newportt2004's Profile
Taiwanese in Manhattan?
when I was in Taiwan two years ago, ShiMoo fish (or fish skin) soup were all the rage .. so affordable and delicious too!
We can get ShiMoo fish here in NJ and the ShiMoo fish soup (though we lightly fried the fish first) I have at home are always my favorite!
Chinatown fruit report [Old]
Do they look like the kind available in Taiwan?
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jndfs545sfswd-456asdf85faef/article?mid=15459&prev=15473&next=15436&l=a&fid=61
Fragrant Pear from Xinjiang?
Wow, very interesting article, thank you. My father grew up in pre-communist China, and he said he still remembers some very famous varieties of peaches and pears there. Some are no longer available becuase the government decided people should grow other crops instead. That was during China's crazy phase.
Fragrant Pear from Xinjiang?
Because of how they look (smallish and almost comical in those styrofoam and paper covering), it took me quite a while before I first bought them. But then, I also totally love it too.
Fragrant Pear from Xinjiang?
I am just wondering if they are available in Manhatten and do people know about it?
They started to be available in Chinese supermarkets here in NJ last year. I heard it was one of the 3 new farm products that the US allowed importing from China last year.
Nothing like the boring Anjou pear and its relatives. Not like the Japanes/Korean golden pears either. They are smallish and don't look particulary attractive. They are given the full-treatment though, wrapped in styrofoam and paper covering. Very juicy, crispy, and singularly fragrant, and tasted even better after storing in the refrigerator. I have seen price ranges from 99 cents to 1.29 cents a pound.
I was in the Columbia Square Whole Foods yesterday and didn't see them.
Taiwan Beer in Manhattan?
I don't know. I am thinking somewhere in Chinatown or Flushing must have it? I live in NJ and I have only ever ordered Qingdao in NYC Chinese restaurants.
Hope someone else can help here.
Chef's Tasting Menu at Le Bernardin (Summer 2008)
After reading so many positive reviews I finally got the chance to go to Le Bernardin, and thinking that this may be the only time I will be there, I naturally went for the Chef's Tasting Menu.
First of all the staff were all very friendly and I fell very comfortable even though there was some complication due to my not wearing the required jacket. At the end, they let me wear my sports jacket. I think they made an exception for me. For some reasone, I also got the complimentary Salmon Tartar Amuse and a glass of champagne listed at $23.
What I really enjoyed:
- The bread (I had rasin/walnut and brioche)
- The Salmon Tartar Amuse
- Salmon Caviar: really tasty
- Calamari: a more substantial dish which I think I enjoyed the most
- Black Bass: I really liked the Iberico Ham sauce and finished very drop of it
Not so particularly impressed:
- Lobster: I felt the lobster was over-cooked. It doesn't help that I am not a tartar sauce fan.
- Escolar: this dish looked good but tasted pretty pedestrian? I don't know.
- Fig: the 3 hazelnuts were so good, but otherwise?
- Chocolate Olive-Oil: couldn't believe its dainty portion
Overall I enjoyed the meal and the service but really wish that every dish is twice the size offered. Without the bread, I would not have felt terribly satisfied after paying the $275 total per person.
Somebody needs to tell them (and every other restaurants that have a tasting menu) to offer more food!
Yuzu-mania
Just looked it up. Pomelo, that's exactly it, thanks. Funny they use the same Chinese character 柚子. (Yuzu native to China and Pomelo introduced into China? Wow .. I don't think Yuzu is even known in everyday Chinese lives nowadays. Never heard of and never seen one.)
Szechuan Gourmet - latest trip
Did some "baidu" (chinese version of google) and got the following:
"Water Cooked Meat Slice" (Shuei Zhu Rou Pian, in China when you just say meat, it's usually pork) was invented in 1983 by a talented chef in Szechuan when he made this dish in a cooking competition and won an award. Later on he used a similar technique to make "Water Cooked FIsh" for his friend who doesn't eat meat. It was another success and the "Water Cooked" dishes caught on in Szechuan. By 1990, in Qongqing (pronounced chong-ching, capital city of Szechuan, the famed WW2 war time capital of China), there was an entire street that sells nothing but "Water Cooked Fish".
I've only had "Water Cooked Beef" in some so so restaurant. Looks like it may not be the original invention. So want to try "Water Cooked FIsh" in one of the "big three" now.
Yuzu-mania
This is what I am referring to (the fruit variety):
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9F%9A%E5%AD%90
Szechuan Gourmet - latest trip
Is Szechuan Gourmet better than WuLiangYe? Is that possible? (Where is it located?)
I have heard of more than one instances of Chinese nationals who would dine at WuLiangYe every day during their stay in NYC. WuLiangYe has an interesting menu (compared to the mostly unimaginative and unchanging menus in almost all Shanghai and Cantonese places.)
Yuzu-mania
Yuzu 柚子, along with mooncake, is associated with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. It's available in all Chinese grocery stores this time of the year. The Japanese always has a way of making any common things seem out of the ordinary. It's all in the packaging, and you just have to "believe" ... :-)
Binghamton, Endicott, Vestal Trip Report
I actually missed Ponderosa on Vestal Parkway, it's no longer there (just googled)? Where has Ponderosa gone from everywhere else in the world (especially in NJ? Compared to Binghamton, NJ is such a charmless existence ... I still remember the magical feeling, in a crisp autumn day, riding in a car entering the Vestal Parkway bend from Binghamton City. That was almost 30 years ago.)
And Sharky's, International Pancake House, Denise, and .. the ultimate for us students, Red Lobster. (Somehow we thought Vestal Steak House was beyond our reach. I think Oakdale Mall was brand new then, and there was Mongomery Ward, and downtown has already started to decay. I remember the cider house too.)
Yasuda - table as good as the bar?
I really should have asked, if not up front, when I got the bill. But this type of Japanese establishment has a way of making you want to do everything "properly". So I must have been trying my best to act as properly as possible (and to bite the bullet so to speak).
Sushi in Central Jersey? [Moved from Tristate board]
Thank you for the suggestions. I do like to try them some day.
Yasuda - table as good as the bar?
I want to relate an "incident" that happened to me in Sushi Yasuda a few years back. I am still confused about what really happened. (Sorry if off topic.)
After reading a rave reivew about Mr. Yasuda and his new restaurant in the newspaper, I seeked out this a little out-of-the-way place, went in and sit at the bar. The place was not deserted, but I don't think they had as many business back then as they have now. (I swear I got the impression the Matre'D behind the counter at the door faked talking on the phone about taking reservasions. I know, it's terrible :-).
I ordered from the menu. After I had finished (the crispy fish bone app was outstanding), I was watching other people sitting beside me eating interesting things. I didn't feel particulary full at the time, so at the spurt of the moment, I asked the gentlemen behind the counter (no idea if he's Mr. Yasuda himself) if I can have something more. He asked me what I wanted. I really had no idea so I said would he decide for me. A moment later, I was handed two pieces of ordinary looking shushi. Not particuarly memorable as I can't even recall now what they were. I ate the two pieces of sushi and waited there for quite a while, and nothing more came my way. Confused, and suddenly feeling I had enough, I asked the wait staff for the bill.
When I looked at the bill, there was a $180 (as far as I can remember. I kept the receipt until recently) surcharge. I paid the bill, stumbled out of the place, and still wondering to this day what had happened. This meal remains on my book as the single most expensive.
Sushi in Central Jersey? [Moved from Tristate board]
All things considered, it seems that Benihana in Edison has the best Sushi in this area. Any other suggestions?
In other restaurants I tried, some Korean some Chinese. the shushi they served can be barely edible. I have been to the all-you-can-eat Sushi place in Dover. It's great but requires an one-hour drive. I don't think there are any real Japanese restaurants in Central Jersey in any case?
Wu Liang Ye -- What should I order?
Agreed, avoid the Red Oil Wonton. (If you are going to the 48th st. outfit, the only one I have been to.)
I also like their Sour Green Beans with Minced Pork. (It's not string beans, but called "Gang Dou" in Chinese.) It's on the handwritten menu sometimes.
Wu Liang Ye -- What should I order?
I like whatever items that are handwritten on the first page of the menu. For example, crispy fish skin.
Where to eat in Binghamton, NY
Oh, this brings back memories of my SUNY-B days ...
Sharkey's !! (I haven't been there for some years, but so many fond memories ...)
(And we really thought Pat Mitchell's "was" the world's best :-)
Foo Chow style cuisine
Exactly the reason Chinese cuisine is going down hill in this country. (I think the situation is not so dire in the Far East.)
Whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant (in the east coast at least), it makes me sick to see them listing every single possible dishes in the world, including all possible combinations of all possible ingredients. There is a total lack of imagination as well as self-restraint. How is it possible for them to do a non-generic job on any one of those dishes?
All these legendary dishes historically came out of small kitchens, not necessarily associated with rich families, but still very selective and exclusive.
Foo Chow style cuisine
In fact, the single most famous Minan (southern Fujian) dish is the legendary "Fou-Tiao-Chiang" (literally, Buddha Jumping Over the Fence). Very few people have ever tasted this dish, because it's so difficult to make.
The Taiwanese author Lin Wenyue descirbed how to make this dish in her book "Yin-Shan-Zha-Ji" ("A notebook on the art of food")
Foo Chow style cuisine
Yes, "Run Bing" is how it's pronounced in Mandarin. Indeed, the making of the crepe is where half the secret lies. You have to see how they do it in the Taiwan night market, A secrete combination of different types of rice are used to make the dough just right, and with just a twist of the wrist this delicate crepe, thinner than a piece of paper, is formed on top of a special frying pan.
The famous author Lin Yutang was from Fuzhou, and his daugher wrote an article reminiscing on how her family used to make this delicacy on special occasions and how she couldn't stop herself from having so many in a go until everybody was staring at her.
Tabla Bread Bar Recs
Is it? Thanks! ... Since I will be by myself, will I feel more comfortable sitting at the bar? And if so, can I still order from the regular menu (e.g., the tasting menu .. the "gourmand"?)
And I will pick up a few take outs on my way home from Shake Shacks ... (Still kicking myself for my slow thinking from Saturday night.)
Tabla Bread Bar Recs
I chickened out of walking into the too intimidating looking EMP and found myself inside the little enclave of the Tabla Bread Bar last night.
The service was great and the whole experience was great fun.
The grilled shrimp in black pepper was really crunchy and tasty, you eat the whole thing ... (however the tandoori chicken and the lamb dish were somewhat disappointing).
Foo Chow style cuisine
I can't talk about Foo Chow style cooking, it's not a famous cooking style in China. The only thing I can think of is Hong-Zhao ... not sure how to translate, but it's a kind of fermented red sacue made from rice. (Hong means red, Zhao is fermented rice. For example, Jiou-Zhao is fremented rice turning to wine. Jiou is wine, and sweet Jiou-Zhao dumpling is famous and very tasty.)
Foo Chow is the proud capital city of the Fu-Jian province (directly across Taiwan Strait from Taiwan). In the last fifteen years or so, there are a large number of Foo Chow immigrants coming to the east coast, and there are many businesses opening up around China Town catering to their needs.
The proper name for the city should be "Fuzhou". Another well known dish from that area is a kind of "Spring Roll", not fried but more like the Vienamese variety, except there is a lot more goodies in there, including crushed peanuts and extremely satisfying and tasty. It's a popular treat in Taiwan night markets variously called Chun-Juan ("Spring Roll") or Run-Bing ("Nurturing Cake"). I don't think it's available in NYC.
Mary's Fish Camp - Very Disappointing
Went to Mary's two Saturday's ago for lunch. I had no idea it's such a small place. The server was attractive, vivacious, and friendly and called out to me while I was waiting outside (I was expecting rude). I ordered canadian steamers (avoid this), and the famed lobster roll, which did blown me away. Yet I have to say I was more impressed with the fries than the heavily mayonnaise'd lobster roll itself. The lobster roll at $28 MP I thought a bit expensive. (I asked the server if she was Mary and she said Mary's in the kitchen.)
Went to Pearl's last Sunday. I was greeted warmly by the lady at the door. (I was told she's not Pearl herself). I ordered fried oryster (good), salt crusted shrimp (ok but I thought not as tasty as the salt pepper shrimp in Chinese restaurants), and bouillabaisse (very tasty but not spectacular). Not sure I ordered the right things.
Where to eat on the UES?
I can tell you Wu Liang Ye is more (indeed much more) than "authentic". I have only been to the one on 48th st. My favorite Chinese restaurant in NYC (and I am Chinese).
