Red Snapper

I'm on this fish kick recently and will be posting some new, and some old (but memorable) fish experiences I've had.
The more I think about cooking fish, the more I realize it's probably a miracle food.
Never heard a Doctor tell a patient to "lay off the fish..."
You can eat fish to your heart's content and never ever have to worry one bit over it.
I even bet all the heart clogging beurre blanc sauce in the world would be nicely evened out by the merits of fish. (OK Maybe)

So a few months ago, while visiting the in-laws, I got my hands on "just caught" red snapper.
I decided to do 2 dishes. One western, and the other an eastern inspiration.


First, the western preparation. Filleted and pan seared. The sauce was a reduction of the fish stock I made with some of the bones of the fish and mirepoix. Seasoned with herbs and spices and then emulsified with a red wine reduction.


The second is prepared by steaming. First lightly seasoned before lowered into the steamer.
Steamed for 8 minutes, and finished with a quick Sake, Soy Sauce, Ginger and Scallion pan sauce poured over the fish.

Kirakuya

This should be a lesson to us all.
Never visit a brand new restaurant till they have at least 6 months under their belt.

KIRAKUYA : somewhere in Koreatown Manhattan.
32 Street between 5th and 6th Ave.
That's all I'm telling you. I challenge you to find it.

I had visited this place when they first opened and I deemed them a joke.
The service, food and ambience just sucked.

"Sucked" - Past tense.

I had some clients visiting yesterday and they wanted to visit this place because they heard good things.
I was reluctant, but glad we went. Goes to show things can change for the better.

What a difference a year makes.

Fun dishes we had :
Sashimi, Mozzarella and Eggplant Bruschetta, Prosciutto Salad, and Sausage Cheese Spring Rolls.

Pigeon (a la Chinois)

Perhaps technically a squab, but who really cares. Baby or not, it's utterly delicious.
But never order Pigeon unless it's fresh. Frozen birds, fish, shellfish, eel, frog legs, etc... is just a complete waste of time if they come frozen to the restaurants.

I was in Hong Kong a few weeks ago and had some of the best food I can remember.
This particular dish brings back great memories. Juicy tender game meat with crispy tasty skin.
Masterfully prepared, and you can eat with your hands.

If you ever find yourself in Hong Kong, find your way over to the Kowloon side and walk to the Intercontinental Hotel. Downstairs, you will find one of the best Dim Sum restaurants on earth.

I'll be sharing more dishes from the Intercontinental, but for now, feast your eyes on this.

Before :

After :

Clever

A Cappuccino disguised as a Beer in a Mug.

Kagoshima Airport Cafeteria

Kagoshima Japan is known for great food and hard liquor. There is no denying that.

But I gotta say, when the airport cafeteria makes you scratch your head and say "WOW", you really know you are somewhere special.

This Kagoshima Berkshire Pork Katsu Curry (鹿児島産黒毛カツカレー) completely blew my mind.
Floured in larger panko breadcrumbs making for a bigger crunch, juxtaposed with succulent fatty Berkshire pork, perfectly cooked rice, garnished with a few raisins and fried shallots, and ultimately topped with a curry sauce that would make the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo jealous, I was just in complete mercy.

I loved this dish from beginning to end.
It was truly the taste of perfection.

Perhaps the best joys in life are the simple and unexpected ones you run into ever so often.

Dude's Day Off

I decided to take the day after my birthday off because I had some vacation days to burn. I decided to meet up D'Artagnan and our buddy Kohji since we haven't hung out in a long time. What was supposed to be a light meal ended up being a whole mess load of delicious food, multiple bottles of wine, and gallons of beer. Good times as usual...

Ino
21 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014-4768
Phone: (212) 989-5769
Recap - Multiple bruschetta, sandwiches, and bottles of wine here. A good place to chill out, but the quality seemed to have dropped from previous years. Still pretty damn fun and we could have stopped here, but the call of the wild pushed us on.


Blue Ribbon Bakery and Cafe
35 Downing St
New York , NY
Phone: (212) 337-0404
Recap - We marched on across the street to Blue Ribbon. This place is comfort food personified and it was so friggin' fun. Saucisson Sec, Baked Chorizo, Beef Marrow and Red Wine Sauce kicked so much ars. More bottles of wine here and we were in sensory overload.
















Francois Payard Bakery
116 West Houston Sreet
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 995-0888
Recap - D'artagnan suggested we venture on for some desserts and we ended up hitting up Payard. Ordered the caramel eclair and it was so out of control tasty. We should have stopped here, but it was a dudes day off so we pressed on...

















Jacques Torres Chocolate Heaven
350 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014-4504
Phone: (212) 414-2462
Recap - This place is really chocolate heaven and the aroma of chocolate hits you as soon as you walk in. Pretty damn fun...


W4th St Taco Truck
W 4th St, New York 10003
Between Grove St and Barrow St
(in front of Gristedes)
Recap - After gallons of beers, we needed some quick grub and my go to joint in the west village is the taco truck on west fourth street. It's not your standard ground beef and chicken tacos - they do lengua and the taco lady suggested i go for the oreja (pig ears) which are not on the menu. This was so perfect - flavorful and a bit of chew. Awesome place and great way to end the night.

Due Mari - Review

Intro
Due Mari - Dude Grade: B+
78 Albany Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1227
Phone: (732) 296-1600

After hitting up the phenomenal Marea with my wife, my parents wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday so I suggested Due Mari - Michael White's NJ restaurant. This probably was Michael White overkill, but it was a glorious decision as the food was pretty amazing for NJ. Actually, it would stand up to a lot of places in NYC as well. Highly recommended.

Our Menu

Mussels Marinara **
East Coast Mussels, Garlic, Chilies, White Wine, Pomodoro, Basil, Grilled Foccacia
I've had this dish way too many times, but Due Mari's version was excellent. The mussels were so plump, juicy, and flavorful - a rarity for some reason as I've had way too many shriveled up mussels. The tomato/basil broth was so insanely addicting that I had to get some additional foccacia to finish the broth off.


Insalata Picante *
Baby Arugula, Watercress, Wild Greens, Beets, Goat Cheese, Pistachio, Horseradish Dressing

We've all seen this type of salad a ton of times, but this was still very fun to eat. The goat cheese was uber tasty with the nutty pistachio coating.

Polipo ***
Grilled Octopus, Olives, Peppers, Radicchio, Ceci Beans

A huge fireworks display of flavors and textures. The octopus was crispy and smoky from the grilling, but still quite tender and very delicious. Combine that with the briny olives, capers and the texture of the beans and radicchio and you have quite a WTF dish.

Garganelli **
Parma Prosciutto, Mushrooms, White Truffle Butter

I loooove this pasta so much - texture was so spot on. Although the truffle butter sauce seemed gimmicky, it was in fact pretty delicious.

Fresh Chitarra Spaghetti *
Roasted Lobster, Shrimp, Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic & Chilies

A pretty fun dish with great tomato and garlic flavor. The lobster was perfectly cooked - tender and sweet. The pasta was good and my mom said this tastes exactly like gong jai meen - oddly enough she was 100% right.

Lamb (Daily Special) **
Demi Glace and Goat Cheese Cream

Very flavorful lamb that was spectacular with the demi glace and goat cheese cream. Big time flavors.

Tilefish (Daily Special) *

Nicely cooked fish that was moist and tasty. The sauce worked nicely with the fish, but surprisingly the star of the dish was the tasty carrots.

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 (B+) – Delicious Italian food that would even make me happy if it was in NYC.
  
• Service (B) – Servers were very on point and friendly. They looked like they were mostly college kids (it's near Rutgers), but service was pretty solid.
  
• Atmosphere (B) – We've been to this place when it was called Nova Terra and the looks seemed very similar. It's got the steakhouse/Spanish thing going on with dark tables, dark leather chairs, and some orangish/yellow walls. We got there at 6pm on a Saturday and it was getting pretty full. By the time we left, the place was completely packed - there's a bar scene that seems to be hoppin' there too. The crowd was mainly older - 40's and above.
  
• Price (N/A) - Didn't pay, so no idea how much things cost.
  

Closing Comments
Definitely a go to place whenever I visit my parents in Central Jersey. Michael White is in the same caliber of Cesare Casella for me now - I've been to three of Michael White's restaurants and I've been extremely happy at all of them. Ai Fiori up next for me...

Being a 33yr old kid

Peanut Butter, Nutella and Jelly sandwich.
And still many more combos to try.

Muffin Man

Muffin Man Caribbean Express

9434 Lanham Severn Rd

Lanham, MD 20706

(301) 459-1144

When I used to hear “muffin man,” I would think about that crazy Frank Zappa dude and his song, but there’s a place outside of DC in Maryland that’s called Muffin Man makes me forget about that song. Immediately I think about which muffin I want from this Jamaican bakery. Well, was a bakery. Since the last time I’ve been here, they have grown to more of a Jamaican café serving such plates as beef patties, curry goat, jerk shrimp, and more. I haven’t tried any of their food, only their muffins. I do plan on going back, however.

These muffins are made fresh daily with some experimental flavors. Most of the time you’ll see the usual suspects, like rum raisin, guava, carrot cake, and mango (all made with real fruit! Daily!!), but 2 of the 3 times I was here, there was a flavor of the day, like sweet potato. And if you go there in the afternoon, don’t be surprised to miss out on your favorite choice; once it’s gone, it’s gone for the rest of the day until they make it fresh again, the next day. We all know the muffin top is the best part, but the muffin bottoms here are flavorful, moist, and quite good, too. Today I got a poppyseed, strawberry streusel, and a cream cheese muffin. As always, quite tasty.

Stracciatella

Looking at Aramis's post on Salumeria Rosi and more specifically, Burrata, it triggered a food memory I had earlier this year in Italy.
Stracciatella. 
The creamy center of a brick of Burrata. 
I believe it's a Pugliese dish (southern heal portion of the boot penninsula), and since my brother in-law is Pugliese, it made sense for them to serve it at home. 

I gotta say, this is one of my favorite dishes I've ever had.  Spreading this on a nice piece of country bread, and eating it with grilled vegetables marinaded in herbed olive oil is an all time favorite of mine. 

Simply put, La Dolce Vita!

Levain Bakery - Review

Intro
Levain Bakery - Dude Grade: A
167 West 74th St
New York, NY 10023
(212) 874-6080

My wife always brought back cookies from Levain Bakery, but since we were in the neighborhood we decided to go there for some freshly baked cookies. These were completely stupid and WTF good. Best cookies I've had in the city hands down.

Our Menu

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie ***
This cookie feels like it's about a pound and we're probably talking about 1,000+ calories easily. But, it's so friggin good it doesn't matter. Chewy, dense, moist and insanely chocolaty. What puts this over the top is the melting chocolate chips which add another fun texture. If you've never had one of these, you need to go and get some now!

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

Salumeria Rosi - Revist

I took a random Friday off to spend the day in NYC with the wife. The first thing I thought we had to do was enjoy the warm weather by eating outside at Salumeria Rosi. I've been here before and it's same old, same old - my favorite cheaper Italian joint in the city.

Our Menu

Burrata (special for the day) **
Such an intense milky flavor and so creamy. Great way to start a Friday.

FINNOCCHIONA (fee-nohk-KEEOH-nah) ***
A zippy, Tuscan-style salame, seasoned with fennel, or finocchio. Full of flavor, it pairs well with mild foods like the saltless bread of Tuscany.
We just had this recently at Lupa and I was floored at how good it was there. Well, this version blows Lupa's away. Much more natural tasting and so full of flavor. Like a delicious cured porchetta. I think this maybe my new favorite salumi.

INSALATA PONTORMO **
Cesare’s signature salad of soft-scrambled egg, pancetta and market greens.
Such an addictive and fun salad. Creamy and warm from the eggs and salty/porky from the pancetta. I wish all salads were like this.

UCCELLETTO DI CECI ***
House made sausage of pork, fennel, garlic and spezie forte stewed with chickpeas and tomatoes.
Same as the previous visit. Still a WTF dish to me.

COSTINA **
Spicy Tuscan spare rib, slow-cooked with Italian tomatoes, rosemary and garlic.
Same comments as before although the WTF moment was gone. Still super delicious and fun to eat.

PEPOLINO **
Artisanal pasta with Cesare’s Mama’s Pomarola sauce and fresh pecorino romano cheese.
Simplicity defined. This may not be everyone's cup of tea since it's so basic, but I love this dish. Perfect pasta texture and a simple bright tomato sauce with cheese. Nothing to it, but it makes me super happy.

California Sammich

The California Roll was invented in 1968. This unconventional Cali-Roll Sandwich is a new one for me.

Not bad, but definitely not the industry mega super hit it's cousin was 40 years ago.

Salad from Expensive Leftovers

After the phenomenal meal at Marea, we had some leftovers since the wife couldn't finish her portion. Using the leftover bistecca and bone marrow panzanella, I decided to whip up a salad and it friggin' rawked. I ended up heating the croutons and beef up gently and added a black bean and corn relish. A light and delicious meal!

銀ダラ Black Cod Miso (Day 2)

A little change in color.
Good sign the miso and sake is penetrating the protein and doing it's thang.

Another day or so and it's showtime.
Yum.

Marea - Review

Intro
Marea - Dude Grade: A-
240 Central Park S
New York NY 10019
Btwn Broadway & 7th Ave
Phone: (212) 582-5100

Porthos has been raving about this place for a while now, so my wife decided to take me out to Marea for my birthday. I've been to Michael White's former place Convivio and I was such a big fan, but this place is at a whole 'nuther level. I'm completely blown away how delicious the food is here - the technique, the balance - just everything is spot on. Highly, highly recommended.

Our Menu

Ricci ***
Sea Urchin, Lardo, Sea Salt
The ultimate example of food porn. Unctuous pig fat on sexy, sweet uni? Seriously - a complete WTF little bite.


SABA local spanish mackarel, tangerine, almonds taragon **
SCAMPI pacific langoustines, murray river pink salt ***
PASSERA long island fluke, lemon thyme, ligurian olive oil **

Second course and this was outstanding to me. I've had crudo before, but this was definitely at a whole 'nother level. Each fish was pristine - great texture and clean flavors. The accompaniments were just that - little things to enhance the flavor without losing the flavor of the fish. Reminded of what Psilakas did at the phenomenal Anthos. The winner was the ridiculous langoustines - a perfect little sweet bite.

Oysters *
with morellino mignonette & cucumber-lemon vinegar

These were fun, but after going to Elliot's Oyster House in Seattle I'm always jaded with oysters. What did make this more fun was the cucumber-lemon vinegar - just perfectly bright and clean.

ASTICE ***
nova scotia lobster, burrata, eggplant al funghetto, basil

Fourth course and a complete WTF moment. The creamy flavorful burrata against the sweet perfectly cooked lobster and you're in heaven.

UOVO ***
slow poached egg, snow crab, leeks, cardoon, bagna cauda

Another dish, another WTF moment. This thing was sex on a plate. Egg was perfectly slow poached - combine the sexy yolk with the sweet snow crab and the crispy bread and my head exploded. At this point we initially ordered a 6 course tasting menu - but after reading the line of scrimmage I decided to audible to the 8 course tasting menu.

ORECCHIETTE *
ruby red shrimp, chilies, rosemary

Texture on the orchiette was so spot on and this was a delicious dish. My only complaint was it was a tad over salted for me. My wife thought it was fine though.

AGNOLOTTI ***
veal ravioli, sweetbreads, funghi

Rebound on the pasta as this was the best pasta dish I've had in a long friggin time. The agnolotti had a perfect texture and the filling was so flavorful and uber juicy. The creamy sweetbreads and delicious mushrooms were overkill, but in a good way.

SAN PIETRO *
new zealand john dory, hen of the woods mushrooms, potatoes, artichokes, charred onion, salmoriglio

Perfect cookery of the john dory where it was crispy, flavorful and still relatively moist. The combination of all the ingredients seemed like it would be too much, but it definitely worked out.

BISTECCA **
grilled creekstone farms 50 day dry aged sirloin, bone marrow panzanella

I never order steak anymore since I am usually disappointed for the price. This dish may have changed my mind. The steak was soooo flavorful and perfectly cooked and they rocked a play on the caesar salad with the cooked romaine and the bone marrow bread crumbs. This thing completely rocked.

NOCCIOLA PRALINATO *
hazelnut, dark chocolate, lemon, mint

This was a chocolate and hazelnut flavor bomb. The gelati had a perfect texture and great flavor and the cake was pretty damn tasty. Unfortunately, I was stuffed and hit with a bit of sensory overload, so this was a bit too much for me at this point. But, if I ordered this any other time, I think I would have been floored by this.

PANNA COTTA *
fromage blanc panna cotta, mandarin orange, pink peppercorn, thyme

A bright and creamy panna cotta with a delicious mandarin orange. The peppercorn was a nice twist and gave the dish a pop.

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 (A) – Spectacular Italian food and completely blown away with the stuff they're doing here. The breads were delicious - olive focaccia was so light, fluffy and flavorful.
  
• Service (B-) – Service was off in my opinion for an expensive joint. We were seated immediately, but we did not get a menu till a good 10-15 minutes. It also appeared there were 5x the number of bar backs to waiters, so the waiters were definitely scarce making it hard to get their attention there for things like drinks. Once the food was ordered though, the food came out a decent pace. The waitress was very friendly as well and the service got better after the initial hick up.
  
• Atmosphere (B) – The place reminded of Convivio even using the same leather chairs if I recall. Very bright and colorful atmosphere which was refreshing for a high end restaurant. The place consisted of large groups and couples young and old. We got there at 6pm on a Thursday and it was getting pretty busy. Towards the end it was completely packed.
  
• Price (B+) - About $165 for the 8 course tasting menu and the caliber of the ingredients and cooking was definitely worth it. A bit pricey, but not as bad as some of the really expensive joints like Per Se, Daniel, etc.
  

Closing Comments
This is definitely tops in my book for fancy Italian food in NYC - no comparison.