1000yregg

I went to Phat pug last night. I must say, I really loved the pizza- the crust- the right mix of crisp and chewy- really nice ingredients and delicious tomato sauce. I had the pugarita (white pizza) the smelly pug (proscuitto, garlic, tomato)- both delicious. I must admit an issue with how they run the business- I tried calling ahead, but at the time, none of the employees on spoke ideal English to take the order or give me directions. Secondly, the pace of pizza making is pretty long- they would do better with just an eat-in service because carry-out took a long time. Not sure how many pizza's they can make at the same time, but it seemed like one at a time when I was there. If I had to order 3 or more pies, they would get cold waiting for the other ones. They need to streamline the operation to make it work.

aah- i like Lion's Choice- not quite up to par with Baltimore pit beef, but darn close. au jus and great fries. I would recommend Crown Candy Kitchen- great shakes- better than Steak and Shake. When I lived in St. Louis, we lived for dive diners like The Buttery and Courtesy Drive In. My favorite dish after a long night was the Slinger - eggs, bacon, hash browns - all smothered in chili. I then put parmesan cheese and hot sauce on top- so wrong, but so perfect to soak up the alcohol. I think O.T. hodge's chili parlor did the same thing- it may have closed though.

You can also get pretty decent and cheap Hawaiian food in Vegas Aloha Kitchen is near UNLV has good mac salad and teriyaki choices. There is also Hawaiian Hale worth checking out.

Bouchon is amazing, I would also recommend Bradley Ogden in Caesar's. Jasmine in Bellagio is also pretty amazing Chinese food. if you are looking for cheap delicious eats- i would check out Bonito Michocan- off Decatur- slightly off the strip. It's one of a family of 3 restaurants in vegas- Lindo and Viva michocan. Bonito is my favorite Mexican restaurant. I love their chicken mole, homemade corn tortillas, fresh guacamole, and churros. Any of their non burrito-taco-enchilada dishes are amazing- they have a carnitas with coca-cola, another with 3 salsas, birria, all amazingly good. Not too pricey and worth it.

what if you have to go the bathroom? looks horrible.

This weekend, my friends and I went to Red Hook in Brooklyn to eat as well. We went to the Red Hook soccer fields where every warm weekend, they set up food stalls serving Mexican, Salvadoran, and Honduran food- the pupusas were amazing. I had some aqua fresca and roasted corn on the cob, Mexican style- with mayo, queso cheese, chili powder, and lime. Rumors fly that the health dept may shut these food stalls down, but hopefully they can survive for next year. If you are in Red Hook, I would also recommend DeFonte's sandwich shop- this is the hoagie place all the NY cab drivers all go to. It's amazing. I recommend the proscuitto, eggplant, mozarella, and hot pepper relish hoagie.

that's interesting- I was in the East Village for lunch at Soba-ya on 9th st between 2nd and 3rd ave. they had delicious homemade soba noodles. we started with the Uni Tororo - urchin with yam- mmm- slimy this place for lunch has these large portioned lunch specials all with soba- i had the Sake Oyako Don- salmon with roe over rice as well. my cousin had Sakuraebi Seiro soba bowl which was topped with tiny shrimp and mitsuba leaf tempurafor dessert, we had 3 ice creams- black sesame (like oreo cookies), yuzu (orange peel), and honey wasabi (weird) pics

went to Rabieng yesterday. the fried rice cakes with green beef curry used to be with chili pork, but according to the staff, it wasn't popular with people. i preferred the pork myself but i think the clientele fears the pig. guess i have to go to duangrat's for this i love the chive dumplings- the sticky rice covering deep fried is scrumptious.

i think i've had a few pretty crazy foods in China- Yang Tzou, I had drunken shrimp- basically a glass container of live shrimp soaking in chinese white wine. They twitched away as they slowly died in the alcohol at the table and when the dancing stoppped, we ate the shrimp - grey and cold, but not bad. also in china, we had a whole turtle- we were told all parts were edible, so some of us ate parts of the gelatinous shell and the spinal cord. organ meats- no problem, i love 1000 year egg in congee- it's great. balut is rather bland to me. i would love to try prarie oysters and fugu someday a great book is Extreme Cuisine with an intro by Tony Bourdain- fetal mice seems kind of disturbing- they pop like grapes. i was also wondering if anyone on this board has had the chicken sashimi you can supposedly get in NYC

After last night's episode, Hung looks to be the one to beat. I'm still rooting for Casey though- of the final four, I like her attitude to cooking best. Plus, she's hot!

It looked like they filmed last night's episode like the UK version, but edited the last few days of Ramsay's visit for the last 5 minutes because they wanted that climax with the confrontation with the douchebag Peter. Damn sensationalist Fox TV execs. I would love to have seen him re-visiting the restaurant months later like on the UK version as well.

​Rehoboth Was down at the shore for Labor Day weekend. Went with a large group of friends to Cafe Zeus in Rehobeth Beach. All in all a nice meal. We started with a few appetizers- the toasted ravioli and baked brie with apricot- both delicious. I had the raspberry soup with creme fraiche- nice, summery. I got the Veal Sirloin- Oscar style with crab on top. The veal was nice, crab was just ok. My cousin got their rack of lamb which was pretty great. For dessert, I had profiteroles, but I also tried their Delaware state fair prizewinning cappuchino cheesecake. My only complaint would be that the place was host to live music, some cabaret singer Viki Dee, and her speakers were right in front of our table making dinner conversation difficult. I would say it was an alright meal, don't know if I would rush to return though. Sat. night, I walked by Espuna which looked closed down.

Went to Iggie's last week with some friends. We brought a nice bottle of sparkling shiraz. I liked the Caesar's salad- anchovies were delicious. We got the Funghi pizza with mushroom ragu, leeks and goat cheese, the Salsiccia with sausage, fennel, and tomato ragu, and the Alice. I liked the Salsiccia best. We finished with delicious blood orange sorbetto. It might be my favorite place for pizza in Baltimore now.

This place is scary greasy- You feeled covered in grease even if you get takeout. However, the hot dogs are deep fried a la Rutt's Ripper's in NJ. You need to try them this way at least once in your life. It definitely adds to the flavor of the dog prepared this way. The chili looks scary but is not bad. I do like their shakes- nice and thick.

My friend in Hollywood told me that there is a place there called Pizzeria Mozza which may have the best pizza in the world- topping even pizzeria bianco. has anyone on this board been there? my friend said the baker nancy silverton spent 5 years researching on how to make the perfect crust. the restaurant is co-owned by mario batali. my friend said the wait to get reservations in about a month (for pizza!?!). he also said they opened an Italian osteria next door serving more pasta that has an amazing mozzarella bar. Mozza website

pic of fried cheese curds

walleye is nice and tender- i think it is conducive to fish fry because the filets are long so the frying doesn't overcook the inside of the fish. i'm pretty sure the fish is in many northern lakes. i know a&w fast food places have had fried cheese curds on occasion- i had it when i lived in vegas there- they were just ok. the important thing is to find fresh cheese curds which may be hard around these parts. perhaps a cheesemonger would know. i know that the saxelby cheesemonger in nyc supplied cheese curds for the poutine at shopsin's, but i don't know about around the midatlantic.

Went up to central Wisconsin this past weekend near Wild Rose for a weekend with friends by the lake. On Friday, went to a Fish Fry at a local place called the Red Fox Food and Spirits- started with regional fav fried cheese curds. For the fish, had the perch and the walleye - preferred the walleye. They only use tartar sauce and lemon in Wisconsin- no vinegar. Had a delicious side of German potato salad as well. At the lake house, friends brought up some amazing Bratwurst and Hungarian sausages (with paprika) from Schwies butchers. Went well with some Sprecher beers. Then. in Milwaukee, before going to the airport- had a tasty burger, onion rings and butter pecan custard at Kopp's.

Had beers with a friend of mine from Portland who packed 2 cases of beers from Caldera Brewing. They are a microbrewery that uses aluminum cans for packing their brews. We had their I.P.A. and Pale Ale, and while I was skeptical at first, I must admint they were damn fine. I particularly enjoyed the IPA. Too bad you can only get these beers in Oregon. They offer internet ordering, but it's not cheap.

Shopsin's writeup in the NY Times. Poutine and pancakes are mentioned.

I became a bigger Casey fan last night, not because she looked great in her club gear, but because she gave mad props to my favorite condiment: Sriracha Sauce. (despite that it didn't go so great with the cold stone)

On Tuesday evenings at Gertrude's in the BMA, you can get $10 and $12 entrees at Cafe Gertie's. The style is Chesapeake coastal cooking. Another good place to try is Sobo Cafe in Federal hill. The cuisine is like fancy comfort food. All items are inexpensive,but yummy.

friends of mine told me that in the whole month of august on weekends, if you bring your own booze, pizzas are half off

Last night, went to Gertrude's for restaurant week with some co-workers. The restaurant's chef is John Shields, who hosts Coastal Cooking on PBS, and it's located inside the Baltimore Museum of Art. The cuisine has a lot of regional seafood- crab, of course, oysters, fish, and shrimp, as well a Southern touch. I had actually been there on a Tuesday when the restaurant runs a special Gertie's Cafe and serves $10 and $12 entrees, including a fantastic pan fried 1/2 chicken for the $10 price with sides. Last night, I opted to not stick to the restaurant week menu. Instead, I got the Chesapeake style gumbo- it had blue crab, crawfish, clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and andouille sausage. My dinner companions got Chincoteague single fry oysters- lightly dusted in cornmeal with a remoulade sauce, the lump crabcake, and the turkey meatloaf. It definitely was a more comfort food oriented meal. For dessert, one of their unique items is the goat cheese cheesecake- it is a lot smoother in texture than conventional cheesecake.

Ate at Bicycle in Federal Hill last night for restaurant week- great meal! I had heard about the place since I moved back to Baltimore, but this was my first time eating there. I actually We had a nice 2006 Los Cardos Melbec, Argentina of their $18 list- not bad. Had the Sashimi Tuna and Avocado tartare appetizer- yummy- it had some nice chili sesame oil in it. Tried some of the spicy corn soup with blue crab which was also delicious. For entree had the Grilled Ribeye- it was covered in a shallot-goat cheese butter, port wine reduction that was great. It came with scrumptious goosefat roasted potato fingerlings with leek and applewood bacon. I cleaned the plate. For dessert- had the mango/strawberry bread pudding. I tried some of the boca negra, a chocolate truffle cake, and the strawberry shortcake- no losers in the group. This was worth more than the $30 price for restaurant week.