Category

Bite vs. Bite

Bite vs. Bite, LES, Small Shops
Classic Poutine at TPoutine – NYC
03.12.10 | Permalink | 7 Comments

Poutine, fries topped with white cheese curds and covered in gravy, is a beautiful thing. Second to Mike Meyers, poutine is my favorite Canadian export. So it was with great excitement I went to TPoutine a few weeks ago. (TPoutine opened late last year, but as with most new restaurants, I like to go a few months later so the kinks have been worked out.) TPoutine was empty when David and I got there. Worrisome, but it was 8pm on a Sunday night. Poutine, a food most commonly eaten in the wee hours after drinks, I figured we missed their busiest time by a few hours. Since it was our first time there, we ordered the Classic ($7.25), fries with gravy and white cheddar cheese curds. Then something happened. MORE »
Bite vs. Bite, Restaurants
Din Tai Fung aka Dumpling Heaven – Hong Kong
10.25.09 | Permalink | 8 Comments

I love xiao long bao (Shanghainese soup dumplings). It’s one of my favorite foods in the world. When I first discovered Joe’s Shanghai in Flushing, for about a year, if not longer, I would go there at least once a week for their famous soup dumplings. Once, I went four times in one week. So when planning our East Asia trip, xiao long bao was ever present in my thoughts. For a few days, I even considered making a detour to Shanghai just to eat xiao long bao directly from the source. Luckily for my bank account though, my brain overruled my stomach, and Shanghai was nixed. However, that didn’t mean xiao long bao was out of the picture. I was in Asia after all, xiao long bao were to be mine! So on our final night in Hong Kong, David and I made our way over to Din Tai Fung, or as I like to call the place, “xiao long bao heaven.” MORE »
Bite vs. Bite, Little Italy, Small Shops
Pork Banh Mi with Pâté at Banh Mi Saigon – NYC
09.12.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Yes, I know banh mis are so early 2009, and yes, I know everyone knows about Banh Mi Saigon, the small Vietnamese sandwich shop in the back of a jewelry store on Mott Street, but I recently made an invaluable discovery. For the longest time, although I love the Pork Banh Mi ($3.75) at Banh Mi Saigon, I missed the pâté the other famous Vietnamese shop in Alphabet City has in their pork sandwiches. (As I mentioned in a previous post, I actually prefer the Alphabet City store, but for some weird reason I got food poisoning once, and now I go almost exclusively to Banh Mi Saigon.) So on a recent trip to Banh Mi Saigon, I asked if there was a way I could get some pâté in the Pork Banh Mi, and of course, it was just a matter of asking. For one dollar extra ($4.75 total), the wonderful people at Banh Mi Saigon will spread a very generous layer of creamy pâté, even possibly too much, into an already overstuffed sandwich of roast barbecued pork, Vietnamese bologna, fresh cucumber sticks, cilantro, jalapeno slices, pickled daikon, and pickled carrots. One bite and you’ll be serious umami heaven. Now if only I could get them to add some Vietnamese headcheese (giò thủ), life would be closer to perfect. MORE »
Bite vs. Bite, Midtown, Restaurants, Washington Heights
Bite vs. Bite / Cuban Sandwich – NYC
07.08.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

I’ve been eating a lot of Cuban sandwiches lately. It’s a nice break from banh mis and it also fulfills my daily dietary cheese requirement. (I’m a cheese freak if you didn’t know.) The last two Cubans I ate were at Margon in Midtown and El Presidente in Washington Heights. I’ll be breaking down the two sandwiches here in a new feature called Bite vs. Bite. MORE »

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