Pig and Khao Visited 2/7/2013 2.5 Forks

Pig and Khao 68 Clinton St., (between Stanton St & Rivington St), New York, NY 10002

There were so many things going for Pig and Khao that I was expecting a lot from it.  It's brought to you by a Top Chef contestant (Leah Cohen) and the guys from Fatty Cue, so that's some pretty decent pedigreed.  It was also written up in New York Magazine as one of the restaurants to watch out for in 2013, so I was eager to try it out.

When I got to the restaurant, I realized that I had been there before but when it was another restaurant.  That's when I know that I've lived in NYC for too long when I start to go to different restaurant incarnations in the same space.  I knew the menu here was Asian but it's much more slanted towards Filipino than anything else.  In fact the menu reminded me a lot of another Top Chef owned restaurant, Talde.   Most of the items on here are small plate versions with a few larger plates to choose from.  Our waitress told us that 2 small plates and 1 large plate was good for 2 people.  So Janet and I decided to get the fried oysters (special for the night), grilled pork jowl ($13) and the cod fish wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf (special for the night) as well as a side of coconut rice ($3 each). 

The fried oysters came out first and they were served with a lime-chili sauce that had some really good heat to it.  While the oysters were nicely lightly battered, I just didn't taste a lot of the actual oyster.  I felt like I was eating a lot of fried goodness but not a lot of oyster goodness.  Next came the grilled pork jowl.  This was served with chunks of watermelon (where the hell are they getting watermelon in the dead of winter?), homemade chicharron, toasted rice and lime-chili fish sauce.  I enjoyed each of the components individually but there was something off when you ate everything together.  The chicharron was also pretty flavorless and didn't add much to the overall dish.  There's something about watermelon with fish sauce on it that wasn't super appealing.  The flavor profile of grilled pork and watermelon just didn't work for me and Janet didn't love this dish at all either.   What I was really excited for was the steamed fish in the banana leaf.  I expected it to be a whole fish (because that's usually how fish is served in Asian restaurants) or at least in large fillets.  But instead this small cut of fish that was about 5 bites total showed up.  I was so disappointed when I saw it.  Taste-wise, it wasn't so bad but it was covered in some kind of thick coconut sauce that made it kind of not so appealing to look at.  But the star of the show was the coconut rice.  It was so good that when the waitress tried to take my bowl of rice away, I actually slapped her hand away and asked her to box it up for me (sorry!!).  The flavor of coconut really hits you in the face, but that didn't bother me.  It tasted amazing on its own but I almost ordered another side dish, just so I could continue eating it without looking like I was scarfing down a bowl of plain rice.

I didn't hate the place but when the side of rice is the best dish of the night, something is not right.  I do want to say that our waitress was awesome and super friendly and made the whole night very enjoyable.  After reading Yelp, it sounded like maybe the sizzling sigsig would have been a better selection, but I'm not so sure if I would come back soon, especially given all the other really great Asian places in NYC.  Total bill: $72 for 2 with tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Maharlika Visited 7/12/2012 3.5 Forks

Maharlika 111 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003

The original plan for the night was for Nancy and I to go to Mission Chinese but when I got there at 7:10pm they told me it would be a 2 1/2 hour wait!  Even if half of the people in front of us didn't show up, there was still 2+ pages of names of people in front of us.  So we had to go to plan B and decided to go to Maharlika, a Filipino restaurant in the East Village.  Of all the different kinds of Asian restaurants in New York, you really don't see a lot of Filipino cuisine.  So I was excited to try something new.  

We ordered a bunch of things to share; we started with the bangus ($9) and the lechon kawali ($12) and then split the chicken adobo ($16) and the puqui puqui ($7).  Before we got our main food, they did give us 2 pieces of chicharon or deep fried chicken skin on the house.  They gave us this vinegar like dipping sauce to go with it and well, what can I say? It's deep friend chicken skin and that's basically what it was.  It was good but definitely a very deep fried dish that you felt was clogging your arteries as you ate it.  Next came the bangus which was deep fried, crispy milkfish and it was a very typical fried Asian fish dish.   I wasn't a huge fan of this dish because it was a pretty skinny fish fillet and all you could really taste was the fried part of the fish.  I prefer my fish steamed and more meaty and this was the complete opposite.  The lechon kawali consisted of cured, crispy pork belly with sautéed seasonal asian greens and of the two appetizers, this was my preferred dish.  The skin of the pork belly was very very crispy and hard on the teeth...almost too dry and tough. But once you got to the meat of the dish it was pretty juicy and tender but it was some tough work to get to it.  They gave us a liver dipping sauce and I know it sounds super gross but for some reason, it worked.  They then brought out a bowl of steamed white rice (I usually eat brown rice now, so when white rice is available it's a special treat for me), the chicken adobo (chicken braised in adobo sauce with soy sauce, garlic, coconut vinegar) and the puqui puqui which was roasted, puréed eggplant, tomato -- it tasted like a babaghanoush.  I really like the puqui puqui, it had a great smokey taste to it.  The chicken came with 1 drumstick and 1 breast and they were both very juicy and the adobo sauce was thick and garlicky and was a great topping to the white rice. 

While I did like all the food, it wasn't like it blew my mind.  But what pushed this to a 3.5 forks was the great customer service.  They had asked us if we would mind moving to the table next to us because they needed our current table to combine with the other 2 top to make a 4 seater.  They said in exchange for moving, they would give us free dessert.  Sweet!  But instead of just 1 dessert they gave us 3 free desserts.  That was beyond unnecessary but delicious.  We got the 3 scoops of ice cream (avocaod, ube, and cheddar cheese), the coconut pudding with jack fruit and coconut flakes and the flan.  I personally love the flat the most but the coconut pudding was quite refreshing and a great summer time dish. The three very off beat ice creams were definitely interesting. The avocado was a thick ice cream consistency and had a definite avocado taste to it.  The ube was more like a ice than an ice cream and the cheddar cheese (I know, it sounds gross) didn't really taste like anything.  But it was really nice of them to give us 3 free desserts for just moving over 5 inches.

Right as we were paying our bill Mission Chinese finally called me back, 3 hours after I gave them my name.  It probably would have been a better meal but I am still glad that I tried out this place as it's not everyday that you eat at a Filipino restaurant.  One small reason I did deduct a 1/4-1/2 fork was the fact that it was cash only.  I don't mind really small restaurants where I will pay less than $20 for dinner as cash only but since it was $37/pp, that's enough for me to want to use my credit card.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Umi Nom Visited 4/23/10 3.5 Forks

Umi Nom 433 DeKalb Ave. (between Classon Ave & Taaffe Pl), Brooklyn, NY 11205

Finally, I ate at Umi Nom. After hearing about this place for a while and having loved it's Manhattan sister restaurant, Kuma Inn, I was happy to have eaten here. But (and this is a big but), the location leaves MUCH to be desired. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It's a few blocks from the G train stop, but that's not saying much. I'm not really familiar with the Clinton Hill/Bed-Stuy/Pratt area and perhaps I am missing something but I could have really done without the location.

The inside of the restaurant was small, but nice. It had pretty exposed brick which had a small opening into the "open" kitchen. I wish they had blown out the opening even more so that we could get a full look at the chefs while they cooked. The concept and most of the menu is very similar to Kuma Inn. I had read that for 2 people 3 apps and 1 entree was sufficient. We asked our waitress what was the appropriate # of dishes to order and she said "1-2 dishes per person"...um, ok, so is our order ok? she then repeated "1-2 dishes per person", so we decided to order 4 apps instead. We order the manila clams (I had heard amazing things about it), the sliders, pork spare ribs, and spring rolls. Then she said "and for an entree?" -- we were so confused b/c didn't you just tell us to order 1-2 dishes?

Regardless, we stuck with our 4 app order. The first one that came out was the spring rolls. While they were good, they're just spring rolls, and it wouldn't have been something I ordered, but Dan wanted it, so I didn't object. Next came the clams and they were DELICIOUS! They are similar to the black bean sauteed clams that you usually get in chinese restaurants, but these were soaking in some sort of salty, buttery, spicy goodness. I basically wanted to drown myself in the broth. Instead, we poured it over our coconut rice (which at $3, wasn't really worth it. It was white rice with coconut juice poured over it. It was yummy, but for $3 for a small bowl, I'm not so sure...). The sliders were also great, 3 buns filled with beef, pork and hoisin sauce. The pork ribs were also very tasty, although some pieces were more falling off the bone than others. While 4 dishes was enough, I could have ordered much more. The couple next to us got some sort of crispy chicken lollipops and said they were worth the wait.

While I really enjoyed my meal, I wished their brooklyn location was in a more convenient location. Given that the LES location is probably just as close/far and there's more stuff around it, I might be inclined to stick with the city locale for now. Total bill was $46 with tax.