eatwellslivewells

Happy New Year

Year of the Rabbit. Time to try some new places in Chinatown. here are some suggestions by Eddie Huang

Shanghai Cuisine (stir-fried eel, four seasons bean curd, pork buns with black vinegar & ginger)
89-91 Bayard Street
212-732-8988

Ping’s Seafood (dim sum)
22 Mott Street
212-602-9988

Super Taste (hand pulled noodles)
26 Eldridge Street
212-625-1198

Great Bakery (pork buns, taro and red bean bun; Macau-style egg tart)
303 Grand Street
212-966-3318

Great NY Noodletown (not new to here but need to try again) – three meats on rice; beef chow fun; seafood pan-fried noodles; roast duck won ton noodle soup
28 Bowery
212-349-0923

Grand Sichaun International (spicy or chicken broth in hot pot)
125 Canal Street
212-625-9212

Excellent Pork Chop House (Taiwanese style shaved ice; Taiwanese mei fun)
3 Doyers Street
212-791-7007

Addition:

Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sischuan
42-47 Main Street @ Franklin Avenue, Flushing, Queens
718-888-0553

February 4, 2011 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

Arrived at 1:00pm for lunch at The John Dory Oyster Bar at the Ace Hotel. Despite many open seats along the window bars, I was told it would be about a 20 minute wait. When my lunch guest arrived a few minutes later I enquired with the maître d’hôtel why there would be such a long wait, and here’s what she said:

– Since we don’t take reservations, we need to pace the restaurant.

-OK, I think I understand, you’re a bit short on servers today?

-No, we need to pace the kitchen.

-Pace the kitchen? But there are many seats open and we still have to wait?

– Well, we can seat you but you’ll have to wait 10 or 15 minutes just to order.

-Well, I would rather sit than stand here by the cold door.

– OK. Sorry about that but we had a bunch of people come in and order all at once and we need to pace the kitchen.

Hmmm? Really. There was a rush of people, all at one time. Was this a new trend? Oh right, it’s called LUNCHTIME. Obviously a new concept at The John Dory.

Sure, the oysters were good, and so was the Parsley And Anchovy Toast and Escarole Salad. The glass of Riesling was good too but I could do without the ‘wines on tap’ description.

Good food – Yes. Service – well, not unless you liked to be paced. Baffling really.

February 2, 2011 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

Imperial Palace

13613 37th. Avenue Flushing, NY 11354

Excellent Cantonese cuisine at Imperial Palace in Flushing. We had pea leaves with garlic, crispy noodles with seafood, tofu with shrimp, pork chops with spicy sauce and their most famous dish, Dungeness Crab with Sticky Rice. (Nearly every table had the dish).

January 25, 2011May 4, 2019 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

M. Wells

January 15, 2011
M. Wells in Long Island City, Queens.

warm fresh doughnut during our wait, bloody caesars, caesar salad with herring dressing, egg and bacon sandwich, hash & egg, bone marrow with escargot, coffee cake.

January 19, 2011May 4, 2019 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

Washington, DC

January 12, 2011

I had some very good ‘small plates’ at Equinox with the my brother and then a few more with a colleague at 2Amys. The anchovies with butter were excellent, as well as the turnip crustino. The carrot salad with honey and pistachios however tasted funky. But that did not ruin my appetite for the clam pizza which was perfectly cooked.

I completed my visit to DC with some sushi at Sushi Taro. The fish was super fresh as always but was not happy with the new layout and design. They no longer have the sushi bar or yakitori grill. Oh well, the fish is still excellent.

January 13, 2011May 4, 2019 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

Pizza Pie

Just picked up a pie at Tucci’s of Boca Raton, voted one of the top 10 pizza parlors in 2010 by http://www.worstpizza.com/. The site is dedicated to finding the best pizza places, by sorting through the worst. Check it out. You’ll never eat a bad slice again.

January 1, 2011May 4, 2019 by eatwellslivewells Leave a comment

Turkish Delight

On our way back from Queens, and a quick stop at our favorite Filipino restaurant, we made a stop at Güllüoglu Baklava. I was previously unaware of this fantastic Turkish cafe that serves no less than 12 different kinds of baklava, apparently for more than 130 years in Istanbul. We got a few mini portions of fistikli baklava (pistachio baklava) and a piece of ekmek kadayifi (bread sponge cake with syrup). I much preferred the baklava and would pass next time on the sponge cake. But I need to go back because I was told they also serve the best ispanakli su boregi (spinach pie) in New York.