Lobster is great celebration food. Doesn’t anything sound better with lobster in it? Apparently Ramen Halu agrees, since its highly touted, limited-edition 7th anniversary special was … lobster ramen.
I’ve been a little disillusioned about ramen lately. I first discovered rich, porky tonkotsu ramen in L.A. about a decade ago (!!) at Daikokuya, but recently I’ve […]

On our way back from Aspen, I plotted another chowhound stop (ok, this one was thanks to Roadfood). Mom’s Cafe, write Gourmet’s Jane and Michael Stern, is famous for its “scones,” discs of fried yeasted dough that are kissing cousins of the sopaipillas you’d find just one state south, in Arizona.

Although the Sterns advise getting […]

Although in Aspen, the bill of fare rarely lives up to the bill, halfway down the valley in Carbondale is a restaurant I’ve thoroughly enjoyed twice now. Its website reads like a manifesto of seasonal, local food and gourmet ingredients — you get the impression of a Chez Panisse in the mountains. While not quite […]

In a town where restaurants come and go from year to year, Wienerstube has long been a standby restaurant for my family. Almost every ski vacation featured one morning when we’d walk over and enjoy a hearty, leisurely breakfast. My dad recalls a table that would inevitably be occupied by U. Mich. faculty in-season; my […]

The dining scene in Aspen is a collage of dissatisfaction. The average meal is pricey, a nice night out insanely expensive — and even then there’s no guarantee that you’ll be wowed by what you get. You can go “budget” with ethnic meals, but a mediocre fajita lunch will still run you about $25. And […]

Our holiday getaway this year involved a roadtrip from California to Colorado by way of Utah. After spending a night in Zion Lodge (decent motel accommodations, mediocre food, stunning location in Zion National Park), we stopped for breakfast a couple hours later at Arshel’s Cafe in Beaver, UT, said to be well-known for its pies.

We […]

Oxbow Market is a gourmet market/food hall just across the river from downtown Napa. For a foodie, it makes for pretty exciting shopping: charcuterie from the Fatted Calf, artisanal chocolates and olive oils, and the dairy delights of the Oxbow Cheese Merchant.

For those whose interest in food is mostly limited to eating it, the eateries […]

I went to bed last night not quite believing that not only had America elected a black man president, it had managed to wrap up the process in a single evening. Today, I was ready to celebrate. And where better than a Chicago pizza joint? I’m not sure what’s up with the bizarre punctuation of […]

This was my meal after voting early at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. After driving 20 minutes to wait an hour to be able to vote, I felt like I probably should have just waited for Nov. 4, but no matter. I was within lunching distance of Little Saigon.
My Chowhound colleague Thi had […]

My mouth has been watering for Asa Ramen ever since I first read about it in blogger rameniac’s Chowhound review. “superbly well-crafted”; “proprietary hakata-style noodle” — whoa. This really sounded like one to check out.
Tucked into a Gardena mini-mall, Asa is a small place that was full even when I got there at 9 […]