Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Product Review: Bissli Falafel Wheat Snacks


It is not that often that I venture into a Jack 99 Cent Store. If I do happen to find myself in one of the stores, I usually go for the gum, cold drinks, or nature valley bars. Hell will freeze over before I buy eggs or packaged meat from that place! Anyway I was breezing past the snacks isle when this caught my eye.... falafel flavored party snacks?!? What were they thinking?? Naturally I had to buy them

Bissli Falafel Flavored Wheat Snack
Apparently they are for people who looked like George Costanza in Junior High, and skinny hipster red heads. How could I not give these snacks a try??

Fiber Twigs...?
At first glance, these looked like a bunch of awful fiber one twigs....I hesitantly popped one a few in my mouth.... yep, they had the same exact consistency as well. Hard brittle, and texturally revoting. The taste however.... was amazingly like a falafel! It was bursting with chickpea, garlic and herby flavor. Needless to say I didn't finish the bag.
Price: $0.50
Verdict: They also had taco, honey and bbq flavors in more (kind of) appetizing cylinder shapes. It was only 50 cents to why the hell not try a bag? I would have been a huge fan of these falafel ones is only they were in a more appetizing shape and texture. Say like a dorito chip texture?

Jacks 99 Cent Store
Multiple Locations


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

West Chester Restaurant Festival: Huge Poops, Here I Come!

A couple of weeks ago it was the 31st annual  West Chester Restaurant Festival in PA. All types of restaurants in the PA area come, put up tents and stands to sell their signature dishes and shamelessly promote their business. Everything from generic street fair food to gourmet specialty shoppes showed up with their best. Oh, and there was clothing vendors and hippy stores as well... but who cares about that?? Well, enough small talk, time to check out the goodies!
 The streets were ridiculously over crowded with massive amounts of people and their families, seriously... maybe it's time to stop procreating so much? Or at least practice procreating safely with preventive measures?!? . I really wanted to bulldoze over the moms with their huge strollers  wished that the streets were a little wider for more walking room. It was worse than being squashed on the L train during morning rush hour.


Fudge Delight Inc

 Fresh Fudge?! Well, I guess this will be my first stop!

 So many choices! I didn't want to fill up on fudge ( is this line "thats what she said" appropriate? And who is this "she" anyway? She sounds like a whore)


 Chocolate and Peanut Butter
I went with an old stand-by. Thick, creamy, intensely dense and sweet. After about 3 little bites I was already getting a sugar high.  Speaking of high.. so were the prices! They didn't price them by how much you wanted, but only sold 1/4 lbs and every increment heavier. I tried looking up their location, but apparently they only do food festivals and shows. 
Price: $5.00 for 1/4 lb







Mabels Barbeque

 A super happy rack of ribs slathering herself up for your consumption? Why not stop here?!

 Ribs... *sigh*, they give me such a moral dilemma. One one side, they come from pigs, which are super cute animals that can play fetch and are just plain adorable. On the other side.. they are fucking delicious.  And so were these babies ( sob...nom, nom, sob, sob..) Fall off the bone semi sweet and sticky sauce. Finger licking good!
Price: $5.00 for 3 ribs
Mabels Barbeque 
607 E Market Street
West Chester PA 19382




 Maggie Moo's

 Chocolate and Better Batter
ICE CREAM!!! I know Maggie Moo's is a chain, but wow, can they churn an utterly creamy ice cream. I gave a scoop to my boyfriend and he asked if this was from a gelato cart. It certainly did have the silky consistancy of gelato as well as the intense flavors. I would not hesitate to stop by a Maggie Moo's near you next time!
Price: $3.00 for 2 scoops


Capt'n Dick's BBQ


 I was going to just walk past this...but...look at those racks of ribs!!

 Um... and whole Turkey legs??!

 More ribs... these were a bit tougher than Mabels, and they also had more lean meat on the bone. They won with their sauce however. Tangy, spicy and left a lingering kick in your mouth. Pluse, they gave me 1 extra rib which I liked ;)
Price: $2.00 for 1 rib
Captn Dicks
www.captndicksbbq.com
Only for catering



Dippin Dots

 Strawberries n Cream
Com'on... who could I say no to these? They are just so freakin fun to eat!
Price: $3.00 for a small




Gadaleto's Seafood Market

Half Lobster Roll with a side of potato salad
This was ... mediocre at best. Buddy didn't even want to finish it! It was literally only about 3-4 inches and was stringy had too much mayo. and celery. The Lobster should be the star, not celery.
 Price: $6.00 for half a roll
Gadaleto's Seafood Market
929 South High Street
West Chester PA, 19382




 Numzees Tavern-n-Grille

 Mushroom and Brie Egg Roll
Mmm.mmm... what can you get for a dollar these days? Maybe a gross hamburger from McDonalds? Or a freaking delicious egg roll from Numzees? I have never heard of this tavern befor, but the egg roll was awesome. Chewy, crunchy and stuffed with ooey, gooey cheese.  
Price: $1.00
Numzees Tavern-n Grill
520 Lincoln Street
Oxford PA 19363
http://www.numzees.com/numz/html/index.html

The National Rifle also played!

Verdict: I thought the hours of 12-5 were a little short, but after about 1/2 trying to shuffle through the crowd, I was ready to leave. I was fun to taste all of the foods I would normally walk by at certain restaurants, but next year I would suggest getting there around 4, when some of the crowd has died off a bit

Monday, September 27, 2010

Food Comic Monday: Ohhh Silly Fruits





Not sure if I completely agree with this diagram...

Friday, September 24, 2010

Hon Cafe: Always Here When You Need a Late Night Pastry

I love Chinese pastries (and it's not JUST because I'm Chinese). They are fun, silly and delicious. However, I hate the times pastry stores close. Most are closed before dinner, which is very inconvenient since I love a good pastry after a greasy Chinatown meal. Well lucky Hon Cafe is there to save the day! My friends and I stumbled upon this half pastry, half restaurant one night looking for dessert.
Yellow Bean Steam Bun
Hot and fresh straight from the steam oven. I love steam buns for their super soft and fluffy texture. The yellow bean is a bit more mild and less sweet than the red bean. Creamy thick texture,mmm..mmm, it hits the spot, and comes piping hot too. However, the ratio of bun to bean is horrible, so you will have a lot of left over naked bun after you have gobbled up the center. Unless, of course.. you LIKE naked buns!? (wink wink)
Price: $.95


Mexican Bun
Ohhh man, how come I have never been introduced to this before?? Seriously, where has this treat been all my life? Chewy, dense and utterly irresistible with its thick custard center. This is the perfect Chinese pastry. If nothing else, get this.
Price: $.95
Verdict: Skip all those cute looking pastries, for they trick you into buying them. They almost always end up being tasteless and bland. Go for the dense looking cream filled ones. Winner every single time!
Hon Cafe
70 Mott Street
 New York NY 10013

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Rabbithole: A Dinner Experiment



Rabbithole, conveniently located 1 block from my apartment, and yet I have never been there for dinner. The brunchs have always been delicious, and I am hoping the same for dinner...


Grilled Vegetables
This was made with goat cheese and fig vincotto. F.Y.I- vincotto means to be cooked down with wine. DELICIOUS, flavorful, softly cooked and a fairly large portion. Sweet, sour, creamy, perfect. A nice appetizer or even a light dinner if you are not too hungry.
Price: $11.00


Fries with Aoili Dip
Nice quality fries, the kind you wonder why you are still eating them when you are full. They are crisp and came out hot as hell. The sauce tasted like sour cream with a bit of garlic. It was tasty, but could have used another herb, like rosemary to liven it up a bit.
Price: $4.00


Angel Hair Pasta
This was made with tomato, garlic, basil, a splash of olive oil and shaved Parmesan.  My roomate ordered this, and it was finished before I could even ask for a bite! She said it was super garlicy (but that is a good thing).
Price: $11.00


Grilled Salmon
This was made with roasted sweet potato, beets, parsnip and string beans in a dill horseradish sauce. Dana ordered this one. I had a bite, the salmon was cooked perfectly and flaked off effortlessly with a gentle push of the fork. 
Price: $16.00


Skirt Steak Salad
This was made with oranges, and blue cheese. Nick got this one, however, he ordered it medium rare and it came out medium well. It was still flavorful, if not a bit chewy.
Price: $15.00


Fish and Chips
This was stout beer battered cod with hand cut fries ain a remoulade sauce and side of vinegar. I ordered this one. The  batter was like the texture of the outside of a corndog. A little soggy since they didn't bring it to me right away. The cod was extremely moist and fell apart after each bite. I ended up having to use a fork to finish this dish. It was okay, but I would not order this again.
Price: $11.00
Verdict: Very slow service, we even had to wait for our menus! There are definite hits and misses for dinner. The grilled vegetables were superb. I would order that again and again!
The Rabbithole
352 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
http://www.rabbitholerestaurant.com/

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Mays Place: Yeah, I Eat Here and I'm Proud of It!





Half price sushi. Some people think its bad. Half price sushi sounds almost as horrid as getting sushi from Duane Reade. Some people think less of me for eating it. Well guess what? I dont poop out dollar bills so to me it's fucking half price sushi, fuck yeah! Taking a seat at the sushi bar area, I decided to watch them as they made the sushi to order...


I Love N.Y Sushi and Spicy Salmon
Well, I never said half price sushi was the prettiest sushi ever. The I Love N.Y sushi is supposed to look like hearts...oh well... they tried? Anyway, it was made with tuna, avocado, and topped with tobiko and mango sauce. Messy looking, but fresh and tasty! Same with the spicy salmon. I mean, it is half price sushi, so don't get me wrong... it's not a beautiful culinary explosion of flavor in my mouth, but for what it is its very satisfying. 
Price: I Love N.Y: $11.95
         Spicy Salmon: $5.00
Half off Discount: $ 8.50


Verdict: In order to get the discount you need to "spend" $15.00 or more, but thats not hard at all. If you have a hankering for some sushi, but don't want to spend a million dollars, or leave hungry, I would suggest coming here, well until I win the lottery of course...
May's Place
121 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003