Writing With My Mouth Full

Chinese Mirch

120 Lexington Avenue corner of 28th Street
212/532.3663
$65 for two, without drinks, with tip
♥

Mirch is loosely translated as spicy in Hindi and the combination of Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines happily bring out the intense flavor of Indian cooking. The positive is that the dishes are lighter than what I am used to because pork and beef are not in the menu in honor of the Muslim and Hindi diets. The negative is that the distinctive flavor of all the cuisines combined may be too much for a diner with a less friendly stomach. Indeed, mine protested when I got home–three times.

We ordered the lime coriander soup which was deliciously sour for me. It was clear broth but a little gooey, perhaps a little cornstarch made it so. This is exactly what the Chinese Indian combination was like throughout our entire meal–saucy and spicy. We also had their notorious chicken lollipops, wing meat pulled back to form a ball at the other end of the bone. My brother makes them at home but the Mirch version has enough garlic to make them addicting. They’re deep-fried to crunchy perfection that I had to order one serving to go so that my father can taste them. The deep-fried okra were served in a container fit for Belgian fries and each okra sliver was coated in batter and peppered with paprika and other chili spices. The vegetarian meatballs were quite good, too, and even after eating one of the green chiles swimming in even more sauce, we were still craving for more. The chicken and garlic noodles were satisfying although the chicken bits were barely detectable. I loved pouring the vinegar that was on our table over them.

The waiters are friendly but the service is abrupt. Our waiter tried to take plates away twice even though we were still eating. He also tipped over the okra container to see if we were done with them that I was tempted to slap him on the arm so he would chill. We ordered a bowl of rice when the two main courses were served but it never came. When it was included in our bill and I alerted the cashier, they insisted that we ate the rice they brought to our table. Our waiter pointed to a small grain of rice on our table and asked, But what is this over here? as if we would really try to skip over paying $1.39. They let the bill stand, as I suggested, and I gave them $1.39 less on the tip. Can you blame me if I just didn’t want to pay for what wasn’t served? The waiters also let us leave without giving us the leftovers we asked to take home. It was a good thing we remembered half a block away. When we opened our bag, the new order of chicken lollipops were there (I ordered two but they only gave and charged me for one) but the leftover noodles weren’t. We were just too tired to correct another mistake that we just decided to walk away.

Braised Oxtails

My father denies that he bought the Mario Batali extra large Dutch oven for me. He said he bought it for himself so he can make his Filipino specialties without crowding the smaller pots we already have. I’ll let him slide, but to christen his new and glistening red pot, I braised some oxtails and kicked off autumn. Braising has got to be one my favorites things to do. A little beefy wine, a little stock, some good meat–you can just leave everything in the oven for a couple of hours. Browning is the key and it’s the step that a lot of Filipinos skip–they love their pressure cooker too much. When the meat falls off the bone without force, it’s like Christmas. If you love to cook, I think you have to give in some of your time to do beautiful things like this.

Ingredients:
6 pieces of oxtails
red wine
beef broth
1/2 stick of butter
1 red onion
5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 leeks, white parts only, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
3 thyme sprigs
3 bay leaves
1 bunch parsley stems

1. Preheat oven to 350Âº. Meanwhile in a large Dutch oven, add some butter over medium heat until foam subsides and brown the oxtails on all sides, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
2. Add vegetables to the pot and sautÃ© until softened. Add the oxtails back arranging them in one layer. Add wine, herbs and enough stock to cover the oxtails. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat and place inside the oven on the middle rack and braise until meat is tender and almost falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
3. Remove the oxtails to a plate. Pour the braising liquid through a fine sieve into a saucepan and discard the other solids. Boil liquid until thick and reduced. Serve with pasta.

Bar Bossa

232 Elizabeth Street between Houston and Prince
212/625.2345
$57 for one, with four drinks, with tip
â™¥ â™¥

Both times I’ve eaten at Bar Bossa, I sat in the back room with a group of friends where bathroom visitors always say, Oh, I didn’t know there was a table back here. Sitting in the back is like sitting in someone’s cozy and well-lit home where the whiff of the good food about to come out from the kitchen floats around. You can reserve the back ahead of time, but in one of our visits, we walked in and were accommodated without any problems. (Check out the soap in the bathroom as I’m sure it will be a topic of conversation at your table.) I’ve also dined at the bar alone–yes, I was very proud of myself, too–and I enjoy their fish entree with braised tomatoes.

The owners are English and Brazilian but the Latinos in the kitchen run the show, churning out specials like pork chops with chayote, pineapple and potato peppered with crispy sausage and breaded beef steak with rice and watercress. Their offerings play on all kinds of cuisine: baked crab meat in a clam shell, beef carpaccio on a bed of mixed greens and even Italian paninis. Several cocktails and a bottle of wine later, even the assorted desserts taste good: bananas baked in coconut, Guiness chocolate cake, passion fruit-flavored sponge cake with whipped cream. The bar is proud of their caipirinhas which come in different flavors. With the amount of liquor they put in them, they have no reason not to be.

Otto Pizzeria e Enoteca

One Fifth Avenue on 8th Street
212/995.9559
$90 for three, with several drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

When a group of my friends and I just want a laid-back night with good food but can’t afford the other Batali establishments, we end up at Otto where we can eat thin-crust pizzas cooked on a flat-iron griddle. My favorite is the funghi and taleggio pizza with earthy mushrooms and fragrant taleggio cheese. The fennel with bottarga, or Italian caviar, showered with mozarella and pecorino pizza is also delicious. For those who want something more familiar, the classic marinara and pepperoni pizzas are also available as well as smaller pasta dishes like penne, spaghetti and linguine. We spend most of our money in antipasti like prosciutto, octopus, tomato and mozarella salad and the anchovies.

The service is brisk especially when the place is hopping on weekends. If you prefer to skip the dining room, there are tables at the bar where you can just stand and hover over your food and Italian wine. During one visit, our waiter bumped into our table and spilled water all over my brother’s lap. They apologized by bringing him a complimentary beer and dessert afterwards. It’s not Babbo, but your wallet will gladly thank you for it.

Chestnut and Chickpea Hotpot

I bought The Food of Spain and Portugal to skim through during my flight back from Barcelona and made marks to the recipes I’d like to test at home. Not wanting to let go of our Catalan experience just yet, I picked Extramadura’s puchero de castaÃ±as con garbanzos, or chestnut and chickpea hotpot to get that comforting feeling we had when we ate chickpeas at almost every tapas bar in Barcelona.

This recipe needs a little bit of planning ahead to soak the chickpeas and chestnuts overnight.
I used the Goya chickpeas from the grocery store. As for the chestnuts, there’s plenty in Chinatown that’s packaged dry, but I wanted the ones soaked in water because I didn’t get the chance to soak them with the chickpeas. (Note that chestnuts in water is different from water chestnuts!) At Dean and Deluca, I bought a $9.50 can of Clement Faugier whole chestnuts in water, a French brand–a little steep but that’s why I said you should plan ahead. There are plenty of smoked ham hocks in my grocery store for less than $2 and because I only used them to flavor the broth, I didn’t feel too bad about throwing them out after cooking. The dried pimento peppers I found at DespaÃ±a for $1.50 in a small box. They were chewy after cooking so I just discarded them, too.

The temperature dropped down to 65 on my way home and it was a little bit chilly. Coming home to make this hotpot with a couple of glasses of Shinn Estate’s Red was what I just needed to wind down. It is great with country bread from Balthazar.

Ingredients:
half a 1-pound package of chickpeas, soaked overnight in water, drained
1 can of chestnuts in water, drained
1 smoked ham hock
1 packaged of bacon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 ribs of celery, chopped
3 dried pimento peppers, seeded and torn
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns
2 hardboiled eggs
a handful of shiitake mushrooms, wiped off clean and chopped
parsley, finely chopped
thyme
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a large casserole, combine all the ingredients except the egg, mushrooms, parsley and seasonings. Add enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat a little and let simmer for 1 to 2 hours or until chickpeas are soft while ocassionally stirring. Add some more water if needed; the dish should be more soupy than dry.
2. Stir in the olive oil so that the broth will emulsify and become creamier and let it boil again. Discard the bay leaf and the pimento peels. Season with some salt.
3. In the meantime, fry the mushrooms in a pan with hot olive oil and season with thyme, salt and pepper. Add to the pot, stir a bit and turn off the heat. Stir in the parsley and serve with the eggs.