Burnt to a crisp or bloody as hell?

Peter Luger Steakhouse | Brooklyn, NY

Despite being raised by full-fledged carnivores, I have never been huge on steak. Nothing about eating big cuts of beef is appealing to me, so it may be a bit strange that I’m posting about a steakhouse. But how can I not post about Peter Luger when they serve the best salmon I have ever had? I know, I know—salmon??? At Peter Luger??? Some might think this is a waste, but hear me out. Most of the time, the salmon I order at restaurants come way too overcooked or way too raw (and this happens when I cook it myself, too). But at Peter Luger, they’ve found the perfect equation for a perfectly cooked fish—silky smooth but not too raw. On top of all this, the iconic Peter Luger steak sauce is to die for. If I had it my way, I’d put that sauce on everything. Tangy like BBQ sauce but with a Peter Luger flair…

Carbo Fully Loaded

The Italian Homemade Company | San Francisco, CA

Pasta cravings hit me about twice every week, so it’s not a mystery why dieting doesn’t work for me. The most recent pasta craving I had was for something with a really hearty and rich meat sauce. What I ended up getting before Italian Homemade was extremely disappointing and did not satisfy the craving at all so naturally, I had to find some way to fulfill it.

The Italian Homemade is at the heart of San Francisco’s Little Italy in North Beach. Surrounded by delicious and authentic Italian ristorantes and trattorias, The Italian Homemade differs from their neighbors in the sense that all of their fresh, homemade pasta and sauces are served on paper plates with limited seating room. The tiny place is often packed with people dining in and taking out, so be sure to go early in order to snag a seat. Luckily, their service is fast (you’ll be slurping those noods maybe 10 minutes after you order) so the table turnover is pretty quick.

Easy as 1, 2, 3…

ABC Kitchen | New York, NY

Why eat avocado toast when you can have crab toast instead? There’s a reason why there are so many photos of crab toast when you look up ABC Kitchen. They don’t skimp on the crab meat and you can really taste the fresh and juicy flavors when you bite into it. The cheese and charcuterie plate was pretty phenomenal as well, and there was something about the honey they served that made me want to slather it on everything. Oh, and if you’re wondering what’s hiding underneath that mound of shredded parmesan, just picture these three P’s: pesto, peas, and pasta.

F+W

 

Flour + Water | San Francisco, CA

I know what you’re thinking: “Flour + Water again???” But hear me out—the last time I went to F+W, the food was not superb. Super oily pasta and not as spectacular as I remembered it being, so I had to redeem that last visit. And this time, I was not disappointed. We ordered two pizzas and four pastas to split between four people and it was the perfect amount of food. The pizza is always reliably delicious, but the pasta was tremendous and full of rich flavors (some were salty & slightly sweet at the same time). Even though we ordered a perfect amount of food, I wish that we had ordered another pasta dish because there were too many good ones to choose from. I guess if we ordered another plate we wouldn’t have had room for the famous budino, but there’s a separate stomach for dessert…right?

Oh my Gaud(i)!!!

Yeah, yeah, the title is a bit of a copout since I used the same pun for when I visited Monet’s gardens in Giverny (oh my Claude!) but who cares—it works!

The first time I visited Barcelona in 2015, I was only there for about a day and a half. The plan was to visit Park Güell and take the same picture that everyone has of the place and call it a day. What we didn’t know was that you needed to book tickets in advance for a specific time slot and of course, we showed up at 5pm—the last time slot of the day—and were departing for Madrid the next morning. Ever since that massive miss, I promised myself that I would visit Barcelona again, so here it is—four years later and I finally made it back to Park Güell with tickets this time. My younger self would be so proud.

Park Güell

Overall, not what I expected. Given that this is one of the main attractions in Barça it’s bound to be crowded, but it was completely overrun by tourists to the point where you couldn’t really sit on any of the tiled benches that surround the park. There was also quite a bit of construction and retouching going on, so there were areas that were fenced off. My reason for going, though, was to admire the tile work and I did have a chance to do that. Everything was so colorful and beautifully put together that I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with joy. Even with all the crowds and people trying to take the perfect photo to post on social media, I was able to appreciate all the work that was put into building this incredible site.

Sagrada Familia

Park Güell was great, but the Sagrada Familia was truly awesome. And I don’t mean awesome in the way that we typically use it—I mean the moment you look up and see this massive and intricate structure, you are completely struck by awe. This place is the definition of grand. The exterior is busy and heavily Gothic and I honestly don’t have the words to explain how stunning and moving it is. There’s so much going on that you could stand there for a day and try to take in every detail and it wouldn’t be enough time to process it all.

The interior is on a whole other level of magnificent. There are stain glass windows everywhere so no matter where the sun is and which direction the light is coming through, the inside is illuminated with intense colors from the entire spectrum. I’m not a religious person but the walking through and taking in all the details, architecture, and paintings was a holy experience.

Can “brunch” at 9 AM still be considered brunch?

Tartine Manufactory | San Francisco, CA

If you say brunch in your head over and over again, it stops sounding like a real word. But if you’re thinking of going to Tartine Manufactory for brunch, you can pretty much forget about it unless you feel like waiting for an hour. If you’re in the mood for breakfast though, you can do what we did and show up at 9am. It was still packed and had a small wait but at least there were bar seats that were up for grabs.

As to be expected, Tartine’s pastries outdo their food by a landslide. That chocolate looking swirly goodness that’s pictured above is not actually chocolate at all, but rather their poppyseed teacake, and yes—it’s phenomenal. I have no idea what they glaze the top with (maybe some tea-infused icing?) but it rocks my world and makes me actually want to eat breakfast. I feel that the actual food is nothing to write home about, but I do love eating off of dishes made by Heath Ceramics, who happen to have their factory right next door (!!!!!).

Meats and Cheeses and Juices—oh my!

Mercado de La Boqueria | Barcelona, Spain

Alright, so the cheeses aren’t pictured here but we did eat some and it was so good that I couldn’t snap a photo before we devoured it. I’m a little ashamed to say that in my preliminary research, I had no idea that this food market was such a Barcelona staple. It’s right off of La Rambla, so you already know that it’s bustling with tourists from all over. They open at 8:30 AM so if you go early enough you might be able to bypass the crowd. The downside is that some of the stalls don’t open that early, so the tradeoff for fewer people is fewer food stalls. That shouldn’t be a huge issue though—even at 9:00/9:30, there were plenty of stalls open for business. Which is how we ended up eating a cone of cured meat + a meat sandwich + a juice for breakfast. Now that’s what we call a nutritious and balanced breakfast, amirighttttttt???

PS. Spanish marketplaces love serving their food in cones:

Land & sea all in one place

 

 

Mollusks

Pork face

Octopus in green sauce

Meat plate

Dos Pebrots | Barcelona, Spain

As a city by the sea, high-quality seafood is expected in Barcelona and they do not disappoint. Mollusks definitely don’t crack my top five favorite foods, but the ones they served at Dos Pebrots were out of control. If you look at the picture above you can see some nice, normal (and tasty) looking clams and mussels, but then you’ll notice this weird, mini Komodo dragon-looking foot of a mollusk and that’s where I drew the line. Not only did it look unappetizing, but it was also a mystery to eat. We never figured out how to eat it because we didn’t care to try.

The best thing about Barcelona’s food scene is not only are they known for their fresh seafood—their cured meats are incredible as well. On your typical charcuterie board, you get some kind of aged ham, salami, and maybe a sort of pâté. But on the Dos Pebrots meat plate, you get an array of pork meat—from pig brain to pig thigh. After trying different parts of a pig, I cannot recommend the brain. It didn’t really taste like much but the texture is pretty rubbery and chewy, which is something I cannot get behind. If you’re adventurous then I’d say try it for the experience, but it’s not for those with a weak stomach.

So cool!

 

 

ROSSOTTI RANCH VEAL AGNOLOTTI

TAGLIATELLE AL RAGÙ

Che Fico | San Francisco, CA

This place gives Flour + Water a run for their money. It also gives us a reason to blow all of our money. The pasta and pizza here were on another level both flavor and price wise. Each dish we ordered was super rich and had the right amount of cheese (I mean, just look at that pizza!), but my only complaint is how expensive everything was. All of the pasta and pizza dishes were priced between $20-$30, which is pretty steep for how much you actually get. But considering that we waited a month for our reservation, we used this opportunity to ball TF out and ordered four (!!!) main dishes. We don’t have any regrets.

Cool space, cool food, cool drinks—all around che fico!

Wooden Spoon Survivor

Wooden Spoon | San Francisco, CA

Anyone who’s familiar with the brunching game knows that on the weekends, 11AM – 2PM is the prime brunch window. If you roll out of bed at 11:30 AM on a Saturday, you can pretty much forget about hitting up any of the brunch restaurants in San Francisco. It’s possible that you might get lucky and find some place that doesn’t have 1+ hour wait, but you will find no such luck at Wooden Spoon. They are strictly walk-ins only, so I’d recommend showing up early if you want to avoid the lengthy wait. If you find yourself having to stick around for a table, you can always pop into Verve Coffee which is just a bit further down Market St.

I arrived at Wooden Spoon around 11 AM and there were already about 15-20 people gathered outside waiting for their parties to be called. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but the space isn’t super large and when you account for people who sit around to chat after they’ve already finished their meal, then you can imagine the wait. The granola crunch french toast was pretty good, though I wish it was more consistently cooked. Some edges were way crispier than others and the center was pretty soggy, but maybe that’s due to the huge dollop of whipped cream that was loaded onto the center of the toast. I ordered a side of potatoes with mustard creme fraiche which really helped balance out the overwhelming sweetness of the french toast. I’m not huge on having a toothachingly sweet brunch, so these are moments where I really curse my body for developing an egg yolk allergy.