Thursday, April 16, 2009

NYY

Lets go~

2 new parks for 2 of New York teams. Each are expanding their food service lineups for their ball parks. Standard peanuts and cracker jacks are no longer general fare at these parks, in the Bronx food vendors such as Johnny Rockets, Brother Jimmy's BBQ, Moe's, Tommy Bahama, Famous Famiglia Pizza, Asian Noodle Bowl, Lobels, Mike's Deli, Hard Rock, NYY Steak and Delta's 360 headline at the New Yankee Stadium.

As for Queens, the Union Square Hospitality group will be introducing a food court of Shake Shack, Blue Smoke, Box Frites, Verano Taqueria, and Acela.

Hopefully I will be paying a visit to each of these new ballparks in the near future.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Battle of the Banh Mi - Bandwagon Trend


Seems like the Banh Mi bandwagon trend is now in full effect here in the East coast as many magazines and articles are popping up on the net featuring these mouthwatering subs.

A famous west coast foodie couple/bloggers called "the white on rice couple", created the site "battle of the banh mi" to educate everyone on the great delicacy of the banh mi sandwich. It seems that on the west coast the banh mi has been famous for years (seeing that most trends pass through the west before they are set in here in the east coast) as seen by the abundant Lee's sandwich shop chains have been popping up all over since 2001 with over 31 chains!

The classic banh mi is a Vietnamese-French influenced sandwich, that is on a crispy baguette(classically made with wheat and rice flour) and made up of an addicting combination of salty, crunchy, moist and hot contrasting delacacies such as pickled carrots and diakons, onions, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapenos, meat fillings, headcheese, pate's, mayonaise, butter and sirracha sauce.

I am holding my own personal East Coast battle of the banh mi , as we have been recently scouring NYC for the best tasting banh mi, not necessarily the most authentic, but best overall based on price, quality and taste. Which may ruffle some purist feathers, but sometimes it is what it is~ Trend or not we enjoy ourselves a good banh mi~

We have found several variets which range from: classic, chinese-influenced, and modern/upscale banh mi's. None the less I will rate and value as many banh mi's as I can get my hands on.

So far my list is goes as follows:

Hanco's - 85 Bergan St, Brooklyn -$5.50 - Value: B-, Taste: A, Overall: A
Ba Xuyen - 4222 Eigth Ave, Brooklyn - $3.75 - Value: A+ , Taste: B, Overall: B
Baogette - 61 Lexington Ave - $5.00 - Value: B, Taste: B+, Overall: B+
Banh Mi Saigon Bakery - 138-01 Mott St - TBD
Nicky's - 150 E. 2nd St - $5.00 - Value B, Taste: C, Overall: C
An Choi's - 85 Orchard St - TBD
NhaToi's - 60 Havemeyer St, Williamsburg - TBD
Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich - 369 Broome St - TBD
Paris Sandwich's - 113 Mott St - TBD
Sau Voi Corp - 101-105 Lafayette St - TBD
Num Pang - 21 East 12th Street - TBD
Thanh Da - 6008 Seventh Ave, Brooklyn - TBD

Outside NYC:

Lee's Sandwich's - Various locations California - $$ - Value: B, Taste: B-, Overall: B-
Vietnamese Cafe - Philadelphia - $3.50 - Value: A, Taste: B, Overall: B

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

p.h.o real


With the bad economy, wedding planning, travel goals, and hefty dreams to fulfill, we have been seeking out cheap eats around town.


Today we bring you a 24 hour corner deli:

Sunny and Annie’s

94 Avenue B

New York, NY 10003


Unassuming little places like this is just our style, we found the corner-bodega (aka Korean Deli) via NYMags article, along with its standard deli fair this bodega’s delicatessen masterminds, offer up alphabet cities drunken late night crowds such concoctions as the biden, 09 Obama, Mr.Bloomburger, and when your in the mood for some PHO-to-Go, without the noodles and tender loving broth of course, you can grab yourself their claim to fame “P.H.O. Real” a hefty roll layered with fresh cut roast beef, bean sprouts, avocado slices, tomatoes, onion, Thai basil, cilantro sprigs, hoisin sauce, and sriracha all piled on a 6 inch roll.

surprisingly PHO tasting, yummm....

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

fresh and local



there was a huge new sign at fairway that instructed everyone to buy fresh and local, so i just did that and came home with some wild hake , cremini mushrooms, thyme, meyer lemons, white mushrooms and rock shrimp

we put together an inspired

olive oil slow poached hake fillets
with cremini mushrooms and diced shrimp in a shrimp and ginger infused lemon broth.

Parmesan crusted potatoes Au gratin

Monday, April 6, 2009

Mac n Cheese



comfort food: refers to a variety of familiar, simple foods that are usually home-cooked or eaten at informal restaurants.

for angie her grandmother used to put together a campbell's cream of mushroom mac and cheese, we did a modern play on that after hitting up the market.

after walking by the cheesemonger we picked up a nice cave aged gruyere, a swiss emmenthaler and a local NY cheddar to go along with some fresh shiitake mushrooms, baby portabellas, fresh thyme, green beans, meyer lemons, and fresh strawberries. Later that evening we treated ourselves to a nice dinner that included:

3 cheese elbow macaroni
stacked over thyme and truffle oil infused mushrooms

blanched green beans
with a first press olive oil (from
fairway) and sea salt

sparkling strawberry lemonade
with a pure cane sugar syrup



Saturday, April 4, 2009

Arthurs Tavern



after a relatively short trip(we encountered a15 min delay due to rush hour traffic in the holland tunnel), we wound up on the other side of Manhattan, in NJ's Hoboken and specifically at Arthurs Tavern. I have been coming here since I was a child and remember stuffing my face with their classic ressesion proof($22.95) 24 oz steak served with potatoes and fresh oven toasted and ultra buttery garlic bread.

tonight the line up included:


24 oz Steak served with Arthur's famous potatoes


Classic Cheeseburger($6.95)


A full rack of mouth-watering bbq ribs, served with Arthur's famous potatoes, cole slaw, and extra sauce on the side ($16.95)

a very satisfying dinner indeed, we couldn't help ourselves and ended the night by going to yogurtland and stuffing our faces with delicious fro-yo + lots and lots of toppings~