Northeast Kingdom

I admit, I rarely go to other boroughs to eat.  Besides the fact that I'm quite lazy, the reason is that I think the food has to be 1. really delicious and a good deal, 2. an awesome experience, or 3. better than what we have here in Manhattan.  This rule grows exponentially in importance as the number of train stops increases.  So although I was intrigued by Northeast Kingdom, my laziness about having to hike my butt out to Bushwick in crappy weather to eat at yet another "farmer's market" "american nouveau" place overshadowed my earlier enthusiasm.  But good food and good company made me glad that I did.

Northeast Kingdom, like all the new american restaurants, have a decent cocktail menu.  But I think Northeast Kingdom wins with the inclusion of buttered rum.  Damn that was delicious.  The hot spiced rum was made 1000x better with the inclusion of dairy fat.  mmm...  Their other cocktails were fine, I especially liked my sazerac.

We started with 2 different toast - the bee keeper's lunch and the roasted mushroom fondue toast.  The bee keeper's lunch was a crusty piece of bread topped with a soft and creamy farmer's cheese, honey combs, and shaved radish slices.  The cheese tasted like a mild goat cheese, but no one at the restaurant could tell us what kind of cheese it was.  Fail.  The combination was delicious.  How can you go wrong with honey and cheese?  You can't.  I tell you.  You just can't.

bee keeper's lunch

The roasted mushroom fondue toast was tasty as well, although a bit salty for me.  I imagine this is what good condensed cream of mushroom soup would taste like.  I love all matters of roasted mushrooms.  It brings out that funky nuttiness only mushrooms have.

cream of mushroom toast

We also shared a couple salads.  The braised kale and warm bean salad was my favorite dish of the night.  The braised kale was super flavorful and seemed to be pressed or dehydrated after braising.  It almost had the texture of a nori sheet.  The over easy egg added a creaminess to the dish after we mixed in the runny yolk.  I'm a sucker for runny yolk.

braised kale and warm bean salad

The market salad was tasty as well.  It was a simple shaved winter veggie salad - butternut squash, radishes, apples, etc.  I like the fact that they took winter veggies and created a light and simple salad from them.

market salad

For my entree, i had the collard rolls, ground soybean stuffing, and sauteed veggies.  It was pretty good.  The stuffings were on the loose side, which i actually prefer over compacted vegetarian stuffing.  I like all the different veggies on top of my rolls - fennel, celery, tomatoes, peppers.  I would eat this again.

rollz

J-me ordered the hand-made beef sausage, caramel braised red cabbage, and potato.  The sausage was fine. The meat was a bit too hamburger like for me.  I like sausages full of flavor with lots of spices not hamburger in tube form.  Also, the texture was a bit loose (hence hamburger like).  The cabbage was tasty.  And the piece of toasted bread on top was awesome.  Who knew buttered toast with mustard could be so good.  Then again, who am I to question the all amazing butter?

beef sausage

Hidy had the chicken pot pie.  I remember liking it but don't remember too many details.  The pie pastry crust was tasty, although i would have liked more of it.  I remember the filling was thick and chunky.  So that's good.  Nothing worse than a thin and watery pot pie right?

pie in a pot

Joe had the berkshire pork loin and seasonal sides (in this case, mashed yams and brussel spouts).  The pork loin was tender and flavorful - which I think are difficult feats for a pork loin to achieve.  I never order pork loins because they can dry out faster than chicken breasts.  But when cooked well, they are mighty tasty.  I loved the sides.  Both were so autumn-y and wraps you up in their happy homey warmth.  The veggies hug you.

pork and veggie hugs

We also shared a banana cream pie but that was also many cocktails later.  So no picture was taken.  And no flavors were remembered.  Oops.

I really liked Northeast Kingdom.  If I lived in the area, I'd probably go pretty often.  But I probably wouldn't make a trip to eat there when there are many comparable restaurants in walking distance.  I'm glad I went last night and recommend anyone who lives in 3 train stop radius to go go go.

The Ten Bells

Damn, I've been so delinquent with posts.  Blame it on my new toy - PS3.  Apparently, I enjoy slaying dragons and building magi more so than writing.  Who knew?

We went to The Ten Bells one Saturday afternoon to partake in tapas and wine.  There were a lot of yummy sounding things on the chalkboard menu, good thing J-me was there to retraint me from over-ordering.  (side note, restaurants - if you are going to use chalkboard menus, PLEASE use legible and large handwriting.  It's such a pain in the ass to try to decipher chicken scratches in dim mood lighting.)

We started with roasted peppers and eggplant, which was actually a mistake due to my chalkboard dyslexia.  It was fine - lots of olive oil, salt.  Yeah, that's all I have to say about that.

roasted peppers and eggplant

We like meat.  Yes, meat in tube shape is good.  Tube shaped meat sliced into pieces and then cooked so it's a bit charred around the edges is better.  Go chorizo, you keep glistening.

shiny meat

My favorite dish was the brandade.  The Ten Bells version was whipped to almost a fluffy mashed potato consistency.  It was liberally salted and baked to a crusty top.  I wish it was slightly less oily though.  But no matter, the crusty bread soaked up the oil nicely.

brandade

Crab puff pastry sounded like a good idea, but no, it really wasn't.  It tasted like it was made the day before.  The stale puff pastry was not the worse part.  The crappy crab was.  It tasted out of a can and fishy.  Sad.

bleh

We also consumed some very phallic veggies, in the form of white asparagus.  I don't think I've ever had white asparagus now that I think about it.  It was cooked to mush and dressed with vinegar and topped with a vinegary relish.  I didn't love it but didn't not like it either.  I was ambivalent.  Since I have nothing to compare this dish to, I didn't know if white asparagus is supposed to be so mushy.

albino asparagus

We finished off our meal with a chunk of raw goat cheese.  It was mild and lovely.  Perfect with the nut bread that came along with the cheese.

cheeeeeese

We also had a few different wines (a great minerally reisling, a mild rioja, and a dry sherry).  I enjoyed the wines more so than the food, which was less than impressive.  Perhaps the rest of the menu is better, but I'm not all that eager to find out.  I'll probably go back and have wine and their great oyster special.  But will stay away from that crab pastry fail.

Brunch at Ulysses Folk House, or Ode to Financier

I am ashamed to say that I rarely travel below Fulton St.  Actually, anything below Worth St is as foreign as Kansas to me.  So after living in NYC for over 12 years, I was still ignorant of the cute little cobblestone street deep in the Financial District, Stone Street.  Until last weekend, that is. How damn cute is that street?!  So cute that I thought dwarves and singing animals were going to pop out of the buildings.

Eight of us went to brunch at Ulysses Folk House on Stone Street last Sunday after hearing that they have a $20 all-you-can-eat buffet, complete with raw oysters, make-your-own omelets, and pastries from Financier.  Your 20 bucks will also get you a drink.  I love buffets, which is probably not a good thing.

We ate a lot, but did you expect any less?  Except that not only did we eat a lot, we gorged ourselves on Financier pastries.  Yeah, the pastries were probably leftover from the week, but gosh they were tasty.  I think pastries need little commentary.  So I'll just blind you with a parade of sweets.

plum tart

This was tasty.  The ravage of time did not negatively affect the tart crust too much.  I think it would have been flakier if fresher.  I love the plums.

umm...

Forgot what this was.  I remember being eh about it.  It wasn't bad, just left no impressions on me.

creme brulee tart

Mmmm... I liked this one.  It was kind of a creme brulee in a tart.  Creme brulee is one of my favorite desserts.  I embrace all creme brulees.

mousse cake\

Some sort of passion fruit mousse cake.  It was good, tart and creamy.  Not too heavy.

croissant?

This was either a very dense almond croissant or some sort of danish.  It suffered from slight staleness.  I think it would have been delicious freshly baked and flaky.  The almond paste inside was yummy.

apple galette\

The apple galette was also kind of stale.  I think next to we go, we should stick to non-tart/flaky crust desserts since the poor things age much faster than the other stuff.  That said, my favorite dessert was the napoleon (which I devoured before taking a picture, of course).  Maybe it was stale too but the tasty tasty cream distracted me.

more mousse cake

Another passion fruit mousse cake.  Pretty and tasty.

tasty tasty remains

Remains of a chocolate cake.  I really like this.  Moist, chocolaty without being too sweet.

overgrown macaron

Giant hazelnut macaron.  No really, it was ginormous, about the size of my palm.  It was good.  Still chewy.  I hate nothing more than a dry macaron.  I did not hate this.  nom nom.

Behind the hazelnut satellite dish, there are some Guinness cheese chunks and a wedge of cheddar.  Part of the buffet.  And no, we did not eat the macaron with the cheeses.  I do not endorse that.

chocolaty magic

I have no idea what this was called but it was awesome.  The small bar on top is a creamy rich truffle.  The bottom was some sort of mousse cake thing on top of a wafer cookie, covered in dark chocolate.  How can that be bad?

We ate all that plus some other pastries that I forgot to photograph.  And 2 hours later, we all crashed like 5 year olds after trick-or-treating.

To cleanse our taste buds in between the tarts and cakes, we also ate plates of salty foods.  I was a huge fan of their omelet.  Call me uncouth, but I prefer flat, slightly fried omelets over the perfect fluffy French kind.  You can stuff a bunch of stuff into you omelet.  Because I can, so I did.

over-stuffed omelet

I also ate a bunch of raw oysters and clams.  They were fine.  Can't complain for $20.

bi-valves

I also liked their veggies (escaroles and broccoli) and corn beef (yum!).  I wasn't too impressed by the sausages and didn't try the bacon.  Other than that, they also had eggs benedict (seemed pretty good for a buffet, the eggs were runny), pancakes, french toast, roast turkey, fruit, etc.  It was a good spread for the price.  I'd go back, especially when I start missing Vegas buffets.

Atlantic Antics and New Amsterdam Market, Oh My

No, we didn't eat that.  But isn't she cute enough to eat?

Pinky didn't like the antics, Atlantic Antics that is.  It was crowded, loud, and full of drunk people.  But we, as a part of the crowd, being loud and drinking pints of Six Points, fit right in.  It was a gorgeous day in NYC so we said, hey! let's travel to that land mass across the water called Brooklyn and enjoy some sun and food!  But alas, we were not so original with our idea.

Atlantic Antics would have bee awesome with 85% less people.  Food was abound everywhere, but so were lines.  So we got very little to eat.  After spotting a quick moving line for some sort of grilled matter, we scored ourselves some braised pork with apple jicama slaw on pretzel bread from Building on Bond (BOB!).  It was... aight.  The pork was tender but the sauce was way too sweet.  Which would have been okay if they weren't so stingy with the slaw - the tartness and texture of the slaw would have balanced out the tender and sweet meat if there were more of it.  

pork sandwich

I was excited about the pretzel bread.  But they were a bit of a letdown too.  Kind of stale tasting, more like a street vendor pretzel then a nice chewy bakery pretzel.  So much potential, so little return.

wasted potential

We also got some random jerk chicken from a random stand.  I was surprised at how tender the chicken was.  But I thought the flavor could have more kick.  Jerk chicken should burn my taste buds off!

jerk chicken

Too bad we didn't get to try other stuff at the Antics.  Next year, perhaps.

Last weekend, on another beautiful Sunday, we went down to New Amsterdam Market at the South Street Seaport.  After being denied by Porchetta cuz our lazy asses got there after they sold out of sandwiches, we got in the massive line to procure ourselves some sea critters on rolls from Luke's Lobster Bar.  Mmmm... insects of the sea.  We got a lobster roll and a crab roll.  You guys know that I love my lobsters and crabs.  Luke's seafood quality was really fresh, but sadly, my favorite part of the rolls were the actual rolls themselves.

lobster roll

Both lobster and crab rolls were mayo-free, seasoned with a brush of butter, salt, and pepper.  The crab had some Old Bay.  The light seasoning would have been awesome if I were just eat them in a non-sandwich form, like as a part of a raw bar.  But the presence of carbs demands the creaminess that mayo provides.  Also, it could have used some tang too.  I don't like a lot of mayo in my lobster rolls, but I do want a teaspoon or something.  Lastly, without the binding powers of mayo, my fillings kept plopping out, which was super annoying.

crab roll

The rolls themselves were awesome though.  Buttered and then griddle toasted, they were fluffy, soft, and had a light crunch around the toasted parts.  Instead of the bread complementing the fillings, I felt that the bread was the star of the show and the fillings just provided a contrast in texture.  Sad.

tasty tasty carbs

After the rolls, we strolled around the market and sampled random stuff while picking up cheeses, wines, and bread (olive bread from Sullivan. SO GOOD.  I WANT MORE NOW) for our dinner that night.  While strolling, we stopped by Brooklyn Larder and got a bowl of their frank and beans, fancified.  How much do I love the name Larder!?  Yeah, I know it means food storage or something.  But it can also mean more lard,  yes?  YAY FOR MORE LARD!

Okay, back to the gussied up frank and beans.  We got a bowl of cannellini beans crowned with a grilled sausage.  This was tasty.  The beans were topped with some delicious extra virgin olive oil that gave it that tasty green flavor only good olive oil can impart.  I think cannellini beans are my second favorite beans, after green beans.  They are so light and tender, and don't make me feel like I just ate a bunch of boiled potatoes (I only like potatoes fried or mashed with lots of butter, yes, I'm weird.  I don't hate non-fried or mashed taters, just that they bore me to tears).  The sausage was lightly spicy and super flavorful.  I just wished that the beans had more meat flavor from the sausage. The dish tasted like two different dishes plopped on one bowl, not one unified dish.  If that made any more sense...

frank and beans and dog

New Amsterdam Market was really fun.  It was like a farmer market but with lots more free samples.  It was crowded but not unmanageable (like Atlantic Antics).  I'd be down to go again in November.

Feast of Pork at Bohemian Beer Hall

And feast we did.  So much pig matter, washed down by ice cold beer, under the last vestige of sun before the inevitable long stretch of brutal New York winter.  It was the perfect September afternoon.

i eat pig

I am saddened that it took me so long to drag my butt to the Bohemian Beer Hall in Astoria.  I've been missing out on all that happy Czech music and dancing!  Not to mention all the different preparation of pig that I could have consumed.  The food, despite being doled out cafeteria style, was surprisingly solid for the price and setting.

happy dancers

Like this wiener schnitzel.  Pounded thin and brightened with a squeeze of lemon.  It was crispy yet moist and came with a mountain of potato salad.  The potato salad was your generic deli salad, but I never turn away potato salad, especially if it is heavy on mustard.

pork, fried

The best dish was probably the roast pork.  The plate came with dumplings and sauerkraut.  The bready, dense, dumplings were the perfect vehicle for soaking up the meaty sauce.  Sauerkraut cuts through the fattiness with that puckery tang.  The pork was so flavorful and tender.  It practically melted in your mouth.  My only complaint about the dish was that we got a non-fresh batch (i.e. not the fresh pig you see above) so the skin, which should have been crackly, was soaked through by the sauce.  It became rubbery and lost its appeal.  bummer.

pork, roasted

We got the Moravian stew on the basis that stews are tasty and we like stews.  The stew was chunks of pork with more dumplings and sauerkraut.  The flavor was good, though the pork was dry.

pork, stewed

To round out our tour of pork preparations, we also got grilled kielbasa.  It was good.  Nothing to blow your socks off.  But at least it was tender and spicy.

pork, kielbasa'ed

Because multiple orders of fries and ginormous dumplings weren't enough carb matter for us, we also got some pierogies.  I thought the skin was fine but the filling was super bland.  It's not a good sign when you can't tell which is the mushroom and which is the cheese.

not pork

I am a sucker for any outdoor venue that serves food and beers.  But the beer hall takes the cake.  The old men roasting pigs had me at dobry den.

More Than a Snack at Ah Ping Snack Bar

Ah Ping Snack Bar is tiny, like 3 tables tiny.  I kind of felt like I was in Asia - the random storefront with 3 tables, the bright halogen light, the disposable bowls and plates, the folded table and chairs.  Brought back warm fuzzy memories.

Ah Ping is all about Fuzhou food, which I haven't had in ages so I was pretty excited.  Good thing my fellow eaters were very adventurous and allowed me, the sole commander of the Chinese language in our group, to do the ordering.  muahahaha.  That meant that we had more food than 4 people can comfortably eat.

We started with the lamb with wine dregs soup.  Despite it's weird name and unaturaly red color, this was one of our favorite dish of the night.  The wine dregs gave it a pleasantly fermented flavor - complex and herby.  The soup had small lamb chunks, kind of like stewed lamb spare ribs.  Delicious.

lamb and dregs

My personal favorite dish was the razor clam pancake.  If you've read my Asia trip entries, you must know about my obsession with Chinese pancakes, preferably stuffed with some type of seafood.  Ah Ping's was awesome.  The fluffy eggs blanked chopped up razor clams (my fav clams!) and bamboo shoots.  The pancake was moist and flavorful.  Too bad I had to share.

PANCAKE!

We also got a mei fun (rice stick noodles) as our main carb dish.  The mei fun was tasty, similar to Taiwanese style - simply stir-fried with veggies and eggs.  Reminds me of my childhood.

carby goodness

The fail of the night was a wonton soup.  I misordered and thought I was getting fish ball soup.  Damn it.  Note to self to consult my mom on Chinese menu words before my next outing.  The soup was fine, just boring.  The wontons tasted like they were the kind you get at Chinese supermarkets.  Nothing special.  Although oddly addicting since I did end up eating 6-7 wontons.

wonton

Because it sounded so damn cute, we had to get the litchi pork.  It was basically a saucy version of sweet and sour pork where the pork looks like little litchis.  The pieces of pork were cut up, fried, and coated in a sweet and sour sauce.  I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

\

little litchis

Our veggie dish was water spinach in preserve bean curd sauce.  Yes, I love my water spinach (see Asia trip).  I also love preserve bean curd (preserved tofu), which is tofu fermented in salt.  The two together was a win.  Too bad I neglected to capture that win with my camera.

I am kind of in love with Ah Ping.  Even the name is cool.  Return, I shall.

Sticky Rice Thai BBQ

I love BYOB places.  Even if the food is just north of edible, I'd still eat it because heck, I can drink my own booze to dull those taste buds.  So my delight was multiplied to the 100th power when J-me and I ate at Sticky Rice Thai BBQ - a BYOB place where the food was pretty good.  We have been intrigued by Sticky Rice for awhile now, but after they denied us delivery once, we forgot all about it.  But one weekend, we had half a bottle of sake left from the night before and angrily growling stomaches, we decided to check it out.


We wanted every appetizer on the menu so when we found that Sticky Rice offered a sampler, we praised the lord.  Not really, but we did yip in joy.  The sampler came with Crisp Prawn Roll, Steamed Thai Dumpling, Beggar's Pouch, Steamed Vegetables Dumpling, Duck Roll. I liked them all, especially the beggar's pouch, stuffed with shrimp and chicken then fried to a crisp. All of the fried stuff had a satisfying light crunch. The steamed stuff were all nice and moist. Apps are probably my favorite part of any meal.

fried and steamed goodness

To add some healthful greens to our diet, we ordered the Spicy Duck Salad tossed shredded duck meat, apple, cashew nuts, pineapple, cilantro, roasted chili vinaigrette. I don't think I tasted any roasted chili. But the duck and apple combo was tasty. I love cashews. All restaurants should ceased to use peanuts and go with cashews instead. I mean, I like peanuts too, but they're no cashews. Am I right?

tasty, tasty cashews

Since BBQ is in their namesake, we felt that it was the right thing to do to consume some charred meat, in the form of Grilled Marinated Short Ribs marinated with ginger, scallion & sesame seeds (yes, I copy the online menu. Every chance I get. Trust me, you don't want to depend on my memory to recall food. It would have been "glistening meat with 3 sauces",) This was basically Korean kalbi with different dipping sauces. It was good, tender and flavorful, but a bit too sweet for my taste. Plus, I was disappointed that it wasn't Thai BBQ. I felt like I missed out by ordering the wrong thing. boo.

glistening meat with 3 sauces

The last plate was a special, so no online menu. Darn it! I shall call it "scrambled meat in brown sauce with egg on top". See, I need the menus. This is one of those very homey dishes that everyone has eaten before. Minced chicken stir-fried with peppers in that lightly sweet soy sauce. I love coating the rice with the meat and sauce. Just like what I used to eat when I was young. mmm...

brown chicken

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. It was fun to eat Thai food that is a little more imaginative. I'm definitely going back to try some of their other dishes. The paella is next on my list.