December 3, 2008
A Bunch of Tasty Bites, And Some Liquids
BECAUSE TIME IS PRECIOUS AND MY STOMACH CAPACITY IS VAST and the brain is sleepy...
...Also, I'm just very far behind. There are so many little (and big) things I eat that never make it to the blog because the task of writing a series of cohesive paragraphs about something I only vaguely remember is too daunting.
But I might be able to bang out a few sentences.
- Pizza!
November 14: Brussels sprouts and speck pizza from Motorino in Williamsburg. Why do roasted brussels sprouts keeps making stuff taste delicious? Is it the crispy, crunchy, caramelized leaves? Perhaps. Sweet cruciferousness, thin slices of cured ham, and fresh mozzarella atop a thin, slightly chewy, sauce-less crust makes for a winning combination. I'd probably say the same about brussels sprouts + [anything].
- Oh, hello
Can't forget about the upskirt. Read more about the meal at Kathy's blog.
- Noodles!
November 15: Ramen from Bonjin Cafe in Williamsburg is unfortunately something you can only enjoy on Friday nights after midnight. I guess it's meant for the drunken population, but for me, it was just an excuse to eat an excessive, second dinner after the pizza. The ramen was topped with arugula, corn, fried noodles, and tender slabs of pork belly, and came in a medium-bodied broth made of chicken, pork, and vegetable stock mixed with five kinds of miso, sake mash, and soy milk. Yeah, it's tasty. Read more about my meal at Serious Eats.
- Oh my god, it's brunch
November 16: The Country breakfast platter consisting of cheddar grits, scrambled eggs, ham steak, buttermilk biscuit, and gravy at Jane in the West Village. A reminder of why I don't like brunch in New York City: restaurants are crowded in an uncharming way and I end up paying $20 for something that isn't $20 of delicious (my valid reason for eating brunch: to hang out with a friend visiting from out of town). Not that it was bad or anything. You read what was in it—it's a breakfast bomb. If you eat the whole thing, at least one of your inner tubes will explode. I ate a little over half of it—the cheesy grits and cakey biscuit, mostly—but couldn't finish anything else. I'm not a fan of ham steak and the scrambled eggs were just alright.
- Ah, a breakfast I like
November 18: Turnip cakes and hot milk tea from Great Bakery in Chinatown. I only wanted one turnip cake, but since they sold them as triplets I ended up with three of the fat, crisp and dense turnipy slabs. I scarfed down two right there and saved the third for lunch. Hot milk tea was sweet and dairy-filled—just the way I like my non-water liquids—and its portable radiator function was a godsend for my freezing hands that cold morning. Altogether, a most awesome breakfast for only $2.25. I'm pretty sure living in Chinatown would make me obese.
- There's meat in there..oh yes
November 20: A tongue and roast pork gordita from the taco truck outside the West 4th station across from the IFC Center. That night I had gone straight from my violin lesson to the Don Hertzfeldt screening at the IFC Center (it was freakin' sweet), skipping dinner in the process and thus feeling about ready to eat a helpless baby after stepping out of the theater. I actually held onto this sandwich until I got back home to Brooklyn, at which point I inhaled the meaty corn pocket full of tender strips of tongue and fatty pork chunks with thick, crispy skins. Each mouthful of meat and thick corn "bun" deadened my stomach, for better or worse. I'd happily fork over $2.50 again for another gordita-eating experience, but preferably before midnight to lessen the "There's an Anvil in Mah Belly" sensation.
- Pizza time!
November 21: Tristan threw a vegan pizza party at our apartment. No cheese, just his homemade tomato sauce, lots of vegetables, and dough he picked up from a neighborhood pizzeria when we didn't have enough time to make our own. Two pizzas fed nine hungry 20-somethings. We should make pizza more often.
- Carbs on carbs
November 22: Dim sum at World Tong in Bensonhurst. The rice noodle-wrapped fried cruller was my favorite dish and the best version I've ever had of the combination of soft, chewy rice noodles with crispy and chewy bread.
- Mochi!...gray mochi
Their green tea cream-filled mochi was also one of the best mochi desserts I had ever eaten. Danny would agree—Allen commented that our faces melted into blissful, somewhat coked-out expressions after our first bites. The texture of the mochi was about as soft as the cream inside. They were made for each other. For more about the other dishes, read my review on Serious Eats.
- A beverage! Gasp!
November 23: Hot black sesame bubble milk tea from Green Tea Cafe in Chinatown. I'm not a big fan of the tapioca balls, but my friend Ken had never tried it before and I figured the only way he'd try it is if I gave him some of mine. Although most people seem to drink bubble tea cold, I like it better hot than cold so the tapioca is softer, although even then I can't eat it all. Black sesame is my top drink flavor, followed by taro. Ken got a cold coconut milk tea sans bubbles and seemingly chugged it in 15 seconds.
Addresses
Motorino
319 Graham Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Bonjin Cafe inside Dokebi (Only Fridays, 12-4 a.m.)
199 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Jane
100 W Houston St
New York, NY 10012
Great Bakery
303 Grand St
New York, NY 10002
Taco Truck (might only be there at night, I'm not sure)
Avenue of the Americas & W 4th St
New York, NY 10014
World Tong
6202 18th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11204
Green Tea Cafe
45 Mott St
New York, NY 10013
Posted by roboppy at 12:48 AM
Comments (29)
You are the only person i ever heard say she actually likes brussels sprouts. On a pizza, no less. And people tell me I'M crazy :)
Posted by: Mikey at December 3, 2008 6:28 AM [#]
G: Brussels sprouts are awesome!
Apartment hunt is going ok. ..Still going thought.
Marvo: I KNOOOW! Most brunches seem to be that expensive here. :(
Mikey: Most of my friends love brussels sprouts (well, the ones that are cooked correctly; I'm sure they can also taste like crap)! Then again, most of them are food obsessed.
Su-Lin: I'm always in the mood for turnip cakes!
Jeanette: 3 in one sitting is dangerous. Especially the ones I ate which were the size of BRICKS. I wish there were a place close to my work where I could get em.
hello i got wind of your blog from a friend of a friend!
i live in singapore and normally we call turnip cake carrot cake. or chai tow kway, which is.. some sort of dialect. and rice noodles is actually kway teow. er but i think the biggest thing i noticed was what you call fried cruller, which is actually "you tiao". aaand it is definitely not crispy chewy bread hahaha i... don't know what it is. definitely not bread.
anyway i really enjoy your food posts (: just wanted to point out some things.
ooh ooh and actually i don't know if you've tried this but there is another version of chai tow kway where it is chopped up and mixed with egg and chai poh (... pickle? i'm not sure). i found a post of it on a local foodblog, here.
i prefer carrot cake that way, but it's definitely more unhealthy.. though that's not really something i care about XD and oh yes if you haven't you should also try you tiao dipped in cold soybean milk! it's really good (:
sydney: I had something called carrot cake at a Singaporean food fest here once. It wasn't like the turnip cake, but like the egg thing you were talking about. Good stuff! I haven't had it anywhere else besides that food fest, but then I haven't been on the lookout for Singaporean food..
As for the cruller, every time I've had it is a...uh...chewy crispy wheat-based bread. :O Am I missing something?
Since I don't know Chinese I figure it's safer to refer to things in English, unless they don't have a Chinese name. But I could get used to using the non-English names. :)
I wish I lived closer to chinatown.....3 dollar lunches are the best!
Too bad you wanna stay in williamsburg(which is a great neighborhood, cuz I live there lols j/k j/k) but I have a friend who's looking for a roommate but she lives somewhere in queens. I'm not even sure where in queens...I've never been there cuz it's um....too far from me -=X
Posted by: wonders at December 3, 2008 10:38 AM [#]
Violin lesson?! Whu'? I stopped those the moment I admitted I didn't like them very much, which was after like, 15 years of 'em. Until now I thought an adult, Asian, non-professional violinist went the way of the toucan! I tease. It's awesome you play! It works up an appetite, no? :) (BTW, Turnip cake! Yes!)
Posted by: JustNancy at December 3, 2008 1:40 PM [#]
Robyn, with my luck, if you lived in Queens you'd end up around the corner from me and I'd end up obese. It would just not end well. X)
Also, I recently became a brussels sprout convert. w00t! And will from here on out be using the word "cruciferousness" whenever possible.
Posted by: Kathryn at December 3, 2008 2:28 PM [#]
I love those noodle wrapped crullers. I ate a few in Hong Kong last week and ZOMG! Impossibly thin and silky freshly steamed rice noodles with freshly fried donuts...*drool*
I uploaded those to the SE Flickr pool. ;)
Posted by: Manda at December 3, 2008 3:06 PM [#]
wonders: Queens is nice (lots of food!), but...most of my friends live in Williamsburg, so I'd rather stay here. I also like living near the L, hehe.
Carl: I'M LIKE MSG!
JustNancy: Well I've only been playing for a few months so I'm not sick of it yet! :) I totally suck though.
Kathryn: I like to use "cruciferousness" as much as possible. A beautiful word, that is.
Manda: WAAAH I WANNA EAT NODDLE WRAPPED CRULLERS IN HONG KONG! I wonder if I'll ever go to HK.. ;_; Don't have any family members who live there. Dooh.
Danny: Oo, I have no idea! I'm not in that area much anymore...might be a night only thing. I saw it around 9pm and got my gordita sometime after 11.
Thank you for all the wonderful food porn over the years taking a nice vacation in Germany and thought I'd give back a little, tis the season for giving.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68031197@N00/
Posted by: Derek at December 3, 2008 6:50 PM [#]
boop.
Posted by: Aliiiiiiiiiiiiice at December 3, 2008 11:19 PM [#]
Ro - turnip cakes, jia lerng, and ramen??!? Oh my! Talk about perfect comfort food now that the weather has taken a turn towards the lower end of the thermometer.
You remember your veggie-friendly restaurant series, where I raved about the mock roast pork at Buddha Bohdai? Well, I recently tried their version of jia lerng, and I have to say that IT IS AWESOME! The noodles are thinner, so there is a better ratio of noodle to cruller in each bite - none of the gigantic piece of noodle left all alone at the end of the meal. And that mock roast pork has held up excellently in homemade fried rice, stir fries, and ramen. Just stay away from their mock shu mai - it's quite mealy and weird texturally.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving -- and to hear about it soon! :)
- S
Wait - They put fried noodles on top of ramen? Double noodles??? ...My mind just imploded.
And I know you said the brunch was meh, but ham aside, it looks mighty tasty in the photo.
Once again, I wish we had taco trucks in Toronto. But unfortunately, city bylaws prevent carts from selling anything but hotdogs. (Not kidding - neverending battle at city hall.)
Posted by: piccola at December 4, 2008 9:01 PM [#]
Christina: I WANT TO EAT BRUSSELS SPROUTS ON EVERYTHIIIINGG.
Derek: I'd love to visit Germany someday! With someone who knew where all the good food is. ...sigh.
Alice: beep.
Steph: Oo, I like Buddha Bodai! If I go back I'll have to try the cruller noodle majiggy.
Ahh, thanksgiving was kind of uneventful but I guess I should blog it..hm.
Michelle: The sprouts weren't shaved, just...peeled? I mean, leaves were scattered about. My vocabulary fails.
piccola: I had no idea there was such a rule. Street food = HOT DOGS? NOTHING ELSE?! :( fugnut.
Oh yeah, crispy noodles on top of...noodles. I didn't think of it as NOODLE ON NOODLE ACTION. That sounds cooler.
The ramen sounds and looks savory...:F
Which ramen broth do you prefer, miso or meat-stock?
Posted by: Jane H. at December 6, 2008 11:52 PM [#]
Uweeh~ too much awesome in one post! Although good effort for trying to catch up :]
...There were fried noodles ...On your noodles?
I'm always confused as to why it's called "turnip cake" in English, since it isn't made of turnip (It's made of awesome, but that's another story). Also I've never seen a bakery selling it. I wish that was more common.
The rice noodle fried dough thing is also my favourite at dim sum, so I'm intrigued by this version of perfection you had. Green tea mochi also looks absolutely LUSH. I might have gotten the inappropriate urge to lap out the centre though >.> I've never had a mochi as soft as how that one sounds. This must be new technology or something! Going to follow some of your SE links ^_^
Posted by: SuperChomp at December 7, 2008 5:37 PM [#]
Mark: Carbs on carbs doesn't always work. Like a yakisoba sandwich. But when it does work, it's awesome.
Olivia: We will get our chance!...we willll..
Jane H: I think I'm more of a meat stock fan, but I kinda like..it all!
SuperChomp: Yup, some fried noodles acted as a garnish. Like ...uh, scallions sprinkled on..stuff!
The bakery was bigger than most and had a little steam table section besides savory foods like turnip cakes. Lots of seats as well.
Noo don't lap out the center, they must be eaten TOGETHER IN HARMONY! :)
I just had 4 (Four) full sized tacos at the bar at Dokebi in Williamsburg. they wer really tasty. The Korean take on it was crazy. So much flavor! The use of grass-fed black Angus short ribs and the Bershire pork Bellies? Why didn't someone do this before?
I'm going to eat them everyday until this place gets too crowded. The guy behind the bar told me that they've only had them for 5 days so far. Soft opening?
Posted by: todo taco at October 10, 2009 8:22 PM [#]
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: This is the 
Everything looks very tasty :) Funny to see one of those strange pizza toppings again - brussel sprouts? :p
How did the flat hunt go?
Posted by: G at December 3, 2008 1:26 AM [#]