A mountain of food at the 9th Annual Taste of the Lower East Side

Many thanks to FoodBuzz for hooking me up with tickets to the 9th Annual Taste of the Lower East Side - I had a fantastic night of munching, way too much "sampling" of the wines and along the way developing a very fuzzy memory of exactly what went into each of the carefully prepared dishes at each sampling station. This is a great event to raise funds to support programs at the Grand Street Settlment  which expands opportunities for low-income families and individuals by providing culturally relevant services that support community-building, advocacy, self-determination and an enriched quality of life.

The setting:

Over 1,000 young professionals attended this event held in the beautiful Puck building in Soho.  Lots of beautiful women in spring dresses and guys all suited up.  The music was pretty loud which lent a very festive atmosphere, there were no lines for any of the stations and the event felt very well organized.

  

The food:

Apologies for any mistakes in dish descriptions - my memory is a tad fuzzy :) If you see any egregious errors, please leave a comment and I'll be sure to fix it asap!

From Falai Pannetteria: Mozzarella, tomato, basil on pastry

• A bit too soggy from having sat around for a bit but delicate and had good flavor

From Falai Pannetteria: Cream puffs

• Holy hellfire, these cream puffs were delicious - I would have tried to steal the tray but there were too many people around

 

From Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop: 7-Grain toast with an avocado mash, bacon crumble, herb mayo, grape tomato and cilantro, served open face)

• A perfect combo of crispy bacon bits, creamy avocado and a lovely herb mayo - really, really good and I think I'm starting to understand Robyn's love affair with this place.  Must head back soon for a visit!

From Porchetta: Porchetta (roated pork with crispy skin, highly seasoned with aromatic herbs and spaices, garlic, sage, rosemary and wild fennel pollen)

• My first experience at Porchetta wasn't all that great (dry meat, I thought it was too expensive) but this tasting completely changed my mind.  I think I had 3 servings of this - beautifully crispy cracklings, tender and moist meat and lovely toasted bread to pair with it.  The only time I've had better porchetta is really when Tien Ho (the head honcho over at Momofuku Ssam bar) decided to experiment with a new porchetta recipe on Don and me.  I still think of that lovely hunk of porchetta with complete longing but he never put it on the menu :(

From Sorella: Bicerin (espresso fudge, chocolate pudding, soft whipped cream), Torta Di Marsala (orange spiked geniose, marsala zabaglione)

• Very light, not too sweet and delicious - Sorella has been on my list of winebars to check out and after these nibbles, I think I have to head there soon.

 

From The Stanton Social: Lobster Roll with old bay potato chips

• The lobster roll was incredibly buttery and fresh and I loved how the old bay potato chips cut through the richness of it

From WD-50: Sunflower-miso soup, shitake, malt

• I've done the full tasting menu over at WD-50 (see my review here) and liked many of the courses but I really disliked this dish.  The description itself wasn't all that appealing but the balance was all off and it had a very strong floral taste (but in a bad way) so I didn't finish it.

 

From Clinton St. Baking Company: Brooklyn Ice cream sandwiches (with ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory)

• The cookies were amazing, chewy, slightly salty and just sweet enough and the ice cream was of course yummy - ice cream sandwiches are definitely one of the best concotions on the planet

 From Roni-Sue: Bacon caramel popcorn

• Man, this was so good - I have to go to Essex market asap to get some of their bacon chocolate which they sadly didn't have at the table

Closing Notes:

Definitely consider going next year - this was a great event for a good cause and the food was wonderful.

Full list of participating restaurants:

Alias

Allen & Delancey

Bacaro

barrio chino

Butcher Bay

Café Cortadito

Clinton St. Baking Co. & Restaurant

Double Crown

El Maguey y La Tuna

Falai Panetteria

Fat Hippo

il laboratorio del gelato

'inoteca

Kampuchea Restaurant

The Kitchen Club & Chibi's Bar

Kuma Inn

Little Giant

Loreley Restaurant & Biergarten

Macondo

Mercadito

Oliva

Palà

Paladar

Porchetta

Public

Rayuela

Rice & Jack's Coffee

Roni Sue's Chocolates

Salt Bar

Satsko

Saxelby Cheesemongers

Shang

Sorella

The Stanton Social

SugarSweet Sunshine

Think Coffee

Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop

Thor

Tre

Veselka

Luxury Japanese-Influenced Desserts @ Luxee, Pho and Banh Mi @ An Choi

It's always been a bit of a struggle finding great dessert spots in NYC mostly because I have a certain sugar threshold and most dishes are way too sweet for me.  I guess it's for that reason that I've always had a soft spot for asian desserts - particularly japanese-influenced courses.  My desserts hitlist:

• Kyotofu: Kyoto-style desserts, lots of innovative uses of tofu
• Otto: fantastic gelatos and dessert concoctions from Batali's brainchild
• The Redhead: get the caramelized banana nut bread if you want an instant gut-punch of nostalgia
• Basta Pasta: a wicked molten chocolate volcano
• Veniero's: a good italian dessert standby in the neighborhood
• ChikaLicious Puddin'
• John Dory: just try the treacle pudding and you'll understand (trust me)

This past weekend, I hit up Luxee in the LES, a spot that's been on my wishlist for a while and I have to say I would go back again and again. 

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Luxee (Japanese/French, Dessert)

The Decor: (6.5/10) 

I wasn't a big fan of the decor mostly because of the strangely depressing yellow lighting in a narrowish LES cafe but I did love the nice glass display up front showing off a strong line-up of desserts.

Interior Photo credit: Metromix

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The Food: (9.5/10)

The food on the other hand, was divine and most were incredibly cheap for the amount of time, care and ingeniuty involved.  When was the last time you ordered a dessert in a restaurant that blew your mind and cost less than $6?

Luxee describes itself as a seasonal, organic, natural and modern japanese/french-influenced dessert cafe with a heavy focus on the aesthetics and design of its dishes.  I'd say Chef Shirakawa's creations definitely live up to the concept. 

Banana Imperial: Sweet chocolate mousse, jasmine cream brulee, banana gelee, sauteed banana, whip cream, streusel ($6)

Quite a mouthful of ingredients but all the components really worked well together.  I loved the little leaf peeking out of the top of the dessert and the sauteed bananas were deliciously creamy and caramalized.  I'm a big fan of jasmine but would have thought that it wouldn't be a good match for such a banana-heavy dessert but surprisingly, it was really delicate and brought out a really different side to the bananas.

Mont Blanc: Marron concasse and marron paste, tomato-rose jam, vanilla cream, chocolate ($6)

This dessert was amazing!!  I've always had a thing for mont blanc cakes but this rendition was absurdly good.  There were so many flavors and textures going on in this dessert that it's hard to keep them all straight but somehow it all worked.  Crushed, candied chestnuts, creamy chestnut paste, a really crispy bottom layer and this delicious tomato-rose jam (though I didn't really taste the tomato much) that lent it a really florally afternote.  I'm still having daydreams about this dessert days after.

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More info and reviews:

Luxee: 6 Clinton Street, LES

FoodistColony Reviews

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An Choi (Vietnamese):

After dessert, we of course logically decided to grab some dinner at An Choi, a much-hyped Vietnamese restaurant in the LES.  It seems like recently, there's been a sudden wave of coverage on the once humble banh mi:

• NYT: Building on Layers of Tradition
• Grub Street: Banh Mi Boom
• eGullet forums

The Decor: (7.5/10)

I loved the feel of the dining room - it really does transport you out of NYC to a tiny roadside dining spot in SE Asia, naked lightbulbs and all.  The only gripe I had was that the stools weren't the most comfortable things in the world and it was quite cramped (but I suppose that adds to the ambiance?)

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The Food: (8.5/10)

Banh Mi Thit Heo Quay: Chinese Crispy Roasted Pigchunks of moist chinese roast pork belly and slivers of crispy skin ($8)

My mouth is watering just revisiting this delicious, delicious banh mi. Apologies for the terrible photos but it was exceedingly dark and I really wanted to dig in.  There are lots of great vietnamese places in NYC and a lot of them are way cheaper than the $8 price tag tacked onto this particular porky delight but there's definitely something to be said about quality ingredients and a deft hand in balancing all the particular elements of a sandwich.  Great bread, luscious pork and crispy skin from a chinatown butcher, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon and crispy shrimp chips on the side make this a perfect end to a good day of fooding.

Pho Bo - Beef Noodle Soup: a hearty beef broth scented with cinnamon, cloves and star anise. served with rice noodles and brisket & eye round

Delicious, steaming pho in a rich beef broth - not spectacular but great comfort food

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More info and reviews:

An Choi - 85 Orchard Street

FoodistColony Reviews

WD-50 Tasting Menu recap

It's been a while since I did the tasting menu at WD-50 so this won't be a full fledged blog posting but more a recap in photos:

The Interior: (7/10)

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The Non-sweet courses: (7/10)


Delicious sesame crisps in lieu of bread
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Carrot-Coconut "Sunny Side Up"
This was a really interesting dish - the flavors were really good but the yolk leaked all over the place (just like a real egg!) and we couldn't really figure out if we were supposed to use a fork or a spoon to eat it.
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Foie Gras, candied olives, green peas, beet juice (inside)
Honestly, the visual left a lot to be desired. When I cut open the mound of buttery foie gras, an explosion of blood red beet juice gras came pouring out. The textures and flavors were really good but I still couldn't finish this dish due to the unsettling presentation.
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Crab Roll, black bean, mint, pickled ginger
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Beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses
The beef tongue had a great texture but was pickled so I didn't like the flavor that much after the first bite. The fried mayo was too cloying but had an interesting texture.
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Miso soup, sesame "noodles"
This was an awesome dish! We squeezed the tofu-sesame mixture into the soup and it instantly congealed and formed these fluffy, noodlelike strands. Interactive eating at its best.
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Smoked eel, peanuts, snow peas, whipped caramel
Yum! The cloud of whipped caramel tasted like the froth on top of a caramel macchiato and worked really well in balancing out the smokiness of the eel.
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Spring lamb, carob, honeydew, edamame
The honeydew and lamb worked together really well and the lamb was perfectly cooked.
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Eggplant, cinnamon, thai basil
These were surprisingly good! If I didn't know there was eggplant in these sticks, I would never have guessed that was one of the key ingredients.

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The sweet courses: (10/10)
Since we were doing 3 tasting menus, we asked the chef to give us each different desserts so that we could try them all and he was nice enough to accomodate us!

Menthol mousse, lemon, chartreuse, melon sorbet
This one was really refreshing - the melon sorbet was deliciously cool and the menthol mousse felt light and left a pleasant aftertaste.
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Shortbread, jasmine ice cream, banana, saffron
Hands-down the most amazing and favorite dessert of the night! Everything in this was just perfect... we debated getting another portion of this dessert but decided against it in the end since we'd had 6 desserts by then.
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Black currant cake, black sesame, shiso, meringue
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Chocolate cream, pecan, beet paper, kola nut
Delicious chocolate truffles but I kept coming across random bits of beet that kept surprising me. Very earthy.
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Soft chocolate, avocado, licorice, lime
Very good - the lime droplets were delicious
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Irish coffee, chicory, coconut, hazelnut sorbet
Second favorite dessert of the night - the irish coffe and cake were amazing....
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Corn Caramel, truffles with peanuty stuff inside and a very hefty check
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The Summary:
An incredibly interesting meal - I'm not sure if I'd ever order the savoury items on the menu again but I'd definitely head here again for the heavenly desserts.

Info:

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