Homnomnom... Is it still a quesadilla if I don't use tortillas? Is it a panini without a panini press? A weird hybrid torta of some kind? Either way, I made a hot sammy with mexi blend cheese, chili powder and spices chicken strips, onions, peppers and black beans on flatbread. Nice and spicy! Leftovers are your friend.
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I went out with a co-worker for a bit of late-night shenanigans, and we tried the Barrio Tacos in Downtown Cleveland. It's a local chain of whiskey bars, specializing in a rotation of monthly margarita specials and the BEST drunk tacos I've ever had, and for a damned good price!
One of my usual tests for a new bar is to ask the tender to surprise me. This one introduced me to a Bulletproof, a cousin to the Old Fashioned, and was a house special. The drinks were strong and wonderfully mixed. For tasties, I ordered a Filadelfia and a Spicy Sapanaro, while she ordered a Filadelfia and the Carne Trozi. The tacos were perfect balance of messy, self-indulgent pub food and masterfully crafted pieces of culinary art. Crunchy? Soft? BOTH? Perhaps you want a black bean and jack taco, or a classic one of roast beef, or another of brisket or spicy or mild or... I could go on and on. The Filadelfia in particular had this sweet sauce on top, beautiful moist pork, and a nice heat that sits on your pallette, and was wonderfully balanced. I also tried a Cafe Duro -- hard coffee -- that was basically a tequila-variant of the White Russian. And yes, it was as delicious as it sounds. You can mix and match or get three of your favorite, and I promise you, nothing you order will be a disappointment. The staff is quick, efficient, wonderfully friendly (and even at the end of the night on a weeknight the place was half-full! There was a regular remarking it was the least busy he'd ever seen the place), and better than competent. Our barman was not only a skilled mixologist, but friendly and patient with my curious questions and our indulgent experimentations. The southwest decor was all decked out for Halloween/Dia de Los Muertos, and the owner of the chain has each pub painted by the same artist, a personal friend who decorates the walls with fantastic chalky skeletons in all manner of merriment, and particularly festive this time of year. Tacos are served wrapped individually in foil to keep them hot and fresh before they get to your table, and placed in little brown paper boats for sustainable clean up. The monthly special margaritas are served in mason jars, lined in salt, and the impressive bar has a fantastic selection of spirits for anything else you might fancy, if you aren't inclined to sample one of the magnificent specials on tap at the moment -- yes, even the beers and ciders on tap are cycled! If you're ever in Cleveland, make sure you set aside a night (and morning...) aside to check out this amazing bar. Today has been a terrible day. I managed to get some of my shopping done, only to drop my very new cellphone and crack it on the tarmac (because the protective casing still hasn't arrived in the mail yet) and now my PayPal won't work... Hoi.
I'm rewarding myself with some comfort food to reward myself for not killing anyone. A brisket quesadilla, some grilled onions and chips... I'm also amused that they had tea listed as "Eastern" (green tea), "Southern" (sweet tea), and "Northern" (unsweet tea) and it gave me a giggle. I got Southern tea, for those who want to ask. It's a little on the greasy end, but since that's exactly what I wanted, absolutely no complaints. It was good to have something hot and heavy in my belly in the rain and misery before I could call a Lyft. Bloody frustrating day. ...Whoops. I did it again.
Cajun Joe's again! This time, some honey spicy wings with some crisp, delicious french fries, ALSO covered in that lovely sauce... Oof. A good, hearty, sinful little meal, and at a good price! These wings are very addictive, a good amount of sweet and heat, as with everything. And Joe is just an awesome guy. I can't help but come get some when I can. So, there's a shop next door to ours called Cajun Joe's that is a little barbecue spot, chicken, ribs, wings... It's damn good! And the owner is just a sweet guy, a real friendly and helpful neighbor. His sauce is a delicious savory with a good amount of spice that gives a little heat that keeps you coming back for more! Coleslaw, mac'n'cheese, collards, sweet potatoes, cornbread... All of the best goodies, hearty home-cooking. I wish I could afford to come patronize him more, his food is SO GOOD.
So, there's this really cool spot called Steelyard Commons, and, in the most Cleveland of fashions, it's a strip mall right next to a steelworks, the sheer industrialist vibe is pervasive everywhere, from the ex-quarry it's situated in to the architecture of the mall itself -- AND IT'S A NICE ONE! Walmart, Target, Home Depot, some restaurants, fast food joints, GameStop -- lots of really useful things in one very convenient spot. Among those restaurants is a Steak 'n Shake, which I mentioned I had never been to, although my father had always spoken of very highly.
So my roomie decided to help me fix this. I ordered a Jalapeno Burger (because of course I did), and it was a pretty solid burger! The fries were nice and crispy, the aesthetic was FANTASTIC (I'm a sucker for a vintage diner, especially one with an open kitchen) and the milkshakes were well deserving of their praise. Thick, creamy, but not so thick that I feel you gotta get a spoon out to actually eat the thing, but not so thin that you can suck half of it down without thinking of it. WE CRUSHED IT. It was fucking tasty, and I definitely get the hype! The crew were awful obliging and friendly, considering I was geeking out and taking so many pictures. Like, the guy working the expo station especially was happy to answer all of my ridiculous questions and was very amused by obnoxiousness. I want to blame the sugar from the milkshakes, but really, it was the aesthetic I was geeking out about. I really like retro diners, okay? It's a weakness. I gotta say, of all of the cuisines in the world, a couple of my favorites are probably Italian and Japanese. In particular, sushi is one of those things that I kind of have to budget into my diet because I have a... Problem.
One of the ways I've done to help this was learn how to MAKE sushi, from scratch, which has mixed results, to put it kindly. I've had sushi parties in the past, especially back when I was doing the bento blog back in college. I recently just got myself some new kitchen gadgets -- in particular, an onigiri press and sashimi press, so I wanted to finally play with my new toys to make some SUSHIIIII!!! First up is some black bean soup/chili stuffed onigiri. Onigiri is a rice ball, usually stuffed with something -- in the past, I've made it with jelly as a dessert (too much sugar, yikes) but bean paste or a meat thing is really common in Japan. I had some leftover chili, and decided that would be good enough, so I tried it, and it was actually REALLY CHOICE. Of everything, weirdly this was the thing I thought was most successful. Will def do this again. I also made a tamagoyaki rolls (traditionally this is a sweet egg omelete, but mine are just omeletes with a touch of sugar for sweetness) with duck sauce, a "spicy tuna roll" that was some canned tuna tossed with cayenne and soy sauce (...It was alright), and another odd vegetable one with carrots and cream cheese (...I was running out of things) and another with jalapeno, carrots and cream cheese. Fresh jalas in a sushi roll is great for texture, questionable for taste. I also made a tamagoyaki sashimi (with a touch of duck sauce to attach the egg to the rice -- usually it's wasabi or something like that), and a pickle roll (miracle whip, bread and butter pickles and carrots) that... Was actually pretty good. I tried something similar with the tuna, but it did not stick together terribly well, so I ended up making them into onigiri with a sesame seed garnish, because I was trying to make my trash sushi look extra. The last two little buckets were my very-originally-named Sweet & Savory Flavor Bombs (TM), with one made with cream cheese and strawberry, and the other with cream cheese, carrots and jalapeno. It was alright. There was one last black bean onigiri with spicy mustard in it that was dangerous to eat, but still tasty. All in all, it wasn't all great, but that's what experiments are for! I actually really loved having onigiri made up -- they're a nice pop of grain and protein, and when you warm them up they make a great on-the-run snack or small meal. And there's just something fancy about heating up some handmade onigiri and adding it to your plate like that's just a thing you do, and I might endeavour to do that some more in the future! I also like having a vegetarian sushi roll made up that, again, makes for a great addition to a meal or as a side in a bento box or lunch. And of course, after all of my cooking and prepping and experimenting was done, it was time to ACTUALLY EAT!!! Have some poor boy's instant miso to go with it, shall we? Again, Japanese food is a thing I really enjoy, and little ways like this to enjoy it a little more in my day-to-day diet helps scratch that itch more than the rather expensive vice of dropping $50 at a sushi bar, heh. Not that I'm going to stop doing that, but sometimes the budget just doesn't allow it. One needs must make compromises and be realistic about his financial limitations. OH RIGHT. BREAKFAST. Today's breakfast is a sammich made with wheat toast (I occasionally attempt to eat better, but don't count on it), miracle whip, pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, fried ham and a pair of eggs, over medium. NOSH. I personally love to have a breakfast sandwich with eggs not entirely cooked so that they pop nicely when I slice a sammy in half, but sometimes I overdo it, as I did here. It's sad, but it happens. I've been doing this thing where I keep a jar (think pickle jar) of diced onions, one of jalapenos, that kind of thing. So it's easy to toss half of a handful into the pan before the ham and then eggs (EGGS GO LAST, ALWAYS!!!) so that we get some sweet, grilled deliciousness to go on the sammich, but to be very fair, that's an extra step than I usually do. Def worth it (as evident by me destroying half of it before I remembered to take a picture...), and the pepper jack cheese is always a nice touch.
Mmm... Pizza. We spent the day at the Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival in Lincoln Park -- my roomie's boyfriend is part of a local commedia dell'arte troupe, and they were doing a few performances as part of the festival, and it was a lot of fun! We ended up having dinner after at Rascal House as a collective party, and it's... Well, it's not exactly impressive. It reminds me of Pizza Hut's pan pizza, a fairly economical, easy-to-acquire pizza house that is decent enough, especially when fresh. Service was slow, actually, but not terrible. And it came out fresh and hot, and after a day at the park where I was pretty damned hungry, it definitely did the job, but cheap pizza is still cheap pizza.
And fantastic or not, pizza is pizza! Can't complain. Especially when I wasn't paying for it, hehehe. Saw some fresh jalapenos on sale at Aldi's last time I went to the grocery store, and decided to grab a pack of them. I wanted to do a bacon-and-cheese thing, but I did not have... Um. Well, bacon. I know, I'm dumb. But I did manage to get some jerky to try and manage to get by with that. Some onions, garlic, cheese... Barbecue sauce. I stuffed it all in the peppers, expecting a mess, and tossed it in a toaster oven. They came out a bit al dente, so there was a good crunch, and HOLY COW were these ones spicy! A nice surprise. I had to drown them out in ranch, too, to eat it, but that's fine with me...
Future notes: Um, make sure you actually have bacon for this. Also, maybe a better quality of cheese. Monterey jack, for instance (a la pepperjack) and maybe hollow them out more? They were really thick. I would probably slow-roast them longer in the future. But ultimately, not bad! |
Brunch w/ BlakeHalf-boricuan, half-corn fed Indiana hick. Stir in a taste of the southwest and serve in LA, on the rocks. #BrunchWithBlake #FoodPorn #LAFoodie Archives
July 2021
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