More 80s fun

Pac Man oven mitts (I used to rule this game!)

Buy here.

Mad for Chicken? WHY YES!!!!

Minnow is moving away from me…AGAIN. She is taking a long road trip, stopping by South America and then India before finally settling in San Fran with her soon to be husband. Very sad.

She had a farewell dinner for her close friends last night and we hit up K town for some good Korean style chicken at Mad For Chicken (formerly known as Bon Chon Chicken). Trust me when I say, Koreans can make a MEAN fried chicken — dare i say, better than the south? WHY yes i do say it!

We started with some Korean dishes commonly eaten with alcohol:

Seafood Pajun.  Think savory pancake scattered with mussels, calamari, scallions and clams dipped into a soy vinegar sauce.  You see that piece missing? That was me.  Too bad the pajun was incredibly doughy and unseasoned.  I decided to NOT finish it and leave room for the main act.

Next came the hot dukboki:

That seemingly flaming bowl of rice and fish cakes in chili sauce wasn’t actually so hot.  It was very meh.  I’ve had better elsewhere.

Now — the piece de resistance: the chicken. The fried chicken comes in size small, medium and large and in two flavors, soy and spicy.  We got an order of large soy and large spicy. Behold:

Wow these things go down easy.  The skin is very lightly battered and not overly saucy but full of flavor.  The meat beneath is very juicy and piping hot so you know each batch is freshly made.   I literally wish i could describe the crunchy exterior better to you — it’s ultra crispy — think cracklins (fresh pork skin that has been roasting on a spit for hours and hours).  It’s like potato chip skin. You have to try it to fully comprehend what I’m saying. Guess how many orders we got of the large soy, large spicy — 5. Yes. 5. haha but there were like 10 of us so… BUT still alot.

The menu offers sushi and other Korean fare, along with a variety of sojus in different flavors (get the yogurt flavor — tastes like Pinkberry!!) but I recommend you save all the room you can in your tummy for the chicken.

Oh one really fun aspect: you can get your own tabletop beer keg.

haha this thing — it doesn’t get more asian than that!

I’ve made a mental note that I will bring everyone I love here at least once so I can share the happiness.

Mad For Chicken, 314 Fifth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY

A taste of midtown west. NYC

If you haven’t noticed, the Hungry Korean rarely goes midtown west to satisfy her ever thirsting hunger.  I do feel like there are plenty of great restaurants in that area, particularly because there are many restaurants catering to the theater-going crowds.

Mixing it up, the Joy Luck Club decided to meet for our monthly dinner at Blue Ribbon Bar and Grill located in beautiful Columbus Circle.

The restaurant isn’t large and in the same vein as the other Blue Ribbon restaurants has a very spare Japanese decor.  We decided to get a bunch of things and share.  Let’s get on with the feast:  (sorry for photo quality)

We started with the special raw oysters of the day.

6 briny treasures presented on shredded radish and carrots dressed in an asian vinegar sauce.

Next came my favorite dish of the night:

Clams cooked in miso butter.  Wow.  The clams were sweet and tasted slightly of the sea were only enhanced by the velvety miso butter sauce. Too bad I had to share these.

Popcorn shrimp in a wasabi cream dipping sauce came next:

When you think of anything fried Japanese style, you think lightly battered and airy. Same applied here.  Well seasoned sweet fried shrimp piping hot and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, dipped into a pot of creamy sauce and you have a crunchy creamy salty sweet appetizer that has you reaching for more.

Of course fear factor food has to be a part of every Hungry Korean meal: roasted bone marrow  with bonito flakes and teriyaki sauce.

The marrow was unctuous and salted beautifully by the salty bonito shavings (dried fish).  You took a little by the spoon and spread it over the accompanying toast squares for a decadent version of bread and butter.   I have had my share of marrow in the city and this was by far the most creative as it was served asian style.  Blue Ribbon, however, serves the smallest portions of marrow in the city with a measely one, shaved in half.

Finally we had to have Blue Ribbon Sushi and Sashimi delux:

Fish was fresh and delicious but sadly the portions are very small.

We also had the miso blackened cod but the photo came out not so tasty looking so I opted not to share. The dish wasn’t much to rave about either. The cod needed to be marinated awhile longer as there was no miso flavor imparted to the fish and it could have used a healthy dousing of sauce.

I think word to the wise, don’t expect to go to Blue Ribbon and walk away overwhelmingly full.   Go to try very fresh seafood and inventive grill and hot plate choices.  The menu is extensive and will take awhile for you to figure out what you want but once you do, I’m sure everything will be delicious.

Blue Ribbon Bar & Grill, 308 W. 58th Street, New York, NY

Conversation piece

Ceramic and glass milk cartons:

Buy the ceramic version here.

The see through glass one here.

Retro sandwich

I’m a child of the 80s.  To name a few:  E.T., Rainbow Brite, Lucky Charms cereal, Cabbage Patch Kids and Rubik’s cube.

Here’s something for ya:  the Rubik’s cube sandwich

The “Rubix Cubewich” contains cubes of pastrami, kielbasa, pork fat, salami, and two types of cheddar.

This sandwich would go over really well in my Hamptons share.  We eat disgusting quantities of meat and this would not last long….

Nothing says “thank you” like a gift basket

You can even send them to your frenemies now: the ghetto gift basket.

From the product site:

You never know exactly what each Ghetto Basket will include. It all depends on our shaky contacts and what falls off of trucks around the neighborhood. But it might have:
Hot Sauce
Pregnancy Test
Grape Drink
Batteries
Beef Jerky
Potted Meat
Pork Rinds
Noodles in a Cup
After Shave
Plastic Commemorative Plate
Religious Candle
Porcelain Figurine
Kung-Fu DVD
Cassette or VHS Tape
Doo Rag
Vapor Rub
Energy Drank
Soap
Outdated Calendar

Leave it to Martha…

“always innovative and Queen of cute” Stewart to conjure up this cuteness:  TV dinner CUPCAKES!

image taken from ladyflashhh on Flickr

This seriously reminds me of my childhood. No joke, my brother and I would have your normal breakfast and lunch — then a frozen dinner as a snack before dinner.

I suppose that’s where I developed my healthy eating habits. Thanks, Mom.

Recipe for these cupcakes here.

Cooking with Blood

I’m a pretty adventurous eater and I do like my steaks medium rare, I like carpaccio, I eat marrow and I do enjoy a good steak tartare but this article really made me lose it.

It’s extreme eating, that’s for sure.

Read this article at your own risk.

I MUST and WILL have this

I drooled when I saw this photo. It’s handmade fusilli with tender octopus braised in red wine and bone marrow. Apparently the dish, though simple in appearance, is complex. The marrow emulsified by the heat adding a velvety texture to the dish.

I am making my reservation now.

See more pictures and the making of this dish here.  Picture taken from Serious Eats.

Marea, 240 Central Park South, New York NY

UPDATE: I made reservations for July 30th so stay tuned!

My kind of brunch

My old roommate Minnow is leaving at the end of the month to go on a road trip with her fiance, never to return to NYC. She’s relocating to San Fran and I’m very sad.

Sunday we met for brunch in Brooklyn at this pizza place that also makes breakfast pizzas, Motorino.  On Saturdays and Sundays, from 11am-4pm, breakfast pizzas appear on the menu with a choice of juice or bloody mary for a great deal of $10.

I like my pizzas with red sauce and given that it was 1pm, I was more in the mood for lunch than eggs.  I chose the spicy soppressata pizza.

Wow this pizza really hit the spot. The sopressata is spicy and garlicky and slightly crunchy around the edges from the wood burning oven where all the pizzas are cooked.   The red sauce was a perfectly tangy compliment to the smooth mild melted mozzarella. It was a burst of flavor in every bite.

Minnow’s fiance got the breakfast pizza — white sauce, cheese and three eggs are scattered with pancetta and fresh basil.

I am not a white pizza fan ever — really pizza to me is all about the sauce and melted cheese.  This pizza almost tasted bland to me?  The egg was bland and well, eggy, and the white sauce imparted no new layer of flav.

Minnow had a pretty good standard: fried eggs over potatoes and guanciale.

In my opinion, the spicy and salty guanciale really made the dish for me. It is a stray from your traditional bacon and it was very good. The eggs were well cooked and the potoates roasted the way they should — crispy outside, tender mealy inside.

I LOVED my pizza though so i highly recommend, if you find yourself in Brooklyn, definitely try this place for their crusty tasy pizzas.

Motorino, 319 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211