GeekSqueek

Zentan

2009-07-30T21:01:00.007-04:00

Pleen and I ventured to the posh Donovan House Hotel today to try Toronto chef Susur Lee’s first DC venture, Zentan. Although “Asian-fusion” can make for some eye-rolling material, Lee’s a dude who should be able to pull off some goodness.

Bottom line up front: We’ll give the place another try before we make up our minds, but we’re not blown away. However, there’s lots more of the menu to try. Our general take-away? Dishes tended towards one-ingredient-too-many.

The very cool looking Singapore Slaw of 16 ingredients (including hazelnuts and salted-plum dressing) is basically a very chic lo hei. This was a nice start - light and refreshing in texture and flavor. Perhaps a tad too sweet in the dressing and simultaneously a bit over salted (odd I know). The hazelnuts in a dish whose street-food ancestors usually use peanuts were a very nice touch that raised the level of the whole dish.

The Almond-Crusted Vegetable Dumplings with Swatow chili dipping sauce were . . . fine. Actually, the filling of mushroom, fungus, celery, etc. was lovely. But the dumpling skins were surprisingly western; which is to say about five times thicker than one would expect from an Asian dumpling. This was the glumpy doughy dumpling skin one expects in American-Chinese joints – not from the kitchen of a chef who started his career in the dumpling Valhalla of Hong Kong hotel kitchens! The chili sauce didn’t arrive until long after the apps were cleared and we were half-way through our mains.

Pleen’s entrée: Caramelized Black Cod w/ preserved vegetable & mustard relish. This was a beautiful piece of fish perfectly cooked. Gotta say, I think the mustard actually detracted. Bites without the mustard allowed you to really get the flavor of the fish and the glaze. Oh, and what's with the lemon alongside a piece of caramelized fish?

My Mongolian Lamb Chops w/chili, mint, carrot, cardamom, peanut chutney, & glazed banana. Again, a wonderful quality ingredient cooked just right. Splendid chops. The peanut chutney was a fun idea, but puddled alongside the mint, it got confusing. The mint quickly became subsumed by the peanut and you were left wondering what the point was supposed to be. The bananas were hyper sweet and might have worked well if there were actually any chili flavor to offset.

There isn’t any claim that Chef Lee is in the kitchen banging these dishes out, but I gotta think that his input might be of some help to keep this nice promising restaurant from becoming just another place to be seen.

Zentan at the Donovan House Hotel

1155 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20005

(202) 379-4366

NYC photos up!

2009-02-08T22:36:00.005-05:00

The album is filling. Feel free to take a look.

NYC FEB2009

Culinary Consolation as Market Metric?

2009-02-07T10:30:00.004-05:00

Observation: NYC is awash in comfort food. From snazzy mac’n cheese joints to steaming bowls of pork ramen or two-handed chocolate-chip cookies, New York purveyors seem to feel that reassurance is the new luxury in these turbulent times. And people are lining up all over town for varying types of cozy calories.

It occurs to me that one way of plotting the true recovery from this recession may be to watch for the return of fancified cookery. When the ring molds and unpronounceable preparations reappear, they may be chasing revived expense accounts & bonuses burning holes in bespoke pockets.

Pizza Pilgrimage: Una Pizzeria Napoletana

2009-02-06T23:56:00.017-05:00

We’ve heard about Anthony Mangieri’s near-fanatical dedication to the classic Naples-style approach to pizza. Una Pizzeria Napoletana was thus high on our must-try list. On our first night in town, we headed down to the east village only to find the joint closed. We finally got there for a “snack” on day 2 before meeting friends for dinner.

Bottom line up front:
The quality of Mangieri’s few ingredients shines, and his dough is lovely. However, the very oven that is such a focus of the restaurant seems to also be the source of two significant problems with the product. I’m VERY glad that the world has Mangieri uncompromisingly practicing his craft, but it’s hard to justify the price and trip in a town filled with so many worthy competitors.

Details:
Only five of the 35 seats were filled when we arrived. We were seated with a view of the small kitchen which is really just a one-man work counter in front of the massive oven. We happily ordered a Margherita to share.

They only offer four pies at Una Pizzeria Napoletana, and any alterations are strictly prohibited. They believe strongly that they know what works and what doesn’t – and in particular that a few superior quality ingredients make for a finer product than a voluminous hodgepodge. Their doctrine shines through in the product.

The pizza that appeared consisted of only of San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, & sea salt. We watched Mangieri build the pie to order in his sparse work space and bake it out with careful attention. It came from the oven to our table and we dug in excitedly. The flavors of the prime quality ingredients shone. The taste of the pie was stellar.

How good? Let's put it this way, for all the noise about his imported mozzarella di bufala and the painstakingly selected olive oil, we found ourselves debating where he got his basil. His freakin BASIL was that splendid! Did he grow it himself? Get it from a trusted source? We were enthralled.

However, even given the restrained portions of ingredients used in constructing the pie, a problem was quickly evident. There was so much excess liquid present that the lovely thin crust was quickly soaked through. While the edges held their chew and body for a while, the middle of the pie was a soggy mess.

But we savored the taste of that first pie and quickly decided to try one more.

The Bianca that soon arrived was just as carefully prepared and beautiful. It also matched both of the problems of the first pie. Both? Oh, yes. Aside from the sogginess, there were the bubbles.

You can see examples of these bubbles in the photo below. They didn’t taste of toasted or caramelized dough. They tasted of ash and carbon. And if they found their way into a bite, they sublimated every other flavor in the pie under their cinders.

I don’t have anything like Mangieri’s experience or expertise, but it seems to me that if each pizza coming out of that oven bears these burnt (not "well-done", they're b-u-r-n-t) parts, perhaps the oven is too hot. A cooler oven might also, it seems to me, allow you to leave the pizza in long enough to steam away more of the liquid inherent in the very fresh mozzarella.
But like I said, I don’t have the technical chops to recommend a better approach. However, a better approach is needed. Because what I got for $21 each were pizzas that were a sodden messes with burnt spots along the edges.

Una Pizzeria Napoletana
349 East 12th Street,
New York, New York 10003
212-477 9950
http://www.unapizza.com/

Finally! - The Burger Joint

2009-02-06T16:54:00.009-05:00

In the lobby of the posh Parker Meridien hotel, there’s a little curtained hallway behind the front desk. It looks like an employee entrance to something. Down at the end of the hallway is a little sculpted neon burger. Ignore the looming dudes with earpieces and the disapproving stares of the desk staff. Walk towards the neon. Turn into the doorway on your right, and there it is. The Burger Joint. The secret greasy spoon hidden away in this tower of $350/night single rooms and $28 omelets. I’ve been wanting to eat here for years.

Bottom line up front:

Go. REALLY good burger. Good fries and shake. But the place itself is the draw. It's a wondrously dive-y enclave in the midst of all the glam. EXACTLY the meal you need in mid-town.

Details:

Pleen and I arrived about 11:30 and the place was empty. We managed to snag one of the few booths with a view of the door and the kitchen. The guys in suits started filing in around 11:40. By 11:55 there was a line out the door and down the hallway. Things got rolling for the crew behind the counter quickly, but they remained nonplussed - calling orders and scolding slowpokes

Cheeseburger with the works. Fries. Chocolate shake. What more does one need in life?
They make a really good burger. The meat is nothing like the quality of Ray’s Hell Burger, but it’s fresh and flavorful and gently treated. The grill itself delivers significant char flavor. And the cheese actually adds flavor rather than just fat. Although frozen, the fries are good. Long cut Idaho ¼ inchers. They could use a stiff hit of salt & pepper while still glistening next to fry-o-lator before they go in the bag. Their milk shake is the shake of my childhood - just vanilla ice cream, Hershey’s syrup, & milk. I like it a lot. If you have a different point of departure it may strike you as a bit . . . hollow. Pleen, as an example, found it not chocolaty enough compared to the likes of Talyor’s Refresher.

I’m definitely coming back.

Burger Joint
118 W 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
212-708-7414
http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat4.php

Vamoose Virgin

2009-02-05T10:22:00.004-05:00

In the world of low cost bus rides between the Washington, DC area and New York City, I was a virgin up until this trip.

Having had the pleasure now of a ride on Vamoose from Rossyln to Penn Station, I’m not sure if I can ever go back. Total time from our front door to our destination was markedly less than with airplane or train – and of course it was vastly cheaper.

The people were cool, the ride was comfortable, and ya can’t beat $25 for a lift to New York. Make mine Vamoose!

Vamoose Express Bus Service
16 Penn Plaza, Suite 514
New York, NY 10001
877.393.2828
http://www.vamoosebus.com/

Tokyo photos are up!

2009-01-28T00:59:00.001-05:00

The album is still a bit disorganized, but feel free to take a look!

Tokyo2009

Tokyo Highlights: FOOD!!

2009-01-28T00:18:00.021-05:00

Dear god have the Japanese got the good eats thing sorted! Central Tokyo is positively AWASH in yumminess from all over the world. Decades of prosperity have brought every conceivable cuisine to town to mingle with domestic cookery refined by centuries of thought about how to take pleasure and nourishment from food.

There is little if any ghettoization notable. The French stuff is side-by-side with the local, Thai, Indian, Byelorussian, etc. Heck, we even wandered by a New Orleans themed “Bourbon Street Bar” on a back alley in Roppongi sandwiched between a yakitori joint and a soba shop.

Five dinners & four lunches weren’t nearly enough to even begin to sample the offerings. We concentrated entirely on Japanese food (novelty aside, I can get good pasta in a lot of other places). Thanks to JM’s knowledge of the city and language skills, we were able to get a taste for a lot of stuff we would have missed.

Our lack of experience with Japanese cuisine means that we didn’t bring many preconceived notions of what we liked or didn’t. Thus, the experience of trying new food and new ways of eating played a major roll for much of our trip. We’re usually 100% food-centric – atmosphere plays at most an amusing supporting role. On this trip, some of our favorite experiences were all about (or at least equally about) the atmosphere/experience rather than the food itself. Thus, two lists.

Favorite food experiences:

1. Sukiyaki & shabu-shabu at Roppongi Jidaiya. A basement right off Roppongi Dori houses this comfortable izakaya serving up a wide selection of home-style food. We wandered down the winding staircase from street level through the diminutive doorway and were quickly seated at a comfortable corner table looking out at a room filled mostly with sararīman getting some after-work socializing done.
While shabu-shabu is basically the Japanese version of the “steamboat” dish offered by every East Asian culture, it’s still a fun communal cooking and dining experience. Also, the typical Japanese fetish for the finest quality ingredients really stood out – beautiful meat and produce here. Our favorite taste, however, was by far the sukiyaki.

2. Okonomiyaki at Sometaro in Asakusa. This old school low ceiling joint had a line running down the block for a reason.

Once again, the experience of cooking & chowing down on the crêpe-cum-pancake-thingies was a blast. Just being in the space made us happy. Check out the video below for a look at the process.

3. Wandering the food hall at the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku. Harrod’s is for wannabes. Seriously, this is the greatest free food attraction in town. All that stuff I said before about the diversity of global cusine available in Tokyo? Yea. Now put it all inside a Sax Fith Avenue and you’ve got an idea of what it is to stroll the food offerings at this high-end Tokyo department store. We ended up grabbing a taste of a lot of things and finding a bench on the roof top to have our experimental picnic.

Roppongi Jidaiya
B1 Yuni Roppongi Bldg.
7-15-17 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
03-3403-3563

Sometaro
2-2-2 Nishi-Asakusa
Taito-ku, Tokyo
03.3844.9502
http://www.sometaro.com/

Takashimaya Shinjuku
5-24-2, Sendagaya
Shibuya-ku , Tokyo 151-8580
03-5361-1206

Favorite dishes:

1. Korokke Pan from the 60 year old Nagano Bakery right on Roppongi Dori. JM sent us over here and we’ll never forgive him. That handful of heaven haunts our dreams. Pleen woke up in a jet lagged fog in our bedroom last night and mumbled “korokeeeeeee pannnn”.

Breakfast of champions!!

2. Spicy tonkatsu ramen from Ippudo in Roppongi. This dish was so good that we’re going to New York to try the offering at their US location. Can’t stop thinking about it. Admittedly, the place itself was great with a funky and charming staff of young turks and a common dinning area rambunctious with groups of friends slurping happily away. But the noodles?! Oh, those noodles.

3. Random “shrimp burger” from a tour group rest cafe near the Yasukuni shrine. It took us so long to make our way over to this part of town that we were in serious need of a refuel by the time with got within range. Imagine our surprise when the food turned out to be pretty good. This block of fresh shrimp held together in fried goodness was better than that. Imagine MY surprise when Pleen appropriated my sandwich!
4. Red bean and cream “pancakes” from a street side shop in Asakusa. These are made by pouring batter into a mold, inserting a bit of filling in the center, and closing the mold to yield a sealed snack filled with molten goodness. We used to love the ones at the Japanese department stores in Singapore. Yea . . . we didn’t know what we were doing. These were spectacular. Thin and flavorful and stuffed with high quality fillings. More than worth the stop.

5. Black sesame ice cream from snack shop near the Sensouji Temple in Asakusa. JM brought us over here to visit the “Japanese 31 flavors”. While my Yuzu flavored cone was grand – redolent with the sweet citrus flavor and bits of the fruit itself, JM’s sesame flavored portion was the clear winner. This was adult soft serve – deeply flavored and luxurious.

Nagano Bakery
2-17-31 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-3583-4216

Ippudo
4-9-11, Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-5775-7561 http://www.ippudo.com/top/index.html

Tokyo Highlights: Planes, Trains, & Buses

2009-01-27T23:18:00.003-05:00

Tokyo’s Narita airport long occupied a groan-inducing role in the hearts of many of us who traveled through it on our way to other parts of Asia. Its refurbished incarnation, however, is a total pleasure both for passing through and as a point of entry. Immigration was fast & efficient - although the Japanese government now has my fingerprints and photo on disk.

Rather than spending a fortune on a slow-moving cab or dragging our bags through multiple train changes, we followed JC’s advice and grabbed two tickets on the Airport Limousine service’s bus to town. For ~ $33 per head, we got a speedy, safe, and comfy ride to a drop point two blocks from our buddy’s apartment. The hour and a half ride into the center of town offered up a lovely set of views and non-stop service that departed precisely on time and arrived earlier than promised. The return trip to the airport several days later was just as smooth.

Airport Limousine
http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/

Tokyo Highlights: Getting around

2009-01-27T23:00:00.005-05:00

Last time ‘round we felt notably constrained by our lack of Japanese language capability. Getting on a train or navigating the streets or ordering a meal was a major effort. This wasn’t an issue this time. Perhaps our last sample was unlucky? Perhaps there’s been a boom in English language signage and education? I don’t know. But this time we felt we could find our way and feed our faces with no difficulty.

This was a particular boon in that it freed us to use the fantastic (but complex!) Tokyo rail network to hop from point to point.

Still, we did a lot of walking. Tokyo’s neighborhood topography is so varied that strolling between major areas really helps to fill out the mental map of the town. We enjoyed moving from the glitzy consumer haven of Shinjuku to the teen fashion alleys of Harajuku. A long stroll past the majestic Imperial Palace, through the public spaces filled with museums and tour groups leading to the Yasukuni shrine made for a lovely morning. But it was certainly a total counterpoint to our evening amongst the hipsters in the narrow lanes of Naka Meguro.

Everywhere we went, we were amazed at how the compacted hustle & bustle of the busiest neighborhoods gave way to charming quiet residential areas just a block or two off the main drag. In the frenetic center of Roppongi right across from the ultra-modern high end Tokyo Midtown development (the new Ritz Carlton residences look down on this gourmet shopping mall), walking 100 meters off the main street left us in the midst of idyllic pocket parks and picture perfect small homes.

This is a great town for wandering about and bumping into pleasant surprises.

Positive reinforcement for light packing

2009-01-27T20:00:00.003-05:00

Walking out of Dulles passport control after a week-long trip to Tokyo, we made straight for the customs exit without stopping at the luggage carousel.

As I handed my Form 6059B to the CBP agent, he sternly demanded, “Where the heck are your BAGS !?” I was so lagged out that it took me a second to look up into his grinning face.

I pointed to the daypack on my shoulder, lifted the tote in my hand, and shrugged. “Get on outta here man,” he said as he shooed us on our way - cackling as we went.

"One Bag" travel has lots of bennies. If the customs guys are diggin' ya, life is certainly easier.

Only in Japan

2009-01-27T17:25:00.004-05:00

One of the greatest things in the air travel world has to be the "Magic Beer Machine" in the United Airlines Red Carpet Lounge next to Gate 31 at Tokyo Narita.

A tilting platform? A separate foam-jet to put the perfect head on it!? Only the Japanese would do such a thing. God love 'em!

Watch and be amazed.

Tokyo!!

2009-01-27T17:18:00.004-05:00

The promise of 2 million extra people flopping onto DC’s already overloaded infrastructure was enough to motivate us for a quick trip out of town. Two tickets on United 803, a bit of a visa drama (boo-hiss on you mean-embassy-visa-lady), and we were off to Tokyo!

We were in there for 3 days back in 2001 and have always wanted to return. Our buddy JC & her boyfriend JM made the trip possible by offering us a bed at their place.

Bottom line up front: Tokyo rocks! What a great town. The density and diversity of cool stuff combined with the safety, ease of access, and great people make it a world class destination. It's a must-return town for us.

In five days on the ground we wandered and laughed and ATE . . . a lot. We’ll put up some smaller individual posts to cover several highlights. Stand by!

Inauguration Eats

2009-01-16T08:43:00.005-05:00

With inauguration madness upon us, we’ve had a number of inquiries from friends and friends-of-friends about dining recommendations for the District and Old Town. After emailing the same answers a few times, we thought we might post our thoughts for general consumption.

Be advised, this is not necessarily a “foodie” list, but more of an easily-accessible-but-really-good list. Detailed contact info follows the descriptions.

The District (city center): If you’re gonna go to these places, I think it would be in your interest to use OpenTable to make reservations (and provide a confirmation!) in order to avoid making 100 phone calls.

Central Michel Richard: The urban bistro of the guy behind Citronelle. We’ve had REALLY good experiences there. Get the cheese puffs and the lobster burger. We’ve been vastly less impressed with its chief competitor in the Michelin-Stared-Chef-opens-bistro space (Eric Ripert’s “West End Bistro”).

Vidalia: Fine dinning with a Southern influence. Wonderful. Although up-market, its southern influence reduces the snootiness factor

Hook: Lovely contemporary seafood in Georgetown. Great quality.

Café Atlantico: Although quite nice in general, José Andrés’ place offers up one of the most interesting experiences in the city in the shape of their “Nuevo Latino” dim sum brunch on Sundays from 11:30am to 2:30pm

Rasika: Fusion Indian but done REALLY well. Wonderful setting and food.

The District (a little farther out): A few places that are more casual, a bit further from the center of town, and don’t take reservations anyway. During the inaugural madness, checking out some of the less-than-fine-dining options listed below might be particularly rewarding.

Makoto: SERIOUS Japanese. This ain’t your neighborhood sushi joint. It’s small, reserved, and delicious. Get whatever they tell you is good.

Two Amys: Good pizza and better casual Italian noshing. Great feel, very neighborhood-joint vibe, often a wait but a fast moving one.

Buck's Fishing & Camping: We haven’t been, but people really like their take on well-done comfort food.

Cashion's Eat Place: Similarly, this joint up in Adam’s Morgan has a rep for a good take on classic American in a very welcoming environment.

The Ethiopian corridor: 9th Street around U Street/Florida Ave. has become the new center of Ethiopian in DC over the last 5 years or so. The good stuff ain’t in Adams Morgan anymore; it’s over here by Howard University. The places are changing over so frequently that it’s hard to track which is “best”. I’d just go over there and walk the block and try whichever looks good. We’ve had good meals at Etete (1942 9th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-232-7600) and Abiti (1909 9th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-328-2223)

Great Wall Szechuan House: Decor-less Szechuan joint just north of Logan Circle offering up actual ma-la cuisine on styrofoam plates. Outstanding. Make sure they give you the ma-la menu. [Note: Pleen thinks this place is BLAH]

Thai X-ing: People rave about this one-man hole-in-the-wall run by a crazy Thai chef. The food is supposedly amazing and the guy is apparently a delight. He does dinner only and the recommendation is to call in advance to avoid long waits. The salmon in red curry and whatever the guy recommends.

Zenebech Injera: Right next door to Thai X-ing, people say good things about this Ethiopian place.

Teddy’s Roti Shop: Have yet to go, but hear good things. The goat rotis with spicy sauce, the buss-up-shut, and the pumpkin are all recommended.

Amsterdam Falafel Shop: This is a cheap eats destination for late-night party-goers in Adam’s Morgan and we love the place. Their quite good falafel sandwiches come with access to their spectacular toppings bar. The fries kick butt as well.

Old Town: Until recently there was NOTHING to eat in Old Town Alexandria. That's changed a bit and the crap-quality over-priced fish places are being slowly replaced by stuff worth eating

Restaurant Eve: Wonderful and carefully prepared new American. They're not too serious about themselves and their food and attitude maintains some much-needed whimsy. While the dinning room is neither boring nor cheap, you can step up a notch to their tasting room or down a level to their very comfy bar (feels like a good neighborhood pub) where they actually serve the entire menu if you wish. This is a great restaurant.

Farah Olivia: This place may be a bit more serious that Eve, but it's welcoming and their food is outstanding. It's one of the more expensive meals in town, but the experience is well worth it.

Fontaine Caffe & Crêperie: This place is a lovely surprise if the word "crepe" makes you think of greasy faux-French joints. They offer a beautifully prepared assortment of savory & sweet crepes along with an interesting beer list. It's run by a pair of sisters who take their craft seriously.

Lavender Moon Cupcakery: Across the street from Fontaine Caffee is an oddball cupcake joint. They're quite dedicated to interesting ingredients and careful preparation. Still, the place has a bit of a hair-on-fire feel that I find endearing. Their passion fruit cupcake rocks. The chocolate w/peanut butter frosting is also pretty good.

Majestic Cafe: This old stand-by was recently taken over by the crew from Restaurant Eve. It's a darn good stop-in for well-executed classic American with a number of twists. If you're into mixology, acclaimed bar-keep Todd Thrasher is usually behind some funky cocktails at their bar.

Eamonn's: Another element of the growing Restaurant Eve empire, this is a no-kidding fish and chip shop. These guys do a seriously good job. Thomas Keller made a point of coming here where he was in town. ‘Nuff said.

Vaso's Kitchen: This is the neighborhood Greek joint that everyone wishes was on their corner. Vaso herself runs the place, and she's a terror to all who stand before her (all 5 foot nothing of her). Everything here is good if unsurprising. Pleen and I end up here a lot looking for one of their perfectly done Greek pizzas.

Momo Sushi & Cafe: Good sushi in an adorably tinny space. The people are lovely & the prices are reasonable.

Hank's Oyster Bar: Traditional American raw bar seafood joint with a full bar. I honestly think it’s “good” food at “great” prices. However, it’s right on the main drag and full of life.

A La Lucia: This is a somewhat-discovered neighborhood spot opened a few years back by a guy who ran the District’s top high-end Italian place for 20 years. The food is fresh, classic, and well prepared. The prices and location make this a steal of an option. This is the Italian joint we all wish we had at the end of our block.

Vermilion: Pleen likes this place for brunch. Contemporary American in the midst of the main part of King Street.

Le Pain Quotidien: We make an exception to the “no chain food” rule for this place because they have the best baguettes in town. More than just a bakery, they offer a reasonably large menu of real food as well as savory and sweet baked items. They’re right in the heart of Old Town and offer a lot of quality and convenience for the price.

Quattro Formaggio: This looks like exactly the kind of place you should avoid. And if it wasn’t for our buddy BR, we would have. The decor is airport-terminal-blah, and the menu is so crammed that decisions can be difficult. However, appearances are deceiving in this case. These guys offer up one of the best pizzas in the DC area. It’s thin crust and asking for it extra crispy can yield even better results. And they’re right on top of the King St metro to boot.

Misha's: This independently owned joint is one of the two places in NoVA to get a really good cuppa. It’s right on King Street so it’s as convenient as lots of other less interesting and less good alternatives. This is the kinda place you really want to support. Oh, and they’re nice!

District Details
Central Michel Richard
1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC
202-626-0015
http://www.centralmichelrichard.com/

Vidalia
1990 M St. NW
Washington, DC
202-659-1990
http://www.vidaliadc.com/

Hook
3241 M St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
202.625.4488
http://www.hookdc.com/

Café Atlantico
405 8th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-393-0812
http://www.cafeatlantico.com/latinoDimSum.htm

Rasika
633 D St NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-637-1222
www.rasikarestaurant.com

Makoto
4822 MacArthur Blvd NW
Washington, DC
202-298-6866

2 Amys
3715 Macomb St NW
Washington, DC 20016
202-885-5700
http://www.2amyspizza.com/

Buck's Fishing & Camping
5031 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
202-364-0777

Cashion's Eat Place
1819 Columbia Road, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-797-1819
http://www.cashionseatplace.com/

Great Wall Szechuan House
1527 14th St. NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-797-8888

Thai X-ing
515 Florida Avenue NW
Washington, DC
202-332-4322
http://www.inshaw.com/blog/Thai%20X-ing.htm

Zenebech Injera
608 T Street NW
Washington, DC
202-667-4700

Teddy’s Roti Shop
7304 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC
202-882-6488
http://www.teddysrotishop.com/

Amsterdam Falafel Shop
2425 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-234-1969
www.falafelshop.com

Old Town Details
Restaurant Eve
110 South Pitt Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-706-0450
http://www.restauranteve.com/

Farah Olivia
600 Franklin St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 778-2234
http://www.farraholiviarestaurant.com/ct/index.html

Fontaine Caffe & Crêperie
119 South Royal Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-535-8151
http://www.fontainecaffe.com/

Lavender Moon Cupcakery
116 South Royal Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

Majestic Cafe
911 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 837-9117
www.majesticcafe.com

Eamonn's
728 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-299-8384
http://www.eamonnsdublinchipper.com/

Vaso's Kitchen
1225 Powhatan St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-548-2747

Momo Sushi & Cafe
212 Queen St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 299-9092

Hank's Oyster Bar
1026 King St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 739-4265
www.hanksdc.com

A La Lucia
315 Madison St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 836-5123
www.alalucia.com

Vermilion Restaurant
1120 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 684-9669
www.vermilionrestaurant.com

Le Pain Quotidien
701 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 683-2273
www.lepainquotidien.com

Quattro Formaggio
1725 Duke St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 548-8111
www.4maggi.com

Misha's
102 S Patrick St
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 548-4089
http://www.alexandriacitywebsite.com/Misha%27s%20Coffeehouse%20and%20Coffee%20Roaster.htm

Great find: Hai Ky Mi Gia for noodle soup

2009-01-06T15:08:00.006-05:00

Just go. Right now. This place is too good not to head over at your first opportunity.

Seriously, why aren’t you in the car?

Pleen’s hairdresser LT is a pretty serious foodie - and Vietnamese - so when she recommended a noodle joint over in Eden Center we paid close attention. Boy are we glad we did.

We walked in at ~ 11:30 today and the place was half full. By 12:15 it was packed.

We asked the server what people liked. Without pause he pointed out two dishes. We nodded, and that was it.

Pauline claimed the egg noodles with shrimp, squid and pork (Hai Ky Mi Gia Dat Biet, AKA “#1”).

The noodles arrived with the soup in a separate bowl very much like Hong Kong style wantan mee. In fact, the sliced roasted pork and clear rich broth along with the noodles themselves were reminiscent of the Cantonese classic. But everything else was pure Vietnam. The fistful of herbs, fried shallots, minced pork infused with black pepper, and sweet fresh shrimp encased in crispy fried goodness brought multiple aromatic and texture layers to the dish. A sweet dark soya sauce and a pile of bean sprouts and herbs familiar to any pho fan accompanied the dish. Everything was fresh and flavorful.

That left me with the egg noodle soup with duck (Mi Vit Tiem, AKA “#6”), but I’m the kind of husband that’s all about sacrifice.

Let’s be clear right off the bat. This is a spectacular dish. If they offered just that piece of duck wrapped in newspaper, I’d walk over in the rain to buy one. The flesh was not quite falling off the bone, but it was wonderfully richly flavored and tender. And I’d take that broth by the liter if they let me. A variety of torn herbs, some leafy green veggies, and a generous portion of shiitake mushrooms floated in the bowl along with the noodles. Some slices of some sweetly pickled thing came alongside.

All that goodness for $7.50 a bowl?! Ya. We’re going back.

Hai Ky Mi Gia
6757 Wilson Blvd. #24
Falls Church, VA 22042
703-538-2474

More Porridge!!

2008-12-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

We were so impressed with our first trip to Dduck Sa Rang that we’ve been impatient for a return. Second trip reveled only more of what seemed so right the first time.

The place is lovely. The service is easy-going and helpful. And the food is a steal for the price.

This time ‘round I got the beef & mushroom version which, if anything, made me miss the odd counter point of the slightly fishy tuna version I had on my first visit. Still, this was good stuff and certainly something that a first timer would find yummy and non-threatening.

The menu here has lots more than just porridge. We’re looking forward to working our way down the other offerings in the near future. In the meantime, head out to Annandale and grab a meal here before everybody else discovers it!

Dduck Sa Rang

4231 Markham Street, #N

Annnendale, VA 22003

703-916-0006

http://45486.ktpage.com/

Return to China Star

2008-12-11T15:38:00.003-05:00

We hit China Star again last night with our buddy SV, a true-blue fan of Hong Kong Palace.

We ordered the eggplant with garlic sauce in clay pot that Pleen enjoyed last time along with a pressed tofu dish and the cumin lamb.

Pleen & I will be back. SV, not so much.

SV didn’t appreciate the hellacious rush hour drive to the place and found the food underwhelming. Pleen and I liked what we had and saw a number of things to try next. Besides, it's an easy drive for us.

China Star

9600G Main Street

Fairfax, VA 22031

703-323-8822

www.chinastarfood.com/restaurant_info.html

Discovering Korean Comfort Food in Annandale: Dduck Sa Rang

2008-12-11T13:12:00.014-05:00

So, we know NOTHING about Korean food. Given that we live down the street from an enormous concentration of Korean eats, this always strikes me as a shame. Thus, imagine my excitement when Pleen agreed to go chowhounding around the back lots along Little River Turnpike.

We were running errands and needed something hot for lunch. Before falling back on a tried and true pho place along our route, we decided to snoop ‘round the back of a block just west of Annendale Road. We saw a storefront wedged between a dodgy looking gaming room and a hair salon. The sign said “Korean porridge”.

Porridge? Hmmm. The Chinese do great porridge. The Japanese versions are a bit more refined. But Korean porridge? Well, one way to find out.

Bottom line up front:

Wow. This place is impressive. The food kicks butt. The place itself is sparkling clean, contemporary décor, brand new. We’ll definitely be back.

Details:

Mid 30s and pouring rain. Blech. No fun.

The cure? A big steaming bowl of richly flavored rice porridge accompanied by brightly spiced sides and warming barley tea. Yea baby!

Now, as romantic as it may seem to be an explorer of other cuisines, the fact of the matter is that NoVA is so multi-ethnic that everybody’s eating everybody else’s food. You’re never the only outsider in a restaurant. Hell, all the best Vienamese joints have their menus in Spanish since so much of their trade is Hispanic. Well, we were the only non-Koreans in Dduck Sa Rang.

The menu had English translations, but they were pretty non-explanatory. Still, the food on other tables looked good. We smiled, pointed, shrugged, questioned, and got what we thought was an appropriate order going. When the food came, it was accompanied by the restaurant’s owner. He quickly demoed how to serve and consume the various dishes and left us to it.

Porridge and a few accompaniments is a relatively simple meal. Still, the preparations showed care and even elegance. The banchan (side dish) included what I assumed were soya beans softened and dressed in a sweet-ish glaze, a conventional sour and spicy kimchi, a sweeter spicy kimchi, and a bowl of clear brine referred to as “white” kimchi. All were useful in highlighting the gentle flavors of the porridge. The white kimchi in particular was absolutely elegant.

But the main event was definitely the porridge itself. Pleen’s was mixed with vegetables and mine with veggies and tuna. The flavors were mild and fresh and remained distinct rather than being subsumed into the background. I had to force myself to take small bites as the soft porridge chased away the chills of the wet afternoon. While the ingredients and presentation were novel, the dish struck a familiar and comforting tone. This was universal comfort food.

As you can seen, it went down pretty easy

And Pleen’s attitude towards Korean food? You be the judge.

Dduck Sa Rang

4231 Markham Street, #N

Annnendale, VA 22003

703-916-0006

http://45486.ktpage.com/

China Star, Fairfax

2008-12-06T10:07:00.001-05:00

Our buddies OK & FL invited us to meet them for dinner last night at China Star. When I looked up directions to the place I hesitated – almost called and asked them to switch to Hong Kong Palace. I realized we’d been there years ago. We met our friends R&AS there one night to explore the Szechuan ma-la offerings. Pretty underwhelming.

“Oh well,” I thought. “I just want to see OK & FL. I’ll order some veggies and tofu and it’ll be fine.” Off we went to meet them.

Ooops. So much for memory.

China Star has either changed hands or undergone a significant upgrade. Certainly the interior is not at all what I remembered. It’s now simpler and lighter. Much more appealing. But the food? Oh, the food!

We need to return a couple more times in order to move more fully through the menu, but first impressions are HIGHLY promising. Pleen already thinks this may have unseated our previous favorite for Szechuan – Hong Kong Palace.

Pleen pointed out that lots of supposedly Szechuan joints seem to have one flavor to all their food. They pour their red chili oil (perhaps spotted with huājiāo) over dumplings or noodles, use it to braise their fish or lamb, and that’s it. China Star seems to be doing a much more nuanced approach. Lots of differing flavors.

Service was surprisingly pleasant. The place was filled with Chinese families. Portions were huge, and arrived at warp speed from the slamming kitchen. We all ordered soft drinks, a couple of appetizers, and four main course sized dishes. Admittedly, we ordered veggie-only, but still, the cost was $15/head. Looks like working through the rest of the menu is gonna be a deal!

Can’t wait to visit this place again.

China Star

9600G Main Street

Fairfax, VA 22031

703-323-8822

www.chinastarfood.com/restaurant_info.html

New Favorite Airline: Air Asia

2008-12-04T12:10:00.005-05:00

As we started planning our month in Asia, it quickly became apparent that intra-regional air fare would be a major component of the total cost - maybe even a show-stopper. Flying Singapore Airlines is a delight, but too much such delight can empty the wallet quickly.

Enter the low cost airline phenomenon, which has fully hit in southeast Asia. Although there are a number of players in this space, we heard good things about Air Asia. We compared their offerings with conventional airlines. Very quickly it became clear that Air Asia’s pricing could make the difference between “affordable” and “undoable” for the itinerary we wanted.

Air Asia’s no-assigned-seat policy (al la US carrier Southwest Airlines) and super-low prices gave us a moment’s pause, but we decided it would make for an interesting experiment.

Short version?

We flew Air Asia seven times in 23 days. We each checked one bag on every flight. We experienced one delayed departure. No lost bags. We were never stranded or uncomfortable. Service was pleasant and efficient in all cases.

And the prices? Check out what we paid per head (converted to US dollar since Air Asia charges in the currency of the point of departure).

Bali to Jakarta: $60

Medan to Kuala Lumpur: $67

Singapore to Kuala Lumpur: $55

Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap: $73

Bangkok to Krabi: $31

Krabi to Bangkok: $52

Bangkok to Singapore: $102

And this is for international standard service on new Airbus and gently used Boeing aircraft. No livestock in the overhead bins (anyone else every flown Daalo Air?). No duct taped control surfaces. The uniforms were even cool.

Air Asia’s motto is “Now Everyone Can Fly”. At these prices? YA!

** Oh, that one delayed flight we experienced? Ya. There was an Air Asia voucher for about 1/3 the cost of the flight in our email box the very next day.

Air Asia

http://www.airasia.com

Singapore Hotels

2008-12-03T10:03:00.013-05:00

We passed through Singapore three separate times on this trip. Two of them were just brief overnight stops. For those, we crashed at the Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport's newly opened Terminal 3.

Super slick and wonderfully convenient, we were only sorry that we couldn’t stay longer. Everything from the toiletries in the rooms to the departure screens in the lobby caters specifically to the needs of a traveler. The lobby opens directly into the terminal. Airline check in desks are perhaps 200 meters from the hotel’s front desk. On our last night before returning to the States, thanks to the generosity of our buddy RS, we had a wonderful Cantonese meal at The Imperial Treasure restaurant in the lobby - just the thing to armor us for 20 hours of the culinary train wreck that is United Airline’s food service. This is a great hotel. The only drawback is the cost. If our old friend BL hadn’t gotten us a super-discount rate, we probably couldn’t justify the price.

For our longer stay in town with some friends, we chose the Intercontinental Singapore.

We stayed there perhaps a dozen years back and loved the decor and location. Sitting right atop Bugis Junction, the place is proximate to several different sides of Singapore. While many of the top flight hotels in the area isolate you from the neighborhood, the Intercontinental gives the feel of being in the midst of things. It was perfect for our needs. Unfortunately, the desk made a hash of our carefully coordinated reservations and left us feeling like a nuisance rather than welcomed guests. The final straw was when they attempted to charge us more than the rates contained in our reservations!! The management attempted to salvage the experience on the last day by comp-ing a van for six to the airport, and the concierge and bell staff were wonderfully helpful throughout our stay. Still, after their performance at check-in, I'm not sure if we’ll be back.

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

75 Airport Boulevard #01-01

Singapore 819664

+65 6823 5300

www.singapore.crowneplaza.com/

Intercontinental Singapore

80 Middle Road

Singapore 188966

+65 6338 7600

www.singapore.intercontinental.com/

Fish Spa Horror

2008-12-01T17:07:00.003-05:00

While in Singapore, we were "conned" by some of our Singapore friends (who will remain unnamed - you know who you are!) into going to a Fish Spa. Described as a "relaxing" and "cleansing" experience, we all paid for the privilege of being fish bait for 15 minutes. At best, it is a surreal, unsettling and ticklish sensation -- hardly "relaxing." Note the guys in the background laughing as us too!

Pictures from Singapore are up!

2008-11-28T16:16:00.002-05:00

Pictures from Jakarta and KL are up!

2008-11-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

Back Home for Lunch

2008-11-26T17:56:00.004-05:00

Two days back from a month-long Asian eat-fest. One day before Thanksgiving. So where did I force my buddy SV to take me for lunch?

Need you even ask? It’s Ray’s Hell Burgers all the way!

Look, I’m as American as the next kid. I’ve been gone for thirty-two days! I needs me a burger. I’ve been dreaming about one of these 10 ounce bad boys since I got on that big 777 in Singapore.

So how did Ray’s perform?

They’ve definitely still got it. They’re turning out a hell of a burger. All that grand good fat accented with the charred jalapenos and the roasted red onion? God. Bless. America!

If there's a better burger in the Nation's capital, I'd like to hear about it.

Ray's Hell Burger
1713 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
703-841-0001

Angkor Guide: John Teng

2008-11-20T15:23:00.001-05:00

We were HIGHLY impressed with our guide in Cambodia. Trying to be useful, I posted a recommendation on several travel forums. On the off chance that anyone reading this is looking for a guide in Angkor, I thought I’d post it here as well.

“I searched this forum and others looking for recommendations for a guide for our trip to the Angkor Wat/Siem Reap area. Eventually, I contacted John Teng and arranged for 3 days of guide service plus transfer to/from the airport for our party of 8.

We could not have been more pleased with John and his colleague Saru. At every turn, John’s knowledge and reliability inspired confidence and put us at ease.

From the first moment, John was consistent & dependable. If he promised something, it happened when and how he said it would. When he was unsure about something, he warned us in advance about possible pitfalls. He was particularly careful to explain costs in advance in order to avoid surprises.

John answered our myriad questions with skill and good humor (even the third or fourth time we asked them). He was flexible enough to accommodate our interests even when they diverged from the more standard itineraries.

The burgeoning tourist trade in the area results in constantly rising prices. However, John’s rates seem remarkably reasonable given the quality of the service(s) he provides. Based on our experience, we would HIGHLY recommend John Teng’s for anyone planning a trip to Angkor Wat/Siem Reap.

John Teng

(+855) 12 995 977, (+855) 16 518 888

johnangkor@yahoo.com

http://www.angkorservice.com/

////////////////////

Our particular itinerary ended up as follows:

Day 1:

Pick up from the airport & transfer to hotel.

Day 2:

Morning

Ta prohm
Ta Keo
Victory Gate
Bayon
South Gate

Afternoon

Angkor Wat

Day 3:

Morning

Phnom Bakheng
Baksey Chamkrong
Preah Khan

Afternoon

Lo Lei
Preah Ko
Bakong

Day 4:

Morning

Tonle Sap Lake to see the floating villages
Les Artisans d'Angkor school

Afternoon

Banteay Srey
Cambodian Land Mine Museum & Relief Facility
Pre Rup for sunset

Day 5:

Pick up from hotel and transfer to the airport.”

Kuala Lumpur Hotel

2008-11-15T14:55:00.006-05:00

I know nothing about the KL hotel scene. That’s because every time I come to town I stay with family. This time, however, we’re traveling with friends and want to be downtown for a few days - see the Petronas Twin Towers, visit the museum, etc. After some internet searching and asking around, I booked three rooms at the Traders Hotel in KL’s City Centre. I’ve had a couple good experiences over the years at the Traders’ in Singapore, and the price for the KL branch was really reasonable.

Best. Deal. Ever.

Way cool, way cheap. Great location in the center of the city. Everything is a stone’s throw away and there’s even a little hotel-shuttle-golf-cart-thingy that runs you around the neighborhood. The staff are extremely helpful in arranging excursions, drivers, reservations, etc. Rooms are spacious and well appointed. The roof top pool and bar is ultra slick, but comfy with an expansive view of the city spreading out in all directions. This is a great city hotel. I’ll stay there again at my first opportunity.

Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur City Centre

Kuala Lumpur 50088

Malaysia

(603) 2332 9888

thkl@shangri-la.com

www.shangri-la.com/en/property/kualalumpur/traders

Favorite Finds in Singapore

2008-11-13T14:54:00.007-05:00

Several people have asked us for current Singapore recommendations. In no particular order, here are some places we think are worth a stop.

Loof: Hidden in plain sight on top of an office building right across from the Raffles Hotel is the bar Loof. It’s made up in seriously contemporary style with lots of gray steel and pop culture iconography, but the crowd and staff maintain a chill vibe (the self mocking name probably helps them avoid being too solemn about their cool). The roof-top setting hovering just above the street fray makes it an oasis in the midst of the bustling Raffles City area. A great place to start or end an evening.

Loof

331 North Bridge Road #03-07

Odeon Towers Extension Rooftop

Singapore 188720

+65 6338 8035

http://www.loof.com.sg/rooftopbar/

Cookie Museum: Located right inside the ultra-modern Esplanade, this odd little shop is awash in Victorian tea-time décor. They push pricey cakes and flower-painted cups of tea in an over-the-top vision of what English ladies might have enjoyed 100 years ago while back in London from the colonies. Most of that stuff looks quite good actually, but that’s not why we stop. What draws us back is the constantly shifting menu of dozens of different dainty but full flavored cookies. Many of them are classic interpretations of fruit and nut and such. But their baking crew also has a funky side that emerges in odd-ball flavor combinations. Tins of lavender or rose or lemongrass or sardine or curry cookies are stacked around the shop. Their tasting cart contains samples of everything in the shop, and the staff will walk you through endless permutations to find something that suits you. In our experience, the weirder the flavor sounds, the more our friends back home dig it. Our buddy AS found that the curry-almond cookies in particular made a perfect pairing with prosecco, and she demanded a resupply. Unfortunately, on this visit we found that flavor discontinued. We’re hoping the nasi lemak version makes the grade for weird-but-wonderful.

The Cookie Museum

8 Raffles Avenue,

#01-02/04 Esplanade Mall

Singapore 039802

+65 6333 1965

Din Tai Fung: When I was a kid, xiao long bao, the classic Shanghainese miniature soup-filled dumplings, were virtually impossible to find in the United States. Thus, to this day I get giddy at the prospect of digging into a steamer-full of these comforting treats. The Taiwanese dumpling chain Din Tai Fung has a number of locations in Singapore these days, but my favorite is still the one in the basement of Paragon right on Orchard Road. There’s always a line, and it’s always worth the wait. While you wait, you get to watch hordes of masked chefs on the other side of the glass kitchen walls turning out numberless tiny dumplings by hand – a pinch of meat filling, a bit of broth, a twist of wrist sealing up the thin skin, and the little bundles of goodness are on the way. Yum, yum, YUM!

Here’s LG getting his dumpling on with good form.

Din Tai Fung - Paragon Shopping Centre

290 Orchard Road

#B1-03/06 Paragon Shopping Centre

Singapore 238859

+65 6836 8336

Maxwell Food Centre: Nothing presents everything that’s right about Singapore more concisely than a good hawker center. While lots of the best tend to be out in the residential suburbs, the one in the heart of Chinatown along Maxwell Road more than holds its own (as opposed to dummed down locations like Newton Circus). Go. Browse. Order anything that looks good. Look for vendors with long lines. Ask anyone eating something yummy looking where they got it.

Maxwell Food Centre

intersection of South Bridge Road and Maxwell Roads

Crystal Jade: We tend to give Pleen’s parents some grief for their unchanging loyalty to the dim sum at Crystal Jade’s Ngee Ann City location. Whenever they’re in town, they only seem to eat here. They never branch out. You can’t swing a dead cat in Singapore without hitting a dozen dim sum joints. Who knows what they might be missing!? Well this time round, we were determined to give other options a chance. We asked several Singaporeans friends about alternatives in the Orchard Road area. Surprisingly, a consensus quickly emerged. “Try the dim sum at East Ocean Teochew Restaurant,” people said. OK. Off we went to Scotts Road with our buddies L&NG. With all due respect to our recomenders, this was a wasted meal. The execution of the classic dim sum dishes lacked refinement. The quality of ingredients was clearly lower. Even without their impressive atmosphere and service, Crystal Jade is superior and worth the cost premium on taste alone. It’s all about the food. If you’ve got limited opportunities for dim sum, don’t waste them on an inferior competitor – head over to Crystal Jade and tuck in. Mom & Dad were right!

Crystal Jade Palace

391 Orchard Road

#04-19 Ngee Ann City

Singapore 238872

+65 6735 2388

Civilization Arrives!

2008-11-12T13:27:00.002-05:00

Good news for weary travelers. If you’re passing through Singapore’s Changi Airport, Maker’s Mark bourbon is now available in the Duty Free. Although Loretto, Kansas may be 12 time zones away, now you can recover from your flight with a proper drink in the hotel room.

Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc.

3350 Burks Spring Road

Loretto, Kentucky 40037

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Handmade Whiskey

www.makersmark.com

Touristy Stuff Doesn’t Suck

2008-11-11T12:56:00.008-05:00

For a long time, Singapore has been one of our favorite places. But, as is often the case with someplace you know well, there are a lot of things we never get around to doing. This time, however, we’re traveling with some friends who have never been to the Lion City before. And thus, we’ve actually included a lot of the stuff that we might normally dismiss. And guess what - in Singapore, the touristy things don’t suck! Among our favorites:

Singapore Flyer:

Singapore’s answer to the London Eye, this 165 meter ferris wheel offers a grand view of the lower half of the island – the financial district, port, east coast parks, and the hodgepodge of ships laying at anchor. The tickets are pretty reasonably priced and it makes for a lovely start to an evening. We reserved our seats for sunset before heading off to dinner on our last night.
Singapore Flyer
30 Raffles Avenue, #01-07
Singapore 039803
+65 6854 5200
http://www.singaporeflyer.com/en

Singapore Visitors Centre:
The Singapore Tourism Board maintains several visitors’ centers around town, but we have the most experience with the one on Orchard Road. Set up right in the middle of everything where Cairnhill Road intersects Orchard, this place is much more than an information counter. While browsing the gazillion informative brochures, you can soak up the air conditioning, get cold drink of water, give your feet and calves an automated massage, use a high speed internet connection – all for free. The staff can answer questions in multiple languages and make reservations for you directly (we bought our tickets for the Singapore Flyer there). There’s even a cute café adjacent. This is an awesome resource.

Singapore Visitors Centre @ Orchard
junction of Cairnhill Road and Orchard Road
http://visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/singapore_visitors0/singapore_visitors.html

Singapore Art Museum:
We wandered into the SAM to kill a bit of time on a rainy morning and ended up having to tear ourselves away. Situated in a lovely old colonial building, the visiting exhibit of contemporary Korean art was a welcome surprise – innovative and arresting work. Someone at SAM is doing a great job of finding compelling stuff. The staff were also awesome. When we asked where we could find a cab given the rain, the response was “If you’ll just wait over there, I’d be happy to call one for you”.

Singapore Art Museum
71 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189555
+65 6332 3222
http://www.singart.com/

Singapore: Long Beach

2008-11-10T13:27:00.017-05:00

Last night in town. Can’t leave without chili crab from Long Beach. Turns out the original location on the east coast off the airport road is gone. They’ve opened at Dempsey Road.

Crap! The food’s probably gone to hell.

We cab over to the redeveloped former barracks now studded with wine bars and galleries. I’m preparing for disappointment.

Guess again. Despite the posh surroundings (and clientele!), the meal is to-die-for. The veggies are smoky emerald goodness. The bamboo clams succulent with mounds of garlic. But let’s not kid – we’re here for the crab. We’re looking to make an impression on the two kilo Sri Lankan monsters trying to crawl out of the tanks over there. No more small talk. Bring them to us!

The first one appears resplendent in a sauce of crushed black peppercorns (crab au poivre if you like). The platter’s so laden that the server can barely control its fall onto the table. There's a cheer from our table. Chopsticks flash. The sweetness of the crab meat hits like a physical force - the accent of the black pepper almost too much to bear. Someone ’s moaning - I hope it's not me.

Another pitcher of beer appears. Conversation dulls. I’m aware of Ricky sucking the sauce off of an emptied claw. Now a second crab. Big as the first, but dowsed in the classic sweet red chili gravy. Roasted buns to sop up the sauce.

The table is fully focused. Pleen’s not speaking.

Soon enough we’re licking the bottom of the platter. More beer. Some deep breaths and perhaps a sigh. Nini’s wiping sauce from under her nails.

A few looks are exchanged. A nod. Mute agreement. Pleen’s rapid-fire Cantonese grabs the head waitress. She makes for the kitchen. Another armored carapace departs tank for wok.

Arriving at the table minutes later, this preparation is new to us. Colossal claws rising from the platter are dressed in creamy Sarawak white pepper. I’m swooning. The flight here takes 20 hours. This single crab is reason enough buy the ticket.

Drained from the taste buds down. Grinning like drunks. We stumble out of the restaurant to take a poor man’s tour of the island on the way home. The #174 bus offers an air-conditioned top deck view of the lights of Orchard Road for $1. It drops us a couple blocks from the hotel and we shamble to our rooms to sleep off the crab. We’re bound for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow!

Long Beach @ DEMPSEY

25 Dempsey Road, opposite Singapore Botanic Gardens

+65 6323 2222

www.longbeachseafood.com.sg/

Singapore: No Reservations

2008-11-09T13:11:00.007-05:00

First night in town. Cab over to Little India and grab a table at Banana Leaf Apollo. It’s a Friday night so we have to shove a little. I haven’t been here in probably a decade. Curry, crowds, cold beer - nothing's changed. Despite the lines of foreign tourists due to the “must try” status in all guide books, the food is good, the service fast, and the joint itself is full of energy.

I'm feeling a little conflicted bringing our buddies L&NG to such a touristy spot for their first dinner in town. All the talk about authentic street food and I've brought them here?

Mid rumination, a face in the crowd distracts me. The guy sitting at the table behind me looks familiar. I squint. As he gets up to leave I finally realize it’s K.F. Seetoh, creator of the Makansutra empire of dining guides, food venues, and tours. I stare at this renowned advocate of all that is the Singapore food scene.

He notices us looking and tosses a nod and a smile. A pal of Tony Bourdain’s, an ambassador of good Singaporean eats, chowing down at a tourist destination? And then it hits me. Sure he’s here. The food’s damn good! It's that simple.

Banana Leaf Apollo

54/56/58 Race Course Road

Singapore 218570

+65 6293-8682

http://www.thebananaleafapolo.com/

Makansutra - Celebrating Asian food culture and lifestyle

http://www.makansutra.com/index.html

Strapping on the Feed Bag: 4 Days in Kuala Lumpur

2008-11-06T00:36:00.013-05:00

Since mom & dad tend to keep us on a 3 hours feeding schedule when we’re here, listing the contents of every meal would be challenging (to say nothing of tedious). Here are some examples/highlights.

First night’s dinner:
There was a multi-course meal waiting for us in the kitchen when we arrived at ~ 1:30am the first night, but we were too far gone to snap photos. Our first sit-down dinner together, was the next night. It was a seemingly simple meal of noodles, veggies, and fruit.

But the ingredients and level of effort bear some rumination. The noodles are Cantonese smooth fried noodles with egg & seafood. The rice noodles are made by a guy down the street in the morning, the prawns are fresh from the market, the squid is dad’s catch from a recent trip. Mom then combines all this goodness with a deft hand and careful technique to concoct a dish where the gentle flavors come through, but the textures may be even more important.

The noodles are like silk with a slight firmness thanks to a fry in a seriously hot wok (note the brown caramelized streaks – yumm). The prawns and squid still retain their snap, but the flesh itself is smooth and just-cooked through. The “gravy” sheaths everything; smooth and thin – NEVER gloopy. The combined effect is airy comfort food. The chilies served alongside are fiery but flavorful – adding a zing as counterpoint to the softness of the dish. After being sliced, they are marinated in a bit of light oyster sauce and kumquat juice to introduce some fragrant sweetness alongside their bite.

The veggies are the freshest baby bok choy given the simplest of preparations: tossed in a hot wok with aromatic ginger and then just slightly steamed at the end of their cooking. Their white stalks are soft and firm like the noodles; the ends a welcome element of leafy goodness.
And then there’s desert. Or, “Mango Fest” as we call it. Although not always about just mango, this part of dinner is always about a newspaper-covered table, incredibly good fruit, and dad with a REALLY sharp knife.

There are three types of mango on offer tonight; all remarkably different. The yellow one on the left is Thai with ultra firm flesh and a refined flavor. The orange one next to it is a harumanis; an Indonesian strain grown in Malaysia - heady and super sweet. Finally, the monster sized one on the right is a local hybrid (we think it’s crossed with some of the huge but flavorless Australian mangos) that has a bit of mango-y flavor and a light sweetness.

Just for scale, let’s note that although Pleen’s sister SC isn’t all that big, just the SEED of that monster mango is the size of her head!
Breakfast of champions:
This was breakfast this morning, but it’s emblematic of each morning here for us.

For Pleen, it’s a peanut pancake - a childhood favorite. A thin pancake sprinkled liberally with a crushed peanut and sugar mixture. The outside is crispy, but the very next layer is chewy-gooey & sweet. A wonderfully simple delicious treat.
That's one happy eater!

For me, it’s a bowl of fresh rice noodles & mixed yong tau foo (“stuffed beancurd”) all smothered in curry sauce. The sauce offers hot and spicy flavors set against the richness of coconut milk. It enhances the earthy goodness of the fried tofu chunks studded with bits of seafood or veggie (in this case, roasted eggplant) and counterpoints the cool softness of the rice noodles.

Along with a cup of kopi – local coffee roasted in an oil-filled wok, coarsely ground, filtered through a tea sock, and mixed with condensed milk – this breakfast costs about US$1.50. OUTSTANDING!!

Siem Reap

2008-11-03T10:08:00.010-05:00

The staging town for visiting the Angkor Wat temples, Siem Reap is becoming something of a destination in itself. We spent a few days there. Here are some of our take-aways.

Hotel:

We were REALLY pleased with Viroth’s Hotel. Tinny, stylish, and comfortable, it felt like our own little oasis tucked into a corner of the cacophony. The price was reasonable and the quality of the rooms and service was high (“Tsai” is a particularly great resource for arranging anything in town). Moreover, we really dug the location. Many of the growing number of international standard hotels are on the outskirts of town along the main road. That’s fine, but being right in town proximate to the Old Market was much more fun. The croissants they serve for breakfast on the roof top are brought over from the Blue Pumpkin bakery in town and are particularly yummy.

Viroth's hotel

#0658 Wat Bo Village

Siem Reap Cambodia.

063 761 720

016 951 800 (Mobile)

viroth-hotel@online.com.kh

http://www.viroth-hotel.com/

Honestly, if I were going to consider spending more, I’d go all out and stay at either the Hotel de la Paix (http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/) or the Amansara (http://www.amansara.com/). These are both beautiful ultra-high end luxury joints in the

center of town and I’m sure they’re worth the $$. We had dinner one night at the restaurant inside Hotel de la Paix (“Meric”). It was probably equal to what we spent on every other dinner in town combined and it was absolutely lovely. The food was world class. The setting was spectacular, and the service was great.

However, high end dinning is not why we were in Siem Reap. We really enjoyed several other places.

Restaurants

Khmer Kitchen: There are several places called “Khmer Kitchen”. Not sure if they’re all under the same ownership. The one we liked was along “Pub Street Alley”/“Food Alley” which runs between the Old Market and Pub Street (northwest of the market - the side opposite the water). All the dishes were fresh and crazy cheap. We particularly liked the morning glory w/shrimp.

Angkor Palm: We had a great dinner at this joint facing the Old Market on the northeast side

(http://www.angkorpalm.com/). It’s just an air-coned version of pretty much the same Khmer food served elsewhere (with the addition of a wine list), but it was all good. The owner was engaged, hands on, and made sure we had everything we needed. It’s people like him and our guide John Teng who are going to build an economic future for Cambodia.

Aha: This place looked like exactly the kind of joint we didn’t want. At the southwest end of Pub Street Alley connected to the McDermott Gallery. Highly hip and far too slick to be much about their food. WRONG! They’re doing great fusion-ish food in their little glassed-in central kitchen. These are global “tapas” that are more than just a mishmash. Moreover, the service was impressive. Kind and easy going, but on-the-ball attentive. Found out later that they’re owned by the crew from Hotel de la Paix.

Viroth’s Restaurant: Around the corner from the hotel along Wat Bo Road, this place serves Khmer food done to a high standard in a lovely setting. After a hot & sweaty morning exploring the ruins, it feels like an oasis for lunch. (http://www.viroth-hotel.com/restaurant.php)

FCC Angkor: We never got over to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (http://www.fcccambodia.com/angkor/). We heard it was a great place for an evening cocktail and perhaps dinner. Looked really fun.

Snack: Across the street from the Old Market on the southwest side, there’s an open front store doing these palm sugar, tapioca, coconut, black sesame cookie/pancake-things. Thin pancake done on a hot griddle, then rolled into a tube. They sell them in packages, but buy one off the griddle to nibble as you walk the market. Yummy.

No-go List:

Chamkar: Veggie place in Pub Street Alley. Inconsistent, SLOW (as in 1.5 hours between order and service). We had a seriously shitty interaction with the French manager.

Cambodian BBQ: Cute spot in Pub Street Alley. The food was boring with relatively high

prices.

Must-do:

The damn temples are so beautiful that it’s hard to come up with a list of must-go places. We certainly enjoyed Les Artisans d'Angkor school (http://www.artisansdangkor.com/). It’s a French backed facility that recruits rural kids, teaches them traditional Khmer craft, and then employs them making stuff to fund the school. If you want to do some shopping, buy here; both to support the program and because of the quality and price.

I felt that the Cambodian Land Mine Museum & Relief Facility (http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/) was extremely well done. Our guide mentioned that there was a government run “official” museum that was crappy so I’d make sure to get to the one run by Aki Ra.

Guide:

I can’t speak highly enough about the guide we hired, John Teng. He was

knowledgeable, reliable, flexible, and very reasonable. If you think you could use a guide for the temples, for transport, etc., John’s the dude.

John Teng

(+855) 12 995 977, (+855) 16 518 888

johnangkor@yahoo.com

http://www.angkorservice.com

*Note: Many of the photos here were taken by our friend Ken Girardini. As a rule, the good ones are his. If they suck they’re mine.

Thoughts on Bali

2008-11-02T00:42:00.013-04:00

Pleen and I spent a week on Bali split pretty evenly between the high-end villa venue of Canggu and the artistic center of Ubud. For me it was a first time visit. Pleen hadn’t been there since high school.

Bottom Line Up Front:

We’re both glad we came to Bali and we had a good time, but it probably won’t make our must-return list anytime soon. It's lovely, just not really our scene.

Details:

North of the more well known beaches of Kuta, the high end areas around Seminyak & Canggu offer splendid villas for a romantic get-away or an enjoyably isolated retreat with friends or family. The spectacularly luxurious villa our buddy BL arranged would easily take 5 couples for less than most of the higher end hotel resorts. We were impressed not only by the beauty of the facility, but also by the kind and competent staff. It beat the hell out of anonymous luxury hotel – it felt much more personal.

Here’s the whole crew with Henry, one of the dozen or so staff who took such good care of us.

When we chatted briefly with the rep from the agency handling the villa he told us that his firm managed about 40 more similar properties! If there’s really that sort of choice among these sorts of properties, it’s good news for travelers.

The little bit of shopping we did around Seminyak was jointly stymied by the heat (we chose the shops we entered as much due to their air conditioning as their offerings) and the fact that we didn’t need anything. Traveling through Asia for a month, we were loathe to begin filling up on souvenirs. Moreover, the wares on offer seemed to extend pretty quickly from affordable touristy stuff to international fashionista accoutrements. We both felt that, in a town where a good lunch from a high end place cost US$5, $100 bikinis seemed a bit much for us.

In Ubud, we found a similar extreme spread in accommodations. It seems that the market caters to either the backpacking crowd or the Four Seasons crowd, with relatively little in between. We ended up bouncing between “just fine” and “over the top”. The gallery and shopping scene in Ubud is certainly nice enough, but not all that compelling. In the end, people watching and chasing a good meal turned out to be our primary activities – big surprise.

Throughout our time, we found some good eats. BL describes Balinese cuisine as boring, but Pleen and I hadn’t had a hit of Indonesian food in a long time so it was a treat for us. We got our fill of old favorites like nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) & gado-gado (steamed veggies & tofu in a peanut sauce). Somewhat ironically, our first hotel in Ubud served the best mie goreng (egg noodles stir-fried with chicken, egg, and veggies) we had anywhere along our trip.

Smoky and oily with a nice bit of chili alongside, it had much more going for it than some of the more refined versions we sampled at more refined places. This highlights the common case where street food suffers the farther you get from the street. All you’re really looking for with this sort of food is a well-seasoned wok and an experienced chef. The niceties of presentation are often contra indicated for real flavor. There were also new-to-us treats like urap pakis (a salad of wild fern tips and roasted coconut) and karedok (vegetable salad with peanut tamarind dressing). Fresh, light, and herb-y, these dishes were wonderfully fulfilling in the hot languid cafes of Ubud.

A word here has to be reserved for our favorite culinary discovery of the trip. Perhaps the best “mocktail” ever is the Breeze from Kafe Batan Waru. This place is BL&ST’s favorite place in Ubud and, as usual, they didn’t steer us wrong. The food in general is well worth stopping in for. Aside from dishes mentioned above, their tahu petis (fried tofu with house dipping sauce) rocks. But the drink is what brought us back. The Batan Waru Breeze is a concoction of lychee, mint, ginger, lime juice, and ice that serves to perfectly refresh and rejuvenate. It’s like an artisanal limeade . . . or perhaps lemonade for adults. I won’t embarrass Pleen by admitting in print how many times we returned for one of these treats as we trooped ‘round town sweating and exploring. I will only say that this is the finest tropical refresher we have yet encountered.

Summary:

So the place is lovely, but it’s not enough of our scene to compel a recent return. We’re not surfers or exotic fashion fans or any of the other specific categories of travelers for whom Bali is so well suited. We weren’t looking to bum out on a beach this time round nor learn the intricacies of making batik fabrics. There are any number of other reasons to find your way here, and Bali is certainly the most user-friendly locale in Indonesia. The well-developed infrastructure and services make it easy to get to and easy to enjoy.

Kafe Batan Waru

Jalan Dewi Sita, Ubud

Bali, Indonesia

+62.361.977528

batanwaru@baligoodfood.com

http://www.baligoodfood.com/Batanwaru.asp

Overnight stop in Jakarta

2008-10-31T03:40:00.005-04:00

What do you do with one night in Jakarta, capital of the largest Muslim country on earth? Why you go trick-or-treating of course!!

We stopped to spend the night with our old friends K&PV. We're leaving in the morning for Lake Toba with them and their two kids, but first there are some serious Halloween festivities to be attended to.

Their neighborhood is expat-heavy so Halloween is a pretty big-turnout event. It certainly makes for a fun weird-world counterpoint.

Pictures from Bali are up!

2008-10-30T21:04:00.004-04:00

Here's a slide show of the photos from the first leg of our Asia trip.

Bali Update 2: We’re Weak!

2008-10-30T04:56:00.009-04:00

So the place we booked in Ubud was fine. More than fine. It was remarkably nice - particularly given the incredibly cheap price. The bedroom was air-conditioned, a REALLY tasty breakfast arrived at the room each morning, and the location put us a nice walk from all the town's attractions.

Nothing wrong with it. A bargain in fact. But . . . well . . . the air con wasn’t all that frosty. And the pool was more for looking at than dipping in. And the TV got nothing but snow (in Bahasa Indonesia!). And there were the bugs. And . . . well, we’d just come from that dream stay at Umah di Beji.

So we looked at what doubling our price would get us. Turns out, not much. A little nicer décor. A view of the rice paddies. But still the same basic standard to the room.

Then we thought we’d just ask about availability at the Komaneka. I mean we were walking by and it’s SO hot here and we thought, what’s the harm? Well, it turns out that quadrupling our price got us quite a lot at the one available room at the Komaneka.

Aside from your own private plunge pool, overlooking the mini-rainforest? Well, there’s the 500+ thread count sheets to compliment the satellite TV. And of course killer air-con. But the grandest pleasure of all may be having the bathroom inside the air-con bubble.

The smile on Pleen’s face is more than worth it.

Dude, who am I kidding? The smiles are mutual!!

For our last night in Bali, this is gonna prepare us for the trip to Jakarta tomorrow!

Komaneka at Monkey Forest

Jalan Monkey Forest

Ubud, Gianyar 80571, Bali, Indonesia

+62 361 976090

www.komaneka.com/

Bali Update

2008-10-29T03:13:00.009-04:00

Just some quick info for those wondering if we’ve fallen off the map. A fussy engine valve on our airplane caused us to miss our connection in Tokyo and we ended up arriving into Singapore much later than we expected. Turns out that 3 hours of sleep on a bed does wonders after 26 hours on a plane, and we were rolling onto our final flight to Bali 6 hours after we landed.

We spent our first three days in Bali with our old friends BL & ST. In typical fashion, BL outdid himself securing us a luxury venue beyond expectations.

Oh, and as you might expect, the food sucked as well.

We are now in villa withdrawal trying with all our might NOT to compare our perfectly nice digs in Ubud with the dreamy Umah di Beji.

Bali is lovely – if hot! – and we’re happily exploring until we head to Jakarta to see another set of old friends in a couple days. More to follow!

Umah di Beji
Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
http://www.umahdibeji.com/

Lessons Learned

2008-10-16T01:06:00.008-04:00

Our west coast road trip pretty much marked the end of my domestic travels for the year. By my count, in 2008 I’ve been through 25 states (and a Canadian province) with about 42 days on the road. Something like 6,000 road miles covered. A few basic take-aways stand out from all those miles through America.

Scale: Given that my perspective is often focused on international travel, all this wandering serves most of all to remind me of how much more there is to see of the US (to say nothing of Canada). The more I see, the more the list of what else I want to see keeps growing.

Diversity: The views from hotel windows in Lander, Wyoming and Providence, Rhode Island had about as little in common as the political views at the coffee counters in Portland, Maine and Aberdeen, South Dakota. And for all the in-your-face majesty of a Humboldt County redwood looming over you or the promising view of the Teatons in the windshield, the flat endless fields of Iowa streaking past have their own distinct appeal. Difference is certainly the central commonality from coast to coast. It can make it hard to catch your breath when the colleted images of a thousand miles play back through your mind’s eye.

Food revolution: There’s great stuff happening out there in America. From the orchards of the Fruit Loop around Hood River, Oregon, to the seafood beds off Cape Elizabeth, Maine - there’s wonderful product being pulled from the earth and sea. What’s being done with this bounty in kitchens across the country is exciting - and delicious as can be. I still can’t believe the pizza with local chanterelles in the sleepy town of Arcata, California (or how good it was as leftovers the next day for lunch in a park in Crescent City). And nothing tops the fresh cheese curds CA and I bought from the small fromagerie on the road between Quebec City & Montreal. Pleen and I are still in shock that a joint in southeast Portland, Oregon is serving up no-kidding Thai street food. There’s a pride of workmanship that’s evident in the good food being done outside the traditional bastions of high end cuisine. There’s a particular message that outstanding eats shouldn’t be confined to the Five Boroughs or available only to those at the $100+ per-plate end of the spectrum. And this message, I swear, comes through at the table. You taste it and you feel it. It feels as if we’ve rediscovered something.

Contradictions: Pleen always says that it’s the contradictions in people that really attract her. I feel the same way about places. The land of Olive Garden is the land of the Corn Exchange. The 200 mile run of the California coast devoid of any chain lodgings or restaurants starting in Gualala, ends in a neon-coated wash of Holiday Inns and McDonald’s at Fort Bragg. Cutting edge wind turbines are erected and managed by high plains good ol boys. Contradictions are like spice, they serve to highlight interesting flavors.

Favorites: There’s too much great stuff out there to pick useful favorites from such a wide set of experiences. Some things that pop to the top of my memories, however, are the following.

City: Quebec City (because it was so unexpected. CA and I felt we were making a discovery around every corner)
Meal: Apizza Scholls in Portland, OR (Dream pizza with my dream girl. Perfect.)
View: From the Citadel in Quebec City (Flawlessly beautiful and a military history geek’s dream for guys like CA and me.)
Event: The hike that JB took me on in the Teatons (Because it was humbling and exhilarating at the same time)
Route: The haunted forest that Pleen and I drove through to pass from to the California coast (Because it seemed like a mystical little portal that wisked us from one reality to another. The contrasts were stark and immediate and the route itself was otherworldly).
Attraction: The lunch time glass blowing seminars/workshop at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA (Because it was a chance for normal people to see hard corps artisans at work right in front of them)

Company: In the end, nothing is as essential as great company. In fact, these road trips have been as much an excuse to hang out with my favorite people as anything else. My key lesson learned here is that I am incredibly fortunate to have such people in my life. Good company makes any experience better - and the bad ones livable.

Pictures from the West Coast are up!

2008-10-15T17:18:00.004-04:00

Click on the link to access our pictures from our West Coast trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pleen888/WestCoastRoadtripSept2008#slideshow

Venezia Recommendations

2008-10-15T09:31:00.003-04:00

My old buddy JH recently contacted me asking for recommendations for an upcoming trip to Italy. I told him that I knew nothing about Italy, but passed his questions on to someone who did. I think the response from AL sounds so good that I’m putting it up - along with some location info for some of his recommendations - in case others find it useful.

“J,

It's been too long since we're been in Rome -- there are some wonderful restaurants, but they're gone from my memory. I don't know how long you're staying in Rome, but our advice would be to knock off the must-see sites, such as the Coliseum, as quickly as you can -- they are truly awe-inspiring, but you should try to leave time to enjoy Rome as a big city.

We were in Florence in April of 2007, when we stayed at the Bristol & Helvetia. It was a perfectly fine luxury hotel, but I think there were more interesting places to stay. We had a fabulous meal at Cibreo, but I can't remember the other restaurants. I think we had looked in Frommer's and Fodor's and consulted with the concierge. The restaurants we went to were highly recommended and were delicious.

You are lucky I don't have time to give you a detailed run down on Venice. We love the food and the hotels. There is some mediocre food, but all these restaurants are terrific (and expensive!)

Hotel Cipriani: Travel Leisure says this is one of 10 best hotel restaurants in the world. A beautiful and peaceful site!
Gritti Palace: In addition to being one of the very best restaurants in Venice, there is no view in the world comparable to that of sitting on the Restaurant deck overlooking the Grand Canal.
La Cusine at the Europa-Regina Hotel: a very fine restaurant, also with a great deck on the Grand Canal, and good views from inside the restaurant as well. The fish is superb. The menu seems a little more local than some of the others.
Harry's Bar: the food is very good (usually!), and the scene is the liveliest in Venice. Be sure to specify that you want to sit on the first floor.
Antico Martini: A restaurant for well over 100 years (maybe 200 !) - the food is wonderful and the service delightful.
Graspa De Ua: A little hard to find, by the Rialto Bridge. The most Venetian of all these restaurants, it was recently bought and refurbished by Lucio Zanon, a very likeable and ingratiating young man whom we know from Harry's Bar in Venice and Harry Cipriani's in New York. Wonderful fish!
Harry's Dolce: a wonderful lunch spot. Great club sandwich and pasta and risotto.
Locanda Cipriani on Torcello: a wonderful garden restaurant on the island of Torcello, site of ancient church ruins. This is a twenty minute (water) taxi ride from San Marco, but easily reachable by the wonderful Vaperetto (water buses). A good day-trip is to visit the glass ovens in Murano and the lace-making in Burano, with lunch in between at Torcello. All three are on the same Vaperetto line, and breaking up the travel-time helps. When you arrive at Torcello, check the departure times for the Vaperetto.
Fiaschetteria.Toscana: a lovely, small garden restaurant near the Rialto. It's been in the same family for years, and the food and service are terrific.
do Forni: an old favorite -- high quality food and service. We haven't been there for several years.
The Terrace at the Danielli Hotel - wonderful service and incredible view. The food is elegant, if not quite as good as the Gritti.

There are some terrific expensive hotels, but also some lovely hotels at more moderate prices. We used to stay at the Gritti, which has wonderful suites (but some of the rooms are not impressive), but for the last few years we have stayed at the Europa-Regina. It's not quite as elegant as the Gritti, but they have a few rooms and a few suites with walk out balconies, so you can sit and watch the activity on the Grand Canal. We know of no other hotels with such an amenity.

We don't like the Danielli as much. The Cipriani is on a small island in the lagoon -- about a five minute boat ride from the main island of Venice. We have had some wonderful stays there, but recent articles suggest it has become a little dreary. Last time in Venice, however, the Cipriani had the best fried scampi in Venice.

If you are tempted by the Lido, the Hotel Excelsior is terrific.

All of these are Starwood Hotels except the Cipriani. It's easy to find them on the web. Many of the restaurants have web sites as well.

The guidebooks will tell you the must-see sites, and they are all knock-outs. But everyone also advices to make time just to wander around the city, window shopping, popping into churches, having a coffee in a little square.

AL”

AL’s list certainly goes in my “someday” pile!!

Hotel Bristol & Helvetia
Via dei Pescioni, 2
50123 Firenze (FI), Italy
+39.055.26651
www.royaldemeure.com/?lang=eng&PHPSESSID=f1da6548b59970641404803479736ac5

Cibreo Srl
Via Andrea Del Verrocchio, 5/R
50122 Firenze (FI), Italy
+39.055.2345853
www.cibreo.com

Hotel Cipriani & Palazzo Vendramin
Giudecca, 10
30133 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.520.7744
www.hotelcipriani.com

Hotel Gritti Palace
Campo Santa Maria del Giglio
30124 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.794.611
www.starwoodhotels.com

Locanda La Cusina
The Westin Europa & Regina Hotel
San Marco 2159
30124 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.2400001
www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/dining/index.html?propertyID=75

Bar Harry's Bar
S. Marco, 1323
30124 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.5285777
www.cipriani.com

Ristorante Antico Martini
Sestiere San Marco, 2007
30124 Venezia (Veneto), Italy
+39.041.5224121
www.anticomartini.com

Hotel Graspo de Ua
San Marco 5094
30124 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.5205644
www.graspodeua.com/en/index.htm
info@graspodeua.com

Harry's Dolce
Giudecca 773
Fondamenta San Biagio
+39.041.5224844

Locanda Cipriani
Piazza S. Fosca, 29
30012 Torcello Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.730150
www.locandacipriani.com/

Ristorante Fiaschetteria Toscana SAS
Cannaregio, 5719
30131 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.5285281
www.fiaschetteriatoscana.it

Ristorante Do Forni
S. Marco, 457
30124 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.5230663
www.doforni.it

La Terrazza
Hotel Danieli
Castello 4196
30122 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.522.6480
www.luxurycollection.com/danieli

The Westin Excelsior Resort, Venice Lido
Lungomare Marconi, 41
Venice Lido
30126 Venezia (VE), Italy
+39.041.526.0201
www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=77

Quick Note on Angeethi

2008-10-14T23:12:00.009-04:00

We had a quite a meal tonight at Angeethi out in Herndon. To a certain extent, it was pretty standard – albeit good – Indian. But the veggie dishes were quite strong. And of particular note were dishes incorporating the – apparently homemade – paneer.

This Indian cheese is often a mild element of structure more than flavor. But at Angeethi the panneer’s flavor and texture are center stage. Whoever they've got chained to the paneer station in the kitchen really knows his stuff.

The Paneer Pakora - paneer stuffed with a spice mixture and then fried in chickpea batter – offered luxurious fresh taste within a decadent fried exterior. But the star of the evening was the Paneer Tikka – spiced and dressed planks of paneer barbecued in the tandoor. This was a tandoori chicken for vegetarians; complete with the red color on the smoky flavored exterior, grill marks, and succulent inner flesh. Well worth the drive on its own.

We’re defiantly looking forward to another visit to Angeethi to check out more of the menu.

Angeethi
645 Elden Street
Herndon, VA 20170
703-796-1527
www.angeethiva.com

Elevation Burger

2008-10-09T10:59:00.013-04:00

More exploration of the burger scene in NoVA required a trip to Elevation Burger. People say nice things and Ray's Hell Burger isn't open for lunch. So . . . my buddy DG and I ventured over yesterday to check things out.

Bottom Line Up Front:

Reminiscent of In-N-Out Burger, the Elevation Burger product was pretty good. If Ray’s Hell Burger isn’t an option, I’d still probably choose a Clyde's burger over Elevation. Their fries are a real limiting factor.

Details:

We arrived in the midst of a modest lunch rush. Still, the service was friendly and quick. The space is bright, airy, and attractive (i.e. this ain’t Five Guys). Prices seemed reasonable.

I ordered a basic cheeseburger presented “Original” style - pickles, lettuce, tomato, & Elevation sauce. Fries and a chocolate shake composed the classic accompaniments (Do ya hear that Ray’s? FRIES!).

A request for medium rare was met with a polite and pained explanation of “We cook all our burgers to X temperature in order to ensure. . .blah, blah, blah.” Given that this basically boils down to “Our lawyers make us do this,” I can’t complain about the guys behind the counter. However, it’s a continuing bummer to be denied a pink hamburger; ESPECIALLY in the day and age where everyone (including Elevation) is crowing about their grass-fed, organic, hyper-tasty beef. It seems a waste to use beef that tastes like beef if you’ve got to cook it ‘til it’s gray.

In any case, the resulting burger was tasty enough. Significant amounts of black pepper seem to be involved in their preparation and that happens to be a flavor I like. It might strike others as a bit much. The bun was light, but held together well. The delivery in a simple waxed paper wrapper and the fresh toppings reminded me of In-N-Out. The entire thing had a bit more grease happening than the west coast chain, however (the bun itself was shinny with it). In fact, you could think of this product as Five Guys meets In-N-Out.

The chocolate shake was good, although a bit more complex than it needed to be. I bet money that either the chocolate syrup or the ice cream they use has something fancy in its name - “Dutch” chocolate or “European-style" vanilla for example. I don’t see why people feel the need to overly complicate something that works as is. Still, not something that was tough on the taste buds.

The really questionable item, in my opinion, was the fries. Their menu makes a big thing out of the fact that their fries are done in olive oil. Their use of the term “heart healthy” leaves me to assume they think there’s some health benefit in using olive oil as the frying medium. That’s a nice concept, but there’s a problem of physics. Olive oil’s relatively low smoke point makes it poorly suited as a deep frying medium. If you try to fry potatoes in hot (but not burning) olive oil, you get what they have at Elevation Burger. The result of cute marketing and poor science: brownish, characterless, sodden, oddly flavored fries. A poor trade for some perceived “heart healthy” gain.

Summary:

Elevation Burger is fine. I won't drive across town for one and I won't eat their fries again until they put some peanut oil in that fry-o-lator. If Ray’s Hell Burger would just decide to open for lunch (and add fries to the menu!!), we could stop messing about and just head there whenever the burger mood strikes. Until then, we’ll be compelled to choose among the also-rans.

Elevation Burger
442 S Washington Street
Falls Church, VA 22046
703-237-4343
www.elevationburger.com/

Ray's Hell Burger
1713 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
703-841-0001

In-N-Out Burger
www.in-n-out.com/default.asp

Clyde's
1700 N. Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311
703-820-8300
www.clydes.com/main/index.cfm

Announcing winners from this past weekend's Chococake-o-rama Taste Test

2008-10-06T13:13:00.004-04:00

Okay, here's the QUICK scoop (for details & historical data, scroll down to Jawper's post directly below):

Cake X = Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix
Cake Y = Pillsbury Devil's Food Cake Mix
Cake Z = Homemade Devil's Food Cake, compliments of Cooks Illustrated

Tasters preferred the cake mixes to the homemade by an obvious margin. Duncan Hines and Pillsbury basically tied for the winning spot.

In total, there were 25 testers, including 2 kids under the age of 10. Despite this small sample size, we observed two trends:

men overwhelmingly preferred the box cake mixes to the homemade version
the older the respondent, the more likely you were to enjoy the homemade version

An interesting note: a preliminary test of Betty Crocker’s Devil’s Food Cake Mix eliminated it from the main event, as it didn’t seem rich and chocolate-y enough.

For the Sake of Science: Chococake-o-rama results

2008-10-06T11:54:00.023-04:00

Significant contention exists as to the relative quality of store-bought-mix cakes vice home-made-from-scratch cakes. As a long-time practitioner of the “scratch is better” school, Pleen recently began to wonder about the real preferences of cake eaters. Thus we embarked upon a scientific battery of testing to establish once and for all if cake eaters can tell the difference between mix and scratch.

In the first event, the July 2007 Yellow Cake Survey Spectacular and Extravaganza, the superiority of modern yellow cake mix to home-made-from-scratch yellow cake was indisputably demonstrated. Since that heady day, Pleen has saved dozens of hours of labor by using only mix in applications calling for yellow cake.

Some of the top sheet results for historical comparison:

General Findings

Gender Breakdown

Age Group Breakdown

However, important answers only lead to more important questions. The continued evolution of knowledge demands much of us all. We cannot turn our backs on the enduring question: what about CHOCOLATE!?

Thus we and our volunteer testers once again sacrificed for the sake of science. On Saturday 4 October, we hosted the Chococake-o-rama Taste Test. We encouraged testers to drop by the testing site, taste the cakes on offer, fill in a ballot designed by highly trained researchers, and witness the release of the top sheet survey results.

Tasters!

The Hypothesis:

Given advances in food science, there is now little difference between cakes made from box cake mix and cakes made from scratch

For a devil’s food cake, most people will be indifferent to the difference in flavor between box cake mix and scratch

The Methodology:

3 different devil’s food cakes were baked today(2 different box mixes & 1 from-scratch)
Same oven & pans
Same batch of butter & eggs
Same batch of frosting
Recipes baked exactly as directed

Evolution of our test methodology has continued. We have high statistical confidence in the validity of our results. The process at both events has been overseen by Ms. JB, Vice President, Business and Consumer Insights at a major market research company. Dr. AS, retired Professor of Marketing at The George Washington University’s School of Business & Public Management acts as senior mentor.

The Ballot

The Results!

General Findings

Gender Breakdown

Age Group Breakdown

We can only conclude that mix cakes offer a real advantage over from-scratch approach - at least in the two genres tested so far. The preferences of our tasters have been authoritative in each test.

Stay tuned for more events from the Squeek's Tasting Center!

Before I shuffle off this mortal coil . . .

2008-10-06T10:44:00.007-04:00

. . . someone has to take me to Lockhart, TX to eat at Smitty’s

Here’s what Tyler Cohen had to say a few years back.

“The ingredients are simple: salt and pepper rub and meat to die for. Slow cooking in open pits. Schmitty's lets its pit spill over onto the restaurant floor; be careful not to step or fall into the fire when you walk in the door. Did I mention that town fire and safety regulations are lax and they have a friendly insurance agent with a taste for barbecue?
…
All other barbecue will now taste worse. At what discount rate, or at what implied rate of memory deterioration, am I better off for having been there? Or do seek something other than happiness through food?”

Doesn’t that make you want to get on a plane!?!?

Smitty's Market
208 South Commerce
Lockhart, TX,
512-398-9344

www.smittysmarket.com/

West Coast Road Trip Part 1: San Francisco highlights

2008-10-04T14:52:00.011-04:00

In four days on the ground in the San Francisco area, we barely scratched the surface. Through Pleasanton and Livermore, Berkley and Oakland, from Embarcadero to the Tenderloin, we did some silly things, saw some dear friends, and ate some good stuff. All the while being blown away by the beauty and diversity of the Bay area.

A blow-by-blow would prove less than interesting, but some highlights (“a few of our favorite things”) include:

BART:
For all its limitations, it’s fast, cheap, and easy. From the time we got off the plane at SFO, we were at our buddy’s office in the financial district in under an hour - for less than $6 a head. Try THAT from Washington Dulles! Staying with him out in the ‘burbs, BART got us where we needed to go easily and cheaply.

This just serves to remind me, there are two types of major cities in the world: those where you can ride a train from the airport to the city center, and those where you can’t. It’s hard to make the list of great travel destinations if you’re not among the former. Anybody who’s reveled in moving from O’Hare to the Magnificent Mile, Heathrow to Piccadilly, or Changi to Orchard Road without suffering a bus interchange or traffic jam knows what I’m talking about. Conversely, anybody who’s sat unmoving sucking exhaust fumes while their Baht or Dollars or Yen roll away on a taxi meter understands.

Ferry Building:
Contrived? Yes. But the Ferry terminal building serves to capture much of the essence of San Francisco in a fine foods sense. Pleen took to referring to is as “my favorite building”

Our lunch on the day we arrived at Mistral is a case in point. This is, by any reasonable measure, fast food. It just doesn’t suck.

The lamb stew was rich with cumin, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, .green anise and cheyenne pepper ladled over couscous. The white beans Provencale & roasted butternut squash made for a beautiful plate of comfort food. Rounded out with an Anchor Steam for ~ $10, this is my idea of a value meal!

Walking around after that first lunch we reveled in the accessibility of lots of the bay area’s best eats: from Peet’s Coffee to the wonderful gingerbread cupcakes from Miette

When we returned the next day to pick up a few extra cupcakes for our kind hosts, we couldn’t pass up a sourdough cheese wheel from Acme Bakery before we headed out. Acme without having to head all the way to Berkley?!? A treat!!

Ferry Building merchant list & map: www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/merchant_map.php

Mistral Rotisserie Provencale
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-399-9751
www.mistralrotisserie.com/

Miette Patisserie
Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 10
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-837-0300
www.miettecakes.com/

Acme Bread Company
Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop #15
San Francisco, CA
415-288-2978

Tours:

Pleen and I aren’t really fans of organized tours. OK, let’s be honest. Pleen and I are the kind of people who make fun of organized tours and the people who take them. It’s not fair or logical, but there it is.

Well, perhaps we’re opening our perspectives in our old age, because we did two tours and loved them both. One was a Segway tour of San Francisco that was an utter blast and yielded the most goober-ish shot of the entire trip

The other was a Scharffen Berger factory tour (for Pleen, “pilgrimage” is a more accurate descriptor) that was fascinating and inspiring . . . and generated a close second.

Electric Tour Company

757 Beach Street

San Francisco, CA 94109-1218

415-474-3130
www.sfelectrictour.com/index.html

Scharffen Berger
914 Heinz Avenue,
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-981-4066
tours@scharffenberger.com
www.scharffenberger.com/factory.asp

Great Stuff and a Great Mix:
Everywhere you turn in the bay area great ingredients abound. The earth and the sea give up more great edible stuff than you can imagine. From this surfeit, cooks and confectioners of all backgrounds go to town and create wonderful food.

There's so much that’s good that the old ghetto-ization of food has broken down. It’s not about a geography of Chinatowns or Italian neighborhoods. Nor do the cuisine classifications of Continental or pan-Asian apply. The old borders just can’t contain all that’s happening.

Malaysian nibbles prepared by a white guy in a hip urban neighborhood? Check. Beef tri-tip dressed in cilantro sauce from a Brazilian guy in a parking lot shack? Yup. Cantonese family cuisine from a suburban mall abutting vineyards? Of course. Whether you want a $5 sandwich, a $10 plate of noodles, a $28 fillet of swordfish, or a $50 whole snapper, it applies across price points. It all makes sense. It’s all great. None of it is out of place because the strictures of place seem infinitely expanded.

Betelnut
2030 Union St
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-929-885
www.betelnutrestaurant.com

Brazil Cafe
1983 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-845-1056

Koi Garden
4288 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568
925-833-9090

One night in Portland is all it took

2008-09-21T00:58:00.006-04:00

We have several posts dealing with our west coast trip in various stages of edit, but sometimes subjects arise that justify jumping the queue. Sometimes a revelation appears fully formed without the necessity for cogitation. Sometimes . . . sometimes you drive into Portland, Oregon and – on your first night in town - find yourself sitting at the bar at Apizza Scholls. And thus sometimes, you come face to face with what perfect looks like.

Bottom line up front:

This is one of the best two pizzas Pleen & I have ever had (the other being the totally different pie from Trattoria Dell’arte in New York). This is worth a plane flight to Portland . . . from Guam! We’re thinking about buying a condo on the corner of their block.

Details:

We heard about this joint in planning our trip to Portland, but, to be honest, they made the list for dinner tonight because of their proximity to the hotel and their lack of a dress code. After 900-some miles, we just wanted a bite and a good night’s sleep. We were in for significantly more than that.

What we got was the product of Brain Spangler’s maniacal dedication to the pizzaiolo’s craft: his hand-mixed and slow-fermented dough; his ingredients; his personal shaping and baking of each pie that leaves the kitchen. The results of all of this labor and attention was a fabulous classic Neapolitan pie. FAB-U-LOUS.

Now let’s not be coy. As good as the tangy tomato sauce, house made sausage, and Mama Lil’s goathorn peppers all are, this pizza is about the crust. You could serve that crust to me plain with a bottle of olive oil and I’d eat two. Spectacularly simple, anyone who’s searched for a great thin crust pizza (or tried to make their own!), knows how difficult it is to obtain that thin-but-robust, snappy-but-chewy, charred-but-sweet base layer.

The quite good wine list, great beer list, lovely salads, and OUTSTANDING service are almost not worth mentioning. You’re not going to really care. You’re going to focus on that snap of the first bite. That flood of flavors. That swimming of the senses as your taste buds try to come to grips with what they’re experiencing.

And then it’ll be all about when you can get back. Spangler puts his vacation plans on the restaurant’s website since no pizzas come out when he’s not around to cook them. Plan your visit carefully

Enough’s enough. There’s one more piece sitting on the counter across from my laptop. Gotta run.

Apizza Scholls
4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97215
503-233-1286
www.apizzascholls.com/

Trattoria Dell’arte
900 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10106
212-245-9800
www.trattoriadellarte.com/

Question: How are you packing?

2008-09-12T12:34:00.004-04:00

I’ve been experimenting a bit with packing methods as an element of streamlining my travel without looking (in my buddy CA’s immortal phrase) “like a bag of donuts” when I arrive at my destination.

Bundle packing

Many experienced travelers have become fans of “bundle packing”. It offers the twin benefits of avoiding wrinkles while reducing luggage volume. Two useful explanations of bundle packing:

Doug Dyment has a good overview at “One Bag” (www.onebag.com/pack.html) and a particularly useful diagram/instruction sheet (www.onebag.com/popups/bundle.html)

Kevin Connolly’s “Practical Hacks” has a great write up with lots of images (www.practicalhacks.com/2008/04/05/a-minimalist-approach-to-packing-for-a-short-business-trip/)

Basically, you wrap all your clothing around a single central core item and place the resulting bundle in your bag. Without folds, the clothing stays unwrinkled. The bundle is also compact and malleable so it reduces the size of your bag.

Bottom line up front:
Bundle packing works great when you are traveling to a single destination or staying for lengthy periods at each of multiple destinations. If you are changing location each day, however, bundling is less than useful.

Details:
The strengths of bundle packing (avoiding wrinkles and reducing total volume) rely on having all your clothing in a single mass. If you are living out of your bag, however, that single mass of clothing quickly becomes cumbersome. You are left with two poor choices for actually using your clothing over multiple stops.

You can extract the entire bundle from your bag each day, unwrap it, take out the clothing you need, and repack the bundle. Repeatedly unpacking and repacking the entire bundle just to extract a single day’s clothing is a pain in the butt.
You can slip the individual clothing items out of the larger bundle as needed each day. Pulling individual items out of the larger bundle without unpacking it ensures upsetting the integrity that is the key to wrinkle avoidance. By day two of a trip you’re going to have a mass of jumbled clothes.

Neither one of these approaches works in practice. The bundle is a tool for moving a mass of clothing from one point to another efficiently. It’s poorly suited to organizing, extracting, and reinserting subsets of the mass.

Enter the Cubes
I’ve been doing a lot of trips recently that involve living out of a bag while making multiple short stops. For these trips, I’ve found Eagle Creek’s packing cubes (www.eaglecreek.com/accessories/packing_cubes/) to be a real help. They allow me to compress my stuff and maintain organization, all while keeping wrinkles at bay.

As an example, here’s the clothing I took on our recent 3 week west coast road trip,

along with what I wore on the flight.

I wanted to fit the clothing in my Outdoor Products’ Essential Carry-on along with some gear (camera, maps, GPS, etc.). Since we’d be moving around a lot in a car, I wanted to avoid the weight of a wheeled bag.

Tops and bottoms each went in their respective packing cubes. Two smaller cubes held socks/underwear and odds&ends.

Everything fit in the Essential Carry-on with room to spare
Clothing plus the gear brought the bag to 22 pounds according to my nifty new luggage scale (thanks GL!!). Add to this main bag a 12 pound daypack with laptop, liquids, and some personal items and I was carry-on friendly for the flights out to California.

While Pleen and I were on the road, we stayed in two houses and ten hotels. I found that it was always easy to extract one piece of clothing from the bag without unpacking everything. Clothes stayed wrinkle-free and organized throughout the trip.

Good Gear: Outdoor Products’ Essential Carryon

2008-09-10T12:06:00.007-04:00

I’ve become more and more interested in carry-on-only travel in the past couple years for all the obvious reasons. The “one-bag” approach has garnered increasing attention recently, and there are more bags than ever on the market designed for this sort of travel. These are bags designed to: fit the airlines’ size restrictions for carry-on luggage; provide a logical and useful packing arrangement; be ergonomic to haul and lighter than roll-aboard cases; and be robust enough to stand up to the abuse of modern travel.

While I continue to maintain that my Eagle Industries A-III pack is the greatest single bag ever produced by human hands (see “Good Gear: Ode to the A-III” below), it is not necessarily ideal for all one-bag carry-on-only packing scenarios. The lack of a main compartment that opens totally flat is an impediment to efficient packing and, moreover, to living out of the bag over multiple stops. Also, the very features that contribute to the robustness that I love (i.e., the abrasion resistant Cordura nylon, the bomb-proof stitching using bonded nylon thread, etc.) translate into weight. The bag weighs almost 37 ounces empty (2.3 pounds). While that’s pretty light compared to 8-10 pound rolling bags, I wanted to experiment with a bag designed around carry-on travel.

Among the best regarded and impressive are the offerings from Tom Bihn (Aeronaut) and Red Oxx (Sky Train & Air Boss). They feature great designs, construction of Cordura or ballistic nylon, YKK zippers, and they all fit in that looming overhead bin.

These bags are not cheap however. And while I’m sure the quality of construction and design are worth it, their $220+ price tags make experimentation prohibitive. Also, they’re not exactly super-light compared to my old A-III; coming in at between 43 and 64 ounces.

Thus, I was greatly pleased to stumbled across the Essential Carryon from Outdoor Products.

The Essential Carryon is a one-bag friendly design that comes in under carry-on size limits, has hidden back-pack straps for longer distance hauling, weighs 1/3 less than my A-III pack (28 ounces/1.75 pounds), and costs . . . wait for it . . . $29.99!!! At that price, experimenting with it is a no-brainer.

I’ve already used it on a couple multi-week road trips, a weekend get-away flight, and it’ll be my primary bag for our upcoming west coast trip. So far, I’m very impressed. It works well and is quite comfortable to carry. In basic black, it doesn’t get a second look from gate agents who seem to mistake it for a laptop bag. Admittedly, the construction is nothing like what I have experienced with my Eagle Industries bags or what I understand about Red Oxx products. However, if it blows out after a year of travel, I can replace it every year for almost a decade and still be under the cost of a Red Oxx Sky Train.

Sweet!

Bags:

Tom Bihn Aeronaut:
www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/200/TB0906

Red Oxx Sky Train:
www.redoxx.com/product_categories/1/products/86-sky-train

Red Oxx Air Boss:
www.redoxx.com/product_categories/1/products/54-air-boss

Outdoor Products’ page on the Essential Carryon: www.outdoorproducts.com/proddetail.aspx?sku=2003U&view=B

Notes:

Campmor has the Essential Carryon for cheap!: www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___60793

Doug Dyment’s site (www.onebag.com/) is a great source for the “doctrine” of lighter travel even if his specific suggestions don’t apply to your situation. Having said that, there’s a treasure trove of specific ideas, recommendations, & resources.

James Isbell’s blog (www.1bag1world.com/blog/) and associated forums, also have a good deal of stuff on similar subjects. There’s a bit more graphical content on packing methods and gear.

Road Trip: West Coast Wandering

2008-09-07T11:10:00.001-04:00

Pleen and I are heading out to the west coast for a couple weeks of wandering and touching base with some old friends. We fly into San Francisco on 11 SEP, and out of Seattle on 29 SEP.

Friends in San Francisco & Seattle are putting us up. Pretty bare bones itinerary in between. We’ve got hotel reservations on 15 SEP in Vallejo (south of Napa) and 21-24 SEP in Portland. We’ve got a rental car from 15-27 SEP. Reservations at Ad Hoc in Yountville on 15 SEP. Other than that . . . we’re hoping to follow our noses (and . . . let’s be honest . . . our stomachs).

More from along the way.

Good Gear: Patagonia Rain Shadow

2008-09-07T10:55:00.010-04:00

As the remnants of Hana rolled through the DC area yesterday, Pleen and I decided to meet up with our buddy JC for a tour of the National Gallery and lunch. Despite the monsoon rains pummeling the District, we strolled for several hours among various locations. If you’re looking for the logic in these choices, there ain’t any.

My cotton cargo shorts were a soaked mess. My Gore-Tex lined sneakers were dry for about 2 minutes before my smartwool socks sucked the water right it (wicking layers work both ways!). From the waist down, I was sloshing. But my torso, clad in a cotton t-shirt, was dry as a bone under my 13 ounce Patagonia Rain Shadow jacket.

At just 13 ounces, the Rain Shadow has become a go-to travel layer for me. It’s done weekend get-aways to Chicago, road trips through the northeast, Canada, and the American west, and several weeks on safari in Kenya. Balled up in the bottom of a daypack or carry-on, it’s unnoticeable.

When the wind starts to blow or the sky opens up, however, the waterproof breathable nylon ripstop shell is a godsend. It’s breathable enough that it keeps the rain off in warm weather without dousing me in sweat, but married to a fleece it’s a great wind and wet barrier in cooler weather as well. Sure, there are high-end layers that are a third the weight, but they are typically water-resistant. I.e. they’ll keep some sprinkles off you, but they’re gonna wet through in a hurry. Not so with the Rain Shadow.

For me, this thing has been worth twice the price!!

Speaking of . . . while I may like the performance of “technical” outdoor gear, I don’t exactly live a life that involves climbing mountains. Thus, I find it hard to justify spending full price for this sort of performance apparel. The Rain Shadow was something I picked up on super-clearance from a vendor who was getting out of the Patagonia M.A.R.S. line. Mine was about half what the Patagonia web site asks. When Patagonia does their season clearance sales, their stuff can often be had at a similar discount. In fact, the “Web Specials” section of the Patagonia web site even has it on pretty good sale as I write this.

Patagonia Rain Shadow jacket: http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/product/product_focus.jsp?OPTION=PRODUCT_FOCUS_DISPLAY_HANDLER&catcode=MAIN_FA_US.CLOTHING_GEAR.MENS.JACKETS&style_color=84470-886&ws=

Good Gear: Ode to the A-III

2008-08-29T09:48:00.005-04:00

My Eagle Industries A-III pack and I have logged a lot of miles together. When last I checked (and because I’m a huge geek, I actually did check), it’s been to at least 15 countries. It’s traveled by car & van, helicopter & HMMWV, jetliner & puddle-jumper, speedboat & subway - to say nothing of my own two stinky feet. It’s been beat up, abused, over loaded, slept on & stepped on, dragged & dunked, and it’s never skipped a beat.

It looks basically just like the day I bought it five years ago for $99 - that is to say totally unremarkable and plain black. The Cordura nylon has softened a bit with wear, and the brass hardware has lost its black coating. I keep wondering when I’ll have to test Eagle’s lifetime warrantee.

Add to its ruggedness that it blends in perfectly in the sea of black bags in any airport, precisely meets the dimensions for carry-on luggage, and has extremely comfortable straps. If I can’t fit it in the A-III’s ~ 2,600 cubic inches, I usually don’t need it. The AIII pack has proven to be a perfect companion from tent camps to five star hotels.

Eagle Industries’ AIII pack:
http://www.eagleindustries.com/product.php?productid=43&cat=60&page=1

But they’re cheapest here:
http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4s.tam?xax=20963&M5COPY.ctx=27015&M5.ctx=3301&M2_DESC.ctx=Field%20Packs&level3.ctx=results.tam&query.ctx=eagle%20pack&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Fresults.tam

Paying for Burgers

2008-08-25T23:53:00.008-04:00

The Cost

It turns out that JB neglected to mention two things about today’s hike until we were well into it.

Apparently it’s common practice to add a mile to the distance estimate of a hike for each 1000 feet of elevation change. So when he said, “It’s 9.6 miles round trip. Is that cool with you?” what he meant to say was, “It’s 9.6 miles round trip, but there’s 3000 feet of elevation change on each leg. So that’s the equivalent of walking 15.6 miles. Is that cool with you?”

When he’s training for a race (like now) this is a path that he RUNS on light days away from the weights and bike.

I believe that both not-so-accidental oversights were attempts to avoid intimidating my flabby citified self. I don’t think he needed to bother. By mile 3, my mind was much too focused on respiration to bother with intimidation.
Maxed out heart rate and all, the trip was more than worth it.

The Reward

In need of serious refueling and hydration, we made a beeline for a joint on JB’s must-visit list: Billy’s Giant Hamburgers.

Now I can’t say for sure what impact the afternoon’s exertions had on my opinion, but Billy’s might just be serving a perfect burger.

This admittedly isn’t rocket science, but it’s remarkably hard to find a place getting it right. Billy’s is one of those places. Their half-pound chuck patty is gently formed and tastes like grilled beef – not liquid smoke, not some “secret blend” of spices, but simply good quality well prepared BEEF. The cheese actually adds flavor instead of just fat. Nice fresh tomatoes and iceberg lettuce provide texture contrast. Just a shmear of mayo helps hold things together with a hint of richness. And finally, a bun robust enough to avoid falling apart without getting in the way. This is a truly great hamburger.

Note: The beer also apparently contains an analgesic called CH3CH2OH that works remarkably well on large muscle groups inflamed by high altitude exertions.

Billy’s Giant Hamburgers
55 N Cache St
Jackson, WY 83001
307-733-3279

www.cadillac-grille.com/Billys.html

Good Fuel

2008-08-24T23:43:00.008-04:00

Something that I’m learning - climbers and bikers and others who willfully engage in sweat-producing activities? They need food. They like food. They like good food. Since there are so many of them out here, that means there’s LOTS of good food.

Our arrival at the trip's notional final destination drove this home as JB struggled to sort through which must-try eating options we'd be able to fit into our limited time here.

On our first night here, we drove over the pass from Victor, ID into Jackson, WY to grab a meal at Rendezvous Bistro. Sitting at the bar, we had full access to the impressive dinner menu.

Starters were:

Coriander encrusted ahi tuna with jicama & napa cabbage slaw, and jalapeno mignonette

Grilled spicy octopus on a salad of arugula, fennel, olives, and piquillo peppers

Mains followed:

Venison medallions in a chimichurri with haricot vert and a sweet potato-chorizo hash

Grilled chili rubbed pork chop with chipotle cream corn topped with a mango-cabbage slaw (we were fighting over this )

All of this was well executed and full flavored. The stand-outs were probably the octopus salad and the pork chop. In both cases, the kitchen was not afraid to use assertive spice to complement (NOT overwhelm) the main component. The amount of high end tourist dollars flowing into the Jackson area clearly allows for the import of quality ingredients (not a lot of local octopus I’m thinking) and the skills to use them. Excellent, excellent food.

Rendezvous Bistro
380 S Broadway
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 739-1100

www.rendezvousbistro.net

Everybody Knows Dick

2008-08-24T15:18:00.002-04:00

Arriving into Victor, ID we park the faithful 13 year old Toyota 4Runner that has carried us the 2100 miles from Chicago (with the check engine light on for the last 500 or so). It lacks the umph required over the coming days to carry us repeatedly back and forth over Teton Pass.

In its place, we mount the 1999 Suburban that JB keeps here. Gray, hulking, and unsubtle, it is universally known to denizens of the area as “Dick". Given the Vice President’s nearby home, the Cheney-suggestive double entendre is part of the vehicle’s charm to all.

Sure enough. No sooner have we ridden Dick over the pass than ML, a local guide and friend of JB’s, swerves around us at high speed tooting her horn and waving “Diccccckkk!!!” Within minutes more Dick sightings have prompted calls to JB’s cell phone. “We saw Dick go by! Are you in town? Want to go climbing?”

Amazing. Everyone really does know Dick.

Crossing the Divide

2008-08-24T12:36:00.000-04:00

The terrain out here seems bigger and bigger with every passing mile, but the world of human relationships shrinks in parallel. Example? Well . . . crossing the Continental Divide this morning, we stopped to take a photo.

Of course the other car pulled over at this random spot in a steep mountain pass just happened to be filled with two of JB’s old friends and their children. More greetings and hugs and excited questions about when he was coming to stay with them, when they were all going climbing, etc.

It’s a small big world out here. And it seems uniformly peopled by individuals bent on responsibly enjoying all that the environment has to offer. To them, “RunBikePaddleClimb” is the common one word response to “what are you going to be doing?” They revel in every bit of it.

Wyoming at Last

2008-08-23T23:46:00.010-04:00

Heading west out of Rapid City, the Black Hills served notice that we were leaving the high plains behind. The Rockies called six hours ahead.

To open the theme of radical elevation increases, we stopped in to see Devils Tower National Monument. I could feel JB jonesing to join the climbers working up the 1300 foot face.

From Devils Tower we headed across Wyoming hoping to make Lander. JB lived & worked there for a while and still has a number of good friends in the area. The etiquette of the region being what it is, this meant that we had to sneak into town to avoid being avalanched with invitations to crash for the night in guestrooms or on spare couches all over town.

By sunset, we were installed on the deck of JB’s friend D while he “mowed the lawn,” which is Lander-speak for drinking cheap beer while the horses graze the grass. We enjoyed a lovely sundowner with views of the Wind River range. D’s girlfriend had just returned from a long work trip, but insisted that we join them for what looked to be a beautiful dinner (organic greens, buffalo ribeyes, great company). Wyoming hospitality being what it is, it took significant work to extract ourselves and avoid ruining their romantic reunion dinner.

We ended up at the Gannett Grill tucked into two enormous comforting salads and a tasty shared pizza topped with sliced grilled chicken, pesto, marinara, garlic, & sundried tomatoes.

Sitting outside in the cooling evening, this was a great end to another great day.

Devils Tower National Monument
www.nps.gov/deto/

Gannett Grill
126 Main St.
Lander, WY 82520
307.332.7009

www.landerbar.com/GrillMain.php

Boomtime in Big Sky Country

2008-08-23T18:10:00.006-04:00

As the talking heads debate slow-down vs. recession in the media, oil and mineral demand means boom times for places like Wyoming.

Paralleling our path along I-90, we spy train after train snaking east bringing coal to hungry power plants.

Just off the freeway, massive coal mines work round the clock.

Long-abandoned small oil wells pump once again in roadside fields. Dusty towns brim with brand new trucks and signs for $15/hour fast food jobs.

Lots of reminders that the one side's energy crisis is a heck of an opportunity for some others.

Corn Exchange 2

2008-08-22T23:34:00.011-04:00

OK, stop laughing. The hotel room was cheap and we wanted to see Mount Rushmore anyway.

We had a great day and wanted to top it off with a great meal. We called for an early reservation. When I gave the hostess my name, she said, “It’ll be good to see you guys again.”

Walking into the place, we tried not to show our disappointment that our server from the previous night was working other tables. Imagine our surprise when our server for the evening said, “I’ll just tell you guys about the stuff you didn’t eat last night.” Ah . . . sure. The servers brief each other on the guests' previous meals? Sure. Why not? They’re getting everything else right after all.

This meal included:

Bottle of Adelsheim Elizabeth’s Reserve 2006 Willamette Valley pinot noir

First:

Tiger shrimp sautéed with a leek & sundried tomato crème

Roasted duck dumplings with dipping sauce

Second:

Heirloom tomatoes, basil oil, & goat cheese (so good we had to order it again)

Romaine hearts with croutons, anchovy dressing, & grated manchego

Main:

Bolognaise of 777 Buffalo Ranch buffalo & dried porcini over rigatoni

New York strip from Hogen Beef pan seared and oven-finished. Mushroom cream pan glaze. Perfect roasted potatoes & harcourt verte. (In a region full of good beef, this dish stood out. Flawless.)

Final:

Peach tart w/vanilla ice cream

Orange & 62% cacao Valrhona chocolate cake w/raspberry

It’s difficult to express how much this place is getting right. A direct flight into Rapid City is tempting.

The Corn Exchange
727 Main Street,
Rapid City, SD 57701
(605) 343-5070

www.cornexchange.com/

JB said, "We don't need rope."

2008-08-22T22:20:00.007-04:00

What he meant was, "We don't have any rope".

Rushmore was beautiful, but I let myself get talked into a bit much. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial
www.nps.gov/moru

Corn Exchange

2008-08-21T23:29:00.008-04:00

Once we realized we’d be spending the night in scenic Rapid City, South Dakota, we enquired of a business contact, “Where do we have to eat?” Given our limited pickings so far in other parts of the Dakotas, we really wanted some input. Without hesitation, our guy replied, “The Corn Exchange”.

The Corn Exchange? Great. Fine. A good steak, nice people, cold beer. No problem.

Yea. That ignorant assumption did NOT survive first contact with reality at the understated bistro on Rapid City’s (dare I say it?) hip Main Street. The fact that the only reservation I could get was for the bar at 8pm should have been a clue.

It turns out that the Corn Exchange is run by a cool local-food crazy young chef. She's making AMAZING food in an area filled with $20 steak dinners.

Our meal included:

Half bottle of Elk Cove Pino Noir from Willamette Valley

First:

Local beets, Valencia orange, & sheep's cheese

Prosciutto w/California figs, & feta (the chef brought the figs back from San Francisco the day before)

Second:

Heirloom tomatoes, basil oil, & goat cheese (why do I have to go to South Dakota to get exquisite tomatoes? Marvelous!)

Smithwick Garden Greens-Watercress w/a 15-year old aged sherry vinaigrette and feta

Main:

Savory buttermilk, white corn and scallion pancake topped with house-smoked salmon, sprouts, and a cucumber-crème fraiche and horseradish compote

Pan roasted quail in olive tapanade on bed of tomato & zucchini (we were fighting over the last bits of the veggies from this dish)

Final:

Butterscotch pot du crème (Yea. Just think about that for a minute and tell me you're not jealous)

Local miniature strawberries w/crème fresh

Add to all of this outstanding service – attentive, knowledgeable, easy-going – and I will never look at South Dakota the same way again. Mind you, this is in a place where you can eat in shorts or jeans. We might stay an extra night just to eat there again.

The Corn Exchange
727 Main Street,
Rapid City, SD 57701
(605) 343-5070

www.cornexchange.com

JB said there would be stairs

2008-08-21T22:24:00.008-04:00

The Badlands National Park, South Dakota:

"It's a national park," he said. "There'll be stairs and stuff. We'll be back at the car in an hour."

It's important to note that my buddy JB's outdoor experience dwarfs mine. Given that my idea of "roughing it" is walking barefoot on the carpet at the Four Seasons, that may not be saying much. However, JB's experience includes instructing at the continent's only technical mountaineering school, climbing things I'd think twice about flying over, and running distances I'd hesitate to drive. He knows what he's doing.

Unfortunately, sometimes that means it's hard for him to translate from outdoor-guy-ese into the vernacular of the office-bound city-dweller. This might be an illustrative example.

Badlands National Park

www.nps.gov/badl

Charging (or rather “Chasing”) Windmills

2008-08-21T12:20:00.011-04:00

Thin Blades

We departed Aberdeen aiming to head over the border into North Dakota. On a site about 30 miles west of Ellendale, 120 of the massive turbines we saw under construction two days ago in West Branch, IA harness the never-ending gusts of the high plains. The 180 megawatts of no-emission electrical power they produce is enough to power ~ 50,000 homes. We had a date for a tour from the site manager.

Our progress, however, was not completely smooth; as you may be able to tell from this video.

It turns out we were still on the SOUTH Dakota side of the border where there exists an unpaved state road with the exact same name as the one we were supposed to use on the NORTH side of the border. Being highly educated and experienced travelers, we eventually realized our error after the dirt road turned to a narrow track through high grass and the track petered out all together. We're quick like that.

The good news for us was that 262 foot tall turbines spinning 122 foot blades are relatively easy to see from a distance. So we followed our noses and arrived only a bit late.

Thin Crust

Suitably impressed by the site and, moreover, the crew, we made for the state capital at Pierre. Unfortunately, Pierre’s size and culinary selections are . . . modest. But we lucked out and found La Minestra slotted in among $1 draft joints and all-you-can-eat buffets.

The quiet little place was winding down from a weeknight dinning service, knocking out casual Italian. Pizzas start to order from a ball of dough, and freshly sauced pastas jump through the hot pass. The crew behind the counter was getting ready to call it a night, but turned out a couple of quite good salads and a more than serviceable pie. Most places 1000 miles closer to Brooklyn have trouble turning out a thin crust NY style this good.

La Minestra
106 E Dakota Ave
Pierre, SD 57501

605-224-8090