A lot of restaurants open in Dubai and usually in or around some sort of mall and over the recent years that is Dubai Mall since everyone flocks over there to that mall. Rarely do you explore other locations, but thanks to MFW he took to me a new location a little while back, and thats Jones The Grocer, a singular building next to Jumeirah’s residential area just off of Sheikh Zayed Road. Literally nothing around it but a small shopping complex with a few businesses and a gas station.

You walk in and it is genuinely a unique restaurant/cafe/store, they have a very nice food selection in their menu. Loved their salads and sandwiches, I have been there close to a dozen times over the past 6 months, I make it a point to go there and try something new when I go.

It’s not your typical place, different types of seating in different sides of the building, with the cafe display cases in the middle, and the outer areas of the restaurant has cooking and food related items for sale from high end coffee machines to cook books and Turkish delights. Literally something for everyone in that place, and if you are cheese connoisseur you will enjoy the selection they have. Try the greek salad with steak and the chicken sandwich, they are very good dishes, and even the meat dishes are good there.

If you have been there then you are missing out since it out there not next to anything you feel like you are in a unique hip place. Feels like a place that should be in New York or San Francisco, it has this unique vibe to it and the best thing is that the food tastes just as good as the place looks.

Link: JonesTheGrocer

There were too many good places to try out while in Los Angeles, and sometimes you don’t have all the time needed to check them all out but this is a few of the places that we went to and the food was amazing at all of them, all depends what you are looking for and honestly it was hard not to stuff myself every time we went to these places.

Lunch/Dinner

• BOA – Amazing Steak Place On Sunset Blvd – The Japanese Wagyu beef was amazing
• Lala’s Argentine Grill – On Melrose Place – Pure Argentinian Grilling, Meat At Its Finest, If you love steak you will love this place
• Umami – Amazing Burger Joint – Simple menu, don’t miss the Bub Burger or Truffle Burger
• Il Postaio – Amazing Italian off of Canon Drive in Beverly Hills – Casual, I went and ate there in bike gear
• The Apple Pan – Greasy Burger Place – If you love Burgers you will love this place
• Via Veneto – The best Italian place on Venice Beach, you can’t miss this place it really is amazing, a unique type of Italian, not your usual and we loved it.

Breakfast

• Toast – Amazing menu, lots to choose from and great outside seating, best on Sunday Brunch
• Joan’s On 3rd Cafe – Great selection of sandwiches and great seating indoors, cafe & marketplace

Of course we passed by In&Out because everyone keeps asking if we did, but for me that place is just a bit over hyped and I had one next to my apartment for years so there are other burger places that I prefer, but for a quick burger it does the job.

I went to Figs for the first time in my life in November of 2011 with my wife, it seems it was a famous pizza place for most people who studied in Boston, it held a dear memory and so I tried it out and the pizza was pretty good. So when going to Figs at 360 Mall I was expecting the same taste, I honestly didn’t remember the menu but I did remember how the pizza looked like. We ordered a few appetizers and three pizzas.

The place looks nice, in a new area of 360 Mall on the third floor which has several trendy looking restaurants. We got the appetizer first, they were pretty good, there was one which was really good, it was so good that it disappeared before I could take a picture. The Calamari was decent, but the dipping appetizer was pretty good, there was a nice selection. Also in the picture this is the Nexus 4 & Galaxy Nexus side by side, we were making a comparison and the Nexus 4 was flatter, but because of the Gorilla glass it slides too easily. Need to get that bumper case for it.

The Pizzas came after about 15 mins and I was pretty hungry, but what I saw was not what I remembered, they were much smaller then what was served in Boston. Those ones were at least double the size, but same rectangular style. The taste wasn’t that great either, I was expecting much better so I came hungry and forced myself to eat more so I wouldn’t be hungry

(All pictures were taken with the Nexus 4)

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Now this is probably one of the most ridiculous things I have seen done yet. First the hot dogs disappeared from Sultan Center then a few months later they disappeared from Lulu Hypermarket, I just assumed they were running out of stock. Then summer came and I was looking forward to bbqing at the beach and hotdogs are always at the top of the mix, but again nothing was there. I thought it was just a late stock delivery. The brands I always loved picking up was Oscar Mayers & Ball Park Franks, they were so damn good and really hit the spot. After a little inquiry it turns out that the Baladiya stopped them because the packets didn’t have Halal stamps on them, I thought that was ridiculous. They were beef and this is an american import, they can verify the process but why would they put a halal stamp on the packet. The amount they import to the Middle East is less then 3% of what they sell and to them its no loss if they stopped selling them here so they didn’t make that stamp.

They have been selling these hot dogs in Kuwait for a good four years, the Oscar Mayer & Ball Park Franks, not including a few other brands. Why did Baladiya all of a sudden decide to have these stamps on them, sometimes they really baffle me as to their priorities. I agree that they should check the quality of the hot dogs and expiration, these are important details but really? You just thought the stamp would make it more beef. In this case we only have Khazzan and Americana as options for hot dogs and to be honest they tasted horrible, their quality is not good at all in comparison to those who make HQ Hotdogs.

I heard about this new breakfast place in Adayliyah and thought to check it out, its where the old Nathan’s used to be and you can’t really miss it because of its funky design. They have amazing seating outdoors and a cozy area indoors. We went four guys and it was perfect to try out the different items on the menu. I really like the design of the place, its cozy but doesn’t feel stuffy which is hard to pull off.

We ordered several things off the menu and they have been open a little over a month now. I had the turkey sandwich while the guys had some omletes and scrambled eggs. It took a bit of time but it was worth the wait and the food was pretty good. They also had frozen yogurt but by that time I was stuffed, I had a little taste and it was really good and they had a ton of different toppings to choose from. I think they picked an excellent location because Adayliyah is one of the nicer areas inside the city with excellent pace for parking. MSM was outside harassing the cars.

The wait has been too long, Burger Boutique was the first to open years ago with the comic book themed menu that I loved. I didn’t know what to expect from Burger Boutique but all I knew was that it was going to be something good and honestly I was looking forward to it. Then I got the call that they were inviting people to try it out. Let me say this the pictures I took do not do it justice, it is in Al Rayah Mall just opposite its original location on the 2nd floor. We were a lot of guys so we ordered pretty much everything on the menu and everything was so damn good.

I had high expectations for the Burgers and they did not disappoint, the normal burgers and the sliders. They were going for a recycling theme which I thought was cool but sometimes it was just too much paper to get to my food, I felt like a cave man ripping at his food and the guys didn’t give me chance to take pictures, food would just disappear so it was eat or be eaten situation. They have expanded on the types of fries they have and I loved the chilli cheese fries, so damn good. There were so many other good things on the menu but I didn’t have a chance even remember their names.

The one thing that really surprised me that tasted so good that I burnt my tongue since it was really hot was the chilli cheese hot dog. It really tasted amazing, like the kind of hot dogs that you think it should taste like, the ones I remember from a long time ago and this just really hit the spot. Also the selection of milk shakes are really good, I loved the Oreo Milkshake it really stuffed me at the end. One thing that I love about Burger Boutique, Slider Station, & OFK, its their buns, they just taste so good and with the opening of Burger Boutique they have opened their Bakery so now they make all their buns there and it just adds to the flavor of the Burgers. I will be going back and I loved that their open, if you have a chance and your feeling a burger then you should stop by for sure.

One of my favorite places to eat while in London and it has its own sort of fame over the years and some people would wait over two hours just to get a seat when its really crowded. When I got in line there were a lot of people ahead of me, but luckily I was on my own and I told the Italian Maitredee and he had a seat ready to go.

It was my last day in London, my flight is later at night, I finished up most of my errands and I was going to stuff myself silly on this food before taking off. I love the smell of the place and they made it bigger then it used to be but the service is still good, and they have tables now but I only love eating at the counter.

I didn’t even need to look at the menu, I ordered four things:

• Roca Salad
• Margarita Pizza
• Lasagna
• Coke with Ice & Lemon

I didn’t leave a bite on the plate when I was done, and I had a huge smile on my face. Honestly the food tasted better then I expected, I always think that over the years it wouldn’t maintain their level but somehow they got even better. Of course at the time in the beginning of July the place was packed with people from the GCC (Mostly Saudi, Emirates, and Qatar). I just came for the meal and it was worth it, even right at this moment I’m thinking about that Pizza and Lasagna.

After watching this video I wanted to eat my screen, damn I want some Krispy Kream, its so hard to resist, I could eat a dozen. At second 0:43 you will know how I feel.

Whenever I am in London I always make a stop in Automat, its one of those places that I am familiar with and always enjoy. They have just been consistent over the years, they never really disappoint, a very simple menu, salads, burgers, and a few pastas and in my case the most important being the Mac & Cheese.

The Mac & Cheese is just a perfect combination and not too heavy, I love taking a bite off the top of the baked crust. With the burger there which is also pretty damn good, I didn’t know what to eat, and I always like to start off with their Chicken Ceaser Salad, it just tastes so good and refreshing. You have to book sometimes to eat there, the place gets packed.

Link: Automat

The first time I had Potbelly’s sandwich was in Chicago about four years ago now, and it was a pretty damn good sandwich, something about it was different. My favorite was always Quiznos and Subway was crap in the US, it was always my last choice. In Kuwait Subway has some decent sandwiches but sometimes they screwed up, the other day I was in Kuwait Airport about to get on my flight but was hungry as hell, so I decided to try out Potbelly in Kuwait and I was happy I did.

I had the Turkey something sandwich, loved the sauce, and how it was cooked, crunchy and light. Ok, now I remember it was called “The Clubby”, I honestly liked that it wasn’t too heavy, but I just had to try their chili cheese fries, if my memory serves me correctly it was damn good, and luckily it was as good as I remember it.

I checked it turns out to be only open in the Avenues and honestly I hate going to the Avenues because of traffic, I just hope they have delivery because I will be ordering from them a lot now. They need to open other branches in other locations, preferably ones that are closer to me.