Category: restauranting

3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House

Post author By Jason Lam
Post date Jan 27, 2015
No Comments on 3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House

Went to Dallas to visit my family for Thanksgiving. Pretty cool city. I posted a lot on Facebook how I couldn’t wait to some Dallas BBQ. I’m not sure my family got my joke. I was making reference to the NYC chain, Dallas BBQ (which has nothing really to do with Dallas, except that they have Texas-sized Margaritas …which I also made a joke about.) So we ended up getting some BBQ in Dallas and also a bucket of Margarita mix while I was there. My Facebook statuses were manifested!

I over-ordered on the phone with 3 Stacks Smoke House. Only because I got confused with the different sizes of sides in particular. It says $3 for the sides a la carte on the menu. So I had already planned out okay, they are small little things and I’ll order 2-3 of each thing. But then they asked me if I wanted a small or large (pint and quart), which I kind of knew a quart was big, but then in my mind, that meant the small or pint is the size of the small sides at KFC or Popeyes. Then I started second guessing myself if pints and quarts were based on volume or weight. Then I figured well, if the pint is $3, let’s just order all quarts. But I don’t think the pints are $3, because it ended up costing a lot more.

Anyway it was pretty good BBQ food. I’ll blog about the bucket of Margarita mix next!

3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House – 4226 Preston Rd Frisco, TX 75034

Tags 3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House, bbq, Dallas

Featured restauranting

Freemans

Freemans is a cool restaurant tucked away on Freeman Alley in the LES. I guess that’s not a real street. Hence, their address is on Chrystie St, but it’s not on Chrystie. Seems like a place where you’d take a date to. I wonder how much of a weirdo I look like when I show up by myself to these type of places.

I got the Freemans’ Cassoulet (pork belly, pork sausage, pork loin white gigante beans & buttery croutons $29). Good food. Although I guess the flash photo makes it look kind of weird. Looks like the the meat is on a pile of vomit in a doggy bowl. You’d never know though since the restaurant is so dimly lit. I guess that’s good for dating. I usually look better in the dark.

Freemans – the end of Freeman Alley (@ Rivington, between Chrystie and Bowery) New York, NY 10002

Tags Freemans, lower east side

restauranting

Zum Stammtisch German Restaurant

Post author By Jason Lam
Post date Dec 28, 2014
No Comments on Zum Stammtisch German Restaurant

Somehow I walked all the way to Glendale, NY. I guess it’s east or north of Ridgewood, Queens. I was set on having my gut anchored down by a schnitzel. The neighborhood is a bit German. Hard to get to as there are no nearby train stops. Their big German restaurant according to Yelp is Zum Stammtisch.

It was very festive inside. Christmas tree and the mounted reindeer head had a red light bulb attached their its nose.

I started off with a cup of Goulash soup ($5.95). So good. Meaty and filling. Just want I needed for walking in the cold for the past 45 minutes. I almost could have stopped there. But that would have been stupid to walk all the way there and just get a small cup of soup.

I also went with what all the Yelpers were raving about –the Jagerschnitzel ($25.95), a gigantic breaded veal cutlet topped with mushroom gravy. Pretty good stuff there. There’s homefries underneath that.

This was just want I wanted. Merry Christmas.

Zum Stammtisch – 69-46 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale, NY 11385

Tags german, Glendale, goulash, Jagerschnitzel, Zum Stammtisch

restauranting

Montana’s Trail House

I just moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn. It’s one of Vogue Magazine’s top 15 Coolest Neighborhoods in the World. And yeah, it is cool. I live off the Jefferson stop. They call it Jefftown. And I feel like all the girls here are like Uma Thurman.

Anyway, I live pretty close to Montana’s Trail House. I’ve had a couple of beers there before, while waiting for my appointments at Nooklyn realty next door. Seems like a cool place.

This time I had dinner. Ordered the Root Beer Braised Brisket ($22) with Anson Mills Rice Grits, Mustard Greens, Horseradish. Super tender meat. Tasted almost Oriental for some reason. Like some super tender meat I grew up with. Really good.

Also tried their Switchels, which is homemade fermented apple cider, formerly used medicinally. It’s really good sipping alongside a shot of whiskey.

Montana’s Trail House – 445 Troutman St (@ Saint Nicholas Ave) Brooklyn, NY 11237

Tags brisket, bushwick, Montana's Trail House

restauranting

J. Gumbo’s

I love Cajun food! And I feel like I should have been more excited when J. Gumbo’s opened up right downstairs from my office. It took over the Rickshaw Dumplings space. I feel like no one has really gotten excited either. Doesn’t get a whole lot of business. I feel like it’s the way it looks. Something about it doesn’t look right or cool or Cajun-y. I tried it anyway.

It was set up as counter service. The staff was really nice. They have free samples. I tried several of the dishes. They were all decent. I picked the Voodoo Chicken because it was the most flavorful. $8.95 for a good size bowl over rice. The corn bread is good!

Well, free samples, quick and friendly service. Now how does this place get more business? I don’t know. Looks like they have several locations across the country.

J. Gumbo’s – 61 W 23rd St (b/t 6th and 5th Ave) New York, NY 10010

Tags cajun, flatiron, J. Gumbo's

restauranting

Ravagh Persian Grill

I’ve been hanging out with an Iranian girl the last few months. I’ve never had Persian food before, so she was nice enough to take me out for a Persian feast! We went to Ravagh Persian Grill and she ordered for us.

First came out the bread with white sauce and chatni green sauce, which is awesome over the rest of the stuff to come.

Then came the Yogurt Soda she ordered for me. She said it was an acquired taste. Yeah, it is! LOL. Like a minty sour yogurt flavor with bubbles.

The Barg Kebob (juicy strips of angus sirloin in a special age old recipe) and Koobideh kebob (barbecued ground beef). Some good meat here, especially with those white and green sauces.

And she ordered the best dish –Khoresh Fesenjan (crushed walnuts with boneless chicken cooked in pomegranate paste). This seriously is the best stew you can put on rice.

Shar (that’s her name) also told me about this condiment that was on the table. Ghoreh powder which is made from the sour grape plant, which is poisonous or something. I don’t really remember the whole story, because I showed up drunk to dinner. But I did sprinkle it on my food occasionally. I didn’t die.

Persian food is really good. It’s like a lot of different flavors I’ve never really had before combined –sour, tangy, fruit-sweet, spiced, with the texture of tender or charred meat. …Shar meat!

Ravagh Persian Grill – 11 E 30th St (b/t 5th Ave & Madison Ave) New York, NY 10016

Tags Iranian, Persian, Ravagh

restauranting

Guy Fieri’s Chophouse: Welcome to Flavortown!

Post author By Jason Lam
Post date Aug 2, 2014
3 Comments on Guy Fieri’s Chophouse: Welcome to Flavortown!

We went to Guy Fieri’s Chophouse at Bally’s (Atlantic City). To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be good after all the bad reviews Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar (Times Square) gets. But they were telling us that once they worked out the deal with Guy Fieri, he sent over his recipes and the chefs there were like “uh… Let’s rework these.” The Chophouse is a totally different restaurant than the Times Square location. It’s much better. I gotta say, now this is Flavortown!

The Danger Wings were my favorite. The wings had wasabi dipping sauce. Oh, and the Cheesy Garlic-Onion Pretzel Bread was awesome. It came with a super rich butter. And Potbelly Sliders (pork belly) –yum!

Then came the entrees. I went with the gigantic Horseradish Crusted Prime Rib. It was bigger than my big fat face. I did well by looking at my plate at the end. But I did put half of it on Todd’s plate.

Todd got the Bourbon Pork Chop, which was also good. But so stuffed, so hard to tell what was going on.

Interestingly, or not so interestingly, the two items they touted as being Guy Fieri’s specialties that thrusted his career –the Vegas Fries (with dehydrated Buffalo wing sauce dusting) and the Mac n Cheese were the less flavortown.

It’s weird. I imagine Guy Fieri’s name would be a huge draw at a place like a casino and Times Square. But at the same time, I don’t think people necessarily respect him as a chef. My friends were making fun of me when I Instagrammed that I was eating there. But I just assume they were thinking it is the same as the Times Square restaurant. Anyway, name or no name, Guy’s Fieri’s Chophouse is truly Flavortown.

Guy Fieri’s Chophouse – (Bally’s) 1900 Boardwalk. Atlantic City, NJ 08401