Cheeseburger — EUR 12

Americans make the best comfort food, and HAND in Paris is living proof. Perfect for brunches or quick eats. The restaurants name which stands for Have a Nice Day brings vintage American food to the French consumer. The cheeseburger comes with hash browns and a small salad.

39 rue Richelieu, Paris, 75001, France
Tel: +33 1 40 15 03 27

The Parker’s Special – 2 Eggs, 2 Pancakes, 2 Bacon, 2 Sausage and Ham, Home Fries and Toast – $11.99

Parker’s Maple Barn opened in 1960′s solely as a small sugar house, but the business grown and the Parker family decided to open a country breakfast restaurant. It’s the most popular restaurants in the area, but even today, the sugar house still produces their own maple syrup following the original method used 50 years ago. Pancakes are hearty and thick with fluffy texture, but the best part is…you can use as much pure maple syrup as you want!

1316 Brookline Road, Mason, NH 03048

(603) 878-2308

ShackBurger: American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato and ShackSauce – Single $4.75  Double $7.25

French Fries: 100%  Trans-fat free, made with Yukon Gold potatoes – $2.75

Prepare yourself for a long line at Madison Square Park Shake Shack, where the legendary burger shack that started in 2004.

Southeast corner of Madison Square Park, near Madison Ave. and East 23rd St. New York, NY
Phone: (212) 889-6600

http://www.shakeshacknyc.com/

Marinated Portobello, Blue Brie, Griddled Scallions, Dijonnaise – $8.00 (additional fried egg, $2.00)

This American delicatessen is one juicy contender using grass-fed beef cooked till slightly pink core, sandwiched between two freshly toasted crunchy buns. Grass-fed beef is suppose to taste different due to the cow’s different diet compared with the typical American feedlot cows feeding on corn mill. But all that goodness from the included ingredients makes it hard to really pick out the beefier taste; however, we can take comfort in the cow’s healthy well-being before the slaughter. As for the innards of this burger, we have diced and sauteed marinated portobello mushrooms, melted blue brie cheese, griddled scallions for the herby taste and texture, and dijonnaise for the slight tang. If that mouthful of flavors isn’t enough for you, a fried egg can be added. Perfectly orchestrated fried egg with still runny yolk will end this burger on a high note.

2954 North Sheffield Avenue, Chicago 60657
Phone: (773) 360-8686

Fettuccine Amatriciana – $6.75

A simple Tuscan Italian dish. Fettuccine was ‘al dente’ meaning it is well-cooked, but still with the firmness when you bite into the pasta. The pasta when bitten does fight back with a bounce, so watch out for the sauce splash. Amatriciana is a garlic and  spicy tomato sauce with minced pieces of pancetta. The pancetta, dried cured pork, is salty which goes well with the garlicky sauce and the pancetta gives you a chewy feedback. Topped with fragrant parsley. Well done.

313 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02446
Phone: (617) 232-2661

Plain Rice Crepe – C$2.40

The above picture may not look so plain with all the sauces, but the word “plain” designates the lack of stuffing within the rice crêpe. The rice crêpe comes drizzled with sweet soy sauce, but most connoisseurs tend to eat with the varying degrees of  red hot sauce, sweet plum sauce, peanut sauce and sesame seeds. The store’s specialty is rice crêpe, that being said, it was extremely smooth. The texture on the tongue was borderline silkiness of drinking Fiji water. The rice crêpe was so soft and delicate that it could split into two pieces if held tightly between your chopsticks, but this is not an indication of an undercooked rice crêpe rather the perfection in timing.

黃三記 (wang sam gei)
4390 Steeles Avenue East, Markham, Ontario, Canada
(Inside Market Village Mall, Unit B14)
Phone: (905) 479-1074

Fried Hamburger and Grilled Sanma – $8.50 (lunch)

This amazingly inexpensive bento box daily special at Torishin is a gem. Although the fried hamburger comes in a fairly small size, it is unique and delicious. Unlike most hamburgers, the patty is made from grounded pork mixed with diced onions and is fried with panko bread crumbs. Also, it is eaten without a bun, but with rice and ponzu sauce, a somewhat sweet and citrus flavored sauce. In the bento box are also a typical salad with ginger dressing and a grilled sanma, mackerel pike. This fish has a lot of small bones, but most of it is soft enough for you to chew and swallow. The fish’s meat is sweet and tender and can be easily removed from the spine and ribs. A+ I forgot to mention the complimentary mayonnaise noodles and steamed string beans, but those aren’t anything spectacular.

1584 South Busse Road, Mount Prospect, IL
Phone: (847) 437-4590

Katsu Curry – $9.50 (lunch)

Torishin offers a delicious curry pork cutlet entree. The Japanese curry has the distinct taste of curry, but less spicy and if done right, sweet. All that curry is then poured onto the pork cutlets that are fried with panko bread crumbs. The rice accommodation is cooked till fluffy and sticky with the addition of red pickles to the side. An amazing alternative to the typical sushi/sashimi options in most Japanese restaurants in the states.

1584 South Busse Road, Mount Prospect, IL
Phone: (847) 437-4590

Egg Custard Tart (large) – $0.80 (each)

Egg Custard Tart, a common dim sum dish is similar to flan. Most egg custard tart are made with pig fat rolled with flour to create a flakey outer crust to hold the egg custard. At Saint Anna Bakery & Cafe, they use butter and a light cookie dough to form the crust of the Egg Custard Tart. Their tart is especially good because the tarts are filled to the top and sweet with the strong egg custard flavor. They don’t skimp on quantity and quality. The cafe maintains a fairly fresh batch everyday and you can tell when they have been out for too long when the center of the egg custard tart dips in the center.

2158 S Archer Avenue, Chicago, IL (inside Chinatown Plaza)
Phone: (312) 225-3168

Hyugui (beef tongue)

We all know all-you-can-eat buffets don’t provide the highest quality food. It is the nature of a buffet and its business model. BBQ Hut offers the regular Korean menu, but also offer a $22.95 barbecue buffet if you decide to go with it. If you decided to go with the buffet, it is mandatory that all members of your table also choose the barbecue buffet. The buffet offers a somewhat wide range of meats from beef tongue to chicken gizzards. The one great buffet item from BBQ Hut that stands out is their Hyugui or beef tongue. The restaurant gives you thin, palm-sized cuts of the beef tongue that still maintains its large cut after shrinkage from the grill. What is great about the cut is that you can have a mouthful of chewy beef tongue where as at other Korean restaurants they give you small slices. Beef tongue by itself may not be the most appealing so there is a dipping sauce made out of sesame oil, diced black sesame, and salt. The shining aspect of this particular meal at this particular restaurant is the price. An order of beef tongue at other restaurants is comparable to a single dinner order and they give you minimal slices. At BBQ Hut, you can sit there for hours delighting in several and maybe exotic meats.

1147 N Roselle Road, Hoffman Estates, IL
Phone: (847) 882-9292

Macarons – $0.75 (each)

Often this French pastry gets confused with its American counterpart macaroon another sweet confectionery. L.A. Burdick is one of the few places in the Boston area that offers this yummy dessert. Although not the finest in the world, but definitely beats anything in Boston. It is basically sweet icing sugar sandwiched by chewy sweet almond cookies. The macarons come in a variety of flavors: ginger, chocolate, coffee, citrus, lavender, and raspberry. When I enjoy these cookies at this cafe, I prefer to enjoy a cup of tea to balance the sweetness of these macarons, personal preference.

52D Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone: (617) 491-4340

Three Prime Cheeseburgers – $6.00

Morton’s known for its expensive and quality beef offer a special menu during specific hours (usually between 4:00-6:00pm) at specific Morton’s. Their ‘bar bites’ menu offer several small dishes for $6.00 dollars with one of them being the Three Prime Cheeseburgers. Crisp bun, juicy USDA prime-aged beef , red onion, tomato slices, and lettuce, all attributes of a delicious burger.

2 Seaport Lane, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 526-0410

Cherry Tomato, Basil, Garlic, Traditional Sauce, Mozzarella Pizza – $12.75 (12 inch)

An amazing thin crust pizza that,  strangely, does not have much grease on it. The application of the mozzarella is not overwhelming so that you aren’t just eating straight cheese. The cherry tomato topping is a plus when you bite into it, releasing all the heat tomato juices. Crust of the pizza is cracker-like for those who enjoy the crust.

40 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone: 617-864-8534

Dutch Baby – $7.75

The smaller version of the German Pancake. For those who have a smaller appetite.

153 Green Bay Road, Wilmette, IL
Phone: (847) 251-6000

German Pancake – $10.25

This over-sized pancake from Walker Bros. takes about 20 minutes to prepare, but it is worth the wait. The delicate and thin pancake is dense on the bottom with quality egg and batter mixture and extremely crispy and fluffy on the side of the ‘wall.’ The massive pancake has some powdered sugar on it so it doesn’t necessarily need syrup and it comes with a side of lemons if you so choose to use it. This oven-baked masterpiece is a must try for pancake enthusiasts. The smaller companion is called the Dutch Baby.

620 Central Avenue, Highland Park, IL
Phone: (847) 432-0660

Texas Style French Toast – $8.50

Thick french toasts that are sprinkled with powdered sugar with an extra order of fresh fruits. Syrup on the table is provided. One word to describe the toast…fluffy.

44 Charles Street, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 720-1152

Malted Belgium Waffle – $7.50

At this renown breakfast diner in Boston, this specific entree was not extraordinary. The typical off the shelf pancake mix with sliced fruits. Very cafeteria style.

44 Charles Street, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 720-1152

Cupcakes at Lulu’s Bake Shoppe are truly innovative. There are a variety of cupcakes with different ingredients such as peanut butter, butter cream, and marshmallows. One particular cupcakes at the joint that was memorable was the Lulu’s Cupcake. Moist chocolate, important to a good cupcake, and soft melted marshmallow inside.

Update: Lulu’s has closed for an unspecified amount of time due to changes.

227 Hanover Street, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 720-2200

Steak Frites – $19.75

Steak with thin frites (fries) and bearnaise sauce. Alternative sauce for the steak is maitre d’hotel butter.

560 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 422-0224

Tonkotsu Ramen: 2 pieces of roast pork, bean sprouts, bamboo shoot, scallion, pickled ginger and sesame seed – $8.00

This bowl of ramen is exceptionally flavorful. The noodles are bouncy and bathed in the concentrated pork broth. When you walk out the small restaurant, you will be smelling like a bowl of ramen which you can enjoy for the rest of your day.

60 West 56th Street, New York, NY
Phone: (212) 757-1642