food panda

Les Délices de l'Erable It's our last day in Montreal, and the last meal that awaited my buddies and I would be the main reason I had suggested Canadian trip in the first place, Au Pied de Cochon. Since we had to finish the smoked meat plate from Schwartz from the night before for breakfast, none of us were hungry and would rather save our appetite for the foie gras feast that awaited, thus we stopped by this rather lovely gelato and maple syrup shop while we were strolling around the streets of Montreal. Inside Les Délices de l'Erable This was a very clean and neat shop. You were able to not only purchase the various flavors of gelato available, but also maple syrup to take home. I would have to say though, an French speaking Asian girl was pretty hot! Various Flavors of Gelato While it may not be the best gelato I've ever had, it was definitely very good. One of the flavor I chose was maple syrup and I love the flavors in the gelato. Even though the temperature in Mon...

Pinxo After our quick snack earlier at L'Express, we headed to our late night tapas reservation at Pinxo since our earlier walk in attempt was a fail. With the pleasant description on Lonely Planet Montreal and Quebec City we went in with pretty decent expectation of good food. Cava Codorniu Since we were at a Spanish tapas place, we figured it's appropriate to start off with sangria, but to our dismay, we didn't see any sangria options on the menu. After flagging down a server, we were told Pinxo does not serve sangria. "WTF??" I thought, so after going over the wine list, I picked out a bottle of cava. I liked the cava, it's refreshing, as always, but I wanted my damn sangria. Fail. When people ask me, how do you manage to remember meals from a year ago? Usually, looking at the picture will help me remember the taste and my reaction to the dishes. Sadly, this was one of the few times I might have to go with a picture rundown of the meal my friends and I ha...

Pimm's No. 1 (Found at Test Kitchen: Red Medicine) Recently, Los Angeles has been a mecca for pop up restaurants, highlighted by the Ludobites series that's been going on for the past year plus. Now comes a series of pop up chefs showcasing their talents, located at Test Kitchen, which is the brainchild of one Brian Saltsburg , whom I had the privilege of meeting on a trip to Tijuana last year. First up at the Test Kitchen would be one Jordan Kahn showcasing his upcoming restaurant venture, Red Medicine, a Vietnamese influenced restaurant. 1. RADISHES - coco-butter, lime, dried soy A simple, refreshing appetizer of radishes mixed with a coconut butter to give it a much needed richness to the dish. The dish itself was fine, but I was ready with the next course. 2. cured AMBERJACK - lime leaf, french melon, nuoc cham, bird chili, mint A much stronger dish than the aforementioned radishes dish. I enjoyed the sweetness of the melon mixed with the amberjack that was infused with th...

Burt's Place When one speaks of food in the Windy City of Chicago, the first thing that comes to mind tends to be its famous deep dish pizza. When one talks about the deep dish, Giordano, Ginos East, Uno, or Lou Malnati tends to be the popular picks. However, after watching the clip from Anthony Bourdain's trip to Chicago, I knew I had to try the deep dish pizza from Burt's Place. More so in fact, after hearing Burt state: "I'm 71 for christ sake and still working like a dumbass." He seemed to be a character! After reading more about Burt's Place, I learned you MUST call in ahead (a day ahead would be best) and place an order (ie: size of pizza & toppings), otherwise they'll likely turn you away at the door, which I saw at least two times during my meal. With that knowledge in hand, I called and ordered a Large with spinach, sausage, mushroom, and onions. Since it's my first meal after landing at O'Hare, I eagerly awaited this meal! Large...