ROC - Lanai

I’m everywhere this summer, it’s the summer Emily travels and it’s a little tiring but I’m getting the most out of it for sure. I’m back in Rochester from that week in Bolton Landing and I’m ready to see some friends. I meet up with Victoria again and she’s agreed to go to the Seneca Park Zoo - August Zoo Brew with me where we drink beer/wine and walk around looking at all the animals. It’s a really great event the Zoo puts on as a fundraiser for specific animals each month and the first time either of us have gone. After a lap and a drink, we decide to go out for dinner and try yet another new place that’s sprung up while I was away in Chicago.

LOCATION: 295 Alexander St. Rochester, NY 14607

I’ve heard of this place being known well for it’s frozen alcoholic slushies which sound amazing to me but I’m driving and have a super low tolerance so after one drink and a lap around the zoo to walk it off I’ve decided to skip out on it this time, instead taking a few sips of Victoria’s drink and getting ready to eat to my heart’s content.

Our waitress tonight is super nice and helpful for our first visit here. Downstairs is the bar area and I’ve been to this place before when it was previously Mex, a Mexican themed restaurant that had killer margaritas back in my RIT days. Now it’s taken on a new shape as an Hawaiian tapas place with amazing alcoholic slushies. There’s a demographic their aiming for and I think they’ve hit it. We head upstairs instead to sit down at a table and while the dining area is pretty large and consists of a few different rooms, we are one of two or three tables eating. I guess everyone else is downstairs getting ready to drink.

Victoria is great and we go family style which is what this place is kind of known for with their tapas. I love trying a bunch of different dishes so tapas is like home to me and I’m super pumped by these Hawaiian inspired dishes. We order Mauna Pua which are Barbecue char sui pork in a sweet bun, Larb - a seasoned ground pork appetizer with lime and fresh herbs over lettuce, and Tofu Jap Chae which is a sweet and savory Korean noodle dish with spinach, mushroom, onion, red pepper, and carrot.

This asian blend speaks to us and we get super pumped to try it all and everything ends up being super amazing. Nothing is terribly out of left field and I feel like I’ve had these dishes before. The price range is great for the amount of food we’re getting and it’s actually really great bar food as well that soaks up alcohol and is super quick to make. We clear off a lot and end up taking a couple small boxes home with us. The Larb is plentiful and I wish it came with a couple more pieces of lettuce to eat it with but that’s easily fixed at home. The Mauna Pua is well balanced but I love those buns plain so I’m not hard to please and the Jap Chae is a great addition to round out or meal. I’d for sure some back again and enjoy the experience a lot, but maybe not on a Friday Night when the bars are about the get busy and parking get trickier with all the college kids coming in. I mean, I used to be one of them.

BOLTON - New Way Lunch

It’s 4th of July season and we’re back in Bolton Landing to celebrate on the lake with Caleb’s family. It’s a week of relaxing, boat rides, and a big family bbq one the 4th followed by fireworks. Caleb grew up in the area so we tend to drive a little bit out of the way to avoid all the tourists that hit in the summertime especially around the 4th. So he decided to take me to New Way Lunch in Warrensberg.

LOCATION: 3748 Main St. Warrensburg, NY 12885

Everything in this area of the Adirondacks is cute and small and family owned and New Way is no different. It’s a small building with a handful of tables and locals that know everyone else in the place. Any time we go anywhere Caleb points out someone he went to high school with or knows from working at all the local restaurants and boat shops. Everyone has their order ready to go without a menu so whenever I’m out, people know I’m not a local (not that being the only Asian in a sea of white people wasn’t a dead giveaway either).

New Way is known for their signature hot dogs and they’re a quick order. Right from the counter theres a little glass window where a local kid is warming up dogs and making orders. This is one of those places where people order two or three dogs and call it a day so I decide I’m going to be like a local and try one out. Caleb, on the other hand doesn’t really eat hot dogs so he goes with his standard Chicken Philly with french fries. '

The New Way Lunch Hot Dog is ‘World Famous since 1919’ and comes with mustard, onions, and a special signature meat sauce all for $1.65. At least I’m a cute cheap date. I order one without mustard (sorry, no condiments for me) and a small side of onion rings because Caleb says’s they’re great and once I get onion rings in my head they sound too good to not order.

The onion rings are perfect and are even served in a cute little fry basket meant for me. This hot dog smells amazing and I’m not disappointed at all. Everything is so simple and tastes amazing. I guess when you’ve been around for 100 years family owned, you get some things right. This doesn’t look like much food but I’m adequately filled. I was always a hamburger kid growing up but these hot dogs are growing on me hard core and I’m okay with that. New Way just might be a new favorite and a tradition I’ll have to make Caleb start with me anytime we come back to visit his family.

ROC - Taisho Bistro

I’m back in Rochester for a little while and ever since Christel and I got back from LA I’ve been craving Takoyaki like no other. Unfortunately for me, it’s much harder to find it in Rochester than it is in LA but after a little yelping, it’s time to try Taisho Bistro.

LOCATION: 100 Marketplace Dr. Henrietta, NY 14623

New restaurants have been popping up since I’ve been away in Chicago and Taisho is one of them for me. I set up a little date with my friend Victoria and we decide to meet up here. Victoria and I have been friends since high school and while she’s not crazy about octopus she’s down to try new places and enjoys asian food in general. We get to Taisho and the menu is vast. We each order our own main dishes but I add the Takoyaki that I’ve been dreaming about.

As I’ve mentioned in past posts, Takoyaki is a light batter thats cooked into a little ball form with other ingredients mixed in. Taisho Bistro markets theirs as “Osaka Style octopus ball with takoyaki sauce and mayo sauce” so this is made with green onions and the standard batter and octopus.

I had Victoria try one but she’s not a fan of octopus and didn’t make it through. I do appreciate her open mind and willingness to try something even though she has an aversion to one of the ingredients. She’s a champ.

This of course meant that I’d be eating 5 takoyaki balls with my meal but you get what you ask for and after months of craving this I wasn’t complaining. While it’s no TaNoTa, it wasn’t bad for Rochester and it hit the sweet spot of my craving for sure. The takoyaki was hot and still soft on the inside with really hearty bites of octopus cut inside. When I’m craving it again, I have a place to hit up on hand.

BOSTON - Cape Cod - Plymouth

I have been taken on a tour of Plymouth because apparently this is where my Aunt and Uncle lived when they had my first cousin 30 years ago. So historical. We took a drive around to see their old house and to check in with some family friends who have absolutely no idea who I am.

I had no clue that this is where they used to live, growing up everyone always just said Boston but had I known they lived closer to the Cape Cod area I would’ve had a different vision of their life. This place is of course beautiful and pretty tourist-y. Right on the water, there’s tons of little shops with souvenir t-shirts and ice cream stands. I love these kinds of places.

LOCATION: 15 Town Pier Plymouth, MA 02360

My Aunt loves seafood and neither of my cousins can stand it, so ever since I was little it was a treat when I would visit because she would have a seafood buddy to enjoy food with. My Uncle is impartial and enjoys it but doesn’t quite hit our excitement level. We walk into Wood’s Seafood on this cold and windy May day and get ready. This place is already busy with very few tables and many vultures looking to swoop in on the next one that opens up. We are one of them. Our group is 6 deep and finding something that seats all of us is a little tricky in this small dining room so we opt for the idea of splitting up if that works out for us. Luckily, we don’t have to do that. We all look at the menu and see what we’d like to order but while my Aunt and Uncle are in line my cousin and I circle the dining room waiting for the next opportunity. With some cooperation from other families and a little circling we manage to get lucky and score a row of 3 tables that would fit all of us perfectly while rearranging ourselves with other customers to get them seats for their groups too. It’s a serendipitous day.

This is where we go family style, my Aunt has ordered two lobsters (with french fries), little neck clams, and an order of fish fry. My cousin’s boyfriend opts for the fried clams and she, of course, gets the hot dog. A sad sight to see at this restaurant right on the ocean but some things you can’t change. I’m pretty excited and get my hands dirty cracking open lobsters and handing claws to everyone. It’s still early in the season so these lobsters are full of water and are a little small but we’re here and I’m determined to eat lobster and enjoy my first trip to the area. Nothing can bring me down. I love eating this kind of food and getting messy and I couldn’t be happier. By the end of the meal my cousin’s boyfriend is overly stuffed and likely scarred from having to eat more than his intended meal but this is how the family works. Welcome buddy.

After lobster we walk down the street intending to walk off our meal and be tourists. We hop into shops looking for magnets and other keepsakes. I score a lobster t-shirt and a tiny little lobster stuffed animal that looks a little more like a crawfish at this size but we can pretend. It’s cold but not too cold for us to stop for Ice Cream.

LOCATION: 120 Water St. Plymouth, MA 02360

We walk by a tiny little ice cream shop called Ziggy’s with seating for 10 inside and two teenagers behind the counter that most definitely should have an adult supervising them but it’s summertime and life is chill. It may be 60degrees but it’s never too cold for ice cream and while the wind blows outside, we are now equipped with slightly more layers and the building makes us feel like maybe it’s not so bad out. My Aunt is not amused by my need for ice cream in this weather and we can tell she’d rather be in warm and sunny Florida at this very moment but my Uncle humors me and amps up his excitement to match mine. This is why I am their unofficial favorite niece.

My uncle agrees to share a banana split with me and we rook my aunt into taking a few bites to help us out but we finish the whole thing. Apparently, my aunt is a sucker for a banana split and loves it deep down, just not today. Her love is seasonal and very weather dependent while mine runs deep. I’m not a fan of chocolate ice cream and tend to eat around it when it comes to things like this but neither my aunt or uncle mind and they let me modify our split to my tastes. We get a scoop of french vanilla, one of strawberry, and I substitute out the chocolate for a seasonal blueberry. We get all the toppings and dig in. Im my opinion, you can’t go wrong with ice cream and I’m always happy eating it, even in cold weather.

We wrap up the day with a little more shopping and my Uncle excitedly shows us plymouth rock as it starts to rain outside. That’s our cue to call it a day and head back to the airbnb full of lobster and ice cream.

BOSTON - CPK

I’ve finally done it! I’ve tried CPK - California Pizza Kitchen. We don’t have one in Rochester and I’d never heard of it before I went to Chicago. Funnily enough, Christel was the one that first told me about it because apparently growing up in Manilla in the Philippines she had CPK. Rochester, why do you do these things to me.

We spotted one down the street from the Boston Duck Boat tours and we figured we’d hit a later boat tour and stop for some pizza since I mentioned I wanted to try it out. CPK and Duck Boats - we’re tourists today.

LOCATION: 800 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02199

Clearly, CPK is a chain so they have a standard menu but I enjoyed my first trip here. We each order our own dishes but my Aunt and Uncle work out a combo between them that lets them share and taste everything. Partnered off for variety, I dig it. I also don’t eat my full pizza but instead manage to pawn and trade pieces for other people’s dishes. We roll hard as a family and everything belongs to everyone else. Nothing is safe. I order a Shrimp Scampi Pizza because I’m in Boston and we’re by the sea so seafood is a must this trip while the summer approaches. This pizza has lemon-garlic shrimp with caramelized onions, Mozzarella, Parmesan and red chili, and is topped with fresh arugula and wild Greek oregano and I go for the cauliflower crust because I’m on vacation and technically I’m not paying. But like I said, I share! This was a pretty good pizza. I’m a fan of cauli crusts because they tend to be crisper and crunchier which is something I love in a nice thin pizza. The shrimp was a good choice and I feel like arugula can be a little peppery but this was a good amount (and easy to pick off when I find it to be too much.) CPK doesn’t feel like anything to special and I don’t think I missed out on TOO much growing up without it but I’m pretty satisfied that I’ve gotten to try it now.

BOSTON - Pho Adventures

It’s my first trip to Boston and I’m so pumped, though I may not be getting the full Boston Tourist experience.. Even though I’ve lived in Rochester my whole life, my family hasn’t taken a trip to Boston since before I was born. My Aunt and Uncle met in Boston and lived there for the first 6 years of my cousins life with my Aunt’s cousins living nearby. Of course, I’m six years younger than said cousin and when they moved away to Florida, my parents didn’t find much reason to visit Boston again so I’d never been. Lucky for me, my Aunt and Uncle have been visiting their old home recently and I asked if I could meet them over there since I’m about a 5-6 hour drive away. They loved the idea, and thus our adventure began. Slightly unfortunate for me, family trips like this tend to exclude touristy restaurants and instead include lots of local Vietnamese food. I do enjoy Vietnamese food though so at least I get to spend some time with my Aunt and Uncle in this new city and hear stories of when they first met and started a family.

As expected the first few days were spent in the surrounding suburbs and neighborhoods of Boston that include the Vietnamese communities so we had some pretty good food and made ourselves at home.

LOCATION: 409 Hancock St. Quincy, MA 02171

I don’t know if my Aunt and Uncle used to come here a long time ago or if this find is from their recent trips but we stopped by for dinner at Pho Linh and my uncle and I had to take a picture to send to the cousins in Germany. The joke is my Uncle’s name is Linh so it’s clearly his restaurant and therefore the only reason we ate here.

Pho Linh is pretty standard with their menu and has all the traditional Vietnamese dishes that every staple restaurant has. I order my favorite Bún Thịt Nướng Chả Giò which is vermiceli rice noodles with pork and an egg roll. This bowl also comes with a bunch of veggies and is supposed to be topped with fish sauce but I’m not a fan of fish sauce so I go ‘dry’. This is a huge disappointment to any Vietnamese person because fish sauce is life but I guess I’m a little to American to appreciate it. I find that they seasoning from the meat and the oils in it coat the noodles and veggies perfectly every time so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much.

This is one of my favorite dishes because theres such a great balance of vegetables and meat and a great crunch from the eggrolls then the softness of the noddles to soak up all the great juices from everything. Of course Pho is a staple dish but sometimes it’s too hot or heavy for Pho, in which case a lighter fresher Bún Thịt Nướng is the way to go. When we eat this way we tend to order individual dishes instead of doing the meal family style but my Aunt gets a little munch-y while we wait for our main dishes so she likes to order apps to hold us all over while we wait. During this particular meal she ordered a couple plates of spring rolls and eggrolls which were also very good but standard.

The other thing that makes my eating habits a slight disappointment is that I’m not a big meat eater. I like to say that I get “meat full” because I still have room in my stomach to eat carbs of veggies but if it’s meat, I’m done. The reason that’s bad is because compared to veggies and carbs, meat is expensive and when you’re poor like they were growing up in Vietnam, you don’t waste the expensive stuff because there’s less of it. So it’s a shocker when I’m voluntarily giving up meat in order to fill up on the cheap ingredients but what can I do? My stomach cannot be satisfied! That’s why it’s pretty common for me to be sneaking meat from my plate onto other people’s plates like I am here with my uncle. Someone will eat it, as long as that someone isn’t me!

BUFF - Fuji (Deep Fried Cheescake)

A quick post today as a celebration of graduating with my Masters Degree and moving back home! My aunt and uncle offered to do a little celebration dinner in buffalo where they live. Since I’m back with a new degree and my cousins are headed off to work on their post bachelors degrees this year we have a lot to celebrate.

LOCATION: 736 MAPLE RD., BUFFALO, NY. 14221

We decided to head to Fuji where my cousins work for a nice casual family lunch but to my amusement my cousins decide to order deep fried cheesecake for dessert after our copious amounts of sushi and Tonkatsu.

I was a little skeptical about deep fried cheesecake because these kinds of things tend to be pretty heavy and overly sweet not to mention it’s hard to gauge what texture will be like when a soft dessert like this is deep fried but boy was I pleasantly surprised.

I don’t know how Fuji does it but this cheesecake was great. They must use their tempura batter and a frozen cheesecake slice because it’s not overly sweet or heavy and the fried shell on the outside is light and fluffy as well. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it too much but maybe next time I’m at a festival in Rochester I won’t be so hesitant to order that deep fried cheesecake on a stick!

CHI - Rosebud

Work is amazing and they treat me so well here, I’m gonna be so sad to leave after such a short time. I already wish I came upon this job sooner or got to stay longer but it’s time for graduation and my time in this office is done. Luckily, this comes with a farewell lunch from the very place we ordered from on my very first day.

LOCATION: 1500 W TAYLOR ST. CHICAGO, IL 60607

Rosebud is a restaurant nearby that specializes in Italian food and has takeout for us to run and grab pretty easy from our office. With seven of us here it can be tricky for someone to make a decision about what to eat and Jess is vegetarian right now so pasta and salad works for us all and makes me very happy on this, my last day of work.

Everyone here is so great to me and they over order everything meaning we have tons of food and no one’s complaining. We go with two orders of fried calamari, house salad, and then single orders of Rigatoni al la vodka, Tortellini Carbonara, Cavatelli Rosebud which is Rosebud’s homemade dumplings in garlic and oil, green beans, mushrooms, and roasted red peppers, and I believe, their Chicken Vestuvio which is a boneless chicken with garlic, oregano, white wine, roasted potatoes, and sweet peas that’s only available as a weekday lunch special. And of course tons and tons of bread which they include with each order.

From what we remembered on my first day a few months ago, Rosebud was better than our experience today. It might’ve been our timing with the pickup but the Calamari wasn’t as crisp and the pastas just weren’t as good as they were before. Some days are just a hit or miss based off of who’s cooking and timing. While I think the food still tasted great, we just weren’t in love like we were before. I’d still go back if I was going to be nearby or if I was still working here so it wasn’t a deal breaker and it wasn’t a bad way to spend my last lunch at all.

CHI - Mcdonald's Global Headquarters Edition

That's right, McDonald's opened up a headquarters here in Chicago and made their store that's attached an international one meaning they have a few items from their global markets. We walk by it quite often when we look for food after climbing but the other day I noticed some of the screens inside displaying international flags and realized that my managers at work were talking about this specific McDonald's having international pieces on their menu. I mentioned it to Christel so of course we had to go and try it and today was that day. 

LOCATION: 36 W RANDOLPH ST, CHICAGO, IL 60601

I'm not gonna lie, there weren't as many international items as I expected but there was enough to make up a pretty good meal and Christel and I were pretty happy and full in the end. The introverts that we are just hogged the self-order kiosks gawking at the menu unable to make a decision for 5minutes. I actually really like these screens and while I have no problem walking up to the counter to order being able to just pick whatever I want and customize it without having to repeat myself over and over again to a person is nice. Also, since some of these items were international I had no idea what they had inside and it was way more relaxing to just order from the screen and make whatever modifications I wanted without looking dumb and asking what each thing was. We each got a McSpicy Chicken sandwich from Hong Kong which just comes with lettuce and mayo (I went light) and I got us a Cheese and Bacon Loaded Fries from Australia to share. I also ordered one of their new mix sprite tropic berry which wasn't bad or overly sweet. The McSpicy chicken was exactly what I wanted. It's a great burger and the chicken was moist but crispy on the outside and the spice totally hit you the more you ate it but wasn't too spicy or hot in the end. The mayo and lettuce were a great balance for it and I actually would order this more if this was an American choice I think. The cheese and bacon fries were also pretty good but I think I'm just a lover of plain fries. The cheese got to be a little too overpowering and Christel and I were both digging around to find plain fries to balance the super cheesy ones. The bacon came as bits so they didn't stick super well but it was all good in the end. Cheese fries are just not for me when I could have nice salty plain fries. 

We also decided we would get dessert and Christel contemplated more fries with her vanilla soft serve but we were totally full after the sandwich and cheese fries that we each went for plain ice cream. I decided to get a McFlurry Prestigio from Brazil which is the classic vanilla soft serve with strawberry sauce and mini chocolate coconut candies (think mounds). It actually wasn't super special and I ended up wishing I got the strawberry top sundae which is pretty much the same thing but with two cookie straws instead of the mini chocolate which I found to be too sweet and hard to wrap my head around with the extra coconut flavor on top of everything else.

All in all it was a fun adventure but I don't think I'm going to miss this stuff too much. I'm always just gonna want fries and some chicken nuggets when I come to McDonalds' and I'm happy with that.  

CHI - Mario's Italian Lemonade

Keep an eye on this post guys because I've just gone to Mario's but I know I'm going back soon to try more flavors already!

LOCATION: 1066 W TAYLOR ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Thanks for the Street View Google!

Mario's Italian Lemonade is this staple of Chicago especially if you go to UIC. It's right around the corner from East Campus and I've heard about it since I moved here two years ago but their on one of those summer schedules and I never understood the hype so I didn't go at all last year. This year we saw them reopen again a couple days ago when May 1st hit and Chicago decided it wanted to finally be hot and kill us with the first 80º day of the year so today Christel and I decided to stop by on our way back to campus from lunch. 

One bite and I understood the hype. This Italian Lemonade is so good. It's not too icy and frozen, it scoops super easily but melts super slow and is still drinkable through the straw a little too. It's cash only so I'm pretty happy Christel had some on her so that we could finally taste these. 

Today we opted for Pomegranate and Lemon and we were both pretty excited about it. I'm so happy I have Christel to try these things with because I just steal her cup and hand her mine for impromptu switches while we walk back to the studio and this way we basically get a pomegranate lemon mix without the messy mixing. We've already planned our trip for tomorrow and strategized what flavors we want to try that still go well with each other. I'm starting to understand why this place is so popular and I don't have a problem with it. 

Watermelon with fruit chunks hidden inside. Did not disappoint

CHI - Urbanbelly

It's the last final week of classes for me (for real this time) yet Christel and I are still managing to find time to go out and hit some spots on my list while I'm still in Chicago. We checked out the menu online and it's just weird and fusion enough that we needed to check it out right away. 

LOCATION: 1400 W. RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Their tagline one on of the menu's online was "Long Noodles, Short Rice, Phat Dumplings" which just sold us. We figured we could order a little of each and go family style on this meal to test them all out. When we got to the restaurant the current menu was a little different from what we saw online but we had a basic idea and just altered our plan a little. 

We ended up getting coconut curry pho, wok fried rice cakes, and togarashi fries which come with a curry mayo. Since it was so warm out we decided to just opt to sit outside even though it was getting a little later and windier. It was still a great decision and it's so nice to finally be able to sit out and eat in the sunshine. 

Everything was so delicious and while I can be a little skeptical of asian fusion I was super happy at urban belly. The rice cakes were by far our favorite. There was shrimp, peanuts, toasted garlic and chives and had a great pickled kinda cucumber thing that was super well balanced with the textures and flavors of everything else. The menu describes this as their version of a Pad Thai which I like as a reference because it's pretty much a nail on the head with what they've accomplished. Christel and I are also both suckers for good rice cakes like this so it wasn't a hard sell for us. The coconut curry pho was an alright choice, a pretty good flavor but honestly just tasted like a normal Thai coconut curry with pho noodles in it. Not the most imaginative dish but also not a miss either. They nailed the coconut curry so it wasn't hard to like. The togarashi fries were also pretty good in terms of seasoning and the curry mayo was a nice touch. I'm not a huge fan of dips but mixed mayos and aiolis are usually pretty good in my book. 

And of course we somehow managed to get lucky and there was a special deal for the 1st of every month where each dumpling was offered for $1 each instead of $1.50+ for dine in which sent Christal through the roof because she HAD to take advantage of the deal. So, even though we had all this food we went for a dumpling round as well and ordered two of each dumpling to test them out.     

Pork and Cilantro

Chicken Curry

Beef and Cheddar

Sweet Potato and Maple

So here's the run down on each of the dumplings really quick 

Pork and Cilantro - Pretty classic for a dumpling, it comes soaked in soy sauce and ready to eat without any need for dipping but it does get a little salty so maybe less sauce is more. 

Chicken Curry - SUPER light flavor for what you think a curry dumpling would be. The chicken was a good texture and it was a clean bite but could actually use more of a kick.

Beef and Cheddar - If you like pizza rolls this guy is for you. Tastes pretty much like a beef and cheese pizza roll with a crunchy exterior and a pretty recognizable taste. The pickled onion on top was a great touch that made it a little different and 'elevated' it from the pizza roll world.

Sweet Potato and Maple - This was a perfect combination, not surprisingly, but it was a little tough to chew into and I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the texture of the potato. I love pirogies but this was missing the mark for some reason and while the flavor was good I'm not sure I would get this dumpling again. 

All in all, I say Urbanbelly was surprisingly good but then again I was skeptical to start with so I'm not sure that's saying much. I would go back but I'm not sure that I would ever really crave anything I ate.    

CHI - Umai

You would think finals quickly approaching would mean buckling down and getting some work done but not for me. When stress hits my flight response is totally on board and I go into complete denial about how stressed out I am. Cue aimlessly walking around target and going out to dinner with Christel (who's already finished defense) while I avoid my final projects.

LOCATION: 730 S CLARK ST, CHICAGO, IL 60605

I've heard about Umai a little before and I'm not one who likes to be left out of new things so I asked Christel if we could go since we were both down for some dinner and she agreed because she's great at humoring me. I've actually heard more about sushi and Umai but when we looked at the menu a bunch of the udon/ramen dishes looked pretty great to us so we decided to skip the rolls and go straight for the noddles.

I decided to order the nabeyaki udon which is an udon noodle in dashi broth that comes with a piece of shrimp tempura, a poached egg, spinach, fish cake, shiitake mushroom, and chicken (although I don't recall a piece of chicken in mine but instead for sure had imitation crab and what seemed like two pieces of tomago which I'm not mad about). After much deliberation Christel went with the udon kare which is udon in a Japanese curry and she went with beef and added a poached egg as well. Honestly I think we both ended up wanting a ajitsuke egg instead but poached was alright. We also ordered an ika butter which is just squid sautéed in butter with mushroom and lemon as our app and it was so worth it I'm pretty happy about that decision.   

I love udon more than ramen just because of the chewiness and texture overall so I'm always happy to find a bowl because it's not as common or popular. Since my dad is a chef he usually just throws in udon for me into whatever soup he's making and I'm always happy but an actual udon dish just warms my soul... and my stomach. This dish was super hot coming out which is great, I just had to give it time to cool before I burned all my tastebuds off. I also regret not taking my tempura out as soon as it got to me because by the time I picked it up to eat it was super soggy and the batter was basically mush, but again that's my fault. The tempura flavor was actually really great and well balanced to me. I love shiitake's and tomago felt like a better sweet substitute to chicken which struck me as odd on the menu. The broth was well balanced, a little sweet but super savory without being salty. I'd say if any gets umami, it's Umai. I would totally go back again for this udon or to try their sushi which looked pretty great from where we sat at the bar. Christel seemed happy with her udon too and even had curry and beef leftover to cook with some rice for lunch tomorrow. Overall, it was a successful outing and I'm happy I got to get some udon in my belly.   

CHI - Umami Burger

As I've likely said before, I'm not a huge burger craver but we went bouldering and decided to get some food afterwards so we walked towards the west loop and ended up at Umami Burger because I've never been before.

LOCATION: 945 W RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Of course this restaurant is fairly well known so it's been on my list but we didn't want to waste a meal in LA on something we could get in Chicago so now was a good time to try it out. I decided to just go with the basics and order an Umami Burger seeing as it's the namesake of the place and I added shoestring fries and I truffle'd 'em (if that's the right way to say it). The umami burger comes with parmesan frico, shiitake mushroom, roasted tomato, caramelized onions, and Umami ketchup and while I'm not a condiments person and dislike ketchup I decided to leave it in knowing that was the intention of the dish and also that they must've added some sort of twist to ketchup to call it their own. 

I was overall pretty happy with this burger. Christel pointed out that it's such a clean burger to eat because it doesn't drip all over your hands and the bun holds everything in so nicely it didn't even really fall apart or slide around which is extremely rare for a burger anywhere. I'm in love with the parmesan frico which gave everything a nice crisp texture. I didn't really taste or see the shiitake mushroom and the tomato was also pretty subtle too so they didn't really have any sort of impact for me which is disappointing because I love shiitakes. The umami ketchup itself was pretty unobtrusive and I was fine keeping it in and Christel and I speculated that their 'umami' flavor just comes from truffles. As much as I love potatoes and fries, shoestrings always make me a little sad because they're so crisp they loose their potato flavor. I found the truffle fries themselves to be a little too salty, not being balanced enough with how much truffle cheese and salt they put on the fries overall. Naked fries tasted much better and were more fun to dip in their sample of garlic aioli and diablo sauce. 

Overall, not a bad experience though nothing to rave about. Pretty basic mid-level burgers that are perfectly fine to eat but Au Cheval has nothing to worry about here.  

CHI - Bombobar

This Saturday was a rough one for me which means Christel wanted to cheer me up with ice cream!

LOCATION - 832 W RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Now usually cheer up ice cream consists of an attempt for banana split but we've had no luck with finding them nearby anywhere when we're looking for them so we've found alternatives. This time we decide to go to Bombobar based off of some cool things we saw on Instagram. Bombobar promotes their decked out hot chocolate which includes a mini donut and a biscotti and some whipped cream - the works. However, I'm not a chocolate fan in general and not a fan of cocoa or milk so hot chocolates are not for me. Christel has a distinction of not like hot chocolate, only chocolate milk so again, Bombobar is almost wasted on us.

Our saving grace and our reason for going was for the Bombolato, vanilla gelato made from scratch there at Bombobar, sandwiched in the middle of one of their famous bombolonis (an Italian hole-less donuts), covered in salted caramel and fruity pebbles. Basically, sugar on sugar with more sugar in the middle. 

My favorite part of this dessert (or breakfast if you really wanna roll that way) was the gelato inside. It was a really nice consistency, had great vanilla flavor, and was creamy but not too creamy. I would go back for the gelato and skip all the extra sugar (maybe keep the fruity pebbles...). Christel's favorite part was the donut - a light texture, not too sugary but still a great flavor without being too dense. 

Since the hotter chocolate is what Bombobar is known for we got a lot of interested looks from incoming customers and had several people ask us what we ordered. This doesn't seem to be a well known choice but I'm pretty glad we tried it. Honestly, the salted caramel was the only aspect that was very overwhelming and I tried to switch it out for something else but that wasn't doable. I don't mind caramel but it got into everything and pushed the sugar over the top. We talked about it and maybe next time we'd order it without caramel if Bombolatos were the goal, otherwise I would go for gelato and Christel would go for the bomboloni instead. No hotter chocolate for us - even for the insta. 

CHI - MCCB

C2E2 is here and I took it as an opportunity to take Christel to her first comic convention-y thing to look at some merch and see what illustrators sell at these kinds of things! After a few hours walking the floor we finished up and decided to have a late lunch in Chinatown.

LOCATION - 2138 S ARCHER AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60616

We just decided to walk around and see what looked good. I was in the mood for some carbs (noddles specifically because I'm dying from a cold and my body wants what it wants) and we ended up at MCCB Chicago. 

Neither of us have heard of this place before but we've of course walked by it many times and from the looks of the menu we thought we would like it so we walked in and were seated by the window right away. I was still feeling the cold but have been sick long enough to feel like I wouldn't get Christel sick so we figured I would just be careful and we could go family style. 

Since I was craving some noddles, we decided on the Spicy Dan Dan Noodles pretty quickly. Christel was feeling like some seafood and from what we could see there was a pretty popular whole fish dish but she opted for a safer choice of shrimp. MCCB has some pretty unusual flavors which caught our attention and we wanted to be slightly adventurous since we'd never see that before and ordered Mango Crispy Shrimp. Seeing as we're us, we had to round the meal out with some veggies as well so we picked our go to veggie anywhere, the infamous string bean. 

Turns out the crispy shrimp had rice included with it so we were really rolling in some carbs and my sick body was all over it. Everything was perfect and just what I wanted. The spicy dan dan noodles had the perfect kick to them but were balanced with a creamy peanut-y flavor. Green beans are always a win with me and the crispy shrimp turned out to just be the creamy shrimp my dad makes at home with a very mild mango flavor. I loved every single one of these dishes and would absolutely go back to MCCB. 

Our waiter that day was the nicest guy I've never met in my life. I wish he could be my waiter everywhere that I went because he was just so sweet and I think he enjoyed out quirky the two of us are. MCCB also had a nice promo where if you spend $25 you get a free Italian soda or a sweet dessert soup kinda thing and while I was drinking hot water for my throat, nothing screams Emily like a free soda so I ordered a pomegranate Italian soda, which our adorable waiter said was his favorite, and got it in a cool mug to take home (I even asked him and he said it was for me and even brought me a lid). I'm not a huge fan of dairy like this but it wasn't a bad drink and free is free so I'm always down for it. 

I'd love to go back and try some fish but I'm worried my hopes will be up and no one will be as great as the waiter we had our first time at MCCB.

CALI - Last meal at the Packing House

Our last day in California with our last meal over at the Anaheim Packing House was such a fun experience. Packing House is an old Sunkist citrus packing house that was repurposed into a food court with different vendors, bars, and famers markets. There are incredible skylights and plants everywhere that make the inside beautiful and the architecture inside is fantastic. It's an amazing open space that fills up with people but it's enough of a hidden gem that it's not overly crowded. 

LOCATION: 440 S ANAHEIM BLVD., ANAHEIM PACKING DISTRICT, ANAHEIM, CA. 92805

Food court style means that Christel and I go half on everything and get to try a few more things so we decided to go to The Chippy Fish & Grill for the 2 cod fish & calamari combo with a side of onion rings because Christel was hardcore craving it, Black Sheep GCB for their #1 (goat cheese, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, and an arugula pesto), and then we each got a drink over at Mini Monster because we're suckers for cute drink jugs with plastic ears. I got the sunset strawberry lemonade with boba while Christel got the strawberry lemonade without. 

I literally ran to the table with excitement once everything was ready for us. This is honestly such a beautiful setting for lunch and I would love to just move into this place because the available light is what dreams are made of. 

All of our food was great. The grilled cheese was well balanced and creamy but crisp on the outside. The fish and chips were huge and tasted so good. The calamari wasn't chewy and the onion rings stayed with their crust pretty well. I shouldn't have ordered boba with my drink because I was so full we couldn't even finish everything between the two of us. It was delicious and it was fun to sit there and hang out and eat and people watch. There was a cute family of four sitting next to us on this bench that we enjoyed and all the people walking around were happy and just having a good time eating lunch. This is easily one of my favorite spots of the trip and I would recommend it to everyone because there are so many options and its reasonably priced and tasty.  

CALI - Street Taco Time

Dinner time finally arrived and with it came street Tacos!! Christel's little brother Keith told us about some really great street tacos that he wanted to try so we met up with him and a group of his friends. 

LOCATION: W AVE 26 HUMBOLDT ST., LOS ANGELES, CA. 90031

Since these were street tacos they weren't the easiest thing to find and Christel and I ended up coming first down a semi sketchy alley way. We did see a lone man with a taco cart and elotes and almost stopped to buy tacos from him but I voted to drive a little further down the street where a bunch of other cars seemed to be going and check it out before the boys arrived. We ended up all the way down Artesian Pl, parking by the train tracks but thats where we saw the whole line of cooktops and people with tacos so we figured it was a good call. 

I'll start off by saying, these guys are fast. Even if there's a line it moves like the wind so be ready with cash in hand and know what you wanna order before you get there. They don't have a menu written down anywhere so this really is one of those spots that you only go to if you're in the know but its well worth it because these tacos are great.

All the basic meats are there, chicken, pork, beef, and then a wild card of pork stomach which some of the boys tried and liked as well. I think the fan favorite was the pastor (pork) which was lucky for me because that's what I ordered for me and for Christel seeing as I walked up to the counter first. Since we ate so much through the day I decided on two tacos and Christel went for three. Since this is street style we were handed a plate with the tortilla and meat and added our own toppings from the stand set up to the side. We also walked up several times to the end of the stand and got fresh potatoes which were the lifesaver of the night from hidden super spicy kicks in the guac and meat.

It seemed that these tacos were some of the best we'd had as a group. Christel did point out that she couldn't enjoy the flavor as much because of all the chaos of standing and not knowing what everything was and where to go and what to do and I totally understand what she was saying. As an experience this was super fun to me but it can totally be stressful and all of that adrenaline can be a distraction from the food. I would love to go to this kinda thing again because it feels fun and authentic and knowing what to do a second time around would make this more enjoyable but as a first time experience it was still fun. 

CALI - Snack pt.2 at Dirt Dog

You would think after lunch and first snack of milk buns we would calm down a little before meeting Christel's brother for dinner but no, that would've been too sensible. Not only did we go for snack part two at dirt dog but we stopped at Coco along the way to get some bubble tea too. Our stomachs are insane when we're on vacation but I'm happy I found a friend who handles marathon eating better than I do. 

LOCATION: 2528 S FIGUEROA ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90007

Christel has been mentioning dirt dog since we started planning our trip and its right next to USC where her brother currently goes to school so it was a convenient spot for us to check out while waiting for dinner. We were trying to be a little good about food and not fill up too much so we could eat dinner with him and his friends so instead of ordering a hot dog we just decided to share an order of elote fries. 

The line for this place goes out the door but honestly we were inside and ordering in less than 15minutes. They have a system where you can't save a table until you've placed your order at the counter but theres just enough space inside that there always seems to be just enough seats waiting for you once you've ordered. 

I'm not a huge fan of hot dogs but fries and corn are my jam so this is a perfect combination. Elote fries come with corn, lime mayo, chili powder, cotija cheese, cilantro, and bacon. This was a perfect dish for me. I loved every component; the fries weren't too crispy but not soggy either. There was just enough corn to go with the potatoes. The kick of lime and spice were great and the lime mayo on top was a great creaminess as well. I would go back just for these fries honestly but they also have a bunch of other combinations I would love to try. I'm a sucker for variety and toppings on fries are never a bad call to me. 

CALI - Snack time at Bao Dim Sum House

Christel has been talking about milk buns the whole time we've been here in California and we finally found a lull today in our schedule to eat a snack so we headed over to Bao Dim Sum House.

LOCATION: 8256 BEVERLY BLVD., LOS ANGELES, CA. 90048

Christel called them ahead of time and asked for one order of milk buns to go and we headed over from Griffith Observatory giving them plenty of time to make our buns! 

These guys are little so we didn't want to go in to the restaurant and sit down so we just took them out to Christel's car and inhaled them while we planned the rest of our day. Luckily we got a great parking spot with a meter still running and had tons of free time on our hands to kill. 

I've never had bao's like this before but they're kinda great. They're soft and warm on the inside and have an almost gooey airy texture to them. They taste milky/custardy through out and are dense as all hell so it's good they were little but they still have a great chew to them. I'm not sure I would crave this but I hope if I do I'll be able to find them somewhere because this is the first time I've heard of these and I don't want it to by my last. 

CALI - Gangnam Umuyi

My first go at Korean cold noodles today because I showed some interest in trying cold noodles and Christel is like my magical food genie while we're here in California.

LOCATION: 1600, 10031 GARDEN GROVE BLVD., GARDEN GROVE, CA 92844

Neither of us have been here before but we looked up Korean cold noodles on yelp and decide to just go, and we lucked out. Gangnam Umuyi opens at 11:30am and we showed up about 10minutes after that so we were the first customers of the day! 

Let me just say, this place is super cute. The woman who was our waitress was the cutest little Korean lady ever and was so great to us, filling us up on small plates and taking care of us so well while also watching Korean game shows on the big screen next to our table. 

I decided to get Mul Naengmyun which is a cold noodle with sliced beef and vegetables with broth and Christel got the Kalbi + Mul/Kalbi Bibim Naengmyun combo which is kalbi and sliced beef and a spicy version of my cold noodles. Our sweet waitress then advised me to put in chili paste that she gave me and some vinegar on the table into my noodles because it would 100% taste better. She was right and I'm so glad I listened to her. I think I might've added a little too much vinegar because it was a little too tart and sour but all in all it was a great meal. I managed to finish all my meat and noodles and was stuffed in the end but the good kinda stuffed. Cold noodles leave you filled but not gross; its light and cool for your stomach and you feel satisfied but not sleepy and heavy. I almost wasn't able to finish it all and it got a little difficult to eat in the end because it has a lighter touch to it which is not something I'm used to but I'm going to be craving these cold noodles again soon, I can already tell.