I’m not sure how I invited myself over, but I got some good comfort home cooking at Elisa’s. She made some really good Korean Spicy Yukaejang Soup. It amazes me that people can cook food in their home. I always think that something like this needs to be made at a restaurant. I need to invite myself over to other people’s suppers more often.
Sam took me out to lunch because I won a sports bet. We went to a relatively new Russian restaurant in our work area –Nasha Rasha. From the outside, I thought it was a little too intimidating for a lunch spot. But on the inside, it’s sorta kitschy with neon red communist signs, walls of vodka and cute waitresses in folk uniforms.
They also have a decent sounding lunch Prix Fixe for $15, which turned out to be pretty awesome. Came with soup, salad, drink and entree. The Borsch beet soup was great. Olivier Salad (famous russian salad of potatoes, vegetables & bologna& mayonnaise) was decent potato salad. The drinks were awesome. Sam had the Kompot and I had the Uzvar. Both fruit drinks. Both delicious. I haven’t drank fruit drinks since Hi-C.
Then the waitress brought out our dumpling entrees with these big Russian dolls on top. I didn’t know what was going on when they came out. Cool presentation. I recommend the Pelmeni over the Vareniki. The meat texture was better. Vareniki filling was cat food like. I ate it all because it tasted good with the melted butter at the bottom of the bowl and sour cream. Maybe I like cat food.
Very filling all in all. I’m glad I won. The bill came in a neat box.
I’m trying to think of a good way to finish this post off. All I can I think of is that time Rusty and I let some Russian girls stay over because they Myspaced our band page. Now that I look at that old post, I guess it was a little racist. But it’s probably fine. They locked Rusty out of his room.
Nasha Rasha Russian Restaurant & Vodka Bar – 4 W 19th St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave) New York 10011
I had recent dermatitis skin flare ups. So I looked online to see what helps diet-wise. I’ve suffered most of my adult life with dermatitis, so I’m surprised I’ve just looked it up. A found a lot of sites recommending fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut for their probiotic (good bacteria) benefits. So with my week off, I took the bus in front of my apartment towards Woodside, Queens to try this Korean spot I found on Yelp –Sik Gaek.
Cool looking place. Kinda reminds me of the Japanese spots on St Marks like Kenka.
Once they sat me down, they started the gas stove at my table. It confused me because I hadn’t ordered. But then soon brought over a pan and cracked an egg on it. Brought over complementary kimchi, rice noodles with hard boiled egg and a glass of hot water/rice. Can someone tell me if I’m supposed to drink that? Or what do I do with it? It tastes like hot water with rice. The kimchi was good and crunchy.
They got a several dishes on the $5.99 lunch special. A really good price. I went with the Doenjang Soup (fermented soybean paste with mixed seafood), which should also be good for the flareups. Dang, awesome soup! It had shrimp, clam, mussel, squid and a little baby octopus. The broth tasted great.
I had my food with a Coors light. But kept staring at the Soju posters all over the place. So I rang the service buzzer on my table for the bottle with the hot chick on it. The waitress said it was the lightest one. Shit. It still had 19.5% alcohol and was the size of my Coors light. This soju was easy going down. I was a big boy and finished it all.
A table of five sat next to me and ordered the Fresh Lobster Seafood Hot Pot. A huge plate of clams and seafood came out with a fresh lobster cut in half on top. The fucking lobster was still moving …both halves. The top half crawled off the plate onto the table. That was the most awesomely bizarre food thing I’ve seen in person. When it was all cooked, one of the claws was clamped onto some of the squid.
I read on Yelp, they do the same thing with Fresh Octopus. It comes out squirming while it’s cooking in front of you on your table. I want to do that.
I really like this place. The food was great. They gave me extra kimchi at no charge (…that shit is like $5-7 for a small container at my local vegetable store). Also complementary cucumber juice at the end of my meal.
Sik Gaek – 49-11 Roosevelt Ave. Woodside, NY 11377
Today I got the Chicken Soup with hominy at The Commodore. Spicy and comforting for the chilly day.
The Commodore – 366 Metropolitan Ave (@ Havemeyer) Brooklyn NY 11211
Across the street, I caught this band Memoryhouse from Toronto. Pretty cool. Kinda inspired me to want to write music again.
Rusty and I had lunch at this sorta hidden Ecuadorian restaurant on a residential street in East Williamsburg/Bushwick. Lot’s of mirrors on the walls and big flat screens with hot Latino chicks dancing on the beach, ala MTV’s The Grind with Eric Nies.
I got the large Seafood Soup ($12). Amazing beautiful orange broth with squid, clams, mussels, half a crab, shrimp and big fish chunks that are almost like chicken. I can’t really say the meat in there is too great, especially the crab. It’s probably because it’s been over-cooking in the soup for so long …but that probably helped create that awesome broth. It was still a big bowl of deliciousness. I felt so good afterward.
Rusty got a big giant burger. He liked it and the atmosphere. The table hot sauce is killer. I couldn’t stop taking photos of my soup. I couldn’t stop looking at the TV.
Barzola Restaurant – 197 Meserole St (btwn Humboldt & Bushwick Ave) Brooklyn, NY 11206
…Yelp reviewers rave about their ceviche.
I’ve got the movie-making bug in me the past few days. This is something I shot yesterday …my roommate Bonnie making soup.
Todd and I grabbed lunch from this Polish restaurant on Bedford. I love Polish soups and they didn’t disappoint. Pickle Soup was like a White Borscht with some pickles. Not very pickle-y if that’s what you’re assuming. The Ukranian Borscht was a sweeter beet soup. Decent job on the Jäger-Schnitzel. But what’s the deal with the mashed potatoes? I’ve never had good mashed potatoes at a Polish restaurant. Soup, yes, amazing! Potatoes, no. It’s like they don’t add butter or milk to the flakes. Different instructions on the box? My favorite thing in the world, Mashed potatoes. You’ve shown me your ugly side.
Overall, nice lunch. I was stuffed.
Raymund’s Place – 124 Bedford Ave (@ N 10th St) Brooklyn 12111 (CLOSED)
This weather’s got me wanting some soup! This here is a big bowl of Sopa De Res (home style beef soup with cabbage, yuca, corn on the cob and string beans, served with rice $8.95) at the Salvadoran restaurant, Bahia. They got some nice pupusas there. I should’ve gotten one. Soup did just right after squirting in the limes. Limes are sometimes the game changer. First was a bland bowl, transformed into a light Brazilian/Caribbean flare with the citric squirts.
Got my daily serving of bones.
Bahia Restaurant & Cafe – 690 Grand St (btwn Manhattan & Graham Ave) Brooklyn 11211
