tetsujustin

Thanks to everyone's positive feedback. I hope we can start some great conversation. I've pretty much started to mesh personal/professional together this early in my career. If it's healthy to be obsessed with food? I don't know, but I think I am. Besides, eating is a personal thing, and it is my profession. As for growth, I just want new ideas, new ways of seeing things done in both food, service, and everything in between. I take pretty meticulous notes and I just hope to become more well rounded in my profession because of this. I want to discover new tastes, new ways of being pampered, and to make the customer happy. As much as I want to do this professionally, it won't be too shabby on helping me professionally either. haha. I want to own a restaurant (well, many restaurants... well... an empire.) and knowing about the best will give me better education on how hopefully to one day be the best. Shoot for the stars, nothing less. As for picking the restaurants, I pretty much want to go to a lot of pretty lauded restaurants. Most, if not all of them are what we would considered high-class fine dining, but I think at the position that I'm given, I shouldn't feel as of a need to hold back. However, as you may notice in my reviews, I review it on how I formerlly perceive the restaurant before I had dined in it. What I expected from it, and what I got out of it. I could post the list of restaurants that I'm hoping to get a seat at, but I think not doing so would be more exciting for you all. I'm also open to taking suggestions though I may say I've covered most of the fine-dining spectrum in my list, I think. If there's a can't miss restaurant, however, don't hesitate to lend me your voice. Again, thanks for the great feedback.

Gramercy Tavern As my first time around this area of New York, I stepped out of the subway at the Union Square stop off the 6 train, amazed. Not really because of all the bright lights or bustling people, but most notably because of all the recognizable restaurants I noticed as I hurried my way down to Gramercy Tavern. Gramercy Tavern, to me as the outsider at least, seems like one of the city’s most beloved eateries. It’s up there with Chanterelle, Gotham, and countless others. As one of the big guns of Danny Meyer’s many restaurants, I was hoping for a meal of the season. Something that would cure my yearning for warmth (me being from Texas and all) and soothe the harsh cold. I wasn’t looking for out of this world new ideas, but smart food, good flavor combinations, and just that good, honest, down to earth, cooking... but in an elegant setting and hopefully with a piece of foie thrown in. As I approached the place, I was surprised (but though I probably shouldn’t have been, considering the area) to see that the place was completely packed at 5:30. At least 10-15 waiting patrons in the waiting area. The tavern area seemed extremely busy with people just lounging around and drinking, and eating. It was a tad bit loud in the tavern, and I was a little concerned that it would be hard for conversation that night, but that wasn’t the case when we were seated. It took a second for us to get the table, but we were led to the dining room which was almost completely different from the tavern area. Very warm with earthy tones and a lot of wood. A lot of wood. Branches sticking out from everywhere, wooden wreaths with Christmas decorations. The room felt plush, but not uptight. If this was any indication to how our meal would be like, then I was in for exactly what I was looking for. Our waitress was obviously an actor, very methodical in her speaking, all smiles, which actually probably might annoy some people because she seemed in the “too happy” category, but I didn’t really mind it all that much. She let us know about the menu as we looked over it, though we’d pretty much set ourselves on the Autumn tasting menu, and though she set out the line there for a white truffle ravioli dish, I almost bit... but restrained myself at the 60 dollar supplemental. Myself not really being a wine person as of yet, I completely forgot what my friend ordered as a bottle of champagne, but it really went very well for my first couple courses. It took a little while for us to actually order, as we brought one of our friends who is basically completely new to upscale dining (we had to muscle her into the tasting menu), and I was worried that the service was going to be a bit slow because it took a while before our waitress showed up for the order when we asked for a little bit of time, but it really didn’t end up like that at all. Everything seemed to run smooth after this. It was so seamless, actually, that we hardly noticed that time passed. Three hours went by really fast. I found it interesting that our amuse came to us with the menus still on the table. Not sure why, as I’d been strictly taught to send the amuse after the order had be in, but anyway... it wasn’t bad, nothing too spectacular though. A smallish crostini with a bit of pesto and garlicked white bean puree. Nice taste, but it didn’t seem as if they were really reaching for anything too spectacular. Our first dish was (yessss...) a torchon of foie gras with quince, mint, hazelnuts, a slight salad of frisee and hazelnut oil, and brioche toast points. As you can see, I sorta jumped the gun and took a bite before I remembered to take a picture. I swear, I could have eaten the foie by itself, but every bite of this was absolutely wonderful as I tinkered around with eating each component with the foie then tried all the combinations. Every single one of them were great. My favorite was just a bit of brioche, a schmeer (that’s right, schmeer.) of foie, a cube of quince, and mint. The creaminess and the burst of mint at first, then the sweetness of the quince was great. The hazelnut didn’t do too much for me, though it added a nice crunch, but I discovered that mint and foie together go really well. The brioche weren’t overtoasted as I had experienced in other places, and had that sort’ve crunchy, crumbly, then soft property. It must be said that my friend who hadn’t had much fine dining experience hated... and I mean HATED foie before this, but she finished her entire plate (she used a lot of brioche though.) It must say something about this dish. Great start. Next was a (I think... most likely) poached langostine. The menu says langostine with sorrel and lemon. I’m a big fan of the langostine as I find it to have a better, firmer texture than lobster, but a sweet flavor than shrimp, and this was a great preparation, with a light lemon butter sauce, the poached langostine, and what was probably micro sorrel (all the sorrel I’ve ever seen are big leaves.) The sorrel didn’t do too much for the dish as I was hoping it would, because that lemon flavor of sorrel on lemon sauce action would have really accentuated the sweetness of the langostine, but this was another better than average dish, though one of my friend found a vein still in his. The sauce was what I call a “bread-sopper,” and oh yes was it sopped. All of our plates were wiped clean. Our next course... well... I’m still dreaming about. This was one of the top fish dishes I’ve ever had... and I’ve had plenty of fish. This was a turbot with savoy cabbage, Binjte potatoes, cardamom, and ginger. The turbot itself was excellent. Soft, sweet, flakey flesh, and a very nice crispy skin. Eating that with the verblanc that sat on top of it just by itself was a-ma-zing. The savoy was buttery, it came with small diced carrots that were a nice touch, but the potato didn’t really do much besides sit there. It was a small potato, the shape of a fingerling except smaller... and very starchy. It tasted like potato... I think they only put it on there to cover the “starch” part of the dish and because Binjte sounds cool. But this dish... man I love turbot. Our next course had a very tough act to follow, but it did just fine. It was a cube of fresh bacon with chanterelles, lentils, and sherry vinegar. The bacon was about fifty percent fat, fifty percent meat, which sorta scared our female diners... it was a risky dish just because I know a bunch of people that just completely remove the fat from their meats and set it aside, so maybe not every diner gets to full experience, but I have no qualms with it. The fat was hard seared for a crispy top, which after you slice through goes deep into the fat before hitting the lean meat. The combination of that and the lentils were great, the buttery fat and meat with the texture of lentil, and the chanterelles were nice too, mildly of thyme, my favorite herb. A very well rounded dish for what was so far an outstanding meal. The last savory course was lamb. Now, I’m not sure why, but I just don’t like lamb. The flavor is just too strong for me and I never grew up eating basically any of it. The only preparation I’ve had it where I’ve actually liked it was at Trotter’s. I asked for a change of protein, but the waitress said that the whole table would have to change if I did that, so I succumbed. For some reason, also, she said that the temperature of whole table, and one of us hated ruby red meat (as they said they loved to cook it pretty rare.) I myself love redder meat, but oh well. I thought that maybe they could have accommodated us a little better on this course, but it wasn’t a bad dish. Good even. Just my least favorite dish of the night. It was a roast lamb with artichokes. Sauteed heart, steamed stem, and puree. The skin, again, was nice and crisp, and for some reason... this lamb didn’t have much of the... lamb taste? The artichokes were ok... but the hearts were overdone and the puree didn’t taste like much of anything. Our first dessert was an amuse of a double shotglass of sour cream panna cotta with lemon gelee, and concord grape granite. The panna cotta by itself didn’t taste too good, but if you scooped it all together, it tasted great. The sweetness of the grape, sourness on sourness of the gelee and panna, and I could tell that Chef Michelle Antonishek wanted you to do this with the amount of granite give. A lot of times it irks me when there is a suggested way of dining, like eat your foie on brioche, and they only give you like two points of brioche, but this wasn’t the case for this. Our last course was a choice of desserts. A pumpkin cheesecake with crème fraiche, cranberry sorbet and fresh cranberries, or a caramel cream napoleon with rosemary phyllo, and candied cashews. It seemed to me that they were setting out an adventurous choice in the napoleon and the safe choice of the cheesecake. We split the table in two, with me getting the napoleon, and I think I made the better choice. Though not a spectacular, to die-for dessert, the dessert fit the mood very well. I was surprised that the rosemary worked so well, as it tends to overpower flavors a lot, and the candied cashews were a very nice addition. I found this dessert to be very... rustic, if I may say. It fit the restaurant. I had a bite of the pumpkin cheesecake, and well... it was pumpkin cheesecake. I, nor the people who had it where too impressed with it... but it is what it is. The mignardises were a strawberry gelee, a ginger cookie, and a passionfruit-white chocolate chocolate. Then also a choice of truffles. Nice touch. It seemed fitting for the meal. Nothing too overboard. We also got a “breakfast” which I ate on the train of a coffee cake with an oatmeal topping and a nutmeg-cinnamon flavor. The bathroom check? It was just like the rest of the restaurant, warm, inviting... and cushy carpets next to the urinals. Haha. I was also able to chat with the assistant wine director and he showed me around the kitchen and such as the waitress caught me taking notes and I had to confess that I was from the CIA. He himself was from the school, as was the sous chef. In between dinner and dessert they said “oh it’s not very busy in the right now, you can take a look.” When I walked in, if that’s not busy, then I don’t know what is. Everyone seemed to be moving a lightning speed, with the sous chef in a tangle of chervil for garnishing a set of plates. I want that to be “not busy” in my future restaurant. Haha. I also had a wonderous time gazing at the open grill that fed the entire tavern. I have no idea how they have two cooks feeding that many people. Leo (the asst. wine director) said the tavern was fourty seats and around 20 seats at the bar. Gramercy Tavern was everything that I asked it to be. I wanted nice setting, good, warm food, and I got it. It isn’t out there and the food isn’t exactly adventurous, but I didn’t expect it to be. It’s one of those places where if I want to feel comfortable and have a homey feeling, I’d go to, which is why it’s been such a success for such a long time. I myself am an adventurous eater, but sometimes I want to tone it back, and Gramercy is the type of place I want to eat at when I want to take it back a little. If I was excited to go to Craft beforehand? Well I now am more excited and have higher expectations of it. I hope it hits a home run as well. I was pretty critical of WD-50 when it came to the start and finish, but I think their amuses and mignardises were completely off. Here at Gramercy they weren’t wonderful starts and finishes, but nice ones. It seemed like they played it safe though. Nice, though predictable platings. Seamless service though a slight hiccup at the beginning. Gramercy Tavern doesn’t need my praise, it’s done so well without it, and I think it will continue to do well. Grand job, Mr. Colicchio, Chef Schaefer, and Mr. Meyer. Out of 10? An 8. Wonderful night, memorable dishes... just not pristine and I was a tad bit disappointed in the desserts. (and just to let you know, I’m going to have a hard time giving out 9s and 10s.) Next week: Bouley

I stated something about the plating in my last little blurb, but yes, I wished that they would have used something other than the large round plate because the portions did look so small, though they were normal tasting-menu size. I believe a lot more emphasis could have been put on the food from the eye's point of view had it been plated tighter or with another plate. As for the sweetbreads, I've never had any other instance of lamb sweetbreads (that I know of) so I think it may have just been a completely different preparation from the sweetbreads you had in london. I myself love the sweetbreads with a crispy crust with a softer inside, and the waitress herself said they were "gamier" than veal, and I tasted it of sorts, but you know... different chef, different tastes. I really couldn't feel or taste the egg white in the egg dish because as you broke apart the yolk, it spilled out into the broth as somewhat of a thickener. It made it rich and silky... very complimentary to the parm broth. I myself couldn't really distinguish the texture of the white. and the parent backers will be thanked constantly. I have the greatest in the world.

Note: this was two weeks ago. Dec. the 4th. WD-50 As I was compiling my list of eateries that I wanted to enjoy around the city, WD-50 was one of them I was most excited to try mostly because I knew there I would be challenged, at least palate-wise. Looking at their website, there were a few noted things that I really wanted to try, and I was hoping that the nine course tasting menu would contain those things. I am fascinated by the designated, “avant-guard” style cuisine, and though I personally don’t think it’s in my future, I love the cerebral context that some of these dishes put me in. I have previously been to Trio as it was under the helm of Grant Achatz, and probably to a less avant-guard extent, Rick Tramonto’s TRU as I was externing in Chicago and was hoping for a more casual avant-guard experience here at WD-50. I’m not sure what Chef Dufresne categorizes his food as, but this is sort’ve what I see it as. New. Exciting. I’m sure that you can probably look up Wylie Dufresne’s bio up on their website, so I won’t really bore you with the details. So I’ll just tell you straight out that as I approached WD-50, I wanted the whole, “Holy crap that’s cool!” feeling. I approached the door of the Clinton Street eatery close to my 6:30 reservation and met a couple of my friends at the door. As I walked in, I noticed the very casual atmosphere. It was dim, but the walls were brightly colored in different colors. Along the left wall there was a run of booths, and near the door there was a small glass table which I thought to be the waiting area, but found later to be an actual table. Not sure who’d want to sit in front of the window with people walking behind you staring in over your shoulder at your food, but hey, I wanted weird. The waitress was very prompt and nice, dressed casually with jeans and a navy apron and we were sat at a table right in glaring view of the kitchen, which had an open door. I saw the Chef calmly surveying the dining area as I sat. It was 6:30 on a Saturday night and so I was sort’ve surprised to see that the dining room was nearly empty, with only one other table sat besides us, but I figured that the room would fill fast as 7 approached. I was right. As we left, close to 9, the room was buzzing. I didn’t much care for the menu or the table settings, with a black and white woven setting. The menu seemed to be a kinko’s bound notebook with both the menu and wine list contained in it. I only browsed slightly through it and noticed a few of the items seemed to be the “safe” ones, the ones that would always be ordered by the less adventurous. But anyway, I have 9 courses to describe, so on to the food. Our “bread” was a box of paper-thin lavash with sesame seeds. This was constantly filled during the meal, and were completely addicting. They didn’t really make you full because they were so thin, but it was an interesting starting statement. First was an amuse of striped bass, jasmine tea, carrot, and Asian pair. I also noted that the waitress said something about basil seed in there. The single bite morsel was ok, but less than impressive. The flavors just seemed confusing to me with the bass being only slightly warmed, but with a raw texture, and with an aromatic taste to it. It seemed to me that something that they were trying to accomplish with the basil seed was sort’ve a caviar feel or effect? Except that the seed didn’t have the “pop” to it that caviar does. It really wasn’t a wonderful start, but I’ve had less than impressive amuses everywhere. Next was the highly touted Foie Gras with nori caramel, and a grapefruit-basil crumble with brunoised croutons of brioche in it. I was most excited for this dish and well... it just didn’t work for me. There’s nothing better than a great tasting foie and this dish really didn’t have the foie taste. Either the fact that it was served cold took away from it, or the nori caramel overpowered it. Eaten all together, the flavor was really nice as the foie turned creamy in your mouth, but I had a problem with getting it all in one bite. I must say though, which I never thought, that basil and grapefruit go together very well. I’ve read on here a few rave reviews of this dish. It really just didn’t work for me. The next dish was the Rainbow trout with pork belly, apple cream, horseradish, and miso paper. Things really started looking up from here. The trout with lightly cooked, and if I remember correctly, it was served with lime salt and another salt that I can’t put my finger on, but the lime salt with the soft fish and the flavor of pork fat around the fish really went well. Together, it really fit. Apples or Peaches with pork have long been a great couple, and a light spice added to that from the horseradish was nice. The miso chip was hard to figure in, but it was a nice salty crunch. Very enjoyable. The following dish is also one of Chef Dufresne’s more noted dishes, the beef tongue with fried mayo, tomato molasses and onion strussel. I could see why. The combination of cold pickled tongue with the aromatic onion and molasses and the burst of warm mayo was awesome. My favorite was the fried mayo, because the outside crust wasn’t even hot, and as you were enjoying the beef and you bit down to the hot mayo, it was just a great effect. Note, however, go light on the molasses for each bite, it’s a strong flavor. Haha. Bravo on this dish. The dish following this, the waitress informed us, was just newly put on the menu that night. Lightly Sautéed Nantucket Bay Scallops with Beet Yogurt, and parsley oil. This was a great dish, though less imaginative than I would have expected from WD-50, though the scallops were nice and sweet, combined with the creamy bright red yogurt that was a little sour, and hint of parsley oil. You really had to construct the flavor though, dabbing, swooping the scallops into the accompaniments, but all the flavors together went well. Before the next course the waitress put spoons in front of us. We debated what it would be due to the fact that it was way too late for a soup course, but what she put in front of us was even better. I love egg dishes, and this was a slow poached egg (an hour and a half in 147 degree water in parmesan broth with a crispy garnish. The fried noodle (I think) garnish with the powder and the dill leaves did little for the flavor, but were a nice color touch and the noodles were a good crunch, but the parm broth was rich and when you broke the egg into it, it was very rich and made the whole dish work well. It was served just under hot, so it was a good contrast to the cold outside. I think this dish really worked well in the winter. Next came one of my favorite things (if it’s done right. I’ve had them done wrong, really, really wrong.) Sweetbreads! We had lamb sweetbreads with green daikon, black bean, and chocolate powder. Now these sweetbreads weren’t bad, and I don’t think I’ve ever had lamb sweetbreads before, but the texture really wasn’t what I was looking for. They bounced back at your teeth and where kind of gummy. You were asked to eat it with the daikon, which really cut into the gaminess that came from the lamb, but the chocolate powder didn’t do much for me, nor the black bean sauce. I mean, I finished my plate, but this was one of the courses that I ate fast because I wanted to get to the next course faster. The next course was our last savory one. Squab with encrusted golden beets, and sweet potato juice. The squab was cooked peeerfectly, and it had a skin crackling sandwiched in between there. It only had a hint of gaminess and was completely soft in texture. I have no idea how they did it. But the crispy skin with the nice soft meat and the sweet potato juice went really well. Very nice touch. I didn’t care much for the encrusted beets. They just tasted like crumbly beets, but if you cut into them and looked at the red encrusted around the gold, it looked cool. Next was our cheese course. Quince and Manchego, Manchego and quince. Always, always. Love it. It was quince and tonic with fried sticks of manchego. The Quince tonic was something I didn’t expect because when I heard tonic I thought soda water, but it coated your tongue sort’ve like cough syrup and was the nice sweet quince flavor. As for the Manchego, I now want all my cheese sticks to be fried. It was a great combination, but it’s quince and manchego. Traditional. Always. The next course I accidentally ate before I got a chance to take a picture, but I remember being a bit worried because I’m not too big of a fan of sesame. It was Black Sesame Ice cream on top of an olive oil cake with caramelized grapefruit and a sesame sugar tuile on top. I was proven wrong by Chef Sam Mason. The olive oil cake was uber soft that went really well with the ice cream. The grapefruit was simply a supreme of grapefruit with caramelized sugar on top, but everything together went well. It was constantly soft and crunchy, Soft fruit, crunchy top. Soft cake and ice cream, crunchy tuile. Nice developed flavor in the ice cream too, I find a lot of house made ice creams taste too much like their base rather than their flavor. The last sweet course was Chocolate cream, which was encrusted with some sort’ve chocolate-rice crust, that was once again, soft and crunchy and had a deep chocolate flavor, with tonka bean ice cream and coffee soil. I loved the coffee soil that was soft and stuck to the bottom of the tonka bean ice cream. I can’t really explain the ice cream except that it sort’ve reminded me of coconut... but... like... not. But anyways (If anyone knows what Tonka bean is, please tell me. I was clueless). The petit fours were ginger cotton candy with a cup of hot mulled apple cider. Because of the cold, the apple cider really hit the spot. It was aromatic, and really, something you should enjoy in a log cabin in front of the fire place wrapped up in blankets. The ginger cotton candy was... well, ginger cotton candy. Watch out for the first bite though, you might not expect that ginger flavor to be that prevalent. Our mignardises (I can never spell that right) was chocolate-spiced marcona almonds. These were way too spiced for my liking. It sort’ve left a bad taste in my mouth as I left, I could only eat one... not exactly the way you want to leave an impression. I noticed that as the dinner progressed, and as the room filled, the service really lulled behind. At the beginning, we were really moving the courses along at a smooth pace, but as it got closer to the end, it felt like we were waiting forever between courses. And as for the bathroom check, I may say that WD-50 has one of the coolest bathrooms ever. It’s downstairs and unisex, and you walk left and realize you’re standing next to a row of sinks... then on the back wall it says push the wood. I was pressing around on the wood wall till I almost fell into the stall. Haha. Well, at least the bathroom matches the food. Fun. All in all, it was a good meal. Nothing was really memorable except for the beef tongue. I probably wouldn’t go back unless there was a complete change of the tasting menu to see what else Chef Dufresne has up his sleeve. What irked me though was the beginning and the end of the meal. The amuse and the mignardises. Neither were too great or seemed to be completely thought out, which could be fatal because a lot of people can only remember the first and last thing of what they ate. Maybe I was spoiled by Chef Achatz, but only a few select flavors and ideas in the meal really wowed me (I want all my mayo and cheese sticks to be fried now). Of course, WD-50 doesn’t have the special serviceware either. The plating was only so-so, and I fall in love with pretty plates... and another qualm was that they seemed to use the same large, round, white plates. I think the visual effect of the food would have been intensified with different plates. The flavors worked well, but they were all hard to get from the plate into your mouth with just one fork or one spoon... and I sort’ve have a hard time digesting the fact that in a tasting menu, some flavors were reused like grapefruit and beets, but hey, I had a good time, and that’s all I ask. I think that this may be the wrong timing for this type of restaurant though. Avant guard cuisine hasn’t been around too long, and there aren’t enough places that are even fine dining to have a casual place. Maybe Chef Dufresne skipped a phase. Sure there was Paul Liebrandt, but I can’t think of another person in the city that does this type of cuisine. Risky venture, but it looks like they’re doing fine, and the price was very reasonable, and I left with a good feeling so well, I had a nice time. Out of 10? I’d give it a 5. I liked the meal, but it wasn’t memorable. Next week (which was this past week): Gramercy Tavern. (edited for picture viewing pleasure. This thread is not for the 56k'ers. haha)

Not exactly how to start this out, but with the blessing of one of the hosts in the forum, I've decided to start a diary of myself (and usually a couple friends) as we eat our way around New York City. My name is Justin, and I'm a student at the Culinary Institute of America. With the help of my parents, I've been blessed to be able to head down to the big city every weekend to eat at a list of places that I've wanted to go to for a long time. I'm currently in the second half of my education, and I realized that the city was there, but I'd never utilized it for my own education, especially since I have the means to. So as part of a concession to my parents helping me, I'm writing and taking pictures (when I can) of all the eateries that I go to, which I thought would provoke interesting conversation and discussion as a part of the egullet community. How do restaurants compare, and so on and so forth. A little bit on my background: I've always wanted to be a chef. Ever since I walked into the kitchen of my Aunt's Chinese restaurant in California and saw the chef making fire with oil, I've always wanted to be a chef... as far as I can remember back. I'm originally from Houston, Texas so moving up here was a great change for me. I started off at the age of 15 as a bus boy, but just during the summer. I then moved to the back of the house after my junior year when I was 17 when I was able to get a job at at a upscale sushi bar helping prep the rice, the fish, and near the end of the summer, I ended up rolling sushi at the bar. I could roll a California roll in 24 seconds, my greatest accomplishment at the time. The following year I enrolled into a part-day vocational school that was in partnership with my district at my highschool. There I basically took skills classes for 4 months. After that winter break, I then got a job as a cook in a large, high volume kitchen and worked the salad, potato/bread, blacken, and fry stations and worked into the summer before I headed up to here at the CIA. I've completed my externship, which I externed at Spring/Green Zebra in Chicago. Those four and a half months were the hardest I've ever worked, mostly because I was constantly in the kitchen at Zebra and they were just opening. (You may recognize the name, the NYT food section had a complete spread on it.) My parents have always been open with food for me. I'm Chinese, so I believe myself to have a very developed palate. I'll eat a lot of things that my fellow students hate here. I love foie, I love good sweetbreads, but I can also understand the complexities of things such as swallow's nest and shark fin for what they are, just because of my heritage. My parents and extended family always loved to try new things, and I believe I've benefited greatly from it as a "sorta-cook, hopefully one day a chef" position. New York, to me is just like a kitchen. One gigantic organized chaos, and the food scene is unimaginable. I just hope that I can get the best of it. I hope you take to my readings with an open mind. I make these observations from who I am, but I hope you understand that I don't claim to have "the" palate or know everything. I'm well read, getting well educated, and I believe that I have a firm grasp of what I do and love, and I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing for you. If you have stuff you'd like to ask of me, PM me. I don't bite much. And feel free to discuss and disagree. I love conversation.

Well I'm up here at the CIA, but I'm a native Houstonian and so whenever I have a break (which really isn't that often) I've gotta go to: Azuma for their red devil roll, white angel roll, gindara, and japanese ribs (I'm pretty biased though because my first kitchen job was there) Seoul Garden for some Korean barbeque, bulgogi preferred, but also the seafood pancake and their frickin spicy noodle/seafood jungol. Star Snow Ice for a Mocha float tapioca. Pho Danh II in the Hong Kong 4 complex for their pho. No Spring rolls no nothin, just straight up pho and other noodle choices, but it's damn good. Taquria Cancun for some late night taquria style, their beef platter. Same for Tan Tan, except I get the rice plate or the thit bao luc lac. Pappasitos just cause I love that they use their mesquite grilled beef in their beef quesedillas. I'm sorta split on Cajun food. I'm always a sucker for Pappadeaux's shrimp brochettes (as non cajun as that is) and usually for some decent gumbo I go to Ragin Cajun (though it's not very consistent at times) Ragin Cajun always has good oysters though. Nice and pump. Though it's an Austin thing, Amy's ice cream for their Mexican Vanilla. Mi Luna (They won't let me into Solero!) for a really loud place and no parking and good tapas. I have a whole bunch more. My area is pretty isolated from non-large chain restaurants, but it's always good to be home. I'm sure I'll post more as your posts spark my imagination.

Both of Shawn McClain's restaurants use them. The Kumamoto oysters at Spring and at the raw maki roll at Zebra.

As many of you had suggested, I decided to head on down to Hema's once I had heard that she had opened a place near me. The spot is a nice one, bunched up in the middle of Clark street's many little restaurants and shops however, the gigantic orange Hema's sign means you can't miss it. Inside is somewhat barren, carpeted floors, small tables, nicely spaced, looks just like it should be as it started as a hole in the wall place. Though it was only five thirty, the place was half full and by the time I'd left it was nearly full. I could already tell that there were many Hema fans that came bounding to her new spot as I heard "on Devon" many times from a bunch of the carry out folks. I ordered the shrimp vindaloo, a side of rice, and an order of poori. Slight, yes, but I just wanted to get a nice feel of the place. The poori came light, airy, and still hot. The side of basmati had hints of clove to go along with the already aromatic basmati and the vindaloo was nice and fiery. VeryApe had complained about the lack of spiciness, but I found this to be extremely spicy. Maybe someone had forgotten the spice in yours? haha. The use of coriander leaves was very apparent. Everything complimented each other well. The menu is authentic and extensive. I will be back. The price was decent, 22 including tax and tip and the portions were just right. Nice place. Hema's got my stamp. Though it probably doesn't matter if she had it anyways.