What are yours?
Eat, New York, United States, Movies, Cinema
Want to take your kids to dinner and a movie, order spiked milkshakes and maybe see vintage 1970s film trailers instead of boring commercials? Laurie Ulster introduces you to delights the Alamo Drafthouse.
Bars, Australia, Sydney, Easter, Travel, Drink, Cocktail
Sydney, Australia, NSW, Eat, Drink, Tim Welsh, Travel, Bars
Tim Welsh the US expat burger enthusiast, takes a tour through Sydney's best hamburger places and finds 5 great places for you.
Breakfast, Brunch, Michael Mackie, Travel, United States
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder here at Cosmic Omlete. But what really keeps the omelets beautiful on the inside is the not so secret dash of cream cheese. Michael Mackie checks it out.
Eat, United States, Drink, Romantic, Michael Mackie, Kansas City
From first dates to proposals to weddings, Chef Renée Kelly has seen ‘em all – sometimes on the same day (albeit different lovebirds, mind you).
Breakfast, Brunch, Eat, Drink, Dinner, Romantic, Restaurants
If you’ve ever wondered if there would be a restaurant where you could comfortably both start and end your day with an amazing view of a signature Aussie beach without sacrificing anything in the way of culinary delights?
Breakfast, Eat, Restaurants, USA, Indiana, Indianapolis, Brunch, Pastry
Food & Wine Magazine named John Brooks as one of the nation’s Top 10 Chefs. Bon Appétit Magazine, meanwhile, gave them props for being one of their Top 10 New Restaurants and featuring a Top 10 Best Dessert of 2015.
Dinner, Drink, Eat, Georgia, Restaurants, USA
Atlanta has a lot of spendy, upscale ‘burbs. But if you find yourself hopelessly lost in Buckhead with little hope for escape, then keep an eye out for the restaurant, Seven Lamps.
Dinner, Eat, Restaurants, Iceland
by Devon Walsh
The day's catch served up for the best dinner buffet of your life / photo by PEili K via tripadvisor.com
When dining abroad, it is one’s greatest hope to happen upon a hidden gem, a best-kept secret reserved exclusively for locals and the discerning. Coincidences that unique are fittingly rare, but occasionally you get lucky. Such was the case on my recent trip to Isafjordour, Iceland when, by chance, my travel buddy and I discovered an intimate seafood bistro known as Tjoruhusid.
The beloved restaurant Tjoruhusid in the remote fishing village of Isafjordour, Iceland / photo via Facebook.
A sleepy fishing town, Isafjordour lies on the coast of the West Fjords. The village is a humble base for whale watching excursions and treks to the nearby, uninhabited Hornstrandir peninsula. It’s position off the Ring Road and as a base camp, albeit for some of the most remote experiences Iceland has to offer, doesn’t necessitate a culinary gem. Yet, choppy Arctic waters are nigh and the fish couldn’t be fresher.
Idyllic Isafjordour / photo by Hannah Ezra via blog ohheyiceland.wordpress.com
At the end of Isafjordour’s main road, in a cluster of cottages that includes the Heritage Museum, sits Tjoruhusid – the warehouse that houses this seafood lover’s mecca is cozy and wooden and dates back to 1781.
The food is buffet style. Believe me, I was surprised too. Elsewhere, multicourse tasting menus are having the ultimate moment, while buffets call to mind Chinese restaurants in strip malls and establishments like Old Country Buffet or Golden Corral and, for many, the excitement of serve-yourself soft serve. Funnily enough, soft-serve, like buffets, happens to be extremely popular in Iceland, particularly in gas stations, but that’s a topic for another time.
Suffice it to say, all preconceived notions of buffets should be abandoned once in Iceland. Here, buffets mean seafood bisque, cod with olives and sundried tomatoes, and a halibut in cream sauce brought out to the front out the house in steaming cast iron pots by a small group of very busy chefs. The dishes reflect the days catch, the plentitude of the sea instead of the pantry. Everyone’s favorite were the mussels, prepared in classic, if predictable, meuniere style. Only here, the staff intercepted to control portions.
The cozy, rustic interior of the refurbished wooden warehouse that houses Tjouhusid / photo by evamaria4 via tripadvisor.com
Otherwise, waitresses urge diners to eat as much as they can. It would be unheard of in more gluttonous countries, to leave patrons to their own devices with a delicacy as adored as fish—like children with soft-serve, all bets are off. But then again, beverages too, are on the honor system. Only a gangly teenage boy and a petite women in her 60s kept shoveling helpings onto their plates long after the rest of the inclement weather ready clientele were drinking tea and nibbling on chocolate.
Cod cheeks never looked so good / image from blog 24 Days in Iceland
We left satiated in both mind and body, wishing only that we had room for more. I sometimes wonder if the whole experience was really real or a mirage. Go find out for yourself if you get the chance.
Tjoruhusid offers a la carte lunch and a choice of two seatings at 7 or 9pm for dinner.
Address: Neðstakaupstað, 400 Isafiordr, Vestur-Isafjardarsysla, Iceland
Dinner, Eat, Drink, New York, Restaurants, USA, Catskills, Hudson River Valley, Breakfast, Lunch
by Devon Walsh
A winning brunch at the Phoenicia Diner / photo courtesy of phoneiciadiner via Instagram
It’s a lazy day in the mountains, and you’re hungry after an early morning hike. Is there really anything that will hit the spot quite like diner food? Even more so when that diner’s edifice transports you back to the sixties with its midcentury architecture and stools lined up in a row. But, we discovered recently, it turns out there is something better.
Autumn foliage of the Catskill Mountains / photo courtesy of phoeniciadiner.com
Phoenicia Diner on Route 28 in the Catskills possesses all that characteristic diner charm—the building itself was constructed in 1962 and the paper placemats serve as both menus and as a medium for local advertisements—and the grub is sustainably sourced. Phoenicia uses ingredients from surrounding farms in the Catskills and the Hudson River Valley as much as possible. This diner food isn’t just delicious because it’s greasy—in fact, it’s not that greasy at all.
Higher brow dishes like pole caught smoked trout with crème fraiche scrambled eggs and grass fed short ribs accompany staples like beer battered onion rings and a house-cured corned beef sandwich. Wash it all down with a delectably thick milkshake from ice cream made on site or a bloody with tomato juice and vodka from—you guessed it—nearby.
The Phoenicia Diner's nostalgic booths and counter / photo courtesy of phoeniciadiner.com
It’s highly likely that during your time there, owner Mike Cioffi will stop by your table to say hello and you’ll argue over who (between your table and him) deserves a thank you. The Sheepshead Bay native, and Cobble Hill transplant is new to the restaurant scene and remains alarmingly humble about the enterprise.
like any winning diner, winning diner pie / photo courtesy of phoeniciadiner.com
If you're beating the heat in the Catskills in the summer or working up a sweat walking in the fall, be sure to make Phoenicia your brunch destination. You won’t regret it! And, if you’re more partial to martinis than burgers, Cioffi’s Cocktails in the Catskills, off the main dining room opens its doors on Friday and Saturday nights.
Address details: 5681 NY-28, Phoenicia, NY 12464 (off Route 28).