Back Room Affairs at Ed's Chowder House

Chef Ed Brown's back room dinners are a joyous affair. Climb a flight of stairs encircling a story-high, glass, chandelier and paintings of ships battling ocean waves, digitized aquariums and multiple rooms of families, couples and other diners feasting on seafood and you could only be in Ed's Chowder House. We were there to celebrate my mother's birthday dinner, closed off by sliding doors in a back room, sitting at circular tables to be shared with strangers. My mom always loves to use the expression, "strangers are friends we havn't met yet," and by the 5th course and multiple glasses of wine the cliche could be no less true. Each table seats seven and as soon as you sit down a glass of Verve Cliquot is poured into a glass for you to loosen up and enjoy with various hors d'oeuvres.

A white porcelain spoon sporting halved cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with miniscule cubes of mozarella and croutons in olive oil enabled consumption of its contents in one quick inhale, it's flavors a cascade down your throat. Served instead of bread was a basket of Gougeres filled with warm foie gras, which paired with the champagne, allowed the full fat taste to combine with the sweet flavor of the bubbly.

A quick slurp of a naked cowboy oyster, with a spicy watermelon ice dolloped on the saline meat was a nice start before the Confit of Wild Ivory King salmon. The salmon's marbly surface was so moist that the flesh seemed to melt away from my knife before I would even cut. It just cut like buttah! The mound of Ameircan caviar on top added a subtle saltiness that was all it needed to be flavorful.

(paired with Gruner Veltliner, Austria '08)

Next up, this little guy showed up on his island of fresh corn surrounded by a red pepper sauce. The warm colors of the dish made the taste even more enjoyable.

(paired with Chenin Blanc, Clos de la Plante Marin, France '08)

A forkful of sweet corn with a crunchy leg of crab drenched in a sauce, definitely made this one of my favorites. Another diner at our table picked up on the subtle smokiness in the pepper sauce and knew that it had to be Pimenton (a Spanish paprika). Overall a delightful dish.

Next was an unusual pairing of Berkshire pork belly braised in albarino wine, with baby clams, and sweet garlic. I was skeptical of the clam and pork pairing, but the fatty meat was calling for the salty flavor and tanginess of parsley.

(paired with Albarino, La Cana, Spain '08)

Sitting in a pool of garlicky butter and its own juices, the pork's texture was almost like the smooth texture of seafood. The fats texture was too slimy for me and at one point I wasn't sure if I was eating a clam or pork, but the buttery parsley flavor won me over easy.

To break away from the seafood theme, chef served us a simple meat course next. Atop a smashed hill of potatoes oozing in olive oil was a perfectly pink loin of Colorado lamb.

(paired with Bordeaux, France '06)

Mint pesto brushed on one side with half a roasted squash paired well with the meat, but the pesto and a few pine nuts really brought out the roasted flavor in the meat. The meat itself was dense but not tough and a nice break from all that seafood.

For dessert, a simple cherry clafoutis. Each forkful was a battle to save the cherries entrenched in the dough. Vanilla custard could not save the rubbery pastry that clung to the glass dish for dear life, but by the end of the meal after good conversation flowing easily between strangers, and a full stomach, dessert was not an issue.

Ed's Chowder House

4 West 63rd

New York, NY 10023

A neighborhood Favorite: Petrossian

For years Petrossian Cafe has been my go-to neighborhood bakery. Of course, I have been spoiled. With the flakiest croissants and the most decadent chocolaty, double-chunk cookie, I have been a loyal patron to enjoy it all. They also have a delightful lunch menu with a number of egg dishes and a bountiful Smoked Salmon Cobb Salad. It is only a sample of the main restaurants main specialties; smoked salmon and caviar. This day in particular I needed some flaky pastries.
What better than an Almond Croissant lightly dusted with confectioners sugar. Yum! The outside crispy and crackly, a perfect shell for buttery layers inside.


I also can not forget, my favorite, the Apricot Pinwheel. Four triangle layers of flaky croissant are attached to a center of a sweet, apricot.

The color of the apricot is the way a fresh yolk should look like and with a bite, the center oozes, softening, spilling onto the layers of crust. It is a joyful experience and one I will miss when I am away at school.

Petrossian
182 W. 58th St.
New York, NY 10019

Disheartening Ssam Bar Experience

I'm sad to say that I recently experienced a disappointing meal at Momofuku Ssam Bar. Over the past years, it has grown into such a phenomena;friends visiting have it first on their list for places to eat, there might as well be a half hour wait for dinner starting at 5 PM almost every night, and now it has expanded into Midtown. Their subtle flavors, Milk Bar and service are what I love, but this meal did not deliver. At 5:30 one table was available, the bar only had two seats and they would not seat me at a table until my friend had arrived. I don't mind sitting at the bar because it is just as uncomfortable curved over the bar as it is curved over a table with a backless chair. My young back can take it and it was not before long I was distracted by food and good conversations.

Of course I needed to start with an order of Pork Buns.

These will never diminish in flavor. I will always compare nameless meat served in my college cafeteria's to this taste. Hunched over our bar stool chairs, my friend and I shared the dish and savored our single serving. Even though we can easily buy a $2 pork bun in Chinatown, I am willing to sacrifice my pay check for hunks of pork belly adjacent to a slab of fat drenched in Saracha. Scallions provided a nice subtle back-tone to barbecue sauce, and the bun is not too doughy, but just enough. With so many slippery ingredients, our cheeks were hovering over the table, trying to catch ingredients tumbling from the bun. Of course it is messy to eat, but that is half the fun. I was accompanied by a good friend who is also a brave foodie. We opted for Pigs Ears, a smaller portion, with wild sorrel and white poppies.

I am not afriad to eat much of anything. I was pretty excited to try these, until my second bite. The first bite was crunchy, a little tough to chew but tasty. The second bite my toungue ran over the edge of an ear, the meat was tougher to separate, and it wasn't crunchy. The wild sorrel added a rather sour taste to the already gelatinous texture of the ear. I kept eating though. I'm not sure why. It must have been one of those foods I expected to become better with more chewing? Uhhh, i just didn't, maybe I couldn't taste the added flavors of the poppy? Perhaps my inner Asian-self was not appreciating the flavors? I mean this is Momofuku. For some reason I expected every dish to satisfy my tastes, but I guess not.

Regardless of taste, I was not full and I knew this would happen for the Pig's Ears were not an entree. Good thing we ordered Whole Lamb Sausage. This would surely fill us up, I mean sausage, usually you get more than one, so we would surely be satisfied. Well mashed water-chestnuts were hearty, but there was one whole sausage on the plate. In flavor the licorice anise transformed the gamy taste of the lamb to a subtle sweetness. The sausage was very good, but we were not satiated. Now, I know we should have ordered more, but our bill already was over $60. Pretty pricey! Guess I'll need a real job to keep eating there. Hopefully our next meal will be with the parents or at the Noodle Bar. Until then Happy Eating

Momofuku Ssam Bar

207 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 254-3500

Summer Feasting -- Thai, Indian and some Italian for kicks

A visit to cousins in Brooklyn led to an afternoon of food, a picnic complete with wine and late night pizza. With thai food on the mind we walked down toward Graham Av and looked for a late lunch special. Cheers Thai has a refreshing outdoor back garden and a lunch hour until 5pm!! Yay late afternoon lunch

An appetizer of jewel-like vegetable dumplings packed with veggies were light and flavorful.

Crispy skinned duck rested atop cilantro, lettuce and snappy red onion, combined for Cheer's Thai Duck Salad that could even rival Pam Real Thai's. Each forkful was dripping with lime dressing and the juices of pineapple pieces. Bones were only a minor set back, beside the acidic sting on the roof of my mouth, but nonetheless delicious! McCarren park beckoned us for a picnic, and three hours later we were relaxing in the balmy summer heat. Of course that only made us hungrier :) By dinner time we traveled into Manhattan's Little India around 6th street. A person casually sitting in the front window of Calcutta playing a sitar throughout our dinner was a nice touch. They won't mention their $10 dinner special for a choice of appetizer, soup/salad, entree and dessert unless you ask. One dish on the menu is worth the amount of this great deal, so definitely go for the special.

By the time I got my camera out, we had already ate half of our order of Samosa's. Crispy on the corners, doughy in the middle with starchy vegetables inside. Complete with a spicy dipping sauce they were gone as soon as I clicked my camera.

Lemon added an extra tanginess to spicy cubes of lamb in a creamy Vindaloo sauce. Along with a 22 ounce King Fisher it made for a nice main course. After, a mango sorbet we headed out on the town. By 2am there was already a half hour line in front of Artichoke. Their lines are always long even in the early hours, but waiting on one just sucks.

Watching smiling eaters munching on a crunchy crust oozing with creamy sauce, a hint of wine, extra extra butter and so good. Eaters oggling their slice, heavy handed, stumbling from night drinks and butter overload just make the waiting worse....but so worth it in the end.

Cheers Thai

612 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211-3606

Calcutta Indian Restaurant

324 E 6th Street
New York, NY 1000

Artichoke Pizza

328 East 14th Street
New York, NY 10003

Chinese food since 1938: Wohop,

Since 1938 Wohop has serviced many New Yorkers for their Chinese craving; the type of Chinese food you think of with sesame chicken dripping in thick sauces, fast service, and hand made dumplings made during a busy lunch hour. It is the type of Chinese food you order during a stay-in-movie night, takeout cravings of thick noodles in cornstarch, molding to the shape of the take-out carton visible during a second round of microwave heatups. Regardless, if your a fan of oily and thick Chinese food, the place was crowded at 3PM with a line climbing the flight of stairs from its basement dwelling to the street. What really shocked me, and rather disturbed me, was that all of the eaters were not from the neighborhood; tourists from Ohio, suited men from City Hall, etc. and that immediately told me what type of food to expect.

We started with Roast Pork, a simple appetizer, large thinly sliced pieces drenched in oil and its own drippings. Juicy, slightly overcooked, not too salty and lots of it.

Our first entree was Chicken Chow Mein glistening in the harsh fluorescent lights. A mish mosh of chinese crispy noodles, bean sprouts and chicken. There was not a lot of flavor except for the bitter taste of bean sprouts.

My egg omelette with mushrooms and chicken does not look particularly appetizing in this picture, but I was satisfied. Unfold a layer of egg and steam willl rise from its core revealing large pieces of (dry) chicken, and fans of mushrooms. The gelatinous sauce will cling to each morsel dredged from the bottom, but don't be disheartened because the taste made it the best dish of the lunch.

Ready for dessert, my mother and I wandered into Little Italy to visit a favorite bakery of mine, in search of their Amaretto cookies.

Introduced to me by thefattyreader, I have fallen in love with the puffed centers, crispy edges and subtle sugar of these cookies. Munching on multiple pillows of almond, we happened to pass by the store titled "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World." Well, with a title like that my mom was intrigued and so was I. We sat down in the small air conditioned room (thank god) and ordered ourselves iced coffee and a slice of their 70% dark chocolate cake.

What people might find unusual or different of this chocolate cake, is the meringue layer coarsing through the middle of spongy cake and soft ganache. The meringue makes the cake a lot sweeter than expected. I was not a fan, but the cake was not bad. The top was a creamy-melt-in-your-mouth layer of dark chocolate, which I peeled from the top immediately and deviantly ate before my mother. Not the best, but not the worst chocolate cake I've ever had.

Wohop

17 Mott St.

New york, NY 10002

Caffe Roma Pastry

385 Broome St

New York

The Best Chocolate Cake In The World

55A Spring st., nr Mulberry St.

New York, NY

City Bakery and Locanda Verde pastries

The winter weather always seems to call upon a good cup of hot chocolate. This past week it was even sunny enough to keep my gloveless hands, out of my pockets, and around a cup of hot chocoalte from City Bakery. My friend and I deemed it a remedy to rid the winter chill from our bones.

I am not one to judge hot chocolate harshly, but I can see why some might not enjoy the thick texture of City Bakery's hot chocolate. The rich liquid coated my throat and mouth and nearly disabled me from speaking. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolaty concoction and we walked downtown along the West Side highway pier. My hot chocolate was accompanied by a marshmallow, but by the time I finished the liquid, my marshmallow was lost at the bottom of my cup, covered with chocolate and I would have looked like a fool scooping fingers towards the bottom and attempting to scoop it into my mouth :(

By the time we walked down to Tribeca, we were hungry again. Realizing that we were on Greenwich street, we decided to go to Locanda Verde. Their to go bakery was open and my friend and I sat down for a mid afternoon snack.

The crumbly walnut topping to my fig muffin was a nice and nutty contrast to the moist cake below. Fig seeds spersed through the cake layer, added a nice texture with the crunch of almond


and sugar topping and added a nice flavor paired with a Lavender tea. My friend ordered a huge apple, cinammon bun whose fresh fruit was moist, and subtly sweet. The surrounding layers of the pastry neatly unfurled as she ate layer by layer.


We felt strange using the silverware and napkins set out on the table, but we were assured that it was completely allowed. The pastries were delicious and I hope to go back for their famed breakfast soon.

Hampton Chutney and a walk through Chinatown

The city is so full of interesting people. One day last summer, while I was taking pictures at Abraco a woman started talking with me. This woman and I have kept in contact since, going on various coffee dates and and food outings. The first time I met her, she was working in an office aspiring for better things. When I met with her this past week, she had left her job and has been taking classes at B&H to pursue a career in wedding and child photography.

We decided to meet at Hampton Chutney Co. Humongous, crispy dosas are brimming with a huge selection of fresh ingredients. One of the Seasonal is filled with jeweled squash, mushrooms, arugula and jack cheese. The portions are huge, at least 2 feet of crispy dosa lay before me. Unaided by fork or knife I tore through the soft middle, revealing juicy mushrooms and large cupes of squash.


I primitively tore at my meal, surrounded by many people bustling through the 19 seat cafe. Let me note, my eating companion neatly and safely ate her dosa. The warm vegetables inside were satisfying and tasty.

We then ventured down to Chinatown to a medicine shop. In the midst of shelves covered with hanging roots, boxes of herbs with Chinese labels and pamphlets on mind and body health was a woman with glasses thicker than my thumb. It was a cute little place and I left with medicinal herbs and a feeling that neighborhood small business still lives on in the city of giant real estate and condos.


After we stopped to buy the fruits depicted above. I don't really know the name of the fruit but it was very similar to a lychee nut. We walked peeling the hard shell that surrounded the sweet meat whose juices spilled down over our wrists and fingers. Lets just say we used a lot of hand sanitizer.
A pleasant day with beautiful weather :)
Happy Eating

NYC Winter Restaurant Week

I resent the fact that my winter break ends on January 25th. It is the same day NYC Winter Restaurant Week starts :( But Madeleine Albright will be speaking at school that day, so life won't be that bad.

Here is the link for a list of participating restaurants

Every Sunday this past summer, the Pool Parties hosted free concerts in WIlliamsburg, Bklyn. After one such concert my friends and I went to D.B.A, a bar with a great selection of beers, and in the summer, Sunday barbeque. Past the long wooden bar, which has 16 taps, and outside on to the patio, we were greeted by a man in a t-shirt, apron and chef's hat behind a plastic fold-up tables with various coolers on top and a grill on his left. Because we had gotten out of the concert late, most of the food was gone, but nonetheless we managed to grab some delicious grub.

A friend who had been here previously raved about the oysters and we were able to nab the last of them. I remeber the barbecue sauce was not as sweet as I expected, maybe because of the scallions garnished on top.

The beet salad was balanced. A natural sweetness from the beets, and sugary taste from candied pecans was countered by creamy goat cheese and the tang of cabbage.

Simple potato salad and fava bean salad was devoured. I don't remember the taste but I do know that we were all sad once we had consumed the dish before the waitress walked back inside.

The only thing left on the menu from the grill were their burgers. Pink onions, and jalapenos made this a delightful juicy mess. My friends who were over 21 raved about the beers on tap especially, one of my friend's IPA.

All in all a good post-concert meal.

Happy eating!

d.b.a
113 North 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY

(718) 218-6006

Last Meal of the New Year -- Pastrami Queen

An end of a decade ended with a pastrami sandwich. I think all my Jewish family members would agree, that nothing is better than Russian dressing, coleslaw, and slices of warm pastrami between Rye bread. The Pastrami Queen makes a great sandwich. Even though I went to high school in the neighborhood of this Jewish deli, I had never stepped inside. So, I treated my mother to one of her favorite meals.

My mom and I split a sandwich, shared a huge bowl of mushroom barley soup, and a side of kasha varnishkas.

Tangy Russian dressing elevates the peppery taste of the meat and sour notes of slaw. Rye bread only makes sense to absorb all of the juices that might run past fingers and down wrists.

My mom and I must have been a sight; dressed in semi-formal attire, devouring huge sandwiches without taking breaths for air. I think the family of four sitting next to us was slightly horrified, but it didn't matter. It was a good year, so why not end it with a delightful sandwich.

We didn't forget about our other sides and proceeded to drench the kasha in a gravy served on the side, and attempted to consume all of the soup, but there was just too much. Once we were finished we sat back and just laughed. Imagine if we had ordered a sandwich each. Oy! The best part, is that we probably would have finished that off to.
Happy New Year all!

Pastrami Queen
1125 Lexington Ave
Manhattan, New York, NY 10075
(212) 734-1500