The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Curry’

Seasonal Delight at Thin Man Sandwich Shop

Sandwiches du jour.
Sandwiches du jour.

Down in the Strip District is a relative newcomer to Pittsburgh. Called the Thin Man Sandwich Shop, the name really called out to me because I often feel like a fat man trapped in a thin man’s body. It’s a curse, I know. But I digress. Back in the sandwich shop, I immediately impressed by the options they had listed on their chalk board. If nothing else, they were creative with such seasonal sandwiches as Braised Beef Cheeks, Jamaican Jerk Goat Curry and Cashew Butter. I was eager to see if the creativity translated to eatability, which, as we all know, is not a word.

Cuckoo for Curry House CoCo Ichibanya

A sign of good times.
A sign of good times.

By now you may have noticed that I like to reference my time in Japan and China when it comes to posts about Japanese and Chinese food. If you like that kind of thing, then my tale of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya is the post for you. It all started when I spotted a sign for Curry House CoCo Ichibanya while driving through Brentwood. This blew my mind, because during my time in China, CoCo Curry (minus the Ichibanya and Curry House) was my go-to Japanese curry place.

Heating Up at Curry House

Wait, Japanese make curry too?
Wait, Japanese make curry too?

Japanese curry and I go way back. From the start, it has been a loving relationship, but I must admit I have a couple of places I like to get it from and don’t often get outside of that box. Curry House is not one of these places, and although it resides across the street from Hurry Curry of Tokyo, my go-to Japanese curry place, I never felt the need for Curry House. Yet, with a big group one night, Curry House was kind of our only option and we took it.

Currying History at Mitchell’s

On The Waterfront. Again.
On The Waterfront. Again.

One of our guides in Cape Town remarked at how great The Waterfront was and wondered why anyone would leave it. There was certainly something to what he said, and in our continued, easy search for meals, we found ourselves at Mitchell’s Scottish Ale House. Now, I’ve never been to a British resort town, now do I know if such a thing exists, but if I had to picture a microbrewery in such a quintessential town, Mitchell’s would be it. The atmosphere was festive, yet subdued. The beers covered a wide range and the best-looking food was…well…curry.

At One with the Universal Classic Restaurant

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This is how restaurants look in Arusha.

Eventually, I lost my travel companions and came to the realization that I had pretty much exhausted Moshi of all possible interesting foods. I could be wrong, but I definitely knew it was time to move on to Arusha, a bigger city sitting at the edge of the Serengeti that also functions as a jumping off point for Kilimanjaro. Upon arrival, I felt a rumbling in my belly that could only be helped by food. Through wandering the streets of Arusha, I found myself at Universal Classic Restaurant, which had the subtitle: “Feel home away from home.”

Mount Kilimanjaro Eats

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On top, there is no food…or life.

As some of you loyal followers of mine may or may not know, I recently took a stroll to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The trip included a cook who made some pretty impressive camping food, considering porters were carrying everything. Inevitably, some of the food didn’t fit into my unvegan eating habits, but I ate them anyway, because this was not about eating what I wanted, but about survival in a sense. These were things like cucumber soup, zucchini soup and veggie sauce on pasta. No, they didn’t make we want to eat veggies, but they did hammer home the lesson that hunger truly is the best spice.

Not Having a Cow at Moo Moo Thai (CLOSED)

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Yellow soup.

Over in Palms, a relatively new Thai place called Moo Moo threw its hat into the ring of Westside Thai restaurants. The place has a decidedly authentic flair inside despite the brightly colored lettering on its sign. In this case, I mean authentic in that it has the ambiance of a little corner Mexican restaurant with hastily cobbled seating arrangements.

Heading South with Mayura

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Like a flat donut.

When Jonathan Gold’s latest rendition of the 99 best restaurants in LA came out, I was amazed to find an Indian place basically in my backyard. No, I don’t have an actual backyard because I live in LA, but you get my drift. Fortunately, my body had been craving Indian and I easily convinced my girlfriend that we had to order some carryout from there. While the menu appeared to have typical Indian fare, Mayura actually specialized in South Indian food. With that in mind, I was excited to get down with something new.

Feeding on Curry at Fat Spoon (CLOSED)

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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.

Currying Up at Tamarind House

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Another terrible view.

Situated in the village of Tupapa on Rarotonga is an old colonial home. Built back in 1910, at one time, it was even the home of the British Consul. But all that changed in 2004, when a couple of restauranteurs decided this old colonial home needed to serve up some food. Tamarind House was born, and has been dealing in Pan-Asian culinary delights ever since. When we got ourselves seated, we quickly learned that Tamarind House was going to be a unique experience, and not simply because we were in an old colonial home.