06/13/13 3:53pm
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Photo: Max Falkowitz / Serious Eats

Over on Serious Eats New York Max Falkowitz waxes nostalgic for boyhood dinners at red sauce mecca Park Side extolling its glitzy virtue as “one of the few remaining sources of red sauce fine dining in New York City.”

Ligaya Mishan files on Los Perros Locos, a Lower East Side Colombian hot dog emporium that features such wieners as the Pablo Escobar, which the menu says come with a dusting of Perico. There is, of course, no cocaine on the hot dog. The white stuff is cotija cheese.

Real Cheap Eats give this old Flushing hand a lesson in Chinese breakfast. There’s more to Oriental express Food Court than Tianjin breakfast wraps, like “tofu brains,” a savory northern Chinese take on douhua teeming with mushrooms, ginger, garlic and star anise. Yes, please. (more…)

06/06/13 3:50pm
The leathery skinned mangosteen is renowned for its exquisite flavor.

The leathery skinned mangosteen is renowned for its exquisite flavor.

The mangosteen is the Holy Grail of tropical fruit to me. For years the leathery orbs native to Southeast Asia were illegal in the United States. Several years ago I took a trip to Toronto and scored two or three. As I recall never did wind up eating them. And last year, I purchased a bag, sadly one out of five were moldy. The ones that weren’t were tasty, but not worth the exorbitant price. (more…)

03/05/13 12:37pm

In the United States special offers and seasonal items at McDonald’s are limited to bizarre items like Shamrock Shakes and the dreaded McRib. Sure there have been new burgers, notably the McDLT, which I happened to like. Around the world, though the special offers are quite special indeed. And the commercials, as you’ll see below, are hilarious.

1. In India, the McAloo Tiki is presented as a panacea.
It’s like a reversal of Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me. After a visit with the doctor our bespectacled hero is prescribed the fast-food cure. He enters McDonald’s sweating and swooning. After a few bites he gamely declares, “I’m loving it.”

 2. I have no idea what’s in the McBangkok.
I do know that in Indonesia  it’s penawaran terbatas,or a limited time offer. It looks way cooler than the McRib. Nobody ever rode an elephant to Mickey D’s to get a preformed ersatz pork rib sandwich.

3. Just for kicks here’s a recent Big Mac commercial from China.
It features various bright, shiny young businessmen going decisively about their day all set to dynamic music. The tagline: “100% man, 100% pure beef, Big Mac.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel especially manly after eating a Big Mac, I usually feel ripped off and kind of sick.

(more…)