Travel Blog: New York City, New York: Turning 32 On West 35th Street!

Prologue

Well, well, well. I bet we all didn’t anticipate being back here so soon did we?! Another travel blog?! Why yes indeed dear reader, another travel blog! This time, however, we’re staying stateside & visiting a city that I love but hadn’t been to in almost half a decade, which just typing that is blowing my mind. As per usual, you are currently looking at the “prologue” portion of this blog which will be a one off. No multipart series this time around I’m afraid. With that in mind let’s get into the details shall we?!

Evan & I had literally just gotten back from the Philippines, We’re talking arrived home the day before on a Sunday & woke up the Monday after to an email from Southwest Airlines with an offer that they extend our way every few months, & which we usually do our best to take advantage of. The offer was that if we booked a round trip flight within the next three days, to be taken in completion by mid-May, that we would earn a companion pass for two months at the end of summer/beginning of fall. I am someone who unfortunately spoils himself rotten & likes nothing more than to travel for my birthday, surprise, surprise. Having not been to New York City in five years & desperately wanting to see Sweeney Todd before it closed, New York City was the winner & for about $200 round trip we got our flights as well as earned our companion passes which allow us to fly free with a companion during the months in which it is active.

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NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Day One

Typically Evan & I are early fliers, this time we went with an evening flight which was really nice because it allowed us the freedom to go about our day, pack & prepare at an acceptable pace, & get an adequate amount of sleep the morning of. It does definitely negate the ability to have “another day” in the place you’re visiting but Ev also had to work half the day leading up to our flight so it worked out.

We ended up being delayed an hour or so for our flight to Laguardia, but once we were up & away I spent the duration of our two hour flight editing dive videos from Bohol & Evan did a bit more work for his other job. Other than the small British child whaling & kicking the ever loving hell out of my seat, the flight was fairly painless.

We arrived in New York around 9:30 PM. We made our way through the terminal, gathered our baggage, & hopped aboard the Q70+ bus, a free transfer, headed into Astoria. From Astoria we popped onto the Manhattan Bound E train. Once we were at 34th, in the Garment District, we got off & walked the remaining distance to our friend Anne’s apartment. I met Anne through a start-up she began years ago called “Steereo” & though that business fell through Anne has continued chugging along in the start-up space with her current venture Dose.fm. During the Steereo days Anne & I ended up getting fairly close & I used to see her often when she was living in LA. We were greeted with an infectious smile, a glass of wine, puppies, & an ushering to the room we’d be sleeping in. After a brief life catch up Anne informed us that she’d ordered a few slices of pizza from Artichoke Basille’s Pizza for delivery & we set about to grab a few bottles of wine before the shops closed at 11.

Barely making it into the store before they closed I snagged two of my go to basic bottles of red wine that seem to be crowd pleasers at a decent value; A to Z Pinot Noir & Louis Jadot Beaujolais. Both are lighter reds that aren’t too tannic & still are somewhat fruit forward.

The pizza came right after we returned & we all three split the three massive slices she had ordered; the Artichoke, Margarita, & Staten Island.

After about an hour of wining & conversing we decided it was time to call it a day & off we went to bed.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

End Of Day One

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Day Two

I awoke to it being my birthday! No longer was I in my 31st year, now we were on to 32! Be sure to wish me happy belated in the comments & share your most prized picture of me to your social media feeds…Please don’t do that haha.

We slept in a bit. After showering & dressing we bid Anne goodbye for the day & out the door we went to some birthday day exploring of the city.

Our first stop had to be coffee. As someone who was born in Portland, Oregon, my need to venture into any Stumptown Coffee overrides any trendy or top rated coffee shop simply out of familiarity. Call me basic if you’d like, I will forever be a Stumptown loyalist. The closest one to us was in-between Koreatown & Flatiron & is located inside the Ace Hotel. I got some sort of Iced Strawberry Espresso drink & Evan went basic with his Iced Vanilla Latte which honestly is hard to beat. With caffeine acquired & the day turning into something truly lovely we went off in search of some sustenance.

Pistachio Passionfruit Roll

Pastries & Coffee

I’m going to make another choice here that I think a lot of New Yorkers would probably find basic &/or a little touristy but it’s been a staple of mine for a while in the city & I desperately miss having them available in LA when I visit. We stopped off at the Dominique Ansel Workshop just down the street in Flatiron for some pastries. I got a Pistachio Passionfruit Roll; croissant with passionfruit filling & pistachio icing, & Evan got another of his standard orders, a Pan Au Chocolate. We munched down our pastries & finished off our coffee at their standing tables that overlook their bakery before we hopped the train to go uptown.

I don’t know if this is something that I often broadcast. I definitely know it isn’t something I share often here, but just after COVID I got very into Mineral & Crystal collecting. Apparently it’s something I’ve done since I was a kid as a few times ago when I was home I discovered a box of affects from my childhood filled with different stones I’d found, naturally most of them being a variant of quartz. However, since I’d rekindled this fascination & developed a deeper appreciation for the formations of the earth, I hadn’t had the chance to revisit the American Museum of Natural History & explore their mineralogical exhibit otherwise known as the Mignone Halls of Gems & Minerals.

Main Hall of the American Museum of Natural History

While we were in line to get tickets for the museum I began looking at matinee seats for Sweeney Todd the following day. I had them pulled up, was debating which ones with Evan, picked a set, had them in my cart to check out when I got an airdrop notification from Evan. It was a picture of the tickets that he had bought once we’d been confirmed to come for my birthday & they were almost the exact seats I was looking at; Dead center of the Orchestra section, Row N. I was overjoyed!

With added excitement to a trip I was already excited to be on, we bought our admission & made our way downstairs to where the gem exhibit lives.

Blue Whale

In addition to the gem exhibit I also like to stop into the Hall of Ocean Life on not just to glimpse the sheer size of their big ole Blue Whale that they have suspended above the exhibit hall. It’s truly astounding.

After walking through the ocean exhibit we headed towards the minerals, stopping on our way through the Hall of Human Origins where there was a fascinating interactive display showing what specific environmental conditions caused what specific genetic mutations in humans, where those mutations originated on the planet, & where they can be found on the human genome.

After that came the Hall of Meteorites where I was shocked to find a large quantity of meteorites from my home state of Kansas. Additionally, they also had a massive Moldavite, about the size of a small fist. I added it to my mental list of things I would pillage from the museum if ever given the ethical chance…we all have the mental list, don’t act like you don’t!

Azurite/Malachite

We finally arrived at the main event, the Gem & Mineral Halls. The halls feature gems & mineral specimens from around the world & when you walk in you’re greeted by two massive back to back Amethyst Geodes. I think Evan & I spent around two hours wandering the halls. We went to each & every case appreciating & remarking at the different crystals & rocks there within. What was interesting to me, & what will be a bit of a ‘hair toss’ here, is that some of the pieces in the museum I felt I may have better specimens of at home. That’s not to say the vast majority didn’t blow anything I own out of the water.

Chrysoberyl

Alexandrite

Another two items that I added to my mental personal collection were the two Chrysoberyls. One was the traditional yellow-green & was the size of a clementine, the other was an Alexandrite. As one of the rarest gemstones in the world & a personal favorite of mine, Alexandrite possesses the unique ability to change colors based on the type of light it is being exposed to. It either appears anywhere from blue-green to reddish-purple. This is because the crystal lattice structure refracts different wavelengths of light differently within the stone. There are several at the museum, but my favorite was one of the smaller ones that happened to have an almost complete cyclic trilling, which gives the stone almost like a snowflake appearance.

While we were in the exhibit my dear old friend, Morgan Turner PhD, send me a message asking if her exhibit was on display. Not knowing she had a potential exhibit in the museum I asked her to expound more. She informed me that she’d done a video installation for the museum a few years prior using her discoveries around dinosaur footprints & their walking patterns though she wasn’t sure the video had ever actually been installed. When I tell you Evan & I spent an hour walking around the different halls of dinosaurs on the fifth floor, I mean it. Morgan even went as far as emailing the director of the museum to see where the installation was. Unfortunately she didn’t get a response til after we’d left. Oh darn, guess I’m going to have to go back again just to see it.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

Central Park

Our next stop was more caffeine. Our coffee obsessed friend Dan had tipped us off to the fact that WatchHouse, a UK based coffee shop that you can find previously mentioned in one of my London blogs, had opened their first location in the US in Midtown. We took a lovely midday stroll through Central Park to get there. The walk took us around 30 minutes but the weather was so perfect that is was entirely worth it!

Upon arrival at WatchHouse I ordered a Flat White with an Asparagus & Leek Danish & Evan got their Cold Brew which was served in the coolest Kinto glass that looked like it was a plastic cup.

WatchHouse

Feeling renewed & with evening approaching, we decided to head back to Anne’s to lounge about for a bit, shower, & prepare for our dinner reservation.

Bread Basket at Hav & Mar

For my birthday dinner I had booked us a spot at Hav & Mar. A James Beard Award finalist this year, Hav & Mar is an Ethiopian inspired Seafood restaurant from restauranteur & chef Marcus Samuelsson located in Chelsea. The menu isn’t overly Ethiopian, though its presence is definitely still felt! Evan & I tend to go family style at most meals we venture off to & this one was no different.

We started our evening with a celebratory cocktail, the Seashore Spritz which featured Mallorca Melon, Black Tea, Apple, & Celery along with Prosecco, it was a lovely light imbibement. We kind of then played the rest of the menu by ear having asked several different staff members what to get upon arrival. The first thing we ordered was the Hav Bread Basket which came with Injera Crisps, Teff Biscuits, Blue Cornbread, Shiro Hummus, Honey Butter, & Tomato Jam. We picked our way through them, trying each combination of bread with each of the spreads.

Scallops at Hav & Mar

Next up came small plates.

We ordered Hamachi with Black Ceviche, Cippolini Onions, Grammy Smith Apples, & Fennel. the Spring Salad with Baby Romaine, Red Endive, Fava Beans, Ayib, & Spiced Pepitas, & probably some of the best Brown Butter Scallops with Spring Vegetables, Turmeric, & Pumpkin Coffee Crumble that I’ve ever had!

Havatini at Hav & Mar

We were honestly starting to get a bit full but that didn’t stop us from splitting an entree & two sides of which we ordered the Havatini which was a Bucatini with Crab, Uni Butter, Shrimp, & Ramps. It slapped! Our sides were the Hav Fries which were a combination of Yucca & Sweet Potato with Shiro Hummus & Awaze & the Farroto, a Couscous & Farro dish prepared like Risotto served with Confit Mushrooms & Ramps which was sinfully good.

And since there’s always room in the dessert stomach it too was brought to the table in the form of a Spring Tart made with Guava & Calamansi both of which are two of my favorite tropical flavors!

All & all Hav & Mar was a smash! We didn’t have anything there that was anything less than stellar & I’m truly just upset that we weren’t able to try more of the menu as it does contain quite a few items, all of which that shift seasonally.

Following dinner I made the executive decision that I wanted to go clear across town to the Lower East Side & visit a bar called ‘Double Chicken Please.’

Double Chicken Please is a front bar with a backroom speakeasy that is currently sitting pretty at the #2 slot on the World’s 50 Best Bars list! The front room bar features draft cocktails & the back bar, or ‘The Coop’s’ menu is more made to order. Both share a food menu of mostly chicken sandwiches.

The Coop at Double Chicken Please

When we arrived they were on a bit of a wait, but my superpower always prevails & we were told “well, we have a reservation arriving in 30 minutes, but if you’d like their table for just a drink or two we can arrange that.” So that’s exactly what we did.

All of the drinks in The Coop are modeled after food. I got the Mango Sticky Rice with was Bacardi Reserva Ocho Rum, Mango, Sticky Rice Pu’er Tea (I actually have this at home), Wakame, Cold Brew, & Coconut. Evan, on the other hand, went the savory route & got the Japanese Cold Noodles which was Bacardi Superior Rum, Pineapple, Cucumber, Coconut, Lime, & Sesame Oil & it definitely was more on the savory side which was really interesting to have in a drink. Both drinks were immaculate, though I’m glad that I ordered what I did.

We finished up right around the time our friends Holden & Erina finished up the movie they had gone to. They reached out to see if we wanted to grab a drink somewhere. With us in the Lower East Side & them up by Midtown I suggested we meet in the middle around Flatiron at a bar that was recommended to me by Joshua Gleave called Patent Pending.

Patent Pending is a speakeasy located at the base of the building where Nikola Tesla conducted many of his experiments on radio waves & there-in lies the theme. The whole bar is themed around early electricity & the life & journals of the late, great Nikola Tesla. The drinks are also served with a bit of flare! All in all we ended up staying way longer than we were supposed to & each ended up with about three to four drinks over the span of two plus hours. So in all honesty, even looking at the menu, I can’t really remember what I ordered though I know I stuck to rum most of the night.

What I do remember is that the drinks were very well crafted & balanced. One of mine even came with bananas that were brûléed tableside! I would recommend it for the experience alone!

Anne’s Poor Window

At around midnight we said goodbye to our friends & headed back west towards the Garment District.

We tried to be quiet getting back into Anne’s but I think we didn’t do so great of a job as Evan broke the blinds for our room trying to close them for the night. He literally twisted the pitch knob on them & they completely disconnected from the top of the sill & just hung slack, still attached on one side.

All in all, it was an excellent birthday & a very fun day filled with amazing people & places!

Ceiling of the American Museum of Natural History

End Of Day Two

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Day Three

Another day of lightly sleeping in. I’m not going to lie to you all, I woke up hungover as sin. Ever since around the age of 29, hangovers have really hit me like a tone of bricks & just tend to get worse & worse as the years go on & as my body becomes less suited to my BS & the poison I occasionally in take.

Evan & I had a late morning coffee date set up with a friend in Brooklyn, so after climbing the morning mountain that was getting out of bed, we headed off across the East River with electrolyte drinks in hand.

Coffee in Brooklyn was at a Columbian shop called Devoción. When I say it was a Columbian coffee shop, I mean it, that’s what they specialize in, all things Columbian Coffee!! Evan & I waited, not too long, for our friend to arrive at which point we each got a Pistachio Milk Cortado & our respective morning pastries. I went with the Guava Croissant, Evan his staple of Pain Au Chocolate.

We sat there for a good hour & a half/two hours talking about the past, photography, musical theater, the macabre, parents, trauma, dreams, life, & relationships. It was a lovely rekindling as well as a much needed venting session for the three of us regarding shared experiences & people. Nothing was said that wouldn’t be said to anyone in questions face, nor was any of it things that hadn’t been said or happened. It was a healthy & honest dive into a shared commonality.

Feeling a bit famished & having the void remain despite coffee & pastries, Evan & I bid our friend a loving & fond ‘adieu’ & made our way back to the island.

Lunch was at a restaurant in NoHo called Fish Cheeks. We had met the owners of the establishment, Jenn Saesue & Jesse Morav, back in 2021 at a dinner with music industry friends in Nashville & had been meaning to make the trek out to their establishment. We finally did!

Somtum Corn Salad at Fish Cheeks

Fish Cheeks is an awesome Thai restaurant located right off of Bond Street. Their menu isn’t necessarily what I would call familiar to those who divulge in their local Thai restaurants, but the items on the list still very much maintain their Thai authenticity while naturally having their own twists & turns. As per usual, Evan & I ordered a bunch of things to split & made our way through them as they came.

The first two things that we ordered were the Zabb Wings & the Somtum Corn Salad. Somtum is typically a Papaya salad, though this one had Cweet Corn as its replacement. The dish was very savory with a slight sweetness from the Corn & a prick of heat from the Birdeye Chilis as well as a very nice mouth feel & a springy crunch from the Green Beans. The wings had outstanding flavor with a dry rub of Chili & Makrut Lime Leaf. I’m typically not one to go in for dry rub wings as they can get a little ‘dusty’ but the flavor made up for any potential hesitancies ten fold.

Coconut Crab Curry at Fish Cheeks

Between courses I ordered a cocktail they had as a special for Songkran (Thai New Year) in hopes for a little hair of the dog, but I found myself, at no fault to the cocktail itself, incapable of drinking it without feeling queasy. The drink, called the Little Cha, was a Thai Spiced Rum, Thai Tea, Plum Sugar, Makrut Leaf, & Lime twist on an Old Fashioned & I truly wish my pesky handover had let me enjoy it.

Kaprow at Fish Cheeks

For our main course we ordered the Coconut Crab Curry & the 30 Day Dry Aged Beef Kaprow both of which were outstanding! We had been warned that the crab curry was spicy, though we were also informed that the rice would help balance it out. She was warm to say the least but the flavors there in made me keep coming back, despite my mouth being aflame. I’m typically someone who does fine with spice as well, but this was a whole new level. If your tolerance is high & you have the chance I can’t recommend it enough, it’s just not for the faint of heart. The Kaprow was also a delight! The Aging, the Duck, the Veggies all made just a perfectly rounded dish!

With mouths still lit, we decided that Ice Cream was needed, fortunately they had some on their menu! Dessert was a Pandan Jackfruit Ice Cream served atop Sticky Rice. I am a huge fan of both of those flavors, both of which I also feel are criminally underrated in the US palette. (See last week’s blog from the Philippines where I scoured a market for a fresh Jackfruit.) Pandan almost has a bright peanut-y flavor to it that leans a little more on the ‘green’ side than the legume itself & Jackfruit tastes like a combination of all the popular tropical fruits: pineapple, banana, mango, & coconut.

After lunch we popped around a few of the shops in the NoHo area, doing our best to avoid the scattered drizzle that was falling here & there, before we decided to make our way back to Anne’s.

We sat around conversing with her for a bit before it was time to get ready for the main event!

Sweeney Todd Playbill

Sweeney Todd was at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, which was just a short walk from where we were staying. The revival of the show originally had Josh Groban in the titular role with Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett, & Gaten Matarazzo as Tobias Ragg but had since switched to having Aaron Tveit, Sutton Foster, & Joe Locke in each of those respective roles. Having been one of my favorite shows for a very long time, I have seen many a production of Sweeney Todd but truly this one blew all of the others I had seen out of the water!

Aaron, despite being mostly a Tenor in a Baritone role, actually nailed the part. Each of the actors brought their own unique takes to the roles in question, he was no exception. Aaron’s Sweeney was charismatic, often almost bipolar, but definitely personified the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ motif perfectly.

Sutton stole the show in every scene she was in giving a portrayal of Mrs Lovett that I can only describe as fangirl-ish. She let her character’s obsession with Todd take main stage & her willingness to do anything, as long as it got her closer to him, became all the more believable because of it. Prone to body humor, Sutton was often draped over Aaron going so far at one point during “A Little Priest” as to have a one sided sloppy make out with the side of Aaron’s cheek.

Joe Locke surprised me! I’d only known him from the Netflix’s adaptation of Heartstopper, the boy has got pipes!

The two other stand out cast members were John Rapson’s Beadle Bamford & Nicholas Christopher’s Adolfo Pirelli. Both of whom played their respective roles with different levels & styles of flamboyance & arrogance that made two characters, especially in the sense of the Beadle, bounce off the stage.

Truly the revival & the choices made by both cast & crew were masterful & really gave the almost 50 year old musical a fresh coat of paint & a new & interesting edge. I’ve done my best to try & get all of my friends who I think would like it or could possibly have the opportunity to, to go & see it before it closes next week.

After the show we went in search of food. Unfortunately, since it was a week day, a lot of the places we tried were closed. Alternately, a lot of the other places we tried were full to the gills with people who had just done the same as us & gotten out of the various shows dotting Midtown Manhattan. We eventually settled on a random 99 Cent Corner Pizza shop where we each got three slices which we took back to the place to eat.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

End Of Day Three

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Day Four

Out last day in New York was a bit of a light one. Truly I was still a touch hungover from two nights prior, yes that’s how bad it gets, & we had decided we kinda just wanted to putz around the city for the day.

We did wake up fairly late & were planning to return to WatchHouse for a coffee. However, we decided that food needed to come first.

Wanting to land somewhere around WatchHouse, which is in Midtown, I pulled a restaurant from my handy dandy ‘travel list’ in my notes app which landed us at Jōji Box by Grand Central Terminal.

Jōji Box is the light version of the sushi restaurant Jōji. Jōji is an Omakase (a Japanese phrase essentially meaning “I leave it up to you”) with a Michelin star, where a seating ranges from $300-450. The Box is their more casual friendly take away option.

We had some trouble finding the restaurant that actually turned out to be more of a kiosk tucked in the basement level under the One Vanderbilt building, across from the underground entrance to Grand Central.

Omakase Box from Jōji Box

I ordered the Omakase box & Evan got the Jōji Box 1. Upon ordering we were informed they had opened only 15 minutes prior & were already almost out of boxes, but that the boxes were restocked every two hours until closing.

We took our boxed lunches down to the dining pavilion of Grand Central where we stood & munched down of the chef’s selection for the day.

To be honest, there were several things in my box that I had no idea of. Lots of different varietals of Tuna, two cuts of Salmon, a Toro Roll, a Snowcrab Roll, Bream, & Scallop but there were two items in the box that I had never actually had before in Nigiri form; Uni (Sea Urchin) & Salmon Roe.

The Uni & Roe were both sweeter than expected with the former having more of a briny finish. The Roe had a fun texture to it & I genuinely enjoyed them both, though I think I’ll stick to Uni as a mix in for other dishes for now.

Post sushi we wrapped around the corner of the concourse & got a staple of a New York City dessert, Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding.

WatchHouse Rarities Tray

Post sushi & pudding it was coffee time. We walked our way from Grand Central over to WatchHouse where the cafe was actually fairly busy. Managing to snag a table Evan ordered a Flat White & I got one of their rarities, of which they were out of the last time we were there. WatchHouse has a collection of “rare” single origin beans from all over the world. The coffee is chemex brewed & served in a carafe with an empty glass & a glass of cold juniper tea that you are to use as a palette cleanser before you begin to drink the coffee. Each coffee also comes with a QR code which when scanned takes you to a page with all of the information surrounding the specific coffee that you’ve chosen. Mine was Deiro Garcia, also known as Finca Lord Voldamort. I’ll link its page here.

Post coffee we did a little bit of bobbing around. Our evening flight wasn’t until around 9 PM so we had plenty of time to kill. We ended up at several different shops before heading down to Flatiron to grab a LeVain Cookie.

LeVain Black & White Cookie

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

LeVain Bakery is a stable of the New York dessert world offering not only their famous cookies, but also breads & other baked goods. The also ship their dough nationwide if that’s something you’re interested in!

When we got there there was a line of about 20 people but with three registers open & people filling orders seperate of the cashiers it moved quickly. I think it took 5 minutes tops for us to get in & leave cookies in hand. I got a Black & White Cookie which is exclusive to the Flatiron store or online. It was Chocolate Dough with White Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Chips, & it smacked! Evan got a traditional Chocolate Chip, which was amazing & blew some other famous one named cookie store’s Chocolate Chip out of the water…not naming names here.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

While at LeVain we noticed that we weren’t too far from the World of Harry Potter Store & since we had time to burn, we walked on over to check it out.

We perused all of the character wands, looked at uniforms & cloaks, picked through the interesting memorabilia, & finally ended our visit to the rather impressively large shop with a glass of Butterbeer, which comes in a collectable cup they let you wash & keep with you.

Feeling satisfied with the trip & our accomplishments this time around in New York we headed back to the Garment District to begin packing & preparing to depart that evening. We had another few glasses of wine with Anne & chatted about before we grabbed all of our belongings & made the reversed trip to the airport as that listed above.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

End Of Day Four

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Photo Credit: Evan Michael

End Of Blog!!!

Recipe: Charlie's Healthier, Yet Still Bussin' Brownies

As per usual, when it comes to recipe postings on my site, I shan’t be giving you some long drawn out story about how my grandpa made this recipe while fighting in the Korean War or how my mother used to make this on the days when we were sick on the verge of death because that’s not why you’re here. You’re here for a recipe, plain & simple.

This recipe, as many recipes do, originated as a combination of a bunch of different recipes that I put my own unique twist on & adjusted to fit my personal taste & lifestyle. As with any recipe, I urge you to do the same & to make it your own. Food is an art form after all.

Yes this recipe contains sweet potatoes but, as someone who doesn’t enjoy sweet potatoes, I promise you won’t be able to taste them!

Anyway, without further pomp & circumstance here’s the recipe!

Charlie’s Healthier, Yet Still Bussin’ Brownies

Yes, they are Paleo.

Ingredients:

• 3 Small Sweet Potatoes (Get Small Ones, They Won’t Be Stringy)

• 1/4 Cup of Paleo Blend Flour or Flour of Choice

• 1/3 Heaping Cup of Cocoa Powder

• 2 Eggs

• 1 TSP Vanilla Paste (or Extract If You Don’t Have Paste)

• 1 TBSP Nut Butter of Choice (I Use Almond or a Mix)

• 1/2 Cup of Chocolate Chips (I Use Lily’s To Cut The Sugar)

• 2/3 Cup of Coconut Sugar

• Pinch of Smoked Salt (Regular Is Fine Too)

• Pinch of Nutmeg

• Dash of Cinnamon

Optional Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup of Chopped Nuts

• 1/2 Cup of Shaved Coconut

• Pinch of Garam Masala

• Whatever Else You Might Like In Your Brownies

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

• Poke a plethora of holes in your sweet potatoes & arrange them on a baking sheet.

• Cook sweet potatoes in oven for 75-90 minutes or until caramelized & peeling. The skin should be easy to remove.

• Allow potatoes to cool before removing skin.

• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

• Line a baking dish with parchment paper.

• In a stand mixer or large bowl combine all of your ingredients, don’t forget the potatoes.

• Pour batter into your lined baking pan.

• Sprinkle large flake smoked salt or coconut or whatever you’d like on top.

• Bake for 30 minutes.

• Remove from oven & let cool.

• The brownies should be baked through but still gooey.

• Enjoy them & enjoy serving them to friends & family without telling them they’re healthy-ish!

Story: Let's Go Back, Back To The Beginning

Earlier this week I grabbed coffee, or rather tea because I’m trying to cut my caffeine intake, with a new friend. At one point in the conversation he brought up my blogs. You know, this thing you’re currently feasting your eyes upon. The first thing he asked me was “how & why did you get started doing blogs” & it occurs to me now that I’ve never formally had that conversation with you all who return week after week, drift in & out, or have randomly stumbled upon this here post. It was an interesting thing to talk about & kind of piece together along the way as I told him the story but the idea of recounting it here hadn’t occurred to me until today when I sat down to write, at which time I was met with a random passing “how did you get started, how far have you come?” question while pilfering through the internet.

My blog page started as a recommendation blog. I had a former manager who commented on the fact that I always have food & drink recommendations for people when they go anywhere & that I should compile a list so that people can access that information at any time without having to text or DM me. The first one, naturally, was Nashville. I compiled a list of restaurants on one blog post & bars on another & published it to actually fairly moderate success. In fact the blog still remains actively edited to this day when I remember to make edits & feel like adding in new restaurants/bars or when some of the ones on the list have closed. From there my recommendation blogs continued. I did an LA food one next, followed by LA drink, then came Kansas City, which I’m pretty sure is a combination blog, & Portland, which I know for a fact is.

Now around this time the mailing list craze was really kicking off & I went to a seminar about marketing for artists such as myself. Someone on one of the panels brought up that one artist they knew did a weekly blog where she detailed & documented her week & then sent it out as a newsletter before the weekend. This sparked the idea of these now weekly blogs.

I knew I didn’t think my day to day life was interesting or varied enough to entice readers to come back week after week so instead I opted for a different approach. My blogs would be varied. Sometimes they would be recommendation blogs, sometimes recipes since I cook quite often, sometimes they would actually be about an event I experienced if I found that event to be interesting enough for a retelling.

Around the time I started to write blogs happened to coincide with the events & civil rights travesties of the Trump Administration. As someone who found himself incredibly politically literate & in possession of a platform, I started writing blogs highlighting the damage that was being done to The USA at large. Additionally, within that same vein, I started to write think pieces directed towards those reading who I knew might fall on the conservative spectrum about more liberal policies & why they are beneficial. I tried to frame them from the perspective of someone who would be against them to mixed success. I continued on this track, using my blog to post my opinions as well as resources when natural or political disasters struck. It wasn’t until May of 2021 that I started doing travel blogs.

Evan & I ended up in Maui right around the time that the tourism industry reopened in Hawaii. I had gone to finish the open water side of my dive certification & had just invested in a GoPro to grab footage of our time there. I did it partially for content & also so the people I knew that cared to know about my adventures had a place to turn to & get the inside scoop of all the goings on of my travels. Additionally it allowed me to combine a lot of the elements of what I was doing; storytelling, recommendations, etc., into one single post in one single place. The thing I ended up underestimating was the time in which each of these travel blogs take.

So the travel blogs ate up a lot of time, most of them ended up being around a two to three week series that took me around the totality of the week to complete for each. I had to write the stories, link the places, go through edit & add the photos, place the photos aesthetically, etc. etc. etc. but I quickly found that these were my most popular submissions. That’s until I wrote a blog called “No Hate Like Christian Love.”

NHLCL was really a think piece for me, a plea for the evangelicals of the world to look at how they were asked to behave in the book they claim to cling to & compare that to the way they are actually perceived by the world & also understand why “the church” is dying. It remains my most popular blog to this day, out performing each of my weekly submissions during the week they’re posted. NHLCL still garners easily around one hundred individual views a week just from people either searching for something of the like or having stumbled upon it some other way. It has, aside from each of my travel blogs, been the biggest source of outreach & foot traffic to this, my website.

So where are we today? Well, this piece, I suppose, could be filed under “story.” The shape that my blog has taken over the years is very reflective of who I am as an individual, all encompassing. I think, if I were to choose a direction for it to go, it would mostly remain in the story telling world, specifically as a recounting of my travels & the highs & lows of my life. I like to think that my blog has a positive influence on the world, as small or large as that is, but I suppose that’s for you all to decide, not me. The hard part about getting travel content for you all is getting to travel, having the funds & time to scour the globe for my next adventure to bring back & share with you all. If that weren’t as much of an issue, I think this blog would definitely take that shape more often than not. I’m always down for feedback though! I’d love to know what you’ve liked & disliked about my blog over the years. I’d love to know what you’d like to see more of or less of. I’m always intrigued to know who is reading my posts, why, & what they got out of it.

As always,

Much love to you all & thank you for supporting this crazy weekly thing that I do!

-C

Object Writing: Biscuits

The crumbs lie lazily scattered around the base of the package; let’s call them little remnants of a midnight snack consumed half awake. Their trail extending from the ripped opening of which now only a trivial few fractions of the original tantalizing contents remain. It was clear from the moment I'd opened them, during my initial purchase, that this package had previously been dropped; the silvery wrapping had given way to the crumbled bits of cookie within still loosely holding tight to their uniform means of presentation. The hours of night that crept into morning had made way for the soft vanilla & caramel accents of the biscuits to waft delicately into the air & pique the olfactory of any happenstance passerbyer. They weren't my favorite, though, I guess, the haste at which I had ushered them into my shopping basket the day prior would have said otherwise; I guess I'd just had a hankering for something saccharine & carbohydrate laden. I finished the remainder of the container with passive indifference before discarding the scrapes & the undesirable bits into the trash. Great way to break fast, I thought to myself as my gnashing turned sugary tack into mush. Great. Way. To. Break. Fast.

Travel Blog: San Juan, Puerto Rico-Part Two: Viejo San Juan

Welcome Back!

If you haven’t read part one from my trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, I’ll link it below! If you’ve already given it a read, thank you for coming back for this second part & of course thank you for taking the time to read my work in the first piece! Here’s that link for those of you that need a refresher:

PART ONE

All caught up? Great! Let’s head on into part two then!

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PART TWO

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DAY THREE

The problem with staying in an old convent is that the doors to your Juliet style balcony are often several hundred years old & made of real, non-particle board, wood. That being said, when you close them at night in order to block out the street light directly outside of your room, you end up completely blacking out your room. That’s definitely not a bad thing when it comes to getting some sleep however, when it comes to waking up it makes things a little more complicated. When you’re laying in bed in the pitch black there is no way of knowing whether or not it’s midnight, 8 am, or even potentially noon. All of this is a very round about way of saying that we didn’t wake up on this, our day three, until around 11 AM…

Our initial plan where day three was concerned, was to go either to El Yunque, Camuy Caves, or Mata La Gata. We did not realize that unfortunately, due to COVID, they were limiting the number of vehicles & patrons into each of these respective locations & were requiring reservations of which we had none. So our plans changed.

We decided, since the rainforest was off the table, to have ourselves a day in Viejo San Juan, further exploring the Spanish/Caribbean fort city we’d been staying in for the last two days. We set out from El Convento in search of café striking out rather consistently along the way. Our first attempt at caffeination was at Don Ruiz located within the Museo de las Américas which was unfortunately closed due to the Rona. Our second attempt was also closed though I’m blanking on the name at the moment. Some what defeated we continued down the hill making our way towards the more touristy parts of the city. We figured if anything would be open it would be down where the cruise ships let off.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

The day we’d chosen to embark upon greeted us with 96 degree air saturated by 80% humidity. It was hot to say the least. Despite our linen layers & downhill decent we were sweating bullets around halfway down the city. We happened to pass a paleta shop rounding one of the corners & stopped in for a small respite. We had unknowingly stumbled upon Señor Paleta, one of the highest rated dessert bars in all of Puerto Rico! I got a passionfruit paleta, at the recommendation of our host, Ev got mango. We ate our paletas, juice dripping down our arms, as we wound our way down to the docks.

Upon arrival the demographic shift was more than apparent; far less locals, way more tourists running around anxiously, shoving their way into the chain restaurants that greeted them as they exited the gargantuan ships. But, amongst the hustle & bustle of blind tourism sits Cafe Cola’o, it a quant little eye in the middle of this figurative capitalist hurricane. When we entered Evan & I were the only two minus the two baristas occupying the building & even then it felt a tad claustrophobic. I ordered one of their specialty drinks, iced, & Evan had a simple iced latte. The baristas seemed taken aback by the fact I ordered our beverages in Spanish as I’m sure majority of their clientele doesn’t speak a lick of it. I basically chugged my coffee, it was so good & so refreshing. As soon as the ice was rattling around the plastic cup in my hand my hunger began to set in.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

Just up the street from Cola’o is a six table top bistro called Spiga, they are famous for their sourbough bread. A sleepy little black dog had settled into their siesta beneath the table we were assigned but we didn’t mind. I had the Prosciutto Caprese Sandwich & Evan had the Prosciutto Brie. I’m glad I ordered what I order because despite normally having a palette for Brie & Fig Jam, that day I wasn’t having it. My sandwich was incredible & Evan swears by his as well, despite me not being much of a fan. I grabbed another cortado before we headed back up the hill away from the tourism.

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

We had decided to give the old fort a tour, Castillo San Felipe del Morro. By the time we reached the top of the city again the sweat had really begun to soak in. With clothing now cling-wrapped to our bodies we walked along the curtain wall to the stretch of green Bermuda lawn that skirts the walk up to the castle. We paid the $10 admission fee & began our exploration. Much of the castle is built atop much older parts of the castle. There were often places where you could easily distinguish the original parts of the build from those that were only a hundred years or so newer. The castle is mostly empty rooms but has a few exhibits still set up along with some pretty amazing views.

After walking around the fort for a bit we headed back to the hotel to cool off before we went to dinner. We stopped at a Piraguas vender along the way & got two Guayaba Piraguas to help aid our refrigeration process. For those that don’t know, Piraguas are a type of shaved ice taken from a massive block. The shavings are funneled into a cup & pressed down before being topped with fruit juice, in this case Guava.

After hanging out for a while in the air conditioning of our hotel room we gathered up our energy & ventured back into the heat of the early evening in search of a happy hour. We ended up at La Taberna Lúpulo, a local taproom that served an interesting twist on classic cocktails, their twist being that each cocktail contained some form of beer. I got the La Patria Colada (White Rum, Créme de Coco, Fresh Pineapple Juice, & Coconut Porter) & Ev got the La Perla Punch (Lime, Passionfruit, & Coconut Rum, Fruit Juices, Topped with a Sour Beer). Both were incredible however their take on the classic Piña Colada was most intriguing!

After drinks it was once again time to eat! Dinner was Deaverdura a Puerto Rican place I’d find via the interwebs. We once again played my favorite game at a restaurant, surprise me, & our waitress brought us these bomb ass Shrimp with Fried Plantains & Carnitas with Moros y Cristianos. The food was truly to die for & their menu, which was written on a black board in the corner, changes daily based on whatever they feel like making.

After dinner was more food. I was stuffed but my dessert stomach was calling out for sustenance. Evan had found this place on Tik Tok that had a very interesting gimmick; they made waffles in the shape of, as they referred to them, “weenies” & “flowers.” In addition to their quirky shape apparently the waffles themselves stood on their own, no pun intended.

Back down the hill we went only this time we headed diagonal, going east. We found “Mr. Weenie Waffles” tucked inside a clothing boutique. It was run by one woman who was, to put it lightly, overwhelmed. We were second in line but she was finishing up a mobile order before the couple in front of us order & then had to do another mobile order after them of around four individual waffles. Each waffle has the option of being stuffed, iced, drizzled, & topped. Evan got a Weenie stuffed with Bavarian Cream, Chocolate Iced, drizzled in Dulce De Leche, sprinkled with Coconut & I got a Guava stuffed Weenie with Vanilla Icing, Dulce De Leche drizzle, & Coconut. Did I mention my obsession with all things guava or is that apparent? The reviews weren’t wrong, it was a pretty solid dessert. The funniest part of the whole experience was the fact that after we ordered a group of about six people came in & about an hour later on the Mr. Weenie Waffles Instagram page they posted a help wanted ad. Poor woman definitely needed some help.

We got a to-go Passionfruit Mojito from a bar called Marylin’s Place, the interior of which is basically a shrine to Monroe herself, & walked back up the hill. Viejo San Juan allows you to carry drinks while exploring so we used that as an excuse to tie us over until we reach the next bar.

We went back to La Factoria from day two, partially because we wanted to see what the other two bars within the bar looked like but mostly because their cocktails were bomb! Making our way into the far back room we were greeted by a DJ spinning traditional Latinx Pop as well as a dance floor full of people. We both ordered a Campeta (Aged Rum, Pineapple & Fermented Ginger) then sat back & watched the locals let loose.

After our drinks we started walking back towards the hotel but were drawn into a bar called La Cubanita. I blame the supernatural for our sudden interest in the bar as we’d never noticed before but it ended up being the perfect night cap. The reason I blame the supernatural is because our bartenderess, Kilani, was a self proclaimed witch, La Bruja de Viejo San Juan, & she created cocktails using the innate properties of the herbs which she mixed in. She treated mixology as if casting potions or creating elixirs similar to an apothecary. I wish I could recall the drinks she prepared for us as they were all perfect, truly perfection in addition to her being the lovelies human. The only one I can recall was a Lavender Mule made with rum in place of vodka which she cleansed with a dried sprig of lavender before serving the drink.

All the bars closed promptly at midnight having last call sometime right after eleven to make sure everyone was cleared out in time. With bellies full of rum we made our way back one street over to Hotel El Convento before closing our big blackout balcony doors for the night.

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DAY FOUR

This is by far going to be the shortest of the days in this blog series. Why? Well, because once again we fell victim to those damn convent doors. How those nuns ever woke up, I’ll never know.

Day four begins once again at 11 AM with foiled plans. The plan for this particular Saturday morning was to walk up the street to the Farmers Market that happens every Saturday morning at El Museo de Arte e Historia. Much like the day before, this museum & its courtyard were also closed…dammed Rona. So we went to see if the empanada place we wanted to try, Deshistoria, was open instead. Nope. The hours on their door were basically a massive “shrug” emoji as well, it basically said “we show up when we want to.”

Defeated & slightly hungover I remember a place in San Juan proper that we’d wanted to try that was also enroute to the airport. We went back to the room, packed up our stuff, pulled the car out of valet, packed it up, & headed into the newer side of town.

La Casita Blanca is as its name implies, a white house. It takes up about a blocks worth of real estate & has a massive tree rooted in the middle of its dining room. We found street parking with ease (remember that super power from the Maui blogs?) & were immediately sat by who I presume was either the owner or at least someone who had been with the restaurant for a long while.

This lovely Puerto Rican woman asked us if we'd ever been in/what brought us in to which the natural only answer is: curiosity. She swung a three foot black board with the days menu over the back of one of our table’s chairs & began explaining her way through it. Before she got too far in I told her what I’d told the waitress the day before, “I trust you.” I told her to bring us whatever & however much she wanted & with great intrigue she agreed.

She started us off with Catfish Bread & Plantain Soup. The bread was kind of like a doughy chicharron, the soup more savory than I’d expected it to be & when combined, woof, incredible. The next thing she brought us were a series of Stews & Rice. One of the stews was Beef the other Chicken, one had Moros y Cristianos the other dirty rice. I preferred the beef while Evan preferred the chicken, so I guess it worked out nicely! In addition to the stews she brought us a pot of beans & half of a massive green avocado covered in veggies. The main course was so good that we couldn't stop eating it. We just got fuller & fuller & fuller but couldn’t for the life of us put down our forks.

When finally we’d slowed to a stop she came over to us looking slightly mournful & explained that what they were in fact famous for was their Tres Leches Cake & how it’d be such a shame if we missed that due to full stomachs. I AM A SUCKER FOR TRES LECHES CAKE & this one did not disappoint! You could very distinctly taste each of the tres leches involved, each evolving perfectly into the next.

We paid & thanked her ten times over before heading off to gas the car, return it, & catch a flight to the mainland.

Puerto Rico was a beautiful experience, I’m so glad I got to have it even if my experience was limited from the pandemic we are still fighting on the daily. A lot of the locales in Puerto Rico require not only proof of vaccination but also a mask until you are seated or eating so I guess if that bothers you, good, stay away from this beautiful place & its incredibly loving people. I can’t wait to be back & see more of the island, I know next time will definitely include El Yunque, Mata La Gate island, as well as diving Black Wall & even more mouthwatering delights!

Until next time Puerto Rico, thank you for the adventure & dear lord, thank you for the food & all the rum!

Mucho amor para todos!

-C

Photo Credit: Evan Michael

END OF PART TWO & SERIES

Travel Blog: San Juan, Puerto Rico-Part One-Four Day GetAway

Hello, welcome back to another addition to my travel blog family! I know a lot of you enjoyed reading about my Maui adventures so I’m excited to share with each of you my experience in San Juan, Puerto Rico this past weekend! Unlike my Maui blog series however, this will only be in two parts. Seeing as I only have about four days worth of content to share that seems more than doable! So I guess without further ado, let’s get into it!

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PROLOGUE

I feel it’s important to outline the situation that led us to Puerto Rico in the first place. Some of you may know, others may be sad you didn’t know, but a few weeks ago Southwest Airlines was offering a three day deal where in if you booked either a round trip flight or two one way flights & used them both by November 18th, then for the entire month of January & February they would give you an unlimited companion pass to use within those two months. My entire family got in on the deal & book themselves flights. The strategy on this end was finding a flight on the cheaper side that would give us a weekend get away but also wouldn’t break the bank. We initially planned on flying to New York City for a weekend, I have many a friend that lives up there, I love the city, & hadn’t been since June of 2019. That was until we found the same priced tickets as NYC but to Puerto Rico. We went with Puerto Rico…naturally…as here you are reading a blog all about traveling to Puerto Rico…

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DAY ONE

Our flight to SJU didn’t leave Nashville until around 4:30 PM, we had a lay over in Fort Lauderdale that didn’t require us to deplane & then we were off to San Juan. At least that was the initial plan. Upon arrival at Fort Lauderdale, having attained all of the new passengers we needed for the next leg of our trip we were all forced to disembark the airplane due to a malfunction of the plane’s air conditioning unit. I didn’t really think it was that big of a deal until Evan reminded me that the AC unit on an airplane is also a part of the system used to filter out the air. We are still in a pandemic after all. We ended up sitting at a completely different gate in FL for around an hour & a half before they found us a new plane & we began to re-board. Man, was that a shit show. The gate agent requested that those of us board who had been on the previous flight from Nashville first which apparently to majority of the people who boarded in Fort Lauderdale, wasn’t fair. They made their feelings about the fairness of this all very well known as well, many attempting to butt into the line of Nashville folks or just outright board before us. Of course this then caused further delay.

After a two hour flight over the Carribean eased by a copy of Cruella previously downloaded from Disney+, we landed in San Juan. The island is requiring proof of vaccination for entry, which we uploaded before hand & were given a QR code to use after baggage claim. Right across from the terminal we picked up our rental car, a mid-sized SUV. We planned to go up into the rainforest & such. Key word; planned, we’ll get to that in the next blog. The rental agency let us pick any mid-sized SUV we wanted on the lot for the same price so naturally we picked the nicest one they had.

About two days prior to our trip the Government of Puerto Rico installed a midnight curfew. It meant from the hours of 12 AM to 5 AM nothing could be open with the exception of all night services & to-go food options, cuz, you know, you can’t catch or transmit CoVid after midnight… We hadn’t arrived in San Juan until about 11:15 local time & by the time we got the rental & were headed towards our hotel in Old San Juan, it was rapidly approaching midnight.

We drove straight to our hotel, Evan searching for open food places on his phone the entire time with no luck. The roads of Old San Juan are narrow, they’re also paved in cobblestone & are often steep at times. Driving on them feels a little like horseback riding in the mountains. Our hotel, Hotel El Convento, luckily was one of the few places en Viejo San Juan to have parking. It was valet across the street at the Catedral Basilica de San Juan Bautista but I guess in spite of the convents change in usage, it still held ties to the catholic church.

As I hinted at in the above paragraph, the Hotel El Convento is a boutique hotel built inside a former convent. Thought the nuns have long since self, the sanctity & beauty of the space still remains. It is a five story, one square block building wrapped around a courtyard that also serves as a bar/restaurant. Each room features a Juliet style balcony & maintains much of the original Spanish style charm.

Upon arrival we asked the front desk attendant where to get food seeing as it was now the midnight hour. He basically told us we were S.O.L. unless we wanted to get our car out of valet & drive to a gas station. We also were in desperate need of water. (Post Maria you’re not supposed to drink from the tap in PR. Urban places are apparently safer than others though.) Still wide awake & starving, we dropped our bags in the room & went out to explore.

The hotel attendant wasn’t wrong, everything was closed. That is, except a little bar that was still teeming with life. We entered hesitant, yet hopeful. I asked the bartended with my fingers crossed whether or not they were serving food AND THEY WERE!!!!!! SUCCESS!!! VICTORY!!!! They didn’t have bottles of water though so we ordered the next best thing, beer. In addition to the two beers we got buffalo wings & truffle fries. The bar was alive with patrons, mostly locals, who were dancing, singing along to the “Best of Frank Sinatra” album playing & generally disregarding the quarantine. As lovely as the bar was I’m not going to divulge the name, I ain’t no snitch.

With full bellies & continued dehydration we returned to the hotel room where we bunkered down for a short night of sleep.

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DAY TWO

We woke up around 6:45 AM despite having only gone to bed about four hours prior. Parched at this point we pulled the car out of valet & made our way to the nearest gas station where we stocked up on the largest bottles of water we could find & a Celsius or two. By the way, the Fruity Cereal Kit-Kats smack. #BreakfastOfChampions

I had booked a dive through a local dive shop called Scuba Dogs. They do many dives around the island but one of the ones not too far from Viejo San Juan was in what used to be the world’s largest natural swimming pool, Escambrón Marine Park. During the 30s & 40s the marine park was part of a socialite beach club attached to the long abandoned Normandie Hotel. The marine park, or pool, was created when a giant concrete walkway was installed around the perimeter. The wall underneath the walkway featured slates that allowed fish to enter & exit the bay at their leisure, but kept the “sea monsters” at bay…no pun intended. Since the demise of the Normandie Hotel the marine park was converted into a nature sanctuary. The seawall was demolished & now the bay & the surrounding areas play host to many species of marine life, large & small.

My dive was with a local dive master named Paco. I had booked two dives around the park with him that started at 8 AM & after brief introductions & dive planning we set out. Our first dive was out past the edge of the bay in the surrounding reef. One of the other dive masters in the area often brings stale bread for the fish so they’ve now picked up the habit of approaching all divers with the hope of a free meal. We spent majority of the dive surrounded by a school of hungry fish made up of Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Atlantic Tang, & Sergeant Majors. At a certain point a small group of Jack joined. I was advised at this point to tuck my hands because anything outlying that they see extending from your palms, including your fingers, they perceive as food. On our way back into the bay we found a few Trunkfish, Clown Wrasse, & two massive French Angels!

The dives themselves weren’t very deep, I think we maxed out around 30 feet, but that made the consumption of oxygen move much slower. Our second dive, which was inside the bay & around the destroyed wall, was around an hour, our first, around 50 minutes. During the second dive we went around checking the fish houses & taino reefs they’d placed around the inside of the park. I must have encroached upon the territory of an Ocean Triggerfish because they were not happy with me. Upon entering the first of the fish houses, while looking for Arrow Crabs, I felt a little nip on my arm through the wetsuit. I turned around to find a flared out triggerfish darting all around me, trying to nip at anything it could get at on me. It didn’t stop this display even when we’d left the shelter & chased us to the next one finally relenting after we got out of eye shot of it.

Further around the bay we found several Trumpetfish, a Scorpionfish, a couple of Grey Angelfish, a Sea Turtle, & even a Caribbean Reef Octopus! Paco uses his guided dives as an excuse for nature conservation, which I happily joined in on picking up any bottles or scrap we found along the way.

Post dive we met the above pictured iguana, but at this point I was absolutely starving. Evan has spent his morning snorkeling & swimming in the bay so he too was feeling the effects of hunger. Never one to skimp on my food research when it comes to travel, I had already found several options for lunch but we both agreed we were feeling local seafood. I had found a restaurant about fifteen minutes down the road called Que PezCa’o. Tucked in the bay by the maritime police depot, Que PezCa’o is surrounded on all sides by the boats of local fishermen. An outdoor eating situation in it of itself, it appeared to be a local favorite. We ordered Fried Grouper Strips, a Ceviche Mofongo, & a Taco Trio (two Ceviche, one Snapper, they were out of Octopus.) The food was incredible! Truly some of the best ceviche I’ve ever had!

After lunch we were feeling a tad sleepy & I, as usually, had a hankering for something sweet. We made our way into San Juan to Kasalta, a local cafe! Here we order two Guayaba y Queso Pastelillos, a Flan con Cinco Leches, & two Café con Hielo which we took back to the hotel & ate poolside on the fifth floor overlooking the bay & all of Viejo San Juan.

After pastelillos on the rooftop we decided to check out some of the bars near by. We found one that came highly recommended called La Factoria. During the day this craft cocktail bar only has their front bar open but on weekends the back two rooms serve as a dance space. I ordered a Peligroso (Barrilito Rum, Averna, Campari, Dry Spice Infusion, & Lime) & Evan ordered a Lavender Mule (Ketel One, Ginger Tea, Lavender, & Citrus.) Both were delicious & we sipped them sitting in an open window watching the old town walk go by.

After drinks we went back to the hotel for a bit where, after a while, we changed into clothing we could get wet in. We pulled the car out of valet & began our hour & a half drive over to Fajardo on the east coast of the island.

Why venture to Fajardo you ask? We’d booked a tour! Well, kind of a tour. We had booked a kayaking trip through the waters of the bioluminescent bay! By the time we got there it was dark, we arranged ourselves within our tour group & were given a safety briefing before being escorted to our kayaks. The kayaks were all linked together in the middle of a shallow bay, you had to wade out a bit to get them. Once we were in our kayaks, which had glow rings on either end of them, we were instructed to paddle single file up a channel through a mangrove forest. The forest waterway was pitch black but the moon was nearly full & illuminated the bare spots of water fairly well. All around us the “coqui” frogs were calling back & forth & the further we got up the channel the more the water began to sparkle.

The bioluminescence was different from the pictures I’d seen in the past; less solid washes of light & more like sparks flying off of whatever gave them kinetic energy. When we reached the lagoon at the end of the channel we bunched up into a group & passed around a tarp to block out the light. Once the light was properly blocked we were instructed to splash around in the water. It’s truly a magical experience even just going for the late night kayak ride. By the way, our tour company was called Eco Adventures!

Once we’d paddled back up the channel & had dried off the search for food began all over again. By the time we’d finished the tour completely it was 10:45 & we still had to make it all the way back to San Juan. We stopped several places along the way hoping to find food but all of them were closed. We finally ended up at a 24/7 grocery store by the San Juan Airport where we grabbed a bunch of pre-made sandwiches & sushi for dinner.

We went to bed that night exhausted but having had a blast of a day!

END OF PART ONE

Travel Blog: Maui-Part One-Travel

SECTION ONE : KANSAS

In case you missed it, Evan & I took a week & went to Maui. I had been to Maui before but it’d been about 16 years since I was last there, Ev had never been. We were fully vaccinated, quarantined completely like good boys for the entirety of this COVID nightmare, Maui had just begun fully opening up for tourism, & the tickets were cheap so we said “yup, that’s for me” & went.

Our journey started not in Nashville, but instead in Kansas City; my parents live there & graciously offered to watch the pups while we were away. Part of your entry into the state of Hawaii consists of having a negative COVID test from within 72 hours of your arrival. So seeing as our flight was due to depart on Wednesday we drove our way to Kansas on Sunday grabbing Hawaiian Bros on the way in preparation for our trip….which I have since found out is run by four white people with no affiliation to Hawaii or its culture & that feels an awful lot like appropriation to me…

Monday started off not too eventful; just covid testing, a few errands, hung out with my niece & nephew, & filling out all of the documentation required to enter Maui from the airport. I grabbed my favorite turkey club from Jersey Boys in Overland Park before calling it an early night & heading into a much more eventful Tuesday…

Tuesday morning rolled around, I got up to swim laps with my father & Evan worked from home in the basement. I found myself exhausted from the hour long swim & the early morning so I took a brief nap only to get up & be met with my favorite KC barbecue, Jack Stack for lunch! (My order: Jack’s Best & Smoked Wings with Cheesy Corn & Beans) After lunch I ran to grab a new carryon bag, as the one I’d had since 2011 had officially bit the dust. I returned home to hang out with my sister before we had planned to go to the Royals game that evening. Our flight was set to leave MCI at 6 AM the next day & fly from KC to Dallas then we’d have an hour layover in Dallas before continuing on to Maui. Well while hanging out with Tori I got a call from American Airlines, whom I’d never flown before, saying that our flight to Dallas had been cancelled due to weather. Evan went into panic mode. I, someone who seldom gets overly stressed about anything, starting looking for solutions. While on hold with American Airlines, the hold time of which I was told was going to be over two hours, I was looking into other airlines, trying to find ways to fly to Dallas that evening instead of waiting in the morning but the plan eventually became “rent a car & drive over night to Dallas.” Fortunately before that plan could be full enacted a lovely woman picked up on the other end of the line & found us a route to Maui through Phoenix. It left around the same time but had a much longer layover of four hours. It also, naturally, arrived in Maui much later & was bumping up to the closing time of the rental car agency we were picking up a (two day) car from…more on that later. During this whole ordeal Evan had apparently gone downstairs & speed packed his entire suitcase in ten minutes planning to have to leave then & there for Dallas by car, still glad that didn’t happen. With new flights & of course upgraded seats we headed off to the Royals game for the night.

Got to bed a lot later than I’d hoped on Tuesday evening. I blame the ball game & the fact that I hadn’t taken the time during the day to pack. Really it all comes down to user error. Either way we had to head to the airport around 4 AM as my rentals live about an hour away from MCI. I think in total I got about three hours of sleep that night…thriving! The airport was dead, just like I felt inside at that point, & security was a breeze. Our flight to Phoenix however was full. I’m pretty sure I slept the whole time but I can’t recall now thinking back on it. At any rate, we landed in Phoenix & were now faced with four hours of “what the hell we gone do now?” We decided to venture out into the greater Phoenix metropolitan era in search of sustenance. I was really hoping to find a place that served endless sopapillas with honey in a bread basket a la Cheesecake Factory style but none of them were open so we found a trendy little breakfast spot called The Hash Kitchen & grabbed cold brew, tamales verdes benedict, s’mores pancakes, & blue corn banana’s foster pancakes! Yes, they smacked.

After finding our way back to the airport we took one of those quick, corner airport naps before finally boarding our flight to Hawai’i! Our flight took six hours to get to Maui & it only took about an hour to realize my computer hadn’t downloaded any of the movies I told it to…so it was a long flight.

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SECTION TWO : MAUI

DAY ONE

We landed in Maui around 2:45 PM Hawaiian time & were immediately put in line to check-in & show our COVID documentation. Evan had been really on top of making sure that we had all our ducks in a row so the check-in was a breeze! It really helped that we brought our vaccine cards with us as well!

While we had been in line for the check-in I received a call from our rental car company asking when we’d be arriving to pick up the car as they were planning to close at 4 PM that day. It was a car that we were only going to be able to rent for two days because all of the other cars on the island were spoken for or several hundred dollars a day to rent & we planned to use it to do all the things around the island that required a car to get there. We didn’t get through with check-in & getting our baggage until around 3:15 & it was a 30 minute cab ride to the rental company. In addition to the distance all of the Lyfts & Ubers were telling us that it would be at least 35-40 minutes before they could even get there to pick us up. I made the executive decision to hail a cab.

We got the last. available. cab. Now would be a good time I guess to talk about the super power I have! I have the ability to get a parking spot, a reservation, or find transportation anywhere. This will come into play again later as well. So. Last cab at the airport! The whole ride to the rental company the driver was getting request after request after request for a ride & she was having to tell each caller that it’d be at least 45 minutes before she could get to them.

As I posted in an earlier blog, I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. See in more detail here! That being said, our driver initially dropped us at the “wrong” rental agency, I’ll explain why wrong is in quotes a little later on. She quickly corrected the mistake & we arrived to pick up the Chevy Cruz, lol, we’d reserved right at 3:45!

From there we stopped by Maui Dive Shop so that I could fill out some of my scuba paper work & so Evan could grab some snorkel gear. We then went to go check in to our VRBO in South Kihei. It was a cute little one bedroom/one bath with a full kitchen, living room, & a balcony that overlooked Charley Young Park! Our hostess, Diane, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting in person was an absolute gem, she was so accommodating & such a lovely human to interact with even if our dialogue was limited to the digital. If you’d like to see more of this listing or book it yourself the link is here!

The street our VRBO was on! It’s the third floor balcony with the chair against the railing.

After checking in & making sure our car wasn’t going to get towed I immediately dropped my bags, fished out my fins, mask, & snorkel, put on a bathing suit & got my ass into the ocean. If you weren’t aware, I’m definitely a saltwater soul, I dry out far too often & require placement in the nearest ocean ASAP. So even though the sun was beginning to set, I had to get in. I was instantly greeted by a small school of trevally which naturally brought me immediate joy!

We spent about 30-45 minutes in the ocean before the hunger began to set in. Seeing as we thought we’d only have a rental car for two days we decided to venture back up to Kahului & grab dinner from Tin Roof. At the recommendation of our cashier we ordered Mochiko Chicken on Garlic Noodles, Pork Belly on Rice, Ulu Mac Salad, & Birthday Cake Bibingka, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from this meal to share with you all. On the way back to the condo we stopped at a natural foods market & stocked up on a few items we figured we could use for snacking throughout the week; mangos, papaya, pineapple, cassava chips, Paia Gelato, juice, Hawaiian Suns, etc. When we got back we broke out the food, ate on the balcony, & I had a religious experience with a mango.

Am I about to devote an entire paragraph to a mango, you bet your ass I am. So, we get back to the condo, we’re plating up the to-go food we got from Tin Roof & I decide we need a little side of produce as well, & cut up a mango. Now, this mango was from a local mango farm called Yee’s. Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand can be found in Kihei operating mostly mid-week & weekends (closed Mondays & Fridays). The mango I had the privilege of consuming was a Golden Glow Mango which is apparently akin to the Alphonso Mango of India, which is said to be the best mango in the world, go figure it’s banned in the US cuz we can’t have nice things here, you know, like universal healthcare…ANYWAY, this was the sweetest, creamiest, most perfect mango I’ve ever eaten in my life, so naturally I filled the rest of the trip with my daily portion of them.

We went to bed fairly early on, because, you know, travel exhaustion & minimal sleep & we prepared for another busy day to follow.

END DAY ONE

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DAY TWO

We woke up around 6:30 AM partially because circadian rhythm, partially because we were told by the woman at our rental car agency to get breakfast at Kihei Caffe, who gets a line fairly early, & partially because we had a day planned that was full of a lot of driving & a lot of hiking. We got to Kihei Caffe around 7:15 & the line was already wrapped around the building. It was moving fairly quickly so we decided to risk it. While in line I popped into Lava Java Coffee Roasters & I got us each a Granita, which is a frozen mocha with a little extra love added to it. The line only took us about 15-20 minutes before we were at the register ordering. I, once again, had the cashier order for me. She selected Loco Moco w/ Kalua Pork, Papaya Delight, & French Toast w/ Bananas & Macadamia Nuts topped w/ Coconut Syrup. All of it smacked but despite my sweet tooth I think my favorite parts of the meal were the first two items!

We immediately left breakfast & started our climb up Haleakala. I guess now would be a good time to mention the one time my superpower didn’t work. I tried to get us reservations for the sunrise at the summit of Haleakala…it sold out in 15 seconds BUT on the flipside of the same day, my superpowers pulled through! You see the previous day when our driver had dropped us at the wrong rental service something piqued in my brain. What if this “wrong” local rental service is actually the right local rental service? So, as we drove, I had Evan look up the rental agency & request a car from Friday-Tuesday when we were departing. THEY HAD ONE! ONE SINGULAR CAR LEFT! AAAAAND IT WASN’T SOMETHING THAT WOULD REQURE ME TO TAKE OUT A SECONDARY MORTGAGE ON THE HOUSE!!!!

The drive to the top of the volcano took us about an hour & a half but along the way you pass through some beautiful parts of the island! From the blue jacaranda trees to the eucalyptus groves there is massive monstera & pothos growing everywhere, its worth the climb for the drive alone. The summit & crater of Haleakala sit within Haleakala National Park, upon the top there is an observatory as well as a small visitors center. We walked around the top before making a slight decent down to the trail that leads into the crater. The whole hike is about 11 miles in total but we decided to only hike down to a small ridge in the center, about a mile or so down.

Haleakala is one of only a few energy vortexes on this planet. In addition to its measurable energies it is also sacred to the Hawaiian people & I can absolutely understand why. The air feels different here, not just because of the altitude but it feels charged while at the same time being very soothing. Where the trail steepens at the ridge we stopped & did a brief meditation. The wind whipping through your hair, the soft brush of the red volcanic ash over your skin, it truly is a magical place & I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to spend even the smallest amount of time there.

Feeling energetically a new, with a caked on layer of red dust & definitely a slight sunburn in spite of copious amounts of sunblock, we ascended the slops back up to our Chevy Cruz & began the winding decent back down the sacred mountain, our next destination being the Highway to Hana.

Halfway down the mountain we realized that we had rapidly burnt through our supply of gas during the climb & were in need of a refuel if we were to make it around the rest of the island. Fortunately the small town of Kula exists. We found this adorable gas station & general store run by the cutest elderly couple. Their whole business was cash based & the store was truly a perfectionists nightmare. I loved it. Next door to these modest lots sat another, Grandma’s Coffee House. Feeling the post hike grumblies & a tad under caffeinated we stopped in for an Iced Coffee, a slice of Coconut/Banana Dream Cake, & a Coconut Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie!

Refueled we pressed on through the up country til we came upon MauiWine. We hadn’t planned to stop but the place was aesthetic AF & I’m a sucker for a tasting menu of any kind. We were told the current wait for the wine tasting was about an hour & since we had places to be & people to see, i.e. trying to make it through to the Seven Sacred Pools, we decided to grab a bottle instead & save it for consumption when we got back to Kihei. They had quite a few Pineapple & Lilokoi (Hawaiian Passionfruit) Wines but the somm on duty recommended a sparkling white grown on island called Ulupalakua Blanc de Blanc. With the bag secured the voyage continued.

If you’ve never driven the Highway to Hana it’s actually a fairly daunting experience, especially for those who would consider themselves not the greatest of drivers & especially in a Chevy Cruz…The drive is absolutely beautiful, there’s no denying that, & I was more than capable of driving it but majority of it consists of one-ish lane roads with no shoulder that are often times either not paved or are paved in the most peculiar of ways. It however cannot be overstated just how beautiful this drive is. You find yourself, over the course of around two hours or so, transitioning from biome to biome as you wrap around the island of Maui. You go from upcountry to lava fields, from lava fields to rocky herding lands, from the herd lands to grassy farms & then finally into sheer jungle. The amount of biodiversity & different landscape is astounding.

We got to the Seven Sacred Pools a little late, really only having about an hour to hike it before the National Park closed so unfortunately we only got to go up to the first of the seven major waterfall. The beauty of the drive, the sense of adventure, the falls themselves, & what was to follow really made the trek worth it though; it’s just for next time I’ll plan to be there a little earlier so I can see it all!

Slightly saddened that we couldn’t get a swim out of the day (you can’t swim in the pools anyway) we continued on down the road toward Hana. Along the way we rounded a corner & found a line of cars parked off to the side of the road with a ton of people just standing around. At the end of the line of cars sat a covered pickup adorned with palm fronds that was blasting reggae. In front of the car stood a family of four; mother, father, & their two boys both no older than four. They were standing in behind a wagon with a machete. In the wagon, & in the back of the pickup, were mounds upon mounds of fresh coconut. Remarking at how cute the roadside set up was we continued on past the stationary vehicles til we noticed several people on the road crossing the bridge ahead. As we cautiously passed them we noticed all of these people were walking up to or returning from a beautiful waterfall that sat just off the road to the right. I knew immediately we had to stop. Evan, on the other hand, was hesitant but I veto’d his apprehension & we turned around.

I quickly parked the car, grabbed my swimming suit & my GoPro, & we too headed over the bridge to the falls. The path down to them was an easy decent freshly paved with mud from the frequent traffic of the dampened returning from their swim. Down the garnished path of giant pothos & slick black lava rock we found a nook to store our towels, clothes, & phones & slipped into the mirky pool the sat below. The water was frigid, but oh so relaxing after a long day spent sweating in the blazing sun & humid jungle. We found our way across the pool to a small cave tucked away at the base of the falls & sat there watching the water rain down from above. We were then met with the sounds of horns blaring. Not sure if they were from park rangers or a flash flood warning we shot out of the water & quickly gathered up our belongings before making our way back to the car. We were met on the bridge by one of the National Park rangers who lovingly asked how the water was & said she herself would have stopped if she didn’t have to be elsewhere.

Returning by way of the family selling coconuts I paused to ask them how much each of their drupes were selling for. I was told $10 cash which I happily paid & they hacked me open a fresh coconut. The water within was sweet & refreshing & they explained that they were continuing a tradition passed down from a gent who used to sit by the falls & weave palm frond hats, a shrine to whom sat across from where their vehicle sat. I thanked them for the coconut & we continued down the road.

From the park ranger at Seven Sacred Pools we got the recommendation to stop at I Lava Tacos. I Lava Tacos sat inside a large community of other food trucks but they were the only one open at the time of our arrival. We ordered the freshest Fish Tacos I’ve ever consumed, the most amazing Guava Wood Smoked Marlin Dip, & a Carne Asada Tacos. Truly breathtaking food! The owner, Justis Andrada, was such a cool guy & was more than happy to show off his amazing culinary prowess!

With full bellies, warmed hearts, & in the fading light of the sun we continued our way around the island back home to Kihei.

I think if I have one regret for the entirely of this trip it’s that we didn’t spend more time in Hana, it seems like a remarkable place full of lively people & incredible culture. I’m also sad we missed the views on the east coast of the island in the sun’s absence but I’m sure we’ll be back soon to take them in!

END DAY TWO

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I’m more than excited to fill you in on more of our Maui adventures but it’ll have to wait til next week when we’ll get to talk Scuba amongst other things!!!

Until next week,

C

Recipe: Charlie's Bombass Paleo Banana Bread

It’s been a hot minute since I shared a recipe on this blog, so I guess it’s about time again that I did. In case you didn’t know I eat mostly paleo majority of the time, especially at home. Why? Because I have minor intolerances to dairy, wheat, & gluten. Nothing to the point where it’s to the detriment of my GI tract but still, I like to limit those three things in my diet. I swore when I started sharing recipes to my blog that I wouldn’t do the normal recipe blog thing where I write some story about how my great grandmother discovered the banana in 1512 & it brings back so many memories for me. I’m gonna go with the same philosophy that applies to songs going to radio. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus. I do want to preface this by saying it’s a new recipe for me, I made it last week & all who tried it couldn’t get enough, it’s also incredibly easy to make! So let’s go!

P.S. This makes a lot so I made it in a casserole pan, you could use two bread pans if you like!

CHARLIE’S BOMBASS PALEO BANANA BREAD

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Total Time: 65 Minutes

Yields 1 Large Sheet or 2 Loaves

Ingredients:

• 4 Super Ripe Bananas

• 1 Zucchini (Grated)

• 1 Thumb of Fresh Ginger (Grated)

• Zest of 1 Large Orange

• 3 Cups Paleo Baking Flour (I Use Bob’s Red Mill, Use Whichever You Like!)

• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

• 1/4 Teaspoon Smoked Salt (Regular Is Fine If You Don’t Have It)

• 1 1/2 Cups Coconut Sugar (Or Any Paleo Sweetener Of Your Choosing)

• 2/3 Cup of Ghee (Melted)

• 2 Large Eggs

• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

• 2 Teaspoons Garam Masala

• Dash of Ground Clove

• (Optional) 1/2 Cup Chopped Raw Pecans

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

• Line a large casserole dish or two bread pans with parchment paper.

• In a mixer or mixing bowl beat together wet ingredients; bananas, zucchini, ghee, vanilla extract, & eggs

• In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients; baking soda, flour, salt, spices, & sugar.

• Add dry mixture to the wet, incorporating a little at a time until combined.

• Add pecans if you so desire & incorporate.

• Pour batter into prepared dish & put in the oven for 50 minutes or until you can insert a tester into the center & have it come out clean.

And that’s it! Truly very simply, but very effective! Feel free to add more orange zest or ginger if you feel so inclined, it tend to be heavier handed on the zest, really elevates the flavor & gives it a bit of a “wow” factor that you can impress your quarantine mates with! Remember when we were all making banana bread at the beginning of all this?! I missed out on that trend haha. I hope you enjoy the bread, your kids will love it, if you have any, & it’s a great way to sneak some fruits & veggies into their diet! If you make it please let me know your thoughts!

Happy Friday & Happy Cooking!

Recipe: Rye Cabbage Roll Ravioli in a Light Tomato Sauce

Trying something new today! Not going to write an extensive blog in front of my recipe because I absolutely hate when people do that! It’s like get to the point already!!!!!

RYE CABBAGE ROLL RAVIOLI IN A LIGHT TOMATO SAUCE

Serves: 6ish

INGREDIENTS:

RAVIOLI FILLING:

• 1-1 & 1/2 Pounds Corned Beef (Cooked)

• 1 Head of Cabbage (Steamed or Boiled)

• 1/4 Cup Spicy Brown Mustard

RAVIOLI DOUGH:

• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour plus some for dusting

• 2 Large Eggs

• 6 Large Egg Yolks

• Pinch of Salt

• 1 Tablespoon of Ground Caraway Seed

• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Yellow Mustard Seed

• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Brown Mustard Seed

  SAUCE:

• 1 8oz. Can of Petite Diced Tomatoes

• 1 Cup Beef Stock

• 1 Teaspoon of Yellow Curry Powder

• 2 Bay Leaves

• 1 & 1/2 Teaspoon Coriander

• 2 Teaspoons of Ground Yellow Mustard

• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Clove

• 1 Teaspoon Crushed Rosemary

• 1 Tablespoon of Tarragon

• 2 Teaspoons of Thyme

• Dash of Ginger

• Pinch of Nutmeg

• Salt & Pepper to Taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Created a well on a clean workspace with your all-purpose flour. Fill well with all of the eggs & egg yolks as well as your salt, ground caraway seed, & both types of ground mustard seed.

  With a fork, incorporate the egg/spice mixture into the flour slowly. When it gets too thick for the fork switch to your hands. Kneed dough until all ingredients are incorporated & mixed thoroughly. If the dough starts to crack or is too dry, wet your hands with water & continue to kneed. If the dough is too wet of is sticking to the workspace, dust the area with flour & kneed until it’s the desired consistency.

• Once your dough is properly combined wrap it in plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least one hour.

  -ONE HOUR LATER

• In a food processor combine equal parts corned beef & cabbage with your spicy brown mustard. Pulse until minced thoroughly, stop before you make it into a paste. Make sure all parts are combined well throughout & no large pieces remain. Set aside in a bowl.

• Remove pasta dough from refrigerator & take off the plastic wrap. If it’s dried out a little don’t be afraid to kneed in a little water.

• Scatter flour on your counter top & cut off a portion of your dough, this should be about a cups worth. On dusted surface, roll out dough til thin, if you have a pasta press around a 3-4 in thickness.

• Cut pasta dough into desired shape, circles, squares, triangles, whatever you want but make them big enough to hold the filling. I personally use a ravioli tray for this, it just makes the process easier.

• On one piece of cut dough place about a half tablespoon of the corned beef/cabbage filling in the center. Wet the edges of the dough with water, around the filling & top with another piece of cut pasta dough or fold one in half. Crimp the edges of the dough together. Dust with flour to prevent them from sticking together & set aside.

• Repeat the above step until you run out of filling or run out of dough.

• Fill a large pot with water & a splash of olive oil & bring it to a boil.

• While your water is boiling, in a medium sized sauce pan combine your tomatoes, beef stock, tarragon, curry powder, bay leaves, coriander, mustard, clove, rosemary, ginger, thyme, nutmeg, salt, & pepper & whatever else goes into the sauce listed above that I’m sure I forgot & bring to a low boil. Cook for about 10 minutes.

• Put your ravioli into the pot of boiling water & cook until they’re your desired level of softness. Then strain them into a colander.

• In a bowl toss ravioli gently with your tomato sauce & serve!

Recommendation Blog: Portland/Portland Adjacent

PORTLAND:

Arlington Heights:

• International Rose Test Garden: There’s a reason Portland is known as “The City of Roses,” this is it! Roses grow exceedingly well in the volcanic soil that surrounds Portland & the Test Gardens are a testament to that! Completely FREE to go visit with some incredibly complex colorations of flower. Worth the stop!

• Oregon Zoo: A quant little zoo, but incredibly charming at the same time. The Oregon Zoo is not by any means a walking zoo (If you’ve been to the KC zoo you know what I mean.)

• Portland Japanese Gardens: About $10 to enter, the Japanese Gardens feature native Japanese vegetation as well as many other traditional forms of Japanese Gardening. Very peaceful & uplifting, it’s almost halfway between an art exhibit & a garden!

Beaverton:

• Nonna Emilia’s Ristorante Italiano: Huge Portions of excellent Italian Food! All of it is your pretty basic fare but it’s all solid & you’ll have plenty to share or take home!

Downtown Portland:

• Blueplate Lunch Counter & Soda Fountain: Featured many times across the Food Network, Blueplate is a solid Diner. Serving anything from Pancakes to Sandwiches, you really can’t go wrong here!

• Little Bird Bistro: The sister restaurant of Le Pigeon, still a bit on the nicer side but a little less pricey! Try the Duck, get a Charcuterie Board to share, don’t skip the Deviled Eggs!

Hillsdale:

• Chart House: A chain, I know but the Portland location is unique because of its position. It sits on a hillside overlooking the entire city. The view is breath taking & the food is always reliable!

Mulitiple Locations:

• Pizza Schmizza: Found all over Portland is this quirky Soda Shop meets Pizzeria. Entirely UFO themed, the Schmizza features hundreds of interesting types of Bottled Beverages as well as very quirkily topped pizzas sold by the slice!

• Pok Pok Wing: Similar to the normal experience of Pok Pok just cut out the sit down restaurant aspect! The wing locations took what made Pok Pok famous, their wings, & trimmed down the menu to revolve around them in a “to-go” setting!

• Salt & Straw: Dotted up & down the west coast Salt & Straw started in Portland & remains a staple! Each month the Ice Cream shop picks a new theme to debut 5-6 ice cream flavors around along side their consistent 12-15 other menu items! Go in & be adventurous! You’d be surprised what you like!

• Sesame Donuts: Come to Portland with Voodoo in mind & the locals will send you to Sesame. Sesame is more your straight forward doughnut shop, but it is none-the-less amazing!

Pearl District:

• PB&J’s Grilled: Top 10 restaurants in the country right here. Used to stop here all the time with the band, we’d load up on about three sandwiches each before going off to the airport to fly back to Nashville! It sounds simple but their menu consists of several different twists on the PB&J formula! I recommend the Oregonian, the Spicy Thai (w/ Shrimp), & the Hot Hood!

• Powell’s Books: One of the US’s most famous bookstores! Powell huge, yet still retains its warmth! A great place to spend a rainy PNW afternoon!

• Voodoo Doughnuts: Located in downtown Portland next to a Porn Theater, Voodoo is a Portland Institution. Ask anyone for Portland recommendations & most of them will list Voodoo amongst them! I recommend a Portland Cream, a Memphis Mafia, the Original Maple Bacon Bar, & The Cock-n-balls!

Richmond/Sunnyside:

• Bröder Cafe: A must stop Breakfast spot! Get there first thing in the morning, they will have a long wait otherwise. I recommend the Aebleskivers & the Daily Skillet. For those who have never tried Norwegian food, run, don’t walk.

• Le Pigeon: The parent restaurant of Little Bird Bistro. Le Pigeon is a little more on the upscale side but the French cuisine is incredible!

• Nong’s Khao Man Gai: Started as a food truck on PSU campus, Kong’s specializes in Chicken with Broth & Sauce. Sounds really simple, which it is, but it’s truly incredible & cheap. Get there early, there’s usually a line.

• Pok Pok: One of my favorite stops in the country! Incredible Authentic Thai/Vietnamese Food with well Crafted Cocktails all set in a chill yet funky vibe. Be sure to get Wings, Flank Steak Salad, the Spicy Boar Collar, & whatever else your heart desires! Everything is great, order family style!

• Stumptown Coffee Roasters: You can find several Stumptown Coffee shops dotted all around Portland which in their own right are must stops in the PNW. However Portland, or as it was originally known “Stumptown,” is home to the national Roasterie for all Stumptown products! They offer Coffee Tasting Tours, Latte Art Classes, etc. Be sure to book in advance, they fill up quickly!

Rose City Park:

• Ohana Hawaiian Cafe: Get you some P.O.G., a Hawaiian Sampler Platter, & some Spam Musabi & you’re set!

ADJACENT:

Florence:

• The Dune Sea: Just South of Florence is a Dune Sea! Rent a Dune Buggy or an ATV & have a blast! If you’re not feeling up to the challenge, grab a guided tour!

• The Hukilau: Traditional Hawaiian food with an Oregonian twist. A must stop along the Oregon Coast. Spam Musabi, Mac & Rice, & The Ahi Fish & Chips are a must! DO NOT MISS THIS PLACE!

Hillsboro:

• Heritage Farms: A wide selection of Seasonal Produce farmed right at the source! Huge Apples of every variety, Pumpkins, Pies, etc.

• Smith Berry Farm: You-Pick Berries of every variety! Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries the size of a quarter, all sold by the pound!

Newport:

• Chowder Bowl at Nye Beach: The Best Bowl of Clam Chowder you’ll ever have, I guarantee it! I get the Slumgullion, Chowder with Pacific Bay Shrimp on it.

• Local Ocean Seafood: A constantly changing assortment of some of the Freshest Seafood on the Coast! Local Ocean is half restaurant/half fish market, located right on the docks where the fish are brought in after they’re caught! The menu is always innovative & inspired & I’ve never left disappointed!

• Oregon Coast Aquarium: I for one am a sucker for a good Aquarium & the aquarium in Newport is a GREAT Aquarium! All of the exhibits are housed fairly close together so you won’t end up walking too far, though the venue is a bit of a maze to accommodate all the wonderful things they’ve placed in this quant space!

• Yaquina Head Lighthouse/Outstanding Natural Area: One of my favorite spots in the world! Yaquina Head is home to a stunning Cobblestone Beach as well as a wide assortment of Tide pools & Wildlife filled areas! Check the tides before going & plan accordingly!

Tillamook:

• Tillamook Cheese Factory: Do the Cheese Tasting Tour & get you some Ice Cream. DO NOT MISS THIS ON THE WAY TO THE COAST!!!!

Troutdale/Columbia River Gorge:

• Horsetail Falls: Definitely a hike. Horsetail Falls & the accompanying trail lead in a circle around to a series of 12 Waterfalls! Definitely a longer hike, but totally worth it.

• Latourell Falls: Not as crowded as Multnomah and a little more of a hike but Latourell features some really interesting Rock Formations as well as a Stunning Waterfall that you can walk right up to!

• Lookout Mountain: A short hike of maybe half a mile…maybe. That leads to a vista point where you can see clearly all of the major mountains of Oregon & Washington!

• Multnomah Falls: One of the most iconic waterfalls in the world. Multnomah may be a bit touristy at times, but there’s a reason for that. It somehow seems to incapsulate the entire spirit of the Pacific Northwest in one location.

• Sugarpine Drive-In: Seasonal, ever-changing menu. Sugarpine has been a staple of Troutdale for almost 100 years! Don’t skip Dessert! Get the Larch Mountain Sundae or the Sugarpine Cone.

• Vista House: Perched on a cliffside overlooking the expanse of the Columbia River, it makes for some great photo opportunities

Willamette Valley:

• Dundee Bistro: A great place to sample Local Cuisine as well as the wines of the region. Offering inspired Bistro Dishes as well as a sampling of the vineyards that surrounds it it’s a good spot for a flight & a bite!

• Rex Hill: Willamette Valley Vineyard specializing in Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, excellent Tasting Experience especially when it comes to their reserve wines!

• Sokol Blosser: Modern Vineyard overlooking the Willamette Valley. A great place to grab a glass of wine, sit and chill!

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS:

• Mo’s: If you can make it, hit the Chowder Bowl, if not Mo’s has a pretty bangin’ cup of Clam Chowder themselves!

• Pig N’ Pancake: Cozy Breakfast Joint dotting up & down the Oregon coast!

Recommendation Blog: Kansas City

KC Proper: (These are the restaurants with multiple locations around Kansas City.)

• Fiorella’s Jack Stack: My personal favor BBQ in KC. Get the Jack’s Best with Cheesy Corn & Baked Beans. The Cheesy Potatoes are also a great choice but whatever you do, don’t skip the Smoked Chicken Wings!

• Gate’s: Get a Double-Decker & a Half. Big ass sandwich but it’s probably the best BBQ Sandwich in KC!

• Joe’s KC: KC’s top voted BBQ joint, Joe’s is a good middle ground for all seeking just good all around BBQ. I always get the Sampler with Burnt Ends, Turkey, Brisket, & Pulled Pork but the most popular menu item is definitely the Z Man.

• The Roasterie Café: A KC Coffee staple! The Roasterie itself offers different tours & coffee based classes! Skip the Cold Brew though unless you get the Sporting Blend!

• Sheridan’s Frozen Custard: Get you a Concrete, get it plain, you really can’t go wrong here!

• Spin Pizza: KC’s take on Napoli Pizza! A lot of really interesting pizza options as well as salads! Several locations across KC!

• Winstead’s: Very few Winstead’s left, an old Kansas City fast food staple. Burgers are incredible as are the Onion Rings.

Country Club Plaza:

• The Capital Grille: Upscale Steakhouse. The Porcini Rubbed Ribeye is divine as is their French Onion Soup! Get the Au Gratin Potatoes & The Lobster Mac to share! Ask for Steve, he’s the greatest waiter!

• McCormick & Schmick: A chain, I know, but go for Happy Hour & get the Calamari & a Chocolate Bag!

• Osteria Il Centro: Always have incredible specials in addition to the staples on their menu! Some of the best Italian west of the Mississippi!

Downtown KC:

• Boulevard Brewery: Book a tour in advance! Excellent Beer with a lot of variety!

• Bristol: Get the Soup Sampler! No joke. That with Cheesy Biscuit is all you need!

• Christopher Elbow: Kansas City’s own famous Chocolatier! His Truffles are immaculate!

• The Peanut: Wings. The Peanut is a dive bar with The. Best. Wings! Only come in one style, Buffalo, but they’re incredible!

Martin City:

• Martin City Brewery: Great Hang Spot! Really great food, really great beer!

• Tropical Sno: Only open in the summer, Tro-Sno has a long list of flavors sure to please anyone! My go to is Guave, Pink Lemonade, & Pink Grapefruit!

Olathe:

• Silas & Maddie’s: Incredible, incredible Ice Cream! I recommend the Blueberry!

Overland Park:

• Desta’s: A little Ethiopian gem located in new at the Blue Valley Sports Complex. The food is incredible & extremely authentic! I recommend Chicken & Lamb Tibs!

• Fat Bee: The OG OP Bobba Tea Bar! Tons of different flavors, I recommend the House Special as is!

• Fortune Wok: Pretty standard Chinese fare with a Sushi Bar. I always go for the Sweet & Sour Soup & their Happy Family!

• Hot Basil: One of my favorite Thai restaurants in the country. They have hands down the best Pad See Ew. Be wary of the heat levels, Thai hot means Thai hot! The Tom Kha is incredible too!

• I Am Frozen Dessert Cafe: Thai Dessert Bar! They take block of ice cream & put them in an ice shaver. Totally worth the stop!

• Jalapeños: An Overland Park staple, best Tamales in the area for sure.

• Jersey Boys: Turkey Club, Turkey Club, Turkey Club!

• Jose Peppers: Locals know it for their Espanaca Dip, but their Salsa & regular menu items are bangin too! I recommend the Fish Tacos.

• K-Macho: All around pretty solid Mexican food! A little more on the big portion side, a crowd pleaser for sure!

• Pad-Thai: A relatively new Thai restaurant, get the Crying Tiger Beef & ask the chef to surprise you with the main Entree!

• Plaza III: Another upscale steakhouse on the plaza. Here I recommend the Ribeye & the Mac & Cheese & the Onion Straws

• Robek’s: California smoothie chain, used to carry Guava Juice but have since stopped, but asked them to replicate a “Guava Lava” & they can still get it pretty close.

• Ruchi: Go get their Indian Lunch Buffet, allows you to try all different kinds of Indian dishes without the pressure of being set with just one!

• Sweet Caroline’s: Candy shop that serves Silas & Maddie’s Ice Cream!

Prairie Village:

• Cafe Provence: Consecutively voted one of the top restaurants in the entire United States, French Fare. Don’t miss the Onion Soup or the Amish Chicken.

• Dolce Bakery: Try all the cookies, all of them! Especially the Double Chocolate Espresso & the Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip!

Leawood:

• Blue Koi: Featured a few times on the food network, Blue Koi is famous for their Chinese Pot Roast Soup & it does not disappoint! Great for a cold day when you need heating up! Don’t miss their assorted Bobba Teas as well, may sound strange but I recommend the Green Bean & Almond!

• Pacuigo Gelato: Always outstanding Gelato, tons of different flavors. Try a few before you decide & be adventurous, it’s worth it!

Westport:

• Room 39: Cute little Contemporary American/French place. Menu is always changing but they do everything very well!

Recommendation Blog: Los Angeles

Much like my precious recommendation blogs I’ve included only Restaurants, Bars, & Theaters that I’ve been to. I can’t very well recommend something in good conscious that I, myself, haven’t tried.

Also, if you want to skip the area specific sections my “Quick Picks” are at the bottom!

LA PROPER: (Restaurants With Multiple Locations Around LA)

• In-N-Out Burger: The west coast chain everybody raves about! I recommend going in with some knowledge of the secret menu! Double Double served Animal & Protein Style is my go to! Animal Style Fries are also a solid choice!

• Lemonade: One of my favorite west coast chains, Lemonade is the healthy version of cafeteria style dining. Pick any number of options you like, but don’t skip on a Lemonade & a Giant Macaron! They have pretty solid Spicy Tuna Poke as well!

• Salt & Straw: Started in Portland, OR then overtook California! Salt & Straw features its normal handful of Ice Cream but also does a series of “prompt” flavors that change every month!

• Sugarfish: An LA sushi chain, it’s worth a bit of a splurge. Grab the Chef’s “I Trust You” & enjoy the Sushi journey!

• Urth Cafe: Incredible Food, Incredible Coffee! This Persian inspired Coffee Shop is a great place to hang or have a mid day meal! There is one in the Southwest Terminal of LAX as well!

Beverly Hills:

• Catch: Upscale Seafood, overlooks the divid between West Hollywood & Beverly Hills. Get a reservation, walk ins are few & far between.

• Gracias Madre: Vegan Mexican that doesn’t suffer from a lack of meat & cheese. Get the Cauliflower Nachos for sure as well as the Jackfruit Tacos!

• Zinque: Very trendy, the Tuna Tartine is incredible! Great drinks & atmosphere though!

Big Bear:

• Local Tropicali: Excellent Poke Bowls, perfectly brewed Cold Brew, & other incredible Hawaiian inspired Bowls. Not to be missed in Big Bear! Staff is beyond friendly & helpful as well! Try the secret menu item the Krakatoa!

Burbank:

• Bob’s Big Boy: You know it from the GIANT MAN ON THEIR ROOF. A Diner that boasts a pretty solid Burger & the like! The Antique Cars in the lot are a nice touch too!

• Mama Hong’s: My favorite Pho place in America! Just really solid all around & inexpensive! I get the Filet Mignon Pho with Sliced Steak & Brisket added!

• Priscilla’s Coffee: Get the House Specialty Latte. It’s incredible!

Chinatown:

• Chego!: Korean Rice Bowls. Inexpensive but still amazing! Usually enough food to last two meals! I like the Pork Belly & the Fries!

Downtown:

• Pitchoun: Cute little French Bakery tucked right in downtown LA. Their Pastries & Desserts are where they shine but their Sandwiches & Tartines are not to be ignored either!

The Grove:

• Dominique Ansel Bakery: The inventor of the Cronut, Dom Ansel offers a variety of incredible Desserts & a Cronut of the Month! In addition to sugary confections they also have a restaurant!

• Nonna’s Empanadas: Amazing Empanadas of all varieties! Sweet, Savory, you name it! The Guava/Cream Cheese is mind-blowingly good!

Hollywood:

• Beauty & Essex: Contemporary American a little higher up on the price scale. Famous for their Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup Bites as well as their Croque Madame Mac & Cheese & their Dessert Ferris Wheel. Bring friends & share plates!

• Black Rabbit Rose: A Magic Themed Cocktail Bar with Live Music! Grammy Winning Pianist plays with his band there every Tuesday evening & Thursdays are Jazz nights!

• Dirty Laundry: A dark, dingy bar that’s strangely still upscale! Alcoholic Frozen Drinks abound! Occasionally have Live Music.

• Fat Sal’s: Exactly how it sounds. Massive amounts of food for cheap. Bomb Sandwiches & Milkshakes, just don’t go on a diet.

• Frog Frozen Yogurt Bar: My favorite Frozen Yogurt in LA, always have fun flavors & are open late. They deliver as well!

• Good Times at Davey Wayne’s: One of my favorite bars in LA. Davey Wayne’s is a fun 70s Themed Bar with a lot of charm. Their “Backyard” offers Yard Games, Hammocks, Fresh Grilled Tacos, & Alcoholic Snow Cones!

• Hotel Cafe: Amazing, historic venue. You never know who will pop in here! Often have two shows going at once, so check online before you go!

• Javista: A subsidiary of Urth Cafe. The same high quality Coffee & Food, but I think a little cheaper!

• Jones: An LA staple. Jones is a late night Italian Restaurant that has been around forever. A good place for Celebrity sightings as well.

• Lost Property: Inconspicuous as they come. A little bar tucked under a skyscraper. A great hang spot!

• Mama’s Shelter: Part Boutique Hotel, Part Bar, Part Restaurant! The Shelter is a cool retro Hollywood styled Hang! There’s always something fun going down there! Amazing view of Hollywood from their Rooftop Bar!

• No Vacancy: Another one of my favorite Bars in LA. No Vacancy is a Prohibition Style Speakeasy. Entering the bar is a little like being at Disneyland. I won’t spoil the fun but inside are Prohibition Era Drinks, A Live Jazz Band, & A Burlesque Show!

• Roscoe’s: The O.G. LA Chicken & Waffles place! Open late & they you can also get it delivered!

• Rubies + Diamonds: Salted Coconut Cold Brew, Medium Sweet. That’s all you need to know. You’re Welcome.

• The Rusty Mullet: Beer Pong. Darts. Drinks served in a Sand Pail. What’s not to love? Rednecked Themed, but this bar is a total blast!

• Stout Burger: So Cal Burger Chain. Go during Happy Hour, their burgers are half priced! Stout also boasts an extensive Draft List that’s always rotating!

• The Study: Used to be “Hemingway’s,” The Study’s drinks are all literature themed! Often have Live Music there as well!

• Velvet Margarita: Late Night Mexican Food! Make them bring back the Weekend Fish Stew, it was life changing.

Inglewood

• Kanpai: THE. BEST. SUSHI. Hands down. End of story. Owner goes & picks out fresh fish every morning!

La Brea:

• Bluestone Lane: Aussie Coffee shop! Get you a Milo Mocha & a Square of Poundcake (Frozen) & sit back & enjoy the chill atmosphere!

• Tartine: A West Coast chain but there’s definitely a reason behind their fame! Incredible baked goods, don’t skip the Morning Bun or another form of Croissant, they’re to die for!

• Three Borders Brunch: A must stop & I cannot stress that enough. El Salvidorian meets Mexican meets American food! It’s INCREDIBLE. So good it made me cry & the owners are always there cooking up a storm!

Larchmont Village:

• Cafe Gratitude: A very pleasant Vegan Cafe! Sandwiches, Pasta, Etc, all bangin!

• Go Get Em Tiger: Hella cool Coffee Shop! Awesome Lattes with an awesome crew!

Las Feliz:

• Alcove Cafe & Bakery: A bit pretentious but I’ve never had anything bad there! Very broad menu ranging from Eggs Benedict to Salads to Sandwiches!

• Ample Hills Creamery: This NYC Based Creamery is incredible. Their flavors are inventive while still being within the realm of classic taste!

Malibu:

• Malibu Seafood: Fresh Seafood! Don't know what to get? Get the sampler! The Sandwiches are also pretty great!

• Nobu: Probably one of the most famous LA restaurants, Nobu is High End, & I mean High End Sushi!

Melrose:

• Blu Jam Cafe: One of my go-to stops in LA. Blu Jam is famous for their Crispy French Toast! It’s bangin’! I recommend getting the Tropical Variant of the French Toast with the Vanilla Creme Sauce! The Churro French Toast is incredible too as is their Breakfast Quesadilla!

• Market Provisions: The best Yogurt & Granola I’ve ever had! May seem like a little thing but it’s incredible as is their Dungeness Crab Croque Madame!

• Taste on Melrose: Get the White Truffle Lobster Mac & Cheese. End of story!

• Wolf: An interesting place to Brunch, the Golden Eggs are one of their specialties as are their Crispy Potatoes!

North Hollywood:

• Aroma Cafe: Very large menu with a lot of variety to it. Never had anything bad there! Huge pastry selection as well. Quant & Cute. A fun morning meeting place!

• El Tajano: Tuesday night Two-For-One Margaritas & Tacos! Go with friends & play some Yard Games!

Silverlake:

• DeSano Pizza: The Nashville Pizza Gods go west! Get the Diavola & the San Genarro!

• Las Globos Theater: Awesome Hip Hop Club! Go discover the next big thing in Hip-Hop!

• Silverlake Ramen: A must stop. My favorite Ramen in the States! Get the Blaze (Spicy Tankatsu) with Pork Belly, Extra Egg, & Black Garlic Oil. You’ll thank me later!

• Sqirl: A Fun little Healthy Breakfast/Lunch spot! The Sorrell Bowls are great as is the fresh Brioche with Ricotta Rainbow Style!

• The Thirsty Crow: If Silverlake Ramen has a line, wait it out here! The cocktails are all amazing!

Studio City:

• La Loggia: Upscale Italian. Amazing fresh baked bread & pasta. Get a bottle of Baby Blue while you’re there as well!

• Voodoo Doughnuts: The Portland Doughnut Giant goes south! This one is located at Universal CityWalk & unlike its siblings, isn't open 24/7. They are also lacking the more “risqué” doughnuts i.e. The Cock & Balls & the Blunt. Still worth it for a Portland Cream, Memphis Mafia, & Maple Bacon Bar!

West Hollywood:

• Barnie’s Beanery: A good Celebrity spotting location! Been at the same location forever. I recommend their chili sampler!

• Flaming Saddles: A gay bar with the best dance floor in town, no matter what your sexuality is, they cater to it!

• Motherlode: Cheap, STROOOONG Drinks! Start your night out here to save some cash & get the bang for your buck!

• Night & Market: My favorite Thai spot in LA since Pok Pok pulled out. Very similar to Pok Pok in design & taste! Go potluck with some friends & try a few things!

• Pump: Vanderpump’s WeHo Bar. Drinks are a little pricy but they’re very tasty & very strong!

Quick Picks:

• Bakery: Dominique Ansel

• Breakfast: Blu Jam Cafe

• Brunch: Blu Jam Cafe (Traditional) Wolf (Upscale) Market Provisions OR Sqirl (Interesting)

• Burger: Stout (Specialty) In-N-Out (Normal)

• Coffee: Diamond + Rubies

• Contemporary American: Beauty & Essex

• Donuts: Voodoo Doughnuts

• Empanadas: Nonna’s Empanadas

• Frozen Yogurt: Frog

• Healthy: Lemonade

• Ice Cream: Salt + Straw OR Ample Hills

• Italian Jones (Normal) La Loggia (Upscale)

• Korean: Chego!

• Late Night: Jones

• Mexican: Three Borders Brunch

• Pho: Mama Hong’s

• Pizza: DeSano

• Ramen: Silverlake Ramen

• Special Occasion: Beauty & Essex

• Sushi: Kanpai

• Thai: Night & Market

• Vegan/Vegetarian: Gracias Madre

Recommendation Blog: Nashville Food

I’ve gone through & compiled restaurants by area. If you’re looking for a more specific type of cuisine scroll to the “quick picks” at the bottom of the page!

*I’ll only be recommending places I’ve been & can personally recommend. If one of your favorites is missing it may simply be because I haven’t been there!

**This blog will be ever evolving when new things emerge or old things die. I’ll try to keep it as up to date as I can!

***Edited Nov 2021

Food:

8th Ave:

• Athens: Family owned Greek place open late on weekends! The Greek Sampler is best of all worlds, I’d also recommend their Lamb Specials! Avgolemono is the perfect thing for a rainy day & their fries are killer! (UPDATE, Athens is currently in the process of moving to Belmont Boulevard)

• Smiling Elephant: Family owned Thai restaurant set inside an old house. Curry specials change based on the day, be sure to get Coconut Custards at the end of your meal & maybe some Mango Sticky Rice, if it’s in season.

12th South:

• Burger Up: Truffle Fries & Fried Pickles all the way! Their burgers are pretty great too. (Locations in Franklin & East Nashville as well.)

• Las Paletas: Mexican Popsicles. Sounds like something to miss, I promise it’s not!

• Locust: Another former Catbird Seat chef, this time Trevor Moran. His restaurant is a Dumpling/Japanese Shaved Ice spot, I recommend going with a few people & splitting some things!

• SloCo: From scratch Sandwich place. Pops up from time to time, not open all of the time. Owner was one of the winners of Chopped.

• Urban Grub: Hard to find seeing as it doesn’t have a sign. Very good Aged Steaks & sides. Don't skip the Banana Pudding either!

Bellevue:

• 615 ChuTNey: North Indian cuisine, the staff is always incredibly accommodating & lovely! Recommend going with some friends & splitting a bunch of different things!

• Lemongrass: Sushi meets Thai. Really excel at their curries & their broad noodle dishes like Panang & Pad See Ew.

• The Loveless Cafe: A Nashville staple. Biscuits are to die for as are most of the rest of their menu items. Ask for Apple Butter with your Biscuits, I also recommend doing the Southern Sampler with Ham, Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, Fried Okra, & Greens. Their Mac & Cheese is solid too!

• Sam’s Kebab/Gyro: Sam’s is an Egyptian style Shawarma restaurant. I typically get the Combo Plate there but their Gyro sandwich is excellent as well!

Belmont:

• Proper Bagel: The bagel is good, not my favorite. What makes Proper stand out though are their Bagel Sandwiches & Schmeers. Everything from a Reuben Bagel to Birthday Cake Cream Cheese, it’s pretty solid. The Lavender Honey Cream Cheese with a Sunflower Bagel is my go to!

Berry Hill:

• Merangue Cafe: Puerto Rican/Dominican/Cuban Food served cafeteria style or made to order. Their menu changes daily but it’s all incredible!

• Phunky Griddle: Make your own food! Cuz that’s a thing we do….we go to a restaurant & pay to cook our own food on a griddle in the middle of the table.

Brentwood/Franklin:

• Chopt: Creative salad chain out on NYC. Not many locations outside the city though. Haven’t had a bad salad yet.

• Gray’s On Main: Multilevel contemporary Southern restaurant built in an old Pharmacy. Often have live music & really great cocktails.

• Soy Bistro: One of my favorites in town, Soy is a mix between Korean & Japanese. The Shrimp Tacos are the best in town as is the Bimbimbop Burrito! Their Teriyaki dishes & Rices Bowls are great too! They’re always friendly & fairly inexpensive!

• The Poké: Best Poke in all of Nashville, I swear by it! The fish is fresh, the staff is warm & welcoming, & the food all around is delicious.

Charlotte Pike/Silvan Park/Nations:

• 52nd Deli: Turkey Avocado Sub, Cubano, Italian, all of it is good! Part Deli, part market, all amazing!

• Avo: Vegan but doesn’t suffer for it! Kimchi Spring Rolls & Raw Pad Thai! May be one of my favorite takes on Pad Thai!

• Bobby’s Dairy Dip: Tons of different kinds of milkshakes! Dipped cones melt fast, be careful!

• Chaatable: My favorite of Maneet’s restaurants. The Butter Chicken is the best I’ve ever had. I recommend their brunch, it’s unique as all get out! Get the Hash & the “French Toast”!

• Kien Ghang: Pho all the way! I recommend the original. Cash only so be prepared but it’s hella cheap! Hope someday they’ll bring back their jackfruit smoothie…

• Penne Pazze: Hands down the best pasta in Nashville. Two Italian brothers own it & make their pasta fresh every day!

• S.T.A.R. Bagel: Salmon & Lox w/ Garlic Herb Cream Cheese on a Sun-dried Tomato Bagel all the way! My favorite bagel joint in Nashville!

Donelson:

• McNamara’s: Family owned Irish pub with excellent food & quite a lot of charm. Weekend nights they have a live band that plays traditional Irish folk tunes. I recommend the Scotch Eggs, the Fish & Chips, the Black & Tan Onion Rings, the Corned Beef & Cabbage, the Chocolate Cake, & the Bread Pudding! Also one of the best Irish Coffees I’ve had!

Downtown:

• Bakersfield Tacos: Best Margarita in town, fight me! Also their tacos & salads are all pretty bangin! Don’t skip the guac either! I know this is a Cincinnati based chain but there are only a few of them so I don’t count it! Plus it’s one of the top rated restaurants for Cinci on Zagat!

• Crema: Upscale coffee shop. Not as pretentious as Barista Parlour. Get the Cubano.

• Etch: Though I haven’t had anything bad on their menu, I think they really excel at their salads especially the Charcuterie Salad!

• Flying Saucer: A bit of a chain, though a small one. A rather extensive tap menu their food menu is also incredible. Bavarian Style Pretzels, German Potato Salad, etc. I recommend those two as well as the Marsellus Wallace sandwich!

• Husk: Upscale Southern with different twists for each dish! I recommend the Tartare & their Charcuterie board!

• Merchants: Best Fish Tacos in Nashville! Their drinks are pretty solid & each day the table is set with a new “Popcorn of the day!”

• Pinewood Social: Excellent cocktails, ever evolving seasonal menu, coffee shop, bowling alley, pool, karaoke, lawn games, etc. Just a fun place to go hang or sit & get some work done!

• Puckett’s: Get the Meatloaf & the Wings. Don’t ask questions, just do it! (Locations Downtown Nashville & Franklin)

• The Southern: Best Chicken & Waffles in town! Go for brunch!

• The Stillery: Hot Chicken Mac & Cheese or the Prosciutto Pizza

East Nashville:

• Cafe Roze: Go in the morning, get the BLT add Avocado with a Salad. You’re welcome.

• Dino’s: Technically a dive bar but I didn’t know if I wanted to put it here or in the drink section. I ultimately decided on food because when I think of Dino’s I think of a killer greasy spoon burger & some fries!

• East Side Bahn Mi: Best Bahn Mi in town! I crave this place often, don’t be afraid of the Paté.

• Five Points Pizza: Open late, by the slice. Prosciutto/Basil Pizza is the jam! (Also a location off Charlotte Pike, not open late.)

• Greko: Greek Street Food! Fun atmosphere & quick service that’s on the lighter side of Greek.

• Hawker’s: Modern Asian fusion. Get the Roti & the Chicken Skewers, combine.

• Lockeland Table: Contemporary Southern, get the Bone Marrow, trust me, it slaps!

• Mas Tacos Por Favor: Tortilla Soup is a must! The tacos are bomb too!

• Marché/Margot: Get a serving of Croissant French Toast to share in addition to your entree!

• Once Upon A Time In France: Best French food in Nashville. A little french family owned business with ambiance out the wazoo & an authentically delicious menu.

• The Pharmacy: Skip the burger, get the Currywerst!

• Two Ten Jack: Best Ramen in Nashville! I dig the Spicy Tankatsu with an extra Egg! Get an order of the Takoyaki too!

Edgehill

• Barcelona: A small chain but a rather refreshing Tapas place & Wine Bar! Menu is constantly changing but I recommend any Carrot, Brussel Sprout, Octopus, or Chorizo & Fig Dish they do!

• Bella Napoli: Pretty solid Napoli Style Pizza & Pasta. Not as “heavy” as DeSano.

Germantown:

• 5th & Taylor: Contemporary American, I personally think their brunch is the best time to go!

• Cosmic Creamery: Cereal infused ice cream stacked with toppings! Bring your sweet tooth!

• Germantown Cafe: Nightly specials are always bomb as is their French Onion Soup!

• Henrietta Red: Ever changing seasonal menu, be sure to go with a group & share! Don’t skip out on dessert.

• Rolf & Daughters: Get the tartare, the sourdough, the seafood pasta dish, & all the desserts!

Green Hills:

• etc.: The sister restaurant of Etch. I’ve only visited for brunch but what I had was exquisite, especially the Waffles!

• Noshville: Used to have an additional location in Midtown. Get you a Reuben & some Matzo Ball Soup! Don’t skip on the pickles either!

• The Perch: Crepery! Everything from savory to sweet! I love their Prosciutto Balsamic Crepe!

• True Food Kitchen: Healthy & seasonal! The menu shifts every few months to accommodate what’s fresh! Wide variety on the menu as well as some intriguing freshly juiced cocktails!

The Gulch:

• Arnold’s Country Kitchen: The best Soul Food/Meat & Three in Nashville hands down! They have kind of odd hours and are only open in the afternoon so look before you go! Also their line moves fairly quickly. Get the Roast Beef!

• Biscuit Love: First off, go to their Hillsboro Village location, there’s not a line! Second get you some Biscuit Donuts, the Nasty Princess (a secret menu item that combines the East Nasty & the Princess,) & a fresh Mimosa!

• Burger Republic: Won Zagat’s burger competition back in 2016. Won best burger in Tennessee. Go. Now! I love The 96, a lot of people are deterred by the blue cheese in it, it’s not over powering at all! Get you some Truffle Tots, a Boozy Milkshake, & some Fried Pickles & Peppers too!

• Chauhan: Go for Happy Hour! Chauhan is Indian meets Southern food & it’s as good as it sounds! Get the Lamb Nachos, the Chicken Tandoori Poutine, & the Hot Chicken Pakoras! Great cocktails as well, I dig the Raat Rani!

• Mockingbird: New age Southern Cuisine; bangin’ Pot Pie, Burger, etc! Get a Punch Bag as well!

• Tansuo: Monday nights they have a Dim Sum cart! Their take on General Tao’s may be my favorite in town! Great bar, tell them what you like, they’ll make you something special!

• Thai Esane: One of my favorite Thai spots in Nashville, there’s truly nothing bad on the menu!

• Virago: Maki Monday! Get you some cheaper upscale sushi! Also September & October they do “Brunch w/ a View” where they combine traditional American breakfast foods with an Asian influence!

• Whiskey Kitchen: Their Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza is killer as is the Whiskey Sour! Open Late!

Hendersonville:

• Cafe Rakka: Worth the detour to Hendersonville for sure. Incredible Syrian food. The best Hummus I’ve ever had, Homemade Pita, Red Tea, & Baklava. Go for dinner get the Shrimp Jalfrazi, go for lunch get the Tandoori Chicken & Cheese Sandwich or the Lamb Burger!

Hillsboro Village:

• Fido: Been in the same spot forever. Coffee shop with a fairly expansive menu. The Specials are always on point but I usually end up getting the Salmon Scramble.

• Greenery Co.: Kinda “foo foo” salads as my father would call it. Every changing menu but everything I’ve had is great!

• The Pancake Pantry: Go late. Don’t wait in line, it isn’t as good as the line even though it’s still solid. Go for the Georgia Peach Pancakes!

• Pizza Perfect: Amazing basic pizza. The Antipasta salad is great too! Even their gluten free crust doesn’t leave you wanting!

Midtown:

• The Catbird Seat: Book in advance & come baring your wallet. 12-16 course dinner all served within the kitchen with drink pairings available per course! Experimental food that is always changing, book it for a special occasion!

• DeSano: I love the San Genaro & the Diavola! Real Napoli style pizza!

• Gigi’s Cupcakes: If you don’t like icing/frosting steer clear, they inject their cupcakes with it! I know this is also a chain but this is the original!

• Giovanni’s: Excellent Mid to Upscale Italian. There’s never a huge crowd there but their evening Pasta Specials are always killer! (Another location in Bellevue)

• Hattie B’s: There’s no wrong way to do Hattie B’s other than Southern or Mild. Potato Salad, Greens, & Pimento Mac & Cheese are musts on sides. If you’re looking for more of a hand food the sandwich is incredible! (Other locations around town are equally as good as the original but seldom have a line!)

West End:

• BrickTops: I’m a bit at a loss on how to describe this menu. Think J Alexander’s smashed into a sushi bar. I highly recommend the Ahi Burger, may be one of the best I’ve ever had!

• Samurai Sushi: My favorite sushi joint in town! Been there since the 70s, it’s fairly inexpensive but still high quality.

Wedgewood/Houston:

• Bastion: Go during a normal week for the Nachos, go on a special occasion for the Tasting Menu. Owned by the original creator & chef from The Catbird Seat, the menu is ever changing & evolving seasonally & based on inspiration.

• Dozen: A local bakery mostly only open morning to early afternoon. A staple of their menu, in addition to their pastries, other breads, & salads, is a baguette your way. Get it simply buttered or add eggs, avocado, etc. to it.

Unspecified/Multiple Locations/Food Trucks:

• Barista Parlor: Upscale coffee shop. Think pour overs & single origin coffee. Less chocolate/nutty notes, more fruit/floral notes.

• Blu Monkey Shaved Ice: Food truck with traditional shaved ice flavors.

• Calypso Cafe: 1/2 Chicken w/ all three sauces on the side! Callaloo, Black Beans, Muffins, & House Salad are all bangin! They have unique brewed coffee & very refreshing fruit tea! Don’t forget to get a Calypso bar at the end.

• Five Daughters Bakery: All different kind of Cronuts. I personally prefer their Paleo Donuts & have heard good things about their Vegan Donuts. (Locations on the East side & in Franklin as well.)

• Franklin Juice: Solid Acai Bowls as well as Juice.

• Frothy Monkey: My favorite coffee shop/cafe in town. Incredible lattes & incredible food. Julie on an Everything Bagel add Avocado is my go to but their Specials are usually pretty great! They also have several locations around town! (12th South, Downtown, Nations, Franklin, etc.)

• Jeni’s Ice Cream: Another Ohio chain, Jeni’s has become a staple of Nashville! Intriguing twists on traditional ice cream flavors there are a ton of locations across Nashville! (12th South, East, Hillsboro Village, Franklin, etc.)

• Kisser: Japanese style pop-up created by former Catbird Seat sous Leina Horrii & Husk’s Brian Lea. Menu is ever changing but I highly recommend their Onigiri & their Udon!

• Retro Sno: Food truck with interesting takes on Shaved Ice. Blackberry/Pomegranate, Raspberry Wedding Cake, Etc.

• Tailgate Brewery: Very inventive both on the Beer front & on the Pizza front. They have an ever changing pizza of the month that’s always a blast to try! Any pizza topping is also available on French Fries as well. I personally really enjoy the Mexican Pizza or the Bierfest.

• The Grilled Cheesery: different Grilled Cheeses & Melts, etc. Their Soups are also bangin’.

• The Well: Solid Seasonal Beverages & Cold Brews.

• Urban Juicer: Local juice chain. Liver Lover with Ginger added is one of my go to hangover cures. The Bee Green & the Cold Fighter are another few of my favorites! (Locations all over town.)

• Vui’s: A solid Nashville Pho spot. I highly recommend the Coconut Pudding!

Quick Picks:

• Bagels: S.T.A.R. Bagel

• Barbecue: Error 404: Extension Not Found

• Breakfast: Loveless Cafe

• Brunch: Marché/Margot (Traditional) The Southern (Upscale) Chaatable (Interesting)

• Burger: Burger Up (Specialty) Patterson House (Normal)

• Chinese: Tansuo

• Coffee: Frothy Monkey (Traditional) Crema (Upscale)

• Contemporary American: Henrietta Red

• Donuts: Connie & Johnny, if you can find them. Five Daughters, if you can’t.

• Greek: Athens

• Healthy: Calypso Cafe (Normal) TrueFood Kitchen (Upscale)

• Hot Chicken: Hattie B’s

• Ice Cream: Mike’s (Normal) Jeni’s (Specialty)

• Indian: Chaatable

• Irish: McNamara’s

• Italian: Penne Pazze (Normal) Rolf & Daughters (Upscale)

• Japanese: Kisser (If Available) or Two Ten Jack

• Juice: Urban Juicer

• Korean: Soy Bistro (Also a tad Japanese)

• Late Night: Flying Saucer

• Middle Eastern: Cafe Rakka

• Pasta: Penne Pazze

• Pho: Kien Ghang

• Pizza: DeSano (Specialty) 5 Points (Normal/Late)

• Poke: The Poké

• Ramen: Two Ten Jack

• Salad: Chopt (Normal) Etch (Upscale)

• Soul/Meat & Three: Arnold’s Country Kitchen

• Southern: The Loveless Cafe

• Special Occasion: The Catbird Seat or Bastion (Hella Special) Rolf & Daughters or Henrietta Red

• Sushi: Samurai Sushi (Normal) Wild Ginger (Upscale)

• Tacos: Mas Tacos Por Favor

• Thai: Thai Esane

• Vegan/Vegetarian: Avo