after dinner sneeze

Our first night there, we arrived rather late.  After group hugs at the airport, the hunger set in.  Fortunately, g’s cousin told us we had to go to Mezcalaria Oaxaca.  I have no pictures, but I assure you that the food was fantastic – as good as any of the tacos I’ve had on the west coast thus far (warning: we haven’t had many tacos on the west coast yet).  They were open late, so it was the perfect way to get over the airplane-stuffy-tired-ick feeling.  Margaritas were fabulous (good sour punch – not just sweetened nonsense).  We ate ’til we could barely walk.

Meanwhile, I went for the Chengdu chicken and waffles.  Now THAT was amazing.  The spices were a perfect addition to the well-crisped chicken, and the sweet syrup.  The waffles could have used a bit of work (they were mo Eggo-like than fresh-made), but were a reasonable vehicle for the chicken.

The above is mint ice cream.  And not just mint ice cream, rather, “the best mint ice cream ever”.  It was a bold claim, but when we happened upon Kurt Farm Shop, and the ice cream dude boasted, “it’s pretty much the best mint ice cream you’ll ever have”, I had only one response: “challenge accepted”.  He was right.  When you think of mint ice cream, you normally think about mint chocolate chip.  Well, this didn’t need the chocolate chips, so exile those from your imagination.  Imagine just the mint ice cream – you might imagine it tasting “minty”.  Fine.  But this ice cream didn’t taste “minty”.  This ice cream tasted like actual mint.  Straight-from-the-ground mint.  This was followed by an uber-luxurious, uber-creamy aftermath that was quite a complementary flavor.  If you’re around them, totally do it.  It’s very-nearly Bi-Rite Creme Brulee good …

Ok.  So dinner.  There was one place we were told to go to by multiple people.  It seemed like every website sent us there.  Every person we asked confirmed it as a safe bet.  We went to Kedai Mekan.  First, we had to play their stupid-reservation game (you can get in on the list early if you just show up early and talk to them).  Additionally, the phone number in google actually connected us to some lady in the South (?Texas?), who got used to people calling her for reservations (coincidentally, she had eaten there before, and she, too, praised it!  a very nice lady!).  Ok, enough about that – let’s talk about the food.  It. was. unbelievable.  I don’t know what the hell anything was (I think we let a choose a bunch of stuff?), but it all blew my face off.  It’s like the first time you went to Han Dynasty, but instead of the spice-high, this was a full-on parade of flavors and textures.  The above thing was used with the lettuce to make a ssam-style bite.

Meanwhile, we also conquered much of the rest of the menu, including the famous spicy pork ribs.  With each thing we ate, it’s like we had a new favorite dish of the evening.  I can’t tell you the names (which are meaningless to me), and as I sit here looking at the pictures, I have no idea what any single dish was actually comprised of.  But as a smile creeps across my face, I can tell you one thing: it was absolutely incredible.

We finished up our evening with a dessert at Hotcakes.  Featuring a variety of molten chocolate cakes, I knew that I’d have tough time picking just one option.  Above you see the PB+chocolate one.  And I have to say: it was “good”.  But definitely not great.  Why?  Well, it was made in that cute little cardboard cup, and it just didn’t have quite the love of a restaurant-made one.  I can’t say I was sad … but it’s not like I dream of it in my sleep … or at least, not as much as I dream of our dinner at Kedai Makan …