Queens meat truck

Occasion: Snack before the US Open (Roddick v. Sock)
Location: food truck at 39th and Prince in Flushing, Queens
Edibles: chicken skewers; chicken hearts; lamb ribs; quail; squid

Musings: This hardworking truck is open from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. All the meats are cooked over a little trench of charcoal. While chicken and beef skewers ($1 each) are undoubtedly this truck's bread and butter, I think what makes it great are exotic items.

Lamb ribs - I've never had these before but I loved them. I'm guessing the guy has a source where he gets them for free because there's not much meat on them, basically just the ribs after the tenderloin's been removed. They're not filling but the spice rub is delicious and the little shreds of meat are really flavorful (as meat near the bone tends to be). For $5 you get an entire rack. Good to share.

The whole quail was also excellent, if a bit cumbersome to eat with your hands while sitting on a park bench. The squid was good, though the sauce was a tad spicy for me.

I'd pass on the chicken hearts - they were fairly rubbery and I've definitely had better.

I recommend that you pick up a roll and a beverage on the way, as the salt tends to add up. There's a little bakery across the street that sells single man tou for the former, and numerous bubble tea places on Main Street for the latter. A cheap, fast and tasty meal.

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur

Occasion: More snacking after, really, a very modest pub crawl
Location: Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur ("the best hot dogs in town") - as for location, I can only tell you that it's down by the harbor, but it's not hard to find because downtown Reykjavik is that small (bbp.is)
Edibles: hog dogs with the works

Musings: Quelle tragédie!!! The crazy hot dog with shrimp salad and mashed potatoes that I thought was an Icelandic thing is in fact.... a Swedish thing. Blerg. Hot dog fail. (FYI, it's called tunnbrödsrulle* and Bourdain had it at a stand called Maxi Grillen.)

But back to the hot dog at hand.... Apparently Bæjarins Beztu was once named the best hot dog stand in Europe? That food reviewer must have been on drugs. The hot dog they serve here is basically just a New York dirty water dog. It's about $2, and comes with standard condiments like ketchup, mustard, fried onions.

My crushing disappointment was slightly mitigated by our very amusing company. A little Korean man plopped down beside us on the picnic bench and started a lament on how difficult it was to find his son a nice Korean girl in Iceland. "We're not Korean," we tell him. "Close enough," was his reply. A little later, the man's Russian business partner joined us. They have a fish export business. Local color - gotta love it.

[*Note: Okay, now I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of tunnbrödsrulle. I will attempt to make some at Oktoberfest IV.]

Noodle Station

Occasion: Pre-pub-crawl snack
Location: Noodle Station at the intersection of Skólavörðustígur (damn - that took 5 min to type!) and Týsgata in Reykjavik, Iceland
Edibles: beef noodle soup (950 ISK or ~$8)

Musings: We weren't expecting much and popped in out of curiousity more than anything. How *is* Chinese food in Iceland?

Pretty mediocre, as it turns out. Neither the beef nor the broth were very good - the former being tough and chewy, and the latter tasting completely artificial and chemical-y. Pass on this one.

Sægreifinn

Occasion: Afternoon snack
Location: Sægreifinn ("Sea Baron"), a seafood shack on Geirsgata down by the water, in Reykjavik, Iceland (saegreifinn.is)
Edibles: humarsupa (lobster soup)

Musings: I wasn't as impressed by this place as Mark Bittman. On the plus side, the soup was extremely flavorful and full of lobster chunks. On the minus side, I thought the broth was too thin, and both the broth and the lobster tasted to me like they'd been frozen. Iceland's tourist season is short - just a few months in the summer - and I guess it makes sense to make huge batches in the off-season and freeze them. But you can taste it. The vegetables flavors aren't as bright and the lobster meat gets a little bit mealy.

A giant mug with some bread on the side will run you about 750 Icelandic kronor, or just over $10. It's good for a snack, being both filling and warming. (Even in August, you need a medium-weight jacket during the day and more at night. You can also tell the locals from the tourists on the street because the locals are in t-shirts and the tourists are wearing winter coats, hats and scarves.)

18smaker Glassmakeri

Location: 18smaker Glassmakeri on Timmermansgatan in the Södermalm neighborhood of Stockholm, Sweden - nearest T-bana stop is Mariatorget (18smaker.se)

We needed a little bit of a pick-me-up after a somewhat grim stroll through Skogskyrkogården (the Woodland Cemetary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site). And what better way to pick yourself up than a scoop of frozen dairy and sugar?

I had a scoop of the raspberry cheesecake, which was lovely. If you want to try a local flavor, go for punsch (a traditional arack liqueur) with dark chocolate chips.

Östermalms Korvspecialist

Occasion: Post-Millesgården lunch with Yining
Location: Östermalms Korvspecialist on Nybrogatan in the Gamla Stan neighborhood of Stockholm, Sweden - nearest T-bana stop is Östermalmstorg [Please note that it's NOT on Nybergsgatan, which is confusingly similar-sounding and nearby street. The stand is just two blocks north of the famous Östermalms Saluhall, and you can actually see the Saluhall from the hot dog stand. It sits in front of a little parking lot, next to a post office.]
Edibles: bratwurst, alpenwurst and curry lamb sausage

Musings: I got a tip about this place from a nice half-Swedish lady who happened to be sitting next to me on the flight out. Korvspecialist, by the way, means sausage specialist. Awesome. Awesome. I want a business card that says that.

We split a bratwurst and an alpenwurst; they turned out to be pretty indistinguishable. Let me tell you, these hot dogs are pure genius. The sausages are obviously high quality, and they're served in a hollowed-out baguette. There's some kind of heavily herbed dressing that's first sloshed into the bread, followed by some kind of spicy tomato sauce (not ketchup - it's much thinner) and a few shreds of sauerkraut. The bread is simply fantastic - fresh and chewy and it does a great job of soaking in the sauces without getting soggy and falling apart. 50 kronor each, or about $7. One is definitely very filling.

But meat-tooth that I am, I also found some room to try the lamb sausage that the lady in front of us ordered. It's a curry lamb sausage, with strong mustard, served with a tiny little hot dog bun that basically just serves as a grip. Great size for a snack - I'd try another kind of sausage, though. I found the lamb a bit chewy and greasy.

But a big thumbs up for the wurst. I definitely encourage you to check out this stand if you're ever in Stockholm.

Big Apple BBQ

Location: On the streets bordering Madison Square Park

Met up with Winnie, Erin and Hsinpei for another meat-a-palooza. I swear I eat vegetables too. (I do! Sometimes.)

Stop #1: Ubon's - $8 for pulled pork shoulder sandwich with a side of coleslaw

Nice enough. Very tender and moist. Most of the flavor I got was from the sauce, though.

Stop #2: Pappy's - $8 for ribs and a side of beans

The ribs were, once again, undercooked for my taste. The meat was hard to chew and I was not impressed with their flavor (which was basically just bbq sauce slathered on at the end and brûléed). It was also unfortunate that we happened to get the stubby little ribs that come at the tip of the rack. The ends always get a little burned and dried out, compared to the bigger ribs further up. And the beans were sort of watery and sad. Thumbs down, Pappy's.

Stop #3: Blue Smoke Bake Shop - $6 for blueberry crisp à la mode

Now, I'm normally hating on Blue Smoke for their crappy food. And I stand by that. But I will say that they serve a nice dessert. (We weren't quite done with the meat yet, but passed right in front of Blue Smoke Bakery while waiting in line for Ed Mitchell. So we dispatched Erin to pick up... let's call it an unusual palate cleanser.)

This was the first dish of the day that made me go, "WOW!" Really good crisp topping and not too much of it, a light hand with the sugar in the berries, and a scoop of perfectly textured vanilla ice-cream. Yum.

Stop #4: Ed Mitchell - $8 for a chopped whole hog sandwich, with a side of coleslaw

While waiting in the long-ass line (after the blueberry crisp), I saw someone making pork rind crackling. At this point, my head pretty much exploded with joy. I had to get me some. When it was ready, they passed out a few shards to the people in line. It was amazing.... and so I had to get some more.

I went up to the lady and shamlessly played up my bacon-themed t-shirt and love of all pork products. Happily, she found me at least moderately amusing and rewarded my antics with a *massive* piece of crackling almost as big as my head!! Oh, happy, happy day!!!!

Yeah, we also got some of their whole hog, but nothing could really compare to that crackling. Here they are chopping it up:

And here's the sandwich:

I liked the more varied texture of the whole hog, but it was also sort of bland. Coleslaw was pretty generic, not as good as Ubon's.

But the crackling..... oh, the crackling.......

Sunday Gravy

Location: Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg

Bread boat with meat sauce, chock full of shreds of pork shoulder, slices of sausage and mini meatballs. Hearty doesn't even begin to describe it.

Perhaps a bit heavy for the weather, but it was the most interesting (to me, at least) of the remaining food stalls. The $7 price tag was a mite high but I absolutely fell in love with that sauce. I bought a quart jar of it to take home. It ran me $23, which is expensive but still less than what something comparable would cost you at a restaurant.

A note on the jar: It's not commercially vacuum-sealed, so I wouldn't keep it for more than a week in the fridge.

[One quibble: If you're going to feature a red Le Creuset pot in the company logo, you should really be cooking in it. I could clearly see the stainless steel insert that they were really cooking in. Perhaps they have issues with the sauce sticking to the bottom?]

Asia Dog

Location: Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg (asiadognyc.com)

The Vietnamese-style Vinh dog (on the left) was disappointing. The carrots and the daikon weren't pickled long enough and tasted pretty bland.

The Thai-style Sidney dog (on the right) was better. The mango relish is a lovely condiment for a hot dog (though it'd be even better with a homemade chicken sausage). I think the ingredients minus the fish sauce would make a great lobster salad too. Yining immediately agreed that we have to try it.

Regular dogs (beef, chicken or veg) are $4 each or two for $7. Organic dogs are $5 or two for $9.

All told, Asia Dog was not particularly memorable and, by itself, is not enough to drag me off my island. The flavor combinations are thoughtful and interesting but the hot dog is dragged down by the grocery-store quality meat and bun. They should definitely consider making their own sausages. Or, at the very least, sourcing some fresh local stuff.

Doughnut Plant

Location: 23rd between 7th and 8th

Doughnut Plant makes these huge, very chewy, very bread-y doughnuts, $3 each. I got one of the fresh strawberry and one peanut butter and jelly.

The strawberry had a nice scent, but any flavor of fresh strawberries was overwhelmed by the amount of sugar in the glaze. I liked the balance of the PBJ doughnut (a jelly-filled doughnut with peanut butter glaze) better. But I personally thought they both had way too much glaze, which tended to crack and get all over everything.

An interesting novelty, but I don't think this is going to be the next dessert craze.

Souvlaki GR

Location: Foodtruck on the corner of 21st and 6th (souvlakigr.com)

It's hard to see in my crappy bb picture, but the guy taking orders had a handlebar mustache, with the waxed curly ends and everything. Made me smile.

I ordered the chicken pita souvlaki, which is a chicken kebab (de-skewered) wrapped in a pita with some sliced tomato, onion, french fries (oddly enough), and tzatziki. It was okay, but not much food for $4. Really just a little snack. Even for lunch, you'd have to get two.

Alternatively, you can get 5 skewers for $7 (or one for $1.75). For a meat-tooth like me, that seems like the better bet.

Part II, 4/28 - I came back and got the mixed skewers. (The truck's really close to the Tribeca Film Festival Volunteer's Lounge.) MUCH better deal. They threw in an extra skewer, so I had six - three each of the pork and the chicken. Comes with little pita triangles and two containers of tzatziki. I was stuffed when I finished!

The pork is a wee bit dry. If you're getting the pita wrap, I'd definitely get the chicken. With the mixed skewers, one or two pork one at most.

Chocolatería San Ginés

Occasion: We'll call it breakfast.

Location: Chocolatería San Ginés, Pasadizo de San Ginés 5 in Madrid, Spain. It's basically in an alley in the triangle bordered by Calle Mayor, Calle del Arenal and Calle de Bordadores. Between metro stops Sol and Opera.
Edibles: chocolate con churros

Musings: Despite my somewhat vague directions above, this place is actually quite easy to find. (Winnie and I found it on the first try, anyway.) They have indoor and outdoor seating.

Wow, they sure don't mess around when it comes to their hot chocolate. The "drink" is so thick that a churro will stand upright in it. It's magnificent, though - bittersweet, velvety and unctuous. Pretty much liquid sin in a cup. I managed a few super-dense sips, but neither Winnie nor I finished our cups. If you don't have a sweet tooth, one order is probably enough for two to share. (But, I mean, don't be cheap - the other person should order coffee or something if you're taking up a table.)

We were contentedly munching away when we saw a nearby table get these giant churros. Of course, I had to get some too. There were a few anxious minutes when it wasn't clear that we were able to properly communicate our order to the grumpy waiter.... but then they arrived. I spontaneously let out a loud cheer, much to the amusement of neighboring tables.

I'm sad to report that the giant churros are not as tasty as the little ones. They're sort of doughy and oily. Not that I let that stop me from eating a whole one. (It's basically a you tiao if you think about it...)

Fortified by sugar and grease, Winnie and I meandered our way to our next goal...

[Note: Thanks to Ana for the rec!]

Xi'an Famous Foods, part II

Occasion: More food court explorations with Mom
Location: Xi'an Famous Foods, also in the Flushing Mall food court - 39th Ave off Main St in Flushing, Queens
Edibles: lamb (or possibly goat - it's the same word in Chinese) offal soup; noodles with braised pork and cabbage

Musings: If you're wondering why I'd order such a crazy-sounding soup, let me state for the record that I've had it in Asia and, when done right, it can be awesomely tasty. The key qualifier, however, is "when done right." As it certainly was not, here.

I had one spoonful and that was plenty. All the unpleasant tastes that offal can impart were all there in that one soup - the bitter chemical taste of digestive organs, the iron-blood taste of liver, the general gaminess of lamb. Ugh. My mom had a little more than I did, but eventually even she had to concede that it was just awful. After a few minutes, I actually had to get up and throw it out - even the smell was making me a bit queasy. Epic fail.

The hand-cut noodles with braised pork were better, but also a bit lacking in technique. Some of the noodles were really thin while others were really thick and doughy, and almost all of them were too long to eat in a single bite. The braised pork was yummy, though.

[Note: As unlikely a dish as it is to order in a food court, the steak may be the way to go. A couple sitting nearby had one and it looked great.]

Ay Chung

Occasion: Lunch with my mom
Location: Ay Chung, in the Flushing Mall food court - 39th Ave off Main St in Flushing, Queens
Edibles: cuttlefish soup

Musings: Too hungry to wait patiently for a table at the always-crowded Asian Jewels, we popped across the street to the Flushing Mall food court.

We started with Ay Chung's cuttlefish soup. It's actually pretty good - a cornstarch-thickened bonito broth, lots of cuttlefish dumplings and lots of fresh cilantro. A nice little snack for around $3.

Burger Joint

Occasion: Dinner with Josh before the Phil (harmonic, that is)
Location: Burger Joint, behind a velvet curtain in the lobby of the Parker Meridien. No joke. Hotel's on 57th between 6th and 7th. (parkermeridien.com/eat4.php)
Edibles: burger and fries, chocolate milkshake

Musings: For its bizarre location and retro ambiance, A+ for sure. For the burgers, B. They don't season their patties, and the bun is generic grocery store stuff. Not as good as my beloved Shake Shack.

Pio Pio

Occasion: Strategy session at Kathy's, with special consultants Atticus and Yining
Location: takeout from Pio Pio on 34th between 2nd and 3rd (piopionyc.com)
Edibles: rotisserie chicken, avocado salad and saffron rice

Musings: Pio Pio roasts a kick-ass chicken, full stop. It's seriously some finger-lickin' good stuff. My brother gets takeout from them all the time, and I can always smell those spices as soon as I walk in the door. (Whereupon I follow my nose and confiscate a piece or two. Older sister's prerogative.)

An entire chicken will run you $10, just slightly more than a grocery store rotisserie chicken and leagues better. With two of their generously portioned sides, a meal for four comes in at around $5 a head - which is cheaper than McDonald's. Can't beat that.

Endless Summer

Location: Bedford and N 6th St in Williamsburg (endlesssummertacos.com)

Winnie and I passed this truck on our way to The Yarn Tree for craft supplies. I noticed: 1) a delicious meaty scent in the air; 2) lots of people waiting in line. Both promising signs of good eats. On the way back, I campaigned hard for a snack break.

I tried a beef taco and a pork taco, and both were lovely. They're garnished with a white sauce and a green sauce (thinned-out sour cream and tomatillo, respectively, I think), a few slices of radish and a wedge of lime. Winnie thought the beef was a smidge dry, but I hardly noticed it under all the sauce and lime juice. The corn tortillas were wonderfully fragrant and pliable. You get two per taco, and you could conceivably refashion two smaller tacos for daintier eating if you were not standing at a streetcorner, as we were. Or you can just stuff them in your face as-is - I can say from personal experience that it works just fine.

$2.50 for the pork, $3.00 for the beef. Another reason to venture out into the hinterlands...

Ninh's Vietnamese Sandwich

Occasion: Lazy take-out dinner
Location: Ninh's Vietnamese Sandwich & Bubble Tea on 2nd between 31st and 32nd
Edibles: I had the chicken sandwich; Edward had the beef sandwich and a bubble tea

Musings: The bubble tea was terrible. Tapioca doesn't keep well and a place needs to either have enough business that they go through their batches quickly, or be committed enough to quality to throw them out when they begin to harden, and start over fresh. This place is neither.

The chicken sandwich was okay but they were a bit stingy with the chicken - Baoguette gives you a lot more per sandwich. And there was too much mayo. The beef was pretty tasty.

Because it's so insidiously close to my apartment, Ninh's will probably get some repeat business from me.

Sapporo

Occasion: Lunch with Kathy and Gerald
Location: Sapporo on 49th between 6th and 7th
Edibles: pork katsu and miso ramen

Musings: The pork katsu is actually a meal in itself, but I ordered it as an appetizer / side dish. It's two enormous pork chops, breaded in panko and fried to crispy perfection, conveniently sliced for easy sharing. Yum.

The ramen was okay, but not particularly memorable. (It certainly didn't help that I had already inhaled an entire pork chop and half a bowl of rice by the time it arrived.) Is Sapporo as good as my go-to, Minca? Sadly, no. It is, however, a decent midtown lunch option.

Note: If you only have an hour for lunch, get there early. We arrived just before noon and there were already people waiting; by the time we left, the line was out the door and down the block.

Momofuku Milk Bar

Location: Momofuku Milk Bar on 2nd Ave at 13th - there's a pass-through from the rear of the restaurant, but it also has a separate entrance (momofuku.com/milkbar/)

Musings: The compost cookie. Contains all sorts of alarming ingredients like coffee grounds, pretzels and potato chips. Interesting concept, but I thought they overdid it on the coffee grounds - it was all I could taste.

The blueberry and cream cookie is Robert's favorite. I found the unrelieved sweetness a bit cloying, but the chewy texture was nice.

Our third cookie was my favorite - cornflake, choco chip and marshmallow. The cornflakes gave it a great crunch and the slightest touch of savoriness without you having to taste actual grains of salt (like from the potato chips and pretzels in the compost cookie). I. Loved. It.

I bet you can make a reasonable facsimile of this cookie by taking the basic Nestlé Toll House recipe and adding a handful of cornflakes and mini marshmallows. Stay tuned for recipe-testing results in the not-too-distant future.

And finally, the crack pie. It's got a dense, sugary filling that reminded me of a pecan pie without the pecans. I looked at the ingredients and it's basically got the same things as a standard custard - sugar, eggs, dairy, etc. And yet there's some sort of magic (or witchcraft) involved because every time I finished a bite, I found myself wanting another. Aptly named, Momofuku.