Thai AYCE Brunch Picnic at So Long, Hi! (Downtown LA)

Brunch is all about indulgence, and there are quite a few bottomless mimosa brunches around LA, but what about bottomless food? How about some bottomless Thai food?

So Long, Hi! in downtown LA started just that with their brunch picnic on Sundays. For those who aren't familiar, So Long, Hi! is the latest restaurant from David Tewasart (Sticky Rice, Side Chick) and Bryan Sharafkhah-Sharp (White Guy Pad Thai).

The picnic is $25 per person and it's an all-you-can-eat family-style affair, where the kitchen sends out food as it is prepared. The picnic menu will range from old favorites to off-the-menu specials. This is also a chance for the kitchen to prepare special dishes they don't normally serve on the menu and play around with their cooking. Either way, there will be more than enough food.

You may not expect it in downtown LA, but So Long Hi has a big sunny patio in the back that's perfect for a picnic.
We sampled some dishes that might be on future picnic menus, like the Thai beef jerky

There were noodles and roti served with green curry.

Read more »

Travel Tips: Summer Road Trip to Maine!

It's summer! (or SUMMAH, as some would say). Summer is the time for road trips and summer TV. With Verizon Fios Mobile app, it's easy to keep the whole family entertained on a long road trip, since you can download movies and TV shows to stream offline (or online without eating up your data allowance if you have Verizon wireless service).

Going up to Maine to eat lobsters is one of my favorite trips to do in the summer from Boston, both for the food and for the coastal views. You can drive all the way up to Acadia National Park and stop at various great spots along the way! It's a long ways, but with some movies or TV shows streaming, it will fly by.

Stop at Footbridge Lobster in Ogunquit or The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport. The lobster roll at The Clam Shack has won multiple awards, but honestly I prefer lobster rolls at other places in Maine, though I still highly recommend their whole lobster.

Portland, Maine is a must stop and there are a lot of options here, including my favorite lobster roll at Bite Into Maine. You can enjoy your lobster roll here with a view of the Portland Head Light at Cape Elizabeth.

Unless you stay overnight, you'll likely miss the amazing sourdough bagels at Scratch Baking Co, but you can still get some potato donuts at Holy Donuts, oysters and more lobster rolls at Eventide Oyster Co, or duck fat milkshake at - where else- Duck Fat.

Read more »

Thompson Island, a Private Event Venue that Educates Public School Students

Summer is eventually coming to Boston, and when it does, it's time for harbor cruises and visits to the Boston Harbor Islands. Thompson Island is also gearing up for the season. Thompson Island is open for one of two purposes: 1) a private event on the island, or 2) Outward Bound, an experiential education program for students.

The two are connected, and I recently visited the island on their Open House to learn more about both and the great cause the island is supporting! While the education center provides educational programs for students of all ages (corporate team building included), the private events that are booked on the island provide the funds needed for Outward Bound to offer FREE summer programs to Boston public school students!

The wonderful cause isn't the only draw for having your event on this island, though. Let's take a look at what they offer. The island is a mile off of downtown Boston and takes about 30 minutes with the Boston Harbor Cruises ship.

It was nice to get off the boat and head to our own private island - at least for the evening.

Read more »

Meats and Mixology at Boston Magazine's The Cue, Back on August 15, 2017

Summer is a time for bbq and day drinking. It's also the season for food festivals in Boston, including Boston Magazine's annual food festivals. In August, the two-night affair The Cue and Battle of the Burger is returning to the Cruiseport.

Last year, I was invited to attend - since I was flying out for a friend's wedding, I only managed to check out The Cue right before heading to the airport!

Pecan smoked baby back ribs from Coppersmith

The Cue is a celebration of BBQ and mixology - what a great pair, right?

There are meats and ribs galore - prepare your heart and stretchy pants before you come here! Guests get to vote for the best bbq and the best cocktail, no naturally you have to be fair and taste everything, right?

Last year's participating restaurants include Andy Husbands' The Smoke Shop BBQ

Read more »

Bite of the Beast Dinner at Locanda del Lago (Santa Monica, CA)

by Bryan Tsunoda @discovering_LA

I watch for restaurant special events because it is an opportunity for a chef or an owner to execute a concept that makes them stand out above the others. My latest discovery was Locanda Del Lago’s Morso Della Bestia or “Bite of the Beast”. The last Thursday of every month, Locanda Del Lago hosts a communal meal, featuring animal roasts and traditional, rustic Italian dishes. The Morso Della Bestia includes a 4-course dinner featuring the choice animal, and an optional wine pairing.

For the May dinner, the “animal” was salmon. Locanda Del Lago created a four course meal to feature this popular fish. To make the event extra special, they partnered with the Italian winery, Fasoli Gino, to provide a unique food and wine pairing.

The first course was a Salmon Tartare.

It was surrounded by a delicious avocado puree, pine nuts, giardiniera and wild arugula. The salmon tartare was extremely fresh and creamy to the taste. It was paired with a clean tasting pinot grigio from Fasoli Gino.

Salmon that was cured with limoncello liqueur was combined with fresh herbs, chicory and asparagus.

This dish had a lot of bold flavors and I was surprised that chicory worked well with this dish. The Soave, a dry Italian white wine, was fruity with a nice amount of acidity to balance this dish.

Read more »

Bites Around Ireland: Researching My Trip through TV Shows

What do you do when you're researching an upcoming destination that you're not familiar with? For me, I definitely turn to the Instagram pages of my friends and other travelers, and then I watch TV. Yep, TV.

For my recent trip to Ireland, I looked up the episodes from Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, etc on Ireland. Thankfully, this "research" was painless and buffering-free thanks to the fast Verizon FiOs internet that has now landed in Dorchester.

I had to see what else I should be eating and drinking other than a ton of Guinness!


Unfortunately I couldn't go try all the places Bourdain went to - you can only do so much in 4 days!
The place I did try was Leo Burdock, which is Dublin's oldest "chipper" - what they call a traditional, take-away fish and chips place.

Read more »

A Carnivorous Birthday Dinner at Bazaar Meat (Las Vegas, NV)

I spent my birthday weekend last December eating and drinking my way through Las Vegas with some friends from LA. We had some pretty stellar food throughout the weekend, including a meat-centric birthday blowout at Jose Andres' Bazaar Meat!

One of the hardest decisions you'll have to make during a dinner at Bazaar Meat is which cow you want your steak that night to come from. One of the most special meats they have is the Vaca Vieja, which means "old cow". This is 8-10 year old Holstein dairy cow (cattle for beef is typically slaughtered starting from 18 months and dairy cows from 4 years), and vaca vieja is typical meat found in Basque Country. Because of the age, there's actually more flavors to the vaca vieja meat, but the server warned that it could be an acquired taste.

Since we wanted to try as many things as possible, and the steak tartare is made with vaca vieja, we decided to try that particular meat as a tartare, and try a different one for our steak!

The components of the steak tartare was beautifully plated and then later mixed tableside. We ordered the Classic Tartare ($32)

See the dark color of the vaca vieja? It's very distinct from other beef at the restaurant.

The tartare was a sirloin cut, prepared tableside with Savora mustard, egg yolk, HP sauce, and anchovy.

Read more »

Making My Own Gin at Thirst Boston

Thirst Boston has come and gone, leaving us satiated and hungover after a liquor-fueled whirlwind of a weekend. There were parties and booze tastings, and of course, a number of educational seminars. I attended a hands-on Gin Lab where I got to make my own gin!

The seminar/lab was led by William Codman from Diageo, and he started off with a history of gin. From how the British discovered Genever during the War in Holland, to various political situations and bans that led to the popularity of gin (often distilled at home back then) in England. Apparently it was so popular that it became a huge problem since people were drinking way too much. The craziness is depicted in this Gin Lane painting by William Hogarth.

Well, now we mostly drink gin in moderation, thankfully ;)
We also learned about the different classifications of gin. To be called gin, the liquor has to be a neutral spirit that has juniper in it. When it's not redistilled after juniper and flavors are added, that is called "compound gin". A "distilled gin" means that the spirit has been re-distilled after the juniper and botanicals are added, but other flavorings can still be added after the redistillation.

We mostly know of London Dry Gin these days. London Gin is redistilled using traditional still, and flavorings can only be added during the distillation, not after, and they must be natural flavorings. No coloring may be added, although sugar may be added.

With this classification, we basically made a compound gin that day!

After the history lesson, we took turns "foraging" for our botanicals. OK, not really foraging, we went to the back of the room and picked out our botanicals from what they've prepared. Too bad were limited to five! But that's probably a good thing, as I might've gone crazy with the flavor combo otherwise.

Read more »