Blue Hill at Stone Barns: a wake-up call

9 years of Catholic schooling plus a name that means "God's blessing" in Chinese were no match for logic, skepticism and intellectual rebelliousness--- I still ended up being an agnostic. Being a proud cultural Catholic (Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love touring European cathedrals), the closest thing to pilgrimage I will ever do is to make special journeys to food meccas. Oops... did I just equate Islam with Christianity and make "food" into a religion? Yell at me for all I care, as long as I can become a High Priest of Food minus the celibacy.

In any case, there aren't too many American chefs to whom I will make pilgrimages, partly because I am blessed to be living in NYC where the majority of top American chefs are located and partly because America is still slightly behind Europe gastronomically. However, I have always wanted to visit Dan Barber's Blue Hill at Stone Barns since he was named 100 most influential people in the world by the Time Magazine in 2009 in an article written by Ferran Adria of elBulli (Roses, Spain). I thought if Ferran Adria, arguably the most influential chef of the 21st century, was willing to stake his reputation on Dan Barber's cooking, a special journey to Westchester NY would be called for.

 

The main dining room is a converted stone barn, nested amidst the beautiful farm. You can even go into the fields to visit the gardens or play with the farm animals, as long as you are OK with the thought of them going down your belly as food in a couple of hours. We ordered the 8 course Farmer's Feast--- compliments, 6 savory dishes and 2 desserts. In general, the dishes were well-executed with minimal seasoning and sauces to bring out the freshness of the ingredients . We were told 30% of the ingredients came directly from the Blue Hill Farm, while the rest were locally-sourced. Only the highlights are shown here and thanks James Y. for providing some of the photos.

Sesame-crusted Summer Squashes. The sesame crust added an additional layer of crunchiness to the already crunchy squashes.

 

Mini Tomato Burgers. Bite-size burgers that packed out-sized flavors.

 

Foie Gras Pate wrapped in organic chocolate brittle. The subtle sweetness and bitterness from the cocoa was a welcoming contrast to the richness of the foie gras.

Garden Vegetable dipped in salt water. It was impossible to get any fresher. 

Cod Fish Head served whole. Dan Barber took a page out of Chinese seafood preparation. While the dish was admirable for its bold and dramatic presentation (in Western standards anyways), it was a bit over-cooked, slightly dry and could use more seasoning.

 

Chicken Breast prepared in two ways. This was the best dish of the night. I have never tried chicken breast that succulent, tender and flavorful.

Roasted pork tenderloin with spinach.

Summer Strawberries with brown sugar.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
http://bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-stone-barns
630 Bedford Road
Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
914-366-9600

Epilogue: I was glad I didn't blog about this restaurant immediately after I tried it a few weeks ago. I didn't realize the significance of Dan Barber's work until I watched 2 life-changing documentaries recently:

The Future of Food
Food, Inc.

I want you to go watch these films, so I won't go into details here, only that they expose the grotesqueness of our modern-day food industry. While Dan Barber's food didn't blow me away, his mission to bring out the essence of his ingredients and his insistence on restoring the symbiosis among humans, animals and land were truly pioneering.

I ate Fluffy the guinea pig

We waited 2 hours for this baby to be roasted, but the wait was well worth it.

Roasted guinea pig (cuy). 

The skin was crispy like that of a roasted suckling pig. The meat texture was similar to a young pigeon's. The flavor reminded me of boar--- slightly more gamy than pork. It was the best game meat I have had in a while!

Deep fried goat with corn kernels the size of a nickel.

Goat stew with rice.

Grilled beef tripes.

My first encounter with authentic Ecuadorian cuisine was an eye-opening experience. The atmosphere was festive, the portions were generous and the flavors were bold. However, most dishes were on the salty side which explains the gazillion hypertension cases I saw in Washington Heights.


El Pequeno Coffee Shop
8610 Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, NY ‎
718-205-7128

Strolling through the Flushing-Meadows Park, I ran into a couple of Ecuadorian/ Peruvian women (I couldn't tell the difference and I don't speak Spanish) selling ethnic food.

Cheese-filled empanadas deep-fried in oil heated by charcoal. Old-school!

Roasted whole pig. More roasted guinea pigs (cuy)! Yum-O!

Yakiniku Takashi: raw organ-eating at its best

Disclaimer: no Homo Sapiens Sapiens were hurt in the process.
Warning: an intolerable amount of nerdy medical jokes ahead.

There's no better way to celebrate my roommate's emancipation from the yoke of medicine, i.e. taking his USMLE step 2, than to consume the very organs that he's been so diligently studying. Takashi isn't your everyday yakiniku. It is infinitely more interesting than the cookie-cutter Korean BBQ places you find in Koreantown, and although its "regular" meat selection is not as extensive as Gyu-kaku's, it makes up for exotic cuts/organs that are fresh enough to be offered raw. We tried 2 raw dishes and grilled the rest.

Raw Hatsu (heart). Yes, we did it Indiana Jones style, and the heart was still beating when presented to us. Just kidding! The texture and flavor were extremely similar to that of tuna sushi to my surprise. The raw heart was probably a tiny, tiny bit firmer.

 

Raw Namagimo (liver) served with sesame oil, roasted rock salt and Shiso (Perilla) leaf. Interesting, the texture of each piece changed with each bite: first it was soft, then it became tougher. I wondered if the "soft" part was parenchyma and the "tough" part the liver capsule. Let's hope the cow wasn't a dirty whore with Fitz-Curtis-Hugh Syndrome. The slightly metallic taste of raw liver contrasted very well with the minty Shiso leaf.

Beef tongue. Look at how thick the cut was. Takashi offered us the best/ thickest part of the tongue, and it tasted as fantastic as any piece of beef tongue could ever be- slightly crunchy in texture with loads of flavor. It was the best dish of the night, giving me a food orgasm.

Shoulder with Ponzo sauce. The meat itself was fine but the Ponzo sauce was a bit too sour and overwhelming.

Shibire (sweatbread). This was actually the thymus. I ordered it in hopes of curing my "abnormal face" that came with CATCH-22. I wasn't sure if it worked or not, but at least now there are a few more T-cells circulating in my body. This dish was fantastic! The outside was slightly crunchy/crispy, while the inside had the consistency of a cross between tofu and fish balls. It went so well with white rice.

Mino (1st stomach). Often referred to the "king of stomachs" (a cow has 4), it was chewy with a very mild flavor.

Tetchan (large intestines). Not pictured here. This was more chewy than the 1st stomach but had more flavor, due to the fat attached to it. We spent 5 minutes debating what the fat should be called. Was it part of the "teniae coli"? Or was it part of the "greater omentum"? We settled on calling it "peri-serosal fat."

Along with the food, Takashi also served 3 house-made dipping sauce: soy and wasabi, green-tea salt, and ginger and spring scallions. They were all delicious and complimented the various cuts of meat in different ways. I seldom visit a particular restaurant twice, since the list of restaurants in NYC that I crave to try out is longer than Harrison's. However, I think I may have to visit Takashi soon for a "sloppy third." Next time, I will definitely have to try the Niku-Uni (chuck flap topped with sea urchin), the most expensive item on the menu. Special props to Matt P., who had never had raw meat before but came along and tried everything with us anyways.

Yakiniku Takashi
www.takashinyc.com
456 Hudson Street, NYC, New York

Korzo Haus brought down the house!

Trying out brand new restaurants is a double-edged sword. You will either hit the jackpot and be immortalized by your friends as the trail-blazing, audacious gem-finder, or suffer the slings and arrows of uncertainty and be forced to retreat feebly into the foodie valley of shame. Luckily, Edesia was smiling upon me, and I found this cozy, brick-walled, candle-lit neighborhood joint that's perfect for dates. The food and beer selection is Eastern-European. I am going to focus on 2 dishes that exemplified Korzo Haus's winning formula: top-grade meat + fresh Langos (Hungarian fried bread) + pickled veggies =  deliciousness.

Korzo Burger: 10 oz. freshly-ground, Hudson Valley, free-range beef patty with apple smoked organic bacon, Allgäuer Emmentaller cheese and house made mustard– all wrapped in Langos dough and deep fried. The Langos dough was shaped like a mini, hollowed-out sourdough bread. Since the "bun" was closed on one side, whatever juice that came bursting out of the paddy (and trust me, there was a lot) was retained and soaked up. The dill pickle and red cabbage added a tint of acidity that balanced delicately with the savory paddy, like a gymnist on a balance bar. I think it's the best burger that I have ever had in NYC, even better than Shake Shack's Shack Stack. That's right. You heard me right. It maybe blasphemy for lots of people, but just remember, when the big name food critics start raving about the Korzo Burger, you heard it from me first.

Langos "Pub": with spicy Slovak sausage, mushroom and Edam. The crust really stood out: it was puffy, airy and soft like a croissant. Multiple pickled vegetables accented the slovak sausage.

Zlaty Bažant “Golden Pheasant” (Hurbanovo, Slovakia): golden-orange in color with a light, clean finish and apricot after-taste. Perfect for washing down Korzo's somewhat bar-oriented menu. Only a handful of places in the U.S.have this beer on draft.

There were 3 of us, and we shared a big meat dumpling, a hearty pig-neck stew, the Korzo Burger, "Pub" Langos and a jug of Zlaty Bažant. Each of us ended up pay $21 USD. Great value!

Korzo Haus
178 E7th Street, NYC, NY

Ca va bien? Really, Ca Va--- bien?

I like ambition. I like empire-builders. I think ambitious, empire-building chefs are sexy. Hush! Don't tell Michael White (of Marea, Convivio and Alto) that I have a crush on him. But ladies, relax, it's just a man-crush, so I am still available. Lately though, another celebrity cheff, Todd English, has caught my eye (or should I say "retina" since I have been spending so much time doing retina research), and his name kept popping up in my various foodie sources. So we decided to check out his new restaurant, Ca Va, on my good friend Dickie W.'s celebratory dinner.

Location, decor and service: It's located on 44th st. between 8th and 9th ave., only a stone's throw away from the A train, so perfect for us, the Westsiders. Decor wise, it's modern, with high ceilings and spacious seatings, while the atmosphere is causal enough that you won't be elevator-eyed even if you are only wearing nice jeans and a dress shirt (as I did). And I was thoroughly impressed by the service. Initially, we were seated at a table right next to a section of the ceiling that was dripping water. Just as I was about to complain, the manager came by, apologized, moved us to another table, and offered very politely with a sexy French accent (yes, I am a sucker for French women) each of us a flute of Moet Chandon Imperial champagne.

Cocktails: Ca Va offers an extensive list of cocktails, creative and decadent enough to rival any of the top-notch, speak-easy cocktail lounges in the city. I have a shameless affection for girly cocktails, so I tried the Tres Chic.

Tres Chic: champagne, pear flavored vodka and St. Germain elderflower liqueur, garnished with a candied hibiscus blossom

Small plates: This is the most audacious, interesting part of Ca Va's rather extensive menu

Escargots Flatbread with melted onions, garlic butter, goat cheese and parsley. One of the great tragedies of humanity is to witness oil being left behind in the wells of a traditional escargot plate and the essence going to waste. The flatbread ingeniously soaked up the rich escargot oil, which surprisingly in combination with the goat cheese, produced a complimentary, not overwhelming, explosion of flavor. This escargot dish came in second among all the escargot dishes I have ever tasted, after Fat Duck's (Bray, England) Snail Porridge.

Crispy Lamb Spare Ribs with rouille and watercress salad. My favorite dish of the whole night. The meat was crispy, perfectly seasoned, gamy and literally fell off the bone. In case you don't know, one thing that really ticks me off is when people say, "The lamb is really good coz' it's not gamy at all--- it tastes just like beef."

Bifteck Sliders: petit sirloin burgers with caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, and t.e. sauce. They were good but not great. Frankly, you will have to be a moron to mess up a slider, especially if you are charging people for it. If you are a big fan of sliders, there are better places: Lamb Meatball Sliders @ Locanda Verde (more interesting flavor) or Bacon Sliders @ Mark Burger (juicier).

Entrees:

Todd's Cassoulet with duck confit, pork sausage, braised lamb, spring beans and frisée salad. It probably didn't look particularly attractive from the picture, but trust me, it was grade-A comfort food for the winter.

Rabbit Wellington: rabbit loin wrapped in pastry with spinach, mushrooms, braised leg and carrot purée. This dish was disappointing. If you didn't tell me, I would think I was eating chicken. I have tasted much better rabbit before.

Desserts: Thank god I don't have a sweet tooth, or else, I will be morbidly obese by now, awaiting my gastric by-pass surgery. In fact, there have been very few dessert dishes that I have ever liked, so you will have to take my dessert review with a grain of salt (sugar). Desserts @ Ca Va were OK. 'Nuff said.

Apple Tarte Tatin with salted caramel ice cream

Cream Puffs with pistachio brittle ice cream and chocolate sauce.

So going back to the original question: Ca Va--- bien? Oui, for the most part.

Ca Va
http://www.cavatoddenglish.com/
310 W 44th Street, NYC, NY
212-803-4545 

Totally Ramen Totto

Hi! Hello! Wow, I can't believe I am a "blogger" now, a member of the new medium that has sent the old guards reeling. (Sorry, Grey Lady.) As the name of my blog suggests, I am completely fanatical about food. OK, may be not completely, but (100-π)% crazy perhaps? For those who don't know me, I am a tall, handsome jock who also takes life very seriously. Though I won't be blogging all the news that's fit to print (sorry again, Grey Lady), I hope my passion for food will bring music to your tongue, umami to your eyes and colors to your ears. In case you are wondering, I am not on LSD. It's called "synesthesia." 

Before I delve into my inaugural post, I'd like to a give a big shoutout to Charissa, Genevieve and Alison, 3 lovely ladies who also hold very dear to my heart. Without your inspiration, my food blog won't happen. Without your criticisms, my cooking will still be too salty and I will have a BP of 160/100.

Here we go:
Ramen Totto is part of the ever-expanding "Totto" Empire in NYC, which includes Yakitori and Soba Totto. The space was long and narrow (that's what she said), with most seats in the form of high wooden stools clustered along the bar table. The set-up reminded me of the typical ramen spots that I visited (drunk?) in Japan, and the staff was unmistakably Japanese as well--- polite and courteous to the point of being apologetic.


What struck me was the intensity that went into my bowl of ramen. Blocks of char siu (roast pork) were handcut into manageable bites, which were then charred with a blow torch. One of the two chefs, with a 2-foot ladle in hand, was constantly stirring the top secret soup base, housed in 3 separate metallic tubs half my height. (I know I ain't tall, but still...) From time to time, he would pour the soup into a mini-telescope-like gadget and aim the eyepiece toward a light source, just to make sure that the soup was maintained at the optimal concentration. I was later told that the devise was called a "reflectoscope."

Working his ramen magic

Then my bowl of Totto Spicy Ramen came. What hit me first was a wave of intense sesame aroma. It was so intoxicating that I closed my eyes and took a nice, big drag as though I were smoking hookah. The house-made spicy rayu (sesame oil) not only smelled good, it also added an additional layer of complexity to the texture of the al dente thin noodles--- silkiness. The rest of the bowl was satisfying but not necessarily outstanding: char siu was nicely charred, the scallions were fresh and the nori was crispy. My only criticism was that my 2nd (extra) serving of noodles was a bit undercooked. That was disappointing especially given the effort the chefs put into each bowl of their creations. My suggestion: if you are gonna freaking use a "reflectoscope," why don't you also consider using a timer to cook your ramen?!

Totto Spicy Ramen, made with original spicy sesame oil and Paitan ramen, topped with scallion, onion, char siu pork, and a nori. 

All in all, it was a gratifying experience, and I would return to try their Totto Chicken Paitan Ramen and Totto Miso Ramen. I have been to my fair share of NYC ramen meccas, e.g. Ippudo, Minca, Momofuku Noodle Bar and Setegaya. They all had savory soups and al dente noodles. What made Totto stood out was its rayu. It's all about the rayu!


Totto Ramen
http://tottoramen.com/

366 West 52nd Street, New York, NY‎
212-582-0052‎