Coco Noodle Express - Vancouver, BC, Canada

Kung Pao Chicken
This is one of those posts where I am kind of reluctant to put up. My friends Lucas and Ingrid joined me for this meal, so we ordered a plethora of dishes. (yes I know what a plethora is!) Sadly this was the only dish I thought was any good.

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Silver Dragon - Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I did some research before jumping into Canada and quickly came upon this restaurant that is right in the heart of Calgary's Chinatown. It is evident upon entering Silver Dragon, that they are known for their dim-sum. I didn't have the time, unfortunately, nor the required number of people for a proper dim-sum meal. Therefore, I had to resort to the suggestion of the very friendly server. The above dish was listed as "Spicy Hand Made Noodle with Beef." They had me at "hand made."

This dish hit the spot. It reminded me of a good Dan Dan noodle with a nice black bean based sauce with a little kick. I asked for some extra chili oil of course which I highly recommend! If you're in the area definitely drop in for some dim sum or some hand made noodles. Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
--Joe Kwon

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Santé Charcuterie & Restaurant - Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Charcuterie Tasting
Sometime, in my travels, I stumble across some amazing jewels. Santé Charcuterie & Restaurant is one such place. I woke up a bit too late to get a sit down breakfast so I set out from the hotel (without my camera of course!) to find something that would be quick and delicious, knowing that I may strike out miserably. In fact I hit a home run!

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Pho Viet - Saratoga, CA

On our most recent trip to the West Coast, my buddy Zack met up with me at our hotel and we finally got to spend some long deserved time together. Zack and I have been compadres since my climbing days at UNC, where in fact, I met a lot of my best friends. There's nothing like putting your life in someone's hands to build trust and lasting friendships.

"The itch," as my cousin calls it, was hitting me pretty bad. I had to find some good cheap noodle soup, STAT! I hit up Yelp!, my first line of research when it comes to unknown territories, and found a restaurant that had a 3 star rating with over 50 reviews, and only one "$". This is a winning combo. You see it's not so hot that people give it 4-5 stars because everyone else does, or because it costs so much people feel bad about how much money they spent, and therefore, lead other people to go spend money there for bad food. You get it? It's a science using these internet review sites.

Now that I've given away my technique for finding local spots, let's move on to the food.

Fresh Spring Rolls

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Raj of India - London, England, UK

London seems like an eternity ago now, but this meal seems to still stick in my head pretty vividly. Cracker and I went out on one of our awkward dinner searches together. I seem to always try to act a little more crass around him. In fact I think he may bring the best out of all of us. In any case that's neither here nor there. Indian was our quest, and I've been told that the Indian food in the UK is better than in India and I've never been to India. After seeking out the restaurant our concierge suggested us and coming up empty handed we stumbled up on Raj of India. Isn't it great when things just work out?

An Assortment of Condiments

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