I used to rave about FD’s parbaked breads, especially the ciabatta sandwich rolls. They were so easy to store, heat up, and have that wonderful fresh out of the oven taste. BUT, our last order of the par-bakes were disappointing. The rolls were smaller and didn’t taste the same. When following the heating instructions we had always used, the middle would still be frozen. I just checked and they increased the price too! Boo FreshDirect!
Archive for April, 2007
Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality
Monday, April 30, 2007
Using StumbleUpon, I came across a web page where someone took the time to compare the images of fast food products in marketing versus in real life, i.e. straight from the store. In this Ads vs. Reality comparison by Jeff Kay at the WVSR, it really shows how sad and gross fast food can be.
Generally, I actually think the images of the real food were more impressive than I otherwise would have guessed they’d be. The two that were really sad though were the Arby’s “Beef ‘n’ Ceddar” and the Burger King “Whopper”.
In my experience with fast food, they do an unusually sad job with sandwiches, for some reason the prep cooks always seem to want to crush them. Weird.
p.s. This all reminds me of the time I got really excited for a huge breakfast sandwich Burger King was launching, some time ago. They kept advertising how huge it was. When I actually bought it it was smaller than a computer mouse, so I took a picture and emailed it around to friends. I can’t seem to find that picture, but it was pathetic.
Laifood Reincarnate?
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Good Taiwanese food is hard to find and Laifood had been a staple for my family for years. Sadly, it closed. Over the years, there was a couple of changes in ownership/managment while interest over the restaurant dwindled. Recently, my mom heard that the food was good again so we decided to give it a shot.
It’s now called Lau’s Seafood in English but the Chinese name (Hai Dz Way) remains the same. The menu is almost exaclty the same too. The food did taste different than the original Laifood, some better, some worse, and some equal but different. The Oyster Pancake and the Basil Snails were amazing while the minced pork on rice and the fried squid fell short. The whole fish in bean sauce was very good and the Taiwanese version of mooshu pork came with impressively thin and tender crepes. The chicken roll, Taiwanese Mai Fun, and possibly some dishes that I am now forgetting were standard. It was Lon’s first time eating Taiwanese food and my mom got carried away ordering. I was happy enough with this representation of Taiwanese food and Lon will happily eat Taiwanese food again.
While not every dish at this restaurant is perfect, the prices certainly justify trying it, especially if you haven’t had Taiwanese food before.
Kitchen Myths
Sunday, April 29, 2007
We love watching MythBusters, and particularly enjoy the food-related myths. I also try to do a bit of sleuthing myself when I receive various warning (cough: spam) forwards in email. So when I found Peter Aitken’s Kitchen Myths page, I really enjoyed reading them and following some of the reference links. Most of his busts seem well backed up!
And they’re interesting and educational. My favorite was about the difference between thickening agents. It’s good reference to keep around.
Finally, great pizza……Numero 28
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I love pizza and New York has better pizza than Florida, California, New Jersey, etc. I eat at places like Patsy’s, John’s, Arturo’s, and Nick’s which have good pizza but not amazing pizza, like the one I had in Budapest. (I’ve haven’t been to Italy yet…)
There are so many dimensions on which I rate pizza: the cheese, the sauce, the dough, sometimes toppings, and the ratio of those 4 things to each other. It’s important that each layer of the pizza is flavorful. Often the dough and crust leave that job entirely to the sauce, cheese, and toppings. Sometimes the sauce and/or cheese are just overly salty, and often toppings are in large pieces that you can’t bite through easily. With one bite, you end up pulling off the piece of eggplant meant for 5 bites. Yet other frequent mistakes are too little sauce, the wrong amount of cheese, or more toppings than pizza. That’s one of my biggest peeves: that toppings overwhelm the pizza, and so I end up just ordering plain most of the time.
I’m happy to announce that I’ve finally found outstanding pizza in NY – Numero 28. Lon and I came across it accidentally while walking around on a beautiful day. We had low expectations and just wanted a place where we could sit outside since we had Ice (our Jack Russell) with us. We ordered a 14″ pie, half plain, half sausage. We both loved it! The tomato sauce was full of real tomato flavor. The crust was chewy yet crispy with flavor in the dough. Yes, I just said flavor in the dough! The proportion of cheese to sauce to crust was just right and it came out piping hot. Lon’s sausage topping was very tasty and more importantly crumbled over the pizza as opposed to large, chewy chunks.
The family who runs the place was very friendly. It looks like it’s a husband and wife, a daughter (all with thick accents) and a 
teenage boy they hired and trained to man the oven. It’s a very low maintenance scene with the intent to focus purely on the quality of their food. We overheard the boy telling someone else that the boss built the oven himself and that the family was certified in Naples as pizza makers (a 250-year family tradition). I believe it. Lon and I, big pizza critics, left thoroughly happy. We complimented the small staff wholeheartedly and they offered Lon some pictures by the oven.
Good prices, friendly service, delicious pizza! Try it!
Born Too Late for Street Food
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I love me some street food. I’m talking about corn dogs, sausage and peppers on hero bread, sweet corn arepas with melty cheese, gyros, etc. Every time I travel I try all the street food (I think I ate rat in Russia one time). The best street food I ever ate were the sweet roti in Thailand.
The US, while not offering the best quality street food, definitely has a decent selection, although not as substantial as oriental night markets (like one of the ones I’ve visited, shown on the right). I’ve always enjoyed this kind of cheap, fast, crappy food. I remember when I was young my town had the Fiesta Italiana, the week following labor day. And I also remember being upset at how a simple sausage & peppers hero was $4.50! Whew that was expensive for a 12 year old. I remember thinking how that was too much money and I could go to any pizzeria for the same sandwich for $3 or $3.50.
Well fast forward to now, and I’m thinking it’s gotten even worse! Today we were walking through a street fair and the price of a gyro platter (rice, a bit of salad, and some gyro meat) was EIGHT dollars! Are they insane!? One block away from them, every day, is a phenomenal gyro stand (the NE corner of 14th Street and Broadway) where you can get the same platter with or without chicken (as a combo) for $4.00, half the price, and it tastes amazing. Sausage and peppers have gone up from the insane recent prices of between $6-$6.50 to the astounding $7.00. I almost fell over. The arepas are now $3 for a small and $4 for the normal size.
No longer is any of this remotely worthwhile. The food is dirty and greasy, the taste is lacking, and there is no love. I’m thinking the sweet spot in terms of price-value-time was for people who were adults in the early eighties. While the prices were a bit more expensive than store prices, they were still affordable. Oh well.
A Little Something to Snack On: Bios
Friday, April 27, 2007
People want to know more about us, the writers, of FoodMayhem, and we’re happy to oblige. You may have noticed the new image on the right, under “About”. Clicking that image will take you to the new Biography page. There Jessica and I have spent a bit of time talking about who we are and some of our habits in the kitchen.
Other recent enhancements to the site include easier navigation to older articles and between different archive pages. Also, we’ve changed the format of archive pages to show summaries of articles. Let us know what you think by leaving comments.
Stuffed Cheesecake
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Being a fan of all things cheesecake, I was excited by the cheesecake “throwdown” a few weeks ago and made an Apple Caramel Cheesecake inspired by Flay’s entry. However, having a bit of cream cheese left over from the massive amount we purchased at Costco, I’m making a new cheesecake inspired by the competition, Junior’s, and their entry the Devil’s Food Cheesecake.
Some may ask why on earth I didn’t just travel over to Junior’s, with two of their locations being within 20 minutes of my home, so let me answer: because I do not like Junior’s cheesecake! I have tried their cakes on at least four occasions and am less than impressed. They taste bland, overly sweet, too dry, and generally a day old. So rather than go overpay for one of their crappy cakes, I made my own, and besides, I prefer vanilla over chocolate.
This recipe basically requires three nine-inch cake pans on hand, I have two and a spring form, which works fine.
I used a Basic Cheesecake Recipe:
- 1 pound cream cheese (two 8oz blocks), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 pint sour cream
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- zest of one lemon, finely minced
Cream cream cheese and sugar, then add sour cream, then one egg at a time, followed by lemon and vanilla. Scrape down sides, mix again and bake in a 9-inch cake pan (with NO CRUST) in a waterbath at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes– until center is jello-like and the outside is firm. Then let stand in over for another hour before chilling over night.
And then prepared a basic Yellow Layer Cake recipe (from About.com):
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl set aside. Cream sugar and butter in a large bowl, until light and fluffy, then beat in one egg at a time. Mix in half the flour mixture followed by half of the milk. Add vanilla. Mix until blended; add remaining flour and milk and beat until smooth. Fill two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 375° for 25 to 35 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean.
The next day, I whipped up some Butter Cream Icing (from Wilton):
- 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (clear is preferable)
- 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
- 2 tbsp. whole milk
- 2 tbsp. light corn syrup
Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often throughout whole process! When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. This is enough icing to do a thin layer– perfect for us. If you want a heavier layer (i.e. crumb coat and top coat) you’ll need to increase the icing recipe by 50% or 100%.
Then it was time to Assemble the Cake:
- Put one of the layer cakes onto a turntable over some wax paper, frost top with about 1/2 cup of icing, keeping center thinner than towards edge.
- Dip chilled cheesecake in warm water, then run a knife around the outside edge. Finally set over stove top burner for about 30 seconds on high– handle with a towel afterward. Carefully invert over frosted layer cake and tap bottom to release. If you’re incredibly lucky it will release properly.
Frost top of cheesecake with about 1/2 cup of icing, then invert last layer cake on top, with bottom facing up. Do not frost top at this point.- Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes until cheesecake and icing-filling is stiff.
- Finish frosting the entire cake– start with the sides working upwards in swirls creating peaks at top of sides. Then move to the top and frost outwards.
- Chill again before serving in large, luscious slices!
Enjoy. We did. See the rest of the pictures in the Flickr set.
Noodle Soups
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Lon and I haven’t been feeling that well for the past 2 days, and for me that means eating lots and lots of noodle soups. While nothing that delivers to me is like my mom’s noodle soup or Chinatown quality (or price), there’s a couple of places that are acceptable and then there are tons of terrible ones so I thought I’d fill everyone in on the noodle soup situation here. And, please feel free to recommend a place if you think I’ve missed it. I’ll be very, very grateful if it’s good.
Express Manna Kitchen
I haven’t tried any noodle soups from this place yet but their Dukk Boki is good so I’ll have to try some more stuff some time… The problem is that they’re more of a lunch place so they close pretty early.
Hamachi
This is actually a neighborhood Japanese restaurant but they have a good selection of udons, sobas, and yosenabes.
Try: Spicy Seafood Miso (It’s a noodle soup with a tremendous amount of seafood but it’s not listed on the MenuPages menu for some reason.)
Je ‘Bon
Tonight was our first try of this place and we were happy with our delivery. We ordered the Kichinabe (flavorful dumplings), the silver needles (subtle, but good flavors and textures), and the Wine Chicken. I was surprised by the authentic flavor which included goji berries and other medicinal flavors that most places outside of Chinatown don’t dare to use. It’s exactly what my mom always made me drink when I was sick, minus the broccoli (Chinese people don’ t put that in soup) and the fact that they de-boned the chicken leg.
L’annam
Yes, this is a Vietnamese place but sadly I won’t eat the pho there. The stock just doesn’t taste right. But there are a couple of noodle soups that will do for the price.
Try: Duck Black Mushroom Noodle Soup, Saigon Style Noodle Soup (I don’t like water chestnuts, but there’s good soup flavor), Steamed Grandma Recipe Soup (perfect for when you’re sick)
Pilly’s
This is actually a deli but the second floor has a seating area where they serve good Korean soups at really good prices. Keep in mind that Korean food is only served until about 7:30 on weekdays and not served on weekends.
Try: Duk Mandoo Gook, Kalbi Tang, Yookgae Jang
Republic
This place is all scene and pays little attention towards the food. I’ve been dragged here a couple of times yet I can never remember anything I ate. Enough said?
Saigon Grill
Don’t get the pho at this place either. The soup never comes hot enough and again doesn’t taste right. They don’t really have much else in terms of noodle soups.
Soba Ya
Some of my friends love this place, but I think their stuff tastes pretty bland. I’m never a big fan of soba though…
Sammy’s Noodle Shop
The noodle soups are the only items you can eat from here. The rest tastes like average dirty Chinese take-out. I don’ t like the wontons because they’re not authentic (too doughy and over-sized) but Lon does. Generally the soup noodles have good flavors but occasionally the noodles are over-cooked.
Try: Stewed Beef Noodle Soup (very concentrated), Pickled Cabbage and Shredded Pork Noodle Soup, Noodles with bean paste and miced meat sauce (not a soup noodle though)
Tokyo Lamen
This is one of the worst restaurants I’ve ever been to. I went with my cousin and my brother. All 3 of us ordered different soup noodles and none of them tasted any better than if you microwaved instant noodles or cooked one of those udon packs from an Asian market.
Don’t Try!
Vanessa’s Dumplings
We ordered from this place a couple of times. Sometimes it was great and sometimes food tasted old and I was offended by the flavor of shrimp going bad. We’ve stopped ordering from this place because of the inconsistency but if you want a noodle soup, the beef noodle soup was good the first few times.
The Best Restaurant in the World
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
For years I’ve wanted to eat at The Fat Duck, widely renowned as the best restaurant in the world. However, as of last year, and just repeated this year, El Bulli has surpassed FD for consideration as the number one.
It is clear now that I must eat at both FD and El Bulli.