The Culinary Event of the Year!!!

I should have started training for the Saturday night eating extravaganza that was Jessica and Ian's wedding. There was so much food and all of it was amazing. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of photos because it was all romantical and candlelit. The paparazzi were there and had busted out their strobe light flashes, so I was a bit blind, too. I didn't get any pics of the hors d'oeuvres because I was too busy scarfing them down. I remember it all though, like it was Saturday...
We started with drinks, of course. Beth and I decided to suck down soda with Skyy Vodka Citrus. Crisp and palette cleansing, I wanted all my attention to be on the food. This actually turned out to be my downfall, I didn't think about how dinner would be served with wine, I should have started with wine. Oh well, I'm sure it won't be the last time I mix drinks...
My friends and I stationed ourselves near the drinks table and the door where we thought the food would come out. And did it ever! My first bite was a mussel with a green onion garnish. Delicate tasting, but small and funky breath making. Thank goodness for the chicken on a stick. Whoah! That was no chicken, it was swordfish. I was impressed at how well it held up on the stick without being dry. The tomato based couli or relish on top added a nice acidity to the dense fish. Because this was a classy affair, grilled shrimp was served. I loved how the tail shell was removed perfectly. But my favorite snack was the sausage stuffed fried olive. I love anything fried, salty and mouth poppable. Miryam and Julie both loved the fig and prociutto pizza type flat bread. I'm sure Jessie had Carissa in mind for what we called the beet toast — lovely diced golden beets on little toast rounds and drizzled with a light goat cheese sauce. There was another veggie treat of mozzarella with roasted red pepper on a cracker type flat bread. By this time, we were sufficiently lubricated with food, drink and small talk when the Secret Service of the W Hotel ushered us back into the ballroom, which they called the Great Room. And yeah, the W really has Secret Service, they had little microphones in the jacket sleeves and headset with curly cords behind their ears.
The tables were gorgeous with candles, orange poppy flowers and some other kinds of arrangements. But the most beautiful items were the little dishes of whole olives and olive spreads (tapenades, if you're fancy). I admit, I didn't eat a lot of that because I was all over the spinach spread. This was a brilliant choice by Jessica who is famous for having a yummy spinach dip at all of her house parties. In fact, she met Ian at one of those birthday parties where she had that dip. Maybe she can learn how to make this new spinach dip because I loved it so much I want to marry it. The spinach was suspended in some silky creamy goodness. Cream, perhaps? I dunno because I was pretty tipsy at this point. Spread onto the pillowy squares of caramelized onion focaccia or the crunch buttery pita chips, it was like heaven. We took a bunch of crazy pictures, watch the newly married couple dance, drank tons of wine, and then the most perfect Caesar salads came out. They were simply constructed plates of Romaine lettuce, parmesan chunks and the dressing. I have to admit, by this time I was stuffed. I cursed myself for not wearing my stretch black dress instead of the hot pink number that was hurting my ribs. I thought this dress would be good, because my gut was artfully hidden under some pleats. I never thought that my ribs would expand with food. Silly me! Pig ribs have plenty of meat and fat stuck on them.
But I trudged on, I had asked Jessica what to get after she had her sample tasting a month ago, she suggested the steak. It was awesome. A huge chunk of tender red meat on a bed of succulent spinach served with the most amazing invention ever. Jessica called it a cheesy rice bomb, it was a perfect square of cheese rice and then baked till it was golden brown. If you're on deathrow, I would highly recommend this dish. If you like fish, as Miryam ordered, it was a nice choice as well. That's her hair pictured above, I had to crop her face out. Sorry, M! Carissa loved her dish of layered veggies and cheesy rice bomb so much that she didn't even use utensils! She just picked it up with her tongue.
I'm not done yet. For dessert, you won't believe how many desserts we were served. We had a refreshing lemon cake with berries, a chocolate layer cake, tiny treats on a silver plate. They weren't really petit fours because they weren't those heavy old wet mini cakes you would expect. Instead there was a tiny little hand made oreo, toasted coconut marshmallows, little creamy tarts, baby rice krispie treats and something else that was square and yummy. At this point I was in a food coma. I seriously could not move, especially not to dance. That's when I knew I had to catch a cab and pass out. I was way too blissed out. But I didn't forget my cupcakes. I actually snagged two.
The next day, I was worried the cake would be dried out, but I was totally wrong. I sort of gobbled the cream cheese frosting and moist carrot cake, so i sampled the other cupcake which turned out to be pistachio! My favorite. I am trying to save the rest of that one for later when I really need a fix because I decided after this huge feast, I might need to reign my eating in a little bit. Congratulations Jessica and Ian! Thank you for inviting me to your wonderful wedding.

Have dinner with my family

Here's the second part of dinner with my fam in Texas. The last post and this one were in a longer video, but it went over my one minute and youtube's 100 mb limit. I still had to use some program to compress it further, so the image quality is well, rather bit mappy. Watch out, you won't be able to get the song out of your head!

Banchan Primer

When I was in Texas for Christmas, I filmed my family eating dinner at a Korean housemade tofu place. My intention was to make a little video about it which I finally did this weekend, but it was bigger than the 100 MB than youtube allows. So I divided the piece into two, compressed one of them, and I'll post the longer version shortly.
This first part is a short description of the banchan we got at the restaurant. Banchan are the side dishes that come with a Korean meal. Here in NYC, when I go to a Korean restaurant, I get angry if the banchan cost extra. Generally the hipster Korean places like Do Hwa (55 Carmine bw Bedford & 7th Ave.) charge extra for sides and even rice! They should be free and if you want more, you should get more! I have to admit though, I'm a little embarrassed when my mom asks for a 3rd refill of something. Especially if we haven't finished it in the first place.
Banchan aren't always the same every time you go to a restaurant. One hopes the restaurant makes their own, but you never know. It's a lot of work so maybe they have a vendor that does the work for them. Restaurant's commonly serve some kind of vegetable namul which I think means seasoned salad or something like that. Spinach, fiddleheads or bean sprout namul generally contains soy, vinegar, sesame oil. Obviously if there's something in a red sauce, it's spiced with kochujang, Korean hot pepper paste. My favorite banchan not pictured are dried anchovies, black beans, and my favorite is something I don't see often enough, potatoes in soy and jalepeno.
I should explain something, when my mom talks about going to the mountain to pick fiddleheads, this happened when we were growing up. We'd be in the '79 black Econoline van on one of the endless drives my parents liked to take and they would stop in the springtime and make us pick the young fern shoots (I've seen them called fern bracken as well) that grew on the side of the road. That was embarrassing at the time, too. Now, I think it's kind of charming.

Let's Make a Deal

The movie I work for is a remake of the German film, "Mostly Martha." That title won't work because there can only be one Martha, and she's got her own show. So for now we're called the "Untitled Scott Hicks Film" named after the director. I'm part of the art department, and we want to call it "Quiche Me Kate" because the chef character is called Kate. No one listens to us, though. I thought about blogging a picture of Catherine Zeta Jones so more people would look at the blog, but I'd get fired. Besides, I don't have any pics of her anyway.
I just wanted to tell you about that because I will be posting some fun fake food stuff from the property department when I get a chance. In fact, the hospital trays that props got from this plastics company, Borda Products, reminded me of a good lunch special at Thailand Cafe (95 2nd ave. bw E.5th & 6th St.) For years the special was $4.95. It's currently a buck more, but it's still a good value. Granted, it IS lunch, so it's not a ton of food, but it's enough to keep you going until snack time. The soup is a little sour for me, but everything else I've had there is tasty. Pictured above are Tofu Penang and Chicken Rama. I can't decide what's cooler the trays or the price!

Breakfast with Britt

Britt and I met up at the Time Warner mall for coffee (2bucks for a small but with a nifty lid) at the newly opened Bouchon Bakery. We split the almond brioche ($2.95) which is essentially a thick slice of a bread that could almost pass for poundcake it's so dense and lusciously slathered with almond paste and layered with more almonds on top. It was perfect as I'm sure the rest of the baked goods and desserts are. The bakery is owned by Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame, so it's also pricey. A cheaper option is to go to the basement and get stuff at Whole Foods, but then you wouldn't be able to sit above all the riffraff and eat off a silver tray.
A video follows of Britt showing off her skills. I wish the resolution was higher on youtube, and I won't be using that typewriter effect again!

What are you eating for lunch?

Our production office is located across from Cafe Brazil which I thought for a while was some kind of Brazilian immigrant or health agency. The sign has a very short "f" which looks like an "r" from far away. The cafe which is more of a lunch counter is tiny. In fact, it used to be a storage space. They serve hot sandwiches that range in price from $3.50 to $5.00. Their signature sandwich is called the #1 Special Barbecue. It's a really big bun with your choice of chicken or steak, ham, mozzarella, bacon, eggs, corn, potato sticks, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. It's a lot of sandwich for only $6 which I've actually not eaten. I've had the $5 Tropical Chicken with chicken, mozzarella, corn, potato sticks, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and pineapple. Yes, pineapple. Don't knock it, the sweet ring adds some juice to the chicken which bordered on dry.
Cafe Brazil also serves lunch specials with rice and beans or a little salad. Before 4 pm, the lunch special cost $6.50 to $7; after 4pm, they increase by a dollar or two. I've had the the fish Milanese, which is a fried whitefish filet served with skinny French fries or fried yucca which is a lot like potato. This fish would have been great as a sandwich. There was a light coating of panko breadcrumbs which added a nice crunch and the fish itself was mild and perfectly tender. The collard greens are also very good. They are the healthy type of greens, thinly sliced and quick cooked to retain their bright green color. Their coffee is also good. I haven't eaten their $7 Friday special, feijoada, which is like a Brazilian cassoulet, but Diana, the fun costume assistant on the movie we work for has. She stayed with friends in Brazil, so she's eaten the real deal. In this video she reviews the feijoada.
Oh, and just for the record, Diana wanted me to clarify that the difference between costume and wardrobe is the costume peeps pick out the clothes and figure out the creative concepts, while wardrobe folks deal with the onset day to day like cleaning, dressing, and sewing.

Replacing Joe with Nomad

nomad
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

So this is the restaurant that replaced my beloved Joe's Pizza on 2nd Ave. bw East 4th and 5th St. It's North African food. I looked at the menu and there were brochettes (fancy for kabobs) for 14 or 15 bucks. I'll eat there eventually.

Everybody's Doing It

Carissa and I went to the Deitch Projects (18 Wooster St.) opening for the new group show on Friday. We wanted to roll down the hill while the grass was still fresh and alive. Carissa's company provided the sod and grass, and I'm a big fan of Liza Lou who has a small piece in the show. There's another piece located in the basement and one involving water that's good, but the rest of it, is sorta, eh.
After the show we were hungry. Only special people like Yoko Ono got wine in plastic cups, so we headed over to Hampton Chutney (68 Prince) to split a dosa. We ordered the #7 dosa. The filling was a nice mix of sweet squash, savory cheese, mushrooms, and arugula for color and bite. The crispy crepe adds great crunchy texture as well as dramatic presentation. It's so big that it's a great meal to share and have money left over for drinks and dessert! I had the chai and Carrissa had the orange blossom lemonade or iced tea. I can't remember, but I do remember the cream cheese brownie and cookie! The brownie was only $1.50 and cookie for 75¢!
This is my first video for the web. Cut me some slack! Video effects are fun!

Can we eat these?

yikes
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Ankle sock wearing APOC Matt forwarded this link to me. It's fascinating!
Yikes!

Movie Stars

porkproduct
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Have you ever passed by a movie set on the streets of NYC? Weren't you tempted to eat order an egg sammy off of the catering truck? Or swipe an apple from the craft service table? These guys actually did it. I met them taking food from our catering truck around 5 am yesterday. To be fair, maybe they're crew. After all, a PA asked if I was crew because she didn't recognize me, and I was taking pictures. I assured her I worked in the office space and had no pics of the movie star. But check out the guy with the insane glint in his eye. He's no teamster! He was wearing a long leather coat worn ragged at the bottom with a denim vest over it. He said he was the forklift driver.
As for the food, my breakfast burrito with egg and cheese was good. The eggs were fluffy and there must have been five scrambled in the warm tortilla. I like a little toasty grilling to my tortilla, so I tucked in a few pieces of this awesome thick cut bacon. There were some more chafing dishes filled with oatmeal, potatoes and my favorite, corn beef hash from a can with eggs on top! Later on, thick hot chocolate was passed around to keep us warm. It was City Bakery style, pepped up with cayenne, vanilla, and hazelnut. Yum!

More talk about tamales

The first week of shooting on the movie I'm employed by is almost over. I haven't had much time to blog this week, but I always make plenty of time to eat! A few thoughts about tamales before I hit the hay. Matamoros on Bedford in Williamsburg is closing due to a rent hike. This is a real bummer because it's a great source for delicious and cheap tamales and other Mexican treats in Hipsterville. Go there before it's too late!
I didn't know how much I thought about tamales until this week. One afternoon we were shooting near Billy's Bakery on 21st St. and 8th Ave. I had to run over to the set to drop something off, and as I was looking for a PA, I noticed there was a man selling tamales on 9th Ave. Unfortunately I didn't have any money, so I couldn't buy one. I was really bummed because the craft service tables weren't looking so hot. The production should have hired the tamale man.
I had to go to the carwash to get our car cleaned, and I was talking to the guy vacuuming the foot rugs. I was talking to him about the tamale lady and how I missed her one Friday morning and my whole day was a ruined. He told me that she actually stops by the car wash more than just Fridays!
But the best discovery wasn't my own. Our production secretary is my new best friend because she has bested me as tamale dealer. Lovely Liu lives in Spanish Harlem and must take a crosstown bus to the subway. She noted that there were ladies around her stop with coolers, but she didn't know what was in them until one day as she boarded the M116 and saw someone eating a tamale. Putting 2 and 2 together, the very next day she got herself a bag of dollar tamales and she was kind enough to get me one. I have to say, her goods are just a bit better than mine because these tamales are muy picante! I wonder if the Soho tamale dealer makes hers with the mild mole sauce because the downtown Soho crowd has a blander palate than Spanish Harlem. Nonetheless, on a cold day like the past few we've had, they really hit the spot. Check out the tucking technique. Isn't it a sight of perfection?