The omnivore's to-eat list

I recently stumbled across a list of 100 foods you should eat before you die. It includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food. This list is for the true omnivore, so don't read it if you have a weak stomach.

(Though why a Baja fish taco is not on there, is beyond me).

The rules are as follows:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Mark all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.


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The VGT OMNIVORE'S 100:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/jell-o
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

This fish taco blogger really wanted to love you

Located in the Southampton neighborhood of Saint Louis, Lily's is a family-owned, family-run restaurant that touts itself as serving "home-style" Mexican food. So I wanted to love it. I was ready for a hole-in-the-wall establishment with some quirks, but I was also expecting some great flavors. You walk in and place your order at the counter and get handed a cafeteria tray with empty cups, silverware and a basket of chips. You fill your own drinks and grab salsa from the plastic tubs sitting lopsidedly in ice. The decor in this place includes random Mexican objects, a metal cart against a wall that serves as the bar, an assortment of U.S. Marine paraphernalia and lovely family photos (including ones of the Marine son who looks strikingly like his mother).

There were two fishy options to be had and my friend and I tried them both. The fish taco and shrimp taco plates both come with your choice of corn or flour tortilla (though we ordered corn and got flour instead) and are served with rice, homemade potato chips (odd, I know) and pico de gallo with cabbage. The fish taco had a whole piece of fish on it - I would guess Tilapia. It had some nice flavors to it, although certainly no kick. But it was the only thing on that four tortilla and looked rather sad and lonely. Adding the pico de gallo cabbage helped, but the whole thing was still on the dry side. Next, I tried adding the several available varieties of homemade salsa. The roasted one was especially interesting, but definitely on the watery side, so it too did not really improve matters. The shrimp tacos had much more interesting flavors but were way too salty. So I was underwhelmed with blandness. Sorry Lily's, maybe I should have had one of those famed margaritas of yours.

Lily's Mexican

4601 S. Kingshighway Blvd.

Saint Louis, MO 63109

(314) 352-1894

http://www.lilysfreshmex.com/

2.5 out of 5 fishies.

A fab video lesson of how to warm your corn tortillas

Do you pop your tortillas in the microwave? Heat them over a gas burner? Check out this ingenious method courtesy of Serious Eats!

The Art of the Taco

Check out these fancy tacos from Bobby Flay's The Art of the Taco event at the New York City Wine and Food Festival. More than 30 chefs crafted their own take on the taco: from traditional to inventive. Serious East put together a slideshow of their top twelve. One of their favorites was from a fab place I reviewed in NYC: Hecho en Dumbo. But check out that scrumptious looking oyster taco from Riverpark!

Where's the fish?

Flying through DFW and wishing the Urban Taco I stopped at had fishy options on their menu... their chicken tinga and al pastor tacos were quite tasty and only $3 each (not bad for airport prices).

This fish taco blogger heads down to Texas

Howdy from west Texas y'all. Not being a native, I cannot eat pulled pork sandwiches and steak fries on a daily basis, so I recently headed to Fuzzy's Taco Shop for somewhat lighter grub. This self touted "Baja Style" joint had three fishy tacos on their menu - fish (grilled or tempura), shrimp (grilled or tempura) and crawfish. All tacos come on your choice of corn or flour tortillas, served soft or crispy (c'mon, that's just wrong). The fixins are lettuce, feta cheese, a garlic sauce and tomato. Now I thought everything was supposed to be big in Texas, however that seems to compete with the fact that everything in Lubbock has to be cheap to keep the college folk happy. Instead of substantial pieces of fish, these tacos come with a piddlee'o amount of little nuggets of fish. But at $1.99 each, can you really complain? The tacos are still quite large in size, with a lot of filler to bulk them up (mainly consisting of lettuce). The tempura batter is just a fancy way to say fried, and the fish underneath was decent, but nothing to write home about. The grilled shrimp was bland and to be avoided. However, the crawfish tacos were quite tasty - lots of flavor and a surprising sweetness to them. The garlic sauce in the tacos was boring and watery, but the feta cheese (a surprising choice) added a lot of flavor. And you can spice up any taco with their very hot habanero hot sauce. So get down to Fuzzy's Taco Shop (see here for its many locations) and cool the seat of your saddle. And be sure to get a strong and palatable $4 brain-freeze Texas-sized margarita while here!

2102 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79401
(806) 740-8226

http://www.fuzzystacoshop.com/index.html

3 out of 5 fishies.

This fish taco blogger turns lobster red at the Jersey Shore

After too much sun and beach lounging, we strolled along the shore on our way to Surf Taco. Having read somewhere that this surf-themed, casual restaurant serves up fresh coastal cuisine, I knew we had to sample their fishy fare. Tacos are around $5 for one and we ordered two different fish tacos on the menu. Their signature Surf Taco is cod battered in tempura, topped with pico de gallo, a white cilantro sauce, a ton of shredded cabbage and a squeeze of lime. The blackened mahi mahi comes with seasoned grilled fish and the same toppings as above. We got both tacos "Baja style" which was supposed to amp up the seasoning by adding two more sauces to the mix. Both tacos are served on a 6" four tortilla and come with homemade chips and four fresh salsas to choose from (mild, verde, baja and hot).

The surf taco was decent - the fish and trio of sauces were tasty, but the batter lacked crisp and the cabbage quantity was quite overpowering. The mahi mahi taco was underseasoned and bland, and the fish quantity close to non-existent. The salsas were quite palatable and fresh, but the verde was overly sweet and to be avoided.

94 Brighton Ave.
Long Branch, NJ
(one of nine locations)
(732) 229-7873

http://www.surftaco.com/

2.5 out of 5 fishies.