Primanti Brothers – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Double stuffed, mile high sandwiches made with love for the last 79 years. Get there.

About ‘Wich Hunting: Anthony and I have travelled the world eating everything from Balut in the Philippines to blood sausage in Argentina. In every destination there has always been a sandwich shop. Some were good and some were bad but they all had their unique take on this ubiquitous meal. The origin of the sandwich is highly debated and we’ll dive into that on our journey as we discover, taste and debate the best sandwiches in the world.

Pelmeni – Juneau Alaska from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 128 | Post-meal (1 hour): 123 | Insulin: 5 Units

My last day in Juneau I took a canoe to the Mendenhall Glacier. We were paddling for a while to get to the glacier and I worked up an appetite. Usually when I am really hungry I want the perfect meal. The perfect meal would be something delicious that will fill me up and doesn’t cost too much. I decided to get my last hit at Tracy’s King Crab Shack. I have to say that is my favorite place to go in Juneau to eat. However, it may be delicious but it didn’t fill me up. I walked by a crepe stand and saw a cheeseburger crepe on the menu. That sounded interesting and I would have liked to try it but they closed by the time that I decided to get it.

My search went on as I walked around town. It was getting late in Juneau. Most restaurants close around 8:30 – 9:00 and it was pushing 8:45. I needed a quick hit that was cheap. I just spent money and I was hungry still but just for a little something more. I remembered something unique I passed by a few weeks ago. It was small and cheap and would be perfect. I just didn’t know if it would be open. Pelmeni is a Russian dumpling house that apparently stays open late because of the bar, The Hanger, that is right next to it. So I got myself some dumplings with the works. Check out the video.

Vera’s Burger Shack, Vancouver from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 108 | Post-meal (1 hour): 176 | Insulin: 5 Units

The Burgers I have experienced in Vancouver have horrible but after talking to a few locals they confirmed my choices of burgers. My friend from the ship that lives in Vancouver directed me to Vera’s Burger Shack. It just happens to be in a short walking distance from the ship. To my surprise it was located in the heart of Vancouver’s Jazz Feast. Check out the video on how it all went down.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 65 | Post-meal (1 hour): 106 | Insulin: 4 Units

This Blog is rated X and so is the restaurant I went to in Vancouver.

My buddy Sean Bell got off a ship in Vancouver about a week ago and has been vacationing in Vancouver ever since. Sean has been to Vancouver many times and wanted to meet up for brunch. He has been to a restaurant called The Elbow Room Café on Davie St. and loves the food there. That is all he mentioned to me was the good food, he didn’t mention the type of X-rated service we were going to get with the food.

The Elbow Room Café is owned by Patrick and Brian and has seen it’s fair share of celebrities walk in and out of their café. Some of the food is named after them, like the Tom Select Burger. Brian is the low spoken owner and Partick is the loud and extremely entertaining owner. Davie Street is considered the gay district in Vancouver. These two owners have been partners for years and the things that come out of their mouth are hysterically entertaining. Patrick especially! Patrick greeted Sean and I at the door by saying “Hi Ladies, just the two of you?” After we sat for a couple minutes he took our order “What can I get you ladies?” I need a couple minutes to soak this in. I had not even looked at the menu yet. From there it got worse. Everything had a sexual innuendo to it. It kept me smiling and laughing the entire meal hearing how he would talk to the other tables. This place is great fun and very X-rated. Just check their website.

Sean and I looked at the menu and decided to share the banana nut bread French toast with strawberries and the breakfast burrito. We were not sure if it would be enough food so I asked Patrick how big the burrito was and he said, “It’s the biggest thing you will ever put in your mouth honey!” Sean told him I was a straight man and Patrick started to say more dirty things to me. It was cracking me up. He even insulted my man hood. It was all in fun and quite an amazing café with a flair for the verbally XXX.

Breakfast Burrito, yes it was big and came with a bowl of tiny potatoes

Banana Nut Bread French Toast (Uncle Bri you have to try this with your banana nut bread)

One of the policies of The Elbow Room Café is if you don’t clean your plate then you need to make a donation to A Loving Spoonful. A Loving Spoonful is a volunteer-driven, non-partisan Society that provides free, nutritious meals to people living with HIV/AIDS in Greater Vancouver. We made a little donation with our meal but lets just say I leaned my plate….Sean.

Here is a picture of Patrick, Sean and myself. If you look at Patrick and my face you may be able to see what is happening at that moment. Yes, Patrick is feeling my butt.

Patrick, Brian and Sean, thanks for the fun and great food.

Juneau, Tracy’s Crab Shack from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 111 | Post-meal (1 hour): 124 | Insulin: 4 Units

Tracy’s King Crab Shack is in a word fantastic. My friend Jason has been telling me about the shack for 2 weeks. He said you have not had king crab until you go to Tracy’s. This has been by far the best place I have come to in Alaska. I wish I was able to meet Tracy but she was on her way to Newport Road Island to submit her chowder into a competition. Let me tell you, she may win. I’ll let the video do the talking.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 95 | Post-meal (1 hour): 135 | Insulin: 5 Units

Vancouver is my homeport while I am in Alaska. However, I usually do not have time to get out because I have to work from 12- 3 and then we sail about 2 hours later. Last week for some reason I didn’t have to work until 4 so I got a chance to go out and get some grub.

A friend of mine had raved about the food at Earls Restaurant. It’s a swanky place with an indoor and out door area. One thing I noticed about the staff was there were all good-looking people there, and that was just lunch. We met up with a local friend and she said the nightlife staff is even more decked out and good looking. Now the test was to find out if the food was good too or is this place all about the good looking staff.

There were four of us and we all decided to order family style and get a bunch of different things and share. I ordered the chicken curry as seen above. Indian food is one of the things I miss out on eating and living on the ship. The other dishes were chicken wings, pizza, and a noodle dish. I would have to say my chicken curry won the prize. Everything was good but nothing really hit my taste buds but the curry.

Juneau, Wok & Teriyaki from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 111 | Post-meal (1 hour): 163 | Insulin: 6 Units

It had been a long time since I have had sushi that was good. The Ship sushi is not the best. I don’t usually have that much sushi because it’s a lot of rice for me. However, once in a while it hits the spot. We have a late port in Juneau and I decided to get some sushi at Kenny’s Wok & Teriyaki before meeting my friends over at the Viking. The Viking is the local pub most crew go to to let loose for a little while before heading back to the ship. I loved both places.

Kenny’s Wok & Teriyaki
26 Front Street
Juneau, AK 99801-1226
(907) 586-3575

Viking Lounge & Pull Tabs‎
218 Front Street
Juneau, AK 99801-1228
(907) 586-2159‎

Liarsville, Skagway from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 121 | Post-meal (1 hour): 124 | Insulin: 4 Units

I escorted an excursion with the guests to Klondike summit and walked across a suspension bridge. It was a cloudy day but we could still see the white-capped mountains in the distance. The suspension bridge was over a river that was rushing with freezing water. All the snow is starting to melt up here in Alaska causing the rush of water and tons of waterfalls around the Klondike area. It was a cold day but the views were spectacular. We had to cross over to Canada to get to the summit.

After taking loads of pictures it was dinnertime and we headed back to America to Liarsville. We were getting a salmon bake dinner made for us. However, they should have called it a chicken dinner because the chicken was the best thing I ate. It was really tender and the breading was delicious. The sauce for the salmon was good and sweet and helped out the salmon. I thought there was going to be a bunch of salmon dishes besides a piece of salmon with sauce on it. It was probably for the best anyway because I am not the biggest salmon fan.

I did have a good time on the tour.

Crepes in Curacao from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 110 | Post-meal (1 hour): 78 | Insulin: 4 Units

I made it to Curacao and wanted to walk around town and see what was cooking. However, it was Easter Sunday and there was nothing open in town. One place I found was a Crepes place. I don’t eat crepes that often but really enjoyed these. I sat outside under some palm trees with a nice breeze while I ate my crepe with some friends. It was that picture perfect lunch setting. Doesn’t get better than that, food, friends and relaxation.

Casa Tua – Aruba from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 119 | Post-meal (1 hour): 95 | Insulin: 5 Units

My first time getting off the ship since I arrived was Aruba. We were there from the afternoon to late night so it gave me some time to go to the beach and get some dinner.

The beach was nice and the water was warm. The beach we stayed at for the day was behind Hotel Riu and the Westin. I did a little tanning with some friends before headed back to the ship to get ready for dinner. We ended up going to an Italian/Spanish Restaurant called Casa Tua. Casa Tua has 3 different restaurants, Pizzeria, Barcelona, and Mediterranean. We went to the Pizzeria. It was good, as you will see in the video. We had a table for 12 and we were celebrating a birthday, however the birthday boy left before he got his special flaming birthday dessert. We took care of that for him.