Upper West Side, NYC: The Halal Guys

The Halal Guys started as a NYC hot dog cart, and grew to a world-renowned international restaurant chain.

They have a very simple menu, but the fresh ingredients make their dishes simply delicious.

 A platter consisted of grilled chicken and/or gyro meat over yellow rice, with lettuce tomato onion, and their special white and spicy sauce.

This was a great way to have a fast-food meal.

If you look them up, you can find them at a food truck, or a sit-down fast-food restaurant.
Either way, you will have a great meal.

We had our first Halal meal in NYC, but no worries!
The Halal Guys are coming to Wintergreen Plaza in Rockville very soon!

The Halal Guys
720 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10025
https://thehalalguys.com/

Philadelphia, PA: Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House

If you ever need to be at the Philadelphia Convention Center for a volleyball tournament (or any other business), Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House is a short walk from the convention center, and serves the freshest hand pulled noodles and the best spicy pigs ears.

If you have never tried spicy pigs ears, you should ignore your instincts to be grossed out by the thought of eating pigs ears, and instead open your mind to trying something new. You might be really surprised at how much you enjoy this spicy dish.

At Nan Zhou, the pigs ears were sliced perfectly thin, and served over pickled radish and carrots julienne-style.

The next appetizer, the scallion pancakes were crispy to perfection.

Finally, their specialty is their hand drawn noodles, so any noodle dish would be amazing.

We ordered the simple but delicious noodles with pork soy sauce. This was one of the favorites on yelp.

We also tried the seafood fried noodles dish, and the mapo tofu over noodles. Both were excellent.

We did not order any dumpling on this day, but they were excellent as well.

Nan Zhou Noodle House
1022 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA
http://nanzhounoodlehouse.com/index.html

Annapolis, MD: Cantler's Riverside Inn

Maryland's blue crabs are the best crabs. When in season, their meat is heavy and sweet, wonderfully tasty when steamed in Old Bay Seasoning.

Crab season starts in the summer and runs through December.

If you don't want to buy live crabs and steam them at home, then go to the best crab house, Cantler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis, MD.

Their peel-and-eat shrimps are great too, and their fried calamari tasted super fresh.

Cantler's Riverside Inn
458 Forest Beach Road
Annapolis MD 21409

Recipe for Bacon Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

I have leftover thick cut bacon from making the Quiche Lorraine, so today I decided to try Bacon Balsamic Brussels Sprouts.

This was a very easy recipe to follow.

Ingredients:
Bag of brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
3 slices of thick cut bacon, uncooked, cut in half-inch strips
minced garlic
sea salt
ground black pepper
olive oil
balsamic glaze
honey or maple syrup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. On a large baking sheet, season brussels sprouts, bacon, and garlic with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss until combined
3. Bake until brussels are tender and charred, about 30 minutes
4. Drizzle roasted brussels sprouts with glazed balsamic and a hint of honey (or maple syrup) and serve

This makes a delicious side dish!
If you didn't think you liked brussels sprouts, give this recipe a try and you may change your mind!

Recipe for Quiche Lorraine

Amy left behind two pie crusts the other day.
I had to think of what to do with them.
So today I decided to make two quiches Lorraine.

Since I wanted to buy Ric Ric's love through his stomach, I selected the quiche Lorraine, the one with bacon in it.
It came out delicious!

Next time Amy and I have already decided to make one quiche Lorraine and one spinach quiche.

 Ingredients:
1 pie crust
12 thick slices of bacon, crisply fried and cut in squares
1 cup shredded swiss cheese (or Gruyere)
1/3 cup minced onion, fried in bacon grease
3 green onions
4 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in pastry-lined pie pan
3. Whisk eggs slightly, beat in remaining ingredients
4. Pour egg mixture into pie pan
5. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees
6. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees
7. Bake an additional 30 minutes

Quiche is done when knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving

Pasadena, CA: Fishwives

For some reason, I’ve been craving lobster rolls. It turns out a restaurant near us offers Portland Maine lobster rolls! The roll contained more than one lobster, but they were tiny baby lobsters. Again, I forgot to take a picture until half-way through eating.

We also tried Kumamoto oysters, scallops, sea urchin, grilled octopus, and sushi hand rolls (Maryland blue crab, amberjack, and salmon).

Everything tasted very fresh so we plan to come back to try other things on the menu.

Fishwives
88 N Fair Oaks
Pasadena, CA

Wiscasset, Maine: Red's Eat

Red's Eats is a red shack on the side of busy US Route 1 in Wiscasset, about a 2.5 hour drive from Bar Harbor, Maine.
It has been written about by various newspapers as serving the best lobster rolls.
https://newengland.com/today/travel/maine/reds-eats-lobster-roll/

Red's Eat
41 Water Street
Wiscasset, ME 04578

We first noticed Red's Eats on our first day of vacation, driving to Bar Harbor, after having eaten at Bob's Clam Hut.
What caught our eyes was the long line on the side of the road in the middle of the afternoon.

We were determined to check out Red's Eats, so we drove the 5-hour round trip to Wiscasset on our second full day of vacation.
The lobster roll was definitely the best we have had on our trip to Maine, so we plotted to return a second time, during our drive back to MHT airport.

This was how long the line was on our second visit.

The lobster roll had more than one whole lobster, as we counted three halves of a lobster tail and claw meat and large chunks.
It is served with mayonnaise and drawn butter on the side, for you to use as you wish.
The buttered roll looked undersized due to the pile of lobster meat on top of it.
And the lobster tasted super fresh and sweet. Simply amazing.

On our second visit, we ordered a side of fried scallops, and they were gigantic pieces of very fresh scallops in a light batter.

Red's Eats lives up to its hype.
They open from April to October, and their lobster roll is the best.
If you are anywhere near Wiscasset, you should definitely plan your trip around stopping at Red's Eats for the best lobster roll of your life.

Bernard, Maine: Thurston's Lobster Pound

After another day of hiking on the other side of Mount Desert Island (west side of Somes Sound), we stopped at Thurston's Lobster Pound.

Thurston's Lobster Pound
9 Thurston Rd
Bernard, ME 04612

Thurston's is still on Mount Desert Island but about 25 minutes from Bar Harbor.
If you plan to visit the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, this would be a good day to stop at Thurston's for your lobster meal.

We were able to get here while there was still sunlight, and here are the view of the harbor from the restaurant.

Lobster is sold by the pound, and the lady at the counter picks out your lobster right in front of your eyes.

Today we went back to a 1-1/4 lbs lobster, and added a "meal" which came with corn, cole slaw, bread and blueberry cake.

Once again, if you are against working hard for your lobster meal, the Jumbo Lobster Roll was excellent.  A lot of lobster on just the right amount of roll with minimum lettuce, served with chips.

We also shared a cup of lobster stew.
This may have been the best lobster stew we had in Maine, although our only other lobster stew happened very early on the trip.

While Red's Eats Lobster Roll is the best (another blog will be posted for Red's), Thurston's Jumbo Lobster Roll is a very close second.
The steamed lobster is also the best on this trip, and we also believe it is better to order a smaller lobster not only for the sweeter taste, but to save room for the lobster stew and dessert.

Bar Harbor, Maine: Mount Desert Island Ice Cream

During our stay in Bar Harbor, Maine, we were able to visit both Mount Desert Island Ice Cream locations. And we visited one location twice.

Our first visit was to the Main Street location, which we erroneously thought was the location closer to the center of town.
We then discovered that the other location on Firefly Lane was a much closer location to our B&B

Mount Desert Island Ice Cream
325 Main Street
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
or
7 Firefly Lane
Bar Harbor, ME 04609

Visit #1: Strawberry and Callebaut Chocolate (the strawberry flavor had fresh strawberry chunks and was excellent!)
Visit #2:  Blueberry Sour Cream Crumble and Strawberry
Visit #3:  Blueberry Basil Sorbet and Strawberry Sorbet - less calories but still YUMMY!

Ellsworth, Maine: Union River Lobster Pot

After a full day of hiking in Acadia National Park (Mount Desert Island, Maine), we had dinner at Union River Lobster Pot.

Union River Lobster Pot
8 South St
Ellsworth, ME 04605

Ellsworth is about a 25 minute drive from Bar Harbor, Maine.
Union River Lobster Pot seems to be a very popular restaurant. We arrived at 5:30pm, half an hour after opening times, and already had to wait for about 45 minutes.

As we were famished, we splurged on the "DownEast Shore Dinner", picking a 1-3/4 lbs lobster, which came with New England Clam Chowder, steamers and mussels, fries, cole slaw and bread.

For those not interested in working hard for their meal, a "Lazy Lobster" was offered, which was lobster meat in white sherry wine butter sauce and a side of carrots.

The restaurant is in a nice location (next to Union River) so there is a nice waiting area by the river.  The steamed lobster meat tasted tough and not as sweet as the other lobster meals we have had in Maine.  Maybe we got a lobster that was too big... perhaps the smaller lobsters are sweeter, therefore ordering two one-pound lobsters is better than ordering a two-pound lobster.  We will have to return to Maine to test this theory.

Acadia National Park, Maine: Jordan Pond House

Acadia's Park Loop road is a 27-mile road that takes you in a big circle on Mount Desert Island.
On this mostly one-way road, you can stop to visit the Wild Gardens of Acadia, the Nature Center, and there are many trail heads that allow you to hike and view the gorgeous sceneries.
One such trail head begins at Sand Beach, and takes you to the Beehive (520 ft summit), to the Bowl (a big lake), to Gorham Mountain (525 ft summit), and to Champlain Mountain (1058 ft summit).

With many trails intersecting one another, it is easy to spend a full day hiking on Mount Desert Island.
After a strenuous hike, you can continue your drive on the Park Loop road and stop at Jordan Pond House for a little snack.

Per our friends' recommendations, we stopped at Jordan Pond House to order "popovers" and blueberry lemonade.

The popover looks like a deformed muffin, but it is very light and hollow on the inside.
It is not sweet at all, and it is served with butter and strawberry jam.
It tastes a little bit like bread, and it is quite good after a long day's hike without lunch.

The blueberry lemonade is very sour but is served with sugar water for you to add as needed.

If you have never tried popovers before, you should try at least once.