Look Familiar?

Mitsuwa (over in Edgewater) is known in the community to be more on the expensive side. But this is just flat out offensive.

$33.99 for the same sack of rice I can get in a Chinese grocery store for $25.99.

http://dudesonfoods.blogspot.com/2010/12/inflation-or-just-armageddon.html

Soba Totto

The lunch wars continue in midtown Manhattan.
This time Soba Totto, which is across the street from Yasuda was the designated target.

Overall - B+
Food - B (impressive irrelevant of cost)
Service - B
Ambiance - B

$10 Lunch special : Seafood Chirashi Don and Soba dish.

Prime Meats (Brooklyn)

My wife and I both had a craving for a hearty Sunday meal, so we hopped in the car and took a surprisingly quick drive over to Brooklyn.
Through two tunnels and absolutely no traffic on a Sunday, I got to the restaurant with a huge smile on my face.
I stepped into the crowded foyer and was told the wait would be 20 min but actually got seated in 10. Another PLUS.
We got seated, and ordered drinks. Placed our orders and were surprised to get some complimentary apps from the kitchen.
(Hi5 to an alert waitstaff letting the chef know we were there. It's not only a treat, but humbling too, to get recognized and especially at a great place like PM)

My wife ordered the 12oz CBA NY Strip served with a house-made chimichurri style sauce. Unnecessary in my opinion, but there are always those guys who need some over the top flavors for everything.
I got the Prime Burger, because I've had it before, and it's just soooooo damn good.
Needless to say, both our main dishes were Excellent!

The steak had that particular "funk" only found in a 28 to 35 day dry aged steak.
The burger too had that rich flavor, with the perfect amount of juiciness from a high meat/fat ratio which foodies love.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people hop on the Peter Luger's bandwagon and say how good the steaks are there. (I'm singling out PL because it's the most recognizable. But there are so many in the city that cheat the customers just the same.)
These places use really cheap beef (the kind that's raised in large Midwest feeding lots and pumped with antibiotics and hormones). There's absolutely no beef flavor. Just char and brushed butter on top. Wake up people!!

So when you do find a restaurant that uses real Certified Black Angus beef, and also has a dry aging program, it's a complete treat.

They do it RIGHT, here at Prime Meats (Brooklyn).

465 Court Street
New York, NY 11231
(718) 254-0327

Overall - (A-)
Food - (A)
Service - (B)
Ambiance - (B)

Le Creuset

If you ever accidentally chip or damage a Le Creuset, just call the 1-800 customer service number and process a FREE replacement claim.

LE CREUSET OF AMERICA, INC
ATTN: CONSUMER SERVICES
114
Bob Gifford Blvd.
Early Branch, SC. 29916 USA
Consumer Services 1-877-CREUSET (273-8738)

It was actually very easy for me and my replacement dutch oven came in about 6 weeks.

Simon Mall Food Court

Every once in a while, the wife and I will venture out to our local (urban) mall to catch a movie.
The food court is conveniently adjacent to the theater and logistically sound for a quick bite to eat.

I had perused the options and decided on "Mexican" this time.

I'm sure the "Taco Salad Bowl" is just as authentic as the "Spicy Spider Roll", but its one hell of a tasty meal.

And in all honesty, it was better than some dishes I've had at Michelin rated restaurants.

It honestly looks like a mess but with a ton of salsa, spices, jalepeno peppers and a soda to wash it down, this gets favorable marks from this dude.

$8.51 (w/drink)
Price factored in, this gets a solid(B).

Aburiya Kinnosuke

Met up fellow dude (Devin) at everyone's Midtown Japanese favorite "Aburiya Kinnosuke".
The food is consistantly good while the service is consistantly terrible.
But when you meet up for a solid and affordable meal with guy time factored in, bad service isn't so noticeable I guess.

Lunch Fish Course $16
Overall - (B-)
Food - (B)
Ambiance - (C+)
Service (D)

Vij's - Review

Intro
Vij's - Dude Grade: C
1480 W 11th Ave
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Phone: (604) 736-6664

The wife and I were looking for some of the best Vancouver had to offer, so we hit up the usual websites - Chowhound, Tripadvisor, and Yelp. All raved about this place called Vij's as one of the best restaurants in Vancouver and going straight to the point it was decent, but 1000% not worth the wait or price. Anytime I see the word fusion or modern, it's usually a hit the breaks moment but I was suckered in by all the positive web press. My standard for higher class Indian food is Tamarind in NYC - they basically have the same curries you see at your local Indian joint, but the flavor, quality of ingredient, and cooking technique is 100x better. At Vij, they basically take more westernized ingredients and adds mild curry flavorings on em. Decent, but not great.

Our Menu

Free Apps **
As you wait for your food, they come out with free stuff - whoot! Chai tea was incredible - perfectly milky with a great spice flavor going on. The real winner for me was the pakora which was phenomenal. All in all about 4 free bites - a great thing for the diners to keep them occupied and also buys the kitchen more time.




























Jackfruit in black cardamom and cumin masala

We were waiting in line to get in and this couple in front of us said this is THE must get dish - don't question it. Why not trust the locals right? This was like a WTF moment - meaning WTF were they talking about. Such a mild/not there Indian flavor - almost a bland tomato sauce. The jackfruit was interesting in texture only - a mixture of bamboo shoot and almost mozzarella? However, there is absolutely no flavor to this thing.

Portobello Mushroom in porcini cream curry *

The mushroom was perfectly cooked and had such an earthy flavor imparted from the grill - I think just a gas grill only. The curry was another issue for me again as it was a little bland and the curry was way too liquid for me - literally the consistency of a very thin chicken soup, something I never want in my curries.

Wine marinated lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on tumeric and spinach potatoes **

The first great dish of the night. The lamb was tender and had great lamb flavor and the curry was heavenly. A little mild on the indian spices, but it was still very good - creamy with a little acid to make the whole thing pop. Great stuff.

Beef Shortribs braised in yogurt, fenugreek, and cumin curry

I've had beef shortribs a ton of times and I know it should be much more tender than this. It was relatively tender, but shortribs should always melt and these did not. Also, this dish needed some acid to make the thing pop as it was very heavy and extremely one note. A decent dish, but far from a great dish.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way | (no stars - poor to average) | * Good | ** Great | *** What the F – in a good way

Overall Restaurant Experience

• Food (7.9/10) – Food generally tasted good, but nothing was spectacular. A bigger issue is some of the dishes didn't seem seasoned properly. The only great item was the lamb in my opinion. Plating was not done well either for what's considered a top notch restaurant. A sad indication is my wife and I both noted the free apps they pass out were the best things there - that pakora was ridiculously delicious! One thing to note is that it's an all female crew that's vegetarian...one of the most important things in cooking is to taste-taste-taste and I'm pretty sure they can not since they're vegetarian.
  
• Service (9.5/10) – A well oiled machine. Every single person working there has a purpose and they're insanely accommodating and friendly. Vij himself is there to open the doors and greet you when you first walk in. Our particular server was spot on with the wine recommendation and very helpful with the menu recommendations. Food comes out at a solid pace. Really great job by the service team.
  
• Atmosphere (7.0/10) – This is problem #1 for me - they don't take reservations, so you have to get in line 30 minutes before they open since they are insanely popular. We got there at 5pm (in the cold) and there was a line already 20 deep and they open at 5:30. By 5:30, there were maybe 70 people in line and this place maybe seats 60 or so. It was an interesting feel as everyone on line was so giddy, I thought we were there to see a concert. That whole atmosphere maybe brought the expectations too high as people in line were raving about the place. Inside it's pretty damn dark with walls colored red-brown. Another minus is that there were no Indian customers there - makes sense as it's relatively pricey and very mildly flavored. The feel is very casual and a mix of couples and larges groups.
  
• Price (6.5) - $27 per entree which is not overly expensive, but if I'm paying around $120+ for the two of us I expect the food to be pretty good - don't need homeruns, but all dishes should be solid. The food was mostly good, but not worth the price in my opinion. Also, paying to wait that long in line is quite absurd in my opinion.
  

Closing Comments
I was so looking forward to this place, but I should have known - Bourdain recommended it on his No Reservations show, so that's an indication it's probably good at best. Granted if there was no wait, and the price was cheaper it would definitely be recommended. However, the wait and the slight misses on the food doesn't make sense for the price. Kinda bummed since I heard Vancouver was such a great food town (Asian food is phenomenal here), but I will definitely come back and find a non-Asian restaurant that rawks.

Joe Forte's - Review

Intro
Joe Forte's – Dude Grade: D
777 Thurlow Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 3V5, Canada
Phone: (604) 669-1940

After having phenomenal BC oysters from Elliot's Oyster Bar, I figured I had to have these oysters directly in Vancouver. Based on some numerous Yelp! and Chowhound reviews, Joe Forte's seemed to be one of the best oyster bar in Vancouver. Unfortunately, this place blew donkey balls. Oysters were awful, service was subpar, and the non oyster dishes were average at best.

Our Menu
Oysters ---
These were the exact opposite of the oysters served at Elliot's. They had absolutely zero flavor which maybe due to either the quality of the oyster or the quantity of the oyster juice. It was like almost all liquid which was really ridiculous - almost like drinking a soup. And this was not because I picked bad oysters, I had every single one on the menu - a small one at that (about 7 varieties).

Clam Chowder
Decent, but borderline bland. Nothing to write home about.
Fried Oysters
My requirement for fried oysters is that I want them crispy and juicy. This was borderline good (great crisp, not oily, decent flavor), but it was not juicy at all. And the tartar sauce was a little too sweet which reminded me of McD's fish fillet sandwich.

Rating System
--- WTF - in a bad way (no stars - poor to average) | * Good | ** Great | *** WTF – in a good way

Overall Restaurant Experience

• Food (4.0/10) – Garbage oysters and average food.
• Service (5.0/10) – Our server had a massive attitude problem. Felt like we were at Peter Luger's with the attitude, except the steaks there are fun at least.
• Atmosphere (7.0/10) – Classic steakhouse feel with lots of wood, starched white table cloths, and mirrors/old paintings on the wall. The place was packed even at 2pm on a weekday. Tons of large groups there.
• Price (5.0) - It was a tad pricey and for the quality 100% not worth it. Oysters at Elliot's is around $2-$2.50 a pop, but this joint was charging $3.50 for the crap they call oysters.
  

Closing Comments
Kinda sad, since I was expecting to be blown away considering how much I loved the BC oysters at Elliots. Granted there has to be a better Oyster joint in Vancouver, but with so many people on Yelp and Chowhound talking this place up - I don't know.

Delicious Cuisine - Review

Intro
Delicious Cuisine – Dude Grade: B+
7911 Alderbridge Way
Richmond, BC V6X 2A4, Canada
Phone: (604) 207-1388

My wife's dad's cousin took us out for some ridiculous Taiwanese / jiangzhe style food in Richmond, BC. Richmond is basically like Flushing, NY packed with a very large Chinese population with phenomenal Chinese restaurants every other block - pure heaven for Chinese food. This place definitely stood us as a resto for Chinese comfort food. Pretty irritated I can't find this type of stuff out in NJ/NY (mainly Cantonese restaurants out here), but I think I may need to search Flushing for this style of cuisine. Apologies for the pictures as we were guests and I did not want to make the conversation awkward with me going food porn with the pics...this was all ninja style taking pictures quickly after the elders ate first.

Our Menu
(I did not order, so this is a best guess of what we ate)
Tea Smoked Duck **
Great tea smoked flavor without being overpowering and the duck still had incredibly delicious duck flavor. Meat texture was spot on.

Shrimp with Mayonnaise Sauce ***
This style of dish is done in every single restaurant in NY's Chinatown and they all suck. This however was a complete WTF revelation of how good it should be. The mayonnaise sauce was not overly sweet or too thick - really a perfect flavor and consistency. Also, the shrimp was beautifully cooked - sweet succulent and not covered in this batter crap that we're used to in NY'S Chinatown. Also, I noticed a hint of sourness - maybe vinegar that made this thing pop. An overall phenomenal dish.
Three Cup Chicken (San Bay Gee) **
The aroma of this thing is hypnotizing - really deep soy flavor with hints of ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and xiao xing wine. Plus the chicken still tasted like a delicious chicken as well. Pretty awesome dish.

Water Spinach in Chinese BBQ sauce (Sa Cha) *
Never had Sa Cha cooked in a dish before, but this kinda worked. I'm used to this type of vegetable being cooked with a chicken broth / sauce thing, so this was a good change of pace.

Cod with Some Type of Bean Paste (kinda like miso?) *
I've had this style of dish a ton of times in Japanese / New American restaurants, so this is pretty damn similar except not that delicate. The bean paste is pretty aggressive, but achieves the same type of result - salty and a tad sweet to go with the nicely cooked fish.

Chicken Soup ***
A definite WTF chicken soup. Huge chicken flavor with a subtle hint of vegetables / garlic / ginger flowing throughout. The bamboo was a nice touch and added texture to the dish and great flavor to the soup.

Bao Bing (shaved ice)
A favorite dessert of mine and my wife's when visiting Taiwan. This version is way too damn sweet. The ice to sugar syrup ratio is way out of whack.

Rating System
--- WTF - in a bad way (no stars - poor to average) * Good ** Great *** WTF – in a good way

Closing Comments
Next time I'm back in Vancouver, I will 1000% come back and me thinks dong po rou is in my future here.

It's so hard to say goodbye...

I found out my favorite dive bar, Stoned Crow, is now closed down permanently. The place had a good vibe, solid jukebox, a great burger, and was rarely insanely crowded...big time downer. I need to find me another dive bar replacement that fit the aforementioned criteria...

Stoned Crow plus the loss of Yasuda is not a great way to start 2011.

Sun Sui Wah - Review

Intro
Sun Sui Wah – Dude Grade: C
4920 No. 3 Road, #102
Richmond, BC V6X3A5
Phone: (604) 273-8208

I’ve always heard that the Vancouver dim sum scene was much much better than the dim sum they served out in NYC, so I wanted to see for myself what the fuss was all about. I heard that a ton of Hong Kong chefs emigrated out to Vancouver which is why it's supposedly much better than NY. Sun Sui Wah was recommended by some friends that live out in the Richmond area (like Flushing but 3x the size). Although good, I definitely think Oriental Garden in NYC mops the floor with the place any day in terms of flavor and variety - I hear Alicia Keys beaming her NY anthem proudly right now :) However, I still believe there's definitely better places in the Richmond area - this place I believe is famous since it's one of the original dim sum joints in town.

Our Menu
Fung Zhao (chicken feet) **
Har Gao (shrimp dumpling) *
Gao Choy Bao (garlic chive dumpling) *
Cheung Fun (shrimp wrapped in rice noodles) *
Gee Lo Mai Fun (sticky rice with chicken) ***
Fried Noodles with Beef **
Beef Ball
Lau Bach Go (turnip cake)
Crispy Turnip/Taro Cake *

Standouts included the delicious lo mai fun - the rice was nice and moist with the flavor of chicken and shitake permeating through the dish. Also, the fried noodles with beef totally kicked ars. The texture of the noodles was spot on - nice crunch leading to a pleasing chewiness. The sauce was a bit sweet though, probably to please the non asian palates there.

Rating System
--- WTF - in a bad way (no stars - poor to average) * Good ** Great *** WTF – in a good way

Overall Restaurant Experience

• Food (7.8/10) – Decent dim sum, but no where near mind blowing stuff. A lot of places in NYC/flushing are much better. My litmus test for dim sum is siu mai and the ones here were a little m'eh - not much pork flavor and not a great mouthfeel.
• Service (7.0/10) – They follow the Hong Kong style of dim sum which means no push carts. I love the push carts, since you don't have to think about what else you have to order - it's pretty immediate response of yes or no. Also, I would think it's better for business since you should be able to turn tables much quicker. Caveat is the food does come out pretty quick here though.
  
• Atmosphere (7.0/10) – Located in a strip mall (everything in Richmond is) - the place looks likes your standard dim sum joint with white table cloths. The only difference is this reminded me of Shanghai as you are situated in what looks like rooms in a house with three tables jammed in. The place was pretty packed, but we only waited 15 minutes at 12pm on a Monday. I would say the joint was probably 30% non Chinese, so still a good amount of Chinese people there.
  
• Price (7.5) - About $15-20 a head which seems right about spot on.

Closing Comments
Again, decent dim sum, but there has to better in the area. Funny thing is I was expecting to be rawked by the dim sum here, but I realized I expected the same thing in Hong Kong as well and I definitely was not. My take on dim sum is NYC does a good job and although there maybe slightly better versions in other cities, no other cities' version will blow it away.

Moutai Plus Restaurant - Review

Intro
Moutai Plus Restaurant - Dude Grade: B
8101 Park Road
Richmond, BC, Canada
Phone: (604) 233-6981

Our last meal in British Columbia and we knew we needed to finish strong, so we had to do Chinese food in Richmond. The in-laws took us to this bao-jiao-dian. To break this down, bao (bao zhe - fluffy bread), jiao (jiao zhe - dumplings), dian - place. So place for dumplings and fluffy breads. Pretty damn fun place and total comfort food strike zone.

Our Menu

Dan Dan Mian *
Nice texture on the noodle and pretty solid flavor - kinda like a weird cold noodle (sesame paste) and dan dan mian flavor, but still pretty tasty.

Vegetable Dumpling ***
This totally blew me away in terms of texture and flavor. The skin texture had a phenomenal chew to it which I've never had before in a dumpling. Then the vegetable filling was so intensely flavored and the texture was spot on.

Tripe *
More Chinese comfort food done properly. The tripe texture and chili/five spice flavor was spot on.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way | (no stars - poor to average) | * Good | ** Great | *** What the F – in a good way

Closing Comments
Definitely a must visit in terms of Chinese comfort food. We didn't pay, but the prices looked relatively cheap so another bonus!

Homemade Green Onion Bread

Over the xmas break, we visited my wife's dad's cousin's neighbor in Vancouver...seriously. Any who, to welcome us to Vancouver he made some homemade Hwah Jwen - basically a green onion bun. This thing was ridonkulous - airy, fluffy, beautifully multi-layered, with a great onion and salt flavor.

Best. Hwah Jwen. Ever.

First Sunday Meal 2011

After the gorging over Xmas break, I decided to do a veggie only meal that was light and delicious. This was inspired by my trip to Shanghai that had these real clean flavors. Sauteed shanghai bok choy was cooked with garlic and salt only - allows bok choy flavor to come out clearly. The soy beans were killer - sweet, salty, meaty, and a bit of sour. Pretty simple but delicious consisting of garlic, shallots, soy, xiao xing wine, and black vinegar.

Back to basics

Simple is usually best.
Love Mentaiko over a bowl of hot white rice.
For a twist, I threw in 3 parts Japanese white rice to 1 part milled barley.
Gotta start eating better this year!

Moonlight Restaurant

Intro
Moonlight Restaurant –Recommended
1919 South Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144-2224
Phone: (206) 322-3378

Met up our friends from DC who used to live in Seattle and they recommended this Vietnamese restaurant that looked like it was straight out of Happy Days – neon lights, wood paneled walls. Ignoring the décor, the pho kicked a ridiculous amount of ars. There’s a huge Vietnamese population in the Seattle area and the pho broth would make you laugh at anything served in the NY/NJ area.

Our Menu
Pho Dac Biet ***
Oh how wonderful this broth is. It’s subtly sweet, but with a great beef flavor and incredibly rich – very balanced and light years better than any pho broth I’ve had out East. Then comes the perfect noodles – a nice chew and really perfectly cooked. The meat had good flavor, but it was like most pho joints out east – a bit tougher in texture.

Cha Gio
My other go to item for Vietnamese food – basically a fried pork spring roll. The texture of the skin was a tad too crumbly – almost like a cheap Americanized Chinese spring roll. I’m more used to a chun gyun (dim sum fried spring roll) texture. Also, the filling barely had any pork at all.

Mongolian Beef (vegetarian) ---
Definitely a WTF in a bad way. This was like a sweetened beef jerky except much tougher in texture- fried to an almost jagged edge where this could potentially cut the inside of your mouth. No bueno.

Lemongrass Chicken (vegetarian) *
This was pretty fun and flavorful - sweet, a little heat, some brightness with the lemongrass. Oddly enough, the texture was pretty much spot on like chicken even though it was an abomination of tofu and some other vegetarian concoction

Rating System
--- WTF - in a bad way (no stars - poor to average) * Good ** Great *** WTF – in a good way


Overall Restaurant Experience

• Food (8.0/10) – Delicious pho, but the other dishes were a little iffy. Also, it was funny since they had a ton of chinese dishes as well (kung po chicken, general tso's, etc) but I'm pretty sure the owners/servers were Vietnamese.
• Service (7.0/10) – The place was dead and it took a while for the food to be served.
• Atmosphere (8.5/10) – See Happy Days description in the intro. The place was pretty dead for a Sunday at 7:30pm. There was only one other couple there in the entire place. I did kinda dig the kitschy feel with the neon lights and all the tv's everywhere, which I've heard is used for karaoke at night - bonus!
• Price (8.0) - About $20 a couple including tip, so 100% worth it although the non pho dishes weren't great.

Closing Comments
There's a joint near the inlaws house that served pho with ridiculously marbled/flavored beef, so definitely need to hit that up for a point of comparison.

Piroshky Piroshky – Not Recommended (for sweet pastries)

Piroshky Piroshky
1908 Pike Place
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: (206) 441-6068

This Russian bakery across from the Pike’s Place Market is pretty famous, so we decided to wait in line (there's always a line at least 5-10 deep) to see what all the fuss is all about. We got the cinnamon, cardamom, orange peel braid (bread) and I really didn’t get it. The texture of the bread was nice and airy, but the flavor was a little m’eh to me. The flavors would have made sense, but it didn’t harmonize together or gel at all. Next time if we decide to give it one more shot, we’ll skip the sweet and go straight to the savory dishes since they looked pretty fun.

Elliot's Oyster House - Revisit

During my xmas visit to Seattle, the only thing I was looking forward to besides my mother-in-laws home cooking was Elliot’s. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – Elliot’s friggin rawks and you can’t get anywhere near this quality of oysters in NYC. We sat at the oyster bar as usual and the oyster shucker picked some phenomenal ones for us. Then, kinda like a sushi chef he was figuring out our flavor profiles and the ones at the end were 100% in my strikezone finishing with the best one last. He was very friendly and chatted us up mentioning the head oyster dude only wants oysters that are very local - nothing from the east coast which is why the quality is so high.

Even the waiter was right on point recommending great local microbrews to go with the oysters and giving us some bread to cleanse the pallet in between tastings. Unfortunately, we ordered a non oyster dish that was average to below average. Salmon, eggs, and onions were pretty shite - overcooked eggs and mediocre salmon flavor. They need to visit barney greengrass to figure out what a proper l.e.o. (lox, eggs, and onion) tastes like, but it didn’t matter since the oysters were king.

Here were my top 3 picks – although they all pretty much kicked massive ars (kushi, deer creek, and humboldt bay were honorable mentions).
#1 - Little Skookum
Comments – Huge oyster flavor with a nice sweetness behind it. Crisp texture leading to a nice creaminess.
#2 – Penn Cove Select
Comments – Mammoth sized oyster that I thought would be kinda gross due to the size, but the texture was soooo creamy and it had a huge oyster flavor behind it.
#3 – Cranberry Creek
Comments – oddly mellow at first, then had a great lingering oyster aftertaste.

Food and Humor

Some of the BEST ways to get conversations going is by food and by humor. I have been in foreign lands, and when they see me eating their food, they know I'm not "that foreigner." Humor, on the other hand, takes it to whole other level. Even if there's no food around, and heck, people are just down in the dumps cuz they have no food, putting a smile on their face is priceless. Anyway, enough of the drama. My coworker gave this site to me, and now I pass it on to you readers: a combination of food, humor and just plain ol ripping on the Food Network:

http://foodnetworkhumor.com/

How did I not see this site before?!?! Like I told him - I have a server to build. But. I. Can't. Stop. Browsing. That was an hour ago.

Enjoy.

Lawlz!

Edit: Here I am, hour #3 am still browing the site. I just found out that this site is done by s-i-s-t-e-r-s. And they're Babe-raham Lincons, too! Total dude humor. These broads totally rock.