ooh, jason lam so hungry in nyc
Hot Dog Eating Champion Takeru Kobayashi @ Japan Society
Stood in line at the armory on Lexington to get into the MoCCA Festival. A girl came up to me and said, “…Jason Lam?” I thought she was a food blog fan so I told her it was nice to meet her. She said she’s met me several times and we were Facebook friends. Oops.
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Janet’s birthday at the Woods –I got a pork burrito from the taco cart in their backyard patio. I likee a lot. Nice grilled shell …just like Taco Bell’s Grilled Stuffed Burrito I’m just now realizing. For some reason I took a bunch of photos of someone’s broken phone.
Ended the night with Luisa and the Karaoke Van from Northside car service. Jody had just taken it there and his mind was blown. So we had to get it home or else I couldn’t food blog about the burrito. I apologize for my singing. My memory says I rocked it, but my camera says, “NOT!” …remember “NOT!”?
This other video on Youtube, Luisa is rockin the reverb.
Awesome party for Daniel Delaney’s video food blog, VendrTV. He had Calexico Carne Asada, Schnitzel & Things, and Wafels & Dinges parked outside, dishing out the food. I’m ashamed to say I’ve been turned off from their long lines in the past and never tried them, but now I believe. I believe in them all. One of the better juicy pork tacos I’ve eaten. The chicken schnitzel was really good. I gotta try the deep fried schnitzel burger next time. I had a bite of everyone’s waffle. Yes, eat fresh waffles! Dinges? I think I corrected someone how to pronounce it, but I think I was wrong.
Makes me think of my past prejudices against newish-hipster food carts/trucks, like when I thought it was a sad day when Calexico won their Vendy. Why can’t young people make food just as good, if not better than a poor-looking immigrant at a dirty cart? I feel as dirty as those roach carts –for not having faith.
Ran into old food blog friends like Amy & Robyn. Made many new food blog friends. Dance party. Dan’s friend tried to teach me how to salsa or tango. I thought I was amazing. She thought I was drunk. I kept forgetting her name, so I thought it was a good trick to hand her my phone to put her number in. Then I later realized she didn’t put her name. I thought I was going to text something clever to find out her name, but the next morning all I saw in my outgoing messages: “Your butt accidentally called my phone.” I guess I really wasn’t good at the tango.
…aka Brother Food I Corp, aka Kumar’s (because it’s across the street from White Castle). Russ promised we’d food blog them for a while now. We’ve gotten many late night beef patties and more recently, deli sandwiches based on Todd’s suggestion.
My favorite is The Grandfather (grilled roast beef & mozzarella). It’s pretty good when you don’t feel like paying a cab to drive you through Whities past midnight. The bodega is also a good place to hide from the craziness outside of Legion.
…I’d like to think they got a new awning that says “The Best Sandwich in Town” because they think we’ve been blogging them all this time.
Golden Star Corner – 780 Metropolitan Ave (@ Humboldt) Brooklyn, NY 11211
Last night started off with the Whole Roast Pig Luau at the Brooklyn Yard by Mean Red and Finger on the Pulse. FOTP has put been putting on some interesting DJ/backyard BBQs this summer (w/ chefs from Marlow & Sons, Calexico, Egg, and Sam Mason; DJs Les Savy Fav, The Harlem Shakes). Pretty impressive events and reasonably affordable. Entry was free last night and food was $10 a plate which comes with a free Sixpoint beer. The roast pig and sides were prepared by Hapa Kitchen, which I’m now Googling and I see that Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out in NY is part of this group. I swear I’ve never heard a name more in conversation after I listened to this SXSW food blog panel a few months back. Everyone keeps asking me if I know Cathy Erway. I must’ve met half of her friends by now.
Back to the food. I liked the pig. Although for some reason, the days leading up to this I was imagining sitting at the whole pig with a fork and pulling scraps right off it and into my mouth. It was cool they had a vegetarian option with roast eggplant, which tasted like Spaceship Earth at Epcot. It sounds like I’m being a weirdo as usual, but Rob got me. It tasted like that fog machine in one of the early age scenes of the ride. I suppose from the smoker or however they cooked it.
I ran into a couple of Facebook friends which are all into the Brooklyn hipster food scene (I know no one likes to be called a hipster, but I mean that in a good way). They asked me if I know Cathy Erway.
Omar took us over to the Glasslands for the Brooklyn Skillshare benefit, which is a pretty cool idea. Everyone offers to teach a skill of theirs to the group. I guess my skill would be Flowbeeing my hair? They had Sweet Tooth of the Tiger set up selling baked goods with Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins, Lemon Whoopie Pies, Vegan cookies and Red Velvet Cupcake Lollipops. Sweet Tooth of the Tiger also seems to have a good cause according to their About page …more importantly making my mouth happy.
We then went over to Union Pool for some tacos at the El Diablo Taco Truck in the backyard. It helped fill our stomachs up with more solids. I had a a really good bite right in the middle of my pork taco. It was a taste explosion. I think it was a really juicy fatty piece right there. We tried to be wingmen to each other throughout the night, but of course we should always leave any winging to the women in our group. Yoshie did well. Then there was a dance party fueled by all the pig, sugar and beer. When I woke up this morning, I felt like I was whacked upside my head with a 2×4. I’m trying to remember if that happened.
I was able to find out who’s camera we found in the backyard grill belonged to. This is after I was thinking the Secret and the Universe was trying to manifest cameras for me …more like stealing for me. And after I claimed I didn’t believe in Karma. Moments after I contacted my neighbor about her camera, my friend Todd asks me if I want to go to this MOMA Garden Party with a performance from Estelle. He won tix for being on the PopRally mailing list. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been obsessed with her “American Boy” song for the past couple of weeks, which I never heard before. It’s been my main karaoke song down in my basement. It was like the Secret and Karma was rewarding me big time.
I had a quick bite of ramen at Men Kui Tei beforehand. The ramen was alright. I was tempted to go to Benihana. Next time, big boy.
The MOMA Garden Party rocked. The outdoor area was huge and packed. Cocktail attire. I wore my dress shoes. I’ve learned my lesson. I saw Ashford and Simpson and ran into Ashley and Megan. We danced it up. We drank it up. Estelle rocked it up.
Then the girls took me to Remedy Diner in the Lower East Side. I really don’t remember how we got there. I had a few bites of my nachos. I didn’t even remember getting nachos until I saw the pics today. I’m surprised I was able to hang my jacket up when I got home.
Thank you Todd, MOMA, PopRally, Estelle, Karma and The Secret
Update: And thanks to Zach from Midtownlunch for watching my back. I went to Men Kui Tei and not Menchanko Tei. It’s confusing with all the drinking and the awning that says something totally different.
Men Kui Tei – 60 W 56th St (btw 5th & 6th Ave) New York 10019
Remedy Diner – 245 E Houston St New York, NY 10079
We took the Lincoln MKZ down to Chinatown in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Our first time down there. It reminded me of Latino Brooklyn streets, but with older Chinese people. The sun roof made it food blog friendly for me to get some shots while cruisin. We Google texted Lan Zhou hand pulled noodles, the only place I’ve heard of down there. It sent us to a mobile phone store. So we stopped in the first place that looked good and cheap. San Ma Malaysian restaurant. I got the Curry Stuffed Combination Noodle Soup. I thought it would be combination meats, but it turned out to be fried tofu, eggplant and a fried fish & tofu in-one cake. The broth was creamy curry deliciousness. I didn’t care for the noodles. Jody got the Curry Shrimp Noodle Soup, where the shrimp was pineapple spiked carved. Actually I think it was squid, but was hoping he didn’t notice. Christa took a stab at the Sate Tofu, only because it was one of the only vegetarian items. She won and was so happy at what it was …satay peanut sauce over cubes of fried tofu.
Then we walked around the neighborhood. The Chinese people were laughing at Jody taking pics of fish in the buckets they were selling on the sidewalk. I wish I was as brave as him. I picked up some steamed vegetable buns (two for $1) at a cart on 8th Ave and 57th St. The bun was cold, but I’m sure it would it would be good microwaved. I also picked up a pork zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves). We were able to get back in time for me to meet up with my friends Ryan and Meghan from Florida. We went on a pub crawl. The last shot did me in. We ran into an old friend which turned into some friendly street wrestling. It didn’t take long before the shirts came off. 10 seconds.
San Ma Malaysian Restaurant – 5918 8th Ave (btw 59th & 60th St) Brooklyn, NY 11220
Carolyn invited me to her Young Lions’ Eating at Home at the NY Public Library –a conversation with Rocco DiSpirito, Amanda Hesser, Marion Nestle, and Julie Powell about the “politics and the pleasures of eating at home.” I was taking a picture of the bread sticks and I hear behind me a lady saying, “you want help with your blog?” I turned around and I wasn’t sure if she was talking to someone else or making fun of me. The forum was pretty entertaining. I had a couple of breakthroughs through the words of Rocco. One of them is how I really do appreciate when people make me food. It’s a very special thing you can do to someone. It’s something I want to start dishing out myself. I forget the other breakthrough, but Rocco is a much cooler person than I thought he would be. Man crush?
I did get pretty hungry since it was a food forum. I was hoping for something to eat, but they only had fancy Artisanal cheeses. Us stragglers were tearing it up when everyone left. Then Rob and I tried to go Ghostbuster hunting in the library, but we got turned away by the guards at every corner. We only found ourselves in the Men’s room.
More gooey cheese at Bravo Pizza. I think what makes their pizzas look so appetizing is the red lighting. Makes the sauces redder. It’s like back in Gainesville at Tony and Pat’s with their red heat lamp buffet. I can’t tell the difference between the white and regular slices.
Then as we were heading back to Brooklyn at Grand Central, the gang showed me a hidden fancy pants bar in the station, The Campbell Apartment. You had to go out to go in. The lady stopped me from coming in because I had sneakers. Carolyn had an extra pair of high heels and they were surprisingly cool with that. So I literally walked in struggling wearing high heels as we passed men in tuxedos and bowties sipping their cocktails. I wondered where all these people in tuxedos came from …an orchestra? I do now admire women and their high heels.
Young Lions – a nice place to meet cute rich girls …and guys, but Rocco’s taken dudes
Bravo Pizza – 6 E 42nd St (btw 5th & Madison) New York, NY 10017
The Campbell Apartment – 15 Vanderbilt Ave (btw 42nd & 43rd St) New York, NY 10017
Carolyn's b-day dinner @ South China Garden (aka Cantoon Garden)
ATL or BUST!
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