Artichoke

I finally paid a visit to the hyped-up new pizza joint, Artichoke on 14th St near 2nd Ave. I went around 3pm last week, and it seems like the place had just opened up because there weren't any pizzas ready yet. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I ordered a slice of the first pizza that came out, and I honestly didn't even know what it was going to be. I was so hungry that I didn't want to wait for anything else. But hey, who doesn't like surprises? Unfortunately, I'm not positive if this one truly delivered. Clearly, I didn't do my research because even while eating it, I didn't know what the slice was called. I'm not sure if it was the signature Artichoke pizza, artichoke&spinach, or just spinach. Because there was only one piece of artichoke on it.

In any case, the slice was actually good if you like a lot of cheese and creamy stuff. For $3, it was a good deal because the pizza was a massive size. I don't think I would get this again though. It was too rich and creamy for my taste...although it did taste good. Sorry, no picture of that pizza. It was extremely messy though, so there's not too much to look at anyways.



But that's the slice I got yesterday - just a plain round slice, and this was way more suited to my taste than the creamy Artichoke pizza. While it may not be for everyone, I loved it. And the thing is that it wasn't perfect, but it's pizza, and as weird as it may sound, it's one of the edible things in life that's sometimes better with it's flaws. I know that totally doesn't even make sense, so I'll stop right there.

The pizza was good, and at $2.50 for a plain slice, it's certainly worth it when all the other plain slices at generic pizza joints are the same price, if not more expensive. Artichoke doesn't use fresh mozzarella, but they don't use generic shredded cheese either. Whatever it is, it's good (considering it's not fresh mozzarella). There was also a generous amount of fresh basil which I like. The narrow half of the pizza was slightly soggy while the wider half was really crunchy, but it's ok because overall, it was a really good-tasting pizza.

Artichoke
14th St. btwn 1st and 2nd Ave

Jade Asian Restaurant

Gabe and I decided to take it easy this month on the food spending, so we opted for dim sum in Flushing. After reading quite a bit about Jade Asian Restaurant, we went with that and were pleasantly surprised! I absolutely love Flushing for the low prices and high quality of food, and Jade Asian lived up to that. Perhaps the only difficult thing about dim sum is communication if you're not Chinese. The women pushing the carts at Jade Asian spoke/understood English better than others I've encountered at other places, but sometimes it was still difficult, especially when we didn't know what something was. Some photos:


Fish in Peppers: This was very oily, and I don't think this was fish in its most natural form. It was like borderline normal fish texture and fish balls. In any case, it was actually pretty good.


Shrimp wrapped in Fried Tofu: I really liked this one. The fried tofu was generously filled with shrimp. We were also given a soy-based sauce to dip it in which had a bit of sweetness to it.

After this, we got what we thought were going to be mini pork buns, but whatever was inside of the breading was yellow, sweet, and very good! I forgot to take a picture of this.


Beef wrapped in Rice Noodle: We also had the option of the more popular Shrimp wrapped in Rice Noodle, but since we just had shrimp in the previous dish, we opted for beef. It was equally good as the shrimp version that I always get at other dim sum places.


Fried Bread wrapped in Rice Noodle: The nice lady pushing the cart didn't really know what this was in English but could only tell us that it's good. Since it did look good, we went for it, and it turned out to be some kind of toasted or fried bread wrapped in rice noodle and topped with sesame seeds and a soy-based sauce. It was also served with oyster sauce on the side. Noodle-wrapped bread sounds weird, but this was actually really good. It seemed like a large portion compared to everything else.


Shumai: Not too much to say about this other than it was better than much of the Filipino-bought shumai I always ate growing up.

I think we both had room for more food but decided to stop since we didn't see too much else that we wanted. Since we got there around 2:30, I do wonder if there was more selection earlier in the day. There were things I had seen in other reviews that I wasn't encountering when we were there. In any case, we were pleasantly satisfied and full, but not full to the gills. Our bill only came out to $21.20 which seemed ridiculously cheap. If only Spanish tapas were that cheap.

Jade Asian Restaurant
136-28 39th Ave
Flushing, NY

Falafels y Waffles

I tried a falafel from Maoz Vegetarian last night after reading some reviews on it. For $4.95, you get a pretty big falafel sandwich in either a wheat or white pita, and all the veggies you want. $5 is a bit on the expensive side for a falafel, especially after surviving on $2.50 falafels from Mamoun's while I was at NYU, but I actually think Maoz is worth it as long as you make the most if it. The thing that puts Maoz above other falafel joints is the salad bar where you can add on all the veggies you want. It comes with a pretty good selection too ranging from several different types of sauaces (I went with the cilantro sauce and what I think was garlic tahini) to all sorts of vegetables. I just went with chickpeas which had some sort of greenery on it, lettuce, and cucumbers. There's definitely a lot of other veggies (i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc etc etc), but I didn't want to overfill my falafel. You can do that if you want though. I definitely saw a guy stack a monster salad on top of the sandwich. Not sure how that held up, but good for him.

Overall, the falafel was pretty darn good, and I'd definitely get it again. It was a pretty decent size with maybe 5-6 falafel balls inside. Perhaps the one downfall is that they're on the dry side, but it doesn't fall apart or anything. The pita itself holds up well. The one thing I always hated about Mamoun's is that their pita bread sucked. It always broke for whatever reason. However, Maoz's pita is fluffy enough that it won't rip. I just wish the place had more seating. If there were seats available, I would've been able to add more veggies/sauce once i got closer to the bottom. Apparently, I wasn't good at evenly distributing everything.




Since I'm a heffer, I wanted to try the Wafels and Dinges truck on 14th btwn 3rd and 4th Ave. Everytime I pass by it, I always really want one. Well, last night, I finally gave in, and it was worth the extra calories. I opted for the $4 liege cinnamon royal (basically a waffle with cinnamon) topped with nutella for an extra $1. Talk about a sugar overload. Note that I used to live at the NYU dorm that the waffle truck parks in front of, and I'm pretty sure I would've gained a junior 15 had the truck been there 2 years ago.



Maoz Vegetarian
Union Sq West btwn 15th and 16th

Wafels&Dinges
Location varies depending on time/day

More Ramps!

I sauteed the remaining ramps that I had bought last Wednesday because they were already so unfresh and close to soggy today. That probably contributed to the lack of taste. Oh well. I separated the bulbs from the leaves and cooked everything in a bit of olive oil and garlic. The raw ramps didn't smell like anything today, so that's probably associated with the fact that there wasn't too much taste in the bite. However, I have really bad breath right now, and I'm pretty sure it's not just from the garlic. I may take another trip to the Greenmarket this week. Hopefully there will still be some ramps left. If there are, I'll probably buy another bunch and try the eggs&ramps, potatoes&ramps, or simply sautee them in olive oil and garlic again.

Ramps!

I honestly had never heard of ramps before until Gabe half-jokingly told me to go look for some. All of a sudden, it's all over food blogs, food news sites, Chowhound, seasonal menus, etc. So I was pretty intrigued as to what this unappetizingly-looking vegetable would taste like. Do note that ramps are only in season for a mere 1-2 months during mid-late spring (aka now). It's unfortunately quite fleeting. Another interesting fact is that Chicago, my hometown, is named after ramps due to its strong smell. From the sounds of it, local and notable chefs in Chicago make a big deal out of ramps. There's even a Rampfest every year, which for whatever reason, I find amusing. When I described this wild leek to my dad, he said that we actually have them in our backyard!

Anyways, I finally picked up a bunch of ramps for $3 at the Union Square Greenmarket last Wednesday. The lady selling them was offering 2 for 1 for the less fresh ones (meant to be cooked that night), but since we weren't planning on cooking them until last night or tomorrow (Sunday), I asked for the freshest ones. Let me tell you, ramps smell so strong. It has this onion-y, scallion-y, garlicky thing going on. I was honestly embarrassed to carry the bag around Barnes&Noble in fear that it would bother fellow browsers.

After looking up a bunch of recipes online, we settled with Batali's Spaghetti with Ramps recipe since it was simple enough. Even though neither Gabe nor I had ever tried ramps before, he thought that maybe the pasta would be good with guanciale. After coming across this recipe, his assumption was correct. So spaghetti with ramps and guanciale it was. As I've said before, I don't really follow recipes or measurements to a tee, so Gabe and I pretty much just went with the flow and did everything to taste. We probably used 1/3 of the bunch I had bought and 1/2 pound of guanciale.

In brief, I cooked the guanciale until the fat was rendered, removed the pieces from the pan and let them sit on some paper towels. Then, we cooked the ramps (bulbs separated from leaves, but you eat everything) in olive oil, red chili pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. We then mixed everything with approximately half a box of spaghetti, and topped it with bread crumbs. I think we used way too much guanciale this time. It would've been fine with 1/4 pound. We both felt pretty nasty after since it's so fatty, but hey, at least it tasted good. And we also should've used at least double the amount of ramps. We didn't realize how much the ramps would shrink when cooked. But overall, the pasta tasted better than I thought it would.



We accompanied our meal with a nice bottle of a 2006 Lilla, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. It's a light, everyday wine that you could drink with almost anything. It's easy to drink and not dry at all.

Since we still have a bunch of ramps left, I'll have to find another way to cook them. Maybe we'll try the eggs or simply sautee them in olive oil and garlic.

Hallo Berlin

I like sausages. I really really do. As someone from Chicago, I take my sausages and hot dogs pretty seriously. (Note: I wanted to cry when Lisa was giving Polish sausages smack. You just don't do that in Chicago) So today I decided to try the Hallo Berlin cart on 54th and 5th ave for lunch today. I had been to meaning to try this famous cart for like two years now, but it's only out there on weekdays during lunch hours. Finally, I realized I should take advantage of my part-time job and go to Hallo Berlin on a day when I don't work.

I was expecting a long line, but it really wasn't that bad. I waited maybe for 15-20 minutes today, and it was well worth it. I went with the $6 Single Soul Man Mix with Bavarian-Lite Weisswurst (nicknamed "BMW"), which is a veal sausage. Since it comes with German fries, crusty bread, red&wine cabbage, and sauteed onions, I was expecting a sausage in bun with fries on the side, but I was so wrong. It turns out they slice and chop the sausage and mix it with the German fries (which seem to be similar to home fries), cabbage, and sauteed onions. The bread is served on the side. I was actually somewhat upset at first since I was hoping for a normal sandwich, but it's ok because it was still very delicious.

The sausage was very tasty and not too firm at all. I forgot to pay attention to how they cook the sausages, and since mine was chopped and mixed with all the other stuff, I couldn't really tell how it was made. Whether it was boiled or grilled, the texture and taste was good for me. The "crusty bread" was pretty darn good as well. Not only was it perfectly crusty on the outside and perfectly soft on in the inside, but it was actually warm, which is pretty impressive for a cart. I know they didn't just put the bread on the grill to warm it up a bit, so I'm pretty impressed that it seemed as though the bread just came out of the oven.

I think next time (and there definitely will be a next time before I peace out at the end of June), I'll get an actual sandwich. If I'm really hungry, I'll get one of the other specials (like the Dictator's Special).

Some photos:





Hallo Berlin (cart)
5th avenue and 54th St
New York, NY

Shake Shack

A few weeks ago, I was in the Shake Shack line for an hour and a half. Was it worth it? Not really. The only reason why I braved that ungodly line was because I had a few hours to kill before attempting to catch the Pope mobile in the UES. Believe me, it's a tasty burger, and the cheese fries certainly hit the spot, but I don't think I'd wait that long ever again. The burger just isn't that out of the world amazing for it to be worth that long of a wait nor the $4.75 price tag for a single Shack burger which is pretty small for my standards. (Note: I'm more of a big burger kind of gal) I believe the Blue 9 burger (a double cheeseburger), which I had a week and a half later, is the same price. It might not be as quality, but it's not too far off from the hyped up Shack burger.

In terms of the custard, concretes, and shakes...they're also pricey. I'm from Chicago, which is where frozen custard originated from. Therefore, I grew up on better and cheaper custard than Shake Shack's. I personally have not tried their concretes or shakes, but I don't think I can cough up $5.50 for a shake that I know I won't be able to finish anyways.

Shake Shack is good, but I don't think I'd go out of my way for a meal there again. Maybe if I pass by, the line looks short, and I'm craving a burger, then I would because it does taste good. If you're in the area, you can check the cam on the website to see what the status of the line is.

P.S. Sorry, I've been lacking photos in the last few posts. As far as Shake Shack goes, I was too hungry by the time I got my food that I forgot to take pictures of the burger.

Prelude to my real Babbo review

I've been to Babbo, Mario Batali's most famous and successful restaurant, five times already and still have no written a review on it. Considering the fact that it's relatively high end and a pain to get reservations, five times at a restaurant like this is a lot for me. I honestly can't even think of one fine dining spot in New York that I've been to more than once. So this is a testament to how much I love Babbo.

While I won't write up a full out review, I can promise it will eventually come. I just love this restaurant so much that I feel like it deserves eloquent words. Unfortunately, I need to think long and hard if I want to write eloquently.

Just to give a sneak peak, these are the things I've tried at Babbo and can comment on:

APPETIZERS
Grilled Octopus with "Borlotti Marinati" and Spicy Limoncello Vinaigrette
Warm Lamb's Tongue Vinaigrette with Chanterelles and a 3-minute Egg
Warm Tripe "alla Parmigiana"

PRIMI
Black Spaghetti with Rock Shrimp, Spicy Salami Calabrese, and Green Chiles
Mint Love Letters with Spicy Lamb Sausage
Beef Cheek Ravioli with Crushed Squab Liver and Black Truffles
Spaghettini with Spicy Budding Chives and One Pound Lobster
Chianti Stained Pappardelle with Wild Boar Ragu
Gargenelli with "Funghi Trifolati"

DOLCI
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Orange Sauce and Hazelnut Gelato
Pistachio and Chocolate Semifreddo
Assortment of Gelati and Sorbetti


So those are all the things that I've tried for myself. As you can see, I've tried a pretty good amount at Babbo, and maybe this is why I've been holding off on a review of this place. There's just too much to say! I may be able to comment on other things my dining partners (pretty much just my family and Gabe) have eaten as we all tend to have a bit of each other's food. But I do promise that at some point in the next couple of months (just being realistic), I'll have a real review with photos. Until then...

Westville East and Pinisi Bakery

I've had a grilled cheese craving lately, and after reading this post, I was reminded of the fact that I had been meaning to go to Westville for a long time. On a side note, I'm actually temporarily moving out of NYC for the next 20 months by the end of June, so for the next two months, I'm committing myself to at least one foodie lunch per week. I've been really good about making cheap food (i.e. pasta, sandwiches, and instant ramen) and bringing leftovers to work about 4 days a week in order to allow myself to splurge on one lunch and dinner per week. Not like Westville is even a splurge. In fact, it is a cheap eats considering its popularity, neighborhood-feel, and quality. But I've honestly never been one for spending more than $6 on lunch.

ANYWAYS. Like I said before, I've been craving a good and serious grilled cheese. It was between Westville and Bouchon Bakery. Obviously, two very different places. However, I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend $13 on a grilled cheese at Bouchon Bakery. Plus, Yelp reviews didn't seem too favorable. So Westville it was, and I will never look back.

I decided on the East Village location for the sake of convenience and the fact that I wanted to go to Pinisi bakery afterwards. I sat down at a booth, perused the menu and blackboard specials, but knew anyways that I wanted the grilled cheese with fries. What's even better is that I had the option of getting bacon on my grilled cheese. I'm such a bacon fiend. You have no idea. It was only 50 cents extra to get a good portion of amazing crispy bacon. How could you not like that?

Unfortunately, as a solo diner, I tend to feel self-conscious about taking pictures, so I opted for my camera phone. Now, the picture doesn't seem to want to transfer from my phone to my laptop, so no photos. I'll do my best to describe. When I got my food 5 minutes after ordering, I was surprised by the mountain of french fries ($1 extra) they gave me. Like wow. That was a ton of fries. The cheese was literally goo-ing out of the perfectly grilled Portuguese bun, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bacon they gave me. It was so greasy, and I loved it. The sandwich was actually bigger than I thought it would be. Can I also tell you how amazing the fries are? I'm one for very crunchy fries, and I'm pretty sure every single fry on my plate (except for the ones I didn't finish since I wouldn't know) was so crispy and crunchy. I love that.

For a total of $9, it wasn't bad. It was $1 extra for a mountain of fries (like, bigger than supersize at McD's) and 50 cents extra for bacon. Not bad at all. The food just really hit the spot today.

After happily leaving Westville, I trekked my way over to Pinisi Bakery on East 4th. I had heard of the Ghost Chili cupcakes, so being the one who tends to like contrasting flavors (like chocolate+salt and chocolate+chili), I had to try this. It's definitely a really cute bakery. I'll have to try other things next time. I honestly didn't like this cupcake as much as I thought it would. I thought the chili was just gonna give a little kick a la Mexican hot chocolate, but the cupcake was actually SPICY. I definitely needed water with this one. It's definitely interesting and not bad, but I'm not sure if I'd really want to get it again. I trust that the Red Velvet will please me more.

Go to Westville for sure. As far as Pinisi goes, if you're curious to try the famed Ghost Chili cupcake, I warned you it's spicy. It's not bad, and it's worth a try, but just giving you a heads up.

Pinisi Bakery
128 E. 4th St
New York, NY

Westville East
173 Ave A
New York, NY