...more recent posts
I stoped by Grand Sichuan Int Midtown for some to-go, I know I want to find a new spot, people had sent me emails from far and wide wondering how this little Chinese joint made it to the top eight NY.......My friend Daniel asked me to have them make a special lunch for a wine critic pal of his, they made a meal with nothing on the menu, its was funky, some were lets say something polite here "for the highly adventerous", other dishes were insane good, the chicken killed that morning was as good as any poulet de Bresse, then with the "man cooking" we went to the regular menu and every dish was awesome, byob vino deluxe....to-go was good, food has been inconsistant with the family fueding, maybe I will never stop...
78 OTAFUKU
Think it might be a new nightclub owned by Joey Buttafuoco? Nope-it's an Osaka-style street-food stand where the specialty is a gooey pancake called otafuku, which means "cook what you like." While the range of offerings
doesn't match that of a similar establishment at the Japanese mall in Edgewater, New Jersey, Otafuku provides a fine intro to the genre, featuring ingredients such as shrimp, unsmoked bacon, and squid. Also offered: fried octopus balls (gee, I didn't know they had balls).
236 East 9th Street, Manhattan 353-8503
((The Ocu-balls were fun but just ok to me, the pancake is made of cabbage with toppings....I will do a road trip to Edgewater soon))
field trip -- iron chef japanese in philly
Rumor has it from a real in the know-er that this place ROCKS!!
Il Barilotto
1113 Main St
Fishkill , NY 12524
Phone: (845) 897-4300
"THE World's Most Decadent Hamburger" has come to New York. Served at the Old Homestead in - where else? - the Meatpacking District, the $41 sandwich is made of "hand-massaged, beer-fed" kobe beef, "lobster mushrooms" and micro greens on a parmesan twist roll. "It's the world's most incredible beef," boasts owner Marc Sherry. "Each cattle is hand-massaged and beer-fed, so when the meat is slaughtered the fat content and marbling is very high." The fatty feast is costlier than Manhattan's previous record-holders, the $29 dinnertime burger at '21' and the $27 DB Burger at DB Bistro Moderne. -nyp
Finally found a super Korean spot, I have tried many and this is it IMHO, and the company of Steve and Erin was special:>)....WOOCHON 10 W 36.....
WOOCHON 1*
New Years Dining Resolution's:
1) No more Lupa (I am tired of it)
2) Find a new Grand Sichuan restaurant to BYOB etc....
First meal of note for 2003 is Il Gattopardo (3rd trip) and loved it again, I wish it was less cash and more wine to pick (they are 2* NYTimes and chef was 1* Michelin in Italy I hear)......
My wish list for 2003 is Kurima Zushi (rated #1 in NY per all my sushi guru's...), Wallse and Annisa again due to Rachael reviews, 66 and WD50 (both for many meals), and Kai for the chef's meal, Tommasso's for more old Nebbiolo!!!!.....
To be more Virgo-ian I will rate all meals this year that I love 1* to 3*'s (the 3*'s will be listed in order of favorite's, the rest in no order)......
Il Gattopardo 1*
byebye balducci's
from saveur's 100 favorites issue (jan/feb), sautewednesday, bruce cole's online foodie site. looks good.
Lonely Planet has led me fine most of the time but of course you loose something by using them 100%, I still buy them for almost every place I go and like to get other sourse of info but they just came out with World Food Guide's ....I just bought the Japan one and plan to buy Spain asap (as I leave soon)...I also bought at the Japanese book store some "Food Porno Mags:>)" in Japanese, wow I love this stuff....next is the Japanese grocery stores in Little Japan, I will see you soon...
beer ogles
As strange as it sounds to me, Linda and I are celebrating our tenth wedding anno, 6 weeks from today in New Orleans...after weeks of research we have picked Peristyle for the dinner but are looking as much or more forward to Uglesich's for lunch...Jim Louis we hope to see you for a meal or drinks while we are there, and are open to any food/music/etc news you may wish to share.....
TOP TEN MEALS OF 2002
#1 Da Guido (Piedmonte, Italy)
#2 Taubenkobel (Burgenland, Austria)
#3 Kai (NYC, NY)
#4 Zur Rose (Sud Tyrol, Italy)
#5 L'Astrance (Paris)
#6 Temple Club (Saigon)
#7 Jewel Bako (NYC, NY)
#8 Altwienerhof (Vienna)
#9 Locanda Dell Arco (Piedmonte, Italy)
#10 Lupa (NYC, NY)
last meal out for 2003 was a 4 top at Honmura An and it was a fun time, the place was packed and we waited 20 minute's to sit, the flavors were great and some very unique, the wine list was week but the sake list was fine (Kai on Saturday had a good wine list), soba's were very delish....try this again one day....
From Art of Eating Issue #62
Kaiseki Ryori
(Classic Japanese haute cuisine)
12th Century Buddhist temple life gave rise to the Japanese tea ceremony. Out of that grew the ritualized eating known as kaiseki, and kaiseki evolved into Japan's haute cuisine. The fixed order of the courses in kaiseki is based loosely on cooking techniques: appetizers (zensai), clear broth (suimono), raw fish (sashimi), grilled food (yakimono), steamed food (mushimonto), simmered food (nimono), fried food (agemono), vinegared food (sunomono), and cooked vegetables or salad (aemono). Many courses consist of a selection of little dishes in which seasonality and artful presentation are paramount - fun is important. The kaiseki style of cooking heavily influenced France's nouvelle cuisine chefs in the 1970's, and more recently gave rise to the wave of experimental cooking championed by Ferran Adria.....
Top Restaurants 2002
NYCity
#1 Kai
#2 Jewel Bako
#3 Lupa
#4 Jean Georges
#5 Grand Sichuan Int'l Midtown
#6 Felidia
#7 Union Pacific
#8 Honmura An
El Mundo
#1 Da Guido (Piedmonte, Italy)
#2 Taubenkobel (Burgenland, Austria)
#3 Zur Rose (Sud Tyrol, Italy)
#4 L'Astrance (Paris)
#5 Temple Club (Siagon)
#6 Altwienerhof (Vienna)
#7 Locanda Dell Arco (Piedmonte, Italy)
#8 Les Tonnelles (Loire, France)
#9 Indochine (Siagon)
#10 Walter Bauer (Vienna)
Special Merit/No Particular Order
The Minnow, Veritas, Sistina,
Fresh, Holy Basil, Al Di La
Manducati's, Willi's Wine Bar (Paris)
Tomasso's, Gramercy Tavern, Picholine
Locanda Vini Olii, Al Ponte (Verona, Italy)
L'osteria del Vignaiolo (Piedmonte, Italy)
L'Oste Scuro (Verona, Italy)
Il Gattopardo, Jaglhof (Styria, Austria)
Weininger (Vienna), Loibnerhof (Wachau, Austria)
Zur Blauen Gans (Burgenland, Austria)
Lumiere (West Newton, MA)