Foodies in Paradise: Meat Lovers Unite!
Food Lovers — By Victoria Gutierrez on May 11, 2009 at 11:16 amI’m all for vegetables and non-animal food; after moving to Northern California and reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the new James Beard award winner In Defense of Food
, it’s hard not to be a vegetarian most of the time. But sometimes all you need is a big slab of meat. A steak, meatballs, spit-roasted lamb, bacon, an individually serial-numbered duck in Beijing: all are equally great at satisfying the carnivore in all of us. Here are a few of my favorites:
Bitterballen in Amsterdam- These are much better than they actually sound. Bitterballen are perfect, bite-sized, deep-fried minced meat balls that you dip in mustard and then wash down with a cold beer. My fellow foodie-in-crime makes them a big part of her ideal Amsterdam trip here: Bicycles, Bitterballen and Beer. My pick for bitterballen is De Brakke Grond.
Steak in Chicago at Ditka’s- It doesn’t get any better than this, my friends. Dry-aged steaks and perfect martinis from Da Coach himself. Still not convinced? One word for you: Tomahawk. A 30 ounce big bone-in dry-aged Angus ribeye.
Gauchescas in Buenos Aires- 30 ounces of red meat doesn’t do it for you? Try some of Estilo Campo’s spit-roasted options: kid (yes, baby goat), piglet (baby pig), suckling pig (more young pig), and Patagonian lamb.
Bacon steaks in Denver- Rhetorical question time: do you love bacon? Oceanaire in Denver serves a bacon steak entree. Yes, they’re known for incredible seafood but, trust me, order the bacon.
Choose your own duck in Beijing- If you’re in Beijing, and eat meat, you can’t miss Quanjude. The quintessential ode to all things duck, Quanjude is famous for serving up the crispiest, most perfect roast duck. For a price, you can get a whole duck. For a larger price, you can actually pick the duck. Regardless of which method you choose, you will get a card telling you of your own duck’s personal serial number.
These are a few of my favorites. Did I miss one of yours? Leave more meat loving suggestions in the comments section!
Photo courtesy of FotoosVanRobin / Creative Commons




10 Comments
Another awesome steak place in Buenos Aires is CabaƱa Las Lilas. Great cuts of meat and delicious Chimichurri sauce!
No specific recommendations, but I am officially even more excited to barbecue tomorrow.
Carnivore restaurant has just opened in Cairo … mmm, Ostrich!
@Nicole Lerner, sounds delicious! Something about Chimichurri just makes me smile
@Alexi, yes.
@Nick, you are consistently making me want to visit Cairo immediately. Thanks!
Ostrich is pretty tasty in my opinion, very much a red meat, while guinea pig, as Samya says, pretty much tastes like chicken. Definitely prefer Ostrich any day.
I’m on a Calgary kick, but my favourite place in Cowtown to get a big ol’ slab o’ moo is Caesar’s Steakhouse (the downtown location). This was the place to go when my parents were my age, and they haven’t changed much since. Excellent cuts of AAA Alberta beef with a vegetable on the side – parsley. Love the steaks, love the service, love the wine.
http://www.nileguide.com/destination/calgary/food/caesar-s-steak-house/62025002475
@Amy sounds perfect. Also, ‘big ol’ slab o’ moo’ has been added to my list of frequently used terms.
@Victoria: Agreed. Can we bandy that term about (A LOT) at the content team offsite? And the office? And everywhere?
@Amy: Big. Ol. Slab. Of. Moo. Fantastic.
@Nick: Does Ostrich come in steak form, or just massive amounts of scrambled egg? Is it better than Guinea pig? (http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/2009/05/04/guinea-pig-tripe-and-head-daring-to-try-something-for-the-first-time/)
I’m definitely an ostrich fan. Also, BIG bison fan. For things that taste like chicken mixed with a little swamp water, I highly recommend alligator.
Hi i like your website
Thanks