Krystal

The hardest part about driving across the South to eat hot dogs was NOT stopping at every barbecue shack and brightly colored exotic regional fast food restaurant along the way. Anyway after a few days of focus we broke down and pulled into a Krystal which are all over the south.


Sort of like White Castle but with more variations, double and triple stacked sliders, chicken sliders, hot dog sliders, anything you can imagine. I held off on ordering the whole menu and grabbed a sampler pack. The slider was your standard steamed gray patty, pickles, onions, and not as good as white castle.


But the chicken was awesome, and the mini hot dog was actually good, with real gas station American chili and cheese which was a nice break from all the heavily spiced greek-style hot dog sauce we'd been eating.


Check out the menu and you'll be ready for a 12 hour drive to grab a sack of sliders and a banana pudding milkshake.

Krystalist.com
Wikipedia - Krystal (Restaurant)

Shabu Shabu

 

Nothing says home like Shabu Shabu with the Tanaka's. And those fried wonton pocket things. Amazing.

F Train to Kotakemukaihara Station

Byron and Jill on the F Train

 

 

 Soba House, so stoked

 

 

yummy somen noodles in smokey miso broth with potatos and carrots

oolong High, oolong tea and sochu

um comfort yummyness

Chicken Karaage, fried deliciousness

Saya giving out the yummy sauce

handing out the grated radish

Tempura god

Sukiyaki udon

hair twins

Right up the hill from the Kotakemukaihara station from the F train line in Tokyo is a little old soba house that is Saya's favorite.

I of course am staying in Shibuya and she politely told me that the food in Shibuya sucked and was expensive (which is true, its kind of like touristville) so to come up to her neighborhood.

Which was totally worth it.

The statement of the evening was "Isn't this Tempura GOD?"

It sure was. Oishi!!!!!!!

Not pictured here but deserves ample notice, was the absolutely delicious Zaru Soba, and of course the Duck Soba. Um yea, duck soba, delicious broth.

Dill Pickle, Winston Salem NC

While Chau was eating french fry hot dogs in Korea, Caroline and I were on an exhaustive hot dog tour of the South (and 1 day in Jersey for the 7th annual NJ Hot Dog Tour). Had some time to squeak in a few non-hot dog stops and checked out the Dill Pickle for super early breakfast on day 2 of the tour.


The old guy at the grill yelled at me for taking pictures so I knew it was going to be good. Bare bones lunch counter serving sausage, biscuits, eggs, grits, country ham, hot coffee, nothing fancy just old school cheap breakfast with a southern twist.

My first time having real country ham and now I see what all the fuss is about. Right across the street from a fancy cocktail place we checked out the night before - which seems to be the theme in the south of old and new side by side.




Dill Pickle
214 W 4th St
Winston Salem, NC 27101-2824
(336) 723-5

Hold the Presses

In Seoul there is an area where you can shop untill 5AM. That by itself is already nuts, but the best part is that with night shopping comes night eating. Then the food vendors show up. This is where I discovered quite possibly the most amazing thing I have laid eyes upon.

Ready?

A Crinkle Cut French Fry covered HOT DOG!??? Slathered in ketchup.

Samson was good enough to try one at 5 AM for me. Since I was to much of a sleep zombie to figure out how to buy one.

He says it really hit the spot.

Cacia's Bakery

Check out Cacia on Ritner for square pies of all variety. On a friday afternoon the tiny storefront was packed with customers lined up for take out, by the slice or "by the box". Not quite sicilian, the crust is thinner than La Rosa, similar to Stogie Joe's / Santucci's style, but with a softer crust and bigger slices.




I had to try the Pizzaz - I haven't had the courage to order an entire Pizzaz pizza - which, if you don't know, is a crazy obscure only found in (usually south) philly pie that's topped with fresh tomato slices, AMERICAN CHEESE, and pickled sweet yellow peppers. It was stranger than I expected but actually kind of good, think grilled cheese pizza with a hoagie twist from the peppers. I would eat it again, but don't know about a whole pie.




People were ordering it by the box, pronounced "lemme getta boxa bazzaz"... on some of the red white and green south philly menus that land on my doorstep it's even spelled "Bazaz". Awesome. The tomato pie was OK, the white was delicious. And the stromboli looked AMAZING, definitely my next order. I had no idea but they actually have 6 locations - nothern liberties, jersey, etc so there's probably one near you.

Cacia Bakery
1526 W. Ritner Street
Philadelphia, PA 19145

Tuthilltown Distillery

Stopped here earlier this summer - micro-distillery outside of New Paltz, New York. Literally two shacks and a staff of maybe 3 people surrounded by cornfields. Actual artisan, small batch action here - all the grain comes from within a few miles.


Unfortunately they were closed for tours (although I got a peek into the distillery shack) but the gift shop (shack #2) was open and they do tastings for 10 bucks. We tasted 4 different whiskies each - including some crazy super-exclusive limited edition stuff that no longer exists. Also you get to keep the glass.

Tuthilltown produces the Hudson line of whiskies that are almost impossible to find in Philadelphia. Corn whisky which is sort of like upscale moonshine and awesome. 4 grain bourbon and their Single Malt are also incredible. I may never go back to 9 dollar bottles of Heaven Hill again.




Bottles to take home were a little steep at 40 bucks for a small bottle- that is until you start looking for it in Philly and it's more like 40 dollars a glass. But you can feel secure that your money is going to a couple of dudes with a plot of land and a still and not just something made in a factory with a faux-eco hipster shabby chic logo thrown on there.

Tuthilltown Spirits
14 Grist Mill Lane
Gardiner, NY‎
(845) 633-8734‎

Where to get it in Philadelphia
Village Whiskey - $36 for 2oz
Joe Canal's Discount Liquor - Jersey - $??

Sky Cafe

O was reading the Philly Weekly and Adam had reviewed a new Indonesian Restaurant called Sky Cafe, right by where we lived. I already love that strip of West Ritner, and now I love it even more. I really love a new Indonesian Cafe in the heart of a very Italian neighborhood.

When we got there the first thing I asked was what they liked on the menu. The reply,

" White People like to order this ( points to something )"

Um, yea.

" That isn't what I asked, I asked what do you like to eat here "

So we got the Soto Medan, coconut broth chicken soup with rice noodles. It came with rice and shrimp chips.

Um delicious, the fried potato on top, yum.

So then we were addicted and came back and ordered the Nasi Lemak ( Fried Chicken or Beef Rendang, coconut rice, fried anchovies with peanuts and pickles in peanut sauce) and the Emie ( gravy with lo mein noodles and a hard boiled egg ) Today we had the Kari Bihun, rice noodles in coconut curry broth and a fried egg (which is a fried hardboiled egg, the Indonesian Scotch egg if you will!)

All amazing and delicious, Eddie and Betty are our favorite people.

Here is a sweet description from their facebook page:

"A new Indonesian restaurant just established in the heart of South Philly with the touch of Medan taste. The chef who is originally from Medan ( capital city of North Sumatra ) has more than 20 years experience in catering business. Try our delicate homemade egg noodle, it will bring your memory back as if you are in Medan or Jakarta again."

The anchovies and peanuts teri kacang we bought in a bucket to go because it was the most delicious thing, fried, sweet, peanuts salty, best beer snack. If they started selling the assorted pickles in peanut sauce I would buy that by the bucket too.

 Sky Cafe
 1540 Ritner St
Philadelphia, PA 19145
(215) 271-1983
Open everyday 11-8
Closed Thursday

Smucker's Hot Dogs and NFNS

Drawing For Food went to the casting call for The Next Food Network Star (well, Chau auditioned, not me) and get ready to watch her on TV because the only competition were some hard luck looking line cooks and middle aged housewives from south jersey talking about eggplant. Oh and a scary looking pepto bismol plastic faced woman with pink high heels, pink lipstick and a pink apron.



Afterwords we hit up the Reading Terminal and went right to Smucker's for some Amish hot dogs. It's a great stand that I think used to be just a butcher / deli but now they do breakfast sandwiches, sausage, even a pot roast sandwich drowned in gravy that looked amazing.



The dogs are not natural casing but are of Lancaster origin and delicious. Short and fat franks covered in kraut. Also the hash browns were delicious like Mcdonald's style but better. It's worth noting they are open on the days (at least Tuesday) that the other Amish stuff is closed. So if you come to go to the Dutch Eating Place and it's not open Smucker's is a great plan B.

Smucker's Grill
Reading Terminal Market
Philadelphia

Fresh Roasted Corsica Blend

Okay, the jig is up, during the day I work at Hipster Village ( the real name of my morning job will remain private ) and I admit, we get some pretty ridiculous events. The highlight of the last few events have been the little La Colombe gypsy truck. It comes hauling a roaster from 1927 that is a work of art. So of course they are roasting beans right there at the Navy Yard, and the smell is heavenly. I was lucky enough to get a little bag of the fresh roasted beans, that is making the best coffee in my chemex.