Sweet Chick – Chicken & Waffles

Published on June 17, 2013

I tried out Sweet Chick last night after seeing Solange Knowles sing at the Northside Festival/McCarren Park. I sat down at the bar and these two guys started to chat it up with me. I asked if they got the fried chicken and waffles. They didn’t. They were black and I wondered if I sounded racist with my assumption. Then I asked if they also came from the Solange show, which a lot of black folks were at. They didn’t. I was on a roll. Although I was curious why else they were hanging out in Williamsburg.

Anyway, my conversation ended when one of the dudes basically asked one of the bartenders if he was gay, because he liked him I guess. Not that I’m homophobic and didn’t want to talk to them. It just ended because my food came.

I got the Chicken and Waffles ($16) Classic. They also have other versions –Bacon & Cheddar, Rosemary & Mushroom and on the day’s special was General Tso’s Chicken and Waffles.

The Fried Chicken was great. The crust was crunchy and tasted kind of like Chinese Take-Out Fried Wings, which I like. I think the waffles were good, although I wasn’t really thinking about it when I ate it. But I remembered I really liked the whole thing mixed with syrup and the three butters (berry, chive and regular). And $3 cans of Genesee.

I know I’m on a low carb diet, but I guess I decided to wait until the next day to regret it.

Sweet Chick – 164 Bedford Ave (@ N 8th St) Brooklyn, NY 11211

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Trader Joe’s Uncured Black Forest Bacon

Published on June 16, 2013

Shonali was telling this low carb diet that her and her brother in law are on –http://eatingacademy.com. The thing is that it seems very high on saturated fat, making sure to add extra fat (i.e. heavy cream) to meals. Anyway, they do look pretty good and she says she’s lost a lot of weight from eating bacon.

So when I was at Trader Joe’s, I saw this uncured pack of bacon. It looked good and I’ve never bought uncured before. I usually think regular bacon is too salty. So this sounds ideal.

It turned out really good. Not so salty. I could taste the pork. A little sweet from the sugar …but that’s a no-no on this low carb diet. Even with less than 1 gram per slice, it might be too much.

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Fatburger in NYC

Published on June 12, 2013

Well I never heard of Fatburger before. I’m all East Coast. They just opened one of these West Coast burger joints this week in Murray Hill …the first of several to open in New York.  They’re even opening up some in India with lamb burgers. I kind of wished they had lamb burgers here.

My beef burger was pretty good though. I like how you can add a fried egg. Mine wasn’t runny though, unfortunately. Also unfortunate was the wait. I assumed it to be quicker for fast food, but they are cooked to order and there was a line of customers. But they have a bar serving beer and wine while you wait.

They have several sizes of burgers. Medium, Large, XXL …and XXXL, which if you can finish, you get your name on the wall. I got the smallest one and was satisfied with just eating half. I put the rest in a bag along with some Fat Fries (steak fries) and was going to eat it later. But I went out to buy some underwear and socks and realized I was smelling up the stores. So I gave it to a homeless guy. He looked so psyched. I think he knew about Fatburger.

Fatburger - 507 3rd Ave (btwn 35th & 34th St) New York, NY 10016

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Young City Fish Balls

Published on June 10, 2013

I went to the Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival in Chinatown this weekend. It was such a beautiful day, I had to get out of the house. It was a good crowd of people. Kids painting Yamakas. Old people playing Mahjong. Teens selling Egg Rolls and Egg Creams for $5 (combo).

01 Young City Fish Balls Young City Fish Balls

I passed by a place on the block called “Young City Fish Balls”. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but turned out to be a restaurant that sells Chinese soups, rice and noodles (Fuzhou cuisine). I had to go in since the name was so cool.

I ordered the Fish Balls for only $3. They offered it with pork inside or without. It was a good size bowl of about twelve balls. The soup had a bit of a vinegar taste. I thought the balls were pretty decent, especially for how cheap they were.

They had some interesting items on the menu, like Beef Paste and Cattle’s Visceral’s soup. It’s like funny Engrish translations. But my waiter spoke perfect English. I almost wonder if this restaurant’s name and menu was made to trick ironic foodie hipsters to come. It worked!

They also serve beer. I really like this place.

Young City Fish Balls (aka Yung City Corp.) – 21 Eldridge St. New York, NY 10002

Back at the festival, I witnessed one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever seen. A Chinese mask changing dance (called Bian Lian) performed by Cao Zhen Jian of the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company. The guy would flash his fan in front of his face and his mask would instantly change …also later his clothes too. It was awesome. He showed his face at the end and looked like Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook. But I probably think every Chinese guy looks like Yan Can Cook.

A video about one of the masters of Chinese mask changing.

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Resource Natural Spring Water

Published on June 9, 2013

01 Resource Natural Spring Water Resource Natural Spring Water

We went to a party introducing Resource Natural Spring Water with Electrolytes (made by Nestlé). Alyssa Milano was there and said it was delicious. I couldn’t wait to drink it. I’ve been so hungover. I needed to be hydrated. Water really sounded good. Too bad I got drunk at that party. Good thing I had some water.

They had a really cool acrobatic aquatic-slash-hologram performance. It was a little weird when the big giant inflatable bottle of water dropped down at the end.

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Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America 2013

Published on June 8, 2013

I did pretty good this time and didn’t try to eat every single dessert. Only missed one.

Dessert Professional’s Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America – 2013

Andy Chlebana (Joliet Junior College, Joliet, IL)
“Chocolate, Raspberry and Amaretto”
Chocolate Raspberry Cremeux, Chocolate Mousse, Amaretto Ice Cream, Violette Liquor Bonbon, Crispy Raspberry Foam, Sugared Almonds

Bill Corbett (Absinthe, San Francisco, CA)
Vegan German Chocolate Cake with coconut 3 ways and candied pecans

Christophe Feyt (Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV)
Jivara Milk Chocolate cremeux, apricot compote, lime white chocolate mousse, and salted caramel bonbon

Brooks Headley (Del Posto, NYC)
“Red and White Stracciatella”
Strawberries 3 ways, burrata, fresh olive oil, olive oil croutons

Malcolm Livingston II (wd-50, NYC)
Mango puree, Sake caramel, Lemongrass infusion, Lemongrass syrup, Compressed Mango, Lemongrass puree, Sheep milk yogurt sauce, Smoked cashew nougatine

Jimmy MacMillan (JMPurePastry, Chicago, IL)
“Barbolo Nebbiolo”
Barolo Nebbiolo gelato, wine macerated strawberries, chocolate cream, raspberry tuile, cocoa dust, and strawberry chip

Laurie Jon Moran (Le Bernardin, NYC)
“Dark and Stormy”
Domaine de Cantan ginger liquor, chocolate mousse, chocolate pearl croquant, young ginger foam, chocolate tuiles, cocoa nibs

Clarisa Martino (Mesa Grill, NYC, Las Vegas, Nassau)
Blueberry Panna Cotta
Banana cream pie
Sticky Toffee Pudding

Nancy Olson (Gramercy Tavern, NYC)
Peanut butter semifreddo, chocolate macaron, salted caramel, and hot fudge.

Roy Shvartzapel (Common Bond, Houston, TX)
“Top 10 2013” cakes
Pistachio Lemon Strawberry Ricotta
Chocolate Caramel Banana Pecan
Tiramisu

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Prospect Bar & Grill

Published on June 3, 2013

We went to Prospect Bar & Grill in Park Slope for Shonali’s birthday. I ordered the Prospect Pot Pie –a whole lamb shank (bone and all) with a puff pastry sitting on top. I usually don’t like pot pies that aren’t true pies, but this was pretty awesome. I love whole lamb shanks. $15.

Prospect Bar & Grill – 545 5th Ave (btwn 7th Ave & 8th Ave) Brooklyn, NY 11215

Here’s Shonali interviewed by Bloomberg.

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Azuki Sushi – Free Unlimited Hot Sake

Published on May 30, 2013

We were heading off to Northeast Kingdom in Bushwick, but got on the wrong train going back to Manhattan. So I got the guys to go to Azuki Sushi off of Union Square. It was silly, because they didn’t want to go because it was in Manhattan. They are like those people that claim they never go above 14th St. This restaurant is around 19th. Well, this place has free unlimited hot sake. I’m not sure that really helped, but we gotta try as many of these places as we can.

Todd thought it smelled like cat pee when we walked in and it was extra warm. Sam asked for a sushi boat and they laughed at him. They didn’t know what that was. The place was pretty empty for being 7pm on a Saturday. Now I started to feel like a jerk for dragging these guys out to here. I also felt like they were suspicious if I led them down the wrong subway entrance on purpose. I swear I didn’t plan it.

But the place wasn’t that bad. We got the Sushi/Sashimi Platter for Two ($49) and a couple of extra rolls –to meet the $20 minimum per person to get the free hot sake (or white wine). Food was decent. I think after enough free sakes, everyone calmed down.

I’ll be doing a roundup of all the Free Unlimited Hot Sake restaurants real soon. Stay tuned.

Azuki – 239 Park Ave S (betn 19th & 20th St) New York, NY 10003

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