kathryn

Going for the first time tonight and thinking of ordering this, for two: 1. lamb's tongue 2. octopus 3. mint love letters 4. goose liver ravioli (or should we do beef cheek?) 5. sweetbreads 6. seasonal crostata Spaghettini with lobster, gnocchi sound good too. Boyfriend will probably NOT be into lamb's brains. Orecchiette or linguine sounds nice as well but I am halfway through Heat by Bill Buford and just read the pasting making chapter, so I have those on the brain right now.

Had another great dinner here last night: Steamed buns Benton's country ham Honeycrisp apple kimchi -- JOWL. That is all. Grilled sweetbreads -- a giant piece with lots of salt. I think I like the larger pieces as to maximize the contrast between crispy outside and sweet inside. Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes, with thail chile, chinese broccoli, and fried shallots -- amazing, just a big pile of crumbled sausage and little bite size pieces of rice cakes. We basically licked the bowl clean. Note to future patrons: ask for a spoon. It was just past my level of spiciness tolerance but I couldn't stop eating it. Amish Cheddar Shortcake -- I think they crisp it slightly in the oven now so the apple compote gets a little bit browned, a nice touch. PB&J -- continues to be awesome. They have dialed down the saltiness of the saltine ice cream, which strengthens it in my book. Also spotted belly ssam on the menu, now renamed, but hopefully the same as I had last week. Also a new spicy: spicy squid and shrimp stew with sweet potatoes. I wanted to try, but dearest boyfriend hates sweet potatoes. I have faith he will come around as he previously hated brussels sprouts pre-Ssam Bar. The kitchen crew seems to have grown in number by leaps and bounds. We also witnessed 3 practically simultaneous Bo Ssams behind us. One of the servers mentioned that they'd done 4 the night before and 2 the night before that! Insanity, especially as the party directly behind us at the bar was trying to fit 12 people around the table. Plus, it was 7pm on a Sunday, cold as hell outside, but the place was packed.

Actually I just got invited to dinner at a friend's house; perhaps some other time.

I don't have any fancy equipment like induction hubs, sadly.

You can come over here and, um, cook in my kitchen? Our table only seats 6 though. I live in the East Village. Not in a loft, however.

Or 3. Go to PDT for a cocktail and a Chang dog 4. Then go to MSB for a late night dinner (open until 2am)

How much did D&D have left? Gothamist reports that Despana is out but about to get more (it is literally going through customs at the airport). http://gothamist.com/2007/12/14/expensive_ham_u.php

Just called and they serve the desserts all day. 10am to midnight on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. 11am to 7pm on Sundays. BUT Mr. Goldfarb is only there in the evenings, from about 8 to midnight on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. He's not there on Sundays. I wonder if there is any quality dropdown in the desserts when Goldfarb isn't there in person.

I only ever go for dim sum items, sorry Pan! The only thing I've heard good things about is the Peking Duck but that seems hit or miss.

That's what I heard too. So either: 1. D&D is lying on their signage 2. D&D is being mislead that it's bellota by their supplier 3. D&D somehow got bellota

Interesting. Who else has the bellota except for D&D? I assume what's listed in the NYT are prices for the regular, non-bellota variety.

Yes, they were handslicing at D&D (rather awkwardly as I had some slices that were just a little too thick). There was a giant ham with the bone in, clearly labelled as Bellota and "new" on display. It's right past the cheeses in the Soho location, Prince & Broadway.

What I got from Dean and Deluca last night was labeled as Bellota, though. $75/lb. Grub Street verified this with their corporate folks: "[Grub Street] checked and they do have thirty USDA-approved [bellota] hams, guest residents admitted to our shores by the USDA as a preview of hams to come."

It's very sweet, nutty, tender, and dark (wild?). That last part could just be my imagination though. It's not very salty at all. The fatty part is very tender (falls apart if you look at it sideways) and melts in your mouth. It's delicious. We polished off 1/4 lb. in about five minutes, paired with some toasted Tom Cat baguette.

Update from Grub Street: "Commenter Cla Lll points out that Bellota is actually available at Dean and DeLuca at the moment. We checked and they do have thirty USDA-approved hams, guest residents admitted to our shores by the USDA as a preview of hams to come. The price is a cool $75 per pound." I might run down after work and get some...

My part of 4 walked in at 7pm without a problem on Friday night, as a reference point. There was a short wait for folks following us.

Jinx! (I hope it will rear its head at Ssam Bar soon.)

Grub Street says it is free-range Iberico, not bellota.

The new pork belly ssam is great. Grilled pork belly, sliced thick, in long strips. Like giant bacon! And tasty razor clams (cut into small pieces on the bias) with tiny bits of more bacon and some thai (?) chile in there too. (Hello, I'd like my bacon with bacon, please.) And mustard seed - a creamy cold slaw with a hint of horseradish. Mmmm. I'm lukewarm on the new spicy chocolate cake with banana, but I generally feel that bananas are a breakfast food.

Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/tags/szechuangourmet

We ended up doing: 21. Dan Dan Noodles with chili – minced pork 23. Szechuan Pork Dumpling with roasted chili soy 47. Double Cooked Sliced Pork Belly with chili leeks 50. Crispy Lamb Fillets with chili cumin 60. Chef’s Ma Paul Tofu with chili minced pork 48. Stir Fried Chicken with roasted chili (boneless) The stir fried chicken was at the suggestion of our waitress: Her: Is that it? No vegetable? Me: Vegetables? Ah, I didn't see anything that jumped out, I don't know. Her: You don't want vegetable? How chicken? Stir fried chicken with roasted chili, number 48 is good, very good. Me: Well... Her: Is very good! Me: OK, the chicken it is, then. After a short wait, all of our food showed up at the same time, so the noodles and dumplings sat in sauce a bit longer than they should have. There's also way too much sauce with the dan dan noodles, nearly soup like, so it's very hard to share without dribbling all over. The consensus winner of the group was the crispy lamb with cumin: lightly battered and fried, with both green and red chilis, and a nice but not overpowering flavor. The dan dan noodles and pork dumplings were both quite good, and I liked the pork dumplings in particular because of the sweetness of the soy and pork meat, a nice foil to the spice-factor of the rest of the dishes. Two of our group really loved the chicken, but I didn't think it was all that special, as I really like the chicken dishes at GSI (chong qing spicy chicken and gui zhou spicy chicken). The chicken, however, was extremely well cooked -- right at the point of done-ness. Pork belly was good (it really is like eating bacon) but not all that special in terms of the different pork belly dishes I've had at other restaurants in NYC. I think I just prefer my pork belly in larger pieces, not sliced. We finished off everything except the mapo tofu (the lamb and chicken were actually kind of small portions in comparison). While not quite "4 pepper hot" it was still hot enough to be eaten only in small doses, with rice. The dish was huge, no way we could have finished it. For me, the spiciness didn't really hit until after I'd ingested some tofu, allowing the flavors to really shine; I loved that the spiciness didn't dominate the dish. Oh, and the tofu was perfectly cooked as well. Quite delicate and tender. Yum. They also gave us some warm tapioca soup at the end, which I found rather bland and flavorless. It's to help with the numbed lips and tongues? Anyway, I like my chinese dessert soups to have something more in them (red bean, etc). Next time: that ox tongue (my companions were a bit sqeamish), one of the "with Napa and roasted chili" dishes, and those razor clams. Also spotted a table nearby with a giant blue crabs dish, which looked intriguing.

Planning to go there on Friday night for a party of four. We all like spicy food. How does this sound? Is it way too much food? How many the following could we reasonably expect to order and finish? 1. Razor Clams with szechuan pepper corn – scallion pesto 2. Ox Tongue & Tripe with roasted chili – peanut vinaigrette 21. Dan Dan Noodles with chili – minced pork 23. Szechuan Pork Dumpling with roasted chili soy 47. Double Cooked Sliced Pork Belly with chili leeks 50. Crispy Lamb Fillets with chili cumin 60. Chef’s Ma Paul Tofu with chili minced pork

I've had their macarons a few times now and I think they store them too cold; the centers always tasted too moist and mushy for me. They improved, slightly, if I left them out on the counter overnight. The flavorings were very good and creative, though, but La Maison still has the best macarons in town IMO.

45$ American Country Ham Castell Roig Rose Cava, Brut NV (Penedes) Steamed Buns and Seasonal Pickles Fried Brussels Sprouts Buchegger 'Holzgasse' Gruner Veltliner 2006 (Kremstal) Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes Marinated Hangar Steak Ssam Valdehermoso, 'Roble' 2005 (Ribera del Duero) Wine pairing 25$ supplemental 75$ Cured Hamachi -- edamame, horseradish, pea leaves Momofuku Nama Honjozo American Country Ham Tasting The Black Chook, Sparkling Shiraz N.V. (McLaren Vale) Honeycrisp Apple Kimchi -- Burgers' smoked jowl, maple labne, arugula Steamed Pork Buns & Seasonal Pickles Bruder Dr. Becker, Spatlese Scheurebe 2006 (Rheinhessen) Grilled Veal Sweetbreads -- pickled roasted chilies, lime Spicy Pig's Head Torchon (Newman's Farm, MO) -- red adzuki beans, spicy mustard Scholium Porject, 'Heliopolis' 2006 (Suisan Valley) Spicy Tripe Salad -- poached egg, frisee Dessert Carbonated Nigori Sho Chiku Bai Served Family Style Menu Priced Per Person Only Available For Entire Table Wine pairing $40 supplemental