Ganesh Temple Canteen Visited 9/26/2015 4.5 Forks

Ganesh Temple Canteen  45-57 Bowne St., Flushing, NY 11355

There aren't many places in NYC that have been on my list for the past 10 years that I haven't crossed off already - but eating at the Ganesh Temple has always seem to escape me every year for some reason.  It's located in Flushing, so it's not the easiest place to get to but in this day in age of Uber there really is no excuse of not going. 

Luckily, Aarti, Will and some other friends of theirs had rented a car to drive up there which made it much easier.  Aside from the fact that this place serves incredibly authentic and traditional South Indian food, it's an actual worshipping temple that Hindus come to pray and pay respects.  It's quite a lovely site given all the grey concrete buildings in NYC.  You have to walk around the corner and down a set of stairs to get to the basement and this is where the magic happens.  It's a very simple and basic set up - you order at the counter and seat yourself at the no frills plastic/metal tables.  The menu is strictly South Indian vegetarian - so no curries, chicken tandoori, or other more common Indian foods.  I'm going to do this entry a total dis-service in that I can't remember all the things that we ordered but I would say that everything we had was delicious.  

Aarti ordered for the table because, well honestly, it just made the most sense.  We got the masala dosa ($4.50), idli ($3.50), and vada ($3.50) as well as a ven pongal ($4.00) as well as one other dish that is totally escaping me.  We stuck the basics which was fine but we left kind of wishing we had branched out a bit more.  The menu is long and very intimidating but I can't imagine you can go wrong with anything on there.   There are tons of dosa options, uttapams, and specials like a mini tiffins to choose from.  

The masala dosa came with spiced potatoes, onions and spices.  What I loved most about this dosa wasn't the stuffing but the actual dosa batter - it was light and crispy with the right amount of softness in the middle.  Idlis are like little steamed rice cakes and you can eat with the sambar and coconut chutney that they give you - on that note, I want to mention that the sambar was amazing and addictive, I must have had 2 full bowls myself.   It's the perfect "gravy" to dip everything in.  The vada are little "donuts" made out of lentils - again a great dipping vehicle for the sambar.  The pongal was a mixture of rice, lentil, spices and ghee.  It was a soft mushy pile of spice and flavor that I really enjoyed. 

While the food may not sound filling and despite not having a single bite of meat, we all left there bursting at the seams and very happy.   I'm thrilled that I finally got to check this place out and go with my bestie.  I highly recommend going with someone who knows South Indian food but even if you don't, just be adventurous and order one of everything off the menu - it's dirt cheap anyways so what do you have to lose? 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Gregory's 26 Corner Taverna Visited 8/22/2015 3 Forks

Gregory's 26 Corner Taverna 2602 23rd Ave., Astoria, NY 11105

Despite my love for Greek food, I've never really gone to the mecca of Greektown in NYC which is Astoria.  While it's geographically not that far for me, it's still a pain to get to via the subway because I've got to go into the city and then back out into Queens, so I generally never think to go there.  But Holly and I were looking to explore a bit and decided to have a Greek outing in Astoria on Saturday. There is absolutely no shortage of Greek restaurants in Astoria - in fact, you'll likely have a hard time trying to pin down one place to try.

Gregory's is conveniently located near the subway stop but it's far enough way that it still feels kind of homey and welcoming.  It's fairly small with a lot of tables outside, which was nice on a warm summer day.  They try their best to make it feel like you're in Greece with blue and white table clothes and you can tell that it's run by locals and visited by regulars.  The menu has your traditional Greek fare, so we ordered up some of my favorites:  Greek salad ($7), Grilled Octopus ($15), Tzatziki ($6) and we split the Shrimp Santorini ($20).

The small Greek salad was totally enough for 2 people - it came with fresh juicy red tomatoes, a huge chunk of fresh feta, sliced cucumber, red onion and it was lightly dressed in olive oil and red wine vinegar. It's so hard to go wrong with such a classic and simple salad and this one was done well. The tzatziki was good but not mind blowing as dips go.  I wasn't a huge fan of the pita it came with as it was a bit over toasted for me and dry.  I usually love my pita to be super soft and warm and these were more like pita chips than bread.  Next we tried the octopus which was what I was most excited by.  While parts of it were tasty, they definitely overcooked some parts of it (especially the end of the tentacles) and it became chewy and hard to bite through which is exactly what you don't want in an octopus.   Luckily, they redeemed themselves with the Shrimp Santorini dish which was grilled shrimp in a tomato white wine based sauce with peppers and feta on top of rice.  It was quite delicious and I was trying to get every bite of rice and sauce in my belly.   I'm glad that we split the dish because there was a lot of food overall but I could have easily seen myself eating the whole thing myself.

Overall, it was a very cute, quaint and homey restaurant with very warm staff.  The service was a bit slow but I guess it's no different than being in Greece.  While I wouldn't dismiss this place at all, I did have a much better meal at Taverna Kyclades in the city.  Total bill:  $40/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Mu Ramen Visited 5/16/2015 3.5 Forks

Mu Ramen 12-09 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101

Mu Ramen is one of hottest new ramen places going on right now but with the exception of a few dishes, it's probably only worth going to once the hype has died down.  It's from a Per Se alum and it also received a glowing review from the NY Times and several other food blogs, which is why there was a line 30 people deep before the place even opens.  I got there at 5:25 (5 minutes before it opened at 5:30) on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon and there was a line out the door already.  Unfortunately, Janet and I missed the 1st wave of seating and had to wait another hour before sitting down, which was actually fine because I wasn't all that hungry at 5:30.

The place is pretty tiny with only communal seating and a few seats at the bar, so if you're not one of the first 20-25 people in line, you will have to wait at least another hour.  The menu here is fairly simple, 5 appetizers and 4 different ramens.  My first impression was that the prices were a bit high considering that we were in LIC - the ramens ranged from $15-18 and if you wanted extra toppings they were $2-4 more.  But we were already here so we just went to town.  I had to get the U&I (MP which was $24 that day) even though Janet wasn't a huge fan of it.  We also got the Okonomiyaki ($14) and the "MUssels" ($14) while I got the Tonkotsu ($15) ramen with an egg ($2) and Janet got the MU ramen ($18) with an egg ($2).  I'll start with the U&I which is the primary reason I gave this place a 3.5 fork rating vs. a 3 for rating.  If you like uni, this dish is exquisite.  I mean, it's something I would want for one of my last meals ever.  Yes, it's offensively priced at $24 for a small bowl but you get 3 fantastic and fairly large sized tongues of uni that are incredibly creamy and briny and heavenly.  It's paired with ikura (salmon roe), spicy maguro (spicy tuna), sushi style rice and sprinkled with sesame roasted seaweed.  I've had uni before in my life but never in 1 bowl of deliciousness as this one.  It's what really saved this meal for me.  Next we got the okonomiyaki which was deep fried chicken wings stuffed with foie gras and brioche.  It tasted like the salt and pepper chicken dishes I've had in Asian restaurants before and while I love anything deep fried, this one was a bit too salty for me.  It was good but the combination with the foie gras as a bit too much for me - it didn't really need the froie gras nor did it add a whole lot to it.  Next were the mussels which was sauteed and served with a spicy dipping sauce.  It was a solid bowl and the mussels were a good plump size - I just wish for $14 that there were more of them.

And finally we move to the ramen.  Mine was basic pork based ramen with pork jowl, bamboo shoot, mushrooms and scallion.  Listen, it was a good ramen, the noodles were soft and the broth was light but flavorful.  I really enjoyed it but I don't think it's really worth $17 and a trip out to LIC when you can have just as good ramen in the city for less and that's closer.   Janet's ramen had an oxtail and bone marrow broth topped with brisket, pickles, bamboo shoot, cabbage and scallion.  The brisket looked like corn beef and while she enjoyed it, she also echoed the sentiment that it was overpriced (her ramen was $20!) and that she still liked Totto Ramen and Ippudo better.

All in all, I'm still glad I checked this place out and for me, it was worth the trip to for the uni dish.  I thought that the appetizers were better than ramen dishes here.  In a place like LIC where they still don't have a huge selection of restaurants, I'm surprised that they didn't lower their prices to make it a more neighborhood friendly destination.  It felt like everyone there had trekked from the city or Brooklyn to try it out, so I'm curious after the hype dies down, how many locals will continue to support a $18 ramen?  Who knows, but maybe as long as they serve that uni dish, there will still be people lining out the door.  Also on a good note, it looks like they changed their policy from cash only to accepting credit cards which is great because you can easily run up a pretty hefty tab here.  Total bill:  $117 for two with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Queens Kickshaw Visited 4/12/2015 3.5 Forks

The Queens Kickshaw 4017 Broadway, Astoria, NY 11103

Even though I hear great things about the food in Queens, I rarely find myself there.  Call it a Brooklyn bias but I just never feel like trekking into the "other" borough.  But Lav and I found ourselves in Astoria on Sunday as we were checking out the Mad Men exhibit at the Museum of Moving Images (definitely go check it out if you are fan of the show or just a fan of tv pop culture). We were done relatively early, so we decided to go to Queens Kickshaw for a super early bird dinner.

We were so early in fact that they weren't even serving food yet when we arrived (5:15pm - they didn't serve food until 5:30pm).  One thing to keep in mind is that the place is actually much more of a cute cafe that you would find in Brooklyn than local restaurant.  We ordered some drinks while we waited for the food service to start.  They have a lot of very interesting sounding microbrews and craft beers and you can get flights of beers which is great.  It wasn't long until it was 5:30 and we ordered food immediately.  They have a vegetarian menu but with a focus on grilled cheeses - what could be better?  We opted to get the trio of dips ($9) to start and split the broccoli soup ($4) as well.  For my main dish, I got the gruyere grilled cheese ($10) and Lav got the mac and cheese ($14).  The trio of dips were a romesco dip, basil aioli, and black bean hummus dip served with warm pita bread. They were all excellent with the romesco being my favorite one. The broccoli soup was actually pretty light - I was expecting a heavy cream based soup but this was much thinner and served with lemon oil on top.  I kind of wish that I had asked them to serve it to me with my grilled cheese instead of before because my grilled cheese came with a salad instead of soup and there's just something not as comforting about a salad.  The grilled cheese itself was quite tasty - it had caramelized onions, pickled red onions, and layers of gooey gruyere cheese on nicely grilled wheat bread.  It was a nice homey and comforting meal.  While the green salad was fine, it wasn't anything special but I guess it was good to have something healthy.   I tried Lav's mac and cheese and it was a nice gooey dish too - it was made with gruyere, cheddar, smoked mozzarella, french beans and asparagus.  It was a nice combination of cheeses although I think it could have used a bit more sharper cheese - I felt like the cheeses they had were a bit on the mild side.  For dessert, we chocolate pudding ($7) and it was quite decadent and heavenly.  I'm not a huge chocolate fan but it was a solid dessert and nice way to end a meal.

This is definitely a cute place and worth checking out if you are in the hood.  While I'm sure there are many more better ethnic eats in Queens, it's still a nice chill place, especially if you are near the Museum and don't feel like walking too far.  Total bill:  $41/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bun'ker Visited 7/26/2014 5 Forks

Bun'ker  46-63 Metropolitan Ave., Ridgewood, NY 11385

I know, it seems so crazy to give a tiny hipster whole in the hall of a place in the middle of an industrial wasteland 5 Forks.  While it wasn't an entirely flawless meal, I loved it enough and haven't given out a 5 fork review in a while, that I really thought now was the time. 

The one big drawback to this place is its location (and maybe the insane plethora of hipsters).  When I say it's in an industrial wasteland, I'm not even exaggerating - it's across the street from 2 scrap metal yards and next door to a Western Beef Market.  Without a car, it's extremely difficult to get to (it's about a mile walk from the closest subway stop).   However, despite its location, there was an hour long wait there and unfortunately there is no where to wait  except on one of their 2 benches.  Aarti also mentioned that when she gave our name to the host, he gave her an extremely sour puss look which was annoying.  But regardless once we sat down, we were all in heaven. 

Now this is definitely not a place for everyone.  The place is small (less than 25 seats) and the decor kind of reminds me of one of those cheap hole in the wall places you would find in SE Asia.  But honestly, that was the appeal to me.  As Will said, the only thing missing from it would be a dirty mangy dog running around and you would have thought you were in eating at one of those road side restaurants in Thailand or Vietnam.   Luckily, the food was just as good as what you would get in one of those road side stalls.  They have a seasonal menu and then they have a chalk board with a bunch of specials.  All of us were starving (plus I was with two big guys who came ready with their appetite) so we really went to town on the ordering.  For the table, we split the traditional banh xbo ($11) as well as the vegetarian version ($10), the summer rolls ($8), the crispy flounder banh mi ($12), the garlic tomato fried rice ($5) and the sauteed water spinach ($8).  Then after that we each all ordered our own thing.  I opted for the Suon Nuong Xa ($15), Aarti got the grilled eggplant and zucchini ($13), Will got the Ca Ri Ga ($16) and Kinney got the Grilled Lemongrass Black Angus Short Ribs ($16).  So yeah - we clearly over ordered but that was totally ok.  I should mention that I also got a Vietnamese Ice Coffee ($4) that was one of the most delicious drinks ever.  It wasn't like the usual kind I'm used to where you strain it into a cup with condensed milk at the bottom.  It was pre-mixed already but it was like crack cocaine - incredibly addictive and left you wanting to have 10 more of them. 

On to the actual food.  Everything was phenomenal and tasted fresh and home made.  The summer rolls had the right amount of shrimp, pork and vermicelli noodles in it and the side of peanut sauce was heavenly.   Next I moved on to the banh xbo which is a crispy crepe with shrimp, bacon, and bean sprouts which you then wrap in a lettuce leaf and dip into fish sauce.  It was super hot and tasted like it just came off the griddle.  The flavors just all worked really well together and the edges of the crepe were nice and crispy but the inside still had some moisture to it.  I honestly didn't taste too much bacon in it, just more of the bean sprouts than anything.  Next I took a bite of the crispy flounder banh mi (we split it 3 ways) and while it's definitely not your traditional banh mi, it had a great flavor profile to it.  It came with a pickled garlic tartar sauce, dill and scallion.  It a far cry from the original kind that has pate in it but I did really enjoy it and the bread was pillowy and just right.  Lastly I took a few pieces of the garlic tomato fried rice and sauteed water spinach and they were nice side dishes to add as supplements to our main dish.  Sadly but the time I got to my main dish, I was so full, all I could do was take 3 bites and I had to take the rest home.  There were 2 decent sized pork loins, served with a ton of white rice but the kicker was the fried egg on top.  Now this is where I  get a bit nit pickey - while the fried egg looked beautiful, it could have been a bit runnier in the yolk.  I like an oozing egg yolk but this one was close to being over cooked.  The only other dish I tried a bit of was Will's curry bobo chicken -  I dunked a piece of soft delicious roti into the curry and it was fantastic, full of spice and flavor.  

The only service hiccup was that Aarti's dish came out much later than ours - despite her getting just a vegetable dish.  Not sure if they forgot or what, but I do hate having to ask waitstaff repeatedly where someone's food is when everyone else at the table got theirs (this seems to be a running trend with me these days).  

All in all, we were all amazed by our meal.  It's been a long time where I have been truly wow'd by a meal that wasn't one of the nicer or fancier establishments.  It's places like theses that are much more my speed and what I am drawn to vs. 4 star restaurants (although don't get me wrong, I would never turn down a meal at a 4 star place).  This is place is definitely best to go with a lot of people so that you can try everything because you'll want to order everything when you are here.  I didn't think the prices were too unreasonable although a banh mi as a stand alone dish for $12 is a bit on the pricey side.  Again - order it and split it with 3 people while stuffing your face with summer rolls and papaya salad. 
It's almost tortuous knowing that this place is only a 10 minute drive from me yet it's a painful 30+ minute commute on a subway including walking.  But honestly, it is totally worth the pain and effort. Just do it and go.  You won't regret it.  Total bill:  $36/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

New World Mall Food Court Visited 4/20/2013 3.5 Forks

New World Mall Food Court  4021 Main St., Flushing, NY 11354

Even though I am a huge fan of authentic Chinese food, I rarely find myself in Flushing, which is probably where you will find the most authentic Chinese food in the 5 boroughs.  But it's far and it's so authentic that many of the restaurants are Chinese speaking only.  One of the big food draws here isn't an actual restaurant but the food courts in the basements of their shopping malls (very similar to how it is in Asia).  I was torn between the Golden Shopping Mall (this is one that Anthony Bourdain loves) and the New World Mall.  After looking at the two malls, the New World Mall was much cleaner and nicer whereas the Golden Shopping Mall was literally one of the dirtiest places I've seen in a while.  I mean I would still eat there at some point because it looked like very local and real but for the purposes of my mom's visit, we opted for the cleaner one. 

At first glance, the food court is extremely overwhelming.  There are probably 20 different stalls offering all sorts of food such as hand-pulled noodles, hot pot, seafood, shaved ice, stir fry, etc.  I was in love with all the options and the best thing was that everything was so cheap.  I don't think I saw anything that was more than $12.  After circling the court twice, my mom, Aarti and I finally settled on the following:  New Zealand green mussels in black bean sauce ($7.95), oyster pancake ($4.95), prince mushroom and vegetable "hot pot" ($7.99), beef noodles ($6.95), and for dessert shaved mango ice ($4.95).  Unfortunately I don't remember the names of all the different stalls but if you go around and look at the menus you'll be able to find out which ones they were.  The green mussels were great, very plump and there was tons of them.  I couldn't believe that a whole box of them was less than $9.  We ordered the prince mushroom hot pot as our veggie option for Aarti and it was gigantic as well.  It was a huge bowl of broth, see-through noodles, sliced mushrooms, tofu and other vegetables.  It was a solid and filling dish but it wasn't also mind blowing (although for $8 you can't complain too much about it).  As for the beef noodle dish, it was nice and spicy.  The beef slices were nice and tender and the noodles were also soft and the whole thing reminded me a lot of the beef noodle dishes I've had in Taiwan before.  The biggest disappointment was the oyster pancake.  It's a very famous dish in Taiwan and I was excited to try it before my big trip.  But there was almost no egg, the oysters were very small and it was kind of a gelatinous mess.  I would barely finish the dish.  After that dish, I needed to cleanse my palate and the shaved ice was a nice way to do that.  Asian cuisine is not very well known for its dessert and there's a good reason for that.  But at least this dish was refreshing and sweet.  We added red beans to it to give it a bit of heartiness to it.  The ice was shaved very very finely that you could barely tell that it was actually ice.  It was bound with condense milk and a mango coating and similar to all the other dishes, it was a huge dish that we couldn't finish. 

The choices in the food court are so overwhelming that even going with 2 other people wasn't enough.  It best to go with at least 4-5 people and really hit up as many different stalls as possible.  I was really hoping to be blown away by my food and while I enjoyed it and loved how cheap it was, I wish I had chosen some other options.   Anyone want to try again with me?

Photo Credit: Yelp

Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant Visited 2/5/2011 4 Forks

Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant  13330 39th Ave., Flushing, NY 11354

I am a bad Asian and didn't celebrate Chinese New Year properly.  So Dan and I decided we would make up for it with a meal in Flushing over the weekend.  I was originally thinking of having a whole fish type of meal but when we decided to go for lunch with our friends Prior and Jes, we switched gears and went for dim sum instead.  Whole fish is a bit aggressive first thing in the morning and dim sum is always a bit more fun with more people.  I had heard about Ocean Jewel from a friend of mine and when we got there it was the restaurant that I had seen the last time I was in Flushing and said I wanted to try. 

The one thing to note about this place is that it is CRAZY crowded on the weekend.  We probably waited 40 minutes for a table.  The inside of the place is your typical large Chinese banquet hall...it's huge with lots of tables and people screaming constantly.  The carts come around immediately and I was impressed at how fresh all the food was.  You could tell it came straight from the kitchen and hadn't been circulating around constantly (although some dishes did come around at some point).  We had a little bit of everything: shrimp balls, beef balls, shumai, shrimp crepes, sticky rice with chicken, pork buns, shrimp wrapped with bacon, turnip cake, sliced chicken and mushroom, a bunch of other types of dumplings and sesame balls.  There was a good variety of food, although after 30 minutes we were definitely seeing the same carts come around.  They didn't have the clams in black bean sauce that I like and the turnip cake was a bit overcooked.  The shrimp wrapped in bacon was also a bit dry but it's hard to not like anything wrapped in bacon.  All the food was very piping hot when it arrived to our table, which is great because I've definitely been to some places where the food is already cold when you get it.  The shrimp crepe was still my favorite but I really honestly enjoyed everything on the table. I do wish my mom was there to help kind of decipher what the other dishes were.  

The service was good for a Chinese place (they constantly took away our empty plates and re-filled our water whenever they were empty) and it was pretty clean.  The total bill for 10+ dishes was $74 without tip for 4 people.  The nice thing about this place is that they take credit card, which many Chinese places don't.   By the time we left at 2:45pm there was absolutely not wait and the place was 1/2 empty.  So I would say come super early (they open at 8AM on the weekends) or have a snack if you intend on coming from 10am-1:30pm or wait til after 2pm.

Nan Xiang Dumpling House Visited 1/28/11 3.5 Forks

Nan Xiang Dumpling House 38-12 Prince St, Flushing, NY 11354

 One of my great regrets is that I do not eat in Queens enough.  It's probably got the greatest number of true ethnic eats in the 5 boroughs and is known of cheap authentic eats.  As an Asian, it's probably criminal that I don't know where to eat in Flushing.  So when Dan suggested we have dinner in Flushing, I had to ask around for a good place to eat.  The problem is that almost every place in Flushing probably beats most Chinese places in the city.  A friend of mine had recommended this place and it was also listed in the NY Times "Great Eating in Flushing" article, so I thought it was worth a try.  

The decor is kind of your typical Chinese place: not very nice.  We sat at a table where there were brown spots on the wall next to us, but at a base level the table and utensils were at least clean.  I know that many Yelp reviews complained of slow service, but I experienced the total opposite.  They whisked us to a table, gave us menus, tea, and asked if we were ready to order in about 5 minutes.  Of course we had to order the Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) but when I tried to order in Chinese the waitress looked me like I was speaking another language.  She made me feel really self-conscious about my pronunciation, so much so that I just ended up ordering everything in English (maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was with the only non-Asian person the whole restaurant??). This is how people like me get scared into never speaking Chinese ever again. We also got the jellyfish, scallion pancake with beef, and crispy noodles with pork.  The jellyfish came out in 2 minutes because it was basically sitting out in the buffet-style table in the front of the restaurant.  This dish was a miss...I remember jellyfish being pretty smooth in texture but crunchy and tart.  This was tart but it had this weird rough texture.  I think I freaked Dan out a bit by ordering this and I tried to convince him it was good, but now that I think about it, I didn't really like it that much.  The xiao long bao came out next...there were 6 in one order and piping hot.  The skin was pretty thin and I liked the flavor of the soup inside and the pork filling.  I forget how messy it is to eat these things and I was spraying soup all over the table.  I thought they were pretty good but Dan seemed to have an issue with what he calls "booby trap" food.  He didn't seem to be a fan of biting into something only to have hot soup pouring out of it.  Ha, silly American. The dish that we both loved was the scallion pancake with beef.  It wasn't your typical thin, crispy pancake.  This was very thick but still crispy on the outside.  However, it was the hoisin sauce and beef on the inside that was yummy.  There were 3 to one order and I wish there was 4 just so we didn't have to split the last one. The last dish was the crispy noodles with shredded pork...it's basically your typical Chinese dish covered in a thick brown sauce.  It was good, but it had too much cabbage and not enough pork or straw mushrooms (one of my favorite mushrooms).  All in all, we were full and had a good meal but in retrospect given that Flushing isn't the easiest place to get to, I wish we had gone to a place with more variety or a seafood restaurant.  But the best part of going to a place like this was the bill: $23 total for two.  Cash only.

M. Wells Visited 1/15/11 3.75 Forks

M. Wells 21-17 49th Ave., Queens, NY 11101

It's amazing how a small diner in the middle of nowhere Queens has gotten so much buzz.  This place was recently written up in the NY Times as a place that was worth flying to eat at.  I wouldn't necessarily go that far, but I would say it's definitely an interesting experience.  Dan and I went at 11AM (it opens at 10) and it was already completely packed and was about a 30 minute wait.  The place is pretty small with about 5-6 booths, 2 communal tables, and then a few counter seats.

The concept of the diner is French-Canadian food, which I wasn't really sure what that meant.  Apparently it just means complete heart stopping food.  We ended up sitting at the counter, which I ended up loving because it was right in front of the main grill and I got to watch the chef make almost every dish on the menu.  I can safely say that this place makes everything with great quality food and with care.  The food is not your basic diner/breakfast food.  There are a few egg dishes, but they have quirky dishes like seafood cobbler, meat pies, tongue salad, scallop/clam ceviche, froie gras bread pudding, etc. Everytime Dan and I go somewhere for brunch we always feel inclined to get something with egg, even though a lot of places probably specialize in better things.  We started with a bloody ceasar ($8) which was a bloody mary with clam juice and the bone marrow with escargot ($9).  This was one fairly large piece of bone marrow, topped with 5 escargot and topped with bread crumbs and then baked in the oven.  It was pretty fatty and melt in your mouth but the bread crumbs were a bit too salty for me.

For our main dishes, I got the sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich ($9) and Dan got the egg tortilla with shrimp and blood sausage ($11).  I know it might sound lame to have gotten a breakfast sandwich but after watching them make it I had to try it out.  Everything about the sandwich was huge: the english muffin was the size of my foot, the sausage patty was about the exactly the same size as the muffin, and the egg was perfectly soft and gooey and it was topped with cheddar cheese and pickled jalapeno peppers that offered the right amount of spice.  It was so filling and heart stopping that I am afraid to learn how many calories were in it.  Dan's meal was also really good: they basically mixed egg, potato, shrimp, and chunks of blood sausage in a little skillet and baked it.  Neither of us have had blood sausage before and it was definitely not sausage-like with a casing.  It was soft in structure but not weird or scaring tasting.  While both our meals were good, the chefs were definitely very heavy handed with the salt.  I came home and felt like I should be drinking a gallon of water.   Everything that I watched the chefs make looked great and different than your basic diner, so I am willing to come back and try other stuff on the menu.

The service was a bit slow but after watching them make all the food from scratch and how many people were flowing through the tiny place, they were definitely trying as hard as they could.  Total bill was $43 without tip.

Ayada Visited 9/11/10 3.75 Forks

Ayada  77-08 Woodside Avenue (77th Street), Elmhurst, Queens

 I was fortunate enough to get free courtside tickets to the Women's Final at the US Open on Saturday night.  After having already been to the Open earlier in the week, I knew how expensive the food was there and was determined to get food somewhere else.  Queens is probably best known for its delicious ethnic foods: Chinese, Thai, Indian, Ecuadorian, etc.  I have always wanted to do a food tour of Queens, but this was not the time.  I had thought about going to the famous Sripraphrai but after reading that the food wasn't as good as it used to be and that it was cash only, I decided to look for a new thai place.  I had read about this place in the NY Times recently about how authentic it was and it wasn't too far off the 7 train, so I thought why not? It's a few blocks away from the 7 train stop in Elmhurst/Jackson Heights in a pretty quiet and unassuming street.  If I hadn't read about this place I would have never found it.

The place is small, clean and cute.  The menu had a pretty good list of authentic and your usual suspect thai dishes.  We were kind of in a hurry to make it in time for the match, so we didn't really order with too much thought.  I wish we had more time and more people to order more food.  I had read about some mussels dish, but I didn't see it on the menu, which was a bummer because I love that thai mussel dishes usually use plump New Zealand mussels.  Instead I got my usual chicken pad thai ($8).  I know, as someone who likes food, its kind of a cop out to order pad thai when there are so many other great thai dishes, but in all honesty, a really good pad thai is just as good as any dish.  Aarti got the garlic eggplant with tofu ($8).  The waitress had asked how spicy and surprisingly Aarti had said "medium".  But given our previous experience in more authentic thai places, when you say spicy, it's really is spicy and it can be borderline inedible.  The food came out relatively quickly given that there were 4-5 other tables. 

Aarti took the first bite of my pad thai and she said it was amazing.  So I gave it a bite and it was fabulous.  Just the right amount of sauce and not too sweet.  A lot of times pad thai can be too dry or there is something off about the sauce, but this was perfect.  My only complaint was that there wasn't enough. A lot of thai places gives you an entire heaping plate of food, but this place gives you probably the right amount that one should eat for dinner.  Aarti's dish was also very good, and just like she had anticipated, it was pretty damn spicy for "medium".

Unfortunately, we had to get out of there pretty quickly, but I really enjoyed my meal (total bill was only $17!! and they take credit card...and AXP to boot, which is kind of rare in these mom and pop restuarants).  While the food was great, Queens is just a bit too much of a pain for me to come here often.  I have to take 3 trains to get there and the local 7 train is just brutal.  I would definitely eat here often if it was even remotely close to me (if it wasn't for the location I would have given it 4 forks but in a way it's location is also what makes it different. sigh.).  But if I ever find myself in Queens, I would have no hesitation to come back.  I would love to come back to Queens more and try even more of these cheap and authentic places.