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Tags: Royale with Cheese / Fast Food Travel / The Little Differences / Food / Restaurants / Dining / → All Tags
Chicken Maharaja-Mac Anyone? International Versions of American Fast Food
Vincent Vega said it best. They've got the same things overseas that we have here in America, but as a traveler you notice the little differences, like beer served in movie theaters, French fries served with mayonnaise, and funny names for fast food sandwiches like Royale with Cheese. LA Weekly must have been thinking along the same lines when they published their funny list of American fast food items that you can't get in America.
Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / Toronto / Toronto Travel / Air Canada / Restaurants / Porter Airlines / YYZ / → All Tags
Drive-Thru For A Fast Food Lunch And A 747 Landing
We love airplanes, you love airplanes, so let's go look at airplanes! In our Prime Plane Spotting series, we'll let you in on all the best spots to whip out your cameras and binoculars for a piece of the aviation action.
On the Pacific coast of Canada, in Vancouver, there is a jetty ideally situated for watching landing planes. On almost the other side of the North American continent in Toronto, it's a Wendy's fast food restaurant that makes for the perfect lookout.
Tags: NYC-In-The-1950s / Retro Travel / New York City / Tourism Advertising / Restaurants / Sports Travel / Food Travel / → All Tags
New York 1953 To Today: Can We Resurrect The $1.95 Steak Dinner?
Times Square and Central Park attract tourists to New York City in droves, but what were the most exciting sights back in the 1950s? Thanks to an old tourist brochure from 1953, we're exploring back in the day versus today, for NYC tourists.
If you visiting New York in 1953 and you weren't going out for lobster at some place like the Grand Central Oyster Bar, then you were probably licking your chops for a visit to East 52nd Street. And there, setting itself apart from $1.95 steak dinners advertised all around Times Square, was Al Schacht's Restaurant, owned by the baseball player-turned-comedian.
Tags: NYC-In-The-1950s / Retro Travel / New York City / Restaurants / Food Travel / Tourism Advertising / → All Tags
New York 1953 To Today: Grand Central's Oyster Bar
Times Square and Central Park attract tourists to New York City in droves, but what were the most exciting sights back in the 1950s? Thanks to an old tourist brochure from 1953, we're exploring back in the day versus today, for NYC tourists.
Walk past a Starbucks on every block and shiny Apple stores around the city, and you might believe for a second that city has change completely in the past 50+ years, but a quick visit to Grand Central Station will reveal that some things are held too sacred to ever change.
Tags: Top Chef / Food Travel / Restaurants / Television Travel / → All Tags
Where Are They Now? Ex-Top Chef Contestants Love the Heat, Stay in the Kitchen
The Spicy Duck Burger at Perilla, owned by ex-contestant Harold Dieterle
The latest season of Top Chef has introduced us to a new batch of culinary hopefuls, many bearing tatted chef's sleeves which say, "I'll sous vide you into next Sunday."
Quickfire challenges, Sin City antics, and watching Padma Lakshmi sample dishes with sensual glee keep us invested in the motley Vegas crew, but what about cast members from seasons past? Where did Casey go after dropping the ball on the final challenge? Is Hung still breaking down chickens with lightning quick precision? And what about sometimes-rapper Marcel? The last time we saw him was at a taping of Top Chef Masters at Beverly Hills' SLS Hotel, sampling food and falling in line just like the other "Hollywood insiders."
You might argue that the series has yet to produce a Hubert Keller or a Rick Bayless, but we think it has the best show-to-real-life-success ratio of any reality programming. A good counter-example might be America's Next Top Model, a show whose title is a major misnomer.
Tags: Restaurants / San Diego Travel / Mexican Food / Margaritas / Drinking / → All Tags
Try The Lobster Margaritas at Gringo's in San Diego
Trying to find the best Mexican restaurant in San Diego is as hard as finding the perfect pizzeria in New York. But what sets Gringo's Cocina Y Cantina apart from the other Mexican eateries (aside from its awkward un-P.C. name) is its location, just a block away from the ocean. The Pacific Beach restaurant has a following among surfers and beach bums, who all retreat there after a long day of hitting the waves to warm up next to the big outdoor fire pit and get some good grub.
Gringo's is also a popular place to chillax or celebrate with friends, as it trades the schlocky overdone decor of most Mexican fast-food joints for a more upscale, warm setting. Plus, there are those big-as-your-head, 26-ounce "Gigante" margaritas that come in fun flavors like Frida Rita (Cazadores Reposado, triple sec and pomegranate juice) and Melonita (1800 Silver, melon liqueur and a splash of orange juice) that make any gathering a great time.
Tags: Best-Jewish-Delis-Map / Delis / Food Travel / Restaurants / Los Angeles Travel / Kosher Restaurants / → All Tags
Get Your New York Deli Fix At LA's Famous Pico Kosher Deli
In Los Angeles there are delis, there are delis, and then there are the Places Where The Jews Eat. Pico Kosher Deli, which sits just a few blocks north of LA's heavily Orthodox Beverlywood district, definitely falls into that last category. It's the oldest kosher deli in the city and, unlike some other "Jewish-style" delis, you'll find nary a trace of dairy in the kitchen. Bacon, it goes without saying, is literally and metaphorically traife.
The deli is small, with an L-shaped counter in the front and a dining area to the left that you have to walk around a wall to reach. They've only got a handful of tables and booths back there, and there's no way they can accommodate more than fifty or sixty customers.
Given that PKD regularly ranks as one of the top 5 LA delis, things can get very crowded around lunchtime.
Tags: Restaurants / London Travel / Technology Travel / Interactive Menus / → All Tags
High Tech London Restaurant Makes Eating Geeky and Fun
Don't want to talk to a waitress anymore? Then the Inamo restaurant in the SoHo area of London might be your thing – you can order your meal directly from the touch screen in your table.
Inamo is an Asian fusion place with Japanese, Thai and Chinese influences and a whole bunch of tasty dishes – they make it easier to choose what you want by projecting large images of each meal onto your table as part of the interactive menu. When you've made your choices you can send your order through to the kitchen with one touch.
While you wait for your meal (brought by real people, not by technology), you can amuse yourself by changing the theme of your tabletop, playing games on the table or even surfing the internet. Of course, we also recommend having a chat with your dinner companions, but maybe we're just old-fashioned.
Related Stories:
· Inamo Restaurant [Official Site]
· Interactive Menu Spices Up Dining Experience [news.com.au]
· London Travel Guide [Jaunted]
Tags: Top Chef / Food Travel / Los Angeles Travel / Restaurants / Television Travel / → All Tags
Top Chef's Stefan and Ariane Begin Culinary Adventures In LA
Top Chef Masters, the spin-off to Bravo's popular culinary reality show, sees some of the nation's most accomplished chefs competing in familiar challeneges—albeit slightly tweaked from the original's—as they vie to win money for various charities. While the series is missing a few of its predecessor's key elements, namely sultry Padma Lakshmi as host, some familiar faces have made guest appearances, oftentimes as contestants.
The Masters website features cast members from seasons past blogging about food, recreating winning dishes from the show, and extended commentary from judges. As wanderlusters, however, we're more interested in the cross-town LA antics of Season Five's Stefan and Ariane, who have an online video series aptly titled "Stefan and Ariane's Culinary Adventure."
Tags: Food Trucks / Food Travel / Restaurants / French Fries / Vegan / → All Tags
LA Gets a Gloriously Weird Gourmet French Fry Truck
In the great gourmet food truck race of 2009, LA is slowly creeping up on New York, with some great meals-on-wheels like Kogi’s Korean BBQ, and the organic food served by Green Truck on the Go. But as much as we enjoy having the healthy food trucks, we’re excited to see LaLa land ante up with some decidedly less good-for-you gourmet food.
The FrySmith truck is getting ready to hit the streets of LA next week, and as far as we know, it’s the nation’s first food truck serving exclusively upscale French fries.
Tags: Food Travel / Restaurants / Jury Duty / Cheesecake / → All Tags
Dining in Downtown Brooklyn: It's Always 1977 in Junior's
For the past two weeks, I've sat on a grand jury in Brooklyn Supreme Court, indicting or dismissing charges against defendants accused of some of the most heinous crimes in New York. Unfortunately, it would be illegal for me to divulge the details of the evidence presented to me and my 22 fellow jurors, but what I can do is tell you about some of the restaurants I visited during my one-hour lunch period every day.
Tags: Santa Monica Pier / Santa Monica Travel / Food / Restaurants / → All Tags
Santa Monica's Lobster Turns 10, The Pier Celebrates Its Centennial
The (lobster) claws come out at the tenth anniversary of a Santa Monica Pier institution
Santa Monica Pier is the heart of the oceanside city's kinetic life force. Amid a flurry of tourists milling toward the neon-lit ferris wheel, shirtless muscle men on bikes, and street performers competing for spare change, The Lobster offers some refuge, not to mention amazing seafood and 180 degree views of the Pacific Ocean.
The pier institution celebrated the tenth anniversary of its reopening on Monday evening with a private VIP reception, drawing a mixed crowd of older locals and young, energetic foodies who clamored straight for the surf 'n' turf spread. Tables overflowed with an assortment of the menu's best: fresh oysters, mini crab cakes, filet mignon, lobster (natch) and seared tuna.
Complimentary wine and cocktails were also circulating as guests toasted ten years of business at the historic locale. If you're in the area and in search of a more upscale—but still relaxed—alternative to other grab-and-go eateries lining the shore, The Lobster is a good bet.
