FoodMayhem

I’ve ordered from FreshDirect before and have never really had a major problem. One time, one of the items was wrong….like mustard instead if baking soda but….generally if you know which items to buy, it can be a pretty good deal.

After this Sunday though, I would really have to think twice before ordering. Lon ordered a bunch of things to be delivered on Sunday because he was planning on baking some type of cornbread casserole. (Some guys in his office requested it.) It arrived 15 min after the 2 hour delivery window and all the boxes were soaking wet. The boxes being soaked is not really a problem in itself, other than soaking his rug, but the problem is that the bag of flour inside was soaked. I don’t think I really have to explain the problem with wet flour.

Next problem is that the bag of par-baked breads had all defrosted. Fresh Direct actually has fantastic par-baked breads but should arrive frozen. The idea is not to have to eat all of them that day. So, I’m not done. The next problem is that some of the eggs had cracked in the box and other contents of that box were now covered in raw egg yolk.

Of course, we called FreshDirect to have them return the order but that caused still 2 problems. First, Lon still would not have the ingredients he needed to make the casserole. (The earliest they could replace it is the next day which doesn’t work for normal people who work mon-Fri.) Second, it took 2 more calls after the initial call before they picked it up, which was after 7pm. The initial call was made around 11:30 am.

I’m pretty sure I will endure supermarket lines next time.

I was sick all weekend and when I’m sick, I usually want pho (a Vietnamese oxtail noodle soup). It’s the perfect sick food in my mind. I’ve been staying at Lon’s apt while my apt is being renovated and the only Vietnamese nearby is Asia Grill. They had pho so I gave it a shot.

We ordered in and the delivery came in decent time but they forgot my bean sprouts, lemon, and basil. These are essential to pho so we called them and they had someone drop off the missing stuff. They did as I asked and put the raw beef seperately so that it didn’t cook by the time it got to me. The beef was good but unfortunately I still would never order their pho again. The most important part is the oxtail stock and this was a beef broth which is so different. I was very dissappointed. They give an excessive amount of rice noodles though…in case you want to have enough for 3 meals. Lon ordered spare ribs with Bun. It was pretty standard. Next time I get sick, I have to make sure I have access to Chinatown.

I was exhausted Fri night so we just went to the Patsy’s near Lon’s apt on 60th St. It was packed as most of them usually are so we had an appetizer at the bar while we waited for a table. The fried calamari is pretty standard.

After we were seated, we ordered a large pizza; half plain, half sausage, becasue I don’t usually like toppings on my pizza. I tried one of the sausage slices and actually liked it because they sprinkle small pieces across instead of the large chunks. I still prefer plain though. I consider Patsy’s good safe pizza. It’s not amazing but never fails.

It was a beautiful night last night so the plan was to eat outdoors. We walked up 2nd Ave and looked at several menus. When we were finally decided on a restaurant, Kasi and Stephen (Lon’s sister and brother-in-law) appeared out of no where. Actually, they just walked out of the bar next door, but more importantly, they were also ready for dinner and Kasi had eaten at Zuccchero e Pomodori before so in we went.

Dinner was eventful. The table was so sloped that a bread plate flew off and hit the girl in the neighboring table. Luckily, the couple was nice so it actually sparked some friendly conversation. I got to meet one of Kasi’s friend, who was flagged down as she was leaving the bar,so she joined us for a few minutes. And, of course it’s always great to see family/friends unplanned.

FOOD:
The menu offers all the standard Italian fare with a few extras. Their pasta section is broken into dry pasta and fresh pasta. I don’t really understand why they even need dry pastas but…….
We shared an appetizer of clams and mussels. It was a large portion with a good sauce so we went through 2 baskets of bread with the dipping. The clams were the juicy little ones I like but the mussels were a little over-cooked. It was a bit too salty, even for me but still enjoyable. Stephen ordered a seafood pasta and Kasi ordered the gnocchi pomodoro. They both liked it and I tried Kasi’s sauce and it was pretty good.

Lon ordered the veal saltimbocca and cleverly stuck a spoon beneath his plate when it came, in order to balance out the slant of the table. It was nicely arranged on top of a large heaping of sauteed spinach and surrounded by a very very buttery sauce. The flavor was wonderful. I ordered the fresh tagliatelle with calamari fra diavolo. It was a huge portion of nicely cooked calamari and a fantastic sauce. It came with squid ink linguini instead of tagliatelle so I figured they probably just ran out. I’m not a huge fan of squid ink pasta because it’s a little less al dente but I didn’t complain because it was still pretty good and the sauce was making me happy enough.

I don’t think any food was left on our table….Lon and I finished Kasi’s sauce with the remaining piece of bread. We glanced over the dessert menus but decided to go to the Dunkin’ Donuts right next door. It was starting to get a little chilly and I like the coffee there. Lon and I shared an apple crumb donut that neither of us liked that much but my coffee was really good (each DD varies a bit). Stephen had a jelly donut and Kasi got a vanilla frosted one but only got about 1/3 of it because Stephen and Lon kept stealing pieces of it. Lon took some of Kasi’s hot chocolate too but I guess that’s what I would’ve done to Justin so….Lon also got some kind of Nestle Quik banana milk but it wasn’t that great….agreed by all 4 of us.

The dinner (not including DD) was approx $20 pp including tax and tip. I would gladly go back and just make sure I sat at a straight table next time.

Shila is that new place in Ktown with the silver exterior. The restaurant is 3 floors and the decor is pretty typical of the newer Korean restaurants. Lon and I both noticed the chairs and liked them. As soon as you sit, you’re given a bowl of thick red bean/sticky rice porridge like stuff that is pretty good except that I’m used to this stuff being sweet and this one was sweet with a weird salt flavor that stuck out.

There’s a minimum order of 2 BBQ plates which is common but still stinks! The menu was kind of confusing because it wasn’t broken into the same segments I usually see and they didn’t have soon dubu or dok boki…..We had a hard time deciding what to order and I’m not sure if the
waitress was trying to be helpful or just rush us to order something. We finally decided on the broiled Mackerel and Dol Sot Bim bim Bop, which I only ordered because she kept pressuring me and thinking back, I’m not too happy about this because I never order bim bim bop cause it’s generally boring and theirs wasn’t any better. Actually, it was quite sparse.

OK, back tracking a little….the panchan: they had the standard kimchi (avg), black beans (avg), bean sprouts (a little below avg), Korean mayo salad (slightly above avg), and dried cuttlefish in a sweet sauce (good). The had an awful broccoli dish, a cold baby carrot tempura with ketchup, a really good mushroom salad, and cooked scallion kimchi as opposed the the regular raw scallion version.

The entrees arrived pretty quickly. The mackerel was a very large serving and was possibly smoked or at least cured before broiling. There was a soy sauce based dressing with some chopped green and red peppers on top. It came with a little stone pot casserole with cubes of potato and tofu. It was a little on the sweet side but I still enjoyed the mackerel and side very much. As I already mentioned, the Bim Bim Bop was pretty tasteless and sparse.

They gave us a split orange and a couple of grapes with the check which is common at all the restaurants in Ktown. They have average Ktown prices, average entrees, but below average panchan so I don’t think I would go back.

Check out the pics from last night’s dinner: Bruschetta, Broccoli, Bolognese….say it 3 times fast! =P

Lots more pics on Flickr.

I was invited to celebrate Passover with Lon’s family in Long Island so I hopped the smelly LIRR and headed all the way to Central Islip. I have not been that far from Manhattan since my cousin’s wedding last year but it was worth it for the 3 or more hours of food consumption.

It started with the traditional bitter herbs, parsley, matzoh…..then the appetizers started: chopped liver (which Lon and I decorated with Parsley), turkey and pineapple skewers, Israeli salad, gefilte fish, carrot salad, lots of pickled stuff (red and green peppers, cauliflower, tomatoes, and regular pickles), a pretty salmon terrine, and a really really awesome zucchini salad. The next course was matzo ball soup. By now, I’m already completely full.

More food, an overwhelming amount at rapid speed, comes streaming out of the kitchen: An incredible veal roast with stuffing, roasted turkey, stuffed black squash (with ground turkey and tomato sauce), potato kugel, and bilkes (something like mashed potatoes with onions cooked in chicken fat mixed in and then baked will edges are crispy – so good!)

We rested very briefly and then started working on dessert. There was fresh pineapple and grapes, also dried papaya, pineapple, and apricots. I loved the dark chocolate covered Matzoh and chocolate covered macaroons (they had regular ones too). There was a chocolate chip crumb cake and a blueberry chocolate cake, a big bowl of jello with fresh raspberries inside and marshmallows on top. My favorite dessert was one of Lon’s mom’s specialties – Mandel Bread.

Everything was served with a variety of wines, water, and soda, and dessert was accompanied with tea and coffee. I’m sure I forgot some stuff since there was so so much! I left stuffed, in slight pain, and had a severe food coma. I slept on Lon the whole ride back and made it without drueling all over him =P

We went to the Houston’s on Park Ave, near 27th St. I like the look of the place and the couch seats are great.

We started off with their famous spinach dip which is delivered nice and hot with warm chips. It’s so yummy. The salsa and sour cream that comes with it is good but unnecessary. The chips were unevenly salted so some pieces were good and some were way too salty.

You can add a Ceasar or traditional salad to any entree for $5 which is a really good deal because you still get the full size. Lon got the Ceasar which is good but doesn’t really taste like what Ceasar should taste like. I didn’t taste any anchovy and the dressing is much lighter, closer to a vinaigrette.

Before we were done enjoying the dip and salad, the entrees came which was a little annoying because we had to shove everything aside to make room for my hickory burger and Lon’s Cedar Plank Salmon (which was a special). The Hickory burger comes with Canadian bacon, bbq sauce, a pile of shredded cheddar, and some chopped onions, on a beautiful sesame bun. You can choose your side. Of course I got fries which were awesome! I ate mine and some of Lon’s. =P The meat was cooked correctly and I did enjoy the burger but it didn’t live up to my expectations. The pile of cheddar sitting on the top half of the bun was cold (straight out of the fridge) so I asked the waitress if she could melt it. She was happy to accommodate but when it came back, it was just one slice of melted cheese on my bun. What happened to my mound of cheese? That was really disappointing and when Lon asked the waitress what happened, she said that it was because the mound wouldn’t have melted evenly. Being a culinary person and being able to see the salamander in their open kitchen, I’m not buying that excuse. We don’t blame the waitress; we liked her a lot but I’m still kind of upset about my missing cheese even now, almost a day later. Aside from that, all that stuff on my burger didn’t really add much. I didn’t taste the Canadian bacon or much of the cheese, and the meat was too small to compete with the giant bun. They do give you a really good bbq sauce on the side and the fries help to compensate. Lon’s salmon was cooked perfectly with a good mustard rub. Good but not amazing, but again the fries were so good!

I would definitely go back to Houston’s because I like the atmosphere, service, and the seats. The prices vary drastically so I would go back to have any of their sides, appetizers, sandwiches, and salads but I don’t think the entrees are worth it.

On our way home, we stumbled across an ice cream shop called La Salle. The guy behind the counter was really nice, generously offering samples of several different flavors of sorbets and ice creams. The sorbets are made with real fruit and the ice creams are super rich and flavorful. Lon was curious about the pretzel cone so we ordered one to share with dulce de leche ice cream. The sweet and salty balance was delicious. I didn’t like eating the cone but loved licking the salt off the cone while eating the ice cream. We were too full to have more but we’ll definately be going back there.