Saturday, December 16, 2017

New York, New York!!!: Pig Bleaker; Fuku; Il Buco Alimentaria; Trapazzino; Disengoff; Very Fresh Noodles; kajitsu; Salvation Burger; Covina

Fuku

It's all about the fried chicken! Renown chef David Chang's take on fried chicken sandwiches.

Smokey slaw is very tasty, vinegar based slaw, but not outstanding. 


Spicy fried chicken sandwich. Like I said, it's all about the fried chicken. One expects so much from chef David Chang. Its good fried chicken. Not overcooked, reasonably crispy and juicy, but, not outstanding (what I mean by this is that this fried chicken sandwich is not good enough to bring me back to the resto and I have had better fried chicken. Expected more.). 


Russ and Daughters Cafe

The herring plate: centre: roma; bottom left: schmaltz; bottom right matjes; top: pickled. Very disappointing tastes overall as I found them overly brined. My gold standards are the herring experiences in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

The herring sauces (they did not help), clockwise from top: sour cream; curry; honey mustard.

Very good smoked sturgeon. 


Good Scottish smoked salmon but not good enough to bring me back. 


Reasonably good toasted bagel. Better bagels in Toronto or Montreal.


Kajitsu

Kajitsu was a good, enjoyable kaiseki experience.

Winter's End: turnip, bamboo shoots, basil and seitan.

White miso soup with sesame tofu, asparagus and mustard. 


Spring Favourites: inari sushi, sakura (cherry blossom) petal, konnyaku (a kind of potato), buckwheat seeds, burdock root, yuba, cucumber, lettuce, red radish, bell pepper, shiitake mushroom, celery, green tea, lotus root, mountain yam, yuzu-miso, nama-fu and carrot.


Tempura of bamboo shoots, curry croquette, pearl onion and broccoli rabe. 


Takiawase: Myoga pumpkin, tofu fritter, Chinese broccoli, Dutch flat beans, ginger and seasonal mushrooms.

Missing photo: 5 grain rice with wakame. 


Hanamaki soba in a broth with mitsuba, scallion, nama-fu and sesame. 


Uguisu mochi made of white bean, matcha tea and soy bean powder. 


Tea is served.

Trapezzino

Trapazzini are pocket based pizza bianca (traditional, naturally leavened Roman flat bread) filled with seasonal creative Roman home cooked classic fillings such as meatball and tomato; mixed seasonal greens, chili and garlic; eggplant, tomato, parmigiano and basil; veal tongue, rosemary and gaeta olives; oxtail ragu, celery and red wine, etc, etc.

Pollo alla cacciatora: chicken garlic white wine and rosemary. Quite delicious and worth a journey for a snack or lunch.

Il Buco Alimentaria



Porchetta panino with arugula and salsa verde, accompanied by mixed pickled veg.

THE BIG YUMMM!!!! Just a terrific sandwich!! 


Crispy cod panino with pickled veg, cucumber and caper aioli.

Salvation Burger

Veggie burger topped with carrot, tomato and garam masala. A good burger but the in my opinion, the veggie burger at Planta burger in Toronto is better. 


The classic beef burger with special sauce, pickles and fried onions, cooked perfectly med rare to rare. No cheese requested! A good juicy burger with moderately good taste and texture, but, not the raving star the press talk about.

Ichimura At Brushstroke

This much lauded resto, especially bc it was helmed by Chef David Bouley, was a supreme disappointment. First, the menu was arrogantly minimal as you will see from the descriptions of certain dishes I present below. at certain courses when i asked they told me that they would give me a menu in the end.

Frankly, I was also highly disappointed by the fish.

Seasonal assortment from mountain and sea. 


Sushi. 


Tsukuri

Sashimi of toro, yellowtail, sweet shrimp and clam. 


Sashimi of clam and sea urchin. 





Lobster and noodles with ear fungus mushroom. 


I am just guessing here: fried tofu with truffle dashi ankake. 


Shiizakana: white asparagus with spring herbals. 


Bamboo shoots cooked with rice. 


Pickles 


Miso soup. 


Desserts. 


Dessert: soy sauce gelato and matcha ice cream, each sandwiched between 2 crisp mochi wafers.

Pig Bleeker

This simple resto is worth the journey! Over all, well executed rustic comfort food.

Good deviled steak and eggs. 


Rhode Island style cod cheeks with crispy country ham and vinegar peppers.  A very good dish.


Very good grilled oysters with spicy garlic butter and topped with bread crumbs.



Brisket ravioli with black truffle butter and barolo.

Very tasty, crispy fries.

Smoked and grilled pork chop with peach habanero jam, brussel sprouts and crispy onions.


BBQ market root vegetables with toasted almonds and fiore sardo.

Anson Mills grits with house made cheese and honey. This was an addictively good dish.


This dish was what we actually came for: smoked and fried whole chicken with waffles (I did not bother with the waffles, but they weren't bad). The chicken was very tasty and crispy but a tad dry and a bit overcooked and that was very disappointing given the consistency of the previous dishes.

The sauces and honey that accompanied the chicken. 


Mason jar oreo cheesecake. 


Karens' key lime pie (which was pretty good).



Disengoff in Chelsea market

Twice cooked eggplant (left); Israeli salad that comes with things, top left; beets with tahina top right. 


Hummous with chick peas, tahina and amba, top right.

Very Fresh Noodles in Chelsea Market



Vegan noodles with mock duck, bock choy and shiitake mushrooms. The resto's house made signature biang biang noodles in a rich vegan mushroom broth, seasoned with shaoxing wine, black vinegar, cumin, sichuan peppercorns, chili oil, celery, pickled mustard greens and fresh herbs. THIS IS A DISH WORTH GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY FOR!! 


La mei taiwanese beef noodle soup with slow braised beef shanks, house made, hand pulled noodles in beef soup, served with pickled mustard greens, scallion, cilantro and a touch of chili oil. Another hit!!

Covina

With wood fired ovens, grill and pizza oven, lts of taste/cooking potential here.

The wood burning fire oven. 


The wood burning pizza oven.

Smashed and smoked marble potatoes in scallion aioli. These were addictive!

Wood grilled gulf shrimp on Red Flint florian polenta, smoked oaxacan, kafir ranch, crispy capers and fresh herbs.


"Well cooked crust" pizza with tomato sauce and arugula (no cheese). Pretty good pizza. 


Whole fish cooked on the wood burning grill with chana dal Indian yellow lentils, ajwain, jalapeno, charred garlic yogurt and pico de gallo. Pretty good but would have been better without all the "toppings".

Lemon poppy tart with candied kumquats, blood porange, pistachio crumbs and ricotta ice cream.

Donastia

Gildas: manzanilla olives, guindilla peppers and anchovies.

Sandwich de pepino



Tortilla espanola with guindilla peppers and espelette pepper.

On the left, sardine topped with chives, roasted cherry tomato and olive oil; on the right, razor clams on white been puree topped with espelette pepper and lemon zest.

Pequillo peppers, olives and olive oil.

Clams with olive oil.

Spanish olive oil potato chips served with salsa roja.

Sardines with guindilla peppers and olives.

Roasted artichokes with olive oil and pequillo pepper pure.

Jamon Iberico bellotta (from pigs free ranged and fed on acorns).

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