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…

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.

The best sandwiches you will ever have

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Meat & Bread | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Maybe this is a bold claim, but the sandwiches from Meat & Bread in Gastown are in a league of their own. They bake their own bread in-house, the ingredients are fresh, and the service is fast. Cassie ordered a Korean BBQ beef sandwich while I had a buffalo chicken sandwich, and both came with this almost hot sauce like barbecue sauce. I don’t actually think it was barbecue sauce, but it’s the closest I can get to describing it. Or maybe a buffalo wing sauce? What I do know is once I took my first bite, I scarfed it down in less than 10 minutes and spent significantly more time sitting back and thinking about how I should have savored the whole experience. The sandwiches aren’t the biggest in the game, nor are they the cheapest, but they are unique and fresh—which, for me and Cass, were the most important factors. With her teeth sunken in for her first bite, Cass proclaimed that this was “the best sandwich I have ever had.” And this is coming from a girl who lives in LA, the land of good food.