malaysia vs malaysia

so monday took me to Penang in Elmhurst, a choice we made out sheer boredom. the fact that we could've gone to Pho Bac (my personal queens favorite; I stick with Nha Trang on baxter if I'm in manhattan) right next door was multiplied after our horrible meal where we spent $50 for 2 on bad food. it could've been our ordering choices but hey, the restaurant had over 100 items on the menu so how would you figure you ordered 5 of the worst things? Penang I used to like in high school when it was the only place around but now, you've got your Singapore Cafe (decent), your Jaya (expensive and bleah) across from Little Saigon, your Curry Leaf (actually pretty good, the breakfast is good there) in Flushing, your Nyonya (affiliated with Penang but so much better) in Little Italy, the old standby Indonesian and Malaysian Restaurant (this place is great, one of my firsts), now renamed Sanur Indonesian and Malaysian Restaurant, and all these other choices so Penang can be considered the local chain with I think 9 restaurants in the tri-state area. so it sucked.

we got the roti canai to start of course, a ripoff at $2.75. It was not that big, kinda greasy; the curry was decent though. We also got the bacon-wrapped-around-minced-shrimp-balls, but only because my friend really wanted it. Imagine dim sum food and there ya go. At least it came with a nice dipping sauce, very close to your typical walnut shrimp sauce (mayonnaise with grand marnier, etc.). We actually had been craving two things that are not on your typical malaysian menu, seafood over crispy or pan-fried noodles, and beef chow fun. These are your typical cantonese dishes (my go-to rendition for both is from 69 on Bayard) but anyway, since they were there, we ordered them instead of the typical malaysian mee goreng or chow kuei teoh or whatever. We also got the mixed vegetables.

the crispy noodles were undercooked and not the typical thin yellow noodle; more of a thin pale noodle that basically was neither wet enough nor crunchy enough to eat without having to physically grab the noodles with your fingers. it sucked. made for good leftovers in the morning though. The beef chow fun was like your typical beef chow fun; actually lots of tender beef, typically dark from the kecap manis or oyster sauce and you know, bleah and boring. the vegetables were just mixed vegetables in some sauce. boring.

anyway, we made it through, despite our terrible waitress who spilled sauce all over the table when putting down our "crispy" noodles, and decided to go for desssert. why not? the meal was a loss anyway, so we got the ABC and also the peanut pancake. The ABC was kinda good; the ice was too chunky and granular for me and the ingredients were really boring and generic; I'll take a Taiwanese "snow" shave-ice anyday, or even Filipino halo-halo. The peanut thing was the best part of the meal; they took the roti wrapper and filled it with what tasted like really chunky natural peanut butter and just pan-fried that sucker up. it was tasty. We couldn't finish the 10 lady-finger sized pieces but I took one to go as we walked out the door.

anyway, I couldn't believe that our meal sucked so much! so thank goodness a few days later, I was headed towards Skyway, a Malaysian restaurant in east east Chinatown, Canal and Allen. I was meeting my sister to give her a gift and wanted to give Malaysian cuisine the chance to redeem itself in my eyes, and I was hoping this joint would do it for me. This place has gotten really positive reviews all over the place and on Chowhound, where it really counts. it's been called the "Sripraphai of Manhattan," which doesn't really make sense to me since its not thai food but malaysian, so I'm going to start calling it the "Sripraphai of Malaysia" instead. But anyway, it was good. We had the roti canai of course and it was good. different from what I've ever had before, it was not a really thin pancake but big, but almost scallion-pancake sized and about 1/2-inch thick. Tasty, soft yet crispy, and went nicely in the curry. I gotta say, the curry was not spicy enough. We then ordered the okra with shrimp, the braised pork belly over dried veg, and the fried pearl noodles. I felt a little corny ordering all of the dishes that Robert Sietsama had reviewed and indeed, when I put away the printout I had of his review into my pocket after ordering, I looked up and there was a huge blowup of his review on the wall of the restaurant. I guess that's what you do with good press.

anyway, the okra was good; stir-fried quickly and still pod-like, mixed with dried shrimp and maybe minced pork, and shrimp, but you know, not quite spicy enough. The home-style pork was the bomb; braised and kinda dry, tasted strongly of coconut milk and served over dried vegetables seasoned a bit sweet. tasted very much like a family-style dish that my mom usually makes, steamed ground pork with preserved veg. We had enough leftovers to go around today for lunch. The noodles were pretty good but again, missing serious spice. our waitress (she seemed more like a busboy than a server) was kinda wack but it wasn't her fault; I think the other waitresses are probably much better but anyway, she hooked me up with some nice hot sauce. we got coconut rice on the side and it wasn't that good; nowhere near as rich and delicious as the ones at My Thai and Sripraphai ; maybe coconut rice ain't a malaysian thing.

winner
Skyway, not just for the flavor and feeling, but this time, we ordered right and I don't think it would have made a difference anyway, Penang is just tired, yo. Actually the menu is even bigger at Skyway so there is plenty of fodder for return visits. I wanna try a whole fried fish, maybe some of the noodle soups, some more of the fried noodles and fried rice, the fried squid, some of the casseroles, etc. As for Penang, if you're really going to go that route, at least go to Nyonya instead.

ribs (short) and crumble (pluot)

fort greene was calling me, or rather, a dinner invitation (I was invited to eat, but of course muscled my way into the kitchen) in fort greene for six, and so I made it over there, shopping bag bulging with about 12 lbs of short ribs, 5 lbs of mushrooms, a bag of pluots, 2 large lepyoshkas (imagine giant bialies without the onion in the middle, and not as yeasty) from the local russian market, and some herb(s). I was to make the second, or main, course of braised short ribs, to follow the sauteed salmon over greens that would start us off (provided by our lovely host). We'd finish with some sort of cobbler or crumble. The pluots came from my dad, yes, the latest GMO product and a cross between a plum and an apricot. Close cousin? The aprium, a cross between an apricot and a plum. Patent pending, I believe. We picked up a bag of the local variety of Brooklyn pluot along with a few leeks, some dill for the salmon, some other pantry-type stuff and off we were, three courses to be cooked between two people, in an eight-foot square kitchen. Tiny, but fun. Oh, and the drink of the night was whole citrus margaritas: out of control and absolutely delicious.

anyway, here are the recipes:

whole citrus margaritas
This recipe came from the Food Network/Michael Chiarello. It was dammmmmn good. I'm not usually a tequila fan but these were served on the rocks and definitely drunk-worthy.

herb-crusted salmon on greens
This recipe came from epicurious. good recipe, better improvisation in the execution, and a delicious starter for the meal.

braised short ribs
so get some short ribs, rinse them off, bring to room temp, trim fat if you want (but I don't recommend it), rub with salt, black pepper and white pepper, and brown in a large stockpot in olive oil with a handful of bay leaves and salt. brown on all sides until it gets nice and crusty, then remove from oil, sprinkle with paprika and let rest on plate. This will take about 20 minutes, you might have to do this in two batches if your pot isn't big enough. Anyway, leave the delicious rendered olive oil that you browned the short ribs in and add white mushrooms (cut in half) along with the tender parts of about 4 leeks. Just rip off the tough outer leaves and trim the inner core to about 2 inch lengths, no need to julienne or cut lengthwise. Anyway, add about 2 tbsps of butter and just cook down the mushroom and leeks until browned and sweated. Keep the cover off in order to allow the steam to escape. After they've cooked for about 20 minutes, the vegetables should be ready to combine with the short ribs. Remove the vegetables from the pot, and replace with all the meat, and then, top with vegetables again, effectively covering all the meat. To this, add a few garlic cloves whole, a bottle of dark beer, maybe 1/4 cup of dark rum (I used Meyer's), about 1/3 cup of ketchup, about 1/2-stick of butter, 2 tbsps of worcestershire sauce and 2 tbsps of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of dijon mustard and basically, whatever else from the kitchen or pantry that you think will taste good. Since I was at a stranger's kitchen, I asked first if they don't mind if I run up in their shit and since I got greenlighted, I was able to cook this creation. Cook on low heat for about an hour-and-a-half, alternately tasting and adding random stuff, and also keeping it covered, to sweat that meat. Total cooking time is probably about 2 hours for the whole thing, but the longer you cook the meat, the more tender it is, I'd recommend at least 3 hours on the range after combining the meat and vegetables. anyway, wherever you do, just be sure to start with the leeks and mushrooms and bay leaves and things, and then just add whatever else (you can also start with the golden trifecta of carrots, celery and onion; mirepoix as my french friends would say); it's bound to taste good as long as it ends up rich, reduced, dark brown and ready for bread-soppin'. We served this over jasmine rice.

pluot crumble
ok, this was disturbing because its a crazy GMO product and in fact, has about 30 different varieties, which is why my pluots from queens had light-colored, peach-like flesh and speckled red and orange skin, while the local brooklyn pluots we bought to supplant the dish were dark red speckled skin with dark red, plum-like flesh. Get about 4 pounds total, peel and pit the fruit, to this, add golden raisins, about 6 pieces of candied ginger julienned, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tbsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of cloves, 1 tsp of ground ginger and 2 tbps of honey. This just for the bottom of the crumble. Pour all of this into a glass baking dish and then top with the crumble mixture, which is 3/4 cup of oats, 1/4 cup of white sugar, 2 tbsp ground ginger, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1-stick of butter (chopped into small cubes and added to the dry ingredients), 1/2 cup of flour. basically, it should be relatively dry as you mix it and should just form 1/4" diameter balls of crumb (don't worry about getting it too even or incorporated). I'm not too sure about the proportions, but you'll figure it out. Anyway, cover the fruit with this, about 1/4" thick and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes at 350-375. A helpful tip is to place some tinfoil in the rack below the crumble because the fruit mixture usually bubbles over and its a bitch to clean an oven. Remove when the topping gets nice and brown and let sit for at least 30 minutes, just to cool off a bit. We ate this with vanilla ice cream and are proud to say, we made a hybrid crumble out of hybrid fruits! scary.

alcohol
oh and we drank three bottles of wine and I don't remember anything about them except one was a cabernet from somewhere, there was a bottle of falanghina (white wine, yummy) and some tasty chardonnay (2003). this, mixed with the cocktail hour margaritas (made with a delicious tequila) plus a six-pack of yuengling black and tan made for a drunken evening.

anyway, go forth and buy your own short ribs and clean out that pantry! it's an easy, and extremely satisfying meal.

filipino meat recap

oh, just a quick rundown, I love this place and will big it up no matter what. So: to Woodside's Ihawan, big up yourself! You provide the finest in filipino bbq, and you provide to me (and also Ron Artest) with the finest. My out-of-town friend, with whom we decimated downtown elmhurst's indonesian and thai restaurants (not really) earlier, figured she needed that one last pork fix before she headed back to the land of the morning calm, so last sunday was filipino bbq day. Or, more specifically, delicious day.

we ordered a few sticks of pork bbq, a filet of chicken bbq, paksiw na lechon (pork belly cooked in liver sauce), a few inihaw na talong (grilled eggplant) with bagoong(fermented shrimp paste), laing (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk) and a few avocado shakes. I totally forgot to order the longanisa (stupid stupid stupid!) but I think we did well. the pork and chicken bbq is always out of control; perfectly seasoned and grilled, sweet, delicious, everything right. The pork belly turned out to be roasted or fried, and then cooked down in the sweet perfection that is filipino liver sauce (get mang tomas if you're shopping at the phil-am grocery across the street). The eggplant was grilled perfection and incomplete without the fermented shrimp paste. The greens were soft but deep with flavor, perfect counterpart to the grilled meats. And the avocado shake, as always, out of control. Served unmixed, its sweet avocado on the bottom of a parfait glass, topped with shaved ice and then condensed milk. Its up to you to stir it up, and its delicious.

anyway, this block is hot (and known as Queen's Little Manila) since you've got Krystal's on the other end of the block, Perlas Na Silangan across the street (apparently named for a 1969 action movie of the same name, and in between, Renee's Kitchenette & Grille (with a newly renovated second floor and a buffet that I've yet to try, and Sally's Place (new on the block, 718-205-1155, looks pretty good), but out of all these, I always go back to Ihawan. Other times, I'll order the kare-kare (oxtail and tripe cooked with string beans and eggplant in a thick peanut sauce), the crispy pata (whole fried pig knuckle) or the dinuguan (pork parts and entrails cooked in pig's blood and liver), sometimes known as "chocolate meat". Whatever you get, it'll be guaranteed tasty. Only problem is, the place tends to close early, so be sure to call ahead if you are headed out there, just to make sure they'll be open.

china vs tibet

ok, sorry for the misleading headline, this is NOT a restaurant review of a battle between a chinese restaurant and a tibetan restaurant that is fought between my chopsticks. this is the craziest thread I've ever read. without even getting into the video itself, I think the comments are much more interesting.

pig spotted

so despite the threat of thunderstorms and long lines due to the singular michelin star, we were still going to go ahead with new york's most famous gastropub, the Spotted Pig. this, a finder's fee for helping my newly-employed friend with a job placement at Pure+Applied. we had our neighborhood backups but figured, hey, it's thursday, it'll be crowded everywhere. 45-minutes was our wait but at least we got to have a lively discussion about whether a fellow patron-to-be's breasts were real or not. I still say they are real but regardless, to even be able to have that discussion while waiting for a table is just a wonderful thing. yes, plenty of fodder for the iBanker types pulling up in company cars.

the space is like your average bar/pub, but with some random gourmet details (vintage cans of popcorn serving as planters, etc.) and an excellent staff. our waitress (a north american cougar of the finest sort) was very helpful and patient, offering to explain the menu to us newcomers and indeed, we ended up going with a few of her suggestions. A small plates meal consisting of: devils on horseback (prunes with preserved pear, wrapped in bacon), toasted gnudi with brown butter (like eating ice cream mochi, but instead of ice cream, its ricotta, and instead of a mochi pouch, it was a very delicate dough), fig salad over arugula and parmesan (really fresh figs marinated, and really really soft), crispy pig ear salad (a triangle of pig ear kinda shaped like an equilateral triangle with 5" sides, deep-fried crispy pata style, and served whole, over radicchio and greens), plate of five veg (delicious roast beets, mushy brussel sprouts, great broccoli rabe and swiss chard, and irish mashed potatoes spelled champ, as in champagne, not Champion). a few drinks on the side, and a dessert of banoffee (banana pie drizzled with english toffee, topped with whipped cream and, a flourless chocolate cake).

o the richness! o the cholesterol! so we had a very low volume meal but damned if it wasn't the richest meal I've had in a long time. we staggered out of the place after a leisurely paced meal (no rushing from the waitstaff despite the lines) and stumbled towards a nearby apartment, where I proceeded to fall into a lounge chair while my friend got under the covers, toes (and belly) straight up. I'm not sure if it was the pool of butter sauce that the gnudi lay in, or maybe the brown butter swirl over each individual one. It might've been the layer of fat that was surrounded by a crisp shell over the pig ear salad (I ate 95% of it, the other 5% went to my non-pig-ear-eating friend). I mean, considering I just ate at Ihawan last weekend (more on that later) and did NOT get the crispy pata or the chicharon bulaklak, I should have been able to handle it no problem. I mean, I definitely finished it (more than I can say for the chump on the first date two tables over who left his intact on the plate) but I don't know if that was the right move or not. Maybe the completely-stuffed-with-pig-product-feeling came from the english bacon that wrapped the marinated prunes in the devils on horseback plate (by the way, this dish is much better at Freemans.) Even the vegetables seemed to have come with individualized renderings of butter per brussel sprout or beet, I mean, the meal was just too much. and let's not get into the flourless chocolate cake! that places needs to offer a fruit salad for dessert or something.

overall, a great impression of the place due to the professionalism of the staff, the ambience (a crowded bar is always nice) and some relatively interesting food. I think the whole hook of the place has been the simplicity of each dish, the freshness and uniqueness of each ingredient and strong flavors of each dish. They must change their menus pretty often (only 5 entrees offered that night, but I'm sure its all seasonal) and that's a good thing. I don't know how often I'd ever end up going there because the food is just so rich but I might hit it up every few months, just to see what they're serving. it's on a relatively quiet corner of greenwich village but close to plenty of other choices, if the crowds deem it necessary. but I'd only recommend eating there with the surround-sound-crowd-effects, because I can imagine a quiet meal there just seems like eatin' in a bar, and I'd rather do that elsewhere.

by the way, pork rocks, but not too much of it

so charcuterie at Cercle Rouge in TriBeCa. tasty tasty tasty. ham, salami, pate, etc. yes. eat it. with a 3-cheese platter.

charsu ramen is the extra-large, extra-fatty portion of meat over noodle at Minca in the East Village. Too rich, for my taste; the noodles were great, the broth was extra-crazy-heavy, the other fixins were good but damn I could not put that bowl down. I mean, put it down like finish it; I could definitely, literally, put it down and just push it away from me. Which is what I did. Too much pork! Don't go for the gusto if you come here, just get the regular shoyu ramen and call it a night. I thought I was invincible; lies!

Indonesia vs Thailand

Head-to-head showdown, Whit(n)ey Avenue vs Dongan Avenue, a battle of the spices and flavors of Southeast Asia, yes. Original target was Chao Thai, a new Thai restaurant with the requisite NYT write-up but unfortunately, closed! We had to scramble for a replacement Thai restaurant. Background? A friend in town from Seoul (Jackson Heights ex-pat so she knows her food), ready to cause a tsunami through downtown Elmhurst. Should we eat at David's? (the fried oysters there are the BOMB). How about Pho Bac? Should we do Minangasli again? Maybe an order of buns from the northern chinese place? Does dessert count as a stop on a food tour? What minimum number constitutes a food tour anyway? The four of stood on the corner of Whitney Avenue and Broadway; one local foodie and journalist, one publicist and celebrity look-alike from washington heights (yes, a special trip), one chowhound (all-city) and the previously mentioned visitor. After a short huddle, Mie Jakarta was chosen as the first spot. Yes, but a few doors down from Minangasli, the great Indonesian place run by a sweetheart matriarch, a positive review in the Village Voice was our impetus so we went with only four dishes, knowing we had an itinerary: fried wontons (not good, I've had Crab Rangoons from Old Country Buffet that were better), gado-gado (not as fresh as I've had before), mie goreng (tasted like takeout chinese), fried chicken (decent, not great; I think we ordered the wrong one 'cuz I was looking for the one coated in red chili peppers and found none). We foolishly skipped some of Sietsama's recommendations (noodle soup and sio may) because the restaurant was way hot and we didn't want the noodle soup. However, many of the other patrons seemed to have ordered it; I guess we missed the special of the house. Much ado was made of the 7 condiments available on each table and life was good. not great, but good.

we stepped after 30 minutes and were trying to figure out leg 2. We could get the taiwanese hamburgers (super-fatty braised pork belly with chopped peanuts and preserved mustard greens served on a steamed bun; the rendition here and at the old LaiFood both kick David Chang's momofuku-pork-bun ass) at David's, or maybe get a couple bowls of pho and split it, along with spring rolls; the group was split on summer vs. spring. In the end, we'll go Thai first and then see what happens. My Thai is just off Broadway and really really great and different. One of us in the party had originally suggested the Chao Thai since she just ate at Sripraphai a few days ago so she wanted to have a tasting while the flavors were still fresh; I don't think My Thai disappointed and in fact, may have been better. The thing I love at Sripraphai are the oyster or mussel pancakes but My Thai offered us four pretty insane dishes. Well, two insane dishes and two more normal dishes. We had the pork larb to start and it was perfectly fatty, juicy, tasty, citrus-y and delicious to whet the appetite perfectly (considering we just put down Indonesian food). We ordered house mixed vegetables (kinda boring but good) and the duck curry and the soft-shell crabs. These last two were amazing; $16 and probably two of the more expensive dishes on the menu; the duck was fried whole and then chopped; presented boneless in a fiery pool of red curry and topped with vegetables and herbs; amazing amazing and delicious. One person thought it was roast pork the fact that it was so rich and flavorful. The soft-shell crabs were insane; pieces were deep-fried in a batter and then stir-fried in a fiery sauce with fresh herbs and onions; excellent. We killed the rice and managed to kill most of the food.

By then, we were DONE. We wanted to go one more but we couldn't; luckily, our dessert stomach hadn't even begun its job yet so we headed to OZ Cafe for some bubble tea. Or rather, we had some passion fruit green tea (hot), some black tea with tapicoa pearls or bubbles (hot) and some yin-yang without bubbles (black tea + coffee) served cold. Yes, that was true overkill but somehow aided in digestion. We stood around, stomachs distended and made our way to our respective subway stations and homes. In fact, I feel full just writing about this so I need to stop.

Winner
My Thai by far, but I think it was a matter of dish selection; I'm willing to give Mie Jakarta another chance (I mean, look at this noodle dish I passed up! Stupid, stupid, stupid.) As for My Thai vs Sripraphai well, I ate at Sripraphai a few months ago and I have to say, it's too fancy for me. The writeups are great and the roundeyes give great bidness, but its losing something for me. Flavors are still strong and if you do go, definitely get the mussel (or is it oyster?) pancakes. I'll have to do a comprehensive head-to-head sometimes. Incidently, if I'm forced to eat Thai in Manhattan, I always head to Pam Real Thai for twice-cooked pork. Its in Hell's Kitchen (or Clinton, whatever you wanna call it).

happy mid-autumn moon festival

hey all, enjoy your mooncakes and tea and folk stories and all that. and when you're done, check out this person's Flickr photostream, really beautiful stuff and incredibly mouthwatering. genius-type shit right here.

ushiwakamaru, 12th-century samurai / sushi bar

so we didn't want the mutant slabs at Yama a few blocks down, and Tomoe was stupid-packed for 9:30pm on a thursday but we still wanted sushi, or at least, the food that comes with sushi (my friend doesn't exactly like raw fish), despite having come from the 15th anniversary party for the Asian American Writers' Workshop, where Maxine Hong Kingston made a crack about how we, as Asian and Asian-American writers and artists, are actually a completely mixed up bunch that allows us to all be friends with one another and find community, even amongst the japanese! it was a joke, folks, but we all laughed (nervously) anyway.

so my lovely dining companion suggested a place a few blocks west, still on houston, which was closed on a previously attempted sunday but luckily for us, open. Ushiwakamaru, a small narrow space with maybe 10 seats at the bar, a private room that looked like it seated maybe 6, and maybe 4 tables near the front, on the side, room enough for us two, plus the crazy party of 10 that came in after us, VIP-types carrying over a dozen bottles of sake and nametags signifying some sort of convention or meeting. I'm not sure what I found more interesting, the mannerisms of our dining companions or the food, but in the end, both equally captivating. we weren't super hungry but I wanted to sit at the bar but unfortunately, it was already packed with men, all business and balls with their legs obnoxiously splayed apart like it was the R train so to the tables we sat. japanese hot towel treatment, tea, water and then the all-japanese menu. no translations, I mean, it was in english, but no translations but if you know the basics like unagi, toro, o-toro, ebi, then you'll be fine. They had an omakase for $70 or $100 so that's what I'd hit up on the return trip; I just stuck with a chirashi at $20. Who knows how it would turn out, considering the 5-piece sashimi was around $18 and the sashimi deluxe was around $30. As mentioned, we weren't very hungry, so that, along with a la carte unagi nigiri and an all-vegetable roll should tide us over.

indeed, an excellent meal! my bowl of rice came topped with rather small pieces of 6 types of sashimi: salmon, tuna, sweet shrimp, yellowtail, mackerel and unagi while the vegetable roll was a very generous and luscious maki of asparagus, burdock, avocado, cucumber, lettuce; a veritable explosion of green. the sashimi was fresh, tasty and delicious (about 1000x better than the nasty meal I had at the East in Murray Hill, with the sushi boats) and perfectly sized for our late meal. finished with green tea ice cream (more bitter than sweet) topped with adzuki (more flavor than sweet as well). this place definitely deserves a return visit and I'm probably going to go with the omakase at that point, and leave my fate to the sushi chef. one thing that I would NOT get is the miso soup, since it was scallion overkill and completely killed any delicate flavor the soup might've had on its own.

I was happy to find out later that Robert Sietsama enjoyed his meal there last year and it was also written up in The New Yorker's Table for Two section a few weeks ago, and recently added to New York Magazine's restaurant review section.

Oh, and the folks next to us? A lot of kow-towing, a lot of kampai clinking, men of varying ages with only 1 woman in their party, many small plates of food bought to the table and many waitresses attentive. I figured if these folks came here for what looked like some sort of celebratory meal, then by golly, so should I!

the spirit of massachusetts is the spirit of america . . .

or so the jingles goes (or went, since I haven't heard since elementary school). but a weekend getaway to boston and north thereof turned into the most action-packed 72-hours of my life. not action like exciting action, but action like activities. Perhaps it was the most activity-packed 72-hours of my life instead?

leaving queens around 8pm, we set off, quickly enough, towards New England. Armed with bad directions and low ambient light in the hatchback, what should've been a 4-1/2 hour trip to Peabody (rhymes with P. Diddy) turned into a 6-hour odyssey. we were headed up to see a friend of ours play a whore in the bible (or that's what they say, anyway) in the North Shore Music Theater's production of Jesus Christ Superstar so we ended up staying north of Boston, about 30 miles up. The Homestead Suites were located way up past I-95 so we got tricked and deceived and weren't able to check in until 2am. Joe, the night guy, finally figured out our reservations but before we went to sleep, dinner was in order and Denny's was but 3 exits away on I-95, in the next town over. 10 minutes later, we're in line at the restaurant and 20 minutes later, we're seated. The place was on and poppin' and this was 3am on a Friday night mind you! I was personally lifting a longtime ban on the restaurant since my undergraduate years were spent protesting the local Denny's near my college for having refused service to blacks, latinos and asians, and also allowing, if not joining in, on some major beatdowns to minorities. but, pancakes were calling so let's forget about the past and make peace, shall we?

meal one, peabody-style
our basket-case schizo-freak of a waitress sucked but we managed to get served. I had the meat scramble (bacon, sausage and ham scrambled, then topped with cheddar) plus extra-crispy hashbrowns, 3 pancakes, creole sauce on the side, bacon, sausage AND a coke. really really unhealthy and, as I learned later in the weekend, NOT the best meal. but at the time, fucking magic. I want to add that as we entered the restaurant, I walked into a glass wall, thinking there was nothing there. Either I was really tired, or they cleaned the glass really well. The other patrons looked like they all worked at Hot Topic or at least, had friends who worked at Hot Topic, because the employee discount was rampant amongst the dog collars, spiked and colored hair, combat boots and black nail polish. And this was what the girls AND the guys looked like. Median age was say, 16.4 years old. The place remained packed throughout our meal and by the time we stumbled into the parking lot, it was 4am and cars were still pulling in.

meal two, cambridge-style
an 8am wake-up call sucked, but was worth it, since we needed to hit cambridge before 10am, hang out in Harvard Square, pick up a friend at Davis Square and head back up north to the theater for a 2pm matinee. breakfast was coffee on the go and lunch was at 11:30, as soon as the Hong Kong opened for lunch. The only reason we went there was that a friend of mine who had spent her undergrad at Harvard swore by their spicy chicken wings and in fact, had joined me on an earlier quest in New York for the perfect wing. Anyway, a double order was placed and a large order of white rice, and nothing else. I was a bit skeptic; the place was very well-preserved but extremely kitschy, like a Trader Vic's but for Hong Kong. The menu was strictly moo-shu and their american-chinese ilk but even at opening time, other folks were lined up, students and visitors alike so they must be doing something right. We took in the elaborate decor (beautiful pressed tin ceiling) and in 10 minutes, 2 dozen wings appeared. Drenched in a thick sweet sauce, the drumettes and mid-joints were fried to a crisp in batter and then soaked. A sprinkling of scallions for color and side of chili oil was for the dippins' and off we went. The wings were really really good. Not that sweet, not that salty, no pepper flavor at all, but excellent. The chili sauce was perfect for the flavor and in the allotted 45-minutes (we had to pick up a bouquet and head to Davis Square), we managed to polish off 8 wings each, plus rice, plus tea, plus coke, plus water and it was perfection. We were out $18 between 3, and absolutely stuffed. Text messaging between wings to my friend in New York were congratulatory and indeed, I recieved a message about being jealous and wanting to be me (or at least, at that moment).

so we made it out of the Hong Kong back into sunlight, two dozen roses were picked up from John at Petali and we dipped into the T (still gross after all these years). Traffic was murder, mapquest sucks, cambridge city planners suck and in general, transportation infrastructure in massachusetts sucked. But despite all that, we made it. seated by 2pm, curtains lifted at 2:09pm and we settled in for a wonderful performance. I don't know much about the bible, and I don't know much about jesus christ superstar, but I do know it was an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical, my friend was the bomb, christ was betrayed and he woulda been really famous, had he lived.

meal three, beverly-style
we caught an early meal with the star, some friends, my housemates, and one of my housemates' parents who had also come up to see the show. a 5pm seating for 8 at Soma, apparently one of the finer restaurants in "downtown" Beverly, MA. We had initially wanted to eat at Tryst, on the next block over, but they were booked for the weekend. Soma was a second choice but in the end, excellent (sorta). The place was completely blacked out from the outside (looked like a typical korean bar) and inside, just as dark. really modern interior and completely clashing with the block (typical nice small New England town). I guess it was meant to be "big city" and I think it succeeded; long dark bar, a martini menu, etc. The place was billed as Mediterranean/Greek and indeed, we were served great crusty bread along with a house-made hummus, drizzled in paprika olive oil. Tasty tasty tasty. Almost everyone got random beers, among them Ipswich Ale, Tucher Hefe Weizen and Rogue's Ale Chocolate Stout. I was gonna go for the "tasting" of three beers (from light to dark) but never made it past Ipswich. But the important thing is, I tried. I ended up with 3 starters: fried Ipswich clams, a wild mushroom gratine, and a beet and bean salad. Other entrees ordered included a monkfish with lobster fritters (heard it was good), a swordish over chive mashed potatoes (heard it was good), a veal chop (eh), a pork tenderloin served with butternut squash (good) and "chicken under a brick" (not good). The chicken came with the disclaimer that it takes over 30 minutes to prepare but is "well worth the wait" and in my opinion (and my friend's who got it), NOT worth the wait. Anyway, my fried clams (bellies and all, yes) were excellent. Lightly coated, expertly fried, served with whole garlic cloves, a light red onion relish, some great tartar sauce and only a preview to more fried clams the next day. The wild mushroom gratine contained exactly one wild mushroom cut into four pieces and was overwhelmed by layer upon layer upon layer of fingerling potatoes. The saving grace was the drizzle of truffle oil over the dish but overall, weak. The prosciutto chip (bad idea folks) was terrible. The beet salad on the ohter hand was great; nice big chunks, mixed with huge beans (pale lima?) over greens, a bit too heavily-dressed, but excellent. Overall, a great meal had by all and with attentive service, we were out in time for the actress to prepare for the 8pm show. The rest of us walked the length of Cabot Street. Quaint.

Back to the hotel we swam, watched showtime, played scrabble, had oreo klondikes and basically chilled, until heading into Cambridge to join my sister at a party. Grafton Street was down the block from the earlier chicken wing massacre and we proceeded to have drink after drink after drink. A good time? sure. memorable? not really. Cheap though, for a preppie bar. We closed it out at 2am (or rather, the bartender kept flashing the house lights on and off until we all left) and we called it a night. We contemplated heading down into Boston's Chinatown for cold tea and late-night eats at Ocean Wealth but decided against it. That, or a Denny's reprise, which we also decided against. To sleep then!

meal four, mass-style
I was woken up by frantic phone calls to join us at IHOP off exit 28B! Turns out our presence was required for a sunday morning breakfast so we checked out, jumped in the whip and in no time, ordering our pancakes and omelettes. Five of us squeezed into a booth, we managed to put down steak and eggs, a shrimp and crab omelette, sausage and bacon, an order of biscuits with country gravy, two orders of harvest nut and grain pancakes, an order of griddle cakes, two carafes of coffee, english muffins, whole wheat toast, extra orders of hash browns, eggs over easy, eggs over hard, boysenberry syrup and whipped cream. Out of this cacophany, I had the biscuits and gravy and an order the harvest nut and grain pancakes, and it was good. the country gravy wasn't cooked in with the pork sausage so I had to crumble it in myself, but topped over the biscuits? killer. as in killer cholesterol, yes, that particular killer, but killer nevertheless.

meal five, ipswich-style
on this day then, it was raining but we managed to stuff ourselves into the car and head up to Salem for some witch-hunting. Fun, cute, tourist-y but ultimately, not our final destination. You see, we were headed up to Ipswich for some clam bellies so about 4 hours later and many map re-orientations, we rolled up on the gravel parking lot of the Ipswich Clam Box for some fried seafood lovin'. They make much of the architecture since it's supposed to look like a clam box, but it didn't really matter; the wood panelling inside was a finer detail, I think. The place has a self-service diner room and single window to place orders so we joined the sunday afternoon line of diners looking for their fix. Almost everyone was ordering either the clam plate (a huge plate overflowing with clams, fries and cole slaw) or the three-way combo (a huger plate overflowing with clams, scallops, shrimps, fries and cole slaw), but I believe I saw more than a few Fisherman's Platters (the hugest plate overflowing with clams, shrimps, scallops, haddock, chicken, fries and cole slaw) being bought out into the dining room. We went for simplicity, a large box of the native clams (no fries) and a lobster roll. So the trick of it is that these Ipswich clams were caught in Ipswich Bay (just north of where we were, on the coast) and just beautifully and simply prepared. Not just the clam strips which are probably served in 98% of the restaurants around the the states and especially in New York, but the entire clam, belly and all. Each bite was hot and crusty from the simple coating but soft within. I wouldn't go so far as to say each bite was a burst from the ocean, but it was pretty close. We spritzed lemon, dunked in tartar sauce, ate plain, but basically, made our way through the order and life was good. Apparently, they change the oil twice a day and we JUST caught the fresh change at 2:30pm so we were really lucky. In fact, the whole dining room was sitting around waiting for this I guess because around 3pm, everyone's order numbers were suddenly being called and we had been waiting around 20 minutes so it was perfect!

In any case, we finished up, got back in the car for the long ride back down and that was that. We were contemplating a short Providence pizza-slice tour but I had no idea where to go. And besides, we were still stuffed from the 5 meals we had eaten in the past 2 days so we cut our losses. All in all, good eats. I leave recipes to recreate our last meal, Ipswich Clam Box style.

tartar sauce
7 parts mayonnaise
4 parts sweet relish, drained
1 part diced onions

Combine, and chill, and eat.

fried clams
a few dozen freshly shucked clams
1:1 radio of evaporated milk and regular milk + 1 egg
salt + pepper
2:1 ratio of cornmeal and cake flour, sifted

so you get your fresh clams, dip them in the milk mixture, then dredge them in the flour mixture (thorough, but shake off excess) and then you fry at about 375 degrees. be patient, small batches, paper towels at the ready, and serve with the tartar sauce above.