One of everything please!!Best Vietnamese this side of the South China Sea.Pho Tau Bay Vietnamese Cuisine New Orleans
www.photaubayrestaurant.com
OT: Travel & Food ideas, advice and discussions
- Thread starter pawrestlersintn
- Start date
We enjoyed this place more than the New Orleans classics ... though it's becoming one now.
www.bayona.com
Welcome to Bayona Restaurant | A Taste of New Orleans
Since 1990, BAYONA has been a staple in the romantic New Orleans French Quarter with the vision of providing fine dining in a comfortable, casual setting.
www.bayona.com
I ate there last September at the recommendation of a chef friend, the sweetbreads were fantastic!We enjoyed this place more than the New Orleans classics ... though it's becoming one now.
Welcome to Bayona Restaurant | A Taste of New Orleans
Since 1990, BAYONA has been a staple in the romantic New Orleans French Quarter with the vision of providing fine dining in a comfortable, casual setting.
Bayona is one of our faves. It’s booked already. LOLWe enjoyed this place more than the New Orleans classics ... though it's becoming one now.
Welcome to Bayona Restaurant | A Taste of New Orleans
Since 1990, BAYONA has been a staple in the romantic New Orleans French Quarter with the vision of providing fine dining in a comfortable, casual setting.
Susan Spicer is an all time great chef IMO. Love the sweetbreads
CO trip not going to happen this summer, but returning to a place we discovered during covid. Due to all the travel restrictions and testing requirements, we found it was easier to travel within the US or US territories, including St John (smallest of the islands in the US Virgin Islands). I’m reluctant to talk (write) about it, as I’d just as soon less ppl travel there honestly. This will be our 4th trip in 18 mos, so I guess we like it. There are many hiking opportunities since 70% of island is a National Park. The snorkeling is amazing and is some of best we’ve found in the Carib. It is a friendly island and very welcoming. There are no hotels. Everyone rents a condo or villa, a Jeep, and travels to a new beach every day. You can find great sailing opportunities there, just not during hurricane season. We've been tempted to rent a dinghy for a day and explore beaches from the seaside. Oh yeah, they have a local brewery with a very good hazy IPA (Juicy Booty) recently released in cans.
Anyone else discovered this gem?
(edited for some grammar and related typos attributed my phone's keyboard)
Anyone else discovered this gem?
(edited for some grammar and related typos attributed my phone's keyboard)
Last edited:
We are going to Sardinia, Nice, and Lisbon in June. Then I realized that is next month. Holy crap that came fast. I need to start researching restaurants. I'm fine in Lisbon. hard to go wrong there. This will be our first time to Sardinia and Nice. Nice has me a little nervous on that leg. Not a huge fan of French cuisine. Hoping the Mediterranean mitigates the French factor.
Tikk and his SO and my family are hitting Iceland in July so we will have many a thread of photos. Our 3rd trip to the land of fire and ice.
Love Ouray! If you have a 4x4 with half decent clearance the Alpine Loop is an beautiful trail from Lake City to Silverton. Might only be 30-50 miles long but give yourself 5-8 hours to do it. Lots of scenic stops and average maybe 6-8 mph. I did the loop in a BMW X5 but did drag a few places. If you don't have a 4x4 there is a place in Ouray you can rent a UTV and do lots of trails. Plenty of pucker factor on the roads and trails around Ouray. The million dollar highway from Ouray to Durango is a 2 lane paved road with great vistas. Some nice shorter hiking trails right by Ouray. Gunnison and the Black Canyon are cool 1-2 trips from Ouray.
Ouray has a few places to eat and drink that are decent but nothing will blow you away. Telluride is also a great setting but is so yuppie. Take the ski lift in Telluride to the village and walk around for a little bit. Great vantage points on the lift and some spectacular houses along the way.
Everyone's busy traveling and BBQ'ing, backdrft76 
If anyone gets to VA Beach, check out Commonwealth Brewing. They have a great selection of hazy NE double IPA's and their pizza is worth a try too.
Safe travels as the world opens up to mask free travel.
If anyone gets to VA Beach, check out Commonwealth Brewing. They have a great selection of hazy NE double IPA's and their pizza is worth a try too.
Safe travels as the world opens up to mask free travel.
Last edited:
Nothing you didn’t mention. We were just there for a long weekend. Planning to go back and explore some more.
Any of yinz guys who fly fish pine creek should give the upper section a try coming up.
in the delayed harvest section loads of fish and many-many big uns.
water was low for floating it, which made the fish visible to see. I believe June 15th you can start to take fish out.
We had an absolute monster catch floating down through the harvest section. with a gang to 20 guys it helped out to feed the hungry mass humanity.
We goto a Georgian restaurant Khinkali (dumplings) are a staple. They have a lamb with pomegranate dish it's amazing. Plus a chicken dish in galic milk sauce.
Plus this place we go has a toastmaster and they will toast just about anything while drinking a lot of alcohol. Pretty cool experience, a Supra
What place is this?
Guessing it's not one of the options where I'll be tomorrow, but for future reference ...
I would say there dozens and dozens over 20".
But the average I've been catching 11"
My lunch ... and my dinner, and probably another meal or two. I brought home more than we could try tonight -- it's not something we can get reasonably close to home.
Overall impression: very good. Wide array of flavors. I can understand why it's considered the best cuisine of the former Soviet Union. Glad I tried. Would do again if in the area ... but an hour away isn't in the area, and I'm not sure Georgian places will pop up on every corner like Mexican has.
Listing all the items I bought below, will update comments as we eat them:
Khinkali: soup dumplings. The pasta tasted like mustard to me, which I found weird (otherwise liked them). My wife and her hypersensitive palate didn't notice that, loved them. I'd try again at a different restaurant.
Chvishtari: cheesy skillet corn bread. Crispy, wouldn't want it otherwise. A little bland, OK by itself but would be good to sop up sauce.
Pkhlovana Khachapuri: essentially a spinach/cheese filled calzone, but flat. Also dough is more like soft bread than pizza dough. Delicious.
Lobio: beans + pickles in clay pot. Wife loved it -- said it was like Mexican refrieds but salty + sour. (I can't eat beans and especially not refrieds, so I'll take her word for it.)
Chicken Chkmeruli: chicken fried and then cooked further in garlic/milk sauce. Tasted like roasted garlic, a little sweeter and not overpowering, more of a build-up. And definitely a build-up. Liked it but next time I'd split it among the table. After an hour drive home, my sinuses felt twice the size of my skull.
Veal Chakapuli: herbed stew. More like "herbs with stew" than "stew with herbs" -- visually resembled Italian escarole soup, except it was all herbs, no escarole. Aromatic. Wife said she smelled cinnamon too.
We both liked it. I'd get it again but not by itself -- flavors are a bit intense after a while, need something for in-between bites. Also needed something sweet afterward to alleviate the lingering herbs. (Handful of tortilla chips did nothing; handful of blueberries did the trick.)
Kharcho: beef/rice soup. Delicious. Very aromatic, almost like Indian food. Also a bit oily -- used a fatty cut of meat.
Kebab: Just a regular beef kebab, tasted like grilled burger meat. Nothing special, until adding tkemali -- that was a spectacular combination.
Tkemali: sour plum sauce (condiment). Unusual, kinda like tomatillo salsa but sour. Fantastic with beef, definitely want to try with other meats, seafood, etc.
"Georgian lemonade": not really lemonade, actually a soda.
Tarragon: interesting -- neon green, strong black licorice scent, taste is mostly sweet with a little licorice aftertaste. Not bad, would try again, but wouldn't buy a case of it.
Pear: (haven't tried this yet).
Last edited:
We were last in Vienna 20 yrs ago, so take this FWIW ... but it's a very pleasant, relaxed, safe, walkable, clean, cultured city. It resembles Germany only in its language and food. We really liked it and wished we had more time. Take full advantage of its cultural opportunities.
We stayed at Hotel Post Wien (converted former post office). Liked the hotel, really lucked out with the location. TripAdvisor rates its location 100/100 for proximity to attractions and restaurants. Also it's near the metro. Do check for yourself, our tastes may be different + maybe the hotel has changed in 20 yrs. But that's the right part of town.
Food wise, I don't recall much about Vienna. The famous Sacher Torte (chocolate/raspberry pie) is good but not worth the hype ... but if you're around the Hotel Sacher's cafe, what the heck. Vienna has a number of wineries within city limits, and therefore outdoor wine taverns (think beer gardens, but serving wine). I'd check those out. Wish I had known about that 20 yrs ago.
I'm not big on German food, so I'd look for other ethnic foods from its former empire -- such as Hungarian or Serbian or Bulgarian or the like. If you like German food, you'll find plenty of that.
Hope this helps!
Heading to Sardinia this afternoon to do research for the Pasta Porn thread.
If you don't hear much from me in the next 12 days, I'm not dead.
If you don't hear from me in the next 14-21 days...I may be.
If you don't hear much from me in the next 12 days, I'm not dead.
If you don't hear from me in the next 14-21 days...I may be.
Flying Fish and Hamburger Joe’s. Both located in North Myrtle Beach but that’s probably their only similarity beyond solid food 👍🏼
I haven't had a chance to go there yet, but it's on my wish list. Not your typical Beach fare and has limited hours.
https://www.pulaski-deli.com/
Go to the Kitchen Table for breakfast or lunch. Owned by our very own @razpsu .
Breakfast Lunch Restaurant | The Kitchen Table | North Myrtle Beach
The Kitchen Table Restaurant provides Home Made Breakfast and Lunch made with the freshest ingredients served with a smile. Locally owned and operated. Indoor seating for 200 and waterfront outdoor seating on the patio to enjoy the start of your day with a relaxing view. We enjoy accommodating...
www.beachkitchentable.com
Tell me your secrets! My fam really vibed out on the Michigan Upper Penninsula last fall--in particular having a sauna and a lake to swim in on-prem. Looking to repeat the experience with less driving and a relatively thin penny. These things have been tricky to find on AirBnB/VRBO
Anyone know of any sweet vacation rentals nearer to central PA that has both?
Anyone know of any sweet vacation rentals nearer to central PA that has both?
Being as @HOCKEYGOD11 and myself (and families) went to Iceland earlier this month, and being as "Iceland" on this board has been shorthand for distraction and thread derailment, it seems right to report back on the trip and include some photos.
The trip nearly didn't happen because it began the same weekend Delta was begging passengers to reschedule, as they and all other airlines, it seemed, were understaffed. We were flying out of different airports, and Hockeygod had to connect in Toronto. His first leg was late and it seemed a given that they were going to miss their connection. We got off late from JFK too, but it was under an hour. Miraculously, it somehow worked out and got us all there, albeit a tad late on game day.
We rented a car for the whole trip and immediately drove to Blue Lagoon, to wash the travel off. Blue Lagoon is a popular tourist thing but just do it. I could've stayed in there for three days but the rest of Iceland was calling, so we drove about 5 hours north of Reykjavik to Grundarfjörður, making stops along the way. Hockeygod drafted an extremely busy itinerary, and there were a gazillion boxes to be checked. If I'd done this trip alone I'd have seen half of what I saw (of course, I'd also be less exhausted).
We then drove to the Westfjords region (on the map, the jagged northwest corner), which isn't reachable during the winter months for reasons that will/would become clear when/if you visit. It's difficult terrain, winding around mountain after mountain, and there are many roads which are simply unpaved. Make sure your rental has decent shocks, even if you're not going to the Westfjords. But the Westfjords are gorgeous, and worth the extra time. Most of Iceland is fascinating to merely drive through, but the Westfjords are nonstop eye candy.
Boxes checked here include Dynjandi Waterfall (which was weirdly difficult to photograph) and Raudasandur Beach. We had to drop Latrabjarg (puffins and cliffs) from the itinerary because we'd not have gotten to our second destination until way too late. We stayed overnight in Holmavik. The most difficult Airbnb planning was in the Westfjords because there just aren't any places you'd describe as a "city" and barely any you'd call "towns."
We drove four hours to Hvitserkur, a beachfront with an oddly-shaped rock formation a short distance from the shore. I was attacked by an arctic tern, and it wasn't the last time that happened--very aggressive, but beautiful looking birds. They hover 10 feet above your head (which is why I was able to take such a tight photo with a normal lens) before dive bombing you.
I wasn't able to pack my large lens so I was mostly relegated to taking landscapes out the passenger side--@hockeygod put a ton of driving miles in. I shot at around 1/2000 sec. and everything came out pretty good, but throughout the trip it struck me that there's a "right" way to shoot Iceland and it would necessitate a solo trip. Still, I'm happy with what I was able to get just sightseeing with friends and family.
We drove to Siglufjordur, which is bustling (for Iceland) fishing town with a few decent restaurants. Then onto Akureyri, which is the largest city outside the Reykjavik area. We stayed two nights here. We visited Detifoss and Selfoss, about 2 hours east of Akureyri, two especially majestic waterfalls, the latter necessitating a bit of a hike to see. There are two driving approaches to Detifoss, and we accidentally took the less-traveled one (rte 864). If you're fine with a half-hour plus of bumpy off-roading, go ahead, otherwise take 862. There are a lot of sub-optimal roads in Iceland. I really liked Akureyri though, and on a return visit would probably stay there longer and focus on this region.
From Akureyri we drove back to the Reykjavik area, specifically to Glymur Falls. @hockeygod had been building this up and I deliberately didn't research it because it sounded pretty daunting. And if I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, I'd have plausible deniability when Ms. Tikk raised hell. Glymur is the second tallest waterfall in Iceland, and you can hike to the top, walk across, and back down the other side. It'll eat up at least 4 hours, or 5+ in our case because we got lost coming back down and had to backtrack, meaning we practically climbed it twice. Getting un-lost required Google Maps. Our legs were jello for the rest of the trip, it was brutal. I doubt I'll do anything more strenuous in my remaining years, but I don't regret it at all, the views were that stunning and the sense of accomplishment that fulfilling. But yeah, never again.
We got to our place near Reykjavik, about 15 minutes outside of the city. We did the Golden Circle items--craters, waterfalls, a "geysir." We drove out to the beach (Reynisfjara) near Vik, which affords some stunning looks as well.
We spent two days in Reykjavik itself and ate in some decent restaurants, the best being Íslenski barinn. Everyone except me tried the fermented shark, which is served in a glass, corked bottle, and a toothpick. It's soaked in ammonia. We toured the Eimverk distillery, where Iceland's only whiskey is made. We tried them all and bought bottles at the duty free shop on the way back home. The best was the Flóki Single Malt Sheep Dung Smoked. Iceland doesn't have many trees, so sheep dung is pretty much the how everything is smoked.
Other things of note: sheep are everywhere throughout Iceland, and you've got to be careful if they're near the side of the road (which is often). One darted out in front of us and we had to lock the brakes to avoid hitting it. Icelandic horses are slightly smaller versions of the rest of the world's horses and they're also everywhere, though not quite as ubiquitous as the sheep. Evidently they're also food, but I didn't see any on our menus.
Some practical stuff: We stayed at Airbnbs and researched them extensively long in advance, and none disappointed. Gas was crazy expensive, like double what it was here, but diesel goes a longer way. You don't need to exchange currency because pretty much every Iceland vendor takes Apple/Google Pay with your phone. Food is pricy but there's no tipping, so it mostly works out to NYC prices. Since we knew we were going to do two hikes that required it, we brought along Frogg Toggs and shoe covers for wading through waterfalls.
But such a great trip, highly recommended bucket list entry because there's no place on earth quite like it, at least among places that you can actually visit. We went at nearly peak sunlight (around 22 hours a day of it), but if you time your trip differently you can possibly see the Northern Lights.
I won't clog up this thread with a ton of photos, but I captioned some in this Imgur post that'll help this post make sense.
The trip nearly didn't happen because it began the same weekend Delta was begging passengers to reschedule, as they and all other airlines, it seemed, were understaffed. We were flying out of different airports, and Hockeygod had to connect in Toronto. His first leg was late and it seemed a given that they were going to miss their connection. We got off late from JFK too, but it was under an hour. Miraculously, it somehow worked out and got us all there, albeit a tad late on game day.
We rented a car for the whole trip and immediately drove to Blue Lagoon, to wash the travel off. Blue Lagoon is a popular tourist thing but just do it. I could've stayed in there for three days but the rest of Iceland was calling, so we drove about 5 hours north of Reykjavik to Grundarfjörður, making stops along the way. Hockeygod drafted an extremely busy itinerary, and there were a gazillion boxes to be checked. If I'd done this trip alone I'd have seen half of what I saw (of course, I'd also be less exhausted).
We then drove to the Westfjords region (on the map, the jagged northwest corner), which isn't reachable during the winter months for reasons that will/would become clear when/if you visit. It's difficult terrain, winding around mountain after mountain, and there are many roads which are simply unpaved. Make sure your rental has decent shocks, even if you're not going to the Westfjords. But the Westfjords are gorgeous, and worth the extra time. Most of Iceland is fascinating to merely drive through, but the Westfjords are nonstop eye candy.
Boxes checked here include Dynjandi Waterfall (which was weirdly difficult to photograph) and Raudasandur Beach. We had to drop Latrabjarg (puffins and cliffs) from the itinerary because we'd not have gotten to our second destination until way too late. We stayed overnight in Holmavik. The most difficult Airbnb planning was in the Westfjords because there just aren't any places you'd describe as a "city" and barely any you'd call "towns."
We drove four hours to Hvitserkur, a beachfront with an oddly-shaped rock formation a short distance from the shore. I was attacked by an arctic tern, and it wasn't the last time that happened--very aggressive, but beautiful looking birds. They hover 10 feet above your head (which is why I was able to take such a tight photo with a normal lens) before dive bombing you.
I wasn't able to pack my large lens so I was mostly relegated to taking landscapes out the passenger side--@hockeygod put a ton of driving miles in. I shot at around 1/2000 sec. and everything came out pretty good, but throughout the trip it struck me that there's a "right" way to shoot Iceland and it would necessitate a solo trip. Still, I'm happy with what I was able to get just sightseeing with friends and family.
We drove to Siglufjordur, which is bustling (for Iceland) fishing town with a few decent restaurants. Then onto Akureyri, which is the largest city outside the Reykjavik area. We stayed two nights here. We visited Detifoss and Selfoss, about 2 hours east of Akureyri, two especially majestic waterfalls, the latter necessitating a bit of a hike to see. There are two driving approaches to Detifoss, and we accidentally took the less-traveled one (rte 864). If you're fine with a half-hour plus of bumpy off-roading, go ahead, otherwise take 862. There are a lot of sub-optimal roads in Iceland. I really liked Akureyri though, and on a return visit would probably stay there longer and focus on this region.
From Akureyri we drove back to the Reykjavik area, specifically to Glymur Falls. @hockeygod had been building this up and I deliberately didn't research it because it sounded pretty daunting. And if I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, I'd have plausible deniability when Ms. Tikk raised hell. Glymur is the second tallest waterfall in Iceland, and you can hike to the top, walk across, and back down the other side. It'll eat up at least 4 hours, or 5+ in our case because we got lost coming back down and had to backtrack, meaning we practically climbed it twice. Getting un-lost required Google Maps. Our legs were jello for the rest of the trip, it was brutal. I doubt I'll do anything more strenuous in my remaining years, but I don't regret it at all, the views were that stunning and the sense of accomplishment that fulfilling. But yeah, never again.
We got to our place near Reykjavik, about 15 minutes outside of the city. We did the Golden Circle items--craters, waterfalls, a "geysir." We drove out to the beach (Reynisfjara) near Vik, which affords some stunning looks as well.
We spent two days in Reykjavik itself and ate in some decent restaurants, the best being Íslenski barinn. Everyone except me tried the fermented shark, which is served in a glass, corked bottle, and a toothpick. It's soaked in ammonia. We toured the Eimverk distillery, where Iceland's only whiskey is made. We tried them all and bought bottles at the duty free shop on the way back home. The best was the Flóki Single Malt Sheep Dung Smoked. Iceland doesn't have many trees, so sheep dung is pretty much the how everything is smoked.
Other things of note: sheep are everywhere throughout Iceland, and you've got to be careful if they're near the side of the road (which is often). One darted out in front of us and we had to lock the brakes to avoid hitting it. Icelandic horses are slightly smaller versions of the rest of the world's horses and they're also everywhere, though not quite as ubiquitous as the sheep. Evidently they're also food, but I didn't see any on our menus.
Some practical stuff: We stayed at Airbnbs and researched them extensively long in advance, and none disappointed. Gas was crazy expensive, like double what it was here, but diesel goes a longer way. You don't need to exchange currency because pretty much every Iceland vendor takes Apple/Google Pay with your phone. Food is pricy but there's no tipping, so it mostly works out to NYC prices. Since we knew we were going to do two hikes that required it, we brought along Frogg Toggs and shoe covers for wading through waterfalls.
But such a great trip, highly recommended bucket list entry because there's no place on earth quite like it, at least among places that you can actually visit. We went at nearly peak sunlight (around 22 hours a day of it), but if you time your trip differently you can possibly see the Northern Lights.
I won't clog up this thread with a ton of photos, but I captioned some in this Imgur post that'll help this post make sense.
