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.

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...

rome

i spent 3 days and 3 nights in rome and completely fell for that city. our time there was just long enough to see the major sights (st. peters, sistine chapel, colosseum, spanish steps, trevi fountain, campo di fiori) at a rapid pace but not nearly long enough to explore all the hidden corners and see everything i wanted to see.

i kept thinking about the book Eat, Pray, Love the entire time i was there because i instantly loved the sound of italian (is it just me or does everything sound better in italian?), i didn't go to a single museum (not in rome nor in any other city in italy), ate gelato 2-3 times a day (which is probably why i didn't make it to a single museum) and significantly increased the size of my gut.

going to italy right now sucked because the dollar is so low and the prices of food and lodging are generally pretty high. i guess if you want to deprive yourself of the joys of eating 3 courses at every meal, you can get away with cheap eats but cheap lodging was pretty hard to find.

thoughts on lodging, food, random stuff about rome:
- last february i had made a reservation at a B&B in rome called B&B Maggiore. when we arrived, our host said that the building's exterior was being renovated and he wanted to spare us from dealing with the paint fumes and noises. since our enjoyment was such a priority, they had

 booked us a room at a nicer place "around the corner" and arranged for us to be taken there. and, of course, the other place cost more but they would pay the difference. "around the corner" ended up being 20 mins away in the wrong direction. i'm not sure if the whole thing was a scam or not but stay away from B&B Maggiore. we ended up finding a place in the travel book we had - ACCESS Rome - called Hotel Parliment for 130 Euros a night, including breakfast. it was small and lacked amenities but it was spotless and conveniently located with very helpful staff.

- go to the restaurants recommended by my friend ema. he knows me well enough to recommend places that are all about good food, reasonably priced and has lots of charm.

eat lots of gelato everywhere but make sure not to miss the Sardinian honey gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino (the best gelato i had in italy), which is very close to the Trevi Fountain. Also, the espresso granita with whipped cream at the various cafes (including La Casa del Caffe Tazza d'Oro) is awesome and a strong jolt of caffeine.

- the Wallpaper City Guide to rome was a good alternative for people who want to get info on quirky cool things to see and do in big cities and have graduated from the Lonely Planet style of traveling. i'm not knocking the LP and I still use it religiously for certain types of trips - backpacker-style, low-budget traveling - but when i go to places like rome, i need a travel guide that will give me info on the really good places to eat and drink, which don't usually make it into the LP since they don't usually cater to the teva-wearing crowd.   in big, cosmopolitan euro cities, LP isn't the best guide for the kind of foodie experience i want.

shout out to ema!

in case you were wondering how those recommendations for restaurants in rome panned out, wonder no more. they were excellent. i went to all of the restaurants that were recommended and loved each one of them and would happily recommend them to others. in fact, i only ate at two places that weren't on the list and they were sooooo not as good. i imagine that it would be like a tourist picking 2 random places in new york and comparing them to 4 that i recommended. next time i'm going to ask for a much longer list of places to eat.

my ranking of the 4 places:
1. La Pace del Palato
2. Taverna Trilussa
3. Enoteca Ferrara
4. Santa Cristina la Quirinale

thanks again, ema.

Rome Drinks and Eats

I'm going to Italy in the not too distant future, so I asked my Milanese friend who has lived in Rome where to go there and here's what he suggested:

Cocktails:

*Freni & Frizioni, Via del Politeama, 4 - 6
Shabby chic bar in Trastevere where people enjoy drinks on a huge terrace. It has been a huge hit for years.

*Salotto 42, Piazza di Pietra 42
Cool bar on one of the nicest square of Rome in front of the Temple of Adriano.

*Bar della Pace, Via della Pace
It's a roman institution. Have a look.

Restaurants:

*Santa Cristina la Quirinale, Via della Cordonata 21-22
Tiny, sweet and very good. Cooking from the south. One of his favorites in Rome

*La Pace del Palato, Via del Teatro Pace, 42a/43
Delicious.

*Enoteca Ferrara, Via del Moro 1
Really high quality food in this winery

*Taverna Trilussa, Via Politeama
One of the real "Roman" restaurants in Rome

*Also have pizza al trancio anywhere. It's awesome.

Thanks, Ema. You're awesome.

oaxaca, mexico - food

the food in oaxaca blew me away. my meals at restaurants ranged from $4, at the low end, to $35ish, at the high end, and while every single meal wasn't great, they were all pretty good. street food, as usual, was what i often ate for lunch and snacks throughout the day because there are such great tortas, tacos and quesadillos being made by little ladies and cheap cafeterias all over the city. for less than $1, i would get a quesadilla the size of my face filled with quesillo (local oaxaqueno cheese), chicken, zucchini blossoms and chile sauce.

here are some of the highlights of my gorging in oaxaca:

1. micheladas (think bloody mary, except with beer instead of vodka) in the zocalo with spiced peanuts with lime. this was a daily ritual around 5pm. you know, something to take the edge off of my rough and stressful day.

2. cafe alex restaurante (diaz ordaz 218 - at the corner of diaz ordaz and trujano). after no time at all, these guys knew me and my order - breakfast combo no. 4: chilaquiles in salsa verde with tasajo (thin cut of steak) and beans, also including tortillas, coffee, juice and a sweet roll, all for the low low price of $4.50. unbelievably good. best chilaquiles i've ever had.  EVER!  they were spicy.  really spicy, which is highly respectable in my book given that i'm talking about breakfast food.  just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  for some stupid reason, i never made it there for dinner but you shouldn't make that mistake if you go to oaxaca.  given how they season their breakfast foods, i'm pretty sure the other dishes they serve would be darn good, too.  if this place were anywhere near me in new york, i'd be obese.

3. ceviche man in the 20 de Noviembre market. ceviche made to order with shrimp or fish or octopus (or any desired combo of the foregoing), onions, tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, tomato sauce and lime. yes, i would eat raw fish from a mexican market and i did. it was sublime and it was $3.  so there.  this market has lots of food stalls with good snacks and foods to bring back home, like mole, chocolates, jamaica tea, etc. the mole i bought in the market lasts for up to 6 months in the fridge and i've been really enjoying cooking with it at home. it's flavors are so complex and rich and savory. word of caution: i never had any hassles anywhere in oaxaca but i met a fellow traveler who got pick-pocketed at this market, so be careful with your wallet if you ever go there.

4. casa oaxaca (not sure about the address but if you turn right at the top of cinco de mayo you'll see it on your right, opposite santo domingo).  my friend eva, who lives in mexico city, said this was THE restaurant that i had to go to in oaxaca.  i'm glad i took her advice.  despite my love of street food and eating on the cheap, i also really like to have a fancy meal at a place like casa oaxaca where the service an

d the surroundings are wonderful.   also, the food was not only delicious, it was artful (check out the four cheeses which come out with bread at the start of the meal).  my first meal there was also memorable because it was the first time i ate bugs (intentionally).  i had heard that mexicans like chapulines (grasshoppers) but was a little surprised to see them on the menu of this fancy restaurant.  i thought of them as something akin to a beer snack, like corn nuts.  in fact, they are used in many different ways - yes, fried with spices and eaten like corn nuts as a snack but also ground up into a spice and used to flavor dishes and sauces, which is how they were used at casa oaxaca in the taquitos de jicama rellenos de chapulines cuitlacoche y quesillo, servidos sobre salsa de miltomate.  when i first ordered the taquitos (yes, i only ordered it because it had grasshoppers), i had no idea that my taquito wasn't going to be filled with chapulines as the name suggested, so i ate it hesitantly, expecting a gross-out moment with every bite.   but bite after bite consisted of delicious jicama, guacamole, tomatillo, quesillo and even pomegranate but no icky crunchy grasshoppers.  i guess my constant inspection of the food and slow eating caused my waiter

 to think i didn't like it because soon enough, he came over to ask if everything was alright.  i said it was delicious but i was confused because i couldn't find any grasshoppers in the taquitos.  he kinda laughed at me but explained that the grasshoppers are ground finely into a powder and used in the tortilla flour to flavor the tortillas, not whole.  ohhhhhh....  the nicest thing was that after i finished my taquitos, my waiter brought me a whole plate of whole grasshoppers so i could try them.  how kind.  who doesn't want a whole plate of whole grasshoppers to snack on as a palate refresher?!  you know what, they're not bad at all.  all you taste is the seasoning. 

5. restaurant biznaga (garcia vigil 512, near carranza).  if this place were in new york, it would be such an annoying scene because it's so damn cool.  the restaurant is in an open-air courtyard surrounded by chic boutiques.  there's really great photography and art on the walls and good music playing.  the vibe is actually really san francisco, more specifically, very soma.  and even the food reminded me of cali.  biznaga has a huge selection of salads, soups and fish in addition to the meat dishes, which isn't typical.  instead of bread or tortillas, they serve sticks of jicama, carrots and watermelon sprinkled with lime juice and chile to nibble on while you wait for your meal.  this place must be in some hipster travel guide because, unlike the every other restaurant in oaxaca i ate at, biznaga was full of trendy hipsters wearing designer jeans, uber-big sunglasses, distressed logo t-shirts and pumas or addidas.  where did these people come from in oaxaca?  despite the hipster brigade, the food is outstanding a

nd worth trying. 

6. restaurante hipocampos (ave. hidalgo 507, near tinoco y palacios).  SUPERcheap cafeteria.  this was my go-to spot for tortas to go or peasant dinner. 

7. los danzantes (macedonio alcala 403, right across from santo domingo).  overall, the food here is good but not outstanding.

although, i liked the octopus and melon salad so muc

h i went there just to eat that when i wanted a light lunch.  this place is a winner in terms of ambience.  when you walk in, you feel a little transported but i'm not sure to where.  it's a really nice architectural space with canopies of cloth and vines.  there's a shallow pool reflecting the light and loungey spaces in addition to the tables.  great place for drinks.

Mercat

i went to Mercat on Bond St. last thursday night at 7:30pm without a reservation, expecting to have to wait a long time for a table. unbelievably, i was seated immediately (but maybe it was because i went on rosh hashanah). the staff was really nice and the space is great looking but i think the food needs work. every once in a while, i really enjoy tapas. i admit that i don't know enough about basque cuisine to know whether or not the tapas at Mercat are authentically basque or not.

my friend and i started with the assorted meat platter because i can never say no to cured pork and was really shocked at how generous the portions were. then we moved onto the fried artichoke with aioli. this dish doesn't work. i thought we'd get fried artichoke hearts but instead we got quartered, whole artichokes that were deep fried and really dry. too dry for traditional artichoke eating. next came the mushrooms, fried shoestring potatoes and fried egg (sunny side up). this dish was too salty to enjoy on its own and probably too salty to enjoy period. i also think that the potatoes, which reminded me of julienned potato chips, were overwhelming the mushrooms. finally we got razor clams with bacon vinaigrette and braised pork belly with watermelon, pumpkin seeds and sunflower sprouts. these last two were good, really good. both achieved a great balance of sweet, salty, fatty and fresh.

i think i'd go back to Mercat to find out if there is anything else on the menu that is really good but i'm going to wait a while and hope that they figure out that certain dishes don't work.

Yakitori Totto

i used to live on east 7th street in alphabet city, so whenever i felt like eating little skewers of grilled meats and veggies, i'd go to one of the yakitori places on st. marks. usually my yakitori cravings with hit me at 2am after a night of drinking somewhere in the hood, so i'd go to whichever one had the shortest line. even though i had always heard good things about Yakitori Totto, trekking up to mitdtown west was, well, a trek so i never went. silly me.

with 3 friends in tow, i went on a yakitori field trip to midtown and was not disappointed. i recommend eating early for this and making a reservation (only accepted before 7:30pm) because this tiny place gets packed. pick your dining companions carefully for this place because it's a bit like dim sum. sure, a person can order on his/her own but it's way more fun and satisfying if everyone is adventurous and willing to try everything. with a group of 4 we were able to get a semi-private dining area and order almost everything that looked good on the menu, which was a lot. overall, this place was so damn good, it has won a spot on my favorites list.

favorites of the group include: Shirauo No Kara Age (deep-fried silver fish w/green tea powder and salt) - i think that green tea powder has crack in it because it's addictive; Tori Dango (steamed rice dumplings w/organic chicken meatballs inside); Miso Dare Mune Niku (chicken breast topped w/scallion and special miso paste); Kuro Buta Negi Pon (organic pork w/scallion and ponzu); Shittake mushroom (w/shaved bonito); Yaki Nasu Miso Dengaku (egglant w/miso paste); Nagomi Maccha Purin (green tea pudding w/azuki beans) - i HATE pudding but i liked this; Yawaraka (creamy apricot kernel tofu) - imagine soft tofu that is very subtly sweet and apricot-flavored. those were probably the most unique dishes we tried but there wasn't a single dish that i didn't like a lot. everything was fresh, seasoned perfectly or perfectly unseasoned so you could season it yourself with the condiments on the table, and artfully prepared.

don't miss out on the fruit juice soju cocktails. i ordered the grapefruit soju cocktail and was ecstatic when they brought out half a grapefruit and a juicer with my huge glass of soju.

adventures in egypt: hurghada

my last week is egypt actually felt like a real vacation - get up, put on bikini, hop on boat and scuba dive. i had nothing to plan or think about other than whether or not i had enough oxygen while staring at beautiful fish. there was a total of 6 of us in hurghada (friends joined us from finland and amsterdam) and we stayed at the Zahabia Hotel & Resort for about 85 euros/person for a week. it wasn't luxurious but it was nice.

the beaches in hurghada are not great. i would only go there to snorkel or dive. if you want to dive, check our Red Sea Divers. they are located at Zahabia Beach, which is why we stayed at the hotel across the street. the owners are german but they speak english really well and reply quickly to e-mails. my favorite diver master was Alona. she was sweet, patient and cautious but fun, all the things you want in a diver master.

hurghada is a resorty town built for tourists but, unlike sharm el-sheikh, it is built for egyptian tourists as well as foreigners, so you can find food that caters to both groups. there are lots of fast food and "international" cuisine restaurants that serve burgers, pizza, spaghetti, etc. and i ended up at a few of those places because my friends had sensitive stomachs and didn't want to go to egyptian places. however, my favorite places were El Mina (for seafood) and Al Masry (for classic egyptian food). El Mina has a few locations in Hurghada but the one i went to (El Nasser Street, across from the post office) is reputed to be the best.

in the LP's Food&Drink section, there's a nondescript reference to hamam (pigeon stuffed with spiced rice) as being extremely popular. thanks to my egyptian dive master, i discovered why. he said that egyptians considered hamam to be "like viagra" and that men often eat this dish for weeks before their weddings. when i asked what happens to women who eat hamam, i got a sheepish shrug. i should have known better than to ask a muslim man what happens to a woman's sex drive but, what can i say, i like to be provocative. as you can imagine, there isn't a lot of meat on a pigeon but hamam is supposed to be made with very young birds whose bones are still soft, and egyptians eat the whole damn thing - bird, stuffing and bones! i tried to eat my little viagra bird bones and all but, i admit, i spit out a few. and to preempt the inevitable question - yes, it tastes like chicken.

adventures in egypt: luxor

days 5-8 were spent in luxor. today is day 9 and we're leaving to go to hurghada in a few hours. yay! scuba diving!!!

luxor is a tiny little town. the east bank, which is where most of the hotels are, is the "city". the west bank is mostly ruins and farmland for growing corn, sugar cane and sesame. luxor is a huge tourist destination. it's bit like cambodia's siem reap. there are numerous temples and ruins to visit over a multiple-kilometer radius and it takes about 3-4 days to visit most of them.

what i've been wondering is where does all the money generated by tourism go? there are plenty of hotels, ranging from very nice to decent, and one really nice, small museum, the Luxor Museum. otherwise, this town is a shit hole. and i don't think the crappiness stems from lack of resources. i think it stems from disregard. but by whom? the government? the local community? not sure. something about this place just doesn't feel right to me. none of the income generated by the tourism industry is getting invested back into the town. buildings that appear to have caved-in on themselves or were abandoned in mid-construction are everywhere. power is definitely not reliable. and other than major arteries, roads aren't paved.

this doesn't make sense. on the whole, this town is definitely making money. given the lack of maintenance of most of the ruins, the entry fees for places are high. the hotels employ a lot of people. also, the tourist-prices for everything from a can of soda to the toilet paper at public restroom are ridiculous. i've been to a lot of places but i've never had to haggle as much as i've had to do in egypt. it is such an annoyance not only because every single transaction requires haggling, but because haggling takes longer than usual since the prices that the locals start off with are so absurbly high (e.g., they'll start off at 50 EGP and go down to 5 EGP; just imagine how many rounds this takes). i'm sure that there are other places in the world that are as bad but until i get there, egypt wins my biggest-pain-in-the-ass prize.

all of that said (and i'm sure that tourists who stay within the confines of their plush hotels and/or have had to pay only one fat tourist-price for their package tour have a very different impression of luxor and egypt), i still think luxor is worth a visit. during the last few days, i went to the Luxor Temple (definitely go during the day and night), Karnak, Luxor Museum, Mummification Museum (a bit of a rip-off), Temple of Seti I, Valley of the Kings (where you can see the tomb of Tutankhamun, aka King Tut), Deir al-Bahri (mortuary of Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled as both a female queen and as a male pharoah, who has been recently getting a lot of press (photo shown)), Ramesseum, Deir al-Medina (tombs of commoners and a Ptolemaic temple) and Medina Habu. There are plenty of other places to visit but i've reached ruins-overload and decided to stop rather than force any more history down my throat. it's an amazing collection of sights densely clustered within the outskirts of one little town.

as for food, El Zaeem is good for egyptian food. you can eat in (they have good A/C!) or get take out. Oasis is a really cute place i went to for dessert (crepes) and a drink and i think it'd be a great option for non-egyptian fare. go there if you're craving good service and a mellow atmosphere with your meal (because you're not going to find that in most egyptian places).

adventures in egypt: giza

day 4 - giza at last!

after stopping briefly for a tour of a mosque in the City of the Dead, which was built to be a city of tombs but has become a city of squatters, we were off to the pyramids at Giza.

papichulo and i got on a pair of camels, which were walked by one guy and kicked along by another guy on a horse from the town of Giza all the way to the outer perimeter of the pyramids area. they wanted us to experience the grand effect of riding to the pyramids from the desert. this sounds more fun than it was. i've always wanted to ride camels in the desert near the pyramids but i have to admit that those smelly beasts are not fun to ride. my inner thighs have been hurting for the last 4 days. perhaps a 10 minute camel rental near the pyramids for a photo op would have been better.

there are 3 big pyramids at Giza but only is called the "Great Pyramid". it was surreal to be there and think about how old those structures were and how incredibly massive they were. you can enter the 2 largest pyramids but for some weird reason our guides kept telling us that the Great Pyramid was not worth visiting because it was identical to the Secondary Pyramid and much more expensive. if you're ever there and anyone tells you this, don't believe. it's total nonsense. the Great Pyramid is much more impressive inside than the other.

that evening i decided to go eatery hopping around the ghetto hood near the hotel for dinner. the first place i tried was the International Public Meal Kushari, which serves only kushari. i had no idea what kushari was, so i just sat down and prayed it wasn't brains (which has been on a few menus here). instead of providing a menu, the waiter just yelled, "2 pounds?! 3 pounds?!" initially, i thought, "pounds of food?" but as light bulb went on (duh...cost!), i yelled back "2 pounds!" within minutes, he brought me a bowl containing a mixture of rice, macaroni, spaghetti noodles and vermicelli with layers of lentils and fried onions on top. the atkins nightmare. on the side, there's a small bowl of heavily spiced tomato sauce. i watched how other people ate their kushari before digging in and copied - pour tomato sauce over the mixture, add hot sauce and vinegar from the bottles on the table, mix everything together, then eat! all this for 2 EGP. that's about 35 cents. after kushari, i went across the street to Akher Sa'a for falafel, which is called ta'amiyya in egypt. for 1.75 EGP i got tourshy, pickles, and a pita filled with a falafel patty the size of a small hamburger, shredded cucumbers and carrots, tomatoes and tahini. i like the large-sized patties a lot more than the little balls because there's less deep fried surface area and more moist chick pea. i finished off my neighborhood food tour at the awha across the street from the hotel to have shai na'na, mint tea.

adventures in egypt: south of cairo

on day 2, papichulo and i went to the ruins at saqqara (or sakkara), dahshur and memphis. saqqara and dahshur provide good background knowledge of how the egyptian tomb-building evolved from low, trapedoidal stone-shaped tombs (mastabas) to the great pyramids at Giza. memphis is essentially an open-air museum with stone sculptures. it's entirely skippable. hotel windsor provided a mini-van driver to take us to all three sites and back for $15/person. this is slightly more than what the LP states as the usual price but well worth it.

at saqqara, you can see mastabas and the Step Pyramid, egypt's and the world's first stone monument. the Step Pyramid is a pre-pyramid pyramid. back in 2650 b.c., Imhotep had gotten the idea to keep building layers on top of the mastaba into the classic pyramid shape but he hadn't figured out the stone configuration yet. later, with the Bent Pyramid at dahshur, they started experimenting a bit, so the incline of the sides of the pyramids suddenly drops mid-way up. wacky experiment when you consider the scale of that project. finally, the egyptians got it right with the Red Pyramid at dahshur, the world's oldest "true pyramid".

if you're ever at saqqara and want to have lunch nearby, check out Restaurant Pharous (i think that's how it's spelled). it immediately outside the gate to the site. this has been one of my favorite meals in egypt and the decor of this place is really charming. tables with umbrellas are set out in a large green yard dotted with palm trees. it feels like an oasis. we got the mixed grill (kofta, chicken and veggies) which came with yogurt & cucumber, baba ghanouj, tomato & cucumber salad, sauteed potatoes, dolmades (except a highly spice rice mixture is stuffed into a pepper, zucchini and tomato instead of grape leaves), and rice. delicious. the mixed grill for 2 people cost 120 EGP (about $21).

bok choy kimchi

i got a call last week from my friend ari saying, "The CSA gave me too much bok choy again. Can you come over and help me make bok choy kimchi? my respone, "DONE!"

my mom is not the type of person a kid goes to advice for. she's the type of mother that causes her kids to drink. BUT, she is a damn good cook, so i braced myself and called for her kimchi-making advice. recently, she came up with a new recipe for making bok choy kimchi that's incredibly easy, quick and delicious. it doesn't require any fermenting but still seems to keep well for at least 2 weeks.

mom's recipe is below but please note that there is no such thing as precise measurement in my family. we cook on instinct and gut feelings about what tastes good. highly inexact and frustrating for people who need precise recipes but this is what ol' school cookin' is all about. nonetheless, i've provided guesstimates of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

- 6-7 lbs. baby bok choy (regular bok choy is OK, too, and if you want to make less, adjust all other ingredients accordingly.)
- salt (coarse kosher salt is best)
- 1 apple (any sweet kind), peeled, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 1 asian pear (a bosc pear is a good substitute), peeled, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 3 very red bell peppers, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 1 bulb of garlic, peeled

- 1 nub of ginger about 1 3/4-inch long, peeled

- 1 bunch of scallions, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 tablespoons toasted, crushed sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons (or more if you like) korean hot red pepper powder (do not use cayenne, any mexican chilies, red pepper flakes a la pizza parlor or any other substitutes. go to a korean market and get the real deal or don't bother making kimchi.)
- vietnamese nuoc mam (aka, fish sauce. i prefer the THREE CRABS BRAND, which has 3 crabs on the bottle. traditional korean kimchi is usually made with a very salty korean shrimp paste made with teeny, tiny shrimp or raw oysters. using the fish sauce was a good idea on mom's part because this gives the kimchi a fresher taste and doesn't require fermentation since nuoc mam is already fermented.)

Prep:

- chop bok choy to desired size and wash in a colander.

- leave bok choy in the colander and sprinkle a generous amount of salt (about small handful) on bok choy and mix thoroughly until all pieces are lightly salted. let salted bok choy sit for about 15-20 minutes until and the leaves have lost their crispness and are flexible and a fair amount of water has drained out (depending on how young and tender the bok choy is, this could take less or more time). then, wash bok choy in cold water again until all salt is washed off. let bok choy drain.

- place the apple, pear, red peppers, garlic and ginger in a food processor and chop until all ingredients are finely minced and they become a chunky, sauce-like mixture.
- in large bowl, mix drained bok choy, fruit mixture, scallions, lemon juice, sesame seeds and hot red pepper powder. using your hands works best for the mixing and that's how the old korean ladies do it.
- as you're mixing, add the nuoc mam little by little, tasting along the way, until the kimchi is slightly below your desired saltiness level. it's hard to guage exactly how much to add because the bok choy was already salted, so you just have to keep tasting and adding a little at a time.
- once all the ingredients are mixed together, let the kimchi sit for at least 15 minutes before eating. all the flavors will marry and intensify and reach desired level of saltiness.

afterwords

tonight i went to AFTERWORDS at kramer books for dinner and i had "thai water buffalo wings", which came with maytag blue cheese sauce and celery. i also has smashed cauliflower because cauliflower is a great but under-rated vegetable.

so one thing to know is that i LOVE wings. i didn't discover wings until i moved to the east coast for college and i've been gnawing on them ever since. eating them always reminds me of the superbowl sunday during my freshman year when 5 guys from my hall and i ordered 500 extra spicy wings and pledged to not get up until they were all gone. needless to say, it was a disgusting day and i'm sure i've shaved a few years off my life due to it.

anyway, afterwords does something interesting to the classic buffalo wing. they put sriracha into the sauce and on the plate, making the wings (which aren't over-fried) spicy and allowing you to increase the heat even more. sriracha is one of my favorite all-purpose hot sauces. actually, it's one of my favorite all-purpose sauces, hot or otherwise, so the addition of it to the wings was great. like traditional buffalo wing sauce, sriracha is spicy and tangy, but it is also a little sweet, so it cuts the vinegary sharpness of the buffalo sauce just the right amount while still maintaining a great intense flavor.

citizen cake

Gotta love the name. Then you walk in and see the pastries. They are gorgeous and delicious. I had lunch at CITIZEN CAKE in San Francisco – orechhiette with spicy sausage, broccoli rabe, garlic and bread crumbs, an Arnold Palmer (lemonade with iced tea), strawberry rhubarb tartlet and a café au lait. Everything tasted fresh and natural and the portions were human-sized. Everyone in the restaurant had a sun-kissed glow. All the men in there were hot (but probably gay). Everyone smiled. When I ordered a SOY café au lait, it was all good. The entire restaurant was lit by sunshine pouring through two walls of gi-normous windows. Hmmm…maybe I should move back to San Francisco?

sushi sam’s

This tiny, Japanese place in San Mateo, CA is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. I grew up in San Mateo and have been eating at SUSHI SAM'S for the past 17+ years. The Bay Area has changed a lot since I moved away and, when I come back, I never feel quite at home until I go to Sam’s. There have been a few changes made to the place over the years – it’s expanded, it’s added a specials menu and an omakase – but for the most part, it’s the same. The food is the same awesome, cheap sushi I’ve always counted on; Sam is in the same spot behind the counter; and even the waiters are the same dudes that have always been there. I’m sure the sentimental value has a little to do with why I love Sam’s so much but its sushi is also pretty darn excellent.

tabard inn

i had brunch at the tabard inn today. the food was good but the service was pretty terrible. this was my second visit there. the first time i went, it was a monday night and i had drinks and snacks after work. it was calm that night and food and service were fine. the sunday brunch crowd today was a zoo and the staff doesn't seem to know how to deal with a zoo, which is highly unprofessional and ridiculous given how long this place has been around.

i hate when staff at successful restaurants feel entitled to be rude to its patrons. and i hate even more that we still tip them well even if they've been totally inept or rude or both. we had reservations today and were still kept waiting for an hour without any apologies. and when we finally did get seated, we were told that we had to order within 10 minutes because the kitchen was closing, again unapologetically. any place can be off sometimes but places that actually give a damn about service usually apologize for inconveniences, mix-ups, etc. and they don't tell their patrons to speed it up due it their own screw-ups. i give tabard inn a big thumbs down for service.

will i go back? yeah, very likely. the food is good. the freshly-made donuts with whipped cream were light and sugary but not excessively sweet. i would recommend those and i don't even like donuts. the bloody mary had plenty of horseradish and was pretty stiff. the poached eggs tostada should be served with fresh tortillas or potatos (runny yolks need an absorbent starch) instead of deep fried tortillas but the mushrooms in the dish were great. i wouldn't recommend those but the omelette with shrimp and brie looked really really good.