Homemade Ramen – Just Like The Real Thing

March 9, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife recently went to a food expo at the Javitz Center, where she sampled some ramen that contained black garlic oil. She was blown away by it, so naturally I started looking for black garlic oil online. I couldn’t find anything like a bottle of it. But I DID find this on Amazon, so I ordered it:

I figured it can’t be any worse than Maruchan, right? Shit – maybe it would even be good.

So the shipment came. I had a serious hankering for good hearty ramen, REAL ramen, but I didn’t feel like getting back on the train to the city to go find a decent bowl (there’s nothing good out on Long Island in terms of ramen – same goes for pho and Vietnamese food in general). So I decided to doll-up some of this instant ramen with some ground pork and various other cuts of pork.

What you see below is center cut pork chops (top/back), boneless country style pork ribs (center) and pork belly (the ground pork was not pictured). That slab of bacon isn’t anything special either, by the way. My grocery store doesn’t normally sell big hunks of pork belly, so I picked up a $4 package of Hormel brand “salt pork.” I figured if I cooked it correctly, it would taste like the real thing.

So what did I do to the meat? I prepared the pork by using a slow cooker for about 6 hours on low. I filled the pot with about a half cup of soy sauce, 2 Tbsp duck sauce, 2 Tbsp sugar in the raw simple syrup, 2 tsp Chinese 5-spice, a stick of cinnamon along with a few shakes of ground cinnamon, 3 red chili peppers, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp ginger powder, a few shakes of garlic powder, 1 tsp Sriracha sauce, a shake of nutmeg, 1 roughly cut scallion shoot, and about 8 or 10 cloves. I whisked it all together with 2.5 pints of water. At first I was thinking this was too much liquid, but as it turns out it was just the right amount. You’ll see why later.

Then all I had to do was wait… But I bore easily. So I went out and got a little drunk with some friends at a local St. Patrick’s Day parade. There’s nothing quite like day-drinking. My wife was at a baby shower, so I would have just been sitting around playing with myself or watching horror flicks anyway. She picked me up after the shower and the timing was perfect. I came home to this, which I scooped out of the slow cooker:

I tasted it. Holy shit. Fucking perfect! Four beers and two shots didn’t take me off my cooking game, either. With all that excess slow-cooker liquid that I thought was too much, I decided to make a concentrated reduction to use later on as a dressing of sorts for plain noodles, or for SOMETHING. I’d figure out a way to use it because it was delicious. But then I had this brilliant idea to make the freeze-dried instant ramen noodles taste better: I boiled them in the slow-cooker liquid as it reduced. As a bonus, the starch helped to thicken the reduction as well.

In the meantime I cooked the ground pork with soy sauce and garlic, and made the ramen broth, which essentially was just the seasoning packets from the ramen package + water + heat. I also sliced some fresh scallions and some baby bella mushrooms for garnish, and sliced some boiled eggs that we already had in the fridge.

When we put it all together, we popped open the little package of elusive black garlic oil. Here’s the end result:

It came out a slight bit salty, so next time I will adjust seasonings accordingly. But if I ordered this in a NYC ramen shop for $15 I would be none the wiser that it was made with instant packets, and I would love it.

Commentary

The Food Of Vietnam

February 27, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Last year my wife and I went on the trip of a lifetime: Vietnam. We started in Hanoi, then took excursions to the mountains of Sapa and the caves of Halong Bay. After that we relaxed in Hoi An for a few days before heading down to Saigon. Below are some of the foods we encountered along the way.

This is what I woke up to, looking out the window of our hotel room in Hanoi:

The restaurant workers are cleaning and gutting the chickens right on the sidewalk! I was fascinated. I must have shot 50 photos of this.

The hotel had some pretty amazing food. There was a complimentary breakfast buffet which consisted of both American and Vietnamese food, complete with a made-to-order pho station (beef or chicken). Heaven. Below are some images of the dinner selections.

Crispy Fried Chicken Platter — crispy fried chicken

Goi Cuon: Vietnamese "Summer Rolls" — Goi Cuon: Vietnamese “Summer Rolls”

By far my favorite part of the trip was the time we spent in Sapa. The mountains were beautiful, the small towns were rustic and quaint, and the food was both stunning and delicious.

I guess pho for breakfast is a pretty normal thing in Vietnam, because this is what we had at our hotel in Sapa – best bowl I’ve ever had!

Also a buffet breakfast, I followed that up with some veggie noodles, sausage, and sun bread:

Oh yeah – and some amazing banh cuon (usually beef or pork meat and mushrooms folded into a rice noodle wrap and topped with fish sauce and fried shallots) – also made to order right on the spot, like the pho:

Charged up from a great breakfast, we wandered around the town:

Then we took a little private tour of some of the mountain villages, and a nearby food market:

The highlight of this excursion was the tour of the farming village. We went into an actual village home and hung out with the residents:

We stopped off at a local restaurant for lunch:

On the way back we saw a local giving new meaning to the phrase “bringing home the bacon.”

And a sign for dog & cat meat for human consumption – don’t tell PETA:

After a long day, it was nice to relax back at the hotel with some fruit, and another beer.

The next day we went to Halong Bay to explore the beautiful caves there. On the ferry over, we had some homemade snacks and drinks that my wife’s relatives brought along with them:

a ghetto banh mi sandwich - just bread and mystery bologna — a ghetto banh mi sandwich – just bread and mystery bologna

and a salty lime drink, which would be perfect for margaritas

After a day in the caves, we needed some time in the sun. Hoi An was the perfect way to relax after doing lots of touristy stuff. We had some fresh seafood on the beach:

And of course, a few cold refreshing beers by the water:

Hoi An had an amazing food scene. Check out some of the tasty shit:

"bun" - noodles with pork — “bun” – noodles with pork

Here was an interesting food cart that had some fresh breads along with fried blue claw crabs:

After our down-time in Hoi An, we flew down to Saigon to finish off our amazing trip. This first grouping of pics are street vendors and food market shots:

Then we did a huge sampling of local, exotic fruits. Below you’ll see sour sop, longan, rambutan, durian fruit, dragon fruit, passion fruit, and others:

On our boat ride to the Cu Chi tunnels, we were served some clay pot pork, summer rolls, veggies and rice:

And for dinner we had a home cooked meal at a relative’s house:

I tried to limit all of this to just the food, but if you’re interested to see more of my vacation pics (the mountains, the people, the street scenes, the farms, the riverside towns, etc.), then go to MY PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE.

Commentary

The Steak Cake

February 15, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

No: this is not a real steak. Yes: this is cake.

I have the pleasure of being married to a baker. She goes by the name “The Cake Dealer.” When I first started this blog, she was pretty well into her baking hobby. She was asking me what kind of cake I wanted and I suggested a cake that looks like a steak. It’s only fitting, right?

Well this is what she came up with. A perfectly grilled medium rare porterhouse with a side of mashed potatoes and string beans. Unbelievable.

The mashed potatoes are made from mashed up vanilla cake mixed with vanilla frosting, and topped with a slightly melted-looking yellow square of fondant as the butter:

The green beans are shaped from green fondant:

When I said medium rare inside I wasn’t fucking kidding. It’s strawberry cake, nice and pink all the way through, but it still maintains nice grill marks on top with a healthy sear (brown fondant with lines made from food coloring):

The details are where this piece really shines though. That t-bone is absolute perfection. It looks like it is REAL and glistening. Made from fondant as well. And on top there is black and white sugar to look like kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Not only did it LOOK amazing, but it TASTED amazing too. The fondant was made from marshmallows, so it didn’t have that grainy, chalky texture that is always disgustingly sweet. The cake was soft, light and moist. Man, I fucking love my wife.

To see more of her amazing creations, like her cake that looks like a burger, fries, and a shake (below), go to HER WEBSITE.

Commentary, Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Tabelog Event At Maison O

February 12, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

The good folks over at Tabelog saw fit to invite me to once again join them for one of their elite tasting events. This time, the event was at Maison O in SoHo to celebrate Japanese department store Isetan’s newest pop-up store that was open in SoHo for fashion week, in line with Japan’s “Nipponista” movement.

What is “Nipponista,” you ask? It’s part of a Japanese project called “Cool Japan” that was created to spread Japanese fashion, design, art and food throughout the world. “Cool Japan” and “Gross National Cool” became slogans for Japan’s growing and expanding cultural movement, which eventually arrived here at NYC fashion week.

Chef Tadashi Ono, the former executive chef of Matsuri, presented his culinary creations at the Tabelog event. We enjoyed a special tasting menu of Dashi and Agar, along with Mizubasho sake pairings. As with any good meal, you start out with some booze. Our official booze man was Shoichi Nagai, of the Mizubasho brand. Here is a shot of him explaining the differences between some of the sake we tasted:

See below for the mouth-watering images of our meal and sake pairings.

First we had some sparkling sake with dashikarikori-kan (dashi jelly) with black truffle, sitting on a slice of radish and topped with scallion. The sake was like champagne, only better, because I hate champagne and I love sake. The dashi was earthy, had a really nice meaty texture, and it delivered a great crunch from the radish.

We also had a Kumamoto oyster with ponzu ice to go along with the with sparkling sake. It was tart, with a sour, grapefruit type of finish, but very crisp and clean.

Then one of the dashi specialists explained to us the difference in miso soup that uses just miso + water versus miso + dashi, and he showed us the two main components of dashi (kombu kelp and katsuobushi/benito flakes). We were easily able to taste a vast world of difference between the two cups of miso. The miso + dashi was way more rich, earthier, and generally much more awesome.

Next came the fish course: black cod with a sake and dashi-kanten gravy (dashi plus agar for thickening and flavor). It was paired with a cold-aged, 2-year sake that was crisp and complex. We drank it from two cups (one glass and one tin) and the type of cup you drink from actually alters the flavors. Tin cup is much better. As for the cod; the aroma was amazing, and the flavor was light but powerful. It was cooked perfectly.

Our next course was beef rib eye with caramelized onion and grilled rice ball. NOW we’re talking! The onions were the real star here. They were minced and delicious. The dish came with a grilled shishito pepper too, which was nice and smokey. The steak was slightly over-cooked, but still very tasty and tender. I didn’t mind at all. The rice ball was crisped like it was grilled on the same surface as the beef, and it even retained a little of that meaty flavor from whatever it picked up off the grill. The sake pairing was a 2004 vintage, 10yr cold-aged sake that was limited quantity (only 40 bottles remain). It was clean and easy to drink, light, flavorful, and paired remarkably well with grilled meat even though it wasn’t as robust as a red wine.

For dessert we had a sweet, 2009 dessert sake that was reminiscent of ice wine. They said it would pair nicely with everything from sweets to fois gras and even uni or salmon roe. I could see it for the uni, as the taste was somewhat aromatic and perfumed, as is uni. This was presented with a coconut panna cotta and green tea tiramisu. The tiramisu had great flavor, and the panna cotta was firm and packed a lot of punch for something that looked so light.

Then chef Ono came out to greet us and talk with us.

And here’s a decor shot for the road:

And a list of the menu items we had, just in case you are keeping track:

You can see a quick video of the event HERE, although the page itself and most of the video contents are in Japanese. Unfortunately my incredibly handsome face didn’t make it into the edited clip. It could have benefitted from my gorgeousness, or at least from that of my stunning wife.

MAISON’O IS NOW CLOSED

Hot Pot, Korean, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Sik Gaek Seafood Hot Pot

February 9, 2014 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

Me, my wife, and some of our friends went to this pretty crazy Korean restaurant in Woodside called Sik Gaek. Good luck reading the website if you can’t read Korean. However the pics are nice under the “Delicious Table” drop down menu. They have some nice looking meats and fish.

I say “crazy” not to be judgmental of other cultures, but rather to demonstrate the purely subjective boundaries which I needed to cross to actually partake in the ingesting of food here. It’s crazy for ME, in other words. I typically eat my food cooked (with the exception of sushi, ceviche, shellfish and tartare). Not only that, but I usually eat my animals and fish AFTER they are good and dead (again, with the exception of shellfish). Also – my food usually isn’t MOVING. As you’ll see below, these western culinary conventions are thrown out the window at Sik Gaek. And that’s a good thing.

This place (the Flushing location rather than the Woodside spot we went to) was actually featured on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s show on the Travel Channel called “No Reservations.” The show is now off the air, as he has moved to CNN with “Parts Unknown” (it’s essentially the same show). In the “No Reservations” episode clipped below, he was in the midst of doing a tour of various “hidden” Asian food and culture spots around Queens with renowned chef David Chang. Watch as he eats still-moving, live, marinated and chopped octopus:

It makes me think of a shocking scene from the Korean film Old Boy, which has one of the most fucked-up twist endings ever, and is one of the most fucked-up but excellent movies of our time. No doubt this film will garner even more attention when Spike Lee fucks it up upon the release of his remake later this year, starring Josh Brolin:

Anyway… on to the actual food that we ate. It turns out there was a huge disappointment. They were out of live octopus. So after all that babble above, I didn’t really get to test the limits of my culinary tolerances. We did enjoy some delicious food though, and some of it was still moving while it cooked in the hot pot. Check out the pics below.

First, the drinks. Two types of beer, two types of soju, and a watermelon full of vagina juice (watermelon punch):

Almost forgot the Psy shot glass:

Next, the starters. First up, eggs and veggies:

Then rice cakes and tofu skin with spicy sauce, along with some pickled items and dips:

Then we had some thick cut pork belly:

Then we moved on to the seafood hot pot, which contained lobster, blue claw crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, razor clams, abalone, baby octopus, squid, udon noodles, bean sprouts, and cabbage. They even give you a trash bucket beside the table to throw all the shells in.

And YES – the lobster was still moving at our table while it cooked:

Since they knew we were there for the live octopus, and we had made the reservation and tried to reserve a ‘pus for the table way in advance of getting there, they felt bad and gave us a plate of bacon wrapped mushrooms on the house:

One of the best parts of the meal was using the broth pan to cook fried rice. Packed with flavor, and nice and crispy:

Two more shots – one of the restaurant space, and one of a little kitchen flood:

SIK GAEK
49-11 Roosevelt Ave.
Woodside, NY 11377

Commentary

Uncle Giuseppe’s

February 8, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I recently discovered Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace in Massapequa (Long Island). It’s a really fantastic gourmet Italian grocery store. My wife and I went there for a lobster sale ($3.99/lb), but I was blown away by the meat selection. The quality was great. Check out these two pics I snapped.

Sliced skirt steak that looked like a meat monster

And a gorgeous rack that rivals the hottest Playmates that Hugh Heffner can muster up at the Playboy mansion.

Long Island, Pizza

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza

February 1, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

You may not know it, but I happen to be a huge pizz-o-phile. Growing up, I was spoiled by having my mother’s homemade pizza available on a nearly daily basis, so I have pretty high standards when it comes to the old sauce, cheese & dough combo. There are lots of different styles of pizza out there. I prefer a very crispy dough/crust, thin, with fresh mozzarella and a nice flavorful tomato sauce. Currently my absolute favorite, outside of my own and my mother’s, is Saluggi’s in Tribeca NY. Thin, crispy, fresh, and fucking delicious.

So anyway – the point of this quick post is to say that ALL New Yorkers are spoiled when it comes to pizza – not just the eye-talians who grew up with great home made shit. We have it made here for food in general, and when it comes to pizza, we are the best (FUCK Chicago – that’s right – I said it…).

That said, I recently became aware of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a budding pizza (and wings) chain. I was fascinated by the pics I saw, and by the method of cooking (mounds of ember-glowing coals roasting the pizza BBQ style in huge ovens), so I had to give it a try.

I must say – I am impressed. This is good pizza. Great sauce, nice crispy crust but with enough depth to satisfy those who like a little more chew or substance to the dough, and good bubbly, quality cheese. If this is the standard that the rest of the country can expect at these establishments, then pizza is finally going to be good outside of NY/NJ/CT/FL. FINALLY the rest of the country will get a taste of what REAL pizza is like. Not Dominos, not Pizza Hut, not California Pizza Kitchen, not Chicago deep dish garbage, which requires a fucking fork and knife instead of a one-hand fold… REAL NY PIZZA.

I wish them great success, and I hope they spread to more states. This is good news for the middle-of-nowhere places that get one of these chains in their strip malls. They will understand finally what pizza really means.

The wings are pretty good to boot. They taste like they’re fresh off the BBQ grill, roasty, crispy, and a little char. Very nice.

Check out the pics:

20140201_150055_LLS — and that’s-a-da chicken wing

ANTHONY’S COAL FIRED PIZZA
4180 Veterans Memorial Hwy
Bohemia, NY 11716

Carcass Club/Beast Feast, East Village, Fusion, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Whole Rotisserie Duck At Momofuku Ssam Bar

January 25, 2014 Johnny Prime 6 Comments

Check this shit out, you salivating scumbags:

Keeping in line with my recent non-steak-related commentary dealing with other delicious foods around NYC, I present to you the whole rotisserie duck at Momofuku:

This particular dish is available at Momofuku Ssam Bar on 2nd Avenue at 13th Street. For $140 you get the duck (breast stuffed with duck sausage just under the skin and roasted) served atop a bed of jasmine rice; some chive pancakes and Bibb lettuce for wrapping; two seasonal sides (we chose the pickled veggies and kimchi, and the baby bok choy seasonal greens); and crispy shallots, cilantro, mint, Thai basil, watercress, hoisin sauce, Korean BBQ sauce and duck scallion sauce for toppings. They even bring out some duck broth made fresh at the end of the meal.

The duck is locally sourced too, for all your eco-assholes out there that actually give a shit. It’s from Crescent Duck in Aquebogue, Long Island.

Now on with the pics. Duck off, or go duck yourself:

First, my wife ordered a Bloody Mary. Here. it’s made with rye, sake, tomato, apple, ham, and togarashi. We thought it was a little on the small side for $11, and a little sweet, but it was meaty, spicy and otherwise good. Nice ice cube in there too.

Next we ordered an app of liver mousse. Delicious, light and creamy. Topped with pickled radish and some greens.

Here is one of the side items that came with the duck meal – the pickled veggie jars:

And the “seasonal greens” – aka baby bok choy:

Then they brought out the pre-sliced duck to show it to us:

Here it is all sliced up and presented nice-nice:

Here’s the lettuce and sauce collection:

And finally they bring out a little bowl of duck broth to finish off the meal. Very rich.

Here are some more pics of the duck. If you look closely you can see the layer where the duck sausage splits from the duck breast. Each little slice was like a two-in-one punch of roasty, crispy, juicy flavor. Fucking awesome.

constructing a duck ssam on a scallion pancake

And here’s one last shot – the kitchen in full swing:

MOMOFUKU SSAM BAR
207 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003

Chinese, Commentary, Food Halls, Hot Pot, Long Island, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Flushing & Shabu Shabu

January 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

We, my wife, and a friend took a trip to Flushing to explore some of the great food joints in the area – this was a while back, in mid 2012.

It’s kind of like a food paradise here. There are secret, hidden indoor (and sometimes underground) malls of food kiosks tucked away in unassuming buildings. Check out some of the pics:

After some wandering, we ended up trying hot pot at Baidu Shabu Shabu. I think it was like $25-$35pp all you can eat, and all you can drink beer. We got the spicy pot, and a shit-heap of different stuff to throw in, like lamb, beef tongue, beef brisket, beef rib eye, beef belly, pork belly, a host of veggies, and noodles. Needless to say we were fattened up like pigs afterward. I recommend this place – lots of fun. Check out the pics:

Okay so fast-forward over a year later. My wife is feeling sick. We were about to go back to Flushing just to get some soup, but we ended up finding out about a tiny little place called Tao’s Delicacies out on Long Island that we were interested to try out. Turns out it was pretty legit, and $25pp all you can eat, with unlimited soda/canned drinks. They had quality beef stomach, lotus root, mushrooms, shrimp (with the heads on), fish balls with pork inside, veggies, and even tofu skin (my favorite). If you are out on the island, and feel up for the experience of eating in someone’s living room, then check out this hidden gem of a restaurant. Pics below:

BAIDU SHABU SHABU
37-04 Prince St.
Flushing, NY 11354

TAO’S DELICACIES
1310 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784

American, Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Union Square/Flatiron

Corkbuzz Wine Studio

January 20, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I’m not quite sure how to handle this write-up for the website. Is it a review, or commentary? Corkbuzz isn’t a steakhouse, and this meal is kind of a “limited time offer,” so I am going to go with commentary, and not give it a full steakhouse review.

Corkbuzz is a unique place in the food world. Primarily it is a wine bar and wine-centric restaurant, but it is also a home-base for wine education, according to their website. As you all may know, I am generally a martini kind of guy, despite the fact that me, my father, and my grandfather all make/made wine (I’ve even made flavored meads, or honey-based wines). Seriously – and I’m not saying this just because he’s my dad: the best wine I’ve ever tasted was my dad’s pinot noir, which he made from scratch with fresh grapes.

So anyway – a buddy of mine emailed me asking if I knew anything about this place, and if I thought the “Steakhouse Sundays” deal was good. He showed me this page:

$500 for 6 people, including tip, with 4 bottles of wine, Pat LaFrieda rib eye, and sides/apps?!?? Uhh… YES… no brainer, that is a GREAT fucking deal! So I told my wife about it, and we decided that we had to jump on it as well. Check out the results below:

First we sat at the bar and waited for our party to arrive. Nice view, and the cocktails were awesome.

Once seated, they presented the first wine:

And brought us the wedge salad:

And shrimp cocktail (a little pathetic, but whatever…)

Next came the red wines…

Then the sides arrived… Roasted cauliflower, and creamed spinach…

Then the steak with potatoes and onion rings…

And finally a pumpkin bread pudding dessert with ricotta whipped cream…

Here are the wines again, for those who are all about it…

Everything was great. We were all full, but not ridiculously over-stuffed to the point of vomitude. The steak was great. I noted that it was a little under-salted, but the steak sauce (some kind of wine reduction) was plenty salty to inject that back into the meat. The sides were all great – especially the roasted cauliflower. The creamed spinach was a bit too firm for my liking, but it was nice that it wasn’t so overly creamy. The potato item would have been better if it was crispy (was a little soggy), but overall a really great meal. The wine alone was worth the price we paid.