Travel | fabliss

Top Pot Doughnuts | Seattle, WA

we are back from vacation (seattle and then vancouver) and it is food posting time! as some of you may know, in the past couple of years, we have based our travels on food (italy and thailand) and more recently football venues (candlestick park and now seattle centurylink field)! we were only away for 10 days (5 days in seattle and 5 days in vancouver)…but we ate. a lot.

one of our first stops: top pot doughnuts in belltown since a ton of people have been raving about it! quick tip – we loved staying at the renaissance in downtown (a little less than a mile away from centurylink field) since everything was a max 15 minute walk away. (a review of seattle to come later) anywho. top pot doughnuts.

we ordered a raspberry glazed cake doughnut, a double trouble doughnut (chocolate cake w/ chocolate glaze) and a cup of black coffee.

doughnuts were moist! i really enjoyed my pink doughnut…only thing is that we wished the doughnuts were warm. we wanted it to melt in our mouths. coffee was good. nothing too amazing but still a good complement to the doughnut.

kyle tried to dip it in his coffee. nope bad idea. too soggy.

atmosphere: this is an extremely cute joint…that reminds you of the library in beauty and the beast. (yup)
service: very friendly. we loved our cashier. small line when we got there around 9 am on a saturday but it cleared pretty quickly.
overall: good doughnuts. some may find the cake donuts on the dense side. i didnt really mind this. good breakfast joint. we read that this was the best doughnut in the nation… we didnt think so but it is still pretty good. dont expect anything earth shattering.

Top Pot Doughnuts
2124 5th Ave
(between Lenora St & Blanchard St)
Seattle, WA 98121
Neighborhood: Belltown

By fabliss | September 30th, 2013 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Food, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 1 Comment

Doughnut Dolly | Oakland, CA

oh, doughnut dolly in oakland, why were you not around when i was in college? at $3 a piece, you have a variety of flavors to choose from. the filling flavors change on the regs but the naughty cream is a constant. we went here on a saturday morning… the line wasn’t too long.

my favorite is the naughty cream filling (which is similar to the cream filling you would find in a cream puff). pris and stella enjoyed the raspberry lemon jam and the dark chocolate fillings.

my doughnut was perfect with a black cup of coffee. don’t expect the most exceptional coffee…but a still a good pair with the doughnut. note that the raspberry lemon is on the sweeter side…so you definitely will need the coffee to offset.

so, i am a fan of this doughnut. the doughnut is soft and fluffy and the cream filling is a plus!

atmosphere: very cute doughnut shop that will steal your heart. on top of that, the alley that it’s located in is stupid cute. i wanted to spend all day here. go oakland!
parking: only street parking.
service: one woman shop. very nice and quick service.
food: doughnuts are great. i would come back here. i didn’t know this at the time of ordering but you can actually request mixed flavors. i’m sure the naughty cream / coffee is amazing!

Doughnut Dolly
482 B 49th St
Oakland, CA 94609

By fabliss | September 29th, 2013 | California, Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Dessert, Food, Restaurants, San Francisco / Oakland, Travel | 0 Comments

Murray’s Bagels | New York City

the bagel: we got the onion bagel (my fav), lox, red onions, tomato, (no capers). love. best bagel ever. why? the bagel itself is uh-mazing! i dont know what it is. it’s fresh. great texture (i dont think fluffy is the right word…a cloud of heaven?). i normally like my bagels toasted but (i) they dont toast their bagels and (ii) its so fresh, you dont need it toasted. mind blown. ugh. how did i live without you?

notes: they have lots of different bagels but now that i have the perfect combo, i dont know how i eat anything else. they also have tons of different cream cheeses. go cray.

service: fast. you get in and get out.
atmosphere: small. limited seating. you are surrounded by lots and lots of bagels and cream cheese.
overall: this is my favorite bagel. ever. we have been to this location in chelsea and the one in greenwich village (made us hooked). i do have to say that the bagel at the greenwich bagel was a little more loaded (aka more cream cheese, more lox, more onions!)…and they cut it in half for us there. so i think if i had to choose between the two locations, i would choose the greenwich village one but again, best bagel we have had. los angeles has nothing compared to new york bagels.

242 8th Ave
(between 22nd St & 23rd St)
New York, NY 10011
Neighborhood: Chelsea

here is the info for the greenwich village location:

500 Ave of the Americas
New York, NY 10011
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

By vivilinh | June 28th, 2013 | Food, New York, Restaurants, Travel | 2 Comments

Empanada Mama | New York City

thanks to our awesome friend, lauren, we were introduced to empanada mama! (if you asked her what is your go-to place in manhattan, she would say this place). at first i was skeptical since i didnt see how you can just eat empanadas for dinner… arent they just an appetizer?!

we ended up at the express version because we were already on the lower east side and wandering around hungry and tried from our walk. we ordered:

spicy chicken – chunks of chicken breast slowly cooked in mama’s special picante sauce. oh, its special alright. bomb.
cheese and spinach – mozzarella with sauteed spinach
cheeseburger – round beef cooked in traditional latin spices with cheddar cheese. oh yeah, we did.

all were delicious but the spicy hockey definitely stood out. they give you two sauces to dip (one red and one green)…delicious! in love with the green sauce (maybe a chimichurri sauce?).

each empanada is $3.00 each. a little pricey considering you need a lot to get full…but still very very worth it. i could eat 1,000!

service: i’m going to go ahead and say that since this is express… you shouldn’t really expect the greatest service. But i didn’t mind. we were just in and out without much interaction.
atmosphere: this place is small. there are a few high chairs and a table or two. dont expect to roll deep here.
overall: highly recommend this place! loved the empanadas! next time, i want to go to the full service one in midtown and try the bajillion other flavors!

189 E Houston St
New York, NY 10009
Neighborhoods: Lower East Side, Alphabet City

763 9th Ave
(between 51st St & 52nd St)
New York, NY 10019
Neighborhoods: Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown West, Theater District

some pictures from our walk!

By vivilinh | June 27th, 2013 | Food, New York, Restaurants, Travel | 3 Comments

Carnegie Delicatessen | New York City

this was our second time at carnegie deli. kyle specifically wanted to go here because he loved the hot pastrami the first time around (and also liked it more than katz’ deli).

food: we ordered the hot pastrami sandwich with a bowl of matzo ball soup. note that every thing here is huge… it’s ridiculous but fun at the same time. it is way too much food… make sure you are sharing with someone or a group of peeps. note that they charge you an extra $3.00 for sharing.

i am a fan of the matzo ball soup here. it’s it delicious and soothing in a homey way. i enjoy this more than the sandwich actually.

kyle likes the pastrami here. it is piled high on rye. enough said. oh, don’t forget the two types of pickles you get with your sandwich. yum.

after eating this you really won’t want to eat the rest of the day. this obviously was not an option for us… since we had a long eating day ahead of us. chowed this down and headed up and downtown to walk it off…

service: fast and organized. there are a lot of people working here to make sure things move quickly.
price: expect to pay at least $18 for a sandwich… it’s big so you can’t really complain.
ambiance: loud. pictures of famous people on the walls. yep, you either love it or you hate it.
overall: look, don’t expect the best meal of your life. i wouldn’t even say i love pastrami but i do recognize this is a must do when you’re in the big apple. it is lots of food but its the experience/history you want.

Carnegie Delicatessen
854 7th Ave
(between 54th St & 55th St)
New York, NY 10019
Neighborhood: Midtown West

By vivilinh | June 18th, 2013 | Food, New York, Restaurants, Travel | 3 Comments

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