Ember Room - Photo Essay

I love having friends who work in food journalism because I get to go to restaurant menu tasting events. Love it! My friend Will who works with The Daily Meal as a recipe editor and invited me last night to a menu tasting at the Ember Room in Hell's Kitchen, NYC. Chef Pongtawat "Ian" Chalermkittichai invited a few publications to come taste their new menu items. Despite having just arrived back in New York after a visit to Thailand and waking up super early to do a morning show on CBS, Chef Ian was gracious, welcoming and nice enough to by our table a few times to talk about his food and travels. Ember Room is not his first restaurant in the city, his first restaurant, self-titled Kittichai, is actually one of my favorite places in the city so I had high hopes for the food. I certainly wasn't disappointed. 

 Crispy Rock Corn Shrimp - tempura battered shrimp, roasted melting eggplant, sweet tamarind dressing, shredded hard-boiled egg

 Thai Tacos - shredded chicken, bean sprouts, chives, peanut, tofu, coconut, sweet chili sauce

 “Yum Hoi” Pomelo Scallops - seared “diver” scallops, chili jam glaze, pomelo salad, roasted pepper-lime dressing

 Koi Tuna Tartare - fresh tuna, roasted ground rice, crispy tortillas, chili-lime dressing

 Had Yai Volcano Chicken - oven-roasted turmeric-coconut marinated chicken, green chili sauce (IT'S ON FIRE!)

 Korean BBQ-Beef Fried Rice - wok-fried rice, kimchee, bbq beef, topped with raw egg.

 Crispy Whole Striped Bass - whole fish, sweet/sour/spicy sauce, crispy basil 

 Red Curry Crispy Duck - lychee, pineapple, cherry tomato, eggplant

 Mango with Sticky Rice & Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

 Pandan Pot de Crème with Waffle and Pandan Ice Cream

Ippudo

Ippudo. Momofuku. The rivalry between these two restaurants is legendary. Whenever you talk to someone in New York City about ramen, one of these restaurants will be mentioned. We got to Ippudo ten minutes before they opened and there was already a line of people waiting outside. My expectations at that point went up 100% because if people are willing to wait outside a restaurant on a freezing Sunday morning hours before the Superbowl (when the NY Giants are actually playing in) it must be pretty freaking good.I knew this place was popular but I had no idea the hype around Ippudo vs Momofuku was so intense. I swear I even got a couple side glances when I asked my friend if Momofuku was better.

 Hitari Pork Buns

Shiromaru Chaschu Ramen

I thought the pork buns were phenomenal! Thick juicy pork belly slices with crisp lettuce and spicy mayo. The ramen soup was nice and savory without being overly salty (a common downfall with ramen broth). My friend's spicy soup was a little more to my taste and her noodles were normal thickness. I orderedAkamaru Modern had thinner noodles. Not my favorite but still good. The main reason I decided on this bowl of ramen was their signature "Umami Dama" paste they top the bowl with. It was a cross between miso and chinese bean paste. An additional seasoned soft bowled egg made this a pretty tasty bowl of soup noodles.

 

"Umami Dama" paste & soft-boiled egg

 

 Akamaru Modern Ramen

Now I just have to try Momofuku (post to follow soon) and finally put this rivalry to rest. :)

Cafe Boulud - Restaurant Week

Restaurant Week in NYC is coming to an end this week and I've taken the opportunity to try a few of New York's restaurants at a severely discounted price. Lunch is only $24.07 and Dinner $35. Restaurant week is a great opportunity for people to enjoy great food, restaurants, and renowned chefs at an affordable price. I can think of many meals where I paid much more than the prix-fixe prices which proved incomparable to the elegant delicious food off the restaurant week menus at New York's finest restaurants.





One hot ticket for restaurant week is Cafe Boulud who only partakes in lunch service for restaurant week; their dinner menu remains the same. I have tried getting a reservation for their restaurant week menu since last year and this year was lucky enough to stumble onto a cancelled reservation. With 24 hours of notice, I recruited my friend Niko to play hooky and take an extended lunch hour to try this french restaurant owned by distinguished chef Daniel Boulud in the Upper East Side.

 Amuse Bouche - Truffle Oil Arancini Stuffed with Fontina Cheese
 

 Appetizer - Duck Terrine with Frisee, Onion and Cranberry

 Dessert - Rum Raisin Bavariose with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 Complimentary Madeleine Cookies at the end of the meal

From their famous end-of-the-meal Madeleine cookies to the arancini amuse bouche it was a fantastic meal start to finish. The server even told us that customers have come back to the restaurant specifically for the Madeleines and ask if they can pay to have them at the beginning of the meal as well as the end. And as someone who does not particularly enjoy sweets, I have to say they were pretty good. Subtle lemon flavors in the fresh-out-of-the-oven warm cookies with powdered sugar dusted on top for the perfect amount of sweetness. In addition to their fantastic $24.07 three course prix-fixe menu, Cafe Boulud also has a special $24 bottle of wine (white and red option) to accompany their restaurant week menu. The cherry on top!

Note*: I had the blackened flounder over creamy polenta and braised collard greens for my entree. However, I was overly excited when it came out and forgot to snap a picture of it; but believe me, it was delicious.

'wichcraft

It's lunchtime in New York and the daily turmoil of choosing what to eat is a true dilemma. Dozens of restaurants are within walking distance and even more are willing to deliver straight to your office. A favorite of mine would have to be 'wichcraft.

Though probably not the biggest bang for your buck, 'wichcraft makes up for it in the quality of their ingredients and the consistently good flavors in their food. It's no wonder 'wichcraft produces delicious food with Tom Colicchio as a co-owner of the sandwich shop with partners Sisha Ortuzar and Jeffrey Zurofsky. Top Chef is one of my favorite shows and I've been to a couple of Tom's restaurants in NYC already. Now I'm waiting for the weather to warm up so I can eat at Riverpark, Tom's farm-to-table restaurant along the east river (post to come in Spring/Summer). Now nine years since they started 'wichcraft, there are over a dozen 'wichcraft locations in New York as well as storefronts in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

'wichcraft sandwiches ($5-10)

Their slow-roasted pork sandwich is fantastic. The fatty pork is balanced by the slightly crisp sour red cabbage slaw. With the heat from the jalapeno and the sharpness of the mustard, it is just a delicious and deceivingly filling sandwich for it's size. Finish off lunch with a little creamwich ($1); a dollop of flavored cream sandwiched between two crisp little cookie wafers. With several flavors to choose from, mine was chocolate chip cookie with vanilla bean cream, one will definitely fit your taste.

The Spotted Pig

There are many famous restaurants in New York City. The best chefs hope to work in the 'big apple' at some point or other and the lucky few end up with a successful restaurants in  Manhattan. Word of mouth used to be how a restaurant became known to the public, but nowadays there's the Internet, magazines, television, and movies to provide publicity and this next restaurant is no exception. Co-owned by Jay-Z and Bono, frequented by Drew Barrymore, Spike Jonze, and Beyonce, given the stamp of approval from Anthony Bourdain, The Spotted Pig is no stranger to being in the spotlight.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with a few friends in town for a visit. They don't take reservations so you'll just have to suck it up and wait for a table. They have a great selection of beers to keep you and your friends occupied during the wait. We happened to coming around two in the afternoon so we didn't have any trouble getting a table.

My friend, Danny, had the renowned roquefort burger. He simply put it as 'the best burger I've ever had' which is quite a statement from a guy who avoids absolutes. Though he felt that the blue cheese was a bit intense by the end of his meal, he fully enjoyed it and has written me about craving the Spotted Pig burger since his return to San Francisco.

Char-grilled burger w/ Roquefort ($17)

My other friend, Christine, was not in love with her grilled cheese. She thought it was a perfectly fine sandwich but not anything to write home about. The mixture of Fontina, taleggio, and goat cheese on the inside while the bread itself was crusted with Parmesan cheese made this a hefty grilled cheese but the onion marmalade and mustard helped cut through the richness.

Parmesan crusted grilled cheese with onion marmalade and mustard ($16)

I got the Ricotta gnudi. After going to an event previewing the summer menu for the Little Owl, I have become obsessed with fresh ricotta cheese. Like the other two dishes we had at lunch that day, this was also VERY heavy. I ate a little more than half of my plate before Danny finished off the rest. Word of the wise, all male friends become a human food disposal for leftovers and they are more than happy to play their part.

Ricotta gnudi with brown butter and fried sage ($16)

But the best thing we had that lunch was not our main course. Liver has been another obsession of mine. Any restaurant menu I look at, if there is a pate or liver spread, it usually ends up on my table. So of course seeing the chicken liver toast on the menu, it was immediately ordered as our appetizer. This is the dish that keeps me coming back to The Spotted Pig time and time again. Their rich liver spread is velvety in texture and drizzled with the best olive oil. It is just the best and most luscious thing I've had the pleasure of eating.

Chicken liver toast ($6)