Gastro Monkey // 美食家

I like celebrating the boyfriend's birthday all month long. He mentioned wanting to go to Hitachino Beer & Wagyu. They opened in March, but it was so limited you had to sign up for Owlie Mail and enter a lottery. It didn't work out for us during that time, so finally in May, when they full on opened and started taking reservations, I was able to get us in.  Parking is all street so get there early. If they are as strict as their email confirmation, you have 15 minutes after your reservation time before they give away your seat and charge your credit card. There was a ton of traffic on the way there that day, so plan accordingly if you are driving from further away! Since I got lucky with parking, we showed up about 20 minutes before our reservation. They told us we could stand and wait, or hang out at the bar.  At the bar, we hung around just relaxing and checking the place out. The decor is simple, which I like. On the wall are wooden boards that list their beers....

There are two Chinese restaurants in the Sacramento area that I like, Jing Jing , and Yang's. Both serve Szechuanese food, but they both have different strengths. With Jing Jing, I like their spicy fish and lamb. At Yang's Noodles, I like (surprise!) their noodles and dumplings. Both are made in house (my favorite) and are well made.  At Yang's I tend to order more things as they have things that overlap with what is considered Taiwanese cuisine. While of course, nothing is ever as good as being in Taiwan; the food is still solid and is a good price. Each time I go, I change my order up a little. The general combination is the same though - two appetizers, one noodle dish, dumplings, and one onion pancake.  The appetizers I order are always served cold. If you aren't used to that type of appetizer, be sure to ask first so you aren't surprised and think they made a mistake. With the noodle dish, I bounce between beef noodle soup and the pork with veggies. Th...

Hands down my favorite place to get pork belly over rice in Taipei - 金峰. When my cousin first introduced it to me she said the reviews all said it "tastes like heaven." This was at least seven or eight years ago. Since then I have gone every trip (close to annual) and have either eaten it there or taken it to go. When it's very busy, they'll combine stray diners with each other at the same table. Otherwise, you and your party get your own small steel table. Eating there is best since the food is served hot. If you take it to go, you run the chance of it cooling enough that it isn't as good. Sometimes it's worth it though. For me, it depends on my mood. Sometimes on a hot night it's actually cooler outside in the big open area at CKS Memorial. The pork belly here is my favorite because they have such a good blend of lean and fat meat. The flavor is perfect also. Not too sweet like some of the other shops. It's one of those foods where if you haven...

Normally I like picking places before I get to a city. Occasionionally I trust someone enough to choose for me (I have trouble finding people who eat the way I do 😅), which is what typically happens in Portland when I visit my brother. This time however, we went with convenience. Sometimes after my nine hour drive, I don't want to get back in a car. I just want to walk. He lives pretty close to a lot of restaurants, bars, and random shops so it works out in our favor.  A few blocks away is Rose & Thistle, a Scottish pub. It doesn't look huge from the outside, but it's spacious inside. I imagine they can get pretty busy. According to their website , the rose is for Portland and the thistle is for Scotland. At the same time, with a little research, I found that there is also a poem titled " The Thrissil and the Rois " which is a Scottish poem by William Dunbar about the wedding of the King of Scotland to a Princess of England. Try reading that after a few pi...

Since I really enjoyed my experience at Deanie's in the French Quarter and I was out in Metairie, I figured I would give their Bucktown location a try (see in my original post about my first trip to New Orleans here ). Unfortunately for me, crawfish weren't in season so I didn't get to get my boil on. Not that I was settling, but I ordered a big fat order of crab four ways and some of their delicious barbecue shrimp. This is a restaurant you don't want to eat alone at because the portions are so big and if you want to eat more than one thing, you'll have to actually share! I came alone this time and had leftovers that I ended up eating as a midnight snack.  Please note - Deanie's does not take reservations. Barbeque Shrimp (12.95) Crab Quartet - crab meat prepared au gratin, crab balls, fried crab claws, and fried soft shell crab (26.95) - I recommend sharing as this was a LOT of food! Here's the other side that has the entire fried soft ...

I have posted already about my omakase that I had in 2016  here . I'm not sure what else I can add that I didn't already say, but I do want to share some of their dinner items if the omakase or fish isn't for you. Also, if you couldn't tell, it's one of my favorite restaurants in the Eastside.  Beef Teriyaki ビーフ照焼 - 6 oz. USDA Steak with their homemade teriyaki sauce (22.00) Salad with ginger dressing Sunomono (comes with the dinner set) Miso Soup (comes with the dinner set) Salmon Teriyaki サーモン照焼 - Atlantic Salmon with their homemade teriyaki sauce (21.00) Ebi Tempura Maki - shrimp tempura and radish sprouts (7.50) Omakase at the table ($45) Coffee Jello コーヒーゼリー  (Homemade - 5.00) Address:  12539 116th Ave N.E. Kirkland WA 98034 Phone #: 425-821-1959 Hours: **Monday Closed** Lunch : 11:30 am - 1:30 pm (Tue-Fri) Dinner: 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm  (Tue-Sun)

One of my favorite breweries in the Seattle area is Black Raven. Located in a warehouse area of Redmond (like a few other breweries like Mac & Jacks - another favorite), it seems out of the way. Parking can be difficult on the weekends or sunny days. They have indoor and outdoor seating. If you have your puppies with you, they have bowls to keep your buddies hydrated. They don't serve food, but they have food menus so you can have pizza and whatnot delivered. On the weekends, they have food trucks.  Coco Jones  and a  Trickster IPA - both are delicious and both are award winners! Go and try and see which you like best! I like the Trickster IPA for its crisp hoppy taste and its name. Taps Address: 14679 NE 95th St  Redmond, WA 98052  Website

Monday through Friday, I pass the Pasty Shack. It looks like it's been in the neighborhood for quite some time and appears to be the kind of place I like going to. Of course that meant that eventually I would have to stop and give them a try. Two years later, I finally do. Many people online said that the Chile Verde Pasty is the best one, but I wanted to try the original one first: the Cornish.  The Cornish is advertised as having top grade beef, potatoes, onions, and special seasonings in their special pastry shell. The pastry shell is flaky and thin, but I think it works. The filling however, was as other reviewers had stated. The beef was pretty dry and chewy. If they stew it longer, it could be tender and more flavorful. As it is, it's dry. I fixed it for my tastes with liberal doses of Tapatio. The potatoes were good. I personally would have preferred more onions though.  Service is great though, and management is friendly and nice. I do plan on going back on a ...