Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

LeenaEats
LeenaEats

Leena Eats: NYC with a baby!

Leena Eats: NYC with a baby!
My trip to NYC started as all my trips to NYC do–with a trip to the Doughnut Plant. This is a yeast-raised donut in fresh raspberry glaze.

Ah, NYC. I’ve only visited you twice before, but each time, you’ve rocked my stomach three ways to Shang-hai. So I was incredibly stoked to be introducing this awesome city–and a few very close friends of mine–to baby Ella. Although traveling with a baby is never easy, we made sure to hit up all the food stops on my list, even if we had to carry the stroller up the subway stairs in the rain. Which we did. It was worth it for some kick-ass dumplings, but I’m getting ahead of myself. First, a little more donut porn.

Leena Eats: NYC with a baby!
The daily flavors at Doughnut Plant. Yes, they totally had my coconut cream pie filled donut!! Holla!

I was first introduced to The Doughnut Plant on a food tour of NYC’s Lower East Side given by The Enthusiastic Gourmet in 2005. What’s not to like about artisan donuts with creative, seasonal flavors? The owner, Mark Israel, opened The Doughnut Plant in the basement of a Lower East Side Tenement Building in 1994 using his grandfather’s doughnut recipe, and bicycle to deliver the donuts to local shops like Dean and Deluca. After perfecting his techniques, he opened the shop in 2000, where he’s been ever since. The shop has expanded to Tokyo, where there are nine shops today.

I particularly enjoy his filled donuts, which are square with a hole in the middle, yet filling is in every bite! So creative. So delicious. In addition to the raspberry glaze donut, we also had a coconut cream pie filled donut and a pistachio glazed yeast raised donut.

Leena Eats: NYC with a baby!
Flavors of the day at The Doughnut Plant. See how some of the flavors are translated into an Asian language? The shop sits right next to Chinatown, so I assume this is for their Chinese patrons.

More food porn after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: The Mission Food Tour (aka the best damn food tour ya ever been on, fool)

Leena Eats: The Mission Food Tour (aka the best damn food tour ya ever been on, fool)

Three friends (one food lover) plus one SF hood plus seven food places equals way too much deliciousness and one slightly sore ankle.

Well folks, you knew it was eventually coming–my first official food tour of San Francisco. The hood in choice? The Mission, the city’s first neighborhood, home to Latin, Indian and Asian cultures, gorgeous historical murals and seriously delicious food. This diverse neighborhood means that one block can be littered with homeless people and abandoned buildings, and the very next could be gentrified into gorgeous buildings filled with independently-run, creative businesses.

If you’re ready, if you think you can handle the gluttony that is a custom-made Leena Eats food tour, then please, by all means, check it out: more food porn and fun photos than you could shake a stick at after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gastro Friday: Leena’s NoCal Food Road Trip!

Gastro Friday: Leenas NoCal Food Road Trip!

Starting the day off at Cowgirl Creamery cheese shop...how could this be a bad thing?

Ah, how I missed living close to wine country and other wonderful food cultures! Although Northern California is a bit more pretentious than my beloved South Australia, it’s still a damn great place to explore food.

For this road trip, we made stops at a popular cheese shop and a local winery to gather goodies for our oyster barbecue at Hog Island Oysters in Marshall (just north of SF) on Tomales Bay.

(Okay, TECHNICALLY, we went to the cheese shop, did the bbq and then went to the winery, but if I had to do the day over again, I would definitely squeeze the winery in BEFORE the barbecue, so we could have wine with our oysters. Trust me. It’s just better this way.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: Chicago One Last Time (Cari’s Visit)

Leena Eats: Chicago One Last Time (Caris Visit)

Seasoned beef short ribs @ Cho Sun Ok. Welcome to Chicago, Cari!

One of the best treats towards the end of my time in Chicago was my good friend Cari (who you might remember from this post, this podcast, or her blog) came to visit and wanted a proper food tour of the city. Cari (whom I met in grad school) normally lives in Florida and had never been to Chicago before this trip. It was a great way to say good bye to this city that I love to eat. And also a great excuse to eat my weight in food. Just saying. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: NYC- The Lower East Side (Mainly photos, I swear!)

Leena Eats: NYC  The Lower East Side (Mainly photos, I swear!)

The Doughnut Plant: Satisfying chunkies and gourmands for years.

Sorry for the absence mates, but hey, at least I have good food porn to show for it. In dire need of a holiday, a proper meal and a few good friends, I took myself to NYC for an extended weekend. It was a rejuvenating, drunk-karaoke-ing, gourmet doughnut-filled escapade, because that is pretty much the only way I roll, you know! **********************************************************************

Leena Eats: NYC  The Lower East Side (Mainly photos, I swear!)

The precious! My coconut cream pie filled doughnut from The Doughnut Plant.

Once upon a time, a doughnut changed my life. In all fairness, it was mind-blowing. It was a coconut cream pie filled doughnut, which also happens to be my favorite pie filling, and it gave me a total mouth-gasm. I discovered it on my first trip to NYC four years ago, when I did a food tour of the Lower East Side.

Leena Eats: NYC  The Lower East Side (Mainly photos, I swear!)

The outside of my doughnut mecca.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: with Amanda from What We’re Eating & Food Porn Daily!

Leena Eats: with Amanda from What Were Eating & Food Porn Daily!

Pork belly from the Hopleaf gastropub.

Pork. That was what I expected when meeting Amanda from What We’re Eating and Food Porn Daily fame. We would share lots and lots of pork, some beer, and a few choice curse words. Thankfully, she had the same idea in mind. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Travels & Eats: Florida & Cari’s Wedding

Leena Travels & Eats: Florida & Caris Wedding

Hi Leena, welcome to Florida. We are delicious little tid bits of meat and pickle, please eat us! The charcuterie plate at The Ravenous Pig.

Oh Florida. You are so much more than Disney World and really tan senior citizens. So much more than Ponderosa Steakhouse and two-story tourist gift shops and for that, I thank you my good friend. A person can really only take so many neon lights in one night. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: Chicago, a Food Tour

Not too long ago, my old friend Misty came into Chicago and man, was she hungry. She demanded Chicago food, REAL Chicago food, so I had to deliver. I had to. Look at her–she could totally take me down.

Leena Eats: Chicago, a Food Tour

New food tour with an old friend.

Read the rest of this entry »

A Chunky Guide to Melbourne (it’s a long one, folks!)

A Chunky Guide to Melbourne (its a long one, folks!)

Leena eats Melbourne. It tastes like chicken salt.

***NOTE***This post is from November 2007-ish. It is late because I am slow and drowning in homework, but it?s a long one filled with tons of food, so it?s worth it, damn it. ***SECOND NOTE*** Don’t know what chunky means? Find out here. When people think of Australia, they usually think of Sydney and Melbourne. In fact, before I moved here, people would constantly say, oh, Australia? Are you moving to Sydney or Melbourne? Like no other city existed. They were partially right. I had already visited Sydney, and while I loved it, I had to hit up its sister, Melbourne. She deserved some loving too, damn it. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena eats the Great Ocean Road (grab a snack, it’s a long one!)

Leena eats the Great Ocean Road (grab a snack, its a long one!)

How I spent my summer vacation.

?I dropped my pills.? ?I can?t find my phone.? ?There is corn muffin in my belly button.? It was the first five minutes of our Great Ocean Road trip and I already sounded like a senior citizen. All I could do was hope someone packed the adult diapers, because I had also just drank 42 ounces of water. This was going to be one crazy trip. Woop woop. Read the rest of this entry »

A-D-Dil comes to Australia (Coopers Brewery Tour, The Best Pies Ever, Granite Island, The Victory Hotel Pub)

A D Dil comes to Australia (Coopers Brewery Tour, The Best Pies Ever, Granite Island, The Victory Hotel Pub)

My brother Dilip and the Malls Balls in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Leena, look–balls, hee hee.” Meet my older brother Dilip. Dilip and I are alike in many ways. We both love to talk a lot and tell jokes in a really loud voice, we are both brown, and we both giggle at silly things like the Malls Balls in Adelaide. Read the rest of this entry »

About | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact | 2010 LeenaEats.com

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.