mmm-yoso!!!

Anchorage - Glacier Brewhouse and a Haunted Hotel?

I guess it's just fitting to do this post on Halloween; after all we were staying at a haunted hotel, one that is actually the only hotel in Anchorage that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But first, we had to get there. It was just a simple 230 mile drive from where we were staying at McKinley Creek to the rental car return in downtown Anchorage.

Of course the views in Denali State Park were stunning......

While we stopped to take in the views, other than another stop to put in gas, we drove straightaway, without stopping for lunch. All in all, with road construction and traffic it took us about five and-a-half hours to get into Anchorage. After returning the rental car, we walked over to the hotel we were staying at and dropped off our bags. We then decided to do some shopping then grab a bite to eat.....actually several bites. The Missus eschewed making reservations at more of the upscale places; instead, we'd end up hitting three places during this day. First we decided to explore downtown Anchorage for a bit and do some shopping.

We started at an apropos spot; the Statue of Balto the Wonder Dog; who was one of the lead dogs during the amazing 1925 serum run to Nome, which also inspired the sled dog race we know as Iditarod.

The sculpture also marks the starting point of the Iditarod.

We wove our way through a myriad of souvenir and gift shops; with names like "Big Ray's", "Grizzly's Gifts", and "Once in a Blue Moose". The kitsch level was high and we really had a blast at all the humorous shirts and other "stuffs".

Taking a turn at the Visitor's Center.

We arrived at our first destination for the day......Glacier Brewhouse.

The place was pretty darn busy; even during the mid-afternoon time. We took a table in the bar area which was hopping as well.

Our Server was really on top of things; efficient and friendly.

I started with a nice Glacier Brewhouse Bavarian Hefeweizen, fruity banana tones, with a slight anise/clove thing going on; light and easy to drink.

The Missus was inspired by something She saw on the drinks list.

Something had "clicked" when She had that first sip of the single malt whiskey at Talkeetna Brewpub.

She pointed at a section of the drinks menu...….

And ordered the Kentucky Whiskey Flight!

I quickly ordered some food from the bar-grub menu. We needed something in our empty bellies or this wasn't going to turn out well.

Regardless; we really enjoyed the whiskey.

I'd ordered the Seafood Crostini; which featured both King Crab and Dungeness Crab on grilled Rosemary Bread. This was pretty good in bar food terms.....after all, how often do you mix the phrases King Crab and "pub grub".

It was quite clear that the less fussy; the better food seemed to turn out for us in Alaska.

The tomatoes were nice and ripe and added a decent acidity to the dish.

The Missus, with some help from me, really enjoyed the whiskey flight.....so She ordered another! This time the Rye Whiskey flight....

The Missus had enjoyed the Smoked Salmon Dip during our previous dinner....in fact, it was the only thing from the dinner She deemed edible, so I ordered that.

More toasts, more seafood, a lot of yogurt in this and a bit too sour for my taste. Still, mayo would have been worse; it surely would have put us down.

Like I said, we really enjoyed our Server, she was a joy to work with and even stopped by and chatted with us a bit. We headed out with something in our stomachs other than alcohol. While the food at Glacier Brewhouse has a definite corporate feel (as most other places here do too), it wasn't too bad....and the Missus got Her whiskey, right?

Glacier Brewhouse
737 W 5th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501

We headed on back to the hotel.

We were staying at the Historic Anchorage Hotel.

As we got to the hotel I noticed this sign posted outside.

Haunted, huh? While we waited a few short minutes for our room to be ready in the period piece bar area.....

We notice this this in the bar area....a listing of "encounters".

Some of them; like "lots of mold grew on their beer box overnight, and the curtains moved around on their own" kind of made us laugh....."Guest in room 203 came to the front desk to request a different room. The previous night the light in the bathroom kept turning on by itself and he could hear laughter and smell tobacco smoked from that room. He was not disturbed by this presence, but preferred a "less active" room so that he could sleep through the night." Yeah, for real....

And there was this one; which seemed more like a heart attack than a haunting.

Wow, so many stories. This was going to be an interesting night......

But first; we needed to freshen up, take a short nap......then grab some dinner!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!

Fernside

I recently had some time to catch up with my good friends; it had been a while and I really missed the good times, laughs, and all the crazy fun we've had over the years. During one of the conversations; I mentioned how much the Missus enjoys the cocktails at El Jardin. Well, the all knowing Candice quickly mentioned Fernside. Christian Siglin, who designed the cocktails at El Jardin had done the same for Fernside, which opened at the end of September. There was one caveat however; the always diplomatic Candice did warn me about our, ahem, somewhat picky taste and the menu.

Still, once I mentioned Fernside to the Missus, we just had to head on down to the corner of Grape and Fern. The place doesn't even have signage up yet.

We enjoyed the casual, neighborhood vibe of the place, and really love sitting outside and counting the number of dogs being walked past us; or who have their heads sticking out of cars as they drive past.

While the beer selection is nice; but not very wide ranging, the Missus has come to really enjoy the cocktails here. It's like they've tailored them to Her taste; not overly sweet, just stiff enough for Her...and She does love Her Bourbon.

Her current favorite is the Mr Robinson; with the smoky-peanut tones of the Peanut Infused Bourbon, the nice citrus acidity of lime, and the perfect kick from the Serrano Bitters. It has those savory-citrus-smoky-spicy tones in a nicely balanced cocktail, at least for the Missus.

We (I say we because if I order this, the Missus will finish it for me) also enjoy the version of the Old Fashion here; the Old Fernside. It's not overly sweet, and has mild anise tones, balanced out with Bourbon.

It gets kinda scary when I start writing about cocktails using food descriptions.

It's even more scary when I think that my favorite drink here is a beer and a shot......called the "Wolf Killer", it's a Coors Light, yes, you read that right, with a smooth and smoky Montelobos (literally "mountain of wolves") Mezcal.

As for the food? Here's what we've had so far from our the Missus's favorite, working it's way down.

The Missus's favorite item here by far is the Crusty Cauliflower ($6).

Simply dusted with cornmeal and fried, it's crunchy and seasoned nicely. The pickled veggies are pretty good here, but that Buffalo Sauce is not a great pairing; it kills any of the mild sweetness of the cauliflower and is way too sour, but perhaps that's the objective; make you think you're not eating your veggies?

The Missus likes the avocado toast ($9), which I think has a nice texture and goes well on Levain bread, but man, I felt this was so bland.

Best thing about this was the pickled onions. This needed some oomph.....

The "Hot Sausage" ($9) wasn't very "hot". In what is perhaps is a homage to an "Ameri-taco" it's lined with iceberg lettuce.

The brioche was very mild; lacking in buttery goodness, the sausage, called "Cochinita Pibil" on the menu, is a very mild, achiote colored, fairly dense, force-meat product. A bit too mild in flavor; I'd have loved a bit of "snap" on this, it might have helped the experience. The pineapple salsa was fine as it did add some much needed flavor and character to things, but in the end; the Missus, well, I've documented Her love of waffle cut fries before, enjoyed that the most. It had a nice and crisp exterior with a creamy interior.

The Spread Plate ($14), was interesting.

The pickled veggies were my favorite thing; the nutty and slightly sweet beet hummus was next, the chicken liver pate was really salty and lacked the nice livery-rich texture and flavor. The Missus liked the "Kale Pesto", which was too bitter for me; it really reminded me of a bitter tabbouleh. The toasted bread and flat bread provided were decent vehicles; it's just the passengers that I didn't care for.

And then we have the wings, I ordered the Spicy Dry Rub version($11). Well, first off the wings were on the dry side and the skin was rubbery.

The rub had too much paprika and not enough salty and sweet tones making it a bit too bitter for me. Too bad, because based on the color of the flesh, this seemed like decent quality wings; no black splotches and such.

So, will we return to Fernside? Well, you might be surprised when I say "yes". You see, we both enjoy the vibe....and the cocktails. The food? Well, I'm hoping I find something I enjoy on the menu. Still, we just love sitting and watching South Park drive and walk on by.....and counting those dogs......

And as long as that Mr Robinson (and "wolf killers") are going strong. Well, that'll have to be enough for us. At Fernside; where the cocktails are a food group...….

Fernside
1946 Fern St
San Diego, CA 92102
Hours:
Sun - Wed   11am - 1am
Thurs - Sat 11am - 2am

Eating to Beat the Heat - Revisits to Iron Pig Alehouse and Prime Grill

Here are a couple of more revisits to places during the recent hot and sticky weather we've had.

Iron Pig:

I'm not sure why we don't drop by Iron Pig more often. Actually, I do know why; these days the Missus is more into wine and cocktails and beer has lost favor with Her. She is also not fond of the tumblers used for wine here...…...yes, She's becoming a bit of a snob I guess.

Still, on one of those hot days, I wanted one of my favorite salads....the "Man Salad". Which, by the way; the Missus enjoys as well.

Smoked brisket, goat cheese, arugula, Portobello mushrooms, and yes, French fries. With a nice vinaigrette that doesn't over power nay of the ingredients. Great crisp textures, combined with beefy-milky flavors. Definitely a favorite of mine.

That said; I'm not a big fan of the BBQ here; though the Missus does enjoy the rib tips....She likes chewing on the cartilage and crunchy bits. It's also one of the few items still on the Happy Hour menu.

Sadly the smoked wings; which I enjoy here, is no longer on HH menu.

So, we'll save that for our next visit.

Iron Pig Alehouse
1520 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

 Prime Grill:

For some strange reason; the Missus enjoys a nice Dolsot Bi Bim Bap when it gets really hot. I was glad to know that even though Prime Grill now has an AYCE menu; it still features good quality items on the menu.

Though I think the panchan here has definitely taken a step down from when Ed from Yuma and Cathy joined myself back 2016 when the place first opened. It is still a step above all the other Korean BBQ places in town.

Over the last couple of years; the Bi Bim Naengmyun at Prime Grill has over taken the version at Buga as my favorite. The noodles are not under cooked, but not mushy, and are the thinner version.

On this visit; they provided a good amount of the spicy-savory sauce; add some cho-jang, vinegar, and I'm good to go.

And the Missus got Her Dolsot Bi Bim Bap.

And all was good in the world. At least until we had to step back out into the heat and humidity.

Prime Grill
4620 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

What have you been eating to beat the heat the last couple of weeks?

Thursdays Near 30th - Toronado, North Park Thursday Market, and Tribute Pizza

During mid-June, the Missus had a hair appointment, and I gladly "volunteered" to drive Her and wait. If you recall, the Missus's hairdresser is located in North Park.

I somehow "randomly" found parking near Toronado. How convenient. It had been a while since I last visited. I ordered a Pliny the Elder....and totally forgetting about this "blog thing" took a sip before remembering to take a photo. Bad food blogger....bad food blogger. Anyway, as always the temp was just perfect.

Toronado
4026 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104

All too soon, the Missus walked on over....She's not so much into beer these days, so we decided to take a stroll and decide where to grab dinner. And ran into the North Park Thursday Market.

It's a rather small run. Located on North Park Way between 29th and 30th. But it was fun just watching people chill and enjoy sunny San Diego.

The North Park Thursday Market
3000 N Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104
Thursdays 3pm - 730pm

While She is not a fan of the wine glasses Tribute uses; it had been a while since we last visited.

We started with the Sea Salt Focaccia with 'Nduja; to which they now add a dish balsamic and olive oil.

The bread was fabulous; I think we'll now ask for just olive oil without the balsamic, which was a bit too much. The 'Nduja tasted great as always; though the texture seems to have changed. It's now more waxy than I recalled. Still tasted great, a mild porky, smokey-spiciness.

The potatoes in the Patatas Bravas were nice; crunchy exterior, mildly creamy interior.

The potatoes were perfectly salted; but it seemed that the aioli was overkill and just over powered the mild starchy sweetness of the potatoes.

The Missus; who loves green beans just destroyed it all before I even had a bite.

Oh well, She's the reason we came up here in the first place, right?

Tribute Pizza
3077 N Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104

It was a fun way to spend an early summer Thursday evening.

I'm thinking "FOY" CC must have though so too! Look where they went for their 23rd Anniversary Dinner! Nice!

Hope you're having a great week!

Four Daughters; The Union Club; Memories and Reconstructions; 126 W. Main, Medford, Oregon.

Cathy and Kirk have their own posts and their own memories; this post is about Ed (from Yuma) and Tina exploring his memories in a post.

I had not returned to Jackson County in Southern Oregon since my mother’s death in January 1981. On this visit, I had to go to Four Daughters Irish Pub on W. Main St. in Medford. The entrance was easy to spot from across the street:

The front door was inviting:

For me, the floor views toward the back and easily exceeded my expectations:

And I was delighted to see this brief history of the building posted on the wall in Four Daughters

One key point stands out from this history – Christian Schempp’s Beer Parlor and the subsequent Union club only occupied the eastern half of the building space until you got nearly a third of the way through the building, so they were much smaller bars and lacked all these brick walls, tables etc.        

         But this space had a more personal meaning also: My grandfather, Christian Schempp, apprenticed as a butcher and sausage maker in the old country. He and his wife, Marie, came to the United States in 1923, and they had their first child, Hilda, my mother, a couple of months after their arrival. Christian was a hard worker and ambitious. By the late 1930s, he owned a meat packing plant in Modesto, California. However, he had been gassed in the Argonne Forest during the First World War and had severe sinus and related problems throughout his life. In 1939 an attack of mastoiditis nearly killed him. His doctor told him to give up cold damp conditions, which meant he had to give up meat packing.

As a result, he moved to Medford and purchased what would become Christian Schempp’s Beer Parlor in 1940.

Not long after Pearl Harbor, according to one of his favorite stories, he realized that the government would begin rationing and restricting the supply of beer, so he purchased a warehouse (?) full of beer. When the Army opened a training base at Camp White a few miles away, his tavern was the only place in town with enough beer to satisfy the thirsty GIs.

In early 1945, my father William Edmond (Ed) Davis was liberated from a POW camp in the Philippines and after medical treatments etc. was discharged from the Army. He made his way up to Medford. Soon my dad began working for my grandfather, where he met my mother, falling in love, and I was born in November, 1947.

In the early 1950s, Oregon legalized liquor by the drink, and my grandfather purchased a liquor license.Now that the bar was now more than a beer parlor led to the change in the name to The Union Club. In 1950s, my father took over more and more responsibilities of running the bar. When Christian had a severe stroke in 1958, he sold the bar to my dad and had a busy and pleasant retirement.

Soon my father (and my mother) were faced with a crisis. Oregon began requiring establishments with a liquor license to do at least 25% of their gross sales in food. Perhaps the measure was an effort to reduce deaths from alcoholism and cirrhosis, but it would also free up some liquor licenses for corporate hotel chains opening along the interstate highway system.

Until that time, The Union Club served a small selection of bar favorites. They could griddle up a hamburger or cheeseburger, and my dad’s beef stew and chili were always available. Bar snacks like pickled pigs’ feet and pickled eggs and peanuts were favorites, but all of these put together were less than 5% of gross sales. Therefore, they installed a full kitchen with lunch counters and booths in the middle of the building. Having steady income from the bar, they sold food at cost, and the Union Club became a popular lunch spot that also did some dinner business.

My mother managed the kitchen in its early years, and in the summer, I washed dishes for the lunch rush and sometimes did prep work and waited tables in the evening.

In the early 1970s, my father’s health began to fail and he sold the establishment.

Aologizes for the long historical interlude, but it helps to explain why I was so amazed at the transformation of the bar.

Now to the food. While the extensive menu covers all kinds of bar food, we could sample just a few, and it is really hard to sneak deep-fried mushrooms past my wife:

 
Really great crunchy exterior, moist mushroomy interior. They came with a ranch dipping sauce, and for poor lactose intolerant me, some good old-fashioned course mustard.

And beer. Four Daughters does not have a huge tap list, but there were still plenty of choices – both of these are brewed on premises:

Tina ordered the meatloaf, two thick slices, spiced with oregano, and accompanied by decent grilled vegetables, creamy cheddar mashed potatoes, and a thick slice of bread and butter:

I went for the old-fashioned Irish beef stew:

This broke no new culinary grounds, but the gravy was plenty beefy, the mashed potatoes creamy and flavorful, and the portion as much as I could eat.

Already stuffed at this point, we took our bread pudding back to the room with us:

Before we left, they urged us to go upstairs and look at the casual bar area. About two years ago, my right meniscus convinced me that climbing stairs was not something my 67-year-old knees could do anymore, so I handed Tina the camera sat back and drink beer, and waited for her return. It wasn’t until I saw the photographs later that I became aware of how the owners had transformed the space into a truly amazing bar and lounge. Here is a picture from climbing the backstairs:

This large room with 110-year-old brick walls, tons of cushy furniture, looks like a great place to show up at 8 PM and be escorted out by a Lyft driver at 1:45.

More great brick wall:
and the huge upstairs bar:

Tina took this photo of the giant staircase:

Glad I wasn’t climbing that. And when she came back to the ground floor she found your humble author approaching sensory overload and a food/alcohol induced form of enlightenment:

 

I hope you all enjoyed, and I just want to dedicate this post to ALL our immigrant mothers, fathers, and ancestors. We/they are America.

Vancouver/Richmond - The Alibi Room and the Richmond Night Market

After a nice afternoon nap, we headed off to the Gastown area.

It was a nice day to be out and about, if a bit on the warm side.

The Missus enjoyed window shopping and we stopped at a few places; like at Kit and Ace near the Steam Clock. Where this guy was hanging out.

It was indeed rather warm, so we headed down the street to a place named the Alibi Room. The place was pretty much full. But the nice Server told us that if we weren't eating anything and didn't mind not having table service, we could head on downstairs.

Which turned out to be a comfortable place to grab a few beers. There are over 50 pulls in this place. And they do half pours as well; which we appreciated.

What we had is lost to posterity, but I recall really enjoying the vibe.

A nice stop; we'll be back the next time we're in town.

Alibi Room
157 Alexander Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1B8
Canada

We needed to first catch the bus; then the SkyTrain to get to our next stop. We had day metro passes and I had the bus stop indicated on my phone. We found our stop and a guy who looked homeless came up to us. I immediately thought he'd be asking for some cash....but instead he told me, "sir, this bus stop has been temporarily moved to the street above." Thanksful, I offered him some money, but he refused, saying "this one is on me." Only in Canada!

We got off at the Bridgeport SkyTrain Station and followed the well marked signs.

So, we followed this group of people who were having a great old time and got to what looked like ticket booths and a gate. A really nice young man came up to us and asked us if we were customers of 'xxx' and had our customer number. We explained that we are from out of town and have obviously found the wrong entrance. The young man pointed across the way to a line of what looked like 200-300 people. He told us "that's the general admission line; this line is for 'xxx' customers, 'xxx' is sponsoring tonight's night market and if you have either a zoom pass or are one of their customers you can come in this way." Now, if I recall a the passes were like $25 a book, good for so many entrances, so that would be a waste. So we thanked him and were headed to the line when he asked us where we were from. We told him San Diego. In a hushed, conspiratory tone he told us to "wait here". A minute later he returned with two tickets. You are now officially customers of 'xxx', if anyone asks you if you are customers of 'xxx', make sure to tell them yes. What a nice gesture....you gotta love Canada.

The Richmond Night Market claims to be the largest Night Market in North America and I don't doubt this claim as the choices, and crowds are staggering.

Now, if you read the blog quite often, you know I'm way behind on some of my travel posts and our visit was during early August of 2016. The Missus had seen a bunch of stuff posting to Instagram......about a dessert.....She just had to have it.

The dessert "du jour" of that period of time was the Raindrop Cake (you can see Kirbie's recipe here). It's based on Japanese Mizu Shingen Mochi. And kind of looks like a breast implant if you ask me.

The Missus got Her confection and we took a seat.

And soon folks started coming around asking what this stuff was....we actually offered them a taste if they wanted one....but most of them just looked kind of, well, puzzled. Anyway, this was "meh", sugar water and agar.....I prefer just straight up Warabimochi coating in kinako to this.

Our table was next to the Prehistoric Park area and while taking a look at the photo of the T-Rex below, it wasn't the replica of the dinosaur that caught my attention; but the sign to right that said, "FanTuan Delivery, Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere".....I don't think San Diego is included in the "Anywhere" though.

While the Missus went for the sweets; I had one place in mind.

Little Phnom Penh is famous for their Chicken Wings with Lemon and Pepper sauce. So I placed my order and watched them make my wings.

Notice that container with the spoon; the wings are fried, then mixed in a wok with garlic, scallions, and a spoon full of that mysterious white substance....which I'm fairly certain isn't only salt.

The wings are light, though not as crisp as I prefer, the garlic could be cooked a bit more; it's still on the bitter side. The wings are tender and moist, but I'm not a big fan of the lemon sauce; which tastes like bottled lemon juice with black pepper. Still, this was good overall.

There sure was a huge variety of "stuffs" available.......some quite interesting.

This seemed more "County Fair - Carnival" than Night Market and the place was starting to get packed.

As we wove our way around people; we heard this guy........voice like an old fashioned Carnival Barker, with a Chinese accent of course.

As we walked up; the smell of cumin danced in the air......we both love yang rou chuan and this guy cracked us up.

We got lamb and lamb kidney and while not great, this was pretty tender, though it could have used more cumin.

This "Chef James" had me wondering who he was. If you'd like to find out his story you can read it here.

Overall a fun time for us.

Richmond Night Market
May - October
8351 River Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 1Y4
Canada
Fri-Sat 7pm - MN
Sun 7pm - 11pm

By the time we got back to the apartment, the sun had set. It was a beautiful clear night. We finished the rest of the Roast Duck and Rice and I cracked open a brew.....

And sat in the Solarium of the apartment watching the weekend action on the Street below.

Life was good.....

Clearing Out the Memory Card - Toronado, Hess Brewing, And Tribute Pizza

The Missus's hairdresser now works in North Park. During the last two months, the Missus has asked me to drop Her off....lucky me! There's no shortage of places where I can, ahem, "pass the time" while waiting for the Missus. Like......

Toronado:

It's been a while.

Had a nice New Belgium Le Terrior. Perfect temperature.....

Toronado
4026 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104

The most recent time, it was.....

Hess Brewing:

It had been a couple of years since I'd been here as well.

A nice 8 West on a rather warm day.

Hess Brewing Company North Park
3812 Grim Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

And in case the Missus is hungry after getting Her hair done. Well there are a lot of options here as well. Like a recent favorite of Hers....

Tribute Pizza:

On this day, the pizzas were much better than on previous visits......

Tribute Pizza
3077 N Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104

I think I'm going to make sure the Missus goes in for a trim on a regular basis!

Nagoya - Kaburaya (Main Store) and Kinshachi Nagoya Akamiso Beer

We were feeling a bit tired after having a full day. So we decided to stay close to the apartment. With ESCA and whole bunch of other shopping centers the choice for dinner was endless. The Missus was fascinated with a place just a block away. Upon entering this place looked basically like an Izakaya......the day was finishing up for folks here in Nagoya. And folks were enjoying a beer (or two) and a bite (or more) to eat.

Looking at the menu cracked me up....along with a bunch of "obanzai" style dishes, there seemed to be every Nagoya specialty on the menu....from Nagoya Teba, to Miso Katsu, to Hitsumabushi, to Kishimen! And some of the menu translations were quite humorous as well.......

We ordered a random collection of dishes and were quite surprised at how good some of them was.

The Missus isn't a fan of Kushi Katsu; but She went for it ordering two Miso Kushi Katsu.

The miso here isn't overly salty, a tad sweet, a thick, hearty texture, the panko was still crisp, the pork surprisingly tender.

The Missus was totally in love with offal in Japan, so the "Gacchan"; pork stomach stew was a natural choice.

Again, with miso, this was very nicely sweet - miso umami, comforting, the pork stomach had a nice chew.......again, surprisingly not very salty.

Out of curiosity, I ordered the kishimen, Nagoya's signature noodle soup. Not expecting much, we, especially the Missus, was pleasantly surprised.

The broth had a nice, almost a condensed, dashi flavor, deep umami. The flat, udon like noodles, had a good stretch to them and the texture stood up for the entire bowl. The Missus enjoyed this so much, she asked me to find one other shop for this before we left.......that was going to be a bit of a challenge, but I did find a shop (stay tuned) in an interesting location.

We were really enjoying ourselves and decided to try some other items....including this.

Yep, local beer....made with red miso? Ohhhh-kay.

Interesting flavor; slightly sweet salty-caramel, mildly malty. Not something I'd crave....but nice to try once.

I just couldn't "not" order the Unagi Honsenbei.....but man, this was way too large a portion.

Crisp, crunchy, nicely salted....... the Missus got tired of this fairly quickly.

We decided to end with the Tori Nanban....it's usually chicken karaage, topped with vinegar and tartar sauce. What we got was a bit too over-the-top for us.

The flavor of the karaage itself was fairly neutral; decently fried, a bit of soy and some nice savory tones. That sauce was a bit too much......like a crazy thousand island dressing; mayo-ketchup, with green onions, celery......carrots! Overpowering the chicken. We'd obviously hit the wall after this one........

Kaburaya was a pleasant surprise and the Missus really enjoyed Herself. In fact, She'd want another Izakaya during this trip.

The service here was quite friendly. We loved the young lady who Served us, "my English is pretty good, yes?" Yes, it was.

Kaburaya Main Store
15-8 Tsubakicho Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi, 453-0015
Chitose GL building B2 - 1F
Open Daily 11am - 1130pm

Kyoto - Catching up with one of my favorite Food Bloggers (and friends) at Okariba and Beer Komachi

One of the great pleasures I've had over the years has been meeting up with other like-minded Food Bloggers....and at the top of my list is Kat from Our Adventures in Japan. We had met before in Osaka and on this trip, we wanted to make sure to touch bases again. This time, I chose the somewhat quirky; kinda country, rustic "Hunting Ground", Okariba which we really enjoyed the last time in Kyoto.

We had a nice walk over and met Kat and Satoshi. The place was much more busy than on our last visit.

And we spent a good deal of time catching up on things and just having a good time.

After all, places like this were made for friends gathering, sharing "pupus".

You can read all about this in Kat's post....and it also shows how far behind I'm at with my travel posts as well!

So from here on; it's most it's mostly photos.

Man, I love basashi.....

At the end of the meal, we gave the owner some Mac Nuts....even though we were sure he wouldn't remember us, he'd given us so much samples on our previous visit, we wanted to make sure to show him our appreciation...so of course he busted out the home made ume-shu......

Okariba
Okazaki Higashi-Tennocho 43-4, Residence Okazaki 1F
Kyoto

After dinner, we had a nice nightcap at another familiar place; Beer Komachi.......lot's of tourists and such....but with the San Diego beer connection menu....

It was a fun stop.

And I think it's a great reminder for Kat and Satoshi..........you can always come out here for a visit too!

 Thanks for such a great time K&S!

The Bitter Brothers Annversary Family Dinner

I've been asked a couple of times why I don't give "more love" to my neighborhood? To be perfectly honest, I hadn't been too inspired by places in my neck of the woods. But over the last year and a half or so; things have changed for the better...who'd have thunk that we'd go out for a New Years dinner; a tasting menu even....right down the street. So when Candice mentioned that Bitter Brothers was having an Anniversary Dinner; I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did as it was quite an enjoyable event. I'd been to Bitter Brothers a couple of times, but always regret not visiting more often. So this was a nice way for me to get reacquainted.

There were just 50 seats available at $70 a crack, and things started fairly promptly at 5pm. Though at first it was just folks mingling. I'm not really a super social kind of guy so I just kinda took things in; perhaps a bit too hard, because I missed my chance at the amuse; a version of Lumpia Shanghai. That's ok; I did enjoy the Czech Pilsner. Crisp and refreshing, it did remind me a bit of what we had during our time visiting the Czech Republic.

What might be my favorite dish of the night was the Porcini Dusted Cauliflower, I loved how all of the flavors went together so well; from the hazelnuts, to the celeriac, to the slightly acidic, yet very tasty homage to celery a la Grecque.

The Missus surely would have loved this dish by Tim Kolanko. This was served with one of my favorites here; the Brotherly Love Dunkelweiss.

Phillip Esteban's dish was an eye catching version of the rolled and tied chicken Ballotine. Instead of forcemeat, this was stuffed with a black garlic based mixture. I'm not a big fan of items on the plate without a purpose; and those dollops of what I'm assuming is sort of a  Nasturtium pesto really had no flavor. And the buttermilk leche de tigre added no real acid to the dish. The chicken itself was a bit on the salty side; but the black garlic paste added a nice amount of sweet, complex tones, which really balanced things out. This was paired with the Black Sheep Coffee Porter on Nitro.

Ami Cisneros's dish was a beautiful version of....well, Carnitas.

Pressed and nicely seared; perhaps a bit too lean for my taste, it was nicely seasoned. The kabocha puree was quite rich, creamy, and slightly sweet. To be perfectly honest, I really loved the pear with chamoy and tajin. It went so well with the Prickly Pear Family Tart Berliner Weisse, which almost tasted like a version of agua de sandia (watermelon agua fresca) paired with this dish. I even enjoyed the slice of black radish which was so crisp and had some of the pepperiness toned down....I'm thinking it must have been soaked in ice water for a bit before being dried. 

My next dish was a sentimental favorite; since it was created by the one and only Travis Clifford; remember Travis likes food? Anyway, it was nice to see him cooking again....it's been a while since I've tasted his cooking. Funny thing; I've made a career out of being quite non-descript. I'd been to BB a couple of times and had actually spoken to Travis, but I'm fairly certain he doesn't remember me. I kind of like it that way.

Nicely blackened prawns; loved the "Travis made" Andouille, great texture, good smoke. The flavor of the grits, while they had hardened by the time it hit the table had a nice rich and sweet flavor from the marscapone. All of these big flavors were tempered with the Big Brother Double IPA.

I'm not a big dessert/sweets guy and was worried about the Espresso Crème Brulee made by "Bitter Bill" Warnke. I shouldn't have, this was not too sweet, but very nicely balanced with mild coffee tones.

Paired with a nice bittersweet chocolate and espresso sable, which was just perfect. Very good, grown-up flavors. This was paired with the deceptively boozy (only 5.2 abv) Barrel Aged Little Sister Russian Imperial Stout which made it a nice way to end the meal.

The Barrel Aged Little Sister Russian Imperial Stout is BB's first ever bottle release; so I bought a couple. The Missus will love it. And I'm sure to be there the next time BB has another "Family Dinner".

Bitter Brothers Brewing
4170 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117