‘Beef’


Feeding on Curry at Fat Spoon

December 12th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Just keep swimming...

Apparently some place called The Lazy Ox downtown is a big deal or something.  I wouldn’t know because I haven’t been, but supposedly the guy behind it, Michael Cardenas, is also a big deal.  Such a big deal, in fact, that he took it upon himself to open another restaurant, called Fat Spoon.  The new place is down in Little Tokyo and is conceptually a Japanese curry house.  As a man with a fair amount of Japanese curry experience, I definitely wanted to check the place out, and it didn’t hurt that I had one of those Blackboard Eats 30% off printouts either. Continue Reading»


Going to Hell with Lucky Devils

November 21st, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

The devil is in arugula.

Deep in the heart of the Hollywood Strip is a burger that rivals Umami Burger.  Or so a coworker told me once upon a time.  That once upon a time may have been over a year ago, but I never forgot, so when I had the chance to meet some buddies for dinner in Hollywood, Lucky Devils crept into my mind (and it didn’t hurt that it has been sitting on my to-eat list).  What we found was a neat space with a great and enthusiastic server who was happy to tell us of their current specials, some awesome beers on tap and help us out with anything on the menu.  Even though I had sworn not to drink, his description of their special black IPA on tap almost had my mouth watering enough to break the promise I made to myself. Continue Reading»


Eating Big at Little Polynesian

October 26th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Poolside dining.

In the windy town of Titikaveka, there is a restaurant called Little Polynesian, that also doubles as a hotel.  Just like nearly every spot on Rarotonga, Little Polynesian offers amazing views of the ocean and numerous palm trees.  While fine views are usually followed by only decent dining, Little Polynesian was supposed to be quite good, and we hoped the meal would be half as good as the view.

Just as we had done at Windjammer, a quick look at the menu made us realize that this was a meal for splitting.  We ordered two dishes and an appetizer, then sit back, relaxed and soaked up our evening of Little Polynesian. Continue Reading»


Sonic Good is Just Pretty Good

October 3rd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

So this is what all those commercials were about...

About 10 or so years ago, the world began to see commercials for a fast food burger place called Sonic.  These commercials were often both funny and hunger-inducing.  Unfortunately, though, Sonics were only in select locations throughout the country.  Yes it was annoying, but it was also genius, because it whet the appetite for Sonic with people who had never even seen the place.  The idea was that when they would finally see one, whether in travel or with a new one being built, they would want nothing more than to devour their burgers.  And it worked, at least on me.  When I saw my first Sonic years ago while driving through Independence, Missouri, I just had to try it.  I remember it being good, but this was pre-meat blog and in the middle of a cross-country road trip, so the memory is mostly blur filled with the knowledge that the meal kept my internal fuel running just as long as I needed it to. Continue Reading»


Doubling Down at Townhouse

September 28th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Not in my Townhouse.

After seeing the frontrunner for Most Gratuitously Violent Movie of the Year (Drive, which is great by the way), some people might not have much of an appetite.  Those people, though, are not unvegan and the sight of so much blood made me crave some meat.  As we had seen the movie in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, my local valley friends took me to a place called Townhouse Kitchen + Bar.  I knew little of what to expect, except that football would be on TV and this was a good start. Continue Reading»


The Redcoat Tavern is Coming!

September 16th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Wait, this doesn't seem dangerous at all.

Once upon a time, Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston, warning all patriots by shouting, “The redcoats are coming!”  These redcoats, of course, were the British soldiers and the Americans knew that danger was coming.  But when Redcoat Tavern came to West Bloomfield, Michigan, the people did not sense danger.  No, they embraced it.  That’s because the original Redcoat Tavern in Royal Oak had been serving up some of the most delicious food in metro Detroit for years.  Yet, while I embraced the branching out of Redcoat Tavern, like the Founding Fathers, I also prepared to do battle against its famous burger. Continue Reading»


Scaring Vampires at The Stinking Rose

July 15th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

This is the story of when I ran away and joined the garlic circus.

With the ever-growing popularity of vampires in silly stories like Twilight and edgy television like True Blood, it seems that something important to our very human survival has fallen by the wayside.  That is garlic, the fabric of our lives…errr…the thing that vampires hate.  For some reason.  One place you’ll never see a vampire hanging out at is The Stinking Rose, a restaurant in Beverly Hills.  The reason is that apparently “stinking rose” is another term for garlic.  I disagree with calling it stinking because I like the smell of garlic, as long as it hasn’t yet been eaten, but perhaps pungent rose was already taken. Continue Reading»


A Personal Burger at Irv’s

July 14th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Pretty fancy.

Legend tells of a burger shack in West Hollywood.  This legend says that this burger place has been around since 1950, but retains everything that made it great in that bygone era, with at least one great enhancement.  This place is Irv’s Burgers and the enhancement is a little something special for every customer.  This something special is that rather than giving you a number, the people behind Irv’s draw a little picture of you on your plate so they know who to bring each burger out to.  This makes Irv’s a refreshing gem in the middle of the fast-paced cafes and generic boutiques of West Hollywood. Continue Reading»


Apparently, I was Thinking Arby’s

July 13th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Is this what I was thinking?

Arby’s has always been kind of a fringe fast food chain.  You can find it all over the country, but it isn’t exactly on every corner.  Perhaps this is the reason it has taken me so long to review them.  Or perhaps the reason is because I once heard their meat begins its life as a liquid.  Whatever the case, a golden opportunity to chow down on some potentially formerly liquid meat presented itself at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. Continue Reading»


Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls on Tires

June 27th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

One if by sea, two if by truck.

When Great Balls on Tires first debuted last year, I was concerned that such a name for a meatball truck was a bit of a gimmick.  Yet, now that GBOT has lasted through the middle of this year, I felt it was time I tried them out.  When I walked up to the truck to see what they had to offer, I found there were only a few sets of balls to choose from.  Yet, more than one of these balls looked attractive to me.  Unfortunately, all balls came in sets of two, so I had to limit myself to only one ball type. Continue Reading»


Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

The taste of skiing?

Colorado is definitely a beer state, and not just because Coors comes from the Rocky Mountain State.  No, it is also home to New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) and seemingly countless other micro and craft breweries.  While in Breckenridge for a ski weekend, I decided I had to at least try one of these, and because it turned out to be the only one available at dinner, my choice happened to come from the creatively named Breckenridge Brewery.  The brewery, by the way, is actually no longer in Breckenridge, having expanded and moved to Denver in 1992.

Continue Reading»