On a recent trip to Philadelphia the other weekend, a friend of mine and I decided to try our hand at two of the most famous cheesesteak shops in Philadelphia. Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks are located literally across the street from one another at the intersection where 9th Street, Passyunk Street and Wharton Street meet. On any given day at any given time that corner is overflowing with people stuffing their faces with bread and meat since both are open 24 hours (so you can get your heart attack in at any time).
Now admittedly, we heard from several locals that these two places are touristy and that some of the best places are actually out in the suburbs (Tony Luke’s for one was a place a local Philly girl swears by). But since we only had a weekend, we had to see what the hype was about.
Here’s a rundown of how they compared:
Both had similarly long lines and both are Cash Only. Geno’s by far has the more elaborate looking shop; it looks like something out of Las Vegas, wheras Pat’s has a more local, sandwich hut type feel. Geno’s easily has the better eating setup: both have picnic tables (about 12 picnic tables or so each), but Geno’s is smart enough to set up standing bar style tables for people to eat along the side of the walls of the shop. But while Geno’s may have the better seating, they get knocked down a notch because of something that made me feel a little uncomfortable. When you’re at the casher, there are signs and pictures up of the owner with a “I want my country back” sign and “This is America, we only take orders in English” and shit like that. Now, I’m not going to use this forum to get too much into it, but as an Asian-American I didn’t feel all that enamoured by that.
Onto the food. When ordering, both places have the “instructions” on how to order your sandwich quickly. Probably no one will do anything if you don’t order it like a local, but they may just get a little annoyed if there is a long wait. You can compare it to putting ketchup on your hot dog in Chicago – they’ll just frown on the out-of-towner. We ordered the same sandwich, “wiz wit”, at both places. If you get the cheesesteaks “wiz wit”, which is the cheese whiz, it’s going to be very, very messy. The steak at Geno’s is a bit more like steak-umm’s flat and solid strips. The steak at Pat’s is more shredded and a little leaner. The bread at Geno’s is more like a traditional sub roll like one you’d get from Jimmy Johns, whereas Pat’s break is a lot fluffier and spongier and more like a roll.
In the end the winner is: Pat’s King of Steaks. You can’t really go wrong with either; it really comes down to a matter of personal preference.
For good measure, we also tried one of Pat’s cheesesteaks with provolone cheese, peppers and mushrooms and that to me was actually the best out of all of them! So if you’re up in Philly, enjoy!
Geno’s
Pat’s
From top to bottom: Pat’s (wiz wit), Geno’s (wiz wit), Pat’s (provolone, pepers, mushrooms)
I’m going to say this right off the bat: Little Serow is my favorite meal experience in Washington, D.C. up to this point. More than living up to the hype, Johnny Monis, the head chef of the famous Komi restaurant (which is regarded by many as the best restaurant in D.C.) has created a cheaper, Asian restaurant right next door. For $45, you get a pre-fixed menu consisting of mainly Thai flavored cuisine. And you’ll be hard pressed to find a better $45 meal anywhere else in the city.
In order to find the restaurant you’ll want to find and face Komi first; Little Serow’s door is the unmarked basement door to the lower left. Keep this in mind: there will most likely be a very long wait. They don’t take reservations, so you have to put your name on the list with the hostess. In most cases, there will be a line JUST to put your name on what usually is a 2-hour wait list. From what we heard, on the weekends that line can even be as long as 20 minutes. It is a ridiculously long wait time to be sure, but it’s worth it. Just plan accordingly, and plan on having a drink at one of the nearby bars while you wait. They will text you when your table is ready, so you can go as far away as you want.
The restaurant itself has very limited seating; there’s only about five tables that seat 4, three tables that seat 2, and one communal large table that seats about 12. The atmosphere is like being in a minimalist kitchen with dim intimate lighting. The music is not too loud and all the waitresses are dressed like mothers or Laura Ingalls’ look alikes. And they were great; perfectly attentive without being too intrusive.
I would typically give a review of each individual food item, but because the menu routinely changes up, there’s no real guarantee that what I’ve tried will be on the menu for you. The menu apparently changes up on a weekly basis. After doing a little research though, it does appear that there are a few staples that are on often regularly on the menu, including the pork ribs on ours.
So even though there’s no point giving individual critiques, as a whole the food was DELICIOUS. There were so many flavors that felt totally new, yet familiar at the same time. The food was very, very spicy too – I cannot stress this enough. The side of vegetables and sticky rice will be your best friend throughout the meal. Our dinner ended up being 7 plates with a small dessert. The standouts on our menu were the mushrooms, which were a unique flavoring of sweet as you first eat it and then spicy as you finish it, and the pork ribs.
To sum it up – try this place. It’s not going to kill your wallet at $45 and you’re guaranteed to experience flavors that you’ve never tasted before. I plan on going back to try some different plates and it only takes a quick look at its critics, Yelp, and TripAdvisor reviews to see a communal appreciation for the place even though several different meals were sampled. For me personally, if Little Serow was this good, I’m more than curious to know what his even more prestigious Komi restaurant is like. It looks like I’ve got something new to save up for. Grade: A
UPDATE: I emailed the restaurant to get a better idea of how much the menu changes. They responded very, very quickly and told me that one item usually changes a week. So if you want to make sure you go back and have a totally different menu, I’d give it a couple months in between visits.
For the Labor Day weekend, a couple friends from D.C. and I decided to take a long overdue trip up to New York City. Being from the east coast and having several friends and relatives living in the city over the course of my lifetime, I’m very familiar with the place (and their horrible professional sports teams). However, the thing that I love about New York is that every time you go, there’s always something new to discover.
For this post, I’m not going to go over the typical New York places to see that we did (a not so full effort to find the bridge from Home Alone 2 in Central Park, the Flatiron building, Time’s Square, etc.), but I’ll give you a rundown of a few places that we went to that were recommended by the locals.
230 Fifth (the name of the place is the address)
Located down the street from the Flatiron Building, this rooftop bar has the best view of the NYC skyline that I’ve ever seen. Bring your camera, you’ll have some great shots of the Empire State Building, Hudson River and in the distance the Freedom Tower. There’s plenty of space on the rooftop, as well as a large, indoor lounge on the top floor of the building, but regardless it does get busy around happy hour. There’s no cover charge, but the drinks will cost you a pretty penny. Because we went during Labor Day the temperature was nice, but the bar does offer red robes for everyone in the winter months.
View from the rooftop at 230 Fifth
Absolute Bagels and Sal & Carmine’s Pizza
We stayed at my buddy’s place on the Upper West Side and these are a few of the quick, and very New York eateries we tried. Realistically, I wouldn’t say to make a dedicated trip up to the Upper West Side to try these places, but if you’re in that area, they are very good options. Absolute Bagels had exactly what you’d expect from a NYC bagel – perfectly warm, soft, but not too chewy bagels with a large variety of cream cheeses and lox. I had a sesame bagel with walnut & raisin cream cheese and it easily trumped any Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Bruggers bagels I’ve ever had. Keep in mind, there will be a line of Columbia University kids (especially on the weekends) and it is CASH ONLY. And of course, only in New York, you have to pay an extra 10 cents to have your bagel toasted.
Delicious breakfast
For a quick lunch, down the street from Absolute Bagels is Sal & Carmine’s Pizza. Like Absolute Bagels, you will walk right by this place if you’re not looking for it – it’s pretty boring looking. But you’re there for the pizza, not the ambiance. And the pizza does not disappoint. Your order will be taken by this really crusty, curmudgeonly old guy (my guess is he was either Sal or Carmine…) but he’s harmless. The cheese slices are $3 and the ones with toppings are $4. As far as slices go, you’d be hard-pressed to find a place with a better New York slice. The slice was very large, and the crust was perfectly thin and crispy. The pizza had the right amount of cheese and was greasy enough without dripping all over the place. It really hits the spot if you have that pizza craving.
Sal & Carmine’s Pizza slices
Rue B
We actually found this place on accident and I’m glad we did. Located on the Lower East Side, Rue B harkens back to the jazz clubs of the past. Dimly lit and intimate, the bar isn’t huge, but has a lot of character. The atmosphere is very chill with vintage black and white photos all along the walls and there’s live blues/jazz music performing. Good place to go if you’re looking for a place to have a relaxing drink or taking a date.
Blind Barber
Pretty much the opposite of Rue B, the Blind Barber is like a speakeasy/dance club that literally has a rundown looking barbershop as its front. There wasn’t really anything special about the place (expensive drinks, dance music, people having fun) other than that random ass barber shop that you need to walk through to get inside. If you do get inside, you’ll probably have a good time if you’re with a group of friends and if you can get the bartender’s attention at the packed bar. And you get to say that you walked through a random ass barbershop to get into a club.
The Manhattan Beer Garden at the Standard
Located in the newly created Chelsea High Line (also definitely worth checking out is the new Chelsea Market as well. We only were able to walk through it though because we were on a mission to drink), this beer garden is a great place to visit if you’re looking for a fun, outdoor (and covered) venue with German big beers and a healthy array of pretzels and sausages. The process for getting draft beers is unique in that you have to buy a ticket for a beer at a separate booth first, then go to the bar and order. Each ticket is $8 (which gets you one beer). If you see a long line, don’t let that dissuade you. It moves quick and will have moments where there’s practically no line if you wait a few minutes. If you’re in that area, but want a more rooftopy bar experience with a more standard drink selection, the Brass Monkey next to the beer garden has a nice rooftop where you can catch some sun and a drink list with more typical libations.
Manhattan Beer Garden at the Standard
Saxon and Parole
For those of you looking for a little bit of a fancier restaurant to eat at, we stumbled upon Saxon and Parole. Admittedly, we were trying to go to the italian restaurant around the corner, but the wait there was an hour long, so we ended up at S & P instead. That being said, I think we were pleasantly surprised. The hanger steak I had was excellent and came with these duck fat fingerling potatoes that were awesome. The cheese plate we ordered as an appetizer was pretty good too, though they were, in my opinion, a little stingy with the amount of cheese given. The service is what takes the place down a notch – it was just a little too slow, though the waiter himself was perfectly fine when he was actually around.
Sing Sing Karaoke
It’s awesome. We went singing there from 1 AM until 4 AM. It’s $8 an hour per person. That’s all that needs to be said.
Saturday Blue Ginger Lounge: 12:00pm-10:00pm
Dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm
Sunday
Dinner 5:00pm-9:00pm
For those of you foodies out there who are familiar with the Asian-European fusion chef Ming Tsai, you probably know of his first restaurant called Blue Ginger. Located in the quiet suburb of Boston called Wellesley, when the restaurant first opened in 1998, it drew rave reviews for its exceptional and (at the time) new fusion type of food. People would come in from all around the country to try this place and its blend of French and Asian flavored cuisine.
In 2013, Blue Ginger doesn’t have as much of the fanfare as it used to have, but the food is still held at its highest standard. It’s very pricey, so for those of you who make a decent living, Blue Ginger is a special occasion type spot. For those of you that make more than a decent living, you probably aren’t reading this review because you’ve been there a dozen times already. I’d say that if you’re visiting Boston, Blue Ginger is only worth coming out to try if you’re in Boston for more than a week, otherwise there’s far more that you should see first in the city. If you’re local however, give it a go for an anniversary celebration, graduation or milestone birthday. Here’s a rundown of what we tried:
Hawaiian Bigeye Tuna Poke with Crispy Sushi Rice Cake and Microgreen-Tosaka Salad – This was probably the favorite dish of the night (including the entrees). It was a strange, but very tasty combination of a huge hunk of sushi style tuna on top of what could be best described as a hot, sticky-rice tater tot. The crunchiness of the rice cake with the soft, light tuna made for a really delightful appetizer – one which I would have been happy having a couple of as the main course.
Blue Ginger Charcuterie Plate – Duck Prosciutto, Foie Gras Torchon and Country Pâté – This is where the French influence comes out. The arrangement of the platter was well done and I thought the extremely rich foie gras was the best of the group. The platter also came with a really good spicy mustard that went well with the prosciutto and pate. I wouldn’t bother too much with the random Texas toast that came with the plate; instead I’d opt for spreading the pâté and foie gras on the sesame seed crackers that are on the table when you first sit. The Texas toast was just too buttery and took away from the flavors of the expensive stuff.
Sake-Miso Marinated Sablefish (a.k.a. Butterfish) with Wasabi Oil, Soy-Lime Syrup and Vegetarian Soba Noodle Sushi – This butterfish is considered Ming Tsai’s signature dish, and I could see why. Of the three entrees we had, it was easily the best. There wasn’t anything too fancy done with the fish and you’d probably be able to find a similar dish at a number of restaurants, but they do get points for perfect execution. It was cooked exactly the way it should have been – a nice, light char on the outside and light buttery meat on the inside. They did try and get cute with the Soba Noodle Sushi side, but I didn’t actually care for that all that much.
Garlic-Black Pepper Lobster with Lemongrass Fried Rice and Pea Tendril Salad with Tamari-Ginger Vinaigrette – The waitress said this is also a favorite of customers coming to Blue Ginger. Lobster is never bad, so I’ll say that while it wasn’t disappointing, there was just a little too much garlic for my taste getting in the way of the lobster. I’m sort of a lobster traditionalist where I want just the meat and a little butter, or a plain ol’ lobster roll. Again, that being said, just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it wasn’t very delicious.
Seared Duck Breast with Sweet Wasabi Sauce and Applewood Smoked Duck Leg Wild Fried Rice with Shiso-Bartlett Pear Purée– This third entree was probably the most “eh” of the three. The flavor of the duck was very pronounced which saved the dish, but the meat was a little too tough/chewy and the skin wasn’t crispy enough for our taste. If they had slow cooked the duck a little more like Peking duck style, it could have easily been the best of the three.
Overall though the food was excellent. That being said, these days there are so many new restaurants, television shows, and food celebrities that Blue Ginger almost feels like an aging veteran. This is both a good and bad thing. It’s bad because despite its success, the menu and atmosphere feel “standard” with nothing nuanced and that nothing has really evolved since it first broke down the barrier between French and Asian cuisine. The good thing though is that it’s still a sure thing. What they do well, they’ve done well for years, and it’s the kind of place that I’m sure very rarely disappoints. Grade: B+
I think at some point everyone just wants to get away from it all. For those living in an urban area, an escape from the city noise, computers, and hustle & bustle is all that one could want for a few days.
Keep a close eye for the “Rushford” sign on the road. It’s very small, and you can easily drive right by the driveway if you’re not paying attention.
For my friends and I, we decided to take a recent “escape” trip to Burlington, VT. Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes it was kind of random. The reasoning was that A) Memorial Day was a good time for all of us to reunite, and B) a friend of ours was running the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington so we figured – why don’t we all just go up? So we rented a house on Lake Champlain, about 20 minutes outside of Burlington, VT.
If you’re looking for a really nice getaway place, I’d recommend checking this house out. It’s got three bedrooms with queen beds, one bedroom with two full sized beds, and one bedroom with a full size bed and two bunk beds. There is also a random bedroom with a queen bed out in the driveway on its own, sort of like an annex (to this day, I’m still not totally sure how and/or why there’s a single bedroom/hut out there…).
The canoe ride on the lake is really pleasant on a nice day
The house is fully furnished with a kitchen, porch, gas grill, and two bathrooms. There is only one shower (and a shower outside), and although we thought that would be a problem for the 8-10 of us, it ended up not really being an issue. The hot water for the shower stayed good and heated for several back to back showers as well. DirecTV and wireless internet are available as well.
The one thing to keep in mind, the house doesn’t have heating. There’s a nice gas fireplace on the first floor, but for the nights upstairs it can get chilly. That being said, there were A LOT of blankets available so you can bundle up.
Plenty of yard space for all sorts of games
Easily the best amenity of the house is its rock dock with fire pit. Out there you can cook up some s’mores, take out the available canoe or motorboat, or try and get lucky with the fishing equipment. Along with that there are available bikes to take out, as well as plenty of yard space for bocce or cornhole. The yard also includes a volleyball net and a horseshoe court.
The house is perfect for any group bigger than 5-6 or for a family vacation. As for the pricing, for the long Memorial Day weekend we had the place for $1,200 pre-tax, $1,308 post-tax for the Friday through Thursday (these prices do probably fluctuate based on the season).
Family dinnerLate night s’mores at the fire pit
Here’s the contact information if you’re interested in renting out the house:
Marcia Rushford
dmrushford@aol.com 263 W Shore Rd
South Hero, VT 05486
I’ll be back soon with the rest of my Israel postings, but I had to interrupt with this quick post. For some reason, I’ve been to Austin, TX quite a few times in the past couple of years, so I’ve had a chance to give a lot of the barbecue in the city a try.
Easily the best brisket I’ve had not just in Austin but, well, in life was at Franklin Barbecue. Located just outside the main downtown of Austin, you’ll be able to spot it with no trouble by the crowd standing in line to get in. Doors open at 11 am (only for lunch), and when we got there around noon there was already a one hour wait. I know it sounds like a long time, but it’s worth the wait.
Because of the limited supply of meat they have each day, they don’t guarantee that they’ll have what you want once you get up to the register. Waiters walk down the line every few minutes to give people an update on what supply is left. Unfortunately for us, they had run out of ribs by the time we were able to order, but the brisket they let us sample (and that we eventually ordered) more than made up for it. Moist, flavorful, fatty, meaty – it was done perfectly.
And they do not cheat you; for $13 you can get two meats and two sides with bread. I opted with the brisket and sausage. I could have taken the slabs of meat they flopped down on the plate and the two sides and made three meals out of it. In hindsight – I wish I just gotten the $10 one meat plate, skipped the sausage since it was “eh”, but just had the brisket to die for.
Days: Tuesday–Sunday, CLOSED all Mondays Hrs: 11am–sold out (just open for lunch)
900 E. 11th, Austin, TX 78702
Waiters will come outside and sell beverages while you wait to get in
There’s limited seating inside, but there is a bit more outside
Taking a quick break from the Israel postings for a bit here, you may recall that I’m always looking for write-ups from readers such as yourself. This blog is meant to be as comprehensive as possible and I love it when you folks are as enthusiastic as I am about traveling!
With that, one of my best friends was kind enough to share his thoughts on what are arguably the two best pizza joints in Boston. You can call him the “Boston Guide”. Having lived in Boston all his life, he certainly knows what he’s talking about (especially when it comes to food) and I fully support his reviews having been a patron at both pizza places myself as well. Buon Appetito and thank you again “Boston Guide”!
Mon-Thu 11:30am – 11pm Fri & Sat 11:30am – 11:30pm Sun Noon – 11:00pm
Boston may not have a namesake pizza “style” like New York or Chicago, but if you’re looking for a pie that defines the local style on your next visit to Boston, check out Regina’s or Santarpio’s.
Regina’s and Santarpio’s specialize the same general type of pizza. Both serve up thin crust pies perfectly charred in wood ovens – crispy on the outside and fantastically doughy on the inside. The tomato sauce is light, tangy and sweet. Topped off with sharp, salty cheese.
Deciding which place you like more really comes down to the details. I’m not going to try to pick a winner here because both places are awesome. Instead, I’ll give you the information you need to decide which works best for your next trip to Boston. Of course, you can’t go wrong with both.
Quick Tips
1. This is a review of the Regina’s in the North End – not the Regina’s branches. There are a bunch of Regina’s branches scattered around town (South Station, Prudential mall, etc.) that don’t hold a candle to the original. Skip the branches.
2. Don’t try to go to Regina’s during peak hours. Regina’s is a tourist attraction in a touristy section of the city. Don’t let that scare you away from Regina’s or the North End – you should check out the North End when you visit Boston – just understand that if you show up at Regina’s during meal times you will be standing in line out on the street for a while.
3. Both Regina’s and Santarpio’s have bars, so you can wash down your pizza with beer or wine.
4. Go to Santarpio’s if you’re looking for: a meal on your way in or out from Logan Airport (it’s just minutes away from the airport by car), the best sausage pizza in the city, a heartier slice, or local Boston flavor.
5. Go to Regina’s if you’re looking for: a meal in the North End, the best pepperoni pizza in the city, variety on the menu.
Santarpio’s
In overly simplified terms, Santarpio’s is the heavier, heartier pizza. The crust is heartier, more charred. Whereas Regina’s dusts their crust with a light flour, Santarpio’s trademark is a coarse cornmeal crunch. Check out the legendary, delicious sausages cooking over open fire by the entrance.
Similarly, the Santarpio’s experience is a bit rougher around the edges. Whereas Regina’s is packed with tourists, Santarpio’s is all local. Expect: servers with thick Boston accents and some Boston attitude, local youth hockey teams eating after practice, the guy in the booth next to you talking about the “top 5 coldest Pats games” he’s ever sat through.
Expert Order: Sausage pizza, bring cash (‘Tarp’s is cash only)
Regina’s
Regina’s plain cheese slice is just about perfect – light, crispy, salty and sweet. The menu also includes all the standard topings, as well as a variety of specialty pizzas. I prefer to keep it simple – I think that lots of toppings can take away from a great slice – but Regina’s provides more variety than Santarpio’s if that’s what you’re into.
As mentioned above, Regina’s is a popular tourist destination. Don’t expect anything fancy though. Regina’s is still a no-frills pizza joint.
Expert Order: Pepperoni pizza (well done), white pizza (this pizza doesn’t include Regina’s awesome red sauce so make sure you get the pepperoni as well).
Perfect Alternative
If the line at Regina’s is too long, or if you’re just looking for a quick slice to carry out, Ernesto’s in the North End is a perfect alternative. Choose from a wide variety of pies and keep in mind that Ernesto’s slices are HUGE. For the full experience, carry out and eat in nearby Christopher Columbus Park with great views of Boston Harbor.
In general, I adhere to the saying “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” so I won’t go too much into the details of my time in Sin City – but I will give you all a general idea of the things we did and saw. If you do Vegas right, you’ll only really need about three or four days before you get drained out.
Tip if you’re going to Vegas from L.A.: If you can afford to fly, then fly and don’t drive. Google will tell you the drive takes around 3 hours. With all the traffic, the drive ended up taking us like 7 hours from L.A.
Truly a city that never sleeps
They don’t call it America’s playground for nothing. The city is an absolute shitshow, especially on the weekends. People are spilling in and out of hotels (most with libations in hand), the streets are filled with Transformers, Victoria Secret Angels, Michael Jacksons, you name it, and the Las Vegas “slappers” are out in force trying to get you to take one of the porno pamphlets they slap in your face.
When we finally did get ourselves settled in (it was around 10 PM), the night was just starting. The hotel we were staying at was Treasure Island. Located relatively close to the middle of the strip (the prime hotel locations are places like the Bellagio and Cosmopolitan), TI has been completely renovated and the new rooms are surprisingly modern for what looks like an older hotel on the outside. If you stay there, try and get a room facing the back or side or else the fire and explosions of the nightly “Sirens of TI” show go off right outside your window. (Note: The show itself is pretty cheesy, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. But if you happen to be in the area, it’s free so you may as well check it out.)
While the rooms look like they got a little work done to them, the casino itself isn’t really anything to write home about. The pool area is decent, and the expected club music and drunk flashing occurred, but as far as pool parties go – Treasure Island’s was pretty tame, but fun (tame for Las Vegas you must realize is a crazy, shitshow anywhere else. The word shitshow is clearly being used a lot in this post).
One thing you should definitely check out is a Cirque du Soleil show at some point and TI has one of the oldest running performances called Mystere. If you’re unfamiliar with Cirque du Soleil, it’s one of the most impressive acrobatic shows around – you’ll see feats of strength, balance, and agility that you wouldn’t think are humanly possible. The members of the cast really are some of the best performers and straight up athletes you’ll ever see on stage. One part of Mystere that blew my mind was the performance of two bodybuidlers who (and I’ll try to explain this as best I can) slowly, lifted each other in crazy positions using only one arm or leg, or hamstring or whatever to form what could best be described as bizarre, homoerotic sculptures.
Aside from Treasure Island here are few other highlights:
STK
We decided to treat ourselves to a really nice dinner on one of the nights, and STK was the choice. STK is the steak restaurant at the top floor of the atrium in Cosmopolitan. Take your time walking up there and you can see the amazing chandelier bar that is 4 levels encased in a ginormous chandelier. You’ll also pass the notoriously swanky club “Marquee” which is literally the hottest place to be in Vegas right now. You’ll see no shortage of young ladies in dresses that are no bigger than my neck warmer flowing into the club and masses of dudes in their best collared shirts who have no chance of getting in unless they’re ready to drop like $2000 or are arm in arm with a cadre of hotties.
Chandelier bar at Cosmopolitan
Back to the restaurant – we made it to the top finally – and had a reservation for 11:00. If it’s the weekend don’t plan on sitting at your reservation time. When all was said and done, we finally got our table at 11:45 – let’s just say it was the nighttime version of brunch. Although the restaurant is a “steak” restaurant, it didn’t have that quiet, fancy feel. The music was so loud that even when we were sitting in our booth, our seats were vibrating from the bass.
The prices are expensive, so be ready to pay out a handful. However, they weren’t any more expensive than a nice steak place in any other city. Because I was already past my budget for the trip, I went with the 12 oz. skirt steak, which probably is their most affordable, but not as high quality cut choice. I can only imagine what the $50-$60 steaks must be like because the skirt that I ordered was actually really damn good. Extremely juicy, and came with its own steak sauce (You don’t need to pay for one of the extra ones on the menu, the standard dipping sauce is quite good) which gave the steak a very robust, meaty flavor. The mac and cheese side was also well done, served in a tradition iron cast bowl with the perfect proportion of cheesy, creamy, bread crumby goodness. Grade: B+ only because I don’t like not being able to hear any conversation and when my table is bouncing while I eat.
Dealertainers at Imperial Palace
Who doesn’t want to play blackjack with Michael Jackson, Elvis, or Lady Gaga as your dealer? Don’t get scared off by the construction as they remodel the hotel – the Dealertainers are worth checking out as they perform on stage and stay in character as you try to hit 21.
River through the Venetian
No need to travel thousands of miles to see the rivers through Venice. Vegas provides their own version of it at the Venetian Hotel. Like everything else in Vegas, it’s absolutely ridiculous in the best way. Shops line the indoor river as gondolas flow back and forth through the hotel.
Lion Habitat at MGM
Make sure to walk through the MGM Hotel not only to see the indoor amusement park, but to walk through the Lion Habitat. If you time it right, you’ll be able to see the lion caretakers in the habitat with the majestic animals and hear their talk.
Just chilling with some napping lions
Fountains at Bellagio
Due in part to the ending of Ocean’s Eleven, the Fountains at the Bellagio have become an icon of Las Vegas. Chances are you’ll walk by the hotel several times since it’s located at the middle of the strip and if you time it right, you’ll catch one of the fountain shows that run every 15 minutes.
There’s no way to get all the activities that one can do in Las Vegas into one blog post (and I obviously left the naughtier bits out). When it comes down to it, there’s no shortage of things to see or places to have fun. It’s like the entire world shrunk into one city – everything is big, bright and in excess. You just have to experience the sensory overload for yourself. Go play.
Twice a year my company holds a sales meeting out near the headquarters in Thousand Oaks, CA. In meetings past, the location has been in places like Santa Monica or San Diego, but it’s always around the southern California area giving many of us remote East Coasters and Midwesterners a chance to see the sunny West Coast on our company’s dime.
Obviously, this is a work trip so much of the time is spent in conference rooms, but my company does do its best to treat their employees well and take us out for group activities. And usually after the meetings, most of us take the weekend to enjoy being on the west coast for a little vacation. Here’s a recap of a few of the highlights during that trip.
Westlake Village Inn – Our meetings were held at the hotel where we all stayed. Located in Westlake Village, this resort isn’t really located in any sort of “going out” type area, but is ideal for those looking to get away and enjoy the southern California weather in peace. Because of the size of the resort and the picturesque pond it surrounds, the hotel is a great location for meetings or weddings (my co-worker’s aunt being one such bride). The rooms are extremely comfy, each with a little deck to sit out on and they make you feel like you’re crashing at a rich friend’s summer home. FYI – my deck light was really bright which flooded into the room at night – keep that in mind for you light sleepers.
The resort is also adjacent to a golf course for those looking to play a few holes (and was right outside the meeting room window for all of us to jealously look out onto). Also, Bogie’s bar in the resort apparently is the hot place to be on weekend nights, but since our meeting was during the week I can’t confirm whether or not that’s actually true. The bar itself though was pretty fun when we were there and has a lot of outdoor seating. And finally, the pool and gym are both a little small, which is surprising considering how much nicer the rest of the resort is.
View from my balcony at Westlake Village Inn
While the food was actually quite good at the resort, there are a slew of restaurants within a few miles of the resort. A couple that I’d recommend are :
Cisco’s, a local mexican chain with fantastic Samuel Adams Beer Battered fish tacos and massive margaritas. Boccacio’s, which is situated on Westlake lake and has a tremedous view of the Santa Monica mountains. I would highly recommend the Chilean Sea Bass.
Sunstone Winery – Located in Santa Ynez, CA, this was the first of many wineries I would visit in the days to come (stay tuned). Fans of the movie Sideways will recognize this area as the setting of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church’s escapades. And while the vineyard at Sunstone was beautiful and the wine tasty, the 2 hour drive from L.A. only makes the venue worth a visit if you’re in L.A. for an extended period of time and if it’s a nice enough day to enjoy the coastal drive up. If you do decide to visit, the tour is very informative and the tasting room at the end allows you to sample several of their vintages and olive oils – be sure to try the garlic olive oil.
The Beverly Hilton Hotel – Renown for hosting the Golden Globe Awards and more recently, the site of the death of singer Whitney Houston, the Beverly Hilton Hotel has a long history of hosting the rich and famous (myself included). Located at the heart of Beverly Hills, the hotel itself surprisingly seems rather old in some ways, but also new in others. The resort is the type that has a weird Rat Pack feel to it, but also is the type that has TVs in the bathroom. Our room was located very conveniently by the pool (literally, we could walk out of our room and the pool was four yards in front of us), and we took advantage of this by going for late night swims at 2-3 in the morning that the staff didn’t seem to mind.
TMZ Hollywood Tour– I’m not a TMZ fan, I’ve only seen parts of it on parodies such as The Soup. But when our friend suggested we go on TMZ’s bus tour (he’s a big TMZ fan), I decided to roll with the punches and go with it. In actuality, the 2 hour bus tour starting at Mann’s Chinese Theater was quite entertaining and gives you a pretty good “paparazzi’s” eye of Hollywood.
Don’t go on this thinking you’ll see huge celebrity houses in Beverly Hills. Rather, you’ll go down Rodeo Drive to see million dollar cars and stores, drive by Beverly Hills Police HQ and the comedy club where Kramer famously dropped the “N” word over and over again. You’ll also see notorious hotels (where Cher and Elton John own the top floors), sidewalks where naughtiness occured (the curb where Hugh Grant got caught), and restaurants where celebrities frequent (we apparently just missed Halle Barry at one of her favorites). It’s a trashy tour at best, but I can’t say that I wasn’t throughly amused throughout the ride.
Recognize the hotel? It’s the one from Pretty Woman.
Jimmy Kimmel Live – Probably one of the top experiences of the summer was being able to sit in the audience during the taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live. One of my co-workers was able to get a few of us tickets through an old college friend of hers who works at the show. We definitely let the feeling sink in as we walked past the crowds waiting in line outside for tickets and into the backdoor “Green Room” entrance. We were all hoping that we might get a glimpse of the evening’s guests, Jennifer Garner (Alias) or Paul Scheer (The League) back there, but we weren’t that lucky. After downing a couple free beers, they escorted us into the studio where we were entertained by a comedian who gave away t-shirts for various different reasons. The studio itself was shockingly smaller than how it looks on television and when Kimmel came out to do his stand up routine at the beginning, he’s practically in the front row. Obviously, his TV personality isn’t going to be the same as his off camera personality, but Kimmel was certainly friendly enough to the crowd in-between the recordings and entertained us with back and forth banter between him, the band, and Guillermo (his famous Latino sidekick).
No pictures allowed inside, so this is us outside getting into the Green Room. No Guillermo at the door unfortunately.
We were lucky enough to have crowd pleasing guests in Jennifer Garner (who is as hot in person as on TV by the way) and Paul Scheer, so the crowd’s laughter didn’t need to be forced. The musical guest was The Fixx, who before that night I had not heard of and my guess is most of the crowd hadn’t either, so we were strongly told to cheer louder (and we even had to re-tape on of the songs because the audience wasn’t into it enough). Funny part was that when we watched it later that night, they only showed one of three songs that they sung, and not the one that they re-sang. It was a great experience overall and certainly made the Los Angeles experience that much more authentic.
On a final side note: I was surprised at how much seedier Hollywood was than I thought. Yes, the Hollywood Walk of Fame is pretty cool to see, but the sidewalks were packed with the homeless, drunks and solicitors. Definitely not a place where I’d spend a lot of time, but glad I saw it to say I did.
Up next: We jumped in a car and headed our way to Las Vegas.
2121 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 248-2570
***NO RESERVATIONS ***CASH ONLY
MONDAY – THURSDAY
4PM-11PM
FRIDAY
4PM-MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY
11:30AM-MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY
11:30AM-11PM
Chicago, Illinois is considered by many to be the New York City of the Midwest. And while there are many similarities, there are several differences that make each city unique. One of those differences is the style of pizza. I think unless you live on Mars or a farm in Wyoming or something, you know that Chicago has the deep-dish style pizza and New York has the thin crust. As a native New Englander, I always prefer thin crust, but like they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
I’ve been to Chicago several times and been to many of their famous deep dish pizza joints, such as the original Pizzeria Uno. But this last trip I took, my friends brought me to an even more unorthodox pizza venue. As locals, they say it’s one of the best pizza places in the city. Now, I’ll say this right off the bat – it’s a good pizza place that WILL NOT satisfy a pizza craving.
Sounds weird right? I’ll say it again – if you’re really craving a thin slice, or personal pan deep dish, this is not the place to go. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. if you’re looking for a good meal.
Located non-descriptly in a block of row houses, the venue is small and doesn’t take reservations, so expect to wait. While we waited, we split a bottle of wine out on the sidewalk, which may or may not have been legal, but it seemed to be an acceptable practice among the several others waiting.
The interior has a cool, woody, cabin feel – very much like a family summer home you might have. The atmosphere is lively and loud, as they’ve packed as many people as they can into what is essentially an english basement. The menu itself is simple, with their signature dish, “The Pizza Pot Pie” highlighting the options and to be honest, I don’t think many people order anything else. You can order a half-pound or one pound “Pizza Pot Pie”. This isn’t a deep dish. You have to use a knife and fork. And like the name of it says, it literally is like a pot pie made of all pizza ingredients. If you’re hungry, a half-pound is a perfect size (I was starving and wasn’t able to finish it).
The pot pie was very good. The ingredients inside as a mix gave it sort of a cheesey, meaty calzone consistency that made me think “this is like the ultimate poor man’s comfort food”. You can’t help but feel very blue collar as you spoon forkful after forkful of cheese, meat, thick tomato sauce and dough into your mouth. I could see how this place would be the spot to be in the cold winter months. I would say that only thing I had against it was that it was too doughy for my taste and I could feel myself bloating up with each carbo-loaded bite.
I’d also recommend getting one of their salads and the surprisingly, really good Mediterranean bread. I really like Olive Garden salads and this salad and dressing takes the Olive Garden salad to the next level (it actually blows it away). The flatbread comes out on a plate that’s too small for it and the edges flop down on the table. You have to tear pieces of it off like you’re at an Ethiopian restaurant. Be sure to dip the bread in the salad dressing and make sure not to fill yourself up too much.
The simplicity of the restaurant was great – no nonsense, small menu, homestyle fare. I throughly enjoyed the meal, but I’ll say that I probably wouldn’t find myself going their regularly ONLY because I’m not the type that would “crave” that style of pizza that often. That being said, it was a fun place with a unique twist on a crowd pleasing food and the pot pie was delicious enough to make you forget you had any sort of thin crust or deep dish craving beforehand. Grade: B
Here and There 