The combination of this reality tv show couldn’t be any better, it’s very rare that I like a reality tv show, most of them really annoy me. But this one is different, this one has food specifically burgers, which I love, and it has the Wahlburgs, the family of actors that I adore. Mark Walhburg, Donnie Wahlburg, and Paul Wahlburg with their mom have this restaurant and a burger franchise that they want to take across the world or to start off with Boston then everywhere else. Everyone knows Mark Wahlburg from every movie and this New Kids in The Block Days, then there is Donnie Wahlburg who is known to be the bad ass brother in Blue Bloods, always kicking ass and taking names. And then there is Paul the heart of the restaurant and working with their mom, and he is always in the Kitchen and the food just looks so damn good. Seriously I’m thinking that I will be driving there the next time I will be in New York, the food seriously looks amazing, the burgers look so juicy I’m hungry just thinking about it right now. If there is a reality show to watch then this is it.
Link: IMDB
Long waiting lists, months in advance to book, this is the process that everyone heard about when the peacock reopened after being shutdown for years. For the longest time The Peacock was the best Chinese place for a very long time, and people would fly in just to taste the amazing food. Over the years the taste deteriorated towards the end but they said with the launch of the revamped hotel the staff were for the Peacock were top knotch.
As I called to make the booking for a few people it was about two weeks ahead to get lunch on the weekend and 4 weeks ahead to get a dinner for more then 6 people. So I just booked for a few of us to try it out and I was honestly very excited to go to. We walked in and got seated within 5 minutes and it is exactly the same setting that it was 10 years ago, just a few touches, some people like that it stayed the same I was hoping that they might have decided to changes things up but at the end all I care about is the food.
- Spring Rolls & Prawn Toast
- Crispy Noodles & Sweet And Sour Chicken
- Peking Duck
Very simple order, straight forward and every Chinese place has the same sort of items, and I remember ordering at this restaurant since I was a kid. The appetizers came out quickly but the main course took over 30 minutes to get to the table and they mixed up our orders with the table next to us.
Overall the taste of the food was a bit disappointing and too oily for my taste. I was expecting it to be a bit more refined then your hole in the wall type Chinese place. It just wasn’t up to par, and the waiting list to get a reservation is getting shorter, and in my case I canceled my next reservation. The service wasn’t that great, and the food was disappointing not what I was expecting for a place with so much history.
BBQ season is upon us and burgers are always the easiest choice for me. I am always on the look out for different meat vendors and this time around I found Premium Choice. I picked up some Rib-Eye Steak and some burgers, and the amazing Potato Bun that is very hard to find, they have other types of steaks available but this is always my preference.
I have to pick up fresh cut cheddar cheese for burgers, that honestly makes a world of a difference, I really don’t like using Kraft Cheese since they taste horrible compared to how well the meat tastes. And this meat looked really good, and the smell was killing me, I forgot about the rest of lunch and only wanted to eat the burger right off the grill. I prefer using a gas grill when I’m BBQing, in my case its the Weber, coal grills give amazing taste but it’s hard to control the cooking temperature of the meat.
I got the Potato buns out and they were perfect, at least now I will have a constant supply of good buns, the ones you can find in the Co-ops are ok, not great, they do the job but this is the burger buns that complements a good burger. Threw it on the grill for about 2-4 minutes to get it a bit toasted while I waited for the cheese to melt on top of the Burgers.
What I liked about Premium Choice is that everything was online on their website and delivery was quick. They do same deliveries if the order is done online before 5 pm, or it would go to the next day, but in my case I ordered around 10 am and got it by 1pm, makes for a very simple process. I had the Steaks one night at home when I felt like a steak and a salad, that Rib-Eye really hit the spot, nice and tender.
Link: PremiumChoice
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Subway is usually my choice for a quick sandwich which isn’t too heavy and keeps me somewhat satisfied. Recently I have had a few of the Chicken & Turkey sandwiches which tasted slightly strange, it tasted like fish. Then again it tasted “fishy” again, and I put the sandwich down and didn’t continue it. It was a disappointment in my case, there was no food poisoning or matter like this but the taste really threw me off. I haven’t had Subway in 5 days which is unheard of for me since I usually have a 6-inch sub almost every day at the office but at this stage that will be coming to a stop since I could really smell fish on the chicken.
There is a lot of burger places opening up in the Village and a new Village opening up on the other side. Lots of burger places opening up on the other side of it and a few disappointments, but Junkyard isn’t one of them. Its located on the other side of Upper Crust Pizza and simple to find for those who are familiar with the village.
The place is simple and has gritty style to the restuarant, but I got food to go and didn’t bother eating there since I wanted to watch TV at home. I saw the menu and it’s a simple selection, burgers, hot dogs, fries, and couple of other things. I ordered the Junkyard Burger which is a Double Patty with Caramelized Onions & Cheddar Cheese. Got the Chicken Tenders, Fries and Chilli Fries as well.
The burger is a bit small but that seemed to be the perfect size, juicy and the perfect bite. The fries were the normal thin type fries that I like, but the chilli fries weren’t that great and I wouldn’t order that again. The Chicken Tenders were a hit thought, I really liked them and especially the Honey Mustard Sauce. Overall the place is a great quick stop, there are better burgers but their burgers are honestly pretty good and I will repeat. You can find them on Talabat or call them directly on 23901022/33.
I always like to grill steaks, burgers, hot dogs, and all other kinds of meats, its something that I love doing and especially since a few specialty places opened up in Kuwait. Grilling is an art form, and I know everyone loves ordering their meat well done but thats so wrong, you don’t get the taste of the steak or burger, and sometimes in Kuwait they burn it so it drives me nuts. So I prefer to cook my own when I can, and if I can’t then I go to either OFK or Meat Co because they are the only ones that get it right every time. But if your like me and want to grill at home, then these are your choices for meat supplier, each one has their own taste and some are better then the other but I can’t just can’t get enough of the grill so I will always keep trying to grill whenever I can.
Specialty Places (Ranked Top To Bottom):
- PrimeCuts – Best Steaks Available from Every Cut you can think of, my favorite is the Rib Eye Wagyu 200 Gram, and the burgers are really good, they come in any size, you can have the Wagyu or the normal, but I prefer the normal because its juicier.
- Fuddruckers – They only have burgers and their burgers are very juicy when cooked right, and their bread is out of this world. It’s a matter of prefrence but I prefer PC burger over Fudz.
- RareCuts – I recently saw them and wanted to try them out, their steaks aren’t bad but aren’t as good as PrimeCuts for some reason, I don’t know why even though I tried different steaks, PC was better. The burger I had from them was too salty, and strangely chewy, and I cooked two burger differently but they just didn’t get the right consistency for my taste.
Super Markets
Late night food and very hungry, the only thing that could satisfy my hunger while in London was going to the Phoenix Palace. I go there and the place is packed but there is always space, and still the people from years ago remember me and gave me a nice spot, they know I like to order a good amount of food even if it was for one person, and I thought in London I usually walk around enough to justify burning off this food.
I wasn’t going mess around with the food or try something new, I was hungry and I wanted to go to a late night movie, so my options were clear. And I knew exactly what I wanted.
- Vegetable Spring Roll
- Prawn On Toast
- Hot & Sour Soup
- Vegetable Crispy Noodles
- Half Peking Duck
That was a good amount of food and I love that one item keeps coming right after the other, people can complain about Chinese food but when its good its really good. Honestly I haven’t found any Chinese place better then in London and there are quite a few good ones there. After the meal I was hoping not to pass out during the movie but luckily enough it was an action packed movie so I was wide awake during the whole thing, and even then I had some sweet popcorn.
A lot of restaurants open in Dubai and usually in or around some sort of mall and over the recent years that is Dubai Mall since everyone flocks over there to that mall. Rarely do you explore other locations, but thanks to MFW he took to me a new location a little while back, and thats Jones The Grocer, a singular building next to Jumeirah’s residential area just off of Sheikh Zayed Road. Literally nothing around it but a small shopping complex with a few businesses and a gas station.
You walk in and it is genuinely a unique restaurant/cafe/store, they have a very nice food selection in their menu. Loved their salads and sandwiches, I have been there close to a dozen times over the past 6 months, I make it a point to go there and try something new when I go.
It’s not your typical place, different types of seating in different sides of the building, with the cafe display cases in the middle, and the outer areas of the restaurant has cooking and food related items for sale from high end coffee machines to cook books and Turkish delights. Literally something for everyone in that place, and if you are cheese connoisseur you will enjoy the selection they have. Try the greek salad with steak and the chicken sandwich, they are very good dishes, and even the meat dishes are good there.
If you have been there then you are missing out since it out there not next to anything you feel like you are in a unique hip place. Feels like a place that should be in New York or San Francisco, it has this unique vibe to it and the best thing is that the food tastes just as good as the place looks.
Link: JonesTheGrocer
There were too many good places to try out while in Los Angeles, and sometimes you don’t have all the time needed to check them all out but this is a few of the places that we went to and the food was amazing at all of them, all depends what you are looking for and honestly it was hard not to stuff myself every time we went to these places.
Lunch/Dinner
- BOA – Amazing Steak Place On Sunset Blvd – The Japanese Wagyu beef was amazing
- Lala’s Argentine Grill – On Melrose Place – Pure Argentinian Grilling, Meat At Its Finest, If you love steak you will love this place
- Umami – Amazing Burger Joint – Simple menu, don’t miss the Bub Burger or Truffle Burger
- Il Postaio – Amazing Italian off of Canon Drive in Beverly Hills – Casual, I went and ate there in bike gear
- The Apple Pan – Greasy Burger Place – If you love Burgers you will love this place
- Via Veneto – The best Italian place on Venice Beach, you can’t miss this place it really is amazing, a unique type of Italian, not your usual and we loved it.
Breakfast
- Toast – Amazing menu, lots to choose from and great outside seating, best on Sunday Brunch
- Joan’s On 3rd Cafe – Great selection of sandwiches and great seating indoors, cafe & marketplace
Of course we passed by In&Out because everyone keeps asking if we did, but for me that place is just a bit over hyped and I had one next to my apartment for years so there are other burger places that I prefer, but for a quick burger it does the job.
I went to Figs for the first time in my life in November of 2011 with my wife, it seems it was a famous pizza place for most people who studied in Boston, it held a dear memory and so I tried it out and the pizza was pretty good. So when going to Figs at 360 Mall I was expecting the same taste, I honestly didn’t remember the menu but I did remember how the pizza looked like. We ordered a few appetizers and three pizzas.
The place looks nice, in a new area of 360 Mall on the third floor which has several trendy looking restaurants. We got the appetizer first, they were pretty good, there was one which was really good, it was so good that it disappeared before I could take a picture. The Calamari was decent, but the dipping appetizer was pretty good, there was a nice selection. Also in the picture this is the Nexus 4 & Galaxy Nexus side by side, we were making a comparison and the Nexus 4 was flatter, but because of the Gorilla glass it slides too easily. Need to get that bumper case for it.
The Pizzas came after about 15 mins and I was pretty hungry, but what I saw was not what I remembered, they were much smaller then what was served in Boston. Those ones were at least double the size, but same rectangular style. The taste wasn’t that great either, I was expecting much better so I came hungry and forced myself to eat more so I wouldn’t be hungry
(All pictures were taken with the Nexus 4)
