Sonia Rose

Friday night dinner with Robyn, Greg, and Kåre at the recently opened Sonia Rose on the LES. We were there for the food, yes, but more importantly, to visit our friend Alice who just started waitressing at the restaurant :) Head to Robyn's post for a more vivid account...we're turning out 3rd quarter financials at work this week, so just photos for today. Happy Halloween!

Warm housemade brioche - this was a dummy loaf for the soft opening, less buttery and eggy than a standard brioche, leaning on the sweet end.

Trio of butters. Clockwise from top left: jalepeno, sweet, and cherry butter.

Amuse. Spinach and cheese tucked into puff pastry rounds.

For appetizers, Greg and I went for the fresh fettuccine with peppers and shitake mushrooms, balsamic reduction...

...while Robyn and Kåre did the seafood corn bisque.

Entree. Free range hen with portobello truffle sauce. Roasted brussel sprouts and tomatoes.

Entree. Grilled hanger steak. Swiss chard, port wine reduction, and mashed potatoes.

The dessert sampler. Clockwise from top: apple pie, vanilla ice cream, chocolate opera cake, and a key lime bar.

Blood orange and chocolate sorbet.

Along with the check came a plate of dark chocolate dipped strawberries...

...and a butter rich pecan sandies dusted in sugar.

I'm not sure how long the soft opening prix fixe lasts, but priced at $20.08 for three courses, it's a bargain worth taking advantage of.

Will be back with a post later this weekend...hope you eat lots of chocolate candy, pudding, custards, meat, fats and other delicious stuff tonight!

Sonia Rose
74 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 260-5317

Dim Sum

Sunday morning dim sum with the Serious Eats crew...there are few better ways to start your day than by clogging your with arteries with fried crullers wrapped in cheung funn, and doused in sweet shoyu. Make sure to check Robyn's write up on our morning in this 88 Palace post on Serious Eats...from spare ribs to boiled chicken feet, I think we covered fair ground :)

I've only had dim sum at three or four restaurants in this city, but can definitely concluded that dim sum in New York City may as well be another cuisine when compared to dim sum in Hawai'i. Back home, the same dishes, be wu gok or loh mai gai (pictured above), always taste significantly lighter. I could eat a hundred million dan tats and feel just dandy. Less fatty, less rich. Why? I do not know...must be something in the island water.

My grandparents drive from Sandy Beach all the way to Chinatown to start off each morning with dim sum, most often at Tai Pan, but they switch it up with Legends. They have dim sum every single morning. Now I don't know how often you dim sum, but my stomach would be quite furious with me if I were to stuff it with mochi rice, fried chestnut cakes, and custard baos seven days a week. Granted my grandparents favour steamed dishes - dumplings and vegetables. An impressive feat nonetheless.

Dim sum in LA in a completely separate matter. No small places a la Tai Pan in Honolulu or Dim Sum GoGo here in NYC. Instead, big bustling restaurants...I always feel like I'm on the verge of a heart attack. So much food! The carts most so fast! Aggressive Asian people! A heart attack of the good sort, of course. I always dim sum-ed with relatives living in San Gabriel, relatives fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and everything in between. In LA, we power through these morning meals quicker than you'd imagine, amidst heavy chatter of the big dining halls. The item selection is significantly bigger than NYC or Hawai'i. But in exchange, the food quality is noticeably lower when compared to Hawai'i.

Honolulu is doubtlessly my favourite city to dim sum, I cannot help from comparing every other city to my hometown. Our family visits Shanghai and Hong Kong from time to time, and it is interesting to see the leisurely approach to dim sum in these big cities. My uncle who resides in Hong Kong there, will sit at the table for a solid three to four hours, poring over the day paper and eating each morsel one...by...one...ever...so...sloooowly. Apparently this is how it's supposed to be done! Shanghai was where I first learned of the gum sah bao, quite literally, The Golden Sand Bao. How glorious is that? I won't say too much about it because I already have in the past here. If you haven't tried this before you must spend the rest of your life hunting it down. It'll change your perception of dim sum foooorever. o_O

Dim sum odd and end post - come to think of it, I didn't even say anything about 88 Palace. That's what Robyn's post is for right? ;) Oh! Here's a little bit: if you eat at 88 Palace do not leave without a plate or two of the fried mantou shown above. I've only seen this dish while dim sum-ing in Asia. So simple, more places ought to serve it. Six plain mantou buns, deep fried to a crisp and served with (what else) a pool of condensed milk! Ahhh, plain goodness ^_^

88 Palace
88 East Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10002
(the East Broadway Mall under the Manhattan Bridge)
(212) 941-8886

Week in Review. I. Package from Kat! II. City Harvest: Bid Against Hunger III. Kambi, Chickalicious, and Sundaes & Cones

First off, many thanks to Kat in Osaka for sending a very awesome package full of Japanese snacks - sweet and savoury!

From Colo Galita to Mini Thank You Tirol Choco and Mini Kit Kat bites, you bet I'll be occupied with these for the next few days ^_^

The real highlight though were these darling phone charms that, as part of a promotion, came with certain Lipton Tea purchases in Japan...why don't they do these sort of giveaways in the U.S.? Front and center is a pink (strawberry, I'd like to say) macaron, and in the back is a bitty cream puff. You can read more about them on Kat's post here.

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Tuesday night I was at City Harvest's Bid Against Hunger event, fawning over Eric Kleinman's (Bar Milano) housemade rabbit terrine and the...

...foie torchon with duck prosciutto from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. A good majority of the desserts at the events were repeats from the SWEET festival a few weeks ago. Much to my delight, Francois Payard brought back his hot and cold pina colada (which I covered in more detail for Serious Eats' SWEET festival write up). Ron Ben-Israel was present with the same two cakes from SWEET, the chocolate stout cake with malt buttercream and a lemon cake with Grand Marnier, cranberry buttercream, and lime zest.

Following suit, The Modern did a repeat with the Coconut Chocolate Demeux. Il Laboratorio del Gelato had little gelato bites...flavours of dark chocolate and peanut butter flicker in my memory. Billy's Bakery arrived with plenty of cupcakes on hand, and so was Roni-Sue with truffles, honey-tea lollipops, and that crazy, crazy delicious buttercrunch of hers. Surprisingly enough, my favourite station of the night turned out to be not any of the sweet ones, but rather Tony Abou-Ganim's (The Modern Mixologist) hands on demo station where I learned how to craft my very own mojito.

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I think there's a virus going around or something. Justin visited last weekend and (along with many delicious snacks), gave me the cold/cough. When I went into work on Monday, Debbie had stomach issues and Andrew had a fever. The lady who does our lunch orders was sneezing all day and the fund accountants were doing no better. Oh well. You know what they say right?

Ice cream heals all!

Banana & Pumpkin

Or...at least, that's how it seems to work for me, hehehehhh ;) I met Lauren for a "little" snack at Sundaes & Cones the other night after hearing that they just brought out PUMPKIN ice cream. o_O There are many reasons to love Sundaes & Cones, but a major flaw in operaton is the fact that you're only allowed one flavour for a single serving. All other ice cream shops in the city allow two flavours in a single serving. A single serving is very generous (I've seen plenty of people only finish half and then chunk out the rest because there's simply too much), so you end up with a massive scoop of one flavour. Which is nice. But it gets boring.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter & Pumpkin

And we wanted two flavours. Which meant getting two scoops. So there you have it, two scoops for Lauren: chocolate-peanut butter and pumpkin, and two scoops for myself: banana and pumpkin. We're lucky our frozen treat tolerance knows no boundaries.

The night before, chilly fall weather demanded that Jessica and I head straight for the newly opened Kambi Ramen House on 14th and 1st Avenue. Kambi is opened by the same owners of Minca on 5th Street. How it compares to the original, I don't know because I have yet to visit Minca.

Unlike the many nights I've frequented Ippudo, there was nary a wait around 7:30pm at Kambi. The restaurant was constantly busy but never full during the meal. Service? Efficient, friendly, and to the point. There ramen here is cheaper than Ippudo by a good four or five dollars, but in the end, I'd rather pay extra for ramen that's more than twice as good.

And because we were warmed to the bones after the hearty broth, soft-serve from Chickalicious was in sure order. I had my heart set on the espresso ice shot, composed from a swirl of vanilla bean soft-serve, topped with crunchy chocolate pearls, and a shot of espresso. Pretty luscious, eh?

For Jessica - the brownie soft-serve sundae with toasted pistachios, chopped bananas, and a pour of silky warm fudge. Living less than a five-minute walk from both Sundaes & Cones and Chickalicious is turning out to be awfully satisfying for my sweet hankerings.

Sundaes & Cones
95 E 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 979-9398

Kambi Ramen House
351 E 14th St
New York, NY 10079
(212) 228-1366

Chickalicious Dessert Club
204 E. 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 475-0929

Doughnut Diet

A few weeks ago, Robyn and I took down the city's doughnuts on a weekend excursion. Starting in the wee hours of Saturday morning at Trois Pommes in Park Slope, we were greeted with ploofs of warm sugar dusted jelly doughnuts before trekking our way through Brooklyn…7th Ave Donut Shop, Mike's Donuts...all the way to Bay Ridge, back into Manhattan and then, with the sun going down, we ended at Peter Pan Bakery in Greenpoint.

Of course, we made sure to rest our okoles for a midday break from intense doughnut consumption with a hefty lunch at Shopsin's before moving up to Union Square and then the Upper West Side. Earlier that same week I did a mini bomboloni tour, coupled with a few odds and ends in the East Village and Upper East Side.

The results?

Find our guide to the Best Doughnuts in New York right here on Serious Eats. I'm happy to discover that while I may have suffered from slight doughnut fatigue the few days following our adventures, I am in fact, not the least bit tired of these fried wonders. In fact, I'm having one for breakfast right now! My favourite in the end is Doughnut Plant (the cake, not yeast doughnuts), though Trois Pommes comes awfully close and I do love bombolonis from both Sullivan Street Bakery and Caffe Falai. Oh! And not to forget - the weekend creations at Bouchon Bakery are surely worth a detour.

That's it for now...hope you're having a delicious week! :)

Just Wanted To Say...

...Happy Friday! More to come later, but for now...

...a little peek at the most delightful French macarons I've tasted in the city, baked by Mitzy.

Left to Right: Pistachio Ganache, Rose Buttercream and Lemon Curd Macarons.

Almost too cute for words, hehehee

Check Robyn's Flickr and Tina's post for more eye candy.

These little delights aren't on the market quite yet, but will hopefully make way to this macaron starved city soon enough.

I Fell on the 6 Train, Mary's Lobster Roll Fail, Life Is Better with (L'Arte del) Gelato

51st Street Station. Downtown 6 train. 7:00pm. I was running late, late to work, late from work, and now, late for dinner. I always seem to have the perfect timing - guaranteed to just miss the train when I need it most.

I swiped my monthly metro, briefcase in one hand, shoulder bag in another and eyed the train, which failed to close its doors as one commuter after another pushed through, leaving a slick of hope for the next late passenger. I've never been one of those people who tried to push the doors open. It's mostly out of fear for having the glasses knocked off my face should the closing doors smash me on both sides, as if to ridicule my weak attempts to keep it open.

But this time, timing appeared to err on my side. I was but steps away from the train when a woman pushed through, once again reopening the doors. I mentally crossed my fingers and made a speedy run-hop into the train.

Or. Rather. It was more a quick...RUN! HOP! and then an even quicker...TRIP, SLIP, FALL...into the arms of a stranger. It happened so suddenly, I barely registered what occurred before I found him holding my two bags, a cell phone, and a second cell phone, a bottle of water, my right arm and left elbow. Thank goodness for the stranger and flat shoes. I was surprised my glasses didn't slip off my face. As the train made way to 42nd St/Grand Central, he lifted me from the odd half crouching position I assumed, and directed me towards his seated friend, who stood up and motioned me to take the seat.

Shaken I was not, surprised I was. Surprised at my own negligence, and surprised of my own surprised reaction to the unexpected kindness of strangers. New York has got to be one of the friendliest cities I've lived in or visited. It's right up there with Hawai'i...and on good days, perhaps even more so. I never found LA very friendly, though perhaps it was simply not for me.

I made it to dinner, only 15 minutes late to Mary's Fish Camp with Robyn and Yvo. Food? The lobster roll (an absurd $33) was simply meh...pathetic, over mayonaised with a stale bun. A confused room temperature mélange of both over-fried and extra-underfried/soggy shoestrings.

Not much better could be said for the fried dishes as we sampled our way though dishes of greasy, lackluster oysters and clams...

...and then lifeless rubbery rings of calamari and jalapenos with cilantro sour cream. The dish sounded good on paper, though turned out to be less so on the tongue.

The crab dip was also a bore not worth words. I'll stick with Pearl Oyster Bar, where I can dine on a superior lobster roll at a lower price, and close out the meal with blueberry pie.

However, that's not to say it was a terrible dinner. For as poor as the food may be, when you're in good company, all is well.

We passed on desserts at Mary's, opting out of $12 ice cream sundaes, banana pudding and a peach cobbler. If the savouries were any indication of the sweet to come, we made a wise choice in heading out for gelato.

Now if there is one place I can rely on in the West Village (aside from Otto), it would be L'Arte Del Gelato. It is without a doubt my favourite gelato shop in the city, and apart from a slight price increase a few months past, I have yet to depart the 7th Avenue doors without the lightest feeling of eternal bliss. They say money can't buy happiness, and I'm won't argue there. But $5 allocated towards a cup of gelato has me swooning. It's a simple formula composed of the owner himself, kind and proud of his products; the shop itself, with a rainbow siren of selection neatly tucked behind the gleaming glass case, and the employees, generous with samples and smiles.

I never quite know which flavour to try because I've had them all and love each one as much as the next. While picking a favourite among favourites is never easy, I typically gravitate towards Pistachio. However, the arrival of new flavours like Fig & Ricotta and a smooth autumn Pumpkin (soon to be speckled with dark chocolate shards!) has me thinking otherwise. But oh, we should never forget about the Zuppa Inglese, Hazelnut or Chocolate-Chili! Those are just as wonderful. And so is the Coffee! Coconut! Mascarpone! and Cinnamon! An endless party to say the least. Yesterday I veered straight into a cup of Mint-Chocolate, Blueberry, and a smidgen of Strawberry, for those were the flavours that attracted my eyes...

...Yvo did similar, replacing the Blueberry with an especially lush looking Panna Cotta...

...and Robyn combined my two current affairs of Pistachio and Pumpkin. Pure, unadulterated flavours frozen in the form of creamy wonders. What's not to love, what's not to love? :)

Mary's Fish Camp
64 W 4th St
New York, NY 10012
(646) 486-2185

L’Arte del Gelato
75 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
(212) 924-0803

Sunday: Good Morning Sunshine

Shann cooks, local-style: Spam Fried Rice, Sunny-Side Eggs

See You...

...later this week. The early chill of Fall feels absolutely wonderful, so I'll be spending the next few days out with knitted grey scarves. On the way home from the Greenmarket last week, I came across many $2 cacti lined in a row, all splitting images of Helix from back in Spring. There was one on the right end, twice as tall as the rest. So I picked it up, removed $2 from my pocketbook and paid the owner. "Ahhhh," he said, "nono, this one is $3!" And before I could ask why, he nodded solemnly before saying, "this is the tallest of them all." How could I argue?

The cactus found a home on my windowsill next to Bush Basil and Golden Tree. I found Golden Tree at the Chelsea antique market a month ago with Shann, Steph, and Darien.

The tree is utterly useless. But I love it all the same.

When I came home on Sunday, I sat down at my desk, turn to the right wall and saw...a birdcage! Upon moving into our new apartment, I decided it would be quite nice to have golden birdcage with a pair of lovebirds. But seeing as it would be completely unreasonable (where to put the birdcage? what if: they're noisy...they stink...management doesn't allow pets?), Shann surprised me with the next best thing. A golden paper birdcage with not just lovebirds, but a baby peacock! Talk about quality apartment-mates :)

So here is what my room currently looks like. Steph helped me carry home this column I purchased from a store on 13th Street last month. Like Golden Tree, and Big Bowl, the column serves absolutely no purpose aside from sheer aesthetic value. If you're going to have fun, you might as well have fun right?

I've also acquired in my first real mirror - a large golden one that goes rather nicely with the room. The mirror was an impossible pain to hang, so much thanks to Don (and the stud finder!) for affixing it flush on my East wall. The room is complete, except for maybe a rug, heheh. I can't wait for it to get colder - more reasons to snuggle into bed with thick socks and a book. Mugs of hot tea, too! Alas, the work day isn't over yet...

...but I'll be warming up with a 9th Street latte in due time. Have a lovely week :)

9th Street Espresso
341 E 10th Street
New York, NY 10009
(212) 777-3508