osteria da carla

venice, italy

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derek and i enjoyed walking around venice from square to square - up and down little bridges over small canals. part of our exploration was trying to find a restaurant that wasn't advertising a "menù turistico." finally, near san marco, i peeked through a small alley and saw some promising signage. i dragged derek through the alley and found a cute restaurant at the end. the menu had two pastas: "pasta" and "fish pasta" - the "pasta" was fettucine in red sauce and my "fish pasta" was spaghetti with calamari. admittedly, those were probably the most touristy items on the menu. oh well. still good. adding a bottle of local venetian wine definitely helped.

le café

venice, italy

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not only was the quiet gallerie dell'accademia a good spot to hide from the rain, but viewing the 17th and 18th century paintings of venetian canals and buildings gave us a great historical perspective when we walked through those same places later that day. felt like we were walking through an old painting (albeit an old painting crowded with tourists and strangely aggressive pigeons). all that culture required a coffee break - or a caffé - at le café in a nearby square. loved this spot: outdoor seating for people watching and they served my caffé (espresso to us americans) with a small buttery biscuit, cold whipped cream, and a cute little pitcher of water. seriously, this is how espresso should always be served.

trattori ai cacciatori

venice, italy

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venezia! took a very long drive through a beautiful mountain landscape (picture the von trapp family escaping the third reich with a nun singing in the background). thankfully, a gas station near the border served a fantastic espresso with a super creamy piece of chocolate. we finally reached venice in the late afternoon, parked the car, and took a water taxi to giudecca island where our hotel was located. our concierge recommended trattori ai caccitori for dinner. derek, his parents, and i sat outside right next to the water, watching the waves continuously lap against the edge of the island. in this setting, of course i ordered seafood pasta - scampi with fettucine. a rich, flavorful, almost spicy red sauce coating perfectly al dente fettucine. the shrimp itself was incredibly juicy and fresh. best meal in venezia, hands down. and i swear it's not because i had gas station beef jerky for lunch. not only was the food good, but i loved the relative quiet and calm of this restaurant (compared to the more touristy parts of venice), the friendly service, and the beautiful view of the main island.

pavillon cafe

innsbruck, austria

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nice quiet outdoor cafe near the imperial palace in innsbruck's old town district - a good spot to sit down for an espresso and slice of blueberry torte. best thing about the torte was a thin layer of custard between the blueberries and crust. there was a small park nearby - the hofgarten - which took only about 10-15 minutes for derek and i to walk through. probably not enough time to walk off that torte.

ottoburg

innsbruck, austria

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our hotel recommended another restaurant - ottoburg. the restaurant is on the first floor of an old historical building with battlements upstairs. service was pleasant (and quite surprised when i gave her a tip - i'm not sure i have the european tipping customs figured out). ordered the vitello con panna - veal gulash in a rich gravy, made even richer with a dollop of cream. served with excellent spaetzle.

weinhaus happ

innsbruck, austria

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a trip to europe to pick up my in-laws' new car. in munich (or münchen as die deutschen say), we had lunch at bmw welt. it was an atrociously unattractive white sausage, so i'm going to spare y'all that photo and move onto our dinner in innsbruck.

i asked our lederhosened hotel concierge where we could find schnitzel. to his credit, he didn't roll his eyes at all, but instead gave us three options in the historical old town area. we found weinhaus happ and it looked cozy enough. the outdoor seating was nice because we could see the historical square, including the famous innsbruck golden roof. our waiter was not particularly friendly. i asked him to recommend an austrian beer and he gave me something that tasted only slightly better than PBR, so i think i did that wrong. my schweineschnitzel was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the schnitzel from blaue gans in nyc. the fact that it wasn't drenched in cream sauce probably puts this schnitzel at a disadvantage. still, it had a nice crunch and paired perfectly with a wonderful salad of various pickled things. a good start to our european driving/eating tour.

cat cora's kitchen @ IAH

houston, tx

link to yelp

at the airport yet again. this time at IAH, houston international airport, waiting for our flight to münchen. i'm a big fan of cat cora from watching iron chef america, so i figured this was a pretty safe bet. the menu and our waiter both talked up the spicy tomato soup. so i went with that plus a little burger. for airport food, not bad. the burger was a little overcooked and bland, but i just dunked it in the spicy tomato soup and it worked out quite well. good soup.

shawn cafe

arcadia, ca

link to yelp

anthony was visiting so i decided it was worth traveling to arcadia to get good chinese food. it also helped that anthony drove the whole way. we met g and cindy c at the restaurant and let cindy c order the best options from the menu. and what a spread! generally my favorite taiwanese dish is a meatball covered in glutinous sticky gooey stuff and unnaturally red-orange spicy sauce. trust me, it's delicious. but this time, cindy c introduced me to a new taiwanese favorite - xiang chang (chinese sausage) sliced with sticky rice sausage. chinese sausage is great with everything (shout out to my mom's signature sticky rice with chinese sausage and mushrooms) but this was a nice twist, serving it with sticky rice in a similar sausage shape. grab one slice of each sausage, stuff whole into mouth, and enjoy.

three twins ice cream

santa monica, ca

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yet another picture of my sister's hand holding food. and my peeling nail polish. anyway - cindy was visiting, so i took her to main street in santa monica to check out some boutiques and the new muji store. couldn't resist stopping at a little scoop shop. can't go wrong with gourmet ice cream. my strawberry ice cream was creamy and delicious. cindy's lemon cookie ice cream was "really really good." a perfect treat to eat while shopping along main street or walking along the ocean. gotta love southern california.

tsujita la

los angeles, ca

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more ramen! before tsujita annex, there was the original tsujita la. it's rare to see this restaurant without a crazy line outside. it serves a different type of tsukemen (dipping ramen). the noodles are similar to the annex, but the broth is completely different. the broth comes in a small bowl with small pieces of pork. there is a bit more oil in this broth, which can throw some people off. but i just mix it all together and it puts a nice coat of porky goodness on the noodles when you dip. there's also a slight sour flavor which pairs nicely with the noodles and a hefty squeeze of lime. both tsukemen are amazing yet completely different. try both and see which one is your favorite!