I decided to spend my July 4th over at Royal Oak Taco Fest! It was a very last minute decision, but in the end worth it. I’ve been saying that I wanted to challenge myself to go out and do things solo more, so I did just that! I’ve never been to any Taco Fest, so I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but it was well worth the drive and admission fee. Royal oak is about 2 hours to 2.5 hours away from me, so I made it a small foodie adventure. Admission tickets were $12 per person and when I got in, there were tons of food trucks, vendor booths and a huge kids area. There were all sorts of food beside tacos and plenty of drink booths, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. Now, let’s eat!
It was pretty hot out, so a freshly squeezed lemonade was a must! There was an option to add alcohol to the lemonade, but I decided not too. I was not going to make the mistake of “eating” alcohol like I did with previous festivals that I wanted to blog about. The first food truck was Eight Claw Crab Boil. I will say, I was hoping they had their seafood boil available, but sadly it wasn’t. Instead I ordered the Crab and Lobster Grilled Cheese. I’ve never had a grilled cheese that was this tasty. It was like heaven. I might have to hunt down Eight Claw Crab Boil pretty soon.
Next was Spicy Jerk Chicken and the famous BBQ Mac & Cheese from Chef Collier Willis of House of Barbecue. I was walking around and the smell of the ribs was so amazingly delicious that I stopped and grabbed food. The ribs were a big portion and I wanted to be able to try more foods, so I skipped on it. Don’t worry, I’m coming to find you too! The BBQ Mac & Cheese was nothing special, still good though, but the Spicy Jerk Chicken was SPICY. It had a great kick to it. I usually don’t like chicken that much because it usually is dry, but this was perfect and juicy. You got everything fresh and right off the smoker. House of Barbecue also got voted for ‘best entree’ out of everyone else!
I always try to go on these foodie adventures and get so full after the second food truck or booth. I opted in for some dessert just in case I was going to call it a day. I was so stuffed after eating this delicious strawberry and pineapple milk chocolate skewer topped with sprinkles, marshmellows and peanuts from Lekker Choco Treats. It was just what needed on a hot summers days. They have different fruit skewers to choose from, then you get to choose your chocolate and then your toppings. You can’t go wrong!
Who was I kidding? Who just quits after the third food truck when you go on a foodie adventure? Definitely not this girl. I was at the Taco Fest for hours, just trying to walk off the food I already ate to try more. I walked around for a good hour and even sat at one of the stages trying to stay awake and away from the food coma that was trying to get me LOL. Ya’ll I was struggling trying to not nap. I succeeded and decided to celebrate with some tacos! Finally the item that the festival was named after.
I know, I know. This might knock down my foodie credit with some of my readers, but I like flour tortillas over corn. Don’t hate me, okay!?! Please still support me ♡ I visited Galindo’s Authentic Mexican and ordered their red queso steak taco and just a regular steak taco. No, I didn’t eat them dry. I added both of their spicy roja salsa and verde salsa. They were good tacos, but nothing that made them stand out to be the ultimate best. Galindo’s got voted for most authentic taco at the festival!
Dessert time again! I’ve been really into sweets lately, which is very unlike me, but I’m not going to question it. It is what it is. There were some carnival like food booths and this one had deep fried candy bars. I’ve never heard of such thing or have seen one, so I had to give it a try. I ordered a deep fried snickers. I don’t know what I expected it to look like, but not a corndog like item with powdered sugar on top. Let me tell you though, if you haven’t had a deep fried snickers bar, you are missing out. I was impressed with this chocolate corndog delight. It may not look like it in the video though. I was passed full and starting to sweat being out in that heat.
I could no longer eat anymore, I was about to pop. It was time for me to leave, BUT before leaving I had to get one last drink. I tried the Watermelon Sugar topped with blue punch. It was a mix of the blue punch with raspberry tea and strawberry melon. It was very sweet, maybe a little too sweet for me. I think it would have been better without the added blue punch. It was pretty refreshing though, so I do recommend everyone to visit The Fern when you find yourself in Royal Oak!
I’m very happy that I did the solo trip to Royal Oak Taco Fest. Sometimes you just need to self indulge and take adventures. How would I rate Taco Fest? 8.5/10. It was a family friendly event with tons of craft tents and blowup obstacles for the kids, then tons of food options to choose from, plus multiple of the same food trucks, so lines were short. There were multiple vendors and chances to spin a wheel and win prizes from the merch ones. I will point out that if you are against cannabis, then this might not be the event for you. Most vendor booths were cannabis and THC products, so that’s all that I will point out. I’m not sure if this event is held in multiple cities, but you can always get a good idea of what vendors will be there based off of the sponsors! I’m not sure what the next foodie adventure will be and I won’t promise anymore about certain ones because I might end up “eating” alcohol again.. oopsies. ALWAYS remember though, we live to eat and not eat to live! ♡
I feel like I only ever food blog about two locations and Orlando is one of those places. You can read the other Orlando food blog here! This time we have both Tampa and Orlando. This won’t include all foods from our Epcot day, but you can read the Epcot foodie adventure here. Stay hungry! ♡
Tampa, Florida
So let’s start off with Tampa! Our first meal after arriving in Florida was in Orlando, but we drove to Tampa and got food to-go for a dinner and night in at our airbnb. We got pretty random foods from 3 different places, La Casa Della Pasta, KFC, and Taco Bell. We said we wanted to “eat light” before the wedding, so much for that LOL. Taco Bell is nothing special to write about, but we did try the Chizza from KFC. If you don’t know what the Chizza is, it’s just a fried chicken pizza. Literally a fried chicken topped with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. If you like lunchables, then you’ll enjoy the Chizza. There’s definitely that nostalgic pizza sauce taste.
There’s no picture from La Casa Della Pasta, but what I can say is that they know what they are doing! I really wanted some pasta. (Pasta is my favorite type of food btw. It’s an easy way to my heart.) La Casa Della Pasta was the closest to our airbnb and that’s how we chose it. what we didn’t know was that according to Tampa Bay Times, they are the best Italian restaurant in Tampa Bay and have been four years in a row. It was everything and more! Next time in Tampa, I’ll have to come back and try more. I love a good pasta. I got the Pappardelle Al Ragu’ (Bolognese). It’s made with their homemade Pappardelle pasta, ground beef, tomato sauce, basil and garlic. Besides all the flavor, it was very fresh.
The morning of our friend’s wedding, we went to Banh Mi Factory. Banh Mì Factory is a cute spot to chill with friends or even go to study. Not only that, but they are so good. They have tons of different bánh mì options to choose from. I said before that I thought Lee’s Sandwiches in California was good, but this place is even better. You always have to try the classic Bánh Mì Đặc Biệt or the Special Combination, so we ordered that and the Bánh Mì Bò Nuớng or the Bulgolgi Beef. Both were super good. The way the bread soaked up the juice from the bulgogi beef and the crunch of the baguette was *chefs kiss*. I wasn’t going to start my day without any coffee either, so a Viet Coffee or Cafe Sua Da was a must. On their menu they call in their Vietnamese Phin-Drip and I got the Saigon Savory option. It was more like a ca phe trung with the cream on top which is a little different from just a regular coffee. It literally translates to coffee egg. The cream is a mix of egg yolk and condensed milk. It may sound a little weird, but it’s so good and elevates the drink!
The morning after the wedding, we chose to eat at Ha Long Bay – New Tampa location. After a day of open bar, this was needed. I can’t tell you enough how GOOD the Thai Tea was and how it brought me back to life! I would come back just for the Thai Tea. I almost ordered another one to go because it was so good. Don’t worry I ate too. Noodles with broth is also another life saver after drinking.
We ordered Bún Bò Huế (Spicy Beef and Pork Noodles) and Bún Riêu (Crab Paste Noodles). For me the Bún Bò Huế was a little too sweet for my liking, but the Bún Riêu was the best that I have ever had at a restaurant. Nothing will ever beat my mom’s homemade bún riêu though.
Bún Bò Huế: Thick noodle, rich and spicy beef soup with tender beef slices, beef tendon, Vietnamese ham, and topped with mixed fresh herbs
Bún Riêu: Thin vermicelli, crab mixed seasoning, ground pork paste, Vietnamese ham, fried tofu, and tomatoes
Orlando, Florida
We landed in Orlando first, ate, drove to Tampa, stayed a couple days, then drove back to Orlando for the rest of our trip. In Orlando, we had a foodie adventure! So let’s get into it.
Our first stop was at Twenty Pho Hours. It’s a super cute 2d noodle bar. They are known for their 2d decor and their fast & casual dining service, which was great because we were both starving. They had these cute bear cups, so you know I had to get one! You can never go wrong with a taro bubble tea. We tried their Short Rib Pho and the “Black Ox” pho. For fast and casual dining, the meats were so tender and melt in your mouth. I was super impressed with the flavor of pho with how little time it came out.
Short Rib Pho: Rice noodles, onions, cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts, basil, jalapeños, lime, eye round steak, short rib and brisket
Our next stop was Disney downtown or now it’s known as Disney Springs. I absolutely love Disney Springs and all the restaurants and shopping. It’s such a happy place to be at when you aren’t at Disney World! I am IN LOVE with Amorette’s Patisserie located in Disney Springs. Every time I visited they have new cakes and desserts to try out, plus boozy sweet drinks! We got the Amorette’s Rose dessert with a little milk carton on the side. It is a chocolate biscuit with dark chocolate mousse and raspberry sauce. This dessert is as decadent as they come. I’m not a huge raspberry fan, but the pairing of the raspberry sauce and dark chocolate mousse just paired so well together!
After Tampa, we drove back to Orlando and went to Icon Park. We’ve always driven passed the wheel, but this trip we had the time to visit it. Sadly, the iconic wheel was not being used, so we weren’t able to ride it. One of these days it’ll happen though! Icon Park was smaller than I imagined, but there’s still tons of things to do and see. I chose to do the Museum of Illusions. Maybe it’s the kid in me, but I love interactive museums like these. They are so much fun and the photos came out pretty cool. My part was the spinning tunnel where you try to walk straight on the path, but it gives you the illusion that your pretty much walking drunk. The only reason why that was my favorite part was because right when you get out of the tunnel, there’s these 3d holographic pictures framed on the wall and my boyfriend had a little jump scare from the Albert Einstein one. I still laugh about it today when I think reimagine it in my head.
After 4 long years, we made it back to King Cajun Crawfish. My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE seafood boil place. I dream of the seafood boil here all the time. I’m literally obsessed. I have not found a better seafood boil than King Cajun Crawfish and I know you guys have seen all the different seafood boil places that I have gone to on every trip. The absolute best, my mouth is watering as I type. I wish there was another location closer to me than in Florida. TAKE MY MONEY. This is a must go to if you love seafood boils!
We had to go with their Shabang sauce with the hot spice level. Their Shabang sauce is a mix of all their flavors which are: lemon pepper, rajun’ cajun, and garlic butter. The hot level spice was pretty hot, our noses was dripping and there were moments of sweat, but it made the flavor 100% better. I believe we ordered the Royal Feast and that includes 1 cluster snow crab, 1 cluster dungeness, 1 lb. crawfish, 1 lb. shrimp, 1 lb. clam, 1 lb. green mussel, 4 corns, 4 potatoes, and sausages. Seriously unbelievably amazing.
Sometimes I wonder, “how can we eat so much in one day?” The answer will be forever unknown. Maybe the foodie in us comes out on vacation. We went to Universal CityWalk to try to walk off all the food, but instead found ourselves grabbing a drink and dessert at The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen. There we ordered the Chocolate Potted Cream, Chocolate Old Fashioned, and Vanilla Chocolate Cocktail. The drinks were good and strong, the pudding was amazing and perfect consistency, it was a chocolate heaven. After, I had the biggest food baby that I have ever had. I don’t remember when I had that much to eat and drink in one day. I was happy!
Chocolate Potted Cream: Creamy chocolate pudding served in a copper pan
Chocolate Old Fashioned: Bird Dog chocolate whiskey, cherry liqueur, sugar, chocolate and orange bitters
We went to Epcot at Disney World and you can read all the food and drinks in that blog here. It’s a long one, but well worth the read if you plan on visiting Epcot! On our last day of the trip, we went to the Florida Mall and shopped until we ran into Gatcha. Gatcha is a clawcade. Yes, that’s right an arcade full of claw machine! I love claw machines, so I was having a blast. My secret talent is how good I am at claw machines. I don’t know when it started or how it happened, but 90% of my plushies in my room are won from a claw machine. I’ve never seen a clawcade in person before so this was really fun. Gatcha has two spots in the mall, one is filled with plushies and figurines and the other spot is filled with drinks and snacks. Plushies? I got you, we’re winning tons! Drinks and snacks? Sorry, but we might be out of luck there. Those are so hard to pick up and the items are heavy compared to the claw. Gatcha is opening new location around the US, so hopefully they’ll make their way to Michigan!
A little dessert never hurt anybody! I’ve been having a major sweet tooth lately and when I saw this cute dessert shop in the mall, you know I just had too! Lucciano’s is the ultimate gelato place and they had a cute table/photo op! We got the Mango Gelato Icepop.
Our last stop on our trip before flying out was to SnowBean. It’s a cute small cafe that’s located right next door to Izziban Sushi & BBQ, which we have eaten at a few times. We just never know that SnowBean had their own little Love Lock Bridge! (We did order a strawberry smoothie from there as well) My boyfriend and I put up our own lock on the bridge. This would be our second lock that we put up together, out first one is located in Houston, Texas on a love lock bridge there from our trip back in 2021. It may seem like a silly thing to do, but I honestly think it’s so cute to do and it’s fun to have that memory and souvenir to go back to on your next travel back!
Traveling and exploring makes my heart super happy. It’s one of the best things in life. If I could travel all the time, I would! Thank you Florida for being so wonderful again. The food will never not amaze me. I’ll definitely be back soon! Remember, we live to eat and not eat to live! Live your very best life ♡
Here we are with another food alert! It’s another long one for you guys. Destination: Houston, Texas For the location, I chose to visit Houston mainly because I heard about how good the food is and I needed to try it for myself, specifically Vietnamese food. Back in Grand Rapids, we have a few Viet spots that are worth going to, but in Wisconsin there’s even less. Houston definitely did not disappoint me, it actually left me with wanting more. There was no bad dish!
So let’s start off with day one with Shokku Ramen. Besides some airport pizza in the morning, our first meal in Houston was at this cool anime themed ramen restaurant. The restaurant plays different anime series on their televisions, plays anime music the whole time and even serves some of their dishes on cool wooden plates with anime figures on them. Unfortunately, the ramen wasn’t one of those dishes. I ended up choosing “Da Oxtail” Ramen and my boyfriend choose the Surf & Turf Ramen. The entrees were super delicious and thank you to whoever decided to add crispy garlic to the ingredients! Garlic pretty much goes on everything.
“Da Oxtail” Tender, shredded oxtail & steak in a combination of our Tonkotsu and house-made oxtail broths with a hint of miso, served with yellow noodles and topped with 2 shrimp tempura, Hon-shimeji mushrooms, soy-cured egg, bok choy, red ginger, crispy garlic & ginger butter with a hint of Togarashi. Rich and delicious.
Surf & Turf Soft-shell crab tempura & tender NY strip steak in a combination of our house-made Tori and Tonkotsu broths served with yellow noodles, tempura scallion, soy-cured egg, crispy garlic, red ginger, fried onion & ginger butter
Next we went over to Houston’s Asian Town over on Bellaire Blvd. I will say that it is the biggest Asian town that I have ever seen or been too, but I’m only from Michigan and Wisconsin. We don’t have too much there. You have your Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian, etc. stores, markets and restaurants all along the street. Everything looked so good and I’m coming back to Houston over and over to try them all! We came across Viet Street Drinks & Snacks where we got the Tropical Green Tea drink. The Tropical Green Tea drink is a fresh fruit tea and had fruit pieces of strawberries, mangoes, pineapples, lychee, peaches, passion fruit, and jackfruit. The freshness of the fruit and drink was much needed after traveling all day and stuffing ourselves with ramen! They also sell Viet street foods there, but the kitchen was closed when we got there. I’ll definitely want to head back to try those. There were snacks that I have never heard of!
I was so in awe of the wall murals at Ninja Matcha that I forgot to take a picture of our ice cream. Ninja Matcha is also located in Houston’s Asian Town by a whole bunch of other food places and markets. There we shared one of their house made Green Matcha Ice Cream cone (with 38% matcha powder). If you have ever had matcha, you know that it can taste pretty bitter. I would say I would not go more than 38%, that was a little more than enough for me, but it was still very enjoyable to eat! They had cool matcha sundaes that were huge and filled with different toppings. If we weren’t so full already, I would have dug into one of those bad boys. If you like matcha, this is the place for you!
Yes, we stuffed ourselves as much as we could on the first day because we ended our night with some tacos from a food truck by our Airbnb called Taco Arcelia. We tried their carnes and pollo tacos. I’ve had my fair share of tacos, but I would have to say that Taco Arcelia has THE BEST tacos ever. They didn’t add any fancy unique toppings, it had the usual toppings like the protein, onions, cilantro with squeezed lime and your choice of salsa, but maaaaaaaan. It was incredible. There’s actually a lot of different taco food trucks that are all around Houston and they are AUTHENTIC not American catered. Most of these taco trucks are open all day and late at night, honestly what gets better than that?
DAY TWO IN HOUSTON When it comes to me, there’s no such things as breakfast foods, anything can be eaten for breakfast. I will eat a steak or pizza for breakfast, it doesn’t matter as long as I feel full after!
With that being said, we started our day off at Lúa Viet Kitchen. I’m a *little* bias, but Vietnamese food for the win always. I originally wanted to visit Houston for their Vietnamese food because I heard it was really good and Lúa Viet Kitchen proved that. We ordered the Gỏi Cuốn also known as Summer Spring Rolls with the lemongrass pork, Bò Lúc Lắc also known as Shaking Beef, and Phở Bò or their Lúa Beef Soup. I am guilty of always ordering Phở at Vietnamese restaurants, so I got Bò Lúc Lắc instead. I’m not bashing the dish in any way, but the Phở Bò was the best dish. Honestly, #2 best pho that I’ve ever had in my life. (Sorry, but nothing beats my mom’s homemade pho)
Gỏi Cuốn (Summer Spring Rolls) Tofu or tiger shrimp or Compart Duroc lemongrass grilled pork, sunbutter hoisin dipping sauce
We drove around the area and found a street with tons of other food places and some cool stores and stumbled upon another taco food truck called Tacos Mi Pueblito. The temptation was real and hello steak tacos! These tacos weren’t as flavorful as Taco Arcelia, but they still hit the spot.
Right down the street was this outrageous looking place called Present Company. From street view all you could see was this two story building that was purple and other colors with a huge disco ball shining, when you go inside, they have neon signs everywhere, some awesome halloween decor and very vibrant wallpaper. Even though we just ate and snacked, we had to try to it out! You do have to be 21+ to enter and you can sit outdoors on both floors or indoors.
I was sad that we came across Present Company because they had some really good looking alcoholic drinks, but cause of medical reasons I couldn’t have any the whole trip, so I had to order a mocktail of their Stranger Danger drink. It was still good, but it definitely would have been better with some vodka. My boyfriend ordered a Blackberry Mimosa and a Breakfast Brisket Taco. I didn’t sample his food because I was still full from the first two places, but he really enjoyed the Breakfast Brisket Taco. I would love to come back to see how it is at night. They already had a live dj in the morning, so I’m sure they get pretty popular during bar hours.
Stranger Danger (with alcohol) watermelon vodka, lime juice, honeysuckle liqueur, watermelon-kiwi la croix, topped with bubbles
Breakfast Brisket Taco scrambled eggs, slow cooked brisket, onions, cilantro, monterey jack cheese served in a flour tortilla
I’m sure everyone has heard of Voodoo Doughnuts already, so I won’t go into too much details, but they are a must have! We had some when we visited Orlando, Florida and had to get more doughy goodness in Houston. For those who don’t know Voodoo Doughnuts, they are known for their crazy, but creative doughnut creations and their pink boxes! We just got one doughnut to share and to stuff ourselves more with. It was the Viscous Hibiscus which is a raised ring doughnut with hibiscus frosting and black sprinkles. Personally it was a little too sweet for me, but still good. It was a one bite to a whole gulp of milk ratio.
After our day of exploring and eating, we came across Two Hands Corn Dogs, a place that sells Korean corndogs. They taste as good as they look and you can customize if you want cheese, hot or original sausage or both. From left to right it’s the Spicy Dog, Potato Dog, Two Hand Dog, and the Crispy Rice Dog. I don’t remember what ones had what fillings, but their spicy sausage is good and pretty spicy and the sausage cheese combo was the best. If only they mixed the cheese and spicy sausage together for the ultimate combo. I’ve been seeing Korean corndogs a lot more on social media and it makes me happy that foods from different countries are gaining popularity in the US! Just please don’t gentrify the dishes.
DAY THREE IN HOUSTON With how much we ate the last two days, we still found ourselves eating good. I mean if you’re in Houston, you have to take advantage of all the food places that they have! Day three was no different.
Yes, we did get actual breakfast foods. I was still so full from the day before so I ordered the typical breakfast entree. We started the morning at Revival Market. My Revival Breakfast didn’t taste typical though. The sausage was packed with rich flavor. Revival Market makes their own sausages and you can tell they spent the time to perfect their recipe. Super fresh tasting too. The boyfriend ordered the Butcher’s Brunch Burger and he killed his food while I struggled to finish mine. I got into the fall spirit when I saw the Hot Caramel Apple Cider. The drink was super delicious and perfect for the chilly morning!
Revival Breakfast 2 yard eggs your way, bacon OR house-made sausage, breakfast potatoes OR fresh fruit
Butcher’s Brunch Burger 44 Farms beef, house blend & grind, cheddar, Revival bacon, Yonderway egg, LTOP, toasted bun with crispy potatoes
We couldn’t miss the opportunity of visiting The Rusty Crab by Kefi HTX. It’s a Spongebob Squarepants/Bikini Bottom themed pop up. (It ended on 10/31, but will be an anime pop up next) This pop up was pretty fun and they had cool props everywhere. Since we ate right before, we just grabbed some drinks to sip on while we enjoyed our time there! Both my boyfriend and I actually won first and second place with the painting competition haha. I got their non-alcoholic lemonade called The Invisible Boat Mobile (right) and my boyfriend got Pineapple Under the Sea. Should I make another post of our time there?
BAO on BAO on BAO! I’ve never seen so many bao or dumpling places in a city before, so we had to stop by one. Thankfully there was one right by the Color Factory while we were waiting for our reservation time. Fat Bao has many, many different options to choose from and they all sounded so good. We ended up getting five different ones, the Spicy Thai, Bulgogi, Pork Belly, Katsu Pork, and Duck. I will have to vote that the Spicy ThaiBao was the best one, then it’s the Bulgogi Bao. The Bulgogi Bao definitely could have used some more kimchi on it though! Fat Bao also serves other foods like salads, tacos and plenty of appetizers!
The famous Lee’s Sandwiches. I only heard about the California locations, so when we saw the big building, you know what we did. I didn’t expect it to be so huge, they had a little market inside the building. The moment we got out of the car I felt like I was home. There were some of the adults outside smoking cigarettes and drinking Viet coffee while playing card games and the rest inside taking care of everything else. Vietnamese music playing and the voice calling out the order numbers was in Vietnamese too. Just relived my childhood all over again, it felt very comforting. I see why people love Lee’s Sandwiches. Their Bánh Mì‘s are so good and the portion size was perfect. You always have to try the house combo, so that’s what we got the #1 Lee’s Combination. I wrote a post before on different Bánh Mì places (click to read -> Food Alert: 3 States, 3 Bánh Mì.) Well now I can add Lee’s Sandwiches and put them at #1.
We tried to walk around the area after Lee’s to walk some food off for dinner, but we remembered there was a Harry Potter pop up cafe in the same area and went there. I know we’re fatties hahah. My friend Nia actually recommended this place because before the theme was Sailor Moon, but we missed the date for that. Popfancy Dessert Bar Fan Cafe is throwing The Broom Closet right now. We came a little late, so they ran out of their potion bottle glasses, but we were still able to get the Babbling Bevy Potion. The potion that causes and consist of uncontrollable speaking of nonsense, Butterfly Blossom Tonic Lemonade and Crystal Boba.
How did we do it? I honestly don’t know, but we went to Crawfish Cafe for dinner. My stomach will make room for seafood boil anytime of day. Crawfish Cafe was a recommendation from my friend Nou. Seafood boil was a must try for our trip. Seafood boils from the southern half of the US is 1000% better and tastier than the midwest. Plus you get your money’s worth because the seafood size is bigger. We ordered 2 lb head on shrimp, 1/2 lb crawfish, 1 lobster tail, 1 lb black mussel and 1 snow crab leg all in the signature sauce in medium spice. As you can see we got plenty of food for two people and yes we had some leftovers, but we actually ate most of it. It was good, but King Cajun Crawfish in Orlando, Florida still has my heart.
DAY FOUR IN HOUSTON The last day of our trip and I’m still sad that we had to leave. So many good places that we ate at and so many more places we still have to go too! I made a list of places and we only went to 2 of them on the list, all the other places we found by just driving around.
Shabu Zone was our last meal in Houston, an all you can eat hotpot buffet. I’ve only seen others go to one, but I got to finally experience for myself. What did I think about it? Well why don’t these exists anywhere close to me?!?!? You order what broth and meats that you would like, the the noodles, veggies, seafood and sauces are all buffet style. Adults each get their own little personal bowl/hotpot on the table and you just go from there and cook everything! I love the huge selection of everything, so you can really make a different bowl every time. I was doing the happy food dance the whole time and jamming out to the music they played. I didn’t want to leave.
My Hotpot Creation Broth: Tonkotsu soup (pork bone), Akaushi Wagyu Prime Chuck Eye, Akaushi Waygu Beef Belly, Lamb Leg, Shabu Zone Special Prime Rib, Shrimp, asian meatballs, enoki mushrooms, bokchoy, mussels, seafood meatballs, fish balls, green onions, mushrooms, squid, scallop, pork dumplings, and udon noodles with sweet garlic sauce, lemon, Sriracha and chili flakes.
There’s no way that we didn’t gain 100 pounds from our foodcation. Thankfully it was hot outside and the activities that we did in between eating consisted of a lot of walking. We had the chance to burn some calories off. I think my favorite vacations are foodcations, you get to spend time with those around you with a bonus of great tasting food. Eating itself is an experience. Now that we’re back in Wisconsin, I’ve been trying to eat as good and it’s not the same. I’m thinking of writing another blog of places we visited (non food related) soon, so watch for that coming in the next few blog posts. So where should I go next? What foods are waiting to get eaten next? Keep eating everyone!
food, Food, FOOD! Today’s food adventures are in the lovely city of Chicago! On the way to Wisconsin for my move a few weeks ago, the boyfriend and I decided to take some time to spend in Chicago to celebrate. There’s so many places that I’ve eaten at before that I can write about, but I’ll just start writing about the places I go to from now on. This definitely won’t be the only Chicago foodie blog since it’s so close to me and on my way back to both my homes. Let’s get into the food though!
What’s perfect about Chicago is that if you get a hotel downtown, you can walk to pretty much anywhere and you have so many different options to choose from. What’s a celebration without some BBQ though? We were able to walk over to Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ and it was so worth it. I would have taken more photos and videos, but I was so busy stuffing my face and cooking the meats! My boyfriend and I ordered the Chef’s Favorite to share since it serves 2 people and would be a better price than ordering individually with one side order of their Spicy Shrimp marinated in a spicy jalapeño miso.
The Chef’s Favorite came with so much food. We for sure had leftovers, but you really get everything besides ramen and dessert which was totally fine with us. Everything was yummy though and I don’t think there was anything that I didn’t like. I do have to say that even the broccoli with cheese hit the spot. Get ready for your mouth to water cause sheeeeeeeeeeh, here we go. The Chef’s Favorite includes:
The price of all that food is also pretty affordable, $80. PLUS, it’s not all you can eat, so you can take all the leftovers home without a fee or problem. My top 5 favorite items from all of that was the Beef Sukiyaki Bibimbap, Napa Kimchi, Prime Kalbi Short Rib, Shrimp Garlic, and Harami Skirt Steak. 10/10 would recommend to others and come back. Plus Gyu-Kaku has a pretty good Lychee Lemonade drink.
The next day we walked to RAMEN-SAN, theRiver North location for lunch. The place was small, but the food did not disappoint and they had the cutest and coolest wall decor and figurines everywhere. They played good hip-hop music, it was great! For appetizer, we ordered the Pork Belly Mantou Buns, which had a really nice crisp on the pork belly. Then both my boyfriend and I got the Sumo Ramen. Super good, but if you have leftovers make sure to refrigerate it ASAP or the broth will go very bad. I learned that the hard way lol.
Pork BellyMantou Buns Spicy mayo, kimchi, cucumber, crispy pork belly, tobanjan mayo and spicy pickles on a steamed bun
Sumo Ramen Chashu, xo wontons, spicy crushed egg, a fully loaded ramen with pork broth, extra tokyo wavy noodles, green onion, 4 XO shrimp & pork dumplings, spicy bean sprouts, chashu pork, buttered corn, wakame seaweed, bamboo shoots, spicy crushed egg, fried garlic and sesame
I think one of my goals is to try out every ramen place there is in Chicago. I’ve tried about 4 of them now and not once have I been disappointed, RAMEN-SAN included. How does it feel to have so many good food places around you??
I got this cute little drink from Te’Amo Boba Bar. I’ve never seen a memo bottle before, so me being extra af decided to get one instead of the original cup. Definitely my aesthetic. The drink I got is called Te’amo O2. It has a floral rose and vanilla lemonade, sparkling water, crystal boba and strawberry jelly, topped with butterfly pea tea. Then if you stir it up the drink is suppose to change into a cute different color, but the water bottle did not allow use to do that. It was still very good though! I just would suggest getting this drink in a regular cup to have ice to water down the drink a little, it was a little sour to me at first.
I cannot wait for my next food adventure in Chicago. There’s so many more places to try and I keep hearing about new food places that just opened up. I really need to train myself to have a bigger appetite! Must be so blessed to have so many options like that. Like I said this is the first of many Food Alerts: Chicago blogs. Comment any places to try out below! Until next time, STAY HUNGRY!
Hello again food lovers! I am here with a couple of new food places that opened up in my hometown Grand Rapids, Michigan. With the pandemic still going on *cries* and Michigan being pretty closed (but I’m thankful for the Gov. Whitmer taking cautious steps), I haven’t been able to go out to eat as much as I wanted too. Otherwise, there would be tons of more foodie post from Grand Rapids. The city is growing and there’s so many great food options! Luckily before my move, I was able to eat at two recently opened restaurants. I just want to acknowledge that the community of Grand Rapids is so full of support for each other. I haven’t heard of too many restaurants closing down and the customers have been really nice, kind and thankful to restaurant staffs. Hearing a “thank you” for working during this crazy time really makes your day. Not only customers, but I see a lot of restaurants around town being very active with helping and getting involved with the community as well! I have so much love for Grand Rapids.
The first food place that I was able to try out is called Kaffeine. It is this cute little cafe over on Michigan Street. They have coffee and fusion Korean foods. It’s such a great place for a more quiet or relaxed eating date. I would love to go to Kaffeine for some delicious food, coffee and time to work on homework, studying, work, etc. by myself and I don’t like going places by myself.
In my opinion, the bulgogi is probably the best bulgogi that we have in town. It is so flavorful and they give you a pretty good portion of bulgogi in or on their meals. My friend ordered the Bulgogi Toast with a Matcha Latte and I ordered the Bulgogi Burrito with Sweet Chili Sauce with an Apple Caramel Latte. It was so delicious that I actually took my mom and boyfriend there the following week. I will definitely be back to try more foods from their menu! They also have stickers of a cute puppy drinking coffee as their little logo and it was too cute to not buy.
The second place that I went to was called Condado Tacos. Condado Tacos is located over on Bridge Street. I actually ate here twice as well because the food was that good. One thing, that I love about here is that they have an outdoor patio area! I love eating outdoors on a nice patio. The vibes is just so different and you get some Vitamin D, life can’t get better than that. Condado Tacos is not authentic tacos, but don’t let that stop you from going. The picture does not do any justice either!
So now for the food part! The first time at Condado Tacos (pictured above), I ordered the House Flight Margarita. The 3 flavors that I chose were Blood Orange, Prickly Pear and Pomegranate. Then ordered the Chorizo El Tradicional taco, the Beef Bad Habit taco, the Pulled Pork Bubba Kush taco and the Beef The Heater Taco with a side of guacamole. Plus my friend ordered the Dirty Queso to start off with and it was THE BOMB. Hands down best queso I’ve ever eaten. The second time eating (video next to this), I just had to order the Dirty Queso again. You can easily say that I’m hooked. I got some of the same tacos as before, the El Tradicional and the Bad Habit, but tried the Beef Cali Dream Taco and the Beef Sweet Heat Taco this time. Of course with a side of guacamole, I love anything avocado. All of them are just as good as the ones I tried before. I haven’t had anything that I disliked yet!
My mouth just waters when I think back to these foods. I’m so excited to see all the new restaurants that will open while I’m gone. I definitely will miss all of the awesome restaurants that we have back in Grand Rapids, but I’m certain that I’ll find some spots here in Wisconsin. It also gives me more reason to explore the area and get to know the location better. Thankfully, my boyfriend loves to try new food places as much as I do too! This won’t be the last of Grand Rapids or Michigan though, I’ll be eating good when I come home to visit haha. Stay hungry guys♡
SALLY♡THINGS 