What I Ate This Week

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I hope it was tremendous.  As you might have seen, I spent with my family in Michigan and we had QUITE the bird to show for it!  It was, as you might expect, delicious and came with the standard overeating-guilt that seems to pretty much be de rigueur.

And as tends to be the case when traveling for several days, you end up away from home cookin’ (again!) and end up eating on the road.  Such was the case for much of this week.  I posted a few interesting bites here and there over the past few days, but two in particular I think are worthy of a deeper dive—they represent a “home game” (around Cincinnati, comforting comfortable food) and an “away game” (away from home, something new and different).

Home Game at Zola’s Pub and Grill (Covington)

I’m a little surprised I’ve never been to Zola before—I’ve had friends who have gone and told me about it, and it’s right in a little strip of Covington along Main Street / Madison that seems to be one of the gems of the city, but there it sat!  Zola isn’t a “fancy” place by any stretch but it sure does scream “comfortable Midwestern bar.”  Besides a small crowd of locals, there were maybe a half dozen folks there for a square meal.  The menu isn’t overwhelming but if you’re in the mood for a burger and a beer they’ve got pretty much exactly what you’re looking for.  Some folks even contend that Zola’s is the best burger in Cincinnati!

I had the Zola Burger, which the basic house preparation.  I found the burger to be sizable, “meaty”-tasting, perfectly cooked (medium rare, of course), and all-around delicious.  Unlike many burgers in town, it was served on a bun that for the most part held its own to the big patty.  It did come a little more “loaded” than I needed, and I had to remove a few toppings to ensure I was tasting that delicious beef.  All around, not just an excellent burger but well ahead of my expectations!  I will definitely be back, although I might pass on the fries, which I found to be large but average.  All in all, another one in the “comfort food to go for” pile—and note that Wednesdays are apparently some kind of “burger mania” with all the toppings you care for at a low price, something like $6.  Check it out!

Away Game:  Breakfast at San Chez (Grand Rapids, MI)

I know, you Cincinnati folks are sick of the Michigan restaurants—sorry about that, but I’ve got to share a little bit about my FAVORITE restaurant in Grand Rapids—San Chez.  The place is ostensibly a tapas bistro—and they do incredible tapas from Spain and Cuba—but in the morning and early afternoon, their cafe across the hall is the place to be for amazing breakfasts.

This revelation is a not-in-your-average-kitchen kind of breakfast.  It’s a mojo pork breakfast casserole with spicy mojo onions and scrambled eggs.  It.  Was.  Tremendous.  The pork, clearly the highlight, was out of some fantastical Cuban dream, fall-apart tender and marinated in garlicky mojo.  It was covered in cheese and some caramelized onions (also marinated in the mojo and peppers), with 3 scrambled eggs on top.  The thing was a masterpiece, with all of the flavors coming through independently and then all together.  If anything, I suppose I could have done with a little less cheese, but who’s complaining?  The menu is full of American and Spanish-influenced breakfast and lunch dishes (though I started with some feijoada, the reputed Brazilian pork stew, and it was equally amazing), and they’ve got a nice little exotic smoothie section (the Ibiza, pictured above, is made with yogurt, honey, and almond).  I’ve done breakfast, lunch, and dinner here and it is the highest quality, most innovative place I’ve been to in GR.  Others may win with me for sentimental value, but if it’s an excellent meal at an excellent price, make it San Chez.  It’s downtown right off of Fulton near the arena.  Make a point to go if you’re ever nearby!

So that’s it, gang.  An amazingly successful Thanksgiving week, with a week to come where I think I get to stay in town every day!  Perhaps I’ll actually get some use out of my own kitchen!

Hope y’all have been thinking about being thankful- I know I have.  Until next time…

Food = average. Kitch = off the charts. (The “famous family-style fried chicken dinner” at Zehnder’s, Frankenmuth, MI)

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! (the bird at the family ranch, MI)

The most elk I’ve ever eaten in one sitting (The Not-So-Ugly Elk Burger, Bub’s Burgers and Ice Cream, Carmel, IN)

Well, folks—I’m home!  And thank goodness.  And before I settle in too far, I just wanted to review a few other interesting culinary delights from my second week in China!

Mushroom hot pot!  On the main shopping street (Wangfujing), on the 5th floor of a mall, you’ll find Tian Yi Zhu, one of innumerable “hot pot” restaurants around China.  This particular style is a local one specializing in fresh and interesting mushrooms.  By now, you know I love this stuff!  Hot pot is a type of meal where you choose a broth (we chose mushroom broth, naturally), which is heated in the big bowl in the center.  Then you order a variety of foods (meats and vegetables, usually)—in this photo you see (starting from upper right and continuing clockwise):  a couple types of mushrooms, some prawns, some pork slices, noodles, a plate of lettuce and delicate vegetables, and potatoes.  (The beer is for drinking, not dunking.)  The food is dunked, let to heat/cook, then put in your bowl with broth.  Eat (and eat and eat).  I usually don’t eat tons of food in Chinese restaurants, but I’m a sucker for hot pot!  This was incredible.  Also pretty interesting were a number of other unordered things on the menu:

• Super fatcow
• Jew’s ear
• Sheep tail
• Bamboo fungus
• And dozens more

Dong Po pork at Mei Zhou Dong Po restaurant.  We had lunch at a classic Sichuan restaurant, noted for its fiery dishes that delight locals.  We had, as usual, a whole lazy susan full of interesting things (including some fantastic soup at this place), but the Dong Po pork was absolutely the winner.  Slightly sweet, pretty spicy, covered in some wilted cilantro and bok choy.  And the pork was simply fall-apart tender and absorbed the flavors and the heat magically.  Our American and Chinese group had found a new level of harmony… thanks, pork!

Yak cooked on hot stones (Makye Ame Tibetan Restaurant).  So, I’ve finally found the name of the Tibetan Restaurant (as noted in the potato balls mid-week).  This, alongside dumpling restaurant and roast duck restaurant, were absolutely the best meals all around of the trip.  While many other items from this meal were worth remembering (the yak jerky, beef with pancakes, mutton ribs, and even the salad!), the yak cooked on hot stones was probably the highlight.  The hot stone is buried beneath the yak strips above, but it provided continual heat to the dish, which was cooked really nice and tender, alongside lightly cooked vegetables.  Not very spicy, and despite all of the items in the dish, it really was the yak that made the flavor!

So that’s it, gang!  I’ve been asked:  what did you eat when you got back?  Well, Sarah had ordered some pizzas from Ramundo’s and that did just fine, thank you very much.  (No one does American-style pizza like… well, America.)  But unlike lots of previous overseas trips, I didn’t suffer “food fatigue” on this trip, and I’m rather proud of my emerging chopstick skills, so I don’t mind at all.  But I might have a burger before I get to my next Chinese meal!  Until next time…