Fusion

American Nouveau / dinner / French / Fusion / Japanese / Korean / nyc — 1 Comment
23
Apr 11

Má Pêche: Beef 7 Ways – A Meat Feast

Má Pêche, the 4th restaurant of David Chang’s empire, is his first midtown restaurant located in the Chambers Hotel.  The “boeuf sept façons” better known as “beef seven ways” meal is…intense. Boy, if you love meat you will love this meal.  Similar to his other food feasts, this meal can feed up to 10 people and requires a minimum of 4…and trust me, you will want and need all 10 people to be there considering they give you TONS of meat.

First course featured the tongue made into a salad comprised of basil, tatsoi, and plum vinaigrette. I was VERY impressed with this dish because it made me want to eat tongue! All the flavors melded together very nicely, and the tongue was sliced thin and was very tender.

Along with the salad was the wagyu served with ginger, scallion, and radish. To be honest, you can’t go wrong with wagyu but they did a great job highlighting the meat itself.  Oh the wagyu meat definitely melted in my mouth…gotta love that fat.

What is in this plate o’meat? There was sausage made of lemongrass, thai basil, and shallots, and the Cote de Boeuf which has butter, thyme, and garlic.  I must say, both of these dishes were REALLY good.  The sausage was well flavored and well spiced. The cote de boeuf was nicely cooked, tender and perfectly juicy.

Oxtail was cooked with soy, sherry, and apple juice which made it tender and slightly sweet. I could only eat once piece at this point but it was very good. The meat fell off the oxtail and had very good flavor.

And then there’s the SHANK. Not sure if you could tell how large this shank is, but it was huge. The shank came with the bone and served with crab paste, onion, and chili. The more impressive part of this dish was the size of it rather than the taste. It was the hurdle and if you and your friends could conquer it, more power to you all. We didn’t want to scoffed by the waitress, so all the guys managed to muster more stomach room and finished the shank.

The last course, the consommé with cilantro, basil, and lime reminded me of pho broth. I was just glad that this wasn’t something I needed to chew.

All in all, it was a memorable meal – a meat feast. There were definitely some highlights and requires intense eating skills from everyone to finish it all. Make sure to bring a group of friends that are ready to eat their faces off.

Má Pêche
15 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 757-5878

Fusion / Italian / Japanese / Recipe — No Comments
2
Jun 10

My Attempt at Spaghetti Mentaiko (Spicy Cod Roe)

After trying a bunch of versions of spaghetti mentaiko, I decided to try making my own!  My cooking skills were put to the test.  I’m glad to say that I created something that actually tasted really good. In fact, I am bold enough to say that it is better than or at least comparable to the spaghetti mentaiko I have had in the city.

So what is the secret? Being that it is a pretty simple dish, it is about finding the perfect combination of your ingredients.

Serves 2 people

1/2 box of spaghetti
2 sacks of spicy cod roe (mentaiko)
1 Tablespoon of butter
1-1/2 Tablespoons of Japanese mayonnaise
1/4 sheet of Nori (dried seaweed), cut into thin strips

1. Start boiling water for your spaghetti in a pot, add salt to the water
2. In a bowl, cut the casings of each mentaiko and gently scrape / squeeze out the spicy roe
3. Add the mayonnaise to the spicy roe, mix thoroughly until mixture is a pale orange
4. Once the water is boiled, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente
5. Drain the pasta and toss with the butter until nicely coated
6. Incorporate the spicy roe mixture with the pasta
7. Top with strips of nori right before serving

Happy cooking! Let me know if you use this and enjoy the recipe!

dessert / Fusion / nyc — No Comments
21
May 10

DT Works: Dessert Freebies Are Wonderful

After hearing about the DT Works‘s free deal on Serious Eats, I quickly urged a friend to come with me to get some dessert. Not only was today a perfect day to grab some ice cream – 80 degree sunny, slightly windy weather – but it gave me the excuse to bike down to the Lower East Side on a weekday.

I got their Honey-Rosemary ice cream. It was slightly and perfectly sweet, and ended off with a fragrant rosemary flavor. This definitely satisfied my desire to eat something cold, creamy, and sweet.

Peering into the baked goods display, something caught my eye.

This is their Sesame Passion Fruit macaron. Personally speaking I felt like it was a bit sweet but definitely has strong sesame and passion fruit flavor. They have other macarons but I hope they aren’t as sweet as the ones I tried out today.

Anyway I’m glad I got to taste what these guys have been making after moving from a dessert truck to a store front. I just hope they continue to make good and tasty sweets while holding true to their old-time popular desserts.

DT Works
6 Clinton St
New York, NY  10002

Australian / dinner / Fusion / nyc — No Comments
3
Feb 10

Public: Fusion is the Name of the Game

Yup, I am reviewing another fusion restaurant. So finnnnne…maybe I go to more fusion restaurants than I would like to admit, but at least I am featuring GOOD places right? Anyway the point is that I was impressed by two things:

1.) the menu ingredients are very varied (i.e. wild boar, quail & foie gras, Tasmanian sea trout)
2.) the restaurant is really spacious and felt down-to-earth yet sophisticated

Now down to the stuff you’ve been waiting for…delicious food pictures.

Here we have the Grilled Scallops appetizer. This is served with sweet chili sauce, creme fraiche, and green plantain chips. I gotta say, there’s nothing better than a nicely grilled scallop, especially since it’s so meaty and has a smooth bite.

Snail and Oxtail Ravioli. Yup I had to try it…not only did it sound so intriguing to me, but it’s not a combination of meat that I have seen. It is served with pickled shiitake mushrooms, oven dried tomatoes, peashoots and smoked paprika oil. Some foodies would say that I “nommed nommed” and finished it easily. I enjoyed the vegetable : ravioli ratio AND the sauce totally enhanced flavors. I just wanted to say “can I have some mooorrreee?”

Lastly, and sadly I cannot seem to remember what this dish was…blame it on my horrible memory or the “al-al-al-al-alcohol”, but here’s a picture of it:

I cannot figure it out for the life of me. If any of you have an idea, PLEASE let me know, pretty please. Otherwise I might just shrivel up in frustration and agony in a corner of my small bedroom over a delicious dish I cannot remember. Yes, that is how serious I am. Leave a comment, email, SOMETHING.

Conclusion: It lives up to the Michelin Star ranking it received. Interesting dishes, comfortable and sophisticated atmosphere, and a friendly waitstaff. It is a great place for a date especially for a avid food fanatic.

Public
210 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 343-7011

dinner / Fusion / nyc / Queens — No Comments
24
Dec 09

Day: Rose House; Night: Buddakan

These two outings happened on different dates but they’re both memorable. Memorable = Post-Eligible. That’s right folks, I try to bring you the best of what I encounter as well as what I see. Not to mention it is in time to make a New Years Resolution: to blog more often. So…here goes!

Day: Rose House

After a nice dim sum meal with the family in Flushing aka. “China-in-New-York”, we decided to spend more time with each other at the Rose House located in Queens Crossing. They actually have locations all over Asia (definitely in Taiwan!), and they are now in Flushing too. You can basically order rose teas from polite waitresses. Well I decided to order this dessert along with a bunch of tea:

Ice Cream with Warm Waffles. Oh yes, it was pretty great – the combination of cold ice cream with warm, crispy waffles.

Conclusion: This place is not cheap for what you’re getting. Hopefully you can enjoy the atmosphere and believe what you’re paying is going into the floral couches and delicate teacups.

Rose House (in Queens Crossing)
136－17 39th Avenue
Flushing, NY 11355

Night: Buddakan

I remember running to meet my friend that night for drinks at Buddakan. I have never been there but heard a little bit about it so we decided to check it out together. As we pushed through various crowds that looked like they were attending corporate happy hours, we got to the bar to order drinks. I gotta say…they were delicious. They were able to mix beers with asian flavors pretty well. It went down my throat very smoothly. However, the longer we talked the more we got hungry so we decided to order some snacks, as pictured below:

Beef tartare with a sesame cracker. Not too bad.

Jade Shrimp Dumplings. We killed these pretty easily…

Conclusion: I would say this place is great for drinks and I’m still a bit undecided about the food. I think we need to go back again and have a real meal there.

Buddakan
75 West 16th St.
New York, NY 10011

American Traditional / Baked Goods / Fusion / Greek / lunch / nyc / snack — No Comments
21
Feb 09

A Slew of General Deliciousness

Okay since I am having trouble writing about ONE particular restaurant/bakery/eatery, I figure this entry can be about a myriad of places that have one common trait: tasty food. I will name some “must-haves” when in New York, though this definitely is not a complete list whatsoever.

What is this, you ask? Let me introduce to you the oatmeal raisin cookie from Levain Bakery. Trust me, it is as good as it looks. How many calories? WHO KNOWS, but who really cares? Once the buttery goodness enters your mouth, you will feel like all is well just like the Oracle said to Neo in The Matrix, “I promise by the time you’re done eating it, you’ll feel as right as rain“.

Can we say saaandwich? This is the Michigan #6 from Grey Dog Coffee. I love the thick bread combined with layers of grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, pesto, and roasted tomato. There is a perfect ratio of ingredients to bread, which is VERY important when it comes to having a good sandwich. As you chomp down on the sandwich, you first notice the lightly toasted yet soft bread. Then gradually hit the beefiness of the chicken and mozzarella. Lastly, the roasted tomato adds the silkiness and tartness of the sandwich. It is a voyage of great textures and tastes with every bite. Definitely two thumbs up!

A simple dessert but oh-so-tasty - Greek-style Yogurt with Honeyfrom Snack. I would say it is not just beautifully presented, but they allow you to put as much honey as you want to your Greek yogurt. I tend to add honey one spoonful at a time so I appreciate the option. A lot of restaurants put mounds of honey, but since you can adjust the amount at Snack, I am thoroughly satisfied with my Greek yogurt.

Lastly, I think this is just a funny looking piece of French toast…but hey, either way it’s edible right? This is the Japanese-style Brioche French Toast from Kyotofu. It is served with served with coffee shochu syrup and a side of kurobuta Berkshire sausage. Even though it may look good, I actually don’t remember it being very memorable or delicious which is kind of sad and disappointing. However, it is not too expensive and comes with a complimentary drink! Not to mention, how often do you see a cube-sized piece of French toast?

Conclusion: None of these places are very expensive so it is affordable to the average person. Even more importantly, these restaurants provide the city some really great cheap eats.

Location, location, location:
1. Levain Bakery
167 W. 74th St.
New York, NY 10023

2. Grey Dog Coffee
90 University Place
New York, NY 10003

3. Snack
105 Thompson St.
New York, NY 10012

4. Kyotofu
705 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019

American Traditional / dessert / dinner / Fusion / snack / travels — No Comments
10
Nov 08

Raleigh, NC…Is There a Food Scene?

To answer the question “Is there a food scene in Raleigh, NC?” I would venture to say…yes. Okay, it cannot compare to New York (obviously) but it’s certainly has made a mark on my mind to becoming a growing city with some yummy eats.

Sadly I don’t have pictures of the Carolinian pulled pork dish I had at The Pit, which is one of the featured BBQ joints at Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park in the summer. However, I do have a few memorable eats to mention:

This is the Pretty in Pink cupcake that is comprised of strawberry cake topped with strawberry buttercream. The cupcake rated satisfactory overall. In comparison to the multitude of cupcakes I’ve eaten, the cake was a bit too dry. The buttercream itself was great, but since I don’t really like huge buttercream ratio to cake, I took off most of the cream portion. However, this cupcake shop provides the up-and-coming city with some cupcake love. It’s real cute and make sure to get a punchcard! 10 cupcakes will get you one free.

The Cupcake Shoppe
104 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 821-4223

After my senior executive RAVED about this restaurant - An - I had high expectations. I quickly googled the restaurant and it was fusion Asian and American. Definitely was hesitant about this…as with many fusion cuisine I am wary.

This dish is called Crab Cakes in envelope, which has jumbo lump crab meat, edamame, taro, scallions, rice paper, napa cabbage, candied almond slaw, wasabi remoulade. Can we say lots of ingredients? But yes, it was good.

Com Tay Cam has salmon, zucchini, carrots, mushroom, scallion oil, sunny side up, jasmine rice cooked in a cast iron pot, with smoked garlic sauce. To tell you the truth I cannot recall if this was good or not, but at least it had a nice presentation…

Overall, this restaurant is pretty good for Raleigh. How would it fair in NY? I would say average. The decor in the place is real nice and they even have an outdoors area, so it can accommodate large parties. However going there with fellow co-workers, not to mention the bill was on the company, made it a lot nicer. Free good food. Can’t deny that.

An Restaurant
2800 Renaissance Park Pl
Cary, NC 27513
(919) 677-9229

dessert / dinner / Fusion / Japanese / nyc — No Comments
6
Jun 08

Lan: Fusion Japanese Done Well

I’m always hesitant about Japanese food in the city. There are a lot of Japanese restaurants out there, and majority of them I am not often too impressed with. Either the quality of fish is lacking (reflective in the price), or it’s so expensive that I wouldn’t dare step in (i.e. Maru, 15 East, Blue Ribbon Sushi, the list goes on…) so it leaves me at this weird middle place about Japanese.

Then you bring on FUSION. I’m always hesitant about this idea of fusing two different cuisines. It’s hard to master one cuisine, not to mention incorporating another one…can a restaurant really do that well? I always see fusion = japanese + chinese + korean = not good.

However my friend Alex wanted to try this place and I’ve always passed it when I was at NYU so I said, “Why not? I’m a working woman now. I can afford to come here now.” Therefore, I say this as a warning – do NOT go there with a student budget mindset. It is not for the poor and hungry! However, I can guarantee you that you will get very good food…and onto my review:

Lan
56 3rd Avenue
(between 10th and 11th St.)
New York, NY 10003

Once you walk into the restaurant, you find yourself away from the loud NYU area to a quiet and dim open area. It looks very clean and the waitstaff are very attentive. Took our coats, scarves, umbrellas, and onto our table we sat. After deliberating for a while, we decided on a number of dishes/courses…this is my attempt to be “baller” status:

This is Steamed Homemade Prawn & Vegetable Dumplings flavored with oil. Though there were only a few dumplings, it was really good – they definitely used fine ingredients. The prawns were large and the skin was silky smooth. It was slightly spicy, but not overwhelming in flavor.


This is their Egg Custard “Chawan-Mushi” with Lobster Sauce. It was a new take on the traditional Japanese egg custard dish that is often eaten as an appetizer and has a soft silky texture. They added a lobster sauce, which worked very well with the egg custard. You could taste the lobster as well and it added another layer of flavor to this dish.


We deliberated for a while which sashimi plate to get – chef’s selection or the normal selection? CHEF’S SASHIMI SELECTION! Boy, was it good. It was like a trip around the world because they had fish imported from Japan. The cuts were fresh and meaty…I felt like some pieces even melted in my mouth.


This is the Green Tea Tiramisu dessert. As you can see, it is covered with matcha powder. The combination was surprisingly good and didn’t clash.


Shown above is the Chocolate Souffle, Raspberry Sauce, and Vanilla Ice Cream. It is REALLY good…namely because I also love desserts that incorporate both cold and hot elements. The combination of all three – chocolate, vanilla, raspberry – made this a delectable dessert.

Conclusion: My experience at Lan has been one of the most memorable Japanese dinners I’ve had. One dish that I didn’t show above was the prime rib shabu shabu. Our waiter was so helpful too, even when it comes to picking sake! He gave us a sampling of three sakes and it was delicious with what we ordered. Yum. I give this meal and restaurant a HUGE thumbs up!

BBQ / dinner / Fusion / Japanese / nyc / Queens / snack / Spanish / Thai — No Comments
2
Sep 06

August Part 1

Long time no blog!

It’s been quite a busy few weeks finishing up my internship, seeing friends from home, helping out with freshmen orientation at NYU…so I apologize for the lack of entries. However, that doesn’t mean I’m taking any less pictures. My friends around me can testify to that. My ability to sneak in a picture before everyone dives their forks into a dish is inpeccable.

In the month of August, I’ve been exploring restaurants all over the place. Being that there are so many places I have decided to highlight certain foods and activities surrounding my restaurant excursions.

In celebration of my friend Sunny’s birthday, we decided to take it back to Barcelona…or at least close enough to La Paella East (214 E 9th St., New York, NY). Of course we got some sangrias, tapas, and paellas. It was pretty good, but relatively pricy as well.


As you can see, this is the Seafood Paella that we got which has large shrimp, calms, mussels…yum yum. We actually ordered a bunch of other food as well but I’m going to keep this post relatively short and sweet!

Then for one of my favorite freshmen, Eric Lum, is now in Prague…but for his going away party we went to Spanky’s BBQ near Time Square (127 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036). That was pretty fun. The menu screamed unhealthy to me – take a look at their menu. The typical American Southern BBQ kind of place.


I shared one of the two salads on the menu with my friend. As you can see, it’s got beef, taco bits, and avacado. I feel as though the greens were on the side rather the actual dish. hahahah. All in all, a decent place if you want to eat your heart out with a real All-American Southern BBQ. Wait, why are Americans obese again? haha.

So I had a small reunion with some friends at Momofuku Noodle Bar (163 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003). The head chef was a guy who also worked at restaurants like Craft I believe. This was also one of the top cheap eats listed in the New York Magazine so I definitely had to check it out. The line is extremely long so I give you warning – be ready to wait in line for up to an hour (depending upon when you go). Aside from the food, the actual restaurant can only fit around 30 people.


I got the Rice Cake with Baby Bok Choy and Braised Pork. It was pretty good I guess, but a bit too salty for my taste. That mainly came from the braised pork though.


We ordered their famous Steamed Pork Buns…and they were 2 for $9! Yeah, even though in my opinion this is pretty steep, it definitely lived up to its price. It was really good, especially because even though there was fat on the meat, it did make it taste better and not gross. I think there’s also cucumber and peking duck sauce. The combination of meat and fresh ingredients in these buns made me want to eat 50. Yum. Of course that would make me extremely poor…

I ended up going back the next day because my other friend wanted to go there. Thus, more pictures of their dishes:


My friend got their Chicken and Rice dish. It was REALLY good so I do recommend this to eat if you decide to go. I got a taste of the chicken, which was prepared really well. The flavors of the whole dish seem to come together very well so my friend adores this dish.


I got their famous Momofuku Ramen. It was really good too, but still a bit salty. I do realize that ramen in general tends to be saltier, so I’m sure it’s good ramen. I just have a dull palette. ha.

The next day I went to the Donut Plant (379 Grand St., New York NY) which I’ve been meaning to for the past few months. I finally got to go and it was definitely real good. Very unique flavors.


They’ve been on the Food Network before, showcasing their variety of flavors for their donuts. It’s crazy because they seriously make different ones each day. I got the White Peach donut. Oh man, that was really good too.


I definitely enjoyed my donut. I wouldn’t mind going back sometime…:hint hint:

Lastly, I went to this place in Fresh Meadows called Kyoto (153-11 Union Turnpike, Queens, NY). It’s a real cute place right next to a relatively sketchy bar…but nonetheless, they had good sushi rolls and an assortment of Thai and Japanese food. I ordered an Angel Roll, which I can’t remember what it consisted of. It definitely had crunchy stuff on top with tuna I believe…


It was fun times, eating and celebrating my friend Jenn’s birthday. We ordered a bunch of other things, but as I said before this blog entry cannot be any longer…hahah.

Anyway, this is just part 1 of my August eats. Check back next time to catch my other adventures around this beautiful, food-ridden city.

dessert / dinner / Fusion / nyc — No Comments
28
Jul 06

Vonnnnng

This past Thursday, my wonderful roommate Vic organized a nice outting to Vong which is one of Jean-Georges’ restaurants. As you can see from the lovely entrance, it was quite a fancy smansy place for us poor college students (with paying internships!).


It is Thai-French cuisine…who would have thought that those two would come together. Vic made all of us “dress up” and we all seemed to look great in our photos. haha. Look at this interior! We were all so baller.


Anyway, it was a really great night. Of course I have all of what I ate featured:

(1) Starter: Rice Cracker with Peanut Sauce

(2) Appetizer: Rice Cracker Crusted Tuna with market greens and soy peanut sauce

(3) Main Course: Roasted Duck with lychees, shitake mushrooms and bak choy

(4) Dessert: Banana-Passion Fruit Sald with White Pepper Ice Cream

(5) Complimentary Mint: Chocolate Covered Mint Sorbet

Definitely a lot of fun. My friends kept telling me to stop taking pictures and actually EAT by food, which i did. The check for us 8 people amounted to $372.29. Oh yeah, we were high rollers that night. This explains why I’m packing my lunches for the rest of the week…

Just so that you believe me when I say that I take pictures of PEOPLE…

From the left, that would be me, Vic, and Prestine.

Good times this summer. Hopefully more are to come!