Good Eats in Paradise

We all have those select places in the world that just stay in mind while daydreaming.  I was lucky enough to add another one of those places to my list this year.  That place is the western Hawaiian island of Kauai.   There are multiple reasons why Kauai stands out as a destination for me, but this entry is going to be about the delicious food offered there.  When you come here, come HUNGRY!  The food is great and the portions are HUGE!  

Here are some of my favorites from the 4 day journey across this marvelous island.  

Good ole American cheeseburgers at Bubba Burger.  Accompanied by "Frings", a combo of fries and onion rings.  Yes, it says Frings on the menu - and has apparently saved marriages!

Local Coconut Beer found in the Kapa'a supermarket.

 Breakfast at Kountry Kitchen in Kapa'a - Macadamia pancakes with a side of scrambled eggs and an incredibly delicious papaya.  This picture doesn't do any justice to how delightful that papaya was.

 The traditional Loco Moco breakfast.  Kalua pork, an egg and rice smothered in Gravy.  MMM good!

Ok, so we went just a bit overboard - French Toast, Cornbread and the best Hash Browns I have ever had!  If you are in Kauai make sure you head over to Kountry Kitchen with an empty belly.

Another Best - The best fish taco's I've ever had.  Baja fried fish tacos from Tropical Taco near Hanalei Bay.   

 An up close look after the first bite.

 Also in Hanalei is Tahiti Nui.  The bar that was shot in George Clooney's: The Descendants.  Appetizer was paper thin Tuna Carpaccio.  Eyes rolling to the back of the head GOOD.  

Followed by an Ahi steak entree.  Such a good dinner!

A few of these didn't hurt either!  

The next morning, another huge breakfast in Kapa'a at Ono Family Restaurant

Halo-Halo next door at a little shack - surprisingly amazing!

Island Taco on the West Side of the island in Waimea.  Giant and tasty Ranchero "Wet" Shrimp Burrito.  I was hungry from a morning of exploring and still couldn't polish off this bad boy.  

Also very good Mahi-Mahi tacos.  Again, huge!  

If you're ever in Kauai and hungry stop by at once of these places.  The island isn't that big, so no matter where you are, you won't be far away!

Unique London

I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to like London based off feedback from friends and co-workers who had been there before. The response was all over the place. A couple people loved it, many were neutral, and some didn't like it. The other city we were visiting on this trip was Barcelona which on the other hand had an overwhelming "OH MY GOD YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT" reaction. I ended up loving London! It's huge city that remains friendly and laid back while maintaining a steady pace. We were lucky to have friends who live there and were able to explore beyond the guidebook attractions. Every casual traveler knows the highlights of London: Big Ben, The Eye, Parliament, Tower Bridge etc... which are all beautiful and completely worth seeing. When I travel I always enjoy taking note of the different quirks that each city has to offer. Here are some of unique notes on London:

- Watch out for the pigeons!!!

I'm a New Yorker, I am very familiar with our dirty, ugly sidewalk pets and generally don't enjoy their company. But I have to hand it to the New York birds, they usually give us plenty of room when they fly over our head. Their London counterparts on the other hand will happily graze the scalp of any passerby, possibly as a statement to say "screw you for making me fly out of your way". I constantly found myself challenging the much braver pigeon to a game of chicken. Maybe they're just lazy and don't want to work too hard or maybe they enjoy the excitement of a near collision. Whatever the reason is, I will never take the New York pigeon for granted again.

- Locals don't know street names

A common stereotype about men is that we don't like to ask for directions. I on the other hand enjoy asking for directions, it gives me an excuse to approach a local and the information that they share could prove to be extremely worthwhile. So whenever we were lost in the somewhat confusing streets of London we would ask away. There was only one problem. Nobody else in the city knew where we were going either! Our first night after 8 hours of traveling, standing outside of massive Victoria Station we started pestering strangers about where nearby Belgrave Road was, with no luck. We eventually walked in the right direction and realized we were only a block away. On our last night we got off at the confusing Bank street station in East London and once again were determined to ask anyone walking by for assistance. A few I don't knows - some rushed and some patient, but thankfully a knowledgeable police officer pointed us in the right direction. Police officers actually seemed to be the best people to ask. I asked a cop in a snazzy BMW 5 series where Lisle street was. He had no idea, but helped out by typing it into his high tech GPS system, that did the trick!

- If you're hungry late at night ... go to sleep!

It was our first night in London and we were starving! It was just after 10PM. Ok, let's explore the neighborhood, there has to be a nearby pub open, I thought out loud. Thankfully there was an open pub a few streets down, only problem was their kitchen was closed! We looked at each other in surprise, it was a Friday night for crying out loud. It was the same story at the next few pubs we strolled into. What the hell! We walked over to the area next to the theatre, and our stomach's prayers were answered, as there was a restaurant filled with people eating! We asked the incredibly nice Spanish waitress why this was the only place open at the hour. "We're only open because of the theater next door, this is London!" We explained that we were from New York and that this felt odd. Sunday night after a failed attempt to get into club that required a passport (must have been some new foreign country) we once again found ourselves hungry. The only place open was McDonald's - and damn the place was popping! I swore off Micky D's two years ago but had to give in and chowed down on nuggets. Not a proud moment.

- Look Left! Look Right!

The big white letters at each street corner spelling out either LOOK LEFT or LOOK RIGHT with arrows pointing direction are lifesavers! I'm a fast walker and a pro at navigating Manhattan crosswalks. It's so natural to look the correct way and boldly cross. One simple difference in London, all traffic drives on the left. It seems like something easy to get accustomed to but it really isn't. I'm sure we weren't the first people to realize this, and the city decided to do something about it. I wonder how many mowed down tourists it took to get these implemented, but I'm happy that they are a permanent part of the bustling streets.

- Londoners love New Yorkers!

I'm a big fan of accents. I think they're incredibly interesting and often times I wonder how they became established. British accents are one of my favorites along with Australian. I was amazed by how many Londoners loved my New York accent and the fact that I lived in the city. Some people's eyes lit up and gave me a huge smile upon hearing this news. "Oh my god, I've never been to New York City" a young lady at the counter of a diner said. "I always here about the beautiful buildings, all of my friends love it" she continued. She wasn't the only one, many people that we met across London expressed their love for New York. I wonder how people would react if they said they were from LA or Boston. Would they get the same positive reaction from being from the states? Or is it purely a New York obsession? My vote is for the latter.

- The food is good in London

A few people warned me about the food in London, claiming that it was nothing special. An English guy in a Queens ice cream shop even told me to bring my own food. I enjoyed the food scene in London. It was diverse and had all the options to satisfy any eater. Again, we had the luxury of having local friends who took us to some of their favorite spots, so we cheated a little. One highlight was an Indian restaurant called Masala Zone. They have a few locations across the city, but we chose the location in the heart of Covent Garden. Their specialty was the Grand Thali, where customers choose their curry with multiple side dishes including potatoes, lentils, rice, veggies and sauces. We added a fantastic naan with almonds, soaking it in sauce as a delicious end to the meal. The pub scene is great for food and they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. The "traditional English breakfast" was particularly enjoyable and only cost around 5 pounds. It consisted of fried eggs, big slabs of bacon (unlike thinner American style), sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and if you're lucky black pudding in the center.

London is a great city, and has the quirkiness, unique flaws and misconceptions that any other city in the world has. There is still so much more to explore and discover, but keep these things in mind once you visit for the first time. I'm sure you will find your own unique London!

Escaping the city while staying within its limits

Often times I want to leave the hustle and bustle that makes New York City "the city that never sleeps". It doesn't have to be long, as a typical weekend for a 9-5er like me usually doesn't allow for extended travel. A road trip to the beach or the country for a hike perhaps in another state is always nice. But on days when I want to escape without actually leaving the 5 boroughs I visit Red Hook.

Red Hook is a "coastal" Brooklyn neighborhood with a relaxed vibe and numerous local hangouts. Many Brooklynites make the venture east of booming Park Slope to roam around the giant shopping options in the area such as Ikea and Fairway. While these are valid reasons to make the trip, it's the peace and quiet, delicious local eats, friendly faces and awesome views that keep louring me back over.

Here are a few of my picks for how to spend the day in Red Hook





Lunch at the ball park food trucks while watching soccer.

By far my favorite thing about Red Hook, the ball park food trucks are a summer staple to satisfy the loyal soccer lovers who come out to the park to root their local teams on. The trucks, lined up along Bay and Clinton street offer numerous delicious Latin American specialties. My ideal meal is a pork pupusa with a side of fried plantains covered in sour cream, a grilled corn and a pineapple juice. The prices are extremely reasonable, with this mammoth of a lunch costing around $16. There are picnic tables nearby in the park where patrons comfortably chow down while enjoying the game. I found out the hard way that the trucks are only here on the weekend.



Enjoying city views in peace and quiet

Situated directly on the East River, Red Hook boasts sweeping views of the city. Look one way you see the Statue of Liberty. Turn your head to the left and you see the Verranzano Bridge jetting across into the flatness of Staten Island. Turn your head to the right and admire the downtown Manahttan skyline. The best part about these fantastic views is that they are yours to enjoy with minimal distractions. There simply aren't many people around. Walk behind the massive Fairway, past the ferry dock there is a small park with a couple of benches to sit and enjoy in peace.



Eating my way down Van Brunt Street

The food scene in Red Hook is booming and Van Brunt street is home to a couple gems. The first is the Red Hook Lobster Pound. This small shack has plenty of fresh lobsters chilling in their tanks waiting to be served in a few different ways. The lobster roll, served either hot with butter or cold with mayo is my snack of choice here. Generous chunks of juicy sweet claw and tail are piled onto these bad boys and go best with a Maine soda & chips. The friendly family owned atmosphere is extremely welcoming and they have an awesome indoor space next door with large picnic tables.

A few blocks further south on Van Brunt lies Red Hook Mercado which I stumbled into. The "market" is an urban courtyard transformed into an inviting local hangout with different options for the average hungry passerby. The vendors inside change weekly, with specific ball park trucks represented. The weekend I visited there were also local cupcakes and beer to choose from. It quickly became clear to me that this was a spot where everybody knew each other and almost felt like a backyard family barbecue. Like the ball park trucks, this place is only open on the weekend.



Neighborhood Flea Markets

The reason I stumbled upon Red Hook in the first place was because of the first ever neighborhood flea market. There were vague guidelines, but with some strong social media advertising word quickly spread about a range of streets participating in the event. It was a great way to force myself to walk down unassuming streets I probably would have quickly driven by. I didn't buy anything, but it was nice exploring and talking with residents of a neighborhood I was quickly becoming fond of.

What is your getaway within your own city limits? Please share in the comments section!! :)

Photo Essay: Eating with the locals in Manila

During my 2 week stay in Manila I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to chow down on some amazing authentic Filipino cuisine, snacks and drinks. Here is a photo essay highlighting a few of my favorites through out the journey:

Mister Donut, a nice cheap snack found in the neighborhood Quezon City supermarket.

Delicious home made pork & chicken fried Shanghai (Lumpia). I always smiled when I saw this tasty treat coming out onto the table.

Mini keg of refreshing San Miguel Light, the beer of choice through out Manila.

A little Buko Pandan from Max's to cleanse the palate after a large meal.


This dish was awaiting us as a welcoming to our new living quarters, awesome home made stuffed crabs.

Some more San Mig light, in a different form. Manila loves to drink beer and party!!

Nothing like coming home to some fresh squid after wandering around Quezon City.


When roaming around Manila on an empty stomach a stop at a local Dampa is necessary . A Dampa is a fresh seafood market with an attached restaurant. Customers select their desired seafood and tell the staff how they would like it prepared. Here are a few shots of our lunch at a Dampa located in the Baclaran section of Metro Manila.

Fresh fish waiting their turn to be chosen and served to hungry patrons.


Starting off with some cool green mangoes. A perfect first course during this hot November afternoon.

Buttered prawns. These peel and eat delights were worth the mess.


My favorite dish of the afternoon, clam soup.


The entire family enjoying lunch. Sweet and sour fried Lapu Lapu fish in the center of the table.


Full stomachs after this hearty meal.

Hopefully you won't be starving after reading this post. Have you ever tried Filipino food? If so, what are some of your favorites???

Discovering Local Boston Eats

A mere 3.5 hour drive from NYC, Boston is a charming little city with a lot of activities to offer tourists. The question I wanted to answer with a hands on approach was, where can I find some good freaking food???

My travel mate who joined me during this trip, Josh, is a native "Cambridgian" (my unofficial nickname for Cambridge residents), whose family was nice enough to house us for our weekend visit - woohoo!! More $$ to spend on the eating situation!!! It's always a pleasure to explore town with a local, as getting lost on the "T" subway system was no longer a concern.

This trip was a quick one due to time constraints thanks to my 40 hour work week lifestyle. Arriving Friday night at Midnight and staying until Sunday evening, time was somewhat limited. Luckily wandering around new surroundings makes me hungry, and allowed me to indulge in some local Boston eateries.

Saturday started off deliciously, as Josh's parents whipped up an amazing hearty breakfast consisting of large buttermilk waffles, scrumptious crispy home fry style potatoes and yummy bacon. Talk about the good life! I personally enjoy breaking up the bacon into pieces on top of the waffle. There's something amazing about those crispy, porky and syrupy bites that wows my taste buds. With a full and happy stomach, I was off to explore Beantown.

After a surprisingly fast and simple 3 transfer train ride from Cambridge via the T, we arrived in downtown Boston. The first stop was spending a few hours at the popular New England Aquarium, which lived up to its high expectations, but looking at all of the seafood - um I mean sea creatures was making me hungry! It was time for a lobster roll.

Quincy Market was a short walk from the aquarium, and a nice way to avoid the bitter weather to enjoy some indoor eating. The specific part of the market we entered had tons of choices as we passed pizza, Chinese food and steak sandwiches among others, but my growling stomach passed the memo to the brain that Lobster roll was the way to go. I decided to try New England Chowda Co. as they had a great special offering their large lobster roll along with a small soup & soda for $15. Within a minute I was presented with the entire plate of seafood. It certainly looked large at first glance, but I quickly noticed that the "roll" took up a lot more space than the chunks of lobster inside of it.

The meat had decent flavor, but was heavily coated with excessive mayo through out. There was also a couple lettuce leaves on the sandwich which I instantly removed. Each bite had too much bread to lobster ratio for my liking. Oh well, not every place in Boston is going to make an amazing roll. The Lobster Bisque on the other hand was tasty. I should have been a little weary with the emphasis placed on "Chowder" in the name. When it was all said and done I finished the entire roll without problem. I mean come on its lobster on a bun, how bad can it get???

Later that night it was off to Somerville, a 10 minute drive from Cambridge for a barbecue adventure at Red Bones, one of Josh's favorite local spots. This place was popping! We arrived around 8:30 and were placed on the waiting list where our party of 7 found ourselves with 90 minutes to kill. Luckily Davis Square, which was the area of Somerville we were in had plenty of bars and cafes on its strip. We chose the laid back Diesel Cafe to sip on some coffee and shoot some pool for the fair price of $8 an hour.

The time passed by fast and before we knew it our table was ready to go. We sat downstairs where a pretty big and loud crowd was drinking, double fisted style at the bar and an equally large amount of people were chomping on ribs at their picnic style tables.


The menu was huge and had so many tasty sounding items for all meat lovers to choose from. I decided to go with a special 1/2 order of Memphis style ribs and 1/2 order of St.Louis style ribs with sides of coleslaw and onion strings. Memphis and St. Louis were two towns that I couldn't argue with when discussing ribs, thus making my choice simple.

We started out with some cornbread, to warm up our jaws for the excessive amounts chewing that was about to come. A sweet offering and well deserved after an hour and half wait.

In a few short minutes the waitress came out of the kitchen with piled high plates of meat, and was heading in our direction. My smile grew bigger and bigger with each step closer she walked. $19 bought me a HUGE plate of ribs along with generous sides. I was very glad I ordered 1/2 of each kind which allowed for variation. 4 types of bbq sauce accompanied the meal - bold, hot, sweet and a strange looking fourth that I stayed away from. The Memphis style were bigger and meatier and went great with the bold and hot sauces. The St. Louis were a bit smaller with a dark and delicious coat of smoked goodness on top. Alternating between the two allowed me to have the best of both worlds. The big pile of napkins to my right became my best friend, as my face was smothered with barbecue after each rib.

The coleslaw was a great refresher in between meat and fried onion bites. The onion strings themselves were an amazing complement, sliced ultra thin and battered just right. I made the mistake (which I felt later on) of over stuffing myself with Red Bones' goodness. As the pictures tell, this was an enormous plate of food. I finished all but 3 ribs and left a little coleslaw underneath. I happily finished my leftovers for dinner the next day. Red Bones is a must stop for any rib lover wandering through Boston. I know I will always go back if in the area.

Sunday morning ... err afternoon we decided to stay local in Cambridge and walked down to bustling Harvard Square. Vietnamese was on the agenda for lunch, and Le's restaurant in the center of the square came highly recommended. Le's was a spacious place with plenty of room left for the straggling early Sunday afternoon crowd. For some reason I do not often eat Vietnamese, which is something that should change!!! For appetizers the table shared spring rolls, both crispy fried along with the healthier alternative, summer.

I only sampled the fried rolls, which had a perfect crisp to them with the standard pork and vegetable interior. As far as the entree, my brain appeared to think much larger than my stomach, as I boldly ordered the large Pho Ga (Chicken Noodle Soup, as the menu read). A no frills choice, I know ... but it's good for the soul, right??

Le's does not mess around when they say large! This bowl was enormous, and filled so high with broth that it hid the noodles deep below. I was very satisfied with my super-sized portion of Pho Ga. I mixed a couple of the bright red hot sauces from the center of the table to add a little flare and spice to the dish - which after a couple of coughing chokes was successful. I tried really hard, but could not finish the entire bowl. Next time I will order the medium. We took a couple of addicting Vietnamese Ice Coffee's to go which served as a sweet little dessert to take around town. Beware though, you will crave these suckers after a few harmless first sips.

Even though I hate the Red Sox, Bruins and Bill Belichek's Patriots I have to admit I really like the city of Boston. Smaller, cleaner and less crowded then my beloved NYC, Boston packs a lot of personality to go along with its good food. As always the case, traveling around with locals is the best way to find good eats and hangouts and this experience was no different.