Breakfast at Jo's Cafe, Milwaukee, WI

After flying into Milwaukee for my annual weekend with the boys, Lickingpants and I went for breakfast at Jo's Cafe in the north side of town.
After some tasty coffee, we both split a plate of biscuits and gravy. The ladies next to us called it a "heart attack on a plate".
We then ordered the places specialty, the Hoffel Poffel: a dish of scrambled egg, spicy salami chunks, potatoes, onion, and cheese. The salami was awesome.
Our waitress, upon delivering our plate said, "You guys sure are hungry."

3519 W Silver Spring Dr
Milwaukee, WI 53209
(414) 461-0210

Espuma, Rehoboth Beach, DE

While at the shore for Labor Day, we went Espuma (Portuguese for "foam") in Rehoboth Beach, DE for dinner one evening. It was nice to be at the beach and to have a little foodie experience.
For starters, Fougoo ordered the "rethought" bacon and egg salad. I had the Black Mission fig salad with endive and a parmesan foam.

For an entree, I ordered the trio of Berkshire pork which came with a roast pork, a pork loin, and a pork fricassee all bathed in a nice foam.

Redneckhunter got the special, the veal Ossobucco, which was spectacularly good.
Kelly ordered the Espuma vegetarian extravaganza which came with 3 cold and 4 hot vegetable dishes. Kelly's fav was the sweet pea ravioli. I finished off one dish which had some bitter melon in it.

For dessert, we tried two items: the "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate", which consisted of a molten chocolate cake, a chocolate pots de creme, and a small chocolate milkshake and Jay's ice cream sandwich, which was 2 citrus merigues surrounding hazelnut ice cream.

28 Wilmington Ave
Rehoboth Beach, DE
(302) 227-4199‎

BrookLEn in Paris: Spring

How many brilliant American artists have conducted court in France, impressing the Gauls, binging on the excesses of Paris, impatiently waiting for the sound of the soiree to reverberate on our shores? The city attracts the talented who are happy to receive the one-glove applause of the French. I discovered a new member of this ex-pat clan at Spring, a restaurant in the 9th arrondissement operated by Daniel Rose, a native of Chicago.

Before arriving, we got lost in the neighborhood, discovering an amazing cheese shop where we picked up some foie gras for 1000yregg (which has its own story). Like Spring, the 9th is mixed culturally, a spicy bouillabaisse in the city of gastronomy. When we arrived at the tiny restaurant, we were literally eye-level with chef Daniel's prep table, which he conducted like a stage. The ten-top room filled quickly (only one seating, around 9-ish). This is where things get fuzzy, as we were offered amazing wines, and I was not the punctual blogger that I should be. What I can do is describe this five-course experience.

The courses were all prepped and plated for the room, each layer of the dish having it's own moment of consideration. The second course, a red snapper, started out as julienned radishes in a lime dressing. Eventually, the radish slaw was placed on the snapper, and then an impressively light beef broth was poured around the deep serving dish. Surprising, subtle flavors, some Chicago, some Paris, and a complete delight.

Other highlights were a duck served three ways (braised, moussed, and tartar), and a dessert of berries in an angelic peach-mint broth. After sending around the last plate, the chef grabbed a bottle of his favorite whiskey and started chatting with the diners. Some he knew, others became friends quickly, and carried out the post-meal festivities until hours not meant for our country.

28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne
75009 Paris
+33 (0)1 45 96 05 72

Cinghiale, Baltimore

I had dinner with friends at Cinghiale, the Italian restaurant of Cindy Wolf's Charleston group in downtown Baltimore. The place is separated into two sections, the osteria, which is bistro-style, and the enoteca, which is more dressier.
We ate in the osteria, but I ended ordering dishes from the enoteca menu.
I started with their spectacular La Carne Cruda, raw veal tenderloin with a poached quail egg and parmigiano.
My friends ordered the heirloom tomato salad with gorgonzola.
For my second dish, I ordered ravioli with wild boar.
My entree was Il Maiale, an generous rack of Berkshire pork with red wine sauce served with grilled peaches and a salad of fennel and arugula. It was incredible.

All in all, I would no doubt return to Cinghiale- great food and great atmosphere.

822 Lancaster St
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 547-8282

Koi Palace, Daly City, CA

While in San Francisco, the family went to get Dim Sum on a Sunday morning at the Koi Palace in Daly City.
We were told to get there early, which meant around 9:30 am, and would you believe, the place which was the size of a basketball court was already packed.
We were excited that they had soup dumplings which were good. We ordered a few standards- turnip cakes, shrimp dumplings, and the sticky rice dumplings with sesame.

We ordered 2 kinds of tofu: the first was salty and savory, and the second, was served with a sweet syrup.






We got some starch in the form of sticky rice and noodles.










We tried two kinds of BBQ pork buns, one with a baked wheat exterior and the other with a steamed rice exterior. Both were delicious. According to Fougoo's dad, they are always eaten last in order to not fill you up at the start of the meal.


365 Gellert Blvd
Daly City, CA 94015
(650) 992-9000

Bi-Rite Creamery, San Francisco

We went to the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco for some seriously good ice cream made from local and organic ingredients. We tried a few flavors, coffee toffee, balsamic strawberry, and honey lavender. I don't go for strawberry ice cream normally, but theirs was delicious.

3692 18th Street
(@ Dolores)
San Francisco CA 94110
415.626.5600

Pancho Villa Tacqueria, San Francisco

Fougoo and I went to Pancho Villa Tacqueria in the Embarcadero neighborhood of San Francisco. I knew I had to try their lengua taco as well as a carnitas taco. Both were delicious and chock full of meat.
I also ordered a chile relleno plate which was also good.

Fougoo ordered a nice tamale.
We were really impressed by the selection of salsas at Pancho Villa- they pulled no punches.

3071 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: (415) 864-8840
Fax: (415) 864-3484

Food at the Brooklyn Flea

Back from our TIGBG month-long hiatus (we decided to be like the French) to catch you up on some late summer eats:


We had heard that some of the famous (or infamous) Red Hook food vendors had also set up shop at the Brooklyn Flea market in Fort Greene.

So hoping to avoid the rumored hour-long lines in Red Hook, due to the new guidelines set up by the Department of Health for food trucks, we opted to check out the Brooklyn Flea.

The flea market itself was small -- c'mon we're from NJ after all where flea markets can cover major acreage -- but the food was great. There were manageable lines for the 3 Latin food stands that had made it over from Red Hook -- taco stand, pupusa stand, and grilled corn and drinks stand. So we split up and each took a line.

We ended up trying a huarache with pork in enchilada sauce -- this was huge - overflowing from a full-size paper dinner plate. The pork was spicy, juicy and amazing. We also got a few different pupusas and a tamale. The masa in the tamale was soft and light, but it had some strange fillings in it -- in addition to chicken it had chick peas, corn, and diced carrots. We also got the always delicious grilled corn, dipped in crema and covered in white cheese, chili powder, and lime.

I finished off the Mexican cuisine with a basil lime shave ice with a splash of strawberry from People's Popsicles. There was also some amazing pie (free samples) from La Crosta Pie Company, French-African food that looked interesting, and a variety of other food stands to try on a return visit.