I went to an awesome event two weeks ago and Chocri chocolates offered everyone the opportunity to make our own chocolates. I jumped on the chance to make two bars and these showed up in the mail the other day:
My first: dark chocolate, roasted almonds, toffee, pretzels, and dried raspberries:
The other chocolate bar is also dark chocolate with sour cherries, jalapenos, real gold flakes, soy bacon, and cookie crumbs (this one looks more awesome but I think I overdid it on the toppings). Both bars looked really awesome, but I don’t think either of the creations tasted that great! I think the idea and concept is really cool, but I wonder how many people end up disappointed with their creation…although, Chocri has pre-made creations that you can order instead of trying to figure out what combination of flavors would taste good together.
One of my favorite places for dim sum in Chinatown is Oriental Garden, right next to my other favorite place for dim sum, Jing Fong. The wait at Oriental Garden is usually a lot shorter AND the food is always served a lot hotter than Jing Fong. I always have to share tables (standard in Chinatown) but I don’t mind because the wait is never over 15 minutes:
I always order the same things when I go to dim sum – my standards include:
Turnip cakes:
Taro bird’s nests:
Pork meatballs with Worcestershire sauce:
Tripe (my favorite):
And a special type of rice:
My favorite is definitely a toss up between the tripe and the taro bird’s nests (they are awesome at Oriental Garden!) I missed out on all of the shrimp dumplings the last time I went because I filled up on all of the other yummy things before the shrimp came by! You have to be really careful at Chinese places – they come by with the dim sum and mark your bill as you pick things up (small, medium, or large order), but sometimes they mark the wrong size and try to trick you! It’s difficult to tell the sizes on some of the dishes, but when you go with someone that’s been to dim sum a lot, you can usually tell when you’re being overcharged. The food at Oriental Garden is definitely worth a visit – they also have a ton of seafood in their windows!
After my great brunch at Perry Street, I wanted to learn how to make the sweet chili crab dumplings. I called Cedric, the chef de cuisine, and he agreed to teach me how to make them:
Cedric has been the head chef at Perry Street for about a year and has been wowing critics with his simple but delicious cooking. He told me that he plays with recipes after work and has his dad, Jean Georges, come downstairs to the restaurant to critique them (his dad lives upstairs!)
Before Cedric mixed the Peekytoe crab with the mayonnaise, he went through all of crab with a black light to get rid of any shells that might’ve made their way into the container. Also, to make the cilantro oil, Cedric microwaves the cilantro, puts it in the blender, and adds salt and oil to it to coat the crab dumplings.
I had a great time with Cedric and we ended up going to the Greenmarket together afterwards:
I’ve never been to the Greenmarket so early but all of the restaurants were there picking up goods for the day – we ran into Dan Barber from Blue Hill, too! Cedric just changed the menu at Perry Street for the fall and I’m heading to dinner there soon to try it out. A huge thank you to Cedric for filming the segment with me and Erika, the wonderful friend who agreed to help me film even though we had to meet at 7am!
Last Thursday, my coworker and I walked to Hill Country Chicken to try out the new restaurant:
Hill Country Chicken serves their chicken two ways – classic and Mama El’s. Aaron’s friend was at the restaurant the night before for the press preview and said that both of the fried chicken options were good, but the Mama El’s fried chicken was definitely better. We got in line and thought about sharing the large order (basically two pieces of each piece plus four biscuits) but decided it was too much food:
You stand in line and wait for someone to take your order – the fried chicken is continuously being taken out and we had to wait in line for about 15 minutes, but the wait wasn’t too bad. The original still has the skin on and is double battered and fried; Mama El’s removes the skin, has a saltine crust, and is fried:
I ordered a Mama El’s breast and drumstick and a side of cheesy potatoes and walked down the cafeteria-style line to wait to pay. While I was waiting, the food was still behind the counter (and getting cold) because the cashier was talking to all of the customers to see whether or not they enjoyed their lunch! AH! I hate when food gets cold because it’s been sitting out! Before you get to the actual cash register, they also have a bunch of other sides you can choose from:
Aaron actually ordered a side of the cole slaw (which was very good) and we just stared at the carrots with raisins:
After another couple of minutes of waiting, I was finally face to face with my chicken:
The Mama El’s fried chicken had a crispy exterior, very moist meat, and was surprisingly very flavorful. Aaron ordered some of the original recipe and agreed with his friend – the Mama El’s was A LOT better. I’m looking forward to returning so I can try their pies (they looked delicious and definitely had single portions) and their shakes!
I’ve visited a couple of the restaurants in the Jean Georges empire (Nougatine and Jean Georges) but I was especially excited to visit Perry Street ever since I read about his son, Cedric, taking over as the head chef. The restaurant is located in the west village and is on the ground floor of a really beautiful apartment building (Jean Georges and his family live in it!):
Josh took about ten pictures of me but it was so windy this is the best we could do:
Josh and I had a long day planned, so we made reservations for an early brunch. We were the first people in the restaurant, which allowed me to take some pictures of the interior:
We started off with some bread and butter with large flecks of sea salt:
The Perry Street menu for lunch includes two courses + dessert for $26, making it one of the best deals for Michelin restaurants (or any restaurant, really). After we placed our order with the server, another server came by with a tomato soup amuse bouche:
The soup tasted exactly like the soup at SHO Shaun Hergatt; the flavors were all a little too muddled and the tomato in the soup didn’t shine through.
For my appetizer, I ordered the roasted market eggplant and heirloom peppers with ricotta cheese and grilled sourdough:
I really liked the dish, but Josh wasn’t impressed with it because he thought it was too similar to baba ganoush. I thought the flavors were very clean and loved the creaminess the ricotta added to the overall taste.
For Josh’s appetizer, he ordered the sweet chili crab dumplings with cilantro and yellow snap peas:
To be completely honest, my first bite wasn’t that good; the sweet chili really threw me off since I really don’t like the sweet and savory combination in cooking, I almost gave the dish back to Josh. However, I took another bite without so much sweet chili sauce and fell in love with the pockets of crab topped with just a hint of spiciness. It ended up being my favorite dish of the afternoon. Josh also really enjoyed the dish and was a little bummed I liked it because he had to split it with me.
For our main course, I ordered the fried chicken with spicy pea puree and pickled onions:
The fried chicken came de-boned and with white and dark meat. While I enjoyed the crispness of the fried chicken, I didn’t think the delicate pea puree went with the fried chicken at all (texturally or taste-wise) and I didn’t even touch the pickled onions.
Josh ordered the grilled yellowfin tuna burger with bonito mayonnaise, shiso, and yuzu pickles:
The yellowfin tuna was cooked medium rare and didn’t taste completely right with the shiso leaves, but as soon as I removed the leaf, I really enjoyed the texture and flavor combination of the burger. The bun was also structurally sound; didn’t get mushy at all and also had enough bite (although with tuna, it’s easier to stay firm since it’s not leaking burger juice all over the place).
We were given the option of two desserts, so we each selected one – I went with the chocolate cake with ice cream:
And Josh ordered the fruit soup with lady fingers and ice cream:
The server also sent over another dessert, layers of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream with candied lavender:
When we were first presented with the dessert, we thought that the purple candied lavender might’ve been fruity pebbles and were wondering who in the kitchen was stuck picking out all of the purple fruity pebbles (ha!) Instead, they were very sweet and crunchy pieces of candy. Josh and I weren’t fans of the candy, but we absolutely devoured the chocolate pudding and cake. The pudding tasted like very high quality chocolate, creamy, and the chocolate cake layer added enough sweetness to offset the chocolate pudding and whipped cream.
Josh and I were really happy with our meal; three courses, extra dessert, and all for $26! We really enjoyed our lunch and would definitely return. The restaurant was filled by the time we left for the Cloisters and I can definitely see why – it’s the best deal in New York!
