Revisiting Todd English's Ca Va

Each time I visit and revisit a Todd English restaurant, I become a bigger fan. In this past trip into the city, I made a point to visit his Plaza Food Hall in the Plaza Hotel. It's worth the trip! To rank the 3 celebrity chefs with food halls/food markets in the city.. #1, Mario Batali's Eataly; #2, Todd English's Plaza Food Hall; #3, Daniel Boulud's Epicerie. Actually, Daniel Boulud's Epicerie is really just a neighborhood corner market. It doesn't compare at all to Eataly or the Plaza Food Hall. So if you find yourself hungry and around the Plaza Hotel, check out his food hall!

After checking out his Food Hall, we went down to Hell's Kitchen to have dinner at Ca Va. My family enjoyed our Christmas lunch there just half a year ago, so we knew we'd have a good meal. Unfortunately, I was still full from a late lunch, so I only ordered a pasta course. When you eat here, you should come hungry and enjoy the 3 Course Prix Fixe Menu. It's such value - quality food with generous portions. The food was satisfying and filling. Chef English keeps impressing me.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Bar Boulud in NYC

Since eating in Daniel almost 10 years ago, I've been a huge fan of Daniel Boulud. It ranks up there with my fine dining experience at Jean Georges and Alain Ducasse. Finesse food matched with superb service.

In looking back at it, I've actually eaten at 5 of his restaurants - 4 in New York City (Daniel, DB Bistro, DBGB, and Bar Boulud) and 1 in Las Vegas (DB Brasserie). I've always had an enjoyable food experience. However lately, at DBGB and now at Bar Boulud, the host/hostess were surprisingly rude. On TV Boulud is such a friendly guy who puts attention to detail and service. During our dining experience at Daniel my brother met him, and he's such a friendly guy. Unfortunately, it seems as though it gets to the hosts/hostesses heads that they are working at a Boulud establishment.

At our most recent Boulud dining experience at Bar Boulud, we were seated outside and at the time our table was nicely covered by the umbrellas. However, halfway through our meal the NYC summer sun moved its way onto our table and chairs. We asked our server if we could move inside; so she, in turn, asked the hostess. The hostess came to our table and said there were no tables available only bar seats. So we said we'd like to move to the bar seats to enjoy our last course. She, then, said she'll check with the bartender. When she came back out, she said the bar was all filled. We sadly accepted her answer and quickly finished the rest of our meal. After we paid the bill, we went inside the restaurant to use the restrooms. (Just a side note - the bathrooms here are nice and clean. It felt like a restroom in a five star hotel.) To my surprise, the tables and bar were practically empty..and this was only 10 minutes after the hostess spoke to us. Let me speak colloquially and say, "What's up with that??"

At all of Boulud's 5 restaurants, we've enjoyed the food. It's quality and worth the expense.. But it's the food AND service that makes the dining experience, not just the food. At both DBGB and at Bar Boulud, it's been the host and hostess that have ruined our experience. The people hired at that position seem to feel a power that they should not expose to customers. They should be as warm and as friendly as Chef Boulud to represent him and his restaurants.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Boston's Todd English

I've been a Todd English fan for awhile now, especially after he opened up Todd English P.U.B. in Las Vegas. A modern pub with great food. That's my kind of place.

I've enjoyed all this restaurants from Las Vegas to New York (with our memorable Christmas day meal this past holiday season). So since we were in Boston, I had to check out at least one of his restaurants. Since it was a nice day, that put us in the mood for seafood. So we checked out his Kingfish Hall. It's in the tourist spot of Faneuil Hall, which is a great place for Chef English to locate himself to people visiting Boston. If you enjoy good food and celebrity chefs, you can't go to Boston without visiting a Todd English restaurant.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

A 2 hour drive to Boston, just for Sticky Buns.

Since we were in Connecticut for over two weeks, my family and I would always discuss options for day trips to neighboring cities and states. Manhattan was obviously on the top of our list (and I'll feature my NYC eats next week). We also discussed an overnight or a day trip to Boston. We toured the east coast years ago when one of my brothers visited the east coast Ivy League colleges. The most I remembered about Boston was just of its neighboring town, Cambridge.

So now was a great chance to re-tour the city. Boston is beautiful! It's full of history and culture. And it's clean. The whole time I was comparing it to San Francisco. It's like a clean San Francisco. Many areas reminded me of the SoMa and Embarcadero districts. Plus, the architecture is inspiring. For America, it's definitely a proud city to have as one of it's founding roots.

Here are some pictures of the buildings. Most of them I took in the car, so if it appears grainy and spotty that's actually the bugs our window picked up from the 2 hour drive from Connecticut.

The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

When we made the last minute decision (as in 10 minutes before we got into the car) to drive from New Haven to Boston for a day trip, we only had one destination in mind.

Flour Bakery. The claim to its fame - Bobby Flay's Throwdown featuring Sticky Buns. We read that we could call ahead to reserve, as they typically sell out fast. So without even trying their sticky buns, we ordered 18 buns.

I wish we ordered more. I can still imagine the taste of the dark gooey caramel soaking on top of the bun. It's worth totally worth the drive.

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And check out the Flour Flickr album here.

Bobby's Burger Palace

Since it was a nice spring day in Connecticut, my family drove from Lobster Landing for part two of our food adventure. Near the Rhode Island border, we arrived at the Mohegan Sun Casino. A casino in the midst of the beauty of nature.

We don't really gamble.. so why did we go all this way? To eat! Mohegan Sun houses Bobby's Burger Palace. By Chef Bobby Flay.

This particular U.S. trip had a theme of completing a cross-country taste of Bobby Flay's and Todd English's restaurants in Las Vegas, New York, and New England. (More on Todd English's place at the end of this week).

After watching America's Next Great Restaurant, I built some expectations for Chef Flay's fast casual dining experience. Overall, I was pretty let down. First of all, you pay celebrity chef/casino prices for a meal a step up from fast food. Secondly, the food itself was decent for fast casual, but mediocre for a celebrity chef. Maybe if it wasn't a celebrity chef I wouldn't be as disappointed. Thirdly, the service wasn't friendly at all. I understand that at many fast casual places you don't except service, but since they were servers bringing your orders they should be friendly - it reflects to the top, and in this case the top is Bobby Flay who seems like a fun, friendly guy on TV.

It was a good experience to find out what Bobby's Burger Palace was like, but now that I've tried it I'd rather drive the opposite direction into New York for some Shake Shack.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Connecticut Style Lobster Rolls

When I think of lobster rolls, I think about the east coast and cold, refreshing lobster mixed with mayonnaise in a bun. A fun, fresh lunch or snack on a hot day. Prior to my fourth trip to Connecticut, my only knowledge of lobster rolls was of this cold variety.

Then I was introduced to the Connecticut style lobster roll.

My brother and sister-in-law took my family to what they have researched as one of the better places for Connecticut style lobster rolls. What is this style? It's fresh steamed lobster straight out of the water, dressed in butter and lemon, and served on a warm, toasted bun. You get warmth, freshness, crunchiness.. buttered crunchiness because the butter coats the toasted bun.. it's just soo good.

Lobster Landing is totally the place to go if you're in Connecticut looking for a great lobster roll. The way they make it totally just celebrates the fresh picked and freshly steamed lobster. I'm a fan now. I totally choose the Connecticut style over the traditional cold lobster in a bun.

And if you want a little variety and meat, they also serve hot dogs and sausages. This is a great place to drive to on a sunny day to enjoy the outdoor eating by the water. Bring your shades and enjoy an afternoon of casual dining by the water. I can't wait to go back the next time I'm in Connecticut.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Heirloom at The Study in New Haven

When my family and I book hotels, we always try to research what is the newest and cleanest hotel in the destination city. New Haven in Connecticut is an old college town thanks to Yale's history and prestige. Fortunately for us, we stayed at one of the newest hotels in town, The Study at Yale. We previously stayed here during the holiday just last year. It's a great place to stay if you want to be centrally located in around campus.

The accommodations are clean and comfortable. And even better, the hotel restaurant, Heirloom, serves great tasting food. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and a lounge menu between meals. It's been tasty and consistent on each of our trips.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Apizza in New Haven

The east coast is the birthplace of American style pizza. In particular, New York and New Haven are the noted cities which still house the original pizza/pies/apizza (whatever you call it) restaurants.

Being fans of food and history, my family tried out the infamous Frank Pepe's. Despite it's media hype and reputation, we actually preferred the more artisan style of pizza at Kitchen Zinc.

This time around, we tried another New Haven apizza spot, Modern Apizza. The bottom is nice and crispy from crust to center. It's also a thin pie, which I prefer. Overall taste, though, didn't impress me too much. It's a great place to eat in or take out if you're craving for a standard American style pizza. But if you're looking for a quality pie with a great pizza dough taste and quality ingredients, I still prefer Kitchen Zinc's pizzas.

The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Spanish Tapas in the Bay Area

One of my all-time favorite cuisines is still Spanish food. I love the tapas, the family style dishes, and all the desserts. My favorite restaurant in the Bay Area is a Spanish/Basque tapas restaurant - Bocadillos in San Francisco.

Further down in the Peninsula, Spanish and Latin tapas places have been pretty successful with their authenticity and modernization of tapas. Cascal's in Mountain View is a fun place to eat, especially when it's warm sunny day to eat outside. A couple years ago, I tried a new tapas place in Palo Alto, Joya. Now, a couple years later I went back to try it again.

It's still a fun, vibrant restaurant. It's a great place to dine with a group and enjoy some drinks. When I first went a couple years ago, I was really impressed with their Sangrias. This time around, we enjoyed their wine list - a great selection. As for the food, it's still enjoyable. It doesn't come close to Bocadillos for me, but it's still a fun tapas place to enjoy a meal of food and wine pairing.

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The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Briefly Back in Manila

Back home in Manila between trips. That means a little eating out and a little home cooking. It also means enjoying the sights and tastes of home.

One of my favorite things about Manila is the sunsets. It's a different scene every night.

On one weekend, my best friend came in town from Hong Kong for some feel good Filipino food. And, of course, that includes the desserts! Here are a few pictures of some of the desserts we enjoyed. We visited Chef's Table for the Buko Pie Martini (where you have to order one person - it's that good). And we also enjoyed my mom's desserts at home. From one batch of plantain bananas, we enjoyed 2 different desserts. So yum.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about the food photos.

The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

I'm currently eating my way for new updates which will be posted later this week. I'll see you all back here soon!