Post #414: mix of sweets

We had a little girls get-together and desserts were naturally a part of the equation. In the foreground are the Muss & Turner goat cheesecake and whoopie pie. In the back are cupcakes from the Cupcake Factory. The winners included the goat cheesecake even though it's not particularly goat cheesy. It was very very fluffy and smooth. Of the cupcakes, the most moist was the strawberry. The best frosting went to the salted caramel.

I am off to Japan, Tokyo and a bunch of cities in Hokkaido. So there will be a two week period with no posts, but I'll be back with some good eats for sure. :)

Post #413: A meal of parts - Busy Bee Cafe

To live the full Atlanta experience means to sometime explore the parts of town that are not so like every other city. Many of these parts are just minutes from the comfort zone, like the stretch of older Atlanta where Busy Bee sits. At 11:30, the little cafe is quiet and empty. But half an hour later, the line is out the door.

If you don't immediately recognize the main course, it's because it is not something that gets on most menus anymore if it ever did. That's also why my eyes were quickly drawn to it. Not so easy on the eye, the grey pork neck bone blocks took some work, but were immensely satisfying once my fingers were all coated with pork fat and all the crevices had been picked clean.

Fox Bro still has the best banana pudding, but this is honestly made and everything I expected.

The sweet potato pie is the more fluffy and slightly less sweet type. It goes down quite a lot easier than some of the denser ones that tend to accumulate a sheen of oil on top.

Definitely come early and watch the place come to life.

Post #412: Fantastic mother's day brunch - Restaurant: Park 75

You can't beat an elaborate hotel brunch when it's done right. And the Four Seasons does it just about perfect for mother's day. The setting was beautiful with lots of hydrangeas adding soft colors to the gilded space. The experienced servers provided superb service and warm smiles all around. Since service charge was included with every bill, there was no need to wait for a specific person.
Lots of quality goods were available including ample lobster meat in the soup, large slices of prime ribs, lamb chops, and huge chunks of snow crabs. I ate an entire plate of just crabs as my second course and felt awesome! :)

Post #411: A long break

A food blog cannot survive when there is no food to write about. I wish that was the reason for my four week long silence. That would have been a good reason. But it wasn't the case. What happened to me was paralysis from too much travel and food. I was simply overwhelmed with photos and couldn't bring myself start.

Now jet lagged in my still messy bedroom from unpacking last night's luggage, I decided that a decision to either move forward or stop altogether must be made. Well, you know which ended up being my decision. So here are a sampling of some of the most interesting stuff I ate all over the place. I may or may not go back to write more about food from these cities, but at least I can now move forward. :)

Above is an exceptionally soft and fragrant plate of white tuna crudo I enjoyed lounging around at the outdoor tables of Bocanova (Jack London Square, Oakland, CA) while watching spring sunlight dancing on the water of the breezy harbor.

Back in San Fran, I ate a quick meal at the Plant Cafe Organic at pier 3, where the gluten free, dairy free, sugar free cheesecake really intrigued. It tasted not at all like a cheesecake, but was very good in its own nutty dense way from pine nuts and pistachio.

We had the great luck of enjoying one of the rare clear days in LA. From the terrance of the Getty, it was possible to see all the way across LA.

J's cousin and her husband are big fans of the Pico kosher deli in LA. I ordered my pastrami sandwich with a layer of chicken liver pate. The sweetness from the pate cut the salt of the pastrami rather nicely. I do have to say that I prefer the fattier pastrami from Katz.

Then I was quickly off to nyc for a case. Soon after landing, I found my way to sit at momofuku licking korean bbq sauce dripped off a hefty Korean bbq rib sandwich. Afterwards, I turned the corner to hit up momofuku's milk bar for this adorable soft serve called cereal milk. It tasted exactly like its name.

Lots of meet ups with old friends from my Goldman Sachs days before law school included sharing the best burger I can remember having at the beyond popular Minetta Tavern. From the moment we entered at 5:30, the place stayed jam packed.

One of the greatest advantages of lunching alone is the possibility of scoring a single free seat at an ultra popular restaurant. This was the case at Spotted Pig. Since I had already burgered out at Minetta, I skipped the cult burger and went for the other fan favorite, the gnudi. What can I say, this was creamy heaven in a bowl.

Weddings bring us to Singapore many times a year it seems. This time the four seasons dining room served up a head intact suckling piggy as one of Liam & Dawn's nine course banquet. The head pieces were particular sticky and crunchy.

J came down with a horrible stomach flu that left all of us exhausted for days. When he finally became well enough to eat, he surprised me with date night at Kuriya, the chic establishment atop the roof garden at Orchard Central, one of the new mega shopping centers on Orchard Rd. We were lucky to be in time for the same day fresh uni airlifted from Japan. The bright mustard color flesh glistened like jewels and glided cross the tongue so delicately, it was almost like eating ice cream.

For J's birthday, we hit up Jaan on a gorgeously clear day. Yet again there was something new to look at on the Singapore horizon. The trio of buildings of the new Sands casino held up an impressive roof garden, which I heard will have installed on it some equally impressive restaurants by this summer. Next time.

The set lunch came with some interesting choices including this seafood boudin blanc. Considering the hot and humid weather here, it was a bit too rich in any quantity more than a few spoonful. But those few spoonfuls were very good.
Yet another birthday lunch took place at Singapore's well known Les Amis. I've never had eel soup before and it was quite a nice surprise. Tender eel flesh held on to a great smoky flavor and did not get washed out by the soup base, which was fragrant with fennel.

Okay, I am going to stop here before getting too carried away with this first come back post. Hopefully this sort of makes up for the long absence.