11 posts tagged “food”

I miss NYC I don't want to live there, it's too cold but if I could teleport myself there to grab some food and have an entertaining night I would. I found a place I'd love to try next time I'm there. The Momofuku Milk Bar.

Owner and Chef Christina Tosi does some very interesting things with commercial food treats.

 

Her Compost Cookie is a chewy-crunchy, salty-sweet, hot mess of corn flakes, coffee grounds, graham cracker crumbs, potato chips, and butterscotch chips. I can't imagine what it taste like but the potato chips must give it that saltiness that combinds with the sweet. I'd sure love to try it. If anyone has tried it what does it taste like?

 

They also serve a fruity pebbles and marshmellow cookie only on Saturday's and Sundays. This is also quite interesting but this one seems very sweet. I'm sure kids love it and perhaps that is why they serve it only on the weekends. Tosi is like what would happen if willy wonka was a pastry chef.

Another Item I would be dying to sink my sweet tooth into is the candy bar pie. This thing is glorious. I don't even have to taste it to know it would be one of my favorite pies of all time. I mean look at it, it's a mound of all kinds of candy bar parts topped with chocolate and pretzles. This is what dreams are made out of, or atleast my dreams.

The thing Christina Tosi is most famous for is her cereal milk which she makes by toasting corn flakes and steeping them in sweetened milk, and is used to flavor soft-serve ice cream, milk, and pie. It is said to be so flavorful. It probably brings back childhoos memories, of slurping the last little bit of milk out of the cereal bowl.

My inner child is screaming for joy next time I'm in NYC. I am making a beeline to  the milk bar.

 

Regional favorites, wether it's chicago style deep dish pizza, philly cheese steaks, southern grits, gyros in Greece, or poi in Hawaii. What are some of the regional favorite foods you just don't get, or don't like.

I really think it depends on what foods you were raised on and grew up with as to what you may think is good and what you think is over rated.

Here is my list. what about you?

* In N Out Burgers - It's over rated. It's a fast food burger, it may be one of the better fast food burger but it's still just that and I've had better at non chain fast food burger joints.

* Boiled Peanuts - way too gushy soggy mushy gross in my mouth feeling. Funny story though, when I worked at an armory and sword shop one was the armorers, who had a southern draw, asked me if I had every had boiled nuts. I thought he said Bull nuts and he told me how tasty they were and how he was going to bring them in the next day. Even though I don't like boiled peanuts I'm glad I was wrong about the possibilty of having to taste bull nuts.

* Just a comment on Philly Cheese Steaks - Here is one that I think depends on how you were raised, although I've never had one in Philly I like my cheese steaks with provolone and I'm not sure I'd be a fan of the cheese wiz although I would try one.

* Cream of Wheat- I've really only seen northerners eat it. Just not my thing

* English Breakfast Tea with Milk

* Natto - I've had this twice and its hard to get over the "stinky feet" smell of the fermented soy beans but I hear it is very good for digestion

* Bagel with Lox - I love Salmon but its not something I want to eat early in the morning

* Subway's Chicken Teriyaki Sub - Well all of subway's subs lol. Anyone who thinks buying a foot long for 5 bucks from subway is more filling than a great fresh cut meat deli sub at 6/7 inches for 6 bucks is brainwashed by marketing. It's just that Chicken Teriyaki just doesn't belong on a sub roll, that is an abomination.

* Tamarind Candy - I've had some from India and I couldn't stand it, the other candy I had there tasted like soap and potpouri. Bleck

* Chicken and Waffles - the two just don't go together to me. It seems so juxtaposed

My husband is not a chowhound member but he travels a lot and had to add a few.

* He said in Venice he had lasagna and it had boiled egg in it, he said it was ok but not what he would call Lasgna meaning it's not how grandma made it. This seems to be the whole thing about how you were raised as to how you like things regionally.

* He detested Haggis

* Hawaiian Pizza - but that is because he hates pineapple and doesn't think fruit belongs on a pizza, I however love Hawaiian Pizza and always make it at home when he isn't around.

I always try things more than once if I had a bad experience with them because maybe next time I'll have a good experience, or my taste has changed, or maybe I'll find out I just don't care for it.

I saw this thread over at chowhound and thought it was fun. How many fictional food and drink products can you name from movie and television, will except popular literature as well. There was a lot more posted but here are the ones I came up with.

Frogurt - Simpsons
Gummi Berry Juice - Disney's Gummi Bears
The Honker Burger - Doug
Buzz Beer - Drew Carey Show
The Flaming Moe - Simpsons
Chewlies Gum - Clerks
Tomacco - Simpsons (hybrid tomato tobacco fruit)
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
Butter Beer - Harry Potter
Fizzy Lifting Drinks - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Big Kahuna Burger - Pulp Fiction
Smurfberries - The Smurfs
Booty Sweat energy drink - Tropical Thunder

Can you name any others?

Burgers are often a great spluge for americans. I'm not talking about that cheap greasy disc resembling a hamburger at your local mcfast food. I'm talking about a nice ground sirloin 100 percent grade a beef which is taken care of and cooked properly.

I was at this place for lunch with coworkers in which a lot of us ordered burgers, when they asked us how we would like them cooked, I was the only one that said medium rare, all the others said well done, with one exception of  medium well.

After asking why someone would want a well done burger, I almost felt scolded for ordering my medium rare. E. Coli they say. Then tried to school me on the dangers, which included a session on ground meat and why steak is okay to eat medium rare or rare because e. coli exists on the outside of the meat, so sear a steak and you kill it, but grind up the meat and its in the middle, and every where else. I understand this logic but it just doesn't seem to ring really true. Lots of high end burger joints serve rare and medium rare burgers. Some places don't ask you others do, if they ask you they are probably trained in cooking these meats and the risk is minimal. From the chowhound boards it varieying opinions but one person pointed out that you have a larger chance of slipping and dying in the shower than you do from e. coli in a restaurant burger.

This morning I caught a segment on the today show about a burger of the month club. BOTM, as the today host called it "Bottom". Its a group of 10-15 friends that once a month go and get a burger together around NYC or surrounding areas. It's a cool idea as it gives these guys a reason to come and hang out, shoot the shit, and have some guy time together and rate a burger.  I think they rank mostly on meat, extra meat products such as bacon, and cheese. and also the bun, all other is tossed away.  

So what do you think about burgers? What is your favorite?

 

 

I mentioned in my Friday post that we went for Sushi for lunch. Seito Sushi (Orlando - Sand Lake). I'm not sure what my problem is. I have a very difficult time finding anything that matches my regular sushi place. It wasn't that it was horrible, although there was a great deal of dissapointment in some things. It was that the place was trendy.
I don't want my sushi to be trendy. It justs needs to be fresh and plated well. It needs to be more traditional and less fusion. There needs to be a good staple of tradition foods on the menu as well as specialty or original style foods. The fish needs to be top quality and fresh, the staff needs to be knowledgeble.

I'm not saying that there needs to be a staff and chef of japenese people, they just need to be skilled and trained well in the cuisine they are creating and serving. My regular place is owned and operated by a young chinese man and his brothers, all of which were classically trained in traditional japanese cuisine. They are masters at their craft with good solid tradition as their base, who can turn out something simple and fresh, or something creative or intracate.
They delight that I am willing to try anything once and I have acted as a food tester for them in the past. They have given me some interesting things to try, several of them saying "most americans don't really care of the texture of this, or the taste of that". They giggled when I told them Natto smelled like stinky feet.
There quite funny at times and will on occasion make fun of the trendsters and openly to their face. Once there was a college girl sitting up at the bar with her snooty friend, raving about how delicious sushi is. It was almost annoying. I was sitting next to her and was curious what they were about to eat. They got a salad with ginger dressing and a couple of california rolls. I asked if they were having anything else and they said no and as I smiled the sushi chef read my mind and said alloud, "They really don't like sushi much".

This makes me wonder. Do most americans who enjoy sushi really know what good sushi is? I find it hard to believe that while everyone else is going crazy and loving the trendy place we went to lunch I found it to be on the low side of medocrity. Here are my main gripes about Seito Sushi.

1. The Menu - I knew I was going to have an issue when I saw Key Lime Pie in the dessert section and chocolate martinis in the drink section. Neither of those things belong on the menu.

2. The decore and over all mood was too trendy to new age hipster. It lacked any type of culture. It was cold in mood and looked more like a modern dance club than a sushi restaurant.

3. The sashmi was good but not the freshest I've ever had. It was the best thing I ate there for lunch along with the gyoza.

4. The roll I had was not put together well, it fell apart before I could even pick it up but even worse than that the rice was over salted and way to sticky.

5. I spent 17 bucks plus tip for very unsatisfying medocre food.

6. Wait Staff were not too friendly and hug out with each other a lot over by the bar area.

I was annoyed that this place was so reccommended by my coworkers. I need to take them to the place I go. It's really not all that far and it makes the place we just ate at look like a soggy trendy mess. 

 

This is just pure genius and on the awesome scale it's off the charts.

I was watching the Chicago episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain and he featured a Restaurant called Moto, known for unique gastronomy and a great since of humor.

Next time I'm in Chicago I want to go to moto because I just have to have the cuban cigar, which is actually a cuban sandwich.  I think it's wrapped in a grape leaf and that is pepper or seasoning.

 

Over at Chow on the chowhound message boards they were asking about your area's signature dish. What your area is known for, of course there was much disagreement and yet for some places it was easier for them to agree on things. Philly, Chicago, New York all have very distict foods. You can't go to Philly without eating a cheese steak it's just blasphemy. ... and yet still, there were discussions and disagreements on where to go to get the best quality dish.

I live in Central Florida, Orlando to be exact. When people ask me where I'm from, the number one question is never anything such as "Have you ever been gator hunting on an airboat?" which I have, or "Seriously, how high is your electric bill in the summer, whats the highest it's been?" to which I would reply that in July it's around $300 and the highest it's been is $400, but we run the air condition most of the year, it is rare when we don't have to. No one stops to think about the local wildlife, insects, or the underground culture here.

The number one question I get is typically something about the attractions, usually Disney World,iIn which I snicker and say "Here we call it working for the rat", or how we tease that MGM Studios ( which is actually Hollywood studios now) used to stand for "Many Gay Men" or that Mickey mouse is often played by a spanish speaking petite woman. People seem to be astounded that actual people live here. Crazy right. Orlando is not what it tries to portray itself as. It is quite possibly the largest small town city in America, still trying to cling on to old fashion ideas and morals, yet sell itself like a cheap hooker on OBT* to anyone and everyone.

Tourism, love it or hate it, it is what keeps Orlando thriving. It's just like if you really want to check out what New Orleans is all about stay off Bourbon Street, If you want to get to know the Real New York City, don't bother going to Times Square. It's the same with Orlando if you really want to see what this city has to offer step away from the attractions.

Try spliting up your time to see some of the things Florida is famous for, and then go and check out something more locally known or off the beaten path type of things. It's really what I do on a trip. I want to see the reality not just the fluff.

With all of that said I really think people owe it to themselves to eat some of Florida's regional cuisine and drinks. On your next trip to Florida make a promise that you will not eat at any national chains, or buy fast food. Try something new and local, you won't regret it. Central Florida is home to many Puerto Ricans and damn they know how to party

and how to cook. Their culture is loud and bouistrous and others may dismiss them as being rude, but they are anything but. Caring, family oriented and did I mention they can cook? This is why I chose Arroz Con Habichuelas as a regional dish, but you can just call it what is is, Puerto Rican Rice and Beans.

Their food is of course latin in flavor but its not cuban or mexican its some where inbetween and it usually is a little more island in flavor.

There is a cuisine here called "Floribean". It's a mixture of Florida and the Carribean with all natural and grown foods from here.

We also have The Vi-Mi district, or as some call it, Little Saigon. The heart of the district is the intersection of East Colonial Drive/HWY50 and Mills Ave. Places like Viet Garden, and oriental markets. They just celebrated fet which is veitnamese new year , the last week of January. It's a good area to get a Bánh mì or shop for a wok.

Interesting enough when I think Florida Cuisine the first thing that pops into my head is Conch. Conch Fritters, or perhaps conch chowder. Few things in life beat drinking a beer and eat conch fritters while watching the sunset at a

cafe on Duval Street in Key West. Time is meaningless all of a sudden. Enjoying good food and brew and whating the sun melt away like butter. It is also in Key West where I had the most orgasmic fish taco. No, I wasn't getting it on with the ladies, although there was that one time where I watched a Key West Stripper take off the flip flop of my dear friend Leslie and then jamming her big toe into her twat, but that is a whole other story. What I'm talking about is a Grouper fish taco with lime and a little chipotle tangy sauce. It was easily food one of my favorite meals there.

 I've heard stories about how some restaurants will tell you it's grouper when it really isn't. I can't image someone being able to pass that off  unless you've never had grouper. I find grilled grouper sandwiches to be quite yummy. While my husband was shooting Marley & Me I'd go down to Miami to see him and there was this little restaurant  within walking distance at the marina. I can't remember the name but they made a killer grouper sandwich.

Miami is also know for Joe's Stone Crab, which was opened in 1913, by Joe Weiss. Turns out that even though Stone Crab is their most popular dish now the restaurant used to only serve fish.  When an ichthyologist asked Weiss why he didn't serve stone crabs, he answered that no one would want to eat them. He turned out to be wrong, as they found out soon after first cooking them. This place is upscale and the wait times are long because they have very few reserve tables, but it's worth it for the stone crab.

Miami is great but I'm not too fond of south beach either, it's the time square of new york and the bourbon street of New Orleans. A place packed with tourist and local douchebags trying to cash in on it. I quite like the hole in the wall places. Places were pretenciousness doesn't ooze from the ceiling and where you can get a martini for under 11 bucks.

Speaking of drinks every one knows Florida is famous for Orange Juice. Noble makes a great organic Florida Tangerine Juice, worth the splurge once in a while. I'm a fan of the Tangelo. Half Orange, half tangerine and very juicy. Since we don't have seasons here, the way we tell spring is coming is by the smell of the Orange blossoms. It's such a sweet smell and the honey bee's the polinate the orange blossoms make honey.

Orange Blossom Honey. Orlando Brewery makes an awesome Orange Blossom Pilsner from this honey.  We bought some orange blossom honey ourselves and made our own pilsner which came out very well. You just can't go wrong with a beer like this.

You can get this beer on tap at most establishments in town and if not just visit Orlando Brewing company they will hook you up with as much as you want.

Oh for some reason I am reminded about an actual question I got from a little girl on a plane coming back home. Her family was visiting Disney World but she was more interested in asking me if I had alligators living in my back yard. I explained to her that I did have a small ake behind my house but at current time no gators lived it but that it's common. The lake I grew up on is filled with gators, you can hear them croaking at night during mating season. you can see them sunning or chilling out on nice days. As a teen ager I was an idiot and went swimming in a lake which very name was "alligator lake". We were teen agers, we thought we were immortal but we'd never swim at night and we never really did swim out to any distance. My uncle took us out on his airboat and showed us how to gator hunt, gig frogs, and fish. He had

and annual fish fry which included frog legs and gator tail. Gator Tail has to be one of Floridas top regional cuisine. It's got this natural butter flavor and some how it manages to taste slightly like chicken without tasting like chicken at all. It's a favorite of mine, but unfortunally I don't get a chance to eat it all that often.

There was a story not to long ago about a 60 year old woman who lived in town and sometimes kept her sliding glass doors open when the weather was cool enough. I guess a 6 and a half foot gator was looking for some warmth and crawled right into her kitchen which she was in another room watching telvision. Hey it happens. Small dogs beware. Never walk your small dog by the lake, gators see them as appetizers and it happens more often than you think,

If gator isn't your style you can head back down to Miami and get some cuban expresso and a cuban sandwich. You can get a cuban sandwich anywhere, or so I thought, but for the most authentic cuban food head down to miami.  

 I need to go and get my passport. It's an all day event so I'll make a day trip out of it and grab some food down therewhile I wait. Plantains and a cuban sandwich for lunch.

 It is about a 4 hour drive from Orlando to Miami and then another 4 hour drive from Miami to Key West. It's a nice little road trip with dozens of stops you could make along the way. Ramrod Key always makes me giggle and there is something called the Duval crawl which if your actually remember doing the Duval Crawl you didn't do it right. Your supposed to be shitface drunk by the time your friends persude you to stick a few bills in that drag queens g-string. After all of this, where do the locals go to repent their sins? The Key West Key Lime Pie Factory.which is a little piece of heaven that is

 sinfully delicious and open until 4am. Key Lime Pie is the offical Florida Dessert. I think it's probably one of the most recognized florida dishes because, well it's pie and everyone likes pie right. What other dessert is more liked? Oh Ice Cream. Ice Cream is always a favorite. Well to get that you'd have to visit Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Every year my class would take a field trip there, with each grade we'd learn more and more about space travel and astronaut training. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger, I was in third grade and standing on top of the roof of my school when I saw the Challenger take off and saw the devistation in my teachers face when it failed to take off correctly. I was still optimistic and I was inspired by The Space Center, my astronaut barbie, and astronaut Ice Cream. The stuff was so good, It was a little chalky and fluffy at the same

but for an 8 year old girl it was the stuff dreams were made out of. A chance to do something that so few people get to do. To join the ranks of Sally Ride and drink tang. Yeah well, I was eight and tang was in.

I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of other florida cuisine but this was just my thoughts regarding the subject.

I also wanted to mention to keep supporting the locally owned restaurants in your area. The are the gems in your city that make it unique and worth while. If money permits never eat fast food again. There is too much good food out there to waste your life eating garbage. 

What is your local cuisine? 

* OBT is an abbreviation for Orange Blossom Trail, which is a road made famous by the blantent solicitation of prostitution.

I am part of a community over on EL-Jay aka Live Journal that submits recipes and images of "trashy eats". Low rent delicious food. Most of the people there are college kids trying to stretch their dollar, or families with kids who are trying to lower their grocery bill. I'm a foodie at heart. I'll try anything once (as long as it isn't isn't alive when I eat it). I'll admit though I can be some what of a quality bitch. I abhor processed american cheese. Those kraft singles, that isn't really cheese at all but a sad floppy filmy forgery.

But there is a special place in my heart for bar food, diner food, and eating breakfast at any time of the day. Some of the concotions people think up are pretty gross and can put you into a coma.  Here is an example.

"Tater tots (deep fried, not baked) dipped in apple sauce and whipped cream cheese (because no sour cream was available). Mmm"

Am I the only one cringing here? Why would anyone think to try that, and why would anyone think that would taste good. It sounds like a pregnant woman on a rampage with no food in the house.

Once I went to Sonic with my Mom and she bought me there jalopeno cheese tots. They were delicious. It was a stepping stone to one of the greatest bar foods ever the Totchos. There is actually a mexican bar and grill here that serves them as well. Tator tots treated like nachos. Althought with the tots it almost taste like potato skins + nachos  but still every bit as delicious. This is pure pub food heaven.

While getting a sub for lunch today I noticed how horrible most people are at ording a sub sandwich. After working in subshops while going through college and even a little bit after I have come up with rules of thumb to follow to insure good service and even the best possible taste and more product.

1. If there is a line don't get in line if you are not sure what you want.

2. Never ever talk on your cell phone in line EVER! You will be skipped in line and your sandwhich will be manhandled and sloppy.

3. Don't blurt everything out at once. Work the steps. I would like a Regular Size Wheat Italian with Provolone. The next person will do your toppings. Or wait for that person to finish those steps and then tell them what else.

4. Don't be a smart ass.

5. Ask for what you want. If you say I want a ton of jalopeno's and extra mayo that is exactly what you get.

6. If you have a list of a few subs. You can hand the list to them. Actually they prefer that you do.

7. Never call someone to ask them what they want on their sub, and never use your nextel or speaker phone to let someone on the other line order their sub.

8. If you are one person ordering more than 3 sandwhiches it's better to call ahead or fax in your order.

9. During the lunch rush keep small talk to a minimum. The workers have a job to do and they work based on quantity and quality.

10. if you are a picky eater be polite when explaining to them otherwise you come off like an whiney bitch.

8. If you have food allergies let them know before they start making your sub. Also be clear and consice. Cheese steak subs come with cheese if you are allergic speak up before they make it. Same goes for vegans and vegitarians.

9. When you go to get your toppings topped never say EVERYTHING unless you really mean EVERYTHING.

10. Don't treat the workers like they are idiots they only difference between you and them is what side of the counter you are on.

11. If you have a valid complaint be polite. Mess ups happen and polite people get a lot more than the complainers.

12. Do not eat almost your whole sandwich except for a few bites and them come to the counter and say there was something wrong with it. If you didn't like it you wouldn't have eaten almost all of it.

13. Realize that sometimes your requests are stupid. Don't top your sub and have us wrap it up only to ask "oh can you toast that?". If we say we are out of something we are. We aren't hiding it from you.

14. Pay Attention. Don't meander out of line. your sandwich will be set aside until all of the other attention paying customers are delt with.

15. If you want a different cheese than what it says on the menu speak up. Other wise you get the Default.

16. Extras are not free, be prepared to pay for any thing extra and even swapouts of meat. If you want turkey and Roast beef instead of Turkey and Ham its going to cost you more because Roast Beef is a more expensive meat.

17. Don't haggle over 20 cents. It makes you look cheap and ridiculous. This usually happens when someone wants something extra and doesn't want to pay for it.

18. Speak loud and Clear. It's hard to hear over all the noise and refridgeration units or through the glass.

19. If you want an even better sandwich next time be friendly, patient and tip.

20. If you follow these rules and still get bad service or sloppy sandwiches try another subshop and see if that helps.

Mochi ice cream is a Japanese confection made from mochi (pulverized sticky rice) with an ice cream filling.

The flavors here are Sesame, Green Tea and Red Bean. Nick's fav was the Red Bean, I think I likes the Sesame best, but all three where very good.