Hákarl is a fierce Icelandic dish made from decaying shark meat. It allegedly made celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay vomit. Watching travelin’ dude Wandering Justin take it on!
food
Raw Buried Seal is Key to Inuit Delicacy
Here’s a lovely sounding recipe from the Innuit living in Greenland.
1. Take one dead seal.
2. Remove the organs.
3. Stuff the cavity with unplucked, unskinned auks of similar birds.
4. Bury.
5. Wait several months.
6. Exhume.
7. Enjoy!
So far, this has been the high point of the book Extremes: Surviving the World’s Harshest Environments by Nick Middleton. I’m really enjoying all of it, but nothing beats the look of sheer incredulity on people’s faces when I divulge that excerpt. I highly recommend it.
Taste of Tops Ups the Ante for Craft Brew
Late in 2009, Taste of Tops opened in Tempe attached to the venerable Tops Liquor. Despite being close to Arizona State University, this really isn’t a place to pick up a 24-pack of frat boy swill. It’s a place for for hardcore brew fans to find stuff to hit the taste buds hard.
Taste of Tops took the Tops inclination for craft brew further – they offer about a dozen taps, all connected to kegs of high-quality offerings. You won’t find Bud here. Ever.
You will find a somewhat high price tag, as noted in the Brew Dork Times. I differ from that post about ToT in a few ways: I’ve always found the service friendly, and I get recognized by the staff every time I visit (being a long-haired dude kind of helps). I’ve had great conversations with the staff, too. As for the “sterile” feel of ToT … well, it’s brand new. I don’t think anyone has a right to expect a place to feel lived in from the day it opens. And really, customers are a huge part of the atmosphere. I have no problem getting a good chat going with strangers, and that means more to me than decor.
Now, there’s been an unexpected consequence of ToT’s opening: It’s really forced Papago Brewing in Scottsdale to pick up its game. Before ToT started drawing people, I could often go to Papago and find barely anything interesting on tap. I’ve noticed a marked change in this. Now, I have a [...]
Five-Dollar Feed – Da Vang in Phoenix
Sometimes, you just don’t want to spend a lot of money, but you want to have something tasty and maybe –just maybe– even a little healthy. That’s why I started the Five-Dollar Feed feature here at Wanderingjustin.com – to help find non-corporate, non-fast food places to get some good food for a reasonable price. Today, we’re at Da Vang for a bowl of pho.
Vietnamese restaurants really have a knack for finding nondescript, cheerless locations. Here on 19th Avenue and Campbell, you’ll find Da Vang ensconced in a squat, run-down building. It’s one of those times where you should really get over the appearance and concentrate on the food.
Especially the pho. This is a Vietnamese noodle soup, which comes in several varieties. The difference is the meat in each. Pho ga comes with chicken, pho tai with sliced beef. Still others will have those funky Vietnamese meatballs, tripe, brisket, beef tendon or some combination of them all (I’ll call that pho dunt no).
Pho tai is my favorite. I’ll usually go for an iced coffee or a limeade to chase it. Call that an extra $2.50, tops.
Before your pho arrives, you’ll usually get a plate of bean sprouts, fresh jalapenos, basil and limes to garnish the pho. I also recommend a squirt of Sriracha hot sauce (which is the king of hot sauces of the non-homemade variety) and a generous dollop of hoison sauce. To keep things from getting splashy and messy, I attack the broth first before devouring the beef and [...]
Five-Dollar Feed – d’Lish in Scottsdale
Welcome to my first Five-Dollar Feeds feature. Sometimes, you just don’t want to spend a lot of money, but you want to have something tasty and maybe –just maybe– even a little healthy. So let me introduce you to the d’lish low carb breakfast, the meal that inspired the Five-Dollar Feed idea. This will be a series, and I’ll post whenever I find a tasty meal for around $5 (or bones or clams or whatever you call them).
I’ve done introduced it enough, and it’s time to unfold this here review. D’lish kitchen & coffee house is a small café at 2613 N. Scottsdale Road, which is over on the east side of the road just a bit south of Thomas. It’s a pretty cheery place, both in décor and staff members. And it’s a genuine cheer, not the slightly manic and corporate-mandated happiness you might experience at Safeway.
My wife and I wound up at d’lish one day after a gym workout (for me) and a lap-swimming workout (for her). We wanted something healthy, but we wanted real food – no smoothies! We’d stopped by d’lish before for coffee and liked the look of the menu. It was all her idea – she remembered it, and so we made our decision.
Don’t Let the Low-Carb Mojo Scare You
Ordinarily, I don’t care about the low-carb craze. I consider it a huge gimmick, and especially silly for anyone who enjoys endurance sports. But the low carb breakfast caught my eye not because it’s low-carb, but because [...]
