Posts Tagged With: Travel

Top 5 Things I Ate in Las Vegas

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Ziggy

OK, this wasn’t exactly an eating Tour de Force New Orleans style but some fairly delicious bites nonetheless…

Oxtail Benedict at Comme Ça – Oxtail meet Gut. Tender, delicious slow braised Oxtail, poached eggs, spinach, pepper gougère topped with a nice truffle Hollandaise oooozing with flavor. Very original and very delicious!

Bread at Bouchon – If only I had a Bouchon Bakery near where I lived. Did not love the meal but greatly enjoyed this bread with butter

Octopus at Milos – If you don’t add the $10 supp to the $20 lunch here you should be sentenced to a lunch buffet. Some of the best Octopus I’ve had in the USA. Meaty, tender, perfectly grilled, perfectly seasoned with a hint of oregano, absolutely delicious Octopus

Huevos Estrellados at Julian Serrano – The most memorable tapa was probably the Stuffed Dates, but when I look back and think about which dish gave me the most pleasure, it is the Huevos Estrellados. Egg, Chorizo, fries! whats not to like

Pastrami at Todd English P.U.B. What a surprise off the bat. Nicely carved, delicious homemade Pastrami served with your choice of bread and sauces (try the mustard trio and truffle mayo

Las Vegas Eats – Comme Ça

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Ziggy

Our comme ci comme ça trip ended with good one at comme ça. What? No, you did not enter the Michael Jackson fan club by accident. Since this is a food blog I feel obligated to inject some French into it. Comme ci comme ça means so-so. Comme ça means Delicious!!

Charcuterie was a beautiful pork fest. Every single item had pork in it including the delicious chicken liver pate. Not a very kosher dish. An excellent start. Endive and Pear Salad, with a bit of hazelnut and just enough bleu cheese was satisfying as well.

My Croque Madame was enjoyable. Perhaps the first Croque Madame I’ve had in the states, not sure. But my wife’s Oxtail Benedict was the bomb. Tender, delicious slow braised Oxtail, and with the poached eggs, spinach, pepper gougère topped with a nice truffle Hollandaise oozing with flavor. Very original and very delicious. The Crème Brûlée was simple yet perfectly executed. A fine meal overall.

Comme Ça, like Milos, is in the Cosmopolitan hotel which on paper at least, has the most impressive list of restaurant collection on the planet. The list includes Jaleo, Scarpetta (One of my faves in NYC), e by Jose Andres and more. Comme Ça le Magnifique

Categories: Las vegas | Tags: Comme Ca, Comme Ca Las Vegas, food, Las vegas, Las Vegas eats, las vegas restaurants, restaurants, Travel | Leave a comment

Las Vegas Eats – Bouchon

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Ziggy

The most anticipated meal of the trip was the biggest miss of the trip. We are far from Minetta Tavern!

Bouchon Bistro is a Thomas Keller restaurant in the Venezia Tower of the Venetian, offering classic French bistro fare. One of the most popular dining options in Vegas for both brunch (famous for its chicken and waffles) and dinner (famous for its… bread?). My mission as the foodie and food blogger of the 12 person group traveling with us was to choose a place to celebrate a friend’s birthday and after much consideration and keeping costs in mind I chose Bouchon for this special event.

It started off quite nicely. Beautiful private room, nice ambiance and everybody happy. The bread arrived after a while and WOW.. some of the best bread I’ve had this side of Villefranche Sur Mer. I love good bread and butter and this is as good as it gets. An app of mussels arrived chilled was very good, and a nice Frisée with poached egg salad as well. Not a bad start, but a premature finish.

The steak frites of choice was a $45 grilled 14 oz of dry and flavorless NY Strip. It tasted more like a filet mignon. Very unfortunate and the other person who ordered it agreed. Mrs Ziggy’s beef short rib was a little better but uninspiring nonetheless except perhaps for some nice veggies and a ‘hint’ of handmade pasta surrounding it.

A few months ago in New Orleans we tried 8 different bread puddings in 5 days. Bouchon’s would have been dead last in that race.

An hour into the meal, since our main courses weren’t taken yet, you could tell that this would be a 3 hour marathon. And it was! Surely I didnt mind spending the time with my friends but it is important to note in case you planning to bring your in-laws here.

Overall, Bouchon is another expensive reminder that the big name restaurants on the strip at times are just that, Big Names!

Categories: Las vegas | Tags: Bouchon, Bouchon Las Vegas, food, Las vegas, Las Vegas eats, las vegas restaurants, restaurants, Travel | Leave a comment

Las Vegas Eats – Estiatorio Milos

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Ziggy

I’ll make this one short and sweet. Not because I just had too much to drink this evening, but because I’m a bit under the influence and I’m afraid that the more I write the less sense I’d make. Milos lunch was a winner. The $20.13 lunch which is set to increase to $20.14 next year due to the corn market pricing speculation is one of the greatest deals in town. However, to make this truly worthwhile you need to add the $10 supplement for the terrific grilled Octopus app. Ever since we visited Portugal, the land of the most amazing octopus on the planet we’ve been on the hunt. This one is it. Meaty, perfectly grilled, perfectly seasoned with a hint of oregano, absolutely delicious octopus. Mrs. Ziggy thankfully enjoyed her tomato salad which meant she kept her fork on her plate for the most part. For main, the winner was the simply grilled Lavraki (bass). Quite a tasty piece of fish. The shrimp dish on the other hand was a bit too bland and the walnut pie, soaked in deliciousness was a nice finish The lunched so far are more satisfying than the dinners. Thumb up to Estiatorio Milos, aka Milos, aka don’t call me Estiatorio since no one can remember the first half of the name. I had to Google it just now.

Categories: Las vegas | Tags: Estiatorio Milos, Estiatorio Milos Las Vegas, food, Las vegas, Las Vegas eats, las vegas restaurants, restaurants, Travel | Leave a comment

Las Vegas Eats – Todd English P.U.B

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Ziggy

The perfect place to go straight from the airport with the luggage. Especially if you traveling with a bad wheel. You know, one of your carry-on wheels is crooked and as you walk with it, it wobbles uncontrollably, as if something is hiding in there and people are staring at it waiting for that something to come out any minute. And you are debating whether to just carry it but then discover if you get it closer to the ground you are more or less good but then have to explain to everyone your bad back. You know, that one. Even Martha Stewart who flew with us couldn’t save it but put a delightful tassel around the wheel

Anyway, nice beer, great food, a booth, Todd English food – that’s all you need after a long flight (anything longer than 2 with a terrified wife is long).

We sampled some surprisingly terrific Pastrami, carved thick and generous (this is half a portion) and served with your choice of spreads. We got the mustard trio and the truffle mayo (very nice). Really enjoyed this dish. And their popular Junk Chips formerly known as Dirty chips since supposedly some people complained about the name? Say What? Nice nacho chips with melted blue cheese just enough to give it some tanginess without overwhelming.

Combine that with a very impressive beer menu, and I’ll take it over the Vegas buffet any day. Even with a bad wheel. We tried to come back (in Aria btw) later during the weekend only to find more than a 30 minute wait. As far as decent pub food in the area this is perhaps as good as it gets. Highly recommend especially the Pastrami

Categories: Las vegas | Tags: food, Las vegas, Las Vegas eats, las vegas restaurants, restaurants, Todd English P.U.B, Travel | 2 Comments

Las Vegas Eats – Julian Serrano

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Ziggy

A mixed bag all around for this one. Julian Serrano also of Bellagio’s Picasso is one of many big names in Vegas. An impressive array of Spanish tapas fills the menu, both classics like the Gambas and Patatas Bravas and “new wave” tapas like those tuna cones we see surface in some places like in New Orleans’ SoBou.

Julian Serrano definitely got the look. Although its near the main lobby in Aria and sort of a downer once you see the location. Between the 6 of us we sampled quite a few dishes. No issues with the service at all. I asked if they can bring the dishes in the correct order to accommodate the palates and they did.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers – A bit milder than expected but a pleasant start nonetheless.

Huevos Estrellados – Enjoyed this one. The chorizo along with the egg and fries worked together nicely.

Pintxo de Chorizo – Should have ordered something else. Although the mashed potatoes was tasty, the chorizo was similar to the previous dish if not slightly chewier. Pictured on top

White Ceviche – perhaps the weakest link. I love ceviche but the acid here was just a tad overwhelming. A good size dish I must add.

Stuffed Dates – this is one of my favorite Mediterranean tapa dishes and this one did not disappoint. Love the combination of those sweet dates with the bacon. Well done here.

Croquettes – Ungood! flavorless, screaming for some sort of sauce.

Lobster Saffron – Ok, not memorable

Gambas – Good. Nice plump and tasty shrimp

Creamy Risotto – Nice finish. Arborio cooked to al dente perfection and with the mushroom provided plenty of flavor. Along with the dates the best dish of the night.

Desserts not memorable

Funny how things work out sometimes. I’ve anticipated this to be one of the top meals of the trip from the info I gathered but at the end of the day, the pastrami at the next door P.U.B by Todd English was the most memorable thing I ate on day 1.

Not a bad meal overall but not something I’d do again. Perhaps I got somewhat spoiled with all the wonderful tapas we have in NYC (Alta, Tia Pol to name a few). This meal was a fresh reminder after a 6 year hiatus that the big name restaurants on the strip got just that. Big names.

Categories: Las vegas | Tags: food, Julian Serrano, Julian Serrano las Vegas, Las vegas, Las Vegas eats, las vegas restaurants, restaurants, Travel | 2 Comments

My Top 10 bites of 2012 in NYC

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Ziggy

Some of the best eating we’ve done in 2012 was outside of NYC. Mainly in New Orleans, Israel, and Turks and Caicos. But there was plenty of eating in our back yard…

Marea – Astice. Nova Scotia lobster + creamy Burrata, + Eggplant al funghetto + beautiful pesto drops = pure ecstasy in every bite. I remember the feeling while eating it. The Spaghetti with crab and fusilli not too shabby either. Photo below courtesy of bionicgrrrl at Bionicbites

Zabb Elee – Pad Ped Moo Krob. Crispy fried and refried pork, green peppercorn, ginger, Thai eggplant and spicy curry. A lot of heat and a lot flavor
Aldea – Shrimp Alhinho – loved the dish, not the meal. Large succulent shrimp with a nice complex sauce. Well done!
Alta – bacon wrapped dates. Skip the other half of the dish (the olives) and get more of these babies. Bacon never tasted that good.
Scarpetta – Rabbit Agnolotti – Perfectly cooked rabbit in those pillowy delicate Agnolotti bursting with flavor (silence of the lambs sound)

Roberta’s – Bee sting pizza. Great tasting pie. Spicy Sopressata (spicier than other Sopressata I’ve had) and the added honey contributed to interesting contrasting flavors. Liked it more than Paulie Gee’s similar Delboy. Or maybe it was the waitresses Roberta's Bee Sting Pizza
Sanrasa – Lamprie. This Dutch influenced Sri Lankan classic is a piece of art. Rice, meat, curry, caramelized onions, cashews, all baked wrapped in banana leaf. What a great dish
Gazala’s Place – Hummus with lamb and pine nuts. Nuttiest, creamiest, freshest Hummus I’ve had in NYC.

Minetta Tavern – Black Label burger. Best burger we ever had. 50% of it is prime 48 day aged rib eye.

Danji – Chicken wings. This gourmet Korean tapas joint serves some mean chicken wings. Cant wait to have them again. Danji

Categories: New York City | Tags: Aldea, alta, danji, food, Gazala's Place, marea, Minetta Tavern, NYC, NYC food, NYC restaurants, restaurants, Roberta's, Scarpetta, Travel, Zabb Elee | 4 Comments

Giovanni Rana – Verona Legend Turned Bird Killer

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Ziggy

My youngest once told me an interesting fact she read somewhere. 10,000 birds die from smashing into windows a year. And so I have to ask you my loyal readers, both of you. How in the world do they come up with those stats. Really, do they actually keep a running tally? Do they pick up dead birds on the streets and able to determine the exact cause of death or they simply base on the location where birds pronounced dead close to windows, died from smashing into them Angry Birds style.

Anyway, I wonder how many pasta lover birds have smashed into the windows of Giovanni Rana. GR is an Italian legend from Verona who’s passion for ravioli spawned an empire in Italy. His face is proudly stapled on Tortellini packages all over the country. But instead of telling you the story you can just see it on his site. Yes even in Italy they eat packaged/frozen goods.

His daughter in law Antonella runs the new sprawling mini Eataly space in Chelsea piers. Daily made fresh pasta is the name of the game here. You can eat it, buy it, or take-out it. Perhaps the finest pasta menu in NYC and we sampled 4 of them (me and my 2 pasta critics, daughters age 12, 10). On the way I told the kids about daddy’s and mommy’s adventures in Verona and I didn’t get far until the youngest interrupted.. “Ahhm dad, we were there too remember?” Oh Yehhh!

Ricotta Spinach Girasole. – Absolutely delicious Ravioli. My youngest’s favorite of the bunch. Comes with more chunks of creamy ricotta, all in this nice baked parmigiano crisp

Ravioli al Brasato. Braised rib meat Ravioli with cabbage and chestnuts. Good although the weakest link perhaps. I felt wanting more of the cabbage and chestnuts especially the cabbage, and the chestnuts.

Lobster Mezzaluna

Lobster Mezzaluna – Very Good! not Maine lobster from the next door neighbor lobster place but satisfying nonetheless. The best part of the dish was the Chanterelle mushrooms. One of those rare moment that I count my blessings for marrying a mushroom hater (hate transferred to the kids)

Cappelletti – the star for me. Even with the odd side of prosciutto on toast. Prosciutto, bread crumbs and herbs packed in those Cappelletti. Each one bursting with flavor. Well done!

Service with plenty of hiccups as they only open for a few months. The place feels like mini Eataly with all the tourists, products and cafeteria like setting. Still, an enjoyable meal in Giovanni’s pasta land. Welcome to New York Mr. Rana

Categories: Chelsea, New York City | Tags: food, Giovanni Rana, Giovanni Rana NYC, NYC dining, NYC restaurants, restaurants, Travel | 1 Comment

Sri Lankan in Staten Island – Another reason to visit

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Ziggy

Lets recap some of the biggest reasons to come to Staten Island…

1) Staten Island Ferry. Staten Island is a very unique place. One of the biggest attractions in NYC is to get there and then get the hell out of there.

2) To see Meerkats on a lookout at the Staten Island Zoo. If you have never seen this, here’s an example from another zoo…

3) The new annual “Running of the Zebras and Ponies”. I have a feeling this is going to be a big hit. Here’s a footage from the last event (play the video)

4) To see “The Yankees”. Its the Staten Island Yankees, but most tourists will not know the difference.

5) For the new “EYE”. Ok, its a Ferris Wheel that hasnt actually been built yet but is in the works, and it will be bigger than the London eye.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-26/nyc-said-to-plan-staten-island-ferris-wheel-to-rival-london-eye.html

Add Sri Lankan food to this impressive list. Sure you have some other nice options like Vida, and the rotating nonnas of Enoteca Maria, but nothing perhaps is as unique as the wonderful Sri Lankan cuisine on the island. Since the late 60’s Sri Lankans have been flocking the island to create the 3rd largest Sri Lankan community in the US. Here are 2 of the better options on the island of Staten

Lakruwana – Entering Lakruwana is like entering a Sri Lankan museum with every inch of the restaurant decorated from floor to ceiling. We did their excellent Sunday buffet served in clay pots. From Boiled egg with curry to Kale with coconut, to Pol and onion Sambols, and the delicious crispy pork. Although there were only 2 meat dishes, even the carnivores will admire the different variety and the complex flavors.

Sanrasa – Here we did a saturday dinner. Although Sanrasa has more of a homey look and feel as opposed to Lakruwana, the flavors are as spectacular. The chef used to work for Lakruwana and also I believe for a saudi prince. If its good enough for a Saudi price, its good enough for Ziggy. Some dishes we tried…

Chicken with cashew curry – very good. nice and tender chicken
Lamb with black curry – lamb a little dry but the sauce more than made up for it. Couldn’t get enough of it really.
Hoppers – very nice and unique, like little spongy pancakes made with rice flour and coconut milk, with some cooked with eggs
Kottu Roti – nice. They have an array of roti and hopper specials that come with your choice of meat curries
Lamprie – This is the house special and a must IMO. All kinds of goodies including rice, meat, curry, caramelized onions, cashews, all baked wrapped in banana leaf. An old Dutch influenced classic
Deviled Shrimp – Fantastic, Thai-like, very spicy sizzling unpeeled shrimp with veggies.
Lamb Biryani – very good
Nice Mango Lassi as well.

There you have it folks. Another reason to come. As if you needed any more after surviving the running of the zebras and ponies

Categories: New York City, Staten Island | Tags: food, Lakruwana, NYC dining, NYC eats, NYC restaurants, restaurants, Sanrasa, sri lankan food, Staten Island, Staten island restaurants, Staten Island Sri Lankan, Travel | 1 Comment

Top 15 Things We Ate In New Orleans

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Ziggy

Coquette’s bread – When you are being careful not to eat too much because you have a huge dinner coming up and still order more bread, it means only one thing: Great Bread!

Boucherie’s Boudins – Fantastic to all senses including smell and touch. Not only you could smell them when they arrived, but the blonde at the bar next to us smelled them as well. “hmmm, I can smell your balls from here” was a compliment in this case. I think?!

Boucherie’s Brisket – Juicy, tender melt in your mouth goodness. And those garlicky Parmesan fries that came with it were just perfect

SoBou’s Cajun Queso – “More pork cracklings please” because our fingers dont taste as savory with this sickest cheese fondue ever

SoBou’s Alligator Sausages and Sticky Pork Belly (tie) – Cheating here a little but got no choice. We sampled quite a few items in Sobou and these stood out. You swipe the sausage with all 3 sauces and you got a fiesta in your mouth, add the briny and beautiful Okra to cool things down, until you taste the Pork and the accompanied boudin ball and your eyes widen and you start talking nonsense

Commander’s Palace’s Turtle Soup – More complex flavors! Much more! About 27 ingredients more!

Herbsaint’s Spaghetti – If I have to pick one spectacular starter, this is it. Once you break the picture perfect fried poached farm egg and mix in the salty Guanciale, you got pure ecstasy with every bite. Great Great dish.

Herbsaint’s Lamb Neck – Had a wonderful Lamb Neck in Tel Aviv in the summer but this one beats it by a mile. Nice and crispy on the outside, perfectly tender falling off the bone on the inside. And together with the delicate Saffron Fideo noodles and roasted tomatoes you got another spectacular dish. We also had other goodies in Herbsaint and if there’s a restaurant that provides more excitement pound for pound I would like to know

GW Fins’ Lobster Dumplings – Delicious! Like great Russian Vareniki

Drago’s Chargrilled Oysters – I may have lost respect with the Chowhounder folks with this one , but to us they were meaty and very flavorful. Did we just get lucky?

Mr B’s BBQ Shrimp – So good we broke a cardinal rule and came back for seconds. Peppery, buttery, buttery, buttery (thats 3 sticks) goodness

Sammy’s Ray Ray Po’Boy and Salmon Sashimi (tie). From the Po’Boy festival these 2 came on top. The Ray Ray is a delicious combination of fried chicken ham and cheese. But I need for someone to point out the vendor of the Salmon Po’boy (Hummus Whisperer fave) since I cant recall

Red Gravy’s Lombardo – Grits + Eggs + Gravy + Cheese = Silent moment

Cafe Du Monde’s Beignets – The history had something to do with this one, the cafe au lait helped, and those Beignets are nothing to sneeze at. Because if you do you, you’ll shower your friends with powdered sugar.

GW Fins’ Bread Pudding – The winner of our accidental bread pudding competition that featured 7 of the city’s top BPs. By accidental I mean desperation with over 20 years of living in NYC with major bread puddings withdrawals.

Special mention: Sweet Palate’s Pop Rock Chocolates.

Drinks: Bloody Mary from Marie’s Bar, French 75 from French 75, Dark and Stormy from Boucherie, Faubourg Tall Boy from Sobou.

Zei Gezunt and stay hungry my friends!

Categories: New Orleans | Tags: Best restaurants in new Orleans, food, New Orleans, New Orleans food, New Orleans restaurants, restaurants, Top Food New Orleans, Travel | 2 Comments

Posts Tagged With: Travel

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