Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Kasturi

      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 string of chili lights here or sari-style tablecloths, just straight-up Bangladeshi food. You walk down a few steps and sit under really bright fluorescent lights with the taxi cab drivers on break.

      The food is as bright as the lights, and before Kasturi, I never had anything like it. The dishes we tried all had a lemony taste and the saucy stews weren’t thick nor heavy. We couldn’t have enough of the anchovy stew, an interesting mix of ceviche taste with broth from a long-simmered stew. A tamer plate of zucchini and chickpeas smothered with bay and curry leaves was equally good, if not better with pickled hot peppers. We mopped everything else with warm nan. The neon yellow rice tasted better than it looked and a bowl of it proved just right for two Asians after a night out of drinking in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

      We didn’t know what kind of food Kasturi served when we walked in and only realized it was Bangladeshi when we saw that the TV was fixed on ATN Bangla. There were plenty of phone card commercials and the diners next to me smiled when I correctly interpreted a commercial with an actor scratching his palms as someone who was expecting some money. They were eating the same dishes and watching them made me think of home: they were using their hands.

      Kasturi is one of the reasons why I love New York City. Even after almost sixteen years of calling it home, I still discover new places, new foods and new cultures.

      Related post/s:
      Down the block is Kalustyan’s where you can buy all your Asian spices
      Next door is Saravanaa Bhavan; more families and less cab drivers

    • Thai Beef Stew

      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 adjusted the coconut milk (more) and cut down the mirepoix (less). I used more of the Thai spices I bought from Kalustyan’s and was more generous with the galangal and the curry leaves.

      Ingredients:
      1 pound of beef chuck, cubed
      1 can of coconut milk
      two handfuls of green string beans
      4 ribs of celery, chopped
      a handful of baby carrots
      a handful of dried curry leaves
      a handful of Thai basil
      a small knob of dried galangal
      a small knob of ginger, peeled, minced
      1 tbsp powdered lemongrass
      1 medium red onion, chopped
      1 cup of beef broth
      oil, salt

      1. In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil over medium-high heat. Brown beef cubes on both sides and remove to a plate.
      2. Using the leftover oil and rendered fat, sauté onions until soft. Add Thai basil, curry leaves, lemongrass, galangal and ginger and keep sautéing until everything is incorporated. Season with some salt.
      3. Return the beef to the pot including its juices. Add coconut milk and simmer for 45 minutes, covered. Stir halfway through just to make sure nothing has stuck to the bottom of the pot.
      4. After 45 minutes, add 1 cup of beef broth and 3/4 cup of water. Add the green beans, carrots and celery. Cover again and let simmer for another hour or until beef is soft. Stir every now and then and add a small splash of water to make sure it doesn’t dry up. Serve with rice and tell your guests to mind the spice leaves and big chunks of galangal and ginger.

      Related post/s:
      Beef bourguignon recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food
      No one appreciated my Tunisian beef stew but me

    • Klee Brasserie

      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 Web site I’ve seen where the creator is in touch with what New Yorkers are looking for these days: a blog from the chef, updated food photographs and, oh my god, a Facebook group. I expected the restaurant to be as loud as the site. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in: Klee is a lot smaller than what I originally thought and it’s actually cozy even with eleven girls sharing a long table.

      My friends had arranged for a group dinner to celebrate another’s last days of singledom. A pre-fixe dinner for $55 per person was arranged which included a choice of appetizer and a main course; mignardises were served as desserts selection. We ordered several bottles of wine to share and still, our bill only came out to $100 each.

      There was chilled pea soup poured into a bowl of squid tentacles. They didn’t seem to go together, but it worked and the presentation was pretty. I opted for the beets with blue cheese. Three of them came on a rectangular plate: one gold, one red and another pink. I thought the romaine lettuce worked well with the sharp blue cheese even though the pumpernickle “soil” didn’t make a difference except to make the plate look like a mini-garden. My mahi-mahi was a bit on the bland side–such is the nature of the fish–but it came with an interesting broccoli rabe purée and a crispy potato. The grilled chicken won me over with a crumble of chicken-peanut sausage and a faint taste of corn and lemon together. It’s from Murray’s and it would have been naturally sweet anyway without all the accoutrements.

      Klee was very generous with the dessert selection, a good move on their part knowing that eleven girls were eating during a bachelorette party. The sommelier was very helpful with the wine: I ended up selecting a Hungarian rosé to start and continued on with two bottles of Burgundy. The service was swift since our party took half of the restaurant space; they just wanted us to keep moving. We still closed the restaurant but I think they couldn’t complain after our hefty group bill in the end. I was equally content.

    • Washugyu from Japanese Premium Beef

      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 crossbred of Wagyu and Black Angus raised in Oregon under the supervision of breeder and feed programmer Tad Yano. The cow not only inherits Tajima blood–one of the black Wagyu cattle breeds in Japan–but is also fed using a genuine Japanese feeding program that doesn’t use antibiotics or any other growth promotants.

      All the cuts on display looked fresh and mouth-watering. The ribeye I inquired about, which was as big as my palm, was $24 at $49.99 a pound. A New York striploin goes up to $59.99 a pound. You don’t have to spend so much when you go though. I was able to pick up a row of thinly-sliced beef tongue for $7.50, and ground beef perfect for your high-maintenance burger-loving friends is available at $4.99 a pound.

      Back home, I heated some oil on a frying pan and seared the tongue for a few seconds before flipping them over to sear a second more. I immediately removed them to a plate, sprinkled with salt and freshly-squeezed lemon. It was only 1pm but I was already enjoying a very good dish of beef tongue with a glass of 2008 Robert Oatley rosé–sometimes life is very good to me.

      I’ll pick up one of those beautiful ribeyes during my next visit, but I’ll also make sure to buy some cheek meat to try and replicate a Babbo dish I love.

      Japanese Premium Beef is at 57 Great Jones Street off Bowery. They are open 7 days a week from 10am to 8pm. Call them at 212/260.2333 to ask if they have freshly-sliced beef tongue before you go.

    • Tandoori Chicken

      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 buy my oriental spices from Asia Food and Market in Chinatown, but Kalustyan’s carries more of the South Asian and Mediterranean ingredients that are not well-stocked downtown. I picked up some powdered lemongrass and dried curry leaves for my signature dishes, but I also bought new stashes of spice I regularly use like cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. I like buying them whole because I find great pleasure in grinding them by hand using my mortar and pestle and lining them up as I do my mise en place before cooking.

      I chose to do tandoori chicken after a good night of eating Bangladeshi food one night last week. We skipped the usual suspects of tandoori and brown curries and opted to try dishes I’ve never seen before that came in all shades of yellow. While eating, we noticed that we were eating the same food that the taxi drivers were enjoying. I wondered out loud why they would even have tandoori chicken on the menu if no one ordered it. I know it’s probably for the diners who want to see something familiar so that the other dishes don’t sound too intimidating. The next day, I thought I’d made my own chicken tandoori just to see if it’s really an easy recipe to do at home. It is and so you might not see me paying for tandoori any time soon.

      Ingredients:
      4 pieces of chicken legs, 3 pieces of chicken breasts
      1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
      a pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsps hot water
      1 tsp cumin
      1 tsp coriander
      1 tsp cinnamon
      1/2 tsp hot paprika
      1/2 tsp turmeric
      1 tsp chili powder
      1 small knob ginger, peeled, minced
      4 cloves garlic, minced
      1 lemon
      oil, salt, pepper

      1. Using a sharp knife, score the chicken flesh, each piece slashed two or three times. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and transfer to a glass baking dish.
      2. Combine all the spices in a bowl with the ginger and garlic. Add the saffron including the hot water and mix everything together. Massage the spice marinade on the chicken, enough to evenly coat every nook and cranny. Using a spatula, spread yogurt all over the spiced chicken pieces. Cover the glass dish and refrigerate for several hours up to overnight.
      3. When ready to cook, heat a frying pan with some oil. In the meantime, preheat oven 350º. Remove the chicken pieces from the baking dish and fry them until brown on one side. (I scraped off most of the yogurt and removed the larger ginger and garlic pieces.) Turn and fry until browned on the other side. Transfer to a new baking dish and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Squeeze some lemon juice on them before serving.

      Related post/s:
      Spiced Cream Chicken is also a good alternative
      It’s a rainy summer and perfect for a lamb meatball tagine

    • Cabbage Soup with White Beans and Sausage

      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 Quickfire Challenge in an airy stainless steel-filled handsome kitchen, but effortlessly turned out a soup of cabbage with white beans in a dorm room. I made note that the next time it rains and I want to eat some soup, I would replicate his dish.

      Well, it’s been raining in New York City almost non-stop for the last two weeks. I finally got some alone time to concentrate in the kitchen and cook without anyone bothering me. There weren’t any ham hocks in my Harlem supermarket–I know, right? That’s like running out of ground pork in a Filipino store–so I ended up using the last of the sausages from La Tienda. The pimiento flavor gave the soup a hint of red-orange and made an otherwise white and pale bowl of soup colorful.

      Ingredients:
      1 cabbage, cut in half then sliced into strips
      1 cup of white beans, soaked in water for at least an hour
      1 pimento sausage, sliced
      1 carrot, chopped
      4 stalks of celery, chopped
      2 sprigs of rosemary
      2 sprigs of thyme
      1 small red onion, chopped
      3 cloves of garlic, minced
      vegetable broth
      oil, salt, pepper

      1. Heat some oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage slices and sauté until brown around edges, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage; sauté 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
      2. Add some more oil to same pot. Saué garlic until golden brown and onions until translucent. Add carrots and celery and sauté until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Return the sausage and cabbage mixture. Add herbs, beans and broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, covered, about 1 hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

      Related post/s:
      La Tienda has all the chorizos and sausages you need
      This recipe stemmed from my favorite kale and kielbasa soup
      If you have ham hock, braise it with fennel and tarragon

    • Curried Duck Legs with Rhubarb

      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, yet affordable, produce. Until then, I’ll have to make long and separate trips all over the city.

      This recipe from last week’s New York Times caught my eye because I haven’t cooked with duck in a long time and I’ve really only baked with rhubarb. Not to mention my recent kick with Indian flavors, I just wanted something I can reheat for next week’s lunches. I revised the recipe a little bit to avoid using a food processor for the spices–I was just too lazy to wash another gadget. The end result was duck meat that easily fell off the bone in thick sauce that was a balance of tart and sweet: perfect over warm basmati rice and some sautéed bok choy.

      Ingredients:
      4 duck legs
      5 stalks rhubarb, chopped
      1 small can coconut milk
      1 tbsp brown sugar
      1 small knob of ginger, peeled, sliced
      1 red onion, chopped
      4 cloves garlic, minced
      1 tbsp garam masala
      1 tbsp red wine vinegar
      1 tsp hot paprika
      1/2 tsp turmeric
      oil, salt, pepper

      1. Toss salt with duck legs before cooking. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Brown duck legs, about 7 minutes per side. Turn and brown other side. Transfer to a bowl.
      2. While duck browns, mash half of the onion with the ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a bowl and combine with all the spices. Season with salt.
      3. When duck is done, spoon out all but about 2 tbsps of fat from skillet. Add remaining onions and a large pinch of salt. Sauté until soft, 5 minutes. Add seasoned ginger-garlic paste and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes.
      4. Add coconut milk and 2 cups water, and bring to a simmer. Add rhubarb, brown sugar and duck legs. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 1 hour, turning duck pieces halfway through. Uncover pan, turn duck again, and let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

      Related post/s:
      Rhubarb in one of my favorite desserts

    • Watermelon Granita

      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 at 69 cents a pound, it’s also the least expensive dessert I can think of with minimal effort. The watermelon juice that didn’t fit in the glass dish went into three tall glasses spiked with Grey Goose.

      Ingredients:
      watermelon flesh, chopped in manageable pieces
      1/4 cup sugar
      juice from 1 lemon
      mint leaves

      1. Put all watermelon pieces in a large glass bowl and sprinkle all over with sugar. Let stand for an hour in room temperature. In the meantime, put a square baking glass dish in the freezer.
      2. Using a blender, purée the sugared watermelon and their juices with 1/2 cup of water and a squirt of the lemon juice. Taste and add more lemon juice if necessary. There should be a perfect balance of light sweetness and some tart.
      3. Remove the glass dish from the freezer and pour in blended watermelon juice. Return to the freezer and freeze.
      4. After 30 minutes, the watermelon should begin to freeze. Scrape off frozen bits from the side of the glass dish and move them to the center. Return to the freezer. Repeat three more times before serving with mint leaves.

      Related post/s:
      I forgot I made celery granita before

    • Unctuous Pork Belly

      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 good food memories. I saved the barbecue article and it came in handy when it was time to inaugurate the Dr.’s backyard with a small get-together.

      We started the marinating process a day early and braised the meat for five hours the day of. It was a lot of time, but the result was definitely worth it. Note that during Step 4, you might need an extra hand transferring the pork from the baking dish to the grilling basket to keep it in one piece. The meat will fall apart with the gentlest poke and it will even be softer after grilling. Also, the original recipe called for bourbon, but whisky worked just fine for us.

      I transferred the sieved braising juice to a Tupperware and stored it in the freezer: imagine the fried eggs we can cook with all that belly fat…

      Ingredients:
      1 4-pound piece of pork belly, skin-on
      1/4 cup whisky
      1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
      2 tbsps unsalted butter
      1/4 cup packed brown sugar
      3 sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped
      a splash of cider vinegar
      1 tbsp lemon juice
      red pepper flakes
      salt, pepper

      For the marinade:
      1/4 cup cider vinegar
      1/4 cup lemon juice
      1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
      3 sprigs of rosemary
      3 sprigs of thyme
      1 serrano pepper, sliced
      10 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
      salt, pepper

      1. Put the pork belly in a large freezer bag with all the marinade ingredients plus 1 cup of water. Squeeze to remove air, then seal and refrigerate overnight.
      2. When ready to cook, heat oven to 275º. Place pork in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with marinade, butter and enough water to cover. Cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly. Braise in oven 5 hours; let rest in pan, covered with the same foil, 2 hours.
      3. Meanwhile, simmer whisky in a small pan over medium heat until alcohol aroma fades. Stir in sugar, parsley, vinegar and pepper flakes. Cover and set aside.
      4. Heat a grill. Carefully remove pork from pan and place in a grilling basket. Grill skin-side down over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden. Remove from heat and brush skin side with 1/4 of the whisky glaze, then return to heat, skin-side up, for another 5 minutes. Remove pork from heat once more and brush meat side with 1/4 of the glaze, then return to heat, meat-side up, for another 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining glaze on both sides.
      5. Place pork skin side up on cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before taking apart and eating.

      Related post/s:
      Unctuous pork belly porn
      I take my pork very seriously
      My makeshift smoker at home

    • Jo’s

      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 bar for a Vin de Pays and try out the pappardelle with lamb stew as my Wednesday night meal.

      One of the greatest things about New York City is that you can sit at a bar alone and there’s usually a fifty per cent chance that you’ll meet someone who’s not as creepy as the rest of the city’s inhabitants. If you’re lucky you could get a free drink out of it, but if you’re really lucky, you can get invited to the menu tasting by the co-owner’s friends. I was in the really lucky category last week. I ended up joining the group next to me while they passed around dishes that the kitchen was churning out for feedback.

      Jo’s labels itself as “American bistro”. I think its an appropriate description because they had a mélange of cuisines available. As I sat down at the marbled bar and looked around the dimly-lit space, I expected tapas with expensive wines. The space looks more handsome than the food offered on the down-to-earth menu. On a chalkboard, burgers and fries; a bowl of skewers joined a plate of Thai-spiced chicken pieces; my pappardelle could have been paired with the arugula salad. The back room feels a little bit more diner-like: the Tasting Room heavy stable door is gone and the wine cellar has been moved next to the bathrooms to make room for another group by the main entrance.

      Jo’s, named after one of the owners’ mother, might still be having an identity crisis in terms of food while they hash out the details, but while I was there I could feel the love from the owners’ friends and families who showed up to celebrate the opening. The economy might be bad, but people are still out enjoying their early summer nights with good company. It’s another reason why I love New York City. I wish Jo’s the best.

      Related post/s:
      I still miss the Tasting Room

    • Pylos

      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 a must-try when I make it back to the neighborhood. When a friend wanted to meet for dinner before heading out on a Saturday night, I suggested that we go there even though I never got a chance to look it up and read about it. I later learned that the owner partnered with Diane Kochilas, a widely recognized authority on Greek cuisine, to be the consulting chef–I now remember the cookbooks on display in the restaurant.

      We started with crispy phyllo dough filled with cured beef pasturma, tomatoes and kasseri cheese. The flavor was subtle but very savory. The octopus was grilled and I couldn’t get enough of the balsamic reduction on the plate. It could have used a lot more of the sauce though, so that the octopus was a little bit more flavorful. They had ran out of the anchovies and the cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and ground beef, so we immediately moved to the main course of grilled baby lamb chops which were perfectly medium-rare and soft, served with stuffed eggplants and slivers of fingerling potatoes. The chops were so good they made up for the maitre d’ who huffed and puffed when we inquired to be seated without a reservation on a Saturday night.

      We got the table next to the giant glass wall under a ceiling covered with unglazed clay pots. (Pylos stand for “things of clay”, see?) The street lamp outside illuminated our side of the restaurant and gave the front section a warm glow while the back room looked like a long dining hall. Everyone around us seemed like they’ve been going to Pylos for years since most tables were comprised of bigger groups. I’d have to come back with my own posse, but I’ve taken a more detailed note: Pylos is a nice little spot without the frills of a New York City Saturday night. It was perfect for two friends and could be perfect for a first date.

      Related post/s:
      Those clay pots reminded me of Jerba Island in Tunisia
      Anthos is a little bit dressier but a great spot in midtown

    • Where to eat in Norwalk: Valencia Luncheria

      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 about the filling because I can’t tell if the dough was laboriously made or if a store-bought cornmeal was used. I like my arepas light but filling; go easy on the meat inside and you’ll make me frown.

      Valencia Luncheria is very generous with their arepas. Between my friend and I, we ordered several arepas stuffed with pulled pork, shredded beef, chorizo, roast pork, chicken and cheese. Out of all of them, the pulled pork was probably the best, followed by the shredded beef which had some sweetness to the sauce. The spinach and cheese arepa was a godsend after all the meat and I wished I ordered more of it. The chorizo wasn’t moist enough–I ended up picking and eating them on their own. After my third, I was skipping the cornmeal and just eating the filling. We also ordered ceviche at a whopping $10 for a small cup and it lacked oomph in the seasoning department. I like my ceviche less on the tomato slush and more on the lime and cilantro flavor.

      We went just in time before dinner rush began. A few groups were waiting for tables right by the counter when we left. With the downpour outside, everyone congregated in Valencia’s tight quarters. Apparently, it gets even more crowded on the weekends during brunch. There’s no beer or liquor for sale in the restaurant, but there is a deli a few stores down where you can buy to bring your own. Still, our bill for three people went up almost $70 and I think I was just stuffed more than I was satisfied.

      Valencia Luncheria is at 172 Main Street in Norwalk, Connecticut. You can call 203/846.8009 to ask how long the wait is for brunch.

      Related post/s:
      El Salvador and pupusa photos on Flickr
      Colony Pizza in Stamford, Connecticut