Road Noms!

Utopia

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:05:43 -0500

All good things must come to an end, and this is it, the last Soundwave post. I had a hell of time playing down under again, and just as much of a hell of a time eating. Australia knows how to dish up some great noms, and I’m going to end this batch with ironically what was the first place Set Your Goals ever ate at in Australia on our first trip there, Utopia. Utopia is a vegetarian Chinese place in Perth and it’s so great we went there twice on this trip.

On our first visit I had the spicy crispy chicken, which was already my favorite dish of Utopia’s and I can safely say it still is. It’s actually not super spicy, but it’s a bit sweet and the veggie chicken is great. I washed it down with some honey milk tea with sago, which are those little black tapioca pearls. Greatness.

We came back the next day with some of the Motion City Soundtrack guys before our show.

This time I had the mushroom duck. I had never had it before but upon first bite I became a fan. The veggie duck was great, nice thick pieces and the gravy it was all covered in was delicious. I love mushrooms and Utopia spared none on this dish. What really sealed the deal though was the bed of bok choy all this was laying on. Bok choy is without a doubt my favorite vegetable in Chinese dishes so instead of being a garnish it was like a bonus on this dish.

I had more honey milk tea again, but this time I had it with chocolate sago. It was so good! Sometimes normal sago can be cumbersome and I try to drink around them if I get too much, but the chocolate ones just gave me extra incentive to eat them. Definitely going to be adding that everytime I can from now on.

Cheers Australia, you are definitely my favorite country to visit and to stuff myself stupid in. Your noms are always top notch and I can’t wait until I’m in you again so I can gorge like a fool. G’day!

Sushi Train

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:43:44 -0500

Upon our arrival in Adelaide, Mikey, Joe, Lewis and our tour manager Tyson stopped at Sushi Train, an Australian sushi restaurant chain. I didn’t know what to expect when Lewis told me it was a chain, but in the end it served up some pretty tasty and interesting sushi at a decent price.

I started with these salmon-wrapped pieces. I honestly don’t remember what the white stuff it was filled with was, but I do remember it was good.

Unagi, or eel, is my favorite sushi hands down.

Cuttlefish. Extra tentacle-y for extra goodness.

The grand finale was this avocado-wrapped unagi and soft-shell crab roll. Fuck yeah.

And for dessert, a bit of green tea gelato. Perfect way to finish a good meal of sushi.

Blue Fire Grill

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:32:53 -0500

Blue Fire Grill in Melbourne is one of those uber-fancy Brazilian style grills, you know the ones where the meat comes out on those big skewers like this:

Well as of now it’s definitely the classiest and most expensive joint I’ve blogged about. But this night’s meal was on the good people who promote and own the Soundwave Festival, who had already done so much to accommodate and take care of us, so who was I to turn what was to be such a great meal down? Best believe I’m gonna Road Nom it though!

So anyways, Blue Fire is one of those all-you-can-eat spots. Not like a buffet though; instead there’s about 15 waiters all at one time running around with huge skewers of meat and food. Want more? All you gotta do is have this card showing:

and one of those fine gentleman will come to your table and serve up various meats. We had:

steak,

sausage,

chicken legs,

pork,

and even some calamari.

Along with some nice sides of flat bread with tasty dipping sauces and potatoes, corn and carrots we were definitely eating well. And by we I mean about half the bands on the package. (I’m sure the other half went to an equally awesome restaurant.) Obviously the Soundwave folks now how to show their guests a good time and some good food. I was in carnivore heaven. So much meat flying by me all at once I had a hard time keeping up, but you know I was able to handle myself.

Of course I had to down all this greatness with an equally great vodka martini. That’s just how I roll.

But even a self-glorified meatetarian like myself has his limits with all delicious and succulent meat and knows when to call it quits:

Blue Fire’s version of the white flag. Underneath “…No More…” it should say “You have successfully stuffed my stupid self with so much meat that I think my body has become 2% cow and I’m now going to need a forklift to get me out of the building.”

Thank you Soundwave for the great meal I will never forget, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. Ever.

Richmond Hill Cafe

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:43:05 -0500

On one of our days off in Melbourne, Junior, Mike, Lewis, Joe Huh, Joe from Four Year Strong and I went to the Richmond Hill Cafe on the advice of our good friend and previous Australian tour manager Charney because she rules and she’s from Melbs so I figured she’d know where the good nom spots are. Not that I had doubts, but she did indeed prove herself to be knowledgeable, because we all ate well there.

I had this dish of buttermilk pancakes that had raspberries, pistachio brittle, vanilla mascarpone with toasted coconut and a lemon caramel syrup to top it with. Sounds special, right? Trust me they were. They were also delicious. Pistachio brittle? I’ve never even thought of that, much less had it in pancakes before but sure enough it was there, and it was great. But that syrup, that’s what made the dish. So sweet and tangy at the same time. I wanted a whole jar to douse the pancakes with, but I only needed the small bit they came with, it was so powerfully sweet.

Thanks for this one Charn! And thanks Richmond Hill Cafe for making me drool all over myself while I type this review up.

Thinking back, I’ve had a few excellent pancake dishes in Australia. Before this was Pancake Manor and last year one of my Top Ten Noms, A Little On The Side. I’m starting to think Australia is showing up the USA in good pancakes!

Harajuku Crepes You Got The Wicked Flavor

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:14:00 -0500

Harajuku is a sector in Tokyo renowned for being that city’s epicenter of outlandish fashion. It’s also home to a plethora of spots that serve up crepes filled with all sort of fruits and sweets like ice cream and custard, and Harajuku Crepes in Melbourne has brought that style of crepe down under.

Our friend Pees took me, Matt and Lewis there on our first day in Melbs and I got the cheesecake deluxe. (I took a picture of the acrylic model because when it’s all wrapped up the finished crepe doesn’t look too special.) As you can see it had a slice of cheesecake topped with strawberries, whipped cream and blueberry sauce. Once I got down to the center where the cheesecake was it was pure heaven. I liked it so much I went there again a couple days later.

This time I got the strawberries with all, or strawberries with whipped cream, ice cream and custard. But I mixed it up a bit and got cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream and topped it all with some chocolate sauce. So good!

The worst part about this spot is that it’s right next door to the Lord Of The Fries. Next time I’m in Melbourne I’ll probably just be camping out in the little alley that both of these places are in and I’ll most likely not be leaving.

Pray to the Lord...Of The Fries

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:49:36 -0500

At this point it’s no secret that Set Your Goals LOVES Lord Of The Fries. And sure enough, first thing we did when we got to Melbourne was go straight there.

On this first trip there (don’t worry, we went there more than once…I’ll be discussing each time) I gorged on some poutine, a spicy mini burger, and chicken nuggets. To the unfortunate souls who still for some reason haven’t gotten down on some poutine, it’s a French Canadian dish of fries with gravy and cheese. Although LOTF is far from French Canada, they still serve up a mean dish of poutine. Delicious as always. This was my first time eating the spicy mini burger, but since my spice tolerance has been going up these days I was able to handle it well, jalapeños and all. Let’s talk about those nuggets though…first off they’re fake meat (everything at LOTF is vegan…burgers too), and I love fake chicken meat. Something about all that gluten just hits the spot. They’re also pretty new too and since I’m all about new noms I had to get some. Glad I did, they’re now my favorite thing at the Lord. I got them covered in Thai peanut sauce. So good.

On our second day in Melbourne and second trip to LOTF I got a box of fries covered in Vietnamese chili cheese sauce and Japanese wasabi mayo. The Vietnamese topping used to be a cream sauce topped with a separate chili sauce but it seems like they’ve switched it up to a sauce that’s more of a mix of the two. Still good though; a bit spicy but very tasty. The wasabi mayo was good too, but it was really reminiscent of the Belgian mayo, like maybe they just added wasabi powder to that. It was the special sauce of the month though, so I figured I had to try it because I might not have a chance to next time. And of course I had to fill up on my new favorite, nuggets with Thai peanut sauce.

On our third and sadly final Lord outing we changed things up and went to the Central location in downtown Melbourne. I kind of liked this one a bit more than the Flinders St. spot.

I had fries with Belgian mayo and a chicken burger. Despite the fact it’s called mayo, it really tastes nothing like mayonnaise. I would never eat my fries with straight mayo…I believe there’s a section of hell reserved for people who do this. LOTF’s Belgian mayo is more like a thick ranch than anything else, and pretty damn delicious too. The (fake) chicken burger was pretty good, but I should have stuck to the nuggets. Next time.

Well, as you can tell at this point my band and I love Lord Of The Fries. A lot. So much so that we discussed it and on our next trip to Australia we’ll be getting some sweet LOTF tattoos. It’ll be the perfect testament of our love of the Lord.

Chilli Cha Cha

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:12:41 -0500

On our last night in Sydney Junior and I went out in search of food and stopped in at another Thai spot called Chilli Cha Cha, which was right up the street from where I was the night before, Capital Thai. Despite the fact Chilli Cha Cha was far less fancy and more of a hip spot than the latter, I had an insanely good meal there.

This mountain you behold in front of you is a heeping pile of soft shell crab. Yeah. About a foot high. Drenched in coconut curry sauce. When I ordered I was expecting to get a dish of just a few little crabs neatly arranged, all cute looking and such. I didn’t expect this gargantuan mound of fried crustacean. I kind of just spent the first couple of minutes this thing was in front of me just laughing and behind amazed before I dug in and ate some…and that’s when the real amazement of how good it was started. The sweet and slightly spicy curry was delicious, and the crab of course was great. Huge chunks of crab in a good batter…can’t beat that. I’ve had soft shell crab plenty of times in my life, but it’s always these petite, little things. Nothing like this colossus. I couldn’t even really finish the whole thing, Junior had to help with a few bites. Without a doubt I will return someday to Chilli Cha Cha so I can bow down before this mountain of crab and humble myself before it once more.

Capital Thai - A Pointless Journey Through Sydney

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:56:29 -0500

After our Sydney Soundwave show Mikey and I traversed to the ends of the city and back trying to meet up with Junior, Matt and Lewis. We made it all the way down to Sydney Harbor and back only to settle on a place two blocks from our hotel called Capital Thai because we were done trying to find the other guys. Despite how tired we were from our epic journey across the city and how much we didn’t really feel like Thai, this place ended up being a blessing in disguise because we ate like kings.

That’s the Capital quail. In case you’ve never had quail, it’s great…as you might imagine it tastes like chicken, but with a lot more little bones in it. I like to think of eating it as a game where you eat around the bones and try not to swallow and choke on them. But honestly this dish was great. The quail was sauteed in this great spicy coconut curry sauce with lots of aromatic vegetables around it, like basil, peppercorns, thai chilis, and little tomatillos. I’ve been getting more into spicy dishes, thanks mostly to my girlfriend Alison whose love of spice is rubbing off on me. Only months ago I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle the spiciness of this dish but I was loving it when I ate it. It was just intense enough to give the dish kick but still allow the flavor of the curry and the aromas to really come through and taste great. Mikey had the pad thai and he said it was some of the best he’s ever had.

Despite our needless trip through Sydney, I’m glad it at least wasn’t a fruitless one and we were able to end up with some great Thai food in our bellies.

Soundwave Noms begin! First up...Pancake Manor

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:32:00 -0500

So Soundwave Festival in Australia has been done for a couple of days now and I’m back home in the US. I didn’t update while I was there because internet is expensive down under and I was pretty busy. But not so busy that I couldn’t get in some pretty good noms. It all started at Pancake Manor in Brisbane, a cool 24 hour diner that’s inside of an old converted Gothic-style church. The morning of the Brisbane Soundwave date a few of us in SYG joined a few of the Four Year Strong guys and our ginger tech Lewis Usher for some good “brekky” to fuel us up for our gig.

Pancake Manor serves up tons of sweet pancakes with fruit toppings and ice cream, but since it was morning and I was hungover I had to get something a bit more substantial with some protein, so I got the fixed breakfast with sausage. I still had to get pancakes though, and they were good. The sausages hit the spot too. But seeing the pictures of some of the sweet pancakes I knew I was going to have to come back later to try some, which I did later that night after the festival with Junior and Mikey.

That’s the “Hot ‘n’ Troppo”, two buttermilk pancakes topped with chocolate ice cream, walnuts, fried bananas, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Heavenly. I’m glad I didn’t have this early in the morning because I would have been sugar crashing the rest of the day. It was late at night when I had this sinful dish so right after I just went and passed out in my hotel room. Perfect way to end the day and a perfect way to start two weeks of great noms. It’s only getting better from here…

Ike's Place

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:11:10 -0500

Alright, here’s the last Motion City Soundtrack tour Road Noms entry. It’s been a good run without a doubt; I think I had some of my most ridiculous meals ever on this tour. I also got to try out a ton of new spots that I’m really looking forward to eating at again. But to cap it off I’m going to write about a place I’ve been to a couple times now because it’s in the city I was born in, San Francisco. It’s called Ike’s Place and they make some of the most creative sandwiches on the West Coast. It’s also become my favorite sandwich spot in the Bay Area.

That there is a veggie “We’re Just Friends”. Yeah that’s what it’s called. They have a huge list of crazy sandwiches, all with names like “Can You Smell What Barack Is Cooking”, “Super Mario”, “Eli Manning”, “Montana To Rice”…the list goes on and on. And so does the amount of great tasting sandwiches they have. The ingredients are staggering…you name it, if it can be put in a sandwich they have it. Even things like stuffed jalapeños, mozzarella sticks, it’s all there. Anyways, the “We’re Just Friends” has halal chicken breast, sweet orange glaze, avocado, and pepperjack, but I wasn’t feeling up for chicken breast so I ordered the vegan chicken nuggets at the suggestion of our friendly order-taker. Somewhere along the lines of communication my order got a bit fudged and I got veggie turkey instead, but it still was really good. The kicker in their sandwiches is their ‘dirty sauce’, a house garlic aioli sauce that kicks ass. On the menu they say to “trust us, you want it” on the sandwich, and I’ll back that up…trust me you want the dirty sauce. It makes the sandwich.

I went with my girlfriend Alison and she ordered the “Not Tonight, I Have A Headache”, which had halal chicken breast, bbq sauce, bacon and gouda. I tried a bite and it was quite good. The last time I came here I ordered the “King Koopa”, a meatball sandwich with mozzarella sticks, stuffed jalapeños, and marinara sauce. Needlesstosay I wasn’t doing too much later that day.

This place hasn’t been open too long but it’s quickly becoming one of the most talked about places in San Francisco. If you come during lunch be prepared to wait for about an hour in a line that literally wraps around the block. But luckily Ike’s has changed its hours and is open until 7pm! Tour or not I will definitely be coming back to Ike’s first chance I can.

Another night at Swingers

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:46:05 -0500

So this isn’t the first time I’ve written about Swingers, the all-night diner in Hollywood that dishes out a wide range of good food and has a high probability rate of celebrity sightings, and it probably won’t be the last. No reason to fight a good thing though, right?

After our Hollywood show my girlfriend Alison and I took a trip here with just about everyone and I ordered what I have decided is my favorite dish here (and it might be your’s too), Edwin’s Pasta.

Edwin’s Pasta is a mixture of farffale, or bow-tie pasta, eggs, sausage and bacon. You can also get it vegetarian style with fake bacon and sausage and that’s actually how I like it. I’ve had it carnivore style, and despite the fact that I devour tons of swine flesh on the regular I’ve found that the real bacon and sausage kind of overwhelm the dish and I just end up eating around them. The flavors of the fake meat though aren’t as overpowering and so I go the sissy route, if you will. Along with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese and Tapatio it’s ready to consume. And consume is what I did, and quickly. Delicious as always. Hats off again Swingers for the good meal; I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon.

Valentine's Day at Lucky Devils

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:31:47 -0500

I got to spend Valentine’s Day with my beautiful girlfriend Alison in Hollywood. We woke up outside the House of Blues on Sunset but we had no idea where we were going to eat. Food around that area is notoriously pricey and I doubt we were even dressed well enough to get into any of those bourgeois establishments, so we took a bit of a hike. And by that I mean it wasn’t until over two miles later past Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd that we decided to stop at Lucky Devil’s. But it was a choice well-made because we had a pretty damn good Valentine’s meal there.

I ordered the Liége breakfast, which had eggs, bacon and two nice little liége-style waffles, which are thick, sugary waffles like they’re made in Belgium. Good stuff.

I also had these pecan smoked wings, which were different but still pretty good. The smokey flavor combined with the marinade on the wings was something I had never really had before but I liked them.

The best part though was what Alison ordered, the breakfast pizza: eggs, caramelized onions, bacon and herb-infused ricotta all on a nice crust, baked in a wood-fired oven. Definitely a great pizza. Surprisingly it was the onions that really made the pizza for me; their sweetness mixed well with the savoriness of the rest of the ingredients.

After all the walking and guessing where we were going to eat I’m glad we settled on Lucky Devil’s. I had no idea what to expect of the place but it ended up delivering some pretty decent eats. And while Valentine’s Day ultimately is for the ladies, this dude was glad he got to spend it in a quality dining establishment in the company of his fair lady.

Doña Lupes

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:09:42 -0500

Our day off saw us in El Paso, Texas, which I will admit is one of my least favorite places in the world. Fortunately our good friend and ex-tour manager Juan lives there so he showed Mikey, Junior and me a good homestyle Mexican spot called Doña Lupes.

I had this plate of chicken mole enchiladas. If you don’t know mole is kind of a chocolate based sauce with some spices thrown in for kick. These were some tasty enchiladas for sure. Juan though knew what was up and got the enchiladas montadas, which were flat enchiladas covered in cheese, eggs and red sauce. He gave me a couple of bites to try them out and they were superior to my mole enchiladas. If we stop in Hell Paso again I’ll get Juan to take us back to Doña Lupes again so I can get some of those montadas.

Casino El Camino

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:46:45 -0500

As if I hadn’t eaten enough meat earlier in the day at Iron Works, after our Austin show Junior, our friend Brandon and I went to Casino El Camino where I got a great burger.

That there is the Buffalo burger, a 3/4 pound burger drenched in buffalo sauce, covered in bleu cheese and tasting completely delicious. It had a bit of a kick with the sauce, but it definitely kicked my ass. I’ll admit I didn’t sleep too well after eating this beast. But like I’ve said before, no regrets.

Iron Works

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:39:14 -0500

Ah barbecue. An American tradition and one of my favorite types of food. On the day of our Austin show I tried a place that is now one of my favorite ‘cue spots in all of the country: Iron Works. It’s an unassuming, old school-looking place right down the street from Emo’s and it serves up pure delicious-ness.

I didn’t know what to get it all sounded so good, so the cook recommended me the sampler, a nice helping of sausage, beef brisket and beef ribs. Now you may notice there’s no sauce drenching the meat. That’s because they smoke all the meat here and don’t bother with the sauce. If you want sauce you gotta put it on yourself. I’m starting to like this style of barbecue the most because it really gives you a chance to taste the flavor of the meat itself without getting caught up in the sauce. I ate all of the sausage and the rib dry because those flavors were just bursting out. The sausage was nice and perfectly cured with great spices in it. And the rib was succulent and tender, barely clinging to the bone. The brisket was good too, but I did put a bit of sauce on it, but not too much. Rounding off the meal nicely were some good beans and potato salad.

I can’t wait to get back to Austin because the second I show up I’m heading straight for Iron Works for some more of their delicious barbecue.

Cuba Libre

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:26:38 -0500

So pretty much right after waking up in Dallas our friend Luis Dubuc of The Secret Handshake, who also joined me on a couple Road Noms outings on the AP Fall Ball Tour, swooped up me, Matt and Aileen and took us to Cuba Libre. He said it was “completely Road Noms worthy” so of course I didn’t want to miss out. Verdict? The place was most definitely worthy, legit and delicious.

We started off with the bean dip and plantain chips appetizer. Oh man those chips, I’m still having fantasies about them. Fried slices of banana covered in sugar and cinnamon. So good. And the dip was great too, black beans covered in cheese with just the right amount of spice. Perfectly complimentary to the sweetness of the chips.

I had the Pollo Noche Cuban sandwich, a take on the traditional Cuban pressed sandwich. Loads of sweet pulled pork, Swiss cheese and pickles, but instead of ham it had lots of grilled chicken. Very tasty. But those fries? Pure excellence. These are easily some of the best seasoned fries I’ve ever had. Perfectly crispy and with some great seasoning on them. And of course the cilantro lime ranch on the side brought it all together.

Luis, you know a thing or two about good noms. Hats off to you sir and to Cuba Libre for filling my stomach with some good food.

Vortex

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:13:30 -0500

Behold the entrance to one of the greatest and possibly worst for your health bar and grills in these great United States, Vortex. I had seen this Atlanta joint featured on many Travel Channel shows and specials so I knew I had to hit up. And while I’m so glad I did, I think my stomach is still holding it against me.

On the day of our Atlanta show our good friends Jasmin and Andy took me, Mikey and Junior here to indulge in some great fried delicacies and giant mouth-watering burgers.

We started off with fried pickles, fried zucchini slices and fondue tots. I’m a total sucker for fried pickles and zucchinis and these were perfect. I especially liked the dipping sauce for the pickles…it was a nice peppercorn-y ranch with some peppers mixed in for a bit of kick. And the cheese sauce for the tots was nice too. Good starters for sure. But these were nothing compared to the colossal, ridiculous burger I was about to ingest.

This is the Elvis burger: a 1/2 pound patty smothered in peanut butter, fried bananas and topped with lots of bacon. Never in my life have I had something this absurd and I loved every bite of it. No wonder the King died from eating this kind of stuff…it’s so good if I were able to I’d probably be eating it everyday too. I will admit though I had to have the coleslaw instead of a side of fries…in my words to the waitress “I think I’ll have the coleslaw; I have enough fried foods in this meal already.”

But I think I know why this place is called the Vortex: the food spins around in your stomach making you feel a bit woozy until it all twists out into a swirling toilet bowl. That’s definitely what happened to me. Despite the deliciousness of all this great stuff it definitely did a number on me. No regrets though. Next time I go there maybe I’ll cut out just one of those appetizers.

Crepe Cellar revisited

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:05:13 -0500

Mikey turned 23 in Charlotte so to celebrate we got a ride from our new friend Rachel and we hit up Crepe Cellar, same place we ate at on the AP Tour. And once again it treated us well.

To start off again we got the pesto brie fries, one of the best appetizers in the whole of the United States. Just like last time they were great. Seriously I don’t know why I’ve never seen these anywhere else. It’s about time they start getting popular.

I splurged a bit more than last time and got the shrimp and grits dish. Good decision. Amazing dish. There were about 8 huge shrimps mixed in with grits all topped with a nice slightly spicy cream sauce that had some bits of sausage in it as well. I love grits and shrimp and the combination of the two was new to me, but made complete sense. So good.

Crepe Cellar you have proved yourself to be a necessary stop for me every time I’m in Charlotte. I expect nothing but good food from you in the future.

Vegan Treats

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:55:20 -0500

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is home to nothing too special except a rad little vegan bakery called Vegan Treats. On the day of our Allentown show our friend Alex took me, Anthony and Junior there and we were greeted by a huge sea of delicious looking vegan desserts.

I scooped up these two tasty little cakes; on the left is the banana chocolate cake and the other is a peanut butter chocolate cheese cake. Drool. The banana chocolate was good, but in all honesty I didn’t really taste much banana in there. It was all good though because the cake was nice and moist, and the chocolate surrounding the cake was super rich. That peanut butter cheesecake…oh lordy that was the jam. Endless chunks of peanut butter topped the creamy cheesecake. It was so delicious. Anthony and Junior both the peanut butter bomb, which was a huge chocolate covered cake filled with loads of peanut butter cream. In all honesty I fucked up not getting that because it was insane good. Peanut butter is my absolute favorite food on this planet and the bomb definitely unleashed loads of it. Next time I go to Vegan Treats I am for sure getting one of those.

Artichoke and Led Zeppole

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:18:00 -0500

At this point of writing about my noms in New York City I’m starting to realize I had a lot to eat that day. And it didn’t stop after Cowgirl Hall of Fame; after our set at Irving Plaza Matt, I and our friends Kurt, Molly, and Noah went to Artichoke, which has become a favorite pizza spot of mine.

Artichoke only has three types of slices: margerita, spinach artichoke and crab. Crab goes fast and Matt and Noah got the last two slices! But my buddy Noah is a true friend and let me have the last slice. Thanks Noah! You can’t really see the crab in that picture but it’s there and it’s good. Really good. I also had a slice of spinach artichoke, which has to be their most popular slice based on how retardedly good it is. It was so good I forgot to take a picture before I devoured it.

But even this wasn’t the end of my gorging for the day. After our gourmet pizza feast we went two doors down to the Artichoke owner’s dessert shop Led Zeppole. The last thing I needed on this epic day of feasting was lots of fried desserts and that’s exactly what I got.

I started off with this mini cannoli that had walnuts of one end and choco chips on the other. Delicious and gone in two bites.

Next up was a bite of Noah’s zeppole, which is basically just fried dough topped with powdered sugar and maple syrup. Nothing fancy, but I could see something like this turning into a guilty pleasure.

Kurt gave me one of his fried Oreos. Let’s just say if you’re American and haven’t had a fried Oreo than you need to be questioning your patriotism.

After all that I concluded one of the best/worst eating days of my life with a nice cream puff. It was simple, delicious and not at all conducive to a cardiac arrest. Not at all.

That’s it. I swear. This is where the food stopped. I passed out in my bunk not long after and dreamt of swimming through seas of endless batter, pizza and bacon-wrapped hot dogs. In retrospect that sounds like a nightmare.