Revisiting Lunch

Finally got around to taking my drug test for work and decided to make a little road trip adventure out of it. Kept hearing how good this Vietnamese place was so finally decided to check it out. The ironic part of the whole thing is I have been going to the same Vietnamese place next door with my parents for 6 years and never realized Nam Phuong was in the same parking lot. Maybe now I'm just biased but I still think the one next door is better.

Went back to Barbuzzo and Matyson for lunch because I realized there are only so many good places to go for lunch in Philly (and I also wanted better pictures).

Got the hanger steak with truffle fries again because the steak is cooked perfectly and I freaking love french friers.
Also ordered the BBQ brisket sandwich. BYOBed this time with some white wine.

We walked down to Barbuzzo since the weather was nice which meant we were starving by the time we got there. Last time I complained the meal was too carby, but this time that carbiness was perfect.

[Sheep's Milk Ricotta]: Classic
[Prosciutto Pizza]: Loved the white sauce on this pizza

Grilled Mezze Platter of: asparagus, beets, romanesco, snap peas, farro salad, mozarella, broccoli rabe

[Salted Caramel Budin]

Barbuzzo

I have been wanting to go to Barbuzzo since last fall and with the return of  V from Taiwan, I figured it was a good occasion to finally try it out. You could tell a lot of thought went into the ingredients for each dish which I really appreciated. Perhaps it was just because everything we ordered was more on the carby side I left feeling like I had just eaten a lot of bread, but the food was nonetheless delicious.

Sheep's Milk Ricotta: extra virgin olive oil, vin cotto, herbs, salt, & grilled bread.
The balsamic drizzle made this dish since the ricotta is more like a whipped cream - very light in texture and flavor.

Red Wine Sangria: Good balance of fruit and sweetness and perfect for a hot day like today.

Asparago Pizza: shaved asparagus, guanciale, white sauce, fior di latte, & truffled farm egg.
The truffled egg: gahh so good. The pizza was surprisingly light for having so much heavy creamy ingredients. The red chili oil drizzled on top added a nice extra punch.

Salted Caramel Budino: dark chocolate crust, vanilla bean caramel, & seat salt.
I was told this dish was a must try. It was indeed very tasty but a little too sweet for my liking.

Roma Part II

Besides pasta, what else is there to talk about when it comes to the eats of Italy? There's gelato, coffee, pizza, and meat...obviously. So let’s go in that order.

Gelato from Giolitti

Giolitti is an institution. It was founded in 1890 and even on a freezing January day, there can still be line stretching from the gelato counter across the expansive displays of confectionary goods all the way to the door. They also have the largest selection of gelato flavors we saw anywhere in Italy. V said and I quote that the pear flavor was even better than Capogiro’s. That is indeed a Big Deal. 

Left Flavors: Pear & Coffee. The coffee actually tasted like real coffee: bitter & refreshing. 

Right Flavors: Pistachio & Stracciatella. The pistachio even had real chunks of pistachio, finally! Italy is the only place where you can get pistachio flavor that doesn’t look like it resulted from a science experiment. 

Coffee from Sant' Eustachio II Caffe

This place is also an institution, hence why I am also blogging about it because while the cappuccino was spectacular, just about every cappuccino we had in Italy was spectacular. This is the reason why Starbucks doesn’t exist in Italy and I love it.

Creamy cappuccinos with perfectly foamed milk. 

Tour de Italia - Roma Pasta

View of St. Peter's Basilica

This past year was a rather fail in terms of blogging but fortunately, not a fail in terms of life. Just returned from a 3 week tour de italia….oh and did I mention? I graduated. And I’m employed. Of course, I’m not starting work for another 6 months which means no excuses this year (at least until July) when it comes to updating this blog. Plus, I have even less excuses considering I got an amazingly wonderful and beautiful camera lens from V.

Let me preface these Italy posts. Of all of the cities we visited (Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and some Tuscan towns), there were plenty of scrumptious local specialties, but one of the reasons we went on this trip was for a certain someone to appease his pasta obsession so about 90% of our food consumption consisted of pasta. It was a good thing we walked everywhere, or else I would be needing a whole new wardrobe right about now.

I will say that it was still quite the fun foodie adventure to learn about all of the different types of pasta and  compare the differences and similarities across cities.

First up: Rome.

Rome is mostly known for its pizza and is often viewed as on par with the city of Naples (the origin of pizza itself) in pizza – making, but they also serve up quite a good plate of pasta. In particular, the most popular are the carbonara (cheese & egg), cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper), and Bucatini all’ Amatricana (tomatoes & child peppers). I think we sampled carbonara from about 3 or 4 different places and one in particular really stood out. Guess what the restaurant was called? La Carbonara. Figures. 

Top left: Seafood spaghetti and what a generous portion of it too! The last time I had seafood pasta was in Sorrento last spring and this dish came pretty close to matching it in flavor depth. For some reason, my favorite thing about seafood pasta is not so much the seafood as the sauce the seafood creates when it melds with the pasta water and tomato sauce. Yummers.

Bottom left: Freshly made strozzapreti aka priest choker pasta with white mushrooms. These pastas are like a chubbier version of penne, more chewy and way more delicious. The always reliable Wikipedia offers a quick description on why it’s known as the priest choker pasta.

Top right: Fettuccine pasta (there might have been a ragu in the tomato sauce, but I can’t remember). Trattoria da Lucia, located in Trastevere, came highly recommended by our Rick Steve’s guide book although I have to say we were a bit disappointed by both pasta dishes. Despite pasta’s intense carbyness, most of the dishes we had were still surprisingly light. These however, were drenched in a little too much olive oil.

Bottom right: Spaghetti with tuna in tomato sauce.

Jose Garces Trading Co. 5 down, 2 to go

Back in the day, my first few posts on this blog often compared the restaurants of Steven Starr and Jose Garces'. 2 years and a few restaurants later, I still stand by initial assessment that Garces' restaurants are easily superior. The food's consistently better and more innovative so before graduation, V and I are trying to hit up every single one of the Iron Chef's restaurants. What is sad is that I actually don't have any legit blog posts on most of his restaurants because I always use V's phone and then I never get the pictures :/ Maybe I'll have to make myself also do a blog post one each of his restaurants to make the experience complete.

Cheese Platter (Goat Manchego) with Truffle Honey
Salami with Mustard
House Bread & Olive Oil

I've been to Jose Garces Trading Co. 2 previous times (you can see the post here), but never for their restaurant week. Although not spectacular, the dining experience was still quite enjoyable. Plus no restaurant in the city can beat having a wine cellar that cells $10 bottles of wine in the actual restaurant. A few things that Garces Trading is very well known for: cheese, cured meat and the flatbreads. There's a deli by the front of the shop that sells all sorts of goodies including local cheeses, vinegar, olive oils and meats. Plus, you get the awesome truffle lavender honey (first made famous in his other restaurant Amada) when you order the cheese plate and I'm pretty sure this honey has its own cult following.

Scallop with Peanut Sauce

Harvest Seasonal Grill

The new Harvest Seasonal Grill opened last week in the old Marathon Grill location by the Rave Theater. The concept of the restaurant is that everything is farm-to-table with locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. The inside of the restaurant has been beautifully renovated with a new open ceiling in the front half as well as an open faced kitchen in the back. Almost everything on the menu is under 500 calories. On paper, the business plan sounds great especially with all of the calorie conscious students at Penn. Problem is, I  don't really like the food.

Pear & Bleu Flatbread - Seasonal Pears, Birch Run Hills Bleu Cheese, Baby Arugula, Fig Glaze

The flatbread was tasty but something was off about the dish. The arugula seemed too wilted which is kind of weird when all of the ingredients are supposed to be crazy fresh. I was a fan of the blue cheese which was exciting since I hate blue cheese. The reason why they get away with making the flatbread under 500 calories is by making the crust absurdly thin. I would almost prefer a smaller portion but with more ingredients to the dish.

Grilled Portobello Burger - Housemade Mozzarella, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Mixed Greens, Tomatoes, Honey Whole Wheat Bun
Cashew Pork - Apples, Raisins, Baby Spinach, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Natural Jus

The burger was tasty but felt underwhelming. The only ingredient that really jazzed up the burger was the mozazarella. The cashew pork dish was interesting. It was surprisingly sweet and reminded me of Sunday brunch apple french toast which then made me want to just eat french toast instead. A comforting and homey dish but a little too much sweetness for my liking.

Probably won't be coming back to visit this place for a while.

Napoli Pizza

If there is one dish Italy is known for, its pizza and if there is one city that is known for pizza, its Naples. The mecca of all pizza, it is the origin of the first margherita pizza named after Queen Margherita in 1889. It is where that lady from Eat, Pray, Love journeyed to all the way from Rome to sample the best pizza in the world and it is where Julia Roberts then diligently traveled to recreate the scenes from the white tiled walls of  the famous Da Michele. Go to any pizzeria you set your eyes on in Naples regardless of where it is or what it looks like and you will not be disappointed. Of course, with our time limited in Naples, I wasn't going to settle for just any typical pizzeria. We sampled two amazing yet surprisingly different places, both of which are considered some of the finest pizzerias that Naples has to offer.

Night #1: Dinner at Sorbillo

top left: mushroom, prosciutto and ricotta cheese
top right: olives, red peppers and sun dried tomatoes
bottom left: red pepper flakes, sausage and onions
bottom right: margherita

We arrived in Naples around 10:00pm and immediately set out to find a pizzeria that was still open. Lucky for us, we managed to catch Sorbillo right before they closed. The interior is modest and reminds you of any old corner shop in the suburbs of Brooklyn. Wine was served to us in plastic cups and came from a mini fridge at the front of the restaurant. Despite my initial reservations which would normally have me bolting in the opposite direction, we stayed because it came as a recommendation from a local Neapolitan.  The pizza came from a wood burning oven and the dough was handmade to chewy perfection. The menu featured pizzas ranging from 6-9 euros (that's all it costs for some of the best pizza in the world?) and offered a wide variety of toppings, some with tomato sauce and others without. Sure the pictures don't look all that impressive (we were quite hungry) but it was hands down, the best pizza I had ever eaten in my life. The goodness came from the simplicity of the creation. Surprisingly, the focal point of the dish was the dough as all of the toppings were sprinkled on quite modestly. When was the last time I had a pizza where I could still see huge spreads of tomato sauce? How about never? Is that how a proper pizza is supposed to be? Unlike the canned tomato concoctions I was used to, the tomato sauce was fresh, semi-sweet and refreshing. The toppings rounded the dish out nicely rather than overpowering the other ingredients. Can you tell that I'm a little obsessed? Alright so that was the first night.

Night #2: Dinner at Da Michele

+ Pizza Marinara
+ Italian beer
+ The Creed of Da Michele
Not shown: Pizza Margherita

There are two things you can order at Da Michele, pizza margherita or pizza marinara. I never knew there was a difference between the two. For beverages, they offered water and beer. Talk about simplicity. The restaurant has a bunch of closely packed flimsy wooden tables and chairs and as soon as you enter, you see the huge oven in the back where the magical creations come from. According to the restaurant owners, if you start adding toppings to the pizzas, the pizza loses its authentic taste. Thus the only ingredients used are pizza dough, tomato sauce, a splash of oil and mozzarella cheese. From what I could discern, the margherita pizza featured more cheese while the marinara pizza was dominated by tomato sauce and oregano. So simple yet so absurdly fantastic. So maybe topping-less pizzas aren't for everyone. I myself would never pick a margherita pizza over one covered in a medley of mushrooms and sausages, but if it were this particular margherita pizza, that would be a much closer call. So two pizzerias both claiming the title of the best pizza I have ever had: one with toppings and one without :)

Venezia, Roma & Firenzie

Venice Adventures

Best grocery store pizza ever with roasted peppers, mushrooms and sausages
Octopus Salad with lemon dressing
Not shown: squid ink risotto

Venice was just as I had imagined: canals, waterways and narrow, windy streets. The city's reputation is for its seafood although according to our hostel, most of the restaurants have all become tourist traps. We did have dinner at a quaint looking Italian restaurant and I was quite pleased with our selection: octopus salad and squid ink risotto. The octopus was tender and the dressing was fantastic. The risotto (this might have been the first time I've ever ordered risotto!) was creamy and indeed pitch black. We also had a mini picnic along the canals of pizza and biscoti. The pizza picked up from a grocery store/deli had a great topping combination although I might have just been very hungry.

Roman Pizza

Zucchini & Ham
Eggplant, Tomato & Ricotta
Margherita
Mushroom
Tomato & Pesto Bruschetta 

Apparently there is a little pizza rivalry between Rome and Naples. Having tried pizzas from both cities, I'm inclined to say that Naples inches ahead. However, the pizza we did have in Rome was quite delicious. Our location of choice was Dar Poeta located in the Trastevere district of Rome. The crust is thicker than what we had in naples and the cheese was more plentiful but the topping combinations were all quite interesting. My selection of roasted eggplant, salty ricotta cheese and cherry tomatoes tasted amazing after walking around for an entire day.

Nutella & ricotta cheese calzones 

One offering that Dar Poeta is very well-known for are its dessert calzones: stuffed to the brim with nutella, sweet ricotta cheese and covered coco powder and powdered sugar. I could probably have eaten an entire one all by myself. Its a good thing we divided it up. 

Florentine Eats

Paninis, coffee & ice cream 

Two food groups dominated by time in Florence: carbs and carbs. And by carbs I mean bread and bread. Everywhere we went, it was paninis and paninis and prosciutto. Apparently ham is called prosciutto in Italy although its not really ham and not really the salty prosciutto we get in the states. Its more like slices of tender, salty pork with a bit of fat on the edges. Either way, its delicious and every corner meat deli sells it. The other item that is absolutely amazing are the sun-dried tomatoes. I've never had sun-dried tomatoes that were so tasty in my entire life. We rounded that off with what else but more gelato and a few shots of espresso. 

A little bit of nature

Scenes from the countryside of Germany!

After the hustle and bustle of some rather metropolitan European cities, I managed to escape to some peace and quiet in the Black Forrest of Germany (erm plus a detour in Zurich). Specifically, I got to see the quaint town of Titisee along with the "mini" city of Freiburg. 

But first, a few quick eats in Zurich: 

Macarons!!! I was so excited to see a Laduree in Zurich. I had no idea these places existed outside of Paris. Granted this one was much tinier and only sold the mini versions of macarons but still...I told my friend to get the caramel (best flavor!) while I opted for two more adventurous ones: chestnut pear and plum. 

We had lunch in Zurich at HITL, apparently a very popular lunch destination. There is option of a buffet downstairs or a sit down upstairs. I kind of hate buffets so it was a good thing we had made a reservation. I had the brown rice with wild mushrooms which was pretty fantastic.  After lunch, we were in a food coma for the rest of the day and could barely muster the energy to explore the rest of the city...but I did manage to accomplish my main mission: buy chocolate.

With my remaining 20 something Swiss francs, I went and bought about 10 bars of chocolate. Needless to say, it is some AMAZING chocolate. Don't worry dad, I'm saving you like 6 bars.

In Freiburg, I also got to try the delicious looking concoction on the right called a "flame cake" or tarte flambee (not sure what its called in German). It comes from the Northern part of France, specifically the Lorraine region. Its very thin bread dough covered in creme fraiche, lardons aka bacon and thinly sliced onions. It was fantastic. And according to wikipedia, "it is one of the most famous gastronomical specialties of the region". Nice. There's a nice recipe for it here. I'm hoping to try making it when I get back to the states. 

Ok so the pictures aren't very good, blame it on the awkward lighting but doesn't that cake LOOK good?
Apple cake on the left and an original Black Forrest Cake in the Black Forrest. Whaat. So yea my mind was blown as this cake pretty much destroyed all previous conceptions of a black forest cake. I've never ever ever ever liked any desserts with cherries on it but who knew it would taste so good when it was made with fresh cherries?? And the normal icky icing was replaced by a light, creamy mousse that rounded out the darkness of the chocolate perfectly. So ok maybe I didn't eat Swiss cheese in Switzerland, but this is a lot cooler :)

+snowballs in vanilla sauce with caramel
+...erm another rendition of a snowball?
+ onion soup with homemade croutons
+ not shown because I devoured it too quickly: trout mousse on rye bread and a liver/apple dish

Apparently my step-sister's friend is a total foodie and I was super lucky enough to be in town when he was hosting one of his famous dinner parties. Four (and a half) courses of authentic German cuisine (unique to the Titisee region?) plus loads of delicious wine and I was full to the brim by the time the 3 hour affair ended. Sadly, I was too busy eating to take pictures of all of the dishes but I did remember to get a picture of the soup and the dessert.

German snowballs are a culinary treat consisting of whipped egg whites (among other ingredients) and they are quite difficult to make so I was extremely impressed  by the dish along with the homemade caramel sauce and vanilla sauce.  Have I even had homemade vanilla sauce with real vanilla beans? don't think so...

All in all, a quite satisfying foodie weekend. For those who are confused about where Titisee, Germany actually located is (like I was), you can check it out here and see that it is about 1.5 hours north of Zurich and right by a GORGEOUS man-made lake.  And because the entire place is just too pretty, I had to post a  picture or two.

So much pretty in one picture.

Hellooo New York!

Ok, after a week and a half in New York  - I don't feel 100% lost anymore, its probably closer to 98% but at least that is still an improvement! I wanted to write a bunch of witty stories and insights about my adventures from the last week but its 11:30pm and I have to wake up in 6 hours so I guess I'll have to leave the stories for the weekend. Speaking of which, my roommates and I got tickets for the Cirque de Soleil show on Sunday!!! Maybe I'll turn the next post into a culture-y showcase. Anyways, enjoy the foodie pictures ;)

Dinner at Eatery with J. and L. after J. moved in. The space was really cute and the menu had an interesting Asian vibe to it [complimentary Toasted Black Sesame Chips] (??) I got a quesadilla since I was on a mini cheese crave and the other two got a salad which came with HUGE chunks of Brie cheese on crostini.  Unfortunately the quesadilla was rather underwhelming although the salad sure looked good.  Overall, I have a feeling the restaurant is experiencing a slight identity crisis since the menu's number one item is mac and cheese (at a pseduo-asain restaurant). But then again, I guess that's New York for you.

Fortunately, we did make it to the annual Big Apple BBQ Festival in Madison Square Park despite the rain and wind and coldness. The place was packed but I guess not so packed because we managed to snag some sandwiches in 15 minutes :)

Roasted Pork Shoulder 'wiches with cole slaw. Look at those people shredding the meat! Have you seen people who looked so happy at their job? The stand was called Dinosaur BBQ which apparently is a really famous joint up by Columbia and my roommate (who is from there) was rather pleased by our selection.

Naturally it wouldn't have been a proper Southern BBQ with some proper Southern desserts. The blondie was lacking in flavor (hate to admit it but I think I can make a better one teehee) but the blueberry crumble was AMAZING. I've never been the biggest fan of fruit desserts but this one was pretty darn good.

A brief visit to Soho found us stepping into Mercer Kitchen for a late lunch (at 5pm). Apparently dinner doesn't start till 5:30pm. Huh. Anyways, the place is adorable and all of the waitresses are stunning!

Of course L. got a burger (as per her usual) but nothing wrong with a good burger. Checked out Mercer's website after the dinner and there appears to be a Mercer hotel connected to the kitchen. We did see a library in the back and cafe bar right by the front.

 Pizza with salami, fennel seeds, basil and mozerella and french fries in a clay pot.

Went to Philly last weekend to see my parents and  we went to Nan Zhou for dinner. I finally got to try the Zha Zian Mian (Noodles with Pork and Soy Sauce) but I am still in love with the Dan Dan Mian from Han Dynasty. Maybe if the zha zian came in a spicy version, it would be a more difficult decision :p

Ok, off to bed! I promise to have plenty of stories for the next post as well as pictures from Upper East Side, Metropolitan Museum and a dish with eggplants.

Trader Joe's Love

Can you believe I have never been to Trader Joe’s until this past weekend? Literally everyone I know has raved about how absolutely amazingly fantastically wonderfully awesome it is. I’ve even seen food blogs solely dedicated to TJ products and ingredients, which I thought was a little bizarre but after my  trip, I might just become one of them. For a college student on a tight budget and even tighter schedule, Trader Joe’s is literally a dream come true. I’ve never been so happy to spend money on groceries. 

10 reasons why TJ is awesome

1. They have precooked ravioli for $3. Have you ever seen ravioli for $3 at a restaurant? You can’t even buy fried rice for less that much!  And all you have to do is boil water!

2. They have jumbo eggs that are actually jumbo. Maybe you don’t think this is that exciting but no really, it is.

3. They’re frozen broccoli is still green. That is really exciting when you didn’t realize that such a thing existed.

4. They sell pizza dough for 99 cents. It even comes in whole wheat and Italian herb.  

5. They have frozen mango from Mexico.

6. They have tortilla chips in the shape of long boards (which, according to my Californian roommate, is very cool)

7. They sell frozen dumplings that cost less than those in Chinatown.

8. They sell fat free brownie mix that only requires yogurt to make them. This one might be a myth there weren’t any left.

9. They ding a bell when a cashier is open

10. They sell purple potatoes.

Bottom line: cool stuff.

Anyways, my roommate has been majorly craving pizza for the last 2 weeks so we decided to make pizza from our plethora of TJ products. But since we’re kind of lazy and also because I had a MASSIVE bag of pita bread to use up, we opted to use pita bread for the pizza dough instead of actual pizza dough.

Generic tomato sauce was used along with a 3 cheese blend (mozzarella, cheddar and something else I can’t remember). Toppings included broccoli, turkey sausage, pepperoni, yellow peppers, and onions. Threw on a bunch of spices for extra kick: basil, oregano, cracked pepper and garlic powder.

Baked in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes and then broiled it for another 1-2 min

Yum yum yum!