Travel Bites - New York and Memphis

I interrupt your regular scheduled programme of delicious recipes to bring you the highlights of my recent trip to the US of A and, briefly, Mexico. You may have been wondering where my usual musings on delectable dinners and beautiful brunches has been for the last few weeks….or perhaps you haven’t noticed. Either way, I'm back, and thanks to jet lag, I am up early and writing this especially for you.

Travel and food have always gone hand in hand for me – wherever I go, I want to know what the local speciality is and where I can eat it. And let’s face it, eating is my favourite hobby, so I always indulge when I'm on holiday. We spent the last 4 weeks going from city to city in the States, from the east coast of the US to the west coast, with a quick stop in Mexico. A lot of snacks were consumed during this time, so I am just going to bring you a few of the highlights, in two parts. I apologise in advance for some of the not-so-great quality mobile phone photos.

Dessert at ABC Kitchen

Our first stop was New York, home of the hot dog and pizza. Whilst we sampled these of course (on the way to the Statue of Liberty and right before a Broadway show respectively, just in case you needed that titbit of information), we wanted to branch out a bit further while visiting the city that has tens of thousands of restaurants and just about every kind of food you can imagine. One of my favourite meals was at a little place near our Air BNB accommodation in the East Village, San Marzano. They had incredibly cheap pasta, by New York standards - for $9, you choose the type of pasta you like and then the sauce. I chose pappardelle with broccoli rabe and sausage – so simple yet so delicious. We also treated ourselves to­­ a nice dinner and I managed to get us a 5pm booking at ABC Restaurant, which focuses on seasonal and locally sourced food. We had some really good pretzel dusted calamari and I had the wild striped bass but the best of our meal here was probably the dessert – seasonal doughnuts and a sundae with salted caramel ice cream, candied peanuts and popcorn, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. A special shout out to Third Rail Coffee which served coffee pretty damn close to the standard we're used to – our saviours! – and The Brazen Fox who had Ace Pineapple Cider on tap – so refreshing after a hot day of sightseeing (being on holiday is hard, ok).

 

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken - it may
not look like much, but it was the best.

Our next stop was Memphis where southern hospitality is well and truly alive and kicking. The specialities here are po’boys, catfish, fried chicken and barbecue. Oh I was all over it. Off the plane, we picked up our hire car and drove straight to Soul Fish Café where I had a catfish po’boy - boom! It was tasty, but I regretted not getting the Cajun fish instead of the battered cat fish. The next day we visited the famous Gus’s Fried Chicken for lunch, and this was probably the food highlight for me (Graceland was the best thing we did, in case you’re interested). We had to wait for a table for about half an hour but it was well worth it for the oh so crispy, slightly spicy, fresh fried chicken. Don’t even worry about the sides - more room for chicken - and definitely get a 3 piece. Central BBQ in Memphis also delivered on our last day in Memphis, with it’s sweet and sticky barbecue. I had the pork sandwich which had tender pulled pork inside a soft and slightly sweet bun and creamy coleslaw with a bit of a kick. After I finished, I could totally have done it all over again in a heart beat (beat? Maybe ‘attack’ is a better choice of word).

Pork sandwich with a side of potato salad

Tune in next time for some creole cookin' down in New Orleans and fish, fish and more fish in Bucerias, Mexico.