food cart madness: sloppi jo's (vegas)

We visited the Vegas StrEATS Festival at the El Cortez Hotel on Fremont Street - every food truck in Vegas was present and there was no lacking in food choices. We'll talk about the festival in another post - for now - THE FOOD.

food cart madness - füküburger (vegas)

It's 330AM, you just waddled out of a spectacular Japanese izakaya meal -- what do you do next? If you're like me - you immediately drive a minute down the street and hit up a food truck for a burger! I'd heard of Füküburger only weeks before this Vegas trip - and I couldn't even recall the how or the where, only that I wanted to go to there. They specialize in Asian-themed burgers, mixing Japanese, Chinese and Korean ideas where they may be appropriate - and on occasion, not so much - leading to some wildly entertaining ideas.

raku (vegas)

I'd been dying to try Raku, a Japanese izakaya, for a few years now, but could never convince my travelmates to go. This time - there would be no such issue. After a stop for provisions at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, we hit up Raku minutes before last call for the highlight meal of the trip.

i love vegas

I love Las Vegas. It's a city flush with insanity and paradox. You have a desert, then smack in the middle is this freakin' oasis with some of the largest density water-usage IN THE WORLD. I love how the city changes completely depending on the hour of day - the Strip's charms are certainly different at 3 AM from 6 AM and so on. In an 18-month period around 2008, I visited Vegas on 3 separate occasions! I forbade myself from going for 12 months. I lasted 11 months.

pray for the victims of the tsunami

Please pray for the citizens of Japan, especially those affected by the devastating tsunami waves in the north, as well as other Pacific countries affected. Most of my friends in Japan are located in Tokyo which thankfully escaped mass destruction. I'll be thinking of my home country of the Philippines.

Do what you can by giving blood, and donating to the International Red Cross.

On a more immediate note, always make sure you have an emergency kit and supplies in your home at all times.

wally's burgers (east van)

Vancouver is turning 125 this year so we're a fairly young city still. With that, we don't have as many "institutions" as say, a New York or Boston would. Wally's Burgers on Kingsway was as close to a landmark of Vancouver's past as we had - a drive-in that refused to change even as its surroundings did.

from VancouverIsAwesome.com
Unfortunately as peoples' tastes changed, Wally's went from the local hangout to, that dinghy little white shack beside the Fountain Tire that you passed by on your way to downtown. In 2008, it closed its doors, much to the chagrin of many locals. I admit that I never visited Wally's even though I lived 5 minutes away and I would... pass it everytime on my way downtown...

preview: kumare (richmond)

I heard of a new Filipino restaurant in Richmond from Vancouver Foodster so needless to say, this required investigating. Cliff and I went in hungry, and waddled out practically catatonic. Full review to come soon, but for now, drool away.

java rice

sisig