Time doesn’t stop, and if I don’t want to take an eternity to finish this challenge, I really have to keep cooking as often as possible. For this one, we travel from Europe to the big Africa!
Let’s cook something from Algeria.
The clock keeps ticking, and it’s time to continue with the second country on the list; we now go from the Middle East to Southeast Europe: let’s explore Albania!
I'm lucky to be able to visit NYCš at least twice a year, and since these are business trips, most of the expenses are covered by my company — including meals. So of course I take this opportunity to go out and explore restaurants and try as much food as possible (as allowed by budget š). Thanks to this I've had the classic hot dogs in Central Park, burgers, burritos, NY-style pizza (ooooooobviously), sweet treats (might actually do a post about one of my favs š¤), sandwiches, Chinese… and I'm waiting patiently for next trip to keep on trying more — and maybe repeat a couple favs.
September is an important month in Mexico because it’s when Mexican Independence is celebrated, and while this happens only on September 16th, the whole month is full of typical food and dishes available only in this period. For example the famous “Chile en Nogada”.
What is a chile en nogada?
Yeah… it’s no secret that we, Mexican love chiles, and this one is amazing.
It basically is a poblano chile stuffed with picadillo topped with a walnut-based creamy sauce called nogada (hence the name) and pomegranate seeds.
What is picadillo? Another Spanish word for another dish, made of shredded meat, aromatics, fruits and spices.
All this together make up the perfect chile en nogada.
This is in general words what it is, you can always search for a recipe online to see what exactly has, and maybe try to prepare one.
Or… you can search for a place that prepares chiles en nogada just like I did this weekend.
The Place
Searching online we found this place called “Casa Tijuana Project” near Tijuana’s soccer stadium.
It is a small place, which feels more like a home because of how small it is and the cozy decoration.
I liked how every table was different from one another.
The menu is not too big. It is actually simple, but creative and from what I read, it keeps changing through the seasons.
This time we were seated on the newly renovated second floor.
The Dish
Obviously, I had chile en nogada as the main dish, but before I get to that, I first got a soup I’ve been craving for a while.
I ordered a Mexican noodle soup or sopa de fideos in Spanish.
This is also a classic Mexican dish and every Abuela knows how to make it. It’s just the pasta in a tomato and chipotle broth, and this version also had northern potatoes and a piece of dry meat.
It did not disappoint me.
And the star of the evening:
Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this recipe is not hard, but it’s tricky due to the ingredients for the picadillo inside the chile, and those to make the sauce.
It also takes skill to prepare the inside of the chile so it is not spicy.
I can confidently say this Chile was perfect. It wasn't spicy at all, the stuffing had the right ingredients, the sauce on top was sweet and not too liquid. And the best, the size was more than perfect, in fact, it was bigger than expected.
While I arrived at this place because I was searching specifically for a chile en nogada, my experience was great and delicious that it left me wanting to come back and try something else, because sadly the chile en nogada was a season special dish and last Sunday was the last day available in the menu for this year.
But the rest of the menu certainly looks amazing…
Fun fact: this dish is tied to the independence of Mexico since it is said they were prepared for the first time to entertain the future emperor AgustĆn de Iturbide when he arrived to Puebla after the signing of the Treaty of CĆ³rdoba.
I had to make a quick stop at Mexico City and Instagram knew
exactly where to send me. Well, it didn’t exactly show me, but it showed my
girl and she knows those things that make me easily excited.
By now you should know I love food, and I hope this is the
same reason why you read me. But sometimes the place is as exciting as the food
served in that place. This time I was more excited for the place than the food,
but it was equally delicious.
The place
Located inside “Parque Interlomas” in State of Mexico, we
have “Train Bistro”, and as you may imagine from the name, the theme is all about
trains!
According to the webpage description, it has the looks of a train station from Europe in the 40s. The whole thing feels as if you were
inside a train station, the seats resemble train station benches, some tables
made out of luggage. But this isn’t the best part.
What makes this restaurant so cool, and unique in the whole
American continent is that it has several computer-controlled trains that go
from the kitchen, stretch throughout the whole restaurant, there are five
bridges, and the tracks end at each table. Yes, the trains deliver the food.
With that single sentence I was sold and I had the urge to go.
How it works?
There are still waiters in the place, but they will take
your order, occasionally ask how everything’s going, and bring those things
that a train can’t deliver. Other than that, once you choose what you want to
drink and your meal, it’s only a matter of waiting for the train to arrive. It
automatically stops at your table, and once everybody takes their dish/drink,
it slowly backs up and returns to the kitchen.
What about the food?
The restaurant defines the style as casual gourmet, which
basically means: the food you can find in any other regular restaurant, just
presented nicely.
For example, for breakfasts, it offers the classics: fruits bowls, pancakes,
chilaquiles, enchiladas, bagels, and eggs. For entries, potatoes in different forms, soups and creams,
and salads. For the main dish, they have pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and hot
dogs.
So, nothing extraordinary or something you may not expect,
but still, it’s nicely presented, it has great flavour and feels fresh… and come
on, it arrives on a train!
You can check the full menu on their webpage.
What did I have?
This visit we had the “Cubos Mikado” to start, which are a
mix of breaded cheeses chipotle mayo and carrots. And as the main dish, I ordered a
pulled pork sandwich. And for dessert, a cinnamon roll which comes with red
fruits and a chocolate bunny.
Again, nothing too fancy, but it was tasty and fresh. The meat in my sandwich was soft as you might expect from pulled pork.
This place is not really for trying something different, it’s
about having a nice experience. I loved the theme and was fascinated by the
trains running across the whole place carrying drinks and food, so if you have
kids they’ll love this place 100%.
And of course, you can buy train sets before you leave.
You read that right. Peanut butter and beer. Well… more like, peanut butter flavoured beer.
Let me explain.
Before anything else, sorry for being away for months, but the pandemic does not allow going out and explore new places, and there have been a lot of changes around me recently ¯\_(ć)_/¯.
But worry not this blog is not dead, and definitely, thankfully I'm not dead either.
But now that vaccines are rolling out and life seems to slowly get back to "normal", I took a trip to an old favourite BBQ restaurant with my girl.
I like this place because it has the basic BBQ dishes: ribs, pulled pork, BBQ chicken, loaded baked potato…
But today I'm not going to talk about this restaurant or the food.
My girl has built-in like a peanut detector. Saying she loves peanuts is an understatement, and somehow she found the only bottle which read "peanut butter" in a fridge full of different labels and cans, all local and imported beers.
Not gonna lie, the concept looked interesting but we didn't know what to expect.
It does not feel like you're drinking peanut butter. For that matter open a jar of PB and take a spoonful.
That being said, if you like peanuts and PB, you'll love it.
How can I describe it? š¤š¤
The first thing you taste is the bitterness of beer, a stout dark beer. And then you feel the clear notes of peanut butter.
It is not sweet, obviously, but it leaves a pleasant taste.
I know there are beer purists who do not like combinations like this, and that's ok. I respect you, so pass on this post.
But for the rest who might find this interesting here are the details:
The Brewery: š»
Inspecting the label, the company behind this amazing combination is "Belching Beaver" and it is located in Oceanside, CA.
It has 4 locations in San Diego, the main brewery located in Oceanside; a pub called "Pub980" which I'd love to go to; a tasting room in Northpark; and a Tavern&Grill.
All those locations serve Belching Beaver creations.
Beers: šŗ
As of today, I've drunk only the Peanut Butter Milk Stout. And according to the label and their website, this is the beer that put them on the map.
This beer has competed and won in different competitions since 2014.
But this isn't the only option.
They offer a nitro version of the Peanut Butter Milk Stout, which if you don't know what it is, a nitro beer contains 70% nitrogen and 30% carbon dioxide, generating cascading effects and smooth carbonation you can't develop in regular carbon dioxide beer.
Haven't had this one, but should have the same flavour but smoother bubbles.
There is another option, which I'm very much interested in trying. It's called "Viva La Beaver" and its description says it is loaded with notes of creamy peanut butter, cinnamon, Mexican chocolate and coffee.
This one is recommended as a dessert beer (the first time I hear of this term).
There are other more traditional, or should I say, more Californian beer styles like IPAs and Pale Ales, mango or honey wheat flavoured.
And for those looking for lighter drinks, they also have a collection of fruit-flavoured hard seltzers.
The complete list of what they offer, more pictures, and descriptions can be found on their website.
Where to buy?
As long as you are in California, it is not hard to get a pack because they offer delivery straight from their webpage.
If you're outside California or prefer to pick a pack by yourself you can also use the Brew Finder.
This beer is something I did not expect but became one of my favourites.
Definitely, something you can only find in weird Sunny California!
I am not visiting as many places as I would like to, because you know, we are still in the middle of a pandemic
But there was once place I've been craving for a while, and sadly I am not in the Uber Eats service area, so I had to mask up, and go early.
I've known this place for a few years, and I love its desserts.
The Place
It's called "Donut Bar", and it is not hard to guess what they sell.In case you didn't catch it, they sell donuts. But it's Donut BAR because on weekends they also serve… beer. At least in the primary location.
The original and first location is in San Diego's downtown:
Then they opened the second one in Las Vegas, and recently the owner opened the concept to franchise it, so in the last year and a half, more or less, they opened 5 new locations, which you can see on their website.
Today I went to the one in Eastlake, Chula Vista, because it's the closest to me.
All locations open every day: Monday thru Friday at 7am, weekends at 8am. They close supposedly at 2pm, but actually close when they are sold out, which happens before noon.
On weekends they open again in the evening, they call it the encore, to offer more donuts and the beer bar (at least in the Downtown location).
This place has become famous over the years because of all the flavours they offer. Check some of their Instagram photos:
My all-time favourite is the maple-bacon one:
You can see a lot more deliciousness on their official Instagram page.
The Chosen donut…s
This time I was welcomed by a new one I haven't seen before. The apple crumble donut with bacon š¤¤š„
The bread genuinely tasted like apple and cinnamon. It has bits of apple complementing the experience, and of course, bacon on top (life's always better with bacon!).
And took a second donut for tomorrow's breakfast… or tonight's dinner, depending on my will power.
This is the "Homer" because it looks like the iconic donut from "The Simpsons":
What makes these donuts great are a couple of things. The size, they are enormous, they're a bit bigger than my hand and trust me, I have no princess's hands.
Their freshness, all donuts are prepared the same day in the morning, and they sell out every day. It is guaranteed you will eat a fresh, recently made, thick but soft donut every time you go.
And even when you see a lot of colours and decorations, they're not overly sweet. Obviously, they're sweet, but in the right amount. They do not come close to how sweet are the, for example, Krispy Kreme ones. Those are sugar with some bread.
These have a perfect balance.
Except the one filled with whipped cream… can't defend that one. But even that one has fresh strawberries, so it's not bad at all.
These are my favourite donuts in the world, and everyone who I've taken there shares my opinion.
A few copies have popped out, but they come nothing close to the original. If there's one location near you, you must try them. And better go in the morning because they really sell out fast.
This place has an 11 out of 10. Easily.
Stay safe and remember to stay home if you don't need to go out.
Follow @MXBS13
Another weekend of not going out. After all this time I should be eager to go out... but honestly I’m very happy at home. Not working, not dealing with anybody... just me, my bed, and Silicon Valley’s last season.
With this plans, obviously I’m not cooking today. In the morning I barely had enough strength to make a quesadilla for breakfast. Dinner? Nope, that’s too much.
By now, I know almost all the restaurants near home, and the fact that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to have did not make the search easier. I just needed sustenance.
After browsing Uber Eats for a while, I found a dish that caught my eye, from a place I hadn’t notice before.
The Place
Remember the “torta” entry where I mentioned how Uber Eats showed one thing, but Maps showed another? (if not, you can read that entry here).Well, something similar happened with this place.
According to Uber Eats the place is called “MJ’s Fusion Deli”, but according to their receipt it’s 805 South Burrito š¤.
But I’m going with the first one because this time it does appear in the map as “MJ’s Fusion Deli”.
Again, can’t talk about the place because it’s closed for dine-in. I can say that, from what I see in the pictures it’s not fancy. You order, and sit (or take-out because pandemic).
And as you can see from the map above, it’s practically in front of a Collage, so it’s gotta be popular among students.
The Dish
I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but this caught my eye.It’s called “Buddha Fries”. By now you should now I love fries and potatoes. I may even have a serious problem with potatoes. So, the word fries got my curiosity. What got my attention were the rest of the ingredients:
It comes with fries, of course, two eggs, two meats to choose, cheese, Asian salad, house sauces, and seaweed sesame seeds. For an extra bucks you can add shrimp and make you fries Cajun style.
For my order I went with regular fries, spicy red chilli pork, and MJ’s special chicken. Eggs, scrambled of course.
This seemed to be no ordinary “carne asada fries”. This is what I got:
I have to admit the portion is generous indeed. Also, I find awesome that there’s more meat than fries.
You know I love fries, but usually these kind of dishes have fries and some meat. With this one, it’s meat and some fries. That’s great value for my money.
As you can see, there’s salad at the very top, both meats are evenly distributed, the eggs are in the back corner, and the fries are at the bottom, which improve their flavour because of the juice the meats drip.
Now, final verdict: it’s ok. It was something different and I appreciate that. I might even order again, but with different meats to mix up things. I also think it’s a nice mix between American food and Asian cuisine. But at the end it’s fast easy food. Its location is perfect, because it’s great for busy students. A quick, not expensive, well-served meal. And for lazy weekends, it was great.
I know these are hard times, but it’s cool to order from your local restaurants every once in a while. We are all in this together, and if we don’t spend locally, our communities will have a much harder time than it is right now.
Plus, it’s always cool to try new dishes. You could find a hidden gem ¯\_(ć)_/¯.
Follow @MXBS13
Sorry for being away for so long, but as you know, these are strange times.
On the one hand, all restaurants here in San Diego remain with heavy restrictions, and not all offer delivery. Actually, one of my favourite restaurants is entirely closed, no takeout nor delivery. On the other hand, I’m still working at my office; due to the nature of my work, I could not do home-office. Well… the celestial court decided against it, but I’m not going into that discussion. Worry not, I’m taking my precautions, and after work, I head directly to home.
Therefore, I’ve had few chances to continue writing. I haven’t tried new restaurants, or I order my favourites from my regular restaurants, and the point of this blog is to explore new places and dishes, and at this moment it’s kinda tricky.
I also don’t have enough time to cook elaborate stuff. For my lunch, I usually do quick and easy stuff. Sometimes I even cheat a little and buy pre-cooked food ready to just heat.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy cooking. This is why this weekend I set myself the mission to prepare something good.
Just a side note before I continue: I’m working with what I currently have. If you search for other recipes or pics, you’ll see them differently. Still, while I know the recipe I used today is not perfect and definitely not the classic one, it distracted me for a while, and it was delicious.
That being said, the essential ingredients are:
That’s it! Nothing too hard to find. Unfortunately, I do not have corn or cream, but it’s still a pretty tasty dish.
After roughly 10 minutes, you can take them out of the bag and peel them completely.
Once ready, it’s moment to cut them into rajas! “Rajas” translates to slices (that’s why it’s rajas con queso, it literally means slices [of chile] with cheese). In this step, you should also cut the onion in smaller slices. Again, in my case, I don’t have fresh onions, so I had to use dehydrated chopped onions, not ideal, but better than nothing.
Once it’s all cut, put the rajas, onions, garlic, and corn along with a bit of olive oil, and salt it as desired on a skillet. All vegetables need to be fully cooked before you add the cream and/or cheese.
Once the rajas are tender, lower the heat and add the cream. Stir until it’s well blended, and finally turn off the heat and add the cheese. The recommended cheeses are asadero, Oaxaca, manchego or jack. Your choice. Today, I used jack cheese. Again, stir until it’s blended.
And now the best part… serve and enjoy!
Don’t worry about the result. I have to admit that at first, I thought to skip this entry because I didn’t have all the ingredients and does not look like the traditional rajas con crema y queso. But I really enjoyed the process, it definitely looks tasty, and yeah, it was. And I needed an excuse to write š.
Be safe, get creative, and Bon appetite!
Follow @MXBS13
Therefore, I’ve had few chances to continue writing. I haven’t tried new restaurants, or I order my favourites from my regular restaurants, and the point of this blog is to explore new places and dishes, and at this moment it’s kinda tricky.
I also don’t have enough time to cook elaborate stuff. For my lunch, I usually do quick and easy stuff. Sometimes I even cheat a little and buy pre-cooked food ready to just heat.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy cooking. This is why this weekend I set myself the mission to prepare something good.
What you will need
I’ve been craving some rajas con queso for a while, so, why not do them myself? They’re delicious and easy to prepare. And yeah, it's a Mexican dish.Just a side note before I continue: I’m working with what I currently have. If you search for other recipes or pics, you’ll see them differently. Still, while I know the recipe I used today is not perfect and definitely not the classic one, it distracted me for a while, and it was delicious.
That being said, the essential ingredients are:
- Chile Poblano
- Onion
- Garlic
- Cheese
- Cream
- Corn
Chilito poblano š
Hands-on!
The first step is to roast the chiles. Make sure not to overburn them, but the whole surface needs to be well roasted.
The next step is crucial: Once they’re entirely roasted wrap them in a towel and put them inside a closed plastic bag for at least 10 minutes. This is for the chiles to “sweat”, and it will then be easier to peel the outer skin.
Note: Sure, you can make the rajas without peeling them, a coworker of mine does it like this, but trust me, peeling them make them way better.
After roughly 10 minutes, you can take them out of the bag and peel them completely.
Once ready, it’s moment to cut them into rajas! “Rajas” translates to slices (that’s why it’s rajas con queso, it literally means slices [of chile] with cheese). In this step, you should also cut the onion in smaller slices. Again, in my case, I don’t have fresh onions, so I had to use dehydrated chopped onions, not ideal, but better than nothing.
Once it’s all cut, put the rajas, onions, garlic, and corn along with a bit of olive oil, and salt it as desired on a skillet. All vegetables need to be fully cooked before you add the cream and/or cheese.
Once the rajas are tender, lower the heat and add the cream. Stir until it’s well blended, and finally turn off the heat and add the cheese. The recommended cheeses are asadero, Oaxaca, manchego or jack. Your choice. Today, I used jack cheese. Again, stir until it’s blended.
And now the best part… serve and enjoy!
Conclusion
During these times, if you don’t have much to do, take a moment to cook something, it can be relaxing and/or can be a new skill. Like this, there are tons of easy and delicious recipes to try. You can even create something new.Don’t worry about the result. I have to admit that at first, I thought to skip this entry because I didn’t have all the ingredients and does not look like the traditional rajas con crema y queso. But I really enjoyed the process, it definitely looks tasty, and yeah, it was. And I needed an excuse to write š.
Be safe, get creative, and Bon appetite!
Follow @MXBS13
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but you know... can't go out right now. At least not to discover new restaurants and dishes.
Still, it's good to order delivery or take out to support local restaurants, and let's be real, there's a moment when you just don't want to cook for at least one day.
And that's why I did this week. I went to Uber Eats and searched for something other than burritos or fries.
The Place
The location of this place it's kinda confusing because it does not appear in Google Maps and does not have a webpage. But it obviously appears in Uber Eats.It's called Buckaroo Foot Long Tortas, and it's in National City, CA.
It seems like it's two restaurants operating in the same location because if you search for the address, you get "Chamango"... but honestly, that doesn't matter as long as I get some good food and it's delicious.
As you can get out of the name, the main dish in this place are tortas. Most of them are the traditional ones, nothing too fancy.
For example, ham torta, chicken torta, turkey torta, even veggie torta.
Of course, they also offer other things but mainly to complement your torta, like fruit salad, regular salads, and esquites (more on that shortly).
For beverages, there are juices, smoothies, water and sodas. And that's pretty much it.
Sorry I can't talk about the location or the interior, but I didn't go this time.
The Dish
For a couple weeks I've been craving specifically for a milanesa torta. I couldn't do it at home because either I did not have the correct bread, or the supermarket was out of the beef required to prepare the milanesa (hate you all who are overstocking, it's just a health crisis, not the end of the world! ...yet), and then I found this place online! It had exactly what I wanted! So, a milanesa torta was the chosen dish.
Don't know what a torta is? Well, it basically is a sandwich, but what makes a torta, a torta, is mainly the bread which in Mexico is known as "pan telera", or torta bread (duh). This is a telera:
Then the primary ingredients in a torta are, besides the bread, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, jalapeƱos, onions, avocado, and the main protein, in this case, it was milanesa... oh, and I took out the onions and avocado (because team #NoAvocado).
And what is a milanesa? Just breaded beef. This dish is typical of south and central America (the continent, obviously, don't be a nationalist moron). By itself, it can be pretty good and tasty, but put all these ingredients together, and you get one perfect torta.
What I like about this place, and why I liked this torta, it's that it really is prepared the Mexican way. It has the right ingredients and nothing more. No yellow cheese or any other Chicano-us inventions.
No, if you're looking for something like the real deal, this is the place. In fact, I want to order again from this place and try other tortas.
For the side, I also got another great dish; while I love fries, it wasn't time for fries. A Mexican dish deserves a Mexican side: esquites!
Esquites are a popular, and delicious, snack in Mexico. They're also known as "elote en vaso" (corn in a cup). The corn grain is generally boiled in water and then toasted, but it needs to be in a cup.
What's great about it is that it can be prepared in different ways, for example with lime and chile, mayonnaise and cheese.
Fun fact, the word esquites comes from the Nahuatl word Ćzquitl, which means "toasted corn".
The verdict: It was great. I satisfied my craving, and I appreciate the fact that this place prepares it the Mexican way, as it must be.
I can't give it the 100 grade because it still not Mexican, but it's pretty close. At least this place just became one of my favourite eateries because I love tortas (c'mon, who doesn't).
I also liked and appreciated that they don't charge you extra for those essential ingredients. In other places, they charge you extra for jalapeƱos! That's crazy.
I'm definitely ordering from this place again, and I think it will be sooner than later.
So, if you are in the San Diego, National City, or Chula Vista area, you can definitely order from its place through Uber Eats. Or you can go and order for take-out.
Remember to stay safe, stay home, and support your local places as much as you can.
Follow @MXBS13
