SOBE Wine & Food

Tomorrow kicks off the start of South Beach Wine & Food Festival. It's sort of hard for me to talk about this. I've been living my life in severe FOMO for the past couple of days. 
Fomo /foe-moe/ [noun]: Fear of missing out
Yes it's true...I sincerely fear that I'm missing out on some of the best food out there. A concentration of food, chefs, restaurateurs, and everyone in that business all in sunny Miami. Sounds like my idea of paradise. What's really getting at me is not the fact that I'm clearly missing out on the event of the year, but the fact that I'm missing out on BURGER BASH! I've seen the menu and man'o'man it's not normal! Burger heaven in a nut shell. Obviously I'm clearly team Burger & Barrel (Go Josh!!) but I can tell there is going to be tough competition. Do you see Sugarcane's burger?? Damn son. 

Until next year....

"All We Do Is Lin Lin Lin"

Jeremy Lin. Does that name mean anything to you? If not there is seriously something wrong and you should probably come up from underneath that rock you are living under. I think it is safe to say that J.Lin has officially taken over. Twitter and Facebook aside, Jeremy has now begun to get food named after him. Do you know what this means? Getting food named after you? That is celeb status right there. Congrats Jer! You've mad it!

Shake Shack

Baohaus - The Taiwanese Te Bao

Taiwanese pork chop with curry seasoning, pickled daikon-carrot, jalapeno, aioli and cilantro, served in a Bao

Oak at Fourteenth

Its been a while since I've had a meal totally knock my socks off. Boulder has some great restaurants, don't get me wrong, but I always find myself going to the same ones. After a while they loose their excitement, so when the special occasion of my roommate's birthday came around I decided to take the bull by the horns and go try a restaurant that very few people I know have been to. 

The amount of times I've past by Oak by Fourteenth isn't okay, but yet I never went in. Unfortunately a while back a fire got out of control and destroyed the restaurant. About 9 months later Oak re-opened completely remodeled and ready to take over Boulder. Ever since this re-opening I've been seeing amazing reviews pop up all over the internet. It was almost like a sign from God. Everywhere I clicked, I read something amazing about this place and it immediately moved up to my #1 must try in Boulder.

Stalking their menu for a week prior to the reservation, I walked in there knowing exactly my plan of attack. Every single thing that hit our table tonight was unreal. The dishes, simple yet very original, led all my friends and I to moan...maybe a little too much? 

We started off our first round of courses with a sampling of dishes from the shared plates section of their menu.

Lasater Farm Braised Meatballs & Burrata, Anson Mills Grits

Fried Risotto & Feta Fritters, Pomegranate Molasses, Roasted Peppers, Dill

Organic Shetland Salmon "Crudo" White Asparagus, Tomatillo, Yuzu

Crispy Fried Pickles & Green Goddess Aioli

With expectations set high from what we had already eaten, the next round of food, from their small plate section, was not a disappointment, to say the least. 

Wood Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Cinnamon Spiced Marshmallow

Honey Crisp Apple & Kale Salad, Parmesan, Togarashi, Almonds

Now, as our stomachs start to fill, our main dishes come out and are just as equally irresistibly. The fact that I made my friends hold back their knives and forks in order to snap a pic was not okay. I feared my life for a good 2 minutes.

Wood Grilled Rocky Junior Chicken

Gruyere & Roasted Garlic Stuffing, Baby Carrots, Chicken Jus

Pan Roasted Striped Bass

PEI Mussels, Cerignola Olives, Oregano & Chickpeas

I don't have the exact description but I'll give it a try:

Taggliate w/ Scallops, Shrimp, and PEI Mussels in a Lemon Butter Sauce

Oak Grilled Hoisin Glazed Shortribs

Roasted Squash, Jalapeno & House Made Beef Jerky Salad

Officially in food comas, we seemed to get some sort of a second wind. Having a taste of the birthday root beer float, we knew instantaneously we have to check out their dessert menu. I mean it was a special occasion and all, how could we not? 

Sadly enough, I also don't have the descriptions of the desserts. I wish I could because they were unreal, but....Three more desserts later,  someone needed to rolls us out of there. Needless to say I kind of want to go back tomorrow. Would they think I was stalking them? The food is just that good. Dinner = unreal. Staff = friendly, cute, and attentive. Hopefully they also do take out because I'll be all up on that. Be it lunch, dinner, or late night - I'm so making my way back here real soon! 

Pizza a Quattro Mani

New York City's #1 Neapolitan pizzaiolos are making their way down to Eataly for a series of yummy collaborative pizza dinners with Rossopomodoro. Forcella, Motorino, Keste, Numero 28 Pizzeria (to name a few) are coming in and throwing down their pizza making skills. It's going down every Monday and is only happening for the next six weeks, so make sure to get your ass there! I'm pretty positive you won't regret it. It's like a huge pizza orgy!

Speaking of Eataly I would like to congratulate Michael Ran on his new gig at Manzo! 

Oh Carmellini

Andrew Carmellini, the chef and owner at The Dutch and Locanda Verde, just tweeted this picture and I could not resist posting about it. It is Black Kale mother fucking Carbonara. Carbonara for starters is my ultimate go to number one lover pasta. The smokiness from the meat and the creaminess of the egg. I can't. It's just too good. 

Stop it right now with that black kale! Are you kidding me Carmellini?! I need this pasta now. Would it be totally ridiculous if I booked a flight home from school to get my hands, or rather my mouth, on this pasta?? I think not.

Don Antonio Goodness

Need to....Must to.... No questions asked.... EAT HERE! A true Italian man making fresh Neapolitan pizza. What is better then that? I just do not know. Well, I mean there are a few things better, but let's be real. You MUST watch this video and see just some of the delicious offerings Don Antonio has.

SriPraPhai

First of all...my deepest apologies for hiding this place from you. It just hit me out of the blue that i never blogged about my meal at SriPraPhai. Being that it was the best Thai food that I have ever eaten in my entire life, you think it would have been an immediate addition to Burrnttoast. I must have been in such a state of disbelief of how amazing the food was that I totally forgot to share the love. 

Sripraphai's menu is huge, super cheap and I'm pretty sure ever single item on it is amazing. So in other words, you cannot go wrong with anything that you order. It will be tasty and packed with flavor. Here are a few of the dishes my family decided to go with...

crispy chinese watercress salad

papaya salad w/ dry shrimp

chinese broccoli w/ crispy pork

bbq beef w/ chili, mint, onion & lime juice

pad-see-ew

Here's a little recommendation: top everything off with sticky rice! We also ordered a curry, but don't remember which one. Even though this place is in Queens it is BEYOND worth the schlep!

ps: these photos were not taken by me, hehe