Greetings from the Tortured Poets Department. Just kidding! We don’t allow any T*ylor Sw*ft airplay at Cafe Lulu. I’ve had two separate friends come out to me as Taylor Swift fans and I literally had no idea. They didn’t feel comfortable telling me because they know I don’t like her so part of me feels bad that they can’t talk to me about it but it’s also funny to think that I’ve created an environment of intolerance against her. I still respect you but I don’t get it. No further comment.
I actually didn’t have anything planned for Cafe Lulu this week but then my job dismissed me after a slow brunch shift and I was forced to kill 2.5 hours in Boerum Hill because of a hot yoga class in the area. I’m too lazy to go home, then leave and come back. I did some errands at Atlantic Terminal, sat in during a Guitar Center Spring showcase and now I’m sitting at a Joe’s Coffee. I HATE killing time.
Phone Eats First
I’ve had a couple of really enjoyable meals/snacks over the past few weeks. If I keep taking pictures of my meals without labeling or annotating what plate and restaurant it’s from, I’m gonna forget. So here are my quarterly favorites for the sake of organizing.
Ube Pandesal & Chopped Pork Belly Bowl from White Rice Bodega
📍3586 Adams Ave Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92116
White Rice Bodega is a Filipino quick service restaurant located in San Diego, California. I first heard about it after a cool artist, Koy Suntichotinun, made a TikTok about his sign painting gig with the restaurant. His influence inspired me to look into the restaurant because I knew I was going to SD in February. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to visit my first time around but lucky for me…I was flown out there last week. Heehee. So now I’m tan AND I tried WRB.
Now before you say this is a gentrified version of Filipino food, DON’T. I ordered the crispy pork belly silog. The word silog, in Tagalog, is a word combo of sinangag (garlic fried rice) and itlog (egg). The pork belly was crispy, chopped and lightly sautéed with some bird’s eye chilies (my guess) which added a bit of heat to the plate. The garlic rice was flavorful but not overpowering, and the red onions along with atchara (pickled green papaya) provided the perfect crunch.
My friend and I split the ube pandesal, Filipino bread rolls, that was served with whipped Ube butter. The bread was light with a pillowy texture. The ube butter can be best described as a whipped version of Pillsbury Funfetti vanilla icing. And if you were a fat ass kid like me, you know exactly what that tastes like. This bread and butter combo is comparable to Texas Roadhouse’s in the way that it’s sweet and tastes fresh. Delicious.
Grilled Loukaniko at Kiki’s
📍130 Division St, New York, NY 10002
Located in the “Dimes Square” section of Chinatown, Kiki’s is a Greek restaurant with a constant line out the door. Patrick and I arrived on the early side, 5:30pm on a Friday, and got seated 40 minutes later which is considered good. Their menu is fairly priced and they serve large portions. We ordered the Loukaniko, orange peel-flavored sausage, and bitch. That shit was tasted exactly like Colombian chorizo. My mom would say something like “Isabella no seas tan ordinaria” but it tasted EXACTLY like Colombian chorizo — specifically longaniza but thicker and less grilled. I expected a stronger orange flavor but instead, it just reminded me of a comfort dish from my childhood and I loved it.
ALSO — Filipinos use the same name for a type of sausage but theirs is on the sweeter side whereas Colombian longaniza is salty and charred.
🤞 Much love to my Filipinos tonight.
🤝 We were all colonized by the same person.
👎 We do not fuck with Spain.
👊 Also shout out to Cameron Diaz for this interview.
PBR Passionfruit Pineapple Infused Seltzer
My parents know I smoke weed and eat edibles because one time they went out of town and I thought it was a good idea to make and s*ll edibles. Rookie mistake because they found out immediately and you would think that I murdered someone. I don’t think my mom spoke to me all week. I was 17! Give me a break!
Since I was in California, I HAD to go to a REAL dispensary. Not this NYC Granny Za’s shit. At this LEGAL establishment in San Diego, a PBR infused seltzer can caught my eye and I just had to try it. This was one of the few drinks that says it has passionfruit and actually tastes like it. With 10mg per drink, you reach a comfortable level of mellow without becoming too aggressive.
Golden Diner Pancakes
I’ve been here before for their chicken katsu club, which is delicious, but came back on a Friday night to try their pancakes.
If you’re looking for a thin, crispy pancake, this is not the place. New York is a very special place because while the restaurants here make good pancakes, they are not really pancakes. When you see “Pancake” on a menu here in this fine city, they WILL serve you a thick-to-medium horizontal slice of cake with a side of syrup and butter. Instagram-famous pancake places like Sunday in Brooklyn and Rule of Thirds all serve thick ass pancakes. Golden Diner is no exception. Their honey butter pancakes are served with honey maple butter but somewhere in all that honey…the cakes themselves taste citrusy. I can’t image my entree just being these pancakes because they’re so dense but they make for a delicious dessert in my humble opinion.
Nara Smith’s Pickled Onions Recipe
I’ve only ever pickled onions using apple cider vinegar and it does NOT have the same flavor as a white vinegar brine. ACV-pickled anything will always have a lingering taste of ACV and personally, it’s not what I want in a pickled and zesty red onion.
Nara Smith, famous TikTok Mormon Model Turned Traditional Housewife and Wife to a Man With The God-Given Name of Lucky Blue Smith, has become a recent person of interest on the internet because she makes everything from scratch. Everything. I’ve seen that woman make mozzarella and sourdough within a day before my very eyes. All to make a grilled cheese. She recently made a TikTok where she talked about her weekly meal-prep rituals and pickling onions was on the list. She said she makes pickled red onions almost weekly because of how good they are. And she’s right. They’re perfect. I’m sure other people have invented this recipe but I’d like to credit her because I did this version because of her.
1 1/2 Large Red Onions
White Vinegar
Water
White Sugar
Whole Peppercorns
She doesn’t list the measurements but measure with your heart. I like to serve my pickled onions on top of my avocado toast with eggs. It looks and tastes so good that a restaurant in Brooklyn would charge $17. I will drop my avocado toast recipe soon.
Lulu Pictures of the Week
As per usual, I am jealous of her life. I think I like this little life. I’m back in New York after being in San Diego (was living out of a hotel with free breakfast for a week) and this SUCKS ASS!!!!
Lol not the shoutout to our weedhead days... we gotta find out who told them
It's been almost 10 years it's time to fess up!!