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Restaurants, Upper West Side
The Salon at Per Se – NYC
03.03.10 | Permalink | 5 Comments

One day, I hope to be able to eat in the main dining room of Per Se whenever I want and not on a special occasions, but until then, there’s the Salon, the makeshift less fancy lounge outside the “real” dining area. Yes, it’s a bit uncomfortable as the tables are low and don’t accommodate for leg room (unless you sit at the communal bar table), and you’ll undoubtedly look on with longing as the people who probably have more money than you strut into the main dining area, but you make do because the food is solid, served à la carte (unlike the main dining room’s $275 prix fixe menu), you don’t need a reservation a month or two in advance, and the service is impeccable without being uptight. What’s a little discomfort? David and I minded only the slightest. MORE »
Flushing, Restaurants
Live Fluke and More at Yuraku – NYC
02.17.10 | Permalink | 3 Comments

By now most of you probably know how much I love pork and duck, but there is another side to me. A fishier side. Growing up, I actually preferred seafood over red meat. I was a weird kid, and unlike my brother who loved Big Macs and galbi (갈비, Korean beef ribs), I loved vegetables, ice cold naeng myun (냉면, cold buckwheat noodles), and hwe (회, Korean-style raw fish). (By the way, I believe this is one of the reasons I’m vertically challenged and my brother is not, lack of good ole’ American beef. Alas, I’m sure my childhood fondness for coffee and jumping from great heights also played a part.) So a few weeks ago, when Hannah (my sister-in-law) told me Yuraku, her mom’s restaurant in Flushing, started serving “live fish” flown in straight from Korea, I knew a trip to Queens was in my not-so-distant future. MORE »
Restaurants
A Dinner Date with Mom at Alex – Las Vegas
01.21.10 | Permalink | 5 Comments

In-N-Out wasn’t the only thing my mom and I ate in Vegas. Although my ring of slot cards may say otherwise, I’m not completely ghetto. On our last night in Sin City, I took my mom to Alex for a sinfully decadent dinner. MORE »
Restaurants
I Did it All for the Duck – Beijing
01.08.10 | Permalink | 7 Comments

From the beginning, the stars weren’t aligning for me and China. My first application for a visa to China was denied. The reason, I work for a news/media company, and although I wrote on my application that I was going for pleasure, not business, I was rejected. Beijing may have hosted the Olympics, but that still doesn’t change the fact that China is a communist country. Foreign press is not welcome unless it is authorized. I argued and argued, but no one wanted to listen, and they just sent me to another line when they got tired of talking to me. Finally, after being shuffled back and forth between several windows, someone told me to come back with a letter from my work stating specifically that I was not going to Beijing on company business. An hour later, to the dismay of the people at the embassy, I was back with my letter, signed by my manager and on company letterhead. Another hour later, I had my visa. It took an entire day of waiting on line, running across town twice in the pouring rain, plus two application fees and one hefty expediting fee, but I got my visa. Unfortunately, I also got food poisoning from a bad gyro at the diner next door. I should I have seen it has a sign, but of course I didn’t. That would have been too easy. MORE »
Restaurants, Street Eats
Last Night with More Offal in Korea – Seoul
12.27.09 | Permalink | 7 Comments

There was so much food I wanted to eat in Seoul, but one week just wasn’t enough. There was the dduk I wanted to eat from the nice old ladies in the subway station (1 styrofoam tray for KR ₩1,000/US $00.84!), more street ddukboki, jajangmyun (자장면, noodles with black bean sauce), sweet potato fries, more samgyupsal (삼겹살, pork belly)… the list goes on and on. Fortunately, there was one thing on my to-eat list I made sure to eat before take-off to Beijing: my favorite, gobchang (곱창, small intestines). Well, not exactly but close enough, I ate daechang (대창, large intestines).

When Joo Hyun and Soo Hyun said we were going to go eat daechang, I was excited, but also apprehensive. The thing with large intestines is that it’s usually funkier than small intestines, and I mean funkier in a bad way. A little irony funk is nice, but too much and you need another bottle of soju to make it enjoyable. That’s been my experience so far in New York at least. However, when we got to Yeontabal (연타발), immediately I knew it was going to be different. First of all, the restaurant is strictly charcoal (숯불, sootbul). Meat always tastes better when it’s cooked on charcoal as opposed to a gas grill. Second, all the meat brought to the table was fresh. You could tell just from looking at it. But of course, even with the best intentions, food can be royally f*cked up. Happily though, with the help of Joo Hyun, I can report to the contrary. MORE »
LES, Raising the Bar
Tuesday Nights at Allen & Delancey – NYC
12.25.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays lovely readers! I’m still working on my post about my last night in Seoul, but in the meantime, check out “Raising the Bar: Tuesday Nights at Allen & Delancey” on SE:NY. Half-off drinks and tongue is involved… tongue of the edible kind. Anything beyond that can’t be guaranteed.

Again, warm wishes to everyone. I hope a fabulous meal awaits all of you today. If not, make it work anyway.
Restaurants
Crabs & Live Octopus at Pro Soy Crab – Seoul
12.18.09 | Permalink | 10 Comments

When I went to Korea this year, one of things I insisted on eating was sannakji (산낙지, live octopus). I’d never had it. Years and years ago, I went with my family to a seaside restaurant on the Korean coast and I remember people eating sannakji all around us. I wanted to try it, but we ended up not ordering it because my little cousins (who by the way are not so little anymore and have somehow graduated from college) were going through a phase where they refused to eat anything except spam. Instead, we ate fish jigae (stew) and had the restaurant fry up some spam for the kids (if you can believe it, my aunt always carried a can in her purse).

So this time in Korea, as an adult who could set her own agenda and eat whatever she pleased, I told Joo Hyun and Soo Hyun we had to go eat sannakji. I’m pretty sure they weren’t too excited. Not because it’s weird, but because live octopus is one of those gimmicky foods Americans want to eat when they visit Korea. (It’s like, “Yeah, I’m in the Korea, let’s go eat something bizarre… LIVE OCTOPUS!!!”) Well, unfortunately for them, I am American, so off we went one night in search of sannakji. David oddly insisted on staying in at the hotel. MORE »