The Unvegan

6/30/2010 Reviews Los Angeles

Confused by W Love Pizza Cafe (CLOSED)

On my way to work every morning I pass a little corner strip plaza with a huge sign proclaiming that one of the restaurants in there has the best chicken kabob in LA. That is quite the claim, so one day when the girlfriend made the trek to the valley and visited me for lunch, I thought it would be nice to get some Mediterranean food in our bellies. We strolled on over the the little plaza to find the chicken kabob, but when we arrived there was no Mediterranean restaurant to be found. The sign was there, but it pointed to a place called W Love Pizza Cafe. We were confused, but headed in to see if it was the right place.

Cafes Italian Los Angeles North Hollywood Pepperoni Pizza Restaurants W Love Pizza Cafe

6/29/2010 Reviews Los Angeles

Walking the Dragon Street

In a nondescript little stretch of Lankershim in North Hollywood, there is a restaurant called Dragon Street. It’s Chinese, no wait, it’s sushi…no wait…I’m not really sure what they are, but I do know they serve Chinese food and sushi. But screw sushi, I have no need for that, so when I went to Dragon Street, I was all about the Chinese food. Like any good Asian restaurant, Dragon Street had itself a nifty little lunch special. As usual, I looked right at the Kung Pao Chicken.

Chinese Dragon Street Kung Pao Chicken Los Angeles Meat North Hollywood Restaurants

6/28/2010 Reviews Ann Arbor

Going Nuts at Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger (RELOCATED)

EDIT: Blimpy Burger has moved due to a rent dispute, but it is reputedly as good as always.

After four years of living in Ann Arbor and countless other trips to the city of my alma mater, I have finally made my way to Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. Although I always knew of the place while I lived there, I didn’t realize just how big of a deal it was until I saw it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Since that time, it has been my goal to eat at Blimpy Burger and I can finally cross that place off of my list. But is it any good?

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6/25/2010 Reviews Toronto

A Nightcap at Smoke’s Poutinerie

A few more beers into the night and not yet having satisfied my craving for poutine in Toronto, my drunken munchies search became a quest for poutine. The quest ended when we discovered Smoke’s Poutinerie in the Queens West area. This place was a chain, but still had the look of a greasy hole-in-the-wall style poutine joint. Their menu had a few different variations of that delicious treat, even one including bacon, but we decided that the traditional was the way to go. We got a large for 8 loonies and waited about 30 seconds for them to toss the fries, curds and gravy into a box for eating.

Canada Chains Fries Ontario Poutine Queens West Restaurants Smoke's Poutinerie Toronto Travel

6/24/2010 Reviews Toronto

Brews Over Burgers at Mill Street

For a night in Toronto, I really didn’t have much of a clue about where to eat. Finally, a buddy of mine told me to check out the Mill Street Brewery. I am always up for a microbrewery since that seems to be a lost art in LA, so I looked it up. It turned out that the place was actually pretty easy walk from our hotel, so we headed to Mill Street to see what we could find. After a twenty minute walk through a mildly sketchy part of town featuring a homeless pirate watering plants with a two-liter of Canada Dry, we arrived at the Distillery area. This part of town was once some sort of huge brewery, but now had shops, restaurants, bars and people testing Smart Cars and Segway Scooters. Even before we started drinking, our goal was to take a drunken ride on/in one of these (no, we did not achieve our goal).

Beer Breweries Brewhouse Burgers Canada Hamburgers Microbrewery Mill Street Brewery Ontario Restaurants The Distillery District Toronto Travel

6/23/2010 Reviews Ann Arbor

Drunk Pizza at Backroom

After failing to grab a late-night snack at Red Hot Lovers (if your damn sign says you are open til midnight, I better be able to show up at 11:57 and get a hot dog), we headed to Backroom Pizza. As a college student, this place was the best. Slices of cheese pizza were a buck and pepperoni ran 1.50. No one would ever claim it was great pizza, but at 2:30 am, you don’t need great pizza. Now that I’m no longer a poor college student, I was wondering if it would still have the allure it once did.

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6/22/2010 Reviews Ann Arbor

The Peak of Brew Burgers at Grizzly Peak

Everyone in LA seems to know that the place has no good beer culture, yet no one has really done anything to fix that. Sure, there’s BJ’s (no good) and a couple other microbreweries that are difficult to get to, but come on, LA is a huge city that deserves more. So when I left LA for Ann Arbor for a bit of a bachelor party, we headed to the Grizzly Peak Brewing Company. I’ve loved the Grizzly Peak for a long time, even dating back to before I could drink their beer and drank their micro-brewed root beer. I have a lot of great memories of the place and hoped that my most recent visit wouldn’t be a disappointment.

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6/21/2010 Reviews Ann Arbor

Being Un-White at Pizza Bob’s

After a fruitless attempt to grab lunch at Blimpy Burger, we had to think fast and find ourselves another quick place to eat in Ann Arbor. We decided that Pizza Bob’s would be a great option. Pizza Bob’s has been in Ann Arbor forever, but for some reason I never went while I was a student. Once inside, I decided I didn’t really need any pizza for lunch, but the calzone looked awesome. For $7.08 (wait, how much?), I ordered a calzone stuffed with pepperoni, sausage and meatballs. No need to order without veggies since I got to choose the toppings (innards?) myself. The guy at the counter asked if I wanted white or wheat dough, and I chose white.

Ann Arbor Calzone Italian Michigan Pizza Pizza Bob's Restaurants Travel

6/18/2010 Rants and Raves

Mmm Billboard Meat

Have you ever looked up at a food billboard for a place like McDonald’s or Outback and thought the thing looked so good you could taste it? Or at the very least, smell it? Well next time it might not just be in your head.

Advertising Meat North Carolina Raves

6/18/2010 Reviews Farmington Hills

Waking Up to Ram’s Horn (CLOSED)

EDIT: Unfortunately this Ram’s Horn is shuttered, but the horn of the ram lives on elsewhere.

For an early breakfast after my favorite LAX-DTW red-eye, my parents took me to Ram’s Horn in Farmington Hills. Ram’s Horn is one of those restaurants that every town just needs. They have no specialty and they definitely don’t excel at anything. It’s typical American fare that you can count on at a good price. And it will never leave you disappointed. Or at least that had always been my experience, but this was my first breakfast visit to the place.

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