Ennju

It's hard to come across a good Japanese restaurant in the city that doesn't hurt your wallet significantly and that also delivers. Though I feel very unpatriotic writing this especially after last night's unfortunate game (be gone Ichiro and pil sung korea!), I must give the deserved credit to one of my top favorite lunch delivery places in Union Square: Ennju.

Located on 17th between Broadway and 5th, it is an unimpressive hole of a place serving Japanese food in cafeteria-style. I can't say many great things about their sushi except that it's cheap ... I mean, you get your money's worth for sure: average quality fish, greatly priced, fairly generous in portion. I always order their steamed vegetable udon for delivery especially in those rainy or brick cold days when you want nothing but a warm broth and chicken noodle soup just will never cut it. I am particular about udon because a great bowl of udon has to have an amazing chewy texture of the udon, powderless taste of the broth, and no fried flakes or tempura in the broth because it takes away from the clean taste and just makes it greasy, as if you're drinking oil. Ennju meets all of these qualities, surprisingly. The steamed veggie udon consists of steamed broccoli, carrots, string beans, and portobello mushrooms and when delivered, the broth is (obviously) packaged separately from the noodle and veggies to avoid any soggy-ness. It comes piping hot and perfect. Oh and it costs about $8 so after tip and tax, you've only just spent $10 for a hearty and warm meal rather than getting a sandwich/soup combo which is usually more than $10 if you want to be full but you find yourself opting for the lesser value option only to leave you a) wanting more of the stupid sandwich/salad; or b) wishing you had more soup. Yep. Been there and definitely done that many times.

I've only found out last week that Ennju also has sensei udon, which is my absolutely favorite kind because of those deliciously textured Japanese vegetables and I'm excited to try it! But I'm trying to save money so I've been resorting to cup noodles for lunch, which by the way is so fabulously delicious AT work because you feel super daring, especially eating something you're "not supposed to eat" because it's neither salad nor sandwich. Perhaps this is all in my head because few of my coworkers commented on my cup udon yesterday saying it smells delicious, which always makes your meal taste even better. Today is cup pho. You gotta love Koreans and their creative everything. Go pil sung Korea!

Ennju is located at 20 East 17th Street NYC - 646-336-7004

Jalapeno Fries and Benedict Restaurant

Dallas, I gotta say, has endless options of food. Driving down Bell Line Road, we were overwhelmed with the amount of different restaurants there were, and hardly any were franchises which peaked our interest even more. It saddens me that I wasn't able to try out more restaurants but the ones I did were simply amazing.

Thanks to Hannah and Andrew, a bunch of us had the opportunity to venture out to Dallas to celebrate their wedding. There was a gap between the ceremony and the reception so we decided to go to an outdoor bar (Ozone bar?)  to take advantage of the 78 degree weather. Not to mention the $6 pitcher specials they were having, we ended up ordering chip and dip as well as a magnificent find: jalapeno fries. I expected them to be fries with jalapeno seasoning but lo and behold, they were literally deep-fried jalapenos served with ranch dressing for dipping. I died. It was definitely spicy but I can withstand a tremendous amount of spicyness so it was delectable upon every bite. I can't even imagine just how unhealthy it must have been but hey, it's Dallas and calorie-filled meals seemed surely permissible down there.

Upon looking for a bar to meet everyone on our first night, we happened to drive past this restaurant called Benedict Restaurant. Seul and I absolutely adore egg benedicts. We decided to go here Sunday morning before heading out to the airport. The ambiance of the restaurant was exactly what we were looking for: homey, southern, and comfortable. I ordered now what I rate as the best eggs benedict dish I've ever had: Egg's Oscar - poached eggs with lumps of crabmeat and hollandaise sauce to top with asparagus spears on the side. I can't even put into words the juicyness of the crabmeat, not to mention the very generous portion of the crabmeat itself. The ratio of crabmeat to bite was equivalent each time, which is hardly the case when your dish is served with a "specialty" item and they end up skimping out so you have to almost save those pieces for the end (you know exactly what I'm talking about... this is almost true for every single shrimp dish that exists). Did I mention, that the dish was only $12? I smile at the thought of Egg's Oscar.

It's always very painful to come across these amazing places because the chances of you going back is slim to none because of the location i.e. Tacos Tumbras in Acapulco. Now I'm back to reality. It's almost breakfast time and I have to unfortunately resort to a near deli eggs sandwich and cry about it while thinking of Egg's Oscar.

Jasmine

Joe The Art of Coffee: how to discern a well made espresso

I'm finally fulfilling my promise to Jas that I would contribute something on this blog. Here you go...

I grew up in Seattle, which kind of explains why I sometimes wear skateboard shoes and unique colors -- Seattle has a counter-culture influenced style. And also why I'm a bit of a food/coffee/beer nerd -- micro brews and coffee bars are ubiquitous, as are nerds. So my friend Sarah suggested that I try a NYC coffee bar chain, Joe The Art of Coffee, which was influenced by Seattle's Espresso Vivace. Like Vivace, Joe treats coffee like it's going to be judged on Iron Chef. They emphasize the quality of their beans and equipment, the baristas pay close attention to details and precise technique, and most noticeably, each cup is a work of art. Soon after Joe opened their first location in the West Village around 2003 (I think?), there was a mini boom of haute coffee shops (and some supposedly better than Joe), such as Abraco, Ninth Street Espresso, and Gimme! Coffee. Most of these shops are concentrated in yuppie/bohemian areas like the West Village and Brooklyn so I haven't tried them out yet, but thankfully, Joe has a small location near my building at Grand Central.

a latte from Joe

(all pics from my camera phone, sorry for the low res)

Aesthetics aside, Joe's makes a really, really good espresso. My personal favorite coffee drink is an Americano (espresso and hot water), which I think is a good way to get all the flavor notes of an espresso. Lattes and capps, not as much because the milk fat neutralizes the bitterness and acidity. And a straight shot is too quick and too intense on the palate to tell what I'm tasting.

So how do you know if an espresso was well made? You can tell by just looking at it. A shot that's been made with proper pressure, water temperature, amount of carbon dioxide will produce a bubbly, chocolaty caramel looking brown foam on top that's called, crema. And the crema is the best part of the espresso -- it has an intense sweet roasted scent when you put your nose to it and a caramelized coffee flavor with a sharp bitterness and smooth finish due to the concentration of extracted oils on top. The crema will only last for the first few sips so you have to drink it with the lid removed, otherwise you'll lose most of the foam to the lid.




L: an americano from Joe - note the crema

R: an americano from Starbucks - lame

Good technique doesn't equal good coffee though -- you need good beans. Joe's espresso (which sources its beans from a small roaster in Massachusetts) has an excellent flavored crema, but the rest of the drink is just missing a little something. It has a nice medium sweet roasted initial flavor and a light acidity to keep the palate lively, but the body is a little flat so I wish it had a bit more complexity. Still, it's hands down the best americano I've had in New York and 10x better than Starbucks, which tastes over-roasted and over-extracted, and when combined with automated machines, produces a sorry excuse for a crema.

Joe The Art of Coffee - multiple locations in the city http://www.joetheartofcoffee.com/locations.htm

If you've read this, you're allowed to slap me for being pretentious. But if you learned something, a high five instead would be nice.

Fig and Olives - Meatpacking District

Nothing seems quite more welcoming than walking into a warmly lit atmosphere, greeted by floor to ceiling arrangement of assorted bottles of olive oil and imported olives from various parts of the Mediterranean. This was the exact way I entered Fig and Olives, Meatpacking District. As I was waiting for David, I couldn't help but to be astonished by the dimly lit and beautifully designed decor of the restaurant. The arrangement of wine bottles by the bar, situated at the center of the restaurant, mimicked the welcoming olive oil bottles, with abundant bottles of wine seemingly overflowing as a backdrop of the bartender. It is definitely your effortlessly chic kind of an ambiance, carefully denoting the ambiance of the surrounding location and boutiques.

Only if the food was as fabulous as the ambiance.

What was fabulous, however, was their creative efforts in incorporating the different olive oils into each dish. You're served immediately upon seating a basket of bread with three different types of olive oil for dipping. It was fun and intriguing, definitely set off our dining experience just as I had wanted. We ordered mushroom soup, paired with parmesan crostini, a dish of mixed olives, and fig & olive salad for appetizer. The mushroom soup was absolutely to die for: almost a grated texture-filled tasting of mushrooms topped with white truffle oil, complemented by the parmesan crostini which was topped with mushrooms. It was a perfect taste of a mushroom soup and I fell absolutely in love. The fig & olive salad was great with the combinations of goat cheese, gorgonzola, and parmesan cheese with obviously figs and olives on top of mixed greens. A different kind of oil was used for the salad, again playing on their creative usage of the oil.

See, it was the main dish that was disappointing, and it can be because of the dish I chose. I ordered trio del mar, a tasting dish of scallop, salmon, and branzino. It was the couscous that set it off on the wrong foot because I was surprised by the unexpected sweetness of the couscous and the salmon. It was almost a teriyaki tasting sauce of some sort, which could've been good, had I been prepared for it. With the smooth and a directional course my palate was taking from the appetizer, I was expecting something salty; not sweet. It just went downhill from here on and left me bittersweet (no pun intended). David, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed his grilled lamb skewers. Though not a huge fan of lamb, the quality of the meat was excellent, I must say. I can't comment much on the taste given the above circumstances. 

I concluded that Fig & Olive would be an excellent lunch bistro and one would leave absolutely ecstatic with their dining experience. See, I also think it's the decor that created more room for disappointment because you'd think the food would always be up to par with the ambience a place brings but that is unfortunately and hardly the case. Maybe that's why hole-in-the-wall places are just so good because you really have zero expectations and nothing seems promising that when they bring about a dish a bit greater than mediocre, it is deemed even greater because it's unexpected. Food for thought! (Again, no pun intended. I'm on a roll today!)

*i took the pics this time again!

Pancake House

I can't believe that I've been resorting to Fort Lee News Bar all this time for brunch to avoid a) going to the bagel shop on Bergen Blvd; b) diner; c) McDonald's, Burger King, and the whole fast food breakfast ordeal including Dunkin Donuts. It is not to say that the above listed places are not up to par. They're delicious in their own ways, when you're up for it. But a legit breakfast joint with array varieties of pancakes, eggs, sausages, etc. didn't exist for me nearby where I live.... until I discovered Pancake House.

My first time at Pancake House was unfortunately this past Valentine's Day with David, which we both proclaim for it to be the best Valentine's Day ever (99% due to the food!). I personally hate pancakes, which couldve been the reason why I never ventured out to Pancake House, especially when it is only a 5 minute drive from my house. When David and I went, we both ordered egg dishes: Eggs Michael and Eggs Benedict. Eggs Benedict is your everyday eggs benedict but Eggs Michael was a creative spin to the poached egg family but with mushroom sauce and sausage instead of ham and holladaise sauce. We devoured it in a heartbeat accompanied by the freshest squeezed orange juice I've honestly ever had along with the home fries that were seasoned and crisped with perfection, and not so greasy either!!! 

So after my fabulous dining experience, I brought my anti-Jersey Queens cousins and their immediate reaction upon their first bite was, "I'd come back to Jersey again just to go to Pancake House!" Thanks to my pancake loving cousin Jenn, I was able to try Banana Pancakes along with Jasmin's (my name twin cousin though we call her E since she lacks an e at the end of her name) Pigs in a Blanket of sort: sausage wrapped in pancakes! I must say that their pancake batter is quite fabulous, making a pancake hater enjoy the pancakes! 

Sausage wrapped in pancake!

Banana pancakes!

*I finally decided to take pics after stealing images off the web!

My only complaint is that they don't serve brunch beverages i.e. Bloody Mary, Mimosa, etc but I guess it helps the bill cost down because you'd hardly pay over $20 per person. And I wished that they had french fries to substitute for the home fries but I feel like if they did have french fries, it would be super greasy for some odd reason.

Maybe because it's the recession or the array of unimpressive bistros and restaurants I find myself going to but I truly adore and enjoy small joints such as this that prefaces good and quality food over the decor and scene. 

Soccarat Paella Bar & Momofuku Milk Bar

Our long awaited Foodies come again, joined by our honorary guest Helen!

We ventured out for paella in the sleet and snow of last night’s unpleasant weather only to have it be turned completely around by our great company and of course delightful meal. See, that’s the greatest thing about Foodies. Most people who join us for Foodies night are overwhelmed and amazed at how animated and excited we are to talk about food and just food. But the greater underlying beauty of Foodies is that through these conversations, we take part in each other’s love through our common love of food and that in itself is bliss! Now, back to food.

Soccarat Paella Bar

• 259 W 19th St, New York 10011
• (Btwn 7th & 8th Ave)

Soccarat Paella Bar is a tiny restaurant with a long table for people to share. Fortunately, we were able to get a small round table of our own which served us right in terms of intimacy and privacy we were able to have. One thing you need to know about us Foodies is that we eat. A lot. And order. A lot. We’ve had five of their tapas: Pan Tomaca (toasted bread, fresh tomato, olive oil), ham to go alongside Pan Tomaca, one of their special octopus and scallops dish, Alcachofas Fritas (fried artichokes), and potato dish with garlic aioli. My favorite was the potato dish because of the garlic aioli – we all love aioli. So much that we asked for a side of it, only to be disappointed by the mayo-filled-ness of it (Reggie, your aioli still rates #1 in my book!). Then came the paellas. Now, we started off with Paella de Carne and Fideua Negra de Coditos, as recommended by New York Times’ restaurant critic, Frank Bruni. I learned that fideua is paella of sort, except with noodles instead of rice. I also learned that black squid ink is quite nice especially the way it comfortingly settles upon each bite. We loved Paella de Carne far more than Fideua so we ordered another paella, Paella Valenciana. This turned out to be my favorite of the three because of the richness in flavor and seasoning. I absolutely loved that each paella was filled with soccarat (burned rice = noo roong jee) which enhanced the texture as well as the flavor of the ordinary paella you’d taste from average Joe Spanish restaurant. After filling ourselves to death with all of this food along with 3 bottles of wine, we made our way to Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert.

I was recommended to go to Momofuku Milk Bar  by Ahyun and Mike and being that I am a fan of Momofuku and NOT dessert (I don’t like dessert), of course, I needed to give it a try. Besides, the rest of Foodies love dessert so we definitely had to go. The atmosphere isn’t impressive; more of a factory-like setting but that’s what makes Momofuku Milk Bar all the more interesting. We had Orange Julius (soft serve sorbet), Banana Cake, Candy Bar Pie, and of course the pork buns. I love their pork buns. The breading, the meat, and the cucumber all combined into one is just absolutely fantastic. Though, I must say, pork buns did taste better at Momofuku Noodle Bar than at the Milk Bar. Banana cake’s inside filling, in which we were completely convinced that it was made of wafers, actually turned out to be hazelnut brittle. It’s the hazelnut brittle filling that made the banana cake so delightful because of the crunchy texture, the burned sugar taste, with the denseness of the banana cake itself. The Candy Bar Pie was super sweet, I thought, and almost tasted identical to a giant Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie (the one with the hard cookie on the bottom of the candy), which wasn’t too impressive. But the Orange Julius finished and washed off all the sweetness from the dessert quite well because it was so refreshing and cold.

Momofuku Milk Bar

207 Second Ave., East Village

This is why Foodies are so important to me. Along with all the amazingness of our group, they inspire me to write as extensively as I just did.

Spanish-ed out,

Jasmine 

Finally an Alternative Chipotle! Big Enchilada

Thank God for Alex pushing me to drink 1.5 liter of water per day and thank God for having to go to the bathroom 7 times a day as a result and thank God for running into Michael en route to the bathroom for the 7^th time today. Because otherwise, I would not have had this amazing lunch. Ever.

I love Mexican food. No. I absolutely and wholeheartedly adore Mexican food. It’s a perfect combination of spicy and not nauseating food that is cream-less, vegetable-full, and my favorite, jalapeño-filled. On my way to the bathroom, I nonchalantly ask Michael where he is going and he says that he’s going to try out the burrito place Melissa always goes. He excitedly asks me to join him and at that moment, well, at any moment, buying lunch always sounds more appetizing than my frozen Lean Cuisine (recession + eating healthy = Lean Cuisine). I drag Alex to join on the bandwagon and we put our coats on to brave the frigid cold to truck ourselves to Big Enchilada (28 East 12^th Street, corner of University Place).

It looks authentic and it is small: a perfect hole-in-the-wall, thus, my favorite. Upon massive consultations and difficult decisions, I order the Mega Bowl: a combination of Mexican rice, beans (if you choose, which I didn’t because I don’t like beans), guacamole, lettuce, tomato, choice of chicken or steak (I choose steak!), and of course, I added jalapeño peppers. We rushed back as soon as we could (a whole 2 blocks) to eat the food and it’s honestly one of the most authentic* Mexican food I’ve had thus far in the city. What I liked most about it is that after eating the entire dish, I don’t feel greasy or necessarily full. The steak is grilled, not fried, so it leaves the charcoal after-taste upon bite. The vegetables are extremely fresh and the rice is the yellow “Goya” type of rice and not artificially-Mexican-imitated rice. Mega bowl is similar to Chipotle’s Burrito Bowl except, hopefully, crossing all fingers, less calorie intake than the Burrito Bowl. The best part of it all is that the entire Mega Bowl plus soda (or you can opt for their soup) was $9.99 plus tax.

I should have taken a picture of the Mega Bowl but I was way too excited to eat it that I didn’t think to whip out my camera. I guess you must try it for yourself!

I. AM. SO. HAPPY.

Excitedly finishing this entry,

Jasmine

*Please note that my standards for authenticity in Mexican food is very skewed, being that I am not of a Hispanic descent nor do I have extensive knowledge of authentic Mexican cuisine. My ratings are based on my past trips taken to Mexico and thus, it is not meant to offend what may deemed to be “true” authenticity of Mexican cuisine.