MallaryMade

New Orleans, Louisiana The next stop on my road trip to California was New Orleans, and this might have been my favorite stop of the trip. Maybe. We only had a few goals on this quick stop; beignets, chicory coffee, Bourbon street.  Success! We did make all of this happen in just 3 short hours.  The adventure began... with parking. A complete disaster that took 30 minutes within itself, but once that was secured, it was onto Cafe du Monde.  You can get beignets at a number of cafes in the area, but we wanted the entire experience.  We read our rule book the night before, yes there are actually certain rules you should know before heading into the cafe. Don't wear black.  The massive amount of powdered sugar WILL end up all over your black shirt or pants, stick to light colors! Know what it is you want to order, you'll really only see your server twice, once for the order, again with your food and the bill.   With that, an order o...

Mississippi To start, did anyone else not know that "Mississippi Mud Pie" isn't even from Mississippi?  I was on a hunt to find some of this famous dessert and after looking online at every restaurant and bakery in Biloxi, I got nowhere.  So I started looking into the history of the dessert and I found out that a "Mud Pie" was invented in San Fransisco by  Joanna Chiyo in 1957.  Right before that in 1953 "Mississippi Mud" referred to any kind of chocolate pudding, because it looked like the muddy banks of the Mississippi River.   But before all of that there was a song titled; " MISSISSIPPI MUD" by James Cavanaugh in 1927, and somehow between all of these things there became the "Mississippi Mud Pie" which has literally nothing to do with state itself, and no you cannot find a "Mississippi Mud Pie" in Biloxi Mississippi. Okay, I can move forward now, I just needed to get that whole pie thing off my chest. ...

Florida to California  And Everything in Between I guess we can just consider this an intro post.  In January, I took an eleven-day trip, driving to the west coast from Florida to California!  Seven of the days were spent driving and the following four were spent in California.  The trip was originally planned as a "get there as soon as you can" kind of deal- but we decided to take a much more scenic route- stopping at all the famous stops along the way.  This trip allowed me to see more of America than I've seen in my entire life.  I'm going to make each state a separate post, including the food and activities we came across.  This trip wasn't a foodie based trip so most of the restaurants will be fast-casual style.  With that being said the posts will be focused more on the travel itself, and how much you can see in a short amount of time. Florida: The trip began in Florida where we ate a "Whataburger" for the first time in the panhan...

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon: Two Michelin Stars About a month ago I took a day trip to New York City to try and eat at some exciting restaurants.  I woke up super early on a Friday morning and took a long four-hour bus drive to NYC.  When I got there I had an early lunch at NoMad, by Chef Daniel Humm, you can check out that  review here.   Later that night after exploring the big city, I settled down at  L'Atelier for a five-course fall menu.  Now, I do have to warn you this review will probably be a lot of "it was so good", as each course had the perfect balance of the 5 elements of taste; sweet, salty, bitter, acidity, and umami.  Many of the dishes had really complex elements that I either can't remember or just don't know what they were, as the menu is mostly in french, but I'll try my best to explain the dishes to you all.    When I arrived at the restaurant they checked my coat and backpack and I patiently waited just a few mo...

North Pond: A One Michelin Star Restaurant (Shrimp and Corn soup: Course 2) During the last month of summer, I took a trip to Chicago, Illinois and the overall goal was to eat as much food as possible.  I did succeed at this and you can check out all the other restaurants I ate at on the trip  here.   This particular restaurant was one of two Michelin starred dinners I had the privilege to try while I was in Chicago.  The Chef and partner Bruce Sherman,  influences for the restaurant came from Paris, Southeast Asia, and London. These influences make for the fantastic production of his contemporary French-American, seasonal modern cuisine.  Just last month Bruce announced his departure from the restaurant at the end of the year.  The new Executive Chef will be Tim Vidrio, previously he held the Chef de Cuisine title from 2016 until the present day, but as Bruce leaves, Tim has been titled Executive Chef for 2020.  I'm excited to see the chang...

NoMad: A One Michelin Star Resturant NoMad is owned and operated by the famous chef Daniel Humm, if that name didn't ring a bell then "Eleven Madison Park" should.  Daniel Humm is the Executive Chef and owner of these two restaurants. Eleven Madison Park was ranked as the #1 restaurant on the 50 best list for many years.  NoMad is an abbreviated way of saying "North of Madison Park."  This would be because NoMad is quite literally just north of the original restaurant that's located in Madison Square Park in New York City. NoMad opened in 2012 as apart of the NoMad Hotel, but I won't get into the hotel details, however, it is utterly beautiful.  If you're interested in more information about the hotel, restaurant, or reservations  click here. I had my experience at NoMad during a day trip to New York where I ate at multiple restaurants, so as a result, I didn't order a ton of food.  The menu is organized into sections labeled as; Snacks, App...