Category Archives: Food

A Great TV Find: Jimmy’s Diner- Brooklyn, NY

Food, NYC, ,
a window with a sign on it

While watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network, I came across Jimmy’s Diner. It’s located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which is not too far from where we live, so I was very interested in watching this segment.

I love visiting places that have been featured on food- related television shows. However, more often than not I’ve found restaurants featured on DDD to not live up to Guy Fieri’s rave reviews..

Regardless of this, after watching the segment about Jimmy’s I had to give it a try. The thing that stood out most were the amazing looking waffles, made to order.
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I wanted to stop by a few weeks back but when we called ahead, we were told there was a very long wait to get in for brunch. The menu seemed more like a breakfast/ lunch menu so we decided to give Jimmy’s a try for dinner, hoping to miss the crowds. We called again about a week later and were told that the restaurant wasn’t busy, so we headed on over.  Continue reading A Great TV Find: Jimmy’s Diner- Brooklyn, NY →

Lonely Planet: Extreme Cuises- Top 10 Exotic Tastes

Andrew Zimmern, Extreme, Food, Lonely Planet
a close-up of a person holding a bunch of worms

I found this article from Lonely Planet online which was posted in January 2010 and thought that it would be of interest to some readers.

When traveling, I am always more open to trying and eating new things. Learning about odd and weird foods became much easier when Andrew Zimmern’s show Bizarre Foods came out on Travel Channel.

The funny thing is that I am a very picky eater. I’ll tell you the things that I don’t eat, rather than what I do eat. I don’t eat many vegetables. The only ones I eat are carrots, a couple of kinds of lettuce and certain types of olives. When it comes to fruits, I am even pickier, I only eat apples.

When it comes to meat, I will try pretty much anything. On trips to Africa I’ve eaten many types of gazelles, zebra steak & warthog. I’ve had kangaroo in Australia and also cooked my own ostrich hot dog on the barbie. In Cambodia I got to cook my own platter of meats table side. It included snake and goat among some others. 

Here is Lonely Planet’s list of Extreme Cuisine:

  1. Witchetty Grub, Australia 
  2. Testicle, Afghanistan 
  3. Stingray, Iceland 
  4. Sea Cucumber, China 
  5. Scorpion, Thailand 
  6. Pig Face, China 
  7. Guinea Pig, Peru 
  8. Grasshopper, Mexico 
  9. Fugu, Japan 
  10. Chicha, Latin America

To find out more about each of these extreme cuisines Click HERE

Review: Peanut Butter GooGoo Cluster + Winner Announced

Contest, Food, , ,
a chocolate covered peanut butter and a bag of nuts

Last week I wrote about GooGoo Clusters, a Yummy Regional Sweet. In the post I ran a giveaway of a Collector’s Tin of Assorted GooGoo Clusters. I also mentioned how I was looking forward to trying out a GooGoo flavor that I could not find anywhere in Nashville- Peanut Butter.

When I wrote GooGoo Cluster, they were kind enough to offer to send me some of the peanut butter variety and also offered a GooGoo Cluster Commector’s Tin for me to give away to one of my readers.

a box of peanut butter
My Peanut Butter GooGoo Stash
a box of food in it

I was really looking forward to trying the Peanut Butter GooGoo Cluster and couldn’t wait to tear the box open when they arrived. I was sent a box of 12 PB GooGoos. This seemed like a generous amount for Kim and I to sample. (At the time of this review, we had not finished the box of GooGoos yet.)

I immediately noticed that the Peanut Butter variety seemed much smaller than the Original.
I checked the packages and saw that the PB was 1.5 oz and the Original was 1.75 oz.

The Peanut Butter GooGoo came out in 1991 and is a real treat- “Peanut Butter fans have celebrated the piquant combination of peanut butter, peanuts and real milk chocolate for two decades.”

a chocolate bar with peanut butter inside
Check out the thick layer of Peanut Butter
a chocolate covered peanut butter pie

A review of the Peanut Butter GooGoo Cluster:
Kim and I are huge fans of peanut butter fans so we were really looking forward to trying out the PB GooGoo.

From the moment you take a bite, you can taste the thick and rich peanut butter which takes up a huge portion of the cluster. The milk chocolate also stands out and goes really well with the peanut butter, making for a great taste. Although there was a fair amount of peanuts on top of the cluster, I felt they weren’t as noticeable as in the Original variety.
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I also felt like the Peanut Butter GooGoo seemed a bit small. When eating an Original Cluster, it feels heavy and filling while the PB doesn’t feel so substantial. With that being said, both Clusters are still incredible and make for a tasty snack.
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If I was to compare it to another peanut butter candy, a good comparison would be Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I think that the PB GooGoo is much better than a Reese’s. All of the ingredients in the GooGoo are better than those mundane PB cups. The peanut butter seems to be tastier and the chocolate is richer in the GooGoo. The peanuts on top add a nice texture and add a bit more flavor.
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If I had to choose  between an Original or Peanut ButterGooGooCluster, that would be a harder decision. Overall, the Original stands out more to me, with all of the layers of flavor working better together. If I was looking for more of a peanut butter taste, then I’d go with the PB GooGoo. Either way, you can’t go wrong!

a piece of cardboard with writing on it

I want to thank GooGoo Cluster for sponsoring the Collector’s Tin Giveaway and everyone that entered. A couple of ways to enter were by following me on Twitter and Facebook. If you don’t currently follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you can do so by clicking the links above.

Kim and I have had a chance to enjoy a Yummy Regional Sweet and now it’s time for one of you to get to do the same!

And the winner is… Amy W. (no relation to Michael W., many last names begin with W!)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

GooGoo Clusters: A Yummy Regional Sweet + Giveaway

Food, Trip Reports, , ,
a box of cookies on a table
Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant

Make sure to enter below for a shot at winning a Collector’s Tin of GooGoo Clusters!

In February I wrote about a Budget Travel article mentioning 15 of America’s Favorite Regional Sweets.

There was one item from the list that I really wanted to try. If I ever made it to Tennessee, I had to get my hands on a GooGoo Cluster. Luckily, on my recent trip to Louisville & Nashville, I was successful in my quest.

GooGoo Clusters were invented in 1912 in Nashville, Tennessee. They are the world’s first combination candy bar. GooGoo’s are “made of luscious caramel, smooth creamy marshmallow and fresh roasted peanuts all covered with a thick coating of pure milk chocolate”.

GooGoo Clusters come in three varieties:

  1. Original- described above
  2. Supreme- with fancy pecan pieces instead of peanuts
  3. Peanut Butter- replacing the marshmallow filling

When we started planning our trip , I remembered that I had to find a GooGoo Cluster to taste when I made it to Tennessee.

a shelf with food items on it
On the shelf at Dollar General

The first GooGoo Clusters I bought were just outside of Nashville. We stopped at a gas station for a snack and a fill up. While Kim waited in the car, I went in to buy the snack and spotted them in two varieties. I bought one of the Original & Supreme. They each cost .99 cents. We both enjoyed the Original variety but didn’t love the Supreme as much.
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We expected to see the GooGoo Cluster for sale all over and planned to try it a few more times. The next morning, at breakfast I noticed a display at Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant selling Original GooGoo’s for $1.99 each. Wow! Talk about pricey. I wasn’t going to pay double what I had payed the day before. I hoped to find more Clusters for sale before we left Nashville.

a man and child in a grocery store
A photo with the prized GooGoo Cluster

After finishing up breakfast we needed to buy some water and spotted a Dollar General right down the block from Puckett’s. We stopped in for the water and decided to wander down the candy aisle. Well what do you know, Dollar General carried boxes containing 3 GooGoo Clusters for $1.99! This seemed like a great price so I bought a couple of boxes to take home. (I kind of wish that I had bought a few more!)

boxes on top of each other
Piggly Wiggly

We didn’t see GooGoo Clusters for sale anywhere else in Nashville until the last night of our trip. I went into a Piggly Wiggly (a Southern supermarket chain- I had to mention the name) and spotted a display selling Original & Supreme Clusters for .99 cents. This seemed like a fair price but we decided to pass. If they had the peanut butter variety available I would’ve bought a couple.

a chocolate bar and a packet of chocolate
A GooGoo and its wrapper

A review of the GooGoo Cluster:
Kim and I are now big fans of the GooGoo Cluster. We both appreciated that it seems to be just the right size- not too big, not too small and just the right thickness.  These lumps of tasty goodness smell great too! Kim told me she could smell the peanuts and chocolate from a few feet away, not knowing I had opened the package.

a chocolate covered candy bar with a bite taken out of it
Layers of yummyness
a chocolate bar with a filling

To show all of the layers of flavor, I cut one of the GooGoo Clusters in half with a sharp knife.

You can see all of the ingredients present in the cluster. They don’t skimp on anything. There are lots of tasty peanuts on top, followed by a nice layer of caramel. They sit on a thick pillowy bed of marshmallow and then the whole package is coated all around in tasty chocolate.

A nice thing about the GooGoo Cluster is that you can actually taste all of the elements working together. What stood out most for me was the peanuts and chocolate. The marshmallow added a nice, light texture and the caramel added just the right amount of sweetness. It is a perfect mixture of smooth, crunchy, sweet and salty.
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I’d love to try out the Peanut Butter variety in the future. Maybe I can hunt it down in a candy shop in the NYC area.

If I could recommend one thing to the Standard Candy Co. (the makers of the GooGoo Cluster), I’d suggest that they consider making a dark chocolate version!

Find out more out Goo Goo Cluster and order some online HERE

***Giveaway: Win a Collector’s Tin of GooGoo Clusters***

a can of candy with a red lid

I decided to contact Standard Candy Co. to let them know how much Kim and I enjoyed the GooGoo Cluster. I mentioned how I really wanted to try the peanut butter variety but had no luck finding them in Nashville.

I received a speedy response from Standard Candy Co. and they were very kind and generous. Not only did they offer to send me some Peanut Butter GooGoo Clusters, they also offered a little something for me to giveaway to my readers!

The Prize: One Collector’s Tin of GooGoo Clusters

  • Collector’s Tin filled with 8 Assorted GooGoo Clusters: 4 Original, 2 Supreme and 2 Peanut Butter. (value: $19.95)
  • Contest ends 1/15/13 at 12:01AM
  • Enter in the widget below. The more ways you enter, the better your odds are for winning!
    a Rafflecopter giveaway 

 

TV Food Maps: A Great Resource

Food, Resources, , , ,
a logo for a tv company

I recently added a new link to the Travel Resources list of Michael W Travels. The link is for a website that I find to be extremely useful and something that I seem to be using all of the time.

I find food to be a huge part of travel. I love trying local foods, visiting old restaurants and checking out places featured on the travel/ food/ restaurant shows. Most of these shows air on Food Network and Travel Channel.

TV Food Maps is an incredible resource that helps you find places featured on those travel- food shows. You can check them out online or use the even more useful mobile apps. Apps are available for Android, iPhone and iPad.

Continue reading TV Food Maps: A Great Resource →

A Visit to the Vienna Beef Factory Store

Food, Jumping, Trip Reports, , ,
a sign in front of a building

While planning my trip to Chicago this past October, I came across a tour that I really wanted to take. However, there were a couple of problems.

  1. The tours are only given on Wednesday mornings and we were arriving Thursday night
  2. The tour was booked up through winter 2014

The tour that would elude me was a visit to the manufacturing facility of Vienna Beef.
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If I couldn’t get to learn about how hot dogs were made at VB, I decided to do the next best thing- visit the Vienna Beef Factory Store & Cafe.

Lonely Planet- Oddest Food Museums

Food, , , ,
a blue and white logo

I’ve always been interested in visiting bizarre, odd and weird sites around the world. I’ll even go out of my way to visit one if it seems like it might be worthwhile.
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Here are some places I’ve visited and mentioned on the blog:

A few days ago I read a Lonely Planet article that had a list of “Oddest Food Museums”.
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Continue reading Lonely Planet- Oddest Food Museums →

Food Review: Pizza Pot Pie- Chicago

Food, Trip Report, , ,
a sign on a building

While putting together a list of places to visit for my (recent) trip to Chicago I remembered hearing  about a restaurant that made a very interesting and unique kind of pizza.

I had seen the restaurant on TV a few years back but had a little problem- I had no clue what it’s name was! However I did remember that they made an upside-down pizza.

Chicago is known for it’s awesome deep dish pizza so I figured this place would be relatively easy to find since it was so different. While searching online I came up empty handed at first..

Continue reading Food Review: Pizza Pot Pie- Chicago →

Heavy Metal Burgers at Kuma’s Corner

Food, Trip Reports, ,
a plate of food with fries and cheese on it

I first heard about Kuma’s Corner when it was on food- television show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives a few years back. Since then, they have been on a bunch of other shows.

I’m a huge fan of burgers so eating one at Kuma’s Corner was at the top of my list on my recent trip to Chicago. It was actually the first thing we did after checking in to our hotel!

I remembered that many of the burgers were named after heavy metal bands but forgot how huge they were. Some of the burger names are: Iron Maiden, Lair of Minotaur, Led Zeppelin, Megadeath, Metallica, Pantera and Slayer. Continue reading Heavy Metal Burgers at Kuma’s Corner →

The Doughnut Vault- A lot of Taste in a Tiny Space

Food, Trip Reports,
a box of donuts

Before heading to Chicago I did a little research to find out some interesting things to do. I had been to Chicago a few years back with Kim and wanted to find some places to visit that seemed a little more off the beaten path.

One of the places I came across was a tiny doughnut shop that was only open a couple of hours a day. Let me explain. The Doughnut Vault makes around 1,000 doughnuts per day and keeps very odd business hours. They are open Tues.-Fri. 8:00am ’til Sold Out and Saturdays 9:30am ’til Sold Out. You read that right- they have opening hours but no real closing hours. Once they sell out of their doughnuts, that’s it for the day.

a sign on a building
a blue door with yellow writing on it

We only had around 48 Hours in Chicago and trying out the Doughnut Vault was at the top of my list of things to do. It took a bit of effort to get inside the vault. On Friday morning my brother and I arrived at 11:00am and the doors were already locked. The friendly girl that works there opened the door and apologized, explaining that they were already sold out. She said that they had sold out early, about an hour before we got there. Pretty amazing- two hours open and 1,000 doughnuts sold.

I was a bit disappointed that I missed out on trying the doughnuts. I figured that I would have to try to get there on my next trip to Chicago not that I was sure when that would be…

a sign on a wall

It turned out that the Community Day Event after the O’Hare 5K Runway Run wasn’t too interesting and we were done by around 9:00am. My brother and I were thinking of what to do with the few hours we had left before heading home. I suggested giving the Doughnut Vault another try. We headed over there and arrived at 9:45,15 minutes after it had opened and the line was already around the block!

a group of people standing on a sidewalk

I didn’t really mind the line so much due to the friendly vibe in the air. The line actually added to the experience! Doughnuts were on everybody’s mind. Many people were chatting and joking around which made the time seem to move a little quicker. The Doughnut Vault also updates what is left of their inventory throughout the morning on Twitter which makes for good conversation.

After waiting on line for about 45 minutes we made it inside. The shop was tiny as could be. It was basically a hallway about ten feet long with a few mirrors hanging on the walls. We waited another 5-10 minutes before it was our turn to order.

a group of people in a room

Before ordering I was shown which doughnuts were left and ordered five. I figured that it would be nice to bring some home for Kim.

a tray of doughnuts on a rack

Here is what I ordered:

  • Two Buttermilk Old Fashioned
  • One Gingerbread Stack which actually came with 3 small doughnuts
  • One Chocolate Glazed
  • One Vanilla Glazed
a man and woman posing for a picture

The glazed doughnuts were massive. I found them to be good, not great. I preferred the vanilla glaze over the chocolate. Kim and I really enjoyed the old fashioned. They were really tasty and moist. I found the gingerbread stack to be the best deal and best tasting from what I sampled. They were sweet and spiced with a really good cakey texture to them.

Overall I found the effort worthwhile to try out The Doughnut Vault.

I can’t say that they are the best doughnuts that I’ve ever had. I can think of two in NY that are better (minus the one hour wait). However, the whole experience made it a positive and fun time.

The Doughnut Vault is located at 401 1/2 N. Franklin Street, Chicago
Twitter: @doughnutvault