DuMont Burger

Sometimes there are days when you wake up and realize what a huge doofus you are, right? Like woah, you can't even believe it and the only way to quash that weird tingling inside your brain is to eat something that will make you so full that your body nearly stops functioning. Also, looking back on this blog, it's a miracle I don't have to be rolled around the street like a giant ball of a human.

So here it is, the fish sandwich from DuMont Burger. It's fried skate on a brioche bun, comes with all the necessary vegetables and homemade tartar sauce, which I regret not slathering all over the fish. It was really good. You gotta keep the fried things fried right, you know? Crispy on the outside and soft and flaky and flavorful on the inside. Same with the onion rings too, there was no weird batter-slippage leaving me with only slippery, oily onions. The onions were actually a little bit crunchy still, which I liked.

Pre-assembly

Calexico

You know how the winter makes you wanna eat a lot of food and crawl into bed and take naps? I think hot, muggy, gray weather is summer's equivalent of that feeling. All I've wanted to do is alternate between eating heavy foods and watching youtube videos in my bed... sometimes on my iPhone and not even my computer because I can't be bothered to deal with a real keyboard. Yeah, days like that.

I went to Calexico and got a fish burrito and a margarita, watched Ren and Stimpy, watched part of James and the Giant Peach, fell asleep, woke up, went home, and fell asleep in my own bed

beer battered cod, spicy slaw, mango salsa, chipotle "crack" sauce

My lobster roll from Rye

It was ok. I didn't like the bread and I thought there was too much stuff mixed in the with lobster, no mayo though so I guess that was good.

shake shack

What's there to say? I love Shake Shack. I tried the Smoke Shack burger (on the right) which has bacon and chopped cherry peppers, and WOAH. Too good to be true. I liked the sour-y peppers with the bacon and cheese. Sometimes I don't understand why people wait in like for so long just for Shake Shack, but this was the longest line I've ever waited in and at the end, it was totally worth it. I think I get it now.

spumoni gardens + a birthday spread

Last weekend we went way out to Spumoni Gardens, the pizza heaven of my dreams that I hadn't actually been to before. Supposedly the best Sicilian slice in Brooklyn, among other Italian food. Dreams do come true, guys.

 This is a "half box"

So the way they make their pizza is to put down the mozzarella first. Then the sauce. Then pecorino romano all powdered on top. Putting down the cheese first is what makes the pizza so good because it gets all melty from the inside and creates this doughy, chewy center. And it's a sauce barrier. Just like lettuce on a sandwich is a moisture barrier.

 

See that cheesey doughy center? Yeah. Can you dig it?

Spumoni ice cream

It was also Rachel's birthday! Some people just know how to celebrate the right way. I didn't get any close up pix because...I guess I was too hungry and too distracted. It was a Scandinavian feast, how could I not be? 

cocoron

I always get really excited when my friends have food places to take me because I feel like I'm always the one hounding them to try new places with me. Does that sound snotty? It's not supposed to. Yeah, so Laurel took me to her favorite soba place, Cocoron, and it was wild. For my tastebuds. Now I'm all about the soba.

Laurel's soba, I forget what was in it. 

Kimchi soba with apples and an almost raw egg

When you mix in the egg, it creates this creamy saucy mixture, which goes so well with the kimchi. These people know what's up. And the APPLES. Oh the apples, those were so good too. Like a little bit sweet and tart to go along with the spicy, sour, creamy, eggy everything else. The noodles too! I mean, obviously, the star of the show, but they were a little chewier than I usually have had soba, like it was just dunked real quick in some boiling water. But it was great and I assume that's how all soba should be eaten and I've just been doing it wrong.

Paulie Gee's

I love Paulie Gee's. That guy makes good pizza. When I got there, there was a tv crew in there and I freaked out and started furiously texting Melissa to hurry up so we could be on T.V. I really just wanted to plug my blog. Well, I didn't (read: choked up and couldn't) and I'm fairly certain my footage will never air because I was giggling through the whole thing. At one point I dropped a slice of pizza in some water while I was trying to casually pass it to Melissa. Ugh. But you know, they did film me eating my pizza because nobody else ordered it, so maybe that'll get my face on T.V. Should've written the link to this blog on my forehead though. Another time, I guess.

Melissa's Hellboy: fior di latte, italian tomatoes, berkshire sopressata piccante and parmigiano reggiano with spicy honey

This is their best pizza and my favorite, but I've got a lot of other pizzas to try.

Nick's Spectacle 261: fior di latte, speck, sliced cremini mushrooms, sliced red onions and milled black pepper

My pizza, but I forget what it was called. It was the one with guanciale. And fior di latte, italian tomatoes, pecorino and leeks too. It was everything I wanted it to be, especially after that out of body experience I had eating the "cheek corea" salad. The tomatoes are nice n sweet, which helped even out the saltiness of the guanciale (which was amazing, by the way, but not as crispy as what I had on the cheek corea salad). And the fior di latte adds a nice creamy softness to it all.

 

Look ma, I'm famous! 

Hakata Tonton

Yesterday I was supposed to try this other Japanese restaurant that's new to me, and I was so pumped for it, but somehow I got sidetracked and ended up at Hakata Tonton in the West Village. It's a "Kyushu Japanese Soul Food" restaurant that serves "renditions of the food made famous in Hakata, Japan." I feel like I'm writing a research paper with all these quotation marks. Anyway, not totally sure I know what "kyushu" means, but it's gotta be good. God, it was the one of the best meals I've had in recent memory (I haven't forgotten Balthazar though). I also haven't had such a serious decision making dilemma when reading a menu in a long while. It was stressful, to say the least. Luckily everything is meant to share, so we got a few plates.  

Cold ramen with seaweed, some Japanese yam, and other miscellaneous unidentifiable cold vegetables

So their online menu isn't as extensive as the on in the restaurant, so I can't go back and read exactly what I ate. I tried to remember, but I was so caught up in eating (re: inhaling) my food. But yeah, I've never had cold ramen before and it was really delicious. The noodles were cooked perfectly, just the right amount of chewiness, but I'm not sure how to explain all the layers of flavors I was tasting, they were all pretty new to me. Or at least used in a new way and I couldn't figure out what was going on other than "this is so good." I mean, it was really...milky, but with a very strong fishy flavor, not in a pungent bad way though. Not at allll.

Kaisen roll: salmon, tuna,  scallop, something that we didn't recognize in the roll or on the menu, cucumber, and roe roe roe

So good, so so good. There were so many different things going on, but not in a confusing way. It felt like my tastebuds were going through different levels of taste and textures. 

Slow cooked pork with buns and spicy mustard

I wasn't totally sure how to eat the pork with the buns, the waitress was explaining it to us but at the moment, I was occupied with a piece of that roll in my mouth so I didn't hear anything she said. I think I tackled it in the wrong way, but whatever. The pork was so tender and sweet, in a subtle way, and the mustard gave it a nice kick, though I don't think it was that spicy. And of course the fattiness of it all really brought it all home, I felt like I was melting away with the pork. The buns were also very good, they were really sweet but with like this little hint of sourness. I don't know, the first thought that I had was "interesting" not "SO GOOD" but I eventually got to there.

At the time, I thought this picture was a good idea. I wanted to show you all the layers of the pork, especially this especially fatty piece because David doesn't eat pork that much and I think it weirded him out a little bit. But it just looks like I took a huge bite out of it. Which I did. I just thought it would look better than this.

Crispy chicken wings

I remember reading something about butter being involved with this dish, but again, it's not on their online menu and I can't go check!! I should pay attention. 

This was the best part of the meal. Everything was amazing, but I wouldn't order it again until I've tried a bunch of other things on the menu. But I would definitely get this again next time. The chicken was so right on with mixing sweet and savory flavors, and cooked exactly the right way. It was perfectly crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and just a lil oily in a good way because it came from the chicken, and not from excessive frying.

Creme brulee and black sesame ice cream

I love black sesame ice cream, but I don't know how to describe the taste in English. I have a word for it in Korean, but I don't know what it translates to in English. I guess the best description I can come up with is that it has a really deep, toasted flavor to it. It's in this gray area that's not savory or sweet. 

I'm still really really full. And also getting late for work. I guess I should go.

BBQ 2 ways

I've been in a sweaty bbq haze these days. I can barely remember what day it is and where I am. I guess that means it's summer. Jeremy had an impromptu bbq last night, and he got so into it.  So much good food. Then this afternoon, barely 12 hours after Jeremy's, I invaded Dan's patio again so we could grill breakfast foods. I did a little sweating over the grill then decided to lounge in the shade, let Neal and Jer take over and be a backseat grill-er instead. I'm so bossy. There was so much food and it was such a feeding frenzy. Plus I was not sober and hot, and being hot makes everything fuzzy, so here are some whatever pictures that sort of document the bbqs.

 ribs pre-grill

beer can chickens pre-grill

the beer in the can really keeps the chickens moist

 

cooked

also cooked

a dramatic flash picture, not really that burned

 i have no idea what is happening on this plate but it's mostly meat, grilled vegetables, and pickled vegetables and various condiments

breakfast spread: sausages, chicken sausages, spicy cheese, vegetables, berries, scrambled eggs, tortillas (for breakfast burritos), bacon, frozen trader joe's waffles, pre-made trade joe's hasbrowns, etc

grill pt. 1

Grilled bacon is such a good idea, all the fat drips into the bottom and cooks the bacon nicely. I guess we could've cooked it a little crispier but I got impatient. Also, I hope nobody is shaking their head at the pre-made hashbrowns, it's just so much easier that way and also, really, does it taste that much better homemade anyway? It's still semi-home made, right? Come on.

 waffles and toast

Ok so the waffles are pre-made, and they probably would have been better had they been homemade. I would've put bacon bits and cheddar in the waffles. Or maybe berries and chocolate chips. But I don't have a waffle iron, and I don't have anything against frozen waffles anyway. I should've bought some pop-tarts too.

watermelon and zucchini and tomatoes mingling with some mushrooms and meat

Neal used this for watermelon gazpacho (not including the mushrooms and sausage, ha)

 oh and mimosas and some condiments

There were also some blueberry crepes that got thrown on the grill in the end, it was a good dessert

So I don't know if grilling things actually made this breakfast taste better, but it was fun so why not? Well no, it did taste better. 

breakfast burrito pre-grill

another

 

watermelon gazpacho

hot lunch

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to leave my apartment on the hottest day of the summer (so far). So I did. I went out into the proverbial frying pan that is New York in the summer, and I went to the farmer's market to buy some heirloom tomatoes and basil. I didn't buy any mozzarella there though. I didn't really trust the very rapidly melting ice to keep it fresh. Now I'm back inside like I should have been this whole day, and I don't expect I will leave until it's about 10 degrees cooler outside.

vegetable tempura

This place has mediocre sushi, but really good tempura. Squash, sweet potatoes, mushrooms (!!!), green beans, broccoli, and other miscellaneous root vegetables

I had a genius idea last night: grilled breakfast. Stay tuned

vamos al tequlia

Shredded chicken enchiladas suizas (spicy green tomatillo sauce)

It doesn't look nice, but in my experiences (which I guess are not that authentic but WHATEVER) Mexican food doesn't really looks "nice" unless it's some fancy taco. And I mean really, how good can it look anyway? There's not really much room for a beauty treatment when your food is wrapped in tortillas and drenched in sauce. Besides, it tasted really good.

bbq

It's hot. Not as hot as it was this time last summer (and I have an A/C now), but it's still that kind of hot that hits you like hot laundry or a damp towel, and there isn't really much to do besides laze around and eat endlessly. So that's what I did most of today. The most important part is that I made Juicy Lucys!! Basically it's a pocket of cheese inside the hamburger patty (made by smooshing two together). I didn't make my own patties because I wasn't sure how my burger stitching technique would hold up, but now that I know, next time I'm making my own. And adding bacon bits to the cheese. :)

Cheese oozing out of the patty

 We bought a pack of mini patties and two packs of regular patties from Trader Joe's. The mini-patties worked out best because after each patty has been flattened, it turns into a pretty hefty burger. The regular patties were monsters. I used colby-jack cheese. I watched a few videos and I think it's best to use just a regular old block of cheddar or some sort of yellow cheese. American cheese is too processed and will be runny, fancy cheese won't melt as well, but that in-between cheese like this is just melty and stringy enough.

Sealing the patties together

Before the table became littered with way more food 

Grilling round 1

Hot dogs and grilled green onions

There were pineapple chicken sausages and artichoke chicken sausages too.

My burger! You can see the cheese bubbling out a little bit, plus tomatoes, lettuce, grilled onions and mayo, ketchup and spicy but not so spicy mustard

 My first bite into the cheese part

Grilled flatbread with leftover grilled vegetables and artichoke sausage

Grill round 2 or 3

Hot dog with cheese, grilled peaches, and a grilled pepper

Feels like summer is really really here now