i'm with best food ever

Has anyone tuned into the brand new TLC show called Best Food Ever? Another overdone food show blending "Best Thing I Ever Ate", "Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives" and those Star countdown type shows. I just couldn't resist tuning in not only because it's food related, but it's narrated by John Goodman. The premise: every episode lists their picks for top places around the US to find the "Best Of". The first episode was Sensational Sandwiches and I felt like the show was totally whack. There didn't seem to be any method to their choices and the sandwiches were just silly - nothing special, nothing of quality and hardly unique.

I ended up catching the second episode, Bodacious Bakeries. This definitely piqued my interest. It was baker's eye candy and so much fun to watch. When the countdown came to number three they revealed Tartine in San Fransisco. Nuno and I went there on our honeymoon and I can totally attest to the quality of this bakery. Famous for their croissants I snapped a photo of the almond croissant I ate. Mmmm, crispy, light and flaky exterior contrasting a centre of rich pastry cream filled delight. I'll never forget the experience of eating this.

The line up is always out the door. We went at 11 am on a Tuesday in September and had to wait. When we finally made it in here was the display before us.

Those in SF are a group of very lucky people to be able to enjoy this bakery.

When John Goodman revealed the number one bakery was Modern Pastry in Boston I was super excited. We also visited this bakery 2 years ago while in town.

Actually, my evening in the North End of Boston is one of my favourite memories of all time. I enjoyed fresh oysters and wine at Neptune Oysters and finished the evening at Modern Pastry with a cannoli. Turns out they are famous for their torrone and now wish I picked up one of those as well.

I get a kick out of how I've somehow managed to end up at some of the best places on my trips to cities in the US. I'm getting serious now. I'm making it my mission to start visiting these Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives joints!

Triple D in B-lo

I've mentioned before about how I have this guilty pleasure in watching the Food Network show Diner's Drive In's and Dives. For anyone who hasn't seen this show, it's a cross America tour of, as the name suggests, Diner's Drive In's and Dives. It's fun to live vicariously through all the greasy, artery clogging and totally indulgent concoctions that exist out there. It's also a lot of fun to see what lengths restaurant owners go to to make quality, from scratch specialties.
I started following Guy Fieri, (who is kinda lame, I know) on Twitter just for the inside scoop on where he was. I joined him just in time for his visit to Buffalo!! I've been looking forward to the season where they feature their stops in B-lo. Although this season hasn't aired in Canada yet, I found these YouTube clips of their choices and I'm now totally obsessed with visiting these places. I hope to blog all about it as we knock them off.













Oh and speaking of TRIPLE D, we are planning a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida in November and I've already found 2 places from the show we'll have to visit.

Diner's, Drive-In's & Dives - The Dor-Stop

I mentioned in my last entry that we were in Pittsburgh over the weekend. While there, we had a complete day to ourselves to enjoy the city.

One plan we had was to visit the Dor-Stop. Nuno and I heard about this place on an episode of the Food Network show Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives. I get a kick out of this show because it relates to my sensibility of dropping yourself into a new city and finding hidden jems specific and special to the area you are visiting. We always said that if we had a chance to check out a place that looked decent from the show we should. Dor-Stop appeared on an episode called What's for Breakfast.

The Dor-Stop are known for their breakfasts, specifically Hot Cakes! They make so many flavour combinations that, after watching the episode, I immediately wanted the banana walnut hot cake. But then I was also tempted to try the pumpkin. Once there, I finally decided on the Banana Chocolate Chip!

What can I say, it was to-die-for! The tastiest pancakes I've ever had - hands down. Very rich and satisfying - it took me 2 breakfasts to eat all these.

Nuno doesn't eat sugar, but the episode also featured something called Jumbots. I always called this a breakfast scramble. It included eggs, ham, onions & peppers. He really liked it and unlike the pancakes, we could totally remake something like this at home.