TLAYUDA WITH SKIRT STEAK

A Mexican dish from  Oaxaca Mexico, a dish called Tlayuda. Generally made with a large thin and toasted crunchy tortilla, open faced, topped with shredded beef, pork, or chicken. And sometimes topped with refried beans, pork lard, lettuce and cabbage, and avocado, Oaxaca cheese and salsa. You can create your own Tlayuda at your house.

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Open face sandwiches are common in American culture, like an open face ham and cheese without the top bread or bun, this Tlayuda is a perfect Mexican open face kinda sandwich in its own right. Creating one shouldn't be too hard, you can use ready made foods for this. Like a can of chili, just heat it up and put it on some toasted tortilla.

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What kind of Tlayuda would I make? I'd make a ground beef Tlayuda, seasoned with taco mix and some garlic and onions, maybe some diced tomatoes, and some cheddar cheese and melt it in the oven, and top it with some mayonnaise mixed with some hot sauce.

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To make it a platter I'd add some macaroni salad on the side, or some steak fries all seasoned favoring the Mexican culture. Or maybe mix the culture up and have some Ahi Poke Hawaiian style on the side, a little Mexican Hawaiian Tlyuda platter. What you think? Yea or Nay?

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MALA OCEAN TAVERN

Until next time Ron-

          

© 2015

SKIRT STEAK EXACTLY WHAT IS IT? AND HOW THE HELL DO I COOK IT?

Are you confused as to the cuts of beef out there at the meat market? Or maybe you're at a restaurant and the chef throws out some French thing, and it's something like, Steak au poivre, which is just steak seasoned with cracked pepper, and pan seared with a sauce of cognac and heavy cream. But in this blog, I'll break down as best I can what a skirt steak is.

Skirt steak is a cut of beef that comes from the plate, or the under carriage of the cattle. Google it and see for yourself. But if you look at the pic I got on the top, it's a grilled skirt steak, that was sliced against the grain. Generally this cut is confused as flank. It is similar. 

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Other names for this steak are, Romanian tenderloin, Romanian steak, Philadelphia steak, Arrachera. These cuts are good for grilling. If you buy skirt steak from a supermarket, it should be cleaned out, if not, you'll need to get a boning knife and slice off the outer skin. 

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Most cuts that come from the underside of the cattle are rather tough cuts, and need to be slow cooked, cuts made for stews and braises. However like I've stated earlier, grilling skirts works out well, just make sure to slice it thin across the grain for tender eats. Another way if you can't grill it is to use a stainless steel pan with a little cooking oil and that works well, seared skirt steaks are just as good as their grilled cousins, just keep the seasonings simple, a little kosher salt and fresh black pepper will suffice, make it all Yay Yay!

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MALA OCEAN TAVERN

Until next time take care Ron!

        

© 2015

HALLOWEEN 2015 WHAT'S A FOODIE TO EAT?

Happy Halloween Foodies! Remember that scary ass movie The Exorcist? Look at the pic to the left, looks like it's an over dose of Monsanto corn. Or lack of protein? Maybe too much protein? Well, never mind that, it's Halloween, a time when some peeps can live out their fantasies just for one day or night, maybe it's a serial killer, or a guy that wanted to be Pam Anderson, or a football player like O.J., the list goes on and on. Halloween, what's a foodie to eat on Halloween? Well, it is the harvest time of the year, maybe some pumpkin? Roasted kabocha and put into some soup. Pumpkin cake? Pumpkin mixed with marijuana and made into some cookies? I don't know. I don't know what foodies will be eating this Halloween, I mean.. It's not like Thanksgiving when we all go to grandma's or Christmas when we all go to grandma's... Halloween, I mean... do we even sit down together for Halloween? When's the last time I said to my family, "Hey we are going to aunt Judy's for Halloween dinner, you kids be on your best behavior, and Junior, say grace will you, and take out those Dracula fangs before you do it, and Amy will you cover yourself up, I mean I know you're in college, but you can't look like a prostitute at aunt Judy's for Christ's sake!"

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Just make sure that if you guys are going to eat at somebody's house for Halloween, make sure you check the peppered steak for any razor blades, bring along a guy you hate, and make him sample the food first, if he rolls over and starts to foam at the mouth, there's a possibility that the food has been poisoned. Just be careful, I mean I don't have any stats, but I figure every Halloween, there must be at least one apple/razor blade debacle. Be safe, wear your costume with pride, wear that Caitlyn Jenner wig with pride, wear that OJ Simpson mask with pride, yes this is America, the land of the foolish, deceived, and flat out mentally retarded. Have you seen Halloween lately? Freeking adults supersede the kids when it comes to dressing up... Really? Or it's just a one day or night reason to get totally _______ faced! Whatever you eat, check it out first, be safe foodies. Have a Yay Yay Halloween.

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© 2015

HOW TO SOFTEN EGGPLANT

© 2015

"Hey Ron, how can I soften some eggplant so I can make a dip, or to add into a salad or something?" That's a good question junior. And good old Ron will come to your aid, all you gotta do is ask, and I'm here. Me and Jesus, same line bro. Ask us and you shall receive. So here we go, ready Freddy?

First of all, get some skinny eggplant, or the fat round ones, doesn't matter, cut em how big or small you want. Okay? Here we go, get yourself a veggie peeler, and peel off the soft skin. Trim both ends, removing the stem at the top, and squaring out the bottom end. If you look at the top photo, it's soften eggplant, the skinny ones. All I did was this.

1. Heat up some oil in the wok over medium high heat, I  just used Wesson vegetable oil, was it organic? Probably not, but I am not into this whole debate thing eh?

2. Once the oil is hot, add in a few slices and cook until soft, then remove and let it drain on some paper towels on a plate.

3. Once cooled, I rolled it up in some rice paper and made some spring rolls, and added shredded Romaine, and carrots. 

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It's very easy to do, I mean softening up eggplant, and once it's cooked and cooled down, you can do all kinds of things with it, baba ghanoush, use it as a wrap if you got a large slice, and fill it with some deviled shrimp or lobster. All good yeah? Check the pic below, it's sizzling in the hot oil in my favorite wok.

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So there you have it, really easy stuff, just keep this in mind, when slicing the eggplant, you'll notice that the meat may get discolored, if you are cooking it, there's no worries. Now if you're going to place those sliced puppies on display then I don't know guys... So was this a Yay (Happy post?).

Until next time.

Ron.

      

© 2015

FOOD TRUCKS... WHAT'S UP WITH THIS?

Food truck operators are everywhere! They are in the neighborhoods, shopping center parking lots, beaches, parks, at sporting events, rock concerts, moto cross races, funerals, you name it there's a food truck near by. So what's up with this obsession of an eatery on wheels? I mean there's a show specifically produced for this on the Food Network. I've talked to some operators on Maui and here's what some of them have to say. For some reason, non of them wants to use their names and their businesses, I don't know why, it would be free advertising right? Right? No? Well whatever.

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Food trucky No.1: "I get to set my own hours, I don't have a high overhead, I don't need lots of permits, I don't have a greedy landlord that wants 20% more off the top of my sales in the event I have a good month. It's total freedom."

Food trucky No. 2: "I only sell one dish, I'm not a trained chef, I make one dish really well, and I have my following. It be hard to open a brick and mortar eatery and sell only one item. Me, I don't care, I love what I cook. You don't like my cooking keep on driving."

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Food trucky No. 3: "We've had success with this food truck serving fish, we get to set our own times of operation. If we don't want to work on a certain day, we can relax. And it's very cost efficient, the truck is much more inexpensive then paying for square footage in some strip mall, or some other building."

Food trucky No. 4: "Ours is a trailer... and we got this from the mainland, built to our specs, and it's fun. We park across the school, and there's offices nearby, so we get a mix of customers, kids, professionals, and everyday people, both locals and visitors too, and the cost is much better than having a restaurant, the overhead would kill me."

You know what would be cool is to have a food truck that serves up breakfast all day, that would be totally cool. I love breakfast, and having a breakfast on wheels rolling through town would be awesome, like if I want eggs Benedict, or killer French toast, or a Portuguese sausage omelet, I could flag the guy down, "Hey stop stop stop!!! I want to eat breakfast." With my luck the guy would be all sold out, "Sorry man, I sold out!" hahahahahaha.

Until next time.
Ron.

© 2015

PINEAPPLE GRILL KAPALUA A TOTAL LET DOWN!!!!

Yesterday my business associate and myself went for lunch at the Pineapple Grill in Kapalua. Usually the place that is in the same complex as the Kapalua Bay Golf Course is a very good restaurant for casual fare. But recently within...maybe a couple of years, I had a hard time deciphering what the heck are they doing. They got breakfast, then they don't. They got new owners, and new chef. Then they do only brunch on weekends, then not. Then they got another new this and that, and it's all confusing. So yesterday we walk in there at around 11 something, the waitress tells us "We are still serving breakfast..." I'm like "Really?" because back then... yeah back then they had killer Seared Ahi Eggs Benedict, rich, with potatoes and a hot cup of keep it coming coffee was DA BOMB!! Unfortunately on this day, I looked at the menu and said, "Hey can I get the Ahi Benny?" The waitress said, "Sorry we just serve the Crab Benny."

What?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who is the chef?!!!!!! You scratched one of Maui's prized fish? Are you dumb? Are you not a good business person? Who owns this joint now I should slap that person across the head!!!! I like crab bennies, but not on this day. Okay, so I asked for the 1/2 pound burger with bacon, and avos.. great, but it was so tacky, it came on a small cutting board, with Maui Chips from Lay's... Are you F.....inkg nuts? And the fries were separate. Man this is a prime example of stupidity, bad for business acumen. If they were a rock band, they'd play a concert and not play their best hits leaving the fans looking bewildered. Sorry Pineapple Grill, it was not YAY for me. It was totally NAY!!!!

The services however from the waitstaff and the manager on duty was very friendly and professional, so I guess it was a NAY/YAY DAY.

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MACAYO'S Mexican Kitchen Las Vegas, Nevada

Macayo's Mexican Kitchen 8245 W. Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 702-360-8210 



Mexican food is trendy, popular, epic, universal, casual, well sought after. Well if you are traveling to the southwest part of the U.S. mainland, and visiting Sin City Las Vegas, and you are a true foodie in every sense of the word, a couple of people I just ran into from Sin Town said to try Macayo's Mexican Kitchen, they got great food. Well the next trip I take to Sin Town will have me trekking Sahara Avenue to eat there. I Yelped it and the website looks amazing, but their corporate... woo.... corporate I really don't like that word unless I had shares in a corporation and it was killing it today on the stock exchange.

Click this link to visit their site :MACAYO'S MEXICAN KITCHEN

THE LUNCH MENU is very affordable, the Spicy Chilorio looks good for 9.99 it comes with grilled chicken, sautéed chiles, onions & tomatoes in a creamy cheese sauce, served with refried beans & flour tortillas.

THE DINNER MENU also affordable, for the starters I'd go for the Appetizer Combo, 2 chicken wings, two taquitos, two mini chimis, two potato skins, and two chicken fingers served with ranch dressing for only 10.99.. man can't get that price on Maui. The Albondigas Soup, rice filled meatball soup bowl for 5.99, or a Macayo Hamburger a 1/2 pounder with cheese, bacon, green chiles, starts at 7.99 with add ons for .89, not bad..Or the Steak Cortez sound awesome, a Choice steak stuffed with mild peppers and spices, covered with mushrooms and spicy melted cheese served with rice, refried beans and flour tortillas for 14.99. Or the Carnitas Enchiladas, tender juicy pork carnitas stuffed into corn tortillas, topped with reline sauce and spicy baja cream sauce. Served with rice and refried beans for 12.59...


Here's some pics

Just go and check out the site, they got good looking drinks too.

Until next time

Ron

A LOOK AT BRAZILIAN STEAK HOUSES

Steaks! Beef...Prime cuts of it, that's the only way to do it. My fascination for the Brazilian steakhouses leads me to write this post. 

Thank you Google, and thank you Yelp because with it I can just click on a restaurant anywhere in the world. And my random click landed me on this restaurant in New York City. Churrascaria Platforma Brazilian Steakhouse, located at 316 W 49th St. Phone: 212-245-0505, just looking at their website it looks as if the operators are detailed oriented.

Here's the link: CHURRASCARIA PLATFORMA

NOTE: Because of copyrights I cannot post any pictures but you can click on the link and see them for yourselves. Sorry but I must honor the copyright laws.

The Gourmet Salad Bar
What is interesting is the fresh veggies are accompanied by four native Brazilian casseroles that are made from old world recipes. And they push this salad, it is called a salpicao (a unique Brazilian chicken salad), eggplant casserole, and many other gourmet Brazilian dishes.
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Continue
They have during dinner hours, shrimp cocktail, Mediterranean octopus salad, and a variety of Japanese sushi, sashimi, and handcrafted rolls at the salad bar.

But this is the stuff I want to sample, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, they serve their traditional "Feijoada" it is a long-simmering authentic Brazilian signature dish made with black beans, savory cuts of pork, and fresh herbs.

The Meat
When you are done eating your salad, you'll notice a disc on the table that is red on one side, and green on the other. When eating your salad, keep it red, and when you are done, flip it to green, and then these meat carvers called Passadores (meat cutters) will come to your table with a huge skewer with cuts of fresh roasted meats, beef, lamb, pork or chicken, and carve it for you right there at your table. Wow! This sounds rocking! And I guess if you are stuffed, just flip the disc back to red.
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Continue.
Lunch

CARNES / BEEF

– Picanha (Top Sirloin)
– Picanha Nobre (Tip of Top Sirloin)
– Alcatra (Top Round Steak)
– Fraldinha (Bottom Sirloin / Beef Flap)
– Garlic Steak
– Plataforma Steak
– Filet Mignon
– Filet Mignon W/ Bacon

PORCO / PORK

– Costela (Pork Ribs)
– Lombo (Pork Loin)
– Linguiça (Sausage)

CARNEIRO / LAMB

– Perna de Carneiro (Leg of Lamb)

FRANGO / CHICKEN

– Coxa de Frango (Chicken Thigh)

PERU / TURKEY

– Peru com Bacon (Turkey with Bacon)

 

– Pão de Alho (Garlic Bread)
– Queijo Grelhado (Grilled Cheese)
 

Dinner

CARNES / BEEF

– Picanha (Top Sirloin)
– Picanha Nobre (Tip of Top Sirloin)
– Alcatra (Top Round Steak)
– Fraldinha (Bottom Sirloin / Beef Flap)
– Garlic Steak
– Plataforma Steak
– Filet Mignon
– Filet Mignon W/ Bacon
– Costela (Short Ribs)
– Chuleta (Rib Eye Steak)

PORCO / PORK

– Costela (Pork Ribs)
– Lombo (Pork Loin)
– Linguiça (Sausage)
– Presunto (Fresh Ham)

CARNEIRO / LAMB

– Perna de Carneiro (Leg of Lamb)
– Lamb Chops

FRANGO / CHICKEN

– Coxa de Frango (Chicken Thigh)
– Coração de Galinha (Chicken Hearts)

PERU / TURKEY

– Peru com Bacon (Turkey W/ Bacon)

FRUTOS DO MAR / SEAFOOD

– Polvo Grelhado (Charbroiled Octopus)

 

– Pão-de-Alho (Garlic Bread)
– Queijo Grelhado (Grilled Cheese)

The Desserts

And to end your dining experience in style, try one of our many irresistible desserts.
 
Mousse de Chocolate (Rich chocolate mousse)

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Tiramisu (Two layers of espresso drenched sponge cake divided by mascarpone cream dusted with cocoa powder)

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Papaya Cream (Very popular brazilian dessert made with papaya and vanilla ice cream)

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NY Cheesecake (Traditional NY cheesecake flavored with a hint of vanilla)

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Bolo de Chocolate (Chocolate layer cake filled with a rich chocolate cream)

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Mousse de Maracujá (Passion fruit mousse)

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Brigadeiro (Chocolate fudge truffles)

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Pudim de Leite (Brazilian style caramel flan)

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Manjar (Coconut flan ia a prune sauce)

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Quindim (Coconut and egg yolk custard)

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Sorbets

– Orange
– Pineapple
– Lemon
– Coconut

Gelato

– Chocolate
– French Vanilla
– Strawberry