La Petite Auberge
2007-07-16 00:12:00
283 Upper StN1 2TZ, UKTel: 020 7359 1046
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £15
The Background: I am at a conference in Islington, and I end up with a two hour break over lunch. I think about going to the gym, going home, going shopping. Shoe shopping, maybe. But instead I decide to do lunch alone.
I've always wanted to go to La Petite
Auberge. It just looks so cute and French and well, cute and French. It's a bit farther up the road than I expected, but that's okay.
The Service: So they give me many menus. There is a specials menu and a regular menu and a wine list. And I think to myself, "Where is the special lunch menu? Surely, as a French restaurant, they have two courses for £x and three courses for £y?" There is no prixe fixe to be seen and I find this puzzling. I thought all French restaurants did this. But apparently not. So I decide to spend £14 on some civet de lapin. I do love a nice bunny stew. About five minutes af
Turkish: Ishtar
2007-07-13 00:12:00
10 - 12 Crawford StreetW1U 6AZTel: 020 7224 2446Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 20, 2007The Victim: ConAnn and a super-cute, super-sleepy and super-well-behaved Aidan. The Damage: £15 each.
The Background: A couple of weeks ago, K&A described me as a "food for the people" kind of gal. This made me smile and I've since adopted the moniker when acquaintences and friends challenge me to a game of, "Yes, but have you been to <insert very expensive and possibly overhyped locale here>?"
I don't think great food has to be expensive. And I think every restaurant should be able to provide friendly and efficient service--being nice is EASY unless you're a total idiot. Tap water should be provided without asking. Service should be optional. And if the loos are dirty, well then...what does the kichen look like? (Why why why do we accept toilets that are not as clean as the ones in our own home? Or maybe there's something going on in England that I don't know about.)
So when
Read more: Turkish
Modern (Insert Adjective Here):Magdalen
2007-07-11 01:59:00
152 Tooley StreetLondon, SE1 2TUTel: 020 7403 1342
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 16, 2007
The Victims: Too many to mention.
The Damage: £82 each. With wine pairings.
The Background: Howard has organized lunch for us at Magdalen on Tooley Street. The restaurant no longer opens for Saturday lunch, but they've opened special just for us. I, for one, feel special. As I should. Because I am.
The Starter: Is artichoke soup, served with a lovely crostini with goat cheese. (I think.) The soup is perfect and creamy and smooth and simple.
The Salad: That is IT in the picture. It is full of duck and foie gras. It is one of my most wonderful things I've ever eaten. It is jam-packed with stuff.
The Main: Is a whole poached baby salmon, served family style. Baby salmon apparently goes by Sea Trout when it's just a baby. Who knew. (I think there's more to it than this...something about fins and spines. But that's enough for now.)
The Dessert: A concoction of jelly with&nb
Read more: Modern
London Gastropub: The Horseshoe
2007-07-08 00:37:00
28 Heath StNW3 6TETel: 020 7431 7206
Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 15th
The Victim: Sarah and a very well-behaved Arielle
The Damage: £16.50 for two, with wine!
The Background: The first time I ever went to Hampstead, I got a little lost, and everyone I stopped for directions was American. I thought this quite funny, although three years ago, I probably would never have phrased a sentence that way. (It would be more like, "Oh. My. God. It was like SOO TOTALLY funny!)
It's hard to believe it's been two and a half years, two flats, two passports, and one work permit renewal since I've been up in Hampstead, so I am excited to return for lunch with Sarah. (And as I write this a few days later on a lovely Sunday morning with Otis Redding playing on my iTunes, I am actually trying to rally myself to head up to my friend Mark's place in Hampstead for a barbecue. No Hampstead visits in ages, and then two visits in three days!)
Well, Sarah and Arielle and I wander down Heath Stre
My First Michelin Two Star: Le Gavroche
2007-07-05 01:03:00
43 Upper Brook StreetW1K 7QRTel: 020 7408 0881
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Victims: Howard, Ben, Mark.
The Damage: I don't want to tell you.
The Background: When I ran into Howard and Ben at The Reliance the other day, they asked if I wanted to come along to Le Gavroche on Thursday. Now to be honest, I did have to think about it. A long time. I slept on it. Thinking about the money. And the time. And the food. And the money. But then again, there was the food. And the two stars. And the company, of course.
So after much internal deliberation, I said yes.
This post...this writing does not come easy. I want to tell you everything, but you will get bored and I will run out of adjectives. (Which, as you may know, are limited to such American classics as "fantastic," "awesome," and "the BEST ever," sprinkled with a few "Oh. My. God"'s.) So I will not digress. Or at least, I will not do so purposefully.
The Food (Briefly
Read more: First
, Michelin
French: Almeida
2007-07-02 02:40:00
30 Almeida StreetN1 1ADTel: 020 7354 4777
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Victim: Chrissy
The Damage: £55 each. I didn't mean for that to happen on a Wednesday.
The Background: I know Chrissy through my friend Lisa from university, and I know Lisa because we spent a year in Oesterreich back in oh God--1993 and '94! I am old. This will become important later.
Chrissy moved to London about a year and a half ago, and we keep meaning to get together. Well, whaddya know but I drop her an email about doing dinner the other week, and she tells me she's moving back to New York! In two months. So time is of the essence.
NewYorkshirePudding had mentioned how much she liked Almeida, which was funny because I had walked by the other day and was thinking, "I should really go to the Almeida someday." (Strange, that I want to call it "the" Almeida, no?) So decision made.
The Entrance: It is large. And there's a lot of space around the tables. And everyone had gray ha
Read more: French
London Turkish: Mem & Laz
2007-06-28 23:19:00
8 Theberton StreetN1 0QXTel: 020 7704 9089
Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 8th, 2007
The Vicitms: Feathers, Matt
The Damage: £35?
The Background: Feathers and I headed over to The Albion for some Proseco, and were greeted by a very rude bartender who really wanted to charge me £36 for a £22 bottle of Proseco. He made me REALLY angry. His argument was that the bottle goes for £36 in Chelsea. My argument was that the menu clearly stated that the bottle--vintage and all--was £22. I won, but he was a real jerk.
But I digress. We were hungry. Matt arrived from a conference down the road, all about the Internets, and I told them about Mem & Laz and how fun it looked. And then we had some more Proseco, which in hindsight, was not the best of ideas.
The Entrance: Mem & Laz is cute and it reminds me of Sacre Coeur, which is right next door so maybe that's it. I love the lights hanging from the ceiling.
The Starters and Drinks: We get some hummous and it is served with
Read more: Turkish
Happy 3rd Birthday, My Little Blogling!
2007-06-25 18:01:00
Yes, today my humble little London restaurant blog turns three! My first post ever was about my visit to The Providores, on Marylebone High Street, a locale I've returned to many times since--most recently with Howard & Ben--and enjoyed equally each time.
You know...I didn't set out to write a blog about London restaurants. I actually planned on blogging about the weird and wonderful things I found as an American in London. But to be honest, I just couldn't drum up the material. (See, this country isn't so weird after all.) So while I'll occasionally throw something up over on my other site, I don't, really.
I debated throwing a party for my blog's birthday...my friend Sarah suggested returning to the scene of my initial posting. Others suggested a "best of" or a "lessons learned" or setting out a manifesto for the next three years. But the vast majority of people--the non-Internet types--just looked at me like I was crazy. Non-bloggers, they j
Read more: Happy
, Birthday
London Lebanese: Lebanese Lounge
2007-06-23 22:38:00
50-52 Hanbury StE1 5JL Tel: 020 7539 9200
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 7th, 2007
The Victims: Ben, Gerry, Sarah, Matt, Andrew
The Damage: Hmmm...£20 each? We were quite pleased.
The Background: So, I really wanted to go to First Thursday...the east end late night gallery night. If you're not a Time Out subscriber, you might not know that on the first Thursday of each month this summer, all the galleries in and around Shoreditch will be staying open til 9.
I managed to convince some people to come check stuff out with me, and although there were some odd bits (naked men, blood, etc.), all in all, I'd highly recommend checking it out. (The odd bits make it worth it, no?) We wandered from Old Street to Whitecross Street to over by the Holiday Inn Express (where I ran into Howard & Ben during a beer break at The Reliance, funnily enough) to down through Rivington Street and then over to Brick Lane, where it was time to...
EAT.
Yes, and I didn't fancy a curry. So The Le
Read more: Lebanese
London Ethiopian: Addis
2007-06-20 22:13:00
42 Caledonian RoadN1 9DTTel: 020 7278 0679 Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, June 5th, 2007The Victim: FeathersThe Damage: 20 quid each?The Background: It's a Tuesday and we are going to a show. Guster. By King's Cross. It doesn't start til 9 and work ends before that. So we go out to eat.And I get to choose! And I so want to have Ethiopian
food in London. It's been ages. The Entrance: We enter and it is not very crowded. But for those that are there, they seem infinitely familiar with Ethiopian cuisine. I have a feeling we've made the right choice.The Service: Painfully shy, and she forgot our drinks. We asked for Ethiopian recommendations, and she did not help us. The Food: Delicious, really. We had the traditional chicken dish--the one with the hardboiled egg--and it was really really good and just the right amount of hotness. And then we had a mixed veggie dish that was exactly that--a number of different veggie selections--along with a chickpea dish which I also really liked
Latin: Sabor
2007-06-18 01:37:00
108 Essex RoadN1 8LXTel: 020 7226 5551
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, May 24th, 2007
The Victim: Nick
The Damage: £35 per person with two margaritas each.
The Background: Nick is in town for work and wants to know if I want to go anywhere new. Is this a trick question?
I do want to go somewhere. Sabor
. I've read nice things. And I have a hankering for empanadas. Plus, Sabor is a convenient bus ride away.
The Entrance: I order a house margarita and it is GREAT. It has passion fruit and lime juice. Very tasty. Nick turns up a few minutes later and orders the same. He too is happy.
The Starters: I get my wish and go for the empanadas. They are very tasty. Nick goes for the quesadilla and he seems satisfied, but I want to say that something was missing from his quesadillas...I am not sure what. Yes, she fails once again in her London-food-blogging-task.
The Atmosphere: In the background, they are playing Buena Vista Social Club. At 8 p.m. on a Thursday, the place is buz
Read more: Latin
Tapas: Sangria
2007-06-15 02:26:00
88 Upper StreetN1 0NPTel: 020 7288 0954
Date of Last Visit: Oh, I don't know. A few months ago. I'm sorry.
The Damage: £20 each?
I have been remiss in writing up Sangria. It's been ages (well, a few months) since I've been, but it was just so very decent and nice that I did not want to neglect it. Particularly when a nice May bank holiday weekend gives me some time to catch up on things. (Did you know that the Brits only get eight public holidays while Americans get 10? I'll leave the UK-government-mandated-minimum of 20 vacation days aside. But I gotta be honest, I like 10 public holidays spread throughout the year a lot better than 8 days squished up in April and December.) But back to Sangria...
The Context: One night after work, Feathers and I had gone to my Thai ladies at the Thai Massage place on the Essex Road. Feathers had never been. I think she's a convert. They are just so very sweet. I don't remember if we had had a rough day or anything--isn't it funny whe
Read more: Tapas
South Ken Whole Foods
2007-06-12 00:08:00
63–97 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SE
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 9th, 2007
The Victim: Me.
The Damage: £60 plus public transport.
In Chicago, I used to live about a 15 minute walk from the Lakeview Whole
Foods
and I would drop in all the time. I loved their salad bar. And I loved their artichoke dip. And their wine section. And their cheese section.
See, Whole Foods
employs people who are either experts in things like wine or cheese or who want to become experts. So it was always a pleasure talking to the staff about wine. And about cheese. They always had a recommendation.
On-site food and wine experts don't exist in Dominick's or Jewel in Chicago. Maybe behind the meat counter, or the fish counter. But not anywhere else.
So I was excited when I heard in 2004 that Whole Foods was planning on opening a shop in London in 2007. Three years seemed like an awfully long time to wait though!
But here we are, three years and one London food blog later, and here i
Read more: South
Restaurant in Tallinn, Estonia: Troika
2007-06-09 02:29:00
Raekoja plats 15Tallinn, Estonia
Tel: +372 6276245
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
The Victim: Dad
The Damage: Unknown! Dad paid.
The Background: I had narrowed down dinner to two locations and asked the concierge for the deciding vote. Troika it is! Particularly, I was excited because all the write-ups mentione pelmeni--and I have a soft spot for pelmeni after visiting Russia with my friend Aileen in 1998 and eating lots of delicious pelmeni everywere we went. Pelmeni, btw, are dumplings...they are like pierogi, or gyoza, or pot stickers, or well just dumplings.
The Entrance: I like it. It is busy and loud and fun. There's live music and singing coming from somewhere. Our server asks us if we'd like some vodka and pickles--we say yes immediately because my dad's new best friend--the server at Gloria--told us that we must have the vodka and pickles.
The Drinks and Starters: The vodka arrives and our server puts on quite a show pouring it for us. He raises the bottle
Wine Bars in Tallinn, Estonia: Gloria Wine Bar
2007-06-06 03:38:00
Müürivahe 2, 10146Tallinn, Estonia
Tel: +372 6 446 950
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, May 15th
The Victim: Dad
The Damage: Unknown! Dad paid.
The Background: I really am the BEST daughter ever. My father (likes to think he) is a simple man: he likes red wine, fish, and the cha cha. Knowing his fondness for red wine and my appreciation of a comfortable venue, I made the Gloria
Wine Bar our destination, cha cha aside.
Now you must imagine me guiding my father down a half-deserted street in Estonia, looking for Number 2. He is VERY cranky. He is convinced that I do not know where I am going. He doesn't want to walk anymore. He wants to stop and go back and go somewhere else. (History has taught me NEVER to let give in to pressure and let him take me to the first place he sees. It will no doubt be awful, utterly charmless and with disasterous food.) I have never heard an adult man whine so much.
But there, off in the distance, is the entrance to the Gloria Wine Bar. I enter, my f
Chinese: Wong Kei
2007-07-18 00:30:00
41-43 Wardour StreetW1D 6PY Tel: 020 7437 8408Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 21, 2007The Victims: Ben, Gerry, MattThe Damage: £20 each with drinksThe Background: My Chinese
friend Echo has told me on a number of occasions that Wong Kei is THE place to go in Chinatown for Chinese food. Matt has organized a night out for Gerry and Ben and myself--a variety show at the Cafe Royal in Picadilly--and so we drop into Wong Kei for dinner beforehand.The Loos: I started my Wong Kei experience in the ladies' room, and it was really gross in a very disgusting way. The stench hit me the moment I walked through the door. The 5-second rule could not be applied here. A little power-washing would go a very very long, long way. Like long in a dig-a-tunnel-to-China-way. Yuk...I am grossed out just thinking about it.The Food: We started with some duck pancakes, which were really nice, as they usually always are. And a platter of mixed vegetarian items for Gerry. I don't get the whole crispy spinach
Help with Wedding Dinner Music
2007-07-21 17:50:06
You'll forgive the non-food post.
I am doing the dinner music for the wedding of Feathers and Matt and although I've got 53 songs on the playlist and a whole bunch of songs on a napkin (thanks Mark, Ben, Howard, Julie), I want to make sure I'm not missing anything...
Here are the adjectives I'm working with...beachy, summery, causal, laid-back.
This is dinner music, not dancing. I need background songs but romantic ones. Not sure how much of my playlist you'll be able to hear on Last.fm, but here's a taste. Any suggestions before 5 p.m. on Sunday July 22st would be much appreciated...that's when I'm going to start burning CDs.
Read more: Dinner
, Music
Good Beer: St. Peter's Organic Best Bitter
2007-07-19 22:23:00
I like beer.
There, I've said it.
I was, if I haven't told you a million times before, an exchange student at the University of Innsbruck, Austria for a year in college. We had a beer vending machine in our dorm--something you'd never see in America--and we were a short hop from Munich, a city I lived in in 2003 for five months. (An der Ecke von Gabelsbergerstr und Augustenstr, gegenueber von McDonalds) in case you're interested.) I've been to Oktoberfest twice. (1993 and then again in 2000.) I'll go again this year if anyone is up for the field trip. In short, I've spent many a happy and relaxing and low-pressure Saturday (and Sunday, and well, the occasional weekday) in a German/Austrian beer garden.
I like trying new beers. Beers I've never heard of before. But truth be told, I'm a little behind on my knowledge of English beers. I'm determined to do something about this. And I'm starting with St. Peter
's. I'm excited to start here because The Jerusalem Tavern isn'
Read more: Organic
, Bitter
Organic Gastro: The Duke of Cambridge
2007-07-23 00:31:00
30 St Peter's StreetN1 8JTTel: 020 7359 3066
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Victim: Ben
The Damage: £22 each?
The Background: I am on Day 2 of the conference, and I am so hoping it will be better than Day 1. It's an online marketing conference, which had sounded SO great when I read about it online. But when they put up a slide in one session that explains what a Web site is (or maybe it was a search engine)...well, I get a little peeved. And then one person reads their entire presentation off a piece of paper, verbatim. That sucked. And a couple of speakers didn't show up or got "stuck in traffic." The most oft-heard phrase? "This next slide..." (ARGGGH.) And the rest all spoke very vaguely, in a theoretical manner that DROVE ME CRAZY. I wanted some specific examples, not sweeping generalizations. And I gradually came to understand A. How Much I Already Know and B. My Presentation Skills are FANTASTIC.
Funnily, towards the end of Day 1, I run into Ben of Foo
Read more: Organic
, Cambridge
Pizza: Mulberry Street
2007-07-27 00:17:00
84 Westbourne GroveW2 5RTTel: 020 7313 6789
Date of Last Visit: 1 July 2007
The Victims: Rutton, Zarmina
The Damage: £13 per person with Diet Cokes.
The Background: I think I saw someone famous last night. I met Bryan and Stacey and their friend Jason at Green & Red for some tasty Mexican snacks, and then we dropped into Loungelover for some £11 cocktails. (Hear me repeating...I'm worth it. I'm worth it.) And there in the bar, not five feet from me, was someone who looked an awful lot like Colleen McLoughlin. (That's Wayne Rooney's girlfriend, in case you didn't know. Hey, I only know because I read Grazia.)
Well, this has absolutely nothing to do with my lunch with Rutton and Zarmina on Sunday, but I thought it was exciting.
Anyhow, I wanted to try out Mulberry
Street
. Or Bloody French. Both have so-so reviews. Hmmmm. I tell R & Z this and we almost go someplace else, but then we walk by Mulberry Street, and it looks okay.
The Food: We order a regular pizza--1/
Read more: Pizza
Tapas: Pinchitos
2007-07-25 00:13:00
32 Featherstone StreetEC1Y 8QXTel: 020 7490 0121
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 28th, 2007
The Victims: Howard, Ben, Mark
The Damage: 20ish each?
The Background: As of Thursday June 28th at 7:30 p.m., I've known Mark for about four hours in total. But we're Facebook friends , so I've been keeping tabs on him. I know he likes swimming, and that he has a new toaster. I know he saw a bad movie last Friday. Likewise, Mark knows that it might be time for me to move; that sometimes, I log in to Facebook while I'm waiting for the bus; and that I've grown tired of my music collection. (Don't tell my mother. Please. You'd have to see my music collection to truly understand my attention deficit disorder.)
Well, Mark suggests the pub quiz at the Wenlock Arms, and I suggest dinner beforehand at the new tapas place at Featherstone Street, just south of Old Street tube. It's a deal.
The Entrance: It's loud. They could use some sound-proofing devices. It's loud and not super-c
Read more: Tapas
A designer, some tapas, a photographer, and a very good day
2007-08-01 01:15:00
Image used with permission of Klaus Haapaniemi. Ceramics from his private exhibition in Helsinki.
The Date: Friday, July 6th, 2007
The Victim: Myself, and those hitherto unknown
The Damage: A lot. In USD.
My day starts early. I roll over and look at the clock at 5:51 a.m. I am wide awake. I like being this awake this early. It means I will accomplish many things. Many trivial things, but things I'd prefer to accomplish now, now at 6 a.m. on a Friday as opposed to mid-afternoon on a precious Saturday or a sleepy Sunday.
I run the dishwasher. I wash my darks. I catch up on e-mail and vacuum/hoover in preparation for the arrival of Stefanie, my cleaning person, whom I love in ways words cannot describe. (Yes, I pre-clean for my cleaning lady. Blame my mother. And 17 years of Catholic schooling .) The Turkish grocery has English Draino and I unclog my shower. I pay some bills, I drink some tea, and I listen to M. Ward, my new obsession. Just for fun, I'm going to include some 30 s
The Best Salad Dressing Ever: Pizza Express
2007-07-29 22:47:00
Call me crazy. But I love Pizza
Express
Salad
Dressing
. When I first moved to London, I lived over by Tower Bridge, and there was a Pizza Express around the corner and down the street from my flat. During the first year or two I lived in London, I flew back and forth to the US five or six times a year. (Enough to keep me covered in United Miles three years' later. These trips also had a lasting affect on my immune system: after 1.5 years of being sicker than I've ever been in my entire life, I've determined that it's now impossile for me to become ill. I have an immune system of steel. Of kryptonite. I will never be ill again. I swear.)
With all these pond-hopping-flights, I would land at Heathrow at 6 a.m., be home by 8 a.m., and nap until 11 or so. Then I'd have a salad at Pizza Express--with extra dressing--before heading into the office. (International travel makes me crave vegetables like nobody's business.)
As much as food-focused people like me give Pizza Express crap
Arepas in Camden, Gilgamesh, and The Cuban
2007-08-03 00:30:00
The Date: Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Victim: Stacey
The Damage: Well, it was probably something like £40, but I loaned Stace some money so she could buy some fab dresses and she insisted on paying for a lot more than she should have from there on out.
The Background: It's funny...I've just been on the phone to Rutton (it's 8 p.m. on a Sunday as a write this), and I told him about my day. And he said, "You're very good at planning your weekends."
And that gave me pause. Because although I'd so like that to be true, it's not. I'm a planner, for sure, but planners can't plan alone.
So yesterday, I was supposed to go over to Al & Louise's for a barbecue with baby Oscar. (Al & Louise have the distinction of being this American gal's "English friends.") At 8:30 a.m., I checked my phone and there was a message from Al that said something like...
"Stuck my head in a bucket of PIMS last night. I'm dying. Barbecue is off. Sorry."
So that
Read more: Camden
, Gilgamesh
, Cuban
Mexican and Motherhood: Beach Burrito
2007-08-01 23:07:00
4 Berwick StreetW1F 0PA Tel: 020 7437 3010
Date of Last Visit: A while ago.
The Victim: My ovaries.
Truth be told, I don't actually write about everywhere I eat. There are two main reasons why:
If you knew how often I visited the Chinese take-away next door, well, you'd doubt me completely. (But it is very good. Really. And the Bangladeshi next door to the Chinese is even better--and they wave at me when I walk by.)
Some stories are better left untold.
But during a recent dinner with Jess of RipeLondon at (where else but) Vinoteca, we swapped our tales of love found, love lost, and well, love stumbling and tripping flat on its face in the back lanes and alleyways of our adopted home-country and hometown. These are tales of boys behaving badly in new restaurants, old haunts, over gourmet meals and/or gourmet burgers; they are stories of candlelight, Carlings, take-aways, long walks on short piers and Fellini films. Tales you want to share, but yet you don't. Because yo
Read more: Mexican
, Motherhood
, Beach
Cornish Knocker
2007-08-05 22:02:00
When I Drank It: Tuesday, July 10th
The Scene of The Crime: The Rose & Crown Pub, 199 Stoke Newington Church St, N16 9ES
The Victims: Ben, Gerry, and a late Matt
The Damage: £7.50 for two pints and a half. Or thereabouts. Don't quote me. (And no, I didn't drink them all myself.)
The Verdict: Now if that's not a good tap, I don't know what is.
It reminds me of my friend from grammar school, Louise, another child of a police officer. I remember her telling me how when she walked home from our very Catholic grammar school one late afternoon, a man jumped out of the bushes in a tan rain coat and flashed her.
And I remember even then, my young mind was thinking...who's got a proper raincoat these days??? I mean, a tan one, with a belt?
Well, I will let you ponder that while I tell you that the Cornish Knocker, made by Skinners Brewery, is very smooth; personally, I tasted bananas. And there were no raincoats involved. Would I drink it all the time? I'm not sure. But I
You CAN Drink Beer with Ice! The Michelada
2007-08-08 23:11:00
One night back in Business School, I was hanging out with my friend Matt, who loves the Alman Brothers, and we were drinking beer. But it was all warm. There was ice in the house though, so I innocently suggested just throwing some ice in.
He was horrified.
I was not.
(To be honest, it didn't stop him. He did drink the beer. With ice. But he kept saying "Dude, there's ice in my beer!" I guess you had to be there.)
Well, the next time I have a case of warm beer and nowhere to go, I will make Micheladas. (Which, according to NPR, means My Cold Beer.) Micheladas like they serve at Green & Red. Or Mercado.
It's my new summer drink. You should try one. Or four.
The Michelada ingredients vary depending on who you talk to. Having tried a bunch of different types of Micheladas now, I'd go for the lemony/lime version; no Clamato or tomato juice for me por favor. So more citrus-y than Bloody Mary-esque. But you'll find some that are spicier...like these recipes.
Michelada with C
Read more: Drink
Mexican: Mercado
2007-08-07 22:57:00
26-30 Church StreetStoke NewingtonN16 0LU
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, July 10th
The Victims: Ben, Gerry, Matt
The Damage: Oh I forget. But I think it might have been just £20 each.
So the other Sunday, I was bored and actually cooked for myself. I use the term "cooked" loosely as always. "Cooking" involved stopping into Tesco Metro and buying Old El Paso Enchiladas in a Box, along with some chicken, which was--as it should be--already cut up for me. I am nothing if not efficient. "Cooking" also involved setting off the smoke detector a couple of times, which always keeps things exciting. (No pots or pans or appendages were burned during my cooking, I swear) Ah, my neighbo"u"rs must love me.
Well, my Enchiladas from a Box were delicious--particularly because I ditched the packet of ueber-bland tomato sauce for 1/2 a jar of salsa from Whole Foods. Hot!
So this had me totally geared up for a night of Mexican
, by real people who could cook!
Read more: Mercado
Harveys Sussex Best Bitter
2007-08-06 22:13:00
Date of Consumption: Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Scene of The Crime: The Rose & Crown Pub, 199 Stoke Newington Church St, N16 9ES
The Victims: Ben, Gerry, and a late Matt
The Damage: I don't recall.
The Verdict: Harveys Sussex Best Bitter
has as a bite to it. I like it, but it might be a bit too bitter for me.
This is surprising.
It's surprising because when people page "Bitter, party of 1," well, I usually turn around.
London Gastro: Great Queen Street
2007-08-09 23:30:00
32 Great
Queen
StWC2B 5AATel: 020 7242 0622
Date of Last Visit: 13 July 2007
The Victim: K
The Damage: £45 each. Plus drinks at the Covent Garden Hotel afterwards.
The Background: K has been traveling like crazy lately and I have been running around (literally) a lot lately, so it's been too long. I'm also lucky in that smoking is now illegal in London, which means K&A are more likely to be tempted out. (They do not, most obviously, have the affinity for Febreeze and Clear Eyes that I do.)
The Tap Water Test: PASSED. A whole jug.
The Service: Friendly. Informative. Interesting. They know the food and the menu. The wine recommendation we got was one of the most enthusiastic I've ever received. (It would help if I could remember what it was...it was French, fruit-forward, and it started with a G.) I hope they don't ever lose this enthusiasm thing. Also, I liked the fact that they didn't automatically tack on 12.5%. They asked when they charged my card whether I wanted to
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