Showing posts with label ribs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ribs. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2015

New Lunch Deal at Del Frisco's Grille

Del Frisco's Grille recently launched a lunch deal dubbed "Grab a Pair". For $12 you get your choice of : any personal size flat bread, half of a chicken avocado wrap, 2 fish tacos, or half of a banh mi. This will be served with your choice of mixed green salad, caesar salad, or cup of soup.

If you want a flat bread with a kick to it, try the Spicy pork meatball with banana peppers, fresh mozzarella and housemade ricotta.

Del Frisco's Grille
The pork banh mi also comes with chips.
Del Frisco's Grille
I think the $12 lunch combo is a good deal given the ambiance and service at Del Frisco's Grille, and the many options make it a good spot for a group work lunch. Even if you don't want to do the $12 deal, there are many choices here from appetizers to salads and entrees.

For the banh mi they use the same BBQ pork that they use in the Asian street tacos (BBQ pork with Korean marinade, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro, chiles, $10.50)
Del Frisco's Grille
Lollipop chicken wings Buffalo style, avocado ranch dressing ($12)
Del Frisco's Grille

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Cheebo on Sunset (Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA)

Cheebo has been around on Sunset Blvd for a while, and their free wifi and all day menu seems to draw a few people either working on their laptops or having meetings there. The decor is colorful, fun, and a bit kitschy.

Cheebo
For appetizer, you must get the Polenta tots with pomodoro sauce ($9)
Cheebo
These fluffy fried polenta were addictive, they're way better than regular tater tots!

If you don't feel like getting a big entree, Cheebo has a big selection of salads and sandwiches, like this B.L.T.A (nitrate free bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado ($12))
Cheebo
I took half on the plane with me, and it was perfect!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Bostonia Public House (Boston, MA)

Bostonia Public House, located in the historic Board of Trade building, was named one of the best new restaurants in Boston last year.

The menu consists of mostly New England fare but you can start with some snacks like Tater tot poutine ($8)

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These were fun, although I wish they'd put cheese curds like a real poutine!

Berbere spiced pork ribs, almond quinoa ($14)
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Nicely spiced, fall-off-the-bone tender. Our favorite of the appetizers.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Brisket, Biscuits, and Honey Butter at Sweet Cheeks Q (Boston, MA)

In the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston is Sweet Cheeks Q, a barbecue joint from Top Chef finalist, Tiffani Faison. It's noted to be the most expensive bbq place in Boston, but possibly also the best.

You can order meats by the pound or get a tray with 1, 2, or 3 meats (the last one is called the Fat Cheeks Tray) that comes with two sides.

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Above anything else, though, you have to - absolutely must - get the biscuits with honey butter.
Biscuit
If you eat nothing else at this place, the biscuits need to be the one thing you do try. They are warm, buttery, flaky biscuits that are heavenly with that honey butter. Oh, that honey butter ... No one will blame you if you just come here and eat a bucket of biscuits.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Tips for Lining Up for Franklin BBQ (Austin, TX)

Breakfast Taco
1. Bring breakfast or snack, or be sure to eat breakfast beforehand. You might think you want to come hungry to eat barbecue, but trust me, you won't be eating for a while (I got there at 9:25 AM and didn't eat until 2 PM!). Me, I brought a breakfast taco from Cenote.

2. You can either be sure to get some or you can take a gamble. To be sure, get there early by 9 am and be prepared to wait up to 4 hours. Or you can take a gamble and stroll in around 12 or 1 pm. You'd only have to wait an hour or so and there's a chance there will be some brisket left for you (maybe even ribs).
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The line at 9:25am is already around the block
3. When I was there, they had a guy renting chairs for $5. Remember, you might be there for 3-4 hours, though you can always sit on the ground.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Planned Parenthood's Cocktail Pairing at The Corner Door

Planned Parenthood is one of the more controversial nonprofit organizations, sadly. Each year, PPLA Food Fare receives their share of anti-abortion protesters in front of their event, even though the majority of PPLA's services (97%) include cancer screenings, STD treatments and testings, and contraceptive services.

PPLA Food Fare is the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year. It started 34 years ago with a simple cooking demo from Julia Child but now draws 1500 attendees to partake in good food and wine from over 100 vendors (see my recap of the 2011 Food Fare). The Food Fare is returning to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday March 7th. There are two sessions. The daytime session rungs from 10:30am-2pm ($150) and the evening session, which usually have more restaurants participating than the daytime one, runs from 6:30-9:30pm ($225). You can buy tickets on their website or by calling (213) 284-3200x3700.

There are many great restaurants participating including Angelini Osteria, Drago Centro, the new Hart and The Hunter, Joe's Restaurant, and The Corner Door. Libations will be offered by The Beer Chicks, La Fenetre Winery, and more. To promote the PPLA Food Fare, I was invited to a cocktail paired meal at The Corner Door in Culver City. This new restaurant has become a very popular destination in Culver City, with waits up to an hour for a table at dinner time.

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The chef at The Corner Door is Luke Reyes, who moved from from Massachussetts to work for Ludo Lefebvre. Since then he had been Chef de Cuisine at Gorbals, then Michael Mina, and most recently, Tasting Kitchen.
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Behind the bar program is Beau du Bois. Beau has opened a few bars in the LA area, including MB Post.

The restaurant doesn't want to call itself gastropub because the term has been misused in LA lately. Instead, they emphasize that they offer a "laid back", ingredient driven menu.
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olives and rosemary
Bread is made in house, including the foccacia with olive, red onion, rosemary
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We started our pairing with Lettuces and Avocado, Bayley Hazen blue cheese, watermelon radish, peppercorn.
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The salad has a citrus dressing and was paired with King's Assassin (gin, blanc sweet vermouth, Salers, Cocchi Americano, Cointreau).

The King's Assassin is a play on Negroni with a light, bright, vegetal quality from the Salers, which pairs well with the citrus in the salad. This cocktail is nicely balanced, strong but easy to drink.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Eating and Riding Around Knott's Berry Farm

I've been invited to many restaurants and food events, but every once in a while something fun and different comes along, like an invitation to Knott's Berry Farm! OK, so the invite was to come to a tasting of their food offerings around the theme park, but I have to admit the opportunity to ride roller coasters was a major draw for me. Knott's Berry Farm isn't just known as a theme park, but their fried chicken and pies were what started the whole enterprise. Mrs Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant started in 1934 and attracted so many tourists that they started building shops and attractions around it to entertain waiting guests. So it really was the food that started the theme park!

The most famous food here of course is the fried chicken from Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner in the MarketPlace area, where they still serve the original recipe from 78 years ago. I actually have never had the fried chicken up until now, despite having lived in LA for almost 10 years. Verdict: they're quite good and hit the spot.

During the tasting I also tried the chicken pot pie, which also turned out to be really good. Flaky crust with creamy filling!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

BBQ at The Roof Garden, Peninsula Hotel (Beverly Hills)

What's a more perfect meal than a BBQ on a beautiful rooftop in LA? Roof Garden at The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills is one of the best rooftops in town and they're having a bbq every weekend this summer. The Roof Garden shares the kitchen with The Belvedere and the hotel's Executive Chef James Overbaugh oversees all the dining operations.

The rooftop is not that big, but the circular section with the fireplace is my favorite.


Before starting with the bbq, we had some cocktails and appetizers near the fireplace:
Ahi Tuna Chop Chop with sliced avocado, crisp pineapple and roof garden-picked herbs
Chilled Cucumber Soup with spicy cucumber-melon sorbet, hearts of palm, cilantro and citrus tapioca
Your best bet for cocktail here (if you like a bit of heat) is the Speckled Jalapeno Margarita
Dinner starts with a basket anise bread (yep, anise, and it was good), zucchini, olive, and lavash. 

We shared a variety of their entrees including:
Free range chicken breast, cilantro and mint chimichurri ($24, comes with 2 sides)
I am typically wary of chicken breast since it tends to be dry and overcooked, but at least this night it was prepared well and the bold chimichurri sauce would make any protein taste that much better.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Get Cultured, Gnaw on BBQ Ribs

We were sitting in the night breeze of Little Tokyo, listening to an amazingly talented woman recite her poems about kings and fems, a Boston-based spoken-word duo BrownStar prophesying Kal Penn, our fingers sticky with bbq sauce, gnawing on a giant beef rib.

Just another night at Tuesday Night Cafe.

Tuesday Night Project is the longest-running free public arts series in LA. For the past 12 years, every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays the TNProject brings the community together to listen, see, and perform music, poetry, plays, improv comedy, and anything else you can think of.

Johneric Concordia from The Park's Finest BBQ has been a long time supporter and resident host of Tuesday Night Cafe. In fact, he always feeds the staff and performers of TN Cafe with his delish 'cue.

To get more exposure of Tuesday Night Cafe and their annual fundraiser TN Party (more on that later), TN Project invited a few bloggers to the Cafe on July 6th, enticing us with some Park's Finest BBQ. Park's Finest only does catering right now with a minimum order of $300, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try the 'cue that Pleasure Palate claims to be the best in town. Plus, I've been missing the whole art and poetry culture since college.

I tried a plateful or stuff, including a wonderfully tender leg of chicken with a great spice rub, pork ribs, rib eye roast, and beef ribs.
If you ask Johneric what style bbq he serves, he'll say that it's true Echo Park style. "You don't get shot if you can cook," is another thing he'd tell you. Johneric is Filipino so you can see some Filipino influence like in his famous Concordia sauce that's flavored with coconut or the flavors in his spice rub.
It's all about the bbq sauce on them ribs.

The Mt. Mayon hot sausage links were spicy but so good. I had to go to the cafe next door with my mouth burning and my fingers sticky to buy a bottle of water but it was well worth it.

The cornbread they serve is a riff on traditional Filipino dessert called Bibingka, which is usually made with rice flour, sugar, and coconut.

These Tuesday nights are free for you and everyone (PS. there's one going on tonight July 20!), but nothing is ever really free. TN Project has to somehow pay for all the sound equipments, lighting, etc. The donation box that goes around isn't going to cut it.

If you want to support this ongoing community project, you can help by attending the TN Party on July 31st. There will also be a silent auction of various donated items. Both the ticket and silent auction proceeds will go towards keeping TN Project alive and kickin'. Not only that, this is one of the rare opportunities where you can go and buy a plate of The Park's Finest BBQ instead of having to throw a whole party!

Tickets are $15 pre-sale and $20 at the door. There will of course be live performances and plenty of raffle prizes. Park's Finest BBQ and Good Girl Dinette will also be on location serving up some good food.
TN Party. JACCC Plaza (244 S San Pedro St). July 31, 2010, 5-11 PM.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bali: Indonesian-style Ribs at Naughty Nuri's

Sweet soy sauce. Kecap manis. To Indonesians, that is the perfect combination of the sweet and the umami. We like our food a little sweeter. Back in college, it was the only condiment I kept in my kitchen at all times.

While living with my aunt in South Carolina, I easily picked up their sweet soy sauce habit. We put it on scrambled eggs. We put it in grits.

But one American expat and his Javanese chef-wife in Bali had an even better idea. Let's put it on barbecued ribs, baby.
They opened Naughty Nuri's Warung in Ubud, serving the carnivorous natives and tourists ribs, steaks, lamb chops and more, marinated in "Indonesian-style marinade." That is, it's sweet soy sauce based. Yes, Bali has the suckling pig "babi guling", ikan lilit, bebek bengil, what have you. But my brother and all my cousins (ok, well, all my male cousins) claim Naughty Nuri's is their favorite eatery in Bali.

A warung is meant to be a low end eatery and while the ambiance at Nuri's is undoubtedly casual, the prices are pretty high for the country's GDP. Bali is, after all, a tourist hotspot. $7 is a steal for New Zealand lamb chop, but a pricey meal for your regular native.
If you're reading this, though, you're probably a tourist, so go there and splurge on fall-off-the-bone tender ribs and juicy lamb chops. But please, don't ask for ketchup or A1 sauce. You won't be needing it.

Naughty Nuri's Warung
Jl. Raya Sanggingan (Across the road from Neka Museum)
Ubud, Bali
Phone: (361)977547
8am-10pm daily
http://www.naughty-nuris.com/

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

St Louis: Lunch Cue at Pappy's Smokehouse

When I found out I was going to St Louis for a conference, the only thing that came to mind was B.B.Q. At first I thought I'd do a BBQ marathon, but by chance I was having dinner with Chowhounder noshtp, who just happened to have grown up in St Louis. There's only one place for barbecue, he tells me, and that is Pappy's Smokehouse. So to Pappy's Smokehouse I go for my first STL lunch.

The wide streets of St Louis during the day were pretty empty and street parking aplenty. Until you get near Pappy's that is. Located next to two small universities, Pappy's back parking lot was completely full.Pappy's opens at 11 and stays open until 8 PM or when they run out. And they do run out. During lunch there is always a line.

On my first visit I got the rib combo - half rack of ribs, brisket, and 2 sides: cole slaw and fried corn.

The deep fried corn was ... interesting.
I usually love corn, especially corn on the cob. But since this one was deep fried, it ended up really sticking to your teeth and quite a hassle to eat. Plus it isn't as sweet/juicy as roasted corn ..

Three sauces are provided at each table: Sweet Baby Jane, Pappy's Original, and Holly's Hot.
It was hard to decide which sauce I liked best, depending on the mood perhaps, if you'd like something sweeter. I liked the Sweet Baby Jane with my brisket (brisket was ok - not much to say there) but decided on Pappy's Original for my ribs.

St. Louis style ribs are trimmed by removing the brisket bone and skirt meat. The ribs at Pappy's are dry-rubbed and then slow-smoked.
Because of the way it is trimmed, the St Louis ribs are thin and you're munching on the meat right by the bone (the best part!).

Pappy's ribs aren't the tender, fall-off the bone type. Having been slow-smoked, these ribs are tender but more like a tender jerky with a nice smoked flavor.
Flavorful dry rub, and don't forget the bbq sauce! A very satisfying lunch, indeed.

I came back for lunch again the next day and got the other things I didn't get a chance to the day before, like the Frito Pie!
It's not really a "pie" per se. Beans, pulled pork, cheese, sour cream, and fritos. Hearty and impossible to finish even with two people, this also gives a taste of how good their pulled pork was.

But I got my own order of pulled pork coming up.

Pappy's lunch special is quite a deal. $5.99 gets you a pulled sandwich, a side, and a drink. Naturally I went for the pulled pork sandwich!
The pulled pork is decidedly one of Pappy's best offerings, and a darn good one at that. Perhaps the best pulled pork in recent memory. It was so tender and moist/juicy! Sauce it to taste yourself with one of the three bbq sauces on the table and build your sandwich with the soft burger buns. This was a lunch I still remember to this day.

Man, that was some good pulled pork.


Pappy's Smokehouse
3106 Olive St
St Louis, MO 63103
(314) 535-4340
Pappy's Smokehouse on Urbanspoon

Monday, December 8, 2008

Chow Down at Baby Blues BBQ

I've been trying to actually use my Cozmo cards, so when I had to go to LAX I decided to try out Baby Blues BBQ in Venice.The place was crowded and loud - typical small BBQ joint. I was excited that they had sweet tea!!! It's hard enough for me to find ppl in LA who even KNEW what sweet tea is.

We decided to share the Blue Devil plate which gives you 4 meats (although Texas and baby back will cost you extra :/), corn bread, and 2 sides. We got the Texas beef ribs, Memphis ribs, baby back ribs, and shrimps - with sweet potato and corn on the cob for the sides.

The corn on the cob was sweet and moist.
I initially enjoyed the blue cheese they put on the corn, but after a while it was too much for me and I really just wanted to taste the sweetness of the corn itself.

The ribs were all great. Pretty tender with beef < memphis < baby back in tenderness.

Now, to show you the differences between the ribs, here are the bones, from top to bottom, of the Texas style beef ribs, then the baby back ribs, followed by the Memphis style long bone ribs.
See the size differences? And the curved bone of the baby back!

In an attempt to hit $50 so we can use our cozmo card, we ordered two desserts: the banana pudding and pumpkin-sweet potato pie.
I think there's too much starch in this pudding and I didn't really like the texture - too sticky.

The pumpkin sweet potato pie was good, although very rich.

This was a good BBQ place (next time I will probably get the baby back ribs, although they were all good), although it was relatively expensive (I want to go back before the end of the year to use my other cozmo card :D). Still, overall a much better experience than that LA BBQ Fest ....
The ribs here are tender and had great flavor, and the ambiance was pretty cool.

Baby Blues BBQ

444 Lincoln Bl.
Venice CA 90291
310-396-7675
www.babybluesvenice.com

Baby Blues Bar-B-Q on Urbanspoon

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