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Dryden

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Posts posted by Dryden

  1. Congee Village has some scary stuff on the menu, though, so depending on how easily your relatives get scared, you might be better off at Peking Duck.

    Your point is well made, but of course, her relatives don't have to have the goose web dish or pig's blood congee (not even listed in English on the menu). There's plenty of chicken, beef, pork, fish, seafood, vegetables, even lamb on Congee Village's menu. Basically, you can be as non-adventurous as you like; it's up to you.

    If I go with my folks, they just don't need to order stuff like that, and they'll be fine. If I go with my sister, she'll spend an hour reading the menu, freaking out over every thing that sounds "disgusting" to her, and will interrogate everyone within earshot about the specifics of what's on her plate, just to make sure "nothing icky" got in there.

    It's not worth it.

  2. There is a bar where they serve little things (truffled potato chips, I believe) but do no do anything like the full menu at all. There isn't any space for walk-ins - the restaurant doesn't seat that many. Best bet would be to call 2 or 3 days before and hope for the best, but it's not likely - they guarantee a couple of days in advance with a credit card, so not much in the way of no-shows, I would think.

  3. Nice coverage of the New York tea scene - one significant place that you didn't seem to get to (you might want to visit next time you have a chance) is Cha An at 230 East 9th St.  Make sure you check out the ladies' room, too.

    Yes I want to visit Cha An, I dined at its sister operation Soba-ya across the street and got interested. Will do so next time (although I do not think I am allowed in the ladies'... I hope the men's room is as interesting...!).

    It isn't. I'm not "allowed" in the ladies room, either. But there's only one stall, and its unlabeled as actually being the ladies room, so just go use that one.

    It has this toilet in it (it's insane): http://www.totoneorest.com/home.html

  4. Nice coverage of the New York tea scene - one significant place that you didn't seem to get to (you might want to visit next time you have a chance) is Cha An at 230 East 9th St. Make sure you check out the ladies' room, too.

  5. Notice from www.wichcraftnyc.com:

    on august 27th, we will close the doors on our 19th street store...

    • we will relocate in the union square area as soon as we find our new home

    • we will continue to deliver free of charge from our other locations.

    • if you would like to be notified when we relocate, please fill out the form on this site

    • if you'd just like to talk to us, call us at (212) 780-0577

  6. . . . .

    The "all-shrimp" noodles were simply amazing.  The difference in flavor and texture from these to any other noodle any of us had ever had was incredible.  . . . .

    I expect to taste them again soon, but I'm curious about your reaction. The version I had was very different in texture from any pasta I've ever had. It had a most un-noodle like texture and consistency and although it looked like noodle, it didn't move like noodle or particularly have a mouth feel like noodle. It was perhaps closer to Asian fish cakes, which is not a bad thing as I like them when done well.

    I'm agreeing with you - they didn't feel like noodles, they didn't feel like shrimp, either. I really don't know how to categorize them, but they were delicious.

  7. So, my sister, wife and I dined at wd-50 this past Friday. First, the chairs. They are all wood, contoured and not at all uncomfortable - we were there for 3 hours. If you are the sort of person who finds unpadded chairs extremely hard or something, you might have a problem, but there's plenty of room to walk around and stretch your legs.

    We ate:

    Venison tartare, edamame ice cream, crunchy pear

    Corned duck, rye crisp, purple mustard, horseradish cream

    Roasted foie gras, passion fruit scramble, saltine puree

    Shrimp noodles, smoked yogurt, sweet paprika, nori

    Scallops, celery noodles, hazelnut-potato, pine needle oil

    Ocean trout, quinoa, fennel, blood orange puree, toast oil

    Duck breast, pickled leg, parsnip pudding, rye berry

    And a whole host of desserts, which I'll get to.

    The "all-shrimp" noodles were simply amazing. The difference in flavor and texture from these to any other noodle any of us had ever had was incredible. The foie gras was very interesting, too. I think I read something about it upthread (too lazy to check) but the texture was unlike any other we've come across - it was clearly a hot preparation, but there was no runniness to it, and the flavor was very clean. The passion fruit scramble was awesome, to boot.

    I thought the scallops were the best of the mains, although my sister had an interesting comment - she mentioned that she felt they were unusually chewy. Given that the server informed us that the scallops were done sous vide, it leads me to wonder if this isn't a fundamental trait of sous vide seafood (as the sous vide lobster discussion from Per Se would also suggest). I haven't made it a habit to eat pine needles, but the pine needle oil was something pretty special as well.

    The ocean trout was interesting - having had it earlier this year at Tetsuya's in Sydney (the definitive ocean trout to be anywhere, supposedly) I would have to say that this version compares very favorably to it, although totally different. The toast oil was pretty mind-blowing, though - grapeseed oil with pureed toast in it. Just delicious.

    The desserts were all they have been billed to be, here and elsewhere. Without getting into too much detail, we did have the "soil" - actually freeze dried coffee grounds (it does look like soil, and it tastes awesome) and while you might not think of a basil merengue as being something you'd want to eat for dessert, it was. Wylie will clearly have an unfair advantage on iron chef, simply by bringing Sam with him.

    One last interesting aspect to our meal. About halfway through, our server stopped by to tell us that the kitchen had asked us whether or not we found the chairs to be comfortable. After the meal, we were invited to visit the kitchen and speak with Wylie.

    Yes, they do read eGullet. Yes, they are awesome. Yes, we will be back again.

  8. I can't speak for everyone (obviously) but subtlety isn't normally something I look for in ice cream. Capogiro packs more flavor into a pint of ice cream than anything I've ever come across - it's amazing. Just pick a flavor you really like - things like lime-cilantro can be hit or miss, depending on how much you like the fundamental flavor combination.

  9. So, five of us will finally be able to make it to wd-50 next Friday to celebrate my wife's birthday - it'll be the first time we've had Wylie's food since right after 71 Clinton opened.

    Anything in particular we should be sure not to miss? I'm deeply looking forward to trying everything Sam Mason can throw at us...

  10. Todd-

    It might be worth mentioning the places where you've done your Vietnamese eating in New York, or at least, the types of dishes you tend towards. Anything featuring a basic sauce of nuoc cham shouldn't be thick or have soy sauce in it (the saltiness may depend on whose nuoc mam they're using), but others here are certainly more knowledgable than I.

  11. I'm with you on the "postion of one's tableware" issue, it's actually been a longstanding gripe of my wife's - she is meticulous about where she puts it, to send the right signal to the waitstaff, and nothing pisses her off more than a waitstaff who doesn't know what it means. Which happens a lot, actually. In nice restaurants. That should know better...

  12. For how long is the lobster poached at least ? What about the Claws?

    Until they're cooked.

    Seriously though it would depend on the size of the lobster.

    If you're poaching them in butter then you have the luxury of using a probe thermometer to tell you when they've reached 140F. The claws are left for an extra five minutes when blanched [i.e. pour boiling water over the lobsters, remove after 2 minutes, separate the claws, return them to the water for another 5 minutes].

    You should end up with a butter-lobster broth after cooking it sous vide. Do they use it or what are they doing with this liquid gold.....?

    Thanks so far....

    They use it. It tastes awesome.

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