A Quick Bite Of Omaha

(Omaha)

Omaha. This is the kind of town that you ask the typical Metal-touring band what they ate or did and you’ll get some bitchy-unsatisfied answer back. And you know why? It’s because they’re too lazy to get off their ass and walk into to town… to see what the locals eat. 

Omaha was an off-date of Mayhem. The show was at some venue that I can’t recall the name of, but the line up was In Flames, Trivium, Kingdom of Sorrow and Straight-line Stitch. It was hot. Unmercifully hot. That whole damn Mayhem tour was 100-120 degrees every day… 7/8th’s of it in swampy-humidity. The only cure for all that for me is good food. All my troubles are washed away with great food (as you know already). 

Corey, Paolo, and I were hungry and not content with the standard grey-meat rider-sandwich; so we grabbed a cab and headed into the center of town.

We randomly stumbled upon M, a New American style place: nice branding, well designed menus, good fonts (no stretched, underlined, or outlined words), exposed brick, wood, exposed vents, some stainless steel, clean design, open kitchen viewing, un-pretentiously dressed servers (not a fan of ties, penguin-suits, etc)… basically all the hints to me of a good spots for food.

We shared the Original Lahvosh - an Aremenian cracker with havarti cheese, topped with scallions. The havarti had a real nice punch of tanginess and a slight bitterness that blended with the crispy bread. A simple dish that packed a lot of flavors - a real trio pleaser. 

I decided to go with all the specials of the day: since it was hot, a Mango Gazpacho soup with pickled ginger. So far M has been showing me that with a few simple ingredients, they can really show off a dish. This gazpacho was something unique and significantly special. A nice creamy, but still translucent soup - sweetness from the mango, the cucumbers playing the neutral, and that pickled ginger: damn good. I’m Japanese. I’m a sucker for pickled ginger done right. Well played M.

My main was the Smoked Salmon and Bacon wrap in a spinach tortilla with cream cheese, avocado, sprouts and polenta fries. Awesome. I loved the description… it’s really what hooked me. The combo all seemed sort of odd - smoked salmon and bacon? Maybe it’s been done - but I hadn’t had it till then. This thing was fun - it was a great spin on doing something like a wrap and fries… but totally their own way. The saltiness from both the salmon and bacon paired with that avocado and cream cheese real well. The polenta fries had a texture of fries and baked italian bread. The aioli worked great on all of it. 

Since this could possibly be the only outing of the day (the venue was a little far, our show a little late) I opted that we share deserts. It was a trio: Zucchini Chocolate cake with olive oil ice cream, Basil Shortbread cookie with watermelon sorbet, sea salt and chopped mint; Pecan tart with rosemary. Man… I still remember these tastes perfectly- and it’s been a while since that show. My time with M was short - but I loved M and miss M. M got me truly into the mixing of savory into deserts. The mix of their olive oil ice cream with zucchini chocolate cake was a subtle introduction to the savory/sweet-play - the olive oil ice cream went flawlessly when eaten with the cake (the zucchini is really subtle); the basil shortbread cookie with watermelon sorbet was my absolute favorite. Probably my favorite desert of the year. At first taste, you taste sweetness from the shortbread and watermelon… but then you notice the intensity of the sea-salt. It’s in little chunks of sea salt - the mint finishes it up with all mint’s earthy-spice. The pecan tart blended the two flavors very well for a medium-balance of the savory/sweet.

I think M is what really awakened my taste buds for juxtaposition. I love contrast in music and in tastes of all things in life, and that little cookie with pink sorbet on top changed the game for me. If you can make it out to M just for that little flavor-experience… do it.

We slowly waddled back to the center of town, grabbed a cab and hung at the venue till hunger struck again.

Me and P wanted dinner - we decided for another random trek to see what we’d discover. 

Los Portales. The opposite end of the spectrum in comparison to M. But is it really? A local joint that specializes in what it does right. Still very Omaha. 

We had chips and salsa that came out of these little syrup-type-diner-dispensers… good stuff - a solid chip. Tacos: made from scratch corn tortillas with onion, cilantro and lime. I went for Al Pastor, Chorizo, and Carnitas. Just a great, simple taco place. All done just as well as anywhere else I’ve had it.

Time to head back, warm up, play. Omaha treated us right in the food department. 

Blackjack and Fat Tire

(Las Vegas)

Las Vegas is a place I’ve always been skeptical about when it comes to finding good food. My reasoning is the clientele. The waddling, neon-colored-adorning fanny-packers I typically see mowing down a fast-food burger-color-sprayed, garbage wrapper-covered food-item don’t typically give me confidence in good eating. 

Our tour manager, Brian, got us a pretty slamming deal at one of the better hotels in Vegas (I forgot the name already… MGM maybe?) and I started looking in the pamphlet they dole out for guests. A Le Atellier?? Michael Mina restaurants? 2 Colicchio joints? Hmm… I guess I was wrong. Ashley then mentions “All the big celebrity chefs has places out here.” I learn something new every day. I mean… I knew the typical celeb-Food-network-guys had places out here (at which I am positive that the diners think Emeril and Wolfgang are actually making their burger), but I didn’t know they’d have the good stuff out here.

Ashley, Paolo, and I hung out by the pool for a while - getting nicely scorched by the Vegas-desert sun, then got hungry. We decided to hit Wichcraft by Tom Colicchio: this was a real good sandwich/lunch-type place, and certainly affordable. Apparently, Colicchio is very into trying to make school lunches much healthier than they are now… something like a country-wide attempt - a very great idea - school lunch from my recollection was unhealthy and of prison-grade-quality. 

Wichcraft reminds me of something that would be a gourmet/lunch/school lunch place. I had the corned beef panini with sauerkraut, gruyere cheese, whole grain mustard, on rye. This thing was good, damn good. A sandwich isn’t a sandwich… there is good, bad, ugly… this thing was great. Still very reminiscent of what should be on a corned beef, with little additions more - a great spin to the classic. The tanginess of the sauerkraut meshed with the gruyere in a harmonious way.

We all hung a bit, then Ash and I suited up to go gamble. This would be Ashley’s first time gambling surprisingly. 

We started light - with slots; agreeing on a hundred bucks a pop lost total for the whole night. I’ve really only ever played blackjack but a handful of times… so I said we ought to go check it out together. 

I found the lowest minimum game and started playing… and playing… and playing. First I was up. Way up. I started getting free drinks - quite a few of em too: Fat Tire (a great Colorado beer that I can’t get in Florida), I think there was some Chivas or Glenlivet in there too. 

I totally get gambling-addictions. It’s the thrill people must get attached to. While being up, I was remarking that I wanted to win enough money to hit Joel Robuchon’s restaurant L'Atelier (this would be the Vegas location of Joel’s less-upscale, smaller-plated version of his restaurants - I passed the one in Paris months back that I wasn’t able to get to) that was requiring casino winnings for someone like me to afford.

Things started looking good, then bad… then worse. I went from being even, to being a few hundred up, to being right about at my maximum 100 down. Ashley tried her hand in Blackjack as well - I’m not sure if we both ended up breaking even or being at about 100 bucks down combined-total… but it was time to wrap that stuff up.

We went to Nobhill Tavern by Michael Mina for dinner and drinks and a laugh about our first joint-married-blackjack adventure. I started with the Marcela: elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon, el tesoro. I really am getting hooked on this elderflower thing - it’s a whole new type of flavor if you haven’t experienced it yet. Citrusy cocktails also are seeming like a pattern of mine.

This menu was exactly what I look for in New American Cuisine. Familiar, unpretentious, and things that show the chef throwing in his favorite ingredients. Seared foie gras with seasonal accompaniments was a must. I am a sucker for offal. I love sweetbreads (I haven’t had my fix in months of that) and foie. The foie here was perfect - ideal texture, good char on the top - the bread and berries went flawlessly with the deep-flavor of the meat. 

We wanted fun dishes - things that we could celebrate our blackjack/Fat Tire buzz in style with. Braised Beef Short Rib with sweet carrot puree, English peas, and natural jus was tender enough to cut with a spoon. I loved this short rib. If you haven’t had short rib in a proper-place - it’s something texturally along the lines of very properly-done pot roast. Fibrous hunks melt off when you paw at it - the fatty spots are the best. There is so much flavor in the fat. 

We also ordered the American Kobe Burger with “secret sauce,” balsamic onions, cheddar, and a house baked bun. This meaty little thing was juicy, tender. The sharp cheddar flavor went perfectly with the overly-perfectly-soft meat. The pickle had the right amount of vinegar bite that has to come with a buger this good. And those fries? Frickin’ awesome. 

All that delectable meat was washed down with Baron De Beauleac ‘03 Bordeaux. 

Desert was a Panna Cotta with mandarin panna cotta, tropical salad, and a coco-lime sorbet. The sorbet was almost a texture of ice cream and whipped cream - coconut and lime should always go together; that crumbly-deliciousness that it all sat on top of was like eating the crumbled bits of the best pie you’ve ever had. 

I loved all the food that we had that day. Really fantastic stuff. Mina’s restaurant and Colicchio’s restaurants alike were simple, more casual versions of what they are capable of - but I really feel that they were some mind-blowingly great places. 

Maybe next time I’ll win a G in Blackjack and finally have some of L'Atelier’s fantastic food that keeps eluding me. 

Broken Clouds

(Portland)

Touring really can be as great or as crummy as you allow it to be. For me, to make touring something truly special and amazing - it’s all about food and drink. I am one who completely cuts himself off from the standard “it’s the same old shit here as it is everywhere else” vibe that you see in so many people when traveling. Some of the greatest experiences in food, art, and drink I’ve experienced when just allowing myself to be swept away by what a city can offer. Get lost; allow yourself to be immersed wherever you may be… Hell, the best Mexican food I’ve had in the USA was in Ozona, TX (a place that’s population hits merely a few thousand); Paolo and I stumbled across a Guggenheim Museum in Basque country in Bilbao - and randomly found a restaurant that gives a bottle of wine to you for ordering lunch: Basquelunch at that! So my point is - you can research great things to have no matter where you are: try Yelp, Google, ask a friend, as a local - you can find something great almost anywhere. 

So we pull up on a day off in Portland on the Mayhem tour - we already know what’s in store here (last time we had a day in Portland, a show day, Paolo’s good friend from school - Megan - took us around to some great spots, then we randomly hit a Peruvian place that Ashley found online at home for us). 

After check in, Ashley, Paolo and myself piled into Megan’s car and headed to Taqueria Los Gorditos - a slamming taco truck we had the time previous. 

For me: Lengua (that’s tongue) taco, Cabeza (head) taco, and a Chorizo taco. For Ashley, the Carne Asada Burrito. Los Gorditos does it right - traditional - simply 2 tortillas, cilantro, onion, lime. That’s it. That’s all that is really needed in a traditional taco - no yellow American cheese, lettuce, or tomato - no gringo toppings for me, amigo. A lot shy away from tongue and head meat… but let me tell you - if it’s a textural thing that’s scaring you off - those meats are even more tender than the standard cut. Great, simple, tacos - traditional. 

We hit Stumptown (a local coffee brewer) for some coffees - great stuff (it was pretty hot that day, so I went iced). 

We wandered about a little bit by car and foot, checked out Meg’s new pad (in a neighborhood that looked just like Ash and I’s 1920’s neighborhood back home) and headed to Clyde Common for some drinks. 

Clyde has that same vibe that I am so drawn to in an American joint. Modern, simple, clean - hints of rustic-ness found in chalkboards and exposed brick/wood, but also stainless modernity. My elixir of choice was the East Of Eden: Broker’s dry gin, lemon, egg whites, Gewurtztraminer reduction, and elderflower liqueur. I’m starting to recognize that gin and elderflower really go well fantastically. This cocktail was something special. The egg whites created a layer that reminded me of lemon meringue, the lemon and gin had a good bite - paired with the sweetness of the St. Germain. Good stuff.

Dinner was the same spot we hit up last time in Portland (that was followed by a rather disastrous show… but we can save that for the “Where the Hell are they now?” or “Behind the Blow” special on VH1 in the future) and we would be met by Justin Arcangel, our mgmt. 

Andina is a modern Peruvian restaurant that has traditional dishes and contemporary dishes alike. It was just as busy as the first time I went there - with an open kitchen adjacent to the entrance. We started up with the Ben Marco ‘09 Malbec that sounded like a perfect mix with Peruvian. 

I prefer to share food with the people I eat with - so some of us decided to go the sharing-route. We started up with the De Pescado “5 Elementos,” a traditional Ceviche of fresh fish - simple flavors, great citrus on the fish. We had the Ensalada Verde Peruana - fresh greens topped with hearts of palm, cotija cheese and seasonal vegetables; then to the mains: Lomo Saltado (split in half in the photo) which was Cascade natural beef tenders, wok-fried with onions, tomatoes, oyster sauce, garlic and aji, with Yukon gold papas fritas and garlic rice; the Qunoto De Hongos De Las Montana (Chisaya mama (quinoa), golden beet and local mushroom quinoa “risotto” laced with truffle oil with grilled market fresh vegetables) - one of the best quinoa dishes I’ve had, the sharp-flavored cheese with the quinoa went really well.

For desert: the Flan special and the Canutos De Quinoa Y Maracuya: crisp-quinoa studded cannoli’s stuffed with passionfruit mousse, served with mango-lemongrass sorbet and mango sauce. The Canutos were insanely good - I’m really into sorbets that mix all sorts of different flavors, and the use of quinoa as the cannoli was certainly a crunchy-alternative to the normal cannoli. 

All in a all, real decent place.

Post dinner cocktails. We hit up Teardrop, a slightly posher-looking place than the previous cocktail bar. I asked the stylish-waiter for “the best drink at the bar.” He assured me that their Pina Colada would be the best Pina I’ve ever had - and normally not a super-sweet-cocktail-drinker, I decided I’d indulge. Their Pina certainly was something special- Don Q silver rum, pineapple juice, pineapple gomme (checking notes here… it could have been a drunk note there/iphone autoword), house cream of coconut, lime, nutmeg. It was the best Pina… but intensely sweet. If you dig Pina’s, you’d love it. It was great, but not exactly my drink style I think (still learning my preferences here…)

Next we stopped by the Rogue Distillery (beer that is brewed in Portland) for a finale. I had the Brutal IPA - finished it up, and was maxed out on food and booze for the day.

Portland. Well done.

The Taco Before The Storm and “Oh yeah - so that’s what a panic attack feels like”

(Orange and San Bernadino outskirts)

Ashley and I decided that after San Francisco, since the Mayhem tour was starting off in San Bernadino, we could stop off in Orange, CA to stay with some of our good friends the night before, then drive to San Bernadino together for the show. I’ve known Hollie for a while - a good buddy from Florida who moved over to California- it’s hard to see her so much these days, so it would be a good time staying with her and Kenny (a newer friend of mine; amazing person - who works at Blizzard (umm… Starcaft II???)). 

We got picked up, did the drive back to the apartment - ate some real great food that Hollie prepped for us; then Ash and Hollie went to go grab supplies (booze) for the upcoming bus days to come. I opted to stay behind and get some Ashtanga in (any time I take more than a day off of Yoga… I get a little rickety physically and mentally - needed it).

Once Kenny got out of work, we all headed together to hit up Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen - a local, organic, Mexican place (sound familiar?). But ya know what? I would eat Mexican every meal, every day - if it were legit. Upon arrival, I realized I forgot something pretty integral… my camera. So apologies - old school iPhone-blog-style for Gabbi’s. 

This place was similar to Nopalito in SF, but a little bigger - a touch less modern, touch more contemporary in the aesthetic; lines of plaques of awards and magazine articles on the joint. This place looked fantastic. One open wall that sits on the street side, open kitchen in the back where you can see them making everything from meat to the tortillas themselves - tables lining the middle. 

Cocktails, chips and salsa were the start. I went for the Jalapeno Pepino Margarita: fresh jalapeno, cucumbers, muddled with silver tequila, fresh lime juice, agave nectar, on the rocks. Good stuff. It was pretty sweet. Like actually sweet. The agave was… actually pretty powerful. After that one - I switched to a Negra Modelo. Our chips were tortilla chips and a really-nicely-biting habanero salsa. I was quite excited on the habanero salsa - I am really into spice. 

We all started off with the Panuchos De Yucatan (puffed tortillas, black bean, achiote pork, avocado, onion, escabeche, habanero salsa). Similar to a tostada but something more. The puffed pastry was certainly more substantial than the normal thinner layered tostada. What’s really cool about Gabbi’s, is that they concentrate on delivering dishes from all different regions and culinary histories of Mexico. The flavors here were definitely a stand-out as far as my Mexican-consuming-standards go… there were all sorts of different, exciting flavors happening here. I recall a note of sweetness through all the dishes at Gabbi’s. It was certainly a signature theme. 

My main was the Puerco Poc-chuc. A Mayan recipe with slices of Kurota pork loin, adobo achiote marinade, grilled onions, habanero salsa, plantains, and frijoles negros. The Puerco had that “Gabbi-sweetness” going on - the adobo was a pretty magical flavor as well. The dish came with tortillas (thankfully) - so I crammed all those delectable little bits across the plate into the tortillas and chowed down. Although we ordered only a few dishes between the four of us - everyone was really really full. 

All in all. Great place.

We rode back, slept up, and headed to San Bernadino for the first USA show in a year and a half?? Two years maybe? 

It’s hard getting readjusted to tour. I know it seems selfish - maybe insane that someone in a position like mine could ever possibly complain… but hey - let me tell you, it’s different for everyone. I applaud and love my three band mates - you could put them in a van, tell them to tour for a year straight in it, eat with 10 bucks a day - and they’d be perfectly content; not a complaint. Me? It’s harder. I’m sure it’s something deeply inherent in all of us and in our traits… I’m a creature of habit… I am trying to fix being so regimented, and people who know me will definitely agree that I’ve come a long way - but it’s the little bits for me: having to be away from family and friends, I miss being able to shower when I want to, sleep in my bed, use a toilet when I need to, have personal space… When you’re out on the road, you now have 8-10 siblings that you have to share a space with, share a living place and work place alike - you can’t sprawl out like usual.

The day went well. Showed up, unpacked, got settled… did a great meet and greet. Worked up the whole day for the show. Don’t get me wrong - the show wasn’t bad. It was different. First days are tricky- you figure out what you’re doing for the tour/set/live-performance in that first 30/40 minutes. Our set was a little too new, a little too obscure. We played 50/50 new material (off an unreleased album) and deeper cuts off our 2nd/4th album. So it wasn’t like a magical homecoming - which is tough… I want to do an amazing show for all the people who come out; the people who love the band - we had some work to do yet.

So we wrapped the show, I grabbed my shower stuff and headed to dinner. 

Dinner? Closed. Catering closed for the day. No food left. 

Shower? There’s 1 for all the men on the tour (maybe 100 dudes on this one), and the one we’re sharing with the other two rotating bands isn’t open to us for another 2.5 hours. 

So we walked back to the bus (about a 10 minute walk) un-clean and un-fed.

That’s where I started to unravel a bit. (Perhaps an understatement.)

I was starting to lose it. 

Hungry Matt - not a pleasant Matt. Dirty Matt? Not someone you want to meet. Combine the two - you have a molotovian-cocktail of Asian proportions. 

Kenny to the rescue. “I’ve got a car. Let’s go… we’re getting you food and a shower. I will find it.” Hollie Yelped a place nearby; we shoved me into the car and high-tailed it.

Tony’s Diner was a gleaming ray of hope at the end of a train-tunnel; an oasis in the middle of the California desert. (Hollie (wo)manned the camera duties of the day/night by the way) We showed up to what looked like something stuck in a time-capsule. 

It was the most beautiful little roadside diner I’ve seen in ages. I love diners… I love these weird little things that float timelessly in space - unaltered by the changing of times; resiliently staying the same as they were decades ago. Outside was an Eastern-European guy with a tie and dress shirt cooking rib-eye steaks in a massive grill. Kenny said he was going to order that.

We walked into what looked like the set of a David Lynch movie; a diner pot-of-gold as far as diners go. Odd… stuff…. kitsch, taxidermy, vinyl-seating, insanely long menus with dishes that amusingly spanned the globe - this was a diner.

I asked the very nice waitress-lady what her favorite thing on the menu was - she replied “Navy Bean Soup.” “I’ll take it!” This Navy Bean soup was Grandma-good. An almost porridge-y texture, some of the best tasting navy beans and ham in a soup I think I’ve had in a restaurant. We ordered some beers and our mains.

Kenny ordered the rib eye he saw outside - rare. Bloody. That was a man’s man’s steak if I’d ever seen it. 

I went for the Carne Asada and Chicken tacos. Now… I know a diner on a road-side of San Bernadino may seem like an odd choice for tacos - but these were done right. They were traditional, cooked by a bad-ass of a Mexican chef, and everything I could have wanted to finally ease the pain of the day. 

We finished up and saddled up to head back to the bus.

Easy right? Heck no.

Tony’s Diner was merely an exit out of the parking lot, then a mile trek… but. Why is a cop blockading the way back in? Kenny politely asks the officer if we can get back in to drop a band member off and the cop all but draws their gun on him. They tell us to “find another way.” Kenny drives up and thinks he knows where to go. Blockade.

We trek back and forth utilizing any and all maps we have on our phones… Blockades. 

Basically - at these massive summer festivals, at one point in the night - they close all ways back in to ease the out-going traffic…. yeah - it makes sense, but what about someone who needs to get back in? We scaled the city limits - going all around the venue to no avail. Panic started setting in. My stomach started turning a bit… it was getting later… darker…

We got onto the high-way (and this is after about an hour of driving to try to find a new way in), we drove up the opposite way to turn around and come back the right way… another officer. This one is friendlier - he tells us we need to get back on the highway, turn around, and enter that same off-ramp the opposite side. We do it, get back in - I get my shower. 

Whew. Close call. All in all - 1.5-2 hour ordeal to get back. 

First night back in the bus to sleep - and it was off to another hot-parking lot, lined with porto-potties.

San Fran-finale

(San Francisco, Day 3)

The Ferry Building’s Farmers Market in San Francisco is huge - disorienting-huge. The previous trip to SF found us at the Farmers Market on a Saturday, where there are 100’s and 100’s of vendors - all selling something specifically crafted from a specific local business. Everything from local blueberry-vendors, to cheese, to vegan-specialty food, to meat stuffed with meat, French patisseries, everything. 

We decided to check out the Market on a week day and see what would be open; I was on a mission to find that Mexican vendor with “Oaxacan Tlacoyos” - but they weren’t around on the weekdays. Today would be the last day for SF, so I wanted to hit it hard in terms of eating everything I could stomach.

Our first booth was the Soda Craft Handmade Fermented Soda vendors for their “Xtra Dry Ginger Ale” - if you dig Ginger Soda and Kombucha Tea (fermented tea in a soda-type form), then you’d be stoked there. Good stuff. Ashley opted for the Hapa Ramen’s Miso Market Bowl… decent stuff (but meatless on her choice - meh); I went for Namu’s “Real Korean Tacos”. Namu used actual seaweed instead of the typical tortilla (which was awesome); one filled with Kaibi Short Ribs, one with the Chicken Thigh. I’ve had Korean tacos using the tortilla - but there’s something extra cool about the seaweed as the wrapper. 

Meat stuffed with meat is always a great thing. Multiple preparations of pig with pig are always great too. I stopped by 4505 Meats for their “4505 Bacon-Studded Hot Dog, Zilla-Style.” This was a big hot dog with bacon hunks cooked into the perfect “hot-dog-bite-and-go-pop” dog. On top was Kimchi from Namu, then fried pork skin chicharrones in the form of pork-rinds - amazing. 

Takoyamen was a must for their Tako-yaki (a Japanese dish using a batter and squid hunks, fried into a super heated ball of deliciousness, topped with Okonamiyaki sauce) and the Oi Ocha Green Tea (served in all vending machines in Japan). We stopped into the inside part of the Market to hit Blue Bottle Coffee Co for Cafe’ Lattes - where we hilariously heard someone ask for Splenda to the server, where they replied “we don’t use fake stuff.” It is San Francisco after all. 

I always need sweets to top off a good meal - and luckily across the way was Miette Patisserie, where we snagged Macarons (one Rose Geranium flavored, one Hazelnut, one Vanilla, one Pistachio). I’m a sucker for French sweets - and these were something else. The Rose Geranium tasted like eating a flower covered in fantastic sugar - the Pistachio may have won for me though. Texturally - perfect as a macaron gets.

We rolled our way back to the hotel to recover for the next meal. 

The Club Sandwich is a staple order for me when it comes to somewhere Deli-ish (and I can’t find any tongue or liver) - so when we got hungry again, we hit The Grove (again) and I had their club and Fat Tire on Draught (a fantastic Colorado beer that isn’t available at all in Florida). The Club at The Grove is damn good. Thick bread, thick meat, thick kettle chips. Before being a food adventurer, I would always room-service order a Club at whatever hotel I was currently staying in - judging the hotel by their club… this would have been a top 10.

Before dinner, we decided to go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - always an inspiring place. I’ve mentioned before in interviews and such - but before, I didn’t get art. I didn’t appreciate it. One day in Paris, Ashley dragged me (me: kicking and screaming) to The Louvre’. It was painful at first, but then it started to settle in - I started to feel inspired - granted, I didn’t know why, but I just did. 

From that moment on, I began to seek out Classical art museums - feeling driven and inspired by being around all that creativity; and at this point - I didn’t get modern art. The same thing happened - one day it clicked, and now I’m hooked. 

I am constantly inspired by visual art. I am incapable of visual art - I don’t understand how it’s done, how to do it… and I don’t want to know. I find it to be the most inspiring thing these days… more than music. Whether Film Makers like Lynch, Photographers like Jon Paul Dougalss, or Modern Artists like Cory Arcangel - these are the people that make me want to do what I do.

After the museum we trekked over to Nopalito’s - a place that I heard doesn’t do reservations, does Mexican food, but does it all local/organic. Mexican food? Count me in! It just better not be Tex-Mex or Gringo-Mex. 

Nopalito was at the corner of a neighborhood, seemingly in an area further away from the strips of restaurants to be typically expected. It was packed. The vibe was killer. It felt like a simply decorated, modem kitchen/dining room of some imaginary stylish rich friend you could possibly have. It wasn’t pretentious at all, very welcoming - not cluttery (well… the people were) and the food people were happily mowing down on looked insanely great.

We grabbed drinks by the bar and waited for our table. Ash had the Killer Bee (Del Maguey Vida, lemon, honey-smokey, floral, and nectarial), I (naturally) went for the El Diablo (Pueblo Viejo Blanco, cassis, Bundaberg ginger beer, and lime). Serious drinks. Sweet without being too sweet, that ever-welcoming bite of Tequila (I love me a good tequila) - I wouldn’t mind a couple of these bad boys…

The prices were impressive. In a place like this - this packed, this location, this city…. I was expecting a heftier price tag. This place had it all - if I were ever insane enough to open a restaurant - it’d be a place like this in Orlando. Orlando doesn’t have anything like Nopalito.

Food. We started with the Totopos Con Chile - tortilla chips, salsa de arbor, cotija cheese, crema and lime. The textural mix of the soft cheese (no yellow cheddar here my friends!) and the crunchy pop of the tortilla chips was good enough - but the salsa and crema and lime? Best damn chips and cheese i’ve ever had.

Gorditas are a favorite of mine - a difficult-to-find-at-times-favorite, but a favorite nevertheless. We had the Gordita De Picadillo (fried tortilla pocket, grass-fed beef, potatoes, carrots, refried pinquito beans, queso fresco, and salsa venas) and hot-damn lemme tell you - too good. If they had this place in Manhattan - they could have easily doubled the prices. There’s something about the idea of a traditional taco in something like a little house-sandwich that makes me happy. We also started up with the Tostada Con Tinge De Pollo which was a crispy tortilla, pinquito beans, shredded chicken, tomato, chipotle chile, epazote, cabbage, crema and avocado. I will dream of this place.

Our main we shared (with a nice batch of Negra Modelos) was the Carnitas: braised pork, orange, bay leaf, milk, cinnamon and beer, cabbage salad, onion, pickled jalapeno and rice. This very well may have been the restaurant that made me get into it… but as of recently i’ve decided that I will (for at least right now in my life) dedicate myself to making Mexican food at home. I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of Carnitas recipes I can find purely because I am always soulfully-gratified every time I have real Mexican food. Fake Mexican? It kills me like eating fake Japanese… I know i’m not Mexican - but I am so in love with the food culture of the country - I can’t wait to get over there some day. 

These Carnitas were mouthwateringly-godly. Big hunks of hours-long cooked pork - cooked so long that it pulls apart in muscular-fiber-looking hunks of softness. The beer/milk/beer/bay preparation are subtle… but they make a big difference. The vinegar-bite in the cabbage were fantastic. 

My stomach is viciously digesting itself as I recall that night… 

I’ve mentioned before that I always befriend waiters/waitresses/bartenders/chefs (when applicable/possible), and our super-nice server finally asked (after all the pictures and notes I had been writing down) if I was a chef. I laughed… “ah… i’m in a metal band… hahaha…. but I blog on the side.” We exchanged some words and she popped away to grab the check - returning with a gift. Nopalito’s house-made dark chocolate ice-cream popsicle. I love dark chocolate. I typically require desert on a cellular level…. so this? I was painfully full in the stomach - but we couldn’t have been happier.

We grabbed a glass of wine across the street afterwards with an old friend from high school, went to sleep, went the The Grove for breakfast (probably for the final time ever - I mean… we did go there like 20 times) hopped on a flight to go stay with our friends Hollie and Kenny in Orange right before the first Mayhem show in San Bernadino.

True Grit and Foreign Cinema

(San Francisco, Day 2, Part 2)

We grabbed a cab to head to Foreign Cinema - a restaurant we have been to once before (on the last SF-vacay) and were completely blown away by. Last time we dined at Foreign, it was night time and they played old films on projectors on some of the walls. FC is very modern in structure, vibe, cuisine, and aesthetic-setting - exactly the kind of place I like to eat.

This time around, the sun was still up and the restaurant looked completely different - it was amazing inside; the skylight in the half outdoor/indoor eating area in the center of the restaurant was filled with natural light, and the very minimal but still very warm decor of the interior surrounding the patio-area was sleek and cool. From memory, I would say picture a rustic gastro-pub?

I started with the True Grit cocktail (damn you San Francisco and your amazing drinks) which was 7 leguas repasado tequila, ginger liqueur, fresh lime, and grapefruit, with a coarse and spicy salt and pepper rim. Ash opted for the Notorious, which had muddled lemon, sweet vermouth, nolet gin, luxardo, brandied cherry garnish, served up. Both were exactly what we dig as far as cocktail bases go (we’re both not really into vodka cocktails - and don’t get me wrong - I enjoy good vodka, but as far as cocktails go: gin and tequila win.)

Our starters included the Redwood Hill Goat Cheese baked on a fig leaf, with walnut sauce and cracked green olives. This place was already pulling out the big guns - the savory goat cheese matched perfectly with the fig-flavor from the fig leaf; the walnut and green olives all meshed with it in perfect harmony… those house-made crostini were crunchy without being over-crackly and flakey. We also had the Chilled Asparagus and Fennel Soup with cucumber relish - the essence of a mildly-flavored asparagus, just a hint of fennel-flavor in there, and the neutralizing cucumber made this thing good enough to put in a cocktail glass.

It may have already been overkill on the starters… but when in Rome right? I ordered the Hog Island Clams and Merguez Sausage, with romesco, tomato, and aioli. Correct me if I’m wrong on the influence, but I am completely into the Portuguese influence of mixing clams and sausage in any restaurant; I have seen this before at Avec in Chicago, but I know it was more so very Spanish-influenced in that place.

We were both going red meat for the mains, so our waiter (who was super nice and very informative on everything that was Foreign Cinema) recommended the Mourvedre La Galantin Bandol, Provence 2000 Red to go with our mains - ridiculously delicious wine. 

Middle Eastern and Mexican are probably up there with Japanese food as far as my favorites in life, so the Souk Spiced Lamb Kabobs with hummus, couscous, meshweya salad, and cucumber raita was a godsend. I think I like lamb more than cow - and I am a huge fan of game-y flavors; I am always let down when a restaurant masks a lamb’s flavor to appeal to the well-done-steak-orderers at a restaurant - but this was lamb as it must be in a Middle-Eastern/Moroccan-inspired dish. It takes me to all those delicious street-meat carts around the world that serve the mystery-spit kabobs that you get at 2am from far too much boozing… only gourmet, local, and deconstructed.

Ashley’s main was the Grilled Rosemary-Ajwaan Bavette Steak, with fingerlings potatoes, asparagus, and Argentine salsa. With everything we ordered that night - we could see that FC was totally their own thing and very San Francisco, while completely embracing the influences of other countries cuisines. Both mains were perfect.

At a place like this (or anywhere for that matter of any trade in the world) I feel it’s really important to be good to those who are serving or who work at the place of business you’re at - I try to always befriend or at least be friendly to whoever is working the table that night at whatever restaurant I am dining at. So by this point - since going off his recommendations (which, in a great restaurant, it’s always a good idea to go off the recommendations of your server (if you like all sorts of food) since they have to try everything themselves) he decided to bring us a little extra thing for “being good people” as he said. The gift was Watermelon and Strawberry Granita. Godly. 

I am really into going for desert after a great meal, and into fruit-based things - and this granita was something really special. Just the pure taste of strawberry and watermelon - in an icy-form. The other desert that I insisted on having was the Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, with fleur de sel (sea salt), caramel sauce, and creme anglaise. The intense dark chocolate cake (which was a nice dry-texture in comparison to what could have been a moist-textured cake) meshed fantastically with the sweetness of the caramel and creme and sea-salt. A perfect conclusion.

Foreign Cinema, like San Francisco, is a melting pot of influences from around the world - while still being very contemporary SF. I needed to be rolled out due to the amount of food and booze I had just consumed. Fantastic night. 

The Pork Store

(San Francisco, Day 2, Part 1)

Ashley and I are perfect travel companions - we basically want to eat and drink good stuff, maybe see some cool bits - but it’s really just about the food and drinks. Taking another recommendation from Kahlil, we hit up The Pork Store Cafe’: a greasy spoon of sorts, with a really cool name and history (apparently it’s been around for along time.)

We had the oh-so-delicious mystery-diner-coffee and o.j.; then dug into the mains: Eggs In A Tasty Nest and Huevos Rancheros Deluxe. Back in my Trivium-van-days, we could really only afford Denny’s and Waffle House (it was all we could find even), and I’ve always loved the idea of their skillet mash-up things.

Eggs In A Tasty Nest is hash browns, bacon, sausage, peppers, onions, cheese, eggs, and biscuits - all heaped into a big, nest-like pile. Some smashingly great breakfast foods mixed into one. I did have Huevos the day before, but Pork Store’s sounded even better: hash browns, avocado, beans, salsa, eggs, chorizo - hot damn was this a treat. Eventually, the way it all mixed together - it all became a soup-like mashup of breakfast-greatness. The flavors went perfectly together, and this place certainly was what you imagine a great diner to be: greasy, sort of hot, makes you smell like the restaurant, and has portions way too big. 

Since already being in the Haight district, we decided to just walk all day until we were hungry again. The Haight-Ashbury area was the rock-and-roll, drug, free love capitol of the US back in the 60's… and nowadays - it’s a little more… relaxed. There are some tourist-traps and some legitimately still very-authentic Haight things all living together in a few city blocks; remnants of that distant age is still lingering in the form of shops and incense.

Next, we made our way through the Golden Gate Park; a gigantic hunk of nature full of parks, trees, fields, playgrounds, and… bums. San Francisco is one of my favorite places in the U.S. - a place that is openly accepting of all walks of life - but I think one of those took the invitation a little too graciously. 

There are all sorts of homeless in San Fran: old bums, punk bums, bum dogs, bums with walking apparatuses, freak bums, bums holding scary tools or weird machine-scraps. It looks like a congregation of different alien-species all plumped out of their meteorite-shopping-carts and descended upon SF. I saw one angry dread-bum leave a tree… which had about 10 different other people living in it; I was looking to use a public restroom one day - when - bam! - a wheelchaired-bum comes flying out and in the room, still stood another homeless man pulling up his pants, covered in dirt. Colorful. 

I digress…

The next stop was the San Francisco Conservatory Of Flowers. It was a really cool place, each room had the specific required temperature that different species of flowers needed to survive in their native cities, states, or countries. It was good photo practice to say the least. All these flowers though were making me thirsty for a cocktail. 

Trekking back into town, our next stop after some shopping (had to buy new plugs since I left my main ones at home), and it was to Alembic, on the Haight. 

Alembic is sleek; cool; mysterious - tucked away, complete with an inconspicuous visage that leads the passerby-fanny-packer elsewhere. Inside, the lights are moody - the decor classic/modern - very now as far as the rest of the country is looking when talking New American cuisine. Alembic specializes in pre-prohibition era cocktails (the new (old) trend quickly circulating the world’s watering-holes) but I can tell they’ve been doing this a long time.

Each of our servers had totally ripped biceps and triceps from all the intense cocktail-shaking that we were about to bear witness to. 

We started with: The Aviation (gin, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, creme de violette) and A Southern Exposure (juniper gin, fresh mint, lime juice, a touch of sugar, and a little shot of fresh celery juice). Both were mind-blowing. The Aviation has quickly become one of my favorite drinks in the cocktail realm, and anything involving anything lime or mint or anything green in a drink or food has my vote - so the Southern was bliss.

After bowling those down, we had: Blood And Sand (scotch, cherry brandy, sweet vermouth, and fresh orange juice; served ice cold and up) and the French 75 (gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, champagne… but Alembic did it their own way with what I think was uh and… ah… blurry). 

As far as food went, we decided to go with tapas-sized bites, since we’d be eating intense amounts for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (Foreign Cinema) later on. We had: Sumac potato chips with garlic-lemon yogurt and zaatar - a fantastic take on chips and dip - only ridiculously gourmet and fresh; Shishito peppers with house-smoked salt - simple and intensely great (Ashley’s favorite of Alembic for food); and then a Matthew-necessity, Jerk spiced duck heats with pickled pineapple and salt. Anytime we’re talking offal, count me in - and the Jerk spiced duck hearts? My favorite. The gamey flavor of the grilled duck reminded me of all the yaki-tori places back in Japan, and the added pickled pineapple (which I think was my first taste of pickled pineapple) complimented nicely. 

I don’t know if it’s because i’m extremely hungry or massively nostalgic right now - but I can remember exactly how those Sumac chips and Lemon yogurt tasted right now… it’s like you earliest memory of eating out of a giant bag of potato chips as a kid, gobbling it up with that mixable-powered-dip - only it’s actually made of real ingredients and made with care.

We decided to walk all the way back to the financial district after lunch - a casual almost 2 hour walk back(!) - rest up and get hungry again for dinner.

Iiiiinnnnnnn... Press release-s!(?)

IN WAVES LANDS AT #13 ON BILLBOARD TOP 200, CHARTS INTERNATIONALLY

BAND EMBARKED ON “RELEASE DAY” TOUR LAST WEEK, PLAYING THREE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND TWO CONTINENTS



New York, NY: Trivium’s latest album In Waves had landed at #13 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, moving over 22,000 copies its first week in stores. The band also occupied the #1 slot on both Hard Music charts. The album also charted in Japan #6; in Germany at #8; in Australia at #9; and in the UK at #17, illustrating the global reception of In Waves.

The band capped off an intense week by embarking on a special, “release day” tour which took them to three countries on two different continents in the span of a few days. It was an chaotic schedule that saw Trivium playing to over 100,000 fans along the way.

Here’s a release week recap:

Trivium, who have been spending their summer on the Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which was their second appearance on the tour, flew to Germany in the middle of the tour to perform at Wacken Open Air on Friday, August 5th, which was the German release day for In Waves. The Wacken performance was filmed and webcast worldwide in real time with the festival. Their performance was then re-broadcast on German national TV this past Friday. Wacken was a landmark show in Trivium’s career, as it was the foursome’s biggest show to date, with over 80,000 in attendance for their main stage performance.

On Saturday, August 6th, the band flew to England for their UK release show. They celebrated by supporting Iron Maiden at the o2 Arena, on the final date of Maiden’s current world tour. Over 18,000 metalheads turned out for this sold-out spectacle.

While barely catching their breath, the band then hopped a flight back to the US, to resume their dates on the Mayhem fest, playing their domestic release date show on the main stage at The Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City, OK.

Frontman Matt Heafy said, “Trivium want to thank our amazing fans around the globe both old and new for their support of our latest project In Waves. We’re blown away by the worldwide fan reaction and without you none of this is possible. It’s great to see metal make it into the global album charts where some say metal music doesn’t belong but this says it’s alive and well.”

Heafy continued, "We also want to thank all of the crazy fans who came to see us on our release day show odyssey. It’s rare that a band gets to play more than one (if even one) show on the day of their album release date, but we did three! We played to an incredible crowd in Germany at Wacken Open Air with Judas Priest for the German release; then a show in England the next night with Iron Maiden for the UK release; and then two nights later a main stage show in Oklahoma City, OK with the Mayhem Festival for the US release. Through all the travel and about nine hours of sleep in total, it was completely worth it to spread the word of In Waves and live and breathe the music with our fans.”

Mayhem wrapped over the weekend and the band, which was recently profiled in Billboard, which celebrated Trivium for their “evolving its sound. will resume touring again next month, supporting labelmates in Dream Theater in North America. Later this year, they will tour across Europe with In Flames, including headlining the UK Metal Hammer Defenders of the Faith Tour.

The album also received a 4-star review in Q, which proclaimed In Waves to be “blunt, focused and inventive, it’s as near to classic metal as Trivium have been.” It received another 4-star rating from Kerrang!, which said “ …In Waves takes elements from each previous Trivium era and welds them together into one glorious whole. This is not the sound of a band treading water that it could have been, but rather that of a now veteran act distilling the essence of everything they excel at into a single devastating attack.”
Watch footage of Trivium at Wacken by going here.

For more information on TRIVIUM, please contact Amy Sciarretto in the Roadrunner Records Publicity Department at amy@roadrunnerrecords.com or 212.274.7500.

Enso

(San Francisco, Day 1)

Before the Mayhem 2011 tour, my wife and I decided to take a little vacation to San Francisco (one of our favorite places in the USA). Our tattoo artist, Kahlil Rintye lives there; some of our favorite food and cocktail spots are out in SF; and the scenery is really something special to us - so it seemed like since the tour started so close by, we ought to indulge a touch.

The flight left and arrived early, our bags arrived early, the hotel checked us in early, everyone in town seemed to be smiling, the sun was shining (I felt like Joseph Gordon Leavitt in 500 Days of Summer when that dance-scene-in-the-street happens) - it was an unheard of sort of travel day for me (I’m used to some crazy delays and issues). The agenda of the day was to get in, eat, and go get tattooed by our buddy Kahlil, at Tattoo City on Lombard. Last vacation Ash and I took, I stole most of the tattooed time, so I knew I would be donating all my hours to her (I wasn’t up for the pain today anyhow… I wanted to eat).

The mini-vacay was a short one - we’d have about 3 days total there, then a flight to Orange to stay with our good friends Kenny and Hollie, then drive to San Bernadino to meet for the Mayhem tour.

Our first stop is a place we’ve eaten at several times in the past already, The Grove - a local, all organic cafe sort of place in the financial district. It’ really great stuff, and having had most of the menu already - I knew we’d be in for a good meal.

The opening act was a massive squeezed-to-order orange juice that they make on site - delicious (I’m a Florida-kid: I know my orange juices); I had the Huevos Rancheros, and Ash had the Breakfast Burrito. I’m a sucker for anything Mexican-food-based - it’s probably one of my top favorite ethnicities on the globe; Grove’s Huevos had eggs, chips, beans, cheese, avocado, and a thick-colored tomato-based sauce that’s not unlike salsa. The Breakfast Burrito is a mammoth - it has rosemary potatoes, eggs, cheese, and various little greens and onions - it’s a seriously good thing. Everything at Grove tastes fresh and clean - simple flavors, but in a nice setting (non-pretentious, sort of higher end looking cafe’ thing). Great stuff.

We grabbed a cab and headed to Tattoo City, where Ashley was Tattoo-Machined for the next 4-6 hours or so - Kahlil was adding to her Japanese-style sleeve of Japanese floral patterns. That ¾ sleeve is going to take quite a few visits… Kahlil did my left arm and half of my right arm - the left arm took 24-28 hours total to do a full sleeve. I was happy to skip being needled to submission.

We took a recommendation of Kahlil’s to hit up Puerto Alegre in the Mission district to grab some more Mexican food (did I mention we love Mexican food? We had a lot of Mexican food in SF).

Chips, salsa, and guacamole greeted us initially - and I wanted the Puerto Alegre Cadillac Margarita - well, we both did. The Margarita was damn good - it was their “high end” one of the night, all made with top-shelf tequila. You could hardly taste the tequila - dangerous stuff. Delicious stuff.

The mains of the night for us were the Enchiladas Poblanas, Red (Mole) and the Chicharones En Salsa Roja. The Enchiladas were chicken, made with that tricky-to-describe-chocolate mole’ sauce with the poblanas peppers mixed in to it. I’m certainly a fan of mole’. Chicharones is fried pork belly (I believe??) cooked into semi-crispier bits with a spicy sauce - it was intensely good, and intensely filling - it came with house-made tortillas to stuff the concoction in to.

Beyond stuffed and buzzed, we walked a little bit and grabbed a cab back - early night for night 1.