Most Eaten

Kogi BBQ — 76x

What can I say? Kogi BBQ was an important part of my weekly routine that got me through the pandemic. And of course, I've loved it so much I named my dog after it. Kogi BBQ continues to be a highlight of my week that officially kicks off my weekend every Friday night.

And it always helps that the Kogi Verde Truck crew gives me VIP treatment, lol.

I wasn't even trying this year but I ended up having eating Kogi BBQ a record 76 times!

Best Dessert

Gelato @ Venchi

My all-time favorite dessert from Italy has been expanding! I was ecstatic to find multiple locations in London while I was there. They opened a few locations in NYC and they will be opening their first location in California in the coming year.

Best Sandwich

Philly Cheesesteak @ Delassandro’s (Philadelphia)

The flavor and tenderness of the meat. The perfectly melted cheese. The warm spongey bread roll. Every single local I talked to recommended Delassandro's and it was 100% worth the hype.

Most Eaten Burger

Fatburger

This year I kept craving a different flavor than my usual In-N-Out, so I started going back to one of my previous favorite burgers at Fatburger. I just love how they put relish in their burgers to give a little hit of sweetness in every bite.

Best Breakfast

Full English @ E. Pellicci (London)

Here in America, when we have a hearty breakfast, it always consists of a ton of sugar and carbs in the form of pancakes/flapjacks. But in the UK, a hearty breakfast is about several

Best Budget Meal

Hot Dog & Pizza @ Costco

In a time when fast food prices keep skyrocketing to upwards of $13-$18 per meal, Costco has been a god send and held steady with their prices. I stop by

Honorable Mention: Small Pepperoni Deep Dish Lunch Combo with a drink for $5.99 at Little Caesars.

Favorite New Food Hack

Mexican Pizza wrapped inside a Quesadilla @ Taco Bell

The crunchiness of the Mexican Pizza, withmelted cheese, and wrapped grilled tortilla makes this an fun, easy-to-eat medley of Taco Bell classics.

Best Food Discovery

Roast Pork Sandwich @ Tommy DiNic's (Philadelphia)

I've never had anything like this before but the tenderness and juiciness of the roast pork with the broccoli rabe was absolutely delicious.

Best Up & Coming

Zippy’s (Now in Las Vegas)

I didn't get a chance to try the Denny's of Hawaii while I was there but they opened their first mainland location in Vegas and now I understand why the Hawaiian locals love this place. The subtle sweetness of the Korean Fried Chicken and the flavor of the Hawaiian chili is a surprisingly great combo for breakfast. I will definitely be hitting up Zippy's for breakfast in all of my future Vegas trips.

Double-Double with onions, protein-style and Animal-Style fries wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.

// co-invented by @marlo_t

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http://www.chowking.com/

// It's late so I'm gonna keep this short.

So what I've heard is Five Guys is the east coast burger joint inspired by In-N-Out. They share the same concept of serving fresh burgers (and hot dogs) and nothing else. No freezers. No heat lamps. Just fresh burgers and hot dogs.

I gotta say, the fries are pretty damn good too. And they give you a very generous amount of it.

If you go in and say "everything on it", they'll give you: mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, and green peppers.

The other toppings available are: relish, raw onions, jalapenos, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce and hot sauce.

Another thing to note is the normal burger is actually a double-burger. If you want a single, you have to say "little burger."

Final verdict: Nothing will ever beat In-N-Out...but this is a good alternative when you wanna mix things up.

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http://www.fiveguys.com/

A couple years ago, I tried the deep fried trio of snickers, twinkies and oreos. This year I noticed the deep fried menu had expanded a lot:

This year I decided to change things up and try the Krispy Kreme Chicken Sandwich:

WTF?? Raspberry filling???

So how was it? Well, the first bite I have to say was an explosion of...interesting... The combination of honey-cooked chicken with glazed donut and raspberry filling was definitely something new. The rest of the bites I was thinking "wtf am I eating? wtf. wtf. wtf." And I have to say, I felt pretty gross afterwards.

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So after the sandwich, I decided to wash it down with a side of Deep Fried Pop-Tart:

It amazes me how much stuff is on this thing. Think about it: crust, stuffed with strawberry filling, frosted and topped with rainbow sprinkles, battered, deep fried, topped with more jelly, sprinkles and powdered sugar.

Mmmmm look at all that greasy goodness...

This thing was much better than the chicken sandwich...but at the end of the day, I felt totally unhealthy and grossed out. It's cool though, just another two things to cross off my list of things to eat before I die.

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A nifty little trend that I just started to notice here in SoCal -- yogurt shops with fruity toppings. Elisa introduced me to Pinkberry for my first time, but it's just a little too fruity and tart for me.

Then Meliss told me about a place in Long Beach called Yogurt Land, where you get to choose from a lot more flavors for yourself. Stack it up as high as you want cuz you just pay by the ounce.

Here's what I got:

New York Cheesecake yogurt, cookies n' cream yogurt, pralines & cream yogurt, topped with Cap N' Crunch, cheesecake bites, cookie dough bites, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate syrup and caramel.

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http://www.yogurt-land.com

Quick Tip: hit the cup against the table to pack in a lot more yogurt. :wink:

There are two things that make me feel like a man. One is watching the movie 300. The other is eating a fucking man burger of man proportions with a big hunk of man meat like Big Mike's.

Last Tuesday, Chain gave me a tip for an awesome hole-in-the-wall burger joint that's close to my house. This place is looks like such a ghetto hole-in-the-wall, in a ghetto area, I'd never think twice about pulling over. But when fellow scarfer Chain talks to me about food, I listen.

When he said the burgers are pretty damn big, he wasn't joking. Here's a single Big Mike's Burger:

Here's a better view of it's size:

Up close:

And personal:

And yes, that is a fucking lousiana hot link in there. The Big Mike Double Burger has two of those. Maybe one day I'll be man enough to take on that beast.

Because the burgers are so huge, it takes about 30 minutes to cook it to perfection. But man, it's soooo worth it.

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Read review: Big Mike's Restaurant on Yelp.com

// thanks Chain

Finally! I knew there was more to life than just 24 hour Del Taco and Jack in the Crack around here! Props to Joe for showing me this place.

I've passed by Harbor House Café on the way to Huntington Beach countless times, never thinking anything of it because it looked like a dinky little 50's diner. But I learned a few things when I got here: I learned the place is open 24 hours, the place gets pretty packed and they have a big section in the back to accommodate.

This place has to be the most chill restaurant I've ever eaten at. It reminds of those summer days, chilling by the swimming pool, munching on that good 'ol swimming pool snack bar food. (But now that I think about it, it's probably cuz we were eating on pool patio furniture.)

Anyways, how about some pictures, yeah?

Because I got out of basketball, I just wanted to get something light to eat, so I ordered the Breakfast Quesadilla. This picture doesn't do it justice but this thing was HUGE:

And yes, there's bacon in there. Lots and lots and lots of bacon...

And I didn't eat this next entree, but I figure I'd just throw it out there cuz I've never heard of it in my life. Here's the Chili Cheese Omelette:

Definitely coming here again.

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http://www.harborhousecafe.com

At the office, we had a bet on whether or not we would finish four projects by the end of April.

We finished seven. So our CEO agreed to take us out to dinner, wherever we choose, and as a bonus he threw in a free limo ride.

When you win a bet like that, of course you want to eat at some place ridiculously expensive. And if you know me, all dinner celebrations absolutely must have big portions.

So my Brazilian co-worker, Rodrigo, comes up with the greatest suggestion ever: Brazilian BBQ. And if you don't know, that's the all-you-can-eat place where you stay seated at your table while waiters come around and slice off servings of meat straight off the spear.

God damn, that was such a fucking good idea! Lemme show you how that afternoon went:

The limo is here!

As you can see, I'm totally ecstatic:

Brazilian BBQ 101. Even thought the salad buffet is supposedly superb, you stay the fuck away from it! And for the dinner rolls, they serve these amazingly fluffy cheese bread. Taste a little but not too much!

Their grilled bananas feel good in your mouth too:

There's a two-sided card next to every plate. Red means stop. Green means go.

We like green.

One thing I need to note for any first-time Fogo de Chão goer: when your card is green, the waiters will absolutely bombard you with meat. I swear, they rush at you like a large group of zombies, but instead of eating you, they want to feed you. It's intimidating as hell.

In no particular order, here's a couple of my favorites:

• Picanha — One of our most popular cuts, this prime part of the sirloin is served seasoned with sea salt or flavored with garlic.
• Filet Mignon — This succulent piece of meat is cut from the tenderloin and seasoned to perfection. Also served wrapped in bacon.
• Linguica — These robust pork sausages are seasoned and slow-roasted to mouthwaterinf perfection.

And then to top it off, I had the chocolate mousse cake (which was definitely the largest of all the desserts):

And then, sleepy time:

So how much was it? Well from what I've heard, it's about $35/person for lunch. For dinner, it's supposedly around $75/person. And that's not even including the wine and desserts. But I promise you, it is worth it once in your life.

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BBILF. Brazilian BBQ I'd like to fuck.

Lean chicken breast, bacon pieces, cheddar, chopped tomatoes, red onion and Raspberry Chipotle Dressing served with warm, fluffy Italian flatbread.

They say it's "Italian" flatbread, but let's be real...it's a lighter version of zatar bread from Saudi.

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http://www.quiznos.com