Category Archives: Food

Disneyland 2021 1-Day Trip Review

We went for 1 day in August with young kids, meaning we couldn’t go on all the rides (height restriction). When we went, there was no park-wide fast pass system, so I didn’t have to worry about optimizing the next fast pass.

Before going, I downloaded the official Disneyland app (with my account & tickets set up). This is important since it lets you join boarding groups (Rise of the Resistance) at 7 am (outside the park) or 12 noon (in the park). If you are trying to join a boarding group, make sure you try exactly when it turns 7a (or 12). The official app also makes ordering food easy.

Some helpful tips: 1.) Go early. Try to get there when the park opens (like 8am) or even before they open (line up for rope drop). This will let you go a number of rides early in the day when lines are shorter. 2.) With tip #1, go on rides with longer lines first. Here’s a site showing sample wait times.

Ride List with comments

  • Jungle Cruise
    • alright. The guide was good, but the scripted dad jokes were soso
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
    • decent. This is classic Disneyland
  • Haunted Mansion
    • decent. This is classic Disneyland
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
    • fun for young kids
  • Mad Tea Party
    • decent. your typical spinning kid ride
  • King Arthur Carousel
    • decent. your typical carousel ride
  • Star Wars: Rise Of The Resistance
    • decent. It wasn’t the best thing ever. I enjoyed the impressive set pieces. This ride broke down twice on us (used Rider Switch) and ate up much of our afternoon.
  • It’s a Small World
    • good. This is classic Disneyland
  • Autopia
    • good, but they need to make the cars electric. The gas fumes are awful
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
    • good, but it’s hard to tell where you are aiming
  • Mickey’s Mix Magic (9pm)
    • decent. Instead of a parade, they projected a show onto the castle and lit up a ton of fireworks

Food List with comments

  • Mickey-shaped Beignets @ [Mint Julep Bar, New Orleans Square]
    • mediocre. we were hungry in the morning, but these did not knock my socks off
  • New Orleans Mint Julep @ [Mint Julep Bar, New Orleans Square]
    • tasty, non-alcoholic drink
  • hand-dipped corn dogs @ [Stage Door Café, Frontierland]
    • tasty, but I was feeling fried food overdose
  • chicken tenders kids meal @ [Stage Door Café, Frontierland]
    • alright. your typical generic theme park kids meal. including a mandarin orange was good
  • Dole Whip Soft Serve @ [Tiki Juice Bar, Adventureland]
    • good, but I prefer the float! Don’t @ me
  • Dole Whip Float @ [Tiki Juice Bar, Adventureland]
    • amazing. Dole whip floats are always great, even more so on a hot day
  • frozen cherry lemonade @ [Fantasyland cart]
    • not good. the cherry flavoring didn’t remind me of cherry
  • blue milk @ [Milk Stand, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge]
    • good. this may have been an acquired taste. The tropical flavor was delicious
  • green milk @ [Milk Stand, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge]
    • average. I tried the citrus flavor, but it didn’t remind me of citrus and didn’t hit the spot

Disneyland was a fun-filled day for our family. Since we don’t go often, I try to do as much as possible. This is tough with kids, but we had strollers and took a break in the middle of the day to let the kids rest.

Having secured the Rise of the Resistance boarding group at noon, I think we accomplished more than enough. If we had more time in the afternoon, there were plenty of rides in Fantasyland to try or Mickey’s Toontown to visit.

Hoji Soft Serve

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Oahu for a short weekend trip. We were fortunate with perfect, sunny weather during our stay. We ate many things, and one thing we really enjoyed was Nana’s Green Tea.

Nana’s Green Tea is in the back of a Japanese food court, Waikiki Yokocho. Their menu is filled with drinks and desserts. The prices are not cheap at all, but the quality is decent. I’d recommend the soft serve or parfait desserts.

We tried both matcha soft serve & hoji soft serve. While everyone is familiar with Instagram-friendly matcha, we were introduced to hoji tea. Hoji is roasted tea that has a more subtle, darker flavor.

I think hoji soft serve could make it big as an Asian dessert. As someone who follows food news, I’ve never come across any hojicha coverage, but matcha is covered all the time. Hoji isn’t as Instagram-friendly (perhaps swirl it with matcha), but the flavor sells itself.

LA Boba Shops

There is endless boba in Los Angeles. I currently live in Ktown where every block seems to have a boba shop, a patbingsu shop, or both.

It’s hard to rank boba joints, because the drink customization (sugar level) and drinks on the same menu vary so much. There could be a big difference between the house specialty (let’s say rose milk tea) and the random drink (almond milk tea).

I value the quality of the ingredients (made in house with real things instead of powder), the freshness of the pearls (boba), and the flavor profile (not mind-numbingly sweet). I’ve tried many dozens of boba joints in LA, and I usually order large, 50% sugar, and less ice.

Below are places that have consistently good drinks with a sample recommended order. Not every order is your standard PMT (pearl milk tea).

Good

  • Gong Cha
    • QQ Passion Fruit Green Tea (comes with pearls & coconut jelly)
      (fruity & refreshing)
  • Sharetea
    • Taro Fresh Milk Tea with Pearls
      (real taro bits is a plus)
  • Tan-Cha
    • High Mountain Green Tea with Cheese Foam
      (as a cheese foam drink, it is heavier than a PMT)
  • Ten Ren’s Tea Time
    • Honey Milk Tea with Pearls
      (their teas are underrated)
  • Twinkle Brown Sugar (Ozero)
    • Brown Sugar Grass Jelly
      (drinks like a meal)

Decent

  • 7 Leaves Cafe
    • Sea Cream Jasmine Tea with Honey Boba
      (crema top layer)
  • 85C Bakery
    • Sea Salt Mountain Green Tea
      (has a good foam/crema top layer. their boba is bad)
  • Kung Fu Tea
    • Jelly Wow
      (not a traditional PMT, more of a meal)
  • TPumps
    • Mango Passion Peach with Boba
      (tea is very “drinkable”, not the best, but it goes down well. boba is not fresh)
  • Wushiland Boba
    • Jasmine Green Milk Tea with Pearls
      (try 1/2 regular & 1/2 small pearls)

While I don’t inherently favor chains, I’ve found that big chains from Asia are more reliable and consistent with the boba freshness. Gong Cha 9 out of 10 times will have fresh boba, whereas your average LA boba shop will probably not have fresh boba.

Lin-Mint Shake

Shake Shack rolling out a featured shake for #17?

You know I’m on it like 0.5 seconds on the clock.

8th ave (between 43 & 44) had The Lin-Mint Shake:

Lin-Mint Shake - $5.75

Close up of the shake:

Lin-Mint Close-Up

The shake tasted as advertised. It was a thick minty chocolate concoction. There weren’t many sizable cookie chunks, so the shake was very drinkable.

For cheaper (and more practical) shake fixes, I’d recommend Potbelly or Steak ‘n Shake Signature. This is a total ThisIsWhyYoureFatMoment, but the prices for each places’ shake (incl. tax) are as follows: Shake Shack $6.26, Potbelly $3.48, and Steak ‘n Shake  $3.80 (with candy/cookie filling).

(via Linthamist)

Steak n Shake NYC Hours

NYC was about 20 degrees Celsius today, which meant short lines for dinner in the city.

We went to Steak ‘n Shake and it lived up to expectations for a $4 double cheeseburger with fries in NYC.

original double cheeseburger

For such a small restaurant space (typical of NYC dining), the kitchen & wait staff seemed to outnumber the dine-in patrons.

What hours is Steak ‘n Shake NYC open?

The Manhattan Steak ‘n Shake is open from 10 AM to midnight every day.

NYC Steak n Shake hours of operation 10am to midnight

It’s located at 1695 Broadway in Midtown West between 53rd & 54th Streets. This is right next to the David Letterman studio. The phone is (212) 247-6584.

Top NYC Restaurants: Location, Location, and Location

Time Warner Center

Location, as always, matters.

This excellent Grub Street piece explains where NYC’s wealthiest residents (Upper East Siders) eat. It also goes into why top tier Midtown & Downtown restaurants (like Per Se & Momofuku Ko) have to be so culinarily exceptional to earn those set menu dollars.

Bundle looked at spending habits and explains that NYC’s wealthiest spend their money at pricey neighborhood options:

In fact, all of the places whose clientele consists of more than 15 percent luxury spenders are on the Upper East Side, and all are low-key places like Mezzaluna and Bar Italia — not to mention a surprisingly large number of neighborhood sushi spots.

Less affluent diners in Manhattan (from midtown, lower Manhattan, or outer boroughs) avoid uptown and dine at closer top restaurants as an investment:

When diners do spend hundreds of dollars on dinner at a restaurant in the East Village (maybe after waiting in line, since no reservations are accepted), this data shows us it’s likely a significant investment. And the only way a restaurant will keep customers like that coming back is to offer them an exceptional experience with cutting-edge food.

In addition to non-UES residents patronizing top restaurants, NYC has a huge food tourism industry. Top NYC restaurants are destination dining options for those out of state or out of country.

Philly Cheesesteaks

Went south to get some sandwiches.

As a first timer, we had to hit the tourist spots: Geno’s & Pat’s. Little did I realize they were right across the street from each other, next to a park.

Geno's

Geno’s, clearly going for the Shock & Awe campaign.

Inside Geno's

Geno's Menu

Nice & simple. Tourists want the cheesesteak. I assume locals (if hypothetically locals ate here) go for the roast pork.

Geno's Cheesesteak

As you can see, there isn’t that much meat for a $9 sandwich. The cheese (whiz) shines with a high cheese to meat ratio.

Pat's Front

Pat's Ordering Window

Pat’s offers a lot more options on the menu. I found it unnecessary, but I guess it allows customers to get it their way.

Pat's Menu

Pizza Steak? Fish Cake? What??

Why?

Pat's Cheesesteak

Pat’s obviously offers substantially more meat than Geno’s. Here, I’d point out that the line for Pat’s was noticeably longer too.

At both places, I got with onions and cheese whiz. I didn’t get fries because it would fill me up too much. Keep reading to see why I had to preserve stomach space.

Pat's Signage

Since Philly is a two hour drive from NYC, I made an executive decision to hit up a third spot.

Dalessandro's Steaks

Thanks to Serious Eats, we hit up Dalessandro’s.

Dalessandro's Menu

Dalessandro's Cheesesteak

Cheaper than Geno’s and Pat’s (both $9 each), this $7.25 cheesesteak was amazing. The cheese is mixed into the chopped steak (as opposed to topping the meat).