New York Part IV: Kin Shop

On my final day before having to leave my food fantasy land for the real world of long work days, I woke up to the smell of fresh home baked bread toasting. Growing up with Betsy's family, there was no such thing as Wonder bread. My kid pallet didn't fully appreciate it then, but now as an adult, I was loving the breads Michele made for me.

This was a fresh orange cranberry bread that was dense, and scented with amazing bright citrus. 

 

Another of Michele's special breads! Slathered with some French jam and butter...mmmm

Of course, you can't go to New York and not get a New York bagel!

My new best friend, Gomez. We snuggled all night.

There are a couple of places I can't miss when I am in New York, and Katz's deli is one of them. Fred and Michele have sent our family some of their famous salami and cheese for the past couple of holidays, and I can't get enough.

Apparently, old fashioned New York Jewish Deli's have been closing around the city and Katz's is one of the only left in town--a dying delicious art that they have perfected and owned for years. 

  

This is Michele's favorite Knish shop that she has come to since she was a kid with her family. She said it was tradition to come every Sunday and pick up fresh knish. We blogged last December about the amazing knish we had over the holidays when it arrived with our Katz deli package.

 

I got a mushroom knish to take back to my Summerfield Suites hotel room to help nourish me through the long work week that followed.

 

We returned back to the apartment to find Gomez napping in my bed!

 

I had the most amazing hosts for the weekend, and they topped my weekend off with brunch at a newer restaurant that has received great press: Kin Shop. It is Top Chef Season 2 Winner Harold Dieterle's new spot that features contemporary Thai/Southeast Asian inspired food. My collection of Top Chef contestant restaurants/Chef's I have met is now up to 4...

 

For brunch, Kin Shop, offers a reasonable prix fix meal with three courses. We opted for this option and shared everything--which was a great call as we got to try more! This was the crunchy sprout and bibb salad with sunflower seeds and plum-peppercorn vinaigrette. I loved the crunchy seeds, which made the salad feel more meaty with its fatty savory flavor.

  

Whoops, I got too excited diving into the dishes that I forgot to take photos before we had nearly polished everything off! This is the last bite of Michele's fried pork and crispy oyster salad that was served with celery, peanuts, mint and chili-lime vinaigrette. It was absolutely scrumptious, and one of the best dishes of the meal.

 

Garam Masala and Tomato Soup with tofu, mung beans and holy basil...and holy it was. Not at all the kind of Campbell's canned soup you would have with a Kraft American grilled cheese sandwich. This was complex, smooth, creamy, spicy and different than any soup I have ever tasted.

The coconut curry sauce in this mussel dish was so addicting, I was literally sopping it up with the noodle dish in the photo below. Yes, I had no shame. Everyone was full and there was still a whole table of food left. I took those noodles and stuck them in the mussel bowl and made a new dish.  

Yep, these were the infamous dunking noodles.

This was a vegetarian curry, that was more like a spicy soup as it had a clear broth.

This was an interesting spin on an Indian dish Kyle and I fell in love with in Singapore. It was a nan like pastry filled with ground beef and curry spices. It was sublime.

Fred, Michele, Betsy and I had to sit a bit before we could tackle dessert. As we sat, Sarah Jessica Parker (or a really good knock off!) strolled by. It was my quintessential NYC moment. If Fred had longer hair, we could have pretended we were Sex in the City girls. 

For dessert, Kin Shop has amazing flavors of ice cream and sorbet like Thai Iced tea, Calamansi (Kyle and my favorite from our lime juice in Singapore!), Mango, lychee, Thai-coffee-chocolate. Unfortunately their ice cream machine broke, so we were only able to try the sorbets. However, they were delicious and it gives me an excuse to come back.

Thank you Fred, Michele, and Betsy for treating me to a weekend of fun and food! I had so much fun and can't wait to return.

Happy Eating,

Emi

New York Part II: Bouchon

After going into a chocolate coma from our late night snack attack at Max Brenner, we woke up early to go to the "Top of the Rock." It was a beautiful day and we could see the whole city from our bird's eye view, allowing us to perfectly map out our plan of action for conquering all of my food and shopping desires that day.

Betsy and I

 

Michele and I highlighting the view of the Empire State building, which is the exact opposite view of the building from what she stares at every day from her apartment on the Lower West Side. 

I started working up an appetite after our excursion, so Betsy and I started wondering towards Central Park, taking several pit stops to do some damage along 5th Ave. After walking about 10 feet into Central Park, we quickly bee lined it for the Time Warner Center that is next to Columbus Square. There, I had a delicious reunion with an old friend: Bouchon. 

Pre-blog days, Kyle and I took an amazing trip to Las Vegas on an award trip with my company. We treated ourselves to dinner at Bouchon and fell in love with Thomas Keller's food. 

I went for true indulgence and had the pate and bacon sandwich which was so rich and creamy in a way only fatty meat can be.

This salad may appear simple, as it is really just a bibb salad with some Roquefort cheese and a red wine vinaigrette. But it was so much more than just a green salad; it had bite with the rich cheese and tangy vinaigrette that was dusted onto the leaves--not drowning the salad or overpowering it like most lunch salads will do. 

 

Betsy had the Jambon Fromage which was french ham, emmenthaler cheese, sweet butter & dijon mustard on baguette. We didn't realize that the sandwiches came with salad, so when we split the bibb salad, we ended up with 1 1/2 salads--which was probably a good thing to counterbalance everything else we were indulging in!

To finish off this "light" lunch (humor me), we went to the bakery and picked up some coffees and a dessert. I got a salted caramel, which was sublime.

We went outside and sat in Columbus Square, sipping our coffees and nibbling on our treats--enjoying this perfect, spring day in New York!

Happy Eating,

Emi

A Whirlwind Tour of the Food Capitol: Part I--Max Brenner

Several months ago, I went back to the East Coast to be a trainer for a new hire class. While being away from home for almost 2 weeks was tough, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to have a weekend in the Big Apple and reconnect with family friends I have known since I was old enough to eat my first solid food. 

One of my best friends from childhood, Betsy, and her parents, were my tour guides and had the best home-base located near the Village on Bleeker street. This is the incredible view from their 24th story apartment, which is just blocks away from Washington Square.

Betsy works for Max Brenner, which is a chocolate fantasy-land of a restaurant that has opened several restaurants in major U.S. cities. New York is their flagship store and Betsy gave me the inside scoop, telling me that many celebrities come to Max Brenner to satisfy their chocolate cravings. The week before I arrived, John Travolta had a birthday party for his daughter in the upper room. In addition to great desserts, they have an equally fabulous dinner/lunch menu that was designed by one of the Food Network Chopped judges. 

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, I took my friends to the location in Caesar's Palace and we feasted on their delicious pizza, avocado salad, and some oh-so-addicting potato skins!

 

 Do not adjust your TV set, this is a drink! It was a luscious creamy chocolate and caramel martini (with an extra beaker in case you weren't satisfied with one glass!). It comes with a side of spicy sweet glazed peanuts. This was a true meal in a glass; but don't think that stopped me from getting a separate dessert.

Betsy told me I could pick her drink since she wanted to be sure I got to try two different options...she was always a good friend and still knows me so well! This was a chocolate eclair martini which was just as divine as my "choctail."

 

We split a "tasting for two" (it would probably be adequate for at least 6, but no one REALLY needs to know that) which featured some of Max Brenner's most popular and famous desserts: a banana split waffle with fluffy chocolate sponge cake, a crispy chocolate eggroll, milk and white chocolate "bark," and chocolate fondue with market fruit and marshmallows. The beaker above is full of pure chocolate sauce which we could dip any of the above desserts in and a side of chocolate wafer balls to munch on.

I loved roasting the marshmallows over the mini-grill. The fondue came in the most practical and adorable ceramic holder, so I bought one on the way out as a way to commemorate this amazing chocolate nirvana moment in time.

Thank you Betsy for inviting me to this fabulous New York hot spot and for being my partner in crime as we tore up the city, eating and shopping until we literally dropped. More to come.

Happy Eating,

Emi

Katz Deli Remix

Last year I blogged about the wonderful gift my family received from our dear friends, Fred and Michele, who live in the Capital city for all Food Lovers, New York City. Fred and Michele sent us an array of delicious eats from Katz Deli (home of Harry and Sally's first date). We toasted up the delicious rye bread and slathered on some raspberry mustard, and then topped the pile of yummy salami with heaps of Katz cheese, lettuce and tomato. On the side, we had some Tim's Cascade potato chips. You can read about that experience by clicking here.

When Michele sent us the treats again this year, she said that real New Yorkers do not eat Tim's Cascade potato chips on the side (that is definitely a Seattle favorite!), they often eat a big knish instead. What is a knish you may ask (especially if you are from the West side of the country!)? 

Knish (pronounced kin-nish) was made popular in America by Jewish immigrants and has roots in Eastern Europe. It has a dense and flavorful dough that is stuffed with various fillings, most often mashed potato, meats or cheese. I love eating mashed potatoes that are finished in the oven, leaving a slightly crisp, hearty textured crust at the top. That is sort of what this tasted like.



And it paired perfectly with our salami sandwiches, which I decided this year to eat in a purist fashion with only the meat and delicious fresh bread.

Thank you to the Schwarzbach family for the delectable food! I hope to visit NYC in the near future as I travel for work.

Happy Eating,
Emi

Eating through the Big Apple Part 1

I'm currently sitting in my room at the W in Times Square stuffed to capacity. I don't get full all that easily, but after a few days out here in Manhattan the food has gotten the best of me. I read in the cab today that fifteen years ago 1 in 10 New Yorkers were obese, today it's 1 in 4 and I can see why!!!

Unfortunately Emi isn't here to enjoy this amazing trip with me since she had meetings and I'm here for work as well so we couldn't match up our schedules. Since I don't really know anyone out here and Emi isn't here to explore the city with me, I decided to fill my off time with enjoying all the great food New York City has to offer!

My first night in town, I Yelp'd New York Pizza and this little spot, right around the corner from the W came up, Patzeria Pizza. I couldn't come all the way out here and not get some good, authentic New York Pizza, and this place didn't disappoint.

Definitely a hole in the wall type of place with no A/C. The only complaint on Yelp was that the staff wasn't very friendly, but the reviewer said "I would be cranky too if I was stuck in that hot, cramped little space too!". Even though it was getting late into the evening, it was definitely hot and muggy out so I decided to take my pizza "to go" to enjoy in my air conditioned room.
I ordered their "White pizza" and "Grandma's pizza" which is basically their Margherita pizza. The white pizza was garlicky and cheesy just the way I like it. Also Grandma's pizza was great too. I was a little surprised that the crust was a little crunchy and a tad tough, considering I thought all NY pizza was thin crust, but still a great way to start off my eating spree.

The next day I ran out of time to eat breakfast and by the time I was done with work, it was late in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten anything yet! Good thing late in the afternoon is right about lunchtime in Seattle which is the timezone my stomach was going on.

I had on my list of places to visit, the World's Famous Carnegie's Deli. Carnegie's is always on the Food Network and is well known for their ginormous pastrami and corned beef sandwiches. I ended up walking down the wrong street, so made it all the way to Central Park and decided to wander around there for a little while since I've never been before. Definitely an fun walk, but this little detour worked up even more of a hunger so I went all out with my meal. Anyhow how many times am I out in the NYC?

My monster pastrami sandwich. The meat lover in me was in heaven (I ate the whole thing) and the dieter in me said "it's OK you're on vacation". This sandwich is best served smothered in their stone ground mustard which is already at your table. I liked the mustard because it didn't have a strong overpowering horseradish aftertaste. This sandwich was an amazing choice, never have I had such tender, delicious pastrami. I thought I would be done with pastrami for years after finishing this, but writing this post right now makes me want to go order a late night sandwich to go!

Of course to complete my meal I had to get some authentic NY matzah ball soup! Fogetbout it! My roommate in college's family was from New York so he introduced me to matzah ball soup and corned beef sandwiches back in the day, so I knew if I ever made it out to NY I had to have some. This was delicious, not too salty, but still a great chicken broth. Unfortunately I could only finish one matzah ball, it was too much!

After going back to the hotel, I passed out and took a short nap, then went to workout. The whole workout I was weighed down by the 5 lbs of pastrami, bread, and matzah ball soup, but they were worth the pain. However by the time I sort of was hungry again it was 9pm. My friend Greyson highly recommended the Halal Food Cart on 53rd and 6th. What's funny is that on the way there, I ran into about 10 other Halal food carts and supposedly this one opens at 7:30pm so if you get there early you might be fooled by the imposter setup in its place. However I knew I had the right spot because of the line 20 deep when I showed up.

The line moved pretty quickly and I think this is primarily a locals spot. They didn't have a menu or any prices listed. So I just ordered what the guy in front of me ordered, lamb and chicken with rice. This whole thing for only $6 and I always heard Manhattan was expensive. This dish is best served drenched with the side of "white sauce" and a touch of the hot sauce. Word of warning the hot sauce is hot, even if you like hot foods, this ish is hot! Click here to check out the food cart's website.

This was a great way to start off my first two days in NYC. Today I was able to enjoy the world's best ramen, which will get its own post for a future date. Before I leave I hope to get some potato latkas, a black and white cookie, an authentic NY bagel with cream cheese and lox, and hopefully some good Chinese food too. I'm sure I'll come back a little huskier on Monday and will only have 12 days to get back into shape for Hawaii!!

- Kyle