Quick Trip to San Diego

Juan just sent me a link to a guide to 6 dim sum restaurants in San Diego from the San Diego Union Tribune. One of the restaurants, Lucky Star has ballroom dancing on Thursday nights and Maine Lobster Sunday through Wednesday. Their Dim Sum menu is online but your have to look at it sideways... Maybe the Emerald Chinese Seafood Restaurant is the one to go to since its home page is in Chinese -- fortunately their Dim Sum menu is in English! China Max looks good too. Have you been to the Dumpling House?

We haven't had dim sum since Hong Kong - although Judy did order some dim sum for book group from a Squirrel Hill restaurant. I especially liked the deep fat fried sesame balls.

And while I'm running through San Diego restaurants, have you ever been to the Loving Hut? It's a global VEGAN chain! But it actually looks pretty interesting and has a jackfruit salad. Oh my gosh! They say they have one in Pittsburgh too! It's over on Campbell's Run Road near Ikea. We'll have to check it out the next time we're over there.

And another oh my gosh! San Diego has a Japanese Izakaya. And like many places around the country, it is having a Restaurant Week this week. Maybe Juan and Mandy can check out a few restaurants for us!

Frommer's 24 Great Walks in New York

I've been reading the walks on Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and Tribeca but I decided it definitely needed more illustrations so I could really see where I was walking. So I pulled out the laptop and went to the street view in Google Maps, which worked so well for Hong Kong and Paris. The two definitely should be combined commercially: create an online Frommer's Walk linked to the street view of Google Maps. How hard is that? Of course it might be so good that people wouldn't go to New York at all -- but I doubt that. You still can't go inside the buildings (yet).

In any case, the walk in Soho/Tribeca was especially good because of the cast iron architecture. Sometimes it is hard to precisely locate the building Frommer is talking about because it is hard to see the street numbers on the structures but usually one can figure out what building it is. More about cast iron architecture in New York City is available from the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America and a map of the Soho district (and others) is available at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission website. Typically I don't consider myself particularly interested in architecture but it is hard not to be captivated by these cast iron buildings.

Lamb Noodle Soup

I read the serious eats article on the Lamb Noodle Soup at the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing and said to myself: now here is a place that Juan and Mandy would love! Hand-pulled noodles, cilantro leaves, lily bulbs, Chinese wolfberries, black tree fungus -- not to mention the fat-fringed lamb. And the show of them pulling the noodles! One could go just for that. But I think we would need Juan and Mandy. You can watch the Anthony Bourdain episode about it on YouTube.

Bourdain also liked the lamb burgers at Xi'an Famous Foods which now has a location in Chinatown, which was reviewed by the Village Voice Blog, which describes the food as: "The cuisine of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, is distinguished by a plethora of cumin-scented lamb dishes and all manner of wheat noodles." Fernando loves lamb so he should appreciate it, even the lamb face salad. At the Xi'an Famous Foods website you can see the many lamb and "hand-ripped" noodle dishes they have on their menu. But if you watch the Andrew Zimmern video on their website, you'll see they are not pulled as in the Lamb Noodle Soup Shop in Flushing. Not quite as impressive. Maybe we don't have to wait for Juan and Mandy to go there. Penny, have you and Leena been there? And it turns out that Xi'an Famous Foods is run by a father/son team and the son, Jason Wang, is a graduate of Wash U!

Let's see what else they have in Serious Eats New York. They have a post on Favorite Sandwiches under $6, which sounds just like the amount we want to spend for lunch. Although after reviewing their 23 choices it appears that meat is still the star. Hm. They probably haven't heard of the chile relleno burrito at El Zarape in San Diego. I suppose that counts as a sandwich.

And Penny will be happy to know that they are opening a Steak 'n Shake in New York tomorrow, January 12th. Hurry, Penny, the first 150 customers win free burgers for a year!! what a deal...

Good Gravy A New Post

I'm catching up on Anthony Bourdain and he's in the outer boroughs of New York, currently at the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing. I guess I haven't used Blogger since they went to the new interface, and, of course, it sucks. Until I'm used to it, of course. Bourdain also goes to the Ganesh Temple Canteen in Flushing, which reminds me of Udipi in Monroeville by the temple. And he goes to Dim Sum in Brooklyn. And a tortilla factory in Brooklyn. Too bad Fair Lawn is on the other side of Manhattan!