Archive for the ‘Eating Adventures’ Category

Foodie: A Night of Food and Wine

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

On the list of underrated social activities, dinner parties rank right up there with bowling, mini-golf and a game night of “Scene It” and “Taboo”.  Sometimes taken for granted, always a good time.  When you combine the great qualities of a dinner party — enjoyable conversation, meeting new people, intimate setting — with the fine dining experience of a restaurant, what you get is foodie.

Here’s the description from the website:

foodie is a bi-monthly six-course food and wine tasting event based in New York City.  Fifty passionate food and wine lovers come together in an elegant loft space to share a unique dining experience with friends or people with similar interests.

Always up for a unique dining experience, Moki and I checked out a foodie event on a recent Friday.  Not surprisingly, we had a great time.  The loft space was certainly elegant.  

The night started with a pre-dinner glass of wine. Then we found our name cards at the tables and sat down for the meal.

No one told me I’d be sitting at the “cool eyeglasses” table. Moki and Leah were engaged in deep discussion.

The chef and founder of foodie, Joe DeSalazar, announced the theme for the night’s menu — “French techniques using Asian ingredients.”  There would be five courses, each paired with a different wine.  Here’s a pic of the menu.

First up, Asian Nicoise, a play on Tuna Nicoise.  Instead of lettuce, the dish included mizuna, a mild Japanese green. 

Kimchi Bouillabaisse with crispy rice.  Kimchi can be overwhelming, but it was used sparingly here, its flavors balanced nicely with the seafood and broth.  

Swordfish Au Poivre, replacing the traditional strip steak with a delicate and crusty piece of peppercorned swordfish.  Moki and I commented that the dishes were getting progressively better and better, a key for a multi-course meal — you want to save your best for last.  I was also busy inspecting the plating of each dish, since plating is something I’m trying to improve in my own cooking.  

(Keep in mind, each course was also accompanied by a glass of wine [with refills].  I was starting to feel very, very happy.)

The fourth course was a powerhouse, cutely called, “Cassoulet… Sort of.”   The green of the edamame was a nice visual contrast with the white beans, and the edamame were expertly cooked, popping in the mouth upon each bite.   We all ooh’d and aah’d about the tender duck and deliciously salty piece of braised pork belly.  This was good eating.  Did the server just pour me another glass of wine?

Spiced pear with sweet cashews and cilantro ice cream.  You know how the chefs on Iron Chef America always use the secret ingredient in a dessert, and it turns into a bizarre concoction like sea urchin custard or something?  Cilantro ice cream isn’t quite as bizarre, but when I first saw it on the menu, I did think, “That’s unusual.”  

After eating it, I may put cilantro in all my ice cream; it was outrageously good.  You wouldn’t think the sweetness of ice cream and the pungency of cilantro go together, but somehow they do.  It’s like the cilantro blunts the sweetness and turns it into something remarkably refreshing. 

After dinner, Joe visited each table to speak with the guests and discuss the meal, a classy personal touch that added to the intimate feel of the night.

Moki and I enjoyed ourselves immensely, although we thought there was room for small improvements.

First, I’m not sure about the assigned seating.  Part of the charm of these events is meeting new people, so I’m thinking guests should be able to sit wherever they want.  It’s not a wedding. Second, there was no real conclusion to the dinner — as people drifted out, the night sort of ended with a whimper. Moki suggested setting up a dessert bar to encourage everyone to get up and mingle, and then serving an after-dinner drink.   

But enough nitpicking, it was a great time, and we’re looking forward to another dinner.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy cilantro and ice cream.

 

Related posts

First Stop on the New Haven Pizza Tour

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Yalies are a lucky bunch.  Not only do they go to one of the best colleges in the country, but when the mood strikes, they can go out for some of the best friggin’ pizza in the country too.  Forget the Freshman 15 — for Yalies it must be more like the Freshman 50.

My friend Veronica, a New Haven resident and serious foodie, ranks New Haven’s top four pizza joints in the following order:

1. BAR
2. Modern Pizza
3. Frank Pepe
4. Sally’s Apizza

Last night she took me to BAR for my first taste of this wondrous New Haven pizza I’ve been hearing so much about.

BAR’s a brewpub/nightclub/restaurant packed with an eclectic crowd — I figured it’d be a bunch of preppy Yalies, but in fact there were people of all ages, from all walks of life. The wait for dinner was 45 minutes, so we decided to order our pizza and eat it at the bar.

We ordered two small pies so that we could try one red (with sauce) and one white (without sauce).  I can’t verify if this a New Haven invention, but BAR offers a white pizza with mashed potatoes as a topping.  Oh, my.

Veronica disappeared to get the pizzas and came back with an absolutely humongous tray:

How exceptional does that look?  The red pie had sizzling pieces of sausage and peppers baked in.  The white had garlic, oregano, mashed potatoes and… hold on, is that bacon?

(I can’t remember now if we actually talked about getting bacon, or if Veronica sneakily slipped it into the order. Regardless, best… decision… ever.)

Bacon and creamy mashed potatoes go together like Tina Fey and Sarah Palin.  If there’s a better combination, it escapes me. It’s killer.  But the crust defines the New Haven pizza — blackened on the edges from the brick oven, it’s thin and crispy and chewy all at the same time.

“Ohhh, that is sooo good,” I gushed between mouthfuls.

Veronica agreed.  ”I know, isn’t it?”

Since I have no frame of reference, I can’t say if BAR’s pizza is indeed New Haven’s best.  After I sample from Modern, Frank Pepe and Sally’s Apizza, I’ll give you a verdict.   But the bar has been set high, no pun intended.

(Final note: Veronica and her husband [a Yale dean] are having dinner in a few weeks at Per Se with nine Yale undergrads as part of a cultural field trip.  Per Se!!  Did I mention Yalies are a lucky bunch?)

BAR
254 Crown St.
New Haven, CT 06511
203-495-8924

Related posts

Lunch Monogamy

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

You’d never know it from the pics I’m about to show you, but I actually bring my lunch to work every day.   Remember when you were a kid and mom would buy you a new lunchbox at the start of the school year (I was always partial to a Star Wars theme), and then she’d pack it with a sandwich, drink, piece of fruit, and if you were really lucky, one of those cheese and crackers packages with the bright orange “cheese” and the red plastic stick?   Well, my life has come full circle because I’m back to having a lunchbox again.

I had to buy one so I could tote my tupperware to work on the train.   The model’s been updated for adult sensibilities, but it’s still a lunchbox. The only thing missing are Scratch ‘n Sniff stickers.

It’s been a little over a month since I started working in the city. To ease the culture shock of the first few days, my transplanted co-workers and I wandered around together at lunchtime, like dazed college freshman going to frat parties in a traveling herd. They bought; I mostly just looked and stayed faithful to what I’d brought.  I did pick up the occasional lunch or small snack.  Here’s a peek at my moments of weakness:

There’s a great farmers market every Wednesday at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th St. between 1st and 2nd Aves.

This cheese vendor reminded me of the ones I used to visit when I lived in Lancaster, PA.

I tried the roast pork bun and chicken empanada.  Perfect grab-and-go snacks that won’t break the bank.

Not the same as eating a Wilkens or Outhouse cider donut on location, but it’ll do.

Pampano Taqueria, a surprisingly authentic taqueria oddly located in an office building food court.

Fairly decent prices, although the street vendors are cheaper.

My delicious carne asada taco.   A snack, really — I polished it off in just a few bites.  The fresh salsa and hot sauce were a great touch.

Pooket offers $7.95 lunch specials, which include an entree, soup and salad.

Loved the salad and Thai wonton soup, but the Kee Mao noodle had absolutely no heat (doesn’t compare to Kit’s Thai Kitchen).  I was feeling dissatisfied until my co-worker Sean gave me his habanero hot sauce from Belize. Damn near burned my mouth off, but it was worth it.

Lemme tell you, it’s not easy staying faithful to my lunch every day when there’s enticing food all around.  What I’ve found works is letting myself buy lunch once a week, and grazing a bit here and there.  An occasional $1 roast pork bun never killed anyone, right?

I just need to make sure whatever I bring for lunch is REALLY good, so I’m not tempted to stray.  Maybe I’ll throw a Fruit Roll-up into the lunchbox tomorrow.

Pampano Taqueria
Crystal Pavilion Food Court
805 3rd Ave. btw 49th and 50th St.
New York, NY 10022
212-751-5257

Pooket
945 Second Ave.
New York, NY 10022
212-759-6339

Related posts

New York’s “Other” Chinatown

Monday, September 1st, 2008

About a mile from Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens is New York’s “other” Chinatown.  Like many people, I’d only been to the Chinatown in Manhattan — the one where Chinese residents co-exist with hungry NY diners and tourists buying knock-off Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses.  What I didn’t realize was that to feel as though you’ve been transported to China and dropped in downtown Beijing, you have to go to Flushing. This is the real deal Chinatown; it alternately amazed, delighted and bewildered me.  

(pic courtesy of Gothamist.com)

My parents were in town for the weekend; yesterday we trekked over to Flushing, making a few wrong turns along the way.  Since I was with parental company I didn’t get into full blogging mode; I only took a couple of pics and didn’t pay attention to the names of the restaurants (For a well-written and comprehensive look at the restaurants, give the recent New York Times article a read).  

Here are a few Chinatown impressions from a Flushing newbie:

1.  The main drag on Main St. is shockingly dense with stores and people.  My mom grew up in Flushing and she said this Chinatown didn’t even exist when she was a kid — in the last few decades a massive influx of Asian immigrants has changed the face of Flushing, establishing restaurants and shops in what used to be a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.

2.  My family’s Chinese, my parents speak Mandarin, and even they felt like visitors in a foreign country.  There are no vendors hawking knock-off designer products to eager tourists.  We saw very few non-Chinese people, and the stores don’t even bother labeling products in English. Just a completely different feel from Manhattan’s Chinatown. 

3.  The supermarkets are a trip — a cacophony of noise and crazy looking items that’ll have you scratching your head and closely inspecting everything while you wonder, “What IS that?” In this pic a guy’s pointing to some sort of shrimp-like animal, only they looked more like giant centipedes and were flopping around in the barrel.

Does anyone know what these are?  Seriously, I have no idea. Are they fish?  Mutant tadpoles?  

Mom felt bad for the frogs.  ”What a way to spend your last few hours,” she said sympathetically.

Barrels of pickled vegetables.

4.  The NY Times article mentions the Golden Mall, which is maybe not the “mall” you’d expect. It’s a collection of food stalls and tables in a cramped basement setting with no air conditioning. The food looked authentic and amazing, but mom was turned off by the heat (and the questionable sanitary conditions).  When dad suggested going back to sample the food, she asked, “And when the three of us get sick, who’s going to drive us home?”

5.  If you’re looking for grab-and-go food on the cheap, you can find something enticing every five feet. At this street stall, we watched the servers slinging noodles, buns and dumplings with efficient ferocity.  

We picked up scallion pancakes and pork dumplings (four for $1.25- what a deal).  The dumplings were outstanding — soup dumplings on steroids that exploded with flavorful, juicy pork.

This light sponge cake from a Main St. bakery had bits of fresh cantaloupe and honeydew inside.  Oh, and we also ate fresh lychees later on.  

6.  We made the mistake of visiting Flushing after having eaten lunch — none of us had our full appetites going. My advice is to go on an empty stomach so you can sample and graze and take advantage of the staggering array of food options.  This is Chinese food at its most authentic and vibrant — probably as close to Beijing as you can get without taking a 14 hour flight.  

So that’s a brief look at Flushing’s Chinatown— this first visit was just a warmup; now I know what to expect.  Next time I’m going in hungry and armed with a plan of attack.  Maybe I’ll even try the Golden Mall (shhh, don’t tell mom).  

How was your Labor Day weekend?  What’d you eat?

Related posts

Ebb Tide a Cheap Eat? Er, Not So Much.

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

A few weeks ago a co-worker emailed me—  her parents were coming to town and she needed suggestions for “cheap eats” restaurants in Westchester.  I emailed her back a few ideas, including Ebb Tide Seafood in Port Chester.

What was I thinking??

I obviously had a brain cramp.  Unfortunately, it’s a recommendation mistake I’ve made before. Ebb Tide’s a lot of things, but inexpensive is not one of them. Comparatively it’s no more expensive than other Westchester seafood restaurants, but the informal dining room and bait shop mere feet away from the food counter lead to a certain expectation… then you spot the market prices on the big chalkboard and whoa!

I get that seafood is inherently pricey, especially if it’s good quality.   Add in outdoor dining and a water view and you’re going to pay for the experience.

Oh you’ll pay alright.  On my most recent visit to Ebb Tide the going prices were $29.99 for sauteed lobster tails, $17.95 for seafood chowder, and $14.95 for the lobster roll.

I’ll say this— the homemade toasted bread kicks ass.  It’s a wonderful change of pace from the standard hot dog bun and makes a perfect vehicle for fresh lobster.  But look closely…

Is it?  Could it?  Could he have?  It is!!  There’s imitation crab meat in the lobster roll and Poppie peed on my sofa! (Greetings to the ten people who got that joke).

Maybe it’s real crab, but it sure tasted like imitation crab, and besides, what’s it doing in my $14.95 lobster roll?  I had two incredible lobster rolls this summer— one at J’s Oyster Bar in Portland, ME and the other at Spanky’s Clam Shack in Hyannis, MA— and neither was filled with anything but chunks of pure lobster.  

Perhaps I need to recalibrate my thinking— after all, $14.95 is less expensive than driving to Maine or the Cape.   And the lobster roll (plus whatever’s in it) IS pretty good.  So okay, I’ll curb my outrage.   I just need to drill it into my head: Ebb Tide is not a cheap eat, Ebb Tide is not a cheap eat

Ebb Tide Seafood
1 Willett Ave.
Port Chester, NY 10573
914-939-4810
 

Related posts