Somewhere along the lines of traveling and blogging, I realized how much I write about, talk about, and just plain eat…food.  It’s like the chicken or the egg sometimes: Do I love to travel because I love to eat yummy foods or do I eat great food because I love to travel?  Just take a look at my food category and you can see I’ve been obsessed for quite some time.

It recently occurred to me how much my love of food has grown over the last decade, from producing restaurant and food stories in Chicago at my previous job – getting to know chefs, restaurateurs, and understanding more about what we eat, to my travels all over the world trying as many savory treats that I could fit in my mouth and stomach.  I finally realized that I was more excited to check out the dining suggestions in my Lonely Planet, than the standard sightseeing stops.  I was creating a tour for myself of cafes, restaurants, and fascinating supermarkets – the real key to local culture.  I mean if food isn’t the great uniter, across all races, backgrounds, and ethnicities, than what is?

Here we have the real deal: some fabulously beautiful wheels of aging parmigiana reggiano cheese from a small family producer in the center of the Italian cheese universe.  I was fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes tour from a local producer in Parma. Too bad I couldn’t fit one of these wheels in my suitcase.

New York City’s food scene changes as fast as the taxis whiz down 9^th Avenue.  Since I’ve been traveling and somewhat removed from Manhattan, there’s no way I can keep up with the hot spot’s openings and closings.  This would be a full time job (one I hope to have someday). On a recent visit, to take the pressure off myself, I just enjoyed some new random spots that were either recommended to me by friends or places that I’d been to before that have stood the test of time (a pretty big feat in NYC).

My current favorite spots

Red Cat – Great neighborhood gem holding court in Chelsea for more than a decade with Mediterranean-American flavors & a cozy white-painted wood-paneled New England charm.  I’d eaten here with my grandmother (who lived just a block away for about 30 years) a few times, so besides the warm, inviting atmosphere, and especially tasty food, Red Cat holds special memories for me.

Birreria Eataly – I recently wrote about this fantastic rooftop bar and restaurant in the Flatiron District.  After enjoying the gourmand’s wet dream downstairs, climb up for some great views and tasty views under a retractable roof and cozy heat lamps.

The Chelsea Market – Inevitably, I always end up here every time I am in Manhattan.  I have a thing for the re-use of old buildings so you can imagine my crush on this former National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) factory where the Oreo was first invented.  If nothing else, you should come to pay homage to this perfect cookie sandwich (do you eat it whole or twist off the top first?).  It’s fitting that today it’s been re-purposed into an indoor-market of foodie finds – a fish monger, bread baker, gelateria, Italian specialty food market, several fast-casual restaurants, and, of course, home made cupcake shop. The exposed brick and duct work still help it retain its original industrial flavor with fragments of the National Biscuit heritage sprinkled all over the complex.  It makes perfect sense that the offices of the Food Network are upstairs.

The Little Owl – Another neighborhood gem, oozing with cozy (read: tiny) charm, I was introduced to the Little Owl by my friend Marie Elena.  Go ahead and click on their link to enjoy the sweet sounds of Frankie Valli, which to me, evokes the feeling of a warm spring evening in the Village.  The Owl is little, as is the menu and the space: just 30 seats.  But this is no “Chicken Little” when it comes to food, the Owl boasts unpretentious, straightforward food like their popular pork chop and one of the best burgers in the city –  I savored it and have to agree with this distinction…much more flavorful than the Corner Bistro…sorry Mark.

Kashkaval – A recommendation by fellow travel blogger, Jodi, I met my step-sister here for a great after-work scene and dinner.  The front is a gourmet cheese market and tucked in the back is a cozy wine and cheese bar.   My mouth watered over the decadent fondue and amazing Eastern Mediterranean tapas like baba ghanoush, a lemony lentil salad,  and Ajvar, a smoky red pepper spread. It’s a great date spot: dark, candle-lit, and full of foods to share.

The Park – Another Chelsea spot that I seem to keep returning to. The last two times I was there, I was invited by locals, so that’s always a good sign. The food is pretty good, but what I love the most is the gorgeous atrium and garden – a perfect spring and summer spot to dine under maple trees and chirping birds.  But now I have to go back, as I can’t believe I had no idea there was a rooftop bar. My friend Michaela told me about the penthouse, that has a hot tub that allegedly gets some action on some late nights.

Trilby – I had the good fortune of eating at the Cooper Square Hotel restaurant with my friend Monica and photographing our meal for the Wall Street Journal’s lunchbox column.  Since we dined there just a few months ago, the hotel has now been sold to the hipster boutique hotel chain and is henceforth known as the Standard, East Village.  I guess I really did have good fortune…because the restaurant is now closed (again) for revamping.  But look for it when it re-opens, the outdoor garden space is really a quiet oasis in the city filled with trees and odd pockets of quite. Serenity in NYC? Why, yes.

Katz’s Deli – Gotta give a shout out to an old time classic meat haven. This is the real deal. Pastrami piled so high on rye you can’t see over it. Get it anyway. Then take half home. I have even been known to get them to vacuum seal half the meat to freeze and make later by dropping the cryo-vacced bag in boiling water.

Union Square Café – The last time I ate here it was around 1992.  But it had a strong and lasting effect on me and my interest in food and dining out.  I grew up a very picky eater. In the summer and fall of 1992, I lived in New York City while I was interning at “Late Night with David Letterman.” It was then that I started to eat ‘real’ food.  And it was at Union Square Café that I tried new things and started to actually ‘like’ foods that I had always despised. I was finally eating food made right and loving it.  The restaurant is now legendary and routinely tops lists for NY eateries.

Isabella’s – One of my first tastes of fresh Italian food that was not the heavy baked ziti and spaghetti and meatball variety that I’d grown up with in neighboring New Jersey.   I first ate here when sundried tomatoes and capers were all the rage…and brand new to me.  Wow. What are these fabulous treats?  It was here I was introduced to lighter stock and wine sauces or just the simplicity of a freshly made pasta with extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, garlic, and salty, 3-year aged Parmigiana Reggiano cheese. Perfection.

Places I want to Eat:

Next time I’m in town…wanna chow and imbibe with me?

• DBGB Kitchen and Bar – Looks amazing and love the music on the site too.
• Tia Pol
• La Bottega
• Luzzo’s Pizza – said to be the new ‘best pizza in Manhattan’ if there is such a thing? They had me at Coal-Oven.
• Shake Shack – I’ve yet to wait in the queue for this popular spot
• Per Se – Somebody take me please?
• Ouest – Same. Same.
• Craft – Ditto.
• Crif Dog – Cream Cheese, scallions, everything bagel seasoning? Um…yum. Kind of like sushi’s ‘Philly Roll’ of dogs
• Taim – Supposed to be some of the tastiest falafel around. And I love me some falafel since my first food truck in NYC in the ’90s.

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post. Want to take your own New York tour?  Try Tours4Fun.

Typically big-box stores (a la: Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target, etc.) and over-sized supermarkets have been an American import slowly spreading their bland conformity across Europe and beyond.  But this is a switch.

I first visited the mega-sized specialty market, Eataly, in Turino, Italy, in 2009.  I’d pegged it as an all-Italian ‘Whole Foods’.   My mouth watered and my eyes glazed over as I roved the many, stark-white aisles filled with sexy bottles of truffle-oil, silky gelato, and an amazing array of fresh meats, pastas, cheeses, and breads.

The Slow Food organization serves as a consultant to Eataly, and the artisinal super-store has adopted its three principles.  Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. 

• Food must taste good
• Food must be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health
• Food producers should receive fair compensation for their work

Like Santa bringing us gifts at Christmas, one red-faced, jolly Mario Batali, has now brought Eataly to all New Yorkers.   The huge store sits just across the street from the Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park and is a mecca of Italian foodstuffs, various fancy bar ‘stations’ (more like mid-store restaurants), and boisterous espresso and wine bars.

Upstairs, on the roof, Birreria opened this past summer.   The huge outdoor space is more than a beer garden, as sometimes described, even though they do brew some of their own ales as their name suggests (Birreria means brewery in Italian).   For me, the food is the draw here as the menu is stuffed full with all the delightful fixin’s of an ‘Italian picnic’ – charcuterie, cheeses, mushroom dishes, and other assorted savory morsels.   It’s not cheap, but the views are pretty priceless with the Empire State building looming overheard to the north and the Flatiron building just to the west, across the street, so close, you feel you can touch it.

See photo gallery here. Roll-over & click on each for larger image slideshow.

As a follow-up to my food porn photo essay on Hong Kong, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include these scrumptious photos of the morsels we enjoyed in Shenzhen.  From a private dinner in the Futian Shangri-La’s presidential suite (wow) to a personalized multi-course meal at the Shang Garden, the food didn’t suck (see menus below). Eating like this was so decadent, but not so good for my waistline.  The only thing I would have preferred was to mix it up with the masses some more and actually eaten off the regular menu at times instead of being cordoned off and not be able to soak in some of the ‘real’ Shenzhen culture.

Dinner Presidential Suite Futian Shangri-La

Amuse Bouche
Steamed Cauliflower and Truffle Custard

Salmon Four Ways
Smoked Salmon Tartare, Quail Egg Sunny Side Up
Smoked Salmon Ravioli and Caramelized Beetroot
Sugar Cured Salmon
Smoked Salmon and Dill Mascarpone Mille Feuille

Confit Duck Leg Tortellini
Green Pea Puree, Dried Parma Ham, Thyme Jus

Refreshment
Lime and Bubbles

Roasted Angus Beef Filet
Rosemary Mash, Sauteed Mushrooms, Broad Beans,
Pan Seared Fois Gras with Red Wine Jus

Dessert
Valrhona Dark Chocolate Mousse served with Espresso Granita

Lunch Shang Garden

“Huaiyang” Appetizer Combination

Crab Thick Soup Braised with Minced Vegetables

Wok-Fried King Prawn with Mustard Sauce and Lemon Juice

Braised Boneless Beef Rib in “Yanzhou” Gravy

“Yangzhou” Shredded Dried Pressed Bean

Sauteed Pea Sprout with Pumpkin Sauce

Red Bean Paste Cake & Baked Minced Pork,

Chicken and Bamboo Shoot Puff Pastry

Seasonal Fruit & Chilled Sago Cream with Mango and Pomelo

Disclosure:  My trip to Hong Kong & Shenzhen was provided by the folks at Cathay Pacific & Shangri-La Hotels.  All views, writing, and photos are my own.

Eating and traveling. Traveling and Eating. The more I travel, the more I learn about food, the more I love to eat. I love everything about it – the background on where it came from, the smells, the preparations, and of course the flavors rolling around in my mouth.  It’s been an ongoing learning process for years now as my taste buds and waistline continue to battle it out.

When I’ve traveled on a budget I’ve had to let go of the idea of being able to try lots of ‘hip’ restaurants or pricey ‘in’ places and just enjoy cheap street food eats which, as I’ve mentioned are often even more tasty and authentic.

But this visit to Hong Kong was completely different. I was being treated to some of the best food around – even going on what was dubbed a “Culinary Journey” at the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong.  Or what I like to call the best restaurant crawl…ever.  We indulged in seven different courses at the hotel’s six different restaurants in one night – starting with flutes of Veuve Clicquot and an amuse bouche in the lobby bar and ending with dessert and live music at the Lobster Bar and Grill with amazing morsels of sushi, savory dim sum, succulent rack of lamb, and fresh seafood, in between.

Between the eating and drinking with every course, it was a decadent night to say the least. I loved every course – and by the end I was stuffed, sated, and sleepy.  I loved the fact that all I had to do is take the elevator up fifty floors or so to my plush room and climb into my thick king-sized bed and doze into a fat and happy slumber.

Renowned as the culinary capital of Asia, Hong Kong has more than 11,000 restaurants, according to the Tourism Board.  Many of these offer some of the best Cantonese and regional Chinese food in the world.  Local must-try dishes are dim sum (tasty Chinese ‘tapas’ or ‘snacks’ including dumplings served steamed in bamboo baskets) and amazingly fresh seafood.

Disclosure:  My trip to Hong Kong was provided by the folks at Cathay Pacific & Shangri-La Hotels.  All views, writing, and photos are my own.

While in quaint Villa de Leyva, I stayed at the friendly and cozy Hostel Rana.  It was opened about a year ago by Laura and Luis, a laid back and smiley British-Colombian couple.  As I told Laura, theirs was really my kind of guest house. Keep in mind, a hostal is not a hostel.   It’s just one letter, but it makes a big difference.  A hostal is a type of lodging found mostly in Spain and Latin America.  Hostales tend to be cheaper than hotels and are typically independently owned, smaller and often, friendlier places.  I’ve grown to know I do not like big, noisy, crowded hotels/hostals/hostels of any kind (well, unless someone is treating me to a night at the Peninsula, anyone?).  I find them impersonal and even though many are teeming with other travelers like packs of dogs, I find it harder to meet people.  Plus I am just not looking for a big party where I sleep…I am looking for peace and quiet and a respite from the hustle of travel.

Hostel Rana was simply a house with a few rooms to rent, a nice open-air kitchen to share, and some inviting little communal seating areas scattered around a couple of courtyards.   It was relaxed and quiet and I truly felt like a guest in someone’s home rather than a nameless person in a hotel.  I met the owners’ family from kids to parents and chatted a bit each time I saw them.

And just in time for my arrival, they were offering something new they are calling the Breakfast Club.  When they have enough interested people, they have a breakfast cooking class. And although Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald weren’t there, at less than $4 a person, I couldn’t pass it up.

I was joined by two other hostel guests, Cassie and Kevin from St. Paul, Minnesota.  Our teacher was Antonio, the owner’s father and resident chef. He donned his chef’s hat, feigned modesty, and proceeded to school us in one of the region’s most popular soups…that happens to be mostly enjoyed here for breakfast.

Plus we made Colombia’s famous concoction of hot chocolate and cheese. What? My two favorite things together? This I had to try.

Here is the rough recipe from my memory and some notes I scribbled in between chopping and chatting.  Change amounts to suit your needs and number of hungry people.

Changua (soup Boyacanse)

• 2C Water
• 2 C Milk
• Long stem of cilantro (scored)
• 4-6 cubed potatoes
• Finely diced garlic
• 4-5 Eggs
• 1 TB Butter
• Salt
• Cumin

Garnish

• Cubed Mild Cheese
• Cilantro
• Finely diced onion
• Toasted bread in which to create bread crumbs to grate on top

1. In a stockpot add the water, milk, butter, salt, potatoes, stem of cilantro, garlic.
2. Boil for 10 min or so
3. When the soup boils, crack the eggs and add them carefully without breaking the yolks.
4. Cover the pot and let boil for a few minutes until eggs are cooked.
5. Place at the bottom of each soup dish some scallions or onions, cilantro, some cubed cheese, and, from the pot, carefully place one cooked egg.
6. Then add the boiling broth.
7. Serve the soup with crusty or toasted bread that you can grate on top.

The soup was truly filling and flavorful. It was really one of the tastiest foods I had tried in Colombia, where I have to admit, I was not bowled over by what I’d been eating. To be honest, I had found a lot of the food fried and often somewhat bland with not too much flavor. The cilantro and garlic really made this dish sing, plus the special ingredient of love from Antonio made it muy bueno!

The class was fun and he really did show us some proper chopping and peeling techniques plus it was a great way to get to know some of the other guests.

In fact, right after we enjoyed our filling soup, I joined my friends for my next adventure. Stay tuned for that story!

Every town and city has its own icons – cool, kitschy status symbols that everyone knows.  I am sure if you live in Chicago you know exactly what is pictured here.   For those who don’t, this sexy couple is hanging out on the roof of Chicago’s Superdawg.  Not only is it one of the most well-known hot dog joints in Chicago, it is possibly the only retro drive-in restaurant in the world topped by two half-human weenies.

Hot Dogs on a Hot Tin Roof

Chicago, USA

Superdawg was opened in 1948 by Maurie and Flaurie Berman, on the Northwest side of Chicago, right after Maurie returned from World War II, and they still run it today.

Not only do I think it’s just cool, in random full disclosure and just an all around cool factoid: the owners’ son is my real estate attorney. As they always say at Superdawg, “Thanks for stopping!”

Last week, the new gourmet Italian mega-store known as Eataly opened in Manhattan.   At nearly 45,000 square feet, the gluttonous foodie-heaven is like a Macy’s of Italian culinary goodness.

“This isn’t a giant food court,” said co-owner Mario Batali to the Wall Street Journal. “This isn’t a selection of restaurants under one roof. This is a retail store where we peddle the greatest of Italian gastronomy to people who want to eat it and know how to appreciate it. You ask any Italian and all of the smart Americans where the best meal they ever had in the last ten years was, and it was never in someone’s restaurant. It was always in the house. And with these products, and this ideology, we’re hoping that’s what we’re going to bring to New Yorkers.”

When I was in Italy last year I visited the original Eataly just outside of the city center from Torino.  This Whole Foods meets an Italian food-mecca was far more unique in Italy than it will be in the foodie-centric and upper-class hipster haven of Manhattan.  Before now, Italy didn’t have a Trader Joes or Whole Foods type market.

At Eataly, I drooled over the enormous selection of cheeses, meats, breads, pastas, fish, chocolate, and olive oils. Stark white shelves heaved with perfectly aligned jars of oily, salty anchovies, a plethora of pestos, tasty tapenades, freshly made pastas, and so much more. Luckily there are cafes sprinkled throughout the store where you can sit down and chow on some of the delights right before your eyes.  And for dessert, of course, there is a gelato stand from which part of the proceeds go to charity.

Here are some photos from my tour of Eataly in Torino. If you are in New York, head down to the Flatiron District. Or better yet, hope a flight to Milan and train in to Turin to check out the original.

For more food and travel stories, check out WanderFood Wednesday.

Nothing says we are proud to celebrate our independence in the United States like a 4^th of July barbecue or cook-out.  These wings were made outside on a homemade grill at my mom’s log cabin house in Silverton, Colorado.

I was extremely lucky to spend a few nights in Gothenburg, Sweden staying warm and cozy at my friend Paula’s flat. It was December. It was cold. I loved it. And a lovely night with laughs, friends, and warm homemade soup was all I needed.

Paula’s Swedish Fish Soup

Water
White Wine (Optional)
A few fish bouillon cubes
Dollop of Cream
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 pinches of saffron
1-2 Onions chopped
Garlic
2-3 Carrots sliced
Peas (can be frozen)
2-3 Potatoes cubed
Fresh dill
Salmon

1. In salted water, boil cubed potatoes until fork tender.  Drain and set aside.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat butter on medium-high.
3. Add chopped onions and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent–approximately 5-6 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste and stir to incorporate evenly.
5. Add fresh herbs
6. Add all your liquids (stock, wine, cream) and saffron.  Bring to a simmer for 10 min.
7. Remove from heat and blend in a mixer until smooth.
8. Return the mixture to your saucepan and medium-high heat.
9. At this point, taste your base and season with salt and pepper accordingly.
10. Add fish pieces to the soup.
11. Your fish should only take about 5 minutes to cook thoroughly.
12. Add potatoes, mix thoroughly.
13. Season one last time to taste.
14. Serve with fresh herbs and a dollop of cream.

Smaklig måltid!