Return of the Mack? Tokyo? Whisky in a dark bar?? All of my favorite things. I live here now. 

Summer 2010 In Review

This was an amazing summer of eating and drinking. One of my best friends, Neil Shah, was doing an internship in town and we made our way through the best of what the city has to offer in terms of gluttonous entertainment. To follow are some of the best of these experiences....

One of the best text messages one can receive

"Hey Man, any interest in going to Momofuku Ko on Wednesday night at 9:20pm?"

Yes

Eight Drinks, Four Cups

Neil and I decided to go to the Arcade Fire concert this past summer. About three hours before the show, Neil proclaimed, "I need to get trashed at this concert." Now, being someone who is loath to deny a literal and metaphysical "thirst," I was happy to comply.
After passing countless beer stands, we finally found the only real bar in madison square garden. As we waited in a line of about fifty people, we looked at each other and knew what to do. At the front of the line we each order two double cocktails. The bill was $80. We were incredulous. The waitress looked at us and said, "What do you expect? 8 drinks, 4 cups."

The Vin Gin Fizz

I like drinks. I like to order them, I like to make them and I like to drink them. With the help of my friend John, I have developed a drink I like to call the Vin Gin Fizz.

Juice of 1/2 Lime

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

1 egg white

1 part simple syrup

2 parts Gin

Ice

Put all of that stuff into a shaker. Shake it really hard and well for about 2 minutes and then strain into a glass. You can serve it up or with some ice. Easy and great. Don't worry about the egg white, Salmonella is usually a self-limited illness....

Culinary Super Bowl

JB and I had an idea for a culinary super bowl of sorts. We both thoroughly enjoy David Chang and had recently read his cookbook. Inside we found a recipe for Bo Ssam - roasted pork shoulder. We decided this had to be done. No matter the level of difficulty and time commitment involved, we were going to make this happen. We decided Super Bowl Sunday would be the perfect venue for a slow roasted pork shoulder feast.

It's an easy recipe - brine in sugar and salt and roast low and slow for about six hours. At the end, put some more brown sugar on top and glaze it under the broiler. Then serve with lettuce cups, steamed buns and some pickled cucumbers. Delicious.

Ma new favorite lunch spot

I haven't posted anything in a while, but I had to share a recent dining experience with all of my faithful followers.
David Chang officially opened a new restaurant in Midtown this week called Má Pêche. It's only open for lunch at the moment, but G and I went on Thursday, post-call. That's really the best part about taking call - being able to check out awesome restaurants for lunch. And the whole being really, really tired thing.
We have been hearing about this place for about six months and actually were able to sample the menu in the lobby of the adjoining Chambers Hotel. We had some nice sandwiches and a decent cocktail that time, but it was nothing like actually eating at the restaurant. After checking in, you head downstairs into the dining room. The place is very industrial-feeling, with concrete pillars and walls covered with large beige, backlit sheets. The place also has really high ceilings, so it kind of felt like an art gallery or museum. One extremely cool feature is the painting of guys on ATVs wearing masks from the movie The Royal Tenenbaums (it's the actual painting on loan from Wes Anderson). Overall, an interesting feel, but much, much different than the East Village Chang spots. The crowd was also decidedly different. I'm not quite sure if they were cool enough to be dining with me. I'll be interested to see what it's like for dinner...



The drinks. They had a nice cocktail list on hand with a bunch of wines by the glass (including Turley). I had a short island, which is basically like a long island ice tea except in a small glass and made with homemade cola syrup instead of soda. Pretty good.



The food. The food was awesome. We had the rice noodles with spicy pork and herbs and the steak frites. The rice noodles were very Korean and similar to the amazing "pork sausage and rice cakes" dish at Ssam Bar. We added a little Sriracha to it and it was perfect.
The steak frites was very interesting. First of all, the steak was some special, secret cut called the Juliet that comes from the cow's shoulder. Whatever, it was basted with butter so I didn't really care where it came from. The steak was perfectly cooked with a tasty aioli-type condiment on the side. The frites were actually rice-based and looked like polenta fries, but tasted more like popcorn. Very interesting and a nice complement to the noodle dish.



Maybe the best part about the whole experience is the new branch of the Milk Bar in the lobby of the restaurant. On the way out, we grabbed one of their chocolate cookies for the road. They also serve a menu of sandwiches and breads and a whole assortment of other to-go items, which, if I worked in Midtown, I would probably work my way through in about a week.



All in all, awesome food and convenient location, but different than the David Chang dining experience I'm used to. Mixing Asian and French flavors is an interesting concept and I am certainly excited to explore the menu. There were some snail and tripe dishes that looked really interesting that I would like to try on a more adventurous day. Definitely one of the better lunch options out there, but the jury is definitely still out on whether it can live up to the Ssam Bar standard. Stay tuned.