dresese

wd~50

Yesterday I went with Adam and ate at wd~50 a restaurant that has been getting a lot of attention. It was recently on a list of the best restaurants in world, at a rank of 34.

wd~50 has a reputation for being wildly inventive. I knew this was true when I walked in, and went to the restroom. I saw some nice sinks, with some tiny fluffy towels. Delightful. But where were the stalls? All I could see was the sink, and a nice looking wall of wooden paneling. Then I saw a small sign saying to push on the panels to use the bathroom. When I did, the panel moved on a very well hidden hinge to reveal the actual stall with an actual toilet. This was the first time that my life imitated nethack, and I had to search for secret doors. If that didn't work I might have to just quaff from a sink and see what happened.

But wait! The story doesn't end there. I had to figure out how to flush. There was no button to be seen. I put down the toilet seat. Nope, not there either. And it wasn't an automatic flushing system. Wait, I thought to myself, maybe it's so advanced, that when I unlock the stall, it will flush. I unlocked the door and opened it a crack. No flush. Stupid idea, what was I thinking? Then in desperation I pressed what looked to be a little metal door to a trash receptacle, and finally with a soft and gentle noise, it flushed! I was very happy, but at the same time I felt that for all the cleverness, these guys really needed to read their Don Norman. Oh yes, and did I mention that the stall played me some music? It did!

After that bit of brain-stretching business, I was eager to see if the food was so perplexing. It wasn't perplexing, but it was really original, and had many new ideas and techniques. Adam and I got the tasting menu, so we tried quite a few of their dishes. Each dish had 1 or 2 main elements, and 2 or 3 supplemental elements, plus a sauce. The fun came in trying each of these things in combination, to see how they pair up. For example, one dish I had a substantial round of foie gras, inside of which was a caramel sauce. On the foie gras was a piece of crisp seaweed. There was slightly dehydrated grapefruit (which seemed more like pomelo to me) with tiny little basil leaves. So one bite I just try the foie gras (wonderful, of course). Then I try the foie gras with the caramel, and it goes fairly well together, bringing out the rich taste of the foie. Next, I have to taste the foie gras with some caramel and some grapefruit and basil. That works better than I would have expected, the acidity of the grapefruit cuts the rich foie gras, but the sweetness of the grapefruit doesn't overwhelm everything. And the basil added a unique little touch.

Each course was like that. The standout dishes was a lamb belly with grated chocolate and other items, an egg poached at exactly 153 (if I recall correctly) degrees for an hour, and combined with sev (Indian dried noodles used in chaat), and a shrimp cannelloni, where the cannelloni was actually made out of a shrimp somehow pounded flat and used as wrapping, with a chipotle emulsion. So many of the dishes had some element that was so original. Besides the shrimp wrapper, there was tiny cubes of translucent lettuce, dehydrated onion cubes, deep fried mayonnaise, a grapefruit sorbet somehow inside a grapefruit meringue and many more things I'm forgetting right now.

All in all, it was a great experience. The food was delicious and not only artistically interesting, but also interesting as "food science". I kept asking how on earth they did this stuff. As far as taste, I thought the French Laundy and Jean-Georges was more delicious, while still being fairly inventive. This food I think trades off pure taste for experimentation, which is something I welcome as a change. These things are experiments, and some of them work better than others, although none failed to be delightful. I look forward to seeing what these guys some up with next.

Spicy & Tasty

Last weekend I went up to Flushing to check out Flushing Meadows Park, and while I was there I stopped by Flushing Main St., and went to Chowhound favorite, Spicy & Tasty.

I was by myself, so I only ordered two dishes. The dishes were cheap, though; together they cost around $11 and I took some home with me. Not a bad deal at all.

I perhaps should have chosen slightly more carefully. Both dishes I got were cold dishes. But, actually, after my long, warm, walk through Flushing Meadows cold food was just what I needed. The dish pictured above is a cold jelly with hot oil (spicy hot, not hot hot). Although you can't tell it from the picture, there was more than enough hot oil to go around the noodles, and it was a delicious, spicy dish, with plenty of those numbing sichuan peppercorns.

This was a cold, spicy, diced rabbit. The sauce was spicy and very numbing with all the Sichuan peppercorns. Somehow that numbing taste goes very well with cold food. The rabbit had a lot of bones, but this is something I really appreciate with this kind of dish. The more bones it has, the longer it takes to eat it. And the longer it takes to eat it, the longer that delicious sauce stays on your tongue. If it was boneless, you would just pop it in your mouth, chew and quickly swallow. It would be merely tasty. But with the bones, you have to put it in your mouth and work it around, or hold it in your hand and gently nibble all around. In either case, you really are tasting it much more than you would otherwise. So remember, the bones are your friend. Just like living without a car and having to walk everywhere, a little bit of inconvenience is good for you.

My meal at Spicy & Tasty was wonderful. They had many interesting things on the menu, and because I only tried two things I can't really compare it to other Sichuan places like Wu Liang Ye or Grand Sichuan (two Manhattan-based Sichuan restaurants). I personally like Wu Liang Ye a little more than Grand Sichuan (although both are great), and so far Spicy & Tasty seems like it could be as good as Wu Liang Ye, or perhaps even better. But I would have to eat there again to find out.

Mitzvah tanks

I was surprised to hear loud, strange music coming from the street-level outside our office at around noon. When I went to see what it was, I saw a long procession of "Mitzvah tanks" that was blasting music. And I do mean long, it took about half an hour for the little parade to finish. No one seemed to know what it was for, or what the hell Mitzvah tanks were. It turns out the parade was to celebrate the deceased Lubavitch Rebbe's birthday. My coworker DB found this history and description of the Mitzvah Tanks. Thanks DB! I have actually seen these in Forest Hills a few times, mostly during holidays. Once they tried to give me something for Succoth, but I was reluctant to take it.

Spamalot

Yesterday Adam and I went to see Monty Python's Spamalot on Broadway. About 15 years ago I was a huge Monty Python fan, and saw just about everything they did. I think I overdid it. Just like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I was seeing every other weekend for a while, then as soon as I stopped going I completely forgot about it. Well, those worlds just collided in Spamalot, which stars Tim Curry. And David Hyde-Pierce, and Hank Azaria, all of whom were excellent. The rest of the cast as well, especially the actress who played the Lady of the Lake.

I was happy to see that Spamalot didn't just recycle old Python gags, although it did that too. It does have some great new material, most of which are musical numbers. Tim Curry was laid-back and enjoyable, and David Hyde-Pierce is always very funny. Hank Azaria played a variety of roles, and seemed natural and funny in all of them.

Adam and I got standing room tickets (I had to go early yesterday to get them), and they cost $21.50 a piece. For the entertainment I got, it was a great deal.

Aki

My friend Adam and I went to eat at Aki on Friday. I was intrigued by the thought of Japanese cuisine with little touches of Jamaican cuisine, which is the style of this restaurant. Evidently, the chef used to cook for the Japanese ambassador to Jamaica.

Located in the West Village, on West 4th street, in a stylish little space, which seats probably around 14 people. I had to make reservations, but it wasn't too difficult to get in.

Adam and I got a medium-sized amount of chilled sake, which came in a very elegant little carafe that I neglected to photograph. The sake was excellent, and cost $20, which was slightly pricey, since we could have drunk twice that amount quite easily.

We ordered five appetizers, some hot, some cold. We stayed away from the sushi, mainly because we've had sushi before, and it just didn't seem that exciting. However, there was a few interesting Jamaican-fusion sushi, such as sushi with banana, or heart of palm or other interesting ingredients.

The first appetizer we got was a dumpling filled with tofu and various mushrooms in a light broth. The picture above has a bit taken out of it to show the inside. Well, actually it looked so good I temporarily forgot to take a picture of the pristine dish. The soup and dumpling tasted even better than they looked. The broth was so light, but yet the flavor was assertive and delicious. The dumpling had a filling that was mostly soft, due to the soft tofu, but had other varied textures because of the mushrooms. It was flavorful and fresh tasting.

The next dish we had was yellowtail tuna sashimi, with apple slices and starfruit. This was probably the best dish of the night. The sashimi was perfect, and so naturally tender that it almost melted in your mouth. The crunchy apple and sweet starfruit made a nice contrast, and I thought the whole thing worked well together.

Ah, this dish. My memory is a bit fuzzy. I believe it is some sort of minced fish in a thick syrup. It was very nice, and interesting because I never enjoyed fish this way before. That last sentence was brought to you by Troy McClure.

This dish was a dish with yam chips, fried tofu, and some other interesting things, none of which I can remember right now. I really should take notes or something. I'm such a lazy food-blogger. At any rate, it was an interesting break from the other dishes, and it had a great combination of crispy, soft, and firm textures. Not to mention the combination of salty, mind, and slightly sweet flavors as well. A very interesting dish.

There was also one other dish, but I neglected to photograph it. It was a soup with sake-marinated fish. The fish was firm and had an nice bite of sake to it, and the soup was mild and pleasant.

All in all, the restaurant was great. This is the kind of Japanese restaurant I've been looking for. Let's face it, sushi is boring, ramen and other noodle soups seems only fit for lunch, and in general it seems hard to find a dish that serves modern, inventive Japanese cuisine. This place is a start.

Tung Shing

Yesterday, I went with Ben and his friend Charles to Tung Shing, around 64th Ave on the North side of Queens Blvd. Ben, who grew up in Queens, says his family has been going there since he was a small child, so it has be fairly old. I usually distrust old restaurants, because I believe restaurants are getting better and better with time, as the dining public is getting more and more educated about food. But this restaurant defies my theory.

When we sat down we were treated to an complimentary set of little appetizers. Not unusual for Chinese restaurants, but this is the first time I've seen four dishes given. One was sweet red beans, one was broccoli, one was pea shoots, and one was cabbage. I liked the pea shoots, which were a bit spicy, the best.

We ordered a leg of pork, which was succulent and tasty, but not the best version I've had. Although I rarely get a dish like this, I'm thinking it could have used a stronger flavored sauce.

We also got the specialty of the restaurant, Peking Duck. It came with a huge bowl of hoisin sauce, and the meat had the skin separated. There were tortilla-like flatbreads on the side. It was excellent. The skin was crunchy, the meat was tasty, and putting everything together in the flatbread made a wonderful little package.

Also, we got a vegetable, but I can't remember what we ordered! Some type of Chinese watercress, perhaps. It was properly light, but tasty.

All in all, a very good meal. I'm so happy to find a good Chinese place nearby, although it is not in walking distance of my house. Next time I want some Chinese food, I just might go here. I have little choice, the offerings in Forest Hills are very slim.

Tagine cookery

Two event conspired to convince me to buy a tagine. First, my Chinese clay pot broke. Secondly, I read this discussion of tagines on E-Gullet. E-Gullet is a great forum for various foodie discussions. There are a tremendous amount of very knowledgeable folks, and in this discussion on tagines, including Paula Wolfert (a cookbook author of various Mediterranean-themed cookbooks), as well as many a culinary instructor from Tunisia, and others. So, I figured I don't cook much Chinese food anymore (I'm trying to be parsimonious and restrict myself to just a few cuisines), so I'll replace my clay pot with a clay tagine.

Originally, I meant for my friend Greg, who makes nice pottery, to make me one. But I figure I better try on this one first, since I probably have a good chance of breaking it. Although I know the rules for clay pots (avoid changes of temperature, cook with liquid inside, etc), I just seem to be having bad luck lately. Possibly due to not properly seasoning or re-seasoning my clay pot. So I will learn more about tagines before asking Greg to make one.

I bought my tagine from tagines.com, and got my Rifi Tagine a few weeks later. The next weekend, which was last weekend, I made my first dish, a chicken with prunes and dried jujubes (red dates).

The tagine is like a slow cooker, so I started everything out all together, with my chicken (whole, cut up, including liver), carrots, dried fruit, cumin, turmeric, ginger powder, and paprika. The picture here is of the tagine on a heat diffuser, without the distinctive tagine "hat".

I then set it to cook somewhere around medium-low. Much like a slow cooker, it didn't start boiling until almost an hour later. Luckily, I had anticipated for a two-and-a-half hour cooking time, so I just cooked it at a little higher temperature than I ordinarily would have, and it all worked out.

After it started simmering, I put on the top, and let it work it's magic. My two-and-a-half year old daughter came in and pointed at it and said it was a castle. Ah, the charm of the tagine!

Finally, it was done. The sauce was very thick. I finished the chicken pieces off by broiling them (following the e-Gullet thread which mentioned browning at the end of the braise). I served it in the tagine, and it tasted great! And best of all, I didn't break it!