Brooklyn NYC - Day 1

Brooklyn NYC - Day 1

View Gabe + May's New York City in a larger map

So! our brooklyn trip! oh and a happy twenty twelve folks =]

May and I definitely had a lot of ideas and suggestions for places to eat in new york city but naturally we knew we probably didn't have the time and flexibility to jump from place to place in the big crazy city so we just threw everything onto a google map just so we new our options depending on where we were. You can imagine how often I stood in front of a starbucks pawning their wireless just so I could pick a place to eat off our google map. i really should have printed something like i had planned to, but we left toronto in a bit of a scramble.

the first morning after we arrived we met up with Rosanna in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhatten Bridge Overpass) to talk wedding and check out her venue Bubby's, this charming restaurant down by the water serving comfort food. The first wedding i've ever been to where we had fried chicken, mac n' cheese and pie! that's right.

She then suggested we go grab some pasteries at Almondine Bakery, this small humble french bakery just around the corner. With our morning coffee we had merigue, chocolate eclairs, a peach danish and probably the best almond croissant i've ever had. After talking shop with Ro, May and I headed off and spent the afternoon spontaneously walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and eventually ending up at the New Museum. The weather was incredible, I was walking without a jacket and the sun was blazing mid november, we were so lucky for our entire trip.

By early evening we were midtown and found ourselves lining up at Ippudo, a very well known popular ramen place that I had visited in the past on a friend's bachelor party weekend. Hungry and cranky, we walked around the corner to sunrise mart near NYU's campus and grabbed some snacks to carry us over and we thought it was funny to buy some packaged ramen for a breakfast morning. Sunrise Mart was pretty amazing (also recommended by Rosanna) it was basically an asian grocery snack mart just like we have here in Toronto/Markham but crammed into a tight second floor space. I found a bottle of Ginger beer for $17.99! but we didn't buy it, yeah right! the packaged ramen however was just $0.99. After an hour and change, we got a seat at Ippudo after 10pm and we shared a Chicken Karage app, perfectly crispy with a mayo green onion salad compliment. May had the Kogashi Miso Ramen (the red bowl) and I had Shiromaru Hakata Classic which is a Tonkotsu soup broth. The Ramen was a straight noodle, with a nice chewy consistency and the broth had a nice smokey and nuttyness. Remember the sesame grinder I was so happy to find in Toronto's Sanko? This is the noodle place i first discovered it.

Oh and if you're interested in what we're eating so far, or you're heading over to brooklyn or NYC sometime soon, check out our google map! its full of recommendations from our friends, some of which we may have gotten to on our trip. There's also things to do, not just food, so enjoy! and do tell us about your visits to brooklyn + NYC too.

a ramen + gyoza craving

a ramen + gyoza craving

after watching "toilet" at the Reel Asian Film Festival, we fixed our craving at Ajisen. Fun interiors

Cho Sun Ok

Cho Sun Ok

i wish i knew what the name of this restaurant translates to, but unfortunately i don't. we visited this local Korean restaurant when Justin came to visit Toronto, on the recommendation from Vivian that she had heard this place served really yummy authentic traditional Korean cold noodles.


we started with what is called "Sundae" which essentially is a sausage made with innerds and stuffed with rice. very tasty with a nice chewy bite. and you also see an order of a fried dumplings


and here is the cold noodles! yes that's ice shavings you see.. and no its not as cold as you think it might be. brain freeze was not involved, but the texture is different and the noodles are chewy, a great mix with the tangy refreshing broth. the noodles are made with arrowroot, which i'm not entirely sure exactly what that is.


you can see all the little cute complimentary dishes, a skillet with beef bulgogi, purple rice and pork bone soup.


and a tofu soup too!

are you korean? does your family eat here? We very much enjoyed our meal here.. thanks vivian for the great recommendation!

and for those curious, this place is located in Thornhill. for another review

soba

soba

Soba noodles is one of my favourite dish to have in the summer, and it's so easy to make.

Usually I put, Cucumber, carrots, egg, and ham on the soba, but this time we substituted the ham with canned fish, and it turned out to be equally delicious. The key to a good soba noodle dish is the sauce, we used the kikoman soba sauce, it's the only one without msg added on the shelf. We liked it.

On the side, we had a seaweed salad, that's made from a dried seaweed salad kit, definitely not as good as the store bought seaweed salad, but still good with the soba.

Sesame Grindin'

Sesame Grindin'

wooh! i found it! actually May technically found it... while we were walking in Sanko. so what is "It" you ask?



It is a sesame grinder! and its made to shred toasted sesame onto your noodles, releasing the oils and nutty aroma. I first came across this when i had ramen at Ippudo in New York City last year. and yes, altho likely a very common tool in Japan.. I had never come across them.



I like that its red, and looks like he's got a little neck and face. His personality stands tall next to our plants on our dining table.



can you see all the little sesame shreds n' bits?

noodles n' soup

noodles n' soup

i think lately we've been having more and more noodles n' soup. why? because its comforting.. tasty and warms us up on these cold frigid windy days. also, we bought 7 bags of dumplings for $10 from foodie mart. haha



here we have dumplings, with instant noodles, peasprouts garlic on top and a little drizzle of chili oil. this was one of my lunches during the day while may was at work



and here is a thai curry soup creation that we made together one evening. basically you've got curry powder, coconut milk, lime leaves and basil to make the base of the soup. complimenting ingredients are all the usual veggies like snow peas, carrots, onions and then a healthy seafood dose of shrimp and clams! booya! oh yeah you betcha that is some awesome garlic bread you're looking at

instant eats

instant eats

often i'll just mash together leftovers with quick pantry conviences and extra food in our fridge. that usually is what i have for lunch. and sometimes its not worth photographing, but these ones are.



watercress is so good!! so simple, you just boil it, and its got a nice sweet undertone and its so green you know its gotta be healthy for you. poach an egg, add a sausage with instant noodles, BAM!



perogies have got to be one of the best frozen foods, you can boil it, steam it, pan fry it, fry or even bake i'm sure. You can also microwave it (altho we dont have or use one). All you need is to add a veggie and/or veggie and the crispy potato dumplings will compliment anything. My preference is to boil then pan fry the perogies because its the fastest, and i like things crispy. here i've used up some leftover pork belly (cut out the fat, and chopped it into bits), added a little chili pepper then added the chopped basil at the end. The pork and basil ingredients were the surplus items from a previous meal and the perogies were simply to facilitate the use of that.. voila! another quick meal.

i dont know why, but i take a lot of pride in creatively using up extra grocery ingredients, partly cuz its a good sustainable mentality but more so, that its just a fun challenge. Almost anyone can be an amazing interior decorator if they anything and everything at their disposals (furniture catalogues, colour palettes, big budgets) but like with any design or creative moment, i always value more the idea of working with what you've got.

speaking of..

speaking of..

speaking of.. comfort food.. look what i made last week =]



yepp.. it was the same package of instant noodles that i sent may.. and damn its so delicious! i put some left over chicken, zucinini, onions on top.. but honestly it didn't need it.. just the powdered broth with the noodles is all you need. and the key is to cook it quickly in boiling water.. then run it under cold water in a colander. so it stops the cooking process, and the waxy layer separates and doesn't get in the soup. then, you make the soup separately and when it boils.. and the noodles back in for half a minute and boom.. you're good to go. comfort!

crunch breakfast and number 16

crunch breakfast and number 16

Yes, i'm going to do my best to fill in the gap while may is on her northern Italy trip. She's gone for 9 days and without a question, the north trip when i went on it back in the day was all focused on the cuisine. Northern Italians are much more laid back and in tune with their inner foodie. I told may to watch out for almond ravioli in Mantova, Gnocci in Sienna, Parma in Parma, and black squid ink pasta in Venice. Hopes she gets to try some!



okay so, back to my pathetic measly meals (by comparison to what May is probably having right now). This was what i call my crunchy breakfast. A favourite, peanut butter and honey on one toast. And guess what, crunch hazelnut spread on the other. My brother found it at sobeys! and yogurt and banana to round it out.



for lunch i ate with my mom and we both got take out from the Vietnamese place right by our house. I almost always get number 16 large as its only $6.75 and it comes with both vermicelli and egg noodles plus lots of chicken and seafood. what a deal! another place to take may. I miss her damn it! and i know she'll probably like number 16 as well.

ps. i really hate my family's kitchen dining room flower table sheet.