Posts Tagged: nyc

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16
Aug 10

Phat in Montauk: Cyril’s Fish House

Sorry guys for the lack of posts.. I’ve been HERE:

montauk ny

Montauk! The crew and I took a trip out to the very end of Long Island, NY for a weekend of fun, sun, and good eats. One of my favorite joints was called Cyril’s Fish House in Amagansett, NY. We liked it so much we stopped on the way to the beach, and again on the way back to the city!

oysters montauk cyrils fish house amagansett hamptons
What is a weekend at the beach without RAW BAR? i was dying to have oysters and clams on the half shell, and Cyril’s served it right up.

raw bar clams cyrils fish house amagansett hamptons
I had never had raw clams before, but for some reason I knew it would be something I’d like. Actually, I love them. They are so clean, crisp, and meaty, perfectly… 鲜甜 (xian tian), or fresh and sweet.

clam bellies cyrils fish house amagansett hamptons
We tried out Cyril’s clam bellies, something else I’ve never had before. You start with a Ipswich clam, remove the tongue (mostly used for commerical food purposes), and you’re left with the soft flavorful clam belly, which Cyril’s fries up and serves with tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon. American seafood culture is definitely different from what I experienced in Hong Kong, where most items are steamed or cooked gently in a wok. In Montauk, most of our seafood options were FRIED. Not that I am complaining of course…

tuna steak cyrils fish house amagansett hamptons
After all the fried clam bellies, we opted for an extra fresh grilled tuna steak over greens. The fish was so fresh, you could taste that it had been pulled out of the water that morning. Amazing..

lobster roll cyrils fish house amagansett hamptons
Of course, what is a fish house without a lobster roll? Cyril’s ($16) is delicious, served on a potato roll hot dog bun and presented with plenty of waffle fries. The lobster salad is meaty and substantial, and not smothered in mayonnaise. Because you know, you gotta fit into that bikini!

navy beach montauk
Hope you’re having a great summer!

Enjoy!

Cyril’s Fish House
2167 Montauk Hwy
Amagansett, NY
+01 (631) 267-7993

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12
Jan 10

Phat in NYC: Raymund’s Place

I love Willyb because even though its overrun with young, creative, upwardly-mobile, “hip” people… hipsters, i believe you call them… it still retains some of the culture of its past inhabitants. Puerto Rican food on the south side, Polish on the north. Love it. I met up with some good friends for dinner at Raymund’s on Bedford. It’s a nice spot to go to when you are a group in search of cheap eats. Just make sure you order the right things!

raymunds roast pork polish williamsburg
I’ve been to Raymunds a lot in the past.. but I usually get the same thing (white borscht + split the polish plate.). This time I decided to get adventurous.. bad idea. Stick to the schnitzel and the kielbasa.. everything else on the menu is pretty bland and disappointing. Like this, the “roast pork.” More like boiled, tough, dry, tasteless pork medallions in white sauce. bleh. The cucumber salad was good though.

raymunds apple pancakes williamsburg polish
One dish that Raymunds does really well is the apple pancakes. I’ve never had them anywhere else that does them as good. They come 4 to and order and topped with this slightly sweet, mild sour cream. It’s fantastic. Almost made up for the shitty roast pork dish.

raymunds williamsburg polish
If you go – stick to the tried and true. The white borscht is really tasty and comes with a side of mashed potatoes topped with bacon – pretty much a meal in itself. And you can’t really go wrong with the Polish Platter – kielbasa, pierogies, and kraut. Yum.


I miss you guys!

If you want a REALLY good Polish meal, walk up Bedford through the park and hit up Lomzynianka on Manhattan. It’s the real deal – every dish is amazing and their homemade sauerkraut is the bomb! The Girl Who Ate Everything has a great review.

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Raymund’s Place
124 Bedford Ave
at N 10th
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bedford L
+01 718-388-4200

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Lomzynianka
646 Manhattan Avenue
at Bedford
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Nassau G
+01 718-389-9439
www.lomzynianka.com

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12
Jan 10

Phat in NYC: Xe Lua

NYC’s Chinatown is a treasure-trove of cheap eats. I know, because when I was a super-broke student and working a 9-5 to pay tuition, I used to thank god that my office was in Chinatown. When I wasn’t on the $3.50 banh mi tip, I would mosey on over to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the hood, Xe Lua. Like San Francisco’s taquerias, NYC’s spots for cheap Vietnamese spark great debate. Nam Son, Tai Son, Pho Pasteur, Pho Bang.. yeah yeah I’ve tried them all and I keep coming back to Xe Lua. Not only is the decor funky (plastic fish swimming across the walls), the service is super friendly and it’s never hard to get a table. Plus, I’m pretty sure this is the only cheap Viet restaurant in NYC that offers you sawtooth/razorleaf herb with your pho.

xe lua nyc bun
This is my favorite dish – bun with grilled porkchops and fried spring rolls. The spring rolls at Xe Lua are to die for. I always get them. They aren’t traditional in the sense that they use a Chinese-style egg roll wrapper instead of rice paper. But the filling of pork and veggies is so perfect and garlicky… and I think I actually prefer the egg roll wrapper. It makes it super crispy. The pork is always well marinated and grilled to perfection – juicy! Xe Lua’s fish sauce is amazing. They go heavy on shallots, making the flavor superb and wondefully addictive. I gotta say the carrot and daikon pickles could use better knifework, but regardless, all the ingredients come together to make the perfect bowl of bun.

The house special pho at Xe Lua is also stellar – huge servings with plenty of offal (tendon, tripe.. all the goodies). The broth is nice and beefy, a little on the salty side, and not too greasy. Many times I have finished the Pho Xe Lua all by myself… with not even a drop of broth remaining. Yeah, its that good.

If you go, make sure to sit up front near the window – that’s my table. ;)

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86 Mulberry St
South of Canal
Chinatown, Manhattan
NRW/456 to Canal
+01 212-577-8887
www.xeluanewyork.com

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12
Jan 10

Phat in NYC: Five Leaves

Damn, it felt good to be back in Brooklyn. I met up with Jen & Lauren, two of my favorite people ever, for a nice Willyb-style brunch at Five Leaves (yes, the Heath Ledger-backed spot). Oh boy, brunch does not get more hipstery than at Five Leaves. You walk in and its a sea of plaid, and blonde girls with short hair and arm tattoos. Five Leaves is designed in that style that Williamsburg can not get enough of – lots of wood, edison lamps, menus with typographic lockups and fancy drop-caps, rustic this, vintage that. (see El Almacen, Dressler, Walter Foods, Marlow & Sons.. list goes on) But you know what, it works!

five leaves burger
Excuse my busted manicure. You know what its like to travel for 3 weeks with no topcoat? Anyways.. I had heard some good stuff about the burger ($11), and definitely wanted to try it out. The patty was really nice and flavorful and I loved the generous double-application of harissa mayo (um, yum north african spice). But it was served on oversized, crusty, ciabatta-like bread… and you know how I feel about burgers on oversized bread. Not good. Plus the crustiness of the bread made the burger really tough to eat in a ladylike manner.. especially since I had burned the roof of my mouth just moments before. But maybe that part was my fault..

five leaves, the big brekkie
Lauren had the big brekkie, which looked a little like this. Served with two sides of your choice and hashbrowns. Looked good!

Anyways, I love Brooklyn, I love brunch, I love hipsters, and if you are like me and love all three – Five Leaves is for you!

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Five Leaves
18 Bedford Avenue
at Lorimer
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Bedford L or Nassau G
+01 646-510-6467
www.fiveleavesny.com

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11
Jan 10

Phat in NYC: Artichoke Pizza

There are two things I dream of when it comes to NYC – one is the skirt steak at Chimu, the other is a nice fat crab slice from Artichoke Pizza ($4).

Artichoke does a mean slice, but its notorious for its long lines. And that shit is for tourists. Luckily for me, Artichoke was pretty empty on Sunday when I just happened to be “running errands” nearby. Just me, some hungry cops, and other E. Vill randoms. Nice.

artichoke nyc crab slice
This is how I hold Artichoke’s crab slice in my memory. Hot, crusty, topped with a creamy, garlicky, cheesy crab sauce that is so thick it could be considered a bisque. If you hold the slice up, the sauce runs off it.

artichoke nyc crab slice
This is what I got. I was so excited I took a nibble off the tip and burned the roof of my mouth. Gah. It was good… but it was not the same. Instead of the signature creamy crab sauce, I got this drier (yet still tasty) topping. The crust was a little burnt and I could taste that more than the crab. Sad. Maybe it was an off-day… I’ll still try you again next time I’m in NYC!

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Artichoke Pizza
328 East 14th Street
Between 1st & 2nd Ave
East Village, NYC
L to First Ave
+01 212-228-2004
www.artichokepizza.com

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20
Dec 09

Banh and Mi by Bao Nguyen

Check out this short documentary about the famed Vietnamese sandwiched filmed at An Choi in NYC. Gorgeous shots of the restaurant. Big ups to the An Choi boys on their continuing success!

Banh and Mi from Bao Nguyen on Vimeo.

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24
Oct 09

Terminology: Sous Vide

Sous vide means “under vacuum” in French. It’s a method where food is sealed in a plastic bag, then slow-cooked in water thats heated to around 60 degrees F. Cooking things in this manner often takes hours, even up to a day. Umm, hungry NOW!

I just started reading up on this technique and realized I’ve had a dish a la sous vide before…

Test meal at nios
in the form of a Flatiron steak at Nios in NYC. The chef cooked it using the sous vide method, then charred the outside. The result was one of the most tender and flavorful steaks I’ve ever had. Yum!

NIOS
130 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036

****EDIT**** 10/27/09
Serious eats has a fantastic write up of a sous-vide-anator demo!

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21
Oct 09

Phat in Vietnam: In Search of Banh Mi

Ok, so obviously by now everyone knows what the hell a banh mi is.

I remember getting $2.25 combo special banh mi from Lam’s Vietnamese on Taraval in SF. (sucks that its closed now). That was good, but I’ve always been on the search for something better.

First there was Banh Mi So on Broome st in NYC. Good, but the bread was a little too dense. But I liked the red pork and the guy behind the counter. I tried a few other places around NYC Chinatown. The Sau Voi (VCD & bra store) was close to my office, Banh Mi So (the jewelry store place) was good, Paris Sandwich was oookay but lacked SOUL… and then i found Ba Xuyen in sunset park. I’m really hesistant to blow up this spot any further, cause seriously, they serve the BOMB banh mi. I only hope the 40min subway ride will keep all you other foodies from crowding it up and buying all the grilled pork sandwiches before i get there!!


Ahh, the perfect sandwich. smear of pate, generous spread of homemade mayo, gratuitous fillings of headcheese, cha lua, godknowswhatelse, all topped off with perfectly pickled daikon & carrot. Finished off with cilantro and stuffed in a crispy and light baguette. Gimme a jackfruit shake and i’m golden!

Anyhoo, you can see how passionate I am about my banh mi. So when we got to Vietnam, I was pretty determined to find some damn good banh mi.


First attempt at banh mi was in Pham Ngu Lao (backpacker’s district) of Saigon. It was quite good, the bread was an appropriate ratio of light crust to bread innards. The fillings were a little meager tho. But of course this is Vietnam and apparently thats they way a banh mi should be. And for 20,000 VND (~$1.12 USD), can’t really complain. It seems the banh mi in Vietnam all come wrapped in recycled paper. Dunno what this paper was about.


Second attempt at banh mi in Pham Ngu Lao. This banh mi lady offered a much better sandwich. The bread was nice and crispy and this banh mi offered the additional green onion and pork floss. Yum!


Paired with a nice ca phe sua (ice coffee with milk), its a perfect lunch.


The best banh mi I had in Vietnam was acquired on a street corner in Nha Trang. And I’m not just saying this because the photography is the best! (thanks adrian) Look for this vendor! This banh mi was way better than the others because of the bread. It was superbly crispy, comprised of almost all crust! So light and the perfect wrapping for tasty banh mi fillings. Didn’t hurt that this banh mi lady had a toaster in her cart. Also, this particular sandwich, wrapped in Microsoft installation instructions, had plenty of pork floss and some kind of ground meat in sauce topping. AMAZING.

So in conclusion, the best banh mi? I feel like its hypocrisy saying this.. but… BA XUYEN! I guess i like my sandwiches big and beefy (err, porky). and brooklyn style.

The Porkchop Express has a fantastic banh mi guide for NYC, go get schooled.