Bionic Bites » Announcements

Moving to the East Village – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:30:05 +0000

For those who were interested in my apartment hunt, I have great news. I finally found an apartment, and I’ll be calling the East Village home at least for the next two years. I’ll miss the Lower East Side and the close proximity to Chinatown (I did a late night walk through Chinatown yesterday and it was indeed very sad), but I’m consoled by my new delicious neighbors: Porchetta, Luke’s Lobster, Momofuku, Ippudo, and Veloce Pizzeria. (The pizza part I’m especially excited about. Nights when I craved pizza, it was torturous when all my favorite pizzerias refused to deliver below Houston. I will be pizza-less no more!) The next two years should be quite tasty.

Back to the Motherland & Visiting Neighbors – East Asia

bionicgrrrl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:11:25 +0000

My Mom’s World Famous Galbi

After twelve years since my last visit, I’m going back to the motherland: Seoul, South Korea. Or as I like to say, ‘Where the magic happened!’ I’ll also be traveling to Hong Kong and Beijing. After much drama at the Chinese embassy on Friday, immediately followed by a bizarre case of food poisoning from a harmless looking gyro, I didn’t think it would happen, but thankfully, I just touched down in Hong Kong.

Originally, I wrote this as I was hovering over Greenland, squished in sardine class, smelling the not so wondering odors emanating from my fellow passengers. The smells rotated at intervals between noxious fart fumes and bursts of girly peach perfume. It was quite amusing five hours into my fifteen hour and forty minute flight, but not so much six hours in. Oddly enough, I didn’t emerge from the plane pissed as a crazed motherf*cker.

But this is a food blog, and you aren’t visiting to read about farts, so let’s talk food. So far, here is a list of all the foods I want to eat on my short tour of Asia. Gamjatang (감자탕, potato pork bone stew), galbi (갈비, barbecue ribs), samgyupsal (삼겹살, pork belly), hwe (회, raw fish), san nakji (산낙지, live octopus), grilled gopchang (곱창구이, grilled intestines), and white peaches in Korea; dim sum, stinky tofu from the night market, roast goose, and xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumplings) in Hong Kong; and lastly, Peking duck in Beijing. I know I have a lot of Asian readers, so please let me know if I’m missing anything or if you have any restaurant recommendations. Thank you in advance!

I’ll be gone two weeks, but since I’m behind posting, I’ll still be writing about NYC food in the next few posts. So for more breaking news about my trip, please visit me on Twitter and Facebook. I’ll be on vacation, but unfortunately for my boyfriend, the food porn never stops.

Bionic Bites turns 1 & Blogiversary Giveaway

bionicgrrrl — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:53:33 +0000

Time flies and all of a sudden your blog is a year old. (Technically, my blogiversary was last month, but that’s just a minor detail folks. Better late than never, I say.) I remember two years I ago I wanted to start a blog, but frankly, I was too lazy to do anything about it. Then after a year of hemming and hawing, I finally got my expanding ass off the couch and created Bionic Bites. Now, eighty-six posts later, I’m celebrating a year of past deliciousness. I savored jamón ibérico de bellota in Menorca, found dragon beard candy in Montreal, ate a ton of street meat in New York, and through it all, got sick only once. All publicly, for my enjoyment and yours. Thank you to all those who have been reading from the beginning, and for those that just recently stumbled on to my blog, shame on you! I’ll be expecting more from you in the coming year.

To celebrate my first blogiversary, Hannah (my wonderful sister-in-law and the designer behind byHannahDesign) created a hand stamped silver necklace for me to give away to one lucky reader. On the necklace are three pendants with the words this blog is based on: Explore, Experiment, and Eat. It’s a woman’s necklace, but I’m sure you male readers have a sister, daughter, mother, or female friend who would be happy to receive this as a present. If you don’t, you should probably cry in a dark room and then go out and make a new friend of the opposite sex. Tell the girl there’s a necklace in it for her. But seriously, I’ll try to make my next giveaway more unisex. I appreciate you male readers as well.

To win the necklace, simply leave a comment below about your most memorable edible discovery. One of my favorite finds was grilled chicken from a beach vendor at Anse des Sables in St. Lucia. The chicken was simply grilled over charcoal with a few local Caribbean spices, but it was insanely juicy and flavorful. With a view of the ocean and a bottle of Piton Shandy, which the guy who sold it to me said was “good for you,” the little meal was final respite after three torturous nights at a mosquito-ridden bed & breakfast. I had two pieces of chicken and two bottles of Shandy, lemon and sorrel. Delicious.

One winner will be randomly chosen next week. Contest ends 12 p.m. ET, Monday, August 24, 2009. Good luck and thank you again for reading! I promise more culinary adventures in the coming year. Hold on to your stomach, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

UPDATE: The giveaway contest is closed and the winner is Nicholas! Congratulations to Nicholas and thank you to everyone who participated!

No Name Grilled Chicken Vendor
Right after the gate of the secondary beach entrance,
south of the main entrace
Anse des Sables, St. Lucia

Food & Drinks at Marshall Stack – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:45:36 +0000

I have some exciting news. Every Thursday, I’ll be writing a weekly column for Serious Eats: New York called “Raising the Bar” on bar food. (Stomach and liver, don’t fail me now!) If you haven’t seen it yet, the first post went up today. Check it out. I’ll be having an extra drink tonight to celebrate. And if you have any recommendations for bars with unbelievably delicious food in New York, please send them my way. Help from my lovely readers is always appreciated.

Jalebis at Curry in a Hurry & 3 Buck Bites – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:16:38 +0000

After a mouth-scorching meal in Curry Hill, I always crave something sweet, something intensely sweet to counter the fire burning in my belly. My favorite Indian sweets are jalebis. At Curry in a Hurry, these sticky saffron-hued coils of fried batter are crispy on the outside and soaked with sugary syrup on the inside. Sold by the pound, around eight to ten jalebis — more than a sane person can eat in one sitting — will cost you about $2.38 ($7/pound). Jalebis are great paired with a cup of hot masala chai, but I gobbled these down with a disgusting chai latte at the Starbucks in the Union Square Barnes & Nobles because the BF wanted to read. The things you do for love.

And speaking of cheap eats, for those who haven’t heard (where have you been?!! ), I’m contributing as a Dictator on Citysearch’s lookbook site called 3 Buck Bites. A cross between Yelp and Tastespotting, with the mindset of Cheap Ass Food, the site focuses on food $3.99 and less. Some of my posts on 3 Buck Bites will be based on those appearing here on Bionic Bites (tagged 3BB, such as this one) and others will be written specifically for 3 Buck Bites. Check it out and show the site some love. It’s an order! Or at least humor me and say that you did.

UPDATE (8/28/09): After a brief stint as a Guest Dictator at 3 Buck Bites, I realized I had too much going on in my life to keep contributing. In a perfect world, I would be paid to eat and travel the world, but alas, I’m a little worker bee in Midtown. I wish the best for 3BB.

UPDATE (1/17/2010): 3 Buck Bites folded late last year, but jalebis are still going strong.

Curry in a Hurry
119 Lexington Ave (betw 28th St. & 29th St.)
New York, NY 10016

Buddha Hates Dumplings – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:36:13 +0000

You know it’s rough out there when a Buddhist church is threatening to sue your ass. On my way to work this morning, I saw an older Chinese couple intently looking at this sign. It looks like Fried Dumpling is closed for good and the Heaven Way Buddha Church wants them out STAT! Their dumplings were never as good as the ones at Vanessa’s Dumplings, but I used to go to Fried Dumpling for soy bean milk and cold sesame noodles. It’s sad, but I guess that’s life. Buddha 1 / Dumpling 0.

Fried Dumpling (CLOSED)
99 Allen Street (nr. Delancey St.)
New York, NY 10002

Sophie’s Cuban on 40th St Closed – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:00:44 +0000

Had the Masitas de Puerco (Fried Pork) sandwich last week at Sophie’s Cuban on 40th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenue), and although it was dry and I didn’t experience “sandwich bliss,” I decided to give them another shot and try a rice dish today. Unfortunately, when I got there, the store was empty, and there was a sign on the door stating they were closed. No other explanation was given. I guess even the NY Times review couldn’t save them. Oh well, I tried. I guess I’ll have to keep going to Margon or El Sabroso when a Latin craving hits.

UPDATE: Sophie’s Cuban emailed Midtown Lunch to explain the reason for their closing. They blamed depressing scaffolding and the lack of customers from the new NY Times building.

OpenTable Appetite Stimulus Plan – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:35:27 +0000

My friend Catalin just emailed me about this. The OpenTable Appetite Stimulus Plan seems to be a variation on Restaurant Week with fewer restaurants participating. Here is the info from OpenTable:

“$35 Dinners, $24 Lunches (prices are per person and do not include beverage, tax or gratuity)
November 17-21, 2008
200 OpenTable Dining Rewards Points”

Restaurant Week is usually a gamble. I’ve had some really great experiences [David Burke & Donatella (now called David Burke Townhouse), Cafe Boulud], and some very mediocre ones (Brasserie 8 1/2, Steak Frites, Butter). Usually if a restaurant is good during Restaurant Week, I know they care about the quality of their food and their reputation to serve more than just decent fare regardless of price. If a restaurant serves crap during restaurant week, I won’t go back. I find it demeaning when restaurants make you feel like you should be privileged just to be in their restaurant all the whilst serving you substandard food. That’s my opinion at least. So take a look at the list. No matter what you do though, don’t pick Hawaiian Tropic Zone. I doubt they care about their food or their reputation.

Possible Price Hike at Ying Du – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:24:12 +0000

So many of you know that Ying Du is back in business since they were closed by the DOH two weeks ago. If you didn’t, they’re open. So today I went to get my weekly duck fix, and when I went to pay, a strange thing happened. The woman at the register said my order was $5.50 instead of the usual $5 because I got a leg. Mind you, I didn’t order a leg, the woman just filled the container with leg, thigh, and breast meat like they normally do. I asked if the price went up, but she said it didn’t and that it’s always an extra fifty cents for legs. Now I’ve been going to Ying Du for more than a year and this is news to me. It seems to me every time they close and then reopen the prices go up. Before they renovated, duck over rice was $4.50. After the numbering system, it went up to $5. Now it’s $5.50. I really shouldn’t be complaining, considering they have the best roast meats in Midtown and the ridiculous amount they give you for the price. But, hey, sometimes I’m a cheap bastard and I get cranky when I’m hungry. In any case, be forewarned, you may or may not be charged an extra fifty cents.

Ying Du Closed by DOH – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:34:11 +0000

Seems Ying Du has been closed by the DOH temporarily for a few infractions. Is that going to stop me from going back when they reopen? HELL NO! In fact, I’ll be the first one on line. I ate there once four times in one week, and I never saw anything to be worried about. In fact, I’m living proof Ying Du can’t be all that bad. Keep a stiff upper lip, Ying Du, I’ll be hungrily waiting. Damn, now what am I going to eat tomorrow?