Great Japanese food at Yeung II in Hoboken, NJ

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It as been a while that we noticed this small restaurant located uptown Hoboken. Each time we passed by, I have noticed that it was packed. I love Japanese food and my favorites are the sushi and sashimi. For those who do not know, sashimi is raw fish (you will always have on a sashimi plate a piece of tuna or salmon that are very tender) and sushi is made of raw fish on top of sushi rice. The difficulty in making a sushi is to   put the rice well together so it does not crumbled as soon as you pick it up with your chopsticks. Often, there will be wasabi between the fish and the rice. My least favorite sushi is shrimp: usually cooked, it is too bland. 

So we go there for lunch (all Japanese restaurants have lunch specials that are usually good deals). At first they seem a little stressed out. We ask for green tea and they tell us that the water was not yet hot. Interesting! I guess it does not take that long to boil water, no? Then it took several minutes before they realize that we do not have any menu. After that, everything was fine.

I guess they were a bit late in there prep work and all stressed out! Minutes later, the restaurant was packed and there were a lot of asian customers, that is a very good sign for a Japanese restaurant! But note that they serve also Chinese cuisine; for instance, they have the General Tso Chicken or Lo Mein.

So we went for the lunch specials. They came with a miso soup and a salad.

The salad came first as the miso soup was not ready (what is going on with the hot water today?). It was a nice portion. Of course, the salad was a traditional salad you would have for a lunch special: lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and a carrot and ginger sauce that was very good.

Then came the miso soup that had a great smokey aroma. It was pretty good and...hot.

For the main course, we had the avocado rolls. They were pretty nice. Of course, it all comes down to the ripeness of the avocado and it was perfect.

The Sushi and Sashimi plate was awesome: colorful and the fish tasted fresh (I hope)! It came with 4 pieces of sushi (tuna and salmon of course), 6 pieces of sashimi (tuna and salmon also in the party) and a salmon and avocado roll. The avocado was ripe enough and the salmon delicious!

This was definitely a great lunch for a very good price. I loved it and will probably go back there. You should too!

Enjoy (I did)!

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Delicious Tapas at Boqueria in New York City!

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So we were craving for tapas and ended up in Boqueria in Chelsea. The place is very nice with a decor that has a modern and rustic feel at the same time. There are two main areas: the bar area where you can just sit on high tables by yourself and look at the preparation of the tapas; and the main room with its large tables and, on one side a wall full of mineral water bottles and a big mirror on the other side. I love the lights that are, on each side of the restaurant, simply bulbs (stylish, do not look for energy efficient ones!).

Boqueria serves either tapas, cheeses and meats or Spanish specialties. We decided to go for tapas. If you do not know, tapas are appetizers or snacks in Spanish cuisine. It is a great way to share plates and a lot of restaurants have borrowed this idea.

Tapas can be served either hot or cold. The traditional items you would find are olives and tortilla that is and egg and potato omelet. The tortilla was the best I ever had: I do not like when eggs are overcooked, but this one was perfect. The eggs were moist and it was very tasty.

It was served with few olives and bread. I have to say that I did not know what to do with the bread at that point!

Then I wanted to try the Cojonudo that is fried quail eggs and chorizo on toast.

This little place was beautiful! It was also delicious. This is an amuse bouche: you have to eat each toast entirely (the yolk is runny). I loved the flavors: first you get the bread and the eggs and suddenly you will  taste the chorizo. My only regret is that the chorizo was a bit tough.

Then we had the croquetas cremosas: creamy croquettes three were with cheese over a truffle puree and the other three were with mushroom and serrano ham over a raisin puree. The truffle puree was great: you could really taste the truffle. However, I did not really like the raisin puree with the croquettes. Standalone was fine though. The croquettes were delicious and flavorful. They were not greasy at all. My favorite was the cheese one.

We finished with Salteado de Setas: sauteed wild mushrooms with Manchego cheese. This was my least favorite. The taste of the mushrooms was a bit off and the cheese was tasteless.

Overall, it was a good meal. I was a bit hungry after this and needed a snack later. For me, this is a great place to try different dishes and enjoy the flavors of the Spanish cuisine. It is especially good if you are with several people so you can try plenty of dishes! Definitely to recommend!

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I just want to eat!

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Chinatown Restaurant Week March 9 to March 18 2012

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Similar to Restaurant Week, Chinatown Restaurant Week will see restaurants in Chinatown propose prix-fixe dinner for 18.88 (without tax and tip) from MArch 8th to March 18th 2012. 

Participants are listed on the event website www.chinatownrestaurantweek.com. You will find the Peking Duck House (great Peking Duck!!!), Lobster House or Pho Grand.

Enjoy!

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Stick & Pop in NYC: what? Cake on a stick?

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Yesterday, we were walking in the street, going to Boqueria, when we notice this small store called Stick & Pop. We saw that it was selling some sweets and decided to go back after lunch to grab a treat for later. And we came back!

To give you a bit of history, Stick & Pop has been opened early February in that location, after being an online store (www.stickandpop.com). It has been created by French Culinary Institute graduate, Jacki Caponigro, and design professional, Christy Nyberg. We saw them other there and they were really nice!

To understand what they sell, imagine a candy apple, but instead of an apple, you get cake! It kind of reminds me of the cake bites we ate in Milwaukee (check here), but bigger and with a stick. The size is a close to a golf ball, although Stick & Pop sells small bags with four small sized lollipops. 

What is awesome, is that they do Baby Showers and Weddings, as well as Holiday pops! They also have a Stick & Pop dough kit that allows you to create your own! These pops are so pretty that I am sure a lot of brides are going to get crazy to get some for their wedding!

Now, let me tell you what Pops we got:

We started first with the Griswald: vanilla graham cake with marshmallow center and chocolate chip, dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in graham. As a whole, it looks like this:

Cut in half, it looks like that:

I loved the different layers of the pop!

Then we tried the Teddy Bear: chocolate cake dipped in white chocolate, rolled in multi-colored confetti sprinkles. 

If you love chocolate, the Teddy Bear is for you! The chocolate cake is so good!

There was also the O'Hara: coconut cake with chocolate chips, dipped in dark chocolate and covered with coconut. I am not a big fan of coconut, but I have to say that it was pretty good!

Last, is the almond cake one. I do not have any name, because it was a special one. They proposed us to try it, so I could not refuse!!! This was with the Griswald and the Teddy Bear my favorite too! It was almond cake dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with sugar sprinkles. The almond cake, similar to a paste was incredible!

Cut in half, it looked like this:

I really loved these pops and wish they will expand the choices with things like chocolate and raspberry. These pops are great: pretty and delicious, they are the perfect treat! On top of that, it is not messy to eat, so there is no problem to consume them in the street. Definitely to try!

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I just want to eat!

Reference: stickandpop.com

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Fabulous Donburi at Ubu Sushi in Hoboken, NJ!

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Ubu Sushi is a Korean-Japanese restaurant located in Hoboken, NJ. This is the place for Donburi, a japanese rice dish (means bowl in Japanese) that I tried few years ago. When I go to this place, it is not for the sushi (i tried them once and they are good), but for this affordable dish that is Donburi. They have different type: veggie, veggie and crab, tofu...

For a drink we got a nice green tea. I love the smoky taste of it.

With the Donburi, came a miso soup. It was pretty good and a perfect way to start.

The Donburi are served with a ginger sauce. I tried to know what was in it, but the waiter said that it was a secret recipe. The only think I could get is that there was carrots in it!

The vegetarian Donburi was made of mixed greens, avocado, cucumber and tofu, over sushi rice.

The veggie-Crab Donburi was made of crab, mixed greens, avocado, cucumber and tofu, over sushi rice. This dish is fabulous! There is a lot of crab with it and the avocado was ripe. When I was a kid, I hated rice salads, but I have to say, this has nothing to do with it! After you pour the ginger sauce and mix everything together, you get an explosion of flavors coming from the crab, salad, rice and sauce. It is amazing! 

If you are in Hoboken, stop by Ubu sushi for a Donburi: you will not regret it!

Enjoy (I did)!

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Recipe: Ghetto Garlic Bread from Coolio!

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So everybody probably knows Coolio from the song Gangsta's Paradise he wrote in 1995 for the movie Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer. What I did not know until I watch Rachel (Ray) vs. Guy (Fieri) on the Food Network, is that Coolio is also a cook. He even published a cook book called Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price and calls himself the Ghetto Gourmet. In this book, he will teach you how to be a Kitchen Pimp, explaining what you need in you Pimp-try...

Let me tell you: this guy knows how to cook (taught by his now deceased mother) and he ended up in the finale!

So, I decided to try to cook his Ghetto Garlic Bread, his take on Garlic Bread, made with mayonnaise. I do not have a cook book, so I tried to recreate the quantities.

In a bowl, I mixed:

• 6 tbsp of mayonnaise, 
• 2 tbsp of minced garlic and 
• cheese (depends how much you like).

I spread the mixture on a baguette cut in half and toasted it.

It was good, but if you do not like mayonnaise, I do not think it is for you!

Enjoy (I did)!

References:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolio

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Asian flavors at China Grill Restaurant in New York

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China Grill is a pan-asian restaurant opened in the 80's by Jeffrey Chodorow and is now part of the China Grill Management Company that has several restaurants in many cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles or London. Besides China Grill, they own Asia de Cuba and Bar Basque that are popular restaurants in New York. 

The decor is quite nice: very high ceiling with some big Japanese lanterns (red lightning) and granite walls. This restaurant is serving Family style, but now, they offer smaller sizes, but still pricey. Anyway, if you do not know it is family style when coming, you will know when ordering as I think I heard it five times....

I went with four people, so we ordered several dishes to share.

For the appetizers, we started with the Lemongrass crusted tofu tots served with delicious pickled cucumbers and a kimchee sauce topped with black sesame seeds. That was an original dish! Good and light; I did not taste the kimchee in the sauce and it was not spicy.

The crab cakes (2) were a bit dry. They were served with a tomatillo-pineapple salsa and mustard sake sauce, but there was not enough sauce. 

My favorite though for appetizers was the Tempura Tuna Sashimi that was served with a hot mustard champagne sauce. This had great flavors and the tuna was incredibly good and tender.

My second favorite for appetizers was the Chicken satay. It came with chilled sesame noodles and a toasted peanut sauce. Let me tell you: the chicken was perfectly cooked and so moist. It was deliciously paired with the peanut sauce. The noodles were a nice addition to the dish.

Then came the entrees. The waiter was serving us, making sure that everybody got his share of the food. He was a little stressed out and we asked him to slow down a bit!

For the main entrees, we had:

The duck two ways: pan seared breast with chocolate-orange sauce and “Moo Shu” style confit of leg with spicy hoisin sauce. I thought it was a great idea, but did not really like the chocolate-orange sauce on the duck (and not because of a salty/sweet thing). Also, the crepes were kind of weird tasting. Besides that, the duck was very good and perfectly cooked and seasoned.

We also had the Curry miso black cod with sweet soy glazed Chinese broccoli and yuzu-miso butter sauce. That is when I could not take my photo because the waiter went crazy cutting the fish! It was a nice dish, although not my favorite. The fish was perfectly cooked and moist.

Then was the Miso grilled vegetables and udon noodles served with a spicy hoisin and mushroom sauce. This was definitely one of my favorites! The sauce was for sure spicy, but it was bearable! There was an explosion of flavors between the vegetables, the noodles and the sauce.

But wait, it is not finished! We also shared some sides! We tried the lobster mash potatoes: where was the lobster???

And the avocado fried rice salad: missing seasoning for sure. The sides were not that great!

China Grill is a nice fusion restaurant with some surprising combination worth to try, but still, on the pricey side.

Enjoy (I did)!

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My take on the burgers at Shake Shack in New York

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Everybody is talking about Shake Shack, the burger chain founded by Danny Meyer (Gramercy Tavern,  Blue Smoke) in 2004. The first experience I had was not very good: it was on a hot Summer day, two years ago. We were walking close to Madison Square Park and decided to try what was supposed to be a mouth watering burger. There was a very long line and considering how hot it was outside, my expectations were high; I manned up. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. I remember the service was very slow and the kitchen seemed overwhelmed. Then came our order: what a disappointment! The burger was not good at all! The bread was soggy and the meat tasteless. The fries were not crispy at all and had a weird taste. There was clearly something wrong!

Then, end of 2011, Shake Shack opened near Time Square. Each time I was passing by, I saw the long line of people waiting for their burgers. I still heard people claiming that this place was the best burger in New York. So, I decided to give it another chance and went yesterday. Place packed, so no surprise there considering the buzz and location. It was extremely difficult to get a seat and there was no way I  was going to eat outside: it is not a weather for this! We found a spot, but before that, had to look like vultures at tables where people finished or were finishing their meal.

I went for the Shake Stack: a cheeseburger and a mushroom burger topped with lettuce, tomatoes and the Shake Shack sauce. What you see on the photo that seems to be burnt is the mushroom burger (at first, you think there are two patties). What is interesting is that it gives some crispiness to the overall dish and is surprisingly filled with cheese. I did not fully taste the mushrooms, but I thought it was a good idea.

The meat was good, cooked perfectly (medium) and very moist. The bread was a regular bun.

Overall pretty decent.

The fries were good also: crispy and tasty, not too salted. 

I also had a vanilla milkshake: thick but not to the point where you will break your jaw trying to get the milkshake go through the straw. It was a pretty good one.

Overall it was a good burger. But it is not the best for me in the city. If you would like to know which one I prefer, check My favorite restaurants page by clicking here. Opening near Time Square was a very smart idea and I am sure it will continue to get packed and crazy there! 

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I Just Want To Eat! 

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