Social Eatz

I was searching for a quick and casual place to eat around the Bloomingdale’s area.  I searched Yelp because I am not a huge fan of the girly places near there, such as Serendipity and Alice’s Teacup.  I came across Social Eatz which I have been seeing in the Tasting Table newsletters and has had publicity from Top Chef (which I never watched).  Since I was meeting an adventurous friend, she agreed to try this new place with me.  They don’t open for dinner until 5:30 and we were trying to make it to a Good Friday service by 6:30.  The menu is quite witty and charming.  The food was introduced to us by our server as classic American fare with an Asian twist.  Although the Yelp reviews led me to believe it was going to be hit or miss, I thoroughly enjoyed the meal.  We started with Spring Roll appetizers and before the main course they gave us scented hot towels for our hands!  We had flavored unfiltered Ginger Ale- I only recommend this if you are a huge fan of ginger.  It was quite strong.  The Hanoi Burger was very tasty and my Tilapia Tacos were delicious as well.  Flavor, texture, taste, all good.  The fries, though, [insert dramatic pause here] the fries.  Seasoned and served with a spicy cheddar and sake sauce, these shoestring fries were out of this world.  At first what attracted me to the menu was the Korean Beef Tacos.  I’m glad I didn’t order it, though, because I would have been comparing them to the ones I had in L.A. off the Kogi Truck.  That is a post for another day.   If you are on the East Side, try Social Eatz.  The food was good, the service was friendly, and we were served quickly and made it to church on time.

Spring Rolls and Ginger Ale

Malcolm Gladwell was Right About Ketchup!

I was reading What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell.  All of the articles in it were fascinating but the one about ketchup was something I recently experienced when I bought the “No Salt Added” version of Heinz.  The article can be found here on Gladwell dot com.  He starts with the question, “Mustard now comes in dozens of varieties.  Why has ketchup stayed the same?”  In short, he begins by writing about the rise of Grey Poupon and makes his way into the history of ketchup and the market research that ketchup has managed to defy.  Gladwell writes, “The taste of Heinz’s ketchup began at the tip of the tongue, where our receptors for sweet and salty first appear, moved along the sides, where sour notes seem the strongest, then hit the back of the tongue, for umami and bitter, in one long crescendo.  How many things in the supermarket run the sensory spectrum like this?”  All this to say that I tried to be a bit healthier by buying the “No Salt Added” version of Heinz but I was disappointed.  It’s just not the same.  You should read the research that helped get us 36 varieties of Ragú spaghetti sauce.  It’s very interesting.  At least now I know why I don’t like anything that’s not Heinz (the original formula)!  Click here to Splat a friend!

I Met Bonnie Taub-Dix!

I had the pleasure of meeting Bonnie Taub-Dix, nutritionist and writer, at work the other day.  She was an absolute pleasure to work with.  Even though I was giving her a lesson on the computer, she inspired me during the session.  Her newest book will be released this summer.  She writes for USA Today, among other publications.  Check out her website.  It’s chock full of great information and tips.  I plan on getting a copy of her book when it is released.  It was great timing to have met her when I am still trying to shed those holiday/stress pounds from way back in December!  (Yes, I know that it is already April…don’t remind me!  I guess I should skip the blog entry about the oatmeal pecan cookie I had at Bouchon…)  Write on, fellow foodie!

Mona Lisa at McDonald’s

My friends and I actually sought out McDonald’s after shelling out a nice chunk of change for dinner entrees that weren’t proportionate to the amount of food that came on the plate.  We did get to hear a really incredible jazz set by The John Raymond Project but left the joint hungry.  We found a McDonald’s near by and my friend Molly and I took a short detour to find an available ladies room at Le Cirque.  I think the security guards were amused by our desperation and let us use their facility.  After all that, my Happy Meal tasted awfully good.  I also couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the decor.  Did you know that the Mona Lisa ate Mc Donald’s?  Is that how she kept her figure?  Maybe that was her secret…

NYC’s anti-soda campaign

Subway Campaign

Have you seen these ads on the subway?  The NY Times published an article about this recent campaign talking about the controversy over them.  I’ve recently entered at Fatbet with some co-workers and it has forced me to reconsider the choices that I make in my diet.  I’m brought back to my high school days when we had health as a topic for a week for PhysEd class.  The teacher tried to explain the concept of empty calories to us.  This was during the time when fat free foods made their explosion onto the market.  Another voice ringing in my head is that of my mother’s, who was always telling me not to drink soda.  All this information clicked with me a few years back when I was living in China, with Coca Cola as one of my few American staples that I could rely on getting abroad cheaply and easily.  My friend who worked at Amnesty International challenged me to give up Coke and Nestle products in order to protest the evils of globalization.  As reluctantly as I did give up Coke products for 6 months (she couldn’t convince me to give up Nestle products, though, because they were the only ones making American style breakfast cereal at the time), I had an epiphany.  My body really didn’t need the rush of 240 calories from pure sugar.  The empty calories were equaling fat, exactly the way it is portrayed in the NYC subway campaign.  Of course, anything is permissible in moderation.  This brings me back to the Fatbet.  People inevitably frown at me when they see me eating a cookie or anything slightly unhealthy.  And drinking empty calories is not evil, it just needs to be moderated.  If you drink a bottle of coke and you’re on a 1700 calorie per day diet, that’s one seventh of your daily allotted calories.  And diet drinks aren’t a good alternative.  According to my friend’s dietician, your body does actually need and crave sugar.  If you use a sugar substitute, your body will still crave actual sugar so it is best to use real sugar, but sparingly and in moderation.  What I learned from my previous Fatbet was not to unknowingly drink your calories.  Sports drinks, sodas, sugar and cream, “enhanced” waters all add up.  And they can add up to fat.

NYC has 35,000 restaurants and called Forbes’ Best City for Singles

Listen to this according to “Best Cities for Singles 2009″ in Forbes magazine:

“With an unemployment rate of 8.2%, many of this metro area’s finest unmarried folks–who make up 28% of the overall population–are taking advantage of generous severances and enjoying the spoils of the city–including its 35,000 restaurants, 3,800 bars and 734 museums–with dates they’ve found online.”

This article also refers to a map featured in National Geographic a couple years ago:

National Geographic Map of Singles

Takeaway from this article?  It would probably be 1) there are a whole lotta restaurants in NY to try, 2) I will try not to be discouraged by the fact that there are 180,000 more single women than men in NYC, and 3) that I’d better dust off my e-Harmony profile.

I suppose there are plenty of fish in the sea and there are plenty to places in NY to have seafood!

Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch

Here’s the link to a really interesting article in the NY Times: Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch. It is 8 web pages so allow yourself some time to read it.  It is written by  Michael Pollan, whose most recent book is “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”  In this article he talks about how America’s cooking habits have changed over the years.  He starts out referring to the new movie Julie and Julia, and ends up giving us some interesting results from recent studies.

“But here’s what I don’t get: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves? For the rise of Julia Child as a figure of cultural consequence — along with Alice Waters and Mario Batali andMartha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse and whoever is crowned the next Food Network star — has, paradoxically, coincided with the rise of fast food, home-meal replacements and the decline and fall of everyday home cooking.”

This is quite funny to me, considering that my last blog post was me raving about these micro curry dishes I’ve been eating!  This is interesting:

“The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity. In fact, the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force or income.”

I think it really is the paradox of plenty.  We have so much food available to us that we have a hard time deciding what to eat and trouble limiting our intake of the “bad” foods that we love to eat.  We often choose convenience over nutrition.  When I was living in Shanghai, there were innumerable conversations that people had with me.  ”Why are Americans so fat?” “Why is your roommate so fat?” “Why are you fat?”  Weight is not a taboo topic of conversation there, along with age and salary.  It’s just a cultural difference but you also have to understand that the girls in Shanghai are literally stick thin.  They would even call Angelina Jolie fat by their standards just because she has curves.  Don’t get me wrong, they know how to eat there (oodles of rice and noodles) but the girls in Shanghai are petite and on par with Twiggy.

Whatever the case is, the idea of celebrity chefs and food as entertainment is definitely a huge money maker nowadays.  I’m a huge fan of Food Network even though I must admit that I don’t actually cook many of the recipes they present.  I’m  very much looking forward to being entertained when I go to see Julie and Julia.  Anyone want to go see it with me?

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Per Se

My version of having Breakfast at Tiffany’s is getting a Pain au Chocolat from Bouchon and then going one floor up to look at what’s on the menu at Per Se.  I never really liked diamonds until I walked into a Tiffany’s and I’ve never thought of food as poetry until I looked at the menu at Per Se.  OK, listen to this:  TERRINE OF HUDSON VALLEY MOULARD DUCK FOIE GRAS- Tellicherry Pepper-Scented Yogurt, Strawberry Gelée, Watercress and Balsamic Reduction with Toasted Brioche.

Or this: MUD PIE- Dark Chocolate Mud Cake, Liquid Caramel, Chocolate “Crémeux” and Caramel Parfait  with Sassafras Ice Cream.

Did you read it aloud?  Is not the alliteration just savory?  Just reading it makes me feel elegant.  Like I could be so Audrey!

Peanut Butter & Co and Elvis

Another Elvis reference I found recently is at the adorable and ultra-fun Peanut Butter & Co in The Village. Yes, some people may scoff at the idea of paying $6-8 for a peanut butter sandwich but the peanut butter that they make is pretty darn good. It is a peanut butter paradise. They serve The Elvis, which is a “grilled peanut butter sandwich stuffed with bananas and honey.  Try it with bacon for extra indulgence.  Long live the King!”  I ordered The Heat is On with chicken and pineapple. It was really good, actually. All sandwiches are served with chips and carrot sticks. PB & Co is also featured in the Scavenger Munch Hunt that Watson Adventures runs in the Village. An especially great hunt for any foodie at any level and you pick up great trivia bits along the way!

Love Me Tenders

I flipped to a program on Elvis’ Love Songs on PBS and they were talking about his song, “Love Me Tender” which, by the way, is actually the tune of an American folk song, “Aura Lee,” and I was reminded of the time I ate at Thai Select on 9th Ave at 36th. While looking at the menu, the item “Love Me Tenders” caught my eye and I had to order just for sake of saying, “I’ll have the Love Me Tenders, please.” Although I would have enjoyed hearing my date say, “She’ll have the Love Me Tenders,” even more! The dish was pork tenders with a sweet glaze served with sticky rice and papaya salad. Love me sweet!

“No Reservations” U.S./Mexico Border

I checked out Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Collection 2 from the library and I’m on the US/Mexico Border episode.  He starts the episode by taking the viewer into the kitchen of his home base restaurant Les Halles and asking where the chefs are from.  They are all from Mexico.  I see the point he’s trying to make- that there is a large and talented pool of chefs coming from Mexico and has become a backbone for restaurants and their diners.  Being Chinese-American myself, however, it reminds me of the large number of Chinese that either started laundries or restaurants because it was all they were allowed to do back then in the States.  I know that this could be a potentially loaded conversation due to the complexities of immigration and minorities in America but I have noticed that many, many restaurants hire Mexican cooks, including Italian and Chinese restaurants.  So what I’m wondering is, who does the cooking at Mexican restaurants?

TGIF

OK, so I went to Friday’s on Wednesday.  Molly said that she felt like having a burger but we didn’t feel like going to Johnny Rockets.  We were out in Forest Hills where there are plenty of chain restaurants (but they are not overpriced like they are in Manhattan).  It brought me back to my high school years, probably also because they were playing Savage Garden when we walked in.  My friend Lea called TGIF Guy Fieri’s restaurant, haha.  He does make TGIF look really good.

What I really liked was that they had a “Perfect Portions” menu.  ABC reported that portions have increased in size by 23-52% over the past 20 years and that in their study, every person who was served a larger portion size ate more.  I have gotten into the habit of eating only half of my entree at restaurants nowadays.  My perfect portions meal was the perfect portion and although I managed to substitute broccoli for the fries, I finished my ribs and then managed to finish Molly’s 5 cheese macaroni.  Now that dish was so good with bleu cheese on it!  Mmm.  I would have been just perfectly full except that we had been talking about relationships all night and we just couldn’t leave without having dessert.  There is a law in New York City that all chain restaurants must include the calorie counts on their menus, which I find to be really helpful when deciding what to order but I was really wishing they hadn’t shown the calorie counts on the dessert menu that night!  Didn’t stop me from sharing it, though.

Top 10 Ruled out Chinese Cooking Show Names

While daydreaming and thinking about what I might name my own Chinese food cooking show if I ever had a shot at being on The Next Food Network Star,  I compiled my top 10 list of the names I ruled out.  Here goes:

• 10. Chimerica’s Test Kitchen
• 9. We’re Wok-king, We’re Wok-king
• 8. Wok-ka Wok-ka!
• 7. Panda Panisse
• 6. Rice, Rice, Baby
• 5. Ain’t No Butter Here (But Us Chinese Chickens) [The song]
• 4. Who’s General Tso?
• 3. Please Pass the MSG
• 2. Everyday Real Throwin’ Down Home Molto 30-minute Semi-barefoot Quick Iron Fixing Good Chinese Eats
• 1. Chop Your Own Suey

And there it is, boys and girls!

Auditioning for “The Next Food Network Star”

Since I had the time, I decided to fill out the 11 page application and go to the casting call for The Next Food Network Star.  I was up until the wee hours of the morning typing my data into the PDF file and ran out to the CBS studio on the West Side without even stopping to get coffee.  I wanted to get there before 10 am but I gave into the snooze button on my alarm(s).  It was a meteorologically trepidatious day and I arrived armed with an umbrella and some snacks.  I knew that there would be waiting involved, I just didn’t know how long I would wait.  I was wondering if I was getting in the right line when my friend Sina called out  my name.  I had no idea that she was going to audition and I was so thankful to be waiting in good company.  We were waiting outside in order to get into a waiting room inside the studio.  The interns did a great job at keeping things orderly.  I arrived at about 10:30 am and left the audition at about 3:30 pm.  Before they called our numbers, Sina and I practiced some of the interview questions.  It was good to practice verbalizing what we had written on our applications.  And then, I was really needing a boost (sans caffeine) so I suggested we sing some upbeat 80′s song in order to get pumped up for our audition.  Sina is a singer/actress but I’m not accustomed to these kinds of auditions.  Luckily she humored me.

I did get a funny story out of the day.  For the final leg of waiting before chatting with a casting person, I suddenly got a flutter of butterflies in my stomach and the guy behind me asked if I was alright.  Okay, the really good looking guy behind me…I told him that I was just suddenly very nervous so he pulled out a one-liner that I always seem to fall for.  ”Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked.  And I really thought I knew him from somewhere because there seemed to be something really familiar about him.  Then he said, “Just trying to loosen you up.”  Whew!  I appreciated that so I asked him if he had any other one-liners.  He says with all seriousness, “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” and honestly, I was really not sure how to respond to that one.  Then he asked me if I had ever seen the movie Airplane and when I said no, he seemed to regret what he had just said.  He tried to explain the Airplane scene to me but it was lost on me.  But I was laughing!   Bless him.

In the end, I’m glad I did it and if you want to audition for it, too, just go to: http://www.foodnetwork.com/nfns-6-casting-call-upload/package/index.html.  Good luck!

Shout out to the iPhone and the WordPress app

The last post was done from my iPhone while riding the subway.  I was on the N above ground in Queens, so I had reception.  Awesome, woot woot!  Hooray for Apple.  I’m so glad I took the time to update the OS!

Rupert Sighting!!

I saw Rupert of the Hello Deli yesterday while I was walking down Broadway at 62nd St. He was walking with his business partner, Mei. I thought about saying hello but I was on my way to meet a friend for dinner. Plus, I wanted to avoid the potential awkwardness of, “Hey, remember me? My friends and I ate at your deli and my friend’s mom asked if you were single? Yeah, isn’t that great?” and getting a blank look from them. Then they’d feel obligated to do the, “Oh yes, how are you, nice to see you, etc.” just to be polite thing. Or who knows, maybe they would remember that time!

Union Square Farmer’s Market (Greenmarket)

Union Square Greenmarket

It was storming for a while so my friend and I decided to take cover at Barnes & Noble at Union Square since we were meeting another friend for dinner at Max Brenner later.  There was a break in the weather so I had to walk her through the farmer’s market.  By the time we walked the block, it started raining again.  There were flowers, fruits, vegetables, fresh baked breads.  I didn’t realize that there was a fish vendor until I smelled it.  At about 6pm there was a bakery that was selling their goods for the reduced price of $1.  We tasted the local honey but I was more fascinated by the piece of the hive they had on display, complete with bees and enclosed in a plastic case.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the vegetables as they looked so vibrant, nutritious, and delicious!

The market is a source for many of the surrounding restaurants.  My friend told me, “I saw Mario Batali a few years ago at Union Square—he was with an underling, or so it appeared, and they were picking out produce. He is not a small man, and looks just like his photos.”

I’ve been reading Danny Meyers’ Setting the Table and he talks about the experience of opening his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in the mid 80′s.”I had just been to Union Square once or twice since I began living in New York, so I was only vaguely aware of its green-market–then a small twice-a-week outdoor gathering of cash-crop farmers and a specialist in heirloom apples…The farmer’s market was intriguing, and according to Ellen Giddins, the real estate executive who first urged me to follow my instinct on Union Square, this was precisely where the advertising and publishing industries would soon be relocating to escape the escalating rents in midtown…I was no expert in New York real estate , but I understood on a gut level that if I handicapped the location correctly, and could successfully play a role in transforming the neighborhood, my restaurant, with its long-term lease locked in at a low rent, could offer excellence and value.  This combination would attract smart, adventurous, loyal customers, in turn giving other restaurants and businesses the confidence to move into the neighborhood until a critical mass had been reached and the neighborhood itself changed for the better.”

I often see protests and rallies being held at Union Square Park.  There’s a lot free stuff being offered there, as well, with signs that read, “Free tickets,” “Free Newspaper,” “Free Hugs,” and “Free Tibet.”  The free samples at the Greenmarket are pretty darn good.

Hello Deli and Hello Rupert!

Any David Letterman fan would probably go around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theatre to visit Rupert at the Hello Deli.  That is exactly what my friend Lea and her parents did.  I had a pretty awesome turkey sandwich on 7 grain bread.  There is a small seating area inside the tiny place and tons of tourists came by with cameras in hand to get a picture with Rupert while we were lunching.  My friend’s mother is highly extroverted and talked to the guitarist in the Letterman band when she walked in.  Mother Leong also began her work as matchmaker by saying, “I wonder if he’s single,” and tried to get the skinny on Rupert.  ”He wouldn’t tell me how old he is,” she returned to us saying, “He’s too old for you, Alicia.”  She did find out that both her and his family are from the same province in China (Guangdong, the southernmost province).  Rupert and his business partner, Mei, at Hello Deli are really sweet people.  I may just go back there.  No, not just to see Rupert *sheesh* but because they do have a pretty good looking menu for a corner deli, including meatloaf!  Plus, where else can you go to get the Letterman Special?

Rupert, Lea, and Alicia at the Hello Deli

the water is what makes New York pizza so good

I was watching Food Detectives on Food Network, hosted by Ted Allen, and they made three pizzas with the exact same ingredients, changing only the water in the recipe.  They used unfiltered tap water from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.  In a blind taste test, all four tasters agreed that the pizza made with New York tap water in the crust tasted the best.  One of the tasters said that when he was starting a restaurant in California, he had to filter the water quite a few times before the taste came up to his standards.  That’s nothing, though.  A friend in China told me that one of the big beer companies tried to start production in China but they had to filter the water over 50 times to bring the water up to par!   I find the science to be very interesting.  Chemistry explains why a croissant outside of Paris just isn’t the same and why sourdough bread outside of San Francisco can never be replicated, either.  Oh la la la, I loved Paris!  I left my heart in San Francisco, too.  Even though I had a some rough times with Shanghai, there was still a quite a bit of chemistry there.  Still enjoying my current love, New York.

Bar Americain

I had a truly lovely evening with some friends from Oakland, California.  We had dinner at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain and then went to see West Side Story on Broadway.  It was an unintentional pairing on the American theme.  My friends got stuck in traffic coming in from the airport but the restaurant was able to squeeze us in before the show.  My friend and I shared a pizza appetizer and I had a Red Pepper Crabcake.  The flavor was excellent but then again, how can you ever go wrong with bacon?  A little heavy on the cheese for my taste but I suppose Americans really do like a lot of cheese on their pizzas.  The red pepper added a distinct flavor to the crabcake and the inside had a really smooth texture with the outside pan fried to perfection.  The service was great and the menu was uniquely American with the dishes each having a regional description attached to it.  My friends had the Shrimp and Grits, Rack of Pork, Skate, and Halibut.  All were excellent (of course, I had a taste of everyone’s!).  There was also a fantastic seafood display in the back of the restaurant.  It was also fun to recognize that Bar Americain is where Bobby Flay films part of his Throwdown series on the Food Network.  Bar Americain is on 52nd Street at 7th Avenue.

Pizza with Bacon

Red Pepper Crabcake with Slaw