Calamari Hot Dog at Casa Kun, Mexico City

Mexico City is thus far, one of my favorite cities in the world.  It has some precious architecture, both classical and modern, the temperatures are great, and the food.

Oh, the food.

Today’s pick comes to us from the Renacimiento neighborhood of the Mexican capital, close to the city’s main boulevard, Paseo de la Reforma.  After a mostly filling lunch of quesadillas, I was still hankering for a botana, or snack.

Randomly, I had passed by a restaurant called Casa Kun; on its menu was a dish of octopus prepared in peanut sauce.  I was not peckish enough for that, but given that the menu sounded delicious, I did a search online for meal recommendations.

That’s when I found out about the squid hot dog, or hot dog/jocho de calamar.

I’ve had my share of mystery meat hot dogs, and even an eel dog in Tokyo, so there was no way I could turn this one down.

Calamari Hot Dog, Casa Kun, Mexico City, Mexico

If you’re sensitive to “fishy” tastes, then the calamari hot dog would not offend you.  You are able to enjoy the flavor of the squid, the house-made mayonnaise, and the surprisingly tasty bun without any one flavor overpowering the others.  It was served with fried baby octopus, roasted potatoes with scallions, and chile de árbol salsa.

Want to watch me try the calamari hot dog for the first time?  Check out my YouTube.

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Address:
Río Amazonas 73, Col. Renacimiento,
Renacimiento, Cuauhtémoc, 06500
Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

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The Slinger (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)

Though I have only visited St. Louis a few times, I reckon it’s one of the underrated food destinations in the United States.  They’ve got delicious barbecue – and barbecue sauce, pork steaks (aka blade cuts), Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, gooey butter cake, toasted ravioli, and owing to the largest Bosnian population outside of that country, ćevapi (che-vapi, lamb sausage).

But there’s one local STL meal I only learned about this past weekend, the slinger.

The St. Louis Slinger, a Local Diner Specialty (taken at Courtesy Diner)

The slinger, likely created in a St. Louis diner in the 1970s, is a mountain of a meal.  A slinger – possibly named for a chef hastily “slinging” ingredients on the grill – normally has eggs any style, hash browns, chili, sausage or a hamburger, and raw onions.  With evolving taste buds, they now might include jalapenos (as mine did), cheese, a Mexican tamale, bacon, ham, and mustard, among other extras.

I tried a slinger at the Courtesy Diner, a small St. Louis-area chain, and felt that each aspect of the local dish balanced out every other.  After ordering one, I was remiss that I didn’t ask for cheese, but it turns out that cheese would have been that much more excessive.

YouTube: The Slinger.