Daniel

Just got reviewed in the post today. Onera review in the post Not that its so important, but the reviewer made a mistake on describing the walls. He said white walls with blue trim.. Its actually navy walls with white trim..

The picture above my last statement is from Southern Kitchen where you can see the two soups, the fried livers, french fries, onion rings and slaw .. At White Mana, i didnt have batteries in the camera.. But we ended up getting a couple of burgers with pickles and split a french fry.. Why i still remember this is beyond me.. Hehe

I like your quote first of all.. hehe.. Same as mine.. I went to the dreamland in mobile.

Thats funny i was just going to ask you about Winztels on your post. My waitress was a girl about my age around 28 who was into traveling to rock concerts. She stands out in my memory because she seemed more like a surfer then a waitress in the middle of alabama.

DAY 5: We stopped at a Peach Farm somewhere.. It was a really cool place.. We bought Peach Cider, and boiled peanuts, different homemade hot sauces, and some moonshine.. Haha. I wish, just kidding. We then went on to Charlotte to the Coffee Cup.. This place is incredible.. Great food, great service, and great vibe.. The best iced tea i have ever had... I could not believe they were able to get something so sweet with out it turning into a syrup.. Very good.. Best catfish I have ever had. Great mac and cheese, greens, and yams. And really good fried chicken.. Sylvia is the queen of soul food.. I dont think so. For dinner we made it to Virginia. and the southern kitchen.. This place was highly touted and i thought it was pretty average.. Southern food definately good, but destination worthy, well its hard to say after the coffee cup.. Again we wanted something light.. So we went with deep fried chicken livers and french fries.. Peanut Soup, a oyster soup which was basically butter and oysters, and an order of onion rings.. The soups were so so buttery and i couldnt believe they were allowed to serve it.. The livers were awesome. And great to dip in the soup. The coleslaw tasted like ambrosia.. Very strange.. Alot of sour cream. We then headed to manhattan stopping at White Mana right before the holland tunnel.. It was a great trip. A little hectic, but it was great to see the country..

Day 4: The next day we started really early with a couple of hurricanes/beers and some seafood. What a way to start the day.. Give me some shrimp and oysters and leave the eggs for baking cakes. Oh how i miss you New Orleans. Next we did a quick lap around the square and then went for some PO Boys.. Frankie and Johnnies seems to be the place to go.. I have been to Mothers and like the price and food better at FJ'S. We got an order of fried green pepper rings, a Soft Shell Crab and an Oyster PO Boy.. The soft shell crab was outstanding.. Outstanding i tells yah.. The creaminess of the sauce mixed with the hot creamy crunchy soft shell crab, the cold lettuce and tomatoe with the soft bread.. Awesome. I see this in my near future.. The rings and oysters were good, but the crab cant be beat. Notice the mans happy strut upon leaving this fine establishment Next stop Winztels oyster house in Mobile Alabama... Since we were on a tight schedule and wanted to eat at three places in mobile, we had to conserve our strengths and could only get a few things at each place.. At Winztels we had the gumbo.. This is by far and away the best gumbo i ever had and want... It was just terrific. We also had a west indies crab salad.. People have raved about this dish.. To me it was fair.. Crab was mushy, it was like a ceviche.. I could live without it. Next stop was Dreamland bbq.. When you go to sit at Dreamland, they immediately give you a loaf of white bread and a bowl of their famous bbq sauce served hot.. I knew this place was going to be awesome the second i tried the sauce.. They sauce was fantastic.. Unfortunately, that was as good as it gets.. The pork was pretty much tasteless. But that sauce, i bought four jars and use it on lots of things. Beans were good too. At this point I was really full, uncomfortably full i would say..This definately cushioned the blow of the Brick Pit being closed.. I will return i promise.

Day 3: The next morning we woke up and were on the road.. I was excited to see texas in the day.. There is a stretch of route 80 that resembles what one of my pictures of heaven might be.. The road just smells like one large smoke pit.. There are these huge signs just inviting you to come in a check them out.. Its just awesome.. The only disappointing thing is there are only so many meals one can eat in a day.. For me its around 7-8.. hehe. First stop, our fine presidents favorite BBQ place. Coopers.. 50 years and still smoking says the sign. Now standing in line with me at 9 am is an 80 year old man who makes sure to tell the trimmer that his wife wants an extra fatty piece. God i love texas. This is the best brisket i have ever had.. Its just awesome, not too dry, the fat snaps when you bite into it.. Juicy, smokey, fantastic.. I think it was hickory. Now i ask you, what person could possibly drive by this scenario. So that was in the morning.. Now its around 12 and we arrive in San Antonio River Walk.. This place is really cool.. Lots of restaurants and bars running along the Rio Grande on either side.. There were a bunch of places to choose from we decided to have a couple of margaritas at one place, and lunch at the county line You know just a little something to hold me over for lunch number 2 down the road aways. Smoked Turkey, smoked brisket, beef and pork ribs and some sausage.. The turkey was awesome, everything else was good.. The turkey was peppery and smokey, really juicy. We also had deep fried cheese balls served with a ranch dipping sauce.. Those were good as well. A few hours later we were driving in Houston.. We didnt have time to stop in the city because we were on a mission to New Orleans.. Right before the city we saw a sign that I felt derserved investigation.. Unfortunately my instincts were incorrect.. The place was average at best.. It looks alot better then it is. Next stop New Orleans.. We arrived at New Orleans around 8 oclock.. We/ I forgot the camera, or more likely left it at the hotel because the likelyhood of keeping the camera safe on a Saturday night in NO is not good. We went to Emerils and had a terrific meal.

DAY TWO :Gus Balons is a great little breakfast place.. The meals are huge, the prices are low, and they have a dozen or more different types of cream pie.. Now this is a way to start your day. Eggs pancakes and hash browns.. Like 3 bucks or something ridiculous. I know breakfast so far was pretty pedestrian .. I didnt get the fried porchop and eggs, or the massive amount of ham.. So i had to make up for it with dessert in the desert. One was a caramel cream pie and the other coconut.. They were awesome. I should have just had a few more slices of pies for breakfast.. Next stop New Mexico.. I can remember the place we stopped but it was horrific. I was imagining fields of chile peppers and people roasting them road side when we crossed the state, but that wasnt the case.. In fact, i dont think we saw more then 10 people in the entire state. I got chile relleno, a enchilada, and a chicken taco.. It came with refried beans and yellow rice. Even though i didnt see any growing peppers, the spice of the food certainly indicated there presence. The picture doesnt look too bad, but this place was one of the worst places i have ever eaten. At least it didnt get me sick. We drove into texas where i saw one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen.. It was like being in a painting. That night we arrived in Senora Texas.. The place was very interesting. Not much going on besides a gas station, a couple of motels, and a damn fine burger place in that gas station. My girl friend still talks about this burger.. It was medium rare, with everything on it.. Mustard, mayo, ketchup, and lots of chiles. The fries were excellent too.. Who would have thunk at 2 am at a gas station this was going on.. Great stuff!

OK.. Sorry for the long over due submission of my road trip.. Me and my girl did a rather exhaustive 4 day trip from Las Vegas to Manhattan going the southern route with one driver. It was alot of fun and not too difficult until you take into consideration a 24 hour stop in New Orleans.. I dont have much time for Vacations, so we try to make the most out of the time we have. So we rented a convertible mustang on a thursday afternoon and with plans to be at work by tuesday morning.. I would say thats pretty normal.. I DAY ONE: This first place is a few hours outside of vegas.. Right before dirt road that leads you to the grandious canyon. It looks like a dump from the outside, but wait till you go inside.. Its even shittier.. Complete with one of the scariest party rooms I have ever seen... It was a gift shop/pirate bar. You could also purchase a Rosie's t-shirt with your very own iron nazi cross on it.. I bought a dozen for friends and family. i got a cheese burger there and a couple of beers.. The burger itself was really good. The only problem with the burger was the bun completely fell apart.. It must be difficult to keep bread in 100 degree August desert heat.. Here is a picture of the board.. It amazing how much stuff they have crammed into that little space.

R.I.P Ice cream cone cereal and Ice Cream Cone Jones. I have not been the same since.

I would say it tastes like a smokey, really peppery piece of pastrami.. A little dryer then classic pastrami, where each piece can be easily seperated, but certainly not too dry because they steam after the smoking process. not super juicy because they dont brine it.. Getting it ordered with a lot of fat certainly helps make it more juicy.

So FAT GUY, Are you purposely not telling us who you like better.. Just went to Montreal for the weekend and went to Schwartz's.. I instinctually will defend New York over Montreal any day, but I must say that was an amazing sandwich.. The guy at the counter told me that people always claim that shwartz's is a better sandwich then katz's, but he couldnt tell me how many people said it to him in french. I am not ready to give montreal the title, although i am pretty sure i like the juicier New York sandwich better, I hate to say i like clott blackcherry soda better then Dr. Browns. I am really curious to hear your opinion on which is better..

Sorry for the confusion.. I did order to the chicken laab and it was certainly good.. Especially for something that didnt have the time to marinate all that long.. It wasnt excellent, but certainly worth getting.. It had a nice heat to it.. In terms of the crispy noodles, its not exactly a masamaan curry.. Its a spicy brown coconut sauce.. Really good and they noodles were great. Also, I find it really cute that alot of thai places in the area like to do things with the paper wrapping of the straws. A couple of places make hearts.. This place seems to wrap that paper super tight.. I wonder how they do that.

I heard that if you add a little Tapatio hot sauce and garlic salt, it would be good.. I forgot where i heard it though

I love Zarela's.. I havent been there since I moved, but I use to go often. I have never been to Suenos, but I know that you would have a good meal at Zarela's. There are also amazing margiratas there. Her son has a place called Paladar, has anyone been here and is this place mexican.

Went home to vote on the 2nd and ended up going to thai chili.. Its in the old strip mall where i use to eat lunch in High School rather often.. The SummerHill Deli. The place was really good. I had several dishes which were all good. They didnt have Laab on the menu, but the people were more then willing to make it for me. I had one of the better dishes i have had at a thai place . I dont remember the name of it. Its the item either right above or below the chili pasta. It was crispy noodles served in a massaman curry sauce with chicken.. It was fantastic. The prices were not too expensive and the place was clean with a friendly staff.. Thanks for the suggestion. Rozrapp

Dip bread into shmaltz. Then dip bread into mouth.. You can add apple cider vinegar if you are a smoker and have muted taste buds like me.

Went to Onera last night and was very impressed. The space set in the lower floor of a townhouse on 79th.. Its cozy with dark blue walls, white moldings on the wall, and dark floors.. When you first walk in there is a bar area with couches flanking the walls. The space itself is probably less the a 1000 square feet in total, but the seating arrangements provide you with privacy and space to breathe. The way the menu is constructed, they suggest you order a meze first, then appetizers, then a main. The meze has scallops ceviche, meat carpaccio, and fish sashimi. We started with the "signature" scallop dish and the veal in a cold tuna sauce. The scallops were absolutely delicious. Served with a cucumber sauce with diced pickled fennel.. Fantastic, fresh, sharp, crisp. The veal dish was certainly good, but I am not really a fan of the cold tuna sauce regardless of it being prepared so well. Served with capers, shallots, and a frisee salad, this tuna sauce was one of the better ones i have had.. Not as mayonaisee as most. I also must tell you that the meze are really tiny. Two meze for 11 dollars, it just is for flavor, it actually made me more hungry eating them. In between the meze and the appetizers we were given a rissotto with artichokes, and houlimi cheese.. It was rather tasteless in my opinion, but the cost was certainly on point. Next we moved onto our appetizers. I was so impressed with the appetizers that we decided to order three of them and then split an entree. There were several items that caught my eye and want to go back and try them. More than are on the menu provided at menu pages. We started by getting served the sweetbreads and the crispy baccala together. The sweetbreads are AMAZING. I am thinking the best I have had in a long time. Served perfectly cooked, crispy, light, firm, over a chicken liver sauce. With this dish came fois gras dumplings that could be dipped in creame fraiche drizzled with 25 year old balsamic. Are you kidding me. I could have eaten a plate of dumplings and been happy. They were perfect little dumplings filled with just the right amount.. It wasnt to rich, or oily, it was awesome. <(Side note): At this point we were half way through our first bottle of red wine from the all greek list and my toe was still able to fit in my shoe.> The crispy baccala certainly is a good appetizer, but I was all about the sweetbreads. My date perfered the baccala over the sweetbread so it worked perfectly. However she loved the dumplings. The baccala was served crispy and cooked extremely well. There was a potatoe skordalia "AKA. classy mashed potatoe" on top of the crispy fish served in a tomatoe broth reminiscent of a mousakka tomatoe sauce. Paprika perhaps. Very good stuff. After the first two apps were cleared, they brought on the figs.. These guys were awesome as well. Wrapped in prosciutto, stuffed with blue cheese. What else is there to say.. The prosciutto was crisp, the blue cheese didnt melt out, and the figs were amazing. Side Note : <Bottle two is comming and the toe is starting to look at me funny. He and the knee are conspiring against me. It must have been something i said because they were starting to get very aggrivated, I hope they didnt hear me order the venison with pig jowels.> At this point I am properly sauced, well fed, and could have ended the night here, but i am sure glad i didnt.. Since they werent serving the squab last night, they had a substitute on the menu.. It was venison medallions served in a cherry sauce, with crsipy strips of pork jowl.. The venison was medium rare, juicy, just perfect. You couldnt have gotten a better piece. The sauce was fantastic, served with lentils i think as well. Just amazing, it would have been great with out the jowl, but it was so much better with it. I loved this dish. Fantastic. We moved on to dessert were we got the Chocolate and Sesame. It was a chocolate cake served with sesame ice cream to put it plainly. There were also pieces of Halva sprinkled on the plate. It was really a great dessert and kept the same vibe as dinner. We also gotThe Baklava Reintetrpreted. Cinnamon ice cream(excellent) served a side a puff pastry filled with cream.. Very good. The chef it turns out is also the pastry chef and owner.. He cooks all the dinners and desserts. He did a super job, and has alot of talent. I really liked the fact that the desserts were made by him as well.. I feel the dessert and head chef dont really gel well and the dessert brings the meal to an abrupt stop alot of times.. I liked being with him from start to finish.. A couple of shots of ouzo, no greek coffee however . and a raging case of the gout, and we were on our way. The place was great. With the very few choices on the upper west side. Something tells me this place is going to be hard to get into fairly soon.

As long as they add the punch of salt donny.

I am all about that sweetbreads.. And will definately rock the mousakka. I am excited without expecting too much and will definately tell you how it is .

Going this evening.. Anyone have any suggestions on what to order.

One thing I was questioning was the time between his meals and when he got his blood drawn for the various tests he was taking.. I think alot of those tests require fasting for a certain period of time.. And i dont know if you can fast and eat three meals a day at the same time. I also thought that there was some politcal agenda in this.. It definately was an anti-corporate piece which tries to relieve people of responsibilities for there own actions.. He went to lengths in the movie to point out things like Mc Donalds has a clown and playgrounds so kids are basically helpless from refusing the food. His main "expert" was a lawyer who sued the tobacco company and was consulting with the lawyers that were sueing Mc Donalds. I also thought it was ridiculous that not one DR. he used was knowledgeable enough to know that such a drastic unhealthy change in their patience diet would have an adverse affects? I wonder how many DR.S he had to interview before he got ones ignorant enough to tell him what he wanted to hear. All in all there should have been more throwing up and less preaching.

Went to Scotchies last week.. All and all it was really good, but still a disappointment.. I was expecting to get the best jerk chicken i have ever had.. But instead i got a really stringy dry bird. The pork looked terrific, but i went with the fish for health reasons. Had a side of sweet potatoe too.. It was great.. Didnt realize the sweet potatoe in Jamaica is white and sweet. Loved the scoth bonnet sauce on the side. If i go again i would go fish pork sweet potatoe. Love me some ackee, miss that and salt fish for breakfast. Respect.

I like the plate.. Did you get the blue plate at Fisher Eddies?