I LIKE THIS.

Taken from Simple. Organized. Life.

DOUBLE CROWN.

And here I thought fusion food was dead. It's been a while since I've dined at an actually GOOD fusion restaurant. Despite my meal being absolutely FANTASTIC, I cannot say that Double Crown has renewed my faith in the concept of fusion food. The website claims that the cuisine illustrates the "aesthetic and culinary dualities arising from the British Empire’s forays into Southeast Asia" but I will be honest - beyond the starter bread and the pita bread in our curry...I saw very little non-Asian influences. But, let's not dwell and point fingers...overall bottom line: THIS FOOD WAS GOOD.


We started off with the Coconut Laksa - sweet and spicy broth filled with crab, thick ribbons of rice noodles, and bean sprouts. The soup was extremely flavorful and the the consistency of the noodles was excellent.


The Prawn Dumplings in a hot and sour broth were exemplary. Plump dumplings filled to the max with a shrimpy mixture and topped with fried garlic chips...mmm...



The Sweet & Sour Eggplant with tofu and pickled bean sprouts was my favorite dish of the evening. Despite the dish's name, I would say the tofu was a greater attraction than the eggplant. The poofy slices of fried tofu were nicely saturated with sauces. I hate describing food as slimy, but that is the only way to accurately describe sauteed eggplant - slimy eggplant slices added a great element. The pickled components, cooked cucumber, and salty seaweed added a nice tang and freshness to contrast the sweetness of the sauce.


The Summer Squash Curry with grilled flat bread and snake bean salad was good but a bit too reminiscent of our Coconut Laksa (and I wish our waiter would have warned us about that). Essentially the same broth and bean sprouts were now laced with thick chunks of zucchini and yellow squash and apparently "snake beans" are a fancy term for green beans. When I think of curries, I imagine mushy foods - the green beans and sprouts were a little too "fresh" and the whole concoction just needed to be cooked down for a longer time.


Our Avocado and Seaweed Salad with green beans, red peppers, and soy dressing looked suspiciously similar to our curry (and I REALLY wish our waiter would have warned us about that). Once again the same green bean and red pepper combo appears and now a few chunks of avocado and a sprinkle of seaweed are added. When I think of an Avocado and Seaweed salad - I want lots of avocado and lots of seaweed. Furthermore, the dressing was yuzu-flavored, which was nowhere to be found in the description. URGH, I HATE YUZU. Overall the dish was awful and exemplified all the things I disliked about Double Crown:

1. Either I ordered incorrectly or they had a BLATANT overuse of the same ingredients in all of their dishes. The repetitive use of the same garnishes and fluff is extremely obvious from a consumer's point of view (can you just see the little specks of red pepper in every image above!?!). I think the chef needs to experiment and broaden the menu's horizons.

2. Misleading dish descriptions. The title of the dish should represent the "meat and potatoes" of the dish...well, really just the "meat." When eggplant is the title of the dish, I expect eggplant to be a FUNDAMENTAL FEATURE and not simply an element. Also, important flavors need to be noted (especially when they are noticeable flavors that people will tend to favor or unfavor). I think it is necessary to take a deeper dive into the menu and really reevaluate the meaning of each dish.


Luckily we ended on a great note. Dessert was killer. The Tristar Strawberry Napoleon - two pastry wafers sandwiched fresh strawberries and yogurt cream. A dollop of strawberry sorbet lightened the entire dish. The yogurt cream was fantastic - not overly sweet and still rich - I think this dessert would have been more successful in the form of a fruit tart.


And finally - the apple of my eye: Coconut Chiffon Cake with thai basil, mango jelly, and coconut sherbet. BE. STILL. MY. HEART. The airy chiffon cake was completely soaked with coconut milk (cake saturated with coconut milk will soon be one of my interests on Facebook), yet so light it nearly dissolved in your mouth. The thai basil was in some sort of whipped form, which added a nice subtle bit of flavor. The weight of all the elements really worked very well together - every bite seemed like cloudy heaven.

Despite some aggravations I had with the menu and the monotony within some of the dishes I ordered, I still think that each dish individually was excellent (except for the avocado and seaweed salad). The atmosphere of the restaurant is also exceptionally hip - think Buddakan mixed with Macao Trading Company. Definitely looking forward to another soiree at this spot in the future...this time involving a few beverages.

ATLANTIC GRILL.

A few weeks ago, I traversed uptown with my Teddi Bear to try out the new Atlantic Grill at Lincoln Center (not to be mistaken with the restaurant in the UES). It had only been open for a handful of days, so I wasn't expecting greatness (it takes a while for restaurants to get into the full swing of things). Atlantic Grill serves a variety of sushi, features an oyster bar, and also serves up homestyle American mixed with Italian...confusing, much? I never understood the existence of sushi in a non-Japanese context - there are some things in this world that shouldn't be tampered with.


The adorable twig of bread came a ramekin of the most incredibly whipped butter you have ever experienced. And I'm not normally a butter fan!!


Our side dish of Creamed Corn - mixed with white polenta and jalapeno (sans the bacon). Gooey and decadent...this is the type of dish you want to be enveloped in and then LOST IN THE MAIL.


We also shared another side dish of the Potato Croquettes - a glorified french fry in the form of an egg roll.


And of course, American comfort food always pairs so well with sushi!!! We shared several rolls: the Atlantic Roll (shrimp, spicy yellowtail, romaine, walnut-tamarind), the Sweet & Spicy (seared scallop, crab salad, calamansi lime), and the Golden Roll (lobster, shrimp tempura, banana, soy paper) from left to right. The Golden Roll was actually phenomenal. If you've never thought to mix lobster with shrimp and banana...think again!!! Because it actually worked really well!! The consistency of banana also lends itself to sushi very well (you can liken it to the soft consistency of avocado). The execution of the sushi (and their rice) was not the greatest, but I will give them kudos for creativity.


The best thing about eating sushi is that there is always room for fried and creamy side dishes...and dessert!!!! We shared the Chocolate Praline Crunch Bar - a hazelnut dacquoise, ganache, and chai ice cream. The dacquoise was not nearly as sweet as I would have liked (possibly because it was made of hazelnut?) and had a consistency that was weirdly smooth and dense...a 3 Musketeers nougat gone wrong. The ganache had entirely too much brown sugar flavors exuding from it. The only saving grace was the delicious chai ice cream (tea in ice cream form is one of my favorite things).


Atlantic Grill was decent. I appreciated their ambitious sushi menu but the incoherent food juxtapositions will deter me from another trip back.

2010 NYC DUMPLING FESTIVAL.

Years ago, when I was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania...I became fundraising chair for the Chinese Students' Association. My biggest claim to fame (perhaps throughout my entire college career) was founding the annual CSA Dumpling Fest - the idea was to serve all-you-can-eat dumplings (who doesn't love dumplings?), cook and prepare home-made dumplings, provide cooking tutorials, and also hold a dumpling eating contest. The event was, for the most part, a success and we learned how to better improve year after year. For example...the first year we ran out of dumplings and I don't even think the "all-you-can" aspect was fulfilled. I'm pretty sure people got angry. And I'm pretty sure a ton of people asked for their money back...ehh, all in the name of learning from our mistakes! To this day, the Dumpling Fest tradition still continues on at Penn!!!

So, wasn't I surprised when I received an email from the Food Bank of NY asking me if I wanted to volunteer at the NYC Dumpling Festival. Uhhhh, SHENME!!!?!? Why don't I patent a good idea when I think of one!?!? Despite my intense jealousy and rage, I decided that I would be the bigger person and offer to volunteer. Afterall, 100% of the proceeds from the NYC Dumpling Festival (and all leftover food) went straight to the Food Bank of NY - a very worthy cause.


The TMI Food Group was a major sponsor of the event - which includes Tang's Natural dumplings, Chef One, and Twin Marquis. I would just like to note that the Chinese characters in the Twin Marquis logo, is pronounced zhen1 wei4 - which means VERY TASTY. My name is pronounced zhen1 wei3 - UHHHH!! YEAAA!!! Sign from God? ALL SIGNS POINT TO YES.


The massive ceremonial dumpling - filled with about 250 REAL DUMPLINGS.


My pal M and I were placed to volunteer in the VIP section...but that got kinda boring...


So after helping sort gift bags, we headed on over to the dumpling eating contest tent where we got to hang out with REAL competitive eaters!!! FASCINATING!! This dude holds some crazy record for eating fried macaroni and cheese balls.

Doors for the event opened at noon - $20 got you a ticket for four tastings. The park was lined with different booths filled with yummy dumplings from all over the world - Malaysia, Italy, Poland, Korea, etc. - which I will get into later.


At 1pm, the dumpling eating competition started. Here are all the dumpling-filled bowls, waiting to be housed. The objective: how many dumplings can you eat in 2 minutes??? The main complaint of last year's contestants were that the dumplings were whole wheat (mmm...Tang's Natural Dumplings!!!) because the wrapper is much thicker and more fibrous than regular dumpling wrappers. A valid point...but I'm sure the contestants will thank Mr. Tang himself later...if you know what I mean...


A friendly dumpling cheered everyone on!!!


There were four heats of the dumpling eating contest - 2 for men, 2 for women...here is the final heat for the men. INSANITY!!!!!!


And here we have the winner of the men's division - Joseph Menchetti - at 55 dumplings in two minutes!!!! Even during his interview, he continued to pop dumplings into his mouth. Quite impressive.


They needed a few more contestants in the women's division - so M was able to sign up last minute and join in on the fun!! And had they not been chicken dumplings, you can sure as hell bet I would have been standing on that stage!!!! There M goes!!


She made a valiant effort at 16 dumplings. Not bad, not bad.


But the champion was Floria Lee at 38 dumplings in 2 minutes.


Here are all the winners of the 7th annual dumpling eating contest!!! First prize was $1,000!!!


The event drew quite the crowd so from the moment doors opened until closing at 5:30pm I was a BUSY BEE. I decided to nix the VIP stand and help out with TICKET CONTROL at the smoothie and Bruce Cost dumpling stand. Bruce owns some crazy Asian food empire and is also the mastermind behind the delicious new Fresh Ginger ginger ale that I have been LOVING. I finally had a 10 minute break and went rampant running around the festival gathering as many vegetarian options as I could find.


Bruce Cost's whole wheat vegetarian bao (or buns).


Bruce Cost's Natural Edamame Vegetable Dumpling. VERY YUMMY!


Sesame sweet rice dumplings and mixed eight-nuts sweet rice dumplings. SOO DELICIOUS!!! I LOVE THE SESAME ONES.


And a mango strawberry bubble fruit smoothie with tapioca balls! So refreshing!!!!


I think this pretty much sums up all that I have to say about the food offerings.

The event was such a blast - I met so many people and had such a fun time interacting with all the participants and attendees. And even managed to spot a few familiar faces!! The NYC Dumpling Festival was wildly more successful than anything I had run at Penn - the line was CONTINUOSLY busy and the food was miraculously and magically flowing!! I'm proud I was able to be a part of this year's festival and cannot wait to help out again next year!!!

WALL & WATER.

OK, so I never really consider the Financial District when it comes to dining out...but I've kind of neglected the fact that the FiDi is kind of GLAMOROUS on some level. All the glitzy, swanky highrise buildings; hotels converted into condos; big name architects; fancy rooftops; and restaurants for financially-minded people...it reminds me of vacationing in Miami or L.A....but for some people, this is LIFE.

One of my gal pals is currently living the fabulous life of a FiDi girl in the Andaz building on Wall Street. Uhm, YEA, it's a hotel. And, YEA, she lives in it. LE SWOON.

A bunch of us met up for some cocktails in her LOBBY - because uhm, YEA, her lobby also doubles as the oh-so-posh Bar Seventy Five. Ladies, listen up: if you're wondering where all the MEN IN SUITS are at 7:3oPM on a Thursday evening...I'm pretty sure they ALL agreed to congregate at Bar Seventy Five...holy crap, I entered and couldn't stop waving and winking like a lunatic for a good eight minutes.

Afterwards, we headed up the stairs to Wall & Water - the restaurant IN her building. A plush, subdued space serving up market-to-table dishes made from seasonal and sustainable ingredients plucked from the Hudson Valley.


I started off with the Roasted Stone Fruits - caramelized and topped with aged goat cheese, lemon preserves, remsburger maple syrup, and pine nuts. The sweetness of the fruit contrasted nicely with the tangy flavors of the cheese, the zing of the lemon, and the crunchiness of the nuts. The maple syrup was so good that we found ourselves sopping up the remainders with the bread from our table.


I took a few bites from my friend's Chanterelles and Chickpea Pot Pie, topped with a parmesan cream and a puff pastry crust. That puff pastry crust was something else - buttery and dense once deflated. Imagine dunking a croissant into a delicious cheese cream...yea...it's good.


I ordered the Braised Radicchio, which came atop a bowl of fresh pinto beans, roasted sheep ricotta, and a radish salad.


It was really quite an interesting medley of vegetables and legumes in one bowl, although I'm not quite certain the dish really came together for me. The radicchio was kind of bitter and neutralized by the flavor of the beans and cheeses...and the radishes were kind of a stand alone portion - it's difficult to eat radish chunk WITH something (unless it is sliced).

Despite my hodgepodge entree, I appreciate the incorporation of a variety of foods in one dish. Imagine gathering all of these elements yourself!! Extremely time-consuming. Wall & Water is a gorgeous restaurant and you are guaranteed a colorful meal - chockful of veggies, fruits, and cheeses. Take it into consideration next time you're in the downtown area!!!

THE FIRST LOOK: FOODPARC.

And, as promised, a more in-depth look at FoodParc.


At the corner of my building (two blocks away from FoodParc), we happened to run into a member of the FoodParc street team handing out reusable 20% off coupons!!! Keep in mind that these can only be used at the registers and not at the kiosks (where you can self-place your order).


The space is really quite nice - all white and futuristic. Computer kiosks are all around and large flatscreens let you know when your order is ready for pick-up. The space is overwhelming, so have a game plan in mind before entering! With a name like Jeffrey Chodorow running the joint, you know there will be some big names behind each of these mini restaurants. You got Fornetti - your Italian joint, RedFarm Stand - your Asian bistro (championed by Chef Joe Ng of Chinatown Brasserie), 3B - your bacon, beer, and burger stand (featuring a burger from Pat LaFrieda), and The Press - your coffee, pastry, and smoothie stand that also happens to scoop out Capogiro gelato!


The dishes at Fornetti were beyond tempting - everything they offered seemed to come on top of a large, puffy slice of flat bread. Even their artisan salads (which can be seen on the second row in the display case) magically become pizzas. A definite must-try for next time.


While the battle between Asia and Italy continued on in my brain, I decided to try out a smoothie from The Press. I ordered a peachy-soy-protein-flax concoction. Very yum.


I finally decided to go with RedFarm Stand and pay tribute to my Asian roots. Afterall, today is the Mid Autumn Moon Festival.


I placed my order and a few minutes later - my brown baggy to go!


I ordered the Vegetable Potstickers and the Shrimp and Watercress Wonton Soup.


I thought the wonton soup was excellent - the flavorful, tasty broth was garlicky and jam-packed with watercress and scallion. The concept of wontons are different from every purveyor - I thought the ones from RedFarm Stand were decent, although not magical. The dumplings were filled with mushroom, noodles, and other veggies - the wrappers could have used a little work, the dumplings were a little soggy, and I would have preferred them steamed rather than pan-fried.

I'm glad to have this upscale food court closeby, although I doubt it would ever become a regular lunch spot for me. The food is a bit too heavy for my lunching standards, but it is definitely worth a visit every once in a blue moon.

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FoodParc over at 29th and 6th opened up today! The classiest food court I have ever seen. Will blog more in depth tonight, but just wanted to let you know - you heard it here first!!! W enjoying her Shrimp and Watercress Wonton Soup and Short Rib Bun from RedFarm Stand! Her only qualm was the Asian bun being made of a hamburger bun and not an authentic dough wrapper.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

THE FIRST LOOK: FRANCOIS PAYARD BAKERY.

Don't ask me to remember to renew my lease, don't ask me to remember my age (you have no idea how many times I have unintentionally told people that I am 23 years old), don't ask me to remember my keys, but you can count on me to remember the opening date of a random bakery on Houston Street until the cows come home. Today, September 21st, was a day I was very much looking forward to - the grand opening of the new Francois Payard Bakery a few blocks from my apartment, the latest venture for the famed Parisian pastry chef.


I eagerly made plans to meet a friend at the bakery directly after work and expected great things. I was disappointed to discover that the sandwiches and salads were pre-packaged as I was expecting the whole Parisian cafe motif to come alive. The staff was also horrendous - extremely brusque and knew very little about the product. Opening day?? I would expect a full platoon on the front lines, just rearing to sell out of their first case of baked goods and handing out free samples of bread. What do I get?


"What's that?" - pointing at a pie-like slice of something.

"Which one?"

"That one. The one with peaches."

"The one on the second case?"

"WHAT?? That one - it is the only one with peach slices on top of it." *POINTING*

"The one on the second case??"

"UH YEA. That one. PEACHESSSSSS." *EMPHATICALLY POINTING AND STABBING THE GLASS*

"Oh, that's a flan."

"Really?"

"Yea."

"Then why is it green."

"Oh..uhh...that's...not a flan."

*THROWS HANDS UP IN THE AIR*

The same woman also told me that a pie filled with custard tasted like custard. Thankyouverynotatall.


Well I ended up getting that "non-flan" anyways - I'm still not exactly certain what I was eating, but it was delicious. The top layer actually WAS very much like a creamy flan, sugar glazed, and the bottom layer was a candied-pistachio-esque mush atop a soft graham crust. I was a fan.


The Salmon Pretzel Bread was surprisingly tasty - smoked salmon and scallion cream cheese within a soft pretzel. The very salty carbs mixed well with the smoky, creamy innards.


The Vegetarian Tofu Tomato Basil sandwich with olives and arugula on nine grain walnut bread was also not too shabby. I'm wondering if the sandwich would have been filled with cubed tofu had I not asked them to heat it up on the panini press...regardless the mush of tofu, olives, tomato, and basil was decent. The bread was nothing to die over.


At each table is a squeeze tube of Brigadeiro - filled with 70% Dark Chocolate. Do not mistake this for cocoa butter - this is actually edible (THERE IS A GOD)!! And extremely delicious!!! Like a squeezable form of Hershey Kisses. The packaging does not assist in the squeezing-function, however, and it is quite difficult to extricate the chocolate...but perhaps a workout pre-finger-licking is warranted.

Although my mind was not blown by the Francois Payard Bakery - the packaged sandwiches were acceptable but certainly not exceptional - I am sure the baked goods will have me coming back for more. I have my eye on a slice of Gateau Basque for my next visit.