NY Style Pizza from Sbarro - $3.99

4737 Concord Turnpike, Wilmington, DE - (302)477-9850

First off, I'm not sure exactly which Sbarro I ordered this from. It was at one of the rest areas on Route 80 in the middle of Ohio, but I threw down some address in Wilmington, DE instead just to have something there. The reason I brought this up is because rest areas are usually more expensive than other locations so $3.99 may be a bit inflated.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, there's nothing in particular that makes an NY style pizza stand out from any other typical pizza. I mean, I guess it's big and has a thin crust, but so what? It's like ordering an extra large thin crust from any pizza joint. That's why I'll always prefer the Chicago deep dish.

There is one other style I've heard many praises over and that's the Connecticut style. Who knew? Anyway, I hope to one day try their pizza.

Apple Kuchen from Riva - $6.00

2020 Calamos Court, Naperville, IL - (630)718-1010

Unfortunately, I don't remember everything that was in this dessert. It's ice cream atop a little cake (kuchen means cake in German), and the cake was stuffed with some sweet stuff like caramel and warm apple bits.

Without the dressings around it, the cake would've been fairly tasteless so it reminded me a lot of a scone. But overall, the dessert was very yummy.

McRib from McDonald's - $2.19

1520 North Naper Boulevard, Naperville, IL‎ - (630)505-0220

The McRib is a limited time sandwich that consists of a boneless pork patty covered in BBQ sauce, onions, and pickles on a six-inch bun.

It's a very good sandwich, but the corporate big wigs at McDonald's like to toy with people's emotions so they discontinue the sandwich on occasion, but simultaneously talk about making it a permanent menu item. I heard people were die-hard about this sandwich to the point where they would travel to different cities when it was discontinued in their own city. While I wouldn't say it was THAT good, it was still tasty. The BBQ sauce tastes like the same sauce provided with their nuggets - a sweet, slightly tangy, sauce and the pork patty resembles rib meat fairly well. This would be a fine addition to their permanent menu to give it more variety.

Reuben Sandwich from Ashkenaz Deli - $8.45

12 E Cedar Street, Chicago, IL - (312)944-5006

I walked about four miles each way in Chicago winter weather for this sandwich and it was totally worth it.

It's a standard reuben sandwich in that all the ingredients are there without any extras: corned beef, Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut all on toasted rye bread. Therefore, I'm not sure what makes this sandwich so awesome, but it is. My sister even dubbed it "the best sandwich she's ever had."

The sandwich is a bit pricey, but you have to remember you're right next to the Gold Coast where people walk dogs wearing clothes worth more than most people's cars. Yes, I'm serious. So I don't think $8.45 is too outrageous, especially when the sandwich tastes as good as it does.

Meen Fun Kerr - $?

Meen Fun Kerr

This is called "Meen Fun Kerr" in Hokkien. It's square pieces of noodles, vegetables, shrimp (not in the picture), calamari, fish balls and small slices of pork in a brothy chicken stock based soup. I don't know the history of this dish except that my grandma used to make this for me when I was a kid. My mom made it again for me recently and this is the result. Brings back memories. I like it. It's a simple dish. Maybe it's something my grandma made up along the way, I mean what can be simpler than rolling flour with eggs, throw in some vegetables and meat and whatever else into your chicken stock and then starching it up so it's thicker? But if anybody has a story about this dish, do tell.

Vegetable Dutch from Pancake Cafe - $9.95

1292 Rickert Drive Suite#168, Naperville, IL - (630)637-1010

The Vegetable Dutch is a collection of vegetables baked into a Dutch baby and then topped with havarti cheese. If you're like me and don't know what a Dutch baby is, it's a miniature German pancake. If you're like me again and don't know what a German pancake is, then follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_pancake

Anyway, I'm very proud to make a find as tasty as this one, particularly because breakfast items are usually the same ol' same ol' sausage, eggs, etc. This on the other hand, was like a pancake-pizza hybrid with vegetables for toppings. It's dense like a pancake with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla, so reminded me a little of pumpkin bread. Another note: since the German pancake is larger, it looks more like a bread bowl than a flat pizza.

White Castle from White Castle - $0.61

1219 Lake Street, Aurora, IL - (630)820-1333

These are the infamous White Castle "sliders" so named because they "slide" right through you. It's a steam-grilled patty with grilled onions, and a slice of pickle.

My sister told me that the police caught a jewel smuggler and he had swallowed some diamonds so in order to force them out, they fed him these suckers. That's the kind of effect they will have on you.

I know they will tear my stomach to pieces, yet, I keep going back for more. I also think the aroma can be pretty overpowering and perhaps even disgusting, yet, I keep going back for more.

So what gives? Why do I keep going back for more? I don't know. Maybe the 24x7 hours are convenient. Maybe the price is tempting. Maybe I like that I can demolish one with two bites. MAYBE I even enjoy the taste. I don't know, but their slogan "What You Crave" definitely has some truth to it.

New England Lobster Roll from Harry's Savoy Grill - $18.95

2020 Naamans Road, Wilmington, DE - (302)475-3000

The lobster roll is so aptly named because it's freshly steamed Maine lobster salad piled on a grilled New England-style bun. This thing tasted FANTASTIC and I could spend all day eating these if not for a couple drawbacks:

First off, there's the price. Unfortunately, I can't afford to eat these regularly unless the next time I have salary negotiations, I propose they pay me in the form of lobster instead. Hmm... that gives me an idea...

The other downside is that the "New England-style bun" appears to be only a slice of white bread folded in thirds and toasted that way to keep its form. Therefore, the lobster roll was smaller than what I had envisioned and hence, less filling. If not for the price, I could smash three of these with no problem and then push myself to cram #4 & #5 into my belly.... and then probably stuff #6-10 in my pockets for later. Instead, I'll probably end up making the 20 mile drive and drop another $20 to satisfy my lobster roll fix only to drive back hungry for more. How sad...

Anyway, as for the potato chips, they taste home-made because they felt slightly warmer and greasier, but still tasted light and crispy. Lay's potato chips probably taste like this fresh out of the oven.

Chihuahua from Pure Bread - $7.50

1309 Churchman's Road, Christiana, DE - (302)455-YUMM

The chihuahua is a sandwich made with grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and chipotle mayo on cheddar bread.

Even though I love avocado, for some reason, it felt out of place in this sandwich. In spite of this, I thought the sandwich tasted good. Although, then I tried a bite of the French poodle and decided for what you pay, my sandwich could be much better, so I doubt I'll revisit this sandwich again.

Apple Crêpe from Bob Evan's - $4.99

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

I made a post on their strawberry & banana crêpe earlier but when I went this time, they didn't have them. Their fruit crêpes are dependent on what fruit is in season, and then they have the constant offering of blueberry. Lucky for me, it's apples season.

The apple crêpe tasted better than its straw-bana counterpart, but was less filling, so it evens out. Either way, this variation has convinced me to make the crêpe a standard add-on to my entrée.

Border Scramble Burrito from Bob Evan's - $6.49

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

The Border Scramble burrito is essentially the same as the Border Scramble omelette except instead of being wrapped in eggs, this is wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with sausage chili, scallions, and sour cream. I'm looking at the description online and apparently it was also supposed to have cheddar cheese on top as well. Oh well...

Anyway, this is, in my opinion, a tastier alternative to the omelette version. My friend tried both as well and he agrees. Factor in the cheaper price and you're in for a win-win meal.

Border Scramble Omelette from Bob Evan's - $7.99

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

The border scramble omelette is a three egg omelette stuffed with pepper-jack cheese, Bob Evans sausage, home fries, diced tomatoes and onions in a Ranchero sauce. Then it's topped with sour cream, scallions and more pepper-jack cheese.

Don't know what to say about this one except that I enjoyed it thoroughly. And if you like this one then check the next post...

Sampler Platter from Uncle Bub's - $16.99

132 South Cass Avenue, Westmont, IL - (630)493-9000

The sampler platter comes with a combination of 3 BBQ back ribs, pulled pork, BBQ sliced beef brisket, ribtips, and BBQ chicken along with your choice of two side dishes. The side dishes we chose were the fried mac & cheese, and the chili.

Without trying to hype this place up, this is perhaps the best BBQ I've ever had. The sauce has this very unique flavor that I can only describe as "pruney." Prunes in BBQ may sound gross, but man, I was tempted to swig that stuff straight from the bottle.

Everything that came with the sampler platter was fantastic with the exception of the ribtips and the chicken. The ribtips were very tough and difficult to eat around the cartilage, and the chicken dried out quickly (I covered up the chicken problem the best I could by dousing it in more pruney goodness).

I read other reviews saying the service was terrible, but you pay at the counter before you receive your food so I don't think this is the type of place where you're expected to tip.

Volcano Taco from Taco Bell - $0.89

1501 Governor's Place, Bear, DE - (302)834-4563

The volcano taco is a limited time special from Taco Bell. Although, there's nothing all that special about it. The bright red shell is purely for appearance and has no additional flavor. The inside is identical to a regular taco (lettuce, cheese, beef) with the exception of an additional sauce that adds a mild spiciness to it. This sauce is creamier than the regular hot sauce packets, and I think I prefer it this way.

When you take the price into consideration, these aren't all that bad. You can't expect much for 89 cents, which is the same price as the regular hard tacos, so I still end up ordering these quite often.

Chicago Hot Dog from Portillo's - $2.25

950 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630)961-1151

Here's a genuine Chicago hotdog. It's a Vienna Beef "all beef" hot dog, with a dill pickle spear, chopped onions, tomato slices or wedges, yellow mustard, sweet relish, sport peppers, and celery salt, all on a poppy seed bun.

There are two things to notice about that list. Firstable, there's no ketchup. Supposedly, it's taboo to put ketchup on a Chicago dog, so don't do it unless you want to be scrutinized as an outsider. Secondly, I put "all-beef" in quotes because my friend told me that Vienna Beef was recently sued for not being all-beef. Instead, they use sheep casings on their dogs. That's close enough for me, but some people out there are kosher fanatics.

The important thing is, it's a damn good hot dog. It's probably my favorite style hot dog and I've tried to be unbiased about it too.

Big Italian Beef from Portillo's - $5.79 + $0.30

950 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630)961-1151

Philadelphia may have their cheese steaks, but Chicago has their Italian beef. I honestly don't understand what makes these so good since it's just bread and beef with the optional sweet or hot peppers, but they are.

Now if you'll look at the picture and direct your attention away from the Italian beef for a moment and look at the wrapper, you'll see that it's soaked with juices and oil. That's the sign of a rockin' Italian beef.

With all those juices, any ordinary roll would end up soggy and disgusting, but these rolls somehow maintain a crispy outer shell and the inside stays nice and chewy.

I don't believe I've ever tried an Italian beef with sweet peppers so I can't tell you what that's like. Instead, I always go with the hot peppers because it adds a zesty kick that'll make you sweat slightly on your brow. God, I love that feeling.

Durians - $?

So this isn't a real meal and in the spirit of me posting stuff that isn't regularly featured on this all-American blog, I have here the king of fruits (I didn't give it that designation).

Party

Durians... where do I begin. I think most people will know it for its immensely strong scent. Some say it smells amazing (almost always Asian), others think this can be effectively used as crowd control (almost always Caucasians). This, when the fruit isn't even open yet. Those who DO enjoy this delicacy(?) actually hold Durian Parties. It's a pretty sweet idea, despite your feelings about this fruit. I mean, how often do you hold a fruit party? Honeydew Party? Grape Fest! Awesome.

Coming from Malaysia I find it slightly ridiculous to have to describe this, it's like an American having to explain the idea of a hamburger. But here we go: it's a dull navy green fruit with a very VERY strong scent.

Sliced up.

It's about the size of a human head, ranging from the average of a 13 year old to slightly below Jay Leno. It has spikes all over the exterior, and it's pretty darn heavy, so handling this fruit for long periods of time requires thick gloves. Throwing this fruit at a person, even just a slice of its shell, can be fatal. So far I haven't heard of any fights with durians as the weapon of choice, but that would be hilarious. Maybe it's cos you can't conceal it too well unless all your enemies have a major nose block that day.... and you'd probably regret putting it in your pocket too.

Opened up.

Anyways. To open it, you need a butcher knife, you hammer it in and start prying it open. The shell, as you can see from the photos, are actually compartments or pods with the seeds in there. From the photos you can see, you can only pry it open when you get it right at the "joint" between 2 slices. If it doesn't pry open easily, you'll have to hammer another area.. I'm sure there's a way to "see" the joint lines, but I'm no expert at opening durians.

So all that effort and you get to the seed itself, the yellow bit. Its texture is very soft and erm... creamy. Depending on the type you get (there are gradings for durians, D24 being the best) it can have a very sweet or very bitter overtone, but the durian taste itself is... well I don't know how to describe it.

The Seed

It's unique. And pretty awesome, really. It's just that after eating durian you do NOT want to socialize for the next 24 hours as it causes flatulence and let me tell you, durian gas, Jesus, THAT'S crowd control. Yes durians are one of those food types (much like asparagus) that taints your everything, your pee, your farts, your burps, your soul.

So that's that. I really don't know how else to describe it. I could write a full essay about this (I think I have!) but to understand it all you must try it. Available throughout South East Asia, but you find it in some supermarkets in Australia, probably elsewhere but I've seen it in Australia.. those however must've gone thru some kinda retardation process cos they have no scent at all, and that's no way to experience durians.

Nasi Lemak - +/- $1.50

All over Malaysia.

Pack of joy.

This here is nasi lemak, one of the most popular Malaysian dishes around. I dare say it can qualify as the national dish, if there was such a thing. I mean, it's bad for health, cholesterol, fat, sodium, you name it. Heck even the name literally means "fat rice". Its trademark packaging is in brown paper like the first pic suggests, layered with a banana leaf cutout (on the inside), and depending on the size and content the prices vary from $0.20 to $1.50 on average. If you're paying any more than that, you're getting ripped off.

All laid out.

In its basic form, the contents are fragrant pandan rice, roasted peanuts, dry fried salted anchovies (ikan bilis), slices of cucumber, a hard boiled egg, and sambal. In the 20 cent packs, you get about 4 spoonfuls of rice and little bits of all that i've mentioned. It's more of a teaser than a real meal then. But who's complaining. The "deluxe" way of enjoying nasi lemak, is to include curry and rendang of all sorts. In this entry, I've got beef rendang, curry chicken and sambal in its own bowl.

Before the destruction.

So I like to throw on all my extras and pour on some curry, and that's also how most restaurants would serve it too, if it was a la carte. Since it's all curry and rendang, the closest comparison I know of would be indian food, more specifically indian rice, and as far as that goes, it's not as spicy but I think it's much tastier, and flavourful.