What I Ate: 1/29/16 - 2/4/16

May 23, 2016 by Jesse Hsu in NYC, Restaurant, Food Diary

Inspired by "Grub Street Diet", I wanted to start chronicling my meals for posterity and sharing my favorite dishes with others. Each diary will cover food eaten in one week, no matter how big or small.

This week: Moving Day, back-to-back Basta Pasta, and meeting someone off of Instagram who turned out to be normal

FRIDAY, 1/29/16

On the way to lunch, I stopped by Arcade Bakery and picked up dessert: lemon sugar brioche and s’mores danish for Sammy to try.

Whole Foods gets a bad rap but I personally like having lunch there. Fried fish poboys next to the chicken tikka masala. A few feet away, you’ll find quinoa, kale, and other healthy things I don’t get. The variety of selection is overwhelming but you’re bound to find something tasty. Sammy got a nice golden rotisserie chicken while I enjoyed moist pork shoulder, risotto, and sauteed mushrooms. I ordered a matcha lemonade but they ran out of mint so they comped it for me while a barista ran to grab more mint for the line of waiting customers. We enjoyed the pastries while listening to screaming, crying babies. Note to self: Don't sit in the kids section next time.

Dinner was a seamless order from Angelo’s Pizza.. I had enjoyed their spaghetti and meatballs last time so I tried the Chicken Marsala. Delicious sauce and ample portions of chicken that retained juice despite being delivered.

SATURDAY, 1/30/16

Showed up at Golden Unicorn for dimsum with Sammy and his friends. After a brief wait, we were led to the 2nd floor and sat at a massive table while carts of happiness whizzed by. The egg tarts here are my favorite - perfectly flaky crust and the egg custard actually tastes like egg instead of the usual sugary, artificial filling. Unfortunately, you can’t just buy these a la carte anytime….they’re only available during dimsum.

SUNDAY, 1/31/16

After bringing some boxes of items to my new apt, I took a break and had a quiet solo dinner at Basta Pasta. I ordered a mushroom risotto to start (kinda watery and underseasoned) and their classic pasta that is submerged into a giant wheel of Parmigiano, tableside.

MONDAY, 2/1/16

Moving Day! To start off the day, I had breakfast at Sarabeth’s near Central Park. I made the mistake of going with the Restaurant Week menu and I don’t even remember what I had. On the walk back to my apt, I took it all in. The horse-drawn carriages plodding along Central Park, Columbus Circle off in the distance, and the Plaza Hotel where I enjoyed many Luke lobster rolls. Gonna miss this neighborhood.

After moving into my new apt in Union Square, my roomie and I celebrated with a dinner at….Basta Pasta. I had a very satisfying plate of homemade silk handkerchief pasta, mixed mushrooms, lemon zest, ricotta cheese. We split an uni pasta (uni is not created equal because their version is watery and not flavorful), and the roomie had a nice seafood vongole.

TUESDAY, 2/2/16

Cold day means Thai Son. David and I ordered the usual stewed beef pho and spring roll appetizer. We discovered an ingredient that improved the flavor profile of the noodle soup: a generous squirt of lime which added the perfect amount of acidity to the tomato based broth.

Later that evening, I met up with Rebecca, a food blogger on instagram. We’ve commented on each other’s posts over a few weeks so I arranged for a face to face meeting at Sakagura. Highlights included the miso short ribs, and silken tofu with bonito. Botan ebi was meh in its raw form but was resurrected in an improved tempura form. We talked about likes and dislikes (bell peppers for her and eggplant for me) as well as our shared penchant for pho. I made plans to take my new foodie friend to my favorite pho spot in NY called Khe-Yo.

WEDNESDAY, 2/3/16

Yesterday was vietnamese lunch and japanese dinner. Today’s lunch of green curry from Lan Larb Soho was fiery Thai. Coworkers smirked and smh-ed as I went through 10 paper towels for the beads of sweat perched on my eyebrows. Next time, I’m bringing a towel from home.

Second lunch was the office birthday lunch that was catered by Uma Temakeria (think sushi burritos and spicy tuna handrolls). It was a hit for the whole office - for those on a health kick and for those with gluten/kosher/food allergy issues. This was one office lunch that didn't elicit mass food coma afterwards.

After two lunches, I decided to have a light dinner on my way home at Republic, an Asian American bistro with a brigade of 10-15 chefs. Chatted with Caroline, one of the managers there and she recommended the vietnamese chicken salad. The chicken thigh chunks were juicy and the ginger marinade was light. My go to salad even though I hate salad.

THURSDAY, 2/4/16

Walked to Gourmet Garage with David and Xavier and split a whole rotisserie chicken with David. Paired it with an awesome sweet corn chowder. Cheap and filling.

Dinner was with some old friends (christine and Ken) and new friends (since undergrad). It was great to meet Nancy and her husband, Ted and we ordered the majority of the menu at The Milling Room on the UWS. The wood adorned decor and candlelit tables really made for an intimate ambiance. I ordered a thick porkchop which was a bit overcooked and slightly dry. The table unanimously agreed that the duck and the squid ink spaghetti were standouts.

WEEKLY SUMMARY

Dined out: 14 times

Restaurants Visited: Arcade Bakery, Whole Foods, Angelo’s Pizzeria, Golden Unicorn, Basta Pasta (2x), Sarabeth’s Central Park, Thai Son, Sakagura, Lan Larb Soho, Uma Temakeria, Republic, Gourmet Garage, The Milling Room

Highlights: Golden Unicorn; egg custard | Sakagura; miso short ribs | The Milling Room; duck and the squid ink pasta

Next week's EATS

Last Week's EATS

What I Ate: 1/22/16 - 1/28/16

May 10, 2016 by Jesse Hsu in NYC, Restaurant, Food Diary

Inspired by "Grub Street Diet", I wanted to start chronicling my meals for posterity and sharing my favorite dishes with others. Each diary will cover food eaten in one week, no matter how big or small.

This week: What to eat in a blizzard and $2 dumplings to $200 Michelin-starred kaiseki

FRIDAY, 1/22/16

Nursed my hangover with stewed beef noodle soup and some crunchy spring rolls at Thai Son. When you order this dish, make sure you repeat “no tendon” because today’s bowl contained lots of tendon. Fail.

Dinner was a fail too. Getting two al pastor tacos with hard shells via seamless delivery from Tehuitzingo was a rookie mistake. The flavor was there but the shells disintegrated in its own pork juices. Ordered another dish knowing there would be a blizzard tomorrow. The pork ribs in red sauce were succulent and perfect with the slight heat from the sauce.

SATURDAY, 1/23/16

Enjoyed my pork ribs leftovers for brunch and trekked to Central Park West to hang out at Christine’s apt to spend Blizzard Day watching Duke basketball and enjoying homemade pumpkin ginger waffles. On my way home, I picked up a cheeseburger and fries from The Burger Joint cause I had the munchies.

SUNDAY, 1/24/16

Was in an Italian mood so walked past Carnegie Hall to Trattoria Dell 'Arte, a spot popular for pre-theater dining. Enjoyed the presentation and flavor of the 101 layer lasagna and the lobster carbonara. Ate half of each dish and boxed the leftovers for dinner that night.

MONDAY, 1/25/16

Cafe Clementine has this amazing special that comes around infrequently, so when I see that it’s available, I drop all lunch plans and run to get the thinly sliced steak sandwich with jalapeño and pickled onions. Melted cheddar and havarti. Spicy and sour flavor profiles. Crunchy bread and gooey cheese textures? Game over.

Ventured to Eataly after work with coworker/friend/partner-in-crime - Julia. Noshed on a charcuterie and cheese plate and inhaled a filet o fish sandwich (the fried skate was too salty) and grabbed drinks at the upstairs bar which had transformed temporarily into a ski chalet.

After Eataly, I made my way to midtown for dinner at Hide Chan with coworker/gastronaut/food crusher - David. This kid’s eating prowess never ceases to amaze. He ordered a mega ramen with all the fixins plus extra pork. Reminds me of my voracious appetite when I was 15. While I struggled to finish my bowl, he polished his before me. Well done, sir.

TUESDAY, 1/26/16

Went healthy today and ordered a earth bowl and small butternut squash soup at Sweetgreen, an entity that prints money. Lines are always 50 deep, no matter the day. No wonder they are expanding all across the city. Met up with Jess, a potential roomie at the time (now we’re current roommates) to talk about the apt. Wait, hold up. Walking distance to Basta Pasta, City Bakery, and Ootoya? That’s all you had to say. Sold.

We then walked to Grandaisy Bakery to pick up a nutella cookie and a raspberry cornbread muffin for dessert.

Got hungry again from all the healthy food so I grabbed 10 pan fried pork and chive dumplings for $2.50 from Tasty Dumpling with coworker/graphic designer Jordana (she designed my scrumphsus logo!) and then picked up a chocolate cupcake from Sharkey’s Cafe.

Dinner was mapo tofu and hot and sour soup from Joe’s Shanghai for this frigid night.

WEDNESDAY, 1/27/16

Cafe Clementine’s other special is a fragrant rosemary pork shoulder sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone with jalapenos. Juicy and bursting with flavors. Love the rosemary and jalapeno interplay. Also added bbq chips, butternut soup, and cowboy cookie.

Dinner was with Slo Mo Steve and my cousin Dan who was visiting from LA. Last visit, we went out to Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare and tonight was no different. We stepped into Rosanjin, a 1 Michelin Japanese eatery, known for its creative kaiseki format. Our first course was a soup but it came in a bubbling glass jar. Another highlight was their uni dish which included chewy wheat cake rolled up into a fried yuba wrapper. My favorite course had two amazing components: thinly sliced raw wagyu but more impressively, the white miso broth that we dipped the raw meat into. Complex, nutty, and so full of flavor. The meal ended with kamameshi, a huge bowl of rice and mounds of uni and mushrooms. The server saw our eyes light up so she gave our table some well-received seconds. The only downside happened after our meal when the server revealed that due to rent hikes, they were closing. When I asked when, they said…tonight after service. What a shame.

THURSDAY, 1/28/16

Really liked the seasonal special pizza at Arcade Bakery. It was a cauliflower pizza with walnuts and lemon parsley - best vegetarian pizza ever. A lemon sugar brioche was the perfect sweet ending.

Ken and Christine came by for my homecooked dinner: baked salmon with couscous and cherry tomatoes with squash. It’s a simple and foolproof recipe I learned from a managing director at my company. You basically put salmon on top of blistered cherry tomatoes and let it poach in that tomato juice liquid for 20 min. Comes out moist and tender every time as if it was sous vide.

BAKED SALMON AND TOMATOES

Use of a dutch oven pot is highly recommended. If you don’t have one, make sure you have a pot with lid. Cooking time is 20 min first round and 20-25 min second round. Prepping is done in between.

Serving size: For two

Ingredients:
-1 lb of salmon cut into 2 pieces

- few cloves of garlic

-1 shallot bulb or small onion

-1 container of cherry tomatoes

- Optional veg: asparagus, mushrooms, squash

-1 lemon

-fresh thyme

-S&P (Baleine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper)

Round 1

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Wash and rinse your dutch oven pot, tomatoes nd then slice cherry tomatoes in half. Put sliced tomatoes into a bowl.
3. Add few swirls of live oil to inside of dutch oven pot. Drop in sliced tomatoes and a light dusting of &P.
4. Once oven has reached 350F, cover pot of sliced tomatoes with lid and place carefully into oven. 20 min on the timer.
5. Mince your garlic and chop your onion or shallot. Wash and chop optional veggies for sides. Examples: asparagus, mushrooms, squash, whatever you want.
6. Wash salmon, pat dry. &P both sides. keep skin on because that keeps the meat moist like a Canada Goose parka. You can remove skin later after it cooks (I recommend eating with skin for max flavor).

Round 2

1. After round 1 timer goes off, take out dutch oven with oven mitt and put on your stove. lift up lid slowly away from you to avoid steaming your eyebrows off. Tomatoes should be nice and blistered, just ready to burs. Fragrant juice should be pooling at the bottom of the pan. hot dam.
2. Add half a spoon of garlic and shallot and gently mix with tomatoes. Gently place fish fillets on top of the tomatoes. drop a few sprigs of thyme in there.
3. Cover the lid, put back into oven. timer 20 min for med rare, 25 min for medium.
4. After timer goes off, take out pot and put on stove. Portion everything according to how many guests you’re cooking for. Garnish with some fresh thyme, few drops of lemon over the salmon, and black pepper dusting to taste. I also like to add some red chili flakes for a kick.

WEEKLY SUMMARY

Dined out: 15 times

Cooked at home: 1 time

Restaurants Visited: Thai Son, Tehuitzingo, Burger Joint, Trattoria Dell 'Arte, Eataly, Hide Chan, Cafe Clementine (2x), SweetGreen, Grandaisy Bakery, Tasty Dumpling, Sharkey's Cafe, Joe's Shanghai, Rosanjin, Arcade Bakery

Highlights: Rosanjin; white miso broth and wagyu (RIP)| Cafe Clementine; rosemary pork shoulder sandwich w/ broccoli rabe, provolone, jalapenos

Last Week's Eats

Next Week's Eats

What I Ate: 1/8/16 - 1/14/16

April 26, 2016 by Jesse Hsu in NYC, Restaurant, Food Diary

Inspired by "Grub Street Diet", I wanted to start chronicling my meals for posterity and sharing my favorite dishes with others. Each diary will cover food eaten in one week, no matter how big or small.

This week: Back-to-Back Greek and CHICKFILA!

Friday, 1/8/16

Lunch from Jack’s Wife Freda was a disappointment. The burger was bland and the chicken wings were kind of dry. Perhaps it had to do with it being delivered vs eating there but I don’t get what the hype is about (always a crazy line out the door). After work, I met up with my friend for a portrait session around Tribeca. We started things off with a red velvet cupcake at Billy’s Bakery and a few hours later, we stopped by Church Street Tavern for a snack: a bowl of creamy risotto. Dinner was at Basta Pasta where we snagged two bar seats without the usual 30 min wait. I’ve been working my way down the menu to try every pasta dish and enjoyed my bowl of bowtie pasta with smoked salmon, tomatoes, asparagus with a kick from the the grain mustard cream sauce.

Saturday, 1/9/16

Back to back photoshoots. My friend and talented dancer, Monica Thysell needed some pics for her portfolio so I trekked out to Astoria for the day. First stop was at Burnside Biscuits for The Moose - a gigantic breakfast sandwich accompanied by the most delicious grits (I ordered a second one).

After a zen moment at Astoria Park, and a few wardrobe changes later, we were famished. Met up with her husband Mark at MP Taverna for some perfectly grilled dorade. On our walk back, I picked up an al pastor tostada from El Rey Taco Truck.

Sunday 1/10/16

My roommate Christian was out of the country for a few weeks and so I welcomed him back at Limani, a Greek spot near Rockefeller Center. We noshed on hummus dip, avocado salad with shrimp, dorade royale, and lambchops.

Later that night, I had the oxtail bone marrow fried rice from Blue Ribbon Sushi. Yup, still as enlightening as the first time.

Monday, 1/11/16

Headed to Hudson Market for spicy pork bibimbop with Julia. For $11, you get a massive bowl of rice (white or brown), veggies (carrots, bean sprouts, squash, mushrooms, red bell peppers, kimchi, spinach, radishes), protein (chicken breast, bulgogi, or spicy pork bulgogi) and optional fried egg. Big enough for two portions and highly recommended if you work near Tribeca.

I was pumped for dinner because I’m the biggest Chick-Fil-A fan! Now with a push of a button, someone will deliver my #1 with waffle fries and strawberry shake to my door. Thank you Postmates!

Tuesday, 1/12/16

A coworker had just completed all of the Disney marathons and to celebrate, we broke her diet hard at Bubby’s with biscuits, mac n cheese, and other “they shall not be named” guilty pleasures.

Dinner was at the hotly anticipated Nishi, David Chang’s new Italian/Asian fusion spot. There was about an hour wait so we grabbed drinks at Bathtub Gin, a hidden speakeasy in the back of a coffee shop. I’m a sucker for clandestine places and this one didn’t disappoint. Attentive service, strong drinks, and a vibe that transports you back in time.

There were hits and misses (they were still new) but I instagrammed my favorite dishes. I enjoyed this fried shrimp app that had a great ratio of breading (not too thick to distract from the shrimp). Of course we ordered their famous pasta dish with creamy chickpea hozon, a riff off of pasta carbonara. The noodles were super al dente and the flavor was fine, I just wish that the $24 dish came with more than a spoonful of noodles. While we sat at the bar, I noticed a guy taking photo with a portable light. Didn’t recognize him with the hat but it was FoodieMagician who I met briefly at Spotted Pig a few months back. My favorite dish hands down was the scallops. Velvety and voluptuous. Sweet and briny. After our meal, DC came out of the kitchen to take the temp of the room. Sammy mentioned how much he liked the korean stew and DC nods his head in agreement.

“I know right? It’s so fucking good, it baffles me why white people don’t like it!”

I point to a caucasian chef prepping near the bar. "What about him?"

DC laughs and says, "He's the only white guy that likes it."

The chef doesn't look up and smiles as he continues prepping.

Sammy graciously paid for the meal after losing in credit card roulette. See the full story here

Wednesday, 1/13/16

It was a slow day for our finance analysts so we went across the street to Church Street Tavern for a rare sit-down lunch. I’ve had the Tavern Burger so today I tried their new “Double Royale with Cheese” an elevated Big Mac with better dry-aged meat. Pretty good but I still prefer the original Tavern Burger.

Dinner was Chick-Fil-A again because why not? I felt kinda bad because the delivery guy was holding my shake in one hand while pedaling on his Razor scooter in 30F weather. I gave a good tip.

Thursday, 1/14/16

The best antidote to freezing weather is a big bowl of pho. Xavier and I went to our go to spot in chinatown, Thai Son, but ordered the stewed beef noodle soup (#14B, no tendon) to change things up. Hearty and delicious with a tomato based broth, ample chunks of tender meat, and slices of lime to lift up the broth. Highly recommended.

The asian theme continued to dinner where I seamlessed hot sour soup and a tray of soup dumplings from Joe’s Shanghai.

WEEKLY SUMMARY

Dined out: 18 times

Restaurants Visited: Church Street Tavern (2x), Basta Pasta, Billy’s Bakery, Jack’s Wife Freda, Burnside Biscuit, MP Taverna, El Rey Taco Truck, Limani, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Hudson Market, Chick-Fil-A (2x), Bubby’s, Bathtub Gin, Nishi, Thai Son, Joe’s Shanghai

Highlights: Nishi; raw diver scallops | Burnside Biscuit; The Moose and pepperjack grits with Tabasco | MP Taverna; grilled dorade

Last Week's Eats HERE

Next Week's Eats HERE