an ode to ny noodletown

it's never the overdone frou-frou that gets me when i eat out. it's the simple basic things done well that are especially satisfying. especially when they're affordable.

this chinatown spot was a late night favorite when i first came to the city and i was gigging out at all hours. after my GERD was diagnosed and eating late at night became impossible (if i wanted to sing at all), it was a dinnertime must whenever the mood would hit me. nowadays, dating someone who actually lives in the heart of chinatown means that i get to have this way too often.



this is my favorite thing from ny noodletown -- duck rolls. and no, they're not on the menu. i can't even remember how i procured them from any of the waiters because they hardly speak english and i don't think i've ever gone in there with any chinese pals. but once i figured it out, i was hooked. i've never had them as good anywhere else. and believe me -- i've looked.



so crispy, so tasty, so greasy-yummy, with so much flavor -- i usually get two orders, with a nice green vegetable within easy reach. (seriously.)



and then there were three -- jewels, that is. soy chicken, roast duck and roast pork. this could very well be my favorite entree: all of them, such ample servings, hugging each other on this nice thin layer of oyster and soy sauce, with a green chimichurri sauce on the side. the whole thing changes from one bite to the next.

thank God i hardly ever eat alone. my friend is 6'6" and he's always got an appetite, so that usually means that i get to taste a lot.

crepes 2 go, montreal canada

we tromped all over the other end of town looking for coffee and after we found it, we happened upon this homey little place. the last time i had crepes, someone that i was seeing who happened to be from montreal made them for me, so in a way i guess it was appropriate that i have some with my friend.

this was a real treat -- very thin, not too eggy, filled with nutella and then folded over again and stuffed with fresh cold strawberries, then laced with bittersweet chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. amazing.



very simple, really light and easy. like i could eat ten of them, but not really. so far, the best dessert experience of the whole trip.

na brasa, montreal canada

the first time i came to montreal, i wandered up avenue st. laurent and veered into a portuguese neighborhood that was rife with eateries. i chose the one with the packed and festive patio, a place called bistro duluth. i couldn't have been more on point. the waiter was so sweet and everything was so delicious, i promised myself that if i ever returned, i'd have to eat there again.

so today my friend and i tromped through the snow and freezing rain in search of this lovely little spot. i had no idea where it was. and little did i know that the name had changed to na brasa. after three years, all i could do was wander up the same avenue and hope for some clues here and there. well. believe it or not, we found it. it was the perfect lunch. thank God we split everything. (frankly, my best diet trick is to always let him eat most of our meals. he should anyway because he's so much bigger than me and can burn it off much easier than i can.)

my cardinal rule to eating out: no chicken! why go to a restaurant and order something that you get all the time, anyway? so unfortunately, their infamous marinated specialty was off limits. because we intended to have a foodie dinner, we decided to mix it up on the light side by starting with this:



this is a tapas dish called petisco. it's chourico (much like the mexican chorizo i know so well and love so much, but dried and cooked down), pork (marinated and grilled on its own before it was thrown into this mix), morcela (a kind of portuguese blood sausage -- this one was dense and flavorful, with no fillers like rice) and a soft white cheese (not quite manchego, but close), with a little salad on the side to cut the intensity of the meat. it was the right kind of spicy, with a sauce that demanded to be sopped up with lots of crusty, fresh-baked bread.

and then there was this amazing little treat:



this is called cataplana moda da casa -- basically it's fish with lots of seafood: clams, mussels, shrimp, prawns, calamari and chunks of deboned fish swim amidst a stew-like broth of cilantro, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet onions and new potatoes. it was like a tomato-based bouillabaise -- complex, flavorful, somewhat spicy, not fishy at all.

my friend ordered a fruity/not so dry glass of white wine that i actually liked. too full for dessert. but i'll make up for that later on tonight.

presse cafe, montreal canada

i know what you're thinking: it's just a sandwich. but it's not.

it's strange, the way food tastes so much better -- and in the most ordinary places! -- when i leave america. is it because of the good time euphoria that comes with being on the road, away from all that's familiar? is it because the food is generally chemical and pesticide-free? or maybe i'm imagining things.

one bite of this sandwich and i knew it wasn't me.



when the bread is baked by hand in the back of the shop instead of miles away in a factory somewhere and when you're eating the freshest ingredients, it's just better tasting food. it's easy to find this sandwich in the city -- so easy, i take them for granted. but not today.

this was the first snack i'd had all day and it was wonderful. there's the crunch of the fresh bread, giving way to its soft underbelly, and then the salty/savoryness of the paper-thin proscuitto cut with the heft of a thick tomato and crisp greens. and somewhere in there, a bit of thinly sliced bocconcini. something this simple is always such a joy. i can't believe i know people who've never tried it. seriously -- could i ever go back to kraft american cheese and bologna sandwiches on wonder bread, smeared with mayonnaise?

this sandwich (and many others like it) is one of the many ways that new york city has ruined me.

Tia Pol - Oh. My. God.

Chorizo con Chocolate

palacios chorizo with bittersweet chocolate
$3.5

This is their signature dish. It was almost perfect; toasted banquettes with melted chocolate, covered with slightly spicy chorizo and sprinkled all over with saffron and sea salt. It was so good, we had to order a second round!

Croquetas de Jamón
ham croquettes
$4

This was my attempt at a trendy food image. Will not try that again. Notice how creamy the inside is, it's filled with cheese and little bits of salty Spanish ham. The outside was fried to a perfect crunch, yet not the least bit greasy. Someone in the kitchen had a fry thermometer.

Bocata de Loma Adobado

pork loin, piquillo and tetilla baguette sandwich
$9

I know this is going to be hard to believe, but it actually tasted better than it looked. And it already looked amazing! The tetilla cheese, the pepper, the pork all worked together perfectly! Tia Pol had great bread. Crusty, chewy, WARM! Everything bread should be but seldomly ever pulled together in most restaurants. I would happily eat that sandwich everyday, and for only $9, I could!

Navajas y Almejas

razor clams and cockles
$7

Since the friend I went with is such a meat-a-vore, I wasn't allowed to order any non-meat dishes. I was able to sneak in this little clam dish tho. How can you not order seafood (especially clams) cooked with garlic and white wine? That would just be moronic. And yes, it was great.

Assorted meat Croquettes
$9 (not positive)

That was the only disappointment of the night. The sauce was decent, made up of cream and herbs, can't really go wrong there. The croquettes on the other hand were bland and basically tasted like they came out of Applebee's.

Beef Short Ribs

$15

It is really rare for me to leave a meal and not be able to decide what was the best dish. But this one ranked right up there. First of all, beef? What's not to love? And this was a great piece of beef, flavorful, tender, juicy and the sauce? FABULOUS! It confirmed for me yet again that the best pieces of the meat are the ones close to the bone. And btw, the meat came off the bone with just a little help from my butter knife.

Pinchos Morunos

lamb skewers
$10

You know how some people really love street cart lamb? If you are one of those people, you shouldn't try this dish. It's not meant for you. Because you will never go back to the carts. Why go back to Coney Island when you have been to the Caribbean? The meat was unbelievably fresh and lamby and ridiculously tender. I had no idea lamb can be so tender.

Old School Cantonese in Flushing

The long awaited first post, I am going to dedicate this to my partner in crime who first dragged my procrastinating behind into this.

I am a firm believer that while you can get a variety of decent Chinese food in Chinatown, Flushing is the place to go for truly good old school Cantonese. And what's more old school than seafood cooked in multiple ways and claypot rice?

Let's get to the good stuff...

Lobster #1 cooked in egg yolk sauce with dried scallops and shrimps

This is by far one of my favorite presentation of any crustaceans. It's actually a variation that you don't find often in the states, the last good version I had was in Shanghai. It an old method of first deep frying the seafood, then baking it in a concoction of salted egg yolk, dried baby scallops and shrimps. It tasted like the ocean on weed.

Lobster #2 cooked in black bean sauce

Some people complain that the flavor of the black beans is a little too strong to compete with the sweetness of the lobster. But personally, I think the salty, murky flavor of the black beans are a perfect contrast to the seafood. THIS should be the next miso and cod!

Chilean Sea Bass in sweet soy sauce

I was actually a little underwhelmed, in a sea (literally) of shellfishes, crustaceans and etc, Chilean Sea Bass in my mind is a pretty generic tasting piece of flesh. It has that subtle, almost milky flavor, but it really does depend on the sauce to fully coax out it's personality. Give me some uni or fresh oyster that can stand up on it's own without any garnish.

Beef Short ribs with chili peppers

Truthfully, beef is hardly ever the highlight of any Cantonese meal. Perhaps it was because pork is the dominant meat in China or perhaps because of the quality of beef served in Chinese restaurants. You are never gonna get waygu lo mein in Chinatown or Flushing. However, short ribs is always the safe choice to go since it can stand up to flash cooking via a wok relatively well. This rendition wasn't half bad.

Rice Casserole with Chinese sausage and frog legs

Next to the lobsters, this was the highlight of the meal! This was the traditional rice casserole with Chinese sausage, duck and pork, however they added frog legs!! The whole dish came in a perfect little claypot with it's own mini-pot of sweet soy sauce. The sauce was dumped into the pot and the lid was placed back on for a few minutes for the soy sauce to be fully absorbed into the rice and to lend even more flavor to the meat and frog legs! The best part was the crispy, slightly burnt rice on the bottom. It's rare for a restaurant to conquer the food-stall version of claypot rice and the high-end preparation of the lobsters.

Red bean soup

No decent Cantonese restaurant would let you leave without some form of "sweet soup" and fruits. And the red bean soup is my favorite. I am usually as giddy as a child when I am offered this treat at the end of a cholesterol laden meal of seafood and meat. Think of red bean as the Chinese fudge. Rich, decadent, comforting and leaves you completely satisfied and warm inside. It's perfect by itself on a cold day. It's even better on ice during the summer. Starbucks should take note.

The 5th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party, Madison Square Park

this was my first time at this urban meat fest. i had fun because my partner in crime had a friend who made her little sister wait in line for the much sought after $100 "bubba fastpass" that lets you officially "cut" in line. we took our time and traipsed through what was there before literally going whole hog, as it were, courtesy of mitchell's pit-cooked bbq from north carolina.







the gentlemen with the straw cowboy hat told me that i was too fine to be denied a thing. so of course i asked for some fresh cooked pork skin for my co-hort and i, at her request. needless to say, that wasn't on the menu and the yankees didn't know to ask for it. so whenever i went back to that table, i got a nice-sized sheet, gratis. who knew i was that cute?







everything was a small sampler that kept you coming back for more. very frustrating. bbq is for poor folks. whoever heard of paying $8 for one rib? and yet, the yankees do it. and gladly.



the crackling made us happy, and there were longer lines elsewhere but i was over the moon when i found southside market and bbq: delicious tender brisket with that oh-so-german elgin county sausage, crackers, a just right slice of longhorn cheese, pickles and not too much sauce on anything. i don't know if i could have been happier: sitting there with that makeshift paper boat in my lap, munching away and letting out a hoot involuntarily every so often, and then after i was halfway through it, i had to declare, to everyone and no one in particular: "now, this is what bbq is supposed to taste like!" in an instant, i was transported back to The Nation's Capital, when eating world class bbq and tex-mex and czech/hill country baked goods was something that i took for granted. it was just that good.






my friend asked me to explain and inbetween mouthfuls, i tried.



texas was settled mostly by german peasants but also swedes and czechs. during world war II, german p.o.w.s were incarcerated in the texas countryside and stayed when the war was over. (they were treated very well by the way: fresh vegetables and fruit to eat, beer to drink, meat, the works. but i digress...) elgin county is considered to be the sausage capital of texas, and southside market has been making sausage for 123 years. so they kind of know what they're doing.

it was more than a little strange, the way this southern thing was brought to the city, like a culinary amusement park, replete with the sights and sounds of another region. it felt imported. and yet in spite of the yankee feeding frenzy and how corporate the set up seemed to be, i left the park feeling more than a little homesick for the southland.