Philly Cheese Steak Dumplings w/ sriracha ketchup
by Celia Cheng
June 30th, 2008
FIRESIDE
19 E 52nd St
@ Madison Ave
212-734-5011
Fireside, located in the Omni Berkshire Hotel in Midtown, is an unexpectedly good restaurant. You could easily mistake it for an unremarkable hotel restaurant, the kind that serves less than mediocre food but must be there for the hotel guests. That’s not the case here though. Chef Sam DeMarco is at the head of this kitchen, and his cuisine is outstanding and fun!
In his own words, he doesn’t really try to be innovative, but incorporates items in his menu that evoke nostalgia. Not innovative? I beg to differ. Philly cheese steak dumplings are innovative, but I understand what he means by nostalgic. He blends the best of both worlds.
Who doesn’t love a good Philly cheese steak? But he’s reconfigured it so that all the components — thinly sliced Rib eye, grilled onions, button mushrooms and American cheese — are wrapped in dumpling skins and then fried like pot stickers. There are five to an order, served with sriracha ketchup — what a great condiment for this masterpiece — to add a little spice. Hot pepperconi peppers as garnish also bring us back to the traditional Philly cheese steak toppings.
I agree with Chef DeMarco that he’s not trying to make fusion cuisine. He doesn’t force the elements together, but simply makes a whimsical change to the classic sandwich. Dumpling skin is a fine substitute for bread in this case. And these are much more elegant and manageable with Fireside’s playful cocktails.
I also tried the three specials currently on the couture menu: bling bling benny (crispy poached eggs with smoked sturgeon) for breakfast; OB’s Kobe burger at lunch, and luxe A-5 gold five-ounce Japanese Kobe sirloin for dinner.
The eggs benedict was nothing like what I expected. Though I love classics, I cringe when I see eggs benedict on a brunch menu. Give me something more interesting! Well, here’s new interpretation of an oldie-but-goody. The poached eggs, covered in panko and Parmesan cheese, are deep fried until crispy, and served over smoked sturgeon and a confetti of three different caviars: ginger, American paddlefish and salmon roe, embellished by asparagus and tomato. It’s a striking and delicious breakfast.
The Kobe burger won my heart instantly. A Kobe beef patty is served between two pieces of brioche tea toast with sautéed chanterelles, summer truffles, shallots and melted Brie. It’s a “tasting” portion and the perfect size for savoring the rich flavors of the high quality ingredients. Truffle fries accompany, and while a little on the greasy side, they were ideally crispy, and, besides, it’s hard to resist the scent of truffle oil.
The Kobe steak is sliced into four thin pieces that you grill at the table on a scorching Himalayan salt brick. This is a common practice in Japan known as ishiyaki (hot stone cooking). It’s fun to cook your own meat, especially when your steak starts sizzling right in front of your eyes. It only takes a few seconds for it to cook on each side, and the satisfaction thereafter is instantaneous.
Chef DeMarco is so endearing. There’s no pretense; he’s jolly and wants you to be jolly, too. I’m looking forward to trying more of his ingenious “cocktail” cuisine!
Posted in American , Appetizer , Dumpling , Midtown East , Steak
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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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Sautéed Potato Pierogies
by Celia Cheng
December 1st, 2005
THE RED CAT
227 10th Ave
(23rd & 24th St)
212-242-1122
This goes on my list of top five best dishes tasted in 2005. Yes! It’s that exciting. Sautéed potato pierogies with mushrooms, lobster wine and butter, reads the menu. Let’s see, I love potatoes, I like pierogies, mushrooms and lobster, oh, and wine and butter too – it’s got all the ingredients to make it a winner. The execution makes it spectacular! The skins of the pierogies are more like pancake-like blinis than dumpling-like dough, when sautéed in butter, it just tastes like heaven. Of course, if you put it in a sauce that is basically a lobster bisque, the combination is just fantastic.
The Red Cat hardly needs an introduction. The first of Jimmy Bradley and Danny Abram’s Beanstalk Restaurants, The Red Cat opened in 1999 and has consistently maintained its high quality and standards. It set the bar for subsequent sister restaurants The Harrison and The Mermaid Inn (Pace just recently closed).
What has struck me most about their restaurants is the service. The staff are always very friendly and not in that superficial, “Hi! My name is …” who cares kind of way. Rather, they make you feel at home and are attentive but not intrusive. In this city, of all places, it’s hard to come by this kind of service without getting some attitude but that’s probably why The Red Cat has such a loyal following. Not to mention, The Red Cat has one of the nicest bars at which to dine. I love eating at the bar in restaurants, and this one is big and comfortable —- the perfect place to enjoy a drink, dine, or preferably both. Fellow diners tend to be Red Cat loyalists and food lovers, which always makes it fun.
Congratulations, The Red Cat, on receiving your second star from The New York Times this past summer. It’s well deserved!
Posted in American , Dumpling , West Chelsea
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Steamed Shrimp and Pork Dumpling Red Monster
by Celia Cheng
March 13th, 2005
DUMPLING MAN
100 St. Mark’s Pl
(1st Ave & Ave A)
212-505-2121
It never ceases to amaze me how poor the selection of Chinese food is in New York. I actually feel sorry for people who have not tasted real Chinese food because based on what is served in the majority of the restaurants here, one would never know how good it can be.
Dumpling Man is the perfect example. I think the idea of a specialty dumpling store in New York is great, but the execution here is significantly lacking.
The main problem is in the dumpling skin, the doughy part. In Asia, it would be a disgrace to serve someone dumplings with skin as thick as Dumpling Man. It is unrefined and lacks the quality of a specialty store. While Dumpling Man is more geared towards fast food, the high price (about 4 times as expensive as Chinatown dumpling joints) doesn’t justify the thick skin, except as a way to fill people up on the dough so that they don’t really focus on the taste of the dumpling as a whole.
The Red Monster is an interesting twist. It is basically a tomato sauce, so it combines the concept of western pasta sauce with Chinese dumplings. It seemed to work okay with the pork dumplings, but was not an ideal combination with the shrimp since the shrimp stuffing has more of a cream base with corn inside.
I’m hoping that they kick it up a notch and try to improve their quality instead of just thinking about this as a moneymaking fast food venture.
Posted in Chinese , Dumpling , East Village
