Brunch at ABC's Kitchen

After our last get together for brunch - two months ago - our lovely foodie friend, Grimm, suggested that we should do it again, next time at ABC's kitchen, and she made the reservation right after that.

I've heard about the ABC's kitchen a while ago, watched the first introduced to the public, the interview of Paulette Cole, ABC Home CEO & Creative Director, about the idea of starting the restaurant right inside the ABC home furnishing building- across from the ABC home carpets- , and I didn't pay much attention to it.




To me, the ABC is the place I love to go browsing around, enjoying looking at their home furnishing collections, and the place where we buy our carpet, and never bother to stop and check out the restaurant located down to the back of the home furnishing store.

When Grimm suggested that the ABC's kitchen should be the next our get-together, I agreed. So we will get the taste of chef Jean-Georges and enjoy all the unique light fixtures and the table wears at the same time.


Turkey sandwich and fried

 Smoked salmon topped over crispy mashed potato.


We didn't go with the full course, which would have been too much food for us judging from the portion they serve. As always, we ordered different plates, and we got to taste a bit of each other, we love them all. They are tasty, and it's worth to come back for other plates I have my eyes on - like crispy shrimp salad I saw from the table next to our table.

 ABC's Sundae
 

At the end, we washed it down with the famous ABC's Sundae, which made my generous sweet tooth stays sweet for the next whole month.


 

Grilled Fish at Robataya, East Village.

It was Friday, and Noom had a day-off, so we decided to eat out. Our fist choice was the famous Ippudo that we never get to be seated, still, because our patients for the waiting time were so short, and this time we thought we would try again since it was already late afternoon, and Bam!!..."45 min - 1 hr. waiting time" Okay, we pass!!, again.

We changed the direction to ninth street to another Japanese's called Robataya


It was Noom's friend, who is Japanese, recommended this restaurant to him, saying that the taste of the foods here is traditional Japanese. So we tried.

They open for lunch with a lunch menu which is pretty much covers the general Japanese foods.



It turned out we love what we had. Noom had grilled fish, today they offered grilled Hokke fish. It's simply delicious - not too salty, not too blend with the right portion, only that a bit much of fine bones, well, that's the purpose of eating fish, isn't it - be conscious with what you are doing it in front of you.

I had fried chicken marinated in soy sauce, yeahhhh...it sounds boring, and I usually have it most of the time, but I didn't want to order the same dish with Noom when we first come to the new restaurant, we want to try different dishes, then yes, with this menu, the fried chicken seamed to call for my appetite.


Yes, we love the taste of the foods, and how they care for the foods compares to some Japanese restaurants we've tried before. Also the garden is nice and comfy to sit and lunch. We went there late afternoon, so we didn't really know if it was crowded by noon, by the time we were there, there were only a few table with customers.

So it was very calm and quite garden with the sound of small water fountain at the center of the garden.



With all the light, the decorations and the wall painting, they did a really good job on trying to create the garden that feels like you are sitting in the real open garden.

There is also a front section which is closed during the lunch time, and will be opened for dinner time, we later know, after checking out their website, that they have an open kitchen where people sit around them and watch all the foods are made, and we've agreed that we should go back for dinner later.

Lunch Prix Fixe at DBGB

My lovely sister, Sam, came to visit NYC, and, like she always does as her favorite, wanted to explore the talk-of-the-town places to eat. This time is the time for DBGB kitchen & Bar restaurant at Downtown Manhattan, one of the places owned by Chef Daniel Boulud.

Sam always wanted to try this place, and had been trying to make a reservation for dinner and hadn't got any luck, she also had to fly back to Chi-Town that evening, so we ended up having lunch instead.


We met at my place and walked there since it's just a short walk. We got there very early, the place was still empty, but filled in half an hour later.

Fall Squash Soup, amber lager emulsion, crisp sage.


Besides the regular menu, they offer Weekday Lunch Prix Fixe menu for $24.07 which was what we opted for. We both started with Fall Squash soup since it's our favorite. It comes with tiny crisp sage in the middle. The taste is silky smooooooth...really enjoy it.

Sam said no mater where you eat it, it'll always be delicious, and this one was no exception.

THAI14

My sister is another Curious George when it comes to Foods and Drinks, and when she saw THAI 14 in the menu, she went for it. Some people might think what's the point of ordering Thai food in French-American restaurant when you are Thai...


Plain and simple...she just wants to know how Thai influenced foods will taste like in this famous chef's restaurant. We were having a little fun guessing what is what originally in Thai, and I think he did a good job on creating and keeping the taste close to the original.

As for main, we chose different dishes, so we both could try two different dishes. Sam went for Spicy Tamarind Mussels, and I chose Risotto with butternut squash, chicken and mushroom.

Spicy Tamarind Mussels

Risotto


Tamarind sauce is no stranger for us as Thai, but we never have it with Mussels before, so this dish is surprisingly delicious. My Risotto is comfortably delicious, but it sits on a little salty side, for me, well... still enjoyable.

Last comes the desserts; Gateau Tout Chocolate for Sam, and Green Apple-Honey Sundae for me.

Green Apple-Honey Sundae

We both loveeee the Sundae. We were agree that the Chocolate is too Chocolate-y rich, especially for me, who isn't a big fan of Chocolate. Oh Yes, people.....the people who doesn't like Chocolate is still existing :)

Gateau Tout Chocolate

I love the ice cream, it's light and delicious - well balance - little tang, sweet, crunch, smooth...easily want more. We couldn't finish the Tout Chocolate though.


Sam swiftly picked up the tab before I blinked. I promised, I'll tie her hands to the chair next time she comes because she always does that, and I told her so.

Next stop she wants to sit in is the Japanese Ramen Noodle restaurant called Ippudo in East Village, and I'll bring a chain with me this time...be prepared, Sam.

My lovely Sis with Tamarind Mussels.

Baoguette Cafe, Vietnamese's close to home

My craving for noodle kicked in, and I didn't have time to make nor to go to Chinatown. So we made our stop short at Baoguette Cafe, Vietnamese sandwich & noodle place - just ten steps away from our apartment.


It's a tiny place - just two small tables, one big table and a counter bar for seating. It's not a fancy schmancy place for a romantic dining, but it is an easy place for a quick stop with a hint of South East Asian ambient you would get from those pictures of street vibes of Vietnam on the wall and the display of Asian ingredients in the kitchen window.

The decor reminds me of a street food vibes back at home in Thailand, and I think that's what this place' s trying to say here.


We went there late afternoon, and it wasn't crowded - still there's no small tables for us, so we got big table at the front just for two of us.

I had Pho Special which has rare beef, brisket, tendon in anise broth, served with raw beansprout, fresh basil leaves and a wedge of lime on the side for $8.

The portion is huge for me. They give a generous amount of tender beef and they are delicious. The broth is tasty - not too strong nor too light, but I am a spicy girl, so Sriracha sauce helps me there.

Also, love the fresh scent of basil and raw red onion in the broth. It helps taming my craving for Thai Guy Teiw Nam Tok.


My husband asked for Baoguette, a classic Vietnamese sandwich which comes with pork pate', pickle, daikon, carrot, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno for $5. The size of it is still big for me, but it is OK for my husband - just OK.

I will go back and try the sandwich next time. There are a few Vietnamese restaurants in our neighborhood waiting for us to stop by as well.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We went out for lunch with our friend, Suzanne, at Momofuku Noodle Bar in our neighborhood since we hadn't seen her for a while.

When Suzanne asked us to choose the place, we had no idea what to choose because there are too many restaurants in our area and we don't know anymore which one to pick. So we only gave her two choices - one was Momofuku and another one was Peruvian place called Mancora on 1 Ave.


She loved to try both places, but wanted to check it out at the Momofuku first, and if, as always, the place was too busy, we would move to Mancora. Luck was on our side that day, we only waited for ten minutes to be seated.

We first got to know this place because of my foodie sister, Sam, who lives in Chicago. Every times she comes to New York, she always have the list of all talk-of-the-town restaurants in NYC to go to, and Momofuku was one on her lists. We went there to see what the buzz is all about.


As an Asian, we are always confused when we see Asian food look-like, and it isn't taste like one. That is the Momofuku Noodle Bar for us.

But it's understandable when David Chang, the owner, says that his foods are not considered as an Asian-Asian food, and he doesn't want to use the word "Fusion" either. He says It's just his own creation of food inspired by many culinary cultures.



So it is obvious that Momofuku Noodle Bar is not the place for people who wants to try Asian food because it is not the taste of Asian, it is just a hint of smell of Asian. So you will not be disappointed by it.

But if you want to catch a trend of NYC eat-out, it isn't worse to try, at least their buns would make you happy.



Suzanne is a vegetarian. She ordered prix fixe menu which comes with pork bun, so I ordered Shiitake bun then we switched, and she could have Shiitake and I had pork bun.

I have to say though, I love the pork bun, and if I wanted to go back the pork bun is the reason.

Lunch at Sharaku, East Village

I have been avoiding being in the kitchen for a while after the mercury keeps raising, and we already hit 92 degrees today.

After I had been thinking of sashimi for all week long, we decided to drop by Sharaku, another Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood, on 9th street btw 2 & 3 Ave, for lunch.




They offer lunch menu and, of course, sashimi is on the list. When it comes to sashimi, I usually go to another place which was reasonable for both the price and the quality of the food, but, lately, we have been noticing that the quality of the food's gradually dropping when they reopened after the renovation.

Some of the dishes have been changed along with the new price that turns out we have to pay more for less than what it used to be, so I gave them back a ring and broke up with them.....and go back to Sharaku.




Since I have to pay more, why not pay for good quality then. Sharaku is a bit pricier compares to the place I just broke up with, but the quality of the food is also better.

Their lunch menu is reasonable at $7 to $13 with all the side dishes - soup or salad, 1 choice of appetizer, a bow of white or brown rice.




I went for sashimi, $13, which comes with a bow of rice and soup or salad - I chose salad because of the DRESSINGggggg.

I love salad dressing here, it's rich, but not like mayo-rich. They use carrot, daikon, ginger and some other root vegetables to make it rich by grating them up very finely to give the dressing creamy-like body, and it's really tasty.




My husband went for fried salmon with some kind of sauce with the soup, California rolls and brown rice, $7.

Mine didn't come with appetizer, so I ordered shrimp tempura separately.....yum!