Ippudo w/ Mama Ly!...

Thanksgiving w/ Mama Ly in the city --> Ippudo, Pommes Frittes, Ronnybrook Milk Bar, Chelsea Market, Amy's Bread, and...some cooking but for now...more pics of the porkiness that I love esp with the coming brisk winter days/nights!

Pork belly bun.

Akamaru Shin-aji ramen.

YUM YUM YUM.

Veniero's (confection heaven!)...

Oh HEY--yeah what's up?
It's...it's been, uh, a while, huh?
Yah...I know, I should've called but...you know, you know how it is.
Um yeah so...
Me? OH just fine, good times, good times.

So....
...yeaaaaaah....

...VENIERO'S!! After a month and a half lull..I present you...yummy yum yumness u don't even KNOW homeslice. It truly is a uh...a post to reintroduce mahself with.

In terms of italian pastries and just...pastries period, I've never been that big a fan of Ferrara's, and I truly thought that was the best NY had to offer (a little tear drops down my cheekie-poo). Mike's pastries (esp the cannoli) in Boston...seriously. It's the ricotta cheese and the shell and just...how fab it is PERIOD. Ferrara's uses a custard-y filling but Veniero's....RICOTTAAAAAA!!!

I'd like to go to get some cannoli's from Salvatore Brooklyn Ricotta (at the Ft. Greene flea market too!! ^_^) but this bodes well for me since Veniero's just in the East Village. I had just eaten dinner w/ Albee and he took me to Chickalicious and then "oh this little place it's pretty good you should come back to try stuff if you're too full now"...and OH. MY FRIGGIN'. COW.

Rows and rows of impeccably constructed large and mini versions of tarts (multiple, endless types) The colors, the rows, the freezer...THE EVERYTHING!

Albee, love, you sure know how to make a girl feel giddy! ;)
btw...Veniero's is on 11th st between 1st and 2nd ave...it's 110 yrs old (as in how long it's even been in NYC), and has outposts in Rome and Bologna.

But I'm a fun-gi....

Went to Jasmart on 23rd & Lex hoping to get fish sauce without having to go down to Chinatown (I'm averaging 1 bottle a year--by myself!! :P). Did NOT find fish sauce--instead found mushrooms, chrysanthemum leaves, and (baby bok choy...sold by...THE PACKET?!?!).

Do not know what I'm gonna make with them--probably a steam packet with fish sauce (maybe soy or MISOOOOO), lemon, butter...like at Typhoon on St. Marks & 1st ave (fanplasmic japanese 'tapas' and whatnot...plus they're open super late. Cow tongue was good--so's other shiz but that's for another post).

So I bought enoki mushrooms too but I couldn't find a suitable idea for how to shoot them (as in pictures, not...pistols). Plus...why bother with ordinary enoki when you can feast your eyes on BEECH MUSHROOM!!!! ^_^ They're much bigger than enoki, but they're like enoki crossed with the Super Mario mushrooms :)

I also got "maitake" which just reminds me of shitake but less fun to say, maybe like SHIKAKA! (anybody for what movie that's from? it's a little tran-sian. :)) Anyway, according to Wiki:

Grifola frondosa, referring to a mythical griffin, commonly known as Sheep’s Head, Ram’s Head and Hen of the Woods or Maitake, is an edible polypore mushroom. It grows in clusters at the foot of trees, especially oak. The Japanese call it "maitake" (pronounced [maitake]), literally meaning "dancing mushroom." Hen of the woods should not be confused with the similarly named edible bracket fungi, chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), also known as "sulphur shelf".

But anyway...I really do love mushrooms (the Princess Toadstool kind, not the druggie kind). When I was about 10 or 11, I used to just sautee mushrooms in a wee pot with onions and soy sauce and eat it. by itself. when I was 16 I ate rice and bbq sauce. by itself. The other day I ate leftover Southern fried chicken with basil marinara tossed in, with rice, and tabasco sauce. IT WAS FRICKIN" DELISH. *shrug*.

The chyrsanthemum leaves tho...I know in Vietnamese cooking it's used in "canh"/soupy soup or tossed in with meats. I don't even really know what they're called in Vietnamese--I didn't even know what the hell they were with the label from Jasmart, I had to google it from the Japanese phrasing on my receipt. BY GOLLY I WILL MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!! Think spinach meets arugula with a less citrus/bitter flavor. Look u can see the little chrysanthemum bud in the middle rightmos area :)

I like cold honey chrysanthemum tea from Cha for Tea (in Ca, a little too sweet) and Lee's Sandwiches (also in CA, not as sweet, way too much ice). I honestly bought all this stuff from Jasmart just so I could take pictures with them--but maybe 2% to experiment with various mushroom flavors, possibly making fancypants mac & cheese with fancypants mushroom for my "roast on the roof". EH. we'll see.

All right, one more shot of the shroomies--but the little beechies nestled in the big beech shroomies! :P

:)

RAAAAMEN/ippudo...

went to ippudo post volleyball match. all the j-folks were psyched and a half for the 2ish wks leading up to the opening. all attempts to sneak in for the soft opening failed miserably (except for traitorous/defector Kino's). We were all taken back by how shi-shi/hip the place looked given the nature of EV japanese joints around st marks--great ambience tho, good looking sake bar and booths--i'd say u'd get laid takin' yo lady friend here. or ur lady man friend. whatever floats yo boat. just get the shochu or sake + hard liquor drinks instead of the courvoissier, even Leon Phelps would concur.
I didn't bring my D80 so none of the artsy fartsy food porn pics (borrowed Kaoru's camera--and it had been so long since I touched an SD500 that i just couldn't remember settings. that and it takes too much thinking and i wanted to eat so WHATEBBS!). Just lots and lots of fatty rich ramen colors :) Here is a picture of Lei's, the shiromaru moto (regular ramen pork brothness).
We also got the glazed chicken or whatever it was with lotus chips. Lotus--big thing I'm sensing...this was also at Typhoon. (<--love love love asian tapas there, and the 50% off sushi which by ny standards is awesome in terms of taste, not just the pricing.) Me, Kaoru, Muju Charlotte all got the Akamaru modern (like the shiro maru but with Ippudo's secret sauce: red miso + garlic oil etc). ME LIKES. the broth is def thicker, the noodles are made on site--the Berkshire pork pieces just fall apart b/c they're so tender. But--it's 15 bucks.
All the online reviews and previews (like Gothamist's) all note that the key to it being of thicker consistency and general all around ab-fabulousity is owed to the pork bones stewing for 15-18 hours and reducing the broth 3 times in all. I LIKE REDUCTIONS. mmmMmmmMMMmm. they always pack a punch (i like intense flavors and salty foods--but that's okay b/c I have low blood pressure so then I won't black out or have heart palpitations w/ my savory tooth :P)

Why, honestly, would u pay 15 bucks (2+ for extra portion of ramen) when u could go to Sapporo or Ramen Setegaya for 8 bucks? Quite frankly, I've seen horribly shi-shi-frou-frou attempts at making certain asian comfort foods (and cuisine altogether) go high class w/ wagyu beef and whatever whatever that completely delineate from the original flavors and comfort that the "poorer" dishes imbue *coughshittycafevietnamintribeca* and it's not that Ippudo tries to fancy-pants up the ramen...it's just that u can tell the difference with whatever forethought and attention goes into making the ramen on site, the broth with the triple reductions, and how the consistency and texture of the ramen(s) here are markedly different in a more interestingly complex way than at other places--for such a simple dish anyway. And on that note I will continue eating my cheapie ramen :)
I was really hoping that after the soft opening they'd feature the gelatinous cube of something or other that changes the broth flavors as it dissolves, according to that Gothamist article. Oh well. I'm sure they'll get around to it.

butter (not "the stick of")...

restaurant week.
alas, slipped most of my mind despite the numerous reminders/solicitations. anyhoodle, made it out to Butter on Lafayette b/w Astor Place & W. 4th. Really wanted to try out Anthos and Fig & Oil this wk but I dunno...the hotel rooms of my mind are totally vacant. As u can see I've got a fevah for Greek food lately--minus Butter but i mean COME ON like Paula Deen says: you know it's gotta be good if you start the recipe with a stick of buttaaaaaah. oy.
I was feeling a little self conscious lugging around my new nikon to the restaurant and with the crazy flash that comes standard, so I tried to eke in shots quickly so I only got a couple good shots in, that and I was hesitant to bust that ish out after every course :P Moi? Self conscious?? mais oui. On the rare occasion.

Appetizers: I had the Sauteed Shrimp and Salted Crispy Cod on a bed of arugula with a Mandarin orange dressing. Lots of people had the Cavatappi pasta with Lamb sausages and yellow tomato sauce which apparently was good enough to be an entree! Check the menu for more options b/c I'm too lazy to write about them.
Entree:Pork, Fish, Duck. and some vegetarian choice. I was torn b/w the braised Pork Osso Bucco with adzuki beans, charred onions and mustard and the Blackened Florida grouper with crushed Yukon potatoes, capers, and parsley. Needless to say, the capers won out (esp the bigger ones--caper berries--are awesomeness profound. not really. just wanted to be a little nonsensical. and tangential. yoinks!)

Dessert: Had the Blood Orange upside down cake--nothing else sounded too tempting (mango sorbet blahblahblah chocolate tart blahblahblah). Did not enjoy it--but the sauce was a sharp contrast cake. that, melikes. here's a blurry shot b/c I like to not keep still. and sans flash. (still trying to figure out the buttons--such a switch from the manual SLR's =/ i knew the functions intutively w/ my hands...le sigh* but yay for new camera! ^_^)
I liked Butter. I didn't love it. Just like FR.OG (France Origine) in SoHo. The subpar dessert @ butter really killed it for me. I dunno--everything up until then had been good, pleasing, not extroardinary, but that dessert just really pooped one out. Perhaps a post on FR.OG later when I feel like talking about quartered figs and a crazy soup pouring/show. :)