In a desperate search for good, authentic Puerto Rican food before leaving San Juan, we made our way to El Patio de Sam, once again in the old city. There we were greeted by perhaps one of the best waitresses in San Juan, as she not only made us feel welcome, but convinced us to start our meal off with an appetizer.
The name Verde Mesa is a little bit frightening for a restaurant. For one, it doesn’t really follow the rules of Spanish, weirdly translating into “table green.” The other reason it’s frightening is because of that whole “green” thing. It’s definitely a vegetarian-friendly spot, but it came with really high recommendations and the restaurant we really wanted was full.
Upon arrival in San Juan, I had pretty much only one goal: to eat well. You see, I had been to San Juan before starting a meat blog, and I knew that I had missed out on some good stuff. Thus I convinced my friends to follow me to El Jibarito in Old Town. There was a decent wait when we arrived so we knew it had to be a good place.
The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester is home to a restaurant called the Brookshire Restaurant, which apparently has one of the best brunches in the metro Detroit area, so we set out there to finish off a whirlwind Detroit food weekend that took me to more than one place I had never even considered visiting back when I was a Michigan resident.
I don’t exactly come from a family that is into fancy food. This may be apparent in my reviews, but if not it should be apparent in the fact that for my mom’s 60th birthday all she wanted to do was eat at Heroes in Waterford, Michigan. You see, Heroes isn’t in any way a bad place, but it is at its basest level a bar and grill. A bar and grill, however, with whitefish that is too good for its own good.
Strangely situated in the middle of West Bloomfield, Michigan is one very authentic Chinese restaurant. It’s called Shangri-La and has the endorsement of not one, but two Chinese/Taiwanese people I know that have been there. It also has the endorsement of all the other people that show up on the weekends for their dim sum.
Clarkston is not a part of Michigan I ever found myself in while spending the first 22 years of my life in the state. Yet, Union Woodshop wasn’t there for any of those 22 years either. It’s there now though, a modern BBQ spot fully endorsed by hometown hero Kid Rock (although not owned by him in any way despite popular contrary opinion), and thus I finally made my way there as well. And it should probably be noted that while I don’t really listen to Kid Rock’s music, he does seem like he would like the same food as me.
When your Taiwanese friend invites you to grab some Taiwanese food, it is wise to listen. Yes, even when that Taiwanese food is all the way in goddamn Allison Park. So we took a long journey out to the suburbs to see what Chow’s had to offer. We found the place sadly empty, but at least it wasn’t full of white people.
Community hot pot like that offered at Hunan Bar is a great thing. Yet, sometimes it’s nice to just have your own stuff to eat. That’s where I Tea Cafe in Shadyside comes in handy, offering personalized hot pot, but unfortunately lacking in the all-you-can-eat aspect. They also try to make up for it with some bubble tea and tasty appetizers.
Apparently Winghart’s in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Market Square had itself a bit of a fire problem. Unfortunately I didn’t realize this when I wen down to try one of their famous burgers. Yet, having made the trek already I ended up eating at DiBella’s, an “old fashioned” sub place. I could imagine that it was a pretty popular lunch spot, but at night it was completely dead.