For some people, food is merely sustenance- fuel that keeps us going. For me, an avid foodie, a good meal is a memorable experience. This year, I was fortunate enough to have sampled some amazing dishes from around the world and have compiled a short list of the top five best food I have eaten in 2019.
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Cooking Through NYC's Famous Fine Dining RestaurantsNew York City’s fine dining scene is a mixture of the old and the new. The restaurants that are all the craze may have established themselves over time or skyrocketed immediately to fame. My next two pursuits demonstrates this contrast.
Enter Le Cirque, an Italian-French restaurant in midtown Manhattan that first captured my attention when I was five years old. When I was little, being the aspiring chef that I was, I used to play restaurant with my plastic toy produce and tiny lavender tea set. I would make up my own dishes, pretend to cook them over a cardboard range, and then serve them to awaiting family members. My inspiration came from a VHS that I played potentially more times than Barney’s Great Adventure. The video featured executive chefs cooking a dish or two from their restaurants’ menu. My absolute favorite participant was a very young and charming Daniel Boulud from Le Cirque. I remember being impressed by his creativity and quirky uniqueness- cooking a chicken under a brick, for example. He taught me how to plate raspberry sauce and cream into a beautiful heart design with the help of a simple knife. Since that video, I was always set on visiting Le Cirque- mostly for Daniel Boulud (at the time, I was unaware that he had already left the restaurant’s kitchen), but also for the food. Thanks to the Internet these days, finding decent restaurants for a dinner out is much easier. Whenever my family goes on vacation, we use Yelp to find a spot for dinner. Granted, with our destination of choice being in the middle of nowhere, we really are not relying on the app to find good restaurants. Rather, we are using the app to find A restaurant. Actually, in our experiences, we have learnt to be wary about Yelp, especially when you are in the boonies and the restaurant with a five star review is a Vietnamese place. No one does ethnic foods like New York and LA, period. Thankfully, back at home Yelp can be quite invaluable and allow you to weed out the delicious from the disgusting.
Unfortunately, following a five star review, my family and I had a less than satisfying dinner at Room 55, a New American restaurant in Glendale. The restaurant had received uniformly spectacular ratings for both its food and its service. Maybe our visit happened to be on an off night because the food was severely lacking, especially for the price that was being charged. Cooking Through NYC’s Famous Fine Dining Restaurants When my family eats out, we tend to stick to the bare-bone minimum- an entrée per person, sometimes even two entrées split between three people. We scrap the appetizers, the desserts, and even the drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. We joke that we are every restaurant’s least favorite customers because our bill always comes out significantly cheaper than the next table over! Because of our dining habits, opportunities like Restaurant Week can be quite a treat for us because it allows us to sample a reasonable-sized three-course meal. This year, I have been fortunate enough to partake in three different dining experiences. However, not everyone in my family was able to make it out to Manhattan for the culinary expedition. Thus, I decided that I should bring Restaurant Week to my home kitchen with a three-course dinner using recipes from the Gramercy Tavern. The Gramercy Tavern actually did not participate in Restaurant Week this year, although it is boasted as one of the best restaurants in the city. This new-American establishment nestled in the historic Flatiron district prides itself on seasonal dining with inventive recipes featuring whatever fresh ingredients can be obtained throughout the year. The restaurant is divided into a casual tavern with a la carte fares and a fine dining room, which offers various tasting menus. As delicious as many of its specialties sound, such as its duck breast, a bite of its three-course dinner will run you close to a hundred dollars ($98 to be exact). In Julie & Julia, a young woman, frustrated with her provincial life (to be fair, she worked at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and took calls from 9/11 victims complaining about the plans for Ground Zero), challenges herself to cook all of Julia Child’s 524 recipes in a year. The movie is one of my favorites, starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, who are both hilarious and relatable in their respective roles, as the 21st century Julie Powell and the legendary chef extraordinaire Julia Child. However, this comedy is based on a true story. The real-life Julie Powell did put herself up to the challenge and blogged about the experience, which she eventually transformed into a book- seriously, that is like major goals for me! Yes, it was a stunt, which Julia Child even pointed out, but let’s face it, spectators love stunts and challenges. And at the very least, her stunt was a lot safer than say the cinnamon challenge…well, there is the risk of cardiovascular disease from all the butter that goes into French cooking. Also, she did learn how to cook and got to eat some pretty good food (again, all that butter) for a whole year. Although Powell has had her share of critics, I personally was inspired by her story to craft my own challenge. The basic premise behind my project is to attempt some of NYC’s finest restaurant’s dishes in my own kitchen because, as you probably know, I love food, I love New York, and I am cheap. With YouTube, the Internet, and celebrity chefs releasing cookbooks, I want to know if you can recreate five-star food at home. It probably is not fair to say that I like Japanese food when my experience with the cuisine has been confined to Chinese owned sushi joints. Nowadays, learning the art of making sushi is not that difficult. My family even owns a few rolling mats and have made sushi a few times, although our creations have never been all that pretty. There is also much more to the Japanese diet than raw fish. If anything, I have not even scraped the surface of sampling the culture’s specialty dishes. Since not all of us have the opportunity to travel to Japan to accomplish this, I decided to try celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s namesake restaurant in Tribeca for some high-end Japanese fare. Generally, I am not one to gravitate immediately to places opened by famous restaurateurs. Having eaten at a Jean-Georges restaurant and walked out unimpressed, I tend to see these brand name venues as being overrated and overpriced. Instead, I have a soft spot for up and coming young chefs, family-owned hole in the walls, and overlooked hidden gems. Sure, you can say I am a bit hipster when it comes to food. Nobu wounded up being an exception due to my longing to try more authentic Japanese food. Also, it did not hurt that the restaurant had stood the test of time and managed to turn heads in New York City, with one of the toughest restaurant industries in the world, for over twenty years. After a dinner there, I can understand its appeal, though I was a bit disappointed with the Restaurant Week selection for it left me hungrier than I expected. Some people study history and are interested in visiting museums and old homesteads. I study history and all I want to do is eat at historically significant old restaurants, like Delmonico’s. My father and I splurged on a dinner at Delmonico’s during Restaurant Week, a few years ago, about the time I was interning at the New-York Historical Society. Since the restaurant is famous for its prime cuts of steak, I told my dad that I wanted to go for the steak. I do love a good steak. That is probably the only thing holding me back from becoming a vegetarian. That and hamburgers! In reality, I wanted to go because of the history. Delmonico’s is arguably the first real restaurant in New York City. The original restaurant, which was located at the same site as its current day reincarnation, opened in 1837 under John and Peter Delmonico and totally transformed dining in America and turned eating into a leisurely and luxury activity, rather than just a biological necessity. Delmonico’s pioneered much of America’s traditional and classic menu items, such as baked Alaska, Manhattan clam chowder, Lobster Newburg, wedge salad, and my personal favorite, eggs benedict. The restaurant was a popular hangout spot for the city’s most esteemed residents and visitors. Anyone who was anyone partook a meal there, including former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, opera singer Jenny Lind, writer Charles Dickens, corrupt politician Boss Tweed, and even Queen Victoria. One of the most highly anticipated events for foodies around the city is NYC’s summer Restaurant Week. From July 25th through August 19th, many higher-end restaurants open their doors to the little people like you and me (sorry, if I stereotyped you as the bourgeoisie, but I figured that people like Warren Buffet are a bit too busy to be looking at my blog). For a fixed and reduced price, you can enjoy a three-course lunch and dinner at some fancy schmancy, pretentious restaurants like Tavern on the Green, The Russian Tea Room, and Delmonico’s.
When I first learned about this opportunity, I was definitely all gung-ho about playing at being better off than I actually am. However, as Restaurant Week sneakily becomes more expensive and my experiences surpass the Honeymoon stage, I find myself turning into a crotchety and frugal skeptic. To be fair, a few years ago, you could get a dinner that would normally cost maybe $50 plus for $35. The next year, the same meal was $38 and this year, $42. To put things into perspective, the current inflation rate is only 1%, which would mean that using last year’s price as a reference, this year’s fixed price should only go up 38 cents, and Restaurant Week is definitely lapping that! Furthermore, not every restaurant has lived up to its expectations. Last year, my parents and I went to the Blue Water Grill near Union Square and were completely disappointed by their “specialty” seafood. Forty-two dollars for subpar food…I am not really all that enthusiastic. They say that animals, including humans, are happiest when they are sleeping or eating. My family tends to have an affinity towards the latter. The way to our hearts is definitely through our stomachs. Save your money on electronics, clothes, and picture frames that we will only display when you come over for a visit for Christmas and birthday gifts. Just give us a basket of bread, cured meats, cheese, chocolates, and French pastries (especially French pastries) and we guarantee that those will be greatly appreciated. We love all types of food and specifically gravitate towards street fairs less so for the music and shopping, but mostly to sample all the edible goodies. This summer, we found our new foodie haven at the Queens International Night Market. Inspired by open-air food markets in many Asian countries that cater towards evening clientele, the International Night Market is a weekly food fair that hosts numerous different local vendors. The initiative, located behind the New York Hall of Science in Flushing-Meadows Corona Park, is meant to showcase the melting pot that is Queens both through its ethnic cuisine, merchandise, and the diverse patronage that visits the market. The premise of the Night Market much like the Smorgasburg, which my family visited last summer when the franchise opened a location in Long Island City. Unfortunately, we found the experience far from relaxing and enjoyable. While, there were some hidden gems to be found, we were rebuffed by the high prices, claustrophobia-inducing special organization of the venue, and the slim offerings. The Night Market seems to correct for these faults, which may explain why it seems marginally more successful than the Smorgasburg, which has decided to not return to Queens this year. Recently, eating out has been quite challenging for my family and me. We do try to find some local restaurants in Queens, but our search has been rather unsuccessful. These days, if we are looking for good food, we wound up visiting little hole-in-the-wall, shack-like ethnic restaurants where the wait staff barely speaks English and there are no tables to sit at. We were about to give up on fine dining when we encountered Casa del Chef, a new American restaurant nestled on a tangential street in Woodside. This unique restaurant brings a trendy farm to table dining experience right into Queens for a reasonable price. A bit pricey compared to my other favorite local establishments, the food, all fresh and locally grown, is worth the few extra dollars. This restaurant is rather small with an unassuming awning. The décor is homelike and comforting, despite the exotic Latin music playing in the dining room, with pale green walls and wooden accent pieces. Casa del Chef is a family-run business with the head chef and owner, Alfonso Zhicay, working in the kitchen and his daughter working the tables. Zhicay’s story is admirable and represents the golden age American dream that he is currently attempting to pursue. An immigrant and a school employee by day, Zhicay opens his restaurant for dinner service, where he pursues his passion for cooking. |
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