« Previous Entries

The Archives

Alphabet City, Delis, East Village
Sweet & Semi-Scary at Johnny Air Mart – NYC
07.30.10 | Permalink | 7 Comments

[NOTE: Semi-scary photo after the jump. Proceed with caution.]

Last weekend it was crazy hot, ninety-eight mother-f*cking degrees hot. So hot that when the power went out in my apartment and the building manager questioned why I had two air conditioners, I went berserk. It wasn’t a meltdown, it was a complete blaze-up. I don’t even know how I managed. I was weak from barely eating for three days (I was sick, not dieting god-forbid), but somehow all of a sudden I was ready to open a can of whoop-ass. Thinking back, I realize I need to take a minute or two before reacting sometimes. The poor guy was just trying to figure out what happened, but the only thing running through my head at that moment was, ‘This is America, I can have two air conditioners if I want!”

In any case, it won’t be as hot as heck this weekend, but a cool icy Halo-Halo ($4.50) from Johnny Air Mart will still hit the spot. The halo-halo at Johnny Air Mart is a milky concoction — more like a very icy frappé than shaved ice — full of soft beans (garbanzo and red mung beans), young coconut strips, caramelized diced plantains, chewy sugar palm fruit (kaong), and jelly-like nata de coco. It’s a gamut of textures. However, for me, the best part was the smooth square of flan swimming on top. I love Taiwanese and Korean shaved ice, but given the choice, why not have shaved ice with flan?! It just seems silly without it. Flan, where have you been my entire shaved icy life? MORE »
Bowery, East Village, Restaurants
First Brunch at DBGB Kitchen and Bar – NYC
05.12.10 | Permalink | 6 Comments

Sometimes you have such high hopes for a new restaurant when it doesn’t live up to your expectations, you’re crushed, angry, and resentful. In this case, none of that happened. (Sorry to disappoint you haters!) DBGB Kitchen and Bar turned out to be everything I wanted and expected it to be: great menu and delicious food in a casual setting. MORE »
Chinatown, Small Shops
Cheapo Lunch at Lunch Box Buffet – NYC
04.28.10 | Permalink | 4 Comments

Ying Du, especially without roast duck, gets old after a while so when work load permits, I change it up with some Chinatown steam table action at Lunch Box Buffet. The first time I went a few years ago, I went after work and it was godawful. Everything tasted old, and the free soup tasted exactly what you imagine free soup to taste like: tepid water with salt. Lunch, however, is a different story; complete night and day. Two weeks ago, I actually went two days in a row. I would have made it three days had something not happened on the second. MORE »
Restaurants, Upper West Side
The Salon at Per Se – NYC
03.03.10 | Permalink | 8 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 »