Seattle Knows Street Food
Ever had cream cheese on a hotdog? Apparently that’s the thing up here in Seattle…other than the coffee, grunge music and crappy weather. Gotta love some street food though.
We got the opportunity to check this place out yesterday as it was just a hop, skip and a jump down the street from The White Rabbit: the venue we played last night in San Antonio. This place seriously gives Crif Dogs (NYC) a run for its money. With a ton of veggie/vegan options there’s something for everyone. I tried the Dogfather (recommended by the owner), in honor of Snoop Dog who we toured with earlier this year. Pretty solid. just make sure you have easy access to heartburn meds. So worth it though!
NEWS FLASH - TACO BELL UNVIELS NEW SAUCES
Yep, its no secret if you know us that I as well as the rest of the band loves us some mexican food. Taco Bell is cheap and tasty. I try to not eat so much fast food, but being on the road as much as we are its inevitable. A few months ago I remember being excited when Taco Bell introduced their Cantina Tacos. Anyone who tried them knows they weren’t all they were cracked up to be. I applaud the company for trying a completely new idea rather than just using all the same ingredients in different arrangements. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well for them that time which is probably why they’re off the menu in most stores now already.
Tonight we popped into a Taco Bell somewhere near the Louisiana and Texas border on our way out to Austin for the Austin City Limits festival this weekend. Taco Bell just unveiled two new sauces, a Fire Roasted Salsa and a Salsa Verde Green Sauce and this was the first time I’ve seen then available. When you’re on the road as much as we are its the little things that count so this combined with a Braves playoff victory were extremely welcome! Both of the sauces are pretty awesome: the fire roasted salsa is pretty mild but has a great smoky and bold tomato flavor while the salsa verde packs slightly more heat to it. #success. Yet another reason I could never hate this fast food chain!
So we past through Baltimore on Monday for a show at Sonar. Coming to Baltimore, Maryland you can be assured of two things.
1: Tons of Ray Lewis jerseys.
2: Super duper fresh seafood.
I’m the kinda of person that desperately craves seafood when by the ocean, but desperately avoids it when I’m not. Call me fair weather if ya want, but the truth is I just don’t trust seafood joints unless I can smell the saltiness of the ocean over my meal. That’s just me.
Hoping this trip to Baltimore was better than the last (where we conveniently had a SHOTGUN pulled on us last summer), me and a small crew ventured the mean streets of Baltimore over to the Lexington Market to Faidley’s Seafood to try out “Baltimore’s Best Crabcake.” I was stoked.
Keep in mind that the “Best” anything is relative. Just like the dozen restaurants in Atlanta that claim to have the “best” burger in town, or the many places in Austin that claim their BBQ is the “best” in Texas, its all about personal preference. One would assume that any place claiming to the “best in town” at ANYTHING would hopefully not suck.
Faidley’s crabcakes didn’t suck, thankfully. The jumbo lump crabcake (priced at $13 ala carte) was indeed very tasty. Its no frills: lump crab meat with very little filler seasoned with Old Bay and broiled to a light crunch. About the size of a baseball, I left full and happy when I added on a side of fries, some macaroni salad and a cold beer.
There’s even a raw bar with raw oysters and clams straight from the Chesapeake Bay if that’s what you are into. Raw is not my style, but to each their own. I’m not really sure if Faidley’s is indeed the “Best in Baltimore” because I don’t have anything to compare it too yet. Maybe next time. It certainly didn’t suck though, and for that Faidley’s won. Check it out if your ever passing through Raven country.
We were back in Washington DC today for our show at the Black Cat with Electric 6. This was the 5th time we have played in DC since December so I’m getting more and more familiar with the city known for its jerk chicken and politics. This time its was our keyboard player Jamie’s birthday so we let him choose where we had lunch.
Being a fan of Top Chef it was an easy decision finding ourselves near Capitol Hill to pay a visit to Chef Spike Mendelsohn’s burger and shake joint “Good Stuff Eatery.” I found it amusing and ironic that his competitor Richard Blaise (who was on the same season of Top Chef) also opened a burger joint, Flip Burger, in OUR hometown of Atlanta after the show aired. Just goes to show that everyone likes a good burger. I sure as hell do anyways.
I enjoyed Good Stuff Eatery and think that it certainly lived up to its name. I had the Oprah Winfery approved Prez Obama Burger and some Onion Petals. The burger was a patty with a red onion marmalade, applewood smoked bacon, blue cheese crumbles and a horseradish mayo. It was pretty awesome, whether Obama’s name was attached to it or not. No lettuce or tomato though, which honestly I did miss. The patty was a bit small as well, but tasty nonetheless.
This place was a first for me though in another way: their mayonnaise bar they had set up for everyone to try. I’ll be honest, after traveling to eastern Europe and seeing the liberal use of mayo on EVERYTHING over there, from pizza to french fries, I was a little grossed out. I even LIKE mayo but c’mon? Good stuff has 4 types of mayo for ya to try out though, and I enjoyed each one of them in their own way with my onion petals.
The siracha mayo was spicy, but not too spicy. The Old Bay mayo was a bit too salty for me. The chipolte mayo was smoky. The mango mayo was my favorite though: sweet but not too sweet. Each of them were more of an aoli consistency that a traditional mayo. I can dig it.
Don’t forget the milkshakes! The toasted mashmellow shake was almost too sweet for me, if there’s such a thing. A burger and a shake may be a bit much. One or the other was good enough for me, unless you want a massive stomach ache.
Good Stuff Eatery is indeed good stuff. I’ll try Chef Spike’s pizza place “We the Pizza” next time. Its located right next door.
The Dinosaur Cafe was recommended to me by one the locals the other night after our show at The Palace in Missoula, MT. He informed me that this cajun/creole joint was a local favorite of the natives of Missoula. Albeit hidden and hard to find, its well worth it if ya try: a trick the business owners apply to keep it to the locals. I can dig it. I always try to find those kind of places so I was totally into checking it out for lunch the next day.
Let’s be honest here; cajun food was truly the LAST cuisine that I expected to see in Montana. I would have been content finding a Ted’s Montana Grill and getting a bison burger considering we were actually IN Montana. That just seemed to easy though. This option seemed a more adventurous and interesting choice. It ended up being a tasty choice as well.
The Dinosaur Cafe is an order-at-the- counter kind of place located at the back of Charlie B’s bar on the corner of Pine and N. Higgins street downtown Missoula. The bar is laid back with some tables set up but don’t expect a cocktail waitress. Go to the bar for drinks and the window for food and take a seat and someone will bring it over to ya once its ready.
The menu is straight from the ‘Nawlins bayou: gumbo, jambalya and their signature “gumbolaya” which is a mixture of both. I had an alligator sausage po’ boy which was amazing. The daily special was a hearty portion of boneless pork spare ribs in their home-made BBQ sauce with coleslaw and bread. Expect authentic cajun food here; everything is spicy as hell and not for the weary, with extra hot sauce on the table. The prices were cheap and portions big which was an added bonus. Check it out: this place is certainly worth finding if you’re ever passing through Missoula and have a hankering for some spicy red beans and rice or fried crawfish tails.
Poutine vs. Canadian Heartburn
So we’re across the border in Canada for the next few days. Yesterday we played the Ottawa Bluesfest which turned out to be amazing! In talking to a few people before the festival, I learned of a canadian snack that everyone does a version of up here: Poutine.
I had never heard of it and had no idea what it was which amazed the people I was talking to. Naturally, I had to try it before I even knew what it was. They said that you could find it at nearly every food cart in the city because its that popular. “Alright” I said and decided to keep my eyes open.
Think of Poutine like you would one of KFC’s “Famous” Bowls, meaning its ingredients you like by themselves but never would have thought to put in a bowl and eat them together. Patton Oswald says in his comedy routine…”I want a failure pile in a sadness bowl!” Congrats Canada, you won with Poutine! This is what it consits of in a nutshell:
1 - French Fries
2 - Brown Gravy
3 - Cheese Curds
4 - Some protein - be it chicken, sausage or tofu.
5 - A fork
6 - Pepto-Bismal (not included for $4.50 but should be for fuck’s sake)
Though a tasty treat I can’t really understand why its such a popular street food around here. Talk about heartburn! If you’ve never tried it, I say go for it: just make very sure that there is a bathroom in your near radius after eating and your not eating that while cooped up in a van with 8 others driving around, at least for their sake. O’ Canada….what the hell did you do to my stomach?
