Ike's Place: Menage a Trois

#100 Menage a Trois at Ike's Place
7x7 The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die in SF 2011
Castro

There's a reason why this place always has a long line. The sandwiches are the bomb (do people still say that)!? Well, in this case I will. The Menage a Trois is one of over what seems like a million sandwiches. It's filled with halal chicken, real honey, honey mustard, bbq sauce, pepper jack, swiss and cheddar. Who would have thought to pull all of that in one sandwich? Once you see their menu, you'll be asking yourself that over and over again. Some of their sandwiches are filled with items like mozarella sticks. Can't wait to try their other sandwiches.

El Farolito: Super Carne Asada Burrito

#75 Super Carne Asada Burrito from El Farolito
7x7 The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die in SF 2011
Mission District

I was once surrounded by several delicious Mexican eateries when I lived in San Jose. Working in San Francisco, there aren't many good spots here unless you head out to the Mission District. All of the worthwhile restaurants are all condensed in this area and El Farolito is one of them. One of the best burritos in the city! Throughout my college years, I found myself here after-hours to help absorb all of the liquor I consumed while out and about. Great place to end the night since it closes at 3am. I've had my share of El Farolito burritos and It deserves it's name on the 7x7 Big Eat SF list.

Muracci's Japanese Grill: Katsu Curry

#16 Katsu Curry from Muracci's Japanese Grill
7x7 The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die in SF 2011
Financial District

The Katsu Curry here at Muracci's is definitely good, but I think my expectations were a bit high going in. I blame that on the hundreds of 4-5 star reviews on Yelp and the line outside the door when I arrived. Luckily, we called ahead so we just walked right in to pick up our order.

Overall, I really enjoyed the curry (you can have it spicy or mild - of course I went spicy), but the chicken was a bit dry for my taste. Also, I love anything pickled, but their side of pickled cabbage and radish had a strange bitter taste to it that I could live without. The verdict: I would eat it again, but I probably wouldn't crave for it. Overhyped.

NY Eats

As with every visit to New York, there's never enough time to rest. Between wedding festivities for the bride & groom and hanging out with NY'er friends, we tried to squeeze in as many food spots as possible. This city never disappoints on the food front so I have a few places to share for next time you're in the Big Apple.

Ippudo

This place deserved it's own post, so you'll find that by clicking here.

Grimaldi's Pizza

 Thankful that there is now a 2nd location (the first being at the Brooklyn Bridge) because the wait at their famous original location can sometimes take 2 hours. Here, we didn't have to wait at all. I actually wanted to try Lucali in Brooklyn instead (all of my NY'er buddies say this is actually the best pizza), but they're only open for dinner each night which didn't work out with our schedule. The pizza here has such tasty cuts of meat and perfectly thin with a slight crisp. Definitely a must-try.

Shakeshack

Basically the In-N-Out Burger of NY. My Cali folks may hate me for saying this, but I would take a Shake Burger over In-N-Out any day. To me, the bun and meat here is far better than that of my hometown joint. Plus, they serve frozen custard. Yum.

I didn't go during this visit, but I have to give some love to Peter Luger. If you are a steak lover, this is a must-try.

SF Street Food Festival

It's festival season in San Francisco! Today, we headed out to the Eat Real festival in Oakland but, that's not what I'm going to talk about. Instead, here's a snapshot of our time at the SF Street Food festival that happened a few weeks ago. It's a great food festival, but not my favorite. MANY vendors were not equipped to feed the masses all day. The best places sold out super quick so I wasn't a happy camper getting there hours after it began. Highlights of the day, watching the Mr. eat Don Bugito's moth larvae tacos and food from the Kasa truck (twice).

Chairman Bao: Steamed Bao with Pork Belly & Pickled Daikon

#32 Steamed Bao with Pork Belly & Pickled Daikon at the Chairman Bao truck
7x7 The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die in SF 2011

Due to all of the hype, I have been following Chairman Bao on Twitter even before I tried their famous buns. At all of the food festivals, they always have the longest line. Just recently they made it onto the Zagat. I was pleased to find out that they were making an appearance at the Truck Stop (an area by my work that features about 3 food trucks per day). The line was long, but not as long and unbearable as the festival lines. So, I waited patiently and am so glad I did. Definitely the BEST food truck vendor at least in the Bay Area. I had the pork belly bun as well as the sesame chicken and they both met and exceeded my expectations. I could eat 20 of these in one sitting - that's how good they are.

I Love Ramen

I am a soup fanatic who doesn't discriminate any type of soup. Plain old broth, hearty, Mexican caldos, pho, ramen, the list goes on. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner days in a row and never get sick of it. So, that brings me to the best ramen I've ever had at Ippudo. Weeks prior to my NYC departure, I asked around and read a few articles and thought Momofuku was the one to try. It wasn't until I was in Manhattan chatting with friends until I realized I had been looking at the wrong place. Turns out, Ippudo is actually considered the best. So, I followed the advice of my favorite NY'ers and headed for that restaurant and made sure we were there right before they opened. I'm glad we did because unlike many Yelpers, we only had to wait 5 minutes before we were seated. I ordered the Akamaru Modern and the pork belly buns and I wasn't disappointed one bit. He had the same with the braised pork belly and soft boiled egg add-on (highly recommend it!). The BEST ramen I've ever had. I've never been to Japan so I can't compare, but this will definitely do for now. If you're a ramen/ soup lover like me, don't go to NYC without stopping by.

The Rick Bayless Experience

When you're from California, you don't think about eating Mexican food anywhere else because well, we have the best Mexican food outside of Mexico. Since it was recommended by friends and since Rick Bayless has quite the reputation (and we couldn't get reservations at Girl & the Goat or Sprout - both Top Chef restaurants), we figured we'd give his restaurants a try. So, we tried both XOCO and Frontera Grill while in Chicago. XOCO was his "fast food" type spot and Frontera was more of a nice sit-down spot. They were both delicious, but XOCO really blew me away. The tortas and caldo were so ridiculously tasty that we went back the next day to order food to bring home with us. It's a MUST TRY when you're there!

XOCO

 

 FRONTERA GRILL

 

Chi-Town Eats

There's so much to be said about the food here! We didn't eat a bad meal during our visit. Everything from the Chicago style hot dogs, deep dish pizza & italian beef sandwiches - everything was so satisfying. Here are a few places to try that are special to Chi-Town:

 Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza

 Al's Italian Beef

 Portillo's Chicago style hot dog

Portillo's chocolate cake shake

Pizzeria Delfina: Margherita Pizza

#21 Margherita pizza from Pizzeria Delfina
7x7 The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die 2010
Mission District

If you love thin crust pizza, small restaurants, great service and simple quality food - this is your place. The margherita pizza was delicious, but I have to say - the best thing is the Arancini (fried risotto balls). I can't stop thinking about them and even though these aren't on the 7x7 100 list, if you have to try something here - it's that. Don't get me wrong, the pizza is good, but wasn't anything mind-blowing.

Last Night in Lima

Game plan for our final day in Peru, EAT! It was a nice change to be in Lima after being in Iquitos for a few days. Our hotel was beyond my expectations, definitely a treat to end the trip with La Hacienda. The location was perfect, the service was outstanding and it was the only place we could find alcohol (I'll explain later).

After we checked in, we headed over to El Pez Amigo (recommended by a friend for having amazing ceviche) and every single one of us ordered     the seafood combo ceviche. Wow, some of the best I've ever had. While we were eating, we discovered (thanks to our server) that during the weekend before a presidential election they don't serve alcohol in Peru (same goes for many countries, I hear). The whole plan was to "rage" on our last night in Peru and celebrate Ryan's birthday, but that plan turned out to be a major fail since we couldn't get our hands on anything (no wine, beer, etc.). Yes, we pretty much looked like crack fiends scouring the streets of Lima in search of liquor. We killed some time at Larco Mar, a shopping/ entertainment center overlooking the Pacific.

After hours of sightseeing and searching, turns out our hotel had no problem serving up the pisco sours! So, we had a few drinks, went out to dinner at chef Nobu's first restaurant Matsuei (had the BEST cab ride ever - think tv screens and dance music), then came back to have a few drinks. At some point in the night, some of us headed over to Manolo's to feast on delicious churros. We got carried away and bought way more than we could eat so I had a few more for breakfast in the morning. Can't let those churros go to waste! Overall, what a great night in Lima and one of the best trips.

Cusco City

Completely tired out by that unexpected 4-hour hike, we pile into a few taxis and head back to Cusco city which will be our hub for the next few days. This is the main city that tourists stay in prior to heading out to Machu Picchu. We checked into the Amaru Hostal. Don't be fooled by the name, this place is unlike any hostel I've ever been to. I am still bewildered by the name myself because here, our rooms were cleaned daily, the place was spic and span, there was delicious free breakfast every morning and the service was outstanding. All of that for an extremely reasonable price. After check in, we explored the city and my poor sister Kristi managed to slip, fall and sprain her foot in the process (be careful here - the city is dusty and there are lots of stone walkways that are slippery and it's not a good idea to wear flip flops).We ended the night with dinner at the Inka Grill. Not one of us had a bad meal and we even got to try Chica, a traditional alcoholic drink of Peru made from purple maize.