Category Archives: Food

Shacktoberfest, An Alternative to Oktoberfest

Food,
a person holding a glass of beer

I do not have a bucket list- I actually hate the term and idea of them. However, there are some places, events and experiences that I’d love to do.

One of the top events I’d love to attend is Oktoberfest. I’ve been to Munich, got to experience the local beer scene and really enjoyed the city. I rarely return to a city or country I’ve already visited but for Oktoberfest I’d go back to Munich in a heartbeat.

This year I had a break from work coinciding with Oktoberfest. I found out about it pretty much last minute. I considered trying to get to Germany for Oktoberfest but there were a couple of problems with this plan- Kim was not off from work and flights were very expensive or not available with miles. After weighing my options, I gave up on the idea of going this year and figured that I would eventually get there.

Oktoberfest is a Munich event celebrated all around the world. There were various events going on in the New York area but they didn’t seem to fit our schedule. Then I read about a fun, little event at one of my favorite burger places- Shake Shack.
(Check out my post about the Shake Shack Grand Opening in Brooklyn HERE) Continue reading Shacktoberfest, An Alternative to Oktoberfest →

NY Daily News: Bizarre Restaurants Around the World

Food, Travel Articles, ,
a man eating at a table

The New York Daily News had a slideshow a few months back of bizarre restaurants around the world. I found the slide show to be (for the most part) very interesting. It features 11 restaurants, some unique and worthy of a visit, others really weird and ridiculous.

Here is the list:

  1. Dinner in the sky, Brussels– dine in the sky as a crane suspends the gigantic table 50 meters in the sky
  2. Aurum Restaurant, Singapore– hospital themed restaurant where you can dine while sitting in a wheelchair. I saw this restaurant on No Reservations a while back. I think Aurum may have closed.
  3. Hibaritei Cafe, Tokyo– male servers dress up in funky maid costumes
  4. Toilet-themed restaurant, Hangzhou– food is served in miniature toilet bowls
  5. Buns and Guns Restaurant, Beirut– customers sit behind a wall of sandbags and chefs dress in military uniforms
  6. Cafe Neko, Vienna– five cats roam freely around the restaurant
  7. Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant, Bangkok.- waiters wear large condoms on their head and aims to educate the public about safe sex. I remember reading about this place in our guide book and walking by it while in Bangkok. I did not see any condom head waiters!
  8. Hear Attack Grill, Arizona– try out the triple bypass cheeseburger here
  9. Hospital-themed restaurant, Taiwan– waitresses dressed as nurses serve drinks through am IV bag drip
  10. Clothing Optional Dinner, NYC– nudists hold clothing optional dinners around New York
  11. Special Enjoyment Restaurant, China– My favorite on the list. This restaurant is shaped like an A380

Here are a couple of more pictures from the slideshow:

a waiter serving drinks at a restaurant
Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant
a woman cleaning a table
Special Enjoyment Restaurant

Check out the complete slideshow HERE

***Photos from this post were taken from the Daily News slideshow***

 

Strange Food: Ugly Curry Chicken Puff- Starbucks, Singapore

Food, ,
a sign with text on it
A while back I wrote a post about a USA Today article regarding fast foods that you can’t get in the USA. I then created a new thread about this on Milepoint. One of the members commented about Ugly Curry Puffs at Starbucks in Singapore being one of their favorites.
(Thanks to member HaveMilesWillTravel for the tip.)
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Since we were heading to Singapore, I made a quick note of this odd sounding dish and decided that I had to find and taste it during my trip!
a display case with chicken puffs
Ugly Curry Chicken Puff

Continue reading Strange Food: Ugly Curry Chicken Puff- Starbucks, Singapore →

Local Eats: Chislic in South Dakota

Food, Trip Reports, ,
a sign with a buffalo head on it
While traveling, Kim and I always like to find local foods to try in the area we are visiting.
South Dakota didn’t seem to have any unique, local foods until we came across Chislic.
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According to Wikipedia, Chislic is “virtually unknown outside the state of South Dakota”.
The meat (it can be beef, lamb or venison) is cubed and deep fried. Chislic can vary in how it is prepared based on the area you are in. Continue reading Local Eats: Chislic in South Dakota →

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party- NYC June 9 & 10, 2012

Food, NYC, Trip Reports, ,
a red and blue sign with a pig
This weekend I’ll be eating some great food at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in NYC. The event features top BBQ pitmasters from all over the country.
a group of people standing around a grill

The event will be entering it’s 10th year and features “award-winning barbecue and Southern-inspired fare from the country’s top pitmasters available for $8/plate”.
There will be 18 pitmasters at the event from “barbecue capitals like Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Illinois and more”. There is also live music and cooking seminars throughout the day.

Continue reading Big Apple Barbecue Block Party- NYC June 9 & 10, 2012 →

Ben’s Best Deli- Rego Park, NY

Food, NYC, , ,
Bens Best Deli
I first heard about Ben’s Best Deli in Rego Park, Queens while watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I don’t find that the show frequently features restaurants from the NYC area. The classic New York Kosher deli has been disappearing making it harder and harder to find a good pastrami sandwich. When I saw Ben’s on DDD, I had to go check it out since it was so close to home and I love deli!

Continue reading Ben’s Best Deli- Rego Park, NY →

Friday Night Fish Fry- Oistins, Barbados

Food, Trip Reports, ,
a man cooking food in a kitchen
I first read about Oistins Fish Fry a few years back when considering a visit to Barbados.
We decided to go elsewhere that time but I never forgot about this weekly event.
When we decided to go to Barbados in April, it was at the top of my list for things to do!
a fish shaped light decorations over a street
Traffic in Oistins
Oistins is a fishing village in the southern part of Barbados. It also has some beaches and is well known to locals and tourists alike for it’s Friday night Fish Fry. The fish fry gets really crowded and stalls sell all types of fish (grilled or fried) like tuna, swordfish, mahi-mahi- flying fish, shrimps and many others. There is also music blasting, booths selling various crafts and locals hanging out and playing dominoes.

Continue reading Friday Night Fish Fry- Oistins, Barbados →

Checking Out EscapeMaker.com’s Local Food & Travel Expo

Brooklyn, EscapeMaker, Food, Travel
a sign in a building

I had a chance to attend the EscapeMaker.com Local Food & Travel Expo on Saturday
April 14 which I was given a press invite to. (I wrote about the event prior to attending here)

a group of people posing for a photo

I showed up before the event started to attend the opening ceremony and ribbon cutting which included local leaders like Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. There were a few speeches given by the head of EscapeMaker, Markowitz and a few other local politicians. They talked a bit about green getaways and locally sourced foods. One thing I learned that was pretty interesting is that the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be getting a rooftop farm which will be one of the largest in the country.

a group of people standing next to a sign
After the press event I met up with Kim and Lucas and had a chance to check out the travel expo. The event was very nice. It had lots of exhibitors from various tourism boards. The majority being from upstate New York. There were also some booths from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
a woman in a white shirt

There were a handful of local inns at the expo. Some looked really incredible and were located in interesting areas. I’d definitely like to visit a bunch of them in the future. 
There were also lots of wineries present- all offering samples. Kim definitely enjoyed tasting some! I enjoyed sampling some really tasty cheese, maple syrup and fudge offered by some of the other exhibitors.

a couple of women standing at a table
a sign with red text and arrow

Downstairs, in the vault was a Made In Brooklyn area. 
The idea for this was really cool but I would’ve liked to have seen a fuller room of exhibitors. Some of the highlights were Robicelli’s (they make really awesome & interesting flavored cupcakes), Raaka Chocolate (some of the best dark chocolate I’ve tried) and Kim had some tasty pickles from McClure’s.

a plate of chocolate on a tablea group of jars of pickles

Overall the EscapeMaker Local Food & Travel Expo was a fun event to stop by for a couple of hours. I found out some useful info about areas that I would definitely like to visit in the future and got to sample some tasty food!

EscapeMaker.com’s Local Food & Travel Expo- April 14

Brooklyn, EscapeMaker, Food, Green, New York, Travel
a poster for a food expo
EscapeMaker.com will be holding it’s 2nd annual Local Food & Travel Expo on April 14.
I received a Press Invite to the event & will hopefully make it and then have Kim & Lucas meet me after the show preview to check out the expo.
The expo takes place in Brooklyn, New York at One Hanson Place in the historic and amazing former home of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.
a tall building with many windows
1 Hanson Place
The event focuses on “green” getaways as well as local foods and trips within a day’s drive or train ride of NYC. Exhibitors will be from Brooklyn, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont & Transportation Companies.
A little about the show:
  • There will be over 50 exhibitors at the event where you can sample local wines, cheeses, fudge, chocolate, jam, juices and other regional farm-fresh foods.
  • There will be travel workshops like Hiking via Mass Transit, Canoeing/ Kayaking, Agri-Tourism and Green Travel 101 among others.
  • Lots of Prizes- all food & travel related
The event takes places at Skylight One Hanson at 1 Hanson Place Brooklyn, New York.
Tickets cost $13 and the event is from 12-5 PM
(Use code “edible12” or “emzipcar” to save $3 off of the ticket price)
Find out more about the EscapeMaker Local Food & Travel Expo here

Johnny Cakes- Providence, Rhode Island

Food, , ,
a red and white trailer with a white fence

Food TV has been really hot for a while now. Many channels dedicate lots of programming hours to food related shows. While I am not so interested in actual cooking shows (asides from Top Chef), I do really love shows like Bizarre Foods, Man vs. Food and Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

I love visiting restaurants featured on these shows. I find some to be hits and others to be way over-rated and not so good.

Since my blog is focused on travel, I plan to feature some of the places that I have visited.