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Perfectly tender, perfectly seasoned, perfectly fried Fresh Squid with Pepper and Spiced Salt was one of the best dishes we had at Sing Kee Seafood Restaurant, 42 Bowery – OG Cantonese in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Sometimes, less is more.
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More dishes from Sing Kee to follow….
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It’s soft shell crab season, so we sidled over to Chao Thai at 85-03 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, Queens for their Soft Shell Crab Chu Chee bathed in a mildly spicy sauce of Thai red curry with coconut milk and topped with red pepper and kaffir lime leaf. Missing from this photo, but not from our table, is an order of sticky rice to soak up the savory goodness.
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Always a favorite, here’s Tod Mun Pla from Chao Thai at 85-03 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, Queens. This deep fried fishcake appetizer with its contrasting dipping sauce is a Thai classic that never fails to satisfy. (Sunlight courtesy of a table near the window! 😉)
More posts with more dishes to follow.
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Pikine, a West African restaurant at 243 West 116th St in Manhattan is definitely worth a visit, particularly if you’re unfamiliar with Senegalese food. Portions are large (suitable for two, I’d say) but be forewarned that oftentimes many dishes are unavailable, sometimes because they’re served only on certain days of the week (typical for many African restaurants) but sometimes just because the kitchen reports that they’re out.
We ordered Senegal’s national dish, Thiebou Djeun – spellings vary widely but pronunciation is close to Cheh-boo Jen – and to call it rice and fish is an understatement even though the words translate as rice and fish. It’s made from “broken rice” (easily found at nearby African markets) and if you look closely you’ll see its short grains, but it begins its life as standard untruncated rice that breaks in the field or during processing or milling; the shards are sorted by size and are highly desirable since they cook faster and absorb flavors more readily than whole grains. The rice, combined with chopped onion and garlic, is cooked with tomato paste that lends its deep red color and rich flavor, plus okra, carrots, cabbage (your vegetables may vary) and perfectly seasoned fish.
Our second dish was Maffe (often spelled Mafé), lamb stew with vegetables in a tomato/peanut butter sauce, another Senegalese classic that’s not to be missed.
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The venerable Chao Thai at 85-03 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, Queens had always been a standard bearer for Isan (Northeastern) Thai food; since I hadn’t visited in years, I was overdue for a refresher. It’s still good, but there is a lot of competition in that category now, not to mention the burgeoning popularity of Northern and Central Thai cuisines.
This whiteboard special caught my eye so I gave it a try. Called Northern Style Green Chili Dip, it would make a worthy addition to their regular menu. Surrounded by an assortment of fresh vegetables including cucumber, broccoli, long beans, carrots, cauliflower and (happily) Thai eggplant in addition to sweet potato and crispy crackly pork rinds, the zesty, dominant dip was a perfect partner to the gentle, submissive accompaniments.
More posts with more dishes to follow.
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An Iraqi (🇮🇶 – not often do I get to use that flag!) meal at Al-Mazaq Restaurant and Bakery at 46 East Railway Ave in Paterson, NJ turned out to be a novel experience. Al-Mazaq (المذاق) is the Arabic word for taste and I assuredly tasted some flavors I hadn’t come across before. A family operated business, our food was appropriately homespun and humble, elevated by the charming assistance of sisters Riyam and Hiyam.
[1] From the breakfast side of the menu, we ordered the Bagila Platter, seasoned broad beans (bagila) with eggs served over a foundation of Iraqi bread, languishing there to soak up every bit of flavor. But what was that vaguely familiar but elusive dusty seasoning?
[2] The mystery close up. Many questions and a lot of research later yielded the answer: البطنج – butnij, or crushed, dried river mint, a first for me.
[3] Next up were gaymar, a homemade fresh cheese supplemented with clotted cream and “black honey”, [4] and its accompanying kahi, squares of syrupy bread; dishes that when consumed together were elegant in their simplicity but ambrosial in their lusciousness. I found a similar cheese in a nearby market and intent upon reproducing this delicacy at home, tried numerous permutations of honey, pomegranate molasses, and date molasses along with clotted cream and heavy cream. Alas, I never even got close.
h/t Dave Cook, @eatingintranslation and by extension, Peter Cucè, @baoandbutterblog
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Continuing with Henan and comfort food themes, here’s a dish from He Nan Cuisine aka He Nan Flavor, aka Henan Feng Wei, formerly connected to what is now Spicy Village on Forsyth St in Manhattan. Located in Flushing, Queens at 136-31 41st Ave, it’s easy to miss; you need to descend a few steps to access this old school super casual restaurant. No English was spoken but the menu provided adequate translations of their fare and I was fortunate that on this particular visit one of my dining pals spoke the language.
I’ve enjoyed Kou Wan previously at Elmhurst’s sadly missed Uncle Zhou. Here, there are eight variations from meat ball, ground meat, and chicken to this one, “crisp meat”, all available with or without noodles. It’s a simple, homespun dish consisting of meat that’s been floured, fried, and simmered in a sauce seasoned with star anise and a touch of black pepper. Despite its name, don’t expect a bowl of crisp meat; I suspect that these nuggets had indeed been crispy bits of pork prior to preparation but the end result is soft, succulent and delicious. With so many more promising dishes on the menu, I’m looking forward to a return visit.
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I had seen signs touting Fuding Meat at a number of venues in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Since I had never tried it, I was intent upon persuading my dining buddy who was already familiar with the stuff to share a bowl, so we ventured into Fuding Wok at 5216 Seventh Ave. The texture was not unlike a dumpling – not the kind of filled Chinese dumplings you’d find in this neighborhood, but rather more like the slippery, fluffy, slightly chewy pillows that float atop a dish of chicken and dumplings.
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Curious about the ingredients, I tracked down a recipe translated (I’m using that word very generously) into English in a clandestine corner of the interwebs. Fuding meat, named for a county-level city in northeastern China, is composed of pork (cut from the hind leg), pork fat, potato starch plus either cassava starch, wheat starch, or corn starch and a touch of seasoning, emulsified, extruded, sliced, steamed and finally served up in soup. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)
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At least eight condiments including my personal favorite, Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp, graced each table and provided a playground of flavor combinations to enhance our soup.
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Here’s the aforementioned sign that provides the key to tracking down fuding meat at that location and apparently at other comparable outposts. Since I’m a sucker for comfort food, this handily filled the bill. Best enjoyed on a dreary, rainy day, but don’t let good weather stop you!
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Classic Memorial Day eats at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a chain. Photo from their venue at 196A Flatbush Ave, Park Slope/Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, conveniently located near Barclay’s Center. Ribs, brisket, mac ‘n’ cheese, and coleslaw.
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Whenever I take folks on an ethnojunket through Flushing’s astounding array of mind-boggling and tummy-filling food courts, I never fail to bring them to Diverse Dim Sum at 133-35 Roosevelt Ave, Booth 12. This New York Food Court mainstay has developed a well-deserved reputation for their excellent Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings), but don’t let that fact dissuade you from trying some of their other delights. Case in point are the Fried Seafood Rice Cakes. Crispy outside, meltingly soft inside, these treats are not to be overlooked; you may have seen something similar elsewhere, but Diverse Dim Sum’s rendition easily outstrips the competition because of the inclusion of just the right amount of tiny shrimp to enhance the flavor and bring it to snacking perfection. So simple, yet so powerful.
(Followed by the obligatory XLB shot!)