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! ♡
Here’s a local Food Alert for my Michigan readers. I was able to attend the last day of the Grand Rapids 55th Festival of the Artsthis past weekend! This one is a special one because for as long as I can remember, my family and I always attended this festival. It was always so fun with all the painting and different crafts that we got to do, then all the food that we would eat and who can forget about handmade lemonade? I remember we use to design our our own t-shirts with paint, get our face painted, make our sculptures with wood and glue, get ballon animals, spiral painting and even just regular painting. Then as I got older, I was able to take some of my nieces with me and watch them do all the same that I use to do as a kid. It’s such a fun family event that happens in Grand Rapids! I haven’t gone in the past 9 years, so when I was able to make it this year I made sure to make the best of it. A lot has changed from the last time I attended and it was a lot smaller with less activities and vendors, but I just know it’ll get there again! Now let’s jump into the food ♡
I went by myself to do a little foodie adventure, which was very hard because I can’t eat a lot. I got full quick. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat everything and all of it, so I came prepared and brought some to-go containers from home in a bag to store what I couldn’t finish for later. That was actually such a smart thing to do. GO SALLY! First stop was at the Chinese Association of West Michigan booth. One of my favorites, even as a kid, are these chicken skewers! It was a nostalgic way to start off the foodie adventure.
Not even 2 minutes after buying the chicken skewers, I saw the Sanse Filipino food truck and knew my second stop would be there. With the chicken skewers in hand, I ordered their Pork Lumpias. If I had more hands, I would have probably ordered more food like their chicken adobo, but I also needed to not go in so hard right when I got to the festival. You guys should have seen me sitting on the sidewalk taking a bite of the chicken skewer in one hand and then a bite of the pork lumpia in the other. I was in such a happy place!
After the first two foods, I was feeling full already. I know, it’s not even that much, but I really have a small appetite! I walked around and looked at all the merchandise vendors for about 45 mins before grabbing this Tamales Platter from the Tamales Mary food truck. It has been a while since I had tamales, so it was everything! I really like tamales, especially with extra hot sauce. The spicier, the better. I got a red shredded chicken tamal and a green shredded pork tamal. I tried to eat as much of the platter that I could, but look it was perfect for leftovers for later.
I could have taken a little food coma nap at this point if I tried. I had to be a champ and walk around again and explore more of the festival. I sat down at a few stages and watched a few performances. It got blazing hot after a bit and I needed something cold and something sweet, so why not find some some ice cream? There were a few vendors to choose from, but I decided on SemiFreddo, an Italian food truck. The other ice cream trucks were ones where I’ve had them before, so I wanted to try something new. Plus, a sparkling cream float sounded so yummy and perfect! I knew that if I didn’t finish the ice cream part before it started to melt, at least it would still be good as a float! In the sparkling cream float was a scoop of lemon semifredoo, strawberry sauce mixed with sparkling water. I’m not a huge fan of strawberry sauce because it’s usually just artificial syrup, but their strawberry sauce had chunks of fresh strawberries. They won me over. I had a great time eating/drink my float and watching the jazz band, Big Band Nouveau. It was one of those ‘life is good’ moments ♡
With two hours left of the festival and an over stuffed tummy, I needed to choose what would be my last foodie options. I really wanted to try Honeybee’s Kitchen Caribbean & Soulfood food truck or Big Ed’s BBQ food truck, but their lines were super long. I should have because I’ve been thinking about them since! Long lines usually = really good food. I walked past the Holy Trinity Greek tent twice before deciding that I just needed to get a Souvlaki. This was also one of my favorites to eat when we came to Festival of the Arts when I was a kid. It was just as good as I remembered it!
The last item of the festival foodie adventure was, of course, a Shaker Lemonade from the Big Mike’s Kettle Corn tent. Fresh lemonade is top tier. Usually at this festival it would be a booth by one of the local high schools, but I noticed this year it was more food trucks than associations or organizations like in the past. Not complaining though, all the food trucks were still Michigan local and I was able to have the chance to support them! Also, the streets of downtown Grand Rapids is such a cute place to take photos.
Honorary Merchandise Vendor Mention
You all know how much I LOVE FLOWERS! I was so excited to see a vendor selling flowers and had to get a cute bouquet for myself. Thank you to Leaflet for making this beautiful bouquet and making my whole day. I’m absolutely obsessed with them ♡
I wish I had more space in my tummy to try ALL the other food trucks or tents that I couldn’t get too. If you weren’t able to attend Festival of the Arts, but is now interested, it happens every year in June, downtown Grand Rapids! It is a free event, no admission fee! Just keep your eye out or sign up for emails on their website. You can also follow them on facebook as well! I’m very happy that I had the day off to go. I’m also proud of myself for going on a solo foodie adventure and how much I was able to eat on my own.
This upcoming weekend is the Grand Rapids Asian-Pacific Festival, so if you are in the area you might catch me on another foodie adventure! It’s also held downtown Grand Rapids, this will be my first year being able to attend. It is also a free event with no admission! Another great family friendly event to bring the kids to. Like this one, there will be a Food Alert blog on that coming shortly after! I actually tried to do the same thing with Michigan Asian Fest in Novi, Michigan, two weekends ago, but I ended up only eating beer with a side of papaya salad and kapoon. I had a little too much fun there at Michigan Asian Fest. It was well worth the memories though. See you guys soon! Remember that we live to eat and not eat to live ♡
Drinking at DISNEY? YES, you heard that right. The happiest place on earth just got happier for the adults. Disney World already sells alcoholic beverages in all of their theme parks, but it’s nothing like Epcot. You’ll want to experience a drink and food tour around the countries at Epcot at least once! Honestly, I got a little drunk towards the end and have never, EVER eaten so much in one day. I went to Epcot thinking that we would have time for eating, drinking, rides, shopping and checking everything else out, but we ran out of time. The International Flower and Garden Festival was going on as well, so there were extra things to look at. We were there from 11 AM to 10 PM too. We’ll for sure be back another time to try more foods and drinks and actually ride the rides.
Now let’s go world traveler, to Epcot we go! ºoº
Lunch Reservation at Chef de France (France)
Cassolette D’escargots Casserole of Burgundian escargots baked in parsley and garlic butter
I don’t even know how to describe the taste of this except for the word délicieux! It may not look very good in the photo, but you can trust me that it very much was. I could eat this appetizer all day. The mixture of flavor is perfect. C’est vraiment très bon!
Boeuf Bourguignon Linguine Braised beef in Cabernet, baby onions, carrots, pasta
Jarret De Porc Braise Au Miel Braised Heritage pork shank, mashed potatoes. Scallions, tomatoes
In NO way did we regret eating here, but what we ordered for lunch was pretty heavy to start off a drink and food tour. Maybe next time we’ll start off a little lighter, but we just couldn’t resist. Both proteins were so tender and melted in your mouth. The sauces and flavors were out of this world. Chef de France knows what they are doing in the kitchen!
France
BeignetCaramélisé Caramelized Beignet filled with Vanilla Cream and glazed with Caramel Fleur de Sel
Sparking Pear Cocktail Sparkling Wine with Pear Flavor
Yup! We started our drinking and eating tour right after our big lunch. I was already so full, but there’s always room for dessert! Usually the cocktail is a Sparkling Raspberry, but they ran out already so pear it was. Then the BeignetCaramélisé was good, but nothing too special in my opinion though. It was like a crème brulée doughnut.
Morocco
Orange Blossom-Saffron Cake
Cider Flight: Keel Farms Pear Honeysuckle Hard Cider (Plant City, FL)
Woodchuck Imperial Sippin’ Citrus Hard Cider (Middlebury, VT)
3 Daughters Brewing Pomegranate Hard Cider (St. Petersburg, FL)
I couldn’t find a description of the Orange Blossom – Saffron Cake online at all, so let me try to describe it in the best way that I can. The top orange layer is a cream almost like vanilla ice cream and it was covered with a orange chocolate like layer with orange powder. That tasted like an orangesicle, then the green layer was a pistachio flavored cake (with pistachios on the side) on top of a raspberry syrup. It was a perfect burst of flavor!
Japan
Cocktail Flight: Winter Melon Cocktail
Tokyo Sunset Coconut Rum, Peach Schnapps, Banana Liqueur, and Pineapple Juice
Violet Sake Sake, purple pear, and lime juice
Again, I couldn’t find a description online about the Winter Melon Cocktail. It was very sweet and tasted just like those little winter melon candies that are in small balls, very nostalgic. The Tokyo Sunset and Violet Sake were also sweet drinks, but all three were very good The Violet Sake was actually my favorite drink out of all the drinks we had! It tasted like a grape jolly rancher, but lighter in flavor mixed with lemon. Third country and 7 different drinks later, I was still feeling sober. The food we ate was doing some work or maybe I have a high alcohol tolerance, but let’s say it was the food!
America
Spicy Chicken Gumbo with Andouille Sausage and Long Grain & Wild Rice
Bayou Cocktail Spiced Rum, Coconut Rum, Fruit Punch, and Orange Juice
The Spicy Chicken Gumbo was my most favorite food item that we tried all day (besides our lunch at Chef de France). Who knew it would be gumbo from America? The Bayou Cocktail was okay. I think it reminded me too much of a drink that we serve at the restaurant I work at, so it wasn’t anything new to me.
Italy
Arrabbiata Pennette Pasta, Spicy Tomato Sauce, and Buttery Shrimp
I am a pasta lover! At this point I was so full of food, but I had to try a pasta at least. The picture does not do it justice, it really just looks like school food, but you’ll have to trust me that it wasn’t. The sauce had the perfect spicy kick for those who only want a mild spice. The sauce had a thick, rich consistency too!
Orangecello Cocktail orangecello, orange juice, pineapple juice and strawberry puree
Peachy Dream Bellini peach purée and Prosecco
I must have started to feel a little tipsy around here or was too excited to drink because this is the only photo that I have of our drinks from Italy. These two went down too easy! Out of the two the Orangecello Cocktail was the better one. I still loved the Peachy Dream Bellini though! This is when we were getting drinks back to back at a quicker speed.
Germany
Apfelschaumwein Apple Sparkling Wine and Apple Liqueurwith a Rosemary Garnish
I’m still trying to pronounce the name of this drink, so if anyone would like to teach us all feel free! This drink tasted like a light apple flavored hard cider, but with the perfect amount of sweetness. The rosemary garnish was super strong and we left it in the drink the whole time. That was our fault because it took over the taste towards the end of the glass.
China
Dragon Butterfly Butterfly Pea Flower Gin, Vodka, Green Tea, Lemonade, Soda Water, Hibiscus and Dragon Fruit Syrups, with Blueberry Popping Boba
Did I use this as an excuse to put a picture of me in here? Yes, I definitely did. Plus the picture that I got of this drink is not that great. I was feeling the drinks for sure at this point and even more after this drink. This drink was very strong tasting. The popping boba at the bottom was our chaser with every sip. From here to the end, the Disney cast members were heavy handers!
Mexico
Tamale de Rajas Poblano Peppers, Corn, and cheese in Masa topped with Poblano Cream Sauce, Crema Mexicana, Pickled Carrots and Onions with Chives
As you can see from the picture, that I was drunk. I did not care for the photo HAHAH. That Dragon Butterfly drink from China really got me. THEN, our Lychee Margarita wasn’t any lighter. I swear it was pure tequila. I still was having a good time though! The tamale was good, but I feel like the cream sauce made kind of made it less authentic, it tasted more like mayo. My tastebuds could have been a little off at this time though. In the end, I would get it again.
Germany
Welsh Dragon peach schnapps, melon liqueur, creme de menthe, orange juice, and pineapple juice
I can’t tell you why the last drink of the night has the best photo. I amaze myself and also confuse my own self A LOT. Anyways, the last drink we had! It was another sweet cocktail and my second favorite of the day. It was pretty close to being my first favorite. This drink wasn’t as strong as the last few and we had a little bit of down time before getting this drink. I was better after this.
BONUS: Disney Traders & Port of Entry
Soy-glazed Sticky Ribs with Green Onions and Peanuts
Bonus foods! The down time we had between Mexico and United Kingdom, we got some more food and visited Canada (no purchases). So these foods aren’t in any of the countries, but in their own section. You can find these Soy-glazed Ribs by the Disney Traders. These are good, but I think they have great potential to be better. If they had a little more of the soy-glazed flavor, then it would have been perfect! The ribs were tender and fell of the bone otherwise.
Spicy Hotdog with Pineapple Chutney and Plantain chips
You can find this Spicy Hotdog in Port of Entry. I was so full that I only took one bite of this, but that one bite was pretty good. It actually has a spicy kick to it. Yes, I know how basic it sounds, but plantain chips on a SPICY hotdog? An actual spicy hotdog? You can’t beat that. I’ll be coming back for it next time with an empty stomach. Maybe I’ll get two!
9 countries, 2 worlds, 14 different drinks, and 10 different foods all in one day. We even skipped getting drinks and/or food from two countries, Norway and Canada, to make sure we would make it through the whole park at least. We also skipped a whole bunch of other restaurants and food booths in every country and multiple items from the booths that we bought drinks and/or food from. There’s at least 4 different restaurants and booths to choose from in each country. To try everything at Epcot that we want, we’d probably have to spend at least three more full days at Epcot. There’s just tons of delicious sounding options there. I’m already drooling over the thought of trying more again. ♡
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!
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 