Back to Chang’s

Ssam has a seasonally changing menu so there’s always bound to be a new dish to try. Saturday night, Scarf and I went to try our hand at scoring a seat on a Saturday night, 8pm. We expected a two hour wait and my heart fell when I saw 20 people waiting outside the restaurant. To our surprise, the wait for two was only 15 minutes.

We sat at the bar and each had a glass of their unfiltered sake. Unfiltered sake is cloudy (think watered down milk) but has a relatively sweet taste to it. It’s quite good and you should definitely try it if you’ve never had it.

I of course had an order of the pork buns. Pillows of pork heaven.

For main course, I decided to NOT get another pork/meat based dish and tried my hand at Chang’s version of chicken: fried chicken.

The chicken is off the bone and I believed pressed into a terrine, sliced into long cubes, breaded and deep fried. The batter is deliciously flavored and crispy. Because of the way it is presented, the chicken is very easy to eat..with fork and knife. It’s served on a bed of ramps and a sauce of egg yolk and morels. The morels were delicious! Earthy, deeply flavored mushrooms and I could have had so many more. The dish was delicious and I have to say the most surprising element was the presentation. I suppose I expected a more southern version of fried chicken — not that I’m complaining at all.

My friend had the cripsy pig’s head torchon. Notice that the presentation of the pig was done in the exact way my chicken was done. Pressed, sliced, breaded and deep fried.

The pig was so tender but a bit too fried for Scarf and my tastes. The sauce appeared to taste like miso curry? The frisee was barely existent so maybe one should order a side of vegetables to cut the heaviness of this dish. It is a great dish however.

I love Chang’s inventiveness and his ability to recreate typical dishes in a new and surprising manner. I look forward to my next trip.

Momofuku Ssam, 207 2nd Avenue, New York, NY

Housewife’s dream

You know those nights you order take out for the family (or your friends) because you don’t want to cook or do the dishes? How clever is this: pizza box that breaks down into plates.

Video and more info on this creative invention here.

Genius!

More bacon madness

Bacon Lip balm

Buy it here.

Bacon flavored vodka. (seriously? Grosssss)

More on this product here along with some bacon inspired cocktail recipes.

Too bad for you bacon fanatics, unless you live in Washington, Idaho, Montana or Oregon, you can’t have it as it’s currently only sold in those states.

Cute deliciousness

Too cute for words: smallest cheeseburger combo

See the assembly of the smallest delicious meal ever here.

Fish

My friend Sarrita and I had brunch plans today and craved lobster rolls.

Mary’s Fish Camp: closed on Sunday

Pearl Oyster Bar: closed on Sunday

Mermaid Inn: doesn’t open till 5pm on Sunday

So there you have it — don’t go looking for lobster rolls there. Fish was open however and does serve lobster rolls among other delicious seafood fare so that’s where we headed and were seated right away at the window table.

We started with the 6 oysters or 6 clams and a drink for $8 deal. What a great deal! This deal happens 7 days a week so if you are a raw bar fanatic, here’s one way to indulge your cravings without breaking the bank.

As fate would have it, the waitress comes over and tells us that they ran out of lobster! :c

SO, I had the fish and chips.

The chips are really good but the fish was even better. Deliciously light batter coats this meaty flavorful fish. It definitely was not cod (a mild flaky fish typically used in fish n chip dishes). It was juicy and had a great bite to it. And unlike most fish and chip plates, I didn’t feel overly oily or heavy after eating the entire thing.

My friend had the mussels steamed in a garlic white wine broth with a side of fries.

Mussels were really plump and sweet and the broth was “pick up the bowl and drink it like soup” tasty. I would get this the next time I visit Fish.

The menu is not all fried, although there are fried clams and fried oysters. They offer fare like surf n turf and a wide variety of broiled fishes. I’m very happy to have found a delicious seafood restaurant with fresh seafood and excellent friendly service on a Sunday.

Fish, 280 Bleecker Street, New York, NY

Morandi brunch

Last Saturday it was absolutely beautiful out and Strawberry, SFAM and I wanted to have brunch somewhere outside. We chose Morandi because not only is the restaurant visually appealing (think rustic Italian eatery), but they have a pretty great sidewalk view for people watching.

Here is an example of a restaurant where the decor and energy is what makes it so popular, not so much the food.

I started with the minestrone soup with pasta and pesto.

I don’t know what kind of minestrone soup you’ve had, but typically my minestrone has a tomato based broth, deeply flavored with vegetables and various herbs…this was not what I expected. The vegetables tasted like they came from the supermarket freezer, thawed, thrown into some chicken soup base and liberally doused with pesto. In fact, the pesto was SO present, the soup was incredibly oily and overpowered anything else in the soup. I couldn’t finish it.

Next I had the pasta bolognese which is what I’ll typically order at an Italian restaurant if it’s on the menu.

Ground beef flavors a tomato based sauce. The dish was ok, nothing special. The pasta is definitely not freshly made and the sauce was average. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled with Dell’Anima’s version of pasta bolognese and it’s ruined me for all future bolognese sauces I’ll ever taste.

Sitting outside on such a beautiful day made the brunch special overall. It’s a nice way to pass a Saturday, watching NYC bustle around you but the food is nothing special at Morandi. Would I go back to Morandi? Yes, for the scene and the outdoor seating, not for the food. Oh they did make a great cappuccino though…

Morandi, 211 Waverly Place, New York, NY