Fall in New York

Highlights: Eleven Madison Park, Xian Famous Foods, Soba Nippon, Lucky Eight. 


Culture Espresso - chocolate chip cookie which was gooey at the beginning of October but suddenly become small and crispy by the end of the month. Rumor is that they changed bakers -- too bad!  A side note, there seems to be a fair number of Australian people running coffee shops in NY or perhaps I just happened upon a couple of them.

Taim - Great hummus, super light falafel, slightly smaller balls than what I'm used to nice flavor.   I prefer Azuri.                        

   
Joe's Shanghai   - Crab XLB a bit flatter taste than I remember and the skins seemed a bit loose (too big for the filling), but still very juicy.  We ordered the Shanghai flat noodles w/ pork -- they were greasy but the noodles had a nice spring to them, I'd get them again.

Just Sweets - I got the patbingsu and G got the bean something. The shave ice was really coarse, but the toppings were fine.                      

Artichoke - Sicilian slice, crunchy crust, nice tangy sauce.  This is a highly seasoned very oily slice crispy and almost fried on the bottom. Love the combination of the crunchy rich bottom and the fresh tomato flavor of their sauce.  The natural acidity of the tomatoes works well.          

Don's Bogam BBQ - Pork belly - just o.k. the PB was sliced too thick and into little pieces; Kalbi was good but again the pieces were too small; I liked the hamul soon dobu good balanced flavor, and the banchan were good though they were a little skimpy with them.  Overall good bbq.                               

Katz's Deli - Pastrami - too salty – disappointing should’ve gone to Torrisi instead.                

BCD Tofu House - Seafood Soon Dobu - overseasoned, but decent tofu.  Lots of clams in the stew, only one shrimp.   The same as the one in LA.              

Fatty Que @ Madison Park Tent - Beef Brisket Sandwich - pretty good brisket lots of fatty bits and nicely charred, though not as tender as I expected.                        

Shilla - Yue Kae Jang - really beefy broth and lots of meat, pretty good rendition - I'd get it again. KimChi was a little on the acidic side.                  

Momofuku Ssam Bar - Tripe and Special Pork Bun - tripe was good, a cold vinaigrette salad spiked with some chili peppers. The pork bun was a play on a blt, it was a pork belly patty crisped up on smokey mayo with pickled radishes on a pillowy white duck bun.  The bun was super soft but a bit too big for the fillings. Overall very good, this place has always impressed me.
                  

New Green Bo  -Crab XLB, pretty good, the skins are thicker than Joe's Shanghai, but there is more filling and the same amount of soup so it balances out.  The scallion pancake is just o.k. even though everyone seemed to be ordering that and the fried pork dumplings.
                  

Degustation - Had about eight items from the menu, just o.k. Food not particularly impressive, somewhat overseasoned and the textures of the octopus and squid were a bit tough.  Some items, such as the fish, were lukewarm temp. If they were intended to be so, they could’ve benefited from being hotter.  If not, there was an issue there.  Even L who travels to Spain frequently for work, thought that the meal at Degustation was middling at best.  I’m not sure if the place has gone downhill or I caught them on an off night.

Il Pesce - Eataly - Antipasti, excellent.  Monkfish Liver - huge piece well seasoned and seared sitting on top of celery root and cubes of apple in a sherry vinaigrette, topped w/ sweet little dabs of apple jam; King Crab Salad - huge portion super fresh, bitter greens, grapefruit, really nice topped off with large grains of sea salt.  

Bleeker Street Pizza - Not good. Crisp crust but dried out cheese and hardly any tomato sauce on my Nonna Slice.                          

Gahm Mi Ok - Sul Long Tang, nice and homey, rice at the bottom rather than on the side.  About the same as the one in Oakland.                             

Ma Peche - Lunch take out: Banh Mi Maison - very good pate and meats well balanced, good crunchy baguette. Squid salad was drenched in fish sauce, so salty and over marinated I could not eat it, not sure if it was because it sat in a container for 20 minutes but I would not get that again and am not in a rush to return to the place.  Peanut Butter cookie from Milk Bar not bad, a little sweet to my tastes but good texture and crumb.               

Wondee Siam 792 9th Ave - Thai dinner.  Nice dried pork salad, the rest was o.k. Out of the special menu, I liked the snapper and the crispy pork with chinese watercress.  Other dishes were a little too sweet for my tastes.                            

Popover Cafe    - Popeye Popover - popover w/ strawberry butter.  Then popover stuffed w/ Norwegian Salmon, creamed spinach fried eggs and hollandaise.  good holandaise, spinach way too thick and did not eat it.  Salmon fine.  I think I'd get the plain benedict next time.  Overall the food here is just o.k. and priced for the neighborhood rather than for the food.

Di Fara  - Arrived at opening, still waited forty mins for three slices. Prefer the square to the regular slice.

 

Aldea    - Had about half of the menu.  Each course got progressively worse, but overall the food was o.k., possibly overshadowed by our experience at EMP the night before, but still I have no desire to return.

General Greene - good coffee, mediocre eggs, grits, candied bacon (two huge pieces).  The people are nice and I guess that’s all you need to have a neighborhood restaurant.

The Meatball Shop - Really cheap for a sit down restaurant in NY, enjoyed the special of the day, buffalo chicken meatball in blue cheese sauce, good kick, tender meatballs nice flavor but perhaps more breadcrumb in the filling than necessary.  Chicken meatball w/mushroom sauce good sauce and the chicken was surprisingly flavorful.                      

Momofuku Noodle - Group fried chicken dinner.  Disappointing fried chicken, roasted rice cakes good nicely balanced sauce, all sides: cauliflower, potatoes, and something else were good, the Southern style chicken had an over fried exterior, dark brown, slightly bitter burnt taste and smell, though it was moist inside. Moo shoo pancakes and accompanying sauces fine.  The Korean style wings were fine, juicy crispy and spicy but not particularly special.  Stopped by Milk and had a taste of the black sesame soft serve, way too strong a flavor, no balance or subtlety.                         

Marea   - Nice lunch, some good dishes and some ok items.  Liked the lobster with burrata and passion fruit, and the grilled octopus (nice smokey flavor and tenderness), The uni spaghetti was just ok, the pasta was good but the sauce lacked punch, the branzino was very nice, a large juicy piece, the signature octopus fusili dish was just o.k. the fusili detracted a bit from the excellent octopus. Seafood risotto was nice but not particularly exciting.  We hear that Alto is better.               

Great NY Noodletown   - Excellent shrimp dumplings in soup, nice fresh shrimp flavor with wood ear mushroom and some little kick, seafood fried noodles good though I did not like the scallops in the seafood, they tasted like they had been injected with something artificial, roast duck was just o.k., greasy and lacking crispy skin, no suckling pig available, flowering chive with sea bass, good, nice herbacious chive with sea bass chunks, probably would get the flowering chive with squid next time.                     

Matsugen - Lunch of Soba noodles.  Three ways, one cold sesame in the coarsest grain, very good, Second cold uni mix with finest grain and a bit of cold jus - good though probably not worth the high price, nice pieces of uni.  Third hot soba in a duck broth, the coarsest grain, this wasn't a good showcase of the soba as the noodles couldn't stand up to the hot broth and became a bit too soft.  The prix fixe lunch is a good deal.

Jacques Torres  - Chocolate chip cookie.  This is basically chocolate wrapped in a bit of cookie.  The cookie from here was 10x better than the crispy overcooked one at Chelsea Market, someone needs to tell Jacques that he needs to do quality control at the market. 

Xian Famous Foods – Liang Pi is as good as I remember, chewy noodles with a spicy sauce, so good.  Lamb face is a specific flavor profile for those that enjoy fatty bits, this one had a lot of greens and then just a bit of the fatty lamb face.  I think could be better if the ratio of vegetables, face and spice was balanced out by less veg or  some noodles.  “A” loved it.  The meat in the lamb burger is has a fair amount of gristle.  I like lamb and lamb fat, but gristle isn’t my favorite. I wish they used more choice pieces of meat, though I like the seasoning.  Perhaps I’m getting spoiled from the cumin lamb at Mission Street Food.

Al di La - Tripe - excellent, cuttlefish w/ oxtail over polenta - creamy polenta but sauce was a little one note, though the textures were nice. Brussel sprouts still not my favorite veg, the preparation was ok, but nothing special; tagliatelle w/ ragu was just o.k. pasta was fine though sauce was really lacking, the other pasta was a little too chewy though the sauce was fine, whole fish was really good, liked the agrodolce sweet and sour flavors with the moist juicy fish, loved the crispy skin on the sliced duck.                         

Del Posto - Lobster fra diavolo - very good, roasted vegetables w/ truffle oil - nice, cotechino over lentils, just o.k. sort of spammish, beef tartare was excellent, Orechetti pasta - good porky sauce, Garganelle quills - also nice, both sauce and pasta excellent, Arctic Char - beautiful piece of fish perfectly cooked and presented, seafood stew - also good, but could've used some more spice, the seafood in it was excellent, wheat pasta with bonito flakes, weird dish. Desserts - tartufo of espresso - strong coffee flavor, some chocolatey dessert, their signature - great, goat cheese balls covered in something sweet and served w/ celery ice cream, some cake was just o.k.  This was a good showing, but the service was a little awkward at times.  I’d come again for lunch.                    

El Quinto Pino    - Uni Panini - excellent, more wasabi flavor than I was expecting, but still very satisfying. Cute place excellent service.   

Kun Jip  - Yue Kae Jang - o.k. Jjul Myun - not the best I've ever had, the noodles were a bit soft. Hae Mul Pajeon - soggy and greasy. Service very good and the place is clean and reasonably priced.  The people running are very friendly and aim to please.

Soba Nippon - Excellent soba, they own their own buckwheat farm in Canada and use it to make the soba, they have a lunch deal if you order before noon.  I tried the traditional cold soba.  Definitely worth returning, perhaps try one of the soba salads in the future.   

Kang Suh - Kalbi Tang a fine version.  The kimchi is pretty good the soup is what it should be. 

 

Porchetta - just o.k. the service at the spot on 6th is good, the guy at the Brooklyn Flea projects the sense that he is doing you a favor by selling you a sandwich. Attitude could be forgiven if the sandwich was better, unfortunately it’s not so you don’t get a good sandwich or service that would make me want to return.

Ayada - whole fish w/ mango more tart than sweet, raw shrimp thing, taro pudding, jungle curry not great.  Favorites were sour curry w/ the egg pancake, sausage, crispy pork w/ chinese broccoli, larb!!

Red Hook Lobster Pound - Great lobster roll, plenty of fresh lobster and a nicely toasted bun.  This is the way the roll should be made.             
 

Brooklyn Soda Co. – interesting homemade sodas.  I like the tart brightness of the cranberry spiced soda. I would definitely have more of their sodas if I see them at restaurants.
                          

Pizza Moto – at the Brooklyn Flea. Mushroom slice, very good not crispy but well balanced.                        

Lucky Eight - Crab good and huge, pride of lucky eight stir fry nice, beef ho fun wet very good.  I’d like to spend more time exploring Sunset Park.         

Chikalicious - green tea shave ice, the ice is very finely shaven, but all the azuki and ice cream amounts are inconsistent from visit to visit.

Momofuku Milk - pork bun, good though I prefer the daily special BLT style pork bun I had at Ssam.  The pork belly is a bit too thickly sliced but I like the good layer of fat included in each bun.                      

6th Street Kitchen - liked the curried carrot salad, the ceasar and the truffled deviled eggs. The rest of the menu didn't live up to the descriptions.  Though I could see potential in the place.  If they lowered prices or increased portion size, I’d return.

Motorino - lunch deal $12 for a salad plus a whole pizza! Spicy sopressata. Nice blistered cornicione puffed up. Thin though sturdy enough to hold up. Nicechew, though on the thinner crispier side.

Recipe - another lunch deal at this tony place only $12 for two courses. Decent foie gras terrine, though it was a little chilly like it was taken straight out of the fridge.  It would've been better served slightly below room temp.

Absolute Bagels - sesame w/ lox smear. Good bagel, not bready - decent chew.  I wouldn’t go out of my way but good if you are eating around Columbia.

Donatella -  Donatella pizza, Diavola pizza, uni spaghettini and salads.  Impressed with the pizza, very thin low collar Neapolitan style w/o the wet center. Crust is tasty and had a bit of char.  Straciatella very decadent and works well. Diavola is only for a real sopresatta lover chopped up into matchsticks so you get it on every bite. The crust is seasoned enough so the sausage takes the salt level over the top. Pepperoni lovers would definitely enjoy it though. The salads were good and they have a very reasonable wine list.  Sfoglia for dessert- nice candied quince accents.

Motorino compared to Donatella - Moto is more NY Neapolitan - crispier and with a higher cornicione, the dough is tasty though not was well seasoned as Donatella's.  D's crust is very well seasoned maybe a bit too much so for the spicy sausage preparation.  Not as much of a cornicione, but chewy despite its thinness.  Reminded me most of a traditional Neapolitan pie without the wet center.  As I recall Numero 28 has the traditional Neapolitan style with the softer center, I actually prefer the NY Neapolitan, but I want to return to No. 28 next time in town.  I like all three of these places and would be happy to return.

Brooklyn Fare – after failing to get a reservation for dinner, I was curious to see the store.  I was close by so I walked over.  It’s just a typical gourmet grocery store. Nothing special in the prepared foods section.  The staff is nice and friendly however the Intelligentsia coffee served in the cafe is a little watered down, good thing they also sell the beans.

Mile End - Classic Poutine and Stumptown coffee.  Poutine as good as last time. Nice chicken gravy and soft gooey cheese curds.  The whole thing is a bit of a gut buster, perfect to eat right before a long flight.  Very conducive to sleeping for hours without having to eat airline food. 

Kee's - bought some chocolates to take back to SF.  I had to stop myself from eating all of them.  This one is my favorite out the chocolate shops I've tried in NY. 

Hawaii

KCC FARMER'S MARKET

SLIDESHOW


Hawaii Eats March 2010



KCC Farmer's Market - bbq abalone, delicious abalone bbq'd on the half shell. One stand had - excellent kalua pork, smokey and moist without being over cooked and stringy. The vendor said that it was done traditional emu style (by burying it), it was definitely better than a lot of the KP I've tried.


Kaka'ako Kitchen - the shoyu chicken is the best, the mahi is fine, but the chicken is delicious.


Side Street Inn - the fried pork chop is delicious though fatty and I'm not sure it's worth the price tag, the spicy chicken is boneless pieces of skin on chicken fried and topped with a salty spicy sweet sauce - these are really lack luster, far too much breading and not enough meat and the sauce is not very good.

Wailoa Bakery - best shave ice, finely shaved until it becomes the texture of ice cream. The Azuki bowl and the green tea flavor are my favorites.


Million - the pork neck soup is delicious, not too spicy and full of flavor, the pan chan are good and the service is very friendly. I also loved the homey comforting beef brisket and tendon soup. The broth is a white pork bone based broth with a straightforward clean flavor. Good when punched up with a bit of salt and dunked in rice.


Leonard's - the li hing sugar malasada was new to me, I think between the original, cinnamon and li hing, the cinnamon is the best.

Hank's Haute Dogs - they had a Monday special of Italian Beef. I got it spicy, it was fine, the meat could've been less cooked, but they definitely got the jus and bread right. I also liked the hibiscus lemonade a nice acid punch to cut the richness of the sandwich.

Tanioka's - got the spicy ahi, spicy marlin and giant clam pokes.  The poke here is excellent.  This time I noticed the simple clean flavors in the spicy marlin.  My companion loved the giant clam poke and I agree that it's one to get again.  The spicy ahi was good, though perhaps over marinated because I felt the spices overwhelmed the ahi, it was just a bit too strong.

Champion Malasadas - these were really good and in just one visit, I prefer them to Leonards.  The plain sugar malasada had an eggy almost custard like tender interior while the custard filled malasada was more standard, though I appreciated the fact that the custard was tasty and not too sweet.


Shrimp Trucks

Romy's - exactly as I remembered it. Super juicy and fresh prawns are the thing to get, I got the garlic preparation which is o.k. if you like toasted garlic flavor, though I thought the spicy shoyu dip that accompanied it was a good counterpoint.  Next time, get the steamed prawns with cocktail or shoyu on the side.

Fumi's - they didn't actually have a shack the last time I was in the area. They have a lot of different preparations and they recommended the garlic prep.  The spicy shrimp looked firey red, a little too red, while there was also a butter garlic spicy which added garlic to the mix.  I went for that and was pleasantly surprised by the slightly tart garlic and red pepper sauce.  The shrimps were very fresh and I would come back.

Giovanni's - I remembered really loving the scampi sauce here.  This time, it was just o.k. I think what sets it apart is the cooked garlic.  The garlic is cooked so that it is soft and has that roasted garlic flavor, there also appears to be plenty of olive oil in the sauce.  I found it a bit rich so I squeezed plenty of lemon onto it and added the hot sauce.  The hot sauce is probably the best thing at Giovanni's, probably a combination of butter and red chili.  The shrimp themselves were the least impressive of the three places, but with such a powerful sauce you didn't taste much of the shrimp anyway.

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MISSION STREET FOOD ***'

There has been a fair amount written about Mission Street Food and it's Thursday (and Saturday) dinners. After several visits that were hit or miss, one thing became clear to me, the best nights have been those when Anthony Myint is cooking. Great flavor, textures and interesting often unconventional combinations of ingredients. The menus aren't bound by convention, as if the chef is treating the place as a laboratory to experiment. With much of the proceeds going to charity it could only be the labor of love for someone passionate about food. Something I wholeheartedly support.


I won't go into a play by play of everything I've liked but here are a few standouts from menus I saved:


Asian Pear Salad with watercress, chinese celery, chili oil, roasted peanut


Crispy Tofu with slow egg, sauteed greens, garlic-sesame glaze


Salt & Pepper Cod with guacamole, sweet corn, bacon, mustard greens


Aged Angus NY Strip Steak with goat cheese, seared cherry tomato and shishito peppers, and black bean demiglace


Peking Duck Flatbread: duck confit, duck cracklins, cucumber, cilantro, scallion and spicy hoisin


country-fried chicken livers with brussels spouts, buttermilk dressing


seared beef tongue with blackened grits, spicy mustard greens, pickled anchovy


trotter flatbread: ham hock rillette, cornichon, sauce gribiche, on a homemade flatbread

NYC Trip - Part II

Aburiya Kinnosuke, Jacques Torres, Little Owl, Clinton Street Baking, Kefi, Tai Pan Bakery, Caracas, Numero 28, Sushi Yasuda, OMS/B, Dousoeur de Paris, Amy's Bread, Ruby et Violette, Azuri, Kyotofu, Company, Peter Luger, Momofuku Ko lunch and dinner, Perilla, Extra Virgin, Bespoke Chocolates, Dessert Truck, Babbo, Artisanal, Szechuan Gourmet, Cho Dang Gol, Stone Home, Assi Market Food Court.


Aburiya Kinnosuke *** - Another suggestion by Grace. A solid isakaya place with a combo lunch better than your average bento. Housemade tofu soft, silky and fresh.



Jacques Torres ** - After J made the chocolate chip cookies from a Jacques Torres recipe, I was excited to try the original. Great chocolate chip cookies, though I thought that J's homemade version was better.

Little Owl ** - Good hearts of palm salad and juicy pork chop. Cute little place, though we get a lot of this style of food in SF.



Clinton Street Baking 0 - Disappointing. I'm not sure if we caught them on an off morning or maybe the second string crew, but the pancakes were very thick and cakey, my sunny side up egg whites were runny and the biscuit was dry. I would say that the food was ok bordering on bad.

Kefi ** - This place is felt like Manhattan's version of a huge suburban restaurant -- good for families, large, reasonably priced and loud enough to drown out the sound of screaming kids. With that said, a group of us had a good time here and everyone enjoyed their food. Delicious olive oil on the table, grassy and fruity -- good enough to make you fill up on bread before the meal. I particularly liked the Sheep's Milk Dumplings, Tomato, Pine Nuts, Spicy Lamb Sausage


and the Grilled Octopus starter.

The only miss was the meatball appetizer, it lacked texture and was overpowered by the sauce.

Tai Pan Bakery *** - Green Tea Custard Tarts.

Caracas ** - Venezuelan arepas. I wondered how these would differ from the Columbian arepas. They were stuff full of fillings like shredded beef, cheese, fried plantains. The arepa itself was a perfect wrapper for the fillings, toasted to a crisp and thin enough to let the fillings shine through.



Numero 28 *** Suggested by Carl. This pizza is the closest I've found to the pizza I ate in Naples. The pies I enjoyed in Naples were thin, had a minimal amount of toppings, a lightly blistered crust that was somewhat crispy on the outer edge, but a bit chewy and increasingly so toward the center of the pie. That pizza showcased its crust -- the tomato, bit of cheese and basil were more condiments than components. In my mind, it differs from the brick oven NY style pizza because it is not crispy and has far less cheese. Numero 28's is Naples style with more cheese. I think I prefer the crispier NY style, but I'd definitely come back to this place.



Sushi Yasuda **** - Omakase lunch here with two of my favorite eating companions. This is their top choice for sushi anywhere in the world and now I have to agree. Sat in front of Yasuda-San who was friendly, gracious and served up the best sushi I've ever had. His rice is delicious, each piece of sushi expertly made and perfectly proportioned to leave you wanting more. After I mentioned something about hot dog eating contests, he snapped to attention, a huge grin came across his face and he started laughing. He proceeded to crack himself (and us) up as he shared stories of other interesting shows: a sausage eating contest between a man and a grizzly bear, a long jump contest between an olympic long jumper and a frisbee dog, and a foot race between man and zebra. I love this guy. (I can only assume that Yasuda-San gets Japanese direct tv?) Thanks to J and A for an unforgettable birthday lunch.

OMS/B ** - Lunch take out shop. Rice balls, topped with good stuff. I'd grab something from here.



Dousoeur de Paris *** One of the reasons I'm not a pastry fan is that pastries are usually too sweet for my tastes. Dousoeur de Paris stands out by producing beautiful, flavorful and well balanced french pastries. Yay! I knew it could be done. My friends felt the items could have been sweeter, but I was happy. This would be my top pick for pastry for myself or for a gift. Too bad there's no space in the shop to sit and enjoy their offerings.

Amy's Bread - My dessert loving friends with sweet tooths love the cake here. I have to trust them on this because it was too sweet for me.

Ruby et Violette - Cute little cookie shop. I liked the butter pecan cookie.

Azuri *** delicious falafel pita. Fresh crispy falafel, soft pita, smooth hummus. Crunchy, nutty, spicy, creamy, tangy --good.



Kyotofu ** - Nothing to say about the non dessert food here, but the black sesame sweet tofu with hoji cha green tea syrup was worth the stop.


Company * - The pizza here is ok. The crust is California style, that is, medium thickness, a bit more on the bready side and overloaded with toppings. I can see other folks liking it. The menu reminded me of Mozza in LA, but the food is nowhere near as good.


Peter Luger *** I've never had the steak here. We went to the Brooklyn restaurant for a hamburger lunch on a Sunday. Grace's comments. The burger was around $10 and yes, make a reservation.

Momofuku Ko **** The lunch and dinner have somewhat blended together in my mind (though they are different), but this is the best place I've eaten in years. Definitely go for either lunch or dinner. The pairings are a must, they have an excellent sommalier. In addition to the 10 a.m. reservation attempt, you can check randomly during the day and might happen upon a cancellation. [Details coming soon on a separate post.]


Perilla ** - To be fair, we ate a late night dinner here after having the epic Momofuku lunch. That was an impossible act to follow. With that in mind, the food here was fine except the edamame falafel, which were just completely wrong in texture and taste. The standout was the duck. I'd be happy to return to give it a fair shake.

Extra Virgin * - Warm pistachio crusted goat cheese salad with roasted beats and a very standard eggs benedict. I wish their bloody mary's were better. Ross's baked eggs looked better than my benedict. Good neighborhood people watching spot. I'd return for a lazy breakfast, if I lived close by.



Bespoke Chocolates **** - Pretzel covered sea salt caramels, peanut butter chocolates.



Babbo *** - Cannot remember the names of all the dishes: beef cheek ravioli, mint love letters, farro in a beet sauce, Florentine tripe, greens, sweet potato lunes, porchetta/suckling pig. Good sommalier. My favorite were the lamb's brain francobolli and the lamb's tongue. We also had three desserts all of which were devoured immediately because they were so delicious. Overall the entrees were good, but the desserts absolutely stole the show.


Dessert Truck *** - Warm molten chocolate cake with olive oil ganache hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream; Chocolate bread pudding with vanilla sauce. Still a bit sweet for my tastes, but enough salt to balance out the sweet chocolate.



Artisanal ** - Cheese flights. Unusual Ones: Ibores (goat, Spain), Amarelo da beira baiza (goat/sheep, Portugal), Caerphilly Gorwydd (cow, Wales), Pairings: Guner Veltliner domaine wachau 07, Vovray Argilex Gautier Loire 06, Dolcetto d'alba ada nada Piedmont 07. Fromager's Select: Monte Enebro (goat, Spain), Pierre Robert (cow, France), Epoisses (cow, France), Pairings: Sancerre domaine la croix Loire 08, Chenin blanc mulderbosch South Africa 08, Tempranillo 'crianza' abando rioja 04. Italian Heritage: Robiola rochetta (sheep/cow), Fontima d'aosta (cow), Gorganzola cremificato (cow), Pairings: Soave 'vigneti de monteforte' santi Veneto 07, Chianti colli senesi tricciano Tuscany 07, Aglianico "donnakuna" de conciliis Salerno 06.

Szechuan Gourmet ** - Nice mapo tofu, dumplings, noodles. Not so sure about the eel hot pot, but would definitely return to try more of the menu.



Cho Dang Gol ** Tofu Doru Chige, huge enough that even Ross could not finish it! Nice panchan and fresh tofu, really enjoyed the mixed rice.


Stone Home Wine Bar *** - This is a cute little wine bar in Fort Greene. Nice flights of wine and the right food to accompany it. Good place for an evening of conversation with friends.

Assi Market Food Court * - I was meeting someone for lunch in Flushing. They parked here, so we went in. Assi is a Korean supermarket, with a hot food section in the back. It's too small to be a food court and there are only two counters. One for prepared foods and another for ordering soups and stews.

There were a few Korean families eating on the little stools there, but I'm not sure what the turnover rate is in terms of food freshness, so I stayed away from the prepared sashimi. The kalbi tang was fine.


Chickalicious Dessert Club ** - a take out place across from Chickalicious Dessert Bar. It was so hot we ate two of these green tea shave ice. It's finer than the one in the Flushing Mall, but more coarse than the ones in Oahu. The green tea was full flavored and I liked the azuki beans and ice cream -- perfect for a hot day.


Previous Post: NYC Trip Part I
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Key:
**** - Highly Recommended
*** - Recommended
** - Would Return
* - OK
0 - Would Not Return

MOMOFUKU KO ****

After reading all the hullabaloo about the difficulty in getting a reservation, I was blessed with the good fortune of securing two reservations at the restaurant. One for dinner and the other for lunch. The dinner is ten courses, while lunch is seventeen. I figured that I would determine whether lunch was worthwhile after sampling dinner. After the second course of dinner, I turned to Grace and said I'll be back for lunch. She laughed and agreed that it was a wise decision (her judgment was still sound at that point because we had not become completely buzzed by the wine pairings).

The foie gras dish was incredible. Lychee and brittle played into it perfectly. The fried short rib was o.k. sous vide made it tender and the seasoning was perfect. It was just too far into the meal for me to enjoy it well. Ramps, which seem to be one of Chang's favorite components, counterbalanced the richness of the meat. The reisling gelee worked with the lychee. I think the only miss was the dashi dish with snap peas topped with some crab or fish, the raw taste of snap peas overpowered the dish, but I happily slurped up the dashi surrounding it. My overall impression was this was one of the best meals and certainly the most memorable evening I'd had in a very long time. But full disclosure, I was dining with one of my favorite eating partners and we did enjoy each and everyone of the generous pours on our wine pairings. So whether it was the artistry of the chefs, the brilliance of the pairings, the wit of my drunken dining companion -- I don't know. We left the restaurant very buzzed, myself on the food and Grace on the wine. It was good enough that I was thinking about it the next day and didn't really want to eat anything so as to hold on to my last food memory. In a sense a food hangover of the highest degree. 5 *highly recommended

Some dishes from lunch (cribbed from a blogger)

Chicharrone with togarashi

Black pepper and mirin bisquit- It was at this point I decided I would return for dinner.

Monkfish sashimi with poppy seeds and buttermilk - this one didn't stand out compared to the rest of the dishes.

Sliced diver scallops with uni and apple.

Hand torn pasta w snail sausage and pecorino cheese topped with crispy fried chicken skin-excellent. Grace loved this one.

Shaved foie gras over lichee and reisling jelly and pine nut brittle-My fave. I could eat this all day, but I think it would be my last day on earth as I'd probably collapse from clogged arteries.

Ko Lunch

This was an afternoon long adventure of food, our menu leaned toward the Japanese but it was a mashup of ingredients from different types of cuisine, a melting pot of techniques and styles -- truly American food. The succession of dishes was so well orchestrated into a coherent composition that it's difficult for me to pull out specific dishes as outstanding. I was just left with an overall feeling that everything was outrageously delicious. And, even though the menu used every color on the palette and every tool in the toolbox to fully harness the properties of each product, it did not feel like a gimmick. Perfect balance of salty, sweet, spicy, tart, bitter, and umami.

A's Record of the lunch menu:

Asparagus with black garlic miso reduction, paired with a pomme "soufflé" (a potato wafer cylinder, about as thick as a potato chip, filled with crème fraiche and hackleback caviar

Village Bay oyster with hackleback caviar and lime

Kampachi with white soy sauce and meyer lemon

Long Island fluke with matsuba shoots, 2-year aged soy sauce, radish and banchujang (sp?) sauce (a Korean chili sauce)
Julienned diver scallops with meyer lemon, watermelon radish, freeze-dried soy sauce and meyer lemon zest; while everything had been good so far, this was the first "Wow" dish for me, it was like one of Yasuda's scallop with yuzu and sea salt preparations but with the added texture of the freeze-dried soy sauce; from here on, it was at a different level

Santa Barbara uni with yuba, horseradish and puffed black rice

Tempura soft-shell crab hand roll, with cumin mayo and XO sauce

Octopus carpaccio with sea beans, espelette aioli and buckwheat croquette (more of a crouton, actually)
Puffed egg in bacon dashi broth, paired with a bacon and cream cheese "bagel" (more like a beignet)

House-made tofu with morels in bacon broth and pea soup

Turbot in cherry blossom broth with hearts of palm, matsuba and hackleback caviar

Rabbit liver and leg cannelloni in braised rabbit sauce and fennel

Freeze-dried and shaved foie gras with lychees, pine nut brittle and riesling gelee; this dish is the one constant on their menu, and justifiably so; one diner asked if she could lick the bowl after she finished

Long Island duck, with duck sausage stuffed inside the skin and then cooked, accompanied with grilled ramps and rice, in a vaudovan-cassis sauce

Singing Brook (sheep's milk, TN) and Humboldt Fog cheeses, with smoked cantaloupe jam (incredible), sweet and sour red onions and pork fat brioche

Apple cider sorbet on toasted marshmallow, graham cracker ganache and ginger crumbs; this was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the day, a perfectly placed refreshing course

Parsnip ice cream with grapefruit, hazelnut nougat and fudge sauce

The first time I entered the restaurant I thought that this is an unassuming restaurant with its simple spare decor, really just a kitchen with seating space. I was completely wrong. This place, and perhaps its owner, is the epitome of confidence - so confident in fact that there is no need to do anything other than to wow people with food. No need to talk, no need to look at fancy paintings on the wall, just sit and let them feed you -- that's all.

p.s. I love that the art in the bathroom is a bookshelf of cookbooks and a large photo of a Japanese teppanyaki chef with a wild smile. I would call it whimsical, but it isn't actually attempting to be. It's just an expression of the decorator's personality, whom I assume is David Chang.

LOLO***

Several weeks ago, dinner at Lolo. First off, extremely friendly staff some of whom hail from from Guadalajara the original home of the proprietors. The menu is a mix of the favorites from the couple's restaurant in Mexico with some influence from their Turkish co-owner. The menu is indeed eclectic with everything ranging from heirloom tomatoes with feta, kalamatas and oregano, to pistachio encrusted salmon with wasabi cream sauce to beef tongue with roasted poblano curry.

We started with the panko encrusted shrimp wrapped in jicama with chipotle aioli. The jicama was thinly sliced and served as the tortilla wrapper for the shrimp, the seasoning of the shrimp and the chipotle aioli were right on, but the shrimp were on the small side so they were overwhelmed by the fried outer shell. Not a lot of shrimp flavor, but still very tasty.



Next came my two favorite dishes of the evening. The Octopus Tiradito and the Huitlacoche Dumplings. The octopus was thinly sliced and topped with lime, red pepper powder and a squirt of chipotle aioli. The octopus was fresh and had a nice bite to it. We put the thin slices on bread like carpaccio and devoured the whole thing in about two minutes.



The huitlacoche is something that I had never tried before and was described to me as a corn truffle or mushroom growing on corn. Pronounced 'kweet-lah-coh-chay', it is essentially a fungus or smut that infects corn. The dumpling wrappers were thin and allowed the huitlacoche paste to shine through. It was a smokey savory flavor, so delicious.



For entrees we sampled the flank steak with peach and strawberry mole, braised beef tongue with roasted poblano curry, and pistachio encrusted salmon with wasabi cream sauce. The steak was properly cooked and the accompanying peach and strawberry mole dipping sauce was savory, not sweet as we had expected. The sauce was unique enough to make me order this even though I normally enjoy steak at home.



The only miss was the braised beef tongue. The meat was tender and cooked well, but the poblano curry had a Japanese curry flavor and didn't match well with the tongue.




The pistachio encrusted salmon was also very Japanese, the crust was light and crispy and the salmon just lightly rare on a pool of teriyaki style sauce. The texture of the crust with the pistachios and the creamy wasabi sauce worked well. This is one I would definitely order next time.



22nd near Mission