Pat and David, Author at Hungry Travelers

Pat and David

Lamb with a view at Reykjavik’s Grandi Maðöll

Posted on March 24, 2023March 15, 2023 by Pat and David

Everything old is new again in Reykjavik, not least the ‶Old Harbor″ district. Just a two-minute walk along the harbor from the oldest city restaurant, Kaffivagninn (see this post), the soaring interior of Grandi Maðöll (Grandagarður 16; +354 787 6200; grandimatholl.is) beckons diners hungry for an indoor fix of street food with a good harbor view. In case you hadn't guessed, maðöll is Icelandic for ‶food hall.″ (The ‶eth″ is pronounced like a ‶th″ in English and is often spelled that way as well.) Grandi Maðöll is one of the city's newer dining ventures. It contains eight food vendors offering mainly Icelandic foods, such as fish and chips, as well as two world cuisines popular in food courts everywhere: Italian pastas and Indian curries. In...Read More

Icelandic lobster soup warms a chill evening

Posted on March 17, 2023March 9, 2023 by Pat and David

We had read that Iceland's famous ‶lobster soup″ was a special dish widely served at the winter holidays. Given that there's only about four hours of daylight at Christmas, Icelanders definitely need something to cheer them up. But during our Reykjavik visit in late August, lobster soup was ubiquitous on the city's menus. So much for seasonality — or don't believe everything you read on the Internet. According to Iceland Fisheries, the lobster season is April into September All of our research — including asking locals — pointed us to the Seabaron, or Sægreifinn in Icelandic (Geirsgata 101, Reykjavík; +354 553 1500; facebook.com/saegreifinn.seabaron). Everyone agreed that it was famed for lobster soup. The casual grill house squats at the harbor's edge in a lurid green...Read More

Kaffivagninn serves authentic fish and chips

Posted on March 10, 2023March 15, 2023 by Pat and David

The oldest restaurant in Reykjavik, Kaffivagninn (Grandagarði 10, Reykjavík; +354 551 5932; kaffivagninn.is), began as a harborside food truck in 1935. Sound out the name and it turns out to be an Icelandic cognate for ‶coffee wagon″ in English. But it also serves delicious fish. On a sunny summer day, Kaffivagninn's location on the city's gorgeous harbor is about as picturesque a place as there is to eat some of the freshest fish in the world. And fish is a lot of what Iceland is about. The fishing industry is essential to Iceland's identity and second only to tourism in its economic impact. The only fish on the breakfast menu at Kaffivagninn is (unsurprisingly) smoked salmon. Breakfast fare is 990-1890 krona (USD $7-$13.50). The only...Read More

Skyr cheese launched a thousand longboats

Posted on March 4, 2023March 4, 2023 by Pat and David

On our first day in Reykjavik, we wondered if we'd stumbled into some modern version of Gulliver's Brobdingnag. Everyone was … so tall. And fit. And wearing technical gear. They looked like they were about to dash up Iceland's volcanos, dive for lobsters in its fjords, or — at the very least — set sail in a high-prowed boat to discover a new continent or pillage an old one. It was a very Viking moment. The secret behind all this outsized vigor (or so we were told) was skyr. This Nordic cousin of Greek yogurt is so well-drained and thick that it's legally classified as a cheese. What distinguishes it from various other cultured milk products is that heated skimmed milk is inoculated with traditional...Read More

Up n’ Down’s rock & bourbon hits sweet spot

Posted on December 14, 2022December 14, 2022 by Pat and David

Winter is coming on in a rush, which is all the more reason to seek some golden warmth. Last weekend we visited the spiffy Southern-inflected Kendall Square joint from chef Chris Parson. It's called Lily P's Fried Chicken and Oysters (50 Binney St., Cambridge, Mass.; 617-225-2900; lilypschicken.com). Located more or less in Coder Hollow amid the life sciences labs and condo warrens that now define Kendall, it has a bustling and inventive bar program to go along with the comfort food. Any bar where you can order pimento cheese and Ritz crackers to go with your drink is already steps ahead of the competition. About that inventive bar — one of the perfect cold weather cocktails now headlining the menu is the Vermonster. The base...Read More

Acclaimed baker Adam Young shows how it’s done

Posted on December 5, 2022December 5, 2022 by Pat and David

Whenever we visit Mystic, Connecticut, we always try to stop at Sift Bake Shop (5 Water Street, 860-245-0541, siftbakeshopmystic.com) for cookies, breads, and pastries. Pastry chef and owner Adam Young was anointed Best Baker in America by the Food Network show of the same name, and while we haven't tried the goods of all the other bakers in America, we'd have to say his food is right up there. So imagine our delight to find that he was headlining a dinner at Harvest restaurant's The Book and The Cook series. Harvest (44 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA; 617-868-2255; harvestcambridge.com) is just a few blocks from our home in Cambridge. We could walk to and from dinner and not worry about overindulging on the masterful wine pairings...Read More

Abruzzo means more than just Montepulciano

Posted on November 21, 2022November 21, 2022 by Pat and David

Italy is famed primarily for its red wines, including Montepulciano in Abruzzo. But the region also produces some excellent whites. The best of them are Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, made from the regional clone of the white wine grape that accounts for nearly a third of the white wine vineyards in all of Italy. For example, Soave and Orvieto are based on the same grape. But Trebbiano displays a special character in Abruzzo that justifies going under its own name. We recently acquired a bottle of Trebbiano d'Abruzzo from Cantina Terzini (cantinaterzini.it). The Terzini family has grown grapes for generations but started making wine under its own name in 2007. Cantina Terzini has been a big success in Europe and Australia but is still seeking an American...Read More

Montepulciano spearheads the wines of Abruzzo

Posted on November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 by Pat and David

For one of the most-exported of Italian wines, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo seems to fly under the radar for most Americans. As a rule of thumb, just remember that these DOC wines represent the best value in Italian reds. They are perfect, by the way, with Thanksgiving dinner. Just make sure you read the labels carefully. Many producers give their wines fanciful names like Ottobre Rosso (Red October) or Divus (Rich). Look for the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC indication on the capsule. Unless your family hails from Abruzzo, you might not even know where the region is located. Geography says it's central, but most references call it southern Italy because of the cultural links to the south. The main thing to remember is that Abruzzo is a green,...Read More

Mei Mei chef Irene Li is double awesome herself

Posted on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Pat and David

For our readers not from the Greater Boston area, Irene Li and her siblings are the force behind the Mei Mei food truck and (now closed) Mei Mei Dumpling House (meimeidumplings.com). They're also the authors of one of the best cookbooks to hit the shelves just before the pandemic shut down the world. It's called Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from Our Chinese-American Kitchen. The ‶double awesome″ refers to Mei Mei's signature scallion pancake sandwich. Two flaky scallion pancakes spread with a little basil pesto enclose some cheddar cheese and two oozing eggs. The Double Awesome comes with spicy ketchup on the side for dipping. The name says it all. Part of what we love about the dish is that it...Read More

What to eat at the Málaga airport (AGP)

Posted on October 26, 2022October 20, 2022 by Pat and David

Many of Spain's leading chefs have a way of remembering their roots — and wanting to appeal to a wider audience. It could be a financial stretch to feast at the French dining room Babette or the grill house Leña, both at Puente Romana resort in Marbella. But you can at least get a taste of star chef Dani García's cuisine at the airport. BiBo Dani García (+34 607 528 879) is open every day from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. in the passenger-only zone of the first floor departures area at Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP). We've been following García since his first high profile job leading the kitchen at Tragabuches in Ronda. That was literally decades ago, but he's always remained a champion...Read More