Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Flour-Crusted Soft-Shell Crabs

      Adapted from Noodletown, Chinatown, New York

      6 soft-shell crabs, rinsed under cold running water, apron and gills removed, patted dry
      1 cup flour, sifted
      2 tbsps paprika
      vegetable oil
      salt and pepper

      1. On a plate, combine all ingredients except crabs and oil. Coat each crab with flour mixture, shake off excess and transfer to a plate.
      2. In a heated deep skillet, add oil. Deep-fry crabs, turning over halfway through frying (watch out for popping) until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain crabs on paper towels and serve with tartar sauce.

    • Naka Naka

      458 West 17th Street off Tenth Avenue
      212/929.8544
      about $400 for six plus room fee, with a few drinks, with tip
      ♥

      When I get slow service in a restaurant, I’m usually ticked off, but for some reason I always excuse it when it comes to a Japanese restaurant. Do you do this? They’re so polite that even when they make a mistake, I find myself apologizing for them.

      The menu at Naka Naka is limited; mostly familiar rolls like spicy tuna, salmon and tuna with avocado, unagi and tempura. The uni comes in both the light and the dark yellow colors and the hamachi is excellent, but without their daily specials–written on a whiteboard presented by the waitress–you’ll end up with less than five choices. Some of the appetizer dishes are tasty but unexciting: lotus root, deep fried fish, Japanese pickles and tofu. They also serve hot and cold soba and udon soups.

      They didn’t replace our bowls throughout our entire meal. We awkwardly shared small dishes meant to be for one or two people because we didn’t have too many choices. It got so busy at the restaurant, we had to remind our waitress about our lotus root and fried fish orders. Getting refills for water and beer was difficult.

      I’d return to Naka Naka if all I wanted was a simple Japanese experience around the neighborhood. In Meatpacking District standards, it’s a very small restaurant but still, an extra $10 per person was added to our bill for reserving the tatami room separated from the main dining bar. It’s a refuge from the zoo that is the party district, but that’s all there is to Naka Naka.

    • Bread Tribeca

      301 Church Street corner of Walker
      212/334.8282
      about $60 for two, without drinks, without tip

      Craving for pasta and too far of a walk from Peppe Rosso now that I work in Chinatown, we went to Bread Tribeca.


      With lamb ragout


      With haricot vert and zucchini in pesto

      It hit the spot but I liked their interior better than their food–mediocre at best.

    • Hudson Cafeteria

      2nd floor of the Hudson Hotel, 356 West 58th Street off Ninth Avenue
      212/554.6500
      about $150 for two, with two drinks, with tip

      We walked in at 4pm, way past brunch time for early risers like me, but we still enjoyed a civilized lunch with the afternoon sun seeping in at the Hudson Cafeteria. We ordered the foie gras in honor of our Chicago friends who won’t be able to enjoy it anymore. It came with country ham and pickled watermelon and black eyed peas. The Peking duck pizza hit the spot and was absolutely delicious. The scallions in the hoisin sauce was a nice kick with the fresh mozarella and tomatoes.


      Mmm, mmm sautéed foie gras


      Peking duck pizza

      We could have stopped there but two glasses each of the Pinot Gris and the Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand made us order the Hudson burger with Niman Ranch bacon served with fries and cheese.

      The space is gorgeous and perhaps the most good looking “cafeteria” you will lay your eyes on. The dark wood, high ceilings and tall windows make the space inviting that you forget you’re inside a hotel in the first place.

    • Bouchon Bakery

      3rd floor of the Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle at 60th Street
      212/823.9366
      $64 for two, without drinks, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      It’s in the mall, but it has Thomas Keller’s name on it, so how can anyone say no to Bouchon Bakery even though it’s just really a bunch of tables and chairs outside the Samsung store on the third floor of the Time Warner building? Bouchon Bakery is for those who can’t score a table at Per Se on the fourth floor or don’t have the $200 to feed themselves. It also serves lunch to the corporate employees around the area during the day from a take-away counter.

      We started by splitting the haricot vert soup. Creamy but oh-so-light, we just couldn’t figure out how it was done. The peekytoe crab meat, poached scallops, shrimp and squid fruits de mer tasted so fresh. The sweet and sour dressing was so refreshing, you can absolutely taste the fresh herbs used. The tuna sandwich is made to look like a tartine, topped with eggs like a niçoise.

      The service is Thomas Keller all the way: a waitress asking us to pardon her reach when she would offer us freshly cracked pepper, a waiter knowing what exactly was in the dessert when asked, another waitress refilling our water glasses without intruding. It’s a great place to have a simple brunch and to experience a tiny part of the Thomas Keller enterprise without paying more than $30 for a dish. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything good at a food court until Bouchon Bakery.

    • wd-50

      50 Clinton Street between Stanton and Rivington Streets
      212/477.2900
      about $300 for two, with a bottle of wine, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      Wylie Dufresne, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

      1. Pickled beef tongue with fried mayonnaise and onion streusel. I loved the beef tongue carpaccio style; you can barely remember it was pickled. And fried and cubed mayonnaise? It was worth ordering just to find out how the hell they would do it.

      2. Octopus with celery pesto, pineapple and tiny bits of mojama, or dry tuna, and marcona almonds. Celery pesto is something I’ve never had before.

      3. Corned duck, rye crisp, purple mustard and horseradish. Our waiter told us this is the mainstay on the wd-50 menu and that it was an absolute must-try. He was right. The mini parsleys were a nice touch.

      4. Root vegetable “lasagna” with sweet and sour mushroom broth. I tasted carrots, parsnip and burdock in there. Perhaps beets were not in season. Lasagna is in quotes because the familiar layering technique was used. The mushrooms were a delight to eat, but I wish this came in a smaller portion.

      5. Rack of lamb, sauerkraut spaetzle, swiss cheese consommé. We finished a bottle of wine from Piedmont and all I remember about the lamb was that it melted in my mouth. We ordered medium, but it was definitely rare. Divine.

      6. Kumquat confit, carob ice cream, or St. John’s Bread, a pea pod that looks like cocoa but without the caffeine, with soy caramel. The kumquat was chewy, but I wondered if it would be any softer if cooked longer.

      7. Caramelized banana, smoked chocolate ice cream and stout. I have no clue how one would smoke ice cream, but we paused after every spoonful and asked, Is that bacon I taste?

      8. Thin crisps in a wooden box. I had to ask our waiter to take them away because I couldn’t stop picking from it.

      A very expensive meal for two, but worth every penny.

    • Nomad

      78 Second Avenue at 4th Street
      212/253.5410
      about $200 for five, with two bottles of wine, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      Three of us drank two bottles of Algerian red wine while waiting for the rest of our group. When the five of us were complete, we shared two lamb shanks that were so tender, the meat just came off the bones when our forks touched it. Two order of crab cakes were the least African on the menu, yet they were still tasty. I liked their tagine so much I could have eaten one more serving. The seafood pancake was so-so and the chicken kebab tasted like, well, chicken.

      We were seated at the front and the breeze would come in every time someone opened the door. We asked to be moved when the back room freed up, but the manager never returned to accommodate us even though they told us they just needed to clean up in the back. Minus that one slip, the waiters were almost unnoticable which could be a good thing when you’re just enjoying the food and the company you’re with.

    • Grilled Ramp Soup

      Adapted from Emeril

      2 bunches of ramps, trimmed and thoroughly washed
      1 quart beef broth
      1/4 cup vegetable oil
      1/4 cup all-purpose flour
      1 cup heavy cream
      a handful of parsley, finely chopped
      salt and pepper

      1. Make quasi-blond roux. Combine the vegetable oil and the flour in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, about 6 minutes. Whisk in the broth and the cream. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low.
      2. Lightly grill 6 of the ramps. Cut the remaining ramps into 1-inch pieces. Add the chopped ramps to the soup, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for about 40 minutes. Remove from the heat and using a blender, purée the soup until smooth.
      3. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls, garnish with the grilled ramps and the parsley.

    • Basic Tomato Sauce

      I love making my own tomato sauce in the summer because the plump and juicy tomatoes are available in the market. Once transfered to a covered container, your tomato sauce keeps a week in the fridge. You can also store them in the freezer to make them last for several months. Just make sure that the sauce is completely cool before you cover and transfer them to store.

      A lot of pasta dishes with tomato sauce are so easy to make. When I know I want pasta for dinner, I just take out my frozen sauce from the freezer and let it sit in the fridge. I just completely heat it up with my favorite ingredients.

      Ingredients:
      5 vine-riped tomatoes, quartered
      1 small carrot, peeled, shredded
      3 sprigs of fresh thyme
      4 cloves of garlic, minced
      1 red onion, sliced thinly
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      1. In a large saucepan, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Sauté garlic until light brown and cook onions until transparent. Add the thyme and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes.
      2. With your hands, add the tomatoes while crushing them with your hands. Get all of the tomatoes and their juice to the pot. Simmer, stirring often and cook until the sauce is thick. Season with salt and pepper.
      3. Set aside to let cool. When cool enough, transfer to a sealable container.

      Related post/s:
      If tomatoes are not in season, try the hydroponic ones from Shushan Valley Hydro-Farms
      Your own tomato sauce will be awesome with some octopus

    • Filipino Lengua, Tongue Stew

      I returned to Chinatown and easily picked up tongue or lengua [leng-gwah]. I picked the veal’s tongue because, well, the pig’s tongue looked like a part of the male anatomy. There is another Spanish-influenced dish, lengua estofada, but I wanted a dish that was more appropriate for spring, so I decided to make something lighter. My mother watched me cook and gave me simple instructions from what she could remember from her aunt, my Apong.

      When I unwrapped the tongue, this massive muscle was in front of me and I thought, How the hell do I peel the skin off? After boiling it for about an hour, the skin actually turned white. It looked like a small foot than a tongue! Peeling the skin off was as easy as taking off a sock. Weird, I know, but you’ll see what I mean when you try it.

      Ingredients:
      1 veal’s tongue, washed thoroughly with salt under cold running water
      3 fresh green chili peppers
      1 red onion, roughly chopped
      3 cloves garlic, minced
      2 large tomatoes, halved and sliced
      2 tbsps soy sauce
      a handful of parsley, finely chopped
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Simmer tongue in a large pot of water, about 1 hour. Remove from pot and let cool enough to handle. Peel skin from tongue and trim gristle. Cut into 1/4-inch slices.
      2. In a large wok, sauté garlic and onions. Add chilis. Add tongue pieces and brown both sides. Stir in soy sauce and tomatoes and cook until soft. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until tongue is tender. Season with salt to taste and sprinkle with parsley to serve.

      Related post/s:
      Offal in Filipino cooking
      Where to buy veal’s tongue

    • Filipino Bopis, Pig’s Heart Sauté

      For a less challenging dish, I skipped over the cow’s penis at Dynasty Supermarket and opted for the pig’s heart instead. I could have used pig’s lungs, too, but they weren’t available during my visit. Moving away from Spain, I chose bopis [boh-peace] to show the Chinese influence in Filipino cooking. The ethnic Chinese settled in the Philippines even before Magellan set foot in 1521. If the Spanish military did not beat the Chinese (and the Japanese, the Dutch and the British, too), the country would have more similarities to China than Spain. Of course, no colonizer had to tell us that bopis is enjoyed with a cold bottle of beer.

      Ingredients:
      1 pig’s heart, thoroughly washed, boiled, minced
      3 cloves of garlic, minced
      1 onion, finely chopped
      4 sprigs of thyme
      a handful of parsley, finely chopped
      3 green chilis, sliced
      1/4 cup of beef broth
      1 carrot, finely chopped
      1 small radish, finely chopped
      1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
      1/2 cup vinegar
      salt, pepper, oil

      1. In a wok, sauté garlic and onion in hot oil. Add heart and season with salt and pepper and chilis. Cook for 5 minutes until golden brown.
      2. Add vegetables and vinegar. Boil without stirring. Add beef broth and simmer until liquid evaporates. It’s perfect when you’re scraping brown bits from the bottom of your wok.

      Related post/s:
      Offal in Filipino cooking
      Where to buy a pig’s heart

    • Stuffed Chicken Breasts

      Adapted from Everyday Food

      Ingredients:
      3 chicken breasts
      3 thin slices of mozzarella cheese
      a handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped
      sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
      2 garlic cloves, minced
      1 tsp grated orange zest
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Preheat oven to 450º. With a paring knife, cut a slit along the thick side of each breast to form a pocket.
      2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl except for the cheese and the oil. Spoon mixture into breast pockets. Insert cheese last. Close pockets using 2 to 3 toothpicks per breast.
      3. Rub breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast until well browned, 35 minutes. Let the chickens rest before removing toothpicks and serving.