New Blog - SUEPER*EATS

I'm done dorkin' around with blogspot. Roan made me realize that posterous is a much easier blog to use. In case you're interested in tracking where I eat and travel, you can still stalk me on my new SUEPER*EATS site.

ciao!

Hill Country

Last night I finally went to Hill Country. I had heard about this place from a Texan friend who went to Kreuz Market, the barbecue joint in Lockhart, Texas that Hill Country is modeled after. The cafeteria-style ordering scheme looks interesting but I had the pleasure of being there with a private party, so we had the whole basement to ourselves for most of the evening and an endless flow of food and drinks being served to us. During cocktail hour, we had mini pulled-pork sandwiches, chicken quesadillas and smoky chipotle deviled eggs. I was a bit disappointed by the deviled eggs which were neither smoky nor spicy and underseasoned in my opinion.

Dinner consisted of campfire baked beans, mac & cheese, cole slaw, green bean casserole (with cream of mushroom & fried onions), moist brisket, lean brisket, pork ribs, roast chicken, Blue Bell ice cream (imported from Texas) and Red Velvet cupcakes. It was a feast. I have to admit that I'm not a BBQ scholar, so I don't know off-hand which states produce dry rub, wet & saucy, tangy sauce or sweet sauce BBQ. I really have to make it a point to learn that some day. Hill Country is all about the dry rub, so the meats are dry but sweet BBQ sauce and hot sauce are on the tables for you to concoct your own desired sauce mixture.

My favorites were the green bean casserole, moist brisket and red velvet cupcakes. I don't think anything I ate was less than good, but other than those three dishes, nothing else really stood out for me as being excellent. I think I need to go back there to give it another chance because, in general, I don't trust that food prepared en masse for large groups is ever representative of its potential goodness and I'm dying to try a few other things on the menu (e.g., boneless prime rib, white shoepeg corn pudding and bourbon pecan pie).

More Banh Mi

On my last banh mi mission, I went to BANH MI SAIGON BAKERY - 138 Mott Street (near Grand Street). At $3.75, it was the cheapest of the banh mi establishments I've been to recently, but it's also in Chinatown. I had the Banh Mi Saigon, which is the classic Vietnamese sandwich, of course. This place wins for having the best bread. It was flaky, chewy and super light and fluffy all at once. The roast pork was disappointing for me. It was cut into little pieces that were dry and chewy (but not in a good way). The seasoning of the roast pork overpowers all the other pork flavors in the sandwich. Not a very balanced flavor combo. Nicky's classic is still the winner. This place wins, though, for being in the weirdest location. It's at the back of a jewelry store that doesn't seem to get any real business of its own.

Bahn Mi

I read this article about banh mi recently in the NY Times:

• NY Times Banh Mi Article

It's about nouveau banh mi places in New York that are putting twists on what I consider to be one of the best sandwiches ever created. Needless to say, I'm going to try to hit all of the places that are mentioned in the article. So far I've gone to the following two:

• BAOGUETTE CAFE 37 St. Marks Place (near 2nd Ave.) - I had the classic Vietnamese sandwich, which was really big and juicy but not as good as the classic at Nicky's. The bread at Baoguette was chewier and a little denser than the flakey baguettes used at Nicky's. Baoguette tries to achieve a balance of bread and filling by stuffing the bread with a mountain of meat, carrots, radish and cilantro but I don't like that very much. I just makes the sandwich really hard to eat and supersized in that not-so-good American way. Nicky's is still my gold standard for the classic vietnamese banh mi. The catfish sandwich was pretty good but the sauce they use is a little too sweet for my palate. Beware; if you order the sandwiches very spicy here, they really really lay on the hot sauce. I'd suggest ordering medium spicy and adding more hot sauce as you eat it. I like that they have the other Vietnamese staples here that I love - bun, pho, crepes, spring roll, summer roll, etc. I'd definitely go back to try the other sandwiches and dishes. One thing I really appreciate about Baoguette is that they are happy to customize your order (e.g., extra cilantro, no mayo, etc.)
• NUM PANG 21 East 12th Street (near University Place) - The disclaimer on this place is that it's not really Vietnamese. It's a sorta-kinda-but-not-really Cambodian take on the Vietnamese sandwich, so effectively, it's neither Cambodian nor Vietnamese nor anything else but itself. I tried the pulled pork sandwich, the shrimp sandwich and the catfish sandwich. The shrimp was definitely my favorite. The pulled pork tasted like any other pulled pork at a bbq restaurant, except with some hot sauce instead of bbq sauce. The shrimp was juicy, spicy, well-seasoned and worked well with the bread and veggies. The catfish was a little dry and uninspired. Num Pang is the opposite of Baoguette when it comes to customizing; they will not do so at all. One final thing to note is that Num Pang is pretty expensive. I think the sandwiches were all $7.95 and were fairly small, which might seem normal to New Yorkers who are used to getting ripped-off as a way of life but, given that most banh mi places charge about $5-$6 for a sandwich, this place has got some nerve. In Vietnam, a banh mi costs about a quarter at the street carts.

Travel Tips

I like this blog post from the NY Times' Frugal Traveler.

• Frugal Traveler's traveling tips

In it, he shares his go-to websites and books and strategies for planning a trip. I'm sure a lot of us already utilize his approaches but it's always good to feel validated.

A hotel booking website that I recently used while traveling in Thailand is http://www.agoda.com/. I think this site is great. We got a great deal on a hotel that we had read about but thought was out of our budget. It saved us over $100 on the nightly rate. More details on Thailand to come.

Yerba Buena

don't ask any questions.  just go there.  SERIOUSLY.  eat a lot.  drink a lot.  it's allllll good.

this has become an instant new favorite. 

Johnny's Reef Restaurant (City Island, NY)

today i got away from new york without really getting away.  i took the subway to the last stop on the 6 (pelham bay park) and biked to city island, had lunch and then explored pelham bay park a little.  it's another world out there.

apparently, THE place to go eat seafood on city island is Johnny's Reef Restaurant.  it's a huge establishment that seems to be a locals' favorite.

there are lots of seafood restaurants on the main strip on city island but none were as busy as Johnny's.  i had the fried flounder and scallops and both were fresh and good.  it's no le bernadin, but if you like a big plate of fried seafood every once in a while, you can get your fix here.  if i had any more space in my stomach, i would've gone for the raw bar.  oh well.  next time...