Sweet time in Edinburgh [On The Road: Edinburgh]

Yes it is. Well let’s see what I have today. Darn it! It's ham and cheese again and she forgot the fancy mustard. I told her I like that fancy mustard. You could put that fancy mustard on a shoe and it would taste pretty good to me. Oh! She made it up with a cupcake though. Hey look at this! You know I got a new system for eating these things. I used to peel off the chocolate now I turn them upside down, I eat the cake first and save the frosting for the end

George Steinbrenner (Seinfeld episode “The Jimmy”)

While wandering around New Town we bump into a lovely bakery. Bibi’s Bakery offers hand made cakes, cupcakes, macaroons, and other sweet stuff. The idea came simply from bringing cupcakes that taste as good as they looked.

Macaroon time

As their promise, the cupcakes we had not only looked beautiful but tasted great, We also indulged with some macaroons that were great.

Sweet Take Away

If you want a sweet treat while in Edinburgh just pass by Bibi’s, also they offer baking courses so you can make these amazing cupcakes at home.

Few Survivors

Bibi's Bakery

T: 0131 226 5563

Bakery

Approx Damage: £10pp

Area: New Town

Edinburgh

Twitter: bibisbakery

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Burger Wars Episode LXXVII: The Offal Rebel [BurgeReview]

I'm stuck on this song yesterday. I can't seem to get it out of my head. I don't know the name of that. She's a heartbreaker, love taker, oh, oh, very catchy

George Steinbrenner (Seinfeld episode “The Nap”)

Finally in December I had the chance to try Tongue 'n Cheek. I caught them on one of the Kerb events in Canary Wharf. I was looking forward to get Cristiano’s Heartbreaker Burger.

Tongue 'n Cheek

You have a couple options I got the Belly Connection. Heartbreaker burger patty made of half ox heart half dry aged beef, with pork belly, Gorgonzola cheese, pimenton mayo, pickled onions, and rocket.

Belly Connection

The verdict, amazing flavour, juicy, perfectly cooked medium rare, everything where it should be, crunchy iceberg, great mayo, soft and nice bun.

The damage, 7 quid for the belly connection

The conclusion, outstanding burger, starting with the patty and finishing with the lovely belly on top. One of the best in the street food circuit for sure. If you haven’t had one yet, hurry up! You might need to track them down but it’s worthy. I will give a solid 9 to the Heartbreaker burger.

Burger & Wharf

Tongue 'n Cheek

T: 074 1444 6545

Burger Joint / Street Food

Approx Damage: £7pp

London

Twitter: tonguencheeks

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Ruth’s not convincing [On The Road: Huntsville]

The options to eat in Huntsville/Decatur are quite limited, at least I struggle a lot to find more than a handful decent places to have dinner. One of my excursions was Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Located in the lobby of the Embassy Suites hotel, Deep rich reds with accents of teal and cooper predominate the dinning room, well that might have been when they opened, now cheesy old red décor, I thought I was in Mars. 

RCS

NOLA decor

Quiet night, as the hostess mentioned, only a couple patrons for dinner probably all but me were staying at the hotel. Ordered food, Louisiana seafood gumbo, quite nice, spicy, heat, full of flavour, that’s what Spanish call an Asopado, nice consistency, thick not watery, broth developed great flavours. 

Gumbo time

As a main I went for the cowboy ribeye, the plate cracking hot, they serve the steak on a sizzling plate at 500 degrees, and they cooked and sear the steaks in a 1800 degree oven, sadly my cowboy ribeye was not cooked properly, looks like they cooked it only from one side as you could see a degradation perfectly medium rare cooked in one side then on the other one completely well done, again seasoning was disproportioned, one side completely bland the other one nice seasoning, huge inconsistencies. 

Ribeye

The juicy side

Nice gumbo buy they didn't deliver with the steak, sporadic service in a huge empty dinning. 

Ruth reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Millennium” 

George: You wanted to see me, sir? 

Steinbrenner: I heard about what happened at the meeting this morning 

George: Oh, yes. I already packed up my desk, sir. I can be out of here in an hour 

Steinbrenner: And I have to tell you, it's exactly what this organisation needed. We want to look to the future, we got to tear down the past. Babe Ruth was nothing more than a fat old man, with little-girl legs. And here's something I just found out recently. He wasn't really a sultan. Ah, what do you make of that? Hey, check this out, Lou Gehrig's pants. Not a bad fit. Hey, you don't think that nerve disease of his was contagious, do you? Uh, I better take them off, I'm too important to this team. Big Stein can't be flopping and twitching

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

T: +1 256 539 3930

Steakhouse

Approx Damage: $80pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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Chicago Steaks, Seafood, and Crab = Joe’s

The big boss favourite place in Chicago is Joe’s, he always talks about it, so I had the chance to come back to the Windy City and couldn't resist to try it. The place serves seafood, prime steaks, and stone crab. Originally from Miami, 99 years old institution, the dream of Joe Weiss came true, almost a century later they searched for new horizons in Chicago in the year 2000, and in 2004 opened a spin off in Sin City. 

Joe's

Got to the place. Had my reservation but it wasn't necessary as there were tables available. Checked the menu, I knew from a couple colleagues that the Alaskan crab legs were good, also the steaks, but what to order? After a little bit of hesitation I decided to go for their classic Florida stone crab claws with the house mustard and the fisherman’s platter. 

Inside

The stone crab was delightful, awesome, superb, insert any other succulent adjectives, I think I'm short describing it, and the house mustard is perfect, the flavour was top notch and gave the crab claws the next level. The fisherman’s platter was great, I ordered grilled, nice flavours, and everything perfectly cooked, the shrimps, scallops, calamari, and the cod were perfect, I even ordered more of the Joe’s mustard sauce and played well with the platter, to be honest everything goes right with that mustard, I tried to get the recipe in vain, a well-kept secret. 

Stone Crab Claws

Fisherman's Platter

The service was great, one of the best places to eat in Chicago for sure, now I know why the big boss likes it so much. A must if you are wandering around downtown hungry. 

Boss reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Opposite” when George is interviewing for a job with the New York Yankees. 

Mr Cushman: Why don't you tell me about some of your previous work experience? 

George: Alrighty. Ah, my last job was in publishing... I got fired for having sex in my office with the cleaning woman 

Mr Cushman: Go on 

George: Ah, Alright, before that, I was in real estate. I quit, because the boss wouldn't let me use his private bathroom. That was it 

Mr Cushman: Do you talk to everybody like this? 

George: Of course 

Mr Cushman: My niece told me you were different 

George: I am different, yeah 

Mr Cushman: I got to tell you, you are the complete opposite of every applicant we've seen. Ah, Mr Steinbrenner, sir. There's someone here I'd like you to meet. This is Mr Costanza. He's one of the applicants 

Mr Steinbrenner: Nice to meet you 

George: Well, I wish I could say the same, but I must say, with all due respect, I find it very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this fine organization. In the past twenty years you have caused myself, and the city of New York, a good deal of distress, as we have watched you take our beloved Yankees and reduced them to a laughing stock, all for the glorification of your massive ego! 

Mr Steinbrenner: Hire this man!

Joe's

T: +1 312 379 5637

Seafood and Steakhous

Aprox Damage: $40pp

Area: River North

Community: Near North Side

Chicago

Twitter: joeschicago

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New York Style Hot Dogs in London

One of the vendors or usual suspects in The Long Table and a place I was looking to eat in the past month was definitely Big Apple Hot Dogs. The tricky thing in this occasion was that they were completely the other side of town where my office is located and the of commuting for lunch was impossible, add to that they close at 6pm so the window of opportunity was limited. 

The Big Apple Magic

New Yorkers not going to be happy

Big Apple offer 4 official types of sausages but the day I went they had an additional one. Hand made using natural ingredients, 98% free range gluten free meat, and fresh buns. The offer an authentic NYC style hot dog in the rainy capital of England, with the guarantee it will be the best dog you have ever had. 

Abiye doing his part

Got there for lunch on a lucky day I was working in Central London near St Paul’s with the objective of trying as much as I can. My first victim the Big Dog, pork and beef Big Apple’s signature sausage, season with marjoram, garlic and black pepper, and double smoked. Love it, the smoky flavour with the garlic and the pork/beef sausage great combination. Then asked for a Big Frank but they didn’t have so I settled down for a Frank Junior, same as its big daddy, 100% pork Frankfurter seasoned with paprika, nutmeg and black pepper, and oak smoked. Beautiful, full of flavour, simple but tasty. Finally I asked for Pimp Steak which they didn’t have either but they offered a Polish Substitute. This Big Pole was great as the two before, a little bit more rustic than the predecessors but delicious, it’s difficult to choose a favourite I will probably try a different one every time as all of their dogs are excellent and his popularity in the last month is proof of that. 

Big Dog

Frank Junior

Big Pole

Go try them in Old Street from noon to six Tuesdays to Fridays or head over The Long Table next Friday night where you will find Abiye selling his creations which are at the same level of their New Yorker or Danish Copenhagen brothers. Just remember No Brains, No Bones, No Butts. 

Street Art nearby the Crime Scene

Hot Dogs always reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Muffin Tops” 

Mr. Steinbrenner: John Tyler? George Steinbrenner here. I want to talk about George Costanza. I understand he's been dividing his time between us and you. I cannot have that. 

John Tyler: Well I don't know who he is but if you want him that bad I'm not giving him up that easily. 

Mr. Steinbrenner: Oh is that so. Playing a little hardball huh Jonny boy? 

John Tyler: How about this. You give me Costanza, I convert your concessions to all chicken no charge. Instead of hot dogs, chicken dogs. Instead of pretzels, chicken twists. Instead of beer, alcoholic chicken. 

Mr. Steinbrenner: How do you make that alcoholic chicken? 

John Tyler: Let if ferment, just like everything else. 

Mr. Steinbrenner: That stuff sounds great. All right. I'll have Costanza on the next bus.

Big Apple Hot Dogs

T: 079 6804 3245

Hot dogs / Street Food

Area: Shoreditch

Borough: Hackney

Twitter: BigAppleHotDogs

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Pølsevogn War – The Børge Hotdog

My third and last stop for hotdogs in Copenhagen was Harry’s Place. I read about the Børge and had to go and try this huge hotdog. The place a small store in Nørrebro loved by the locals and hide to the turists, been there for more than 50 years, with clientele including prime ministers, but who made famous Harry was a lorry driver who visit the place daily and had 3 of these bad boys, after that devotion they decided to name it after him apparently. The options the red casing hotdogs, including the monstrosity 150 grams Weiner. 

The Place

Got to the place and asked for the big dawg, immediately got approval nods from the locals that were gobbling happily at the place. To complete my selection the Danish version of a meatball sandwich the Frikadeller. 

Big Daddy

Meatball time

The Børge was huge and with great flavour, the Frikadeller extremely good. Simple food, great flavours, in summary my kind of place. 

My Kind of Place

Meatballs remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Nap”. 

Steinbrenner: Boy can you think of what went through my mind when I saw there wasn't going to be enough room under that desk for me and my babies. 

George: I'm sorry sir. 

Steinbrenner: You know what I think? I think you knew about that bomb ahead of time. 

George: What? 

Steinbrenner: About that bomb. You climbed under that desk because you have ESP George, what's on my mind? Meatballs! Huh? Unbelievable. Anyway this terrorist had a specific demand. Not more cheap adjustable hats on hat day. He wants fitted hats just like the players wear.

Harry's Place

T: +45 35 81 26 69

Hot Dogs

Borough: Nørrebro

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Here we go again Madrid – Episode IV: El Parador Del Jamon

It’s amazing how in every corner there is a potential place to discover and realise how good Spanish food is. One of the places is El Parador del Jamon. The place was literally beside my hotel, so I passed by a couple times and got intrigued so I decided to go for a late dinner, and when I mean late I mean it as Spanish late (11:00 pm kind of late).

The Place

The Bar

The place is the typical Spanish tapas and bocadillo place. So I decided not get overcomplicated and order straight forward Madrid style kind of snacks while drinking cañas. First, I got Iberico ham mini bocadillo, immediately after battered chicken with honey mustard.

Iberico Ham Bocadillo 

Chicken Strips

But that wasn’t enough so then a revelation came Iberico ham with pan a la Catalana or pan con tomate (tomato and garlic Catalan bread). The Catalan style bread was so good that I had to have more, so I order another two mini bocadillos with the tomato bread of course, one with chorizo and manchego cheese, and the other with lomo Iberico.

Revelation Catalan Tomato Bread 

Another Bocadillo 

And Another Bocadillo

Simple but good, nothing complicated, a relax time, enjoying good cured meats with cañas.

Ham and cheese reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Jimmy” when the Yankees believe George is stealing equipment from the organisation.

George: You hem... wanted to see me Mr. Steinbrenner?

Steinbrenner: Yes George, come in, come in. You know George I've been your biggest supporter around here and that’s why I was so disappointed to hear that you been pilfering the equipment.

George: George would never do anything like that.

Steinbrenner: No why would I. I own it.

George: Right!

Steinbrenner: So what are you saying?

George: Why would George steal from the Yankees?

Steinbrenner: He wouldn't.

George: of course not

Steinbrenner: Exactly! I don't what the hell's going on here.

George: Sir?

Steinbrenner: Nothing.

George: Well seems it's about time for George's lunch.

Steinbrenner: Yes it is. Well let’s see what I have today. Darn it It's ham & cheese again and she forgot the fancy mustard. I told her I like that fancy mustard. You could put that fancy mustard on a shoe and it would taste pretty good to me. Oh! She made it up with a cupcake though. Hey look at this. You know I got a new system for eating these things. I used to peel off the chocolate now I turn them upside down, I eat the cake first and save the frosting for the end.

Escaping the Royal Wedding VIII: Acclaimed Italian in Liverpool

While in Liverpool I decided to visit Il Forno, considered by the Times as one of the top ten authentic Italian restaurants, importing ingredients from Italy, such as their cheeses are sourced from Salerno, their cured meats are from Parma, and the olive is produced in Basilicata. Their objective makes you have two great pleasure food and wine.

The Place

The Menu

Arrived to the place and was in a mood for a pizza, even though they have a great selection of Italian dishes. My selection was the pizza calzone, a unique creation of the place, half calzone half pizza, tomato, mozzarella, and spicy salami on the inside, and tomato, mozzarella, ham, and mushrooms on the outside.

The actual "Forno"

The Pizza Calzone, Half Pizza Half Calzone

Excellent food, good and traditional flavours, great service, all these in a relax and friendly  atmosphere. If you are in The Pool and are craving for pizza this is the place t go.

Calzone always reminds me Seinfeld episode “The Calzone” where George Steinbrenner is completely hook with the calzones of Paisano’s.

Mr. Steinbrenner: That's right, do you want to say it again? I'll say it again. I hadn't had a pimple since I was eighteen and I don't care that you don't believe me or not. And how's this. Your fired. Okay you are not, I am just a little hungry. Where's Costanza with my calzone? It's 1:15, he's late, that smell, I have to call you back. Costanza! He's in the building, Costanza is in the building and he's not in this office, Costanza! I'll get you.