All Forces» Grub

Hooked on Boba

Melvin Rivera — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 05:24:59 +0000

I am seriously getting addicted to Boba a.k.a. Pearl Milk Tea, Bubble Tea, Tapioca Tea and also Black Pearl Tea. Boba is made of sweetened iced tea, milk and some big gummy tapioca balls. The balls, sometimes called pearls or bubbles are so big this drink requires an extra thick straw. Yummy! I got introduced to Boba by Ed some 8 years ago during our MGM days and ever since then I’ve been hooked on it. Although, now I’m seriously increasing my Boba intake thanks to the fact that I live near an asian part of LA. Back in the days I used to look forward to that magical green sign of Starbucks to get my caffeine fix but nowadays I’m hunting down the Boba places around town like a sniffing dog looking for drugs at the airport. We’re talking serious addiction here.

So I just realized today, hey I can look up online, why didn’t I think of that before? That’s how I ran into the funny art piece above featuring Boba Fett. Here’s some links I’ve found, you are welcome to contribute.

bobafind.com – a userbased search database. i just contributed my new fav spot.
Tapioca Express – a boba tea chain with store locator
LolliCup – another boba tea chain with store locator
quickly – a chain of boba tea shops around the world ( sucky website )
WikiPedia/Bubble Tea – The WikiPedia page on Boba
Google Maps – type in “boba, zipcode” and google will show any businesses with boba on their name in that zip code area

Mancora

Melvin Rivera — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 05:34:02 +0000

Peruvian restaurants are probably not as common in american culture, but they are within the south american cultures and for good reason. Peru is in the west coast of South America and it’s known for it’s amazing seafood platters and soups. A few years ago my dad came to visit me in LA and he caught us at the worst time for a family, we all had the flu. My wife and I were barely standing up and yet still had to take of the kids while they themselves were sick too. After seeing this my dad got us all in the car and took us to a peruvian restaurant to get us some Parihuela, a rich seafood chowder with spices and tomatoes. A guaranteed flu fighting soup. Since then, I’ve come to look forward to peruvian food every time he visit. This week on my last night in New York, my sister and I went to a Mancora, a great peruvian restaurant in Smith St. in Brooklyn just south of Brookly Heights. It turns out, Smith Street has a restaurant strip that goes on for almost 10 blocks. Killer food at Brooklyn prices ( as opposed to Manhattan ), of course she had to tell me this the night before I left so I had something to look forward next time I visit NY.

I left my camera at home, so I had to take the pictures with my phone camera

the restaurant entrance

our appetizer: stuffed avocado with vegetables and gulf sauce ( not as good as it sounded, a bit to creamy but yummy )

the dish we came for, jalea: deep fried seafood (squid, fish, shrimp), oysters, fried yuca and salsa criolla. yummy. usually a 2-4 person dish, but a 1 person dish at this restaurant. also, some restaurants include a wider variety of seafood but still, it was really yummy.

a couple of these made it even better. this is pisco sour, a delicious peruvian drink made of pisco liquor (a peruvian brandy), lemon, angostura, sugar and egg whites. yes, i said egg whites. although i don’t really drink, my sister and i were persuaded by our mexican waiter whom we bonded with.

Mancora
Peruvian Couisine
176 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 643-2929
cc accepted

New York Grub

Melvin Rivera — Mon, 23 May 2005 17:42:44 +0000

I’m leaving for New York tonight to spend two weeks with my sister. We’ll also be be going down to DC to visit my younger sister during the weekend. I love New York. My wife and I always felt we would end up either overseas or in NY. I love the pace of the city, the buildings, the people and of course, the food. Which brings me to the following request. I am looking for the “must eat” places to grub in NY. If you are a grub master, I would love to hear from you. You will know if you are a grub master if people always ask you where to eat cause you just know the hidden treasures of the city.