Best Oyster Bar. Ever.

I think I have been fairly vocal about my love and sick obsession for oysters. I originally had planned to attend the Oyster Fest held annually in Oyster Bay, NY for the first time this year in place of NY Wine & Food Festival since I went last year but due to conflict of scheduling and the precedence of flag football, I didn't end up going. However, my wonderful coach and fellow foodie offered to take me and the guest I invited (Yena Joo!) out for oysters and we set the date to check out Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar. Best decision ever.

Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar is the latest venture of the owners of Jewel Bako. It is extremely small, similar to Jewel Bako, and came highly recommended by other oyster lovers. Based on my experience of eating oysters, the taste and the experience of truly enjoying oysters is definitely heightened when dining with a connoisseur, i.e. Reggie Kim. We started off with oysters from both East and West coasts, to discover again that we all unanimously loved West coast oysters far better than the East. It is smaller and more rich in flavor, distinguished by the unique patterned of the oyster shell.

We tried their six oysters in two ways combo, where the chef tops fresh oysters with different garnishes to enhance the flavor of the oysters. The two kinds we tried were oysters with grapefruit and cilantro and oysters with watermelon.

I can't possibly put into words how deliciously amazing the watermelon oysters were.

We ordered another dozen of the watermelon oysters (see above). While we were eating regular oysters, Reggie kept describing the taste of the oyster to be like a melon. When they are paired with watermelon, it brings out the melon-like taste of the oyster with a touch of sweetness, which is what made this just simply amazing. No other garnish needed; we loved you just the way you were.

Aside from the oysters, I think we tried almost all the small plates on the menu and they were great but nothing in comparison to the watermelon oysters. It's a must try!

Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar

101 Second Ave. NYC

Corn - Cafe Habana

Can we talk about how amazing the corn is at Café Habana?

I always ask for suggestions on where I should go to eat and I think 90% of the time, I don’t take upon it. It’s never because I don’t value the suggestor’s opinion but it’s really just because I’m a) not in the mood for the specific cuisine; b) it’s out of the price range I was aiming at; c) it’s not inspiring enough at that moment. I’m sure you can all agree on this.

Café Habana has been one place that my foodie friend, Dekae, has suggested about five times in a row and I’ve just never gone. I also happened to read about it on my other foodie friend, Cat’s food blog so I had to give it a try. It’s one of those places I walk into, sit down, finally take a bite out of the ever-so-famous item on the menu, and think angrily to myself WHY THE HECK DID I NOT COME HERE ALREADY AND HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED OUT ON THIS FOR SO LONG?!?! So yes. That was my reaction to their infamous corn. Unfortunately, that’s about the only thing that’s worth the 30-45 minute wait from the menu. I’ve had similar Cuban-style corn at La Esquina (my first time trying the corn) and at Havana Central. Both places are excellent: La Esquina is more cheese-crusted and Havana Central more smothered with the cheesy sauce in a creamy way. What makes Café Habana’s corn even more excellent is the perfect combination of all the warmth, the light crust, the sauce, and the chili powder. It’s absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend for you to go give it a try. I’ve gone back again recently for the corn and it never fails. However, I did discover their to-go store adjacent to the restaurant where you don’t have to wait for 30+ minutes and just get the corn to go. It’s the best $3 you will ever spend, guaranteed!

Cafe Habana - 17 Prince St. NYC

Pizza

I love pizza. Do you? I don’t know many people who don't. While I especially love your everyday NY-style thinly crusted pizza with mozzarella oozing out with the magical first bite of the triangle, I do appreciate specialty and creative pizzas. I’ve been making it a point to explore my new office area and trying out different places every day. Yesterday, I discovered Waldy's Wood-Fired Pizza & Penne (800 Ave. of the Americas NYC) which happens to be just around the corner from my office. I’ve heard bits and pieces about this place from my coworkers and the moment I walked in, I noticed people eating their share of food that were all thin-crust pizza with various toppings. I asked about their most popular pizza (Margherita) and I was pleasantly surprised by the price ($8 for small) and size (a personal sized pizza portion; very filling; could not finish and I eat a lot).

The crust was definitely the key to their pizza: extremely crisp and thin, as if you’re eating pizza on crispy cracker. I loved that each order was freshly made and the wide array of available ingredients allows infinite amount of combinations. The Margherita was served with fresh basil and they also have on the side several herbs for you to garnish your pizza as well as different oil. I asked what it was for and they said it was for salads but I’d use it for bread to go with the pasta. Waldy’s is cheap, quick, and different. You also feel “healthier” eating the pizza because it’s not so greasy. The only comparison I can make are the pizzas from Whole Foods, which is decent but definitely too greasy for your own good. They also have pasta, which I am very excited about trying soon! From what I hear, they’re oven baked, similar to baked mac & cheese.

I am currently writing this as I’m waiting for my lunch delivery order from THAINY. Apparently, their pad thai is “to die for” by NYC Official City Guide and other excellent reviews from Time Out New York, NYT, Zagat, and alike. Quite frankly, I was sold by their $6.95 super lunch special deals, which comes with appetizer and entrée. To be continued.

Midtown Deli

New York City is well known for different types of food, specifically lunch places, throughout the city. The category of food that one eats for lunch is almost designated by the region that your office is located in, and in midtown, it is defined by delis. My old office was located on Union Square and our choice in lunch places ranged from Café Medina, Pita Joe, Toasties, Pret a Manger, and unfortunately Whole Foods. Going to and finding a midtown-esque deli was completely out of the norm, if not non-existent. My current office is located on 27^th and Broadway and aside from all the array of food places to venture out on 23^rd and on 7^th Avenue, I decided to make the best of a “midtown deli,” Café 28. Before I began my new job, I was excited to spend less than $10 on lunch because of these delis since everywhere on Union Square (with the exception of VERY few places), minimum $10 was somewhat of a norm so you can imagine how much money was thrown to lunch every day. Well, I am definitely a failure because I have not been able to spend less than $10 on lunch at Café 28 … when I walk in, I feel as if every part of the deli is calling my name: the salad bar, the hot food bar, the wrap station, the udon station and I just can’t say no to trying few things here and there … and I end up with a receipt for $13. How do you possibly manage to a. control how much food you put on your stupid weighted tray; b. make a decision when it’s beyond overwhelming to make a choice on what you want; c. not add a drink to your meal when every single flavor and brand of any drink seems to be so readily available?

So much for cheap lunches. Now I get stressed when it’s nearing lunchtime. And it doesn’t help that I’m totally the new kid in school.

Pita Joe - Union Square Crack

I must begin with an apology for not having shared this place with the very few of you who follow this blog. I have used up at least 3 stamp cards at this location (buy 10, get 1 free) which means I’ve gone there for lunch more than 30 times, given the fact that I didn’t necessarily use my card every single time. This magical joint is called Pita Joe and unfortunately, there is only one location in the entire city of New York, which is baffling … let me tell you about this place. 1. it’s cheap; 2. it’s fantastic; 3. it’s healthy; 4. it’s to die for; 5. all of the above.

Pita Joe is an organic and kosher fast food joint with the menu consisting of Middle Eastern and European staples with a unique twist. Their meat options include falafels, grilled chicken, schnitzel (fried chicken cutlet), and kebabs, and they also have an array assortment of vegetables with some that change daily. They also have different lemonade flavors and few dessert options for you to take it on-the-go.

I always order their salads. Their salad allows you to pick one meat and three vegetable toppings. My usual order looks like this: salad with grilled chicken, hummus, grilled eggplant, and beets. You have a choice in dressing: Tahini Vinaigrette or Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette. I always get lemon. I also pick up their hot sauce they have at the side of the restaurant and it’s a different kind of a hot sauce in that it’s fairly spicy and the kind of spice that resonates internally rather than in the mouth. You also have a choice of whole wheat or white pita and I get the whole wheat, which are served warm, most of the time. All of this for about $8-$9 – if you have your student card, it’s 20% off your entire order!

There are and have been so many lunch places I would rave about for maybe about a month or so and I get so sick of it that I never go back but Pita Joe’s, it’s been over six months now and I still go back at least twice a week. Below are pictures I finally took of my lunch as listed above!!!

Pita Joe

2 West 14th St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 627-7877

http://www.pitajoe.com/

Morimoto + Extra Virgin

Over the years and lots of $$$ later, I’ve come to lose faith in fine dining but rather develop a heartwarming passion for hole-in-the-walls with fantastic food. Essentially, this is what Foodies are all about; hole-in-the-wall findings. However, this past weekend for Connie’s birthday, my girlfriends and I went to Morimoto for dinner and Extra Virgin for brunch. It’s been a long time since I raved on about a trendy and top new restaurant but Morimoto especially surprised me and I ended up leaving happy, full, and satisfied.

Morimoto

The décor is fantastic, very chic and modern, including the ceramic chopsticks and mini wooden box used as a hot towel holder. Immediately upon sitting, a hot towel is brought to you by the server and we were served a complimentary tasting of a tomato dish topped with pickled onions. Fantastic and a great start. Instead of ordering entrees, we opted for several appetizers to share amongst us four. As for drinks, we each ordered a cocktail – mine being Orange Blossom. It wasn’t amazing but I also decided to not order wine during dinners especially when specialty cocktails are available, so there’s that. Here are the appetizers we ordered:

Toro Tartar

The presentation alone was enough to make us gasp and stare at the beauty in amazement. Each person is given a mini flat scooper of sort to scrape the toro from the flat pan it is served in. Alongside, it is served with five different garnishes to complement the toro, which included wasabi, chopped scallions, sour cream (we think), melted seaweed paste, and little crunchy things (we have no idea). You can choose to mix it all together along with toro or use each garnish per bite. The first turned out to be better. As for the wasabi, we’ve noticed that it wasn’t as spicy as the normal wasabi that you might be used to but the texture and the taste is smoother, still with a kick. I’m sure there’s an explanation to this, though I did hear that the natural wasabi tends to be less spicy than the more commercial ones.

Spicy King Crabs

They are served pre-cut (obviously. Can you imagine sitting there trying to peel off each leg and then scraping the meat out of it?! HAH) and the crabmeat is coated with a delicious spicy sauce (tobanjan aioli), which seemed to be a fabrication of the spicy mayo served in your sushi restaurants. It was mixed with masago and layered just enough to enjoy the spice, however, not overwhelming to the point where it seemed mayo-filled. It was topped with cilantro, which Connie and I scraped off prior to eating. Connie = allergic; Jasmine = hates. I think this was one of my favorite appetizers out of the ones we’ve tried!

Tuna Pizza

We couldn’t figure out what the crust is made of but it tasted like a mixture of crackers and matzo. It was layered with fresh cut tuna sashimi and topped with white mayo-like mystery sauce (anchovy aioli), cilantro, olives, and jalapeno. Gihee and Angela loved it but I thought it was mediocre. I appreciated the concept more than the taste itself or maybe it was because the cilantro seemed a bit overpowering for me to fully enjoy the taste.

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio & Steamed Scallop

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio is thinly sliced beef with yuzu soy, ginger, and sweet garlic sauce that seemed to just melt in your mouth upon entering. It was delicious, however, in comparison to all the other dishes’ creative presentation, there wasn’t anything amazing about the dish other than the quality of the meat itself, which for some people would be the ultimate reason why they’d enjoy this dish. Steamed Scallop is self-explanatory and the meat itself was super tender and juicy but again, there wasn’t anything special about this dish; so much that we actually forgot about it until I looked up the menu to write this entry and realized we had it too.

Tempura Calamari Salad

Given the high quality and profile of the restaurant, this salad surprised me because there was absolutely nothing special about it. The taste was average, the dressing was your everyday white miso dressing, and the insertion of the tempura calamari into a fresh green salad seemed a bit like an oxymoron, only because the greens and the dressing tasted too fresh and the calamari tasted too not. I hope I’m making sense? We ate it for the sake of eating it and it was good at the time but thinking back on it and reevaluating all the other dishes, this wasn’t nearly up to par.

Morimoto Sashimi

By far my favorite dish at Morimoto. The concept, the presentation, the quality, and even the portion is simply excellent The sashimi is served in blocks as you can see at the image below and each layer of the block is of a different fish: seared toro, salmon, eel, tuna, and hamachi. Five different sauces are served on the site using a pipette tube and you squirt the sauces onto a plate and dip the sashimi into it. I can’t remember what each sauce was sadly but eel sauce was definitely one of them. I can’t possibly describe the freshness of the fish because we felt like we literally went fishing and ate it immediately. Excellent Chef Morimoto, Excellent.

Because Angela & Connie’s cousin knew the manager, we received complimentary entrée and desserts. Entrée was a beef dish that tasted similar to galbi jjim and underneath the meat was candied sweet potatoes. It was such a peculiar and amazing combination! For dessert, we had the Warm Chocolate Cake with whiskey caramel, tobacco crème, and popcorn ice cream and Coconut Panna Cotta, which was a passion fruit kuzukiri (they’re similar to lychee jelly, only long like a worm) served with basil sorbet.

Will I go again? Most definitely

Anytime soon? Most definitely not

Why? I have no money.

Extra Virgin

One of my favorite brunch spots in the city, though I hardly end up going due to inconvenient location especially when it involves weekend parking. Weekend parking in SoHo on Saturday = death. This is where I first fell in love with Bloody Mary’s which ‘till this day serves as a staple for all of my brunches. Their Bloddy Mary is chunkier than others with lots of horseradish bits and spice, but because it is, it’s my absolute favorite. We ordered the Roasted Artichoke Provencal, Baked Eggs, Pistachio Crusted Goat Cheese Salad, Omelette of the Day, and Fries with Gorgonzola Fondue. They were all so excellent with such richness in flavor and generous portions! I can’t go into all the detailed description as I did with Morimoto but it’s definitely a place you must try, especially their French Fries!! Enjoy the pics y’all!

Yet Another Entry on Benedicts ....

You know, I really can't help myself. I love Eggs Benedict.

It was a combination of exhilaration and annoyance when I went to Angelo's (1100 E. Catherine Ann Arbor, MI) this past weekend on my visit back to Ann Arbor, MI. Amongst all other great food I was able to wholeheartedly experience again (i.e. A.C. roll from Sadako, Potato Curry from No Thai, and Pancheros), the highlight food from my visit to Ann Arbor was, hands down, the Crab Cake Benedict. It was interesting to see a form of an eggs benedict dish on a thick homemade toast rather than an English muffin. I thought at first that the thickness of the bread will make the experience unwholly but it surprisingly wasn't an issue. The crabmeat itself? Different. Scrumptiously different. I asked the waitress prior to ordering whether the dish is good or not and all she said was "omg. the best. it's homemade by our chef for years!" The crabmeat almost tasted as if it was marinated for a quite a time being and perhaps this is their secret? It wasn't the fresh, lump, white, and juicy taste of a fresh crabmeat but a rather smoky and deep taste followed by each bite into their Crab Cake Benedict. The balance between the crabmeat and the hollandaise sauce was perfect, in that neither overpowered one another, which actually is difficult than it seems (crabmeat can easily be too fishy; hollandaise can easily be too creamy).

And you think this is over.

The BEST part of this meal was their secret Ann Arbor hot sauce that seemed available at each table: Clancy's Fancy Gourmet Hot Sauce. It has a deep and smoky spicyness unlike Tabasco, in which the spicyness tend to linger only at your taste buds. I think it's the smokiness of the sauce that complemented the Crab Cake Benedict so well because it really brought out the smoky taste of the crabmeat! We tried it with their ham (super thick and perfectly roasted) as well and it tasted just as fabulous.




Exhilaration = yet another great discovery!

Annoyance =

1. I lived in Ann Arbor for four consecutive years and my first time trying after two years being OUT of Ann Arbor.
   
2. I don't know when I will try this again.
3. The stupid sauce website is not working, therefore, preventing me from purchasing it (www.clancysfancy.com)
   

Defining BITTERSWEET,
Jasmine