I Love Le Fooding

Last night, I was lucky enough to attend Le Fooding, a food event that takes leading chefs from New York and similarly acclaimed chefs from Paris and brings them together at one giant party. The event was at PS1 in Long Island City and was probably one of the cooler things I've done in New York. The crowd skewed French, but not a huge surprise there. The whole scene reminded me of a posh Chelsea (SW3, not 23rd street) party.

We were able to upgrade our tickets which gave us access to the space one hour ahead of everyone else, plus all you can drink clicquot during that hour. We made the rounds pretty quick, alternating between the French and American chefs.

Our first taste was a Mini Henry IV casserole, with creamed cow's cheese from Le Comptoir du Relais. Honestly, this was nothing like I anticipated. I expected little puff pastries, oozing with cheese. Instead, it was essentially a glorified chicken soup. It was good, but at the end of the day, it was chicken soup. It did come with a great piece of toasted bread that sopped up the soup well.

Next was the Bo Ssam--a mythic dish that David Chang serves up at Ssam Bar. Chang was there in the flesh, dishing it out to New Yorkers and French expats alike. The Bo Ssam of course met my lofty expectations. It came on a piece of bibb lettuce and was covered in sriracha. It was juicy, tender, and perfect. I would visit this table twice more before the evening ended.

At some point, Gael Greene wandered into view sans chapeau. We hit another French table, this time with barbecued sirloin steak from Bigarrade. This was a delectable skewer of two perfectly cooked cubes of sirloin. It was light and the chef's intent seemed to be showcase the meat, which he did quite well.

We wandered over to Wylie Dufresne's spot and sure enough, he was serving up chicken necks to the masses. I have mixed feelings on this dish. The protein was certainly a difficult one. It was very bony and difficult to maneuver given the setting (i.e. no tables). However, when I could get a piece of meat of the neck, paired with yuzu marmalade, it was actually pretty great.

One of the more interesting plates was fried corn with scallop butter from Diner in Brooklyn. The corn was plump, flavorful and the scallop butter was rich and smooth and balanced the fried corn well. It definitely inspired me to venture out to Brooklyn to check out this restaurant.

The final chef's table, pork ribs with pineapple teriyaki from Ze Kitchen Galerie in Paris. I found this a gutsy choice for a French chef, given what an iconicly American dish ribs are. However, I appreciated the playfulness of the ribs and they were falling off the bone good. The sauces that came with the ribs further enhanced the flavor, especially an eggplant sauce that was creamy and reminded me of mezze.

On top of all that, there was a delightful cheese course, plenty of champagne, and ice cream from General Greene. The ice cream was awesome, even on a chilly autumn evening. The first flavor was a salted hazelnut gianduja and the second was bourbon vanilla. The vanilla was good and heavy on the bourbon. The salted hazelnut gianduja was awesome. Salted anything is always better (e.g. salted caramel). Despite the fact the ice cream was made without eggs, it still had a great texture.

After all the Le Fooding fun, you'd think we'd make haste to the 7-train back to Manhattan. We instead decided to hit Dutch Kills, the LIC speakeasy spot from Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey fame. I opted for the bartender's choice, which was a great call. My favorite drink was a blackberry bramble which was sufficiently boozy but still retained an amazing blackberry flavor. Cocktails were a more reasonable $10 (in Manhattan they are now approaching $25 at spots) and it was a great way to cap of the night.

Sunday Fun Day

Sunday's always bring an interesting variety of food options. The meals are least structured and they are great days to try various bites of food from around town.

My Sunday started at Hundred Acres. Brunch and I have an ambivalent relationship. However, Hundred Acres is one of the few restaurants I enjoy eating brunch. I had poached eggs with homemade sausage, gravy, and jalapeno grits. This was my second time ordering this and neither time disappointed. The sausage is a nice, spicy patty that is vaguely reminiscent of chorizo. The grits are smooth and act as the "english muffin" in this eggs benedict reinvention. The gravy is hearty and plentiful. Finally, heaps of fried onions top the dish. My brother had the chilaquiles, which I have sampled before and which are also delicious.

After Hundred Acres, I watched the 1st set of NFL games at The Blue Seats. It was a pretty sweet setup as each booth had a set of 6 TVs where you could watch simultaneous games. The sliders earned raves, though my self-restraint inhibits me from personally opining on them.

After seeing the Pats falter, I headed back to my apartment to wrap up some errands. I stopped at Veloce along the way. Veloce is known for its Sicilian style pizza and has received strong praise. It definitely is a different taste than conventional Neapolitan slices but I really enjoyed it. The pizza crust is very soft and chewy but the cheese and sauce are perfect. It was a nice little snack between lunch and dinner. I don't know if everyone will love it, but it is a nice change from the ubiquitous Neapolitan options out there. Plus, they may even deliver to me.

The capstone to this wonderful day of eating was Ippudo. Ippudo is the acclaimed ramen restaurant steps from my apartment. After eating at Ippudo weekly last autumn, we parted ways for a few months. Tonight marked the return to Ippudo!

I went with a group of food lovers. We ordered a round of apps including peppers, potatoes with a miso anchovy sauce, and of course, pork buns. The apps were all homeruns. The peppers were nicely cooked and came with a citrus sauce that helped make them pop. The roasted potatoes were awesome, mostly because of the miso anchovy sauce that accompanied them. And the pork buns were delicious. I had realized it had been months since I last had a pork bun, and despite how oversaturated they have become in New York, I still adore them. These are great and by adding a little mayo they are more creamy than the usual iterations.

As for the ramen, I can't really claim to know much about ramen but dish itself is simply awesome. I've had the ramen at least 6 times which speaks volumes to its quality (and I hate ordering the same thing at restaurants). The dish is completely nostalgic for me. I don't think about the flavors, but rather the memories of returning to New York last fall with a new job and apartment, facing a new economic reality. Anyway, needless to say, when foods take on this status, it is implicitly understood they are delicious.

Dessert was to be had at the Milk Bar, another vice of mine. I sampled the watermelon ice cream which was good but a little to sweet for me. I wanted something that more subtly watermelon. The horchata was quite good but not too imaginative. I opted for the strawberry cake which was awesome. It had the classic "sweet-salty" duality which is why I keep coming back to the Milk Bar.

Mondays are usually filled wtih cereal, salads, and grilled chicken, so I'm glad I got to make the best of my Sunday.

Cue Town

First off, apologies for the lack of postings. With fall in full swing, expect more updates about food happenings all over the tri-state.

Despite being one of my favorite cuisines, I never am eating as much barbecue as I would like to be. As luck would have it, barbecue is on my dinner list twice this week.

My first journey was to Fette Sau, a Williamsburg bbq spot that has garnered raves from the NYC bbq community. This was my second visit and it continues to impress me for having some of the best meat around.

Fette Sau is not huge on ambience, but that is really not a factor when you are eating bbq. Each visit, I ordered across the board, meaning a little bit of everything on the ever-changing menu (seriously, the menu changed twice in the hour we spent there). Standouts were the pulled pork and pork belly. The pulled pork was smoky and not overly fatty and the bbq sauce that you can douse it in is a delicious complement to the protein. The pork belly surprised me. On my first visit, it was too much belly, not enough pork. This time it was charred well and was a nice blend between fatty and lean. The pork tenderloin was a nice, leaner option that was juicy and well-seasoned as was the brisket. The pork sausage is spicy and savory, but too rich for more than a few bites. The short rib was probably my least favorite. It was difficult to maneuver and did not have fall off the bone quality I was seeking.

Fette Sau is all about the meat. The sides are not the focus. My dining mates loved the burnt end baked beans. Previously I had the broccoli salad, which was so unsatisfying matched against the richness of the meat.

Following Fette Sau, we took advantage of the Van Leuween ice cream truck. I tried the cinnamon ice cream. It was intensely cinnamon. It had a grainy texture, likely from the ground cinnamon and both my friend and I agreed lack the classic creamy texture of ice cream. My other friend had the root beer float and I definitely was envious. All and all, a delicious excursion to Williamsburg.

Heading to Blue Smoke tomorrow. Should be an interesting comparison.

Autumn Excitement

Autumn is the absolute best in New York. After the brutally hot and tedious month of August, September refreshes the city and its inhabitants. With autumn, comes new clothes, new music, new TV, and of course, new restaurants. Here is a great list that Eater put together. My mission is to check out all these places in the next 4 months. Ambitious? Absolutely. Delicious? We'll see.
http://eater.com/archives/2009/09/fall_tracking_the_10_restaurants_to_watch_this_fall.php

Liquid Poundage

I have appreciated the NYC Health Department's effort to inform consumers of the caloric content of their food. I am an advocate of the program. The rule is a restaurant with 15 or more nationwide locations must post calorie information for all items on the menu. Now maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle goes far beyond calorie counting (an entirely separate post) but I think the program has forced vendors to re-evaluate their products as consumers are confronted with jaw-dropping, 4-figure calorie numbers in their favorite pastry or latte.


Pre-Calorie law, someone in my office found out that Chipotle burritos can contain 1,000 calories or more. People were flabbergasted. I was flabbergasted that they were flabbergasted. How could they not realize that giant tortillas, meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, beans, and rice were not low calorie? At this moment, I realized a lot of misconceptions exist about food, no matter your background.


I first encountered a new calorie-law menu when I came back from London for Thanksgiving. As someone overly obsessed with calorie counting, I would often seek out this information via company websites. Still, looking through the food case at Starbucks and seeing no calorie counts below 400 is a pretty eye-opening experience.


This week NYC started a new campaign specifically targeting soft drinks (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/galleries/dont_drink_yourself_fat_new_nyc_health_dept_ads/dont_drink_yourself_fat_new_nyc_health_dept_ads.html#ph0). I applaud the effort to raise awareness about soft drinks. They are absolutely delicious but have zero nutritional value whatsoever. Despite this, people continue to drink them in mass.


If I were in charge, I'd add salad dressing to this campaign. Perhaps most readers are aware that salad dressing is full of calories but I feel the general public is blissfully ignorant as they lather ranch or french dressing all over their salads. The reason for this is that if they knew the salad they are chomping down has the same caloric content as a Whopper, they would opt for the Whopper. I would. What I am not so eloquently trying to say is while I appreciate raising awareness about sugary beverages what might be more effective would be to raise awareness about foods that come with a healthy connotation.