mmmm, melbourne (food part 1)

As a New Yorker, I hate and love to say that I'm a food snob. Everyone in New York calls themselves a foodie, which I refuse to do since the argument has been made that everyone on earth is a Foodie. We all love food and must to survive... big, giant, DUH. I don't call myself a "sleepie" because I love sleep and know the best kinds of beds. Foodie is also not a job title, people... do you think Adam Platt tells people he's a foodie when they ask what he does? NO - he's a professional restaurant critic. Back to my point - regardless of being a "foodie" or not, if there is one thing we know, it's that New York has the best cuisine in America - HANDS DOWN. Therefore I am a snob about it. If you don't agree, you have never visited. If you have visited and don't agree, your tour guide/friend was clearly terrible and took you to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Times Square. No other explaination. And before you come at me with all sorts of nonsense about the best BBQ place in Texas or the best cuban place in Florida - I'm saying as a whole New York food is head and shoulders above any other city. GAH, you're not even fighting me and I can already feel the backlash.

So, I was more than pleasantly surprised that Australia has RIDICULOUS food. I even found out that when people travel to New York they expect the food to be BAD - whaaaa??? Yeah. So, confusion aside here are my top picks! (and one miss):

MoVida (Melbourne) - spanish amazingness

After a failed attempt to go to a recommended spot, Mamasita (the line was out to the street), we ended up at MoVida. It's busy with a post-work, yet cool crowd. We waited about 10 minutes before being seated at the bar. They really hit the nail on the head with their spanish tapas style menu. We nommed on a spanish pork + pepper sandwich, a beetroot salad, an out of this world spanish meat board and various other delicious things. PLUS, a really nice rioja to tie it all together. As far as the location - while it is downtown, it's tucked away on this cool little side street, so it doesn't have the corporate vibe that might normally go with downtown resto. GO. Go, now!

Pelligrini's (Melbourne) - Hole in the wall Italian

After a SECOND failed attempt at Mamasita's (ughhhh! conquest for next time), we went with our back up recc of Pelligrini's. I honestly wasn't sure if we made a mistake when we walked in. It's a dingy little diner style restaurant. No one offers to seat you and there are no menus handed out. The noise level is a bit above minimum as almost everyone has their head down in their pasta bowl with a pink drink to their right. Whatever, we were starving so we gave it a shot. Turns out the pink drink was watermelon juice and they serve some of the best lasagna I've EVER put in my mouth (and again... coming from someone who is well versed in an Italian kitchen). I can see how it does get negative reviews - it's not a normal restaurant experience. You go in, you eat, you pay, you leave. No fluff. I don't know about the rest of the "menu" - but a stop in is well worth it for the lasagna. 

29th Apartment (St. Kilda, Melbourne) - bar food perfection

On one of our only days off, we wandered down to St. Kilda to walk around the bay. We were there at an odd time, but were STARVING. Our eating schedule is severely off due to our non-stop travelin. It can be a real hassle. We found a spot that was JUST opening and sat down at the bar to grab some food. Turns out they were going for an "American" vibe, which I still find funny since very little cuisine is really ours. We got a dip plate, a caramelized onion pizza, and a burger. ALL exceeded expectations! It tried to be messy, I could tell, but they were just too good at putting it all together. The decor tried to look like a messy New York apartment with oddly match furniture. For the most part, it succeeded. They also were setting up to have a vintage/young designer market that evening - so bummed I couldn't stick around for it. Looked like some amazing stuff. Ch ch ch check it if you have the chance and tell me how it is!

Papa Gino's (Lygon Street for Italian food, Melbourne) -  OUR MAJOR MISS

One of our first recc's in Melb was Lygon street for a Little Italy type atmosphere. We were DYING for some good pasta, so we were all about this experience. Except... it sucked. The pasta was overcooked, the parm was terribly breaded, the sauce was potentially from a jar, the antipasto left a lot to be desired. MAJOR BOMB. To sum it up, here is how my wonderful partner in life described the meal (to our server, much to my dismay).

Server: "So, how was it?" (hands us the bill)

Ron: "Average; I'd say mediocre at best"

 - Insert me with my head down looking anywhere but at this poor server - 

Server: "Oh..."

Ron: "I mean, I'm from New York - we have the best Italian food outside of Italy there"

Server: "So... it wasn't good."

Ron: "No... um, just... no. Sorry, man"

Gotta love him for speaking the truth! 

That's it for now. Be back soon! Commence the comments!

love,

b

Finally, Phoenix!

I really wanted to write a "ph" instead of the "f" in "finally" but I didn't want you to get all judgey. I know how you are.

As  you saw from our ridiculously long journey, we FINALLY made it to Phoenix! And, no, that last part of the last post was not a lie... there was a water slide at the hotel. I feel I should pose this question now... We stay in pretty nice hotels on the road, but I don't remember or know of ANY decent hotels where I'm from ever having water slides. Is this new??? Is this common? Seems it sort of is. I don't mind it & plus it helps keep Cousin Carl happy and that's all I care about.

Since I'd craved a pool ever since San Antonio, I woke up and took my laptop right outside and got all of my work done in just a few hours pool-side. It's amazing what a great motivator sunshine is. I think about all the time I used to waste working in corporate America. Eight hours a day was definitely not eight hours of work (most days). Now, working for myself, I bang it out! Lesssfaceit... when you work for yourself, you are basically always working since the advent of the glorious iPhone, but the day-to-day stuff I need my computer for gets done pronto. I love it.

Anyway - Did I mention Cousin Carl likes water slides? OH! Right, I did. So, while I was in adult land at the regular pool, Carl & Zach stashed their stuff with me & ran off to the slide. After 15 torturous minutes of them being gone, I finally got up to see what all of the commotion was about. This thing was AMAZING. I nonchalantly brushed off the lifeguard who told me the slide rules. Who was I? I was certainly not going to ride down that slide.

That lasted approximately three more minutes.

I took my grown-up girl butt to the top of the slide, held my bikini top to my chest, and swished & swooshed all the way to the water-going-up-the-nose ending. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. So much, in fact, that I coerced Rp to finally come down to the pool & do it with me three more times. We then spent the rest of the afternoon saving ourselves from the heat by working on the lift from "Dirty Dancing" in the pool. I don't want to brag, but we nailed it. He made all of my 5 year old dreams come true. I was finally Baby.

My own personal Patrick Swayze and I realized it was indeed time for the show... so off we went. As he set up, I got a manicure (my favorite way to skip sound check) & thought of places to go for dinner. So really quick, before I go, I have a recommendation for you who live there or are traveling through! Wooo, we love recs!

We ate at a new restaurant in downtown called Blue Hound. It was actually sort of reminiscent to one you'd find in a boutique New York hotel. The food was.... good for the road, but didn't stack up the same way. That's not saying bad though! New York just has the best. Anyway... I digress. As Rp tends to do, he ordered almost every single vegetarian dish available. I would say, we enjoyed about 80% of them. The cheese plate was not their best effort (who throws a hunk of cheddar on a cheese board?); the flat breads were incredible; the cocktails were delicious; and the dessert hit it out of the park. SO, yes, this is definitely a recommendation! Hopefully they'll work out the cheese plate by next time.

menus/lighting

"caramel" popcorn: butterscotch w ancho chili/green salad & basil risotto 

brownies + nutella milkshake/cheese board

I think it's time to wake Patrick Swayze up, so off I go!

I'm getting some good questions, so keep them comin! I'll do a couple of posts for them.