VA beach food

Recently the wife and I went to VA beach for a short vacation, this is some of what we ate.

First up.... chicharrones (fried pork skin, or cracklins)

Now most of you think this is just disgusting, but I fuckin love these things, you just cant get them around here. A perfect snack for the pork loving carnivore like myself, these crunchy little nuggets of goodness were great while sitting in stop and go traffic for 3 fucking hours. Dont knock it till youve tried it.

Rating- 7 Ive had better.

Crab pretzel-

On the road we stopped at a MD rest stop and picked up a crab pretzel from Phillips, I couldnt resist. Its a soft pretzel stuffed with a mixture of shitty crab meat and then baked with cheese on top. It was ok, I dont think either one of us were all that into it.

Rating- 5

Watermans Bar and grille-

So this was our first real meal on our trip. We started with a bowl of she crab soup... fucking delicious. Creamy, filled with big chunks of blue crab, and topped with old bay seasoning. I have to say, it was some of the best soup Ive had in a long time. Rating- 9

I decided it would be a good idea to order a burger toppped with a crab cake. Nope... bad idea. Dry over cooked beef, with a dry, bland crab cake on top. It just sucked all around. Rating- 2

The wife got fish tacos- A simple dish that is very easy to fuck up. And so they did. the fish was breaded and fried to the point of losing all of its natural flavor, then topped with cabbage that had barely any dressing in it, served in a flour tortilla. These tacos were served with some sort of corn and black bean mixture, that frankly didnt have much flavor at all. Rating-2 We both had their signature drink (orange crush) which was pretty tasty. A mixture of pineapple flavored vodka and orange drink ( I fucking love orange drink) in a slushy-like crushed ice blend. We both enjoyed it after a long 9+ hour drive.

Big Sam's-

We took a walk just to check out what was going on at the marina by our hotel, and stumbled into this joint for lunch. My old lady got a lobster BLT which was pretty damn good. A decent amount of lobster meat salad, with crisp bacon, lettuce and tomato in between a sort-of herb infused bread. It was however served with cole slaw that was not much more than wet cabbage. Never the less, a great lunch time sandwich. Rating- 8

I thought I'd try the fish tacos..... once again, bad choice. Dry over cooked fish on top of undressed unseasoned red cabbage. They served it with a side of rice and black bean mixture that was mushy and bland. Once again, I lose. Rating- 2

We both had big Sam's signature drink which was like a lime-ade with vodka. good stuff. Refreshing, sweet, and full of vodka. I love vodka.

Mahi Mah's-

Another bar/restaurant near our hotel. We were told that this was the place to go for fresh seafood and sushi. I beg to differ.. We ordered a few rolls and some tuna sashimi. The sashimi was nice and fresh, but the rolls sucked. I dont feel like rating each one, because you dont care anyway. The bottom line was that the sushi sucked. Most of the flavor came from the nori, and thats never good. Also I had what they called a south beach tea. It's a mango flavored vodka mixed with sweet tea. Fucking gross. I dont even know why I ordered it because I dont like mangos or sweet tea. My own dumb ass fault I guess, but for $9 I drank it. Oh, I forgot.. we got an order of "boardwalk shrimp" which is just fried shrimp with a few different dipping sauces. That was good. Just good, not great. after all, its just fried shrimp. Overall the meal was way too expensive for what it was.

Rating- 3.5

Salacia-

Our only fine dining of the trip, this place was awesome. Starting with the crab salad amuse bouche, I knew we would be in for an excellent meal. First up was the tuna tartare.... my god, it was the best tartare I've ever had. Clean and perfectly prepared with cucumbers, tomatoes, topped with creme freshe. Amazing. We both ordered a wedge salad with blue cheese, which was tasty. The wife ordered a filet, which was prepared perfectly, and super tender. I ordered a wagyu strip steak. Fucking excellent. Wagyu beef is rated on a scale of 1-12 (12 having the most marblization of fat) I believe the steak I got was on the lower end of that scale, however it was perfectly juicy and tender, with an amazing flavor that you can only get from wagyu beef. Both steaks were served with a tarragon demi glaze, which was not needed at all. We shared the roasted potatoes with truffle oil and parmesan, which were good, but I think they couldve lost the cheese, a little overpowering, I wouldve rather tasted more of the truffle oil. Then a huge piece of cheesecake for dessert. I think cheesecake is my favorite dessert, but this meal was all about the steak. Both of us had an awesome meal, and it was well worth the $200+ bill at the end. If ever in VA beach go to Salacia. Although its small, and attached to another restaurant inside the hilton hotel, it was like we were in another world. Great food, knowledgeable staff, and overall an excellent meal.

Rating- 8.75

Vinginia Barbeque-

I could go on a whole rant about this place, but I wont. Barbeque might be one of the most contraversal foods, but in my opinion this was not real bbq. I believe its a chain, I believe that the meat is prepared in an oven, and I believe that this place sucks. The ribs were almost tender, but you have to weed through the un-rendered fat and membrane on the backside. The pulled pork was shit, as was the baked beans. The hush puppies were however pretty good. Either way, I needed a break from driving home, so it wasnt all a loss.

rating- 3

Thats pretty much all we ate that was worth writing about, but there is one more non-food related thing.......... WE GOT ENGAGED !!! Yep, I proposed on the beach this past weekend, and she said yes ! I couldnt be happier, I love you bub.

crue fest

Last weekend we attended crue fest 2. let me just say right off the bat... Fuck motley crue.(at least Vince Neil and Tommy Lee) Fuck godsmack, and whatever other shit-hole bands played that I was lucky enough to avoid listening to. That being said, lets move on to the food. All the food (minus the pork) was prepared by a good friend of mine who obviously had a great time that day. For more info on our crue-fest adventure please tune in to ... http://adultcrash.blogspot.com/

Burgers- I cant say that I had one although I hear they were good, except for the few that sat on the grill for maybe 2 hours, the sea gulls seemed to like them though

Hot dogs- I didnt have one of these either, but they were Nathans brand and also my favorite so I'll go ahead and give them a 7. no good condiments.

I'll call this one chicken and chorizo ala Capp. Good stuff. I picked at it a bit. He put some nice cherry hot peppers in with the medley of meat which made for a nice spicy delivery.

Rating- 7

Bacon wrapped shrimp with BBQ sauce. OK, now usually if you wrap bacon around anything it's good.. however, bacon takes quite a bit longer than shrimp to cook on the grill, so needless to say, the bacon was barley cooked and the shrimp was over cooked by about 15 minutes. I'll give Capp an A for effort. Good idea, bad execution

Rating- 2

Asian style slaw-

Good shit.. a mixture of cabbage, ramen noodles, toasted pine nuts, almonds, and scallions in a vinegar based dressing. Couldve been a little colder, but otherwise very tasty.

Rating- 8

BBQ style pulled pork-

Ok, now even though I made it I will try and give an honest rating. That being said I will be the first to say that this is not real BBQ. There was no smoking involved, except for cigarettes, and maybe just a little of the devils lettuce... anyway, its not real BBQ. I started with a whole shoulder ( about 17 lbs) and another shoulder already trimmed. Both were rubbed down with my own special mixture, then braised for about 7 hours. In the word of Guy Fiery I'll say that it was capital T tender. I pulled the meat (yeah yeah, ha ha) with ease, it just fell apart. Then with my own mixture of BBQ sauce, honey, secret hot sauce, and some of the braising liquid, put it into the crock for traveling purposes only. Served on the cheapest hamburger buns i could get, these sandwiches were quite tasty. The only negative thing I could say is that I wish the meat was actually smoked. Oh, and it wouldve been nice with some good southern style slaw. Either way I liked it. I think I ate 3 all together.

Rating- 7 (I'll do better next time)

Eve's Zep

Ahh the Zep. A local favorite, and Norristown food icon, this delicious sandwich is most definitely my favorite cold sandwich of all time. Traditionally a zep consists of cooked salami, provolone cheese, thick sliced onion, sliced tomato, oil, oregano, and chopped hot peppers (optional) on a soft italian round roll. Thats it. Anything else and its not a true zep, with the exception of sometimes being served on a long roll. In my opinion, there are only two places to get a real zep, Eve's Lunch or Lou's. Today I was fortunate enough to have had one brought to me as a complete surprise. Although I am partial to Lou's, this one came from Eve's and it was everything I expected it to be.... Delicious. This is one sandwich that surely is close to my heart... in more ways than one. That being said, I would like to thank Monty for buying me a great lunch. (although who the fuck eats bbq chips with a zep?) I would also like to thank whoever invented this amazing sandwich.

Rating: 9 (10 if it was on a round roll)

Farley Plaza

So on the way back from the Jersey shore traffic was shit and we decided it would be a good idea to stop at the old Farley Plaza. I am no stranger to this rest stop as Ive been there many times in my Atlantic City conquests, usually just to get gas or take a leak. Anyway.. We were both a little hungry, so we had 3 choices... Burger King, Pizza Hut, or KFC. Fuck all of them, but we went with a 3 piece and some chicken strips from KFC and an order of breadsticks from the hut. It was shit. All of it. chix strips were dry, the 3 piece couldve been sitting there for a week before I got to it, and the breadsticks were chewy... and not in a good way. I think we used about 6 different condiments between both of us, and even that didnt help. Whenever I travel I usually try to find a good local joint to get whatever the specialty of the area might be. As bad as I wanted to go have some decent seafood, that didnt happen and we ended up eating this horrible shit. Either way, if your'e hungry and on the AC expressway, do not stop for food there. You'll be better off eating beef jerky from the gas station next door.

Overall rating: 1 (and thats being generous)

good shit Josh

Just thought Id throw this one in.. A plate full of well prepared meat is always worth the effort.

pork and beef sandwiches from the feast

So, as much as I love to hate the Bridgeport feast I usually end up making an appearance at least once throughout the weekend. The motivation behind actually walking my fat ass over there comes from one single item ....italian roast pork. So after making our rounds through the beer garden, waiting in line for tickets, waiting in line for a 10 oz. cup of warm budweiser ( multiple times) and waiting in line to use one of the 4 port-o-shitters, I finally waited in line for some food. Now... I almost never eat on location at the feast. I'll usually get a brown bag full of sandwiches, walk home, and get to them after a few more beers. Last night was no exception. Theres just something about the bag full of bread, meat and grease that makes the whole experience worth it. The brown paper bag always has wet spots and usually falls apart halfway home, but thats the beauty of it. I got 2 standard issue pork sandiches, 1 roast beef, and the last of the roasted hot peppers they had to offer. By the time I got to eat, the sandwiches were luke warm at best. Thats the way they should be eaten. I opened up the juice soaked bun, jammed some hots on top, fired it right down. A kind of zen-like feeling comes over you as the first bite goes down, and you have a bit of juice running down the sides of your hands... Its fucking delicious. I could eat the exact same sandwich from any of the little delis around the area, at any time of the year, but its just not the same as when you get a good old pork sandwich from the feast. So after the first one disappeared in a heartbeat, I moved on to the beef sandwich which I doctored up with a healthy dose of horseradish. Not impressed... just beef. kinda dry to be honest, but hey.. I didnt care much about it in the first place. I have one more pork sandwich waiting for me still wrapped in paper, still in the brown paper bag. I cant wait to get into it tonight. Most likely I'll be back in line for more by the end of the weekend. What's that???? I think I can actually hear the fried dough and the porchetta calling my name. dont worry little buddy... I'll be back for you...... you can fucking bet on it.

Overall rating: 9

first rating

Ok first real food rating, although the majority of you may not consider this to actually be real food.

Mcdonalds bacon egg and cheese biscuit meal. One of my favorite fast food items of all time. Loaded with a grand total of 810 delicious calories, this little artery clogging meal includes 1 biscuit sandwich, 1 hash brown patty, and 1 med. orange drink. Thats right I said orange drink. Although I do not eat breakfast often, I have to admit that this is one of my favorite meals in the morning. (especially after a night of drinking) Sadly I was not that into it today. The biscuit was strangely hard on the outside. The egg was the usual spongelike styrofoam, and the bacon was rubbery... go figure. The hashbrown on the other hand was crisp and delicious. Oh- and the orange dink was just that... orange drink. My Mcdonalds experience started out about as bad as it gets. I had to dodge about 30 mexicans as I pulled into the drive through. For some reason Mcdonalds seems to be the location of choice for those little alien fucks to look for work in the morning. There were literally about 30 of em just hanging around the building. The person working the drive through seemed as if she didnt want to be there. hmmmm... I wonder why? I guess a little attitude is expected when visiting your local gas station/fast food joint. Either way I dont appreciate the fucking attitude. But for $4.92 I guess I get what I paid for. Next time I will visit a different location for sure..... unless I need gas.... of both kinds.

overall rating- 2 out of 10.