Stan's Donuts and Coffee

After feasting on fried chicken sandwiches and a donut, M and I decided to digest a bit by walking around the block. We did this because we ended up wanting another donut from Stan's Donuts and Coffee. Stan's is an LA institution that opened their first outpost in Chicago in 2014, a year before our visit. They have since opened additional locations across the city and suburbs.

Stan's was started out in LA back in 1963 near UCLA. They moved out to Chicago when they partnered with a Chicago-based bakery that loved the passion from the owner of Stan's on TV. We ended up only getting one donut, the lemon pistachio old fashioned, since we had just eaten lunch and another donut, and I got some coffee to go with it.

The donut itself had a nice crunch to the exterior that covered the soft, moist interior. The glaze had an amazing amount of pistachio flavor, and they studded it with crushed pistachio. Overall this was a delicious donut. I don't remember much of anything about the coffee, but it served its purpose of pairing with the coffee. It was a delicious dessert to our first dessert.

Doughnut Vault

Since we're currently in the middle of a bunch of Chicago doughnut posts from our 2015 road trip, this seemed like a good time to jump back to another doughnut shop we visited in 2012 that we didn't have a chance to revisit on that 2015 trip: Doughnut Vault.

At the time, Doughnut Vault had been open for a little over a year in their tiny location on Franklin Street, and we only knew three things about them: the doughnuts were supposed to be good, they sold out fast, and the lines could get really, really long. They made a set number of doughnuts every day, and once they were gone, the shop was closed. We were a little on the later side when we headed over there (around 10:45 am) since we had gone to Do-Rite first, so we weren't even sure they would still be open when we got there. They were, and we were happy to see that there were only a couple of people in front of us in line. Maybe it was because it was cold or because it was a random Tuesday in September, or maybe we just got lucky. While they did still have doughnuts, they were almost sold out of their entire inventory. They only had about 10 left, so we really just made it.

We got the gingerbread stack, which for some reason I thought was going to be a single gingerbread donut but turned out to be three. (You would think I would have realized that from the name "stack" but apparently not.) They were a little smaller in size than other doughnuts because of the stack, and were very soft and kind of cake-like with a light gingerbread flavor.

The other doughnut we got was the buttermilk old-fashioned. This one had a little bit of a chewier texture to it, which we kind of liked, but because of the type of doughnut it was, it was much, much richer. We had been hoping for a glazed doughnut or maybe a special if they had one, but these were the only two types left by the time we got there so we of course got them to try. They were good, but we prefer other styles so they weren't our favorites.

We sat outside, shivering in the cold, eating our doughnuts (and in A's case, drinking coffee to try to warm up), and watched as the last few customers wandered into the shop and bought the final doughnuts for the day. Before we even finished eating, the sold out sign was in the window and any future patrons were out of luck. We did enjoy the doughnuts there and would return, but considering how many good doughnut shops there are in Chicago and how much we dislike waiting in line, I doubt we would wait if the line was wrapped around the block, as it still seems to be five years later.

Double Do-Rite Donuts

After our less-than-satisfying char dog, we spent some time enjoying the sunny weather in Millennium Park and took a walk up the lakeshore to our old neighborhood of Streeterville. Our plan was to get lunch from Do-Rite Donuts, which we had visited in the Loop on an earlier trip, but which now had chicken sandwiches that sounded delicious. (Funny coincidence, on that earlier trip, we had gotten Do-Rite and then Gold Coast Dogs later in the day, while on this trip we had Gold Coast Dogs and then Do-Rite later in the day, something I never even realized until putting this post together.)

On our first visit to Do-Rite a couple of years earlier, we were kicking off the morning with some coffee and doughnuts. I don't know when it happened, as it wasn't the case when we had moved out of Chicago seven years earlier, but by the time we made this visit in 2012, Chicago had become a serious doughnut city. We hit up quite a few of the big players on the trip, and Do-Rite was one of them. A picked up a Dark Matter coffee (which he thought wasn't bad, but he was expecting a dark roast because of the name and it turned out to be lighter and not as bold), and then we got three doughnuts to split.

The three doughnuts we got were the valrhona chocolate glazed, the maple bacon, and the special of the day, which had a pineapple glaze, shredded coconut, and nuts. It's been about five years, so we don't really remember that many details, but we do remember that we thought the doughnuts were quite good. If I had to guess, I'd say that my favorite was probably the daily special since I love pineapple and shredded coconut, but A thinks we might have liked the valrhona chocolate the best because the chocolate was excellent. (This is the problem when you don't take notes and don't write a post while the memories are still fresh.)

And now back to our 2015 road trip visit. We knew we would eventually get doughnuts from Do-Rite since we knew they were good, but first, it was time for chicken sandwiches. We split two for lunch, the "original" and the CBR. We had considered getting the one called "The Sweet Heat," which was a fried chicken sandwich with spicy maple aioli on a glazed doughnut, for the novelty of having a fried chicken sandwich on a doughnut "bun" (although we have seen that concept elsewhere since), but decided not to and to get "regular" chicken sandwiches instead.

The original chicken sandwich contained a fried chicken breast, special mayo, lettuce, and dill pickles. This sandwich was good, very basic, but a little bit bland in flavor, especially compared to the other sandwich. The texture of the fried chicken was good. The lettuce was a little more like cabbage, which was something we weren't expecting, and we weren't really sure what made the mayo special but it seemed nice and creamy.

The CBR stood for (aged) cheddar, bacon, and ranch (mayo), and we got the spicy version of this sandwich. This sandwich had much more flavor than the other one, probably from the bacon, but we wouldn't really call it spicy. Cheddar, bacon, and ranch is usually a good combination, and that was the case here as well. The CBR is still on the menu online, which is nice to see.

Considering we eat a lot of fried chicken sandwiches (especially in 2015, which was kind of the year of fried chicken sandwiches for us personally and they seemed to be everywhere), these probably fall in the middle part of the list for us. They were good and we enjoyed them, but we definitely have others we like better at home (like Hill Country Chicken, Bobwhite). We would try more varieties at Do-Rite though. Who would say no to more fried chicken sandwiches?

After we finished our chicken sandwiches, we went back in for a doughnut, this time choosing the cinnamon old fashioned topped with cinnamon sugar. This was a good cake doughnut, very soft in texture, with good cinnamon flavor. Do-Rite definitely does doughnuts well. We've had good experiences both times we've visited, so we would return.

Gold Coast Dogs

Two years ago today, we were in Chicago, kicking off a day of sightseeing and family time with some Chicago-style hot dogs, so we're going to jump back into recapping some of the spots we visited back then. Since some spots (like this one) are repeats of places we went to but didn't recap on other trips, we're just going to combine them all together.

We lived in Chicago together for three years, and during that entire time, I never once had a Chicago-style hot dog (mostly because I wasn't eating much red meat back then). To remedy the situation, we decided to go on a hot dog crawl on one of our visits back to the city in 2012. We hit up Hot Doug's and a few other spots, trying lots of Chicago-style dogs. After trying a bunch of them, my favorite was Gold Coast Dogs, a decades-old Chicago mini-chain. It was so good that it even made my top 10 list that year, and that was a year of really tough competition.

The offering from Gold Coast Dogs consisted of a charred hot dog on a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, onions, tomatoes, pickles, neon green relish, sport peppers, and celery salt. While we had a lot of good ones on our crawl, this one just stood out for the freshness of the toppings, the snap of the dog, and the flavor of the charred hot dog. It was really satisfying. After that crawl, I really started to understand why people loved Chicago-style hot dogs so much. With all those toppings, they were much more exciting than your average hot dog.

Having had such a good experience at Gold Coast Dogs the first time, we were excited to return during our road trip back in 2015. On our way from our hotel to Millennium Park, we stopped by the same location in the Loop that we went to the last time and ordered a couple of char dogs. When we looked down at our tray, our first thought was, "Where did all the toppings go?" It felt like there was a lot less on the hot dog than on our other visit, and a quick comparison with the photo from a few years earlier showed a stark difference. The taste of the hot dog was fine, but it was definitely lacking in the toppings department. Since that's one of the best parts about eating a Chicago-style hot dog, we were really disappointed. We probably won't be returning to that location again. Instead, on our next visit, we may have to go on another hot dog crawl to find a new favorite!

A Year of Nando's

The next post in our London recaps was supposed to be about our visit to Nando's Peri-Peri, our fourth visit to a Nando's in 2015 while on vacation. Unfortunately we haven't gotten around to recapping any of the other Nando's visits, so any comparisons we would make between the restaurants in London and the States would have no context whatsoever. Considering that, and also the fact that the next post in our Savannah recaps was also supposed to be about Nando's, we thought it was best to just put them all together in one post and take you through our year of Nando's.

Visit #1: Woodbridge, Virginia (Savannah road trip)

We had known about Nando's Peri-Peri for a long time before we ever tried it. Founded in South Africa, Nando's is a fast casual restaurant serving grilled chicken (and other stuff, but the draw for most people is the chicken) with peri-peri sauces, flavors that originated from Portugal and Mozambique. Nando's only recently expanded to the US, with locations in Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Chicago. Unfortunately they don't yet have one in New York, but that was why we definitely wanted to try some on our way to Savannah.

A got the half chicken, medium spiciness, with macho peas ("rugged pea mash with whole peas, parsley, mint and chilli" according to the menu). The chicken was very moist except for a few sections of the white meat which was a bit on the drier side. The sauce had a good amount of heat that didn't overpower his senses, and the peri peri seasoning added a nice floral hint. The macho peas were very tasty. They had a good bit of heat to them, and our guess was that they included the same chilli as their peri peri seasoning in them. The mint and parsley added a nice herbal freshness to the dish as well.

M got the sandwich called "Nandocas choice" which made her top 10 list that year. The sandwich was a chicken breast topped with cole slaw on buttery garlic bread. It was really, really good. She thought that the flavor of the chicken itself might have been a little bit better on A's regular flame grilled chicken, but all together, this combination was great. Can't really go wrong with a sandwich built on garlic bread.

Visit #2: Hanover, Maryland (Savannah road trip)

We liked Nando's so much on our first visit, just like we thought we would, that we also got lunch at one of the Maryland locations on our drive back home. The Hanover location was in the Arundel Mills mall not too far from our hotel, so it was our last real meal on the trip (if you don't count rest stop fries). We thought the Virginia location was a little better as far as organization and layout, but we really didn't care because we were eating delicious Nando's chicken.

The first time we got the chicken, we didn't add much seasoning or extra sauce to it, because we wanted to taste it right out of the kitchen with the flavors it was supposed to have. This visit, we experimented more with the sauces, especially the wild herb and garlic, which we liked even more mixed together. The garlic herb peri-peri sauce was our favorite on its own. We love garlic, and this had a really good garlicky flavor to it. The wild herb peri-peri sauce had a good flavor to it, but it just wasn't as good as the garlic herb. Together they formed a great, balanced sauce.

A wanted to kick things up a bit so he got the half chicken, hot spiciness, with corn. The chicken was similar, moist but with a few dry spots in the white meat, and the hot sauce was good and hot, but it was, for the most part, the same chicken he had on the way down. The corn was nice. He had seen a bunch of people ordering it on our first visit so he wanted to give it a try. It was really just a grilled ear of corn, but it was sweet, and the char on the corn gave it a nice smokiness. M isn't as big a fan of corn on the cob, but she thought it tasted good from the little bit she tried.

For her meal, M got a chicken breast (medium) sandwich with arugula, tomato, pickled onion, and peri-peri mayo, with sides of macho peas and fries. These were the same two sides that we had gotten in Virginia, and they were both good. As for the sandwich, it was fine, not as exciting as the Nandocas choice, but the chicken was really good. That said, M still thought A's chicken was better so she decided she would ditch the sandwiches and get regular chicken whenever we were lucky enough to go to Nando's again.

Visit #3: West Loop, Chicago (Great Lakes road trip)

The first Nando's in Chicago opened in spring of 2015 in the West Loop, and once we learned that, we knew where we absolutely had to go during our time in Chicago over the summer. This location was a little different from the other two we had been to, in that it wasn't located in a mall or shopping development, but just a regular neighborhood restaurant. We were really excited to see if anything was different about the Chicago locations, but they were mostly the same. The Chicago one did have better decor though.

A got a half chicken, hot spiciness, with peas and Portuguese rice. The flavor of this Nando's was just as good as before, but the chicken size was much smaller. The peas were tasty like last time, and the rice had really good flavor. We also used the garlic and herb sauce like last time and it was just as delicious.

M got a quarter chicken, medium spiciness, white meat, with coleslaw and garlic bread as sides. The garlic bread was delicious, even if garlic bread is the type of thing we could probably make it at home. The coleslaw was really, really good and better than M remembered from before. With the sides she picked, it was like she could make the Nandocas choice sandwich all over again if she really wanted to, selections which weren't intentional but perhaps subconscious.

Visit #4: Shepherd's Bush, London (2015 vacation)

Our stomachs weren't feeling particularly great after our pie and mash and jellied eels lunch, so we thought the best thing to do was to grab some Nando's for dinner. Grilled chicken sounded like it would be nice and calming. There were two Nando's locations not too far from our hotel, including one a little more conveniently located at the Westfield mall. (You might remember the mall from our first day visits to Square Pie and Pho.) The Nando's at the mall wasn't in the takeaway food court, but in a section with other restaurants. When we got there and saw the line, we were alarmed to see it stretching out of the restaurant and around a corner. The mall was packed, but it was a Tuesday night so we really weren't expecting it to be so crowded. (We kept forgetting it was half term.)

Since that wasn't going to work, we left the mall and walked over to the other Shepherd's Bush location, which had free tables and very little line. It was nice being in a place where there was more than one Nando's within walking distance.

M got a half chicken, medium spiciness, with garlic bread and coleslaw, pretty much the same thing she got in Chicago. She got a half so that A could eat some of the dark meat, since she was planning to eat mostly white meat. The chicken seemed to be very similar to the ones we got in the States, and it was nice to see that the quality was consistent. Both sides were good, but the garlic bread wasn't seasoned as much and didn't have the garlic spread to the edges, so it wasn't quite as good as the ones we had had previously. It was probably healthier that way, but M likes garlic bread with lots of butter and garlic on it. It was a nice, solid dinner that M really hoped would soothe her stomach and erase all memories of jellied eels.

A got the chicken livers which we both knew he was going to get as soon as we looked at the English menu. The chicken livers aren't on the American menu, and that's a real shame. The chicken livers came with a Portuguese roll and he got a side of fries. We couldn't pinpoint exactly what they used to cook the chicken livers, but they were so good. Looking at the Nando's recipes online before they were removed, it sounded like it was just butter and peri-peri sauce, but it tasted like something more than that. There was something familiar about it, but we just couldn't figure it out. We tried these on everything: plain, on the roll, on M's garlic bread, and even on the fries. It didn't matter how we ate them, they were just awesome. There was a little bit of a spiciness to the sauce as well as A ordered them with medium spiciness.

Dinner was really good. We were very glad that we had such a good, tasty dinner since lunch was not as good as we were expecting it to be.

After visiting Nando's four times in 2015, we haven't been to one since then, pretty much since they don't have one here in New York. When the day comes (hopefully) that they do open here, we will be so happy. It's the perfect fast casual type of spot - good flavorful food, no fuss, not too expensive. Nando's, please open in NYC, and if possible bring the chicken livers too!

Superdawg

It's been a while since we posted about our adventures in Chicagoland back in 2014 (most recent post here and all posts in the series here), but better late than never...

After a fun day in the city of Chicago, we visited the iconic Superdawg for dinner. We had heard of Superdawg back when we lived in Chicago, but for whatever reason, never made it there. (That seems to have been the case for a bunch of iconic Chicago hot dog places, including Hot Doug's.) Since we were staying up in Rosemont on this trip and had a car, we were much closer to Superdawg than we ever were when we lived in the city, and we could also fully enjoy the experience of the drive-in (first one M had ever been to!).

We thought we were getting to Superdawg on the earlier side for dinner, but the entire parking lot was packed when we got there. We got pretty lucky and a spot opened up not long after we arrived, which meant we could enjoy the full Superdawg drive-in experience. Considering the long wait to put in the order from the drive-in terminal, it might have been quicker just ordering inside and sitting on the benches, but we really wanted to experience Superdawg how it "should be." True drive-ins are pretty rare these days, so we thought it would be a fun experience.

We ordered a bunch of different items from the giant menu. When everything was ready, someone brought it out to our car on one of those trays that you can hook on to the window while you eat. While this was pretty cool, there were a lot of flying insects (mostly mosquitoes) outside (it was the middle of the summer at dusk), so we opted to put all the food on the dashboard and eat with the windows closed instead.

Although there were lots of interesting things on the menu that we would have liked to try, we knew that on our first visit we both would need to try Superdawg's version of the hot dog. Each hot dog order came with a side of fries (awesome!) and arrived in these cute little boxes. 

The fries were just okay. They're crinkle cut like the ones we can get from Shake Shack, but they weren't quite as crisp. They also seemed a little drier than the Shake Shack ones. These were a bit disappointing, but at least we didn't come here for the fries.

The star of the show was supposed to be the hot dog, but that seemed like a bit of a letdown. It was okay, not horrible, but we had had better from Portillo's and Gold Coast Dogs in the past. This was a bit different than the others, though, as the tomato was green, and M thought it was a tad pickled and spicy. The sport peppers were also really spicy, but A was okay with that.

Even though each hot dog came with fries, M couldn't resist an order of the super onion chips (which you might remember from her favorites list). These are still the most memorable part of the meal for M. They were that good. They basically take the best elements of an onion ring - the onions themselves, nicely seasoned batter, good frying - and remove the worst - the nasty habit of the onions to "escape" the battered exterior of the onion ring once you bite into it. M still dreams about these.

A really likes milkshakes and malts so we opted to get a chocolate malt. It had a really good, rich chocolate flavor, and the pronounced malt flavor really enriched the flavors nicely. It wasn't so thick that you couldn't suck it up through the straw, but it was thick enough that you needed to position the straw just right to make sure you could. A was really happy with the shake. M liked it too, but probably not as much as A did.

The last thing we got was a chocolate chip cookie. We had read plenty of reviews online about how great the cookie was so we figured we had to try it. We're not sure if the reviews were old or what, but the cookie wasn't anything special. It was soft and chewy which we liked, but otherwise it was pretty plain. We've definitely had better, and A has made better at home.

Overall, we're glad we checked out Superdawg. We're not sure we'll go back again as it's a little out of the way from the city proper, and the parking lot is pretty small. It's also a little tough to eat while sitting in the car, though we did get to see an old school Cadillac boat roll through which seemed to really fit the vibe of the place. We're happy to have tried it, and if we ever do make it back, you can be sure that we'll get at least one order of those awesome onion chips!

Quick Chicago Weekend

Back in August 2013, we flew out to Chicago for a quick weekend trip to celebrate our nephew's first birthday. For most trips, we recap each food stop on our journey, trying to commit our memories to words before they completely fade (and we're not always successful in that, sadly), but this time, we're going to wrap up the whole thing in this one post. Why? Primarily because most of the memories of this trip have completely faded despite having pretty good photographic documentation. Sad but true. We probably have enough memories left to fill up the content of one post, but not 5.

We left on a Friday morning from LaGuardia (and not the comfy Marine Air Terminal) headed for O'Hare. We had packed a couple of sandwiches from Trader Joe's to eat at the airport and on the plane, but those no longer need a post because we already talked about them from a later trip to Vegas. After we landed, we made our way over to A's brother's place, and then went out to grab a quick lunch. We found ourselves at the local Mariano's, a grocery chain in Chicago we became completely enamored with the year before when they first opened in the West Loop.

Mariano's reminds me a little bit of Wegmans when it comes to their premade selections in that they are extensive. We decided to split one of the $6 meals (main and 2 sides), getting the hand-rolled Sicilian meatballs (2 giant meatballs) with sides of potato salad and mojito Cuban quinoa salad. The meatballs were delicious. We really don't remember anything about the potato salad over 2 years later. The quinoa salad had quinoa, black beans, green peppers, olive oil, lime juice, coconut, red peppers, green onion, jalapeño, cilantro, garlic, mint, salt, pepper, and oregano. I only know this because we had kept the ingredient label after the trip, and it was one of the only food notes I had from the entire weekend. That also tells me that we must have liked it if we wanted to try to figure out how to make something similar at home.

Besides lunch, we also picked up some pluots to eat later since they had so many varieties of pluots that we had never seen before, and they looked so juicy since it was late summer. (They were really, really good.)

Many of the meals we ate that weekend were homecooked by A's mom (very tasty, as always), but we did go out for one nice meal to celebrate our nephew's birthday and just generally to have one really nice dinner as a family for A's family (similar reasoning as our Japonais dinner from last summer). Dinner was at the bustling Paris Club in the River North area of Chicago, and we got a bunch of appetizers to split as well as individual entrees. If you had asked us to name from memory what we got at this meal, without looking at any of the photos, I think the only part we might remember is the charcuterie board. I don't think that's a reflection on the food at Paris Club, because I think we concluded that the quality was pretty good after we ate there, but more a confirmation of how much memories can fade in just over 2 years (same reason I recently went on a draft-deleting spree). 

Anyway, from what we can tell/remember after looking at the pictures, we (or someone at the table) got:

- charcuterie board (homemade pates, terrines, and saucissons)

- shrimp cocktail

- baked brie with mushrooms and walnuts
- butter lettuce salad with dijon vinaigrette and shaved radishes

- side of roasted mushrooms

- side of braised lentils

- skate wing with lemon, capers, and brioche croutons (A is guessing this was his, but not really sure)

- duck confit with braised lentils and mustard greens
- wild Alaskan halibut with creamed corn and chorizo (I think this was mine)

We didn't get any desserts because there was still a massive amount of birthday cake left to eat back at the house.

After the very short weekend, we left O'Hare for Newark on Sunday afternoon. Before leaving we stopped by our favorite place to eat at O'Hare, Tortas Frontera, Rick Bayless's fast casual spot. Since we've gone there on so many trips, you would think we would have written about it before, but it's usually the last stop on a Chicago trip so we've never gotten up to it.

Unfortunately we didn't really have any recollection of which torta we got this time (seriously, why is this trip so faded in our memories?), so any post about Tortas Frontera based on this visit would not do it justice. We'll save that for another trip. My photo album captions tell me that we got the roasted garlic mushrooms torta, but considering we didn't know that just by looking at the photo, we clearly don't remember what it tasted like enough to describe it. We do remember that we got a raspberry prickly pear agua fresca which was refreshing.

Before leaving for the airport, we had picked up a couple of sandwiches from Mariano's to eat on the plane. Since we got the torta at the airport, we were only really hungry enough to split one of them on the plane - a turkey and swiss sandwich on pretzel bread. We ate the other one (warmed up) after we got home, an Italian meat sandwich on focaccia. We remember that we liked both sandwiches, but the specifics are just too faded.

Anyway, there's a quick recap of the weekend we spent in Chicago back in 2013. We did eat a lot of tasty food, even if for some reason we can barely remember some of it. At least we've managed to get this much down in a post before the rest of our memories of this trip completely fade!

A's Favorite Food Memories of 2015

So it's that time again! Another year is coming to a close, and I'm coming up with my favorite food memories for 2015. In years past I've focused more on just my favorite dishes of the year, but this year I embraced more of the actual feel of this post and chose my favorite food experiences. This list is going to be alphabetical by restaurant (except for the last entry) as I'm not in the mood to try and rank all of these as it was hard enough to pick them all.

1.   Shrimp and Grits - B. Matthew's Eatery (Savannah, GA)

I've had shrimp and grits in my day, but the one from B Matthews? My god, what a dish. Perfect balance of saltiness from the andouille sausage and spice rub, richness and creaminess from the cheese and butter, and texture from the grits. The peppers and scallions added an element of freshness to an otherwise heavier dish.

2.   Celebration Meal - Danji (NYC)

This meal, while very good, was not chosen for any one particular dish. As a whole it was a very good meal, but it probably wouldn't have made the list in any of the previous years. This meal as a whole made the list because of what it represented. This was the meal that M and I had to celebrate me leaving my previous job near the beginning of the year. I was glad to have finally made that move, and it has thus far been the best move of my life professionally. The food also happened to be really good.

3.   Tamal de Elote con Camarones - Dove's Luncheonette (Chicago)

This year I had something of a theme to a lot of my food choices, grits and grit-like consistency dishes. This is the second of those on my list. I had a rough morning that day. A migraine kept me laid up for hours, and I was still in a fog when we got to Dove's. That all changed when they brought out the food, though. This dish is a collard green filled tamale with chili garlic shrimp, and banana peppers on top of soft scrambled eggs and garnished with fried garlic and cilantro. The eggs were soft and creamy, and the entire dish was an explosion of flavors. It was a blend of heat, acid, and salt rolled up into one delicious dish. M and I both agreed that we would totally get this dish again, but unfortunately a scan of their menu shows that it is no longer there.

4.   New England Clam Shack Feast - Fred's Shanty (New London, CT)

Ever since M and I moved to NYC, she'd always regaled me with tales of summer New England clam shack meals. Essentially they're clam strips or bellies fried to perfection and often served with fries and cole slaw as well. It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's a damn delicious one. Fred's Shanty was our first such stop on our trip this past summer. It wasn't the best fried clams we had on the trip, but they were the first I had ever had in New England during the summer. I'd had fried clam strips before in my life, but this was my first time having them while sitting out near the open water on a nice, hot day.

5.   Berry Picking - Johnson's Farm Produce (Hobart, IN)

One of my fondest memories while growing up were going to the grocery store with my mom and learning how to pick out produce. On our departure day from Chicago this year, my family decided to go out to a berry farm in Indiana that my brother and his family had been to earlier. Aside from being the juiciest and sweetest raspberries and blackberries I had ever eaten, it was so much fun being out in the fields with my mom. M remarked later how happy we both looked while working together to find and pluck the best berries on all of the bushes. My only regret for the day was not taking more of the boxes of berries. M and I inhaled our two boxes within an hour of being on the road.

6.   Toasted Cheese Sandwich - Kappacasein (Borough Market, London)

I like grilled cheese sandwiches a lot, but what we got at London's Borough Market was other worldly. Kappacasein is a local dairy farm that produces some amazing cheeses, and their stall pumps out the most amazing toasted cheese sandwiches (aka three cheese toasties) in the world and also raclette, a small pile of potatoes smothered in melted/seared cheese. We didn't get the raclette, but that cheese toastie haunted our dreams for weeks to come. So much so that M made her own version later on (more on that later...). The sandwich itself is rather simple. It has three types of cheese shredded to allow for better and more uniform melting and leeks and onions, both red and white, pressed between bread in a sandwich press. The melting cheese crisps up on the sandwich press, and the whole experience of eating these is heavenly.

7.   Lithuanian Festival (Catonsville, MD)

This was our first ever experience eating Lithuanian food, but that's not what made this so special. Sure the food was pretty good. Both dishes we got, Cepelinai, the national dish of LIthuania, and Kugelis, both seemed like potato and bacon dishes at their cores, but they were really delicious because... well... potato and bacon. While the food was tasty, the whole experience of being at the festival was so amazing. There were stalls selling traditional jewelry and clothing and also traditional Lithuanian folk dancing which was such fun to watch. It was a great entrance into both the food and culture of Lithuania.

8.   Sunday Roast - The Pig and Butcher (Islington, London)

One of the things we knew we wanted to try to do in London was have a proper Sunday Roast. Thankfully we were able to get into Pig and Butcher. My prime rib (which was only allowed to be ordered rare) was sublime. The meat was super tender, and it had just the right amount of seasoning. I got the horseradish with it, and the pairing was perfect. It also came with a massive Yorkshire pudding, carrots and cabbage, fried potatoes, and some jus. All of the flavors were so fresh. On their wall they also had a map of Great Britain which also showed where they got all of their ingredients from. It was amazing to see that everything was local, and we loved the down-home, rustic vibe of the entire restaurant. We also ordered a board to share, and they brought out creamed leeks as an additional side to our roasts.

9.   Fried Chicken Livers - Planters Tavern @ The Olde Pink House (Savannah, GA)

I've always been a fan of offal, and M is starting to come around. These fried chicken livers sounded so good. They were fried and put on top of Geechee Boy grits (there goes those grits again...), bordelaise, and fried spinach. The rich and slightly sweet bordelaise topped the mineral-y chicken livers to form a creamy, decadent dish. The grits were amazing. They had just the right amount of texture to give some bite to the ensemble, and the fried spinach gave things such a nice crunch. This was easily one of the best dishes we had all year.

10. Home cooking

Similar to last year, M has been doing a lot of cooking at home. There were a lot of amazing dishes that were made, and I know I'm missing a ton, but I've selected 4 to highlight.


Cheese Toastie: Shocking right? After loving the cheese toastie we had in London M wanted to try her hand at making her own. The results were beyond anything either of us could have imagined. While it didn't taste quite as good as the ones we had in London, these sandwiches were incredible. Shredding the cheese for the sandwiches makes a massive difference.

Bacon, Leeks, and Mushrooms: What do you get when you cook bacon in butter and then use all of that to cook leeks and mushrooms? Something ungodly unhealthy, but soooooooo delicious. M even made it again for Thanksgiving.

Larb Gai: A traditional Thai salad with ground chicken, mint, cilantro, lime, and a bunch of spices. It's one of our favorite dishes, and M had always wanted to make it. Well, she finally did. It turned out great, and she's made it again at least once since.

Hawaiian Pancakes: This was one I actually did. We bought some Trader Joe's Toasted Coconut Pancake Mix, and I wanted to make it one day. Instead of stopping there, though, I decided to turn it into a full-on Hawaiian memory for us. I took one of our remaining bananas and made a banana syrup for the pancakes and then topped it all with chopped Macadamia nuts. I would love to make this again, but pancakes are too heavy for just the two of us.

Overall we had a really good eating year in 2015. M and I are really excited to continue our eating adventures even if we're really slow at writing about them. Maybe in 2016 we'll actually get better about that, too!