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...

ping pong ping pong ping pong

ever get bored in new york? ever want to do something fun, silly and hassle-free? why not play ping pong at the new york table tennis training federation? this place exists in your own back yard (near chinatown, where else?) and i bet you didn't know about it. i'm still debating with myself as to which is more random - new york table tennis training federation or the bowling alley in port authority.

there was a one-armed guy playing on saturday night. he probably could've beaten anyone there. i'm not sure why that seems funny to me, since you only need one arm to play ping pong, but it does.

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.

the pig is in the pen

if you have 6-7 friends, about 50 bucks and a hankerin' for pig, go to daisy may's bbq u.s.a. right now. bring beer (because it's BYOB). wash your hands (because you'll use them to eat). and don't let any animal-rights types come (because they'll be disgusted).

jesse and scott eagerly await the delicious (half) pig. is that a crucifix? its meat is perfectly seasoned, falls off the bone and easily feeds 8 people even though daisy may's says it feeds 6.

i tried very hard to eat some skin but chewing it would have eventually given me TMJ, so i gave up. stick to the side dishes. we ordered the anti-atkins diet: peaches in bourbon, creamed corn with cheddar cheese (the winner!), mashed yams with brown sugar, regular mashed potatoes and corn bread with a hint of jalapeno that tasted more like cake than bread. cole slaw, french toast and watermelon are also included. if you like very sweet tea, you'll be happy. they serve it in huge mason jars with mint.

and, at the end of your meal, you can make nice-nice with your pig like brian did. he named her henrietta. he's not well.

memorial day weekend

memorial day weekend meant three days of eating and drinking and playing in new york. dang, i miss that city. i covered a lot of ground this past weekend and here are the highlights:

friday
- kang suh: like most of its peers on the k-town block, this place has crappy service but i keep going back because it's one of the few places on that block that serves both korean and chinese-korean food. after dinner, i had pat-bingsoo across the street at the bakery. despite the brain-freeze, shaved ice with red bean paste, fruit, ice cream and condensed milk is one of my favorite summer treats.

- pdt: new speakeasy bar next to (within) crif dogs. i appreciate the new genre of new york bars - chic speakeasy with high-end cocktails. pdt is serious competition for death & co. they have a great cocktail menu; each drink is $1 less that the drinks at death & co.; and they maintain the same tight control over the number of patrons, which is what i love the most. it's simply uncivilized to have to stand and drink. i had the pimms rangoon - pimms, mint, cucumber, muddled strawberries and ginger ale. this was yummy. as long as it doesn't have gin, i'm a sucker for a drink with cucumbers and ginger.

saturday
- 'inoteca: truffle egg toast! not as good as 'ino but good enough when i'm going through withdrawal. why does 'inoteca cook the asparagus? please stop. 2 carafes of strawberry bellinis and mounds of cured meats and cheese rounded out my brunch. i had a gorganzola-esque cheese which had an amazing kick. if anyone knows the name, write me.

- little frankie's: one slice immediately following brunch because it was there. chloe sevigny came in with some peeps too.

- balthazar: chocolate madeleine and cappuccino. duh.

- little owl: soft-shell crabs again and duck breast salad. the dishes here are simple and elegant in a no-fuss kind of way. the staff is kind. yes, in new york and kind. i would want to own a place like this. it would make me proud.

- death & co.: after having a prickly pear margarita at dos caminos and trying to find a good outdoor space for a drink, i ended up in this dark space. it's still good.

sunday
- di fara's: brooklyn institution in midwood. long waits. i got there an hour before it opened but, somehow, still wasn't first. three cheeses on the pizza and a ton of extra virgin olive oil. fresh basil cut with a rusty old pair of scissors whether you like it or not, damn it. this place has a cult following, and i may get hate mail for saying this, but i don't think it's the best pizza in the city. it is good but there are too many strong flavors competing with each other without harmonizing. you can hardly taste the tomato sauce. the crust is good.

- daisy may's bbq usa: this deserves its own posting. see next.

monday
- soba ya: fresh handmade soba with zuke-don. after pig, i needed light and cleansing food.