Lolita (Philadelphia)

My friend Dave and I went for dinner at this cash-only outfit in the Market East section of Philadelphia. I'm glad we did because I forgot how great this place is since last time I visited two years before.

The menu at Lolita offers modern Mexican fare. This is not quite your authentic Mexican cuisine (and I'm not talking about tacos tortas and chalupas, I mean moles, Carne Tampiqueña, Pescado a la Veracruzana, etc.) but rather new interpretations with traditional ingredients. The entrees were outstanding, very rich in flavor and highly textured. The lamb entree is small cutlets of tender lamb bathed in a rich and slightly spicy sauce with a small corn and mushroom tamale. The presentation is very nice and inventive. Lolita often serves Margarita specials that come in a full pitcher. You can also bring your tequila!

Considering the attentive service and the warm and cozy ambiance, Lolita is truly an outstanding dining experience.

MuQueCa (Boston)

MuQueCa is a tribute to the scrumptious northeastern Brazilian cuisine, a fusion the cuisines of West Africa, Portuguese African, Europe, and Native Brazilian. It is located near Inman Square in Cambridge (yes, I know, Cambridge and Boston are different cities).

The main dish at MuQueCa is of course, moqueca which is a fish or seafood stew. In the more famous baiana version, the stew includes coconut milk and palm oil. Most moquecas here are served capixaba style (from the state of Espirito Santo) where the latter two ingredients are not present. Diners can chose to have fish only, or mix and match with a variety of seafood. The perfect side is pirão, which is much like a less solid polenta, except you use mandioc flour and fish or seafood broth. You may also want to try the Bobó de Camarão, a creamy shrimp dish that could remind you of South East Asian curries as it often served with white rice. The menu also offers whole fried fish, coconut shrimp and a variety of meat and poultry if you're not feeling like seafood. Meals at MuQueCa are richly seasoned, not too spicy/hot, and very flavorful.

Moquecas are generous meals, so come hungry or come ready to share!

Mineiro Cuisine and Dona Lucinha (Belo Horizonte)

Comida Mineira, the traditional food of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais is a great candidate to lead the internationalization of Brazilian cuisine. The culinary delights that this cuisine has to offer may be simple in appearance, but don't be fooled since the stews are steeped in history, and the labor-intensive and time-consuming methods reflect the passion of Mineiros.

Tropeiros were "cowboys/trailblazers" who guided livestock to the frontiers of the Brazilian territory during colonial and early republican times. Given their lifestyle, their meals tended to be filling and practical. Today, many of those are part of traditional mineiro cuisine. Take for instance Feijão Tropeiro, a mix of beans with cassava (a.k.a. manioc, yuca) flour garnished with linguiça (pork saussage), torresmo (pork rinds) and eggs. Another famous tropeiro meal is Vaca Atolada which is stewed beef ribs with manioc.

Comida da fazenda, or farm-style food, fills in the other half of the Mineiro cuisine and is most representative of the agricultural heritage of the state. Frango com Quiabo, is stewed chicken with okra often served with sliced couve (a strong, leafy vegetable related to cabbage known as collard greens) and angú (corn or manioc flour cooked with water to make a mash, much like polenta in Italian cuisine).

Perhaps the most famous Mineiro food is Pão de Queijo (Cheese bread) which is bread made from manioc flour and cheese, eaten at any time of the day as a side or snack.

Typical desserts rely heavily on fruits or dairy products. Fruits such as oranges, papaya, guava, figs, and pineapples are cooked and served either as a pureé or a compote-like dessert. Dairy products also help satiate Mineiro sweet-tooth, for example doçe de leite is milk and sugar throughly cooked into a mousse-like cream. This dessert has been made famous as dulce de leche since it's also present in the Spanish-speaking world. Mineiros like their dairy so much, they even mix fruit and dairy in their desserts. Romeu e Julieta is guava paste presented with pieces of fresh white cheese.

All of these, and many other traditional dishes are served at Dona Lucinha, a buffet-style restaurant in downtown Belo Horizonte. At Dona Lucinha the quantity does not mean quality is sacrificed. I recommend going hungry and trying as many options as possible. Outside of the exceptional food, the restaurant is quite normal. Dona Lucinha also has a restaurant serving the same great food in São Paulo!

Tua (Guatemala City)

Tua is not a staekhouse, yet it serves superb steak. It's not a seafood restaurant, but its sushi-grade tuna is a true specialty. Tua is simply an outstanding restaurant located outside the traditional restaurant areas of Guatemala City, at Escala shopping center on Carretera a El Salvador.

Just looking at Tua's menu hints that one is in for a treat. The extensive menu features an eclectic mix of appetizers (e.g. Shrimp in Coconut Chutney), a variety of steak, poultry (e.g. Chipotle Chicken, Forest Fruit Duck Breast) and fish (e.g. Tamarind Bass) dishes, a very interesting take on lamb and pasta for which I hear I ought to go back for.

For an appetizer, the Tuna Tataki features fish of freshness and quality that is hard to find even at Japanese restaurants, and is presented with wontons and avocado . The balsamic infused steak was terrific, evenly cooked and rich in flavor. The steamed vegetables were nicely seasoned and crisply textured. The Parisian Café Steak is not necessarily an innovative dish, but it was very well executed. Of the desserts, I tried the fried banana à la mode and the hazelnut mousse, which was surprisingly solid but rich in texture and taste. The majority of the menu was left unexplored, but I invite you to be adventurous! I surely will next time.

Outstanding food, pleasant environment, and attentive service ages ahead of Guatemalan standards. Tua is the best restaurant I have been to in Guatemala; and certainly on par with the best restaurants I've been to in other countries.

La Mar (Lima, Peru)

Located in the Miraflores district of Lima, La Mar is an epicure's dream restaurant. La Mar is the brainchild of Gastón Acurio, one of the most prominent ambassadors of peruvian cuisine and a leader of the peruvian gastronomic rennaissance.

The extensive menu features all kinds of delicacies from under the sea. Cebiches, the specialty, are small pieces of raw fish or other seafood in a rich sauce, served cold. I found the Nikei and Mistura cebiches to be especially tasty. Tiraditos are Cebiches siblings where the emphasis is stronger on the seafood and less on the sauce. The menu features many other seafood-based specialties such as the delicious Arroz La Mar, which is most easily described as a peruvian interpretation of Paella. What is most important is that every ingredient is incredibly fresh, rendering the flavors more authentic and rich.

And for those of us who don't happen to be in Lima often, La Mar has branches in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Mexico, Panama, Santiago and soon in Bogotá.

Carcamusas (Toledo, Spain)

Wandering the streets of the medieval town of Toledo, I walked into a small family restaurant (Café Bar El Almacen) on Plaza Salvador. There were no customers except for the three men who avidly discussed the logistics of using their trucks for the harvest and an older lady who incessantly played an electronic game of chance in the back of the bull-fighter-decorated restaurant.

As is traditionally done in Spain, the restaurant offered a prix-fix lunch menu; an appetizer, a main dish, drink and dessert. I was craving paella, so that was my appetizer. The list of mains featured standard Spanish fare, plus a couple of lesser-known options, Carcamusas and Deer Steak. It turns out that Carcamusas is a traditional dish from Toledo. It's a melange of pork meats (chorizo, loin, etc.) with a few vegetables and served with potato fries and bread (a beef version also exists). The restaurant keeper brought out a bottle of wine and told me to feel free to drink however much I wanted (I had 2 glasses). I finished off the meal with homemade flan.

This was quite a filling and enjoyable meal; nothing fancy, just a good-ol' home-cooked epicurean delight!

Kushari (Egypt)

Perhaps the most popular street food in Egypt, Kushari is a melange of different small noodles, rice, fried onions, tomato paste, garbanzo beans, lentils and spices served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. It can be very flavorful although not necessarily very inventive. It is highly energetic, likely the reason for why many workers will eat this for lunch. As the picture shows, it is a simple yet interesting food!

The best chocolate in the world! (Egypt)

I decided to climb Mt Sinai, the famous mountain where Moses and God had a conversation and Moses received the 10 commandments. Outside of the religious significance, it's mesmerizing to think that those 10 commandments permeate our modern society after so long. The 5km desert hike takes you up about 800 m. in 2 - 3 hours. I was climbing with my new friend Lucy and our Bedouin guide Ahmed. Lucy and I were having a hard time; we collectively went through 3 liters of water and on multiple occasions doubted our ability to make it up the top. With about half an hour left of climbing, our spirits down and our energy nearly depleted, we came upon a small Bedouin-run shop, stocked with sugary drinks, water and snacks. I didn't think too much before grabbing a Cardbury milk chocolate and hazelnut bar. At that moment, I thought it was the best chocolate bar in the world. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because that chocolate bar at the top of Mt Sinai reminded me that good taste and enjoyment is relative to each person's experience and I wanted to explicitly invite readers to share their experiences!

What's the best chocolate you've ever had?

Confluence of Epicures

It started with my friend and I planning to grab dinner to catch up. I wanted to check out restaurants participating in Boston's restaurant week and she suggested an obscure little social club where "[eritrean] food is only served to members and their friends" and members toil around watching TV, chatting and playing foosball, pool or cards. Without much hesitation, I obliged.

Then there was the roommate who was attending a lecture on String Theory at Harvard and really wanted to come when she found out about our plans. And with her, the scientist friend who develops pharmaceuticals with medical effects similar to those of Cannabis. Per chance, walking down the street, my friend from undergrad who is now a String Theorist at Harvard. And finally, one of our character's boyfriend, an entrepreneur-negotiator-capoeira fighter.

After some shenanigans to get to our destination, and a cast of very hungry characters, we arrived and sat ourselves on some chairs and sofas around a table normally found in living rooms. No menu, you just need to say what you'll drink and how many people in the party. The boyfriend suggested honey wine and was that a delight! A very crisp, light and sweet beverage that anybody could mistake for an innocuous infantile beverage. Be careful, this one can get you drunk fast.

Our lovely hosts cooked everything from scratch. It took an hour to prepare the meal for all of us. And, let me tell you, it was a feast! We had a meal similar to an Ethiopian meal; a variety of richly stewed meats and vegetables, eaten by picking up pieces with your fingers and Injera (the foamy, yeasty, pancake-like bread). Wow.

Search of noodles

A couple friends and I needed a noodle fix Saturday night, but the wait at Ippudo was 2.5 hours! We audibled to hunt for hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown. At 9pm, Food Sing 88 was closed, New York Noodletown was closed (more on that in a it), but my friend Taylor found Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles open. Their menu was pretty simple: Soups, dumplings, rice cakes and stir fried noodles. You pick your style, pick a meat, pick a noodle and then eat. I got the mixed beef (tripe, tendon and sliced) and we all shared the dumplings. The broth was meh, but the nice part is always watching the guys make the noodles. I mean, what a cool skill: keep stretching dough till you make nice little strands...then thwack thwack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1kw2k9iS8A&NR=1

So Great NY Noodletown on Bowery and Bayard seems to be closed. Might be a health inspection thing, but man do I miss that place. I hope the rats leave those nice older chinese chefs and the surly cashier woman alone.

Mexican Standoff

I've been searching for a taqueria for a while near my hometown of Lansdale. The town and surrounding towns have a good amount of immigrants who have been opening up nice markets and produce stalls, but not too many restaurants. Specifically, there are a good amount of Mexicans in the area, but not any reputable taquerias. My thought was that 1) The Mexicans are keeping the food to themselves or 2) I am not aware. My experience with Mexicans is that they are very generous people on the whole so I was pretty sure it was my ignorance that kept me from finding out about the goods. That plus I am rarely in Lansdale.

So this past Saturday, my dad suggested we get Mexican food and we drove to Souderton where there was a promising restaurant named Xinantecatl. In my experience, mexican restaurants in the US that are named in mesoamerican languages tend to be good. This one was a small mexican grocery store with a room/open kitchen in the back and 4 tables. One of the tables was occupied with a Mexican woman chatting up the chef in spanish and her Indian date. The chef, Juan, was a pretty cool guy and apparently worked with a lot of Indians, who he labeled hard workers (bonus points in his book). He also seemed to like the indian food his co-workers brought to lunch.

Juan hooked us up with a couple great tortas, tacos and a shrimp and potato soup that has the house special. The tortas were excellent and I'll go back for those. I've recently been transitioning away from tacos to the torta as my go-to carb accompaniment to the meat...and this place re-inforced that.

Juan was the man and mentioned that the owner and his son (Juan's brother and father in law) are renowned for his whole goat barbacoa...hopefully they start cooking that up in the summer.

We talked a bit about the similarities among the Mexican and Indian people. I think Juan might be part Indian.


http://www.soudertonmexicanrestaurant.com

Belly Shack (Chicago)

Are these foods awesome or what?

Belly Shack is... an eatery? a restaurant? a sandwich shop? all of the above! It's under the blue line tracks (literally) at the Western stop in Bucktown. Belly Shack's incredibly creative menu stems from the genius couple Bill Kim and Yvone Cadiz-Kim. Consider for example the Boricua sammich which packs Asian black beans, grilled marinated tofu and rice in between two large slabs of fried plantain. Or the Korean BBQ Kogi, a do-it-yourself pita sandwich with Korean BBQ beef. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu; it's that simple.

The locale is well kept and pleasant; simplicity and functionality are the design paradigms here. One of my favorites in Chicago!

The Brothers Bloom

A very entertaining movie!

"The Brothers Bloom" is a the story of two mischievous siblings and their odd companion Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) who who are expert at conning people around the world. Bloom (Adrien Brody) is frustrated that his life has been written for him by his older brother Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and decides he wants to quit to live his own life. Stephen convinces Bloom to join one last swindle on the eccentric millionaire Penelope (Rachel Weisz). What ensues is a comical, romantic, around-the-world adventure where I was constantly engaged trying to figure out what was scripted and what was 'real'.

Good acting, outstanding script, subtle themes and a quirky but memorable musical score render this movie one of my personal favorites!

Tango Sur (Chicago)

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago.

Tango Sur is an Argentinian steakhouse and restaurant in Lakeview (at Southport and Grace). Their specialty is Argentinian-style steak, which means sizable slabs of meat (mostly beef, although pork meats and chicken are also available), very lightly seasoned, charcoal grilled and served with simple garnishes (salad and chimichurri sauce). They also offer a few traditional entrees popular in Argentina (you may notice some italian influence). My recommendation is to get only appetizers and items from the grill. I've been disappointed when venturing onto the more elaborate dishes. The Provoletta appetizer and Longaniza side are quite outstanding. Notable beef cuts are Entraña, Churrasco and Vacío. You can get a sampling by ordering the Parillada.

For dinner, ambiance is quite intimate, ideal for a date. For lunch, the place is much more lively and family or group-friendly, especially in summer when their is outside seating. Don't forget to bring your favorite wine since this is a BYOB restaurant!

The Lives of Others

Surprisingly amazing.

The Lives of Others takes place in 1984 East Germany and tells the story of "Operation Lazlo", a surveillance effort led by Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe) to collect evidence against the highly regarded and otherwise state trusted playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend, the talented actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). This is the debut feature-length film by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Acting, be it on or off-stage, is a recurring theme in the film. Von Donnersmark also explores concepts such as motive and existence in subtle ways. Acting, photography and music are good, however directing truly stands out thanks to a story-line that keeps you engaged until the very end.

12 Bones Asheville (continued)

I stumbled upon 12 Bones (and Asheville) on a BBQ trip last summer. Was enjoying a couple pints at Heinzelmanchen brewery in Sylva, NC on the ways from Great Smokey Mountain National Park with Dieter the brewer in his brewery (a converted garage). When I told him my reason for being in Sylva (eat all things BBQ down south), he suddenly became possessed. He frantically drew me a map of Asheville and directions to a BBQ place called 12 Bones and the Wedge brewery. Said it would be the best BBQ I have ever had. Now mind you Dieter was a german and didn't seem like a man who hastily dished out superlatives...so after about the 15th time of him telling me to go I agreed and we tossed aside our plans (whatever they were I forgot) and drove to Asheville. Best decision of the trip. What a great town. 12 Bones was closed when we arrived, but we soaked ourselves on the patio at Wedge Brewery while listening to a weird bluegrass/blues/country/Caribbean band...guitarist/banjo player was sick. 12 Bones the next day, after some pretty interesting experiences with the local.

Dieter can be found here.

From BBQ Roadtrip 2009

From BBQ Roadtrip 2009

From BBQ Roadtrip 2009

Breweries (Asheville)

Surprisingly to most, Asheville NC boasts a high number of microbreweries per capita. Asheville seems to have more breweries per capita than Portland, Oregon (often considered the microbrewing capital of the US).

City	City Population	Urban Population	Breweries within City Limits	Residents per Brewery
Asheville NC	75,000	220,000	9	8,333
Portland	580,000	2,100,000	50	11,600

I visited a few of them and was pleasantly surprised. Of particular note were Pisgah (in Black Mountain) and French Broad. Pisgah is an all-organic microbrewery that makes a coffee infused porter (Valdez) that tastes like you're drinking a cold shot of espresso with alcohol and an in-your-face Belgian (Solstice) that has a very rich and floral finish. French Broad (named after a river that runs through the region) specializes in unique interpretations of European style beers like their Belgian Stout which is a light stout with a Belgian finish (thanks to the yeast used during fermentation). "What's up with that!?" Trust me, it's quite interesting.

I'm considering a trip down to Asheville for the Brewgrass festival in September...

12 Bones (Asheville)

Le Shark threatened that if I didn't go to 12 Bones while in Asheville he would lose respect for me. I might as well say that to anybody going to Asheville from now on...

12 Bones is a southern/BBQ restaurant with two locations in Asheville (the original in south Asheville and the newer one in the River Arts District). As you would expect, they specialize in rubbing any kind of amazing sauce on pork and other meats. My brother and I devoured enough food to feed a few more people than the two of us. Of special note are the Fried Green Tomatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens, BLT Sandwich and of course, the Baby-back Ribs. The sauces 12 Bones makes are amazing, very tasty and full of character. Their Blueberry-Chipotle sauce is award-winning.

Service is very friendly and incredibly fast once you've paid your dues and waited for a table. Make sure you go ready to eat a lot and get a really great value.

Bukhara Grill (New York)

My friend who recommended Bukhara (Midtown Manhattan) said it was the only place he knew in the US that prepares Sikandari Raan well. And what a delightful dish that was!

Sikandari Raan is a richly marinated leg of lamb baked in a Tandoor oven. Wow! Was it one of the tenderest meats I've eaten! Quite memorable also was the Chicken Malai appetizer (could very well have been an entrée) which brought a fresh and crisp flavor profile to plump and juicy chicken breast cubes. And to finish off, the Jamun-e-Gul was delectable as it was sweet enough but not overpowering as most places tend to make it.

Other than the Raan and the Makki Ki Roti (corn roti which was a first for me!) the menu at Bukhara is fairly standard Indian fare for a US restaurant. Portions are generous and as such, I recommend going in a group of at least 4 to share and try the variety.

The ambiance at Bhukara is relaxed and comfortable. If the place is full, I'd expect it to be quite noisy. Unless you get the pleasure of sitting close to some banker who forgot he's no longer at the center of his little universe and decides to discuss his wheelings and dealings privately with his mates for everyone in the restaurant to hear.

Barcelona (New Haven)

I was once again charmed during my second visit to this superbly designed restaurant in downtown New Haven.

The menu includes a variety of tapas, cheeses, hams and wines as well as a few personal dishes and traditional Valencian paella. The ambience can be romantic and mellow, however tables with groups of people are the norm. The music selection is eclectic and enjoyable spanning Iberian Flamenco, Cuban classical son, Brazilian Bossa Nova and spanish slow pop.

The bread is served fresh and warm and is quite memorable. Very few tapas are not outstanding, but my favorites are: Chorizo with Figs, Grilled Hangar Steak, Cauliflower Cazuela, Avocado Salad and Papas Bravas. The dessert menu leaves nothing to be desired; do not miss the Crepas Salguero. I recommend going in a group, ideally 4-6 people and by all means share dishes!

Inglorious Basterds

Marcelo, I agree with you on that movie. Was really good suspense + drama + wonderful ending. I like Tarantino movies in general and I find him really funny and this movie was hilarious. Brad Pitt's Italian impression was perfect and was probably the funniest part of the movie for me...and how good was Landa's character written/performed. The rest of the cast meh....but Brad Pitt doing his best impression of George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Though + Landa was killer. Was one of the more entertaining movies I've seen. Wish I saw it sooner.

Saw Hurt Locker too, not sure if you've seen that Pinche, but its pretty good. The dude from Friday Night Lights was pretty good in it. I don't think they ate anything the entire movie...in fact one of the scenes was about how they didn't have food int he desert, so not sure if I should be writing about this movie.

Saw Food, inc. which is about food and you could save yourself 1.5 hours by just knowing that"
1) Mass Produced Food is cost-affective
2) Mass production of food causes certain actual issues (susceptibility to mass plagues) but also has many benefits which cause America to be big and strong and powerful (a point I think curiously the movie left out)
3) Americas should look deeper into what they are eating and how the food ends up on the table.

I think the movie is made for people already paying for $12/lb chicken that was allowed to roam free, eat nice things and take its hen out to dinner on friday nights. The movie makes big food seem like harbingers of death but doesn't give a lot of credit to the fact that the American food supply, general food quality and safety is pretty impressive. Even the poorest American has somewhat decent options for food. Compare that to India, Africa etc. where people actually starve to death. The movie also doesn't really bring up the point that most plants and animals are genetically modified (whole point of domestication is to breed the best to maximize food supply). The idea the movie preaches about food roaming freely is extremely inefficient and impractical on a large scale. Its nice for the Whole Foods Collective to use as ammunition to smugly denounce Costco and Walmart shoppers.

2.5 hrs into Spartacus

The death of Jean Simmons + advertisements for the Spartacus show on some channel (Showtime? A&E?) got me to finally sit down to watch Spartacus....watching that movie (I am 2.5 hours into it, couldn't do it all in one night) I couldn't help but be amazed at Kirk Douglas's chin. I know Kubrick got pissed at Kirk during the movie and they hated each other afterwards but its entirely possible that Kubrick told the cameraman to focus on Kirk's chin the entire movie...that thing itself could bring down the Roman army.

Some thoughts while watching it:
- I wonder if Kirk Douglas gets royalties from every Gladiator movie ever made after Spartacus, but I guess he would have to cede credit to Ben Hur and on and on and on...
- Maximus (Gladiator) completely ripped off Spartacus
- Peter Ustinov was great...nice combo of funny and sleazy...wish there was more of him in the movie...another character Gladiator sort of ripped off
- I remember being amazed that Jean Simmons' breasts didn't peek out during the swimming in the pond scene. At one point the showed about a foot of cleavage without a hint of nipple. I was thoroughly amazed at the camera work.
- How the hell did they get all those people to walk through the dessert for all of those scenes...is that a huge stage? Did they really drag ten thousand people into the California dessert and then make them walk across it with goats?

I am 75% about finishing the movie...especially since Wikipedia ruined the ending for me.

W/o onions and garlic

One of our Hindu mourning traditions is to shun all meat, fish and certain vegetables, grains and pulses for a period of 12 days after a death (everyday practice for Jains). Members of the onion and garlic family are forbidden, which brings up an interesting challenge for the earnest Epicurean. How to find tasty things that do not contain garlic and onion....

In major Indian cities, I can find restaurants that cater to this diet, but in America I thought it would be more difficult than it has been. In fact, I would argue that there are more varied options in the States than in India. Some examples:

Italian: Margherita Pizza, cream based pastas,
Japanese: Miso Soup, tofu appetizers (fried tofu), Seaweed salads (without scallions of course)
Indian: Jain spice packets like the ones Rasoi Magic have http://www.rasoimagic.com/jain.html, samosas, some south indian dishes


Usually the asian diaspora restaurants (Chinese, Thai etc.) will hook up a stir fry of your vegetable choosing.

Am going to be in England this week and will report back on those options.

Pics to follow....

3 Idiots

Very entertaining!

"3 Idiots" is a Bollywood hit about three engineering students from very different backgrounds who meet at one of the finest engineering colleges in India. In a atemporal fashion, the movie tells of their friendship in school, their relationship (mostly their run-ins) with the strict director and what happens to each of them after graduation.

Unlike more traditional Bollywood films, "3 Idiots" is short (at 2 1/2 hrs) and has less musical scenes. The acting and dialog are both very funny, even for those who are not very familiar with Indian culture like myself. Filming took place throughout India and there are very beautiful mountain scenes. I found some the songs in the film to be catchy!

Spacca Napoli (Chicago)

One of new favorites in Chicago!

Spacca Napoli is a family-owned Italian restaurant specialized in Neapolitan-style pizza. They have their own wood-fired brick oven used to make pizza and bread. Spacca Napolis is located in the Ravenswood neighborhood, a few blocks from the Montrose brown-line stop.

I had the Ubriaca (one of the daily specials) which was an olive-oil based (no tomato sauce) wine-fermented cheese and prosciutto pizza. It was really tasty: the dough was thin, chewy and nicely toasted and the ingredients very flavorful. Many of the other options had fresh basil which I got to try from a friend's pizza and would also recommend.

The restaurant is well lit and comfortable and service was very attentive. Expect to wait in line, or make a reservation.

Thanks to David from David's Second Helping for the suggestion.

Inglourious Basterds

Tarantino's film delivers quite an epicurean delight!

Inglouriuos Basterds develops two independent story lines and their convergence in German occupied France during World War II. Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), the "Basterds" is a highly feared guerilla of Jewish-Americans who go about killing and scalping Nazis. Shosanna Dreyfus, a.k.a. Emmanuelle Mimieux, (Mélanie Laurent) is a young cinema owner in Paris who finds herself in the middle of an opportunity to avenge the brutal killing of her family by SS Colonel Hans Landa's (Cristoph Waltz) men. Their stories meet on the premiere night of "Nation's Pride", a state-sponsored German war film.

The film has rich dialog, superb acting, outstanding photography and a top-notch musical soundtrack. The movie kept me on my toes and also made me laugh many times.

Welcome to Epicurean Musings

I'm a 20-something guy who enjoys food, drinks and visual arts. I live in Chicago, a city that offers great opportunities to explore these tastes. I'm also fortunate to travel a lot for work and fun and so I get chance to experiment in other cities.

Although I find rating sites such as Yelp useful, I prefer specific recommendations from human beings. I also find enjoyment in recommending people to something they'll like. That is why I started Epicurean Musings.

What to expect:

1. I will only write about experiences I find worthwhile; in other words, if I write about it, it's a recommendation
2. In an effort to keep entries concise, I will write a description of the experience and then the reasons why I liked it
3. I won't delve into details of prices; restaurants I visit tend to be under $40 a person with an appetizer and/or a drink
4. I'll be delighted to take recommendations, feel free to send via comment
5. At some point I will likely have guest writers. Rest assured, they'll have good taste :)

Welcome!