Birthday Dinner 2009 at Buddakan

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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....

Monday, August 9, 2010

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."

Friday, July 9, 2010

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....

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

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.
















Saturday, April 10, 2010

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.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Dark and Stormy

The Dark and Stormy is my favorite go-to cocktail when having a few friends over or even those many nights when I drink by myself. Dark and Stormy also happens to be one of my many nicknames.

It's extremely simple to make:

- Fill a tall glass with ice
- squeeze in half a lime (cut into fourths for effect)
- Fill with half a bottle or can of Ginger Beer (Barritts is the best)
- Top off with Goslings Dark Rum

Enjoy.



Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Blog: Chicago Edition

Chicago has never had an inferiority complex. But the fact that I even bring that up is a nod to the way people (New Yorkers especially) view Chicago compared to New York. Despite its billing as "the second city" there is no trace of insecurity in the restaurant and bar scene. As a current New Yorker but always Chicagoan, I have a unique viewpoint. I have to say, I had some of the best food and drink in Chicago this weekend that I've had in quite some time.

Friday night - Met some friends for a drink at Paul Kahan's newest bar/restaurant called Big Star. Kahan is the man behind some of the city's best restaurants (Avec, Blackbird, the Publican) and one of my favorite bars (the Violet Hour). I had a Bakersfield Buck, which was basically bourbon, lime and ginger beer. Pretty awesome. The smoothness of the bourbon, the spice of the ginger and the freshness of the lime were great together. This place also has a late night taco window outside the door which is pretty amazing. I was very tempted by the pork belly taco option, but we had a culinary adventure awaiting us down the road....

Dinner was at Mado. As my friend Mike puts it, "the nose to tail, eat the whole animal place all the foodies are talking about." Plus, another one of the finest features of Chicago dining, it was BYOB!


It was a place meant for sharing so we started with a bunch of antipasti: brandade with toasted country bread, flatbread with bacon and arugula, some roasted beets with goat cheese and walnuts and fried farm egg bruschetta with smoked paprika butter. The bruschetta was the star. The runny egg on top went perfectly with the spicy/smoky toasted bread underneath. Off to a good start.


For entrees we again shared a few items with some sides. We had the hangar steak with gorgonzola polenta, morcilla (blood sausage) with mashed turnips and breadcrumb salsa, risotto with braised pork ribs, and pig's head stew with white beans, greens and cotechino sausage. Plus sides of polenta and crispy potatoes which were forgettable. By this point we had drank about a bottle of wine each and so I forgot to take pictures. However, I will tell you that the pig's head stew was one of the best things I've eaten in a while. The meat was super tender and flavorful and the beans were a great complement. Plus there was sausage in it. You can never go wrong with extra pork. I found the beans to be a little al dente, but that was my only complaint. The rest of the entrees were all spectacular. Especially the blood sausage with mashed turnips. I've had blood sausage in the UK and Ireland before, but this was by far the best I've had. Spicy and toothsome (?). We had some desserts which were also really good. Pistachio cookies, migas bark, apple crisp and some ginger cake. Again no pictures, was getting drunker.




Things were getting pretty sloppy at this point and Arnie was swearing a lot, so we headed down the street to the next place. I don't really remember the name, but I remember the drinks - $2 PBRs! That's how much a bottle of water costs in New York. For that price, I should be brushing my teeth with PBR.... I love Chicago.


Saturday night - Gillian made it into town and pre-dinner we headed to Nomi for a drink. Nomi is a restaurant that basically hangs off the Park Hyatt building and looks over Michigan avenue. It easily has the best combination of restaurant and view in the city and is worth the trip if even just for a drink. I had a great cocktail called the Winter Sour. Delicious and creamy.


Dinner was incredible. We went to the Publican, another Paul Kahan place. I really enjoyed my meal at Mado, but Publican blew it out of the water. I haven't had a dining experience like this since the first time I ate at Momofuku. Enlightening. This guy also has a healthy obsession with pigs as evidenced by the restaurant's decor.






We started with a selection of three hams (including Jamon Iberico), Mussels and Pork Rinds. The hams were great but relatively standard. The Iberico was easily the best of the three and it was all served with bread and goat butter. Nice. I'm not a huge mussels fan, but this version may have changed my mind. The menu said that the dish was just mussels, butter and celery, but there must have been some crack mixed in there. The sauce was so good I actually thought about picking up the huge metal pot and drinking it. Finally, the pork rinds were crispy with a spicy cheesy powder on them. Kind of like amazing Cheetos.


We then had the sweetbreads, country ribs, sides of frites with fried eggs on top and cauliflower au gratin. I would say we went a little overboard. There were three of us but we ordered for at least five. My brother took home a lot of leftovers....


The sweetbreads were perfect. A small portion, which I think is ideal for sweetbreads, lightly fried and served with some greens. The cauliflower au gratin was also tasty. The stars of the main course however, were the country ribs and the frites. The country ribs were basically like regular ribs only much meatier. It was kind of like a really juicy, barebecued pork chop. The barbecue sauce was subtle, but added the perfect amount of smokiness and sweetness. The frites, on the other hand, were not at all subtle. Duck-fat fried and served with two eggs on top? It doesn't get much more decadent than that. The only problem was that it was missing a vital ingredient: a condiment. We resolved that issue straight away and were provided with an aioli.


Lastly, dessert. At this point I wasn't really hungry, but I had heard you have to order the waffle. I was right, you have to order it. It was the best part of the meal. Light and airy with some honey butter and blueberries on top. I loved it. Amazing dessert.


Overall, a great weekend of dining and drinking with friends and family. Now, I'm not saying Chicago is better than New York or vice versa, I'm just saying that East Coasters should not be so quick to disregard the middle of the country when it comes to restaurants and bars. I consider myself somewhat of an expert and there really are some eye-opening experiences to be had in Chicago. Leave some comments and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Event Planning

For all of my 5 followers out there, let me give you an itinerary for a night out:

1. Leave work early, preferably before 5
2. Head down to the Kips Bay AMC Theatre at 32nd st and 2nd ave (may substitute any movie theater) and buy tickets for Sherlock Holmes (may substitute any movie)
3. In the five minutes before the movie is going to start, run next door to Waterfront Ale House and have a glass of Laphroaig 10 year (may not substitute any drink)
4. Enter theater just as the movie and your buzz are starting
5. Enjoy movie
6. Leave movie and walk briskly downtown to Momofuku Milk Bar at 13th st and 2nd ave
7. Eat a Pork Bun and 85-cent day old cookie
8. Walk a few blocks to PDT, sit under a stuffed Grizzly Bear wearing a tie, and have a bacon-infused Bourbon drink or some type of Fizz and enjoy a Wylie Dufresne designed hot dog
9. Head uptown to Mermaid Inn for a dinner with your significant others, where you eat a nice shrimp sandwich and realize you are passionate, false and fickle all "rolled" into one
10. Revel in a new Monday night tradition





Sunday, January 10, 2010

Last week's restaurant visits

So after a New Years weekend in Boston we returned to New York with some free time this week. On Tuesday we finally got in to see the 3D Imax showing of Avatar. Not a great script/story, but the images and the 3D technology were pretty spectacular. Equally spectacular was our post-movie meal: Red Lobster. I am engaged to a girl from Ireland and she isn't quite familiar with the American chain restaurant fascination. We've made it to quite a few, but Red Lobster was the seafood jewel in the crown of mediocre, mass-produced, family restaurants. I would love to say it was better than expected, but in the end, it was Red Lobster. The cheddar biscuits were pretty good, but otherwise, the rest of the seafood was passable.



Thursday night was a long-awaited visit to DBGB in the East Village. Cool space and a very hip crowd. Felt out of place for a few seconds but then I remembered who I was. The bar had their own version of one of the newest cocktail trends in the city: the jalapeno-infused tequila drink. It was great. We had a few fancy sausages which were really good but some soggy fries which were disappointing.



Saturday night was Cabrito. This is one of my new favorites in the city. By the same people that run Fatty Crab, Cabrito is a low-key, excellent Mexican restaurant with good drinks. The name means "baby goat" which is what I would like to name my first child. We started with some fish and goat belly tacos which were really good. Spicy proteins with fresh vegetables. Our main courses were red chili short ribs and the restaurant's namesake, the cabrito. The short ribs came in the soupy, spicy, red chili sauce that it was braised in. The meat itself was super-tender, not too fatty and perfect in a tortilla with some of the accompanying crema. The cabrito was equally fantastic. Apparently rubbed with garlic, sour orange and chili and then roasted, it was flavorful, the right amount of gamey and had a nice crispy crust to it. I added some of the chili sauce to it and it was perfect. Great meal. Also a good place for a group so you can share a few dishes.
After dinner, Gillian, Caroline and I went a few doors down to this newish dessert/drinks place called Sweet Revenge. Very cool place with beer, wine and lots of desserts. Their cupcakes are their specialty and it's hard to turn down a cupcake after a Vesper, some really good scotch, a great dinner and few more drinks. We had their version of a red velvet and an ice cream sandwich. A quality nightcap.





To end the week, we headed up to Windham for a day of skiing on Sunday and on the way back hit up one of our favorites, the Cheesecake Factory. We originally had a more ambitious plan for dinner back in the city, but we figured we were still wearing our ski gear and we didn't want to be judged. As usual, the Cheesecake Factory delivered. We had a group of 7 people, so we shared a bunch of stuff, and all of it was consistent and good. Our favorites were on the table: the thai lettuce wraps, the bang bang chicken and shrimp and the red velvet cheesecake for dessert. We came home stuffed and happy. The perfect end to a great week of dining and enjoying life.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Always Use a Condiment

I love condiments. I originally wanted to write a coffee table book about condiments and use the above title, but I decided to be a little less ambitious and start a blog. I figured it was about time that I contributed something back to the Internet community...

Favorite condiments:

Green sauce at Pio Pio in NYC - spicy, creamy, the perfect complement to the Peruvian chicken at Pio Pio. Not worth eating the chicken if you don't have the green sauce - my definition of the ideal condiment. I've tried re-creating this condiment at home - no dice.

Patatas Bravas sauce at Mercat in NYC - this is the best patatas bravas I've ever had (including in Spain). I always ask for extra and I put it on most of the things we order there.

Sweet garlic "house sauce" at Caracas Arepas in NYC - delicious and you can buy it for $8 per bottle

Chimichurri sauce at Tango Sur in Chicago - available at one of my favorite restaurants in my hometown (and it's BYOB)

Garlic/Pepper/Ranch-style sauce at Houston's - like a ranch sauce but with something extra. Perfect with french fries.

Honey Mustard sauce at Wendy's - don't knock it until you try it. Can't have the chicken nuggets without it.