dream75517's Profile
Korean for Thanksgiving--heading for Queens
Kum Gan Sang on Northern and near Union Street is always busy. It may not be the best, but I can bet there will be people there.
Getting food for others at work
I sympathize, I would have felt a little slighted myself in that situation! However...
While he would have been a swoon-worthy well-mannered fellow if he bought you that drink- not buying you that drink doesn't make him rude.
But if he shortchanged me on the tab as well, I might have taken liberties to infer that he wasn't as proper as he could be....which is what I assume you did too.
Am I the only one who lives in a magic house? A lighthearted look at ourselves & food safety
Haha, the secret's out- Boys, sorry!
But really, I'm just not a germaphobe...Growing up with a nurse for a mother fosters a sense of shame about caring about the little germs- she would pooh pooh and laugh me out of the house!
I think that eating questionable foods has given me the immunity that I have today..and it was totally worth it!
The best thing you could do is wash your hands (preferably not anti-bacterial- lowers immunity!) and trust your gut in the kitchen!
Family foods I thought was normal
ah, spam is feelin the love =)
I think spam just confuses a lot of people. The shape, the color, the packaging, the fact that it could probably survive Armageddon...
Am I the only one who lives in a magic house? A lighthearted look at ourselves & food safety
I'm ashamed to admit that my kitchen sanitation skill are less than ideal!
Like nofunlatte, I've been known to pick things off the floor- I mean, if it just fell...how much could it hurt?!
I'll eat anything in my fridge just as long as it doesn't taste off.
Soups and stews will be left on the stove for days- after the third day, if it's not gone, it'll go in the fridge.
But I can't even remember the last time I've gotten sick from home cooked food!
Just some facts:
-I don't wear shoes in the house
-I'm Korean- I eat lots and lots of kimchi
-A lot of the foods I eat are miso based, seasoned with vinegar, or Korean red pepper paste-based. This may increase the viability of dishes
-I'm a girl
-I'm incredibly fastidious with it comes to everything else!
Family foods I thought was normal
SPAM! Maybe not so ABnormal, but maybe a bit more disgusting?
In a Korean household, or at least MY Korean household, we bought spam by the boatloads and put it into EVERYthing. We had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had it in stews (Kimchi Jigae) and omelets and prosaically with white rice.
I actually didn't think it wasn't normal until my (korean) friend came back from college and told us that his non-korean friends laughed at him for eating spam.
When I went to Hawaii this past summer, I felt completely at home eating spam loco...minus the gravy they served it with!
My French Quarter Plan - Am I On Track?
Central Grocery opens at 9am (I am almost positive) and closes at 5pm. And it is closed on Sundays. =)
Awesome Service and so-so food, or horrible service with awesome food?
No, I totally agree with you on that! I think that snobby service is the worst kind of service. Even if the food tastes like something I would be able to make at home, I think the presence of a great wait staff would make the experience worthwhile.
While some people are all about the food when dining out, I tend to take everything into account when measuring the quality of a dining experience. I've been to not so great places, but if I'm with good friends, and the servers are cool, I'm happy.
I can forgive a lot if the food is awesome, but the food will never be able to save snobby service.
Awesome Service and so-so food, or horrible service with awesome food?
Forgive me if the subject has come up on the board before, but this question has been on my mind lately. I might get chewed out by some of the posters, but I would absolutely choose awesome service with not-so-good or so-so food over bad service at a restaurant serving ambrosia of gods.
I understand servers who may not be the chattiest, or who may be having an off day, and are a bit quiet. I can even understand inattentive servers. I'm not too difficult to please. However, I am also easily offended. What I absolutely will not take is service with an attitude.
I live in New Orleans, and have been to Jacque Imo's and Felix's, restaurants which have reviews that span both extremes of good and bad. I love Jacque Imo's for their excellent service on my first experience there, even though their mussels tasted like a body part I won't name here. Felix's, while I love their food, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth because of one bad experience with a waitress there.
What does everyone else think?
Ice cream and gelato
I second Angelo Brocato's and Creole Creamery, both of which is cheaper than Sucre and La Divina.
I tried La Divina once (the cookies and cream-like one...(I tried it once and never went back, so I can't remember the exact flavor), and it had a sour dairy aftertaste, the kind that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and stays forever. But my friends seemed to think it was okay.
I also tried Sucre's raspberry gelato, and what can I say? It was fine, but not mind blowing.
For gelato and ice cream, I will always choose Angelo Brocato's and Creole Creamery. I've tasted gelato in Rome, Florence, and Venice, and while I'm biased (even bad gelato will taste good while walking the streets of Italy!) I gotta say, Angelo Brocato's is pretty darn delicious! (I'm not too fond of the tiramisu flavor though).
Pho Tau Bay in Metairie...Closed? Also, review of Vietnam Cuisine
Thanks for your replies!
I'm glad that I have some back up on Vietnam Cuisine. As a new chowhound poster in a city of great food, I'm always slightly scared of angering the chowhound regulars (which happen to include mrsfury, Hungry Celeste, in addition to JFood and Bill Hunt, and many many others!
Hungry Celeste- If we are thinking about the same Saigon, I think I parked and did a walk by...it seemed quite shady, and I backtracked as quickly as I could. But now I'm thinking maybe I should have tried Saigon instead of Vietnam Cuisine!
I Love Kanno
The first time I went to Kanno was November 2007. After hearing about it from Chowhound, I decided to go after picking my friend up from the airport. I love sushi, any sushi. I love the good deal sushi from Mikimoto to the higher end Horinoya. So I did not discover any great revelation at Kanno. I just know I enjoyed it.
Being based in Metairie on and off for two weeks as I have been graduating from college, moving out, and looking for apartments, my sister and I have had many more chances to go to Kanno. I have made 5 attempts to go there and had meals there 4 times in the past 2 weeks, which I think is pretty impressive, since I can usually go half a year without going to any restaurants.
The first time, I had a pretty basic sushi meal: tuna nigiri and a spicy tuna roll and crawfish roll. I'm a bit ashamed to type this as I did not take advantage of Kanno's amazing sushi abilities.
The second time, we ordered a baked salmon roll with fantasy sauce, a snowcrab roll, a yellowtail roll with scallions, and scallop nigiri. This is when we started to hone our now-usual order. Though the yellowtail roll sounds plain, the taste of the scallions goes beautifully with the yellowtail. The baked salmon roll was really good, and though the fantasy sauce was good, I could take it or leave it.
The third time it was closed! I was very sad.
The fourth time, I had the baked salmon appetizer and the scallop nigiri. The baked salmon appetizer is probably going to be my last meal if I ever get put on death row. It is much better than the baked salmon at Mikimoto's. I'm not a chowhound at all: no matter how artificial, how "inelegant", if it tastes good, I like it! The baked salmon at mikimoto's is exactly the same as the one at Kanno, except Mikimoto's is topped off with a viscous eel sauce, which I thought I like...until I tasted the baked salmon at Kanno- the baked salmon and snow crab is marinated with the eel sauce- but just enough for this sauce junkie! And it is less greasy and oily. Heaven!
This fifth time is what motivated me to write this post. We got the usuals, the baked salmon appetizer and the scallop nigiri, but we also got the sashimi appetizer. I usually do not get sashimi in New Orleans, since every place I tried serves big slabs that look like tongues. Plus, it seems so much blander than rolls! But the descriptions made it sound so good. First, I must describe the presentation- the sashimi was cut beautifully! It was thick enough to be substantial, but thin enough so you could kinda see the light through the slice. The salmon was butter. There was also yellowtail and three kinds of tuna- tuna tataki, pepper crusted, and regular tuna sashimi. The yellowtail also had some kind of pepper crust. The sashimi was so good!
I also like the fact that the ginger is not pink, but a natural ecru-yellowish color. The wasabi seems to be genuine wasabi, and if not, at least it isn't so artificial that one dab will make you feel like you put vicks in your nostrils. Don't get me wrong, I love wasabi, I just don't know if the strong potency of some is natural.
I have not gone to Kanno long enough or steadily enough to become a regular yet. Nor do I have the money to keep this up for long! But everytime I have gone, it is like Elvis (the owner) is performing some kind of sold-out show in Vegas! He always has patrons in front of him, talking and gabbing. Once, I saw a whole gaggle of customers greeting each other like long lost friends (after listening in, I figured out that these were 2 families. Apparently, the husbands, along with another friend, has been sneaking to Kanno without their wives, one on several occasions. Family 1, with the husband, wife, and daughter, are nearly finished eating when Couple 2 walks in. When Wife 1 asks Wife 2 where she has been, Wife 2 cracks that her husband has gone to Kanno 3 times that week, every time without her! Wife 1 starts to joke that she's spied Husband 2 with a blonde once, a brunette next.) Elvis is just behind the bar, laughing as he prepares to awe and satisfy another group of hungry friends.
Pho Tau Bay in Metairie...Closed? Also, review of Vietnam Cuisine
So, as I stay in a hotel in Metairie until my apartment lease starts in New Orleans, I started to crave pho. My throat is hoarse, my head is pounding, and my stomach wants something warm. I looked up some pho places for Metairie, and saw that pho tau bay had a branch here..but I knew that a few have closed after Katrina. I tried to hunt it down, but no luck. I drove by Vietnam Cuisine at 3808 Veteran's Blvd. My standards for pho are not high...when I'm desperate, I'll order some from August Moon on Prytania.
I walk in and am handed a take out menu. From the start, I know that this is a bare bones operation. Lots of menu items are crossed off. All menu items are some sort of derivative from one or all the dishes. There are 4 appetizers, which are egg rolls and three kinds of spring rolls. Under the "Noodle" Entrees, all the dishes are sauteed [choice of protein] with cold noodles and fresh vegetables. There is only one kind of pho, which is with rare beef.
Okay, I think, the menu may be sparse, but maybe the food is really really good. I really wanted chicken pho, and the waitress suggests getting a clear soup with chicken. I also order the rare beef pho and sauteed chicken with cold noodles and fresh vegetables.
I take it out, and go home to eat. I taste the beef pho....the worst, hands down, no question, that I have ever put into my mouth. There was way way way too much cinnamon or cloves in the broth. I threw it away after one sip. The clear soup was good...but it was clear soup! The sauteed chicken with noodles and veggies was, what can I say, good, but something I could have made myself. I have to note, I don't cook, so if I could make it myself, it is pretty unimpressive.
With the exception of pho, the meal was okay. Overall I paid $25 dollars. Let me just say, this was not a $25 meal. I would have preferred to go to the supermarket to buy 10 cans of progresso chicken noodle soup.
Review of Coops, Dragos, Dante's Kitchen, and Casamentos
So, as a long time lurker, I have read about so many of New Orleans great restaurants. However, as a college student, my budget was not appropriate for eating out. But, graduation week and the arrival of my parents changed all that! So while these restaurants were not the ones I wanted to go to the most, they were familiar enough to me due to chowhound posts.
Coops: Went on Wednesday for lunch, after touring the french quarter for a bit. When we first walked inside, my mom's face was priceless...it looked exactly like it was supposed to- a local, run-down, dark joint. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but I should have known it wasn't going to be the most elegant place on earth. The only waitress was the one behind the bar, and she seemed too busy entertaining those buying drinks than those eating. Without any acknowledgment from her, we sat ourselves. Though she hollered that she would be right with us, it took at least another 5 minutes for her to come and get our drink orders, another 10 for her to bring them, and another 5 for her to take our meal orders even though we were ready when we got our drinks. She was pleasant enough, but seeing how she was clearly talking with regulars about who was dating whom, I'm guessing that it wasn't because she was busy that she was slow to wait on us. I got the shrimp creole, my mom got a taster plate of some sort, and my sister got the salad with blackened shrimp. The shrimp creole was probably the worst I've had- It reminded me too much of bad sweet and sour shrimp, with too much Tabasco.The salad with shrimp was fine. The taster plate was gumbo, shrimp creole, red beans and rice (this one had some sort of meat- maybe pork?), jambalaya, and a piece of fried chicken. My mom turned the gumbo away after one sip- it had quite an unusual taste to it, nothing like any other gumbo I've had in my 5 years in the city. It was not good. The shrimp creole was the same as mine, the red beans and rice tasted like artificial liquid smoke, the jambalaya was unimpressive, but the fried chicken blew my mom away. She talked and talked and talked about it throughout the meal. After she raved to the waitress, we got better service. All in all, the one thing we found out was the Coops is only good for one thing- the fried chicken.
Dragos: The next day, my mom, my sister, two friends, and I went to Dragos in Metairie. We started off with one dozen raw and one dozen charbroiled oysters. It was like manna from heaven, so much so that we ordered another round of each. While my sister, one friend, and I loved the raw oysters, my mom and my other friend were pretty much sopping all of the juices out of the charbroiled ones. It took three days for my mom to stop reminding me about those oysters, and I'm sure they're still on her mind right now. My friend began to consider Dragos to begin her boyfriend's first tour of New Orleans oysters. For entrees, my sister and mom had the lobster, I had baked chicken (I was feeling boring that day), and my friends had crawfish etoufee and some sort of fried ravioli. I have to say, all the entrees were delicious, even my chicken, and we ended up STUFFED. No complaints with dragos at all!!!!
Dante's Kitchen: After my friends and I graduated (yay!), five of us decided to go to Dante's Kitchen for lunch. I was late in coming, but I called and asked them to order the omelet with crab and brie (egg whites only) and a bloody mary. Two other friends had the same thing. It was delicious! Brie, which usually I'm not too fond off, really shone when it was melted and warm. And tomatoes offset the richness. My bloody mary was not the best I've tried, but I had no complaints. It kind of tasted like cocktail sauce. The pickled green beans were awesome though. My friend and her boyfriend were hoping for bread pudding for dessert, but they didn't have any, so they decided to get shrimp and grits! With a little joshing from the waiter, they ordered it, and while there weren't any moans (like those heard on chowhound about Dante's shrimp and grits), they were satisfied.
Casamentos: That night, my dad, two friends and I went out to dinner for some oysters. I've always wanted to go to Casamentos, so we decided to try it. We ordered two dozen oysters to start, but they were no more special than oysters that I ordered from dragos or felix's. That means little, because I love every oyster I've had so much. I ended up eating a total of 2 dozen oysters by myself! My dad ordered gumbo, as did I. My friend ordered spaghetti and meatballs (???) and my other friend ordered the fried catfish dinner. The gumbo was very good, better than any I can remember. More tomato-ey, which I like. The catfish seemed good, though I didn't try it. My friend gnawed on a piece of plastic that was in his spaghetti, and while he didn't care enough to tell the waitress, my other friend and I thought we should. The waitress was as nice as she could be, and when the check came, the spaghetti was off the bill. We also ordered a trout loaf and calamari to go for my mom. I didn't try the calamari, but I did try the trout roll. Maybe it's because I'm not a big fan of trout that I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. I like Casamentos, but I could pretty much go to Acmes or Felix's or Dragos for oysters too...
Whew! I'm glad I finally had a reason to write something on Chowhound!
Cooking for 100 with $200
I'm Korean, and I'm impressed that your moving away to more types of cuisines!
Of course, the first thing that came to mind was bibimbop...but I'm pretty sure that's been done over and over again...
When my grandma used to make "American" food, it was her version of a hamburger without the bun...Which got me to thinking that corn cream soup (the one's Koreans eat), meatloaf, and a vegetable side might make a good meal.
Of course, I never cook so I'm not sure if this will be under $200...
Korean restaurants with German names ?
While eating out with my Korean extended family, the topic moved oddly towards speaking other languages. My uncle, aunt and mom all began to speak in German, albeit very basic German. It seems that they all learned German in school when they were in Korea, around the 50s and 60s. But I can't offer any reasons as to why Korea would have had German influence.
Gimchi on Veterans-- Anyone Been??
I've seen advertisements about Gimchi...and I've been curious too. I've "heard" that Korea House was better (probably because it's already so established), but my sources are just passing comments by people who have never been. So I'm anxious to hear from anyone who's been too!
Honestly ?
I've been to Mikimotos, Kanno, Horinoya, and Little Tokyo in the past six months, and I have to say...I like them all! Each has it's own distinctive personality...
I usually go to Mikimoto's to get quick takeout. It's certainly not the best quality sushi, but that doesn't mean that it is bad quality. It has "fun" sounding rolls, and probably geared for a more americanized palate, but I still think it's good!
I went to Kanno a little less than a month ago. I suppose since I'm mostly a nigiri and roll gal, I didn't get the most out of the experience. It was a small, sweet looking place, and I enjoyed the food.
Little Tokyo is the sushi place my friends rave about. It's probably the best sushi place for big groups.
Horinoya, in my opinion, offered the simplest food, which, in my opinion, was the best. I could actually taste the seaweed in my rolls, and I was pleasantly surprised. The fish on my sushi was the perfect size. So many times I encountered titanic sized pieces of fish...But as a plus, the restaurant had gorgeous looking rooms in the back.
In my opinion, none of these restaurants were bad. But I'm also a strictly sushi, sashimi, and roll eater, so it makes it difficult to judge these restaurants on all levels.
Two FL Chowhounds coming for 3 days/2 nights, seeking the best!
Though I personally can't recommend anything, you might want to check out menupages.com- it's a list of many Manhattan and Brooklyn restaurants with menus, reviews, and prices. I hope this helps somewhat!
Bringing kimchee through checked luggage- and other questions on traveling with food
That sounds like my worst nightmare!
Bringing kimchee through checked luggage- and other questions on traveling with food
I agree with bagging it excessively- when I bought the kimchee it was triple bagged and as soon as we put it into our car, we could smell it through the packaging!
Thanks for all the suggestions! I am now considering my mom ship it to me. But, as justagthing suggested, those soft lunch bags might work for the gigae- if I freeze it before and stick it in there, it shouldn't smell as much, right?
Bringing kimchee through checked luggage- and other questions on traveling with food
I'm currently attending school in New Orleans but I'm home for a couple of days- hip hip hooray for home cooked Korean food and Trader Joe's! I'd love to bring back some of my mom's kimchee gigae but I have no idea how I can transport it back to NO without it leaking or causing a stink! Also, I'd love to bring back some dairy products, frozen foods, and produce- but how can I pack it? Should I buy one of those large styrofoam coolers? It's only a 2.5 hour ride from NYC to NO but I wouldn't want anything to go bad or melt. Any suggestions?
Weight Loss: Emergency protein to have around the house?
Edamame, soynuts, dried or canned beans, or string cheese are always my staples, including some already mentioned- canned salmon, cottage cheese, Fage yogurt- I also like sunflower seeds in shells because they take me a while to eat.
Sushi in Flushing?
I can't seem to remember the name of the restaurant, but its around 162nd street (I think), where Northern blvd splits into Crocheron and Northern, on the Crocheron side. It's a Korean place, and from what I remember, if you order the huge sushi platter, they serve so much other food with it, you don't even need the sushi! But forgive me if I wrong about the amount of food, its been years since I been there.
Korean Food - WHERE??
I've been living here for about 4-5 years too. I went to Korea House my first year...It was better than expected, though my expectations were pretty low. But my cravings for Korean food were satisfied. If I was comparing the food to any of the Korean restaurants in NYC, which is where I'm from, it wouldn't fare well, but the food was still GOOD.
