Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Searching for a Good Taco: East Village

      Miss Geolouxy volunteered her services to accompany me for my second search for a good taco. It was after work so we decided to meet at Astor Place and work our way up and down First and Second Avenues from 1st to 10th Streets. I didn’t bring a list of places since the east side is not my territory, but I had a map to keep us from making a wrong turn towards the no-number streets. (That’s for another day.)

      The area around St. Marks Place has always been the place to get a bowl of soba noodles early in the day, a sterling silver stud for your ear at lunch, a tattoo in the afternoon, a pair of socks from the Sock Man afterwards and a chicken gizzard yakitori with a bottle of Sapporo for dinner, all in one day. While you can still get all those today, you’d have to fight your way to get through the crowds stopping by chickpea, the falafel place in the corner, Chipotle, Grand Sichuan and soon enough Bamn!, a shop full of vending machines off Second Avenue. The neighborhood has indeed changed.

      We learned early that it would be hard to keep our budget of $3 for each taco. The downtown locations come with an extra price hike. Unlike the tacos uptown, the second tortilla is wrapped around the first so that they look like burritos, perhaps it’s because people are on the go downtown. I also found it interesting that none of our tacos came in half-moon shapes.

      San Loco Mexico, 124 Second Avenue off St. Marks Place, 212/260.7948

      The guys at the bar wouldn’t get up from watching their baseball game to let two ladies sit and eat, but at least the catfish taco was good enough to make us stay. The fish is breaded and deep-fried and it was crispy and hot enough to make everything all right. The shredded pork was equally tasty and succulent. The two tacos cost us a little less than $7.

      Puebla Mexican Food and Coffee, 47 First Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets, 212/473.6643

      The chorizo taco was just all about salty goodness here. We loved the cilantro and the lime juice, plus the tortilla had a different texture than what I was used to. My favorite out of the four even at $5.25.

      Downtown Bakery, 69 First Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets, 212/254.1757

      The guava jelly roll is a plus but we weren’t there to rate their pastries so we stuck with the chorizo taco that came with avocado. Instead of ground pork, this was sausage cut up in smaller pieces. The tortilla seemed to taste more real here, too. They serve two tacos for $6 but they were nice enough to sell us only one to share.

      Paquito’s, 143 First Avenue between St. Marks Place and 9th Street, 212/674.2071

      We ordered the beef taco this time for $2.50. It was a little bit chewy but the good salsa that came with it was pretty tasty. Their “Real Mexican Style” taco was more substantial than the others. Their red blinking sign gave me a headache while we waited for our order, so if I have to return, I’d check out their restaurant next door.

      We only had a couple of hours–we opted for a manicure first, of course–so we ended up only hitting four spots but what good spots they were!

      Related post/s:
      The story behind Searching for a Good Taco in New York City
      First stop, Upper West Side

    • Menkuitei

      63 Cooper Square on 3rd Avenue
      212/228.4152
      $30 for two, with two drinks, without tip
      ♥

      Astor Place is filled with restaurants serving Japanese comfort food. I go to Menkuitei for their grilled fish neck. Their ramen selection is good, too, plus you’ll deal with less of a crowd here. The house special is one of my favorites but I must say I find it hard to say no to the curry bowl.

      Related post/s:
      Spend more money on your fish collar
      Oh! Taisho is around the corner if you’d rather wait for a table

    • Corn Bok Choy Soup

      When corns are in season in the summer, people immediately grill or steam them. I usually make this corn soup, a staple when I was growing up in Manila. To me, slurping soup is one of the most comforting things you can do for yourself even if it’s 90 degrees outside. Even if you don’t have all the vegetables to make a nice stock, the natural sweetness of the corn is enough to make the broth tasty. Kale or even broccoli is a good substitute for the bok choy.

      Ingredients:
      5 ears of fresh corn, kernels sliced off using a serrated knife
      2 bunches of baby bok choy
      1 medium red onion
      2 garlic cloves, minced
      1/2 pound of ground pork
      red pepper flakes
      salt, pepper, oil

      1. In a stock pot, heat some oil and sauté garlic until brown and onions until transparent. Add the ground pork and brown until cooked.
      2. Add the greens and cook until slightly wilted. Add 8 cups of water and the corn and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.
      3. Ladle in soup bowls and sprinkle with red pepper flakes before serving.

    • Province

      305 Church Street corner of Walker
      212/925.1205
      $25 for two, with two drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      Update, 2008: Province has closed

      Oh, mantou, where have you been all these years? Mantou, the steamed bun mainstay of northern Chinese street food stalls is finally in TriBeCa. And I hope it stays because the neighborhood could use a practical place to eat where good food is served without the frills and the bill. A mantou sandwich is $3.75 and you can choose between bulgogi with kimchi, spicy pork, grilled chicken or braised pork shoulder with pickled radish. Each mantou is freshly-baked and grilled so the sesame seeds on top get toasted for a nice smoky taste. They’re dense but spongy; doughy but not heavy. If two mantous are not enough for you, the bowl of cold sesame noodles with tofu, eggs, carrots and cucumber in soy-ginger sauce is substantial for less than $7. It’s a refreshing summer lunch.

      Province calls itself the Chinese Canteen and frankly, I like that name better. I would even call it the Asian Canteen because you can practically sandwich anything with mantou. Its simple unfinished decor reminds me of Momofuku Noodle Bar, only less pretentious and less crowded.

      Related post/s:
      Momofuku Noodle Bar

    • The North Fork Table & Inn

      57225 Main Road, Southold, North Fork, Long Island
      631/765.0177
      about $250 for two, with four drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      From Chef Gerry Hayden, of Manhattan’s Aureole and Amuse, and Gramercy Tavern’s pastry chef Claudia Fleming, comes a huge effort. The menu concentrates on the island’s freshest produce including seafood from Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound. We walked in a few minutes before our 9pm reservation to a hushed dining room. Even though the decor is bare, the lighting was perfect enough to bring out the coziness of what was the old Coeur des Vigne. At the bar, they didn’t have fresh mint leaves, but it was too early to be disappointed so we ordered the tomato water martini and raspberry bourbon instead. Both were too strong to be enjoyed, so we basically nursed our drinks until our main courses came.

      It was because we had our drinks on the table that our waiter never asked us if we were interested in wine with our dinner. But what do you expect when most of the wait staff look like they’re under twenty-five years old? The restaurant is quite new and the service needs a little sharpening–a little finesse, just like what Thomas Keller would say.

      But what The North Fork Table & Inn lacks in service is made up by the seasonal and local items on the menu. The roasted beets with goat cheese from Catapano Dairy Farm were evenly roasted. Salted pistachios gave them a crunch and the sherry vinegar a nice kick. I had the yellowfin tuna tartare with ponzu sauce topped with mizuna greens: fresh and light.

      We never usually order fish from the menu, but the sautéed wild striped bass came with warm fennel, radish and celery salad, so it was hard to say no. The meat was so tender, just perfectly cooked. The olive vinaigrette gave it the right amount of salty taste. And who says no to lamb chops? For forty dollars, they were the most expensive dish in the menu, but the chops came with a nice cut of shoulder, too, encrusted with smoked pepper. I could have been happy even without the mashed potatoes on the side, but I suppose most diners expect something mushy with their manly dinner.

      Have I already mentioned that Claudia Fleming was awarded by the James Beard Foundation as its best pastry chef of 2000? How else can I describe the upside-down peach and blueberry cobbler with sour ice cream? Try divine.

      North Fork is about two hours away from Manhattan but the Table & Inn makes the trip worth it.

    • Seared Cod with Fennel and Celery

      Adapted from The North Fork Table & Inn, Long Island, using wild striped bass

      Ingredients:
      1 1/2 pound of cod fillet, slice into 3 steaks
      3 stalks of celery, chopped
      a small fennel bulb, chopped
      1/2 cup of piquillo olives, pitted, finely chopped
      red wine vinegar
      olive oil

      1. In a skillet, let the celery and fennel sweat in low heat. Remove from heat when celery is tender enough. Transfer to a small bowl.
      2. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar and the olive oil. Add the olives and whisk until desired consistency. Dress the vegetables and let it stand.
      3. Prepare the fish. Preheat oven to 350º. In the meantime, heat some olive oil in a frying pan and sear the cod until a nice brown crust has formed on one side and it moves easily away from the pan when gently pushed with a spatula. Turn and brown the other side. Transfer the fish in the pan to the oven and bake for no longer than 7 minutes, just enough to cook the inside. Serve fish on top of the vegetables and top with leftover olives.

    • Dragon Fruit and Rambutan

      In Chinatown, I saw these cool-looking fruits they call dragon fruit. One sign had “gradon” written on a piece of cardboard. Those Chinese vendors get confused sometimes! I couldn’t get any information from them so I did my own research after buying one for $3.

      They’re native to Central and South America, but they’re apparently now the number one export of Vietnam. The meat is like a kiwi’s. It’s white and fleshy with a lot of small black seeds. It tastes a little bit like kiwi but without the tartness. I tried a little bit with salt and another piece with sugar just to see the difference. With sugar, it became somewhat bitter, but salt didn’t really make a big difference. If it wasn’t too early for rum, I could imagine putting this in a blender and making a cocktail out of it. Perhaps next time.

      There’s also rambutan out on the streets now. I grew up eating these in the Philippines, so I was taken aback when half a pound, about 6 pieces, cost $3.75. They taste like lychee, only the red leathery skin is surrounded by soft spikes or hair. In Malay, rambut means hair. If it’s the right time, the flesh is sweet and juicy and it comes off the seed easily when you eat it, avoiding the bitter soft bark that covers that seed. Since we’re speaking of cocktails, it’s great to have one at the bottom of a martini glass–sans the spiny skin, of course.

    • China: Blue Crab Special

      I could imagine Anna when she was a kid picking and sucking out the meat from these steamed crabs until her fingers turned wrinkly and raisin-like. She told me that most Cantonese grew up with the salty egg and meat patty combination but her father made it extra special by mixing it with steamed blue crabs. This was one of my best homecooked meals this summer. Be careful of the live crabs. One of them pinched me and it hurt! If you have some extra time before cooking, put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes so they “fall asleep.” Cracking them open later would not feel so bad. The best part of this recipe is pouring that super hot oil over the blue crabs before serving. Again, be very careful because the oil will be very hot, but oh, that crackling sound!

      Ingredients:
      half a dozen blue crabs
      2 cooked salted duck eggs, shelled
      1 regular egg
      1/4 pound of ground pork
      cilantro, roughly chopped
      scallions, chopped
      3 cloves of garlic, crushed
      oil

      1. Open the blue crabs by pulling off the shell from the body. Remove apron and gills. Cut the crabs in half and using a pincher, smash the claws for easy access to the meat later.
      2. In a bowl, combine the salted egg and regular egg and mix in the ground meat. Using your hands, mash the meat in the egg mixture then pour over the blue crabs. Sprinkle with cilantro and scallions, saving some for later.
      3. Using a large Dutch oven, steam the crabs for about 15 minutes or until the crab shells are deep orange.
      4. In a separate wok, heat the oil and add the garlic. Without waiting for the garlic to burn, quickly but gently pour the hot oil over the plate of steamed blue crabs. Garnish with the rest of the cilantro and scallions.

      Related post/s:
      Buy crabs and salted duck eggs in Chinatown
      More Cooking the World recipes: Nepal
      About Cooking the World: Global Gastronomy Food Project

    • In Tent

      231 Mott Street off Prince
      212/966.6310
      about $80 for two, with two drinks, without tip

      In Tent is such a hokey name for a restaurant but the main dining room indeed has a removable tent made of rust-colored silk fabric because zoning regulations do not allow a permanent roof to cover a garden (vacated by Bot Restaurant).


      A beautiful setup in the dining room with Moroccan lamps under a tent

      Chef Francois Payard brings his experience as pastry chef from La Tour d’Argent and Le Bernadin and partners with several other chefs to bring In Tent’s Moroccan-inspired menu. The lamb burger with zucchini fries was excellent. The meat was so juicy and the bread crispy that I regret sharing it with my dining partner.


      Lamb burger with zucchini fries

      The grilled octopus with cannellini bean salad was tender; just how I like my tentacles. I liked the idea of the bacalao carpaccio but without the black olive emulsion, it would have been bland. In Portugal, fresh codfish is rarely eaten. Dried salted codfish, or what we know as the more expensive clipfish, is the way to go for South Americans.


      Octopus with white beans


      Black olive emulsion on bacalao

      Our young server was attentive and even though In Tent was busy at 9pm on a Wednesday night, we were promptly accommodated without reservations after a drink at the bar. I’ll come back for more of that lamb.

    • Oh! Taisho

      9 St. Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
      212/228.5086
      about $50 for two, with two drinks, with tip

      Yakitori Taisho is one of those Japanese places on St. Marks that you end up going to after drinking all night because they’re open until after midnight. Oh! Taisho is that new space they’ve needed because the original is always packed.


      Too much bacon can kill you

      Yakitori is traditionally grilled chicken but nowadays, the term is used to refer to anything barbequed. The secret is the sauce that comes with every skewer made up of rice wine vinegar, sweet sake, soy sauce and sugar. My favorite is getting one of each of the yakitoris with bacon for about $2 each: with quail egg, asparagus, okra and scallops. I also love the beef stomach and the tongue.

      Two other good dishes I find hard to skip are the kimchi yakiudon and the pork spareribs. The pork falls off the bone and is perfectly tender. The kimchi yakiudon is spicy enough to make you pause in between bites. I usually order it when I’m not in the mood for a bowl of rice.


      Good barbeque


      Kimchi Yakiudon

      Salary men in Japan are known to eat yakitori after a long day at work with their favorite sake. Here in New York City though, I stick with my Asahi Dry.

    • Searching For a Good Taco: Upper West Side

      For my first search for a good taco, I decided to stay on Amsterdam Avenue and the upper west side, specifically from 100th to 145th Streets. I started on 100th mainly because I wanted to hit a favorite spot on 108th but also because I wanted to end up at Jesus’ Tacos near my apartment, a small store that shares space with Twin Donut. Every time I pass by, I chuckle at the name and I knew that someday, I’m going to have to buy something from there. (Of course, it’s more likely pronounced as Heh-sus than Gee-sus but that’s not as funny.)

      I was alone and I immediately found out that two tacos were my limit, maybe three if I pick on the filling and skip the tortilla, so I kept it down to ordering chorizo or ground pork tacos. At the stores where they didn’t carry the pork kind, I either bought beef, goat or chicken. I also didn’t spend more than $2.50 on each taco, the cheapest being two dollars. As for selecting which ones to go to, I looked around as I made my way up Amsterdam Avenue and went in to every store, restaurant and bodega that had an awning painted with the Mexican flag colors and had, well, “tacos” or “Mexican food” plastered on the windows. Banderitas, loud Spanish music or television and a picture of the Lady of Guadalupe were all big pluses.

      Noche, 852 Amsterdam Avenue between 101st and 102nd Streets, 212/662.6900

      Italian Mexican, 886 Amsterdam Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets, 212/316.1427

      Los Paisas, 890 Amsterdam Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets, 212/961.1263

      Taqueria y Fonda, 968 Amsterdam Avenue between 107th and 108th Streets, 212/531.0383

      Yuca Mexican Products, 1345-49 Amsterdam Avenue corner of 125th Street

      Cielito Lindo, 1354 Amsterdam Avenue between 125th and 126th Streets, 212/222.0938

      Mex Juquila, 1486 Amsterdam Avenue between 133rd and 134th Streets, 212/694.7142

      Jesus’ Taco, 501 West 145th Street on Amsterdam Avenue, 212/234.3330

      The verdict: chorizo tacos are indistinguishable; ground pork is ground pork. What makes a difference is how the chorizo is cooked and how the taco is prepared. My favorite was the chorizo taco from Taqueria y Fonda between 107th and 108th Streets because the bits and pieces of pork were grilled, crunchy and toasted. Even the onions were grilled so they added some sweetness to the flavor. Their salsa also came with small pieces of avocado and finding each one was a nice surprise. The chorizo from Cielito Lindo between 125th and 126th Streets came in a close second. They actually cut a sausage into smaller pieces; crunchy chorizo skin is always a plus.

      As for the non-chorizo tacos, the goat from Yuca was great and the huge peppers were a nice touch. The chicken from Mex Juquila was pretty much like how white meat tastes: boring and unexciting. Between the two beef tacos I got, I liked the one from Noche better than the ungodly experience at Jesus’.

      Related post/s:
      The story behind Searching for a Good Taco in New York City

    • Summer 2006 Getaway Part 3: Stonypoint and Bear Mountain

      After several errands on Saturday morning, we finally made it to the car and started our drive towards the George Washington Bridge. Before reaching Harriman State Park, we saw a sign for the oldest lighthouse along the Hudson River and decided to make a detour. The Stony Point lighthouse was built in 1826 to warn ships coming in due to increased river traffic after the opening of Erie Canal.


      Stony Point lighthouse, the oldest along the Hudson River

      For $5, we entered the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site and walked around the grounds where the Americans beat the British during a midnight surprise assault. The view of the Haverstraw Bay was beautiful.


      The boats on Haverstraw Bay

      We then proceeded to the second largest state park in New York. We read that there are over 200 miles of hiking trails but we couldn’t find trail marks except for a gate towards the smaller Bear Mountain State Park.

      We walked along the concrete road until we reached an electric tower and found yellow trail marks on the surrounding trees. We followed those up to the fire tower which we climbed to get a glimpse of the man-made Lake Welch Beach down the hill.

      It reminded us of the old radio tower we climbed in Sagada. That was the first time I found out the Dr. has some fear of heights. I was ahead of him ascending this tower, too, and he stopped right below me because his “balls were tingling.” I had to stop laughing to keep the the tower still. He stayed where he was and we enjoyed the view from up above separately.


      The Dr. stopped here


      Man-made Lake Welch Beach dotted with people


      The electric tower from the fire tower


      Green, green, green!

      Through the forest, we skipped over huge rocks and climbed small hills and made our way up to a stone house. We sat there for a while to catch our breaths and enjoy the view of the river. It was the perfect day for a hike because it was breezy and it wasn’t too humid.


      Stone house on top

      It took another hour to make it back to our car where we ate a Oaxaqueñan sandwich we bought in the morning. We felt that we didn’t really do anything strenuous but that we got enough exercise because of the ups and downs.


      George Washington Bridge before sunset

      Still, though, we rewarded ourselves by driving to Flushing and eating Malaysian fare at Sentosa.