Monthly Archives: January 2020

Corn Pudding

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Instagram Post 1/14/2020

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Never quite got around to posting any home cookin’ from the holidays so here’s one of my favorites. It’s my own recipe (of course) for Corn Pudding, a savory side dish, not a dessert pudding (but there’s a thought there 🤔). Two kinds of corn, fresh off the cob and Cope’s Dried Sweet Corn from Pennsylvania Dutch country plus eggs, cream, butter and other homey ingredients unite to produce this traditional family favorite. Love how some of the fresh snipped chives rise to the top to enhance the golden brown crispy crust.


How it looked in the baking dish pre-ravage.

Serious question: do you want to see more like this?
 
 

Cupid Cheese Fruit Cake

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Instagram Post 1/13/2020

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Cupid Cheese Fruit Cake, a relatively new kid on the block, is my new durian gateway drug dealer. Find them in Flushing (of course) in the New York Food Court at 133-35 Roosevelt Ave, Stall 18. The menu touts Regular Durian Pie and a Super Durian Pie that’s even more abundantly filled than the former (you’re lookin’ at it). I was more than pleased. A return visit is in order to sample some of the other flavors – mango, banana, raisin, hawthorn, dragon fruit, and seven fairies – the last two topping my list. Ice Rice is on the agenda as well, but not before I run the table of fruit pies.

I can only imagine what this would be like with a scoop of Flushing Ice Cream Factory’s durian melting on top!
🤤


The #obligatorycheesepull
 
 

Georgian Deli and Bakery

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Instagram Post 1/12/2020

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Three delectable beauties from Georgian Deli and Bakery, 2270 86th St in Brooklyn; sometimes the only road to comfort is via homespun baked goods.


Pakhlava (you might see an infinite number of alternate spellings, but Instagram restricts me to 2200 characters) – loaded with chopped walnuts and golden and black raisins, punctuated by white beze (meringue). Pakhlava and baklava share the same Turkic root word but aside from the walnuts the resemblance between them ends there: three layers of rich, sour cream based dough in contrast to multifold sheets of gossamer phyllo leaves with sweetness coming from dried fruit instead of a beehive of honey.


Crescent Cigarette Cake – walnuts and raisins again, cinnamon too, a fairly standard complement for the region. Sufficiently distinct to include here.


Qada (you might see kada) – my absolute favorite of the three. Tight roll, tight crumb; butter, flour, sugar, butter and perhaps an egg yolk (did I mention butter?) – how can something so simple be so delicious? (Oh yeah. Butter. 😉)
 
 

Laut Singapura

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Instagram Post 1/9/2020

My dining buddies and I had independently visited Union Square’s Laut, the Malaysian, Singaporean and Thai restaurant, often enough to anticipate that its offspring, Laut Singapura at 31 E 20th St in Manhattan, might hold some promise. My comrades opted for more prosaic fare (more about that in a minute) but my fancy was taken by “Oatmeal Shrimp: crunchy shrimp with oatmeal sand, curry leaf, chili padi (aka Thai chili pepper), and egg floss.”

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Looks like a presentation the chef concocted hoping it would prove Instaworthy, doesn’t it? The huge shrimp were indeed crunchy (head intact, shell on, the way they should be) although the crispy coating didn’t have much character of its own; still, the shrimp per se were fine. In contrast, the bed of oatmeal “sand”, shot through with curry leaves and chili pepper, was piquant and flavorful; that savory sand is a sine qua non of this dish, deployed to complement the more passive shrimp. But it had a fatal flaw: how does one consume this architectural fantasy in public? Perhaps knife and fork to lop off a nubbin of shrimp, then dip it in the…no, the sand won’t adhere to the shrimp. Use my fingers to pinch together a bit of shrimp and a wad of sand, Indian style? Um, no. Eventually, I requisitioned a spoon, scooped up some sand, and topped that with a morsel of shrimp, the better to marry them and ultimately reveal the deliciousness of the dish – but in terms of table manners the maneuver had Emily Post rolling over in her grave.


My collaborators who traveled the more conventional route ordered Spring Rolls and Salad (came with their lunch special),


Murtabak, folded Indian crepe stuffed with ground beef, egg, onion, scallion and chili,


Sambal Belacan, shrimp, eggplant, okra, and onion in a shrimp paste sauce,


and Indian Mee Goreng, sweet and spicy egg noodles with mixed seafood…

…and were unenthusiastic about any of them.

So I put it to you, my friends: have you tried Laut Singapura? What did you order and what were your thoughts?
 
 

Little House Cafe – More Savories

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Instagram Post 1/8/2020

Picking up from a few days ago, here are a trio of savory dishes from the remarkable Little House Café, 90-19 Corona Ave in Elmhurst, Queens as promised.

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Chow Kueh Teow (you might see char kway teow) is practically a national dish in Malaysia and Singapore but is enjoyed throughout all of Maritime Southeast Asia in innumerable variations. Thick rice noodles along with rice cakes are the foundation accompanied by shrimp, squid, pork and bean sprouts in a rich, dark sauce that is the essence of this stir-fry. Good eats.


Bakwan Udang – an Indonesian treat; deep fried shrimp fritters, crispy on the outside, yielding within. And yes, those are whole shrimp on top, shells and all. (I told you they were crispy!)


Chai Kueh – steamed dumplings with dried shrimp, jicama and carrot.

And as usual, everything we tasted was great!
 
 

Yaya Tea

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Instagram Post 1/7/2020

Quick post about a quick snack (and a satisfying one at that) from Yaya Tea at 86-12 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, Queens – one of about a half dozen locations around these parts. Tea is the focus, of course, with selections ranging from green, oolong, black and herbal plus fruit teas, milk teas, and a custom DIY option. But I had stopped in for a snack, and among various appetizer, dumpling, and noodle choices, my sights were set on the onigiri (riceballs).

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This is Shrimp Tempura Onigiri, one of over 20 types available. Alternatives include crab meat, fried squid ball, takoyaki (fried octopus balls), spicy crawfish, chicken, seaweed, sour plum, and the ever popular Spam 🤷‍♂️. Nobody is pretending that this is Japanese haute cuisine, but it hit the spot that day.


Still in the wrapper. Yaya even provides instructions as to the procedure for opening and consuming your purchase in case you’re a first timer.
 
 

Medo

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Instagram Post 1/6/2020

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Adorbs!
🥰
Now, if that’s a word that resonates for you and if you like Hong Kong style sweet, fruity, soupy desserts, then you’ll ❤️ Medo at 3 Bay 25th Street, just off 86th St in Bensonhurst. The décor is primary school classroom, replete with kids’ desks (but adult sized and not cramped) stocked with crayons, coloring pages, and the like. Expect variations on coconut milk, mango, durian, sago, pomelo, red bean, sticky rice, taro and the other usual suspects; bubble tea, mille crepes, and additional snacks await as well.

Cute interior design notwithstanding, I seriously enjoyed what we ordered. From the Snow White section of the menu, this is the Durian and Black Glutinous Rice option: islands of sweet custard-like durian and black sticky rice with its welcome contrasting texture floated atop the icy snow and sago enhanced coconut milk.

And yes, next time I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll be back.
 
 

Little House Cafe – More Sweets

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Instagram Post 1/5/2020

Kuih are Malaysian snacks – sweet, savory, salty, ubiquitous throughout the region – and they’re well represented at the always reliable Little House Café, an Asian fusion counter service venue with a few tables because you can’t wait until you get home.

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Frequently, when you spot a two-tone layered beauty (seri muka/kuih talam) like the ivory and tan polyhedrons shown here (upper right and lower left) half is salty, the other half sweet. In this case, the creamy layer (salty) has the flavor of coconut cendol freckled with green pandan noodle bits; the supporting role is made from sweet palm sugar.

Glutinous rice, imbued with a blue hue courtesy of butterfly pea flowers occupies the diagonal counterpoise. These days, blue food is the darling of foodies in search of the novel and Brazil’s jenipapo berries are gaining ground, but that’s a story for another day. Crowning the plate is pandan kaya (coconut egg jam) for dipping (or slathering if you’re anything like me).


They have a righteous Chinese Wife Cake here as well; a flaky pastry generously filled with candied winter melon paste and abounding with legends about the origin of its name, it’s recently adopted a refurbished identity as a symbol of resistance in Hong Kong.

The bing bisected.

Little House Café is located at 90-19 Corona Ave in Elmhurst, Queens. Stay tuned for a look at some savories.
 
 

E Dim Sum

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Instagram Post 1/4/2020

A modest venue just around the corner from the main drag, E Dim Sum at 2006 65th St in Bensonhurst offers Brooklyn its inexpensive, no frills, homestyle Cantonese food.

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Steamed Minced Meat & Salt Fish, the better of the two dishes we ordered. The saltiness of the mackerel balanced the almost sweetness of the faintly garlicky ground pork patty which in turn complemented the bitter daikon. The essence of collaboration.


Potherb Mustard Pork Noodle, an herby concoction that included mustard greens, pork, and noodles. As alluded to.


The #obligatorynoodlelift
 
 

Pan de Arroz

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Instagram Post 1/3/2020

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Popped in at Mi Mexico Pequeño, the Mexican bakery at 4513 5th Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, looking for a snack and grabbed this pan de arroz. Think of the filling as sort of a dry rice pudding, cinnamon forward, not too sweet; the pastry is light in texture although not in heft – a satisfying treat. Love those Mexican panes dulces!