Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Normally, I prefer New York Style pizza. I like thin crusts that aren't cracker thin, but have a little crunch to them. Based on that, I thought I wouldn't like Zachary's Pizza. But, I do! The cheese can stretch across the table and all down your chin. It always comes out piping hot since they make it to order. They are always busy, and the location is very cozy. Luckily, you can put your name down and hang around nearby in the used bookstore or at Peet's. I prefer the bookstore. You never know what you'll find! And anyway, isn't good pizza worth waiting a little bit for? Also, the last time I went, they gave us the wrong pizza (we were so hungry and it was pretty similar so we ate it anyway without noticing). They noticed the error and gave us a discount on our pie! Note: I also find it's a great place to take out-of-towners as just up the hill is Indian Rock and a great (albeit now super crowded) place to view the City and watch the sunset.  Chees...

Food is always the first thing when I plan a trip. My first trip to New Orleans last year started with food (and honestly, ended with food too). What should be the first thing to be devoured upon arrival? Our flight landed at MSY around 6:30pm. I knew it would take around an hour to get to the hotel after getting our luggage, so I had to plan for dinner. It was no easy feat deciding where to go first. I read a ton of articles of which there are no shortage of before going bookmarking a location. Basically my methodology revolves around reading articles, blogs, looking at Yelp pictures and reviews, and Foursquare--it really is a production!--before deciding on which places to bookmark. From there (wherever I am), I look at my bookmarks to see which places I'm closest to. That night, we went with Deanies. I knew that the first thing I wanted to eat was crawfish. We get them in Sacramento around August, but not lately as the prices have gone up a lot since I first moved here in 1...

Once upon a time, I was the only one at any given table whipping out a camera to document my meal. At least one family member would pre-emptively wave an arm out at anyone who would try to eat before my customary food picture was snapped. Allow me to try and give you, dear reader of today, a little perspective. This was in the early 90's, so there were not yet cell phones, iPhones, or digital cameras (well, there were, but they were incredibly expensive and I was just a kid, and  the quality was terrible). I used a film camera. It was a great Olympus point and shoot that came in gold. That means I was the one weirdo spending film on food pictures and not getting paid for say, Bon  Appetite  magazine or the like.  My friends viewed this as a quirk of mine, and I learned to embrace my "inner weirdo" of photographing my food. It's interesting how times have changed and now it's rarer for someone to eat their food without first taking a picture. At one embarrassi...