Korea Town

Kunjip is my favorite restaurant in KTown and nothing's more soothing than a spicy casserole on a cold night. Kunjip was packed as usual last night, around 9 o'clock, so packed that the hostess took our orders while we were in line, waiting for a table. Even though the place was crazy busy, the waitstaff was still incredibly courteous and efficient. About 45 seconds after we were seated, a waiter served us the Korean equivalent of a bread basket: little dishes of kimchi, jap chae (glass noodles stir fried with vegetables, seaweed tossed with some sort of vinegar sauce, pickled cucumbers, cold spicy potatoes and a steamed egg dish, with the consistency of a soft custard. The egg dish is almost exactly like a dish called dan geng my parents used to make when I was little, whenever i complained of a stomachache. All the little dishes are very delicious, a variety of different flavors and textures; it's alternately chewy and crunchy, spicy and sour. All this food even before we get our main course!

I ordered the Soon Dubu Chigae, which is soft tofu in spicy seafood broth, served in a clay pot. A side of steamed purple rice comes along w/ the chigae. I like to take a small spoonfull of rice and dip it in the steaming broth. The broth is so fragrant and flavorful, it warmed up my entire body. The texture of the tofu is smooth and soft, a nice compliment to the spicy broth. Amar orded the Bibimbob, which is rice, ground beef, fried egg and assorted vegetables served in a sizzling stone pot. The presentation of the bibimbob is enough to make anyone salivate. Brown ground beef, green and pale white sliced vegetables, bright yellow yolk and a dollop of deep red spicy paste.

A satisfying meal, completed by two complimentary bowls of cool cinnamon tea, a perfect way to end the meal and cleanse the palate.

And what just happens to be next door? Pinkberry, the crack of LA that recently made its entrance into New York. The place looks so Asian, I was expecting there to be a giant Hello Kitty stuffed animal waiting to greet me at the counter. I ordered the original flavor with a topping of fresh raspberries. The frozen yogurt tastes literally like frozen plain yogurt, not like the usual crappy frozen yogurt at other places that is pretty much tasteless and bland. Pinkberry's yogurt is distinctively sour, without a hint of sugar. I was a bit apprehensive after the first few bites, but the peculiar sour taste kept me intrigued. I've been thinking about the taste of the frozen yogurt all day, I'm definitely going back for more. Maybe I'll try the captain crunch topping next time.

Momofuku Ssam: 2 Stars

Click here to read Frank Bruni's gushing review of Ssam. He recommends the Steamed Buns with Pork Belly. I do not.

Clinton Street Baking Company

I had great hopes for this place. From the outside, it looks like a homey, unpretentious place. The decor is lovely. Our table was all set and waiting for us when we came in, and our waitress was incredibly nice. We gave her 5 credit cards to swipe and she didn't even skip a beat! With all this said, I want to say nice things about Clinton Street Baking Company, but...the food simply was just not good enough. Everything was competent, but nothing was worth talking about. It was one of those dining experiences where the food is decent, but not exciting in any way, and you kind of just chew and swallow without much thought to the flavor, trying to finish everything as quickly as possible, so you can move on to the rest of your evening. My eyes lit up when I saw Shephard's Pie on the menu. I was expecting the typical Shephard's Pie that I know and love - ground beef, mashed potatoes, loose corn and some other vegetables all thrown together to produce a comforting brick of cholesterol. But what i got instead was a crappy version closer to chicken pot pie. The chunks of beef were too tough and hard to chew. The roasted vegetables were way too salty. The puff pastry was too greasy.

I'm not alone in thinking that my meal was below par. Some comments from my fellow diners:

Ursy - "the chicken was a bit dry."
Jordan - "the burger is boring and uninspired."
Molly - "the fish tacos gave me a bit of a tummy ache."

If the entrees were around $10 each, I might be a little more forgiving, but since each place was closer to $20, there's no excuse for such mediocrity.

Abistro

It's been quite an eating frenzy this weekend! Friday night, I went to Abistro, a French/African restaurant in Fort Greene, on Carlton Ave. at Myrtle. The restaurant is tiny - not much bigger than a studio apartment...I counted about 8 or 9 tables. The outside of the restaurant is completely unassuming, no sign above the door or awning, just a plain white facade. The interior of Abistro is just as simple: dim lighting, cream-colored walls, basic wooden tables and chairs. A short, square dark wood pedestal holding a shiny red apple acted as the centerpiece of each table. Since the restaurant is so small and the kitchen is completely open, I felt like I was bathed in delicious garlic flavor all night. It's definitely a quiet, relaxing restaurant where you want to linger for hours.

The five of us started with the plaintain gnocchi and crab cakes - both of which were excellent.

I ordered the grilled tilapia w/ mushroom risotto and sauteed swiss chard. The risotto was fantastic, the consistency was perfect - thick and almost gooey, but not mushy. There was definitely a strong mushroom taste, but also subtle enough so that it wasn't too overwhelming. The fish was incredibly flakey and tasty. I've made tilapia and it always comes out a bit too bland.

For dessert, we split the chocolate cake and bread pudding. Both were great, but I liked the bread pudding better. There was a hint of spice, from the cinnamon and nutmeg.

The restaurant is byob...which made the food taste all that much better! Definitely a new favorite.

Dinner at the Country Home

We had a very dignified dinner affair at the country home (i.e. our apartment in Brooklyn, which is enormous in comparison to Nikki and Lauren's shoebox in Manhattan) a few weekends ago.

The menu:
Rosemary and thyme roasted chicken - made by me
Salad - Ursy
Potato Gratin - Lauren
Cupcakes - bought (ahem ahem) by Nikki

I used to scared of whipping up a roast chicken...do i have what it takes to produce a juicy and succulent bird that is both tasty and aesthetically pleasing? But, turns out it's really not so hard at all. The key is to constantly baste the chicken with the juices that start coming out of the meat while it's cooking. This roast chicken recipe is from the Bon Appetit cookbook, with a few of my own variations:
1 whole chicken, quartered (quartered chicken is easier to deal with than a whole chicken)
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper

for gravy:
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 inch-wide piece of butter
handful of parsley, chopped

separate the skin from the meat, rub the salt, pepper on the meat, underneath the skin
stuff portions of the rosemary, thyme and broken up bay leaves underneath the skin
Spread olive oil and lemon juice over the chicken
Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting the chicken every 10 minutes or so.

For the gravy:
heat the balsamic vinegar over medium heat until it has been reduced to half the amount of the original liquid, combine with chicken juices from the roasting pan and butter and boil for about another 10 minutes or so. Add the chopped parsley at the end.










The cupcakes Nikki brought are from Buttercup Bakery, which is owned by the same owners as Magnolia Bakery. The cupcakes are delicious, although don't try to microwave the cupcakes. I tried to warm up one a few days after our dinner and after about 20 seconds in the microwave, the frosting completely melted off the cupcake and was shellacked to the glass plate. Oy, what a nightmare.

A Glutinous Affair

FINALLY, after weeks and weeks of salivating just at the thought of eating some half-decent Chinese food, Amar and I went to Spicy and Tasty in Flushing last night. I've been to Flushing a few times, whenever my parents are in town. I think it's the eating in Flushing aspect of the trip to New York that excites them, not the precious time they get to spend with their only daughter. Sigh. Anyway, so I've only eaten around the further end of Main street, near the library. I've never ventured off onto the side streets before. Spicy and Tasty is located at the corner of 39th and Prince Street. I had no idea that Prince Street is a corridor of Asian epicurean heaven! Walking from the car the restaurant, we passed by two noodle shops, a malaysian restaurant, a seafood restaurant, a few standard chinese restaurants and a bubble tea salon. I was wild with hunger and desire.

Spicy and Tasty was everything I had hoped for...the food was spectacular. And I never use the word spectacular to describe anything. The cold dishes are prepared by a chef near at a food station near the front entrance. It's a great way to pump up customers waiting for a table. I practically had to ask for a tea cup to use to catch my drool. Clearly, as you can see from the picture below, I got a little too excited about the food. We ordered enough food for 4 people. Oops.
The appetizers were all excellent. I was a bit disppointed with the dan dan noodles. The noodles were a little too mushy and congealed. And the presentation was definitely a little lackluster. The shredded cold chicken and chengdu jelly were both outstanding. The name chengdu jelly is misleading - it's actually rice noodles, which just look like and have the consistency of jelly. The chili oil in both dishes were extremely fragrant and tasty. The shredded tofu and celery was very good as well, a cooling relief from all the spiciness of the other dishes. The tofu and celery dish had an after taste of whole peppercorns and some sort of herb - either dill or fennel (i think?) It filled the roof of my mouth with flavor.

Onto the main dishes. The Gong Bao Ji Ding (General Tso's Chicken) was pretty good. But, General Tso's Chicken is like Beyonce to me: OVER IT. The Fish in Chili Oil was extremely tender and not too oily, given that it is drenched in oil. I was expecting a whole fish swimming in a bowl...actually more like a basin of chili oil, which is how the dish is served in China. But, the dish is composed of fish filet. The sauteed pea sprouts was excellent - tender, soft leaves, with an extremely delicate flavor. The waitress recommended it as the best vegetarian dish.

Everything was amazing, but I think the appetizers were the superstars of the meal. The leftovers are in my fridge right now and every time i hope the fridge door, the amazing chili oil scent wafts out. They should bottle that stuff and call it "Eau'd Chinois". Or maybe "Szechuan" by Stella McCartney. Dab a little bit of it behind your ears and the girls will come chomping.

Follow Up to Momofuku Experience

So this is the photo shoot that was going on at Momofuku when I ate there last week:












The laptops and dude wrapped in a big scarf make more sense now.
Click here to read the full NY Times article.
Thanks to Ursy and Adam for the tip!

Park Slope Ale House: Still Good.

What's better than a solid burger, medium-well please, and some some obscure yuppy beer? A good burger, a good beer and a job offer! Yeaaaaaaah. Oh, and the Tuesday night 50 cent wings deal at is pretty good too. Although I swear the last time I went on a Tuesday night, like 8 months ago, the wings were only 10 cents each. Maybe I'm wrong. I love the decor of Park Slope Ale House, it's so warm and inviting. The vintage lamps in each booth, the dark wood panelling, the antique ceiling fans, it all makes me feel warm and mushy.

Good Pizza, Good Wine

A few weeks ago, during supposedly the coldest night in New York in twenty years or something, Amar and I ordered from Anthony's the BEST ITALIAN PLACE in Park Slope. I've never had a bad meal there. Their pizzas are amazing - light and fluffy, fresh tomato sauce, perfect crust and texture..mmm. The gnocchi is also excellent. See picture:














Just looking at the picture of the practically empty pizza box is making my mouth water.
And the perfect drink to pair with pizza and gnocchi?



















Barefoot wine. I usually don't like cabernet sauvignon cause I find it too dry and chalky, but this one isn't bad at all. It doesn't make the back of your throat feel dry like a piece of parchment paper. So far I've tried Barefoot's Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay and all three have been excellent. And it's only about $6 a bottle...i think it's the best wine for the under-$10 price range. And can the bottle label get any cuter? NO. P.S. - no comment on cocoa krispies.