Finally! Episode 1 of the Eat at the Bar web series produced by Flying Box Productions! It’s currently being pitched to sponsors as a branded entertainment series. There are several restaurants in line to shoot so hopefully we’ll be bringing you more of these in the near future. Have a favorite restaurant with a cool bar that you’d like to see featured on the show? Please let me know!
Eating at the bar vs. a table is the difference between being a traveler vs. a tourist. A traveler experiences places and cultures from the inside out and there’s no better way to get the “inside” experience of a restaurant and a city than by eating at the bar. My first morning in Tokyo, I awoke at 5AM to hit up the Tsukiji Fish Market. I have a cousin who works in the city and was talked into being my guide, which I’m sure he later regretted. Nevertheless, he dutifully met me at 5:30 AM…
fresh fish
dried fish
Tokyo’s outdoor fish market is a MUST if you’re in the city and you’ve never been. They’re most famous for their 5AM tuna auctions, and there was a recent record-breaking sale of a bluefin for 32.49 million yen or approximately U.S. $ 400,000. The market itself features everything from fresh wasabi to marinated root vegetables and all kinds of seafood in various forms. I know what you’re thinking, but, surprisingly, the market didn’t smell at all! And why should it, since everything’s fresh? SO fresh…that I just had to taste it. So what if it was only 7 in the morning?
Fresh, Off the Boats!
We stopped in an unpresuming sushi joint and asked the sushi chef to bring us whatever was the freshest and to just keep the food coming. I was surprised by how many people were there, having sushi for breakfast. Needless to say, everything was spectacular…Perfect bite-sized pieces with the rice at room temperature. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. My only regret was not having some sake with my breakfast.
When The Bazaar by Jose Andres first opened in Beverly Hills’ SLS Hotel, it was an instant hot spot in the trendy LA scene. Add to that the four stars from the Los Angeles Times, becoming a finalist for the James Beard Awards’ “Best New Restaurant,” plus numerous other awards and Andrés’ appearance on 60 [...]
It’s been said that the best thing about traveling is coming home, and I couldn’t agree more. During my travels from coast to coast, I made a brief stop at my folks’ in Georgia. I started eating at the bar after I moved away from home, and the city became my community. Although I’ve come to love [...]
After Boston, I took the all too familiar Fung Wah bus to the big Apple for a tasty weekend with friends. I’m just one of the many who love New York, but I often wonder if the reality of Manhattan is far less appealing than the romanticized version I get to visit every other month…(outside [...]
Growing up in my family, we never missed a meal. My mother’s cooking always brought the family to the kitchen table, especially for dinner. When I moved to LA not knowing a soul, the city, in essence, became my family. Like with any family, you don’t always get to choose who you get (I wanted [...]