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VANILLA LATTE is a blog dedicated to food & travel with occasional random stuff thrown in. It is managed and written by me, Maggie Ha.


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NY Eats: Asiadog 27Oct09

Asiadog

I’m starting a new series of posts called “NY Eats” for all the delicious places I come across in New York. Don’t worry, I’m still cooking and posting all my culinary adventures. But since New York has so many yummy eateries, I figured I’d better start writing them down before I forget. I already have a gigantic to-eat list filled with both famous and not-so-heard-of places, I can’t wait to try them all!

So for my first post of the series, I present to you my foodie friends, Asiadog! Delicious Asian inspired toppings on a hot dog. I absolutely love hot dogs. Well to be precise, veggie dogs. It’s hard to find veggie dogs but Asiadog not only serves veggie dogs, they top it with delicious toppings! And for you carnivores, they have beef and chicken franks as well as an organic option. Now for the toppings… my favorite was Vinh, Vietnamese pickled
carrot and daikon with cilantro and jalapeƱo. It was so good, I went back for seconds! They have other options like kimchi, curry, bbq pork, and Asian slaw. You can find Asiadog at Fort Greene Flea Market in Brooklyn on Saturdays, among their other locations (see website). I had mine at a special edition of the Brooklyn Bridge flea market on Sundays…. special guest: Martha Stewart!!!!

MARTHA!!!!

Don’t even get me started on how excited I was, hot dogs + Martha Stewart sighting, seriously made my day! I am loving New York! :)

Sunday Means Burritos & Brownies 1Mar09

beach burrito company
Today we were again on the hunt for a decent burrito in Sydney. To date, Mad Mex in Darlinghurst had the best. Until I got a quesadilla with all the toppings inside and half rolled into a taco. It was very odd.

We’ve heard about the Beach Burrito Company and we’ve driven by about a hundred times but never tried it. Mostly because parking around Bondi is just ridiculous. Well we actually made the effort this time and I’m really glad we did. They were we’re too bad! They had almost everything except for refried beans. Their black beans were a bit tough and the rice was a bit dry but still added great flavor to the burritos. I think it’s now my favorite* burrito place in Sydney. I had the garden esalada burrito, random bits of cucumber in there but not a bad thing at all! Vini had the beef and he loved it. They had Tapatio sauce on the tables and had a great beach-side in Mexico feel to it. I think I’ll have to go back and try their taco salads (which are REAL taco salads in the tortilla shell and all!) and some nachos. And their website has a surfcam! It’s no Wahoo’s but it’s got that surf burrito feel down.

* Note: Favorite burrito place in Sydney pretty much means it’s the closest thing to something decent. No where near comparisons to burritos in SoCal… yet.

el_fuerte_bmp_jpgcopy

Speaking of Mexican food, I’ve been meaning to mention El Fuerte. He’s a new character on StreetFighter 4. His story is that he’s a Mexican lucha libre chef looking for recipes that make up great fighters… something like that, it was kind of hard to follow. But point is, how awesome that there’s a Mexican chef as a character!!! His signature throws are Guacamole Leg Throw and Tostada Press, or those are the only ones I know how to use. And my absolute favorite part is at the beginning of each fight he says, “It’s dynamic cooking time!” – no idea what that means.

And now for my Sunday night experiments, this week it’s brownies. I’ve attempted 2 different versions that I’ve made before but I seem to always alter the recipe each time. I made a Mocha Brownie and a Traditional Browie with Walnuts. See individual posts for recipes!

Latest Latte

Ground Support

My local favorite is currently Ground Support in SOHO. I go there almost every day for a smooth creamy soy cappuccino or if it’s hot out an iced soy latte. When I’m not in a hurry to run out, I try to take a few extra minutes to enjoy the coffee in the shop… you know, chat with the staff, catch up on some calls and best of all… people watch. Always some interesting characters in NYC!


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