Senor Pollo

I feel stupid for not blogging about Senor Pollo before.

But I'm partially forgiven because Tuesday was the first time I had actually eaten inside the restaurant. Prior to that night, I'd get take-out or delivery a bunch. Don introduced me to this place waaayy back in 2008. He got delivery one night and I pounced on his order of fried plantains. Fate must have been telling me something when, six months later, I moved in right around the corner from Senor Pollo. It's literally AROUND the corner. Like 28 steps away. It's cheap, and really REALLY tasty.

I had dinner with Greg there the other night. Our initial plan was to meet for ramen at Minca on 5th Street. But in the summer heat, having to venture anywhere further than three blocks for dinner (when you're surrounded by tons of great options) is silly. So I suggested Senor Pollo.

Greg arrived first. (Isn't funny how, the closer you live to a place, the later you're bound to arrive?) When I got there, he was standing in front of Senor Pollo, eyeing the commerical looking neon signs warily.

It looked as if he, gasp, doubted my dinner suggestion, "let's go to Setagaya for ramen. It's close, on 9th Street."
"Nooo. We gotta eat chicken! And we're already here."
"But we can get their cold noodles! Mmmm. Cold noodles." (It was SUPER hot that day).
"Nooo. But chicken! Only $6.50!" I pointed to the awesome deal they had posted in the window.

And really it is an awesome deal. $6.50 buys a quarter of a Peruvian rotisserie chicken with two sides of your choice. And there are a lot of choices. It took a bit of prodding, but I managed to convince Greg that Senor Pollo was gonna be awesome.

And it was! (Wasn't it, Greg? ;)

Not knowing the protocol for "dining-in" at Senor Pollo, we thought to order at the counter and then take our food to the table, a la Panda Express. We dilly-dallyed for a bit before a woman came and asked, are you eating in?

We said, yes. and she lead us to a seat, brought over menus, and water, and condiments. The works!

Holy cow, Senor Pollo was a full-service restaurant! That was totally unexpected. And you can still get the same $6.50 deal when dining-in. I was in love with this place.

Ok. So you order your chicken. And the two sides. For my sides I got maduros (fried sweet plantains) and...

...Spanish potato salad. I'm not exactly sure what makes the potato salad "Spanish", but the salad was a cross between potato salad and egg salad, topped with a single strip of red bell pepper. The salad was pretty darn mayonnaise-y and I couldn't stop eating it.

And don't forget about the condiments. You get two. One is a parsley oil (beautiful isn't it?), and the other is a slightly spicy green mayonnaise-esque sauce. They are both equally awesome, and I'd gladly squirt/pour bucketfuls of both over hot white rice, and call it dinner.

For his sides, Greg opted for spinach mashed potatoes and mixed rice and beans. The potatoes might look gross and somewhat akin to cafeteria food, but this is case in which looks are indeed deceiving. Potatoes are super buttery, though you can't really discern any spinach (aside from the colour, haha).

These are the rice and beans. They give you a lot. You can't choose which quarter of the chicken you get, but you can be sure the skin is always going to be hot, a little crisp and savoury just so. Meat consistently moist, no complaints there. By luck of the draw, Greg got the drumstick and all the dark meat that comes with it. I got the breast and white meat. I'll have to cross my fingers for dark meat next time!

P.S.
1. Everyone who works there is over the top nice.
2. Soursop, mango, and papaya milkshakes are on the menu.
3. So is Peruvian fried rice (chifan), I'll be sure to try that soon.

Senor Pollo
221 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-0362

Otto and Mayahuel with Tam

Thursday dinner with Tam at Otto. This dinner turned out to be a surprise belated birthday gift for me...so super thank you Tam!! :D

We started dinner with a few drinks, including the Raz Rickey (pictured above), Sardinian Iced Tea, and Prosecco & Strawberries...

and then moved onto plates of Prosciutto...

...along with Summer Corn & Fregola and Figs "Agrodolce."

Here's a closer shot each of the corn...

...and figs :)

We also shared the Vongole Pizza, with clams, garlic, mozzarella. I didn't enjoy this pizza the first time I had it (back in 2004), but now it's one of my favourites on the pizza menu. Serving the clams in shell isn't the most efficient or graceful route, but it certainly adds character. Plus, there's something nice about sucking the juices out of the shell, heheh.

For dessert, we had one copetta each. For Tam, the Olive Oil Copetta made with olive oil gelato, lime curd, lilikoi granita, basil syrup, and strawberries. This is the same one Zubair and I had last week.

I spotted a NEW dessert (new as of the last time I went, which was two days before!) on the menu. It took a great deal of energy not to pop our of my bar seat and go HUZZAHH!!! New gelato copettas get me SUPER excited. This particular one matched a new summer flavour, Sweet Corn, with warm white chocolate, and a mix of summer berries including raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, and wonderful little chunks of toasted polenta cake. The berries were fresh, but frozen, and they didn't defrost them all the way before serving. That was the only sad part ^_^

Post-Otto, we walked over to Mayahuel for a drink and a few more snacks.

There, I had a Selena Fizz composed of blanco tequila, elderflower, graprefruit and lime juice, egg whites, soda, and orange bitters...

...and we shared chicken tamales (they were horrible and overpriced)...

..and an order of chocolate and churros which I wrote up on SENY.

Happy Wednesday! ^_^

Otto
1 Fifth Avenue
NY, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559

Mayahuel
304 E 6th Street
New York, NY 10003

Italian Ice Hunt 2009

Last week I joined Grace and Robyn for the first annual Italian Ice Hunt. This hunt consisted of three girls in a car (thanks for driving Grace!!), an empty stomach, and five hours in Brooklyn and Queens. It was tons of fun but I never ever want to see Italian ice again. Or at least for a few months, heheh. The results are posted in Grace's Serious Eats post. Knock yourself out ;)

Our last stop was at L&B Spumoni Gardens, by which point we were badly craving something savoury. Thank god for pizza. We chased that last cup of lemon ice with a slice each of the Sicilian...

...and then Robyn and I split another plain slice. The more pizza, the merrier!! Goodness you have no idea just HOW DELICIOUS this was after one too many cups of lemon ice. Pizza is one my favourite foods - I keep meaning to do one MASSIVE pizza post, but don't know if I'll ever get around to it :/

Robyn says 'hi'! :D

L & B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11223
(718) 449-1230

Doughnuts!

Last week, I met with Suzanne Ma, reporter for the Associated Press.

The subject? DOUGHNUTS.

Suzanne had found me via the NYC Doughnut article I wrote for Serious Eats. We met in the afternoon, at the Herald Square location of one of new twelve Tim Horton's shops to hit the city.

The article, published on Yahoo news, and some other places, is titled "Canadian doughnut chain enters NYC doughnut wars." I'm just briefly mentioned in two paragraphs but there's a photo of me licking away crumbs, holding a bitten iced-chocolate cake doughnut in my right hand, and a chocolate-covered chocolate cake doughnut in my other hand.

TWO KINDS OF CHOCOLATE CAKE DOUGHNUTS.

...you can never have too many...heheh

I'd tell you more about how we sampled twelve doughnuts (including this crazy looking blueberry number) on a Wednesday afternoon, but Suzanne's behind the scenes post on our meeting at, "Fried dough, what’s not to like?” –the story behind the story…" is much more awesome than what I could write...make sure to read it! ^_^

Strangely enough, eating all those doughnuts made me crave malassadas from the Punahou Carnival. Sigh, you can never win ;)

Happy Sunday!

Manatees Loves Robyn ^_^

Shots from last week's surprise Robyn Appreciation Dinner.

This photo by Claire captures Robyn's surprise just right - I love it!

Group shot here.

At the dinner table: Robyn, Diana, Olia, Lee Anne, Greg, Claire, John and myself.
Location: Arirang in Korea Town.
Previous Arirang post.

Why? We couldn't think of anyone more deserving of a surprise party than Robyn, the sweetest friend anyone could ever ask for. And what better way to celebrate than with communal bowls of noodle soup? ^_^

Between eight people, we shared two massive pancakes, and three even more massive bowls of noodles. It was the perfect amount.
We ordered three different types of noodles. Pictured is the Seafood in the front, and the Vegetable Kar-Jeabe in the back. They're all topped with the same tangle of vegetables, so look alike till you give it a good mix and unearth all the seafood (clams, shrimp, and octopus) in the former. All the "Kar-Jeabe" noodle soup consists of two types of noodles: Kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and Sujebi (noodle chunks / torn noodles).
And here is the Chicken Kar-Jeabe. Robyn once wrote about how very chicken-y the broth is. But seriously, you have no ideas JUST HOW chicken-y she means until you try it. Put this on your must-eat list :)
Vegetable Kar-Jeabe in action, compliments of Greg.


And the two pancakes. First, kimchee and mochi...

...and then the seafood pancake. Mix your own sauce to dip.

After we're pau eating...time to blow out the candles!

And cut the cake!

Nomnom. From Sugar Sweet Sunshine -> Chocolate Almond Buttercream with Chocolate Cake. FYI, yes we did consider opting for a huge bucket of banana pudding in place of cake, but cake route seemed more appropriate ^_^

Happy Saturday!

Arirang
32 West 32nd Street, 3rd Floor
New York NY 10001
212-967-5088

One Million-th?

That sounds about right.

I think this is my one million-th post on Otto, the one restaurant I frequent more than any other in Manhattan. (Excluding bakeries or gelaterias in this count, only full-service restaurants ;).

Last Friday. Escaping out of the pouring rain, straight into the comforts of Otto, dinner with Zubair.

Photos follow below ->

Prosecco and Amaro

Prosecco and Strawberries

Cheese: Baita Friuli, Cow, FRI; Tuada, Sheep, TOS; and Bergkäse, Cow, TREN.

Every cheese plate comes with accompaniments of cherries, apricots, and truffled honey.

Spaghetti con borttaga

And for dessert, one very perfect Olive Oil Copetta, composed of olive oil gelato, lime curd, lilikoi granita, basil syrup, and strawberries. Sugar Rush'ed on SENY.

Note: Just back from another Otto dinner tonight, this time as a sweet belated birthday surprise from Tam (thank you!!). A delicious meal, and composed in a completely different manner from the same menu. Post to come soon :)

Till then, Happy Friday!

Otto
1 Fifth Avenue
NY, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559

Kanoyama

Until last Sunday, Kanoyama held a steady spot on my never-ending list of places to visit "one day...some day...". Despite it being located two blocks from my apartment, I never got around to it, mainly because of the prices. It's not expensive for a sushi restaurant by any means, but for the price, I'd rather put out a bit more and go to Sushi Yasuda.

But then one day, about a month ago, I spotted a sign for an early bird special posted in the window. $15! For quite a bit of food, and a nice selection. It was the sushi special that intrigued me, so last Sunday, Steph, Shann, and I headed over for dinner. We slid into a comfy booth at 5:00pm, and I couldn't help but feel like an old lady...don't remember the last time I had dinner this early!

We all ended up ordering the same special with the same entree. Go figure - after living together for so long, our tastebuds must be aligned. The meal starts with a bowl of miso soup...

...then dishes of hijiki, salad with carrot-ginger-miso dressing, and an "entree" of shrimp tempura. If shrimp tempura isn't your thing, you can also pick from vegetable tempura, grilled salmon or shumai.

And then you get six pieces of California roll. Say what you will, but I have a very soft spot for California rolls. Or any rice + avocado combination for that matter ;)

And finally the sushi, pickles on the side. From left to right: Tobiko, Salmon, Fluke, Tuna, and Shrimp. They clearly don't reserve the best quality fish for this early bird special, but that's understandable - you can't expect to receive the best for $15. But it was not bad at all...though it made me miss Hawai'i sushi...cheap and good.

Sometimes I think I ought to refrain from eating sushi in NYC. Makes me miss home every time I do!

For dessert: pineapples and cream. An odd combination, but simple and fresh. I was however, secretly hoping for a bowl of green tea ice cream, heheh ^_^

Kanoyama
175 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-5266

Yay, Flushing! :)

Saturday afternoon, Zubair and I drove to Flushing for a late lunch/early dinner/our only meal of the day. We had a pretty exciting flat tire issue in the morning that resulted in visiting no less than four different car stations between Soho and Chelsea. Luckily, a solution was found in due time, and with rumbling tummies, we made our way to Flushing for a ton of food.

This was my first "official" trip out to Flushing without Kathryn, the human encyclopedia on Flushing. My past fooding trips in the area have been led by Kathryn...dumplings (steamed, fried, boiled), buns, dim sum, and lamb face salad...she has it all down! For this particular trip, I picked my favourite spots from places we had previously ventured.

Our first stop was at Corner 28, a street facing stand where you can order Peking Duck Buns by the piece...for only $1 each! This never fails to make me so very happy. I love how you can get one or two and not worry about committing to an entire duck.
And they're good too! VERY good. These particular buns were so plush and warm, not a single dry spot - they must have just finished steaming. Duck, scallions, and hoisin sauce to finish. We each wolfed our down in a minute and dashed over to...

...Xi'an Famous Foods, located in the basement of an un-airconditioned mall. Goodness, was it steamy in there! I was already dripping piles of sweat before before we found a seat inside the stand. We shared the Lamb Burger...

...served very spicy with plenty of cumin, stuffed into a hot griddled bun.

But the next item we had there was my favourite of the day, and quite possibly my single favourite dish in all of Flushing: Liang Pi Noodles ($3.50). The noodles, made from wheat starch are touch gelatin-esque, very slippery and served cold. Mixed with boiled bean sprouts and chunks of wheat gluten, the entire concoction is tossed in a fire-y, garlic-laced sauce. Ask for it extra-spicy ;) It's nothing short of incredible, especially on a muggy July day. We SUPER regretted not purchasing a few extra orders when we got hungry later in the night ^_^

We then proceeded to cool off with cups of Ginseng Tea, slightly sweetened.
Our third stop was at Nan Shing Dumpling House, famous home of xiao long bao, which Joe wrote about for SENY. We arrived at the restaurant just before 5pm, and though it was relatively full, there was luckily no wait. The waitress led us to a table near the xiao long bao makers, and we happily occupied ourselves watching the pretty mezmerizing repition of dumpling creation. The xiao long baos are so big that they only fit six to a standard steamer (where as most restaurants do eight to a steamer). The extra thin skin is a major, and crucial bonus.
We were pretty full after the xiao long baos, but there was just one more spot on our agenda, and one would been crazy to leave without it. "It" being, White Bear Dumpling. You'll want to order the #6, "wontons in hot oil."
Loook! Man, isn't that gorgous? A dozen wonton per order, $4.50. Hot oil (though it looks about ten million times spicier than it tastes) is poured atop the plate, topped with preserved vegetables and scallions. The wontons are boiled to order, and the hot skin just slips on your tongue, and savoury, juicy pork is packed tight just so. It's absolutely wonderful, and falls only second to Xi'an's liang pi noodles as my favourite Flushing dish.

And last but not least, a pause in at Yi Mei Fung Bakery Corp. One cup of milk tea boba for the ride home :)

Happy Monday!

Corner 28
40-28 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355
(718) 886-6628

Xi'an Famous Foods
1-28 Main St, Basement #36
Flushing, NY 11355
(718) 885-7788

Nan Xiang Dumpling House
38-12 Prince St.
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 321-3838

White Bear Dumpling
135-02 Roosevelt Avenue #5
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 961-2322

Yi Mei Fung Bakery Corp
135-38 Roosevelt Avenue
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 886-6820