ABC Kitchen + more Stumptown

This is the mocha I'm drinking to follow our lunch at ABC Kitchen and prepare for our dinner at The Dutch.

Neglected to take pics at ABC but the avocado and roasted carrot salad was NYC dining at its best.

Getting fatter by the minute.

Clinton Street Baking Co

We are back in NYC to eat our faces off for three days. Fresh off the redeye this morning, we downed two Stumptown lattes, a Donut Plant spiced pear donut, and a spread at Clinton St -where the sugar cured bacon and biscuits nearly made my brains fall out. Latkes shown were meh, and per usual with my lame ordering. But was feeling all Hannukah-y I guess.

La Torta Sabrosa - Mission, SF

Mijita - SF Ferry Building

So I'm not writing this to rave about Mijita—it's a little place, that due to its great location, tends to be a little overpriced. That said, the food is solid. But the reason I'm here is because Mijita sold me my first torta. I don't know how it is that I'd never eaten a torta before. They have always been there, lurking at the bottom of every taqueria menu. I just never felt like sacrificing my burrito to try one. It was amazing. Small, but amazing. A toasty little bun filled with beans, carnitas, cheese, shredded cabbage and a little crema. Damn. It would have been perfect if there had been three of them.

La Torta Gorda - Mission, SF

I think of this meal as the second date of my new love affair with tortas—delicious, toasty Mexican sandwiches. The first was from Mijita, which I'll post next, out of order. Anyway, we had a couple different tortas. One was a shredded, marinated pork which was not unlike a pulled pork sandwich. Decent, but lacked something. The other was Al Pastor, which was the winner. Spicy, marinated pork with little chunks of pineapple piled onto a torta bun and pressed in a grill to make it crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. If I had to rate this one, I'd give it a 3 out of 5. It was good, but I know there are better things to come. Soon.

Kung Fu Tacos - SF

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.