Il Buco

This is the first stop on our countdown to not living in New York anymore. And it was a good one. I had a duck ragu that sits squarely in my top three ragus of all time. Alex had pillowy fresh ricotta ravioli with sage and butter. Light and delicious. And we started the meal with a crispy cauliflower and gorgonzola croquettes that I could eat every day until I have to be wheeled out on a fat wagon.

BLT Burger - NYC

This is my last lunch as an employee of Saatchi & Saatchi. And it was a good one. A burger with smoky bacon and cheddar, a couple of onion rings, and a milkshake made with Maker's Mark and Caramel.

After lunch, I was taken to the roof and thrown off with a box full of my belongings.

Banh Mi - West Village

Damn, this is good. I ordered the Sloppy Bao - red chili ground pork with basil, cilantro, carrots and green papaya. So good. The bread was perfect - crusty outside/soft and hollowed out on the inside.

Dirty Bird - NYC

Damn. I'm lucky I didn't know about thi place until now, because it's good, fast, and cheap. I had two pieces of buttermilk fried chicken with a polenta triangle and a side of brussels sprouts. $8.63. Hot damn.

Iron Works Barbeque - Austin

It's good to be in Texas. I had the combination plate with perfect, tender smoky brisket, sausage and a giant beef rib. Alex had donkey ribs, I think. Not sure. They look like donkey ribs, or maybe horse. They're so similar, it's often hard to tell. See for yourself.

Frank - East Village

This is a polpettone, which I figured would roughly translate to "giant meatball." But the menu said that it was meatloaf. Well, the menu was wrong.

Taïm - NYC

I think I've posted about this before, but the falafel sandwich at Taïm is unbeatable. Perfectly crispy harissa falafel, Israeli salad, marinated cabbage, hummus, tahini and s'rug (hot sauce).

This Middle Eastern Delight is so good it makes me want to play hacky sack.

Oops - Healthy

Waaaa waaaaaa. I ordered a chicken salad sandwich today at Blue Ribbon in the West Village and received a salad with chicken instead. I figured that was the universe telling me I'm fat, so i ate it (and almost enjoyed it.)

Five Guys

This is how you fix a hangover.

Urth Cafe - Santa Monica

This is a Cafe Quadra and it will kick your coffee's sorry little ass. Whoot whoot. 4 shots of espresso and a bunch of hot milk.

Cora's Cafe - Santa Monica

Cora's Huevos Rancheros with White Beans is a nice homecoming for my former second home. As always, the cafe au lait was too hot and mysteriously, it didn't cool down in the 30 minutes it took to finish it.

The Fairmont - Santa Monica

It's a salad. Sigh. Butter lettuce, apples and walnuts.

Ed's Lobster Bar

Despite it being hotter than Houston inside E.L.B., we had a good dinner. Shrimp Cocktail from the Raw Bar and a Caesar for the lady, and a simple Bibb Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts, and a Lobster Roll with Fries and Pickles for Fatty here.

Home Cooking

This is Cumin-Dusted Mahi Mahi with Green Gazpacho and it is good. I am warshing it down with a cucumber lime gin beverage that I also made with my own dirty hands.

Papaya Dog

This is a garbage man's lunch. Two hot dogs and some sort of drink that tastes like suntan lotion. Not pictured is the single bite of a potato knish that I had. It had that vague, unidentifiable "knish spice" flavor mixed into the potato mush. I really have no idea what would make it taste like that. Dicey shit.

7-11 Nachos - San Rafael

I don't care what you say. I'd eat it again. Although it should be noted that Alex grabbed them and threw them into the trash so I couldn't finish the job.

Casa Del Palmar - San Rafael

Stuffed this in my face today. One Burrito Especial with Carne Asada warshed down with an ice cold Bohemia. Very very happy.

Zuni

Oh, and did I mention that there was a pork rib roast? Yep. With orange and fennel.

Zuni - San Francisco

Underneath these leaves and bread salad is one of the most perfectly roasted chickens on the planet. Dagnabbit.

Specialties - San Francisco, CA

1/4 pound of crispy chewy perfectly undercooked chocolate dough, oozing with white chocolate chunks. So unnecessary.

Cafe Habana

Ugly, but good. Huevos con Chorizo with black beans. And the waitress called me "baby."

Zuni Cafe - San Francisco

Pre redeye Friday night, I stopped off at Zuni Cafe, where I was happy to find Burratta is back in season. I also put away a deep fried quail with rapini, some ricotta gnocchi, and a delectable bowl of corn soup laced with fresh tarragon and chives.

Momofuku Milk Bar

Milk Bar now has peanut butter cookies. They don't compare to City Bakery's pb cookies. Nor do they compare to their very own Compost cookies, or Cornflake Chocolate Marshmallow cookies. But don't you like my nail polish? It's Atomic Orange, by OPI.

Perilla - NYC

Manhattan summer weekends are great. It's shockingly easy to get into restaurants. We walked in Sunday evening to a 60% full restaurant and opted to sit at the bar. Edamame Falafel, Duck Meatballs, Ricotta Gnudi with some sort of Black Truffle magic, and an amazing Farro Rosotto with Pecorino and Artichoke Confit.

Clinton St. Baking Co.

I hate waiting in lines to get into tiny little restaurants, but fuck this place is good. I'll do it. The Blueberry Pancakes with maple butter were perfect. Alex had the Southern Breakfast: two eggs, cheese grits with chives sprinkled on top, fried green tomatoes and sugar-cured bacon that was as close to meat candy as you can get.

Delfina Pizzeria - San Francisco

I used to not love Pizzeria Delfina and I was especially skeptical, revisiting it after my year of scarfing NY pies. But this was a revolution in my mouth. Prosciutto di Parma, mozzarella di bufala, panna, and arugula. Panna btw, is Italian cream which is whats oozing in this photo. And what it does its make it taste like a mix of carbonara, cacio y pepio, and heaven.

Mercadito - NYC

I found good tacos in NYC. Mercadito Cantina on Avenue B. We ordered 1/4 kilos of all three of their delicious taco meats: carnitas, pulled chicken, and carne asada. All great. each one came with two different salsas, a little bowl of onions, a pile of corn tortillas and a few limes. The ancho was my fave. Smoky tasty. We also had a couple of different guacamoles which were great. And I warshed them down with a perfect Michelada. I give this establishment an A. It is my first good Mexican Food experience in New York that doesn't have to be followed by the words "... for New York."

Camino, Oakland CA

The west coast feeding frenzy continues. Last night was Camino, a restaurant started by one of Alice Waters Chez Panisse disciples. Highlights included crostini with sheepsmilk ricotta, figs and fried herbs, and all these delectable beverages. On the left is some rum ginger mint thing. To the right is tequila reposado with lemon, agave and egg white. Closest to camera is mezcal, apple, lemon and grenadine and my favorite kind of ice cubes. I'd never had mezcal before. It was a little smoky and barnyardy even (if you can say that about liquor). I'm still not sure if I loved it, but it sure was purty.

Mixt Greens San Francisco

Another thing SF has over the NY food scene. Mixt Greens. Where in NY can you get an organic salad piled with pristine seasonal veggies like heirloom tomatoes, in a biodegradable container, for $10?

Yank Sing San Francisco

Their soup dumplings don't compare to Joe's Shanghai in NY, but on a frigid gray windy summer day in SF, they hit the spot.

Dairy Queen - Outer Banks, North Carolina

Thank you North Carolina for not posting caloric info at chain restaurants. Although if they did, this was still worth however many thousand it was. Layers of hot fudge, salty peanuts and vanilla softserve. And as big as Nick's head.

Currituck BBQ - North Carolina

This looks like hot lunch and it kind of was. The plate on the bottom right is a pulled pork/brisket combo. They got my sides completely wrong because I would never order that shit under normal circumstances. Pickled beets and mushy green beans out of a can. But the meats were decent and the cole slaw was pretty good. And anything tastes good with barbeque sauce on it. Holla atcha picnic table.

Joe's Pizza

Sweet redemption. One slice of cheese from Joe's to erase that awful breakfast at Cabrito.

Cabrito

Breakfast FAIL. Alex got owned this morning by a disgusting, sweaty pile of soggy gray tortilla chips soaked in oil and topped with two unset fried eggs and a blob of sour cream.

Degustation

This is the weirdest restaurant we've been in since we moved to New York. It looks like a sushi bar, but Spanish. Like high-end tapas. This blurry mess was a slow-cooked egg in Parmesan broth with chanterelles, matsutaki mushrooms, crispy green onion, asparagus, and pea flowers.

Peep - SoHo

I love having lunch at Peep because their giant plates make me feel like a little kid. Or a midget. The tiny round thing at ten o'clock on my plate is a quarter, just so you can get an idea of scale. The wet, brown stuff on the plate is chicken with basil and chiles and yeah, it was good.

Death and Company

These people know how to make a drink. The tall one is tequila with watermelon and lime juice with a sugar, spice and salt rim. The shorty is tequila, blood orange liquer, red vermouth and molé bitters. They sound pretty fancy, but I'm not embarrassed. They was good, son.

Café Colombé

Double espresso friend me good.

Our apartment

As in the apartment that we live in.
Lemon Gelato made with Lemons, Limoncello and Greek Yogurt.

DBGB

We finally made it. The DB stands for Daniel Bouloud. GB... other than playing off of CBGB, I guess it could mean Gastro Bar? Ok, I'm just making shit up here. But who cares. This was a tasty burger. Also had Duck Meatballs, a chopped salad with watermelon, avocado and a Ginger something something dressing that was very good. Alex had Merguez sausage with yogurt sauce. Also tasty. Ok. I'm not gonna get too philosophical about hamburgers and hot dogs. Shut up and eat.
- Seacrest out.

Big Apple BBQ - Madison Square Park

I don't know if I'd recommend two consecutive BBQ meals, but I inadvertently stumbled upon the Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park Saturday, so it's ok since it wasn't premeditated. Unfortunately, heart disease doesn't make such distinctions. Anyway, the long lines kept me out of trouble. Sadly, they also kept me out of the best BBQ. The line for Salt Lick (Austin, TX) was at least an hour long. And Jim 'N Nick's (Birmingham) wasn't much better. What we ended up with was merely mediocre brisket and pickles from
Wilson's. Take a look. Eh.

Fette Sau - Williamsburg

I think Fette Sau means something not so great in German, but that shouldn't dissuade you. This place is legit. Full on BBQ. Pulled Pork Shoulder, Brisket, Sausage with lots of fennel, and Pork Belly. AND YOU PAY BY THE POUND! Shit.

Back it up with some Gus's Pickles and Sauerkraut, and pretty much everywhere it's gonna be hot.

Calexico

Still the best burrito I've had in manhattan. Speak up if you can beat it. Please. This one is called the Gringo Ground Beef Burrito and it's pretty self-explanatory.

I love the packets of Cholula Sauce. Nice touch.

Australian Homemade

This was some tasty iced cream. I have no complaints about it whatsoever. The pictured cone contains Crunchy Macadamia Nut Ice Cream with Caramel, some of which leaked out and stuck to the back of my hand. I then licked it off my hand, along with some subway germs. And now I have the swine flu. Probably.

Rai Rai Ken

Very good ramen. I didn't really need to order it with extra pork. But I did.

Lulu

Yet another good restaurant within a three-minute walk. And it's sort of cheap. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do much justice to this delicious roaated chicken's meat and root vegetables.

Davey's Hideaway - Palm Springs

I could have fixed the color on this photo, but now that I think of it, this is exactly how I remember it.

Baja Fresh

The showdown. Mama Cholula vs. Carlos Tapatío.

Who will win?