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mascarpone

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Posts posted by mascarpone

  1. I was in the neighborhood, so I went to Hanahreum Asian Market at 25 West 32nd Street. I asked for Korean Red Garlic, but they only had regular garlic, and garlic in a net bag that was imported from China. When I asked several produce guys they just said they didn't carry it, and did not know where to find it.

    Perhaps I got the wrong location . . .

  2. Wow! Thanks, Raji.

    Garlic is the 5th Element of korean cooking! It's very very important to most of their dishes. I don't imagine, in a pinch, a proper Korean chef trotting into Whole Foods or A&P for that matter. Yours was probably fresh from Korean/Chinese distributors and therefore available at the Han Arum, who probably stock it for retail but also for the surrounding restaurants on the regular or in a punch - or perhaps hulled, jarred etc. and on the shelf. I'm not aware of special garlic in Japanese. I'm pretty sure Chinese garlic is frowned upon because South Korea's refusal to import it almost started a trade war. I personally don't like Chinese or Mexican garlic so much. You should just go in to the Han Arum and ask them, the usual guys are pretty nice and helpful and speak English, and Japanese for that matter.

    quick google, lookie!

    4491  Korean Red - whole bulbs, 1/2 lb bag, $9.95

    A big bulbed hardneck from Korea, where folks really know their garlic. Its garlic that makes kim chee a world wide favorite! The big cloves are also easy to peel. Certified organic. US/C

    ADVANCED ORDERS COMING SOON!

    http://thegarlicstore.com/index.cgi/hardneck.html

    but seriously, if you can't get a Korean bulb of garlic on 32nd street, this isn't NYC

  3. No, I didn't. I have been in there hundreds of times; however, it didn't strike me as a place that sold especially high quality garlic. Could it be a different strain of the garlic species altogether (like Asian pear/Apple)? I apologize that I may be grasping at straws here. . .

    Did you try the Han Arum on 32nd?

  4. Perhaps I am off the subject, but my favorite dessert in the city is the Budino di castagne $7.00 (Warm chestnut pudding on a bed of chocolate cream) served at Gnocco Restaurant @ 337 East 10th between Ave. A and B.

    http://www.gnocco.com/#

    If you can get to Brooklyn, try Villabate @ 7117 18th Ave, Brooklyn for Italian pastries. 90% of the clientele will be speaking Italian when they are waiting in line to be served.

    http://www.villabate.net

  5. What do you mean by e-fu?

    My wife and I had wide noodles there on Saturday night. We really enjoyed the Wide noodles with Chicken and Vegetables. My wife, who is Japanese, commented on the al dente texture of the noodles and the distinct egg flavor. These are qualities that many Japanese find appealing in ramen noodles.

  6. Thanks, BrentKulman. This sounds interesting. Any other suggestions are welcome. . .

    I had a very nice dinner at Kaya last week.  It's located in the strip district which is very close to downtown.

    It's a lively urban bar/restaurant with a chef-driven cuisine that has Cuban/Latin American influences, although the walls are decorated with African art.  I had the roasted red pepper and tomato soup topped with a dollop of chipotle ice cream.  The vegetable flavors were intense and the impact of the piquant ice cream changed over time as the ice cream melted into the liquid.  For the entree, I had the Grilled Marinated Pork Tenderloin - slices of tenderloin encircled a chunk of pork belly (all the meat had been marinated in a cider vinegar marinade) and sprinkled with a multi-color hash that contained diced sweet potato, bacon, peppers and onions.  I'm a big fan of pork belly so I couldn't pass that on that dish.

    Although the front end of the restaurant is dominated by a bar, there was not a big bar scene on the Thursday night that I was there.  Most of the patrons were there to eat and all of the tables were occupied.  As I tend to look for restaurants with a good craft beer selection, I was very pleased with the range of beer choices as well.  The wine list was small but featured a number of eclectic selections and the restaurant also features a variety of rums and tropical drink concoctions for those who are so inclined.

    http://www.bigburrito.com/kaya/

  7. My wife and I will be in Pittsburgh next week for the Music Librarians Association/Society for American Music Conference at the Hilton Pittsburgh & Towers, located downtown at 600 Commonwealth Place. We will be staying at the Days Inn on I-279 and Banksville Road. We will not have a car, but will be relying on public transportation to get to and from the conference. We are interested in every kind of cuisine and our spending budget is $10-15 per person for lunch, $20-$35 per person for dinner. Any good breakfast spots (bakeries, diners, etc) are of interest as well. Please keep in mind that our mobility will be limited as we do not have a car. Also, any suggestions on points of interest (cultural, shopping, etc.) would be appreciated.

  8. I second Teitel Brothers.  It is usually $5-6 per pound cheaper than anywhere else.  Good quality also.  Just beware, if you ask for a pound and a half, your piece will be 2 pounds and so forth.  Also very good for other Italian basics, olives, everyday olive oil, canned tomatoes, etc.

    Does Teitel Bros. have good deals on imported canned San Marzano tomatoes?

  9. Hey, Pan. I am sorry to hear that you were under-the-weather on Turkey day.

    By coincidence, my wife and I ate at Cafe Mogador (Saint Marks, btwn Ave. A and 1st Ave). I called the night before and made a reservation for two. We both got the thirty-dollar holiday special. The meal started out with a glass of bubbly (six dollars extra, I can't remember the name). We both got the butternut squash soup and the mixed salad with pear, walnut, and goat cheese. I got the Cornish hen stuffed with couscous and raisins, while she got the short ribs with mashed potato. There was a warm apple cake in sweet crème sauce for dessert.

    It was a very nice meal. The soup and main dish were both served piping hot. My favorite was the short ribs--my wife abdicated the remainder of her meal to me as her stomach was at capacity. There were no ribs to speak of, just very tender cuts of meat. I also liked my hen stuffed with couscous and raisins. Service was very warm and efficient.

    As it turned out, dinner was only part of our epicurean adventure this Thanksgiving. We saw an excellent film, Volver at Sunrise Theater on Houston in the AM, and ate lunch next door at Yohah Schimmel's. We both shared a bowl of Borsht and a mozzarella potato knish. She drank coffee, and I had water. The best thing was the knish. The borsht was a variation that I was less familiar with; it consisted of a beet broth with sour cream mixed in with dill. It was served warm. I guess I am used to a hearty vegetable borsht served hot, with the sour cream on the side.

    After this we stopped by Moishe's Second Avenue Home Made Bake Shope 115 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003; (212) 505-8555 where we picked up cheese Danish and blueberry cheese strudel for 'the day after' breakfast. We sampled several delicious delectables while we were there. One was a potato onion loaf, whose name escapes me. It was very peppery (black) and salty for my taste, but my wife loved it.

    After dinner we shopped at JAS-mart on Saint Marks and Hong Kong Market in Chinatown. The Hong Kong Market on East Broadway was considerably cheaper that JAS-Mart; there was incredibly inexpensive and fresh shrimp, squid and scallops there. What a great place!

  10. Thanks, Gina, and by the way, welcome to eGullet. I've really been enjoying your posts.

    Have you been to Memory In Seoul?

    No problem! Thanks for the warm welcome. Personally, in general, I prefer mul nengmyun (the broth) over the bibim nengmyun (the spicy one). Not to say that I don't like a spicy mul nengmyun like they have at Memroy in Seoul. I have been to Memory in Seoul (aka "YooChun"). I'd say it is good, but there is something about that doesn't feel quite right. It could be that there is a bit too much sesame oil in it and its very spicy, which is something I'm not used to in my nengmyun. Don't get me wrong, I love spicy food and sesame oil, but nengmyun is a dish in which I have a very picky palate. But, anyway, I'd say YooChun on 36th St. is an overall decent nengmyun place. The YooChun in Palisades Park, NJ, on Broad Ave, is much, much, much better. I'd recommend taking the bus or driving out to Broad Ave in Pal Park to try some of the Korean restaurants on that block. Another place, I've never been here, but people claim that Hamu Nengmyun (not sure what the english name is) in Closter, NJ is supposedly the best. I will look into that and repost.

    Better than in Korea? :biggrin:

  11. spicy as in a blinding red bibim naengmyun or spicy as in the yellow-mustard-in-the-broth kind?

    any shards of ice in the dish?  nothing better than when it comes with the granita-ish ice in the bowl.

    and have you had at it at dae dong, where it's a signature dish? 

    the only place that serves naengmyun near me right now serves them undercooked and chewy.  makes me want to cry.

    It was red bibim spicy. There were shards of ice in the dish. They also had mustard on the side. It came in liquid form in a little pitcher, and was very potent. There was also a little pitcher of vinegar. I did not use them much, as I liked the flavor without extra seasoning.

  12. This morning my wife and I ate breakfast at Junior's Brooklyn @ 386 Flatbush Avenue Ext. (718)-852-5257. Service was very good; we had a leisurely paced meal, were not rushed, yet our server always seemed to be there and anticipate our needs. It was uncanny, like when I asked my wife if she was ready to leave, I didn't even have to ask for the check. It just appeared. Perhaps the waiter practices mind reading after waiting tables.

    After we ordered, there was a plate of miniature Danish pastry (prune, and cheese) as well as poppy-seed and onion rolls that was brought to the table with coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice and cranberry juice.

    The waiter recommended the omelet; however the Scottish Kipper and Eggs caught my eye. My wife ordered two eggs and bacon. The portions of the eggs were augmented; my wife thought that the quantity of eggs was beyond the two that she had ordered. The kipper was a large portion of a whole fish minus the head. It had a nice smoked and salty flavor, and I am quite sure that was not from a can, but rather it had been broiled prior to serving. The bacon was cooked perfectly until crisp. Both of our breakfasts came with an order of home fries and a slice of orange. My wife commented that the home fries were not at all oily. The coffee, refilled without requests, was fair, although above average for a typical American diner.

    All in all, the breakfast was very filling and pleasant.

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