International Restaurant & Food Show 2008 - NYC

If you're interested in the restaurant biz... and have some time to spare Monday and Tuesday, go check out the International Restaurant & Food Show at the Javitz Center.

Doors are open from 10am to 5pm. Sunday to Tuesday.
There's tons of cool food to try and even some cooking seminars to sit through.

Sidenote : I saw Kelly Choi today. Yah... she looked pretty hot

Lemon Chicken Stir-Fry

Here's a dish I concocted recently that’s healthy and tastes good. It includes lots of veggies, spices, and chicken.

Sauce (played around for a bit but don’t remember quantities):
Crushed red pepper
Sugar (or Splenda)
Corn starch
Lemon powder
Garlic powder
Chili powder
½ cup Water

Meat:
Chicken thighs cut into small strips

Contents:
3 tablespoons oil (I used EVOO (hi RRay!))
5 oz. can bamboo shoots
2 carrots cut into matchstick pieces
2 celery stalks sliced
5 mushrooms
½ red pepper cut into thin strips
7 green onions sliced diagonally
½ cup of peanuts (cashews would probably be better)

Make sauce by whisking everything together, and set aside. Heat pan to hot, and then add oil. Once oil is hot, add chicken; stir-fry until cooked. I went more than cooked and waited until browned a little and somewhat crunchy to the touch. Add all vegetables except mushrooms and bamboo shoots and stir-fry some more. Once everything is soft, add shrooms and bamboo and stir-fry another 3 minutes. Whish sauce to remix, and then add to pan. Stir-fry for 2 minutes while it thickens, and then add the nuts. Turn off heat, and stir-fry for another 90 seconds.

Serve alone or with rice, and enjoy!

It’s an easy dish to make, but chopping & slicing can take a long time. Can I hire a sous chef for 10 minutes? It took me damn near an hour to chop up everything.

Michael Mina

I'm trying a new thing here. Every Sunday, I would like to highlight a specific chef I find particularly interesting and label the series,"Chef's Own Words".

Sobaya / Cha An

Just got back from a long relaxing lunch with J and a friend from Japan. 3 hours.
We stopped by at Sobaya for lunch and walked across the street to Cha-An for tea and dessert.

I gotta say, Mr. Yagi's Sobaya is quite good. Their food is authentic and priced very reasonably. It's been at least 2 years since I've visited this Soba specialty store and I'm sitting here wondering why it's taken me this long to go back.
My lunch box set came with...
- a bowl of udon noodles,
- 3 pieces of tempura,
- grilled salmon,
- house salad,
- side of kinpira gobo,
- and braised root vegetables.
All for $15.

While you sit and enjoy your food and company, you hear the rhythmic chopping of noodles echoing across the restaurant. There's a noodle making station in front of the restaurant where on-lookers can watch staff making soba and udon noodles live.
It's great to see things made from scratch with one's bare hands.
The clientèle this afternoon was 80% Japanese, 10% other Asians, and 10% other.

After lunch, we walked across the street to Cha-An.
A Japanese owned dessert and tea shop featuring some great teas and homemade desserts.
I had a Tibetan Puh-Er Tea and a caramel mousse with coffee infused cake.
The Japanese decor and friendly wait staff made our 2 hour tea time fly by.

I know I'll be back here very soon.

Sobaya - Recommended
229 E 9th St Ste 3
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 533-6966

Cha-An - Recommended
230 E 9th St
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 228-8090

Kimlan Soy Sauce

Like olive oil and canned tomatoes, I am always looking out for better soy sauces. I've used Kikkoman, Lee Kum Kee, and Koon Chun. The most recent soy sauce I've purchased is Kimlan Light (Taiwan brand) and I like it a lot. It has a nice bright, fresh, and slightly salty taste. Different from the murky overly salty taste of Koon Chun.

The light refers to the soy sauce being the first extraction kinda like extra virgin olive oil. "Light" is actually saltier than dark soy sauce unlike the implication of the name "light." But, the flavor of light soy sauce is prized as being more pure kinda like the extra virgin olive oil. Give it a try next time you need to replenish your soy sauce stock...

Ribs, Ribs, Ribs

Not your ordinary ribs I guess. Meaning summertime BBQ or a grilled rack.
But Steamed Ribs.
I've been playing around this past weekend with various cooking techniques, and steaming has really become an eye opener.

Simply season, let marinade for 15 minutes (In essence, you can pre-marinade with anything), and sear on a hot pan (cast iron preferably) and set aside.
In a large pot (with cover), throw in chopped cabbage and onions, pour in a cup or two of chicken stock making sure it does not cover the vegetables, place ribs on top of veggie bed and bring the liquid up to a boil, cover and place in a 270 degree oven for 3 hours.
The chicken stock vapors penetrate the ribs and the end product is an amazingly tender, flavorful pork ribs that literally falls off it's bones.
The vegetable bed is key in giving off extra flavoring... not to mention the support your ribs need to stay off the liquid.

The next time you are thinking to make some ribs, give this method a try.
I'm convinced you will cook the tenderest ribs you've ever made.

Food Network - Resume Impossible?

The chef/host of the show Dinner Impossible on the Food Network recently got the ax for embellishing his resume. Some of his lies included designing Princess Diana's wedding cake and working at the White House. Show was kinda fun to watch since he usually had to cook a ridiculous number of dishes for an insanely large crowd. I wonder if Congress will waste more taxpayer money holding a useless hearing on why he lied...Steroids, Spygate, Resume Impossible? Makes sense, no?

Chinese "Lion's Head" Meatballs

I thought I'd add to my Meatball Series with one of my favorite dishes my mother used to make when I was growing up.
Known in the Chinese kitchen as "Lion's Head".
Here's a simple recipe.

Lion's Head - Meatballs
2# Ground Pork
1# Ground Chicken
1 Onion
2 Spring Onions
2 T freshly grated Ginger
2 T Corn Starch
1/2 t Sesame Oil
2 large Eggs

Mix the pork and chicken together with the grated ginger, starch, sesame oil and eggs. Finely chop the onions, spring onions, and mix into mixture. Shape into tennis ball sized balls and gently sear surface.

Soup Stock
2 oz Jin Hua Cured Chinese Ham (kinda like Virginia Ham)
6 Chicken Wings
2 Slices of Ginger
1 t Sugar

Prepare stock by gently boiling all ingredients in a gallon of water for 2 hours.

Nappa Cabbage

Gently place the seared balls into the soup stock. And tear off nappa cabbage leaves to cover the balls. Make sure they submerge into the stock. Let simmer for another hour and you are done.
You can re-plate into nicer bowls or porcelain single serve pots.
Serve hot.

eGGs BenEdict

I love eggs benedicts.
I don't love WD-50 (yet) because I've never been and this whole deconstructive / molecular cooking thing kinda confuses me.
But because I love eggs benedict so much, and it seems our chef at WD-50 loves it too, I see potential.
http://events.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/reviews/05rest.html?ref=dining

WD-50 seems to be a perfect Dudes destination.

Iberico y Parma

(top - Iberico, bottom Parma)
After Athos's mouth watering post, I had to get me some Iberico and compare with the so called King of cured meats in NYC... Prosciutto di Parma.

Verdict:
Jamon de Iberico is a far superior cured meat than the Prosciutto di Parma we are getting here in the states.
But I suspect the "real", good stuff that doesn't get exported from Italy could hold up to the Iberico from Spain. But for now, in the US, Iberico reigns supreme.
It's a bit pricey but if you are a fan of charcuterie, you should not miss this opportunity.

Tasting notes:
If you are looking for buttery/melt-in-your mouth cured meats, the Italian stuff is recommended.
The Spanish cured meats are a little drier (because aged longer), more musky, gamy and a little bolder in flavor. The fat cap on the Iberico is whiter too, and surprisingly retains more moisture even when left out in the open air for long periods of time. This is a testament to the superior curing methods.
Iberico is best eaten as is, or with a dash of olive oil.
Prosciutto di Parma accompanies other foods better.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Huevos Verdes y Jamon

My cousin and I were IMing each other, and she was asking me about China. When I told her how I celebrated my birthday there, she wished me a happy belated birthday and asked me what I would like. She recently moved to Spain. “If you’re serious, send me some Iberico jamon.” This type of Serrano ham is supposed to be the best in the world, so I was joking. Moreover, this is $100+/pound. A week later, and I received a package on my desk. I saw that it was sent from Spain, and you better believe I tore that box open. Okay, she just rose to the top of my Favorite Cousin list. The contents of the box includes:

Postcard
Olive oil
Iberico ham

The postcard insists that I eat the ham with the olive oil and bread. “It’s just not right not to.” She lives in Jaen, which is in Andalusia. Jaen is known as “World Capital of Olive Oil.” The trees on the front of the postcard are all olive trees. Oh yeah, I am going to enjoy this. But wait, bread is needed. My coworker is so excited that he offered to run to the closest place for some pan. He’s back in a flash from the new Panera that opened just this past Friday along with plates and napkins. Time to dig in! Oil on plate, bread sopped it up, and a shaving of ham on top. In the mouth it goes, and mmmm. The fat melts in your mouth. The flavors are intense. I’m happy. My coworker is happy. My other coworker is Muslim, but I think he wanted to try some of this delicious pork. While we’re having our little jamon fiesta, the president stopped by my desk to talk to me. He dove right in, and I gotta tell you, this was an ultimate dude moment at the office. We all had smiles on our faces.

Soba Totto - Review

Intro
Soba Totto - Recommended
211 E 43rd St #1F, New York 10017
At 3rd Ave
Phone: 212-557-8200

I've been wanting to check out Soba Totto for a while - a soba and yakitori joint from the owners of our favorite Yakitori Totto. Porthos introduced me to real soba when Honmura Ann was still around and it was quite a what the f moment. Soba noodles that were light with great texture and felt great during and after eating. However, since then my soba experiences have never reached that pinnacle. So, how does Soba Totto hold up? Soba is good, but the yakitori is the winner although not as good as Yakitori Totto. Overall, I give the restaurant an 84/100.

My Menu

1) Tako Waza- Highly Recommended
2) Maguro Zuke - Recommended
3) Kawa (chicken skin) - Recommended
4) Hatsu (heart) - Highly Recommended
5) Seseri (neck) - Recommended
6) Bonchiri (tail) - Highly Recommended
7) Tsukune Tare (chicken meatball with quail egg) - Highly Recommended (must have)
8) Chicken Oyster - Recommended
9) Eringi - Highly Recommended
10) Kuro Buta Karashi Lemon - Highly Recommended
11) Enoki Bacon - Highly Recommended
12) Kobe Beef Gyutan (Tongue) - Recommended
13) Tempura Soba - Highly Recommended
14) Tamago Toji Soba - Recommended
15) Curry Soba - Recommended
16) Oyakodon - Highly Recommended (must have)
17) Red Bean and Taro - Recommended

Dish Comments
1) Raw octopus that is tremendously tender and sweet. Mixed with soy and wasabe. Great with a sweeter sake - our choice of the night was a Dasai Nigori.
2) Large cubes of tuna that had a decent texture and great flavor. A little too cold in the middle for me though - needed more time to let it come to room temperature. One of our diners said this was her favorite dish of the night.
3-12) I was expecting the yakitori to be the same as Yakitori Totto - unfortunately while it's still uber tasty, Yakitori Totto is still better. For some reason the yakitori here wasn't as tender, juicy or even the right temperature - I wanted it warmer. With all that said, it's still very tasty and way better than Yakitori Taisho.
13) Cold tempura noodles that have a nice al-denteness to it. Dipped in the dipping broth, the noodles have a nice clean taste. Tempura served on the side is quite nice as well - crispy and flavorful.
14) Flavorful rich broth consisting of egg and chicken. Noodles are a little overcooked in my oinion. Noodles reminded me more of ramen...
15) Curry broth is very pungent and tastes amazing, but the noodles have the same texture as the soba with egg.
16) Rice, onions, eggs, and chicken over rice. This is sick and much better than the oyakodon at Yakitori Totto. Sweet, savory, and just a great texture.
17) Basically, like the Chinese sweet red bean soup served after a meal. This was more delicate and flavorful and filled with what looked like taro and some dumplings. Great light dessert.

Overall Restaurant Experience (84/100)

• Food 8.6/10 – Solid to very good Japanese food. Pass on the hot soba and go with the cold soba and yakitori.
  
• Service 6.5/10 – Waitress was very friendly and the hostess was very accommodating. However, it took about 20-30 minutes to get our soba dishes. We only got it after complaining. This place is much bigger than Yakitori Totto, so they're probably not used to dealing with that many people. I'm guessing the yakitori may have sat a while, which could have affected the temperature and texture of the yakitori.
  
• Atmosphere 8.5/10 – Looks like Yakitori totto, but much larger. Color palate was basically dark brown and some light gray. The place did not feel cramped at all and had plenty of room between tables. Crowd consisted of mostly Asians (groups and couples) with the majority sounding like they were Japanese. Got there at 6pm on a Friday for 5 people with no reservations and was seated promptly.
  
• Price 8.5/10 – Price was great for the amount and quality of food. All of the food including 2 carafes of sake were $50 per person including tip. Great value...
  

Closing Comments
I would definitely recommend Yakitori Totto over this place, but Soba Totto is much easier to get into without a reservation. Intersting note - Soba Totto is right next to Sakagura and across from Sushi Yasuda. Something tells me a trifecta is calling - you knoweating a mini meal at all three restaurants in one night. Makes sense, right?

Beef at Momofuku

I stopped by at Momofuku Noodle Bar for a late lunch Sunday with J.
As always, the guys took care of us and we had a blast.
They sent out a new dish on the house for my wife and I to try.
"Skirt Steak"
Creamed spinach on the bottom, medium rare skirt steak with kimchi butter on top.
It was a hit. The little bit of heat in the rich butter played well with the gaminess of the meat and the creamy spinach.
High points for balance of flavor and texture.
Right on guys!

ps... click on the pic and notice the Welsh salt crystals sprinkled on top. cooooool.

Charlie Palmer - Aureole

I'm trying a new thing here. Every Sunday, I would like to highlight a specific chef I find particularly interesting and label the series,"Chef's Own Words".



One of my favorite restaurants in the city. Mostly due to Chef Dante Boccuzi who I think is one of the greatest chefs I've ever met.
Unfortunately, he is no longer in NY and has moved to the Midwest.
But I'm sure Aureole is still turning exceptional food day in and day out.

Ping's Seafood

Ping's Seafood
22 Mott St # 2 (and corner of Mosco)
New York, NY 10013

J and I met up C (a good friend from elementary school) today at Ping's Seafood.
A few other friends of C's joined the get together and an afternoon of chatting and eating went on till around1:30. Good times.

Ping's is a great place to meet up friends, chat and chow on some dim sum.
Average decor with decent food.
Naturally, nothing compares to the "real" stuff from Hong Kong, but I've come to terms with what Chinatown (Canal St.) can and will offer me.

Chef Ping is somewhat of a celebrity chef in the industry. A few notable chefs of western cuisine enjoy going to Ping's on the weekends to enjoy his dishes.
An expatriate of Hong Kong, his specialty is seafood. From fish, clams, crabs, lobsters, snails, squid, you name it, he does it.

I'm eager to try his banquet menu one of these days. But first, I'll have to fill up the piggy bank because these are supposedly special requests requiring some influential coaxing.

Kobe Club

I never thought Bruni would get a review right... or even remotely close...
But now after going to Kobe Club, the man was right on!
Chodorow's Kobe Club, located in midtown is quite possibly the worst steakhouse I've ever been to. Even if I only paid half the bill, it would still be the worst steakhouse I've ever been to.

If you know anything about the feud between Bruni and Chodorow... you are in luck, cause you're about to get the Dudesonfoods take on the Kobe Club.

My friend and I went a week ago because we've been hearing constant rumors of this American owned restaurant serving supposedly Wagyu Beef. Not that it's good or bad.. but that it exists.. and that nobody we know has been before. Seriously... do you know anyone who's eaten there?

Curiosity got the better of us, and so we took the plunge.

We ordered the following :









Hamachi Ceviche - I would not recommend this to anyone... It was simply slices of poorly frozen Yellow Tail with a Fruit Salsa, Grapfruit Juice spritzed on top and stale toast.
French Fries - A large bowl of soggy french fries.









Edamame Whipped Potatoes - Absolutely flavorless mashed potatoes garnished with Wasabi Beans. Which makes you wonder why the potatoes are even green in the first place, because they had no flavor.
American Kobe Beef Steak - Terrible. When you eat something this "nasty", you have to wonder what on earth is the chef is doing? High school kids in "home-ec" could do better blind-folded.
It's seriously insulting!...as a customer to pay money and get served this $@%#.

The only thing worth talking about was how they prepared the check...
It's a 5 inch Samurai's knife with the bill stabbed into a corked block. Cute.

No more foodie kitchens

Here's an interesting article about how the current housing market (or lack thereof) is causing people to think twice about doing an all out foodie kitchen. You know what I'm talking about - the granite counter tops, viking stove, sub zero fridge, and the necessary outdoor pizza oven. In the past, a big time kitchen renovation that cost $50,000 could get a 93% return on their investment when they sold the house. Today, the return is more like 73%. C'est la vie. I guess my dreams of a real big time kitchen may have to wait a decade or two.

A “WTF Moment”

My gracious host has owned popular restaurants in large cities throughout China. Watching him cook, you can see his great capability. When he eats, you see how open his mind is. Finally the question came about: is there anything you don’t like? After two days of thinking, his answer:

pizza

Wait a moment… pizza? Please tell me it’s a joke.

No, pizza.

You can’t be serious. Visions of the Hindenburg are going through my mind. “Oh, the humanity! I can’t talk, ladies and gentlemen!!” As a pizza snob, this hurt my ears. Pizza? C’mon! How can pizza, one of my favorite dishes, be someone’s most hated? How bad could it be? I always said: pizza is like sex – it can never be bad, just better or worse.

Fast forward a couple days later. He is so sweet and bought me a pizza as a surprise. My fellow readers… now I understand. The last couple times I’ve been to China, I told them I felt sorry for them, because they don’t really see blue skies due to all the pollution. I was quite delighted to see that’s not the case so much any more. Now I feel deep sorrow for them on another level – their pizza. Aramis has spoken about his WTF moments. He uses it positively. This WTF moment was not.

When I am visiting abroad, I eat as the Romans do. But hey, I won’t turn down a pizza, especially if given to me as a gift. I opened the box of pizza to dig in, and…

W

T

F

I think people know how open-minded I am, especially when it comes to food. And it’s pizza, right? I am above just pepperoni and sausage. Pineapple and ham is not a big deal. I’ve had all sorts of toppings. But this!?! Let me tell you about my pizza –

The “normal” stuff were crust, cheese, shrooms, and ham. I would have been fine there. But nooooooo

“Abnormal” – no sauce. That’s right, there was no sauce. But that was the most non-abnormal. There was corn spread around. Okay, I can deal with that. Next, lemon wedges? Not sure. I bit into the pizza. No, they were hunks of potatoes! On top, the pizza was encircled with a white stripe like something from Cinnabon. It was mayonnaise. Next to the pizza were two containers. I thought they were jalapeño peppers. Nope, they were slices of sweet pickles. Ok, I experimented and put a couple pieces on my slices. It just gets worse, folks. Finally, the pizza had corn flakes sprinkled all across the top.

Friends, I just had bad sex.

When I arrived to the US, my friend picked me up at the airport. He asked me what I want to eat. That night, my thin crust with pepperoni, onions, and shrooms felt oh, so good.

What's an "Air-Chilled" Bird?

Many of you may have noticed some newer packaging by chicken companies with the words "Air Chilled" slapped right on top of the wrapper.
Well, that's a good thing. When you see the Air-Chilled mark, pick it up and drop the Tyson or Perdue chicken in your other hand. You'll thank me later.

Where credit is due : Giannone Chickens were one of the birds to use the Air-Chilled technology in their slaughtering methods.
It is my favorite Chicken in the NY market to date. I prefer these birds over Eberly's, Murray's, and even Label Rouge.
Giannone birds are tremendously flavorful, and have great meat structure. THE perfect bird for a roast.

When chicken are slaughtered, they are usually (95% of the time) thrown into an ice-water bath so that the body temperature can quickly drop under 40 degrees F.
Now when you consider cleanliness, how clean can the chicken be if they are all exposed to the same pool of water?
If one bird is contaminated with unwanted bacteria, etc... you can bet all other birds to follow are exposed to the same bacteria until the water is changed. Not the case with Air-Chilling.
Plus, depending on how long the birds are left in the water bath, water is absorbed into the meat.
What this means is you are paying extra for water instead of chicken.

By law, the US government allows 15% water absorption on retail chicken sold at your supermarkets.
Water makes the product more expensive (because it's heavier), with a higher chance of bacterial contamination, in addition to diluted flavors and structural damage to the protein itself.

If you are looking for a real chicken, something your parents or grandparents ate when they grew up, keep in mind the Air-Chilled mark.
If the farmer is investing in an Air Chilling facility, he definitely cares about his birds and most likely uses very minimal amounts of Hormones and Antibiotics in his feed, if non at all.

Good husbandry + Good slaughtering methods = Good products for you and your family.

Brining and Baked Chicken Drumsticks

I've always been curious to see how much difference brining a chicken will make. Brining is the process of marinating something in a salt water solution. Supposedly, this makes the meat much juicier. Figured I would conduct a Dude's Test Kitchen test and do a side by side comparison of a brined baked chicken drumstick versus non-brined.

The result? Brining the chicken drumstick actually made minimal difference. Both chickens were extremely juicy, but the brined chicken was slightly plumper. Not noticeable and not worth the extra 1 hour to brine the meat. With that said, me thinks this may help when cooking a leaner piece like a chicken breast. That test will be conducted later...

Baked Chicken Drumsticks
These were shockingly awesome. Drumsticks were super crispy and the meat was exploding with juiciness (not fat). Real great chicken flavor, not that generic cardboard chicken flavor that we're all used to. Used Bell and Evans chicken drumsticks, so I'm assuming that helped in the juiciness and flavor. Another test will be done comparing the Bell and Evans vs Tyson vs Perdue...

Ingredients
4 Chicken Drumsticks, skin on
1 Egg + tablespoon water beaten
1 cup all purpose flour
3 cups panko bread crumbs
2 tsp Goya Adobo Seasoning
Kosher Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

1) Wash chicken and let it sit out to room temperature at least 15 minutes.
2) Set aside the flour, egg, and panko in three rectangular pans. Season the all purpose flour with salt and pepper liberally. Season the egg with the Adobo.
3) Pre-heat oven and a baking tray to 350F.
4) Dip chicken in flour, shake off any excess, dip the chicken in the egg, and dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs. Make sure the drumstick is completely coated at each step. Very important to make sure you have complete coverage when you dip the breadcrumbs.
5) Add olive oil to the baking tray and place drumsticks on the tray. Drizzle olive oil over the drumsticks. The drumstick should sizzle as you place it on the hot tray.
6) Bake for 25 minutes. Then flip the drumsticks over, so the side touching the tray is facing up. The side that was down should get a nice brown crust.
7) Remove after 15 minutes and salt and pepper right away. Let it set for 10 minutes. Buono Appetito.

Side note - I used Adobo seasoning since I had it lying around and it worked out well. Any seasoning would work well - even salt and pepper alone. I left the skin on which definitely aided in the juiciness, but I think the results would still be good with the skin off. One caveat I have about the timings is I cooked this in my convection oven, which means it may take longer in a normal oven.