Ippudo + Minca updates

Update: 1/26/2010

I was able to get into Ippudo as a walk in single at the bar, with no wait. I promptly sat down and got to business and ordered a Sapporo, Hirata Buns (Pork) , and the Shiromaru Hakata Classic Ramen. Overall the bun's lacked the finesse of Momofuku's buns, and the classic ramen was good, great broth and nice textured noodles however over priced at $14 dollars with only a small portion of their simmered berkshire pork (you can get an additional serving for $4 dollars). Overall good quality but you are mostly paying for the atmosphere.

Update: 3/7/2010

We decided to hit up Minca again (no wait) for some ramen and to order their Toroniku Ramen (slow cooked pork belly with fresh cabbage) along with their basic (pork) broth and thick noodles, as it was sold out the last time we visited. I must say that it was the best bowl of ramen I have had in NY hands down. It is one of their more expensive items on the menu at $14 dollars but the portion was overwhelming, with a large bowl of soup, noodles and approximately 2-3 large pieces of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. A must try if you want to get the best ramen in the city.

Menchanko-tei

www.menchankotei.com

131 East 45th Street

New York, NY 10017-3131

(212) 986-6805

We were in midtown the other night and still having the "ramen" craze I decided to go check out Menchanko-Tei. I heard they made very good hand pulled ramen noodles so I decided to give it a shot. Once we got there there was a 10 min wait, once we were seated we took a look at the menus and they had a big variety different Japanese food to choose from.

We started with their winter special $1.99 hot sake, a spicy salmon roe rice ball, agedashi tofu, and shrimp gyoza. The rice ball and tofu were excellent, however the gyoza lacked flavor and were stuffed only with 2 pieces cut up shrimp.

I chose the "Hakata Ramen", which was their ultra thin ramen noodles in a rich pork broth topped with simmered pork slices, black mushrooms, red ginger, and scallions. The broth was very tasty not overly porky, the noodles to  us tasted more like lo-mein then ramen, not sure if that is good or bad. The topping were just ok, the pork was a bit to lean for me, I prefer a little fat. We also tried a bowl of their "Shoyu Ramen"l, their traditional tokyo style thin ramen noodles in a soy sauce broth with the same topping as above. Again the broth seemed just ok and nothing to special, not overly salty. One thing is, I did not leave a MSG headache after dinner.

All in all Menchanko-tei is a good ramen shop, with a wide variety menu, and good prices.

St. Alps Teahouse

Addicted...

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/saints-alp-teahouse/

Neighborhood: East Village
39 3rd Avenue
(between 10th St & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

(212) 598-1890

www.saints-alp.com.hk/

Minca - 536 E. 5th Street + Ippudo update

Minca is a authentic Japanese Ramen shop in the east village. After being denied at Ippudo several times due to the outrageous long wait (average 2 hours+) we have decided to try out Minca in the east village, and boy are we glad we did as it did not disappoint. We have heard good things about Ippudo from the decor to the food, but we would never wait longer then 30 mins to eat ramen, the crowd and atmosphere also wasn't for us. Minca on the other hand, was more our kind of place, a small discreet shop at the far end of the street, the hostess greeted us with friendly and fast service. The open kitchen allowed us to watch the Japanese cooks put together our dishes.

The menu had a fair selection, that included appetizers, ramen, and special ramen's/donn.We started with some hot green tea, a few sapporo's and shrimp gyoza. The handmade gyoza was brought out hot and fast, it was a generous size portion with whole peeled shrimp inside(nice touch) along with their soy dipping sauce. They were very good~ We also saw orders of kim chee and radish salad being served which both looked very tasty.

For the ramen the menu had several options which allowed you to choose different types of stocks(pork, chicken, miso and spicy), noodles(thin, thick, wavy, whole wheat, and bean) and toppings(pork or chicken charshu). One our first visit I had the pork and chicken broth - Kambi (soy sauce flavor), Angie tried out the pork and chicken broth - Kambi Sio (salt & roast garlic flavor), and my sister had the Miso ramen.  The Kambi's stock was very rich with soy and reminded me of a adobo(filipino style) sauce, the Kambi Sio has a nice earthy salt and very garlic flavor(not overly salted i.e Momofuku), while the miso had a strong bean taste(not my favorite). I had the thin noodles which were cooked a little less then al dente giving it a springy texture, I am pretty sure their noodles are not handmade. Each ramen also consisted of sliced stewed pork, scallions, seasoned bamboo shoots, mushrooms, nori, and a half of an egg stewed in soy sauce.

On my second visit I tried the Charshu ramen, with pork broth and thin noodles. This stock was very very rich, that had a strong pork flavor and had a noticeable amount of pork grease, which gave the stock a thicker/gelatinous consistency. This bowl was generously fitted with about 6 pieces of charshu, which was melt in your mouth good.

Overall Minca was above average, the stock, noodles and topping are all done well. On both occasions there were several Japanese expats dining along side us, along with local neighborhood folk, which confirms its authenticity. I did however leave with a slight MSG headache. All in all Minca's ramen was satisfying and we we should be back again.

Gahm Mi Oak

One restaurant we can always count on in consistency and availability is Gahm Mi Oak, as it is one of many of the 24/7 K-town restaurants down on Korean way row. Gahm Mi Oak does fail in one category service, as if you are not a fellow Korean, be prepared to wait a little longer for your food. But since their menu has a reasonable cost rate, no one can complain.

Gahm Mi Oak has a exotic and limited menu, mostly bar food type items that pair well with their selections of soju and beer, the menu consist of items such as oxtail, pigs feet, stomach, bossams(raw oyster asian burritos), bipimbob(rice stone bowl) and blood sausages, but the only thing we come in for is their ox tail soup "Sul long tang" and for me its the best I've tasted. Every table is first treated to their famous kimchi and kaktugi(radish), which are served and cut up table-side. Most begin with Sul long tang which are brought out on medium size stone bowls, filled with a beautiful white cloud of ox bone soup boiled for 12 hours and topped with layers of rice, rice noodles and beef brisket. Each patron then adds their own scallions, sea salt and pepper to taste. We truly love this soup and the perfect combination of ox bone soup, rice, noodles and brisket, its definitely seoul of a king~

43 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001

nr. Broadway

212-695-4113

BCD Tofu House

BCD Tofu House
17 W 32 St
New York, NY 10079
(212) 967-1900

One of our favorite k-town spots. Organic Tofu "soon dubu chige", tons of banchan (including fried fish), and L.A. Kalbi.

Curry-Ya

Another spot around LES/NYU 10th Street area.
Curry-Ya
214 East 10th Street New York, NY 10003 - (866) 602-8779

Had some recent menu/price and decoration changes. At first try quality seems a little down, or just could of been one of those days.

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.

Battle of the Banh Mi - Bandwagon Trend

ref: nymag article: another banh mi in the oven


ref: nytimes.com: Building on layers of tradition.

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

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....

Conte Catering Website Update

Finally had some time to clean up the Conte Catering Website:
Still to come, updated pictures, menu's, and pricing!

Here are some tidbits and pieces from my old blog from culinary school:

Culinary History:
Chefs are part of world history. From the earliest civilizations through the present, chefs have been held in high esteem.
- Apicius wrote one the first cookbooks in the fourth century B.C.E., "De re Conquinara.
-Timeline of food: Grande Cuisine, Cusine Classique(Haute Cusine), Nouvelle cusine, and today's new fusions.
- Brigade System: Chef De Cuisine, Sous chef, station chefs(saute chef, fish chef, roast chef, grill chef, fry chef, vegetable chef, roundsman, expediter, communard, commis), garde-manager, and pastry chef.

"Bouquet Garni" - Bouquet of Flowers -
Bay leaf, Parsley stems, thyme, tied or wrapped in a leek leaf.
"Fines herbs"
Parsley, Chervil, Chives, Tarragon or Thyme.

"Concasse" - is a peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato. This is done to remove the seeds which adds not extra flavor. The process starts by putting a X cut on top of the tomato, next you immerse your tomato in boiling water for 10-15 seconds, as the skin tears. Remove and place in a ice bath to stop cooking, next peel off skin, cut horizontally, remove the seeds and pit and dice tomato.

"Beurre Manie" - in french means butter kneaded, which is exactly what it is in culinary terms. It is a paste made from equal parts of butter and flour and used to thicken sauces, soups and stews. By kneading the flour and butter together you form a dough. This process allows the flour to be coated in butter. When the Beurre Manie is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps. Be sure that you cook it for 20 mins to prevent it from tasting of raw flour.

UMAMI! The fifth taste! Yes its true! Believe in it! To me Umami is the ultimate taste, it is the feeling you get when you are satisfied after tasting something really really mouth wateringly good and don't have any words to explain it!

5 Mother Sauces :
Bechamel - a white sauce - White Roux + Milk + Seasoning
Veloute - a light stock based sauce - Blonde Roux + Stock
Espagnole - a brown sauce -
Hollindaise and Mayonaise - an emulsified sauce
Tomato - tomato based sauce - Brown Roux + Tomato

Orange Souffles with Grand Marnier -
2 teaspoon unsalted butter, room temp
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temp, separated
1 to 2 additional egg whites, room temp
1 1/2 fresh orange juice (4 tablespoon reduced to 2 tablespoon)
2 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Powdered sugar
Souffle dishes, stainless steel bowl or copper bowl

Pre-Heat oven 450F fill baking pan with 3/4 full of boiling water.
Butter souffle dishes and coat with granulated sugar, shaking out excess. Refrigerate
Ribbon the egg yolks and 2 T sugar with a whisk. When ribboned add orange juice, liqueur, zest, lemon juice, and whisk till blended.
Place egg whites, at room temp in a bowl(copper is best), with salt and beat till stiff peaks. Add 1-2 T sugar and beat until stiff peaks return.
Temper some of the whites into the egg yolk sauce, and then fold in the rest gently. Fill into souffle dishes.
Bake in baking pan with 3/4 full of water for 10 mins or until browned.
Remove and sprinkle with powdered sugar and poke a hole and fill with 1 t more Grand Marneir.
Eat fast! before it breaks!

Tides Seafood - LES

Tides Seafood - 102 Norfolk St. New York, NY 10002 Tel. 212.254.8855

Email info@tidesseafood.com

Maybe I am biased but being a former chef from there I still love going back and seeing what Chef Judy is cooking! Trust me you'll love it too.


Pan Seared Diver Scallops and Crabcakes.


Chef Judy

Gothamist: Hunting down the best lobster roll
http://gothamist.com/2008/08/22/hunting_down_lobster_rolls.php

Look no further I got you covered, please see below.

Waterfalls and Farms in NYC, OH MY!

Overlooking the NYC Waterfalls

The New York City Waterfalls is Presented by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the city of New York. Created by artist Olafur Eliasson and is comprised of four man-made waterfalls in the New York Harbor and are on view from June 26th to October 13th, 2008.

All four waterfalls are easily viewable from several spots around the city that include, Brooklyn Anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, north of the Manhattan Bridge, Governors Island, and across the Brooklyn Promenade.

Brooklyn Promenade

The Waterfalls are built from common building materials that are a common part of the cities landscape of ever evolving buildings. The water used (35,000 gallons of water per min) is filtered through intake filter pools suspended in the river that protect fish and any aquatic life to be pulled into the pumps. All of the electricity used during operation is also said to be "green powered".

Under the Brooklyn Promenade


Public Farm One


Public Farm One

Another so called public art exhibit on display in New York is P.F.1 (Public Farm One) and is at the PS.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island city. It was the winner of the ninth annual MoMa/P.S.1 Young architects program. PF1 is an urban farm concept that is elevated over head and constructed from large cardboard tubes. Its top surface will be a fully functional working farm, blooming a variety of herbs, plants and vegetables. That brings together the community around the shared experience of growing fully sustainable food and sustainable construction. It is built entirely of recyclable materials, 100% solar powered, and used rain collection for irrigation. The intent of the program is to illustrate and educate many of its urban visitors on sustainable urban farming through a unique medium of contemporary architecture.

I will be starting my own small urban herb garden project, on a much smaller scale of course and much less architecturally designed. But will keep you all posted on my updates!!! Very excited to have my own sustainable herb garden year out!

PF1 Urban Sustainable Farm Concept


empty holes for under carriage picking and cropping

Excellent Pork Chop House

Chinatown NYC can be so intimidating, foul stanching, and downright rude. A frequent tourist spot, you will find that it is always crowded, loud, and most of the time disgusting. The people are what you can say hardly friendly, but more often pushy and rude, and the service...I won't even get into that.

But with all that being said there is still tons of great eats to be had. Being pretty much American born as I can be (immigrated here at 2 years old), I can't speak, nor understand Chinese. So I mainly rely on my friends on recommending me restaurants to frequent in chinatown.

As I have learned through the years, Chinatown never will be fine dining, but finding good food at a bargain is always attainable. My fiancée and I like to frequent several restaurants in a triangular radius of each other. Our favorite stop of which would be the Excellent Pork Chop House at 3 Doyers St. The name itself is pretty daring and cheeky.

The aesthetics are nothing to write home about, it is about a 40 seater with small and large tables. They have a weird collection of dolls displayed on their back wall and most passerbys might be pushed away from their presentation of food, which is prominently displayed on their front window. They specialize in Taiwanese street food, fried pork chops, fried chicken leg, spare-ribs, noodle soups, preserved vegetables, rice cakes and crushed ice sweets. Uncharacteristically the service is great, they have a very nice and accommodating staff, who are there 6 days a week 10:30 am - 9 PM, closed on Tuesdays.

The Wonton's in Spicy oil are delicious, they are modestly filled with minced pork, mostly wrapper but the wonton skin is so fresh, along with the minced cilantro and the spicy oil it is downright tasty. The soy sauce eggs are cooked perfectly and topped with a little oyster sauce. The scalded vegetables (available in cabbage and spinach) are stir fried in chicken stock and flavored with minced garlic to add a punch. The chicken/spare-rib soup is fantastic! They use a super slow cooked process which extracts all the great flavor of the falling of the bone chicken or spare-ribs that creates a perfectly translucent and smooth tasting broth. The rice or noodle bowls are served with preserved cabbage and mince pork, which both are ultra tasty. The beef noodle soup has a strong anise flavor, which is usually missing, at other noodle houses around town. Their noodles are also exceptional and taste home made. To end the meal you can go with one of their crushed ice creations, which you choose a slew of toppings (condensed milk is a must) or a nice refreshing bubble tea. There are several items I have left out which we have tried and are all great, you won't be disappointed try it all! I can proudly say we have almost tried every item on the menu and love it