Taste the Future in your Mouth

Lately, the future is coming from Australia. From musical wunderkinds, Empire of the Sun, in their video for their single "Walking on a Dream" to Carlton Beer's new commercial, Aussie's are showing me a world of tomorrow. I want to go to there.

Taco Tour!!!

One of my favorite nights spent in LA was a true culinary experience, the emphasis taco truck tour. What makes the tour ingenious is the interplay between food and drink in such a variety of settings. Having eaten a late lunch, we started our tour around 9 o'clock and followed a winding path through Hollywood keeping to a simple formula: a taco, then a few drinks a bar, then a taco then a bar etc.


We began at Cactus, a local staple known for their fish taco. Jesse made sure to warn us to squeeze copious amounts of lime juice on everything to dissuade any possible unpleasantness later in the night. This only enhanced the flavor the fried fish and shrimp any ways.


After our first snack we went to go check out all the old bar haunts of Jesse's Hollywood days until we got hungry again and ventured to Taco Zone, an all-female run truck with a huge following.


This was a treat, their specialty was cabeza, or beef cheek, which I'd never tried before.


It was most delicious. Maybe I just never knew to ask for it, but I haven't really run across cabeza on this coast. I hope I do soon...On to more debauchery, from Tiny's Bar to Jumbo's Clown Room and finally to Chato Taco to fend off drunken fools for some old-fashioned carne asada before bed. Tacos and beers. Beers and Tacos. Perfect night.

Big Sur Eats: Nepenthe

After San Francisco, we headed down the coast on Highway 1, stopping in Big Sur for a night before making our way to Los Angeles. While I am a sucker for the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, it can't hold a candle to Highway 1. It's got to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world. And before hitting Big Sur, it runs through Castroville, the Artichoke Capital of the world.

If you ever find yourself in the region, it is necessary to stop at Nepenthe, a restaurant situated on a cliff over-looking the Pacific. The weather was so nice when we went that we got to eat outside, looking out at the water.


They're known for their Ambrosia Burger which is simple but delicious. The ground beef was incredible and the sauce, which I later find out was made from mayo, tomato sauce, and salsa, was deadly. Along with a glass of wine from the neighboring San Lucia Valley, we were in heaven.

Pizzetta 211: Better than most NY pizza

Deep in the Richmond District of San Fran, you'll find some of the best pizza I've had in a long time. And I've been searching all over NYC for the best slice. The tiny Pizzetta 211 has four tables and a counter. They make 6 kinds of individual pizzas, 3 constant and 3 that change every week. Me and Sam got the tomato, mozzarella and basil with whole white anchovies. The pizza was cooked to perfection, slightly charred on the bottom and the anchovies weren't the super fishy mini ones as you can see.


I loved how small the place was, and how they basically used the oven to make everything, from calzones to pear tarts. It was a tight operation in all senses of the word.

Simple and sophisticated, the menu is awesome, with 3 red wines and 1 white. I want to open a place just like this in Brooklyn.

San Francisco Treats

I spent last week in California, flying into San Francisco where we stayed at Sam and Jessie's. They have a beautiful apartment in the Richmond a few blocks from Golden Gate Park. I'd never been to SF and over the four days there I tried to get a feel for it. It's true, going to west coast makes you inevitably question your previous choice of coasts. Sam and Jessie were amazing hosts and the crown of our culinary experience was getting a 3 course meal at Chez Sammy courtesy of the larger-than-life legend himself.


Sam made Fresh pasta with the help of Jessie. We all did prep work, but in the end the chef took over and made each course to order. We started off on a fresh note, with a Blood Orange microgreen salad with shaved Parmesan, thinly-sliced fresh fennel, calamata olives, and a light vinaigrette.


Next Same cooked his pasta and took the roasted fennel out of the oven. He combined these with toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, bread crumbs,, grated Parmesan, fresh parsley oil.

Check out how gracefully Sam tosses the pine nuts on to the plate.


After this we were all feeling sated, but there was one more dish to go. The Chef just happened to have some sword-fish lying around which he pan seared, and threw on a bed of seared cabbage. Eventually, he smothered it in salsa verde.

The feast was so delicious, we all went into temporary food comas. Sam is officially Don Cuisini Cucini.

Does this look like a man who can't cook?

Bringing the bathroom to the dining room

This is how the Time Magazine article begins:

--"There's poop everywhere! Y-u-c-k," says 6-year-old Jordan Lien as he and his family dine at the Modern Toilet, a popular Taiwanese restaurant chain that's expanding into China and other parts of Asia. The boy was looking at the poop-shaped lights and dish covers and the curry on toilet-shaped plates.--
Basically some brilliant marketer/bathroom humor lover came up with the idea to serve dishes in mini toilets.

And for dessert it gets even better. Featured are the shaved-ice desserts with names like "diarrhea with dried droppings" (chocolate), "bloody poop" (strawberry) and "green dysentery" (kiwi).

For the feature article click here.

Filet O' Fish Cops Das Racist Style

I know I've been coming with a lot of commercials lately, but this must be said. McDonald's has ripped off Hima and Das Racist's style. This is not the first time someone has released something that could have been easily been masterminded by Hima (listen to Windows Media Player by Charles Hamilton to hear how he jacked Hima's flow and style). And now McD's ripped the signature Das Racist Chorus Formula. Listen to "Pizza Hut Taco Bell" on Das Racist's Myspace and then watch this video.



A little too obvious, McDonald's!!

SNL: Eastern Europe Confronts the Whopper

Thanks, Naph.