Hot Pastrami & Potato Knish from Carnegie Deli

Hot Pastrami with Potato Knish from Carnegie Deli

"It's a tourist trap", "It's too touristy". This is what I heard for years from New Yorkers, even when I had to walk past Carnegie Deli on my way to work every day. But just months after moving away, the hot pastrami and the potato knish from Carnegie were something I missed the most.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, I had some solace knowing that it wouldn't be like trying to find a Jewish deli in the middle of Idaho. It was LA, with plenty of traditional deli options.

So I've goto Kanter's. The pastrami wasn't flavorful enough for me and the knish seemed more like a microwaved potato hot pocket. I'd go to Langers, another legend, and it was a similar result. Eventually, I found it easiest to just drive to Las Vegas, and go the Carnegie Deli at the Mirage.

If you're in New York, you'll have a ton of options. Just in the midtown area near 53rd and 7th Ave, you'll find a number of delis. And their is also Katz's which is a homerun. And you can goto a small unknown deli and have an excellent meal.

But for the most basic of basics, a hot pastrami sandwich and a potato knish with gravy, Carnegie is hard to beat.






Being outside of the US for the past 6 months, and turkey being a hard thing to regularly come by in Buenos Aires, I had a craving for a turkey sandwich as well.

So one of my first food stops this trip was to the Stage Deli, which has one of the better hot open face turkey sandwiches around. When I told the Brazilian waiter I was visiting from Buenos Aires and hadn't had turkey in some time, he even brought me a side of cranberry.

Hot Open Faced Turkey with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce

You'd think that would be enough to appease my turkey fixin'. But no. A week later in San Francisco, I has almost the same meal...

 

Pastrami Photo credit to Ken Dern

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1st Annual Buenos Aires Chili Cookoff

For any expats or travelers in Buenos Aires missing the mythical taste sensation of "spicy", you are a few days away from appeasing your desire in the form of the 1st Annual BA Chili Cookoff. I'll have more info on the event as I'll be likely reviewing it. But if you're in Buenos Aires and looking for something fun to do, be sure to come. Proceeds will support the Buenos Aires Shankees Baseball Team.




1st Annual BA Chili Cookoff:

PLACE:
Genó Beer Bar, Guatemala 5499, Barrio Palermo, Buenos Aires


DATE/TIME:
Sunday, 3rd of July, 1pm. Volunteers need to be there about 11am. Cooks need to be in position about noon. Judges and the General Public come in about 1pm to kick everything off.

Winners will be announced at 4pm or when there is no more chili, whichever comes first.

PRICES:
5 peso Chili (175 cc)
5 peso Cornbread from El Tejano
5 peso Tortillas de Pancho Villa
5 peso Cookies and Goodies from Sugar & Spice
5 peso Draft Beer de Quilmes and Buenos Aires largest selection of Imported Beers from GENÓ Beer Bar

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Chicago Food Photos

I don't have many food photos to share from this quick Chicago trip. It was supposed to be a two night visit to catch (2) Yankees @ Cubs games. But due to poor weather in New York and a cancelled flight, the trip ended up being just a single night.

So just the basics...

Cheese & sausage deep dish pizza from Giordano's at their
223 W. JACKSON BLVD, Chicago location

Deep Dish Pizza is fairly self-explanatory: It's more of a pie in it's form: crust on the bottom and sides and stuffed with meat and cheese combinations, then topped with tomatoes. Each pie takes about 30-45 minutes to cook, so plan accordingly.

Perhaps my favorite meal of the trip. An Italian Beef from Al's Beef from the original location. Got hot and sweet peppers, double dipped, and served unwrapped

The Italian Beef sandwich is similar to the popular French Dip...thinly sliced pieces of roast beef on a hard roll and dipped in au jous. But for the Italian beef, it includes sweet and hot peppers giving it a more powerful flavor. It's messy food to each but well worth it.

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Santa Barbara FisHouse

Here's a quick reco for those traveling to Santa Barbara:

Every Tuesday and Wednesday at the Santa Barbara FisHouse, they offer a special: a 1.5 lb Maine lobster for $19.99. I've been to the FisHouse before and they have a number of good things on their menu. But a $20 Maine lobster deal for a California restaurant is something one has to consider.

Bacon wrapped scallops with onion rings and BBQ sauce

Santa Barbara FisHouse monster bowl of clam chowder

$19.99 Lobster special

In addition to the lobster, Santa Barbara FisHouse offers a tasty bacon wrapped scallop appetizer with a small stack of onion rings and BBQ sauce.

The chowder is solid, not great, but tasty.

My recommendation would be to start at Enterprise Fish Co., just down the street and get a bowl of the famous lobster bisque covered in puff pastry. They also have a tasty seared ahi appetizer (half price happy hours) with caramelized onions, eggplant and red peppers.  Enterprise Fish Co. has locations in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica.

Lobster bique topped with puff pastry from Enterprise Fish Co.
Also, seared ahi with caramelized onions, eggplant and red peppers.

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Tapas from List in Belltown, Seattle, WA

Lounge, tapas, great seafood, generous happy hour...sign me up. 

When I made plans to meet up with someone for dinner in Seattle last week, in knowing the person quite well, I was at ease in allowing her to make the decision as to where we should go eat. And I couldn't have been happier.

We went to List, in the Belltown section of Seattle. List has a great happy hour deal, with drinks and great priced tapas cut to half-price. We had a total of 5 tapas, 3 white wines and 3 grey goose and tonic for a total price of $60. Note that draft beer for happy hour is only $2.95, so for many, that $60 cost might be cut in half for a dinner for two.

Be sure to take a look at their menu...it's pretty impressive and the quality of the food superb.

List

Happy hour:  

Sunday and Monday all day

Tuesday through Thursday, 4-6:30 + 9-midnight

Friday and Saturday 4-630

Menu

Grilled chilean sea bass

Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta

Bacon wrapped wild florida prawns

Gnocchi with black truffle cream

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