Foods that you are embarrassed to tell people you actually eat (a.k.a. foods you only eat when alone).

My guilty secret is SPAM. I try to be a healthy cook, make as much as I can from scratch, eat organic if I can and toss my haughty nose at processed highly marketed fatty foods. Every now and again, the SPAM demons take over my soul and I succumb. My love for processed canned chunks of salty fatty pseudo meat stems early childhood memories of fried spam slabs served with macaroni. Sometimes I even go as far as serving a spam omelette to my husband who responds with a perplexed "where's my
Boeuf Bourguignon" look. Is this the type of confession you mean aces ?

baajee in General Chowhounding Topics

Single female and 7 yummy days

Its the end of day 5 and I've definately got to rave about the Sturgeon King. Hiked up to Amsterdam and 87th and ordered the Matzo Ball soup, a sturgeon appitizer and a side of potato salad. Boy New Yorkers know their bagels ! Some cream cheese and biting into the chewy but still toasty bagel goodness washed down by a glass of freshly squeezed OJ is something special - simple but perfect. The Matzo Ball soup was good, the sturgeon was very spectacular and matched with the potato salad is right up there or better than some of the herring salads I've had in Copenhagen.

I took some of their chopped liver away for lunch at the desk. There's chopped liver and there is chopped liver. This one was perfectly executed with a sweetish oniony tinge, texture was nice and chunky - not too pate like, tasty and melts in your mouth without that unpleasant aftertaste that occasionally comes with liver.

Went to Lombardis for dinner - it was a mistake to rock up on a Friday night. After perusing the queue, I decided to take my pie to go. Its not much fun eating by yourself in a noisy restaurant on a Friday night anyway. I'm inclined to agree with you Shanshan - its a bit overated and tourist friendly. I had a pie with sausage, but in retrospect I should have kept it simple with no toppings. The cheese and tomato base is good. Wood fired definately helps the texture of the crust and the rough chopped basil leaves a nice fragrance when you chomp in. The sausage tasted a bit too processed for my liking. Zagat - if you're reading this, its a good pizza but "the best pizza on the planet" it definately aint.

Btw, how much am I supposed to tip my doorman ?

baajee in Manhattan

Single female and 7 yummy days

Yikes ! just when I thought the hard decisions were made, the list is down pat for the next 2 days, along comes more yummy options !

So update on day 4 : Was hoping to hit Barney Greengrass in the morning but a breakfast meeting canned the idea, I ended up with cereal at the office instead. Lunchtime had me frantically looking for Papaya King which according to google maps is on the cnr of Lexington and 58th (this is wrong incidently - I couldn't find it). With 15 mins of lunchtime left before my presentation back in the office, I ended up settling for a street corner dirty water dog with saurkraut, onions and mustard. What can I say ? It actually tasted decent after cereal and the vendor took time out to flirt with me. At least I got my Tina Fey experience.

Dinner with the boss was at Dos Camedos (not my choice). Very blah mexican. The avocado dip was very nice, empanadas needed help and my tacos were soggy. To top it off, the boss wanted to talk business the whole night. Making your employees talk business over dinner is a cardinal foodie sin and people who do it should be punished by eating airplane food for a month.

I'm really looking fwd to the matzo ball soup at Katz - should I get the corned beef or the pastrami ? What do you reckon ?

Also I had settled to dine at Redhead and Rack & Soul for my remaining 2 nights, but now Hill Country is in the equation - I love fatty brisket. I cook it all the time chinese style in a broth. I'm really intruiged to try the American Soul version. Kinda Jackie Chan vs Aretha Franklin of briskets. hmmm...

Btw, I still haven't found a good pecan pie

baajee in Manhattan

Single female and 7 yummy days

Ok... so far its day 3 in NY and I've spent 2 days stuck in 10 hour full day meetings - so I didn't get any chance to hit the lunch spots you recommended Kathryn. Took a cab to Shake shack after work - what a line... but omg what a great burger ! The beef patty is fantastic, just the right amount of fat and gristle, its so fragrant with yummy meaty beefy juices when you bite into the burger. First bite was bliss. Crinkle cut fries were good and the vanilla shake a tad too sweet, but really rich and yum. I had to ditch the cab and walk back to 57th street after the calorie guilt trip.

One lap around central park later, I hit Keen's tonight (Peter Luger was fully booked). I had the NY strip - meat was typical dry aged, with the kinda fragrant charcoal flavour but I found it just a tad dry (probably my fault - I ordered medium instead of medium rare and I'm used to the fattier marbled beef out of Japan). The wine list by the glass was seriouly lacking, the vino selection just does not match up to the steaks. Cheesecake was ok - nice and creamy with no serious faults.

Unfortunately I'm lined up for dinner with the boss tomorrow night, so that takes up 1 precious dinner spot.. bummer.

I've carefully planned my last 2 days after. Gotta hit Katz and Barney Greengrass (if I get out during lunch), and I get to choose 2 dinners out of either Lombardi's, Redhead or Rack & Soul on the last 2 nights. Decisions decisions ! What should I do ?

Reminder to self : take some pastrami home for hubby.

baajee in Manhattan

Single female and 7 yummy days

Lovely ! thanks all. will be hopping on the plane now with 20 hours to decide my first stop when I touch down. cheers !

baajee in Manhattan

Single female and 7 yummy days

Wow Kathryn thanks for the comprehensive guide. Yes upscale choices would be good too. I do get a $100 a day meal allowance but more than happy to supplement out of pocket - its my tastebuds after all ! I realise the list sounds a bit high schoolish - burger, pizza, steak.

What is upmarket American food ? Most of the upmarket choices I see on the board are French / Italian / European inspired and after a month recent gastronomical driving holiday through the French countryside, I'm not sure French American would cut it (I might get flamed here). Southern / Soul and BBQ sounds ideal ! any suggestions ?

I get the point regarding the 20%. Last thing I want is an angry confrontation with a waiter, so thanks for the tip. I find the concept of obligatory tipping a somewhat novel idea. In Asia tipping usually only occurs when service is good to exceptional, however I understand wait staff in US don't necessarily get paid by the restaurant so *shrug, when in Rome ...

baajee in Manhattan