9th Ave Food Festival 2017 Part I

Last weekend was the annual 9th Avenue International Food Festival in Hell's Kitchen. We've missed it the past couple of years because of scheduling issues, but made it on both days this year. The first day of the festival was on the cooler side (low 60s following days of summery weather) and a little bit cloudy so even though it was plenty crowded, it wasn't as packed as it could have been which was more pleasant for walking. We walked the entire length of the fair both ways, but most of the food we got on the first day came from the southern part of the festival. After we got to the end and took a short detour to pick some stuff up at Whole Foods, we realized that we weren't really that hungry anymore and that it would be best to leave the other stuff that caught our eye for the next day.

Part of the reason we were probably so full was because our first stop was Daisy May's for BBQ. We've had Daisy May's BBQ several times before (and even went for the World Cup challenge in 2014), so the pulled chicken and mac and cheese weren't anything new but they were quite tasty. We had debated between the pulled chicken and the pulled pork, and in the end chose the chicken. It was drier than the pulled pork usually is, but it wasn't that bad. The sauce, as always with Daisy May's, was very good. It had an excellent balance of sweetness and tanginess to pair with the chicken. The mac and cheese was rich and creamy, and the parts with the crusty, cheese-infused breadcrumb topping were the best. Unfortunately they didn't give us much of it, but we enjoyed what they did give us.

Our next stop as we made our way up the avenue was the Spam house (aka the "Spam Tiny House of Sizzle") which was offering free samples. There was no way we were skipping free stuff, so we got on line not knowing or caring what the samples were. By the time we got to the front, there were three options - Spam fries (which we thought might have been fries topped with Spam but were just griddled Spam cut up into fries), Spam sliders, and Spam musubi. We got one of each of the latter two and split them.

The Spam slider had a thin slice of Spam on a King's Hawaiian roll with some wasabi mayo. The Spam itself was most likely griddled, and it produced a nice caramalization on the meat. Paired with the sweetness of the King's Hawaiian roll and the spicy creaminess of the wasabi mayo, it was our favorite of the two options. The Spam musubi was exactly what we expected it to be. A took the first bite, and he had a little trouble biting through the seaweed wrapper. He thought there wasn't a ton of Spam flavor to this despite the rather large slice of Spam. Also, a lot of the rice seemed undercooked to A, but M didn't seem to have that same issue as it seemed fine to her. She also tasted more Spam flavor but that could be because she ate some of the rice on its own first before eating the entire Spam-rice-seaweed combination together.

Next up we stopped at A-Pou's Taste, a street cart we've visited before on the Upper West Side but hadn't seen in a while. They specialize in Taiwanese-style potstickers, and we had always found them tasty in the past. This time we got an order of five pork potstickers which were covered in hot sauce and soy sauce. We really liked these potstickers, and they were just as good as we remembered them being before. This wasn't too surprising as they basically brought their regular cart out to the event.

By far, the busiest block of the entire festival was the one taken up by the Big Bite Tour. A bunch of promotional tents giving out samples, and obviously there was going to be a crowd. Free stuff! There were samples of Mentos gum, Nestea iced tea, Blue Diamond almonds, Wholey Cheese crackers (which we were so excited to see as we had recently tried them for the first time, but that's for another post), Allegra (also extremely exciting and money-saving for us), and Turkey Hill ice cream, which ended up being the last thing we ate from the festival.

Without planning it, we got two different flavors of ice cream - vanilla bean and salted caramel. The vanilla ice cream was good. You could see the vanilla beans mixed into the ice cream itself, and that always makes a huge difference when comparing vanilla ice creams. A thought the salted caramel was just okay. It seemed more caramel and less salted, but in the end the overwhelming flavor in his mind was just sweet. M's not a huge fan of salted caramel, so she didn't feel like trying it, especially if A wasn't raving about how good it was.

We enjoyed our time at the festival other than having to dodge oblivious and/or inconsiderate people in the crowds. The one thing we did notice on the walk though was the absence of one of the vendors we had always looked forward to - Millie's Pierogi. No idea when they stopped coming since we've missed the festival for a couple of years, but we always stopped by their stand. Guess we'll have to look for them in Massachusetts to get our fix.

Pastrami Taste-Off of 2017 Part 1

One thing M and I discussed early this year was what sort of "food resolutions" we wanted to make for this year. A food resolution is basically a goal that we set for ourselves food-wise, just like any other New Year's resolution but for food. They're simple "try xyz restaurant" or "try abc type of food" type of promises to ourselves to do this year. One that I added was one I've been talking about with M for a very long time now. I want to do a pastrami taste-off from as many places as we can. Obviously the big ones are on our list (Katz's, 2nd Ave, etc.) but I wanted to open it up to any and all pastrami. For instance, if we're in LA, maybe we'll try to make a stop over at Langer's.

The first entry in the taste-off is Mighty Quinn's Barbecue. We didn't intend to start here, but on MLK day we had just finished our Dominique Ansel eating extravaganza, and we needed some actual savory food for dinner. Mighty Quinn's was in the area, and they had a special that day for a smoked pastrami sandwich. It seemed as good a time as any to kick things off. The sandwich came piled high with pastrami and a generous squeeze of mustard. On the side you can get slaw, pickled onions, and pickles if you want, like all of their other BBQ dishes. We got all three because we love their free sides.

The sandwich was tasty, but I found the pastrami to be a bit on the dry side. Even the fattier portions were dry, and that was a bit disappointing. The spices were spot on, though, and the overall flavor was okay. M, on the other hand, really liked the pastrami because she prefers it to be less fatty and greasy, and there wasn't much fat at all, and she liked the smoked flavor. The one criticism she had was that the roll was supposed to be an onion roll (and she really likes onions), but no onion flavor came through at all.

Overall, this was a good first entry into our taste-off. The pastrami was a little too dry for my tastes (but not for M), but the sandwich and the general flavor of the meat were good. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing and actually finishing this challenge.

Crispy Spicy Chicken

If you've been reading here for a while, you might remember my love for fried chicken sandwiches. One of the fried chicken sandwiches we've had before but never written about here is the one at Mighty Quinn's. We tried this for the first time last year and thought it was just okay, especially compared to the other BBQ and the dirty frites there, but decided to try it again last weekend on a food crawl walk through the city.

Technically the "crispy spicy chicken sandwich," it consists of a nice-sized piece of fried chicken (which they smoke first) on a soft bun with slaw and pickled cucumbers. Like everything else at Mighty Quinn's, you could also get pickled onions or peppers on the side or on the sandwich if you wanted. The sandwich is topped with a chile-lime hot sauce. The hot sauce had a nice tangy flavor, and it worked well with the flavor of the chicken.

The first time we had this, the chicken was very lightly fried. This time it was much crispier, which we liked better. Other differences from the first time were that the only vegetable that time was pickled celery (versus slaw and pickled cucumbers now) and that last time there was so much hot sauce it was dripping off the chicken in all directions and very messy. All three of these changes seemed to us to be for the better, and we didn't know whether it was because we went to a different Mighty Quinn's location, if the sandwich changed over time, or if we just got a better made sandwich this time around. This sandwich was good. The chicken was nice and crisp, which worked nicely with the crunchy cucumbers and slaw, and the soft bun was good for soaking up all those flavors and the hot sauce.

While it was good, this chicken sandwich is probably not going to replace the sandwiches at the top of our favorite chicken sandwiches list, but it was definitely solid. The BBQ influence makes it slightly different from the others, and variety is always good. Sadly we just missed the end of the meatloaf sandwich days at Mighty Quinn's and never got to try it (sold out on the times we did try and then things got hectic), but at least we got a good chicken sandwich as consolation.

M's Favorite Food Memories of 2016

It's hard to believe that it's already time for another year-end favorite food memories list, but here we are at the end of 2016. In alphabetical order by place name, here are my top 10 favorite food memories from the past year.

1. Garlic roasted brussels sprouts from Ballast Point Tasting Room and Kitchen (San Diego, CA)

After a trip to Mission Beach, we decided to head down to the Ballast Point Tasting Room and Kitchen where we got beer tasting flights and lots of small dishes to share. One of those, crispy brussels sprouts with a poached egg, housemade kimchi, and pancetta, was so good that it inspired me to mix kimchi with some brussels sprouts when we got home. It was nowhere near as good as the one at Ballast Point, but I love it when things on vacations inspire me to try new things at home. I also picked this one for the atmosphere of the tasting room. It was awesome to be able to get flights and try so many different beers in a really relaxed environment with really solid food. There aren't really any places quite like this at home that we know of.

2. Warm Maryland crab dip from Chesapeake and Maine (Rehoboth Beach, DE)

During our summer beach vacation in Delaware, we ate a lot of good food, including a couple of dinners at Chesapeake and Maine, the seafood-focused restaurant from the Dogfish Head folks. Both times we got the warm Maryland crab dip which came with toasted bagel chips. We intended to order different things the second time so we could try more stuff, but I just couldn't not order the dip. There were so much real crab in there and the flavor was so good. I could go for more of that right now as the dip was so comforting.

3. Poultry and potato salad from Hometown Bar-B-Que (Brooklyn, NY)

A had been to Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook before and always talked about how good it was, so we planned to take my dad there for his birthday or Father's Day since he loves BBQ. We didn't make it there until late this year, but it was so worth it. Everything we got there was good - brisket, pulled pork, lamb belly, beans with burnt ends, cole slaw, collard greens - but to me the real standouts were the smoked turkey, the Oaxacan-marinated wood fired chicken, and the backyard potato salad. I could eat that stuff all the time, if not for the long lines there and the fact that it wouldn't be the healthiest diet. The BBQ there is definitely some of the best in NYC, which was proven even more when I ate some pulled pork from another BBQ place later in the week which didn't even come close.

4. Tostada mixta from Mariscos El Pescador (Chula Vista, CA)

We ate a lot of good food in San Diego, but the meal that stands out the most to me is our splurge lunch from a food truck, Mariscos El Pescador, down in Chula Vista. It wasn't a splurge lunch because the items were expensive, but because we ordered a feast that took up almost the entire length of the truck's counter. There were tacos and tostadas and burritos, way more than we should have ordered for a single meal, but everything was delicious, especially the tostada mixta. It was filled with all types of seafood, so fresh, such good quality, perfectly seasoned. Everything was just perfect, and I could eat this every single day if that were an option.

5. Khao man gai from Nong's Khao Man Gai (Portland, OR)

Khao man gai is one of those dishes I order when I want something simple, healthy, and clean but with really good flavor. After going to Nong's Khao Man Gai in Portland, I knew I had to wait a while before ordering this again at home because it was that good there. The chicken was tender and flavorful, the sauce was completely addictive (no wonder they sell it in bottles), and the soup that accompanied it just tied it all together well. This could be a daily lunch if they were in our neighborhood.

6. Pupusas from Salvatoria (Astoria, NY)

This fall, we went out with some friends to Salvatoria, a Salvadoran spot in Astoria, for a giant pupusas dinner. The table split a bunch of them for appetizers, and then A and I ordered another set of pupusas for our main courses. There were pupusas filled with loroco, pork, beans, cheese, jalapeños, and combinations of all of those, and they were so good. I know in theory how to make pupusas but there is no way that they would come out as good as these. They were perfectly griddled and the fillings were delicious. We definitely want to go back there for more pupusas.

7. Octopus salad from Seabra's Marisqueira (Newark, NJ)

We've already written about the salada de polvo, the cold octopus salad, at Seabra's Marisqueira in Newark from our visit earlier this summer. The octopus there was so tender, and the dressing, filled with onions, garlic, parsley, and oil and vinegar was so simple but tasty. Every time I look at pictures of this salad, I want more. It was so delicious that I knew it would make the top 10 list this year as soon as I ate it.

8. Naem khao from Thip Khao (Washington, DC)

One of our most memorable meals this year was at Thip Khao, a Laotian restaurant in Washington, DC, where the hour's wait was most certainly worth it. This rice salad - crispy coconut rice, lime, scallions, sour pork, peanuts, and cilantro - with lettuce to wrap it up was so packed with flavor, especially from all the herbs and seasonings. We had something similar when we went to Khe-Yo, but since this was in salad form and not rice balls, it was even better. So much of what we ate at Thip Khao was awesome, and we wished we lived closer so we could investigate more of the menu. But it would be hard not to order this every time.

9. Banana blossom and chicken salad from Uncle Boons (New York, NY)

From one Southeast Asian salad to another. We finally made it to Uncle Boons this year and one of the things we knew we definitely had to order was this spicy rotisserie chicken and banana blossom salad (yum gai hua pli) with cashews, crispy shallots, and roasted chili dressing. When we lived in Chicago, we used to go to a restaurant with a banana blossom salad on the menu and it was our favorite thing there. It's been tough to find anywhere with it since then, and we weren't sure if we had maybe built that salad up too much in our memories for anyone to meet our expectations. This absolutely did. The chicken was delicious (and it was later too when we ordered it on its own), all the ingredients worked well together, and there was a nice heat to it. So glad we were able to get this.

10. Vegetarian combination and doro wat from Zenebech (Washington, DC)

One of our priorities during our time in DC was to eat Ethiopian food, and in doing so, we were rewarded with what was possibly the best Ethiopian food we've ever eaten at Zenebech. The injera there was fluffy and pillowy, and unlike some others, left no residue on your fingers which was great. We got the vegetarian combination with generous portions of lentils, peas, and other vegetables, along with doro wat (chicken stew). There was just so much flavor to every single part of the dish and  we completely cleaned the plate. Sadly Zenebech closed recently so we'll never be able to have this exact experience again, but hopefully they will open somewhere else as this food was too good to think about not eating again.

I could eat all ten of these over and over again and not get sick of them, which is probably why they all made my favorite food memories list. There were so many more things that missed the cut but with so much good food over the course of the year, that was inevitable. Hoping 2017 brings some great eats as well!

Week 20 - Barbecue

Week 20 of the cooking challenge passed during our Savannah road trip, so my plan was to tackle it the week we returned. They announce the themes a few weeks in advance to allow for advanced planning, and all I could do was laugh when I saw the theme and dates for Week 20 - barbecue. Our road trip took us through the Carolinas, so how could I even think about making barbecue so soon after we got back? Some of the folks down South roast a whole pig for days, and they've worked for years on perfecting their barbecue sauce, so there was just no way I would be able to compete.

Instead of guaranteeing us some disappointing pulled pork, I chose instead to just use BBQ sauce and make a BBQ chicken pizza. (Of course, this was before the weekly challenge post noted that they meant "any sort of grilling" as BBQ, but I already decided to make this, so whatever.) Although I usually try to make something new for the challenge, I have made this before, but since it had been at least 2 years since the last BBQ chicken pizza came out of our oven, it basically felt like something new.

For the pizza, I used:

- 1 package of whole wheat pizza dough ($1.19)

- 1 can of (cooked) chicken breast ($2)

- about 1/2 cup plus a few tbsp of bbq sauce ($1)

- sliced red onion (probably about 1/2 of a regular sized one but this one was monstrously large, so less than that - a lot of the onion got frozen or pickled) ($0.60)

- shredded mozzarella cheese ($1)

- 1/3 bunch of cilantro ($0.34)

The entire pizza cost approximately $6.13, which is really good for dinner for 2. At the dollar slice joint down the street, that would buy us about 6 slices of plain pizza, and this was just as filling, but with healthier and better ingredients (as well as protein and vegetables!). Pizza can definitely be a very budget-friendly dinner choice.

Making the pizza was pretty easy, but I was a little out of practice since I haven't bought and rolled out pizza dough in a bit.

The steps were:

1. Roll out the pizza dough on a board with some corn meal and then put it in a greased baking pan. (Normally I do this on a cutting board but you can probably see from looking at it that this time I did it in the baking pan. It turned out fine, but I just didn't have the space or board to use separately this time.)

2. In a separate bowl, mash up or shred the chicken and mix with BBQ sauce (amount to taste).

3. Add about 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (or more, that was just an estimate) to the dough, and spread on the dough.

4. Add the chicken and then the red onions.

5. Add the shredded mozzarella.

6. Bake pizza at 425 degrees for about 8 minutes.

7. Remove pizza from oven and add cilantro leaves.

This is one of my favorite types of pizza, but it just wasn't that satisfying this time. I don't know if I just didn't use enough BBQ sauce or did something different, but I remember it tasting much better the first time I made it. While it was fine, it just didn't pack that zesty BBQ sauce punch that you want to get from a BBQ chicken pizza. I guess I'll have to refine this one a little bit more to get it right next time.

USA! USA! USA!

Last time for the World Cup we bundled USA in with Slovakia. This time we did better about splitting up all of the countries. For this summer's tournament we opted to do a BBQ run to celebrate America. I had been to Daisy May's before with some coworkers for a pork butt extravaganza, but M had never been. So it was decided!

Daisy May's is a BBQ joint that draws from multiple regions of the US for all of its fairly authentic BBQ styles. You can get the Texas pit-style brisket and beef ribs, Carolina pulled pork, Memphis dry and St. Louis wet ribs, Cajun dirty rice, collard greens, and many other variations of smoked, grilled, and sauced meat products and sides.

M opted for the pulled pork platter with a side of burnt ends baked beans and mac and cheese (we shared all the sides). She thought the pork was pretty good. The sauce was mixed pretty well throughout the portion of pork, and she really liked the flavor of the BBQ sauce. (To be fair, BBQ sauce is one of her favorite condiments, and she likes most of them.) I found the pork to be a touch on the overcooked and dry side especially compared to the really moist pork butt I had before. (M didn't find it dry but she also didn't have that comparison to make.) The sauce they use isn't the Carolina Gold style of sauce that's common in South Carolina. It's more of a mustardy North Carolina type of sauce. It's a little sweet, a little spicy, and even a touch sour from a bit of vinegar.

The baked beans were really good. The burnt ends added smoky flavor to it all, and the beans were hearty and sweet. The mac and cheese was creamy and cheesy. It didn't have that baked top crust that we both enjoy so much, but sometimes you just want this type of mac and cheese. That being said, the pasta was cooked well, and the cheesy flavors were good.

I opted for the combo platter which was apparently some sort of special. You get to choose 2 of the meats to pair and two sides like every other platter. I chose the beef brisket and the Memphis dry rub ribs. I also got the creamy, cheesy corn and the collard greens as my sides. The collard greens were good, but nothing special. We did need some sort of vegetable matter, though, and these definitely fit the bill. The creamy, cheesy corn was delicious as always. It's like creamed corn but jazzed up with cheese. How can you go wrong? 

But the star of the show? Obviously the meat. The brisket was nice and moist, and the BBQ sauce was sweet and tangy. It had a nice smoky and salty flavor on the meat itself from the rub and smoking, but it's not the best brisket I've ever had. The ribs, though? Wow. They take these ribs, double rub them with their special spice blend, and then smoke them as is proper in Memphis style BBQ. They were tender and juicy and fell right off the bone when you bit into them. M doesn't usually like ribs but she really liked these. She had never had dry ribs before but really preferred them to the kind you can more easily get, which are sticky and messy.

BBQ isn't the most affordable cuisine, and because of its red meat heavy menus, it's not something we plan on eating that often. It's really nice to have so many amazing options in NYC, though, for whenever we do get the urge, and it's even nicer to have such a great option so close to our apartment. If you're not looking for a particular style of BBQ and you just want something awesome, definitely head out to Daisy May's.

Daisy May's, 623 11th Avenue, Hell's Kitchen.

Carolina Gold

One of our favorite BBQ sauces is Sweet Baby Ray's out of Chicago. We get the giant bottles from Costco and use them for pulled chicken, BBQ chicken pizza, chili, everything. We really like it, but Trader Joe's has a whole shelf full of BBQ sauces and when we finally had a break where our Sweet Baby Ray's had run out, we decided to take the opportunity to try something new. Trader Joe's was sampling their Carolina Gold BBQ sauce one day awhile back and we thought that might be a good one to pick up.

Perfect accompaniment for Champions League soccer ... Yes, I started this post a long time ago but we're still using the sauce

We pretty much only eat this sauce with chicken nuggets. That's not to say it doesn't go with anything else, but that's its primary purpose in our household. According to the bottle, it's a "golden-hued, mustard-based sauce that's sweet and smoky with a hint of molasses and just the right blend of spices." That sounds about right. Like with other Carolina BBQ sauces, you definitely notice the vinegar base in addition to the mustard. The biggest difference between our usual sauce and the Carolina Gold is probably that the Carolina sauce is a little more sour and mustardy, while the Sweet Baby Ray's is much, well, sweeter.

Chicken nuggets and Carolina Gold BBQ sauce

Buy Again? Yes, even though we have a giant jug of Sweet Baby Ray's in the fridge. Trader Joe's has some other BBQ sauces, so we might sample some others before we buy this again, but this was definitely good.

Fette Sau

So I know I haven't been blogging nearly as much as M, but I haven't had as much to talk about. We're in the midst of compiling our World Cup eating tour, but for now I get to talk tonight about my trip with my coworkers to Fette Sau in Brooklyn tonight.

So the heat here in NYC finally broke a bit, and we dropped below 100 degrees. Luckily this was the night my coworkers and I had scheduled a BBQ outing to Fette Sau in Brooklyn. 7 of us made the trip out to Williamsburg and stuffed our faces and drank several gallons of beer in an awesome explosion of meat.

1 pound each of the Beef Brisket, Boneless Beef Ribs, Berkshire Pork Belly, and Berkshire St. Louis Style Pork Ribs. We also got one Berkshire Pork Sausage each and 1.25 pounds of Hand Pulled Berkshire Pork Shoulder. The beer consisted of 1 gallon of Brooklyn IPA, 2 gallons of Sixpoint Righteous Rye, and 1 gallon of some beer that one of my coworkers bought. Then after all of that, 4 of us each got another 1/4 pound of Boneless Beef Rib. Add in the 2 orders of German Potato Salad, 2 orders of Baked Beans with Burnt Ends, and the 1 order of Half Sour Pickles, and we probably ate more than we should have.

Seriously, the 7 of us feasted amazingly, drank amazingly, and shared tons of laughs. Would I do it again? Probably not to the same extent, but yes, I would definitely eat at this beauty of BBQ again. I wish I could describe here just how amazing this BBQ is, but there are no words that can describe it. This is definitely the best BBQ I've had here in NYC.

View from my seat: Potato Salad, beer, my plate, and our tray of feasting

Remainders of our feasting tray after our first attack

My first plate: Berkshire Pork Sausage, Berkshire Pork Belly, Boneless Beef Ribs, and Beef Brisket