tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81525034465055650002024-03-12T19:02:58.248-07:00Food's on my mind.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-13306190121207559932014-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:002014-11-09T13:38:12.326-08:00BLOG HAS MOVED!Hi Friends!<br />
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Thank you for checking in. This blog has moved to:<br />
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Please visit updates there!<br />
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When you google, you might still find hits for popular posts like the Chawanmushi recipe at dailyfoodie.blogspot.com, but that's probably because I haven't figured out how to transfer the SEO yet.<br />
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Thank you all for all of your support, and see you at my new website soon!<br />
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XOXOThe Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-72499294337448270812014-02-16T13:50:00.001-08:002014-02-16T13:50:22.253-08:00Wandering around Montreal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I decided to wander around Montreal in the freezing cold. Because the idiot in my mind thought that the best way to see the city is to wander around for about 5 miles if not more through the slush and ice storm.<br />
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At least I set some goals to see all of the major food places. My first stop:<br />
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Apparently St. Viateur Bagels is the place to go for bagels. Canadian bagels are more condensed in flavor than american bagels, and slightly chewier. I was probably very hungry by the time I got my 2 warm bagels, one sesame and one cinnamon raisin. But thinking back, I think I like Canadian bagels more even factoring out the hunger.<br />
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I continued on my journey ripping and eating at the bagels with gloveless hands.<br />
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Montreal is named after Mount Royal, which is a hill? mountain? in the middle of the city.<br />
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I walked along the edge of the mountain where the snow was piled a few feet high until I found an entrance into the woods. People had been snowshoeing and created semi-compact meandering paths into the trees.<br />
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I put away my nearly frost-bitten bagel hands and enjoyed the snowy solace. There was nothing but the crunching of the snow beneath my feet for about an hour.<br />
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I eventually needed to refuel and I didn't want to recycle fluids back into the Earth, so I followed the sound of traffic and children sledding back to civilization.<br />
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Oh lord. I was on a snowy hill in tennis shoes, and I has hopelessly lost. Why did I have such a long shadow at 1pm, I don't know, but the sun's position does not lie.<br />
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After some dangerous slipping and sliding, I decided that refuel at La Banquise, which I heard has some of the best and most famous poutine in the city.<br />
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I got Le Jaco, and La Taquise. I preferred Le Jaco. The fries were perfectly cooked on both, but I loved the minced meat with onions and mushrooms, and the peppery gravy. It was lip smacking good.<br />
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Even though I got regular sizes for both, the food was much too heavy. I tried my best, packed it and moved on.<br />
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The other place I had to try was Schwartz's. I arrived at 2pm, and the line was out the door.<br />
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Schwartz's is Montreal's Katz's or Carnegie deli, and I am a great lover of pastrami, so it didn't take much to sell me on smoked meat.<br />
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When I ordered the smoked meat sandwich, the server asked "fatty or lean?" Fatty of course! I didn't come all this way to eat the dregs. If only the woman at the airport didn't assume that I wanted an egg sandwich with no eggs (yolks).<br />
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The chefs at Schwartz's seem to subscribe to the notion that a good deli sandwich should not be served in a way that can be eaten cleanly. I agree.<br />
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It was glorious. Even though I was still full from the poutine, I ate half a sandwich, and really wished that I could shove down more. I am actually trying to eat the other half while I am writing this post, but it's starting to hurt!<br />
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I assume that I will have at least some of the delicious food for a late night snack later! I will need it especially if I decide go to out again when the sun's gone. Can someone please remind me why I decided to go to a colder climate in the middle of the winter? At least the food is worth it!<br />
<br />The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-16575545533493955822014-02-15T21:04:00.001-08:002014-02-15T21:04:35.328-08:00Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal, CanadaMy favorite part of the restaurant is its logo of a fat chef riding an obviously distraught (and morbidly obese) pig.<br />
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Au Pied de Cochon, or pig's foot is known for cooking a pig from snout to tail. I've eaten every part of the pig already and I don't have an stomach that can fit the pictured swine, so I had to pick and choose.<br />
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Raspberry mojito to start. It's nothing too spectacular, but these guys must have been some of the busiest bartenders I've ever seen. It was amazing watching them produce drink after drink at crazy speeds.<br />
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Bison tongue: 7/10 Finally a tongue that's cooked properly! I don't mind not having the char, but the meat is perfectly tender. The sauce of mustard, gravy, and maple is a little bit heavy. But I've learned by now that the food here is a little heavy, maybe because of the really cold weather.<br />
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Foie gras poutine: 8/10 The poutine itself is good but nothing too special. But the foie gras is so so good. It's been so long since I've had proper foie gras because it's not duck-tarian. (duck equivalent of humanitarian, not duck equivalent of vegetarian)<br />
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I have to say though that this dish is once again very heavy. I only had a half portion and I was starting to feel full!<br />
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Home-made boudin: 7/10 Apparently the portions at this restaurant are all massive, so I got a half portion of the boudin, or blood sausage, as well. This is only the second time that I've actually enjoyed eating blood sausage. My waitress took a crazy risk recommending it even though I mentioned that I haven't liked it in the past.<br />
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It's perfectly seasoned, and the texture is nice and smooth. I absolutely cannot eat blood sausage that tastes remotely grainy or has a bitter blood-clot aftertaste. This one has no after taste, and the sweet apples on the side, did help as a palate cleanser.<br />
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Sugar pie: 7/10 Since I'm missing out on the sugar shack, I had to get something with maple syrup! So I got the sugar pie for 2 to go.. makes sense right because it was 10pm and I was traveling alone. Anyway, I took a big bite after I got back to the hotel, and it was delicious! It's nice and soft. Only crazy people would eat this... it's like pecan pie without the pecans! But better.<br />
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The restaurant wasn't amazing, but it was endearing. It was a fun place to eat lots of a pork and a nice rustic meal. The atmosphere was loud and fun, and how can you not like a restaurant with that logo?<br />
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Honestly I liked the raclette I had at a vineyard for lunch better. What is not to love about melting your own cheese and searing your own meat, and then scraping the cheese off the griddle with a piece of bread! That and the 10 glasses of ice wine probably spoiled my palette.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-48547204711888466132013-12-02T16:53:00.005-08:002013-12-02T16:53:54.431-08:00I'm baaaack! With Macarons!I really wanted macaroons. I mean *really* wanted. Laduree is expensive, and Pierre Hermes is even more expensive seeing as how I'd have to book a flight to Paris. So I asked myself, how hard can it be?<br />
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Well if you want to use the Pierre Hermes (the *best* imo) recipe… it's not easy. Also you need a standing mixer or a 3rd arm, of which I have neither.<br />
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This is batch #3. It turned out to have soft insides with light airy shells that start cracking at the very suggestion of teeth, and tasted pretty close to perfect. So I figured that I'd better record the recipe before I lose it.<br />
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I don't normally do things recipe style, but this time, it's necessary:<br />
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Shells:<br />
<br />
100g almond flour (sifted)<br />
100g powdered sugar (sifted)<br />
<br />
75g egg whites (preferably aged in the fridge for up to a week)<br />
100g granulated or castor sugar<br />
food coloring<br />
<br />
Filling:<br />
140g white chocolate<br />
80g jam<br />
20g heavy cream<br />
whatever else you want.<br />
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You'll also need an electric mixer, pastry piper, and a kitchen scale. I didn't own the latter 2, so I had to go out and buy them.<br />
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I got the scale for $30, and a pretty comprehensive decorating set for $20.<br />
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Make sure that your scale can measure in both metric and standard, and has a tare button, unless you like to challenge yourself with addition and subtraction while making a technically difficult dessert.<br />
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First, you sift 100g each of almond flour and powdered sugar. I haven't figured out how to deal with the bigger pieces of almond flour, but so far it's just sitting in a bowl. Do not food process this. somehow I made cement when I did that.<br />
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No need to mix it afterwards either. just leave it in a pile in a mixing bowl.<br />
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DO NOT put food coloring or egg white in this. This is a picture from batch 1 that ended in tears.<br />
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Next, in another bowl, you mix your 75g egg whites with a little food coloring, and you mix it while slowly adding the 100g of granulated or castor sugar, until you get stiff peaks.<br />
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Then you incorporate the fluffy meringue into the almond and powdered sugar mixture, and keep mixing and turning and smearing the paste against the walls…<br />
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This mixture probably needed another 20 turns. It has to barely hold its shape, and as a few websites described it, the batter has to come off the spatula in ribbons. I don't know what that means. My best ones came off as soft goop.<br />
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You then want to pipe them straight down. I got lazy and piped some of them sideways, and so the macarons rose sideways. They ended up looking like spaceships.<br />
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Once they are on the pastry sheet, which is hopefully on a metal baking sheet or pan, you want to smack the whole thing downward to get rid of the nipples (yes that's what it's called. don't be so immature). This is when you find out if your mixed it enough, because if you didn't, the nipples won't go away.. and you get something like the macarons below. They will still be delicious, but they will look inappropriate.<br />
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You can see at the upper left some of the ones that were a little sideways.<br />
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Leave the wet batter out for 30 minutes until a film forms. You can touch it at this point without batter sticking to your finger. Then you bake the dots in the oven for 12 minutes (sometimes I need 15) at 300 degrees. Open the door twice in the middle. I don't know why, but I think it helps the shells form the foot, or maybe the first guy who made it had to always check on the macarons and was too embarrassed to admit it, and incorporated the step into the recipe.<br />
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If you do everything right, the shells will be beautiful.<br />
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And then you can fill them with filling!<br />
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I made some lime jelly. it was much too green.<br />
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I also made some cranberry and white chocolate ganache. you have to melt the chocolate in a double boiler like so.<br />
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Don't mess with the weights here either. I tried to adjust the ratios, and it seems that there isn't too much leeway. I can add a little more cream, but it pipes out too fast, and it's difficult to control. The portion posted should almost perfectly match the number of shells made.<br />
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Way too much green food coloring in the lime jelly.. I didn't put any food coloring in the 2nd set of lime jelly.<br />
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At this point, I taste tested and thought that I failed because everything was a little too chewy. But it turns out that you just need to refrigerate these in an airtight container for 1-2 days, and they will come out quite perfectly delicious!<br />
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Batch #2<br />
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Batch #3<br />
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It can be done!! And unless I want different flavors of macarons all at once, I might as well just make them at home. The upfront time and utensil cost is relatively high… but then you make $100 of macarons with $10 of raw materials, and it's all worth it. Also this yields the most deliciously lick-able batter ever… even if you fail.<br />
<br />The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-31109105108374365532013-07-06T10:23:00.005-07:002013-07-06T10:23:53.730-07:00Perla - a gem in the dirty oyster that is west 4thPerla was on every top 10 new restaurants last year, and finally I had to go and see what's going on.<br />
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It is at the end of Minetta Lane right where the quiet row of famous restaurants meets trash trucks and neon color shops for drunk bar hoppers. Its giant black sign with soft swirly white letters defines the divide between the refined and crazy of New York City. It says at once "we have good food", and "we have a hot scene." And so it does.<br />
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The menu had just about everything I would want to eat from plain old chicken to charred beef tongue. We decided to take the in between route.<br />
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While we were waiting with our drinks (watermelon and tequila!), we were offered some bites:<br />
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Fried egglant and tomato sauce balls 7/10: Great way to start, but it was a little hot! and between the hotness and scratchiness, I cut the roof of my mouth. 5 minutes later, it was pretty darn good though.<br />
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Toast with ricotta, honey, and olive oil: 7/10 Very clever. I've never had honey and olive oil. Between the stickiness and whatever-the-opposite-of-stickiness-is, the spread ended up being a very interesting texture. It must have been a very mild olive oil, because I would only taste it in the finish. I'm definitely using this for a summer party on the terrace.<br />
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Charred octopus: 8/10 It was one of the better charred octopi I've had. The seasoning really stuck to the skin of the octopus, and the inside was tender all the way to the ends of the tentacles. The tomato sauce was simple but complementary.<br />
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Steak tartare with bone marrow and crispy tendon: 8.5/10: The steak itself was absolutely divine. The crispy thing that looks like flaming Cheetos is actually a chicharron made from beef tendon. (This is how you do it, Atera!). The dried and fried beef tendon was properly seasoned, and everything was wrapped up nicely by the mild flavors of the mushroom and the dabs of sauce. My only complaint is that they made the mayo-like sauce from bone marrow. I think one of the best things about bone marrow is the texture, and I would have rather had pieces of bone marrow on the tartare.<br />
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One other complaint: The dish was much too small!!<br />
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Gnocchi in red sauce: 8.5/10 The gnocchi were perfect. It was the second best gnocchi I've had in the past few weeks only because the sauce was not as interesting. The gnocchi themselves were probably as good if not better. They looked very homey because they weren't all quite the same shape and size, and you could see the ridges where they were rolled off the tines of a fork. The red sauce had a little kick and was interesting to eat, but the presentation seems very sloppy at such a nice restaurant. I would have preferred having a basil leaf on top or something.<br />
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Duck with mustard seeds and savoy cabbage: 7/10 beautiful duck, perfectly cooked. No complaint about the flavors. The pickled plums gave a really nice kick... don't eat it all at once though!<br />
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Lamb 2 ways: 7/10 Both ways were delicious but the steak was better than the belly. The belly was overcooked, and the sinews did not stay moist. The sauce was a great pairing for the dish, and really brought out the rich flavor of the lamb.<br />
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Tilefish with pea shoots 8/10: The fish was tender; the pea shoots were fresh (though not as fresh as the ones from my windowsill!); and carrot puree went surprisingly well with the dish. Once again the protein was perfectly cooked, but I think the mildly sweet carrot puree really brought the dish to another level. All of the vegetables tasted like spring, but somehow the carrots weren't grassy, the radishes weren't bitter, and the pea shoots... well they were better than peas.<br />
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Pork chop with pesto and tapanade: 7.5/10 Once again perfectly cooked, and all the sauces went very well with the meat. There was a "tapenade" on top and pesto on the bottom. I love the rich flavor of the olives and pine nuts. This is one of the more tender pork chops I've had, which is pretty impressive given the thickness of the chop.<br />
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Praline semifreddo with salted caramel sauce: 8/10 The salted caramel sauce was absolutely heavenly. The texture was gooey but not sticky, and had just enough salt so that it registered that there was lots of salt, but wasn't *salty*. It coats everything that comes into contact with it, so that you have the lingering taste of the caramel long after you've eaten the ice cream.<br />
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Ricotta cheesecake 6/10: I like ricotta cheesecake because it's lighter, but I wish that they had whipped it up a little more so that it wasn't so obvious to my tongue that I was eating ricotta.<br />
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In the end, there were still so many other dishes that I wanted to try, and the menu changes relatively often, so I really felt the pressure of dishes passing me by. Perla incorporated the latest and greatest flavors and ingredients with the utmost technique, but I feel that it has not yet found its style. There is not one defining must-have dish or a special scene that forces people to return. When they find it, I will be back.<br />
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<br />The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-59844543095290620592013-06-15T08:01:00.001-07:002013-06-15T08:01:36.535-07:00Atera - I thought we were going to eat lichen?The first time I saw pictures of the food at Atera, I thought: moss and rocks.<br />
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I've never had the pleasure of feeling like someone else's guinea pig, though if you've eaten at our place, you've probably been mine. It was a lot of fun. Some dishes were absolutely brilliant, and others were a bit like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. But there were enough great dishes and interesting concepts that I kept on sticking my hand in the cookie jar. In the end it was worth it.<br />
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The restaurant is in a building with a few other businesses who had all decal'ed their names in blue and white on a dirty door. I would have walked right past it if it weren't for the hanging plants in the window that didn't quite match any of the businesses listed.<br />
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The waiting area, like the restaurant itself, was 8 seats around a bar with a small area for 5 people. You might imagine my confusion when we were led there. I thought we were going to eat off bar stools. In any case, the drink menu was rather interesting. I would have had the marshmallow root if it weren't mixed with nicotine. I went for the buckthorn instead.<br />
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Mmmm... buckthorn.<br />
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The kitchen area was more spacious than I thought.<br />
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Beer foam macaroons with caviar and creme fraiche: 10/10 Absolutely brilliant. The consistency of the macaroons were *perfect* which is really amazing because that art hasn't successfully crossed the Atlantic. Most places that specialize in macaroons and even many famous French chefs on American soil cannot get it right.<br />
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Flaxseed cookie with pine nut butter: 3/10 It was like someone made a Triscuit ginger snap covered in butter. I didn't have the coordination to hold onto this thing as the butter melted in my fingers. pass.<br />
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Rutabaga in beeswax: 6/10 The rutabaga was delicious, but the wax was too thick. It stuck on my tongue a little, and the flowers couldn't quite scrape it off.<br />
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Amaranth toaste with trout roe and ramp: 7/10 Was this the lichen?! No, amaranth is a grain. It looked like lichen, so I somewhat liked it better. My problem with this dish is that everything tasted exactly the way they should taste. I am not sure if any of the 3 ingredients did anything to compliment the others.<br />
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Lobster roll with yeast meringue: 9/10 The yeast meringue was really clever and as light as air and as soft as a soufflé. There was a little too much mayo on the lobster, but still really yummy!<br />
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Sunchoke cannoli with butter cream: 3/10 I thought they said butter cream, but I tasted a really heavy sour cream. Also the chips were much too hard. I understand the progression from the previous dishes (all the salty plays on dessert), but the texture, the flavor, everything was all off.<br />
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Beef tendon chicharron: 7/10 Great concept, but season away, Chef Lightner! Maybe this is the right way, but I like mine with some spices, and I'm not afraid to admit it.<br />
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Pickled quail egg and pigs blood wafer duo: 8/10 We were told to eat wafer, egg, wafer. But that's easier said than done when the wafer is very hard, and the creme in the middle is practically liquid. I got creamed pigs blood all over my fingers, so that's -1.5. The quail egg was actually a deviled egg encased in some milk-based thing that had the same consistency, color, and was almost the same size as egg white that had been cooked to somewhere between soft and hard boiled.<br />
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Bone marrow: 7/10 The bone marrow were cooked on slices of hearts of palm to look like bones. It was fun and creative, but it was way too hot. My fingers hurt for 2 courses. Food at a restaurant of this caliber should never be served at the wrong temperature. Everyone who picked one of these up within minutes of serving had to put it back down.<br />
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I love bone marrow. I wish then had put more on top of the hearts of palm so that I could taste more of the marrow!<br />
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Swordfish deli: 6/10 Really interesting concept. Got me thinking about how this was done for a while... then I decided that I don't actually like swordfish cooked this way. It tastes like turkey?<br />
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Fluke tartare with leek and a buttermilk and vinegar ice: 7.5/10 Great tartare, and the ice was very refreshing. I like having a palate cleanser built into the dish.<br />
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Razor clam, garlic, and almond salad with razor clam vinaigrette: 9.5/10 I was a little worried about the number of garlic pieces at first, but I could have only killed a baby vampire bat afterwards. I loved that there were three items that tasted so different in every which way, and complimented each other so incredibly well, and yet they all looked the same! The presentation probably required an extra sous chef.<br />
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Uni and sweet potato: 9.5/10 Visually stunning, extremely fresh ingredients. Not super creative, but I can't deny that it was very fun to eat. Also at this point I think I had about half a liter of wine, and I remember thinking about how this particular dish went really well with the pairing, and did a great job of overcoming the lingering garlic.<br />
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Diver scallop on sauerkraut and hazelnut butter: 8/10 I thought he said live diver scallop, but clearly it was no longer alive as it had been cut crosswise. At this point I did wait for it to wiggle, but it didn't. The sauerkraut is a tad on the heavy side, but no matter, the play on textures was great, and the tiny blob of hazelnut butter turned out to have the flavor of a handful of hazelnuts. Pretty fun to eat.<br />
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Salmon with pork jowel and meringue of licorice: 2/10 *really* *salty*<br />
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Peeky toe crab in milk skin yuba ravioli, grain soup: 10/10 The milk skin tasted a little bit like bean curd, but much softer. The grain soup was like barley tea. Peeky toe crab filling was absolutely perfect.<br />
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Bread and butter! The butter had a texture that was obviously butter, but had a flavor that was obviously aged cheese!<br />
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Cuttlefish vermicelli: 9/10 The most tender cuttlefish I have ever had. It was only slightly firmer than real vermicelli, and the taste of the cuttlefish was very subtle. Because of thin strands, the noodles picked up the delicious light (possibly a different grain based) broth.<br />
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Asparagus in walnut consomme: 6.5/10 I'm not a great vegetable eater. I didn't think that the green and purple asparagus were properly highlighted. I tasted more herbs, and is that seaweed?<br />
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Pork roll! Did it have pork inside the tiny roll? NO! Did it taste deliciously of pork fat? YES! Was it soft and fluffy? NO! But did I ask for another? YES!<br />
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Fouchu lobster with corn powder and lobster butter: 10/10 This dish might look kind of ugly, but it is the best lobster I can remember, which is pretty much my highest accolade.<br />
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Sure I've had very fresh lobster in Maine, but if I had this dish in Maine I think I'd end up buying a house there. The lobster was a few seconds on the raw side of perfect, but that helped preserve the sweetness. Apparently because it was from the deep sea (they were not able to clarify how deep), it was supposedly sweeter? But anyway, It was just short of raw so that it was still easy to bite through, and the corn powder crust got rid of any raw fish feel.<br />
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Roasted breast of squab with ragu and spring garlic: 6.5/10. That last dish was hard to follow, but certainly it could not be done with a piece of squab the size of my thumb. It was a little dry, and the ragu was way too sour and disproportioned. Maybe they dropped a bird in the back.<br />
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Lamb with crispy sunchips: 7/10 Good, but fatty. I don't like to do the extra work of cutting the fat off. I have no problems with fatty meat... I just like my fat to be evenly distributed and incorporated into the muscle fibers.<br />
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Rhubarb juice and gelee: 5/10 Good, but a little too sour for me. I couldn't think of any other word for it.<br />
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Egg: 6.5/10 Ice cream with egg yolk jam and a hard candy shell. Really creative, but in terms of flavors, it wasn't the best ice cream.<br />
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Walnut sundae: 4/10 not a fan of too much walnut. This tiny little dollop was like walnut overkill.<br />
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Trio if ice cream sandwich, black walnut truffles, and chocolate pretzels: 7/10 really fun!! In particular, the pretzels were tiny but filled with caramel. I only had a tiny nibble of each because I was much too full after some 30 food items.<br />
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Overall it was a fun experience. I really wish I had lichen instead of amaranth. I was also hoping that the massive vine that I was sitting next to was edible. I definitely recommend the restaurant. I don't know why it's so hard to get in, but I guess if there's a will there's a way!<br />
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I hoped that for being an obedient and appreciative guinea pig, they would give me a jar of maybe vegetables or grain that looked like fruits or something, but I got an envelope with most of the dishes and wine pairings, which isn't so bad either.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-72716549570702626352013-04-28T17:14:00.000-07:002013-04-28T17:14:14.203-07:00Mario Batali's BabboBabbo is *the* Mario Batali restaurant. Known for its bustling scene and snobby waiters, it's been a favorite of hipsters, bankers, and celebrities alike. Oh wait, until Batali bit one of those hands. But we'll ignore that for today.<br />
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Chickpea crostini 7/10: Always a good start to a Babbo meal.<br />
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I don't know why they make the bread so crusty. It is fun to watch the waiters scape the crumbs away with a spoon instead of one of those folded metal things, but still. It cannot be fun for them.<br />
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Who ordered rabbit food! The arugula salad was good, but I dug around for a while before I realized that it was nothing but leaves under there.<br />
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Prosciutto 8/10: It's just prosciutto, but perfectly sliced prosciutto. The bread was a little hard.<br />
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Marinated fresh sardines 8/10: It's very good if you love sardines. It's nice and soft to chew. The fish taste is still strong, but it doesn't linger, which makes it more pleasant than more aged sardines.<br />
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Mushrooms? 5/10: I can't remember what it is! uhoh!<br />
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Octopus 8/10: I always thought that babbo had the best octopus ever, but after having had The Harrison's octopus very recently, I actually think that The Harrison has the better octopus! This one comes with a superior limoncello sauce though.<br />
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Black pasta with crab 7/10: Their last version of black pasta that Babbo had would have been a 10/10. It had crunchy bits of soppressata and instead of crab, it was rock shrimp. Every version of this pasta I've ever had had a hint of spice... except this one. It was bland and lacking somehow. But can't say that I don't love the al denta strands of squid ink pasta and the big lumps of crab meat.<br />
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Mint love letters 8.5/10: As minty as ever. these pieces of ravioli are jammed packed with the good green stuff. I like having this dish in between meat heavy pastas.<br />
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Bucatini 8/10: Guanciale or pig jowl is one of Batali's favorite ingredients, and it's not hard to see why. It adds a depth of flavor to the dish, and the fat helps bind the pasta and sauce together.<br />
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Basically all of Babbo's pastas are very good. I could eat pasta there all day!<br />
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Quail 8.5/10: This portion is bigger than it looks at first glance. There are actually 2 quail in this picture. Personally I would have found a more harmonious way to plate 2 birds, but I guess it's not anything unnatural.<br />
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They're cooked perfectly. The skin was a little sticky and seared, they removed all of the bones in the body, and the sauce on the bottom was tangy and sweet. It wasn't the best quail I ever had, but it was pretty darn close.<br />
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Beef tongue 10/10: How many high end restaurants serve tongue and brains (e.g. the calf brain ravioli that we didn't get this time)? So when you come upon one, you must take advantage of it. Tongue is one of the most tender meats on the body, and if it weren't for the horrible habit most people have of trying to visualize what they're eating moving around, it would be a better loved cut.<br />
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The meat completely melts in your mouth. The dijon mustard is perfect for the seared slabs of meat. You don't have to go to a special region of Japan for this buttery cut meat, and by lowing, the muscle is naturally massaged every day. Every one of your big macs was once attached to some bovine with one of these. Learn to enjoy it before other people discover it and the price goes sky high.<br />
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Veal chop 7/10: I told the person who ordered this that it would be fatty, and it was. Most of Babbo's main dishes are good but not great, and much too fatty for my taste.<br />
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If you go, I'd also recommend the ribeye for two or the duck, but the best thing to do is to eat all pasta and maybe share a main.<br />
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Babbo was where I had my first bite of homemade pasta, and Batali's cookbook was one of my first. For that I will be eternally thankful. Everything here is done with a certain flair and seriousness that you must take as a given before you walk in. The staff here isn't aren't as fun as Batali on TV, but you have to forgive them for that, because the other issue at Babbo that has been hurting Batali and Bastianich in the news lately is the horrible wages at their restaurants. Although I hate to support a business with such inexcusable flaws, I can't help but visit the iconic restaurant every once in a while. So if you do enjoy it here, remember to tip well. And by the way, because of the labor lawsuit, you can forgetting about bumping into the the Iron Chef.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-34956881707402534372013-04-23T20:49:00.003-07:002013-04-23T20:49:53.264-07:00The HarrisonThe Harrison is always delicious. It's your perfect friendly neighborhood restaurant with top notch food. But because it's situated within spitting distance of the likes of Nobu, Wolfgang's steakhouse, and Tribeca Grill, it never gets the recognition that it so richly deserves.<br />
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Pan fried gnocchi with pesto sauce 8.5/10: When did gnocchi become so good? Maybe this one was a little heavy on the potatoes, but it was still bouncy and soft. The duck confit, tomatoes, and pesto made a great dry sauce.<br />
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Soft shell crab 6.5/10: They could have given us a meatier soft shell crab... or more of them. It's a very easy protein to cook, and they did it well, but there was just nothing interesting about the dish.</div>
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Octopus 8.5/10; The octopus itself is one of my favorite octopuses. In its many iterations at the Harrison, it's always impossibly tender and well charred. I'm not sure what's going on with the harissa sauce. It was too overpowering.<br />
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Parmesan salsa 6/10: Great idea to mix parmesan this way. Not very interesting beyond that.<br />
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Cod with yukon potatoes 8/10: or so the menu said. The waitress said brandade, so they must cook multiple fish this way - in a deconstructed croquette with a crusty layer of melted cheese on top. It's a great dip. I could have polished off a whole loaf of bread with this.<br />
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Deconstructed romanesco sauce with fava beans and pieces of bread 5/10: It was just a difficult-to-eat cooked salad to me.<br />
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Lamb osso bucco 9.5/10: So tender and good. I don't know what those white strips were, but the meat was incredibly tender, the stew underneath was herby, and the chickpeas added more body to the dish. I wish I had found some delicious soft cooked tendon. That would have made my night.<br />
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Birffday cake (spelled Birthday cake on the menu) 8/10: It's not just your usual moist chocolate cake with ganache and mouse, but there's some crunchy crispy chocolate bits on top like a rice cracker. The surprise (because you cannot see a thing on that cake) made the crispy rice cracker thing that much better.<br />
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Coconut bread pudding 6.5/10: Too dense.<br />
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Chocolate shell with caramel mouse 6.5/10: It was like a deconstructed peanut butter cup. It was clearly better than your regular old peanut butter cup, but nothing made it great.<br />
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Deconstruction seemed to be a theme this time around, but for the most part, it worked.<br />
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The Harrison is low key luxury. Jimmy Bradley may not be a household name, but he's well respected and rarely misses. Despite the small operation, the menus are constantly changing here. Even the wine list has evolved over the years. Both the innovation and old staples such as the octopus keep me coming back for more.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-58887097763157387112013-04-15T17:59:00.000-07:002013-04-15T17:59:21.249-07:00L'Apicio: L'Artusi's better sibling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've been meaning to try L'Apicio for some time given all the rave reviews. L'Artusi is a good restaurant. There were certainly some memorable dishes (mushroom and egg and pancetta), but the pasta there was only okay.</div>
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L'Apicio, on the other hand, has much better pasta, and I dare say better appetizers too.</div>
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Fresh ricotta with rhubarb and multigrain crackers 10/10: This dish was so simple and elegant. Each component was delicious and different on its own, and in aggregate, it was one of my favorite cheese appetizers ever. In particular, the crackers were something special. So sweet and crunchy... if Nature's Valley made this, I climb Half Dome just to eat the crackers.<br />
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Warm mushroom salad 6/10: Everything was good, but the combination of frisee, mushrooms, and hazelnuts was somewhat confusing. I could barely taste the hazelnuts.<br />
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Octopus 7/10: I have no complaints about the octopus. The fregola (I thought they were lentils but they're actually pasta pieces) were way over salted and over sauced. They were just chewy *things*. And I think we got one maybe 2 tentacles per dish. Were they running of octopus so early?<br />
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Ramps, pancetta, and eggs ?: I didn't have it. I just got it because it sounded similar to the signature mushroom dish at L'Artusi, and I figure that it would be good. This NY obsession with ramps is kind of out of control. If you think it's cool to have ramp breath... leeks, chives, and garlic are available throughout the year.<br />
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Polenta with rabbit 7/10: L'Apicio is known for its polentas, and I must say that it's better than most of the polentas that I've had. I couldn't really taste the rabbit, and it didn't do much to improve the dish. Maybe I would have liked one of the other polentas better. I would try the calamari puttanesca one next time.</div>
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Brussels sprouts 3/10: Someone must have dropped them into the fire. It's not easy to do this by mistake.<br />
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Beets 3/10: The beets were covered in this pinkish cheese/mayo sauce - it almost makes me think that it belongs at some random buffet or came out of a plastic box. Even if the problem were just the presentation, it's a big problem.<br />
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Mushroom gnocchi 10/10: One of the best gnocchis I've ever had. Gnocchi has the tendency to taste dense or heavy, but these little pillows had just the right amount of bounce and really soaked in the flavors. It had a great balance of potato and starch that I have yet to achieve at home.<br />
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Duck Riso 6.5/10: I love risotto, and I love duck. If I were eating by myself, this would have been the 2nd dish (after the gnocchi) that I would have ordered. But it has a strange taste. The duck did not go well with the chorizo. The two flavorful meats were fighting each other, and both completely overpowered the risotto.<br />
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Spicy pork sausage casarecce 7/10: Delicious, spicy, al dente. It's a great classic pasta dish. The kick was strong enough that the dish stood out and brought a unique flavor to the table.<br />
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Tagliatelle with salumi ragu 6.8/10: This, on the other hand, was a classic, but did not stand out. Also the sheets of pasta folded upon themselves with no sauce to separate the layers, and they stuck a little. I know that happens when I cook pasta, but I don't expect it to happen at a restaurant!<br />
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Orecchiette with ribollita ragu: 8/10: I had to look up what ribollita is. It's a Tuscan vegetable soup. The orecchiette was perfectly done, and the bread crumbs were a great touch after having many pastas that did not have a crunchy element. This was one of the better balanced pastas in terms of texture, seasoning, and overall taste.<br />
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We were all stuffed after this wild round of carbs, so we didn't have any dessert. If I could have, I would have asked for another round of that ricotta appetizer!<br />
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Overall, L'Apicio outshines its older well-established sibling restaurant (I haven't decided on the gender of either restaurant). Sure L'Artusi has its merits (location, location, and egg and mushroom app), but L'Apicio is much more well rounded. The atmosphere is just as vibrant. And I guess the neighborhood is not quite as hip, but it's up and coming, and the only better restaurant I can think of nearby needs to be booked a month in advance.<br />
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The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-31123915868841948732013-04-11T18:28:00.002-07:002013-04-11T18:28:38.732-07:00Landmarc: Throwback!Landmarc was all the craze a few years ago, and the only thing that's changed about this small neighborhood restaurant... is well the city around it. Like all other hyped up things in New York City, the City loves you, worships you, uses you, and eventually leaves you in the dust (to state it nicely... this is a food blog after all).<br />
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Bone marrow 7/10: I don't know where they found a cow with such big bones, but the portions were definitely unnaturally large. They weren't as soft and gooey as other places.<br />
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Goat cheese profiteroles 5/10: They were such lonely dollops. They tasted a little heavy, and I don't know the meaning of the salad. I don't want to eat these profiteroles with salad.<br />
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Lamb meatballs 6.8/10: They were good.<br />
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Chicken liver mousse 8.5/10: It was pretty good mousse! No one wanted to dig into it because of the suspicious container. Even the waiter was confused and tried to remove it untouched.<br />
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This is what the mousse looked like inside. The picked onions were great! I think everyone else at the table missed out.<br />
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Calamari 5/10: It's just calamari. Kind of boring.<br />
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Skirt steak with green peppercorn sauce 7.5/10: If you're thinking that this steak looks like scorched earth, it wasn't bad camera work. It was actually this dark. It was on the medium side of medium rare, but still tender and delicious. The gravy was good. The fries were average diner fries.<br />
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Brussel sprouts and sauteed mushrooms 7/10<br />
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My neighbors were eating a lamb shank and a rib eye that would not fit on a normal plate. They must have gotten these cuts from the giant animal chunk factory where the bone marrow came from.<br />
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Dessert sampler 6.5/10: A bunch of bad desserts sandwiched between a good creme brulee and a delicious blueberry compote.<br />
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My favorite course: Cotton candy!! I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be for children, but I always ask for it anyway. And it's so so good. Double throwback!<br />
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There are lots of restaurants like this in Manhattan that are good but not great. Reliable but not timeless. But if they all ended with cotton candy, I'd visit them more often (or maybe just the closest one).The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-25910649559575824892013-04-07T12:40:00.002-07:002013-04-07T12:40:57.223-07:00Cafe China - Michelin must be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of stars behindFirst I would like to apologize for the horribly blurry pictures. 7 people were crammed around a rickety square table that was much too high for anything other than building legos. I didn't want to try to stand up every few minutes and knock over everything from water to lamps. Can't say that the ambiance wasn't authentic!<br />
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Some of our party wanted to have some authentic Chinese food, and Michelin just recently honored Cafe China with 1 star. It's closer to the center of the city than most Chinese restaurants, so why not?<br />
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The walls (and the website) are covered with pictures of Shanghai girls. The menu, however, clearly had a strong Sichuan influence. Confusion.<br />
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In any case, we ordered a wide variety of dishes.<br />
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Scallion pancakes: 9.5/10: Flakey layers with just the right amount of scallions. I am definitely not there yet with my own pancakes.<br />
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Five spice beef: 7.5/10: A little too tough and under spiced.<br />
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"Husband and Wife Special" which is just beef tendons in chili sauce. 10/10: We didn't tell people what it was made of, and it was one of the most popular dishes of the night! It was thinly sliced, tender, and the chili oil was delicious.<br />
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Dumplings: I didn't eat any. I was disappointed in the plating. It's something that's so easy to make pretty, why pile it into a bowl? I plate my dinners better than this.<br />
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Xiao long bao: 8/10 Shanghainese pork dumplings that are filled with soup. The flavor was good and I liked that it wasn't fatty, but there wasn't enough soup. They were also cooked too close together and nearly ripped. It was steamed on paper (which sticks and tears the dumpling!!), instead of cabbage. We also didn't get tongs to pick them up.<br />
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Spicy wonton: 5/10 mediocre wontons, mediocre chili oil.<br />
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Ma Po Tofu: 2/10. Come on. 1: no ground meat. okay maybe we're trying to be vegetarian friendly, so I let this one slide. 2: Overcooked firm tofu - unforgivable. 3: Not enough Sichuan spice. If I don't feel the heat or the numbness, then we must not be eating mapo tofu. End of story.<br />
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Cumin Lamb: 8/10 It was rather delicious. The lamb was thinly sliced and caked with cumin. The serving size was a little small, and we got more dried peppers than lamb. It was almost just as good as the lamb skewers from the cart on the street in Queens. That was a compliment (for those of you who have never visited the cart).<br />
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Sliced pork with garlic sauce: 4/10 I've had more versions of this dish than any other dish in Chinese cuisine. The Chinese name, by the way, is "sliced pork in FISH sauce". It's so classic that you can usually order it even when it's not on the menu. It was below average.<br />
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Fried rice. I didn't eat it. I didn't need to taste it to see that they hardly added anything other than scallions. I think I see egg, but who knows. 3/10.<br />
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Sweet and sour spare ribs 7/10: They didn't say that it was red cooked, and then it was red cooked, so I got a little confused. It was very tender and yummy. But it was red cooked, and therefore sweet and salty, not sweet and sour.<br />
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Fish slices 6/10: Another benchmark dish for me. This is just to see how good restaurants are at flavoring delicate dishes, and how fresh their fish is. The fish is fresh, the flavoring is lacking.<br />
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Three pepper chicken: 8/10: 3rd properly spiced dish I had after the husband and wife special and the cumin lamb. The heat was truly fun to eat. The dried chilis clung onto that chicken like white on rice. It was very good. But the chicken dried out.<br />
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Overall, it was a good meal with great company, and a fun variety of foods. The waiters seemed disinterested, which was a little sad. They looked like hipsters and could have been a little more fun. I hear the Tsingdao beer there is sour tasting, which sounds disturbing.<br />
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...and now my rant:<br />
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Michelin gave Cafe China 1 star. They must have thought that the benchmark for Chinese food is Panda Express. Allow me to explain. In my silly head, 1 Michelin star as something great that you cannot easily find, and the combination of food, service, and decor, is a cut above the rest. There should at least be some innovation or special ingredients that put a spin on old dishes. 2 stars is supposed to be an *experience*, and 3 stars is supposed to be a *revelation*.<br />
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So Michelin, why did you choose to give this Chinese restaurant of all Chinese restaurants a star? Have you not had the husband and wife special and spicy wontons at Taiwan Cafe on a dirty street corner of Boston Chinatown? Or all the Sichuan dishes at Wu Liang Ye/Grand Sichuan/Ollies in New York, where the good dishes taste the same, and some dishes such as Ma Po Tofu is incomparably better? Does plating not matter? Because I'm looking at the other 1 Michelin star restaurants on your list, and their plating is beautiful. Does this mean that you will give Lao Si Chuan in Chicago 3 stars? Give me a farking break, Michelin. Go to China and learn about the food.<br />
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If Cafe China deserves one star, then the streets of China should be littered with stars.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-61636865728517607032013-04-07T11:49:00.002-07:002013-04-07T11:49:40.197-07:00Ye Olde Tavern Manchester, VTOlde it was, but Tavern it was not. The Ye Olde Tavern was set in a beautiful colonial house. The entrance was narrow, and each of the rooms were decorated slightly differently - cream tablecloths instead of white, and maybe red flowers instead of yellow. It felt much more formal than we expected, except that everyone sat next to mountains of ski gear.<br />
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The Pegu: Gin, Cointreau, and lime juice. I wasn't driving.<br />
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Cranberry fritters with maple syrup butter: 7/10 They were a little heavy, but the maple syrup butter was so good, and had such a lightness to the taste, that I was more eating the butter with fritters than the fritters with butter.<br />
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Venison sausage in raspberry sauce 9/10: The sauce wasn't too sweet, and who doesn't love a hearty Vermont sausage? The meat was on the gamier side, but it fit the whole rustic country theme.<br />
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Lobster Mac and Cheese: 6.8/10 This was not quite a 7 because the pasta was slightly overcooked penne... suboptimal. But the cheese and lobster were better incorporated than some of the places that we went to in Maine. The flower was a pretty touch but was very out of place...<br />
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Prime rib: 6.8/10 Nothing was wrong with this dish... but the meat was just cut a little too thickly, and it wasn't seasoned quite enough. Maybe I've just had too much Lawry's. Also what's up with the tiny slivers of golden beats and snap peas?!<br />
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Ye Olde Tavern was a nice homey restaurant. The dinners were a pleasant break away from fast food and waffles, but overall, it was nothing too amazing. We've been to a few local joints (such as the Hatchery) that has pretty good food, but we haven't found a great dinner place in Manchester Vermont yet! The search continues the next time we ski there... probably in a few years.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-43886352111527114622013-04-01T16:24:00.000-07:002013-04-01T16:24:01.794-07:00El Toro Blanco... hot new restaurant- off night?El Toro Blanco is supposed to be really good, but maybe I went on an off night or had a weird lunch, because the foods were perfectly cooked, but many tasted bland. The people who recommended El Toro Blanco love sauce much more than I do and my fellow diners shared my concerns, so I'm guessing that the sauce station was unmanned that night.<br />
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Guacamole 9/10: Delicious. It was creamier than any guacamole I've had, which makes me think that they added something. Also there was a hint of smoked pepper. The dipping sauces came in 3 flavors: burn-your-throat, tomatillo, and soupy-salsa.<br />
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Tamale 5/10: It's a struggle finding the perfect tamale. This one was on the sweeter side and much more moist than most tamales, but it was much too decorated. It was hidden underneath the mountain of sauce, and once you strip the sauce away, you find a soggy sweet cornbread.<br />
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Special steak taco with melted cheese 10/10: Best dish of the night. It came sizzling hot with warm taco shells in a little box. The balance of sauce and cheese was perfect. The cheese wasn't too oily, and the salsa on top wasn't too acidic.<br />
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Empanadas. 5/10: Not a good sign that I can't remember the protein inside. The sauce tasted like princess sauce: ketchup, mayo, and maybe a hint of barbecue. Come to think of it, maybe it was short rib...<br />
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Fish, Shrimp, and Al Pastor tacos. 6/10: All three of these had perfectly tender protein, a nice balance of meat to veggies, something crunchy and bright, and NO SAUCE. With a dollop of sauce, these could be 9/10. So sad.<br />
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Flautas 6.5/10: Once again I've forgotten the protein. I think it was shredded duck. The flauta was nice and crispy under all the decorations, which was a pleasant surprise.<br />
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Corn 9/10: I love mexican corn. I can't believe they'd charge a $10 premium to cut the corn off the cob, but I just can't help myself. Also they cooked some onions and mixed it in, which makes it extra good. Perhaps I'll grill this myself and blog about it one day.<br />
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This dish did make me realize that they were using particularly sweet corn, so maybe the sweetness of the tamale was just a result of the corn.<br />
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Grilled lobster 8/10: Difficult to eat, but delicious. Grilled lobster is almost always overcooked, so I've given up on docking points as long as it as a hint of smoke but no charred pieces where I can taste ash and metal (you'd be surprised how hard it is to get that balance).<br />
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Steak 7/10: No complaints here. The melty cheese with either green tomato or tomatillos slices inside was quite delicious, but none of the mains were as delicious as the corn!<br />
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Apple pie empanadas with caramel and ice cream 6.5/10: They tasted like fried apple pie. It was good, but nothing new. The whole thing was a little too sweet for me, and even though the other empanadas didn't have a flakey crust, this one absolutely should.<br />
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Tres leches cake 8/10: Tres leches cake was my favorite dessert until I made it for xmas one year and read the nutrition facts on the ingredients. Oops! This version was very good because they used marshmallow fluff on top, which tastes different from the cream-based everything else. It also gives a certain lightness to the otherwise physically and calorically heavy dessert.<br />
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Overall El Toro Blanco's a solid restaurant. I'll have to go back to find out if I visited on an off night someday. It was good enough, and the food was varied enough, that I'm willing to give it another shot.<br />
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The ambiance was great - it was fun and lively without being too loud. The waitress offered us tequila shots for dessert, maybe she should should have offered those as appetizer. The blog post would be a little different then...The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-22863019103920534592013-03-25T17:07:00.002-07:002013-03-25T17:07:34.105-07:00Fast Food on the way to Skiing... and Waffle Cabin!Fast food might be cheap, full of preservatives, and commercialized (I mean it's a hundred billion dollar business), but sometimes it's savory and keeps you alive during long car trips. There's also something to be said for the ability to create the same taste over and over again and have the food to be tasty enough that people keep going back.<br />
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Since I didn't grow up with fast food, I don't crave it very often, though sometimes curiosity gets the best of me. Here are my favorites:<br />
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Arby's: I visited my first Arby's at the age of 23 or something. It was a bit of a revelation. Mass produced deliciously seasoned curly fries!<br />
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Sauce dispensing machines... with horseradish? really?!</div>
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You need quite a bit of sauce to make the sandwich work, but then again so do most restaurants. Who the heck cares that you had to pump it out of a plastic bag hidden in a tin box.<br />
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Roast beef with cheese on onion bread. Not bad, and it costs less than the taxes at a lot of dinners!<br />
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Hmm ice cream. It tastes the same as a lot of overpriced ice cream in expensive restaurants... but with Hershey's fudge.<br />
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Dunkin Donuts: Apparently a lot of Americans wake up to this. I found out that they have this vanilla chai tea that's absolutely delicious. I don't really drink caffeine, but I'm willing to drink something that tastes like sugary milk with some cinnamon spice!<br />
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Nice view eh?<br />
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And then I had these absurdly awesome hash browns!! They're so good!<br />
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And then I got this disgusting sandwich. WTF is that inside?! did someone paint a yellow circle on my egg white? It makes me so sad that people eat this. I'd rather pay up and get Finagle Bagel with real bagels and real eggs. (but I'd still get the tea and hash browns!!)<br />
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It wasn't all fun and expedient billion dollar franchises. A lot of Vermont ski resorts have the Waffle Cabin, which deserves a cult following of its own. They have perfected the sugar waffle... and we had to wait at least 15 minutes for the dude to finish his tinkle break.<br />
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But I got my perfect waffle. The batter is somewhere between donut and cake. A patina of crunchy sugar is cooked into every nook and cranny. My teeth hurt and my stomach longs for it as I type. I paid them a lofty 75c to drizzle that baby with chocolate syrup that usually ends up on my face and clothes.<br />
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It was a great experience and all, but it's not for the health conscious. Then again, most fine dining isn't for the health conscious either. Great restaurants cook the food in butter and oil too, friends; they're just clever enough emulsify/foam/otherwise hide it marbled or soaked into meat and fungi.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-66978974635796235792013-03-23T19:38:00.000-07:002013-03-23T19:38:04.274-07:00mMMm...Hand Meat Pie at homeApparently this is also called a Pasty Pie, but I prefer the name "Meat Pie."<br />
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It involves a crust (I like store bought puff pastry), and a delicious meat filling, which can be whatever you want.<br />
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I was in the mood for a beef and potato filling because no store I know of sells shredded duck. Potatoes are a great addition to the meat pie, because the soft starchiness makes the inside of the pie taste fluffier.<br />
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Step 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.<br />
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Step 2. Cut veggies. The key is to dice everything finely so that you get nice even bites.<br />
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I used onion, shallots, carrots, and potatoes.<br />
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Step 3: Add beef and season! We added tomato paste, worchester sauce, paprika, a dash of cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.<br />
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Let it all cool!! and make sure that it's not too liquid, or the dough will be soggy. You can dump out the excess liquid or just tilt the pan and let it drain to one side.<br />
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In the meantime...<br />
Step 4: Roll out pastry dough<br />
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Step 5: Stuff it.<br />
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Step 6: Seal it. I sealed it with little egg.<br />
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Step 7: Poke holes on top with a fork or knife so that the dough doesn't split open while cooking. If you want, you can brush the top with some egg and sprinkle some chunky flavored salt on top.... whatever you like.<br />
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Step 8: Throw it into the oven at 400 degrees and cook for 10-15 minute until browned.<br />
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Step 9: Eat!! Don't burn yourself. These come out smokin hot.<br />
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Someone told me that he could eat 4, so I made 4, but here we are after 2... completely stuffed!The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-71007169254434809212013-03-22T23:29:00.001-07:002013-03-23T19:38:50.505-07:00Brooklyn Fare's coveted menuCesar Ramirez does not allow photos or note taking in his acclaimed 3 Michelin star restaurant, Brooklyn Fare. Even after being named the best restaurant in NYC by many, only a single Danish blogger has posted the full menu (so my lazy google searching tells me).<br />
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I'm morally opposed to this strict and secretive practice, especially when so many restaurants that are on par with (if not better than) Brooklyn Fare allow note taking. I will only take this post down if someone gives me a good reason to.<br />
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Here's the 23 course meal that I had at Brooklyn Fare. By a conservative estimate, I'm missing at most 2 courses... and that just means that the courses were not memorable.<br />
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First, a crash course on the fish dishes that I did not bother to paint over and over again:<br />
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At least 4 dishes were a thin slice of fish paired with an even thinner circular pickled crunchy "vegetable", usually a tuber, in a pool of citrus sauce and a beautiful little flower on top. Everything but the sauce was put together with tweezers (and a lot of sweat and concentration).<br />
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Without further delay:<br />
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1. Kabocha squash with orange and yogurt foam 9.5/10: The squash and orange puree could have been a little smoother and less hot. Otherwise an amazing start!<br />
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2. Japanese butterfish 9/10: I was really amused by the orange theme with a mini marigold-like flower here. The serving dish was kind of pretty with little circular holes. Circles were another theme. A third theme was also started with dish - citrus-ness.<br />
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3. Knifejaw with cucumber and cucumber blossom 9/10: Each fish was slightly different, but honestly with a few glasses of wine, it all started meshing together. This dish was still early enough that I enjoyed it immensely.<br />
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4. King salmon with trout roe 10/10: For both taste and presentation, this is the first dish that truly stood out. A dollop of creme fraiche was hidden between the thin pastry cup and fish.<br />
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5. Grouper with pickled turnip 7/10: Similar looking to previous fish courses, and the taste was completely overpowered by the lemony sauce. There was a green sauce on the bottom that I could only taste briefly before the citrus took over.<br />
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6. Black river Russian osetra caviar 7/10: Eh. There are many other places where I can get osetra caviar. The dish lacked creativity... although it looked like there were only 3 ingredients: caviar, creme fraiche, and a pastry shell... but I could have sworn I tasted something sour and sweet like a pickled onion on the bottom.<br />
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7. Red trumpet fish with pickled daikon 7/10: Another similar fish course. It was starting to get a little repetitive. I remember the pickled daikon having a red ring and tasted closer to raw radish.<br />
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8. Golden eyed snapper with burdock root and shiso 8/10: Tasted more or less the same with a little more herbal flavor from the burdock root. The thinly shredded (and fried?) pieces on top added a new and exciting crunch.<br />
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I remember the last time I was at BK fare, there was crunchy stuff on half the dishes and nearly cut my mouth. This time, the inclusion of crunch was much appreciated and used on fewer courses.<br />
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9. Red sea perch with gelee of sake 10/10: I knew this was going to be a great dish the moment the bowl was set down. The bowl was a soft dimple, like a thick round piece of white dough with a soft depression in the middle. The red trumpet fish was raw, but the skin looked as if it had been charred on a grill, and tasted distinctly smoked. I. Love. Sea Perch. It's so soft and insanely good. The sake gelee were thin clear circles - as light as plastic wrap. They were carefully draped over the fish with tweezers.<br />
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This was my favorite dish, and the start of my favorite 3 course sequence.<br />
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10. Hokkaido sea urchin with truffle and brioche 10/10: Another favorite of mine. You'd think that piling truffle on sea urchin would be overkill. It kind of was, but in a roll-your-eyes-back great way.<br />
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11. Snails with garlic sabayon and crispy shallots 10/10: The advantage of sketching instead of taking photos is that I can pretend to cut the dish in half and show you the inside of an otherwise boring picture of foam and little dots of red crispy shallots. The dish was very french with a green pesto-like sauce on the bottom. The sabayon really helped wrap the flavors together and let the flavor last on the tongue without leaving a heavy film of butter.<br />
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12. Young snapper 4/10: The token fried dish. I remember distinctly a fried dish burning my mouth during my last visit, so I was careful to give the fish extra time to cool. Once again, it was under seasoned and kind of boring looking.<br />
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13. Sea urchin and caviar 7/10: I vaguely remember the sea urchin being cut up, and the dish tasted a little smokey. Not a good sign that I can't remember much else.<br />
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14. Japanese red snapper with scallion 7/10: This was the first cooked course. It was a bite of very tender fish, but nothing really stood out as particularly innovative. The skin was blow torched to extreme crispiness, but it was almost too hard. The sauce was sweet and tangy.<br />
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15. Fluke with crispy kelp 7/10: I liked the cooked fluke more than I like most raw fluke... but I don't really like fluke in the first place. I find the fish pretty boring, maybe I'm missing some taste sensors oh well.<br />
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16. Shiitake mushroom and mackerel with crispy ginger 6/10: I have no earthly clue what this course tasted like. All I know is that it was the last canapé.<br />
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17. Turbot with peas 10/10: As great of a turbot as I've ever had. The young pea shoots/vines/flowers were tender and delicious. The baby peas were perfectly cooked and sweet.<br />
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18. Duck with mushroom puree and baby carrot 8/10: I do love duck. This was nothing special. the carrot didn't add much, but was delightfully miniature. It almost looked like a small pepper with its bright red to orange gradient.<br />
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19. Prime rib 8/10: Once again not very special. It was well cooked and seasoned, but I've had better. There were small orange balls in the sauce that were delicious like tiny sweet and sour flavor-packed berries.<br />
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20. Cheese course 7/10: Better than last time! But still kind of boring. I think it was from California this time, and there was something light and crusty like a super thin crouton on top. It came with a light vinegary salad.<br />
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21. Milk chocolate with cocoa powder dessert 8/10: It looked like a tiny loaf of bread, but I think it was actually foam that was flash frozen, so the spoon cut through it like fluffy ice cream or the softest cake ever, and it tasted like air. Super creative, but just not strong enough in flavor.<br />
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22. Chocolate ganache cake with maple ice cream 9/10: Delicious. tasted and looked exactly like its description.<br />
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23. Chocolate mousse with yuzu 8.5/10: I would have given this a higher score, but there were way too many pieces of yuzu rind on the bottom, and the extra bit of sourness doesn't fit my palate.<br />
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Petit fours weren't great, but at this point, I was satiated, happy, and not bloated. That's all I could ask for.<br />
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This meal was much better than the previous one I had at BK Fare, and that's a great thing. Is this the best restaurant in NYC? Maybe. It would definitely be between Brooklyn Fare and Le Bernardin, and with the new innovations to this lengthy menu, I might agree with all the magazines this time.<br />
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My only request is that they bring back the egg course!! Forget the 2nd uni course, and let's have some perfectly scrambled eggs with caviar, and perfect scrambled eggs are *not* easy to make.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-58257282438261869912013-03-21T17:00:00.000-07:002013-03-21T17:00:23.695-07:00Soto... and the final verdict on the best sushi restaurant in NYCSoto was the final contender. It's a favorite of many of the people I talked to.<br />
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As usual, the entrance was nondescript and I blew right by it.<br />
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The staff had trouble understanding our questions, so we thought maybe it was safest to order instead of going with the omakase.<br />
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Chawanmushi 6.5/10: I decided to find out how other places make chawanmushi when Brushstroke's was so good, and Yasuda's was so inedible. This was right in between. It was rustic and a little smokey with sliced mushrooms, shrimp, and chicken. The egg was too mild, and the liquid base was a chicken broth, which wasn't as good as Brushstroke's dashi broth.<br />
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Sea urchin tempura with sea urchin powder 5/10: It wasn't the best way to make sea urchin. I was overly encouraged by the cooked sea urchin I had at Ichimura. My friend said that it tasted like a really soft funnel cake... and I agree.<br />
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Why was there a piece to the side teetering on the edge of the plate? How uncharacteristic of a top sushi restaurant...<br />
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Uni with ponzu 9/10: Much more traditional. Very fresh urchin.<br />
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Sea trout carpaccio with chives, caviar, and truffle oil. 10/10: This dish was completely over the top and delicious. The greens were salty, vinegary, and slightly bitter. The fish was creamy and soft.<br />
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Soft shell crab 10/10: I thought that they would not be in season at all! Maybe that's why it's so meaty? But the shell was as soft as ever! Maybe there's a crab aquarium in the back.<br />
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Salmon on top, Sea trout on the bottom. Totally delicious. I was a little confused why the salmon was cut in 2 different ways... one was cross grain, and the other was along the grain, but I'm sure that it did not change the flavor.<br />
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Jack fish on top and seared salmon on the bottom. The jackfish was mild and very well done, but it wasn't quite as interesting as jackfish at other restaurants. Perhaps it's a different part of the fish? The seared salmon was good.</div>
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O-toro 10/10 as usual, but was it the best during my sushi tour? Not quite.</div>
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I didn't end up ordering too many pieces of sushi, because the sushi list was honestly a little short.</div>
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Best roll of my sushi tour. Tuna tartare with sesame, pine nuts, avocado, possibly some jalapenos, all wrapped in a lightly flavored and slightly salted kelp. 10/10: It's jammed packed with flavor but it all worked and was very exciting to eat!</div>
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We were pretty much told that we're having mochi ice cream for dessert, which is fine and all, but where are the other halves?<br />
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Mango, red bean, green tea, vanilla, and strawberry. We wanted to share so we asked for a knife.<br />
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They kindly gave us this tiny dull spatula. Between that and the tiny fork, I was able to get the job done.</div>
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Overall, Soto was delicious. I would absolutely go back with friends, but I felt that everything was too safe. None of the dishes really wow'ed me.</div>
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**DRUMROLL***</div>
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I must declare a winner in this search for the best sushi restaurant, and it's...</div>
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SUSHI YASUDA!!</div>
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Judging from sushi ALONE. They had the best sushi - perfect in cut, flavor, temperature, and rice. Everything was insanely fresh, and did not need any extra condiments. Yasuda's sushi is minimalist, subtle, and elegant.</div>
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One note though - do NOT order anything else. The other dishes were pretty bad.</div>
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The other contenders were not without their merits. Every one of the sushi restaurants: Neta, Sasabune, Ichimura, and Soto were good. Neta and Soto had more creative (and edible) entrees. Ichimura had the most interesting fish selection. Sasabune had great shellfish (I can't quite say that it's the best because I did not have shellfish at Soto).</div>
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Now I know a lot of you readers like other restaurants better, but this is my opinion, and if your favorite restaurant had an off day when I visited, then it's their fault. If you want to prove me wrong, I'm open to dining invitations.</div>
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Onto the next challenge!</div>
The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-55225838174582851982013-03-18T19:06:00.002-07:002013-03-18T19:06:39.736-07:00Ichimura at Brushstroke... the quest continuesIchimura is hidden behind 2 pieces of canvas to the right of Brushstroke. It's all owned by David Bouley, but so very different. Where Brushstroke is lacking in sushi and sashimi, Ichimura excels.<br />
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The meal started off with a bang 9/10: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: fried lemon fish, lotus root, roe, tuna wrapped in shiso leaf, giant clam, cooked uni, bamboo shoot, and baby octopus. This dish ran the gamut of salty/sweet/savory/crunchy/soft/gummy/creamy/scratchy/spicy.<br />
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Baby eel in ponzu sauce 10/10: Okay I gave it 10/10 because you can see the little eyes and it's so cute, but it basically tastes like a protein noodle. I could substitute noodles with this... but it's probably a little too slimy for most people. And most people don't like their food staring back at them.<br />
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Chawanmushi 10/10: It's the classic from Brushstroke next door. It's so nice of them to serve it here as well. It lends a little continuity to the experience other than the location and wood panelling.<br />
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Next is the sashimi course. Here are some highlights:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi030Nn6N7W0ueE4fcgtUysaSGeEPRWe3-N0WO7vZSOxGKdDDgEoHXSuVOgKYttd0Kc0AT336SgyL5eR0MadM8bbmp541er9B-kH9cHX5f6PNZN9HrR7561x2tCmws39Cnp9lXJ0N10EETb/s1600/Photo+Mar+18,+7+04+21+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi030Nn6N7W0ueE4fcgtUysaSGeEPRWe3-N0WO7vZSOxGKdDDgEoHXSuVOgKYttd0Kc0AT336SgyL5eR0MadM8bbmp541er9B-kH9cHX5f6PNZN9HrR7561x2tCmws39Cnp9lXJ0N10EETb/s320/Photo+Mar+18,+7+04+21+PM.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Fluke and fluke fin: 7.5/10. It's really hard for me to like fluke. It tends to be too chewy especially when it's not with something citrus, but these were very fresh and relatively tender. the fluke fin was interesting. It had a much firmer texture and was a little heavier in taste.<br />
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Striped jackfish belly 7/10: I really liked the colors, but I felt that the flavor was a little bland. Also the much harder silver part was strange to eat with the tender meat.<br />
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Ocean trout from Hokkaido 10/10: So creamy and delicious. It was like a less fishy version of salmon, but was a little fattier tasting than arctic char. After this dish was also delicious striped bass, but it looks pretty similar to the fluke, so I did not take a picture.<br />
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Aged mackerel 8/10: I thought it was just the right amount of fishy. I wasn't taken aback, and the saltiness of the sauce and the chives cut through the fishy flavor well. I also liked that it was in a separate container so that it did not contaminate the next course....<br />
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Aged toro 10/10: Seriously? I didn't like the first bite (which is missing from the picture) because it was cold. But it quickly grew on me. It was like eating ice cream.... The fish was a little on the cold side, but after one bite, it quickly melted and disappeared, leaving behind only flavor.<br />
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Next was the sushi course. It was mesmerizing to watch Chef Ichimura make the sushi. Slice, press, shake, dab, wrap, press, press. He collected the fish with one hand while forming the rice with the other.<br />
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Everything was great in its own way. The nuanced evolution of flavors should be experienced first hand.<br />
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Striped bass belly<br />
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Small anchovies, beautiful and lighter than one would think<br />
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Ocean perch!!!! Creamiest. Tenderest. (white) Fish. Ever. But now it's out of season. I got the last one.<br />
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Jackfish<br />
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Needlefish with cilantro. Looked pretty but didn't taste like anything.<br />
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Mackerel, aged for 5 days<br />
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Sea Urchin<br />
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Golden eyed snapper. I think the taste was more delicious than red snapper, but I couldn't put my finger on why....<br />
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2 kinds of o-toro, one from the belly, and one from the "neck." So good.<br />
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Red snapper with sea salt<br />
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Scallop aged 4-5 days a.k.a. most tender and delicious scallop ever.<br />
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After all this we were so satiated. We sipped some ginger drinks and watched the chef prepare fish for the next seating.<br />
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We took a walk around the area and took pictures of the miniature scenes built into the walls<br />
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The detail was amazing! I could see the foods they were eating.<br />
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Ichimura's greatest merits are the unique selection of fish, and the incredible one-on-one attention from the chef. Although I've been told that when you do not ask for the attention, you do not get it! I was curious about what a fish was at the end of the meal, and he took out a small booklet from his pocket to point out the fish. Whenever I asked why something tasted a little different, he was more than happy to explain.<br />
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Like Peter Wells pointed out, Ichimura was a *discovery.* It was like finding one of the tiny scenes in the walls and being transported to a quiet corner in another town at another time... and maybe occasionally bumping into a celebrity or two.<br />
<br />The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-83133689866758150142013-03-13T20:03:00.001-07:002013-03-13T20:03:22.228-07:00Sasabune... the quest for NYC's best sushiAfter going to Neta and Sushi Yasuda, I began to ask myself. Who has the best sushi in Manhattan? There's a very short short-list, and Sasabune is on all of them. I will not make a judgement until I have tried all the contenders.<br />
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Sasabune is on the upper east side and practically in the East River. It comes with an interesting message: "No california rolls! No spicy tuna rolls! Trust me!", the restaurant commands on its door.<br />
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The sushi bar is extremely cramped, and since I was there with others, I didn't make too much of a row about staring at the chefs. We were seated in a separate rickety little room with green chairs and little disposable plastic-wrapped hand wipes.<br />
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Oysters: 7/10 Kumamoto oysters are not my favorite. I also didn't understand what the little round things were. they were filled with shredded crab meat?<br />
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I couldn't understand a word the waiter was saying, but I think he said it's mussels, octopus, and baby abalone on the half shell: 5/10 Everything was okay and bordering on too crunchy. The abalone in particular was like chewing through a carrot.<br />
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Monkfish liver: 8/10 it had a really mild texture but strong taste - like fois gras of the sea. We also found out during this course that monkfish is not kosher. My friends found out what they look like in its entirety - they are fugly.<br />
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No idea what this was. It almost tasted like snail in that it had the same texture as shellfish but was softer and "muddier" in flavor. 8/10. I like snail or whatever it was.<br />
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While I was eating all the shellfish, my kosher friends got white tuna, which is pretty cool.<br />
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2 types of tuna 8.5/10: I didn't think the o-toro was as good as other places, but it's still very very good. I also didn't understand why they put sauce on the regular tuna but no sauce on the toro. I also now understand all the complaints about loose rice.<br />
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I used my fingers for the rest of the meal. Even with my fingers, rice was falling apart and sticking to my fingers.<br />
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Clockwise from the left: red snapper, black seabass (?), fluke 7/10: The fluke was good. I find that I like fluke best with a citrus sauce, and this one was rather sour. Red snapper was somewhat tasteless, and what I heard was "seabass" tasted mostly like sesame seeds. I like sesame seeds, but I don't think that was the point.<br />
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Clockwise from left: Miso black cod, fluke fin, albacore belly. 8/10: The albacore was very bland, and the cooked fish... were well cooked fish. They were both extremely tender and delicious, but I would have liked them without rice. I love that Sasabune served the fluke fin... the most tender meat is always the hardest to get to, and I'm happy to see them served more often in restaurants!<br />
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I was starting to get full here from all the rice... but we must carry on.<br />
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Clockwise from the leftmost sushi in the top row: Clam, scallop, giant clam (?), salmon, no idea, striped bass. 7.5/10 The shellfish tasted very similar with varying sweetness and textures. It was fun to eat... except for the giant clam, which had a shiso leaf hidden inside. I love the flavor, but the leaf hit my tongue like sandpaper. The bottom row was good, but nothing too special. The salmon was probably as good as anyone else's salmon.<br />
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Clockwise from the top left: Yellowtail, amberjack, uni, salmon roe, mackerel. 7-10/10 The yellowtail and amberjack were good. The uni was great! But was it greater than the other uni? It's hard to say. The mackerel tasted aged and very very fishy. There's something about this kind of mackerel vs. the mild flavor of spanish mackerel... I do wish someone warned me. Luckily I didn't eat it last.<br />
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Thank the lord we're almost done. I got a hand roll with shredded crab, and my friends got a hand roll with chu-toro. We were so full at this point that we were about to burst! 6/10: Sasabune did not have the best crab. Maybe they're out of season, but then I'd still take points off for serving off-season seafood.<br />
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Overall for a place that asks so much of our trust ("Trust me!" is on the shirt of every employee), the restaurant has an odd delivery of its message. It is as if someone has drawn a masterpiece on a napkin, or perhaps it's the astronomer in the Little Prince with the funny clothes, or perhaps they are just testing our trust. Some of the best quality sushi in town is served with wasabi mixed with mayo or some other paste, and soy sauce from a kikkoman dispenser. Roll after roll comes on plain white ceramic or even plastic dishware. Not to mention, they didn't have hot towels, which are ubiquitous even in mid-level restaurants.<br />
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Perhaps the biggest testament of all to the chef's quirkiness is the restaurant's refusal to tighten up the rice after years of complaints. But if you trust the chef, and in a sense I do, then come and sit and enjoy the sushi. Come hungry.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-6880524126017319392013-03-10T16:42:00.003-07:002013-03-10T16:42:58.927-07:00FideuaFideua is halfway between paella and pasta. It's usually made with thin noodles in a paella pan.<br />
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Why not make either paella or pasta? Well it's about 45 minutes faster than paella, and it's drier than pasta, and has a special stickiness that only comes from something cooking in its own gluten.<br />
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Fideua is usually made with a thin pasta, so I used angel hair. It's also the fastest to cook! The protein is also usually a medley of seafood, which is *also* super fast to cook! Since we lost an hour this weekend, the faster cooking is definitely appreciated.<br />
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Make sure to dry all of the seafood in paper towels before cooking. This will prevent burning hot oil jumping up at one's face.</div>
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First, lightly cooked the calamari rings and shrimp in olive oil.<br />
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Once the shrimp is pink, remove the seafood from the pan.<br />
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Time to make a flavor base for the pasta. Sometimes it's good to keep things simple with some garlic and onions.<br />
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And some chili, salt, and pepper. You can add white wine, fish stock, veggie stock, whatever you want. I had leftover dashii, which is practically fish stock, so I used that.<br />
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The next step is to add crushed tomatoes. I get the whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes from a can and mush them up with my fingers. You have to be a little careful to not squirt tomato juice all over yourself.<br />
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Let all that goodness simmer for a couple minutes to marry the flavors. At this step, you would usually add saffron to make everything taste more like saffron and a nice bright yellow. But I didn't have any saffron, and didn't want to pay for ridiculously expensive saffron at Whole Foods.<br />
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Then add some fish. Those are chunks of cod pictured above.<br />
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And pasta... make sure to add enough stock to just cover the pasta so that it cooks properly. I used angel hair, but you can use linguine, spaghetti, or vermicelli.<br />
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It takes a little longer than the box says. Once you have the pasta all mixed in and separated, *stop stirring*. Just like with paella, you want a little crustiness on the bottom. After about 6 minutes, I put the shrimp and calamari back on top, turned off the fire, and let this sit for 5-10 minutes.<br />
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A nice light seafood dinner. I guess it would have looked a little more authentic with some saffron, but maybe next time when I want to pay $15 for a gram of saffron!The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-54817711978137446152013-03-06T19:07:00.001-08:002013-03-06T19:07:03.405-08:00Ichabod's TavernExcuse my sudden hiatus. I took a few bad pictures, had a few bad nights, and now I have fallen many restaurants and even more days behind. But do not worry, March is teeing up to be one heck of a culinary journey, and I cannot wait to share it with you!<br />
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Tonight I went to Ichabod's Tavern. There are many places in New York like Ichabod's. It could have distinguished itself with a headless horseman, but it did not. In any case, the dinner was short and sweet.<br />
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Broiled oysters with parmesan and stuff. Cheese overpowered the oysters. It's a pass.<br />
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Mushroom toast. It was good, but the mushrooms were overly creamy. It probably has more fat than one would think!<br />
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Squash dumplings. Big winner. The squash was deliciously seasoned, the dumpling skins were like a thinner version of ravioli. It has more water content and bounce than pasta skin. The fried bay leaves, warm roasted nuts, and truffle oil were great additions.<br />
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Tuna tartare with chips. Pretty standard.<br />
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Duck leg. They served literally one. But I was quite full from appetizers, so I didn't throw a fit. The duck came hot enough to cook my fellow diner's fish. the polenta was delicious. The duck had great flavor, but was a little dry... probably from being lit on fire.<br />
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Although it looks like a melting disaster, this apple and caramel dessert was actually quite good. I was never a fan of pie crust, and was a little worried that this dish would lack balance without a dry ingredient. But it's great on its own. Who needs pie crust!<br />
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This was brilliant. Ice cream, peanuts, and caramel topped with toasted marshmallows. When people tell me that they're going to give me toasted marshmallows in my dessert, I find it hard to believe. It's almost always under-toasted! But Ichabod's must have held those marshmallows to the skin of the duck because it was beautifully browned and gooey. I had to use my newly cleaned teeth to scrape the sticky residue off my spoon. What a great way to end the meal.<br />
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Fair warning - I only have a few more light and fun places to visit this month before we visit some of the best restaurants in NYC. I went to a pretty nice one last week but my camera ran out of battery... oops.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-8130063246184771132013-02-24T16:02:00.002-08:002013-02-24T16:02:07.432-08:00Steamed Egg/Chawanmushi recipeChawanmushi or steamed eggs are showing up left and right. They are picking up popularity at top NY restaurants - it's a staple at Brushstroke, a brunch special at North End Grill, and an available culinary disaster at Sushi Yasuda.<br />
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As usual, the internet is filled with recipes, but what is a recipe for something like this, if you cannot tell if it's perfect from the *inside*? For example, the chawanmushi at Sushi Yasuda is quite good looking on the outside, but the inside is filled with bubbles and is tasteless..<br />
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The egg needs to be silky and delicious, not too dense, and not too light. Here is how I like it best. With videos!<br />
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There are only 2 main ingredients: Eggs and water. Although I'm sure you'd find that recipe riveting, I decided to post a fancier version for the sake of variety.<br />
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My mother always made this with water and a little salt, which is perfectly fine. When I'm lazy, I make it with water, salt, and a splash of mirin. I had some extra time this morning, so I made a dashi base, which is just boiled dried seaweed and some bonito flakes. I then scoop out some clear dashi and let it cool for my "water". Remember to add a dash of salt. It helps bring out the taste of the egg.<br />
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I like to boil my bonito flakes and konbu with a strainer so that I can remove them from the soup easily.<br />
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Like all egg custards, one of the most important things is not having bubbles in the egg mixture. But for the sake of sanity, just whisk the eggs and deal with the bubbles later. Save the egg shells!!<br />
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Hopefully you have at least one well-preserved egg shell half. A really nice trick I learned is using the shell to measure the water. The ratio should be and the *very least* 3 half shells of water to 1 egg, and at the most 8 half sells of water to 1 egg. I like a ratio of 6:1.<br />
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As you add the water, you'll notice that the bubbles will form a nice little layer on top. They are really easy to skim with a spoon.<br />
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I run the egg mixture through a strainer anyway (I reused the strainer from the dashi), because there's always some egg gunk that's not perfectly mixed. Toss it!<br />
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This is what the final mixture should look like. Perfect. Bubble-less.<br />
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The egg is then left to steam for about 10 minutes.<br />
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I love extras. I sliced some green onions...<br />
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And made some sauce with the dashi. I just added some green onion bottoms, a little extra soy sauce, and some sesame oil.<br />
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I throw the green onions in about 7-8 minutes into cooking so they partially sink into the egg.<br />
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To tell if the egg is cooked, you can shake the pot, and it should jiggle like so.<br />
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Another way to test if the egg is cooked is by poking it open with a spoon. The liquid should be clear, and the egg should be solid like gelatin.<br />
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Here's the finished result.<br />
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It's important not to overcook the egg, so remove it shortly after it jiggles like a solid. You have about 5 minutes to get it out of the pot before the egg overcooks and starts puffing up.<br />
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Such a delicious warm breakfast. Perfect for a gloomy morning! Each ramekin was 1 egg, so all that water increases the volume quite a bit (by 300% in fact).<br />
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The delicious jiggle of a perfectly cooked steamed egg custard.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-19022602467421773442013-02-23T09:55:00.001-08:002013-02-23T09:55:14.541-08:00Lotus BlueMore and more Chinese restaurants are moving away from Chinatown. Red Farm, Mission Chinese... well we don't have all night to wait in line, so we stopped by Lotus Blue.<br />
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This is a great place to get a light lunch, and the ingredients are obviously high quality, but the cuisine is as confused as the music. Like its location and name, the restaurant seems to want to say that they are Chinese, but not grungy and loud like the restaurants in Chinatown. On the other hand, they want to be affordable and authentic unlike Mr. Chow's.<br />
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The decor was tranquil with large lotus blossoms painted on orangey walls. But the air was filled with deafening caterwauling mixed with some bone flute and impossibly slow disco music. During my discomfort, I really did think that perhaps they were playing two songs at once.<br />
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Chicken soup in clay pot. It was a little too lightly seasoned, especially since the waiter said that there were "a lot of Chinese herbs" inside. I must say that I didn't taste too many herbs, and the only thing in the soup other than the chicken were the delicious sliced strumpet mushrooms:<br />
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These things were cut crosswise. They are the little circular disks in the soup picture.<br />
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Overall the soup was good although under seasoned, and there was *a lot* of chicken. A lot of chicken.<br />
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Crispy red snapper. This is not what we expected. Instead of a whole fish fried and covered in sauce, the fish was filleted, pieces of fish were fried, and the sauce (sweet and spicy cocktail sauce?) came on the side.<br />
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The flavor was okay. Once again I was surprised that the food was under seasoned. There was literally no seasoning in the batter... not even salt.<br />
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I did enjoy the fish head though. I picked out all the tender pieces and left them an obliterated carcass muahaha.<br />
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The check came in a cute little pouch.<br />
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Instead of finding harmony between Chinatown and high end dining, the restaurant seems to have confused itself. The clubby ambiance attracts the loud crowd, but being slightly overpriced and in Tribeca, they have loud and slightly-better-heeled. Without the hype/advertisements/cache, Lotus Blue is not attracting foodies or celebrities, falling into the cracks of the NY restaurant scene. Its only hope lies with the locals.<br />
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It would be interesting to see how they do over the years. But for now, it's good for a quick Chinese food date if you don't want to walk in dead fish water (especially if they fix the music), and great for lunch, during which they have generous portions and interesting sides.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-5516185021920283952013-02-19T18:56:00.004-08:002013-02-19T18:56:58.239-08:00Sushi Yasuda. Savor the sushi as quickly as you canSushi Yasuda has great sushi... and it's all sushi.<br />
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First of all, I don't read fish hieroglyphs. Sushi Yasuda is marked by a picture of a fish on a thin strip of lit awning. As far as I could see (which was not very far in the rain), there was no name or identifying lettering anywhere. I had to squint at the articles in the window to confirm that I was indeed at the correct restaurant.<br />
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Sake! I wonder how long it took them to get the sake into such a small opening?<br />
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Seaweed salad 5/10: Although I enjoyed trying different types of seaweed, and the plate screamed elegance, the seaweeds were not that good. My stomach is more discerning than your neighborhood aquarium.<br />
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Flash frozen tuna 6.5/10: I liked it at the time because it was crunchy and fried, but thinking back on it, I feel like it tasted too much like chicken. The seasoning was good but masked the taste of the fish.<br />
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From left to right, top to bottom: 2x spanish mackerel, razor clam, uni, 2x king salmon, 2x white king salmon, 2x red snapper (kinme), 2x silver salmon, 2x regular tuna, 2x fluke, 4x toro<br />
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9/10: The uni and toro were a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Insane. I could eat more, but I was getting rather full. At least a few times the fish was so good, that we were able to close our eyes and shut out all sounds and other senses and just savor the fish.<br />
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I took a point off because as it will become apparent that someone lied.<br />
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Tamago 8/10: It was okay. It was good, but not mind boggling.<br />
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Chawanmushi 3/10: I didn't even take a picture because it was awful. It didn't have any taste, it has some air bubbles so it wasn't silken, and there were weird clots of food inside.<br />
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Don't get the chawanmushi. It makes me so sad.<br />
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From top to bottom, left to right: rainbow trout, arctic char, king salmon. As you can see from this picture vs. the picture above, either our first waitress lied or our second waitress lied. I think it's probably the first one who mixed silver salmon and king salmon.<br />
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But anyway, all three were good. At this point, we were too distracted by the fact that they were pushing us to eat the fish and order dessert or maybe order dessert before we eat the fish. If we hadn't ordered dessert, we would have gotten our coats delivered to our table.<br />
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Green tea and red bean mochi 7/10: They were really good, but someone overdusted the green tea mochi with matcha and it was a little too bitter. I also don't like the high friction of the matcha when the ice cream and mochi are supposed to be soft and forgiving. It's like putting sandpaper on a pillow.<br />
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Overall the service was bipolar. The politeness was more than offset by the aggressive schedule. They pretty much told us to finish some courses because others were on the way. ...And we were not there for long.<br />
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When you visit ONLY ORDER SUSHI. I don't see the merit of anything else. Okay... sushi and sake. That's enough to make a meal.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8152503446505565000.post-66012195085747737932013-02-18T17:32:00.002-08:002013-02-18T17:32:27.741-08:00Red Cooked (Hong Shao) RibsRed cook(ing) is a very common method in Chinese cooking in which protein is stewed in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and whatever else until it turns dark and incredibly tender. The combinations of ingredients and methods vary, but I cook it the way I've always been taught.<br />
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The method is not only delicious but firmly rooted in scientific reasoning.<br />
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The butcher had trouble following instructions so I ended up with massive ribs that I had to claw apart with my fingers. I like to make this stew with St. Louis style ribs, because I love munching on the softened cartilage. There's also just enough fat to keep the meat tender and the guilt at bay.<br />
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The is the only recipe I can think of where you boil red meat as the first step. This is to get rid of all of the extra blood and crap that's going to give it a strange flavor or grainy texture.<br />
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A few minutes of boiling will bring all the blood and gunk to the top. You can then dump the water and rinse off the ribs, so that you get a nice clean soup.<br />
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In goes cooking wine, ginger, and just enough water to cover the meat. This is simmered covered on low heat for 30 minutes while....<br />
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I watched TMZ. But my bf put together a nice soup to go with the red cooked ribs.<br />
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30 minutes into the cooking process, the meat is starting to tenderize, and it's time to season. Some people might tell you to put the soy sauce in before this step, but according to my father, sodium ions make the meat tense up prematurely, and the flavor will not permeate. I believe him.<br />
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Now for the key ingredients: a few tablespoons of dark soy sauce and a piece of palm sugar. If you have rock sugar, you can add a couple of lumps. I strongly suggest using one of these sugars, because they taste different from your run-of-the-mill sugar. They have a brighter and fruitier sweetness than table sugar/brown sugar/etc. I also threw in 1 star anise to bring out the savory earthiness of the meat. I don't like to add too many extras here, because the meat should be the star.<br />
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When the sauce is all mixed with the cooked meat, I added some coarsely chopped carrots. This is then simmered for another 20 minutes or pretty much however long you like as long as the carrots don't turn to mush.<br />
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In the mean time, my bf's beef noodle soup is finished and is filling the room with warmth and delicious aromas.<br />
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When the red cooked ribs are done, it will look reddish brown (go figure) like this. The sauce doesn't have to be super thick. Super thick soy sauce and sugar stews are actually a different method by a different name.<br />
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I scooped out the well-seasoned ribs and carrots. The meat is falling off the bone!<br />
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As we savor the sweet and salty stewed meat and the soft cartilage of the ribs, the sauce is being used to make flavored eggs. It's the circle of cooking fluids.The Peruvian Box-Otterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13280707322345836550noreply@blogger.com0