Archives for 2011

Polonia Restaurant in Greenpoint

I was reading that a lot of modern day grocery store sauerkraut is pasteurized, killing the good bacteria for your stomach. So I headed off the Polish neighborhood in Greenpoint to find some real fermented sauerkraut. I always wanted to try Polonia. It’s an old school cafeteria style restaurant, similar to Pyza nearby.

The lady was super nice to me. She surprised me by speaking English. I couldn’t tell what any of the stuff in the stream trays were. They were all covered in different colored gravies …but still looked good. I picked the Pork Goulash and Dumplings with Beets and Sauerkraut that looked all homemade –$8.50

I really liked the Pork Goulash. Nice and tender and good gravy. I’ve never had dumplings like that. Bland dimpled boiled balls of dough. Springy, like mochi. It needed help from the gravy and the Polish soy-like sauce on table. The Beets and Sauerkraut were good.

I think the sauerkraut/kimchi probiotic diet is working …that and kefir drinks. My skin is really clearing up. I look like a young boy.

This restaurant has a lot of character. That’s why I like it. There was a pay phone in there. Old school.

Polonia Restaurant - 631 Manhattan Ave (btwn Nassau & Bedford) Brooklyn, NY 11222

I was also a little nervous going to Greenpoint. I was thinking I would run into this awesome girl I met a week earlier playing foosball at Matchless nearby (the same place where I got fries and a vagina walked into my hand). Well, this foosball girl was really cool and when she came over to say bye, I was going to give her my food blog card, but just realized that I was out and was supposed to refill my wallet that very day. So nothing was exchanged except a handshake. My friends thought there was some connection, but I missed my chance.

My friend told me to write a Missed Connection on Craigslist. So I did. It went something like “Hey, I was the guy with hair that tries be Farrah Fawcett, with a cold sore on my lip and shoes that are actually banned in the NBA.” I didn’t hear back from that except from a dude.

A few days later, I was telling Bonnie about my Missed Connection and she suggested finding her on Facebook. We found her, but I was too drunk to message so Bonnie wrote it. I think she was drunk too. I woke up the next morning hoping what Bonnie wrote wasn’t too bad. It went something like “Thanks for being the best foosball partner. Hope we can go up against each other soon. You around next week?” Shit. It wasn’t too bad.

These are the new shoes I got that are banned in the NBA.

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Sik Gaek Korean Restaurant – $5.99 Lunch Special

I had recent dermatitis skin flare ups. So I looked online to see what helps diet-wise. I’ve suffered most of my adult life with dermatitis, so I’m surprised I’ve just looked it up. A found a lot of sites recommending fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut for their probiotic (good bacteria) benefits. So with my week off, I took the bus in front of my apartment towards Woodside, Queens to try this Korean spot I found on Yelp –Sik Gaek.

Cool looking place. Kinda reminds me of the Japanese spots on St Marks like Kenka.

Once they sat me down, they started the gas stove at my table. It confused me because I hadn’t ordered. But then soon brought over a pan and cracked an egg on it. Brought over complementary kimchi, rice noodles with hard boiled egg and a glass of hot water/rice. Can someone tell me if I’m supposed to drink that? Or what do I do with it? It tastes like hot water with rice. The kimchi was good and crunchy.

They got a several dishes on the $5.99 lunch special. A really good price. I went with the Doenjang Soup (fermented soybean paste with mixed seafood), which should also be good for the flareups. Dang, awesome soup! It had shrimp, clam, mussel, squid and a little baby octopus. The broth tasted great.

I had my food with a Coors light. But kept staring at the Soju posters all over the place. So I rang the service buzzer on my table for the bottle with the hot chick on it. The waitress said it was the lightest one. Shit. It still had 19.5% alcohol and was the size of my Coors light. This soju was easy going down. I was a big boy and finished it all.

A table of five sat next to me and ordered the Fresh Lobster Seafood Hot Pot. A huge plate of clams and seafood came out with a fresh lobster cut in half on top. The fucking lobster was still moving …both halves. The top half crawled off the plate onto the table. That was the most awesomely bizarre food thing I’ve seen in person. When it was all cooked, one of the claws was clamped onto some of the squid.

I read on Yelp, they do the same thing with Fresh Octopus. It comes out squirming while it’s cooking in front of you on your table. I want to do that.

I really like this place. The food was great. They gave me extra kimchi at no charge (…that shit is like $5-7 for a small container at my local vegetable store). Also complementary cucumber juice at the end of my meal.

Sik Gaek – 49-11 Roosevelt Ave. Woodside, NY 11377

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Rusty’s Christmas Ham

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Christmas Chipmunk Song

While Rusty is cooking the ham, we made this…

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Mini Jason Lam Papercraft!

My friend Chris of Cubeecraft.com surprised me with this awesome little Jason Lam/Me So Hungry papercraft.

Jason Lam papercraft Cubeecraft Mini Jason Lam Papercraft!

I put it on top of my cubicle wall and it later scared the shit out of me. I thought it was a real person!

And you can make your own, by clicking here for the full size cut-out. Print, Cut and Fold me up! They make nice tree ornaments.

cubeecraft jasonlam web Mini Jason Lam Papercraft!

Thank you Cubeecraft.com!

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Tio Wally Eats America: Lisa’s in Moriarty, New Mexico

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in Moriarty, New Mexico.

Tio%20Wally%20Eats%20America%20truck Tio Wally Eats America: Lisas in Moriarty, New Mexico

Greetings from Moriarty, New Mexico!
N 35° 00.244  W 106° 01.699  Elev. 6228 ft.

I was headed to Los Lunas, New Mexico … again. Which meant that I had to stop a Lisa’s Truck Center … again. I had to get Chile Rellenos … again. And I wasn’t disappointed … again.

I wrote about Lisa’s recently. The last time I got a to-go order of the rellenos and discovered too late that they’d given me only the red sauce. This time I got what I actually ordered: One with red sauce, one with green sauce.

Both the sauces are great, if somewhat mild. Still, these are some of the best rellenos I’ve run across in my travels. Indeed, I can’t recommend them enough. They’re damn near perfect; I say damn near just in case I find better, which is extremely doubtful. I also got a flour tortilla that could probably cover most of a basketball.

I took more pictures this time. I also went ahead and took pictures of the über-spacious dining room (nine tables!).

All of the food that I saw come out of that tiny hole in the wall (read: kitchen) looked great. And the service was outstanding! (I hesitate to mention this, but my waitress was a true babe. A babetress?

I’m tellin’ y’all, if you’re ever passing through Moriarty, New Mexico make a special stop at Lisa’s. It’s extremely reasonably priced, with generous portions. Great value and Yum Yum Yum.

And so we roll.

Lisa’s Truck Center, 820 Route 66 East, Moriarty, NM

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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Flushing Golden Mall

The last place I took my family was the Golden Mall in Flushing. We pretty much ate all the same great food I had with Brian and Jimmy. Beef Tripe with Hot Pepper Sauce and the best Dumplings in Chili Sauce from the Cheng Du Tian Fu stall, Lamb Burger and Qi Noodles from Xian Famous Foods and a bowl of Hand-pulled noodles from the Lan Zhou stall.

I think this was a winner with my family, even though I don’t think we were supposed to feed my parents so much spicy food.

Oh and we took one of those Chinatown to Chinatown busses. Only $2.75 per person. The trip was around 20-30mins from Manhattan Chinatown to Flushing. Sure beats the long ass train.

Golden Mall – 41-28 Main St. Flushing, NY 11355

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East Market Restaurant Dim Sum

I took my family to the place where I take my friends almost every Chinese New Year. At that day, most places are super packed. But not so much here underneath the Manhattan Bridge at East Broadway and Market Street. I think it’s because there’s no real English sign marking it as a dim sum place.

So this place will be good. I get to show off this place that mostly only Chinese people know about and we won’t have to wait long for a table like at Jing Fong. We got there at 10am. I was absolutely correct …no line. Actually no customers at all. It was empty as fuck.

They were serving and we did get food rather quick. However, it was really weird eating in a huge empty banquet hall. I don’t recommend it.

When we left, my dad told me that that place was really bad. Then I blew up. I already felt like shit for picking the previous two places that I felt like they didn’t totally enjoy. I said to him, “Shit. If we went to the good restaurant, you’d complain that there was too many white people.” And that’s a point I realized –I don’t think there really are any hidden authentic gems left in this city that white folk don’t know about. And when I say white, I include myself in that group.

All the good authentic places have already been discovered. People know them about through such things as Anthony Bourdain, Yelp and food blogs (which a lot seem to be Asian bloggers). Foodies and non-foodies want to eat at these places too. Again, myself included. So I don’t think you can say that too many white people eating at an ethnic restaurant is bad. It probably means it’s the place to eat.

Hey, I can’t totally blame my dad. I’m just as guilty for skipping the food trucks that have super long lines, because I don’t think of them as being the real deal –like they are too hipster …and I’m the fucking hipster. But I’m wrong. They have long lines probably because the food is good …or people just like to stand in lines.

As a side note: I do notice that real Chinese-Chinese people still go to places like Big Wong and Great NY Noodletown. They just don’t often stay there to eat. They get the BBQ to-go.

What does it matter who is the one eating the food anyway? In 50 years, everyone’s going to speak English and there will be only one race …Chinese people.

East Market Restaurant –  75 East Broadway (next to the playground, underneath the Manhattan Bridge on the Market St. side), New York 10002

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