Crabcake Corndogs: A Revelation

Within the past month, I've been lucky to reconnect with a chef whom I've long time admired.  Once manning the kitchen at his restaurant Wyanoka, then Mojo and then a slew of other oft overlooked gems (Lure, Suba) Chris Santos regained his footing in 2005 when he opened Stanton Social.  The big, boisterous Lower East Side four corners has consistently put out inspiring, lighthearted and eclectic cuisine since it's inception - I was glad I could still make this claim after dining their after a little 2-year sabbatical last week.

Some items on the menu have stayed - French onion soup dumplings, red snapper fish tacos - but some new ones have arrived.  My favorite, and what I really think is genius, were the crabcake corndogs.  Wowza! The mashup is both brilliant and obvious, which I guess is what makes it so brilliant.  Of course the flavors will pair! Of course the form will fit! $12 buys three minis, skewered onto wooden sticks and deep fried in a cornmeal-buttermilk batter.  The interior is a flavorful mixture of crabmeat, Tabasco, chives and panko.  A corn-spiked dip accompanies just to add a little more kick.

(picture from StarChefs)

This is one of the most exciting dishes I've had this year. Seriously! It was just so much fun.  Get yourself over to Stanton Social asap for a taste.

Tasty iApps

Having trouble keeping up with all the latest foodie iapps?  I am! Luckily, my boyfriend reads Gizmodo.  Last week he came across this wonderful post.  The usual suspects like Yelp!, OpenTable and Epicurious are reviewed, but there are also lesser known projects worth taking note of: VegOut is a vegetarian's guide to eating out in NYC; Global Eater Food Dictionary helps you to amp up the snobbery while dining by cluing you into exactly what agedashi tofu is and how spicy you should ask your gaeng phet to be.  Michelin Guide and a wine guide are also listed - for times when you really want to bouge it up.

Monkey Bar

A few weeks ago, I enjoyed a lovely dinner hosted by The Supper Club at Greydon Carter's Monkey Bar.  Menu, service and company were all wonderful in their own right.  Take a look at our line up.

BLT Wraps

A few nights ago at BOBO, CHef Patrick sent out two dishes that blew my face off. The first is a dish currently on the menu - Crab Dip with Fried Cornichons. A dish layered with cream cheese then cocktail sauce then flakes of numnumnummy crab. Piled alongside like Lincoln Logs was a wall of fried little pickles, ideal for dipping.



I highly recommend. Soon after, CP sent out some individual BLT wraps.  Lettuce cupped a tomato confit that hid chunks of seared pork belly below.  Toasted bread crumbs topped in as surrogate bread. At the end of the meal he told us he was thinking of putting it on the menu to which we all enthusiastically responded YES!

OOOO Yummy!

This looks good and mellow!

Grandmother's Birthday Poem

My Grandma Sylvia emailed this Birthday Poem to me today. I am a lucky girl.

Since I could not sleep last night
I thought I 'd stay awake and write
a little poem for my precious Jill
Whom I  love dearly  and always will
Hope I can hang in there so we can celebrate many more
After all- what are Grandmas for?

Happy birthday xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Love you

My Birthday White Board

Taylor and I have a white board on our fridge and every few weeks we craft a picture. I usually start by drawing something like a flower doodle or something else along the lines of a 3rd grade level stick figure.  Then Taylor comes in and doctors the image up to look professional. Once I drew a Christmas tree and then the next day the board was a gorgeous mountain scene filled with evergreens.  There was also one where I drew a bird and then he filled in an entire birdbath in the middle of a European-style garden. Incredible.

But this morning was my favorite. Because I didn't draw anything. And because it is for my birthday.

Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair

Today, one of my favorite brands opens their online shop. A whole new world of What To Wears has been revealed.

The perfect espresso

My boyfriend and I spent the month of July eating our way through Italy. We had countless three hour lunches followed by five course dinners and late night gelatos. How did we manage, you may be wondering. Espresso is the answer. This phenonenon has not quite caught on in the States, but Italians swear by a shot of espresso at the end of a meal. Espresso, in Italy, is about three tablespoons of thick, rich coffee usually accompanied by a packet of sugar. The jolt of caffeine and strong coffee is just what it takes to not only aid digestion, but help get you moving from the table (sometimes the hardest part after a long meal).

Picture courtesy of justespresso

Upon our return to the States, we began to crave espresso after dinner, before work, and in our dreams. We bought a stovetop espresso maker, or "macchinetta", for ten bucks at the local housewares store, but were utterly disappointed by the watery, bitter quality of the coffee it produced.

My boyfriend's birthday is around the corner and I've decided to get him a real, automatic espresso maker to hold him over until our next trip to Italy. These machines are notoriously pricey and can cost up to $2,000+.....not exactly in my coffee budget. But I did find this:

FrancisFrancis! X6 Espresso Cappuccino Machine

This machine is made by the Italian company Illy, one of the most popular brands in Europe. I love the sleek, ulta-stylized look of the machine (the perfect kitchen accessory?) and with a $400 pricetag, it's cheaper than a trip to Italy, and makes some great espresso!

Neighborly Neighbors

When new tenants moved in across the hall from me at the beginning of August, I wanted to make friends. And so, like always when I want the make an impression, I made brownies. Two weeks later, the couple returned the Tupperware... filled with tomatoes and cheese. The orange tomatoes, I was told, came from the boyfriends parents kitchen garden in Hadlyme, CT.  Taylor described them as "very sweet and delicious, almost like candy." I'd say he was about spot on. The cheese came from Beltane Farm, which is known for is Swiss-style goat cheese made from oberhasli and la mancha goats milk. A neat little block with a thin vein of ash down the middle, the goat cheese was as beautiful as it was tasty. Soft and pungent.  Taylor described it as a lonely, cloudy day - in a good way.  Who knows... but when I got around to trying it, the day was, in fact, lonely and cloudy in mood and forecast and the cheese seemed to compliment that well.

Duryea's Lobster Dock

Taylor and I subsist on lobster rolls in summer and, craving a new spot, we tried Duryea's in Montauk. It's deep on the island and on Thursday was incredibly mellow. We sat on the dock with an excellent view of the harbor.
Skeptical at first of the roll - sesame bun? Dill in the salad? Also, the salad to roll ratio was about 45/55... As opposed to the usual 30% roll to 70% salad.
However, one bite confirmed Duryea's as a 'to be continued' on our list. We prefer larger chunks of lobster to the more chopped rendition of the salad. Duryea's cuts the mustard. Also, the sesame bun, while billowy, was very soft and sunk into the meat - making for a less messy but just as tasty sandwich.
We also went for the crab cocktail - fresh nuggets of white meat... Check!
To be continued indeed.

Two Hamptons Essentials

A mid-week trip to the Hamptons reminded me of a few of the best things in life- beachy picnics and lobster rolls. What's a perfect day for me? Well there's sunshine and exercise to start. My hair cooperating makes a difference as well. But even a bad day stands no chance when indulging in an Oceanside spread from Schmidt's. Taylor and I stopped at the crowded country grocer in Southampton to pick up some tasties for the beach. On the list: jumbo shrimp, fresh corn and cilantro salad, broccoli slaw, a turkey & Brie Sammy and of course some chips.
The afternoon was filled with kayaking, swimming and a solid walk along the beach as to ensure there'd be room for our favorite kind of dinner. I don't consider myself the mayo eater of the year but mix it with seafood and I lose control. Lobster rolls at The Lobster Roll are too classic to pass up- not to mention delicious. We also went for a crab cake sandwich, fried puffers and a basket of fries.
When chillin in the Hamptons, Schmidt's and The Lobster Roll are two time tested pit stops that'll keep you smiling all day long.

Kasadela Summer Gift

Last night it was about 85 degrees, 100% humidity.  All I could really think about eating was some Japanese food - light, clean and to the point. My friend and I popped into Kasadela on East 11th, a time-tested, five year old isayaka.  Our first choices - Kyo Ya and Kajitsu - were closed Monday, but sometimes an oldie is a goodie. And such was the case with Kasadela.

We had a pretty ideal meal, beginning with two enormous salads - hijiki and sesame green - and a plate of blistery shishito peppers.  My friend couldn't forgo the kimchi sauteed pork belly and for me, it was garlicky shrimp calling my name.  We were drinking Ohyama Tokubetsu Junmai Nama sake from Yamagata, which had a wonderful fruity taste. Fruity but rich. Enjoying a long overdue hang session and conversation, we decided to order a little more food, opting this time around for a donburi with shrimp and a platter of tempura shitakes ("Doñez food if I ever saw," my friend said - Doñez being ye ole nickname for yours truly).  Both fantastic! I will make donburi at home now. Easy, simply, yet incredibly flavorful.  And the 'shrooms, well I am partial to all fungi but I really think these were special.  We paired our second round of dishes with Tsukinokatsura "Kohakuko" Junmai Ginjo Nama sake from Kyoto.  This one seemed to me to cut through the food more. It was a little sharper than the first - ideal since we were eating heavy food at that point.

All fulled up, we ordered up the check, which came with the Kasadela Summer Gift! What a surprise!  I don't consider myself a cheapy.. but who doesn't like themselves some free shwag! The T-shirt's the best part of running a NYRR race, right? This was like that but better because we each got a Japanese clothe thingy.

When I got home, I opened the thingy up.

I wasn't sure what it was for a while - a table runner? a wall tapestry? But then I decided it must be a headband.

And then I started to wonder - if this is the Summer gift, is there a Fall gift as well? And a Winter prize?  I'll will have to go back to see ;-)

Fried Green Tomaters

Yesterday, after being at Soho House all day, I needed some fried food. Huh? You might say... Well, I'd been eyeing the fried items on the menu all afternoon (not to mention Hugh Jackman in the pool with his kids). From calamri to julienned zucchini, bowls of golden bron were dancing around me.  My friend and I decided to attempt fried green tomatoes. It ended up being easy and satisfying!

First slice your tomatoes.  Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.



Then arrange four bowls in a line. Fill them with milk, flour, beaten eggs and cormeal (or breadcrumbs). Get some oil hot in a fry pan. Dunk each tomato into each bowl, order listed above. (Pay no attention to the bigger bowl in pic below) Fry until golden brown!



Et voila!



We served them with some boiled corn, a green salad, baguette with roasted garlic...



And, since the fried calamari really was calling our names all day, we decided to make some of that as well!

Shake Shack Sweet Corn Custard

Yesterday was sweet corn frozen custard day at Shake Shack.  It's the second one I've tried and it's officially my favorite thus far. At first the corn was too subtle for me to taste but as I ate and ate, the flavor began to rise.  It was indeed subtle but defined itself in the after taste - a pleasant surprise. I am still holding out for dark and stormy flavor and watermelon tomato... but sweet corn is a serious contender!

EZ Hammock

I've always loved hammocks - occasionally sleeping on one in Madagascar and picking one up in Nicaragua a few years back even though I knew I'd rarely have a chance to use it in NYC. But I think I've found the perfect nest. The EZ Hammock from Royal Botania.  Sleek and aerodynamic, the EZ Hammock won't flip you out of it's pocket.  It's also sexy-to-boot. Did I mention it's my birthday at the end of the month?! And sure, this may not have to do with food per se... but wouldn't nibbling strawberries while reclining on the EZ be divine?

(love that.)

Party Spaces

Lately, I've been sussing a lot of party spaces. I've got a big birthday coming up and I've been put in charge of planning a potluck for the NYWCA. I've seen some pretty cool spaces, like 230 Fifth Avenue Rooftop and The DUMBO Loft but so far my favorite has been on Mulberry Street: OpenHouse Gallery.  These are good venues to keep in mind when throwing a party.

The Hudson @ Charles

Even though Charles has taken down the newspaper that once covered their windows, the place is still a sexy stop for a drink. Taylor and I stopped in for a seasonal sampling of booze: The Hudson.  The drink consists of Leblon cachaca, sweet as ever raspberries and a wedge of lime.  Perfect for taking the edge off. I found a cool, cheap cocktail shaker on Amazon to start making my own.

(pardon le iPhone pic)

Hawaiian Island Grill

On Sunday night, my boyfriend Read was working late in midtown east so I decided to pop down and surprise him with some take out.  I did a quick search of restaurants in the area when I ran across Hawaiian Island Grill- a new Hawaiian style take-out place on 53rd and 2nd.  For most mainlanders, Hawaiian style food is a very misunderstood concept.  It's not the pineapple spiked poultry and thick syrupy sauces we have been lead to believe.  In Hawaii, locals eats something called 'plate lunch' almost every day, which usually consists of a protein, two scoops of white rice, and a side of cold macaroni salad.  This carb-loaded meal was originally designed to satisfy Hawaii's day laborers, who migrated from all over the world to work on the railroads and the sugarcane fields.  Consequently, plate lunches are a a fusion of many cultures--teriyaki from Japan, bbq short ribs from Korea, shoyu chicken from China, and curries from India.  

(Picture courtesy of l'acquagassata)

Hawaiian Island Grill is a small shop located below the street level, but a big sign will guide your way.  The cashier took my order for hamburger steak (a seasoned ground beef patty, grilled and smouthered with brown gravy and grilled onions) white rice and macaroni salad. I know this combination sounds strange, but it's a Hawaiian local staple and a must-try.  In fact, as soon as I placed my order, the owner came out from the back and said "Nice order, you must be from Hawaii."  Why yes I am.  As we chatted and exchanged neighborhoods and stories, Jason, the owner and quite possibly the nicest man in the world, piled me high with my hamburger steak, fish tacos, and a free order of kalbe (a korean beef rib marinated in soy, sugar, sesame oil, and green onion, cut thin and grilled), his special for the next day. 

My boyfriend told me he'd never seen me eat so fast. The kalbe was incredibly succulent and flavorful, the sesame oil being absorbed into the fluffy mounds of white rice.  The fish tacos were unlike any I've had before.  Instead of being battered and fried, two large chunks of white fish were cooked in citrus sauce with bell peppers and onions, all wrapped in a secure bundle of tin foil and served with warmed flour tortillas.  Lastly, the hamburger steak was so ono (hawaii for scrumptious) and so familiar and comforting to me.  The macaroni salad, dusted with paprika, was a critical side dish.  

Simple, flavorful, and satisfying food is what Hawaiian plate lunch is all about.  Dinner from Hawaiian Island Grill runs about $10-$15 a plate, but come during lunch and they're serving up the same portions for almost half the price.  There's buzz all over the internet for this place as a great priced midtown lunch.  In addition to plate lunch, they also make ceviche (better known as poke in Hawaii), sushi and a wide array of appetizers.  This is one of the few, if not only plate lunch places in Manhattan, so give it a try. Let's keep this place alive!

Interested in cooking Hawaiian style at home? Almost every Hawaiian I know (including my mother) owns this book: Hawaii's Best Local Dishes.  It contains almost every local dish you'll ever want to know!

Aldea-licious

Last night I was lucky to have have dinner with my grandma Thelma at Aldea. I'd be wanting to go since I'd heard about this sea urchin toast.  My grandmother is a gourmand-to-boot, so she was the ideal dining partner.  Her palate has been honed after years of elegant dining as well as cooking each night for upwards of 8 people.  I arrived to the subdued, modern, adult space after my grandma - the hostesses extolled her cuteness as they walked me to the table.  The restaurant seemed age-appropriate for us both - something oft difficult to find.  My grandmother started with the small bite of clams.  They tasted like a vibrant splash of sea spray. She proclaimed, "The man who made these is a true chef."  We then launched into a discussion about quality seafood versus the lesser stuff.

I went for that coveted sea urchin toast to my total satisfaction. Crispy, smooth, decadent and visceral. And actually a perfect amount.  More would have been a little overboard. but maybe a bit more of the cauliflower cream.

We continued with appetizers.  I like the breakdown of the three courses because it gave my grandmother and I ample time to catch up on the day to day and well as go deep into long-established family gossip and dynamics of which she naturally knows more than me. We swapped stories while swapping tastes of tomato-cherry gazpacho, her choice, and shrimp alhinho, mine.

The soup may look a little funny but don't be dissuaded.  Packed with little surprises like mussels, cherry bits and ballooned up mozzarella puffys, the soup was a stand out.  Edible flowers ornamented the whole thing.  My grandmother called out the heavy usage of cilantro/coriander in my shrimp dish before I even had a chance to pinpoint the fresh flavor. Genius. Here's where she said, "If he can fix it better than me, he's a chef. Who is this man?" We talked about George Mendes briefly, but I confessed to not knowing too much about him except that he'd been at Tocqueville a few years back where we'd shared an excellent meal as well... with a similar chilled soup complete with mozzarella cloud.

Our entrées arrived - scallops with farro risotto for her and wild bass with spaghetti squash for me - with a little lag time, the only misstep of the night.  The scallops were by far the show stopper.  Seared and silky, citrusy and creamy.  The dish was perfect.  My grandma called the farro risotto the best thing she'd had all year.  And she confirmed, "I like to come to restaurants where I can't cook as well as the chef."

My fish was on the dry side, but I think we were both too enamored with the scallops to care about the bass.  We did like the spaghetti squash, which was flecked with trout roe - a favorite of mine since mt trip to Russia in 2007.  I saved half and plan on making a fish salad (per my grandmother's suggestion) with the leftovers this afternoon. The menu description mentioned green mango but I didn't get it in the dish.  And neither of us were sure about the foam.

We made sure to leave room for dessert but used uncanny reserve and opted only for one - a coup for me and my grandma.  Caramelized brioche arrived as a brick of browned bread.  It didn't look too special but proved to be phenomenal.  It was our favorite. It also helped that by then, the soundtrack had gone to The Walkmen, my all-time favorite band, so I was in especially good spirits.

Leftover Salad

Last Sunday, I cooked meals for the week.  I followed my company guidelines and pulled off a pretty impressive roster of dishes... smoked paprika mac and cheese, quinoa tofu sunflower salad, tabbouleh, spicy mushrooms I learned from La Palapa... the list goes on.  So when I was cleaning out my fridge this week, I came across the remnants of ingredients.  A few cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, mint, a bit of red onion, a few radishes, a few chunks of carrots, the leaves of some celery and a red pepper.

A little spent from a little too much sunshine while kayaking on Georgica Pond, I couldn't muster the energy to incorporate the ingredients into several dishes - using the onion, celery and carrots would have made a great base for a sauce for example.  Instead, I decided to make a beloved dish from my youth - something only a salad-eating, health-oriented mother could instill in me so permanently that I find myself craving it often - Leftover Salad.   Leftover salad is exactly what it sounds like.  Chop up all the left-over vegetables and herbs that you have in the fridge and toss them together.  It's new every time since you'll always have a few different ingredients on hand.

Always colorful and healthy, this is a perfect way to use those odds and ends.  I like to make different salad dressings (a simple balsamic, a creamier variety and possibly a cheese-laden one) to keep the salad exciting.  Pack your veggie-chop in a few different plastic containers and toss each one with a different dressing when you are ready to eat it. Bring one container to lunch one day and offer another serving for dinner as an accompaniment to grilled lamb or shrimp. Healthy and economical. Ooooo buzz words!

I'm Melting

Today in the 90 degree weather I was fortunate to come across shake shack before I melted. They've got an excellent line up of daily custard flavors for August. Monday is salted caramel day. It was quite delicious... But I will taste them all and then decide.

Pancakes 2000

My dad sent me a link to ChefStack a few days ago.  The company offers a product for "Perfect. Panless. Pancakes." The website equates their invention to the iPod for music and the toaster for bread.  These people like their pancakes.  And they like them auto-made.  They claim it's already a hit in Australia and New Zealand and are expecting the same thing in the US.  The ChefStack became available only a month ago here though, so only time will tell.  But it does look pretty cool. Batter comes in indivual packets and is low fat/low calorie.  It's kind of a bummer that you can't use your own recipe while using the machine, but ease of use and a no-mess factor might very well make up for it.

After perusing the website for a good chunk of time, I couldn't help but wonder why my dad had sent me the link.  Was it because it was his 33rd wedding anniversary with my mother (in my opinion an excellent maker of pancakes) and was hinting at a gift?  Was it because he knows how much Taylor likes pancakes and knows that our (skimpy in comparison) 2nd year dating anniversary is on the horizon?

Southampton Sant Ambroeus

When I lived in the West Village, I never really understood all the hype around Sant Ambroeus.  It seemed sterile, old-fashioned and all together too expensive.  I'd been a few times for lunch meetings, seen a few celebs and begrudgingly paid $25 for a tuna salad that had been composed of underipe tomatoes and overly oily, yet very dry fish. So it was to my surprise on Sunday when I stopped into the location on Southampton for a pre-homeward bound drive coffee fill-up that I found myself liking the place. Sure, I'd wanted a cup to-go... they don't do to-go.  And sure, I'd wanted skim milk... they don't do skim milk. But actually the whole vibe kinda made sense in the context.  We were standing up at their coffee counter and sure, maybe the barista wasn't Fresh Off the Boat Italian, but he was certainly of the Long Island Hair Gel variety.  And the coffee was truly fantastic.  A creamy cafe au lait served the perfect temperature did me right.  As I sipped, I took in the vibe - something did feel distinctly Italy in there - not making up for all of the  formalities and rules, but accounting for them.  I left caffeinated and satisfied, sure to return next weekend.

Cheap Green

Pretty basic be-cheap-and-green advice from Serious Eats, but nonetheless always good to hear. Bringing your own bag to the grocery is always a good idea... but WOW! I never thought of coming across a $5 Le Crueset at a yard sale. Excellent call. Read more here.

Photograph from rusvaplauke on Flickr