Notes on Food

Alice’s Tea Cup

December 22, 2011 § 3 Comments

Christmas is the time for kitsch. Laura and I celebrated the end of her first round of college finals by embracing everything cute and corny at Alice’s Tea Cup, where the food and ambiance come together to create a really enjoyable and relaxing experience. The restaurant/tea shop itself is excessively decorated and eye-poppingly colorful, especially in the storefront area, but the actual dining room is more toned down, with old wooden spinning tables (machines removed of course) and mismatched tea settings which add to the place’s charm.

Alice's Tea Cup

We started with a pot of Alice’s Tea, their custom blend of Indian black Vanilla with Japanese green tea and rose petals, which was “smooth and subtle.”

Alice's Tea

Laura indulged in some of their Scones Benedict, with two poached eggs over a split savory scone healthily smothered in rich rosemary hollandaise sauce and served with a side of crispy potato hash. As soon as she broke into that first gooey, golden yolk, we knew we were in the right place for breakfast.

Our breakfast spread

Scones Benedict

But nothing, not even potatoes and yolky eggs, could deter me from the enormous lemon poppyseed glazed scone served with raspberry preserves and clotted cream. It was one of those moments where something so seemingly simple turns out to be so frikkin’ amazing. I spent most of breakfast just focusing on the scone (which is big enough to be breakfast in itself) and pretty much ignored my very good cornmeal and blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.

Lemon poppyseed scone with raspberry preserves and clotted cream

Cornmeal pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup

So buttery and flaky, the tart lemon tasted so delicious against the thick, dreamy cream and sweet, fruity preserves, and it was a perfect accompaniment to the hot, only slightly bitter tea. It was hard to walk pass the pastry counter on the way out without getting some more scones to go, and I was still dreaming about them this morning. Next time, I think I might just get their small pot of tea and 2 scones for $10 and spend all morning eating crumbly bite after crumbly bite.

Pastries and scones

Alice’s Tea Cup
102 West 73rd Street
New York, NY
212.799.3006
http://alicesteacup.com/

Ssam bar and a stop at the Bergdorf windows

December 22, 2011 § Leave a comment

Few things are lovelier and richer than a pork belly bun from Momofuku. I don’t care if they’ve been hyped to death, they’re still a well-executed morsel of fat and savoriness and that’s what Laura and I wanted last night. I could probably just have two orders of these and go home a ridiculously happy person.

Pork belly buns

We also love the spicy pork sausage and fried rice cake dish, with lots of sliced and stir-fried chinese broccoli. Spicy, chewy, meaty, and crunchy, the dish has so many different textures and tastes that a couple bites will satisfy. I especially love the little hit of Sichuan peppercorn.

Spicy pork sausage and crispy rice cakes

This time, we also tried a new dish of poached chicken, sticky rice, maitake mushrooms, and spring onion. It was a richer version of my mother’s chicken noodle soup, with a very milky and flavorful broth and sweet, almost creamy rice enveloping a tender piece of chicken. Comforting, but not too heavy either.

Poached chicken

Even though it was a bit rainy, we spent the rest of the evening oohing and aahing at the beautiful windows at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tiffany, and the weather actually worked in our favor since there were less people congesting the sidewalks. Our family used to visit the window displays every year, but for whatever reason, stopped the tradition in recent years, and it felt great to spend time in the city with my sister again before the holidays.

Gowns galore

Golden birdcages

Aquatic fantasy

Black and white luxury

Polar party

A tiny pop-up book style window

Gorgeous ring display at Tiffany

Dress courtesy of Olivier Theyskens

Quans #1 and #3 at Rockefeller

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/ssam-bar/

Sparkling cocktails and stromboli

December 20, 2011 § Leave a comment

We girls love our fruity cocktails. Yesterday, some of us (and Phil) went into New Brunswick to take advantage of the 4-7pm happy hour at Clydz Restaurant, where it’s half-off on all fancy drinks. Below, we have Phil’s Russian Winter (Zubrowka, nocello, dark and white chocolate liqueurs), Tonia’s Apple Pie (apple vodka, apple schnapps, apple liqueur, apple juice, honey, and cinnamon), and my all-time favorite, the Destroyer (sweet tea vodka, elderflower liqueur, lemonade, cucumber, and club soda). So sweet, so damned good.

Cocktail trio

I do have to say that sipping on the Destroyer was a bit of tease though, because all of the flavors are so refreshing and remind me of summer, evoking images of people sitting on their porches in rocking chairs and just watching the clouds float by.

The Destroyer

My second drink of the evening was a lovely sparkling drink called the French “55,” with something called Zubrowka, elderflower, pineapple, lemon and champagne. Slightly tropical and not too sweet, the drink’s lemon element also gave the cocktail a heady aroma just as you sipped it. And because we didn’t know what was actually in Zubrowka, we Wiki-ed it and discovered that it’s sometimes referred to as Buffalo Grass vodka, distilled from rye and known to have flavors of woodruff (whatever that is), vanilla, coconut, and almond. Yummy.

French 55

Tiff also got a beautifully colored drink called the Sparkling Sunrise, with Chambord, peach schnapps, and champagne. I’m all about the sparkling cocktails at Clydz now. Something about champagne always makes the occasion a little bit more special.

Sparkling Sunrise

But because we can’t live on cocktails alone, after happy hour, we walked over to Stuff Yer Face for some piping hot strombolis. I ordered my classic, chipotle pork with cheddar, and happily dug into some meaty, cheesy bliss.

Chipotle pork stromboli

Clydz Restaurant
55 Paterson Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.846.6521
http://www.clydz.com/

Stuff Yer Face
49 Easton Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.247.1727
http://www.stuffyerface.com/

A classic

December 19, 2011 § Leave a comment

At Mario's

Sometimes, nothing beats buffalo chicken pizza. A must when home from break.

Mario’s Famous Pizza
3 Stephenville Parkway
Edison, NJ 08820
732.516.9300

Stops at old favorites

December 18, 2011 § 2 Comments

Whew! It’s been a while. I’m finally on winter break (until forever it seems) and spending most of my days on the couch in front of the television with my laptop. Yesterday I did finally manage to leave the house to reunite with high school friends in New York City and we managed to get a lot of things done.

Jiawen and Cathy with Mario, the apartment bear

First, an obligatory trip to Shake Shack, Madison Square Park with Jiawen and Cathy because I needed to get my burger fix. Between Cathy and me, we ordered our individual single Shack burgers and then split some fries (which seemed to have crispier exteriors and creamier interiors than I remembered) and a Shack-ago dog. Cathy said she still preferred a classic hot dog with ketchup and mustard, but I actually quite like all the vegetables and celery salt, even though structurally, the hot dog becomes a very hard thing to eat with all those toppings.

Oh, how I've missed you

Madison Square Park

FOOD

A beautiful Shack burger

The fat squirrels of Madison Square Park

On our way back to Jiawen’s apartment, we also stopped by nearby Eataly, which was completely packed with tourists and people doing their holiday shopping. Is the place ever not super busy? Every time I go and want to take my time and look at all the jams and spreads, cured meats, and cheeses, I lose my patience because people are constantly shuffling along and end up giving up within 10-15 minutes. I can’t even imagine waiting for a table at one of the restaurants.

Mushroom varieties at Eataly

Citrus!

We also dropped by Doughnut Plant, right by Jiawen’s apartment, to pick up a couple donuts: tres leches cake and pear yeast (a holiday flavor). The tres leches was indulgent as ever and still one of my favorite flavors (aside from carrot cake and peanut butter and jelly yeast, which were both gone by the time we got there), and even though the pear was quite good, the glaze was a bit too sweet for my taste.

Doughnut Plant

Pear

Tres Leches

Finally, we found our way back to Jiawen’s couch and had some time to relax before an evening of Korean food, drinking, and intense karoake. Cathy and I did, however, manage to slip out for a bit in the middle of watching The Adjustment Bureau to visit Whiskers in Wonderland at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 18th Street and 6th Avenue, where there were tons of cats (and not many dogs) looking for a new home. As expected, there was a lot of cooing and “awing” going on, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take home any cute critters this year.

Whiskers in Wonderland

Siblings

Huge, huge thanks to Jiawen who arranged everything and happy holidays to everyone!

Thanksgiving 2011

November 25, 2011 § Leave a comment

Hoping everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! We spent last night with close friends (between two families, seven daughters!) and some peculiar cats and tucked into some amazing Turkey Day classics and desserts from Financier. So thankful for my family and friends and looking forward to all the good times still to come.

Ithaca Farmer’s Market

November 18, 2011 § Leave a comment

Shots from Ithaca Farmer’s Market. So happy to have my Macro Mama’s again. I may have gotten two extra cartons of peanut lime noodles.

Laduree

October 21, 2011 § 2 Comments

New York City is currently experiencing a macaron (and that’s macaron, not macaroon, which is another thing entirely) craze but unfortunately, many of these new places are really not up to snuff. Not surprising that according to this Serious Eats post detailing the best macaron sources in the city, the top two (1. Laduree and 2. Maison du Chocolat) by far both have their pastries flown in directly from the source, Paris.

Laduree

Inside

Macarons, sitting prettily in columns

Last month, soon after Laduree opened up shop on the Upper East Side, Laura and I paid a visit to eyeball these delicious confections and get ourselves a sampling, pretty box included.

Packaging

Box of 15

I believe there were 14 flavors in total, so we did get one repeat of the salted caramel. From what I remember, there was salted caramel, black current, raspberry (a favorite), vanilla, chocolate, cherry and almond, coconut (so good), green apple, lemon, pistachio (my favorite), rose, cinnamon raisin, strawberry mint, and coffee. Although I definitely had my favorites, each and every macaron was delicious, with a perfect cookie to filling ratio and a contrast between crunch and chewiness in the meringue. The prices are definitely very steep, but I think it’s definitely worth a splurge now and then.

Laduree
864 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
646-558-3157
Laduree

Lunch with Laura at OTTO

October 10, 2011 § Leave a comment

Yeah, yeah, another lunch at OTTO. But this time it was necessary, since my sister Laura is currently going to school only a couple blocks away and she’d never been before. We started with an antipasti of shrimp, chickpeas, and chiles. Spicy and surprisingly flavorful for a cold dish.

Antipasti

Then for mains, we stuck with my favorite pizza, the prosciutto arugula, and ordered the pasta alla norma, which may be my new favorite dish. Eggplant, bufalo mozzarella, and tomato might not sound that exciting on paper, but OTTO executed this pasta wonderfully. I loved mixing all that delicious gooey cheese with the crispy but tender eggplant and tomato until it emulsified into a creamy, rich sauce and the pasta was perfectly al dente, with just a little bit of bite.

Pasta alla Norma

Prosciutto arugula pizza

And of course, a meal at OTTO isn’t complete without a taste of the olive oil coppetta. This dessert is seasonal, so every time I come back, the components have changed. This time, accompanying the olive oil gelato we had figs stewed in red wine, fennel brittle (which I didn’t really like because of the strong anise flavor), Concord grape sorbet, and orange curd. Divine.

Olive oil coppetta

So, Laura’s verdict? She absolutely loved it and said she’d come back again and again for a relatively inexpensive but refined pasta. Lucky for her, she can do that.

Ithaca Applefest 2011

October 2, 2011 § Leave a comment

Originally the weather for this weekend’s Applefest was supposed to be dismal and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with rain and cold to go down to the Commons. Luckily, this afternoon, it cleared up and the sun came out, so I figured I could spare a couple of hours and finally get away from campus and Collegetown. Highlights: delicious gyro, hot apple cobbler, apple wine tastings, and a pair of the cutest Goldendoodles that I’ve ever seen. I also bought some maple cream and need to figure out what to do with it, so there will probably be a recipe post on that later.