The Unvegan

‘manhattan’

Real New York at Lombardi’s

April 6th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Extra cheesy.

While Artichoke represents the new trendy side of New York pizza, it wasn’t really quite New York style pizza. You know, the kind you have to fold a bit to eat and everyone says tastes better because of the water. Yeah, Artichoke wasn’t that type of place, but Lombardi’s sure was. Apparently Lombardi’s is a pretty big deal and they claim to be the first American pizzeria. It is quite a boast, and apparently it does a good job of filling the seats, but we got there around 3:00 (on the way to Uniqlo of course) and only had to wait about 10 minuted for a table to open up. Continue Reading»

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Italian, lombardi's, manhattan, new york, Pizza, restaurants, soho, Travel

Tasting the Other Side at Artichoke

April 1st, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Oh no green.

On stop two of our late-night food binge (after Pommes Frites), we headed to a little pizza shop called Artichoke. Here they specialized in, wait for it, artichoke pizza. Apparently therseI felt uncomfortable just being there, but I was told that this was some of the best pizza in New York. That it quite a claim, and after a stern talking-to, I was convinced to try some of the artichoke pizza, even against my better unvegan instincts. Continue Reading»

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Artichoke, Italian, Late-Night, manhattan, new york, Pizza, restaurants, Travel

Almost Canadian at Pommes Frites

March 30th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Oooh curds.

After a few drinks, our tour guide (aka the girlfriend’s bro) took us to a little hole in the wall called Pommes Frites. Here, they specialized in cones of Belgian fries served with some crazy sauces like Pomegranate Teriyaki Mayo, Irish Curry and more. These seemed all good and well, but I saw something on the menu that tickled my fancy even more: Poutine.

For the uninitiated and un-Canadian, poutine (pronounced pooh-teen) is a gloriously unvegan treat consisting of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. This combination creates something spectacular, yet rarely found south of the Great White North. It had been a long time since I was in Canada and I was with a couple poutine virgins, so we ordered a large one to split for six bucks. Continue Reading»

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Canada, fries, Late-Night, manhattan, new york, pommes frites, poutine, restaurants, Travel

Porking Out at DBGB

March 29th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Thai sausages. Extra small.

For a fancy little evening on the town in Manhattan, we took a trip to Bowery Street to eat at a swanky place called DBGB. I’m not sure what the entire acronym stands for, but I’m pretty sure the D and one of the Bs are the initials of Daniel Boulud, some big time chef in NYC. We had a big party, so we made reservations beforehand, yet still had to wait a good 15 minutes before our table was ready. In that time, we headed over to the bar, which had a huge mirror on it and a ton of beers listed. One would think that these mirror beers would be the available beers, however, we were told that the mirror was out of date and handed a menu. Too bad, because one of my life goals is to order beer from a mirror and that will have to wait. Continue Reading»

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Daniel Boulud, DGBG, manhattan, meat, new york, restaurants, sausage, Travel, wurstkuche

Attack of the Shake Shack

March 24th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Shake Shack? More like rain shack.

On a rainy Friday morning, I arrived in New York City for the first time as a meat blogger with one goal: to eat. Most importantly, I had to eat at the Shake Shack. I had heard much about the Shake Shack from the New York-centric food blog known as Serious Eats, yet there are plenty of good burgers in LA, so I never felt an overriding desire to get a burger at Shake Shack. Then I heard that Shake Shack was run by none other than Danny Meyer, the famous New York restaurateur. More importantly, though, is that Meyer is a fellow alum of Camp Nebagamon, the greatest place in the world (if you don’t believe me, read this). No doubt, his restaurant skills draw upon his experience at Nebagamon and I made sure to get to Shake Shack as early as possible to see what those skills had created. Continue Reading»

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Burgers, Camp Nebagamon, Danny Meyer, Duluth, hamburgers, Lake Nebagamon, manhattan, new york, shake shack, Travel, upper west side

Rants and Raves

Sea Kittens

January 20th, 2009

When I began writing about my life as an unvegan, I made a solemn promise to myself that I would dedicate my blog simply to the reviewing of restaurants as they relate to my taste in foods. Any rants, complaints or praises I had about people or things in general would somehow make their way into my review and never grow into their own entries.

Today, I break that promise.

Today, the world has changed.

Today, a friend has brought to my attention a campaign by PETA to rebrand the word “fish” as “sea kittens.”

Going Global at Plan Check

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.