Monthly Archives: August 2018

Grain House

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My Instagram posts are often brief takes on restaurants accompanied by a photo or two. (You can see my feed right here, updated almost daily, by selecting the “Instagram” category from my home page – no signup required.) But folks sometimes ask for fuller reviews and more photos, so in response, here’s a more comprehensive report on one of my favorites.

Have you heard about Grain House? It’s a remarkable Sichuan restaurant with roots in Queens and Uniondale, Long Island; they’ve recently opened a branch near Columbia University at 929 Amsterdam Avenue and I can state from firsthand experience that their food is excellent. Could this be the Upper West Side’s best kept secret? Not if I can help it!

Here are a few of the extraordinary menu items I’ve tried and want you to try too; suffice it to say they’re all great. (Click any photo to view in glorious high resolution.)


Hand Pulled Oil Splashed Noodles. Outstanding. The greens are a perfect foil for the spicy, thick, chewy noodles – an ideal combination.


Cumin Lamb. Is there anybody who doesn’t like this? It’s even got its own Instagram hashtag, #cuminlamb. And, no surprise, there’s nothing sheepish about the way Grain House does it.


This is one of my favorite Sichuan dishes, Chinese Bacon with Garlic Sprout. I know it as Smoked Pork with Garlic Leaf and I’ve actually made it at home. (If I’m not mistaken, the greens are suan miao, 蒜苗, similar to leeks but definitely garlic.) Needless to say, Chef Bob’s version is considerably better than mine.


Hot Spicy Jumbo Shrimp with Red Pepper. People at our dinner couldn’t stop raving about it. None of these was killer spicy, by the way; every one was perfectly balanced.


Sweet and slightly spicy, this Eggplant in Garlic Sauce was delightful.


Spicy and Numbing Pork Wonton was one of the delicious appetizers we enjoyed…


…as was fuqi feipian (夫妻肺片), literally “husband and wife lung pieces”. Choice of specific ingredients varies among chefs (not to worry, it never includes actual pieces of lung) but here Chef Bob does it with Ox Tongue and Tripe and it’s top notch.


Yi Bin Burning Noodle. Pleasantly spicy but not overbearing, so don’t worry about the allusion to “burning” in the name. Mix well for maximum enjoyment.


A suave change of pace: Chiba Tofu with Pork Belly. Melt in your mouth, slippery tofu accented with fresh pork belly – elegant and delectable.

Some folks often insist on a straight ahead vegetable dish, and who am I to refuse? Here’s Grain House’s version of Fried Cauliflower and it did not disappoint. The structure of Chinese cauliflower is less compact than the dense Northern European version you might be accustomed to and that makes for a more tender texture after cooking and allows it to soak up more sauce.

Salted Egg Yolk with Shredded Potato. Sichuan style shredded potatoes are meant to be al dente and these were perfectly cooked and delicious. Simple, but such a happy addition to our table.

So there’s the roundup of the awesome dinner we enjoyed at Grain House, 929 Amsterdam Avenue – and if it hasn’t convinced you to try this unique, standout Manhattan restaurant, nothing will!
 

Bajeko Sekuwa

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Sekuwa refers to seasoned meat that’s been roasted over a wood fire and Bajeko means grandfather, so we headed off to grandpa’s Nepali grill! Bajeko Sekuwa, 43-16 Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, Queens, is a restaurant chain that has its roots in Nepal so they clearly know their way around this hearty, meat-heavy cuisine. Here’s some of what we had:

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Bengoli Fish Curry cooked with mustard (a Bengali giveaway 😉), tomato and spices. Excellent.


Haas Ko Choila (you might see chhwela). Choila is a dish of heavily seasoned grilled meat, in this case duck enhanced with tomato, garlic, ginger, coriander, dry red chili, and lemon juice. On the side, that’s beaten rice, flattened into dry, light flakes.


Jhol Momo (you might see the word as mo:mo). These were filled with chicken but they’re available in goat and vegetable versions as well. The dumplings themselves were delicious, but the key here is jhol, the Bengali word for broth; the steamed dumplings arrive swimming in a pool that lies somewhere along the sauce-soup continuum, and the two complement each other perfectly.


Eggplant Curry. Spicy, deep-fried baby eggplant touched by ginger, garlic, and coriander, bathed in a traditional Madras style sauce – a welcome respite from this otherwise meat-heavy cuisine.


Hyakula Sekuwa. Sekuwa, from which the restaurant takes its name, refers to marinated, grilled cubes of meat, in this case hyakula (mutton); puffed rice on the side. Tasty.


Sukuti Sandheko. Sukuti is Nepal’s answer to jerky: dried, highly seasoned strips of meat; sandheko refers to the spice blend that permeates it. It’s a delicious snack, but the texture may be a challenge for some: imagine the driest, hardest jerky you’ve ever encountered, almost like chewing on softened bones, but not quite. Personally, I loved it.


Paneer Pakoda. Paneer is a fresh (unaged) cheese that doesn’t melt when subjected to high heat. Battered and deep fried for a delicious crispy coating, it was accompanied by two chutneys, cilantro and tamarind.


Chicken Chhoila (you might see chhwela, choila or other spellings). Chhoila is a dish of heavily seasoned grilled meat, in this case chicken marinated in soy sauce with onion, tomato, bell pepper, garlic and hot sauce. Flattened dried rice flakes on the side.


Sekuwa Bandel. Chunks of marinated, grilled, wild boar. Good stuff!
 
 

Allerton Avenue International Food Festival – Part 2

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Instagram Post 8/30/2018

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More Scenes from the Allerton Avenue International Food Festival in the Bronx.

Empanadas Monumental had a stand right outside their shop at 752 Allerton Ave. Based on the cuisine of Santiago in the Dominican Republic, their wares ventured well beyond empanadas; this quipe is a good example. Quipes are made from bulgur (par-cooked cracked wheat) stuffed with meat and/or cheese and deep fried. If the word sounds familiar, it’s based on the similar Middle Eastern dish, kibbeh.

The second photo reveals the interior of one of their many empanada varieties, pierna ahumada, smoked pork with cheese.
 
 

Home Cookin’ – Albanian Sudzuk Soup

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Instagram Post 8/29/2018

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I haven’t posted much home cooking lately, so here’s another experiment pursued with my customary reckless abandon and utter disregard for recipes: Albanian Sudzuk Soup. (Although they probably don’t really make this in Albania. But you never know….) Hot Albanian sudzuk (so many spellings for sujuk!), a dry, spicy sausage, was the basis for this soup; leeks and potatoes figured in prominently along with dried mushrooms and a few herbs and spices, the most significant of which was dill. Added a little heavy cream at the end to round it out.
 
 

Allerton Avenue International Food Festival

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Instagram Post 8/25/2018

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Scenes from the Allerton Avenue International Food Festival in the Bronx.

It was a treat to see Mama G African Kitchen at the festival. I’ve written about one of their brick and mortar restaurants (3650A White Plains Road in the Bronx) here and here so I don’t need to repeat how much I like their food; I’ll just show you what we got:

Waakye – you may see variant spellings but the pronunciation is wah-chay (rhymes with watch-way) and it’s Ghana’s culinary claim to fame. Similar to West Indian rice and peas, it’s made with rice and black eyed peas or cowpeas; the characteristic reddish-purplish-brown color can come from dried red sorghum leaves, millet leaves, or even baking soda. Yellow gari (ground cassava) on the side.

Jollof rice – There’s a keen rivalry among West African countries over whose version is the best but tomato paste figures heavily into all of them.

Fried turkey (the part that goes over the fence last – yum!), plantain, and fried croaker submerged under spicy sauce.

Delicious!
 
 

Sagara

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Instagram Post 8/24/2018

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When it comes to Staten Island’s Sri Lankan enclave, the only thing I like more than visiting it is revealing it to someone who’s unaware of it. On a recent excursion, we went to Sagara, the new Sri Lankan restaurant at 98 Victory Blvd, to scope out their lunch buffet.

[1] Dishes included red and white rice, dal curry, and coconut sambal…
[2] …yuca, deviled chick peas, kale salad, papadam…
[3] …deviled chicken (the best dish in terms of flavor but tricky to eat because of bone shards in every bite), vegetable fried rice, vegetable chop suey, noodles with egg…
[4] …an assortment of breads including plain dosa, uthappam, dal vada and urad dal vada, along with chutney and sambar…
[5] …and fresh fruits and ice cream for dessert. But props for the most interesting dessert go to lavaria (also spelled lewariya), coconut stuffed string hoppers.
 
 

Paterson’s Peruvian Parade – 2018

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On the last Sunday of July, Paterson, NJ, plays annual host to its exuberant Peruvian Parade and festival celebrating the country’s culture and national heroes. Here are some photos from this year’s culinary extravaganza in “Little Lima”, home of America’s largest Peruvian community, starting with dessert – because life is short:

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Picarones, Peru’s answer to the doughnut: a wok in progress.


Topped with one of a variety of sweet sauces.


Two of my favorite ice cream flavors sharing a single cup: lúcuma and cherimoya with big hunks of fruit. It’s difficult to find fresh lúcuma locally but the frozen pulp is easy to come by in Latin American markets. Cherimoya, sometimes called custard apple, can be found fresh without much ado – frozen pulp is also readily available. If you have a blender, buy the frozen pulp and try your hand at making a batido!


Anticuchos. Grilled skewers of tender, marinated beef heart always accompanied by boiled potato; Peruvian street food at its finest. Don’t be repelled by the fact that it’s heart – it’s just another cut of beef, and a particularly delicious one at that. Try it, you’ll like it.


Causa, another Peruvian favorite. This cold dish takes many forms, but the base is always seasoned, mashed yellow potatoes. From there, it’s layered with tuna, salmon, or chicken salad, olives and other vegetables, and topped with another layer of sunshiny potatoes.


Ceviche. I saw easily a half dozen different versions at the festival; stands offered divergent types of fish and each had its own custom recipe for leche de tigre, the ceviche marinade.

Mark your calendars for next year’s event!
 
 

Cafe Dushanbe

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When I write about restaurants on Instagram, they’re usually brief takes accompanied by a photo or two. (You can see my feed right here on ethnojunkie.com, updated almost daily, by selecting the “Instagram” category from my home page – no signup required.) But because of Instagram’s character count limitations, it’s often necessary to break up a review into several parts. This one originally appeared as three posts from 2018 and three more from 2019.

Named for the capital of Tajikistan, Café Dushanbe (formerly Café Rokhat) brings its yogurty cuisine to Brooklyn and does so admirably. The Kurutob alone was worth the trip to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn but there’s lots more to recommend Café Dushanbe.

Here, in no special order, are a few of the extraordinary dishes we sampled.

(Click any photo to view it in high resolution.)

Kurutob

One of the most impressive dishes we experienced (so much so that one of our group requested an additional order of it to go) was Kurutob (you might see qurutob), the pride of Tajikistan’s gastronomy. It starts with a base of fatir, flaky, layered flatbread which is then invigorated with qatiq, a delicious homemade yogurt, along with sautéed onion, red onion, tomato, cucumber, herbs, and spicy green pepper for an essential kick. Mix well for maximum enjoyment. Tajikistan’s answer to Italy’s panzanella, perhaps?

Qatiq, Fatir, and Kulcha

Straight-ahead qatiq along with two breads – the fatir and puffy kulcha – plus a ramekin of flavorful herb butter. If your only encounter with yogurt has been in the dairy aisle of your local supermart, you need to try this posthaste.

Non-toki

A concave behemoth with a nod to matzoh.

Pan Fried Calf’s Liver

GBD (Golden Brown and Delicious). Are you a liver lover or a liver leaver? In the aftermath, not a morsel remained – and I had been hoping for leftovers. Ah well.
 
 
Everybody loves dumplings and every cuisine has its own traditional renditions. I’m no exception to that sweeping statement and IMHO, Café Dushanbe has it knocked in this department. Manti are fist-sized steamed dumplings stuffed with chopped lamb, onions and herbs and are widespread throughout Central Asian and South Caucasian countries. This version is filled with relatively large, succulent hunks of seasoned lamb and are truly among the best I’ve ever tasted. We ordered two styles, fried…

Fried Manti

…and steamed. Both came with Tajik yogurt and were superb.

Steamed Manti

Samsa Gizhda

And just to round out the trio, we ordered Samsa Gizhda – baked (for contrast, right?) meat pies, a savory blend of lamb and beef encased in a light dough and served with a tomato based sauce.

Morkovcha Salad

Abbreviated history lesson: In the 1920s-30s, the Japanese occupied Korea; some Koreans managed to escape to Russia, but Stalin subsequently moved them to Central Asia, mostly Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. These people, the Koryo-saram, unable to obtain the cabbage they needed to prepare kimchi, created a version made from carrots, red pepper, garlic, and ground coriander seeds. Abbreviated gastronomic review: yum.

Shashlik

Three remarkable selections from the Barbecue section of the menu. In front, the biggest, juiciest, most perfectly seasoned lamb ribs I’ve ever tasted. Behind those, Beef Roulade “Dushanbe”; I usually eschew beef in favor of meats with a little more personality. Dushanbe’s beef roulades are rolled around fat for flavor and accentuated with indescribably delicious seasoning; they were so good, they made me believe in beef again. Lurking beneath, skewers of tender, flavorful lamb.

Homestyle Potatoes

Where would meat be without potatoes? This skillet of potatoes topped with saucy shiitake, oyster, and button mushrooms in the company of fried onions and herbs was the perfect partner.

Syuzma

A bracing salad of radishes, cucumbers, and greens was dressed with yogurt by a different designation, “syuzma”, sour milk that had been strained through a canvas bag; for comparison, see qatiq above. Indeed, Syuzma was the name (and the whole point) of the dish. So many yogurts, so little time.

Okroshka

Okroshka is a cold summer soup of Russian heritage, yogurt-based of course, made from boiled potatoes, raw vegetables, eggs, dill and other herbs. I neglected to inquire about specific ingredients, but I can assure you it was delicious; I guess I’ll just have to go back and ask.

As if I need an excuse. 😉
 
 
Café Dushanbe is located at 1788 Sheepshead Bay Road, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
 
 

Cevichochos

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Instagram Post 8/22/2018

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Ceviche isn’t always about seafood. This Ecuadorian ceviche de chochos (lupini beans), known colloquially as cevichochos, was served up by a street vendor near Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 104-11 37th Ave in Corona, Queens. The beans are combined with tomatoes, maiz tostado (toasted corn), red onion, and cilantro and marinated in a citrus blend. Often a vegetarian dish, this version included bits of fried pork (see second photo), a happy addition. Typically, it’s garnished with a crunchy topping – here it’s chifles, fried plantain.