Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.

Whiskey and Soba 10/7/19 Whiskey and Soba 10/7/19

A (Short) Portland, OR Guide

I spent two weeks in Portland, Oregon this summer. I fully expected to come home determined to move up there to live a flannel-covered life.

That was not the case. The city is…fine. It has a great food and drink scene, and I don’t think a trip to Portland is complete without visiting Washington Park (think of it like their Forest Park; it’s home to the Oregon Zoo, the Portland Japanese Garden, the International Rose Test Garden, and more).

My recommendation: go up there with a day or two of solid eating and drinking planned, then get out of town. Spend your time in the woods, on the coast, or drinking copious amounts of wine in the Willamette Valley. Scroll down to see some of the places we went.

There a few places we ate at where I didn’t have my camera on hand that are worth mentioning.

Lardo: What I imagine a future Bolyard’s sandwich shop will look like. These sandwiches were glorious, and picking was nearly impossible. I went with their pork meatball banh mi, which will never let anyone down, but their special “chefwich” of the month was absolutely the winner: thinly cut steak, grilled, then tossed with chimchurri, along with fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese. Perfection.

Departure: Located on the top floor of the swanky Nines Hotel, Departure feels like a giant spaceship. I mean this literally: the restaurant design seems like some kind of 1960s-meets-2000s space vessel. The bathrooms, with their aluminum walls and neon lights, look like some lost sets from Blade Runner. Chef Gregory Gourdet’s (who you may recognize from Top Chef) menu primarily riffs off of Chinese and Japanese fare, with things like tataki, smoked octopus, and koji-brined chicken. It wasn’t my favorite spot in town, but the atmosphere is neat and the drinks were excellent.

Le Pigeon: Every single chef I talked to told me I had to go to Pigeon, and after going, I get it. This tiny restaurant— 24 seats, maybe?—looks like it came straight from Paris. The chefs are cooking in the dining room, actually. Had I realized this, I would have requested a seat at the bar so I could watch them in action. This place will mess you up with food, though. They’re taking all the richness of French food, adding some contemporary American flair to it, then using that to fatten you up like a foie gras duck. Our meal was impeccable: a seared foie gras and escargot starter, a spicy pork ribeye with chorizo gravy, then their foie-on-foie-on-foie profiteroles for dessert. Then I had a heart attack and died.

KACHKA

I’m a firm believer that we’re entering a period of time where the best restaurants are the ones where chefs are cooking simple food based on what they grew up on. That deeply engrained knowledge combined with the techniques they’ve learned in culinary school or on the job often lead to the most memorable, satiating dishes. Kachka is one of the only contemporary Russian restaurants in the U.S., and wow, does it hit the mark. The interior mixes modern design with a Soviet-era home, making you feel a bit like you’re on a movie set. The menu is heavy on small plates—cold dishes, hot dishes, dumplings, skewers, and then a few mains. My recommendations: the classic Siberian Pelmeni dumplings and the lamb lyulyakebabs. Splurge on some caviar if you’re feeling particularly oligarchic (we did the Tsar Nicoulai Select white sturgeon).

PINE STREET MARKET

The Pine Street Market is a food hall located on Pine Street. What’s particularly nice about this one is that a number of the restaurants inside come from Portland’s heavy hitters. Grab NY-style pizza and pastries from Ken Forkish’s Checkerboard pizza, soft serve from Salt & Straw’s Wiz Bang Bar, Spanish-style rotisserie chicken from Josh Scofield’s Pollo Bravo, all the meats from Olympia Provisions, and more.

Gado Gado

When I saw there was a brand new modern Indonesian restaurant open, I knew I had to go. The menu was a good mix of traditional fare and modern interpretations, some within the same dish, like the Roti Canai served with curry or coconut creamed corn. The dishes are fairly small, which makes it another great choice if you’re willing to share. End your meal with their Kaya Cake—this sweet coconut and pandan custard tasted exactly like the shops in Singapore. I wish I hadn’t shared my piece.

PORTLAND MERCADO

I can’t recommend a trip to the Mercado enough. This Latino-focused incubator helps entrepreneurs refine their business plans, raise funding, and more—plus, it’s full of great food. The interior has a few businesses, plus a bar, but the nine food stalls outside are where it’s at. There’s Oaxacan, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, Peruvian, and more. I went twice; Tierra Del Sol’s mole tacos plus a plate of Que Bacano’s Colombian patacones will not let you down.

BAR CASA VALE

God, St. Louis needs Spanish food.

Bar Casa Vale takes the amazing local seafood, meat, and produce, and serves it up Spanish style. For the St. Louisans reading this, think Taste Bar if it was in San Sebastian. We loaded up on the tapas—it was one of those meals where the final bites were accompanied by groans—but I would go back there in a heartbeat. The patatas bravas were crunchy, spicy, creamy…pretty much everything you want from fried potatoes. The fried frog legs with chimichurri and grilled lemon were the best I can remember having. But those Spanish cheese fritters…my lord. They give Dia’s Cheese Bread a run for its money. These manchego and mahon filled golf balls might be the single best bite I had in Portland.

Gambas a la Plancha: kauai prawns, chile, scallion

Fried Frog Legs: chimichurri, grilled lemon

Spanish Cheese Fritters: manchego, mahon, romesco, preserved lemon

Patatas Bravas: brava sauce, aioli, scallions, cilantro

JETTY FISHERY & The oregon Coast

Get the f out of town. Seriously. We drove through the Tillamook Forest, which was stunning, then hit up Cape Meares, Rockaway Beach, and Cannon Beach. Incredible. Apparently, a lot of famous writers rent these coastal homes in winter so they can find inspiration in isolation. I think I’m going to try it this year. I’ll return to St. Louis with memoirs: Coal Miners, Diners, and Dives.

We stopped at a place called The Jetty Fishery in Rockaway Beach for lunch. I’d seen it written about a few places online as a no-frills, seaside spot to grab some freshly seafood. We were not disappointed. On the day we were there, they had fresh Dungeness crabs, oysters, and clams, so we got a few pounds of each. You just tell the guys in the shack what you want, they grab them out of a huge tank and throw them into the massive cauldron of boiling water behind them. Fifteen minutes later, they call out your number and you get to eat it right on the shore, throwing all your spent shells into the ocean. The clams dipped in the crab fat *chef’s kiss*.

Washington Park

In between your huge meals, you should probably get some exercise. Head to Washington Park and visit the epic Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden that will transport you to Kyoto, the Oregon Zoo, and more.

Whiskey and Soba 6/19/19 Whiskey and Soba 6/19/19

The Loyalist

Chicago

i’d heard from a few people—chefs, cooks, my dingus brother—that I would love the loyalist.

Here’s what I knew about it before I went: it’s the sister restaurant to culinary mecca Smyth (literally underneath it), John Shields is the executive chef/owner, and they have a burger that has its own Instagram account and cult following.

I landed in Chicago, dropped my bags off at my brother’s apartment, then we marched straight through the West Loop to the restaurant.

Like so many subterranean Chicago hot spots, it feels like a moderately fancy speakeasy. For the St. Louisans reading, think Elmwood and Taste combined. We were seated in a black leather booth at the back of the restaurant, which gave us a great view of hopeful diners jostling for position to grab the next empty bar seat.

I decided to let my brother do the ordering because 1) I am magnanimous 2) Chef Shields started his career in St. Louis, which means he can do no wrong, which means my brother couldn’t order anything bad.

Food started hitting the table fast and furiously. Chef de Cuisine Julio Morales (who I met after the meal, thanks to another St. Louis connection) and his team came out swinging. The foie gras eclair, topped with fried corn and drizzled with lavender honey, hit the table first—delicate and decadent, as only the French can do. The subtle, smoky, somehow creamy ‘biscuit’ wafer with shallot purée and aged cheddar followed it immediately. To quote my girlfriend, “holy fuck.”

I knew right then that all the people who told me I was going to love it were right. French as shit techniques mashed into American bar fare.

I can’t even keep track of all the food we ate next. An incredible beet salad with apple, tarragon and Banyuls. A gigantic ‘pop-over’ spritzed with beef garum, resting above a pool of beef jus for dipping. Escargot toast topped with Benton’s country ham. Gigantic pillowy ricotta gnocchi. Then, out of nowhere, an absolutely perfect camembert omelette with a koji beurre blanc and caviar. Julia Child would have had an orgasm.

As incredible as all those dishes were, I just didn’t see how the signature Loyalist Cheeseburger, nor their special burger, could compete at all. How can you follow all that refined amazingness with a burger and fries?

Well, it turns out it’s pretty fucking easy when you’re making what has to be one of the best burgers in the country.

Here’s the deal: the chuck and short rib patties are cooked on the flattop (while being brushed with bacon fat), topped with American cheese, and finished with onions 300 ways. If you’re a dork who doesn’t like onions or, even worse, pretends to be allergic to them, you don’t deserve this. Seriously: charred/sautéed onions, onion oil, mayo made with onion oil, and probably some other onion stuff too. That’s all thrown on a bun, along with pickles and their secret sauce, and boom. A burger that will make you rethink all other burgers. Forget waiting at Au Cheval down the street.

Plus, the burger comes with their incredible fries served with the most garlicky aioli in the history of garlic aiolis and a cup of pickle juice.

So…how good was the meal? To quote food writer/historian Lolis Elie, “The real question is not so much whether I enjoyed myself that night, it’s whether or not the next day I’m saying, ‘when am I going to be able to go back?’”

We went back three days later. Twice in one week. We did it all over again. We straight up repeated most of the dishes, though we also tried a few new ones, like the Little Gem salad with a smoked whitefish caesar dressing (which gives the Loafers little gem a run for its money).

And, of course, we got the burger again. No regrets.

broiled oyster

bacon, sea lettuce, hollandaise

little gem

sourdough, smoked whitefish casear

Ricotta gnocchi

toasted yeast, oyster mushrooms

omelette

camembert, koji beurre blanc, caviar

The sign outside the loyalist

So you know you’re in the right place.

Whiskey and Soba 9/26/18 Whiskey and Soba 9/26/18

Honorable Mentions: Chicago, Summer 2018

My brother moved to the west loop, which means goodbye D.C. posts, hello Chicago.

Walking around Chicago, namely the West Loop, is like seeing my Instagram feed come to life. I can’t believe the number of amazing restaurants packed into such a relatively small area; I’ve gone twice this summer and have barely left the neighborhood at all. And why should I? Roister, Bonci, The Loyalist, Au Cheval, Little Goat Diner, etc. are right there.

A few of the places I’ve eaten at in Chicago deserve full posts (Duck Duck Goat, Roister), but here’s a run down of some of the quicker bites I’ve had that are worth your time—they’re not all in the West Loop, but none are too far off.

The Bakery at Fat Rice

I could spend all day at the Fat Rice restaurants (all located inside the same building at Sacramento and Diversey). You have the main restaurant, Fat Rice, with a strong Macanese influence—that’s Macau, if you didn’t know—that combines Chinese and Portuguese food. I’ve eaten there, I loved it, but I was camera-less. If cocktails and small bites are more what you’re looking for, you’ll want a reservation at The Ladies Room. For breakfast or lunch, you’ll want The Bakery at Fat Rice.

The Bakery is a nod to the bakeries you see all over Asia these days (miss u Breadtalk), where you can grab sweet treats, like egg tarts and ube milk bars, or savory bakes, like their char siu pork pineapple bun. I thought the highly touted Chicago-style hot dog bun was totally overpowered by the spicy mustard, but maybe that was just that particular batch.

Fat Rice Bakery.jpg — Baked goods

*Ube Milk Bar*
purple yam, shortbread, condensed milk jam, coconut streusel
*Pineapple Bun*
chinese BBQ pork, scallion
*Chicago-style hot dog bun*
vienna beef, Chicago-style classic fixins’
at The Bakery at Fat Rice

Green Street Meats & Sawada Coffee

If you’re from a city with good BBQ (like, uh, St. Louis) and you’re visiting Chicago, don’t bother going to Green Street Meats—unless you’re in the market for some great pastries and coffee, sold out of Sawada Coffee in the back of the restaurant. Try the Military Latte (matcha tea, vanilla syrup, cocoa powder, and a shot of espresso) or the Black Camo Latte (roasted green tea called hojicha, along with milk and espresso).

Green Street Meats Pork Belly.jpg — Pork belly

Green Street Meats Corn.jpg — Elote corn

JP GRAZIANO

JP Graziano’s is a Chicago institution—they’ve been around since 1937—that gives the classic Italian sandwich shop a little umph. They’re about more than just great, primarily local ingredients: they take the classics and elevate them. Their signature sandwich, the Mr. G, is a perfect example of this. Sure, it looks like every other Italian sammy out there, but with the perfect amount of truffle mustard, spicy oil, marinated artichokes, and fresh basil, it’s not your typical deli sandwich.

Bombobar

Sometimes you want to just stand outside and shovel filled donuts into your face. Bombobar basically offers four things: bomboloni, gelato, Italian ice, and coffee. No further explanation is needed.

Bombobar Bomboloni.jpg — Bomboloni

salted caramel, s’mores
at Bombobar

The goddess and grocer

The Goddess and Grocer is just a solid spot to grab a bite to eat, with lots of premade options, plus a full sandwich menu with daily specials. And lots of pastries. It’s certainly not the most exciting place to eat in town, but if you’re nearby, it works.

Goddess and Grocer Samosa.jpg — Chicken Samosa

at The Goddess and Grocer

Goddess and Grocer Cubano.jpg — Cubano

at The Goddess and Grocer

3 Arts Club cafe

I didn’t know I was the kind of fancy boy that would go to 3 Arts Club Cafe, the very posh restaurant inside the middle of the biggest Restoration Hardware on earth, but apparently I am. While the prices were ridiculously high, I have to give them props: their French Dip was as delicious as it was massive.

Parachute

While my meal at Parachute didn’t live up to the meals friends of mine have had there, I’d go back again—that’s the risk you take when you go somewhere that changes its menu on a whim. Two dishes were big winners, though: the smoked yuba (tofu skin) and the baked potato bing bread. Honestly, I’d recommend you just go early and grab a cocktail and the bread. You’ll leave happy.

Pacific Standard Time

I loved Pacific Standard Time so much. If I lived in Chicago, or if it was in St. Louis, it would absolutely be in my rotation—in an ideal world, weekly. Picking what we were going to get was nearly impossible, thanks not only to their menu descriptions, but by the smells and sights of the restaurant. Our table faced their massive wood-fired ovens, and it was just a barrage of pizzas, pita bread, and vegetables. We ultimately went with a crudo, pita with beef tartare (amazing), crispy fish sauce chicken wings, a mushroom pizza, suckling pig with stone fruit, and a sweet corn dessert. I’d eat every one of those dishes again.

Pacific Standard Time Fish Wings.jpg — Fish sauce wings

at Pacific Standard Time

Frontera Grill

While I really wanted to try Rick Bayless’ Topolobampo tasting menu, I figured it was best to start off at the OG, Frontera Grill. I was a little surprised to see how small the restaurant itself was (and how badly it needed a design update), but all of the food was solid. The clear winner was the duck breast below. Get it.

Whiskey and Soba 4/15/18 Whiskey and Soba 4/15/18

Momofuku CCDC

Am I cool now that I’ve been to one of David Chang’s restaurants?

Unlike most of the celebrity chefs who have used their fame to churn out garbage cookbooks, open restaurants made specifically for tourists with no taste, and sell their souls to be on mid-day cooking shows, Chang has done nothing but expand his empire of boundary-pushing restaurants.

He was brought to the limelight by Anthony Bourdain and, in a lot of ways, is the man we first associated with Bourdain: a renegade chef, unafraid of saying whatever comes to his mind. Though, like Bourdain, he has become less of a chef and more of a public figure.

The guy has 19 restaurants globally (and growing by the day), most of which attract top-tier FOH/BOH talent. That’s what you need to know.

I recently had the pleasure of trying out brunch at his D.C. location, Momofuku CCDC. Let’s talk about it.

The restaurant is located in a brand new complex, and par for the course in D.C., it’s sexy. We went in planning to get fucked up on food, and by god, we did it.

Things kicked off with a creamy Maryland crab dip served with spiced chicharrones for dipping, which should be a thing everywhere. You’ve already resigned yourself to eating unhealthy when you get tortilla chips, so why not just go all the way and eat some fried pork skin?

The dip was chased with a handful of steam buns—shiitake with hoisin, scallions, and cucumber to be healthy, shrimp with spicy mayo, pickled red onion, and iceberg lettuce to be moderately healthy, and a bacon & egg bun with hollandaise and bourbon maple syrup because living a long life is overrated.

The logical next step in our descent into obesity was shrimp and grits. An oversized bowl filled with buttery, creamy grits, topped with spicy shrimp, mustard greens, and a poached egg. People around us were beginning to stare. That’s how you know you’re doing it right.

We dabbled with the thought of eating healthy and ordered the smoked Carolina trout toast, and while it was delicious, it didn’t hold a candle up to the famous Korean Fried Chicken. Four massive boneless thighs were fried until ultra-crispy, tossed in a spicy, smoky gochujang hot sauce, then served with a mix of fresh greens, pickles, and herbs.

Oh, we also did a double order of their “bacon steak”, which turned out to just be an enormous plate of crispy pork belly. The table next to us could not have judged us any harder. Even the waiter seemed concerned.

As if we weren’t already disgusting enough, we capped the meal off with crack pie (a.k.a. sugar) and soft-serve ice cream from the attached Momofuku Milk Bar.

I can’t speak for lunch or dinner at Momofuku CCDC, but I can assure you that their brunch menu is decadent and depraved—and well worth the price.

Maryland Crab Dip

Chicharron, togarashi, tobiko

Shrimp bun

Spicy mayo, pickled red onion, iceberg lettuce

Shiitake bun

Hoisin, scallion, cucumber

Bacon & Egg Bun

Hollandaise, bourbon maple syrup

Shrimp & Grits

Poached egg, chili, mustard greens

Smoked Trout toast

Dill labneh, sunny side up egg, red onion

Whiskey and Soba 8/8/17 Whiskey and Soba 8/8/17

City House

Here’s how I ended up at Nashville’s City House: a friend told me to go. I didn’t look at the menu. I didn’t even ask him what to get. He told me to go, I made a reservation. I didn’t even know that chef/owner Tandy Wilson was Nashville’s only James Beard winner.

For those who don’t know but plan on visiting, City House is in what appears to be an old house in the city (Germantown, to be specific) without much signage out front. Yes, we walked right past it like total Nashville n00bs. A local couple saw us looking for it and pointed us in the right direction. It was all very embarrassing.

We ordered a a couple dishes to start: tomatoes with cottage cheese and scrapple (I cannot resist ordering scrapple) with cucumbers, ranch, and cornbread croutons. For entrees, we picked the delightfully unique bowl of corn, rice, smoked catfish, fish sauce, cider vinegar, and peanuts—it seems like someone like Thai food—and a homey, comforting smoked chicken sugo with grits ‘al forno’.

While all of those were good to very good, there was one true stand out. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately while I eat salads and chicken breasts to help mitigate a growing belly.

The pizza. My god, friends. The pizza. Had I known how good that damn pizza was going to be, I would have taken 30 more photographs. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have even ordered the other two entrees. I’d have just ordered more pizza.

The toppings were quality, but nothing wild and crazy: belly ham, mozzarella, Grana Padano, oregano, and chilies. Nothing outside what you’d find at Pastaria or Melo’s here in St. Louis. But that crust…

For you St. Louis readers, it comes out looking similar to a Pastaria pizza, but the main difference is the how crispy it is. You get a crunch with your bite, but you still get that nice chewy dough when you finally get to the crust. It has a unique flavor profile too—I’m not sure if it’s the flour they use, how long it’s fermented, or what.

But it’s glorious.

Scrapple

cucumber, ranch, cornbread croutons

Catfish salad

corn, rice, smoked catfish, fish sauce, cider vinegar, peanuts

Pizza

belly ham, mozzarella, grana padano, oregano, chilies

Whiskey and Soba 10/8/16 Whiskey and Soba 10/8/16

Maketto

Queenstown, New Zealand. Tia Carrere. The White Stripes.

All things I fell in love with instantly. There haven’t been many moments in my life where my first impression was “I love this place/person/thing.” I’m tough to impress.

In fact, I’m not sure there’s been a casual restaurant that has grabbed my attention and held it like this since I was at Candlenut in Singapore last year. The kind of restaurant that hits me so hard I need to go back the next day.

But Maketto did.

I still remember when Maketto opened just over a year ago—not because I went, but because my brother kept talking about it. The front was a clothing store, the back was a restaurant, upstairs was a cafe. There was a courtyard. You could sit at the chef’s counter. The food was modern Southeast Asian. Every meal sounded like the dishes I dream about when I’m alone.

This trip, I needed to go.

We make our way past the clothes, past the dining room, through the courtyard, into the adjacent building that houses the kitchen. We take our seats at the counter. I smell fish sauce and meat grilling.

The menu is relatively small—11 items—but I would eat any of them. I defer ordering to Logan and Kathryn, since they are the experts, and wait patiently.

Cambodian ground pork curry comes first. Not the most appetizing looking dish in the world, but the smell is unbelievable. That glorious mix of meat, coconut milk, and fish sauce funk isSoutheast Asia to me. The dish tastes like the what I ate in Siem Reap. As always: if a dish can transport me back to a place, it’s a dish I hold near and dear.

A ‘cheffy’ take on cumin lamb hits the table and once again, the smell wafts up and we’re all drooling. The meat is juicy, but still has a nice outer crunch. Mixed wild mushrooms and a Szechuan peppercorn mala oil pump up the earthy flavors, but they’re sliced through by a vibrant dill puree. I’m reaching over to steal the last bite when the waiter puts a plate in front of me…

This is where I decide that I will forever trust chef Erik Bruner-Yang. I make the waiter repeat his description of the dish. I try to quickly come up with a scheme to keep my brother’s hands away from it.

Six golden, crunchy, gruyere-cheese filled dumplings sit in front of me. Pillows of cheese, resting on a bed of Chinese beef chili and fermented greens. It’s everything I’ve wanted in life. I don’t deserve it. I love this dish. I tell Logan we might need another, but he tells me I need to wait. The star dish hasn’t even arrived.

A downside to seeing into the kitchen is knowing what’s coming next, and it is becoming obvious what Maketto’s finisher is: Taiwanese fried chicken.

You don’t understand. In Taiwan, you can get this street ‘snack’ that’s just these comically large pounded out chicken breasts that have been heavily spiced and deep fried until the crunch factor is turned to 10. I’ve been begging Tai Ke St. Louis to do it. I still fantasize about going back to Taipei’s night markets just to eat more.

This dish is up there with the best fried chicken I’ve had—anywhere. The crunch, the five-spice caramel, the crispy shallots…by this point, I’m not even talking. What is there to say? I’ve just fallen in love and I know it won’t be months until I see them again. I’m living in a Richard Linklater film where Julie Delpy is replaced by a modern Asian restaurant.

The chicken comes with grilled bread, which we use to mop up the bowl. We throw in the towel and head home. I wish I had gotten more chicken to go.

I just couldn’t stay away. I kept thinking about you all night, Maketto. I had to come back for lunch before my flight.

We grab a matcha-cream filled donut and some coffee in the cafe upstairs for ‘breakfast’, then immediately head downstairs and order lunch. One Cambodian pork shoulder sandwich—a Cambodian variation on the banh mi, basically—one order of curried leek buns, and one order of pork buns.

I leave, and take one last look at the restaurant. I’ll miss you. But I know I’ll see you again.

Whiskey and Soba 9/30/16 Whiskey and Soba 9/30/16

The Partisan

“So where else do you want to eat while you’re in D.C.? We could go to The Partisan—it’s got really good cocktails and the menu is almost entirely meat and charcuterie. It’s Red Apron butcher’s restaurant.”

“BOOK THAT SHIT RIGHT NOW.”

That, dear friends, is how we ended up at The Partisan (or, as I drunk texted Chris Bolyard:“I’m at your future restaurant”). And we hit it HARD.

You walk into the space and have the butcher shop to your right, the dining room to your left, and the bar in the back. We arrive early, grab a cocktail or three, then make our way to the table.

We have two menus to order from: the first shows 30 or so dishes, ranging from small bites, like $5 lupini beans with pickled ramps, to entrees, like a $120 Ancient White Park Bone-in Ribeye. The second menu is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen, something I’ve dreamed about but never knew existed. It’s a sushi-style menu (you fill in the quantity then give it to your server) full of 39 types of charcuterie and cheese. How do I choose? Should I just get one of everything?

I put the decision in my brother’s hands and order us two light starters: crispy chicken skins with hot sauce and tallow fries with garlic and rosemary, plus a side of ranch aioli. And then the sun dried duck—basically duck jerky—with sriracha, just for good measure.

The charcuterie and cheese come out and they are glorious. I don’t even know which we had, aside from the ‘tete de pho’, a pho-braised pigs head, pulled apart. We each take a toasted tigelle, the Italian cousin to an English muffin, and go to town. The tray is cleared in under 5 minutes.

Not yet satisfied, I demand more meat. Nduja! More tigelles! Kung pao sweetbreads! House made spam musubi? Give it to me. A masa and ground pork cake? I’ve never seen such a thing, so I must eat it. Half a chicken, cooked on the rotisserie then deep fried? I have room for that.

45 minutes later and I am slowly slumping into the booth. I am food drunk, or concussed, or something. Last night I was at Pineapple and Pearls. I have pushed my body to its limits.

I watch as my friends demolish a basket of chocolate cake donut holes (if these are donut holes, then the donuts themselves must be the size of innertubes) with chocolate pudding, then move on to the buttermilk panna cotta with pineapple and (white chocolate) pearls.

The Partisan is certainly worthy of a spot in my D.C. dining rotation, though next time I go, I think I’m going to try to see how much of the charcuterie I can get through.

Spencer 9/7/16 Spencer 9/7/16

Tail Up Goat

I plan trips around food. For years, I'd scour over menus and reviews before and after picking a restaurant, but I found that going in with all these preconceived notions was ruining the experience. If they didn't have a signature dish, or it wasn't as good as I expected, I was let down. I decided that what I'd do is look for places that showed up on multiple "best of whatever city lists" or places recommended to me by friends/bloggers I trust, and just go. No reading the menu. No reading reviews. Tail Up Goat was my first stop in DC and I knew two things about it: Bon Appetit mentioned it in their Washington D.C.: Restaurant City of the Year article, and the team behind it came from Komi and Little Serow, the latter being one of my favorite restaurants I've ever been to.

Situated at the northern edge of Adams Morgan, Tail Up Goat has an almost beachy vibe, with pale blue walls and warm wood tones. It has a similar vibe to Rose's Luxury—it's comfortable enough to be a casual neighborhood spot, but could easily work for a business dinner or date night spot.

The menu is meant for sharing; the waiter recommended two dishes per person and, for the first time in my life, we three all agree on the same six dishes.

Crispy salt cod fritters nuzzled in a bed of smoked cauliflower puree start the meal off on a high note, taking us back to the trout beignets we had at a gut-busting epic meal at Niche last winter. Following close behind is the cucumber + melon plate, though after a few bites I wish the melon wasn't there at all—the rest of the plate, potato, smoked trout roe, pepitas, and dill, works better without it, in my opinion.

Jill Tyler, one of the owners, told us the bread courses—I'm hesitant to call them toast or bruschetta—couldn't be missed. I've been living off Union Loafers bread for almost a year now, so I consider myself the Jim Lahey of bread eating. I cut into the seaweed sourdough, making sure not to lose any of the pickled mussels, whipped lardo, or sea beans on top, and take a bite: pure gluten bliss. The brown rice bread is an umami bomb with summer squash, yogurt, black garlic, and benne seeds. If I could turn back time, I would just order 3 orders of each of these.

Jalapeno Watermelon Water at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Cucumber, Melon, and Potato at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Crispy Salt Cod at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Cucumber & Melon at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Seaweed Sourdough at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Brown Rice Bread at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

I'd later find out that Tail Up Goat's lasagna is a "must try" dish, but I had no idea at the time of ordering. Instead, we pick the sweet corn ravioli, finished with sungold tomatoes, fresno peppers, and caper breadcrumbs, a summertime dish that's gone in seconds. I appreciate there being a lighter option on the pasta side (which is the main reason we didn't get the goat lasagna).

It's not a Whiskey and Soba family meal if there isn't a mountain of meat at some point. In this case, that mountain is made up of grilled lamb ribs—my favorite fatty cut of lamb when I'm feeling like a glutton. I particularly enjoy them when they're prepared with Middle Eastern flavors, like sumac and dukkah.

Corn Ravioli at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

Lamb Ribs at Tail Up Goat in Washington, DC

I would consider my first foray into somewhat blindly picking a restaurant to be a success, and I'm convinced that by the time I visit D.C. again, this place will be nearly impossible to get into. Get in while you can.

[one_third id="rcp"]

Tail Up Goat

Address

1827 Adams Mill Road NW Washington, DC 20009 202.986.9600 [/one_third]

Spencer 10/28/15 Spencer 10/28/15

Little Serow

If you're wandering down 17th Street NW in D.C. trying to find the signless Little Serow, just look for the enormous line—that starts forming at 4:30pm—leading to an ordinary old basement door. There were a number of reasons that Little Serow (sounds like arrow) was on my must-try list this last visit to our nation's capital: the chef-owner is Johnny Monis, who also owns the untouchable Komi next door. The food is authentic northern Thai food, something near and dear to my heart. Plus, both Gerard Craft and Nini Nguyen told me to go. I'm a good listener.

There are no reservations. You get there, get in line, then wait your turn. Once you make it inside, you'll be greeted by darkness and bright teal walls. You don't order anything besides drinks—it's a $45 set menu. You sit, it starts.

The chefs work in a small kitchen to the left, close enough where you can see them but far enough away that you probably won't go bother them. We were seated at the long white bar (which I recommend aiming for) and excitedly got things kicked off. The first dish out was the Nam Prik Thai Orn, a spicy chili sauce made with salted fish, shrimp paste, and green peppercorns.

There's a whole mess of nam prik varieties, including the roasted green chili nam prik noom you can find at Fork & Stix, all of which are meant to be eaten as either a condiment or a dipping sauce. It's like the funky Thai version of ranch dressing, in that sense.

The Thai Orn had a deep, peppery flavor with a mild hit of shrimp paste. Paired with the veggies—or, better yet, the pork rinds—it was a perfect start to the meal. It assured me that what we were eating was nothing but authentic, the kind of food you rarely see in the U.S.

Our next two courses, the Ma Hor (sour fruit, dried shrimp, pork) and Yam Makheua Yao (eggplant, cured duck egg, mint), arrived together. We dug into the sour fruit plate first, a wonderful mix of sour and sweet. Every bite of this took me back to eating near the beaches of Southeast Asia, sitting out in the the tropical weather.

The Yam Makheua Yao brought back a different set of memories. After my first forkful of smokey eggplant, my body lit on fire from the inside out. Flashes of a misunderstanding with a Thai food stall in Singapore flooded my mind. I had tried to ask for my Som Tom salad less spicy, but apparently all she heard was MORE spicy. The result was me abandoning my lunch in a hurry, running to Starbucks to get something milky to relieve me of the burning pain in my mouth.

I wasn't going to bail on Serow for Starbucks, but like an angel sent from on high, our waitress appeared and asked if we were interested in their sweetened rice milk to help us cool down. Never has a drink tasted so good. It was like a Thai horchata. We each ended up drinking 3 or 4 glasses of that sweet nectar of the gods.

Laap Pla Duk Chiang Mai is not the prettiest dish by any stretch of the imagination, but this catfish and galangal salad is a winner. If my tastebuds were correct, it's kind of like all Thai ingredients blended together with grilled fish. Lemongrass, chilies, galangal—it punches you in the face with flavor. You can eat it with your fork, or you can spread it over cabbage, sticky rice, or whatever vegetable you prefer.

The runner up for favorite dish of the night went to the Tow Hu Thouk, crispy tofu tossed with ginger and peanuts. It was a fantastic mix of crisp and creamy. We definitely could have eaten another one of these.

We didn't eat much of the Het Grapao, stir fried mushrooms with basil and egg. The flavors were good—it's a vegetarian version of of the basil chicken I'd get in Singapore—but at that point it felt too heavy, and the strong soy flavor was killing my tropical buzz.

The best came last. In fact, it was the best thing I ate the entire time I was in D.C. Si Krong Muu, pork ribs with Mekhong whiskey and dill. I was surprised to see dill in a Thai dish, but a quick Googling revealed that northeastern Thailand does, in fact, use dill fairly often. The flavor was unreal.

Seriously. This has to be in my 10 top favorite things I've eaten this year. We were so full by the time they came, but still managed to polish these off. The meat, finished with a nice char, fell right off the bone. Like so many Thai dishes, the flavor was all over—sweet, sour, charred, bitter, herbaceous—but it's absolutely perfect. I thought I preferred my ribs smoked and slathered in BBQ sauce, but it turns out I was wrong.

The meal came to a close with these tiny glutinous rice squares topped with coconut cream and toasted sesame seeds, a perfect final note for the evening.

If you're an Asian food lover, Little Serow should be at the top of your list of places to go. Sure, you'll probably be eating dinner at 5:00pm like an elderly person, but it's well worth the sacrifice.

Little Serow

1511 17th Street NW

Washington DC 20036

note@littleserow.com

Spencer 9/30/15 Spencer 9/30/15

Artichoke

Part II: Artichoke

Artichoke is the only modern Middle Eastern restaurant I've found in Singapore, but being unique is no reason to love a restaurant. I demand quality!

Artichoke was recommended to us by the chefs at Candlenut, and since they obviously know their way around great food, we trusted them.

I have no idea how Artichoke got the space they're in, but it's a welcome change from eating in another windowless mall basement. Flanked by malls and office towers, the restaurant is housed in a small spot next to a funky former church and an art studio, giving it an enclosed courtyard for diners to sit in.

The restaurant's interior is both bold and homey, much like the food itself. Most of the walls are covered in red and black patterned wallpaper, excluding the back chalkboard wall.

Artichoke Restaurant, Singapore, Interior

Artichoke Restaurant, Singapore: Dining Room

The menu is split into small mezze plates and larger shared plates. We started with three mezze, plus an order of fresh pita bread. The first plate was Beetroot Tzatziki, composed of sweet roasted beets topped with a pistachio dukka, a fat dollop of yogurt, and wormwood. Herbaceous, fresh, creamy—once it was all mixed up into an ugly looking mess, it was killer.

Following the tzatziki came the smoked anchovies. Seeing something smoked in Singapore is rare, so I couldn't resist. The dish was relatively straightforward and simple, with the anchovies resting over cherry tomatoes and olive oil, but the incorporation of seaweed 'caviar' and sumac really hit you with some extra umami.

The final mezze was not good for sharing, mostly because we were just fighting over who got to eat more of it. This was probably the best babaganoush I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Smokey eggplant mixed with sesame, yogurt, and, most importantly, a pomegranate molasses teriyaki. The way the tart sweetness paired with the smokey earthiness—it shut both of us up.

Artichoke Restaurant Singapore Smoked Anchovies

Artichoke Restaurant Singapore: babaganoush

The waitress recommended we get two shared plates, a decision that was made difficult by the fact that all 12 dishes sounded great. The victory ultimately went to the housemade feta 'burrata' and the slow roasted lamb shoulder.

In hindsight, he amount of feta burrata we consumed is fairly disgusting. A mountain of the creamy, salty, sumptuous cheese was set over Turkish toast—a play on Texas toast—plus basil, tomatoes, and pomegranate seeds. It was like the slutty, sexy cousin of a caprese.

I am an absolute glutton for good lamb, especially when it's been braised. Up until this point, the slow roasted lamb shoulder at Kapnos in D.C. was my all-time favorite lamb dish...but that's all changed.

Artichoke Restaurant Singapore Feta Burrata

20165287116_87d7faf297_k — Artichoke Restaurant Singapore Lamb Shoulder

The lamb at Artichoke is absurd. It's a huge bowl filled with meat, tomatoes, dirty onions, zhoug coriander sauce, and a toum garlic sauce. The meat itself was as tender as can be, with a crispy bark on the outside. Once it was all mixed together into a meaty mess, it was just too good. In Pokemon terms, this was like a doner kebab that had reached final form.

To close things out, we had to try one of Artichoke's famed Neh Neh Pops. The Mango Sticky Rice screamed our name: chunk of mango mixed into a coconut rice pudding ice cream, dipped in white chocolate, then sprinkled with toasted coconut flakes and Rice Krispies.

Artichoke Restaurant Singapore ice cream

Let that sink in.

It was so nice to be able to go somewhere with this quality of food in such a casual atmosphere. I had a hard time finding a restaurant where I could just hang out and have great food over there—most seemed to be good for one and not the other. Artichoke handled it swimmingly. If you're looking for a fun place to go for dinner, but don't want to miss out on incredible flavors, you must check out Artichoke.

Spencer 9/28/15 Spencer 9/28/15

The Best of Singapore: Candlenut

Singapore is a food lover's paradise. Everyone knows that by now, thanks to the likes of Andrew Zimmern, Anthony Bourdain, and me. The Singaporeans are in constant competition with the Taiwanese and Japanese to see who is more obsessed with food. To say the tiny city-state is chock full of restaurants would be an understatement. As a visitor (and even as a local), the question becomes: where should I eat? Nearly every magazine, TV show, or blog will say one of the following:

It's so cheap! You should just eat at these hawker stalls. You'll only spend $10 a day!

If you like sushi, you must try Waku Ghin. For $400 a person, it's totally worth it.

So those are your options: you either eat outside at a hawker center or spend hundreds of dollars eating at a "celebrity" restaurant.

The country is quickly becoming a playground for celebrity chefs, just like Dubai and Las Vegas. Gordon Ramsay, Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Wolfgang Puck, Jamie Oliver—I could go on—they all have restaurants in Singapore now. Some of these are excellent—Batali's Mozza and Boulud's DB Kitchen were both wonderful every time I ate at them, but they're all so heavily hyped by the Singaporean media (both bloggers and professionals), I think Gordon Ramsay could literally shit on a plate and the bloggers would be lining up to take pics and discuss how innovative it is—and how it's so much better than anything Singaporean restaurants are making.

On this last trip, Patricia and I wanted to eat at an unpretentious restaurant with great food, helmed by a local chef. Deciding to do that instead of spending $700 at JAAN proved to be a brilliant move.

The two best meals I had in Singapore this past trip (and quite possibly in all my time there) were at Artichoke, Bjorn Shen's funky modern Middle Eastern eatery, and Candlenut, Malcolm Lee's foray into contemporary Peranakan cuisine. Both restaurants have the fine-casual feel that American restaurants have shifted towards. Service is relaxed and friendly, the atmosphere is fun, and the focus is on creating great food that doesn't require a $250 tasting menu.

These two chefs couldn't be more different. Shen is brash and foul-mouthed. He's like Singapore's own Anthony Bourdain, and honestly, I think Singapore needs a guy like him. Lee, on the other hand, is quiet and contemplative, more like Thomas Keller. These are the two chefs cooking the best and most exciting food I had in Singapore.

Part 1: Candlenut

I can't think of another meal that has floored me quite like my first meal at Candlenut. After 3 years in Singapore, one meal completely shifted my perspective on what Singaporean food was and what it could be.

I knew about Candlenut before eating there, but only so far as knowing that it existed. The cuisine—modern Peranakan—I knew almost nothing about. I just knew they had some type of nut that, if not properly prepared, will kill you. Great!

Peranakan cuisine is a mix of Chinese, Indonesian, and Malay ingredients and cooking styles. Not satisfied with churning out the classics, Candlenut's wunderkind chef Lee is serving up beautiful modern renditions.

It's the most exciting food I ate in Singapore and what I would expect more restaurants to be doing: taking the food the Singapore was built on and letting a team of young chefs make it their own. Visiting chefs and foodies, this needs to be at the top of your list. Not Restaurant Andre.

Below are the menus from our two meals there; you probably won't recognize most of the dishes, but we'll get to that.

18 July Menu

Jiu Hu Char, Homemade Kueh Pie Tee Shell

Warm Relish of Minced Pork, Banana Chili, Dried Shrimp

Wagyu Beef Rib, Buah Keluak Sambal, Turmeric Egg

Tumbuk Prawns, Laksa Leaf, Starfruit

Pong Tauhu Soup, Prawn & Crab Meatball, Shellfish Bisque

Grilled Red Snapper, Dried Shrimp Sambal, Smoked Salt

Baby Sweet Potato Leaf Curry, Sweet Prawns, Crispy Whitebait

Maori Lake Lamb Rack, Dry Red Curry, Roasted Coconut, Kaffir Lime

Wok Fried Wild Baby Squid, Sambal Petai, Fried Shallots

Wing Bean Salad, Baby Radish, Cashew Nuts, Lemongrass, Calamansi Lime Dressing

27 July Menu

Jiu Hu Char, Homemade Kueh Pie Tee Shell

Warm Relish of Minced Pork, Banana Chili, Dried Shrimp

Grilled Spice-Marinated Chicken Satay, Peanut Sauce

Tumbuk Prawns, Laksa Leaf, Starfruit

Rawon Oxtail Soup, Buah Keluak, Fried Shallots

Grilled Red Snapper, Dried Shrimp Sambal, Smoked Sea Salt

Chap Chye Braised Cabbage, Sweet Beancurd Skin, Pork Belly, Prawn Stock

Blue Swimmer Crab, Yellow Turmeric Coconut Curry, Kaffir Lime

Wok Fried Wild Baby Squid, Squid Ink, Tamarind, Chilis

Local Chicken & Black Fungus Kerabu, Gingerflower, Mint, Kerisik

Buah Keluak Ice Cream, Salted Caramel, Warm Chocolate Espuma

"Kueh Salat", Kueh Bangkit, Coconut Sorbet

Candlenut's Signature Chendol Cream, Pandan Jelly, Gula Melaka

[/full_width]

Jiu hu char: dried cuttlefish and vegetable stir fry

Warm relish of minced pork

Tumbuk Prawns, Chicken Satay

Wagyu beef, buah keluak sambal

Buah Keluak is the name of the potentially fatal nut I mentioned, and it is the flavor I'd used to differentiate Peranakan food from all others. It's often referred to as the Asian truffle, given its black color and intense, hard to place flavor. I don't think it's actually similar in flavor at all to a truffle, though. To me, it's like a chocolatey Oaxacan mole.

It was served three ways during our dinners: the first, seen below, was my favorite. Wagyu beef rib, cooked until it was falling apart, sat over a turmeric crepe, accompanied by a spoonful of thick buah keluak sambal. We didn't know what hit us. This single bite was like some Willy Wonka candy that simultaneously tasted like a Mexican mole, a wintry braised beef, and a Southeast Asian sauce.

It was one of the best things I've eaten—not just this year, but ever.

Wing Bean Salads

Pong Tauhu Soup, Chap Chye

Wok-fried Squid

The term 'wok hei' refers to a flavor imparted by cooking in an incredibly hot seasoned wok. Both squid dishes at Candlenut had so much 'wok hei', I almost cried.

The darker dish, cooked with squid ink, had a more earthy, briny taste, but a little tang and sweetness from the tamarind. The other, cooked with a spicy sambal made with petai (otherwise known as bitter beans or stink beans) and fried shallots had a more familiar Southeast Asian flavor that we couldn't stop eating. Spicy and sticky from the sambal, it was just fantastic.

Swimmer Crab Curry, Sweet Potato Leaf Curry

If pizza didn't exist, I think curry would be my favorite food on earth. Americans love curry, yet every Asian menu has just two types: red and green. Get with the times, people. There's a whole world of curry out there!

The blue swimmer crab in a yellow turmeric coconut curry with kaffir lime was a sweet, delightful curry. The curry itself was similar to the one that made me fall in love with Chris Bailey's cooking, but the incorporation of the tender swimmer crab took it to another level. Our other curry, a thicker, vibrantly orange bowl of amazing, was full of baby sweet potato leaves, sweet prawns, then topped with crispy fried whitebait to add crunch.

Both curries were phenomenal, but the upper hand goes to the sweet potato leaf curry with sweet prawns.

Beef Rawon

When we sat down for our second dinner and I saw that there was oxtail soup with buah keluak, I squealed with glee. When it came to the table, things got tense. One bowl was brought to the table. Patricia and I both eyed the bowl, then each other. I knew I was supposed to be a gentleman and let her have it first, share it equally, blah, blah. She knew it too. The thing is...I didn't want to share it. I wanted it all.

Just before we would have gotten into a relationship-ending brawl over the beef, they brought out another bowl. Phew.

It had all the great flavors you'd expect from an oxtail stew; that thick gravy; the meat that's falling apart. Take the best beef stew or braise you've made, then add a few secret Southeast Asian ingredients, then add the chocolatey, bitter buah keluak. What do you get? An orgasm.

Lamb Rack, Red Snapper

Buah Keluak ice cream, Kueh Salat

Oh, dessert. You sexy temptress.

Buah keluak ice cream, you say? Yes, sir. On its own, it was almost too intense; the mix of high grade dark chocolate and the buah keluak almost create the taste of a boozy chocolate milkshake. A bite with the salted caramel, chocolate espuma, and pop rocks evened things out. One of the most intensely chocolate desserts I've had.

Kueh Salat is typically a two-layered gelatinous dessert. The bottom is made of glutinous rice, the top is a green pandan custard. Lee and his team break it down: an intense pandan custard topped with coconut shavings, crushed Kueh Bangkit (coconut cookies), and a coconut sorbet on the side. The coconut sorbet all by itself is almost good enough to be one of my top desserts of the year. This is Singapore in a dish.

Part of why we went back to the restaurant a second time was just for this. The balancing of coconut and the vanilla-ish pandan is just unreal. I would consider this a perfect dish. Of all the desserts I can ever remember eating, I've liked none more than this.

Chendol Cream

The photos may look like any decent Asian restaurant's, but I can assure you all the flavors were far beyond any I've had before. If Candlenut was in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, or even St. Louis (well, probably not), it would completely booked every night. If you're a Singaporean or planning to visit Singapore, you must go.

When I was picking my Top 5 Desserts and Top 10 Entrees this year, it was hard not to include more of Candlenut's dishes. I always sway towards Asian-influenced desserts, and all 3 we had could have made the list. This was, and still is, the best meal I've had this year.

Check back Wednesday for a post on Artichoke.

Spencer 9/14/15 Spencer 9/14/15

Wee Nam Kee

[two_third]You're a tourist in Singapore looking to try some of that chicken rice you've heard of. The guide books & blogs say to go to Maxwell Food Centre and go to Tian Tian Chicken Rice.

You can do that, if you want. The result will be you waiting in line for 30-45 minutes in the sweltering tropical heat of Singapore, then fighting to find a table, then sweating even more as you eat your spicy chicken rice (because you are dipping it in the chili sauce, right?).

Or you can go to the Marina Square mall—you're in Singapore, so I'm sure you're shopping—and eat great chicken rice in an air-conditioned restaurant. It's not like you can tell the difference between Tian Tian and any other decent chicken rice anyway, right?

The other nice thing about going to Wee Nam Kee (WNK) is that since it's an actual restaurant, they have a decently sized menu, and everything I've had there has been pretty good. Service is consistently terrible, but I almost like it more because of it. No waitress is coming to your table without you flagging them down. Most orders are answered with a grunt. Maybe smiling isn't allowed here?

After trying most of the menu, our standard order became half a roasted chicken in their sweet-savory soy sauce, kang kong greens in sambal, and cereal prawns, which is exactly what we got this last trip.

Once you place your order, you'll get a little sauce bowl and a tray of condiments. This includes a thick chili sauce, pounded ginger, pickled green chilies, sticky dark soy sauce, plus normal soy sauce. Everyone has their own chicken rice sauce preference. You'll see from my bowl below that I try to go half ginger, half chili, then a quick dab of the dark soy. The result is spicy, sweet, and it has that bright ginger burn. Perfect.

I'm not sure if it's a total ang moh move or not, but I like to take my sauce mix and pour it all over my fatty, chicken stock cooked rice. That way I can get all the flavors in every bite.

Just look at that chicken. You're not getting chicken that pretty at the hawker center. The roasted skin has this delicious flavor of, well, chicken skin, plus the soy. The meat is as tender as any chicken I've had before. I give it a good dip in the soy, then I drop it onto my plate so I can scoop it up with my now disgusting looking sauce and rice mix. It's truly one of the best bites you'll have in Singapore.

Wee Nam Kee Chili Garlic Sauce Singapore

Wee Nam Kee's sambal kang kong is something I've never been able to replicate. Sambal is a spicy paste that everyone makes a little bit differently. Shrimp paste is a component in it, but WNK's is light on the shrimp, heavy on the chili. Most jarred sambal you find here in the US has that really strong shrimp paste smell and taste to it, which I think ruins the delicate flavor of the greens. Kang kong, sold in the US as Chinese spinach or water spinach, is simply stir fried in the sambal.

Restaurants in the US need to add cereal prawns to their menus, pronto. All you do is deep fry some big ol' prawns, then set those aside. Then they take dry cereal and cook that with a shitload of butter, bird's eye chilies, and curry leaves. The hot prawns are then tossed in the cereal, et voila.

Cereal prawns will forever be one of my favorite guilty pleasures. They check off the whole list! They're sweet, salty, spicy, crunchy, and even a little floral thanks to the curry leaves. After the prawns are gone, I just pour the leftover cereal into my spicy chicken rice mush and spoon that into my mouth.

Then I go home and nap for four hours.

Wee Nam Kee Singapore Cereal Prawn Chicken

Spencer 8/19/15 Spencer 8/19/15

2am:dessertbar

The "World's 50 Best" awards are a bit of a sham, but seeing that Singaporean Janice Wong had won Best Pastry Chef in 2013 & 2014 had me intrigued. Her restaurant, 2am:dessertbar, is tucked away behind and above a bar in Holland Village. Known for their beautiful, inventive, and delicious desserts, I decided it was something I shouldn't pass up. 2am opens at 3pm and closes at 2am, making it a fun late night stop for a cocktail and treat. Patricia and I opted to go at 4pm on a weekday because we're just that wild.

From the restaurant's website, I thought it was going to be dark and moody, with spotlights aiming down at the table, creating an air of theater and mystery. Instead, it was like pretty much any other restaurant. Even the music seemed slightly off; I had imagined the kind of music you might hear at a W Hotel would be playing, all helping to create a very cool experience.

With only two other tables taken when we arrived, we had our choice of seats. We ended up at the bar, right where the wall curve upwards.

Reviews of 2am constantly reference terrible service and I will wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The waiter did everything he could to avoid us, and when we finally got him at our table, it seemed like every request was a chore. I think if we had asked for one more thing (god forbid we want some water), his reaction would have been like this.

Service and ambiance aside, we decided we'd get three desserts to split. Aggravatingly, all three were brought out at the same time. If we had ordered two desserts, for one person, I can understand that; but you would think that when two people order three desserts, that they would space it or at least give us a heads up—especially when each dessert has parts that will melt. Instead of a leisurely mid-day meal, we had to scarf down all three desserts in a hurry so we could actually taste them.

The first dessert was [symple_highlight color="blue"]Purple[/symple_highlight]: purple potato puree, blackberry parfait, fruit leather, lavender marshmallows, fruits of the forest sorbet. It seems like a waste to put so much work into so many elements when it all ends up tasting the same. As the dish melted (very quickly), we both agreed that it all just sort of tasted like a berry sorbet. We tasted no lavender and no purple potato.

2am dessert bar purple desserts singapore

The [symple_highlight color="blue"]Hojicha Sesame[/symple_highlight] was the highlight of the desserts, namely because of the tofu parfait and hojicha custard. The tofu was dense and creamy, and when paired with the smoky hojicha, it was perfect. The dish should have focused on that and only that.

The right side of the plate had a pear vodka sorbet, what tasted like ginger jellies, and a mushroom crumble. I don't even understand this side of the plate. I didn't think the flavors added anything to the idea of hojicha and sesame, nor did I think they were particularly good. Not only that, but the crumble itself was chewy and stale. The left side of the plate was the best of the day; the right side was the worst.

2am dessert bar hojicha sesame singapore

2am dessert bar hojicha sesame dessert singapore

2am dessert bar hojicha sesame tofu singapore

Our final dessert was [symple_highlight color="blue"]Popcorn[/symple_highlight], a mix of sweet and salty with a very, very tart passionfruit sorbet. Ignoring the stale popcorn (I still don't know if we were supposed to eat it or not—we asked the waiter and he just kind of raised his eyebrows at us), this dish didn't work composed as it was. You had to smash it all up into a mess, melding the flavors together to get it to work.

It did nothing for me. It didn't evoke the taste of popcorn. All it did was taste like salty passionfruit.

2am dessert bar popcorn dessert singapore

2am dessert bar popcorn passionfruit dessert singapore

Like many other people who have gone to 2am:dessertbar, I was hugely disappointed. The desserts are beautiful and complex, but all that work is wasted when it doesn't taste good. It's sort of like this famous Miss America contestant: she looks good, but that's about it. I thought this would be a no-brainer entry into my Best Desserts of 2015 list, but it won't be appearing there. Perhaps the 2am team should take notes from Bob Zugmaier and Sarah Blue about how to make a dessert that's both beautiful and delicious.

Spencer 8/13/15 Spencer 8/13/15

The Glory of Singapore Malls

The great American shopping mall is my personal hell. I went - out of necessity, not having time to order from Amazon - just before leaving for Singapore, arriving at exactly 10 am, aiming to avoid all human contact. Regrettably, it was full of fannypacked mall walkers, leaving me dodging the elderly left and right. I will never return. The typical Singaporean mall, on the other hand, is where I spent most of my time when I wasn't sleeping or working. Why? Well, when you're in a tiny country and not the urban sprawl, you don't have the luxury of space. You're limited horizontally, but not vertically. Your typical mall dives three or four stories below ground, with the bottom levels linked to the next closest mall or metro station. With everything connected, you rarely have to go out into the blazing heat to get from place to place.

The middle floors will be your typical stores, then the top will be either residential, a hotel, or office space. My apartment there was literally connected to the mall. From our pool deck, I looked into the restaurants and coffee shops. Think about all those lucky Starbucks customers who got to watch me sunbathe.

Speaking of restaurants and coffee shops: the malls are where you go to eat. There are, of course, tons of street-side restaurants throughout the country, but as new malls pop up monthly, the restaurants move inside. The biggest differentiation between U.S. mall restaurants and Singapore's is that their target clientele aren't mouthbreathers who think Cheesecake Factory is the greatest restaurant ever.

Seeing as I was living both above and next to a number of malls, it was only fitting I'd start my day there. Perhaps with Ya Kun's [symple_highlight color="blue"]kaya toast with peanuts[/symple_highlight] and a [symple_highlight color="blue"]kopi peng[/symple_highlight], the breakfast of fat champions. Kaya is this wonderful egg, coconut, and sugar spread that's sure to give you diabetes, and Kopi is the buttery Singaporean coffee, typically mixed with condensed milk, sure to give you diabetes.

Other healthy options include a wide range of donuts from J. Co, including Patricia's favorite, the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Avocado di Caprio[/symple_highlight]. Avocado glaze, avocado cream filling, chocolate flakes around the rim. Solid donut choice, right there.

Not a huge donut fan myself, I preferred to stop by Breadtalk and peruse. You get a tray and tongs, then you can just go crazy and grab all the breads you want!

Moving on from coffee shops and bakeries, you'll find a lot of small stalls that focus on one or two things. I'm a total slut for Japanese [symple_highlight color="blue"]takoyaki[/symple_highlight], so I'll usually hit up Gindaco once or twice. Takoyaki are molten balls of what is basically pancake dough, filled with octopus, green onion, crispy stuff, and who cares, just eat it. It's topped with a BBQ sauce, Japanese mayo, and bonito flakes. The temptation to eat it right away is strong, but if you do, you will burn your goddamn tongue off. TRUST ME.

Can't get enough balls? You could get the Hong Kong Egglet waffle from Far East Plaza for dessert.

Mall restaurants vary in size, with some seating 30 or so people, like Nam Nam Noodle Bar. Contrary to what the name would tell you, skip the noodles and get the bahn mi. You choose the meat (braised beef, caramelized pork belly, tofu, grilled chicken, chicken meatballs, lemongrass pork), then it's piled into a toasty baguette filled with chicken pate, cilantro, chilies, mayo, pickled carrots, daikon, and cucumber. If they would replace their bread with a better version, this would probably be the best bahn mi I've had.

Sick of East Asian food? No problem. Try Pita Pan, a Middle Eastern build-your-own pita shop. The setup is like Subway, except the food has mountains of flavor and they don't hire overweight pedophiles as their spokespeople (I don't think...). Speaking of Subway, all your favorite American chains are there: Kenny Roger's Roasters, KFC, McDonalds, etc. McDonalds Singapore has something called the McSpicy that packs enough heat to burn like the sun going in and out. A fitting punishment for eating McDonalds while in Singapore.

Something no one is making in St. Louis (and not even in the US, really) is Japanese curry. Most people think that the Japanese sit around eating dainty bites of sushi while drinking green tea. Wrong. They're at CoCo Ichibanya eating plates of curry the size of a small child. Just look at that pork katsu cutlet! And how about those shrimp? I'm getting hungry.

Maybe curry rice isn't your thing. Maybe [symple_highlight color="blue"]curry udon[/symple_highlight] from Tsuru-Koshi fits your needs better.

One of my all-time favorite spots to grab a meal in Singapore is at 4Fingers Fried Chicken. Korean style fried chicken brushed with either soy-garlic sauce or a fiery hot sauce with your choice of seaweed or kimchi fries. This chicken has megacrunch and great flavor. The gargantuan sandwich you see at the bottom has become my new go-to.

Finally, we have the food courts. Cheap eats cooked to order. I ate at the 313@Somerset FoodRepublic 3 or so times a week for nearly 2 years and didn't even get to try most of the stuff there.

A couple recommendations:

Popiah: it's a Singaporean vegetarian spring roll filled with all sorts of stuff. Crunchy stuff, soft stuff. Get it with chili.
Ayam Panggang, aka Indonesian Grilled Chicken: Holy sweet mother of God, this is it. This is my favorite of all the food court foods. You get grilled chicken topped with a sweet, thick black sauce, a mountain of rice, and an omelette. Then...the curry. I don't know what it is about this curry, but I'm 100% addicted to it. The woman at Indonesian Riverside BBQ in 313@Somerset knew me as "curry guy" 'cause I always wanted extra.
Roti Prata: Thin Indian bread that you can get plain or filled, served with a side of curry. Simple, fatty, wonderful.

If you ever make your way over, don't skip out on the malls: there are plenty of gems in there for you to eat.

Spencer 8/7/15 Spencer 8/7/15

Dumpling in Singapore

My early days in Singapore were rough: profuse and constant sweating, an apartment with walls so thin I could hear every loud, angry conversation my neighbors had, and no friends. I was a hot, tired, lonely manchild. I was also completely overwhelmed by the hundreds of eating choices within a 15 minute walk of my apart. So much so that I had taken to eating mostly grocery store sushi or attempting to cook on my tiny one-burner stove. I was in a food depression. After some Googling, I learned that the closest mall to me had this popular dumpling chain from Taiwan in it called Din Tai Fung (DTF). I decided I would man up and go eat there all by my lonesome.

That's where I had my first Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumpling, and my life was forever changed. I was going multiple times a week, trying everything I could. It became my go-to restaurant to take out of towners. The risk averse could stick with the XLB's and maybe a bowl of noodle soup, while the more intrepid could try the funky black and green century eggs.

Even now it remains Patricia and my "can't decide where to eat" restaurant. Twice on this past trip we ended up there. I've always loved that a meal there could be extremely healthy or the kind of glutinous feast that leaves you wheezing.

Simple starters range from the Oriental Saladin special vinegar dressing is a simple (below) to sliced duck in a crispy spring onion pastry.

Din Tai Fung Singapore Chili Oil Dumplings

If I'm not getting XLB's, which is rare, I'm getting the Oriental wantons in black vinegar and chili oil. The combination of Chinese vinegar and chili oil is just so goddamn good, I can't help but spoon the excess sauce into my mouth after I've killed off the wontons.

Every DTF has a window into the room where all dumplings and buns are made at lightning speed and steamed. Every dumpling is rolled out to an exact diameter, given an exact amount of meat, and folded exactly 18 times. All of this happens in seconds. I would be terrible at it.

At the nicer DTF locations, they have premium dumpling options, including chili crab and truffle. No longer able to resist temptation, I ordered a single Pork & Truffle Xiao Long Bao. One small dumpling, $5.00.

Was it worth it? Was it truffley? Oh mama. What makes a XLB magical is that solid meat aspic is in the filling, so when steamed, the aspic melts and the dumpling is magically filled with both a tiny meatball and piping hot soup. This truffle version had truffle in the broth, plus whole slices of shaved black truffles. It was truly a flavor bomb.

Din Tai Fung Singapore Truffle Xiao Long Bao

I remember the first time Patricia and I tried Paradise Dynasty, a beautiful, huge restaurant at the top of the ION Orchard mall. I felt like I was cheating on Din Tai Fung with a younger, richer, more beautiful restaurant. "Don't worry, DTF! I'm sure the food here isn't as good as yours!" I thought to myself.

I was so wrong. Paradise Dynasty was better in every way. In an instant, Din Tai Fung became the ugly ex-girlfriend. I Brad Pitted Din Tai Fung. Paradise's focus is less on dim sum and more on soups, noodles, and more hearty entrees, but their dumplings are incredible.

All of their ads are for their 8 flavored XLB's (original, garlic, Szechuan, ginseng, foie gras, black truffle, cheesy, and crab roe), but the original is king. The dumpling's skin is softer and less dough, the soup and pork vastly more flavorful. They are the greatest XLB's I've ever had.

St. Louis has so few options with soup dumplings that you probably don't know how to eat them correctly. Here are the steps, in photos:

Look at your dumplings. Plan your attack. Choose the juiciest one.
Pick it up - GENTLY, MAN! - and place it on your spoon.
Poke a hole in it so the soup runs into your spoon. Drink said soup. Alternately, you can just go at it like a vampire: bite it and suck.
Dip the soupless dumpling into your mix of soy/vinegar/ginger.

Paradise Dynasty Singapore Xiao Long Bao

Paradise Dynasty soup dumpling spoon Singapore

Paradise Dynasty Singapore xiao long bao sauce

Their other dumpling types are winners, too. The pan seared buns with a slightly sweet dough? Not sharing those. Their take on the dumplings in chili and vinegar? Not only are they way meatier than Din Tai Fung's, but the sauce has a much better balance thanks to some sweetness.

Paradise Dynasty Pan Fried Pork Bun Singapore

Paradise Dynasty crispy pork bun singapore

Paradise Dynasty Singapore wontons in chili oil

The fact I can't get dumplings this good in St. Louis makes me so, so sad. The only solution is that I will have to take on the endeavor myself, slaving away in my kitchen until I get it right. One day, Spencer's Dumpling Hut will be unveiled and all will rejoice.

Spencer 7/31/15 Spencer 7/31/15

Redhill Hawker Center

I'm standing in the middle of the Redhill hawker, a few minutes walk from the MRT station, already dripping with sweat. The fans of the open air food court don't do enough to cool me off, thanks to my pampered 24/7 air-conditioned life. I walk down the aisles, taking in the nearly 60 hawker stalls. Chicken rice, mee siam, curry chicken, BBQ stingray, dim sum, colorful iced desserts. Too many choices. Too hot to eat. Then I see it, like an oasis in the desert: the juice stand. One large sugar cane juice for me, one large mango-carrot juice for Patricia. Grand total: $3.70. Refreshed by the fresh juices - sugar cane juice rolled out of the long stalks, ripe mangoes blended with carrots - we continued the search for the perfect lunch.

Without visiting, it's impossible to understand the myriad of food options in Singapore. The country is and has been a melting pot since its inception, much like the US, but the size concentrates it. The primary cuisines are Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, and Muslim (typically Indian-esque food), broken down even further by specialty. Stalls tend to be limited to one or two of these - they may only serve bee hoon or satay - and their names reflect that. There's usually a Western-inspired stall, as well, which offers a random mix of spaghetti, chicken nuggets, and burgers. If you're a tourist or expat eating at that stall, you're weak and worthless.

Inside the ever growing number of malls, you'll find the cleaner, more expensive (a term I use loosely) food courts. Anything looks expensive compared to the hawker centers: you can get a 1/4 chicken in a huge bowl of curry with rice and veggies for $4. Same goes for a plate of BBQ duck. Besides the food being cheaper (and arguably better), the hawker centers provide the sort of cultural experiences that the food courts don't: shirtless old men demolishing huge plates of food, bathrooms with a $0.10 entrance fee.

Redhill was the first hawker center I ever visited. I remember walking through the adjacent building and being overwhelmed with the smells of fresh durian and seafood - you always remember your first wet market experience. It's like getting punched in the nose.

That first meal was my introduction to BBQ stingray, coated in thick, spicy sambal, and roti prata, a plate of thin Indian breads served with curry for dipping.

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Roasted Duck

Redhill Food Centre Hawker Stall Singapore

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Curry Chicken

Most hawker centers have at least a few 'famous' stalls, places that you'll have to queue for at peak hours. Some, like Tian Tian Chicken Rice at Maxwell Food Centre, are absurd, with 30-45 minute waiting times for a few slices of chicken. We made the brilliant decision to go later in the day so we could avoid the lines and not have to fight for a table. Important note about food courts/hawker centers: you need to bring something, usually a packet of tissues, to save, or "chope", your seat. You go in, find an empty spot, then toss your choping mechanism down. I realized early on that almost everyone uses the same packets of tissues, which makes it all very confusing. I remedied this by using my business cards for choping, to the amusement of my Singaporean friends.

We stopped at one of the more famous chicken rice stalls. This is the Singaporean dish. You get steamed or roasted chicken - I always get roasted - and a plate of rice cooked in an especially oily chicken broth, plus a small bowl of chicken soup. All that food you see on the tray below was $3.50. That's $2.50 in USD.

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Chicken Rice Stall

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Roasted Chicken

I didn't grow up eating chicken rice, so I can't judge them as well as, nor as passionately as, the locals. I thought this was good. The chicken was about as tender as you can make it, the chicken rice tasted like fatty chicken goodness, and when it was all topped with a mix of ginger, chili sauce, and dark sticky soy, it was really, really delicious.

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Roasted Chicken Rice

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Chicken Rice

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Loh Jia Pancake

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Pancake Stall

Our appetites are usually large enough to handle another dish or three, but an unplanned large breakfast threw things off. Instead, we headed over to the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Loh Jia Pancake[/symple_highlight] stall for dessert and got an $0.80 paper thin waffle-tasting pancake wrapped around sweet desiccated coconut.

Redhill Food Centre Singapore Coconut Pancake

It is, in my humble opinion, imperative that any visitor to Singapore visit a hawker center. Even if you're content on staying in the Orchard Road area, shopping till you drop, the Newton hawker center is just one stop away. Don't be intimidated by the terse vendors or the unfamiliar menus. The food is so cheap that even if you get something you don't like, you can go back up and get something else.

Plus, paying $10 for a meal for two will be a nice break for your wallet after paying $25+ per cocktail and $40-50 per entree at those fancyschmancy places you've been going to.

Spencer 7/27/15 Spencer 7/27/15

Tiong Bahru

I constantly find myself looking up when walking around Singapore. The country is notorious for its constantly changing landscape; down goes an old apartment complex and hawker center, up go the kind of modern marvels you don't even see in the US. I'm a sucker for them - if I had my way, I'd live in one those sixty story condo complexes with jungle gardens, rooftop pools, and robot butlers. I've always wanted to live in the futuristic world you see in movies, but since that doesn't exist, Singapore and Korea are suitable substitutes. With a country the size of Singapore (somewhere bigger than the city of Chicago and smaller than Memphis...with 5 million people), the effect of the build, build, build way of thinking has obvious effects on the once historical neighborhoods. Traditional homes and shophouses have been swept aside, with a few notable omissions. One of which is the Tiong Bahru neighborhood.

I'd been to Tiong Bahru before, but mostly in the evening and never set about to explore it. As Patricia, my girlfriend, and I ambled around, I suddenly felt like I wasn't in Singapore at all. The Tiong Bahru Estate was built in the 1930's with an Art Deco meets Singaporean shophouse design. Flat roofs and rounded buildings abound. It's like someone in Singapore visited Miami and said "that's what I'm going to build!"

Within 30 minutes of our walkabout, the heat had defeated us. Dehydration was creeping in. Luckily (I guess), Tiong Bahru has become a bit of a hipster hideaway. Replacing the old chicken rice and curry puff stalls are rows of artisan coffee houses, cafes, eateries, and art stores. It's on its way to being Singapore's Williamsburg.

I felt like I was in Portlandia when I went into BooksActually, a store that actually sells books. The young staff all wore the same glasses their parents did in the 80's, there were two mean cats eyeballing me, and the back of store was a mini-antique shop, selling old cups, Japanese magazines, and various other oddities no one will ever buy.

We made our way into Forty Hands Coffee, an Australian-owned shop. They partnered with Five Senses Coffee Australia to create Common Man Coffee Roasters, importing and roasting their beans in Singapore. The result is an elevated coffee experience, not unlike Sump or Blueprint in St. Louis. Below is their cold-drip, perfect for helping your kidneys regain functionality after a long walk outside.

Tiong Bahru Singapore Forty Hands Coffee

The menu is primarily Western, with sandwiches, salads, and mac & cheese, but there's Asian influence, as well. The menu touts their tau sar pau (red bean bun) as being Singapore's best, they have a red bean poster on the wall, and the staff said we should get it. So we did.

The hockey puck sized bun was dropped off just after it came out of the steamer. Lacking patience, I cut/tore it in half (burning my fingers), then took a bite (burning my mouth). I haven't had all that many red bean buns in my life, but this was the best I can remember. Super fluffy bread and a smooth, not overly sweet paste inside.

Tiong Bahru Singapore Forty Hands Tau Sar Pau

I've been let down so many times by Western dishes in Singapore, but I couldn't help myself: I had to try the 40 Hands Cubano. To our surprise, they pulled it off! Mojo pork, honey-smoked ham, jalapeño, and cheese on crusty Tiong Bahru Bakery baguette made for a solid sandwich, though meats both could have been more flavorful. When you say the ham is smoked, I want to taste that.

Tiong Bahru Singapore Pork Bun Forty Hands

Tiong Bahru Singapore Braised Pork Forty Hands

The real surprise came from the Kong Bak Pau (Asian pork sliders). Steamed buns, lettuce, and a cup full of fall-apart tender pork braised in a soy-garlic concoction. I could have eaten 3 or 4 of these myself.

Feeling a bit unhealthy after our carbs and pork lunch, we decided to walk down the street to Plain Vanilla, a cafe and bakery. I loved the design - They made the front section a covered outdoor seating area with the door to actually go inside the shop way back there. A pretty bold move to not have an airconned sitting area for customers in a place just off the equator, but it was surprisingly pleasant out there.

Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Patio

Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Seating

Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Table

While you wait for your coffee or pastry to be prepared, you can spin around and check out their wall of goods for sale, ranging from gourmet honey and jam to decorative pillows that you'll remove before guests arrive so they don't touch them with their filthy hands.

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Pastries

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Interior

Thank god I had already eaten lunch, because I would have gone mental in here otherwise. Salted caramel truffle tarts beckoned me, massive brownies dusted in cocoa powder begged me to eat them, lemon cream tarts taunted me. I regained control of myself and took a step back, stopping myself from ordering one of everything. Seeing as Patricia is the Tiong Bahru expert and person who brought me to Plain Vanilla, I let her pick.

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Caramel Tart

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Lemon Tart Singapore

Brownies Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Shortbread

She went for the Earl Grey Lavender Cupcake, a bold choice because cupcakes are usually worthless pieces of garbage. Shitty bakeries get away with selling cupcakes because they can dress them up pretty. If I can make the same thing at home with little effort, I don't want to spend $5 on each one at your shop.

Every once in awhile, I can be wrong. The Earl Grey Lavender cupcake was actually delicious. Soft cake with the distinct Earl Grey flavor of black tea and bergamot, topped with a light (and most importantly, not too sweet) lavender icing. Cupcakes are still bullshit, but Plain Vanilla gets a pass.

Cupcakes Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore

Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Earl Grey Singapore Cupcake

If you're a visitor to Singapore or a local Singaporean who hasn't spent much time in Tiong Bahru, I implore you to go. Support the small local businesses, spend some time walking through the old neighborhoods. Who knows when it will all be torn down to make way for something 'better'.

Spencer 7/23/15 Spencer 7/23/15

Shinji by Kanesaka

A stark white colonial complex stands in the center of Singapore's downtown, surrounded by modern monoliths and heavily trafficked roads. The Raffles Hotel, built in 1887, is one of the world's finest and remains the gold standard for Singapore - if you're visiting and looking to spend $700+ a night, look here, not the Marina Bay Sands. Raffles also seems to be the inspiration for every Singaporean hotel that came after it: construct a beautiful building with fantastically modern accommodations, then fill the empty spaces with high-end stores, fine dining, and lush landscaping. Walking into the lobby is a bit like the first time you see The Grand Budapest Hotel's interior; you get transported to another time and another place. And if you're not a guest, like me, you get transported back outside.

Gold Elevator at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

Courtyard at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

Gift Shop at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

Ice Cream Cart at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

I'm hesitant to recommend this, but if you visit Singapore, go to The Long Bar the hotel. The Long Bar is most definitely a tourist trap - the people you see in there are more than likely the same people who will be dining at the Clarke Quay Hooter's that night - but it has a very cool Malaysian plantation design to it. This is the place where the sickly sweet Singapore Sling was invented, but that doesn't make it any better. I'd rather stop in for a beer or bourbon than get a $30 cocktail that tastes like hummingbird food.

Directory at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

Choosing where to spend my limited meals in Singapore is a challenge; this is a city with 10 fine-dining establishments on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list, plus an insurmountable number of wonderful local restaurants and hawker stands. I've agonized over menus, my mind a barrage of haute cuisine and fine ingredients.

Shinji by Kanesaka at The Raffles Hotel Singapore

The first of my splurge meals was at Shinji by Kanesaka at Raffles. Shinji is the Singapore outpost of Shinji Kanesaka's 2-Michelin starred Tokyo restaurant. Kanesaka's executive chef is Koichiro Oshino; I was lucky enough to have him as my chef during my meal there.

A little too confident in my ability to cope with the Singapore heat, I arrived at Shinji drenched in sweat, dehydrated, and possibly suffering from a little heat stroke. Walking through the lattice door into the restaurant - which is just a small room with a bar wrapping around the 3 sushi chefs - felt like something out of a movie. As the door slid closed behind me, the oppressive heat, the bustle of the city, the stark white walls of the colonial hotel, dissipated. Within 5 minutes I was transferred from 2015 Singapore to early-1900's luxury to a cozy Tokyo restaurant.

I sat between Oshino-san and another sushi chef, watching them prepare for service as I cooled down. I originally intended to get the Tsuki lunch set (12 pieces, $125), but I ended up going with the Hana (9 pieces, $75) due to my internal organs shutting down.

Daikon and Seaweed at Shinji by Kanesaka

The meal began in near total silence, as other diners had not yet arrived. Oshino-san welcomed me, asked me if there was anything I didn't eat (no), and we began. I was given a bowl of thinly sliced daikon (radish) dressed with a ginger sauce and seaweed in a light sesame sauce. A simple starter and palate cleanser.

My descriptions for the sushi itself will be minimal. Shinji's focus is on balance, harmony, and honoring the ingredients. We didn't speak much during the meal; it was more like watching a movie or play than anything else. For many of the dishes, it's simply a piece of fish dabbed with soy.

Something that sets apart a great sushi place from the average is the rice. This cannot be emphasized enough. The slight vinegar flavor, the perfect temperature and texture; it was the best sushi rice I can remember eating anywhere. The more obvious difference is the quality of fish, all of which is picked by Kanesaka himself at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, then shipped to Singapore.

The first piece of sushi was Suzuki (sea bass), followed by Ika (squid). The squid was cut so thinly you could see the dab of wasabi through it. When editing the photos, I had to lower the white level of the squid - it was so white, it nearly disappeared over the plate and rice.

The most beautiful piece of the meal goes to the Chu-toro (medium fatty tuna), though the otoro (fatty tuna), the most highly-sought after piece of tuna, trumped it in flavor. It melts in your mouth like butter.

Kuruma ebi (Japanese Tiger prawn) made a striking appearance on the plate, but was my least favorite piece. I couldn't discern anything particularly special about it; I would have greatly preferred uni. The negitoro (tuna with spring onion), on the other hand, may have been the bite of the night. The fatty tuna was chopped and tossed with thin slices of onion, creating a balance of soft and crisp, fatty and sharp.

Continuing with the tuna theme was marinated maguro (tuna), a ruby cut of fish that had been marinated in soy.

Anago (saltwater eel), compared to unagi, is fishier, the texture more fragile and flakey. I would have preferred uni. I'm really sad I didn't get uni. After the anago came Aji (horse mackerel) and Suimono (clear soup). My body was still cooling down at this point, so I didn't eat much of the hot soup

My last piece of sushi was tekka maki, a simple tuna roll. It was served with pickles and, without question, the best tamago (egg) I've ever had. Unlike the more traditional tightly folded tamago, this was an egg custard that had been set. One of the goals I'm setting for myself is figuring out how to recreate it; it had enough sweetness and creaminess that it would be paired with a dessert.

The meal closed with a dessert that, like the sushi, appeared simple, but packed a wallop. The pumpkin pudding was incredible. The pudding itself was a mix of vanilla and pumpkin, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and a sweet pumpkin sauce. At the base was pureed pumpkin.

The meal was sushi at its purest, but this was one of those that I'll remember more for the experience than the food. There's no doubt the sushi is world class, it's just that I want more complexity when I eat. That's why I love Niche, Sidney Street Cafe, and Publico back in St. Louis; I like to get a plate that makes me wonder "how did they do that?" or "how did they think of that?" For me to fully enjoy Shinji by Kanesaka and to fantasize about going back would require me to do the $250 omakase, I think. Still, I'm glad I went.

This restaurant has moved.

Shinji By Kanesaka

#02-20 Raffles Hotel

1 Beach Road

Singapore 189673

+65 6338 6131

Spencer 7/20/15 Spencer 7/20/15

Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan is "Hong Kong's most famous dim sum," as stated on their menu, and, believe it or not, the recipient of 1 Michelin star. Pretty impressive for a dim sum restaurant with a fairly limited menu. The first Tim Ho Wan's to open in Singapore came just before I left in 2014, with queues getting near 3-hours in length. I'm not waiting 3 hours for any food, especially not dim sum. Instead, I tacked some extra time on a trip to Hong Kong and ate it at the train station. No queue. Win for Spencer. Efficiency is Tim Ho Wan's game: you sit and look at the small menu. You're given a pencil and a list of the menu items, which you mark off like you're at a sushi place.

I sat. I ate. Then, unable to comprehend what I had just consumed, my head exploded.

Before we get to the fatty gold at the end of the rainbow, I wanted to try to counter balance things with something healthy. I quickly perused the menu, saw something green, and got that. The vegetable and shrimp dumplings were fine, but nothing special. Steamed prawn, steamed greens, yawn. The bit of fish roe at the top made it perty, but didn't add much as far as flavor goes.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it also came with Goop. Goopy sauces and soups are enjoyed much more in Chinese cuisine than any Western cuisine I've found, with the prime example being the jello-like bird's nest soup. Not my thing.

Tim Ho Wan Singapore Logo

Char Siu Bao. It's the dim sum classic loved across the globe: pillowy steamed bread filled with piping hot Chinese BBQ pork. You've had it at Mandarin House, Lulu's, *insert Chinese restaurant you swear is delicious here*, but none of those can get close to matching what Tim Ho Wan has created.

Have you seen the movie Kingsmen? You remember the scene in the church where Colin Firth fights like 50 people? That's what I would do to a room of people if I found out there was only one order of these left. Let's talk about what makes these so great.

The exterior: The dough is unapologetically buttery and sugary. The bottom of the buns have reached a level of crunchy, buttery perfection, not unlike a piece of toasted brioche or even a cookie. The top has a similar crunch to it. The midsection has been left puffy and soft. You tear into it, expecting it to pull apart like a piece of bread...
The flakeyness: But it doesn't! It flakes apart like some kind of magical biscuit-bread hybrid.
The filling: It's salty, it's sweet, it's meaty. It's as delicious as anything from Pappy's or Bogart's (gasp!).

People tend to think bloggers are being hyperbolic when they say how good things are, but I swear to god, this is one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. Google other reviews of Tim Ho Wan and you'll see that everyone agrees.

Life goal: I figure out how to make these and open up a small baked BBQ pork bun stall. Soon enough, everyone is addicted to them. After fattening up the entire St. Louis population to proportions previously thought impossible on such a mass scale, I move on to the rest of the US. Following the rapid is expansion of both my BBQ bun chain and the waistlines of the American people, Tesla is forced to develop hovering chairs for fat people. Boom, I just wrote the prequel to WALL-E about how everyone ended up like this.

Tim Ho Wan

68 Orchard Road #01-29A

Plaza Singapura

Singapore 238839

6251 2000

Spencer 7/16/15 Spencer 7/16/15

Motorino

If you follow me on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tinder, you know that I'm in Singapore. I've been here for just over a week and won't be back to the US until August. I've been like a kid in a candy store, hopping from hawker stall to hawker stall, restaurant to restaurant. I don't want to shock anyone with these strange Far East treats, though, so we'll start things off with something more familiar: pizza. Motorino, a New York City based Neapolitan pizza shop, has spread its wings in recent years and expanded to Singapore, Manila, and Hong Kong. After eating so much good pizza in St. Louis, I had to try it out and see how it compared.

Motorino Singapore is located in Clarke Quay, a touristy area with restaurants like "Wings", a US Air Force theme chicken restaurant, Hooters, and, in years past, a hospital themed restaurant. It's the place to go to see drunk Australians playing in a fountain made for children. The restaurant itself is small, about 10 tables inside and nearly the same on the patio.

Like any good pizza place, the oven is the focal point, the beating heart of the restaurant. It also helps to keep the restaurant warm on cool nights - something that doesn't exist in Singapore - so it just served to make the restaurant nearly unbearably warm. You've got AC! Turn it on!

We started the meal with their meatballs, baseball-sized balls of juicy pork coated with a thin, slightly sweet tomato sauce, basil, and a hint of pecorino. I could have done with more cheese (who couldn't?), but these were a big hit at the table. One of the pizza customization options was to get these on top, something I'll do if I return.

Our first pizza was the Soppressata Piccante, a spicy salami pizza with chili peppers, oregano, and sea salt. (There was a yellow spotlight behind us, shining onto our table, which meant that after sunset, the pictures started looking a little wonky. Just pretend they look perfect.) I liked this one - the mix of good tomato sauce, melty mozzarella, and the salty & spicy soppressata gets my approval. I thought the topping to crust ratio was a bit off, though. You can see that the crust pieces are pretty substantial.

Their dough is, by design, breadier than I prefer, so I actually ended up not eating most of the crust. Sacrilege, I know! It was all so I could eat more of the next pizza, though! I had good intentions.

Our second pizza was the Cremini Mushroom and Sausage. From the description - Gaeta olives, garlic, sweet sausage, thyme - I thought it was going to be bursting with flavor. Somehow it ended up being very one-note, essentially a cheesy mushroom toast. Everything else was overpowered (or there simply wasn't enough) to counter the mushrooms. I only had one piece of this.

Aside from the mushroom pizza, I liked my meal at Motorino, but wasn't blown away. St. Louis wins this round, without a doubt in my mind. Next up for my global pizza tour will be Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza. It's been almost two years since I've had it, but it was my #1 favorite up until I left Singapore. Will it take down St. Louis' finest? We shall see in the next few weeks.

Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.

I spent two weeks in Portland, Oregon this summer. I fully expected to come home determined to move up there to live a flannel-covered life.

JETTY FISHERY & The oregon Coast

Washington Park

Chicago

i’d heard from a few people—chefs, cooks, my dingus brother—that I would love the loyalist.

Well, it turns out it’s pretty fucking easy when you’re making what has to be one of the best burgers in the country.

Foie Gras eclair

lavender honey

Deviled eggs

smoked trout, roe

biscuit

shallot purée, aged cheddar

broiled oyster

bacon, sea lettuce, hollandaise

little gem

sourdough, smoked whitefish casear

Escargot tartine

Benton’s country ham

pork belly

ramps, green strawberries

Ricotta gnocchi

toasted yeast, oyster mushrooms

pop-over

beef garum

omelette

camembert, koji beurre blanc, caviar

The sign outside the loyalist

So you know you’re in the right place.

My brother moved to the west loop, which means goodbye D.C. posts, hello Chicago.

The Bakery at Fat Rice

Baked goods

Ube Milk Barpurple yam, shortbread, condensed milk jam, coconut streusel

Pineapple Bunchinese BBQ pork, scallion

Chicago-style hot dog bunvienna beef, Chicago-style classic fixins’

at The Bakery at Fat Rice

Green Street Meats & Sawada Coffee

Pork belly

Elote corn

JP GRAZIANO

Mr. G

sharp imported provolone, hot sopresatta, prosciutto di parma, volpi genoa salami, truffle mustard, balsamic vinaigrette, hot oil, marinated roman style artichokes, fresh basil, lettuce with red wine vinegar and oregano

at JP Graziano

Bombobar

Bomboloni

salted caramel, s’mores

at Bombobar

The goddess and grocer

Chicken Samosa

at The Goddess and Grocer

Cubano

at The Goddess and Grocer

3 Arts Club cafe

French Dip

Parachute

smoked yuba

at Parachute

baked potato bing bread

at Parachute

Pacific Standard Time

Pita

at Pacific Standard Time

Fish sauce wings

at Pacific Standard Time

Frontera Grill

Duck breast

Oaxacan mole chichilo (mulato chiles, almonds, raisins, spices), pickled chile de agua

Am I cool now that I’ve been to one of David Chang’s restaurants?

Maryland Crab Dip

Chicharron, togarashi, tobiko

Shrimp bun

Spicy mayo, pickled red onion, iceberg lettuce

Shiitake bun

Hoisin, scallion, cucumber

Bacon & Egg Bun

Hollandaise, bourbon maple syrup

Shrimp & Grits

Poached egg, chili, mustard greens

Smoked Trout toast

Dill labneh, sunny side up egg, red onion

Ube Milk Bar
purple yam, shortbread, condensed milk jam, coconut streusel

Pineapple Bun
chinese BBQ pork, scallion

Chicago-style hot dog bun
vienna beef, Chicago-style classic fixins’