New Beer Distributors

Location: Chrystie St between Delancey and Rivington (new-beer.com)

Yining and I set out with the intention of buying great quantities of beer. We planned to take our souvenir steins for a spin, you see, and it was clear that pouring bottle after bottle to fill a 1L receptacle just wasn't going to cut it.

In addition to a vast selection of snobby beers by the bottle, New Beer also has six beers on tap that you can get in 32 oz. (approx. 1L) and 64 oz. (approx. 2L) sizes. Of the six, five were various domestic brews and one was a Belgian import, at twice the price of the domestics. The empty 64 oz. glass jug (a "growler") will cost you $4, but it's yours to keep for the next time. They will also fill the growlers from Whole Foods and, presumably, any other conforming jugs you may have.

Incidentally, we went to Whole Foods to comparison-shop and, while the prices were comparable, New Beer had two advantages. First, they let you taste the beer - a distinct benefit when you are committing to litres of it at a time. Second, their caps are sturdier and higher quality. (Whole Foods will likewise fill New Beer containers, if you need a few extra selections.)

We went home with 2L of German-style Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner ($8) and 2L of Ommegang Witte Ale ($10), a Belgian-style white. An awesome afternoon/evening was had by all.

Mark your calendars - Oktoberfest party at my place!

Móle

Occasion: Lunch with Yining, to muse over which beers to buy by the litre
Location: Móle on Allen between Houston and Stanton (molenyc.com)
Edibles: carnitas (pork confit) tacos with guacamole, rice and beans

Musings: Good Mexican is hard to find in the city. If there's one thing transplanted Californians gripe about, it's the lack of cheap and delicious Mexican. (That, and the lack of In-N-Out - which is highly overrated, in my opinion.) While it's not exactly the cheapest, I now have a decent recommendation.

I first tasted Móle's delicious soft tacos at Dan and Lilly's. My friends are lucky enough to live within the delivery radius of Móle - and in the same building as a Whole Foods! I split an order of the pork tacos and a quesadilla with Emily. (I often do this with unknown restaurants, on the theory that you're spreading out your risk.) The quesadilla was fine but the tacos were spectacular. I immediately made a mental note to revisit.

The restaurant itself is very small, seating about fifteen people inside and four outside. We had no trouble getting seated, as NY locals had all fled to the Hamptons or wherever for the weekend. I ordered the pork tacos, this time greedily keeping the entire plate for myself.

It's described in the menu as two tacos but it's really four: two generous heaps of pork, onion and cilantro served on double layers of tortillas - easily separated into four tacos satisfying enough for even this enthusiastic carnivore. The chunks of pork are flavorful and juicy and the tortillas are fresh, soft and redolent of corn. The $14 plate also came with rice and beans, which I could have done without (and barely touched) but did not have the option to exclude. A side of guac was an extra $3. So, not cheap. But, to compare, the excellent soft tacos I had at Lotería in Los Angeles were $3.50 each.

Yining had the adobo pork sandwich, which was huge and came with a mountain of fries. It was good, she reported, but I could see that she was jealous of my tacos.

[Note: If you work anywhere nearby, the weekday lunch menu has a $7 taco place, which I would guess to be a smaller serving.]

Serafina

Occasion: Getting-to-know-you lunch with Boss, Boss' Boss and two GC underlings
Location: Serafina at The Time on 49th between B'way and 8th
Edibles: prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella; porcini mushroom ravioli

Musings: A whole new neighborhood for lunching! Unfortunately, that neighborhood is Times Square. My new office is just a hop and a skip away from the Times Square Olive Garden, a restaurant I regularly cite as the nadir of cuisine in the city.

At Serafina, all four of my colleagues ordered sparkling water as their beverage and were miffed that the restaurant didn't have large bottles. In case that didn't give us away as a big bunch of yuppies, we then spent about 45 min. talking about golf, a sport I don't play but can chitchat about. Thankfully, the food arrived quickly. My lunch was the best of times and the worst of times.

My appetizer was wonderful. Really good buffalo mozzarella - and this was the good stuff - tastes clean, fresh and faintly milky. To me, it tastes like innocence. Prosciutto, a close cousin of bacon, rarely fails to delight.

My main course was miserable. I knew I was in for it when the plate arrived with more sauce on it than pasta. Gloppy cream sauce. I scraped the sauce off as best I could, but it only revealed the shortcomings in the ravioli, the filling of which didn't taste like it had any mushrooms in it at all and looked greasy from a cross-section. Yuck.

(To be fair, based on the appearance of everyone else's food, I think I just happened upon a weak dish on the menu. The tomato-based sauces on the penne arrabbiata and rigatoni alla Bolognese both looked good.)

Yakitori Totto

Occasion: Dinner with globe-trotter Kent, who finally made it back into the city
Location: Yakitori Totto on 55th between B'way and 8th

Edibles: tori dango steamed chicken meatballs with a layer of rice pressed into the surface; zaru tofu, served in a basket with condiments (ginger, toasted sesame seeds, chives, bonito, flavored salt); skewers galore - seseri chicken neck; hatsu chicken heart; shishitou tsukune tsume chicken stuffed in Japanese peppers; aspara maki chicken breast wrapped around asparagus; negima chicken thigh with scallion; tsukune umejiso chicken meatball with shiso; kuro buta negi pon pork with ponzu and scallion; harami skirt steak with onion; shiitake mushrooms with ponzu and bonito; yaki nasu miso dengaku eggplant with miso; deep-fried tofu with miso...
... still not done: three rounds of shochu with fresh-squeezed citrus (one each of grapefruit, orange and lemon) and vanilla and green tea mochi ice-cream for dessert
Musings: After all the food listed above, you'd think we left stuffed to the gills. I guess I can only speak for myself, but I was just moderately full. We shared the majority of the skewers, which equals about a bite and a half each person. This dinner also happened over the course of three hours. Which we needed, to catch up on all the happenings in each other's lives! It's been a busy year.

Yakitori Totto, like all of my very favorite restaurants, is rock solid when it comes to consistency. The ingredients are high-quality and many of the components to their dishes are made from scratch, including their outstanding miso and their tofu. The meatballs are mixed, then shaped by hand. The skewers are cooked over a small trench of charcoal and timed to split-second precision. I've introduced more than twenty friends here over the years and only one failed to be blown away. Easily makes my NYC Hall of Fame.

Travis, you shoulda been there!

Knife + Fork

Occasion: Farewell dinner for Alexandra, with Yining and Kathy
Location: Knife + Fork Restaurant & Wine Bar on E 4th between 1st and 2nd Ave (knife-fork-nyc.com)
Edibles: six-course chef's tasting (described in detail below)

Musings: As it was the send-off for Alex before she moved to LA, I was racking my brain to find a restaurant that 1) was delicious, 2) was not too expensive, 3) took reservations and 4) was a true New York gastronomic experience. No pressure or anything...

I'd been to Knife + Fork twice, but more than a year ago. While it was a good sign that it was still open, I was a bit nervous when I made the reservation. (I had another panicky moment when I arrived at 7pm to find the restaurant completely empty.) I crossed my fingers and hoped it was still as good as I remembered.

It was! Whew!

First course: Sliced chicken on squash purée, with a salad of microgreens, bacon and watermelon. I pretty much love any dish with bacon in it, so this meal had me at "hello."

Second course: Foie gras with eel, lobster vinaigrette; sliced cucumber, matchstick radishes and cucumber sorbet. This course was my least favorite. I generally find foie gras to be too rich, and this particular preparation had a lot of other intense ingredients to boot. I was puzzled by the pairing with the cucumber; the foie, sauce, etc. were very wintery while the cucumber and sorbet were very summery. I thought the cucumber sorbet was brilliant - just not with this dish.

Third course: White grape gazpacho with tuna tartare and microgreens. Loved it! The serving size - just a few mouthfuls - was perfect and the tuna provided a great savory counterpoint to the sweetness of the soup. (Photos - once it occurred to us to take some - courtesy of Kathy and her BB.)

Fourth course: Sea bass in saffron broth with carrots, green beans and microgreens. The fish was well-cooked - crisp skin, juicy flesh. However, everyone at the table agreed that it needed more salt. Luckily, the bread came with a little mound of sea salt so we each took a pinch for our fish.

Fifth course: Lamb loin with escargot and a goat cheese cream sauce; sundried tomato quenelle; rosemary potato gratin. The lamb and potatoes were DIVINE. I really enjoyed everything about this dish except the sundried tomato which, like the cucumber from the second course, was a discordant note.

Sixth course: Rosemary and orange crème brûlée; goat cheese and mint panna cotta. I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of the panna cotta given its flavorings. Tip-top technique on the crème brûlée as well.

As you can see, it was decidedly a feast! Aside from a few ideas that went astray - and some overenthusiastic use of microgreens - the chef showed us a real good time. Especially considering that we each spent $70 dollars total (that's six courses, a glass of wine each, tax and 20% tip).

Yale Club

Occasion: Dinner with Abby and Amy
Location: Yale Club on Vanderbilt at E 44th
Edibles: turkey burger with Swiss; fries and coleslaw

Musings: I love hanging out at the Yale Club with Amy, soaking in the hoity-toityness of it all. The main room is decorated with things like wingback chairs and oil paintings of Clinton and George W. Both there and in the dining room, no money changes hands - Amy writes her membership number on a slip of paper and it's billed to her monthly.

Amy has been a member since she graduated from college. The wait staff in the dining room know her by name and one very nice guy even knows her regular drink and dinner order, down to the sides and the extra mustard. Sadly, that server - who gave us free dessert the last time we were there - was not working tonight.

As for the things I usually comment on, the service was a little slow but the burger was pretty good. They're not really the reasons you would go to the Yale Club.

Sun Tung Kee [closed]

Occasion: Send-off dinner for me, right before my mom and brother took me to the airport
Location: Sun Tung Kee Hot Pot Restaurant on Alexandra Rd just off Kwantlen St in Richmond, a municipality of Greater Vancouver - Note: Sun Tung Kee is closed
Edibles: cilantro and thousand-year-old egg broth for cooking; fish paste; napa cabbage; taro; garlic chive dumplings; shrimp wontons; squid meatballs; pork meatballs; beef; chicken; tofu; mung bean and barley soup for dessert

Musings: Hot pot restaurants are all about the quality of their ingredients since they don't actually do any cooking; for the most part, food is brought to your table raw for you to cook in the broth.

To start with, Sun Tung Kee offers quality condiments. These include soy sauce, Asian bbq sauce, garlic sauce, sesame sauce, fresh cilantro, scallions and hot peppers. For special customers (like my mom), there's also a dish of XO sauce, a hot sauce with dried scallops, Chinese ham and cognac. They also offer seasonal live seafood like shrimp, certain fish, geoduck and Alaskan king crab. It's pricey but the absolute freshness is worth it.

The thing that really sets Sun Tung Kee apart is the quality of their beef. The difference between the usual hot pot beef and Sun Tung Kee beef is like the difference between cheesesteak "steak" and Peter Luger's steak. The beef was excellent, as always, but I noticed that the plates are about a third smaller (prices are the same). They also have a new recipe for their shrimp wontons that inexplicably includes bamboo and black wood ear fungus (not as gross as it sounds) in the filling. I liked their old wontons better.

Summer is a typically a slow season for hot pot restaurants, but the place was pretty empty even considering that. My mom theorized that Sun Tung Kee has lost a lot of business in the downturn to all-you-can-eat hot pot places nearby.

Flamingo

Occasion: Family dinner with my grandparents, my aunt, my cousins, my mom and my brother
Location: Flamingo Chinese Restaurant on Cambie between W 59th and W 60th Ave in Vancouver
Edibles: West Lake soup; taro duck; Chinese broccoli and beef; lobster in cream sauce with noodles; steamed tilapia; crispy chicken; tapioca pudding

Musings: We've been going to this restaurant for over twenty years. The menu has barely changed in all that time. So it's not the most sophisticated Chinese food Vancouver has to offer, but it's our neighborhood restaurant and it always feels good to come back. Upon our arrival, the manager (who we had seen rise from the waitstaff to his current position) came right over to greet my mom by name and take our order.

Everything tasted just as it should, just as it used to. (Well, with the exception of one meat pie dish, which the manager immediately whisked away and took off our bill.)

Restaurants will come and go but as long as the Flamingo is open for business, we will be there.

Golden Ocean

Occasion: Dim sum (the third time in a week!) with my mom, Amy and Sam
Location: Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant on W 41st Ave at Maple St in Vancouver
Edibles: leaf tripe (omasum); stewed honeycomb tripe (reticulum) and beef lung; chicken feet; bbq pork buns; braised Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce; pork, fish and peanut congee; sesame balls

Musings: As you can see, we got some more unusual things this time around. I'm not a huge fan of lung or chicken feet, but I thought the leaf tripe was really well done. Strangely enough, with all the offal we ordered, the dish that stuck out the most was the sesame balls.

Sesame balls are usually the size of golf balls, or slightly larger, and filled with red bean paste or lotus paste. They serve a peculiar variation at Golden Ocean with no filling at all but fried for a longer time, until they're puffed up to the size of ostrich eggs. (I'm not kidding about the size.) The resulting hollow pastry has a thinner wall and is crispier than the standard. I've been to quite a few dim sums in my time but this is the first time I'd seen this. Dim sum innovation - go figure!

Mmmm... bubble tea and thick toast

Two super-Asian snacks that I inexplicably love. Bubble tea: what's not to love about a beverage you also chew? Thick toast: buttered and drizzled with condensed milk, it's a strange combination but totally delicious.

E Bei

Occasion: Dinner with Tania, Warren and Kim (well, a second dinner for Tania and Warren)
Location: E Bei Japanese on Granville at W 41st Ave in Vancouver
Edibles: California roll; chopped scallop roll; assorted sashimi (salmon, tuna, some kind of whitefish, tako octopus and hokkigai surf clam)

Musings: My brother and his friends love the late night all-you-can-eat at this place, which costs something like $10. The regular dinner hour all-you-can-eat will run you $23. Since you can only order it as a table, and Tania and Warren had already eaten, I just ordered à la carte.

The tuna and hokkigai sashimi were fantastic (though not as fantastic as the specimens pictured to the left - not my plate). The other pieces were fresh but not particularly memorable. The chopped scallop was a bit slimy, and both it and the California roll had too much rice. You definitely will not see particularly good knife skills or sushi-rolling technique here. But you get good value for your money.

Ningtu Restaurant

Occasion: Brunch with my mom (my brother, a fellow night owl, couldn't drag himself out of bed)
Location: Ningtu Restaurant on Kingsway between Gladstone and E 29th Ave in Vancouver
Edibles: broth noodles with chicken and baby bok choi; sautéed nian gao (rice cake); sesame rolls with pork and pickle filling (sort of a Chinese sloppy joe); yu tiao (deep-fried breadsticks); hot soy milk (sweet for me, savory for my mom)

Musings: A nice alternative to dim sum. I love this restaurant and always try to go at least once when I'm in town. This occasion was no different - I was so happy with the food I was making little pleased hums throughout the meal. Highly recommended.

Original Tandoori King

Occasion: Dinner with my mom and brother
Location: Original Tandoori King on E 65th Ave at Fraser in Vancouver [Note: there's another restaurant on Fraser itself that's called Tandoori King - don't be fooled]
Edibles: chicken tikka masala; lamb korma; eggplant bhartha; palak paneer; sides of garlic nan and pulao rice (all spellings are theirs)

Musings: Came home absolutely stuffed! The food was delicious as always, though their prices have gone up since I was there last ($3 per meat dish and $2 per veggie dish). The consistency is worth mentioning - I've been to this restaurant about 15 times and have never had a bad meal. Everything is richly spiced, and you can tell they use quality ingredients. Highly recommended.

Red Star

Occasion: Dim sum with my mom and her friends
Location: Red Star Seafood Restaurant on Granville between W 66th and W 67 Ave in Vancouver
Edibles: lots of the same classics from the Flushing dim sum outing - shrimp fun; shu mai; har gao; pork and thousand-year-old egg congee; steamed daikon cake (what can I say, I'm a creature of habit), plus a few new items - Chinese broccoli sauteed with garlic; ma lai cake; green tea jelly

Musings: A couple of pluses and a bunch of minuses. This place doesn't hold a candle to my favorite Vancouver dim sum place, Sun Sui Wah in Richmond.

Plus: 1) The shu mai and har gao were huge - easily the size of two in almost any other restaurant. 2) The ma lai cake was delicate and fluffy. Yum.

Minus: 1) The shrimp fun had pungent garlic chives (a.k.a. Chinese chives) in them, an herb I never acquired a taste for. 2) The pork in the congee seemed a little off. 3) The green tea jelly was just weird. 4) No ladies with the carts; you order off a menu.

La Esquina

Occasion: Birthday brunch for Meredith
Location: La Esquina on Kenmare at Lafayette (esquinanyc.com)
Edibles: pork soft tacos with sliced avocado and a side of scrambled eggs

Musings: The pork tacos were great, topped with shredded cabbage and pickled onions. I had some structural integrity problems, as the pork was very sauce-y, and ended up just eating it with a fork. Meredith got the steak tacos and someone else got the fish tacos and they looked good too.

I thought my mimosa and the avocado were overpriced. Still, the food was yummy and I'd go back.

[Note: I tried calling the restaurant six times throughout the morning to try to confirm the time of the reservation, but wasn't able to get through to a live person at all. While this might be acceptable on a weekend during the dinner rush, it's really not on a Sunday morning.]

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice-Cream Truck

Location: We came across it on University and E 12th. It's there from 8-11pm; from noon to 7pm, it's at Greene and Prince. (vanleeuwenicecream.com)


Thanks go out to Sylvia for introducing me to the delights of this truck. I had a scoop each of gianduja (hazelnut-chocolate) and strawberry. The strawberry was outstanding - so fresh and fruity it almost tasted like sorbet. The guy manning the truck was really nice, too. Definitely an "I Love NY" moment for me.

According to their website, they use top quality local ingredients, all their disposable goods are made from 100% renewable resources, and they donate 1% of their profits to protect the endangered mountain gorilla. How cool is that?!

Wilfie & Nell

Occasion: Drinks and some nibbles with Sylvia
Location: Wilfie & Nell on W 4th between 7 Ave South and W 10th St - it's a weird intersection (wilfieandnell.com)
Edibles: pulled pork sliders; grilled cheese sandwich; fries with malt vinegar

Musings: If only I could find a man as satisfying as these pulled pork sliders... Love at first bite and I'm still head over heels! They are SERIOUSLY delicious. The grilled cheese and the fries are also great, but the sliders are the real superstars.

With its selection of superb bar food and fancy beers, Wilfie & Nell is a real guy-friendly place. Good for a date, too - dim, charming but low-key, and with lots of nooks and crannies in the main room. And if you don't have a man... well, there's always those sliders.

Mmmm... shaved ice dessert

After dim sum, we went across the street to poke around in the Flushing Mall. The food court really merited its own separate trip, but we found some room for a shaved ice dessert with the following toppings: stewed taro, stewed mung beans, tapioca balls, ai yu jelly and condensed milk. It was awesome but I would say that this, too, is an Asian dish with a high degree of difficulty. Not for beginners!

Asian Jewels (fka Ocean Jewels)

Occasion: Dim sum with two of my Penn posse, Kathy and Yining
Location: Ocean Jewels Seafood Restaurant on 39th Ave near College Point Blvd in Flushing [2010 update: now called Asian Jewels]
Edibles: the classics - shrimp fun; shu mai; har gao; pork and thousand-year-old egg congee; bbq pork buns; steamed daikon cake; sesame balls with lotus paste filling; mini egg tarts

Musings: Leagues better than anything I've had in Manhattan. All the food was piping hot, well-seasoned and not too greasy (at least, not by Chinese food standards). And it was served by old-school dim sum ladies wheeling carts around, shouting out their offerings in Mandarin and Cantonese. For me, the standout was the congee but I wouldn't recommend it to any neophyte white folks out there.

To make room for other Flushing delicacies, we were fairly restrained in our ordering. The total bill came out to only $25 and we walked out feeling moderately full and extremely satisfied. Don't bother fighting the tourist crowd in Chinatown next time you're in the mood for dim sum - the good stuff's in Flushing.

Hallo Berlin

Occasion: Friday afternoon loafing with Yining
Location: Hallo Berlin on 10th Ave between 44th and 45th (halloberlinrestaurant.com)
Edibles: alpenwürst and bratwürst, each served on a crusty roll with sauerkraut, red cabbage, grilled onions and a slathering of mustard; a stein (0.5L) of Radeberger pils

Musings: Beer and sausages on a beautiful sunny day? Heaven.

The service and décor are nothing to write home about but the food is good and the beers are relatively cheap. It doesn't have a true beer garden - there are a few tables out front and a patio area in the back (though I've never managed to get seated there). The front is a bit noisy from the traffic but, on a nice day, you can watch the sunset.

I'll definitely be going back soon for a humpen (that's their 1L-size mug) and some wiener schnitzel.

Mmmm... strawberries

Another reason to love Manhattan: Out of nowhere, I started craving strawberries. I ran out to the little fruit stand half a block away from my apartment and, two minutes later (seriously, the screensaver on my computer hadn't kicked in yet), was eating strawberries. Instant gratification - it's a wonderful thing.

Another use for chopstick dexterity: Fishing a runaway strawberry out of the garbage disposal.

Mary's Fish Camp

Occasion: Lunch with Bess
Location: Mary's Fish Camp on Charles at W 4th (marysfishcamp.com)
Edibles: salad of romaine hearts, cucumber and avocado with green goddess dressing; lobster roll (photo courtesy of Bess' iPhone); mini hot fudge sundae

Musings: Bess and I shared the salad to start. It was decent enough, but the dressing had a touch too much of one herb (I think it was tarragon?) for my taste.

The lobster roll? All I can say is, "Glorious, glorious!!" This is some top quality stuff - huge chunks of perfectly-cooked lobster, creamy dressing, on a buttery brioche bun. My only complaint is that it didn't come as a pair! A tart, icy Arnold Palmer complemented.

The mini hot fudge sundae, topped with fresh whipped cream and a shard of peanut brittle, which we also shared, was the perfect finish to a decadent lunch.

With its consistent excellence, Mary's easily holds its place as one of my top NYC restaurants.

Top Chef Masters Ep. 4

Original Air Date: July 8, 2009

1) Wouldn't it be cool to grab drinks with Mark Peel and Neil Patrick Harris?
2) Man, Besh and Rodriguez got SPANKED. The critics were pretty harsh this ep.
3) How did Anita Lo ever come up with the concept for her dish? Those are some wacky ingredients she chose to use, and combine. I would certainly be surprised if I cut into something that I thought was a scallop and it turned out to be a daikon shell filled with raw beef.
4) That Sterno-smeared coconut looked nasty. Rodriguez should have given up on the idea after he couldn't find the rum he wanted to use. Still, I'd rather eat that dish than Keller's mac-and-cheese, prepared in a college dorm bathroom. Ick.

Bar Stuzzichini

Occasion: Casual catch-up dinner with Catherine
Location: Bar Stuzzichini on B'way between 21st and 22nd (barstuzzichini.com)
Edibles: 3 small plates - meatballs; grilled eggplant with buffalo ricotta; grilled octopus

Musings: When the line at Shake Shack looked to be 1-hour plus, we detoured over to Bar Stuzzichini. I'd been a few times before and had found it solid enough for repeat patronage.

Yikes. TERRIBLE service today. We started at the bar for a drink, in hopes of scoring an outside table. When an outside table opened up, we asked the bartender (at the host dude's request) for the tab. The bartender was totally spaced out and either mentally decided to transfer our tab and forgot to tell us, or forgot about us altogether and tried to cover. Once we got that settled (tab would be transferred, we were told), we sat down at our table. No menu for ages. Luckily, we'd already decided what we wanted at the bar and flagged our waiter down to give him our order. At the end of the meal, when the bill came, they left off our drinks. Being honest citizens, we pointed this out. Bill comes back, now charging me for two pinot grigios when I'd only had one. On the third try, they finally get the bill right.

And the food? Meatballs were tasty, but one of mine was cold in the middle. Eggplant tasted okay but it consisted of one measly roll, about the size of a roll of pennies, for us to share. Octopus - all two pieces of it - was fantastic, tender and flavorful. So for 5 meatballs, 1 eggplant roll and 2 pieces of octopus tentacle, we were charged $18. On previous visits, I swear the servings were much more generous. Perhaps the recession has resulted in some cutbacks.

All told, the bad service plus the reduced serving sizes mean I'm likely not going back.

Kyotofu

Occasion: Pre-theatre (West Side Story matinee) lunch with Nellie
Location: Kyotofu on 9th Ave between 48th and 49th (kyotofu-nyc.com)
Edibles: carrot and miso soup; chicken and tofu burger


Musings: This place is probably most famous for its tofu desserts, but we thought we'd try it for lunch. I liked the soup, but for a slightly heavy hand with the miso. The burger was big and hearty, on a brioche bun with a great Asian bbq sauce. I couldn't taste the tofu at all, but it kept the burger wonderfully moist. Good value, at $13 for both courses.

(We skipped dessert and went up the block to Cold Stone Creamery for ice-cream. It was just that kind of wonderful, sunny day. My usual at Cold Stone - sweet cream ice-cream with graham cracker crust and pecans - was excellent as always.)

Inoteca

Occasion: Fourth of July dinner with Elizabeth
Location: Inoteca on 3rd Ave at 24th (inotecanyc.com)
Edibles: caponata bruschetta (and a taste of Elizabeth's fig mascarpone); tonnarelli con ragu bianco (square spaghetti with white sauce)

Musings: I was psyched when this Inoteca opened within walking distance of my apartment but I've only been there twice before today due to the difficulty in getting resos. (More than a week in advance is beyond my plan-making abilities. Inoteca's loss; Damon Frugal Friday, Artisanal and Irving Mill's gain.) Tonight, the restaurant was almost completely empty. Not surprising, since the streets of NYC were likewise empty this whole long weekend. It was nice to be able to sit down immediately and have elbow room to boot. I noticed that the menu, mostly in Italian, is now accompanied by a glossary. I've only seen this in one other restaurant, and I find it as pretentious and fussy here as when I first encountered it at Otto.

I can't get enough of caponata these days, so I was very satisfied with my little starter. I thought the fig mascarpone was good in theory but I didn't love it. As for the main, I'd had the pasta before (lunch with Bess) so I knew what was coming. The sauce was rich and tasty, as I remembered, but somewhat marred this time by some tough, woody flecks from poorly trimmed artichokes.

Overall, pretty solid. But this restaurant's main appeal continues to be its proximity to my apartment. Man, we desperately need some good restaurants in Murray Hill/Kip's Bay.

(PS. Bess, I really was atrociously, rudely late when we met for lunch that time and I apologize again!)

Lisbon City Guide

(Updated April 2014)

General / Getting Around: The neighborhoods of Lisbon are actually quite small, and close together. It will often be quickest to walk between them, though be forewarned that the streets can be very steep.

We never did have a good breakfast or lunch in Lisbon. I don't know if it's because those are meals that city dwellers eat at home, or if we just had bad luck. We had considerably better luck with dinner and bar-hopping. Note: Acceptance of credit cards was a bit spotty; if that's all you have left on you, ask first.

The neighborhood where we found the best food was Barrio Alto. It did involve navigating around some very small, winding, dimly lit and sometimes deserted back streets. We had dinner in the tiny Restaurante BarAlto and it was lovely. Lots of bars in the area to wander around, after.

Do not miss Tasca da Esquina - a very enthusiastic recommendation here. We learned of the place from the very nice women in the wine tasting room, and in a burst of travel magic, happened to see it from the tram we took right after. We impulsively jumped off the tram and were able to get a table with no reservation. It was so good we went back on our last night, just to be sure we ended on a good note. We got the 7-course tasting each time (€35), which is actually more like 9 courses because the dessert is a sampler of 3 (créme brulée, île flottante and chocolate mousse for us). Absolutely fantastic.

The wine tasting room on the Praça do Comércio and the port tasting room (affiliated) were also fun. The wine tasting was a wee bit expensive, but the single tasting of port gave us a good benchmark, and it was also here that I discovered Portuguese espumante (sparkling wine) which is delicious, cheap, but rarely exported because of low volumes.

The port tasting room can be hard to find, as it's inside a set of old gates, more or less across the little park with the great lookout point. If you're walking uphill and you hit the Independente, you've gone too far. The first day we went, the wine list was a bit more extensive than the second. The decor is fantastic, with a very retro, old school club feel. Closed on Sunday but open to midnight on Sat. (Sorry for the lack of links and names!)

The port tasting room also sold bottles. Unless you absolutely fall in love with a super specific rare thing, though, I'd get my port at the Lisbon airport - the duty-free has a very extensive selection of port, including the exact Dow's vintage I wanted. Saved me from having to check my bag. (Incidentally, transit through Frankfurt was no problem for the carry-on liquids rule. They have some machines that can test the bottles without having to open them.)

For the view, definitely hit Portas do Sol's massive terrace. It's just off the St. Jorge Castle lookout point. (If you're up there, you can't miss it.) They have two giant round cushion things under umbrellas - as soon as I saw it, I wanted to go to there. We managed to score one of the cushion things and spent a supremely enjoyable couple of hours slurping down a huge pitcher of sangria, snoozing, and taking in the stunning, stunning view.

Santiago / Valparaíso City Guides

(Updated 2015)

Santiago

DO NOT MISS:

• Bocanáriz. Our favorite place in Santiago, hands down. We were in town seven days and ate here three times (albeit a little sheepishly that last time). They have a very deep local wine list and serve single glasses and tasting sizes on a lot of it. The food is uniformly excellent and easy to share. My favorites were the duck confit, followed by the vodka-celery seafood ceviche bowl.

OTHERS:

• Sandwich restaurant: José Ramón 277. Found using my restaurant Spidey sense on a little street just around the corner from our apartment. This place was also worth a repeat visit. I very much enjoyed their lengua sandwich, and Karen raved about their vegetarian chickpea patty.
• Sandwich lunch counter: Fuente Alemana. The sandwiches here are *massive.* Chileans love them some sandwiches.
• Empanadas: Bombon Oriental. Their chicken empanada was the winning empanada for the trip. I'd pass on their baklava, though.
• Ice-cream: Emporio La Rosa
• Fancy French: Astrid y Gastón. We didn't actually end up eating here, as it was a bigger, richer meal than we were in the mood for that night. The location is sort of randomly in the middle of a suburb but the restaurant looked very nice and was recommended by Lonely Planet.

AVOID:

• Mercado Central: More like Tourist Trap Central. Do not eat at any of the restaurants here!

GENERAL NOTES:

Like in Buenos Aires, people eat late in Santiago - like, 10pm is a normal dinnertime. Places do also tend to be closed unpredictably, so call ahead to make sure they're open on the day and time you want to go.

Chile is known for its wine - I loved the Carménère, loved the Chardonnay - but don't forget to check out the budding microbrew beer scene, influenced by German immigration into Chile. Kuntsmann and Kross were both excellent.

A good foodie souvenir to bring back for yourself and friends is merkén - a Mapuche spice blend containing smoked peppers and coriander. Unlike pisco and wine, you can throw 10 packets into your carry-on bag, no problem.

For a non-food activity, I highly recommend the Los Dominicos Handicraft Village. Shopping in town is otherwise underwhelming.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

We stayed at the Lastarria Apart-hotel and loved it. Our apartment had two bedrooms, two full baths, a kitchen, and a HUGE private patio. The neighborhood is great, with most of the restaurants I mentioned above within walking distance. Highly recommended.

Valparaíso

DO NOT MISS:

• Ápice. Small, oft-updated menu, all local ingredients. Really sophisticated and intriguing flavor combinations. This place is tiny - make reservations.
• Chilean cooking class with Boris. Boris is a character. Very cheerful and campy (though I'm pretty sure we brought the latter out in him). He was also very flexible about the dietary restrictions in our group. The class includes shopping for materials in the market, which is always fun. We made ceviche, empanadas, pastel de choclo, and leche asada. Cocktails and wine are also included. Well worth the time and money.
• Bar de Pisco. Check out the national cocktail in all its forms here. If you ate dinner early, this place might be empty when you pass it. But don't be deceived - it fills up.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

• Café Vinilo: Diner with a sort of a retro, boho, Brooklyn vibe. I had a nice stewed rabbit here. They make their own beer.
• Pasta e Vino: Italian, on the fancier side.
• Norma's: Nice prix fixe lunch.
• Emiliana Vineyards. Its organic and biodynamic philosophy make for an interesting tour. They have lots of chickens and alpacas roaming around - very charming. And they make damn good wine too.
• Indomita Vineyards. The wine is average but it's worth a visit just for their stunning, stunning view. No need to take the tour here, just get a tasting and sit out on the patio.

Marrakech City Guide

(Updated 2011)

DO NOT MISS:

• Moroccan cooking class: Both Souk Cuisine and the Riad Kniza offer cooking classes. You get to go shopping in the market with Souk Cuisine, but you'll get more personalized attention at Kniza. Can't go wrong, either way.

MOROCCAN:

• Traditional: Le Marrakchi
• Modern: Mama Ti Lee

RIAD:

• In addition to being a simply gorgeous, luxurious place to stay, Riad Le Clos des Arts serves an amazing breakfast to its guests, including homemade yogurt and fresh pastries. They can also serve you dinner the central courtyard upon request.

ART GALLERY / LUNCH:

• Dar Cherifa

Note: You can also search for other Marrakech blog entries using the tag "MAR-Marrakech."

Seoul City Guide

TOFU:

• Tofu House

DUMPLINGS:

• Sinpo Mandoo

MISC:

• Old Tea Shop

Note: You can also search for other Seoul blog entries using the tag "KOR-Seoul."

Tokyo City Guide

(Updated 2010)

SUSHI:

• Super fancy, with 3 Michelin stars: Sukiyabashi Jiro. I haven't been, but this place is definitely on my international restaurant bucket list. The omakase costs a breathtaking ¥30,000 (about $400); if you eat quickly, you could be in and out in 20 minutes.

YAKITORI:

• In addition to the regular variety of skewers, Momotaro serves chicken sashimi if you're feeling adventurous.

RAMEN:

• Menya Musashi
• For other options, refer to the ramen map below, provided by the Keio Plaza Hotel. (It's dated March 2010 so double-check any place you want to go, to make sure it's still open.)

MISC:

• Activity / market: Tsukiji Fish Market

Note: You can also search for other Tokyo blog entries using the tag "JPN-Tokyo."

Stockholm City Guide

(Updated 2011)

VEGETARIAN:

• Hermans. You know it's good when a carnivore like me digs it.

CARNIVOROUS:

• Hot dog stand: Östermalms Korvspecialist
• Djuret (Swedish for "animal"), also known as Svinet ("pig") in the summer
• Traditional: Pelikan

MISC:

• Ice-cream: 18smaker Glassmakeri
• Market: Östermalms Saluhall

Note: You can also search for other Stockholm blog entries using the tag "SWE-Stockholm."

Buenos Aires City Guide

(Updated 2009)

DINING TIME:

• People eat very, very late in Buenos Aires. And I say that as a New Yorker. If you go for dinner at 8:00 pm, you will see the staff just starting to set up. 10:00 pm is respectable, but it's not unusual for restaurants to seat tables at midnight.

DO NOT MISS:

• Casa Felix. Chef Diego Felix cooks out of his house (you're allowed to do that in Buenos Aires). Space is limited so book in advance. It's a pescetarian tasting menu, with a focus on local ingredients and indigenous cuisine. Absolutely amazing.
• Diego cooks stateside too - he does a few private parties to subsidize his annual trip to the US. Read about my experience with that here. Get on his mailing list if this is something you might be interested in.

STEAK:

• It's delicious pretty much everywhere and cheap to boot. Be aware that locals like their steak cooked well done. To get medium rare, ask for "jugoso."

THE LOCAL EXPERIENCE:

• Enfundá La Mandolina. It helps if you speak Spanish, but I never let a thing like a foreign language get between me and a good meal.

MISC:

• Bakery: Best empanadas I had all trip were from Las Familias

AVOID:

• The dinner + tango show offered at El Viejo Almacén. Crazy overpriced and food that even an airline would be embarassed to serve. Blech.

Note: You can also search for other Buenos Aires blog entries using the tag "ARG-BuenosAires."

Madrid City Guide

(Updated 2011)

DO NOT MISS:

• Activity / market: Mercado de San Miguel

HOT CHOCOLATE AND CHURROS:

• Chocolatería San Ginés

BAR/RESTAURANT:

• Mercado de la Reina

Note: You can also search for other Madrid blog entries using the tag "ESP-Madrid."

Reykjavik City Guide

(Updated 2011)

FISH AND CHIPS:

• Icelandic Fish and Chips. Go early, and be prepared for a bit of a wait.

INDIAN:

• Indian Mango. Good, but pricey.

YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY:

• Sægreifinn's lobster soup. Mark Bittman loved it; I thought meh.
• Fancy seafood: Fish Market. Yining and I were underwhelmed but Meredith loved it.

Note: You can also search for other Reykjavik blog entries using the tag "ISL-Reykjavik."

Taipei City Guide

(Updated 2014)

DO NOT MISS:

• Basically, in Taipei, the one place you can't miss is Din Tai Fung. To start, get a couple of steamers of xiao long bao. The pork is the classic, the crab is the luxury item and there's a fantastic newcomer to the party - the shrimp and loofah. It's delicate and light and perfect for giving your palate some relief from the richness of the pork or the crab.

Aren't they bee-yoo-tiful?

Bamboo with mayo

Sautéed water convolvulus

Shrimp fried rice

Eight Treasure Rice

BUBBLE TEA:

• 50 Lan. Multiple locations. Look for the below logo. You can get all sorts of crazy bubble tea concoctions, including ones with Yakult or an entire creme caramel pudding mixed in. They will ask you to specify the level of sweetness (regular, 90%, 70%, 50%, 30%, 10% or none) and the amount of ice (regular, reduced or none). My beverage of choice here is the milk bubble tea with the small bubbles, reduced ice and 30% sugar. It's about $1 a cup.

NOODLES:

• Xa jiang mien at my little noodle stall - if it has a name, I don't know it. It's on Da-an Road, just off Xin-yi Road. There's a little strip of shops and the noodle stall is the last one before you get to a little children's playground. If you hit the 7-Eleven, you've gone too far. This one's a sentimental favorite; I've been eating these noodles since I was eight years old. The perfect amalgamation of chewy homemade noodles, a hearty meat sauce and some crunch and bite from braised greens and pickled lettuce. A bowl will run you just under $2.

CASUAL:

• Ban Mu Yuan at the corner of Da-An Road and Dongfeng Street. Grab some small dishes out of the refrigerated case in the back, order a few of their beef or veggie xian bing (sort of a Chinese Hot Pocket) and a bowl of congee.

DESSERT:

• Dong Qu Fen Yuan in Lane 216 off Zhong Xiao East Road. Best place to get a big carton of that weird Chinese ice dessert topped with various stewed beans and odd chewy bits. Also famous for their soft tofu. 

FOR THE ADVENTUROUS:

• The really quintessentially Taiwanese food cannot be easily documented. It's the street stalls, food carts, night markets. Be adventurous. If a stand is busy, that's a good sign. Order what everyone else orders and you should be okay. Don't ask too many questions.