Chef Boy-are-who?!

It'll be a short post today.. just wanted to throw a little bit of information out there that I thought most people might not have known.

I was finished with work today in Florida, and came back to my hotel room to relax before dinner. I turned on the tv, and the History Channel popped up, and it happened to be a history behind America's favorite foods (how Chef Boyardee is one of America's favorite foods, I'll never know, although I do love the ravioli..). I continued to watch it, and found out that Chef Boyardee is a real person!

Hector Boiardi is the original Chef Boyardee. He came from Italy at age 17, and started working in New York. His brother worked in the kitchen at The Plaza Hotel, and actually landed him a job there, as well. Hector cooked in multiple states before opening up his own restaurant in Cleveland, OH, called Il Giardino d'Italia. His spaghetti sauce was so darn good that customers requested to have some in a jar to take home. He'd package it in a milk bottle and send them on their way. Soon after, Boiardi started assembling packages of dry spaghetti, crumbled cheese, and his special sauce for customers to take home and cook on their own. He became so popular that he moved his operations to Pennsylvania and joined with American Home Foods. They began canning his products, and they still sell them today.

What's interesting to me is how a product notorious for being so delicious ended up being so cheap and processed. Knowing Chef Boiardi's history now actually makes me a little sad.. he had such a good product that turned into a fabricated "Italian" canned meal.

Oh well... I still eat it :)

Here's Hector Boiardi doing what he loved best. He died in 1985.

Foodie Trip Through NYC

This will be an extremely long entry.. Feel free to read if you're interested in my travels, but also feel free to just look at the pictures :)

So I recently returned from spending quite a bit of time in NYC. I went for work, but whenever I had a little bit of free time, I wandered out to see what I could see. Being who I am, the majority of these were food. I wanted to explore the new food trends, go to restaurants that I'd heard a lot about, and do research on pizza (duh!).

I ended up walking through many different areas of New York and learning about their food.. This blog post will be a journey through my eating/walking tour of NYC.

I began on the Upper West side. I wanted to see Zabars, H&H Bagels, Strawberry Fields, and the Carnegie Deli.

1st Stop- Zabars. A local gourmet food shop that's been around for years, this store has so many options crammed in to a little corner shop. So many selections of honey, jam, jelly, fish, crackers, bakery goods, knishes, cheese, cured meats, and the list goes on and on. Check out their cheese counter! I have never seen so many cheeses in my life.

Look at all of the different types of honey!! Who knew there were so many kinds?

One thing that shocked me was how small the store was.. I sort of expected Zabar's to be like the size of the Macy's in NYC. Tons and tons of floors of specialty foods, cooking classes, kitchen goods, etc, but it was very far from that. The store was very small and was hard to get around. I did buy a couple of very interesting things, and tried a lot of samples.

Right next to Zabar's is H&H bagels. Anytime you see people on TV with a bag of bagels, they're generally from H&H. They've been around for years, and have a special process for making their bagels. I didn't try one, but I had some pretty darn good bagels in New York so I figured I made up for it.

See Zabar's in the background?

Stop 2- Strawberry Fields

In all of the times I'd been to NYC before (~25), I'd never been to Strawberry Fields. This isn't a food stop (but it does have Strawberry in the name, so I guess that counts :) ), but it's a memorial to John Lennon, right next to the Dakota where he was shot. Strawberry Fields is an area of Central Park specifically dedicated to him, and is supposed to be a quiet area for relaxation- but it was far from that with all of the tourists. Here is the famous memorial:

Here is a picture of the entrance to The Dakota where John Lennon was shot

After The Dakota, it was on to my next stop.

Stop 3- The Carnegie Deli

The Carnegie Deli and Katz's are probably the two most famous delis in NYC. Katz's was a little less touristy for a long time, so a lot of locals thought it was much better. Usually once somewhere becomes really touristy, the quality of the products fails. Carnegie Deli has been touristy for quite some time, but they still maintain a high quality of food. The big allure about this deli is the size of their sandwiches. Some are stacked with a mountain of meat almost a foot high! I also found out what makes their special cheesecake soooo famous- instead of using graham cracker crumbs for the crust, they line their pans with COOKIE DOUGH! OMG!

Here's a picture of the deli

And in the front of the restaurant is a glass case displaying their famous cheesecakes. YUM

I went into the Deli, and saw customers inhaling BLT sandwiches that were without the L and T. 7 inches of bacon on a sandwich?! Oh my God... This place was packed, and had any sandwich you could think of on the menu. They also had much more than sandwiches- lots of gourmet food.

I got to looking at the pictures of celebrities on the wall who'd endorsed the restaurant, and who did I find but the famous..

Jerry Jones! HAHAHA Had to take this picture for Bobby because he hates him!

The next stop on my list is a wonderful French restaurant with an amazing patio. It was so beautiful outside that I HAD to sit on a patio.

Stop 4: Maison @ 54th and 7th

Ever since I had been working on interesting breakfast items at work, I'd been wanting to eat a croque monsieur. This is a ham and cheese sandwich grilled with melted mornay or regular cheese melted on top. So, I sat down to a dinner of a croque monsieur and a bellini. It was fabulous.. ahhh, how I love French brasseries!

Here's the patio:

At this point, I left NYC and went to Ohio for the weekend. The next week, I flew back to NY for work, and had one day of exploring the city.

The next stop on my tour of food:

Stop 5: Ristorante Il Cantinori on 10th st

A restaurant in SOHO, this restaurant is very deceiving. It looks like a little tiny quaint restaurant from the front, but once you get in, the restaurant goes alllll the way back, and also has a room in the basement. This is the restaurant from Sex and the City when no one shows up for Carrie's birthday. The restaurant has always been wonderful, but filming SATC there made it that much more popular .

I went around 930pm after a long day of work. I walked in alone in jeans with a Pizza Hut laptop bag and my purse. Everyone else was in dresses and business suits and all dressed up, so I definitely felt out of place. But, I sat down and ordered a glass of wine. It was restaurant week in NY, so I could have chosen from a fixed price menu and gotten 3 courses, or order off of their normal menu. I wasn't incredibly hungry, so I didn't want 3 courses. I ordered off of the regular menu, and got whole wheat gnocchi. The meal came out about 15 minutes later, and it was SO GOOD. The perfect blend of sweet and fresh in the sauce, with just the right amount of fresh basil. The gnocchi were, of course, homemade, and it had freshly grated parmesan on it. It was just perfect with a glass of red. Great meal! Afterwards, I was so incredibly full that I walked 25 blocks back to the hotel!

Here's the restaurant from the street

The next morning was Friday, and I didn't have to work, so I explored the city.

It started with a visit to The Today Show with my Aunt Marianne. On Fridays in the summer, they have concerts outdoors, and The All American Rejects were playing, so we went to watch. We met at Dean and Deluca right next door for breakfast and coffee.

Stop 6: Dean and Deluca Gourmet Foods

As purveyors of fine wine, food, and kitchenware, I always stop here when I'm near Rockefeller Center. They have GREAT pastries and pretty decent coffee, so it ended up being the perfect spot for breakfast. My aunt and I went in and ordered coffee and pastries. We also ended up being able to score a great view of the Today Show. Here's a picture of the hosts:

Al Roker, the other woman?, and Matt Lauer

While I was in line, I snapped a couple shots of the pastries and food in there, as well as the racks of food before I got yelled at for taking pictures. Get a look at these quiches!!

Check out my scone I got. It was cranberry orange, and tasted so pure- like only a couple of ingredients: sugar, butter, cranberries, orange peel, and flour. It was heaven, and the best I'd ever had, next to the ham, gruyere, and chive one I had at the CIA.

For the rest of that day, I headed south to Chinatown, and then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Because I was so full from breakfast, I didn't stop to eat anything in Chinatown. However, there are many interesting things there to write about- on every corner is a fresh fruit stand, where the product is SO cheap. Many a time down there I had gotten a pound or two of fresh Ranier cherries for $2.50 and munched on them while walking around downtown. They have great deals on food in Chinatown- you've just got to find a reputable place. I saw Dragonfruit for the first time at one of the produce stands, and learned how to eat it. You peel it like a banana. Here's what it looks like:

There are all kinds of shops in Chinatown that serve Peking Duck. However, the way they display their food is pretty weird, albeit ingenious. They display it through a window on the street, and it looks so weird that it makes you come look at it and go into the store. Here's the window with allll kinds of meat (some of them weird!).

After Chinatown, I walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across. I knew at the other side of the bridge was an ice cream shop, Grimaldi's, and Jacques Torres chocolate, so I'd be able to have a treat on the other side. I had to go to Brooklyn to check out Fried Pizza for work, but more about that will come later.

Stop 7: Jacques Torres Chocolate

Jacques Torres is known for having spicy chocolate. He puts chiles and all sorts of heat into chocolate. Now, I'm not one for heat, but I definitely am one for chocolate! So I went in and checked it out.

Look at this spread!

So, I got a Key Lime Ganache chocolate called a Lovebug, and a Rose Champagne chocolate. Both were SO GOOD. I heard they had amazing hot chocolate, but because it was 89 degrees I skipped that.

On to the real reason I walked to Brooklyn:

Stop # 8: The Chip Shop Brooklyn

I'd seen The Chip Shop on The Food Network multiple times. They're known for frying anything and everything- you can bring anything in, and they'll fry it! It's a British pub, best known for their fish and chips, but because they have only fryers, they started frying other crazy things. I'd seen them fry pizza on tv, so I had to go try it and see how they did it!

Here's the food :

It was so well done. It tasted just like pizza, except a little more crunchy. It tasted SO good.. But, because it was SO bad for me, I only took a couple of bites and just studied the batter :) After lunch at The Chip Shop, my feet hurt from walking, and I was so tired, so I quit for the day.

The next day was Saturday, and I had tickets to the Yankees vs. Tigers game at the new yankee stadium. My friend Shannon had told me that they had THE BEST FOOD of all stadiums, but boy was she right. They had Mo's Southwest Grill, Johnny Rockets, Nathan's Hotdogs, Famiglia Pizza, and a lot of other chains. They even had a Hard Rock Cafe. With all of these choices, I still went with the All-American favorite- a good ole hot dog.

Check out this packaging for the (all beef) hot dog!

The Yankees won, the hot dog was great, and it was a wonderful day overall.

After this trip, I had visited pretty much everywhere I've ever wanted to visit in NYC. I'm sure in the next couple months more hot spots will pop up that I'll need to visit, but for now, I'm finished.

If you made it to the end of this blog, I commend you. It's taken quite some time to write. Until the next one, keep it tasty!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

From reading my first post, you may already know that I recently moved to Dallas. 2 years ago to be exact. Before moving, I lived in Ohio, where I'd lived for my entire life. We never had local burger chains, so if you wanted a burger, you just went to TGI Fridays, The Cheesecake Factory, or Good Old Mickey D's. Until I moved to Dallas, I don't think I knew what the real definition of a burger joint was. I mean, in Cincinnati we had Zips, and in Columbus we had Brazenhead, but never a plethora of options. When I moved to Texas, I began seeing signs for Snuffers, Jakes, Scotty P's, and the Angry Dog. I had never seen so many burger joints in my life. And, after talking with family who'd lived in Dallas for years and years, they recommended Red's Patio Grill.

Of course I had to try all of these places. I liked cheeseburgers, but they weren't my favorite. But, in an effort to try as many new places in town as I could, I went to each place and critiqued it....

I don't think I knew how much I actually loved cheeseburgers.

Snuffer's was first. My boss went once a week, and told me I HAD to try the cheesefries. Well.. I'm not one to turn down cheesefries, so I went and tried them. Seasoned fries LOADED with shredded cheddar, topped with jalapenos, bacon, chives, and ranch dressing. Oh my God I was in heaven. Then came the burger.. we ordered it medium, and it came out well done. The lettuce was chopped up into tiny squares instead of being leaf lettuce, and so were the onions. This made for a very messy burger. Cheese cost extra, and there were no side items. Okay, I wasn't digging it at this point, but I hadn't tasted it yet either.

Once I took my first bite, I regretted all of the things I'd been disappointed with. This burger was wonderful. Very salty, but wonderful. Snuffer's was an A in my book, especially because of the cheese fries and $1.50 margaritas!

Now onto Jakes. This place had a green logo just like Snuffers, but has palm trees on all of their patios. That's my kind of place! I went for lunch to check it out. Fried pickles for an appetizer, and a cheeseburger for dinner. Long story short, everything was very similar to Snuffer's, althought I liked the sports bar atmosphere better than Snuffer's restaurant feel. The burger was really good, and tasted just the way I like it. They didn't have cheese fries though, or $1.50 margaritas, so Snuffer's still beats them.

Scotty P's hamburgers was next. At this point, I'd begun to realize that all of these places must compete for the best cheese fries, and if you were a burger joint, you HAD to have famous cheese fries. This place had some loooooaded fries! I didn't try them since I was there for the burger, but they looked mighty fine. Somehow I don't think they're as good as Snuffers :) Anyways, I digress. Back to the burger. I ordered a regular cheeseburger, since I don't really like the fancy stuff. It was good.. nice and juicy, cooked well, and not overly seasoned. However, there was too much lettuce... 2 layers to be exact. That took away the beef flavor, and I was not pleased. Overall, this place gets a B-. It was in a strip mall, too. Boo.

Last but not least, that leaves Red's Patio Grill. It's a family owned place in Plano, TX and, of course, has a nice large patio. In Texas we have about 9 months of patio weather, so a place like this is very nice to have. I was told by a family member that everything in this restaurant is fresh because they don't have freezers. Ground beef has never been frozen, fries are hand sliced, chicken is cooked in house, etc.. so it sounded very good to me! I love fresh food way more than the pre-done stuff. So I went and got a cheeseburger, only to be questioned about what kind of cheese I wanted. And the choices weren't just cheddar, pepper jack, and American. These choices were Blue (yum) and Manchego (drooling) and all kinds of delicious cheeses! I adore manchego, so that's what I got. When my burger came out, it looked absolutely perfect. The meat was nice and pink inside, and the sandwich had crispy pickles, fresh tomato, onion, and mustard on it. Not to mention it was on a soft poppyseed bun. The fries I had ordered with it were twice fried and very crisp, with a side ramekin of ketchup.

My first bite of this delectable sandwich almost gave me a mouth orgasm. It was juicy, layered with wonderful flavor, and mushed up well in my hands. It didn't fall apart when I picked it up, and the bottom bun wasn't soggy. I'd never tasted something so wonderful in my life... except the pomegranate margarita I was drinking with it. This was definitely a Cheeseburger in Paradise. If only I'd had some Jimmy Buffett playing in the background...

Red's Patio Grill wins the comparison. I've eaten some darn good burgers in my day. Hell, my dad makes the best one I'd had to date, but this one was something special. And the best part? It was only 2 bucks more than the other ones, at $8.50.

Anyways, there are many more burger places around town that I need to check out. I've had some bad visits at a couple joints around town and they're not even work writing about.. But, if you've got any good suggestions, send them my way! My next adventure will probably be to Milwaukee to try a Juicy Lucy burger :)

Cupcakes: Crumbs vs. Sprinkles vs. Magnolia Bakery

Cupcakes: All the fad these days, I tend to eat them a lot. Before I moved to Dallas, Magnolia Bakery had always been my favorite. I heard of it from my aunt that lived in NYC, and also saw it on Sex and the City, so I had to try it. Their cupcakes were the best I'd ever had.. chocolate or vanilla, moist delicious centers, and buttercream frosting that was out of this world. The thing about them that really drew me in was the pastel colored frosting and dot sprinkles. Then I tasted the rich, creamy, delicious frosting, and was in love. This was the best spot in New York.. and for only $1.75 a cupcake, I could handle that. Plus, it gave me a reason to go into Greenwich Village and celebrity hunt :) I went to the bakery 1 or 2 times every time I was in NYC, and ate at least 2 cupcakes each time. My sister even got me the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook for my birthday!

Then I moved to Dallas... I was reading a magazine article about how Sprinkles cupcakes were one of Oprah's favorite things, and it said there was a location in Dallas. I immediately went and found where it was, and went to try it. That Oprah girl don't lie :-P There was a line out the door, and the place looked very plain. I wasn't impressed so far.. I liked the quaintness of Greenwich Village and the little blue awning at Magnolia. This place was in a strip mall and looked like it only had 5 flavors of cupcakes. So, I waited in the line until it was my turn to look at the flavor options. Lemon Coconut...Smores..White/Black...Strawberry.. hmm, these flavors sounded better than the plain vanilla and chocolate at Magnolia. I guess I'd give it a try. Well, lemon and coconut are two of my favorite flavors, so that's the cupcake I went with. After giving the lady my name and waiting for a minute, she announced that'd it'd be $3.25...$3.52 if I wanted to eat in the store. WHAT?! For a cupcake!? Well, this didn't please me. Magnolia cupcakes were only $1.75 and for that price, they tasted better, too!! The Sprinkles Cupcake ended up being very delicious, and I've gone back 100 times since then. I even spent almost $50 for a dozen for Thanksgiving. They're good cupcakes, and the flavor combinations are superb.

This brings me to the present..I am in NYC again and haven't visited Magnolia. Upon mentioning that I wanted to order cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, I'm ambushed by people in the room telling me that I need to try Crumbs Bakery, because it's SO much better than Magnolia. So, we order Crumbs. After checking the website, this place doesn't just have cupcakes. They have brownies and cookies and ice cream and cakes and all kinds of stuff! Their cupcake selection is the same everyday (unlike Sprinkles who has a rotating schedule of flavors) and they have the most flavors of all the bakeries....50 different flavors!! They have cupcakes with M&Ms on them, Oreos, Butterfingers, Nestle Crunch, Elvis flavored, etc. Hmm.. this is starting to look like a candy store. I just like cake and frosting on my cupcakes! But, I do LOVE peanut butter cups, so I got the peanut butter cup cupcake. Long story short, the cupcake was amazingly rich, but delicious. I ate the entire thing in less than 2 minutes.

I thought I'd be able to compare these three bakeries and decide on the best cupcake, but it's an impossible task. I never tasted the same type of cupcake from each place, so I can't compare apples to apples. I need to get a vanilla cupcake from each place and taste them side by side to make an accurate decision.

However- I can tell you the best part of all the places.

Sprinkles- Their cream cheese frosting is TO DIE FOR. Enough said
Magnolia- The cupcake as a whole tastes amazing. Simple and delicious
Crumbs- Great selection and variety. Definitely your most creative, but having a big menu usually means you can't make them all well.


So, moral of the story.... I ate about 50 cupcakes while trying to decide which was the best, gained 10 lbs, and never made a decision.