Meats in Hong Kong

Nothing better than the first meal at 4 am local time being roasted and BBQ pork. Side of rice too but who really needed that anyways??

Marriott lounge

Reasonable breakfast view from the hotel lounge. This looks onto the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. The tall left building is the new ICC building; the tallest in Hong Kong

Tokyo skylounge

Bigger, quieter, better food and beverage options than the Detroit club. More open layout also helped

China trip

Delta sky lounge access to start off the trip. Basic snacks and stuff. Amusingly at least 66% Asians guys here. Less spectacular than I had imagined but still pretty cool

Alma De Cuba - @@@

Right now I am posting this pic from the relaxing lounge area of the restaurant. I am in a low rise leather chair lounging with a mojito after a long day of work.

As for the food, it is pretty good. It is called the lechon asado - basically this fried pork shoulder that is quite flavorful in a citrus marinade over rice and beans. Skin is extra crispy, it reminds me of the Columbian chicharron dish except with more meat. Has some herb salsa like consistency thing on top.

The environment downstairs is pretty cool as it's a dark lounge type atmosphere with some non-overbearingly loud Cuban music in the background. There are 2 more floors above which from the sound of it are quite busy. So why only a 3 rating?? Well for some strange reason I am looking at half of my dish still uneaten on my plate. I wasn't starving, but when have I left this much food (especially meat) available?? I wasn't super hungry but still has me wondering.

A final positive though to end it out...my food came out literally under 5 minutes. It was ready before my drink!?! So if you need some Latin food on what appears to be quick, stop by.

PS the server just came by and I would be remiss to mention how attentive without in your face she was.

1623 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103

The Vortex Bar & Grill - @@@

Had a hamburger here at what was billed as one of Atlanta's best burgers. It was topped with pulled pork, cheese and bacon along with a spicy BBQ-ish sauce. Was quite good but they allowed smoking inside. For that I doubt I will be back as there are other spots to go to as they even mention on their menu. If you smoke then it is a good choice for bar food/ burgers and even of you are not a smoker it is still good.

878 Peachtree St NE
Atlanta, GA 30309

Mary Mac's Tea Room - @@@@

After reading a bunch of restaurant websites and blogs, I ultimately decided to come back here for dinner. Amazingly out of all the Atlanta restaurants, this was one I went to the last time I was here. However I was looking for southern food and it was the most brought up place. It also helped that it was walkable from the hotel.

Plate was full of solid food. On the right is pan fried cube steak with a brown onion gravy with whipped potatoes, broccoli souffle, and a piece of fried chicken. All tasted great. What was also good yet not pictured were the cinnamon rolls since I ate them already and had asked for more to be delivered. The cube steak was really flavorful, with the gravy standing out. I actually looked up the recipe while I was eating because it was that good. I went with the broccoli souffle on the recommendation of the waitress and she was right. Nice chunks of broccoli in a cheesy, creamy base topped with crispy bread crumbs. Fried chicken was in my mind typical southern style - rather light fry, not as much seasoning, and crispy. It was good, not great.

Overall torn between a 4 and 5 I liked it that much. Maybe I am subconciously taking a touch away due to the food coming out in basically 2 minutes. I get that the stuff is already prepped but that was just amazing. It obviously is worth a return trip and highly recommended for some, in my mind, authentic southern food.

224 Ponce de Leon Ave
Atlanta, GA 30308

The Varsity - @@@

Mmmmmm hot dogs with chili, fries, and an orange shake as a Sunday afternoon "breakfast".

I was really interested in checking out this Atlanta landmark institution that I have heard mentioned plenty of times on food tv shows.  To be honest before even checking it out, I thought it was a sit-down restaurant.  Um no, it is rather a large cafeteria-like setting where you order your food at the counter and then pick a seat.  It is billed as the worlds largest drive-in..  Pretty cool different rooms to choose a seat; it was rather dining-hall ish.  I selected the room that had the espn feed on it.

The food was actually rather good.  Chili dog was in a soft bun, probably steamed.  I like it kinda squishy like this so no problems there.  The hot dog itself was tasty, however lacked the Detroit coney dog snap like I am used to and enjoy.  Chili was well spiced and I felt like I could eat about 6 more.  The fries were well salted, but as you can see from the picture pretty soggy.  I think thats what they were supposed to be like.  The drink is called a Frozen Orange, which is similar to the Olga's orange drinks where it is pretty creamy and slurpee like consistency.  All in all, a good meal to kick start a Masters-watching Sunday.

61 North Ave NW
Atlanta, GA 30308

The Varsity - downtown Atlanta

Just walked here for lunch. Update to come

Frozen Four

Quinnipiac vs St Cloud St in semifinals

Quinnipiac just scored to make it 3-0. They have no witty goal scoring cheers so far

Michigan in finals from St Maarten!

Ditka's - @@@

Went to dinner here tonight and just got back. Large 16 oz prime rib was cooked better than the picture shows. Definitely more rare than what's shown which was good. The meat wasn't awesome though...not as tender as I would've liked for prime rib. Seasoning was heavy on the side, but didn't seem to penetrate the meat well. Sides were mashed potatoes and broccoli. Oddly they had no spinach so I couldn't try that. Overall pretty decent meal but not close to the top tier steakhouses in my opinion.

1 Robinson Plz
Pittsburgh, PA 15205

Sushi Kim - @@@

Solid (and only) Korean spot I have found in Pittsburgh. Kal bi obviously is the way to go. Have been here before, always a good choice

1241 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Six Penn Kitchen - @@@@

One of my favorite places to date in Pittsburgh and when we went back the other week it did not disappoint. Yes it is new style American aka "corporate American" as I call it since it caters to expense accounts.

This pork shank is great. Crispy and tender at the same time, it is flavored well with apple notes and plenty of rendered fat. Also comes with mashed potatoes, apple wedges, and a spicy applesauce (weird but tasty).

Definitely a must try if you are downtown in Pittsburgh. Also nice that it is right over the bridge from PNC Park so check out the nice stadium and get some great food after.

146 6th St
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Bridge Ten Brasserie - @@@

Dinner here tonight, was relieved to find a different sort of place other than what I call "corporate American" that is all over downtown. Per usual for first work days, the place was empty. How empty? I was the only diner at 7:45. Ouch. It is really amazing but here in Pittsburgh there is no one out on Monday's it seems.

Anyways got the usual steak frites that I usually try at French places. It was good, had some solid spices and was definitely medium rare. The food literally took 5 minutes to deliver. The steak was rib-eye which I usually love but in my mind I always think of sirloin for the protein.

The food overall was pretty good but I think I have other biases in my mind. I am leery if no one is there so it seems odd that I enjoyed the food. I want to go back when it's busier to perhaps try more non-standard items like the duck, rotisserie, or pâté.

PS - frites were not as skinny as I hoped but oddly enough were quite crispy. Well seasoned too

20 S 10th St
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Jerome Bettis Grille 36 - @@@

This is salad Pittsburgh style. Mixed greens, cheese, tomatoes, steak tips, blue cheese crumbles, fried onions, and most importantly French fries. Everything here has fries on it, sandwiches, salads, and burgers. The salad itself is pretty good but at the end of the day it's a salad.

At Bettis' it is a pretty big sports bar/restaurant amazingly adorned with Steelers paraphernalia. Lots of tvs so checked out Michigan beating Minnesota last night. They also have BTN which few spots in Providence had (maybe adding Rutgers will get bigger NE presence??). If you need to watch a game, this is a pretty good place to check it out at with food to be expected from a sports themed restaurant. It's also close to the stadiums and casino for those inclined.

393 N Shore Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Primanti's at the rink

Maybe it will be better this trip...

Hockeys back!

Watching the Pittsburgh Penguins open scrimmage at the Consol Energy Center. Excited hockey is starting again!

Chapel Grille - @@@

Went here on Thursday for dinner.  It is pretty close to work so thats a bonus.  The building itself is really nice, its large like a ski lodge but decorated early American style (big pictures/portraits of old people).  I went with the paella which can be an odd choice for me since I dont particularly care for seafood.  However this one had minimal seafood and had a bonus piece of pork belly on it.  It was pretty good, although I still feel the rice is too moist.  There were also minimal amounts of peas in it and were replaced by both green and black olives...ugh!  I gave away the clams, however I did eat the jumbo shrimp.  They were seasoned pretty well.  The lemons slices were odd, they were too small to squeeze so I just "juiced" them with my fork.  Also in there is the pork belly on top, which was tender however not hot, and chorizo, which was good.  The rice as mentioned earlier was moist and reasonably flavorful, what was nice about it was that it was really hot in temperature.

Though we didnt get appetizers, the food was served with homemade foccacia and a sampling of olive oils from California, Greece, Italy, and Spain (listed from darkest to lightest).  I liked the Italian one the best, mild and flavorful.  The California was pretty heavy, Greece was a little sharp, and Spain a bit oily.  I thought it was a cool concept though and the foccacia was good too.

The place was certainly upscale and very business-y which is odd since its in a suburb of Providence.  I thought it was reasonably expensive but the portions were good sized.  Definitely worth a try especially if you are in the mood for a nice dinner.


3000 Chapel View Blvd
Cranston, RI 02920