West Bloomfield, MI - Feel like Italian? This will sound crazy with all the interesting food I eat, but I have never had Gnocchi. So, I was Antonios, an Italian restaurant recommended to me and thought it was a perfect opportunity to try it. This particular dish is potato gnocchi. I can say that I liked it. I wouldn't say that I love it so much I would get it every time, but it was interested. Gnocchi in Italian means "Lump", and as you can see, it's a lump or dumplings. These did not have a lot of flavor, but it does retain some of it's original flavoring. Sometimes they are made out of flour, so they take on that flavor as well. Due to the original ingredient, potato, by the end of the meal, it becomes a little too starchy. The sauce on the other hand is made from scratch and was very delicious. Most Italian sauces prepared for Americans are very salty, but this was prepared more traditional style and very little salt is added. Therefore, you get a delicious fresh tomato marinara flavor. For vegetarians, it's an excellent choice. In the future, I would prefer this dish as an appetizer rather an entree. Enjoy!

Southfield, MI - This is not for the weak hearted. This is an Ethiopian dish called Kitfo from Taste of Ethiopian. This is beef mixed with lots of spices that give it a BBQ flavor. However, it's a unique flavor, one in that I have not tasted before. It comes with goat cheese to help balance a nice smooth flavor and texture, salad, and extra cayenne pepper on the side to make it spicier if you like. The meat has a very interesting texture, very smooth, and surprising that it was so tender. The reason why its not for the weak hearted is because its raw! Raw beef! It's like raw kibee, but much better. The spices make it. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

Southfield, MI - Dessert should have that flavor and experience where you take a bite, close your eyes, and just enjoy. This is definitely the case with the Chocolate Mousse Cake with three layers mousse glaze from Sweet Loraines. They have very elegant, simple, but delicious deserts. The cake is very thick and fairly dense, but not too rich though. It doesn't overwhelm you to where you can't finish it. It will be gone by the end of your evening. It is plated with a drizzle of chocolate and raspberry glaze to help compliment it. With the different layers, the density and texture differ slightly, adding to the complexity and how delicious it is. Enjoy!

Madison Heights, MI - I'm going on a Vietnamese food kick. I'm back to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant Thuy Trang having two things I've never had before.

They had a new dish, Bun Bo Hue, on the specials that I had to try once they described it to me. The server explained that it is like Pho soup, but it is more spicy than the standard Pho, and it has some unorthodox items, such as pigs feet, brisket, some kind of salami, and pigs blood. I've never had this before, so the minute I heard that, I had to try it. I told her to stop there, I'll take it. It was spicy, but not as bad as I thought. The pigs feet were actually very gelatinous and not very tasty. The salami and brisket were very tender and delicious. I was so excited to try the pigs blood. I know, it sounds disgusting. It turns out, it's solidified into cubs, like tofu. It actually looks, tastes, and feels just like tofu. It has a slight irony flavor because of the blood, but other than that, it was very basic. I definitely recommend trying it.

This time, I tried a new milk shake. It turned out to be much better tasting than the one last time. It is a Jack Fruit Milk Shake. I did finish this one, even though I was very full. It was definitely tasty, very delicious. I highly recommend trying this one! It was sweet, but not overly sweet and has a very distinct flavor. Enjoy!

Madison Heights, MI - This appears to be an ordinary milk shake. Maybe even a vanilla milk shake. MMMMMM. Well, it's a little different than that. It's a Durian Milk Shake at one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants called Thuy Trang. Durian is a very interesting fruit grown in Southeast Asia and is banned in many hotels throughout the region. It's banned mainly because of it's smell. It literally smells like rotting and decaying garbage. Not a pleasant smell at all. I did not have the opportunity to smell the whole fruit, just the shake, but it was enough. Without even tasting it and just putting your nose up to you, you can immediately smell how rancid it is. Tasting it almost is the same experience. I recommend drinking it in larger quantities rather in sips. I've never had this flavor before, but when you take a drink the smell immediately rushes through your nose to give you a wonderful smell of garbage. After that, the smell goes away and the flavor is actually good, not excellent, but good. It's just when you stop drinking and decide to take another sip, that's when you hesitate. I didn't finish it, got about half way through, but was massively full from my meal. However, if it were a chocolate or strawberry milk shake, I think I would have forced myself to eat it. Eating something that smells like garbage on a full stomach, not my first choice. Enjoy!

Detroit, MI - An evening out at the Whitney, well, it's going to be a very elegant evening with excellent food. The Whitney is a beautiful restaurant in downtown near Wayne State University. The ambiance is extremely nice and the food is perfect to go along with it.

We started with the salad called Tree Fruit. It is apple satsumas, forelli pears, topped and bottomed in a flaky pastry, pecans, bleu cheese, some salad greens, and roasted shallot vinaigrette. It was an excellent excellent dish to start the evening. The apples gave a perfect citrus flavor, while the bleu cheese helped to balance the flavor and help mild down the citrus and vinaigrette.

My main course was the sea scallops on top of mushroom peared barley and butternut squash, deep fried peppers, and beurre rouge. I would rate the dish as outstanding! The scallops were cooked perfectly, the mushrooms and butternut squash balanced the salty flavor the scallops, the rouge sauce enhanced the flavor of the two, and the peppers added the counter-texture to the scallops that finished the dish off very well. I could get this every time I'm there.

For desert, I had apple and brown butter cheesecake, wrapped in phyllo, and topped with rum raisin sorbet. Texturally speaking, it is a perfect balance between the smooth cheesecake, crunchiness of the phyllo, and the icy-shaving of the sorbet. The taste was a home run as well.

I also tried the Sweet Pleasure, layers of chocolate cream hazelnut, chocolate ganache, and hazelnut anglaise. The chocolate was decadent, but I didn't prefer the hazelnut. I usually like it, but I thought it was too much and had a stronger nut flavor than it should. Presented beautifully, but I would get it again. Enjoy!

West Bloomfield, MI - The only Israeli restaurant I know of Yossi's in West Bloomfield. Some of their dishes like their baba ganoush, no one compares. Well, their deserts are top class as well. Above are home made Israeli donuts. They are jelly filled, covered in powdered sugar, and with a drizzle of caramel. It's very sweet, but fresh and absolutely delicious.

Yossi's also makes banana pancake deserts. He also offers apple flavor, but I preferred the banana. It is a delicious pancake, sweetened, covered with fresh bananas and strawberries, then topped with ice cream. Yes, it's as delicious as it sounds. We didn't leave anything left on the plate. If you save room for deserts, definitely try these, they are outstanding.

West Bloomfield, MI - There's one thing that Detroit doesn't have a shortage of, and that's Greek restaurants. Detroit has them all over the place. It allows you to get very good Greek food virtually any time and any place around. This time I tried a place called Honey Tree with some friends. I had the Gyro Plate that had the gyro meat, typically lamb, fresh tomatoes and onions, Greek pita bread, gyro sauce (typically a yogurt base with either cucumber or garlic mixed in), and rice with tomato sauce on top. At first, I admit I didn't think the place was going to have a good gyro plate, but they proved me wrong. The gyro, veggies, sauce, and pita were excellent, but the rice was so so. It didn't have a ton of flavor and just a bit too bland for my taste. If I were to get it again, I would just get the whole thing minus the rice. The gyro, the main attraction, was definitely up to par, was deliciously prepared and seasoned well. Enjoy!

Ferndale, MI - Who would have known there is a little bit of France in Ferndale. At Josephines, you can pick up some really tasty crepes that almost transports you to the streets of Paris. After returning from Paris, I was hoping I could find a French restaurant that serves excellent crepes. Joesephines is pretty close to it. Above is a Banana and Nutella (chocolate sauce) crepe, one that is very famous on the streets of Paris among the street crepe vendors. It wasn't as delicious as the one in Paris, not surprising, but it was close enough. The combination of bananas and chocolate are perfect together. Add a nice little sweet crepe and whip cream, really, you can't go wrong.

After dinner, they brought out a little surprise. This is a Raspberry Port, dessert wine. However, the surprise goes even further because it's difficult to see, but it's served in a dark chocolate shot glass. After sipping this deliciously sweet wine, you get to eat the cup. Imagine dark chocolate with a slight flavor of raspberry port on it. I know, it sounds delicious. Enjoy!

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!