On Thursday after work, a couple of my coworkers and I headed to Korea town to have dinner at Bon Chon Chicken. I tried it before and wasn’t really impressed (maybe I was expecting something else) but this time, when I walked in, I realized I kind of had a craving for the juicy, tender meat and the light and crispy crust. We had six in our party so we decided on three orders - two soy garlic and one spicy. The soy garlic drumsticks/wings:

And the spicy order:

Pam, Brandon, and David enjoying the chicken:

The soy garlic wings/drumsticks were better than last time but the spices from the spicy drumsticks/wings were slightly off. I’m not sure why, but there was something missing in the heat of the sauce. The crispy skin is definitely something special about Bon Chon Chicken, but after a while, it can get to be too much…too much oil can’t be good for you, right? I can’t really complain about the food, but there is definitely something lacking in their service. It took 20 minutes (no joke) to have a waitress come to our table (and the only reason someone came is because I went to the bar telling them that we needed to order). I’m not sure why the waitresses aren’t that into…working. There weren’t that many people in the place, either, so it wasn’t because they were extremely busy and had other tables to tend to. After dinner, Audrey, Pam, and I headed to Pinkberry (even though it was freezing outside) and shared a shaved ice:

Shaved ice, condensed milk, strawberries, bananas, kiwi, pineapple, and mochi with pinkberry frozen yogurt on top. The picture was taken from a previous trip to Pinkberry for shaved ice, but I never had a chance to post it!

So, my verdict on Bon Chon - I think it’s a fun place to hang out if you don’t mind waiting…be careful going up and down the stairs to the restaurant because the steps are super small!

On Saturday, I went to check out Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village, one of David Chang’s restaurants serving delicious Asian-inspired burritos. Chris and I went to Momofuku (the original) on our first date and I wasn’t IMPRESSED, but I thought their grits and BBQ buns were good (although extremely expensive for the BBQ buns - $8 for two -especially because Fei Dai Bakery in Chinatown delivers the same thing for 85 cents). I heard a lot of good things about the Ssam Bar, so we decided to check it out.

The day was really beautiful (a little breezy but very sunny) and we walked into an empty restaurant, which was great since we were both starving (although strange, considering it was around 1PM and the last time we went to Momofuku, it was completely packed to the gills). Anyway, Momofuku Ssam Bar reminded me of an asian Chipotle - you can pick what kind of protein you want (berkshire pork, DUH), the starch (burrito, just rice, nothing at all), and the toppings you want:

I ordered the original ssam, which includes berkshire pork, rice, kimchee sauce, edamame, and shiitake mushrooms all wrapped in a nice burrito:

The burrito (or ssam) was definitely delicious and I felt like it was more healthy than eating at Chipotle (maybe because of the edamame and the shiitake mushrooms?). One downside - berkshire pork is REALLY unhealthy and I picked my burrito out of the reynolds wrap. I was halfway through my burrito when I noticed that a bunch of grease was dripping out of my burrito…mixed with the kimchee sauce. It was not a pretty site, especially because Chris didn’t undo his reynolds wrap and realized he was eating all the grease that wasn’t able to drip out of his burrito. I’d go there again, but I’d definitely watch my intake of the grease and maybe air it out or something before eating it.

After our Momofuku Ssam trip, I headed to the dentist to get my crown (it’s so pretty!) and then we headed to Grom, the new gelato store on the Upper West Side (straight from Italy!). When we walked up from 72nd street, we saw the line out the door and we were prepared for the long wait. It didn’t take that long (only 15 minutes, which isn’t bad for gelato, especially since I read so many great reviews about it). We decided on the luna rossa (the flavor of the month - raspberry with cream) and chocolate. A large was freaking $9 AND it was barely the size of my fist (something I was warned about…but I was also told that good things come in small packages, so I wasn’t too worried). A shot of the gelato:

The luna rossa was okay and the chocolate wasn’t that great. Actually, I thought the chocolate tasted exactly like the hot chocolate from City Bakery - good at first but then you feel like your mouth gets really dry from the chocolatey taste. Another con of Grom - they don’t accept credit cards yet (their machine was broken) and the guy working the cash register didn’t know how to count change (I swear, it took him a good minute to figure out how to give me my change back). Chris said maybe he was straight from Italy (where the gelato is from) and couldn’t figure out the change. Possible, but don’t you think if it’s extremely packed, they would put someone from the US at the register? I don’t think I’m going to go back anytime soon (especially since it’s so out of the way for me). I’ll stick to my Pinkberry and sample at Whole Foods Il Labatorio Gelato

After Grom, we headed to K-town for sol lung tang and Pinkberry (twice in one weekend!). I’m still deciding on the ice cream maker (wouldn’t it be SO much easier if I could make my own ice cream?!)

On a side note, congrats to Ariel, Josh, Elizabeth, Pam, and everyone else that graduated from school over the weekend!

After the dentist’s visit, dinner in Chinatown, and running to Herald Square for some last minute window shopping, I headed out to 230 Fifth for some drinks with Jason, Leo, and their friends. It was kind of a cold night to be out since 230 Fifth is known more for their rooftop bar (or the stuffed cheetah by the entrance). I haven’t seen Jason since March (he’s SO busy with work!):

Leo and I didn’t stay that long because we were kind of hungry (again), BUT, while Leo was ordering drinks, he noticed that one of the bartender’s was a model from ANTM (America’s Next Top Model)! Leo has seen every season since it started in 2003 (impressive!) and recognized Xiomara Frans (I had no idea who she was). She was booted mid-season (the season Yoanna House won). Now, she works as a bartender at 230 Fifth (I’m not sure if she’s still a model) and she was SUPER rude to Leo. She wouldn’t take a picture with her because she said she was busy (understandable) and basically blew him off. Before we left, he asked again and she wanted Leo to take a picture of her and another bartender…um, okay. Instead, I took a picture of Leo and her in the background:

Recognize her? Yeah…I didn’t, either.

Afterwards, we headed to K-Town for some seolleongtang, which is the ox-tail soup that I love so much and some beef brisket, thinly sliced:

You eat the beef with the green onion in the center for more flavor (Steve mistook it for lettuce when he came to visit in January). I didn’t end up going home until 3AM, but the meal was so good. I could live off seolleongtang (especially now since I have a temporary crown in and I’m not supposed to use my left side to chew).

Today, my friend, John, offered me his extra ticket to the Yankees/Red Sox game (as long as I promised to cheer for the Red Sox) :). We headed up to the Bronx for the game and saw a lot of Japanese television crews at the entrance:

I knew there was a Japanese guy that played for the New York Yankees(his name isHideki Matsui, but I didn’t know that there were Japanese guys on the Boston Red Sox team (Daisuke Matsuzaka) AND Hideki Okajima). BOTH of them are pitchers for the Boston Red Sox! It’s definitely a HUUUUGE deal in Japan - there were a lot of Japanese people at the game because they wanted to see Matsui face off against Matsuzaka/Okajima.

The game was really fun to watch, especially with all of the interesting people around us. I never really knew Red Sox fans hated Yankees fans so much (and vice versa), but John explained to me the history of the longstanding rivalry. (If you want to know the full story, click here: Yankees - Red Sox Rivalry ). An abridged version (and probably somewhat wrong since I’m telling it) is that The Red Sox’s owner needed money so he sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, the Yankees started winning all these games, The Red Sox started losing all these games, and there was supposedly a curse put on the Red Sox, known as the curse of the Bambino). Anyway, now it’s just funny to watch the Red Sox fans get riled up and vice versa. For instance, I witnessed at least 4 fights take place during the game…and that was only in MY area! Here’s another funny picture:

I’m not sure if you can tell exactly what the guy is doing, but if you look REALLY closely, you’ll see that he’s trying to light a Red Sox hat on fire. Apparently, some Yankees fan picked up a Red Sox fan’s hat, threw it, and another Yankees fan picked it up and started lighting it on fire. It was like a domino effect because all of a sudden it looked like it was raining Red Sox hats from the sky!! After the hat fell one level, another Yankees fan would pick it up and throw it over the balcony, and when it reached the other level, another person would throw it around some more!! Isn’t that horribly mean?!

The highlights of the game include:

3. Seeing THIS on a jumbotron:

His REAL name is COCO. And his LAST NAME IS CRISP! A. How funny is that and b. what were his parents ON when they named him?

2. Seeing guys bond like this:

So the story behind this picture - these two guys were sitting in front of us, drinking, watching the game, etc. I look down at the top of the 8th and I see this guy passed out in his seat! Now, I know that baseball isn’t THAT fun when the game isn’t close at all, but there were fights, riots, and lots of yelling and screaming! Of course, his friend had to mess with him by taking funny pictures with him (the passed out friend is a big Yankees fan, the guy that’s still awake is a huge Red Sox fan…how they get along, we will never know).

1. Hanging out with my friend John and watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 11 - 4:

Thanks again for hooking me up with the ticket!!

After the Yankees game, John and I headed to K-town (Korea Town) for some oxtail soup and kimchee. We went to Oam Ni Oak (I totally just made that up, but I *think* it kind of looked like that). They only serve a couple of things - oxtail soup, bibimbap, thinly sliced beef, and one other dish (no jigae, bulgogi, kalbi, etc). Even though they have a limited menu, they definitely make everything REALLY well, especially their Kimchi (which I think is a big deal, especially since Kimchi is such a staple in Korean cooking):

Their radishes are SO tasty and crunchy…and just the right amount of time spent fermenting in the ground!!

John and I both ordered the oxtail soup (it’s not flavored so you season it with salt, pepper, and scallions…so simple, yet so delicious):

Tomorrow, I’m running errands during the day and then spending the evening with some friends from school - I can’t wait!