« Previous Entries

The Archives

Kips Bay, Raising the Bar
House Smoked Pig at Waterfront Ale House – NYC
11.28.09 | Permalink | Comment?

Seventeen beers on tap and smoked pork by a local barbecue geek that competes nationally, need I say more? Read my latest bar review, “Raising the Bar: House Smoked Pig at Waterfront Ale House,” on Serious Eats: New York.
Midtown, Small Shops
Carb-on-Carb Action at Golden Krust – NYC
11.13.09 | Permalink | 10 Comments

I’ve been writing about Asia for so long now, many of you may have been wondering what I’ve been eating these days besides bar food. Well, during the day, I’ve been busy at work so I’ve been either packing my lunch or going to Chiyoda Sushi (Their usual $9.95 nigiri sushi set has been $7.96 since last month!). However, today I wanted something carby, not sure why, but that’s what I was craving so I made a stop at Golden Krust and got a Mild Beef Patty ($1.99, I got the mild only because it was the only meat patty ready at the time, it was either that or soy or vegetable. Mild Beef please!) and a piece of Coco Bread ($0.95). Put them together and what do you have? A Jamaican beef patty sandwich. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘Why on god’s green earth would you need to eat a patty between two pieces of bread?!” To which I respond, “Why the hell not?!” But seriously, coco bread makes a Jamaican beef patty more of a meal than a snack, and sometimes you want plain carbs with your greasy savory snack; be it bread, rice, or noodles. MORE »
Raising the Bar, West Village
Being Local at Wilfie & Nell – NYC
11.12.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

If I lived in the West Village, I’d hang out at Wilfie & Nell every weekend for Scotch eggs, grilled cheese, delicious cocktails, and their great beer selection on tap. Read my review, “Raising the Bar: Being Local at Wilfie & Nell,” on SE:NY. Drunken food porn awaits.
East Village, Raising the Bar
Banh Mi at Terroir? – NYC
10.29.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

My latest post, “Raising the Bar: Banh Mi at Terroir?,” is up at Serious Eats: New York. Did you ever want to eat an Italian banh mi? Terroir has one with pork terrine, mortadella, and pickled vegetables. Is it a banh mi? Not a chance, but it’s still tasty.
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 »
Chelsea, Raising the Bar
“The Sandwich of the Decade” at El Quinto Pino – NYC
09.03.09 | Permalink | Comment?

My latest article, Raising the Bar: “The Sandwich of the Decade” at El Quinto Pino, is up at Serious Eats: New York. Uni + Butter + Tom Cat bread + Korean Mustard = MAGIC.
Midtown, Small Shops
Columbia Bagels in Times Square – NYC
08.20.09 | Permalink | 5 Comments

Pumpernickel Bagel With Whitefish

Every once in while, I’ll go for long stretches where all I want to eat are bagels. It’s simple, straightforward, and comforting. Growing up, as I mentioned before, I got my bagels at a bagel shop in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Bayside. The bagels there were a little bready, but their egg salad was killer on a onion bagel. Later on in college, Columbia Bagels became my go-to bagel spot. Chewy on the outside and soft in the inside, the bagels were perfect. I used to grab an everything bagel with tuna salad right before running to the library to study/sleep. In grad school, I ate pumpernickel bagels with olive cream cheese from Murray’s. Their bagels were chewy, but often times too tough, but I managed. Now, on the weekends, I go to Russ & Daughters for an everything bagel with cream cheese and fatty belly lox. Their bagels, a tad bready, aren’t great alone, but filled with lox and cream cheese, one bite and I’m in heaven.

However, during the work week in Times Square, for a long time I was bagel-less. Times Square isn’t really known for bagels. Ess-A-Bagel is somewhat walkable when the weather is good, but I never found their bready bagels as good as people say. When I got desperate, especially when sick, I would go around the corner to the deli by the Carter Hotel, notorious for being the dirtiest hotel in the United States and infamous because of the dead body found underneath the bed after a guest checked out (read more about it here). Creepy, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Their generic bagels were only good toasted and eaten immediately right after, not a sign of a good bagel. MORE »