Restaurants - - Page 11

by BS

This is What Brunch at Per Se Looks Like

Per Se may be the best restaurant in New York, but it’s also a food blogger’s nightmare: no photos allowed!?! ES Spy Sara Huneke discovered a secret: opt for their $200 brunch instead of dinner, and you’ll have enough natural light flowing in to surreptitiously take drool-worthy smartphone shots.

Red wine-braised heirloom onions, arrowleaf spinach, broccolini, cauliflower, Meyer lemon and preserved horseradish.

Glazed white asparagus, yellow cling peaches, Belgian endive, Pearson Farm’s pecans, sorrel and Australian black winter truffle.

by Emily

Beet Fries, Pork Belly and Tongue Buns

Pork belly is having a serious moment in Austin. I know it’s been a trend for awhile now (what, the past 3? 5? years…?) and I know I recently gushed over Tacodeli’s pork belly tacos. But seriously! I had never seen SO. MUCH. Pork belly love until I moved down here. This is evident in the popularity of East Side King, Top Chef winner Paul Qui’s Asian fusion food truck with three locations in East Austin. Ask anyone what they like about ESK and the answer is always the same: “oh my god, the pork belly!”And yes, it’s good. Really good.

I’ll happily state that East Side King is one of the best, if not THE best, food trailers in Austin. Their original trailer at The Liberty is my favorite. To be slightly controversial, though, I will say this: I think the ESK pork belly hype unfairly overshadows some of the other delights on their menus. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely amazing, but I feel as though most people discount the fried chicken and even some other less obviously delicious options like the tongue buns and beet fries.

Want to see what really, really, REALLY good food from a truck looks like? Of course you do. (I’m really trying hard to restrain myself from making any sort of obvious “food porn lol buns” remarks here.) Photos a the j.

in Fowl / Pig / Restaurants / Sandwich 1 comments

by BS

The Endless Road Trip — San Diego’s Top 10 Eats: 10. Scrambled Eggs, Meet Rice and Beans

Obviously ES couldn’t leave San Diego without eating tacos. And by “eating tacos,” of course I mean trying every last tortilla-based product our hungry little mouths came across.

One place in particular, Las Cuatros Milpas, a hole-in-the-wall in the far-flung Barrio Logan neighborhood, came highly recommended. The line stretches out the door, the wait is 20+ minutes, and there are only five things to order. Surprisingly though, we were less-than-wowed by the tacos, which came out of the deep fryer dripping in grease. Off day? Unclear. But it didn’t matter, because most of my attention was focused on the other item we ordered—chorizo con huevos:

in Eggs / Endless Bacon / Food Travel / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments

by Emily

Put This on Your Pizza and Smoke It

Need a little inspiration for your next pizza creation? Look no further. This is a pizza topped with jalapeños, soft cooked eggs, and Lil’ Smokies. WHAT? Yup. You could easily recreate this masterpiece at home… the original is from East Side Pies in Austin, TX. You’ll never want another type of pizza again.

in Eggs / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments

by BS

The Endless Road Trip — San Diego’s Top 10 Eats: 8. Endless Porker

I am normally extremely skeptical of any Mexican food that is billed as high-end, farm-table, or just generally cooked by white people. It’s not that Mexican food can’t be creative or fancy, it’s just that in my experience I have found “modern Mexican” to generally mean smaller tacos, higher prices, and less flavor than the taco trucks (and of course — the dreaded no free chips and salsa).

So of course I was hesitant when I head that San Diego’s hot taco spot of the moment is Carnitas Snack Shack, a new venture from Chef Hanis Cavinserves (red alert – chef!) that serves slow food-inspired, pork-centric American cuisine, snacks and locally sourced craft beers. But then again, I’ve never turned down any meal described as pork-centric. I’m almost embarrassed to report that this was the best taco I ate in California. Slow-cooked salmon creek farm pork carnitas are layered on fresh, hearty homemade tortillas and topped with a vividly green mound of guacamole. The crispy-on-the-edges, melty on the insides strands of pork are like a weird, amazing fusion of southern BBQ and traditional Mexican. Fine, maybe Mexican food is allowed to get inventive after all.

But that was only the begining of a pork party that would know no bounds…

in Bacon / Cheese / Food Travel / Pig / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments

by snebbu

Burns My Bacon: Excuses

Apparently some restaurants are better with their words than with their food and service. This weekend, my girlfriend and I went to a place on the beach with a great view for a casual dinner. We got our seats on the deck, got some sub-par cocktails, and looked over the menu. We picked the “casual” section of the restaurant, so most of the food was sandwiches and fried food, which was exactly what we were looking for.

Enter the waitress: clearly already frazzled by a section of six people. Before taking our orders, she explained, “we want to let you know right now that the food comes out fresh as it is made, so she may get her meal before you get yours.” I’ve heard it before; that’s fine. We ordered fries, chicken tenders, cheesesteak pizza roll things, and soup.

After 30 minutes, I realized that they are so clever at Coconut Cove that they’ve figured out how to have an excuse for the food and service before it’s even ordered. If you set people up to expect a wait for “fresh food,” they can’t be disappointed, right?

in Rants & Raves / Restaurants 2 comments

by BS

Cocktail O’Clock: Cider Beer

Beer cocktails have been showing up everywhere lately, but here’s one we haven’t seen before: beer and cider.

And why not? Cider doesn’t have to be only for autumn. Mix it up with a light wheat beer and you have a serious summertime drink. At the B&O American Brasserie bar in Baltimore, bartender Brendan Dorr serves a Flying Dog witte beer with cider, plus falernum for a little sweetness.

Boxcar Beer #2

in Drinks / Recipe / Restaurants 1 comments