Tag: review

Categories
lunch

Blimpie Sushi

Yesterday, I asked on the Serious Eats forums what I should eat for Groundhog’s Day …or Lost season premiere. One person mentioned Setsubun (Japanese bean-throwing ceremony), which is today. I asked Yoshie about this.

Yoshie: its insane. one person becomes “oni” (evil spirit) and we throw soy beans at them
 me: whoa
 Yoshie: and then we eat big rolled sushi (not the kind we eat here, only veggies and stuff) facing certain direction. you have to eat it in one bite

So I went to the Blimpie downstairs that has sushi. Yeah, it’s a weird combination. The place also has donuts. The sushi (Inaka Sushi) is actually a separate entity from Blimpie and has been there for a few years now. It’s surprising because I don’t think they get much business.

When I looked at their selection, the chefs were eager to help. Nothing has changed from the first couple of times I tried them when they first open. Not meaning that the sushi was three years old, but meaning they were very friendly, accommodating while seemingly eager for business –like Babu and his American restaurant when Seinfeld first walked in.

I picked the fattest sushi they had, Futomaki ($4.90). I enjoyed it. Surprisingly, it’s really not bad sushi for being in a Blimpie. I can’t say it’s great sushi, but everything considered. I hope they get more business. I feel like Jerry and want to help. What would he do? Make the suggestion of making subs or move into a Yoshinoya?

I told Yoshie about my Blimpie sushi. She tells me you have to eat it whole –uncut roll in one bite.
Yoshie: …but if they are cut, you lose the luck
 me: crap. I just ate it.

Inaka Sushi – 67 West 23rd St (btwn 6th and 5th Ave) New York 10011

Categories
chinese restauranting

Congee Village House

Met up with friends at Gamal Hennessy’s release party for his book “Seize the Night” at Happy Ending. I had a good time. I saw girls making out with each other in the sauna room …it was only 7:30pm. We then heading over to Congee Village House for some Chinese grub. Plenty of food here, but no one ever seems to be thrilled with my suggestion of steamed bread with the condensed milk dipping sauce. That and no one ever wants to try my Pork Liver Congee rice porridge. I gotta say, the tofu in the Tofu/Mixed Vegetables was silky smooth and melted in my mouth. We paid $12 each after tip amongst the five of us. One of these days I’m going to rent out one of the downstairs private dining/karaoke rooms -banquet style. Even if I have to eat all the pork liver congee and steamed buns myself.

Congee Village House – 100 Allen St (@ Delancey St) New York 10002

Categories
lunch

Flatiron Lunch: Latin American Restaurant

My review for midtownlunch.com this week: link

Categories
street

Friday Fish Halal Cart

$5 Fried Fish over rice special on Fridays at the halal cart on 6th Ave and 23rd St (NW corner by Citi bank). I was able to get the last one two weeks ago.  He pulled out the marinating raw fish from the cooler and dropped it into its own special frying oil pot. The fish seems popular. The cabbie in front of me got one and the guy behind me tried to order it too. The fish was overcooked, but it seems promising if done right. This is my first fish from a cart. Where are the other ones?

Categories
chinese restauranting

House of Vegetarian

Dinner and conversation with Marcellus at House of Vegetarian, a Chinatown restaurant with dishes that are substituted with mock meat. I’ve never been a fan of mock meat and don’t understand why you’d want to eat it outside of health & dietary reasons. It’s doesn’t taste as good as real meat and why would you eat something that is made to look and taste like something you are repulsed by? I can’t see myself eating Mock Human Honey-BBQ Ribs or Mock Fried Roach Legs. …Okay, maybe I’d try it, but I don’t think I’d like it.

Anyway, I went in thinking that I’d rather eat the vegetable only dishes (sans mock meat). But once we sat down and looked at the menu, I figured we’d better get mock meat. You don’t go to Peter Luger’s for the salad. We should live a little. We split Combination Triple Vegetable with Mock Roast Pork and a dish called “Wealth and Fortune.” No description on the menu. The waitress said it was mushrooms. I asked what the “Lucky Season” was. She said cabbage.

The dishes were Chinese stir-fried mixed vegetables with sauce. Both of them similar in context, but different in ingredients. Wealth and Fortune had tofu. Every piece of mock roast pork tasted different. One would be buttery, another salty. But it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I don’t think I would mistake this for pork, but it was a pretty good stab at it. It gets me wondering how these future lab-grown meats will taste. But if that does work out, maybe we could engineer Human Honey-BBQ Ribs without ethical or moral questions. What if it could taste like the race or ethnicity? It would give more meaning to eating Chinese, French or Mexican cuisine.

House of Vegetarian – 68 Mott St (btwn Bayard & Canal St) New York, NY 10013

Categories
treats

Coffee Jelly

Grabbed these Coffee Jelly packs from Jasmart Japanese grocery. When you peel the lid off, it squirts you with juice on the top. I asked my roommate Bonnie how she was able to peel it off without getting any juice on her. She said she didn’t. It did get all over her. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell her. The juice is what makes it taste like coffee. The gelatin is bland. It comes with a little cup of cream, which puts it over the edge. I could only eat two bites. I don’t know how to describe it other than eating bland jello with sweet coffee flavored juice and strong instant coffee creamer.

Categories
burger

Mikey’s Burger

Why does Mikey’s Burger only have two reviews on Yelp? Zero on Menupages. You would think there’d be more customer buzz outside of the PR buzz I’ve seen online. And this new burger joint coming from the mastermind of the Baoguette empire. It doesn’t make sense to me. My curiosity led me to the LES.

Lunch on a weekday. Just two older construction workers eating at the counter. I got the Mikey’s (topped w/ corned beef, onions, pickled mustard seed). They take out a ball of meat and smash it on the hot griddle. Placed on a toasted Martin’s potato roll. For some reason, I was thinking corned beef hash when I ordered it. That’d be an interesting burger topping. But this Mikey’s had just bits of corned beef with the onions. It did come with lettuce, tomato and pickle on the side –and there were bottles of Sriracha cock sauce and spicy ketchup, but I think this burger needed to be left alone as is. It was a good burger for the price ($5.50).

The fries are the star of the show. Crisp and perfectly salted. These also needed to be left alone (sans sauce). $3 for a good portion.

I actually was hoping to try the fried tilapia fish sandwich with caviar, but it’s now off the menu. They said they had trouble using the fryer for both the tempura batter and fries. It’s unfortunate. It looks so good. This is the best photo I can find. There was a more awesome photo that existed, but now it’s lost in cyberspace. I think I just want to try a sandwich/burger with caviar on it. I wish they had the option to put caviar on my burger.

Instead of the tempura tilapia, they plan to put out a veggie and turkey burger soon. I think this week. BTW, the chef’s recommendation is the lamb burger, which does look good.

Now why hasn’t Mikey’s caught on the same way as Baoguette? It has the man behind the plan and the PR machine to back it. I’m in the middle of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. I hope it can shed a few ideas. Maybe all it needs is caviar.

[update: Okay, now there is one review on Menupages. Will this start the tipping point?]
[update2: So the menu slip I took home did say corned beef hash. There’s no comma, so maybe it meant “corned beef, hash onion…”?]

Mikey’s Burger -134 Ludlow St (btw Rivington & Stanton St) New York, NY 10002

Categories
restauranting

Thái Son Vietnamese Restaurant

I started the night off by going to Limewire’s Ear to the Ground:Tokyo release party. It was great to see my old friends, Kelly and Jeremy. I texted Marcellus to come over, who was at an art exhibition. Then he unknowingly shows up with two America’s Next Top Models. It was sorta funny he didn’t know who he brought. Well I didn’t know either. There was a photographer taking our photos and we got into a conversation about this Japanese treat (Yatsuhashi) he’s been trying to find all over NY. Then somehow I was blocked out of the conversation and I found myself hovering outside the group. The photographer apologized later figuring that I was trying to talk to the models, but I actually was trying to finish my conversation with him about the treat. That’s how sick my food blogging obsession has become.

We left and Matt & Marce took me to Thái Son for me to food blog. We weren’t even hungry. How nice of them. We got some summer rolls and a bowl of Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong (Spring Rolls & Grilled Pork W. Lettuce On Rice Vermicelli). Affordable and good Vietnamese food. I likee the fish sauce.

Thái Son – 89 Baxter St (btw Bayard & Walker) New York 10013
I should plug my band’s live EP that’s on Limewire – Tigers and Monkeys Live at Lime.