February 22, 2007
7A, Roll and Dough, and Sticky Rice
- No drinkie for me
Last last Sunday I went to 7A with John, Pete, Aleks, Dean, and Madeleine (yes, that was too much LJ linkage) to celebrate's Aleks' birthday. It sits on the corner of 7th Street and Avenue A, so you can't miss it as long as you can remember the number 7 and the letter A. Or if you do, you're probably really drunk.
- nachos mountain
We started off with a giant plate of nachos, which is the best form of nachos there is ("giant"). Hamster-sized splodges of guacamole, beans, pico de gallo, sour cream and streams (because it ain't a river...er) of cheddar cheese suffocated the tortilla chips, which was great because without the toppings all you have is flattened ground corn, and no one wants that. Maybe. Unfortunately many of the chips couldn't hold up to the massive amounts of non-corny substances (damn you, gravity) and many chips shattered mid-dip, mainly brought down by the heavy hand of mashed bean. Poor things. They gave their lives for a good cause though—our stomachs.
Wait, that's not a good cause, nevermind.
- burger!
I don't know enough about California to know how sliced avocado, sauteed mushrooms, cheese and pico de gallo made my burger Californian, but I suppose that's a better name that [insert other state] Burger. (Actually, what I'd love to see is a burger joint that has a burger representation for every state. Every state. Even the Dakotas.) I ordered rare and got a juicy, pink, squishy meaty patty in return. Sweeeet. The meat wasn't the most flavorful I've had, but it wasn't dry nor overly drippy, and the toppings were well balanced and didn't ungracefully squish out of the bun at any point. The bun was also slightly grilled, which is a plus in my book. I easily ate the whole thing. With the side of uber-crispy fries that still had the resemblence of potato-ness due to the skin remnants, it's a good burger plate for $8.
- sammich
John ate his tuna avocado melt in 3.2 seconds out of extreme hunger. I assume that the sandwich was also pretty good.
- don't forget about dessert
Despite feeling the early effects of meat coma, I went for dessert (as though I would ever pass it up). John suggested sharing something, but I insisted I could finish a dessert by myself. Which was dumb. My life isn't a neverending eating contest, even if I treat it as such every now and then. The first bites of my beautiful slab of white and dark chocolate mousse cake went down smoothly until I reached the fatter end of the cake and realized, "Damn, this is a lot of cake. And it's probably just made of chocolate and dairy products and sugar and multiple forms of fat. Which would explain why, depsite the deliciousness, my stomach now crying. Maybe I can grow another stomach." It was worth finishing, but I couldn't do it. If you come across this behemoth after engulfing a huge burger, share it with someone. YOU CANNOT EAT IT ALL.
- John's dessert
I probably could've finished John's chocolate fudge brownie cake with vanilla ice cream though. Its warm, sweet fatty goodness was somewhat buffered by the vanilla ice cream, not that ice cream isn't also full of fatty goodness, but frozen vanilla fatty goodness is totally different from warm chocolate cakey fudgey fatty goodness. Ye hear? They don't tell you this stuff in chemistry class. You just...know.
dough that is rolled
On what felt like the first real day of winter in NYC (because of the onslaught of snow and subsequent transformation of fluffy white powder into pools of poop-colored slush) I ate...a lot.
- noods
No, I didn't eat this bucket-sized bowl of noodles. I went to Roll and Dough with my former coworkers at the web development office at NYU Law School (I worked there last school year and during most of the summer) and this bowl of noodles was shared between one guy (my replacement!) and his girlfriend. Even then, it was probably a lot for two people. Egad.
- veggie bun
I also ate too much in the form of a vegetable bun, two bings and a couple of dumplings. The vegetable bun was better than average. It was well stuffed with...stuff. Vegetables, methinks. It doesn't beat my favorite vegetable bun from Kung Fung Food Market in NJ, but no other vegetable bun has, so that's not a fair comparison.
- bing
I got a mustard greens bing and a sweet taro bing for dessert. Mustard greens will wipe out your sinuses, if that's what you're going for. I enjoyed every tear-producing bite—I guess I like pain. However, like other people have mentioned, the bings suffer greatly from sitting out for too long. Like. Mega. They may still be warm, but as the minutes tick by the dough becomes tougher and loses the crispiness that makes it so awesome when it's fresh. Little by little the soul of the bing goes to bing heaven and leaves behind sub-deliciousnes with the same number of calories. Oh well. It's still worth eating and makes a cheap meal, but you're missing out if you've never had a fresh one.
- little dumps
Thankfully the fresh dumplings are boiled to order so there's no risk of getting soul-less dumps. I'm sure these are the best dumplings you can get around the West Village...not that I know anywhere else you can get them, but it doesn't matter because you won't need an alternative. I loved the spicy pork dumplings. I mean, I love pork and I love dumplings, so it's only natural to love dumplings filled with pork. The spicy version isn't overly strong, but it's much more than a hint of hotness in case you have a low tolerance for spice. A 10-piece order will fill you up with juicy pork encased in doughy handmade skins that aren't too thick or thin.
If I had more lunch breaks around NYU, I'd go to Roll and Dough more often. For now I'll dream of fat dumplings and fresh bings.
overstuffed at Sticky Rice
- Sticky Rice
After stuffing myself at Sticky Rice I stuffed myself at Sticky Rice with Charles and two of his friends. Since he got a new job that dangerously encroaches upon the time he gets to do anything that isn't work related, he wanted to celebrate by treating us all to dinner. Which means we ordered a lot of food.
- ginger tea
Even though I'd be perfectly satisfied by good old tap water, I ordered the ginger tea due to it being heavily infused with condensed milk, also known as sugar or "the stuff Robyn likes a lot". I was all over it like my butt on this chair. Uh huh. The ginger is spicy-strong and the sweetness was just right for my palate...which means you might want it toned down. If you want to be a wuss. Or not get diabetes.
- appetizers
Since Charles is a vegan, he wanted to order a bunch of vegetarian appetizers. "A bunch" being all of them, except for the tofu soup. The fried, crispy, sweet and savory somewhat-sticky noodly things were kind of odd, but I liked the vegetable dumplings, rice paper rolls and spring rolls.
- innards
The spring rolls stuffed with bean noodles, tofu, shopped mushroom, shredded carrot, and probably other vegetable matter were my favorite. They were nothing like the heavy, oily, meaty standard versions that I've unfortunately eaten too many times.
- pad see hew
I ordered pad-see-hew so that I could stuff myself with flat, wide rice noodles, one of my favorite kinds of noodles (any noodle made of rice being my favorite overall). I asked for them to make it extra spicy and I got my tear-inducing wish. With all the broccoli florets and slices of chicken atop the generous pile of chewy noods, I was about to explode...halfway through the plate. I ate more than half (but failed to finish, even though my tastebuds really wanted me to). You can probably figure out what my stomach felt like afterwards
- dessert?
Despite that, I got dessert. Yes, it was a bad idea—I think the gurgly burps that continued late into the night told me that. But dessert is the main part of the meal! For some of us. I probably would've enjoyed the tri-colored sticky rice parfait more had I not already felt like a comatose hippo, but this was an especially heavy dessert atop a full stomach. Um. Crap. I think I ate at least half of it and poked/deconstructed the rest as the night wore on. As someone who has rarely eaten sticky sweetened rice, I don't know how this compares to other similar desserts. It tasted good, just not to the point that I think I'd want to order it again. Unlike chocolate mousse cake.
- flan
They also had sweet potato flan. I don't remember much from the one bite I took, but Charles's friends said that it reminded them of pumpkin pie despite that it didn't have pumpkin in it. Maybe it was the spices. It tasted denser and heavier than other flans I've had, probably because of the potato. Not bad, just atypical.
- mm, fried
Charles went with the jackfruit and banana spring rolls since it was the only vegan option (without the added milky sauce at least), but it was just alright. Maybe we were too stuffed from everything else; all the desserts felt too heavy.
Aside from the desserts and late night food coma (we waddled out of there around when they started closing the restaurant), it was a great dinner with awesome people that I'd love to hang out with again. It's okay to go overboard when you have company, right? Right. I swear there are weeks where I don't participate in group gluttony.
addresses
Posted by roboppy at 12:51 AM
Comments (25)
The nachos looks soo good! Too bad the chips don't have the structural integrity to hold more dip. They need to get thicker chips...
And oh, that chocolate mousse cake. Me want cake, now! It does look huge, decadent, and a calorie/fat bomb but who cares?! Looks too good to pass up. Mmhmmm... :)
First Ssam bar... now the bing Lady. I don't think I can take much more deliciousness before my head explodes...
Posted by: Zach@MidtownLunch at February 22, 2007 10:29 AM [#]
I neeeed to go to roll and dough
::adds to list::
your pad see hew looks amazing, thats always what I order! Except vegeterian style. Oh good, I want thai now, even though I was just nut-buttered. =)
Posted by: susannah at February 22, 2007 1:04 PM [#]
That's so weird - I always see California burgers listed as having lettuce, tomato, sliced raw white onion and mayo. I guess "California" can mean anything. :P
Speaking of burgers for every state, my husband went to a restaurant once in Long Island that had a dish for all 50 states. I thought that sounded like an awesome idea until I heard all 50 weren't available every night. Still a cool idea, though.
And that mousse cake looks sinfully good. I hope you took the rest home to devour later!
Posted by: The Home Cook at February 22, 2007 4:37 PM [#]
santos: Stonkingly? Wuuh oh...I'll make sure that I NEVER GO THERE WITH YOU. Hehe. :) Or I'll just feed you burgers and nachos.
Yeah, let's Sufjan-ize a burger joint! What would a Guam burger be? Make me one!
Kate: 52 burgers; don't forget Guam!
Tina: LETS GET SUM CAAAKE! We gotta eat fat bombs while we're still young.
Adalmin: I haven't seen those, but they sound horrid. I'm curious now though...
Zach: You know what needs to be made now, right? A bing stuffed with Momofuku's pork. [rubs belly]
Maria: Fried overloads are always good! OHH YEAAH.
Susannah: I must see this list of yours. We should attack a place that neither of us has been to yet.
I have a jar of sunflower seed butter waiting for me at home, mmm.
The Home Cook: There is no CA burger standard! Oo, you know what would be fun: if we made a list of all the different kinds of CA burgers across the nation. Then we could determine the core elements that make the CA-ness of a burger! RIGHT? ...[tumbleweed rolls by]...
A dish for every state does sound cool! Too bad it wasn't an everyday thing. :(
I didn't take the leftovers home. I would've eaten it as a late night snack if I did. And that wouldve been BAAD!
A place in Boston (Harvard Square) called Bartley's Burgers has LOTS of great burgers. As you can see from the menu, they aren't "state" burgers, but they have "personality" burgers, which are more mystifying!
Posted by: Michelle at February 22, 2007 5:06 PM [#]
oooh it's a lengthy list. here goes:
doughnut plant
little giant
prune
taboon
rice
cookshop (eluded me)
shake shack
bouchon (to be accomplished this weekend)
room 4 dessert
Up until last week, it inclued honmura an, which I heard closed . . WHAAAT? So sad.
Posted by: susannah at February 22, 2007 5:57 PM [#]
I stock up on bings about once every few weeks when I hit R&D. To bring them back to crispy goodness, just put them in the toaster oven a few minutes. (FYI - The taro ones are the best, either in bing or bun form.)
Posted by: piccola at February 22, 2007 10:34 PM [#]
Oh, yeah! Barley's Burgers is amazing, especially if you're into greasy, short order style diner burgers. But you can order it with wacky toppings to boot! I seem to remember them being named after past and current political figures. How they match up the person to the burger is totally beyond me. Gotta mention their milkshakes, too. Bite of burger, sip of shake, bite of burger, sip of shake. 3000 calorie heaven.
Posted by: Nancy at February 23, 2007 10:44 AM [#]
Sorry. It's a frappe in New England, not a shake. I think a frappe is a super awesome shake or something like that. Yep. That's it.
Posted by: Nancy at February 23, 2007 12:37 PM [#]
Michelle: Oo, that place sounds awesome, thanks for letting me know! We still need a state burger place though. ;D
Anson: I had no idea, thanks for the info! I wish I knew more about Filipino food. :\
Susannah: I heard about Honmura An closing too. :( I feel dumb for not having tried it before even though I wanted to since...last summer? Mrah.
Oh yes, cookshop. Hopefully there won't be a crisis next time you try to go. I wanna go tooo!
piccola: YES, I LOVE SQUISHY TARO FILLING! Taro is also awesome in ice cream form. ;)
Glenna: A mountain is actually the best way to eat a lot of things. Ice cream especially.
Nancy: Why do burgers and shakes go together so well? Taste wise, that is. God knows my arteries doesn't like the combination...
Frappe = super awesome shake? I never really thought about what a frappe was before. I suppose there are a couple of different regional names for shake-like things?
hey robyn!
omg...i don't think i've had a burger since...high school!! for some reason i just got really sick of the meat. the smell, the taste, the thought of burgers makes me queasy. lol.
fried dough in ALL forms, however, is always welcomed!
oh, and this is in regards to your previous post but i'm too lazy to backstep and go comment there - you guys look so grown up! maybe it was the restaurant and all the clean, sleek, zen goodness but it's like i was seeing...ADULTS! lol. and the food - so dainty and intricate! well...except for the massive mound of meat...
can't wait until you get to paris!
ooooh.....bings look yummilicious!can't believe i've never tried them before...SHAME ON ME. will go out and hunt one down.....
sticky rice things brings me home. back in malaysia i used to eat sweet sticky rice things for breakfast, called 'kuih salad' with sweetened (yet slightly salty) sticky rice at the bottom layer and a creamy 'pandan'(sorry don't know what that is in english) and coconut milk-ish layer on top. actually, lots of breakfast thingys have sticky rice and are cooked in coconut milk. not healthy, but yummy for sure!
Posted by: Nina at February 24, 2007 3:03 PM [#]
lets go! hopefully they won't have run out of water! I went to bouchon today =D pictures shall follow
Posted by: susannah at February 24, 2007 5:12 PM [#]
hey robyn！
man i miss roll and dough！ i was talking with my opium prof (teaches nyu) who is just about in love with that place as much as you and i, and she mentioned that the quality was going down with each visit. don't know if you felt the same way? either way, i wish i could just fly over there to have some now :)
ahh, sticky rice for dessert! i can see how that would fill you up even more, but whoever thought to make rice into a dessert is brillant ;)
Adelyn: Sick of meat? NOOooOOoOO!...oo. Well. I can think of other foods that make me queasy. Bacon and sausages. .__. BUT I LOVE DEM BURGZ!
We look grown up? Like grown up GLUTTONS WOO!!! :] Yes, that meat totally doesn't pass as dainty.
I'm practicing my french! I still haven't got "s'il vous plait" down well. Ugh.
Nina: Go get some bings! Fresh ones, hopefully.
Sticky rice for breakfast? If I got to eat that growing up I'd probably enjoy breakfast more. I'm not a scrambled eggs and bacon gal. :\
Susannah: I hope you got macarons!
Kathy: Oh noo, going downhill? Suck! I figure I just need a fresher one.
RICE PUDDING! I think I like rice pudding more than sticky rice as a rice-based dessert. But maybe that's cos I'm more used to it. And I love pudding.
Damn, your spring roll stuffed with bean noodles, tofu, chopped mushroom, carrot & other vegetable matter looks so horrendously delicious. It’s the sort of thing I cannot order, ever, because I will eat the whole plate, and then long for more, & be sulkily disinterested in everything else that comes to the table. & secretly angry at everyone else who ate some of my precious precious spring roll platter. hehe.
Posted by: yvette at February 25, 2007 8:09 PM [#]
omgosh... every single time my boyfriend and i go to have thai, we always always always order the pad see hew... we could eat about 5 plates between us..
but usually it's only really sweet, not spicy at all which is a shame... if we had that option i'd probably eat an extra plate ontop.
it sucks in syd, i prefer vege spring rolls aswell but when you order spring rolls they're usually meat fillings..
i have to restrain myself from lookin at your pics.. it's making my mouth water..
Posted by: nayomaise 
at March 4, 2007 8:35 AM [#]
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: This is the 
7A! the last time i got stonkingly drunk was at 7A. come to think of it, i've gotten drunk there every time....still can remember the name though :)
so...you want a sufjan stevens' burger joint? one song, one burger for every state?
Posted by: santos. at February 22, 2007 2:12 AM [#]