nyc food – The Snack Review

One Year in New York City

We’ve been living in New York City for a whole year! Rodents scare me less. I now understand the phrase “live-in super,” and get what a perk it is to have access to one. I’ve learned not to make eye contact on the subway, and accept it not as rudeness, but as the way New Yorkers give each other privacy in a super crowded city where you’re afforded little solitude. I’m quicker to anger now, and faster with a retort, especially with rude people on the streets, and I don’t see any of that as a bad thing. I see friends more often here than I did in LA, and think it has something to do with the trains, but I’m not quite sure.

Gone are the days of the biannual Costco trips to buy the 48-pack of toilet paper (I miss this more than I thought I would). I don’t blink twice when I see $3.50 tacos on a menu anymore. I have NO idea what a gallon of gas costs today. When we first moved from LA, my tender driving feet ached at the end of every day. These days walking a mile a day is whatever. It’s also known as: getting home from the A train.

The other thing that’s changed in my life is pizza, pizza, and more pizza. If you were to take my weekly taco intake in Los Angeles and swap it out for pizza in New York, you’d have a good sense of its new place in my life. (I should add: I used to eat a lot of tacos when I lived in LA.) K and I don’t discriminate–we love the cheap slices as much as we enjoy the fancypants gourmet pizzas. We’ve liked Lucali, Rubirosa, Sottocasa, Roberta’s. But I don’t have time for any of that Holy Grail of NYC Pizza crap. At a certain point it’s all terrific.

The slices in this photo are from My Little Pizzeria on Court Street, which has a small plastic bucket of fresh basil leaves on the counter for your own taking. Perfect addition to fresh from the oven reheated pizza.

Two Green Tea Desserts

I have somehow managed to successfully avoid matcha mania through the years. I don’t really need matcha bread and matcha horchata and matcha chocolate in my life, but I’ll make two exceptions. And both are desserts I’ve been lucky enough to try in New York.

The sesame and green tea swirl soft serve at Cafe Zaiya. (only at the East 41st location) A smooth soft serve with complementary flavors. They’ve perfected the just barely sweet enough balance. It’s the kind of inviting texture and flavor that makes it way too easy to finish the whole cup.

And the green tea affogato at Cocoron. I’ve eaten there twice and both times this dessert was my favorite part of the meal. Fresh mochi, corn flakes, toasted rice, green tea ice cream, a dollop of red bean paste and a shot of green tea to pour over it. I may have even taken a video of the pour the first time Kevin and I ordered it.

And speaking of frozen desserts, winter is coming. It’s not just a Game of Thrones tagline. It’s this brand new New Yorker’s truth. I was awoken this morning by the clanging and hissing of the radiator, which means that it was under 55F outside. And tonight I had to wear a wool scarf AND a hat to get to the subway. I couldn’t stifle my howls as the cold wind swept through me. It’s as cold outside right now as it gets in LA–and we’re still in October. Oh and it’s supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow night.

A New York City Summer Breakfast

Good afternoon. Happy Holy Mother of Ice Cream It’s August 6th Already??.

As a person who’s fine with m&m’s to start my day, I’m calling this one a stroke of breakfast inspiration. I had the peaches, and we’ve got the corner bagel shop. And then I suddenly remembered our visit to a Portland farmers market a few years back, when we got to try Tastebud’s famous peach slices with honey cream cheese on a sea salt bagel. Actually, the Internet told me just now that’s what it was. All I remembered this morning was the peaches and cream cheese and bagel. This was my first try.

Immediately upon my first bite my brain screamed out what I’d forgotten: “Honey! Salt!” So I finished this one, and tried again for my second half, drizzling a bit of honey and a shaking a few cracks at the salt grinder over it. Pretty darn good. Sadly, my California loved ones, this isn’t something that can be replicated with good results for you because, as the New York Times recently decreed, good bagels just never made it out west. It’s not new knowledge: bagels in New York are superior, sure. But they’re also just so much more plentiful here, so it’s easy enough to run out and buy just the one you want for your breakfast that day. I’d never be able to do that in LA. We’re talking about a geographic inequity in fair bagel access. And that’s before considering the fact that fresh New York City bagels are also far better (crunchier on the outside, softer on the insides) than a sleeve of more expensive and less satisfying bagels from the Ralphs. Though I do miss Ralphs. Scratch that. I miss shopping carts. No that’s not quite it either. I miss throwing my groceries in the trunk of my car and zooming home. That’s it.

I also found a photo Kevin snapped from our Portland farmers market trip. If I remember correctly, Tastebud’s bagels were smaller, denser, more compact, like Montreal-style rounds. But it seemed not to matter so much this morning.

So, while the stone fruit is still plentiful, I suggest whipping this snack up for yourself, wherever you may be, as long as where you are isn’t California.

A Flushing Afternoon

I won’t lie: moving cross country, saying goodbye to loved ones and family in California, leaving my job for freelance life, and trying to adjust to New York have been enormous life changes to undertake all at once. (I’ve only cried about a half dozen times since we got to NYC three weeks ago.) But I’m slowly getting the hang of this new chapter of my life and finding my bearings in this new city.

Part of that’s meant getting to Chinese food, stat.

We did Chinatown last week and today we made a pilgrimage out to Flushing. K and I went off of some basic lists and also meandered around, eating ourselves silly for roughly $30. Not a bad eating adventure.

We started out at White Bear for an order of their wonton in chili oil (紅油抄手). We somehow managed to have this dish at three different places this weekend, and White Bear’s was notable because it was garnished with preserved pickled vegetables. Other than that, White Bear’s rendition wasn’t as mind-blowing as people on the Internet made it sound. I realized this weekend that so much of what makes these wonton so satisfying is in the particular chili oil mix that the wonton bathe in. You want something with brightness and punchiness but also depth and an inviting dose of heat. White Bear’s chili oil mix was a little too flat for my taste. One of my favorite places for hong you chao shou is actually at Pine & Crane back in LA. They’ve got their chili oil mix down. (12 wonton for $5)

We then rounded the corner and popped in to a little food court, the name of which I never got, for jian bing, a crunchy crepe filled with a crackly sheet of crunchy deep fried dough and your choice of fillings. We got green onions, a fried egg and various sauces. This was fine but I definitely need to keep trying others, because I know there’s got to be a gem in Flushing (alright, in America) that I don’t need to travel to China to enjoy. (1 jian bing for $3.50)

After we kept on walking until we hit a BBQ skewer cart that Thrillist calls Xinjiang Traditional BBQ, but which is probably called Three Treasures BBQ, based on the Chinese name that was on their menu. Whenever I’m in a Sichuan joint I always want whatever lamb cumin dish is on offer because I’m just chasing the lipsmacking joy of perfectly smoked and spiced lamb skewers (羊肉串), the memory of which has lingered in my belly ever since I tried them on my first trip to China over a decade ago. Something about the combination of lamb and cumin is magic to me. The two go together like tomatoes and basil. This spot was a total joy. I could eat my weight in Chinese meat kebabs from this stand. (2 skewers for $3)

We went onward to the enormous food court in the New World Mall and were too full for more than grapefruit green tea for me and hot soy milk for Kevin. We moseyed around the mall and grocery store while I dreamed up menus and shopping lists for when we’ve got our own permanent kitchen for me to muss up. I love a good supermarket field trip. We’ll be back, for sure. ($6 for the two drinks)

Back out in to the spring sunshine and we ended up at Biang!, a sit-down noodle spot with an alcohol license by the Xi’an Famous Foods folks (like Din Tai Fung at Glendale Galleria!). You can never go wrong with Xi’an Famous Foods noodles. That and a cold potato salad splashed with Sichuan peppercorn chili oil rounded out our day. Guess we’ll keep on chasing that numbing chili spicy high–and washing it down with glasses upon glasses of water. ($14.60 pre-tip)

After that it was the best time: grocery time. We finished our day picking up fruit and bao and other provisions for the week before heading back.

Till next time,