If you’re ever in Koreatown, you should probably not go to a Chinese restaurant, right? Audrey and I made that mistake a while back and ended up at Shanghai Mong, probably the only Chinese restaurant on 32nd between 5th and Broadway. Okay, so it’s supposed to be “fusion,” but you don’t go to Koreatown to get that kind of food, you know?
We both ordered the noodles with black bean sauce:
Sweet, gloppy, and the noodles all stuck together (what Asian doesn’t add sesame oil to their noodles?!) – definitely SKIP this place and head to one of the MANY awesome Korean restaurants along 32nd.
My mom grows chives in her yard, something she started doing when we lived in Champaign, Illinois. They’re very easy to grow and maintain and when you trim them, the entire yard smells like fresh chives (which might not always please the neighbors). In Champaign, we used to stir fry chives with all types of other veggies and also make chive boxes (more like chive dumplings, but the translation from Chinese to English is literally chive boxes). This is an easy recipe, especially if you have lots of chives in your garden and you can incorporate different types of veggies for a delicious snack.
Chive Boxes
Simple dough (2 cups flour: 3/4 cup water)
1 pound chives
1/2 pound shredded carrots
1 pound cocktail shrimp
4-5 Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced
2-3 pieces bean curd, diced
3 eggs
2 bunches of glass noodles, soaked in warm water
Thoroughly wash the chives:
De-vein the shrimp (if necessary), remove the tails, and dice:
Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms (we purchase them dried, soaked them for 2-3 hours, and sliced them):
Dice up the chives and shred the carrots:
Mix the eggs together and cook them, omelet style (after the eggs are cooked, slice them to add to the filling):
Dice the bean curd and stir fry:
Then add the carrots, chives, and shrimp:
Finally, add the eggs that have been sliced and the glass noodles (drain them before placing in the pot):
Fill the chive boxes with the rolled out dough:
Make sure they’re not too plump (otherwise they won’t fully cook) and close the chive box with a fork:
Place the chive boxes on a heated up pan and cook until the dough is crisp:
Make sure you cook both sides:
YUM! These are super easy to make and my mom and I make them a lot during the summer months. The ingredients are all easy to come by (even if you don’t grow chives in your backyard) and they’re really delicious!
Today after work, I headed to Mario Batali’s newest project, Eataly. The restaurant/coffee shop/grocery store is GIGANTIC and was absolutely packed with people (in fact it was a “trending” topic on foursquare with 81 people checked in when I visited!) Here are some pictures from the grand opening – I’m glad my office is so close because it looks like a great place for food!
When you first enter, there are fresh vegetables, fruits, and lots of different stands with cheese and prosciutto. When I arrived around 8:30, the mozzarella stand was already sold out for the day (and they opened at 4pm!) Luckily, they had lots of Parmesan and other cheeses:
They also have prosciutto you can purchase by the pound (freshly cut or packaged):
There are also lots of other deli meats you can buy pre-packaged (after you purchase the meats, you can find a spot to stand/sit, although it was absolutely packed when I visited):
Lots of different jams and preserves from Italy:
And tons of cookies, too:
The espresso bar/coffee bar was buzzing:
And people were lining up for Italian chocolates and pastries:
The longest line (by far) was for gelato:
But a close second was the area where you could sit down and order food (pasta and pizza):
Eataly has every type of antipasti you could ever think of:
And a huge selection of olives and olive oils:
I think there were about 3 aisles filled with different types of pasta (they were all around the $3 range):
Lots of fresh bread:
Different types of meat (they work with Pat LaFreida, too):
A large section for fresh fish/shellfish/seafood:
Fresh shark:
Lots of cookbooks:
Beers and other drinks (right next to the bathroom):
An Italian ATM in the store:
And the checkout:
Eataly was absolutely packed and I’m sure it will be for quite some time – Mario Batali was at the space taking pictures with fans and looked VERY happy. I’m excited to try the food once the lines aren’t so long but it seemed like everyone was enjoying their food (there’s also a large area with fresh pastas that you can purchase to take home that looked delicious). The prices for groceries didn’t seem too extreme (especially if you shop anywhere like Citarella or Gristedes) but nothing was cheap, either. The thing that surprised me the most about Eataly was just how many people were Italian/spoke Italian – where have these people been hiding?! I seriously felt like I was in Italy because lots of the employees spoke Italian AND tons of the people browsing were also speaking Italian. I’m really excited to see how Eataly does!
Last Friday, I went to a company picnic in Prospect Park – we had so much fun and I asked my friend to film us competing in the three-legged race:
And some pictures from the picnic:
Me and Christine after winning the first three-legged race (although they didn’t count it so we had to race again) – our legs were really cut up from the twine:
Me, Christine, and Sharon with Christine’s adorable dog, Bella:
Sharon, me, Baxter, Benny, Christine, and Bella:
We had a great time in the park and there were SO many cute dogs (it makes me REALLY want to get one!)
Two weeks ago, Dorren invited me to lunch at Oceana. You might remember Dorren from my post wishing him a happy birthday; Dorren and I met at RecycleBank and he took care of me and David by bringing us fruit every day (he took requests, too). Even though we don’t work together anymore, we still get together from time-to-time (mostly at going away parties for people that are leaving RecycleBank). Luckily, I was free for lunch and we met up at Oceana to take advantage of their restaurant week menu AND to cross off another restaurant off my Michelin Restaurant list.
Oceana is located in midtown west between Rockefeller Center and Times Square. The lunch crowd was a mix of tourists and business people – the chef that we spoke with after lunch said that it was actually a slow day 9but the restaurant seemed pretty full the entire time). We started off with some bread (made in-house) and butter:
Dorren let me order for both of us, so we started with the scallop sashimi with peach chutney:
And the whitefish sashimi (which isn’t actually on the restaurant week menu):
Both dishes were very fresh (they get fresh fish delivered every single day) and I even liked the combination of peach chutney and the sweet scallop sashimi. We both enjoyed the dishes and were very excited for our main courses. For my main course, I ordered the chilled poached skate:
Skate is one of my favorite types of fish to eat; it’s light, has an interesting texture, and has a great flavor without adding many embelishments. This dish absolutely blew my mind; it had so many layers of flavor and tasted so incredibly fresh and light. The squash and zucchini salad was a great combination with the skate that was steamed and prepped with a little olive oil and there were great texture combinations from the baby greens, pine nuts, and pickled red onions. I couldn’t stop eating the dish (even though Dorren and I were splitting everything!)
Dorren ordered the grilled bluefish with beefsteak tomatoes a la plancha, tapenade:
And the fish:
The dish was much more heavy and substantial than the skate (it was also hot and the skate was served cold) but it was equally enjoyable. The tapenade added the right amount of salt to the otherwise plain bluefish and we both enjoyed the texture of the fried capers.
For dessert, we ordered the assorted sorbet:
And the chocolate chip cookie parfait:
The sorbets were very tart (especially the lemon) and I think they would’ve paired better with a lighter cookie (I associate ice cream with short bread, something more egg white-based with sorbet). The chocolate chip cookie parfait was a de-constructed chocolate chip cookie that wasn’t too sweet (the layer of chocolate was actually a little bitter, which complemented the otherwise sweet dessert). I liked the chocolate chip cookie parfait more than the sorbet, but both were very enjoyable.
After our lunch, the executive sous chef, Chris, took me and Dorren around their very large kitchen. The coolest part of the tour was learning about their very precise ovens; the chefs can control the humidity of the oven so every fish is cooked to the same temperature and those temperatures can be saved to a USB drive so the service and quality is consistent:
The pastry chef, Jansen, was preparing for dinner service:
Oceana is one of the few restaurants that still makes all of their bread in-house – I really liked their foccacia:
They also prepare all of their stocks in-house:
And have a cooling area so the stocks can be used immediately:
All of their herbs are purchased daily:
And they had some lovely tomatoes in (right next to the dummy waiter):
Some of the fresh fish that just arrived that morning:
And right in front of the kitchen, the lobster tank:
Me and Dorren after our lunch and awesome tour:
So, after having a really wonderful Restaurant Week lunch at Oceana, I went back and met Chef Ben Pollinger, who treated me and Lou to some small bites in their private dining room – we started off with some smoked tuna wrapped in fresh tuna:
Snapper ceviche with coconut milk and mango:
And oysters with vinaigrette and diced cucumbers:
Jansen, Oceana’s pastry chef, also brought in some shaved ice:
Me and Chef Pollinger after shooting our video:
The video is a great lesson on how to prepare the chilled poached skate – DEFINITELY try making this dish if you’ve never eaten skate or if you’re feeling adventurous:
The restaurant’s service was really wonderful, Dorren and I had a great time during Restaurant Week (which I usually avoid because the service is really terrible AND they always try to push wine on you to inflate your bill) but the waiters were very courteous, the food was delicious, and I’d definitely return (even if I don’t get to eat in the private dining room in the chef’s kitchen!
