Troy, MI - I happen to stumble on this Thai restaurant called Bangkok Bistro Cafe. They had Pad Ma Ker on the menu, a dish I don't believe I had before. So, as you can see, it was one of the coconut curry dishes, but they prepared it differently that others I have had. This was much more creamy than what I was used to having. The main item is eggplant that is sauteed in the curry sauce. I about licked the plate clean. I would bet the restaurant owners thought I was crazy, it was so delicious. The creaminess was what made the dish a huge hit. The eggplant was also prepared perfectly, very tender and full of flavor. Enjoy!

Royal Oak, MI - Back to one of my favorite restaurants, Red Coat Tavern. I realize I do eat there too much! There is an appetizer that I've been wanting to try for so long, but it's not the healthiest option. It's the Scotch egg, which is a hard boiled egg, wrapped in ground sausage, then deep fried and served with spicy mustard. Can you stay heart attack? Well, that's exactly the reason why I couldn't have this all the time. So, I built up the courage for the artery cloger, and well, I have to say, it's worth it. I made it a little more healthy by not eating the yolk, but it probably would have been great as well. Not that it's any better not eating the yolk, the rest of it for you will surely still kill you. On the other hand, the deep fried sausage was delicious and when dipped into the spicy mustard, well, all I can say was that it was worth it. Enjoy!

Clawson, MI - Since the food was so good at Due Venti, we had to try desert as well. These are the two we had and did not regret any of the calories! :)

The first dish was Zeppole. These are fritters of ricotta cheese, eggs, spices, and flour, deep fried into a donut. It is served with warm espresso and dark chocolate sauce. This was total heaven. The fritters were served warm and almost melted in your mouth. Once you dipped it into the sauce, they were irresistible! This dessert is a must.

We also tried the Torta Barozzi, a flourless dark chocolate cake, made with ground almonds, butter, espresso, and peanuts. It is served with homemade mascarpone ice cream. Legend has it, this recipe was invented at a pasticceria in the village of Vignola, Italy in 1897. The cake was excellent. It is rich and full of flavor and not as dense as many flourless cakes though. I loved that it wasn't as dense as other cakes. The ice cream is the home run of the dish. It is absolutely worth getting again. It has a delicate flavor and you don't often have the opportunity to have ice cream made of mascarpone. Enjoy!

Clawson, MI - I always look for a locally owned restaurant and one in which cares about their community and environment. My friends took me to an Italian restaurant that is just that, called Due Venti. They purchase their food from local farmers and purchase organic when they can. Their passion for their food comes out in their presentation of the dishes, but also in the flavor and execution. These are all the dishes we shared, I hope you enjoy and take the time to make it out to Due Venti.


We started with the Fritelle Ripiene de Cavolflore, cauliflower cakes. They are pan fried in olive oil, have a hint of garlic for some extra flavor, and then served with tomato caponata and a garlic-herb aioli. Make this dish part of your repertoire. Don't miss this one. The aioli sauce highlights the cakes very well.

I am a garlic lover. I would put garlic in anything, so when we had the opportunity to have Zuppa Dell'aglio, garlic soup, I wasn't going to pass the opportunity. This is a garlic and sage housemade vegetable broth, topped with mozzarella and apple crostini. It didn't have as much garlic flavor as I was hoping, but for those casual garlic lovers, it would be perfect for you.

I ordered the Tortella di Carciofi, vegetarian ravioli. It is handmade white wine pasta filled with artichokes, carrots, garlic, pecorino, basil, and mascarpone cheese, tossed in a brown butter sauce and topped with shaved pecorino. The pasta is down-right delicious when it's made from scratch. The sauce compliments the pasta very well and I left nothing on this plate!

This is Torta della Melenzana, baked eggplant. If I could have changed my dish through the dinner, I would have changed it to this one. I tried this and really didn't want to return to my own. It is eggplant, layered in a tomato sauce, caciocavallo cheese, and topped with an egg and cream custard. Even though it is much heavier than the pasta dish, the flavor is very sophisticated and delicate at the same time. It's able to deliver the individual flavors of each component without being to heavy. This is one of the best dishes that night.

Lastly, we tried the Pesci Crostosi con Pistachio, sea bass. It is pistachio crusted sea bass, pan seared and served with a citrus butter, sauteed zucchini, garbanzo beans, mint, and crumbed goat cheese. This was my least favorite. The sea bass was prepared and seasoned well, but it was a very weak flavor. It didn't have enough impact as the other dishes. Standing alone, I thought it was good, but in comparison, it fell short. The vegetables on the side tasted very well though with the sauce, mint, and cheese.

Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - I forgot to include these dishes when I was blogging about Jerusalem and the definitely deserve to be up here. I can remember the name of the restaurant, but it was something like Zala's.

We started with a Bruchetta that had absolutely delicious fresh tomatoes and Parmesan cheese on top. The other dish was an Endive Salad, which was very good. The strong flavored endive is complimented with Roma tomatoes and a light oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. The last appetizer was the french onion soup that was topped with filo doe. I love filo doe and to put that on top of the soup, superb.


We then shared the Pumpkin Ravioli. Excellent. I wish it came with more, but I would have over eaten. It was spiced very well, light in flavor, but smooth. Very good and I highly recommend it. All the dishes are perfect for the vegetarian in Jerusalem. Enjoy!

West Conshohocken, PA - While in Pennsylvania, I went to dinner to Stella Blu. It's a little local restaurant that has very delicious food. By some crazy chance that you're there or traveling through, stop in.


We started with the Artichoke Heart appetiser. I recommend you starting with this as well. They are lightly seared, prepared very well, and topped with a delicious spicy mayonnaise. I could have ordered another plate of this for dinner.

My entree was spaghetti with littleneck clams prepared in a white wine and garlic sauce. The pasta and clams compliment each other very well. The clams very very good and I didn't leave a single one on the plate. I probably would have one criticism, which would be that the sauce didn't have a enormous amount of diverse flavor and powerful enough flavor of one thing, but overall, it still was very good. Enjoy!

Paris, France - On our way back from Israel, we had a day layover in Paris. So, we get to walk around and grab some food before we leave. I wish I could say we had the opportunity to get really good French food, but unfortunately not.


Right along the river, there are several food stands that we could take advantage of for a quick lunch. There wasn't a line, so it should probably tell you something about the food. It was something simple like a chicken salad Baguette. Not bad, bud pretty straight forward, nothing adventures. Then I saw on the menu Sausage Fries. Well, that sounds adventures, so I ordered that, well, it turns out to be two sausages (not that different from hot dogs) on top of my fries. It was okay, but I was hoping for something much more crazy.


That evening I stopped in at a Brasserie to grab some food, sit outside and just observe. The kitchen had pretty much stopped making any kind of food except for the ham and cheese sandwich. So, my options were quite limited. It was a perfectly fine, ordinary, ham and cheese, with the only thing different was the cheese was grilled on the outside.

Along with the sandwich, I thought I would try their French Onion soup. The broth was very good, but I think for the onions, they used dried chopped onions. That part wasn't very good, but the broth, cheese, and fresh bread in it, was very good.

Lastly, when you're in Paris, make sure you seek out a crepe. We walked and walked and it was too late to find one, but one of my friends was successful and left a few pieces for me. The crepe made the stop over in Paris. It is so good. This one is banana and nutela chocolate. It was rich, but not too heavy, filled with flavor, and all around delicious. This was the best part of any meal there. Enjoy!

Tiberias, Israel - The largest freshwater lake in Israel, sitting 209 meters below sea level, it is also the lowest freshwater lake on Earth. Tiberias has several excellent restaurants right on the water, which also includes a fabulous boardwalk for nightlife and shopping. We stopped at this restaurant, recommended by our bus driver. He was absolutely right, it was delicious. I wish I new the name of the place, but alas, it escapes me.


As every Israeli dinner, it always starts with the salads. This of course included hummus, pickled carrots, pickles, olives, a cabbage salad in a oil and vinegar dressing, eggplant with a tomato base, corn, and fresh pita bread. One of my favorite salads was the eggplant in a tomato base sauce. I hadn't seen this yet at any places and it was filled with flavor. Eggplant has a distinct flavor, and it was complimented with the sauce and spices.


For the main course, the restaurant sits adjacent to the lake, so what better dish to have is Tilapia caught that day. Several people didn't realize that it would be served whole, so they were taken back by the appearance. However, those of us who didn't mind seeing the whole fish, really enjoyed it. It is lightly pan fried and lightly spiced for additional flavor, but not too much to mask the flavor of the fish. It is served with chips, which were just standard fries, but when you dip it into some of the Israeli salads, the fries no longer taste like ordinary fries, I recommend doing this.


For desert, was fresh fruit. I'm not sure if they grow watermelon in Israel, so it might be imported, but I really don't know. It was nice to have watermelon given it was turning into winter at home and there was no chance to have it there. The highlight of the fruit desert was the dates. Usually, dates are dehydrated, when served, but these were not. These were served fresh and although they have the same flavor and texture as the dehydrated dates, they are much more juicy on the inside. It's not too much were it squirts out when biting into it, but it contains more moisture. Different and delicious.

After every Israeli meal, either tea or coffee is usually served. They offered us Turkish Coffee. Usually I don't drink coffee, but since I'm in Israel being served Turkish Coffee, I thought I would try it. I was pleasantly surprised! It was delicious. It was strong as Turkish Coffee should be, but they also sweetened it up. The coffee I've had in the past was bitter, so I'm not sure if it was prepared incorrectly the first time I had it or if this places prefers to prepare it differently, but I would rather choose this style any day. Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - I decided to go back to the hotel after a very long and exhausting day. I rarely get hotel food, unless I'm complete out of it. This is "Handmade Pizza" from the hotel Dan Panaram. It comes with basically the works, tomato, olives, mushrooms, spinach, onions, and not necessarily my favorite, anchovies. I asked for the pizza to be vegetarian, but apparently there was a language barrier. So, in the spirit of not having it go to waste, I ate it. It wasn't as bad as I remember, but it was still pretty salty. Overall, it was a pretty good pizza, better than I expected. Enjoy.

Tel Aviv, Israel - We finally have some free time for lunch in Tel Aviv and we're out looking for a good place to eat. As we were walking around, I saw a trend of juice shops. Juice stands seem to be very common in Israel, so of course I can't turn it down. One of my favorite juices is mango and this was fresh mangos juice pressed right in front of you. It some pulp in it, so if you don't like that, I would recommend another juice, but if you don't mind, then man was it delicious. Fresh and cold mango juice, you can't go wrong.


Next we found a random place to eat as we were meandering through the streets of Tel Aviv. I wish I could remember the place of this restaurant because it is worth going back. I had a Feta and Eggplant Baguette. It came with a small salad with vinaigrette dressing. I love feta an the saltiness of the cheese compliments the eggplant beautifully. Excellent combination.

Enjoy!

Tel Aviv, Israel - This was our first morning in Israel and the hotel, Dan Panarama, had a very very large breakfast spread. Tons of choices everywhere. So, I decided to try their Shakshuka. Now in the previous blog entry, we went to Dr. Shakshuka's restaurant and I described how that was. The Shakshuka at the hotel, well, they only wished it tastes like Dr. Shakshuka. This is where I saw it for the first time, therefore, it wasn't bad, pretty good for the first time. However, after having it from Dr. Shakshuka, it's no contest. It was much dryer than the other place, so I would only get it out of necessity.

However, the two things on the plate that I would fill up on is the sweet potatoes in a cheese sauce on the right-hand side of the picture. Wow. It was so good. I could get a whole plate of it and probably die of a heart attack, but the cheese sauce went so well with the sweet potatoes. It was a very nice dish. On the far left-hand side is chocolate Rugelach. Rugelach is a traditional Jewish pastry and this was particularly delicious. Traditionally it is a pastry that has various fillings such as cream cheese, different kinds of jellies, etc... This time, it's chocolate and it was worth every calorie. I could also get a whole plate of this Rugelah and probably die of obesity. Enjoy!

Tel Aviv, Israel - If there is one restaurant you try in Tel Aviv, it's Dr. Shakshuka. It is an alley way converted into a restaurant, so the atmosphere is very creative and most of the cooking is done right in the alley with you able to watch this amazing stove. When the chef removes the pan from the stove, the flames will reach three to four feet! The food is like nothing else. Some places try to reduplicate shakshuka, but it's nothing like Dr. Shakshuka.


Just like every Israeli dinner, it always starts with small salads. It started with a delicious assortment of dishes that included a green salad, tomato salad, hummus, carrot and radish pickled salad, and marinated eggplant.


Next course was a delicious soup. It was an outstanding potato and lentil soup that had such an impactful flavor that you didn't want to stop eating it. However, you knew there was more food coming. Along with the soup came freshly made couscous. I don't remember having such amazing couscous. It was extremely fluffy and complimented the soup perfectly.

The entrees started coming out and the dish on the left is stuffed potatoes with meat inside. The meat and potato's was cooked very well and basically melted in your mouth. The sauce was the kicker. We almost wanted to lick the dish. The dish on the right is beef that was boiled and served in a curry bean sauce. It wasn't my favorite dish so I moved on to the ones below.

This is why people come to Dr. Shakshuka. The dish is called Shakshuka, which is traditionally a morrocan dish. These are eggs fried into a tomato base. This is the highlight of the whole evening. It has a delicious sharp tomato flavor with all kinds of spices. This is the only dish that was completely gone by the end of the night.

Fish goes shakshuka style. I'm not sure what kind of fish it was, but it was similar to a whitefish. It's prepared shakshuka style, stove-top fried in the same tomato sauce, but they use a slightly different collage of spices to change it up.

The food just kept coming. This is chicken in the same tomato shakshuka flavor. If your a chicken fan, it was a very good dish.

This is one of my favorite dishes. It's a very close second to the shakshuka dish. This was beef, sausage and potatoes in a green pea shakshuka sauce. The best part of this entree, was the sausage. I didn't expect how much amazing flavor the sausage had. I was so full at this point, I still forced myself to keep eating this one.

Now they brought out desert. I couldn't eat more, but I had to take a bit to try it. It was a nice sweet raisin cake. I thought it was good, but I wasn't sure if I didn't want to eat it because of being so full or didn't care for it much. I only had a few bites.

Lastly, they brought out tea, a unique tea. One that I've never had before. It is served with a single peanut inside it. You can briefly see it in the picture, floating on top. It gave the tea a touch of peanut flavor. Very interesting

Enjoy!

Nazareth, Israel - The restaurant Diane's was recommended to one of my friends and it was worth seeking it out. It was a very nice restaurant with excellent food and decore. Their freshly baked bread is served immediately out of the oven, hot and delicious. Of course, they bring out many many little side dishes. This is only some of them, but they were so good. The most memorable dish was this yogurt they made with something nice and spicy in it, but not sure what it was in it. Typically you eat yogurt when you're eating spicy food to help cool down your mouth. This is the beauty of the dish. The dichotomy of eating something spicy and immediately cooling your mouth off with the yogurt. Get it when you go there. Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - This is at a very small restaurant in downtown Jerusalem, that's very well hidden called, Tmol Shilshom Cafe. It is basically a restaurant and book store. But don't mistake it for a book store with a cafe. Very different than that. I think the food was good, but the ambiance was the best part. Dinner was buffet style, probably because we were in a very large group, with Salmon (prepared well, but with not a lot of flavor), potatoes (seasoned well), pasta with cream or tomato sauce (I choose the tomato sauce, which was very savory, but my friends said the cream sauce was better), and probably the best part of our selection, a portabella vinaigrette salad (excellent dressing complimenting the mushrooms).

Desert was chocolate cake, cream cake, and a latte. The cakes were okay, nothing really special, and the latte was very good. I would get the latte again for desert, sit back, and now read a book. Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - Joy Restaurant


Just like any Israeli dinner, it always starts with small side dishes. We started with pickled carrots, an onion and tomato salad, ground lamb, liver pate, and sweet potato chips. I usually don't like liver pate, but I thought I would try it again to see if my pallet has changed. It hasn't. I enjoyed it as much as I remember. Having cooked liver, I can do, but liver pate, it's one I may have to stay away from. All the sides are absolutely delicious, one in particular that is not in the picture is their chicken wings. I rarely eat wings, but I could have had them for dinner her, it was so delicious. Therefore, when you're there, get a big plate of them. Lastly, the other side dish that was out of this world, was the sweet potato chips. The chips were very good, prepared very well, but what added extra flavor was maple syrup on top of it. It really helped to enhance the sweet potato flavor.


For my main entree, I had the lamb kabob. The meat was prepared well, however, I don't think they seasoned it enough. It was somewhat bland and the sauce on the plate was a very think strong peanut sauce. I ended up avoiding the sauce because I thought it was to over powering and actually masked the flavor of the meat completely. I would definitely try something else if I went back. I would just go for the chicken wings!

Chicken wings or desert, I could have continued eating those wings, but I had to save room for dessert. This is molten chocolate cake. Just from the looks of it, it looks good. It's as good as it looks. Of course, it's served warm and the middle just melts out when you cut it open. Definitely a keeper. Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - We had to go back to Little Italy, the food was far too good to pass up the opportunity. All new dishes on this round.

We started with our Bruschetta appetizer that came with these toppings (in the picture from left to right), chopped black olives, marinated eggplant and sprouts, and artichoke and tomato. They could have brought the olives and the artichoke all throughout the night, it was so delicious. We scrapped those two clean, but the eggplant, well, that wasn't our favorite. I think it was more texture than anything though. It was very mushy and really didn't hold enough flavor.

The Brushetta that we smothered those toppings on is the Garlic and Rosemary Bruschetta in the next picture. It was prepared very well and what I liked about it was that it had enough flavor to sustain itself without the toppings, if you wished. The toppings only enhanced the experience.

Lastly, I had the Pasta Arrabiatta (in Italian it means angry pasta). Just from the title, I knew I was in for a treat. I was very full after the meal, still had some pasta, and of course I forced myself to finish the plate. It was that good. My roommate actually came back the next night and got this dish. The pasta was prepared in a nicely spicy tomato sauce, which also contained pesto, onions, peppers, and olives. It had enough spiciness to compliment the saltiness of the olives and the creaminess of the tomatoes and the pesto. Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - This is one of the most unique dishes I had in Israel. We went to a restaurant called Imas, which means Mom's in Hebrew. They had the standard Israeli salads that come before the meal, which you can see above with the cucumber salad and chips (fries). The first is the pepper. I have no idea what kind of pepper it is, but it was hot, real hot. The Israeli I was with told me to just eat it, but neglected to tell me to eat it in small pieces with other food. I learned my lesson after two big bites by itself. I thought my mouth was going to melt. I literally ate or drank anything within reach. It wasn't a habanero, but it felt like it.

More importantly, the food to the right of the pepper is called the Jerusalem Mix. We started eating it, but no one told us what it was. It turned out to be chicken in a curry sauce, with some extra bonus. It had sauteed onions, chicken kidneys, and hearts. I was shocked, but it didn't keep me from eating it. Some people in the group couldn't eat it anymore, but I was happy to have more to myself. It was my first time eating kidneys and hearts. I thought it was very good. Much of the flavor was diluted by the curry sauce, but it still had a very good flavor , little grainy, and a small irony flavor. I would definitely get it again! Enjoy!

Jerusalem, Israel - Why not try some Italian in Israel. A small restaurant called Little Italy was not far from the hotel. It turned out to be a great place to eat and so, I went multiple times!

Some of the items on the menu have less than unique names and some are not exactly spelled correctly in Italian, however, the food makes up for it. The main dish is called Dave's Ravioli Mix. Little Italy makes their own pasta and you can taste the difference. It doesn't have the processed texture to it. The yellow'ish ravioli are filled with smoked goat cheese and the pink'ish ones have sweet potato. I wonder how long they played with the combination of fillings to find the right ones to compliment each other. I loved going from one flavor to the other and how well they matched each other. The ravioli is in an olive oil base with rosemary and topped with brown sugar. The caramelized sugar on top made me save the ones with the most for last, it was so delicious.

For desert, we thoroughly enjoyed molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. When we opened the cake, it was still steaming inside and the chocolate just poured out. Enjoy!

Golan Heights, Israel - As we were driving through the Golan Heights, you begin to travel through a Druze town. These are people who were formally Syrian citizens, but after the war, are now in Israeli territory. This was my first time ever having drewish food and it was worth the drive and stop.

We start with pita chips. Pita wonderfully deep fried with a basil-like spice on top. I had to help myself to a few of these and probably would have eaten many many more if my sandwich wasn't ready. The sandwich is called a Labaen and is a very thin pita, more like a tortilla, that has goat cheese mixed with yogurt spread thinly on the inside. After the goat cheese is spread on, then they spread another layer of olive oil mixed with basil and garlic to give it an extra wonderful flavor. It is wrapped up and then grilled slightly, just to basically heat it up. Then there is a self-serve bar to add what ever toppings you wish. I added cabbage, cucumber, peppers, and a relish (marinated baby celery, nothing like the relish you put on hot dogs here). It is a little greasy and messy, but I devoured it. I really enjoyed the excitement of a new dish like this and how good it was. Enjoy!

Central Galilee - Israel - I recently returned from a work trip to Israel and for the next month or so, all the pictures will be dedicated to that fantastic voyage. We had the luxury to have dinner with a host family, which they prepared in the picture. Not only did they open their home to us, but they prepared an amazing meal. She prepared two main courses, one for omnivores and one vegetarians. The dish on the bottom left is sirloin steak. She admitted that she doesn't usually prepare meat, so so warned us, but it was very good, and prepared well. It was a little dry, but she also had an excellent homemade gravy to top it off. The other main dish was the lentils. I actually loved this more than the meat dish, hands down. She prepared it from scratch. It reminded me of Mujdara, but it actually had more flavor than that and really any other dish on the table. The potatoes cooked to perfection and basically melted in your mouth. I had a variety of spices and just enough salt to make you want more. No surprise, I had seconds of almost everything on the table. Every Israeli meal comes with a fresh fruit or veggie salad. This time it was a grape tomato salad. Most salads are prepared with just a little bit of oil and vinegar and scallions. I usually despise walnuts, but she also prepared a walnut cabbage salad. I admit, I did pick around the walnuts, however, the rest of the salad was seconds worthy. Lastly, the fruit salad made of primarily pummelo, black beans, scallions, and toasted pine nuts. It is a very light flavor dish, which I didn't expect. I was expecting a grapefruit like sharp flavor, but it was much more mild and pleasant to eat. Thanks to my co-worker who is posing in the picture! Enjoy!

Not shown in the picture is after dinner tea. The best part of it, the rosemary was picked while we were sitting there from the garden and placed into the hot water. Amazing!