Road Noms!

There's this place in Connecticut that steams burgers and the cheese instead of grilling them, and it looks soooo good.

Thu, 19 May 2011 20:03:44 -0400

Steamed hams?!

Wurstküche

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:33:02 -0400

Shit, I almost forgot about this one. Before we left for Europe we spent a couple days in LA doing a photo and video shoot. One night we went to a place I’ve wanted to check out in downtown LA for a long time called Wurstküche. They specialize in German beers and some very exotic sausages. They have an alligator and pork smoked andouille, a rabbit and veal sausage, and lots of other crazy weiners. If you’re scared though they more standard fare, like bratwurst, kielbasa and hot links.

But I’m all about increasing the list of animals I’ve eaten so I had the rattlesnake and rabbit sausage. My god this thing was so good. It was buttery and very tasty, and the jalapeños mixed in with it gave it some spice. I had it topped with sauteed onions and more peppers to make it even spicier.

Their fries were top notch too. Double dipped so they were super crispy. When it comes to fries, the crispier they are the better they are. Obviously someone at Wurstküche agrees with me. I dipped them in this bleu cheese walnut and bacon sauce. Great stuff. I cannot wait to go back here, I want to try all their exotic sausages! Say I won’t.

whats your favorite nom ever ?

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:09:20 -0400

I love lots of different stuff but I’ll have to say my single favorite food item is peanut butter.

whats the number one spot you want to hit up for roadnoms but haven't had a chance yet?

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:07:28 -0400

There are so many places! I keep a very large and growing list on my phone of everywhere I want to go. But just to name a few spots, there’s Peanut Butter and Co. in NYC (loads of different kind of pb sandwiches, and I’m a sucker for pb), Rendezvous in Memphis (supposed to have insane bbq), and Superdawg in Chicago. Everyone should send me suggestions!

I enabled the ‘Ask’ option on this thing so fire away with some questions!

Thu, 19 May 2011 13:29:19 -0400

I enabled the ‘Ask’ option on this thing so fire away with some questions!

Bruges

Thu, 19 May 2011 13:01:56 -0400

We spent another day off in Bruges, Belgium and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. We did lots of tourist sightseeing and of course ate some great food.

After a mid-day panini I had this waffle topped with chocolate ice cream. Nothing beats an actual Belgian waffle. It’s way more of a dessert kind of thing than breakfast like in the US. There’s large bits of sugar inside of the waffle too. The ice cream was perfect. I had trouble deciding if I wanted one or the other until I found out I could have both. Perfect.

Later on I feasted on this great bucket of mussels swimming in a white wine broth. Mussels are a Bruges speciality so there’s easy to come by in a lot of restaurants there. These were great.

Before night hit we sat outside a cafe and got into these really large and strong beers. After one of these I was flying, so of course I had to have another one. That’s pretty much where my memory of the night stops. Cheers to you, Bruges, for giving me a great day I won’t soon forget, or completely remember for that matter!

Stiegl Brewery

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:48:09 -0400

The other week we had a day off in Salzburg, Austria, where Mikey, Matt and I hit up a really cool brewery called the Stiegl Brewery for a good lunch.

I started off with season wheat beer. Very delicious.

I had this really nice burger topped with cheese and bacon. The patty had a real weird texture and it was very different than any burger I’ve ever had but it was still very tasty. Good fries too.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do a tour because I really would have liked to experience it. Ah well. Hopefully there’s a next time.

Po Dogs

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:39:04 -0400

We visited our favorite hot dog spot, Po Dogs, on the day of our Seattle show and once again it was great.

I had a Morning Glory to start. This giant thing was topped with scrambled eggs, cheddar and pepper bacon. I also threw some jalapeños on it. Pure deliciousness.

The Morning Glory had nothing on the PB Dog though. Topped with peanut butter, peanuts and banana, this thing would have made Elvis cry. So phenomenal. I could eat one of these every day. It probably wouldn’t make me a rock ‘n’ roll legend like The King, but it would certainly make me as healthy.

Po Dogs: never stop, never change.

Green Lettuce

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:24:04 -0400

I went to a pretty sweet Indian-influenced Chinese restaurant in Vancouver called Green Lettuce with my two great friends, Avrinder and Justin. Avrinder told me about this place a while before this and fortunately it lived up to the good praise he gave it.

We had some really good ginger chicken and I think sweet and sour beef? Regardless, they were very tasty.

Neither of those dishes were as good as this crispy cauliflower dish though. This stuff was incredible. To be honest I was a bit skeptical when Avrinder ordered it but it ended being great. It had a good spice kick and it was nice and crispy. I would definitely get this again. Hopefully that time comes soon.

Smoke's Poutinerie

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:10:54 -0400

After our London, Ontario show we went to a good poutine spot down the road called Smoke’s with Pat and our other friend Spencer. Smoke’s gets pretty creative with their poutine. You can get all sorts of meats on it like smoked pork, beef, chicken and even chili. They do nacho poutine too, with nacho cheese, sour cream, guacamole and jalapeños. So many rad options, it was tough to choose, but I ended up getting a pretty good one.

I had the weekly special, the Beef Stroganoff poutine. It was loaded with beef, pickles, mushrooms, onions, sour cream and of course cheese curds and gravy. Total belly-warming deliciousness. I was so full from my Elvis burger from earlier though that I could only put down half of this mess. Still it was very worth it. I can’t wait to go back to Smoke’s and try some of their other ridiculous poutines.

Prince Al's Diner

Thu, 19 May 2011 11:50:33 -0400

Holy shit. An update. First in a long time. My apologies for that. Our last tour with August Burns Red was so plagued with problems that it kind of demotivated me from posting. Or doing anything really. But now we’re in the UK and we had a great week in Europe so I’m back in top form. So let’s get down to it.

We played London, Ontario on the ABR run and before the show our good buddy Pat (check out his sweet photos and zine at http://patmoore.ca and http://geminimag.wordpress.com) took us to a pretty cool diner called Prince Al’s. I got into some healthy grub, as usual.

That’s the raspberry and chocolate shake I had. Raspberry is the king of berries, and it’s always a winning combo with chocolate.

Speaking of winning combos, that’s the peanut butter and bacon burger, or appropriately named Elvis burger I had. Naturally it was delicious. Elvis burgers seem to be popping up in diners here and there and I’m totally ok with that. Peanut butter makes everything better. The fries were just as good as they look.

I’m sure this meal took a few minutes off my life. Thank you Prince Al’s.

Asia de Cuba

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:14:00 -0400

So I’ll start this post off by saying Asia de Cuba is probably the fanciest spot I’ve ever blogged about. It’s an Asian fusion restaurant in the Mondrian Hotel next to the House of Blues on Sunset. We got taken to dinner here by Kelly Paiste, the head of Paiste Cymbals, the brand Mikey uses, and joining us was her friend, John. We ate some food I’ll remember for some time.

(This place is a 4 star restaurant, so I didn’t have my camera out all over the table taking pictures of the many dishes we ate. I would’ve felt like a tool doing that. So instead I stole pictures off the internet of a few of the dishes we ate.)

One of the dishes we started with was this duck confit. It was served along side cucumbers, calabaza and cabbage and had a nice port hoisin sauce to drench it in. Delicious.

The pan-seared jumbo scallops were also great.

The Thai beef salad was great as well. Steak and salad mixed together can be disastrous, but Asia de Cuba doesn’t fuck around.

We also had some pesto grilled shrimp, rock shrimp mu shu (the little Chinese-style burritos you put together yourself) and I think some spare ribs? Even though these were just starters they were already flying all over the table and I was ravenous with my desire to consume everything in front of me. It was all fantastic.

For the main courses we had even more deliciousness.

We had a bit of Shanghai noodles,

lobster mashed potatoes (so good!),

grilled strip steak,

and this honey-rhum glazed pork roast. This dish was a killer. Everything about it was delicious. The skin on the top of the pork was just slightly crispy, but the meat itself was so tender and flavorful.

We also got down with some more duck, grilled ahi tuna, Alaskan butterfish and I think some more spare ribs? By this time I was two Mojitos deep (their’s rule by the way!) and so completely overwhelmed with the sheer amount of food that was in front of me. I was basically just piling whatever I could on to my plate and just devouring it, with little regard for distinguishing betweens meats or trying to keep sauces from soaking into other sauces. It was like I was in some weird dream where I had to finish all this wonderful food before someone took it away from me and I’d never have a chance to try it again.

Once we were all done with the main courses we were pretty much stuffed to the brim, so we went easy on dessert and got these Mexican donuts. They’re basically donut holes coaked in sugar and cinnamon but they were some of the best I’ve ever had. Fluffy and warm on the inside, and with a caramel sauce to dip them in that was terrific.

Kelly even got us to meet the chef, which I thought was really special because I’ve never done that before! He was really cool; he had no reservations about chatting it up with us about what he loves to do, which is make great food and stuff the rest of us with it.

By the end of the night we were all done. I probably muttered a few random things here or there about how great the food all was, but I was in a full-on stupor. All this food just kicked my ass. But that’s ok because I let it. I’m more than happy to let food this great take control and have its way with me. Anytime, Asia de Cuba.

U.S. Egg

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:13:23 -0400

On the day of our Mesa, AZ show we checked out this really good breakfast spot in Tempe called U.S. Egg. Junior had been telling me about this place for some time now and thankfully it didn’t disappoint at all.

I had the “Half and Half”, which is a small stack of their famous (and for good reason) “Protein Pancakes” and a half order of one of their Idaho Hot Skillets. This skillet was topped with an egg, bacon, avocado and tomatoes and was great. The bacon was cooked to a good crispness (soggy bacon can take a hike) but what I really liked about it was that the avocadoes weren’t just a few sliced pieces. Rather it was a huge amount of avocado spread across the entire skillet. Tasty.

Those pancakes were exceptional though. Upon first bite I was hooked. They’re called “Protein Pancakes” because they’re full of more ‘substantial-ness’ than just pancake batter; they mix in granola, berries, slivered almonds and a lot of cinnamon. Every bite was better than the last. By the time the butter and maple syrup had blended in with the rest of the flavors it was pure heaven. These are honestly some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Next time I’m at U.S. Egg I’m getting a full stack of just those.

My friend Kelsey brought us this box of donuts from Round Rock...

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:02:39 -0400

My friend Kelsey brought us this box of donuts from Round Rock Donuts. They were delicious…and gone in minutes!

Stubb's

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:51:00 -0400

Before our show at Emo’s, Mikey and I checked out a fairly well-known Austin barbecue place called Stubb’s. Not only does Stubb’s dish out some good tasting grub but they also have two stages and put on a lot of live music, especially during SXSW. We were about 2 weeks early for that though, so on this day it was all about food for us.

I had the brisket plate, with a side of mac and cheese and fried okra. The mac n cheese was tasty and the fried okra was good also. If you’re from California like me, or maybe the east coast, you probably aren’t going to see fried okra too often. It’s a total Southern side. But I like it every now and then. It’s kind of like eating peppers that aren’t spicy at all. The beef was perfect. Tender and juicy, and it had the pink smoke ring, the true sign of well-smoked and barbecued meat. I doused it in their housemade sauce and that just made it even better.

Another good Austin barbecue to scratch off the list. I will try them all.

Pike's Old Fashioned Soda Shop

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:29:00 -0500

A few of us went to Pike’s Old Fashioned Soda Shop the day we played Charlotte. I had never been to the place or even heard of it but I ended up getting some tasty stuff.

I got a cup of this potato and bacon soup. It was thick and creamy, very nice. And bacon makes everything better, this soup included.

These potato chips covered in bleu cheese were what really got me stoked though. The chips were freshly cut and made in-house at Pike’s. Nicely seasoned and perfectly crispy, just the way they ought to be. The bleu cheese was great. Melted all over, perfectly complimenting the chips. It’s just an appetizer but the chips and soup alone were more than enough to fill me up.

Pike’s also makes their own root beer and serves it on draught. I had some and it was good stuff. They also have all the stuff you would see at a soda shop: milkshakes, sundaes, floats, even phosphates, which are old school sodas sort of made from scratch with soda water, flavored syrup and phosphoric acid. You don’t see them around much more but it’s good to know Pike’s is keeping them going. Next time I’m around I’ll definitely get one.

Hangover Burger

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:17:24 -0500

We played in Richmond at the Hat Factory the other day and people on the tour got 25% off food at their restaurant. I’m Jewish so you better believe I took advantage of cheap food. I got what’s called the Hangover Burger. Part of me is glad I did, but my stomach certainly wasn’t.

This beast was a 1/2 pound patty topped with chili, a fried egg, cheese, bacon and a fried onion ring. Here’s a pic of it halfway through:

The burger itself wasn’t much of a challenge, but the chili was the real asskicker. It was almost pure meat, not much bean or sauce so it really added some ‘umph’ to this thing. The egg was a good contrast to all the meat; its softness was kind of refreshing after making it through the burger and chili. But that bit of bacon was there just laughing at me, daring me to try and take more bites. And that onion ring certainly wasn’t around to make friends either. This thing is truly damaging to all digestive systems. I couldn’t even finish all of it; I gave Junior the last quarter of the burger because I was done. I got my ass kicked something fierce by this burger.

If you play the Hat Factory, or if you go to shows there frequently, I only recommend this burger if you’re brave, or stupid, enough and have experience handling a monster of this magnitude. I definitely got way too ahead of myself on this one. I didn’t sleep well at all that night either. This thing just sat in me like a log, laughing at me for thinking I could take it on and win.

Ishkabibbles

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:59:48 -0500

So I was going to go to Jim’s, the cheesesteak shop right next to the TLA in Philly, with my girlfriend Alison but it was closed. She’s never had an actual cheesesteak from Philadelphia before, and I’ve tried Jim’s before and liked it, so I figured that was a good place for her to have her first at. But I didn’t want her to miss out so we tried Ishkabibbles, the place across the street. It actually ended up being pretty decent.

It was a good length, had plenty of Cheese Whiz on it, and the meat was tasty and fresh enough. I’ve had better in Philly (I wish there were more sweet peppers on this one), but I’ve certainly had worse (Gianna’s). What I’m really glad about is that I got to try another cheesesteak in Philly, because I am fully intent on trying as many as possible.

Peanut butter and jelly gelato from Led Zeppole. Had this after...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:49:13 -0500

Peanut butter and jelly gelato from Led Zeppole. Had this after an epic slice of spinach artichoke from Artichoke next door. Some of the best pizza ever. Check it out and then go to Led Zeppole, their dessert sister store, to fatten yourself up even more.

This is a mint chocolate cupcake I had from the Cupcake Stop...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:46:56 -0500

This is a mint chocolate cupcake I had from the Cupcake Stop truck on Broadway in NYC. The frosting was so thick. Support food trucks.