Breakfast of champions

They say that the cure to a hangover is to eat a greasy breakfast. This sounds like good advice, so I try to heed it whenever possible even when I’m not hung over. One of my favorite places for a tasty (what about the word greasty? Tasty and greasy?) breakfast is three blocks away because it’s best to stay in the ‘hood when you can barely walk. Whenever I pass the East Village Meat Market’s nifty sign, I worry that the market will turn into another bar. The new owner will keep the sign and the name, but the wonderful cuts of meat and the puffy jelly donuts in the window will be gone. Until then, I trudge over to the market for some greasty snack whenever I can. Does that word work for you?
The store is full of meats, but there are also ready to eat treats. The potato pancake is tasty indeed, just the right combo of tender potato to flour and crispiness on the outside. When I first saw the sausages, I had to get some. I’ve never met a sausage I didn’t like! My mom calls Polish sausage kabosh, instead of kielbasa so that’s what I call it, but the market calls it breakfast sausage. It is deliciously savory with a pleasant snap to the casing. My mom also used to make what she called cabbage roll using Campbell’s tomato soup for the sauce. The market calls it stuffed cabbage. It has an almost kaboshy taste that contrasts nicely with the sweetness of the cabbage wrapping. Don’t forget to ask for the accompanying tomato sauce. Last time I was at the store I asked, but the cute old counter man with the funny bangs was flirting with me and forgot the sauce.
I’ve also had the mushroom and onion croquette which is like a blintz without the cheese filling. Instead, mushroom and onion meld with a bit of sauerkraut in a big noodle. Everything I’ve described is incredibly filling and under two bucks. Just remember the meat market it closed on Sundays, so keep that drinking to Friday nights only!
PS. sorry about the crummy color photos. I can't remember how to use Photoshop.

Hooray chipotle!

I've never eaten at the McDonald's owned Chipotle burrito chain. I find their lump of aluminum foil ads disturbing and I don't believe in high end burritos, but my friend Matt enjoys their chicken burrito. He says it's good because they use Bell & Evans chickens. I'll take his word for it, but I have to say, they saved me today. After having coffee with a friend, then going to the library to do some research, I realized the Jefferson branch library doesn't allow patrons to pee in the former church building. So I hightailed it out of there looking for a public loo. While speedwalking to the far off Kmart on Aster place, I noticed the bathroom door sign in Chipotle on Mercer and W. 8th St. Relief! A CLEAN, unlocked bathroom set far away from the order counter. Now that's a chain that I can endorse!

Religious Experience

When I'm feeling sad, I think of my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad. When God closes a door, a window opens. So must wisdom from the movie I just read Christopher Plummer calls the "Sound of Mucus!!" On Nov.1 around 10pm, I was walking past St. Mark's Church feeling sad that I had worked late and missed dinner when I smelled one of my favorite things. Food! In the church's courtyard a lady was making real Mexican style quesadillas to celebrate the Day of the Dead. The sweet lady was pressing corn masa into flat rounds using a wooden tool, then folded them on a big griddle with that delicious salty white cheese. Once the cheese was melted, she stuffed shredded iceberg lettuce, squirted green salsa then refolded the golden tortilla. The first bite was heaven. The warmth of the queso contrasted with the coolness of the iceberg and the night air. Then the spice of the green hotsauce added zing to the sweetness of the corn tortilla. I could go one, but since you can't eat it until next year, I'll just say that it was one of the most amazing experiences I've eaten this year.

Hot Tamale in the City

I don't remember what I was doing on 38th (bw 9th&9th), but I was there until I saw this guy with the sign. Tamales for a buck! Las Poblanitas(212.629.0090)is one of those little Mexican dives you walk right by because it's in the no man's land of the garment district and there's no margarita machine. Glancing at the menu, the most expensive dishes are the gorditas, chiles rellenos and mole poblano at $5.95. And after looking at the plates in the restaurant, the food does look good. Unfortunately, I only had time and funds to grab the tamale and it was the right choice for a buck.

BBQ pig

There's no real reason to put this on the blog, except that it's funny and sort of food related. This shot is from the Oliver Stone movie that will come out next year. You'll probably never see the pig, but now you know it'll be there.

sophies

sophies
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

I was buying batteries at Duane Reade for work and passed by Beaver St. when I saw Sophie's sign. I read about Sophie's a long time ago in the Voice when I was addicted to Cubanos, but never thought I'd be that far downtown to try them. Lunch time is crazy time and there were tons of people vying for a table. It was easy to get a sandwich, though. They've set aside counter space just for sandwich service next to the expansive steam table. My Cuban cost $5.42 and was very filling. Warm pork, ham, cheese and pickles will do that to you. All in all, Sophie's is good, but Margon continues to reign as the king in my book.

Never fear the ginger beer

The past couple of weeks I've been working in the financial district across from the Staten Island Ferry. We had a great view, but the lunches were not so great. That is, until I went to Shirley's cart. There's barely a sign in front of the silver cart, but there's a bright red umbrella to signal really great Caribbean food. Shirley arrives on the corner of State and Broadway across from the Whitehall stop almost every day at 8am to start cooking her delicious food. I keep missing chicken roti days because you have to get there before noon on certain days before it runs out, but I've tried her stewed chicken, jerk chicken, stewed fish and goat curry (beware of bones!). Everyday she serves a vegetable, rice and peas and then either white or yellow rice. As for the vegetables, I've had the plaintains, spinach, cabbage, and greenbeans. The cabbage is my favorite because it's such a humble food. Shirley says it's so simple to make, but she elevates it into something spectacular. It's tender and juicy and sweetened with carrot slivers. I realized as I was eating the fish one Friday, Shirley's food reminded me of my mom's food. Not because it was homey and contained onions, but because it tasted so good, it must have been made with love. Oh and you've got to try the fresh ginger beer for $1.50. It's hot and spicy and amazing!!!

The Chocolate Room

chocroom
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

I was hoping Chocolate Room would be made of chocolate, but instead they make chocolate desserts. And they are damn good! Elizabeth and I were splurging one night after dinner. We had shared an appetizer and entree to be economical, so blowing money on dessert seemed like a good idea. The Chocolate Room is definately a good idea. I ordered the volcano cake with the port pairing. That was good, but not as exciting as the terrific ginger ice cream that topped it. We also shared the butterscotch custard with a delish sugar caramel topper. I won't bother to further describe the sweets because it will make me start drooling at the computer. You just have to try it for yourself.
www.TheChocolateRoomBrooklyn.com
86 5th Ave. Park Slope, Brooklyn

Who's the best Cuban?

One of the great debates on the message boards is where is the best Cuban sandwich. It's a difficult decision. There are some great ones out there. Off the top of my head, Margon in theTimes Square area is my favorite. It's a bummer they are only open for lunch. Anyway I was heading over to the Mercantile Building in Chelsea to my friend’s place with 30 minutes to feed my face.
I’d passed this storefront with the neon advertising the best Cuban, so I had to check it out. Located on 8th Ave. and 20th St, Havana Chelsea is a warm and inviting little place. I took a seat at the bar, because I was alone and immediately ordered the half Cuban. It was $4.50. They sit pre-assembled in the window case and are put in the sandwich press with a generous brush of butter. The resulting sandwich is really good. The bread was almost like a cracker, it was thoroughly toasted and the rest of the elements worked nicely. Pickle, ham, roast pork. Yum! The pork was a tad dry in a couple of bites, but the cheese helped moisten the rest. A good sandwich, but next time I go, I’m going to get the Sopa de marisco. The bowl of yellow soup had tons of seafood in it and was less than 5 bucks. As soon as the weather gets cold, I’m going to get me some of that!

I like the sauce

nyburgerco
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

After picking up some stuff from the fabulous vendor, Specialty Signs, I needed some lunch. I probably eat too many burgers, but the newish local chain NY Burger Company opened between 21st and 22nd on 6th Ave and I hadn’t ever eaten there. I’d eaten at the one on Park between 23rd and 24th, but I couldn’t remember if I liked it. I think I got it confused with Better Burger which I remember as boring. One bite of the NY Burger and I remembered what I liked about NY Burger Company: their sauces. They have a whole bar full of condiments to squirt on the burger. Spicy bbq sauce, maple Dijon mustard, chili pepper ketchup, chipotle honey, horseradish, there’s probably more, but those are the free ones that I can remember. The literature boasts that their meat is Coleman all natural beef. I don’t really know what that means. Somehow it’s better. They also use Murray’s free range chicken in their chicken sandwiches and salads. The place is called NY Burger, I’m getting a burger. And while their burger is good, the burger at Shake Shack is tastier in my opinion. Still, NY Burger’s fries are better than the Shack. My advice is if the line is too long at Shake Shack, go to NY Burger, but for now, go wait in line the Shack. It closes for the winter in December. After December, go to NY Burger. It’s good, though a little expensive. Their plain hamburger costs $5.75. But the bun is a nice brioche and the plum tomatoes are actually red and the Romaine fresh. Maybe next time I’ll bring Tupperware to take home some of their sauces. Is that too weird?

Pickles and Eggs

miriam
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Daylight savings time is so great! I had an extra hour to get to Brooklyn for brunch with Elizabeth. It took me no time at all to get to the Pacific stop on the N train. She wanted to check out Miriam. The folks on chowhound.com dug it, so she thought it would be a good choice. It was good, though I was a little worried at first. When we walked in, it sort of smelled like dirty mop head. I don't mean greasy hipster hair, I mean that smell of a floors that have been washed with an old mop. But I got used to the smell and truthfully, it probably doesn't smell all the time. Anyway, I realized that I'd had brunch there before earlier this year, but it was called Surreal Cafe.
But it's Miriam now and the food has a Mediterranean influence. I forgot the name of my dish, Mediterranean bread or something. Basically it was a pita fried in butter with eggs of my choice (over easy, of course!) pickles, harissa and a tomato sauce. It was tasty and only $8.95. I guess the coffee was included because our waitress didn't charge us extra. Elizabeth had an omelette with home fries and salad. It looked okay.
Overall the food was okay; however, not that exciting. Granted, the spirit of brunch is not about the 10 dollar eggs, it's about spending time with your friends. I'm just always looking for that food excitement.

99 cent quickie

99cents
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

What movie is that quote from about sex being like pizza, even when it's bad, it's still pretty good? I dunno, I kind of feel like 99 cent pizza is better than bad sex. And you can get both around Port Authority! On 41st and 8th Ave. right next to the Stiles Farmers Market (a great place to get cheap produce in midtown), the slice is still 99 cents. It's perfect after bowling or whatever it is one does around the Port Authority...

In closing, more sadness

Perhaps I'm just depressed because of my job and the approaching winter, but all I see are sad endings. Eat at Joe's pizza place on 2nd between East 4th and 5th is closed. This happened before, maybe a year ago. Joe's was closed, and I was scared they had closed. He was just on vacation, and then they did a little reconstruction. Added some mirror, removed a booth, added a ledge for barstools. But this time, it looks like Joe is gone. There's plywood up around the storefront. I'll miss seeing Joe's enormous belly thinly covered with a messy teeshirt as he sat in front of the store fanning himself on a chair. I'll miss the old westerns I guess they watched on video on a ancient tv near the AC in the front. But most of all I'll miss Joe's slice hot out of the oven eaten on the half block walk to my apartment. Ugh, I feel like watching "the Champ."

September hiatus

I’ve been too bummed out this September to write.

A couple of things have changed. My job ended. I have a new one that’s not as good. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. My family visited the city when I was a kid. The one thing I remember is the amazing taste and texture of those famous Cafe Du Monde beignets. I had some beignets recently at a seemingly Goth coffeeshop in the East Village called the Bourgeois Pig. The beignets were indeed fried dough with powdered sugar, but they lacked the fluffiness that I remember from Du Monde. The Pig’s coffee was pretty good though, served it in a tall ruby red cut glass.

My sadness is also compounded by the fact that two of my favorite places have closed down.

Havana Pies was a great spot on 23rd St. that served affordable (nothing over $5)
empanadas. You could get your choice of baked or fried and they were all yummy. I won’t describe them because well, what’s the point? Granted, Papa’s Empanadas (www.papasempanadas.com) in Queens is the best because they are delicious and dirt cheap, but they are too far away. Empanada Mamma (763 9th Ave. 212.698.9008) is very similar to Papa’s except that everything costs $1.25 more, but they’ve got to pay their Midtown Manhattan rent. Ruben’s is ok, but not my favorite. Nope, Havana Pies was the best in my opinion, and they’re gone.

And now my favorite Chinese noodle shop. Now where can I go after a bike ride on the East River for an amazing bowl of hand-drawn noodle soup? I can’t go to Golden Wok Noodle House, that’s for sure. Now that it’s chilly, I’ve been craving noodle soup, but I don’t always want to pay 10 bucks for it at Momofuko, Minca, Rai Rai Ken or that place near HairMates on St. Marks . So I head down to Chinatown.

At the corner of Catherine and Henry in the part of Chinatown that I never go to unless on my bike, a young Chinese couple served the best noodle soup. The wiry armed husband pulled a blob of soft dough into thousands of supple noodles which he handed off to his wife who boiled them. She plopped them into a delicious bowl of broth and your choice of meat or veg. He then sprinkled the bowl with cilantro and delivered it to your spot. Take my word for it – that noodle soup was out of this world. Especially at those prices, again nothing was over five bucks.

It’s really upsetting but all too common to see a really hardworking couple (they were open from 10-10 everyday!!) with a fabulous product have to close their doors. I hope they did it because they won the lottery and not because they couldn’t afford the rent.

What's behind door 86?

There’s just too much to say about hamburgers in NYC. There are some entertaining documentaries Hamburger America,blogs about them, and tons of people in clubs who love them. Nothing I write is going to tread any new ground, but who cares? Of the newish places, I dig the Burger Joint in Le Parker Meridian, the sliders at the Burger Joint on 19th St., and Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. The Better Burgers, Lucky Burger, Blue 9 are just ok in my opinion.

But when you’re lost in the West Village, Corner Bistro, White Horse Tavern, and Chumley’s are classics. I like the CB and WH for their meaty burger and classic bar atmosphere. But it’s taken me a while to go to Chumley’s. Hidden on the corner of Bleeker and Barrow, Chumley’s was an old speakeasy where writers galore used to hang out. Book covers and photos line the walls.

The best time to go is before 8 pm. The first time I went, at 8:30 p.m., it was pretty loud and full of yuppies. In fact my friend David and I were seated by this kid whose parents did nothing about his high pitched shrieking. That sucked, but the burger was worth the resulting deafness. The meat itself tasted good and had perfect grill marks, but the tomato slice struck me the most. It was a big thick round of red juicy Jersey tomato.

A couple days later on Saturday afternoon, I tried the burger again and the same yummy tomato was on the plate. I’ll be sad come winter when the pink tomatoes are back on the scene. Until then, I’m going back to Chumley’s for their atmosphere and burger with tomato. Their fries were the run of the mill shoestring and I’m not crazy about the sour pickle. I’ve read that the rest of the food ain’t so great and if it’s anything like the French onion soup I tried, then I’d stick with the burger.

Oh yeah, I saw the movie "The Baxter" a couple of days ago and Chumley’s was one of the locations!

nuclearzuke

nuclearzuke
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

It's zucchini season! My boss grows these huge zukes. This one has been in my fridge for 2 weeks. I have to do something with it. Any ideas?

Blah

Today was a very frustrating day, foodwise and otherwise. I went down to DUMBO for the Shanghai chili crab festival, but when I got there I realized it was happening tomorrow. Since I was in Brooklyn, I thought I should go to BAM to see some of the Shaw Brothers film series. When I got there, I learned there were no matinee times. There are some great restaurants on Fulton St.(Pequino Mexican and the new Habana Outpost) but I was craving Korean.Specifically, nang myun (cold noodles) so I headed back to the city.

When I used to walk to my last job, I'd pass Li Hua (171 Grand St., at Baxter 212.343.0090) and wonder who would go to a Korean restaurant on the cusp of Chinatown and Little Italy. I still don't know. It was around 3 o'clock and there were only 2 other groups in the restaurant: a mother and her daughter snacking on the kimchi pajeun (pancake), and a group of four that ordered the Korean usuals: bibimbap (good stuff on rice w. a runny egg), the kimchi pancake, fried rice and tofu jigae (stew). The place itself was well designed and decorated. There's a bench that divides the room into different spaces and the simple flower watercolor is a nice decorative motif. On the other side of the bench, the staff was eating a family meal out of a big pot of tofu jigae and a couple of plates of japchae (noodles with good stuff). It looked great and the smell of the hot stone bibimbap was divine.

Unfortunately, my nang myun was just okay. I prefer the cold noodles at Momofuko, Woorijip or even Men Kui Tei (their cold noodles are more Japanese than Korean). Taste-wise, Momofuko is the best. Moneywise, Woorijip wins. Their noodles are usually about 6 bux. LiHua charged 13 for the dish. I believe Momofuko has noodles in broth for 13 and no broth for 12, but don't quote me on those prices.

There's no way around it: the broth at Li Hua was weak. The liquid consisted of a little bit of meat juice, soy sauce and a lot of water. I doused it with mustard and vinegar but it didn't help. The beauty of Korean food is the strong flavors, and this dish had none of that. The pork seemed like an anonymous meat, the noodles were noodles, and the half-egg and the cucumber were nothing special. I have to say, though, that the pickled sweet asian pear was great. The banchan were okay (I think the flavors were toned down for white folks) the kimchi wasn't ripe, the cucumber salad was okay (vinegar, sugar, salt) but what I thought was a white onion was actually a stringy piece of crabstick. I don't mind fake crab, but this piece was tough and dry. Bleh.

There was another nice, red pepper-based salad of cabbage and zuccini that was good, but come on, the star of the show should be the main dish, right? To be fair, I've only eaten there once. Robert Siestama from the Village Voice eats at a place 3 times before he writes a review. And he goes with a bunch of people. I would say that you should go to Li Hua if you are craving bibimbap and want to be in a sleek restaurant setting. Or if your gringo friends want to try Korean food, but you don't feel like going up to Koreatown. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Here's the link to the recent NY Times article that ran about so called Kimchi chic. urg.

lil brunch

lilfrankie
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

When is a meal blogworthy? When it’s fabulous and you want to share the knowledge and experience? When it’s horrible and you want to warn others? How about when it’s just pretty good?

I think that Lil Frankie’s (19 1st. Ave. bw 1&2nd St.) is a pretty good place to go when you want a pizza and a salad. Their pizzas don’t disappoint and the lil’ Frankie’s salad is awesome—greens, beets, haricot vert. I order it every time. Although the service can vary from mediocre to good, it’s also a good place for groups. The dining room is spacious and they recently added another room on the side. But you probably know all of this. The brunch is pretty good, but stops short of spectacular or reliable.

I went there with Ted one Sunday before he had to catch the Amtrak. There were only a few other folks in the back alley garden room. I can’t remember what was playing, but whatever it was, it was up a hair too loud for a Sunday morning. The coffee kind of bugged me, too. It was that Dasani-type coffee that is just like bitter brown water. Note to self, only order their espresso drinks.

Now I’ve always been a fan of food that makes use of leftovers: old bread becomes lovely French toast, leftover rice becomes fried rice, that kind of thing. Ted’s omelet made use of old spaghetti. I imagined it would be more of a pancake type creation where the noodles and eggs were mixed and then put into a fry pan so the bottom of the pan toasted the noodles to add texture and flavor. Instead, the omelet was just that, eggs and spaghetti, and the side of potato cake was browned and dry.

I had the baked eggs with mini meatballs and sauce. The word for mini meatballs, polpettine, looks like mini poops and they resembled Chef Boy Ardee meatballs but with real meat and no filler. I asked for my eggs to be a little runny because I like to sop up the yolk, and the marinara from the meatballs made a nice gravy for their good bread. It was a yummy but gross looking concoction. I feel like I should make some allusion to birth, but I’ve already referred to poop in this description and it wasn’t a bad meal by any means. In fact, it was pretty good. But blogworthy? I’m still not sure. Maybe you should try it yourself.

Good & Plenty

My co worker Christine got me hooked on the banana pudding at Good and Plenty (410 W. 43rd St bw 9/10th Ave). That stuff is amazing. I want to put it on my face and lick it off. Actually, I want to put it on Clive Owen's face and lick it off. But I digress.
I won't show a picture because my camera is broken, and it's not much to look at. They serve it in a to go container, so it gets smushed, but the taste. Man, the taste! The texture! The smell! The pudding is actually vanilla. And I'm not a vanilla person, but this pudding is AWESOME. Between bites of velvet, you get the chunks of sweet banana that add the flavor. Instead of damp 'nilla wafers, the luscious bits of cake really elevate this dessert. The real whipped cream is just the pudding on the cake. Sort of.
However, like most obsessions, this one is complicated. The demand is greater than the supply. They don't serve the banana pudding everyday. There are only two employees that make pudding. One woman only works on Sunday, so the chances of pudding are greater on Monday. That is if they don't run out of it. The second lady works more regularly, but you just never know if she'll make it. I just called into the store (212.268-4385/86) and asked if they ever have butterscotch pudding. Sadly, they haven't had it in a month. I'm dying to try it!!!

Uncle Nick's

small vs. large 4 dips
At my current job we order lunch for delivery every day. For six months it was a blessing, now it’s a curse. We’re all sick of the selection at this point, but there’s one place that I never tire. Uncle Nick’s (747 9th Ave. 212. 245. 7992) has some of the best tasting and most reasonably priced Greek food around.

The first time I ate Uncle Nick’s food was about 5 years ago when I worked at Esquire. My favorite dish is the basic Chicken Kabob ($8.95), also known as Kotopoulo kebob. It’s just chicken, but the chunks are big and juicy. They’re grilled with tomato, peppers and onion then placed on a bed or rice. You substitute the briam, which is just potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini. They also have swordfish kebob, but those are $12.95 and over our ten dollar limit and delivery can sometimes make the fish dry.

I’ve also eaten at the actual Uncle Nick’s restaurant. They have a nice garden out back and the seafood is really good. I loved the grilled baby octopus ($9.95), but if you’re squeamish, don’t order it. The tentacles are complete with suckers and a satisfying red purple color. I also love their 4 dips ($8.95). Theirs was the first taramasalata I’d ever had and it’s wonderful. Fluffy, creamy with a hint of fish roeness. Yum, it’s dare I say, better than buttah!! They also include Tzatziki, the yogurt, garlic and cucumber dip, Melitzanosalata, which tastes like babaganoush eggplant dip, and skordalia, a cold mash potato garlic dip.

This delivery photo doesn’t do justice to the food, but it will have to suffice for now. My camera is broken. If you ever do order the Greek salad (Horitiki) get the small size. The small is $5.95 and it’s huge! The photo is a comparison of the large and small size.

I love how the Greek language adds about 3 more syllables and 6 vowels to each of their words. Here’s a cheat sheet:

Arnisio-lamb
Mosharisio-beef
Hirino-pork
Kotopoulo-chicken
Solomos-salmon
Saganaki-cheese

Azuri

It's been almost 2 years since I've spoken to my friend, Marsha Cottrell. No bad blood, just preoccupied. Marsha is a kick ass artist and foodie. We met up one time at a place that is now one of my favorite places to eat in town.  Marsha described Azuri Café (465 W. 51st St. bw 10th & 11th) as a hole in the wall run by a real NYC character named Ezra Cohen not unlike the soup Nazi in that Seinfeld episode. Apparently he can be a real grump, but you know he must be a good man-how else could his food taste so great?
 
The falafel is always freshly fried and the side salads served on a platter or stuffed in a pita are fresh and delicious. No brown iceberg lettuce in sight! Each mound of salad has its own distinct flavor: red cabbage slaw, tabbouleh, eggplant, pickles, tomato cucumber. My favorite is the eggplant.  I'm not sure how it's prepared, either roasted or braised, but it has a meaty texture with a delicious sweet flavor. Azuri's sandwiches go beyond anyone else's because of the array of salads they stuff into a pita. 
 
Azuri's pita bread is also excellent. This is no thin Damascus Bakery pita. It's a thick, wheat-flecked round that has to be cut with a knife to make a pocket. The thickness ensures that the juices from the salad and/or meat don't sog the bread. If you get a platter, you'll use that bread to clean every last morsel off the plate. It's just that good. 
Everthing at Azuri is great. It's kosher, so it's not open on Saturday, but it is open on Sundays. The food is not only delicious, it's also healthy. Well, maybe not the fried cauliflower, but at least that's cheap! Sandwiches are $4-7 bucks and large platters which are perfect to share are $9-13. Just thinking about the Azuri flavors makes me hungry. I think I'll call Marsha up to meet at Azuri Café. 

My favorite pasta isn't Italian

Chinese restaurants that are owned by Koreans often have a noodle dish called Cha Chjun Myun. I grew up eating an instant version of these noodles, which are sort of a thicker version of ramen. They come fried, dried and packaged, with a separate sauce packet and an optional palm oil packet. My mom would add green onions and maybe some leftover ham from breakfast. She called them black noodles because the sauce is black. Once on the noodles the sauce is actually brown so my sisters and I called them brown noodles.

When I was five, we went to Korea and that’s when I first had authentic, freshly made brown noodles. There’s nothing like the real thing. The instant variety doesn’t have the chew of the fresh noodles against the teeth or the silky dark sauce that splashes everywhere because the noodles are so long. Chunks of onion, some vegetables and meat add an extra dimension. The combination is unforgettable and so much better when fresh.

The noodles are sort of a Chinese Korean version of spaghetti, but they are always served with a dish of bright yellow sweet radish pickles and of course, kimchi. In some restaurants, they will serve the black sauce with raw onions as an accompaniment. I don’t know how to describe the sauce, but let me tell you how I think it’s made (based on what I’ve gleaned from my mom):

Of course, the amazing soybean is responsible for Cha Chjun Myun sauce. Mica and I will do a show on soy. It’s really underrated and undervalued by the average American. We must change this. I heard somewhere that the US is the biggest producer of soy. It's not just for hippies or cattlefeed! But I digress…

My mom remembers watching her grandmother make homemade tofu, soy sauce, miso and cha chjun. It’s basically a process of fermentation. After soybeans are ground and pressed, they become a block of tofu. Age that block with water and other stuff and it becomes soy sauce. That block of beans eventually becomes miso. Ferment it further and the liquid becomes soy sauce and when the block has become black, it’s cha chjun.

How to describe the taste for those of you that haven’t had it? It’s difficult. It’s salty before cooked, but once onions are added the taste is mellow and rich. I can’t do the sauce justice. Just go to Kum Ryong at 30 W. 32nd (bw 5th & Broadway) and order the Noodles with brown sauce ($6.50 for a big bowl). If you’re in a seafood mood, get the seafood version ($7.95). Kum Ryong’s American name is Golden Dragon.

I always wonder if the Caucasians wonder what everyone else is eating in those big white bowls. I want to tell them to try the noodles instead of the beef with broccoli. I think white folks would be pleasantly surprised if they try the Sweet and Sour meats. The Korean version isn’t bright red or have the ketchup or pineapple chunks that Americanized Chinese restaurants serve.

Kum Ryong was renovated a couple of years ago. It used to be rather dreary with its odd fake tree limb decoration and gross splatter of past cha chjun myun on the walls. It’s now slick and clean with a big window that displays ladies making dumplings (mandoo) and handmade noodles. The process of noodle making is absolutely hypnotic. I have tons of video of this. I also couldn’t help but photograph this funny sign in the bathroom.

Here's a great link that defines the dish better than I do, it also spells it differently. I can only spell Korean food phonetically.
Rober Sietsema from the Village Voice's review of Sam Won Gahk diner in Flushing is good. I couldn't get the link to work, I think it's because it's an archive article. I dunno. Cut and past this link to read the review. www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0407,sietsema,51070,16.html.
This is a blog from a girl in LA that I thought was good.

Enjoy and if you want to eat some noodles with me, email me and I'll take you!

Fish Tales

I’ve been riding my bike along the East River every chance I get, and I’m fascinated by the people that fish along the park. As a kid, we went fishing whenever my grandfather visited. The best trip was when he caught an ancient snapping turtle when we camped in Canada. I think the most anticlimactic fishing experience was at a fish farm in Virginia. Catching those fish did them a favor by putting them out of their misery. Even though the fish were swarming in that pond, they still tasted really good. Of course, that’s the best part about fishing. Eating them. Recently I spoke to my friend Derrick about why he hates fish, but I still don’t get it. I have tons of yummy fish memories. I vividly remember when my childhood neighbors, the Stenhams, brought home a huge catch of smelts and fried them up. I’ve never had smelts that good in any of the New York city restaurants. When we lived in Atlanta, my family went to this one Chinese restaurant where we’d always get the Hunan style fish. The dish is an entire fish head deep fried with a delicious brown sauce. My dad would always gross us out because he’d eat the eyeballs and say it was good for his sight.

I’ve been shy about approaching the fishermen along the East River, but yesterday I had to stop when I saw a man’s pole bent from the weight of some catch. Riding closer, I realized he had only caught some seaweed, but I felt comfortable about asking him and his friend about fishing in the city. The friend said that the water in the East River is clean now, but it’s up for debate about the silt at the bottom of the river. He said that some people believe that if fish were born in that silt, they might be contaminated, but if the fish were born upstate in the Hudson, they were fine. I’m not sure how you can tell the difference, but it didn’t seem like they cared. The other fisherman told me that he had been fishing last Saturday around 7 am and he was home eating his 36 inch fish by 10am. He then went on to tell me that the next day he went to Battery Park and caught a 42 incher and sold it to an Egyptian restaurant for $35 in his neighborhood. Exciting but a little scary, no?

Baked

Matt Lewis is one of those cool friends that I never get to see because he’s too damn busy. Busy on book tours. Busy opening bakeries in Red Hook. Busy on vacation. I had an opportunity to go to his new bakery, Baked, in Red Hook while on a run for work. I took the F to Smith and 9th, then jumped on the B77 right across the street. It’s a couple of storefronts away from the restaurant Hope and Anchor and fills the street with sweet smells. I ordered a feta cheese and olive spread sandwich. It was simple and delicious. You can’t go wrong with warm bread from Almondine in Dumbo. For my co-workers, I brought back 3 treats. First, the peanut butter tart. The crust was shortbread, but the filling was a dream. Gooey yet light peanut butter filling topped with dark chocolate. It made Reeses look like, I don’t’ know, something that fell on the floor (something that’s not smooth). The chocolate cloud was just that. Crispy on the outside, chunky and fudgelike on the inside. And finally the spicy chocolate brownie. You don’t notice the spice at first, but then you feel the tingle in your throat after you swallow. Delish! Baked

Baltimore Farmer's Market

One of these days we'll have money to do shows in other cities. Until then, here are some pictures of the fabulous Baltimore Farmer's Market. Read the description from "Under the Bridge."

miso & mondoo

mondoo
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Last year I was talking to Chris about food trends. I was thinking: noodle bars and create-a-salad bars. He told me about food science. Foams infused with flavours, crystallized ingredients like kimchi and seaweed, deconstructed desserts.

He used to work at WD-50 where the head chef Wylie Dufresne was crazy for food science. Ferran Andrea, the inventive chef in Spain, is also a name I've been encountering lately in the research I did at work and in the NYTimes food pages. I even found out that my fabulous workmate Derrick ate at Andrea's restaurant two years ago. He was like, "Oh yeah, I ate there. It was kind of weird." So food science has been on my brain. And I've been thinking about an invention that I think will really take off.

See, I love the movies, and I love food. But I hate food in the movies. You don't eat in church, do you? I guess you do if you're Catholic, the body and blood stuff, but I digress. As much as I love popcorn, and I do - in fact, Mica and I plan to do a show on the stuff - I just don't think that it's a righteous movie snack. It's too loud, it smells when it gets wet, it gets all over the place, and it gets stuck in the teeth. I'm saved by the fact that when I go to a commercial movie theater, I know the popcorn tastes like salty Styrofoam and is full of chemicals. However, I have a hard time turning down the yummy Film Forum popcorn.

So from time to time, I like to think about what I'd serve in my dream theater. One day when I was eating some dumplings at M2M (3rd Ave &11th) and looking across to the Loews Theater, I thought in lieu of messy and crunchy nachos, we should be served dumplings. Utensils are not really needed. They don't make any noise when they're steamed. Fried might be a little too loud. But the sauce. How to handle the sauce? It's too dark in the theater to fiddle with the plastic pouch of soy sauce and there'd be hell to pay if it ripped open too vigorously and spilled everywhere. Then I thought of it. The invention to change the world.

Soy Sauce Gel! It must be easy to make a liquid into a gel, just add carrageenan, the seaweed derivative. That's kind of Asian. Or maybe mix tofu or rice flour in the soy sauce so that it's thicker and we can put it in tubes like toothpaste, thus making it easy to squeeze and stick to our dumplings! Kids will love it! They'll use it like ketchup! Then I realized how dumb this line of thinking was. There already is gel soy sauce. It's called miso.

So maybe that idea isn't that great, but going to M2M to get a movie snack is. They have a great selection of ready made foods like veggie and meat dumplings, Japanese sushi, Korean kimbop, chips, crackers and candy. It's cheaper, tastier and healthier than the stuff at the chain theater.

macaron or macaroon?

macaroon
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Josh and I had a nice long walk in Central Park this weekend, along with the rest of New York. I've never seen Strawberry Fields, and I still haven't because Josh couldn't remember where it was. Luckily he could remember where Silver Moon Bakery was located (2740 Broadway bw 105&106th St.). We almost went to the Hungarian Pastry Shop but it was too crowded and we really wanted to spend more time outside and all their tables were occupied. So we headed down to Silver Moon. Now I've only had one thing there - their big French macaron. It's a bit pricey at $2.25, but I daresay it is my favorite cookie and their version is awesome. It looks like a mini hamburger, the "bun" is a crunchy almost meringue like air puff and the filling is a rich ganache. The crunch. The chew. The simultaneous richness of ganache and the lightness of the puff is a feat of engineering that shouldn't be missed. Of course, I like the macarons at the classic French bakery, Payard, on Lexington bw 73rd &74th. They are famous for their macarons, but it's a bit stuffy over there. I prefer my neighborhood, I adore Something Sweet's (corner of 11th & 1st Ave.) macarons (75cents). They sell almond, mocha, pink (strawberry?) macarons, and they are fabulous. But it's a beautiful thing to share a huge French macaroon on a bench in Riverside Park with a good friend. Try it, or some other dessert or baked good from Silver Moon. You won't be disappointed.

Under the Bridge

I’m on the Greyhound bus returning to NYC after a weekend visiting family in Baltimore. It’s Mother’s Day, so we had a family brunch. An average but overpriced brunch at the Sheraton Hotel. It’s hard to do a good buffet because so much food must be out at one time. Quantity overcomes quality. I would have been happy eating at the Baltimore Farmer’s Market located under the expressway. It’s great! They have wonderful coffees for a buck, a guy who makes mini donuts (5 for a buck) and my favorite, the guy who makes kettle corn in a real copper kettle! I’m annoying the guy sitting next to me with the snack’s fragrance and crunch as I dip into my bag right now. My mom says it’s like the popcorn in Korea, a little bit salty, a little bit sweet.

I love the Baltimore Farmer’s Market because they incorporate food vendors with the usual vegetable harvest. Granted, the donuts and popcorn are a little street fair-ish, but I don’t care. I read about one of the San Francisco Farmer’s markets in the NY Times and how some people can’t stand the tourists. Tourists are annoying, but they bring in money. I love to spend money at the Baltimore Farmer’s Market. So does my mom. She balked at the flower prices compared to Home Depot, but I reminded her that when you buy from a farmer, you’re helping to support local farmers. She spent part of her childhood on a farm with her grandmother, so she could appreciate that. Consequently, she can’t pass over a good bargain and bought a huge bag of kale for just 99 cents a pound.

Some of the delicious foods at the BFM include a family that sells omelets made to order with a side of hash browns for 5 bucks. Across the way, the mushroom lady sells what else, mushrooms as well as delicious mushroom chili that sells out almost immediately, smoky grilled Portobello pita sandwiches and fried oyster mushrooms. There’s another great southern vendor who sells all kinds of smoked meats —huge turkey legs, thick slices of bacon, ham hocks and amazing cheddar cheese. My almost 3 year old nephew gobbled up the samples. I’ll take some pictures of this fabulous spot in about 2 weeks when I go back to Baltimore for his birthday.

To look up a farmer’s market in your town, go to http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets

Showtimes!

Hi,
We had so much fun last night at the first public screening of Episode 2. Wish you were there. Here are the showtimes on cable access.

Monday May 16 9pm
Saturday May 21 10:30 pm
Tuesday May 31 9 pm

Channel 56 Time Warner cable
Channel 111 RCN
Channel 108 Digital
Channel 16 if you get it free
or online at MNN.org

Please watch us!
Thanks,
Mica and Liza

Korean home cooking

When I’m a little homesick for my mom’s cooking but I don’t have the friends or the money to have a big Ktown bulgoki blow out, I head over to Woorijip (12W. 32nd St. bw 5th Ave. & Bway). My parents actually discovered it for me maybe 5 years ago during a visit. My folks love those buffet style cafeterias. Woorijip’s steam table is good. It has your standard Korean fare, a variety of pancakes, meats, kimchis. While it ain’t my mom’s cooking, it’s a pretty good substitute. They also have boxes with set portions of kimbop, teriyakis, omelets and chicken. I’m sure people grab them during lunch hour like hotcakes. The refrigerated cases also contain make-at-home bulgoki, bibimbop, and lots of different banchan (side dishes like spinach, cucumbers, and kimchi, of course). But my favorite aspect of Woorijip is the noodle bar. Just today I wanted to try out a new Korean restaurant in Gramercy (She Ja Meh on E.18th St.) but it was closed. I needed Korean food, so I walked up to 32nd St. and was happy to find the noodle bar open. The air had a little nip to it, so I knew that I wanted kimchi jigae. "Jigae" means stew and is always a great way to use leftovers. When kimchi is getting sour, but not unbearably so, you throw it in a pot with some meat and let it cook until the cabbage softens and the meat and kimchi juice make a rich piquant broth. Topped with some rice to soak up some of the salt and spice, kimchi jigae is both exciting to the palate and comforting to the soul. Woorijip makes a nice pot of it for $6, and the noodle lady is so nice. They also sell a variety of udons and ramens if you’re in the mood for something milder.
The atmosphere has really improved over the years. It’s now painted a warm yellow, and easy listening cd’s play continuously. "Girl From Ipanema" or Ray Charles is almost always playing while I’m there. They also have a frequent visitor card that you can get stamped and when the card is filled you can get a free mug or bag with the Woorijip logo on it!

Brunch in Chelsea

I’ve read that the new chef at Amuse (108-110 West 18th St. bw 6th & 7th Ave.) makes this old fashioned dish called carpetbaggers steak. It’s a steak with a pocket cut into it filled with raw shellfish. His version packed oysters in a Guinness brown sugar sauce. Sounds interesting. But brunch is a decidedly more traditional affair. Since it’s Chelsea, expect $15 eggs, but they are delicious $15 eggs. Focaccia was the freebie bread. I had regular old eggs, sunny side up, with a chicken breast that had been lightly battered and perfectly fried. It’s a nice alternative to the standard steak and eggs breakfast. It came with home fries and a screwdriver. The homefries were browned just right. Ted had the salmon eggs benedict with home fries and a Bloody Mary. In all, a pretty straight forward meal. Not sure we’d go back, but it’s nice enough if you’re in the area and are looking for a sit-down brunch. They open at 11, and it gets loud quickly, so go early. The best part of the meal was leaving to pick up my new bike at the flea market just down the street.

Meat Coma

Pylos (128 E 7th St. 1st Ave & Ave A) has been around for a couple of years now, but it used to be called, "It’s Greek to Me." Peeking through the glass front, it seemed to be a casual neighborhood place. Well, no more. It’s now part of the whole East Village gentrification thing. Destination dining. It’s fancier and pricier, but not outrageous. Good place to go on a date or to take your folks. Parties of 6 or more require reservations. Couples have to duke it out around 5pm after they open. It’s a fair fight because the food is quite good. Atmosphere is nice, too. I dig the pottery hanging from the ceiling, though I had to wonder if a pot would fall on my head and knock me out. But on to the food: My litmus test for Greek restaurants is the taramasalata. If it’s good, then you’re starting off on the right foot. Maybe we didn’t need to order the 3 dips because of the complimentary roasted chick pea dip, but we are hedonists (and gluttons). The name of the 3 dips was really long, so I can’t remember the title, but the taramasalata was great. Creamy and rich with the delicious flavor of fish roe—fishy in the best possible way. The eggplant was Ted’s favorite, sweet and yummy. The cucumber yogurt raita was cool yet pungent with the taste of onions. The servings looked small at first, but we had to get an extra order of pita. The table of four next to us had no problems polishing them off, however. For main dishes, Ted ordered the lamb shank with egg noodles and marinara, and I had the double thick, pork chop with prune and leek stuffing with mashed potatoes. Ted’s lamb was perfectly cooked and fell off the bone. The pork chop’s white meat was a bit dry, but fine with the leeks. The dark meat section was succulent. Again, perfect mashed potatoes, but they differed from 26 Seats in that the potato, not the ratio of ingredients, was the star. Perhaps they use milk and olive oil instead of cream and butter, I don’t know. But the texture was light and the taste was pure potato goodness. The red wine had a long name and we think it had narcotics in it because both of us fell into a coma after dinner. No room for dessert.

Simplicity at 26 Seats

I’ve wanted to eat at 26 Seats (168 Ave. B bw 10 & 11th) for a long time, but I always forgot that it existed. What a mistake. 26 Seats is unforgettable because it serves simple, hearty French dishes at reasonable prices. You have to make a reservation because it’s a tiny space – literally 26 seats. We started off with the free hot bread and then ordered delicious steamed mussels with garlic, cooked just right and served in a bowl. We used the bread to soak up the remaining juice, which was like a light garlic butter soup with a hint of the sea. I ordered the duck confit with mash potatoes, and Ted had the sea bass with corn cake. Nothing fancy, just simple staples you’d find on most bistro menus. But 26 Seats does them so well. The duck was cooked until fork tender, no gaminess or greasiness in sight, served with perfect mash potatoes. The ratio of potato to cream to butter was well, perfect. Ted’s fish was great as well, flaky, but not dry, light and delicious, and served over a bed of fresh greens. My one tiny complaint – and it’s not really a complaint, more a comment (maybe I shouldn’t even mention it) – was that our food and plates were really, really hot. But at least the food wasn’t overcooked because of it. They must keep the food in the warmer until ready to serve, then they throw the greens on before it goes out. We were in a kung fu hustle to get to the movies, so we grabbed dessert at Something Sweet (1st Ave and 10th Street). Almond sticks and a puff pastry with cream and apple. Total cost $2. It was a perfect ending to a perfect meal.

Chocolate Walnut Cookie

Chocolate Walnut Cookie
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Later...
It wasn't until much later that I ate the chocolate chip cookie from Levain. (See - I do have self-control.) In my book, if the cookie costs 3 bucks, it better be great. This one didn't disappoint. It was a heavy cookie. It was a thick cookie. The damn thing was at least an inch thick and chock full of chips. When I took it out of the brown bag, it had telltale grease spots, plenty of butter and/or shortening was used. The cookie was soft in the middle, but crunchy on the outside. It entertained me with its flavors as I waited for the intermission of my friend's play to end. I forgot to add that there were nuts in the cookie. I'm usually not a fan of nuts in cookies, but the walnuts added a wonderful third dimension of taste and texture. My nutty friend Sara is in a benefit performance of "The Vagina Monologues." At the performances they sell chocolate vagina lollipops. I'm glad I ate the cookie because I'm not so in touch with milk chocolate vaginas to be licking one on a stick. I prefer dark chocolate. But if you want one go to www.vaginavlog.com or go to the play on Tuesday, all proceeds go to a nonprofit women's group.

Levain

Levain
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Today I visited my buddy Brittany on the Upper West Side. Britt is going places quickly - she will soon be a famous foodinista. The book she recipe-tested and hand modeled in France, "The Good Cook" by Anne Willan is out in bookstores now. Check it out, it's really great. We had brunch at an average brunch/tapas spot. Nothing to write home about, but the roasted potatoes were pretty good. I needed a little something sweet to end our time together so Britt took me over to Levain (74th& Amsterdam). Levain, which is French for yeast,is known for its bread. Britt said the raisin walnut ($5.50) is awesome. I'll have to take her word for it because I was more interested in their humongous cookies and the baked jelly doughnut ($2). I got both, but I ate the doughnut first. Britt warned me that a lot of people don't like it, but she digs it. She said it reminded her of a brioche without the butter or eggs. I can understand why some folks wouldn't like it. It is indeed doughy, but in a sourdoughy kind of way. The dough has a tartness of flavor that is unexpected. I didn't mind it, but I didn't love it and it didn't satiate the buttery sinfulness that I craved.

Carol's compost

Carol's compost
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

This Saturday, I visited my friend Carol in Connecticut. Whenever I visit Carol, we go to a little take out restaurant, Layla's Falafel (2088 Black Rock Tpke., Fairfield). Dino, the owner, makes fabulous Mediterranean food. The baba ganoush is the best I've tasted. It has a smoky flavor from the roasted eggplant that makes you want to lick the plate. I'd never had kibbie before, which is bulgar wheat around a mix of ground beef and pine nuts then fried into a ball. Until Dino's, I haven't had any better.
Carol's house provides a retreat from the hustle of the city and it's only an hour or so away. We went on a nature walk and stirred her compost heap. I thought that the pile would stink, but it doesn't. I think her compost container helps. It's from Smith and Hawkin. She uses the dirt for planting herbs in a big metal pail. Aren't you impressed with Carol? If you don't have a yard to compost in, remember the Union Square Greenmarket will take your biodegradable food scraps Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8-6pm. For more information, talk to Christina at the compost center at the Greenmarket or check out this web site: http://www.nyccompost.org/resources/organizations.html. Or better yet, come to the screening of our second show on Monday May 2. It's going to be at the bar on Bowery and 1st St., Slainte. More on this later|.

Reliable breakfast

breakfast
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

I realized I didn't talk about the food at Cheyenne Diner. The food is okay. The bacon was fried satisyingly hard, the white toast was juicy from all the butter dabbed on to it and the eggs were runny the way I like them. The potatoes were average, but I don't always go to a diner for the food, I go there because of the atmosphere. I never feel self conscious eating alone at the bar in a diner. You're supposed to pretend you're in Hopper's Nighthawks, and I love that. You're allowed to feel a little melancholy as you stir your third coffee refill, but then, it's a place to make those little observations about life that you might miss during the busy work week. How did that fry cook pile a huge mountain of onions onto such a small plate? Why are those parents letting their kid eat the free butter mints when he didn't finish his breakfast? What did the old gent say was the reason he only comes to the diner on the weekend? When you're in a diner, time seems to slow down. And in this crazy fast world, that's a good thing in my book.

Cheyenne Diner

cheyenne
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

I've been doing some picture research at work on diner interiors. Check out this excellent website www.dinercity.com for more info. It made me realize that I just don't eat at diners enough. I wish Jones Diner was still around, but it was razed a couple of years ago, probably for a condo. They had great limeade. But I digress. While running an errand at B&H, I remembered how I've been meaning to eat at the Cheyenne Diner (411 9th Ave @ 33rd St.). Cheyenne sports a great neon sign and a painted black and white exterior. Inside there are some tables and chairs, but I like the action at the counter. Unfortunately the grill isn't directly in front of the bar, but I could still see the grill man. It's an art to cook in such a small space.

jojos

jojos
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Tonight I wasn't very hungry because I had a great Greek lunch at work (Uncle Nick's 9th between 50th &51st). But I felt like munching on something so I tried the pizza place across from my friend's palatial apartment in Chelsea. Belle Napoli (7th Ave bw 23rd & 24th St.) is your run of the mill pizza place, but they have a little item called the jojo ($1.10), which is basically left over meats, cheese, onion and pizza dough wrapped in a pinwheel. I guess it's not very appealing to say left over and I'm just assuming it is, but I like to see such economical use of food. I found some old Smirnoff malt beverage in Laura's fridge and had a fine Friday night meal. Okay, it was a little sad, but I was tired.