Just like you like it®

There's a file on my desktop called 'food'. It contains the notes I typed in the car to keep track of the nicest places we ate at. It goes something like this:

Swamp John Catfish in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Where hush puppies and I first met.

Charlie Vergos Rendez-Vous, Memphis, Tennessee
We went to Charlie Vergos Rendez-Vous after hearing about it in Theme Time Radio Hour, Bob Dylan's radio show. If you've never heard it, get it now. It was our best travel companion. We heard that you can smell the smoke all the way into the Peabody Hotel's lobby and that's no lie. They pump that smoke out into the streets just to drag you in by your nostrils. The dining room is beautiful, packed with sports memorabilia and presidents' autographs. The menu's pretty simple, you can get a 'first thing' (a starter you won't need), a 'main thing' that comes in different sizes (racks o'ribs) and some 'things on the side'. One rack is enough for two. It comes with sweet and smoky baked beans with bacon and orange coleslaw. Our waiter was a big man full of sound bites. We watched him pour our tea saying something like 'Oh yeah that's right'.

Gus's Fried chicken, Memphis, Tennessee
We were ready to go back to fried. The lady in our hotel said that she felt frustrated after discovering Gus's because of all the years she'd spent eating fried chicken from other places. We waited for our chicken for a while, which is surprising in a joint that only serves fried chicken but it was well worth the wait. Enter generous portions of moist and tender chicken in the crispiest and tastiest batter this side of the galaxy. It was delicious and our bill came to $12.

Boudin King, Jennings, Louisiana
We went on bit of a detour on the way to New Orleans to go to Boudin King in Jennings, Louisiana. Ollie felt brave and had the boudin, which is supposed to be the best boudin in Louisiana. I couldn't gather up the courage to order it due to years of being force-fed the stuff and, instead, went for a plate of fried seafood. Fried oysters are good! And the crawfish came in its own little fishcake. I tried the boudin, which was very different to the one I had as a child. It was just a big bit of hairy gut stuffed with rice and cayenne. It looked a bit like a big grey pregnant slug or a giant ring worm.

Maria's Taco Xpress, Austin, Texas
The first thing you see approaching Maria's Taco Xpress is a giant statue of Maria raising the roof. According to the numerous newspaper clippings tacked to the walls inside the restaurant, Maria's slightly loca. I'm not sure you can be loca and produce such delicious breakfast tacos. Or maybe you need to.

Trailer Park, Austin, Texas
More Dulwich Park than Trailer Park. Nice Po Boys!

Whataburger
What a burger!

Texas Chili Parlor, Austin, Texas
Good meat-only hot hot chili. No beans, just raw onion sprinkled on top. Man food.

Dairy queen
It's hard to find somewhere to spend your money in Marfa. Everything seems to be closed in the afternoon. We couldn't find Food Shark on the first day so walked into Dairy Queen and had some delicious burgers and deep-fried jalapeños.

Cochineal, Marfa, Texas
It's very pricey, the food is mediocre but it's worth a visit just for the lovely waitress.

Food Shark, Marfa, Texas
He drove in, set up, and sold us the most awesomest falafel eh-vah!

My amazing steak.

On our last night in New York, the girls invited us for some steak. We suggested Strip House on E12th. I had walked past Strip House almost everyday on my way to Jason's and it look real good. First, you can't see the inside from the outside. There are heavy curtains blocking the view and I'm a sucker for secret places. Secondly, it's called Strip House.

We ordered the porterhouse for two. The first bite was unbelievable. The best meat.

Strip House
13 E 12th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 328-0000

Here is a quick list of some of the places we enjoyed eating and drinking the most in New York:

Dirty Bird – Posh fried chicken.
204 W 14th St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 620-4836

Westville East – Niman Ranch hotdogs rule.
173 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009
(212) 677-2033

Lombardi's – Pizza pizza pizza. Hardly needs toppings, the tomato sauce is something else so nice.
32 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 941-7994

Blue 9 – late night filthy burgers. The heart-burning Firecracker burger is really tasty.
92 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 979-0053

99 miles to Philly – disgusting Philly Cheese steak, but Ollie liked it. Eat one and hate yourself.
94 3rd Ave
(Between 12th and 13th st)

Liquiteria – Terribly overpriced disgustingly addictive juices
170 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 358-0300

Lil' Frankie's – Bring your ragu to my house now!
21 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 420-4900

Look, a funny cake.

I made this cake for my friend Tina. She loved it. I think she was drunk.

Megarich Chocolate Cake

This is what you need:

100g dark cooking chocolate
100g Butter
4 eggs
75g sifted plain flour
And more stuff to make it look pretty

This is how you make it:

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a pan. On the side, mix the egg yolks with the sugar. Beat the egg whites. Mix the melted chocolate and the sugary egg yolks together. Add the plain flour and fold in the beaten egg whites. Stick it all in a tin and cook at 180º for about half an hour. May take longer, may not. Keep checking with a skewer. People say that the cake's done when the skewer comes out clean but I like my cake a little bit undercooked so take it out of the oven just before that.
To make it pretty, you can melt some more chocolate, take it off the heat and add a bit of double cream until it's nice and smooth and spreadable. Stick it on top of your cake and make it look fancy with a few nuts. Hazelnuts do the job. Or you can go mental with hundreds and thousands, smarties, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, glitter and royal icing but your guests will think you're trying too hard and that's the last thing you want when you're trying to impress.

Hey presto, everyone thinks you're the man.