When in the Twin Cities, I almost always feel the need to get a Jucy Lucy. Or, I just avoid burgers entirely. Yet, on this trip my path led me to Freehouse, a microbrewery that is so incredibly popular that we had to wait longer for a table than the hostess had told us initially. Seriously. Fortunately, we were able to get things started with a couple of beers and some cheese curds before taking our seats.
In the Twin Cities for a whirlwind couple of days, I found myself at Butcher and the Boar in Minneapolis. As a James Beard Semi-Finalist last year, I was expecting some good things. After seeing they had Take the Back on tap, I knew I was in for something good. Since I was with a couple of other people that supported my unvegan needs and the menu seemed made for sharing, we decided to go in on a few things together.
While Pittsburgh is not devoid of Korean food, there is no city on earth outside of Korea that serves up Korean food like LA. With that in mind, I made my way to Road to Seoul in Koreatown for a final meal before catching a red-eye back to Pittsburgh. Hey, if I can’t give myself the meat sweats on a flight, why even sleep?
Once upon a time there was a place known as the Brown Derby in Los Feliz. Sadly, after decades in existence as a restaurant, small concert venue and crime scene it became Messhall Kitchen. According to my friends, Messhall gained a bit of a reputation as a brunch spot, so we decided to eat there for that middle meal. After much discussion with the waitress, and a potential Charlie Day sighting, I knew what I had to order.
Since the beginning of time (presumably), there has been one ruler on the throne of sandwiches in LA. This, of course, is Bay Cities. Yet, the rise of Mendocino Farms and success of Fat Sal’s proved LA is open to alternatives. Now, a successful sandwich shop called Ike’s Place has set up shop in Westwood and during my short time in town I felt I should try it out.
One thing I miss greatly about life in LA is the great Chicken Katsu Curry. So when a friend suggested we meet in Little Tokyo for lunch, I was excited by the prospect of getting some of that which I love. She suggested Zip Sushi and Izakaya and while I usually hate the prospect of sushi, the izakaya part intrigued me. Plus the izakaya part included Chicken Katsu Curry.
In my short visit to LA, I made my way to just about every corner of the city. This inevitably took me to The Valley and a newish gastropub called The Woodman in Sherman Oaks. The place is known for a good happy hour (with prices that are still higher than Pittsburgh), but I couldn’t quite make it in time for that. Instead, I paid for full-price beer and food like some sort of normal human.
In all my time living in LA I had one major failure. Well maybe more than one failure, but one of them is not making a trip to Daikokuya. Fortunately, that ramen spot set up an outpost over in Little Little Tokyo. It has a crazy wait, but when you step inside it feels like you’ve really stepped onto a street in Japan (as evidenced by that picture to the left inside the place).
On the way out of Scottsdale, we made our way to a place called Culinary Dropout. I assume the allusion is to dropping out of culinary school, which might not be the best allusion. Yet, it can certainly be trusted as it is a part of the Fox Restaurant Group, which has basically taken over the Valley of the Sun. One might expect a place like this to have food way outside of the box, and while some things are unique, there aren’t really any headscratchers on the menu. This was fine by me as long as the execution was great.
In the rundown city of Tucson, Arizona there is an oasis known as the University of Arizona. Within this oasis is a spot called Frog & Firkin, which my wife remembers fondly from her days as a wildcat. So, with only one meal to eat we made our way to that oddly-named “English” Pub to see if they had anything to offer beyond nostalgia.