Categories
mexican taco travel

Dining with Dondero: Taqueria Lupita’s (Detroit, MI)

American singer-songwriter, David Dondero, is reporting in his meals from his current tour. He’s living my dream of playing music and eating on the road. Here is Taqueria Lupita’s in Detroit, MI.

Mexican Village, Bagley and 18th. Detroit, MI. Wow who would have thought Detroit could bring it with the Mexican food. I went to a place called Lupita’s which claimed to be the house of the original Mexican taco. What attracted me to having Mexican food in Detroit was the fact that the flour tortilla factory was just down the street. I prefer tacos on flour tortillas so I was in. Not sure what part of Mexico that comes from but they offer that option here. I ordered 1 carne asada and 1 pollo asada.Plus a coctel del camaron. All this for only $8.48.

First I got the tacos. The carne asada seemed fresh but the pollo was dried out like it’s been sitting on a prep line for 5 hours. Traditional tacos served with onion and cilantro.. plus the various salsas which came with the chips when I sat down. I give the carne asada a B+ and the pollo asada a C+. The flour tortillas were obviously just made and excellent. They made the whole dish a grade higher. A+ plus for them.. The service was really quick. I got the tacos about 3 minutes after I ordered them.

The shrimp cocktail came after I finished the tacos. This was basically shrimp, avocado, onions, and cilantro in a watery brine served with crackers.. I usually avoid seafood on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Due to most restaurant delivery schedules. A chef friend of mine told me once that most restaurants get their fresh seafood deliveries on Wednesday or Thursday for the upcoming weekend. Thus if you order it Sunday-Tuesday chances are higher of being spoiled. Not sure how true that is and I’m sure it varies wherever you go. The finer restaurants probably get it delivered daily. The cheaper restaurants don’t especially if not by the coast. This was a Sunday but I took a chance on the shrimp which were probably frozen anyway. I’m glad I did. I fished them out with a spoon and put a little ketchup and hot sauce.. then salt and pepper on a cracker. It made for the perfect lunch. Not too much food and not too heavy. I was happy and I’d go back there.

Taqueria Lupita’s – 3443 Bagley St. Detroit, MI 48216

David Dondero is one of the hardest working touring folk singers in America. Once named one of the Best Living Songwriters by NPR, alongside Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Paul McCartney. It’s a privilege to have him part of Me So Hungry. http://www.daviddonderomusic.com/

Categories
restauranting seafood

Dining with Dr. Klaw at Red Lobster

I was to meet Ben Sargent, host of Cooking Channel’s Hook, Line & Dinner at Red Lobster in Times Square. Instead his longtime friend & business partner (or possibly Ben’s alter-ego), Dr. Klaw showed up with a live two-foot pet lobster with spike bracelets. Dr. Klaw sure had beef with Ben …and lobster nachos with me.

There’s a 90min director’s cut of this video that will premiere at Cannes. I can’t believe we racked up a $200 bill at Red Lobster.

Yes. In the video, Dr. Klaw really does pull out a huge ass live lobster onto the table while we were eating. Red Lobster thought he took it out of their tank.

Ben’s new show premieres this Tuesday June 7th on the Cooking Channel.

Categories
latino

Barzola’s Seafood Soup!

Rusty and I had lunch at this sorta hidden Ecuadorian restaurant on a residential street in East Williamsburg/Bushwick. Lot’s of mirrors on the walls and big flat screens with hot Latino chicks dancing on the beach, ala MTV’s The Grind with Eric Nies.

I got the large Seafood Soup ($12). Amazing beautiful orange broth with squid, clams, mussels, half a crab, shrimp and big fish chunks that are almost like chicken. I can’t really say the meat in there is too great, especially the crab. It’s probably because it’s been over-cooking in the soup for so long …but that probably helped create that awesome broth. It was still a big bowl of deliciousness. I felt so good afterward.

Rusty got a big giant burger. He liked it and the atmosphere. The table hot sauce is killer. I couldn’t stop taking photos of my soup. I couldn’t stop looking at the TV.

Barzola Restaurant – 197 Meserole St (btwn Humboldt & Bushwick Ave) Brooklyn, NY 11206
Yelp reviewers rave about their ceviche.

Categories
chinese

My Birthday Dinner at Yee Li

I wasn’t planning on doing anything for my birthday, but woke up and decided I wanted to try a dungeness crab. So my friends took me to Chinatown. Hsin Wong was packed and we went to Yee Li a few doors down. I ordered too much food. The dishes here are bigger than they appear in the photos if you’re referencing the scale to the spoon. Those spoons are giant serving spoons.

My favorite was the Fish Fillet with Minced Pork. The waiter insisted we get that instead of the whole fish we wanted, which was $20/lb. So figure that would be around $55. Good call.

The dungeness crab was good. Pretty much like a big crab.

Also ordered my favorites –Bitter Melon with Black Bean Sauce and Roast Pig. Crispy and fatty skin!

Dan took this amazing shot on his phone. I didn’t know I was a cartoon.

Afterwards, we hit up Winnie’s Bar for some karaoke. It was packed full of white kids like us. I let some wasted chick take pictures with my nice camera, but I don’t think she could figure it out. I don’t see any on my memory card. I asked her how the popcorn was that she was eating from our table. She gave me the stink eye and walked away.

I didn’t know they had a small menu at Winnie’s. Marcellus got some spring rolls. We left a ton of Yee Li leftovers behind the bar. We forgot. I hope they find it.

Yee Li – 1 Elizabeth St (@ Bayard St) New York, NY 10013

The dungeness crabs and lobsters live from the outside of the restaurant. Before I shot this, one of the crabs swam under the jet bubbles and started dancing. I like how they have the two super tiny pinchers from their mouths. Little do they know I’m about to eat them.

Categories
seafood

Grand Seafood’s Free Fish Steam

Grand Seafood & Fish Market (formerly An’s Seafood —soft shell crab & fish sandwich) has been advertising their “Free Steam” on their signs. I’ve been wanting to check this out.

When I got there, there were already kids getting clams/mussels, shrimp and vegetables steamed up. I picked out a little red snapper fish. The guy cleaned it up and spiced it up with Old Bay and garlic powder. There’s an option to add vegetables for $1.50.

It didn’t come out pretty, but it sure tasted good. I only had to pay for the fish ($4.60). Free cooking. That’s a sweet deal. Make sure you get a side of fried shrimp.

They also advertise that they take food stamps. We saw a guy buy 6 lobster tails with them. Well, it is food.

Grand Seafood & Fish Market – 98 Bushwick Ave (@ Grand St) Brooklyn, NY 11206

Categories
seafood

Fried Soft Shell Crab from Grand Seafood & Fish Market

I found this lonely fried soft shell crab for only $3 at Grand Seafood & Fish Market (formerly An’s Seafood). He was a weak little guy, but I imagine that’s why he was picked last. I also saw giant fried fillets of Blue Fish for $3.

Grand Seafood & Fish Market – 98 Bushwick Ave (@ Grand St) Brooklyn, NY 11206

Categories
lunch restauranting travel

Franky and Johnny’s Boiled Crawfish!

Met up with our dear friend Jay at Franky & Johnny’s to revisit the boiled crawfish we had a couple years back. Last time, we had 1lb each and I was stuffed. That was my first stab at the little mudbugs and learned how to suck their heads. Down them all and I’m even allergic to shellfish (or at least I think I am).

This time we had 2lbs each for only $8.99. I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking that was the price per pound. Turns out my friends say that is actually on the high side for New Orleans. Dang, this would go for $30 in New York.

We also had Fried Gator Nuggets and Fried Soft Shell Crab, which was frickin awesome. That was the best soft shell crab I’ve ever had. With this and all the tasty crawfish critters, I’m sure in love with Franky and Johnny’s. I hope that doesn’t make me gay.

Franky & Johnny’s – 321 Arabella Street. New Orleans, LA 70115

Categories
lunch

Oyster Bar Take-out Window

I joined the Midtown Lunch team to try everything under $10 from the Oyster Bar take-out window. Yummy meal and a good value for the quality. It was my first lunch ever in Grand Central Station. That’s one fancy food court. Next time, I’m going to stake out one of those fancy looking hard brown chairs. —read Brownie’s review on Midtownlunch