Author: cia
-
83 Lexington Avenue between 26th and 27th Streets 212/679.7993‎ $7 for one dish ♥ ♥ Let’s go there, I said as I pulled the Dr. towards the street crossing. Among the many restaurants in Curry Hill, the South Asian restaurant row in the Gramercy Park area, Kasturi is the only one without the frills. No…
-
The first time I made this in the Dr.’s kitchen, he said after tasting it: Oooh, like bœf bourguignon. While that comment was fine and good, I didn’t spend the effort to cook a French dish; I wanted to make a Thai beef stew. This recipe has been rehashed from that first time and I…
-
200 Ninth Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets 212/633.8033‎ $104 each for a group of 11, with several bottles of wine ♥ ♥ From Klee’s Web site, I imagined a Meatpacking District type of place where we would be screaming at each other so that we can have a conversation. It’s probably the first restaurant…
-
I had the biggest smile when I walked in Japanese Premium Beef yesterday. The space is Thomas Keller-immaculate–just like the type of kitchen I dream of having. The hipster-looking Japanese guy introduced me to the beef on display while the other guy sliced fresh-looking meat in the back on a butcher block. Washugyu is a…
-
I was like a kid walking down the aisles of Kalustyan’s, the specialty food store in Curry Hill here in New York City. I found myself subtracting from my cart when it was time to pay for my purchases because I got carried away and bought spices I knew I already had at home. I…
-
I’ve only seen two episodes of Top Chef Masters on Bravo but I’m already hooked. It’s obvious that the participants are real chefs because they all get along and act professionally under pressure. Their demeanors separate them from the whiney amateurs of Top Chef. During the first episode, chef Michael Schlow sweated his way through…
-
The duck legs were $10 cheaper in Chinatown than at Whole Foods, but Chinatown doesn’t even sell rhubarb and five long stalks were on sale for $2 at Whole Foods. My wish is to just have one store to go to when I need to buy ingredients for cooking; a place with fresh and hard-to-find,…
-
For our first barbecue, I wanted to serve a simple summer dessert that everyone would enjoy after eating all the pork belly and chicken. I don’t know how heavy watermelons are in your area, but in Harlem, a quarter of a melon is good enough for this recipe–it fed five people with second servings. And…
-
Could there be a better word to describe pork belly other than unctuous? I’ve loved that word ever since I experienced the cooking of Chef Fergus Henderson in London back in 2005. Seeing that word in the New York Times a few weeks ago when they featured Adam Perry Lang’s Serious Barbecue recipe brought back…
-
264 Elizabeth Street between Houston and Prince 212/966.9640 about $40 for one, with a drink, with tip ♥ The night that Jo’s officially opened, I walked by to check out how the old Tasting Room space had transformed. It was before 8pm and it wasn’t crowded, so I decided to stay and sit at the…
-
128 East 7th Street between First and Avenue A 212/473.0220 $40 each for two, with drinks, without tip ♥ ♥ I’m always excited to find another Greek restaurant in the city. I was even more thrilled to try Pylos because I walked by its glass wall one night and took a note of it as…
-
Arepa is a South American patty made of cornmeal which can be grilled, baked or fried and usually topped or stuffed with cheese or meat. Other areas in Latin America have something similar; the El Salvadorian pupusa being the most familiar to me. So how good can arepas get? If you ask me, it’s all…