I noticed a correlation between pre-flight meals and the level of altitude-induced flatulence created on this last trip to SLC. On the way out, I had a home-cooked dinner and only had a beer at the airport: On the way back, I had a big bacon burger at LAX. The result – no issues outbound, but painful gas inbound. So as an experiment, I didn’t get a Whopper Junior and onion rings at the airport terminal BK as I otherwise would have done, but instead stopped at the Gordon Biersch consession and had a pils and clam chowder. The result – a significant decrease in gas. There was some gas (I don’t think you can avoid it completely in the low-pressure environment), but it was manageable. Only thing was shelling out nearly $20 to not get thunderfarts!
Archive for the 'Food' Category
Page 22 of 49
While wandering around Shirokiya’s yatai-mura, I happened across Akimune-an’s taiyaki stall. I guess they didn’t shut down as I thought, but had just been relocated to the second floor. My unfavorite Micronesian worker had a cold as evidenced by a mask, but she was holding the mask to her face with one hand. Great. I hope that hand gets washed before it touches food or food making apparatus! I’m sure that’s wishful thinking.
Nagoya’s Jiraya is back at Shirokiya, this time all the way at the back of the yatai-mura food court. I gave their takana tenmusu this time. The salted, pickled takana adds a nice flavor to the rice. I prefer this over the regular tenmusu. It adds a buck or so to the price, but I think it’s worth it.
Recommended
Three-and-a-half out of four musu-monkeys
$8.89 USD with sales tax
I can’t recall the name of the udon restaurant that occupied the space across Ke’eaumoku Street from HMSA, but after it unfortunately closed and the space went through various unsuccessful iterations, it is now Menchanko-tei. I seem to recall the resident food reviewer at the local newspaper doing a review and going through the history and heritage of Menchanko-tei, so I won’t bother searching for it and just reiterating it here, but if you’re interested, I’m sure this information is a couple of clicks away. Suffice it to say that they specialize in menchanko – a thick noodle ramen, motsu – innards (in this case beef), and tonkatsu – Japanese-style breaded pork cutlets. The two staff members we encountered were both native Nihongo speakers, so this isn’t one of those “Japanese-themed” Korean or Chinese-run establishments where the food looks somewhat right, but doesn’t taste right – this is the real deal. Continue reading ‘Menchanko-tei’
I picked up something different from Mamaya at Shirokiya’s food level – a onigiri made from rice mixed with tarako (cod roe) and thinly cut konbu (prepared kelp). Overall flavor was very good. Rice was a little on the softish side, and the same was true for the salmon onigiri I got, so the rice was either overcooked, or not allowed to cool properly after steaming. The nori (seaweed laver) was all limp since there was no JDM-style wrapper that kept the nori separate from the rice until you opened it. I didn’t see any of the ha-togarashi onigiri available, so maybe this one replaced it as a rotating flavor. Continue reading ‘Mamaya Yaki Tarako Konbu Onigiri’
Part of a Samuel Adams Harvest Collection box, I’m reviewing this one a little late, you might have difficulties finding this on shelves now. Pours with a moderately strong head, dark brown with a hint of red. Aroma and flavor of the hazelnut is definitely there, adds a bit of bitter bite too. There’s a pretty strong roast flavor, but not too smokey. It’s got a medium mouthfeel and pretty clean finish but with a lingering bitter. I’m a little undecided on how much I like the strong hazelnut flavor. In the end it’s a pretty decent beer.
Just makes 3 out 4 nutty monkeys.
Sierra Nevada’s heffeweizen, pours a cloudy medium light amber with moderate head that quickly dissapates. Label claims its the only American open fermentated heffe. Bright and fairly citrusy tone, with a nice spicyness that’s not as strong as say Hoegarten. Pretty crisp mouthfeel but still has a heffeweizen feel. Pretty good stuff!
3 out of 4 yeast monkeys.
Hopefully Wayland will enjoy these, since he’ll be inflicted with them. I guess we will all end up being victims though, unless Fabio goes incommunicado and avoids the meetup in anticipation of this. I’ve eaten shako (Oratosquilla oratoria) once. It was flavorless and didn’t break apart when chewed. It wasn’t rubbery like squid, it was more crunchy like gristle. Great. Garlicy gristle! Maybe everyone will be lucky and Ag or Customs will seize them.
What should I find at the supermarket than two new-ish dark offerings from mainstream breweries. Decades ago, it was “Dunk” (heck, that’s so old, it exists only in my memory and I can’t find anything about it online… did it even exist? It had Arnold the Governator in their advertising and was product-placed on some stewardess drama) which faded from popularity, but now darks are back, albeit still on the tamer end of the flavor scale. From Yebisu comes the Creamy Top Stout aimed to compete with the widgeted Guinness, and Asahi Dry Black, a dark lager offering. I actually had the Yebisu Creamy Top Stout on draught at a restaurant in Okayama last year, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Asahi Dry Black. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Battle of the Black Cans’