Katz's Delicatessen - E. Houston Street, NYC

No visit to Manhattan is complete without a stop at a Jewish kosher style deli. One of the best known and most popular is Katz's Delicatessen, established in 1888. They coined the phrase "send a salami to your boy in the army" during World War II and were featured in the movie "When Harry Met Sally" among others. You can see signs mentioning both of these claims to fame in this photo.



The staff are quite pushy when you open the door, trying to get as many people in and ordering as quickly as possible. We were handed a little white ticket and told to hurry up to the counter to place our order. We took the advice of our server at the meat counter and went for the pastrami on rye. Excellent choice! Hand sliced meat, fresh bread and absolutely delicous. We also got some pickles on the side which I was anxious to try. There were two types of pickles made on site, a typical kosher style dill (the greener coloured ones) and a very sour pickle (the browner ones) which tasted like nothing I've ever tried. Fascinating to me because I love pickles. I still prefer my Texas style dill pickle, but the sour one was mouth-wateringly good.



Lucky for us, we had spoken to a local who told us if we were going to Katz's, we should tip the guy at the meat counter when placing our order to get more meat in our sandwich. A $5 tip did not go astray. We got this ridiculous pile of meat in our sandwich as a result of our generosity! It wasn't a cheap sandwich in the first place (about $15 I think), but we shared it between the two of us and certainly felt we got our money's worth.



An awesome pairing with the pastrami on rye is a Dr Brown's soda. Dr Brown's is now owned by Pepsi but still made locally in College Point, New York. The name apparently goes back to a doctor who used to treat immigrant children in the area and developed a kosher seltzer containing celery seeds, which was the precursor to one of the 6 flavours available today called "Cel-Ray." Somehow celery flavoured soda didn't sound too appetizing so we went for Black Cherry instead. The other Dr Brown's flavours are Cream Soda, Orange Soda, Root Beer and Ginger Ale. You can get a Coke or Pepsi pretty much anywhere, but Katz's is one of the few places where you can get a Dr Brown's.



After our sandwich, pickles and Dr Brown's soda were gone, I took our white ticket up to the drinks counter and ordered a New York Egg Cream. This is a concoction I had heard of many times before but had never tried for myself. I got vanilla (they also have chocolate) because I thought it was the more traditional option, but apparently chocolate has its own Brooklyn Egg Cream tradition. The other ingredients in the drink are...no, not egg or cream...just milk and "seltzer" which is carbonated water. Simple, but delicious. There's something about the mixture of the milk and the seltzer that just works really well.



People, there's a reason why Katz's has A) been around since 1888, B) is featured in numerous films and folklore, and C) is generally packed with tourists and locals alike. They're good at what they do and it's a real New York City experience. I hope they'll be around for another 123 years.

Shake Shack - Madison Square Park, NYC

On our first ever visit to Manhattan, the top of our itinerary list was Shake Shack at Madison Square Park. This is the original location and still the best. Unless you happen to live near another location, don't waste your time anywhere else.



When we arrived, the line looked a mile long. We had already walked a long stretch of Madison Avenue to get there. It was hot and we wanted food fast but we decided we would wait. This might be our only chance to experience the legend of Shake Shack. About an hour later, we finally reached the window and placed our order.



About 10 or 15 minutes later, the buzzer went off and our dreams came true! This meal was extremely satisfying and well worth the wait. Be warned, weekends and nice weather days can be very busy. If you want to avoid the longest lines, check the Shack Cam first and allow yourself plenty of waiting time just in case. But like I said, totally worth the wait. I'm drooling just looking at this photo.



The Shack Burgers are as close as you can get to perfection. Soft potato bun with a bit of a crunch from the grill, perfect meat to bread ratio, melted American cheese, Lucky's tasty bright red tomatoes, crisp fresh lettuce and that Shack Sauce. To die for! I also happen to love their crinkle cut fries. Yeah they're from frozen, but they're golden, crunchy and oh so delicious. To top it all off, Shake Shack has frozen custard! We went for the Black & White Shake and were very happy with our choice. On a later visit we tried the Chocolate Truffle Cookie Dough Concrete and this was a meal in itself. A concrete is thick enough that you have to eat it with a spoon. Yes please!



Shake Shack in Madison Square Park was one of the highlights of our trip and along with pretty much everybody else who has ever been there, I highly recommend it.

Food Carts - New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut is home to Yale University, Louis Lunch (where the hamburger was supposedly invented), New Haven style pizza (aka "apizza"), and on weekdays at lunchtime in New Haven, it's food cart mania! We were lucky enough to be passing through at the right time on a weekday so we headed straight to Yale-New Haven Hospital at Cedar and York Streets.



The quantity and variety of choice was staggering. Check out the number of choices on this cart's menu!



If you live, work or study in the area, you've got absolutely no reason to ever bring your lunch. With food from so many different countries represented here, it's like a tiny Epcot Center of food carts. Free entry and large serves for $5 or $6. Who could resist? Everything looked so good (and cheap) so it was extremely difficult to decide what to order. Malaysian, Ethiopian, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Cuban, Peruvian, and Turkish were some of the choices. We settled on a chicken burrito from La Carreta Mexican Food.



This was a massively huge burrito, made with care. I ordered mine with the works and the most interesting ingredient was pickled cabbage. This was a first for me in a burrito but very interesting to try. The burrito was big, delicious and packed a punch so I could hardly believe it was only $5.

If you're in the New Haven area at lunch on a weekday, stop by one (or more!) of the 150+ food carts. More carts are at Elm and York Streets or Prospect and Sachem Streets. You'll be able to find pretty much anything you're in the mood for, or if you go window shopping, something is sure to take your fancy.

Hot Lobster Roll at Lobster Landing - Clinton, Connecticut

If you visit the Connecticut coast, you need to eat a hot lobster roll at Lobster Landing LLC in Clinton. We drove in through the town of Clinton and enjoyed views of all kinds of interesting homes on the way. Here's a short video of part of our journey.



The building sporting the name "Lobster Landing" looks a million years old and tells you that this place has been here for a while and is one of a kind.



If you want fresh seafood, enter the above shack. But if you want a hot lobster roll and cold canned sodas/bottled water, visit the marquee to the left. When we visited in June 2010, the marquee was staffed by friendly teenage girls making some extra bucks during their summer break. We ordered our hot lobster rolls ($14) and a few minutes after we'd found a table on the deck just feet from the water, one of the girls delivered the food.



We'd never seen or eaten anything like it. Buttery lobster goodness on a roll that was soft, but strong enough to handle the juices. Considering the amount of lobster in these rolls, they're an absolute bargain. Very tasty and the views on a sunny day aren't bad either. There are quite a few places in the area serving hot lobster rolls, but I can't see many of them topping Lobster Landing.

Liberty Elm Diner - Providence, Rhode Island

We were driving through Rhode Island and even though it doesn't take long to get to the other border, we decided to stop for lunch in Providence at the Liberty Elm Diner. The diner, partly housed in a 1947 Worcester Lunch Car, has a long history under many different names. The current name Liberty Elm is a reference to the commitment to one percent of profits going toward the purchase of American Liberty Elm trees for Elmwood Avenue. But the coolest thing about the place is the current ownership's commitment to locally sourced, sustainable ingredients.



There was a lot to choose from on the menu. I went for the breakfast burrito since I was half wanting breakfast and half wanting lunch. I thought this was a bit of a compromise. It was full of home cooked pinto beans (lard-free), homemade salsa, American cheese and local free range eggs all wrapped in an organic wheat tortilla. A hearty and healthy meal.
(also note the cute umbrella)



The house-roasted turkey sandwich was also refreshingly healthy and satisfying. The turkey was delicious and the tomatoes full of flavor, but the star of this sandwich is the pea sprouts in place of lettuce. Gives the sandwich a whole different personality. This was not your typical sandwich.



Unfortunately, we ran out of room before we got to try their famous and regional specialty Johnny Cakes but I hear they're pretty tasty. If we're ever in Providence, Rhode Island again we know where we'll be heading.

P.S. Breakfast and Lunch are served all day (they're open until 3pm and are closed Mondays).

BoxLunch - Cape Cod, Massachusetts

The best meal we ate at Cape Cod in Massachusetts was lunch in Eastham at a place called BoxLunch. I had read about the franchise before we went and had to check it out. Apparently their specialty, the "rollwich" (a rolled sandwich), has its own history in the area as a convenient packed lunch for fishermen. Darren had the Lobster My Way Rollwich for $11.99. Very fresh and very tasty cold lobster with lettuce, tomato and mayo inside a thin pita roll.



If you're not such a big fan of lobster or just want something different that's cheaper, they've got plenty of other options - most around the $5-$7 mark. I got the Turkey Club Rollwich for $6.79 which had turkey, bacon, American cheese, lettuce and tomato. Yum!



If you're in Cape Cod and want something healthy, tasty and reasonably priced, check out BoxLunch. We went to the Eastham location but they've got several locations on the cape. Well worth a try and perfect for a beach picnic.

Flour Bakery - Boston, Massachusetts

Flour Bakery is a well loved bakery and cafe with three locations in the Boston area. They're best known for their sticky buns, which are full of buttery, sugary, nutty, melt in your hands and mouth goodness. They have to be tried to be understood. These sticky buns are so popular that you need to get there early, or pre-order them so they hold some for you. We got there after 9am so had to drive to a second location to get our hands on this one, but it was well worth the drive!



There is much more to Flour than just their world famous sticky buns, however. Pretty much everything they make seems to have magical qualities. I'd never had a "muffin top" before but when I saw a Vanilla Berry Muffin Top in the window, I had to try one. I really love this muffin top idea. After all, the best part of the muffin is at the top where the sugar sort of crystalises and the muffin goes all golden brown. Not sure if anyone could do the muffin top as well as Flour. It was moist all the way through and full of berries. In fact, it was so good we had to go back and buy whatever was left of the batch. Luckily for our wallets and waistline - only one. Yes, please!



This breakfast sandwich was also incredibly tasty - eggs the way you like it (we got ours scrambled), ham or bacon, fresh lettuce and tomato and the most refreshing mustardy sauce on a soft but not too soft bread roll. Simple yet amazing stuff!



Flour Bakery - a must visit when you're in Boston.

El Super - Inglewood, California

Another gem we discovered in Los Angeles was El Super, an awesome Mexican grocery store. We visited the Inglewood store, but there are several locations in the Los Angeles area.


The name is pretty accurate. It was actually super. They have most of what you'd expect to find in a grocery store, plus a whole lot more Mexican stuff that you may have never tried. We loved it so much, we went back a few times during our stay.

The panaderia (bakery) selection was huge with all kinds of breads and cakes.


The prices were excellent. For example, we got a bunch of different flavors of Mexican sodas (mostly Jarritos brand) and I'm pretty sure they were 3 for $2.


They also sell cool stuff like nopales (cactus).


And they sell the most delicious gelatina mosaico from the deli. We didn't want this stuff to end when we were eating it, so addictive!


For a really fun, cheap and different grocery shopping experience check out El Super in Los Angeles.

Ricos Tacos El Tio - Inglewood, California

On arrival in Los Angeles and to start our latest trip to America in June, we went straight to In-N-Out Burger (see previous post), then to check in to our hotel in Hawthorne. Hawthorne is near the airport and not in the nicest part of town, but we were on a budget. In fact, Compton is only a couple of suburbs away. However, you never know where you are going to find great food and that night we found it at Ricos Tacos El Tio in the neighboring suburb of Inglewood at 4200 West Imperial Hwy. We followed the crowd and we weren't disappointed.


Side view of Ricos Tacos the morning after our introductory visit

Mexican Taqueria style food - the real stuff. I can't tell you everything on the menu, but the basics are tacos, tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and burritos. There are plenty of choices when it comes to meat - carne asada, bbq pork, chicken and several others. Most dishes are served with pickled carrots, radishes, jalapeños and lime on the side.


BBQ Pork Tacos

Prices are good, service is fast, opening hours are long and they're always busy. We visited a few times within the course of a couple of days and managed to sample several of their homemade aguas frescas - Tamarindo, Pineapple, Melon and my favorite Horchata (rice water). Definitely delicious and refreshing on a summer's day.


Taco, Burrito and Aguas Frescas

This place is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the Inglewood area and want good authentic food on a budget.

In-N-Out Burger

So apparently back in the day, McDonald's used to be really awesome. But along the way it's gotten so big and money hungry that it's lost a lot of its appeal. Everything's frozen, mass produced, and cooked by under-paid and over-worked staff. I can't eat the stuff because I feel physically ill during and after. It's just not right, it's not real food anymore. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir so enough of that terrible food imagery.

So yeah, all the good stuff that McDonald's apparently had going for it back in the good old days, In-N-Out Burger never changed. They don't freeze anything, all locations are within fresh trucking distance from suppliers, staff are paid a decent wage (well, more than minimum wage at least) and they don't do franchises. All 249 locations (as of 31 July 2010) are privately owned by the original family and are currently spread across California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. (I've written to them about coming to Australia but obviously, this isn't within trucking distance so I guess the chances aren't very good.) In the meantime, this is our ceremonial eating place upon arrival and prior to departure from the USA. This works quite well since we usually fly in and out of the country via California.

 Very rarely does In-N-Out disappoint. There's usually a pretty long line, but I've never waited more than 15 minutes. They often have someone walking the drive-thru line taking orders before the cars can get to the ordering speaker/microphone thingy which seems to put the orders through a lot more efficiently.

The menu is very simple and apparently has hardly changed from the 50s. The burger choices are: hamburger, cheeseburger or double double (double meat, double cheese). Not a very long list, huh? There is only one size of french fries. 

I think staff and customers would both agree: simple is good. However, a "secret menu" (which is actually on their website now, at least partially) has developed over the years and most people who've eaten at In-N-Out before have probably ordered something off of it. When I was gluten-free, I used to order my burgers "protein style" which means the burger is wrapped in lettuce with no bun. For the vegetarians, there's a grilled cheese sandwich. There's also the 3x3 (3 meat patties & 3 cheese slices). Apparently someone once ordered a 100x100, but now the biggest staff are allowed to sell is a 4x4. Probably for the best! But I'd say the most commonly ordered item off the secret menu is animal style burgers, which is different to a normal burger in that it has a mustard-cooked patty, and added pickles, grilled onions and extra spread (spread is a mixture of ketchup, mayo and relish). More recently, animal style fries have gained momentum as well. They've got cheese, spread and grilled onions on top.
More about the Secret Menu here

Some interesting things to look out for next time you're at In-N-Out are the subliminal Bible Verses printed on the cups and wrappers (eg. "John 3:16" is printed on the bottom inside rim of the drink cups). Apparently the founding Snyder family started printing the verses in the 80s as a "reflection of their beliefs." A bit weird but interesting nonetheless. I was once told the palm trees which are planted in the front of locations in the shape of an X were in reference to the cross of Jesus but apparently it's actually a movie reference to Harry Snyder's favorite movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Another tidbit is you can buy In-N-Out Burger collector t-shirts (they only have one design at a time usually) for about $8.50 and they'll give you stickers at most locations if you ask. The headquarters for the full range of In-N-Out merchandise and apparel is in Las Vegas, Nevada and you can also order stuff online. And with that, I leave you with this food porn...

Hamburger (left) and Double Double (right):


Update: Apparently In-N-Out has plans to open locations in Texas! Read the story