Francois Payard Bakery-NYC

Francois Payard Bakery

116 W Houston St

New York, NY 10012

As Seen On

-Throwdown

-Unique Sweets

Francois Payard is a household name for most bakers. I've seen him, on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, making his holiday Buche De Noel chocolate/cake log. But what actually got me to go to his bakery was the French macaroon icecream sandwich. Even though French macaroons have taken Manhattan by storm, most people upstate have no idea what it is. They have really no relation to their coconut counterparts. Light airy crunchy disks made from almond flower filled with different jellies and creams. Most recognizable by their rediculious colors. Well this is 2 huge squares of macaroon filled with intensely flavor housemade icecream. They offer pistachio/raspberry, coconut/mango, strawberry/cheesecake, or chocolate. I opted for pistachio rasp and it was amazing. A must try. The flavors in the icecream where so intense and the outer macaroon was crunchy. If they were closer I'd be in trouble. My wife is super jealous she didn't get to try one. Cant wait to bring her here. 

Dominique Ansel Bakery-NYC

Dominique Ansel Bakery

189 Spring St.

New York, NY 10012

As Seen On

-Unique Sweets

-1st Look

The elusive Cro-Nut. How I must eat you. Well I got there at 9am and they were long gone. Dominique Ansel has recently sky rocketed to fame for inventing a pastry not quite a croissant and not quite a doughnut. The trade marked Cronut is sweeping the country by storm with cronut specific bakeries popping up all over the place. Sometimes they are called Cro-dos because they aren't legally allowed to call them Cronuts. Anyways people line up at 6am, 2hrs before the bakery opens, just to score a bite. They are sold out within an hr. So when I strolled in I had no chance. I tried a few other pastries which were perfection like the DKA, cannele, and almond croissant. If you can't score a Cronut get a DKA I heard it's better anyways.

Cronut (not my pic)

Berky's-VA

Berky's

2516 Rt11 N

Lexington, VA 24450

As Seen On

-Truck Stop Paradise

I visited Berky's 24hr buffet about ten yrs ago while visiting some friends in VA. Just recently, they were on the travel channel so I knew the next time I visited my friends I had to stop back. Berky's is located inside the Lee Hi truck plaza. If you have never been to a teal truck stop it is worth the experience. This place is huge! They offer truckers showers, laundry, barber, beds, if you need it they got it. We were here for the breakfast buffet before we hit rt81.  Cool collection of old metal pedal cars and decor. Good comfort food. Lots of fruit, pancakes, french toast, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, etc. Next time I'm in VA I'm going back. Give it a try when on 81 in VA......also it was clean and the service was excellent!

Buford Highway Farmers Market-GA

Buford Highway Farmers Market

5600 Buford Highway NE

Doraville, GA 30340

As seen on

-The Layover

Not only is the Buford Highway Farmers Market the best grocery store in Atlanta, this the the best grocery store in the country. Absolutely mind numbing selection and variety. This store is bigger then my Walmart and this place doesn't sell clothes or toys or carparts. BHFM has a crazy huge variety of fresh fruits and vegetables from all corners of the globe. If it grows on trees, bushes, or underground, they probably have it.

Pretty much every type of culture, from all over, has representation along the aisles and fresh-prep counters of this store. This place absolutely kills it where variety is concerned. It's pretty much unbeatable for selection.

I went on the weekend and it was crazy busy, but I never felt like I was being slowed down by the crowds because the place is so huge inside that it comfortably fit the hundreds of folks who were shopping there.

I will definitely go back, it's like a kid in a candy store. A much better attraction then Cokeworld or maybe even the Aquarium. It's totally worth going out of your way. If you want to go on a culinary adventure, or are looking for something hard-to-find, Buford Highway Farmers Market is the ticket.

Largest fish selection I've ever seen

Produce for miles

5 types of chicharones 

Made with real Tiger Bone

Several types of made to order dumplings

Fuzzy Squash

Bull Dong

Some balls

Sugar Cane

Like 20kinds of fresh peppers 

Fresh tortillas from scratch

Live eel

Sublime Doughnuts-GA

Sublime Doughnuts

535 Tenth St NW

Atlanta, GA 30318

As seen on

-Doughnut Showdown 

I did some research and time and time again, everyone was saying Sublime makes the best doughnuts in Atlanta. Well I learned a valuable lesson here. Don't expect good doughnuts, bagels, or pizza in the south. I mean these were almost down right bad. Their speciality, which has fresh strawberries and cream in the middle of a powdered doughnut cut in half, was very good. I got a dozen different and the 11 other doughnuts were LAME. Peanut butter, oj cream sickle, Nutella, sweet potato, s'mores, red velvet all mediocre. They bottle their own ice coffee which was pretty cool. The reuse glass bottles and put a cork in the top. It was a cool hip spot but the doughnuts could not compete with NYC sorry Sublime. 

Mary Mac's Tea Room-GA

Mary Mac's Tea Room

224 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE

Atlanta, Ga 30308

As seen on

-Food Paradise

-Bizarre Foods 

• The food, amazing. Absolutely amazing. I ordered the fried chicken w/ cornbread dressing & gravy, mac & cheese, green beans and collard greens, fried green tomatoes, cracklin cornbread and I ate every last drop. Did you read that correctly? Indeed, you did. This place has about 20 sides and each meal comes with 2. The hardest part is picking. They do have an all you can eat family style for about $30 a person. They just keep bringing out platters. 

  
  

  Mary Mac's might be the most famous southern food establishment in all of Atlanta. Nearly 75yrs old feeding tourists all the classics and this place is huge. They can serve hundreds at a time. Also don't forget the lady they have going around giving back rubs while you eat. That's right get a back rub while you're chewing on some shrimp and grits lol. What a great night for my family. I almost forgot the peach cobbler. Probably what they are most famous for. Worth the trip alone I swear!