Tacos El Gordo

Three years ago today, we were out in sunny, warm Vegas (at least it was warmer than here). We spent the day at Red Rock Canyon, and then for dinner, headed over to one of our must-stop places in Vegas, Tacos El Gordo, just past the Wynn and Encore on the Strip. We had been there before on our first trip to Vegas together (that's where the daytime photo comes from), but since we never wrote about that visit, we're recapping them both here together.

When we first went to Tacos El Gordo back on our 2012 trip, we didn't know much about them except that they were a branch of a Tijuana taco chain, that the tacos were good, and that we should try the adobada. Adobada is basically pork in a red chile marinade that they cook on a rotating spit. For the tacos, they just shave the meat off the spit and add on some pineapple if you want. In addition to seeing the meat on the spit, much of the other cooking is pretty much out in the open at Tacos El Gordo too, so you can see them cooking all sorts of other meats from their diverse menu, everything ranging from beef brains to pork stomach.

The focus at Tacos El Gordo is obviously tacos, but they also had varieties of fries, as well as quesadillas, sopes, tostadas, and more. They also had a drink machine separate from the regular soda machine that made A very happy because it had horchata along with other aguas frescas.

We were really hungry the first time we went to Tacos El Gordo. We were having a late lunch and we had just walked all the way from the MGM Grand to get tacos, so we ordered a lot. Way more than we should have. We didn't take notes back then so unfortunately I don't remember exactly what tacos we got or every ingredient, but each taco came with a different salsa and toppings (mostly onion and cilantro) based on what type of taco it was. We also remembered to order a plate on the side of the grilled spring onions and peppers which were really tasty.

As for the tacos, I know we got adobada and lengua, and I can see that there was also an azteca (nopal asado) on the tray. I remember there was a taco de sesos (beef brain) because A tried it for the first time on that trip and we have video, but I'm not sure what other tacos made it on the tray. For his first time eating brains, he found them kind of creamy and having an odd mineral-like flavor, but didn't dislike it. It wouldn't have been his first choice for another one, but it wasn't bad.

We liked the adobada taco so much that we got more even though we had just eaten seven tacos between the two of us. The marinated pork was just so good, and the second time, we remembered to get it with the pineapple on top which made it even better. We probably would have gotten another lengua taco also, as we really liked that one too, but we just had so much food at lunch that there wasn't any stomach space. And why did we have no stomach space?

Because, in our hunger and with eyes definitely bigger than our stomachs, we also got an order of adobada fries. To be fair to us, we didn't know that they were going to come in a container that large, but we really should have guessed it since they were $10 (this was 4+ years ago, so no idea what it is now) and at the time, each taco was only around $2. They were basically fries covered in shaved pork, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole in a large styrofoam take-out container. So good, but so much food. We were so stuffed when we left Tacos El Gordo, yet somehow we still rolled ourselves into a Vegas buffet that night since it was our only chance to do so. Maybe not the best planning and maybe not wise, but we did it.

We were a bit more sensible on our second trip to Tacos El Gordo, this time for dinner on this date three years ago. We got seven tacos again - mostly concentrating on adobada, lengua, and chorizo - along with the grilled vegetables, but this time we did not get the fries. It was a much smarter decision. The tacos were just as good as we remembered them, so much flavor, and still so affordable. 

Tacos El Gordo is on our list for any Vegas visit, and we would love to go back again for some more tacos. We're a little upset with ourselves that we forgot that they also have a branch in San Diego and only remembered after we got back home, because we could have gotten some more tasty tacos last fall. There are good taco spots in NY now, more as time goes on, but we still plan to return to Tacos El Gordo on our trips.

Thai Times Three

The biggest hurdle with recapping our 2014 Vegas trip is that we haven't really made any progress (yet) with writing about our 2012 Vegas trip. That doesn't sound like it should be a problem, but we visited some of the same places (like Thai superstar Lotus of Siam) on both trips. It's a little difficult to write about our second visit when we never discussed the first. Complicating that matter even further in this case is that in 2014, we also visited Chada Thai & Wine for dinner. Some of the folks from Chada used to be at Lotus, and we got some dishes at Chada that we had previously gotten at Lotus, and it's tough to compare if we never talked about Lotus in the first place.

So what's the solution? What seemed to make the most sense was to go back a little bit, tell you about our very first visit to Lotus of Siam back in 2012, and then jump back to our 2014 recaps and talk about our visits to Chada for dinner and Lotus for lunch the very next day. Just didn't really make sense to break up all the posts at this point. It's confusing enough as it is. So without further ado, first up, our very first visit to Lotus of Siam!

Lotus of Siam, Part I

On our 2012 trip to Vegas, we stayed at the MGM Grand on the Strip. Although we mostly stuck to restaurants we could walk to, we definitely wanted to check out Lotus of Siam since it was considered one of the best Thai restaurants in the country. We called up for a reservation, knowing how busy they get, and even though it was last minute, we were lucky enough to get one. On the night we went up for dinner, we encountered a super long taxi line at the hotel which caused a bit of stress (we were there during both the rodeo and a Pacquiao fight), but we were lucky and got there just in time.

Once we got there, we were confronted with a gigantic menu. There were so many things that sounded good, but we had done some research in advance and were able to narrow our choices down to 4. One thing on our list that Lotus of Siam was famous for was the nam kao tod, described on the menu as a salad of crispy rice mixed with minced sour pork sausage, green onion (although from the pictures and our memories, it also seems like there was red onion), fresh chili, ginger, peanuts, and lime juice. We liked this a lot, and it ended up on my favorites list for 2012 because it was just so different from anything we had had before and incredibly delicious. I mentioned back then that when I heard rice salad, the first thing I thought of was Jitlada's khao yam, but while this wasn't that, it was still really good. That combination of flavors, full of sour and spice, was just so good.

One thing that wasn't on our researched list, but which sounded interesting on the menu, was kang ka noon (spicy young jackfruit curry). This was a Northern style curry dish and it sounded so different from the Thai curries we had had before, so we wanted to try it. This spicy curry was full of young jackfruit, spices, and catfish (the other choices were pork and chicken). I had never really had much, if any, jackfruit before, and I was curious to see if I would like it. A had eaten it before, just not in curry. They described the texture of the jackfruit on the menu as similar to artichoke hearts, but if I remember correctly, they seemed a little firmer than that. I also don't remember for sure but I think the fish pieces in the curry had bones in them, which made it a little harder to eat (for me). Although this wasn't bad, it was definitely our least favorite dish of the night because everything else was so good.

Another dish we had heard Lotus did well was nam prik ong, a red chili dip. This was a Northern Thai dip that combined ground pork, tomato, and dried spices, and tasted to us like a Thai version of bolognese. The flavors were remarkably similar to spaghetti sauce, and it was utterly bizarre (in a good way) for us to be eating that as a dip with raw vegetables and sticky rice. The small bowl of dip came with raw carrots, green beans, cauliflower, cucumber, and lettuce, as well as some pork rinds, making it very light and healthy overall. This dip made A's favorites list for 2014 when we got it for the second time and it was a strong contender for both of us back in 2012 (but 2012 had all that competition from Barcelona).

The last entree we got for our Thai dinner feast at Lotus was sea bass on drunken noodle which we had heard a lot about. This was deep fried sea bass topped with homemade fresh chili and Thai basil served on top of pan-fried rice noodle. As A put it in his favorites list for 2012, it was like the best drunken noodle we had ever had, multiplied in greatness by 10, with some perfectly fried, lightly battered, flaky sea bass on top. It was really, really good, and at the time, we weren't sure how we'd go back to "regular" drunken noodle at home. (Clearly we managed, as we have had much pad kee mao in the past few years, but we do still think about this dish.) We haven't really found anywhere in New York that makes drunken noodle this way (although there are still many Thai places we have yet to try), and we wish they would. It's such a great combination.

We were so incredibly happy with our dinner at Lotus of Siam, and we decided to cap off the night with some sticky rice with mango for dessert. This was sticky rice marinated in coconut cream topped with toasted mung bean (according to the menu, even though we always just thought they were sesame seeds) served with fresh mango slices. This is a dessert we have gotten plenty of times at home, and probably our favorite Thai dessert, so it was the perfect end to a good meal.

Chada Thai & Wine

When we returned to Vegas in 2014 for another long weekend trip, we knew we wanted to return to Lotus of Siam since our first dinner there was so good. We didn't want to deal with the hassle of making a reservation so we figured we would just go for an early lunch. Instead, we planned to grab our Thai dinner at Chada Thai and Wine, a spot that some Lotus alums had opened in late 2012, and which had become very popular and garnered lots of raves during the period between our Vegas visits. (There's now a sister restaurant to Chada called Chada Street that we've bookmarked because it sounds fantastic.)

While there were some similarities between the menus at Chada and Lotus, there were also so many unique things that we had never tried before and we were so excited to explore. One of these was called miang pou, which was a lettuce wrap with crab meat, ginger, roasted coconut, peanut, chili, lime, onion and sweet tamarind sauce. We love lettuce wrap in all forms (and we make it at home), but we had never had lettuce wrap with these ingredients before. It was a little bit spicy from the small piece of bird's eye chili in each cup, but otherwise it wasn't really spicy. All the ingredients, all the flavors, and that slightly sweet sauce all worked so well when combined, and the sauce helped bring it all together. The crab tasted so fresh and sweet, and the overall flavors of the lettuce wrap were so clean.

Without a doubt, our favorite thing at Chada that night was the spicy herbs spring roll, a soft rice paper wrapper lined with lettuce leaves and filled with ground pork, ginger, onion, lemongrass, wild cilantro, mint, kaffir lime leaf, and basil vinaigrette. This was so good that it made both A's favorites list and my favorites list for 2014. While many of the dishes from these 3 Thai meals were in contention for our favorites lists during both years, this was the only one that actually made both of our lists, which should tell you something about how good it was.

This spring roll was the best thing we had eaten on our trip by that point. Unlike a lot of summer rolls, the filling inside was warm. The flavors were floral and herbal and refreshing and bright. The flavor seemed so familiar, even though we had never really had anything quite like it, but we still haven't been able to figure out why or what dish it reminded us of.  It was somehow simultaneously delicate and intense, light and fresh and comforting. This was just really, really good, and every ingredient worked perfectly together.

By now, you probably know that larb is one of our favorite Thai dishes to eat. This version was ground pork (the options were ground pork, salmon, or king trumpet mushrooms) with rice powder, onion, mint, fish sauce, lime juice, and chili powder, and sides of cucumber and lettuce wedges. We had ordered everything medium spicy that night, and this was definitely the spiciest thing we got at dinner. It was a really tasty version of larb with a sauce that was a little thicker and more fragrant than a lot of other places. We were very happy with this.

Next up was sen mee kang pou, a homemade crab curry served with thin rice noodles. When the dish arrived, the little bundles of rice noodles reminded us of Sri Lankan string hoppers, and they were topped with fried garlic. The crab curry itself was quite good. There was a lot of crab in it, and the crab was so sweet inside the fresh and creamy curry. We had never had crab curry before, and we would definitely get more if it tasted this good.

The last dish we got from Chada was their drunken noodle / pad kee mao (flat rice noodles, bird's eye chili, garlic and basil) with sea bass, which was the same thing we had gotten at our Lotus dinner. We were curious to see how they would compare and which version we would like better. Overall, the noodles and basil were good at both places, but when it came to the fish, we gave the edge to Lotus. The fish at Lotus was deep fried in strips, whereas the Chada version was a whole filet of fish that was broiled, which made the edges a little bit on the drier side. It was still a really good drunken noodle.

Overall, we really liked our meal at Chada and would definitely go back on a future visit to Vegas. It's going to be tough trying to figure out how to eat anything other than Thai food in Vegas at this rate.

Lotus of Siam, Part II

Lotus of Siam had 2 options for lunch when we went back in early 2014. You could either order off the menu, just like you would at dinner, or you could go to their lunch buffet. From what we had heard, the lunch buffet was good, but it wasn't as good as ordering a la carte, where you could really focus in on their specialties instead of the more common stuff at the buffet. Since we already knew we wanted a couple of repeat dishes from our first dinner, we definitely were picking the a la carte option. (Just FYI, according to the Lotus website, they stopped serving the lunch buffet during summer of 2014.)

One easy choice was to get the nam kao tod again. We hadn't been able to find this sour sausage and crispy rice salad anywhere between our 2 Vegas visits, and it was still as good as we remembered.

Another repeat dish was the nam prik ong, which made A's favorites list for 2014. This was also pretty much the same as the first time we got it, or possibly even a little bit better. We still thought it tasted like bolognese the second time around.

We don't remember if sticky rice came with the nam prik ong or if we just got it on the side because we wanted it, but here's a picture of it.

We got 2 new dishes at our Lotus lunch, and one of them was the much talked about garlic prawns. This was described on the menu as "deep fried prawns with shells (almost like potato chips) sauteed with our special garlic sauce topped with ground black pepper." So many people had mentioned these garlic prawns, and they were so good that they made my favorites list for 2014. As I said there, we were expecting some deep fried shrimp, like salt and pepper shrimp, but what we got was so much better. Not only was there a bunch of fried shrimp, but also fried shells, and it was all nice and garlicky. We've had fried shrimp at Chinese restaurants where they are so deep fried that you can eat the entire shrimp - head, tails, everything - but this was different since the shells were off the shrimp but also fried. The thin crispy shells tasted like eating shrimp chips, and the flavor and texture of good, crispy shrimp chips has always made me happy. We would definitely get these again.

The last thing we got at lunch was Thai style spaghetti, described as non-spicy pan fried egg noodles in special sauce with egg, chicken, shrimp and tomatoes. While this was good and we liked it, we found it hard to describe the exact flavoring the day we got it and still can't really pinpoint the specific flavor.

Lotus of Siam and Chada Thai had some of our favorite dishes on both of our Vegas trips, and we definitely want to return whenever we make it back out there. The only problem is that we now have so many "favorite" dishes that we want to get again, which means a limited amount of stomach space to try new things. Maybe we'll just have to go more than once to each.

Terminal 3

It had been over 5 years since my last trip to Las Vegas, and over 9 years since A's last visit, so when we exited the plane at McCarran Airport, we were both surprised. It was so spacious, bright and new. Where were the old gates with the dingy colors and old slot machines? This new terminal was really nice.

Since we had some time before hotel check-in, we decided to get a snack from the small food court near our gate, which had a Burger King, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Pei Wei Asian Diner.

A got his caffeine addiction fix at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which offered a nice Costa Rican blend. Costa Rica is his favorite blend from CBTL so he was pleasantly surprised to find it available while in Vegas, even if it was more expensive than in NYC.

We also got some food from Burger King, after taking a look at Pei Wei (a place we had seen in other cities but had never tried) and not finding anything we really wanted.

I snacked on my usual onion rings.

Unlike some of the Burger Kings at home, these were nice and crispy, so they were a good snack.  I hope Burger King never gets rid of the onion rings, because it's nice to have an alternative to fries.  I just wish they would serve (non-sweet) curly fries here in the US like they do in Europe.

A also got a Whopper Jr.

The burger was fine, about the same as it is at any other outlet.  A doesn't really like going for fast food burgers at the big chains, but when that's the only real option, a Whopper/Whopper Jr is one of the better choices.

We were planning to eat a "real" lunch once we had checked in to our hotel, but we needed this quick snack to tide us over until then, since it was already late afternoon in NYC and all we had each eaten was half a sandwich and piece of chocolate.  Not the most exciting meal but Terminal 3 doesn't have a ton of options (something we'll touch on a little later when we recap our return trip) and most of them are chains you can get in any city or any airport.  But I guess it's not that surprising considering that many of the popular Vegas restaurants on the Strip are imports from elsewhere as well.

Virgin America

This past December we went to Las Vegas for a mini-break to get away from the stresses of work and the beginning of the winter doldrums.  One of the things we were most excited about was flying Virgin America, an airline we have wanted to fly for some time but never had the chance to try.

Our Virgin America plane, soaring over the Midwest

One of the great things about Virgin America is their in-seat entertainment system.  They have several TV channels, as well as games, music, the useful in-flight map and something I've never seen on other in-seat units - meal ordering!  This means you can get food whenever you're actually hungry, and that taking a nap doesn't mean you miss meal service. What a fantastic idea!

Since we were running a little late that morning, we didn't get a chance to eat at the airport before our flight and were looking for something to snack on.  Relatively early in the flight (sometime around Pennsylvania or Ohio, I think), I ordered a peppered turkey sandwich ($9), which A and I split.

The sandwich consisted of black peppered turkey breast, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickled red onions and smoky chipotle mustard on dark pumpernickel rye.  It was actually a pretty good sandwich. A little pricey for a sandwich, but what airline food isn't more expensive than on the ground?  What was great about the sandwich was that it tasted freshly made and not like it had been sitting in a package in a refrigerated case for hours. Not the easiest feat on an airplane.  Ingredients seemed fresh, flavors worked well together, we were very satisfied with our purchase.

Packaged in with the sandwich was a piece of chocolate, which was a perfect way to end the meal.

I wish Virgin America had some free snacks (JetBlue wins on that one) to go along with their tasty sandwiches. But at least the options you pay for taste like they're worth it!

A's Favorite Food Memories of 2012

2012 was a very interesting food year for M and me. This was an incredibly difficult choice to narrow my list down to 10 favorite memories, and there are so many great things that I had to leave off. With so many great food memories from this year, I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us. So in chronological order...

1) Alcachofas (Artichokes) from La Cova Fumada (Barcelona)

The thing about these artichokes was that they were so simply prepared. A drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper before being grilled/baked in the oven. This was the first time either M or I had ever had straight artichoke and not the preserved/pickled hearts you see most often here in the US. We never knew just how much we would love these wonderful little vegetables, and it spawned in me the drive to emulate this simple dish many times at home for us to enjoy.

2) Tickets Olives from Tickets (Barcelona)

I call these magic olives. This is the signature dish of the Adria brothers from back in their El Bulli days. Avant garde gastronomy at its finest. It's some sort of chemical reaction between olive juice, added chemicals, and an alginate bath. The end result is something that is the size and shape of an olive. You slurp the semi-solid oval into your mouth and let it burst. An intense olive burst is what you get, and it's an amazing and mind-blowing experience. Liquid olive that's actually solid too.

3) Fried Egg with Truffled Duck Fat and Potato Cream from Tickets (Barcelona)

This was not only a tasty dish, but it was another display of amazing melding of science and cooking. The dish claims to be a fried egg, but neither M or I remember a solid egg being present. It was more of a custard or pudding that was egg flavored. The duck fat didn't feel greasy or heavy, and the truffle added a nice decadence. The potato cream was much more of a foam than cream. Overall, it tasted like a really good Tortilla Española covered in black truffle.

4) Xipirons amb Mongetes (Baby squid with white beans) from Bar Pinotxo (Barcelona)

Xipirons are baby squid that are about an inch long or so. They are extremely tender, and most of the times we ordered them in Barcelona, they came fried. Juanito offers you these delectable squids sauteed with white beans and olive oil and then drizzled with a balsamic reduction. The result is one of my favorite dishes of all time. It's a dish I still think about today. If we ever make it back to Barcelona, I think M and I will need to make a beeline for La Boqueria to slide up to the counter.

5) Cigrons (Chickpeas) from Bar Pinotxo (Barcelona)

Oh hey, look, another dish from Bar Pinotxo. Along with the aforementioned xipirons, M and I also got a half order of his famous cigrons. They apparently come cooked with raisins, rock salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and parsley. Juanito also has a version that includes murcillo or butifarra, but we don't think we got that version. The chickpeas were perfectly cooked to be soft but still retain just a touch of bite. A wonderful, vegetarian option for a country full of meat.

6) A Whole King Prawn from El Celler de Can Roca (Girona)

One restaurant we knew we had to try and get a reservation for when we decided on Barcelona for our European excursion this year was El Celler de Can Roca. It is currently the #2 ranked restaurant in the world, and we were ecstatic when we got our reservation. The restaurant was started by the 3 Roca brothers who all learned cooking from their mother who has a restaurant just up the street from them called Can Roca. She certainly taught them well. This dish was a masterpiece of ingenuity, creativity, and full-on flavor. The menu describes the dish as "a charcoal-grilled king prawn, king prawn sand, ink rocks, fried legs, head juice, and king prawn essence". What they did with this one prawn was nothing short of magnificent. The "sand" tasted like concentrated prawn, the prawn itself was succulent and sweet, and the fried legs added a nice crunchy texture along with even more prawn flavor. They even chose a wavy plate to mimic the sea floor. A truly magnificent dish.

7) Flower Bomb from El Celler de Can Roca (Girona)

This was one of the most beautiful desserts I had ever eaten in my life. Oh, it tasted really good too. "Rose cream, loquats and orange blossom, chamomile sorbet, calendula gelatine, violet cloud, and jasmine oil" is the description given. In essence, it's edible flowers, rose cream, and sorbet wrapped in a sugar spun "bubble" that you have to crack to get into. The violet cloud is cotton candy touched with lavender for a wonderful additional flavor. As much as it pained me to have to break open this beautiful dish, I was extremely happy to eat it.

8) Drunken Noodle with Fried Sea Bass from Lotus of Siam (Las Vegas)

Lotus of Siam is one of the supposed holy trinity of Thai restaurants here in the US. The other two are Jitlada in LA and Sripraphai  in NYC. Oddly enough, the only one we haven't been to is the one here in our backyard. It's hard to describe the flavor of drunken noodle, but if you have ever had some before, imagine the best drunken noodle you've ever had. Multiply that greatness by 10, and then add on perfectly fried pieces of sea bass, and this is what you're getting. The sea bass is very lightly battered and ultra crisp. The fish is perfectly flaky as well. Lotus of Siam was the only place we knew we had to go to in Las Vegas, and we'll certainly go back next time as well.

9) Adobada Taco with Pineapple from Tacos El Gordo (Las Vegas)

Tacos El Gordo is a taco chain started out of Tijuana. After M heard about this amazing taco joint, I knew we would be going at some point during our trip. She is, after all, taco crazy. As much as I loved all of the tacos we tried, the standout was the adobada taco with a slice of pineapple. Adobada is pork that's layered on a spit similar to shawarma. It's marinated, cooked, and sliced to order. It's piled on to a couple of corn tortillas, layed with onions and cilantro, and slathered with some green sauce that's just out of this world. The pineapple is optional, and you have to actually ask for it if you want. We actually tried it both ways, and the pineapple, while not 100% necessary, really made this taco sing. The sweet and sour mix from the pineapple paired itself extremely well to the flavors of the spices in the meat and also the sauce. The end result is a taco that, for all of $2, is the best bang for the buck on The Strip.

10) Thanksgiving Dinner at My Brother's Home (Chicago)

Sure, this is a bit of a cheat since it's not really one specific dish, but if you're talking about food memories, this is a great one. Ever since M and I moved out to NYC, we've never had a chance to spend a holiday with my family. This year, after my nephew was born, we knew we had to be with them. Now, this wasn't anything special with what we made, but it was the first Thanksgiving meal that we cooked without any help from any parents. My brother and I combined to cook a fantastic turkey, M and I made the stuffing and mashed potatoes, my brother made the cranberry-orange relish, and he took over for the green bean casserole while M and I were stuck still working on the stuffing. The only things we didn't make were a Brussels sprout side from Whole Foods that my brother bought in case we botched the turkey and the turkey gravy. It felt so satisfying to successfully cook this major holiday meal. And no, we didn't eat the little begging dog under the table.

2012 was such a great food year even if it wasn't great for most other things. Hopefully 2013 is even better overall.

M's Favorite Food Memories of 2012

2012 may not have been the best year all-around but it was a fantastic year for food, which made choosing my top 10 food memories of the year really difficult.  When I "narrowed down" my options the first time, I ended up with 59 different dishes.  I could have made multiple top 10 lists just from our 10 days in Barcelona, so it's no surprise that it completely dominated this year's list.  Here's my top 10 (in no particular order, except to end with something sweet):

1.  Contessa de espárragos blancos con consomé de ibéricos (white asparagus contessa with Iberian consomme) from El Celler de Can Roca

We went to El Celler de Can Roca, currently the number 2 restaurant in the world, for a 5 hour lunch during our Barcelona trip in May.  One of the courses on our tasting menu was this amazing asparagus dish, with such vivid flavors that I can still taste it to this day.  It was a duo of hot and cold white asparagus bites - the hot consisted of tender white asparagus with black garlic that was so soft that it melted in your mouth, and the cold was an asparagus ice cream with black truffle that was buttery and salty and creamy all at once.  The hot asparagus alone probably would not have made it onto this list, but the asparagus ice cream was great, and together it was asparagus overload (in a good way). Good thing we love asparagus!

2.  Chicago Style Char Dog from Gold Coast Dogs

Despite living in Chicago for a few years, the only Chicago style hot dogs I had eaten prior to this fall were from Portillo's (and even then, had only had 1) and Shake Shack (here in NYC).  (This was in part due to the fact that I didn't eat red meat for much of the time I lived in Chicago and only started my "ballpark exception" for hot dogs near the end of my stay, but let's not talk about that now.)  In September, A and I decided to explore some of Chicago's best hot dogs, and made our own mini Chicago style hot dog crawl.  I love Chicago style hot dogs because they have so many vegetables, making them rather healthy! If you've never had one, it is a hot dog (in this case, charred) on a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, onions, tomatoes, pickles, (neon green) relish, sport peppers and celery salt. My favorite from our crawl was this classic char dog from Gold Coast Dogs.

3.  Alcachofas (artichokes) from La Cova Fumada

La Cova Fumada wasn't the first place I had ever eaten an artichoke in my life, but it is the place that made me realize I liked artichokes.  La Cova Fumada is a tiny hole in the wall place in the Barceloneta neighborhood of Barcelona, filled with mostly locals and without any signage whatsoever. They don't really have a menu, but just make suggestions based on what you like and what's good that day. When the server suggested alcachofas (artichokes), we said yes, despite not having any idea what kind of artichokes would be coming.  I think I was still picturing slices of artichokes like the ones in the jars, which I think were the only ones I had before.

When the artichokes arrived, we were perplexed. How do you eat those? Luckily I had an international data plan so I googled it.  After peeling away and eating all of the outer layers, we discovered the soft, meaty artichoke hearts that had been soaked in olive oil and it was a revelation.  I had never had an artichoke that tasted this good.  These artichokes would make this list on their own but they also get a place on this list because they completely changed my mind about artichokes.

We went on to order artichokes at many other places but they often came as alcachofas fritas (fried artichokes).  We loved those too, like these perfectly fried, delicious, hearty artichokes from Sant Joan, another place where we were the only non-locals having lunch and where they were really nice and served us really delicious food.  (These artichokes were on the short list but ultimately didn't make this top 10.)

4.  Nam kao tod from Lotus of Siam

When we went off on our Las Vegas mini-break in December, there was only one restaurant that we knew for sure we had to visit - Lotus of Siam, considered by many to be the best Thai restaurant in the United States.  One of the dishes they are famous for is nam kao tod - a salad of crispy rice mixed with minced sour sausage, green onion, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts, and lime juice.  When I hear rice salad, all I think about is khao yam from Jitlada. This isn't the same and khao yam is still my favorite, but this was quite good.  The combination of flavors, the sourness and spice, was so nuanced and different from the Thai food we eat on a regular basis.  I love Thai salads and this one was one of the best.

5.  Pan con Tomate from Paco Meralgo

Paco Meralgo, one of our favorite restaurants in Barcelona, is also one of the few Barcelona spots (and the only one on this list) that we've gotten around to blogging about (post here).  Pan con tomate, literally translated to bread with tomato, is a Catalonian specialty and our favorite was here at Paco Meralgo.  The perfect crispiness, fresh and intense tomato flavor, just the right amount of drizzled olive oil - I dream about this dish to this day and hope to someday eat this again.

6.  Cigrons from Pinotxo

Another place we loved in Barcelona was Pinotxo, a tiny corner bar right at the entrance to La Boqueria, the famous marketplace on Las Ramblas. Pinotxo is famous for having good food but also for Juanito, the charming guy behind the bar who knows exactly what you should order.  He suggested that we get these chickpeas (cigrons in Catalan) which were incredible (and somehow only a half-order, so inexpensive).  The cigrons dish varies based on season and what's available in the market, and on the day we went, we tasted raisins, rock salt, parsley, olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixed in with the chickpeas.  A simple recipe but an incredible dish.  I love chickpeas and could eat this on a regular basis (if only it were here!).

7.  Thanksgiving stuffing

This may seem like an odd entry in a list of favorite food memories since Thanksgiving comes every year, but there is a reason.  This year was the first time I spent Thanksgiving with A's family, and we, along with his brother, made the entire Thanksgiving dinner ourselves.  What I was happiest about was the stuffing (my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal!).  It's my mom's recipe - herb stuffing with sausage, mushroom, onion and cilantro - and I've made it before at home, but have never done the whole process (ingredient purchasing, all the prep and all the cooking) completely on my own.  It was bittersweet since it was the first Thanksgiving ever that I haven't seen my family, but there was also a sense of accomplishment and pride that I could carry on my family's stuffing tradition.

8.  Olives (and other things that burst) from Tickets

Other than El Celler de Can Roca, the only other reservation we made before leaving for Barcelona was for Tickets Bar, the tapas bar that was opened by the Adrias (formerly of the impossible to get into El Bulli).  Tickets was an entertaining and whimsical place and there were so many options that we picked the "let your server choose your food for you" option.  The only thing we knew we wanted to get were las Olivas del Tickets (the Tickets olives), which were a signature dish and the same ones they had at El Bulli.  These little green bubbles were relatively solid on the spoon (although you did have to be careful), but they liquified instantly when they hit your mouth, bursting open to reveal tons of olive flavor.  It was like eating an olive in liquid form.  The whole experience was so much fun that I think it left me giddy.

We also had some other dishes at Tickets with things that "burst" in your mouth.  The miniairbags rellenos de queso manchego (manchego cheese mini airbags) looked like puff pastries but were crispy shells topped with manchego cheese and caviar which, when you bit into them, exploded with cool liquid cheese.  The ravioli liquido de queso Payoyo (liquid Payoyo cheese ravioli) looked like big opaque white bubbles with crackers on top, but exploded with cheese once you ate them.

While none of these dishes alone probably would have made this list based solely on their flavors (not that they were bad, but there was some tough competition this year), the enjoyable experience of eating the olives (and the other bursting foods) let us know we were in for a really fun dining experience at Tickets, one we will never forget.

9.  Xipirons

To me, one of the greatest food experiences one can have is the discovery of a new food to love.  It was like that with the artichokes, and it was like that with xipirons (Catalan)/chipirones (Spanish), which are a tiny squid that I have never seen anywhere except for Spain.  They're small (only a few centimeters long), really tender, and so much fun to eat.

One of the greatest dishes we had with xipirons (and we searched for them on menus once we realized we loved them) was xipirons amb mongetes (baby squid with white beans) from Pinotxo.  Suggested by Juanito (of course), the dish that arrived was filled with tiny squid, lots of white beans, and lots of balsamic vinegar.  It was delicious.

One of more popular ways to make chipirones was to fry them.

These fried chipirones from La Paradeta (a casual chain of places where you point to the seafood you want, which is all fresh out of the harbor that day, and then they make it) were like popcorn. I could just imagine eating these as a snack while walking around the city. Also delicious.

10.  Flower bomb from El Celler de Can Roca

After trying the flower bomb dessert at El Celler de Can Roca, I knew immediately that this would be on this year's favorite food memories list.  Jordi Roca is a genius.  This dessert - full of edible flowers - just tasted like spring, if spring had a flavor.  According to the menu, there was rose cream, loquats and orange blossom, chamomile sorbet, calendula gelatin, violet cloud and jasmine oil.  It arrived with most of those ingredients, including the flowers, inside a delicate clear sugar shell, sitting on a bed of what looked like violet cotton candy.  It was sweet, it was floral, it was fruity, and most of all, it was perfect for May and springtime.  I've never had any dessert like it - which made me feel so present in the time and space in which we were living - so I knew this would definitely be one of the best things I would eat all year.

Hoping 2013 brings great food memories (and hopefully something in NYC will make the list)!