Barkada is a great place for fresh, tasty, and inexpensive Filipino food. For $7, including tax, you get pile of white rice and a choice of 2 entrees AND a can of soda or bottle of water. Many of the delicious entrees are changed from day to day giving you a great reason to come back in order to try everything on the menu. Some entrees like beef steak, which is a nice dish of beef and onions in lemon-soy sauce, are available every day as well.

I enjoy just about every thing they offer, but some of my personal recommendations are:
Humba: pork and soy sauce with banana flowers Binagoongang: pork in shrimp paste
Chicken curry: with potato and peppers
Pork Sinigang: a soup with pork and tamarind.

Added to the combo meals are a la carte items like: Lumpia Shanghai: like a cross between a Thai spring roll and a Chinese egg roll
BBQ sticks: skewers of beef, pork or chicken

Siopao: big steamed buns filled with chichen or pork.

On top of that they offer great desserts like turon, which is a tasty little roll filled with plantain and jackfruit. They also have breakfast combos: eggs with a choice of meat/fish served with garlic fried rice and a drink.

Aside from the hot food, they have a big selection of packaged Filipino food, so if you enjoy the taste of the fresh food, you’ll definitely want to do some shopping for home. It’s family run and the staff is more than happy to help you decide what to get and answer any questions on the selections of the day.

Barkada
18 Orangetown Shopping Ctr
Orangeburg, NY
(845) 398-0460
http://www.barkada-foods.com

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There are certain types of food that never seem to fill me up, and oysters are definitely one of them. I usually run out of money before my appetite for them is satisfied. There’s something about the salty/sweet briny goodness of raw oysters that make them go down like candy. Ok, a cold slimy candy, but dammit they taste good! Mama’s is an especially fun place to satisfy my cravings for oysters and just about any other type of seafood you can think of. With a large, but well focused menu, they provide enough selection for any seafood fan.

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Like most cliches, the Philly cheesesteak is good, but not the best sandwich to get in town. If you ever find yourself in Philly, you need to get your ass over to Reading Terminal Market. Right in the middle you’ll find DiNic’s Roast Beef stand, and the REAL Philly sandwich. Read the rest of this entry »

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There’s nothing quite like the smell of properly smoked BBQ. That may be a redundant statement, since most BBQ fans will insist that it has to be smoked otherwise you’re just grilling. I’m not about to get into that argument, but I will say that I love Andy Nelson’s Barbecue, no matter how they make it.

This being my second trip to this wonderful haven of burnt flesh, I was happy to share it with the brothers, crew and friends. With 11 growling stomachs we descended onto Andy Nelson’s like a pack of BBQ eating locusts.

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So for Christmas in ‘05 (’ought-five’ as the old timers put it), the missus got me a gift certificate for a place called Congee Village. It was one of those gifts where you open it up and say, “Heyyyyy… Congee Village!” and try to act like you know what it is. Turned out Congee Village is a Chinese restaurant specializing in Cantonese food. Now, why would I want to drive all the way to Manhattan to eat Chinese food when there is excellent Chinese just a mile away at Ocean Empire? The missus, knowing I have a thing for bizarre foods, saw stuff like “boiled goose intestine with bean sprouts,” “boneless chicken feet in thai sauce,” “sweet pea pods sauteed duck tongue in XO sauce” and more and figured it would be a home run.

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I was invited to a Veggie Dinner. With a heavy heart I agreed to go… you see, I’m a carnivore. Whenever I say that, people always try to sound smart and correct me saying “No, you are an omnivore” (meaning that I eat both vegetables and meat). I then correct them and say, “No, I’m a carnivore.” I will eat fruits and veggies, but my main diet is meat. I love a great steak, a big juicy burger, bacon, sausage, pork chops… but I digress… So, I’m a carnivore.

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Spending what seems like hours trying to decide what to order? Who wouldn’t take extra long to decide when menus have so many choices? One solution to keep your dining companions happy is to look at the restaurants website before you go. Many websites offer a preview of the menu so you have an idea of your choices ahead of time. If you’re stuck between two choices ask your server for an opinion, more than likely your server has tried it and can give you an educated answer. Spend less time deciding and more time eating!

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Always wanted to try a new fancy-schmancy restaurant but didn’t want to break the bank? Check out the lunch menu or an early bird special and enjoy the same great food for less. Or to enjoy a smaller portion of food, some restaurants even offer a half portions or small plates to cut back on those time-to-loosen-the-belt sized dishes.

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Deep in the heart of Chinatown, half a block down from Canal Street and Bowery in NYC lies a true haven for food lovers. HSF is one of my favorite places to go in Chinatown for Dim Sum. Here you can spend less than an hour, and less than $20 and come out stuffed and smiling. Of course, you can also spend more time and more money, but you really have to be hungry to do that.

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The Bent Elbo Tavern is one of our favorite places to play. It could be because it’s a cool room with lots of old world charm, or possibly because the staff and customers are just so friendly and supportive. But I have to say that the #1 reason is the food. The late night menu is filled with all sorts of tasty goodies to keep you nice and warm in these cold winter nights. One of the stars of the menu have to be the english muffin burger, which is everything a burger should be .. on an english muffin. But the top prize goes to the fillet mignon steak sandwich. This is no cheese steak, but a big slab of fillet that just melts in your mouth. It may not be the best steak sandwich in the world, but it’s damn close.

Bent Elbow Tavern
582 Bethlehem Pike
Fort Washington, PA 19034
http://www.bentelbo.net

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