I am over the hype. Done.
Jo, Kaitlin and I went to one of my favorites, the Momofuku Noodle Bar, tonight and it was a nightmare. We waited for over an hour for a table (on a Tuesday night!!), ordered immediately, waited another 15 minutes for our pork buns, then a whopping 45 minutes for our Ramen. Yes, 45 minutes for a fucking bowl of soup.
The service was shaky at best, the venue crowded and loud, but not with a positive energy. It was the frantic energy of annoyed, hungry people.
The pork buns were heaven, as always, but the ramen was mediocre. I guess I am just tired of the super-hyped restaurants with the painfully cool crowds waiting for hours to be honored with a slightly better than average plate of food.
This is not the first time I have been sorely disappointed by one of "the restaurants" in New York, and my disappointment's increasing frequency is distressing.
There are certain places that live-up to the hype, but most of them are out of my price range. For the medium-high priced dining, the cusp of what us mere mortals can afford, we are given flashy names and snotty hostesses, with a side of decent food.
I'm done. I crave authenticity, honest food that doesn't need the flash and glitz to cover it's inadequacies. I am so blessed to live in a city where good food is around every corner, where the good places to eat outnumber the bad. As for the hype and the new flavor-of-the-month hipster eatery, I will leave that to the Williamsburg and LES set. They work hard to maintain their perfectly coiffed aloofness, they deserve their just rewards at the end of a two hour wait.
The food snob in me is still alive and well, it has just gained perspective. I want to get back to the actual food and away from the sceney club of star restaurantures.
You will find me in the back of the bodega,eating authentic Puebla style tacos with the immigrant workers. You will find me in the dirty-looking, and amazing tasting, hand pulled noodle shop with no name. You will find me at the unglamorous, and deeply delicious Dim Sum palace in Chinatown. And you will find me at my favorite pizzeria,sans the truffle oil and Brussels sprout leaves, right here in my unglamorous neighborhood. Will I avoid all the major restaurant players in New York? Certainly not. I will however follow my palate and my stomach, not the crowd, to my own gastronomical New York.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Week Four Hump Day
Yesterday was filled with the usual madness from my Boss, perhaps a bit intensified because she missed having her whipping-girl/ lap-dog around for two whole days! I did everything from crawling around on my knees (in a freakin' skirt) picking up papers she had thrown to editing and revising a proposal for a new client. Ahhhh the life of an assistant in a medium sized, failing company, ain't it grand? After work, the EWI group met in Queens for authentic Thai food.
Sripraphai was not as close as I thought it would be, so I ended-up 20 minutes late walking through some very unfamiliar territory! As I approached the restaurant, I knew it must be good. There was actually a crowd out front waiting to get inside. Everyone else had arrived and begun order deliberations. I am quite unfamiliar with Thai, so I left it up to them to pick-out a feast for us. The service was just perfect, and probably by accident! The dishes came out one-by-one, allowing us to sample tapas style. I took pictures and passed the dishes. We had a great time overall, and time flew by us as usual. The food was just not my taste. It wasn't bad, but it just did not excite me. I thought I felt this way because I had not had "real" Thai, but now I know it is just not my flavor profile.
The beef curry was quite good, but the most amazing thing I ate all night was a tiny bite of squid in the fried watercress salad. That squid had the perfect texture, easily pulling apart with a fork, and the brightness of the flavor shocked me. It had a light, crisp, sweet flavor that was bigger than the bite itself, it felt exactly like a summer meal should. It was sunshine and running through the sprinklers. This may sound over-the-top, but in a meal filled with bold, spicy, heavy dishes, it was a breath of fresh air. The worst dish of the night was a fish dish I mistook for eggplant. I only realized my error when I scooped it onto my plate and a bone popped out. It did not taste much better than it looked, but I suppose I have never been much of a catfish person. All that aside, it was a truly satisfying meal.
I find that it is not merely food that makes a meal fulfilling, more often it is the quality of the company you enjoy it with. Food can be a solitary comfort, but as with wine, it is better with friends. The dinner I prepared last weekend was good, but not perfect. The meal itself merely melted into the experience and the laughter and that is what is remembered, that is what keeps you full. Last night was like that. I enjoyed the adventure of it all, and it is a pleasure to share experiences with people who are as passionate about them as you are.
Our little group is growing strong, everyone is dedicated and excited to build something together. I need to get ahead of it all before it runs me down! We have a new member event in two weeks, and nothing scheduled before due to the holiday. This weekend I need to hunker down and try to build a website.
This is the first time I have had a need for new technology, as I am quite resistant to it! That will be my push this week, perhaps no dinner party, but I will research and try to build a website to house my baby! If the leader has no vision, the movement will surely die. With that in mind, I need to make sure I stay focused and keep us moving. I may go see Erin in Brooklyn, and I am going to try to follow-up with Cherida to set-up a meeting with her sister who lives here. I have a special game-plan for my new recipe of the week, but that will have to wait, I am being summoned to make milky oatmeal for Boss-lady, thank God it's Wednesday, tomorrow is mini-Friday, Friday she leaves early.....
Sripraphai was not as close as I thought it would be, so I ended-up 20 minutes late walking through some very unfamiliar territory! As I approached the restaurant, I knew it must be good. There was actually a crowd out front waiting to get inside. Everyone else had arrived and begun order deliberations. I am quite unfamiliar with Thai, so I left it up to them to pick-out a feast for us. The service was just perfect, and probably by accident! The dishes came out one-by-one, allowing us to sample tapas style. I took pictures and passed the dishes. We had a great time overall, and time flew by us as usual. The food was just not my taste. It wasn't bad, but it just did not excite me. I thought I felt this way because I had not had "real" Thai, but now I know it is just not my flavor profile.
The beef curry was quite good, but the most amazing thing I ate all night was a tiny bite of squid in the fried watercress salad. That squid had the perfect texture, easily pulling apart with a fork, and the brightness of the flavor shocked me. It had a light, crisp, sweet flavor that was bigger than the bite itself, it felt exactly like a summer meal should. It was sunshine and running through the sprinklers. This may sound over-the-top, but in a meal filled with bold, spicy, heavy dishes, it was a breath of fresh air. The worst dish of the night was a fish dish I mistook for eggplant. I only realized my error when I scooped it onto my plate and a bone popped out. It did not taste much better than it looked, but I suppose I have never been much of a catfish person. All that aside, it was a truly satisfying meal.
I find that it is not merely food that makes a meal fulfilling, more often it is the quality of the company you enjoy it with. Food can be a solitary comfort, but as with wine, it is better with friends. The dinner I prepared last weekend was good, but not perfect. The meal itself merely melted into the experience and the laughter and that is what is remembered, that is what keeps you full. Last night was like that. I enjoyed the adventure of it all, and it is a pleasure to share experiences with people who are as passionate about them as you are.
Our little group is growing strong, everyone is dedicated and excited to build something together. I need to get ahead of it all before it runs me down! We have a new member event in two weeks, and nothing scheduled before due to the holiday. This weekend I need to hunker down and try to build a website.
This is the first time I have had a need for new technology, as I am quite resistant to it! That will be my push this week, perhaps no dinner party, but I will research and try to build a website to house my baby! If the leader has no vision, the movement will surely die. With that in mind, I need to make sure I stay focused and keep us moving. I may go see Erin in Brooklyn, and I am going to try to follow-up with Cherida to set-up a meeting with her sister who lives here. I have a special game-plan for my new recipe of the week, but that will have to wait, I am being summoned to make milky oatmeal for Boss-lady, thank God it's Wednesday, tomorrow is mini-Friday, Friday she leaves early.....
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wrap-up of Week One
Quite a start if I do say so! I worked-out almost every day and lost 4 lbs, gaining 3 back over the weekend :..( I tried a new recipe and now know how to make Cannoli shells, if not the filling. I had a party, went out for drinks, met 10 new people and have been writing every day. I said yes to life this week and the results have been staggering. I am not losing site of my other goal though, trying to figure out my next career move. Though I am embracing life now, I always keep one eye on the horizon.
I suppose I should talk about the party. It ended up being nine of us in out strange motley crew! We have two paralegals, one lawyer, two finance guys, two lucky ladies in publishing, one gal whose job I just can't remember and Me. We are all in our mid to late twenties/ early thirties and we love to eat. I would say 7 out of 9 love to cook as well, though no one has a culinary degree. We all find our passion for the edible to be our salvation from the mundane realities and disappointments of our lives. One of the lovely publishing girls came up with our name, a name that falls just shy of pretension into the silly and ironic: Eating With Impunity (EWI for short)!
We EWI members sat and drank ten bottles of wine, laughed and shouted, and finally ended-up at an after party of sorts at the finance guys' loft. We were there to see the space and help him make fried risotto. K my co-founder, began snapping pictures and it was a great time! Looking at the pictures, I saw that I loomed about the other women. At first feeling quite amazonian, I began to smile. There I was with my pearls and red lipstick, boisterous and larger than life: I felt just like Julia! It didn't matter that I did not look petite or the thinnest of the girls, I was channeling my hero, a woman who was loved and adored for her vibrance and not her dress size. I probably sound a bit foolish, seeing as this "amazon" is only a size 4, but it is all relative, and this is New York!
My how things change! One week ago I was house sitting in the West Village, trying to figure out how to make my life more passionate, more full of laughter, more full of people and parties and new experiences. I shot for my eight weekly goals (I so hate that it is not a more rounded number, like 10!) and I tried to approach everything as an adventure or a story. It has been a bit exhausting, but strangely easy. Who knew my experiment would begin working so fast! I am well on my way to the life I want right now, but I am still in the dark about what to do next, I guess you can't expect to have it all in only one week.
Week One Goal List:
1. Daily Workout- 6 days
2. New Recipe - Fat Free Cannoli
3. New Writing- Blogger Article: cooking and cunnilingus
4. Dinner Party - EWI party
5. Social Event - Drinks with K.
6. New Connection - K. and the EWI's
7. New NYC Experience - Hell's Kitchen Flea Market
8. One Yes instead of No - I honestly don't think I made this one this week
I suppose I should talk about the party. It ended up being nine of us in out strange motley crew! We have two paralegals, one lawyer, two finance guys, two lucky ladies in publishing, one gal whose job I just can't remember and Me. We are all in our mid to late twenties/ early thirties and we love to eat. I would say 7 out of 9 love to cook as well, though no one has a culinary degree. We all find our passion for the edible to be our salvation from the mundane realities and disappointments of our lives. One of the lovely publishing girls came up with our name, a name that falls just shy of pretension into the silly and ironic: Eating With Impunity (EWI for short)!
We EWI members sat and drank ten bottles of wine, laughed and shouted, and finally ended-up at an after party of sorts at the finance guys' loft. We were there to see the space and help him make fried risotto. K my co-founder, began snapping pictures and it was a great time! Looking at the pictures, I saw that I loomed about the other women. At first feeling quite amazonian, I began to smile. There I was with my pearls and red lipstick, boisterous and larger than life: I felt just like Julia! It didn't matter that I did not look petite or the thinnest of the girls, I was channeling my hero, a woman who was loved and adored for her vibrance and not her dress size. I probably sound a bit foolish, seeing as this "amazon" is only a size 4, but it is all relative, and this is New York!
My how things change! One week ago I was house sitting in the West Village, trying to figure out how to make my life more passionate, more full of laughter, more full of people and parties and new experiences. I shot for my eight weekly goals (I so hate that it is not a more rounded number, like 10!) and I tried to approach everything as an adventure or a story. It has been a bit exhausting, but strangely easy. Who knew my experiment would begin working so fast! I am well on my way to the life I want right now, but I am still in the dark about what to do next, I guess you can't expect to have it all in only one week.
Week One Goal List:
1. Daily Workout- 6 days
2. New Recipe - Fat Free Cannoli
3. New Writing- Blogger Article: cooking and cunnilingus
4. Dinner Party - EWI party
5. Social Event - Drinks with K.
6. New Connection - K. and the EWI's
7. New NYC Experience - Hell's Kitchen Flea Market
8. One Yes instead of No - I honestly don't think I made this one this week
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Faux Cooking in a Fast Food Nation
I was reading a post on the blog Bitten and one from the New York Times about the effects of the recession and of food television on the amount of home cooking in America. It seems that there has not been much of an effect at all. Instead of eating-out, people are "taking-out" from grocery and convenience stores. Prepared foods that simply need to be eaten or heated.
This is an interesting phenomenon. I saw an astounding commercial the other day for a family sized microwavable lasagna. It seems that people now equate baking a frozen pizza or zapping a pre-made pot roast as cooking! I admit, I use pre-made pizza crust and gasp! frozen vegetables, but I take the time to craft a healthy meal that requires cooking or at least the combination of ingredients with these convenience foods. What happened to creating a meal? Have people in America really forgotten how to cook?
I suppose I began slowly, making salads and quick pastas in my first home, but I quickly fell in love with the craft. It was my desire to lose weight and eat healthier that got me started. It costs me as much to cook as to go out. New York groceries are nightmarishly pricey. The satisfaction is so much fuller though.
Creating and then consuming, rather than just eating is a truly nourishing experience. I wonder what it would take to convince people that it is worth the extra time. I find that coming home after a long day, stopping at the market and then cooking dinner is the best way to wind down. It is the transition from work to home, into a state of relaxation. All the irritations and frustrations can be forgotten as you focus on the task at hand. Maybe people would need less therapy if they simply came home and engaged in the natural and fulfilling acts of baking or sauteing!
As I wrote earlier this week, the most natural pleasures we have are food and sex. Well, the preparation of food is foreplay for eating. After indulging in a meal artfully prepared and lighter than the fried crap you can heat and eat, there might just be enough energy and relaxation left over for a romp in the bedroom. Perhaps this is the secret to the infamous French sensuality, the true enjoyment of food and sex and life. Not always quick and easy, but richer and more beautiful.
This is an interesting phenomenon. I saw an astounding commercial the other day for a family sized microwavable lasagna. It seems that people now equate baking a frozen pizza or zapping a pre-made pot roast as cooking! I admit, I use pre-made pizza crust and gasp! frozen vegetables, but I take the time to craft a healthy meal that requires cooking or at least the combination of ingredients with these convenience foods. What happened to creating a meal? Have people in America really forgotten how to cook?
I suppose I began slowly, making salads and quick pastas in my first home, but I quickly fell in love with the craft. It was my desire to lose weight and eat healthier that got me started. It costs me as much to cook as to go out. New York groceries are nightmarishly pricey. The satisfaction is so much fuller though.
Creating and then consuming, rather than just eating is a truly nourishing experience. I wonder what it would take to convince people that it is worth the extra time. I find that coming home after a long day, stopping at the market and then cooking dinner is the best way to wind down. It is the transition from work to home, into a state of relaxation. All the irritations and frustrations can be forgotten as you focus on the task at hand. Maybe people would need less therapy if they simply came home and engaged in the natural and fulfilling acts of baking or sauteing!
As I wrote earlier this week, the most natural pleasures we have are food and sex. Well, the preparation of food is foreplay for eating. After indulging in a meal artfully prepared and lighter than the fried crap you can heat and eat, there might just be enough energy and relaxation left over for a romp in the bedroom. Perhaps this is the secret to the infamous French sensuality, the true enjoyment of food and sex and life. Not always quick and easy, but richer and more beautiful.
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