Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Nestled between Rick's Dessert Diner and Biergarten (two of my Sacramento haunts), is the relatively recent newcomer to the Sacramento bar/dining scene, Midtown's Cantina Alley. They advertise as offering a cantina experience similar to those found in Mexico. I can't speak for all of Mexico, but it definitely did remind me of the cantinas I went to in Guadalajara. Open, airy, great beer, and great food. The biggest difference would be the price. I ordered a good portion of the menu and it added up. That said, everything I tried was pretty fantastic. The ingredients seemed very fresh and care was taken in the plating.  Tostadas de Ceviche - huachinango/red snapper marinated in lime juice, pineapple, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and topped with sliced avocado on crispy tostadas. The tortilla shell was loudly crispy, the fish fresh and cold. This one was one of my favorite items. At the end, there were a few pieces of fish that had fallen down and I happily scooped it...

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...

Ah, The Carousel Bar. It looks so awesome once you're inside. It's a playground for adults. Kind of. The best is if you can snag a seat at the carousel, but each time I've gone, the seats are all taken, or there's a random seat for one. Instead, w e nabbed a cushy sofa not far from it and hung out for an hour just enjoying the surroundings and jazz.  I definitely like The Sazerac Bar more, even though there isn't live jazz there. That and the Sazerac there was much better. The tastes just came together there, while the one at Carousel tasted like I was drinking straight whiskey with an orange peel in it. Worth coming just to see, and great on nights with live music!  The carousel. Of course it's packed. Live jazz, of course! Sazerac ($12). Blue crab & crawfish beignets ($13). The locals with me all said that these are not beignets. There was quite the discussion and they ended up agreeing that these are indeed, hush puppies. Eith...

I'm not usually a cocktail person - give me a beer any day and I'll be pleased as punch. But, when it comes to cities like New Orleans it feels like part of the territory. There is just so much history to this fantastic city and it seems sometimes, like so many dishes and drinks were created here. Case in point, the Sazerac. Incidentally, the Sazerac is Louisiana's official state cocktail. Yeah, I didn't know official state cocktails were a thing either.  Plus, Anthony Bourdain was here and that guy knows his booze. There are two drinks that are worthy of note - The Sazerac, of course, and the Ramos Gin Fizz. The Ramos Gin Fizz is worth ordering just to watch the show of the drink being created. Drinking it is just as fun. It tastes like a light dessert. If you are a lightweight, this drink is a better fit for you. If you are a booze hound like Bourdain, and  if you like your bourbons or whiskeys, The Sazerac is for you, my friend. The Sazerac Bar is aptly name...

This may seem weird, but I actually like getting to the airport early when SeaTac is involved. Even if I'm not flying from an airline close to the food court (that's right, I said food court), I still go by for my customary I'm-leaving-Seattle meal. Sometimes I've already eaten so I just stop by for a Bloody Mary and some steamers. Anthony's is the type of restaurant I would go to anyway, so having it in the airport makes it that much more convenient for me.  The Caesar was a pretty good size and a healthy dollop of bay shrimp on top. I am sure I could just have this for dinner and call it a day, but I love steamed clams too much. They're steamed with garlic, water, salami, olive oil, basil, diced tomatoes, and some chopped pistachios. When I'm finished with the clams, I like using the bread to dip it in there. They serve full sized entrees of salmon and other Northwest specialties, but I prefer just having orders of these not quite appetizers. Check it ...

Every time we head up to Seattle, we try to find some new place that we haven't been to. During this trip, it was The Brooklyn Seafood, Steak, and Oyster House. It looked awesome. Beer and oyster flights? Sign me up! They have other flights to choose from, but I went for the beer and oyster flight. The options change daily depending on what's on draft and which oysters are freshest.  We grabbed a seat at the bar in front of the oyster display and main signage. Service was surprisingly slow for a restaurant that wasn't busy yet (we were there at 4PM on a Sunday because we had a flight back home afterwards). I was also not the only one to be a bit disappointed by the beer and oysters. There was some bits of shell in my oyster, so a little sad that they didn't clean the knife between shucks. With flights, I like trusting that someone took the time to taste the beer or wine and the food item so that they pair nicely. I feel like in this situation, it wasn't well pa...

As a fan of The Walrus and the Carpenter, I was pretty excited to hear that Renee Erickson opened up another tapas restaurant. Located right next door to Walrus, it's a good place to hang out and enjoy some tapas while waiting for your seat. I had Barnacle bookmarked for at least a year before I finally had a chance to get in and try it for myself.  We went in figuring that we could get some of the oysters without having to wait to get into Walrus, but because it was end of summer and the ocean was pretty warm, the oysters were in low supply (ie none available for Barnacle patrons). We weren't too upset though, because we knew there were a few items we wanted to try anyway. On the list we had the serrano jamon, octopus, and sardines. All of them were really good. Honestly, I was not expecting anything less. Great for hanging out pre-dinner with just a friend or two - the space is limited. If you aren't sure what to drink, the bartener is a great resource. Unless yo...

Bar hopping on a Saturday night in Seattle on a nice October night led us to the Good Bar. Pretty noisy and dimly lit, they serve only a handful of things (which I like as it means they can master a few things rather than Cheesecake Factory it and not master anything) and specialize in classic cocktails. Of course, along with the classics, they have cocktails with their own twist. I only had the Pisco Pie that night. Service was a bit slow, and as we were trying to check out more places that night, we ended up just leaving after the one drink. The drink was good, but the food was too salty for me. The Sloppy Joe filling wasn't bad, but I think instead of ciabatta bread, I would like something else. The bread was a bit too hard on the surface (I mean, it is  ciabatta) for my tastes. Worth checking out to admire the decor and try a drink, but I wouldn't spend an entire night here. Good Bar's Sloppy Joe. It has Painted Hills beef, tomato, stout beer, and onion aioli...

One of my favorite steakhouses in the country, John Howie never disappoints. I've been there for my birthday before and enjoyed a fantastic A5 Wagyu Ribeye from the Miyazaki Prefecture, but more regularly, I stop by for their well priced happy hour. I wouldn't say it's cheap, but it's much more affordable than their regular dinner menu. There is only one food item I order every time, and that is the kurobuta bacon. It is a tempura batter on the outside and fried, served alongside a maple sambal sauce. It is sweet and spicy and all sorts of umami. I always tell people they gotta try it, but not everyone seems to think it's worth it. For those in the know, we know  it's worth it.  Happy hour and food aside, the cocktails here are top notch. Everything is so well made and perfect. And, like all good bartenders, if you have a particular taste or liquor preference, just let them know and they'll concoct something for you to your taste. If you haven't...

If you are a craft beer aficionado, then you are in the know. Pliny the Younger is one of the most famous craft beers out there. It's only been twelve years since its inception, but it has grown in popularity exponentially. The first time I went to try this magical beer, the wait was about two hours. I was still getting my feet wet with all of the amazing craft beers in the country. I thought it was strange that we arrived at Russian River Brewing at 9am on a Saturday morning to wait for beer. We were maybe 30th in line. Soon, we discovered that we were surrounded by people who came from far and wide for this beer. One group was from Minnesota, another from Sydney Australia. Die hard beer fans! It says on the wall that their capacity is 135 people. When we got in, there were still plenty of places to grab a seat. We sat at the bar so it would be easier to order. That day (Feb. 2, 2013 - thanks Foursquare for keeping track for me!), there were no restrictions on how many glasse...