Yechon Visited 5/13/2017 4.5 Forks

Yechon  4121 Hummer Rd., Annandale, VA 22003

While I know I often mock the food scene when I go home to MD, if you are willing to branch out there are actually a lot of great ethnic places to try.  Last time I was home, we went to a great Korean restaurant specializing in tofu stew that I really enjoyed, so this time we thought it would be fun to try out another Korean place but this time a bit further away.  Annandale, VA has a bit of a Koreatown feel to it with lots of Korean shops and restaurants in the area.  Yechon is a large 24-hour restaurant that had quite a wait when we got there at prime time on Saturday night.  It looked to be popular with both family and young kids looking for a place to hang out.  We got there around 7:30pm and were told it was be about a 45 min wait.  

When we were finally seated, I was in heaven.  The place is huge, loud, bustling and a good mix of Koreans and non-Koreans.  The menu has everything you can think of - Korean BBQ, stews, bibimbap, casseroles, and even a few pages of Japanese food.  You could spend hours on the menu but the cute little old Korean waitress came by pretty quickly and ask you what you want so you do feel a bit pressured to order right away.  We got a spicy bulgogi (the kind that doesn't have to be cooked table side), broiled mackerel, seafood pancake, and codfish stew.  They quickly bring out the banchan (the small side dishes), which is my favorite part of Korean food.   The rest of the food also comes out in rapid succession and your first impression is that portions are gigantic.  The seafood pancake was fantastic - crispy with the right texture and consistency.  It wasn't greasy either but I knew that if I ate more than 1 piece I wouldn't have room for anything else on the table - I wish they had a small size you can order because unless you're sharing with 4-5 people, that dish is a meal in itself.  The broiled mackerel was also spot on - it's a whole fish, broiled and sprinkled with salt.  The fish was tender and flakey and perfectly simple with salt and lemon.  It didn't have a fishy taste to it at all which is the usual complaint that people have of mackerel.  Next I tried the spicy bulgogi - as much as I would have loved to done the tableside BBQ, you generally need to get at least 2 other types of meat for it and that was way too much food for us.  The bulgogi was served on a sizzling plate and was tender and marinated perfectly.  It wasn't really spicy but you could tell that it had a different rub/marinate than a traditional bulgogi dish.  Lastly I tried the spicy codfish and clam stew which came with vegetables and tofu.  It could have actually used a bit more spice and heat to it and I was disappointed that it didn't come with a raw egg on top but mixed with the rice they gave me, it was nice and comforting.  

The one complaint I had was around the service.  They were very attentive in the beginning, shuffling around and making sure you have all your food but once you get your food, you never really se them again.  We had asked for some extra bowls so that I could dole out my stew and we asked a bunch of waitresses several times and no one brought us anything, so that was frustrating.  But otherwise, this was a super enjoyable experience.  I can see how the long wait time and chaotic environment can be a bit of a turn off for some, but I really loved it.   It is a bit of a trek but it was definitely worth the drive for something fun and different.  Total bill:  $100 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp   

Sushi House Visited 5/12/2017 3.5 Forks

Sushi House  331 Rockville Pike, Ste D, Rockville, MD 20852

Usually when I go home to MD, I have a set list of my favorite places that I go to but unfortunately my two favorite sushi places are in VA, so it is a bit of trek to go there.  It was a crappy Friday night and my mom, Mike and I wanted to stay local so they found this place on Yelp that got fairly decent reviews.  I was down to find a good sushi place that was closer to home and luckily this place was a 10 min drive from our house. 

I'm definitely not trying to sh*t on the suburbs so much but I am quite judgey when I comes to restaurants in strip malls but hey, there are definitely exceptions to the rule.  This place was tucked away in a random strip mall on Rockville Pike and it would be super easy to drive past it if you weren't looking for it.  As expected, there is zero ambience to speak of here and it's pretty much a sterile take-out place but big enough for a few tables and chairs.

The place is actually run by Chinese people so of course my mom goes to town in trying to be best friends with them - which actually did turn out to be helpful.  The menu is your standard hodge podge of a million take-out sushi food - lots of crazy rolls, bento boxes, noodle dishes, and fried appetizers. Normally we all love sashimi so we were prepared to order the sashimi platter but the waitress told us in Mandarin that she wouldn't recommend it - the fish is all frozen (which actually is fine because generally most sushi fish is flash frozen before being shipped out) but that it was random fish like tilapia (WTF?!).  But she did say that the salmon was a good, so we ordered the Salmon Combo ($19.95) which was 3 pieces of sashimi, 3 pieces sushi, 6 piece salmon roll, 6 piece spicy salmon roll, and 1 spicy salmon cup, a yellowtail sashimi plate ($18.95), an Inner Harbor roll ($13.95) as well as a aji fry ($8.95) to start.

The aji fry was small strips of fried fish covered in panko crumbs - it's typically made with mackerel in most traditional places but they used butterfish here - not sure why.  It was totally fine - I mean when has fried food ever not been tasty?  The salmon combo actually turned out to be pretty good dish - I love salmon in all forms and this was a nice "greatest hits" of all things salmon and the quality of it did seem good.  I could easily seem myself getting this dish on my own.  The Inner Harbor roll was a typical large roll and had salmon, yellowtail, crunchy spicy scallop and avocado - all great ingredients but it was a bit too heavy on the rice to really notice the fish.  The big bummer of the night was the yellowtail sashimi - as the waitress had said earlier, most of their sashimi is frozen and you could tell with this one.  The middle was totally cold and with some pieces still frozen in the middle.  I don't know why they couldn't let it sit out for a few minutes in room temperature to soften it up but it was very displeasing for me and you couldn't really taste the fish because you were too busy processing the fact that it was ice cold.  We were still hungry afterwards and got an order of the salmon sashimi because that was clearly the best fish of the night.

This place is definitely not a comparable substitute for my usual sushi joint when I got home.  It's not traditional or authentic but I don't think that's what they are trying to be anyways.  If you want authentic and much better quality Japanese food on Rockville Pike, I would highly recommend Temari Cafe which is in the strip mall next door.  It's run by Japanese people and you can definitely see the difference in quality.  I can see this place being good for basic take out and if you stick to really standard rolls like salmon avocado or spicy tuna, you'll be just fine.  I will give a shout out to the salmon combo as that was their saving grace for this review and I wish more places had a greatest hit dish like that on their menu.   Total bill:  $100 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Pokebab Visited 4/28/2017 4 Forks

Pokebab  209 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211

Ah - yes, another poke place but this time it's in Williamsburg which is great news for me!  Despite the plethora of poke places popping up in the city, I had yet to see one in Brooklyn, so the fact that this place opened up on Bedford Ave. was a site for sore eyes for me.   This place is pretty much on par with all the other Chipotle style/make your own poke places - you pick a base (white or brown rice), pick how much protein you want (choice of 2 or 3) and then pick a bunch of mix-ins, toppings and sauce.   That really seems to be the formula for all of the poke places here and I guess if it's not broke, don't fix it. 

You can also pick form a variety of pre-designed bowls too.  Unlike Raw Mkt or Sweet Catch, the fish here isn't pre-marinated, so it's really is your typical non-Hawaii poke place that has basic fresh but not authentic poke. 

It was a solid lunch spot for me and at $10 for the 2 protein size, it was a perfect lunch choice.  I liked that they had a fairly large (if not, random options like mushroom and mango) selection of mix-ins and toppings.  Like most poke places, I wouldn't call this destination dining by any stretch but it is definitely a very welcome addition to the 'hood especially on crappy rainy days when I want some poke but don't feel like trekking in to the city for it.  And for my friend Neel, no this place does not measure up to the poke at Blue Ribbon in WFC in terms of authenticity and tastiness, but very few places in the city really do and at $5 cheaper, I'm fine with it.  Total bill:  $10.83 with tax for a small

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Amada Visited 4/24/2017 3.5 Forks

Amada  

250 Vesey St., 

New York, NY 10281

So this is going to be one of the worst reviews I've written - not that this place is bad but because I really can't remember too much from my meal because it was over 3 weeks ago at this point!  Eeesh, sorry about that.   Despite the fact that Amada has been open in my work building for at least a year now, I still hadn't managed to go because, let's be honest, as soon as work is over, I want to haul my ass out of there. 

But Amy, Anuja and I had just watched The Trip to Spain at the Tribeca Film Festival across the street (which by the way, the movie theater is AMAZING - super plush and fancy pants), so it only seemed appropriate that we have dinner at Amada which is a Spanish tapas restaurant.  We walked in around 8:30pm on a Monday and it was fairly empty but regardless it is a lovely and large space - which is such a nice change from when there was absolutely nothing in the area for so long. 

The menu was long and made up for traditional tapas dishes.  I had to take a phone call so by the time I got back to the table, Anuja and Amy had ordered for the table.  From what I can remember we got a cheese plate ($22), garlic shrimp ($14), crab-stuffed peppers ($12), soft scrambled eggs with uni ($16), cauliflower side  ($10), and the artichoke side ($12).  Everything was good but not mind blowing and some dishes were definitely better than others.  Also at those prices for small plates, I would expect those dishes to be amazing.  On the bright side, the waitstaff was super sweet and even brought out complimentary philly cheesesteak sliders (I had the "unenviable" job of eating all of them since neither Amy or Anuja could eat them) and those were pretty delicious.  They also mistakenly brought out an extra sangria which we got to keep it for free which was nice of them.  

I left feeling full but also feeling like my meal wasn't super memorable - that being said, I would come back here for a quick after work bite or if I went to the movies across the street again.  It's nice that it's an option with a generous waitstaff but it certainly is not a destination restaurant.  Total bill:  $49/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

RAW MKT Visited 4/24/2017 4 Forks

RAW MKT  61 E 8th St., New York, NY 10003

Another day, another poke place opens up in NYC.  Seemingly overnight, the city has exploded with a million poke places around every corner.  Only a few years ago, no one had heard of it unless they went to Hawaii and now you can't go anywhere without seeing a "Coming Soon - Poke!" sign.  I love poke so I won't complain but I can totally see this fad dying out in a few years.  The type of poke places range from fancy high end poke (Blue Ribbon) to the more Chipotle style mix and match place (PokeSpot).  RAW MKT is somewhere in between those two kinds of places.  It's smack in the middle of NYU land and I wished this place existed when I went to school there.  The vibe here is very chill - it feels like they are going for a Hawaii/Cali low key vibe - even their branding feels like surfer dude typography. 

Unlike most places, RAW MKT does pre-marinate their fish which makes a huge difference from the plain fish that gets dumped into a huge bowl of rice and toppings and mixed together.  The overnight marinate really seeps into the fish and is what gives it real flavor - so that is a huge plus here.  Like most places, you pick a base from rice to zucchini noodles, a protein and then some toppings.  As I mentioned the fish is already pre-marinated and already comes mixed in a toppings.  I went for a small classic shoyu tuna bowl - the tuna was mixed in with scallion, sweet onion, radish sprouts, sesame seeds and a soy-sesame glaze.  I give it total props for being really close to a very authentic Hawaiian poke experience.  Unlike PokeSpot, their toppings here are fairly limited which is more authentic but after getting used to the long list of insane add-ons, it was kind of a letdown.  I settled on cucumber and masago ($0.99 extra which I didn't realize).  

The fish itself was lovely and marinated perfectly.  Mixed with the brown rice and toppings, I felt like I was eating something really healthy and fresh.  My two gripes were that the cucumbers were large and chunky - I would have preferred that they were sliced thin and the masago that I paid extra for seemed non-existent.  I'd skip the premium toppings and just load up on the free ones instead. It was a nice reprieve from the mass cafeteria style poke and I can see myself stopping by whenever I am in the 'hood.  Total bill:  $14.13

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Forlini's Restaurant Visited 4/22/2017 4.5 Forks

Forlini's Restaurant  93 Baxter St., New York, NY 10013

New York is filled with tons of great Italian restaurants but most people generally avoid the Little Italy area as it's mostly geared towards tourists.  But Forlini's is tucked away closer to Chinatown, so maybe that's what makes it an exception.  Will and Aarti were going through a list of NYC's top old school red sauce joints in the city and came across this place and I decided to crash their party. Usually when I think of traditional old school Italian places I think of Brooklyn, but this place was exactly the same kind of place you would find right in my neighborhood.  

First, it's dark with no real windows and gives you the feeling that it could be run by the mob (I'm not saying that in a bad way at all).  It's clearly run by passionate Italians and when we went there on a random Saturday for lunch the place was practically empty but the waiter was still incredibly engaging, warm, and inviting.  Like all other red sauce Italian places, the menu is huge and expansive and you have no idea where to start.  Our waiter was a great guide through the menu and we landed on the caprese salad, veal shank, linguini with broccoli rabe, rigatoni vodka sauce (because we're obsessed with the at Carbone), 2 meatballs, and a small mushroom saute.  As we were starting on the caprese salad, the owner (?) came out and asked us how we were doing and what we ordered - we told him all excitedly because we thought we made some excellent choices and he said "no, you need to get the panserolli piacelina instead - that is our best dish!" so then we switched out the vodka sauce dish and got that instead.   It turned out to be a great swap although I'm sure the other dish would have been delicious too.  The panserolli dish was mancotti stuffed with ricotta and spinach in a delicious red sauce.  it wasn't anything fancy (nothing here was) but it was comforting, homey and hit the spot.  That's how I felt about everything here - none of it was luxurious or over the top but it was all served with what you would expect from a traditional Italian family joint - huge family style portions and no muss no fuss food. The linguini with broccoli rabe was cooked perfectly al dente and with the right amount of garlic and olive oil.  But what really stole the show was the veal shank. Holy shit.  It was a enormous shank served with the bone marrow and the meat fell completely off the bone and was amazing.  I always feel a bit guilty eating veal but when you do eat it, it's so god damn delicious that it's hard not to love every bite of it. 

Everything else there was inviting and tasty from the homemade meatballs to the mushrooms to even the house red wine.  We were totally stuffed but somehow got suckered into a spumoni ice cream dessert - this was a my least favorite part of the meal but I was so full at that point that even if we got a really amazing dessert, I probably wouldn't have appreciated it either.  

What made the difference here was the kind waitstaff and the relaxed feel to this place.  We sat there for quite a while and even though there wasn't a crowd, it was just nice to be able to sit there with no pressure of being forced to leave.  I've always loved Italian food but hated paying these crazy NYC prices of $30 for pasta (even though some times its totally warranted).  Of course there are more than your fair share of authentic, traditional places in NYC, I just never thought I'd actually find one outside of BK or the Bronx.  What's even better is that we got all this amazing food for an incredibly affordable price -  that would never happen at a L'Artusi or I Sodi (both of which I enjoyed, so don't get me wrong).  I don't know which list Will and Aarti used to find this place but now I'm incredibly intrigued and want to try everything else on that list!  Total bill:  $60/pp with tax, tip and drinks 

Photo Credit: Yelp

Hanoi House 4/15/2017 4 Forks

Hanoi House  119 Saint Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009

Despite all the amazing food options NYC has to offer, truly mind blowing Vietnamese street food is something that has been missing from the scene (with the exception of Bunker but it's all the way out in a not-so-convenient part of Brooklyn) and it breaks my heart because it's one of my favorite foods ever.   But Hanoi House opened recently to rave reviews so I was eager to try it.  One of the first things that I noticed immediately about this place was that it was definitely more for hipsters as it's located right in the East Village and when you walked in, it was this dark, cramped room filled with non-Asians.  But in spirit of keeping an open mind, I put my name down and waited almost an hour for my table on a Saturday night.

Once my text came through, I had to shove my way through the door and was seated practically on top of another table.  Space constraints aside, I was excited for the food.  The menu definitely has an authentic feel to it and if you're a vegetarian, you're a bit SOL as the only things that didn't have meat or seafood in it were the veggie sides or the vegetable crepe.  But I was here for 1 thing, their pho ($13). You can fancy up your pho with either oxtail (+$3) or bone marrow ($3.5) - even though I love both, I opted for the oxtail because it's something that I really don't eat all that much anymore.  Lisa and I shared the spring rolls ($9) and the papaya salad ($14) and she got the shaking beef ($28) as an entree.

The spring rolls were served traditionally with the dipping sauce made of fish sauce, herbs and lettuce wraps.  You could tell that they were double fried which is the authentic way to make them, so an A on the spring rolls.  Next came the papaya salad - this one was served with crispy pig ear, which sounds gross but it really wasn't.  It just came it some saltiness and crunch to it.  The papaya salad itself was nice but could have used a bit more heat/spiciness to it.

Finally came my pho.  It smelled great and the broth didn't look oily at all.  The one disappointed was that this pho wasn't served with the traditional side plate of bean sprouts, basil or mint.  WTF?  But I will say that the fragrance and the taste of the cuts of meat in the broth were pretty damn good.  The noodles were nice and soft and the oxtail was a nice variation on the traditional cuts of brisket.  I inhaled the whole thing and of the phos I've had in the city, it's definitely on the right track.  But I still missed my bean sprouts and extra sauces you get at a real pho place.  Lisa seemed to like her shaking beef but didn't seem totally in love with it so based on her reaction, I would say her specific meal was a 3.5 rating.  We were pretty full by then so we didn't order dessert but apparently their che sundae is famously addictive.  Oh well, next time.

Overall, I enjoyed by pho greatly but did miss the traditional "sides" that come with it and kind of the low brow feel of a non-fancy Asian place.  My watch outs here are that your definitely going to pay more than if you were at a authentic mom and pop type of place (I mean my pho with $16!!), the place is full of hipsters and you will definitely feel cramped at your table but let's be honest, those are the same gripes that apply to every other hot trendy restaurant in NYC, so I'd definitely give this place a try maybe a few months after the hype has died down.  Total price:  $42/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp