Saturday means ManTime… And that means two things, Beer and Football. This weekend, me and Keezy fought through some terrible rain and an over crowded Ohio State bar to end up at Brother Jimmy’s to watch the State vs Penn St.
They had a great assortment of BBQ sauces, spicy, mustard even vinegar based. After a pitcher of magic hat and some appetizers we herd whistles go off, and upon inquiry, found their source, a fish bowl full of punch called a Swamp Water. Of course, we had to get one. Delicious. And as it turns out, the Swamp Bucket has an older brother that’s like 3 gallons and hits for 75. Hats off to the kids supporting Penn ST at the table next to us, who not only got the 75 dollar drink. Finished it. Loaded it. And blew her brains out. Oops. I mean and got the w in the game too. Someone teach terrell to pass.
I accidentally walks into the funniest situation I might possibly have ever encountered. Riding around the city of wind, the question arose: “what’s the best late night spot out here?” Logical, it was THAT time if night. As we debate, my boy and our personal insight to the streets of Chicago, Brett, put us on to Wiener’s Circle. He did the usual hypebeasting pre arrival. “OMG dood, the craziest spot ever. ” I literally had no idea.
As we drove up, the general consensus from the car was that wiener’s circle sucked. It was normal, kinds run down. Def seeming to be very ordinary.
But, it’s genius came from within it’s doors.
As I walked in, I noticed one female member of the all black kitchen staff lament how she “hate[d] this bitch”. Seemed odd to use such profanity in front of customers. At this point I sat back and observed the primarily Caucasian and seemingly affluent patrons. Nothing. No reaction. Then, the tipper. As a man steps up to grab his “Chicago” dog, relish, cheese sauce, hot peppers, a full dill wedge, celery salt, raw onions, the server behind the counter busted out with, “where is my tip B*tch?!!!?!?” “O no she didn’t I thought” (in the hood rat voice, we all know we have in our heads)
I tensed up. Will there be a donnybrook in the middle of the hot dog shop? How will he react? A donnybrook perhaps? NOPE What proceeded elightened me to the genius of Wiener’s Circle, a lesser form of S&M. The man, too, tensed up, but not in rage or fear, in that childish embarassment that surfaces when you as caught doing something “bad”. He liked it. He was gitty. He was happy. He got what he wanted. Amazing. Ppl came to Wiener’s Circle to get roasted. And liked it. Not to say the food wasn’t poppin, they even had a real nice charbroiled in front of your eyes chicken sandwich and the aforementioned charbroiled hot dogs. They had some poppin fries too. But I can truly say that ppl (I have to say white from my vantage point) came to get insulted while they had their late night satisfaction. The world is a crazy place. But, in the end, it was HIGH LAR E US. Wow
Sorry I have been out the game. This has been a rollercoaster week for me. I’ll explain why when I have a chance to sit down at a comp and do the situation justice. It’s been a rollercoaster week.
But, with that being said, life is about the little triumphs, and one of those is the jumbo slice. Now, if you are from the bay, you should be familiar with Fat Slice. It’s big. But not the best. Jumbo slice on the other hand. Big thin tasty. And big. Much bigger than even fatty slice. It’s up on 110th n broadway. 24hrs. If your wondering late night upper west n got 3.25 in your pocket make it happen. Bon Apetit
Since a young age, I have been a fan of two fairly simple but hard to articulate dishes, Ceasar Salad and Fettuccine Alfredo. Though these two staples are fairly simple in terms of elements, they can easily go astray in execution. In my time living in San Francisco, I have, admittedly, only come across one italian place that I found to not only be good but also be good to…. your wallet, that place is Gypsy’s on Durant in Berkeley. That joint is delicious and like 6 bucks. Crazy. But back to the task at hand.
I set out to attack Fettuccine Alfredo myself, since I havent really been able to find it the way I like it out there in the world or at least close to me (I concede that il fornio has a quasi alfredo dish that i love and Pasta y Basta in Amherst has a real good one too). Here is what I did.
12 oz dried egg fettuccine (cooked)
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (4 oz) plus additional for sprinkling
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Melt 3/4 stick of the butter n melt it into a large enough pan to toss the pasta in it. I used a wok. Toss the al dente pasta in the melted butter on low heat. Then add the heavy cream and cheese and .25 cup of left over pasta water and salt n peppa to taste. Then add the rest of the butter in thin slices.
Before I got all the pasta poppin, I steamed some broccoli and I cooked up some chicken like i did in Simplies but Goodies
I threw these in with the alfredo. It was great and took less then 15 mins. Cheap delicioius and easy. Add the boss and you have everything you could want in life. Bon Apetit.
Off top, folks need to know that I mess with the Food Network super tough. On top of that, I mess with Bobbino Flay tough too. This being said, I was super gassed to say the least when I friend of mine invited me out to Mesa Grill, the Bobby Flay joint in NYC. I had walked by Mesa in LV hella times when I was out there for new years and I had always wondered what the tasty delights would be like. Finally, I had my chance.
First course, a pairing of salmon and spicy tuna tartare with green and red chili. The prep was great and the flavors were real good. Only two problems. I don’t capers, which were all in there. And, apparently,I don’t like the consistency of tartare. You win some and you lose some.
As an entrée, I had a honey glazed salmon with a black bean sauce. Wow. Wow. “2 times” I’ll just touch on the side. A blue corn crusted deep fried chili relleno. Stuffed with white cheddar and rice n beans. Ridiculous.
Fir dessert, warm berry gallette with strawberry tequila sorbet. Crazy.
As an added bonus, Blue Corn/Yellow Corn Muffins…
The whole thing embodied the good life. When I Rome. I live there.
At the end of the day, life is about choices, so much so, life can be said to be an assembly of the left-right path choices that one makes over the course of time. As far as my choices go, I like the path less traveled, Combating the Mundane (the tagline of the company I work for Parallel MVMT), so to speak. They say bravery is the actions that you continue with when your filled with fear. Me, I say, take the LEAP. Fuck it. See where you land.
Choosing on the other hand, is what my sahas call it when a male or female is attempting to pull someone else. That is to say, U get at a chick in the club, CHOOSING. A chick flirts with u, CHOOSING. You call a chick hella times, CHOOSING. Great vocab word.
Choices on the other hand, is a cafe in Brooklyn. I stumbled upon this lil gem(hahaha) as I was setting up an exhibit for Terence Nance at Corridor Gallery. As it turns out, Corridor is a gallery made out of part of Danny Simmons’ house. I previously had no idea. But yea, so I order a salmon burger, a shifty choice, but it seemed like a good one. And then. All of a sudden. Out of no where. A choice. The folks at choice thought, in lieu of my beloved lettuce, I would want an assembly of sprouts on my sandwich. Good idea. But, in execution, they put a heap of cilantro on my bun. If you know me at all, you know that me n cilantro have had beef since an incident in ’01, to the point where I loathe cilantro. So it took me ten mins to pic the cilantro off my burger b4 i could even take the interesting mix of salmon, sprout, tomato and picked ginger. Def an out there burger but still pretty good. I just thought they should tell you if ur gonna b attacked by cilantro so u can CHOOSE not to put it on ur shit. Combating the Mundane is good, not as a long as cilantro is not involved.
The second half of my birthday fooding occurred at the family oriented, family sized Buca diBeppo. I had been here many times, enjoyed them fully. My favorite dish was the Rigatoni Positano, a delicious mix of al dente rigatoni, grilled eggplant, marinara and chicken. It was a must, every time. But, knowing my luck, I walk in and its of the ****ing menu. To make it worse, they no longer carry the rigatonis or the eggplant, so i was stuck
To be honest, that situation with my favorite dish was an allegory for the rest of the meal. Everything was good, but it was not the Buca of old. I think they have been bitten by the chain bug, run too big as a company. In all, sadly enough, I cannot even say bon apetit, cause I dont suggest u go there, Ill give it one more try before I cancel it out forever… stay posted.
All food follies aside, I still had a great time, the dinner was a wonderful prequel to the festivities to come, including the outstanding panoply I put on for the night. I realized a while back that a good time is an intent, a desire, who’s agency is entirely in your (3rd person) hands. If you want to have a good time, you will. And me, all I need is good ppl around me. I was in there with the fam, both blood and not, and I throughly enjoyed myself. Cheers to that…..
Even bruh had a good time, wit the go dumbs. Rep where u from, SCO on mines, onCITAS
Yes, yes. We all get ‘em, the late night munchies, especially after a night of drinking. If you don’t know y, I’ll put you on game, but if you do, ignore this section. Anyway, alcoholic beverages are mostly sugars and simple carbs (which turn into sugars nearly instantaneously within the digestive process), especially those cute fruity drinks n those frothy brews. Once you start drinking, these sugars cause an immediate spike in blood sugar. Once this spike is through, no matter how full you might have been before, the subsequent low will cause your body to think it needs sustanance, I.e. The late night hunger.
The other night, I found myself in a similar situation. And I found a solution. Sauteed onions and, in lieu of bacon, pepperoni. Get the peps nice n crisp, then throw the onions in until they are almost clear.
Set that aside n grab 3 eggs, no milk. Scramble with a fork until a little bit of air bubbles get into the mix.
Then to the pan. Nonstick only. Throw a lil oil n set the flame on low. This will allow your whole omlette to cook without having to flip, the result, restaurant style omlettes.
Throw the eggs in, rotating the pan to get an even layer of egg. Depending how runni or not you like your eggs ( if your like me you loathe runny eggs), throw your insides in once the eggs look cooked to your liking. I went with cheddar, the aforementioned onions and pepperoni and avocado. Once the cheese is melted, flip half the omlette over onto the other. Then put your plate facedown on the pan and flip both so your eggs land on the plate. If that doesnt satisfy your latr night, you might b more of a jack en el carton type and I can’t help you. If not Bon Appetit.
I have been holding back on you. Unintentionally, but holding back all the same. I, being the SF giant that I am, eat what I would call ridiculously good food, mostly at moderate prices. This has been what I do for years, passed down from my father who spend way too much money ordering delivery from waiters on wheels when I was younger. But, as I think back, my love for restaurants might have started at the tender age of 3, when I lived above the Chinese restaurant that my parents, one Guyanese and one Jewish, owned. It also could be the result of the countless hours I spent bothering my mother in the kitchen when I was younger, an attribute that develloped into a passion for cooking and cuisine. Either way, two things are clear: I love eating out, and with a very attentive and critical eye, and I have to put owning a restaurant on my list of life goals.
With that in mind, I headed to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants out in the aves, Ton Kiang, for some dim sum and Hakka cuisine.
Before i even start, i will apologize to those who happen upon this blog who are from philly and truly appreciate the art of the original Philly CheeseSteak sandwich, a sandwich that i have never had in philly but the closest i have found is the CheeseSteak Shop on DIVISe in the city. With that being said, since i dont even eat steak, “real” phillies and I could never b close friends. First flag comes from the chicken alternative to steak. Second flag comes from the fact that i like the teriyaki philly that OBW puts out anyways. to my knowledge, but correct me if im wrong, a “real” philly consists of thinly sliced steak, a traditional roll and cheese, or CheeseWiz. I way far from that when i desire a philly. I like peppers, onions provolone and chicken, pos with a teriyaki glaze. As i counted down the daze (pun intended, the daze is the reason y i havent been posting) till i returned to the land of my maturation, i figured i would bring a couple of ppl in on my craving for the OBW philly. Marinated the chicken with the salt n the pepper n a lil cayenne for spice and the soy vay teriyaki i imported from AMERIKA. let that sit for at least 30, allow the juices to soak in. get you a nice french bread. I have realized over the course of my sandwich eating years that the bread really does make the sandwich, mikes sourdough out in san Rafael, for example. The Amoroso’s Baking Company bread that is typically used in Philly is the key to the sandwich in my mind. Either way, sautee some green bells and some onions. Sautee the chicken too, and then throw you queso of choice on the top. This is the key, melt the cheese, then place the bread right up there. this way as u flip the bread w. the chicken and the veggies it will be eat ready. and there u go… ur in tha Giant’s version of philly… ha.
PS: add a lil dandelion right as you eat and u will really b cookin
"Had such a hard time dancing with this chick last night, it was like I was listening to the music + she was slappin her iPod" -lil Bruh #fb10 hours ago
