Dim Sum
by Celia Cheng
April 16th, 2008
CHINATOWN BRASSERIE
380 Lafayette St
@ Great Jones St
212-533-7000
The more I eat at Chinatown Brasserie, the more I like their dim sum. It has to be some of the best in town. The prices aren’t cheap compared to Chinatown – ironically, the restaurant is not in Chinatown but in the trendier area of NoHo — but I certainly don’t mind paying for good food. Lately, when I crave dim sum or fried rice, Chinatown Brasserie is the first place that comes to mind.
I prefer Chef Joe Ng’s dim sum to the rest of the menu, because everything from the steamed dumplings to the pan-fried goods is just scrumptious.
I always start with the shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings. The steamed roast pork buns are fluffy and the pork juicy. The turnip cake with ham and XO sauce is near perfection with just the right consistency of crispy on the outside and creamy inside. XO sauce is a Hong Kong specialty of dried seafood cooked in chili oil. It makes everything taste good, as proven by another dish, the seafood and pork fried rice with XO sauce. This gogi berry-topped fried rice is spectacular, as the rice stays white and silky smooth, while the seafood and pork add rich flavor and aroma. Plus it’s not overly greasy. The shrimp rice noodle rolls are a staple favorite, and even though I don’t eat the ginger that accompanies, some friends love it.
The highlight for me is always the crispy taro root shrimp. Taro has a neutral flavor but is starchy in its consistency like potato, so the Chinese use it for both sweet and savory dishes. This one is savory and comes in the shape of a bird, served four to a plate. A long, thin piece of baked dough acts as the head attached to the body of the bird. The body is a complex mixture of ingredients that work beautifully together: shrimp are split, stuffed with a shredded mushroom mixture, and then covered with a chilled mashed taro paste. When deep fried, the exterior of the paste turns lacy, like a thousand delicate shreds, which form the body of the bird. And appropriately, the shrimp tail is proudly displayed as the tail of the bird. The sweet mustard sauce is a good complement.
And for the finale, I swear by the custard bao. These tiny bite-size custard-filled buns are dreamy.
This is definitely one of those restaurants where the food is first and foremost. Sometimes I find the service to be a little vacant, but that’s easily overlooked because there are so many dishes I crave. Hooray for good dim sum!
Posted in Brunch , Chinese , Dim Sum , Dumpling , East Village , Rice
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Israeli Breakfast (two eggs any style, w/ labneh cheese, home fries, Israeli salad & pita)
by Celia Cheng
February 28th, 2008
MIRIAM
79 5th Ave
(St Marks & Warren St)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-622-2250
Do you sometimes forget to give credit to those consistently solid neighborhood restaurants and just take them for granted? I think that’s what I’ve done with Miriam. After reviewing Gazala Place, I was reminded of a recent brunch at Miriam, and so while I’m on a roll, let’s talk about another restaurant that serves great Israeli fare.
Miriam is about four times the size of Gazala Place, but even so, its popularity exceeds the number of seats available. On weekends, crowds amass outside, eagerly awaiting their turn to enjoy the scrumptious brunch.
With plenty of windows and light yellow and green walls, Miriam has a bright and cheery atmosphere. In contrast to Gazala’s more demure homemade feel, Miriam is modern and hip. It’s not just the Park Slope location, but the philosophy behind the food emphasizes the cross pollination of modern Jewish culture and cuisine rather than strict adherence to heritage and tradition.
At brunch, I most enjoy sitting at the bar and sipping fresh squeezed orange juice while I wait for my Israeli breakfast. It includes two eggs (my order: sunny side up, extra crispy), labneh cheese, home fries, Israeli salad and pita.
The eggs arrived perfectly cooked as I specified, with the yolks runny, but the edges burnt to a crisp. The labneh cheese has the consistency and taste of yogurt; drizzled with olive oil, it’s irresistible with the piping hot pita. Miriam’s pitas come from Pita Express, but these thick, meaty but fluffy pitas are so good I assumed they were homemade. The Israeli salad of tomato, cucumber and onions was finely diced and provided my serving of vegetables for the day. And no brunch would be complete without home fries. These are cooked soft with juicy onions. I also asked for Miriam’s tahini sauce, which I call “the green sauce,” on the side. Green with a fragrant scent of fresh herbs, it’s tahini blended with cilantro and parsley. I add it to everything on my plate.
The original Miriam on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope (the one I visit) opened in 2005, but given the success of the restaurant, another one opened last year in Cobble Hill.
While Gazala Place and Miriam are stylistically quite different, both offer delicious fare in very diverse neighborhoods. Hurray for good Middle Eastern food in New York.
Posted in Brunch , Israeli , Park Slope
Heirloom Endive, Roasted Cauliflower and Croznes w/ Fried Soft-Boiled Egg, Kabocha Squash Purée
by Celia Cheng
November 24th, 2007
THE TASTING ROOM
264 Elizabeth St
(Houston & Prince St)
212-358-7831
Brunch, in theory, should be a fun meal, but over the years I’ve stopped enjoying it and pretty much stopped eating it all together. I prefer just to have regular lunch, mainly because few restaurants come up with original brunch menus, and one can only have so many eggs, no matter what the variation or twist…or so I thought.
Imagine my surprise to find The Tasting Room’s brunch menu to be a breath of fresh air. We’re not talking crazy innovation, but rather good ol’ home-style cooking with a lot of heart, soul, and fresh, local ingredients.
Everything my companion and I ordered was good. I started with the Cock and Bull Bloody Mary made with chicken and beef stock and garnished with a pickled egg. For me, no weekend is complete without a Bloody Mary, and this one was the perfect way to start the day. For fear of getting bombed before my friend arrived, I decided to munch on a buttermilk biscuit and corn bread. The order includes one of each accompanied by homemade elderberry jam, chocolate ganache and sweet butter. I tend to go for jams rather than chocolate spreads, for fear the spread will be too sweet and overpowering, but the chocolate ganache was as light and pleasant as the elderberry jam. The buttermilk biscuit was light and flaky and, with the corn bread, it really hit the spot.
After my friend arrived, we decided to share three dishes: mizuna and butterhead lettuce salad; fried soft-boiled egg with kobacha squash purée; and the buttermilk-battered and fried duck leg. The salad, tossed with miso dressing and popcorn, was surprisingly unusual as the popcorn added a unique texture to the dish, making it fun to eat.
Both entrées were outstanding! I’m still savoring the taste of the fried soft-boiled egg with kabocha squash purée. I didn’t think there was a variation on the egg that could still impress me, but the idea of combining these two egg-cooking techniques, both of which I love, is brilliant. The egg is deep fried after being soft boiled, which makes the yolk solid though not hard, and the outcome is beautiful, like a pouch holding the yolk and a tail of egg white, crispy from being fried. It’s served over a sweet kabocha squash purée that’s made from cooking kabocha with herbs and maple syrup then the skins are removed and the squash is puréed. To add some greens to the mix, cooked heirloom endive, coznes — a strain of mint — and roasted cauliflower completed the dish and offset the sweetness of the purée. This egg-related brunch dish is unarguably unique, healthy and delicious!
Our last dish, the buttermilk-battered and fried duck leg was another knockout. The duck leg itself, topped with chili vinegar, honey, molasses and chili paste, was perfectly deep fried with a crispy skin that we gnawed on until it was all gone. Like all ingredients at The Tasting Room, the chili vinegar is no ordinary off-the-shelf sauce. It’s made by taking all of the ribs and seeds from the chilies brought in at the end of summer and adding them to champagne vinegar. Each time a little is used, more vinegar is added to the bottle. Fried duck leg cannot be complete without a potato accompaniment, and, in this case, it was a salad made with Japanese sweet potato, diced carrots, roasted shallots and crème fraîche — a subtle and refreshing mix to balance the fried duck.
Our brunch was delightful, a combination of stellar and original food, friendly service and relaxing atmosphere. My faith in brunch has been restored, which is no small feat and a testament to Chef Colin Alevras’ talent!
Posted in American , Brunch , Eggs , NoLIta
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Stuzzichini Misti (selection of five appetizers)
by Celia Cheng
August 30th, 2007
It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s blazing hot or abnormally cold; the weather this month has not affected my appetite in the least bit. It’s been another full month of non-stop eating. I’ve had the chance to try a dozen restaurants, old and new, that have been on my list. Here are three more quick highlights for August:
Bar Stuzzichini
928 Broadway
(21st & 22nd St)
212-780-5100
The stuzzichini (small plate appetizers) at this new Flat Iron district Italian restaurant are actually quite good, but the size of the restaurant can be distracting and the service consistently sloppy. It feels more like a dining hall than a nice restaurant. Sitting at the marble-topped dining bar could’ve been just as delightful as the dining bar at Bellavitae, but, unfortunately, Bar Stuzzichini lacks the intimacy and comfort, and the large restaurant atmosphere sadly detracts from the otherwise perfectly good stuzzichinis. The pastas are descent but not exceptional and desserts not too interesting. My recommendation is to sit at the bar and have the stuzzichini misti — one of each from the five categories: fritti (fried), verdure (vegetables), pesce (seafood), formaggi (cheeses), and salumi (cured meats). Ordered individually, each appetizer ranges from $5 to $10, but the misti is a bargain at $22. The arancini (fried rice balls) are wonderfully crunchy on the outside and gooey inside, and the scamorza alla brace (grilled scamorza cheese — a type of dried and cured mozzarella) is scrumptious. It seems to me that happy hour at Bar Stuzzichini for some snacks may be the way to go.
Rose Water
787 Union St
(5th & 6th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-783-3800
website
Rose Water is a foodie haven in Park Slope. The seasonal menu focuses on quality ingredients, the service is always pleasant, and the prices are fair. At a recent dinner, the sweet corn risotto with oyster mushrooms, zucchini, pickled onions and herbs stood out as an extremely savory combination. The weekend prix-fixe brunch at $13 is also very worthwhile and includes an entrée and a drink. It’s an unbeatable deal. This past weekend, I was happy as a clam after having the poached eggs on flat grilled corn cakes, served with plum sauce and accompanied by a feta, spinach and grilled cherry tomato salad — a special so it was $15 instead of $13 — and a glass of fresh watermelon peach juice. Rose Water is yet another great Park Slope neighborhood restaurant.
Sfoglia
1402 Lexington Ave
@ 92nd St
212-831-1402
website
Trying to get a dinner reservation at Sfoglia is a real challenge, as they seem to be booked six-weeks in advance. It’s no wonder, since Sfoglia is small, with only ten tables and a bar, and the food is simple and good. If your schedule is flexible, though, there is the option of lunch, which is rather quiet. Several of the regulars eating alone at the bar treat Sfolgia like a neighborhood café, bringing reading or writing material and leisurely enjoying their meals. The homemade bread is served fresh and warm! It’s like country bread with a dash of sea salt seasoning; the outer crust is crunchy but not too hard or thick, and the bread inside is white and fluffy. The frittata of the day (fennel, cipollini onions and parmesan on the day of my lunch) seemed a popular choice amongst the bar diners, so I tried it and decided that on my next visit that would be all I’d need for lunch. Naturally I couldn’t pass up the scialatelli (a thicker version of spaghetti), roasted cherry tomatoes, bottarga di muggine (dried grey mullet fish roe), parsley and garlic. The scialatelli is a meatier pasta and worked well with the sweet roasted cherry tomatoes and bottarga. The pappardelle alla Bolognese sounded great with ground pork, veal and chicken liver and fresh hand-cut sheets of papparadelle, but alas the dish was over-salted and thus disappointing. Nevertheless, Sfoglia is a rustic gem, a sliver of a restaurant on the UES that I will happily return to for lunch. It’s a place where you can relax and find peace of mind, if you can take the time.
Posted in American , Appetizer , Brunch , Flat Iron District , Italian , Park Slope , Small Plates , UES
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History, Accompanied by Blue Points and King Crab
by Mort Hochstein
May 1st, 2006
THE WILLARD ROOM
1401 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC
202-637-7440
Visitors to Washington, DC often miss out on some very memorable attractions. One is my favorite museum, The National Portrait Gallery, which has been closed since 2000 for renovations and reopens in July. I’ve missed its memory-jogging photos, caricatures and Time magazine covers of politicians, entertainers, athletes, innovators and achievers.
Another is the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel — just two blocks away from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue — a revered institution that offers a warm, pleasant visit to the glory days of American hotels. The Willard’s story dates back to 1850 and new chapters are being written every day. Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant were the first in a long line of presidents to have resided at the hotel or presided over social functions in its grand ballrooms. Kentucky Senator Henry Clay concocted the capitol’s first Mint Julep at The Willard’s Round Robin Bar, which looks much as it did when Clay introduced that drink; Ulysses S. Grant coined the term “lobbyist” and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. polished his “I Have a Dream” speech in its halls.
I returned to The Willard Room, the hotel’s primary restaurant, one recent Sunday afternoon about a week past the prime cherry blossom-viewing period, and I watched through its gilded windows as tourists meandered from the Mall to the museums and the grounds surrounding the White House. There’s a feeling of historic grandeur to dining at The Willard Room, with its splendid carpeting and oak panels, and it couldn’t have been grander that festively sunny, flower-bedecked spring afternoon. I was there because The Willard had recently introduced its “Taste of America Brunch,” and it was an attraction I couldn’t resist.
I’m a longtime brunch devotee and have learned to be selective after pigging out at too many buffets. At The Willard, there were over a dozen serving stations, and it was difficult not to stray towards excess. I came in determined to concentrate on foods not readily available to me — foregoing even a sip of the crab and corn chowder or a nibble of waffles made to order with such tempting toppings such as mango and pineapple topped with whipped cream, vowing to concentrate on the seafood bar.
Well, I did get sidetracked by a whiff of locally cured Virginia ham and smoked turkey breast, samplings that will leave me forever discontented with the fare at my local deli. I have to mention the carving station, where I succumbed to a slight sampling of the two carnivorous temptations: slow-roasted Colorado Bison rib with deep flavors heightened by a spicy Cajun rub and succulent barbecued pork loin, glazed ever so tantalizingly by a Kentucky bourbon topping.
Somehow I slipped by the greens and the salad bar, sadly not taking up the server’s offer of avocado with baby shrimp salad, and made my way finally to the seafood station.
These were the choices: poached Maine lobster with green goddess mayonnaise, Long Island blue point oysters, Alaskan king crab, cherrystone clams and gulf shrimp cocktail. Impartial, I made my obeisance to all of them, storing up enough iron and mineral for my next dinner.
I did not take full advantage of some truly promising cheeses. But my wife Rollie did, offering me rewarding nibbles of farmstead fromage from the Allegheny plateau of Maryland, Fritz Maytag’s blue from Iowa and Vermont camembert, a very rewarding sampling. There was also Bache Noir, Top Bleu Mountain and Merry Goat Round. In Paris once, I enjoyed a meal consisting only of cheese. I could have recreated that gustatory experience at The Willard.
Desserts? Oh, just the usual. Huckleberries trifle with yellow chiffon cake and Grand Marnier cream, cherry cheesecake with Morello cherry compote, good old-fashioned pineapple upside-down cake, pecan pie and more, more, more. Did I mention that the waiter, who had brought me champagne to start, replaced my plate and refolded my napkin every time I got up, and those services, along with a never empty coffee cup, kept him happily busy.
The tariff? Sixty-five dollars for an ambrosial afternoon and the opportunity to work it off investigating the history-laden corridors of The Willard. All in the name of culture, of course.
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