kathryn

Went back tonight with a big group (10 total) for the Bo Ssam. We ordered one of each ham (which lead to a hilarity of plate passing and confusion), two orders of brussels sprouts, two orders of apple kimchi, and a bunch of pork buns (one per person). Only a few ounces of Bo Ssam remained at the end of the night (god, the skin! It's amazing), and we also managed to polish off a PB&J and spicy chocolate crumble cake. Yes, we are Eaters. They're now offering two tasting menus, with wine pairings available. One was $45, the other was $75 I think (can't remember, ate too much Bo Ssam, will have to check my friends' photos). There was nothing on the tasting menus you couldn't get off of the regular menu, but they both seemed like very good values for the price, as well as a good way to try many of the dishes at once. You can find the menus on the first page of the wine list (bound black book).

Greystreet, I was triangulating for you the best location based upon distance to Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Noodle Bar, and Momofuku Ko!

Hi, have we met? Greystreet, I assume you're looking on East 11th or East 12th between 2nd and 1st.

It does look like panko! http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/1969400442/ Melts in your mouth. I liked the slight crunchy and salty bits at the bottom when I had it. Maybe it is destined to be a Ko dish?

Indian (sans dairy products)? Or maybe Chinese if you order carefully (no soy sauce, no tofu)? Salad?

I'm surprised that the chocolate chips were chalky, especially given that he's in a chocolate shop! You went last night? Sunday night? I thought he was only there Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from what I read in the NYT.

Bryan, did you make reservations or did you just drop by? Were there people waiting for seats at the bar? I was under the impression that Goldfarb's creations were only available at the bar.

Well, if you're like me, you'd get bored of just eating just pork butt for your dinner when there's so much else to explore. They can pack it up for you afterwards into individual portion sizes (including the sauces). It makes a nice, fatty lunch the next day. If you do wish to do the Bo Ssam, I'd make a decision quickly. I have a feeling they get booked up pretty far in advance these days.

BBQ Chicken -- the same chain that's got a new location connected to TKettle on St Marks, right?

Thanks, Melissa! Wonderful, luscious photography. But maybe that's a given as you shoot for NY Mag...

Maybe the topic name should be "NYC Foods, Get Thee to Jersey, and bring some Dramamine"? The same thing happens to me, a lot, too, in stop and go traffic. In this case, perhaps renting a car and going via the GW Bridge would have been better? Also, did you guys purchase any perishable groceries there? My mother goes to a similar Japanese market in South California, and always get amazing hamachi kama and sushi grade fish, but she has a car and a cooler. I fear trying to get similar goods home to my place in downtown Manhattan! Perhaps in the list of recommendations, eGulleters can give recommendations on how to get there / when to go with minimum hassle, whether it be bus or train or whatever.

Please describe the new soft serve ice cream!

I've written up a report on a Greenmarket tour and lunch, lead by Michael Anthony, here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=109765

Today, I, and a handful of other lucky peoplel went on an interactive tour of the Union Square Greenmarket with Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern today. We were also accompanied by two employees of the CENYC and a community volunteer from Greenmarket, if I remember correctly. The tour was the first of its kind, part of a larger program for community outreach, and a fundraiser for Greenmarket. The tour itself lasted about two hours (had frozen toes by the end), wherein we visited a few selected vendors who Anthony has good relationships with, like Eckerton Farms, Paffenroth Gardens, Violet Hill, Flying Pigs Farm, etc. It was wonderful to get to talk one on one with the vendors, many of whom seem quite fond of Chef Anthony, as well as ask questions about the Greenmarket. We discussed the relationship between chefs and the market, the market vendors and their customers, the history of the Greenmarket, the role the Greenmarket plays in farmer's lives, why the products there cost what they do, what the label "organic" really means, as well as the products out this Saturday. Burdock! Rainbow carrots! Beautiful brussels sprouts still on the stalk! A million types of fancy potatoes at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm! Salsify! Crosnes! Black radish! Quince! Locust Groves let us taste some of their varieties of heirloom apples. We asked questions, especially of the representatives from CENYC. We also helped deliver some of GT's orders from Paffenroth to the restaurant itself (it was voluntary, and a bit funny). Chef Anthony then left us, to go work in the kitchen. After warming up, we wandered to Gramercy Tavern's private dining room, and thoroughly enjoyed a 5 course tasting meal for lunch, with ingredients mainly from the Greenmarket (local pork, sustainable fish, the aforementioned quince and salsify and potatoes). Chef Anthony returned a few more times to talk about the ingredients used in the courses, how he tries to enhance the natural flavors of the materials, and the cooking techniques used at GT. He struck me as very sharp, extremely thoughtful about the "raw materials" of his craft, as well as someone who cared very much about supporting the Greenmarket (of which, the primary message seemed to be "shop there!") Our party drank wine, and conversed over wonderful food; my boyfriend and I finally got out of there around 3:30pm, with full bellies and having learned a fascinating amount of information about the Union Square Greenmarket. The menu: Amuse of carrot soup, spiced cashews Amuse of foie gras, quince Amuse of quail egg, bacon, squash puree Amuse of sweetbreads, cauliflower (?) puree Amuse of house-cured pastrami, Kirby cucumber pickles (a new addition to the menu I believe) -- by then the parade of amuses was overkill but they were all fantastic Nantucket Bay Scallops, Lentils, Pickled Brick Tops, and Salsify Black Fish, Spaghetti Squash, Walnuts, and Sherry Sauce Veal Cappellacci, Cauliflower, Fried Sage Ossabaw Pork (from Flying Pigs Farm), Turnips, Fork-Crushed Potatoes (of the courses, this one was the biggest: two generous slices of loin, and two good pieces of the belly) Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding, Cacao Nib Ice Cream Petit Fours: Spiced Marshmallow (very autumnal flavorings -- like cinnamon, clove, etc.), Lemon Teacake, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffle (I wanted another one but was afraid I'd burst) Wines: I am not a wine expert, and don't really like pinot noir, but I really enjoyed the white wine (smelled very fruity and sweet but was just slightly crisp). Chenin/Sauvignon Blanc, Bradgate, 2006, Stellenbosch, South Africa Pinot Noir, Tarra Warra, Tin Cows, 2005, Victoria, Australia Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/7215...4800853/detail/ Everything was cooked to perfection, with a menu designed to take advantage of produce that benefited from recent frosts (root vegetables and the like). Loved the sweetness of the scallops and how the salsify intensified the sensation. Sopped up the sauce from the black fish with numerous pieces of bread (and the new, creamy butter is out of sight -- watch out for eating too much of the yummy green olive bread, like me). The veal dumplings ("they look like wontons!" I said) were delicate, but hearty, and paired well with gorgeous white and purple cauliflower and a crispy leaf of fried sage. And those who miss the old "bacon" dish at GT should take solace in Anthony's rack of pork/pork belly dish (cooked sous vide) accompanied by a piece of "cracklin," which was wonderful. Oh, and whatever U.E. said about how good the chocolate bread pudding dessert is, I echo his statements. I cannot wait to go back and dine at the dining room again. From what I'm told Chef Anthony donated his time, expertise, facilities, and all food and wine. My feeling is that we, the ticket-buyers, made out quite well, given the wonderful lunch tasting menu, including wine (I'm not a big wine drinker, but the staff made sure our glasses were rarely empty), tax, and gratuity, as well as being able to pick Chef Anthony's brain for two hours as we wandered around the Greenmarket. (It's also nice to know which vendors he favors, too.) The tickets were $110 a piece; $60 is tax deductible as a donation to the Greenmarket. There were about 15 people around the table. Not too shabby, I'd say. CENYC is planning to do this sort of tour again, most likely in the spring, with Dan Barber of Blue Hill and/or Peter Hoffman of Savoy. They had originally asked Chef Anthony to do a small tasting for the attendees, but I'm afraid he's set the bar quite high for whomever follows him (probably Barber).

I sometimes buy beans from Whole Foods, too, and a few times, they have been so freshly roasted that the metal scoop is too hot to touch. I suppose that implies freshness? At least their barrels have plastic covers.

Oh, fine, it's 77.5% of Manhattan households who have access to 0 cars according to this: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/census/socionyc.pdf If I'm reading it right, they surveyed 739,167 households. 432,947 of those were non-family households, to phaelon56's points. I looked for a breakdown of non-family households broken down by number of rooms but couldn't find it. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/census/199..._cd_profile.pdf This has a breakdown of access to vehicles in Manhattan versus community district. Access to 0 cars is higher than 80% in some districts of Manhattan below 42nd street. If that's where the "foodies" live...and we take into account multiple non-family members living as a "household" then that's probably a large factor in the perception that "Manhattanites don't have access to cars."

Whatever, FG! I only have one friend who has a car, and it's a really crappy car that he uses to drive home to Maine to visit family. The windows don't work right. He's not a foodie who likes to dine out and spend money dining out. There are good restaurants in New Jersey, fine, but I'm not going to traipse over there because of my time/cost versus benefit ratio. Traffic, tolls, time spent waiting... According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 75% of Manhattan households do not own a car.

I have plenty of foodie friends who live in and around Los Angeles. Ones that live on the west side dread going over to the east side. Ones that live on the east side don't want to go over the west side. Traffic is horrendous. One who lives on the east side rarely leaves unless he has to because there are so many great Chinese restaurants in his neighborhoods. What's wrong with being lazy? Sure, you can get to NJ food via Penn Station or Port Authority, but I don't want to go to Port Authority/Penn Station when it takes me 2 trains to get there. Then I have to buy an NJ Transit ticket, get on the train, wait for the train to leave, arrive at my destination, and then get to the restaurant. I've visited family in Edison and eaten out at fine Asian restaurants there, but it was a hassle to get out there. It's much easier psychologically to use my (already paid for) Metrocard to go somewhere nearby, or, hell, walk down the street and be at my destination in 10 minutes vs. a multi-step process. I live in the East Village of Manhattan and there's so much to try in my neighborhood that I have trouble keeping up with my own neighborhood restaurants. I have a Zipcar membership, too, and it's a pain to take a last minute trip because the cars get reserved so quickly.

Thanks for the report! Did you make reservations or walk-in? I keep wanting to walk in on the spur of the moment...

Pork Buns (or the banh mi, but not both, as that's too much starch) Apple Kimchi (or apple salad but the salad is kind of big and filling) At least one of the country hams (it's a relatively small portion, don't eat too much bread) Brussels sprouts If there's a daily special, order that, too PB&J dessert Amish Cheddar shortcake dessert (both these desserts are fantastic) Chawan Mushi is good but small, hard to share, and I liked the previous version(s) better. Of the seafood dishes, the scallops and hamachi are probably my two favorites, but the scallops are more special (and a must if you like lemon). I like hamachi (and the mackeral) a lot but it reminds me too much of items you can get at a good Japanese restaurant.

Three cheers for pastry chef Christina Tosi!

There are also certain restaurants who only let large parties (greater than 5 or so) reserve, so although they are more boisterous and casual places it might be worth a shot. Off the top of my head: Freemans Tia Pol Blue Ribbon Brasserie/Bakery Cacio e Pepe (I think) Boqueria Lupa Momofuku Ssam Bar (although it's probably too late to get the Bo Ssam, and it's not a good place to take non-pork and non-seafood eaters)

Rumors of a year-round Shake Shack:

8 people might be difficult, but it depends on when you wan to eat dinner. Did you try opentable.com for other alternatives? http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=8&ref=551&pid=1

I went a month or so ago, after having brunch and being impressed enough to want to try dinner, despite the crowds. I tried poaching a reservation on OpenTable.com. I think they release tables at or around midnight, so I just grabbed the next available date and time. A Sunday around 5:00pm. Who wants to eat at five? Apparently me, if it's the only table I can snag. Got there, place was already packed (I guess other people also want to eat at 5pm), saw a few parties of two and three come in, and turn right around, discouraged. Had the meatball sliders to start. Great, juicy, loved the cheesy buns. The meat itself could have been spiced more aggressively, but I thought it was fine as it was. They even split the 3 sliders into 4 for my boyfriend and I. He had the crispy chicken, which was well executed, and tender inside. Not exactly the most exciting dish, but perfectly cooked. Which is not something I can say for my pork chop. It wasn't dry at all, just a bit too far past medium rare, and I found the pork itself to be bland. The parmesan butter beans underneath were very good but the chop itself was unexciting and not worth the fuss. What happened? I felt like I was just chewing...a big hunk of unseasoned, boring meat. Salt helped, but I was expecting something more. (I think the kitchen wasn't paying enough attention that evening as the couple next to us were served beignets that were not properly cooked -- raw in the center?) Our dessert, however, a strawberry rhubarb cobbler topped with strawberry ice cream, made up for it. It was served piping hot and fantastic, with cold, dribbly ice cream melting onto the crumbly crust. Maybe it was an off night, but I don't think we'll be going back soon for dinner given the absurd waits/reservation times. Lunch/brunch is a much better time, I think.