[NYC '09: Brunch, day 5] Max Brenner: Savory or Sweet? Well, Let's do Both!

(Little Miss Pinky: a great Brunch Cocktail)

Debs and I met up with our beloved Shoe for brunch in Union Square on day 5 of our Manhattan trip. It was unreal seeing Shoe in NY! The weather was a little too gloomy and gray for brunching on farmer’s market fare outdoors so Shoe took us to Max Brenner a couple of blocks away.

Max Brenner was surprisingly uncrowded when we arrived. I could smell the rich chocolaty-ness of the place even before I stepped into the restaurant. So much for a light brunch! The brunch menu is so extensive – we took at least twenty minutes to decide on what to order. Debs was the first to close the menu after deciding on the tuna salad sandwich ($11.25). Shoe and I were both vacillating between the sweet and savory offerings so we decided to order two dishes to share. From the savory end, we got the guilt-free omelet ($14.50) and on the sweet side, we went with the spiced apple and walnut French toast ($14.50).

(Mmmm...waffle fries)

Food took a while but we didn’t really mind since we were busy catching up. I also ordered an absolutely delicious Little Miss Pinky Martini ($10) while we were waiting for our food. The cocktail – a mixture of vodka and triple sec with strawberries was a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness and with a name like that, how could I not order it??

Anyhow, the food came eventually and the portions are huge! We should’ve expected it. Shoe and I started with the omelet…which, as we had guessed, was hardly guilt free (trust me – we didn’t order it to be healthy). It was extremely well-made – the omelet was huge and fluffy and chock full of flavorful garden veggies and melted cheese. It was extremely substantial and tasted almost meaty even. The eggs came with a side of well-seasoned hash and a buttermilk biscuit. The biscuit was a shining star. It was buttery, fluffy and crumbly all at the same time. Amazing stuff!

(Delicious but DEFINITELY NOT guilt-free)

We moved onto the French toast which was plated along with two cute vials of syrup and melted white chocolate. The French toast was wonderfully eggy and fluffy. Too bad they didn’t use thicker bread (when will places learn?) to really bring out the toast’s potential custardy goodness. The spiced apple and walnut combo was perfect and everything was made even better with a generous dousing of melted white chocolate…but then again, what isn’t :) ?

(Pass the White Chocolate)

Service at Max Brenner’s is excellent. All the waitstaff are super friendly. Must be from all the endorphins from working at a place like this. The place was getting packed by the time we left so I guess, arrive fairly early if you want to try brunch here. Food was fantastic and the company was even better. It was so great seeing Shoe again. Well, hopefully, before long, we’ll be able to meet up in Manhattan again :D

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

MAX BRENNER ($$)
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0030
http://www.maxbrenner.com/

[NYC '09: Afternoon Tea Con't, day 3] Teany: I'll Stick to his Music

Trying to avoid the rain, we ducked into Teany on the lower East side for an afternoon coffee. Leave it to Moby to come up with a smart punnish name. I have to say though, as much as I love Moby and his music, I was less than impressed with Teany. The place looked cute from the outside but the inside was way too cramped for comfort.

On top of that, service was the speed of slug. Don't get me wrong, the staff was nice but, regardless of niceness, does it REALLY take 15 minutes to churn out a coffee drink? I decided to be adventurous and strayed away from my usual black coffee order and went for the snow globe ($4.50) instead. BIG MISTAKE. The menu claimed that said drink was a mixture of coconut, frosted mint and vanilla. I am in LOVE with all three ingredients (especially the first two) but I tasted NONE of them in my drink. It just tasted like a regular latte. What the hell?

Oh well, maybe it's my problem. Because the place was super packed and everyone seemed to be enjoying their organic teany-machiatto-chino-with-soy milk. I guess I just wasn't made for a place like teany. Yes, I'll stick to stick to my corporate Starbucks black coffee and I'll leave Teany to the skinny-jeans hip organic crowd.

DRINKS: 1/5
SERVICE: 2.75/5
ATMOSPHERE: 2.75/5

TEANY ($)
90 Rivington St.
New York, NY 10002
(212) 475-9190
http://www.teany.com

Indonesian Food Fair: My Kind of Outdoor Activity

Cheap ethnic food has always had an important place in my heart. Nothing spells love like a giant bowl of pho, or a side of warm out-of-the-oven naan bread, or an eight dollar meal of soon tofu and banchans. Or even better? Nothing spells love like a food fair dedicated to feeding hungry souls said ethnic fare.

B and I headed out to the newly reopened Indonesian Food Fair at the Duarte Inn parking lot on Saturday. The deep, woody smell of grilling satay greeted us with open arms the minute we stepped into the parking lot. Good sign. Very good sign. And although the “fair” was made up only of five or six stalls, B and I still had a hard time figuring out where to order from and, more importantly, WHAT to order.

(This stall fed me)

(A closer look at what's on offer)

After taking a look at what all the stalls had to offer, I settled on the first stand which offered a rice and three item combo for $6.50. We got to the fair pretty late so a lot of the stuff was gone already – including the coconut rice. Oh well, I settled for the nasi kuning/yellow rice instead. And although the beef rendang and the satay looked (and smelled) amazing, I was still on my fish-egetarian diet. With these dietary “restrictions” dictating my combo choice, I ended up with a sambal telur/hard boiled egg in chili sauce, a generous scoop of kacang goreng and Ikan bilis/fried peanuts and fried salted anchovies and, to top things off, a piece of perkedel jagung/corn fritter. I carried my box of Indo goods three stalls down and grabbed me a cup of es cendol ($2.50).

(Where I got the es cendol)

(Tempted to get some coconut sweet. But was way too full)

My spicy tolerance has definitely gone up. I’ve grown from my pathetic experience at Kyochon and was able to eat the chili egg like a champion. The sambal was so spicy…and so good. But the strong flavor masked the taste of the egg itself and I found myself caring more about lapping up the bits of chili paste than eating the egg. The little fried fishies was another favorite of mine. Salty and crunchy – perfect "drinking" food. The texture was perfect when paired with the fluffy yellow rice and I had no problem finishing all the anchovies. But the corn fritter turned out to be the surprise winner of my lunch. The texture was great – a little like the Korean pajun/potato pancakes. It was chewy with a nice crisp exterior. It was awesome!

(Annotated Lunch)

The es cendol was only just ok. All I could taste was pure sweetness; I couldn’t make out any coconut taste at all. But maybe my tongue had been numbed by the sambal and my tastebuds for sweet foods had been put on a temporary hold.

(Only alright: Es cendol)

I LOVE the Indonesian food fair. The food is great and the atmosphere is so friendly. It’s a fantastic feeling to be sitting on a rickety fold-up chair, eating $6 food from a plastic take-out box. Plus, all the stall-keepers are all smiles and they do not hesitate to help and explain the dishes. I would go back every week if it weren’t so far!

(Another Close-up)

This was definitely a kickass way to celebrate my graduation!

FOOD: 4.75/5
SERVICE: 4.75/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4.75/5

INDONESIAN FOOD FAIR/PONDOK KAKI LIMA ($)
At the Duarte Inn Parking Lot (Saturdays, 10am – 2pm)
1200 Huntington Dr
Duarte, CA 91010

Simpang Asia: Gotta Get Gado

(Adjoining Grocery Store)

Southeast Asian food makes me happy and, because I like being happy, I headed out to grab Indonesian food with Theresa last night. A nine minute drive later (google map didn’t lie), we plopped our hungry asses down on the IKEA-esque plastic chairs in Simpang Asia.

Most of the traditional, “Nasi ” dishes contained some form of meat so I opted for the Gado Gado salad ($6.50) while the carnivore of the table ordered the nasi bungkus ($7.50).

(Nasi Bungkus: a carnivore's banana leaf goodie-bag)

Like in all Asian-run places, it didn’t take long for the food to be brought to our table. Theresa opened up the giant folded banana leaf to find a steaming mound of rice surrounded by portions of chicken curry, beef rending, egg, vegetable curry, among other things. Just the smell alone convinced me that it would be good stuff. I took a bite of yellow-curry-sauce-soaked rice which confirmed my belief. I love the sweet fragrant coconut milk undertones of Southeast Asian curries!

(Gado Gado: drizzled with the nectar of the Gods)

I then focused my attention on my own dish. The gado gado is, essentially, a plate of spinach, long beans, sprouts and other veggies, combined with tofu and a sliced boiled egg, drizzled with a sweet peanut sauce and topped with crunchy shrimp crackers. Mmmmm indeed. The peanut sauce is nothing short of amazing. Smooth and flavorful – a drizzle of that could convert the most mundane of foodstuffs into a mound of deliciousness. The other ingredients in themselves were fairly bland (especially the tofu which was almost inedible on its own) but I soaked everything into the sauce and I lapped it all up happily. Halfway into the dish though, I encountered some strange white cubes in the salad. I took a bite and couldn’t figure it out at all – it was virtually tasteless. I consulted the menu and found out that they were “potato cubes.” Weird. I guess I’m just used to potatoes with, you know, taste. But then again, it wasn’t a problem that a little bit of peanut sauce couldn’t solve! I washed the salad down with a can of honeydew melon “boba” drink from the grocery fridge ($0.89). I say “boba” because, while the can showed the big pearls of black tapioca floating in the drink, what really was in the can was small white chewy bits. Oh well, I never was a fan of boba pearls anyways and plus, the drink itself was really good.


After the meal, we perused the adjoining grocery store for Asian snacks. They have everything from canned jackfruit to Japanese chocolates. I love it! I grabbed a box of ikan asin/dried salted fish ($5.00) which proved to be the perfect drinking food. Being disgustingly unhealthy, we polished off the whole box later in the night after a few drinks. Helloooooo skyrocketing sodium levels.

(Ikan Asin: the most delicious way to bring on high blood pressure)

I also got a dadar gulung ($1.50) from the sweets counter at the cashier – I was sold when the cashier explained that it was a pancake roll stuffed with COCONUT (i.e. the magic word) and brown sugar. I ate it this morning and it wasn’t very good at all. Disappointingly unsweet. Too bad.

(Dadar gulung: forgot the sugar?)

All in all, Simpang Asia is a great spot to eat. Service is quick and friendly and the food is comfortingly satisfying though not perfect. It’s cheap and clean and it’s packed with regulars (it gets more crowded as it gets later). Yep, I sure do loves me some Southeast Asian food.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 2/5

SIMPANG ASIA ($)
10433 National Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 815-9075
http://www.simpangasia.com

Good Friends, Good Food

I'm still lamenting my return to LA after having spent a (beautiful) week in New York. But there's one thing that consoles me: being back in LA means being back in the kitchen. I was reading Julia Child's My Life in France during my stay in Manhattan and not only was it an absolutely delightful read, I could feel myself itching to get back and make something. Yes, I might as well confess it out loud - when I was in NY, part of me missed Los Angeles...but ONLY for the kitchen!!

Truth is, not a lot makes me happier than cooking for people I like. It's really not JUST the food (although, of course, that makes up a huge chunk of it) but the idea as a whole. Argh, it's hard to put into words...the point is, I already had my heart set on cooking for the girls the first weekend we all got back. Saturday.

I decided to go with a Salmone in Cartoccio dish with herb and cheese puffs on the side. I'd never made this before but I think I now LOVE this cooking method (baking the fish in individual parchment "steam packets")! When reading My Life in France, one thing that really caught my attention was Julia Child's description of the beurre blanc sauce (Butter, white wine vinegar, flavored with shallots). There was a copy of the recipe in the book and I knew I HAD to try it...so in a way, I guess going with the fish was just an excuse to try out the beurre blanc. Julia Child called it a "wonder sauce" and she was soooooo right!!!! At first, I was scared that it would be overkill if I added the sauce to the Salmon...but thank God I DID add it. It's now officially my new favorite sauce. Thank you Julia.

And what's food without wine? Of course, I'm still only a poor college kid so I had to make do with whatever we could afford. At least most cheap wine doesn't taste like absolute shit anymore - especially whites...which was good since that was what we went with. Quickly whipped up a couple of bellinis which, in my mind, are perfect when paired with salmon...and CATCHING UP!!

Foodwise, the real highlight of the night, though, was the pomegranate gin cocktail. Sososososososo good! I bought the world's cutest cocktail glasses as well so you can only imagine how stoked I was (great drink in a great cup...yes, I'm a huge serveware nerd).

And to round off the night, I made a coffee mousse cake. Yes, this was the labor of love (it took 2 days to prepare). A sponge cake base (which was dipped in vanilla syrup), topped with caramel latte biscotti and a coffee mousse. This dessert was actually an adaptation of a recipe from Claire Clark's Indulge (I bought the book a week ago and it's GREAT! I can't wait to try more things from it). The original asks for an almond sponge flavored with marzipan but: a) I was too lazy to do that and b) having blown enough money on serveware and cooking supplies already in the past few weeks, my wallet wasn't in the mood to ""splurge"" on marzipan. It also uses amaretti but neither Ralph's or Whole Foods carried it (I'm surprised they didn't at least have it at Whole Foods!) - I would NEVER have had this problem if I was back on the Upper West Side...I could just pop into Zabar's! Oh well, I used biscotti instead and it still worked fine. This dessert also gave me an excuse to try out the chocolate transfer sheets I got in New York (YES - I FINALLY have transfer sheets!!)

This was my second attempt at the whole individual mousse delices thing and, though far from perfect, I'm slowly getting the hang of it (my first go was a white chocolate and hazelnut delice...but I hated it and didn't bother taking photos at all. We shall not mention it again). I'm having a mousse cake phase right now so if you happen to live near me...I'm VERY sorry - you're going to have to put up with a lot of those in the next few weeks.

And again, with transfer sheet chocolate discs

All in all, I loved Saturday. I'm hoping I'll have more time to cook this term (after all, I do have 2 days off school). In all honesty, this is all you need: Good Friends, Good Food, (Good) Wine

...oh, and Love!!

--

Pomegranate Gin Cocktail

2 parts gin

1 part Simple syrup

1 part lime juice

1/2 part pomegranate molasses

Shake in a cockatil shaker with ice. Strain into tall glass and top with slub soda.