Portillo’s

So on my last trip to Chicago, the city’s famous hot dogs and pizza didn’t make it to eating itinerary.  I’m proud to say that despite having every meal planned, I still managed to fit in a tasting of Portillo’s and Lou Malnati’s. I really wanted to try Hot Doug’s or Franks ‘n Dawgs but…

Pine State Biscuits

So this post marks a FIRST.  I used my iPhone to take these pictures!  You may have noticed, but I ain’t eating out as much these days.  So I don’t just leave my camera in my purse anymore because it’s just too heavy even though it’s just a point and shoot.  People rave about this…

Riffle NW

I cook a lot.  I only say that because I don’t know anybody else who cooks as much as I do.  As a result, I get really tired of my own food.  I try to cook as many new things as possible but I run out of ideas and I certainly get tired of chicken,…

Spaghetti with Pinot Grigio and Seafood

I don’t know what the seafood consumption of most average American homes is, but in my house growing up, we didn’t eat a lot of fresh seafood.  I think my mom would buy a fried fish from the Asian supermarket and then she would cook frozen shrimps, stir fried or tempura style.  My mom never…

Smitten

My ice cream journey continues with a more interesting way to make ice cream using liquid nitrogen.  Smitten is a cool little shop in a cool neighborhood of SF, Hayes Valley.   I’ll let the pictures do the talking. They use only fresh, all natural ingredients. Making ice cream this way apparently results in a…

Brenda’s French Soul Food

I like brunch, but I don’t love it.  As a result, I am never too keen on waiting the 1-2 hours that some really popular brunch places command on the weekends, the only time most people, including myself, can enjoy brunch.  Fortunately, if I go in with the right mindset and pre-eat, waiting isn’t such…

Humphry Slocombe

The ice cream binge continues in San Francisco.  While everyone goes gaga for Bi-Rite, I was sort of underwhelmed.  There’s still one other ice creamy heavy hitter in the area, Humphry Slocombe.  Random-ass name huh?  But it sure does stick in your mind. Secret Breakfast (left), Butterbeer (right) The Pouter got her favorite, Secret Breakfast,…

Commonwealth

Ok, moving on to some SF eatings.  I met up with some good friends to get my SF grubbin’ on, now that Triple F and Running Man are out of the eating game with twins girls.  The Pouter was kind enough to make reservations and pick me up for our dinner at Commonwealth.  Now, I…

Ox

I get a lot of foodie updates about what is new in Portland.  So even though I have a laundry list of established places I’ve been wanting to try, I find myself tempted by all the new stuff.  I’m a neophyte, what can I say?  Ox, an Argentinian inspired joint, peaked my interest.  The menu sounded…

Pok Pok

Who would have ever known that the best Asian food in Portland would be the Thai food.  I don’t think there a lot of Thai people here according to my Thai friend Verde, but he’s not always the most accurate source of information.  Anyways, the Thai food is very solid and easily accessible, unlike in…

Linguine with Shimeji Mushrooms

This had got to be my most FAVORITE recipe discovery of the year, mostly because it’s so easy and doesn’t require a lot of extra ingredients that I wouldn’t normally already have laying around.  Surprisingly, the dish is completely VEGETARIAN and still excites me.  Just the other day it was “meatless Mondays” in the cafeteria…

Tasty n Sons

I have been wanting to try Tasty n Sons very a long time now.  It’s an extremely popular brunch place, but the wait can be ridiculous.  There dinner service is supposed to be pretty good too, so I made this my final birthday dinner destination. Nueve Cocktail octopus, prawns, flatbread I guess I was imagining…