Digest
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Will Owen has been searching for the One Perfect Burger for years, and recently gave the buffalo burger at Cafe Surfas a shot at the title: “It damn near made me weep with joy, only I was too busy eating it. The meat had huge flavor; the seasoning of whatever that sauce is was brilliant, being fresh and spicy and comforting all at once.” It comes with a pile of homemade pickle chips with lots of coriander seed.
The meat is not super juicy, and it’s a little chewy. It is buffalo meat, after all. Will Owen was surprised how little he minded the drier texture. “The flavor was just so good it flattened any other consideration.” It is, he says, the best lean burger he’s ever tasted. “I don’t see how it can get any better.” The burger is $11.86 with tax, a serious value for such a superior contender according to Will Owen.
The Kobe hot dog with grainy mustard and sauerkraut is also worth a trip, says maudies5, and latindancer favors Surfas’s “ultimate” grilled cheese: “It’s the best grilled cheese I’ve had in a long time,” says latindancer of the sharp cheddar and blue cheese on fine raisin bread, cooked on a panini grill.
Cafe Surfas is a small addendum to Surfas, a well-known gourmet restaurant supply store.
Cafe Surfas [Westside – Inland]
8777 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
310-558-1458
Board Link: Surfas burger revisited: THIS could be IT!
Posted
on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
by C. Thi Nguyen in Los Angeles Digest |
More like this: buffalo burger, cafe surfas, grilled cheese, los angeles area, Restaurants and Bars, surfas
One of the best choices for Mexican food Westside is Pili’s Tacos. Go for the exotic meats, suggests Porthos. Cabeza is the star. “Wow,” says Porthos. “Just a rich mix of the fatty and flavorful parts around the head. Superb.” Porthos also recommends the lengua (tongue), moist al pastor, and tender carnitas.
The pozole is a home run, too: “Rich doesn’t describe how flavorful and good this soup was. It was chock full of pork meat, fat, and hominy,” says Porthos.
Tacos are mostly $1.50, except for goat, which is $1.60, and fish, which is $2.50. Hounds report there’s one person doing the cooking and serving in a tiny space, so if there’s a line it will take a while.
Pili’s Tacos [Westside – Beaches]
11924 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles
310-820-3109
Board Link: Serious Mexican Westside- Pili’s Taco
Posted
on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
by C. Thi Nguyen in Los Angeles Digest |
More like this: los angeles area, mexican, pili's tacos, Restaurants and Bars
It’s Scandinavian Festival time again. This year it’s at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, on Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19. WildSwede goes every year. He recommends getting lefse (a soft Norwegian flatbread), which is difficult and time-consuming to make, and aebleskivers, round Danish dough balls often stuffed with apple slices. There’s also a meal plate with everything: meatballs, potatoes, lefse. Hey, stay all day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served at the fest.
Board Link: Scandinavian Festival @ Cal Lutheran 4/18 & 19
Posted
on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
by C. Thi Nguyen in Los Angeles Digest |
More like this: aebleskiver, lefse, los angeles area, Restaurants and Bars, scandinavian festival
Defonte’s has been slinging sandwiches in Brooklyn since 1922, and that’s long enough to get it right. Now it’s brought its hound-beloved Italian heros to Manhattan at a new shop near Gramercy Park.
guttergourmet recommends the signature hot roast beef sandwich: rare meat, sliced to order, with fresh house-made mozzarella and eggplant fried to the crunch point. He’s also sampled fried shrimp, served only on Fridays and Saturdays. “They’d stand up to the best shrimp po’ boy I’ve had in New Orleans, another city where the Italian amore still exists,” he says. And off the menu, jon advises, there’s a great egg and mozzarella sandwich, a few bucks cheaper than the other breakfast choices.
guttergourmet—a connoisseur of New York hero haunts past (Rosario’s, DiBella Brothers) and present (Alidoro, Biellese, Mike’s Deli)—has somehow never managed to visit the original Defonte’s. “My loss, but the new Manhattan branch has brought that old NYC Italian love on a roll with them,” he writes.
Defonte’s Sandwich Shop [Gramercy]
261 Third Avenue (at E. 21st Street), Manhattan
212-614-1500
Board Links: Defonte’s-To hell with Quiznos, Subway and Blimpie
defonte’s coming to nyc?
Defonte’s of Brooklyn opens in Manhattan
Posted
on Monday, March 30th, 2009
by Mark Hokoda in Manhattan Digest |
More like this: defonte, defonte's, deli, hero, Manhattan Digest, Restaurants and Bars, sandwiches, subs
Boston Jerk Cuisine had Jim Leff sold from the first bite. “I’m totally in love,” swoons Jim, who describes beautifully smoked jerk pork and chicken. But the best thing he had there was rigatoni with smoky jerk chicken in creamy sauce. “Sounds awful,” he allows. “It is pure heaven, a culinary miracle.”
Boston Jerk Cuisine [Bronx]
3377 Boston Road (near E. 213th Street), Bronx
718-881-8102
Board Link: Boston Jerk Cuisine (Great Jamaican in North Bronx)
Posted
on Monday, March 30th, 2009
by Mark Hokoda in Outer Boroughs Digest |
More like this: boston jerk cuisine, jamaican, jerk, Outer Boroughs Digest, Restaurants and Bars
The Mediterranean menu at Trigo ranges from small plates to big ones, but fans keep coming back to the irresistible flatbread starters. DavyTheFatBoy singles out the onion tart, accented with tangy cheese, a hint of Middle Eastern spice, and a tasty green apple salad. “This is something I’d get hungry for,” he says. westchesterdiner goes for taleggio and garlic.
Beyond flatbread, hounds recommend marinated olives, pickled pumpkin, and saffron pappardelle with lobster and tomato confit, which westchesterdiner considers one of her “desert island” dishes. And for dessert, Davy suggests trying the doughnut-like chocolate bomboloni or fennel cake with lemon mousse and strawberries.
“Overall this was the most interesting and pleasing assortment of flavors I’ve had recently,” he adds, “and nothing was forced, it just worked.”
Trigo [Tribeca]
263 W. Broadway (at Sixth Avenue), Manhattan
212-925-1600
Board Links: Trigo - some very appealing flavors
Best New Restaurant in Tribeca? - Trigo!
Posted
on Monday, March 30th, 2009
by Mark Hokoda in Manhattan Digest |
More like this: Manhattan Digest, mediterranean, Restaurants and Bars, trigo
The chicken gyro wrap is “insanely good” at Real Doner (Gyro) in Petaluma, says audacious, who also praises the “mouthwatering” rice and the “zesty” salad. This tip hasn’t gone unnoticed, resulting in a hefty thread on its “destination worthy” Turkish food and an investigation as to whether the Real Doner (Gyro) in Petaluma has any relation to the “dear departed” hound favorite Real Gyro (formerly in Santa Rosa).
First, the food:
• rworange had a beef doner wrap, which was huge with “lovingly wrapped, generous, deeply beefy meat, pickled red cabbage, chopped tomatoes, a bit of chopped lettuce, a wonderful sauce. There were layers of flavor … a little garlic here and there.” It comes with a few different pickled sides and a piece of feta.
• chilihead2006 tried the lamb and beef doner platter and a grilled kofte platter and says, “Even the rice had stuff going on … looked like pieces of rice noodle mixed in there. The yogurt sauce with dill was most excellent … I could have eaten it with a spoon. Tasted just like somebody might make you at home. That is, somebody with a passion for good cooking.”
• Melanie Wong ordered the adana kebap sandwich on pide bread, with meat that was “perfectly grilled with a dark char yet still juicy and moist inside” and a “pinkish yogurt sauce served on the side spiced with [a] unique blend of dill and red pepper paste.”
As for being related to the old Real Gyro? Sort of. Melanie Wong asked a familiar face what was up, and found out that the chef at Real Doner (Gyro) is Joe Besir, the brother of Vahit Besir, former chef of Real Gyro in Santa Rosa, and currently at Eden’s Turkish Food in San Francisco.
Real Doner (Gyro) [North Bay]
307 F Street, Petaluma
707-765-9555
Eden’s Turkish Food [Tenderloin]
552 Jones Street, San Francisco
415-928-1966
Board Links: Petaluma: Real Doner (Gyro) is destination worthy … amazing great
Real Gyro Re-Opens . . . and the rest of the story
SF: Eden’s Restaurant - Chef Vahit Besir found … heavenly Halal lamb and beef gyros
Posted
on Friday, March 27th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: eden's turkish food, real doner, real gyro, Restaurants and Bars, san francisco bay area
larochelle just shared the scoop on a new Mission-based push cart serving Thai curry. Magic Curry Kart seems to be based around Linda and 19th streets, and serves red or green curry with chicken or tofu for five bucks. Bonus: Now you can actually find the mobile operation since its location is being posted to a Twitter stream called Magic Curry Man. The Magic Man also writes some pretty funny things like “Can’t focus all i can think about is magic curry…” and “the magic curry man is trying to motivate for an 8 mile run.”
Magic Curry Kart [Mission]
Location varies
No phone number available
Board Link: Magic Curry Kart
Posted
on Friday, March 27th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: curry cart, magic curry kart, nonstaurants, Restaurants and Bars, san francisco bay area
Besides the fact that Sahn Maru Korean BBQ serves up good kimchee chigae and yukejang, lucymom likes it because it offers a tray of Korean food for toddlers. Just ask for the baby meal, and the restaurant will bring it out before the other food arrives—a nice service for parents who don’t want hungry kids to get cranky.
lucymom says the baby meal consists of me yuk gook (seaweed soup), rice, steamed eggs, broccoli, and candied potatoes, all served on a “Hello Kitty–like tray.” “It’s typical to dump the rice into the [soup] and this is what I do and my son who is 2 will actually eat this!” adds lucymom. Cvhound says that “most Korean kids love this soup.”
Sahn Maru Korean BBQ [East Bay]
4315 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland
510-653-3366
Board Link: Bay Area Korean recap
Posted
on Friday, March 27th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: barbecue, barbeque, bbq, children, kids, korean, Restaurants and Bars, sahn maru, san francisco bay area
A perfect sunny side up egg with nicely set, tender whites and a runny yolk, is a beautiful thing. It can be maddeningly difficult to achieve, however. alanbarnes has discoved one way to do it: He poured a fairly deep puddle of bacon fat (you can also use normal oil) into a skillet over low heat and broke the eggs in so that the fat came up over the whites, and the yolk sat above it. “Quite a bit of oil needed to be drained off before the eggs were served,” says alanbarnes, “but that’s why God put slots in spatulas, right?” Karl S says that this is how fried eggs are done in Europe, and adds that you should allow the eggs to float in the oil.
Chowhounds have other strategies for setting the egg whites without overcooking the yolks. You can baste the whites with hot oil from the pan to promote even cooking, says KTinNYC. Once the whites begin to firm up, JalamaMama adds a couple of teaspoons of water to the pan and puts a lid on it. “Maybe 3–4 minutes later I have a perfect egg—runny yolk yet firm whites,” she says. Joebob pokes slits in the whites with a spatula so the uncooked white can hit the pan and cook.
Board Link: The pefect fried egg (why did it take me 30 years to figure this out?)
Posted
on Thursday, March 26th, 2009
by Caitlin McGrath in Home Cooking Digest |
More like this: eggs, Food and Cooking, Home Cooking Digest, sunny side up
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