The Hungry Nomad - Food, Travel, Lifestyle

Dinner at Peche- Warehouse District (New Orleans, USA)

May 22, 2014 No Comments

Another great restaurant by the Donald Link restaurant group has opened on the corner of Magazine and Julia streets in the warehouse district. This time, it is called Peche and focuses on simple coastal seafood with a unique, modern approach.

The restaurant showcases an open kitchen where diners can see the fire and seafood grilling in the back, an oyster bar serving fresh gulf seafood including oysters, crab meat, and fresh gulf fish and a large bar. The result is a very fresh seafood-oriented menu (although if you really want red meat there are a few options there as well). The decor is rustic seaside with exposed wooden beams throughout the open plan restaurant. One thing I noted while we were dining was the noise level. It was extremely loud. Too loud. We had to shout to hear each other at dinner.

Our meal included many various dishes from the menu including oysters (both Connecticut and Gulf), frog legs, smoked tuna dip, shrimp toast, and tuna tartare and salmon. For the main entrees our table shared two whole fish: red fish and mangrove snapper.

Almost everything we ordered tasted perfect but I did find the fresh oysters to be extremely salty. Too salty to eat. I was told that that is how oysters from the East Coast taste. But I’ve had enough oysters to know that that is not the case, especially not with gulf oysters. I heard others complain of the same. But other dishes were quite perfect. The smoked tuna dip served in a bowl with a side of crackers was so good, I may have finished one completely on my own.

The Whole grilled fishes were served on a large plate smothered in delicious sauce. The red fish was sizzled to perfection and covered in a citrusy herb topping which made it extremely tasty. The snapper was prepared in a different sauce but was just as good. In the end there was nothing left except two fish skeletons staring up at us in shame.

And while completely full at this point, stuffed with enough seafood for a month, we ordered dessert. My favorite was the chocolate, peanut butter and banana pie and citrusy key lime pie.

Overall, dinner at peche was a great experience. The food, decor, service and ambiance make for a great night out. I guess the New Orleans Saint’s feel the same as I do, throughout the evening we saw some of the players including one of my favorites, Jimmy Graham. Donald Link has done it again. I’m wondering what will come next, Boeuf the steakhouse?

Food, New Orleans, USA

Lunch at SoBou- French Quarter (New Orleans, USA)

May 4, 2014 No Comments

While staying in the French Quarter we decided to check out some of the new restaurants that have opened in New Orleans since we moved away to Philadelphia last summer. Our list included SoBou, the new contemporary restaurant located in the W Hotel by the same family as Commander’s Palace (a personal favorite).

This ‘South of Bourbon‘ restaurant focuses on tapas style small plates and modern twists on Southern classics. Led by chef Juan Carlos Gonzalez the food proved to be fresh, innovative and exciting. The decor is modern, elegant and trendy. Many tables have beer taps built in for easy access.

We went for lunch around 1 pm and the restaurant was winding down with less than 3 tables. However, it took a very long time to get anything on our table. And while our server was knowledgeable and attentive, it did not take away from the fact that we waited for what seemed like 30 minutes to get our first order served.

The Yellowfin tuna cones were served in a small tomato infused cone filled with a pineapple ceviche, tuna, topped with basil and avocado ice cream. It was small enough to eat in one bite. However, I was not a big fan of the ice-cream/fish combination. I’m a firm believer that fish and dairy should not be mixed at a meal let alone in one dish.

Next came the Butternut Squach Beignets, large deep fried balls of dough mixed with duck debris and squash drizzled with a sweet foie gras fondue sauce and chicory coffee ganache. The Count loved the mix of sweet and savory flavors of this dish but for me it was too much fried dough.

For our main entrees we had the SoBou Burger and Rosemary Crusted Oyster Salad. The burger was plain and simply delicious. Grilled to perfection giving it that smokey grilled flavor that many burgers these days lack.

The oyster salad was a great light lunch option. The oysters were lightly crusted in a rosemary breading cooked just right, set on top of a bed of tossed greens in a light sauce.

We also ordered a side of fries and were surprised to note that we were charged that extra dollar for ketchup. It threw us off a bit given that you really don’t expect to be charged for ketchup in an upscale restaurant such as SoBou. And while we may be spoiled up east in Philadelphia and New York with the special attention we’ve been given by chefs and wait staff, small details such as this really do take away from the experience.

Gourmand, Japanese, Organic, Vegan, Vegetarian

Sushi-heaven at Shizen Ya (Vancouver, Canada)

April 15, 2014 1 Comment

Shizen Ya is one of the best sushi spots in Vancouver with two convenient locations. One on Hornby street directly across from the courthouse making it a great lunch destination. If you are a health-conscious eater searching for vegetarian, organic and vegan eateries then you will absolutely fall head over heels for Shizen Ya. The quality of the food is quite possibly one of the highest I have tasted and is definitely above many other downtown sushi locations. There is no doubt that all ingredients down to the brown rice and wasabi are organic. Given that it is all organic it tends to be a little pricier than other sushi spots but then again you are paying a bit extra for the quality. Each plate of food that was brought to our table reinforced the passion and dedication that goes into their ingredients and preparation making Shizen Ya one of my favorite sushi spots in town. Definitely a tiny gem downtown that should be visited by all (if you can find room in the tiny eater).

We started off with the organic wild rice and tofu salad with quinoa. I have never tasting anything so fresh and flavorful as this salad.

An order of salmon sashimi.

and brown rice shrimp tempura and avocado roll.

Andalusia, Food, Seville, Spain, Tapas, Travel, Wine Bar

Tapas in Seville (Sevilla, Spain)

April 7, 2014 No Comments

After our three days of adventures in Madrid we packed our bags hopped on the train and made our way south to Sevilla.

Sevilla was all that I imagined it to be and more: bursting with color and antique charm, beautiful historic buildings, endless rays of sun and flamenco. The Alcazar Palace Complex is a stunning collage of architectural styles and beautiful green gardens took our breathe away and the Cathedral was impressive you with its beauty and its status as the burial site of Christopher Columbus. We spent our days touring the town on foot and nights eating tapas in only a few of the more than 4000 tapas bars in town. On the first day that we visited the town we ended our walk at the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza. Around the corner from the Plaza de Toros we found a restaurant called Baratillo dedicated to the art of bull fighting and decided to give it a try.

Bull heads lined the walls and locals and tourists alike crowded the room. As a newbie to the art of tapas we werent too sure of our selections but there was one thing that I discovered while in Sevilla which was so delicious that I ended up having three servings per day.I wish I remembered the name but only have the photos to remind me of the taste. Fries served with a meat stew and gravy. Very simple but simply delicious.

The dish called Broken Egg or Huevos Rotos is quite popular all around Spain consists of fried eggs, fried potatoes and pieces of Iberico ham. It is simply delicious and made it to our list of orders on every occasion.

The house special- the Berenjenas Baratillo was to die for. Not sure what the sauce that covered the thinly sliced eggplant dish consisted of but whatever it was- it was so delicious we had to order more.

Baratillo restaurant is located at: Calle Adriano, 20, 41001 Seville, Spain, El Arenal

Madrid, Spanish, Tapas, Travel

Tapas at Casa Labra (Madrid, Spain)

April 1, 2014 No Comments

Our tapas adventures continued on the next evening starting off with the famous fried cod at Casa Labra. I had read about this place in travel guides but came about it quite randomly while taking a wrong turn off of Plaja del Sol. Cod and cod croquettes are the specialty served in a room that has remained almost untouched since the 19^th century. The crowds and the smell of fried cod made it hard to resist. We walked in and ordered from the friendly man at the counter. Beer and delicious hot pieces of fish were served to us at the standing bar.

Casa Labra is located at: Calle Tetuan 12, close to El Corte Ingles Store located in Sol

Madrid, Spain, Tapas, Travel

Tapas at Casa Lucas (Madrid, Spain)

March 30, 2014 No Comments

The hip neighborhood of La Latina is covered with bars, restaurants and tapas bars. One tourist friendly tapas bar that should not be missed is Casa Lucas. A cozy, sleek tavern offering a range of wine and innovative yet traditional tapas. On our quick stop we ordered in broken Spanglish the fried calamaris, served whole and chopped up bar-side and generously covered in black squid ink. Fresh, tasty and delicious.

Casa Lucas is located at: Cava Baja, 30 28005 Madrid, Spain, +34 913 65 08 04

Asian, New Orleans, Pho, USA, Vietnamese

MoPho Nola (New Orleans, USA)

March 15, 2014 No Comments

There have been many new restaurants that have opened up in New Orleans since I last lived there. One of the latest talked about place is MoPho located in my old n’hood of Mid City/City Park. It has brought life to what was once a desolate strip mall type area with a shabby burger king and a few other stores that service the college across the street. MoPho is a beautiful, hip new modern-asian style restaurant serving your traditional vietnamese phos along with rice bowls and appetizers. (see Menu)

We started off with not 1 but 2 orders of the Crispy Chicken wings tossed in a lemongrass/ginger sauce. Result: Perfection. It was so good I was tempted to order more and forget about my main dish. There was also an order of Fried Shrimp which were good but nothing like the chicken wings. An order of handmade fresh spring rolls were also ordered and having recently perfected shrimp rolls in my cooking class I was not overly impressed by the roll. It was falling apart and the noodles too thick for my liking.

For our main dishes the three of us ordered the rice/noodle bowls. You have the option of picking your main ingredients: rice or noodles and the protein of choice. We had two beef cheeks and one grilled jumbo shrimp. At this point, I had already filled up on a full serving of the chicken but had no choice than to finish what was in front of me. The bowl was fresh and flavorful however, I didn’t particularly enjoy the beef cheeks which were overly gelatinous.

MoPho reminded me a bit of NOLA’s version of the Momofoku restaurants in the East Village, NYC. Same types of offerings and flavors and definitely a few hipster waiters and waitresses. Overall, I think it is a great addition to the New Orleans food scene offering something completely different than anything else you will find in NOLA. It is a modern take on Vietnamese food and the restaurant ambiance and food are both great reasons to check out this place if you have not yet done so.

New Orleans

A Colorful Mardi Gras in New Orleans

March 13, 2014 No Comments

It has been 6 months since we moved to Louisiana, to the heart of Cajun country, Lafayette. And while it has it’s subtle charms it will not replace my love for New Orleans. When weekends roll around we find every excuse to make our way to New Orleans-and there is always a good excuse. The latest being Mardi Gras. A time in New Orleans that is quite impossible to describe if you are not there to experience it.

Mardi Gras celebrations include parades, floats, colorful beads, king cakes, balls, drinks, crowds of spectators, music and endless celebrations. Each parade or Krewe has a name and a theme. Some are ‘super-krewes’ meaning that they have more impressive floats, more bands, more crowds and bigger ball celebrations.

For those of you who are not familiar with the celebrations here is a little history lesson: Mardi Gras, french for “Fat Tuesday” is the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins. It is the 5-8 week prior to Ash Wednesday when Christians traditionally were meant to eat as much food as they could in preparation for Lent. Now the eating has been replaced with drinking and celebrations. Mardi Gras or Carnival traditions in Louisiana followed the Creole French to New Orleans with the earliest ball dating back to the 1700’s. In the late 1850’s Americans who had long been left out of Creole’s Mardi Gras created their own club and called it the Mystick Krewe of Comus. And so the “krewes’ were born.

The royal colors of purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power were adopted as the festival’s official colors, and more krewes arose, each throwing a lavish ball along with its parade and all with exclusive membership. These three colors now paint homes, streets, and even food during the month leading up to Mardi Gras, the most famous treat being the King Cake or the Galette des Rois.

This year I got to experience it all- from attending most of the parades to dressing up for my first ball. Arriving to a traffic ridden downtown we parked and headed to watch the parades on Saint Charles street in the Central Business District. After the parades we walked to the French Quarter to meet out of town friends who had come for Mardi Gras but barely left the Quarter and Bourbon street (what a shame!). And so our night was spent on Bourbon with tourists and spring breaker college kids whose idea of Mardi Gras was a drunken spectacle of revealing breasts and throwing beads. Obnoxious and completely unauthentic.

The next day I was determined to head uptown to catch the parades since to me the most beautiful Mardi Gras experience is in Uptown surrounded by the large green oak trees and lines of tents, barbeques, drinks and djs. The neighboring college kids from Tulane and Loyola are a majority in uptown but it seems each block on Saint Charles is dedicated to a different crowd- from your mid 40’s with children tents to your college kids reunion- you can find it all.

The big parades of the weekend were Endymion and Orpheus leading up to the grand finale on ‘fat’ Tuesday. Given the amazing weather the streets were packed and there was barely any room to get to the front of the crowd to catch some beads. The large evening krewes end up either in the superdome or the convention center where people get dressed up to the nines carrying in their 6-packs and food trays in their ball gowns and tuxedos and proceed to get intoxicated while the floats drive around the stadium.

When I was first invited to the Endymion ball I envisioned a grandiose historical ball like those I’ve seen in the movies. Ball gowns and tuxedos and keeping traditions alive I was sure there would be organized dancing a la Francaise and Anglaise. My first clue that I would be in for a surprise was the location of the ball: the superdome. And what the ball turned out to be was a big ‘dirty south’ style party. Sure the crowds were dressed up but it was a contrast to them carrying their alcohol and buckets of fried chicken and veggies in hand. And while it was a good time I wouldnt necessarily define it as a ‘ball’.

And when all the fun and games are over, the streets are piled with mounds of garbage, beads and other Mardi Gras leftovers which are left to the city to clean. All this is done after each parade making the streets ready for the next one. And there you have it, a brief look into my Mardi Gras experience.

Belgian, Canada, Dessert, Vancouver, Waffles

Waffles at Nero Belgian Waffle Bar (Vancouver, Canada)

March 4, 2014 No Comments

Vancouver has many things but one thing that it lacks is a good selection of dessert shops that are open late. The only place to have desserts in the west end used to be True Confections who, let’s be honest, no longer serves good cake. So the opening of Nero Belgian Waffle Bar is a welcoming site in the west end.

As the name suggests the shop offers a range of waffles served with the likes of nutella, bananas, strawberries, chocolate… and the list goes on.

The Waffle Bar itself is extermely small with only a few small tables. However, there is also a take out window on the outside where you can order your waffles and coffee/tea to go.

We ordered two waffles to share. One served with bananas and nutella and the other strawberries with whipped cream. The presentation was perfect and the waffles themselves were crisp on the outside yet soft on the inside and slightly chewy. Overall, it was the perfect dessert and is a great spot for sweet-tooths like me looking for a midnight sugar fix.

Asian, Food, Japan, Ramen, Vancouver

Addicted to Gyoza King since 2003 (Vancouver, Canada)

February 27, 2014 No Comments

It seems that the majority of my time was spent eating in the West End where there is a densely packed number of Korean, Japanese, Malaysian and other Asian restaurants. Gyoza King is no new addition! It has been around for over a decade. The tiny Japanese restaurants specializes in handmade gyozas with different fillings including the pork, prawn and chives, prawns and pork and chives. They also serve pages and pages of other Japanese delicacies typically found in Izakayas.

As a regular, I have the menu memorized and always order two servings of the pork, prawn and chives and pork and chive gyozas. You just can’t go wrong with these pan-fried dumplings. They are as good as it gets and you would do yourself a huge injustice if you went to the restaurant and failed to get the dumplings.

Next, I always order the Agadeshi Tofu. Pieces of skilen firm tofu are cut into cubes, lightly dusted with potato starch and deed fried to a golden crisp. They are then served in a bed of hottentsuu borth made of dashi, mirin and sho-yu (Japanese soy sauce) and topped with finely chopped spring onions, grated daikon and dried bonito flakes which dance in the heat to give this dish the ultimate visual appearance. The agadeshi tofu at Gyoza King is the best I’ve ever had through my trips around the world.

An order of kimchi Udon is only one of many servings of udon offered at Gyoza King. Udon served without the broth is what I would explain to those who have never tasted it as the Japanese version of spaghetti. Instead of meatballs and tomato sauce the Japanese have come up with their own concoction of tasty sauces to blend the udon with making it a hit at the dinner table each and every time. All this food would not be complete had it not been for the bottle of unfiltered sake which made everything taste even more delicious but yet filled us up too quickly. I was sad that I was too full to eat all my other favorites on their menu like the Chicken Karagge (Japanese fried chicken), ebi mayo (fried shrimp with mayonnaise) and tuna tataki.