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I am so fortunate to live only a few minutes away from El Atoradero: definitely NOT your mamacita’s Tex-Mex joint! It’s the real deal 🇲🇽 at 708 Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and everything on the menu is muy delicioso! My brunch today featured Chilaquiles and a Quesadilla Pescado; both dishes were distinctive and delectable. Always a treat!
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sƃuᴉldɯnp uʍop-ǝpᴉsdn
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No, it’s not a flying saucer! Rather, these tasty Pan Fried Dumplings (pork, shrimp, and leek) from Laoma Mala Tang in the New York Food Court, booth 20, at 133-35 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, Queens start out like potstickers (that is, fried then covered and steamed) with an additional final step consisting of a small amount of batter poured into the pan and swirled around. The batter clings to the dumplings and when fully cooked it’s carefully flipped over onto a plate. The second photo shows a couple of rogue dumplings that escaped from the mothership, re-flipped to give you an idea of the textures under (crunchy) consideration. Soft dumpling wrappers plus crispy pancake – out of this world!
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Now a Dongbei classic in NYC, I never get tired of introducing people to this dish. Sometimes called Muslim Lamb Chop, this braised, battered, fried, cuminized, chilified ode to luscious lambiness never fails to get rave reviews. Fu Xiang Ju, 136-80 41st Avenue in Flushing, Queens, calls their version Lamb Chop with Cumin Sauce, but what’s in a name?
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It’s easy to find pork and leek/chive/cabbage dumplings everywhere in every Chinatown (and that’s a good thing, because where would we be without them?) but don’t overlook dumplings featuring dill. They’re absolutely delicious and, if I may say so, a delightful change from the usual. You might have to search a bit because of a language hurdle: For example, go to the New York Food Court at 133-35 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, Queens and head over to booth 19, Four Seasons Snacks (but you won’t find the name in English, so refer to the second photo). The Dumplings sign uses the characters 茴香 and translates it as fennel, their paper menu translates it as dill; Google Translate reports that it means fennel.
No matter. Get an order of D5 (Fennel with Pork) and prepare for a treat. To me, they taste like dill and they’re wonderful.
I’ve seen a beef and dill combination elsewhere as well. Does anybody else here crave these as much as I do?
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You know the old adage about durian, right? “Smells like hell, tastes like heaven!” Well, this may be the gateway drug for durian novitiates: Durian Pizza at C Fruitlife, 135-29 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, Queens. For those of you who are curious about the flavor of durian, this offering is very mild and may well ease you into some comfy durian love; and for those of us who are hardcore durianheads, we wouldn’t mind if this were even a little more, um, pungent! They offer two versions, Musang King, the Malaysian variety, and the less expensive Monthong from Thailand. Lots of other Hong Kong style desserts as well as snacks to be found, some with a more salubrious bent, some just for fruity sweetness.
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Feteer (فطير) is Egypt’s spin on stuffed, crispy, flaky-crust goodness, and at King Tut Pie, 478 72nd St in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, you can watch them skillfully toss the dough until it’s paper thin as they make yours to order. They offer about a dozen delicious savory varieties (ours was the King Tut Special with beef, sausage, pastrami, veggies, and cheese) as well as seven dessert options (we got the custard, nuts, and raisins feteer) and it was as enjoyable to watch them make it as it was to eat it.
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The first photo is a peek inside the delicious finished product…
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…and beginning with the dough, the animation shows each step as they (2) roll it out, (3) toss it around and stretch it out until (4) it’s paper thin, (5) fold it to make layers, (6) add meats, (7) veggies, (8) and cheese, (9) fold it up, and (10) bake it to perfection.
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More of my home cooking!
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It’s pumpkin season and I’m preparing my perennial parade of peak-of-perfection pumpkin pies! I’m pleased as punch and proud (okay, enough with the p’s) that there’s so much 💖 for these babies; I seriously did go through countless iterations developing my recipe until I got it to exactly my idea of what the ultimate pumpkin pie should be. (One of the tricks is to use only fresh pumpkin – none of this canned stuff.) That’s homemade pecan brittle adorning the top and real honest to goodness snow on the plate. (Okay, I lied about the snow – it’s powdered sugar – but the rest is gospel!)
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‘Tis the Season! Well, I guess it’s always the season for something and this time of year it’s pumpkin spice everything. Shown here, pumpkin spice soft serve in a pumpkin spice cone. I’m pleased to report that not only did the ice cream hit the spot, but the cone actually tasted like pumpkin spice, so 💯 extra points guys. Lots more choices as well at Taiyaki NYC, 119 Baxter Street, Manhattan, NY.
Their website refers to it as Taiwanese Gourmet, their menu reads Taiwanese Specialties, but a rose by any other name, etc. Over the years, I’ve dined here more times than I can remember, à deux with a friend, as part of a group, and as the organizer of a few other groups and I have never been disappointed. Here are some of the dishes, in no special order, that we enjoyed on one such occasion.
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Oyster Pancake. A classic Taiwanese appetizer. If you’ve ever had Hangtown Fry, a dish dating from the days of California’s Gold Rush, you’ll see a connection, but in this case, there’s no bacon to be found.
Pork Roll. Bean curd skin stuffed with succulent pieces of pork and more, fried to crunchy deliciousness.
Squash with Dried Scallops.
Sauteed Live Eel with Yellow Chives. (“Live” simply means fresh.)
House Special Stir-Fried Rice Cake.
Hakkanese Style Pork & Dried Bean Curd.
Ginger Chicken with Sesame Oil, formally known as Three Cup Chicken. A Taiwanese classic, theoretically made using one cup of soy sauce, one cup of sesame oil, and one cup of rice wine, but usually tweaked a bit and fleshed out with additional ingredients including garlic and ginger.
Fly’s Head. Or Fly Head, Flies Heads, Flies’ Heads – you get the picture. Another classic Taiwanese dish. No flies were harmed in the making of this dish: the dark spots are fermented black beans that accompany the minced pork and Chinese garlic chives.
Taiwanese Sausage Fried Rice.
Beer Duck. Duck that’s been braised in beer, of course.
Taiwanese Specialties Gourmet Restaurant (take your pick) is located at 84-02 Broadway, Elmhurst, Queens.