I will be spending the next couple months in Alaska and plan on covering restaurants all around Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Vancouver. First stop in Alaska was Juneau. Juneau is a small town, much like all towns in Alaska. Right at the port there is a tram that takes you up Mount Roberts. There are a few trails to hike up there along with a restaurant. We went up to the top for the views, free internet and the flights of beer. I wish I could tell you the name of the restaurant but there were no signs and the waiter couldn’t even tell me the name of the restaurant. So I am going to call it the restaurant at the top of Mount Roberts.

Alaska has good beer and I am not a big beer drinker. A great way to try a couple of them was to have a flight of 6oz beers. My favorite was the Alaska white. It was really light and actually refreshing for a beer. The Alaskan Amber was my runner up.

The food was good. The crew I was with ordered chicken wings and fish and chips. Those are pretty standard meals in Alaska. One thing caught my eye on the menu that was against the standard. I have never seen Seafood Casadias on a menu before, even in a Mexican Restaurant. Since I had just come from Mexico I was still craving Mexican food. It came with Guacamole and sour cream and it was delicious. Different and good, right up my ally.

Seafood Casadias

Fish and Chips

Chicken Wings

I think over the next 2 month I’ll probably head back up the mountain for a flight and those Casadias.

Floating Teahouse, Shanghai China from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Old Shanghai is quite amazing. The buildings really remind you of the ancient time of China. We heard about the floating teahouse in old town and figured we needed to experience tea time. The Tea House is in the middle of this village and is surrounded by water. There are 4 zig zag walkways that lead to the Teahouse. We ordered a bunch of different tea which were refilled about every 5 minutes. As soon as you take a sip or 2 the waitress comes by with hot water and fills you up. They also gave us a bunch of treats to eat with our tea. The video will show the tea and some of the different treats. The experience was great and the teas were something we had never had before. Deeeelicious!

Skagway Alaska is a small town that looks like a scene from the old west. If you took out the few roads that make up the town and put in dirt with some tumble weed I think I would have to bring my 6 shooter to go get some lunch. After walking through the town in about 5 minutes I ended up at the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion Saloon was Skagway’s most exclusive bordello back in the day. It was a bar on the bottom floor but the top floor had 10 small rooms where the ladies waited for business.

The waitress all dressed the part while they served you. I went with a friend an we ordered an appetizer , couple sandwiches and a couple Alaskan beers. The Triple Dip plate was tortilla chips with a pulled chicken artichoke salad dip, basil ricotta/goatcheese dip and roasted red pepper/white bean dip.

It was good but my favorite was the chicken artichoke salad and ended up getting it in a sandwich. My buddy got the Turkey Trollop that is Oven roasted Turkey and Provolone. We split the sandwiches and I have to say I was surprised at how good it all was. We ordered Alaskan white and amber beers to wash it all down.

I first went to the wrong floor and knocked on the wrong door, a standard mistake with each visit. When I finally made it into their beautiful loft apartment I was immediately greeted with an ice cold Noe (pronounced, no way). It’s a concoction Ricky made up containing tequila and fresca with mint and lime juice. See the pic above.

To my surprise my friend Lyniel was sitting at the bar nursing her Noe Way. Standard for Lyniel. The nursing a drink not the Noe Way. Lyniel and I caught up as Ricky and Brit orchestrated a delicious meal of carne asada, black beans, arugula salad and grilled onions.

After we housed the steak, cleaned the bottom of the salad bowl and put down our third or fourth Noe Way, the digestion activities began.

Unaware that there was a ritual of sorts when Lyniel and Ricky get together, we moved from the dining table to the livingroom where Ricky had already set up the Rock Band. For the next three hours Ricky and Lyniel banged on the drums and strings while Brit and I took turns with the mic. 

Not the best for digestion but great for this slideshow.

Some Tequila education from Foodista.

I don’t usually write these types of posts but I decided to make an exception today because I have had long relationship with Glaceau as a customer. It started back when I lived in San Francisco with a product they made called Fruit Water. What was amazing about fruit water was that it was so clean and smooth in its taste. It tasted mostly like water but had a lemon, watermelon, grape or peach hint (no reference here to that product:P). It DID NOT have a sugar taste at all. I loved to guzzle a bottle after a bike ride or sitting in the park on a warm day. My point is, I viewed it as water not a fruit drink.

When Vitamin water became VERY popular, part of which was due to their amazing CMO and marketing campaign, Fruit Water almost became extinct. I could no long find it in my supermarket. I spent months finding local distributors that still carried the 4 flavors of Fruit Water along side the almost 20 flavors of Vitamin Water.

Since that time I have moved back to NYC and, more or less, given up on my quest to find Fruit Water. Recently Glaceau has launched a new product called “10″ and it has officially stopped making Fruit Water. Now, I know we are all calorie conscious these days especially as those of us over 30 hear that metabolism grinding to a halt on a daily basis. I thought we could do a little comparison of these three products just for fun.

Let’s start with the facts.

Glaceau Fruit Water:

Ingredients:

Vapor distilled/deionized water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, natural flavor, electrolytes (calcium, lactate, magnesium lactate, monopotassium phosphate)

Nutrition Facts: Calories 20

Serving size: 8 fl oz (240 ml); Amount per serving: 2.5; Calories: 20; Total fat: 0g; Sodium: 0mg; Total carbohydrates: 5g; Sugar 5g; Protein: 0g

Glaceau Vitamin Water: Perform lemon-lime

Ingredients:

Vapor distilled/deionized water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, monopotassium phosphate (electrolyte), natural flavor, magnesium chloride (electrolyte), calcium chloride (electrolyte), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), gum acacia, potassium chloride (electrolyte), ester gum, niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), cyanocobalamin (B12), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), b-carotene (color)

Nutrition Facts: Calories 50

Serving size 8 fl oz; Servings per container: 2.5; Amount per serving: Calories: 50; Total fat: 0mg; Sodium: 0mg; Total carbohydrates: 13g; Sugars: 13g; Protein: 0g; Vitamin C: 40%; Calcium: 4%; Vitamin B3: 20%; Vitamin B6: 20%; Vitamin B12: 20%; Vitamin B5: 20%; Magnesium: 10%; Calcium: 100mg; Magnesium: 100mg; Potassium: 200mg

Glaceau Vitamin Water 10: multi-v lemonade

Ingredients:

reverse osmosis water, crystalline fructose, erythritol, citric acid, natural flavor, calcium lactate gluconate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), magnesium chloride, gum acacia, rebina, ester gum, zinc picolinate, vitamin E acetate, vitamin A palmitate, monopotassium phosphate, niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), cyanocobalamin (B12), folic acid

Nutrition Facts: Calories 10

Serving size 8 fl oz; Servings per container: 2.5; Amount per serving: Calories: 10; Total fat: 0mg; Sodium: 0mg; Total carbohydrates: 4g; Sugars: 3g; Protein: 0g; Vitamin A: 10%; Vitamin C: 40%; Calcium: 4%; Vitamin E: 10%; Vitamin B3: 20%; Vitamin B6: 10%; Folic Acid: 15%; Vitamin B12: 10%; Vitamin B5: 10%; Magnesium: 4%; Zinc: 10%;

Now let’s focus on the calories.

Fruit Water(FW) has 20 calories. Vitamin Water(VW) has 50 calories. Vitamin Water 10(VW10) has, well, 10 calories. Keep in mind that, of the three, Fruit Water is the only one that is a clear liquid. Psychology people! Let’s level the field here. To burn off a bottle of FW you would need to fold clothes for 15 minutes. To burn off a bottle of VW you would need to vacuum for 25min. To burn off a bottle of VW10 you would need to sweep for 5 minutes. My point here is that we all do enough in the course of a day to burn off any of these beverages. And my larger point is, with the calorie playing field leveled, what is so great about VW10? Couldn’t we have just kept the clear, hint of flavor Fruit Water I love so much? Alas, another one of my favorite products, along with my Levis flair leg jeans and Citre shine molding clay hair stuff, lays to rest in the mass production boneyard.