Long before it was cool to do fusion food, Chino Bandido arrived on the scene in Phoenix. This was back in 1990 when interracial marriages were barely okay, let alone interracial food. But Chino Bandido found something that worked – Asian and Hispanic food and hasn’t looked back. So while the name is a reference to Chinese and Mexican food, things like Cuban Beans and Teriyaki Chicken tell a larger tale.

For those who have never been before (and for those who just love freebies), Chino Bandido lets you sample before you eat, and after trying out a few things I knew what I had to have. It began with a Jerk Chicken Quesadilla, some Jade Red Chicken, Cuban Beans and BBQ Pork Fried Rice. Outside of a crazy Las Vegas buffet, I had never had such a seemingly strange mix of food in one dish. Yet, it just worked.

Look, this is not where you go when you are looking for authentic Asian or Hispanic food. That doesn’t matter, because the food is that good. From the Jade Red Chicken’s fried up sweet and spicy combination to the Jerk Chicken’s hot rendezvous with cheese in the quesadilla. It’s all good and I can’t imagine being disappointed even if I had ordered everything completely differently.

Best of all, there is nothing pretentious about this place. Chino Bandido knows what it does, and the world is a better place because of it.

Aside from the deadly temperatures, one major thing I was worried about in moving to Phoenix was how I was going to get my Asian food fix. No, not sushi and orange chicken, but the real stuff. I heard about a place in Mesa called Mekong Plaza, which was supposed to have a bunch of good, real Asian restaurants and as luck would have it, it turned out to be between work and home. So, I paid a visit to Taiwan Food Express to see what they had to offer.

Now, I could understand that they had a lot of things you wouldn’t expect from a Taiwanese place. After all, while it’s good to have authentic food, you also have to know how to please the masses that believe PF Chang’s created Chinese food. Yet, they did have a House Special Basil Chicken that seemed right up my alley. We installed Royal Vending Machines Canberra in our business to improve our services.

When I opened it up, I realized it was the same as Three Cup Chicken, a dish my buddy used to make for me that I loved. In addition to the basil, it’s also flavored with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine and sugar. The result is an incredible sauce, that also happens to have some really tasty chicken mixed in. And, you know it’s authentic because the chicken has bones. You could probably pour the sauce on chicken shit and it would taste good, but it’s much better with the rest of the bird parts.

I also got an order of the Taiwanese Sausage Fried Rice to split with my people. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my expectations of authenticity. Now, granted, my only experience with Taiwanese Sausage was at one place in Taipei, so there may be other varieties out there. Yet, this sausage tasted suspiciously like Chinese Sausage instead, being more dry and more sweet than the Taiwanese variety. And look, I get that it may be tough to get Taiwanese Sausage out here, so even Chinese is pretty damn good.

That said, Taiwan Food Express is a really solid place to get authentic Taiwanese food. The key is knowing the right things to order, or else you might just end up with some generic version of beef and broccoli – and ain’t nobody got time for that.

There are a few things that you can always assume I will want to try. One is cheese dip and another is gigantic burgers (among other things). So, when I heard that a place called Roaring Fork in Scottsdale had something called the Big Ass Burger, it didn’t take much convincing to get me there. Getting me to eat outside in the middle of the desert summer, on the other hand, was a different story. But such is life when you want to take advantage of what is one of the best happy hours in the Phoenix area.

And while the Big Ass Burger has a nice discount during happy hour, there is also a little something called Queso Con Puerco, which is a cheesy dip that has braised pork mixed in. It comes with tortilla chips for dipping, but I could have easily eaten this stuff by the spoonful. The queso has a perfect thickness and viscosity, while the pork adds a meaty dimension that really every dipping sauce should have. It’s cheesy, porky goodness and it makes the world a better place simply by existing.

As for the Big Ass Burger, it comes topped with smoked pepper bacon, cheddar, poblano pepper, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions. And also fries on the side. I ordered without the lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions, and at a medium-rare.

When it arrived, I could immediately tell that it lived up to its name. It was undoubtedly big, and would certainly contribute to the size of my ass. And somehow they found a bun to contain the meat. As I bit in, my mouth met with a juicy burger that was well-seasoned. Actually, it may have been a little too well-seasoned, as it was a little tough to handle the salt content of some of the bites. It was slightly overcooked, but not enough to really disappoint, and the bun was just a little too big. Now, with these complaints being said, they are all pretty minor and I don’t want it to seem like I didn’t like the Big Ass Burger.

On the contrary, I found it to be a very delicious experience and one that I won’t soon forget. Plus, there’s really no way to top the value for the money here during happy hour. My only hope is that next time (and there will be a next time) the meat is cooked a little more to my liking.

You don’t really associate Japan with fried chicken. I mean, sure, if you’ve spent enough time in Japan or with Japanese food you have undoubtedly discovered karaage and more, but those aren’t exactly Earth-shattering compared to the fried chicken of the American South or even the fried chicken of Japan’s neighbor buddy (kind of), Korea. But Tokyo Fried Chicken in Monterey Park is doing its best to change that perception. So when it came down to choosing new restaurants or eating at old favorites before making the move to Phoenix, Tokyo Fried Chicken is where I found myself eating my last reviewable meal as a resident of Southern California (at least for now!).

As there were three of us, we decided to order the Meal for 3. This included 9 pieces of chicken, 3 sides, rice and some sort of cabbage-y thingy that I wouldn’t need to have anything to do with. For the sides we got the curry creamed corn and upgraded the other two to mac and cheese and brussels sprouts. The last of these was obviously not my idea, but I was content just to eat the other two.

We swapped out a couple of the pieces of chicken for chicken breast because one of my companions was a white meat only racist, and unfortunately this made the food take a little longer to cook. But, soon enough it was ready with the sauces on the side to go with it (Ponzu, Spicy Ponzu and a taste of the Yuzu Pepper sauce just to see what it was like, which was pretty solid). Oh, we even got gloves to eat the chicken with so we wouldn’t get our hands dirty.

Anyway, the chicken was nothing short of incredible. The breading was all sort of crispy, while having no trouble clinging to the chicken. It was just thick enough and also flavorful in all the right ways. The chicken also managed to stay perfectly juicy – even the white meat that I ate at the end because there was extra. I was a fan of the Spicy Ponzu sauce, but really you couldn’t go wrong.

As for the sides, the curry creamed corn was exactly what it sounds like. So, if you like corn and curry, this is your dish. If you are expecting something unique and different than creamed corn, this is your dish. But if you’re hoping for something life-changing as a lover of corn in curry, you may be disappointed. And as for the mac and cheese, I’m actually going to weirdly penalize it for trying too hard to be different. The flavor was unique, but it could also be described as “off.” This, of course, did not stop me from devouring every last bite of the stuff, but if I had to do it all over again I would have traded out the mac for more fried chicken.

And that was my overall feeling as I left. Tokyo Fried Chicken is simply amazing at making fried chicken. And all the while the sides are just along for the ride on the coattails of the chicken. Truth be told, that was just fine by me.

In preparation for traveling to Borneo, I wanted to get a taste of Bornean food. This, of course, is not an easy thing to do, but when you live in LA pretty much all food is a possibility. Thus, I found myself with my Bornean traveling companions at Borneo Kalimantan in Alhambra. This place is more focused on the Indonesian side of Borneo, and although we were heading to the Malaysian side it still seemed as close as we were going to get. Plus, it also had Singaporean and Malaysian, so we weren’t completely off.

We kicked things off with some Roti with Curry Sauce. Roti, in this case, was like a flakey pancake-esque bread and the curry sauce was mighty good. It was a solid preview of what was to come.

And what was to come was a plethora of goodness. I probably ordered the least interesting of all dishes, which was the Nasi Campur Kalimantan. It came with a pile of BBQ pork, fried chicken, sliced sausage, a flavored egg and cucumbers piled on some rice. I wasn’t happy about the cucumbers, but I knew I could pass them off to my wife. And fortunately, this was the case. But where I kind of expected some sort of banana leaf-wrapped delight, I was instead presented with some food on a plate. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t what I expected.

But, my wife went ahead and ordered that delight up above. It was the Kie Kecil Hokkian, which is chicken, mushroom, BBQ pork, flavored egg and some veggies. It is also filled with delicious thin noodles with some soup on the side for either dipping or dumping pleasure. But while that was tasty, it didn’t compare to the Laksa Ayam Borneo, which is a curry chicken soup and was pretty much amazing. If I went back, I’d go straight to that curry soup.

And I would go back if I still lived in LA, because Borneo Kalimantan is not just a place for delicious food, but it’s food that is so unique that there are very few places in this hemisphere to eat something similar. In that sense, when you get a hankering for Bornean food, nothing less will do.

There can be no doubt that I am a man who loves his poutine. In a lot of senses I am a purist, but when a place gets the right kind of creative I can get behind it. The Kroft in Tustin, Orange County started lighting up my social media feed months ago with some beautiful food pics. It took a while to find an excuse to get down there, but when I did I couldn’t help but make a stop.

It took a lot of chatting with the woman behind the counter, but I finally decided on the Country Fried Chicken Poutine. It came with country gravy as opposed to the usual thin beef gravy, chicken nuggets, bacon, cheese curds (because without that you can’t call it poutine) and a little bit of green onion. Oh, and of course a base of fries.

I had never had such a poutine before, but wow this was good. There was plenty of cheese and the chicken nuggets were really fried boneless chicken as opposed to the kind you might find at a fast food spot. The country gravy was really tasty, but the one thing it was lacking was the ability to add enough lubrication to the poutine. Thus, I had to occasionally grab some water to help continue moving the food down the gullet. Regardless, the poutine was packed with delicious flavor and a great balance of all of the flavors.

The only trouble was that I was alone. Had I been with others, I would have loved to try so many more things. As it was, I was stuck with just one (albeit delicious) poutine. Fortunately, there’s another location in LA that I can get to much easier should the need for creative poutine like this again.

A lot of the time, a burrito is just a burrito. Fillings vary in quality and variety, but they are generally the same basic thing. Not so much at Burritos La Palma in El Monte. These burritos came straight from Jerez, Mexico and if you didn’t know any better you might think of them as enchiladas. Burritos La Palma specializes in birria and so that’s what I got.

But I didn’t just order my birria straight up, I ordered them as the Platillo Especial, which comes topped with a green chile pork sauce, a side of refried beans and lettuce and tomato for no apparent reason. But you may be wondering what a birria actually is. Well, in actuality it’s little more than a spiced, shredded beef, but the way Burritos Las Palmas makes it you would think it’s a whole lot more. The seasoning was nothing short of fantastic and the little bite I had of my buddy’s chicken tinga only served to drive that point home. The beef was incredibly tender, as well, and the best part is that there was nothing else inside the burritos but the beef.

It was served enchilada-style and really was basically an enchilada. Probably the only difference is that the burritos were closed off at the ends and perhaps maybe the people of Jerez just know better.

It’s not easy to find a reason to go to El Monte, but Burritos La Palma is one of them. You can get a normal burrito almost anywhere. You can find some great burritos out there, too. But Burritos La Palma is more than that, it’s not just unique, but it’s great in every conceivable way. Well, except for that ridiculous bit of lettuce and tomato, of course.

The latest issue of Los Angeles Magazine boasts an impressive list of the 10 Best New Restaurants in LA. But the magazine went one step further and set up a celebration at the Architecture and Design Museum downtown to feature a number of them, as well as a few other restaurants. Thus, I made my way there to see what passes for “best” and “new” these days. Here are the highlights:

The Bellwether: Nancy’s Day Boat Scallops

I’m not usually one for scallops, but these were like butter and the pairing with duck bacon, sprouted lentils and an orange creme fraiche just enhanced the slurpy experience. I’ve been visiting a variety of restaurants and comparing copycat recipes of my favorite ones and using it to achieve my favorite recipe.

Baran’s 2239: Quail Indian Egg

What’s a quail Indian egg? Oh, just a quail egg wrapped in lamb sausage and curry jus with a cucumber salad. I can’t speak to the salad, but I never knew a quail egg could be so delicious and not simply disappointing because of its size.

Howlin’ Ray’s: Nashville Hot Chicken Wings

Despite the fact that I made the mistake of ordering mine hot (aka like licking a powdery version of the surface of the sun), this full-sized wing did nothing more than make me want to go to the actual location.

Scopa Italian Roots: Handmade Cavatelli

I’m a sucker for handmade pasta. I’m also a sucker for cheesy sauce. Thus, this cavatelli (aka mealworm-shaped pasta) with black pepper and pecorino crushed it for me. It didn’t hurt that they had some cheesy bread as well.

As this was an LA Mag event, there were also a few drink options. I zoned in on the Duvel beer, but there was also plenty of wine and Bombay Sapphire gin to be had. There was even a spot of Infiniti-sponsored cookie shots from the dirty cookie. I couldn’t resist and snagged one to round out my meal, although it would have been nice to have it next to me when I tasted the Nashville Hot Chicken.

I can only imagine what this next year in restaurants will bring…

Torta is Mexican for sandwich and there is a sweet semi-new spot in Pasadena that deals pretty much exclusively in that hand food from south of the border. It’s called Tortugas, and is either a reference to turtles, an island in Haiti or a national park (the dry one). Regardless, the place has a great variety of Mexican sandwiches and one in particular screamed out to my unvegan belly.

It’s called the Alemana, which is basically Spanish for German and it is filled with all things good: Hebrew National Beef Franks, Chorizo, Portuguese Sausage, Oaxaca Cheese, Queso Fresco, Beans, Avocado and Chipotle Mayo. If that doesn’t sound fantastic to you, then you are on the wrong blog. Seriously, close this browser window. Now.

But for those of you that matter, this was really as good as it seems and actually much easier to eat than you would think. Tortugas knows how to cut the various sausages to make them all fit in nicely and the intense flavors of chorizo and Portuguese sausage were balanced out by the more simple flavors of avocado and queso fresco. Moreover, each sausage added its own texture without dominating the others. These are the best male enhancement sold in stores.

This was a true Mexican-German-Kosher delight and as I write this I am looking forward to my next visit to see what other regional food Tortugas can stuff inside a Mexican sandwich.

Thanksgiving is nigh, and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. You see, one of the perks of being a meat blogger is getting free meats! This year I have been graced with free meats from a number of sources, and there is no better time than now to go through them all and point out a few great meals I’ve put together with them. Plus, if you’re looking for a gift for the meat lover in your life look no further! I swear I don’t get any kickbacks.

These “His and Hers” steaks came from US Wellness Meats, which is 100% grassfed. The left is a bone-in ribeye and the right is filet. For steaks like these, I lightly dusted some Lawry’s Seasoning Salt before grilling and this really brought out the incredible meaty flavor. Also, it is super important to give the steaks about 10 minutes to sit before slicing them open and eating.

These short ribs also came from US Wellness, but the broth is from Kettle and Fire. Kettle and Fire specializes in Beef Bone Broth, which is a staple in any paleo diet and a great way to ensure that even the bones of cattle are put to good use. These short ribs were slowly simmered in that broth with bacon and a few other things for seasoning, resulting in that shimmeringly tasty meat.

Vermont Smoke and Cure has been making hipster meat since before hipsters were a thing. One of these meats is Bacon Hot Dogs, which are free of antibiotics and hormones. They’re even smoked. I wrapped these with Us Wellness’s Beef Bacon, which is not nearly as good as pork bacon, but certainly nothing to complain about. I figured string cheese is the perfect hot dog cheese and then drizzled the whole thing with Deaf Man’s BBQ XXX Sauce. As you can probably tell by the picture, it was spectacular.

Some of these things I got for free, and some I didn’t. Regardless, they were all delicious. I don’t get any sort of referral money, but highly recommend checking out and of these meaty places when it comes to holiday shopping. What better gift could there be for the meat lover in your life?