One of my NY 'essentials' was to eat soul food in Harlem - and JB obligingly found Creole - a jazz venue and restaurant. Couple of subway hops and we were there...We were escorted to our table by the lovely softly spoken snappily dressed elderly dooman, and then our waiter introduced himself, promising "the best service possible". The restaurant is small (about 20 small tables maybe) and is set so each table or bench has a view of the front stage.

http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization.php?id=200 

I was desperate to be as 'southern' as possible in our ordering - so we started with the Lousiana Crab Cakes with wilted lemon spinach and mustard sauce ($12.95)  - these are made using fresh 'lump' crab meat and certainly didn't disappoint! The crab cakes were soft, sweet and deliciously crabby - the buttery lemony spinach was delish and the sauce a perfect complement to both.

For our 'entree' (mains) we (I) wanted the Gator Etouffe (I decided alligator was seafood...) but they were out. Sad times! We ordered the Shrimp Creole and the Blackened Salmon. Good choices! The shrimps were huge and sweet, nestled in sweet and spicy creole flavoured tomato based sauce with green peppers and onions over rice and with sauteed greens on the side - this was JB's choice of side. I thought 'BORING', but...it was very nice, and good to have at least one lighter food choice with a meal, I guess.

The blackened salmon was fantastic, and just tasted like good, well cooked salmon should. Sadly (as it proves was a buffoon I am), for me the main event was my choice of sides - black beans and FOUR CHEESE MACARONI. Shit...that macaroni was the cheesiest and the best thing I've ever had. It had so much cheese in it, it stood up by itself in a little cheesy balled scoop of comforting oozy goodness, with the macaroni just present as it they'd fallen into a molten fondue pot and been distributed around at random. The texture was like a firm brie, and the taste was superb! JB kindly let me have more that my share of the Mac, and I let him eat more creole shrimp.

Even though we were stuffed, I wanted to try the desserts (of course) and so we decided to order one and share it. We couldn't agree though and so we got the Sweet Potato Bread pudding with caramel and peacan sauce (JB) and the deep fried goodness of an Apple Cinnamon Beignet, served on top of creamy ice cream. The desserts were superb - I now think all pastry based desserts should be deep fried. Baking is for losers. Jb's choice (the bread pudding) was phenomenal - neither of us had ever had anything with a similar texture. It had a rich, brown sugar/butter caramel flavour, and the texture was somehow like a cross between a caramel mud cake and a mousse. It was so dense and rich and chewy and soft, yet also light anf fluffy, all at the same time. The rich sauce just added to the goodness of it all.

By the end of the meal, I was sad to be a white girl and wished I'd been grown up in Baton Rouge...dining on soul food and singin' the blues.

Oh, and the blues were certainly sung that night too! Two gorgeous soul sisters from the audience took turns accompanying the band, and both had personality plus. As well as massive voices, smiles and boobs. It was awesome. Next to me, on my right, a tiny little well - dressed gent was eating his fried chicken. Earl Speedo Carrol, from the Cadillacs! YES! Well, I'd never heard of him - but he looked so cool, and the ladies gave a shout out to him - and he amusingly bantered with them throughout. Even thought I didn't know who he was, I felt a bit starstruck 'cause he was just so damn cool - and now I've googled him: http://www.nealhollanderagency.com/Speedo/speedo.html 

Yeah, I should have got him to autograph me somewhere special.

 

There is something to be said for just wandering out of your hotel and stumbling upon the first restaurant you find.  But we probably would never have found Ahrarn Thai if we had done that.  Instead we downloaded one of those "make sense of the big city" apps to my I-Phone and it threw up this place as the only recommended restaurant in our hotel's vicinity. 
Ahrarn Thai is an unassuming place, it does takeaway as well, and we enjoyed a few Singha Beers at great prices over our meal.
We started with seafood spring rolls.  Those tasty babies were nothing like what we were expecting.  The usual pastry wrappers were replaced by an interweaved net of light noodles.  This removed the oily and fatty flavour that sometimes accompanies spring rolls.  And the usual moist inside was instead a mix of cooked and dried seafood.  Served with a tasty sweet sauce these kept our attention from the Thai salad we also ordered.  But once we discovered the salad with the bean cake and the fresh lettuce and bean sprout we kept it to finish with our mains - despite the waitresses' attempt to take it away from us.

One of the joys of vegaquarianism is that you can define the boundaries of your diet.  We eat seafood and get to choose what is included in the definition of seafood.  Is crocodile seafood?  What about duck?  How about Kimberley beef (it gets pretty wet in those parts)?  We had previously decided that crocodile is seafood, as long as it was the saltwater variety.  But what about frogs?  After surveying the menu I decided it was perfectly fine for us vegaquarians to order the Gob Panaeng - frog's leg's fried with panaeng paste and coconut milk.  They were served with Thai Basil which added a complementary anise flavour. 
It was only when Cassy had picked off the meat from the bones and was contemplating what to do with the bones when it dawned on her.   She had forgotten the need to decided whether frog's legs were in or out; due mainly to her excitement at seeing them on the menu.  She avoided the inner turmoil that I (briefly) experienced and instead suffered a delayed bone crunching horror which I quickly dispelled by reassuring her that frog's legs were definitely in.

The soft shelled crab was presented with  a more traditional basil, chilli pepper and onion smothering (Koong Kra Prow).  The spiciness of this dish kept us reaching for our Singhas, the Thai salad and the large glasses of iced water which were regularly topped up.
Our I-Phone app didn't let us down - it still hasn't actually!  So maybe download "The Best of New York City" if you are planning a trip this way.  And definitely catch a train to Queens and check out Arharn Thai.  And then head out for a few beers at nearby Veronica's bar.  We enjoyed a great Saturday night in this little 'hood.

Six Acres is in Gastown, Vancouver - and after a very chilly stroll on our first night in town, Mike, Jamie and I were extremely glad to sneak into its dark, warm, funky candlelit interior.

The extrerior is modest, even discreet, and the interior is understated cool - with exposed piping and dark brickwork (forgot to take photo...oops) and the menus set inside classic vintage childrens' story books.

The staff were uber cool (funky hair, well dressed etc) but luckily also friendly, and the dining is tapas style, and was...simply fabulous! A huge beer, wine, cider, cocktail and whisky selection kept us happy while we smashed down foods.

We almost missed these gorgeous little guys (left)  as they were called 'sliders' - which of course meant nothing to us. Luckily we spied another diner with the tiny little (about 2 inch diameter) burgers and we worked it out. We got the vego version - with cheddar. JB had an amusing moment where he completely freaked out about forgetting to order cheddar on our sliders (I've coaxed his cheese addiction along well)...which wasn't a problem really as we hadn't yet ordered at all. Delicious little guys, and so fun to eat something so tiny!

This was the best nicoise salad any od us had ever had - organic eggs, rare local salmon, organic baby potatos, fresh leaves and a light balsamic dressing. Delish!

Ok...this may be one of my favourite meals EVER - it was a little dip of gorgonzola and garlic - basically a tiny fondue in a bowl. It was creamy, warm and piquant - deliciously flavoured with the stong cheese but not too stinky. I was in heaven and the lads were not overwhelmed. There were big soft chunks of garlic too - which was LUSH. The toasted bread was the perfect complement, but so was the salad, the burgers, the mac cheese...and scooping it straight from the bowl was divine too. I could feel my pants getting tighter while I smashed it down, so I tried very hard to stop, but failed. I figured I'd need the extra energy due to the cold any

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Mac cheese. Al dente macaroni elbows. Gruyere. Parmesan. Cream. Cheedar. Cheesy bread crumb topping. Enough said. I could have eaten 5 of them and had to force self to remember it's not polite to hoover up all of the shared food to oneself. I wish I had ordered it secretly though and eaten it in the toilets.

We had various ales with dinner, and if it needed anything to make it even better, those ales fit the bill.

Cheap as chips too - $6-8 for gourmet beers (the same ones you'd pay $11+ for in Aus) and the foods were also well priced.

Six Acres...yeah, go there. It's fantastic.

Our dodgy overnith airport hotel in LA was on a busy street in El Segundo.  We could see the flouro lights of a takeaway Mexican restaurant through our window.  When we crossed the road we spied the sign to Maristos and decided it would be a better bet than the unnamed flouro restaurant.  Good decision.

The service was ... Mexican.  Cute Spanish speaking staff kindly served what we ordered by pointing at the menu.  Everything was served quickly, mostly becuase we were the only people eating at the restaurant. 

The food arrived after a wait, spent sipping Sprite, and was a revelation.  It is without a doubt the best mexican I have had.  I had a dish with two types of prawn salad, one cooked and one raw.  The raw prawn was drowned in lime and came with a concoction of tomato, cucumber, avocado herbs and light spices.  The cooked prawns were fine as well - perfectly cooked but lacking the bite of the lime.  The salad stuffs on both prawn selections were fresh.

Cassy had a wet grilled fish burrito. We always share everything we eat at restaurants.  This is the best burrito I have ever tasted.  The fish was grilled and served with the standard sauce, rice and beans.  The flavour and texture was sensational and we polished off the entire burrito.  I can still taste the flavour and want some more even though I am writing this review at breakfast.

Dinner cost us $30 including a tip and a free beer courtesy of the local mexicans perched at the restaurant bar.  I am not sure why we were the only people eating there.  We were made so welcome with fabulous food and free beer. 

J