Taqueria el Buen Sabor – Valencia, Mission – San Francisco

Despite the rise in Mexican restaurants and take outs in London of late, I left it until recently to try a burrito for this first time. Wandering around the Mission in San Fran working up an appetite is real easy. There is so much to browse through, a crazy amount of vintage shops and a heap of furniture shops and then a load more vintage furniture shops. They all kind of blended into one shop by the end of the day.  The best vintage shop find has to be Buffalo Exchange. Aswell as the abundance of vintage, I also stumbled upon what is now my new favorite book shop, Dog Eared Books, and my new favorite shop full stop, Paxton Gate.

Not short of recommendations for dinner whilst in San Fran. Everyone and their mother were recommending Bar Tartine, a girl on the bus suggested we try Range, the Mission's Michelin star hot spot, and then their was always Mexican..

Being in the spot for Mexican food got me thinking it was about time to try my first burrito (i'm not going to count the Taco Bell stop on the freeway as my first Taco, doesn't seem right). I can't remember what it was that made Taqueria El Buen Sabor stand out in an area full of taquerias, but i'm sure glad it did. El Buen Sabor seems to be the place where the locals come for real cheap, real tasty, burritos. Service was real quick and friendly, the server didn't even get irritated with us when we were being slow and British.

Living up to it's name is the Super Burrito with chicken, rice, refried beans, cheese, guacamole, lettuce and tomato did not disappoint. The chicken was crispy and full of flavour and it was packed pretty full, almost too full to get your mouth around.

A sucker for anything with the word 'super' in the title, the Super Nachos with BBQ pork then arrived. The ratio of toppings to nachos was the most generous i've ever seen anywhere. These made my home nachos look puny.  Secondly, I was impressed by the big chunks of perfectly ripe avocado, a real rarity in London. 

Time to up the nacho game.

Palm Restaurant - West Hollywood, Los Angeles

Larry: I think I am just going to get a Cobb Salad. I'd like to make a few substitutions, if that's OK. I'll get... no bacon. No eggs. Blue cheese on the side. 

Cliff Cobb: Are you sure you want a Cobb Salad? Do you do that every time you order that salad? 

Larry: Do you have a problem with it? 

Cliff Cobb: It's my grandfather's salad. I'm a Cobb of Cobb salad fame. 

Larry: I think that this is a real bullshit story. 

(Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 2 Episode 3) 

There are, of course, various tales of how the famous salad was invented, one in particular says that it came about in the 1930s at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant, where it became a signature dish named after the owner, Robert Howard Cobb. The Cobb salad is traditionally made from chopped salad greens,tomato, crisp bacon, boiled or roasted chicken breast, hard-boiled egg, avocado,chives, red-wine vinaigrette and Roquefort cheese.

First night in LA. Jet-lagged. Craving a steak. We were pointed in the direction of the Palm restaurant in West Hollywood, famed for their steak and lobster selection. This wasn't a bad choice. 

Nova Scotia Lobster Cobb Salad - 6 ounces of Nova Scotia lobster meat, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, bacon, avocado, sharp cheddar and egg tossed in garlic vinaigrette. 

So not a traditional Cobb salad, but yum nevertheless. Could have done with less egg and more cheese, but i guess i'd say that about most things. 

Excellent service, and the waiter was so kind as to point me in the direction of a large glass of chilled Californian Riesling and pack up the salad for me to take back to my hotel and eat in the morning, no part of me was prepared to let a $40 salad to to waste. 

 See, fresh as a daisy.

9001 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA, 90069

The Colonel Fawcett

The newly opened Colonel Fawcett on Randolph St is already making big waves in the foodie world. The pub, known previously as The Camden Arms, is located off the beaten track away from pub gruby Camden High St. With an ever changing menu of fresh and seasonal British produce it's not hard to see what all the fuss is about. 

I did what I do best when I arrive at a pub and swiftly ordered a bloody mary and a burger. 

Good bloody mary, even better burger. 

No ordinary burger, this was in fact The Colonol Fawcett Burger made up of a pork and sage patty, caramelised apple and balsamic onions. The burgers here are served with handcut thick chips and aioli.

I also tried the beer battered coley served with a pea and mint puree and those awesome handcut chips. It's brilliant to see establishments using a responsible, sustainable alternative to cod. Coley dubbed 'the ethical fish' by supermarket Waitrose, is being hailed as the saviour of cod since many top chefs are using in place of the endangered fish and others like halibut which are equally over fished. 

I didn't get a chance to try the cheeseboard or the pork and sage scotch eggs, but I guess it's always good to leave something for the next time.

Keep up to date with the goings on in the Colonel Kitchen through chef Dorian's blog http://24blackbirds.tumblr.com/

Thanksgiving in style

First up was a party to celebrate Vintage Seekers 1st Birthday at The Royal Institute British Architects on Portland Place. The scene was set with superb vintage Jaguars parked outside and great pieces of vintage popular culture like the Kennedy piece above and this brilliant example of an early motorcycle.

Is there a better way to spend Thanksgiving in London than at newly opened Meat Liquor.

With a list of burger to turn even the most negative of vegetarians to a sinful mouthful and an equally extensive cocktail list you'd be pretty mental to miss this. 

The burgers are pretty perfect, and this is apparently down to the secret cheese. I had the Dead Hippie which was double patty and gherkins. Their buffalo wings are also on par with any I've eaten in NYC. 

Mercat de Sant Josep

I was staying at an apartment overlooking Mercat de Sant Josep, also commonly known as La Boqueria which is probably the best known food market in Barcelona. 

Situated off the famous Las Ramblas just yards away from tourist filled substandard tapas bars you can find an amazing choice of traditional food an ingredients alike.