NY TRIP (PART 4) : FOODIE HEAVEN

At last, my final post about my trip to New York last month. If you’ve read the other posts, you’ll know my dear friend Adi took me on a little culinary adventure. For two days we ate and walked our way around Park Slope, Chelsea, the West Village and SoHo. We re-visited some of my favorite places, went grocery shopping and checked out the new High Line Park.

But the highlight of my week-long stay in the city was not only a great experience, but was an exceptionally unique and intimate experience. The restaurant is Degustation in the East Village. The layout, itself, is a unique concept – a gourmet spinoff of a Japanese sushi bar. As you can see, it is a pretty small space that only seats 19 with all the cooking being done in the middle by four chefs. There was a grill/fry station, sauté station and plating area. It is categorized as a tapas bar due to its small-plate-style. While some flavors and ingredients are definitely Spanish, I would sway more towards American cuisine.

We had the pleasure of sitting in the far left corner of the bar next to the plating area. And we took full advantage of eyeing every single plate that was assembled. They even let us replace one of the dishes on the 5-course tasting menu. The chefs were really nice and accommodated all of our questions. Correction, he accommodated all of MY questions! But it was so much fun watching the intense concentration, the artistry, the flow. If one vegetable was plated facing the wrong direction, it would have to be thrown out and re-plated anew facing the right way.

For me, this is what made the experience foodie heaven. It was being so close to the action. It was seeing exactly why they call it Culinary ARTS. Each plate was the artist’s blank canvas. His mise en place (all the prepped items) was his paint palette. Even if the food had not turned out to be amazing, I would have enjoyed this experience. It’s one thing to watch sushi chefs but a whole other thing to watch a chef make such delicate, thoughtful food. (That’s not meant as an insult to sushi chefs, especially since my brother is currently training to be one!)

The entire restaurant, as Adi put so eloquently, was like a “finely choreographed song and dance”. Every plate was timed perfectly. The moment you finished your dish, it was removed in the most nonintrusive manner. And voila your new dish was placed in front of you.  The waitstaff was very friendly and knowledgeable, and (at least when I was there) all the patrons seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

But now to the food. As I mentioned, we ordered the 5-course tasting menu but we also couldn’t resist trying the ham and apple croquettes. Croquetas are a classic Spanish tapa. It’s a small, lightly fried fritter and is usually made with ham (the Spaniards do love their ham!). It’s a wonderfully delicate little morsel of crispiness and creaminess. Having both studied abroad in Spain, Adi and I have had our fair share of croquettes. And I have to say that I never ever tire of them. How can you say no to something fried? Something creamy? Something with ham? The best croquettes are the ones that are almost fluffy and don’t leave you feeling greasy (like fried mozzarella sticks do). And Degustation’s version were perfect. The crunch, the explosion of flavor and gooey-ness. I could have eaten 50 more if anyone let me.

Ham & Apple Croquetas (one order came with 4)

Read Full Post »

NY TRIP (PART 3) : COMFORT FOODS CONT’D

I find it amusing that this is my third post (there will be one more) about my 7-day trip to New York. Clearly I eat a lot. I’ll admit I went a little overboard. This is what happens when you’re a foodie and you’re deprived of New York. Thank goodness for the good weather while I was there and all the walking to offset it.

As promised, I’m writing about the rest of the comfort foods I enjoyed on my trip. (Please see previous post for comments on comfort food, if you haven’t already) Almost all of the places in this post were favorites of mine when I was living in the city.  And I was absolutely delighted to find that nothing had changed. Quality, ambiance, staff – everything was exactly as I had remembered it. That’s something I adore about New York. When New Yorkers find a good thing, they make sure it sticks around for a long time. There’s a loyalty that seems to be inherent in the city. Once you find your favorite bar or favorite brunch place (what have you), you will be damn sure to go there as frequently as possible.

A quick note on the foods I’m about to share. They’re not in chronological order. And they’re in completely different categories of goodness. So please take each into consideration on its own. If you think about them all at once, the combination isn’t entirely pleasant. 🙂

First up – ZAITZEFF.

This place has great memories for me because it was literally around the corner from where I used to live in the Financial District. It was one of the first places I ate at when I moved to the city. And like all great neighborhood joints, I grew to have a really friendly rapport with the chef whose name I could never remember. Most importantly though, the food was TO-DIE-FOR.

Zaitzeff is a burger joint. It’s a hole in the wall with only a couple large wooden (park-bench-esk) tables. The one downtown seems to cater mainly to professionals who order delivery or only have time for take-out. But this means that the main focus is the quality of the food. Just take a look at what Serious Eats had to say (they agree with me).

This trip I wasn’t able to visit Zaitzeff at a respectable burger-eating-hour, so I went for breakfast. Don’t be mistaken. Their breakfast sandwiches sure beat any Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts sandwich any day. And their secret – what I have never had anywhere else – is the bun. A Portuguese roll. It’s like an English muffin but lighter and with a slight sweetness to it. I had a very simple egg and cheese sandwich but it was SO fluffy and really hit the spot. However, I left a little sad that I didn’t get a chance to have my favorite – the ½ pound Kobe burgers served PERFECTLY medium rare and juicy with caramelized onions, Vermont white cheddar, avocado, lettuce, tomato and bacon. But I borrowed one of the pictures from Serious Eats to share with all of you. I don’t want to go into too much detail about this burger since there’s much to talk about this post, but I do want to emphasize that in addition to the fantastic rolls this place uses grass-fed beef which makes the taste and quality of this burger THAT much better. So if you ever venture into the Financial District or East Village (this one’s open late), I highly recommend!

Read Full Post »

NY TRIP (PART 2) : COMFORT FOOD

Comfort food. It’s a term that everyone, anywhere in the world, is most likely familiar with. It even has a Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_food). Simply put, it is food that brings us comfort. It could be Mom’s home cooking, the local diner, the local curry house (for you Brits) or any food, whether it’s simple classics or gourmet cuisine, that brings you satisfaction even thinking about it.

By now you should know that I am a serious food lover. If you’ve seen Anthony Bourdain’s recent episode of No Reservations in Vietnam, you might have an understanding of how my Vietnamese heritage “forces” me to eat, want to eat, and talk about eating all the time. Unfortunately, it’s something I seen to be unable to suppress.

With that said, when I think back on my year in New York, I naturally think about the food I ate. Of course, most of the food memories involve really good times with friends – whether it was dinner at a new BYOB or a great Sunday brunch. If you didn’t know already, New Yorkers love their brunch. I don’t know if it’s the ability to drink so early in the morning or rather to continue drinking after a late night or if it’s the social aspect of catching up with friends in your precious free time.

Either way, one of my absolute favorite brunch places is Extra Virgin in the West Village. Granted this place usually has a pretty long wait on the weekend, I have never minded waiting. That’s probably because I kill the time by having one of their spicy Bloody Mary’s that will turn you into a Bloody Mary lover. If I recall a couple years ago, I didn’t really care for them until I had one here. It might be too spicy for some, but it gives a great amount of kick for me. But that’s not the reason I go back to this place. The real reason is the Gorgonzola fondue and fries. If you want to talk about comfort food, this super simple side dish makes me dream about New York. I have no idea why I love it so much. The sauce is just divine and the fries are fantastically thin and crispy. I kept bragging about it to my friend Adi who wasn’t really impressed until she tried it. It was a great reaction. First she commented on how the fries looked great. Then she dipped. Then her eyes opened wide and she moaned, a little. Needless to say we had to ask for more fondue to finish off the fries 🙂

Read Full Post »

NY TRIP (PART 1) : SUPERMARKET ENVY

Sunset on the Hudson with Adi

This past week or so, I made a much-anticipated return trip to New York to meet up with my boyfriend, many of my old friends from school and work, and even my good friend Bryce who drove down from Boston. Now because it’s me – all of my friends knew to prepare for a little drinking, a little dancing but most importantly a schedule organized entirely around where, when and with whom I would be eating. 🙂 

Over seven days, I walked all over NY, ate, drank and had great conversation with great friends. I don’t know how I’m really going to capture how wonderful (and long overdue) this trip was, but I’ll get there slowly. 

First up – supermarket envy. 

The first two days of my trip I spent with my dear friend Adi whom I’ve known now for almost 15 years (believe it or not). Adi is currently living in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn where I stayed with her the first two days of my trip. I’m embarrassed to say that in the year I lived in Manhattan (from ’06 to ’07), I only ventured into Brooklyn once and it wasn’t a memorable trip.  But this time I couldn’t believe what I saw – Park Slope is absolutely gorgeous! Of course, it didn’t hurt that the day I landed was the first day of great weather NY has had in awhile. I have to say, if I ever move back to NY, I might have to live in Park Slope! 

So – back to the point – Adi and I had a foodie-filled two days and one night from Park Slope to Chelsea to West Village. I’ll get to the eating bits in the next post. I wanted to start off with something Adi said only I would have – supermarket envy.

First stop – Union Market in Park Slope.   

The minute I walked into this place I gasped at the gorgeous display of fresh fruits ranging from the usual bananas and oranges to mini pineapple and plantains. I literally just turned my head to the left and another gasp came out when I saw that they sold heirloom tomatoes – big, giant ones. This was the first time I had ever seen them being sold before which probably doesn’t say very much about the super markets I go to. But nonetheless I was very impressed by their size and the variety of colors. There seemed to be a lot of mini-sized vegetables which I am always thrilled about (such as cauliflower and artichoke). 

   

 

Read Full Post »

Proof That I Can Eat Healthy Too

Little Saigon, Orange County, California

This past weekend, I took a quick weekend trip to the LA area with my parents to visit my sister. Of course, if we’re going to drive all the way from Phoenix, it’s expected that we’ll go out of the way to stop over in Little Saigon (also known as Westminster or Garden Grove in Orange County, CA). My siblings and I usually moan about this since it adds another two hours to the drive, but we’re never disappointed once we’re up to our elbows in Pho.

The first thing we had when we arrived in Little Saigon was Banh Cuon (Banh Cuon Tay Ho, 9242 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA). This is one of my all time favorite Vietnamese dishes to eat both at home and out at a restaurant. If you’ve ever had Chinese Dim Sum, it’s very similar. Basically, banh cuon is a rice crepe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_cu%E1%BB%91n). It’s pronounced by-ing coon? (there are accents that cause inflection similar to a question). Please remember I don’t speak Vietnamese, so this is my best attempt at trying to spell this out phonetically!

Banh Cuon

It can be served plain or rolled with a filling which may include ground pork, minced wood-ear mushrooms, onions and garlic. It’s normally served with a combination of bean sprouts, cucumber, cilantro, fried onions, and a Vietnamese pork sausage (which might be fried or steamed). The dipping sauce is a Vietnamese favorite, nuoc cham, which is sweet, sour, salty and spicy. The version shown here is also served with sweet potato tempura. Now some might be afraid of the sausage or maybe the description of the dipping sauce (which I have to confess is made with the well-known Vietnamese fish sauce, not much different from Thai fish sauce). However, if you’ve never had this, trust me you will love it. And you can ease your way into it by maybe taking out the sausage and only using a little bit of the sauce. Unfortunately, this dish isn’t something you’ll find at the main stream Vietnamese restaurants or any of those fusion places (at least in my experience). 

Read Full Post »

101 Chowdown Countdown

5-way chili

If you haven’t discovered this, then I highly recommend it. Tune in to watch the Travel Channel’s 101 Chowdown Countdown. They even used a new word “hungrify” as a warning of the incredible food they’re showing you. 

http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Chowdown_Countdown

This show is amazing, but I suggest watching it after you’ve even otherwise it will make you very very hungry. They show a great mixture of cuisines plus a balance between sweet and savory. Some of the food is a little over the top – like a pizza that weighs 30 lbs. or a burger on a donut instead of a bun (don’t forget the cheese and bacon to go with it).

Chinese egg roll, quesadilla, Cuban beans, and more..

The other great thing about it is that you’ll learn about places you’ve never heard of right in your backyard. I’ll be visiting the ‘Chino Bandido’ in Phoenix, AZ some time soon (http://www.chinobandido.com/). The owners are a mixed couple (Chinese and American) who grew up in Phoenix and have blended their at-home Chinese cuisine with the Mexican flavors that are inherent in Arizona. Very interesting.

Another place I have heard so much about but never got the chance to eat at is Sylvia’s in Harlem, NY (http://www.sylviassoulfood.com/). I heard Sundays are packed with all the folks coming in from church, so maybe go on a Sunday.

  They’ve been repeating a lot of the episodes, so I hope you get a chance to watch it! And even better get a chance to eat at some of these fantastic places.

Read Full Post »