Bar Omar

We're currently in the Algerian section of the AtWCC, which brings back memories of the only Algerian restaurant we've ever been to - Bar Omar in Williamsburg. We went back in 2017 when we were doing more WorldEats exploration than we are now, and the dinner we had was great. The restaurant was only open for a couple of years and closed a long time ago (2018, maybe?), but since Algerian cuisine wasn't common in NYC, we were grateful we had the opportunity to go. Even now, there are only a couple of restaurants that are serving Algerian cuisine, so it's still relatively rare.

We went to Bar Omar after spending the afternoon going to the Hall of Magic (a promotional event sponsored by The Magicians, reminding us we still need to finish watching that), and walking around on a cold January night. The sign outside advertising "Algerian soul food" sounded like exactly what we needed in the middle of winter.

We split one appetizer and one entree (since the tagines served two). Our starter was chicken bastilla, described as "sweet and savory chicken with almonds in brick pastry." We had a little familiarity with brick pastry from a Tunisian dinner in London (which we never got up to in our recaps, maybe someday we'll get back to those), and thought it would be similar to that (which was very crispy and light). What arrived was more like a pie, denser, more solid, but the flavor of the seasoned chicken was excellent. It's probably the taste we remember most from that meal. The powdered sugar on top was also a surprise for us in how well it went with such a savory dish.

Tagine was the dish we most associated with Algerian and North African cuisine generally. We chose the kefta, so it came with "North-African beef meatballs, cracked egg, potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and zucchini." (These recaps almost six years later would have been so much more difficult without pictures of the menu.) We had some couscous on the side, and it was good from what we remember, but it didn't make as much of an impression on us as the bastilla, maybe because we've had more similar dishes to tagine before.

Based on our one meal there, we would have returned, but we didn't find ourselves in Williamsburg very often back in 2017, so unfortunately didn't make it back before they closed. But we are thankful that we made it there at all, because otherwise we never would have known about chicken bastilla!

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!

El Gran Castillo de Jagua

We found ourselves in Prospect Heights recently around dinnertime, and after checking our bookmarks on the map, decided to stop in at El Gran Castillo de Jagua, a restaurant that seemed to us like a diner, Dominican style. The menu had soups, salads, sandwiches, daily specials, and an extensive list of meat and seafood options. Although we've eaten plenty of Dominican food in our lifetimes, we had somehow never written about any of it for WorldEats, so we figured this would be a good place to start.

After ordering, the first thing to arrive was a basket full of buttered, griddled bread. This was delicious. It was buttered and then "cooked" further on a griddle to warm the bread and melt the butter. One of the pieces also looked like it was smushed in a sandwich press which crisped the crust a bit more than the others. The really nice thing about griddling instead of toasting the bread is that, especially for M, the crust wasn't overly crunchy. It also didn't toast the bread itself; it just made it nice and warm.

Both of our entrees came with rice and beans on the side. We hadn't realized that rice and peas was an option when she was asking whether we wanted yellow or white rice, so we both ended up with yellow rice and beans. The rice itself was okay. It was a little dry and hard, and didn't have as much flavor as some other places we've been to before. A got the black beans, and M got red beans, and both were good and more flavorful than the rice.

For the entree, M got the pollo guisado (stewed chicken). She thought it was okay. The meat was tender and the flavor was fine, but it alternated in temperature throughout the plate. The same was true of the dish that A got. We both thought that was strange since we could see the steam table in the back of the restaurant, and the meat from most steam table places is usually piping hot. We realized when we passed by the steam table though that there was so much meat in the tray that the meat was only partially submerged, and it was a cool night with the door open and the fans on, so it must have been that part of the meat that was chopped off was above the water line and exposed to the cool air. That would account for all the temperature differences.

A's entree was the pernil. His initial impression was one of amusement as it was a literal plate of meat that came out. He's more accustomed to getting a small portion of meat on top of the rice next to the beans. The meat was mostly tender, though there were some definite drier pieces. There was a lot less fat on the meat, though, so that made it easier to just dig through the meat without having to worry about getting a blob of pure fat. Overall the meat had pretty good flavor, but it's not the best he's had. It wasn't too salty, and the lime squeezed on top gave it a nice brightness. M thought that the pernil had more flavor than the pollo guisado.

We thought our dinner at El Gran Castillo de Jagua was fine, but we've had other Dominican food in the city that we've liked better (and that we'll hopefully be able to share at some point). If we were in the area, we might drop by again, but we probably wouldn't travel there to get our Dominican food fix (especially with some great options that are closer).

Yellow Magnolia Canteen

Our IDNYC membership at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is ending soon, so we spent some time last weekend visiting the garden, trying to see all the exhibitions we never got around to on other visits. One of the other things we never did on any of our other garden visits was try the Yellow Magnolia Canteen, the garden's quick service restaurant. We usually eat outside the garden, but the menu sounded interesting and eating on the premises would definitely save some time. We decided to get 2 sandwiches (both $13), which came with some lightly dressed mixed greens on the side.

The first sandwich we got was the sliced roast turkey, which came with bacon, green chile avocado spread, and pickled easter egg radishes on 7 grain bread. Between the two sandwiches, I liked this one a little more, at least once I ate all of the unexciting crusts of the bread, as the bread was a little sweet on its own. The turkey and radishes were fine, as was the bacon, although that could have been cooked a little longer. The best part of the sandwich was the green chile avocado spread, which was kind of like a spicy guacamole, and it had a nice zing to it. The menu didn't list it, but I think there was also pepper jack cheese, which was also a good match for the other ingredients.

Our second sandwich was the kimchi cheesesteak, which A liked better between the two. This sandwich wasn't at all what we were expecting. We thought it would be like most cheesesteak sandwiches we've had with chipped meat, which expectation was only reinforced when the menu called it bulgogi beef. Instead they were like soft burger patties with American cheese and kimchi on top. The bread was a hero, which I found a little too crusty. The kimchi mixed with the cheese was good, but the meat didn't have as much flavor as I thought it would and there wasn't enough kimchi to counteract that and all the flavorless bread.

The sandwiches we got at the canteen certainly aren't earning a spot on any of our "best of" lists, but they served their purpose. It was relatively quick to get the food once we ordered, we didn't have to leave the garden to get food, we got to sit outside in gorgeous 70 degree weather, and it took about 30 seconds to get to the conservatory once we were done. Just what we needed.

Buka

One year ago today, we were in Brooklyn hitting up a couple of places for our Women's World Cup eating challenge (yes, we're still posting about that, but hopefully will be done soon), and went to Buka, a Nigerian restaurant, for dinner. Neither of us had ever had Nigerian food before, and it was always one of our greatest regrets that we never made it to an African restaurant during our World Cup eating challenge the year before. We wanted to make sure we rectified that for this challenge.

Since we had a late lunch, we skipped the appetizers and each ordered one main course. There was an entire section on the menu devoted to tomato-based stews, which were described as the most popular meal in Nigeria, so we decided to go with that. Each of the different proteins could be ordered with fufu (we both chose the pounded white yam fufu) and sauce (which seemed to us more like vegetable sides) for only a few dollars more, so we both did that and chose different ones so we could try as much as possible.

For A's stew, he got goat and for his sauce, he picked the efo, which was finely shredded spinach with onions and dried fish. The goat was a little tough and hard to eat for the most part. I only tried a bite of the goat, but my piece was okay. That was because A was kind and gave me one of the few tender bites of goat that he had, but a lot of the rest was tough. We both really liked the side of efo. It had so much flavor, especially with the addition of dried fish.

For my stew, I chose the tilapia. I had been picturing chunks of fish fillets immersed in the stew, so when the plate arrived with a whole fish on it, I was pretty surprised. I blame my shock for not deboning the fish the way that we would when we normally order a whole fish, so I ended up with little bones everywhere before I remembered to do it. The fish itself was good, but it was a lot of work. For the sauce, I wasn't sure what to pick, so I asked for a recommendation on what went well with the tilapia. They suggested the egusi, ground melon seeds steamed with spinach and dried fish. We had no idea what that would be like, in texture or taste, but it was pretty good. If we remember correctly, we think we liked the spinach better, but this was still good.

This was definitely a different eating experience for us and why we decided to do WorldEats in the first place. We originally tried to eat it the traditional way, grabbing some fufu (which was so filling) and using it to scoop up some of the stew. They even gave us big bowls of water to dip our fingers in. We had no idea what we were doing but tried to do the best we could, but it wasn't working that smoothly so eventually we gave up and used the utensils that were also provided on the table. We definitely would return to Buka as we want to try more Nigerian food, like the stew of West African land snails that they were out of on the day of our visit. It's a type of cuisine we don't have much familiarity with, and we want to learn more.

Buka is at 946 Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

Banh Mi Place

Another day, another review of a banh mi spot. We visited Banh Mi Place in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn last year when signing up for memberships at the museum, but didn't get around to finishing the draft before the year was up. Jumping to a random spot in the drafts archive popped this up, so no better time than the present to finish it. Maybe I should see what other banh mi posts are languishing in the archives and just make it a week of banh mi.

Banh Mi Place was a really tiny shop, but they did have a few tables so we opted to stay. To start, we got some summer rolls which came with a peanut sauce. Each roll contained four pieces of shrimp with lettuce, vermicelli, and some chives. Overall they were pretty good but seemed to be missing herbs. (The chives didn't add much flavor at all.) We didn't taste any mint or cilantro or any other herbs, and for us, that seemed to be missing. We're big fans of adding herbs into summer rolls and that would have made these better in our opinion.

We ordered two banh mi to split and each chose a different one. A picked the classic sandwich, which came with pate, Vietnamese ham, and roasted ground pork. This was definitely the better of the two sandwiches. We're used to classic banh mi having pate and ham, but this one was different because of the warm, cooked ground pork. The ground pork had great flavor - slightly sweet, slightly salty - and was probably cooked in a sauce that included some hoisin. The pate wasn't that strong, but the combination of pork, pate, and ham worked really well together. Overall, the predominant flavor was that of the ground pork, but we were okay with that since it was very good.

Each sandwich was served on a French baguette with mayo, butter, cucumber, carrots, daikon, and cilantro. Pretty standard. The vegetables were all the usual toppings, but a little light in quantity. We definitely think the sandwiches could have used more vegetables, but especially cilantro as there wasn't much at all. The bread was nice, some good crunch but not too crumbly.

I picked the shredded chicken sandwich, described on the menu as "boiled white meat" chicken with all the same toppings as the other banh mi. That was pretty much what it was - boiled, shredded chicken put on a roll with little, if any, seasoning or sauce. The only sauce we could detect was some sriracha. We had ordered both sandwiches medium spicy which seemed to just mean the addition of some sriracha. The sandwich was okay, a bit boring, and it was not anywhere near as good as the classic sandwich.

Between the two sandwiches, the pork was definitely the better of the two, mostly because the meat was actually seasoned. Overall, our visit to Banh Mi Place was fine. We might return if we found ourselves in the area, but we wouldn't make a special trip there just for banh mi, especially not when we could head to one of the many spots in Chinatown (like Saigon) or a place like JoJu in Elmhurst. If we did go back, we would for sure stick to the classic sandwich.

Banh Mi Place is at 824 Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, very close to the Brooklyn Museum.

Nordic Delicacies

One year ago today, we went over to Nordic Delicacies in Bay Ridge intending to have some lunch for the Norway portion of our WorldEats quest. Nordic Delicacies was pretty much the last Norwegian shop in an area that used to be known as Little Norway, and we had heard the sad news that they would be closing at the end of the month after serving the community for decades. This could have been our last chance to get Norwegian food in NY (as it's harder to classify the restaurants that just call themselves Scandinavian by country for WorldEats), so we wanted to make an effort to get out there.

When we got there, it seemed pretty crowded and the shelves weren't very full. It was clear that a lot of people had stopped by for some final Norwegian treats in the weeks before they closed. But we weren't intending to buy groceries. Instead, we were more interested in their prepared foods. We had heard all about their herring and seafood salads and fish pudding and other dishes, and thought they'd make a good lunch.

Unfortunately the prepared food cases seemed to be mostly empty. It looked like the big group of people hanging out there were regulars and/or part of some Norwegian heritage group who were having a get-together or party at the store before they closed. That, combined with the fact that we had arrived on the later side for lunch, meant that there wasn't much of anything left. We were disappointed but understood. It's not like they were going to make a ton of food every day when they were planning to close soon.

Since this was really the only Norwegian option we'd come across in our research (other than occasional festivals and events at the Norwegian church), we decided the next best thing we could do would be to pick up some groceries and make them for WorldEats. It wasn't exactly what we intended for WorldEats, but we were at a Norwegian shop picking up Norwegian groceries for an at-home Norwegian dinner. Close enough (for now).

The first thing we picked up was a packet of fish soup. This was pretty much an instant soup packet - just add the powdered mixture to a pot, stir in some water and milk (or cream), bring it to a boil, and simmer it for about 10 minutes. The entire packet was written in Norwegian and I didn't translate it until right before I started to make it, so it was a good thing we had something other than water on hand. (This was a couple of months ago, so I'm only about 90% sure we used some leftover half and half from the salmon and leek soup and not milk.) As for the other ingredients in the packet, there was flour, milk, cornstarch, salt fish, sugar, carrot, onion, leek, celery, eggs, chives, and a few other things. We really liked the soup. It was creamy but not too heavy, and the flavors of the fish and vegetables were good. We paired it with some fish sticks for a nice dinner.

To finish off our Norwegian night, we dove into the other item we picked up from our Nordic Delicacies visit - a milk chocolate bar with chopped hazelnuts. This was a really high quality chocolate bar in our opinion. The chocolate was rich and creamy, and chocolate mixed with hazelnuts is one of our favorite flavors. This was quite good. The only way we could think of that this chocolate could have been better was if it were dark chocolate, but then it wouldn't have been as creamy.

Our Nordic Delicacies visit may not have gone the way we planned exactly, and we never got to try the prepared dishes that we hoped we would for WorldEats, but we did end up with a nice Norwegian night with real imported Norwegian products. We enjoyed our little mini exploration and hopefully will find another Norwegian place in the future to do some more WorldEats exploration.

Ba Xuyen

We really wish we had a place like Ba Xuyen in our neighborhood. A no frills, hole in the wall, banh mi takeout place. It's something that's been severely lacking for the entire time we've lived in our area. We visited Ba Xuyen months ago and were supposed to post about it much earlier, but better late than never when it comes to reliving some really delicious banh mi.

A's review of his banh mi:

My go-to whenever I try a new banh mi joint is to get the classic pork and pate banh mi. I figure if you can't make the classic, standard sandwich, you probably can't make any good sandwich. Ba Xuyen, however, makes an excellent pork and pate banh mi.

It all starts with the bread. Their baguette had just the right amount of crisp/bite on the outside to go with a soft, chewy interior. The cold cuts weren't too salty or processed tasting, and the pate was balanced and full of good mineral flavor. The pickled vegetables were tart but also still crunchy. All of the flavors accented each other perfectly, and the whole sandwich was perfectly balanced.

M's review of her banh mi:

Just like A usually goes for the classic banh mi, I usually opt for the chicken the first time I try a new banh mi place (although sometimes I'm really drawn to the meatball option), so chicken was what I got at Ba Xuyen. The chicken here was different from most of the other banh mi I've had before since it was shredded chicken instead of grilled chicken like some others.

The flavors of the banh mi at Ba Xuyen were great. The chicken was good, and I really liked the refreshing cucumber, cilantro, carrot, and daikon. Just like A said, the bread here was just right, which really rounded out and improved the entire sandwich. Overall, this was just a really good banh mi.

Now that we've been thinking about Ba Xuyen, we could really go for some banh mi... It's too bad there isn't really anything around!

Zia Green Chile Company

We finally made it out to Smorgasburg in Williamsburg this weekend, which meant we had the opportunity to try a bunch of food vendors that aren't at the other smaller Smorgasburg locations or other food fairs. One of those was Zia Green Chile Company, which specializes in the amazing green chiles that come out of New Mexico. Our only exposure to these green chiles so far (since we haven't yet made it to New Mexico, but it's on our list) has been from canned chiles from the grocery store (which are good, but we're sure not as good as the real thing) or green chile cheeseburgers (which are good, but not that plentiful around here).

Zia was actually our last stop on this Smorgasburg visit, so we're posting about this a little out of order. By this point, we weren't that hungry but just wanted one more thing to finish off our eating adventure for the afternoon. We were also desperately in need of a drink. The day was supposed to be mostly cloudy and/or full of showers, but instead it was blue skies, lots of intense sun, and pretty high (around 75%) humidity. We were drenched, had already gone through multiple bottles of water and iced tea lemonade, and were extremely dehydrated. That was another reason we ended up at Zia, besides the fact that the green chile food items sounded great. They were advertising a drink that sounded perfectly thirst quenching.

Zia's drink of choice was a prickly pear cactus limeade ($4).  This was a very refreshing drink for a hot day. Bright pink, it was pretty mild in flavor, and not overly sweet like some drinks. It also wasn't very tart despite the lime. It was great for that afternoon with its light sweetness.

For our final Smorgasburg snack, we got the green chile Frito pie ($6). Somehow, after all these years of wanting a Frito pie, this was the first one I ever had. Basically it's a bag of Fritos topped with cheese and chili or some other form of meat, which was in this case topped with a layer of green chiles. We really liked these green chiles. They had great flavor, and it made us want to go to New Mexico even more to try them there. There was a good subtle heat to them, but they weren't painfully spicy or anything like that. The Frito pie itself was good, but a little bit hard to eat and mix up in the bag since it wasn't cut open on the side like some Frito pies are. Overall, it was a nice snack.

We enjoyed what we got from Zia Green Chile Company, and would recommend a stop by their stand at Smorgasburg if you want to try some good green chiles. Next time maybe we'll have stomach space for the sopapillas, or if it's in the fall, the posole. (Too hot for posole right now!) Right now though, could really go for a green chile cheeseburger...

An Ikea Feast

As we headed over to Ikea in Brooklyn this weekend, A and I talked a bit about our first experiences with Swedish food. Unsurprisingly for both of us, the first Swedish food that we remember having was from Ikea, and it was, of course, the meatballs. I'm not sure I could even tell you what else Ikea offered back when I used to go there with my parents a lot in the '90s. Just Swedish meatballs.

After living in Chicago for a few years which had an incredibly vibrant Swedish community in Andersonville, it's been surprising to us how little Swedish cuisine there is in New York. There's quite a few Swedish (or general Scandinavian) spots at the higher end of the spectrum, like Aquavit, but on the more casual side, they seem to be mostly coffee shops. It would have been so easy to hit up a casual Swedish restaurant in Chicago to check the Swedish box for our Women's World Cup challenge, but it was more difficult here. So we went to Ikea. They're a Swedish chain, so they count.

We were so hungry by the time we got to the cafe on the day we went (it was late and we had sat in traffic for about 30 minutes (while hungry) to go less than a mile; we could have walked faster) that we ordered a serious feast of Swedish food for lunch. I'm not sure we've ever gotten that much to eat at Ikea before.

A ordered the Swedish meatball combo ($7.99 with the Ikea Family card, which is free so why wouldn't you get one?), which came with 15 meatballs, gravy (cream sauce), mashed potatoes, and lingonberry jam. This is the plate that Ikea's had for as long as we can remember, and it pretty much tastes the same to us as it always has. We love these meatballs, the rich gravy, the creamy potatoes, and the sweet and tart lingonberry jam. Ikea's the first place either of us had ever tried lingonberries, and they're delicious.

The combo came with a drink (we got lingonberry juice, a lot of it) and our choice of soup or a basic garden salad. The soup was aromatic chickpea soup, so of course, we got that. Despite being the middle of June, it was quite cool and in the 60s outside, so soup was welcome. The soup was just okay, probably our least favorite part of our feast. It wasn't bad, just not as "aromatic" as we were expecting. There was some black pepper and some herbs with the chickpeas, but it wasn't as herbal or flavorful as we thought it would be. But it did seem healthy, so it balanced out a lot of the other stuff we had.

I ordered the chicken meatballs (and A and I swapped a few meatballs from each of our plates). This was the first time we'd eaten at Ikea since they introduced the chicken meatball option, so we wanted to check it out. The chicken meatball plate ($4.99) also comes with gravy, mashed potatoes, and lingonberry jam, but there are only 10 meatballs instead of the 15 regular ones. The chicken meatballs are a little bit bigger than the original ones, a little softer and spongier in texture, but full of chicken flavor. They were tasty meatballs, and I would consider getting this again instead of the original one in the future.

Normally we would just get meatballs, but we were so hungry that everything looked good as we walked past the refrigerated cases. I picked up a plate of the gravlax salad ($4.99), since gravlax is one of the most Swedish foods there is and we like salmon. This was good, but definitely not the best gravlax we've ever had. It came with a side of mustard sauce, some sprigs of dill, and a pile of arugula.

To finish off our Swedish meal, we indulged in a slice of Swedish apple cake ($2.49). The pastry part of this was soft and a bit dense, and the apples were sweet and delicious. We also tasted hints of spices in there, possibly cinnamon or cardamom and maybe some others. It came with a vanilla cream sauce. All together, it was a pretty good slice of cake. We were glad that we were so hungry that we picked up dessert since we don't usually try it there. The apple cake was flying out of the refrigerated case and luckily we got the very last slice. Now we know why it's so popular!

It was great to take a break from the frenzy of Ikea and dismal weather to grab some Swedish food, and it knocked another place off the Women's World Cup challenge. Unfortunately, it's now kicked up our craving for Swedish meatballs, and we didn't bring any home from Ikea!

Pho's and Banh Mi

Yesterday was family day in Brooklyn and we had a plan. Wake up early (or at least relatively early). Head out to Sunset Park. Pick up some groceries at Bravo that I can't easily get in our neighborhood. Try out a new spot for lunch. Head over to my grandparents' place mid-afternoon to hang out with the family and play with my baby cousins. Family dinner and then back home.

That was the plan. But the reality was that we got up (very) late, watched the end of the City-Everton game (happy for City!), and got to Brooklyn shortly before 4 pm. Oops. By the time we picked up our groceries and walked towards lunch, it was almost 5 pm. Even though dinner would arrive on the table maybe 90 minutes later, we had to stop for a snack. We had barely eaten anything all day, since we were still planning on lunch, and were really feeling the effects of low blood sugar.

We were short on time and decided not to detour off our route to one of the Vietnamese spots we initially thought about trying. But after talking about banh mi for three days or so, we were really in the mood for Vietnamese food. We saw a place on 8th Avenue called Pho's and Banh Mi Inc which was relatively new (opened last year) and decided to give it a try.

We split an appetizer of cha gio chay ($4.50), a set of 5 spring rolls that, according to the menu, would be "served with lettuce, basil, pickled carrot and radish with lemon fish sauce."

The spring rolls were just okay, although they were a good-sized portion for the price. They reminded us more of the vegetable spring rolls you get at a Chinese restaurant than the ones we've had at Vietnamese places. Not sure if it's because they were vegetarian and the ones we usually get have shrimp or pork and therefore more depth of flavor and possibly more herbs. The menu description said this should have basil but we didn't see or taste any basil whatsoever. A also thinks the frying style is a little different for the rolls we've had before, but we're not experts in deep frying so couldn't tell you for sure.

We also split one sandwich - the banh mi xiu mai ($4.75), the Vietnamese meatball sandwich. We've had some great meatball banh mi before, including one in Chicago that hopefully we'll write about sometime as that one's probably our favorite meatball version so far.

Each banh mi on the menu was supposed to be served with pickled carrot and radish, cucumber, cilantro, pork liver pate, mayonnaise, sweet soy sauce, and black pepper. All of the vegetable elements were there, but didn't really notice or taste any of the pate or very much mayonnaise or soy sauce.

Even though the banh mi looks relatively full from these photos, in person it seemed rather light in terms of fillings. There weren't many meatballs at all and most of them were crushed up in sauce, which probably saves on cost for them so they can spread the meatballs out and not use as many.  Even the vegetables weren't provided in large portions.

Compare this with the one I got at Banh Mi Saigon in Chinatown, and you can see a remarkable difference. That one was stuffed with vegetables and lots of cilantro. In comparison, this one was kind of empty. The meatballs did have a nice sweet sauce that had some caramelized onions and a tomato taste to them, though. They were good, but we just wished there had been more of them.

Although Pho's and Banh Mi wasn't our first choice for sandwiches yesterday, it was a good snack and it was on our way to where we needed to go. I think next time we're in Sunset Park we'll probably go to one of the other 3 Vietnamese places on our list of places to try instead, but this meal served its purpose yesterday. We felt so much better when we left!

Pho's and Banh Mi is located at 63rd Street and 8th Avenue in Sunset Park. They are cash only and provide waiter service.