My Little Food Blog

Holiday Food

2009-01-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted here. I tend just to place pictures on this blog for your eyes. And to be honest, I see no reason to stop that trend. With that being said, I present you with some pictures.

Some noodles that I was making. You don't see the slices of pork or egg that I like to put into these noodles. You have to spice the noodles up a bit. Oh, and hot sauce is a must.

Spanish Salami and Spanish Cheese. This is just a good little snack that I enjoy making when I'm not too hungry but hungry.

Korean dinner last week.

Eggs Benedict. I got these from a little French Bistro down in NoLita. Good grub and they serve fritters with them.

This little Sushi joint that Uncle Joe enjoys visiting. He brought me here as my going away meal.

I got to eat some Menudo when I was in Cambria. It was a tasty plate that I had for a late lunch. Then I went and tried to eat dinner and that didn't go so well...was still very full from the Menudo.

Oh, this was another meal over in Cambria: Crab Benedict.

One morning I cooked some Chorizo and Eggs for Uncle Joe. I made him some burritos de Chorizo while he read his paper and drank coffee. Uncle Joe now wears reading glasses and yells at the paper and the stupid things people do. Yes, he is getting old...haha!

This is just another breakfast at Casa de Elias y Rosie (those are my folks). Good stuff I tell you.

Tamales.

The spread.

The Rooster masando for his Mommy who gets tired doing this job. On that note, I love cooking with my Mom and Dad. It is when I feel really close to them and they watch over me and instruct me what to do and what not to do. My Mother tends to be a little more free spirited when cooking. My father tends to run a tighter ship when it comes to procedure.

This is the carne for the tamales. This recipe has been passed down for four generations of my family. I'm sure my sister's daughter will get it passed to her. But on this day it was The Rooster who was running the show. Holla!

Another special from Case De Elias y Rosie. Breakfast rocks at my folks place.

This is my Dad's famous recipe. I just continue to pester him until he lets me help. He's really particular about the meat being cooked just right and when to add the chile.

My Dad wasn't satisfied with the Chile so I had to boil some on the quick for him.

The Rooster's famous chilaquiles. Nuff said.

Beans...why? Because Beaners eat Beans...haha! I always loved that line.

The Rooster is making it law that everyone have one of these. You can make Nachos at all hours with this thing. I loved it. I'm not sure why my mother purchased it...but this machine was amazing.

Random Photos

2008-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

This is a simple dish that I make. Mash infused with garlic and peppered pork chop that I just gently sit over the mash in the center of the plate. I then make sure and spread over the plate some cooked onions. I didn't take a picture of it but I do tend to sprinkle this with a fresh cranberry sauce I make.

Simple dish. I cook a lot of bacon and eat some and set the rest aside. Then I crumble up the bacon for my my bacon bits. I just get a head of lettuce and cut it into fourths...makes my salad for four days.

These are garlic, orange and tequila shrimp. The center is some couscous with cheese cubes worked into it. Nice basic little snack for the mid-day.

Depending on what you like in the city you have to travel to different places to get your favorite desert. Yet, for the most bang for the buck I think Carnegie Deli is the way to go. Above are their carrot cake and also cheese cake...had these when the boys from the UK came into town.

These are a few plates of food from Carmines on 92nd. I took the boys there when they came to visit from the UK. The food was good and the portions were too big for us to finish. It was a good meal with good friends from across the pond.

Decided to take the mates to a place where they could have some entertainment. Thus, I took them to Brother Jimmy's. It was a good time and they enjoyed the view. I do enjoy the ribs here....we were too stuffed to walk after.

Chun and Sir Richard the 4th eating their first meal in NYC. Pizza...what else.

People. Only good Tequila will be suffice in The Rooster's world.

Tis Been A Long-Long While

2008-10-08T11:53:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure where to start here. Serious, I have been high and low when it comes to places to eat. Jenn and I almost polished off a few lists that we had. For instance, the Sushi list:

Sasabune
15 East
Miso
Takahachi
Kanoyama is the only one we didn't get to.

The list goes on and on and I can't tell you all the wine bars and such. But I thought I would get you caught up on some food things that have happened since my last post. Well here it is in pictures.

The above pictures are of some street food over on 14th Street that takes place in front of Our Virgin de Guadalupe Church. It is great food and the price is right. I really liked the tamales I had there and they are the read deal if you ask me.

This was a unique dish I had at a new Southern Joint that opened up in Brooklyn. On my way to Taxi Beach there was this little stop that had blues music and also food. I can't remember the name now...in any case, this was a cheese cake with shrimp. It was odd but it didn't taste bad.

KB took care of this bottle at Japas for John "The General" Lee's going away party. I like that they only charged us like 80.00 bucks for this bottle and all the sides we wanted. Can't go wrong if you ask me...good times and sad to see my buddy go to London but it had to be.

The above is just a little meal I made for myself. Nothing too big...wink! Yes, that is just how I do.

My buddy from Paris eating a good old American favorite: Cheese, crackers and chili. Welcome to America.

Welcome to Philly. It had been ages since I had seen one of these places and when I traveled to Philly and seen one...well I had to take a picture.

This was this really cool milk shake machine they had at the WAWA in Philly. Serious, I love my milkshakes and this machine made them there on the spot. You had to just pick out the flavor you wanted and put it on the machine and presto. I loved this machine and want one for my apt.

I forgot what this was called. But it is native to Philly and this stuff has to be the best stuff to ever be served at a diner...hands down my favorite meal of the Philly trip. Yes, this was a meal unto itself. This should be served at every diner in America...period!

I often go get my coffee with Zucco. This has to be the best stuff in the world if you ask me. He makes the best latte's in the world. Thank you, Zucco.

The above meal in China Town cost me three dollars. Yes, that did include the coke. I mean is this a deal or is this a deal? I love going to my little dumpling place down in Chinatown. The best deals on food can be gotten in Chinatown...hands down.

Just a cold brew as I watched some soccer.

Just my sausage, egg and cheese that I make at home for breakfast. Good stuff. Can never-ever go wrong with one of these in the morning.

Just another little meal I made at home for Uncle Joe's arrival in tot he big city.

Big Nick's....nuff said.

Food From Back Home

2008-07-10T09:24:00.001-07:00

There are so many stories behind these pictures it would take me like three days to type up. But I'm going to try my best even if a few of these pictures are out of order.

Just a few ribs that I threw on the grill. Nothing too over the top.

This is just how I make my home made salsa. Actually, I took the reciepe from my Mom. I made this Salsa for John "THE GENERAL" Lee's Bash

This Pozole that my cousin Stella made was yummy! I guess Pozole is like a Mexican stew and can be made a with a variety of meats.

Of course my folks put me to grill in the back yard. Nothing too fancy...just something quick to feed the family until dinner.

This is just a little barbecue we did back home on my visit. I mean this is nothing big at all. Just another walk in the park for our family.

Taylor's hot dogs. You haven't really lived until you've tasted one of these. Serious, when I think of a few meals I would like to have before I die...well Taylor's would have to be up there.

Just a quick taco from El Palomar. You can get these all over my home town. Here in NYC we get pizza on every corner, but back home there are taco shops on every corner and I love it!!!!

The classic Mexican breakfast. We incorporate a few American aspects into our breakfast...but take not of the salsa on everything. Yummy!!

Last but not least. I saw these little packets and I wanted to steal them and bring them back to NYC with me. If anyone knows were I can get these in NYC please let me know. I just thought they were dope and good to have for lunch.

Good Eats From The South to SoHo Park

2008-07-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since Pinky has made the blog. Not sure why because we spend a lot of time together hitting the city in search of good eats. Oh, and we did see The Cure last month which was just the BOMB! Yes, The Rooster is a fan of The Cure. Nuff said.

In any case, Pinky and I started to long for a good food day in the city. Since it was my birthday we figured that we would meet up and hit a few spots in search of a good meal to celebrate.

So lets go shall we.

Of course one had to try regional cuisine while in NYC. Thus, we decided to join John "The General" Lee and E at the Mississippi Fest. Ummm...well it is not NYC regional food but you can taste every region in NYC and we decided to head south.

This festival is held every summer and since 1972 or so the governor of the state has showed for the fest! They had Catfish and all the trimmings. But as most things in NYC the festival has caught the vogue crowd. Thus, festival has gotten too big for its britches. They ran out of food and also ice for the sweet tea. Now what kind of festival is that?

In any case, it was a good time with good people. The only thing is that it was hot and muggy...just like The Dirty-Dirty so the weather fit the bill. How did we find out about this fest....E, she is Mississippi...yes, she comes with an Southern Bell accent, too!

Those of you from the South...the real South...sorry, Texas isn't the South. In any case, I guess this is the real deal when it comes to Ice Tea in the South: McAlister's. Make note of it and you heard it here first on this site...holla!

After much running around to Central Park to check out Mississippi Fest and such...we decided to try SoHo Park. We of course had to try the grilled corn. It was sweet and there were a few soft spots in the corn...but for the most part it was sweet and crisp which is how I like my corn.

The above is SoHo Park's: Hungarian Spiced Kielbasa which was served with spicy mustard and another dipping sauce. I can't tell you enough how delicious this plate was. I highly suggest you order this when you visit. By far the best dish of the day.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Chicago Fried Zucchini Sticks. I thought they were o.k. but Pinky and me thought they were a bit heavy. I don't know, maybe they lacked salt or something but they were just missing.

The above are SoHo Park Iced Tea. The breakdown is fresh brewed loose ceylon tea, berry puree, and mint. I really liked this drink and it is hard to pick a winner between this and the Southern Sweet tea that we had at the Mississippi Fest...I'm not going to pick a winner just in case, E checks this blog. Oh, that is Pinky in the background there. I think she was also taking her own pictures.

Random Food

2008-06-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

This first picture is of a Filipino Barbecue dish that I had at Claire's gathering in Central Park. There is this funny story behind this stick of Barbecue. So our friend (who shall not be called out here) ate some Popeye's fried chicken and served himself one of these sticks. In the end he didn't want the goodness that is Filipino barbecue. Well Claire's cousin seeing that this young man set his plate on the floor without eating the stick was quick to ask, Hey, are you going to eat that barbecue? Our friend said he wasn't and Claire's cousin walked over and picked up said plate from the floor and proceeded to eat it. Funny stuff and proves that Filipino people love their barbecue.

Muscles and Fries from my favorite French place in the NYC: Zucco's. If you have a chance to visit Zucco's...I insist that you visit today. The vibe is really cool and Zucco is a genuine guy. Very French in every sense of the word...he smokes in front of his place and talks to you in French. Such a good guy and the music and vibe is most excellent! If you want to get on Zucco's good side learn how to say the following words in French: Hello Zucco, Thank You, Great Food, and I will be back again!

Jenn's mother was in town this past week and she asked me where to take her to get some ice cream. I guess they had just eaten brunch and her mother was craving some ice cream. I just happened to be by Caio Bella so I took this picture with my camera phone and sent it to her. The Rooster is always around a good place to send you and if he doesn't know the address he will send you a picture for you to find the place.

I can't get enough of these little things. Rice Balls are the bomb! I went here with Vivian for lunch this past week.

These little things looked like Moochie but they aren't. I'm not sure what they are...sweet. In any case, you should try them out if you have the chance.

Here is Vivan! What can I say, I had to include a picture of Vivan. I think she is getting married like in six months or something like that. She's been in the city for five years now and I remember when I met here at H&M and she was wet behind the ears barley getting here from Los Angeles. Funny.

KUMA INN

2008-06-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to visit Kuma Inn again this past week with Jenn. What can I say, I was very disappointed by the food. Where I tend to label their food as delicious and filling; I left feeling empty. Not so much because the food didn't fill me up but because half of our plates were average and one we had to send back.

Not that I mind sitting and waiting for a table because sometimes that happens. At Kuma they did take good care of us and pour us our wine (BYOB at Kuma)and bring us a vegetarian spring roll while we waited. But the wait was about 40 minutes which I found to be a bit long. Lucky for me Jenn was a champ and wasn't in a rush either...so we just chatted and waited patiently.

In any case, like I said, I'm a huge fan of Kuma Inn but I think this is the last time I will be visiting for a long time. The service is great and extra friendly and makes me feel as if I'm at home. Yet, the food lacked so greatly this time around. Sad. I could tell the host was even sad that we didn't have a knock-out time this time around. So much so I presented the staff with a high-end Sake. I tend to do that at places I enjoy...serious, the staff works hard to make our food and time at their place enjoyable. Like I said, very sad at the outcome of this meal. Yet, feel free to give it a try on your own.

In closing, thought I would give you some pictures anyways. A bit dark due to being taken with my cell phone.

These were pork buns that I enjoyed very much.

Pan Roasted Ocean Scallops With Bacon, Kalamansi And Sake

Vegetarian Summer Rolls with thai basil, daikon, carrots and chayote

Sautéed Chinese Sausage. This by far was the best plate of the night.

Ramblings

2008-06-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have a few food stories to whip out soon enough. Yes, I even took pictures of the food for you loyal readers. I'm just here to write a quick second and get the blood flowing for the huge posts I'm going to put up tomorrow.

Reviews coming:

SOHO Park
Ippudo

Until then I will leave you with some pictures. Enjoy!

Casa Mono

2008-06-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

I always laugh when I walk into a Tapas bar and people aren’t sitting at the bar. Serious, when you sit at a Tapas bar you are suppose to be standing up and walking around to different friends at different stools. Of course taking time to nibble at what ever small plate they have in front of them.

So I was pleased when Jenn and I were seated at the bar stools of Casa Mono. It had been some time since I had been to Casa Mono, last time I was there was with John “The General” Lee. This time I went with a foodie friend of mine, Jenn. I thought I had my ear to the streets of NYC by visiting different publications and also hanging with The General...but this little girl knows her locations. In any case, here is Jenn looking for new places in Zagats:

In any case, I walk in a take a seat at the bar and Jenn does the ordering and goes on to order the following:

Pan Con Tomate
Mussels with Cava and Chorizo
Duck with Capers

2 White Wines:
Agro de Bazan Granbazan Ambar 2006 Rias Baixas Albarino
Ladairo Monterrei 2006 Godello

The meal was delicious and the wine was a great complement.

The Pan Con Tomate was great for the tomato was more of a puree spread across the bread with just the right amount of soft olive oil to complement (sorry for the bad picture).

The Mussels with Cava and Chorizo was tasty. This is where I blew it. They served a side of bread and I forgot to dip the bread in the juices left behind by the mussels. I love doing that and given that there was Chorizo in those juices...muuuuah! I blew it!! Jenn suggested I have the busboy get the plate back for us but it was too little too late.

The Duck with Capers had to be the highlight of the meal. Why? Well the duck was cooked perfectly. Although duck tends to render a lot of fatty juices and it is a greasy piece of meat...this was not oily, moist, and had nice warmth to it...in other words, it wasn’t piping hot which might have killed the natural organic taste to it.

The wines were a good complement for I feel that if red wine was drank with these plates that it would have overpowered the plates. The white wines were fruitier with not too much oak barrel residual to them. I do think that the oak taste would have killed the delicate ducks flavor.

In closing, good food, good wine, and of course good conversations about if God is a myth? Life doesn't get any better than this.

My Birthday Picture

2008-06-05T10:54:00.001-07:00

Pablo Drama Does Picante

2008-05-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

Many of my visitors haven't really been introduced to Pauly Hollywood properly. I once made a meal in his honor out of the stuff I could get at the local bodega: Chili, hot dogs, buns and red stripe beer.

In any case, Pauly Drama (same guy as Pauly Hollywood sometimes he lives on the West Coast and sometimes the East Coast so he gets two names...oh, some people know him as Dr. Pauly) the blogger, friend, and now boyfriend of CienCambio travel the world for work and get to eat at all these great places. I think they pay like 50.00 dollars for a cheese burger in Monte Carlo.

Pauly is somewhat of a closet foodie and he sends me cool pictures of food or you can go and check out his food adventures: HERE.

So Pauly sent me this picture to my cell phone and it brought back all these memories as a kid. We use to put this on plain tostada shells and eat it like that...no beans or meat...just the hot sauce.

Random Food Pics.

2008-05-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of random pictures I have taken of food around the city. Sorry that I didn't really do a write up on each place. These were just fun food pictures I took. Do hope that you enjoy.

The Rooster

Will Be Back

2008-04-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry that this place had died a bit. I'm going to make a real comeback here. I've just been writing other places on this stuff and trying to see where I want to take this blog. I wanted to thank you for your time and patience. Also, my computer has been down so I've had to post pictures taken from my phone which have been lackluster at best.

Regards,
The Rooster

Quick Dinner

2008-04-09T06:54:00.001-07:00

This is a little salad that I like to make. It is romaine lettuce leaves, homemade dressing with some crumbled feta cheese. Holla! Just a good basic starter course.

This is fresh pasta that I picked up from the market with some of my homemade sauce on it. I tend to make big batches of my sauce and freeze it for future meals. I use to really get upset that I would make so much sauce and not use it all by the end of the week. So I just started to freeze it in batches and pull it out before I go to work and leave it in the fridge and it is ready to go when I come home. Simple. Oh, and I got some fresh grated pecorino cheese on there.

Back to Oms/B

2008-04-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

I figured I would take a picture of what I had for lunch yesterday. These are small rice balls that are made with such fillings as Spicy Tuna, Wasbi Shrimp, and Salmon Caviar. They also give some miso soup with the order wich was very good.

This above picture is my all time favorite Omusubi ball: Shrimp Popcorn. If you want more information on this topic you can go HERE.

Or you can just visit here:
165 E. 45th Street

It has been a while

2008-04-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I visited and wrote in my food blog. All I can say is that there have been computer problems and life just passes by. But I have decided to get back on the food blog and with that you can see a new banner. The photo in this banner was taken by our very own "Betty Underground" who I have become a fan of over the last two years. Wow...has it been two years? In any case, you can check out her photos HERE and you will see how talented Betty is.

Moving on. I figured that I would post some random pictures of food that I took with my camera phone. I hope you enjoy!

This is some of the beer that resides in The Rooster's fridge at this time. Nothing too exciting. What is exciting is that I do have about 20 different beers in the fridge at this time. I think it is time for a party.

This is working man's food from the Blarney Stone. These are bars that are sprinkled all through the city and the construction guys come in during lunch and grab a bite and a beer. I love this place for it reminds me of home so much. This was pulled-pork with mash and mac. I was surprised that the pulled-pork was so moist and rich in flavor.

I went to this small Asian Noodle place down on Eldridge that John "The General" Lee has pointed me to. Good stuff at at the price that noodles are suppose to be at: 4:50. I'm really sick of these places in the city that are charging 10.00 to 15.00 dollars for a bowl of noodles.

There is a little hole in the wall on 9th Street where I go this Japanese food from. It is located right next to Decibel Sake Bar which is a sake Bar that Jenn directed me to. In any case, there is always a line at this place when I walk by so I figured I would try a plate. This place is Tiny and if you blink you might miss it. Thus, I suggest you keep your eyes open and hit Decibel for a cool underground Sake Bar.

I went to Pinchetaqueria and I thought the tacos were pretty good. It is a little tiny place situated between two custom made shirt stores in NOLITA. Yes, this is what this city has become. I thought that prices of tacos was far too much at 2.75 but it is NYC so what else is one to expect.

Random Food Pics-BBQ in NYC

2008-01-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

I'm Back!

2007-11-05T05:29:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the delay break I took from my foodie blog. But so you know, I'm back!
Here are some pictures of some Korean food I had a few days back.

It Has Been A While: Picture Dump Time

2007-08-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter

2007-07-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

I just completed the new Harry Potter Book which I downloaded from online. You thought the Sopranos ending was odd…Poor Harry and Hermione die. What was the writer thinking?

Random Food Pictures

2007-07-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

Adri drinking a Jarrito!!! Ok she just took the time to pose for the picture...but she was acting silly so I took this quick picture.

This was the green tea shake that I had for lunch in Chinatown!! I like this stuff and if you ever have the chance to scoop one of these up I suggest you do as such. I think if you peak in the back you can see Adri again.

I'm not sure about this and how to explain it. Let me just say this, that if you ever go to a place and order a Guinness and they bring it to you in a plastic cup...well need I say more. That is right, I found a place that serves the Black Gold in a plastic cup. Pure humor and sin.

This was just a little drink that I got in Chicago. What can I say, I was a drinking a Blue Moon. I know, I know, a girlie beer. But for the record I did have one of those Goose Beers that are ever so popular in Chicago. Sure do wish we could get The Goose down here in NYC.

Louie's Pub...that's right people..this is where friends meet in Chicago. They had this awesome bartender who made sure to let me know that it gets rocking here at 9pm Joaquin. Sure enough, stop by at 10:00 and the sing along machine is pumping with some girl singing a song with her friends cheering her on...she got so into character that she slid along the floor on her knees. I wasn't really sure what to say except to look at the next to me and give the hollyshit look.

This was a little Mexican food in Chicago late night.

Dr. Browns. Because that is what Daddy drinks when he crushes.

Of course it is summer in NYC and what better way to spend it then with Claire and the crew out in the park. Claire always throws great parties in the park and they happen about once every month or every three weeks. If you are interested in attending let me know and I will send you an invite. I might as well warn you that when it comes to the football game I was voted the MVP last time....cough!cough! and nuff said...The Rooster has spoken on the field. Yes, the girls are making me some food because I'm the MVP...cough!cough! Thank you, Mari.

The above pictures were taken in Wicker Park, Chicago. I was just cruising along when I found this place and I was so excited! Serious, I use to eat this stuff every single day growing up. My grandmother use to serve us that with some good Abuelita Chocolate milk and it was on. Wow...just looking at these pictures gives me goose bumps.

Two of finest beers you will find coming out of Texas. One question, why were they serving these in Chicago? Who knows and who cares is what I say, I had one of each with my burger.

These two pictures were taken from the best Mexican food in NYC, MOLE. It is located in Allen and Houston. If you have the chance to check this place out I highly suggest you do as such. You will find it to your liking to say the least. Good times and good people there...make sure and ask for Nick the owner. They are new to the scene but they are turning out some of the best Mexican food in the city hands down.

This was a great drink that I had at a secret location here in NYC. You have to know somebody to get in and ask around the city about this place and not many people know about it. Yet, if you tip well and treat everyone there with respect you always get a good seat. Nuff said. So yes, The Rooster always has a seat there.

Just some quick food from a little place on the Upper West Side of town.

This last picture is of the Woody Allen...nuff said. If you can crush this thing you are the man/woman. Not even Daddy could crush this thing.

Chicago Food Pictures

2007-06-18T16:24:00.001-07:00

There are a few different pictures here that I didn't put into the right order from my trip to Chicago. Yet, I hope you all enjoy just taking a look at them. I tend to put discriptions on my pictures in my food blog but the reality is that we ate about two main meals over a three day period. The picture of the meat were taken at dinner on Friday night at a Argentine location which was really good and bring your own. Thus, all the pictures of the wine bottles. The other was when we ate deep dish pizza at DonkeyPuncher's place. I also wanted to thank DP for such a great weekend and choice food.

Food With The Baby

2007-06-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of my little cousin, Sarah (AKA The Baby) who was in town for the week a few weeks back and so these are some pictures of the food we shared together in the city. If you are looking for other times we had in the city you can go HERE

This is a salad we had at a new pizza/pasta joint that opened in the city. The food was good and the service was also good. I forget the name of the place but it has gotten good reviews and it should be around for a long while.

The second picture is from the actual PeanutButter Company flagship store. What can is say, we were hungry and we thought a P&J would hit the spot. It was good and something different that you don't find everywhere.

If in NYC you have to eat Lombardi's. Nuff said. I do really like the pizza here and I would have to vote it like probably top 3 easy.

At my favorite dive bar, Night Cafe they have Doodles. I guess they are like cheetoes or something. I really liked them and The Baby loved them.

The last picture is of a fridge of prime aged steaks. The Baby mentioned that her Father loved steaks so we took a picture for him. Looks good, no?

Mom's Chile Verde....CHURCH!

2007-06-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my folks and the people who taught me how to cook. I'm not sure who is a better cook between the two but I would say they both have their specials. But I went home and they pulled out all the stops for me. This was my first meal when I got home: Chile Verde a la Rosie.

This first picture is of the Chile Verde that my Mommy makes. When I come home there is one meal that I want and this is it. Just looking at this picture conjures up memories of my childhood. Without a doubt the one plate that nobody in my family can touch. My Daddy has a great hand when it comes to cooking but he knows that my Mommy's Chile Verde is Da Bomb! Funny thing is that I did all the prep for this dish and right away my Dad said, Joaquin, you cut the meat didn't you? I was like, sure did Papa...I got the vibe that my Daddy didn't like the way I cut the meat. My Mom quickly said, told you the chunks were too small. Now tell me if that isn't two people who know one another's cooking.

Snap! The key to a good Chile Verde in my opinion is the rice. Serious, the rice has to be bangin for the Chile Verde's taste to surface. It isn't so much a thing where the rice is a side...it is more a part of the main dish. Esp. when the Chile Verde's sauce mixes with the rice...snap, that in itself is a meal.

I can't tell you how old this pot is. Serious, we have been cooking beans in this thing since I can remember. And till this day it is just the right amount of beans to last two days. Sometimes we eat them right out of the pot like this. I like to combine it with my Mom's rice and it is a meal inself with some chile and a tortilla...yummy.

This is what a Mexican Dinner looks like at my home. And it taste better in person to be honest with you. I can't tell you enough how this is my favorite meal that my Mom makes. I mean I love her tamales and all but this is the day in and day out meal that lets me know I'm home.

This is what a Mexican breakfast looks like at our home. Take note of the beans, they were above in the Hoya now they are mushed up and done refried style. I tell you this in the morning can cure any hangover and the smell just brings a smile to my face when I'm home.

In closing, mommy y papi gracias a dios y uds. por este gran comida que siempre me espera cuando llego a casa. Un abrazo, tu mijo, Joaquin Manuel Ochoa

A Few Different Meals

2007-05-20T21:37:00.001-07:00

The above two pictures are of a place John "The General" Lee took myself, Camille and friends to. I liked some of the plates and some of them just missed to me. Take for example the top dish. These little sausages were not too greasy and had just the right touch of kick to them. Yet, they were paired with a small garnish of onions that were cryslitized and the mix was perfect.

The second picture was of their mac and cheese....well I have to say that this dish just missed. I'm not sure what they were going for but I felt the dish to be too dry and too many diff. cheeses were mixed together and they didn't blend very well.

The above pictures are from my dinner with the one man writing machine,
Pauly Drama at The Palm. For this dinner we had Pauly Drama, Derek, F-Train and myself. In other words, all A-Listers...nuff said. What can I say, this was suppose to be a celebration, Bitches! Yet, we would later find out the bad news or good news depending on how you look at it...you can read the story, Monday, April 16, 2007. I wasn't a bit shocked that Pauly Drama would turn this job down once they tried to control him. I thought of all our conversatons and Pauly Drama is a guy of Karma and Convictions...after all, Pauly Drama is a boy from the Bronx and embodies much of the Bronx. In other words, as we to say back home: They Don't Give a Mad Fu#%! Thus, don't try and control those boys. Nuff said. In any case, a toast to you Pauly Drama for keeping your pride and principal and not selling it out. Oh, and for the record, we all ordered the Filet Mignon....haha!

More NYC Food

2007-05-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

This first picture is of Nathan's Hot Dog stand at the airport. I figured that I would a photo before I left to Vegas in case someone said that they are more man than Kobiashi..I think that is like 52 dogs there which I think is his record...probably more by now.

The above three pictures are of Smith and Wollensky's in Washington D.C. I have to be honest, I have never been a big fan of the place...for some reason they aren't up to par with the Palm in my book. But it was an o.k. meal for a dinner at 11:00pm

This last picture is of ribs. Yep, ribs from the Atlanta. They were good but I wasn't running away saying...these are the best damn ribs I have even had. I was there for the NCAA Final Four to see my team, UCLA get spanked. But the food in the south is good so that made the loss that much more barable.

Random Photos

2007-05-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is some food from Tom's Diner around the corner from my place. I figured it is a NYC joint that everyone must visit.

This second picture of a downtown Mexican cart that many people rave about. Myself I wasn't very impressed to be honest. Yet, it seems like people really like this place. Not trying to brag or anything...but I think i can outdue these guys with my eyes closed.

These are some good oysters from the oyster bar in Grand Central on the ground floor. It is an old joint that many people don't know about but they have an extensive list of daily fish and oysters and they have the best Clam Chowder in the city hands down. So if you ever have the chance I suggest you pop in here.

This is pizza from John's pizzeria by Times Square. I really like this place because of the motif in the joint. It use to be a church and they put a few coal burning stoves in there and walla!!! pizza joint. No, but they have good pizza here if you ever have time to stop in. The only draw back is that they often get the Broadway show people so that can make the wait rather long...just a heads up.

Mexican in North Carolina

2007-03-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

I went to go visit the Walsh family in Huntersvill N.C. two weeks ago. It gave me space to get out of the city and also time to reflect on my time in the city. Not to mention I got to hang with Frank and his family. Of course I was excited to hit the Southland because I figured barbeque would be on the list of very important things to eat. Yet, of all things that I found down in N.C. was some of best Mexican food East of the Mississippi. Yep, you heard correctly, some of the best Mexican food I've tasted in some time can be found in Huntersville, N.C. Go F'en Figure.

I was with the Korean Mexican Food Expert, John "The General" Lee who is a pretty harsh judge when it comes to Mexican food...I think Pinky might top him but that debate is for another post. The General thought that a 8 to 8.5 is what he would score the tacos we ate. Myself, I would have to give them about the same but I would say a solid 8.5. I can see The General's points as to why these might be an 8 but I was just excited to be eating fresh corn tortillas from the press.

Although we only ate tacos we did eat some of their rice on the side and that was the real deal. We also got to taste their beans which they put in some of their tacos depending on your order and those were the real deal also. I'm getting wood just writing about it. Serious, the stuff was the real deal and they sold it out of these little carts on the side of the road...yummy!!!

I didn't get the address or anything but they are located in front of the only two little Mexican stores in Huntersville. I suggest you try both places since they are only about 100 yards away from one another.

In closing, stop by and try a few tacos if you are in that neck of the woods. I think they mainly cater to the local Mexican population but I'm soon enough everyone will get a taste and start stopping by. Oh, and here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The Doggie's name is Dallas and named after none other than the Dallas Cowboys...so yes, I love this dog for that reason alone. The other is a picture of Frank's backyard, yes, people outside the city have room.

Random Food Pictures From NYC

2007-02-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

Gracias Mami y Papi

2007-01-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

I wasn't around my sister's home for x-mas this year. I decided to take a little trip and get away to clear my head for a bit. Like the loving parents I have they didn't raise a fuss about it. Yet, I can't lie, I was brought to tears when I got these in the mail and I knew I wasn't going to share them with my family.

You see these are a very special gift in my families home. Not sure if any of you have made Tamales from scratch but if you have then you know the difficulty is prepairing these things. And when I say my Mami does them from scratch I mean from scratch. She is getting older now and the family is shrinking so there isn't a need for as many as before and it is hard on her body. Yet, year after year she does them at least twice a year. Mami, munchas gracias mi amor.

In sum, these are greater than any gift, greater than any meal and something that is given from deep in my Mami and Papa's corazon. For that there is no price that can be put on these Tamles. I made the salsa but I made it in the style that my Mami makes it to bring a taste from home back.

Here are the photos.

Tao Of Food

2006-12-31T08:19:00.000-08:00

Go check out Pauly Drama's collection of food he's eaten from around the world.

Pauly Drama Does Food

Viva La France!

2006-12-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

I'm rolling there alone. None the less, I'm going with good vibes running through my body, mind and soul.

I really want to play some poker there so if anyone has a suggestion of clubs. I know there are a few nice clubs there and one needs an invite to others so if you can fill me in it would be greatly appriciated.

Oh, also, if you have a few places that you love to eat in Paris that would be great.

By the way, does anyone know what the National Bird of France is?

Dinner a la Pauly Drama!

2006-11-27T21:52:00.000-08:00

Now playing on The Rooster's computer...2-Pac, Me Against The World.

I was thinking of cooking a big meal like Biggles or Vampy would do. Yet, the reality is that I didn't have much time on my hands so I thought I would do something new. I would dedicate a meal to a fellow blogger and who better than Pauly Drama (yes, if you click on either of those names you will get two different blogs and you should visit them both). I digress. I was at the bodega and hungry and it came to mind, WWPDE (What Would Pauly Drama Eat). Not the Pauly Drama that has been running in LA because that Pauly Drama eats good healthy food and tofu burgers. Not the poker player Pauly Drama because that Pauly Drama eats at all the top places the casinos have to offer. No, I wanted old school Pauly Drama and this is what I came up with.

This is what we call neighborhood food where I grew up and I think Pauly Drama will enjoy this meal I made in his honor. First, the franks all Ball Park...yes, those are the real think folks. No skimping here although I can see using some generic dogs as more authentic meal. Yet, you can never skim on the chili. Only hormel here, buddy. The cheese is just a regular generic processed American cheese.

There are some tricks to this meal that need to be spoken about. One thing is that you know the cheese isn't really going to melt. You have to apply some serious heat to this cheap ass cheese so the best thing to do is to heat up the chili as hot as possible and hope that some of it spills over to the cheese because the hotdog will protect some of the cheese from garnering some of the heat to all the cheese to melt.

The kicker to this meal is the Red Stripe. Yep, this is the stuff the goes down smooth and has its own unique taste. I really do like this beer because it has a crisp clean taste to it. The brothers from the Island know how to do beer also.

In closing, if you are locked in the apartment and need a quick meal and can only shop at the corner bodega may I suggest this meal. Enjoy and remember the food from the neighborhood bodega is keeping real.

Random Food Pictures From The City

2006-11-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures from the city and the food you can get here. I will write up a little something-something about each place and food.

I've written about these little guys before. They are filled with custard and they are just the greatest fatning thing ever. .Beard Papa's is the name of the place and it is run by Japanese folks. They have started to pop up all over the city and they are well worth the $1.65 they cost.

Here is Pinky showing you how good they are.

The following picture is from a birthday party that I went to with Beto. This is the cake that was a double chocolate. It was so damn heavy but it was delicious. The beer that I was drinking before didn't help to make the cake any lighter.

The above pictures are of a little French Bistro that Pinky and I love to go to by the name, Le Pain Quotidien. They have these locations all over the city now, but we really like the one on 72nd because we can and tend to roam and get Pinky's nails and done and such.

These pictures are of Pink and my trip to Jacques Torres chocolate factoy in SOHO. Serious, this guy is the guy from the cooking channel and he wanted to open up a realy chocolate factory in New York. They do it all here from grinding down the coca beans and all. It is really a neat place and if you ever have the chance you should make a stop by.

What would my little food blog be without some Indian food. Of course the first four pictures are because of Pinky, but the last one was my doing.

The first two pictures are of snacks at a wedding for one of Pinky's friend. This was an Indian/Korean wedding which was odd. In any case, the top two were some traditional snack that is served and even Pinky was surprised to find such an old school authentic dish...twas good I must say.

The following two are food that we had ordered out. We tend to go to this Punjab place but I think Pinky has had enough of the place, but I'm always quick to press the agenda on it.

The last picture is of Koti Roll in the Village. This place is good and these tortilla looking like rolls have Indian filling in them and they are delicious. They are rather heavy and one is enough for a full meal, but as you can see...I had two of them.

These last two pcitures are of food I had with John "The General" Lee. The first picture is of skirt steak at Dos Caminos. I like this place but I do feel that it is a bit pricey for Mexican. The second picture is some food we picked up on the upper east side...I forget the name of the place but we weren't too impressed no matter how good it looks. But what we did find good was the decor of the place, it was like a 1970's strip club.

O.K. I will probably start to post more again now that my life has gotten a bit more relaxed.

Food From Derek's Diner

2006-10-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is some of the food I had on my weekend at The Bash. These two plates were what we had before we hit AC. There is something differnt about going to eat at a diner in the Bronx...it has flavor and it is something you can't get in a diner in NYC. So I want to thank the McGuire Brothers for taking to their local joint.

Pauly's Birthday Party

2006-09-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

In New York City you often get to a point where big party bashes become something of the past. You know longer have to invite everyone out of the wood-work to have a group meal. Sometimes you just want a few people to join you for your special day and to relax.

Thus, I was very honored when Pauly Drama invited me with Falstaff and of course Pauly's favorite and only brother, Derek. We had a great meal at The Palm and I had forgotten how good the food there was.

As a side note, the one thing I found rather odd was that Pauly and Derek get stiff drinks with their dinner. I see people do it all the time, but I'm a bit more prone to water or soda. Thus, when in Rome...can I have a Crown and Coke...special occasions call for a classy special drink.

I leave you with these pictures:

The Steak Which Pauly and Derek ordered.

The Swordfish with Pepper Crusting which Falstaff ordered.

The two sides of mushrooms and mash...yummmy!

I didn't order anything neat like the guys. I just got pasta and gravy. I knew it was going to be a long night of drinking so I figured I would prep myself in the correct manner.

Random Photos of NYC Food

2006-09-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would drop some random pictures of food that I have eaten the past week. I hope you all enjoy the photos.

Pacific Grill in Wildwood

2006-09-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Now Playing in my I-Pod: Streets of Bakersfield by Dwight Yoakam.

What can I say, it was that time of year for Pinky and I to do our summer vacation in Wildwood, NJ. That's right, I drove right by Atlantic City without even the slightest need to stop at the casinos and throw the cards around. O.K. truth be told, I fell asleep before we passed A.C. and of course Pinky didn't think it was a good idea to wake me so I could try and persuade her to stop for a bit.

So what did we eat. Well of course there is the pizza on the boardwalk which is some of the best pizza in the world. I have to say, it plays second fiddle to nobody's pizza. I hate to say this and I say it with the possibility that some NYC people will probably want to kill me, but Jersey Shore Pizza is better than many New York City joints. Not all, but a good majority. It is something about the crust I suppose.

In any case, we did make a nice night of it at a place called: Pacific Grill. I don't have many notes from the night, but I do have pictures and sometimes pictures are worth millions of words.

The Starting Dish:

Caesar Salad: Hearts of romaine, garlic croutons, and parmesan.

They do make their own croutons in the house which I could taste right away. Odd as it may sound, but when you have a homemade crouton you can tell right away. I even made sure and asked our really nice waitress if they were home made and she was quick to say yes and mention the seasoning. A well informed staff scores big points in my point of view.

The Main Course:

First Picture: Seared Dayboat Scallops; served on lobster risotto, baby spinach and lobster oil.

Can you say, yummy! I thought the scallops were a bit grainy in that they still contained some tiny sand grains in them, but it told me more that they were fresh and not all processed. I'm a huge fan of risotto and this was probably the best part of the meal. The risotto had nice sized chunks of lobster and the lobster oil wasn't too over powering as I've sometimes found lobster oil to be.

Second Picture: Seared Ahi Tuna; Pepper-coriander crust, Asian noodles salad, nori powder, soy-mirin glaze, wasabi aioli.

I thought this was by far the best meal. I liked when Pinky couldn't decide how she wanted her Tuna the waitress (pissed I forgot her name) mentioned how the house suggest you have the Tuna. I like mine rather rare, but I didn't want to have an influence on Pinky's dish as I sometimes do. But the plate was done just right and what I found to be really delicious were the sauces that this place came with. It didn't take away from the Tuna but it did give it a most complex taste, without the wasabi over powering the light and tender tuna. The noodles were a nice touch and fresh and didn't taste bland for cold noodles, I sometimes find with cold noodles I can tell if they were sitting in the back for hours on end...these weren't of that callibar.

Dessert:

Key Lime Cheesecake; Pecan coconut crust, fresh whipped cream.

I'm not one for Dessert to be honest, that is Pinky's specialty. Serious, and when it comes to Cheesecake I look to her for an expert opinion. Yet, on this one I knew from the first bite it would pass her test. It was soft and creamy, but more importantly, it had a crust that was just perfect: room temperature, wasn't too hard or too soft, and it had a very unique flavor; not bland like so many cheescakes one finds today. Even the dots of flavor on the plate weren't too over powering and they weren't trying to use them to give too much flavor to the dish as many places do. Many locations think that one should use those drops to bring flavor to the dish, not as much to compliment it as Pacific Grill did.

In closing, I just wanted to say that the service at Pacific Grill in Wildwood was the best. The kids serving us were young and locals (I think Pacific Grill is only open during tourist season), even the manager looked rather young to be holding down such a nice place and I thought that to be good in terms of letting the youth get involved in such a project. In the end, great decor and service makes for a great night, throw in great tasting food and you have the makings of a summer staple for Pinky and me. Also, make sure and pack a great bottle of wine for this dinner, yes, Pacific Grill is BYOB. There is a small liquor barn across the street, but I'm sure what they sell won't do this place justice, so make sure and pick something nice for a special night and pack it before your drive out to Wildwood.

Pacific Grill
4801 Pacific Ave.
Wildwood, NJ
609-523-1800

CRUSH:

K-Town, Futbol, and Dessert

2006-06-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

I had a good time in Corea (some of you know it as Korea). I took some photos of the food there but I was also there to witness a world cup game and how they get down in the K-Town. Let me tell you, it was an experience to say the least. Enjoy the photos, yo. Oh, look at how crazy the fans are and this was all over a tie with France. Could you imagine if they were to have won.

Oh, for my food. The plates you see are a variety of dishes that were served. The many little plates are brought to you before you start your meal. They can vary on what they consist of but there is always some kimchi in one of them. The soup was my main dish. Most of the Korean soups are also main dishes...it was a heavy soup but very tasty. The desert you see is shaved ice with beans ontop. I know, I know, sounds really odd, but the beans were sweet in a way. Then they add some mixed fruit and a scoop of Ice Cream. John "The General" Lee informed me that growing up it was only the shaved ice and beans...they have gotten rather fancy with the dish over the years.

* These pictures were really taken in Korea Town here in NYC. I can't lie to my one reader, thanks Mom for reading.

Random Post

2006-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to hit Paris for some odd reason. Maybe it’s the book that I’m currently going through, The Paris Cook Book (look to right for picture) by, Patricia Wells. I really enjoy this book and she gives not only the story behind dishes but where she likes to eat these dishes, but they are easy enough to make at home (which is good news). At least she makes the dishes seem easy and for that I’m going to try a few when I get back from vacation next week.

My vacation to Mexico is going to be a taco-a-thon people. Sure I have been running and getting into shape, but when I arrive, I’m going to eat tacos like there is no tomorrow. Serious, I’m going to hit every taco stand possible. I will make sure and take some pictures of the food if my brand new digital camera.

So speaking of France, I wonder if all the things everyone tells me about how they treat non-French individuals is true? None the less, I think the food looks good and I’m sure I could find a few hole in the wall places that will serve me some good grub. Who knows, like I said, I’m just excited to go visit. Hopefully I will be making the trip this year. I don’t know, time will tell.

I do still have to post my pizza outing with Pinky, but that will come in time. I’m not sure if I want to write the post without putting up pictures. Even adding one picture of the food you are writing about can help people relate with the food. Thus, I’m excited about the damn camera! I just got word that the camera is in route, so look out people and come back to visit for some pictures.

Well since I wrote this both the arrival of the camera and trip to Mexico have happened. Now for the whole France trip. I still have been in deep thought about the trip, I do hope it happens but that will depend on where I am mentally to be honest, for some reason I’m all over the place at this point in time.

Watch King Kobayashi on July 4th

2006-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

There is a TRADITION here in NYC on every July 4th and I hope you get the chance to catch it. I went one year and always tell myself that I will go back but I never get the chance. Check local listings for the time in your area. Yet, if memory serves me correctly, ESPN will cover it. Yes, this is the Grand Daddy of them all and this is the king:

Mas Comida Por Favor

2006-06-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

The demands for more pictures from my friends have come, thus, here are more food pictures from Mexico.

The above picture was taken at Tacos Aribe. Basically guys who dress like Arabians serve you tacos. Very interesting concept and they are on the side of the road in a tent. The place is packed and everyone is eating their tacos...fun times considering everyone is sluring when they put in their order.

The above pictures are very special pictures and probably two of the more important ones of the trip. We took a trip to Tequila when we were in Guadalajara. Since we were with the biggest club promoter of Guadalajara we were given a special tour. The pictures above are of a special place where they store Reserva de la Familia. Yes, they ladeled the Tequila from the barrel to the sniffer for us. If you ever have the chance to sip this Tequila...let's just say it's a treat. Only special folks get to go in this room like heads of state and so forth. Yet, I was able to not only go there and sit with a nice tequila and sip on it, I was also allowed to sign my name on a barrel.

The above three pictures are another late night spot around my friends club. Needless to say that the food was delicious. They did this odd thing with these tacos, they melted the cheese on the grill and threw the meat on the cheese then they just let it cook there and threw it on the tortilla. Interesting way of doing it...I tend to see them throw the cheese on the tortilla first.

Comida de Mexico

2006-06-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm really particular about who I list on my food blog as a link. But my boy Biggles has been asking for a post. I wanted to give a huge food post about Mexico but I think sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. So here you go and enjoy!!! I did add some notes.

This picture was taken by Danny at Tuffy's place who owned the place and is a good friend of Danny's. The Tequila bottle was complements of the house and of course the food was delicious. My battery to the camera went dead or else I would have shown you a picture of my fish dinner...yummy!

The three pictures above were pictures from La Casa de Pastor. Which is a new place that just opened up in Polanco. The food was good and if you look at the taco there is a piece of pineapple on it to offset the spicy flavor...nice combo.

I needed to take a picture of Mexican pan that was just out of the oven. Yummy...I had one of the little horns that were on the inside and there is nothing like fresh bread...I miss El Nopal which is my home bakery in Watsonville, Ca.

The next two pictures are of some steak we had in D.F. at an Argentine place. I forget the name at this point in time. It was a great dinner with great people and conversation. Too many topics were covered and in true Mexican fashion, we at here about 10:30 PM or so.

The above two pictures were the highlight of my food experience in Mexico to be honest. This is your real Mexican lunch/dinner. If you see there are little red tequila shot glasses...of course tequila in Mexico is sipped during dinner. My Dad would have been happy as heck at this comida. This reminded me of home when we just put a lot of little things together. I would love to thank the family who had us over for this dinner. I can't mention their names because they didn't give me the o.k. to do such, but thank you for the lunch, Frenchie!!!! Yes, it was a French man who put this lunch together for us...but in all honesty, he is really Mexican even if he doesn't know it yet.

This was my first meal upon my arrival to Guadalajara. A two dollar torta de pollo. This was at a bus stop and it was delicious, man. Nuff said.

Quick Note

2006-05-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Listen you all. To the right of my blog right above my black and white picture of myself...cough!cough! You can put in your email to get updates to this killer blog. I know some of you have RSS feed and all that jazz, but just thought I would let you know the service is there if you want to get updates. I'm always trying make life better for my readers.

Pimping Myself

2006-05-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to thank Pauly for getting me a small writing gig for the best site on the web for poker and all things vegas: LasVegasVegas so head on over when you have a chance. I also wanted to thank my main man, Derek for helping me out with the editing. I know that neither Pauly or Derek are looking for this type of air time, but they deserve it. My writing will come along as I keep writing these so please have a bit of patience.

In closing, I hope everyone is doing well and we shall speak soon in Vegas.

Pinky and The Rooster Eat Mexican

2006-05-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

As most of you know when Pinky is in town life is grand for me. And as luck would have it, Pinky managed to make it out to the NYC for two whole days...yes! So the two big topics for Pinky on this trip were food and of course food. So it would be a great two days of eating.

It’s Wednesday night and Pinky is in the mood for Mexican food and nothing could make me happier. If you don’t know, Pinky loves Mexican food almost as much as I do. So she wants to eat some place she hasn’t eaten at. I still try to run through the list of the regular spots and none of them appeal to her, and she makes a point to remind me she wants to try something new. We hit citysearch and run through the list. There are so many but I’m starting to realize that I have eaten at most of the Mexican joints in the city. We finally decide on El Maguey y La Tuna which is located at 321 E. Houston St. I’m excited because Pinky hasn’t been here, but I have some time ago and the food was REALLY GOOD (but E. Houston is rather far from the pad). And I do not lie when it comes to Mexican food because that would be a cultural sin. So let me just tell you that the food is DELICIOUS!! If there is one thing that The Rooster knows in life its Mexican food and this is the REAL DEAL.

Of course I went with the Enchiladas Verdes or Geen Enchiladas. I wanted to go with the Carnitas which was the special of the day. But truth be told, if you have visited this site before you know that Pinky tends to order new plates that are a bit more risky and I tend to order a safe plate in case she doesn’t like her plate so we can switch. So Pink was of course the one challenging her palate and she ordered Cactus Burrito.

First, let me state that the service here was great. The waitresses were very helpful and always checking in here and there to make sure our water was full and to make sure we had salsa. If there was one complaint I had it was that the chips were a bit cold. A heat lamp is in order for their chips. The ambiance isn’t much to be honest, it might be a bit dark in the place, but the food well makes up for what the place is missing in décor. If anything, it has a very home feeling (yes, they have plastic that covers the table).

Our food was plated and served quickly. It must have been like five minutes of waiting max. If there was one downer is that they didn’t give me a lot of beans and rice. Also, the chicken inside the enchiladas was a bit dry and lacked flavor. Yet, it did get caught up with the enchilada sauce so that made up for it.

As for Pinky’s plate. They did the most awesome thing that we do back at home, they brought the burrito wet. Which basically means they put a layer of Enchilada sauce on it with melted cheese...it was awesome. I guess one bad thing is they included black beans in the burrito which is common here in NYC. Next time she will have to ask for pinto beans which they do have.

In closing, I highly recommend everyone visit and if you need any more proof if this place is legit, just look here: http://www.elmagueyylatuna.com Enjoy the good eats and lift una Tequila to El Gallo for helping you find the spot. Check back soon The Rooster and Pinky Search for the best Pizza in NYC.

Claire's Trip

2006-05-04T06:17:00.000-07:00

So my good friend Claire went on a little vacation and here are some foodie pictures and just beautiful pictures. So you ask, Joaquin, who is Claire Lim? Funny you should ask here is a picture of us:

Claire did also tell me that food was very inexpensive. For instance, this plate of food from the restaurant called, Lotus in Kuala Lumpur was about .80 cents...geez sign me up for a trip:

Here is a typical fruit stand:

And here is a plate full of deserts:

Roadside Food:

I would love to write and write about "OUR" trip, but the reality is that I wasn't there. Nope, I was here in NYC...booooo! Don't get me wrong, I love NYC but did you see how much that plate of food cost? In any case, enjoy the rest of the pictures and it's nice to dream:

Shep Cooks With The Jack-Hammer!!!

2006-04-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Well isn’t that a Mofo…My boy Shep is a professional cook and I would have never guessed it. Shep is a part of the G-Vegas crew and plays tons of poker, drinks and now I know the kid can cook. Now I have a partner in crime to call and find out some of the best ways to do some barbeque. I’m still a bit in shock to not have known this fact about Shep. In any case, visit his blog by clicking on his name and you will laugh out loud. You’re my boy, Shep

Getting Back in the Kitchen

2006-03-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

What happens when the knives go dull and you can’t find your cooking passion anymore? Where do you look for inspiration? How do you dig it up? I have been having this problem as of late to be honest with you, I’m not sure how it happened or how come I haven’t been in the mood to cook as of late. There are no real answers to be honest; there is only one thing that is left to do in this instance…turn on my Mexican Music.

I don’t know, maybe it’s the home I grew up in or what ever, but there is something that goes hand and hand with music when I cook. Maybe it’s the romance to the music, I don’t know, it just gets me flowing and chopping like a mad man. I can have four pots going at one time, cutting and prepping, and of course tasting all the flavors to see how they are blending. Those who spend time behind the stove know what I am talking about.

Yet, I feel this coming week is going to be a good cooking week for the kid. I will make sure and take some pictures and post here. When I start to heat up the pans again I really do enjoy doing it with Mexican Food on the menu. Thus, be looking for some of that stuff I learned as a kid sitting next to my mom and pops in their restaurant or at home.

Thus, let the cooking begin!!!

VOTE!!!!

2006-03-17T08:11:00.001-08:00

Often as I’m walking down the street here in NYC I’m stopped by average everyday New Yorkers and this is what they say, “Hey, I love your blog.” Yeah, I know, I know, being a celebrity isn’t easy my friends. But I figure fan stopping The Rooster isn’t a bad thing for I’m not one of those guys saying, I don’t want to be a role model like so many pro athletes. Nope, I extend my hand and say hello. You know, I give them a smile and sign an autograph or two. It’s just how I roll.

Now I was looking at AMNEWYORK (a small morning paper here in NYC for the many fans worldwide who might not know) and they are having a contest about the best blogs in NYC. I have won so many damn awards and stuff that this doesn’t seem important to me…thus, if you want to support some fellow bloggers here are the ones I’m voting for. Not that I’m trying to tell you who to vote for or anything.

Pauly

– He is one of the oldest blogs I have read and I call him the Rock Star of NYC Bloggers. Him some Dwarf and some hippie rocker guy have been on my list from the get go. But The Tao is a funny mix of NYC with the world. Follow this guy as he travels around the word and to every borough here in NYC…visit both his sites when you have the chance.

CityGurl

– What a champ she is. A crossword, karate chopping, beer drinking, looking for love in the city type of girl, and did I mention that she’s cute to boot!!

Little Vamp – Little Vampy is sick now but she’s trying to get better so we can meet up to eat at some of the finer and not so finer things and places here in NYC. If you know of a hole in the wall that you love the chances are the Vampy has been there.

AliKat

– Some new girl to the blog world. I love her rants and you have to smile at the wide range of crazy stuff she writes. Her first post on your blog is by far one of the better posts this year.

The view written above are that and those of “The Rooster” and are law. Thus, if you don’t vote please let me know so I can send you a pound of horse crap from my ranch back in California. Nuff said.

Vote Here: AM New York

Mr. Gordon Parks Nov. 30, 1912 - March 7, 2006

2006-03-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

We lost a giant in the world of the arts today, Mr. Gordon Parks. I have never been an artist, a writer, or a film producer in any way so I'm no expert. Yet, I very much loved the work of the man. He was a soft spoken man when I would see him interviewed and like many artists his mind always seemed to be working inside on something deeper while speaking. He had so much grace about him and always humble about what he accomplished. Something that is hard to find today in this world of self-righteous artists, but when it came to conquering the arts he was the real deal.

In closing, it is my humble opinion that Gordon Parks was the greatest all around artist of the last century. For that alone you should be willing read up on the man and his works. He was a giant…RIP Gordon

Pinky and The Rooster Visit Highline Thai Restaurant

2006-02-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Pinky was in town a few weeks ago so I decided to treat her to a night on the town. Sure as I explained before I always have something neat planned for my favorite Desi in the whole wide world, but this time I wanted to treat her to a new environment. I felt we had done the UWS way too much so I decided to take it downtown…better stated, the Meatpacking District.

For starters we headed to Highline Thai Restaurant. A not-so-new place in the Meatpacking district. I know, I know, but Joaquin, I thought you hated those people who took the grit out of NYC. Well said my one reader (thanks for reading, Mom). But the truth is that there is a lot of activity and Pinky was dressed up cute with her bright colored hip Indian shirt. What’s a boy to do when confronted by a beautiful Indian girl…I digress. Not to mention, that Pinky loved the girly show, “Sex and The City” so I figured she should see where Samantha moved.

Upon our arrival we ran into the smokers who were trolling on the outside of the restaurant. Yes, there is no smoking on the inside of NYC eating or drinking establishments anymore; which I’m happy about. Yet, I do think it’s killed some of the night life, but that is neither here nor there because the law is in order and some places follow it while others don’t. What I do enjoy about this law is watching people freeze their ass off for a cigarette in the NYC cold.

So we are in the place and we get seated within five minutes of our arrival and I’m happy at the prompt service with no reservations. We sit and I take note how loud the music is. So loud, that the girls from Jersey sitting next to us find it necessary to yell about their topic of choice, DICK. They are Jersey girls, what do you expect them to talk about. I digress.

The set up was simple but very chic. Everyone seemed to be there with friends and holding court about everything from fashion to who dumped who. I did notice a bigger guy at my right who was wearing light sunglasses, but he looked like a big Asian Mob Boss with the big watch. Then I looked at him more closely and no hair was out of place and I put him as the gay category. This was especially the case when he yelled, "bitch" at his girlfriend he was having dinner with and they both started to laugh uncontrollably.

So Pinky and I go over the list and she decides on a great appetizer. Calamari with glass noodles and a spicy lemon sauce to go with it. I really liked this dish and it could have been a meal in itself to be honest. It was a perfect start to what would become a great dinner.

We then had two dishes for the main course. Pinky tends to get to pick both because as I’ve mentioned, she gets excited about trying new dishes and she tends not to like one over the other. We laugh and fight over the order and she decides on Shrimp in Green Curry and Shrimp Hot Pot (basically shrimp cooked in a small iron cast pot with Vegetables and noodles).

The food was delicious. It didn’t take long for our order to arrive and it was nice and hot (which is how I like my food) and very tasty. It was rather funny because my plate which ended up being the Shrimp Hot Pot was served with bigger shrimp. Although it was my take that the Shrimp cooked in Green Curry had a bit more flavor to it, I could tell that Pinky was rather perplexed about which plate she wanted more. The bigger shrimp on my plate were too temping for her to pass-up so she took a few and dipped them in her very tasty spicy curry sauce. I thought it was a good move by Pinky. Nothing wrong with mixing and matching when you eat as long as the flavors work.

I would have really enjoyed having a drink at the bar post dinner but the music was so loud that it started to hurt a bit to be honest. Yet, I did really enjoy everything about the environment to the service. I felt the service was really good and the servers were there to please. All and all a good experience and I think that Pinky gave the experience and 8 while I have it a high 8+. Maybe we will try this place again sometime before the music gets loud which I hear is during lunch time. Who knows, maybe with out such loud music I will give it a nine. But could it be the music was loud or that I’m getting old?

Stay tuned for the next adventure of Pinky and The Rooster do NYC Food.

Not A Food Blog

2006-02-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

I try not to pimp too many people on my blog. I figure everyone has a bunch of reading to do already. But I do want to direct you to one blog in particular. Please check it out when you have the chance. AliKat

Foodie Guest Post by Human Head

2006-01-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Another guest post by one of the funniest writers I know.

“Have you guys ever been here before?” asked the older man, as his smaller wife looked on in silence.

“No, but I’m very much looking forward to it,” I said.

It was true. The anticipation was so great it must have been some kind of trigger for my lurking OCD, because I made the reservations six weeks in advance. I’ve only been to California twice in my life, and neither trip found me anywhere close to The French Laundry. In fact, I can admit (although not proudly) that at the time I didn’t have the slightest inkling what The French Laundry was, let alone have the sense to point myself in its direction.

Thanks to the constantly improving one-stop shop that is Las Vegas, our last night in town would bring me a step closer to rectifying such a missed opportunity. The rest of the elevator ride to Bouchon was spent discussing with the nice couple the various places we’d been during our trip; standard conversational fare for happy Vegas tourists who manage to avoid the dreaded financial hole people are trying to describe when they use the word “down.” As the doors opened, the man mentioned that they hadn’t made reservations. I thought perhaps that they were simply victims of their own short-sightedness, and feeling a sort of kinship with those that seek out something better than standard fare, I offered to check and see if it would be possible to get them added to our reservation and they could dine with us. The man looked genuinely surprised and pleased at the offer.

“No, thank you. We mostly just wanted to get a look around, sort of scouting for our next trip. But thanks so much for the offer; it was very generous of you.”

“No problem at all. I just wanted to make sure that no one misses out on a great meal,” I said as we stepped up to the hostess and quietly but amicably ended our brief acquaintance.

Looking around while Rachel sorts out reservation business with the hostess, I don’t feel badly saying things about the upcoming “great meal” as though I know all about it, even though I don’t. Such is my confidence, equal to that of my anticipation.

***************************
The restaurant was packed to the rafters, and I breathed a silent thanks to my OCD for making the reservations when I did. I had no real evidence that it would have made too much of a difference if I reserved only a week out, but the fact that it was our scheduled time and there would still be a small wait left me relieved at my over-preparedness. We were offered a seat at the bar until our table was ready and my internal pressure gauge slid a few bars to the left. A couple of cocktails before our meal would keep it sliding until it reached zero, just what the doctor (or hostess, in this case) ordered.

The Foreign Legion kept catching my eye as I scanned endlessly up and down the drink menu. It was an odd name for a drink, quite obviously the reason that I kept stopping on its description; Grey Goose, Tanqueray 10, Drambui, and Amaretto. As I kept going over the ingredients, I couldn’t stop recalling that movie that I liked, Legionnaire, with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Being a sucker for crappy action cinema makes me odd, I guess, and the odd drink with the odd mix of ingredients seemed a perfect match, plus I was happy that I managed to break my normal standard of the “very fucking dry” martini.

“The Foreign Legion is an odd drink. Are you sure that’s what you want?” asked the tiny bartender with short blonde hair.

“Define odd.”

“Well, it has Drambui and Amaretto. I mean, c’mon….that’s odd. And a lot of people don’t like it.”

“Sounds good. I’m gonna go for it. And I’ll have a French Margarita”

With a tiny shrug she was gone, leaving me wondering what this odd concoction would taste like. I was sure of one thing; the first sip was sure to leave me feeling either bold or extremely foolhardy. What made it “odd”, for god’s sake? I just hoped that it wasn’t anything near to its namesake, as any similarity in taste to that of a multinational group of soldiers would be understandably unwelcome.

I took my first sip as the bartender eagerly looked on. My face must have given away crucial intel, because she took on a distinct “I told you so” look. Odd was really the only word for this taste, coming in somewhere between leather and a spicy cologne, if either of those things had any ability to taste good. And make no mistake; it did taste good even though it was truly unlike any other drink I had ever consumed. But what’s this? Pickles? In my drink? I took a bit of the pickle, then another sip. My drink had completely changed, leaving me with the feeling that I was the unwitting victim of some devious switcharoo. The pickle was the key.

“How come you didn’t say the pickles were the trick to this?” I asked as the bartender came back our way.

“It’s more fun to see people figure it out.” she said matter-of-factly.

The tiny shrug again. I couldn’t argue though, it was more fun this way. The pickle discovery improved Rachel’s outlook on the drink, bringing her opinion from the depths of “not so much” back up to “not too bad, but I wouldn’t want more than a couple of sips.” She was happy with her margarita, itself a good choice with its ingredients of Grey Goose, Hornitos, Reposado, Cranberry, and fresh lime and sour. If I was a margarita kind of guy, I imagine would have had about seven of them.

Finishing the drink and congratulating myself once again for breaking with my initial standard, I determined that further straying was in order. I decided on The Bouchon, the signature cocktail. The bartender’s face lit up a bit as she went off to mix the drink, and I wondered why. She came back with the drink and a bit of lemon and orange peel on the side.

“Check this out. Take a sip without the peel.”

I did. It was very good, like a kind of a sweeter martini.

“Now, taste what the natural oils from the peels do.”

Holy hell. As was the case with the Foreign Legion, this drink had also done a complete 180, though it’s hard to describe just how, exactly. It was as understated as the Foreign Legion was bold. Sweet, but not enough to make a person tire of it or lose sight of the fact that it was very much an adult drink. Citrus without being too much so. Everything it was supposed to be without being too much. I could keep going, but I still don’t think I would get it as right as I should.

Make it a point to order any or all of the above, you won’t be disappointed.

***************************
Shortly after receiving my second Bouchon we were seated. While I know that it is probably a bit disappointing to some, I enjoyed the fact that the menu was printed on simple, unpretentious paper wrapped around the napkin. We concentrated on the selection of appetizers while the waiter recited the featured items and asked us if there were any questions. We had none and decided on the Huitres (oysters) and Pate de Campagne (country style pate), and then fretted endlessly over our choice. We didn’t want to miss anything great, but these thoughts soon fled as the bread arrived, sans plate.

I asked Rachel, “Did they just serve the bread directly on the table? Is that right?”

She was too busy doing the “I’m so happy I can’t talk right now” seat dance, so I decided to let it go and join her (in eating, not dancing). I quickly found that, like her, one loses the ability to puzzle over such trivialities with a mouthful of perfect bread. If I had the ability to make bread like this for myself, I would be very fat and very happy for the rest of my days.

The arrival of our appetizers distracted us from the sure dismay that was creeping in as we finished the last of the bread. Both of us knew that tonight would take a certain manner of iron will; we would have to stave off the desire to consume one delicious item exclusively throughout the evening. Our gastronomic future was much too enticing to get cripplingly distracted at this point.

I started on the oysters and made an effort to concentrate, but my knife kept on like a divining rod, pointing itself insistently towards the pate. I should have known; as a resident of the restaurant, the knife obviously knew what it was doing. Any pate I ate previously in my life paled in comparison to this masterpiece. The temptation began asserting itself more forcefully. I wanted to keep ordering and consuming the pate until I burst, forsaking all other menu selections. I was now locked into my own mental happy dance.

As I returned to the oysters, I noticed that three of them (half of the order) were pure shite, not even large enough to be properly called “small”. This wasn’t too upsetting, as I wrote it off to what must have been a generally overwhelming crush experienced by the kitchen. We would just tell the waiter and he would correct it. Speaking of, where the hell is the damn waiter? My spidey-sense began tingling from the moment he initially appeared, but I had wrote it off which was obviously a mistake. I’ve spent enough time at the tables by now to know I should trust my reads. My water was nearly empty and my cocktail was had hit bottom long ago. Rachel was getting low, as well, and I realized we hadn’t seen him in almost 20 minutes. As we waited, I tried to remind myself again that the place was crushingly busy.

With the 20 minute mark a healthy distance in the rearview, our waiter finally reappeared, and as Rachel related our small problem with the oysters, along with the larger problem of the drink situation, the waiter got a look. The look. As lowly consumers, we were inconveniencing him. Taken aback, I noticed that it was the same look he adopted when we decided to stay on our already defined path of cocktails in lieu of a bottle of wine.

You pretentious little asshole.

Remaining calm, we ordered our entrées and waited to see how this would be handled, although his abrupt manner the entire time pointed to “not well.” A few minutes later, our water was again in good standing, replacement oysters arrived—two of them. Contrary to what Meatloaf may have sang in days long past, two out of three in this case is bad, and making the problem worse, nearly another 15 minutes had passed without a cocktail resurgence. Our waiter, who looked like the product of a Cary Elwes/Charlie Sheen/Midget fusion, standing there with that damnable look on his face, finally sent me over the edge.

I headed to the bar to have a smoke while I tried to think of some way to accomplish what does not come naturally—complain without carpeting an undeserving recipient with f-bomb’s. Rachel, having worked in fine dining for some years and knowing my difficulties with diplomacy in such times, relieved me of the task. Our entrees arrived and on the way back to the table Rachel informed me that it things should be getting better shortly.

Thanks to Olivier, the assistant general manager, we didn’t see the waiter very much after that.

***************************
Rachel had the Gigot d’ Agneau (roasted leg of lamb) and I went with the Steak Frites. The simplicity of the presentation was the very reason that some may require a mental reset, as it was a sharp departure from the decorative “fusion” plates that permeate the modern restaurant scene. Mr. Keller doesn’t beg for attention with these dishes. He knows their value and seems content to leave it at that. Like many of the best things in life, you never see this food coming; there is wonder contained in the simplicity and elegance.

The lamb tasted as it would in a perfect world, and the steak was such that it commanded all of my attention and added blissful fuzz to my periphery. Then there were the fries, which were the evening’s biggest surprise. Through various periods of my life I have carried around as many erroneous assumptions as the next guy, including the assumption that there wasn’t much anyone could do with fries once they reached a certain height. As I took the first bite I found myself pleasurably shocked at the fact that my previous assumption couldn’t have been more wrong. The humble fry had indeed been elevated, and after another few bites the “how” of it all ceased to matter.

Throughout our entrée, a cadre of wait staff ensured that previous mistakes were rectified and then some, a testament to the management. They returned the service to expected levels and kept going, reaching a point that seemed far, far away from reality. It became service heroine. Imagine the best service you’ve ever had, double it, and you still wouldn’t be close. Their goal is to make sure you have the best dining experience possible. If it’s not you need only let them know; they will take care of the rest.

***************************
Dessert is something I don’t normally partake in, but asking me to leave Bouchon without dessert would be akin to asking that I leave my house without cigarettes. Such a thing should never happen, and yes, I am aware that I am a hopeless addict. However, in a departure from my thus far long-windedness, I will be sparing with my words about the tail end of the meal. After all, if I haven’t convinced you by now to make Bouchon your highest priority, you’re not going, no matter how much drivel I spew concerning their sweets.

While all of the desserts are wonderful (yes, I said all), if you’re only going with one item it must be the Fromage 3-piece tasting portion, and request that the sommelier pair you up with a dessert wine of his choosing. I promise you it will be worth every penny and every moment.

Thomas Keller and Bouchon are leather-bound classics in an MTV sodden world. If you’re tired of the gloss, bright colors, and superficiality of it all, come take refuge in this haven of the real.

***************************

Rereading these words, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve spewed forth too much gush. Whether I have or haven’t is pretty irrelevant at this point, I guess. I can’t help myself.

Going in, my anticipation was great, and my confidence matched it. It’s very possible that my expectations far exceeded what was appropriate. Leaving Bouchon, my satisfaction dwarfed them all.

With regards to our next meal there, I left the same way I entered.

“I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Foodie Guest Post by Anthony

2006-01-19T06:47:00.000-08:00

We have another Foodie Guest Post…by Anthony!!

Anthony guest post

Another Guest Post by Human Head

2006-01-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome to another post by the HUMAN HEAD. If you read below you can see another post that he made on his trip to Vegas. And for us foodies, we know that you have to hit more than one place while in Vegas. Thus, Mr. Head takes us on a great journey in the Paris Hotel and he's starting to get his writing MOJO back which is great to see after his little break from writing. I will just let him take over from here. Enjoy!!

On Sunday, after a very rough all-nighter, we spruced up and decided that a nice lunch was in order. Paris was on the way to the Aladdin (where some serious shopping would be in order, my husbandly duty for the trip), and since it’s a casino we rarely spend much time in, we decided some dining exploration was in order. Enter Mon Ami Gabi. (geez, could I say "in order" just a few more times?)

Since the weather was nicer than anyone expected, the patio was packed and I questioned whether we would be able to get a spot. I also internally questioned whether or not I actually wanted one. The looks on most of the faces dining there said that these people thought they were seriously upper-crusty because they were out on the patio. The restaurant was obviously nice, but from the outside looking in, the vibe I got from the clientele seemed pretty unwarranted. However, the attitude of a few customers shouldn’t be a primary dissuading factor, so in we went.

Time for some cocktails! If I’m going to endure a shopping gauntlet, I’m damn sure going to have a drink or two in me. Looking at the cocktails made me a somewhat apprehensive as they seemed a bit expensive, more so than usual. $11 for the Gabi Martini, which was just a Grey Goose martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives. I figured that if nothing else it had the olives going for it. Per usual, I stressed very fucking dry, and the Mrs. decided on a Sidecar.

The Sidecar was very good; it wasn’t amazing, but still delicious nonetheless and properly made. I wish I could say the same of my martini. Starting off the litany of things wrong with it, it was very small. Was there a shortage of Grey Goose that I missed? Was there a sudden wild fluctuation in the vodka market that shot the price up to $75/bottle? I’ve been in many finer establishments where I received 50% more drink for about 15% less money, and thus begins the Mon Ami Gabi stock plummet and I haven’t even tasted anything yet. Let’s do that, shall we?

Well, that could have been better. Obviously, swearing during my order didn’t properly communicate how seriously I take the “dry” quality of the martini’s I order. Perhaps next time I’ll bring a sign and hold it as though I’m attending a sporting event, or I could have it painted on my torso and rip my shirt off in a Hulkamaniac rage when I order. Maybe then I can get the point across. I suppose I could have just told you that there was entirely too much vermouth, but this was a serious fuck up for such a pricey drink. Stock is plummeting, folks. I simply sighed and tried to enjoy my bleu cheese stuffed consolation prize.

Our wait to be seated having been surprisingly short, Mon Ami Gabi finally scored its first points, post martini debacle. The sun was such that, at our table, it was shining directly into my eyes. I know, that’s what sunglasses are for, but even so, it was annoying and I began looking for a way to remedy the situation. Like a true sign from above, the couple at the table directly behind us left and I quickly grabbed the server to see if we could hop tables. I expected at least a slightly annoyed look, as this request was going to be a bit of a pain in the ass. Without blinking, she informed us that it would be no problem and began transferring our bread and drinks. Nice.

Speaking of the bread, our baguette also helped Mon Ami Gabi make up a couple of lost points, at least to the point where I wasn’t raving pissed. It was better than average if one is considering the big picture of bread, but when the focus is narrowed to establishments that purport to be finer, it was only slightly above par. Pleased, but not excited would be the best way describe it, I suppose.

In odd contrast to the pricey cocktails, the food was reasonably priced. Craving meat, I decided on the Hamburger with Brie and Mushroom, while the Mrs. went with Croques Monsieur, a sandwich with ham, jarlsberg, gruyere, and béchamel (a white sauce, made by adding hot milk to a roux of butter and flour). My burger, much like my drink, was far south of where I thought it would be. The Croques Monsieur was quite good, and I tried to rest easy in the fact that at least one entrée lived up to the “fancy” factor that Mon Ami Gabi was obviously trying to give off. It was perfectly warm and soft, and the flavors of the sandwich melded together exactly as I had hoped.

Service during the meal was very good, and given the ease of the table changing situation earlier in the meal, we were very pleased with this aspect of the restaurant. In fact, I would say that it was the only thing that was consistently great. By this time, you surely must have noticed a theme running throughout this piece, and if not, I’ll take this opportunity to lay it out for you. Don’t worry, I was going to anyway.

Good, but not great. Worth the time, but lacking the power to encourage me to make a second trip unless it’s wildly convenient. Throughout this entire review I’ve been trying to think of something more summarily specific as to the “why”, and I think I’ve got it. I could have cooked this meal. Since I’m approximately a million miles away from being any kind of professional chef, I expect better from a place like this. If you’re looking for a number, I would give it a 6.5 out of 10, overall. Severely underwhelming.

If you’re looking for a really nice lunch, head over to Olives in the Bellagio instead.

AROMA

2006-01-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

I don’t like to bash places because I feel that every owner puts his heart and soul into an establishment. Yet, when you read so many positive reviews about a place that the owner cares about his/her customers one can get rather excited. Yet, when this caring filters into the realm of disturbing one’s meal, well it can bring that warm environment that everyone talks about to a sudden halt.

Maybe it’s because I know so many owners, chefs and owner/chef of places that I sometimes lose perspective on how people really enjoy knowing the Captain of the Ship. I agree there is something neat about walking into a place and impressing a friend by knowing the chef or owner. Yet, when that chef or owner hovers over your meal and continues to pummel you with information it can get nauseating, this was the case with Italian newcomer: Aroma on East. 4th Street.

Vito was in constant supply of telling me about my wine and other wines that would go with my meal. I didn’t mind the distribution of knowledge bestowed upon me, but I already had a full glass of wine in my hand. Thus, why keep pushing other wines on me?

Food

If haven’t gotten the groove of a place or seen a dish on another table that looks interesting I tend to stay very basic. I use my basic test because it’s a measuring stick to see if I would like to visit the place in the future and try something more adventuress.

Spaghetti with Meat Gravy

My spaghetti arrived in a small to medium sized bowl which I didn’t mind if the taste would have been outstanding. Yet, I was really disappointed to find that the home made pasta was dry, barley warm and very al-dente (I mean hard). I don’t mind if people use celery, carrot and garlic as a base for their gravy, but please don’t leave chunks and chunks of the carrots and celery in the sauce, they are suppose to breakdown a lot more than what was presented here.

Maybe this wasn’t their best meal since they were constantly trying to push the suckling pig on me. Note: Only recommend a dish to a customer one time or else he/she thinks it’s rotting in the fridge and you are trying to get rid of it.

Friend’s Meal

My friend’s salad on her fixed meal had no flavor and was just spinach leaves together with no real excitement. I have been to sushi corner joints that take more risks on their salads than Aroma. I would have thought this was a place that would take more inventive on pushing one’s palate than just a bit of cheese and walnuts on the salad, I say it again, no imagination.

Desert

Although the desert was rather lacking a sweet flavor, I have found that many Italian places don’t serve super sweet deserts as we eat here in the states. Not to mention there was this dark super rich choloclate stuck to the bottom of the slice of cake (seemed like it was there to keep it in place more than taste) which threw me off a bit to be honest.

Bill

I thought the bill was o.k. but it was still very much overpriced to be honest for the sub-par food. I think the total bill was about 95.00 dollars and although that isn’t that much, one can do the same or better at Babbo to be honest.

In closing, I know what I’m saying is contrary to what most people are saying. I’m not high brow what so ever, but I do eat out just about every night here in the city so I have a diverse palate. There is a chance that I could have paid a visit on the wrong night. They do have a cool drawing and if you win you get 100.00 dollar gift certificate.

Latest D.C. Visit

2005-12-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

When I head to D.C. to see my Lawyer and his friends (many of which I call acquaintances not to tarnish their political aspirations) I always take great pride in knowing nothing of which they speak. Like many parts of the world Washington D.C. has its own language, its own politics (taxation without representation), and its own way of life.

So when I found myself sitting with three Latinos eating lox-bagels-cream cheese, quiche pie, and some great tasting funky sausage (something like apple wood smoked turkey sausage or something like that) and fresh orange juice I could only think of Don King. Yep, that’s right; Don King would be quick to yell (not mumble or murmur) ONLY IN AMERICA!

The Food:

Of course M had me over just to chat and get caught up as to what was going on in my and my lawyer’s life. I’m sure when we walked in he could tell that not much had changed in our nightlife as we walked in a half an hour late and smelling like Tequila from the night before. So I’m sure he didn’t expect me to write about a quick brunch him and his wife put together for our visit, but the food was a pleasant delight so I figured I should talk about it.

I was rather surprised that my bagels tasted so fresh being that I’m a Manhattan snob and think that nothing can compare to NYC bagels…or those made by Jewish folks in Brooklyn. Then there was the lox which seemed fresh enough and I was told it was purchased at Costco…interesting. Fresh lox at Costco, I thought one is only suppose to purchase their lox from the deli. I never put onions and cappers on my bagels but I was in D.C. and when in D.C. do as the D.C. folk do (except for my lawyer who has some gag reflex when it comes to seafood). It was rather tasty and I must admit that the onions added a nice texture of crunch to something that would be rather slimy and smooth (i.e. the cream cheese and lox). The cappers added a nice bust of flavor although I thought that maybe too many flavors were taking away from the great tasting lox, but it worked for some reason…I will have to repeat this meal at home to see how it works, for one can’t be observing every bite at a friends home.

The apple wood smoke turkey sausage (or something like that) was rather tasty. Being that I love to eat such food I found them not to spurt with oil when I took a bite which was nice. I’m getting older and when the oil is spurting in your mouth you start to see visions of visiting doctors as you get older. They had a nice texture and weren’t over cooked which I find many people do with home sausage; I think this might be due to people growing up seeing sausage really burnt and eating it…people, sausage doesn’t have to be burnt to be cooked!!!

The Dialgoue:

Of course the discussion of the day was politics, mostly that of the West Coast politics. M was quick to point out some of the negotiations that take place behind closed doors…all the while not revealing any names. I guess this is kind of a code of silence people in D.C. take. I’m not going to say names, but I’m going to tell you some of the pieces and you can conclude your own theories, stories and put in whomever you wish. The game is fun and although I don’t know any of the players I take great joy in seeing people try and put the pieces together and eventually they will start to drop names for clues, but M was rock solid in staying pat on his words and this puzzle wasn’t completed. Only my lawyer saying, I know who you are talking about might have started to get names flowing, but I don’t think M was convinced and he stayed pat. I thought my lawyer was bluffing also because I have seen his face when he really knows who the participants are and he wasn’t strutting that face.

All this time M’s wife, who is beautiful and sweet as a Georgia Peach was laughing and asking who could be the sender of certain books. I really can’t expand here because the names of the people at the brunch should be concealed and this may give too many clues. But if you are giving a book to someone try and give a funny name of a person who it’s from. For instance, if you are giving a book about, Making a War on Fake Reports of Chemical Warheads…well you may want to address it ; From: Mr. Bush.

Of course when you are in a Latin home you need to have the dog incident. For those of you who don’t know, well every Latin home with a dog there is always this drama with the dog that puts everyone on tilt. This time it was the dog who managed to crawl under the fence and run loose out in the back alley…ahh! You have to love the dog drama and how at the drop of the dime everyone gets up from the table to go find the dog…too funny.

In closing, this visit reminded me about home and it was a great visit to get me ready for a visit home for the holiday season. Yes, home is where sitting down and talking is considered value time and one doesn’t have to be at the latest brunch hotspot and engage in pretentious dialogue. No, this brunch was about friends and acquaintances (I say this for my lawyer and M’s political aspirations) getting together to talk about some corporate issues, family, politics, and technology gadgets. It was just a nice break from the craziness that the East Coast exposes you to on the daily. I wanted to thank M and his wife for having me at their home and making me family for a day. And also for not holding back in their constant funny banter to up one another which was rather entertaining and fun to watch. I look forward to my next visit.

Review of 3950 by HumanHead

2005-12-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

As aforementioned, I have taken it upon myself to post on my food blog those friends that are far superior writers to me. Thus, without further hacking at my keyboard I present to you the HUMANHEAD. I’m not sure his real name either to be honest, but he’s a great writer who I ran into a few times in Vegas for Poker…did I mention his wife is hot…but hands off fellas’ he is a big guy. In any case, I’ve posted his take on the fine Restaurant named 3950 that can found at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas. Enjoy!

3950

It was the modernity of the place that initially intrigued me. The tables were set in appropriately sleek fashion, replete with a triangular stainless-steel type of plate. Hmmm, definitely unusual. Whereas most restaurants have their menus displayed for passers-by in the usual shadowbox, 3950 has LCD screens. While I prefer the more old-fashioned method of display, this was definitely a departure from the ordinary that grew my desire to see what the place was all about.

As our group walked inside I was a bit worried about our not having any reservations. We were informed that a table could be had in fairly short order, and would we like to have a drink at the bar? Why yes, we would. Can we smoke at the bar? Yes? Jackpot.

Cocktails

BG was nice enough to pick up the first round of cocktails, a favor that I’ll be sure to return on the next trip. Per usual, I went with the drink that is my personal measuring stick for any establishment, a Grey Goose martini, up, bleu cheese stuffed olives if you have them, and very fucking dry. Rachel also went the measuring stick route, which for her is a Cosmopolitan.

To the bartender, Chris, I must extend my effusive thanks.

My martini was perfect. Only the slightest hint of vermouth rode out on the back end following my first swallow, a beautiful thing. I was slightly amazed that they actually had the bleu cheese olives I desired, but the look on the bartenders face said that he would be shocked if it were any other way. I was additionally satisfied at the size of the drink itself, as nothing begins to kindle annoyance quite like paying $10-12 for a cocktail and finding that it’s no bigger than the drinks found at the most middle of the road places.

I would have to take my shoes off and then some to count the number of times that Rachel has ordered a Cosmo, only to find the resulting drink to be the color of cherry Kool-Aid and the consistency of Robitussin doing its damndest to drown the erroneously included cherry. Ugh. The 3950 Cosmopolitan, however, was a resounding success. A wonderful light pink in color with a lemon twist, it was deceptively gentle, just as a Cosmo should be.

As an extra bonus, while perusing the wine list BG found one of his favorites from his namesake vineyard, which the bartender promptly decanted so it had time to breathe before the meal. I don’t think that I was alone when I said a small prayer of thanks for knowledgeable and professional bartenders like Chris.

Try as I might to find something wrong, I just couldn’t. A perfect 10 for cocktails.

Meal

With cocktails winding down, our party was seated at the big round table that dominated the middle of the dining area. The aforementioned stainless-steel plates were promptly whisked away, which was mildly disappointing. I guess I will have to locate my own if I want that particular experience. Our waitress began by asking me what sort of water we would like and commenced rattling off the various incarnations of bottled, inevitably arriving at the lowly “tap.” In the middle of the water litany I heard “Fiji”, a favorite of mine, so I went with that. I thought that I was just ordering for me, but before I could correct anything, it was being poured all around. So, my apologies to the group for my mistake as I know that name brand waters, both in price and principle, are annoying to many.

I refrained from ordering any appetizers because, generally, I find that I can’t finish my entrée if I do. While everyone else ordered the appetizers they wanted, the bread arrived. The bread itself was nothing unusual, the typical collection of differing types of rolls and flatbreads, but one thing stood out. At the bottom of each basket was a hot stone, something that I have not seen anywhere else. While I’m sure that this isn’t the first restaurant to do such a thing, it was a pleasant surprise for someone like me seeing it for the first time.

My normal entrée measuring stick is a steak of some sort, and 3950 had a nice selection available. I went with the bone-in ribeye (as did about half of our party), while Rachel decided on the lamb. Unable to resist any longer I went ahead and ordered the Mac and Cheese w/ lobster and truffles to be brought out with our meal. We paired our order with a middle of the road Pinot Noir, a 2001 Martinelli.

As the food arrived, everything looked and smelled wonderful, as expected, and everyone dug in with little fanfare. Our pinot was medium in body and strength and paired well with our order, although it couldn’t lift the meat above what it was: Okay. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t delicious, I just wasn’t blown away like I had hoped. Being slightly underwhelmed with the meat, I ventured into combo bite territory, having a bit of steak with a bite of Mac and Cheese, a good combination that lifted my taste buds off of their even keel for a short while. Rachel reported the same with her order of lamb; very good but nothing absolutely special, which is likely obvious by this point considering the distinct lack of flowery adjectives in my description.

I originally would have gone with a 7 for this meal, but due to the wonderful 3950 Mac and Cheese, I feel compelled to bump it up to an 8. Please don’t read dissatisfaction into it. The meal as a whole was very, very good. I just can’t in good conscience call it “great.”

Service and Miscellaneous

Our group was about three quarters of the way through our meal when I found myself wondering why I hadn’t given the service any consideration. I didn’t need to. It was so good that I had failed to consider it altogether. Extraneous silverware was promptly removed, and water and other drinks never even got below the halfway mark in the glass. Appetizers and entrées were perfectly timed and coordinated. Waiters and bus-people were everywhere and nowhere, pulling off the feat of never really being seen but ensuring that everything was in its proper place at the proper time and that an enjoyable meal continued unabated.

Bravo.

I found the red leather chairs to be very comfortable for a long meal such as the one we engaged in, and even though it’s something I never would have considered, the purple velour booths surrounding the edge of the dining room seemed a perfect fit. Being someone that loathes sports bars in general, I found that the (42”?) flat-panel television in the bar area showing the Detroit Lions game didn’t seem out of place whatsoever, even though I would have probably fainted from the horror had I simply heard tell of it. 3950 managed to bring a lot of seemingly disparate things together into one very pleasing décor.

Dessert

Dessert was about the same as the meal itself; very good but nothing completely stand-out. The presentation of the desserts ordered by the group, however, was absolutely beautiful and more than made up for what it may have lacked in substance or taste. So much so, in fact, I even took a picture, one of only five that I took for the entire trip.

Overall, I give 3950 at Mandalay Bay a solid 9. The décor was modern but intimate, providing a welcome respite from the rigors of the hard-partying weekend. The perfect service let us focus on the good company we had along with the meal, providing a perfect segue out of town for those whose time was up. Don’t bother coming here if you’re food budget frugal, but if you’re looking to spend on a really nice meal your money won’t be wasted here.

For more writings by the HumanHead visit: http://www.humanhead.blogspot.com

Reclaiming Sandwich

2005-12-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, I’m a hack when it comes to writing about my food, poker and city adventures. Thus, I have started to post up guest writers on my food site. The problem with having friends that are great writers is that you tend to feel a bit dwarfed and humbled at your limited writing abilities. Yet, what I have come to do is value, appreciate and try to promote my friends gifted writing styles. With that being said, I welcome you to read a recent post by one of the more sarcastic, humble, and degenerate gamblers I know. He goes by the name of BG and he knows food, horses, bad break-ups (my sarcastic humor) and is an underground scribe whose real name I don’t even know…so without further ado, I present to you Boy Genius and his piece titled, "Reclaiming Sandwich".

On a recent vacation our somewhat sizeable group had a hotel ballroom commandeered, an open bar that covered nearly all available daylight hours, and that seemed to be just the tip of the iceberg.

See, I saw a white-jacketed man in a toque wander in and start lining up tables. Buffet line perhaps? I started putting the pieces together in my head and decided that the appearance of the man in the toque could only mean one thing: a roast beef carving station was soon to appear. I had probably eight cigarettes and three greyhounds for breakfast, so a lunch featuring even the fattiest, brownest, lowest grade excuse for beef was getting me excited.

I kept an eye out for the man in the toque as he continued to wander in and out, scoping the environment, doubtlessly doing the mental calculations necessary as to choose the proper number of plates, forks, knives, au jus cups and maybe even working up the mental schematics so as to not waste a single foot of extra extension cord for the heat lamps. Finally, he re-entered the room with a serving tray...

...full of finger sandwiches.

Setting aside my sheer heartbreak and abject disappointment for just a moment, is there an abomination more injurious to the noun "sandwich" than the effortlessly cobbled food service bullshit called the "finger sandwich?" While I'm sure there are legions of elderly women who frequent high-end teahouses who would disagree with me vehemently, I have personally never been in a position where the finger sandwich has ever been more than a limp-assed attempt at constructing a layered bread-and-food-stuffs product with nothing but the most inexpensive and grotesque materials the back of the fridge could produce.

When I hear "sandwich," I want to imagine a crusty Italian loaf bulging with Proscuitto and dripping with olive oil. I want to think about the Gorgonzola and alfalfa sprout sandwich on rye I had (toasted rye, with melted provolone, spicy mustard, tomato and cucumber too) from a long-since-closed deli years ago. I hear "sandwich" and I can picture a cheap diner French dip, or even a humble BLT on toasted wheat. I have a lot of love for the sandwich as a concept and in my reality. It's traditional, as humble as you please, and as gaudy as you wish.

This is why I feel wounded to the core inspecting the hotelier's offerings. White bread is the obvious base, and it wouldn't have surprised me to know that there was a clown depicted in some state of merriment on the outside of the plastic bag. Of course, the crusts were removed (if you can call the browned-but-indistinct outer hull of a Wonder-loaf "crust") as to not offend the delicate sensibilities of the unrefined palate. Squished between the slices we found two varieties. The first was a combination of what appeared to be strawberry jam and off-brand cream cheese. I offer a distinct congratulations to those that managed to eat one of these without landing a dollop of disgust upon their lap. The second was truly offensive. It featured the sort of prefabricated ham slice that was undoubtedly factory-pressed to the precise shape of the soon-to-be matched slice of bread. Presumably after all the packing gelatin had been rinsed from its chemically-enhanced pink, it was accompanied by a simple slice of American cheese and a slathering of Satan's instrument of colonnic destruction - mayonnaise. While the creamy jelly variety at least could point to a stripe of rich red color in the middle to entice, the bleached abject whiteitude of the bread seemed to wash directly with the similarly toned mayo to rinse whatever appeal may have come off the industrial-pink from the meatproduct, or the not-from-nature maize a knock-off Kraft single may possess.

It may seem as if I am asking too much of the free catering, but I assure you that is not the case. I'm an eater who tends to ask very little in the way of the high falutin' variety of goat cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes and shaved truffle garnishes. It is with shame, however, that I looked upon these sandwich imposters to find not a thing of interest. Is it so difficult to purchase a higher grade of bread than what you're feeding your toddler? Can you give your culinary audience credit for knowing that a true bread is meant to have a crust so rich and delightful that it may as well be called a husk? Are you so lazy and food cost stingy that you cannot approximate a meat, cheese or other filling product that did not come marked down from the discount bin?

On behalf of all those who went hungry instead of trading satisfaction for the sheer act of the chew/swallow, I demand in no uncertain terms that the word "sandwich" be removed from the descriptive title of your pathetic offerings. And bring on the roast beef.

For more posts by BG you can visit his site @ http://www.gamblingblues.com

Freeman's Restaurant

2005-11-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

The best part of having a food blog is that you get people reading from around the city who just love food. Or sometimes you get people outside the city who just love food. Either way, when you love food you are always in search of a new place to push your palate and such. With that being said, some of the people you meet via food are just much more interesting and have a more complex palate than yourself and it’s great to compare notes with them about places.

Where am I going with this? Well I wanted to invite you to submit little pieces of a place you ate at and I will post it here as a guest writer. My friend Rudy wrote me a bit about a place we had been talking about trying. Since Rudy beat me to the punch and went to dinner there before me, well I decided to post her re-cap.

I must let you know, I just sprung this on Rudy, so she didn’t have time to re-write this and post a long post on it. I’m just cutting and pasting it from my email. She was kind enough to agree to let me post. I’m sure she could have written a lot more, but what she wrote was suffice if I may say so myself. Thus enjoy the post and if you want to submit something as a guest writer please let me know.

“Went to Freeman's Restaurant last night. The atmosphere was amazing, it was a dark and rainy night............We made our way through a narrow cobblestone alley and at the end were two huge oak doors open into a rustic restaurant. There is a bar on the left and simple tables in a fairly small space. The walls are hung with stuffed trophy heads of wild boar, geese, elk, grouse and the like. The service was ok. We had a couple of appetizers, crab salad on toast and the artichoke spread which is a big portion and would be great to get if you were sitting at the bar) We both had the filet mignon, rare, which was perfectly cooked and tender and served with a horseradish sauce that cleared my sinuses. The wine list was very good although the wines by the glass yielded a very short pour, looked like maybe 4 ounces, so better to get a bottle. This is a great place to take someone special, very romantic in a Hemmingway style.”

So there you have it people. Not sure what type of rating on a scale from one to ten Rudy gives the place. Yet, I can tell you that she has been to some of the best places in the city so a positive review doesn’t come easy.

Sarabeth’s Restaurant

2005-11-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Anita was in town so it was necessary to find a new place to eat. I remember the times when Anita and I use to just visit our favorite haunt in the hood known to many as “Nacho Mama’s”. Now we must visit a new place every time she makes her way to the city. Come to think of it…why not? This city is so full of restaurants that you will never be able to hit them all. How neat is that? In many small towns and cities in the US one can make his/her way to every eating haunt in town. Not in NYC…that’s impossible.

So off we go to Sarabeth’s because that’s where Anita wanted to eat. And well…to be honest, it becomes rather difficult to pull Anita away from her choice of dinner once her mind has been made up. Not to mention that a friend recommended it to her so that was the icing on the cake. We walked several blocks chatting and looking at different menus to different places to eat. I think we passed three places we promised one another that we would visit in the near future.

We finally found Sarabeth’s on Amsterdam between 80th and 81st. Upon entering one takes note of the tea room feeling the location has. The earth tones and small saucer plates on the wall gave the location a home feeling. In my eyes it had a very mid-west farm house feel to it. So I was rather shocked when I seen the menu. No, it wasn’t the prices that threw me off, but the contents of the menu. There was a lot of Italian food on the menu. Upon my entrance I pinned this place for a down-home cooked meal type of place. But nope…a lot of Italian was on the list.

Of course when eating with Anita you have to know she is going to push the envelope on what she orders and will try and choose between a staple dish and something we have never heard of. So as always, when she choose the crazy dish, I took it upon myself to order the staple. For I know half way through the meal she won't like the crazy meal and will want to switch plates. I can tell after one bite if she likes what she is eating. Yes, this is a common practice and one I enjoy. Although, I sometimes start to wonder if someday she will ever choose a winner when it comes to crazy dishes.

In any case, we are seated and our waiter is a funny guy. But you know, one of those funny guys who can become annoying. I thought he was a good waiter though and his humor didn't reach that annoying level.

Oh, funny story. We are sitting and chatting and some nice girls come in and want to order a bottle of wine for a friend’s birthday. I hear them say that the bottle of wine they wanted was a bit too much for them and asked the waiter if he had any recommendations. In any case, in picked this up and whispered to the waiter that I would pick up the difference from the bottle they wanted and the one they were going to order. You see, I remember being in the situation many of times...a few bucks short to make that special night truely special. Thus, I figured that if I covered their difference it would come back to me three fold via good karma.

Moving on. I ordered the spaghetti and had him make it spicy for my Mexican taste buds. Anita had this squash-pumpkin soup to start and risotto for her main meal.

Soup: I thought the soup was o.k. and Anita didn’t like it. I felt it was missing something also. Since I don't eat a lot of pumpkin and squash I couldn't tell what it was...maybe salt or something of the sorts. Yet, they did provide some biscuits that were just tasty and helped move the plate along by dipping them in the soup. But in the end the soup did miss.

Spaghetti: I thought this was the best plate of the night. They made it nice and spicy just liked I asked. The had a good sauce with a fresh sweet sausage broken up into the sauce. I can tell when places use fresh sausage, it just has a lot crisp lighter taste then the traditional heavy sausage that's been sitting for a few days.

Risotto: This plate was good and the truffle olive oil they used on the risotto really gave it this smooth texture. I know, I know, risotto tends to be creamy anyways, but this one was just really smooth. The mushrooms that were used really spiced up the dish. This wasn't such a crazy dish for Anita to order, but it did have some elements that she had never tried in risotto, mostly the truffle olive oil.

We had tea at the conclusion of our meal which was really nice. I had forgotten how well one can converse after a post-dinner tea. I know, I know, you never thought you would hear me say that...God, I can’t believe I just wrote it. None the less they have a great tea selection here and they are served in awesome little tea kettles. Anita didn’t know that I had a former boss who schooled me on the proper way to drink and make tea. Serious, it was awesome all the stuff he taught me about tea. Did you know that there is one tea plant? Yeah, it’s just one type of plant...crazy right given all the differnt types of tea there are.

In closing, the one thing that Anita and I noticed about this place is that it seemed to veer off it’s path. One would think that this place would make down home comfy food with no pretense. Yet, now they have gotten into pasta and such. We weren’t sure if these dishes were always served, but I would tend to think that they weren’t at the start. Probably the owner thought she would put some personal dishes on there that she liked, I think this may have been a mistake and I’m sure if she were to serve some down home cooking for dinner with a touch of high scale she would get a better turnout for dinner. Yet, I have heard that her jams and brunch is to die for - so I haven’t given up on this place, I just might be more into the brunch and breakfast layout.

NO

2005-09-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

I was there when the floods hit Santa Cruz County. I was there when the big quake hit Northern California (actually I lived five minutes from the center of the quake) and I was there when the big quake hit Southern California. I was literally across the street when the planes hit the twin towers. But nothing, and I mean nothing compares to what I have seen on TV. My positive thoughts and prayers go out to those who are trapped without water, food or electricity. I’m speechless.

To My Little Friends

2005-07-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of how I could address the events in London. Besides NYC I consider London to be my favorite city. I have a deep love for the place. I was thinking of what I could say or do. Yet, what comes out of my mouth is pure anger so I don't want to go there. I just wanted to post the following to the terrorists: FUCK YOU!!!!!

Funny How Places Change

2005-06-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

I took this from my city blog because it had to do with one of my favorite places to eat. I'm sure this has happend to some of you in the food-blog-esphere.

Dinner was great once again, but now we can’t get the Chef’s Special at this place because it has become too damn popular. I don’t know, The General said that if he calls in advance Uki could hook it up for us. I guess the one thing that really makes me sad is that this place is losing its flava. People are starting to find out about the place so they are flocking there and taking away from it’s mom and pop charm. Serious, now the place doesn’t seem like home anymore. I know, I know, how many Sushi places do you go to where you do feel like you are at home. Well this place was able to do that for me. Sure the price of the Sushi is still very inexpensive for the good…nay, the great quality, but I feel rushed there now.

It hurts me to say this because I know this is The General’s sushi spot. He’s followed Uki from uptown to downtown for his sushi. Yet, I think The General even has to concede that we are no longer the special customers we were.

Random Notes

2005-06-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this and you are a blogger in any way, shape or form...you might want to check out this site if you need help with your blog and making it a better site. http://foodblogscool.blogspot.com/

Dinner with Anita and Neera in Atlanta

2005-06-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Las Mujeres

Well as if sharing company and dinner with the two hottest Desi girls in Atlanta wasn’t enough; I got to eat for free. YES! As most of you know I’m a cheap Mexican who goes by the motto: If it’s free it tastes better.

After Anita picked me up from the MARTA station (note: she was on time for the first time in my two years visiting her) we headed straight for the hip neighborhood of The Highlands. I have visited here once before but it was for dinner at some Noodle place and the spots around the area were jumping. I guess this is the bar area for the local colleges and on Saturday nights the place is jammed packed with lots of live music. Think Austin, Tx. but a scaled down version.

So we decided to eat at Atkins Park, which plays with various takes of Southern Cuisine. According to Anita, they are very much known for their fried chicken. Right away I think fried chicken is the way to go until I see they have jambalaya. Ouch! This is going to be a tough decision since I have been longing for some jambalaya. Of course Anita knows this and as I sit in the tank she pokes at me and asks...which one is it going to be? Wait...jambalaya is on their old menu...the new one doesn't have it, so fried chicken is the only way to go.

Me: Southern Friend Chicken with Fresh Green Beans.
Anita: Georgia Mountain Trout with Mashed potatoes
Neera: Regular Salad with dressing (more on this in a bit)

First, I’m in the South so I figure big portions. Now you all know I can get my grub on…but these portions were just huge!!! Serious, no wonder the South has so many damn overweight people. O.K. so Atlanta isn’t as bad as South Carolina. In any case, the food was really good. I often think when portions are big that the place is just trying to hide mediocre taste with an abundance of food. But I seriously really enjoyed this meal. The chicken was nice and tender with the inside being white and moist as hell with no trace of fat or nerves. Just smooth all the way through, can you say: Sweet!! Not to mention the green beans seemed like they were growing them outback. Nice and green and not cooked too long, they still had a bit of crunch to them.

I took a bite of Anita’s fish and that was good also. For some reason when I’m nowhere near a body of water I always get scared of things dealing with seafood or fish in general. The glaze was a good balance on the fish and it wasn’t so sugary that it killed the taste of the fish. Also, the mash potatoes that came with the order were delicious. I think they infused them with some cheese to be honest…couldn’t get the taste down.

Neera’s salad was a salad. I guess she had been eating junk food all day long and didn’t have much space for food. She did take a bit of Anita’s plate. But one question…if you know you are going to a good-bye dinner with friend and a dinner with your new best friend, Joaquin…why would you eat junk food all day? Nuff said.

The conversation flowed and hit some snags but it was pleasant. This was the first time that Neera and I ate at the same table so that was a bit different. As you all know, once I get going on something I can’t stop. Needless to say by the end of dinner Neera got the dubious title of being my best friend. Anita has become use to this over the years and just let everything I said roll off her back.

In any case, it was a fun time and I think the place can work on ambiance a bit and better bus boys. I tell you, let my people out from the kitchen and let them work the tables. We had this busboy that was from hell I tell you. I almost didn’t pay for the food (O.K. Anita had a gift certificate) that piece of Chite was so rude. But it was a good meal and the girls were Sweet as my ice tea.

In closing, I wanted to thank the greatest Indian in the world, Anita for picking up the bill. Thanks kid!!! And also send a shout to my new best friend, Neera for joining.

Ramblings About Home Cooked Meals

2005-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

As foodies we often label ourselves as good to above average cooks. I think this is great because many times we go through painstaking trial and error procedures that the beneficiaries of our food never know. I can’t tell you how many times I have tweaked, reworked, and failed making my guacamole. Yet, I continued to push forward as we all do in the kitchen. Yet, what if you could have a professional cook come to your place and prepare a homemade meal for you and some friends. This is the topic of discussion today on how to make friends with chefs. Please take note of the following meal Rudy (my foodie and boxing buddy) had prepared for her and her lady friends:

Funeral

2005-04-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

I was able to bid farewell to my grandmother a few weeks ago. Laying her to rest was one of the oddest things to do in my life. I remember reading about Felecia’s family issues when her grandmother was dying in one of her ancient posts from way back. In any case, I thought how sad it is when all this old family drama arises when someone is passing. My mother, like Felecia, tried to take the high road on all these issues and made everyone feel welcomed and not ostracized during these emotional times. I was proud of my mother for this, I suppose she could have let little petty things eat away at her and thrown a fit when certain family members showed, but that’s not the way to lay someone to rest. Good job.

I suppose the individuals that I really felt for was my smallest nephew and niece. They took my grandmother – their great-grandmother’s passing really hard. I tried to comfort them in this difficult time and tried to reassure them that things will go on with the great memories of my grandmother. Yet, I remember being their age when both of my father’s parents were killed in a car accident. That one hit me really hard when I was their age. Till this day I don’t think I have ever really gotten over my grandfather’s passing. Odd as it may seem. That moment was very surreal and I can still see myself draped over him in his coffin crying. Setting here thinking of him I can even remember his scent when he use to hold me on his lap.

My great-grandmother showed which was nice. She is old now and has is very sharp still. Her and my grandmother didn’t talk much anymore for some reason. Yet, to see her as sad as she was reminded me of a mother’s bond with their child. It was one of the most beautiful things to see. I know that may sound odd, but it’s a bond that never can be broken…nuff said.

It was a cold and rainy day and everyone said their good-byes. I wanted to wait around while they laid her down. We in America have gotten so accustomed to doing everything fast and there is no tradition anymore. I remember as a kid we all put dirt on my grandfather’s grave, now they wanted everyone to walk away without lowering the casket. I suppose I can see in Mexican funerals they don’t do that. For the record, in Mexican funerals people throw themselves on the coffin in hopes of not letting them lower the casket. But for me this didn’t seem right with my grandmother. So the grounds keepers laid her down and I grabbed the shovel and started to lay dirt on her. I don’t know, I just didn’t want anyone else doing the shoveling. So there I was with the raid pouring down on me and with shovel in hand. My uncle came back to get me to go home but he also decided this was the thing to do and shoveled a bit on his mother.

This will be the last I write about this topic and I will now go back to poker, food and times in the city.

My Grandma

2005-04-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

I sit here today in deep thought over the death of my grandmother who succumbed to cancer this past Friday. Tomorrow I will leave home for the funeral services which I’m sure will be emotionally draining for everyone involved. When speaking with family on the phone I can tell that everyone is emotionally spent already, but there still lingers this deep pain that seems not wanting to believe the end has arrived. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope in their hearts and minds; after all, my grandmother had fought the disease for two years and seemed to be willing to fight for many more years to come.

I guess you always expect that out of people who have overcome so much in their lives. Like maybe they have that one more great fight in them. Alas, the body can only take so much wear and tear over the years. I guess that’s the reality of life, one day all of our bodies will not be able to fight that one last fight and we will succumb.

There is a small part of me that thinks it would have been great to see my grandmother alive one last time. I had my plane ticket to visit this coming week but she passed six days before my arrival. I have no regrets about that. We had spoken over the phone and had an understanding between one another. I can’t really describe that understanding; I guess some people would call it a bond. There are just those people with whom you speak with no words said. Some of us have this bond with friends, if one were to die the other would know what his friend would want. The two may have never even spoken about post-life, but there would just be this understanding. I remember the last time we spoke on the phone. It was late and I called a bit intoxicated but happy to speak with her. I saw a CD by one of her favorite singers, Jose Alfredo Jimenez and threw it on. I always loved to sing his songs to my grandma and so I just sat there and sang song and after song and cried my eyes out telling her how much I loved her. She would laugh and say, “yo se, Mijo” (I know, Son) as to comfort me. Song after song I sang and she never skipped a beat on any of the songs. One song we both loved and one which I made sure to sing to her goes as follows:

Yo sé bien que estoy afuera
pero el día en que yo me muera
sé que tendrás que llorar

Llorar y llorar
llorar y llorar

Dirás que no me quisiste
pero vas a estar muy triste
y así te vas a quedar

Con dinero y sin dinero
hago siempre lo que quiero
y mi palabra es la ley
no tengo trono ni reina
ni nadie que me comprenda
pero sigo siendo el rey

Una piedra del camino
me enseñó que mi destino
era rodar y rodar

Rodar y rodar
rodar y rodar

Después me dijo un arriero
que no hay que llegar primero
pero hay que saber llegar

Con dinero y sin dinero
hago siempre lo que quiero
y mi palabra es la ley
no tengo trono ni reina
ni nadie que me comprenda
pero sigo siendo el rey.

My grandmother took care of me much of my life. I would come home after school and she would be at home after returning from working in the fields to have my after school lunch ready for me. I remember those days like they were yesterday. Now in my office here in NYC thousands of miles away from her home I can still smell her house and her homemade flour tortillas cooking (a very distinct smell indeed) on the comal.

I learned some of the most valuable lessons in life from my grandmother. I know that everyone rants and raves about how great someone is in death and I think that is needed. Yet, one of the things that I remember distinctly about my grandmother I her self critique. Not in a negative way, but she was always very critical about the way she lived her life and always took pride in saying when she was wrong (which wasn’t that often..haha!). I always found that to be one of the great qualities of my grandmother. She never lied to herself about when she was wrong. She was always accountable for her wrongdoings and although she wouldn’t always apologize for them, she did account for them. It’s something I feel many of us don’t do today…we are always looking to lay the blame on others.

No words can do my grandmother justice. So I will just end with this:

Maria Reyes
She was a Daughter of Mexico. Born to Parents who were servants on a hacienda. She claimed Texas as her soil and home upon arrival to the United States. A loyal wife who never re-married after the passing of her husband. She was the mother to three children, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren; all of which called her Mom. A proud woman who tilled the earths ground working in the fields of the United States and also packaged that harvest at night working in a cannery. In sum, she was my life, my joy and my heart and she will be missed. Mom, may you soul rest my beautiful Queen and please save me a seat next to you up above. And just maybe you can have me a nice hot tortilla waiting upon my arrival as you always had here on earth.

Con Amor Tu Mijo,
Joaquin Manuel Ochoa Reyes

This Weekend

2005-03-31T08:38:00.000-08:00

There is so much to write today. I am really behind on my foodie blog so I will have to get caught up over the next couple of days. I guess I just wanted to inform all of my readers or as we say in Spanish, Mi Publico…haha! I always thought that sounded rather arrogant when Mexican stars would say that. In any case, stop the presses for this one because this one is going to blow your mind. We are having a foodie party at The Generals place this weekend.

So if you want to come just drop me a note saying, yo, I want some good Mexican food. I will make sure and make some extra food for you. I think that the menu will read as follows:

Enchiladas de Pollo o Queso (chicken or cheese)
Arroz de Mom (my grandmother’s Mexican rice)
Frijoles de Rosie (my mother’s recipe for beans is da’ bomb)
Gucamole de El General (this is The General’s version of Guacamole mine is a bore)
Tacos de Joaquin (Fish tacos that our my specialty but that I have not mastered)
Cerveza Mexicana (beer and lots of it)

I hope that maybe you can stop by for a plate and some laughs. We will be heading to the Auto Show after so that should be cool. Yeah, see cars in NYC because we can’t drive here…make NYC sense to me. We do live in our own little reality don’t we.

In closing, hope all of you are having great food.

FOODIENYC EVENT

2005-03-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

In a previous blog I stated how John “The General” Lee and I were going to a FOODIENYC event here in the city. I was rather excited given the fact that the event was being put on by a young chef here in the city. Marissa from Gourmet Magazine joined us and she’s always nice to have along. I have mentioned in previous posts how she reminds me of the redheaded girl in that show Desperate Housewives. In any case, I was excited about the food but also the people. I figure that only foodies would be in the house so that’s always good to find because they always direct one to little nuggets in the city that have yet to be discovered.

The event was held at Divine Studio on East Fouth Street. I thought the location was perfect, although a little cold in terms of ambiance. But there was plenty of space which was nice. I didn’t get to sit with The General and Marissa given the fact that they were with the high-rollers and were located at the other table that served the more expensive wine. I was seated at another table and the characters were as follows.

Seat One: myself.
Seat Two: Lady to my left who seemed to be rather thrown off by being there and looked a bit pissed.
Seat Three: Young man who might be an aspiring cook or just came with friends for a night on town.
Seat Four: Older lady who seemed to be with the young man and woman sitting in seat five.
Seat Five: Indian woman who had a pleasant smile.
Seat Six: Nice Spanish woman who had a great haircut…yes, I love the bob haircut.
Seat Seven: Older Southern woman but very pretty and well presented.
Seat Eight: Woman in her late 30’s early 40’s with a pimp shirt (orange with poke-a-dots).
Seat Nine: Young woman who was very elegant in her presentation…yes, another redhead from Desperate Housewives (probably even a bit more than Marissa).
Seat Ten: Guy who was with elegant woman in seat nine. No pretense about him.

I love writing in this blog as opposed to sitting and writing for an event to be published. Here you can just write what comes to mind. When one is writing for publication, you have to sit and think it all out in a concise story. Some people would argue that this is a venue in which to refine and define my voice and writing, but I am just more of a fly by your pants type of person when in this domain.

Here are some of the places that people suggested that I had to eat so I added them to my list. Funny, for foodies the list of restaurants is never ending and always expanding. It’s similar to a writer’s list of books he/she has to read. The only difference is that a foodies night out on the town don’t run them 10.00 bucks for paperback copies…haha! Yes, we have picked a rather expensive hobby to love.

1. Otto (this coming Sunday)
2. Poetessa (this coming Thursday)
3. Alta (next week with El General)
So those places are on the list for a little visit this coming week. I think that Poetessa seems exciting, although I hear Otto has a great staff that works at the bar and that should be fun.

So as the night started I could tell the girl in seat 2 was having an awful time. I tried to chat her up as much as possible but it just wasn’t happening. She said that she thought the wines would be talked about more and that the ambiance wasn’t her style. I was a bit upset at the fact that she tried to play highbrow at such an event. I was thinking that she was bitter and came to the place looking for a man. I was being as nice as possible but sometime during the dinner she got up to use the restroom and never came back. Nuff said…and no, I wasn’t being a mean bastard.

The couple next to me was really cool. Their names were Jennifer and Jim if memory serves me correctly. As most of you know, I suck with names. They seemed like a cool couple who one would like to hit the town with. Although Jennifer was rather polished and made some rude remarks about Brother Jimmy’s (Read Previous Posts) I was willing to forgive her because she still went there in support of her man desire for ribs and jambalaya. People, if you go to Brother Jimmy’s in support of your significant other…yes, you are held in high esteem in my book.

I could tell that the ladies in front of me were foodies. They just rattled off place after place and I have all these notes of places they told me to hit. One could tell that they were partial to the Lower East Side…which I think is kind of the way things work with downtown people. As a side note and nothing to do or any correlation with the ladies I’m talking about…I hate these people that call themselves hipsters that live in the LES. Serious, you all work on Wall St. during the day and went to Ivy League Schools…so quit acting like you are barley making it. So I got some new places that I have to hit via those ladies.

I sucked because people would ask me where I liked to eat and I said my favorite hero place (UWS) and Daniels…serious, I have so many other places…read my previous blogs about places and esp. my 10 favorite places to eat.

The food at this event was o.k. Some plates really outdid others but what I had a problem with was the inconsistency. Maybe I shouldn’t say that so I’m invited back. But I found the food to be rather cold. I enjoy my food to be nice and hot, if not hot, above room temperature which is what a lot of the food was served at.

Braised Lentil: Spring Roll: The taste was well balanced and the nice and crispy. I felt the sauce could have carried a bit more flavor and given the plate a bit more character. Also, as aforementioned, I felt the food could have been a bit warmer.

Pistou Bizarro: I really enjoyed this soup. The layers were really well merged together and one could tell that some TLC was put behind this soup. I know that the taste may have not been appealing to some individual palates, but I really enjoyed it.

Skate and Mushroom Papillote: I felt this was the best plate of the night. The greens still held their crispness which is hard when baking in paper. The paper tends to hold all the moisture and kills the crisp flavor of the greens…but not in this plate. I really didn’t like the sauce with this fish. I felt the fish could stand on its pure flavor. The mushroom sauce could have been put on something else.

Coq au Coconut: I felt I was robbed on this dish!! It was cold!! The girl next to me who left tasted this and got her bags at this time. Not a dinner ending meal, but this had to be served hot in my humble point of view and it would have been right on.

Cassoulet: Good merging of many difficult ingredients to mix. If I were to learn how to cook any meal from this night it would have been this plate. Just superb flavor!!

Homemade Tarragon Ice Cream: I thought the effort was nice…but it just didn’t do anything for my palate.

My favorite wine of the night was 1985 Mouton-Rothschild. It was a complex taste but it went down smooth. I’m always impressed when I can’t get the grasp of a wine flavor wise and it still goes down smooth. It has this earthy with many fruit flavors…need to pick up a couple bottles of this on my own.

I know that this event sounds very thumbs down…but the truth is I would attend again. I found the people at the event to be just awesome. Besides the couple beside me I met Ruth who is a LES food junkie. She is the type of person who knows every owner of a place she goes to eat. I need to get better at this skill. Not only do you get the inside scoop of what’s going on in the restaurant, sometimes they give you small samples of things to taste. Not to mention Ruth loves boxing and spars…no wonder she was wearing the pimp shirt.

There were the other ladies in seat 6 and 7. The lady from Spain was a photographer and had a great sense of the world. I think she’s the person who told me about Alta. The southern lady in seat 7 was a sweet woman and just nice to be around a southern bell every now and then. Not to mention, she had a funny story about a friend who brought a cheap wine to her party and that wine won best tasting in a blind tasting…haha! As I talked about at the beginning of this post…the couple to my right were just really nice people and a couple whom you could have a beer with on the roof while cooking steaks…although to be honest, I think his lady commands a lot of respect so I couldn’t be my crazy self after 10 beers…haha!

In closing, good times with the people more than the food. Yet, this is why I went to this place…to meet other people who love food. So I will go back and hopes of meeting more foodies and who can give me more places to eat at and good stories.

Post Script – Listening to Brad Paisley while writing this entry…yes, one has to love country music to read this blog!!

ARTE

2005-03-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

Another night out with the Dynamic Duo of Dr. Feel Good and The General Lee (look at pervious post on Devi to read about these guys). So being that I was going to dinner with these two characters I figured I would take some notes. For some reason when running with these guys there is always a lot of food involved and lots of liquids (of the alcohol nature) to help one put the food down…thus, one needs notes. Who really cares if as the night goes on and the drinks go down that your notes turn into chicken scratch or that they look like you took too many mushrooms and are trying to draw something profound. I tell you, notes are always a good thing.

So to start off the night I arrived late. This is only because The General has gotten into this habit of talking to me on the phone and telling me to hurry over and upon my arrival he’s barley jumping in the damn shower. What the heck is that all about? Thus, before leaving my apartment from all the way uptown I take my time and don’t run out the door. This is one time I should have hurried. By the time I arrived the boys were walking out the door with a nice bottle of wine in their stomachs. In other words, I missed a nice glass of wine.

As I said, I arrived late and some of that had to due with the fact that I had eaten my pasta with red sauce (read previous article) before my arrival. We tried to hit this one restaurant that I can’t remember the name. It was too full and we had to find a new location. We were walking and we found Arte. For some reason I think the Good Doctor had been here before but one can never be sure. He knew they had a patio out back that should be used for Native American rituals like smoking the peace pipe. But I never did see a back patio but I’m sure it did exist given the façade of the building. In NYC one can usually tell if a building has a back patio by the façade in front…this one looked like it did have a patio.

Upon walking in we take a seat and I take note of the ambiance. It was clean and warm, but the bar had way too much of an influence on the space. Not to mention it seemed like a watering hole for the locals. I didn’t mind that fact, but the people at the bar were rather obnoxious to be honest. I know this sounds off and odd, but I really didn’t like their ceiling. It was one of those circa 1970’s white ceilings with little holes punched in it and they tend to put those in the mobile classes in your Jr. High. You know the one where they confine the “Special Kids” to.

In any case, as I have said before, when you go to dinner with these guys you don’t really get to order. They kind of do this whole fly by the seat of your pants ordering routine. It goes something like this:

Waiter: Are you ready to order?
DFG: Pasta with meat.
Waiter: What type of pasta?
TGL: Fettuccine Alfredo.
DFG: Yes, and add to that plate another pasta and split it.

Sure to some people it might make sense if you have been around people like this. I knew what he was talking about. But the waiter seemed a bit thrown off by it. It’s kind of like your own special order that you want the house to make for you. I was just sitting there laughing at this and that was just the starter course. I didn’t taste this portion of the meal due to being super full on pasta already….but it looked appetizing.

Then a beautiful wine was ordered. I hate tasting really good wine because it’s hard to go back to the o.k. stuff. I wanted them to order some Bartles and James or something of the sort but they ordered Amarone 1996. I thought this wine didn’t have the body and full flavor of the wine we had at Devi, but it did have a more complex taste. It went well with the seafood dishes that were ordered for the main course. I think this is a good example of why I don’t buy into the notion: only white wine with fish. Especially in this instance when you have a light complex tasting fruit filled wine with both heavy and light seafood.

Dr. Feel Good had the Sole Fish and the General had Pisce Soup. Both dishes were good but I thought the fish was far more outstanding (I did eat half the Sole and a few bites of the Pisce Soup). The prep for the fish was interesting in that they warmed up the sauce on the fish, on the serving plate under a burner in front of the customer. I guess that got some cool point from me. I didn’t think that the General Lee’s plate was as appetizing. Throwing a lot of seafood together is difficult, especially when you have tough seafood such as scallions and nice fluffy fish. The difficulty of course lays in the cooking. Many people throw it all together instead of adding one after another and slowly. This gives the tougher seafood time to soften up a bit. Just my take.

After we had an offering to the Gods and relaxed and enjoyed life. It was a fun time and although so much more took place in the area of jokes and humor, well it just can’t be spoken here. Thanks for reading this far.

Best of NYC

2005-03-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

Since I promised to write in my Food Blog more this is something that I thought would be fun to write about. Top 10 things I love to eat in NYC and sometimes a reason why. Not ranked, just came to head that way.

1. Nothing beat Korean food at 4:00 am in K-Town with The General Lee drunk off our asses. Korean food is like good Menudo when hung over…sticks to your stomach and helps soak up alcohol.
2. My Little Mexican place on 104th E. Side. I think the name is El Paso or San Antonio Taquiria. Good food.
3. My Little Mexican place on the Amesterdam and 107th…good enchiladas verdes and white pozole.
4. Dinner with Anita (when she is in town) at The Heights. Throw back to days at Columbia and just a lot of remember when stories of friends…good times.
5. TabTos, still a jewel in the city that hasn’t been found. Yuki (the owner and head sushi chef) is a great guy. I feel he’s fallen off in terms of crazy creations, but good straight sushi and a great price.
6. Brother Jimmy’s. I love this place and their ribs. Not to mention they have a Sunday special all you can eat ribs and all you can drink for 20.00 bones.
7. Kornets Pizza. Just been on the list for so many years how I can I take it off now. Best priced pizza in the city and best value hands down.
8. Indian Café/Roti Roll. I love the new extension of Indian Café which is Roti Roll…and I don’t care what any Indian says…Indian Café is the real deal.
9. China Town Food. Nuff said…but I like my favorite place, Dim Sum Go-Go and also Great New York Noodle Factory. I like my favorite place next to OTB…go figure. But very neighborhood place with all the uncles going there for their tea during and in between horse races.
10. Cart Vendors Spicy Hot Dogs. These things are the best and I still eat them.

Random Thoughts

2005-03-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I haven’t been paying attention to My Little Food Blog for some time now. I guess there has been going on in Joaquin’s food world so I should blog about it.

First, the General and I are going to a foodie event this weekend (http://www.foodienyc.com). We are rather excited to see how this event transpires since we have been reading about these events for some time. In any case, the only problem I see is that The General is going for the high end wine. It sucks having a friend who is not only into good food, but also good wine. I guess they have two diff. levels in terms of wine lists. I think this is a great format, but it leaves the poor souls such as me going for the bottom shelf stuff…haha! No, it’s all good wine but I hear the higher priced wines are like 200.00 for a bottle and they’re having 4 different ones served plus food…great deal. I’m just trying to save my pennies for the WSOP (go to poker blog for details) Some will say that they (great food and great wine) go hand and hand, but once you are addicted to good wine there is no turning back…thus, low-end for the kid.

Second, I have finally found the perfect receipt to my pasta sauce. It’s taken about 10 times trying new formulas, but I have a winner. Yes, I can now try some new types of food. Imagine making huge tubs of red sauce over the past two months to get it perfect…I can’t eat red sauce for a while. On that note, the reason that I really enjoy watching Lydia’s kitchen on t.v. and even her books is because she tends to make all things spicy. Being Mexican one can only imagine how spicy my sauce is. But the flavor is great and something that I really enjoy. I still need to get a food meal to grind down my tomatoes…maybe I will try and pick one up this week to see how much it changes the texture of the sauce. At this point in time I just crush via the old mano.

Third, along with throwing down on the sauce I have been working on my guacamole. I know, I know, this shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. It’s not, but what I have been finding is that I enjoy a lot more condiments such as onions and such in my guacamole. At first I just use to pepper those things in there…nothing too much. Now I feel with the more you put in there the more texture your guacamole gets. Thus, I’m putting more and more in there as time goes on. We will see where I end up with this. But I have found that eating too much guacamole over a week can kill you. Just too heavy for my stomach and to think that I didn’t like guacamole growing up.

In closing, wish me well on my event this coming week and I will make sure and get back to you with a full report. Sorry for the delays in the entries but I will get better over this coming year. Cheers!

Food In Atlanta

2005-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Visiting the South is always fun for me, but visiting Anita in the South is that much better. Serious, I can’t see how she makes it here. The people are nice and all, but the Northeast it isn’t and Anita without a doubt is a Northeastern individual.

But since this is a blog about food, I will get on the food tip. Needless to say, or shall I say, surprisingly, one thing that you can find in Atlanta is good Indian and Mexican food. Indians have a diverse community here with many inhabitants from the South India. So much of the food is vegetarian, but there are a lot of meat platters to choose from. The Mexican food is great here and the best place to get it is Buford Highway, people here laugh when I tell them that I love Buford Highway...guess it’s the impoverished part of town.

My first night here in Atlanta was fun. Anita told me that she had found a new Indian restaurant named, Madras Sarava Bhavan. I thought that the place was lacking in traditional Indian interior, but the place was packed with different ethnic groups (I found this to be kind of neat). I was a bit hesitant even if I was with an Indian born Indian. Serious, sometimes Anita just wants to eat Vegetarian and no meat. Myself, I’m like, can you please bring me all the meat possible. Yet, it was good Friday so no meat for the kid. So it was going to be a non-meat meal.

I noticed that Madras took great pride in their Dosa plates. Yet, I thought that eating something spicy was the way to go. You know, eating some lentils with heat to them is something like eating beans; I could do that with a smile and no meat. The meal was yummy. Not to mention, they had this plate that was rice which was mashed with tons of melted butter. I can’t remember the name, but it delicious. Oh, I forgot to mention that my plate came with rice with tons of spices which was awesome.

This is just a short entry. But serious, if you are ever in Atlanta I suggest you visit some of their Indian restaurants and also some of their Mexican places on Buford Highway.

Back to the kitchen

2004-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since I have taken the time to cook. Some of it had to do with the fact that I just didn’t have time…or for that matter make time. Yet, John “The General” Lee has been pushing me a bit to get back in there. Although he may not know this, his little nudges have helped me. For instance, when at Evelin’s x-mas tree decorating party I was in the kitchen with Marissa. It was fun and cooking with Marissa and being under the gun was an adrenaline rush. On a side note, Marissa reminds me of the redhead in Desperate Housewives. The General went on to mention that we have to throw a dinner party soon where we both cook.

In any case, The Generals’ always looking for Mexican places and even goes to this church on 14th St. to eat. It might sound odd, but I have been and the food is really good!! In any case, I have wanted to get back into the kitchen because there is a place for the common homemade meal here in NYC. So I went and bought some starter things to get some pasta with sauce going. I know, I know, not a hard meal to make, but it’s a start and I’m at that point now where I’m trying to master my sauce. So that was the first meal back and I have my week planned out already. By the way, my sauce missed this time but it was damn close to where I wanted it to be.

1. Hit the farmers market this weekend to pick up some fresh produce. Not sure what I’m going to get but I see these huge lines for fresh eggs so I will probably hit that.
2. Gather up some chiles to make salsa with. I will probably try to perfect one salsa and try a new one. The one salsa that my mother taught me to make (who she learned from her mother and she learned from my great grandmother) tends to vary too much so I’m going to try and perfect it. Side note, both of my grandma and great-grandma are still alive. Second chile will be green with onion, parsley and avocado…will see how that one turns out.
3. I’m also going to play with some diff. sauces for my enchiladas. I’m tired of the old sauces I make so I have some new one’s that my folks passed me and I hope that those work out well.

O.K. I will keep you all posted on how things are coming along. I cleaned the kitchen and moved some things around in hopes that it would help me get where I wanted with the cooking assignment at task.

In closing, may all your meals be fun and tasty.

Saigon Grill

2004-12-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve written in my food blog and for that I’m very sorry. There is so much to write and I don’t have my note pad so I will freestyle as always.

Saigon Grill:

I started going to Saigon Grill again! It was some years ago that Beto “San Antonio” Puentes turned me on to this place. At the time they were located on Broadway and 84th or somewhere around there. Since then they have moved into bigger digs up on Amsterdam and 91st St. In any case, this place use to be a small little place on Broadway and now it’s this huge place with nice interior. I kind of miss the old hole in the wall, but I’m happy that you don’t have to wait an hour to grab some good grub. Looking back, I suppose I find it odd that Beto turned me on to this place. I suppose I never have taken note (until writing this) that Beto has a diverse palate. He eats a lot of different styles of food. But now the poor kid is regulated to the cafeteria at work. Hey, I didn’t make him the investment banker. In any case, I really liked the place back in the day and it had been some time since I had visited…I think two years or so…thus, I decided to pay a visit.

The service at this place isn’t the worst and it isn’t the best. The one thing I can say is when the owner is at the front door to greet you it’s a good sign. I notice that about Asian restaurants compared to other places. I suppose it might be an Asian culture thing or something, but often you can find the owner at the door. It’s almost like him saying, come on into my home to eat my food. I like the welcoming mat that is laid out here. The bus boys are a bit stretched so you don’t always get water right away…but the service is fair.

The prices have stayed low for the most part, but they have gone up since they were on Broadway. But a good meal for some 30 dollars for two isn’t bad.

I have kind of killed this place and have gone about three times in the last two weeks, but I was doing it in the name of my blog. Twice I went with Beto and that was cool because we got to talk about old times and just how much things have changed for both of us over the years and it reminded me of how crazy we were and how we had taken our friendship at times for granted, I would like to think that these meals made us realize the importance of our friendship. I suppose food can do that from time to time.

On another note, I went there with a friend who just got off of work from a commercial. Note to self: Friends who work long days with movie stars should have some time to unwind (don’t make a point to meet them after work) and make sure and ask them where they want to eat when they have had a long day. Don’t push anything on them…my bad. Yet, the conversation was nice and easy.

I suppose the one plate really worth eating there is the Barbeque Beef. This stuff is really super good and when you put their house hot paste on the meat….good stuff. I would also suggest the chicken curry soup in a little bowl. Perfect for an appetizer and only like $3.50 which is really a steal for the amount they give you. But that Beef is just da’ bomb, kid. Serious, it’s one of those foods that you can probably eat all day and not get tired of it. Oh, I don’t have my notes with me of when I went solo, but the Beef is the first one on the list of Beef dishes.

In closing, I hope all is well and may all your meals be enjoyable.

Devi

2004-11-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Went to the new hot Indian food spot named Devi in midtown this past Friday with the following host of characters: John "The General" Lee, Dr. Feel Good and a new person who I had never met, Jasmine.

Before I get to the great experience that I had at Devi, I think I should tell you about the pre-feast. When eating with The General you get use to eating way too much. It can be anywhere...Chinatown at 4:00 am or Koreatown at 4:30 am either way he orders too much food. In comes Dr. Feel Good...my God this guy loves his food and has a palate range a huge as me and The General...not too many people have that range (o.k. so I punked out of the cauliflowers dish later on in the night...but I do eat tripe and fish eyes).

In any case, when at The General's apartment I figured I would have a glass of wine before Dr. Feel Good showed...why does The General always offer me a fresh bottle of wine when I get up to grab a drink? I'm like, the stuff that is open is perfectly fine...who cares if it's been there for two days? I guess this isn't proper edict with people who are in the know with wine...I'm like, give me anything as long as it goes down and tastes like wine I'm fine.

In any case, low and beyond Dr. Feel Good shows up with a six pack...no, not of beer but of cream-puffs....oh my god! This was just a warm-up!!! Why did he show with a sixer of cream-puffs? That's what foodies do, man. He picked them up because he was wondering if The General had ever had them before? He had...I hadn't...guess who ate two...which sat like a rock at the bottom of my stomach the rest of the night. I just wanted to tell you that they came in three flavors...pumpkin, green tea and regular. I'm not sure of the name of the place but it's right around the corner from Astor Wines and across the street from Gap (I don't get any royalties or advertisement fees from either Astor wines or Gap). Needless to say, this place was the bomb and I would visit everyday if I didn't live uptown...just to die for. Note to readers, bring me three when on my death bed...PLEASE!!!

O.K. so you are saying, wine and cream-puffs??? I say yes...without getting into too many details - I had some hunger. Not to mention, I had to do something while the boys made me watch this awful story on Ana Nicole's family back in Texas...no comment...it was worse than watching the OC.

So we walk into Devi and I felt like I was in prison. Serious!! All the busboys wear this orange jumpsuit that looks like those that the people picking up trash on the side of the freeway wear. It wasn't a scary thing or anything, it just threw me off a bit. I wonder who picked the gear and if was a part of the whole motif. The place was nice, clean lines, but they could have worked on the Indian motif a bit more...good but not great. In any case, we sat at the bar because like all Manhattan hot spots it was going to take 30 to 45 minutes to be seated...no problem we were still waiting for Jasmine to show.

We moved to the bar where Dr. Feel Good took over the duties of ordering drinks. One thing when you are with foodies that you have to remember, let them do the ordering. Can I put it down with the best of them...of course. Do I have a complex palate...of course I do...but I also know when to step aside and from early on I knew this was going to be a Dr. Feel Good night. So he took it upon himself to order us an Amleika. This is a drink that has blood orange and mango with Vodka. The drink was great and it reminded me of a mango lasi in terms of it's thickness. It's about here I start to count my drinks because I figure it's going to be a long night...two point five of wine and one Amleika...I'm good. Note: Joaquin sucks at drinking red wine...puts me over the top and quick. Dr. Feel Good felt a beer was a good following so in the honor and respect of the Indian culture we go with King Fisher. I can't remember what beer we agreed that it tasted like...but thinking back I think Sierra Nevada. It was a nice smooth beer and was served very cold...cool points in my book when a beer is served very cold.

Then a bottle of wine...great bottle and pick it up if you have the chance...2001 Provenance. I did mention early on that as long as it goes down I'm fine. But even in my buzz state of mind I knew we had a winner on the wine...great tasting and almost velvet smooth...no lie.

We were escorted to our table by the awesome manager named, Sunny. This guy had someone at our table the whole night. And when Dr. Feel Good told him, you pick the menu for our table and just keep bringing it out...he fielded a few questions as to our likes and dislikes and told us exactly what he was going to bring us and it was on.

1st. plate a spinach patty...small circle that was nice to get the tastebuds warmed up and ready to go. The brown sauce with this was silky smooth and lands a heavy counter to the light fluffy spinach patty.

2nd plate a stuffed chicken. Without a doubt my favorite dish of the night. Not sure how this chicken was made, but it was seasoned well with herbs and pepper and rolled and sliced. The chicken just fell apart in your mouth...you didn't even have to chew. Splendid. This was nothing like Tandori Chicken...totally diff.

3rd plate was Prong. Not sure what this was but it has some spice to it. Can't really recall this dish now...looking at my notes and they started to get a bit shaky here. I think the wine started to kick in.

4th plate was the cauliflowers...nuff said...didn't eat it due to a bad childhood experience.

5th plate was bread with ryta...it was really good...can't recall much of it.

6th plate was garlic nan. It was the first time I ever had garlic nan...tasted good but it had a bit too much butter or oil on it. I still thought the dish was great and not too thick like sometimes nan tends to be.

7th porkchops with Serrano Peppers...this had to be one of the best dishes. Nice and spicy like I love my food. The only problem I had with this plate is that they gave you all the peppers they used on the side. Not bad I guess, I just didn't want to eat cooked burned serrano peppers. I tried one but they just didn't have the taste for me. Wasn't sure why Doctor Feel Good said they tasted good? But the meat itself was nice and soft for a chop.

In closing, this place was one of the best places I have been to in the city in a while. Not only was the food great, the company was nice and the service was great. I really never put much thought into service to be honest. It's either good or bad for me...I don't really distinguish. But I have noticed when the manager/or chef comes over to make sure things are going well it makes the experience that much more better. I want to send a shout to Devi and of course my fellow eating crew for the night.

Rice Balls at Omslb

2004-10-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Omusubi - Shaking hands
Omusubi are often called rice balls in English. The word comes from a Japanese verb meaning "to take hold [of something] with one's hands."

There are so many little gifts that we are given here in NYC. I mean here in the middle of Gotham we find this little hole in the wall that serves the best rice balls in the world. Yet, this little hole in the wall is very stylish...in their words, "stylish space where contemporary Western sensibilities and Japanese aesthetics are gracefully blended." I would have to concur with their take. Nice small wooden tables made for two, which can be pushed together to make a table for four. Note: this is a small space and parties of 10 are not going to fit well here. No, this is more of a hit and run type of location, but with much more class than your typical dive.

I was accompanied by my boss. Needless to say, my boss and I both attended grad school together but never knew one another there. Funny, I have worked for my boss for some time and this is the first time we have ever sat to eat food together...can we say this was our first time breaking bread? I suppose I could. In any case, the reason I'm writing about this is because I have noticed that here in NYC we don't really enjoy our meals or the people we are sitting with. Serious...think about it (I do enjoy them with General Lee, but he gets me too drunk off wine to recall stories to blog about). In any case, I was pleasently surprised at how much fun I had sitting with my boss. She tends to be high pace and always thinking two steps ahead which is great in the work environment, but sometimes the mind doesn't slow down for good conversation, not that it's not there, just the pace of one person to the next can vary and her pace throws my timing off. In any case, my boss was really cool to have lunch with. She just got married and was happy to give me bits of information on how happy she was, how she loved seeing her parents still in love and wishes the same for herself some 30 years later, how her husband is understanding to her travel, and the books she likes to read. I just found the conversation refreshing because so much of our time is consumed inside the building and that is who I know her as...which doesn't do her justice. What I found really interesting is that my boss was able to slow down at lunch and enjoy and relax and change gears so quickly. I have to practice this on the poker table because it takes me too long to get into high gear and back to low...kind of like a semi-truck.

Oh, back to the food at Omslb. These little riceballs or cakes come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Everyone has a distinct taste to it which I found really neat given that every riceball has a nice size portion of rice. There are about 30 diff. choices one has on the daily and they are in constant rotation, which means next time you show they won't have the one you tried previous. My favorite of these little morsels which are all priced under $2.00 dollars per piece is, Shrimp Pop Corn. It's a staple there and one which I have seen every visit. Try it and I'm sure you will enjoy.

Although I put soy sauce on some of my rice balls I would argue not to do so. Yes, I'm the person that never listened to that song, "so don't drown your food...in mustard, mayonase or gew." But I think the flavors can carry themselves without this staple of Asian sauces.

They also have teas and so forth which you can try...but I'm a soda man...thus, a coke will do for me. The lunch special includes a miso soup along with three pieces for about 7.00 dollars which is a great deal!!!

I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area or someone just looking for something new and exciting. My mind is all over the place now for I have some work to do. I took the General there the other day and he thought it was o.k. He didn't seem too crazy about the place, but I think he found it to be interesting and a place he would revisit.

In closing, may all your meals me tasty and my they taste like mom's home cooking.

SPAM

2004-10-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

No this isn't something about those damn annoying emails one gets, this is a food blog and with that said this is about food.

I mentioned that I grew up around people that loved to cook. My family takes emense pride in anything they put on the table, even if it's something like Spam. I always found it odd how people despised Spam when I loved it so much. Not to mention that it was always in plenty supply growing up. I just found that gewy stuff that surrounds it to be....well neat. I once heard that Spam is the best selling food on the reservations of America.

In some ways I feel that you can determine someone's economic upbringing by how many different dishes they could make with spam. For instance, in my house there was always Spam with eggs early morning with a side of beans...ummmm!!! Then there was Spam sandwiches for lunch...you know, some cooked Spam with manoyase between two ends of a loaf of bread. Some would call that ghetto fabulous...myself, I call it good grub. So there were all these dishes that one could make with Spam (many of which I have tried)...you should try a few of these yourself.

To be honest, growing up I didn't even know that Spam was a poor man's food. Serious, it wasn't until college that people laughed at the fact that I loved imitation meat so much. I don't know about you, but sometimes college can be a setback in many ways. Myself, I'm still a promoter of the stuff and one day I will make the Austin, Texas - Annual Spam Fest...this I promise.

Not sure why Spam came to mind. Maybe because I was writing about family and food...Spam was one of the first dishes I learned to make back home.

In closing, many of you haven't even tried Spam or are too much of the petty-bourguise to taste the stuff. I say, "don't be such a dork" and roll up those sleeves and let that stuff fall out of the can with that suction noise that only Spam can provide when coming out of the can...good eats and I give it two thumbs up.

Small introduction and background

2004-09-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a family who has worked in the industry their whole life...my dad even had a couple of food business himself...catering and restaurant. In any case, I love food my favorite being mexican food so you will probably be reading about trying to find the best mexican food in NYC and my adventures there. Also, yes, I can cook and I'm pretty good...o.k. I can hold my own or at least I think I can....I know I have a lot to learn in this department and my father is constant reminder of how much further I have to go. More on my families rivalries in the kitchen another time.

Most of my foodie adventures take place with one, Mr. John "Da General" Lee. He will probably be starting his own blog soon and it will probably have my name plastered on it from time to time. When it comes to my name being smeared don't believe everything you read in The Generals' log...I'm innocent and I don't remember anything...I plead the fifth. In any case, there are a couple of other individuals who tend to come along our foodie outings....Trent, Marissa, Evelyn, and of course Vivian. So that tends to be the crew with other's coming and going throughout the month. In any case, we tend to hit a lot of places monthly so I will keep you abreast to the outings and what I thought about the food.

I will also probably add somethings when it comes to bars and such. OK so I will order some food so I can give some foodie talk when talking about a bar. In any case, I hope you enjoy my blog and all it has to offer. I will probably write in this blog about three times a week.