashi dipping sauce and miso aioli
The soy-dashi dipping sauce was a perfect accompaniment for the lightly battered, tender vegetables. The miso aioli was slightly sweet. The two dipping sauces offered a choice of salty, sweet, and incredible umami flavors to the already nicely seasoned vegetables.

* Tuna Ceviche (Yellowfin Tuna) with coconut, chilies and lemongrass
Perfect pieces of tuna dressed in wonderfully sweet, slightly spicy, and incredibly fresh sauce of coconut milk, fresh chilies and lemongrass. Topped with fried ginger and fresh scallions, this was delicious. While the amazing tuna would have been perfect by itself, the addition of the sauce made me very happy. I would have been almost as happy with some tuna sashimi and a glass of the coconut, chile, lemongrass sauce to drink on the side.

* Scottish Salmon with Chinese black bean tapenade and fresh ginger
The most perfect piece of salmon sashimi I have ever had and the most fresh and unique black bean tapenade. To make the tapenade, Chef Chung combines Chinese fermented black beans with fresh ginger and garlic. So good.

* Ainame (Japanese Greenling) with shiso, asian pear puree, romesco & benetade
Sweet, nutty, delicious.

* Houbou (Japanese Sea Robin) with candied yuzu kosho, radishes and myoga
Citrusy, very mild fish, great combination of flavors.

Uni Sashimi Bar
370 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Ph. 617.536.7200
http://www.unisashimibar.com

Hall of Fame Sandwiches at All Star Sandwich Bar

2010-03-22T07:24:00.011-04:00

I remember hearing about All Star Sandwich Bar when Chris Schlesinger, of East Coast Grill fame, opened it back in 2006. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I finally walked through the doors to this casual sandwich bar in Inman Square. Now, owners/brothers Kosta and Johnny Diamantopoulos are serving up incredible sandwich after incredible sandwich. It was February 26th when I walked into the restaurant for my first of two sandwiches, an Extra Funky.

In addition to the sandwiches served up from the regular menu, All Star has daily sandwich specials. One of those daily specials is the Extra Funky Sandwich which on February 26th was jerk grilled chicken with jack cheese, sliced pineapple, chayote slaw, and mango habanero bbq sauce on sourdough. Grilled on a flattop and served with a homemade coleslaw of finely sliced cabbage and carrot. The chicken was grilled perfectly and was incredibly juicy; the sliced pineapple complimented the sweet and spicy bbq sauce, and the chayote slaw added great texture. For my very first All Star Sandwich, this was a winner!

I also ordered a plate of Hell Fries; a huge plate of hand-cut french fries dusted with cayenne and doused in Inner Beauty Hot Sauce. The fries were fresh and crispy, sweet and spicy, and really really good. Garnished with cilantro, the single order is easily enough four people, I think I ate half of my plate nearly inducing instant food coma. Fortunately I had a glass of their fresh squeezed lemonade, refilled once by the friendly staff while I sat and enjoyed my lunch (more on the staff later.)

After my first great sandwich at All Star, I was prepared to write my review. Hold on you might be saying, for one of the most common complaints that professional food critics and restaurant owners alike have about food bloggers is that they/we write reviews after trying a place only once. I'm certainly guilty of writing reviews after only one visit, but I will never write a bad review after only one visit. I would have had no guilt posting a rave review of All Star Sandwich Bar after only one visit, but I went back and I'm glad I did. Without my second visit, I would never have known that they have table service.

During my first visit to All Star Sandwich Bar, I ordered from the take-out counter. I didn't know it was the take-out counter at the time, I just thought it was where you placed your order whether you decide to eat in or take your food away. So when I sat down to enjoy my Extra Funky sandwich and plate of hell fries, I thought I was just getting good service when asked if I wanted a refill on my lemonade. My ignorance also explains why one of the kitchen staff asked if I was eating in with a bit of surprised tone, "Oh! You're eating in?" It might also explain why my french fries were in what appeared to be a to-go container. But I digress.

So, yes, All Star Sandwich Bar has table service AND a take-out counter. On my second visit, I sat at a table and received exceptional service. As for what to eat, it was an easy decision. After tweeting about my great lunch in February, All Star picked up my feed and commented on their Facebook fan page.

So of course I ordered the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown. Best meatloaf sandwich I've ever had, and I have had a few in my days on this planet. The Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown sandwich is a thick slice of grilled meatloaf with jack cheese, Inner Beauty Hot Sauce and red onion jam on grilled sourdough bread. The meatloaf was juicy and firm, like a good meatloaf should be, and full of delicious, grilled meaty flavor. The Inner Beauty hot sauce, if you've never had it, is a spicy hot sauce made from a combination of scotch bonnet peppers (HOT!), yellow mustard, orange, papaya and pineapple juices, and some other tasty stuff - created and bottled by the aforementioned chef Chris Schlesinger. The red onion jam added a nice sweetness to balance out the spice. I didn't think that this was too hot, actually, I was hoping for some more heat. With a name like "Atomic" I expect it to be hot. In an email exchange with owner Kosta, he explained that not everyone loves the heat like I do, and next time I should ask for extra sauce. Fair enough.

Two visits, two great sandwiches. Great service, great creativity. All Star Sandwich Bar is a winner and I am going to do everything I can to eat my way through the menu. I know that will be difficult with daily specials changing, well, daily, but my stomach is begging me to try. With muffalatas, cubanos, gobblers and BLTs on the regular menu, I might need some help deciding what to eat next! In addition to the great sandwiches, they offer soups, salads and an assortment of sides including poutine and hush puppies. All Star Sandwich Bar also sells beer and wine, including Narragansett tall boys!

All Star Sandwich Bar
1245 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA
Ph. 617.868.3065
http://www.allstarsandwichbar.com

Dating and Tacos on WFNX Radio

2010-03-02T23:05:00.000-05:00

This morning was a major milestone for me and this here blog! I was invited up to the WFNX radio studio to talk about food and restaurants on the morning program, The Breakfast Show. It was great meeting Keith Dakin, Fletcher, and the WFNX legend Henry Santoro; all great guys and my time in the studio was fun. My air time was split into two segments; the first was spent discussing restaurants to go to for a first date and restaurants that would be great for a double date. In the second segment we talked tacos!

If you missed The Breakfast Show this morning, you can listen to my segment on the WFNX Breakfast Show Podcast page.

So where do I think the fine people of greater Boston should go out to eat on a date? My first pick is The Washington Square Tavern in Brookline's Washington Square. I learned about Washington Square Tavern nearly eleven years ago, shortly after they opened in 1999, and have been eating there ever since. With an affordable, approachable, and well thought out wine list to go along with great food, this is a perfect date restaurant. I have always been pleased anytime I order fish, but their chicken and steak offerings are also great. I would be completely remiss if I didn't also mention their "Famous Choice Sirloin 1/2 lb. Burger", it is a definite contender for one of the best burgers in the city. Please note that Washington Square Tavern does NOT take reservations, be prepared for a lengthy wait during prime weekend dinner hours.

My second pick for a restaurant to take a date to is Toro in Boston's South End. With a long list of creative and classic cocktails, you'll have plenty to drink while waiting for a table; like Wasthington Square Tavern, Toro does NOT take reservations. Toro, opened and owned by one of Boston's best chefs, Ken Oringer, has another well known chef running the kitchen, Jamie Bisonnette. The kitchen team at Toro has taken Spanish tapas to a whole new level with great success. A lot of people say that the best way to judge a sushi restaurant is by how good their tamago (sweet egg omelet) is. Well the same analogy could be used to judge a Spanish tapas restaurant by how good their Tortilla Espanola is; the Spanish egg, potato and onion omelet at Toro is incredible and the rest of the food follows suit. Want to play Russian roulette with your food? Try my favorite item on the menu, the pimientos del padron. These small peppers are lightly roasted and dusted with sea salt, some of them are hot, some are not - how lucky are you!? Looking for a little more adventure? Try the mollejas (crispy veal sweetbreads with blood orange and cinnamon,) morcilla (house cured blood sausage,) or Asado de Huesos (roasted bone marrow with radish citrus salad and oxtail marmalade.) If your looking for something a little less Fear Factor, try the Gambas al Ajillo (griddled garlic shrimp) or Maíz Asado con Alioli y Queso Cotija, La Especialidad de la Casa (the house specialty, grilled corn with alioli, lime, espelette pepper and aged cheese.) There is plenty for everyone at Toro whether you are adventurous or not. If you like to share small plates, you would be remiss if you did not try Toro at least once.

Looking for something from the sea? Head to Neptune Oyster on Salem Street in the North End, just be careful if you drive, most of the on street parking in the North End requires a resident permit; I found out the hard way the first time I was there.With a dozen different oysters on their raw bar most of the time, this is one of the best places to go for oysters. Yes, I know there are plenty of other places for oysters, including B&G Oysters in the South End, but Neptune is without a doubt the place to go. In addition to the great oyster selection, there is also a great wine list to pair with them. The appetizer options include some great salads and the entrees are all about the fish. They do have a burger and a steak on the menu, but if you skip the fish here you are really missing the boat. At $25, the lobster roll is priced in line with the other great lobster rolls in the city; trust me when I say it's worth it. Once again, Neptune Oyster does NOT take reservations.

Once you've made it past a few dates you might consider a double date with a couple other friends. For something a little more casual, check out Franklin Cafe (South End, Southie and Cape Ann in Gloucester) or The Paramount on Charles Street in Boston. J and I love the Franklin Cafe in the South End; we haven't visited the Cape Ann location or the relatively new South Boston spot. Known for their creative cocktails and their modern twist on comfort food, the Franklin Cafe has always delivered when I've eaten there.

If you're looking for some upscale fish tacos or a great plate of steak tips, check out The Paramount. The steak frites is also a winner here. If your date night carries over to breakfast, The Paramount has great brunch too. Actually Toro and Washington Square Tavern also have great brunch, so do your homework and pick a place that matches your mood for the night.

If its uber-casual that your looking for or if you are on a really small budget, go out for tacos! My favorite for tacos and burritos is Anna's Taqueria. I'm a super chicken guy through and through but their Mexican plates, quesadillas and tacos are great choices too. If your in the Fenway area, check out La Verdad, another Ken Oringer spot. Try the carne asada tacos, my favorite here, or the lengua (beef tongue.) The texture of the tongue is really unique and the meat is incredibly tender. It's a treat if you've never tried tongue before. If your on a date and its already going south, order a few tacos from the taqueria and call it a night. Otherwise have a seat in the restaurant, order a few cocktails, and enjoy some fine Mexican food.

Finally, not mentioned during the segment on The Breakfast Show this morning, Tremont 647 has $2 tacos on Tuesdays each week. Chef Andy Husbands and his great kitchen team make some really outstanding tacos each week. The fried plantains and guacamole are also excellent. Not Tuesday night? Enjoy the constantly changing menu and sign up for their newsletter to stay up to date on the special dinners/events they host every month.

There you have it, with more detail than what you may have heard on WFNX this morning.

Here are all the details:

The Washington Square Tavern
714 Washington Street
Brookline, MA
617.232.8989
http://www.washingtonsquaretavern.com

Toro
1704 Washington Street
Boston, MA
617.536.4300
http://toro-restaurant.com/

Cuchi Cuchi
795 Main Street
Cambridge, MA
617.864.2929
http://www.cuchicuchi.cc/

Neptune Oyster
63 Salem Street
Boston, MA
http://www.neptuneoyster.com/

The Franklin Cafe
Three locations, see web site
http://www.franklincafe.com/

The Paramount
44 Charles Street
Boston, MA
http://www.paramountboston.com/

Anna's Taqueria
You'll find me in the Coolidge Corner and Beacon Hill spots
http://www.annastaqueria.com/

La Verdad
1 Lansdowne Street
Boston, MA
617.421.9595
http://www.laverdadtaqueria.com/

Tremont 647
647 Tremont Street
Boston, MA
617.266.4600
http://tremont647.com/
@tremont647

One Food Guy on the WFNX Radio Breakfast Show

2010-03-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

For those still awake and paying attention, I will be live on the radio tomorrow morning, Tuesday March 2nd, on the WFNX 101.7 FM Breakfast Show in Boston. Tune in to the WFNX radio Breakfast Show between 8am and 9am - better yet, listen to the whole show from 6-10am. For those of you not in Boston, you can listen live online at http://www.wfnx.com

Follow WFNX on Twitter @wfnx and The Breakfast Show @fnxbreakfast

Burgers and fries, that's about it.

2010-02-18T11:37:00.002-05:00

When you do something well, why do anything else, right? While I don't buy into that school of thought, the people over at Five Guys Burgers and Fries certainly do, and they have made it their mantra. What they do is burgers and fries, and nothing else. Well almost nothing else; you can also order a hot dog with or without cheese or bacon, or cheese and bacon. Okay, so this place isn't serving up a healthy dose of good for you, but damn if they don't do burgers and fries really well; that is, they only cook their burgers well done. It's their policy and they don't stray from it, but they believe that by cooking their burgers well done every time, they are ensuring a consistent product and in their eyes, the juiciest, tastiest burger they can make.

Here's a little history list on the franchise before I get to the good stuff. The first Five Guys opened in Arlington, VA back in 1986 and growth at the beginning was slow. Over the next 15 years, five more Five Guys opened in the Washington, DC area. While they worked on perfecting their burgers they also began developing a cult following. Since then, Five Guys has opened over 450 franchises in 30 states and claims that there are over 250,000 ways to order one of their burgers. Only fresh ground beef is used, never frozen, and all of their french fries are hand cut daily from hundreds of pounds of fresh potatoes that can be seen in sacks taking up space around the restaurant. Sounds a little like In 'N Out Burger, without the drive-through.

With over 250,000 burger combinations, ordering is actually quite simple. You have the hamburger and the cheeseburger, with or without bacon. It is important to note that both the hamburger and cheeseburger on the menu come with two burger patties; if you want a single, order the little hamburger or the little cheeseburger, also available with or without bacon. Once you have your basic burger order, it's time to go crazy with the toppings. You have your choice of mayo, relish, onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, jalapenos, green peppers, A-1 sauce, bar-b-q sauce, and hot sauce. Add a regular fries (big) or a large fries (huge) in either Five Guys style (salt and pepper blend) or Cajun style.

On my visit to Five Guys with J, we were unaware of the regular (double) vs. little (single) size so we both ordered regular burgers; mine with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled onions, ketchup and mustard, and J's with lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled onions and ketchup - no cheese. We also split a regular fries, which is actually quite large. Yes, this burger was good and the fries were crispy and well seasoned. However I am not much of a fast food guy so this greasy burger left me feeling sluggish after; we're talking serious food coma.

Yes, the veggies were fresh, the burger was juicy, and the fries were good, but the caloric count of my meal based on the nutritional information found on Five Guys web site was nearly 1300 calories! What a gut bomb. I'm not a calorie counter, never have been, never will be. I also don't watch what I eat too closely. I exercise regularly, I'm relatively fit, and I eat what I want within reason. But I usually stick to healthy foods that are either good for me or make me feel good; and this meal was neither. I'm not saying Five Guys isn't good, quite the contrary, Five Guys is quite good at what they do. If you like these fast food style burgers then you are not going to find anyone within 10 miles of a Five Guys that does what they do better.

I say go to Five Guys, order a burger (a little burger if you do have a big appetite) and some fries and form your own opinion. At the very least you'll probably have a pretty darn good meal for short change.

Oh yeah, one more thing. All burgers are made to order so while you're waiting, enjoy some free peanuts, they're pretty good.

A New BEST at Myers + Chang

2010-02-17T08:34:00.010-05:00

Looking to get out of the house this past Saturday, J and I headed into the city [Boston] for some lunch and an afternoon of fun. Craving sandwiches we decided to head to Myers + Chang for some of their famous banh mis only to find out when we arrived that they were only serving dim sum. Although we were both craving a banh mi, we would soon find out that we were in for a treat by lunching on their amazing dim sum.

We both started with one of the house-made sodas on the menu, J with a lychee-vanilla soda, and me with a mint lime rickey. J's lychee-vanilla soda was delicious, not too sweet, and my mint lime rickey was a bit like a mojito, without the rum. We then ordered several dishes off the dim sum menu, still unaware of the amazing food we were about to eat.

The first dish to hit our table was the Thai ginger chicken chicken with rice vermicelli. Served in a Chinese take-out box, the chicken was tender and rice vermicelli perfectly cooked. A good start to our meal for certain, but the best was yet to come.

Next to hit the table were Mama Chang's pork dumplings. Three deep fried pork dumplings, crispy on the outside, deliciously tender and flavorful on the inside, served with a slightly sweet and savory dipping sauce. J and I both prefer our dumplings steamed but these were really good.

At this point the plates were coming at us fast and furious and our table was filling up. Our table was now covered in plates of garlicky and spicy chicken wings, salt + pepper calamari, braised short rib with Asian pear bao, 5-spice grilled tofu bau, and the most amazing, incredible, delicious, wok-roasted lemongrass mussels.

The garlicky and spicy wings were, as the name would suggest, garlicky and spicy. These excellent chicken wings were meaty, perfectly cooked, and drizzled with sriracha, our favorite condiment. I could eat these wings all day long and would have ordered more were it not for all the other delicious plates on our table.

The salt + pepper calamari was also perfectly cooked. Lightly dusted with some salt and pepper then very lightly fried. At least I think they were fried, does anyone know any different? The calamari is served atop a spicy aoili and garnished with cilantro. A perfectly simple preparation with a most delicious result.

Next up were a couple baos, the word bao means bun in Chinese. Now you may know that I am not a big consumer of pork, but one of my absolute favorite dim sum items is char siu bao, preferably baked but steamed is great too. Char siu bao is a steamed or baked bun filled with barbecue pork and I absolutely love the flavor of the bbq pork and the bun. At Myers + Chang, they maked steam bao and stuff them with your choice of braised short rib with Asian pear, 5-spice grilled tofu, soy braised chicken, roasted duck, or crispy pork belly. J and I ordered one braised short rib with Asian pear bao and a one 5-spice grilled tofu bao.

The braised short rib with Asian pear bao was the winner of these two. Incredibly tender, flavorful short rib on a perfectly steam bun. The 5-spice grilled tofu bao had good flavor from the sauce but really didn't excite us too much. At this point in our meal, all we could talk about were the incredible, amazing, best we've ever had, wok-roasted lemongrass mussels!

Yes, the dish we likely would have missed had we been able to order banh mis from the regular lunch menu are the wok-roasted lemongrass mussels. I can make some pretty awesome mussels myself, I even once considered them the Best Damn Mussels, Period. However, now, I have to give that title to Myers + Chang for absolutely knocking it out of the park with these incredible, amazing, wok-roasted lemongrass mussels. These mussels have such incredible flavor from a combination of lemongrass, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, lime, chili, cilantro and fish sauce but what really set these mussels apart is the cooking method. The wok-roasting over incredibly high heat imparts this amazing charred/grilled flavor that would simply not be possible on your average home cooktop. I'm seriously considering buying an outdoor, propane-fired burner capable of up to 65,000 BTU's just so I can make these mussels at home. The average home cooktop is capable of less than 10,000 BTUs with more expensive models having high output burners capable of up to 18,000 BTUs. Most restaurants have commercial cooktops capable of 20-50,000 BTUs while others even have dedicated wok burners capable of up to 250,000 BTUs! Until I have a worthy burner, I'm just going to have return to Myers + Chang for my mussels fix.

There are many reasons why J and I want to return to Myers + Chang including trying the banh mis but it is definitely the wok-roasted lemongrass mussels that will keep us coming back for more. Myers + Chang can be found at 1145 Washington Street in Boston's South End neighborhood.

Down by the English Seashore

2010-02-16T08:19:00.001-05:00

One of the most famous meals associated with England is fish and chips, originating in London in the mid 1800's. When I travel to England, I make it a point to have some fish and chips, and on my most recent trip to the southern shore of England, I feasted on it. Hastings, England is a very small seaside town about two hours southeast of London and to this day still has the largest beach-based fishing fleet in all of England. Once an important fishing port, Hastings is now better known for other things, like chess. With lots of little inns and restaurants, Hastings remains a vacation destination and a place for international students to come and study English in one of several international language schools.

I was in Hastings for a few days on business and most of my personal time was spent seeking out fish and chips. With no fewer than twenty-five fish-and-chips shops (known as chippys or chippers) in this small seaside town, my mission for eating fish and chips should be an easy one to complete. I visited two on this trip as well as another seafood bar right down on the water. The variety of seafood available is impressive, with some of the available options seeming a bit unusual to outsiders like me. Options like cockles and jellied eels.

While on my first mission for fish and chips, my friend Jenny and I made a quick stop at Shores Seafood Bar for a snack. Jenny opted for some cockles which are small, saltwater clams, and I being a bit more adventurous opted for the aforementioned jellied eels, freshwater eels chopped, boiled in fish stock, and chilled in an aspic jelly. The cockles were quite good actually, salty, tender, and flavorful. The jellied eels, however, were fishy and quite challenging. The spine of the eel is intact in the middle of the eel and the exterior texture of the eel, the skin, is rather chewy. I'm glad I tried the jellied eels but won't be ordering them again. Our mission for fish and chips continues...

On the recommendation of the guy at Shores, we ended up at the Promenade Fish Bar just down the street. Promenade Fish Bar & Restaurant is located just across from the beach and on this rare, dry, sunny and warm day in southern England, we each ordered some battered cod and chips and ate outside on the patio. With the taste of jellied eels still a recent memory, this fried cod and chips was just what the doctor ordered. Perfectly fried, beer battered cod and real English chips, generously salted and doused with malt vinegar, just like the English do. You won't find many people in these parts eating their chips with tomato Ketchup. Its fish and chips with malt vinegar or nothing around here.

With our first fish and chips mission complete, Jenny and I went about our business in Hastings and continued our Tour de Chippys the next day. With the usual rainy, cold English weather back in place on our last day in Hastings, we opted for some take-away fish and chips from another local chipper, Smiffy's Chippy. Smiffy's batter is a bit crispier than Promenades, less beer and more breading; still outstanding fish and chips. At Smiffy's, Jenny and I both opted for fried haddock and chips since Smiffy told us the haddock had just come in off the boat. Fresh fish! Smiffy's fried haddock and chips were also salted well and once again doused in malt vinegar. I don't necessarily agree with the message printed on Smiffy's take-away bag, "The healthiest meal for all the family", but I will say that this was some real fine fish and chips.

A Valentine's treat in the form of Chocolate

2010-02-15T12:30:00.006-05:00

For some, Valentine's Day is a special day. For others, it's just a silly little Hallmark holiday. And for just about everyone, it is an excuse to eat chocolate. Chocolate truffles, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, and in my house this Valentine's Day, flourless chocolate torte! While sitting on my couch this past Friday morning, Chef Emeril Lagasse's chocolate episode of The Essence of Emeril was airing on The Food Network. I knew at that moment that I would be designing Sunday's Valentine's Day menu around dessert, the flourless chocolate torte that Chef Lagasse taught me to make on Friday morning.

After consulting with my number one customer, I put together a shopping list for my Valentine's Day menu. I would be cooking filet au poivre with a cognac mushroom sauce, served with horseradish mashed yukon gold potatoes and garlicky spinach. Dessert is the aforementioned flourless chocolate torte served with a dusting of powdered sugar and fresh raspberries.

The star of the meal was definitely the flourless chocolate torte. Who doesn't love a rich, dark chocolately torte with powdered sugar and fresh raspberries? It was relatively easy to make and worth every minute I spent in the kitchen melting, mixing, pouring and baking. Follow my kitchen journey in pictures, then see the recipe below. Happy Valentine's Day!

Flourless Chocolate Torte

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 1/2 tablespoon

* 1 pound semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

* 1/4 cup amaretto

* 8 large eggs

* 1/4 cup sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* Confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder, for garnish

* Fresh raspberries, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Using 1/2 tablespoon butter grease a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with a parchment round. Cover pan underneath and along sides with foil and set in a roasting pan. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil.

Combine the chocolate, butter, and amaretto in a metal bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler. Melt the mixture, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes; reserve. Make sure the chocolate mixture has cooled at least five minutes before adding to egg mixture, else the eggs might scramble.

Meanwhile combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until frothy and almost doubled in volume, about 5 to 10 minutes. Fold 1/3 of chocolate mixture into egg mixture using a rubber spatula. Repeat this process 2 more times - until all of chocolate mixture has been folded into egg mixture.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan and place in the roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides. Bake until cake has risen slightly and edges are just beginning to set, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan and cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove foil, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Remove cake from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Remove springform pan sides, invert cake onto a large plate, and peel away the parchment paper from bottom. Reinvert cake on another large plate or serving platter and garnish with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.

One Hot Concept: Frozen Yogurt

2010-02-10T21:01:00.004-05:00

Have you heard of Pinkberry? How about BoYo? Red Mango? Red Kiwi? Yogurbella? How about the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck!? If you haven't heard of any of these then you're missing out on one of the hottest (coolest?) concepts in the United States right now. If you have heard of at least one of these then you know the frozen yogurt concept is taking this country by storm, and has been since Pinkberry launched in 2005. However it is Red Mango, a Korean company, who claims to have pioneered the tart variety of nonfat frozen yogurt back in 2002; Red Mango opened their first US store in 2007.

I myself have become enchanted by the nonfat frozen yogurt craze. I had my first taste of Pinkberry back in 2008 during a visit to southern California. On my first day in Venice I stopped into the first Pinkberry I saw and ordered a pomegranate frozen yogurt with fresh blueberries; I was hooked. I ordered an original frozen yogurt with fresh mango the next day, and again the day after, and again the day after that. I think I had some Pinkberry every day that week.

The closest Pinkberry to Boston is in NYC, so imagine my excitement when I found out about a new frozen yogurt cafe opening in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston called boYO. Boston Yogurt, better known as boYO, is definitely modeled after Pinkberry but has its own unique personality. With regularly changing flavors in addition to the original nonfat frozen yogurt, they also have gelato, sorbet, and an espresso and hot chocolate bar. On my first visit I ordered an original with fresh mango, but have been back several times for my fix.

Then this past December while in Miami, my wife and I turned to Yelp for help in finding some froyo in the Miami area. We were nowhere near the Pinkberry in Miami Beach so we headed to Red Kiwi in Coconut Grove. We ordered an original with fresh mango and a nutella with fresh raspberries. The nutella frozen yogurt was fantastic, but I think it's tough to beat the original tart flavor. After doing some research I discovered that the Red Kiwi in Coconut Grove is the only location right now, but they are looking to expand through franchising. Interested?

Have you jumped on the nonfat frozen yogurt bandwagon yet? I'm firmly planted in the front seat of the wagon and can always find an excuse for some deliciously tart frozen yogurt. Even in the middle of a snow storm that never materialized, like today. Way to go meteorologists. And just for the record, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is an ice cream truck in New York City that drives around serving up delicious ice cream treats.

Blog Away Hunger - Help Haiti

2010-01-21T04:10:00.000-05:00

Life. A single word came mean so much. L'Chaim means "To Life" in Hebrew and is a common toast when friends and family gather for a drink. To Life. In the darkest moments of one's life, when all seems lost, how do you look forward? How do you find the courage to look forward to the next day, the next week, or the next month. How do you find courage to look forward to your next meal?

Eight days ago, Haiti was rocked by an earthquake that flattened much of the nation. Aftershock followed by aftershock, continue to rock the country throughout the ongoing rescue efforts. Even before the earthquake that shattered some already very torn lives, hunger and poverty was a problem in one of this hemispheres poorest nations. Now, there is chaos; there is death; there is uncertainty. But, there is also HOPE!

While reading my friend Rachael's blog today, Tokyo Terrace, I learned that a dear friend of hers "perished" in a building that collapsed during the earthquake. Looking at images coming across the wire give me the chills, and reading stories like Rachael's called me to action. In Rachel's post she mentioned a movement led by Marc from No Recipes called Blog Away Hunger. Marc is now asking bloggers to donate their January ad revenue to Haiti relief organizations as part of his effort. In response, I have agreed to donate my January and February ad revenue to a Haiti relief organization. I have not yet decided which organization to donate to, so if you would like me to consider a charity close to you, please leave a comment.

All the best in these times of grief and despair. There is hope, and it starts with support from around the world.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T09:40:00.000-05:00

As 2009 comes to a close I want to say that I'm going to make more time to write about my food travels and my food experiences in 2010. I still have a lot to share from the last year and a half. Some of the highlights from 2009 that you can expect to read about in the next couple months include my food experiences in India which include one wedding, two homemade meals, and a visit to Bangalore's central market. I also have some great restaurant reviews for A.O.C. Bistro and 'Snice in the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, as well as Uni Sashimi Bar in Boston, MA.

With that I bid a fond farewell to another amazing chapter in my life of food. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and successful 2010 and beyond. And remember, if it's on the menu, try it! Be adventurous in life and at the dinner table. Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T11:23:00.001-05:00

Another Thanksgiving is in the books. Wine, beer, and cranberry-ginger cocktails. Turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Potatoes, squash, and Brussels sprouts. Spinach salad with strawberries and a wild rice salad. Homemade cinnamon buns and apple pie, store-bought triple chocolate cake and carrot cake. Espresso, coffee, and Kahlua. With the family all here, it was a great day. Dad carved the turkey and we ate ourselves full. I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as we did here in Chez One Food Guy.

Thank you for being a guest in my virtual kitchen. Cheers!

Under the Cloak of Darkness

2009-11-25T21:02:00.004-05:00

Sight. Sound. Smell. Touch. Taste. These are the five senses. When eating out at a restaurant, your meal starts with your eyes; What do see when you walk in the front door? Is the restaurant warm and inviting? What do you smell? What do you hear? Before you even look at a menu your eyes, ears and nose are setting you up for your dining experience. How the food looks, smells, and feels in your mouth is just as important as how it tastes and these are all things taken into consideration when chefs design and execute their culinary creations.

All five senses play an equally important role in your dining experience, so what would happen if one is taken away? What if you could not smell your food? How it tastes would certainly be affected by your loss of smell. Just think about how your meals taste when you have a cold or your seasonal allergies are bothering you. When you can't smell your food, it loses almost all of its taste. What if you could not taste? How the food feels in your mouth would certainly be affected, especially if you can smell it without tasting it. If you could not hear, part of the excitement of eating in a restaurant would be missing. You could not hear the sounds of the kitchen or the sounds of other diners enjoying their meal. You could not hear sounds of forks, knives, and spoons scraping and sweeping across the plates. Now what if you could not see what you are eating? How would your sense of smell, taste, touch and sound be affected?

Before you take your first bite, your eyes play an important role in setting your expectations for what you are about to eat. When I ate sheep brains in India earlier this year, my eyes told me that I was eating brains, there was no doubt about it. My sense of touch played an important role in my experience as well; the brains were soft and creamy and the texture was entirely unfamiliar. The taste of the sauteed brains was insignificant in the overall experience; they were quite mild in flavor but the sight and feel of the brains on my tongue and in my mouth is what I remember most. Without seeing the brains first, seeing the very familiar shape and contour of what is undoubtedly brain, the experience would have been completely different.

I am fortunate that my job takes me to many interesting and unique places in this world and India is certainly one of them. Earlier this month while in Berlin, Germany I had an amazing dining experience that is becoming more and more popular with each passing day. More people are hearing about it, more people are experiencing it. The "it" is eating in complete darkness. Known as dark restaurants or blind restaurants, they can actually be found all over the world and in most, the entire staff is either blind or visually impaired. I first heard about one in Zurich called blindekuh, or Blind Cow, when a friend visited and gushed over the whole experience. Then, shortly after I heard about blindekuh, I was watching Hell's Kitchen on FOX and Gordon Ramsay took the red team to Opaque in Santa Monica, another dark restaurant. Knowing about blindekuh in Zurich I was hoping for a trip to Switzerland in the near future that would allow me to try the restaurant but things fell into place when I arrived in Berlin a few weeks ago.

Hanging outside of the elevator at my hotel was a small board displaying small business cards for all sorts of restaurants and tourist attractions in the city. One of the business cards was for a dark restaurant called unsicht-Bar. Unfortunately they were fully booked during the few days I was in the city but one of my colleagues discovered another dark restaurant in the city called Nocti Vagus, and booked us an 8pm reservation on our last night in the city! I was so excited, I could not wait!

As my colleague Jenny and I arrived at the restaurant, I immediately began scanning the restaurant with my eyes, knowing that I will soon be in complete darkness. I want to see as much as I can in the lit spaces of the bar before entering the completely dark dining room. The bar area was dimly lit with dark chocolate brown walls accented with vanilla creme trim. The wall behind the half-circle bar sports several glass shelves displaying top shelf liquor attached to a painted-white brick wall. As Jenny and I sit at the bar, we are handed a menu with four choices: vegetarian, seafood, meat, or a surprise chef's menu which I'm told will be created based on my likes and dislikes. I will eat just about anything and am not afraid to try new things so I decided that I would allow the chef to create a surprise meal for me - I did not want to know what I was eating until after I ate it. Would I be able to tell what I was eating? Knowing what was on the vegetarian and seafood menus I would soon regret my chef's surprise menu choice as it was heavy on meat, but the food was good and the experience was amazing. Just before entering the pitch black dining room, Jenny and I were informed that our server's name is Wolfgang and we'll be seated at table 12R; the dining room is downstairs.

So we follow our hostess down the stairs to a long hallway with doors to the men's and women's bathrooms, both lit, and a door at the end of the hallway which we enter on our way to the dining room. This waiting area is like an airlock for light. There is a soft, dim rectangular panel that lights the small irregularly shaped room. We are informed that when the door on the other side of this closet-sized room opens the light will turn off and Wolfgang will great us, he will guide us to our table where we will be sitting side-by-side, not across from each other. Our hostess asks Jenny to stand behind me and place both her hands on my shoulders, this is how we will enter the dining room. She knocks on the door three times, the light shuts off, the door opens, and we are introduced to Wolfgang. Hello, Wolfgang.

Wolfgang takes me by my right forearm and leads us to our table; I feel folds in what I think is a carpet beneath my feet, the room is completely dark, there is absolutely no visible light, I can not see my left hand if I place it on my face. I am giddy and excited as my body tries to adjust to the darkness. The floor feels uneven and slanted under me as we walk to the table. We sit and the meal begins. Wolfgang first delivers us each a glass of prosecco and informs us that if we put the glass down on the table, we should place our hand on the edge of the table in front of us and slowly slide it onto the table in order to find our glass again. I quickly adjust to this new way of reaching for a drink as Wolfgang disappears into the darkness. Then, as if out of nowhere, we hear "Helloooo, helllooooo! I have some bread for you with a dipping sauce, your first course will be out soon" And again, Wolfgang fades into the darkness. We hear him on the other side of the dining room, he has a very distinct voice; we hear forks, knives, and presumably spoons clanking against the dishes that none of us can see. We hear voices, some loud, some soft, some close, some far, how far we wonder? How big is this dining room? Is it square, round, triangular? We have no idea how many people are sitting in total darkness. One thing that made this especially interesting for me was that being in Berlin, everyone was speaking German! I had no idea what others in the dark were talking about. Were they wondering aloud the same things that Jenny and I were discussing? Did they love the sweet, creamy bread dip as much as we did? What was it? What kind of bread were we eating? It was a hearty bread, thick, soft slices of what seemed like a multigrain bread; and the dip, it was delicious but we could not discern what made it taste so good.

Again, we hear "Helloooo, helloooo! It's Wolfgang, I'm hear with your first course. For you, [speaking to Jenny,] you ordered the meat menu, and for you, [now speaking to me as he shuffles around Jenny to my right side] you have ordered the chef's surprise menu. Enjoy!" And poof, Wolfgang disappears as quickly as he came. Not being able to see what I'm eating, I feel my food with my hands to see if I can determine what it is. It is cool to the touch, and wet. I take a bite, it's definitely some sort of meat, or is it? When I told the hostess I would eat anything, she asked if that included raw meat like steak tartar; yes, anything I repeated. So is this steak tartar that I have? There was a distinct fruity essence that I could not identify along with some salad greens that felt and tasted a bit like watercress, or maybe lamb's lettuce. It was good, but not great. The experience of trying to figure it out, however, was exhilarating.

"Hellloooo, helloooo!" says Wolfgang as he sneaks up on us once again. "How was your first course? Good, I have your second course here." Our first course plates are removed and replaced with our second course, for Jenny, more meat and for me...unknown. At that moment, I again feel around on my plate to see what I'm dealing with. I feel two chunks of meat? Oh man, more meat?! If I wanted all meat I would have ordered the meat course. Under the two chunks of what I think is meat I feel something creamy, small discs of some yet to be determined vegetable in a viscous sauce along with what felt like some wilted greens. I pick up a chunk of meat and take a bite, it is flavorful and tender, is it beef? Lamb? I think it's lamb, definitely lamb, and it's good. The creamy discs below must be potatoes, a warm German potato salad maybe? Well, I guess since I'm in Germany it would just be called potato salad. And the wilted greans, don't know what they are but they taste good. It's not spinach. The consistency is that of wilted romaine, but in Germany, it can't be romaine, can it? Well again, its good, but not great. The joy is in trying to figure out exactly what I am eating. Fortunately I will find out what I ate at the end of the meal.

At this point it's around 9pm and you're wondering how I know this since there are no visible clocks and I have willfully resisted the urge to look at my watch which has illuminated hands. I know its 9pm because the live show is starting! Besides the draw of eating in the dark, Nocti Vagus has live shows each night and this night it is a live band. It sounds like a two, maybe three piece band and they sing covers. Some German and some English songs - they played a Prince song, and very well I might add. The band's instruments are plugged in and amplified but we can not see any lights or flashes to indicate this. As the band wraps up their final song Wolfgang sneaks up on us again! "Hellloooo, hellloooooo! It's Wolfgang. Did you enjoy your second course? How about the show?" "Yes, thank you Wolfgang. Everything was great," we say. "Okay, I'll be right back with your final course. Would you like anything else to drink?" "Yes, please, two more glasses of prosecco." And Wolfgang disappears into the darkness once again.

"Hellooo, hellooo. I have your final course here. Your spoon is at 12 o'clock. Enjoy!" As Wolfgang is about to place my plate on the table I simultaneously reach for my spoon expecting that I will need it and Wolfgang puts the plate down on my arm, almost dropping it. "Sorry!" I say and quickly retract my arm. Once the plate is safely on the table in front of me, I again go feeling around with my fingers. What I feel is a round form of something gelatinous and what can only be described as some whipped cream next to it. There is no question what real whipped cream feels like and one bite confirms my suspicion. On top of the whipped cream is something that feels an awful lot like mint and one taste leads me to believe that it is some sort of mint. The gelatinous form on the plate is chocolatey, rich, and nutty. Is it hazelnut? I think so. We finish our meals and call Wolfgang over, letting him know we are finished and ready to leave.

With my hands placed firmly on Jenny's shoulders this time, Wolfgang leads us to the exit. Again, the floor feels uneven and slightly sloped, but is it really? In the lightlock room, we meet Wolfgang in the light. He has less hair than I expected but he doesn't look that much different than I pictured him. Jenny told me he looked nothing like she expected. We shook hands and thanked him before leaving the small staging room for the long hallway back to the stairs leading to the bar.

Once back in the bar, we settle our bill with the kind woman who brought us to the dark dining room earlier in the evening and I learn what it was I had eaten. First Course: Lamb Tartare with Plum Vinaigrette. Second Course: Herb Crusted Veal with potato salad and some word I can't remember and didn't write down [German cabbage]. Third Course: Chocolate Almond Mousse with Whipped Cream and an Edible Flower. My suspicions were incorrect for the stars of both my first and second courses, and I misjudged the nut in my chocolate mousse. Either way, this was an amazing dining experience and even though I wasn't thrilled about eating so much meat, I loved it anyway. I can't wait to try this again in another city, preferably one where the general population speaks English!

I was not sure what to expect going in other than that my other senses might be heightened in the absence of sight. I was constantly repositioning my head trying to use my ears to triangulate my position in the unfamiliar space. My eyes were always scanning the darkness, darting back and forth, searching for any sign of light to remind me they still worked. And even though Jenny and I chatted throughout the entire meal, I was quite conscious of the fact that I was not always looking in her general direction. I was looking this way and that way, listening, searching, wondering. I became more aware of my sense of touch, relying on it to give me hints of what I was about to eat. My sense of taste, felt depressed. I was never certain of what I was eating, except for the potatoes and parts of my dessert.

Jenny and I discussed our excitement and our interest in the whole experience. We were constantly trying to determine the number of diners, the size of the room, and our position in the room relative to the door through which we entered. We were trying to figure out what was on each others plates. We couldn't seem to agree on where the entry door was but we could agree on one thing with absolute certainty - we had an amazing time eating in the dark!

If you are interested in hearing about one person's experience at blindekuh in Zurich, have a listen to this audio postcard from NPR producer Adam Burke.

Better yet, if you live in one of these following cities, go experience dining in the dark yourself: San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Zurich Prague, Moscow, Tel Aviv or Melbourne. There are even dark restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong where unlike the rest of the world, the waitstaff wear infrared goggles. If you do your own research, you will even find that there is a restaurant in New York where you can eat in the dark, except at this Greenwich Village spot, CamaJe Bistro, you wear a blindfold, what fun is that?! But fear not, citizens of New York, Dans le Noir of London, Paris and Barcelona will be opening a new restaurant in Manhattan in April 2010!

Have you dined in the dark? Tell me about your experience eating without sight.

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread

2009-11-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

I've told this story before, life gets in the way and my writing suffers. While away this time I did some more traveling in Europe and had the incredible opportunity to eat at a very special restaurant. A restaurant so special that I have to keep you in the dark for now, but please come back tomorrow to read about my awesome dining experience.

Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about a relatively new Trader Joe's freezer case product, the Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread with Mozzarella Cheese. I have made two of these over the last few weeks because they are that good. If you know and love the aroma and flavor of black truffles, you too will love this flatbread pizza. Keep reading to learn more, or just go to Trader Joe's and buy some of these right away. Come back and finish reading while your oven pre-heats.

I have to admit I was suprised when I first saw this in the case; I thought, truffle flatbread, at Trader Joe's, really? Well after 8 minutes in a 425 degree pre-heated oven I wanted to personally thank the buyer who found this gem for the Trader, I don't care how he or she did it, I'm just glad they did. When I opened the oven to remove the flatbread I was overcome with that amazing truffle aroma that so many of us cherish and love. The crust was crispy and chewy at the same time providing just the right amount of bite and a modest amount of mozzarella melted nicely over the mushrooms, truffles, and truffle sauce. My first bite had my taste buds dancing with joy, and my second bite had me craving more and more. This delicious, perfectly seasoned, truffle flatbread is a winner and is $4.69 for one box.Go buy some, now.

Creative Cuisine at Emma's Pizza

2009-10-21T07:04:00.012-04:00

I first heard of Emma's Pizza a few years ago but had no idea what I was missing until last week. I made plans with a colleague to have lunch here last Thursday and am so glad I did. For a lover of all things pizza, the menu can be a bit overwhelming with two dozen recommended pizzas and over 30 available toppings including three different sauces and an assortment of cheeses. Emma's also has salad and appetizer options, which we did not try, as well as beer, wine, and soft drinks including IBC Root Beer and Cream Soda. Big points for having IBC, I ordered a cream soda.

If you have read my past posts about my own pizza making experience, you know that I like interesting and creative pizza toppings. I previously found pizza inspiration from places like Fig's, but now Emma's has provided me with a new, fresh perspective on the art of pizza making.

After looking over Emma's recommended pizzas, we settled on the #3 and the #7. The #3 has baby spinach, roasted sweet potato, caramelized onions and garlic with Emma's slightly spicy rosemary sauce and mozzarella and goat cheeses layered on perfectly thin crust. The #7 has pepperoni and diced hot cherry peppers with Emma's traditional sauce and mozzarella on the thin crust. With so many choices, these stood out as good options

When the pizzas finally arrived, I almost started to drool. Perfectly baked, perfectly topped, these pizzas looked absolutely fantastic. As good as they looked, they tasted even better. The roasted sweet potato and sweet caramelized onions provided great contrasting flavors to the slightly spicy sauce and the tangy goat cheese of the #3. I LOVED this pizza and have already begun working on my own reproduction of this pizza at home. The pepperoni and hot cherry pepper pizza was also excellent. The perfect amount of topping and the perfect balance of flavor made this pizza a winner. If you love pepperoni pizza, you'll love this version with the added hot cherry peppers, so good. If you live anywhere close to Cambridge I highly recommend that you frequent Emma's Pizza for amazing, fresh, and creative pizza. And if you don't live close, move here for the pizza. Seriously, it's that good.

#3 Baby Spinach/Roasted Sweet Potato/Caramelized Onions/Garlic/Rosemary Sauce/Mozzarella/Goat Cheese

#7 Pepperoni/Hot Cherry Peppers/Traditional Sauce/Mozzarella

Emma's Pizza

40 Hampshire Street
Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
Ph. 617-864-8534

And here is my version of the #3 fresh out of my own home pizza oven (a stone in a 500 degree oven with a stone) with baby spinach, roasted sweet potato, caramelized red onions, fresh garlic, a simple oregano sauce, and chevre and manchego cheeses.

The making of a crepe in Paris

2009-10-20T07:15:00.001-04:00

Back in August I flew Air France to India which meant flying through Charles de Gaulle airport. It also meant a lengthy layover in a less than optimal airport terminal. On my way back home I had five hours to kill and there is very little in the way of food or entertainment in CDG. Fortunately I had a business trip to Paris last April and learned my way around the city in the few short days I was there. My luggage was checked through to Boston so when I landed in Paris, I got another stamp on my passport and bought myself a rail ticket for the RER into the city for some breakfast.

Thirty minutes later I hopped off the train at the Châtelet Les Halles stop, walked a few blocks to the river Seine, and crossed the bridge over to the Notre Dame de Paris. Having been here in the spring, I knew there were plenty of crepe stands in the shadow of the cathedral, and I was on the hunt for an egg and cheese crepe. At the end of Rue du Cloître Notre Dame, behind the cathedral, I found Brasserie Esmeralda. It had just opened for the day and I was the first customer. This meant I was able to see how the crepe griddle is prepared at the beginning of each day, and no crowds.

The first step in preparing the griddle for a day of crepe making is adding a small nob of butter to the griddle, allowing it to melt, and finally wiping it off with a clean paper towel. It's crepe making time!

Next, a ladle of batter is poured in the center of the griddle and spread around using a wooden batter spreader. If you watched Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen this past season, you may remember the crepe episode, this spreading of batter is no easy task for the inexperienced!

Once the batter has set, it is flipped ever so carefully with a long spatula, like the ones that are used for icing cakes. For my egg and cheese crepe one whole egg is cracked onto the crepe and gently scrambled.

Next, lots of shredded cheese is added (I forgot to ask what kind of cheese is used.)

Finally the crepe is folded in eighths, wrapped in paper, and handed over to me, to eat! This delicious egg and cheese crepe needed some more salt and pepper but otherwise was very good. Nice, light, perfectly cooked crepe, tasty egg, and delicious cheese. I can't wait to go back to Paris for more crepes! I can't think of a better way to spend a layover; not only was I not sitting around the airport, I was eating crepes in Paris!

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Mini Croissants

2009-10-06T06:30:00.001-04:00

Better late than never seems to have become my motto here at One Food Guy, and if you forget to take these tasty mini croissants from Trader Joe's out of the freezer the night before you want to eat them, you'll be having croissants for dinner instead of breakfast. That is of course assuming you want to eat them for breakfast in the first place. In any case, just like the chocolate croissants I reviewed a few weeks ago, these mini croissants from Trader Joe's require 7-9 hours at room temperature to defrost and proof prior to baking. When ready, 15-20 minutes at 350F and you'll have light, delicious, fresh baked croissants. The box of 8 costs $3.99 and is well worth the money. I ate mine sliced in half and filled with a fried egg covered in melted manchego cheese but they are simply delicious all on their own.

When you can't fly to Paris for breakfast, or even make it to that little French bakery on the other side of town, be prepared and keep a box or two of these mini croissants in your freezer. They do take a little forethought since you need to set them out the night before, or in the morning for an evening snack, but trust me, they are worth it. Bon Appétit!

Next time on Tuesday's Tasting, a fantastic flatbread pizza: Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants

2009-09-15T06:49:00.001-04:00

Trader Joe has outdone himself. While at my local Trader Joe's last week I saw a box of Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants in the freezer case, a relatively new product. Recently back from a trip into Paris where I did enjoy an amazing pain au chocolat (known as a chocolate croissant in the US,) I thought I would give them a try. So, wow! You need to stop into your local Trader Joe's as soon as you can to pick up some of these amazing, bakery-fresh good chocolate croissants; one box of four croissants is $3.99

J and I decided to try them this past Sunday morning so as the directions indicate on the box, I took the frozen croissants from the box on Saturday night and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I left them out on the counter to proof overnight and in the morning they had nearly quadrupled in size! I preheated the oven to 350F, baked 22 minutes (the box says 20-25,) then let them rest out of the oven for another 10 minutes. These chocolate croissants were light, airy, soft, chocolaty, and oh so delicious! There are four in a single package so J and I each had one Sunday morning, and then ate the rest yesterday. They were still delicious yesterday morning, exhibiting the slightly toothsome texture that a good French pastry should have. I strongly advise you to go out and buy a few boxes as soon as you get the chance, in fact I bought five more boxes on my way home from work last night! Once the word gets out about these, TJ's is going to have a hard time keeping them in stock!

Enjoy my Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissant experience in the following series of photographs -

So there you have it, Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants, go get some and enjoy. Tune in next week for my review of the chocolate croissant's little big cousin, Trader Joe's Mini Croissants!

Winfield's on Block Island

2009-09-09T07:55:00.001-04:00

As the summer comes to a close here in Boston, I figure now is as a good a time as any to post my review of great New England destination restaurant. My wife and I have been taking vacations on Block Island for the last few years and have made it a point each time to stop into Winfield's for dinner at least once.

Winfield's is a casual fine dining restaurant attached to a great night spot called McGovern's Yellow Kittens which features live music every night of the week during the summer. Winfield's presents a contrast to the sometimes rowdy night scene at Yellow Kittens, with it's own bar and comfortable dining room. You're almost certain to have a good, comfortable, delicious meal every time you visit.

Now Block Island, for those of you that don't know it, is a small island that is part of the state of Rhode Island and is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 13 miles (21km) south of the mainland. Less than 10 square miles in area, this is no Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket. While the island may be small, there is no shortage of beaches or quiet places to relax. There are many good restaurants and several fun bars to hang out at and there are lots of houses for rent and great B&Bs at which to stay. If you decide to visit the island, I highly recommend The Old Town Inn; the inn keepers, Lucinda and Dave, are wonderful people and the rooms are clean and comfortable. Dave is very capable in the kitchen and the daily breakfasts are outstanding! He bakes an assortment of fresh breads daily to go along with hot egg dishes, fresh fruits, juices and more.

Now, back to Winfield's. On our visit this year J and I had some friends with us and once again had a great meal. The food is consistently good and on each visit there have been a variety of specials. On this night, I started my meal with Winfield's signature salad, a mix of field greens with toasted pistachio, cucumber, dried cherries, blue cheese, and tarragon vinaigrette. The sweetness of the dried cherries balanced out strong, stinky blue cheese paired and the crunchy, meaty pistachios added nice texture. The salad was a little heavy on the herby tarragon vinaigrette but it was very good.

J and I also shared Winfield's Tuna Crudo appetizer. The incredibly fresh tuna was mixed with olive oil and smoked sea salt and served with with caponata, lavender, taro chips, and soft herbs. The smokey, salty, melt-in-your-mouth good tuna was excellent, no teeth needed, and the taro chips were nice and crispy.

Our friends had some clam chowder to start, but this was no ordinary clam chowder. Most people know that New England Clam Chowder is cream based and that Manhattan Clam chowder is tomato based, but do you know that Rhode Island has its own version of clam chowder that is broth based? Winfield's take on Rhode Island Clam Chowder is a clam broth based chowder with whole in-shell clams, crushed fingerling potatoes, and tasty chunks of lardon. There was also a nice small crust on top. I had a taste of this chowder and it was excellent, well seasoned, lots of clams and potatoes and a very interesting and creative presentation!

For my entree I ordered a pan-seared wild sea bass served with morels and cippolini onions in a creamy oyster stew. The wild sea bass was local and line-caught and incredibly fresh. Cooked perfectly, the fish just melted in my mouth and was seasoned very nicely. The morel mushrooms and a nice earthy flavor to the sauce and the cippolini onions added a nice little zip. The star of this dish was definitely the perfectly cooked wild sea bass but it would have been lost without the incredible oyster stew. The oysters were tender and sweet and the stew was seasoned perfectly. A great dish.

J ordered Winfield's Steak a La Mamma. The steak was a Painted Hills Farm sirloin served with roasted fingerling potatoes, roasted asparagus, and a green peppercorn-garlic demi-glace. Painted Hills Farm is in Oregon and their cattle are raised naturally, free of antibiotics and growth hormones and are fed a 100% vegetarian diet consisting mainly of barley, corn and alfalfa. This steak certainly tasted like the cows lived a happy life before their time was up. It was tender, flavorful and cooked to a perfect medium temperature. The potatoes were roasted to a nice crisp exterior and had a tender, creamy interior, and the asparagus was cooked just enough to give it nice roasted flavor while retaining the some of the crisp crunch of a good fresh vegetable. The green peppercorn demi-glace was nice but neither J or I are much into saucing our steaks.

We washed all this delicious food down with a couple stiff cocktails. J and I like vodka, really good, premium vodka. In fact you might find six or seven different top shelf vodkas in our bar or freezer at any given time, vodkas like Stolichnaya Gold, Stolichnaya Elite, Belvedere, Ciroc, Van Gogh Espresso and Van Gogh Double Chocolate, plus a handle or two of good old regular Stolichnaya. Stoli is definitely my go to vodka when other premium choices aren't available. I like to drink it chilled, straight up with olives, no vermouth, no olive juice, just give me the vodka - also known as a bone dry martini. J on the other hand likes her vodka martinis dirty.

Finally, the one negative part of our dining experience. Since we were on vacation and expected to party hard into that night, J and I decided to finish our meals with a couple espressos. We placed our order with our server and he went off to take care of things. I had a view into the server station at the entrance of the kitchen and witnessed an unacceptable, atrocious act perpetrated by our server who up until this point was very capable and attentive. The restaurant was not very busy at this point but I think our server may have been in the weeds. In Winfield's the servers are responsible for pulling their own espresso drinks and our server must have felt like he did not have the time to brew two doubles. With my own two eyes I watched our server pour regular coffee from the carafe into two espresso cups and bring them straight over to our table! He didn't see me see him but I certainly knew what to expect. As I was about to say something the manager came over to ask how our meals were and the server walked away. I told him that I saw our server pour coffee into the espresso cups, there was no crema on top and the coffee was certainly not the dark, rich color of good espresso. The manager apologized and went off to brew two new espressos, which I did see him do. Can you believe that?!

Have any of you ever experienced something similar in a restaurant where you ordered one thing and either knew your server was duping you or suspected that you did not get what you expected? How did you react? I've worked in restaurants in the past, as a server, in the kitchen, in the front of the house and I know what it's like to be in the weeds, the densest, thickest, Everglades weeds, but NEVER would I pour coffee into an espresso cup and try to pass it off.

Otherwise we had a fantastic meal and we will definitely go back. Here are a couple pictures from a visit to Winfield's in July 2008. Enjoy!

Pumpernickel Crusted Salmon with Chickpea Ragout and Shaved Fennel

Wild Rack of Boar with Swiss Chard and Creamed White Beans

I missed my anniversary!

2009-09-01T00:45:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I missed my own anniversary! No, not my wedding anniversary, that's in May, but the third anniversary of my first post, August 4, 2006 here on one food guy. Has it really been three years? After one hundred ninety posts, I have eaten a lot! I also have a different job than I did three years ago, one that I really enjoy although still not food related, and I have traveled a lot. I've been to England, France, Germany, India, Jamaica, Scotland, and Switzerland. I've also traveled domestically to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, and Miami. I have eaten great food in almost all of those places and have written about many of them.

When I started writing three years ago I had just returned to Boston after a six month consulting contract in New York City. While I did eat VERY well, taking full advantage of my expense account, I had no idea that I would soon eat so well around the world. Then that winter I went to California for a week, visiting friends in and around LA then driving north to Napa and Sonoma Valleys. I ate very well there too. Later in 2007 I began the new job and my worldly travels began.

I ate snails in London, England. I devoured several crepes and some foie gras in Paris, France - I bet a foie gras crepe would be fantastic! In Frankfurt, Germany I bought the most amazing gummy bears, and a beer stein. While in Luzern, Switzerland I ate an ostrich steak, and lots of fondue, although not at the same time. And I ate many buttered pretzels, some with salami, some without. I also discovered that the city has some pretty outstanding sushi. In Edinburgh, Scotland I ate haggis, and liked it, a lot. While in Chennai, India I ate sheeps brain, it wasn't bad although the texture was a little...challenging. I only wish I was able to eat some local jerk chicken while in Jamaica. Alas, I was there on business for just a few days and never got to leave the hotel, what a shame.

So why did I start writing you ask? Fresh from six months of eating well in NYC, I was flipping through the August 2006 issue of Food & Wine Magazine and read about taking perfect food photographs and four Best-Shot Blogs were referenced . I thought, "Wow, what a great idea! I can write and I love to eat, why don't I start my own blog!" So I did. The first few blogs I visited included Chez Pim and 101 Cookbooks but my real inspiration came from some of the west coast writers I would soon come to know. I learned that LA had a burgeoning food blogger scene and Eat Drink & Be Merry, Oishii Eats, Daily Gluttony (now Rants and Craves), and Immaeatchu became regular reads. I started writing more, I came up with Tuesday's Tastings - a once weekly review of products found in Trader Joe's freezer case now currently on hiatus - and I mourned the loss of one of my favorite Trader Joe's products, Spinach and Tofu Egg Rolls.

I also starting making pizzas at home. I have nearly perfected my fig and goat cheese pizza and I owe my sister-in-law a big thanks for sharing her idea for this amazing apple, pear, goat brie and walnut pizza I made a few months ago. I always use sheep or goat milk cheeses and bake my pizzas on a stone at 475-500 degrees fahrenheit. Somes I use red sauce, sometimes pesto, and sometimes no sauce at all, just some good olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper. I love making pizza so much that I hope to construct a wood-fired pizza oven in my backyard some day.

Sometimes life can get in the way of writing, but I have always found time to eat, always. I've been to many amazing places on this great earth and have enjoyed many a great meal. As I eat and drink my way through life I will continue to share my plate with you so; I hope you decide to leave a comment every now and then to let me know you're there.

Thank you so much for reading, I'm just one food guy.

Snacking in Switzerland

2009-08-29T18:10:00.002-04:00

Pretzels are very common in Switzerland where they are usually sliced horizontally, slathered with butter, and sold under the name butterbrezel. I do love a good butterbrezel, especially when it also has salami on it. One of my favorite places in Luzern (Lucerne) Switzerland for a buttered pretzel with salami is Brezelkönig. They also sell pretzel baguettes with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and vegetables, and frankfurters sold on pretzel buns of course! Whenever I travel to Luzern, I usually buy a tomato, mozzarella and pesto baguette right when I get off the train from Zurich. For mid day and weekend snacks, I go for the butterbrezel with salami.

Brezelkönig's pretzels are soft and salty and the butter is fresh and sweet. The salty salami offers a nice contrast to the rich butter which is why I love this pretzel! If you speak any German, check out http://www.brezelkoenig.ch/ or just stop into one of their many locations in Luzern the next time you are there; I know I will.

Pan-Mass Challenge 2009 Recap

2009-08-14T16:39:00.002-04:00

The hills of Sturbridge and Provincetown and the 2009 Pan-Mass Challenge might be behind me, but my fund raising continues along with the global fight against cancer. Will you join me in the fight and make a donation to The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute? Every dollar of your donation will go directly cancer research and treatments, I promise. The PMC allocates 100% of all rider-raised donations directly to The Jimmy Fund, and I'm a rider!

Please visit http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 to make tax-deductible donation. If each unique visitor to my site visits http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 over the next 10 days and donates just $10, we would raise over $8,000 for the the fight against cancer! Ever dollar counts in this fight, please consider donating!

Now, for those of you who follow me on Twitter you got a little taste of what its like to ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown, Massachusetts (practically across the whole state!) In two days, I spent about 12 hours in the saddle of my bike riding 192 miles and burning approximately 14,000 calories along the way! I had to eat a lot to stay fueled up and full of energy to keep pedaling.

Here now is a Tweet-cap of the weekend for those of you who missed it on Twitter:

5:26 AM Aug 1st 6 minutes to the start of the 2009 Pan Mass Challenge!! Have you donated yet? http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 #PMC

5:30 AM Aug 1st PMC 2009 is on!! 192 miles in the fight against cancer! #PMC http://mypict.me/gcP1

7:10 AM Aug 1st Rest stop 1. First 25 miles were hilly, foggy and cool. Its warming up and so am I. #PMC

7:11 AM Aug 1st First rest stop fuel: 1/2 PBJ and banana. Filled a bottle with gatorade. #PMC

8:27 AM Aug 1st Water stop 2; mile 42. More hills, sun is out, rising temps. #PMC http://mypict.me/gf55

8:28 AM Aug 1st Water stop 2: whole fluffer nutter, an orange, and grape gatorade. Rolling on... #PMC

[@OishiiEats makes an online donation and I receive an email notification on my Blackberry]

8:29 AM Aug 1st @OishiiEats you're an all-star, thank you for your donation!!!

10:19 AM Aug 1st Lunch stop, mile 70; 4 hours on the bike so far, 5,353 calories burned. 42 to go, have you donated? http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 #PMC

10:20 AM Aug 1st PMC lunch stop: ate turkey sandwich, tortellini salad, 2 slices of watermelon, bag of yukon gold chip, and a oatmeal raisin cookie. #PMC

[I also drank 1 bottle of water and 1 bottle of Vitamin Water XXX with lunch, and filled my bike bottle with more Vitamin Water XXX.]

11:19 AM Aug 1st Water stop: mile 84 Lakeville. The ice couch to sooth some burning muscles...almost to Bourne! #PMC http://mypict.me/gi4D

11:20 AM Aug 1st Mile 84: slice of watermelon and two fig newtons. 1 more bottle of gatorade. #PMC

12:21 PM Aug 1st Last Saturday water stop: 100.5 miles!!!! 5h 45m on the bike so far!! Almost to Bourne, I can almost taste the @harpoon_brewery beer :)

12:22 PM Aug 1st Last Saturday water stop: 1/2 PBJ and a bottle of gatorade...almost there... Need to dig deep! #PMC

1:06 PM Aug 1st Day 1 PMC finished!! 109 miles, 6 hours 15 minutes! Time for food, shower, massage and beer! #PMC

2:28 PM Aug 1st 109 miles, 8,203 calories, and my reward: fresh @harpoon_brewery beer! #PMC http://mypict.me/gm3v

After 6+ hours of riding and 8,203 calories burned on Saturday, I was hungry and I earned the right to eat! While relaxing at the Mass Maritime Academy campus in Bourne, MA, I ate one grilled BBQ chicken sandwich, one cheeseburger with ketchup and mustard, two slices of pizza, a baked potato with butter, a second baked potato with butter and shredded cheese, some carrots and green peppers, and three small chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. I also drank a Harpoon IPA and several bottles of water.

Saturday caloric expenditure: 8,203 calories
Saturday caloric intake: Approx. 6,100 calories

After a 4am wake-up Sunday morning, I packed my bag, put on my shorts and shirt and headed off the ship, yes I slept in a bunk on a huge maritime training ship, and began day two of cycling, eating, and feeling great about what I was doing!

My friend Kristen wanted me to pretend I wasn't happy about being awake

5:10 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan I'm awake, about to head out on day 2 of the #PMC, last 83 miles of a 192 mile charity ride raising money to fight cancer!

5:37 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan absolutely! http://www.pmc.org & if you would like to donate http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 The Jimmy Fund is the beneficiary

[@KyNamDoan makes a donation online and I receive an email notification on my Blackberry]

7:23 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan you are awesome!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

7:24 AM Aug 2nd 23 miles down; rolling hill after rolling hill through sandwich and barnstable - 60 miles to P-town! #PMC

7:38 AM Aug 2nd Water stop 1; 23 miles: 3 raspberry Fruit & Grain bars and a bag of Terra yukon gold chips. 1 bottle of gatorade #PMC
[Every year during the PMC, campers and counselors from the Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster line the hedge at the edge of the camp's property and cheer for riders as they go by. 'Da Hedge is one of the highlights of Sunday's ride, the cheers are LOUD!]

8:38 AM Aug 2nd At 'Da Hedge in Brewster, mile 38 (147) #PMC http://mypict.me/gFe4

8:48 AM Aug 2nd Brewster water stop, Nickerson State Park, mile 39. #PMC http://mypict.me/gFes

8:50 AM Aug 2nd Brewster water stop, mile 39: PBJ sandwich, some fruit, and a bottle of gatorade. #PMC

10:02 AM Aug 2nd Wellfleet water stop, mile 57. Last stop before P-town! Ate some fruit and half a turkey sandwich. P-town here I come! #PMC

11:29 AM Aug 2nd PMC 2009 is finished!! 185 miles, 13,989 calories burned! ~12 hours in the saddle! Must eat and drink...recap to come! #PMC

What a day! Once I showered up I ate a cheeseburger and a hot dog and sucked down a tasty Harpoon IPA. I then went to lunch with my wife and her family and ate a large Cobb salad with ranch dressing. I also ate a whole 5oz. bag of Terra Dark Russet potato chips (that's the big bag) and drank a Vitamin10 water on the drive home. What an insatiable appetite! Burning 14,000 calories gives me carte blanche to eat whatever I want!

Sunday's Caloric Expenditure: 5,800 calories
Sunday's Caloric Intake: Approx. 4,750 calories

I'm already looking forward to the 2010 Pan-Mass Challenge. Want to join me?!

The Triumphant Return of Tuesday's Tastings - TJ's Butter Chicken Masala

2009-08-11T20:14:00.003-04:00

After several months of dormancy, Tuesday's Tastings makes a triumphant return with my review of Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala. When I was at my local Trader Joe's about a month ago, I noticed a few new frozen Indian meals that looked like they had some promise. I took a look at the ingredients of this Butter Chicken Masala and saw fenugreek, an herb commonly used in much of India's native dishes including curry. The inclusion of this herb added some credibility to Trader Joe's claim on the box that this was an "Authentic Indian Recipe"so I thought for a few dollars I would give it a try.

After about 10 minutes in the microwave - 5 minutes on defrost, 4 minutes on high, and 1 minute to cool - I peeled back the cellophane cover and was greeted with a familiar smell, that of slow cooked, tender, spicy chicken masala. The basmati rice lacked much of any fragrance and with my first bite I was greeted with some slightly rubbery grains, but the chicken was very tender, very flavorful, and actually quite good. Like many Indian dishes, the chicken was spicy, but not hot spicy, just spices spicy. It tasted very close to some real butter chicken masalas that I've eaten in India and that's a big compliment to Trader Joe. I did find that when I mixed the chicken and gravy (what Indian's call sauce) with the rice, the whole meal was very good and certainly tasted like an authentic Indian recipe.

If you like Indian food, real Indian food, I recommend you pick up some of this Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala the next time you're at the market. Once you've had a taste, come back here and leave a comment; let me know what you think.

Happy eating.

Better than a Fast Food Burger

2009-08-05T18:23:00.002-04:00

Two of my favorite burger joints are out west in California - The Counter and In-N-Out Burger. I'm waiting for the day that one of them opens an outpost in Boston but I'm not holding my breath. There are plenty of good burger joints in Boston though, and UBurger is one of them. Opened in 2006 to much fanfare and billed as the closest thing to In-N-Out Burger on the east coast, it took me two and a half years to finally walk through their doors. The date was April 19th, 2009 and I was on my way to an early season Red Sox game against the Baltimore Orioles. Looking for something quick in Kenmore Square, I ended up at UBurger with my friend Mike.

With an assortment of burgers, chicken, hot dogs and salads on their everyday menu, there is plenty to choose from. They also have a specials board with a nod to the local boys of summer. There is the Big Papi burger with cheddar cheese, guacamole, jalapenos and chipotle sauce - I wonder if the beef comes from cattle injected with steroids? There is also the All-Star burger with cheddar, swiss, grilled mushrooms, jalapenos and BBQ sauce. But I went for the UBecket, a 1/4 pound patty with pepper jack, grilled onions and mushrooms, and BBQ sauce. Mmm mmm good.

The bun on my UBecket was nice and soft and slightly grilled and the burger was nice and juicy. The grilled onions and mushrooms were cooked well and the pepperjack while peppery was not hot. The BBQ sauce was good, but nothing I would want to slather on a rack of ribs. I also split an order of french fries and onion rings with Mike. Both the fries and rings were crispy, salty, and cooked perfectly; UBurger knows how to make a great onion ring!

Although not quite In-N-Out Burger, UBurger did crank out some good burgers, fries, onion rings, and shakes. I ordered a mocha shake to wash everything down and it was thick and rich just like a good shake should be. The next time you find yourself in Kenmore Square and you're craving a burger, or onions rings, or a good shake, check out UBurger, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

UBurger
636 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 536-0448

Flying Lobster and Some Good Global Eating

2009-07-23T17:37:00.004-04:00

Just because I have been M.I.A. for the last month does not mean I haven't been eating well and keeping track. Today I'll you about a great dining experience I had recently, at 35,000 feet, along with some other great global eating! If you've been reading my writing for a while or have been perusing my archives, then you may remember a rave review I gave British Airways last year for their food.

Well I flew British Airways back to India last month and ate well the entire way. There are several ways to get to India from Boston and one of them includes flying through London's Heathrow airport; ALL of them involve two days of travel. That's right, I left Boston's Logan Airport on Sunday evening and arrived in Bangalore, India on Tuesday morning. Two long flights and a five hour layover in London meant lots of opportunity to eat along the way. I know what you're thinking: "airplane/airport food is terrible!" And I totally agree depending on where you're going and what airline you're flying. I know first hand that food on domestic carriers in the US like American and United ranges anywhere from none to barely edible. Not so on International carriers like British Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss Air; and most of the airports in Europe have very good dining options, especially London Heathrow! So read along as I eat along the way to India.

My first flight from Boston to London took off around 9pm and I had already eaten dinner so I skipped the in-flight meal; here is a jet-lag fighting tip for you: keep the same eating and sleeping schedule of the place you are leaving until you arrive at your destination and you should acclimate to the new time zone much easier. That sometimes means skipping in-flight meals and sleeping when you think you should be awake, OR staying awake when all you want to do is sleep! It was around 9am in London when I landed so walked around the terminal for about 30 minutes to get my blood flowing again and then began my hunt for food. I started my around-the-world eating session with some Eggs Norwegian (poached eggs, smoked salmon, hollandaise on a muffin) at Gordon Ramsay Plane Food in Terminal 5; £7.50 (~$13 at the time) for half a toasted muffin, two poached eggs and some salmon!? Seriously?! Anyway, it was good. The salmon was melt-in-your mouth good and the hollandaise was the perfect balance of rich, buttery goodness and tart, citrusy lemon.

Having just spent 7+ hours on a plane crossing 5 time zones, I was still hungry, so I headed over to Wagamama in the same wing of Terminal 5. I didn't want to eat too much more since I was about to get on a plane for another 10+ hours so I ordered the Asa Gohan from the menu. Asa Gohan is a traditional Japanese breakfast and at Wagamama it consists of some sticky rice, Japanese pickles, and a cup of miso soup. The miso was excellent, the rice very sticky and the pickles were soft, sweet, crunchy and delicious; what a great breakfast!

So far so good in the food category but it was about to get much, much better!

I prefer to fly on British Airways when I'm going over to India for several reasons. First, the seats on British Airways' planes are comfortable and they have plenty of leg room, even in economy class known as World Traveler - comfort and leg room are important considerations for me since the flights are long and I'm rather tall at 6'2" (188cm for my metric friends.) But more important than the comfort of the seats is the quality of the food. I actually think the food is great on long haul British Airways flights, even in the back of the plane. I wrote about one good dining experience I had on British Airways last year but my experience last month takes the cake - no I didn't have any cake, I chose the cheese course, read on!

I'm also a British Airways frequent flier and on my flight from London to Bangalore I was fortunate to receive an upgrade to business class, known as Club World. I had flown in Club World once before on a return trip from Chennai, India to London so I knew I was in for a treat. Even better was the fact that my seat (also my bed) was on the upper deck of the 747 I was about to board.

Upon taking my seat upstairs on the plane I wasted no time taking advantage of the world class service British Airways offers. I asked for a glass of champagne, and not just any champagne but the outstanding Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut Champagne. I was well on my way to having a very comfortable flight. When flying in World Traveler (economy) between London and India, passengers have a choice between an Indian meal or non-Indian meal, both always good. The same is true in Club World except there are more choices and haute cuisine. After the plane took off I was handed a nice Club World dining menu with several options for each of three courses! Although I was craving Indian food, I took one look at my choices and knew what I was ordering...

After a couple more glasses of Heidsieck Champagne, I started my in-flight meal with a fresh lobster salad with pink grapefruit and mango salsa along with a fresh salad of mixed greens and a simple vinaigrette dressing. The lobster salad was so fresh and tasted so good with the pink grapefruit segments and mango salsa. For my main course I chose a chilled salad of smoked salmon, roasted vine tomatoes and dill potatoes. The alternative choices were whiting in a yogurt sauce with spicy coconut green beans, red kidney beans in masala sauce with yellow lentils and spinach, or duck confit with green beans, cocotte potatoes, and thyme jus! Wow! I bet the duck confit was outstanding but I had a long flight ahead of me and three glasses of champagne already in me, so I went with the light smoked salmon option. For dessert I had the choice of a chocolate cherry trifle with strawberry sauce, vanilla ice cream, a cheese plate, or a selection of fresh fruits and chocolates. The cheese plate consisted of Cropwell Bishop Stilton and triple creme French Brie along with some savory biscuits, so I chose that, I love brie. The cheeses were excellent. I had one more glass of champagne to wash everything down and then slept the rest of the way to Bangalore. Thank you, British Airways, for an incredible flying, and dining experience!

I highly recommend flying with British Airways, check them out at http://www.britishairways.com or follow British Airways North American on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BritishAirways and British Airways United Kingdom at http://twitter.com/British_Airways

A Pizza Masterpiece

2009-06-08T06:16:00.001-04:00

Salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, these are all great adjectives for the most recent pizza creation to come out of my oven. Delicious, fantastic, outstanding, these would aptly apply as well. I can’t take credit for the flavor combinations though; my sis-in-law Cori procured all the ingredients for this masterpiece and therefore deserves all the credit. This apple, pear, caramelized onion, goat brie, honey and walnut pizza was her idea.

What I did do was stretch the dough until thin and laid it out on my cornmeal dusted pizza peel. I then lightly brushed the dough with olive oil and seasoned it with salt, cracked black pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper. Then came a layer of caramelized onions and thinly sliced bartlett pear and crisp granny smith apple. Add to that thin slices of ripe goat brie, walnut halves and a healthy drizzle of honey. I found that it was easiest to stick the walnut halves onto the slices of brie to hold them in place as the pizza cooks.

I slid the fully assembled pizza onto a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven and baked for 9 minutes. Sliced and then eaten, this pizza was outstanding. It deserves a place on my stone with the caramelized onion, baby arugula, black mission fig and goat cheese pizza that I love so much. If some day I own a restaurant, this pizza will certainly be on the menu.

French Street Food

2009-05-26T20:54:00.001-04:00

France is known for a lot of things including great wine, cheese, bakeries and culture. And Paris is known for a lot of those things including the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, the Notre Dame, and amazing pâtisseries. When I told my friend Alex that I was headed to Paris for work I didn't even get a chance to ask her what I should do before she said "you absolutely have to get a banana and nutella crêpe from one of the street vendors." It was a common theme among friends when they learned of my trip so I made that my mission once I arrived. I took a few detours on my way to crêpe heaven, first to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo

and then to the top of the Eiffel Tower,

but it wasn't until I made my way down the river to the Notre Dame

that I finally saw what I could only dream of previously, the famous street vendors that create the Parisian street food known as the crêpe. I saw lots of amazing and inspiring artwork, sculptures, and architectural wonders, but at that moment it was all about the banana nutella crêpe so I stepped right up and ordered one.

I think the young woman making my crêpe was a but uncomfortable with me taking pictures, should I have asked first? I was giddy like a little kid in a candy store; I was hungry and could not wait to try this crêpe I had heard so much about. Smeared with nutella and stuffed with ripe, sliced bananas, it was a challenge to eat with a broken arm in a cast, but I managed, a couple times. The crêpe pancake was hot, sweet and perfect and the nutella and banana filling almost brought me to my knees. Wow, so good. Seriously amazing. I want to go back to Paris for a lot of things and one of them is another banana nutella crêpe. Bon appétit!

The BEST beef short ribs from Blue Ribbon BBQ

2009-05-20T17:40:00.001-04:00

I have been a big Blue Ribbon fan for a long time, and I'm not talking about the restaurant in New York City. I'm talking about Blue Ribbon Bar-B-Q in West Newton, Massachusetts, a real, local, barbecue institution "inspired by the roadside barbecue joints that dot the American south." I have been a big supporter of Blue Ribbon ever since I moved down the street from the restaurant several years ago. They have something for everyone including Big Green Salads if you're a health conscious barbecue lover - add some of their pulled chicken or amazing spicy chicken salad on top - or giant stuffed burritos if you like your barbecue with a little Mexican flair. They stuff gigantic, flour tortillas with rice and beans, cabbage, salsa, cilantro and sour cream along with your choice of pulled pork, chicken, or burnt ends. I used to eat one of these nearly every week.

*image of West Newton's exterior "borrowed" from Blue Ribbon's Flickr feed

I could go on and on about everything on their menu because honestly, in my opinion, nearly everything is great. I don't particularly like their cornbread, it's not consistent and usually dry, but seriously, everything else is superb. I love their pulled chicken, it's always super tender and delicious and their burnt ends are heavenly. Even their pulled pork is something every hog on the farm probably dreams of - tender and perfectly seasoned. They also have great ribs and great sides too. Their baked beans are some of the best around and I could live on a diet of their coleslaw alone. Seriously, good stuff.

What really sets Blue Ribbon apart, though, is their specials. Every day they have new specials up on the board; sides, platters, sandwiches, and desserts. One of my favorite sides that occasionally makes the specials board is their beets vinaigrette. Tender, sliced red beets with red onions, parsley and a delicious oil and vinegar dressing. They are sweet and tart and simply amazing. They even have a great meatloaf that appears on the board from time to time.

If I haven't already set Blue Ribbon up to be a great barbecue joint, it gets better. On Monday night I stopped in to pick up dinner for J and I. J asked me to pick her up a half jerk chicken, which is awesome, but I was still undecided when I walked in to the restaurant. Looking up at the specials for the evening, the beets vinaigrette was absent, but their mac & cheese was up, which I ordered. And there was also a line up on the board for some smoked beef short ribs. Unfortunately I forget what the glaze on them was, but wow, delicious. These beef short ribs might have been the BEST barbecue I have ever had from Blue Ribbon. I'm not kidding, I love everything on their regular menu and have never had anything bad from them, but these beef short ribs were just amazing. Two big, thick, meaty short ribs with a BEAUTIFUL smoke ring. They were tender, flavorful and just absolutely perfect examples of great barbecue. I hope they become regular visitors to the specials board, or better yet, regular menu itesm, because I will order them every single time I stop in.

Amazing beef short ribs with coleslaw and mac & cheese

Look how thick and meaty these ribs are!!

Look at this amazing smoke ring!

If you live in the greater Boston area and are looking for great barbecue, I highly recommend you stop into Blue Ribbon for some 'cue. They have two locations, the one I visit often in West Newton and a second in Arlington. Eat there, you won't be disappointed.

Blue Ribbon Bar-B-Q
1375 Washington St
Newton, MA 02465
Phone: 617.332.2583

or

908 Massachusetts Avenue
Arlington, MA 02476
Phone: 781.648.7427

Save the taste buds!

2009-05-18T22:45:00.004-04:00

Imagine life without your favorite foods. Imagine everything began to taste too salty, very bitter, or even metallic. For all the people that will be diagnosed with cancer this year, the chemotherapy treatments they will undergo will take their appetites and change the way their favorite food tastes. Imagine if chocolate no longer tasted like chocolate!

Please make a small donation and join my campaign to save the taste buds - join the fight against cancer: http://www.pmc.org/egifts/SD0131

Each year nearly 1.4 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States, a figure that does not include the 900,000 new cases of skin cancer diagnosed annually. Cancer is the second leading cause of death (after heart disease) in the United States, accounting for 560,000 deaths every year. While more than 3 million people are diagnosed with cancer around the globe each year, the figure most likely represents just a percentage of people who have the disease but remain undiagnosed due to decreased access to health care in different parts of the world.

The treatments that cancer patients must endure are painful. Chemotherapy makes their hair fall out. It alters the way their food tastes. It destroys their appetite. As if receiving the news that "it's cancer" isn't bad enough, the treatments needed to kill the cancer are so toxic that sometimes they kill the patient too.

This summer on August 1st and 2nd I will be riding 192 miles (309 kilometers) across the state of Massachusetts in my third Pan-Mass Challenge. Over the last two years I raised over $10,000 in memory of my family and friends that have been taken away by cancer. I expect that this year, due to the economy, my fund raising is going to be an even bigger challenge. I have set a modest goal of $5,000 this year with 100% of every dollar going directly to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

My family has seen it's share of cancer over the years. My grandmother, one of my great aunts, and lots of cousins; only one survivor. Friends from high school and summer camp who never saw their 30th birthday. Cancer does not discriminate. Cancer doesn't care how old you are or if you have children. Cancer never takes the day off, and neither should we.

So readers, I'm asking you to think about your life, your family, your friends. The probability is very high that you know someone who has had cancer. Please consider that this ride, the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, gives 100% of the rider-raised donations directly to The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for the treatments and research that save lives. It helps fund early detection programs that often times mean the difference between life and death. Every dollar raised brings us all one step closer to a cure.

I am asking you to please make a 100% tax-deductible donation to help in the continuing fight against cancer; each donation brings us all closer to a cure.

To donate online, go to http://www.pmc.org/egifts/SD0131

PS: I’d like to ask one more favor. It would be so great if you would share this post with one of your friends or family members and ask them to make a a donation too. Just think how much more money we could raise in our effort to rid our lives of this horrible disease.

New York Tour de Barbecue

2009-05-18T21:24:00.001-04:00

On a recent trip to Manhattan I decide to embark on a mini tour de barbecue so I consulted with my friend Gary over at Pigtrip.net - he is a barbecue genius. I asked Gary where I should go for the best ribs in New York and as I expected he gave me some choices; Wildwood for saucy ribs or RUB (Gary's personal favorite) for smoky au natural, also known as dry rubbed. If it's beef ribs or brisket I'm looking for, Hill Country is where it's at, which happens to be just 4 blocks from RUB. So after considering my options and looking at a map, I decided I would start at RUB for some of their smoky ribs and then make my way over to Hill Country for those famous beef ribs.

RUB, which stands for Righteous Urban Barbeque, is a small place with a takeout counter on the right, seating with wait service on the left, and a bar in the back. With several rib cut options on their menu I needed some assistance. First was the choice between St. Louis ribs or baby back ribs. I was leaning towards the St. Louis because they are usually meatier. But then I had to choose between the short end or the bony end. The short end is the last seven ribs off the slab and is also known as the tender end; the bony end is first six bones off the slab and is usually much meatier. Meat was what I was after so I went with the bony end with a side of their vinegar based cole slaw. The ribs were very smoky, almost too much, but they were very tender with a nice smoke ring and crispy bark. The slaw was outstanding, I like creamy coleslaw as much as the next person, but this vinegar slaw was excellent and perfect alongside the ribs.

Next stop, Hill Country Barbecue Market. I stopped in around 3:30pm so the restaurant was pretty empty. I was greated by a nice young woman at the front door who asked if I had ever been there before. I said no, and quickly got a lesson in the barbecue market. Upon entering the market, I'm given a meal ticket. Meal ticket rules can be seen in the second image below, but basically you take your ticket to the butcher counter where you order your meat, I ordered one big beef rib, and the butcher will weigh and price your meat. He'll affix a deli counter style sticker to your meal ticket and direct you towards the sides and trimmings station. With hot and cold sides to choose from I settled on Cool as Cucumber cucumber salad and Confetti Cole Slaw.

The beef rib was big, tender and very delicious, and the cucumber salad was sweet and sour vinegary perfection; if I was a cucumber I would want to be made into this delicious salad. Finally the confetti cole slaw, lightly dressed this cole slaw was a little creamy and a lot good. If I hadn't come from RUB I would have ordered more than one beef rib and may have tried some of the other great sounding sides. I don't know about you, but beer braised cowboy pinto beans and campfire baked beans with burnt ends sound pretty awesome to me. In hindsight, I wish I had at least tried their skillet cornbread. I'll have to wait until next time, and trust me, there will be a next time.

The next time you're in New York City and craving some barbecue, you should definitely check these places out. I'd suggest you start at Hill Country first, with live music everyday and fantastic Texas barbecue, it's a real treat.

Hill Country Barbecue Market
30 West 26th Street (Between 6th and Broadway)
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212.255.4544

RUB BBQ
208 West 23rd Street (Between 7th and 8th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212.524.4300

I don't feel any smarter after eating this

2009-05-13T07:57:00.001-04:00

Alternate title: Fear Factor - Indian Style

My food philosophy is that if something is on the menu, then someone likes it and someone thinks it is okay to eat. So when I found myself with my friend and colleague Nmuthu at Karaikudi Restaurant in Mylapore, India, I knew I had to be true to myself when I was asked if I'd ever had brains and do I want to try it. So I said yes.

When the dish was placed on our table, some of the pieces still resembled the brain so I immediately knew I was in for a challenge. I stared at the plate for a minute and with some hesitation picked up a small piece. The texture in my hand was soft and delicate and no I wasn't just playing with my food; in India people eat with their hands, their right hand actually. After thinking for a minute about what I was about to eat, I popped the piece of brain in my mouth and chewed. The texture in my mouth is something I've had a hard time describing since I told the first person about my eating adventure. It was homogeneous and creamy in texture on the inside with a very delicate skin on the outside. The flavor was very mild having not been well sauced. The flavor of brain, I'm told, is usually dominated by whichever sauce they are prepared with. Nmuthu also tried a piece and told me that even though he doesn't love brains he has had them before and the ones we were eating that day lacked in any significant flavor; they were not prepared that well. Fortunately the rest of our meal was fantastic! In addition to the brains, we also ate vegetable biryani, chettiyar chicken masala, gobi 65, and two types of south Indian bread - parotta and chapathi.

Clockwise from the top: Parotta, Chettiyar Special Chicken Masala,
Vegetable Biryani, Mutton Brains

Biryani is a rice based dish that is popular throughout the Middle East and India. Some say that the biryani from Hyderabad put that city on the culinary map; we ate some vegetable biryani and it was delicious. The chicken masala we ate must be from a local recipe, although I didn't ask, since Chettiyar, or more commonly Chettiar, is a title used by people in south India to identify themselves or others with a specific group of people. The Indian breads we ate, parotta and chapathi, are two common south Indian breads served with most meals. Finally, gobi 65, which is one of my favorite snacks/appetizers in India - my favorite is still pani puri, and I ate some of that this trip too. Gobi is cauliflower and it is very popular in Indian cuisine. Gobi 65 is fried cauliflower dredged in chili powders and other spices, here is one recipe from Coimbatore, another great city in south India. If you ever find yourself in Mylapore, check out this restaurant, it was very good.

Here is my receipt, see the third item?

Pancake Breakthrough!

2009-05-09T16:11:00.004-04:00

Back in January I wrote about these incredible pancakes that I made from a recipe I saw on Zestycook.com; The pancakes are and continue to be some of the best pancakes I've ever had. They are so good, in fact, that I make them almost every weekend mixing in different fruit to prevent pancake boredom. As good as these pancakes are, I always felt they could be better, lighter, fluffier.

Fast forward to last week - I was trying to free up some space on my DVR and decided to watch an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay that I recorded about a month or so ago; Chef Flay challenged the owners of Clinton Street Baking Company in NY, Neil Kleinberg and DeDe Lahman, to a Blueberry Pancakes throwdown. Both Flay and Neil Kleinberg whipped their egg whites to soft peaks before incorporating them into their batters; they said this would give the pancakes the light fluffy texture and a light went off in my head.

I made my own blueberry pancakes this morning but this time I modified my/Zesty's recipe. I separated the eggs in the recipe and whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks before incorporating them into the batter. Wow, what a difference this small modification made. I'm talking seriously good, light, fluffy, delicious, good for you blueberry pancakes. I say good for you because unlike many pancake recipes there is absolutely NO sugar; the recipe also uses whole wheat flour and whole oats. I have also been adding in ground cinnamon and sometimes pumpkin pie spice just to mix things up a little. For your convenience and eating pleasure I am including the modified recipe below along with some tasty pancake pics from my breakfast this morning. Bon apetit!

Oatmeal Pancakes
Serves 4 (makes approximately 12 pancakes)
Ingredients

1 Cup Oats (Quaker Old Fashioned Oats)
1 Cup Whole-Wheat flour
1 Cup All Purpose flour
2 Tbsp. Baking powder
1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon (optional)
1/2 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie spice (optional)
1 1/2 Cup Milk or Milk Alternative like Hemp Milk
1/4 Cup Vegetable oil
2 Eggs (separated)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Tbsp. Honey

Directions

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat
Whisk together the oats, flours, baking powder, nutmeg and salt
Using the same whisk in a second bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg yolks, vanilla, and honey
In a third bowl, preferably of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites to soft peaks
Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir until just combined
Mix in blueberries, sliced bananas, or any other fruit you like
Gently fold in the egg whites until incorporated and let the batter rest a few minutes
Pour batter into skillet using about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake, the batter will be thick
Once bubbles form on the outside of the pancake and do not fill in again - it is time to flip them over
Flip once, finish cooking, then serve with butter and pure Vermont maple syrup

Just look how much fluffier these beautiful pancakes are!

Top Chef Masters!

2009-04-15T09:36:00.002-04:00

How many of you know about the new Bravo show Top Chef Masters? With the first episode airing on June 10, Bravo brings us 24 of the best chefs in the country competing Top Chef style for the title Top Chef Master and $100,000 for a charity of their choice! I have listed the contestants below. I don't know about you but I am super excited to see these master chefs in action! Check out Bravo TV for more information.

Rick Bayless, Frontera Grill, Chicago
Wilo Benet, Pikayo, San Juan, Puerto Rico
John Besh, Restaurant August, New Orleans
Graham Elliot Bowles, Graham Elliott, Chicago
Michael Chiarello, Bottega Restaurant, Yountville, CA
Michael Cimarusti, Providence, Los Angeles
Wylie Dufresne, wd-50, New York City
Elizabeth Falkner, Orson, San Francisco
Hubert Keller, Fleur de Lys, San Francisco
Christopher Lee, Aureole, New York City
Ludo Lefebvre, Ludo Bites, Los Angeles
Anita Lo, Anissa, New York City
Tim Love, The Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, TX
Rick Moonen, Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Nils Noren, French Culinary Institute, New York City
Lachlan McKinnon Patterson, Frasca Foood & Wine, Boulder, CO
Cindy Pawlcyn, Mustards Grill, Napa Valley, CA
Mark Peel, Campanile, Los Angeles
Douglas Rodriguez, Alma de Cuba, Philadelphia
Michael Schlow, Radius Restaurant, Boston
Art Smith, Table Fifty-Two, Chicago
Suzanne Tracht, Jar, Los Angeles
Jonathan Waxman, Barbuto, New York City
Roy Yamaguchi, Roy’s Restaurants, San Diego

The Best Sushi in...Switzerland?!

2009-04-12T12:07:00.008-04:00

I'm talking about Kaiten Sushi Bar in the new city neighborhood of Lucerne. To be fair the only city in Switzerland I have spent any significant amount of time in is Lucerne, and, this is the only place I have eaten sushi. But, this sushi is seriously good and it's fun. The sushi is served on small, color-coded plates that you help yourself to from small sailboats cruising around the sushi bar. Enjoy these pictures and the next time you are in Lucerne, eat at Kaiten. They also have a take away location a few blocks away. In three trips to Lucerne I have eaten here five times, it's good!

Kaiten Sushi Bar
Kauffmannweg 16
6003 Luzern, Switzerland
Ph. 041 210 42 40

The Sushi Boats Sail Around the Bar

Crab and Seaweed Salad

Yellowtail, Salmon and Tuna Sashimi

Rainbow Roll

Spicy Tuna Roll

On the disabled list

2009-03-24T12:16:00.000-04:00

Due to an unfortunate accident at my house over the weekend, my left arm is in a cast for at least the next 8 weeks - I broke my wrist. Typing is slow and difficult with one hand so I'm going to try and catch up on my "writing" with a little photo journalism. Follow me through pictures as I eat my way through Switzerland and India.

Best Korean BBQ Tacos at Kogi

2009-03-07T13:17:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm eating tacos again. I can't help it, they are the nearly perfect food - tasty, portable, and quick. I also like Korean barbecue so when I learned about Kogi BBQ before heading to California in December, I immediately starting following them so I knew where they'd be when I was hungry. Wait, I'm always hungry. Anyway, not quite sure what I'm talking about? Back in late November @kogibbq began to Twitter. What's Twitter? Really?! Follow me @onefoodguy and find out!

Okay, let me start over. Kogi BBQ is a taco truck, a Korean BBQ taco truck, and they use Twitter to broadcast their location in and around the greater Los Angeles area! Actually, they have two trucks and a menu at Alibi Room in Culver City, CA but back in December they only had one truck and I wanted to try their tacos. So I started following them on Twitter and periodically checked Twitterberry to find where they would be. On my last night in Venice I saw they would be parked outside The Brig on Abbot Kinney, just 1 mile from my friends house where I was staying. Score! Kogi tacos were on my late night menu!

Kogi offers four different fillings for their tacos, Korean short ribs - their signature, spicy BBQ chicken, spicy pork, and tofu, and each taco is topped with sesame-chile salsa roja, julienne romaine and cabbage tossed in Korean chili-soy vinaigrette, cilantro-green onion-lime relish, crushed sesame seeds, and sea salt, then garnished with a lime wedge, an orange wedge, and a red radish wedge. I know they sound awesome, and they ARE awesome. I really wish Kogi had a truck in Boston...Kogi are you listening?!

If you want to learn more about Kogi BBQ, follow them on Twitter @kogibbq and if you want to see what's going on at the trucks, check out their photostream on Flickr. Don't have Twitter? Don't care for Flickr? Go to http://www.kogibbq.com, find out where the trucks are, and go get yourself some incredible Korean BBQ tacos! Tell them One Food Guy sent you!

Not your usual Elements

2009-03-07T08:11:00.002-05:00

After spending an afternoon on the Santa Barbara shore and hopping from tasting room to bar room, J and I were ready for dinner and knew where to go thanks to a friend back home AND the fine folks over at Carr Winery. We were headed to Elements Restaurant and Bar, home of the Firetini. Elements has about a dozen signature martinis and a half dozen more Elementinis. One of their most talked about Elementinis is the Firetini, also known as "The Inferno". The Firetini is a habanero infused Skyy vodka martini shaken with passionfruit puree and simple syrup and served with a sugared rim. It is spicy and sweet, and amazing!

Elements entire menu has the elements theme mixed in. For example, J and I started our meal with a piece of the earth. That is, we started with a Wild Arugula Salad with heirloom tomato carpaccio, Humboldt fog, pickled shallots, and golden watermelon. Until J and I discovered Truffle Tremor last November, Humboldt fog may have been our favorite cheese. Humboldt fog is a soft, ripened goat cheese with an edible ribbon of vegetable ash along its center made by my favorite cheese maker, Cypress Grove Chevre. Needless to say when we saw this salad on the menu our decision to order it was an easy one, and we were not disappointed. The combination of the ripened cheese, the peppery arugula and the slightly sweet and tart pickled shallots was just perfect.

Wild Arugula Salad - earth

For our entrees, J and I both ordered something from the water. I ordered a lemongrass-panko crusted seabass with thai green coconut curry, ginger and saffron basmati rice, stir-fried vegetables, and chili oil, and J ordered the bacon wrapped Alaskan halibut with pancetta, clams, Spanish sofrito, lobster fumet, and grilled crostini. Both of our entrees were cooked perfectly, constructed masterfully, and tasted wonderfully. Take a look at my pictures then book your trip to Santa Barbara as soon as possible. Help support the economy - eat good food!

Lemongrass-Panko Crusted Seabass - water

Bacon Wrapped Alaskan Halibut - water

Finally, the perfect ending to a perfect day. My notes are fuzzy and so was my head at this point in the day after micheladas, wine, beer, martinis, and lots of amazing food, so forgive me for not remembering exactly what this dessert was other than it was delicious - I think it was a dark chocolate mousse. Chef Matthew Webster Reddy at Elements, if you read this, please let me know the name of this dessert so I can appropriately give credit! Thanks for a fantastic experience.

Food, Wine, Sand and Sun = Santa Barbara

2009-02-28T14:03:00.001-05:00

A trip to southern California wouldn't be complete without a stop in Santa Barbara, home of many things beautiful including amazing Pinot Noir and incredible food.

With just a day in Santa Barbara, J and I wanted to make the most of our time once we arrived but we didn't know where to begin. We decided to start at the only place we knew in Santa Barbara, The Shoreline Beach Cafe, right on the water.

The Shoreline Beach Cafe is the only restaurant in all of Santa Barbara that you can actually dine with your feet in the sand and that's just what we did. We started off with one of our favorite warm weather drinks, a michelada. A michelada is like a bloody mary with beer instead of vodka and it is incredibly refreshing. It's salty, spicy, and very fresh. It's basically some tomato juice, some worcestershire sauce, some maggi or soy sauce, a dash of hot sauce, and squeeze of lime with a good light Mexican beer like Corona or Tecate. A peppered rim gives the drink a nice little kick.

And what's better with a fine Mexican cocktail than fish tacos? If you've been reading One Food Guy for a while then you know I love tacos, so when I saw these catch-of-the-day fish tacos my ordering decision was a no-brainer. Soft corn tortillas stuffed with freshly fried fish covered in fresh cabbage and cilantro with a side of pico, smokey, spicy black beans and a slightly spicy sauce. With the sun setting in front of us (we got a late start on the day,) an ice cold michelada in hand, delicious fish tacos in my stomach and a big ass pelican staring at us - what a perfect beginning to our day.

Our next stop in Santa Barbara took a little work. We were in Pinot country and wanted to taste some wines so I fired up Google Maps on my Crlackberry and before long we found ourselves at Carr Winery in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara. They produce some seriously good pinot noir as well as syrah, grenache, pinto gris and cabernet franc. Tastings are available for $10 from 11am to 5pm everyday and Friday nights from 5pm to 11pm in the barrel room they have live music to go along with wines by the glass and bottle service. This place is worth checking out, trust me! If you like pinot noir you will really enjoy the pinot that Carr produces. J and I brought a few bottles home with us and are looking forward to uncorking them soon.

We made a couple more stops around Santa Barbara before heading to dinner. One at the Santa Barbara Winery, nice enough folks and decent wines but this place had TOURIST written all over it. It reminded me of the Newport Vineyards tasting room in Newport, RI where busloads of people are dropped off for tours and tastings - no thanks!!

Our last stop before dinner was at The Brewhouse, home of some fantastic Belgian style ales and an outstanding Habanero Pilsner! Yes, it's HOT but also very clean and crisp and well balanced. All this drinking certainly loosened us up and prepared us for a great dinner. Not only did my friend Gina tell us about Elements but the nice people at Carr Winery also recommended it, so that's we were headed. Stay tuned for my review of Elements Restaurant and Bar.

Find yourself at Tao

2009-02-12T19:39:00.000-05:00

Taoism is a philosophy, a religion, and a way of life; Tao Restaurant in New York City could be considered the same. Opened in the Fall of 2000, Tao has been cranking out some of the best Asian food in all of New York and is still generating the same buzz today as it did nine years ago. Frequently visited by celebrities and athletes alike, Tao makes you forget about everything else when you walk in the door. You are warmly greeted by a giant statue of Buddha upon entering the restaurant, and the restaurant invites you to try a lot of what they are offering with small plates, large plates, noodles, sushi and more.

I was alone for my first visit to Tao, working in New York City and eating out every night. I sat at the bar upstairs in what used to be the balcony of an old movie theater with a great view of the entire restaurant. I was immediately greeted by a friendly and very helpful bartender who quickly poured me an Asahi and helped me decide what I should order. After discussing several of the amazingly delicious sounding menu options with the bartender, I settled on the following three small plates (no pictures, I didn't have my camera!)

Crispy Tuna Sashimi Roll with Edamame
This roll was excellent. Four pieces atop hot, steaming edamame served with a spicy edamame wasabi dipping sauce. The roll was crunchy on the outside and deliciously soft and rare on the inside.

Satay of Chilean Sea Bass with Wok Roasted
This small plate came with two skewers of Chilean sea bass sitting on top of four spears of roasted asparagus and it was fantastic. The sea bass was cooked perfectly, no teeth necessary. The rich and buttery fish simply melted in my mouth and the roasted asparagus was peeled for presentation and provided great balance to the entire plate.

Lobster Wontons with Shitake Ginger Broth
This small plate included 6 wontons in a shitake ginger broth. The shitake ginger broth was great but the the wontons were definitely missing something. They were good, sure, but were pretty flat on flavor and definitely lacked any significant lobster flavor. It would be fair to say this was just another wonton served in a fantastic shitake ginger broth.

I can't wait to get back to Tao New York to try some more things on the menu. Everything sounds so great and the few things I have tried tell me that the kitchen at Tao knows how to crank out excellent food that looks AND tastes great.

If you find yourself in New York City, find your way to Tao for some Asian enlightenment.

Tao New York
42 E 58th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues)
New York, NY 10022
Ph. (212) 888-2288

A Swedish Meal to Write Home About

2009-02-11T08:05:00.005-05:00

Vacation has suddenly become all about the food for me no matter where I go, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering how much I enjoy eating. I get really excited about eating great food since we all know that life is too short to eat bad food.

On my recent trip to California in December, dinner at AK Restaurant + Bar in Venice was no exception to the "life is too short to eat bad food" mantra. Everything about this meal was fantastic, except for when we met the chef; he wasn't very interested in saying hi even after my friend said hello in Swedish and started speaking to him. This is, afterall, a Swedish restaurant that is generating a lot of buzz so you thought a fellow Swede would make him feign even a little interest, but I digress, the food was fantastic!

We started off with some freshly baked bread and an assortment of fresh cheeses from the bar. One of the cheeses that REALLY struck a chord with us is a small production goats milk cheese from Haystock Mountain Goat Dairy called Snowdrop, it was amazing and unfortunately not available anywhere in Massachusetts...yet.

I started my meal off with a fantastic salad of young frisee, smoked salmon loin, and a poached, breaded and fried organic egg, cooked perfectly! The frisee was tender and crisp, not overly bitter like mature frisee can be, and the smoked salmon loin was absolutely wonderful. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender and tasted just right, not fishy, not oily, not anything bad, it was definitely all good and I highly recommend starting with this small salad when you visit.

Young frisee salad, smoked salmon loin, poached/breaded/fried organic egg 13

For my main course, I decided to go with a pan seared Alaskan black cod with green tomato jam, duck prosciutto and crispy sage. I thought that I first learned about black cod in 2001 while visiting Pike's Place Market in Seattle. My dad bought a whole black cod from one of the fish markets on their recommendation and had it shipped back to Massachusetts. What I later learned after a little research is that black cod is also known as sablefish, or butterfish. I grew up eating smoked sablefish as well as lox and whitefish, but never had I had fresh black cod (sablefish) until my dad made that purchase back in 2001. Black cod is a very rich, flaky white, velvety fish that when prepared properly literally melts in your mouth; it is considered a delicacy among fish connoisseurs and takes to smoking very well, which explains why I had it smoked so often growing up. I love this fish and when I saw it on the menu I knew what I was ordering.

The black cod at AK was cooked perfectly. Probably seasoned lightly with a little salt and maybe some pepper, nothing else would be required. The fish was indeed rich, velvety and melt-in-my-mouth delicious. The accompanying duck prosciutto was excellent, and the green onion jam was sweet and tangy providing the perfect balance for the rich fish. Finally the crispy sage and a few leaves of rocket (arugula) finished the dish.

Alaskan black cod, green tomato jam, duck prosciutto, crispy sage 27

Other dishes ordered by my dining companions included the artichoke three ways appetizer, the roasted five onion soup with a baguette brie cheese melt, the spinach and goat cheese kofta with tomato coriander concasse, and the lamb sirloin with dukka spice, medjool date, tomato, and saffron cinnamon smear. All these dishes were fantastic as well as the thumbelina carrots with cardamom saffron and smoked paprika, roasted green asparagus with bernaise sauce, and the brussels sprouts with shallots and applewood smoked bacon that we ordered for sides.

Finally, what would any great Swedish restaurant be without Swedish meatballs! J was the one who ordered the lamb sirloin but our friends both ordered the Swedish meatballs, and they were in one word, amazing. My Swedish friend who made us his own Swedish meatballs later during our visit said that these meatballs at AK were the BEST he had ever had. I of course tried some, and concurred. The meatballs were seasoned perfectly and were incredibly tender. The cucumber salad was perfect with the cucumbers still retaining some crunch in their vinegary bath, and the lingonberry preserve found such a place in my stomach that I think it may replace cranberry sauce at next year's Thanksgiving feast. Finally the mashed potatoes were good, if not a little too smooth. A few small chunks of potato mixed in to let me know I was eating at least some real potato would have been nice. Still, an amazing Swedish dinner!

Swedish meatballs, cucumber salad, lingonberry preserve, mashed potatoes 22

If you live in the greater Los Angeles area or are visiting for any reason, I highly recommend AK Restaurant + Bar on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. Make reservations because this place is going to be busy!

AK Restaurant + Bar
1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
Ph. 310 392-6644

Whole Grain Oatmeal Pancakes

2009-01-11T09:04:00.002-05:00

These are the best pancakes I can remember having in years, and I made them from scratch! I can't take credit for the recipe though, I found it on Zestycook.com, a great food blog that I recently discovered. These are the kind of pancakes that you could eat every weekend. J and I used to make pancakes using the whole grain mixes from Arrowhead Mills but after making these Zesty pancakes from scratch, we'll never go back to mix. It's almost as easy to mix up this pancake batter from scratch than it is to go to the pantry and measure out some pre-made mix. The little extra work pays dividends in delicious pancakes that you can tell your family or friends you made completely from scratch!

Like Zesty says on his site, I think one of the key ingredients in making these pancakes so great is the ground nutmeg. For your convenience I'll post the recipe here, but I suggest you pay Zestycook.com a visit and check his site out as well.

One note about these pancakes, I used hemp milk instead regular milk, and you must absolutely make sure the dry ingredients are fresh. Old baking powder won't activate and you'll be left with lifeless, fluff-less pancakes. It's important that the nutmeg is fresh too, if you have a grinder for whole nutmeg that's even better, you'll get the best flavor from freshly ground nutmeg.

Whole Grain Oatmeal Pancakes
Ingredients

1 Cup Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
1 Cup All Purpose flour
1 Cup Whole-wheat flour
2 Tbsp. Baking powder
1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Tbsp. Honey

Directions

Preheat a large skillet over medium to heat.
Whisk together the oats, flours, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
Using the same whisk in a second bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, eggs, vanilla and honey.
Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir until just combined.
Pour batter into skillet using about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake
Once bubbles form on the outside of the pancake and do not fill in again - it is time to flip them over.
Flip just once - plate them up.
Enjoy!

A New Year's Eve Feast

2009-01-10T11:52:00.007-05:00

Are we really ten days into 2009 already? I have a lot of catching up to do! First and foremost since I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving dinner, I want to give a call out to my favorite sister-in-law for making the most amazing whole wheat cinnamon buns from scratch; she has...I mean makes the best buns. I'll have her on for a guest post later this year and we'll share the recipe with you, so keep on reading.

Now on to New Year's Eve. I've done New York City and gone to big parties but strangely enough I've never been to First Night in Boston - I don't think I'm missing much. I think once you've been to Manhattan for New Year's Eve the only way to go bigger is to go to Hong Kong, Sydney or maybe Rio de Janeiro. So until we make it to the other side of the world and can celebrate NYE in shorts and t-shirts south of the equator, J and I will keep it intimate with a few friends and lots of good food and wine.

This year J and I had a couple friends over and we cooked up a feast! Steamed lobsters, a tenderloin roast, warm potato salad, roasted asparagus, and lots of great wine. I whipped up a quick horseradish sauce with wasabi mayo and fresh horseradish for the roast beef and melted some of my favorite unsalted butter from Kate's for the lobsters. I picked up the lobsters for $5.99 a lb. and steamed them for 15 minutes.

We also poured a couple different wines to enjoy during dinner. For the beef, a big, bold Chilean cabernet sauvignon - 2003 Concha y Toro Marques de Casa Concha - and for enjoying with the lobster, a local vidal blanc from Greenvale Vineyards in southern Rhode Island. We also uncorked a great French champagne (Duval Leroy Brut Cuvee Paris) at midnight that my friends at Fifth Ave Liquors in Framingham recommended.

Have a happy and healthy 2009 and please keep on reading! Cheers!

Fear Factor: West Coast Style at Typhoon

2009-01-08T17:43:00.003-05:00

What do you consider to be extreme eating? On my recent trip to California I dined at a restaurant called Typhoon located right on the tarmac of the Santa Monica Airport. Typhoon has been open for 15 years featuring over 70 items on the menu from Thailand, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Burma and Singapore. What attracted me to this restaurant was not the diverse Pacific Rim cuisine but the insects that they serve! That's right, insects like scorpions, crickets, waterbugs, ants, and sea worms. Technically scorpions are not insects, but they belong to the same super-phylum as insects, I'm sure that's what the chef was thinking when compiling this menu.

Anyway, I was very excited to get to Typhoon to try some insects. I met up with a friend and his posse and the insect talk generated a lot of buzz. My friend's brother decided to order the Thai-style frog's legs with cilantro sauce - yes, I know, a frog is an amphibian and not in anyway an insect, but the frog's legs were his extreme eating. I love frog's legs by the way; I ate them once before at Dali in Somerville, they were fried. The Thai-style frog's legs at Typhoon were grilled and served with a cilantro dipping sauce. The frog meat was tender and slightly sweet, and oh so delicious, perfectly prepared. Much better than chicken if you ask me - they tasted like FROG, not CHICKEN and were very plump; they must have come from some BIG frogs! The cilantro sauce was great too!

Thai-style Frog's Legs with Cilantro Sauce

Once I saw what was on the menu, I knew I was going to at least trythe Singapore-style scorpions served on shrimp toast. I convinced a few other people to try them as well so we ordered two plates, two scorpions per plate. Each scorpion was about 2-2 1/2 inches in length and yes, they were REAL scorpions. Wanting the full scorpion experience, I plucked the little bugger off the shrimp toast with my chopsticks and popped it in my mouth. It was crunchy and salty but I can't say that it tasted like much, basically fried exoskeleton! The shrimp toast on the other handed was full of great shrimp flavor, it was fantastic.

Singapore-Style Scorpions on Shrimp Toast

I also ordered the Taiwanese Crickets with raw garlic and chili pepper, no one else was willing to try these. They were simply stir-fried along with what I think were shoe-string potatoes and finished off with some raw garlic and fresh chili peppers. The crickets had a little more substance to them than the scorpions, but still tasted like nothing more than crispy fried shells. The flavor might be described as a little earthy but mostly I just got fried goodness. The garlic was definitely raw, and strong, and the chili peppers were fresh and HOT!

Taiwanese Crickets with raw garlic and chili pepper

Lastly, for something to fill my belly, I ordered the Yum Unn San Thai glass Noodle salad with chicken and shrimp. There was absolutely no fear factor with this bowl of perfectly cooked glass noodles, but they were delicious with the shrimp and chicken, and more fresh chili peppers.

Yum Unn San - Thai Glass Noodle Salad with Chicken Shrimp

If you live in the greater Los Angeles area or find yourself in Santa Monica for any reason, I highly recommend Typhoon. For those of you without the stomach for scorpions or crickets, they have ants and sea worms too! No? Okay, well they have a huge menu of great Pan-Asian food that requires no warning label, like the glass noodle salad that I had. Oh yeah, and how could I forget, they have LIVE music! I was there on a Tuesday night and there was a Big Band playing that was quite good. Bon appetit!

Typhoon
3221 Donald Douglas Loop South
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Phone (310) 390-6565
http://www.typhoon.biz