st. michael's alley

palo alto, ca

website

the best part of this restaurant is its proximity to vanita's apt. vanita and i might have had half a bottle of wine between the two of us before reaching the restaurant. we might have put the cork back in it and carried it with us in the restaurant. hey, at least we weren't drinking straight from the bottle, okay? tina eventually joined us and another excellent bottle was ordered by vanita. which we didn't finish, but did take with us after dinner. ah, california.

the outdoor seating looked particularly inviting, but it was too chilly. next time, when its warmer, we'll get a table out there because the three of us + two bottles of wine = a bit of a ruckus. the food was hit or miss. vanita has had some excellent dishes there, but unfortunately my entree choice was a miss. my "new york" steak was full of gristle and doused in an unnecessary veal reduction. left me longing for a real new york strip steak. dessert, however, was a hit. wonderfully moist pumpkin spice cake soaked in caramel sauce. delicious.

stone rose bar @ jfk

queens, ny

link to yelp

as usual, derek and i were nearly 2 hours early for our flight to SF. so we decided to get a bite to eat. the delta terminal at JFK might be old and decrepit, but the mezzanine level has a reliable burger king. then we noticed the stone rose bar, a full-sized sit down restaurant with a lounge area and bar. the seating looked more comfortable so we went for it. ended up running into hana as she left the lounge to catch her flight! small world. we decided to meet up in the city at some later date (to be posted).

the hostess graciously seated derek and myself at a four-top, so we had enough room to put our luggage to the side. service was surprisingly friendly and cheerful for being at an airport. everyone else in the lounge was drinking cocktails, but derek and i were focused on food. the cheese and bacon covered potato skins were too greasy for me, but derek enjoyed them. i liked my vegetable pizza, especially the chunks of melted mozzarella. would i ever eat here if i wasn't stuck in an airport? absolutely not. however it was a quiet and comfortable space to relax before the flight.

bohemian

great jones (bowery/ lafayette)

link to yelp

a few months ago, jenny, derek, and i were wandering around noho, trying to find a good spot to eat. along great jones street, we noticed a brightly lit japanese butcher shop. right next to it was a long narrow corridor with a locked door at the end. through the glass door at the end, we saw a woman carrying a pitcher and assumed that it must have been a restaurant. we stepped back out, checked the door, checked above the door, looked around, trying to find the name of the restaurant. we even walked around the block trying to find the entrance before arriving back at strange corridor again. we decided to just give it a go and walked down the corridor. a woman let us in, then asked if we had any reservations. of course we didn't. just then, the chef comes out of the kitchen and introduces himself and his concept. its a "secret" restaurant. there's only 4 tables and a couple of seats at the bar. reservations can only be made if someone passes on the secret phone number to you, and the chef graciously gave us that number.

and so we made reservations a few weeks later, snagging three seats at the bar for a 10 pm reservation. the black miso cod with mushrooms was incredibly buttery and rich. each of us got a kobe burger - solid. my favorite part of the meal, however, was the cocktails. the bartender clearly took a lot of pride in his craft. i had a delicious slushy drink with fresh strawberries, basil, champagne, and rum. derek had a bloody mary with corn-infused vodka, house-blended tomato juice, fresh lemon juice, and fresh oregano and thyme. amazing. at the end of the night (after asking how we found out about the place), the bartender treated derek to a small glass of his home-made limoncello. wow.

jade asian

flushing, queens

website

derek and i have been talking about exploring more of flushing (the real chinatown in new york city). y&a graciously offered to drive derek and myself to queens for some great chinese food. we had dim sum at jade asian - solid fare. my favorite was the shrimp chang fen - super wide rice noodles wrapped around cooked shrimp and coated in soy sauce.

at one point, i was just pointing to various dishes without any clue of what was inside. one plate with three crispy shells looked promising, until y took a bite - durian!! the dangerously pungent fruit commonly enjoyed in southeast asia. y is a fan, a is not. i decided to give it a try and y giggled with glee when she saw my reaction. i made derek try some too. he was less adverse to it, but not a fan. a refused to try it and y was left with the rest of the plate to enjoy.

bar pilar

washington, dc

website

my meeting ended up getting extended to a second day so i had time for a quick late night snack with anthony. we went to bar pilar, a drinking spot in his hood. i had an excellent glass of wine and anthony enjoyed his cocktail. he had already eaten, so i just ordered a couple of tapas for my meal - arugula salad, sausage, and octopus.

my favorite was the grilled octopus (pictured). it's hard to cook octopus correctly, but this was done perfectly. just the right amount of char on it, the texture was chewy and tender, and it had a hint of spice from the smoked paprika. delicious. this is definitely a good spot for some late night snacks and drinks.

west end bistro

washington, dc

website

the best part of having meetings in DC is that it gives me a chance to catch up with friends - anthony, eric, and jenny met me for dinner at the westend bistro in foggy bottom. westend bistro is billed as "by eric ripert" - whatever that means. eric ripert is a famous chef in nyc, known for his three michelin-starred restaurant le bernadin. a big name, so i had high hopes for the meal.

unfortunately, my escargots and wild mushrooms over grits was a bit heavy. i prefer escargots when they're kept in the shells and doused in butter and garlic. the heaviness of the appetizer prevented me from enjoying the hamburger, i could only eat about half of it. it could be i just ordered poorly, everyone else's dishes looked great - especially the ribeye that eric ordered.

red farm @ foodparc

6th ave (29/30)

website

michelle, derek, and i had lunch at the madison square market (review to follow), which is an outdoor food court. it was a gorgeous day, so we decided to walk through chelsea and check out the limelight marketplace. once done with the marketplace, we tried to figure out what to do next. why not keep eating? michelle and i had heard about the new foodparc food court in the eventi hotel in north chelsea. nyc has this new obsession with food courts that i find very promising.

upon entering the food court, you're directed to computer kiosks where you can order from any of the restaurants using a touchscreen menu. since we had already eaten lunch, we decided just to get the egg rolls from red farm, made with katz's pastrami. katz's is possibly my favorite deli in the city, with amazing pastrami. someone at red farm decided to add chop up some pastrami, add some cabbage, roll it up and deep fry it. a great idea, but executed poorly. while the roll had a nice crunch, you could barely taste the pastrami. it was overwhelmed with pepper and cabbage. really unfortunate.

sushi you

51st (2/3)

link to yelp

CR is my official scout for hidden restaurant gems in midtown east. she lives in the hood and is constantly exploring to find great food. this is one of her finds. sushi you is tucked away on a quiet street, east of everything. it doesn't impress at first glance - you have to walk down a narrow set of stairs to the basement. but once inside, you'll find a peaceful and simple japanese restaurant with just a handful of small tables. sushi you is named after chef you, who used to be the sushi chef and owner. the ownership changed shortly before CR, jenny, and myself were able to make it for dinner.

we were wary, but the food remains excellent. my plate of a la carte sushi, artfully and appropriately placed on a palette-like plate, was heavenly. amazing uni, tasting delicately of the sea. the salmon melted in my mouth. perfect saba (mackerel). when sushi is done well, it can render the diner speechless and unable to participate in conversations. jenny and CR can testify that i was indeed silent, except every now and then saying "mmmm, so good." dessert was also remarkable - homemade ice cream - we had earl grey, chocolate, and caramel. rich and creamy with the just the right amount of sweetness. i'll still go to seki for their one-of-a-kind omakase, but this might be my new spot for straight sushi.

stephanie's on newbury

boston, ma

website

in boston for business, i managed to escape work long enough to have dinner with danielle on newbury street (aka my favorite street in boston). cool shops and excellent eats - all in the span of a couple of blocks. awesome. stephanie's on newbury serves comfort food but with unique gourmet touches.

danielle ordered a ginormous cuban sandwich - toasted and ooey gooey - enough for two meals. i ordered the fish and chips. i'm not sure the photo captures the sheer size of the serving. a giant basket of perfectly crispy fries topped with 3 huge pieces of perfectly crispy fish. delicious. the highlight, however, was the amazing radicchio aioli. danielle and i were both dipping our fries into the garlicky hot pink aioli. phenomenal.

five points

great jones (bowery/ lafayette)

website

it's been a while since my last post. i have a massive backlog of food photos that need to be posted. once again, i've been too busy to blog, but obviously not too busy to eat. okay, onto five points, where derek and i had brunch nearly a month ago. it's famous for its brunch, which generally means long lines, which generally means we're not going because i'm too hungry/impatient to wait. derek and i were shopping the bowery and decided to drop by to see how long the wait was. thankfully, it was only about 15-20 mins. not bad. we waited outside (a month ago, it was still warm out) and watched all the hipsters walk by.

once seated, it took another 5-10 minutes to figure out what to order. the menu was packed with fancified comfort food - baked eggs, pork-fennel sausage, free-range chicken, polenta ... i finally settled on the "roasted tomato and eggs" - the simply named dish ended up being a complex mix of flavors - smoky roasted tomato, sprinklings of ricotta cheese, buttery polenta, and chunks of sharp parmesan were perfect with the runny baked eggs. delicious. i honestly can't remember what derek ordered (hey, it's been a month) but i do recall that he had an excellent bloody mary from their surprisingly varied menu of brunch drinks. this place definitely lives up to the hype.

lan zhou handmade noodles

e bway (rutgers/ pike)

website

if you couldn't tell already, derek and i love hand-pulled noodles. but lan zhou is the first place that they hand-pull the noodles to order right in front of you. so you get to see the noodles get slapped against a table and stretched into perfectly formed noodles right before they're thrown into a bowl of boiling broth. the setting is standard hole-in-the-wall, but with the flourescent lighting and dingy surroundings you really feel transported to asia.

i found the dumplings were good, but had a bit too much ginger for my tastes. i ordered my bowl of noodles with tripe and the cook graciously added all sorts of other intestinal delights. quite a lot of offal, but delicious. derek ordered his standard (boring) bowl with beef slices. the broth was rich and sufficiently beefy. pickled cabbage is available in a sketchy-looking plastic bowl on each table (although sketchy didn't stop me from adding a few spoonfuls). it's worth it for the spectacle, but i'm going to stick with my many-meats-special soup and delicious gingerless dumplings at kuai la mian.