August 2010
5 posts
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pancake chef
our flight wasn’t until 11, so we had plenty of time for a big breakfast. and found the perfect spot, pancake chef, just a half-mile from the seattle airport.
this place opened in 1959, and i can’t imagine it’s changed much since then.
regulars
spinach, mushroom, and cheddar omelette with pancakes
it was excellent, but the most amazing innovation is that you get to...
2 tags
cafe flora
after three recording days in granger with kdna (a very cool spanish-language community radio station), we drove back through the cascades and spent our last night out west in seattle.
it was my birthday eve and since i was going to be spending much of the next day on an airplane, my lovely coworker, carolina, took me out to dinner. since we didn’t find too many vegetables in the yakima...
1 tag
columbia river gorge
less than two hours after we left the cascades, we arrived at the columbia river. the landscape and the weather changed dramatically from cloudy and piney to bright and windy and scorched high plains.
carolina approaches the big river made wavy by wind
like i said, it was very windy. we tried to recreate the magic from lake pontchartrain.
more wind, etc.
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lake easton state park
after lunch, we drove west on 90. after leaving the seattle area, we quickly got into the cascades and made it to snoqualmie pass, where it was cool and rainy. a little past the pass, we pulled off the highway into lake easton state park.
nice lake. nice clouds.
tall tall pines
hugz. also, this place smelled soooo good. can’t beat campfires and pine!
some more pics here.
2 tags
square lotus
we arrived in seattle hungry for lunch and made our way to square lotus, a vietnamese restaurant in bellevue with a large vegetarian menu.
summer rolls
special vegetarian pho
(and again, sorry for the blog silence. look forward to good blogging this week from the yakima valley.)
July 2010
6 posts
2 tags
taqueria el cokito
in addition to a large southeast asian population in elgin, there are a also a lot of mexicans, which means a lot of taquerias. i think i picked the right one.
sope de rajas y quesadilla de huitlacoche.
the pictures really don’t do this justice. so so good. the tortillas were super fresh and the rajas and huitlacoche were wonderfully seasoned. the guy working there was impressed that...
2 tags
handlebar
last night for dinner, we ventured into chicago. the first obstacle was terrible traffic on 90. so we parked and took the l the rest of the way into the city. once we made it to wicker park, we went to handlebar, a veg-friendly, southernish restaurant with good, local beer on tap.
bbq seitan sandwich with collard greens
oh, and i drank a goose island summertime kolsch and a three floyds...
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white pearl
there is a sizeable vietnamese, cambodian, and laotian refugee population in elgin and today, we recorded an interview with aloune, who left laos when he was a child. i asked him if there was any lao food in elgin and he said “yes! white pearl!” so that’s where we went.
the first good sign was the large amount of hot peppers growing in the parking lot.
DON’T EVEN...
2 tags
elgin farmers' market
we’re recording for the next three days at the gail borden public library. it’s a very nice library, if you ever find yourself in elgin.
for lunch, we ventured downtown and were pleasantly surprised by a farmers’ market.
there was the usual fare of fruit, vegetables, cheese, and bread, but the real winner of this market was the tempura lady.
a big plate of fried...
2 tags
dosti bar and restaurant
i know the blog has been awfully quiet for the past month, but i assure you, buddy herms has still been seeing, reading, hearing, and most importantly, eating things. i’m gonna try to do a good job of posting from elgin, il (“the city in the suburbs”), where i’ll be until sunday. and maybe if i’m feeling productive, i’ll fill in some posts from my recent trips...
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phosphorescent at the southgate house
there were a bunch of good shows happening at the southgate house while we were in town: phosphorescent, carolina chocolate drops, and wolf parade. i opted for mr. glow. southgate house is actually just across the river from downtown cincinnati in newport, ky.
the house was built in 1814 for richard southgate, a rich lawyer dude. somehow it has stayed standing and has been converted into a few...
June 2010
10 posts
2 tags
g'raj mahal
this may have been my favorite meal in austin. we needed a tex-mex reprieve, so billy sent us to g’raj mahal, an indian restaurant that started in a…garage.
they’ve expanded a bit and now have about 15 tables in their backyard. it’s byob and they make the food in a trailer. kind of a hybrid food truck/restaurant situation.
we started with samosas (apologies for the...
2 tags
blue star cafeteria
the day after sloshball got off to a slow start, but by the earlyish afternoon, we were ready for some food. jackson, a sloshball all-star, was working at blue star cafeteria.
scrambled eggs, spinach, and goat cheese on marble rye with cheddar cheese grits
1 tag
sloshball
sunday. kickball! but it austin, they call it sloshball.
it’s pretty much the same as brooklyn kickball, except third base is a keg, and when you get to third, you have to pound a beer before you can run home.
the most important job of the the third base coach is to make sure there is a full beer ready for drinking as the runner rounds second.
the other important rule is that if there...
2 tags
habanero mexican cafe
we had to be at ut at 8am this morning, but that didn’t stop me from starting the day with breakfast tacos. i had heard good things about habanero mexican cafe, which is just up the street from the hotel.
migas tacos
i could get used to this…
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barton creek greenbelt
last time i was in austin, i didn’t get outside at all, so that is a big priority on this trip. fortunately, it’s been 95 and sunny every day.
the barton creek greenbelt curls for more than 7 miles beginning downtown in town lake. philly took us to his favorite spot along the greenbelt, the hill of life.
after a 20 minute stroll, we were greeted with this:
the water was perfect...
2 tags
koriente
for something lighter, ben and i headed over to koriente, a koreanish spot that carolina and i fell in love with last time we were here, because you just can’t eat tacos for every meal.
noodle garden: spiced mung bean noodles on organic spring greens, with avocado, red bell pepper, red cabbage, and cucumber
green tea ice cream with crushed pistachios and honey
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allen's boots
the hat store
2 tags
torchy's tacos
the whole crew converged on torchy’s for our first austin tacos. dino and i flew in from new york, forrest and elissa drove up from nola, and siegelman lives here (for now).
food trucks + picnic tables seems to be a common setup
green chili queso and guacamole
fried avocado taco (l) and dirty sanchez taco (r)
nervousssssss
May 2010
34 posts
2 tags
citi field
mets v. phillies. game 3. the phillies didn’t score any runs in the first two games.
sure, everyone is excited about shake shack at citi field, but much more importantly (for me), they have VEGGIE DOGS! i went a little crazy and added ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, and jalapeños.
this is a little graphic
and onion rings!
the mets won 3-0. pelfrey pitched great. reyes was 3 for...
2 tags
nicolet restaurant
our last meal in green bay (unless you count the cheese curds on the plane) was at nicolet restaurant, a big, but homey spot near the airport.
mushroom, tomato, and onion omelette with excellent and large homemade wheat toast
2 tags
el sarape
we were really hungry by the time we got to el sarape. first, we tried to go to caffe mario, which we heard had real deal italian food and a riverfront location, but it was closed without explanation. this is what the sky looked like at caffe mario.
then we went to nukeo thai, which we heard had real deal thai food. unfortunately, they were in the process of moving. so we ended up at el sarape,...
2 tags
z harvest
we only had a quick lunch at z harvest, but it was actually the best food we had in green bay.
roasted red pepper and smoked gouda bisque
roasted vegetable and goat cheese sandwich
1 tag
cave point
we had a short day on saturday, so we headed up to door county—that wisconsin isthmus that juts into lake michigan. according to patrick, a native cheesehead, door county is the cape cod of midwest. there are tons of parks and beaches there. cave point was recommend by one of our partners at wpr.
we walked for a couple hours along the lake
very cool rock formations
a portrait of a...
“We spend an immense amount of money planning for things which won’t...”
– atrios
2 tags
zesty's
we celebrated finishing our recordings in green bay with a trip to zesty’s, a place we heard has the best frozen custard around.
i learned that the seven cs are chocolate custard, cashews, caramel, cookies, chocolate chips, and chocolate fudge nuts.
this was “two scoops”
i also learned that you should always order a waffle cone. the little wafer cone i got simply could...
1 tag
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jake's pizza
for dinner, we went to jake’s pizza. when we got there, they told us the pizza takes 45 minutes to bake. ok. at paulie gee’s, it only takes 90 seconds.
deep-dish veggie special
it’s was pretty good, but shamefully(?), i could only eat 2/3 of it.
2 tags
kavarna
we got to green bay (aka titletown, usa) yesterday. we’re staying downtown, which happily is walking distance to two breweries! it’s also down the street from kavarna, a vegetarian coffee shop.
according to their website, they are located in “one of only three egyptian revival art deco buildings in the state of wisconsin.” that’s kind of cool. very chill vibe...
““I’ve never used an ATM, so I don’t know what the fees...”
– us senator ben nelson, when asked about proposed legislation that caps atm fees
2 tags
el taquito cafe
in a rush to get back home in time for kicking balls, we left texas as the sun was rising. but before that, we had to have one south texas breakfast. we got to el taquito cafe at 6am, just as they were opening.
(note the darkness)
two large breakfast tacos. one with egg and potato and the other with egg and beans. according to the waitress, the cook said “that’s a lot of food,...
2 tags
emy's and the ice cream factory
tonight i struck out on my own and drove around until i found something edible. what i found was emy’s, a small, newish restaurant.
cheese enchiladas with rice and beans
for dessert, i headed over to the ice cream factory, a spot owned by gene, who came in to record his story earlier in the week.
mmmm…coffee ice cream…
2 tags
vermillion
back in brownsville, our hosts at the brownsville historical association graciously took us out to the vermillion, a brownsville fixture since 1934.
fish tacos!
2 tags
the big donkey
after the beach, we thought we would try some gulf eats (before the oil spill gets too far west). we went to the big donkey.
i guess this is the big donkey?
it’s hard to distinguish, but that is lots mojo de ajo on top of grilled fish. i chewed a lot of gum after dinner.
1 tag
the beach. in texas!
after work, we took off for south padre island, which apparently is a hot spring break destination. 06! 06! 06!
we didn’t find many girls going wild, but the beach was pretty nice.
everyone told us that water would be COLD. but i jumped in and was greeted by water warmer than it ever feels in new jersey.
low-angle late-day sand shadows
yazmín made a StoryCastle™
2 tags
100% natural
yazmín scouted this place, called 100% natural, which i guess is brownsville’s version of a health-food restaurant because they have salads on the menu.
firstly, the waitress brought us a tupperware full of pickled jalapeños
avocado, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich with a caesar salad
inexplicably, our dinner came with a free frozen yogurt. it wasn’t very sweet and had...
2 tags
asian buffet
we knew we would be eating lots of mexican this week, so we decided to enjoy one of brownsville’s many asian buffets tonight. this one was called asian buffet.
one of the most exciting elements of asian buffet was the make-your-own stir fry zone (reminiscent of mongo’s grill)
mostly standard asian buffet fare, except for a taquito
i went crazy on this plate: garlic bread,...
2 tags
las vegas cafe
ok, so i was in texas last week, but i left the cable that connects my camera to my computer in new york. so i ate lots of food and took lots of pictures, but the internet is not yet aware of these things. so let’s pretend that i just got to texas tonight.
we flew into harlingen and went straight to las vegas cafe.
freshly fried chips and guacamole (sadly i couldn’t finish them)
...
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Watchdave isay, storycorps founder, on the colbert report last night. he did good!! and i can’t wait to start facilitating interviews for the MILF book.
p.s. there’s still time to the buy the perfect mother’s day gift.