Category Archives: Food

Myers + Chang

Posted on October 25, 2011 | 2 Comments

Our first full day of Boston left us tired from walking the Freedom Trail and also from drinking beer. After retiring to our hotel for a quick nap, we headed to Myers + Chang.

If you had to guess, you would probably guess Chang, but you would be wrong. That’s not Chang. It’s Woo.

Place mats are local Chinese newspaper pages, and their menu looks like a takeout menu.

Honey Jack with ginger, topped with a lager. Very refreshing, and the ginger and the lager take out the sweetness from the Jack, which is way too overwhelming.

I really enjoy this beer. I found it at BevMo, but it’s $5 a bottle. No thanks.

taiwanese-style cool dan dan noodles, fresh peanut and chili sambal

wok-charred udon noodles, chicken, baby bok choy, oyster sauce

tiger’s tears (aka bang bang & olufsen beef), grilled steak, thai basil, lime, khao koor

braised pork belly buns, bao, brandy hoisin, house pickle

lemon-ginger mousse coupe, homemade fortune cookie

Myers + Chang  seems a little gimmicky with giant dragons painted on the windows, charging a luxury fee for Asian dishes when Chinatown is a mere two blocks away. This place is more than Asian food  at a premium though. It’s a delicious little joint for familiar foods with a slight twist. They don’t stray too far from the traditional tastes on most of their dishes, which makes it comfort food. The sauces are a little bit different, a little bit lighter, but overall it’s close to what I grew up eating with my parents.

If you feel like exploring a little more, they have  that too. Some of their own creations, like chicken and waffles made with a ginger-sesame waffle looked pretty good.

I’d stop into this place again if I was in town, and you should too.

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Neptune Oyster

Posted on October 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

Remember when we planned our Freedom Trail tour around an eating spot? Most of my idea seem good up front, but then they tend to unravel as the lack of planning becomes apparently. Not this one. It was absolutely a brilliant plan, even in hindsight.

We found it. A little store front on a small street houses one of the best known seafood joints in the city.

Peering through the window. Oh, this is going to be good.

The raw bar menu on display on the mirror.

These little things are like oyster crackers. They’re hard in texture, probably great for clam chowder.

A great selection of beers.

Ordering from the raw bar.

Some oysters and clams from various local waterways.

A lobster roll. This is freaking incredible. The meat is in huge chunks, not shredded little bits mixed with imitation crab like you might find on the west coast.

I feel like I could spend a week in Boston just trying the different lobster rolls and clam chowder. Next time I may just do that.

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First Meal in Boston

Posted on October 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

After Chicago Michelle and I figured we were already half way across the country and decided to travel to the East Coast. Not wanting to do New York like we normally do, we decided on Boston. We got to our hotel pretty late, but being in The Back Bay, there were plenty of food options.

Boston is known for its New American style of food. There are places on practically every block serving this style of cuisine. We chose The Salty Pig for our first grub spot.

Prosciutto, Speck, Hard Gouda, Fig Jam, Chianti Jelly.

Mushroom Pizza, Topped with a Farm Egg.

Granted we were pretty hungry after travelling, but I really enjoyed this place. They’ve got a small rotation of beers that are pretty good, and their staff is super friendly, even after I brought up the Red Sox end of the regular season implosion.

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Can’t leave Chicago without getting diarrhea at least once.

Posted on October 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

Michelle’s first trip to White Castle.

Wow, laxatives by the case! Woot!

It takes about a dozen of these little burgers to get full. This was merely a snack.

The Double Cheeseburger.

Chicken Sandwich.

I never understood the insane need for In-N-Out that people get when they come back to the west coast, but I really don’t get why people like White Castle. They taste like the microwavable burgers I used to eat in junior high. Maybe it’s not going to make your innards evacuate, but they’re pretty mediocre. I guess the moral of the story is, stay off drugs. They make you do dumb things like want to go to White Castle.

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Deep Dish Pizza: Meh.

Posted on October 18, 2011 | 1 Comment

There is a constant war going on between the people, who love their pizza in the New York style versus the people who love deep dish pizza. To me this is like arguing whether you want to get a treat or kicked in the groin. I’m not a fan of deep dish pizza, and I remember disliking it a lot the last time I was in Chicago. Since Michelle had never tried deep dish pizza in Chicago, I figured why not give it another shot.

We decided to try our deep dish pies at the birth place of the deep dish pizza.

I have to say I did not hate the deep dish pizza this time around. It was flavorful, and the crust was crisp throughout each bite. The down side to these pizzas is that there are times you get a mouthful of almost nothing but tomato sauce. Also in order to get the pie crisp, it takes a lot of oil, which you can really taste in certain bites as the oil probably pooled to that one spot in the pan.

Still, Pizzeria Uno had other things going for it like a nice Bloody Mary.

Also, Goose Island beers make everything a little better. Honker’s Ale on the left. 312 on the right.

I’m still a fan of New York Style pizza over Chicago Style, but I won’t go as far as to say I hate the deep dish pie now. Each type of pizza has its place. Chicago deep dish’s place just won’t be my stomach if I’m given the choice.

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Ruxbin in Chicago

Posted on October 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ruxbin is a hot restaurant that is blowing up in Chicago. They don’t take reservation so there is a line outside the restaurant that forms thirty minutes before it opens.

Ruxbin is located in an odd area of town for such a popular joint. When you walk there from the L, you see taco joints one after another. Walk past Ruxbin, and you’ll  find guys hanging outside of the liquor store looking like they’ve been drinking all day already.

The walls of the restaurant are lined with different culinary books.

The ceilings are lined with papers that appear from cookbooks as well.

That liquor store around the corner I was talking about? Well, Ruxbin is a BYOB place. While everyone else was bringing wine, we brought some of Goose Island’s finest, 312.

Popcorn with seaweed seasoning.

Calamari. Chicken & Pork Farce, Potato Confit, Korean Chili, Peanuts, Pickled Fennel, and Pea Tendrils.

Pork Belly Salad. Jicama, Grapefruit, Arugula, Cornbread, Danablue Cheese, and Citrus Vinaigrette.

Bucatini & Clams. “Ja Jang Myun”, Chinese Sausage, Fine Herbs, Fermented Black Bean and White Wine.

Sable. Maple & Soy with Barley, Pickled Vegetables and Black Tea Broth.

Panna Cotta. Lychee and Toasted Coconut.

This might be the coolest thing in the restaurant. The door is a half cylinder that rotates around you when you want to get in and out of the restroom.

I normally prefer low key restaurants, places that are dives, hole-in-the-wall type places. There’s so little fuss with these places, letting me be my classless self, who sometimes dresses like a hobo according to my wife. I do admit there is a threshold to how good the food normally gets without the ambiance of fine dining. The food at Ruxbin is exceptional but without a hint of pretension that often comes with nicer restaurants. I love that.

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First Meal in Chicago

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Some of you probably didn’t even notice, but I was gone for a week and a half. I have sales meetings in Michigan every one or two years, so this time I flew in early to Chicago and brought Michelle along with me. We landed pretty late, checking into Hotel Allegro around midnight.

Our home away from home.

We walked across the river for a late night snack, braving the cold winds.

The evidence of our late night meal.

Beef sandwich with sweet peppers.

Beef sandwich with sweet and hot peppers.

After travelling, this meal was satisfying. The hot pepper mix was really good. The beef was a bit on the dry side unfortunately. I felt like the Portillo’s sandwich was juicier, even though this dipped in beef juice as well. Man, I wish I could have the Portillo’s beef smothered in Al’s hot pepper mix.

Anyone know where I can get my hands on some of the hot pepper mix? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it at grocery stores locally.

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Pizzeria Olio

Posted on September 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Our friends moved to the Mid Wilshire area and invited us all out to their new place. Not only was their new home a great place, but the location is great. They can walk just about in any direction and there’s a place to eat. That’s just what we did.

We took a stroll through their neighborhood and ended up at Pizzeria Olio, but there were plenty of choices with Robata Jinya and Burger Kitchen right across the corner. Apologies for the yellowness of the photos. Pretty much all the light on the patio came from a street light on the corner.

They have a lot of custom sodas and even hot chocolate with fire-roasted marshmallows.

Margherita – Crushed tomatoes, fresh local mozzarella, fresh basil and Tuscan olive oil

Prosciutto & Chard - Smoked prosciutto (Speck ham), sautéed Swiss chard and cherry tomatoes topped with shaved Parmesan

Wild Mushrooms & Herbed Ricotta Cheese - Fire roasted mushrooms with herbed ricotta cheese, caramelized onion and French brie

Prosciutto & Fig – One of their specials. The sweetness and soft texture of the figs compliments the saltiness of the ham very nicely.

You won’t find dessert on their menu. They have different flavors of gelato and some other special things.

Pizza dough, caramelized sugar crust, ricotta cheese, and Nutella.

I’ve heard Pizzeria Olio compared to Pizzeria Mozza. Both places make quality wood-fired pizzas with fresh ingredients. I would have to say that I prefer Mozza’s pies more, but Olio is more than a fair compromise, and when you factor in the price and the wait at Mozza, it’s hardly a compromise. I’d be glad to return to Olio. Plus I can walk across the street after for some ramen.

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A little DIY ingenuity in cooking.

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Michelle wanted some dumplings for lunch, but  I told her we didn’t have a steamer and I could fry them up instead. She seemed disappointed, so I set out to make my wife happy.

A little foil over a pot rack brushed with with some oil and punctured with toothpick holes to start.

Cover it all with a lid that lets out some of the steam, and we’re cooking!

Tadah! Steamed dumplings!

While this probably doesn’t produce perfect dumplings, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this contraption. For those of you cooks that say you need to have good equipment in the kitchen, I have one thing to say to you. Not if you’re MacGyver.

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San Diego Beer Tour: Day 3

Posted on September 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sunday morning we woke up and wondered why  brewery tasting rooms don’t open sooner. Noon seems kind of late to start drinking beer.

Also, we kept missing the free beer.

Stone is number eleven in craft breweries in the United States, and it was one of the places we had to stop. Being so large means they have the finances to build themselves a facility outside of the industrial parks, which includes its own restaurant.

They have a great restaurant that people come to eat, not even to partake of the beer necessarily.

You can tell a lot of work and detail went into making this facility. Of course, lots of stone is used in the construction.

They have a great outdoor patio with its own bar.

Their beer selection on tap is fantastic, including a lot of beers from other breweries. Knowing I would drink plenty of Stone beers, I opted to start with Russian River’s Pliny the Elder.

BBQ Pork Sandwich.

Prime Rib Melt.

Beer Float, featuring Stone Smoked Porter and Niederfranks Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Both of these stand on their own, but when put together you get something very magical.

We took the tour of the brewery, which starts with propaganda about making good beer and walks you through the manufacturing lines.

If you drink four pints a day from the big fermentation tanks, it would take you sixty five years to finish the tank. That’s close to 12,000 gallons of beer. I’ll just stick to a small tank of beer, thanks.

Unfortunately all these kegs and bottles are empties.

Some goodies to take home. Stone is currently working on building a hotel behind their brewery. I guess people love their beer so much they travel just to get a taste. It’ll be Beer Disneyland!

Port Brewing/Lost Abbey had my favorite tasting room.  This location is actually Stone’s old facility. Although it was in an industrial park like the rest, they put together lots of space for people to sit down and enjoy their beers while watching a Chargers game.

More goodies to take home with us.

The final brewery on our beercation before we returned to our regular lives was Iron Fist. Another small brewery in an industrial park, they had customers drawing on butcher paper and designing their walls. I really like how locals come to these tasting rooms like they would a local watering hole.

Some of Iron Fist’s beers. Hired Hand, Golden Age, Dubbel Fisted, Trippel Fisted.

Totally off topic, but Iron Fist’s head brewer, Brandon looks like he could be the lovechild of Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter. It’s like the “If They Mated” sketch backfired on The Conan Show.

The day’s bounty: Port Brewing’s Wipeout IPA. Two bottles of Lost Abbey’s Judgement Day and a bottle of Ten Commandments. Bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale, Self-Righteous, Belgo Anise, Cali-Belgique IPA, and two bottles of Stone’s Imperial Black IPA. Two bottles of Iron Fists’s Dubbel Fisted and a Renegade Blonde.

Day three was the close of the brewery tour trip, and I have to say it was quite enjoyable. I really enjoy the beer scene down south. They understand that good beer is about more than just inebriation. It’s about community. Sharing a beer next to a total stranger didn’t seem strange at all. It was familiar and comfortable. I like that.

Drinking beer as a marathon activity and hopping from brewery to brewery is very tough. First, you have to stay sober enough to drive. Safety first. Even while staying sober it’s hard to keep up when the beer makes you so full. I have to think that if I were a few years younger, I also wouldn’t have needed the naps. Still, it’s totally worth it. Life’s too short to drink bad beer.

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