Jammin

That truck puts out some of the best West Indian food this side of Trinidad. The Roti's are great as are the doubles. Don't forget to save room for what may be one of the greatest pastry desserst known to man; the curant slice. I've heard they have a good prices on phone calling cards too. ← OK, my friend and I went off in search of this truck today with no luck. Is it still there? What is the exact location? Old Slip and Maiden Lane seem to run parallel, so...

MX - no, it wasn't chewy. just a whole lot of it; much more than i have seen in other versions i have had. i'm estimating 40%-ish? also, the texture was not the "omgidontcarehowbaditisformeiwanttoeatallof it" variety; to me it was more on the side of "carving the fat off a raw chicken" texture. (sorry for the use of the highly technical term) the meat itself was great though. UE - yes, $60 for two.

finally tried this place last night. the verdict? not impressed. the meat in the momofuku ramen was good, but the broth seemed unidimensional and quite salty and the noodles were only so-so. the famous pork buns were ok, but i would side with many of the other posters who complain about excessive hoisin overpowering the dish. we also tried the braised pork belly (essentially a dressed-up buta kakuni) which was really nice provided you 1) avoid the massive layers of fat strewn throughout the meat and 2) go very light on the overly generous - and very rich - pool of sauce (braising liquid, perhaps?) at the bottom of the dish. overall the meal wasn't bad, but at $60 for "not bad", i'll stick with the more humble $5 noodle bowls in chinatown.

Feh. I went to Granja Elena today -- it looked like it was pretty full, which I took as a good sign. I asked if they had room for 1 person, which is rarely a problem, but the lady said, No, We Are Full. I said, I can wait, I don't mind -- but she said, you can't wait, there's no more room today. Please leave. And she gestured towards the door. It was rather unpleasant, I have to say. I'll give it one more shot tomorrow, since I will go through a lot for good food, but if they're that rude again I'm afraid it just won't work out.

AWESOME! I work in Pl. Cerda and had no clue this place existed! I will do my best to get down there for lunch tomorrow and will report back accordingly...

lambretta is pretty much on the right track here. one thing i would add is that if you use a pre-paid card, e.g., a $100 amex gift card, the authorization system may try to pre-authorize the extra 20% to accommodate the assumed tip and could cause a rejection for insufficient funds. if you use a pre-paid card, you need to be crystal clear with your server because they generally don't see all of these behind-the-scenes mechanics. just something to keep in mind to avoid potentially embarrassing situations.

heh, well, based *solely* on food, it's not a bad choice. perhaps it's my asian-american bias talking... i've often mused that if i could consistently pay $4-5 for a *good* lunch and dinner every day, it would easily offset a bi-weekly visit to the per se's of the world... how hot would that be?

Purely based on food, it would be Chinatown for me. Cheap and good eats, plenty left over to take a limo to the fancier restaurants. Unfortunately, C-town loses on so many other counts.

not really a specific dish per se, but... during the cheese course, chanterelle served up a hoch ybrig that quite literally turned my world upside down about this time last year. i've been loving cave aged gruyeres and other swisses for some time now, but this turned the year into a bit of a hunt for something as good. the rolf beeler versions at whole foods and murray's were not even close, artisanal couldn't match it, garden of eden didn't even try, etc. etc. etc. *sigh* it's a shame that only one other course that night would have merited a return visit.

wow, it must be parsnip season again. the other food from last night's dinner was good, if nothing to write home about, but the soup du jour - a parsnip concoction with prosciutto sprinkles - was fabulous enough that i had to wrestle the bowl away from my girlfriend who was threatening to lick it clean.

is this actually a storefront or is it purely mail-order? (i couldn't tell from the website) i'm thinking of a trip to KC, so this would definitely be a stop if the former.

not sure what the scallion oil chicken is, but we got an order of the "bac zham gai" (it's the white chicken that this particular market prepares with a light brownish sauce with some peanuts in it). oily, but holy cow it was good. btw, some of my friends have dubbed that market "meat alley".

Interesting that you say that because I had it for the first time friday afternoon, and while it was fresh and perfectly adequate, I was underwhelmed. I remember thinking, 'hm, they raved about it on EG, but eh." ← i asked our waiter about this last night and he confirmed they changed something in their potato salad recipe but he was equally dumbfounded as to the rationale. he also thought it was incredible a little ways back. i definitely appreciate honest waiters who are willing to steer you away from dishes that aren't worth it.

Does anyone know which of these places would be the best one to get kitfo at?

Krystal's should also have it.

now that's funny. 3+ years later and they are still running that special. (and i still love to take advantage of it even with the 50-cent increase...)

hmmm... interesting... if you look up saigon banh mi in the yahoo! yellow pages, you get the address for banh mi so 1. do you have the exact new address for the store that used to be at 88 e. broadway?

interesting point. i finally managed to get to the 9th ave location today and ordered a "provolone wit". the lady behind the counter gave me a blank stare so naturally i clarified my order. a damned fine sandwich to be sure, but yeah, something was missing on the personnel front.

am i imagining things or did they change their potato salad? it was so memorable opening week but this afternoon it was just awful - and completely different.

If anything, Amex GCE might have sold the Bubba Passes before they were made available to the general public, par for the course when it comes to Gold Card Events. (Can anyone confirm?) They might even be able to procure one for you (post-sellout) if you are a very high value customer, but you didn't hear that from me.

to be fair, singapore and malaysia aren't exactly far from each other and there are heavy influences because of the geographical proximity. the other thing to keep in mind is that tastes differ based on cultural upbringing. the opinions i expressed about singapore cafe reflect my own asian heritage and thoughts garnered from numerous singaporean friends, not one of whom thinks singapore cafe is any good. but as they like to say on the net, YMMV. pan - i wonder if the issue with the fattiness is that a decent bit of the "authentic" food from singapore uses lard. so maybe they're trying to compensate?

New Malaysia isn't going to blow your socks off, but it's cheap and it's passable. It isn't nearly as egregious as Proton Saga or Singapore Cafe. My Singaporean girlfriend and her Singaporean friends all agree that Singapore Cafe is quite inauthentic. To subtract yet another level of authenticity, I posted this little tidbit in the "Best Char Siu" thread: Have not tried Brodobur, so please do report back on that one.

FYI, I have been told that Proton Saga is the name of a very cheap and disrespected car in Malaysia. When my Singaporean girlfriend saw that restaurant, she busted a gut, but we didn't actually go in at the time. On a whim, I tried it one evening (not Jala Roti or Onde Onde mind you), and well, the Hainanese Chicken Rice tasted only slightly better than the tires on a cheap car. Lesson learned.

Looks like the organizers are trying a few things to manage the crowds a little better this time around... Below offer is available through American Express for Gold Card customers (and those of higher level of course) ----- BIG APPLE BARBECUE BLOCK PARTY Get Tickets Before the General Public and Special Access! The third annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party returns to Manhattan this summer. The community event will feature mouthwatering barbecue from 10 of the nation's top pitmasters, live jazz, blues and bluegrass, distinctive beverages, films, and seminars with BBQ experts. General Admission is free, but with Gold Card Events, you can purchase the Bubba FASTPass* before the general public. Exclusive benefits include access to the American Express Bubba Tent, special food lines, gift bag with souvenir merchandise, and reserved seating for the seminars**. Madison Square Park (New York, NY) Saturday, June 11 & Sunday, June 12, Noon-6PM $102.50 (for 2 adults and children) – includes shipping & handling Tickets on sale now! To order, call 212-447-7479 ext. 112 Box office hours: 10PM – 6PM Please mention GOLD CARD EVENTS when ordering For more information, please visit www.BigAppleBBQ.org Tickets available only via phone *Can be used at food, drink, and merchandise vendors – worth $120 **First come, first served basis. Please note: Seminar seats will be held only until 10 minutes before start time.

Maybe I just went on a bad night, but my impression of Neo is that it was a Nobu wannabe that can't execute their versions of the dishes (like the Black Cod with Miso, for example) on the same level. My girlfriend thought their spicy tuna roll was among the best she had ever had, but that was pretty much the only accolade either of us could scrape up for the food. Despite all this, their price point is comparable to Nobu's (maybe a shade lower). I dunno about you, but for $150, I would expect an experience, not a neighborhood sushi joint. Lastly, the service was subpar - our waitress could not understand a lick of English, it seemed. We asked for a spoon and she gave us this quizzical look. When she went away, I laughed, looked my girlfriend in the eye and said, "Neo - there is no spoon". Alternatives you might try - Gari?