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Jammin

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Posts posted by Jammin

  1. I tried the Flatiron location for lunch last weekend. I think FatGuy pretty much hit the nail on the head for their pizzas. I tend to prefer my crust a little crispier (next time maybe order it "well done"?) but I could appreciate the soft texture of their crust - pretty easy on the jaw. The sauce on my Margherita definitely stood out though - really bright and vibrant.

    As part of the $24 PF lunch, I also enjoyed an app consisting of some rosemary-scented cannelini beans, broccoli rabe, and housemade pork sausage, which was excellent and a fairly substantial portion to boot. Tack on a cannoli for dessert and it was way more than I needed for lunch.

    Great addition to the neighborhood. I'll definitely be back.

  2. Excited to finally have a banh mi source within walking distance of my apartment, I walked down to Co Ba for lunch on Friday and grabbed a Banh Mi Thit (Assorted cold cuts w/ grilled honey plum‐glazed pork) and a Banh Mi Thit Kho (pork belly braised in coconut juice). Both sandwiches were perfectly decent but nothing really earthshaking. The pork in the Banh Mi Thit did have a nice smoky flavor which I liked a lot, but I didn't care much for the bean sprouts in the Kho. The bread was perhaps the weakest point - after finishing my 2 halves, my jaw was well and truly sore.

    All in all, though, I'm happy to have a place to get my fix when I'm too lazy to trek down to Chinatown.

  3. I used to go a lot after having Tsushima recommended to me by a Japanese friend of mine. It quickly became a favorite when I could go there with 2 of my friends who would order the incredible $30 "Ladies' Set" - essentially a slightly downsized version of their normal omakase. Alas, that deal is no more.

    Would love to hear an updated report since it's been about 2 yrs since I've been.

  4. Made the Pasta a la Norma and the Spanish Tortilla from the latest issue. Uncharacteristically, these were disappointments. The Pasta didn't have sufficient eggplant in it for our taste; I may go back and boost the eggplant content to see if that helps.

    The Tortilla seemed to lack the richness that a more classical approach produces. I really wanted this to be great since frying the potatoes and onions in a ton of oil is such a pain.

    Anyone else have better luck with either?

    On a more positive note, the Tomato Pesto with Almonds was ridiculously easy to make and will surely be added to my rotation.

  5. I don't think they ever were unlimited.  I always approached it from the perspective of what's reasonable.  I'd be curious to know if you had already gotten any refills up to that point.

    Nope. We had only what they brought to us at the outset, so a portion of each app size for two - 3 oysters (which we thought odd since there were 2 of us), a plate of arugula salad, a cup of soup for each, and 2 small squares of pizza.

    The skillet special was a Spiced Grilled Lamb Shanks w/ Candied Lemon and Couscous.

  6. In this case, perhaps renting a car and going via the GW Bridge would have been better? Did you guys purchase any perishable groceries there?

    We didn't buy much in the way of perishables, but I was tempted to crack open my 12-pack of Kirin and start selling them on the bus!

    It's been mentioned before, but a rental would just add so much more suck than it would eliminate - shopping around for a good rental deal and making a reservation, sinking $50-100 for said rental, queueing up for the non-EZPass line, scheduling around the open/close times of the rental company, negotiating the tunnel traffic directly instead of letting the bus driver deal with it, etc.

    No, this is definitely a case where the bus wins hands down. If I were to buy sushi-grade fish, I'd plan on bringing a cooler with a few ice packs or something and just take my chances.

  7. Well, FWIW, I did go to Mitsuwa for the Tuna Cut event as a direct result of this thread. The place was a complete zoo; must have been triple the normal amount of people there. But I'll have to say 8 guys hacking apart a 500-lb tuna carcass was quite a spectacle to behold. The sushi being sold was on the average side even if it was cheap as hell, but I'm glad I went.

    That said, transit was a pain in the ass. The Port Authority bus was easy enough to use, but on the way back, the return line was so long we had to wait for the next bus, so that tacked another half hour on to the trip. We also hit some nasty stop-and-go tunnel traffic that nearly made my girlfriend carsick. I don't think you can discount the transit issues at all when asking Manhattanites to go to New Jersey.

  8. I bought a bag of them at the fruit stand on Elizabeth & Grand about a week ago. They were being kept in a styrofoam container, presumably having been frozen for transit - they even had a thin layer of frost on them.

    They were pretty awful. Nowhere near as good tasty as the ones I had in Singapore and I am guessing the freezing process did something because the shell structure was very crumbly and the red color started to leak into the fruit as they thawed, rendering it a disgusting pink color instead of white - looked like uncooked gizzards or something.

    At $8 a bag, those were so not worth it.

  9. I'm willing to wager that the sides, while way cheaper, aren't in Hill Country's league. Hill Country's sides are expensive, but superb.

    Goode Co. doesn't really offer fancy sides. It's baked beans, dirty rice, potato salad and such. (man, I love that potato salad...) But they do a mean jalapeno cheese bread which you get with the meal. It's still very much a popular place and very well regarded in Houston, but many locals no longer think it is in a league by itself. Yeah, whatever. As if that line out the door is a bunch of tourists.

    Re: price. Almost everyone at Goode Co. gets full meals which come with sides and that isn't offered at HC. That's around $10-14 a person. My visit to HC, we spent around $60 for 2 of us, so 200% is probably about right, maybe on the low side even since you don't tip at Goode Co; it's cafeteria line style and you take your tray out to your table.

    Please don't ask me to compare the meats. They are completely different and I grew up with one of them.

  10. Don't judge their brisket until you try the moist. The flats are great, too, but the point is where it's at.

    Went two weeks ago. The lean was bone dry and the moist felt like chewing on a piece of fat. In fact, I had the pleasure of paying for a 3oz chunk of 98% fat (which a Manager hesitantly replaced at our later request).

    We also had the beef shoulder, regular sausage, corn pudding and the baked beans. The beef shoulder was dull and I regretted buying more than one slice; the flavor simply wasn't enough to hold my attention. The regular sausage I liked, but - being a sauce kind of guy - I would have liked it even more if it had a good partner. The corn pudding was good, but everything else was pretty mediocre. Shame that we didn't try the ribs which everyone seems to be raving about.

    Decor-wise, it was a nice place, and the place will probably succeed on that basis alone. Laid back, country/rockabilly music, drinks served in mason jars, silverware at the tables, unfinished wood tables (watch out for splinters!!)

    As a born and bred Texan who lives 2 blocks away, I really wanted to like this place. Sadly, I probably won't be going back any time soon.

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